Chapter 19

With the sun bearing down on them Veli, Gerdi and the other recruits of the guardians were running their usual track through Hoelbrak. While Veli was running his thoughts wandered to his friend Alvar who by now must be fighting with his instructor once more. Not for the first time Veli was curious what it must feel like to swing a sword or some other weapon at another being. Though not in a good curious way as Veli had always had a soft kind of soul and preferred to avoid conflict whenever one broke out. That was possibly the biggest reason he chose the guardian as his profession and the one big difference between himself and Alvar.

Turning his thoughts around a little bit in his head his eyes unconsciously wandered over his shoulder to the huffing and puffing Gerdi that was having a hard time keeping up with the rest of the group. Not for the first time Veli wanted to walk over and help his friend but he knew that such an action would only be counterproductive and in the long run would only hinder his friend in growing to become the best version of herself.

Swivelling his sight over to the other recruits that ran beside him his eyes strayed onto the firm butt of a girl that he had found himself drawn to since the first time he had laid his eyes on her. With a blush forming on his cheeks Veli couldn't help himself but let his eyes row over her slowly maturing form as the Norn usually grew rather fast, especially the females, which Veli not for the first time appreciated vehemently.

The girl he had developed a slight crush on had brown hair and soft brown eyes with a round shaped face that spoke of a kindness not unlike Velis own. Maybe that was why he felt such a draw towards her? A kindred spirit perhaps?

While Veli eyed the young girl up and down she somehow seemed to sense his burning gaze and met his eyes with a small smile of her own causing Veli to swiftly avert his eyes while his head began to boil in embarrassment.

With a slight laugh the young girl turned back towards the front while Velis thoughts were still in its muddled state after having been caught checking out his first crush by his first crush no less!

Though his thoughts were soon shoved to the back of his mind as their instructor ordered them to begin exercising with weights before they would once again start learning about tactics. Oh how Veli loathed that part of the day…

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Trying to keep up with the pack of other recruits was something Gerdi had slowly come to hate as her advancement didn't progress as fast as she would have liked. Yes, she had become stronger and her endurance had grown over the last couple of weeks but so had her fellow recruits and thus pushed her limits again and again! Even though she knew it would do her a lot of good to continuously push her limits she was still a child and thus couldn't help the burning seeds of jealousy that festered in her core as she was always in last place, not once being able to outmatch her comrades!

On top of her poor physical abilities in comparison her gaze rested on the main reason why she had joined the guardians in the first place. Since she could remember she had always felt drawn towards Veli and his soft and caring soul, but only in the later years did she come to the age when her attachment grew into a full blown crush, though the boy seemingly didn't really realise that little fact as she had registered in frustration.

On the contrary she had observed with anxiety and no small amount of emotional pain how her childhood friend and crush had developed a crush on one of the other girls of their group which the girl seemed to reciprocate to some degree and thus she had to watch in helplessness as the two began to shyly flirt with each other before her very eyes without being able to do anything about it.

With a grimace she observed the two shyly exchange heated glances until the group where told to start their weight training. Part two of her personal hell would begin soon and she already dreaded her time under the sun while stupidly heaving weights for a reason she had yet to find for herself…

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Alvar had been fighting with Sjorn for about three hours already and his muscles burned like torches under his skin. Even though Alvar had come to revel in the feeling of his muscles burning, at some point during the training even that enjoyable feeling went away, stripped to the bone until only agony remained.

With a grunt Alvar lifted his increasingly heavy sword upwards with the tip pointing directly at Sjorn but to his surprise his instructor motioned for him to lower his weapon. Normally they would continue fighting until Alvar was so tired that he had fallen unconscious in the beginning some times.

"Sheath your sword and follow me. Today we'll bring some variety into your training." Sjorn said while walking over to the rack where he kept a few different training weapons like swords, spears, shields, maces, axes, knifes and etc.

Doing as he was told Alvar sheathed his training blade at his hip and walked with slightly shaking legs over towards his instructor who in turn began to walk over towards the still partially frozen lake with Alvar trailing behind him like a little duckling.

Once they had reached the shore of the small lake Sjorn turned around and pointed his thumb at the lake over his shoulder. "At the bottom of the lake you will find a group of boulders, each one leading further towards the middle of the lake. While wearing your heavy training gear and weapon you will enter the lake and, while walking at the bottom of the lake, start to carry the boulders onto the shore where you will answer a few questions on tatics and warfare strategies. How much time you take to fullfill your task is entirely up to you though you have to carry the boulders. No rolling or pushing allowed. Now get going lad!" Sjorn explained after which he shooed the now groaning Alvar who was already dreading the upcoming exercise with a passion…