The days had slipped by like an endless blur of sweat, sword swings, and the occasional groan of frustration.
Training had dragged on for a week and three days now - not that Seraphine was counting, which she totally was.
She could feel herself growing stronger, faster… and, unfortunately, much more exhausted.
The rhythmic clanging of weapons had beco their personal battle anthem, interrupted only by the occasional crash when Clara inevitably tripped over her own feet.
Hours later, it was was finally late. The house was silent except for the occasional flicker of the lantern's fla.
Seraphine, finally allowing herself a mont of peace, had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.
For the first ti in what felt like forever, there were no training sessions to plan, no glaring mistakes to fix. She was simply resting.
Then, there was a creak of the floorboards. A shadow at the edge of her vision.
Her eyes snapped open in an instant.
Her body went from zero to alert in less ti than it took her to blink.
Soone entered her room.
'Oh, this is bad.'
The man was tall, shrouded in darkness, his movents as smooth as an oil spill.
He exuded a sense of cold calmness that made Seraphine's gut twist in irritation.
'Great. Just great,' She had been sleeping so peacefully too.
"Who are you?" Seraphine demanded, already preparing to make him regret waking her up. Her voice was sharp, cutting through the stillness like a knife.
The man didn't answer.
Instead, he stood there, watching her with cold, calculating eyes.
He moved.
Seraphine barely had ti to react as everywhere around her surged with energy, and a blinding surge of light shot from her body.
But, of course, he dodged, barely even breaking a sweat as he slipped around the beam like it was nothing.
'Well, this is awkward' she thought, shifting into position.
"Who sent you?" But before the words even left her lips, the man was charging.
No ti for polite conversation when he had so serious issues to work out.
Seraphine darted backward, narrowly avoiding a strike to her throat. She retaliated with a swift kick, but the guy caught her leg mid-air and flung her across the room like she was a ragdoll.
'So rude.'
She gritted her teeth, rising from the floor with a growl. She wasn't going to let this guy get the best of her, not while she was in the middle of a beautiful dream. She made another beam of light around her body, wanting to blind him.
'This ti, he won't dodge.'
Except he did. Again.
The man moved faster than a shadow, his speed almost impossible to follow.
A mont later, he was back on top of her, and-
Crack!
A punch landed square in her ribs.
The force stole the breath from her lungs, and she staggered back, gasping for air.
'Okay, okay,' Seraphine thought, trying to regain her bearings. 'This guy isn't normal.'
She summoned the full force of her power, feeling the heat of it rush through her limbs. The energy coiled around her like a snake, ready to strike. She was fast, but was she fast enough?
And then, as she prepared to unleash her devastating attack, sothing clicked.
The man wasn't just a random thug. No, this was the man.
The one she'd seen back when Harold's goons had raided the village.
The one who had appeared out of nowhere and caused all that destruction.
"You… I've seen you..."
He smirked, dark amusent flashing across his face. "I don't have ti for your questions." His voice was low, like the growl of a predator.
He attacked again.
The next few monts were like a wave of wind.
The man was everywhere at once, his strikes fast and brutal, each hit landing with precision.
One blow landed against her ribs, sending her sprawling.
She retaliated with everything she had, blasts of light, acrobatic flips, punches, but nothing worked.
He was faster, stronger, and his timing was perfect. 'This is bad, this is really bad.'
But then, a scream shattered the tension.
Clara.
Seraphine whipped her head around just in ti to see Clara, who had been standing by the door, her eyes wide with confusion.
The man appeared behind her, his arms closing around her waist like a vice. Before Seraphine could do anything, he vanished into the shadows with Clara in tow.
"No!" Seraphine scread, her voice a desperate cry.
And as the man's mocking laughter echoed through the room, Seraphine was left alone, breathless and shaken.
The fight was over. And Clara was gone.
"Not yet!"
She vaulted out the window without a second thought, her pulse pounding as she tore after the shadow darting through the trees. The cool night air bit at her skin, and each step sent sharp jolts of pain through her bare feet as twigs and stones bit into her soles.
The forest lood around her, a tangle of darkness and shifting shapes, but she didn't slow down.
The mont demanded sothing - more. Sothing she hadn't quite mastered yet.
She swallowed hard, stretching out her fingers, and willed her Ethos to respond.
For the first ti, Seraphine called upon her Ethos in a way she never had before.
The familiar warmth of her power surged through her veins, crackling like golden embers beneath her skin.
But this ti, instead of guiding it into raw bursts of light or precise beams of energy, she shaped it, molded it.
With a sharp inhale, she exhaled her will into the world, and her surroundings shimred like heat rising off sun-scorched pavent.
Now, there were many of her.
Dozens of Seraphines went into existence like mirages, their forms ethereal, dancing between solid and translucent.
So stood poised, their hands glowing with barely restrained power, while others lunged forward, darting between the trees like whispers of moonlight.
'What if it didn't work? What if the illusions weren't convincing? What if she just ended up looking like a very dramatic glow stick?'
But she didn't have ti to hesitate. The man she sought to confuse was already turning his head sharply, eyes darting between the shifting illusions. His confusion was palpable, his grip on Clara faltering ever so slightly.
Seraphine swallowed her nerves, straightened her shoulders, and forced a smirk onto her lips, because if there was one thing she knew, it was that confidence could turn even the most chaotic ss into a masterpiece.
"Well, well," she drawled, her voice carrying through the illusions like a ghostly echo. "Didn't expect to be everywhere at once, did you?"
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