Sitting down opposite Shiri, Ranvir coughed into his hand. “So…” he sighed. “Could I postpone? A couple weeks, a month tops?”

Disappointment flashed on her face before she reined it in. Still, Ranvir felt the weight of dark blue leaden balls within himself, dragging the firmament of his mind to the ground along with them. Guilt weighed heavily.

“I’m sorry,” he said, hurrying to continue his explanation. “Leaving for a month left a lot of work that needs to be done. More work that is still to be done. Exercises that need to be managed. And it’s all to say, I don’t have enough time to…” he was flushed now, his cheeks feeling the flame, matching the pinkish red hues that flickered around the guilt-weights. “Do it properly.”

Shiri sighed and rested her hands on the table. “I get it,” she said, understanding radiating strongly from her. “You’re fine. A month, though. No more.”

Ranvir cleared his throat and nodded. I hope I didn’t just raise the bar too high in her mind.

They said their goodbyes, then wrangled awkwardly before she hugged him and he left.

----------------------------------------

Dovar grinned wide, walking alongside Ranvir toward the group of students gathering. Their training had gone excellently! He couldn’t believe how well they’d done. His grin didn’t even waver at seeing some of the more disagreeable faces. Mainly two of the Elusrians.

Currently, as fourth-years, they hadn’t seen the rampage Saleema went on within the academy and city. They’d still been fixing the damage when the two had started. While they hadn’t been constantly talking about the exercise, and Saleema, down, they had shown some disdain for the practice.

But Morphos and Kasos had dimmed their annoyance to tolerable levels. Unfortunately, Morphos had some business in Korfyi that he had to attend to. Some worry about the apparent unrest within the capital and bigger cities. He wasn’t too specific. Nor was it surprising that a man as old and strong as him had some assets worth looking into.

Amalia had called Kasos away. She was working on some theory-business and wanted his oversight. Part of some society the two were members of. Dovar hadn’t caught the specifics, and he assumed that was intentional.

“They seem… excited,” Ranvir said, his purple eyes narrowed thoughtfully. The move made the glow catch on his eyebrows. Under anything less than direct sunlight, the look could be quite dramatic. Perhaps a little silly, but always attention grabbing. Which spoke to the rest of his friend’s appearance as well.

Taller than at the academy, Ranvir still didn’t quite reach Dovar or Sansir’s height. He’d bulked out significantly, taking after his father. Broad shoulders and forearms were most noticeable to Dovar. His width was only emphasized by the huge gray wings that folded up behind him. The other bird feature, his arm, lent Ranvir a quite monstrous look that heard earned a few mutters of “flesh-torn.”

That went completely without mentioning the absolute muddle that was Ranvir’s presence to Dovar’s other senses. He’d begun evening out, but still felt a huge bundle of sand on top of a pit in space, all wrapped in a storm that presented as encompassing rather than a mountain or a hole.

The sensation had, on more than one occasion, given Dovar a headache. It was getting better each day. The sand aligning with the space-pit. Yet his weight was increasingly noticeable, only made more so by their time apart.

“Excited?” Dovar asked, turning to look back at the students. They were chattering with each other good-naturedly, except for a few of the Elusrians. Another had joined the two doubters, all three now stood with arms crossed, glaring their way. Dovar’s stomach filled with ice, dropping to the bottom. “Why?” he couldn’t help but ask. “They were so good before and now?”

Is it because Morphos and Kasos aren’t here anymore? Was it all them keeping them in check? I was just dressing up. Playing at leading. I was running around playing out a dream while the others kept the group in check. I’m such an idiot! How could I not see it?

“I’m sorry, Ranvir.” He had to clear his throat to overcome a rough patch in his voice. “I was so distracted by the practice, I guess I didn’t notice.” Imbecile.

Ranvir shook his head. “It’s different when you’re away. I’m sure you understand. Away from the school, the default is different. Everything is a little newer, a little more exciting. Even if you’ve done them before.” He smiled at Dovar. “It took me most of a year to acclimate to Korfyi, if you could call it that. And I’m feeling much the same returning here.”

You don’t have to protect me, Ranvir. I fucked up. Dovar shook his head to refute Ranvir, but his friend stepped forward and addressed the crowd.

“Well, let’s get right into it. Dovar’s been telling me about how hard you’ve been working and how far you’ve come. If even half the things he says are true, then I’ll be more than impressed.”

Dovar’s stomach tensed. He wouldn’t lie to Ranvir. He’s not saying I’m lying. Dovar thought, his stomach tying itself into a frozen knot. They are stepping forward. He shut his eyes and waited for them to speak. They are going to ruin everything.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“I don’t mean to sound rude, Sir,” the eldest of the Elusrians said. “But we’re not entirely certain you can match up to Saleema’s presence.” With his eyes closed, Dovar could hear one of the fourth-years muted mutter, yet he couldn’t detect who nor what he said. Not that he needed even that much of a clue.

“I’d tend to agree with you,” Ranvir said. “Most days, I think I could strike a fair deal with Saleema, but if she’s really on point. There’s no doubt she’d be a heavier weight than I.”

Dovar looked up, bewildered. “But-“ he cut off before continuing, seeing the slight smile on Ranvir’s face. A slight twitch on his lips, an unconscious move Ranvir often did when he was being smart. Or thought he was.

“I don’t intend to fight her at her best. Nor should you. If you can ever pick a fight, don’t do it when they are ready and waiting for you. Do it when they are unprepared, in their bed, or on the town.”

