Throughout my shower and into the night, I thought about everything I had been told. My dream was of the girl Lucas prevented me from helping. How the guards had treated her. Was she still even alive? Could I have helped her? Should I have? Should I just leave the city and let what happens happen? Surely then none of what happens would be my fault, right?


    “Kyren!” Barti’s yelling broke me out of my stream of questions and thoughts. Hearing him and seeing that I was no longer in my room, I grew a bit confused. The confusion got even worse as I realized I was in the training room facing off against Tindi. “While I appreciate that you are giving the situation a ton of thought, that does not mean you cannot focus on what is going on around you. Tindi, stop holding back.”


    Her nod was sharp and her smile predatory. What was with everyone around me looking at me like I was a piece of food? Without warning, she charged. With a flash of mana, I shifted to the side. The fist aimed at my head slid past. My hair fluttered as the displaced air shoved it this way and that.


    With one hand acting as a pivot point, I used the other to slash upward. The sharp, fast movement aimed at her belly missed as she flashed away. Her movement was so fast that I only saw a blur between the two points. While her exercise was hard enough to cause her to break a sweat, she never went hard enough to do anything else. In fact, I had never seen her having an issue with breathing, until now.


    Tindi’s breathing was coming harder and faster than a few moments ago. She truly was not holding back. A sudden tensing in her hands was the only warning I got before she blurred a second time. My body reacted on instinct, moving forward while twisting to the side.


    While her blurred fist passed within a hair’s breadth of my nose, her shoulder rammed right into mine. The hit sent me spinning to the side. As I tried to regain control of my momentum, a kick to my back sent me flying.


    My face ground against the floor as I came to a stop. It hurt like hell. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to care. Not when she was likely on her way to do yet more damage. Pushing mana through my body and into my surroundings, I rolled just in time for her fist to miss.


    I don’t think it sank in just how much she had been holding back before. Not until I saw her fist sitting where my head used to be. The cracked stone belied the amount of force she had used. I would be dead if that had hit me. Not willing to give her another chance to hit me, I put as much space between us as I could. Switching from close-range attacks to long-range.


    Or at least I tried. She was quick to move. Keeping within an arms reach as I moved. With my mana flowing through me, I could keep up with her moves, but only just. The attacks were a constant issue. Keeping me moving to dodge or deflect them. They didn’t stop long enough for me to launch a single strike of my own.


    Well, that is what I wanted her to think. Yes, at first, all I had been capable of was dodging and deflecting strike after strike. But, as I got a feel for the momentum, I found openings. Nothing large enough for me to attack her with a fist or foot, but long enough for something else.


    As soon as the last part was in place, I took a blow to my sternum. It hurt like a bitch but it did its job in launching me across the room. I played possum. To my surprise, she didn’t hesitate as she charged at me. The moment her foot stepped over my first spell, I released the lot.


    Earth walls jerked up behind her. Forming a large bowl. As soon as it formed, a sphere of water formed, compressed, and exploded in its center. Two waves of water cascaded forward. The force of the first was enough to stagger her while the second sent her sprawling to the ground. “Stop,” Barti called.


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    “But…” she spluttered.


    “If he had used fire you would be dead. If he had curved the bowl just right, he could have focused the water onto a single point and done significant damage. Face it, you lost.” His voice was calm and matter-of-fact. “Kyren, take a few minutes to rest. Mindi, you’re up.”


    By the time I got to the edge of the room, the two girls were facing off. While I wanted to get back to thinking over my decision, the scene before me caught my attention. Mindi had cast a decent number of spells. Balls of fire and water flew around the room as they chased Tindi. Tindi, for her part, dodged the spells as she moved around the room. Any time she got close to Mindi, the spells grew more accurate and faster, forcing her back.


    The moves were smooth and well-timed. It all looked like it was choreographed given the lack of hits. Finally, though, Mindi growled in frustration. A dozen different spells spawned in the area around her. Each flew at Tindi, giving her no way out. Tindi, for her part, blurred as she still tried to dodge the hits. But as soon as the first stone hit her shoulder, she lost her momentum. Spell after spell struck her from every angle.


    Nothing was strong enough to kill her, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Her scream ended the match without Barti having to say a word. Instead, he flashed in. Staggering amounts of mana flooded out of him as he cast a spell on her. Even from where I stood, I could see her wounds visibly healing.


    The flood of mana stopped just as fast as it had started. He took the opportunity to help her up and across the room. With her sitting against the wall, he looked over at me. “Your turn.” I expected Mindi to join me in the middle but, to my surprise, the elf joined me. He looked utterly relaxed as he spoke. “Feel free to come at me at any time.”


    I didn’t so much as move, choosing instead to ask a question that had been bugging me off and on all night. “Why me?”


    “Why you what?”


    I thought my question was quite self-evident but I humored him. “Why is everyone trying to recruit me?”


    “Ah,” He sighed, “Honestly, you just got lucky, or unlucky. If not for that first day you came into the guild and got us as trainers, none of this would have happened. At least not to you.”


    “What do you mean?”


    “Other than a few oddities and traits, you are just like every other traveler that the gods drop into our city.” And here I was thinking that there was something about me that everyone wanted for their side.


    “Wait, what oddities?” I asked, curious what he was talking about. I mean, the only thing I could think about as being odd had to do with my mana, but I doubted it was what he meant.


    The elf took a second to look me over as he thought about his answer. Finally, he simply said, “No, if you can hit me one time, then I will tell you.” Well, guess I would never know. Then again, he wouldn’t pose this unless he thought I could pull it off. Or if he didn’t want to answer, but I doubted he would do such a thing.


    I could stand here and debate if it was possible or not forever or I could give it a go. And, given that I only knew a fraction of his power, I needed to either come up with a foolproof plan or go for broke.


    It took me all of a couple of seconds to make a decision on what to do. There was no way I would be able to come up with any sort of plan that could account for everything he could do. In fact, I needed to have absolutely no plans. No planning ahead, just attack fast and hard. It worked for the Germans in World War Two, it was likely to work here.


    To that end, I needed to remove his ability to react to any tells my body might give. I needed to shut off my mind. Specifically the part that planned ahead. The part that reacted. Relying instead on pure instinct.


    He must have seen some sort of change in my posture or expression because he suddenly smiled. He must have said something as his mouth moved, but I ignored it. Focusing instead on releasing my mana to flow freely. Every drop rushed out of me, through my body and into my immediate surroundings.


    None of it went far though. Most of it seemed to rebound off something and rush back toward me only to be pushed back out. This back-and-forth occurred more times than I could count. Only ending as the majority of mana settled at one of three points. Two sat at the top of my head while another was attached to where my spine ended. It was the same place as during the fight with the idiotic creeper, but this time the mana felt more like a part of me. Like I could reach back and grab whatever it was.


    Instead, I charged at my opponent. The world around me blurred as I moved faster than ever.