The Tale of Xenosa

New Friends

Xenosa's POV:

"I wasn't aware someone owned this particular spot," I said to him, shocked and a bit frustrated. I was super tired from training all morning and all I wanted was to take a moment to rest, and yet this guy had to ruin it since I was in his spot or something. I didn't have the energy to argue with anyone right now, and yet this guy here seemed to be someone who I think was trying to pick a fight with me. "Look, if you want a spot that bad, you can just take it, I'll go find somewhere else to sit," I further said. I got up and started to walk away from the tree. To my shock, I felt a hand on my left shoulder. I turned around to see what he wanted. I was starting to get annoyed. But then he spoke, "It's fine you can stay," he said while scratching the back of his head. Pleased, I went back to where I was seated only moments ago. I thought he'd go on his merry way and leave me alone, but no, it seemed like he had other plans. He propped himself down beside me and offered me his hand to shake. "I'm Gavin Hermosa, son of Kaptan. It's nice to meet you," he said. I took his hand and shook it, "I'm Che- Xenosa Patterson, daughter of Magbabaya, and it's nice to meet you too," I replied. I couldn't help but to take a look at his injury. Now I feel guilty. "Sorry for your arm. I didn't mean to fall or anything. I don't really know what happened sincerely but I guess I took a wrong step in trying to learn a technique," I faithfully said. Shock was evident in his eyes, "Who told you about that? I didn't think you were conscious when you fell," he replied. "Ah actually nobody told me about that. I heard from Lady Eas that there was another injured demigod from the accident earlier, so when I saw you had an injured arm this morning I kinda put the pieces together and figured it out", I explained. To which he just nodded his head at me. After that, we didn't really say anything, we both basked in the peace of silence and rest. After a while, I heard my stomach grumble. In fact, I think he heard it too. He opened his eyes and laughed a little, "Someone's hungry," he said teasingly. I don't know why but the remark caused a smile to form on my lips, "Yeah well I haven't eaten anything since breakfast, Einstein," I replied, my tone just as playful as his. He then got up from where he sat and offered me his hand, "C'mon then, let's get ourselves some lunch," he said. I accepted his hand, and felt a slight tingle. Okay, what just happened? I decided to just leave the feeling alone and stood up as well. "You know, I never noticed you in the dining hall before," I said as I attempted to open up a conversation. "Yeah well, I don't really stand out that much," he said. I have no idea if he was being sarcastic or was he being truthful? I mean not stand out? How could he think that? He had the looks of a god. And that's saying a lot, since I have got to see a lot of them here. He's a very handsome guy. I could tell he had this boy next door type of attitude. He's taller than me. Well, a lot of people are, but you guys get the idea, he's tall. We are now walking side by side through the hallways of the castle. I took a quick glance at the map the helpers gave me, I could feel he was staring at me. "Uh what? Is there anything wrong?" I innocently asked. "You've lived here for days already and yet here you are still using the map," he said. "Yeah, well, I'm not good with direction. I got lost here once you know, I'm not going to risk it again," I replied to him. He just smiled at my reaction, he's obviously amused by the fact that I'm indeed still using a map to find my way in here. Once we got to the dining hall, I immediately saw Lacresia and waved my hand at her. I then yelled, "Hey Cres!" She then turned her head towards the direction of my voice, and smiled warmly. When she saw the person I was with she immediately flashed me a teasing smile. Uh-oh this was probably not a good idea, but whatever, I'm just trying to make friends. "C'mon, you should sit with us there," I said while pointing at the table Cresia's at. "I'll introduce you to a friend of mine," I then pulled his hand towards that direction. Once we got there, I sat next to Cresia and Gavin sat across from me. "Gavin, this is Cresia. Cresia, this is Gavin," I said while introducing them both. "I met Gavin back at the training area, I took his resting spot apparently," I further explained. Cresia beamed a meaningful smile and offered to shake Gavin's hand. "A pleasure to meet you Gavin, it's a good thing you didn't piss off Xenosa here, she's cranky when she's tired," she teased. Okay, just what was she trying to do? This girl sure is full of surprises. "Where Justin and Jazz, Cres?" I asled hoping to change the subject. It's a good thing she obliged. "They finished lunch already, the decided to nap a bit in their rooms," she said. I just nodded at her and called for Emma. As usual, she served me my food and Gavin did the same thing as well. The two of us ate our lunch while Cresia was just eating her dessert. We spent the entire lunch time just getting to know each other. Turns out, unlike us, Gavin was left to his mother. He says his mother was a priestess in his father's temple. She was chosen to break her vow and wed Kaptan, the god of wind and lightning. Her mother kept him safe all these years and when the dream happened, she told him the truth. The dream was similar to what happened with mine, minus the whole prophecy part. Like Cresia and I, he had to journey to find a gate to