Ara sat on the grassy ground underneath a huge oak tree. It was her second day of school, and currently she was in the middle of her training class. She had expected that she would be the only one stuck in Basics, and she was right. the rest of her classmates were training either in the Intermediate or Advanced range, on the grassy fields just across her sitting area. Miss Dylan had mentioned before the start of her class how she should start by getting to know her Warrior's attacks and defences first, and learn how to give basic commands. The teacher then returned to coaching the rest of her students after leaving her on her own.

Learn how to control my Warrior. I can do that.

Ara whipped out her Warrior’s card before placing a light kiss on it. The blonde materialised in front of her within seconds, his expression still the same as when they first met. She sighed at the uniformity of his expressions, and glanced at the bandage still wrapped around his arm.

I should probably remove that.

Ara gripped onto her Warrior’s forearm in a swift motion, her touch gentle and cautious. She gauged his expression for a second, and saw how he followed her movements with his eyes. Ara still didn’t know if he was fully healed yet, because his wound was pretty deep. It was not like she could tell from his face either, so she slowly strengthened her grip around his bandage. His muscles tensed even further.

“Does it still hurt?”

The boy looked into her eyes then, his gaze calculating and mysterious, like he was studying her. At that moment, Ara squirmed under his gaze, but kept her eyes on his. The boy spoke after a few seconds, his voice deep but soft.

“No, Master.”

Ara took that as a sign to undress his arm, and she tore her eyes away from her Warrior’s face, focusing on the task at hand. The skin underneath was slightly pink from the healing process, but nonetheless, her Warrior was healed. Ara gave a relieved smile.

“That’s great.”

I still don’t know about his back though, so I guess I’ll ask him later.

Ara’s thoughts were disrupted by the sound of thumping footsteps, and before long, a boy stood in front of her. She noticed how her Warrior seemed to tower over the boy’s height.

“Hey! Miss Dylan told me to help you with your Basics since I broke my arm,” the boy raised his cast for Ara to see, a friendly smile on his face. “I’m Jackson, by the way.”

“Ara,” the girl introduced herself as she shook hands with her classmate. Jackson seemed like a nice guy.

“I see you have already summoned your Warrior. That’s the first point on the checklist done!” Jackson gave her a thumbs up with his good hand, his teeth showing.

“He’s an Air Element, right?” Ara nodded. “I saw how he performed yesterday. It was amazing!” He seemed to have a very cheery and optimistic personality, and Ara appreciated the fact that he didn’t seem arrogant. She smiled at the compliment for her Warrior.

“Thanks.”

“Alright! So first things first, you must know how to command your Warrior properly,” Jackson said as he glanced up at the blonde. The blonde stared back with cold eyes. “What’s his name?”

“Oh, uhh…” Ara realised she hadn’t thought of a suitable name for her Warrior yet, and had just addressed him as ‘blondie’ in her head. She let out a sheepish smile. “I’m not good with names, so I haven’t named him yet.”

Jackson raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Then its going to be a little tricky to give orders,” the boy bit his lip in thought. “But I guess we can still work with that.”

Ara let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She had expected him to judge her, but he didn’t. Ara liked this guy already.

“Okay. First start by ordering him to go into the field.”

Ara nodded with determination, and faced her Warrior. She told him what to do, and the blonde nodded his head and was about to reply until Jackson cut him off.

“You have to be firmer. Express your authority in your voice, and use gestures if you have to. Otherwise, your Warrior may not take you seriously,” Ara noted how her Warrior had sent a glare in Jackson’s direction, but said nothing. She nodded her head and repeated what she said, her finger pointing to the field exactly like how Jackson had told her.

I think he would have listened to me anyway, but rules are rules.

The blonde responded with a firm, ‘yes, Master’ before he made his way to the field. Ara felt like she was ordering a dog, and her resolve faltered a bit. She felt kind of…bad.

“Good! Now, do you know any of his moves?”

Ara nodded, her brain rewinding back to her conversation with her Warrior the night before. She was suddenly reminded of the enjoyable, normal conversation she had with her Warrior, who didn’t look so emotionless as he explained his powers. It was an enjoyable sight.

“Okay. Then order him to execute one of his attacks, although on a much smaller scale. We wouldn’t want to tear down the school,” Jackson winked as Ara gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. It was a nice way to lighten the mood, but she was too busy thinking about her Warrior to appreciate the joke.

It feels uncomfortable being the one that gives out orders now.

“You!” Ara winced at herself as her Warrior turned to look at her. “Create a something small that is just enough to blow away those leaves,” Ara pointed at the dead leaves that littered the field around her Warrior.

The blonde did as he was told, and Ara watched with amazement as the leaves whirled around in the mini tornado that her Warrior had created. The twister picked up all the leaves and moved to a corner before settling down, the leaves landing in a pile.

“That was awesome! I believe you’ll join us in no time!” Jackson exclaimed in delight as he gave Ara a cheery smile. Ara returned it, grateful for the help, although she still felt a little ty. The bell soon rang, and Jackson waved a goodbye before leaving.

