The Lightwielder Files

Chapter 11

“Good luck," Adma whispered breezing into the room after him where an instucter in grey slacks, a white t-shirt with a moon insignia on his sleeve marking him as a Lunar. His hair was dyed grey which was strange for someone who looked so young and it was cropped. 

Opposite him, he was going through the workouts with five other Lightwielders. They were doing some basic warm-ups that Max recognized from gym. 

“All right”, the trainer announced, “laps until you peak as usual.”

There were some collective groans but the Lightwielders did as they were told breaking into runs going around the room. Max wasn’t sure if he should join them until he felt Adam tug at his sleeve and direct him to where the trainer stood in the center of the room arms crossed against his barrel chest.

“Max, this Alfredo Marxielles”, Adam introduced with his signature charming smile. “But he likes to be called Fredo.”

Fredo narrowed his eyes and glared down in a considerable way to the blue-haired boy. 

“I don’t like to be called Fredo," he said in a voice deeper than what Max imagined it would sound like. 

“But we still call him that anyway," Adma said with a sly smile. 

Alfredo or Fredo, however, he wanted or didn’t want to be called, pointedly ignored him and stared Max up and down as if he was a predator assessing how he would tear apart his prey. Max thought in this situation after he had heard about himself this morning it would be wildly appropriate. 

“So you're the lost sun wielder?” he said a hint of an accent in his voice and Max couldn’t help but wince at the tone of voice that he was using but he tried his hardest to not let it get to him.

“Yes I am”, he said, his voice wobbling slightly which he hoped Aflrdeo would not be able to pick up. 

Alfredo’s eyes softened for a moment or was that his imagination? 

“Cool, cool”, he said, then pointed to the running  “Join the other guys, run as fast as you can for as long as you can.”

Adam tugged his sleeve and did a few star jumps before beginning to run in a circle with the other Lightwielders. Max joined in quickly catching up. He actually enjoyed running but in the circumstances, it wasn’t the best thing that he could think of doing but nevertheless, it was the thing that he had to do right now. He thought of his and every memory that they had shared together, their lives intertwined. The hope that might see his dad again pushed forward until he and another Lightwielder girl were the only ones still running. Max half thought that the others stopped because they didn't want to run anymore and not because they were burnt out. 

“And time!” alfredo yelled tapping on a stopwatch on his wrist. Max and the girl fell simultaneously on the floor next to the other Lightwielders. Max’s legs felt like jelly and his lungs burned a little from the exertion but somewhere deep in his core he felt it was worth it. 

“Up trainees," Alfredo yelled again and in succinct formation, the Lightweliders got up. Max scrambled to match their pace feeling like an i***t but no one seemed to notice which was a good thing. 

“Today’s target practice," Alfredo went on, gesturing to some practice dummies that Max had only ever seen on television in the middle of the room. “Pick your weapon of choice.”

The class went to the weapons board to pick out their weapons, Max could see that most of them had picked ax, one picked a quarterstaff while Adam had his trusty whips. Max was sure what to pick. Then he remembered the spear Mona had given to him yesterday. He was grateful for it and it served him well in the pub but for some reason, he felt that it didn’t suit him quite right entirely. 

He perused over the selection of sharp, long, blunt, threatening weapons. Which one would he use?

“While the sun is still up Vandhurst," Alfredo said but not too unkindly.

Max settled on the weapon that his eyes fell upon. A pair of sharp-looking twin daggers. He picked them up and took his place beside Adam. 

Alfredo got down and drew perfect circles with a piece of chalk around each of the dummies. From what Max could see, Alfredo was not a man of many words and yet he managed to be totally commanding a lot like Adam and Mona’s father and when he came to think of it, a lot like his father too when it was time for them to get down to business. 

“One of you will spot while the other attempts to disarm the opponent”, he explained coolly, the opponent in question being each of the dummies. You mustn’t step inside the circle.”

“Is that it?” the girl that Max was running with scuffed, scratching her freckle nose.

“She’s right," piqued up another Lightwielder with an Electra insignia on his sleeve. “This is less than basic.” Not to Max, it wasn’t.

He felt like was about to shrink into the ground when Alfredo spoke up in his cool commanding voice. 

“Recap and practice never hurt anybody, but if you want to make things interesting…”

He turned a switch on the smartwatch Max assumed was on his wrist. From some unseen speaker in the room, a loud whirring noise came out that sounded like a drill going off in the middle of the city.

The Lightwielders grimaced covering their ears. 

“What the hell?!” the girl before exclaimed. 

“A Lightwielder should be able to concentrate on the task at hand no matter what is going on around them," Alfredo shouted over the din. “Begin.”

As the other trainees poised their weapons towards the dummies and chose amongst themselves which ones would spot and which ones would attack, Alfredo, gestured to Max to follow him to the other side of the glass room. 

He looked down at the twin daggers in Max's hands and Max suddenly felt like he should have chosen another weapon instead for some reason.

“Do you know how to use those?” Alfredo asked with narrowed hazel eyes. 

