The forest had changed.
Not in shape.
Not in colour.
In behaviour.
The wind no longer rushed through the branches. It moved carefully, slipping between leaves instead of tearing through them. Birds kept their distance from the clearing, circling wide before choosing where to land. Even the insects were quieter, their hum subdued, respectful in a way that had nothing to do with fear.
At the centre of the clearing, a man knelt.
Derek's blade rested across his thighs, edge dull with use but clean. His breathing was slow, controlled - not the rhythm of rest, but of readiness held in reserve.
He opened his eyes.
The air shifted.
Someone was approaching.
He didn't turn.
Didn't need to.
Footsteps reached the edge of the clearing - light, measured, unhurried.
"You're late," Derek said.
A voice answered calmly. "No. You're early."
Derek exhaled once through his nose, the faintest hint of amusement passing through him. "That used to be my line."
The presence stepped into the clearing.
Taller now.
Lean where he'd once been narrow. Shoulders set not with tension, but with balance. His once dark hair now flourished into a dark yet still bright blonde tied back simply, eyes steady and sharp without being hard.
Vernon stopped a few paces away.
Mana brushed the air around him - not flaring, not hidden. It moved the way breath did, subtle and constant, present without demand.
Derek rose smoothly to his feet.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Derek nodded once. "When have you learnt to stop announcing yourself?"
Vernon inclined his head slightly. "It's been a while, you taught me it was wasteful after all."
"Did I?" Derek asked dryly.
"You taught me a lot of things without saying nor mentioning them."
Derek studied him more closely now. The way Vernon stood. The way his weight was centred. The way his eyes tracked not just Derek, but the space between them.
Bruce, Vernon and Derek had split up the sparring's into 1 spar a month the change itself making Vernon train by himself outside of his fathers sight meeting to either eat or spar once in a while, Bruce on the other hand was more in sight as he trained his father's martials arts and had to be guided, meaning.. that Vernon had some tricks up his sleeves that he wouldn't reveal all at once.
"...Good," Derek said at last.
Vernon's mouth twitched. "That's it?"
"That's enough."
The clearing shifted again.
Another presence arrived - louder, heavier, impossible to miss.
Bruce dropped from a tree branch without a sound, landing in a crouch that cracked the dirt beneath his boots. Frost bloomed briefly at the point of impact before vanishing, absorbed back into his body.
He straightened, rolling his shoulders once.
"Morning," he said.
Derek's gaze snapped to him instantly.
The change was... dramatic.
Bruce was broader now. Scarred. His movements carried weight even when he wasn't trying. Qi pulsed beneath his skin in steady waves, no longer flaring wildly, no longer restrained - simply there.
"You didn't announce yourself either," Derek said.
Bruce grinned. "I figured if I did, you'd pretend not to hear me."
Derek snorted. "You'd still be in the dirt."
"Probably," Bruce admitted. "But now it'd hurt less."
That earned a short laugh.
Only one.
The forest breathed.
Derek stood at the centre.
This time, his Qi was not restrained.
It rolled beneath his skin in a low, steady current, reinforcing bone and tendon alike. Not flaring. Not dominating.
"You two ready?" Derek simply said while smirking measuring the distance between them both.
"We always are." Vernon replied in a confident tone.
Present.
Bruce moved first.
Not with a charge - with a step.
Grass tore free beneath his heel as he shifted his weight, fingers snapping down to pluck several blades mid-motion. Qi surged, cold flooding outward with precision.
The grass vanished.
A heartbeat later, it screamed through the air.
Ice-coated needles fanned outward in a tight arc, each blade hardened, sharpened, spinning fast enough to hum.
Derek's eyes narrowed.
He swept his arm once.
Qi flared.
The needles shattered mid-air, ice exploding into harmless mist - but the ground beneath his feet cracked as he absorbed the impact.
"...Third stage," Derek muttered.
Bruce didn't slow.
He was already moving again, body adapting before thought could catch up. Frost traced his path as he closed the distance, fists reinforced, breath steady despite the strain beneath it.
Derek met him head-on.
This time, the impact echoed.
Bruce slid backward several steps - not thrown, not overwhelmed - matched.
Derek felt it.
He's stabilised it, Derek realized grimly.
The memory surfaced unbidden - Bruce clutching his chest years ago, eyes wild as something inside him had broken open. That same ominous pressure Vernon had endured. That same instability.
He'd survived it.
More than that - he'd stabilized it.
Derek's gaze sharpened. "Your eyes."
Bruce grinned through clenched teeth. "Yeah. They've changed."
He lunged again.
This time Derek struck back with Qi fully engaged.
The clearing shuddered.
Vernon moved.
Lightning did not form in his hand.
It spread.