Dovar snorted to himself. You won’t have a choice in this one. An enemy that can move anywhere and get to anyone, yet has no vulnerable points herself. You’ll have to come to her when she wants and how she pleases. Dovar kept it to himself, however. Ranvir was reaching his point.

“But even then, if you can slow me down. Then you can slow her down. If you can stop me, then you can, at the very least, put a severe bump on her road.”

“We won’t need it for you, though,” One of the fourth-years shouted.

Unnecessary. The crowd was quiet enough that a someone speaking could’ve heard.

“You’ll fight me?” Ranvir asked, looking across the crowd, his eyes lingering on Estrid’s slightly subdued form. She blanched and took a step back. So did many other students.

Notable among them were the Korfiyans, who also muttered about “high-Urityons.” Whatever they were, Ranvir seemed to remind them of it.

“I’ll do it,” the fourth-year said.

The other stepped up and grinned, a smoke trail arching between his hands. “I’ll join him.”

The fifth-year who spoken for them first nodded as well. The last fifth-year stepped up as well, glancing at Estrid. “We stand by each other in the academy.”

Dovar winced and glanced away. He’d left the academy. Abandoned it like he did Asny and everyone else. He’d stuffed himself into a pit, wallowing in his own misery and—

Shaking his head, Dovar stepped back from Ranvir. It seemed they were going to get into their fight this time around. He couldn’t step up to stop it, at least. His gaze dropped to the grass and sighed.

“It’s not your fault,” Estrid whispered. As the crowd distanced itself from the combatant, she’d positioned herself next to him. “If you spend five years talking up young men about how important they are and how much their abilities will turn the fighting, they get cocky. Honestly, it’s impressive you don’t get worse.”

Dovar sighed and nodded. She was right, of course. If you were sending young men to a slaughter, they either needed unreasonable confidence or entirely lack a sense of self-preservation.

“The rules of the fight?” Ranvir asked. “You cannot use the training you did with Dovar over the last month.”

The others nodded. “Which one of us starts?” the smoke-tethered fourth-year asked.

“All of you.”

They frowned and stepped forward, but Ranvir simply shrugging and began counting down from ten. By the time he’d reached four, it seemed the youngest had built themselves into a charging fervor, tethers spinning up and ready for violence.

“And… go.”

Smoke-tethered took one step, then vanished in a purple blink. The others jumped and looked around. “Where’d he go?”

“Into a pocket-space,” Ranvir said nonchalantly. “Until I’m ready to fight him. Or he’s tired himself out. Or he runs out of air. Or maybe I’ll keep it until he rots. It doesn’t matter to you.” Disappearing in another flash, Ranvir’s clawed hand seized his head. Ranvir’s sudden forward momentum rocked the man off his feet. An intricate lace work flashed into the air behind the fourth-year, air narrowing to a point behind it.

Obsidian energies flashed through the fourth-year, reinforcing his body moments before impact. Ranvir buried him face-first to the shoulders in the soil. Dovar felt the impact through his feet.

How could he possibly do that? He could’ve killed him. Ranvir couldn’t have missed him not enforcing himself before the attack, right?

Dovar got no confirmation, though, because the fifth-year was on the attack. Ice flashing towards Ranvir. Yet the lace work appeared once more, though twisted. Or reversed. Ice slowed down until Ranvir dodged with a simple roll of his head.

The fifth-year gaped at him. “I was pushing. Hard.” Space shrunk and Ranvir buried a fist in his stomach. Gasping and wide-eyed, he fell to his knees, clutching his stomach. The man gagged once, but held on to his food.

“I surrender,” the last fifth-year said, dropping to his knees.

“Coward,” the fourth-year obsidian groaned, pulling himself out of the hole. His face was red, a bruise already forming on his face. He squinted at them all, only then seeming to realize he was the only one left. Dropping his gaze and shutting his eyes, he gave up as well.

A flash of purple dropped the last tethered into their impromptu arena. He landed on his back, thudding solidly into the hard, cold soil. Winded and flailing, he turned to look for Ranvir, yet couldn’t. Neither could Dovar, he realized.

It took a scan of his tether-sense to even realize where he was. Right in front of the smoke-tethered. He’d folded space around himself, without fully closing it off. It wasn’t a subtle technique and would do little to actually hide him, Dovar thought.

The smoke-tethered finally used his own senses and startled. Ranvir reached out and flung him through a field of shrunken space. The casual toss sent him flying half a dozen meters and rolling across the hard grass.

“And that’s just using space mana,” Ranvir said, appearing behind the smoke-tethered. “There is a reason these methods were developed in the first place,” space stretched above the kid’s head. Dovar could see him straining to look up or turn, yet he couldn’t produce the effort required. “Some enemies simply grow too powerful or skilled to throw numbers at.”

“I yield.” The last student grunted, and space returned to normal.

“Fantastic! Let’s get to practicing, shall we?”

Dovar stared at the man before him. That he could call Ranvir friend must’ve been a mistake. Not one he would ever correct, however. Ranvir had moved so far beyond the kid he’d met in the academy. He was hardly human at all anymore. With only the powers of first-stage, Ranvir had defeated four students with almost as much practice and way more power.

Dovar wasn’t worthy of the attention Ranvir had given to him, he realized then. The respect and honor he’d been shown by simple lectures and caring touches. He hadn’t seen before, but he did now.

Ranvir smiled at him as the students arranged themselves according to their formation. Ranvir smiled and Dovar knew things were going to be okay.