The clang of metal filled the air as Kale struggled to match the rhythm of Daryn’s strikes. His muscles screamed with exhaustion, each block and parry feeling heavier than the last. Sweat dripped down his forehead, stinging his eyes, but Daryn didn’t ease up for a second. The man moved with a deadly grace, his strikes precise and unrelenting.

  "Too slow," Daryn said, his blade coming down in a swift arc.

  Kale barely managed to deflect the blow, his arms trembling from the effort. "I’m trying," he said, stepping back to regain his footing.

  "Trying doesn’t keep you alive." Daryn stepped forward again, his blade slashing through the air, and this time Kale wasn’t quick enough. The training sword cracked against his ribs, knocking him off balance and sending him sprawling into the dirt.

  Liliana, floating a few feet away, shook her head. "You know, this would be less painful if you stopped blocking with your face."

  Kale groaned, pushing himself up on his elbows. "That wasn’t my face."

  Liliana chuckled.

  Daryn didn’t give him a chance to catch his breath. He loomed over Kale, sword pointed at him. "Get up. Again."

  Kale staggered to his feet, his body protesting with every movement.

  "Focus!" Daryn yelled, slamming his sword against Kale’s in a harsh blow. "You think your little trick will save you again next time? You think you’re the only one who can use magic? None of it means anything if you’re dead because you were too slow."

  Kale tried to focus through the pain. "You could try going easy on me for a second."

  "Easy?" Daryn scoffed, driving Kale back with another quick series of strikes. "You think anyone in this world is going to go easy on you?"

  Kale’s frustration flared, and he lashed out with the blade, but Daryn sidestepped effortlessly, knocking Kale’s sword from his grip. "Not good enough," Daryn said, stepping back. "Don’t let anyone make you angry, don’t let your frustration show. When you get angry you make mistakes."

  Panting, Kale glared at the man. "I thought you were supposed to teach me how to fight."

  "I am. By showing you what you’re doing wrong. Learn to keep your guard up, learn to anticipate your opponent’s moves, fix your balance. Right now, you’re just reacting. That’ll get you killed."

  Kale wiped the sweat from his brow, frustration gnawing at him. He looked at Liliana, hoping for some words of encouragement, but all he got was a smirk.

  "Don’t look at me, keep your eye on him." She said as Daryn knocked Kale down again.

  Once again Kale found himself flat on his back, staring up at the sky. His entire body ached, the dull throb of bruises and scrapes a constant reminder of how outmatched he was. Daryn stood above him, his sword resting on his shoulder, barely breaking a sweat.

  "Your balance is all over the place," Daryn said, his tone firm but measured. "Every time you move, you’re overcommitting. That’s why you’re hitting the ground so much.

  Kale groaned and forced himself upright, swaying on his feet as the exhaustion pressed down on him. His muscles screamed for rest, but he wasn’t about to quit, not after everything he’d been through. "How am I supposed to keep balance when you’re hitting me like a boulder?"

  "Balance isn't just about strength," Daryn said, stepping forward and nudging Kale’s legs into a different stance. "It's about control. You lean too far forward when you attack, and when you defend, you don’t plant your feet right. That makes you easy to topple." He gave Kale a push, and even that small movement nearly sent him stumbling again. "See? Unstable."

  Kale scowled. "You make it sound so easy."

  "Stop trying to brute-force every strike," Daryn said. "Focus on speed and precision. And change your stance, you’re leaving yourself wide open."

  Daryn demonstrated, his feet barely shifting, but his strikes were precise, every movement calculated. Kale tried to mimic him, but each time he moved, it felt clumsy, like his body wasn’t obeying the commands in his head.

  “Again,” Daryn ordered, stepping back to watch.

  Kale gritted his teeth and went through the motions. Block, step, counter. Block, step, counter. It felt awkward at first, but slowly, the movements started to flow. His footwork improved, each step more stable than the last. His strikes were still weak, but at least he wasn’t getting knocked on his back every two seconds.

  “You’re learning,” Daryn said, crossing his arms. “But don’t think for a second you’re ready. This is just the basics. You’ve got a long way to go.”

  Kale could barely stand. His arms felt like lead, his legs shaky, and every inch of his body pulsed with pain. But in some small way, he felt like he’d actually learned something. He wasn’t as clueless as he had been a few hours ago, and that gave him a small sense of satisfaction.

  Daryn sheathed his sword and gave him a hard clap on the back. “That’s enough for today. You don’t want to be too sore to move tomorrow.”

  Kale winced but managed a weak nod.

  Daryn’s eyes flicked to Liliana, who had been floating nearby, watching silently for the last part of the session. "He’s not hopeless. Could be worse."

  “Maybe.” She said.