Ara summoned her warrior back into his card before leaving as well, her heart strangely heavy.

♤ • ♡ • ◇ • ♧

Why is she doing this?

The blonde Warrior sat on the floor of his Master’s bedroom, cross-legged and his shirt discarded to the side. After his Master’s lesson with her stupid classmate, she had summoned him back to his card, only to summon him back again once she reached her bedroom. She looked strangely guilty for something, but the blonde had no idea what for.

His Master had then told him to remove his shirt, her tone completely different from when she was giving orders previously. It was weird hearing his Master use such a…gentle voice with him. She had then proceeded to put pressure on the wound on his back, much like she did with his arm. The Warrior tensed, and bit his lip as a light stinging ensued.

“Is it still painful?”

The Warrior wanted to say yes, but he was still sceptical as to what his new Master’s intentions were. So he put on a front and tried to relax his tense muscles to keep up with the act.

“No, Master.”

Ara had then proceeded to unwrap his bandage, only to face disappointment that her Warrior had lied to her. The claw marks were still there, and it looked like they still needed a bit of time to fully heal as the skin underneath still looked red, and the wound was only scabbing halfway. She knew that they probably still hurt, so she didn’t know why the Warrior didn’t want to tell her.

“I can tell it still hurts, you know,” the blonde immediately tensed at her words, and in a flash, had turned around and situated himself in a crouching position, head bowed. Ara bit her lip at her Warrior’s display of fear and worry, and tried to soften her tone as much as possible, her heart squeezing for some strange reason. “You’re the one that can gauge your own tolerance level, so I’ll just leave it to breathe, okay?”

No slaps, kicks, insults…nothing. The Warrior’s thoughts were sent into a whirlpool of confusion. He was sure that he would’ve gotten a punishment for lying to his Master, but the only thing that resounded in the quietness of the room was the genuine concern of his Master’s words. He then watched silently as his Master stood up to dispose of the used gauze.

This is strange.

The Warrior’s thoughts were soon interrupted by heavy knocks on the living room door. He immediately stood to his full height, and watched through the crack of the bedroom door. His Master was already opening the door, ready to greet her surprise guest. He noted how his Master’s entire body stiffened once she saw who was on the opposite side.

“What are you doing here, B.M?”

The said male simply smirked at his little cousin, thoroughly enjoying the scowl on her face.

“I heard that you got a shiny new toy to play with, and you even managed to beat an A-rank in the Placement Test,” his eyes glanced towards the second floor, straight at the door where the blonde Warrior stood. He redirected his gaze to Ara.

“I wanted to see for myself how my weak little cousin managed to pull that off.”

♤ • ♡ • ◇ • ♧

Soon enough, Ara found herself in the middle of her backyard, standing straight opposite her cousin, her blonde Warrior by her side. She really didn’t want to have a fight so fast just after her Placement Test, but she knew that B.M would never leave her alone if she refused. So she hesitantly agreed to have a ‘friendly’ match with him, much to her cousin’s delight.

Even though she had a higher-ranked card in her hands, Ara knew that B.M wouldn’t let that faze him. He had a complete deck after all, and the cards in completed decks were way stronger than when they existed as individual cards. You could break a single chopstick easily, but the difficulty proves itself when multiple chopsticks are together.

The battle commenced as soon as B.M announced the rules and summoned his Warrior. The rules were much like those of the Placement Test, so Ara had no trouble following. Daehyun, B.M’s warrior, materialised almost instantly and got into a fighting stance.

Ara had witnessed enough fights outside her uncle and aunt’s house to know that Daehyun was a Water Element, and a pretty skilled one at that. He proved himself by instantly conjuring up a huge ball of water that was big enough to completely engulf a human, and fired his shot.

Ara immediately became alert, and commanded her Warrior to put up a defence, her lesson with Jackson replaying in her head. Her voice was firmer and more controlled compared to the first time, so she was glad she didn’t sound like an amateur in front of her egoistic cousin.

The blonde Warrior heeded his command, and immediately put out his palm. The giant ball of water stopped dead in its tracks, much like how he stopped the fireballs. Except this time, it was slightly different.

It was like there was an invisible hand holding the water in place, and the ferocity and speed at which the wind was going made the outline of the hand slightly visible. Ara watched as her Warrior then curled his outstretched hand into a fist, entrapping the water in the giant hand made of wind. It looked as if the water instantly evaporated into thin air, and the Warrior released his hold to reveal nothing left in its place.

Ara then commanded her Warrior to attack, and he responded by stretching out his fingers, the tips aimed towards the Water Element. B.M watched in horror as the flesh around his Warrior's limbs began to fold inwards, the invisible fists of air striking him at high intensity. It was like his Warrior suffered multiple punches at once, punches powerful enough to indent the skin thanks to the power of the wind. The Warrior flew backwards, blood spattering out of his mouth.

Ara winced at the horrid scene, and for a split second, she wanted to give up on the fight. But B.M wanted to protect his ego.

