Chapter 40: No Time to Waste

  Kaelin’s breath came in short, measured exhales as she struck forward with a precise, sweeping motion. Her wooden training sword clashed against the dull steel of her instructor’s, the force of impact sending vibrations up her arm. She gritted her teeth, adjusting her stance, but the moment she did, a sharp tap landed against her ribs.

  "You're still too stiff, Kaelin." The voice was even, but firm. "Move with the attack, not against it."

  Kaelin exhaled sharply, stepping back. "I'm trying, Caeria."

  Caeria studied her with a critical eye. The woman was lean and sharp-featured, with a duelist's grace in every movement. As the academy’s primary combat instructor, she oversaw the training of students who lacked strong offensive magic. This included Kaelin, whose Time threads weren’t exactly known for brute force.

  But knowing that didn’t make it any less frustrating.

  Caeria tilted her head. "You're overthinking again."

  Kaelin frowned. "No, I'm not."

  "You are," Caeria said without missing a beat. "Swordsmanship isn’t about reacting to every single movement. It's about feeling the flow of battle. If you hesitate, you lose."

  Kaelin tightened her grip on the wooden sword. "Then let me try again."

  Caeria arched an eyebrow, but nodded. "One more round. Then you're meeting with your team."

  Kaelin barely held back a groan.

  She stepped forward, trying to loosen her posture the way Caeria had demonstrated. The moment Caeria moved, Kaelin reacted instinctively, bringing her sword up in a desperate block. Too slow. The impact rattled her bones, and before she could reset, Caeria shifted, knocking her weapon aside with ease.

  Another hit to the ribs.

  Kaelin cursed under her breath.

  Caeria lowered her practice blade, expression unreadable. “You rely too much on brute force,” she said. “That works when you're stronger than your opponent. You're not.”

  Kaelin's jaw clenched. "Then what should I be doing?"

  Caeria gave her an appraising look. "You're a Time wielder. You need to fight like one."

  Kaelin blinked. "That would be easier if I could actually use foresight."

  "It might be easier, but remember, the majority of time wielders aren’t able to do it either. If Aric sees it in you, I’d trust him. But you might want to hurry up," Caeria gestured toward the far end of the field. "Because I doubt Kana is going to w ait for you to catch up."

  Kaelin turned her head, catching sight of Kana standing near the edge of the training grounds. The other girl hadn't even glanced in her direction.

  Kaelin exhaled sharply.

  "Go," Laecia said. "And don’t waste her time."

  Kaelin didn't argue.

  She was already certain Kana thought she was a waste of time.

  ***

  Kana barely acknowledged Kaelin as she approached, her arms crossed as she surveyed the training field. She always carried herself with that same sharpness, an air of control Kaelin could never quite decipher.

  Still, she stopped beside her, folding her own arms.

  "We need to figure out how we’re going to do this."

  Kana glanced at her. "You mean how I’m going to have to carry this team?"

  Kaelin bristled but forced herself to keep her voice steady. "You don’t even know what I can do yet."

  Kana’s lips curled, creating a disappointing look. "I have a pretty good idea."

  Kaelin clenched her jaw. Of course she did. Kana’s affinity wasn’t Time – it was Mind. She could read surface-level thoughts, twist perceptions, influence decisions. It wasn’t omnipotent, but it made her obnoxiously good at understanding people before they even spoke.

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  Which meant she probably already knew how badly Kaelin was struggling.

  "Can you not dig through my head right now?" Kaelin muttered.

  Kana sighed, as if she were the one dealing with a headache. "Relax, I don't have to. You wear everything on your face."

  Kaelin scowled. "If you’re so good at reading people, why don’t you use it to make sure we don’t fail this exam?"

  Kana turned to face her fully. "Because it doesn't work like that."

  Kaelin frowned. "What do you mean?"

  Kana hesitated, just for a second, before schooling her features back into neutrality. "I can’t force someone to do something they don’t want to do. I can nudge them, influence them, but if they have a strong enough will, they can push back."

  Kaelin absorbed that. "So if I wanted to, I could block you out?"

  Kana’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. "You think you could."

  Kaelin didn’t press the point.

  Instead, she exhaled and refocused. "Fine. You nudge people. What else?"

  Kana’s expression turned calculating. "I can disrupt focus. Throw off someone's thought process. Make them doubt themselves, hesitate at the wrong moment."

  Kaelin nodded slowly. "So… you’re just for support, basically."

  Kana shrugged. "I guess you could say that.”

  Kaelin rolled her shoulders, thinking. "And if we are in a battle, what’s your biggest weakness?"

  Kana arched an eyebrow. "Other than my brilliant, unreliable teammate?"

