Torva Messor

Chapter 9: Version Seven

"Again."

"Again."

"Again."

Lydia practically falls to the floor from exhaustion. She was grasping some aspects of my teachings but failing in others. Seemed like anything that had to do with offensive magic she hesitated. Guess she's not the aggressive type like me. What could I do to change that? I had seen a lot so going all out against anyone wasn't an issue. The worst Lydia probably had seen was her father bad-mouthing her.

In my thoughts, Lydia stands and strolls through the motions again. She definitely had endurance and the drive to keep going. Not like I was working with a wet blanket at least. I recall my battle with her. She had very quickly changed gears when something was coming at her. Something she had to defend herself against. An interesting case I might be able to take advantage of. Lydia tries to use her magic again but it comes out strained and she holds herself up with her hands on her knees.

"Alright. Take a break. I want you focused on something else later. I'm changing things up." Lydia drops to her back with her arms and legs sprawled out. She has a smile despite the day she's been having.

"Thank goodness, one more time and I might have actually passed out." She laughs a little despite being exhausted. Such an interesting girl.

"If this doesn't work, I don't think much else will work besides me running at you with my scythe again." I prop my head up with my knuckles against the cheekbones of the mask on my face.

"Please work." Lydia closes her eyes and claps her hands together before relaxing again.

I allow Lydia enough time for her to catch her breath, but not quite enough to where she's a hundred percent. That'll help her for defending herself when she's exhausted as well. Instead of having Lydia practice motions, she'd now be practicing how to dodge and defend herself. Not against me, she would work up to that hopefully eventually. For now, I used my own energy to make three rocks float and fly at her. She did well for the most part, although there were times when our speeds became apparent. She would dodge in a way that left an opening, and a rock to either the side or unfortunately, the back of the head, found her. Over time I noticed these openings closing, however.

The next morning, Lydia was up bright and early, chipper as always. Ready for another round of training. I sometimes couldn't tell if she was excited to train or if she was doing this simply to defend her family like she wanted. Perhaps it was a bit of both. Regardless, her high energy made for a good move I've been thinking of lately.

"Follow me, I want to show you something," I say as I float into the air and fly off. She follows close behind but I have to remember to control my speed. It was honestly such a hassle at times. Eventually, we arrived at the border between the mages and the mainland, the one I created. Sitting near the edge, the statue of the Goddess of Fire holds strong against the weather. When we land, it's the first thing Lydia notices.

"Is that..?"

"Yes, the Goddess of Fire. The most powerful mage at the time. The one who split the lands to save both sides from destroying each other." I recall all my old memories. Sitting at the border preventing the inevitable until I finally had the power to stop the fighting all together.

"Amazing," Lydia says in awe of the statue. I turn to face Lydia, and she turns her attention to me now.

"You are in the presence of a goddess. Do your best to impress her." I say as three rocks begin to hover around me. Lydia lets a smirk form and raises her arms. Lydia set a new record actually, a whole eight minutes of purely dodging before I was able to exploit an opening. She forced me to speed up a little bit more than normal with her. I honestly had to admit I was somewhat impressed.