Kai evaded another sword strike. He had been enduring a never-ending onslaught of training from Elara these past few days. If it weren’t for his martial training, he would have already collapsed from the sheer intensity of Elara’s assault.

The difference between their combat skills was staggering. Kai had thought he was pretty adept at combat after years of training at the temple, but he couldn’t hold a candle to Elara’s technique. In their first training session, Elara used her Aetherbinding, but this was too much for Kai, so now they were training purely on physical might.

“You have to move faster, Kai,” Elara said, annoyed at the lack of progress. “In the trials, I won’t always be there to protect you, so you’ll have to be able to save yourself.” Elara swung her blade down on Kai, who quickly evaded.

But Elara didn’t give him an opening, immediately retaliating with another swing. “We still have three more days until the trials... we’ll be fine,” Kai said, already out of breath from the gruelling training.

Elara feinted a sword strike, and out of instinct, Kai tried to dodge, only to get hit by the pommel of her sword. Kai fell flat on his back. “At this pace, we’ll never win the trials,” Elara said as she sheathed her sword and turned around to grab the waterskin lying on the side.

Kai’s chest was moving up and down, his breath laboured. “The trials... aren’t only about... fighting,” he barely said. Elara handed him the waterskin, and he started gulping down the water. “It’s also about strategy. We won’t win by tiring ourselves out initially,” he said, handing back the waterskin.

With a defeated sigh, Elara sat down. Her attitude hadn’t changed in the past few days. To Kai, she seemed frustrated with him because he couldn’t keep up with her. It only strengthened his resolve to prove himself to her, but how? Except for his mind, he had nothing.

His martial arts skills were mediocre at best, and without any Aetherbinding skills to complement them, the trials would be a genuinely harrowing experience for him. If only he had been someone of familial stature like Elara, he could have measured up to her.

Elara also hadn’t talked much, except for the constant berating of his abilities. Their training for the trials seemed to drive them apart instead of bringing them closer. “Enough rest, continue,” Elara stated.

“I need another minute,” Kai said as he gathered his thoughts and resolve.

“You’ve had your minute. We have no time to waste. Get up,” she said, her words becoming more venomous and spiteful by the minute.

“Why are you berating me like this?” he blurted out, his tiredness affecting his thoughts.

“Why am I berating you like this?” she retorted back. “Because I’ve been paired with nobody who thinks he can win this game purely because he wants it enough. Let me remind you, this is the real world and not some fairytale you seem to live in.”

This remark set off Kai, his frustration boiling over. “Fairytale! Sorry that my life wasn’t given to me on a silver platter like yours. I didn’t receive a noble heritage like yours, so why are you measuring me to your standards?” he hissed back.

By this point, Elara was fuming. “My life wasn’t given to me on a ‘silver platter’ either. Do you have any idea what it’s like to live under a curse, to be shunned by everyone you meet?” she exclaimed, and a silence fell over the room.

Kai, taken aback by her outburst, saw a glimpse of the vulnerability behind her tough exterior. They both stood there for a moment, breathing heavily, the weight of their words hanging heavily in the air.

Elara’s eyes softened slightly as she looked away. “You’re not the only one with something to prove, Kai,” she said quietly, almost to herself.

“Sorry,” Kai’s anger slowly subsided. “I guess we both have our battles.”

With a sigh, Elara looked at him with a more resigned expression. “Let’s start over again,” she said. “This time, I won’t use the sword, and I’ll fight you in hand-to-hand combat using Aetherbinding.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Kai walked in front of Elara, facing her. They both got into their stances, ready to continue their training. Without warning, Elara clenched her fists, and small flames flickered around her hands as she immediately went for a punch.

Kai could barely evade the punch, its speed faster than the blade coming his way before. Elara’s fiery strikes were approaching him with incredible speed, and he could barely keep up with them.

However, as Kai got used to the rhythm of her attacks, he became more fluid and evaded them. The room’s temperature seemed to increase when Elara used her power. It was a constant reminder of the power she wielded.

Something had changed in Elara’s fighting style compared to before, but Kai couldn’t quite grasp what it was. Then Elara punched particularly fast, but Kai managed to dodge it, and for the first time, he saw a small smile on her face. “Better,” she said, her tone less harsh.

