It was now August 2025, Athelstan's birthday had already passed, which was in July, and he was now 5, the same age as Vladislav.
Two months had passed in the blink of an eye since they started training with jian.
They have improved a lot compared to two months ago. They were now both at mid-channeler rank.
Vladislav and Athelstan faced Jian.
Vladislav's hair was a bit longer, and he was now 1.2 meters tall, while Athelstan's hair was long too, but a bit shorter than his brother's; he was 1.2 meters tall too.
Jian always has a calm smile on his face with a wooden sword in his hand, as always.
The brothers moved.
Vladislav dashed forward, and Athelstan was right behind him.
Vladislav slashed towards Jian's left, his sword drew an arc as it sliced through the air.
SWOOSH!
Jian's sword moved to parry it but blocked nothing because it was a feint.
Vladislav changed directions by pivoting on his feet and thrusting his sword towards his chest instead.
Jian nodded in approval and quickly parried his attack.
CLANG!
Vladislav took the parrying momentum to spin on his heel and do a spinning kick, kicking Jian's chest.
However Jian didn't even budge, he just smiled.
Vladislav clicked his tongue and jumped back a couple of meters.
Athelstan was already behind Jian's back.
His sword was moving towards his neck.
SWOOSH!
Jian dodged by ducking down and tried to sweep his foot, but Athelstan reacted instantly to the sweep by jumping.
However—
Jian wasn't done. His left hand touched the floor, making him spin his body and kicking Athelstan mid air square in the chest, which he blocked, sending him flying away. He spun his body in the air and landed on his two feet.
Vladislav cracked his neck and moved again—but faster than before.
He attacked Jian with a combination of horizontal and diagonal slashes.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Jian blocked all of them. He then felt a presence behind him and tried to turn around—but Athelstan was already there slashing his back. However, that was an afterimage left by Jian as he appeared on his side, dropping his sword on Athelstan with a vertical slash.
Athelstan did a front flip, and the wooden sword passed over the back of his head. He spun, landed his feet on Jian's sword, and giving him enough momentum to propel himself and tried to hit Jian's face with his knee.
Jian blocked the knee attack to his face with the palm of his hand. "Nice try" he said.
Before he could grab Athelstan, Vladislav jump-kicked Athelstan away and took a few steps back.
"Thank you bro" Athelstans thanked him.
"I got your back always" Vladislav replied.
"Good job, your teamwork is really improving. If you guys keep improving on your teamwork, you'll be a strong duo", Jian said honestly.
Vladislav moved again. Mana enhancing both his legs and arms. He could now enhance four parts of his body.
CLANG! CLANG!
When Vladislav attacked Jian. Athelstan was already there at his opening.
Vladislav slashed, Jian blocked it and countered, but Athelstan was already there to parry it.
They were filling each other's shortcomings.
CLANG! CLANG!
"Create an opening for me Athelstan!" Vladislav said
"On it!" he replied
Athelstan enhanced his legs with mana, one on his arms and his sword.
His attacks grew heavy on Jian
CLANG! CLANG!
Vladislav took a stance. Right leg slightly forward, left leg slightly bent. He held his sword horizontally.
He concentrated. Mana flowed on his sword, a blue energy gathered on it for a couple of seconds, it seemed like it crackled like lightning, but he didn't notice.
He used his remaining energy to enhance his legs; his legs bore with strength, muscles tightened.
There. He saw an opening as Athelstan parried Jian's attack.
His grip around the hilt of the sword tightened.
Then he moved.
SWOOSH!—
He dashed with speed towards Jian.
Athelstan kept trying to block Jian's vision.
When Vladislav reached them, he stepped aside, letting him pass through.
Vladislav thrust his sword with speed and precision towards Jian's chest.
'was that lightning?' Jian thought as he saw the blue energy crackling for a second and then disappear. It was too fast, someone would not even notice but he did.
He quickly brought his sword vertically to his chest, and Vladislav's sword hit him, pushing him back for a couple of meters.
Athelstan's eyes widened "Did you just push him back for the first time?"
Vladislav was shocked as well he had felt a sudden surge of energy when he channelled mana to enhance his sword.
"Uh, I think I did?" Vladislav said while scratching the back of his head.
CLAP! CLAP!
"Great job on pushing me back, it's good that you're now able to put up a fight against a peak channeller" Jian said as he clapped his hands
Obviously, Jian wasn't at the channeller rank; he had just suppressed his rank and strength to Peak channeler when we reached Mid channeller. The same was when they were Initiate channelers, Jian suppressed his strength to mid-channeler.
