章 33: Control. - Part 5.

Arthur was stunned on the spot, but only a few seconds after the animals began to grunt, the space a few meters around the bed began to ripple, and the sound of the grunts disappeared, at this moment Samantha's voice echoed.

- The stick may not help now, but familiarizing yourself with the power of the second mark is important, now for the first, all of them are the key. - Samantha said without looking at Arthur, she was calmly looking at the various clusters of animals as she spoke.

- Are they the key? - Arthur asked as he looked at all the monsters with a confused expression.

- Yes, if you can control the teleportation spell, the others won't be too much of a problem. After all, the biggest difficulty now is understanding how your soul and mark work together. - Samantha, who was still gazing at the various flame beasts, turned, and faced Arthur after saying this.

- How are they going to help me? - Arthur asked with an expectant look as he stared into Samantha's eyes.

- Simple, you'll run! - Samantha put a mischievous smile on her face as she stared at Arthur's reaction.

- Run? - Arthur was stunned as he looked at all the animals outside, and a little panic appeared in his expression before he asked. - All of them? I-I have to run from all of them?

- Of course not, I'm still teaching you, right? - Samantha's answer, which was supposed to reassure Arthur, didn't reassure him; on the contrary, Samantha's answer, together with her playful smile, caused Arthur's panic to increase dramatically.

- Yes, you're teaching me..., But Samantha, how can I run all that way? - Arthur asked with obvious apprehension on his face.

Samantha looked at Arthur seriously, and then asked. - Arthur, what mark are we practicing?

- The mark of space?

- Yes, so answer me, how exactly do you think it should go? - Samantha asked, still with a serious face.

Arthur stopped to think for a moment, and after several seconds of thinking he realized that he had been wrong about "running" and asked Samantha. - Do I have to teleport away from them?

- Yes, that's it for a month. - After Arthur realized he had to teleport, Samantha's gaze softened again.

- What comes after a month? - Arthur asked a little perplexed.

- You'll start familiarizing yourself with the power of the second mark from now on, and in a month's time you'll need to fight back instead of just running away...

Arthur's face paled as he imagined the scene in which he would have to fight all these monsters, and even a little sweat began to trickle down his back, but before he could argue with Samantha her voice sounded again. - But there's still a whole month to go, so for now just hold on to it. Let's focus on this month's training now. - Samantha stopped talking and walked forward and a screen of black flames appeared, and, on this screen, white letters appeared describing the training.

When Arthur read everything that was written, his fear diminished as the feeling of anger grew inside him. He stopped looking at the blackboard and faced Samantha before asking in a low voice. - Are you serious?

- Yes, why? - Samantha replied with a puzzled look on her face, as it seemed from her expression that Arthur's question didn't make sense.

- Why? Look at this crazy workout! - Arthur shouted with his eyebrows furrowed as he pointed at the blackboard with a shaky finger.

Samantha stopped and looked at the blackboard and read again the details of the training she herself had created.

Training considerations:

1º It is possible to use the animals formed by your own flames for defense, however, in addition to being weaker they are at a considerable numerical disadvantage, it is recommended to use them only to gain a few seconds.

2º It is advisable to use your hearing as much as your sight in order to escape without being surrounded.

3º Once a day, at a random time, Samantha will call you, the place where the voice comes from will be the safe place of the day, you must teleport at the same moment as the voice sounds so that the place is active.

4º the safe place can be used for thirty minutes each practice session, and you can use it once or whenever you feel tired."

- Hmm... I'm not sure what the problem is... Where's the problem with the training? - Samantha asked, observing the blackboard of flames while scratching her chin with a perplexed look.

Arthur stared at Samantha with his mouth ajar and a perplexed look on his face after hearing what she said, only after several seconds did, he recover and shout. - How can I do all this?! The difficulty is ridiculous!

- The problem is the difficulty? - Samantha asked as she looked at him with an inquisitive expression.

- Yes! Of course, the problem is the difficulty! Do you think that's realistic for a beginner's workout?! - Arthur shouted with obvious irritation in his expression.

- Arthur, you're wrong, this training isn't for a simple beginner. - Samantha said as she watched Arthur with a serious expression.

- I realize that! And in case you've forgotten, I'm a beginner!

- I know that, but... If, in the future, a demon decides to attack you, will you say he's being too harsh? If you get in the way while you're running, or someone important to you cries out for help and you can't get to them, will you say it's unfair? - Samantha said as she looked straight into Arthur's eyes.

Arthur remained silent as he stared at the serious look on Samantha's face, and thinking about her words his anger softened, and his expression softened; at the same time, instead of anger a gigantic fear arose inside Arthur. Arthur was a little frightened by Samantha's words, but what really terrified him was the thought of his little sister crying out for help and him simply not being able to save her. At the thought of this possibility, he just shut his mouth and bowed his head without complaining about the difficulty of the training.

- Do you really want me to make it easier? - Samantha asked as she looked at Arthur, who was currently keeping his head down.

- "No," Arthur replied in a low voice as he nodded.

- Very well. - Samantha walked to the edge of the space she had cordoned off after saying this.

When Samantha reached the edge of space, she raised her hand into the distorted air. Then, as if a fire was burning, the flickering air stopped, and a passage opened up. Once the space in front of Samantha's right hand returned to normal, the previously vanished grunts came flooding back.

Arthur looked into space, and knew that he had to cross this space and start running with all his might, and knowing this he didn't wait for Samantha to tell him to go, he got out of bed on his own and with the flame staff firmly in his left hand he walked towards the exit, every step he took towards the exit he felt the fear and apprehension inside him rising, but strangely he became more and more excited too; the closer he got, the greater his fear and anticipation became, and this caused Arthur to start running towards the entrance, his eyes focused only on the entrance as he ran, and soon he was leaping through the entrance towards several different animals, most of which started to advance against Arthur, while some tried to stop this advance.

- It seems that the fire element must be his second brand, it helps him to be more decisive as expected... Well, that's good, it'll help you control your power faster. - Samantha said with a smile as she made her way towards the bed Arthur had been on earlier. As she sat down on the bed, she covered herself up and waved her hand upwards as she lay there, and a screen with colored edges flickering like a candle flame appeared in the air, on the screen an image appeared, it was an image of a little boy running desperately from a pack of monkeys and towards an elephant, his face showed despair and he was shouting something, but it wasn't possible to hear any sound that matched the scene as the screen only showed images.

Seeing the look on the boy's face, Samantha smiled and said to herself. - Two hours is enough, after that we'll teach him some exercises to practice during the day and call it a day. - Samantha said with a smile on her face, and started humming as she watched Arthur's desperate escape.

"This is already the second chapter where the last paragraph has disappeared when viewed on cell phones. To avoid this, I've decided to duplicate this message at the end of each chapter, hoping it will resolve the issue. If you're reading this, I apologize if it's intrusive, but it's a better solution than leaving the chapter incomplete."