Drakai looked at his smiling mother with a complicated expression. He didn't know how to feel he was about to die and had lost hope so quickly. But he was saved by his mother. He felt embarrassed for giving up hope so fast. The embarrassment turned into self resentment for being weak.
Suddenly he felt something soft. His mother had pulled him into her chest and was hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry, I should have stayed behind with you." His mother started to cry. He felt the heavy drops fall on his shoulders. His eyes began to glow, now pissed at himself even more for worrying his mother.
"It's okay, mom. I have learned a lesson today." Suddenly there was pressure coming from her son. She pulled back and saw that he had broken many of his bones from using his Dolor-Kai. Not only were his bones broken, but he had his skin ripped in a lot of areas. Unlike last time, however, he was without internal injures.
She looked at her broken son, but she knew he wasn't broken. She was currently feeling weak energy coming from him.
Drakai felt as if a dark hand was crawling up his nerves and into his brain, fueling his anger and making him even angrier. He was constantly getting reminded that he was weak. A soft golden haze with green hues broke out around him like a fog.
He couldn't comprehend why the man was so much stronger than him, he had used dolor-kai, and the man was only using Dolor-tas, by the rules of common sense. He should have easily defeated the man with a blow that strong. Then a ray of light passed over his eyes, and his anger vanished, along with the haze.
He realized that if he had his sword, he would have won. The only reason for him being beaten was his body's lack of training. He had wholly ignored his weights since the day he had gotten them in favor of training with his sword.
That blunder almost cost his life. But, the last thing he thought about before slipping into his mothers' arms and falling unconscious was that he had been a fool. Drakai opened his eyes and was greeted by his mother and father talking in hushed tones and the rattling of the carriage.
"Are you sure that he had used his Aura for a second, dear? Bloodlust is often confused with that, and he is just a boy, a talented one. But Aura is used by warriors who have been In life in death situations!"
Saraa snorted" I saw what I saw Dov, I saw the weak color of an early aura forming around him."
Dov looked worried, was his son hurt to the point where he had already started to develop Aura. He had never heard of a Non-magic-warrior ever using Aura before. Aura was supposed to be unique to the magic-warrior along with Elemental dominance, and couldn't be used by mortals and mages.
"We must watch his development."
Drakai pretended to be asleep while listening to their conversation, and soon he had actually fallen asleep, the rocking of the carriage lulling him back into asleep.
Hours later, he woke up, rubbing his eyes. The first thing he remembered was his mother saving him from the man. And then the same dark energy that was trying to explode out of him. After that, the conversation between his parents popped into his head.
"What the hell is Aura anyways?" Shaking his head to clear his mind, he stretched his arms up into the air, bringing them back down he started to do push-ups. Only this time, he wasn't using his dolor-tas from the begging he wanted to only use it when he was getting exhausted.
His parents watched him start repping out push-ups and nodding their heads. They joined in. Without any interruptions this time, he continued until he could not push up anymore, and he felt as if his arms were going to fall off. And only then did he use his dolor-tas to push his body further.
***
Days passed inside the little carriage, and the family was relatively quiet. Dov and Saraa seemed to be in a state of mediation most of the way or actively sleeping, and drakai was totally focused on training his body and practicing the steps that he had learned from Jack. Along with the steps, he also shadowboxed quite a bit.
The heavy snow would not stop falling from the sky and would just pile up foot after foot to the point where the trip became even slower because they were entirely under the snow. The two shields that the carriage had would melt a hole through the snow, then freeze it leaving a vast ice tunnel behind them. The guards were doing alright themself they were inside the effect of the shield, so they were protected from the massive amounts of snow.
Five days after the bandit attack, the guards yelled at the driver to stop. Dov and Sarra were awake, and so was drakai. Hearing the shouts of the guards, they realized that they had arrived at the capital city.
Getting up, both drakai and his parents left the carriage to look at the situation outside. The first thing drakai saw was a massive glowing dome covering. What was the most enormous building he had ever seen in his life. It touched the clouds, but the raw size of the castle was out shadowed by the immense city around it, spanning out for miles and miles. His parents and drakai were on a ledge overlooking the city, basking in its vast size.
"Alright, let's go," Dov spoke as he started to walk towards the city. The guards and everyone else quickly fell into step behind him. After about 15 minutes of walking, they arrived at the gates and were met by guards.
"Halt. State your business." Dov looked at the guard. "We are here for the nobles contest." The guard looked surprised and then cleared his through.
" Go right on in, sir; sorry for my disrespect."
Nodding his head at the guards, the family made its way into the city. It was relatively warm because of the dome, and no snow was to be seen. It was an odd experience for Drakai. He had been constantly surrounded by the cold and snow since his birth into this world, and it threw him off for a few seconds.
They walked by many people trying to sell goods to the family but soon stopped when they saw that the family was accompanied by many guards, they would then turn their heads and look at the ground, not wishing to cause any issues.
They were soon stopped by the sound of laughing.
"Dov, how good to see you." A man the same size as Dov was walking down the road with his son it looked like. He had deep brown hair with normal Blood-Red eyes.
"Von, so I see you have also brought your boy for the contest, huh?"
Nodding his head at dov, von looked at Drakai. "I see, so this must be your son eh, I thought maybe you and Saraa had another one. He is rather short for his age. Most people are Five feet at their age, but he is around four feet." Dov furrowed his eyebrows in anger.
"Yes, he is a little short, but that hasn't affected his fighting ability!" Von laughed.
"Is that so? Should we have, our kids duke it out then?. If he is so strong, then he should be able to beat my son with no effort, right?" Dov looked back at his son, who was ignoring the whole crew and looking inside a book store with wide eyes and a creepy grin.
"Drakai, this Nobel has challenged you against his son? What do you think?" Drakai had his attention moved away from the book store, making him slightly frustrated. These past few days, his parents had informed him on noble customs, and if he refused right now, he would disgrace his family.
"Yes, on one condition, if I win, your son drops out of the contest."
Von's eyes started to glow, veins began to pop out on his face, a dark color started to surround him." How dare you ask for something like that? I was just suggesting a friendly contest." Drakai was also told that trying to force someone out of a match was cowardly.
Drakai felt von's Aura and was scared by it, but also pissed. Dov's eyes also started to glow, and when he was about to use his Aura, he felt another one. Both Dov and Von were preparing for a fight when they felt a second one and looked at Drakai.
Drakai was angry because he thought von was looking down on him, the familiar dark claw started trying to rip out of him and into the open. "I wasn't done yet. If I fail, I will drop out myself, not that I am worried. If height is the only thing your son has over me, he might die."
Drakai was covered in a flame-like golden haze with green hues. And his eyes were shining brightly. Drakais eyes were bloodshot and he had a wide grin on his face.