The next few days were more of the same, Linley and I got up trained, took a small break to eat, trained some more and then went to sleep. One morning was different though, when I woke up Linley was gone, usually he would leave for a couple of minutes; however, this time he was gone longer than usual. Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep I got up and crawled out of the area that we had fallen asleep in. When I was able to I stretched my body, and just as I was about to rub my eyes I saw Linley standing in the middle, in the open, staring up at the roof. At first I thought that he was looking for Grünvolk, so I just shook off the bad feeling I had and rubbed my eyes. However, when my vision became clear I didn’t see Grünvolk or anything for that matter around Linley.

Cautiously I walked up to him and made sure that I didn’t disturb him. Once I stood next to him I looked up, but all I saw nothing. ‘Hmmm… should I try to snap him out of whatever he’s under? But If I do he may seriously harm me… Or I could wake him up from a rem sleep that made him sleep walk.’ Thinking that the section option was the best I shook Linley by his shoulders and tried to wake him up. But he just stood there. It was as if he couldn’t even hear me. I tried again but this time I shook him harder and yelled louder at him. Again he just stood there as if I didn’t exist.

When I was about to reach over and shake him again Linley said, “I heard you the first time. I just chose to finish my train of thought before I answer you.”

“What were you thinking about?”

“That doesn’t concern you. Why are you out of bed, you need to be sleeping.”

“I was worried about you, you didn’t come back and I started to think that something bad happened to you.”

“Well you don’t have to worry. Go back to sleep everything’s fine.”

I shrugged and said, “alright, if you say so.” I leaned forward to give Linley a hug goodnight but he stepped back so fast that I couldn’t even get near him. I just waved goodnight at him while I walked away instead.

When I got back I laid down on the ground and attempted to go back to sleep. Right when I was just about asleep my dream would come back, where I was killing Linley, so that entire night I didn’t get any sleep.

In the morning Linley shoot me and said, “It’s time for training. Unless you’re too tired for training today?”

With a sign I sat up and answered, “Nope I’m good.”

“Good.” Linley got up and waited for me to get my lazy butt up to begin training. I finally only had one step in my training to control before I was truly ready. That was to burn my enemies. I did not know how Linley would train me for this, but after my dream I did not want to cause an accident and burn him to death.

“Alright I want you to try and burn me.”

“Wait what?”

“Don’t worry my magic will protect me like it did last time.”

“Ummmm okay….” I raised my hands and did what I did when I was in front of the army, I imagined Linley burning. However, when I opened my eyes nothing had happened.

“It is one thing to see your magic it is another to use it.” After a slight pause Linley said, “Just do what you did last time.”

Lowering my head, I said, “But I don’t remember what I did last time.”

“Well you’re going to have to, and fast.”

“Awe, alright.”

The day passed and still I had not succeeded in burning Linley. As I got ready to go to sleep that night I felt like such a failure that I fell asleep crying. That night had a relatively peaceful sleep that is until I woke up in the middle of the night and Linley was missing again. Thinking that he wouldn’t want me to be around again I ignored my sudden panic for him and fell asleep again.

The next time I woke up I knew that I had overslept but Linley was still nowhere to be seen. My panic feeling started to kick in and I got up to start my search for him. It was only a few feet away that I saw Linley standing still looking up again. I walked up to him and asked what he was doing, but when he didn’t answer I decided to tap him on his shoulder.

He suddenly grabbed my hand tight, causing me to jump, and slowly slid my hand down his arm. Once our hands reached his other hand his free hand grabbed my left hand and wrapped my arm around my head. Then he swiftly spun me around and pulled me into himself. He gently wrapped his arms around me and embraced me from behind. Before I knew what was happening he brushed my hair off one of my shoulder and whispered something in my ear. I was so turned on that I did not hear what he said. I just leaned backwards, placed my head on his right shoulder and closed my eyes.

Quietly I kept hearing Linley asking, “You ready for training?” The question kept getting louder and louder beside my head.

When the question was a scream inside of my head I opened my eyes and found Linley no longer behind me but standing in front of me waiting for my answer.

Shaking my head, I asked, “What?”

“Are. You. Ready. For. Training? How many time do I have to ask you? Gosh woman.”

