Our Soul Nexus

Chapter Twenty-One

The dinner with his family moved on as smoothly as expected. Thankfully Thilia knew how to keep the mood light and move the conversation forward from the brief tension they had witnessed.

Ayben couldn't bring himself to tell them about the ordeal with Princess Hestia nor the fact he was scheduled to be drafted to war. There was so much going on already that worried his parents, there was no room for anything else.

Hells, it was hard enough for him to handle it, and this was his life.

The following week was nonstop training. Sure, classes had been slow, but any spare time was occupied by Chesca, not allowing him a moment of rest.

She was fury incarnate during their sparring matches. She was ruthless, leaving no room for error on Ayben's part.

And because he was a novice in magic combat, there was a lot of error. A lot.

He felt his back slam into the ground. He failed to set up a fall dampening spell because he had been too busy deflecting the sharp, bright yellow projectiles shooting towards him.

"Shit." He groaned, staring up at the clear sky, sweat cooling his skin. He slowly rolled onto his side to get up.

Chesca chuckled and walked over, closing her white sigils. "You lasted a bit longer on that one. You're getting it!"

Ayben felt his muscles scream at him as he stood up.

"You don't need to lie to make the beating hurt less." Ayben retorted, wincing at the hollow feeling as he tried to regulate his breathing.

Chesca gave him a mischievous grin. "It's not a lie, and it's not a beating. It's a very hands-on learning experience. And you are learning!"

Ayben nodded in feign understanding. "Sure."

She patted him on the back. "Go on, I'll let you go get dinner. It's been a long day."

Ayben didn't object. He was starving, sore and felt like he had been fighting all day. He had lunch, but it was later than everyone else. He had breakfast, but it was earlier than everyone else. Now at the end of the day, he could finally see Claretta, Rei and Laude.

He walked over to the mess hall, a pain down his legs causing him to move a little slower than he liked. He had already cast some healing, so he was doing much better than he would've been if it had been otherwise.

Grabbing his ration and joining his friends at their usual spot, he grunted as he sat down.

"What happened to you?" Rei laughed.

Ayben gave him a look that asked him to drop it.

"It's that bad, huh?" Laude said, giving him a sympathetic look.

Claretta's eyes were bright. "I wish I could've watched a bit. You can learn so much even from observing."

Ayben rolled his shoulder before sipping his water. "Well, you're more than welcome to join the sparring sometime. Don't blame me, though, if Chesca doesn't go easy on you."

As Ayben started to eat, he noticed the meal was missing something.

He paused for a moment, pointing at his tray. "Don't we normally have-"

"Potatoes? Yeah. None of us have them. There's also one less slice of meat." Rei replied.

Ayben frowned. "That's weird."

"It's expected." Laude stated. "Last week the king passed a decree to tighten import requirements from the Fae border. It's an anti-war measure, but it's making it harder to get produce moving."