I did it! First thing in the morning after I got the ring, I finally landed a solid hit on Sven. Best of all, I did it without using the memory idea I had suggested to Magnus. Nearly two full months of hard work finally paid off with a blow that stunned Sven as much as it stunned me. Neither one of us knew what to do right after it happened, so I just awkwardly took a step back to assess everything in front of me.
“Uh, what now?” I asked, stretching out the hand that tagged him. Was that hand even real? Did it ever even exist?
“Well, well, it looks like someone has some pep in their step this morning. Something good happen to you yesterday?” He grinned, knowing just how much buying that ring meant to me.
“I’m the one who hit you this time. You’re gonna have to beat the answer out of me today.” I started laughing, thinking everything was in good nature. Then something changed in the air. The hair on my arms stood on end and a feeling of dread filled my body.
“I suppose you have come a long way since you first arrived on Clamor. Okay, we’ll do it your way.” Slowly, as if to make a point, Sven drew his sword from the sheath that hung from his hip. Blue sparks crackled and flickered from his body. Sven’s demeanor was completely different. Instead of a friendly guy helping me get better, he looked like a guardian about to purge a threat. The sword was about three feet long, black in the center, with a shining silver edge. The entire thing glowed blue and hummed with power. “I’ll show you why the moggodrackin are taught to dread the thunder.”
I slowly backed away with my hands up. Nervous sweat ran down the side of my face. I turned to Magnus who was watching the whole thing with his arms crossed. “He’s just kidding around, right?”
The look he gave me said more than any number of words or mind-reading could.
I knew Sven had been holding back. I just didn’t know how much. He shot forward at me like he was sent out of a cannon, lightning sparking at his heels. He swung his sword at my head, and it was all I could do to just duck it to avoid being decapitated. I should have put more faith in my armor to take the hit, because even though I avoided it, he shoved a blast of lightning into my chest and knocked me on the seat of my pants. The tip of his sword pushed against the armor covering my neck. I could feel its power bleeding through my protection, causing my skin to tingle uncomfortably.
Looking up, Sven’s expression was still serious, though it did soften some. It softened enough that I was pretty sure he wasn’t actually going to kill me. He pulled the blade back some, just enough to give me some room to breathe without impaling myself. “Are you ready to ramp up your training? I’m not going to take it easy on you now.”
“You call two months of kicking my ass ‘taking it easy’? Are you insane?” I got up to my feet in pretty good spirits. There was something thrilling about seeing the guy finally go all out after hearing all the hype. Even if I had to take a couple more beatings, part of me wanted nothing more than the rush of a serious fight. I might not have been hero material. I was the first to admit that. I still had a chip on my shoulder because I felt like I wasn’t good enough. Even if I wasn’t going to be a real hero, I wanted to win. I wanted my Anomaly to be strong enough to take on someone like Sven.
And that worried me a little bit. I had never wanted to fight anyone before I had powers. I wasn’t a bully at school or a criminal who wanted to hurt people. I was never seeking out guys in my weight class who wanted to throw down in the parking lot. I wasn’t anywhere near a violent person, and I was taking the fact that I’d pinned moggodrackin to the ground by sending spears through their limbs into account. Pondering all of that, I paused for a moment and stared off into space.
“Some people are just like that,” Sven said, briefly returning to normal. “I’ve been in the same spot you are. When you’re like us and you defend against that which regular people cannot, we all hit a crossroads. People like us come to a realization that we crave battle to prove we are capable. We take pride in our powers and what we can do for our communities. For some, after a while, it’s all they know.”
I didn’t want to think about that. I didn’t want to because I was scared that he was right, or enough of what he said was right. When I learned I had my powers, I thought it’d be a great chance to truly make a difference. I could make something out of myself. I could have a stupid costume and a secret identity. I’d be able to pay back my sister for everything she did for me, and even make her proud of me. I had a real chance at being a true hero. I knew I didn’t want that hero title anymore, not after nearly being crushed in a cave, having a hole burned clean through my arm, and ending up on an entirely different planet. My goals had shifted, leaving me somewhere between wanting to be a hero and wanting to use my Anomaly to make a difference in other ways.