  Kaelin shot her a glare, but Kana didn’t drop the amused look.

  After a long pause, she relented. "I don’t have the kind of magic that wins a fight directly. I can make some illusions, sure, but I don’t hit hard. If someone gets close enough to swing a sword at me, I’m at a disadvantage."

  Kaelin filed that away. "Then we need to keep enemies at a distance."

  Kana hummed noncommittally. "Which would be easier if you had actual combat magic."

  Kaelin forced herself to keep her voice level. "That’s what the sword is for."

  Kana didn’t say anything for a moment, but there was something unreadable in her gaze. "We’ll see."

  Kaelin hated how much doubt was packed into those two words.

  Still, they had something now. A rough idea of what Kana could do, at least.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  Kaelin still couldn’t see the future. And if she couldn’t unlock Time Sight before the exam, she could very well end up as dead weight.

  She knew it.

  And worse, so did Kana.

  ***

  By the time training ended, Kaelin's frustration was reaching a breaking point. Her muscles ached from sparring, her mind felt heavy with doubt, and despite hours of effort, her magic remained just as stubbornly unresponsive as before.

  The pressure was suffocating.

  She wasn’t like Zephyr, who had effortlessly mastered futuresight. She wasn’t like Kana, whose abilities, flawed as they were, still functioned.

  She was stuck.

  And failure wasn’t an option.

  "You're thinking too hard again," Kana’s voice cut through her spiralling thoughts.

  Kaelin exhaled through her nose. "And you're always in my head."

  Kana rolled her eyes. "You don’t have to be a mind reader to see how obvious you are."

  Kaelin hesitated, the words from earlier looping back. You’re trying to push through it instead of actually understanding it.

  Maybe Kana wasn’t wrong. Maybe she was forcing it too much.

  But she didn’t have time to slow down.

  Three days.

  That was all she had to make this work.

  ***

  Her dormitory was quiet when she entered, the faint glow of enchanted lanterns casting long shadows along the walls. She dropped her wooden sword onto her desk and sank onto her bed, rubbing her temples. Futuresight was supposed to be her key advantage, but it remained stubbornly out of reach.

  Aric had told her it was possible. He wouldn’t have said anything if he hadn’t believed it.

  So why wasn’t it working?

  She thought back to what Caeria had said earlier – fight like a Time wielder. But how? ‘Futuresight wasn’t something she could force. It wasn’t about brute strength.’ At least that’s what they all kept saying.

  Maybe she was approaching this all wrong.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock at the door.

  Kaelin sat up, surprised. No one usually sought her out this late. “Come in.”

  The door swung open, and to her mild irritation, Kana stepped inside without waiting for an invitation. She closed the door behind her, leaning casually against the frame.

  "You look like you’re thinking too hard again," Kana said, her tone dry.

  Kaelin sighed. "What do you want?"

  Kana tilted her head. "You said we need to figure out how we’re going to do this, right? So let’s figure it out."

  Kaelin frowned. "You mean now?"

  Kana smirked. "What, were you planning to sit here and hope the answers come to you in a dream?"

  Kaelin scowled but didn’t argue. She had been hoping for some kind of breakthrough. Kana, annoyingly, had a point.

  "Fine," Kaelin muttered, standing. "What’s your idea?"

  Kana’s smirk faded slightly, her expression turning more calculating. "Your problem is obvious. You’re treating your magic like it’s a wall you have to break through. It’s not."

  Kaelin folded her arms. "Then what is it?"

  Kana shrugged. "A thread, duh. It’s a connection. Something you have to listen to, not force."

  Kaelin hesitated. A connection…. The phrase stuck in her mind. It made sense, in a way. Threads were the foundation of magic. Every wielder had their own, and Time was no different. But she had always imagined her magic as something external, something she had to grab onto.

  What if that was wrong?

  Kana must have seen the shift in her expression because she continued, "If I had to guess, your magic is already trying to tell you something. You just aren’t paying attention."

  Kaelin exhaled slowly. She didn’t like taking advice from Kana, but she had nothing else to go on. "Alright," she said. "So how do I listen?"

  Kana gave her an unreadable look. "That’s something you’ll have to figure out yourself."

  Kaelin rolled her eyes. "Of course it is."

  Still, she felt the first spark of understanding. If she wanted to use Futuresight, she had to stop forcing it. She had to let it happen.

  The realization didn’t solve everything, but it was a start.

  Kana pushed away from the door. "We’ll test it tomorrow. Try not to fall apart before then."

  Kaelin shot her a glare, but Kana was already gone.

  Kaelin sat back down, pressing her hands against her temples.

  Three days.

  She had to make this work.