He wanted to train them with an opponent who was a higher rank than they were, so they could gain experience and grow fast.
After a couple more minutes of sparring, they were both drinking water while they were all covered in sweat.
"Good job you lasted 15 minutes, that's a huge jump compared to months ago, be proud but don't let it get into your head, keep training ", Jian said as he sat on a chair and drank tea as always.
Vladislav smiled at the praise and clenched his fist. Progress, I will grow stronger.
"Oh, and it seems that Vladislav will awaken the lightning element", Jian spoke while looking at him.
"Huh, what?" Vladislav and Athelstan asked at the same time
"I saw something blue crackling around your sword. I might be mistaken, but these eyes have never deceived me", Jian answered. He took another sip.
SLURP
"Is that why I felt a sudden increase in strength and energy, Uncle?" Vladislav asked, and Jian quickly replied, "Yes, lightning enhances both your speed and strength. It's a really great element. Check out your father; he's very strong because of his lightning, but his is gold, and yours seems like blue. I don't know why but there must be a reason for that "
"We'll see soon when you reach peak channeller what elements you're going to awaken since you all with have to go through an affinity test by then." Jian finished as he took another sip of the tea
'He really loves tea, huh' Vladislav thought
'awakening the lightning element like dad, that will be so cool, plus it's a strong element and it will take me into new heights' he thought'
Athelstan clicked his tongue "Can't believe bro showed signs of awakening an element before me, but congratulations", he said as he smiled genuinely.
"What kind of older brother will I be if I wasn't an exemplar figure for you?" Vladislav puffed his chest.
"Yeah right " Athelstan laughed
Normally whenever they finished sparring against Jian, they always collapsed on the floor tired but now—they were used to it but it was still tiring
After a couple of stretches, they left the training ground and headed back to the mansion.
After washing up and eating dinner with his family. Vladislav walked through the garden for fresh air.
The full moon shone brightly and lit up the night giving a peaceful aura.
Suddenly, He felt chills, and a huge shadow flew over him. His head snapped up, and he looked up and saw nothing.
"What the hell, I thought I saw a shadow. Am I hallucinating now?" He thought about it and then shook his head in denial. Nah, it must be from the training. I'm tweaking for real.
He looked at the sky where the shadow had just been and then looked down—he froze
Something was in front of him.
A blue bird. It stood on the grass looking up at him. Its size was longer than his arm. It wasn't small, nor big either. Quite a big size for a bird.
Vladislav caught his breath on his throat.
It had beautiful dark navy blue feathers, its black beak was perfectly designed, and its feet were black with sharp claws.
It was beautiful, too beautiful.
What struck Vladislav the most was its eyes. That looked straight at him.
They were deep electric blue. They were vibrant and an intense shade of blue, jewel-toned, otherworldly and captivating. When the moonlight hit them, they shone brightly.
The wind howled softly as blue eyes met crimson eyes.
Why the fuck is there a bird outside during the night, shouldn't they be sleeping? Shit, it almost gave me a heart attack, it just spawned out of nowhere.Why the fuck is there a bird outside during the night, shouldn't they be sleeping? Shit, it almost gave me a heart attack, it just spawned out of nowhere.
He touched his chest in relief and sighed. Well, I doubt that shadow was this bird, it was too big...I was probably hallucinating.
He looked at the bird which hadn't moved and was staring at him and said "It's really creepy, stop staring at me like that"
The bird tilted its head to the left in response to his statement as if trying to understand what he had just said.
He walked closer and crouched next to it. The bird just observed him.
He slowly moved his hand to touch it "Please don't bite me or peck me", he said.
Shit, I just jinxed myself, didn't I?
Unfortunately for him, he had indeed just jinxed himself.
The bird bit him on his palm, drawing blood from his hand.
"You fucker, I knew it!" He screamed in pain and jumped back.
He looked at his arm and saw a wound looking like a little hole that was already healing.
"Come here, you lit—" Before he could do anything, he looked where the bird just was, and it was gone without a trace.
Whether it flew or not, it didn't make a sound. It just disappeared silently in the night in the same way it had appeared.
How could a random bird hurt me? My skin became tougher ever since I awakened, unless it wasn't a normal bird. He thought and clicked his tongue.
Vladislav cursed a few times before heading back inside.
Unbeknownst to him. Up above him in the air, floated a woman who was watching him, she licked the blood on her lips and then vanished.