My head was still fuzzy from what must have been my dream. ‘Or was it real? If it was real, how could Linley be acting like nothing happened? I guess I’ll just have to act like nothing happened too.’

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The days went on, one by one, and by the time I was able to burn Linley he was more annoyed than anything. "I thought you were special, but clearly I was wrong."

Grünvolk came the next day and sat on a nearby rock.

As Linley and the dragon talked, about gosh knows what, I just crawled back into our cave for the night and attempted to go back to sleep. Before long Linley drug me out of the cave and said, "There is no time for sleep if you want to become like the great possessor. You want that don't you?"

"Of course. But..."

"There is no buts in training. It's bad enough that you sleep 4 hours a day, you don't need more than that. If you were really dedicated, you wouldn't even need that much."

"I didn't ask for this, so I'm sorry if I need sleep."

Linley stuck out his hand in front of me to stop me from talking and said, "Anyways Grünvolk told me that if you could burn him, like you did with me, then you would be ready to enter the door."

"Is that even possible?"

"Who knows, but there's only one way to find out."

'He’s gotta be out of his mind, but if this is part of my training I better do it' I thought. Trying not to show my fear of the situation, I took a deep breath and with all of the pride that I had I walked up to the dragon curled up in front of me. Following the same procedure that I had done a hundred times before, I raised my hand and carefully aimed my magic at the dragon.

Although unlike the other times when I opened my eyes nothing happened, as if the dragon had repelled or absorbed the heat that had surrounded it moments ago. This time I thought of trying to use my magic with my eyes open, it had less power but this time I could see what the dragon was doing with my magic. This time as my magic was carefully aimed at the dragon the most unusual thing happened. It didn't absorb the heat nor did it repel it; it just disappeared into thin air the moment it left my hands. I tried this several more time, growing more frustrated with every time, until I finally gave up and looked up with Linley with sad eyes. I had finally given up.

"Don’t give me those eyes. It's not that hard, you just have to really focus" Linley said.

"I can't... I tried and I failed."

"If you would have given up every time you didn't get your magic on the first try than we wouldn't be nearly as far as we are now. Just try one more time and if you still can't focus than I'll leave you alone; magic wise."

After some self-convincing I finally decided to try it one more time. So I placed my hands out in front of me. This time; however, instead of seeing Grünvolk burning I thought of the one thing that brought me on this journey. That single thought gave me enough strength that I was able to completely smother Grünvolk with flames.

Impressed Linley smiled and said, "Wow where were you hiding that power?"

Unsure I answered, "I don't actually know, I just kind of came to me."

"Remember that feeling next time."

Grünvolk gracefully jumped off of the rock that he had been sitting on and came crashing his way towards me. When he was right in front of me he stood as tall and proud as he could. His head slowly nodded at me and for once I could understand what he was saying. Even though he wasn't talking I could hear a deep husky voice talking inside of my head. "Now that you have passed the final test you are now able to enter the door of eternal souls." He took a giant step sideways and said, "Good luck." He flapped his wings and flew off into the distance. Linley asked what Grünvolk said, but before I could answer the rock that Grünvolk was sitting on slid backwards and exposed a florescent pink hallway.

I looked at the pink hallway, then at Linley, back to the hallway and then back at Linley. With a hopeful smile on my face I asked, “Is that the door of eternal souls?”

“No, this is only the hallway that leads to the door.”

With disappointment I sighed and said, “Oh.”

Linley placed his hand on my shoulder and said with a smile, “Don’t worry we’ve got this. You trust me?”

“You’ve got me this far so I have no choice but to count on you.”

With a fake smile Linley said, “That’s the spirit.”

He patted my back and we started walking towards the hallway.

Once we were inside the rock came to a crashing close behind us.

Linley turned to me and said, “Well I guess there’s no turning back now.”

I didn’t say anything to him, I just kept walking down the hallway, hoping that nothing would jump out at us. After being in silent for a significant amount of time the sound of blowing wind could be faintly heard as we kept walking down the hallway. The further we walked the louder it got.

Until we reached a door. Observing the door, I asked Linley, “Is this the door of eternal souls?” I could see surprise on his face, like he had never seen the door before.

He answered with a slight nod.