Chapter 3 - Part 3/4

[He had grown to like Master Rwoy, he wasn't as frightening as he was last night and felt the need to do him proud. He was determined to learn how to heal, or get as close as possible to it until he was strong enough.

I won't let someone else die while I just do nothing and watch, he vowed as he laid in his comfortable warm bed.]

The door slammed opened with a loud bang. Haiden jumped awake half naked quickly grabbing the blankets to cover himself.

"Rise and shine! Ready for a productive day of learning?" Master Rwory announced from the door.

"You fucking lunatic!" Haiden shouted, his heart hammering in his chest. Master Rwory entered his room without asking.

"Language!" he scowled.

"So much for knocking." Haiden rolled his eyes. "Can you give me a moment to get dressed?" he asked.

"Sure, go ahead."

"IN PRIVATE!" he shouted and pointed to the door. Master Rwory sighed and went for the door whispering something about both of them being men. If only he knew that, that's what actually scared Haiden. He quickly got dressed in his uniform and ushered Master Rwoy in.

"All decent, princess?" he mocked to which Haiden just flushed and nodded. "Good. Heat cloak, quick the two principles of the spell"

"To generate heat you need to increase the temperature of the motes in the air. To increase the temperature you imbue motes with energy making them change from a motionless state to an excited state." Haiden recited the book theory by heart - memorizing it wasn't the problem Haiden was facing, but actually understanding the concept.

"Good. Did you practice compartmentalizing your traumatic memories?" he asked at which Haiden nodded. "Let's see," he grunted as he sat on the floor with his legs crossed and patted the floor in front of him for Haiden to join him. The floor creaked as Haiden's weight shifted onto it, and once he made himself comfortable Master Rwoy began began. "I want you to extend your energy just beyond your body and try to feelf the motes in the air. Think of it as a second skin, expect to feel the motes, knowing they're there."

"Alright." Haiden closed his eyes. He felt his energy, the strong flowing river within himself. Static flowed through his body, tingling his skin as it moved to every inch of him. Concentrating hard on a heavy door, beyond which he placed the memory of Regor just as he practiced. Closing the door and locking it, the pain he once felt vanished. His shoulders felt light, his chest inhaled with ease like something had lifted off of it and the air tasted sweet again. He turned his thoughts back at his fios, at the task at hand. He did as Master Rwoy asked. He reached outwards with his fios, it was like it was a part of him. He pushed it through the air around him, he felt a slight resistance and as his fios passed he felt a multitude of minuscule specks of something. His brows furrowed.

"From your expression I'm guessing it worked." Master Rwoy said appreciatively. "What you're feeling are motes in the air, you will see that some just feel different than others. For more complicated spells you will have to learn which motes are which. But for this one just feeling them will suffice. Now, control the area of your fios and imbue energy into them. See it in your mind's eye and it will happen." Haiden did as he instructed, feeling the motes he imagined his energy, his fios entering the motes following the two principles he stated earlier.

"Shit!" Haiden yelped, and jumped to his feet. Master Rwoy laughed at Haiden's scorched hair tips.

"Whatcha laughing at?" he said embarrassed putting out the singed hair.

"Got a bit too excited, huh? You need to also control how much energy you send, otherwise you'll cook yourself to death!" he said sniffing the air and wrinkled his nose. He waved his hand and clean air filled the room. "Try to send a fraction of what you just did. You don't need much. You will see with ambient spells, as it affects the area around you, you need little energy in every direction."

"Why didn't you say that earlier?" Haiden grumbled rolling a lock of his burnt hair between his fingers. He sat back down and tried again. First feeling his fios until the static was at his fingertips, then making sure he was compartmentalizing, then pushing his energy outwards. This time he held back a bit. The air slowly warmed around him."

"Pull back a bit, you're extending too much, Haiden." Master Rwoy instructed and Haiden listened. "Good. I knew you're a fast learner." as soon as he said this cold air rushed past Haiden breaking his concentration. He looked at Master Rwoy with a scowl.

"What was that for? I had it!" he asked.

