Grey Dura 6

After fiddling with a few switches, the shielding barrier sprang to life with a low hum. Next, I turned the gravity within the ring up as high as the system would go, biting back a smirk.

“I’ll show you an ethereal groin,” Regis quipped, leaping up onto the platform and immediately stumbling under the weight of his own body. “Hey, wait a damned second!”

I chortled as I hopped up next to him. The force of the increased gravity was oppressive—maybe seven times normal—but nothing I couldn’t handle with aether infusing my muscles and bones.

“What’s wrong, pup?” I teased, beginning to bounce on the balls of my feet as I acclimated to the change in environment.

Regis let out a low growl and stalked back and forth across his end of the platform as he, too, attempted to adjust. “Oh ho. You are so lucky that I’d probably cease to exist if I blasted you with Destruction right now.”

Holding back a grin, I began to throw tentative punches and kicks in the air, feeling out the extra weight of my blows, then shifted into a set series of motions I’d learned while studying under Kordri. The minute, careful movement required to implement most of the asuran martial skills was made significantly more difficult by the intense weight of my limbs.

Regis twisted his neck with a resounding crack, and his entire body quivered with anticipation—or maybe it was the effort of standing in the increased gravity. “You ready for this, princess?”

Focusing, I narrowed my attention on the shadow wolf, blocking out the subtle hum of the shield and the sound of students’ voices that occasionally drifted in from the courtyard outside.

My companion’s haunches tensed, and in the next instant he was hurtling through the air like a ballista bolt, but I had already stepped to the side, the flat of my hand coming up to deflect his snapping jaws.

As he flew past, my other hand snatched at one of his rear paws. The simple disturbance of his momentum, combined with the increased gravity, was enough to send him spinning so that he crashed heavily to the mat, landing on his back and tumbling painfully into the shielding.

“Couldn’t have…turned on the impact dampening?” Regis huffed as he fought back to his feet.

“Finished already?” I asked in a tone of mock disappointment.

The flames around Regis’s lupine body flared, painting the classroom with splashes of purple light. Once he was on his feet again, he squared up for another leap, apparently out of things to say for once.

The tensing of his body was even more pronounced on his second pounce, but rather than lunging directly at me, he feinted forward only a few feet, waiting for me to step aside, then redirected his attack.

I brought up my aether-clad hands, intending to catch Regis in midair, but his form shifted and became ethereal, and he vanished into my body. I spun, expecting what followed, but with my body weighted down I wasn’t fast enough, and his jaws latched around my calf and pulled the leg out from under me, sending me crashing heavily to the ground.

The shadow wolf's fire-wreathed head smirked down at me. “One-one, boss.”

Raising myself up onto one elbow, I inspected my companion thoughtfully. “Utilizing your ethereal form to outmaneuver me like that was pretty clever.”

Regis puffed out his chest. “I’m a literal weapon designed by a deity, for Vritra’s sake. You think I—” Regis stopped, staring down at me with wide eyes.

I returned his gaze with a wry smile, one brow lifted. “For Vritra’s sake?”

“Ugh, sorry. Some of Uto slipping through.” He sat back and smirked mischievously. “That part really enjoyed putting you on your ass, by the way.”

I heaved myself to my feet. “Let’s see if you can do that again.”

***

We continued to train and spar until our legs shook with the effort and my core ached from the amount of aether it took to strengthen my body against the heightened gravity. Regis was circling me, biding his time before another attack. Although he was trying to shield his thoughts, I knew he was at the end of his physical strength for the moment.

Which is why I thought he’d be caught off guard when I Burst Step across the dueling ring onto his back, but before his legs could collapse from the added burden, the shadow wolf vanished, drifting safely into my body while I slammed to the ground hard enough to shake the entire platform.

‘We’ve got company,’ Regis’s voice sounded from inside my head. ‘You take care of this guy. I’m going to take a nice, long nap in your aether core.’

Remind me to start locking that door while we’re in here, I groused.

Kicking up off the mat, I scanned the room and saw that a man was making his way slowly down the stairs toward me, limping slightly on each step. He looked ten or so years older than me, but something—maybe the way he held himself, the slightly soft lines of his face, or the expression of youthful amusement he wore—told me he was younger than he looked.

Once he saw me look up, he gave a little wave, which I didn’t immediately return. His hand went to his auburn hair, ruffling it so that it looked even more wind-blown and mussed than it already had, but my attention was on the other hand—or the lack of it, as it ended in a stump at his elbow.