Chapter 4

I sat up suddenly, only to then fall onto my back.

The commander chuckled at my exhausted antics. He was still wearing his paladin uniform, but now his hood was down, fully revealing his wavy silver hair and handsome face.

"Wait, this is the paladin you met last shift?" Kiuyk asked, taken aback.

"Yeah. Wh-what are you doing here sir?"

"I told you I was here for the trials right?" The commander dropped into the arena, not bracing for the impact and seemingly unconcerned with the heavy thud that came from it. "I came to speak with the headmaster about it and heard the sounds of fighting. You two aren't bad even for a pair of soon-to-be graduates."

"Thank you, sir! I-oof!" I tried standing, only to over yet again.

"Xara. Aura Exhaustion," Kiuyk reminded me.

"R-right."

The commander chuckled and nudged my shoulder with his foot. A sudden wave of pain shot from the point of contact throughout my whole body, but was quickly replaced by relief. Eyes wide, I tried to sit up again, and this time my muscles actually listened.

"Z'kyd'qa's teeth," I said, and even Kiuyk stared wide-eyed at my sudden recovery.

"Wh-what just happened?" She asked.

"Th-that was the shared aura technique right?"

"Oh? You know about it?" The commander asked, impressed. 

"Our instructor once mentioned that there were techniques practiced by paladins that went beyond what they could teach at the academy a few months ago. I found some old records in the library and they described an advanced form of the healing technique."

"Riiiight," Kiuyk perked up as if realizing something. "You were trying to test that on me a while back."

"Are you alright?" the commander asked. "Forcing one's aura into another can cause significant damage if not done properly."

"Eh," Kiuyk shrugged. "It was a little rough at first, but the doctors said that I was alright."

"It's not like we jumped straight to pushing aura into each other," I said defensively. "We started slow, and honestly we never really got that far."

"Is that so..." The commander rubbed his chin, staring contemplatively at us. "Would you mind showing me how you practiced this?"

"Right now?" Kiuyk asked. "Why?"

The commander shrugged. "No particular reason. If you two are tired it's alright."

"No, I can do it," I said, quickly crossing my legs. "Kiuyk, are you good?"

"...Alright," she said, sitting across from me.

"Oh!" I quickly turned back to Commander Osgoqu. "Um, is it supposed to hurt?"

"Wait what?" Kiuyk asked, confused.

"I mean, we always thought that pain meant we were doing it wrong, but it hurt really bad for a second when you did it to me just now so..."

The commander waved his hand dismissively. "That was just my aura overwhelming yours for a moment. If I were going slower and seeking to revitalize you completely then it would be more comfortable. Do whatever feels best."

"Don't listen to him, just don't hurt me," Kiuyk said hastily.

"Okay okay," I chuckled.

I laid out my hands, palms up and Kiuyk put her hands in mine. Closing my eyes I focused on letting the tension leave my body, and I knew that she was doing the same.

Ordinarily, aura was harnessed with the intent of strengthening the body or harming one's opponent, but for this, I needed to push those thoughts as far from my mind as possible. I coaxed my aura down my arms and into the palms of my hands. I could vaguely feel the aura gathering in Kiuyk's hands as well, the close contact and shared intention causing our auras to resonate slightly.

'So far so good.'

I began pushing my aura out of my body and into Kiuyk as she did the same. This part was always difficult for me as if my aura would dissipate the moment it left my body, but I was able to hold it together as our auras began mixing and intermingling. I noticed that her aura felt weaker than mine, but I wasn't concerned. During our past experiments, we had learned that my aura was strangely denser than that of others, though it didn't seem to mean anything.

Both of us were already rather drained, so we began taking whatever aura we had left and began passing it between each other. Each time the aura reached a little further in, but it couldn't go far before it started causing pain. Back and forth, in and out, like waves crashing against a stone wall.

It was almost becoming meditative for me, but I could feel Kiuyk's concentration starting to slip. We allowed our auras to balance out, the energy concentrated in our arms easing back into the rest of our bodies. Opening my eyes I looked at Kiuyk, who seemed to be breathing more easily before turning to Commander Osgoqu.

"How was that?"

"That was...interesting."

"Were we doing it wrong?"

"Well...it's certainly not the way we train paladins, but that requires...a lot of resources that you two don't have. I might mention this to my superiors when I return to Deqabes."

"Wait, are you saying we found something that not even the Temples have discovered?" Kiuyk asked, skeptical.

