Destiny Island

Chapter 43

"I will be your teacher," Lejanida told Ignacio that day.
"Why you?" He asked.
He didn't mean it to sound as harsh as it did, but he wasn't sure what a person like her could teach him.

In his opinion, she was the type of person who spewed around wisdom but knew nothing about the hearts of humans.
He especially didn't think she knew anything about fighting since in his mind fighting was a man's business and the fact that some women could fight was an exception, not a rule.
Looking at her physical appearance he judged that she would be a terrible fighter, that she didn't have the necessary strength to beat anyone, so he wasn't sure why he would have to listen to what she had to say.

Before he could voice his protest, he was lying flat down on the ground.
Disoriented, he started looking around trying to figure out what had happened.
Lejanida stood above him with hands on her hips and a huge smirk on her face.

"Did she... No, no, that's impossible." Ignacio thought to himself.
Unfortunately for him, there was no denying it.
There was no one else around their personal training area, so she had to be the one who swept him off his feet, literally, while he was too busy thinking how inadequate she was.

"As they say in your world, never judge a book by its covers," Lejanida said.
He was stunned that she could tell what he was thinking and started worrying that she might be able to read his mind.
"No, I can't read your mind, but wise people don't need to. Everything I need to know is written on your face." She said.
After saying that she offered him her hand to help him up, and he accepted.

Before everything that had happened, he would've probably refused her help and gotten furious, but he started realizing that she was teaching him a valuable lesson and that wasn't something he should get angry about.

"You are strong. Both your body and mind are powerful but that power is useless if you let the anger control it. Sometimes anger can fuel your powers but you never know when it will turn against you.
I am here to teach you to use your powers in a way that will not be damaging for you or people around you.
It's a wonder you haven't yet hurt anyone because, anger, although a powerful source of energy, is not the most precise one.
It is all about strength and not about precision. To be able to protect yourself and others you need both." She said.

Ignacio could feel his anger slowly flaring up at her words but for the first time in a long while he managed to rein it in and not let it become an all-consuming fire that it usually tended to become.
"That's a good start," Lejanida said sensing the struggle in him.

He knew that what she was saying made sense. Had he not been burning with anger and desire to destroy maybe he wouldn't have been hurt, maybe he would have been able to protect Amber from being hurt.
He couldn't really figure out why he felt responsible for what happened to Amber, but he did, and he wanted to do everything in his power to prevent anything like that from ever happening again although she did seem capable of protecting herself.
The more likely scenario was that they would protect each other and surprisingly enough he didn't seem to mind that, not anymore.

It was difficult for him to believe that HE could change so much in a matter of days, but that was the influence the island seemed to have on all of them.
Even his friend Royce, whom he had known for years, seemed to be an entirely different person, a better person.
Somehow he managed to become stronger and less likely to go down the black hole that was anxiety.
Maybe that was their destiny, to be changed by the magic of the island.
Although Ignacio had never believed in destiny before, being faced with magical beings, with dragons, fairies and so on, he started reexamining his beliefs.