"You did, for a second there. Outside you won't have a windless, calming environment like your room. You must be able to keep your concentration and compensate with fios when needed to maintain the right temperature." Haiden tried again and again Master Rwoy would throw him off with a change in temperature, unexpected wind, rain and snow even a few zaps of energy to make him break his concentration. With each try Haiden improved and by the time lunch-time came Haiden could maintain constant temperature through everything that Master Rwoy threw at him. "I'm not going to lie, kid. You're learning scary fast." he said. This made Haiden swell with pride.

"It's easy when you have someone who explains it simple enough." he gave Master Rwoy a crooked grin. "Master Danil would have said something like 'the gyrating force of the exerting fios must be equal or greater to the naturally occurring energy needed to accomplish the feat of which is the purpose of your intent.'" he said with a nasal voice and squinty eyes. Master Rwoy burst into laughter. "I don't even know what gyrating means, but I'm sure he used it."

"That's spot on! He always was a stuck up know it all." he said wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of his eye.

"You know him?"

"Yes. We were in the same year at this very Academy, never got along. I'm not one to speak ill of other Masters but he's a veritable prick." his voice suddenly took a serious tone. "Listen, Kid. I like you but, you're learning too fast for your own good. You'll make yourself a target. I've been in your shoes once, the little shits that attend this Academy are ruthless and they go for blood. If you want to survive don't let them see you're struggling and more importantly never let them see you're better than them. Chances are that you are - and by a long shot - and they'll see you as a threat and go for the kill." Master Rwoy warned.

"Come on, they can't be that bad." Haiden laughed nervously.

"Kid, if they can get away with the torture and murder of a servant don't for a second think they won't get away with doing the same to someone like you." Haiden's blood went cold.

"They...they really did that?" he asked.

"Money and power can do anything, Haiden. Keep in mind that the kids that attend this Academy have both. Only a few lucky young Wielders get accepted from lesser background and that only on exceptional ability. Now, that doesn't mean you get to slack off! Learn as much as you can and exceed every expectation, but lay low. Don't do anything to draw their attention. Got it?" he asked in a firm manner to which Haiden nodded. "Good, let's go eat!" he quickly added with a chipper voice.

Once outside, Haiden eagerly tried his new spell. It worked for moments but he hadn't managed to walk and Wield at the same time and proved to be more difficult than one might've thought. After a few failed tries Master Rwoy's stomach grew impatient and he extended his own cloak. Haiden kept an eye out for Tasgal. He couldn't lie to himself and say he didn't want to see him, but hid his eagerness to mere glances pretending to admire the buildings and scenery. Sadly, Tasgal was nowhere to be seen. After their meal, Master Rwoy insisted for Haiden to run laps around the big yellow tree, located in the castle's inner courtyard, while trying to cast the heat cloak and move it along with his body. After a few exhausting hours, night had fallen belonging to the eerie blue sister. Haiden had improved, but wasn't quite there yet and the dim pale blue light brought Haiden painful memories to the surface.

Shit! he thought after every flash of Regor's face in his mind interfering with his Wielding.

"Alright, that's enough for today. Practice in your room and tomorrow we'll see if you're really this gifted." Master Rwoy said his farewell with a yawn and left Haiden at the door of the wielder dormitories. But Haiden did not go to sleep, he would be true to his word. Nothing will stand in his way once his mind was set so, he practiced even more until he collapsed from exhaustion.

The following morning Master Rwoy burst through his door but Haiden was still in his clothes, passed on the floor.

"Wakey, wakey!" he said with an evil grin. Seeing as Haiden didn't budge he extended his arm and with a flourish of his hand Haiden slowly rose in the air and with another flourish he began to spin.

"Ack...Wha...The...Fuck...Are...You...Doinggg!" he said while spinning in the air. Master Rwoy gave him a few more spins just for the fun of it until he let Haiden down. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he wobbled and collapsed on his knees. His pallid complexion turned a sickly color.

"Ah, finally. You're awake." Master Rwoy said, his evil grin still plastered on his face. At times, Haiden swore the man could be attractive, even go and say he had a pleasant face. But this was definitely not one of those times. Haiden scowled at the man with rage in his eyes.

