Training Session

“You lot sure you don’t want dessert?” Mason asked as he collected their cleared plates and empty glasses.

“I think if we had any more, we’d puke,” Beth crassly answered.

“Going to push that lovely image out of my head,” Aeolia remarked.

John let out a chuckle. “We’re going to be running about after this. Beth’s prediction could come true if we did have something more.”

“A pity,” Mason sighed, though the exaggerated nature of it betrayed his lack of hurt feelings. Then his face took on a more serious expression as he focused his attention on John. “Sorry about not having a fire spirit to spare. They’re a bit hard to find. Tend to burn out quickly.”

“It’s fine,” John said, waving his hand as if to clear away any bad vibes. “Going to have to get used to Candle anyway. Adding another spirit right away would be trying to do too much.”

“Certainly an interesting consolation prize,” Mason remarked. “I’m almost afraid to see what she’ll become once your powers start upgrading her.”

“Worried about her becoming too strong?” Senka asked in an overly sweet tone.

“Frankly, yes,” Mason replied in a serious tone, one that settled over the table like a heavy weight. “I worry that she could become too much too quickly and outstrip your control. Maybe it’s a faint and distant worry, but it’s there nevertheless. Animal spirits can cause a lot more issues than elemental ones.”

“Cammie didn’t seem to have any issue with me binding her,” John said, not liking how Mason seemed to doubt his ability to handle Candle.

“Her perspective is colored by her talents,” Mason lamented. “And I suppose yours should afford the same sort of protection. Suppose I’m just being a worry wart about things. The last week’s been far too exciting for my liking.”

That eased a bit of the sting and John shook his head. “There’s no crime in being worried. I’d like next week to be calm.”

“Gaia willing, let's hope the most exciting thing is the Golmerks deciding on furniture,” Mason remarked.

“Still waiting on the Order to get back to us on that one,” John grumbled. “I mean, it’s only been a day but still. I hate leaving Teri on the hook.”

Mason gently clapped John on his shoulder. “We all do. I have been double checking the ledger to see what can be spared if your powers don’t cover everything.”

“We’ve been readying to do the same,” Vivian said.

“Helps that we can earn cash just by bashing monster skulls in,” Beth added.

John blinked then let out a strangled laugh. “I just realized I’m an ATM.”

“More money, more problems,” Aeolia slyly remarked as Beth let out a cackle. “Though, I think you’re more of a slot machine.”

“Glad my suffering is to your liking,” John grumbled, though the grin he wore showed the ribbing was being taken as good fun. “Guess it’s time to start refilling the jackpot. Vivian, you good?”

“With the array design? I think version one is good to go,” the redhead replied, looking at her notepad. “I think I could have gotten a rough alt version done if we hadn’t gone down that musical rabbit hole.”

Kiera flushed and withdrew herself into her hoodie. “Sorry,” she muttered.

Realizing how her comment was being taken, Vivian quickly turned to the turtling bluenette. “I didn’t mean the conversation was bad or unwanted. I don’t think any of us wanted to talk shop while eating.”

“We spent about five minutes arguing over condiment choice,” Beth added. “So you’re not the only one to derail things.”

“Still think mayo on fries is a war crime,” Aeolia muttered.

“We agreed to a cease-fire. Don’t go and break it,” Senka chided.

Seeing Vivian’s clear regret and distress and the words of the others caused Kiera to pull out from the safe confines of her hood, her face now only a touch pink.

With things calmed down, John extracted the money they owed Mason and handed him the small stack of bills as he rose from his seat. “Keep the change.”

“I’ll add it to the goblin fund,” Mason remarked with a grin before patting John’s shoulder once more. “Have fun with training.”

“We’ll try,” John said as he began to lead everyone out of the diner. The door chimed as someone entered the establishment and nearly ran into John.

“Whoa. Sorry, dude,” the short young woman practically yelled as she spun to avoid colliding with John. One of the braided loops of her uniquely styled gray hair lightly brushed against John’s chest before she nearly skipped her way to the counter and jumped into one of the stools, causing it to spin.

“Well, that’s someone with too much energy,” Beth commented as they exited the building.

“Not a bad thing to be cheerful,” Vivian said.

“It is when there’s too much of it,” Beth shot back. “So, where are we going and what are we fighting?”

