Chapter 2 - The Training

This is the second chapter of the book

At the moment of sunrise for the next day, Kafziel woke Kenan up. “Rise and shine Kenan.” said Kafziel as she patted Kenan’s chest with her palm. “This feels so ironic. I am waking up and you are the first face I see again.” said Kenan as he got up to his feet. “You got that right. Just to be clear at this moment forth if you are not eating or sleeping, you are training to be a time mage. Now I need you to dress into these.” said Kafziel as she handed Kenan a pair of men’s gym clothes. “I understand. I will put that on.” said Kenan as he went to the bathroom to change clothes. “Good. When you are ready, head outside with me to the yard.” said Kafziel. When Kenan finished, he followed Kafziel out to the estate yard. As Kenan made it outside, he noticed there were multiple tennis ball machines aiming right at him. “What’s with those things Kafz?” said Kenan. “For your training you are going to use your power to stop the tennis balls from each machine before they hit you.” said Kafziel. “I see. I will try it.” said Kenan. “Kenan. You either do it or you do not. There is no trying when it comes to fighting in the real world. Before you begin, I need you to drink this.” said Kafziel as she handed Kenan a small plastic bottle with a red liquid inside it. “Is that red wine?” said Kenan. “Yes, it is.” said Kafziel. “I’m going to keep this a secret from my parents since I am not old enough to drink yet.” said Kenan as he took the bottle and drank the substance completely and swallowed it. “Very good. Now begin. Get on the yard and stand at least ten feet away from the machines.” said Kafziel. Kenan did as Kafziel said and waited for the tennis balls machines to shoot. Kafziel then pulled out a remote control from her dress, pressed a button on it and caused it to shoot tennis balls at Kenan. With a quick act of thinking, Kenan put out his right palm in front of him and yelled, “Stop!!!” Unfortunately for Kenan, the balls continued to come right at him striking various parts of his body. At an instant, Kafziel stopped the machines and grabbed Kenan out of the way of fire. “There we go. You okay Kenan.” said Kafziel. “I am all right Kafz. I do not understand. The balls should have stopped coming. What is wrong?” said Kenan. “I do not believe it is the magic Kenan. It is you.” said Kafziel. “What do you mean?” said Kenan. “You have doubts in yourself. You do not believe that you can save the world.” said Kafziel. “To be honest. You are right. This is impossible.” said Kenan. “Nonsense. You must do something to destroy that. Do it and you will have control of the magic.” said Kafziel. At an instant Kenan began to chuckle and said, “You think?” Kafziel gasped and said, “Oh no. A demon possessed you.” Kenan laughed more as the belief of doubt grew stronger. “Possessed. No. I am just speaking the truth that I cannot accomplish anything.” said Kenan as he laughed even more. “That is, it. I refuse to allow you to be inside my friend. Now I am going to cast you out.” said Kafziel as she grabbed Kenan and extracted the demon out of him. Kenan screamed through the duration of the extraction and landed face up on the ground. Kenan remained unconscious until he woke up on Kafziel’s lap. “Kafziel. What happened?” said Kenan as he held onto his forehead. “You were possessed by a demon.” said Kafziel as she showed Kenan a demon trapped in a jar. The demon resembled a parasite that was no larger than a car key. Kenan looked at the jar closely and said, “What the hell is that?” “This is a shakin. It is a demon of doubt. Kenan, you are incredibly lucky I was here to get it out of you.” said Kafziel. ‘I am sorry Kafz. I just thought that I could not accomplish this.” said Kenan. “Kenan. It is all right. I should apologize. I was not thinking about the pressure I put on you. If you want to quit, you can. I will not have any resentment towards you if you do.” said Kafziel. “No Kafz. I still want to train. I do not want Astaroth to possess anyone ever again.” said Kenan. “Great. Now how about you get up and try again? If you fail, you can try again after that.” said Kafziel. Kenan did as Kafziel said and went back to the tennis ball machines. This time Kenan stared at the machines as if they were demons coming right at him. “Kafz. I am ready!!” said Kenan. Like before, Kafziel hit the switch on her remote and fired the tennis balls at Kenan. As the shots were getting closer to Kenan he took a deep breath, extended both of his hands and the tennis balls stopped. The tennis balls remained in the air frozen in place. “Well done, Kenan!! Excellent job!!” said Kafziel “Yes!! I did it!! I did it!!!” said Kenan as he approached one of the frozen tennis balls and grabbed it. “Now Kenan, remember there is still more training I have for you.” said Kafziel. “Okay.” said Kenan as he grabbed all the frozen balls and returned them back to the machines. And with that, Kenan went along with the training for every waking moment as Kafziel commanded.