Riona sprinted through the dense forest with her heart pounding with adrenaline.
The small, abandoned hut nestled within the trees was her sanctuary, a place where she could train undisturbed under the cover of night.
Training within the palace grounds was out of the question; it would only draw unwanted attention from the knights and invite trouble.
As Riona navigated the overgrown path leading to the hut, her mind drifted to the incident that had landed her in trouble for the 324th time.
She couldn't decide if she should start numbering her punishments like a countdown or if she should invest in a trophy shelf for her achievements in royal displeasure.
Riona trudged along, and her mind dwelled on that incident. She couldn't help but chuckle bitterly at the absurdity of it all. Level two of her power? More like level two of her knack for finding trouble.
Sure, she had labeled her abilities with numbers to make things simpler for herself—because who needs complicated when you're already juggling a kingdom's worth of drama?
But let's be real, there was no official power-ranking system, no leaderboard, and no medals for 'Most Likely to Accidentally Knock Yourself Out.'
Training solo was a piece of cake. With supervision, two out of ten times, she could hold onto her consciousness. The other eight, though, well, her powers suddenly had a mind of their own, deciding that it was the perfect time to wreak havoc.
And on that fateful day, with an audience of innocent people, Riona had managed to flex her muscles and promptly face-plant into unconsciousness.
"Hm… What went wrong? I did everything in the textbook to become stronger. And yet, I still couldn't control my own power. Was there anything that Sir Orlo didn't tell me?"
Her brow furrowed in frustration as she pondered about the issue.
Maybe she needed a secret ingredient, like a magical protein shake or a mystical pep talk. Or perhaps Sir Orlo had conveniently 'forgotten' to mention a crucial step—like trying not to impress everyone with her power moves when an Alpha werewolf was visiting the palace.
Lost in her musings, Riona suddenly found herself standing before the hut. The area around it was barren, covered in a pile of snow that reflected the moonlight, casting an eerie glow on the abandoned building.
It was just bright enough for her to make out the outlines of the trees she used as targets, yet dark enough to give her practice sessions that extra edge of difficulty.
Perfect. Now she could attempt to blast things to pieces in peace without any royal critics.
She rolled her shoulders, ready to face the challenge, and muttered, "Alright, time to show these trees who's boss... hopefully without any unplanned naps this time."
Riona closed her eyes and concentrated on the energy flowing through her body. Sir Dusan, the General of the Nightwatch, had once taught her that a vampire's power felt like an icy current as it spread throughout the body.
She needed to summon this cold sensation to distinguish her pure vampire power from the other, tainted energies that mingled within her.
In the Kingdom of Eira, vampires held a firm belief that they harbored both untainted and tainted power within themselves.
The untainted power was their true, pristine strength, while the tainted power was seen as a consequence of poor habits—such as consuming low-quality blood or neglecting rigorous training.
However, Riona faced a significant problem since learning that lesson—her power felt warm instead of cold. Despite traces of ice particles within her blood, they seemed foreign to her body, like unwelcome guests.
The main issue likely lay in her eating habits. She was often given poor-quality blood during punishment, which meant almost all the time.
Occasionally, she managed to steal high-quality blood, and sometimes Sir Orlo would secretly supply her with some, but it was not nearly enough to fully cleanse her power.
Riona hid the fact that her energy felt warm, fearing it might affect her chances of joining the Nightwarden. Turning eighteen earlier this year had given her the long-awaited opportunity to escape the royal nightmare. She couldn't mess this up.
"Come on, icy energy, cold energy, whatever you are, show yourself already," Riona spoke to herself.
As she gathered power in her body, it remained stubbornly warm. The more she tried to summon the icy energy, the more it slipped out of her reach.
In the end, as always, she had to rely on the warm power to attack the towering trees. They wobbled, and snow dropped in chunks to the ground.
The sound of the wind created by her power was loud, but the impact itself was weak. It had to be because she couldn't fully concentrate.
"Urgh! This kingdom is all about snow, yet I'm the only one with warm energy? Should I bathe in the snow or something? Would that help?" Riona grumbled.
She grabbed a handful of snow and wiped it on her face. It was cold, duh!
"What was I thinking? Am I crazy? The energy is within me, not around me. Ugh. Let's try again."
She tried again, inhaling and exhaling to calm her mind. This was probably the hardest part of utilizing her powers. Her mind was always elsewhere, preoccupied with what to do next, preventing her from being fully present in the moment.
The subsequent attack brought similar results.
"Gaaarrrrhhhhh!!!!!" she growled.
Frustrated, she gave up trying so hard to filter the warm and cold energy. Instead, she fully embraced the warm energy and focused on creating more impact.
She was aiming to release at least a level two of her power without losing her consciousness.
She took a deep breath and jumped high, unleashing the amount of power she had with Sir Orlo in the palace garden. She maintained her consciousness, and the trees around her lost their canopy of snow in an instant.
It was good that the hut was abandoned because her power destroyed more of its building structure.
"See? I'm a natural at this. So why do I lose my cool when there are other people around? I need to use at least level two of my power for the test to stand a chance, but how can I do that if I keep losing my consciousness like I was possessed by a ghost?"
"Oh, look who we have here. Fangless herself. The big one, no less. What's the matter? Out here pretending to train again?"
A group of four knights stumbled upon her. How did they get here?
"Tsk!" Riona clicked her tongue, her annoyance barely masking the flicker of anxiety.
This night just got a whole lot more complicated.