War of Dawn

Chapter 17: Thoughts Amid The Waters

Date: 1003 After Dawn, November 10th

About six months have passed since Hilda first joined the Corps of Scions and things are, finally, progressing without any major hitches. Her relationship with Owen mended, the two of them have spent the last couple of months after the battle of Bathurst accompanying Ryouma and Vanessa on several assignments. They were still limited to enclaves of varying sizes, though their progress has been enough that the Generals agree that they could take part in operations concerning infiltrated Valnr in cities. In normal conditions, at least, but things have been far from that lately.

Once Hilda and Owen left the infirmary, they were informed of the explosion that consumed Nokor's enclave – obviously, there's someone bigger than him still out there. Vanessa thinks whoever it is, is the one who killed Agustín: an upper class Valnr Knight and much stronger than Nokor to manage a spell of that caliber. Thus, the Generals and all the experienced High Scions have been placed on alert in a bid to hunt down this Knight whenever an opportunity presents itself. No such opportunities have been had just yet, though. It seems that the Knight is biding his or her time.

Considering that they've no way of divining whether the Knight could or could not be in a given enclave, only those stronger Scions are being allowed to take part in operations revolving around populated areas. It's safer for the younger warriors and safer for the civilians, too. That doesn't mean Hilda and Owen are fine with the idea that they're too weak to help with his mess, though. Together, they've redoubled their training since fully recovering and today is no different. By the training ground, Hilda is busily doing push-ups. Per her own request, Owen sits upon her upper back to add weight as he practices new spell glyphs. Having observed it during the battle against the Risen, the first one he worked on mastering was the Stream glyph. And it's worked out quite well, as evidenced by the speed with which he now conjures jets of flame out of his palms.

Hilda isn't paying attention to him, sweat dripping off her brow as she continues her push-ups. "thousand forty eight... forty nine... and... thousand fifty! Alright, done!"

"Is that the end of your daily workout?" Owen asks, rising off her back but keeping his eyes set on the large spellbook.

"Yeah, that's it. How're things on you end?" Hilda exhales sharply as she dries her face and hair with a small piece of cloth.

"Quite well; I've the Stream glyph mastered and Pillar is coming along nicely. You?"

"Aah... Stream is good but that's it. I've been working on something else," she shrugs.

Owen raises an eyebrow in curiosity. "Oh? Is it impressive enough to warrant neglecting your spells?"

"Calling me out, eh? Alright, hold on a second." Hilda flashes a quick grin before placing the cloth around her neck and grabbing her sword off the ground.

She takes a look around and spots a line of three dummies on the far, far side of the training grounds. High Scions and upwards can attack at that distance without an issue but Novitiates usually need either long-range weapons like Owen's or spells like Bolt to do so. Or do they?

Under Owen's watchful gaze, Hilda takes position. Sword in hand, she charges the lightning elemental and slashes downward, making a vertical mass of electricity manifest and stand still before her. As the blade touches the ground, she takes a small step backwards and follows it up with a one-handed horizontal slash. A streak of lightning emerges from her attack, striking the gathered electricity and merging with it. The newly formed cross-shaped streak dashes across the ground, all the way to the other side of the training grounds and rips through all three dummies in one go.