Elara’s strikes were unrelenting, but there was a shift in her approach. Before, she was focused on trampling over him with all her might. Now, she seemed to be trying to teach him, pushing him to find his limits and surpass them.

He also seemed to notice something from Elara’s attacks. Whenever she went for a powerful punch, her flames flickered in a certain way and became more intense. In a way, he could read every time she went for an attack.

But he couldn’t stay on the defensive; eventually, he would tire out and lose. He needed to find an opening and attack. The problem was that he didn’t know when. Elara’s attacks didn’t leave any room for retaliation.

So, the only way he could get an opening was to create one himself. He feigned a stumble, making it look like he was off balance. Elara took the bait, lunging forward with a decisive strike. In that split second, Kai sidestepped and used her momentum to his advantage, finding the needed opening.

Kai then punched her in the gut, but to his surprise, she had blocked it with her other arm. Elara hit Kai on the side of his head with her fist, and Kai fell to the floor. Flabbergasted, he lay on the ground.

“You did well,” Elara said. She extinguished the flames around her hands and held her hand out to help him up.

“Dammit,” Kai sighed.

“It was a little obvious, but you’re improving. Maybe not all hope is lost,” she spoke.

“I think I’m starting to grasp how Aetherbinding works. It’s so hard to understand when you can’t use it yourself,” he said.

“What did you notice?” Elara asked, almost as if she already knew the answer.

“Every time you went for a powerful punch, the flames around your hand seemed to telegraph the strength and speed of the attack. That’s why it became easier to evade your punches,” he answered.

“Good. As Aetherbinders, we control Aether, and binding it to our body to use it in an attack increases the amount around our body. We call it aura when it surrounds us in this way. This aura is invisible to non-Aetherbinders but can be seen through the reaction when Aether is turned into an element,” Elara explained in detail.

“So, you’re saying I saw the change in your aura?” he asked.

“Exactly. It’s a tricky thing to notice, so I telegraphed it more than I would usually do. But with enough practice, you might be able to read the aura of others, too,” she confirmed.

This excited Kai; he could hold a candle to Aetherbinders now. “I was wondering, Elara, and I hope you don’t mind me asking, but who taught you to Aetherbind?”

“It does seem fair to tell you,” Elara took a little time. “My parents, they taught me the basics before they died to the curse,” she said, the pain behind her words evident. “The rest I had to learn myself, and I practised daily.”

“Curse?” Kai asked.

“It’s a long story. I don’t want to talk about it,” she said as she returned to her cold and harsh self.

“That’s okay,” Kai said. “My parents died too, you know.” When he said that, Elara looked him in the eyes, almost sceptically. “I never knew them; they died when I was young. They only left me the shabby hut that I call home. If it wasn’t for the people around me, I would’ve died.”

Elara stayed quiet, not knowing how to respond.

“When I was old enough, I tried to repay them by becoming an Aetherbinder to gain a lot of money for them. But as you know, things didn’t quite work out. So, I ended up at an obscure temple.”

“I barely learned any martial arts there. They mostly made us punch the air daily and do chores,” Kai said with a chuckle. “But I learned a lot there, not about martial arts.”

As he said that, Elara gave him a wry look.

“No, not like that!” Kai added quickly, seeing the misunderstanding in her eyes. “What I mean is, they taught me discipline, patience, and strategy. They said the mind is the most powerful weapon.”

Elara raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smile on her lips. “Then what did you learn?”

Kai laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Discipline, patience, and strategy. They taught me how to think ahead and how to plan and adapt. They said the mind is the most powerful weapon.”

Elara’s expression softened slightly. “I suppose there’s truth to that. Aetherbinding isn’t just about raw power; it’s about control and precision.”

Kai nodded, feeling that they were finally starting to form a bond—something that would be crucial in the coming trials. “Exactly. Your Aetherbinding and my strategy might just be the perfect combination.”

Elara’s face turned serious again. “Don’t get cocky. Overconfidence will only lead to your death. We should get back to training. We only have so much time until the trial, and I have so much to drill into you.”

Kai nodded. “I’m ready. Let’s make these last days count.”