The morning light in the outpost was the same dull gray as always, filtering through narrow windows like smoke. Dust danced in the beams, slow and lazy, as if even the air was tired.
I stood in the training room, training dagger in hand, heart pounding harder than it should for something that wasn't a real fight. The padded floor felt strange under my bare feet,soft, giving, nothing like the hard earth I'd run on for so long.
Kai clapped his hands, grin wide. "Day two! Specialization time. We're turning you from survivors into something the Xenophores will regret meeting."
Amie stood beside him, arms crossed, expression serious. "We'll rotate. Each of you gets focused training on what suits you best. No more general drills. We build on strengths, fix weaknesses."
Lira stepped forward first, selecting two practice knives from the rack. Her movements were smooth, practiced,the way someone moves when they've done this a thousand times in life-or-death situations. She spun the blades once, testing balance, then settled into a low stance.
"Your turn," Kai said to her. "Show me what you've got against a moving target."
He picked up a padded staff, nodding to Amie. She moved to the side, watching.
Lira attacked.
Fast. Precise. No wasted motion. Knives flashing in arcs that would've opened arteries if they'd been real. Kai blocked, parried, gave ground,but not easily. She was good. Better than good.
But Amie called out mid-spar: "Predictable. Left feint into right thrust,third time now. Mix it up."
Lira's jaw tightened, but she adjusted. Next attack came from an angle I didn't expect, forcing Kai to twist awkwardly to block.
"Better," Amie said. "Deception. Make them see what you want them to see."
They went on like that for what felt like hours. Lira pushing, Kai defending, Amie calling corrections. Sweat beaded on Lira's forehead, but her face stayed stone,focused, determined.
When they finally stopped, Lira was breathing hard, but there was something new in her eyes. Not satisfaction exactly. More like... hunger. She wanted to be better. Needed to be.
Kael was next.
He stood awkwardly, good hand gripping a short staff, broken one cradled against his chest. The swelling had spread further overnight,fingers black now, forearm mottled purple. He looked sick with pain, face gray and drawn.
"I can't—" he started.
"You can," Amie cut in gently. "Different doesn't mean useless. We'll adapt."
Kai nodded. "One-handed fighting. Distance control. Use reach, positioning. Make them come to you."
Kael's jaw clenched, but he nodded.
They started slow. Kai attacking carefully, forcing Kael to move, to think. At first, Kael stumbled,balance off, reactions slow from pain. But his mind was sharp. He began anticipating, stepping just out of reach, using the staff to keep distance.
"Good," Kai said after a particularly clever parry. "You're reading me. Keep that. Pain makes you slow,don't fight it, use it. Let them think you're weak."
Kael's face twisted,not just pain, but something deeper. Shame? Anger?
I watched from the side, heart aching for him. The bottle was in his pack. I knew it was. Glowing faintly in the dark last night when he'd thought no one was looking.
He was fighting with everything he had left.
But how long could he keep it up?
Nyx's training was... chaos.
She didn't use weapons. Didn't need them.
Kai tried to spar with her using padded staffs, but she laughed and flipped over him, wings beating once to lift her higher than he could reach. She landed behind him, tapping his shoulder.
"Too slow."
Amie tried next, using quick strikes to force Nyx to block or dodge. But Nyx twisted like smoke, small body bending in ways that shouldn't be possible, wings flaring for balance or sudden bursts of speed.
"You're unpredictable," Amie said, breathing hard after ten minutes. "That's good. But raw. No control. You'll burn energy too fast in a real fight."
Nyx grinned, rose eyes blooming wide. "Control is boring."
"Control keeps you alive," Amie replied.
Nyx's grin faded slightly. She looked down at her hands, flexing them. "Alive... but for how long?"
No one answered.
Because we all knew the truth.
She was running out of time.
My turn came last.
Kai crouched to my level again, practice sword in hand. "Remember yesterday. You stepped forward instead of back. Good instinct. Today we build on it."
He moved slow, giving me time to react. I gripped the training dagger tighter, heart pounding.
First attack came high. I ducked, small size letting me slip under. Tapped his leg.
"Good," he said. "Again."
We went on like that,slow, then faster. Him attacking, me evading, finding openings. My legs burned, arms ached, but something clicked. A rhythm. A flow.
When I managed to slip past his guard three times in a row, tapping "kills" each time, Kai laughed,real and delighted.
"You're a natural, Yona. Evasion and critical strikes. Use your size, your speed. Never try to match strength,just be where they aren't."
Warmth spread through me. Praise. Real praise for something I'd done.
But then Amie called a break, and I saw Xeno watching from the doorway.
His face was unreadable behind the blindfold, but his hand rested on the shovel handle like it was the only thing keeping him grounded.
He hadn't trained yet.
And something told me when he did... it would change everything.
The afternoon brought new drills.
Awareness again, but harder. Blindfolds and moving obstacles. Sound cues. Air currents. Learning to feel danger before seeing it.
I stumbled less today. Reacted faster. Trusted my body more.
Lira moved like shadow, knives finding targets even blind. Kael adapted, using his staff to probe space, mind sharp despite pain. Nyx cheated with wings, sensing air shifts, but Amie made her keep them folded—"Fight like you might not always have them."
Xeno...
They didn't blindfold him.
They couldn't.
Instead, they made the room dark,lights off, windows covered. Complete black.
And he moved through it like he owned the darkness.
Every obstacle avoided. Every trap sidestepped. Every practice strike from Kai blocked or countered before it landed.
When the lights came back on, Kai was breathing hard, staff trembling in his hands.
"How?" he asked again.
Xeno's answer was the same. "I see what needs to be seen."
But this time, his voice was quieter. Almost... tired.
Like seeing cost him something.
Evening brought rations and quiet conversation.
We sat in a circle, eating slowly, bodies aching but stronger.
"One week down," Kai said. "Three to go."
"Think it'll be enough?" Lira asked.
No one answered.
Because we all knew it probably wouldn't.
But we trained anyway.
Because stopping meant dying.
And none of us were ready to die yet.
Not even Kael, who sat apart, staring at his healed hand under the table,the serum finally taken in secret, skin smooth and new, but eyes haunted by what he'd done to get it.
Not even Nyx, who laughed and joked but touched her temples more often, like chasing memories that slipped away like smoke.
Not even me, hearing whispers in the quiet moments, feeling eyes watching from inside my own skin.
We trained.
Because the alternative was worse.
Because Lord Azael was waiting.
Because the First Book called.
Because the world had already fallen once.
And we were racing to stop it from falling again.