Chapter 7: Chapter 1.5

It was the third day of training and I finally managed to get to my goal of ten. I lay on the ground and panted.

"I did it…"

Draven gave me a slight round of applause and replied, "Now we’ll go for 20 push ups followed by 20 pull ups."

I pretended to pass out, laying flat on the ground.

Draven stomped me in the stomach and said, "There’s no getting out of this one."

"Oof."

That word flew out of my mouth as Draven’s foot connected with my stomach.

"Ouch, that really hurts."

I got into a straight-arm plank position and began my push ups again with Draven sitting on me.

I lowered my body and slowly raised it up so I could feel the full strain of it.

After doing it nineteen more times, I was done, and Draven got off my back.

"Good, now on to the pull-ups."

I buried my hands in my face and said, "Why must you find enjoyment in torturing my poor soul?"

A sadistic smirk popped up on Draven’s face, and he replied, "We haven’t even dug deep into what I have planned as of yet."

I held my breath when I heard that. What do you mean by we haven’t dug deep? If these push ups were killing me. Imagine what other methods he has in store.

Just thinking about that makes me shudder a bit.

After getting up from the plank position, I climbed a tree and held onto one of the lower branches. Then I started my first pull up. I used my newly formed upper body strength to pull the rest of my weight upwards. It wasn’t as bad as the push ups.

*Brap*

Draven connected a right jab to my stomach area.

I almost let go of the branch and fell.

"Good you didn’t lose your grip, so keep going."

Whenever I performed a complete pull up or while in the middle of it. Draven would punch me in the stomach. I am not sure if this is training or if he is just using this as an excuse to beat me up.

A few minutes later, I released my grip on the tree and fell to the ground. I landed on my feet and panted.

"I feel like my arms are about to fall off."

Draven stretched his arms and replied, "That means you’re actually making progress. Now let’s keep going."

I felt like my soul wanted to leave my body after hearing that.

Without another word, Draven sent a right jab to my face, which I blocked with the palm of my left hand, then quickly grabbed his wrist with the same hand, pulling him closer so I could deliver a jab of my own.

He quickly evaded it by weaving to the side and attempted to strike me with his knee in my stomach. I used my right hand to cushion the blow, but that left me a bit open for an attack because of my right hand being pinned down due to blocking the knee attempt and my left hand still trying to reach him due to the speed he weaved at.

Draven quickly side stepped and grabbed my left arm, judo throwing me onto the ground.

*Crash* *Thud*

I was flat on my back once again.

"I almost had you this time."

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Draven snickered a bit and replied, "In what world? I’ll admit that you’re improving but still too sloppy with your movements."

I sighed, "At least try giving me a compliment sandwich. It would motivate me a lot more."

"Aww, does the poor widdle baby want a widdle compliment to feel better?"

I exhaled while laying on the floor, attempting to sweep his legs once again. Just as I expected, he avoided it by jumping into the air. Instead of launching my usual high kick, I decided to time his fall and, as he was about to land, I would send a middle kick to catch him off guard.

I followed my plan to a t and waited for him to almost land on the ground, then delivered a middle kick to his mid-section. Draven caught it with his right hand and sent a swift left jab to my face, but I shifted my body weight to the right in order to avoid it and, at the same time, toss Draven in the same direction due to him still holding onto my left leg.

Draven flew to the right side and landed on his feet with a smile.

"Now this is what I am talking about. Your hand-to-hand combat is becoming more mature. However, it’s not polished enough."

"I figured you would say that. So shall I try once more?"

Draven raised his two fists at eye level and said, "I thought you would never ask."

Around 10 hours later,

I sat next to the campfire with multiple bruises all over my body and especially my face. Draven had just finished changing the bandages on my arm and sat on the opposite side of the fire.

"You did good today. Even though it’s been a few days, I still feel like you’ve been coming along nicely."

I took a sip of the water from my bottle and replied, "Well, you don’t seem a bit tired at all after all that damage you dealt to me."

Draven stretched and said, "Now that you mention it, my hands do feel a bit sore from punching you."

"Ahahaha, very funny."

Draven took a sip of his water and said, "I have never once heard you mention your family, Dante."

I paused a bit after hearing that, and Draven noticed it, then said, "It’s OK if you don’t want to speak about it."

I uttered the words, "The great disaster of the town known as Esbeth."

"The disaster of Esbeth happened nine years ago, and it completely wiped out everyone living there."

I focused my eyes on the crackling fire and said, "I did manage to survive, but at what cost? My entire family, who spent their lives there, was wiped out when fire and lightning rained down from the sky. I still don’t even know the reasoning behind it, but there’s only one way to find out, and that’s to ask the person responsible for all that death and destruction."

Draven sighed and said, "Let me tell you the history of magic in the races. When the deities first appeared, humans were the only race on earth. The humans formed a bond with the powerful beings and began to sing praise to them. To show their gratitude, the deities granted humans immense knowledge of the world. Soon after, they granted them the ability to use magic by drawing from an inner source known as God Force."

The fire continued to crackle as he continued his story.

"God Force is known as our soul and our desires. Every race possessed and used it in different ways. Shortly after humans were granted magic, certain deities came down to the earth and fell in love with humans. Due to that love, the different races were conceived. The first elves, dwarves, demi-humans, etc. all looked like humans, but breeding with our own caused us to erase the human traits of ourselves and gain the ones you see today. Only demi-humans have that exception because their features will always be closer to human than any other races."

An owl began to hoot as Draven continued.

"After many years of co-existing together, the humans began to become careless in their devotion to the deities and that angered them. So, they stripped them of their magic and the humans were in shambles because that’s something they relied on for quite some time. So, a brave human offered a sacrifice of his left arm and right eye in order to speak to the deities, in which he pleaded his case for humanity. They didn’t agree to it but still allowed him to enter the Point as a reward for his dedication. After many years of being in the Point,

"The human named Prometheus was actually plotting a way to retake God Force and give it back to the humans. After a few more years, he successfully tricked the deities and stole God Force, sharing it with the humans once more. Some time passed and the deities were angry. In order to avoid their wrath, several families decided to capture Prometheus and turn him in.

The majority of humanity objected to the act, but the deities saw it as a sign of rebellion and unleashed the first great disaster, which destroyed the grandest city known as Eldorado; every 50 years, the deities unleash another great disaster on the earth as a punishment for their actions."

I paused in order to fully process the full story of why everything happened, and an angry expression quickly formed on my face.

So those beings are still holding on to grudges that are eons old. Is that why so much loss of life has occurred? The people of now are just trying to live peacefully and they are still being punished. Is that why my family had to be victims of this stupid vendetta?

Draven observed me and replied, "So that’s why you’re choosing to walk on this path?"

I chuckled and replied, "I am not sure, but I feel like something is pulling me by the hand down that very same path."

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