With a bit more peace of mind about the city situation, as there would soon be food, there was an air of joy in the air. Ashley was of course taking care of everything, which allowed me to continue training with Jane the whole time.
I was already good at energy spheres, but they consume too much of my magic.
—You've already managed to make a magic sphere, now you can reinforce your sword and your body with magic. I want you to do it and attack me.
Jane drew her katana and, without looking me in the eyes, prepared for my attack.
—How? I only know how to create the sphere.
—It's the same, just imagine it on your arm and on your katana.
I closed my eyes and took my katana, I covered my entire body and katana with magic, as if it were a sphere, I effectively felt the energy run through my body, and I felt much faster and stronger, it was as if my senses had become more agile, when I accelerated my heart rate and increased the functioning of my body to the maximum I knew, I truly felt as if I had reached something inside me that I didn't know existed.
I launched my slash, but it still felt like I was attacking a wall, Jane didn't even move from the attack.
—Again, he ordered me.
I did it once more with all the strength I had. It was a perfect horizontal slash.
"Too weak, again," Jane urged.
He launched a series of slashes one after another, although I didn't feel tired, my body was burning, it felt too hot, but no matter my attacks, my target didn't retreat or flinch.
There I understood the real difference in powers not only between Jane and me, but between the god of fire and me.
So I focused on gathering more magic, turning it into my energy, my power, keeping it under pressure as best I could, but it wanted to escape from my body and it was difficult to avoid.
At that point, an idea struck me. I made another horizontal slash, leaping slightly as a boost, and I let all the energy in my body flow into the katana, which began to glow brightly. As soon as our katanas connected, I felt myself continue with the slash. Jane had been knocked back by the force of the blow, and her katana was up. I had moved her and her katana, still surprised. I took advantage and wanted to do another one like that. I wanted to reach that level, even though I knew I still had a long way to go to defeat her. Even though I knew I still had more to go to defeat the fire god, being able to savor the first step toward defeating my opponent thrilled me. So I filled myself with magic again and made another attack, and another, and another repeatedly.
It wasn't that I used less magic than the sphere, the difference was that with the sphere I lost everything, now I had enough residue of magic in my body to last much longer, and although Jane no longer retreated, I noticed how her katana moved with each blow, she was also struggling to keep the katana in the same position.
I prepared to launch one last attack, this time unleashing my full magic with the slash, but Jane moved. She also lunged at me, her katana flashing red, leaving a red trail wherever she swung. Her slash came from below, and mine from above.
But my katana was snapped in half as soon as it connected with Jane's. I immediately felt all my energy drain, and my magic was exhausted. I had put everything into that attack.
Jane quickly readjusted her katana, otherwise she'd kill me instantly. I fell to my knees.
—Amazing, I'll say it again, you have a natural instinct for fighting, you understood how it worked, so you tried something I didn't teach you.
I didn't respond. I was desperately trying to catch my breath; my vision was blurring and my head was spinning. It was the consequence of improving my body and then stopping doing it so quickly.
—That's what you learned to use your own magic as energy, you learned to attack with it. The more powerful you become, and the more magic you have, the stronger you are. You've just climbed to the first step. All true magical warriors use it. You used all your magic to deliver a powerful attack that could honestly beat quite a few opponents, but not me. Not only because I still outclass you in magic, but because I ended up using dragon energy.
I had already caught my breath, and although I didn't hear the beginning, I asked.
"My energy disappeared as soon as it made contact. I'd given all my magic to make the energy of the blow quite strong, but you cut through the energy like butter. That's as far as I could see."
—That's what Dragon energy does, it literally cuts through other energy. This way you can cut through magic, you can cut through energy. Do you understand what I'm trying to teach you?
—Is that the second step?
—To this day, I don't know of any warrior who knows this technique, not even the gods, although they have enough magic to launch vigorous attacks until you are exhausted.
—In other words, —I added.
—Learning this technique takes you quite a few steps up the power ladder these days; however, the magic of a god is too much. As I said before, of course it can cut energy and magical attacks, but can you do it all day long?
—However, I will be closer to defeating him.
She just nodded at my comment, but she said something curious that caught my attention.
—These times?
—Remember my old age, I am not young; however, I have not seen anyone so powerful since the age of the gods. I was much more powerful, but Adam's rules stripped me of my real body and imprisoned me in this one.
—Is there that much of a difference?—
—The gods could split the heavens and rend the earth with a single slash, powerful enough to create attacks that would turn entire cities to ash in a matter of seconds. Their sheer amounts of magic made the magical difference between you and me seem like ants. It's like comparing Ashley's magical difference to the god of fire. You know? When you unleash your magic, you make the air heavy based on its density. Of course, no god currently alive can push away oxygen just by doing that, but normally even the god of fire can make everyone feel heavy. Other gods can make some people faint, but it's really from a feeling of pressure and heaviness. That's the big difference. Back in the time of the gods, the norm was that you had to have a technique to create oxygen. Because the density of magic literally pushed aside any type of gas. In fact, that's why there was a density range around the god that prevented you from creating a knife cage that was one centimeter away.
—It's crazy.
She burst out laughing.
—You should have seen my father in his time. He was one of those capable of doing that, and that was the norm. Honestly, I can't achieve that power because to achieve that, I need to be a god.
"So why don't you long to be one? Aren't you interested in power?" I asked.
—It's complicated, Sean... If only you were... —Jane looked to the side, while holding onto her sheathed katana once more.
At that moment, my mind made a small click, as the wind whipping against the wall hit our faces, I asked.
—Does it have to do with the same reason why you've never looked me in the eye?
"Of course I've looked into your eyes," he said, his voice a little weaker than usual.
—What color are my eyes, Jane? A simple question.
