Thorne followed Zal out of the dorm and into the teleporter. “Do you know where the class is?” he asked, realizing that the schedule didn’t list a location for the training session.
“Oh yeah, you wouldn’t know. It's just in the amber training building; there's a different training building for each spectrum.” Zal responded as the pair walked toward the teleporter.
“All right, let's go,” Zal said as the two stepped onto the indigo platform. Space warped, and they were gone from the dorm in a blink.
“God Damn,” Thorne grumbled as he clutched his stomach and stumbled off the platform.
Zal snorted as he walked with ease past Thorne. “You’re still not used to it?”
Quickly gathering himself, Thorne followed Zal and surveyed the space they had been teleported to. It was an ample, singular space that was almost like a warehouse in its design. It stretched for what looked to be miles, and thousands of different people were training in designated squares. Some were sparring, while others were seated and listening to lectures.
Zal walked with assured steps, and after no time at all, the duo walked to the end of the large room. In this area, nearly no students were training, and only the distant sounds of training could be heard. The amber walls devoid of windows should have made the room feel claustrophobic, or at least confining, but Thorne instead felt…welcome. It was like the room was beckoning him forward, inviting him to train and practice his neglected amber spectrum.
‘This is gonna be fun.’ He smiled slightly, anticipating the growth his amber spectrum would receive. ‘I've never really trained under such a powerful figure unless you count the three days in the sandpit.’ Thorne shuddered. Those three days had been terrible, and he would barely classify them as training.
‘Well, let's just hope that Master Graald is a good teacher.’ He thought as he and Zal waited patiently for the grade three Master to show up.
Thorne still didn’t have a personal tech device. Thus, he couldn’t track the time, and could only wait in silence–oblivious to the whereabouts of Master Graald.
He was on the verge of asking Zal the time as they had been waiting for so long when, in the distance of the large room, he spotted a burly figure slowly walking towards them.
As Master Graald got closer, Thorne noticed that he was smiling wide, and looking directly at Zal.
“Hello Zal, I do hope that you haven’t been neglecting your training since we've stopped our sessions.” He spoke in a warm tone, as he smiled wide.
“Of course not, Master,” Zal answered, bowing, a small grin on his face.
“Oh, and welcome to the amber training room Thorne.” The Master spoke, his smile disappearing slightly, “This is your first time here, correct?”
“Yes, it is Master Graald,” Thorne responded, looking directly into the master’s eyes.
“Good, then let's not wait for too long, I believe we have some torture to begin.” Master Graald spoke, his voice full of mirth as he blinked at Zal. Shivering, Zal nodded and followed after the master.
‘Well, this is going to be fun.’ Thorne sighed, ‘It seems that both Graald and Khal have similar training philosophies. They’re both sadists.
The small group walked toward a small circle on the floor, “Zal, get in the circle and participate in your normal training.” Graald spoke.
Zal heaved a deep breath, and a small, relieved smile flitted across his face as he bowed to Master Graald and did as he said.
“Now for you.” Master Graald threw a complicated glance at Thorne, “It seems that I will have to teach you the basics of the Amber spectrum because of that demon.”
Thorne nodded along despite his confusion and didn’t dare interrupt Master Graald. ‘Is he talking about Master Khal?’ He thought.
“But for now, tell me what you know about the amber spectrum boy.”
Thorne thought for a second, taken aback by the broadness of the question, “Uhm, I know it can be used to heal, protect, and reinforce the user.” He answered, his brow furrowing in confusion as he responded to the question.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Yes,” Master Graald nodded, “Now say for example you sustain a heavy wound, how would you heal that?”
“By…” Thorne thought back to what he did in the past, “By agitating the energy as much as possible and sending it all to the injury.”
“Wrong!” Master Khal cut out, glaring at Thorne, “The amber spectrum should never be agitated, I know that you have been confused due to your interactions with Master Khal and his teaching of destruction, but the amber energy should never be agitated.”
Thorne looked up at the master and pursed his lips. He was confused by Master Graald’s explosive reaction but didn’t react, and instead opted to simply listen intently to the master’s words.
“The amber spectrum should be like a machine.” Master Graald continued, “It must be calm and orderly. If you maintain your energy circulation at a controlled pace, you will never have to heal an injury.” The massive master glared at Thorne under his eyebrows, “Because you will never be injured.”