“Daehyun, smokescreen!”

The Warrior instantly waved his right arm despite his major injuries, and soon enough, the blonde’s vision was hindered by a cloud of steam. He raised his arms to disperse the water vapour, effectively dropping his attack. The Water Element then raised his arms to summon a cloud of heavy rain, and directed the water droplets towards the blonde’s direction at full speed. The droplets took the form of sharp needles, and they would surely sting like little bullets due to the extreme pressure.

Not wanting to hurt both Warriors any further, Ara decided to call an attack that would hopefully be the last.

“Okay, that’s enough. End this now.”

The blonde nodded in confirmation, and soon after, he was gone like the wind. The Water Element looked frantically for his opponent, only to be met with a punch in the gut that sent him straight towards the sky. The blonde had reappeared below the opponent’s nose within a split second, his speed not anticipated. The Water Element then watched with horror as the Wind Element disappeared once again from his position on the ground, and flashed just above him, landing a strong kick that sent him spiralling down. He collided with the ground with a smash.

Seeing as how the Warrior struggled to get up from the immense pain, the blonde returned back to his Master’s side in a blink of an eye. Ara had flinched from the loud impact, her heart sorry that she had to do this.

It was obviously a defeat on B.M’s side, and Ara could see how her cousin was anything but happy. He was absolutely livid, and began screaming at his Warrior as soon as he stood up, taking quite a while to do so. Ara was sure he had at least broken a few ribs, and she could only imagine the pain he was going through.

“You’re useless! You can’t even defeat my stupid cousin?” B.M jabbed a finger into the injured Warrior’s shoulder harshly, and Ara could see how he winced at the contact. He must have dislocated his shoulder too. “You know what this calls for.”

Ara widened her eyes at the appearance of B.M’s trusty pocket knife, her cousin ready to make another slash on his card. And she knew it wasn’t going to be a small one either.

“Hey, get rid of that thing,” Ara immediately instructed her Warrior, her eyes still focused on the sharp object. She wasn’t able to do anything before, but she sure as hell could now. She was tired of seeing the poor Warrior being treated like that.

The blonde raised an eyebrow, confused at his Master’s intentions. The Warrior wasn’t hers, so why was she so concerned and scared for him? The Water Element also failed to obey his Master’s orders, so it was only right that he was punishing him. Why did she want to stop him?

But alas, the Warrior couldn’t dwell on his thoughts any further and risk disobeying his Master, so with a flick of his finger, the breeze knocked the pocket knife right out of B.M’s hands. He would admit it felt a tiny bit good doing so, because he wasn’t the only one that wanted to help the Warrior.

“What the hell?”

“I won, cousin,” Ara couldn’t physically stop B.M from doing what he wanted to do, so she decided the least she could do was to distract him from his sadistic desires by taunting him. She knew she sounded arrogant, but Daehyun’s silent yet grateful gaze was enough to motivate her to continue. “So you should just leave now, right? I don’t want any more blood on my backyard.”

B.M was obviously infuriated by her tone, and stomped up to his cousin, forgetting all about his Warrior. Ara’s blonde Warrior immediately tensed up, his Warrior instinct to protect his Master roaring to life.

“You think you can just order me around just because you won? Don’t be so arrogant now that you have a shiny new toy to play with.”

“This is my house, so I can do what I want,” something about B.M’s words just didn’t sit right with her. “And he is not a toy.”

B.m’s nostrils flared, and he was about to continue until a new voice interjected.

“Stop it, Matthew.”

The four heads turned to see who had interrupted the conversation, and Ara was shocked to find Jiwoo standing there, her arms crossed and expression unimpressed. Ara had no idea when she got here and how she knew her brother was here, but she was glad she cut in.

“It’s time to go,” Jiwoo said with a calm voice. Her main mission was to retrieve her brother.

“Sis, not now! This little-”

“You’ve had your fight, and Somin is waiting for us. We have something to do,” Jiwoo said as she glanced at Ara for a second before returning her gaze to her brother. “You know how Somin dislikes waiting.”

B.M grunted at his sister’s words, and sent Ara a glare before storming off without a word. The two siblings left not long after, with Daehyun being summoned back to his card.

Ara let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, relieved that her cousin was now gone. She noticed how B.M’s pocket knife was still on the ground, its blade penetrating the soil below. Ara unconsciously smiled, and turned to head back into her house, tired from the events of today.

The blonde Warrior followed his master, but not before sparing the sharp object a glance. He was honestly surprised when his Master began taunting the stranger to leave after their fight, witnessing how her eyes flew to the injured Water Element every now and then. He knew she was distracting him from defacing his card, he wasn’t stupid. But the question was, why?

The blonde Warrior returned to his card upon reaching his Master’s bedroom, a puzzled expression on his face.

_____

an: I hope the fighting scenes so far don't sound too cringey, because I have no idea how to write them lmao. I just wrote down what I pictured in my head, but I hope they make sense ㅠㅠ