Beauty Divine, Pain Be Thine CH.35
The next morning, Aphrodite awoke still feeling sore and tired. Well, at least it's a weekend, she thought. I can relax for the day.
She got herself dressed and headed to breakfast, where she met up with her group of friends, who were already sitting down to eat. "Why didn't you guys wake me up?" She asked.
Dom responded, "We thought we'd let you rest. Your injury is still healing."
"It's nearly healed completely. I heal fast. I'm alright. But thank you."
At this point, Kyboclus came up to the table where they were sitting. "Ally, may I speak with you? My office." Aphrodite nodded and followed him down through the hollowed out caves to the small stone room that served as his office.
"What is it?"
"Today, you and I will be training privately." He looked up and, upon seeing the look that crossed Aphrodite's face, said, "Look, I know you're exhausted. Yesterday took a toll on you, because you've gotten used to sitting up in your palace instead of training. You'd better get used to it, my lady. You have very little time to prepare yourself for what is to come, and even less if you happen to be discovered here. I may not be able to teach you the ways Achilles, but I will be damned if you leave here without even mastering the essentials of hand-to-hand combat and basic weaponry. You'll surely die at the hands of Hera if you are as unprepared as you were in your last encounter. Chloe has been told that I am taking you on a supply run, and as she is the most senior of the youth here, she can manage making sure things run smoothly today. Your friends will be fine without you for now."
Aphrodite sighed, "Alright. Where are we going?"
"We will be picking up supplies first, so that we don't arouse suspicion. And then, we will go to a private section of beach that I own. The sand will make it difficult to orient yourself, at first. But in the end, it will give you a good sense of balance and footing. You will hone your ability to place your feet properly while in combat. Not every battlefield will be a level surface. Come," He said as he started walking, Aphrodite at his heels.
The sun was blazing down on them by them time they reached the small section of beach Ky had told her about. She was wearing a fitted tank top and capris that allowed her a full range of movement. Ky removed his shoes, and gestured for her to do the same.
As she did, she queried, "Why are we taking our shoes off?"
"I want you to learn to rely on your body and adapt to your surroundings. You must be able to concentrate on multiple things at once; Your stance, your opponent's movements, and your own movements. You must be able to make decisions in a split second based on the way your opponents move and the faces they make, because once you learn what their face and body are telling you, you will know where they are going to attack next, and you must make the decision to defend or attack. Now, show me your stance."
Aphrodite widened her stance to shoulder width, bent her knees slightly, and raised her arms enough that she could easily move from blocking her face to striking in a moment's notice.
After a moment studying her, Ky suddenly kicked out and took out one of her legs. She fell straight on her back. Sand is deceptively hard, and the air rushed out of her lungs in a whoosh. She began gasping and coughing, her lungs crying for oxygen. Her new scar started searing. "Get up," Ky shouted. "There will be no reprieve in a real fight. You fight through the pain, or you die." Holding her chest, Aphrodite scrambled to her feet, trying to regain her stance. "One foot behind your waist line, one in front. The wider and lower you are, the better your balance. When you are balanced, it is harder to take you down." She did as she was instructed, glancing down at her feet. But by the time she looked back up, Ky had left her field of view, and suddenly she felt herself being tackled from the side. Ky knocked her to the ground, rolled her onto her stomach, and pinned her left arm behind her back. If her elbow could let out an audible scream, it would shatter glass. Ky was stronger even than she had anticipated, and she couldn't maneuver out of his grip. She grunted and gasped, sputtering as she inhaled sand. "Do not ever take your gaze away from your enemy. You must stay vigilant at all times, or you will be blindsided. You must trust your other senses to move you into the proper position. You lose focus, you die. If this were a fight for your life, you'd already be done for." She felt a huge sense of relief in her arm as he let her up. She regained her composure, this time ensuring that her gaze never left Ky. He moved as if to strike at her face, but as she brought her hands up to protect it, he grabbed an elbow and dashed to the side, jabbing her in the kidneys. She cried out in pain. "You need to react faster. Learn to spot when an where an attack will come from, and whether or not your opponent is feinting to distract you." Anger started building up in Aphrodite and she yelled as she stepped forward and tried to strike him. He stepped to the side just in time, gripping her arm and striking her under the shoulder blade. Her feet slipped in the sand and she was on the ground again. "Never make an uncalculated strike out of anger. Control your temper, channel your rage into focused energy. And always keep your footing. No matter what your arena looks like, you must be able to keep form." She caught movement at the corner of her vision, and rolled to a crouch just in time for his leg to kick the air where the back of her knee was. "Good. Keep your reflexes sharp, and your enemy in sight."
After an hour and a half, he let up. "That's all for today."
Aphrodite stood up straight, stretching upwards. She had at least a dozen new bruises, and her entire body was drenched in sweat. Dust and dirt mixed with it, leaving a thin film of muck all over. The bruises would fade in about two days, but at that moment she felt pulses of pain everywhere. "I need to rinse off before we go back."
Ky nodded in agreement. His seriousness melted away. "I'll do the same and meet you back at the car. We'll need to do this every week. You need as much help as you can get. You're out of shape, my lady," he chuckled, nudging her shoulder.
She smirked as he walked away, then began taking her clothes off. She quickly rinsed and wrung them before placing them flat on a rock to dry. Then she ran into the ocean without any hesitation, grateful for the cold water.