By Midnight Blood

Chapter Three: Something's Beginning

Liridia

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"How am I not doing it right? We've done this probably over a million times." I complained, wiping the sweat from my brow with the sleeve of my tunic.

"And we will do this another million times until you get it right. Just square your shoulders, have your feet shoulder width apart and exhale when you extend your elbow. You can't miss." He instructed, snatching the knife from my hand and throwing it without even looking, landing it dead in the centre of the target. Just like the million other times he did it.

"Then how am I possibly missing?" I seethe, picking up another knife and wanting to stab myself for feeling so incompetent.

"You're overthinking. Stop and breathe a second." He ordered, going to put his hands on my shoulders to shake this nonsense out of me, but stopping and glancing at me for permission to do so. I nodded, acknowledging the warning and watching the world shake as he shook me.

"Again. But better this time." He demanded, crossing his arms and waiting intently.

I took a deep breath and watched as my body fell into the same rhythm. Feet shoulder width apart, relaxed shoulders, exhale when my arm extended. It hit the inner ring of the target, not a bullseye, but definitely better. I whooped with victory and turned towards him, waiting for approval.

"Again." He ordered, not looking at me but at the target. My blood boils when he doesn't even look at me in acknowledgment of my progress, so I huff and pick up another knife. I flip it in my palm and close my eyes, imagining the shock on His face when I hit it right in the middle after all this time.

Something inside me loosens, like it's poked a hole in the cage it's been kept in, and tries to slither out. I take a deep breath, open my eyes and throw.

The target turns a shade of purple and I gasp as the knife I threw strikes His knife's hilt, right in the centre. He glanced at me for a second, then walked to look at the target scrutinising every detail. The target turns back to red and white and I gape at my throw, quickly recovering when He looks at me, then back at the knife, then back to me.

"Beginner's luck." He muttered slowly, taking the knife out of the target and taking my knife out of his.

"The amount of times I've done this should mean I'm an expert." I remarked, raising an eyebrow challengingly and picking up another knife. I felt the air leave my body smoothly as my elbow extended, and the knife left my hand like an arrow.

It hit just off the centre and I cursed colourfully, wanting perfection. I picked up another and He placed his hand over mine.

"That's enough." He concluded, taking the pail full of knives away to rest beside the rack of weapons. "I should've started simpler. You need to be fit before you stand a chance."

"Chance at what?" I asked quickly, holding onto the last knife by the blade.

"Versing opponents in Du Staedon, the Winnowing." He frowned, his brown eyes narrowing slightly as he spots something out of the darkness of the back stands.

"If you want, Nalem, you can train her. I have better things to do with my time at the moment." He growled, making my temper bristle with his words. I grip tighter onto the blade.

Nalem stood up from his seat and traipsed down the stairs, his dark hair standing up straight like he's been struck by lightning.

My hands begin to tingle and I breathe slowly through my nose to calm myself down. So what if he doesn't want to train me? Nalem probably would. Hell, I'd train myself. I'll show them who needs training.

I toss the knife up into the air, the ground crackling with energy and fine tuning my technique into something I feel like I've done religiously for the past year, making me spin and catch the knife still in the air and launch it at the target with a cry.

Everything slows down as my momentum makes me touch the ground and land on my feet easily. The knife crawls through the air and I turn to look at His and Nalem's face to see if they see it too. Their faces don't change, Nalem's blank face stuck frozen along with D's face.

I turn back to the knife slowly and walk up to it, planting my face incredibly close to the knife as I watch it hang in the air, slowly moving towards the target.

"What in the Hells-" I whisper incredulously, backtracking to where they stand, frozen. I tap Nalem's face slowly, watching my finger make an imprint on the skin and slowly watching it disappear again.

I walk right up to D and punch him in the face, bringing my hand back with a hiss, the appearing red mark on his cheek making me smile through the pain. I hear a tap from behind me and I turn quickly only to watch the knife enter the target perfectly. I stand in front of the target with a smug look on my face that began to fade when I heard the crack.

The wood splintered as the knife went deeper and I turned back to the two frozen men to see if they saw what I saw. The wood groaned heavily, the old target worn from age and the knives of former trainees. But it shouldn't break. Not by a knife.

The knife went down to the hilt and my eyebrows knitted in confusion. A knife couldn't possibly go that far into a target from that far away. I watched in awe as the target finally split in two, slowly falling to the ground. I stood still, now horrified as the knife finally fell to the ground.

The scene finally unfroze and they both turned to me in surprise for a moment before erupting back to life.

"But... but you were just-" Nalem squeaked.

"How did you get over there?" D asked quickly, rubbing his face absentmindedly with a small frown.

"What did you do?" Nalem smiled, pointing to the target expectantly, the two halves of the circle lying flat on the ground.

"It broke apart from age, I guess." I coughed, covering my act up and passing it off as a 'you blink and you miss it' moment. Glancing at the knife which glinted in the light burnt my eyes and made me turn away from it in horror.

"Don't be daft, it was fine when we started training." He finishes slowly, the glint of the knife catching in his eye and making him look back to me with narrowed eyes and slightly pursed lips.

"Probably the wood ants then." I lied, replaying the scene over and over in my head, trying to make sense of it and failing. Everything slowed down and went purple before it happened. Is it a curse that has befell upon me?

"...Nalem. You're assigned to Liridia for now. Something's come up that needs attending," He began, eyeing me with caution, "Just listen to him, kid. He's smart."

As he exits the cavern I frown slightly and turn to pick up the knife, my movement stopped as I'm caught by Nalem's calloused hand. I try to extricate my wrist from his grip, turning around to warn him off touching me and colliding with his chest in the process.

He lets go and I step back, my cheeks heating up behind my dark skin. I thrust my chin further up into the air and meet his even, green-eyed gaze. He gazes awkwardly at me and everything inside me ignites under his eyes, my short legs not long enough so I have to look up to meet them.

"Sorry. Um-... I didn't-" He stuttered, his eyes travelling back down to rest at his feet. I push his chin up slowly with the side of my finger, an eyebrow raised.

"Just be careful, don't be submissive. You should be teaching me things, not the other way around." I smiled, the image of the knife still burning in my eyes but not making me stammer.

I lowered my hand from his chin and nodded awkwardly as the silence intensified. He inclines his head towards the exit and I extend my hand out as if to say, Ladies first.

His only reply is a snort before climbing the steps to exit. I look back at the knife, wanting to know how I could've possibly done that with so-called "beginner's luck", but to my surprise, it's no longer there.

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Well hey diddleo neighborino!
Back again I see, to satisfy yourself with more of Liridia's past.

Enjoy,
EmmsieBear1402