Biringan City. He says he found his on the island of Palawan. After lunch time, the three of us headed back to the training grounds. There I began to train again. This time I was able to do the first two techniques successfully. I can use the water arms now and they're durable enough to serve as a shield. The freezing technique I took a bit of time with. Nevertheless, I am able to freeze the entire thing now. Not just the part on the surface. It took more effort and time than I anticipated but I was able to do it. I proudly showed it to Dagat, or Lady Eas. She showed me a small smile. Finally, some sort of approval from her. That took some time. "Now it's time for you to learn the other one as well," she said. I was hoping I'd be rewarded with a bit of time to rest, but I guess not, and so I began to train again. I tried to do the water sprout she showed me. I was able to do it successfully. Maybe it helped that I was able to do it before already. The next step I found a bit more complicated. I had to drain the moisture from the plants around me. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I imagined how energy flowed in the flower, how it would control the moisture. I then began to follow the moisture's movement with my hands. I opened my eyes and I was shocked that I was able to extract it from the flower. Time to form the weapons. I tried to do the trident again. The water moisture I got from the plants was somehow easier to control, it wasn't as free flowing as the water from streams and rivers. That's a good sign. I successfully formed the trident and this time it took me a lot less time to do and I think it was more solid, though it was still liquid. I closed my eyes again, and then I remembered the sword the light nymphs gave me. I concentrated and forced the trident to reform. Okay, this one was harder than I thought. I moved a finger, then I outlined what I thought a sword looked like. I opened my eyes to see what I'd made. I had high hopes for this. To my dismay, it didn't look like a sword, the blade wasn't there at all and the tips of the trident were still there. It looked much like a fork and not a trident. Though disappointed, I tried to move on and take the next step. It was to return the moisture back to the plants. Okay, now how am I going to do that? I then heard Dagat's voice, "Remember Xen, you have to put back what you borrowed the same way you took it," upon hearing that, I immediately closed my eyes and imagined the flow of energy again. Instead of water, I thought about it like energy. I imagined it going through the roots and going back up to the flower. I then moved my hands in a circular motion on top of another, making a yin-yang shape with my palms. After I felt the moisture separate from the weapon and the water sprout I'd made, I willed it to travel under ground and return to where it came from. Urging it to go up through its roots and then to its stem. Once I felt like I had finished, I opened my eyes. This time I got it right. I heard a slow clap from behind. It was Dagat, "Good you handled that better than expected. You'll need to practice using the weapons, but nonetheless, it's a good start despite not being able to use the waterball of energy," she said. Satisfied, I allowed a grin to escape from my lips. "But, you will not be able to do the last technique I showed you without mastering the water ball, you'll need to be able to do it first before learning the last technique. This is to avoid horrible occurrences from happening," she explained. "I understand Lady Eas, I'll do my best to master the water ball," I replied to her respectfully. "Very well then go on," she said. I then tried to do the steps again and remembered, this time I remembered them whole heartedly. This time around, I tried to remember and think nothing but good and happy thoughts. Happy memories that I'd like to engulf myself rather than bad ones. I didn't want to trigger any negativity while doing this technique as I'd like to avoid the whole Sitan thing again. I thought about it before and I linked it to the negative emotions I felt during that time. I then continued to allow nothing but positive energy to flow, " Think happy thoughts", I said to myself. When I felt the familiar feeling of my feet being lifted above the ground, I concentrated harder, just when I felt the energy ball form in my hands. The sudden laugh of Sitan filled my ears. No, not again. I focused and blocked the sound away. I won't be hearing any of those kinds of things. But then, to my dismay, it was already too late. Horrible thoughts and memories had started to enter my mind again. This time it came like a flood, unstoppable and inevitable. I saw the horrible things I witnessed back in the maze, the bakunawa's origins of the story and even the deaths of the light nymphs by the bad ones. I opened my eyes and screamed, "No! Stop!" This time I could hear Dagat's voice screaming at me, "Calm down Xen! You must control it, do not let it overpower you!" she hollered from below. I closed my eyes again and instead of fighting the feeling, I blocked it. I stopped. The whole thing had stopped and I could finally feel I was being brought back to the ground. "I'm sorry Dagat. I failed again," I immediately said upon landing back on the ground. "It's fine Xen take your time. We still have a few hours left for the afternoon training. Maybe you're exhausted, take a bit to relax," she said. I only nodded at her and walked to the tree where I met Gavin and closed my eyes. I needed to relax.