Chapter 17:Training in control

The forest training ground was quiet except for the sound of rustling leaves and occasional small animals that would approach the training grounds in curiosity before leaving due to boredom.

Atheline stood alone in a small clearing, his bow at hand but his concentration was on something else... no someone else.

Lily...She was leaning on a tree a few steps from him her gaze fixated on him.

Atheline felt uncomfortable but also partly enjoyed the attention he was getting. That had been one of the reasons he hadn’t tried to push her as hard as he wanted.

He knew it wasn’t good for both of them but he just couldn’t help that smidgen of satisfaction every time she could come to him without expecting anything.

"Don’t you have anything to do except wander around?"

He asked her. He raised his bow and placed two arrows on the string.

"Stop asking and shoot the arrow."

She said completely avoiding his question. Atheline didn’t mind, he had gotten used to her evasion of personal questions but she seemed too focused on him.

"Don’t hurry me, it’s uncomfortable enough with your eyes boring into my back."

In front of him a distance away, across the clearing were ten targets hanging from the trees swaying slowly in the breeze.

Atheline closed his eyes. He let himself feel the wind as it moved through the trees and brushed against his skin like a companion.

To others, wind is nothing but air, but to him, it had life. He could communicate with and command it during battle.

’Too slow’

The wind moved towards him and gathered around the two arrows like an obedient servant.

"Move," a small whisper escaped his lips.

In front of him, the air surged, and the slow-moving wind picked up pace.

The ten swaying targets started to spin erratically in different directions almost invisible to the naked eye.

But to Atheline, he didn’t need to see it, feeling the wind was enough for him to predict its movement.

Atheline pulled the string back to his ear, readying himself then...

THWIP! THWIP!

He realised his hold. The arrows vanished merging into the wind as though they were one entity.

The sound of boards breaking took over the clearing. Two targets were decimated into pieces and the arrows stopped before they could split one of the trees.

THWIP!

Atheline pulled another arrow at the moment as they followed behind the other two. On the right, a swinging target was broken into pieces but the arrow curved obeying the wind current, and broke the next target.

Atheline’s purple eyes glowed softly as he ran his Aether through his core converting his power and control.

THWIP!THWIP!THWIP!

Three arrows left the bow in rapid succession.

One shot upward following the upward current before plunging into the target hidden beneath a small bush under a tree.

The other went sideways, cutting through two moving targets almost at the same time.

The last arrow disappeared into the massive overgrown bushes ....then the sounds of wood cracking filled the air.

Atheline lowered his bow.

Wood splinters rained down on the forest floor.

’Nine down, one more to go’

The final target jerked wildly in the air an almost impossible shot.

Atheline sighed softly.

He drew an arrow aiming for the spinning target. He took a deep breath allowing himself to command and merge with the wind.

The wind began to gather around him...

Before he could release the arrow...

A cold but soft voice drifted towards him from the trees.

"You’re talented but your control is...um... too predictable. "

Atheline stopped and turned to face Lily. He had forgotten she was there in his concentration.

This had been the second time she had told him that but he still couldn’t understand her cryptic implications.

He looked down at his bow then at the small wind gathering around him.

’How am I predictable...mother told me my control was impeccable.’

...But Atheline was curious.

"How so? Could you stop with the cryptic remarks and tell me," he said irritated.

She laughed. A laughter that always made him feel like a toy she found and it was entertaining.

Her golden eyes moved to the still swinging target.

"If that were your enemy," she continued, " they would have already gotten inside your guard."

Atheline frowned. His gaze studied her carefully. Though he knew she was far stronger than he, he was sure wind wasn’t her Element.

"Really?"

She stepped forward and came to a stop beside him. Her hand touched his briefly.

"You’re forcing the wind to obey you," her gaze met his,".. But that only works on still objects."

Both their gazes moved to the still-moving target. Atheline was starting to get what she meant but he still couldn’t understand it fully.

"But I’ve been in battle with living opponents, I’ve not had any trouble even with the unpredictability."

She chuckled.

"Have you ever been to a battle, with hundreds of soldiers all directing their killing intent on you and you have to take all their simultaneous attacks, even a small mistake would lead to my head being cut off."

She leaned towards him as she muttered those words in an obsessive whisper.

Atheline had been born during peace and he had never been in such a situation. The thought of it made his blood boil and goosebumps covered his skin.

"No.." he said uncertainly.

She stepped back with a nod of approval.

"Living opponents move in chaos, I want you to imagine yourself in battle with thousands of opponents all attacking you at once... I want you to utilize both your weapon and power."

Atheline’s eyes fell closed, as an impossible image started to form in his mind but he couldn’t.

It was something he had never been through and forming an image as accurate as she had described was proving difficult.

Atheline opened his eyes in frustration.

"I can’t, the image doesn’t match well."

He admitted defeat.

"How about I create one for you?"

She didn’t wait for a response.

"Gather"

Several undead creatures got out of the magic circles that appeared on that clearing after her command.

’Light!’

Atheline could feel the power radiating from the undead as they stood around the clearing looking at him.

From their forms, he could distinguish most of them as elves but he couldn’t know which subspecies.

"This should be around your level of power," she nonchalantly said.

Atheline counted the undead in front of him.

’Thirty, this is going to be fun’