BATTLE SCARS: (Indigo Symbols Book II)

Chapter Twelve: The Face Beneath

REINA:
A week later found me across the way from Huntor, who commanded me to shape knife after knife, after knife, after knife. "Come on Reina, feel the blade in your power, let your power be your hands." I growled and let loose three daggers at once. "There we go." He said. "Come on, again." He trained me just like that. Hard and crude. But we weren't the only ones he trained that hard. Walking in one day, a few days after learning to shape daggers I spotted him and the Chinese girl, Wenzi, fighting. I paused and saw Wenzi, engulfed in flames, spin over his head and bring down a fan to the back of his neck. I gasped, but he was so fast that he was six feet away, his sword blocking her next strike, and the next, and the next. So fast, they moved so fast, and there was grace to them both, as if this was some ancient dance they were performing. I admitted to myself, letting it go to the soils, "I won't give up. I will be just as powerful as Huntor, Leader of the Indigo, Master Of Tide, God OF The Sea." The next day I came in the Sector, Huntor waited for me, his eyebrows raised, as if he heard my silent pledge. I ignored the look and said, "We do this harder, faster, no mercy on me at all. I get injured, hurt, whatever, but keep going."
He nodded and for once, there was no amusement in his face, in his blue eye as he drew a hydro sword and said, "Go." I pulled a sword from the soil, second nature now, and ran for him. As we flew towards and away from each other, I felt the song of the dance, the music of the swords as we clashed, drew away, clashed again. We were silent though, as we came towards each other, away from each other, fighting and dodging. I breathed and allowed my body to awaken, to be alive, to feel, to feel the power that arose. Then he switched weapons and I coppied him, letting the sword shrink to a dagger. Then he switched again, the water becoming a whip and he lashed out with vicious ease. I allowed my dagger to grow into a staff and allowed the whip to twine around the top half. I smiled as he pulled instinctively and I was pulled towards him. He laughed as my feet met his hard muscled belly. We both laughhed as we fell to the mats. I found my legs on either side of his hips, our faces pressed against each other. His scent filled my nose, his dreads tickled my forehead. I felt his body tense and I tensed in reaction, but for a moment, for a brief moment, I stayed their, feeling, feeling something pang through my heart. No, not pang, this wasn't a pain, no sharp edged dagger. It felt as if something melted in me.
I threw myself off of him and pushed myself to my feet. I felt the blush burn my face, felt it burn every inch of my face and neck. Huntor got to his feet, his face relaxed, not even a flicker. I scowled, showing my irritation and anger, though he couldn't see it. The seven foot staff I had used was nothing more than a pile of dirt upon the mats. Huntor's whip was still in tact. "Prick." I muttered. "You let me do that, you, you wanted me to do that, me to fall for that. You let me believe I had you." He only smiled. "Ready to continue?" "I auoghtta barry you alive for that." I said, flexing my fingers. "Gotta catch me first." Then he turned and ran. Off guard, I could only watch as he zoomed across the mats and waited at the entrance for me. "Apparently you aren't as fast, or are dazed by what we did." Now there was mischief in his blue eye, and a challenge, a challenge to me. Anger flooded me and I ran after him. We spent an hour, one that made me sweat and my muscles burn. "I hate you, I really, really, really hate you." "The feeling is mutual." He commented. "Kiss my ass." "After what we did, I don't think so." He replied. I flipped my middle finger in his face and he said, 'No, you aren't my type." Another week went by and we kept training, running, swimming, so much that my body was live and strong. One Saturday morning, two weeks after Huntor started this brutal training, three since I got here, I stared open mouthed at who stared back in the floor length mirror. I was tall, I had always been tall, but my face was leaner, cheekbones even more pronounced, hair longer. My body glowed with a golden light, as if I laid in the sun all day. My breasts were perfectly round and under them, the flat plain of my stomach curved down to my hips which fanned out to strong swift legs. "Beautiful." I muttered. Yes, yes, I was beautiful, sexy, an Indigo-God. I was something to behold, to behold, and to fear.
    Was this what the Symbol did to you? Did it take people who were broken and remake them? Rebuild into something, someone even more. I wasn't just Reina, wasn't just Reina Marie Estelle Loronzo. No, no, now I was Reina Marie Estelle Loronzo, of the Indigo Symbol, girl of the Earth and soil, wielder of the Earth and soil. I was a powerful being, I was something. I let myself be now, let myself feel, feel the rage, feel the power and honed it, honed it as Huntor told me. I got dressed and walked towards the archway to my room and pressed my palm against it. There was a warmness against my fingers and the wall melted into a doorway. I walked out and into the Dinner Hall to eat, then to the Training Sector to train. But as I entered, I saw Huntor standing with the girl, Brooklyn, holding her hands. Brooklyn's eyes were open, but they were a bright vivid green. Her mouth was moving, but no words spilled out, instead, hissing slithered from her lips. I shivered and stood fast, others moving passed me, as if they didn't notice. The glow faded and her eyes were a brown now. The hissing faded and she collapsed. Two Indigos came rushing forwards and carried her off. Huntor's face was blank and he took several deep breaths. Then he turned to me, as if he knew I was there. 'Come." he turned and walked out of the Sector.
He walked into the Entrance Hall and stopped, staring at the wall. "Sometimes." He sid, almost to himself. "Having an Oracle ishard, hard, and depresing." 'what happened?" I asked, my voice sounding gentle, for once. He turned to me, his face falling, the face of the Leader falling away to show a scared teen, a scared horrified teen who was holding on, holding on to a crumbling edge. "By the day of equal, the foes shall begin the sequel, the Symbol will fall, three Indigos of equal power will forge, the fait upon the three, travel to the darkest place, to begin the race, only the three can end, the beginning." i raised my eyebrows, a smart remark on my tongue, but, but, but his face, his eye, he looked so lost, so scared, so unlike the tough strong warrior Veronica told me about. "What? What was that/" I asked. "A prophecy, a prophecy that tells of what's to come. Brooklyn, being out Oracle, has power of her own and she looks for clues and prophecy to help us prepare for the future, or, or she searches for Indigo, in her dreams and in her power. But, but this, this is a prophecy, one that marks the start, and end, of the world as we know it." "What do the lines mean?" I asked. huntor shook his head. "I can't make sense of it, not yet, only a few do make any sense. Even those few, they terrify me." It was a lot, I realized. A lot for him to admit that, especially to someone like me. Someone whom he trained, whom he hates. "No." I corrected myself. "I hate. I hate him, he doesn't hate me." But in that moment, I felt no hate, in that moment, I felt something else, something else shoot through my heart. No pain came with it though, no, no this was that same melty feeling. I stepped forward but he turned away, shutting me out, and causing that feeling to freeze over with rage and, and something else. 'I need time, time to consider, consider and plan." He turned back to me, "Go to the Sector, train with what you can, targets mainly. Use your power to shape arrows." With that, he turned and walked away, through a door, then vanished.