Cearbhail:

So, here we go. Just so you know, up until now... everything's been on the same day. From early 1100 to about 1700. Now, it's the next day: 3/19.

Enjoy. =^^=

[Nexa]

"Princess. It's time to wake up." I felt a small shove on my shoulder.

My eyes snapped open, and I felt a wave of anxiousness wash over me. I quickly flew up in my bed, looking around frantically. It took a few seconds for the world to catch up with me. I was laying in my bed, my covers pulled over me. I was warm. I was fed. I was rested. This felt wrong. So wrong.

My breathing was labored, my heart pounded faster than my mind could keep up with. And I sat there, wide-eyed, staring at Beautrishu, my life-long maid. She just stood there, patiently waiting for me to wake up. She had this warm smile on her face, like she expected me to react to waking up as forcefully as I had.

And as my heart-rate started slowing down, my head started thumping. Ugh… my head was killing me. "What happened?"

"You were drunk, princess." Beautrishu replied. "When I brought you your dinner, you requested some bloodwine. I provided… probably too eagerly. You seemed… upset. Needing a night of escape. I understand the reasons, milady. You were gone on that assignment for quite some time." Beautrishu nodded appreciatively. I knew she knew about my punishment. I did have a surprising lack of a tail, and a hushed sentencing, but even she would have heard of it. All of the waiting staff probably knew by now. Gossip goes around here quickly among the servant-class.

"How long was I out?" I rubbed my exhausted eyes. I felt like I got too much sleep.

"It's currently 5 in the morning, milady, your dinner was at 5 in the evening. You started drinking around 6. You passed out in seven minutes. I drank with you, as requested. Your… slender form brought you down quickly. I am truly sorry about that After you passed out, I took the measurements I needed for your clothes today and then tucked you in bed. Shadow Master Julanza wanted you ready by 5:30. You have time to get dressed and meet him out by the Shadowball Court." Beautrishu replied. "I have some training clothes for you to get dressed in. I am sorry if it displeases you that I measured your body while you slept, Princess."

I shook my head. "You know every inch of my body by now, so… no, I don't really care that you measured me in my sleep."

"I have also consulted a nutritionist regarding your… malnourished form. We have begun constructing your new diet to bring you up to speed without slowing your training. We should have you back up to form in no less than a week." Beautrishu smiled confidently.

That made me feel better already. My body was ravished. And I do remember dinner. I tried my best to eat, but I was so used to not eating, and vomiting everything up that as I ate, I barely made a scratch in eating a full plate, and I felt sick afterwards. That's why I requested the bloodwine, so I could get something in me, and then go vomit, and still not care. I hadn't thought I was going to pass out from overdrinking. Well then, I guess I was going to have a hard time getting back into shape then too. My muscles felt soft. My insides… hollow. This felt very daunting. And even now, I felt hungry. Starving almost. I needed something inside me before I headed out to do my training, which was always a bad idea. But… I needed something, anything! I don't care if I vomit it up later while training.

"Is there something I can eat…"

As I began asking, Beautrishu stuck her hand out, holding a ration bar. Pure protein and wheat. Yuck.

"Um…" I started to ask as she slapped it in my hands.

"Your first breakfast." Beautrishu replied. "As instructed by the nutritionist."

"First breakfast?" My mind was spinning.

"You need several small meals to get your stomach to function properly. We'll be having first breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and then supper." Beautrishu shrugged. "At least for a couple days."

That was a lot of food. A lot of small dishes to eat. I guess it's necessary though. I am almost scale and bone.

I nodded. "Thanks, Beautrishu. I'm going to get dressed now. Can you please tell Shadow Master Julanza that I will be down shortly?" Beautrishu nodded and bowed, slowly stepping away from me and to the door.

As soon as she was out of sight, I rolled myself out of bed, my skinny legs barely able to support me on the floor. My legs wobbled, or it was me, I can't really tell, and my head thumped as I fought the hangover. I took a bite out of my nutrient block, happy to find out that Beautrishu, or the nutritionist placed some mint and chocolate into the bar for me to make it taste good. I quickly ate the bar, happy to feel something go down my throat. A bottle of water waited on my nightstand for me, and I quickly drank that down too. I almost felt… normal, kind of. It took a lot out of me to just eat and drink. That's not a good sign. I wobbled over to my dresser, seeing the training clothes waiting for me. A simple gray tank top waited for me, with black training pants. All made from our usual rubberized spandex. Well, it's cute. I like being cute. Time to go meet Uncle Julanza.

