Loralai

Percy led us away from Mary and JB, to the training dummies and sparring ring down below. This whole mornin had been one crazy train wreck; gettin up the earliest I've ever been, feelin like total rubbish, and then joggin through the cold, damp woods only to twist my foot and hobble my way back. Though, I suppose one good thing did come out of it all; Frosty showed that he actually does have a heart buried somewhere down there beneath the mounds of sarcasm and indifference. If I'm bein honest, I couldn't yet tell what to think of the guy; there were times where I'd like to knock his bloody teeth out, and others when he seemed to be almost... sweet. As soon as we stepped foot onto the trainin mat, my train of thought was completely derailed. Percy Jackson had this certain look in his eye; like he wanted blood. After the whole incident with twistin my ankle and such, I honestly wasn't looking forwards to sparrin with the savior of Olympus, but it looked like I wouldn't have much of a choice.

"In combat, the most important thing you can be is aware. Aware of your opponent, and especially aware of your surroundings. There is no magic formula for winning a fight, but personally I believe it comes down to which fighter can keep a level head and make the best use of his weapon and abilities. Damien, I will be instructing you on the proper way to use your sword." Percy stated. You could almost hear the tone in his voice drop when he talked about that blade, which really had me curious.

"And what about me? You gonna teach me how to swing this around properly too?" I asked, pullin my spear off of my back. Percy simply nodding.

"I know a thing or two about using a spear, yeah. I'll teach you both a couple of basic maneuvers, then you're going to begin with sparing one another, and when I think you're ready, you can take a shot at beating me." He explained. I was honestly a bit shocked that he was goin to have us fightin each other so soon; literally on the first day of trainin, and without much actual trainin us at all."

"Isn't it a bit early to be sparrin one another?" I asked. Percy glanced over at me, a gentle tone to his eyes.

"In my experience, cuts and bruises are the best teachers; look, honestly we don't even know how much time we'll have before you guys are sent off on your quest. We don't have time for the extended training. So we're going with the crash course." He stated almost apologetically. I could tell by the tone in his voice that he was no more a fan of this whole idea than I was, but he was also right; at any moment, the threat could go from practice to comin home to roost, and we needed to be ready as soon as possible. By the time I got done mullin over my thoughts, Percy and Damien were already on the mat, Percy teachin him the same basic techniques I'd seen Chiron teach a thousand times over. I found a bench to sit on while I waited, usin a basic summonin spell to bring my spell journal to me. It wasn't anything fancy; just a normal composition notebook with the words "Loralai's Book of Ancient Spells and Incantations/Diary" scrawled quickly onto the front. I had started this notebook while I was away on holiday with my father, over in Scotland. For some reason, many of Hecates' children fancy livin across the pond; that's where I met some of my half sisters and they gave me a couple of their best incantations to take with me back to the states; for in case I was ever in a pickle. And to be honest, it was shapin up to look like we're were about to be in one gigantic pickle. I flipped through the pages to my personal journal section, where I jotted down a few of my thoughts from today; mostly about the mystery that is Damien. That boy gets on my nerves somethin fierce with just how unpredictable he is. Just as I was about to start writin about it, Percy shocked me by callin out my name.

"Alright, Loralai; your turn." He yelled. Damien was already covered in sweat. I could make out multiple small slices and cuts on his arms and legs, with one on his cheek that was still bleeding a little bit. He looked far worse than when we got done joggin this mornin. I flicked my wrist, my journal teleportin back to its spot in my dresser drawer, makin my way onto the mat.

"Good luck." Damien muttered unenthusiastically, and I'm not gonna lie; I was a wee bit nervous. I mean, seeing Percy standin there with that prevelant, ready glare, like he were genuinely ready for a bout... it makes ya feel like your arms are made of noodles. I tried my best to shake it off, yanking me spear out of the sheath I slung around my back.

"Alright, Loralai. Fighting with a spear is all about using its length to your advantage. In a one on one fight, your goal is always to keep your opponent as far from you as possible, and use your extra reach to attack from a distance." He explained. He walked over and stood right behind me, kneeling down a bit so that his eyes were at my eye level. He grabbed right behind my hand, tilting the spear at a slight upwards angle before backing away and moving back in front of me.

"Always keep the tip pointed at you attacker's chest area, to keep him from advancing. And make sure to spread your hands a bit when you grip down, to make sure they can't just bat your weapon out of your hand." He corrected, before standing at the ready. It took me a few seconds until I realized he wanted me to attack.

"Ready whenever you are." He stated, makin my throat go dry. I steeled my nerves, jabbing out at him without warning. He effortlessly dodged to the left, swatting my spear away and stepping in towards me. Before I could even react, he knicked into my arm, makin me wince and jump backwards. I could already feel the tiny scarlet trickle runnin down my arm, but ignored it as I focused, my battle instincts now in full force.

"Remember, spears have quite a bit of bulk to them; it's both a blessing and a curse. You need to make each strike count. Half hazard stabs and swings won't cut it." He stated, going right back to his ready stance. This time, I wasn't gonna give him time to be ready; I swung the giant staff with both hands straight at him, but it didn't at all work how I expected; Percy ducked and rolled straight under it, slicin into my leg and making me drop the spear, grabbin at the gash.

"Those kinds of swings are way too slow and easy to dodge; you can't forget that your biggest advantage over me is reach. You need to find a way to keep me at a distance." He instructed, but honestly, with him already dicin me up so much I wasn't in the mood for lectures. I sprung up to my feet, pickin up my spear and grinnin angrily. That only seemed to make Percy smile back as he returned to his classic stance, beckonin me on.

