Later that day, Noon, Oblitesco
~Landon’s Perspective~
Me, Pax, and William sit across from Theos. We eat our food quietly, tension in the air. William has a black eye forming and Pax looks exhausted.
I sit silently, feeling guilty for what happened this morning.
It started at a field where we were practicing. Well, more like I watched while Pax and William sparred with each other.
During the spar, Pax threw aside his weapon and ran at William with his fists. He dodged William’s response relatively quickly but ultimately lost.
“Sloppy,” I had murmured to myself a bit too loudly. William and Pax overheard and looked at me.
“What?” Pax asked.
“I said you’re sloppy,” I responded. “You have no form when you’re fighting without a weapon. You’re going to get yourself killed in real combat, especially if your opponent has a weapon and you don’t. You’ve fought with weapons for so long you’re acting as if you can’t fight without one.”
Pax went silent for a moment before he gave a response.
“Why don’t you train me?” he had asked.
“No,” I responded. “I’m here to help you, not train you.” It’ll also bring unwanted attention. But I didn’t say that to them.
“Really man?” William had responded. “Can you at least put some thought into it?”
“No,” I stated firmly.
William sighed. He looked annoyed.
“Then why did you say anything in the first place?”
The atmosphere froze.
“What?” I had replied. “Can you clarify what you meant?”
“Think about it. You barely said a single thing the whole trip here when you were the one who approached us. You mentioned Altavista and then told us to forget what you said. And now you’re telling Pax what he did wrong but refusing to help fix it. What are you doing?”
I stood up and got in his face.
“I’m just fucking observing you, that’s all. Why are you so interested?”
“Because I don’t know if I can trust you to properly help us.”
I saw red the moment he said that.
“Take that back,” I had growled.
“No, ‘cause you’re being selfish. All you’ve done is keep your secrets. Well guess what. We have them too. But at least we aren’t trying to hurt others by keeping them.”
I lunged at him at that moment. We started beating each other up, tumbling across the field until Pax got involved and eventually used his magic to create a weak explosion that sent us in opposite directions. He stood between us and yelled for us to stop fighting. That was when an old man appeared behind us. It was Theos.
And now we’re here, eating food with an atmosphere more volatile than a room full of gunpowder barrels.
“I can ex-” begins Pax.
“Don’t,” interrupts Theos. “I saw everything.” He sighs.
“We’ll hold it off for today. You all are obviously not in a good mood and I don’t think it will do you any good.”
“What?” William asks. “You’re doing that over a scuffle?”
“He’s right, Will,” says Pax. “We can’t fight together like this.”
Will gets up. He’s angry.
“We spent a whole day getting ready, and you just want us to take a break? I can’t believe it! Your trial is the whole reason we even went here!”
He points at me.
“Landon over here refuses to help us in any way. He has so many fucking secrets, and his refusal to say anything isn’t helping either.”
He storms out. The air is uncomfortable.
“Well then,” states Theos. “I’ll be going now. You two should talk.”
He gets up and walks away.
Pax sighs.
“Where do you want to talk?”
End of Chapter XIII