Thorne thought about Master Graald’s words for a second, but remained unsure of what he meant, “But what if the attack overpowers the-.”
Looking at him, Master Graald held up his hand to stop Thorne from speaking, “No no no no.” He chided, “You are thinking of this all wrong.” Master Graald then held out his hand and materialized a glass of water in it from his spatial storage, “Think of it like this.” He started, “If there's a fire, water is needed to put it out, right?”
Thorne nodded.
“But you can't just dump a bucket of water all at once onto the fire unless, of course it’s a very small fire.” He continued and dumped the whole glass of water on the floor. Thorne nodded along, still uncertain of the point Master Graald was trying to make, “The water must be controlled, you have to actively and continuously pump it out at a steady pace.” Master Graald demonstrated, and slowly poured another glass of water. “This is because if you dump it all at once, some fire may remain unchecked, and then what? You have no more water, so you can't do anything.”
Master Graald then scratched his chin, and looked out into the distance, "If I remember correctly from the files on your world, you had workers known as firefighters, yes?"
Thorne nodded.
"And how did they stop the fire?" he asked, a small smile on his face.
Thorne’s eyes widened as he nodded slowly in comprehension.
“Instead of just shooting one massive spurt of agitated energy at the wound, or at the area you want to defend, you have to systematically reinforce It with steady, and calm discipline.” Master Graald concluded, looking directly into Thorne’s eyes, “I know it is the direct opposite of red energy and may be difficult to understand, but I want you to learn how to properly by the end of the three days.”
The monstrous Master Graald then smiled slightly, and a wooden pole manifested in his hand. “Let's begin, boy.”
“What do you me-”, Thorne was about to say, “AGH.” He grunted in pain as the heavy pole collided with his stomach.
Thorne jumped back—ready for combat—and withdrew his swords.
“Uh, uh, uh.” Master Graald tutted, a devilish smile on his face as he watched Thorne. “No weapons. You endure the hits until you can control your amber energy correctly, understood boy?”
Thorne looked at the Master, incredulous, but he did as Graald said, and returned his swords to the spatial storage. Sighing, Thorne trudged forward and braced himself.
“Here we go.” Master Graald shouted, grinning wider than Thorne thought possible.
----------------------------------------
‘Fucking bastard.’ Thorne grimaced as he limped out of the training building with Zal. His whole body had been assaulted without reprieve for the entire duration of the session.
He had been hit again and again. At times, he would try to protect his head with his hands or arms, and Master Graald would just laugh and hit his leg or chest. It was just as the amber Master had said; it was torture, and unfortunately, Thorne was forced to endure it.
“Hah!” Zal looked over at him, laughing, “You're lucky.”
Wincing as he walked, Thorne threw a dark look over at Zal, “Oh yeah, I'm lucky.” He bit out.
In response, a grinning Zal just held up three fingers and walked off, shaking his head in mirth while chuckling. Thorne tried to catch up to the departing man, but the uninjured Zal far outpaced the bruised and battered Thorne.
‘Ah, whatever.’ Thorne sighed as he continued limping at his lurching pace. ‘At least I get an hour to rest and heal before the next training session. Though…’ Thorne trailed off in his head. ‘Despite the pain, this training is worth it.’
Throughout the duration of the beating, Thorne had focused intensely on the words of Master Graald. Initially, in the first couple of minutes, he had reverted to what he knew best and shot ineffective bursts of energy at the location of the injury. This only resulted in a stopgap being created, and no real defense was put up.
Thorne realized throughout the training one important lesson; for the red spectrum wildness and savagery were good, while for the amber spectrum in was the opposite. Instead, what was needed was a steady foundation, and this foundation came from steady control of the amber energy, contrary to the volatile mess which was red energy.
‘It's just as Master Graald said.’ Thorne sighed, ‘If only I realized that sooner.’ Due to his lack of understanding, and use of the quickie bursts of ineffective amber energy, Master Graald has just beaten him with more vigor.
At the end of the session, he had caught on a bit, to the point where he mostly failed at controlling his energy to a satisfactory level. ‘Though this is good,’ Thorne realized, ‘After all, I mostly failed. Give me three days, and let's see then how much I fail then.’