Rising Shards

Amara had been training on the beach a lot during winter. The cold made it less likely for anyone to interfere, and provided a strange serenity in the desolate landscape of a snowy beach near an almost frozen lake. The one benefit of a recent misadventure that began on the beach was discovering this.

She finished her stretches and checked her training gear to make sure it was on properly. Her breath was visible in the cold afternoon air.

Amara didn’t waste any more time. She leapt into the air, firing a laser bolt over the lake, the red glow illuminating a path over the ice. Each jump she fired again and again, watching to see where the lasers either faded in midair or when they crashed onto the ground. Today her focus was on increasing her range while not neglecting her precision. Just as her training began to get more intense, she sensed someone was nearby.

A few teachers and prefects had approached her during training sessions, but once she verified her safety protocols for this they left her alone. Her visitor was neither, it was the new girl with the big lilac squirrel tail. Well, new-ish, it felt like only yesterday that the girl stumbled into the big fiasco in the void on Fang Moon Web where most of the class ended up captured by Wildfire Hearts students. Since then, she’d applied to Rising Shards and mostly popped up to make grandiose statements about herself, and little else.

”Excuse me,” the girl said.

”I’m busy,” Amara said.

”I’d just like to talk to you a bit,” the girl continued. ”Your impressive moves are inspiring to me.”

”Honestly, I can’t even remember who you are,” Amara said. She knew it was a bit rude, but she really wasn’t in the mood for conversation.

”I’m Caeda Firae,” she grinned. ”You’ll remember that soon, don’t worry.”

”Right,” Amara rolled her eyes. ”Still busy, so could you please leave me be?”

”What are you training for?” Caeda asked.

Amara knew this kind of tactic. If she answered, she’d be locked into more conversation with this girl. She almost started continuing to fire blasts over the lake, but she also felt an incredible pull to be honest to this girl for some reason.

”I need to get stronger to protect the people I care about,” Amara said. ”Rain’s more of a mind games type than physical combat, and KJ isn’t good at either. So I need to be stronger as much as I can to make sure they’re safe from whatever we face next.”

”That’s cool,” Caeda said. ”That’s kind of what I’m about, too.”

”Is it now?” Amara said. She doubted that Caeda had anyone like Rain and KJ in her life.

”Though my attempts to make a big splash have fallen a bit flat,” Caeda said. ”I’ve made some recent developments that make me feel like I’m getting stronger, and getting closer to my goals.”

”That’s nice,” Amara said. This time she went back to it, trying to ignore Caeda as she practiced more grounded attacks this time, trying to hit specific chunks of ice ahead of her.

”Can I ask you a question?”

Amara grunted, as Caeda asked right as she fired, causing her to miss her target by inches. ”What?”

”I’d like to test out how strong I’ve gotten,” Caeda said. ”Could I maybe spar with you?”

”Pfft,” Amara said. ”You’d lose.”

”I don’t know, I’ve gotten pretty strong!” Caeda said. ”I could show you, if you want.”

”If we have any sort of duel, and I win, then you cannot interfere with my training,” Amara said. She wasn’t sure why she was agreeing to this so easily. Maybe just to get this girl to go away.

”And if I win, then we can keep training together until you beat me,” Caeda said.

Amara’s nose twitched. Now she had to put this girl in her place.

”You’re on,”

”Yay! You won’t regret it,” Caeda laughed. ”Or maybe you will once I win.”