25: A Tale Of Ice And Wind

Maiya sat on the edge of the training dome, shivering as she watched Vir trade blows with Riyan in the early morning chill. She felt cold, but she was sure neither of the combatants felt the same. In fact, it was the perfect dueling temperature.

Most of the dome’s sandy floor was covered by Riyan’s monstrous obstacle course, but there was still enough room around it for a duel to take place.

Both Vir and Maiya had both grown by leaps and bounds over the past several weeks, but the gap between herself and Vir only continued to widen. Even with a half dozen handicaps, Vir would beat her with ease, while it felt like she still struggled with even the most basic moves.

The situation was the same on the obstacle course—if she was honest, it was even worse. Her friend had always possessed a knack for moving his body gracefully. His balance and flexibility were far superior to hers, and that gap had also widened.

He leaped dauntlessly into swinging scythes and rotating swords while she tiptoed in his footsteps. And that too, only thanks to his endless instruction and advice. ‘Don’t step there, transfer your weight gently, don’t put too much weight on that rope!’

She knew she shouldn’t feel bad—her progress had been immense—but she was always reminded of that saying: Even an aristocrat feels poor when in the company of royalty.

With only Vir and Riyan to compare against—both monsters—it was hard not to feel inferior.

Clang! Ping! Clash!

Maiya could barely even follow Vir’s duel with Riyan as they traded blows. She was sure she’d missed at least half of Riyan’s attacks—all of which Vir had blocked. To her eyes, they both looked superhuman. Vir was formidable, but Riyan was in another realm again. He was Balar 150 for a reason, a fact that still boggled her mind. But at the same time, he was ‘only’ Balar 150. There were warriors and mejai out there who boasted ranks several times that.

She clenched her fists. She was such a tiny fish in this vast ocean.

What role could she play now? She’d always looked out for Vir. She’d warded off the village bullies and supported him whenever she could. Now… She wanted to protect her friend, but it was more likely that he’d be the one protecting her. Thanks to Kalari and his chakram arts, he’d become a force to be reckoned with.

Maiya had come to realize that she would never beat Vir if she played to his strengths. It was ironic… Vir still couldn’t hold a candle to her in endurance, but it almost didn’t matter anymore. He’d devised so many ways of ending fights quickly that she could never even begin exploiting that weakness of his.

If she wanted to compete, she’d have to play to her strengths. That meant magic. She had to master magic at all cost. But no matter how much she pestered Riyan, he always gave her the same answer: ‘Patience. Arrangements are being made.’

Maiya snapped out of her thoughts as Vir was sent flying, crashing heavily into the wall. She used to panic whenever that happened, but she soon stopped worrying. Her friend was a lot more resilient than she gave him credit for. Or at least, he seemed to have a far higher pain threshold than she did, and Riyan’s Life orbs always patched him up afterward.

Vir slowly rose to his feet, testing his arms and legs to ensure he hadn’t sustained any major injury. Then he was running again, rushing back to Riyan to continue the fight.

But instead of engaging, their instructor held up his palm. “Take these,” he said, tossing some chakrams and chakris at Vir’s feet.

Vir crouched and picked them up, a confused look on his face. “These are steel weapons. I can’t use these on you.”

Riyan snorted. “The day when I need you to worry about me is the day I die. You pose no threat to me, boy. Come at me with everything you have. Show me the fruits of your training.”

Vir faced off against the big man, whose only protection was his talwar. Maiya could see the suspicion in Vir’s eyes, as if he was trying to guess Riyan’s intent behind this duel.

Maiya’s heart pumped faster. She desperately wanted to see him go all out, if only to wipe that arrogant smirk off of Riyan’s face. But she knew he wouldn’t. It’d be stupid to reveal the full extent of his power here… She held a small hope nonetheless.

“Not going to attack? Then I shall!” the Ghost of Godshollow said, Leaping to Vir in an instant. Her friend threw himself aside, barely avoiding Riyan’s wooden sword. Two chakris flew toward the man even before Vir had landed. Both hit their mark, but Riyan casually avoided one and blocked the other with his talwar. The small disk embedded itself into the wooden weapon.

Maiya realized she’d been wrong all along. Vir didn’t have the luxury of hiding his power from Riyan. He’d have to throw everything he had at the man just to survive.

Vir launched a chakram and immediately followed up with his katar. Riyan was forced to defend, but he managed to successfully counter both.

Maiya had never seen the big man pressured like this before. Will he actually lose!?

It seemed like such an absurd thought, but as Vir relentlessly attacked Riyan, forcing him to step back again and again, Maiya’s hope grew.

Down to his last chakram, Vir grasped it with his left hand and sliced at Riyan, but the man used Light Step to gracefully jump away. His final chakri missed.

And that was when Maiya realized Riyan had been going easy on Vir all along. The man rushed Vir and smashed his stomach with the pommel of his talwar. Her friend was literally sent flying.

He sailed through the air and tumbled to a stop, unconscious. Maiya cried out and ran to his side, turning him over.

“Good,” said Riyan.

“How is this good!?” Maiya shrieked. “Heal him!”

“He merely fainted. I ensured he suffered no actual damage. Tend to him. And let him know that I am pleased. He is progressing well. Though I wish I could say the same for you.”

Maiya stared him down, refusing to buckle under the man’s withering gaze. “You know what I need.”

Riyan turned and left, leaving her fuming.