…

[Deejena]

"Time to wake up." I shoved Onastvee on the shoulder.

She rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'll get up soon. Just five more minutes."

Hmm… we needed to get going. What could I say to Onastvee to make her get up quicker? "Um… Neetsa will be there. And I think I saw him shirtless."

She was immediately up on her feet. "Well, let's go then!"

Bingo.

I couldn't wait to begin my training. I grabbed my sword and quickly followed after Onastvee. Waiting outside our tent was Neetsa, dressed in his apprentice Shadowscale armor. Onastvee was quietly fuming to herself, angry at the fact that Neetsa was in fact… wearing armor on his chest.

"Morning, Deejena." Neetsa nodded to me. "Training ground's this way." He turned around, nodding to Onastvee as he started leading us outside the small camp. We trudged through the marshes for a mile or so before coming to a secluded spot, almost entirely trees and swampland. What else is new in this massive swamp? It didn't look all that different except for all the rope traps strung around, connecting the trees. I looked for obvious traps, like logs tied to the ropes, but nope. Just rope traps. I think I know why too.

"Good morning, children." Shadow Master Killishe greeted us. The young Shadowblade, Urjinrash, walked beside the Shadow Master. "Time for us to begin, I think."

Urjinrash waved to me. "Morning." He looked ready for us to begin. "I know we didn't get a chance to talk last night, but… I'm happy you decided to stay with us."

"I was tasked to kill you, you know that, right?" I couldn't believe I just said it like it was nothing.

He nodded. "Yeah… I wasn't scared." He smiled at me. "You seemed too nice to actually kill me. And if you did try…" He nudged his head over to Shadow Master Killishe. "He would have protected me. Not that I couldn't handle you myself."

"Oh really?" I felt some kind of rivalry beginning to forge between me and him. "You sure about that?" I reached for my enchanted sword.

"Children." Shadow Master sighed. "Let's get Deejena caught up with your studies, and then… you can fight each other." Shadow Master looked back at Urjinrash. "Go do your Shadowports."

Urjinrash smirked as he vanished, reappearing on the rope directly above us. "Well, are you coming? I'll race you to the top."

I glanced over to Shadow Master Killishe. "So… how does this work?"

He pointed to the series of ropes. "Your objective is to Shadowport from one rope to the next. You keep precision to land on them perfectly, and then use your trained balance to keep yourself from falling. If you fall, Shadowport to where you fell from, or wherever you need to, as long as it's lower. You keep this up until you reach the highest point on the tree. Soon, you'll be doing Shadowport Shadow of the Tree games on the limbs of our great Hist. The Hist will be playing along, trying to knock you all off, so you'll be Shadowporting around the Hist, trying to knock each other off."

"No… I mean…. The Shadowporting thing." I had to lower my voice, trying my best to cover up my embarrassment. "I'm not… trained in it."

He arched an eyebrow at me. "You did it yesterday."

"And that's about all I can do. Ground-to-ground contact. And once." Shadowscales weren't heavily trained in Shadow arts. I had some amount of Shadow training thanks to my mother teaching me when I was three. That was all the knowledge I had from her. It's Shadowscales are trained in these kinds of arts, even though some of us do know them. Shadowscales are more trained for using Shadow to melt into actual shadows, becoming invisible.

Shadow Master Killishe was visibly concealing a groan as he tried his best to explain it. "You know the basics, obviously. You cover yourself in Shadow and then… imagine where you'll end up. You step into the Void for an instance as you float between realms. And when you emerge, you'll be where you expect to be. For going up, just as going across, you have to imagine where you'll end up, and then… jump into the Shadow." He shrugged. "Just… try it out."

I took a deep breath, eyeing the rope Urjinrash stood on. "Well, you coming?"

I sighed as I jumped, swallowing myself with Shadow. I emerged up in the air, my toes barely touching the rope. I was looking Urjinrash right in the face as I appeared inches away from him.

He looked startled as he lost his balance. "Too close!" He screamed and we both began to fall. I closed my eyes as I felt myself land in the soft marshy mud. And I just continued to lay there as Urjinrash plucked himself up, flicking mud off his arms. "Well… that's…" He paused to figure out what he was going to say. "why?" He glared at me. "Why appear right in front of me?"