“I was thinking the golems could be a good one to try,” John replied. “Set to a low level. They’re slow enough that if we screw up, we won’t get immediately punished.”

Before John could add to his argument, he noticed Kiera out of the corner of his eye. At the back of their little group, she looked like she was trying to work up the courage to say something, if the way her lips kept moving was any indication.

He was struck with an odd sense of deja vu, going back to his middle school years. Even before the bullying, he wasn’t good with talking and would have to work himself up before trying to converse with his peers or when doing a presentation. And given the topic of their most recent conversations, John could only think of one thing she was trying to speak about.

‘Is she wondering if we’re going to drag her along with us?’ he thought. ‘No, I don’t think that would be something she’d need to work up to asking about. Does she want to come with us?’

Kiera’s eyes met his and went wide. For a moment, John was worried she was going to clam up and keep whatever was on her mind to herself. Then, her face morphed from one of surprise and nerves into one that held a, albeit shaky, confidence.

“Um,” she began, drawing everyone’s attention to her. She shrunk back slightly but managed to keep her head up, though her eyes never managed to cross with anyone’s. “Is, is it alright if I t-tag along with you? I won’t get in the way, promise. A-and I can carry things if you need me to.”

“There’s no need to lower yourself to being a pack mule, Kiera,” Senka firmly said. John felt righteous fury burning through Senka at how pitiable Kiera was acting, directed to all the people who hurt her. “I don’t see any issue with you joining us.”

“I have one,” Aeolia bluntly interjected, causing Kiera to shrink in on herself. “Even if we’re going up against weak monsters, they’re still enemies that will try to attack. Can you defend yourself?”

Kiera’s head dropped in response. “N-no, not really.”

“That’s hardly a reason why she can’t come along,” Vivian attested. “It’s not like all of us were up to your level when we started.”

“I had a battle yo-yo and a crappy attitude,” Beth said. “And almost got my ass handed to me by a bunch of overgrown ferrets. Huh, guess that’s not really the best argument.”

“I started my first fight by throwing a ball of plastic,” John added, his gaze boring into Aeolia. “Can’t get better if you don’t take the first step.”

“Okay, and how exactly do you want to fight?” Aeolia asked Kiera, her sharp tone forcing the nervous bluenette to look at her.

“I, I don’t know,” Kiera stammered out, her hands balling into fists as she gripped the hem of her hoodie. “I just want to help.”

There was a long pause before Aeolia asked, “John, what do you think would fit her?”

John felt some tension ease out of his body with Aeolia’s softening stance. “I’m not an expert, but I think the spear would be a good idea. Keeps things at range.”

Aeolia nodded before she shrank down and flew onto his shoulder. “Let’s go pick it up and get back to fighting.”

John saw Kiera perk up at Aeolia’s announcement and he asked, “You okay with trying out the spear?”

Kiera nodded, seemingly unable to trust her voice.

---

‘You need to relax.’ Verida’s soothing voice did its best to beat down the nerves racing through Kiera. ‘I doubt Aeolia is going to be too harsh in training you.’

‘She doesn’t like me,’ Kiera thought back to the goddess. ‘I can’t blame her for that but what if this is her way of getting back at me?’

A sense of disappointment washed through their bond and Verida said, ‘You don’t really believe that, do you? She didn’t have to implore you to keep fighting. Nor allow you to even come. Do you think that chat you had before lunch was some sort of ploy?’

Kiera gripped the borrowed spear tighter as she watched John, Vivian and Aeolia debate how to set up the barrier for their purposes, the redhead already crafting the array she wished to test. The goddess was correct in that assessment. Aeolia was far more forgiving than anyone she had ever met, at least as far as she could remember. She rallied her back to life, didn’t raise any objections to her remaining close to her, to them, and seemed truthful in her lack of any lingering malice.

That was why she felt such an urge to prove herself useful. Her fractured mind hadn’t given them any useful information to use against Phantom Reach, certainly nothing more than they already knew or could infer. And being Verida’s voice when needed was only a temporary thing she felt. The dragon goddess wouldn’t always be so bound to Pruzonia. She needed to find some proper place in all this.

The magic around them rippled and the rather bland grassy field shifted into a barren desert, with numerous rocky formations.

