Fractured Reality

Reunions

Chapter 36

It had been nearly three weeks since Eva had gotten her wings. During that time, she had learned more about her power, but it had taken them half that time just to get her airborne. Once she was, however, flying lessons became a regular part of their training.

It had been amusing at first, at least for one of them. Adrian had levitated with her in his arms and held her there until she could eventually make her wings work the way she wanted. She nearly cursed him the first time he let her go, and she almost fell. Even though she was able to right herself before she hit the ground, she was unhappy enough not to speak to him for a whole five minutes. It might have been less if he hadn't laughed at her.

Despite the rough start, Eva picked up the basics quickly. It helped that her trainer had his own form of flight. Though it was not quite the same, it was still enough that he could help her. At least to be there, so she didn't crash.

In addition to flying lessons, they also determined at least a little about her innate power. After experimenting some, they came to the conclusion that it was what they could only describe as holy light. Eva rolled her eyes when Adrian first called it that, but she had to admit, that was a rather accurate name. Even if it felt weird applied to her.

What that boiled down to was the fact that she could heal and grow, but it also worked in a similar way to consecrated items. They found that out when they were ambushed by a small group of demons before they could make it back to the castle one evening. By that point, she could call the light at will. Although, the first time she used it, it had been instinctive again. She had been pounced on by one of the demons. She held out her hands to defend herself, but the light was instantly at her fingertips. The beast hadn't even had time to try and avoid it before it was burnt to ash in seconds.

Adrian had given her an impressed look, but they were not given long to appreciate the turn. The rest of the small swarm was on them in a flash. Though, between the two of them, they were able to dispatch them quickly. When it was all over, Eva wanted nothing more than to collapse right there. Only the smell of demon guts pushed her to walk back into the castle on her shaky legs. It ended up taking her almost an hour before her nerves calmed enough to go to bed. In the end, Adrian had to help her forget how scared she had been, despite how well she did.

It was a few days after that incident, and the two of them had moved on from just flying lessons to learning maneuvers in the sky. Adrian wanted to make sure that Eva was capable of at least getting away if it came to an aerial battle. Some of the night horde had wings, so the sky was not necessarily safer.

Currently, she was trying to evade his pounces. She cursed when he came at her from the treeline once again and barely managed to roll to the side in mid-air. Her balance was off afterward, and it took her too long to recover. Although she had evaded him once, when he came back around, she found them both falling.

He stopped them from hitting the ground at full impact, but he still had her arms pinned as she hit the ground with an oof. He smirked down at her. "Still not fast enough. You need to work on rolling so that you don't lose your balance. It does you no good if you are vulnerable afterward."

Eva swallowed a growl, but she did pin him with a dark look. "You say all that, but it is incredibly unfair that you have had your whole life to learn to use your power, and I've had weeks. That gap makes a huge difference."

He chuckled at her complaint. "Oh, come now. Grumbling about it solves nothing. Besides, I caught you fairly. Are you such a poor sport?"

She did growl at that point, but her glare soon disappeared as she smirked up at him. "Fine. You captured me fair and square. Now, what do you plan to do with me?"