Shadows of the past

… I'm going to end it."

Luck knew the kind of person Chari was simply because that was the kind of person he was as well. Right now Chari was probably seeking some sort of retribution, he was trying to redeem himself because of his previous failures.

In truth, Luck felt the same way. But at the same time, he wanted peace…

"That will be the death of you."

"Even if it kills me, even if I loose myself in the process, even if I have to go through unimaginable pain."

"I will do whatever it takes to end it."

Luck simply stared at him as he spoke because knew there was no point in trying to talk him out of it, just like he had made up his mind to stay out of it Chari had already made up his mind long ago.

"Since I couldn't save anyone back then, this time, maybe this time… no, I will definitely save everyone."

"Why not enjoy the peace you have now?"

Chari took a deep breath.

"There is no peace for me in this world. Not in this world, but maybe in the next."

But he was not done, this time as he spoke his voice sounded a little shaky.

"I'm sorry about Vera."

Luck turned away from Chari and slowly rested on the railings.

It was unfair, after all he only personally interacted with Vera a few times. Chari was the one who should have felt the pain of loosing her the most, he should be the one in pain.

But why? Why did it hurt so much?

He wanted to ignore it but deep inside, he always bore a grudge against Chari. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't stop himself from thinking… What would have happened if Chari had listened to him back then?

A lone tear streaked down his face as he watched the stars.

Chari placed his hand on his head, patting it. He had a sad look on his face but he smiled nonetheless.

He was selfish, but he couldn't bring him self to say anything. In the end they just stood in silence, under the glow of the moon.

***

The next day…

"Concentrate on the flow of psyia within your body, track its pathway from your core to your finger."

"Yes, yes keep at it. Now extend that flow."

Swish!

A slim branch found its way to Luck's wet back.

"Kyaaaaa! What was that for?"

"You're doing it all wrong."

Elder stood behind Luck with a slim branch in hand. Currently, he was trying to teach him the fundamentals of psyia control.

Luck had considered quitting 51 times now but at the end of the day he needed this training, he wanted to grow stonger quickly.

His mind went back to the man he fought a few days ago and back to Diana. He closed his eyes, letting the cold water soothe his hurting back and tried again.

"Feel the psyia surging in your core and now follow its movement from your chest to your finger tips." Elder said, guiding Luck with his voice.

He said as he traced the cane from Luck's chest to his hands.

"Now extend it."

Luck could already feel his flow of psyia so following it was not too difficult. The problem was extending it out of his fingertips.

"You're doing it wrong."

Luck braved himself for the cane but it didn't come, instead Elder said:

"Try imagining your psyia coalescing together just as it hits your fingers."

Luck did just that and then…

Little whisps of blue energy floated out of his fingertips gently swaying, they were still unstable but he had managed to pull it off.

"Congratulations, you have managed to materialize your psyia. An important thing to remember is that psyia is normally invisible to the naked eye, it is only blue now because you have unconsciously made it take form."

Elder began to teach.

"This is the first step to learning how to use your enigma. It doesn't matter if you've developed an enigma yet or not, when you finally manifest it, this training will make using it far easier."

The energy dissipated from Luck's fingers as he adjusted himself in the cold pool.

"Is an enigma the only way to use psyia?"

"Not really, enigmas make using your psyia more potent and efficient but there are other ways psyia can be used, like pouring your psyia into a technique for example."

The sound of a new technique made Luck perk up, currently, defender's Bane was the only technique he somewhat knew so the possibility of adding a new one to his repertoire was far too tantalizing.

"And when will I be learning those pysia infused techniques?"

"Who said anything about learning them?" Elder asked bluntly.

"Heh? Aren't you the one that asked me to be your student."

"I guess?"

"What do you mean 'I guess?!"

"Look at it like this."

Elder sat down at the edge of the stream.

"How long do you think it would take me to teach you a technique? And then how many days do you think it would take for me to teach you how to infuse your psyia into that said technique?"

Elder asked stroking his chin from underneath the mask.

It was rather disappointing, but Elder was right. It had already been a couple of weeks and he hadn't still mastered defender's bane. Learning a new technique and learning how to infuse his psyia into it would take far too long.

The meeting of clans would be ending in 3 days, Luck doubted that Elder would be present after the event.

Realizing this he asked:

"So what do you plan on teaching me?"

"I will teach you the basics of psyia manipulation, but that is meant to help you out in the future."

He paused and then walked up to a nearby tree resting his back on it.

'He's trying to look cool isn't he?'

"But that is not all, I will also teach you how to properly fight."

Then blue wisps of psyia crawled out of his fingers dancing in his palms before combining to form a glowing blue ball of energy.

"You should have already guessed but I have roughly 3 days left to teach you."

He lifted the hand with the psyia ball closer to Luck.

"So as a bonus, if you're able to achieve this before the 3 days I have left. I'll teach you a technique…

…the staggered dance."