The Looney Elder

He didn't mind Elder Amira, she was perfectly alright, even nice to him. Although she was a little crazy, she wasn't crazy different than a human in her twenties. Her only noticeable trait was her looks.

She was extremely beautiful.

But she definitely wasn't sane. If someone told him that she had spent her whole life in a padded cell, he would've believed them.

Right now, he had no other choice but to follow his dad to Elder Amira's home. As he tried to keep up with his father's steps, Kane was slowly developing a frown.

'Great, just great, this is who you had in mind? That looney?' He thought.

Soon enough, they arrived at her house, his father knocked on the wooden doors three times.

"Coming!" Answered a sweet voice from the other side.

Within seconds, the door opened, revealing a middle-aged woman, standing as tall as Darian, but also quite slender.

She had very long, silvery-white hair and bright golden eyes, which were slitted and resembled a feline's.

Her posture strong in a sleeveless white leotard, muscles apparent.

Amira's eyes immediately darted to Kane and a very big smile formed on her lips.

"Kane! My little kitten! Did you miss me?" she exclaimed and Kane winced, glaring at his dad who was laughing lightly at the nickname, "Yes, yes...you get to keep him for a bit."

Amira didn't take her eyes off of Kane, and still smiled in the most unsettling way possible.

Kane did not smile back. Instead, he hissed.

She giggled and brought Kane into a tight embrace, snuggling her cheek against his head.

Darian smiled for a second, then cleared his throat and awkwardly looked away.

Kane pushed her away, muttering "Excuse me."

Amira smiled again, then quickly turned to Kane's dad. "Well, then, off you go!" 

Kane could have sworn he saw her claws baring a bit.

Darian smiled and gestured to her, "He's all yours now," he said before turning on his heels and beginning to walk away, Kane calls for his dad in panic and looks at Amira.

"Dad?!" He yelled.

His father didn't listen and carried on with a stoic look on his face.

"Dad?!" Kane practically whimpered.

"You have to stay with her and learn to control your body. You wanted to be the strongest?" Darian paused and glanced at Kane.

"Y-Yes, but...she,"

Darian just waved and with a smirk turned around once more.

"Well, she's the strongest here! You'll have to go through a few months of training before the Gala. Until then, you're staying with her and doing exactly what she tells you. 'Til then!"

"Ughh." He rubbed his forehead.

Amira's raised an eyebrow as she glanced at Kane, in a stern tone she mumbled.

"We're not gonna start your training with this attitude. Now, my little kitten, get inside."

Kane gulped, stepping in, he walked past her, hearing her footsteps behind him.

In no time, they were in her lounge area, as pretty as can be.

It had beautiful decorations all around. The warmest and most comfortable looking furniture was everywhere, some gold-like colors caught his eyes immediately.

She signaled him to sit down and took a seat as well, facing him.

"So..." She began, "Let's make something clear, I won't beat around the bush here. You are weak, with a lot of potential. However, you need to learn how to control your body and that power of yours."

"Of course." He replied.

"Your power is terrifying, it's different from anything we have ever seen in any creature. You've probably noticed how I'm not human, right?"

Kane nodded, "Like most of the village."

"Well, most of them were humans once, with mutations from their powers."

Kane's eyebrows creased, "You're the same?"

She shook her head, "No, I was born like this. Well, whatever. You have to train hard so that you may become strong and avoid hurting yourself or others."

"I wouldn't hurt myself!" He protested.

She crossed her legs, leaning towards him. "Does the fact you've been torturing yourself and healing away the pain to increase your pain endurance not ring a bell?"

Kane gulped.

"I-"

"That type of self-harm is dangerous, you have to stop it now. It would ruin you both mentally and physically."

"What? No, no. It doesn't hurt!" He defended.

She scowled. "I know you're lying. Whatever. We don't need to argue right now. Come with me."

Kane glanced nervously after her as she walked away and then reluctantly got to his feet.

Once they reached a door at the other end of her living room, she opened it and closed it behind them as soon as they entered.

They were in a room similar to a gym with many types of equipment present. Everything from treadmills and climbing bars, to punching bags.

In the center of it all stood a metal ring.

"You've been exercising quite a lot, right?"

"Yes," he answered.

"Good." She paused to rethink her words. "Punch this," she said, smacking a punching bag.

Kane hesitated, then took a fighting stance.

"Go on, hit it."

Kane bit his lip and drove his fist right into it.

"Ugh! Ow!" he grunted.

"Hahaha. Nice!"

Kane continued to punch it over and over again. Each blow followed by a loud grunt.

After a few minutes, he started panting.

"Enough! That's enough."

He turned around and sat down on a nearby bench.

Kane placed his chin on his knees and sighed.

"Alright, look, I'm going to be blunt... you suck."

"Hey! That's..."

Amira ignored him and went on to say, "There's nothing wrong with sucking. I suck too, sometimes! Well, I wasn't always perfect." She sighed. "But, that isn't the point."

