Warmth

Chapter 12 - True Goal

THIRD PERSON

Varay conjured another ice sword and shot it towards the dummy. It pierced through and she launched towards it—an ice sword shimmered in life in her right hand. She swept it diagonally, slicing the dummy.

While the upper-half of the dummy's body was falling, she conjured a bunch of ice spears around her, and fired it at the head. It hits the head and lunges towards the wall.

Ice spikes protruded out of the ground, thrusting towards the bottom-half of the dummy's body. Ice flakes fell from the room, smoke could be seen leaving Varay's mouth and nose.

Even though she was inside a cold room, a speck of sweat fell from her face. It's been a year since she last saw Arthur, the moment his face popped up—a blush formed upon her face. Her lips curled up into a smile as she remembered Arthur's face.

As she remembered their passionate interaction in Xyrus.

Varay felt hot inside the cold room, she began pulling her clothes. And began muttering nonsensical words, trying to remove Arthur from her mind. Yet, remembering him gave her motivation and the feeling of worthlessness.

'We were supposed to be the pinnacle of power in Dicathen, yet our powers pale in comparison to someone younger...' Varay grimaced, her teeth biting her lower-lip.

Yet, even though it was like that. Varay didn't give up, Arthur gave her hope and motivation—she just needs to give her best, and train, train, train till he comes back.

She'll show him that she'd be someone who's capable of standing besides him. I'll reach even higher power using my core, a core that will never change. It's useless to meditate on them, since their cores won't change and will stay the same.

But they still need to meditate from time to time—to fill their cores. Varay couldn't help but feel down, she knew she couldn't do anything about this problem of hers. She could only hope that she can improve in other things, and not just in her mana core.

She only wishes for some things. To stand next to Arthur and protect her home from the invaders.

...

A red-haired man jumped from a platform to another, behind him—there were spiders with wings following him. The man held his hand out towards the monsters trailing behind him and a fiery blaze came out of his palm—burning all the creatures.

A shriek escaped their mouths as they got burned alive by his spell. He landed on the platform and there, a wheat-haired man was sitting beneath a tree meditating.

"I almost died, you know!" Chul grumbled at his companion. Arthur's hair fell down from the sky and landed on his shoulder, his eyes opened up.

"Not my fault, I told you to wait as I was still filling my aether reserves," Arthur shrugged. Chul gritted his teeth and huffed—not wanting to retort to his partner anymore.

"So where to now?"

Arthur dusted his pants and walked out of the shadow cast by the tree. He walked past Chul and narrowed his eyes to the path ahead. There were 5 more platforms before they reached the beacon. And inside those platforms, different kinds of Beasts reside on them.

"We continue," Arthur answered, then lunged towards the platform next to them. The platform he landed consisted of an ant that was 6 feet tall and has the teeth of a snake.

The ground of the grass platform shook and more ants appeared—jumping out of the ground, launching towards Arthur. In Arthur's right hand, a purple blade shimmered in life. He swept it across, a slash leaving his sword—slicing the ants horizontally.