The heat was intense even with the wind blowing hard on us. We sat together on the sand and Joseph joined us and we started to talk about the island we were on. They both seemed, in my opinion, incredible sailors, who knew every sea and ocean currents or climates around the world. I decided that later, after our new ship was ready, I would get some books about navigation and other subjects as general knowledge. Even if I understood very little regarding what they talked about, I still enjoyed.

-Will you meet with Heath this afternoon? -Joseph asked Dominic. If the answer would be “yes”, I could say “goodbye” to a day of training. I began to pay more attention to the topic.

-I will and I think it will take a while. It's very hard to show up there with all those soldiers, especially now that the navy is "interested" in whose ship Heath is building in such a hurry. -he answered. -We were lucky that he agreed to do this favor for us.

-Yes. Then, I guess I'll have to take care of things around here today. -Joseph continued, now smiling relaxed. Every word that Joseph said seemed to reflect his splendid confidence. It was as if he knew everything was going to be fine and I felt safe with that feeling.

-What do you think Althea? -Dominic interrupted my thoughts and brought me back to the conversation.

-Huh? What do I think? -I asked completely lost.

-About training with me today. -said Joseph. -I know that we had arranged to train all together, but since Dominic will be absent, I think there is only the two of us left.

-What?! The two of us? Training? We had arranged training? I don't remember that. -I spoke sending a hateful look to Dominic. -Nothing against you, Joseph, but I don't know if it will work out. My last training was... disastrous. I don't know if I want to repeat that, especially in front of you.

-What's wrong with training with me? -he asked indignantly.

-I don't know. It feels easier for me to attack Dominic.

-Hey... -claimed Dominic.

-Ah. If that's the problem don't worry. I agree on that. But trust me, I know how to proceed. - said Joseph.  -I'm actually very curious to test you.

I had no other argument to try to win that conversation.

Dominic left for the city and after some time of rest, Joseph and I left to look for an even more isolated place to train, which resulted in a long and tiring walk through the mountains behind the closed forest. Joseph was really prepared to spend a whole day looking after me. He was as careful as Dominic in checking every miserable piece of dried twig and every stone on the way which could collide with my feet and throw me to the ground. The walk seemed to be shorter than it was thanks to the fact that Joseph did not stop a second of chattering. He babbled about everything: from the name of each tree around us to the characteristics of the kingdoms we would soon visit. A lot had changed since I was isolated from the world. Technology had advanced in an unbelievable way, especially in the matter of weapons. At that moment, Joseph ended up confessing that he and Dominic were carrying some weapons, just in case.

-Guns? -I asked surprised with those words.

-Also. Weapons of all kinds of substances. But I think the best we have is the sword that Dominic carries.

-What is so special about it?

-Well... -he started with that "how am I going to explain this to her" face. -There are stones around the world that have powerful substances inside them and, when they are extracted correctly, they can be inserted through a fusion in other materials like iron, lead, steel, and gold. Each stone is distinguished from another by its capacity and the kind of power it releases. Some serve to heal, others to kill.

He paused for a minute to see if I was following the conversation. I nodded to get him to proceed and continue with the explanation.

-The stone inserted in Dominic's sword is called Scanial. It is classified as one of the most powerful ever discovered, only weaker in comparison to the Agrona Stone.

- Agrona Stone?

-Yes. This stone is what we call perfect. Blessing of the gods. There was a man who possessed it thousands of years ago, but since then it has been missing. -he said. -So, it is not known if it really exists.

-I've heard about it before. I think it is more like a curse than a blessing. I read as a child several books talking about this stone and about the man who created it. Books about alchemy. It transforms stone into gold, gives various powers to its bearer, such as immortality and the power to revive a human being. -I said. -Thousands of people have already died looking for this stone.

-And thousands died so that this stone could be created. -he continued.

The topic was closed, and the silence took over. We walked a little further until we reached a point on the island where there was no more forest, pasture, and no sign of life. It was surrounded by a wall of trees, but there were only boulders and rocks in the huge plain in front of us.

-Perfect! -said Joseph with a beautiful smile and bright eyes, which at that moment was very discouraging for me.

-Perfect? Here? This looks like a perfect place to get an injure. -I proclaimed incredulous. -What if we hit our heads on the stones?

-That would certainly be a fatality. We will take care that it does not happen.

He turned and went towards the plain. Joseph didn’t seem to be worried. Maybe he had a vision about our training and concluded that everything would turn out well, but that wasn't enough to cheer me up.

-Do you prefer to position yourself somewhere here to start or do you have no preference?

-It doesn’t matter for me. -I replied. - What kind of combat will we fight?

-Well... I will try to fight in a fair way. I think it's good to train agility today. I will use my speed to attack you and you should use the battlefield in your favor. My fighting style is not very... delicate, so I will avoid as much as possible attacking you directly, but I want you to be always alert and to fight back. And don't worry about hurting me, I am quite sturdy.

-Hmm, right. I'll try.

We faced each other, right in the center of that place. I was a little more confident this time then on my first training with Dominic. I tried to occupy my mind only on how to attack and defend myself, forgetting the fact that I was fighting against my own friend.

"If I only retreat, I will never be strong enough to fight my enemies. This could be considered my first real battle. If I didn't fight, they would take me back to the darkness... I would never accept the darkness again.”  I thought.

-I will have no mercy on you. -I told to Joseph, with an evil smile.

-Good. I don't intend to be nice either. Ready? -he asked.

-I never am.

-We can start then.

And he was gone. His speed was absurd! I didn't even see where Joseph had gone, and he didn't make any noise when he moved.

