[Chapter] Fighting Shadows
Renova placed his hands on Finn's shoulders. "In battle, you need to trust your companions without hesitation. One slip-up and they're dead. So if I say to duck, you duck. If you say to jump, I jump. We need to make sure you can handle yourself in combat without using your powers. I guarantee you they will not always be useful."
Finn nodded, but then paused. In what situation, especially combat ones, would destruction powers not be useful? If anything touches me, I could turn it to dust. Perhaps strong magic? But even strong magic can be destroyed by me. It would take a demigod to... oh. Finn straightened to look into Renova's eyes. "I'm ready to learn."
Renova smiled warmly, then took a deep breath. "The fastest way is to teleport. Are you ready?" Finn nodded after steeling herself. She remembered how it went last time. Renova cracked his neck and suddenly the world around them was disappearing to white, like a bright fog had suddenly formed. Her body was covered with the familiar tingle, and she suddenly felt very dizzy. Renova's hands on her shoulders were firm. Clenching her jaw, she waited out the next few seconds until she felt ground under her feet again.
Looking around, Finn saw that she was standing in some sort of training ground. But it wasn't the Renovites barracks. The whole place was dimly lit, and she couldn't tell if she was underground or not. There were a few torches in the corners of the area of packed dirt, but apart from that she could only see faint outlines of buildings in their glow.
"I've got to call in a favour. Wait for me here and I'll be back in a few minutes." Renova went inside one of the buildings, leaving her standing outside. Suddenly, five people appeared from nowhere without making a sound.
"You arrived here with Demigod Renova, huh?" The speaker was wearing what appeared to be a dark grey uniform, and he had pale blonde hair tied back from his chestnut-coloured face. "That's impressive. What can you do?"
Finn shrugged. She assumed he was asking about her fighting capabilities, since this was clearly where she was to train.
"Let's give you a warm welcome then." He said, but he was already in the shadows. Finn couldn't see where he was coming from. She couldn't hear a thing, except for the boy's companions murmuring to each other. Even though she was two steps away from them, she couldn't hear what they were saying. Her ears began ringing as she focused on trying to find him.
"Your form is terrible. I don't think you've trained a day in your life. This is going to be hell for you." Finn could hear the pitying smile in his voice. Suddenly, she felt something cold on her arm. She turned to see him staring at the flat of his sword which was now rusting away. His eyes slowly slid up to meet hers. "Ah." he said simply, then tossed the empty handle of the sword to the side.
The murmurs increased from his friends, and they clapped. "I see now why Renova brought you here." Said one of them, his face filled with freckles and his eyes half hidden by his brown fringe. "But Jethro is right, you're in for a world of pain with that flabby gut." He tapped Finn's stomach with his own sword.
Finn glared at him. "Excuse me, I am a healthy weight." But she had to admit she couldn't run a marathon. Her family had fed her plenty of fruits and vegetables, but she just didn't physically exert herself. Now that she had admitted it to herself, maybe the training would be a bad idea. Maybe she should take into account what Jethro and the other boy said.
Renova walked out at that moment with a woman. She was muscular but thin, almost to the point that she could've been mistaken for a boy if not for her serene elven face. Between her tanned skin and platinum hair, she could've been Jethro's mother. Maybe she was. She turned to the group of boys, who had lined up. "How did she do?"
Jethro stepped forward. "She has no combat skills whatsoever."
The matter-of-factness in his voice was like a punch to Finn's gut. She couldn't deny it either.
The woman turned to Renova. "Renova, what came over you to bring such a newbie to my school? And look at her, she hasn't got an ounce of muscle." Another punch nailed Finn. A realisation washed over her as well. Renova, the Patron of War, wasn't going to train her in combat. Who was this lady?
Renova smiled, and extended his hand towards the discarded hilt. It vanished and appeared in his open palm. "This is why, Silenda."