"Your method is likely slower but only needs a training partner to perform. It's probably not better, but it may have its uses."

"Th-thank you, sir!" I said excitedly. Being able to contribute something like this could have a huge impact on becoming a paladin.

Commander Osgoku smiled and walked away, leaping out of the arena with the ease of climbing a small step. The two of us sat there, silent as we listened to the paladin walking away. It wasn't until we could no longer hear his footsteps that Kiuyk finally spoke up.

"You know, I kind of thought that you were joking about meeting a paladin."

I stared at her, mildly surprised. "You really think I would lie about something like that?"

She shrugged. "I mean, I thought it was possible considering your dad's rank, but...we're still talking about a paladin."

"That...is a fair point." I cracked my neck and started my post-workout stretches. "So what now? Still want to avoid the library?"

"Absolutely. You wanna practice this some more?"

"Wait really? Last month you said you wanted to stop."

"Yeah, because it didn't seem like we were getting anywhere. We were doing this for literally months with basically no results."

"That's true." Although our demonstration had been fairly easy, something like this would have been draining in the beginning. No matter how much we trained we could never produce any rejuvenating effects in each other, it only became less exhausting. Even now it was hard to tell if what we did helped at all or if we just naturally caught our breaths. 

"But now we have confirmation from an actual paladin that it was working." She put out her hands. "So?"

"...Sure."

~~~

"Bluuh, how was that more exhausting than sparring?" Kiuyk groaned as we walked through the streets of Karrac. The two of us had spent hours alternating between sparring and aura training. By this point, even though our bodies weren't physically exhausted yet, everything just felt heavy and our minds were hazy.

"I told you we should have gone to the library at some point," I said as I tried to rub the tension out of my shoulder.

"Nope, this is still better," she said quickly. "Besides, you really wanted to practice that aura technique more right?"

"Well, yeah. Knowing an advanced technique like this is sure to help me become a Paladin of Z'kyd'qa."

"There, you see? Everyone's happy."

I shook my head with a small smile. A part of me did wish that I had gone to the library to study, but Kiuyk was right, I was glad that she was willing to practice this technique with me again.

"I still don't know how you expect to become a Paladin of Q'kaw with that attitude."

She shrugged. "Maybe I won't. Honestly, as long as I can get a position that does field work I'll be satisfied."

Q'kaw, the Goddess of the Wilds. If Z'kyd'qa was the protector of the Empire, then she was the protector of the untamed spaces within it. The forests, the deserts, the rivers, and the ocean, all the places where wild beasts dwelled were their domain. The Temple of Q'kaw devoted itself to protecting these spaces and the creatures that lived there, exploring the unknown and preserving the natural bounty that came from it.

"You do know that most of the animals you'll be working with won't be like the bows on your parent's farm right?"

"Maybe, but all animals are wonderful as long as you know how to handle them." She smirked. "Just you watch. In ten years, I'll be visiting you on the back of a dragon!"

I rolled my eyes. "Sure you will." I glanced up at the sky, there was at least an hour before I had to get home. "Hey, you wanna get some-guh?!"

I was cut off as someone ran into me on the busy street. My body reflexively braced for the impact and kept me on my feet, but the other person was shorter and much thinner than me and was knocked to the ground.

"Wow, watch where you're going buddy," Kiuyk said to the fallen figure.

"Crap, sorry," I said as I offered them a hand. "Are you okay?"

The guy was an elf, a rare sight in Karrac. His pointed ears twitched around anxiously. He brushed aside my hand with his own furry forearm and stood up, adjusting the dark brown scarf around his neck.

"I'm fine, sorry, I'm in a rush," he spoke quickly and rushed past us, running into a gap between two buildings.

"Jerk," Kiuyk said with a scowl.

"It's fine," I said dismissively. "It's not like anyone got hurt."

"Alright...anyway, what were you asking?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, do you wanna go get some sundrops before heading home? I have some time."

"Mmmm, I could really go for some sundrops right now, but I'm not paying for you again."

I chuckled. "Don't worry, I made sure to...?" My smile faded as I reached down to my belt and didn't feel my coin purse. "What the?"

"Did you really forget it again?"

"No I'm sure that I-!?" I looked at my belt and saw the knotted strip of leather that normally held my coin purse...and the clean cut that had severed it.

"That....THAT KNIFE-EARED BASTARD ROBBED ME!"