Three hundred ninety-four yards to fill the entire lap seems daunting, especially running through the entire perimeter for a non-athletic. Xavier has a solution. He and Daniel together jogged and sprinted through the entire field on the first lap.
“Are you breathing?!”
“Barely! And I'm about to tell you why, look!” Xavier pointed at his aura. “The aura is like the sun. And I'm the plant. I take the source from the sun and fuel my stamina. Now you try it!”
Ah well, no harm done!
Daniel flexed his arms, summoning his aura.
“Let your body absorb some of it!” Xavier yelled.
The two sped up, finishing the second lap in over a minute in advance. Mother Elaine rested at the center of the field, spectating the two.
Daniel felt his lungs relaxed and his legs calmed themselves from punching in the outside from the constant footwork. Xavier would fire himself in front of him, forcing Daniel to dodge away from the room. He was about to yell at him for blocking his distance, but figured to do the same. Using the car as a placement, he mimicked the gas pedal with his mind. Subconsciously, he pushed the pedal and applied the pressure to his enlarged thighs.
He knows Xavier can feel the surge about to crash his back if he doesn't move. Here it comes, you bastard. Daniel raged through while grinning. Xavier didn't move as he sped up from feet's worth to barely inches away.
“Hey, I'm about to hit your feet!!”
“You wouldn't dare!”
Daniel reacted by attempting a jump with a tip away. He swirled mid-air, passing Xavier, and felt a bit of a pinch coming from his aura striking around the torso. The breeze generated from the leap flowed parallel to his body from the neck down like a massage, canceling out the pinch earlier. Instinctively, he quickly landed hundreds of feet ahead of Xavier, continuing the remaining lap. He glanced back, finding quite a distance away from him, and could hardly believe it. Jumping that high is such a feat. Thus, he changed trajectories by knocking himself up into the air while maintaining constant speed until his feet understood him. I ain’t stopping now!
They went through another lap, and Xavier reached up to his shoulders, signaling he timed out. He detoured before Daniel could react and met up with Mother Elaine, now sitting down on the grass floor. Daniel glanced at her when he turned around the corner. Her back is straight as a ruler with eyes closed in a downward position. Xavier sat directly behind her and performed a sequence of synchronous hand gestures, ending with both palms thrust to her back.
Focus, get back to work!
Daniel continued through the laps continuously, hopping while sprinting. Gradually, his feet became itchy, and the calves self-tightened where he had to pull the brake, drifting along the path. The soles of the shoes ground through the grass, leaving an unpleasant scratching noise. Turn for the worst, the noise hoarded and the speed from the shoes as he drifted ignited a trail of flames. Watch out! He grunted when he reached the other end of the sidelines. He twisted his knees to the left and articulated the entire body to turn. But significantly more effort and harder. The flames reached up to the hinds of his shoes, setting them on fire. The warmth swirl of heat faintly blew to his back.
He still kept going despite the risk of catastrophic damage was rising. And suddenly, by the half of the current lap, hot air ground his entire feet. The dressing shoes' leather peeled off fast, exposing his entire feet without a remnant of the socks. Quickly, the hot air overwhelmed his entire feet. Similar to having a hair dryer blowing your hair, but pinpointed at both feet. Daniel expected his feet to be toasted by any minute now, only to take a turn. At the next corner, he was about to arrive, the same hot air redirected upwards from the sole of his feet. He jolted upward, followed by a massive force hitting one of the pressure points. It reached to his knees, and he jumped, viewing the neighborhood.
Everything stopped. The constant hot air is all he felt only at Daniel’s feet. It was silent except for a slight wind reaching to his ear. He looked down and saw the entire damaged football field beneath his feet.
Holy fuck. I finally did it. Daniel’s heart pounded with excitement and joy upon realizing he had finished the task.
Bamf!
Daniel turned around to see Xavier hovering behind him with a smile and a slight cringe. “Until you never surprise me again, I’ll keep asking the same question. What the hell are you?”
“Hey, you said we can’t leave until we can fly. Is that true?” Daniel asked and gave a slight grin when Xavier’s face grew tender, knowing his mind was conflicting. He offered no words other than pointing back to the field.
“You left a mess!”
“That could give the owners the attention.”
“I didn't know you were so disregarding.”
“That's not important.” Daniel relaxes his foot, descending carefully. Bringing back the car analogy, he nudged back briefly before reaching to the ground.
He met up with Mother Elaine again, who just opened her eyes.
“How long did I last?” She looked at Xavier.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Around fifteen minutes,” uncertain Xavier said.
Daniel checked his watch and was grateful for the military-grade design, as he could see the tiny gears continue to operate. Damn. He checked the sky-blue sky, catching the sun nearly directly above the center. “It's about to be noon. Less than an hour left till noon.”
“Be specific.”
“Twenty-five till twelve.”
“I’m calling the shots,” Mother Elaine said, wanting a break and hungry.
Daniel sighed, pleased that he could fly, and asked her if she wanted him to lift her.
“Don't kill me.”
Daniel grinned, “I won't.”
He told her to hop on and would lead the way, as he needed new footwear before getting lunch. “My place has another spare room if you want,” Daniel offered the last bedroom in the house.