She took it and looked it over, seeing the rust around the hilt from where the blade used to be. A smile crept over her lips. "I see. Well, you've given me quite the challenge haven't you? How much time have you got?"
Renova looked over Finn, and for the first time she felt as though he was looking at her like an object, judging her value and imperfections. But it only lasted a few moments before he turned away. "Six months."
Silenda hid her mouth with her hand while she laughed madly, the other hand on Renova's shoulder. "You've really lost it haven't you? You really overestimate my abilities. I'm not going to torture this poor girl either. You're too cruel Renova, really." The last sentence had a serious edge to it. "Give me a year and even you'll have a tough time beating her. Consider the debt paid then."
"I want her to learn that skill too." Renova's voice had lowered.
"No. That's asking too much Renova. You'll owe me big time for that." The mood had changed. Before it was somewhat joking. Now it was a negotiation.
"That's fine. I doubt you'd have anything for me to do that you couldn't do yourself."
"Oh, I don't know about that." She ran her finger under his chin, then faced Finn with her hands on her hips. "Right then, it looks like I'll be taking you in..." Silenda raised an eyebrow.
"Finn." she offered.
"Well, Finn, it seems you'll be spending the next year with me. Are you ready?"
Finn nodded, then looked to Renova. "What will you be doing in the meantime?"
"I'll be doing some other things, but I'll be checking in on your progress through the year." He gave a reassuring smile and faded from sight.
"I think we should start with testing where you're at currently. I think the time is about right." She looked up and waved her hand. The dark ceiling pulled to the side, revealing the blue skies of mid afternoon. Jethro and his crew all squinted, shielding their eyes as they hurried indoors. Clearly they hadn't seen sun in a while. Several others she hadn't noticed were also scurrying inside. Sunglasses appeared on Silenda from out of nowhere, a shadowy poof accompanying them.
"I test my students with shadows. We'll start you off with one in the daylight." Finn realised it wasn't a metaphorical time she was talking about, but the actual time of day. "Begin!"
Finn turned to see a shadowy figure approach, vaguely similar to Silenda. She could faintly see the ground through its body, and it was moving like a drunkard. It threw a punch towards her and she was able to dodge it. She moved to its side to use her destructive powers, but her hand went through as it was destroyed.
Silenda tutted. "You'd think after I saw what your powers were that I wouldn't counter it? And anyway, it's a shadow. You're not going to be able to destroy it with your power at the moment."
The shadow swung around, backhanding Finn. The hole was already healed. She stumbled to the side, realising that she couldn't hurt her opponent, but it could hurt her. And it really hurt. "Then what am I supposed to do?" she yelled.
"I'm glad you asked. Here, catch." Silenda threw a wooden sword at her from a training rack. The wood was a dark purple red, with a white line down both edges. Finn swung at the shadow, and it cut the arm clean off. The shadow continued however, using its right arm. Finn brought the sword up to block it, accidentally cutting off the other hand in the process. Even though it didn't look sharp, this wooden sword cut the shadow without slowing down. But the shadow didn't stop even then. Finn swung again, cutting it from left shoulder to right armpit. Finally it fell.
Finn looked to Silenda, her eyes wide with pride and her heart beating wildly. Silenda smiled and chuckled softly. "That was absolutely garbage."
The smile quickly fell from Finn's face. She had defeated it! And it was garbage? Silenda had seemed so friendly up until this point, but now the cruelty was beginning to show.
"Let's get the main things out of the way. You hesitated between every action. You didn't go for the vital points first, which I can excuse because you're a newbie, but you waited for them to try to hit you and relied on dodging. When the opponent is faster, you'll be out before you can even swing. And you were barely faster than the shadow anyway. Combat training is over for today. We're going for a run." Silenda seemed to glide quickly across the ground and return the sword from Finn's hand to the rack.
Finn's heart was already racing. Now she was going to go for a run? And from what she gathered so far, it wasn't going to be easy.
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