Stuck in the Shadows

Syra tested Kibeom’s skills and abilities in hand-to-hand combat and found that the information she had read on the clipboard may have been incorrect. It was written that he “is smart and athletic” however, the ‘athletic’ part was misleading. He may have been good at sports humans play, perhaps, but he was terrible at combat.
“Guard! Guard! Do you even know what the stance is?!” Syra shouted. She had had Kibeom change into a padded suit designed to help beginners get better at taking hits and guarding against being hit, however, Kibeom just seemed to try and dodge and hope for the best. Syra purses her lips and tries not to sigh. He looked completely and utterly pathetic, and it’s as if they were going in circles.
“I thought you were smart.” She chides.
“As a standard human, I am!” Kibeom protests.
“A standard human’s instinct is to guard. Of all the humans I have trained, you are by far the worst at guarding.” Kibeom looks at his feet and says nothing. He wanted to say something, but he was just so out of breath. He had been training for God knows how long and the padded suit wasn’t exactly the breeziest of garments to wear.
“We’ll just have to work on your defence, I guess. Go change, it’s time to do something different.” Syra says in defeat. She’s mentally exhausted and frustrated with Kibeom, and figures that maybe he’ll be better at defence the next day.

Kibeom walks to a large glass cylinder that starts from the floor and reaches the ceiling. He had gone into it to change into the padded suit and was quite excited to be in it again. He presses the pad, and the door slides open. He steps in and the door closes behind him. Kibeom stands in the middle of the floor and a panel of settings appears in front of him. He touches “padding OFF” and “training clothes ON” in succession and then presses enter. A cylindrical tube encases him, and the strange feeling of being in a Jacuzzi envelops him. Several seconds later, Kibeom emerges in fresh training clothes and feeling like he hadn’t been sweating heavily just minutes before. The magic these aliens have come up with is amazing, he thinks to himself.
“Ok! Listen up. You’re going to attack me now.” Kibeom’s eye lit up when he heard Syra’s words. His expression completely changed and he happily charged. His fists swung quickly, and his footwork was quite good. Syra noted that he already had the correct stance down pat. However, he just needs to be able to hit her. Syra chuckles and puts a hand on Kibeom’s head.
“Stop.” Kibeom stops and looks at her.
“That was good. You have the correct stance, and you’ve got the basics down pat. At least you aren’t COMPLETELY hopeless at combat.” Kibeom grins happily, excited that he was finally being praised.

Physically drained, Kibeom drags himself out of the glass cylinder again, but this time wearing his original clothing. Syra falls in step with him, as she escorts him to the double doors.
“You did a wonderful job, Kibeom. I’m extremely pleased with the training session.” She says cheerfully.
“I thought you were mad at me just a little bit ago?” Kibeom can’t hide the surprise in his voice. Syra had just been screaming her head off at him about the guard stance, but now she’s happy?
“Oh, no need to worry about that.” She laughs and waves it off with her hand. The duo reach the double doors, and Syra gives it a slight push and it opens. Kibeom feels himself slightly redden upon remembering his earlier encounter with the doors.
“Follow me. You next session will be to train your powers.”
“Powers?” Kibeom is taken aback. Only weird people have powers, and even then, not even real ones.
“Yes. Part of the criteria for becoming a guardian is to have powers.”
“But I don’t have powers.”
“Actually, you do. However, they just needed awakening.” Syra smiles warmly at him and continues. “When a human turns 18, their powers are usually awakened. It isn’t something they notice, though, and their life continues as normal. Our radar will usually pick up humans whose powers have been awakened and we transport them here to train them.”
“So, this isn’t actually a joke?” Kibeom still finds the notion of becoming some supernatural being difficult to digest, and still expects his friends to pop out from a corner and laugh at him, telling him everything was just a joke.
“No, I’m sorry, but it isn’t. I’ve trained enough humans to have insight to the difficulties you face when trying to adapt and cope to circumstances that have been changed abruptly. I’ll just put it out there that if you feel lonely, I’ll be here to have a conversation with, ok?”
The warmth in Syra’s words give Kibeom comfort, and he nods at her. They reach another set of double doors and Syra opens them for him.
“Inside is another trainer. Good luck.” She lightly squeezes Kibeom’s shoulder and then walks away.

Kibeom’s footsteps are slow as he hesitantly walks into the room. It is a large library, with rows and rows of shelves. It is unsettling how empty and void of living things it is.
“…Hello?” Kibeom’s voice echoes all around him and his eyes wander around. Maybe he’s in the wrong room?
“What are you doing, human? Hurry up and come here!” A familiar voice snaps at him, and Kibeom picks up his pace. His feet lead him to the back of the library. To the right, there is a shelf, and to the left there is a space with a wooden chair in the middle and the man from before standing behind it.
“Human, you know I hate tardiness. Hurry!” Now that Kibeom could see him in a better light, he noticed the spiraling tattoo on the man’s neck. The man was quite muscly and his bald head had a strange sigil a top it. His eyes were an intimidating green.
Kibeom walks to the chair, and sits on it.
“I will be training your powers. Are you ready?”
The man looked at Kibeom and Kibeom gulped.

Notes