"Can't you fucking wake me up like a normal person!?" he shouted.

"Don't get sn-"

"Don't you dare say it!" Haiden warned. Master Rwoy just looked him dead in the eyes and continued.

"-appy with me, Haiden."

"I'm not snappy!" his scowl deepened even more.

"Yeah, yeah. Alright, fun's over. Let's get down to business." Master Rwoy said and ushered Haiden out of the room and they went outside in the cold. It was a fairly windy morning, so they decided to go in the courtyard again and have Haiden run laps around the great yellow tree until his heat cloak was following him as he went. Servants scurried past them trying to tend to their upkeep and business. Several other students at the Academy passed by to gawk at commotion he was causing in the courtyard. Haiden noticed them and made a mental note to ask about them after they finish today. It didn't take long until Haiden managed to keep the heat cloak while he ran at a constant pace around the big tree, for which his legs were thankful. They trembled slightly after Master Rwoy deemed it a good moment to stop.

"How did I do?" Haiden asked with a knowing grin that he did too good for just one and a half days of practice.

"Alright," Master Rwory said not to inflate Haiden's ego. "Could be better, but I guess we can move onto the next spell." as soon as Haiden's grin dropped the corners of Master Rowry's mouth twitched.

"Mronshit! I did great!" Haiden said.

"Language!" Master Rwoy chastised but he now had a full smile on his face. He looked at the sky with pinched brows. It was covered by a thick blanket of gray clouds, but you could easily spot the tiny sun above them. Even though the light was dim, it still hurt to look at it. With a nod he continued. "We have another hour until lunch, so let's go onto the next, shall we?" Haiden nodded and sat on one of the stone benches that circled the tree. He looked at it taking in the view. It was quite stunning, it felt like it was frozen in time on a particular day in autumn. Its snaking branches reached out to the sky. They were filled with bright yellow leaves, all of them the same shade that contrasted its smooth gray bark. A feeling of anticipation took root in the pit of his stomach. The more he looked at the beautiful tree in front of him the more he expected for something to happen. Instinctively, he closed his eyes and as he did with Master Rwoy's shield the other day and he waited to feel the energy. And he waited, and waited but there was nothing he could feel except for a violent shake.

"-aiden, hello! Haiden!!" Master Rwoy had him by his shoulders and shook him until he opened his eyes.

"Yes! What?" Haiden snapped.

"Creators! What happened?" Master Rwoy asked.

"What do you mean? We were about to talk about the next spell." he answered truthfully.

"That was an hour ago, kid! You blacked out. What happened?" he asked again.

"Nothing, I just...the tree, it felt weird." he said.

"Uhuh, the tree." said in disbelief.

"Shit, I'm hungry." Haiden admitted as his stomach growled and begged for food.

"I'll say. Let's go." Master Rwoy said without another word on Hiden's blackout just a murmur that sounded something like "this kid's out of his mind". The way to the dining hall was event less with no sign of Tasgal. Haiden had kept an eye out and wondered what he was up to. Master Rwoy decided to change the training stop after they ate and went to the labyrinthine gardens, which now were more or less desolate. They've stopped in the middle of the gardens where a round fountain of considerable size was laid in the middle of benched clearing. The frost had melted and froze again into crystalline spikes all over the remaining vegetation, shrubs and trees glistening in the dim light. This caught Haiden's attention and he enjoyed poking at them until they fell and shattered on the ground.

"Right, let's continue." Master Rwoy said, making himself comfortable on one of the wooden benches and grabbing Haiden's attention. "Force blast, this is an easy one." he reassured Haiden.

"Extrude the energy in certain area, willing to push everything in a certain direction. Easy..." Haiden said unsure reciting the theory in the book that Master Rwoy gave him.

"Exactly! Now, just as you did with the heat cloak; extend the energy outwards like a second skin, but instead of doing it through your whole body, you concentrate it in your hands and don't just feel through it; impose your will and your will is to push everything in front of you." Haiden nodded at Master Rwoy's explanation.

"I think I got it." Haiden assured.

"Let's see it then." Master Rwoy taunted with a smirk.

