Morning light bled over the training field, painting the clearing in gold.
Reika stood awkwardly in the center, legs apart, hands out, eyes narrowed in extreme concentration.
Zariel, arms crossed, was lecturing like an overpaid academy professor:
"Manifest your Ren, focus it outward, not inward. Don't fight it, guide it."
Reika, dead serious, nodded.
He took a deep breath. His fingertips tingled.
He screamed internally.
He screamed externally, too.
"HHHHGNNNNN!!!"
A pathetic little flicker of blue Ren barely sparked at his hand...
...and then immediately exploded backward, launching Reika into the dirt like a human catapult.
Thud.
Silence.
Zariel closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose.
From the sidelines, Kaien chuckled under his breath.
"Majestic. Like a wet chicken trying to fly."
Reika, face buried in the dirt, lifted a single thumb up:
"Nailed it."
Zariel sighed so deeply it might've sucked all the oxygen out of the field.
"Maybe you're just... naturally defective."
Reika sat up, grinning wildly, dirt sticking to his teeth:
"That's 'limited edition' to you, Mr. Stick-in-the-Mud."
Kaien snorted hard enough to almost choke.
They tried again. And again.
Every attempt ended in disaster:
Sparks hitting trees.
A mini crater in the ground.
At one point Reika accidentally set his own boot on fire and danced around like a deranged flamingo.
By noon, Zariel was pacing angrily, Kaien was lying on the grass staring at the clouds, and Reika was genuinely wondering if he had been cursed at birth.
Reika lay flat on the dirt, arms sprawled out dramatically, gazing at the sky:
"Maybe I should retire. Take up basket weaving. Or professional complaining."
Kaien, still staring up, said lazily:
"Hey, you'd be the best whiner in the kingdom."
"Aw, thanks Dad."
They both laughed. Zariel did not.
Night fell.
The campfire crackled quietly in the distance where the others sat eating.
Reika, instead of joining them, snuck back out to the clearing.
The moon hung heavy overhead, silver mist pooling across the grass.
He stood alone, breath fogging the air, hand stretched out again.
The failures of the morning replayed in his mind.
The frustration.
The disappointment.
That tiny, sharp edge of fear gnawing at him —
What if I really can't do this?
"No," he whispered to himself. "I'm not staying weak."
He focused harder.
This time, he didn't force it.
He remembered Kaien's words — guide it.
Not command it.
Trust it.
Blue Ren shimmered at his fingertips.
A thread. A flow.
It pulsed.
It grew.
It shaped.
A crude sword of Ren formed at his hand — wild, imperfect, alive.
Reika stared at it, wide-eyed.
It flickered. It wobbled.
It didn't matter — he did it.
"HA!"
He spun, slicing at the night air with pure, reckless joy.
"WHO'S DEFECTIVE NOW?!"
Up in the trees, unseen, Kaien watched him.
Silent.
A rare, quiet smile pulling at his lips.
He didn't call out.
He didn't interrupt.
He just stayed there, arms folded, heart swelling with a pride he didn't dare show yet.
"Good..." Kaien muttered under his breath. "Real good."
---
Morning broke, soft and golden over the clearing.
Reika stood in the center, breathing steady, jaw tight.
Across from him, Zariel watched with folded arms, as sharp and cold as always.
"Alright," Zariel said quietly. "Show me."
Reika closed his eyes, feeling the Ren pulse under his skin like a restless tide.
He pulled at it, focusing, willing it outward — not by force, but by rhythm, by instinct.
There was a sharp snap of energy.
When Reika opened his eyes, a glowing blue sword hovered in his hand, vibrating with a low hum.
Across from him, Zariel blinked once. A rare crack in his stone face.
He stepped forward, studying both the sword and Reika with a scrutinizing look.
Finally, almost like a whisper, he said, "So... they aren't just myths after all."
His voice carried the weight of something ancient.
"Demons really do learn faster than humans."
By a nearby tree, Kaien smirked and tossed a small rock lazily into the air.
"Told ya he was a prodigy. You owe me twenty silvers, Zariel."
Zariel gave a faint grunt, but said nothing else.
The faint glint of approval in his eye was more than enough.
Reika, standing there with the Ren sword alive in his grip, couldn't stop a grin from pulling at the corners of his mouth.
It was the first time in a long time that he felt something stir in his chest — something that felt like pride.
The moment shattered when excited voices echoed up the hill.
"Reikaaa!"
Mira and Farl scrambled into the clearing, waving bundled baskets over their heads.
"We brought breakfast!" Farl announced proudly.
"And not just any breakfast!" Mira said, beaming. "Spicy breakfast! Fresh from the Seven Spice Tavern!"
Reika blinked at them, utterly lost.
"Uh, I don't think spicy food is exactly ideal for training—"
Too late.
Mira shoved a steaming bun into his hands before he could finish his sentence.
Farl grinned and slapped him on the back with enough force to rattle his bones.
"Come on, tough guy! Let's see if you can handle it."
With a long, suffering sigh, Reika took a bite.
Regret hit him instantly.
It felt like an inferno had detonated in his mouth.
His entire face twisted; his eyes widened — for a second, they turned dark, a deep, swirling black.
He stumbled backward, gasping like a fish out of water, clutching his throat as steam practically poured from his mouth.
Mira and Farl collapsed laughing.
Another burst of laughter erupted from the trees.
Kairo had just arrived and seen the whole thing.
"Haha! HAHAHA!"
He slapped his hand so hard against a nearby tree that the bark cracked under his palm.
Still laughing, he spun — and immediately stubbed his toe on a rock.
"AAHH–NOPE–STILL FUNNY–"
He dropped like a sack of bricks, clutching his foot but still laughing uncontrollably.
Reika, face flushed and tongue hanging out, glared at all of them.
"I hate you all," he muttered hoarsely.
Kaien tossed him a waterskin without missing a beat.
"Hydrate, champ. You're gonna need it."
The morning light caught on the sword still flickering by Reika's side, alive and waiting.
Mira, Farl, and Kairo kept laughing, the chaos filling the clearing.
But Kaien simply stood behind Reika, resting a hand quietly on his shoulder — a silent message: You did good.
For the first time, Reika realized:
he wasn't running anymore.
He was standing.
And he was only just getting started.