  Daryn gave a curt nod, leaving Kale to collapse on a nearby bench, his breath ragged and uneven. He sat in silence for a while, staring down at his calloused hands, bruised from gripping the sword too tightly.

  Liliana floated closer, her eyes studying him. "You did well enough."

  "That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me."

  She rolled her eyes.

  Kale leaned back against the wall, letting the cool stone press into his sore muscles. "You know, it feels like I’ve been dropped into the deep end of a fight I didn’t sign up for. I don’t even know what I’m doing here, or how any of this is supposed to work."

  Liliana didn’t respond immediately. She hovered next to him, her eyes distant, as though her thoughts were elsewhere. After a long pause, she spoke, her voice quieter than usual. "You're not alone in that."

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Kale glanced at her, surprised by the sudden change in tone. "What do you mean?"

  "I didn’t choose this either. I was... powerful, once. Feared. Respected." She paused, her gaze hardening. "And now I’m just a head. A floating reminder of what I used to be."

  Kale hesitated for a moment before speaking. "How did you get captured? I mean... someone as powerful as you were. How did it happen?"

  Liliana's eyes flickered with a mixture of anger and shame. "I was arrogant, too sure of myself, and I let my guard down. I thought no one could touch me, not with Valtharion’s power behind me. But I underestimated them. They weren’t stronger than me, not even close. But they were clever, calculated. They lured me into a place where my blood magic meant nothing." She paused, her red eyes narrowing with cold fury. "They used bloodless creatures, things that had no life force for me to manipulate. And in that space, my power was rendered useless."

  "They caught me in their trap, surrounded me with those soulless monsters. It was a calculated ambush, perfectly designed to strip me of my strength. No blood, no power. I fought them with everything I had, but there was nothing to draw from except my own blood, no way to fight back in the only way I knew how."

  "They drained me, little by little. Forced me into submission. And then, they sacrificed me, believing they could summon their god with my blood." She spat the last word, her anger simmering beneath the surface. "They didn’t know I’m immortal as long as a single drop of blood remains. And they certainly didn’t expect their ritual to backfire." Lilana sighed. “And now here we are, you and me, stuck together.”

  Kale nodded slowly. For the first time, he realized that Liliana wasn’t just some sarcastic, cynical pessimist. She had lost something too—her strength, her position in the world. They were both fighting to survive, and that was something they had in common.

  He looked at her and smiled. “Guess we make a pretty good team, then.”

  Liliana raised an eyebrow. "Let’s not get carried away."

  Kale chuckled, leaning back against the wall as exhaustion settled into his bones. Despite all the chaos and uncertainty, he found some comfort in the fact that he wasn’t facing it alone.

  ***

  The flicker of the inn’s dim lanterns provided a sense of calm that Kale desperately needed. After the grueling training with Daryn, his body ached for rest. He leaned back in the worn wooden chair by the window, his feet propped up on the edge of the bed. Liliana floated silently nearby, her presence strangely reassuring after everything they had been through.

  “So,” Kale began, “how’d I do today? On a scale from 'absolute disaster' to 'only mildly incompetent?'”

  “You manage to get all the sand out of your mouth yet?” Liliana said.

  Kale chuckled and stuck out his tongue. “Most of it.”

  The banter was light, and for the first time in a while, Kale felt a fleeting sense of normalcy. The inn was small but warm, the faint crackle of the fire in the hearth creating a soothing backdrop. It was a far cry from the harsh battles and relentless tension that had defined their journey so far.

  “I’m just glad I’m not alone,” Kale admitted, glancing at Liliana. “It’s easier facing all this madness with someone at my side… even if that someone is a sarcastic floating head.”

  Liliana scoffed. “I suppose it could be worse.”

  Kale grinned, leaning back in his chair. “That’s basically a love letter, coming from you.”

  She shot him a sidelong glance. “Savor it. That’s the closest you’ll ever get.”

  Just as Kale was beginning to relax, the atmosphere in the room shifted. The warmth of the inn seemed to drain away, replaced by a sudden chill. Liliana floated closer, her eyes narrowing.

  “You feel that?” she asked.

  Before Kale could respond, the door to their room exploded inward, splinters flying in all directions. Figures cloaked in darkness surged into the room, their movements quick and determined. Xeroth’s cultists. But these weren’t like the ones they had faced before, these felt stronger, their auras radiating a sickly green glow.

  Kale scrambled to his feet, grabbing his dagger. “We were having a moment!” he yelled, throwing a quick glance at Liliana.

  “Guess the moment’s over,” she said. “Let’s do this.”

  The first man lunged at Kale, but this time, he was ready. Remembering the training from Daryn, Kale twisted his dagger mid-swing, transforming it into a blade that resembled the training sword he had used earlier. The familiar weight of the blade in his hand gave him confidence. He parried the cultist’s strike with precision, sidestepping the attack, then slashed his blade through the cultist's arm, severing it with a clean, swift motion.