Haiden got up in front of him and closed his eyes. He made sure that he compartmentalized, locking everything under lock and key and just for measure throwing that locked door behind another. He didn't want to have any slip-ups right now as the spell he's about to do is of offensive nature. After doing so, he drew upon his energy, filling him with static. He concentrated on his hands and especially his palms and extending it outwards a few inches. He could feel the motes inside the space just beyond his palms.

Impose my will, I want to push, he repeated several times in his mind. Haiden took a deep breath and thrusting his hands forward he pushed his energy aiming for a small shrub. He felt it move as it was part of him. He felt his fios push every mote within its area of effect as it propelled at incredible speed towards the small frozen shrub leaving behind a trail of shimmery air. Immediately as it hit its target, the shrub was thrown forward uprooted from the ground in a spray of frozen ground.

"I did it!" Haiden exclaimed and jumped in the air in triumph. Master Rwoy clapped mildly amused but impressed nonetheless.

"Good job, kid!" he said, brushing a few bits of frosty dirt from his robe. The corner of Haiden's mouth stretched in a genuine smile that revealed small divots in his cheeks. His chest moving up and down with the excitement of the blast.

"It's so powerful..." he said to which Master Rwoy hummed and nodded slightly.

"It all depends on how much fios you put into it." he quickly brought his hand forward and flicked his finger towards Haiden, making him flinch as the prickle of static touched his skin. At once his head jerked backwards while his forehead ached.

"Ouch! What was that for?" he said rubbing his forehead, but his smile never left his face.

"Overall you got the spell right, but you need to learn to control how much fios you use. I was able to safely use the spell on you without hurting...too much." he chuckled. "You might benefit learning a bit of finesse as well." Master Rwoy spotted a rock on the ground and again flicked his finger towards it. It didn't shoot straight, but it went to the left at an incredible speed lodging itself in the bark of a nearby tree.

"I have plenty of fitness, thank you." Haiden said placing his hands on his hips.

"Sure you do, kid. Now, try lowering the amount if fios until you manage to send a force blast that won't hurt me." Haiden started to incrementally lowering the energy used. It allowed him to gage at how potent his energy actually was and how much he needed to use. He practiced on small rocks until they didn't shot out but skipped lightly on the ground. It took a few hours to get it right but Master Rowy was well pleased with his fast progress. Haiden soon began to practice changing the direction of the push. This was a more labor intensive task than he thought as his thoughts and will had to be prices otherwise the pebbles and rocks would shoot out in erratic trajectories. More than once they came shooting back towards Haiden earning him a bruise or two and a bump on the head. In the end, although he needed intense concentration to change the direction of the push he had managed to do so for the last couple of tries.

The night had long settled and the blanket of clouds dispersed allowing them to view the green sister in all of her glory. Haiden loved it when the green sister was predominant in the night sky, it wasn't attached to any particular memory and it gave everything a soft green luminescence. On nights like this he could breathe unencumbered by any constant reminder of his failures, many as they were.

"Master Rwoy, I noticed there were other students in the Academy. I thought the school year starts in a few days." he said.

"It does indeed. They were second year students and above. Not everyone desires to go home during the end cycle due to various reasons and they are welcomed to stay here of course." Master Rwoy explained. Haiden's eyebrows furrowed.

"End cycle?"

"Yes, The autumn season signals the end of a cycle, when the three sisters," he looked at the green moon in the night sky, "share the night equally the dawn of a new cycle begins. It's a once a year event for which prepare all sorts of festivals and celebrations."

"I-I didn't know that," he admitted, "Why does it happen only once a year?" he asked, to which Master Rwoy chuckled.

