Hell

When Lycan and I finally got back, dinner was already served. Dinner was a fairly short affair. My mum and step-dad asked me how training went but nothing of interest happened besides that.

One thing that happened was that Alaric tried to prank me by putting a snake in my food. But Lucifer just grabbed the snake immediately and ate it. I was very happy to see Alaric's sour look on his face but deep within I could see he didn't really mind. He was happy to finally have a friend who he could prank and that would return the favor.

I got into bed and yes, just as you guessed, I immediately fell asleep with my clothes on. It was getting a bit cliché now. But if you have this big fur ball that sleeps next to you it's just impossible to stay awake. The cuteness overload just puts you straight to sleep.

The next day I woke up rather early so I had the chance to shower. Which I was grateful for. I had sweat a lot yesterday and you were really starting to smell it. Lucifer also hopped into the shower, he clearly wasn't afraid of getting wet like normal cats.

I got dressed in a training outfit, I had a tight-fitting thermal shirt so I would stay warm in the winter weather. I also put on similar thermal trousers and I was off. When I exited my room I bumped into Alaric.

Alaric had his trademark devilish grin on his face. ''Today you'll finally see the power difference between a young vampire like yourself and I. I simply can't wait to show you the best ways to gouge out a muggle's eyes. Or maybe even how to bite into a woman's neck without killing her! Yes, today will truly be a glorious day.''

Alaric sighed and had a sad look on his face. ''Sadly Lycan told me I can't teach you how to kill muggles. Your mother protested and of course Lycan listened to her. She was always the favorite.''

Alaric turned around and went downstairs. I followed him, he was already sitting at the dinner table. Stuffing all kinds of different pastries in his mouth. He urged me to eat some as well and I obliged. Who wouldn't like eating some fresh pastries.

When we were done eating I was about to head outside because I assumed our training would be there but I guessed wrong. Alaric called me back and we went into the basement. The basement was full of coffins and a laboratory. Lycan must study there. He always seemed to be the studious type. Whilst Celeste focussed on manners and how to portray herself. Alaric must've been bored out of his mind before I got here. I could definitely see why it was a bore around here.

We walked a little but further into the cellar and I was happy that I was wearing my thermal fit. It was getting really cold down here, especially since it's winter. I could see my breath forming little smokey clouds. There wasn't much down here. We were walking down a hallway and couldn't really see anything.

Suddenly there was this huge space. It was an arena, it looked just like a small colosseum. I wonder how they fit that down here. Maybe they used magic to size the room down. It probably worked just like the tents they used in the fourth book.

I walked up to the middle and I wanted to ask Alaric what he had in mind to teach me but suddenly I was thrown two meters into the air. I landed with a loud thud and it felt like I had broken some ribs. This promised to be a great training…

''Lesson 1: Always be aware of your surroundings.'' Alaric said smugly. I wanted to protest but he immediately shut me up. ''Lesson 2: Always be aware of your enemy's position, and if you can't determine the enemy's position then make sure you don't sit still in one position.''

With those words I was thrown into the air again. It seemed that training with Alaric wasn't going to be easy. He seemed to pop out of nowhere, I couldn't even hear his footsteps. I lifted my hands in the air and surrendered. This was a fight I wasn't going to win any day soon.

''You're wise to surrender, you would never have won this fight.'' Alaric praised me for my action and the lights suddenly came to live. I could finally see the room where I was in. As I had assumed it was an arena, that resembled the coliseum. But there were scratches all along the wall, suggesting that this place had already been used for a long time.

Even now I could see I couldn't spot Alaric anywhere. It was like he had disappeared. Abruptly Alaric seemed to materialize out of nothing. Space time just kind of distorted and formed a hole. Out of that hole Alaric stepped out like it was nothing.

''Nifty trick isn't it? If you master your eyes you might be able to do something similar.'' I looked at him with an astounded expression. If these were the things I could do with my eyes then the limits were limitless.

Alaric beckoned me to him and we sat down opposite to each other. ''I heard from Lycan that you aren't able to fully control your strength yet. But I'm here to fix that!'' Alaric had a big grin on his face. This was certainly going to be hell for me.

