I was heading towards the academy at a run, speeding up as I got closer to the training grounds, spotting young Feles beginning their training, just like I did when I was their age, what an uphill struggle it had been and there was still more for me to climb.

Master Lance was already putting Loki through his paces. “Again, Prince Loki, draw on more power to use it.”

“Ah!” cried Loki as he summoned a vine, sparking with lightning energy, but it was all he could do. It had been years since I had started training with him and he had accomplished so little, yet Master Lance never once gave up on him.

“Still struggling,” I commented.

“Some of us aren’t genius like you, you know.” He crossed his arms in a huff.

Master Lance let out a chuckle. “Loki has yet to mature in power and himself.”

“I’m ready for some training,” I cheered, thinking more about Loki’s absent ability, compared to his siblings. Tigra was amazingly talented, and Hunter was a natural genius, but preferred to show off to the girls than practice, perhaps one day Loki would be someone to contend with in the future.

“You know the drill,” smiled Master Lance. “Wind blade!” Master Lance shouted an order, and I did it. Quickly swinging my arm from left to right, releasing a blade constructed from wind. “Bubble dance.” I twisted around on my heel summoning six bubbles of water around me. I drew Raziel and Arata, popping them all to create a short downpour. “Now the twin lions turn.”

“Right.” I swung Raziel, sending out a wave of fire, then the same with Arata.

“Free for all!” shouted Loki suddenly excited.

Master Lance shook his head. “Combo.” I had to focus a little harder as I let Larana’s wind spread down Raziel’s sword, then I swung the sword, sending forth a fire tornado. “Not bad,” admitted Master Lance. “But you do need to execute the combination of their power faster.”

“It’s tricky,” I argued.

“Indeed,” nodded Master Lance. “Each individual talisman that you possess are very powerful, but the fusion of their power can lead to the execution of more powerful moves at the cost of less energy.” He was lecturing me again. “Larana is capable of fusing her power with most other elemental types, this is what makes her so powerful, her compatibility.”

“Compatibility,” I repeated.

“Today I’ll have you practice the fusing of Larana and Raziel’s power.” Master Lance came over, lifting my arm holding Raziel. “No need to execute any power, just encircle Larana’s power around his.”

I nodded repeating what I did when I executed my fire tornado. Larana’s wind slowly circling around Raziel’s blade. I had to concentrate really hard to do it.

“That was really slow,” commented Loki, coming to stand next to Master Lance.

“Shut up, this is really hard,” I snapped.

“Release that power, and try again, faster,” ordered Master Lance. I did as I was instructed, but I couldn’t do it any faster. “Again.”

“This is hard,” I moaned.

“Well, until you can fuse Larana with Raziel and Mila with Arata seamlessly your training will be at a standstill, understand.” Master Lance was very serious when he said that.

“Alright,” I nodded.

Master Lance watched for a while perhaps assessing my abilities on completing the task I’d been set to complete. After three attempts to increase my speed to no avail, Master Lance’s attention returned to Loki.

“You have any hints for me Raziel?” I glanced at him beside me.

“For starters you need to stop thinking that our powers are individual, after all we draw our power from you, we can’t execute our power without it first going through yours,” answered Raziel. “This is the same case, it must first flow through you before ours fuses together.”

“Okay, that does not help,” I moaned, trying a sixth time.

“You already understand all our powers master, you just need to feel it faster,” said Larana, she came up touching my hand. “You can feel my power here, folding, encircling Raziel’s blade.” She flew up to the tip. “The tip is no different than your hand, just allow it to flow.”

“Okay,” I nodded. I just needed to let Larana’s power loosen a bit more. I was trying not to put too much energy, perhaps I should do the opposite until I discovered the right amount. I hesitated to try my new theory as I could use up my energy supplies too fast.

The first attempt at this, I put too much wind energy in it and the fire blew out like a flame throwing demon. I almost caught Loki and Master Lance, but luckily, I managed to will it into a different direction, and they did not notice.

I let out a sigh. “Way too much.”

Larana laughed. “You’ve always been bad at control master.”

“You don’t have to tell me.” I focused and tried again.

The speed of the wind circling Raziel was faster now, but it was still too much. I spent the next twenty attempts trying to get it right by this point I was sat on the floor, running a little lower than I wanted to be on energy. I didn’t really want to give up just yet, I needed to master this.

Sat there I began thinking about dad, wondering if he had struggled at talisman control, probably not, he was a genius after all.

“Last adjustment.” I held Raziel in front of me, infusing Larana’s wind. The sword glowed as wind encircled it completely in about a second. “Yes.” I let out a quite cheer, then laid on the ground.

Raziel came to stand above me. “Do you finally understand?”

“Nope,” I laughed, looking at the infused sword. “Maybe.”

“You done yet?” Master Lance came to stand above me.

“Still have Mila,” I answered. “But I’m on break.”

“The enemy takes no breaks, and neither should you,” snarled Master Lance being strict as always.

“It’s only training,” I argued back, sitting up.

“Fang, you have much to learn before you face your true destiny.” Master Lance held out his hand. I cursed under my breath as I took his hand, why was so many Animalia expecting so much from me, I wasn’t that special. “Now Mila and Arata.”

“Fine.” I had lost all interest in doing this, but I could not go against my masters orders. Before I could even get started, I heard her voice.

“Fang.” It was Tigra.