It was amazing what a powerful elf could do in a few hours. The hidden entrance was under a bush. Safir knew where it was, but otherwise none of us would have found it. When the bottom branches of the bush were pulled up, a rectangle of earth lifted away. Otherwise, it looked like normal ground.
Stairs, perfectly carved from stone, led down to a spare, open space. Lhorine couldn’t make furniture, other than stone benches along the walls, so there was nothing in the large room, but it would be a great place to train in secret. Two of the walls had open archways, leading to side halls. From one came the sound of running water. I went to look. Off the main room was a long hall which ran parallel to the room. There were three open archways off this hall, the farthest to the right led to a small room where Lhorine must have found an underground stream. It gushed out from the wall and fell into the room, the floor of which was sunken, making this room into a shower and bath. Any overflow of the bath then flowed out through a hole in the wall into the next room. The next two rooms had a stream running along a trough in the floor on the far side of the room. These must be washrooms. We could do our business in the stream and it would get washed away by the running water.
The other hall off the main area held six small rooms. I assumed these were individual sleeping areas, but since they had no furniture, just four bare walls and a floor, I couldn’t quite tell.
This place was all function and no luxury, but it would do.
I found Tala in one of the bedrooms.
“I guess I’ll be living here for a while,” she said. I could tell the grin she gave me was forced, trying to make the best of this and failing.
“Thanks for putting up with this,” I said and hugged her again.
“Just… beat Saldrea, okay? Don’t get yourself killed.”
“That’s the goal,” I said, but if I wanted to do that, then it was time to start training.
I went back to the large main area and met up with the others.
First, we talked strategy.
Our opponents would have two strong earth magic wielders, as well as a strong water practitioner, and a strong air magic user. All those elements were good for pushing people around, which was the main focus of dominion.
Our team would have one strong water magic user, but my grandmother would have to temper her abilities a bit so it wouldn’t seem too odd that Tala had suddenly gotten so much stronger. I had no illusions about my abilities. I was still a beginner in water magic, and I’d only know as much earth magic as Lhorine could teach me in a day. But… we also had a moderately strong fire wielder, and a decent light wielder. They’d be our wild cards. Fire could push, but mostly as a byproduct. People didn’t want to get burned and moved out of the way, which might move them back.
We decided to have Rook focus his fire on Neyalim, the undine. Her water could protect her, but if Rook managed to blast her with enough fire all at once, he might be able to force her back, potentially off the pitch entirely.
We decided Grandma, as Tala, would focus on Hana. Water would be the best element to force her back, since she could fly to avoid earth and spin wind to snuff our fire.
Vyns would use his light to blind them. There was also no rule in the game prohibiting violent uses of magic, which was wild, but which worked in our favor. Both Vyns andRook could blast away at the others with their elements and harm them, perhaps forcing them back.
That left me to take on Saldrea and Golana, both strong earth magic users.
Yikes!
Once we knew our parts, we separated. Rook and Vyns went to opposite corners — still not fond of each other — to work on their fighting styles. I stayed with Lhorine to learn earth magic. I didn’t have Grandma here to teach me water magic, which was a loss, but I did know some of that already, so I focused on earth magic for now. Lhorine suggested we all head back to Rook’s room a bit early, so Olinara could instruct me a little on water magic before the bout.
Luckily, dominion didn’t require much finesse with one’s element, just big, forceful effects or defensive magic. And since — according to Lhorine — I had a lot of potential and raw strength in earth magic, simple effects should be easy enough to learn.
Still, I was starting from scratch, so most of that afternoon and evening I spent learning the basics. Even before attempting earth magic, Lhorine walked me through anima control. It seemed like such a basic thing, knowing how much anima to use, but I had no clue. Once I had a better handle on that, we moved on to beginner earth magic exercises.
Lhorine got me to stand on the stone floor barefoot.
“Eventually, you can do this through your footwear, but don’t worry about that for now… feel down into the earth with your feet. Don’t try to feel anything other than the coldness, the hardness, the basic sensations. Focus on them.”
I did, it was easy, my feet were freezing in thisunderground dungeon of a training room. The cold stone was seemingly all I could feel.
After a while she whispered, “Now, imagine the stone beneath your feet softening enough that your foot sinks, till the entirety of your sole, even your arch is contoured by the stone. As you do… release your anima, just a little, a sliver of a stream.”
I released the power within me. To help control it, Lhorine had suggested I imagine a funnel, limiting the flow of this magical essence to a narrow stream.
The stone beneath my foot softened and shifted. It was the oddest sensation as I sank, not even an inch, so that the stone floor cradled my foot.
I lifted one foot and saw the perfect footprint in solid stone.
It was such a little thing, but I couldn’t help marveling at it. You shouldn’t be able to leave a footprint in stone.
“Good,” Lhorine praised. “Now return your foot and concentrate. We have a long way to go.”
