Training. The life of the Protectors consisted only of training. The anger they had accumulated after the repeated attacks on their loved ones served as gasoline to ignite their desire for revenge.

Two weeks ago, when they were forced to become fugitives, they realized that they weren't ready for the battle that would decide the fate of Umbra. If they weren't able to stop Peters' followers, much less would they be able to win against them and the demons together.

They had to raise the level of their powers, and they would only achieve this with constant training. Fortunately for them, they had a demon willing to guide them in the usage of their abilities.

"Try to focus more on the source of your power," Varinia explained to Miles. "Feel the energy of the earth entering your body."

"Even more? I want to fight, not spend all my time meditating," the young man complained.

"You won't be able to fight if you don't control your power correctly. Besides, yours is a tricky one, if you use it the wrong way you could hurt your friends," said the demon.

Lorcan watched the exchange as he rested, sitting on the floor against the wall. He held back his laughter as he heard his brother's complaints. Miles wasn't the kind of person who enjoyed sitting still for more than five minutes so learning to control his energy was a big challenge for him.

Lorcan was proud of him, he could see that his brother had grown up, months ago he would have abandoned training after the first few hours shouting that heroes don't need to practice.

Plus it was fun to see how he followed Noah everywhere asking him for advice on how to grow his muscles. The look of irritation on Noah's face every time he saw Miles approach was one of the funniest things Lorcan had ever seen.

"I made it," Flora shouted, jumping up and down. "Did you see that Clio?"

Clio turned around. "No, I didn't see it, but I'm paying attention now, you can do it again."

"Prepare to be surprised," Flora said.

She raised her arms, in each of her hands she had two small seeds. Hundreds of vines grew from her hands, surrounding her body. They then moved towards the ground and began to lift Flora's body.

"See? It's like I'm flying."

"Why are there so many plants? Didn't you only have four seeds?" Clio asked.

"I can make them reproduce, it's a little trick Varinia taught me." Flora smiled. "How about you petal, did you see what I can do?"

"Yeah, yeah, you're fantastic," Aífe said, looking away. She was too focused on the blocks of dirt floating around her.

"I wish I had a power like Flora's, it'll make things easier for me," Miles complained as he sat next to his older brother.

"I think your power is amazing, you can get rid of several of your opponents at the same time with a single shout."

“But it's very difficult to control.” Miles took a sip of water from his bottle. "Besides, even if my power was shit, you'd still say you loved it. It's like my horrible drawings from elementary school."

"Hey, the drawings were cute. I still have them in my special Miles art box."

"You have a box for my ugly drawings?"

"Of course." Lorcan smiled. "What kind of older brother would I be if I didn't keep your drawings?"

"A normal one, it's not like you're my parent. I'm sure not even dad kept my old stuff." Miles leaned his head against the wall. "You always expect everyone to have your same level of kindness. It's normal to help your neighbors fix their house, it's normal to risk your life to save others, it's always the same, you act like a hero and expect the rest to keep up with you."

"I don't expect everyone to do the same as me. I told you when you wanted to join the Protectors that it was safer for you to stay out of this."

"It doesn't count because it's another way of playing hero."

Lorcan moved his body, sitting in front of his brother. "You have to understand that most of the time I'm trying to keep you safe. Do you really think I'm interested in others seeing me as a hero? There's nothing I'd like more than to go back to the time when I could be a normal person without worrying that my loved ones may die every day."

"I do wanna play hero," confessed Miles. "I think it would be amazing to be remembered as the one who saved the village."

"I'd rather stay alive than become a nice memory. Others can think what they want about me when I'm dead."

A long silence grew between the brothers. They remained staring at the ground, as if they were reorganizing their thoughts.

"Do you think we're going to win?" Miles asked, for the first time sounding unsure. "I'm not even going to be there to see what happens."

"You have another important task, someone has to save those children. Even though they like to deny it, Bertram and Noah need you."

"I already know they need me, I'm a fundamental piece, those two would be lost without me."

Lorcan let out a laugh and slapped Miles's leg. "I see you're back to normal."

"I can't spend all my time crying in the corners. Don't you have anything to do? You've been sitting in the same spot for more than half an hour. Shouldn't you be with Agatha?"

"She's with her parents, they spent a lot of time apart, they also deserve to make up for the lost moments. But you're right, they should be finished by now, her parents had to go get something from their house, so I assume they're already gone."

"Go get your girl then, Romeo." Miles stood up. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"That leaves me with a lot of possibilities."

Lorcan found Agatha in the room she shared with Varinia. As soon as she opened the door his heart raced. He still wasn't used to seeing her every day, having fulfilled what he had dreamed of for so many months felt surreal.

He took her hand and caressed it with his thumb.

"How are you feeling today, my beautiful lady?"

Agatha smiled and pulled Lorcan into her room. "Better now that I could talk to my parents."

The young man closed the door behind him and allowed her to guide him to her bed. He sat next to Agatha, still holding her hand.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

"There's not much to say, my mother cried the whole time and my father kept repeating the same stories from when I was younger. In short, we had a great time." Agatha lay back on the bed, resting her head on Lorcan's legs.

"So what's bothering you?" He began to stroke her hair.

"Nothing."

"I know there is something, but if you don't want to talk about it now that's fine. You can come find me whenever you want."

"I can't make it work," Agatha confessed. "No matter how hard I try I can't make the scepter get more than a small ray of light. Varinia keeps saying that I'm the one to use it, that the demons tried to keep me away from it because they didn't want me to learn how to use it, but I can't do it. "

"It takes time to learn a new trick. Most Protectors practiced for months to increase their powers."

"But we don't have time. I need to learn how to use it in less than a week."

Lorcan brought Agatha's hand to his mouth and placed a kiss on it. "I trust you can do it. And I want to make it clear that we don't expect you to carry the entire weight of the battle. We're all training for a reason and we can see that you're doing your best to help."

"Well, my best isn't enough."

"Everything you do is enough."

Agatha looked up at him and smiled. "You would say that even if I were the most useless person in the village."

"Is today the day to contradict Lorcan? First Miles and now you. You're right, I'm not an objective judge, I've already fallen under your charm."

"It's good to know, it can be useful to me."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Watch me." Agatha hugged Lorcan's torso and hid her head in his stomach.

"Jokes aside, I truly believe you can do it. You're the most wonderful person I have ever met. And when the day of battle comes, I'll be there to watch your back."

"You promise?" Agatha asked, lifting her head a little to get a better look.

Lorcan leaned towards her and kissed her forehead. "I promise. I'll be there forever."