After what had to be an hour’s walk they finally arrived. “There,” Eva said, pointing toward the wide expanse ahead. “That’s the training grounds.”

The forest path had widened, and an arena floated 20 feet above them. An old colossal 300-foot square-stone platform, hovering. Vines somehow reached the arena like they were trying to pull it down to earth. Above the arena, the same huge moon glowed, its aura more present now.

“Out of all the stones I collect, this one feels weird,” Arbor muttered, their eyes scanning the floating stairs. “Place like this? Definitely ghosts or something here.”

“You scared?” Alek said from ahead of them.

“Nah.” Arbor stuffed their hands into their pockets, gaze still on the floating stairs. “Just saying, if a ghost jumps out, I’m not dealing with it.”

Alek rolled his eyes walking up the cracked floating stairs and headed toward the center of the arena. He tapped the ground with the heel of his boot, seeming to test its stability. Satisfied, he started doing some stretches, his eyes on the glowing moonstone hovering overhead. "This is perfect,” he said. “The projections should still work."

Eva walked up next, glancing at the crumbling benches before looking at the floating moonstone. Her eyes flicked pink for a moment, then back to green. "It’s stable. Magic’s still running through it, but it’s faint. Won’t be as strong as the one near the capital.”

“Doesn’t need to be,” Alek said, putting on a leather chest plate with rune engraving on top of his shirt. “It’ll do for now.”

Arbor finally stepped on the first step. “I hate this place they muttered,” they muttered under their breath. “The moon looking at me funny.”

“Everything’s looking at you funny,” Alek said. “Get to the center of the platform, Arbor.”

Arbor raised a brow. “Why?”

Alek tapped the ground twice. “Because I want to see what you can do.”

Arbor blinked. “Right now?”

“Right now,” Alek said, rolling his shoulders. “I’m not waiting another hour just to find out you’re all talk.”

Eva let out a long sigh and sat on one of the cracked benches, resting her chin on her hand. “Here we go,” she muttered, watching them both. “This will probably be fine, the arena’s magic should cancel any real damage,” she muttered.

Arbor stood there for a second. "You wanna fight me now? We just got here."

Alek lifted his arms, fingers flexing. “You afraid I'm right about you not belonging here? Or are you just too scared I'm going to hurt you?”

Arbor scratched at the side of their head, lips pressed into a flat line. They glanced at Eva like they were looking for backup, but Eva was already sitting looking to be in her own world. “Fine,” Arbor muttered, stepping forward. “But if I win, you owe me a meal.”

Alek raised a brow. “You think you’ll win?”

Arbor shrugged. “Maybe.”

Alek loosened his muscles. “You don't even have the drive to give me a confident answer,” he said. “You being here is disrespectful.”

Arbor looked a bit annoyed now. “You know prince, not everyone here gets to choose what they do, some of us just have to stick with what we are given. But now I'll gladly shut you up.”

“No more excuses,” Alek said quietly. “Show me then.”

Arbor’s eyes lowered slightly, rolling their eyes. Their stance shifted just a little and lifted a hand lazily and with a whirl of glowing stone a crack in space opened. A weapon gate. From inside, Arbor pulled out a black staff, its surface smooth like obsidian. The blue glow from the floating rock danced along its surface. 

Alek’s fingers twitched. “Impressive you can open one of those. Let's see if you can actually use it.”

This was a staff given by Freya and something Arbor was not supposed to use, but Arbor thought, “If it’s meant for combat why not test it out here.”

Alek darted forward. His steps were quick as he drew his daggers while running. Alek’s first strike cut the air where Arbor’s head had been a second earlier. His second strike came low, aimed for their legs, but Arbor hopped back, feet landing lightly.

“Fast,” Arbor said. “This is good, although I'm, not the best fighter, dodging is something I'm decent at.” Arbor thought.

“Stop dodging,” Alek snapped, “Or Is that staff just for show.”

“Stop swinging, and I’ll show you,” Arbor shot back, ducking under a wild swipe. They took a couple of hops back. "You’re faster than I thought, though."

Alek didn’t answer. His next swing was sharper, more precise, the tip of the dagger cutting through the sleeve of Arbor’s kimono.

Arbor glanced at the tear in their sleeve. “You owe me for that,” they muttered.

Alek’s strikes were smaller now, tighter. Clean cuts aimed at Arbor’s arms, legs, and torso. He was testing their reactions, watching for patterns.

