After 5 months spent studying and training, Eris felt more confident related to everything, both in her new sword techniques, as in her magic, she trained extensively and fought until she could no longer be with Davhin every day, in which the two became very resistant.
Moreover, on a day, that they would probably think would be just another day of training and study, everyone on the initiative was summoned to the main hall, on the premise that Dreighor was calling them.
Eris heard that and was surprised, what did he want? Then, after gathering her belongings, she went to the salon alone, and realized that the atmosphere of the place was different. She couldn't quite distinguish whether it was admiration or fear, contrary feelings, but the faces of the same coin, arriving at the salon, meet Davhin at a table near the balcony where the authorities are, where Dreighor sat. He had a sad face on her face, she went over to him, to see if his friend would cheer him up, but he interrupted her from afar, signaling to sit somewhere else, she didn't understand why, but he did as he asked, as soon as everyone there got a place, Dreighor got up, beginning his speech:
- Good morning Noble knights, these last times have been calm for all of you of the initiative, but the east summons you. We need warriors for the war that broke out with the neighboring nation, the Maternal Men who declared war against us based on accusations false, and we will not allow ourselves to attack without defending our honor, so you are all summoned to defend the East Kingdom, also known as Solar Basileia.
A wave of whispers rampant about the speech began, and Eris could not blame them, she learned of the beginning of the war.
In the eastern kingdom, the maternal men sent a diplomat, who came to the majesty on charges that they stole a precious artifact of theirs, took as slander and defamation and Dreighor executed the man right there, which triggered the war between the kingdoms.
She was afraid of the events, certainly that was not right. The maternal men, from what Eris studied, they are a peaceful people who have their own problems, such as low population and high mortality, and they, who have their low population, come to the country of humans and thus accuse, it was wise to think about what really happened. Soon after the whispers started, Dreighor caught everyone's attention again with a swipe of his sword.
- And you all listen well, everyone here during the war, will follow the orders of my successor for the title of conqueror of tomorrow, my son Davhin. - Dreighor said, pointing to Davhin. - Come son and introduce yourself to them.
- Good morning everyone, I am Davhin, son of Dreighor and his successor. - If he presented with his head down, he seemed sad about all that.
Eris was lost, in a way, she believed that Davhin would be the son of a quiet family, but not the son of Dreighor himself, the legend that she managed to kill a god, it did not cross her mind.
After Davhin introduced himself and sat down again in her place, Eris went to him, trying to understand what was going on with her friend, when she got close to him, she saw that he was crying, with his face down to hide his real feelings.
- What happened Davhin? Why are you like this? - Asked Eris, placing her hand gently on his shoulder and sitting next to him.
- Nothing, nothing I can explain now. - He replied sobbing, but muffled because he did not stop covering his face.
Eris agreed not to ask any more questions, but she didn't want to leave her friend there, so she stayed close to him, leaning against him and hugging him, to try to comfort him from whatever she was feeling. As the minutes passed, Davhin calmed down, sat down correctly in the chair and wiped his tears.
- Thanks Eris .... It has been difficult these days. - He says with a sad and distant look.
- What is happening? Tell me? She asks, smoothing and fixing Davhin's hair, while she looks him in the eye with concern.
- This war is a mistake, it has started by interest and human error, neither side wins with it, and they will still use the initiative to form the attack. They have no idea what is going on. - Davhin explained, already with a tone of anger and indignation.
- But Dreighor who executed the messenger there, who in this case is your father. Why have you never told me that before? She asked more seriously now, looking steadily at Davhin.
- It's not a good part of my life, he just rejected us, but now he wants to try to be a good father. - He spoke again, but the sad tone returned to her voice.
- Do not worry Davhin, I will be with you whatever it is, no matter what, I will be by your side. - Said Eris, with a kind smile that Davhin liked so much.
- This is very important coming from you. It has been a wonderful and fun days at your side. - Answered Davhin with an awkward smile on his face.
Eris was happy that she will be able, at least a little, to calm down and cheer up her friend, but it was the first time that she would come to him like that, she felt a sadness different from the ordinary one, she wanted to do more for him, but it didn't seem right, not for her.
After the speech, she saw Liss talking to Dreighor as he walked to the exit of the place, both were with a macabre expression on their faces, and still talking looking towards her and Davhin.
It seemed that they were doing it on purpose to affect to both of them, which made her indignant that she didn't get over the disclosure about her trainer. As soon as the conversation was over, Liss took one last look at Eris, but with a serious look, she felt neither hostility nor disapproval.
Eris had time until the journey to the Solar Basileia realm began, so she took the opportunity to ask Davhin to exchange a few sword blows, she thought she could take the trouble away momentarily.
He succinctly accepted it, as he just wanted to ward off those bad thoughts, and dueling with Eris was one of the few pleasures he had, so they went out to an arena that was on the training ground.