"Ah, the answer to that is fairly complicated. I'll let Master Onnelia answer that one when you start your classes. She'll be your Master of natural sciences." he said ending on a deep yawn. "I think this will suffice for today, kind. Try to sleep on the bed this time." he mocked.

~~~~

The next day, yet again Haiden was startled by a door being vigorously slammed by Master Rwoy, but this time he was ready. Already cleaned and dressed he waited for Master Rwoy to fetch him.

"Good, you're up!" he said throwing a wrapped parcel to Haiden which he barely caught.

"Oi!" he said almost dropping it, it was steaming hot.

"Digg in, we don't have all day." Master Rwoy said smiling. Haiden quickly unwrapped it and unveiled a hot sweet bun. It smelled incredible, it was filled with sweetened hamil milk cream. He devoured it in an instant leaving Master Rwoy fairly shocked. "Glad you liked it." he muttered.

"Thanks, I was starving." Haiden admitted. "So, you're teaching me how to do shields today."

"As planned. But first let me ask you, how's the reading going?"

"It's going better than I thought. I was having a really hard time grasping the concepts at first, but after these past two days, after I actually did the spells everything sorta just clicked into place, ya'know?" Haiden said in a shy voice and looked up at Master Rwoy who nodded in agreement. He smiled as if it was the exact answer that he was expecting, this gave Haiden a boost of confidence.

"Yes, I do, actually." Haiden was picking everything as fast as he hoped, he was afteral a natural when it came to Wielding. He had never seen anyone improve so quickly in all his ten years of teaching at the Academy; this worried him as to what exactly was the intent behind which the so claimed benefactors sponsored him. There was no secret that living and studying at the Elo'yn Academy was expensive. "Right then," he dismissed his trail of thought, "shields! It's one of the most used spells in Wielding and one of the most versatile. It's not just for defense but can be used for offense and utility as well. The concept behind it it's fairly simple, nothing we didn't use before with the heat cloak and force blast. Today we'll try a different method for this one since we're both empaths and I want to see how sensitive you are."

"What kind of different method?" Haiden asked curiously.

"As I've told you before, empaths are susceptible to people's emotions and energies and the degree to which they are sensitive varies greatly, and some lean towards energies while others towards emotions. You said you can sense when someone's Wielding so, we know you lean towards the energy side, this is a great advantage in battle - it lets you know when the enemy wielder will strike, and depending on how sensitive you are you can guess what spell they might use, well...not quite. You might guess the effect of the spell but not its intended purpose. We're not mind reads." Master Rwoy joked.

Haiden laughed along but he was relieved to know that they could not read his thoughts. He was harboring secrets that might get him in deep trouble and loose the opportunity to make up for his mistakes as well as his life. He briefly thought about his parents asking himself if they thought he was doing the right thing. He could not find the answer as he knew nothing about them; his only memory of them was their demise that was brought upon them by Haiden himself. He sighed relinquishing these thoughts and focused on Master Rwoy's grin that cheered him up ever so slightly allowing him to pull the corner of his mouth into a simple smile.

"You're not blanking out again, are you?" Master Rwoy asked with mild concern.

"No, I'm here." he replied. "Let's do this." It was deceivingly sunny outside and Master Rwoy lead Haiden to the main lawn just outside the grounds gate in open space. The frost had melted revealing the brown scraggly bones of shrubs along the stone-tiled way.

"I will create a shield and I want you to tell me what you feel." at once Haiden could feel the buzzing of static emanating from Master Rwoy but it wasn't just from his presence. It was all around him. He closed his eyes and as if he could see the fios itself beyond his eyelids, he could discern multiple bubbles of energy surrounding him, as well as one around Master Rwoy.

He thinks he's clever, he scoffed. We'll see about that, asshole. Haiden thought.

"Six." Haiden said nonchalantly.

"I'm sorry what?" Master Rwoy pretended that he didn't know what he meant.

"When I close my eyes It's like I can see the Wielding being formed. Also, you lied. You have six shields up, 5 circling me and one around you." he replied with his cocky crooked grin. Master Rwoy raised an eyebrow and nodded in approval.

