I had a few days to rest and regain my strength. After that, it was back to being woken up early and being brought down to the training room to work on my control. Deimos would do whatever it took to get me worked up again and it was up to me to keep my composure instead of lashing out.
Today was the best it had gone. I wanted to attack him, but I was able to keep my composure. It was the first day I had been able to keep control so Deimos thought it was fitting to let me take a break. I was laying down on the mat looking at the dark energy ball sitting in my hand. It was something that Deimos taught me how to do since it apparently helped with control.
“I thought it would feel different,” I said.
He swallowed the water in his mouth, “What were you expecting it to feel like?”
“More...evil,” I answered. “Instead, it’s kind of peaceful.”
“That’s because you’re a demon. You hit a human with that and it will feel like death, or so I’ve heard. I’ve never personally done it so I don’t know for sure.”
“Are we going to get back to it?” I asked.
“I do have something I’d like you to try.” He answered. “Instead of a ball, get individual strands of darkness to come out of each of your fingers.”
“Now that I don’t have to ask ‘why’ about.” I said with a small smile.
We both sat up, Deimos right across from me, and I tried to do as he said the way that he taught me. I focused on where I wanted the energy to release and the shape I wanted it to take. I was able to get a little string to come out of my pointer finger, but that was about it. I took a deep breath and tried again.
At first, it was going well, I got short strands of dark energy to come out of my fingers. Then they got muddled together forming balls instead. This little bit of work was enough to start making me tired.
“You’re powerful,” Deimos said as he watched me to continue to try and fail.
“How is any of this powerful?” I asked, still trying to focus on my hand.
“The fact that you’re able to do something on this small scale, even if it’s not exactly what you want, proves it. That takes power and control.”
I looked up at him, “Are you guys prone to blowing up buildings or something?”
He laughed, “Not that extreme but I’ve seen people try to do things like this and instead destroy a window or a wall because they couldn’t show restraint. Instead, they tried focusing all their power so instead of it creating something delicate, they released a large amount of power. Restraint is key when it comes to dark energy because it can be deadly if used incorrectly or by someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.”
I tried for another half hour and didn’t get any closer to my goal. Either I would only get a small, short strand out of a couple of fingers or they would morph into small balls. Once Deimos saw that I wasn’t getting any closer, he stood up.
“We can stop here for the day. It’s probably about time you ate and I promised my dad I’d help him with some paperwork today.”
“What are you learning about today?” I asked.
“I honestly couldn’t tell you. Every time I ask I get a different answer because he’s trying to teach me everything quickly.”
I bit my lip wondering if he would let me keep working on my own. He had been very clear about the rules and one of them was that I couldn’t be trusted to train alone yet. The only way I would get this is if I kept trying and put more work in though. Since Deimos was busy working with Cainen, most days we only got a little bit of time before breakfast. I wanted more time but not wanting to risk upsetting Deimos or be disappointed in his answer, I never bothered asking.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Deimos asked.
“I-I was wondering if I could keep working on this while you’re with Cainen,” I said.
I braced myself to be scolded and reminded of what he told me when all of this started. When I saw that his face remained neutral instead of growing upset. A few silent moments passed between us, and finally, he answered.
“I’ll allow it this once, but only because I don’t see any signs of you being a threat.”
I felt relieved but also incredibly happy. A smile plastered itself on my face which Deimos didn’t hesitate to match.
“I’ll tell the kitchen to keep something warm for you.”
With that, he left the room leaving me alone in the training room.
He’s treating you like a child.
My head snapped up tearing my attention away from my hand. I looked around the room waiting for someone to pop up from a corner of the room. Not seeing anyone, I turned my attention back to my hand.
He said it himself; you’re powerful. What he’s starting you with is for children, not someone of your caliber.
I looked up again, except this time I caught my reflection in the mirror. When it saw me staring, it smiled.
“My reflection is talking to me,” I whispered.
Don’t be dense. I’m...a helper so to speak.
“A...helper?”
We’ll go with that for now, yes. Now. Why are you letting him treat you like this?
“Deimos is just trying to help. He knows the best and safest way to train me.”
The helper scoffed.
Help? He’s hindering you. He knows how powerful you already are and how much more powerful you can become if you’re trained properly. You scare him.
“Nothing scares someone like Deimos. He’s extremely powerful and he knows that. No one would dare cross him.”
There’s a first time for everything my dear.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I know exactly what I’m talking about and he knows too. You could be the one to ruin everything he and his monster of a father have built up.
“I would never do that though. We’re going to be married and we’re going to rule Xavaria together.”
Get your head out of your ass Nesryn. He chose you out of convenience because he knows that he can control you.
“We’re going to be equals. No control.”
You think he’d let you have any control over Xavaria after what I just told you? And here I was thinking you were smarter than that.
I heard a door in the palace above me slam shut making me flinch.
Clearly, you aren’t willing to listen to me yet, but I guarantee that you’ll soon learn that I am telling the truth.
“What do you mean I’ll soon learn?”
I waited for a response that never came. Whoever this ‘helper’ was done speaking to me and had left. I wasn’t sure who...or what it was. I didn’t know if spirits existed, but I suppose if they did then Xavaria would be the place where they resided. It could be a spirit with bad intentions trying to mess with my brain. Maybe I was just going crazy...
Immediately, I was tempted to go ask Deimos about it. However, this ‘helper’ had done nothing but bad mouth him so who knows what would happen. I decided to keep it to myself. It was a one-off incident from me working so hard. Yeah. That was it. I was simply hungry and had overworked my mind.
I pushed myself off the ground and made my way up to the dining room. Food and a break out set my mind straight.
There was no helper...there was no helper...
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