TBATE: Let The Truth Be Known {Completed}

Chapter 14: Quality Control

ELEANOR LEYWIN

"-lie. Ellie! Ellie!" I hear as I'm shoved awake. I open my crusty eyes to find it's still dark outside. Who could even be needing me right now?

Just as I raise my hands to wipe at my eyes, a huge weight slams down on my stomach.

"Ugh! Ow! What the hell?" I shout at my aggressor.

"You wouldn't wake up. Consider it payback for years of torturous awakening methods. Now get up. We have training to do," my brother says.

"And be quick, maggot! The sarge is waiting!" says the purple and black puppy from my stomach.

Sarge?

Regis hops from my stomach, sending his two back paws firmly into my gut as he does it.

"Fine, fine. I'll get up," I mutter, staring out of the front window. He really did wake me up before the sun even considered rising.

I roll out of bed and put on my training clothes. I fasten the leather boddess of my armor to my chest and put my bow around my shoulder. I slip my boots on and begin to lace the strings. Striding toward the door, I poke my head out into the cool weather. The breeze blows ever so slightly past the entryway.

"Over here, El. Let's go to where you and Virion typically train. Try and keep up," Arthur says before essentially vanishing. The only way I was able to tell which direction he went was by activating my first phase to heighten my senses. His faint scent from his oily wheat-blonde hair is all I was able to go off of.

Running in pursuit of Arthur- even though it only took me under ten minutes to make it the few miles to my and Virion's training area- he was already there with his hands on his hips. Seeing him, his body was covered in that familiar onyx-black scaled suit with golden glows beneath the cracks of the scales. The two horns that wrap from above his ears and frame his jaw look just like how Sylvie's did.

"You're going to need Boo for this. We're going to spar," he says while beginning to stretch.

"It's not even light out, Arthur. Why can't we wait?" I ask, annoyed by having only gotten maybe 5 hours of sleep.

"Because we won't always have the luxury of sleeping when we want or battling under remotely optimal conditions. Be glad I'm not making us spar beneath that waterfall over there," Arthur replies, pointing at the waterfall over his shoulder.

"Fine. I'll get Boo," I grumble. Instead of roaming around in the forest to where I can feel he is, I start to think about some unhappy thoughts to make myself anxious. Memories of Dad's funeral, Tessia and Madam Astera coming home to tell us that Arthur died, and Tessia getting taken at Eidelholm flood into my mind. Just before the tears would begin to flow, a massive mound of brown fur thuds on the ground behind me.

Arthur stops his stretching and looks at me with surprise. "He can just... poof in?" he asks.

"Yeah, I figured it out a while back. Whenever I'm distressed about something, he'll pop in and protect me," I answer.

"I'll thank Windsom with a painless death then," he replies.

Painless death? What the hell is Arthur planning to do? I want to ask but I think he'll just throw out some stuff I don't want to hear quite yet.

"So let's get started, huh? Mid Silver at 14 is pretty impressive. I want to see how good you are," Arthur chimes in. "Before then though, I have something for you."

Arthur pulls an ivory-white bow from his dimension rune. The bowstring glistens with purple energy and creates an ever so slight hum. He gives the bowstring a single pass over with his hand as the string begins to glow even brighter purple.