Training
We sit in silence for a bit enjoying the serenity of the moment, but eventually boredom wins over, and I stand, summoning my ice sword with a familiar shimmer of blue light.
Slyvie doesn't say anything, just watches me as I walk out into the open space of the room and take a swing.
Sylvie stares at me, her face shifting from calmness to utter shock to eventually a loud laugh.
"Look alright. I know it's bad." I say smiling despite myself.
"Bad?" she laughs "you look like a drunk farmer. How'd you even kill the minotaur so easily?"
"Ummmm… power?" I pause "oh yeah, and speed."
She stares at me, laughing.
"How can someone so strong be so fucking stupid?"
She's barely able to get the words about between fits of laughter.
"Since you're so confident in your form, why don't you come show me how it's done?" I ask, challengingly.
"Oh yeah? Maybe I will."
She stands up, pulling a curved dagger out of her shadow. The blade is stained with dry blood, and radiates an almost evil aura.
I blink "Hold up. Did you just pull that out of your shadow?"
"Don't worry about it," she smiles wickedly, twirling the sharp blade around her fingers. "Just focus. Unless you want to lose limbs."
She lunges forward, steel flashing. Our blades collide with a sharp crack, the ice and steel bursting between us.
She moves fast, but I hold steady, deflecting blow after blow while reinforcing my body with magic.
She laughs, thoroughly enjoying the combat.
She then jumps back, out of her frontal assault, and starts circling me, like a predator about to catch its prey.
She lunges at me, and I twist aside, watching her go by, but when she reaches the wall, instead of stopping she pivots effortlessly, jumping off the wall, diving in for another strike.
She moves through the air effortlessly, bringing down another strike.
I jump backward, the arc of her dagger missing me by a hair, and we stand a couple feet apart, seemingly at a draw.
Her breath is heavy, but instead of looking tired, she looks exhilarated.
"Hah! I haven't had a fight like this in ages!"
Her grin stretches wide, too wide. It's unnerving, like a beast about to feast on its prey. The glow in her eyes burns with the thrill of danger.
Okay. That's creepy.
Time to end this.
She lunges forward again, the blade streaking toward my neck. But this time, instead of dodging I reinforce my finger with magic, and catch her dagger between them.
"What the fuck!?" she yells, trying to pull her dagger back, but it doesn't work.
As she's about to let go of the dagger, I unsummon my ice sword and drive my fist into her gut.
Air bursts from her lungs in a sharp wheeze; she stumbles, coughing, before dropping to one knee.
I release her dagger and let the frost fade from my hand.
She stays there for a moment, clutching her stomach.
"Ow. Rude," she mutters, glancing up at me. "You didn't have to hit me that hard."
"That was just the tip of the iceberg," I say with a grin.
Her ears twitch, and she smirks. "Like I said, not human."
"I still don't get what you mean. That's like the second time you said that, but I'm still very human" I frown, looking down at my hands.
"Normal humans don't take down a Beastkin with one hit," she says, looking up at me. "And they most certainly don't toy with one for an entire fight."
Her indifferent face twists into the same creepy grin. "Not that I didn't enjoy it, though."
She lunged again.
This cycle of fighting continued for a while.
Everytime she lost, and everytime she would say:
"One more time,"
Eventually, after hours of constant fighting, I replied.
"No," I replied with a smirk. "You need to rest. You've got a big day tomorrow."
"Big day, my ass," she says. "How hard can it be?"
****Sylvie POV****
It was hard. Like, really fucking hard. Who knew sweeping dust and washing dishes could be as hard as cleaning up a body, which by the way is very annoying.
Sadie showed up bright and early, which already put me in a bad mood. I need my sleep. That wasn't even the worst part.
The worst part was when she held up a maid outfit, and said "You're going to need to look the part."
Like seriously. Bitch, no. I ain't putting that shit no.
That ain't happening.
I saw the dress on her, and it looked ridiculous. Though I never said that. Whoever invented frills should die.
I gave her a look of complete disgust, basically saying there is no way in hell I'm wearing that.
"Look," she said, bowing her head. "I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't realize it would come across that way."
She straightened, holding out the outfit, "But you need to look the part. All maids wear this. If you don't, people will question."
I sighed, and took the dress from her hands.
I glanced at Ryn. Thankfully he's still asleep. I don't think I could survive the look on his face if he saw me in this.
Grumbling, I wrestled my way into the ridiculous outfit. At least it fit nicely.
I held my breath as I creeped toward the door.
Of course, the moment I took a step, I heard a groggy voice behind
"Slyvie?" he asked
I didn't say anything.
I turned around slowly to see Ryn pushing himself up off the ground, where he made his makeshift bed of extra pillows and blankets.
He rubbed his eyes, blinking away the sleep. The moment his gaze landed on me,the grogginess vanished. His jaw dropped. Then he started to laugh.
"You look… cute," he managed between snickers.
Heat rushed to my cheeks. "S-shut up!" I stammered, whipping around and heading straight for the door.
"Hey, I'm serious!" he called after me, still laughing. "You look good."
My heart gave a traitorious beat. Heat rushed to my face, burning hotter than before. I was right. There was no way I could face Ryn wearing this ridiculous outfit.
Overall, the day went well. Sadie didn't say anything out of the ordinary, in fact, she encouraged me, which I would've found nice if she hadn't said what she did the day earlier.
I definitely didn't create a graveyard of broken plates and break multiple brooms. Or swore loudly every time I made a mistake.
I almost quit. A few times actually.
But, I never did. A beastkin never goes back on their word, especially to their friends.
Huh. It's only been a day, but I already recognize him as my friend.
I haven't had many of those before, as most of the people in my village were scared of me, but I assume that people don't trauma dump on each other unless they are friends.
And I say trauma dump, but it wasn't a bad thing. I was happy to take in his pain, as he did mine. It felt like the least I could do. In fact, it felt better to share the weight of what just happened with someone else. And even better, to have someone trust me enough to do the same.
He appeared when the world turned its back on me, and opened up, treating me like I was a person. Not a lesser race, or a child meant to be feared. But a person. The same as he was.
When I asked who he was, he told me he was 'A kid with a dream.' Like what the actual fuck is that? It was so stupid. But it was funny. And at that moment, I needed that.
Beastkin are known for having a sixth sense that warns them when danger is near. When I was chased by the minotaur, it was going crazy. But, for some when I met him, the noise stopped. Completely.
Every single second of my life, since I could remember, I could always hear it. It beat like a drum in the back of my head, reminding me I was never safe. But when I met him, I knew I was.
I had never felt that before. He omitted immense power, but for some reason everything was calm. I knew I was completely safe. That I didn't have to run.
Maybe that's why I trusted him so easily. Why my heart opened up before I even realized it had.
Maybe that's why holding his hand felt so right. Like a shield of protection was formed around me, and always would be.
I'm not sure if I could leave him now. Now that I've felt this internal warmth, I'm not sure I can go back to being alone. I… I think I'm going to get addicted to this warmth. In fact, I think I already have.
It's a strange feeling. The feeling that I can completely trust someone, despite barely knowing him. The feeling that I know he trusts me the same way back, despite it never being said aloud.
Even when we sparred, I felt safe. No matter how much he hit me down to the ground, pushing me to get better, I knew I would never fall.
It's a bond built on pure trust, formed within a single day. It's unreasoned, unbound, but wholly alive.