BOOK THREE - promised series
Espheros is inhabited by more than just the human species. Shifters and Immortals walk the earth amongst them, hiding in the shadows.
There are some humans, however, who are very much aware of what moves through the dar...
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Feiran was in a gruff mood, like usual, when he greeted me silently upon my arrival. His form of hello was a low grunt, usually right before he'd throw the first punch because he knew I never expected it.
Who the hell would, considering civilized people greeted each other first before hitting them square in the face.
Today, thanks to Kendra's marvelous idea, I however gave Feiran a little taste of his own medicine and quickly threw a punch into his gut just a breath after he grunted.
For the first time since I met the old blind man, I caught him off guard.
With a deadly silence, Feiran took the punch with a small step backwards, otherwise not displaying any kind of disarray or discomfort. Though I knew I still had to work on the force of my punch, it was enough to derail him for a moment. I didn't give him the chance to do anything but step back and drove an elbow into his jaw. Hitting it, I was about to retract my arm and throw a left hook with my other arm, but he grabbed my elbow and twisted my arm so quickly, the movement made my body follow it. Twisting inward, I lost my balance and fell face forward into the ground, just next to Feiran's feet.
"You learn exceptionally slowly," he commented gruffly.
Trying to bite down the pain that stung in both my elbow and my shoulder, since most of my weight had landed on it, I rose to my feet with my chin up. I tried to keep my face as emotionless as I could, pretending that the man didn't crawl under my skin or make me angry for being such an asshole.
Instead, I wouldn't show him that part of me anymore. I would display only strength, even in failure. I wouldn't let him wind me up anymore.
Feiran and I moved back and forth in a dance of both stealth and brute force. Sometimes the dance slowed, and each step was measured, and then it would pick up its pace and turn into a battle that required nothing but quick processed thinking and even quicker limbs to react. Somehow it felt like Feiran's every movement was calculated, measured, and planned, whereas mine were mostly just reactions to him. I also wondered who he was, really, since he shared absolutely no personal information. The only thing I knew was his first name, that he was a blind, mean, old dude and that he disliked me. Everything else was a huge question mark.
After the first part of our training, we continued with the breathing exercises he introduced the first time we trained together. They hadn't progressed much, and those parts of training were almost even more strenuous than the physical part was.
Concentrating on my breathing, I focused on the expansion of my lungs and tried to imagine what they looked like as they filled with air. Exhaling, I tried to remind myself of how my body felt heavy, rooted into the ground.
Then Feiran's scratchy, deep voice moved the still silence. "I want you to use your gift on me."
Confused, I furrowed my brows at him, even though he couldn't see it. He elaborated anyway. "I know that you control emotions and not influence them. Do not mistake my blindness for stupidity. I see and know more than you do."