“Alright, I set things to be around level five,” John reported for the wider group, his eyes finding their way to Kiera. “That should keep things from becoming an issue.”

A pang of guilt twisted in Kiera’s gut. She knew they were planning on going easy, more focused on training up certain skills without the risk of being overwhelmed, but knowing that they sacrificed more than they had to so they could accommodate her lack of skill made her feel like even more of a burden.

She must have kept her feelings hidden as none of them made any note of them, though she could feel Verida’s frown at her less than optimistic thoughts.

“Now,” John continued, “the golems aren’t too fast, but don’t think they’re target dummies for you to stab. They…”

Whatever John was going to say was cut off by Aeolia placing her hand over his mouth.

“I’ll take over the explanations for Kiera,” she said, removing her hand. “You’ve got to start throwing fireballs at Vivian.”

“Without context, that sounds a lot worse than what we’re really doing,” Vivian remarked as she continued to build an array. “And we don’t have to have the array between us. The plan is to put it down, load a spell and lure a golem into the range. Rinse and repeat to work out the kinks.”

“I’m ready to start corrallin’” Beth said, her accent shifting into a southern drawl. “Should have brought my ten-gallon hat.”

“Do you even own a ten-gallon hat?” Senka asked, a grin on her face.

“No, but it’s the thought that counts, right?” Beth replied.

“I think that applies more to gifts.” John chuckled.

Kiera found some of her nerves abating due to their banter, only for it to be replaced with that unpleasant longing feeling that gummed up her gut.

“Come on,” Aeolia’s order prevented Kiera from overly focusing on her turbulent emotions, the winged woman already moving. “Let’s go find something for you to fight.”

“R-right,” Kiera said and followed Aeolia, the voices of everyone else fading away.

‘I wonder how good of a teacher Aeolia is?’ Verida mused, breaking the silence that they traveled under. ‘I don’t doubt her skill, but how much of her training was focused on using her flying talents?’

Kiera didn’t feel like speculating on that. She didn’t want to go back and double-guess her decision to this path.

“Alright, there’s one,” Aeolia announced, and Kiera looked out over the dusty landscape as a golem nearly the same brown color as the dirt lumbered in the distance. She looked between it and her spear a few times, doubting she’d be able to do any damage to it.

‘Can’t think like that,’ she berated herself, gripping the weapon tightly. A confidence so unlike her began to burn in her and she took in a deep breath. ‘I can do this. I can do this!’

“Um, h-how are we doing this?” Kiera timidly asked.

“Right,” Aeolia muttered. She stepped close to Kiera, and she felt her cheeks blossom with heat, her piercing eyes sweeping all over her. “First, we need to see your stance. Pretend you’re about to attack. Show me how you’d stand.”

Under Aeolia’s critical gaze, one that seemed far above her despite the winged woman being more than a head shorter than her, Kiera shakily moved into what she thought was a proper way to hold a spear ready to strike, both hands on the shaft, tip pointed away from her. Honestly, she thought she had a fairly good stance.

“Your elbows need to be closer in,” Aeolia bluntly critiqued, bringing down Kiera’s self-esteem.

“L-like this?” Kiera asked as she moved her arms, tucking her elbows closer to her.

“Better,” Aeolia remarked before she began to circle Kiera. “Bend your knees a bit more. You need to keep a lower center of gravity.”

Kiera followed Aeolia’s order and adjusted her legs, ending up in something close to a squat. Aeolia continued to circle and Kiera had to stop herself from blushing too harshly under the focused gaze, almost feeling like she was seeing her fully laid bare.

‘Ah, so you find Aeolia attractive,’ Verida’s voice suddenly filled her head.

‘What!?’ Kiera mentally shouted, the focus on her stance falling apart at the goddess’ observation, her body shooting upright.

“Something wrong?” Aeolia asked.

“NO!” Kiera shouted, something that added to her mounting embarrassment. “I-I mean no. V-verida just surprised me.”

“Yeah, that's not going to fly,” Aeolia muttered, causing Kiera to shrink into herself. “Verida, can you give us some privacy? It's a bit hard to train someone if they've got someone whispering into their head that I can't stop.”

‘Tell Aeolia that I will oblige,’ Verida said, her tone regretful. ’And I am sorry for causing you distress.’