"Very well, kid. Well done! Wait - you can see the Wielding, interesting..." he said while slowly nodding, his mind clearly processing this information. "Energetic empaths are typically linked with their sense of touch, while it's not unheard of, it is extremely rare for them to be linked to another sense like vision but...I've never seen an empath with two. You did say you feel the static as well?" Master Rwoy asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I feel the static pricking my skin when someone Wields near me and when I close my eyes I-I can see it like a light shadow." Haiden closed his eyes and with his hand extended pointed where each of Master Rwoy's shields were.

"Incredible..."Master Rwoy's mouth was ajar. "What are you exactly, Haiden?" he added in a whisper so Haiden couldn't hear. Worry was apparent in his creased eyebrows. "Listen carefully, kid. I've warned you about the rich shits that attend this Academy before." Haiden just nodded at his stern voice. "You can't tell anyone, not even the Masters here that you can do this. You need to keep your empath abilities hidden from anyone. You understand me?"

"But why?" Haiden was so confused. "I don't understand. It's not that big of a deal, Master Rwoy. Is it?"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" Master Rwoy's dark complexion turned a deep red. It sent shivers of fear into Haiden's spine, something about being yelled at in this manner seemed familiar to Haiden like it had struck a chord in his soul. He quickly began to make himself small behind Master Rwoy's authoritative voice. "ANSWER ME!" he boomed. Haiden's legs trembled and he only managed to nod. "Say it, Haiden. Promise me."

"I-I p-promise, I won't t-tel anyone!" he said in a meek voice.

"Thank you, Haiden. I-I'm sorry I yelled." his gaze now stuck to the muddy ground he couldn't bring himself to look Haiden in his amber eyes with such a pitiful expression of fear plastered on his face. Master Rwoy approached him and reached a hand over to his messy black locks. Haiden flinched but didn't move while Master Rwoy shuffled his hair easing the tension in Haiden's shoulders making him release a sigh. "I'm sorry," he repeated.

"It's alright." Haiden assured, he was taken aback at first by his volatile reaction but in the end he sensed Master Rwoy's good intentions. He was curious, of course, why would he do such a thing, but he didn't want to risk agitating the man even more, especially since his future depended on him. Haiden took a deep breath and let everything go.

"Ready for some more?" Master Rwoy said in a chipper voice trying to diffuse the tension even more and Haiden nodded. "Let's see if you can catch this." he extended his arms and the five shields surrounding Haiden started to move around him. Closing his eyes again, he felt that they multiplied into sixteen when all of the sudden one of them came for him. Haiden made sure to plant his feet firmly on the ground, checking the locked door, then pulled energy from within. He extended his arms and sent over a force blast, destroying the shield in an energy blast.

"How was that?" Haiden was still visibly shaken but he managed to say with a smug grin.

"Good instincts. They will serve you well in battle." Master Rwoy admitted. "Now that the warm-up is done, how about you make some shields of your own. Since you can feel and see take a close look at what I'm doing when creating a shield and try to copy me." Haiden gave him a quick nod and closed his eyes focusing entirely on the man in front of him. He sensed the fios coming from Master Rowy, just as the heat clock it enveloped him, but the energy was much more dense and concentrated, then he felt the energy pushing hard on the motes around in a constant buzz of static.

"I-I think I got it." Haiden said reluctantly.

"Now you try it." Master Rwoy said and waited expectantly. Static filled Haiden as he pulled fios from within, he slowly emanated energy around him defining the area and filling it packed with energy. Once he was satisfied he willed his intent, which was to push anything away from him. Haiden's breath soon began to harden, but thought nothing of it.

"Ready!" Haiden said. "It wasn't that hard, it's basically the previous two spells combined! Ha! Eat that, I was able to- " Haiden stopped as he could no longer draw breath. He grabbed his neck and dropped to his knees unable to breathe. His tries to inhale were in vain as therewas no air surrounding him.

"Drop the shield, Haiden!" Master Rwoy's screams sounded muted behind his shield but he barely heard him and immediately as he dispersed the energy of his shield his breath came back to him making him cough. "You didn't pay enough attention!" he yelled in frustration. With his fists balled up he cursed himself for jumping too soon to deep with someone as inexperienced as Haiden.

"I'm-I'm sorry." Haiden said lowering his head.

"No, it's not your fault. It's mine. I should be the one apologizing, kid. You could've hurt yourself. I'm sorry I pushed you too far."