I sighed. "Sorry." I began to push myself out of the mud, taking Urjinrash's hand as he began to pull me up. "I'm new to this."

"Yeah, I can see that." He gestured to his muddy body. "Now, it's going to be harder. Look, here's a little tip. Instead of just… popping out where you need to go… look forward, face the target, and then… jump like you're going to jump there, or run. And then pop into a Shadowport. When you pop out, prepare for a mental adjustment, in case you need to travel again. The more you accept you're mentally moving from spot to spot in a blink's notice, the better you'll get at anticipating where you'll end up. Just… practice touching the trees right now. Travel from tree to tree and tap them. That'll help."

I nodded. "I will."

He pointed over his shoulder. "That's what the Shadowscales are doing anyway." I glanced over, seeing Neetsa and Onastvee doing side-porting drills where they were shimmying into Shadowports, going from one tree to the next while hopping in a squatted position. Now that I see it, I think I can do it. This was going to be my practice for today.

Shadow Master Killishe walked over to us. "Don't just stand there. Get back to practice. Later today, we'll begin teaching you about using Shadowballs."

Shadowballs? "You mean the sport of Shadow Dodgeball?" It was this thing where you covered a small leather ball in Shadow and then pelted other players with it. Some advanced Shadowwraiths used this as training their Shadowports and Shadow Portals. Some of the best players could Shadowport the ball into the faces of other players. Of course, it was encouraged to play as dirty as possible. Only the best sports for Shadowblades to play.

He shook his head. "No, the martial art of Shadow Boxing."

I groaned inwardly. Shadow Master Killishe just made the ultimate dad joke, and he looked pleased as punch telling it. Everyone makes this joke at some point, almost to a degree where the official art of Shadow Combative was being renamed Shadow Boxing.

"On that note, I'm going to go practice with the other Scales." I said to the Shadow Master.

I wiped the mud off my face as I walked over to where Onastvee and Neetsa were training. Urjinrash was above me, shadowporting from one rope to the next, laughing heartily as he swung from on rope to the next, disappearing into shadowports as he launched himself from one rope to another. He was pretty graceful, and he clearly had some mastery of shadowporting. I hope I can catch up soon. I just have to begin with the basics. Time to practice Shadow-stepping. The lesser, more Scale approved, version of Shadowporting.

…

[Nexa]

"You're finally here." Uncle Julanza waited patiently for me in the middle of the Shadowball Court. He had two practice swords waiting by his feet. I guess we're doing sword training today then.

Uncle Julanza was dressed in traditional Shadow Master robes, the black rubber stuff I keep talking about fitted to his body as a form of under-armor, and short robes covering his chest and waist. He also had a bit of a battle skirt attached to a belt. I never understood why Shadow Masters wore battle skirts, it seemed counter productive for fighting in trees. I can imagine the skirt getting caught on a branch. Then again… our rubber material isn't very each to snag on anything, or rip or tear. I guess it wouldn't be too bad.

I waved to Uncle Julanza as I approached him. "Good morning, Master. So, what's the training for today? Are we going to cover the basics? Shadowporting? Shadow-stepping? How about some hand-to-hand? Is that sword sitting right there for me?"

Uncle Julanza was smirking at me as I walked up to him. "Nexa. It is nice to see you again. You look thin, tired. Weak." He almost growled the word 'weak' to me. He vanished into a Shadowport, vanishing into a puff of Shadow. I was almost thrown for a loop before I saw the mist appear right beside me. I almost had no time to throw up my arms, and even then… I've been shackled for too long against a wall where moving caused a surge of lightning to course through me. I wasn't exactly quick on moving my body yet.

I felt Uncle Julanza's Shadow-covered fist make contact with my fact. And when he hit, I was thrown off my feet. I hit the pavement hard and fast. My hangover exploded into something worse. The whole court pulsed through my head as my body trembled. I fought the urge to vomit, but it came up anyway. And I had just enough time to spin myself around before I ended up vomiting all over my own face. Jeez, not even six seconds into my training, and I'm already vomiting. I have this for an hour.

"Is that your sickness or your dinner?" He asked as he walked over to me. "I smell wine on you. Bloodvine wine." He bent down, grabbing me by my feathers, hulling me up. "You knew you'd be training today, you knew your body was depleted of any defenses of alcohol, and you're underage. You deserved that punch. Does your head hurt? Does it throb with all the mistakes you made getting here?"

