Chapter 204 - Lost Words (1/2)

Chapter 204: Lost Words

GREY

I stepped back as Lady Vera positioned her thin metal stick she called a ‘foil’ for a horizontal swing. Still, somehow, the foil managed to slap my left arm.

“How?” I hissed, rubbing the fresh wound. “I thought I dodged that.”

“You’re too focused on my weapon,” Lady Vera answered, keeping her body still. “Your vision should encompass your enemy—or enemies—as a whole. What do you see differently right now?”

I looked down at the foil still pointed at me. “Aside from the obvious?”

That earned me another smack with her weapon. “Don’t get smart with me, kid.”

“Okay, okay!” I yelped. “And I have a name, you know.”

“I’m aware that you were named after a rather boring color,” Lady Vera said bluntly. “Now, answer my question.”

Afraid of getting hit again, I scanned the tall woman. She wore a dark shirt and tight-fitting black pants, which only emphasized her long, curly red hair.

After saving me from my captors several months ago, I began my lessons a few weeks back after completely healing from my injuries. While her methods were brutal and her personality was about as warm as a block of ice, they were effective.

“Well?” she pressed, jolting me out of my thoughts.

I let out a breath and pointed at her foot. “You pivoted using your lead leg, bringing your back foot forward for longer reach.”

“Good,” she nodded in approval. “Although, if you weren’t able to see that from the track mark on the ground…”

“Yes yes. Then I don’t deserve to be your student,” I finished. “Now, how do I get better?”

My mentor muttered something under her breath before walking over to the manmade pond she had in her yard. The entire ‘training ground’ we were in, which stretched out for fifty yards in both length and width, was her backyard.

The simple fact that she even had a backyard in a city where high rise building took up about every available plot of land spoke a lot about her wealth and power. Adding to the fact that her entire backyard—which looked like something out of an old nature magazine—was also blocked off from the outside world by a twenty-foot wall made me wonder what sort of position she actually held in Wittholm Academy, the military school I was still enrolled in.

As we reached the clear pond that had fish in it—actual, live fish—Lady Vera sat down at the edge and motioned me to join her.

“Try catching a fish with your hands,” she said. “Without using ki.”

“What? Won’t they die if they come out of the water? I-I don’t think I can afford to replace a living fish like this.”

She gave me a rare smile. “Don’t worry about that and just try.”

Gazing warily at the aquatic animals that I’ve only seen in a frozen and processed form, I reached in and tried to scoop one up. Just as my fingers barely touched the water, however, the gold and black fish darted off to the other end of the pond.

“So fast!” I exclaimed, marveling at its speed.

She snapped her finger to get my attention. “Again.”

It only took about a dozen more tries to realize that there was a message that I was supposed to be getting from all of this. Frustrated and wet, I swiped my hand without a care whether I’ll hurt the fish or not, only to slip on the wet stone and fall inside the water.

“Gah!” I flailed out of the water, letting out a gasp as my mentor just laughed.

Barely managing to climb back out of the deep pond, I laid back on the grass. “What’s the point of this, anyway? It’s impossible to catch one with just your bare hands.”

“Is that so?” my mentor said in a haughty voice.

“Yes, it’s imposs”—I lifted my head, only to see that she was holding a fish in her hand—“what? No way! Do it again!”

Lady Vera shrugged and threw the fish back into the pond. “Sure.”

I scrambled back to my feet and watched closely in case my mentor tried to pull a fast one and use ki or cheat in some other way.

Leaning forward, Lady Vera waited with her hand close to the surface. Just as another fish was about to swim by, she dipped her hand slowly into the water and came out with the fish in her hand.

She shot me a smug grin, tossing the fish back in. “Now do you believe me?”

“I don’t get it. You did it so slowly…” I mumbled. “Wait! Did you train these fish to just go into your hand?”

“Do I look like someone that’d spend the time to do something as useless as that?” My mentor looked at me, deadpan.

I scratched my head. “I guess not… but I still don’t understand the point of this, unless it was for you to just show off.”

My mentor splashed water on my face at my remark. “I did it to show you that you and these fish—the ones that were able to make a fool of you—are similar.”

I furrowed my brows. “What?”

Lady Vera’s hand suddenly shot out toward my face, causing me to whip my head to the side.

“Your reaction speed is fast, frighteningly so,” my mentor explained, patting my shoulder. “But it’s instinctual, not tamed, just like these fish.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean tamed?” I asked.

“You might not be aware of it but, through of this ‘ability’, by the time your opponent’s arms flex in order to throw a punch, your brain has already sent a signal to your body in order to react. Now, if your opponents are on the level of students here, you hold a large advantage over them. However, if left like this, stronger opponents can easily predict how you’re going to dodge, just like how I predicted the fish would try to dodge when I grabbed it.”

I thought for a moment and realized that what Lady Vera said was pretty spot on. “So how do I ‘tame’ this ability?”

“By responding, not reacting,” she answered, getting up and taking an offensive stance.

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

She shook her head. “One is intentional, the other is instinctual. We’ve focused on basic conditioning for the most part, but I think you’re ready to start learning how to start responding.”

My eyes shined in excitement at the thought of finally learning to fight from Lady Vera. “The fun part!”

“Fun for me,” she replied with a dark smile, swinging her foil in a figure eight. “But lucky for you, your next class starts soon so we’ll start with this exercise tomorrow.”

I let out a groan and rubbed the welt on my arm from where she hit me earlier.

“There’s a car waiting for you to get back to school,” Lady Vera said while shooing me away. “Now scram.”

“Thank you for the lesson,” I grumbled before picking up my uniform and backpack that were hung by the door before leaving.

***

While the ride back to school took less than an hour, I still managed to fall asleep deep enough for the driver to have to shake me awake after arriving.

I took a deep breath as I stepped out of the sleek black vehicle, prepared for the sharp gazes of my peers at the mere luxury of being able to ride a private car. However, the outer courtyard that was usually filled with students either lounging around in between classes were all gathered around the entrance of the administration building on the left. Blocking off the perimeter were several fortified vans that looked a bit different from the usual city’s police force.

“What is going on,” I muttered to myself, making my way toward the crowd.