Final test

1

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Onyx woke up as the vabriant colors of the sun's filled the room. He looked around and saw Rowan tossing and turning in the bed. Slowly he slid out of his crib and went over. Rowan had been cleaning the house on top of his training that it was now spotless. This helped Onyx to maneuver easily on the floor.

He got up on the bed and saw Rowan's face turned towards him. It was weird to look at the face he has known his whole life and think it was 'pretty?' Rowan had been working so hard and keeping up with all of onyx's demands the whole month. Onyx felt like a proud father of some sorts.

He slipped himself under Rowan and slowly wrapped around his neck. Rowan wasn't the only one who was learning and working with his body. Onyx had also learned a few tricks he could do as a snake. Once he was fully wrapped around he tensed his muscles and squeezed really hard.

"ACK-CACK" Rowan started choking.

"Wake up sleepy head~" onyx said as he let go.

"WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO WAKE ME UP SO ROUGHLY!" Rowan screamed, holding his neck.

"To get you motivated from the beginning. Plus it's fun." Onyx smirked as he kept going.

"Nanaannanan, I should just tie you around yourself." Rowan mocked as he got up to go to the bathroom. And by 'bathroom' I meant the small pool of rainwater that Rowan collected and used to shower. He also found some tree branches to use as toothbrushes. 'Onyx is one musty asshole' Rowan had thought as he was collecting the tree branches.

Once he was done with his routine he went out to the usual spot where onyx and him trained.

"I don't get the point of doing that everyday." Onyx spoke up while slithering to Rowan's side.

"You don't understand the point of keeping clean?" Rowan asked as he scrunched up his face in a disgusted manner. Onyx just rolled his eyes and kept going. Once they reached the place Rowan went to sit in his usual spot.

"You already know today is the day of the test." Onyx started. "If you pass, you will be going down to the city and getting you new clothes."

"Ahhh finally a new outfit." Rowan said, stretching his arms out to the sky.

"It will be split into 3 parts. AHI, ELEMENTAL, SWORD TECHNIQUE." Onyx spoke. "Alright phase one. Sen and ren!"

Rowan got into position and closed his eyes, waiting for onyx words.

"SEN!" onyx yelled.

Rowan let go of the Ahi that was in his body. He had worked hard on it this past month and opened the gates almost halfway, so there was a lot more energy than before. It was so much, just blowing away everything around him. It hit onyx but he used his own sen to keep it away. 'Wow' he thought. 'This level of progression is just crazy!'

The animals within 100 feet of Rowan had all run away from the pure pressure that was being exhibited. Rowan was completely focusing, the only thing on his mind was to pass. Therefore he didn't control the amount of Ahi he was releasing. Onyx gave a nervous chuckle before speaking again.

"Alright that's enough." He said. Rowan opened up one eye to wait for his result.

"You pass."

"YEAAAAA!" Rowan threw a fist in the air.

"Next, will be ren." Onyx continued, passing by Rowan's excitement. He was really proud and wanted to celebrate with him, but Rowan needed to not get too cocky. Rowan then went quiet and just got into position once again.

He worked on sealing the gates. After some time the gates were completely closed and his aura was little to none. 'It's not completely covered…but it's also not like he's a pro. For someone who was doing this for a month it's good enough.' Onyx thought. He didn't tell this to Rowan for if there is one thing he had learned about him this month, it was that good enough didn't cut it with him.

"You pass." Onyx spoke. Rowan let out a big sigh that he didn't even know he was holding. "Phase two. Detection."

Rowan closed his eyes and spread out his Ahi looking for the different objects onyx had placed around the forest. Onyx had imbued them with his own Ahi, therefore making them noticeable. After some time Rowan spoke up again.

"There's a glass cube behind that tree southeast of me, a knitted plushie directly behind me and a.." Rowan took a pause. "…a pair of socks?" He finished pointing to the left of him. He then turned back to onyx. "You really couldn't find anything else?"

"Shut up. You threw away everything I could have used!" Onyx retorted.

"You're fucking welcome." Rowan muttered under his breath.

"Moving on to elemental. Phase one. Non living. Move that rock." Onyx said.

Rowan took a deep breath and concentrated again. He had learned that It was different dealing with a non living object than a living one. You had to fill it with your own Ahi and move it as a part of your body. On the other hand if it was a living thing you had to work with the Ahi that was already in the soul.