My head was pulsing even harder now. "Uncle… please…"

He threw my face into the ground, which was covered in my vomit. "You committed treason. You were sloppy; you were caught. We had to scale you, tail you… and I had to be there, witnessing it, delivering it. Hearing you scream. Hearing you plead. Hearing you break. It destroyed me. You were my apprentice, my responsibility. You were also my niece, practically my daughter." He paced around me. "And the first thing you do when you get free is get hammered." He shook his head. "I trained you better than that." He bent down, looking me in the eye as I looked up at him. "And I'll be sure I train you correctly this time."

He stuck his hand out, and I felt my body consumed with Shadow. With a pull, I was launched off my knees and back onto my feet. The room still spun around me, and I felt like vomiting again. Jeez… I thought the nutrient bar was supposed to help. Nothing can help me right now though.

"So, here's today's lesson." He stuck out his hand. "I'm going to throw Shadowballs at you. Very painful, very explosive Shadowballs. You will dodge. I will punch and kick you with Shadow Combative techniques. You will counter, you will fight back. You will try to kill me. I intend on keeping you alive. For the next hour, you will do everything in your power to save yourself from my punishment. Understood? This is for everything you did to me, to Riviella, and yourself. And everyone you killed while you let your friend escaped. You owe it to everyone you killed to survive this training with me. Understood?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I understand."

He released me from the Shadows holding me up. "Then begin." He launched a Shadowball at me. I stumbled away as much as I could, trying to remember how to Shadowport. I stepped into the shadows, popping out somewhere further away. Uncle Julanza was already standing right in front of me. I felt a heavy punch to my gut, one that had an explosive force to it. I was picked off the ground by the force of the hit. I threw myself into another Shadowport, vanishing.

I reappeared only to step into a new shadowport. I kept this up for a few seconds, disappearing and reappearing. It only took a few shadowports to run out of Shadow energy. I was already running on empty. And when I stopped to catch my breath, Uncle Julanza appeared behind me. "Stopping already?" I heard some pulsing behind me. He had a Shadowball ready to pelt me with.

I felt a cold hard slam on my back, one that exploded with enough force to throw my breath out of my lungs. I stumbled on my feet, feeling several other impacts all around my body. Each one was hard enough to knock me off my feet. I could only stand there and take the punishment, my Shadow depleted, my body already too tired to continue fighting. My head pulsing from my hangover. This was the apex of my ability for today. From here on out… it's just going to be Uncle Julanza kicking my ass.

And he was already in my face, punching me. I took the punch, and it was hard enough to throw me to the ground. And then everything stopped. I had closed my eyes, just preparing for him to continue punishing me.

"You've lost your spirit." Uncle Julanza stated. "You used to never give up. What changed?"

I took that second to catch my breath. I tried to push myself up, but I was welcomed to a Shadowball to my chest. It knocked me back down. My breath exploded out of my chest. My head continued thumping. "This sucks…" I groaned as I reached up to my head.

"Remember how I said this was going to be a single hour? Well… I think we'll just continue going until I feel you've made improvement, even if it takes three hours. Until you get your fighting spirit back. You're not yourself. I need you to return to who you truly are."

I groaned as I tried to stand up. Another Shadowball to my chest. Same result. "This will eventually become too painful for you to allow it to happen."

"I'm out of Shadow!" I screamed. "I'm already at my limit."

That gave Uncle Julanza pause. "That's impossible. You aren't that weak." He bent down. "You're letting yourself take the easy way out. The hangover… it's not what's slowing you down. Your malnourished body… it's not slowing you down. Your mind is. You're stronger than you know, Princess. You just need to remember." He warmed two Shadowballs in his hand. "And I will continue pelting you until you fight back." I felt tinier slams against my body, continuous and timed perfectly, hitting me everywhere on my arms and legs. Each pelting got a little harder, a little more painful. I had to do something fast.

I took a breath, vanishing in a puff of Shadow. I was now on my feet. I had a second to mentally prepare myself. Uncle Julanza appeared out of a Shadow-step, a Shadowball in his hand. When he launched it at me, I pushed off my feet, vanishing into my own Shadow-step, just going far enough that I didn't consume too much Shadow. I was still struggling to stay up on my feet, but I didn't want to suffer on the ground with Uncle Julanza punishing me.