"Please don't! I need to learn fast, otherwise...otherwise you won't teach me what your promised." Haiden admitted and Master Rwoy nodded then whispered something to himself that sounded like he should've kept his mouth shut, but Haiden didn't say anything. Master Rwoy sighed heavily and pulled away from Haiden. "Again!" he insisted.

"Are you sure?" Master Rwoy asked concerned.

"Yes." Haiden said behind furrowed brows and gave a small nod while he braced himself to get up.

After another hard sighed the man returned his nod. "What did the book say about full shields, Haiden?" as soon as he asked this Haiden's face fell.

How could I have been so stupid. I was too cocky! he beat himself up and began. "Full shields must be conditioned to allow airflow to pass otherwise the Wielder risks fainting due to lack of oxygen."

"Exactly, take another look at the shields I created." Haiden complied and closing his eyes he saw that the bubbles of shields were not complete, they were half ovals. Frustration was visible on Haiden's face within the deep creases of his brows. "Don't beat yourself up, kid. You did better than anyone else could. I mean it." Master Rwoy assured, but this wasn't good enough for Haiden.

How can I help anyone if I kill myself from a stupid spell, he thought.

"Now, let's try it again." With that Haiden braced himself to redo the spell, this time creating a partial shield. They practiced intensely as always until lunch time came, which Master Rwoy could mysteriously tell by the position of the sun. Haiden was making great progress, but the annoying feeling that his Wielding wasn't nowhere near where he wanted it to be festered in his gut. Master Rwoy kept calling him a natural and that he was improving faster than anyone he'd seen but his words just blew past him. It had no real meaning as he didn't had anyone else to compare himself with. They might just be words of encouragement for all he knew. Besides, he could not take another incident where he'd helplessly watch someone die or get hurt. He forced himself to stop this trail of thought as soon as they entered the Ashen part of the Academy his eyes darting from building to building, then to the benches along the stone-tiled way to the divergent paths.

"Looking for someone?" Master Rwoy asked raising his eyebrows with curiosity.

"No!" Haiden muttered.

"Alright, then." he clearly didn't believe him. In truth Haiden was hoping to catch a glimpse of Tasgal, the only other person he knew here.

I wonder what he's up to...

They quickly finished their lunch and they went to the same place to finish Haiden's training. Seeing as there was no sign of Tasgal on their way back his mood had soured even more. After catching himself sighing for the third time because he thought Tasgal was going to jump out of a corner he mentally slapped himself.

I need to stop this before it gets out of control! he said to himself.

As expected, Haiden had no problem following Master Rwoy's instructions and he quickly became adept in creating proper shields. He was even able to deflect Master Rwoy's barrage of minor force blasts but the fun was short lived as soon as Master Rwoy mentioned full shields.

Haiden's stomach started doing flips and his breath hardened as nervousness crept in. He had almost died because of a stupid mistake that he had made, but he wasn't planning on letting this stop him from reaching his goal. He had made even bigger mistakes and still pulled onwards so, with his mind set on the prize he pushed his feelings down and gave a nod to Master Rwoy signaling he's ready.

"We'll skip you sensing what I'm doing since it didn't go...so well. Conditioning your full shield will take some getting used to. There are two ways of doing it. The first one and easiest, is to have minuscule holes in your shield that allows for air to circulate and the second one is familiarize yourself with the motes of air and letting them pass through your shield. Here..." Master Rwoy took Haiden's hand and placed it in front of him with his palm open. He then formed a shield. "Go on, sense it." doing so, static washed over Haiden. Tiny pinholes became visible to him as he felt the flow of air. He nodded in understanding.

"I think I get it." Without waiting for Master Rwoy's approval he went ahead and created his own shield copying the way the pinholes permeated throughout the edge of the shield. With that they began practicing to the extent where Haiden could take another force blast barrage, but by the time that happened the red sister sat snugly behind a blanket of bloody clouds.

"I think we should call it a night, what do you say, kid?"

"I can still keep going, Master Rwoy." Haiden said panting as a rivulet of sweat down his temple.

"No need, Haiden. I know you want me to teach you the next best thing to healing, I see the fire in you, kid."

"So, you will?" Haiden eagerly asked to which Master Rwoy chuckled.

"Yes. You did well to keep your end, so might as well keep mine only if tomorrow morning you can tell me what these three spells have in common." he said and dismissed Haiden to his room.