Rowan pictured the rock moving and did as he was told. He moved the rock from point A to point B. He opened his eyes to Onyx's 'pass' and took another breath. He thought he had gotten used to it but it seemed like this still took a toll on him.

"Phase two. Living! Make those trees move."

Rowan closed his eyes and concentrated hard to direct his Ahi to the trees. He searched for its core and slowly tried to merge his own Ahi into it.

"The soul is a very dangerous place." Rowan remembered onyx explaining to him. "You must be really careful with it or you might get cursed. Never EVER try to take over someone else's soul by force. Remember that."

He carefully turned the trees Ahi into his own and started to control it. Making it move side to side, swirling it around. It was fun to do so.

Onyx chuckled beside him.

"You pass." He said in a cheerful tone. "Now go grab your sword."

Rowan got up quickly and ran to grab his wooden sword from behind the house. He was sweating a little but could definitely feel the improvement. Before he wouldn't have been able to even get up after exerting that much energy.

He grabbed his sword and quickly ran back to onyx. The snake had also gotten ready for the fight. He used his elemental magic to control the trees and make them fight for him. Rowan got in his stance and was ready.

Onyx took the first blow, making the tree extend its branch to attack Rowan head on. He quickly dodged and went under to attack the tree's middle part. Onyx turned his sword around and they clashed head on. Onyx was able to push Rowan back, making him jump backwards.

Rowan took a deep breath. 'This is where my meditation training comes in!' He thought before opening the gates as much as he could to let the Ahi follow. He then opened up his eyes to onyx attacking him. He bent backwards ducking just in time to not get hit.

"Don't think I'm going to go easy!" Onyx said from the side.

Rowan sprung back up.

"I wouldn't want it any other way!" He said fire was flaring up in his eyes.

The Ahi was still running through him with the sword. 'I should be faster now so I'm going in for a quick attack' he thought before pushing his feet into the ground and taking off. He zoomed to one side of the tree faking an attack and when it went to defend he switched his sword to the other hand and attacked the other side.

"AY!" Onyx yelled from the sidelines. He was a teacher, yes, but he was still very competitive.

The tree jumped over the rowans' attack and landed on the other side.

"AW C'MON!" he yelled, being just as competitive as onyx was.

Onyx attacked, swinging his sword and giving Rowan no chance to back up. 'My Ahi is draining!' Rowan thought as he fought back. 'I got to make this move count.' He suddenly ducked and swung at the tree's bottom half before the tree jumped again.

'Not this time!' Rowan grabbed the tree by the roots dragging it back down.

*SNAP*

Before Rowan could even react, the tree smashed the wooden sword into his back making him fall forward. Onyx had broken the tree's root for the win.

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Rowan yelled out, pointing at onyx who was avoiding him. 'Seems I got carried away…' onyx thought.

"This isn't fair." Rowan said, putting his head down. Onyx turned to him and saw him being gloomy. He slithered over making his way on Rowan's leg. He slithered all the way to his neck and put his head into Rowan's hair that was tied up In a messy bun.

"You pass." Onyx said finally being able to celebrate as the test was over.

"But-" Rowan tried to rebut.

"No buts! Are you not going to listen to your master?" Onyx cut him off.

Rowan just kept looking down. He wasn't gloomy anymore but was now trying to hide something else. His cheeks had gotten red and he was smiling from ear to ear trying to avoid the burning in his eyes.

*drip drop*

He felt the tears on his hands and quickly went to wipe them. He was surprised that he suddenly burst into tears out of frustration but he knew that wasn't the only reason. All those pent-up emotions throughout the month have now started surfacing and this situation was his last reason.

"You're such a sore loser." Onyx said over him.

"I AM NOT! YOU DIDN'T EVEN WIN!" Rowan yelled back.

"I know this month must have been hard on you. Getting thrown into a new world, doing all these hard things you know nothing about. Missing your old life and having to adapt. But nonetheless you handled it amazingly. I'm proud." Onyx said, slightly cringing at what he was saying. He would have never believed he would end up in a position like this.

Rowan on the other hand was filled with joy at his teacher's validation. He felt bad he couldn't perfect all the categories, but if onyx said it was okay, then he trusted him.

"Thank you master."