Welcome to Veridant: Celestial Adventures

1

  "Faster," I told myself. "Gotta punch faster... If I build up enough energy from that, maybe I can finally summon this damned power." With that, I pushed myself to jab at the punching bag even faster than I was originally. I knew I was pushing my limits but I didn't care; I just had to get this to work...at least so I can shut people up about it.

  I could see the beads of sweat fly off my face and arms as I continued. It felt like time had just stopped, that's how focused I was; until I heard a creak in the old wooden floor behind me. I spun around mid punch only to stop a few inches from this person's face.

  "Bro! Chill, chill! It's only me." Lilly said while throwing her hands up. I sighed and relaxed a little. "Sorry..." I muttered while wiping the sweat from my face with my shirt. She chuckled softly and threw me a bottle of water which I gladly took and drank from.

  "I see you're back at it again." "Yeah. I've been at it all week..." I said in between sips. "You should take a break man. You don't wanna stress yourself." "Ok and?" I asked and looked at her; I could hear the annoyance in my voice. Lilly looked right back at me and we stared at each other for a few more seconds until she sighed.

  "Look. What I'm trying say is don't push yourself too much Luke. You might hurt yourself or worse... And you've kind of worried me this week. You've been at this gym all day for almost every day going away at this old punching bag. Don't you think," she came over and put a hand on my shoulder and looked at me once again, this time with a look of worry. "It's time to give your body a rest?"

  I shook my head, looking down as I said, "I don't know anymore..." "What?" "I mean, everyone expects me to be able to use this power like a master ever since I turned 18... Even dad is starting to pressure me..." I looked at Lilly. "So I swore that I wouldn't stop training, not until this power comes to me. And I haven't."

  "Y'know, you've always called it 'this power' but never said what it is. So what is it?" I stayed silent for a second before I told her. "Aura... The power of aura. Its been passed down in my family for generations..." "Oh wow..." She said and I nodded.

  We stood there in silence for a few minutes until Lilly suddenly gasped, scaring the crap out of me. "Bro, we should go by our old stomping ground!" A smiled pulled at my lips. "Yeah, we should. I haven't been there in a minute." "Cool! Last one there has to pay for everything!" She grinned and ran out the door. "Wha- Hey!" I exclaimed as I scrambled to put on my jacket and grab my things before running after her.

(I'll publish the next chapter later today y'all. I'm tired lol)