Chapter 2
The fishes swam in loops; slowly brushing by. They were all as large as Casey, and their glows were enough to throw moving shadows from the workers onto the cave's walls. The cisterns depth, and its darkness, made it hard to see past them.
"This is so awesome dad. Can I come tomorrow and put up cameras?"
"But you've got to deal with the stuff for work first, Case." His dad smiled.
"He brought everything already," Joshua said. "I'll go get the rest of the stuff from the truck bed."
"Henry brought in a ladder, so you don't have to lift in one of those." John pointed to a stone column. "It's behind there."
As Casey passed him by, he felt a pat on his shoulder.
He did his work with accuracy and speed not befitting his age. He and Joshua had the place all set up in under an hour.
They had brought solar panels, batteries, and an inverter to run the site off of.
Outside they set up the batteries in a mobile plastic shed. So that draft, or dust wouldn't affect them. They'd be on this site for a while. The portable shed was a time saver.
Casey cleaned his hands on a rag, watching as the grease and dirt simply smeared along his skin. He sighed, knowing he'd have to go home dirty again tonight.
Joshua and his dad stood in the parking lot.
Joshua said, "I'm having a bad feeling about this." He asked, "Since when do we need close ties to Cordonne?"
"Well, I've heard some things recently, Josh. Some people I respect think that it might be needed. But for me, I think they're acting too early. It'll unsettle some people."
Joshua usually had an interest in anything on social media. Casey had to admit he usually knew what he was talking about—unless it was about women. He chuckled quietly.
Casey threw the rag in the back of the truck and placed his briefcases in the back seat.
"Kid." Joshua looked for backup. "What do you think?"
"About us and Aelteia joining the Southeastern Coalition of countries? It'll do us good as a country. And the elves too."
Joshua spoke. "Bimini doesn't need the coalition. We're a self-sustaining. Okay, sometimes we might need some help from the elves, but we don't need anyone else."
John walked off for a moment and came back.
"Case, drop Josh off for me? The cars are getting service tomorrow."
His dad jumped into his car and drove off. He did that a lot, leaving without saying where he was going.
It was six by the time they'd finally left. The clouds had cleared up. The ride to Joshua's home was smooth now, because the quarry rocks had been pressed by Henry.
Joshua lived about four miles away from Casey. Old Providence was a mixture of trees and homes in the western section, and purely urban in Casey's area. The eastern section. And, to the south was a business district. Everything there was at least three stories in height; and it all sat near the coast.
There weren't any real laws that really stopped a store from being in any district, so there were a lot of small businesses in Old Providence.
They passed by less, and less trees, and started to pass by porch lights instead. Speed bumps, and stop signs increased too, then they came to a wooden, white three bedroom home. Joshua's.
He said goodbye and left quietly. On the ride over; he'd been smiling and mumbling. The way he was texting gave Casey some ideas.
Casey drove towards his neighborhood. He didn't stop for any food or drinks on the way there. He really just needed some rest right now. Their home was a two-story building, with four bedrooms. It was a lot for two people. Light-brown, with white sidings. He passed through the stained glass doors, and immediately, he made his way to the shower. Wanting the experience gone from his skin.
He heard as his father came in much later that night.
Casey found sleep harder to grasp. This period would've been when he'd to talk his ex. Now… it was just empty.
Another hour of discomfort, and he was finally asleep.
Part2
Casey woke up and the sun was barely on the front of the house. Right now felt so much better than last night. And even last night had been an improvement on letting go of the relationship. It had been his first.
When he wasn't too exhausted, he'd train himself. Today was one of those days. Running his fingers through his low cut, Casey sat up for a bit. He prayed, and grabbed his practice sword. He made his way to the backyard.
He wore a thin black t-shirt, and white sweatpants. Casey stood still and allowed his eyes to adjust to the flimsy light, then placing his wooden sword against the glass back door, before walking onto the lawn.
The light was morning purple on this side of the home. Because it hadn't warmed the wind, it felt cold out.
Casey traced everything just to be sure of his privacy.
A brown fence surrounded everything. A bed of flowers was just inside. The well-kept lawn filled the rest of the space to the pool. And the pool was a teardrop; white stones were around its rim. Though it created a unique problem for him. He puffed his nose, in irritation. He hated the smell of chlorine.
He closed his eyes. Sorcery worked by feeling the source of an element through the nodes in the body. Heat from light from the sun could be collected, that heat could be gathered as mana, and projected from a specific node.
A sorcerer's body could feel some mana, not as much as a node, not as accurately. Because of this, Casey strengthened himself with composite mana. A mixture that was just basic, healthy stuff.
His upper body moved unnaturally fast. The air being torn apart as he twisted his blows. His guard stayed tight. Wind whistled, loudly.
His legs bounced back and then stepped in. Lowering himself to land a liver blow. Sliding his left foot to the left to throw a sharp unchambered uppercut.
He moved well. Through sets of punch combinations, dodges, and beautiful parries. The unarmed movements lasted fifteen minutes, exactly.
The sword swings were patient, andwatchful. He used a single-handed sword. This blade would leave blurs in the air. They lingered. Then you would see the blur collapse. He moved faster. Leaving fourteen blurs in two seconds. As they collapsed, a heavy messy wind swept through all sides of the backyard.
His dad tapped on the back glass and mouthed, nice. Smiling and holding both thumbs up.
Casey gave a laugh.
While working out just now he had made a breakthrough. He tightened his fist and held a primal shout. The smile never left his face.