Eda, and Ray stood up and dusted their clothes, as they did they kept taking deep breaths, trying their best to get used to the mountain air. They walked towards Charles.

Charles started stretching his muscles. “Now watch what I am going to do.” Charles instructed them. He faced a tree that was a couple meters away from him. He raised his left hand to his chest, closing his eyes, he seemed to be concentrating. A faint blue light can be seen coming out of his left arm, after a minute his left arm to his elbow was covered in a faint blue aura. He opened his eyes, taking a single step raising his arm to his right side, and then made a diagonally slicing motion, a sudden gust of air pushed out of him.

The wind made an impact with the tree Charles was facing, Ray could see the tree was damaged.

“Damn, that’s all I can do?” Charles grumple to himself.

“Wow! What was that!? Your entire arm was covered by a blue light?” Ray said, in an energetic tone.

“That is going to be your final lesson. After the both of you can call forth the energy inside of you, the two of you will be able to do what I just did but stronger.”

“What do you mean?” Eda asked.

“Go look at the tree I hit.” Charles said.

Ray, and Eda walked to the tree, when they got close to it, they could see the tree had a cut across it. The cut reached a few centimeters into the tree.

“Whoa! I didn’t know you could do that.” Ray told him as he walked back towards him, while Eda kept inspecting the tree.

“Yes, but in my prime I was able to fully cut down a simple tree, while a tree like this, I was able to reach halfway into it.” Charles revealed.

Eda walked back towards them, imitating the slicing motion Charles did. “So after we can master our energy that is the last thing we have to do?” Eda asked.

“Yes, as I said, when the two of you could muster up energy like I did, you will be able to do the same thing I just did. Who knows when the two of you are able to do it, you might be able to fully cut down a tree with a single strike.” Charles said, trying to motivate them.

“But I thought only blessed knights could do something like that?” Ray asked.

“No, what I just did took a lot of effort to master in my younger days. The most basic knight could do a single strike after that they get tired enough they could barely move, some just do it like me because it could be used as a distraction towards the hybrids, but other than that, there really isn’t a good way to use that kind of energy.”

“So did you ever manage to use it on a hybrid?” Eda asked.

“No.”

“Oh.” Eda said.

“Yeah.”

“What about hybrids, can all hybrids do that?” Ray asked, trying to change the subject.

“Hybrids are different, hybrids have an easier time of calling their energy than blessed knights, they just struggle more to master it.” Charles said.

“So how will you train us?” Eda asked.

“I’m going to teach you basic knight training, then after that, we are going to focus on calling your energy in this area. the loud noises will help you focus better.” Charles told them. “Now get in position we have a lot of training to do.” Charles said, with a smile on his face, he looked like he was recounting his good old days.

“Are you ready for this?” Eda whispered to Ray.

“No.” Ray answered.

“Me neither.”

***

As the sun was setting, they started to head back to the cottage, Eda, and Ray could barely keep up with Charles. As they were gasping for air, their legs ready to give out, their arms just swinging around.

“Come on, we are almost there. This is only day one, the training will get much harder from here on out.

They both groan, but continue on. Soon they reached the garden of the cottage. Ray layed down on the ground, Eda sat on the log, the both of them trying to control their breathing.

“I’ll go get food ready, you two take a small breather, and head in and shower. Then we will all eay. Don’t take too long.” Charles said, as he went around the cottage.

“Eda.” Ray said through a gasping of breath.

“Yes, Ray?” She said, forcing herself to breathe slowly.

“This is hard.”

Eda let out a burst of laughter, while clutching her stomach.

“Yeah, it really is.

They both went silent; They looked at the stars as they started appearing in the sky.

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“You know, since everything that has happened, We never had a chance to look at the stars like we used to.” Ray said.

“Yeah…You always did it more than me though, especially when you were younger. After all, you got that from mom. When she was pregnant with you, she always made dad watch the shooting stars with her.”

“Really? Dad always said mom enjoys watching the stars, I enjoy it because of how it looks. It's interesting to me, but dad rarely wanted to watch them with me.”

“Well that was dad’s way of connecting with mom, after we lost her, it kinda…You know, it is not the same anymore, but don’t worry dad told me how he was glad you enjoyed the same thing she did.”

“Oh.”

“Come on, if you laid on the ground any longer bugs are going to be crawling on you.” Eda said, as she walked towards him, extending her hand to Ray.