Mana threaded outward through the ground, along Bruce's ice-slick trail, riding the frost like a conduit. Vernon's fingers brushed stone as he passed, and the world unfolded beneath his senses.
Not sight.
Touch.
The wall of the clearing wasn't just there - he felt it. The density of stone. The hollow spaces. The way roots pressed through cracks beneath the surface.
Derek felt the shift an instant too late.
Lightning erupted along the ice trail, surging upward as Vernon vaulted forward, dagger already in hand.
The blade sang.
Lightning wrapped around it, not wild - disciplined, layered, controlled. Each movement altered the charge, shaping it mid-swing.
Derek pivoted, parrying Bruce with one arm while twisting away from Vernon's strike.
The dagger passed close enough to burn.
Derek hissed, Qi reinforcing his side as he leapt backward.
"You've peaked second circle?" he said asked smiling.
Vernon didn't respond.
He listened instead.
The clearing spoke to him now - pressure, resistance, vibration. He stepped where the ground was weakest, struck where Derek's Qi displaced the air unevenly.
Bruce adapted again.
He scooped another handful of grass mid-exchange, but this time didn't throw it.
He crushed it.
Ice burst outward after a tiny delay, flash-freezing the moisture in the air, obscuring vision as Bruce disappeared into the fog.
Derek smiled.
He struck the ground.
Qi detonated outward in a controlled shockwave, clearing the mist instantly.
Bruce was already airborne.
He twisted mid-leap, eyes glowing faintly as they tracked Derek's centre of mass with unnatural clarity. His kick came in low, frost reinforcing bone.
Derek caught it.
Barehanded.
Qi surged.
The impact drove both of them into the dirt.
Vernon didn't hesitate.
Lightning snapped downward, not at Derek - at the ground beside him. The charge rebounded, arcing unpredictably through the frozen soil.
Derek released Bruce instantly, leaping clear as electricity surged upward.
He landed several paces away.
Breathing harder now.
"...You're using each other better than last time," Derek said.
Vernon's voice was calm. "We learned not to waste terrain."
Bruce straightened, frost creeping up his forearms as he exhaled. "And not to fight alone."
A change in airs around Vernon - raw pressure from concentration building around him.
Derek planted his feet.
Qi flared higher.
Vernon moved attempting one last attack, he motioned forward - twisting his arm into place "Thunder-" he didn't say but stated. FingersSnap "-Strike"
The forest leaned away.
A quiet long minute passed.. tension building on Vernon. "I didn't kil-"
Through the smoke the only thing heard was Derek's laughter and the small adjustments.
"Hahaha.. Forcing me to keep up," Derek said laughing.
He stood there, almost as if witnessing a miracle - smiling. Not even a scratch on him.
Then he moved.
In the small instant a cold sweat came over Vernon and Bruce, with their father using his Qi openly tides would change - after all the only way to close a gap between a stage two Arcanic and a Stage three Qi martial artist - is battle experience, weapons - or advanced techniques and spell-work Vernon and Bruce had neither of those for now.
The next exchange blurred.
Derek struck faster now, harder - Qi reinforcing every motion. Bruce met him blow for blow, adapting mid-impact, body compensating instinctively. Ice shattered and reformed with every exchange. With each exchange met he felt it - Derek was still holding back immensely only using Qi to match Bruce's level and that he would do the same for Vernon.
Vernon wove through it all, lightning altering the battlefield - electrifying frozen ground, destabilizing footing, forcing Derek to constantly adjust.
Still, Derek pressed them back.
Experience mattered.
Until it didn't.
Bruce pushed harder - past his limit. He feinted high.
Vernon moved faster - more precisely. He struck low.
Derek countered both-
-and Bruce's fist clipped his shoulder, frost biting deep.
Derek staggered half a step.
Silence.
Then Derek laughed.
Low. Rough. Proud.
"...Fourth stage," he said to Bruce. "When you reach it, I'll pass on the eyes."
Bruce's breath hitched. "The... what?"
"The eyes your grandfather gave me," Derek said. "And his father before him."
Vernon felt Bruce's focus spike - not greed.
Purpose.
Derek exhaled.
"That's enough."
The Qi receded.
The forest relaxed.
Bruce dropped to one knee, instantly studying the entire sequence of events in that short exchange, whilst his frost melted into the dirt.
Vernon steadied himself, lightning fading as his senses slowly narrowed back into something manageable.
Derek looked at them both.
Not children.
Not students.
"..I thought you'd have more trouble this time," he said quietly. "Yet you have surprised me again."
Bruce smiled weakly. "We weren't planning to stop."
Vernon nodded once. "There's still more to digest."
Derek's mouth twitched.
"Good," he said. "Because the world won't wait another four years."
The forest listened.
And remembered.