Chapter XVI: The Winged Wolf (Pt.1)

 Tymon finished having his strength and speed tested. Mr. Heart refused to tell to give him anything to compare it to so he wouldn't be distracted, so Tymon wasn't sure where he was sitting on the scale. He was told that by the time he finished his training, his physical capabilities would have evolved as best they could with their help.

 After the testing, he was shown to the two main rooms where his training would take place. He was led to floors deep beneath the first floor of the building where their training grounds were.

 The first place they showed him was a large area behind a metal door labeled DIM ROOM.

 There was a blinding light when they first approached the room, but when they opened the door to enter, it was a little dim with a greenish hue. The walls were made from protruding squares of some soft material, and Tymon could see what he assumed were green PRP placed in every crevice and connection point of those squares.

 He could feel his energy being restrained as he stood in the room. It felt different from that time with Alissia's PRP. This time he couldn't summon any of his power.

 "This is new. They replaced the PRP with suppression lights," Alissia stated. "I guess they've started mainstreaming to non-government facilities now."

 Mr. Heart explained to Tymon that this room was meant to restrict the use of spirit energy so trainees could focus more on their physical capabilities. The suppression lights commonly used in prisons had proven more effective than PRP in suppressing one's spirit energy, so they switched them out.

 Guess that's why it's called the Dim Room. Tymon mused.

 A man who introduced himself as Alissia's uncle entered the room as Mr. Heart, Alissia, and Trik exited. He was tall, muscular, and had a military-esque vibe. He wore combat bottoms tucked into his combat boots and a black muscle shirt exposing his prominent figure. On his hands were a pair of dark gloves with metal plates on the knuckles. He had a scar on his head and a look in his eyes that suggested he'd seen plenty of fighting. That was confirmed when he said he was a two-time country/one-time world SVVL champion.

 The man informed Tymon that his DNA holds several millennia worth of instincts he could use in battle. He has to learn to tap into those instincts. He said it was his job to get him there by forcing it out of him bit by bit. The man tells Tymon that for most trainees, the sessions stop after they can no longer fight, but for Primordials, rules are placed since a human can't hurt a Primordial. They fail the session if the Primordial is hit anywhere other than their arms and hands within the one-hour time limit.

 With that, the man attacked Tymon, who instinctively tried to summon his energy, resulting in him being hit directly in the face.

 Tymon was infuriated at himself for making such a dumb move. So infuriated, he completely overlooked that the punch hadn't hurt. It only threw him off balance.

 When Tymon returned to his feet, he said, "Let's try again."

 The man said they will tomorrow. Tonight was meant to introduce him to his training regime.

 Tymon was disappointed and felt humiliated, but he swallowed his pride for the time being. He'd do better tomorrow.

 The next room he was taken to was a large, grey, empty room. The only thing not grey was the large mirror on the wall that Tymon realized was an observation window.

 After everyone left him in the room alone, he heard Mr. Heart speaking through an intercom.

 "This is where you will learn how to fly. Please, sit in the center of the floor," Mr. Heart instructed.

 Tymon did just that.

 "From my understanding, Alissia has already explained how to feel and manipulate your spirit energy. Learning to fly is similar. Due to your abundance of energy, you can use some of it to push against Earth's gravitational pull. It simply requires a little concentration and guidance before its second nature to you. Close your eyes and try sensing your energy," Mr. Heart directed.

 Tymon did the same as in the forest and felt his energy flowing.

 "Now, focus on surrounding your body in an aura. Concentrate on gathering just enough beneath you that you feel it divide the space between you and the floor."

 Tymon concentrated and felt his energy create a thin lining of energy beneath him.

 "Next, you want to lift that energy upward off the floor. You should also rise with it."

 Tymon commanded the energy to rise slowly, and without much resistance, he felt himself begin to levitate. The lesson was going well and felt easy, but when he imagined flying like this, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He imagined he'd be parallel to the ground, streaming through the sky.

 "Okay, the next part may be a bit more challenging," Mr. Heart added. "You've now proven that you can use your dense spirit energy to lift yourself off the ground. I'm sure you don't want to fly sitting, right? So now, try slowly reabsorbing the energy beneath you into your aura. Then, use your aura as you used the energy to support yourself. If done correctly, it should feel less like you are sitting on something, and more like you are floating in a domain of your own."

 Tymon began to reabsorb the energy beneath him slowly. As he did that, he also tried envisioning his entire aura as a larger version of the thin lining of energy he felt below him. Just as he made that energy rise, he tried commanding his aura to hold in place.

 To his surprise, after the energy beneath disappeared, he didn't fall. It felt exactly as Mr. Heart described it. He was floating in a domain of his energy. He felt lighter, like the Earth's gravity no longer affected him. The sensation felt freeing.

 "Fantastic! You were able to accomplish that without any issues," Mr. Heart said.

 The room's floor began to open and recede into the walls, revealing a large pool of water underneath it. Then, panels within the walls opened and released floating orbs into the room. Some were red, while others were black.

 "Now, for the final phase of this session. The rules are simple; don't touch the water, and don't touch the black orbs. Touching a red orb won't result in failure, but I still advise against it. If you can do this for three hours, you pass."

 "I'm assuming it won't be as simple as me just floating here for three hours," Tymon remarked.

 "Of course not!" Tymon heard Trik say a little too excitedly. "You can't touch the black orbs, but they'll try to touch you. Meaning you'll need to stay moving but be careful; they'll chase. And accidentally touching a red one results in it sticking to you before increasing its weight, which will only slow you down. Since each red serves as a beacon to the others, once one red attach, the others will follow. This training will require you to speed around the room while carefully dodging everything for three whole hours. You ready?"