“Really funny, Eda.” He said, as he took her hand and got up, and walked towards the cottage. Ray took one last glance at the sky before closing the door. {I really wished I had a chance to meet you mom.}

***

After they were done showering and eating, Ray went to his room to sleep. Eda waited a couple moments before silently opening his door, and made sure he was asleep. After checking on Ray, she went outside to where Charles was. She found him doing some last minute work on his garden. He seemed surprised when he saw Eda come out of the cottage.

“Oh! Why are you still doing up? You have to get tomorrow morning for more training.” Charles said, as he plucked out berries and put them in a basket.

“I wanted to talk to you about what I said,” Eda said.

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“What I asked you before you lead up the mountain.” Eda said.

“....Oh.” Charles put down his basket, and brushed his hands against his jeans. “I really don’t want to talk about that.”

“I just need to know, I know I barely know you, and I have no right, but you even admitted you were a knight once, someone who hunted down my kind, how am I supposed to know you won’t have second thoughts about us?” Eda stated.

“I won’t.” Charles sighed, before he continued. “Look ever since I left the knights. I have swore to myself to never do as they say again. I agree the church needs a complete reform, but it won’t happen without force. I tried to change it myself but I never made any progress, and I didn’t want to hurt anyone directly, that is one of the reasons I left. The reason I am helping the two of you is because of a debt I owed to someone who is a hybrid. If she wants me to pay her back like this, then I will.” Charles stated.

“You had a debt to pay?” Eda repeated.

“Yes, if training the two of you will help me pay off the debt, then that is what I am going to do.”

“We will have to use the training to kill every-'' Charles interrupted Eda before she could finish that sentence.

“I only hope whoever comes your way is granted a quick death. No matter who you faced.” Charles told her, his face was sorrowful.

Eda got mad. “Even the people who are responsible for our situation. You want us to grant them a quick death?”

“...We all have our reasons for why we do things, Eda. Things we experience, things we lose. Everyone is who they are for a reason. I won’t defend the people who destroyed your village. But if someone were to kill you, would you rather be killed fast, or suffer?”

Eda only stared at Charles.

“I only ask you to grant the people you have to kill a painless death. If you don’t want to, that is fine as well. I can’t tell you to do something I have the strength to do. But I do hope you would consider it.” Charles stated, as he picked up his basket and walked past her.

Eda stood silently wondering what to do.

{I really wished you guys were here. Dad…Mom no matter what I will keep my promise to the both of you.}

***

September 05, 1408

Half a year has passed since Eda, and Ray completed their basic training. After they were done training Charles led them, towards the sound of the waterfall. “Ray, Eda, you both did great with the training. You should be proud of that.” Charles praised them.

“Good to hear.” Eda said.

“Thanks. Charles!” Ray happily replied.

“Now comes the hard part.” Charles told them, as he raised his voice over the waterfall.

{Of course the brutal training wasn’t the hard part.} Ray thought to himself.

Soon they entered the clearing and they saw a waterfall, the water making a huge noise, as it hit the rocks at the base of it. The birds chirping was even worse here.

Raising his voice even more so he can be heard. Charles told them, “The next step for you two is to summon your energy in this area, while ignoring the noise around you.” Charles took them as close to the waterfall as he could. “Ok, I’ll be back in two hours, the two of you will sit right here silently and imagine your energy embracing you. When you two can manage to completely engulf your body in a dark aura, you have finished this part of the training.

“Wait, we won’t have a blue aura like you?” Ray asked.

“No, hybrids are known to have a dark aura. Every hybrid I have met had only a dark aura, unlike the blessed knight’s aura that changes corresponding with the color of their line. While knights like me only have the blue aura, I could never manage to cover my entire body with it.” Charles told them.

{Well I guess that makes sense? Since our mark is kinda like theirs, but a pure black line. I wonder why they change colors?} Ray thought to himself.

“After two hours, I’ll come back. Since you two are done with the basic training we will include sparring as well. When I think you two are ready, you will face me, understand.” Charles said.

They both nodded, as they sat down where he led them. Charles turned around and left them.

“How do you think we should do this?” Ray asked.

“I guess we are technically meditating, so just imagine energy coming out of our hands like Charles did when he sliced at that tree.” Eda told him.

“Do you think we can even do that?” Ray asked.

“I’m pretty sure, now let’s focus. He’ll be back in two hours.”

They struggle with it. With all the noise going around the,, they could barely picture themselves being surrounded by their energy. Before they knew it Charles had already come back for them.

“How was it?” Charles asked.

“Difficult, I think I have a headache.” Eda told him.

“It’ll get easier with time, instead of focusing on trying to shut out the noise, just let your mind wander. When you do that, it’ll be easier to focus on your energy.” Charles led them back to the clearing where they first started their training.