Once there Davhin suggests that they do a duel for real, which Eris accepts without even thinking twice. As they positioned themselves in the arena, both armed themselves, the aura of fire around Davhin's clothing collided with Eris's electrical aura, as soon as they both conjured their armor, the energies of their elements began to come out of their right arms, making the energy of fire and lightning become their respective swords in the palm of their hand.
As soon as Davhin conjured up his sword and wielded it, aimed it at Eris and released a massive torrent of fire. Eris raised his left fist, from the glove with a small drop-shaped shield, to defend the torrent, reverberating the glove with lightning, causing the fire to spread before it touched the glove, and then ran to attack, using magic that enveloped it in a lightning aura that served as a shield and as an aid to increase her speed. As soon as she got close to Davhin, he blew up the area around him, throwing Eris into the air, and aimed the sword at her again, throwing a new torrent at her, but this time the fire was massive, like lava. Eris took it his sword wrapped in lightning and set in the center of the torrent, the sword pierced the torrent and hit Davhin's sword, which forced him to break the pose he was assuming. Then Eris used the speed of lightning to instantly get close to Davhin, and still in the air, kicking him in the face, making him retreat with the impact. After a few steps back, Davhin laughs:
- Aggressive as always huh. - He said while laughing, rubbing the cheek that received the blow
- You know I like it. - Eris responds with a little smile from the corner of the mouth, going on a lower offensive.
- That's why I like you. - He stated with a firm stance, his sword started to catch fire and gained an immolation effect on his armor.
- Hohoho, taking it seriously huh. Eris laughed, grabbed the floor, keeping his fingers on the floor with his glove.
After exchanging a few words, she moved forward, with the sword turned backwards, getting close to Davhin. She let go of her sword and slid to try to attack his legs, he tried to use the sword to hit her while slipping, but he was too slow, she passed him and climbed up, punching her gauntlet right in the back, he ended up moving forward a little bit. Taking advantage of this opening, Eris took his sword that was going towards Davhin and struck it voraciously, aiming at her chest, but he defended it with some ease.
- Ha ha ha, that's your problem Eris, you still hold on against me. - Davhin said, with a kind of evil smile, as soon as he had blocked her attack.
- But of course, I want it to be fun, but I don't want to try to kill you. - She said with a confused face, but with a smile, because she was enjoying the duel.
- The problem is that you will never improve if you don't even try to kill your opponent at some point. - Davhin said, while making a quick movement grabbing Eris's neck with a flaming hand.
That sentence shook Eris completely, the flaming hand that, suddenly on her neck, was not only squeezing hard, but was also burning her skin, she found herself desperate to get out of there, but he was squeezing too hard.
Eris was looking at Davhin's face and he won't recognize that look, the man he was looking at was totally different, he looked like a complete murderer, and with that thought in mind, he felt the air start to break and Davhin whispered: - Deathfire Grasp.
When she felt the flames envelop her whole body, forming a flaming sphere, burning the rest of the oxygen available her. This made Eris despair, and she was forced to explode her electrical aura, causing an explosion of fire and lightning, throwing Eris and Davhin away from each other, but the explosion seriously affected her, as it originated from the reaction of the lightning in the fire, which spread a strong shock wave across Eris's body.
- Are you crazy?! You could have killed me! - She said, panting and coughing, as she stopped to catch her breath.
The impact of the explosion, which made her free from Davhin's blow, severely weakened her, the reaction was practically all over her body, leaving her almost exhausted.
- You have to remove this barrier, if you feel sorry for the enemies, they will use it against you. - He said, waving his arm to hit where the explosion hit, cleaning the place.
- I'm not sorry, but I'm not going to try to kill you. - She said more determined and already tired of this conversation.
- Why not? You know I'm not going to die that easy. He asked, in a harsher tone, he seemed uncomfortable with something about her.
Eris was left with no answer, for there was no point in wanting to duel with him to try to kill, it seemed insane and wrong. She looked away from him, looking at the floor, feeling guilty for something that was not even wrong, and seeing this reaction, Davhin raised his voice again:
- You're hiding something from me, I thought you trusted me! - He raged, wielding his sword and preparing to attack Eris.
- What's going on with you Davhin? Why are you so nervous with me? - Asked Eris, entering a defensive posture, but the posture was shaky thanks to her nervousness, with a frowning and sad face.
- Aren't you going to tell me then? Fine. - He finished, walking towards Eris, his sword was burning strong, a scarlet red fire, there was a certain thirst for blood in his gaze, fixedly focused on her eyes.
- Tell what? I do not understand what I did ... - She said almost crying due to the behavior and aggressive aura that she was receiving from him.
- What are you hiding from me? He raised her sword to deliver one last blow.
