"Again!" I stood back up stiffly and raised the wooden sword. Earnest charged forward. He was fast and every time I thought I'd catch him he'd speed up that tiny bit more. It was infuriating but at the same time I knew it was his way of teaching me.
He stepped into range I jumped to the side and swung across his body. It was a clear miss as he bent around the wooden blade. A split second later I pulled back and defended instinctively. The wood cracked dangerously in my hands as I skidded to a halt. Just as I gathered my bearings my side erupted in pain and I hit the ground.
"Argh," I coughed and blood came out.
"Are you done?" Earnest hovered over me with his hand out.
"Not yet," I groaned and let him pull me back up. With uneasy steps I made it to the edge of the courtyard and to my bag. One box of vials had already been depleted and I cracked open another. We had already been training for over two hours and the amount times I had reenergize and heal my body was no longer in the single digits.
A hand stopped mine just as I went to drink another potion. "Rain I think you've had enough," Lara eyed me seriously. "Your veins are bulging. I know what the signs of an overdose look like."
I tried to shake her off but she held on tight, "I'm fine Lara. I'm not drinking anything dangerous. It's just the reactants building up in my system."
"I'm fine with you training to get stronger but this is too much. At least let me call Marley."
"I don't want to bother or tire Marley out with this," I finally managed to break her grip. Marley had her own work to do within the fortress and they needed all the fighting power they could get.
"Earnest please say something," she huffed and looked towards him.
He shook his head, "I never thought Rain would be the one to ask me to train. I'm keen to keep going. You see it as well don't you? How much he has improved in the span of days. Besides I'm not one to say no to a man's determination."
"Taylor?" Lara faced her next with pleading eyes.
She had been lounging relaxed and shot up, "I don't see what's so wrong. You've gone through worse haven't you? As long as Rain can take it he can do what he wants. Just don't die okay?" While Lara's concern could be overbearing Taylor's callousness was grating as well.
"It's not the same. Rain is normal. I'm... different," Lara stumbled on the last word and looked at us one last time before groaning and stamped her foot down. "Fine but no more after dinner!" She didn't leave however and hovered at the other edge of the courtyard.
"You heard the lady," I said to Earnest with a laugh and chugged another potion. The effect kicked in quickly and the pain in my side melted to nothing though my head was starting to become foggy. "Just one moment." I took out a syringe filled with a black liquid and poised it above my thigh.
"Now what are you doing?" Lara sighed.
"Turn away this isn't going to be pretty," I stabbed the needle down and injected the liquid. For a few seconds nothing happened and I put the syringe away. Then it kicked in and I keeled over in the corner spewing a blue mess into a pre-prepared bucket.
Lara, Taylor and even Earnest were concerned now and they all approached me. I held them back with a wave, "Don't worry that was meant to happen."
"You just threw up blue stuff!" Lara yelled.
"Yeah it was kind of gross," Taylor averted her eyes.
YOU ARE READING
A Hero With/Out Time
Fantasy"I'd kill him if it were the last thing I ever did. No matter who's in my way. The Hero or the Queen, I'd get rid of them, no matter how many times it takes." Up until now I had always thought I was normal, a little on the weirder side but at least...