"So, what do we do?" he questioned.

"We train, hard." She grinned and walked forward to him, grabbing his hand, "And after you have improved, I'll teach you how to do all the other stuff. But for now, you need to work on the basics."

She pointed at a punching bag, she clenched her fists, revealing sharp claws, she swung and the punching bag exploded as if an elephant had trampled it down.

"Wow," Kane gasped.

"Eh, that's nothing."

"Can you shoot lightning?" Kane asked.

Amira furrowed her brows, "No."

Kane said, "My neighbor can."

Amira's eyes glowed golden, before her claws made contact with a wall, denting the surface.

She smirked, "There you go," She cackled.

Kane gulped, frightened.

She grabbed another punching bag and carried it over her shoulders.

Amira set it down and beckoned Kane to stand in front of it.

"Hit this one."

She waited for Kane to start hitting the punching bag.

Kane stared at her for a few moments, trying to decide whether or not he should obey her. He knew that he should listen, but he didn't like how pushy she was.

Finally, he threw a punch, and it bounced harmlessly against the leather.

"Uhm..."

She stood up and examined the bag. "How did that feel?"

"It... hurt."

"That's because you're weak. You need to strengthen your body. Continue doing this every day, then in a few weeks you'll be good. I promise."

"Okay," Kane muttered under his breath, trying his hardest to keep his cool.

"Now, start again."

Kane did as told, a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Hahahaha!" She broke down laughing as she fell on the floor, clutching her tummy. Taking a break and catching her breath, "That was cute," She added before laughing once again.

Kane heaved out a disappointed grunt and frowned.

"This isn't training! I want to learn more!" He demanded.

"Calm down. If you want to learn more, then train. You need to listen to me."

"Yeah? Well, just show me how to do the cool shit! Teach me how to teleport or something," Kane hissed.

"Again, you're missing the point. A proper base of training makes one powerful, but without a foundation, even the strongest superhuman will look pretty pathetic. Trust me, kitten."

"Fine! Whatever!" Kane grunted.

"Haha. Let's continue!"

A couple of weeks later, everything became harder. The training was grueling, his muscles would ache everyday. Amira worked him to the bone, but also provided food, drink and rest.

He sat on a bench, tired out from the morning workouts, with a plate of rice and chicken at his side.

He sighed and shoveled a mouthful of food down.

After that, he would get a short nap, then a bath, followed by another long workout session.

Every day would go by with this schedule.

During the night, he would meditate. He didn't understand why Amira would always encourage it and claim it as vital to his progress, but he followed through and meditated every evening.

When it came time to practice his control over his own body, Amira was the best teacher he could ask for. She moved like a literal cat, her reflexes, movements, speed and overall agility were out of this world.

It took some time before Kane could even move fast enough to catch a glimpse of her, but when he did, he was astonished by the ease at which she performed feats beyond his capabilities.

She had claws as sharp as daggers, she was fast as the wind, flexible as water, agile and deadly.

But most of all, she could hit hard enough to crack a human spine and rip through solid metal.

When the two were training together, she always showed off her strength. She didn't hesitate to hit the poor kid when he failed to react accordingly to her attack.

Kane learned the hard way, that she always wanted to give it her all, so when the time came to train against Amira herself, she didn't pull her punches, no matter how hard or brutal the impact would be.

His healing ability had become stronger with each passing day, so after every brutal beat-up he received, he would recover.

Every day he felt stronger, his endurance improved and his muscles were harder. It was like each time he healed himself, his body became slightly sturdier and stronger.

As a result of all his effort, Kane became faster and stronger, but still nowhere close to Amira's level.

Still, it didn't stop him from trying, especially when she gave him the opportunity.

She taught him all the tricks in the book, everything from punching, kicking and dodging, to jumping and parrying.

His perception was increasing too, at some points he could keep up with Amira's pace for short moments. Even if he couldn't keep up with her speed, his endurance had grown strong enough to fight for hours at a time without any problem.

One day, Amira was going through his fighting routine with him. Kane's hands were wrapped in white gauze bandages and he wore a simple shirt and black shorts.

He was sweating profusely, and his skin had a slight sheen from the light coating of perspiration on it.

He stood up, wiping the sweat from his brow. He stretched and looked to Amira for instructions.

She grinned. "Today we are gonna go outside and have some fun."

"What?" Kane asked.

She pointed out towards a patch of forest that bordered her home. "That way."

Kane was confused but followed her regardless. They walked until they reached the tree line and stopped.

Amira said, "Alright, today you'll be fighting a monster, just for training purposes."

"What? You want me to fight a monster?"

"Yeah, I just want to test you out against something more threatening. The monsters near the village are usually docile and they won't try to attack us if we don't attack first."

"And, you want me to fight it?" Kane asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"What kind of monster is it?" Kane questioned.

"Well, the best way to put it would be...it's an angry dog," She chuckled.