Awakening: Book 1 of the Vanquisher Series [GxG]

19a

No longer supervised by Trixan, Narvari chose to train in Rahsun Garden, a place that now reminded her of Pheera.

The atmosphere in the garden soothed her senses. That, coupled with the sweet fragrance of flowers, put her mind at ease and made it easier for her to focus. In the next six days, after much toil and sweat, Narvari's sacros wielding improved to seventeen minutes. Still, she knew she had a long way to go. She couldn't slack off at all. Trixan would not start training her in sacred combat if she could not wield her sacros for thirty minutes.

Narvari's routine was the same every day. She would wake up at 5:00 am, do a thirty-minute physical exercise to unwind her muscles, then train her sacros for the next one and a half hours. At 7 am, she would take a shower, have breakfast at 7:30, then start her training in the garden at 8 am until 12 pm when she broke for lunch. She would get to training again after lunch until she retired to her room at 3 pm when she was free to do whatever she wanted till the next day. Then the cycle repeated.

This routine went on for twelve days. On the thirteenth day, while training her sacros by the lake in Rahsun, Narvari's body couldn't go on anymore. She stopped her watch and then fell to her knees, breathing heavily as sweat drenched her.

Once she regained her breath, she looked at her stopwatch to see how long she had wielded her sacros. Narvari grinned widely. Forgetting how exhausted she was, she gave a loud victory shout.

Forty-seven minutes. She could wield her sacros for forty-seven minutes nonstop.

I surpassed my goal.

It had taken her thirteen whole days to reach this goal. She had exceeded the goal she set for herself. But even then, Narvari never thought it would take her so long to do this. She fell on her back in contentment, smiling at the gray skies above her. She closed her eyes, a big smile on her face.

***

"Well done, my dear," said Trixan after Narvari showed her progress in sacros training in the Elder's office. "I am so proud of you."

"Thanks, Trixan." Narvari smiled. "So when will we start sacred combat?"

"We begin in three days."

"But why not tomorrow?"

"Training is important. But so is resting, my dear."

Narvari grumbled in exasperation.

Trixan chuckled. "I don't think I've met any rookie with your enthusiasm for training."

"I've been doing it all my life." Narvari shrugged. It was no big deal, really.

"That does not surprise me at all." Trixan nodded. "Anyway, just because you're about to start sacred combat does not mean you have to discard your sacros training. You need to keep at it. As I said, you won't start missions unless you can wield sacros for an hour."

"I understand," said Narvari. She grinned. "I have another goal."

"Do you, my dear?" Trixan leaned back in her chair.

"I do." Narvari paused. "You said Pheera could wield her sacros for sixteen hours after training for three months. That means that she must have improved at the rate of approximately one hour twenty minutes every week." Narvari shook her head in disbelief. "Compared to Pheera I am slower than a sloth."