—Why are you so interested in knowing?! Why do you want to know everything?! Can't you just accept my help and that's it?! Are you even interested in me?! Is that it, Sean?! I'm not another one of your warriors! —Her red eyes filled with choked tears.
I smiled at him.
"Why, I'm not the type of person to leave anyone who gives me help without help. And you're not just anyone; you're my partner. Do you want to defeat the fire god with me?" You abide by a warrior's code, which, while I don't think I fully understand, I know enough of that code to know that it means sharing our feelings in combat, fighting together, and dying together if that's the outcome. You don't do that with someone you hate, with someone you don't respect. And that tells me a lot about you, you know? I don't know much about good things; I only know about warriors, stories, military strategies, lies, and how to lead. For God's sake, I know about medicine because I know the ways to kill someone, but I know enough to know that something's wrong with you, and enough to know that you're a good person. When I see you smile, I see you as a totally different person, and I would like to be friends with that person, but you're surrounded by something that's chasing you, aren't you?"
At that moment, she looked out at the city with tears in her eyes. The food had arrived, people were shouting my name, and there was a shout that reached the top of the tower, very clear: "Thank you so much, Sean Dorvin, our hero." She looked into my eyes for the first time, her red hair sticking to her cheeks with tears.
—Help me… I don't want to suffer anymore, I don't want to remember it anymore, I don't want to…—She burst into tears as she repeatedly hit the ground of the wall with all her might, her knuckles shattering with each blow very quickly.
I placed my hand on her cheeks while holding her right hand, but she instinctively moved her face away and bit my hand, burying her stupidly sharp fangs in my hand. She quickly let go and with more tears in her eyes she apologized repeatedly and desperately.
"Tell me, and if I don't know how to help you, I swear I'll find her, Jane. This on my hand is nothing, but I don't want to keep watching my friend suffer," I said in a soft voice, while covering the bleeding with my other hand.
God, she was burning like hell, but somehow it pained me to see her like that. Maybe it pains me to see someone like that, which is why I'm prone to looking out for everyone depending on where I am.
—When Adam killed my father, his children, his dragons. When he created the so-called rules so we wouldn't abuse our power, the bastard changed the order of the world and empires fell into anarchy. We're talking about a barbaric age, of death, and we, the Dragon families, were truly left without the family patriarchs, all dead. Only their families remained, not even my older brother, who was also strong. I was only seven, my older sister was seventeen, my mother—I have no idea how old she was—but the three of us were alone. Bandits attacked our village, kidnapping the Dragon families to turn them into exotic slaves. We had to flee quickly, but it took them weeks to catch up with us… Do you understand? The rules took away all our magic, unable to defend ourselves we lost, what they did to us… What they did to me… —Her voice cracked, and the pain in her voice was noticeable with every word that managed to escape from her throat, choked by her own tears.
I approached her and wanted to hug her, but I already knew she was going to tell me.
For God's sake, I'm not stupid. I've fought in a war and I know the worst side of humanity as a general rule, and it all fits with his attitude, with the bite, of course the heat of my hand quickly activated his trauma, then I understood.
"They... what they did to me... what they did to us…" She continued. "They used us worse than cattle... It would have been better if they just killed me and fed on my intestines. They... Raped us every day, all the time, beat us... Tortured us in a thousand ways for the group's amusement... How much can we...?" She paused for a moment; she had started to tremble and was hyperventilating, but she looked me in the eyes once more and gathered the strength to continue. "How far can a dragon stretch? Who can make them scream the loudest? You know... While I look human, I still harbor dragon traits… Like lasting for years without food or water. In that case, we have pretty high endurance, including our stamina."
She showed me her arm and took my hand, guiding me along her skin. Her skin looks like any other, but when you touch it, it's like touching the scales of a snake. She let go and continued through tears.
—Do you understand? They killed my mother, pushing the limits of her skin's endurance. My sister died of starvation, they only fed her their filth. I watched her break and swallow it from hunger. They lasted about a year, but me. It was 12 years... They cared for me enough not to die, they didn't want to lose their last toy. In the end, I was saved by a group of mercenaries who came to kill them, and I still had to run from them. I'm eight hundred years old. Eight hundred years trapped in my thoughts, even in those twelve years that seem longer than my entire life, and I can't run away, I can't forget. Just looking into your eyes scares me and makes me feel. —She choked on her own tears.
I sat down across from her as she knelt, coughing and catching her breath.
—Trauma keeps you from moving forward, and time can't heal it... Tell me, where have you been all these years?
—Hiding in a cave, actually, not far from here, I've been living alone this whole time. Being around people stresses me out, and it feels better to be alone. I've never spoken to a person for more than ten minutes, and if I know a thing or two about the world today, it's because, to distract myself, I'd hunt for newspapers. I'd sneak out and take one while leaving behind a gold nugget. I'm not even sure how much the nugget costs, but I didn't steal the newspaper.
Little by little she calmed down, but she had become small, as she hugged her legs.
—Time alone will never heal the wound they left you, the wound you carry, but you tried to figure it out, doing what you knew how to move forward, didn't you?
She nodded.
—But in the end you're just an eight-hundred-year-old girl, let me help you, let me heal that wound.
— Sorry to hear that… I didn't mean to. I just wanted to let you know that the food had arrived and with my arrangements, there wouldn't be any problems… But Jane. —Ashley was behind us, having hidden herself just before we went up the stairs.
Ashley knelt down and hugged Jane, who, although shuddering, seemed to accept Ashley.
"Even your warmth reminds me of their bodies." Jane burst into tears again.
"But we're here for you, and I swear that as long as I'm alive, they'll never hurt you like that again, ever. You're not alone anymore," I said, admiring the scene.