“Please, that’s too much…I’m fine.”
“I insist. And no, cause you trained us, I will give you a place in return. Fair deal?”
“Darn, do I even have a choice?”
Daniel shook his head, and Mother Elaine climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms around his chest. He slightly bent his knees, summoning the hot air, and launched into the air with his feet blasting the air downwards in the fashion of a rocket booster.
Xavier followed behind, and Daniel sped up, feeling the swarm of gusts hitting his face. Slowly, he got used to it, and he subsequently raised the speed. Eventually, arriving back home and carefully descending to the driveway.
“Nice.” He muttered, setting Mother Elaine down, and she headed inside first.
7.2
Not only the residents of the city are curious. Also, the consistent training for the past three consecutive weeks triggered the trend of so-called “Light Pillars.”
Day and night, many of the tower-height pillars of qi take place across different time intervals. Mainly during the night when the city doesn’t miss. Unprecedented was when Colemond set up tourist sightings across elevated grounds in their borders.
The same route, Daniel flew from his house to the field with the hill relatively on its left, geographically southwest of Colemond. From the air, the view is close in between, but the angle up on the hill’s plateau altered the perceptions of viewers, making the distance of the field where Daniel and the other two stood much more difficult to perceive. According to the news, the overall reaction admired the vivid colors in the sky, ignoring an answer to solve the mysterious phenomenon.
Daniel scrambled around the field after finishing a duel with Mother Elaine, unloading his magazine from his custom-made handgun. He stepped across an ankle-height worth of empty cartridges scattered a few feet around.
Mother Elaine’s aura vanished. “Was that a draw?”
“No, you made a couple of points higher than I did.”
Daniel pointed at Xavier, raising two fingers at Mother Elaine’s side.
“Three hundred dollars down in the drain today. I think you got a fair grasp of how our perception is, right?”
Xavier approached the two and summoned paper through his hand. He reviewed their scores that were printed on top of the paper. “After three sessions, I got a full summary. Both of you have similar accuracy and precision. The same result for qi boosted. However, she gets the extra points for the blitz shots in the last couple of seconds. Well done.”
“Score!” Mother Elaine blurted and jumped in joy.
Daniel felt a mix of disappointment and joy that he did well, but missed by a few numbers over her. At least he took the place of martial arts and qi control, which he extremely focused dearly on.
Xavier then stared up at Daniel with a few glances before commenting on his new, towering presence. He doesn't feel that different. Keeping his entire body active during training made the mobility changes unnoticeable. However, daily life was a drastic change. One of them was he had only driven the Dodge Challenger less than five times in the past three weeks. So he had to take one day off of training to buy a Ford pickup, now his daily. Xavier originally was almost equal to him. Then Daniel ascended a significant amount, leaving Xavier aligned to his shoulder.
Mother Elaine too transformed. She had constantly eaten various foods rich in packed vitamins and nutrients to normalize her new physical change. Daniel recommended it, and she forced her way to adapt to his cuisine style. Took her a week, and she never ate an average breakfast of toast or only coffee again. All unorthodox styles of food, but it reached the goal of her new intake of two to five thousand calories a day. As a result, her triceps and biceps enlarged, mimicking two solid stones pressured side-by-side. Her bottom down to the calves gained muscularity, making it difficult to wear tights or leggings. Therefore, she switched to green cargo trousers equipped with her boots. She closely took Daniel’s prior transformed height, nearly gaining a foot.
To be fair, nobody might recognize the two. They had not kept contact with close ones or friends, keeping the communication between each other and Xavier. Daniel wondered what his interns and Rebecca were up to and the notifications were entirely disabled. Xavier suggested abstaining from any communication or socializing through mobile devices. The hangover lasted for a day at most, and it slipped away at ease. In fair trade, their minds felt calmer.
The three concluded by taking a brief meditation. They channeled qi around their body to catch all the negative ailments and exerted it all out, disposing of the impurities. Once they opened their eyes, the sunset in the horizon. Daniel then remembered, “You promised you will tell us the story of your world. Is it now the time?”
“I was getting there. In that case, where are we heading for dinner?”
“Each a two-pound steak with two bowls of sides?”
“Steak Rice Bowl.” Mother Elaine desired for one. “We have not had one in a long while.”
Daniel asked Mother Elaine about the amount of servings for dinner, and she lifted three fingers. In addition, Xavier responded three as well.
“What? When did you even become a glutton?!”
“Hey? I can’t miss the opportunity of having the food here. Back home is all scarce and luxurious. Why can’t I have the chance?!.”
Daniel stood, naturally an outcast from the duo’s constant banter. It was already been almost a month, and it felt like almost nothing had happened. Every noon and before the end of the shift. It’s been a wild ride. He looked around himself and immediately came by the negativity sneaking in. Left him irritated, as if it came to taunt him. How can I forget that bastard? Just want this over already.
“Oi!” Mother Elaine yelled from afar. She and Xavier were already waiting for him. She held her stomach as Daniel walked closer after he heard her grumbling stomach quite a distance.
The three departed from the football field, mindfully sending farewells before flying away.