Eris dropped the sword on the ground that was not what she wanted when she asked to exchange blows; she just thought it would be cool to ward off bad thoughts. But it ended up being a horrible moment with someone she ... When she thought about it better, ' 'someone I', 'she was sure, she loved Davhin, and because of the fact that she avoided thinking about killing him even if she asked, she couldn't wish the death of someone she liked, even if it was through training.
Then when she thought about it, she let out a low moan, speaking words that were practically unrecognizable, since she was almost in tears:
- I ... I love you ..." murmured Eris, so low that not even her lips trembled.
- What? I didn't hear it right. - He spoke while lowering his head.
- I love you! - She said it aloud, looking at Davhin's face, with watery eyes.
And she was surprised, right after she spoke and looked at him, she saw that he felt that way too, because he watered his eyes and he replied:
- You don't know how long I expected you to say that to me, I love you too Eris. - He said, with a soft and affectionate tone that he will always use when he was close to her. After he spoke like that, she realized that he already liked her like this a few weeks ago.
- I'm sorry for that, I just wanted to teach you something that can help you. - Complemented lowering the face, Eris could not distinguish if it was for regret and shame or for fear.
She just ignored everything he said, and took Davhin's chin to lift his face, the handsome man she had fallen in love with was as radiant as she always thought. So she ran her fingers close to his eyes, as if she wanted to dry the tears, stroked his cheek and looking him in the eye and without saying anything, just kissed his mouth lightly. It left him shaking, on impulse he hugged her, and the kiss continued for a few seconds.
- Forgive me, I extrapolated and almost hurt you, sorry ... - He whispered to Eris, looking into her eyes.
- You showed me the flaws in my feelings, I felt something more for you for a while, but I was too happy with life to think it would be love. - Eris replied, alternating his gaze between Davhin's mouth and eyes. - But what did you want to show me with these thoughts about trying to kill? You kind of lost your mind about it. - She asked, running her hand over his face and hair, as if it were a caress to try to calm down.
- It's been almost a week since my dad started training me, he took it and watched one of our hidden training sessions, and realized that I was getting better, so he decided to test me himself. He almost killed me 5x, but not because I was weak and unable to fight, but because he wanted to kill me, and said that if I want to get better, I would have to be able to wish people's death, if I could, I would get stronger. - He explained, trembling and with an empty look, he seemed to remember the blows and swords he had taken from Dreighor, during all the time he spent training.
- Did he force you to train with him even after studying and training with me? - She asked with a mildly aggressive face, indignant to hear that his father was capable of all this.
- Yes, I haven't slept in days, I held on a lot so I wouldn't worry about you after he started wanting to test and train me. - He said everything with his head down, as if he expected a scolding.
- I shouldn't? Of course, worry about you. - She looked up from Davhin again.
- But that's why I love you, don't hide anything from me ever again. Be honest with me and especially with yourself, do we understand? - She asked firmly, but with a look that conveyed confidence and tenderness.
He agreed with a shy smile, hugged Eris very tightly as he lifted her up during the hug. Then he tried to recover her injuries with his flames, but she dismissed it and said that she just needed to rest. She started to walk towards the room, kind of staggering and leaning against the walls on the way, but Davhin helps to keep her upright.
As soon as he arrives, she says goodbye to him with a soft and quick kiss on the corner of his mouth, and enters her room, giving a little bye while closing the door. He was jumping for joy as soon as she closed the door and she went in and went straight to the bed. They both went to sleep smiling and looking forward to the next day.
During the night, Eris had a nightmare, she was on a vast plain, with grass and some trees on the edge, it was a peculiar night, because the light was reddish, looking like fire. She was bloody, several friends and fellow knights killed around her, and she was on her knees watching a person with unimaginable powers standing there in front of Davhin. During the dream Eris was too weak to move, and she watched Davhin die with a sword in the heart and then another beheading him.
She woke up euphoric and she was breathing hard and she was all wet with sweat, the dream felt too real, she practically felt the blood under her skin and all that pressure. She then left her room and went to Davhin's room to see if everything was okay. When knocking on the door, Davhin takes a while, but answers the door with a tired look, he seemed to be in a deep sleep:
- Good evening? Eris? - Answer him, confused because he is still sleepy.
- Hi ... Sorry to arrive like this out of nowhere, are you okay? - She asks, her face worried, but also slightly embarrassed for waking him up.
- Yes I think. Why? - He said more attentively now.
- Nothing. Can I sleep here with you? I'm having trouble sleeping. - She said, making circles with her hair on her finger.
He looked kind of without understanding directly what was going on in her head, but he would not miss the opportunity to be close to her, even more to sleep with her. He signaled he could come in and pointed to his bed, Eris smiled awkwardly.
He was getting ready to sleep in the chair next to him, glued to his bed, but she stopped him, saying it would be better if he slept next to her, he smiled, happy to be able to sleep hugging her. Then as soon as they got ready on the bed, she hugged him, resting her head on his chest, and sleeping soundly, happy and smiling, just like him too.