Kiera felt Verida’s presence draw back, nearly beyond her ability to sense it. Swallowing the rising guilt she felt, she relayed Verida’s words to Aeolia.

“At least it was now and not during a fight,” Aeolia sighed. “I have no idea how John can have Senka in his head. Now, let's get back on track.”

The next several minutes involved Aeolia making minor corrections to Kiera’s stance, getting in close to directly move her limbs into place and a quick run of drills on how to strike with the weapon. By the end of it, Kiera's face was red from a mix of effort and embarrassment.

“You're a pretty quick study,” Aeolia admitted.

“I am?” Kiera asked, stunned.

“I mean, I'm not some experienced teacher but you're getting things down pretty quick. Maybe you being a shape-shifter has something to do with it.”

Kiera frowned at Aeolia's suggestion. Not because she thought it was wrong, but because she hadn't ever thought about her powers like that.

“I think we can actually give fighting a go,” Aeolia continued, her wings flexing.

“A-already?” Kiera asked, her grip on the spear tightening.

“We really don't have all day and I find getting right up close and personal the best way to get things down,” Aeolia explained. “Now, the golems are slow and really telegraph their punches. I want you to start going for its joints. Keep moving and if the spear gets caught, let go and fall back. I'll be ready to step in if things get worse than that.”

Nervously, Kiera nodded and began to approach the lumbering golem. It hadn't really gotten any closer to them in the twenty minutes or so Aeolia had drilled her.

‘Sure is a lot more intimidating up close,’ she thought as she swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. She idly thought about reaching out to Verida, to seek her support, but she stopped herself from doing so.

‘I need to see if I can do this on my own,’ she declared resolutely and slipped into the stance Aeolia had taught her. Despite the newness of it, she had to admit it didn't feel like some new way to move.

For a moment, she thought back to the fights against the beasts that attacked the world tree, to how effortlessly Aeolia commanded the skies and gracefully struck down any flying predators.

With the image of Aeolia firmly in mind, Kiera moved to engage the golem. She sprang forward into range and thrust the spear into its shoulder.

The gleaming tip struck stone and pierced it as if it was something far less durable, nearly sinking into enough for it to be completely subsumed.

Kiera pulled it back, retreating in the same motion to avoid any reprisal and gracefully wheeled around to the golem’s side, imagining how Aeolia would fight in her place. She jabbed at the golem’s back at an angle, rending a long jagged tear across its back.

‘I’m getting it,’ she happily thought as she bounded back when the golem tried to backhand her. A sort of weightless feeling settled over her, like she was able to just sort of float around like she was in chest-deep water.

She thrust her spear into the golem’s armpit, recalling Aeolia’s lesson about striking the **** spots like joints. The spear punched through its stoney facade but then the golem’s arm dropped slightly, pinning the weapon in place.

Panic bloomed in Kiera and she tried to free the spear. She didn’t want to lose the borrowed weapon, didn’t want to show Aeolia she wasn’t capable of helping farm loot, didn’t want to admit she was a failure with no skills to aid the people that saved her. The panic faded away as something warm pushed it aside, like a sun warmed pool of water.

Keira felt that warmth wash over her, settling over her arms. She closed her eyes and pulled back with all her strength. The sound of crumbling stone reached her ears and Kiera stumbled back as the spear became free. Her eyes snapped open to see a large chunk of stone falling from the crater-like wound to the golem.

Then her eyes drifted down to her arm, where the warm sensation persisted. Scales of blue and green covered her normally pale hands which now ended in short claws. She dropped the spear and pushed up her sleeves, revealing the transformation went up at least to her elbows.

“What’s going on?” she breathlessly asked no one in particular, claw-tipped fingers fruitlessly digging into her new scales. “This, this isn’t normal! I didn’t do this.”

The golem, wounded but not out of the fight, moved to attack Kiera. Before it could take a step, a green blade of wind cleaved it right down the center, cutting the golem in two. Aeolia landed next to Kiera, dropped her glaive and gently grabbed the bluenette’s shoulder.

“Kiera, I need you to breathe. In and out, in and out,” Aeolia bade her, the winged woman’s voice sounding oddly distant. Still, Kiera tried to follow her orders, her arms going limp after a few repetitions.

“Okay, let’s get back to the others,” Aeolia said, doing her best to keep her tone even. “Then we can figure out what happened.”

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.