"Ready whenever you are." He said, but my brain took it as a taunt; a challenge. This time, I actually examined his footing and noticed that he always led with the right foot. Instantly, I had an epiphany; I made like I was gonna jab left again, and the minute Percy slipped right I kicked out the blunt end of the staff, slammin it into his chest and knockin the wind straight out of him as he hit the mat hard. I wasted no time pointin the tip of my spear at his chest, but Percy wasn't done yet, managing to roll out from underneath the tip of the spear and spring back to his feet with lightning speed. Before I could even try and react, I felt the cold, metallic edge of Percy's blade pressin against my arm. Even though he had me at his mercy, I could tell that Percy was much more winded than usual, huffin and tryin desperately to catch his breath. After a second, he pulled his sword away, smirking slightly.

"Nice shot, Loralai; I honestly didn't see that one coming." He praised. I couldn't help but smile at that, wipin some of the blood off of my arm.

"Thanks. I guess I can only be thankful it wasn't a real match. I have a feelin I'd be bleedin a whole lot more if it were." I commented. I really didn't like the look Percy got in his eyes as he looked between Damien and me.

"Well, Loralai, it's funny you should mention a real match; because now you'll be going up against Damien. I want to see what you two can do when you pull out all the stops." He requested, Damien already makin his way back onto the mat. He didn't have that indifferent, nonchalant look on his face anymore; it had been replaced with a hardened and angry lookin stare that screamed "I'm gonna pummel you into the dirt." He whipped out his devilish lookin blade, swinging it around as he got into a ready stance. I had no choice but to do the same, feelin myself gettin even more nervous now than I had been when I battled Percy. It's not that Damien was more powerful than Percy; he definitely was quite a bit weaker both in powers and skills. No, what made me really worried was that Damien wouldn't hold back.

"Now, I'm going to be the referee of this match. Put simply, the first person who can't continue fighting any more loses. I'll decide whether or not you can continue fighting." Percy explained, but I had a bad feelin that Damien wasn't really listening. I could tell that his bout with Percy hadn't put Frosty in the best of moods, and I was about to be his stress relief. It wasn't 2 seconds after I finished that thought that Damien came chargin at me, swingin wildly and out of control straight at my arm; I barely had time to somersault over to the side to avoid the blow. Again, he charged at me, but this time I was prepared as I swept his feet clean out from underneath him, landin him flat on his back with a massive thud. He groaned loudly, stayin down but not for long as he dragged himself back up to his feet, lookin even more angry if at all possible. I could feel the air around us coolin down as his eyes glowed brightly. I saw my breath steamin up but refused to let it distract me, shakin off the chill just in time to block a solid strike to my right, followed by another equally powerful blow to my left. It was like the cold air was somehow givin him strength as he pressed me backwards further and further, each blow becomin more powerful and precise every time. The absolute cold, glazed over glare of pure malice in Damien's eyes in that moment froze me down to the core. I honestly didn't even mean to do what happened next. Damien had landed a powerful blow that knocked me off balance, taking advantage and sweeping my feet, knocking me to the mat. He raised his blade, probably to tap me out, but by then I was in panic mode and rattled off the first incantation that popped into my head;

"IMO TIMORE!" I cried out, eyes clenched shut. Immediately, the spell took hold, Damien's eyes turning from a light blue to a piercing purple color. At first he looked confused, but almost immediately his face contorted in horror. As demigods, we see a whole lot of ugly and frightenin things, but nothin came close to the look of helpless horror that was plastered on Damien's face.

"You... you can't... You're not..." He stuttered, backing up quickly. At first, I couldn't really tell what he was so scared of, until he accidentally bumped into me, lettin me see his nightmarish vision for a split second. A man wearin an expensive lookin suit was edgin towards us. He had the same cold eyes as Damien, albeit a different color. But even his facial structure looked similar, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that was his father. I didn't really see why this would scare Damien so badly, until I saw it; the broken bottle in his hand. That's right about when Damien's shoulder slipped past mine, serverin the connection and bringing me back to reality, where I saw poor Damien backin himself up, starin at Percy in absolute terror. Tears were swimmin in Damien's eyes, threatenin to spill over as he raised his blade defensively.

"Damien... it's ok. Whatever you're seeing, it's not-"

"STAY BACK!" Damien screamed, hopping backwards quickly. He looked like a caged animal as he stared at Percy, like he was afraid to look away.

"You're dead. I watched you die. You-you can't be here. YOU CAN'T!" He yelled, Percy whipping over to look at me.

"Loralai, end the spell. Now!" He yelled. I snapped back to reality, my hands shaking as I summoned my journal and whizzed through it, trying to find the cancellation spell. After what felt like an eternity, I finally found the page, holding my right hand out at Damien, with my ring finger folded down.

"TIMOR DISCUTERET!" I cried out, Damien's eyes instantly returning to normal. He was dazed for a second, but soon looked just as horrified as before. The tears had finally made their way down his face, his eyes a bit red. Without so much as another word, he stormed off towards the cabin, Percy not even making an effort to peruse him. I felt like I had just chugged a gallon of hot acid; even though I was acting out of self-defense, whatever it was that Damien saw literally shook him to the core, and I couldn't believe that I had actually done that. I felt like I wanted to cry, puke, and pass out all at once as I looked over hopelessly at Percy.

"Percy, I swear I didn't mean to-"

"I know." He cut me off calmly and quietly, turning and walking away.

"Class is over for the day... at least for you and Damien. Try and see if you can talk to him, ok?" He requested. I took in a shaky breath before marching off of the mat, heading straight for the cabin. Whatever just happened, I needed to atone for my cruel, even if accidental, spellcasting. I just hoped and prayed to all Olympus he would even want to hear me out.