"So sis... I've been meaning to ask; Why do you wear an eye patch?" Henry asked
"This? I wear it for some personal reasons." Riley replies.
"Oh, sorry I didn't mean to pry." Henry apologizes
"It's nothing; as a matter of fact, I'm going to tell you, it's not a secret anyway." Henry looked at her appreciatively.
"The reason I wear this eye patch is simple, really; it's to cover my golden left eye," she said as she opened it and showed it to Henry.
"It... it's beautiful...but why?" Henry whispered enough for Riley to hear.
"Oh, sweetheart, all that glitters is not gold. As you have seen, I and your big brother here have the same eyes; we are half vampire and half witch." She said while demonstrating.
"Woah... seriously, that's way too OP (overpowered)", Henry said with glittering eyes; he was acting like a kid enjoying the victorious tales of a superhero.
'Forget it, these two are drama queen and king. He didn't react at all when I told him that, but he's acting like he didn't know. They are a perfect match against each other.' Raphael thought half annoyed. 'Seeing him like this, I'm not so sure if he's a kid.'
"Hehe, it would have been, but unfortunately, we can't harness both powers to their highest potential. We can only reach a certain level in each class, the level which is compatible with our body. If we finally reach that level, we'll meet a bottleneck and any attempt to go past our limit will have serious consequences. It's futile. Now you see how half-assed it is, right?" She asked Henry.
"I see the flaw...but I don't think it's half-assed. If you both are fluent in the use of both the witch's and vampire's magic, you'll be almost unstoppable." Henry said.
"Yes, that's right, but it's easier said than done; for us not to reach that limit, we have to train our bodies and make sure we surpass our limits.
'This idiot. What does she think she's doing blurting out our weakness like that?' Raphael barked inwardly.
"I see now, but that still doesn't explain why you decided to patch the left eye."
"Well, that's because I don't like it. It's the eyes I inherited from Mom; she's a golden race witch, and I don't like witches; why? Because they are dumb, weak and so-not-cool, I have decided to focus on the vampire's class powers instead." Riley said.
"I may not have seen them but I was taught that golden race witches are witches with golden eyes and are one of the strongest class of witches. I also read that a mid-ranked golden race could destroy a whole city with a swing of their wand..." Henry wasn't done when Riley cut him in.
"You see? Wand! That's the problem, it's so dumb. Imagine fighting and swinging a stick around, plus the casting time. They are literally depending on a stick; if it gets kicked out of their hand, they are done for." Riley pointed out.
" Well, that's too literal don't you think? Besides, most high-ranking witches don't use wands,, and their spell casting is fast." Henry said.
'What's this, a debate between kids?' Raphael felt lost.
"That's the worst and most boring part; you'd have to wait until you are a high-ranking witch to not use a wand. Your whole life will be depending on a stick until you are high-ranked." Riley complained.
"But I have never heard of a witch losing their wand in a fight." Henry pointed out
"There have been more cases than one; they are just rarely spoken of; either the witch who loses the wand never lives to tell the tale, or if they survive, they would hide it to cover up their shame. If you don't believe me, I'll invite you to watch, whenever I'm having a battle with a witch." She said with an evil smirk
Both Henry and Raphael felt 'The chills' from her.
"Oh...well, that's new." Henry managed to say.
"That aside, I see you're learning a lot about the outside world; keep up the good work, bro." She said tapping on his back.
"Thanks... I guess " Henry wasn't sure of what to say
-----------------
Henry led them to the training room–a well-equipped room that has been technologically advanced.
Once they reached the door, Riley stood at the spectator's area while Henry and Raphael headed in. On reaching the room, Henry clapped twice, and in response, a space opened from the side of the wall, offering a changing room with different types of clothes suitable for different combat types and training.
"Let's get changed," Henry said they both headed in and into suitable fighting robes. After some minutes, Henry got out dressed in a karate white while Raphael came out in a tracksuit.
"I guess we both have different tastes" Raphael said to Henry.
"I'm more comfortable in this, it gives me enough space to move the way I want to," Henry replied.
"I see," with a smile Raphael asked. "What's next on our agenda?"
"Weapons," Henry said and clapped, this time once and just like before the wall gave way to a library of weapons.
"Nice!" Raphael whistled before going ahead to look for a suitable weapon. There was a collection of wooden weapons the real ones. Raphael went for the real ones.
Upon noticing Henry said. "Why don't we settle for the wooden ones."
"Well, I personally feel that using this would make things more interesting, don't you?"
"Well...if you say so,"
"You do use them for training, right? Why do you feel reluctant to use them with me?"
"It restricts my movement if I try avoiding to hurt you," Henry replied.
"Oh, you devil, you think you can hurt me? Don't worry; you can come at me, manage to get a strike on me, and I'll reward you." Raphael laughed.
"If you say so."
"Let's get started, shall we? We don't have all day."
They both walk to the middle of the room and get ready for the fight.
"Aaaah," Raphael says as he breathes in deeply. "The sweet scent of a battlefield. This arena is your home little brother, come and show me what you've got." He said with a grin on his face.
"I'll try my best." Henry smirked