Towan cracked his neck and stepped forward.
“Alright,” he muttered, rolling his shoulders. “Let’s see what makes you so unmovable.”
He launched forward—fluid and fast. His footwork flowed like water, and his body twisted naturally into a low sweeping kick followed by a rising one — just like under the waterfall.
Skybreaker: Half Form.
His heel ca crashing toward Eryndar’s side—
Thud.
Eryndar didn’t dodge.
He didn’t even block.
He just… shifted his weight.
Towan’s leg rebounded off the man’s hip like it hit a slab of Essentia-forged stone. The impact sent a shock up his spine, and he barely caught himself before stumbling back.
“Ow.”
“Predictable,” Eryndar said flatly. “Again.”
Towan frowned. “You didn’t even—ugh, alright—”
He went again. This ti with feints. A jab, a pivot, a low fake into a high hook—
Stopped. Blocked. Redirected.
Every ti he touched Eryndar’s body, the older man moved just enough. He didn’t stop the blows. He nullified them. Like his body absorbed intent and returned it as failure.
Elliot watched in silence, arms crossed.
Then stepped forward.
“Let try.”
“Be my guest,” Eryndar said.
Elliot didn’t strike imdiately. He observed. Watched how Eryndar’s foot sank slightly into the dirt. How his shoulders subtly shifted with every breath.
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He narrowed his eyes. Essentia currents were flowing—calm, but thick. Anchored.
(His weight isn’t in his stance… it’s in his flow. He’s grounding it. Like redirecting force downward instead of outward.)
He darted in, low and fast, aiming a palm strike at Eryndar’s center of gravity, just above the hip—
Blocked. Not even that. Deflected.
Elliot’s palm slid off Eryndar’s arm like water off stone. He stumbled forward slightly from his own montum.
Eryndar didn’t attack. He just watched.
“You’re both using your strengths. That’s good.”
He stepped back slightly.
“But your Essentia doesn’t follow your intent. It resists you. You haven’t taught it what you want yet.”
“That’s why your techniques don’t move anything but air.”
The brothers looked at each other.
This wasn’t going to be easy.
“Again,” Eryndar said.
Towan exhaled slowly.
He’d failed four tis now. Maybe five. He’d stopped counting after his last kick made Eryndar shift a grand total of zero milliters.
He squared his stance again, preparing for another burst. But this ti, sothing felt… off.
His Essentia pulsed strangely inside his body—like it wanted to move differently than he did. A strange rhythm under his skin. Like a step he hadn’t taken… but had once known.
He blinked.
Why do I feel like I’ve done this before?
Across from him, Eryndar narrowed his eyes.
He wasn’t watching Towan’s form this ti.
He was feeling his flow.
There it was—brief, almost imperceptible—like a ripple moving against the current. A flicker of Essentia that didn’t follow Towan’s will... but moved as if it rembered sothing.
A stance.
A rhythm.
A flow Eryndar had seen before—but couldn’t recall when.
(That pattern… no. That’s impossible.)
Towan stepped forward again, his kick chambered—form clean, focus sharp. But just as he moved, his body twisted—not according to his training, not even his intent.
His leg swept upward in a wider, sharper arc.
Not how Leon taught him.
Not how he ant to move.
But how soone else once had.
Soone Eryndar had known.
Eryndar’s foot slid back—just an inch. But it was enough.
Enough for the old warrior to feel sothing unfamiliar:
Instinctive retreat.
He caught himself quickly, grounding again.
His eyes narrowed.
“...What was that?”
Towan froze. “What?”
“That last move. That wasn’t you.”
Towan opened his mouth to argue—but hesitated.
“I… I don’t know. I just… did it.”
Eryndar stared at him, a long silence stretching between them. His frown deepened. Not in anger—but in sothing quieter. Recognition.
(Your flow moved before you did...)
(And not in your rhythm.)
But he said nothing aloud.
He saved those words for himself.
Towan stepped back, sweat clinging to his brow, chest rising with frustration.
Whatever just happened inside his body… he couldn’t explain it. And even though Eryndar had reacted, he still hadn’t moved.
Towan exhaled sharply.
Then—
“I understand it now,” Elliot said, cutting through the silence.
Eryndar turned his head, the slightest tilt of intrigue.
“Oh? Then go ahead and try,” he said, tone neutral but clearly provoking.
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