Chereads / The Room at the End of the Hall / Chapter 9 - Learn to Control

Chapter 9 - Learn to Control

I woke up to the sound of someone pounding on the door. I sat up and yawned, stretching my arms resulted in a shock of pain going through my body. I groaned. "Cmon boy! Time for practice!" I stood up and opened the door. The General glared at me. "No ice water bath this morning?" I joked. He gave me a warning look. "Watch your tongue." We walked back to the empty area. "Let's try hand on hand combat." I nodded. We both got into our fighting stances. He began punching at me, I dodged and blocked every attack he threw at me. Eventually I saw an opening and threw a quick jab. My fist landed on his jaw, he took a step back. "You're a quick learner." He said, I smirked. I moved forward and punched. He dodged. I continued to push him back more and more. He tripped on a root, I swung one final time. My fist landed on his cheek, he fell to the ground with a groan. I threw my hand up in the air. "I did it!" I was sweating and panting. "Good job." I turned around, to my surprise gram was walking towards us. "Gram? What're you doing out here?" I asked, I could hear the General getting up behind me. "What? I can't come see how my grandson is doing?" She walked up to me and gave me a hug. "I see you're learning fast." I nodded and looked back at the General. "This fighting stuff feels really familiar." The General scoffed. "All hunters know how to fight, I'm the one who brings it out in you. Don't think you're special." I smiled. "Good, it means I'm on the right track." Gram patted me on the shoulder. "I'm so proud of you." I smiled proudly at her. "How's everyone else?" I asked. "Your parents are talking with old friends. Addy and I have been walking around, checking the place out." I heard a grunt come from behind me, the General glared at me. "Sorry to cut this lovely conversation short, but we still have training to do." I sighed. "Maybe you can watch?" I asked. "I've already seen you win one fight, that's enough for me." I frowned. "Oh okay." Gram turned and walked back towards the village. "I brought something for you." I gave the General a surprised look. He walked over to a tree and reached around it. He pulled out two wooden swords. He threw one to me, I caught it with one hand and admired it. "Who carved it?" I asked. "Someone who makes our practice weapons. I wanna see if you know how to handle one of these." He raised his up and held it with two hands. I ran my hand along the part where a real blade would be. It almost felt natural holding a sword. "Hey guys!" I looked behind me, Addy waved. I raised my hand to wave, suddenly I could hear the General charging towards me. I spun around and raised the wooden sword. His sword hit mine. "So you do know how to use a sword?" There was a feeling. I don't know how to describe it, but I now wanted to finish this fight. I was gonna win this fight. I pushed the General back. He seemed shocked by my sudden strength. I ran at him, holding the sword down at my side with two hands. He held the sword in front of him. I smirked. He swung at me I ducked and slammed the sword down on his arm. He yelled in pain. I swung again, this time hitting his hand. He loosened his grip on the sword, I took the opportunity and hit the sword out of his hands. He punched at me, I dodged easily and got behind him. I kicked his leg and he fell to his knees. I stood in front of him and rested my sword on his neck, he looked up at me. "Where the hell did you learn to fight with a sword?" I didn't respond. "Jacob?" Addy placed a hand on my shoulder. I shook my head escaping from the strange trance I was in. "Are you okay?" I asked while reaching a hand out to the General. He ignored it and stood. "I asked you a question." I rubbed the back of my neck. "I don't know. I've never even held a sword before." I looked at the General then Addy. "Maybe it's your ability kicking in!" Addy said with a smile. "So that means he's your problem now, right?" The General asked. Addy scoffed. "Yes, that means I'm teaching him now." For the first time I saw the General smile. "Finally!" Addy rolled her eyes. "I'm teaching him in the towns training center." The Generals smile vanished in a second. "Absolutely not!" Addy crosses her arms over her chest. "Why not? I'm not moving him into the town. Plus if something goes wrong you're there to save the day." Addy made sure her sarcasm wouldn't be overlooked. The General scoffed. "If there's the slightest issue, he's back out here. Do I make myself clear." Addy nodded with a smile. The General turned and stomped back towards the town. "Let's go ahead and make our way back. You're gonna love the training center!" I threw my wooden sword by a tree and followed Addy back to town. Seeing so many people happy was still very heart warming, but when they gave me a dirty look it wasn't as nice. We continued to walk through the town in silence, eventually Addy pointed. "Right there, the blue building." I followed her finger. She was pointing at a light blue building that had a dome-like top. We approached it and entered. It looked a lot bigger from the inside than it did on the outside. Nobody else was in the building, wooden and metal props hung on the walls and were placed neatly on racks. "First I'm just going to teach you how to manifest the feeling of your ability." I nodded. We stood in the center of the room and faced each other. "Now, the best way to manifest your ability is to think about what it can represent. For example, purity. I think of a sweet young kid, and then voilà." She held her hand out and a white glow surrounded her hand. "Now, try to think of something small. Not something super bad, but maybe something that gets on your nerves." I nodded and closed my eyes. I decided to choose my father and gram. It was funny to see them fight, but eventually it gets old. They sometimes fight at the worst of moments too. I held my hand out, the feeling of anger grew up my back. I tightened my jaw, I could just picture them bickering. Yelling at each other about the smallest issue. "Jacob, look." I slowly opened my eyes. My hand had a dark red glow brightly surrounding it. "Now try and relax." I took a deep breath, I was certainly angry about gram and dads bickering. But it was humorous at times, I knew they didn't like each other but they weren't going to let their opinions destroy the family. They refuse to give up, and they work their issues out. I watched as the dark red glow slowly dimmed until it was completely gone. "You did it!" Addy yelled. I smiled, suddenly I felt very weak. I stumbled back a bit but caught myself. "I feel weak." I said. "Oh sorry! I forgot to mention that. You'll feel a little tired after using your ability the first few times. But once you get used to it you'll be fine." I nodded and sat down on the ground. I couldn't help but smile, I was getting further and further with progress. It felt amazing and exhausting at the same time. "You just wanna sit and talk for a little bit?" Addy asked. I smiled. "That sounds nice." She sat down and we just talked. We talked for hours without realizing it. Eventually it had gotten dark, I walked Addy back to the hotel everyone was staying at. We said our goodbyes and hugged. She went into the building and I made my way back to the cabin. I jumped into the bed, it squeaked under my weight. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep. I couldn't help but feel grateful, I had a wonderful person teaching me how to use my ability. I went to sleep peacefully, ready for what the next day held.