But Arbor didn’t move predictably. Their dodges weren’t clean or calculated — they were messy, almost careless. But every dodge worked seeming to rely on some animal instinct. 

Alek scowled, “Dang fox. I can naturally notice weak spots and they’re just a walking one. They probably don't even know they are using some race-based magic skill. They're so careless that rocks sometimes fall out of their bag.” They thought.

Alek said, “I guess, I'm going to have to step it up a bit.” With that alek daggers began to pulse and his body glowed. He sucked in some magic from the air, using his body as a medium like a spell circle would normally do. Then he forced that energy into the blades and unstable currents of wind magic flew around the blade's edge.

This method was a very novice way of doing magic. Spell circles and rune weapons were more effective. Alek had basically just forced Nature to use his body as a rune enhancement spell. But it worked nonetheless.

Eva sat quietly on the bleachers, “This fight is so silly. we were supposed to get a lesson on how to actually use runes today from the moon’s projections, but instead, we have these two idiots fighting like kids on a playground. The only thing I'm surprised by here is the fact Alek actually is about to go all out.”

Alek ran faster now, arbor was not able to keep up. Every slash grazed a different body part necking them. Until one slash was so fast it seemed like Arbor's head was about to get knocked clean off. 

“Shit, shit, shit” Arbor thought as their body couldn't move in time. But as soon as the blade was inches away from their neck. The moon's aura flexed with magic energy, runes on the banners below glowed, and the blade was stopped instantly. All the magic in Aleks body and blade quickly disbursed. The moon's ability to stop lethal blows was on display.

Alek looked at pulling their blade back and powering up their body again. “So are you ready to fight me for real and stop disrespecting me?”

Arbor stood quietly and thought for a moment. “I just lost. Any other time that would have killed me, dang. But I also can’t lose to this guy.” Pride was one heck of a motivator.

Arbor looked up. “This might be worth my time. I guess.”

With that Arbor’s grip tightened on the staff. The glow on its surface pulsed brighter, and the hum grew louder, like something inside it was waking up. 

The fight went on this time arbor used the rocks they had dropped around the field to form mounds tripping up Alek. While Alek would slice and dodge rocks that would get his foot stuck or hit him in the face. Then slash down on Arbor who would block not having the speed to dodge anymore. Alek was starting to enjoy the back and forth. Seeming to be a battle of equals.

“Maybe this fox isn't so bad.” Alek thought.

Arbor on the other hand was having a there own realization. Holding the staff made Arbor's limbs feel as though they were flowing. They could feel the natural soul magic they leaked out from everyday tasks begin to be focused on their movement. Their sense felt heightened every seeing more ways to use their power. It felt as though this fighting thing was a high, they loved it.

Arbor dropped to a crouch, sliding under the swing that they were surprised they dodged quickly enough. They then grabbed the spiked rock from earlier and infused magic into their staff. Arbor then pressed the rock into the ground fusing it. The floor where the rock was placed went up in spikes rising towards Alek.

The spikes seemed like they were going to hit Alek in the chestplate but the moon's aura intensified. And with that, the spell stopped in its tracks.

Alek looked for a second pausing. “It seems like you do have some talent after all. But I've got one more thing I've been itching to try out. I’ll say we are tied for now and I’m not going to be satisfied till we actually finish this.”

A glow flickered around his wrist. The air wooshed as green cracks formed in the space beside him.

Arbor's eyes flicked to the crack. Something deep within Arbor’s chest thumped. Their heart maybe? No, it was something deeper.

Their soul

Something within it beat in anticipation. Wait not within, but foreign. Detached from Arbor's own souls being. As if a bigger being had tried to force its way into Arbor's den. As soon as they felt it, the moon’s aura grew and the wrong feeling disappeared.

“What was that? Why did the moon do that? Was I about to do something?”, a flood of questions filled Arbor's mind. 

Arbor decided to push it all to the back of their mind and focus. “This is a fight I want to win, not really to prove Alek wrong, more for myself.” They thought.

A flash of green light split the air. With a smooth, practiced motion, Alek reached in and pulled something long and heavy from the gate.

The scythe hit the ground with a soft thud as he spun it with both hands, dragging it behind him like a second shadow. The glow of runes along the curved blade pulsed, like a heartbeat.

Arbor’s gaze followed the glow.