The Guardians

Julian Everett

                                April 30
                  The Land of Wind
                         (Anemoor) 

The sound of fists hitting flesh echoed throughout the training room. Nolen grunted in pain as Lucas' hand grazed his stomach, sending a punch infused with mana that penetrated his gut causing him to stagger backwards. He landed onto the padded floor below.

"Again." Came their grandfather's gruff voice. How many times had it been since they started? Nolen had been lost count but he had yet to knock his cousin down.

He stood to his shaky feet as Lucas took up an offensive stance. His fist hit his arm as he blocked and Nolen felt the pain travel all the way to his neck. He channeled mana to his fists and fought with all his might but in the end Lucas spun, sweeping his legs out from under him. Knocking the breath out of him, leaving him gasping for air.

"Can you stand?" Their grandfather asked.

"Yes." Nolen said but was slow as he stood to his feet. The pain in his back was excruciating even though he had landed on the padded floor. He took a deep breath.

"Continue then."

Nolen held up his arms, his eyes trained on the one in front of him. Then they were flying towards each other, each one desperately landing blows on whatever body part they could touch, until Lucas landed a hit on his stomach that made Nolen collapse onto his hand and knees, coughing up specks of blood.

"Enough." Joseph muttered, just as a knock sounded at the door. A few seconds later Leon Sitorious entered the training room. Nolen stood to his feet, wiping the blood away from his mouth. He looked to Leon and then to his grandfather as he gestured to the door.

"We'll only be a few minutes." Joseph said to the two boys but didn't spare either a single glance. Nolen frowned.

He was disappointed in him...

They both exited the training room. Lucas turned and walked away without word while Nolen stood in the hall beside the door.

Upon waking early he had been summoned to the Sitorian Estate by his grandfather, it had been the usual start of everyday. Once he arrived he had been stretched and prepared for hand to hand combat, only today he had been terribly distracted. He had wanted to tell his grandfather of the dream he had the night before. He couldn't stop thinking of the past memory and how his grandfather was present in the memory.

It was mostly quiet throughout the estate except for the distant chatter his ears picked up, though to anyone else it would have been completely silent.

Minutes passed and the boy was beginning to get tired of waiting. He carefully lowered himself to the floor, he brought his knees to his chest and laid his head on top of them. It had been then that he realized how tired he was. The bruises he had gathered over the weeks he's been training had been since faded thanks to his healing abilities, but he still felt soreness and discomfort occasionally and at that moment the soreness in his back was suddenly heightened at the mere thought. He sighed and before he knew it, his eyes had shut, his thoughts became fogged and he drifted off to sleep.

The sound of quiet footsteps approaching stirred him. He hadn't heard the door open beside him, it wasn't his grandfather, he had memorized both his scent and the sound of his footsteps. Maybe they were just passing by, he thought but his white brows knitted when the footsteps stopped in front of him.

He lifted his head to see a girl who wore a white gown. Her white straight hair was tied into a braid and her bright sapphire eyes studied him closely. Though he'd never spoken to the girl he recognized her as Lucas' sister, Laura Sitorious.