Shadowfire Book Two: Ice Cold

Chapter 15

When I woke again, I was in what seemed to be an underground bunker. It had been carved out of the mountain, and stalactites remained among the metal. There was one glass pane among the curving bunker. The
woman was looking at me through it.

"You still haven't told me who you are."

"Yes I did. I'm a teacher." She then stuck her hand out closer towards the glass, and it flashed in gold fire. Two larger infernos appeared at the opposite end of the bunker, and they changed into something like the dagger she had thrown at me earlier. Except this time, they formed people. Two men, both in black cloaks and pants. The only color in them was their golden eyes.

Two golden blades appeared out of their sleeves, and both ran at me. They seemed to be in perfect synch, jumping off and running on the walls at the same time and speed. I heard the woman yell at me.

"Defend yourself, fool!"

It took all my concentration to dodge the attackers. "How the hell do you expect me to do that without a weapon?!"

"Make a weapon! You've seen me do it haven't you?"

She was right. It couldn't be very different from making the ice scythe I used. I focused, and my right hand flashed into gold fire. I formed a fist, and visualized a sword appearing in my hand.

The first construct enemy was running at me, and before I knew it, I had swung my hand towards it, and a golden sword revealed itself. I looked at it in awe, almost forgetting about the enemy. He was slashed in half by my already moving blade. The second wasn't so easy to kill.  Whoever this woman was wanted to challenge me, gauge my skills.

She wanted a show, so I'd give her one. The blade extending from its right arm flew towards my stomach. Spinning the blade, I parried the strike and sliced off his hand, along with the sword.

Unlike any human enemy, this one didn't fret over the lost extremity. Instead, the left hand blade slice upwards at me with amazing speed. I leaned back, causing the would-be fatal blow to leave a thin but deep cut from the right corner of my mouth to a few inches above my eyebrow, cutting right through my eye.

"Damn," I thought. "If I had been a second later my entire upper body would've been cut in half." With my new cut,  I was temporarily blind in my right eye. I knew now that it'd heal soon enough, but I needed an advantage. Especially now that whatever this thing was had regenerated its hand and sword.

I glanced up at the woman, seeing her smirk.

"What'll you do now?" This was the real test. And despite this woman's bitchiness, I felt an innate need to beat this thing.

I ran towards the construct, blocking its first slice with my blade. I saw its second sword moving up to pierce my side. Instead, a blast of gold fire came down from the hilt of my blade, slicing it in half. When the flame cleared, I held a double edged sword in my hands.

The construct used his remaining sword to strike me, but I twirled my blade, knocking away his attack and redirecting his momentum. As he flew past me, I impaled him with one blade, and separated the other, using it to decapitate him.

Finally, its body and head vanished into gold fire. Looking up at the glass window, I noticed that the woman was gone. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a golden flash. Half a second later, I had a dagger in my hand identical to the one that had destroyed my arm before.

I saw her step out of the darkness, smirking at me.

"You're ready. Now we can start the training."

"Start? You're telling me all of this was some sort of sick test?!"

"Yes." Her emotionless face only made me angrier.

"No. I'm done. Send me back to my brother or something." I starting walking towards one end of the bunker, prepared to blast a whole through the wall. Her next words stopped me.

"I can help you kill the man who murdered your mother."

"How?" I turned back to her.

"In order to kill your father, you will need to have power equal to his. I can provide it. I can train you." As she said all of this, she held eye contact. I could tell she wasn't kidding.

"What would you have me do?"