The Unknown

Chapter 9: Patience and Vigilance

Dahlia had been with her sister on Niflheim for longer than she thought. She had been there three weeks, it was now the 22nd of July. She hadn't anticipated being there that long but as each second, hour, and day went by, she didn't want to leave. She loved the people, spending time with her sister, learning more about her magic, and she even enjoyed the training although it didn't seem like it. Akio had her training for six hours every day since the day she arrived. She would wake up at 5am every morning, with a little encouragement from Akio who would always rip the covers from her but eventually, she woke up a few minutes before he even arrived and beat him to open the door. The same training course was every day, but Dahlia had never gotten past the second part, she had gotten to the last hurdle though which was an improvement. She had been studying Aesir magic with her sister but Akio recommended books on battle strategies and training which she had also been reading. She was still hesitant about bringing up what the two lessons were that she was supposed to learn. It took her a while, but she finally figured them out.

She woke up at 4am to get changed and made her way to the 'gym' as she called their training room and began to work on the assault course, without Akio. He entered the room at 5:10am, quite surprised that she was there and attempting the course without him. She fell, of course, like always but when she saw he was in the room, she walked over to the white line and stood on it.

"Morning," Akio said.

"Morning, sir," she said standing firm like a soldier. "Permission to speak, sir?"

"Granted".

"I finally figured out the two lessons, sir".

"At ease," she relaxed, "what are the lessons?"

She hesitated, not knowing completely if she was right but it was her only guess after a moment of time trying to figure it out. She thought it was many things such as strength, stealth, silence and how to take orders but it didn't fit into how he commanded the lessons. She finally figured it out a few days prior. She said, "the first lesson is vigilance. The course changes, never the same pattern twice so you want me to be vigilant, to notice when the changes occur. The second is patience, which is why you have me staring at a wall for hours. For a war or battle to be a success, a person must be patient to get the result they want. You want me to be vigilant and patient".

Akio stepped closer and gave her a single nod, "correct. You discovered the truth quickly".

She shrugged and answered, "I'm on a time limit being here. I want to learn as much as possible".

He pointed to be beginning of the course and said, "again".

"Sir, I cannot beat it. No matter how patient or vigilant I am, I can't beat it. I think it was designed so that I couldn't".

"Wrong," he almost barked, "the course can be beaten by you. It was designed for you the moment you entered the room. You have the power to defeat it".

She thought over his words and said, "power? I can use my magic?" He didn't answer. "I thought I couldn't, I thought this was just physical".

"I never said that. The course was designed for every aspect of yourself. Go again, but this time patience, vigilance and use everything you have".

She nodded and went to the beginning, and with the signal from Akio she went. She paused at the beginning, taking deep breaths as she closed her eyes and imagined her magic in her mind. She took in her lessons with her sister and father and when she opened her eyes, everything was slower to her. The slight wave in the water could clearly be recognised and the slight vibration of the stones that would sink stood out to her. She ran across memorising the pattern. She did the same with the rubble, going over and under the five walls, noticing the vibrations and which way they were going. She couldn't help but stop and lose her focus after she had gotten past the rubble, knowing it was her accomplishment that she had never done before. Approaching the third part, she saw that it was a climbing wall. She didn't know how it would trick her, so she slowly summoned a small fire ball in her hand and threw it towards the wall. Instantly, multiple spikes appeared through the wall and while they were out, she froze them so they wouldn't return. She climbed the wall with ease avoiding the spikes as she did before reaching the top.