  Blood sprayed from the wound, and before Kale could react, Liliana was already in motion. “My turn,” she said, manipulating the blood mid-air. Red tendrils twisted, forming sharp, jagged shards. With a flick of her command, the blood shards shot forward, slicing cleanly through the legs of another cultist. He let out a strangled cry as he collapsed to the ground, his legs severed beneath him.

  Kale’s instincts kicked in. He lunged at the fallen, legless figure, driving his transformed blade through his throat. The sound of steel cutting through flesh was sharp, and as Kale withdrew his blade, he swung again, decapitating him cleanly. They moved with a rhythm now. Kale and Liliana, finally working as one.

  The armless man staggered back, shock and terror clear in his glowing green eyes. Kale didn’t hesitate. He thrust his blade through the cultist’s chest, ending him.

  The final attacker snarled from the corner of the room, his hand glowing with dark energy. Black tendrils shot from his palm, aiming for Kale. But Liliana was faster. Manipulating the blood from the headless corpse, she willed it into the air, sending it straight into the cultist’s mouth and nose. The man gagged, his eyes wide with terror, as his own companion’s blood filled his lungs. Kale watched as he stumbled, drowning in his friend’s blood, and collapsed in a gruesome heap.

  The room fell silent. Blood stained the floor, bodies littered the space, but they had done it.

  Kale exhaled, his chest heaving. “And that, my friends, is how legends are made.”

  Liliana sighed. “First of all, I’m the only one here. Second, we are not friends. Third… is delusion a side effect of exhaustion?”

  Before either could say more, a sudden surge of energy washed over them, familiar now, the feeling of leveling up. Kale straightened, feeling the strength flow into his limbs, the weight of exhaustion lifting slightly. Liliana’s red eyes gleamed brighter, her own power surging.

  “We’ve gotten stronger,” Liliana said. “You should be able to feel it. And... new abilities.”

  Kale felt a rush of energy surge through him as the familiar voice of Aeloria echoed in his mind.

  “Swiftform...”

  The moment the word reverberated in his head, he understood, as if the knowledge had always been there, waiting to be unlocked. His body reacted before thought could catch up, muscles tensing as the ability took hold.

  The world dragged into slow motion. Every detail sharpened—dust hanging in the air, the sluggish ripple of his own breath, the distant, drawn-out thud of his heartbeat. The space between steps stretched, yet he moved like a streak of motion, slipping past the sluggish flow of time.

  Then, reality snapped back. He was on the opposite side of the room, breath ragged, adrenaline pulsing through him. The world resumed its natural pace, oblivious to what had just happened.Liliana, hovering nearby, raised an eyebrow. “Nice.”

  Kale nodded, feeling the strain on his body already, but the exhilaration of Swiftform still lingered. He had unlocked something powerful, something that could change the course of their fights.

  “Let’s see what these guys were carrying,” Kale said.

  Together, they examined the cultists’ bodies. Kale found a map tucked inside one of the robes, along with a series of papers written in a language neither of them could read. His eyes landed on a unique dagger strapped to one of the cultists’ belts. It was ornate, with a hilt that glimmered darkly, etched with symbols he didn’t recognize.

  “This looks... important,” Kale said, holding it up for Liliana to inspect.

  “Whatever it is, we’ll find out soon enough. Let’s get out of here before more of them show up.”

  Kale agreed. “We can’t stay here, they know we’re here now, and something tells me this isn’t the last we’ll see of them.”

  They gathered their belongings, leaving their room behind in ruins. There was only one place they could go now, and even though they didn’t trust him, Varrick was their only option.

  As they made their way through the darkened streets, Kale couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread creeping in. The cultists were getting stronger, more organized.

  When they arrived, Varrick greeted them with his ever-present grin. “I see you’ve had a busy night,” he said, glancing over Kale’s bloodstained clothes. “Tough night at the inn?”

  Kale nodded, trying not to let the exhaustion show. “Can we stay here tonight?”

  Varrick’s grin widened. “Of course. I told you my doors are always open.”

  Kale and Liliana exchanged a glance but stepped inside. To their surprise, Varrick’s place was grand, far more luxurious than they had expected. The rooms were large, furnished with plush chairs, silk curtains, and expensive décor.

  But was it really safe? Could they trust Varrick? Ever-smiling Varrick, with his calculating eyes and a grin meant to put them at ease but that only set Kale on edge. They didn’t have a choice, though. Inns were out of the question, and bringing the cultists to Zorian’s house was unthinkable. At least here, Varrick had guards, plenty of guards. That would have to be enough. For now.