A Haunting Melody: The Golden Lyre

19 | Chi

The Mark Chi (χ) is given to Hunters who have survived a potentially mortal injury. Hunters gifted with this mark can heal at an accelerated rate.

***

"Again!" Daniel barked as Chris practised a basic combination on him.

Chris let out a deep breath as he quickly wiped a few beads of sweat from his face. Daniel had been going very hard on him, not giving him breaks and constantly criticising his form.

He lifted his tired arms and went through the combination again, Daniel easily evading his punches and kicks. Chris had really hoped that Astrid would be the one training him, but she seemed quite busy, letting loose on a punching bag nearby and quite frankly, Chris was too scared to ask her to train him at this point.

"Come on, that was weak. Do it again," Daniel pushed.

Chris let out a loud grunt and did the combination once again, feeling more and more out of control of his body as his fists flew past Daniel's head.

"You're getting really sloppy," Daniel said coldly, looking at Chris with piercing eyes.

Chris took a few moments to catch his breath before speaking.

"Well yeah," he shrugged, "I'm exhausted."

"That's no excuse," Daniel scoffed.

At this, Astrid stopped what she was doing and walked over to where Daniel and Chris were standing.

"I'm trying my best," Chris sighed, stretching out his shoulder, which had become very tight after all of the training.

"He needs to take a break," Astrid said flatly, giving Daniel a warning look.

"How is he going to get stronger if he takes breaks?" Daniel asked irritably.

Astrid crossed her arms, "you and I both know that you can really hurt yourself if you don't give your muscles a rest."

Daniel searched her eyes for any shred of endearment but found nothing.

"Fine, go sit down for a bit, we'll continue in ten minutes," Daniel said, not breaking eye contact with Astrid as he spoke to Chris.

"Thank god," Chris sighed, throwing a towel over his shoulder and turning on his heels to go to the bathroom.

"Not so fast," Astrid said sternly, causing Chris to pause, "you'll be training with me after your break."

"Okay," Chris nodded, continuing on his way to the bathrooms.

Once he had left the room, Astrid turned to face Daniel and glared at him.

"What?" Daniel asked, feeling uncomfortable under her gaze.

"What's your problem?" she asked irritably, "you're going unreasonably hard on him."

"That's how I was trained," Daniel shrugged.

"You were trained from young. Cut him some slack, this is all new to him," Astrid said, her voice level.

"Yeah well if you go too soft on him he's just going to die on his first mission," Daniel argued.

"Not after I'm done with him," Astrid said, tightening her jaw.

Daniel let out a frustrated sigh and took a step back, "fine, train him then. I'll be by the punching bag if you need me."

"Fine."

***

"Alright, just watch me closely. I'll break it down for you," Astrid began, calmly getting into a flawless defensive stance while Chris watched her with keen interest.