Raphaelias face paled with horror as her gaze pierced the sky. Taking in her first sight of the primordial evil that claimed the moon as it's new home.
Verotide had the celestial body in a chokehold as he rests. Mountains of muscle and claws large enough to cleave a person in half have fallen to her blade. Still the thought of going up against an abomination like that made her blood run cold.
Callum followed her eyes and stared at the beast. "That's Verotide, Lord of the void." Expecting more questions to arise and come his way from the fear ridden woman. Instead he got just two words that left him with questions.
"I know."
The answer shocked Callum but before he had a chance to ask about her knowledge on the primordial evil. Raphaelia turned her head back to him. A new found determination lighting aflame underneath her clear blue eyes.
"We don't have time for you to learn slowly. Stand now!" Her intensity forced Callum to his feet. Awaiting her command to come, he perked his ears but it wasn't words that came to him.
In a sudden flash his chest was met with a shot from a cannon. Raphaelias heel dug deep into his side as she stand turned to him. The round house sent Callum reeling and flying through the air.
Gasping for air as he lay on the ground he looked up in surprise to see Raphaelia standing over him. Her beauty and power commanding authority as she stare down at his broken figure.
"The quickest way to a full awakening is through the press of death. You'll either learn to adapt. Or you'll die by my hands." Her gaze turned ice cold, giving off the harsh vibes of a cold blooded killer.
Callum scrambled to his feet but it was all for naught. His chest was on fire from the kick, the wind still struggling to return to him. In a gesture for mercy Callum's hands pushed out in front of him.
Raphaelia met the gesture with no mercy still.
She walked towards the wounded young man with cold indifference. She took two steps toward him and then disappeared from sight.
A moment later the world was spinning as Callum's body flew through the air once again.
The imprint of a fist engrained into his umbilical. His body flew back a few feet till a hand grasped the collar of his shirt.
Plucking from the air before diverting the force down, slamming his back hard against the barren dirt ground of the crater.
Callum's instincts kicked in, time moved slower for a few moments. He watched in slow motion as the leg of his mentor came slicing through the air towards his ribs.
Right before the kick connected to leave a mark of decimation across his body. The black vapor appeared, focused in the middle of his body. Creating a pocket of void to take the brunt force of the blow.
A smirk lit across Raphaelias face, she backed off long enough for Callum to struggle to his feet. The sound of labored breathing was coming from one side only.
The ragged boys clothes were in tatters. He was beyond exhausted but the feeling of summoning the void to protect himself was fresh in his mind.
"Let's start again." With those three simple words the onslaught resumed. Raphaelia took a forward step and bolted in to the right with a low center of gravity.
Her foot planted hard into the barren dirt. Leaving a strong imprint as her body twisted in an upward spiral. Launching an uppercut towards Callum's center mass.
Callum managed to keep his eyes locked on her this time. Noticing her lithe and supple muscles flex in her sleeveless armor.
Callum made an attempt to slip the shot but his body had no way of keeping up. Her fist landed flush into his sternum. Sending a shockwave reverberating through his chest.
The thought of death crossed Callum's mind. Realization that receiving even one or two more of her thunderous blows. Would be certain death.
His mind cleared, calling upon the black vapor willfully this time. A pool of deathly looking smoke appeared behind the beaten young man. Marking his escape as he flew back into it.
His consciousness held on by a thread as Callum took in his surroundings. The gutless feeling of butterflies fluttered in his stomach. His eyes darted and a stark realization took place.
The ground was miles beneath him and to make matters worse. The ground was coming towards the half conscious young man at an astonishing speed.
Moments before Callum's heavy eyes fully gave way to the exhaustion that was brutally beaten into his body. A strong and slender pair of arms wrapped underneath his falling body.
"Good work, we'll continue once you've rested." Raphaelia jumped into the pitch black vapor right behind him.
Holding Callum in his arms as she plummets down to earth like an angelic messenger. Bringing forth the fallen hero.
The last string of consciousness severed from Callum's exhausted body. Falling asleep in Raphaelias arms felt like a dream come true to Callum.
If only the reason he was sleeping wasn't because she just finished massacring him.
Once awoken, Callum was laying in a separated infirmary within the citadels parliament building.
Callum went to make himself stand, only to find pain was the only signal his mind could process. Raphaelia hit him with such a force that ribs felt cracked and aches appeared all over his exhausted body.
Callum laid back in the cot, attempting to keep his body still to prevent provoking the aches plaguing his body.
After about 10 minutes of resting in silence the door of the infirmary swung open. A lady walked in with a wrinkled complexion and grey hair tied up in a messy knot of a bun.
Dressed in a white lab coat with a red cross patched into the left shoulder. She made her way over to the young man with a senile cadence and a shaky gait.
Callum stared at the elderly hunchback, without a word leaving her weathered lips. She put a hand over Callum's body. With it a red glow appeared.
The blood in Callum's body began to circulate, seemingly centered around the area that the frail hand glided over.
Callum's body began to feel a bit better as the rushing of the blood flushed the contaminants within his body to one central location.
The pain followed suit and focused in the area where his body ran hot with the circulating blood.
"Now try not to die okay." The old lady was staring right at Callum as the morbid words reached his ears.
A moment later a large knife pierced Callum's left abdomen. The old lady holding the blade as the red light began moving from her hand to the blade. Radiating and pulling the blood towards it.
Callum's consciousness faded out once again.