Damian stood still, his gaze falling to the white floor beneath him. The shadows at his feet quivered, as though restless.
"Shadows" he murmured, almost to himself. "They don't shine. They don't strike... They linger. They cling. They bind"
The darkness stretched slowly across the floor, long tendrils crawling outside like liquid tar. Abby watched curiously, then gasped as the shadows suddenly surged beneath her feet.
In an instant, they wrapped around her ankles, freezing her in place.
Her ice blades shimmered as she instinctively moved to counter but her legs wouldn't budge. The shadows grip was firm, unyielding.
Damian raised his head, meeting her wide eyes with calm detachment. Then, with a flick of thought, the shadows receded, releasing her.
Abby stepped back, testing her freed legs and let out a small laugh of disbelief. "So, that's what you're going with on the battlefield, a trap"
Damian gave a faint smirk. "Not sharp, not loud . Bt effective. That's my style"
He flexed his hand, watching the black tendrils slither back into his shadows. Already, ideas filled his mind. If shadows could immobilize what else could I do. My glass. My Space.
Abby lowered her swords, still marveling at damians shadows. "You don't fight to overwhelm" she said thoughtful, pondering what goes through damians head "you fight to control"
"I said it before, this is just more my style"
"I'm so glad we're friends!" Abby suddenly said excited
'huh... Friends, I guess she really does see me as one..'
They carried on training, mastering the new forms their affinity has taken but beyond the training chamber, in places damian could not yet see, unseen hands already begun moving.
Night soon came, Damian and Abby went to the cafeteria to eat and after that said their good byes. Arriving at the dorm room, Damian saw no one. He ignored and went straight to bed. He noted at the back of his mind how fast you recover nethera in the training room such that you almost never run out of nethera, it was indeed a perfect place to train your affinity.
....
Day broke just as fast as night came, the training chamber fell quiet except for the soft hum of glowing walls. Nethera flowed like invincible current through the endless white cubes, bending to the will of its occupants.
Damian stood still, chest rising and falling with faint exhaustion, fainting of darkness coiling at his feet like smoke searching for purchase. Across from him, Abby's silver hair clung to her cheeks and three crystalline blades of ice hovered around her like guardians.
"You really are terrifying. You know" she said, exhaling as her swords melted into mist.
Damian raised a brown, voice even. "I barely moved"
"That's exactly what I mean" she smiled, showing no sign of exhaustion "your trap, if someone was to step on your shadows unknowingly, they're finished. I couldn't move at all when it caught me"
Damian lowered his gaze to the black coils retreating into him. Hie shifted his weight, rolling his shoulders that had been scored from constantly dodging attacks.
Earlier she had attacked him with great force as if wanting to kill him, when he called her out on it she said that way he could dodge like he would in a real battle and swore if he doesn't dodge in time she would stop before she could cut him.
He didn't buy that and made sure he dodged everything, thanks to his shadows passive, his speed and agility was increased but Abby was still very fast, he barely kept up with her and she doesn't seem to ever run out of breath.
"You know, while trapping your opponent is good, not having an offensive attack Is a significant disadvantage"
Damian knew this, he planned to train his other affinity but is unsure if he could trust Abby with keeping his secret.
"I know, I'll work on an offensive way to use my shadows" he simply said.
"Also let me fill you in on a little secret"
"Huh?.."
"Using multiple forms could be confusing to your Nexus which might either delay the forms your affinity takes or simply not produce anything. But there's a way to go around that, all the nobles do it, a very simple yet effective way to switch form when you do find another form for your shadows"
"What is it"
"Register and Name"
"Care to explain?".
"Register each form in your mind, then direct your focus to your Nexus. Once you have done this give a name to that form you want, a name that reminds you of what you're about to unleash"
"What?..."
Damian was confused. What do you mean give a name.
"I know it sounds stupid, the reason I can summon my ice swords is because I have it a name"
"And what is the name you gave"
"....uhmm... Tr....triple ice swords" she said in a low tone.
Face palming himself, Damian just shook his head.
"I know the name isn't all that great, I'll come up with something better, why don't you try"
"Hmmm..." He hesitated but decided to give it a try anyways, following her instructions from earlier.
'shadow....tendrilss' he muttered, that's what the ability felt like to him.
"Look!!" She shouted immediately, pointing at the stretched out shadow, that didn't take so long to come out. Unlike before that his shadows seemed to slowly take form, this one was done in an instant.
He felt the same feeling as when he would try to summon the shadow.
'no way this worked' in disbelief he said with wide eyes. This simple trick worked. Others would take weeks, probably monthly before they can use there affinity this weekly.
They ended their spar, the training cube dissolved into white light, and in the next instant, they were standing outside in the wide atrium again.
Damian flexed his hands, still feeling the echo of the Shadow trap or shadow tendrils, now that he has named it. Recalled that his affinity drained him quickly of nethera when he stretched the shadow too far, and if one struggles enough they can break through it, then he will have to reinforce it again with nethera to keep them in place.
It then becomes a matter of how much nethera reserves do you have.
Elsewhere, far from the dorms, Clark paced before a fire. His father, Lord Harry, leaned heavily on a cane carved with a golden crest of the House Of Vahlrex.
Clark clenched his fist "He spoke to me like I was beneath him. Me!, and the others, they believed that commoner, they looked at me like I'm a weakling, he turned them against me" the event from that day kept repeating itself in Clark's head.
"This Damian....Quin you speak off, he must be quiet bold to speak against a noble" Lord Harry said, his voice low and dangerous.
"My lord" a Middle aged man soon walked in, one knee on the ground as he bowed before Lord Harry.
"Have you delivered my word" Lord Harry spoke
"Yes my lord, it's being spread even as we speak"
"And mine!" Clark shouted, his tone commanding
"Yes young master, yours have been sent"
"Good.. let's see how long you can wear that stupid face" he said staring at the fire before him, his thoughts running wild.