When the Stars Align

Training

I awoke to someone knocking on the door. I rose out of bed and flung open the door. It was Jase. He was wearing a plain grey t-shirt with Bermuda shorts that weren't his.

"Morning!" he said happily.

"What time is it?" I asked rubbing my eyes.

"7," he replied.

"As in 7 in the morning?" I yawned.

He nodded. "I'm starving."

"Ok, just let me get dressed," I said tiredly, closing the door.

I walked over to a small dresser in the corner. Surprisingly, there were clothes in there. I slipped on a dark red V-neck and a pair of jeans. They were a little baggy, but it would do. I opened the closet to find a few pairs of shoes on the floor. I decided on a pair of white converse. I tried to tame my messy hair as well as I could and exited the room.

Jase was waiting for me. "I don't know where the cafeteria is sooo..."

"Come on," I said as I led him down to level 2.

We both entered the cafeteria. This time there were hundreds of people compared to when Brendan had showed it to me the night before. Luckily, I spotted Will almost immediately already in the line to get food. I couldn't help but smile. I led Jase over to join him in line. I tried to look my best like nothing had happened last night, but I was blushing fiercely.

"Hey," Will said when he saw me.

"Hey," I replied.

"So, I was thinking after breakfast, we can start your training?" he suggested.

I nodded. "Okay, but I'll go ahead and warn you now, I'm sort of a klutz."

"You handled that pen just fine," he said smirking.

Once we had our food, we went and sat down at a table. I sat on one side with Will, the other side Josh sat next to Avery and Jase sat next to Josh. A few minutes later Brendan came and sat down on the other side of me. Will tensed but didn't say anything.

"So after this, I can help you try to find out your element if you want," Brendan offered.

"Actually, I was going to train with Will, maybe another time?" I said.

I could feel Will's muscles relax slightly.

"Oh, ok," he replied disappointed.

We all got up to throw our trash away.

"What about Jase?" I asked Will.

"There's a basic training for kids his age that he can go. Maybe he can make some friends his own age," he nodded towards Josh. "Even if Josh acts Jase's age."

Josh hadn't seemed to hear Will's comment, or if he did, he ignored it. He was laughing loudly at something Jase had said.

We headed back into the main hall and split up. Avery claimed she needed to go meet up with Alex (who Will informed me was her boyfriend), Brendan just disappeared without explanation, and Josh needed to go to some meeting. So, I walked with Jase and Will to the training room. There was a small room next to the training room that Jase went into. There were about a dozen or so other 8 year olds in there too. Will led me into the training room.

More people were in the element arenas today, and there were more people training too. We walked over to a long row of swords that were all different sizes and weights. Will picked a few up before handing me one. I could barely lift it. He took it back and handed me a lighter one. This one felt more even and balanced in my hands. He picked one up for himself and led me over to a training mat in the corner.

"Ok, so the first thing you need to learn is your posture. Keep your feet shoulder-width apart. Keep your torso forward and the sole of your foot on the ground. Good. Just follow your instincts, okay?" he said.

I nodded. He took a swing. I barely blocked it, but by the time I did, he was already coming back again. I struggled to keep up with him, transferring my body weight to parry time and time again. I knew this was just him going easy on me. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck. He quickly sped up and disarmed me.

"You know I'm better than you, don't you?" he asked.

I nodded and added defensively, "You've been doing this for longer."

He handed me my sword.

"Ok, then don't give in. And if you only remember one thing today, remember this: there is always a loophole," he said staring intensely into my eyes. "Don't forget that, okay?"

"Okay," I replied, not really sure what he meant.

He came at me again. I sidestepped and switched to offense as I took a swing at him. He hesitated in surprise, but quickly recovered and blocked it. Swords clattered and whistled in the air. I was fighting by pure adrenaline and instinct. Will lunged, and not really sure what I was doing, I disarmed him swiftly by jerking the sword. It clattered onto the ground a few feet away. I think it was mostly just luck, but he was surprised all the same.

He smirked, his eyes glittering with amusement. "Better."