As I exited my Shadow-step, I felt my back collide with him. I brought my fists up fast enough to block a shadow-punch to my face. The force of his explosion threw me to the side. My feet worked quickly to keep me balanced, hopping on my toes. My head pounded but I managed to keep myself focused. Shadowballs were landing all around me, and I was able to hop out of the way, using the explosions to help push me away from the other incoming shadowballs.

Uncle Julanza charged up to me, throwing a kick at me as he got within range. I thought about diving, but that's what he'd want. Instead, I need to throw him off balance. I formed a Shadowball in my hand, and I launched it at his grounding leg. It exploded with enough force to throw him off balance. I rolled under his leg, placing his leg underneath my shoulder blades. I screamed as I stood up, throwing him off his feet. I took this time to pelt him with two Shadowballs. I almost laughed as I saw them collide. When the mist cleared, Uncle Julanza was gone. Shit… he Shadowported. I should have seen that coming.

"You should have seen that coming." I heard the pulsing sound of Shadow on both sides of my earholes. Shit.

He slammed my head with both Shadowballs he formed in his hands.

"You're doing well, Princess." I could barely hear Uncle Julanza through the pulsing in my head. "You almost have your spirit back. Let's see how long we can make it last."

…

[Deejena]

This was actually working. Shadow-stepping from tree to tree. I was getting the hang of it.

"Okay, that's it for Shadow." Shadow Master Killishe started tossing sticks around to everyone. "Time for combative arts." He nodded from me over to Onastvee. "Deejena will fight Onastvee. Anize will fight Neetsa."

Anize?

Urjinrash nodded as he ran after Neetsa. "Should we begin?"

Neetsa brought his blade up. "Ready when you are."

I turned to Onastvee. "So… the yellow one is Urjinrash, right?"

Onastvee shrugged. "I mean… they try new names from time to time. So… I guess it's Anize today?"

My mind was spinning. But I shook off my confusion. "Okay. Let's just get to sparring."

Onastvee smirked. "You think you can handle me? I was pretty top of my class." She took a swing at me. I easily deflected it, tapping her under her arm. Not even really thinking of it.

"I come from a family of sword specialists. I was raised on sword fighting. It's a birthright for me." I smiled as Onastvee tried to attack me again, this time going for a thrust. I spun around her, gently tapping my handle against her stomach. I brought my stick's tip up underneath her beak, poking her nostril. She sneezed, and I took that time to place my stick to the back of her neck, the tip touching the base of her spine. "I win."

She laughed as she spun around. Time and time again, she would try a slash, I would counter it, each time, making easier slashes to demonstrate just how perfect my fighting form was. I could see Master Killishe watching with interest as he watched me combat Onastvee, easily batting her sword away from me, and killing her with a single strike.

"Okay. Sword practice is completed."

A hour of me whipping Onastvee passed by quicker than I thought. She was doubled over, trying to catch her breath as she looked at the stick in my hands. "You are a goddess with that thing." She said between breaths.

I nodded. "I honor my family's legacy. We're sword users. I'd be nothing without one."

"And now… Shadow Boxing." Master Killishe announced with a growing smile.

Onastvee was already cracking her knuckles. "So… nothing without your sword, huh? Remember when you picked my nose with your sword, making me sneeze? I think I'll have some payback now."

Oh… oh no.

Cearbhail:

So, a lot to unpack here. Well, not really, I guess. So, where to start. Nexa is bonding with her Uncle. You'll see... he's cool. I swear. And while Nexa is training, so is Deejena. Do you see a commonality between the two? Do you think Deejena will face her in combat, hoping to overthrow her and the whole system as she forms a rebellion? Hmm? Have you read this before I updated it? Do you already know how things evolve and everything? I sure hope not... because things are changing for a reason. And I love this new reason.

Announcement: Also... so I started my own Pat reon account. You can find me on the website by the name I already am using. I'm the one wearing the mandalorian helmet. It's nothing special, but you do get things like access to private files, like my character timeline stuff, as well as original stories I wrote as a teenager. Very cringey stories. Also, my original series, Bond Summoners will make an appearance there. It's not great, but... you know. It existed. And I worked hard on it. It was just before... all this. All of this fanfiction that took over my life. Before I was actually good at writing. It's there, you can see it. I have my oldest stories: Super Smash Bros (very bad, very very bad plot), and Fable (actually not bad, still cringey). Anyway, different tiers for whatever you desire. And I'm available on Facebook for almost the same thing.