Back in his room, Zeill pondered for a while over the day's incidents, but as the spring breeze and warm rays filtered through the gaps in his curtains, he gave in to the feeling of drowsiness, and fell asleep.
It was already 4:00 on the clock by the time he had awaken. Moving out of his room, he found the hall outside nearly empty.
Still outside? he wondered.
He had hoped to tag along with someone to visit and check out the training hall. But, with no one around, he went on his own to have a look.
After walking a good mile, he arrived in front of the long building. It's door open, he could see groups of students going in and out. For the first time he saw them in such a large number.
Following behind the groups, he entered the building. It wasn't a single long hall. Contrary to his expectations, the hall seemed to be divided into sections.
A walkway lined both sides of the hall, and a wall stood some meters ahead of the entrance, making the huge hall appear as if containing a smaller hall within.
There was a large door on the wall, but as the rest were heading down the side passage, he decided on following their lead. At the end ofthe passage stood a small 3-4 meter wall with an ascending stairway beside it.
Climbing up he found himself in the seating area. Scanning the place he saw two sections of seats attached to the hall's walls, running along its perimeter.
From these stands, he could see a vast open space at the center, where two people stood facing each other. The stands weren't filled to the brim, but had enough spectators to fill the silence.
Listening to the murmurs going on beside him, he realized the two in the center were Silas and Rael.
The two of them were from his senior batches. Recalling the morning lecture, he thought about the five classes held for the Dormants- those who had yet to undergo genesis...the classes consisted of dormants and the new successful resonants, or neo luminers.
Every month a new batch joined. After a couple of months, they went through genesis. Once they become luminers, they spent two to three months adjusting to their new powers. After six months, the successful luminers were sent to Zone II, beyond the walls. That was when they truly started their journey and became a part of Veylan academy.
The two in the center had recently undergone genesis and were neo Luminants.
Zeill was curious to see their battle. Although he had seen better, but none were of his age group. Assessing people of similar age was novel to him, and he had never witnessed powers of a newly resonated luminer.
Their staredown lasted for a full minute, before the guy in the red t shirt, Silas, charged towards the one in white. Rael didn't move from his spot...The moment Silas entered inside a range of one foot of him, Rael ducked. The punch sailed over his head, and Rael, in a fluid motion countered with a backheel kick, connecting perfectly with Silas's chest.
Silas stumbled back a few steps but stood his ground, warily eyeing the calm appearing Rael.
Taking a moment to calm down his nerves, and after a couple of steadying breaths, he lunged a bit and exploded towards the white shirted man.
Zeill narrowed his eyes, He appears a bit faster.
Shifting his focus on the conversations beside him, he realized, this increase in speed was due to his use of aether.
'Rael is yet to fully resonate with aether, Silas has been a neo luminer for nearly a week now. The match is done.' A pale faced girl spoke to her group.
Not giving much importance to her words, he shifting his attention back to the fight. As the fight continued, he noticed something interesting.
Rael appeared to be pushed back by Silas's heavy blows. Although his defense seemed to crumble under every blow, yet his moves were harmonious. Zeill could see it...there was fluidity in his movements, something deliberate in the way he responded to Silas's strikes.
Distracted by the ongoing murmurs beside him, he chose to speak up.
"The one in the white will win."
"Huh?" a collective sound of surprise came form the group.
"Rael?" the pale faced girl asked.
"Yes." Zeill calmly replied, enjoying the duel.
"You are not from our class, right?" another girl in the group with blue irises turned towards Zeill.
"No...fresher." he answered.
"Oh" the pale faced girl nodded in understanding. "That's why...you don't know...The one in red- Silas, he is a new luminer while Rael is still a dormant." she explained to Zeill, expecting him to not have any idea about the inherent difference in their powers.
"It's not about the inherent powers they possess" Zeill said in a calm tone "...it's about the utilization of their abilities."
Watching the duel with interest he continued. "Rael must have trained before, his moves are well synced, every movement is for a reason. Silas on the other hand... he's relying too much on force, he's trying to overpower Rael. But his moves lack naturality, they are not coordinated enough." said Zeill, finally looking at the pale faced girl.
"You can not bridge the difference between a dormant and a luminer with just fighting skills."
The calm sounding voice came from behind them.
"Ery?" spoke the girl after turning to look at the man.
The man- Ery, nodded at the girl in greeting. "Melis."
Names? wondered Zeill. Anyways, feeling the gaze of the man, Ery? he said "There isn't a big gap between a neo luminer and a dormant... atleast initially."
Hearing Zeill's words, a slight smile came across Ery's face. "You a luminer?" he asked.
"No." Zeill calmly replied.
"Then...you think you can defeat one?" Ery's smile turned slightly mischievous.
Zeill turned his attention back towards the fight. Silas seemed tired, his punches were getting weaker. Rael who spent all his time defending and dodging had now started to act as an aggressor.
Turning his gaze towards Ery Zeill replied "No."
Seeing Ery's brightening smile, Zeill continued, with a small smile of his own.
"But a newly formed luminer...I don't think they can beat me."
A slight shift crossed Ery's expressions. A growing sense of amusement flickering his eyes.
"You seem confident." intrigued he asked.
"Yes," Zeill replied in his calm tone.
Ery's smile faded slightly as he shifted his gaze towards the training ground below.
"I wasn't able to defeat a luminer.... that is not until I became one." He turned his attention back to Zeill.
"Remember, untill you haven't felt the power...you can never know the difference" he spoke in a contemplative, calm voice. Then with quiet certainty, he added..."One hit...that's all Silas needs."
There was a lingering silence amongst them...The space around them turned quiet.
The duel stretched for another minute, until, both locked their eyes in a stare before finally stepping back. It ended in a draw.
Rael had managed to land some hits, but they weren't powerful enough to bring Silas down, as for landing more hits? He was already tired.
Silas, on the other hand found it difficult to hit Rael, and overusing his aether drained him off his stamina.
The silence still lingered the area a while longer after the results, finally broken by Ery.
"You can fight, right?" he turned towards Zeill and met his eyes.
"Yes."
Ery's lips curled up in a grin, "Then shall we?"
Zeill met his gaze, a slow but big smile creeping up his face.
"Sure."