Chapter 30 - Three Friends

Teya had seen Evan playing around with his power in the courtyard.

And upon seeing this, she simply couldn't help herself approaching him. For whatever reason that may have been, she didn't quite know and neither did she care.

So quietly, she snuck up to him from behind and gently placed her hands upon his shoulder where she then slid them along his back and blew a cold breath upon his neck.

The boy shivered at that as an uncanny chill ran down his spine. And subconsciously he spun around and made to hop upon a cloud. Though, of course, instead of a cloud, a flat pinkish barrier appeared under him. And that, of course, did not float and only fell do the ground with the boy upon it.

But after that, the boy soon realized who had snuck up on him and Teya couldn't help but laugh out loud, a sight that did not suite a young noble woman in the least.

"Why'd you do that?" Evan raged as he got up while he flung his hands sporadically through the air.

"I just couldn't help myself. To think you're still on edge despite more than a week passing since the last battle." Teya replied as she struggled to cease her laugh and took a deep breath to calm herself.

Evan twisted his mouth and turned to the side as he pouted with crossed arms. "What do you want?" he then asked, obviously displeased with Teya's unconventional greeting.

"Nothing really." Teya replied as she moved closer. "I had nothing to do and I saw you here. Is it that strange for me to see what you were doing?"

"No, not at all." Evan said as he took a seat upon the concrete.

"I don't think that's a very comfortable seat." Teya remarked with a smile.

"Well, I don't really care." Evan retorted.

"I see." Teya said finally as she turned away and looked at this clear open skies.

And after that, there was an awkward moment of silence where neither of them knew quite what to say. To be fair, they had only met each other two weeks ago and even then, they hadn't had much time where it was just the two of them. Neither of them knew each other well enough to know what to say in times like these.

But lucky for them, another presence had noticed the two and soon, the loud, and eccentric, Blyke Electura came into the scene.

"Yo! Wassup dudes?" Blyke said as he approached.

And Teya, upon seeing Blyke, reflexively found her way closer to Evan where she hid at his side.

"Do you really still see me as that much of threat?" Blyke asked with dimmed eyes upon seeing the girl. "I swear I won't try anything else on you."

"Even so, I don't thrust you one bit. You Electura's are quite scheming." Teya retorted and though she hadn't noticed, she had now grabbed on to Evan's right shoulder as she crouched beside him.

"Don't put me in the same boat as those guys!" Blyke shouted as he pointed a finger. "Unlike them, I am a true warrior. Someone who is worthy of inheriting the will of the great Raiden Electura."

"Raiden Electura?" Evan asked. "As in the first leader of the Electura family. The one that fought alongside Ronan Regelia?"

"You bet ya!" Blyke replied.

Evan downed his head. "Well you've got some name to live up to then. Though, if I must say something, I believe that Raiden Electura was more of the silent brooding type. You and him don't match up at all. He wouldn't ever be as energetic as you are now."

"How would you know that?" Teya asked from beside Evan.

"What do you mean?" Evan replied with a raised brow.

"Well," Teya upon realizing she had been clinging to Evan pulled away and got up from the ground. She faked a cough and then continued. "Well, history and textbooks don't exactly portray the personality of the first Gifted leaders. No matter where you read, the books will always describe them as the same – 'Strong, noble and persevering warriors.'"

Evan scratched the side of his head. "I mean, I'm sure some books went into more details of their character."

"Nope, I've read them all. There's no books that record such things. Back in those days, a glorified and Godlike image was always portrayed to the people. Having things such as personal personality traits were not things that mattered and as such, they were not recorded. Only the great feats of the first leaders were ever really written down and none of them describe the Lord Raiden Electura as 'Silent Brooding type'. True, some might have called him quiet and tactical, some might say that he was wise and kept to himself, others might even go as far to say that mortal minds could not comprehend his way of thinking so he often kept his thoughts to himself but none of them would call him 'brooding.'" Teya replied with a very lengthy explanation while she folded her arms.

"Ah…well...I'm pretty sure brooding fits those character traits so why not…." Evan said quietly as he scratched his cheek.

"Are you sure about that?" Teya asked as she lowered her head to meet his eyes. "You know, there's a rumor about you appearing on the battlefield while using the power of King Ronan. And just now you spoke as though you knew Raiden Electura. I've also seen the strange things you've done first hand." Teya pulled back her head with hands still folded and turned to the side. "Who exactly are you, Evan Stronghold?" she muttered quietly.

"Well…" Evan downed his head, "Even I don't know how to explain those things that I did, so I'm not quite sure about that right now."

Blyke upon seeing the troublesome mood that was now upon the duo, tried his best to relieve the situation. "Hey guys, common now, there's no need to make such a big deal of this."

"I suppose you're right." Teya said as she took a deep breath.

"Of course I am." Blyke said as he approached the girl who sharpened her eyes upon seeing Blyke's approaching causing him to reconsider and instead take a seat besides Evan on the stone paved ground.

"So…" Blyke continued, "How's your power training going?"

"It's going fine, I suppose." Evan replied as he looked at his palm. Within it, he manifested a barrier that formed the shape of a sphere. "I can bend it as I please but its texture and general composition is different from my clouds. For one, it can't fly. Though I do suppose I can make it float a little. But even so, it's far too heavy for me to do that for a prolonged period of time. But that also makes it much more durable than my clouds were. So it's not all bad."

"Ah…yeah that sounds great." Blyke said as he rubbed his head, not really getting what Evan had just explained.

But suddenly, an idea went through Blyke's head and the boy then sprung up from where he was sitting, as lightning began to run along his arm. "But you know what would be better?" he said as he batted an eye with a playful smirk written on his face. "If you actually got some practice using it in a fight." The boy said as his eyes lit up, obviously wanting to have a practice match with Evan.

"I don't see how I could do that." Evan replied as he downed his head. "This barrier only seems to be good for defence…" Evan then paused and placed a hand to his chin as he began to think. "Though I suppose, there might be some ways…" He then got up and clenched his fist. "Alright, let's do it." He said enthusiastically.

"Hey!" Teya exclaimed. "You two can't be serious, right? We're in the middle of the courtyard, you can't have a match here." She said sternly.

Evan looked to her and then frowned. Personally, he didn't care if he damaged the nobles' property. Heck, he had just recently tried to attack the paved paths with his barrier. Though, he supposed that she had a point. A fight here would garner too much attention. "Well in that case, let's head to the arena." The boy said finally. "That good with you?" he asked as he looked to Blyke.

"Sure." Blyke replied and then began to run forward as he waved a hand back. "Race ya there!" he shouted as sprinted along his way.

Evan smiled at that and began walking with Teya in tow. "Aren't you going to take him up on his race?" Teya asked.

"I don't think I stand a chance racing against Blyke." The boy said as he braced his arms against his neck while he continued to walk. "And besides, he's going to wrong way." Evan added as he and Teya took a right turn in the maze of hedges to continue towards their destination.