''You should stop seeing your strength as a switch you turn off and on but more as magic. It also helps if you focus on the individual muscle that you're trying to strengthen. If you do that you should be able to fully use all of your strength. It'll take a little while for you to get used to the idea but don't worry.'' When Alaric said his last words he grinned once more. Apparently me getting used to the idea was being beaten senseless in his mind.

''What are you able to do with your strength currently?'' Alaric inquired with me. I shrugged ''I'm able to crack some small boulders but nothing major. I can also destroy some young trees but the bigger they are the more difficult it is.''

Alaric nodded at my words and seemed to be deep in thought. Alaric stood up and went to press something in the distance. Suddenly there were metal statues that were being controlled by some sort of magic. They all had wands in their hands and looked menacing.

''Uhmm… Alaric? You sure think this is a good idea?'' Alaric laughed at my words. ''No way to learn like in a critical situation, besides, you can train with your spirit as well.'' Alaric flipped a switch and a light began to shine in the statues' eyes. They were ready for battle.

'Hey uhh Raiden we got a situation here, could you wake up?' I thought, almost yelling in my mind trying to wake up the spirit. I could hear grunting in my head 'What's the situation b0ss?' I didn't even need to answer his question when Raiden muttered a simple 'Oh'

He seemed to be able to understand the situation we were in. It was definitely not looking good for us. I wish Lucifer was here, he could help me, the statues would immediately die from the cuteness overload.

After a little while Raiden finally recovered from his stupor. 'Okay so, basically what we're going to do is merge like we did back at the river. I've fine-tuned the way we merge when you were sleeping and now you'll be able to control my strength a lot better now.' Raiden said carefully. Huh, Raiden was more useful than I thought. I shouldn't think he would be stupid just because he has a temper.

I concentrated and felt the magic in the air. I could feel the magic swell up once again and there was a loud crash. Immediately a lightning bolt shot out from my hand and hit the nearest statue. The metal statue was a great conductor and immediately broke down from the stress of my lightning.

'Alright now let's kick their asses, if you transfigure the ground around them and cast severing charms at them I'll finish them off.' Raiden said wisely, it felt like Raiden had already been in a lot of battles. He definitely was a great leader and he had this kind of reliable air around him. Of course I wasn't great at wandless magic yet so transfiguring the ground was kind of hard but a severing charm was do-able.

I launched a few punched at the nearest statue and the statue caved in a little. But out of nowhere a statue casted a jinx at me and out of sheer panic I tried to concentrate all the power and magic I had in my legs. I jumped 3 meters in the air and jumped onto the statue who had tried to jinx me.

I concentrated my power in my fist and punched the statue's head off in one go. I was getting the hang of this whole power situation. Clearly I wasn't at 100% yet but I confidently could say that I was at around 20% right now. That was a huge jump from what I could do before.

Raiden and I turned out to be a great team. When I punched a statue I could feel his magic surging into me and I responded by releasing it in the form of a lightning bolt that absolutely shattered the statues. It was very satisfying to watch.

Suddenly Alaric popped out from me but before he could throw me into the air again Raiden warned me. 'Behind you!' I ducked quickly when I heard those words and narrowly had escaped Alaric's grasp. Alaric looked at me with a surprised look in his eyes.

He disappeared and reappeared at the button again. He shut the statues down and appeared in front of me. But he didn't seem to harbor any ill-intent so I didn't do anything. Raiden also assured me that Alaric didn't have the intent to kill so I was safe.

''You learn quickly… But I wonder how you'll be able to counter this!'' Alaric disappeared and before I knew it I was flying in the air. I certainly was getting used to this being thrown-into-the-air situation. It felt really calming to be honest. If someone had played ''I can believe I can fly'' then it would be perfect.

I couldn't compensate for the amount of force I was being thrown into the air with and before I knew it I saw Alaric jumping up to meet me. Alaric jumped up to me and threw me back into the ground with an immense amount of force. And before I knew it I passed out. Training with Alaric was hell, and not the good kind where you can party all day and meet every rockstar that had ever existed.