Shadowseeker

chapter twelve

"You're late."

Khalida's voice halted Aelia in her tracks, making her wince as she dropped her bag onto one of the benches that lined the walls of the training room. She turned to face the instructor, her expression grim.

"Sorry. I overslept, I-"

Khalida raised a hand to interrupt Aelia, leaving her standing with her mouth open as she tried to explain.

"I don't need an explanation. You've wasted enough time already," Khalida responded harshly, looking pointedly at where Eli was already throwing punches at a training dummy. "Get ready and get over there. No excuses."

Aelia snapped her mouth shut, ducking her head meekly and unzipping her jacket, shrugging it off her shoulders. Despite being a Lighthunter, and therefore theoretically weaker than her as a Sunkeeper, Khalida was one of the only people who could still intimidate her.

"Elior!" Khalida called sharply, causing him to relax his tensed muscles as he glanced over, his arms dropping to fall by his sides. 

Aelia quickly stretched out her muscles, hoping that she wouldn't injure herself due to the lack of proper warmup. She tied her hair back, making eye contact with Eli and raising her eyebrows. He grinned back at her, amusement dancing in his eyes as Khalida told Aelia to hurry up.

"Hey, Eli," Aelia greeted him as she went to join him on the blue mats that had been placed over the floor. They didn't do much to shield the effects of a harsh landing, and the hard concrete below had caused bruising on many occasions. "Sorry I'm late."

"It's fine," Eli shrugged, rolling his shoulders as he prepared himself for the spar. "At least you showed up. Especially if you weren't feeling great yesterday."

"Less talking, more training," Khalida snapped, an irritated tone in her voice. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

Aelia nodded before quickly dropping into a defensive stance, anticipation buzzing through her. She eyed Eli as he crouched into a similar position, already searching for potential weaknesses.

"For today's session, you will not be allowed to use your powers at all," Khalida explained briskly, pacing up and down at the edge of the mats. "There may be a rare situation where you will need to go without it, especially if you are trying to stay hidden or evade capture."

Alarm flashed over Eli's face, and he briefly faltered, but he quickly regained his composure. Aelia resisted the urge to smile. Once, she would've had the same reaction, but she no longer feared the dark. In fact, it would give her an advantage; one that she could not reveal to Khalida or Eli.

Khalida turned to the wall, clicking a switch that plunged the room into darkness. Without the light sources and with no windows to offer natural light, the room was pitch black.

Aelia grinned to herself, moving back and letting her Seeker powers take over, her eyes adjusting slightly to the darkness. She allowed the shadows to wash over her before locating the silhouettes of Eli and Khalida. Aelia could see their forms fairly well after many nights of practice. As she focused on Eli, Khalida became fuzzy and blurred, confined to the edges of her vision.

Eli lunged in the dark, totally blinded, which threw him off entirely. Aelia almost laughed aloud as his fist connected with nothing and he stumbled a few steps before finding his balance again. The darkness was the natural enemy to the light, meaning that Eli was out of his depth in this battle. As far as anyone else knew, so was Aelia.

Eli struck out again as Aelia moved, following the faint, muffled noise of her footsteps. He got closer to her this time, nearly making contact with her arm. Aelia was able to move away as she anticipated his movement.