The Power of The Merge (Book 1 of the Daearies series)

( Chapter 2) EMMIE

I woke with a sharp pain in my chest. I look over to my right at Kit's bed, he's not there. Again. He must have been gone for a while for me to be in this much pain and I would bet my life he's in the training room. I reached for my boots and quickly put my jacket on, zipping it up as I quietly made my way out of our sleeping quarters, careful not to wake any of the other soldiers and daearies. I made my way down the empty hallways towards the training room. The closer I got the more bearable the pain in my chest became. I stopped before the double doors and peered through the window and low and behold there he was, beating the crap out of a punching bag. I tilted my head to temporarily admire the view. I can see why girls would bat their eyelashes and twirl their hair around their fingers when they're around him. He was tall, muscular, had thick dark hair cut short at the sides, a sharp jawline, and strikingly green eyes and he was one of the best second soldiers in the army. I pitied the girls who tried to flirt with him because he never gave them the time of day. When he's not training the soldiers he tends to keep to himself. He's been that way since I met him. Although now he's not the timid boy he once used to be, he's much more assertive, confident, and frankly quite intimidating, to everyone, but me.

"If I'm not mistaken I could swear you're trying to kill me," I said with my best smirk as I made my way over to him. He paused, grabbing hold of the punching bag with both hands. His eyes briefly glanced at me and a flicker of a smile crossed his face.

"You need to train" his voice was stern. He began unraveling his hand wraps.

"You need to let me sleep. Besides you and I both know I'm the best fighter in our unit".

"Pick your weapon" He ignored me and nodded to the table of weapons behind me. I rolled my eyes and turned around, carefully deciding which weapon to choose before settling on two small daggers, and after seeing my choice of weapon, Kit reached for a double-ended blade.

"The assessment is in two days" he stated as we made our way over to the training mat in the center of the room.

"And you think I'm going to fail?" I raised an eyebrow, questioningly. I spun my daggers in my hand and loosened my grip to get a feel for the blades.

"No. I'm worried you're going to be too good."

"I thought that was the point," I said as I stepped onto the mat and turned to face him.

"You rely too much on your power. It will draw too much attention".

"And that's a problem why? You are one of our leaders. I'm your daearies. I already have.... attention".

"You are different Emmie. Your power is different." He said my name with a kind of intimacy.

"Maybe I'm not. Maybe the merge just hasn't made anyone with the same power as me yet." I suggested and he ignored me.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" I tilted my head questioningly.

Within a second he brought his weapon down with a speed I wasn't ready for at this time in the morning. I raised both my blades in the air to defend myself and momentarily lost my footing before making a feeble attempt to kick him backward with my left foot. He wasn't swayed and came back faster, swiping both ends of the blade towards me once, twice, three times. I moved quickly blocking each one, my eyes fixated on his weapon anticipating its next move. Our blades clashed repeatedly sending a vibration down both of my arms. I leapt to the side to avoid the last swipe and he spun around behind me and knocked me off my feet. My back hit the ground with a thud and he stepped away from me.

"So? What exactly are you not telling me?" I sighed and stood up.

"Again" he instructed.

"KIT?!" I said seriously taking a few steps towards him.

"I don't know" he paused. "But I think there's a reason why your power is different and I'm going to find out why." He brought the blade down hard and fast. I caught it with both my daggers and lifted it into the air.

"How?" I prompted.

"Why do you think I became a leader" he stated, staring down at me with those strikingly green eyes. I held his gaze and momentarily lost my train of thought.

He twisted his weapon around and within a second one of my daggers flew up into the air. I slid across the mat to catch the dagger in my right hand feeling him right behind me. I sensed his weapon slice through the air inches from my head and I spun around before I could catch my dagger. I raised my empty hand to defend myself. A bright crimson light emitted from my hand and twirled around my fingers and just as the blade was about to strike my hand in two, I used my power to create a field of energy stopping the blade in its tracks. I could see the reflection of my eyes glowing red in the blade, as they usually do whenever I used my power and with little effort, I grabbed hold of the weapon with an invisible force and flung it fast across the room embedding it into the far wall.

Kit stood back clutching his hand.
"Kit!" I immediately dropped my other dagger and ran to his side, grabbing hold of his injured hand. The cut was small but I winced at the thought of hurting him. 

"I hurt you." Tears gathered in my eyes and I fought to keep them there.

"I'm fine" he insisted.

"Kit, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean—I would never hurt—." A few tears escaped and I couldn't bring myself to look him in the eyes.

"Emmie" He tilted my chin up to face him and I could feel my heart beating in my chest.

"I'm fine". He said, wiping away a tear from my cheek. I was breathing hard and then I nearly jumped out of my skin when the morning bell rang. He lifted his head towards the door and said,

"I'll see you after breakfast"

"Where are you going?" I asked wiping my wet cheeks.

"I have a meeting with the General. I'll fill you in later".