World of Alvarra: Rise of the Vampire Lord

Chapter 173 The Memoriam

And with another blow, Van was hurtling through the air. He did his best to land on his feet, but it was a dicey thing, and fell a little anyway. He stood there for some time, gasping for breath. "Great... not only do I have to train with my parents, but now my double insists that I train with him as well. I really don't need more stuff on my plate..." he thought, somewhat annoyed by this whole situation.

"Come on Van, you can do better than that. I've barely moved from my spot." the double said, one hand behind his back, right foot slightly forward and his right hand slightly upfront with the palm open. "At this rate, you will never beat me." his face had the same bored-looking expression as always.

Van sighed, taking his stance once more and getting ready for another attack. He then leaped forward, fists hitting nothing but air as he swung with all the speed and precision he could muster.

The double on the other hand. Simply leaned back and would almost glide away from the attacks. Doing only the barest movement to get out of their way. Only periodically using his open hand to gently guide some attacks out of the way should they get too close.

"Come on Van, you are me, I am you. Use that to your advantage." the double said. "You are very good at planning and if given the chance, you could read your opponents better than anyone can. But the problem is execution. You lack the will and experience, as well as the confidence. Trusting in your ability to dodge attacks take's complete trust in oneself and one's ability to read their opponent. Another issue is your impatience, the reason why you're so quick to end a fight is because of fear, the fear that you would be unable to win as your reserves of energy starts to dip. You fear that you would be unable to win unless it's through sheer overwhelming power, so you try your best to end a fight quickly..."

The double then went in for a quick jab into Van's gut, doubling him over. "Seriously Van... even Luna is beginning to pull ahead of you in that regard... and that's not even something she specializes in... remember that fight with Thea? She read her mother not once, but twice in that battle, and used it to her advantage. While you as always just simply did the best you could by amping yourself up and hoping your speed and power would carry you through the day. Despite the fact that planning and reading your opponent is supposed to be your forte... perhaps... I really should do a coup d'état and take over. At least then I can make it so that we, me and your subconscious that is, aren't embarrassed anymore..."

Van gave his double a glare upward. He knew now that what his double said was all talk, and that it was mostly to rile him up. But it still was pretty effective considering it really pricked Van's pride. "I really... don't need this on top of all my training I already do..." he thought with some exasperation.

"We are done with the sparring now..." the double said. "For now, we will go back to that flicker step that your father has been trying to teach you. Please watch me and try to follow." he then began to do that weird practice dance that Alv taught Van.

Van watched with some annoyance, already recovering somewhat since he was in his soul realm and energy was available to spare. He then blinked as his double began to move faster and faster. At first, it just looked weird, but the more he watched, the more he had a hard time tracking him. Soon it was like his double was starting to blur in place and in the next second... he was gone.

Van was taken aback. He was pretty sure he didn't blink or anything this time. It was just that, what was before a large smudge in his vision. Simply disappeared... he looked around, and his heart jumped to find his double right next to him.

"The dance isn't the important part, Van." the double said as if what he did was no big deal. "It's what you learn from it. There's a rhythm to it, a pattern. Once you understand that, you don't even need to do the dance anymore. The dance is just there to help you comprehend that pattern, and to train your body for that rhythm... nothing more."