But I was standing across from a warrior who was more seasoned and had infinitely more experience than I did. And I wanted to fight him. I wanted to fight him, knowing I’d lose, because it’d get me better at fighting him, which would get me closer to winning against him. Maybe I wasn’t exactly the kind of person Sven had been talking about. I didn’t think I was seeking out battle. I just wanted to win the ones that were put in front of me. That had to have been why I was so willing to just throw my body on the line to save others. Part of it was doing the right thing and being a hero, but I couldn’t pretend any longer that I didn’t crave the battles I’d been in.
“Man, everything was so much simpler at the start of the year.”
“Simple lives often aren’t the future for people who can create weapons with their minds and end up on different planets.” He felt bad for me, that much I could tell. “Here, no surprises this time. The two of us go at each other with everything we have. You can use your powers in full, and I’ll use mine. Whenever something’s troubling me, practice, practice, and more practice has always made me feel better. It’s like good exercise. It clears the mind and drains the body.”
I was still a little troubled by what that whole thing said about me as a person, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. So, practice it was. Sven gave me a few minutes to prepare, which was nice since he still hummed with electricity. By the time I was ready, it looked like Sven was itching for a fight too. I swallowed nervously and tried not to let the fear show on my face.
He launched toward me again. Remembering my training with Alex, I created a small square barrier to block the blow, being better prepared than I had been for his first shot. I had about half a second to feel proud of myself for reading and predicting his attack before a lightning javelin slammed into my chest. I landed on my back after hitting my head on the ground. Blinking groggily, black spots swam all around in my vision. My armor had done enough to protect me from the worst of the damage.
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When I sat up, Sven wasn’t waiting. He was practically on top of me, ready to slam his javelin into my chest again to put me down for the count.
But I had a few tricks I’d been working on too. More than the huge sword I had unveiled when fighting that giant mech.
A circular shield appeared on the right forearm of my armor, perfectly blocking the javelin strike. He had the leverage advantage, however. Unfazed by my new defense, he pressed harder, adding his sword to his attack. My shield was taking it all well enough, not cracking under the pressure. I grunted, frustrated that I couldn’t do much while sitting on my butt. I had to find some space to generate my own offense. With Sven, space was going to come at a premium. I wasn’t going to be getting any easy wins from the guy.
I had spent some time learning to put less power into my orb attacks. I realized it took more energy out of me than I realized and I knew that not everyone was like Eric. A lot of my opponents were going to be strong enough or smart enough to withstand those kinds of attacks. Plus, I didn’t need to kill everyone I came across. Learning restraint was part of my process of maturing my Anomaly.
That’s why I was feeling pretty confident when I sent a small orb into Sven’s foot with my left hand. It exploded and shattered with a small pop of power and was just enough to get him to hop backward. I scrambled to my feet, taking a moment to assess the situation. Looking annoyed, I could see Sven was barely injured. It may have been the equivalent of a bad papercut, and when you had a bad papercut, you got a little mad.
“Come on, don’t look at me like that. I know you have more up your sleeve too.” Just because I knew he was capable of more didn’t mean I wanted to see the more he was capable of.
“Maybe.” That was a yes, but no way was I going to be the one to point that out. “I suspect you’re hiding more yourself. That’s a very scary power you have there.”
“Don’t make me blush. It feels like I’m sticking a fork in an electrical outlet even through my armor.” I did have a few more secrets, that was true. They were vague ideas in my head more than anything. Since they weren’t ready for prime time, they were going to sit right in my noggin before I did accidentally kill someone else. I planned on keeping them riding the bench for a bit longer while I worked out the kinks.
Something changed in his sword. I couldn’t tell what it was, and before I could take a closer look, Sven threw a new lighting javelin at me. Its point went directly into my right shoulder, sending fresh tingles through my whole body. Even without Sven there to keep the power activated, it continued pressing against my armor. I had to create a spear in my left hand and jab it in the ground just to keep myself from getting pushed back too far. It was so strong, I couldn’t move my shoulder out of its path no matter what I tried.
How the hell was it even possible? Yeah, I created weird things with my mind too, that wasn’t something I was going to debate. At least my spears and swords and orbs were tangible weapons and objects. How did Sven make it so his lighting javelin thing had the same properties as a solid weapon? Shouldn’t the lightning javelin hitting my shoulder have done something else? I was no physics expert, so I didn’t know what that something was.