Max looked down at the daggers in question. “I think you get in as many stabs as you can.”He glanced upon a slight twitch in Alfredo’s jaw which he assumed was the closest the man would ever come to a smile or so he hopped. 

“So you’re a complete novice. Interesting, but it’s only to be expected. Did you know that it was said that your dad used his twin daggers to kill Algar Fray?”

Now Max really wished he had picked up another weapon? The golden spear looked nice, why didn't he choose the golden spear? He should have chosen the golden spear instead of the daggers.

“He did?” Max asked. “I never knew that.”

“Well apparently he’s not dead so he wasn’t successful.”

Max clenched his fists around each of the daggers so hard that he was sure that he was going to break even though he knew in his mind that he couldn’t if he tried. He wanted so badly to like Alfredo since he was the one who was apparently going to teach him how to really be a better Lightwielder but the jab at his father was so hard for him to ignore especially after everything he had heard that morning. 

“But I think they’re suited to you," Alfredo went on, still eying the weapons in his hands. Then he went back to the weapons cabinet and brought out another pair of daggers. 

“Keep an open stance”, he said pointing to Max’s feet with his left dagger. Max opened his legs wide enough but not too wide that he was about to collapse. 

“Left-handed or right-handed?” Alfredo asked. 

“Left," Max replied lifting up the dagger in his aforementioned hand. 

“Keep that one in front of your face.” Max did as he was instructed, and brought his right dagger lower in front of his chest. 

“The left hand is your primary attacker, use the other hand for blocking and defense."

Alfredo told him to drop the right dagger while they worked on his attacking position. First, they started off with some footwork. Alfredo stood beside facing sideways while he showed him how to move his feet backward and forwards. He showed him the best positions for launching an attack and how to lunge properly and then get back to your primary attacking position. 

After a couple of minutes of this, they went on to some basic blade techniques, which Max lost track of fairly quickly. The number of times that Alfredo managed to disarm after a few movements were abysmally high. He began to wonder if Alfredo should have shown him how to defend himself first. 

That’s what they went to next although Max wasn’t as good at that compared to attacking either. 

After amount an hour or so of this he found himself quite out of breath. At least if nothing else after this he would have gotten his heart rate up considerably. 

“Water break," Alfredo called out suddenly turning off the whirring sound in the background. The Lightwidlers near the dummies dropped their weapons while others hooked them to their belts. 

Adam bounded over to join him his face flushed from the exertion of his whip which Max didn’t exactly expect. 

“Hey Alfredo, how was he?” Adam asked the man in question. 

“He’s as good as you were when you were seven," he replied plainly irking Max. 

“Aw, don’t say that Fredo!” Adam whined playfully but he really was concerned for Max. 

“It’s the truth," Alfredo replied. “Your powers no matter how strong they are will only get you so far. Without proper training, you’ll be vulnerable out there on the field.”

“That's why he has one of the best swordmasters in the Order training him”, Adam said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Alfredo almost seemed to smirk slightly, emphasis on the slightly, Max wasn't entirely what Alfredo’s face was supposed to be doing at that moment. 

“Take a break you two," Alfredo said looking between the two boys. “But be back in five.”

Adma nodded vigorously pulling Max after him outside the room. Opposite them were some water fountains that he had and Adam drank from.

He found that he was much dirtier than he had imagined he would be. 

“So how was your first session with Fredo," Adam asked leaning casually back against one of the walls. 

“Honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting," Max admitted picking at his nails, before looking up to meet Adam’s brown eyes. 

Adam nodded pensively in understanding as if he himself had been in a similar situation. 

“Fredo is a hard taskmaster but he’s good people. In fact, like he’s one of the best trainers for a beginner like you.”

“He doesn’t seem that happy that happy that I’m a beginner.”

Adam scoffed and cursed in Spanish. 

“Please, it’s not your fault that you weren’t raised as a Lightwielder. You can’t help your past the only thing you can change is what you do with the time that you have left, that’s your choice. “

Max couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Where did these wise words come from?”

“As you will find out more and more the longer you’re here that I am a well bubbling up with wisdom."

“Do you have proof of this so-called wisdom?” Max teased. 

“Uh yes, what was that a minute ago.” Then he frowned looking at the watch on his wrist.

“Time to go back into the fray," Adam said gesturing to the others who were going back into the training room. 

Max’s stomach sank a little, his forehead getting sweaty and his hands tight in a fist. 

Could he really go back in there? Could he really do this? So he was born a Lightwielder, so he could control light, so he did have the power of sunlight in his very fingertips, did he have to do this? Maybe it wasn’t too late to go home but he thought of his house without Dad, it didn’t feel like home at all. Maybe the Order wasn’t exactly home, maybe it wasn’t where he belonged exactly but it was where he needed to be right now. The things that his dad seemed to be up against wherever he was, Max needed to be trained to deal with it. 

He sighted deeply and steeled his resolve walking back into the training room where Alfredo stood twin daggers poised and ready to go. Back into the fray.