I swung, and I missed.
No matter what I seemed to do, Taegin was just too fast for me. Over the course of the past few weeks, I'd been alternating between battling him and my brother whenever there was training to be had.
I know that while today might not be the day I finally land a blow on him, I'd still try my best to get close, I thought.
"Again, Thoma," Taegin said, having not even broken a sweat. Meanwhile, even with second stage mana manipulation having become second nature to me, I was still out of breath.
Just how large is this gap between us? I thought.
"You keep trying to hit me, but you're not making any progress. Do you know why?" he asked. I was dumbfounded by his question. "If I can't hit you, that means I'm just not going fast enough, right?" I asked, not entirely sure of the answer I wanted to hear. He sighed. It'd been a few days since I'd made any breakthroughs, but I couldn't understand what I was missing. "Attack me again, but this time, instead of paying attention to my body, pay attention to my mana," he said.
His mana? But his whole body is basically glowing with it when I'm in second stage, I thought. Not fully understanding his words, I got into my guard.
I lunged at him, but a side-step and a swift punch to the gut were all I got in return. "Read my mana," he said again. I swung an uppercut, hoping to catch him off guard, but my sword clashed with his. I twirled my blade out of the deadlock, and began a barrage of strikes that he adeptly deflected. "My turn," he said with a sly grin, as he bolted forward to strike at my weak spots. I was able to deflect a few of the blows, while being forced to dodge some others.
Read his mana, the words repeating in my head. Even in the second stage, there was little I could do to stand against him.
Fuck, he's fast. I can hardly keep up. No matter what I do, I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, I thought.
A blow from above came, to which I countered with an overhead deflection, redirecting his sword away from my body. Suddenly, with little to no warning, I felt it. A pulse, ever so slight as it was, but it was a pulse I could identify.
Where is that coming from? I thought, trying to figure out the origin of it.
As another blow aimed for my liver was approaching, I felt the pulse again. This time, however, I felt it coming from roughly where his sword was about to meet my body.
I swung with everything I had to redirect the momentum of my own blade down towards the one that came for me. The resulting pwang was enough to tell me I had done it. "Holy shit," I said aloud, my mana-leaking eyes opening much more widely now. A small grin began to show on his face. "So, you felt that one, huh?" he asked slyly. "Yes, but how did you know?" I asked. "That's because I let you feel that one," he said. "What do you mean you let me?" I asked, taking a step back and rolling my shoulder out of its tense position.
"I sent out a little bit more mana than I normally would for that attack, seeing as how the mana I was already releasing was too little for you to detect," he replied with a shrug. I digested his words for a few seconds. "So, you're saying that when I reach the third stage, I'll be able to see it better?" I asked.
"Technically, you can already see mana, both ambient and personal, but the refinement isn't there. Think of it like a painting with only the base colors and blocky shapes put onto the canvas. The third stage adds more details and refinement to that painting, but it's not fully there yet," Taegin replied. "But how am I supposed to read something I can only feel?" I asked, genuinely confused. "Try it again, but now that you know the sensation of it, do your best to hone in on everything I'm about to do," he said, readying his weapon once more.
I got into my guard, and drew some extra mana from the Ethereal.
As much as my body can take, I thought.
"Begin!" Bernar called out, noticing I had pumped more mana into my system. I dashed forward, but this time with the intent of trying to feel my target rather than see it. There it is again, I thought, feeling another pulse like a waft of warm air. This time, instead of swinging for where I saw Taegin, I swung towards where I felt his mana was.
While he was still a little bit faster than my strike, I could have sworn I saw him push off with his back foot to get out of the way in time. Or, at least I thought that's what I saw, but I later came to realize that it was what I felt him do. My sword struck the ground, but I used my newfound ability to try and predict where his counter-strike would come from. Sure enough, he aimed to trip me and knock me on my back.
I used the remainder of my kinetic energy that hadn't yet been carried into the ground to spin me around, extending my leg in hopes of reaching my target. Instead, however, I was met with what felt like an immovable object that my shin had graciously decided to introduce itself to. "Fuck," I cursed aloud, feeling the pain radiate up my leg and into my stomach as I writhed momentarily on the ground. "Not done yet," he said, aiming the point of his sword down at my chest.
