The early morning sky streaked with shades of purple and gold. Elias stood at the shoreline once again, the surfboard under his arm. His muscles were sore from yesterday’s repeated attempts, but the fire in his chest burned brighter than the fatigue. He had gotten close—so close—to keeping himself balanced on energy alone.

  Today, he would push further.

  Selene stood nearby, arms crossed, her sharp gaze on him. “Same goal as yesterday,” she said. “No physical contact with the board. Your energy should be the only thing keeping you afloat.”

  Elias nodded, already feeling his energy stirring as he walked into the waves. This time, he wouldn’t just try—he would do.

  He paddled out, catching the first real wave of the morning. As it built behind him, he adjusted his stance, let the energy flow through his feet, and then… lifted.

  For a moment, everything held. The board remained beneath him, glowing steadily. He was riding on nothing but his own energy, his body balanced perfectly—

  And then he tensed up, thoughts going haywire, breaking his focus. The glow wavered. The board dropped.

  He hit the water hard, salt burning his throat.

  Selene shouted . “Stop second-guessing! You either commit or you fail. No in-between. Think back to how you managed to surf over the difficult waves or even stay afloat on your board in the first place”

  Elias clenched his jaw as he surfaced. She was right. Hesitation was his enemy here. He had done this before, in moments—so why not fully?

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  He climbed back onto the board, shaking off the frustration. This time, he closed his eyes for a brief moment, steadying himself. Instead of forcing the energy, he let it come naturally, the way his instincts told him to.

  The next wave approached.

  Elias took a breath.

  The board glided beneath him, his feet hovering inches above it, connected only through the shimmering energy he controlled. The wave carried him forward, and for the first time, there was no flicker, no loss of balance. He leaned into the turns, his energy shifting with him fluidly.

  Selene watched from the shore, arms still crossed but with a small smirk playing on her lips. He’s got it.

  As Elias continued riding the waves, Selene felt a twinge of familiarity as well as jealousy. She remembered her own struggle with energy flow years ago.

  She had trained with a bow and arrow, but channeling energy into her shots had been impossible at first. Her power would either explode too early or fade too soon. No matter how many targets she hit, she could never hold the energy long enough to make it lethal.

  Then, after weeks of frustration, her teacher had changed her training grounds.

  Instead of a shooting range, he had taken her into the depths of the forest.

  “Feel the stillness of the place,” he had told her. “Let the environment guide you.”

  It had worked. The forest had given her something the shooting range never could—the sensation of true hunting. While she was growing up, she used to go on hunts with her father. She had literally grown up hunting in forest. It came as a second nature to her.

  She wasn’t just aiming at a target anymore; she was tracking prey, adjusting for movement, controlling her energy with precision.

  And just like that, everything had fallen into place.

  She shook herself from the memory, her gaze returning to Elias. He was on the final stretch of his ride, moving with a control she wouldn’t have expected from him.

  He was learning faster than she had.

  As Elias reached the shore, breathing heavy but eyes gleaming with pride, Selene simply said, “Tomorrow, we go back to weapons.”

  His grin widened. “Sword?”

  She smirked. “Hammer too.”

  Tomorrow, the real test would begin.