With the logic-defying lightning javelin still pushing me back, I was a sitting duck for the next sword slash, which caught me in the left hip. The slash itself didn’t damage my armor, but when Sven pumped his lightning power into it, the blade of his sword burned right through my armor and into my skin. The resulting shock made me fall to one knee, which drove the blade in deeper. Warm liquid ran out of the burning cut and down my leg.
For a second, I couldn’t move my arms. It freaked me out a little, but I’d been there so recently with the Heavy Green gunk clogging up my system. Instead of trying to fight my way out, I gave him a taste of his own medicine. Sven didn’t have any armor to protect him, so my javelin went right into his left shoulder with a sickening pop and light spray of blood that was darker than a human’s. It broke his concentration, which caused his javelin to fizzle out with a few gentle pops, finally sparing the right side of my body.
The sad thing was that the damage had already been done to my hip. I hit Sven with another small orb, giving us both some space to take a breath. I afforded myself a glance at the wound and winced. Blood was still freely running down my leg, accompanied by blue sparks popping around the cut, courtesy of some leftover energy from his attack. That level of pain was something I could work through, albeit with firmly gritted teeth. There wasn’t any poison in the attack, but given how electricity can cause muscle and heart damage, that wasn’t much of a consolation prize.
“You talk about my power being scary, but I think my heart is about to burst out of my chest,” I said, commending him while making sure my heartbeat wasn’t all over the place. From what I could tell, it was passable. If only Dr. Shonne had been there to tell me for sure in the middle of my ass getting kicked up and down Clamor. “It feels like my hip was ripped open with a hot poker. You could have at least cauterized the damn wound for me.”
He ripped the javelin out of his shoulder with a grunt. A surge of electricity spread through my weapon and it shattered away into nothing. Blood, definitely a shade darker than a human’s, ran down his arm. It didn’t look like it hurt his mobility much, which was more than I could say for the wound giving my hip fits.
“I told you before, your power is tied to your imagination.” He readied his sword and I reinforced my armor. “If you compare our powers, yours puts mine to shame. With enough time, experience, and a little luck, you’ll become better than me. I’m sorry to say that time isn’t today.”
His sword split into segments, each about four inches in length. The blue glow on each one intensified until it was nearly blinding. The humming of power turned into a solid buzzing in my ears. There was a strange sound that took me a few seconds to place. I realized it was the same sound I heard when a transformer goes out.
I blinked, and the fight was done.
He slashed forward, the segments extending to me like a whip. With all the segments’ power, they slashed through my reinforced armor like it was butter, and they had an easier time with my shirt and my skin. Let me tell you, having about four or five separate, electrified blades run through your chest is not a fun experience. The first one was bad enough, but the others expanding the same wound was agony. At least the other ones had the decency to miss when I stumbled backward and clutched my oozing chest.
Exhausted, I collapsed to the ground, using my trembling arms to keep me somewhat upright. I knew it was training and I knew I was done, so I broke my armor down as a sign to Sven that I was tapping out. Blood seeped out of the wound on my chest, and all the motion caused a new wave of agony to radiate from my hip. My body twitched under the influence of the electricity. I didn’t even try to use my arms to keep my body propped up. I created an angled barrier to keep my body upright. Mostly.
“You did well today, Ethan. I’m proud of you.” Sven knelt down next to me, put my right arm over his shoulder, and pulled me to my feet. I managed to avoid whimpering like a kicked puppy. That was two points for me in training. One for tagging Sven and one for not bursting into tears as pain flared through my body.
“That’s a cool sword you have there,” I said. I had to grit my teeth with each breath I took. It felt like I was slowly pulling the chest wound open with each word, but I didn’t want to seem like I just got my ass kicked too hard now. “You’ll have to let me play with it one day.”
“Ha! You keep getting better and give me fits like that again, I might just have to.” Sven patted the sheathed weapon and smiled. “I’ll tell you how it works. It takes in the wielder’s power to enhance its effects. It’s sort of unique to the user and the power, so if you used it, it’d be completely different from what it is for me. The woman who gave it to me, the one I took over for, might as well have been wielding a completely different weapon.”
“It’s a promise then. When I beat you, I get to try out your sword.” I pathetically wheezed out some air as my hip tried its hardest to give out on me entirely.
“That’s a deal. Come on, let’s go get you patched up so you can start forcing me to make good on that promise.”