But there was no use in being angry at an immovable mountain. Maiya took a deep breath and tended to Vir as best she could.

He came to in a few minutes, his head resting on her lap. “I feel like I just got impaled by an Ash’va.”

“Not too far off, actually,” Maiya said with a wry smirk. “C’mon, let’s get you to the bedroom. I’ll give you a massage.”

Vir frowned. “I don’t think I’ll be able to give you one after, though. Not today, Maiya.”

“No worries. It’s my treat,” she said with an angelic smile, which, of course, put Vir on high alert.

“What do you want?” he said. His voice dripped with suspicion.

“Why would you think I want something? Haven’t I done stuff for you in the past expecting nothing in return?” She said, but she knew full well that Vir wouldn’t fall for her tactics. It didn’t matter… He’d come around. He always did.

“This is different. You’re up to something, Maiya,” he said as she got under his shoulder, helping him limp to the edge of the training dome. Riyan had really done a number on him. But knowing her friend, one massage and a grotto soak later, and he’d be as good as new.

She brought Vir to the shower, where they each went their separate ways to clean off. No grotto today. A shower would have to suffice.

They met back up again in the bedroom a few minutes later, where she’d prepared sandwiches for them.

“Thanks Maiya!” Vir said, munching on his sandwich while she had hers. It always made her happy seeing him enjoy her cooking that much.

“Glad you like it, Vir. But we’re honestly running low on ingredients. Someone’s gonna need to make a supply run soon. And you and I both know it’s not gonna be Riyan. Bet you anything he’ll have us go and do it.”

“You might be right about that,” Vir said between mouthfuls. “I don’t even know how far we’d have to go. What’s the nearest city?”

“Probably Saran… Which is not close. At all. It’d suck so much. Anyway, get down on the ground when you’re done.”

Vir lied down on the floor mat while she stepped onto his back, grasping the fabric tassels suspended from the ceiling for balance as she massaged him with her feet.

“So?” Vir said. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Why’d you think I wanted to talk about something?” She asked with a playful smirk. Lying face down as he was, Vir couldn’t see it.

“C’mon, Maiy—Ow!”

She’d stepped on an especially tight knot on his back. It must have been painful.

“My bad!” She lied.

They fell silent for a few moments before she cut to the chase.

“I think it’s about time I got serious about this magic stuff,” she said. “I can’t train without a mentor, but… it’d be stupid to ignore your ability to see prana. I wanna know everything you can see about me. I want to know my strengths and weaknesses, anything that can give me an edge.”

Vir grunted through the pain of the massage. “Doesn’t work like that, Maiya. All I can see is the prana in your body. That doesn’t mean I can see your weaknesses or anything like that. But I can tell you what affinities you have. In fact, I already did.”

“Oh. Right. Uh, what were my affinities again?” She asked with great hesitation. She’d erased that earlier conversation from her memory as soon as he’d said she didn’t have an affinity for fire.

“You really want to know?” Vir said. “You know it’s not fire, right?”

Maiya bit her lip. “Yes. Tell me.”

“Alright. I think you have a greater Ice affinity and a lesser affinity for Wind. Doesn’t look like you have an affinity for anything else—Ow!”

Maiya drove her heel into his shoulder.

“Chala’s Knees, Maiya! You’re the one who asked me to tell you! Don’t take your anger out on me,” Vir said, turning over to stare her in the eyes.

“I’m sorry, Vir.” This time, she meant it. She honestly hadn’t meant to hurt him.

Vir sighed and returned to his face-down position. “Whatever. I just hope you believe me.”

“I do,” she said. “As much as I don’t want to, avoiding the facts isn’t going to change anything. And besides, maybe I can develop a fire affinity later somehow.”

“Ice and wind are pretty great, if you ask me,” Vir said.

“Hmm. Ice is good for slowing and stopping opponents, and it’s got some really powerful spells at the higher tiers. But it’s slow. Only fireballs are slower than ice spells, and ice doesn’t have the sheer destructive power or range that fire does.”

“What about wind?” He asked.

“Wind’s not bad. Wind spells tend to be fast. Actually, I think only Lightning’s faster. And their range is decent. I don’t really know what most of the Wind affinity spells look like, actually.”

Vir spoke up. “I overheard some traveling merchants at the village a long time ago. They were talking about all sorts of magic. I think one of them knew a mejai who could shoot blades of wind. That always sounded pretty cool to me.”

“Hmm. What did they say about ice?”

Vir thought for a moment, struggling to recall. “They mentioned Ice Prison as one spell, if I remember right. It sounded incredibly powerful.”

“That does sound pretty cool,” Maiya said. “Hmm. Maybe this isn’t so horrible after all.”

Vir rolled his eyes. “You do realize you’re talking to someone who has zero magical potential, right? I’d kill to have an affinity. Any affinity!”

He might have had a point a month or two ago, but now, Maiya had little sympathy for her friend. “You don’t need magic, Vir. With how fast you’re learning Riyan’s techniques, you’ll be a skilled assassin in no time.”

Vir fell silent. “You really think he’s gonna ask me to kill someone?”

“I don’t know, Vir. I truly hope not. For both of our sakes…”

Riyan’s mysterious favor loomed over them both. The more they trained, the more anxious Maiya grew. She knew that nothing good would come of it, and at worst…

She shook her head, clearing away the dark thoughts that threatened to crush her.

Nothing would separate her from Vir. Not Riyan. Not even Fate itself.