I stood still, looking around for any sign of his location while the silence remained. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the noise of the wind, the birds on the green wall, the sea in the east. If Joseph attacked me, the only way to defend myself was to know where he would come from. Some different sound, a human sound.

Rocks rolling to my right.

I turned around in time to see him raising his fists. I jumped to the left side and rolled on the ground so as not to be struck. My first fight with Dominic had already taught me a lesson: whenever an enemy attack, first defend yourself. Then attack as fast as possible, before the enemy throws another blow on you.

And that is exactly what Joseph was going to do. If his specialty was hand-to-hand combat, I should find a way not to let him near me.

 "Use the battlefield in your favor” he said earlier. There were only rocks and stones around me, however. Maybe...

I saw him coming near me, this time, walking and not running, which gave some time to think.

-Do not hesitate to attack Althea. -he said, raising his fists again.

Then I lifted my right arm towards a rock about 50 cm in diameter and used my powers to raise it in the air for a few seconds. Then, with an Impulsum, I threw it towards Joseph, in a considerable speed. With a smile, he deflected the rock with one punch, breaking it into hundreds of pieces. He also didn’t seem to be amazed with my ability of lifting stones in the air while I was completely paralyzed, surprised by Joseph's strength. There wasn't even a scratch on his hands.

-Excellent pitch! But you missed me. -he said while contemplating the stone on the ground, now destroyed. -It takes more than one of this to beat me.

Then, with only one jump, Joseph was beside me, with his gigantic body like a mountain, inches from mine. He was ready to attack again. I moved as fast as I could and raised my two arms, concentrating on throwing on him as many rocks as I could handle, with the same speed as the first. I lifted them in the air above both of us and threw them. It was like a meteor shower falling on Joseph, but he was able to get away from it accurately and quickly. I did not give up and continued to attack him, now alternating between rocks and bursts of energy. I didn't want him to hit me in any way. Surely it would be unbearably painful.

-Excellent Althea! -shouted Joseph in during my attack. -But you still can’t bring me down.

The training already lasted more than half an hour. I was getting tired and I hadn't even managed to hit Joseph even once. The gust of stones was not enough. What else could I do to bring him down, using the battlefield in my favor? Joseph could predict my attacks and deviated from each one with precision. What could I do?

"Simple Althea. Launch an attack from which he cannot deviate. Destroy the place where he steps".

I threw another good number of rocks in his direction and moved further away from him. I then lowered and touched the ground with my hands. I already knew that, with my powers, I could move or destroy anything on my surroundings, so if I could concentrate, I believed I could create a shift of the rocks below us, making them rise or sink. That was something I had no idea if it would work.       

I focused to the maximum and poured a good amount of my energy into the ground. Soon, the floor began to crack and there was a great tremor. A crater opened, from where my hands were to Joseph's feet who, in order not to fall inside the hole, jumped away unbalancing and hitting his face directly on the ground. To complete, the last stone that was still in the air hit his back with all possible force, breaking into several little pieces.

In the face of my last blow, all the energy left in my body disappeared and I collapsed on the destroyed ground. I heard a groan of pain coming from my "enemy", but I didn't have enough strength to ask if he was okay. The only thing I wanted to do was to sleep.

-Ouch! My back... Althea? Althea, are you okay? -Asked Joseph with a tone of pain in his voice.

-Hmm. -It was the only sound I could pronounce.

He came, then, in my direction. I turned my head to the left and saw Joseph sitting beside me. I tried to get up, but my legs still did not obey me.

-I think I am tired. -I whispered without air.

-One more attack like that and I would have ended badly. - Joseph laughed while I got up. He then put me sitting next to him and I leaned on his arm. I stood there for a few minutes, catching my breath. -You went far beyond my expectations. Besides being powerful, you're smart.

-One day you will kill me. -I talked, still in a tired voice.

-Come on, it couldn't have been worse than with Dominic.

-It was a thousand times more difficult. This time I fought seriously, but you are very strong. -I cried out. -I had to use all my energy.

-It makes no sense. Dominic is much stronger than me. -he replied indignantly with my statement. -I could never hit him with a single blow while we were training.

-Then I believe he never really fought seriously with me.

Joseph just shook his head, giving a little smile.

-Well, let's say Dominic is not strong enough to fight against you. It's also very hard for me, but I think for him it's worse.

-Difficult? Fighting against me? Am I that fragile? -I spoke depressed.

-No! It's not that. It is just that when we look at your face, to your eyes... It melts our heart. It doesn't give me any desire to attack you and I have to concentrate a lot to do so. It is one of the Descendants abilities. And poor Dominic, how he must suffer. If you knew how much it affects him, you'd understand it faster. Besides your ability, we both have a very special feeling for you.

-I like you both very much too... even though my feelings are different for each of you. I can't explain it exactly, since I don't understand it myself.

-I understand you. -he said, smiling. - What I feel for you is something very big and what Dominic feels is as big as, but it is different. One day I'll explain you, or rather, ask him to explain it to you. It will be a lot of fun to watch that. Are you rested already? -he asked.

-Yes, I am. Are we going back?

-Yes. I don't think your body could take it anymore, and we have to get there before Dominic and Heath. Tonight, the two of us will prepare dinner!

-Are we going to meet Heath tonight? And I got it right? We are preparing dinner?

-Do not complain before the time. Let's go.

We got up and went back to the forest while I took one last look at the place where we trained. Everything was completely destroyed.

The way back was fast, but as I was very tired, the stumbles were more frequent. Joseph had a bit more work taking care of me.

We arrived at the boat still empty and I went first to take a shower and change my clothes. After that, I went up to the kitchen and tried to help Joseph prepare dinner. Obviously, I had no idea what I was doing.