Ali very slowly opened his eyes, they were heavy, he had woken up earlier than usual. He rubbed his eyes and sat up on the cold floor, something seemed different, something had changed. To his right the door to the other room was open. He peeked through the door and saw that Asumi and Eira had returned and were sleeping quite peacefully, most likely exhausted from their mission. He hesitated as his foot entered the room, he sighed and decided not to annoy them at this early hour.
The cold floor struck at his feet as he took slow steps to the porch, the horizon shining, the sun was just rising, and birds and other creatures were just awakening. Ali looked at the front door, on the tough gravel a large box lay there. His mouth went wide.
Eira was having a great dream, one where she and her family were at a sandy beach on the coast, the sand was warm like all the books would describe, they were enjoying the waves when suddenly she heard a loud voice.
"Let's goooooo!" Ali's voice echoed throughout the entire house as he screamed at the top of his lungs. Eira awoke suddenly, she gasped for air as her body had just caught up to her sudden waking. She rubbed her eyes and squinted her eyes. All she could see was her blonde hair, it often got messy in the morning. She quickly brushed it out of the way and crawled out of the door, only later getting up on her feet and walking on the cold wooden boards. She saw Ali kneeling over some sort of box, she realised it was Ali's sword. Her mouth also went wide, no wonder he was so excited. She looked back into the room, where Asumi lay still, she hadn't woken up despite Ali's deafening outburst of excitement.
"Is she deaf... I bet that shout even woke up animals in hibernation.." Eira looked at Asumi and then ran over to Ali. Small rocks stabbed at her feet, but she could handle the pain, she wanted to see Ali's sword up closer, she loved the diversity of different swords, how they all had differently styled cross guards, how some were completely different, and especially the colour.
She arrived just in time, Ali gulped and held the grip of the sword.
It was quite a long sword, it had to be a few extra centimetres longer than Eira's, it was sleek and it shone in the sunlight, the crossguard had a spiky spiral shape, as Ali held the grip tightly, the bottom of the sword started to bleed into a sickly green colour, the colour moved up covering the blade of the sword, the not sharp side formed a light green pattern of irregular spikes. Ali's mouth went wide as it changed colour. He looked back at Eira with joy in his eyes.
"That's crazy!" Ali exclaimed and he held the sword. Eira wanted to feel happy too, but she couldn't feel it. Quite literally, Ali just kept on giving off the neutral grey. She nodded and smiled back, although having a thousand queries and comments. She let it slide, and Ali dashed off and ran into the house. Eira tried to follow him, but she got lost in the sharp turns and corners that Ali handled impressively for someone heavily injured. Eira panted and decided to wake up Asumi.
Asumi groaned and started to complain as she woke up. She had her hair tied up in a low ponytail, yawning as she was dragged to Ali by Eira.
Ali was excited as he held the sword, it felt much heavier than his previous wooden sword but he liked it. Ali held his sword behind his back as he stood in the training area he had found yesterday. Ali's eyes went wide with amusement. Finally, he would be able to showcase his power. Eira and Asumi watched with intent. Mostly Eira, she wanted to see what would happen. Ali took a deep breath in and leaned forward.
"This is a move I taught myself back when I was young. Ready?" Ali grinned with pride. The blade reflected sunlight into Eira's eyes, and she squinted.
Ali let go of his body, and he slowly fell forward face first, Eira took a step forward out of habit, ready to jump to catch him, just before he was about to hit the ground.
WOOSH!
Ali's body dashed forward in a blur, his feet somehow kicking off the low-angle floor, his sword connecting with the dummy's neck. A loud sound of piercing and creaking as Ali's sword wedged into the dummy. Ali looked back at both of them with a slight expression of victory.
Both Asumi and Eira were surprised. The speed was unimaginable, it was like a blur, and they both thought he was going to fall onto his face. Eira couldn't help but wonder how long it took to train for and master that move. She had a burning desire to show her special move, but it wasn't the time or place.
"Shouldn't you be resting?" Asumi groaned, ignoring and untied her hair going back in. Ali laughed and continued to swing his sword. Eira stood for a second, she took a deep breath watching as the sun started to rise and showed an orange colour.
Ali had a weird look in his eyes for a second. Eira couldn't help but notice that his body language had changed from loose to tight. She shook her head to snap out of her thoughts, Eira crossed her arms and cleared her throat. She turned the other way and followed Asumi. About 50 steps later as she made it to the main room, Eira's body was covered in goosebumps and shivers. Adrenaline running in her veins.
She sensed an immense black aura, her mind going crazy... the same as the Final Selection! The dark mess of an aura spiked everywhere, Eira's body shouted that an attack was coming, coming behind her! No... to her right! Left? Down? Up? Where was it?! The aura rampaged around her in every direction. The feeling took over her, it crept into every corner of her body as her body felt weak. Eira was overwhelmed with fear, her knees shook but she didn't give in like the time in the forest. She kept her eyes open she refused to give in to the feeling of fear as she did in the Final Selection. She gulped. She hated the feeling of this fear. She continued walking. It felt weird, walking like nothing happening even though something was definitely happening. The feeling disappeared. Like a candle being blown out, the aura disappeared like it was never there. Eira's body lurched a bit forward. She held onto a door handle, her palms sweating. She put a hand to her forehead and smiled, she was proud that she was able to resist the urge to just curl up into a ball. She knew whatever it was, she had to overcome it, otherwise, when it did attack, she would be able to defeat it.
Ali passed Eira. As Eira regained her composure, Asumi tapped Eira on the shoulder.
"Let's talk," Asumi whispered into her ear.