Without realizing it, I instinctively rolled out of the way of his sword, getting to my feet quickly. This time, however, I began to notice something was different.
He's leaking more mana so I can read it, I thought. "Again," I said, realizing what he was doing.
It's a strange feeling. Almost as if there are these small tendrils of fire coming off him. I can feel it. It feels like a warm feather gently brushing against my body, but I can't quite see it yet. I'll have to rely on my other senses to help me pass this portion of my training, I thought.
Taegin, as it turns out, seemed to love countering more than attacking. Or, at least that's what I thought because in the time it took me to blink, he was nowhere to be seen. I felt his mana surging beside me, forcing me to infuse more mana into the muscles I would need to swing to my left. "Good, you're getting the hang of it," he said, deflecting my blow. "Still not fast enough, though," he said with an air of sarcasm I'd never seen him use.
Again, I felt a pulse come from the right though, this time, I was the one being forced to deflect. He repeated this back and forth process, changing his avenues of approach and forcing me to read and react to his mana accordingly.
I wonder what it will be like when I break through the third stage, I thought.
However, I quickly found that being distracted and training do not go hand in hand, as I received a swift kick to the crotch for my inattentiveness.
"Fuuuuuck," I coughed as I doubled over, feeling the pain radiate throughout my body; nearly forcing my breakfast and my soul to have an out-of-body experience. Taegin chuckled, but visually inspected my state to make sure I was okay after watching the mana leakage from my eyes dissipate. "What did I do to deserve that?" I asked through a pained groan. "You were distracted, and I figured this was one of the better ways to teach you not to be," he said matter-of-factly. I clicked my tongue, but said nothing in return because I knew he was right.
After dusting myself off, and making sure itchy and scratchy were still whole, Taegin beckoned me to follow him. "You're getting more stable with your second stage, and with today's progress, I can tell you're nearing the basis for third stage mana manipulation," he said, patting me on the shoulder, his scarred cheek wrinkling slightly. Since his reveal to me that he was my grandfather, it felt like a veil on his whole persona had been lifted.
"Thank you," I replied. "I just don't know how I'm going to cross over from the second to the third stage, but I'll do my best," I said, feeling the overwhelming difference in our abilities sinking in. He looked at me with a slight concern in his eye, probably understanding where my thoughts had gone.
"I don't blame you for feeling that way. After all, it took me over a hundred years to even reach the third stage," he began. "A hundred years?" I asked, incredulous to what I'd just heard. "You have to remember that we were still considered the pioneers of mana manipulation," he said. "Ah, yeah. I forgot how old you actually are," I muttered under my breath.
Obviously, he heard it, proceeding to give me a brief kick to sweep me off my feet.
"I heard that," he said, smirking like a pompous child. "Yeah, I suppose I deserved that one," I said, grunting as I got back on my feet. "We're done for the day, Thoma. You've learned a decent amount about how the third stage is going to feel, but your training in Caegwen will be much more difficult than anything I've been putting you through," he said.
The severity in his voice makes it sound like I'm in for it this time, I mentally sighed. "I understand, Master," I replied.
"Don't worry, little brother. I'll be there, too!" Bernar said cheerfully. "You're just looking for more opportunities to show off, huh?" I asked playfully. "Who would I be showing off to? Leona won't be there to see it, so I wouldn't be showing off to anyone, really," he said, a slight air of dejection reigning his tone. "Aw, ish shomewone shad dat his giwrlfwen won't be dere?" I mocked. "Aw, ish shomewone shtill a piesh of shit who doeshn't know when to shut the fuck up?" he returned in the same, mocking tone as he ruffled my hair.
"Meliss is going to miss you, too, you know," he said after a brief pause. We both looked over to where she was being trained by Rosie, Roburn, and Thorn. "I'm going to miss her, too," I said, feeling reality finally kick in. "Oh, I'm sure. Gods above and below, I miss Leona every day," Bernar said, gazing off into the distance. "Never thought I'd see the day where you would actually consider settling down," I said smugly. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at me, not saying a word. "I also never said that she would be a bad person to do that with, you lucky chuckle-fuck," I nudged him with my elbow. "Shut up," he said, a wry smile growing on his face.