Chapter 4: Training with the Ice Queen

The evening class finally ended, and I stretched my arms lazily.
Waiting by the corridor, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, was Deeksha.

"You ready for training, Ash?" she asked, her sharp eyes locking onto me.

I sighed dramatically. "Deeksha, I'm seriously tired. I’ve been running all day."

Of course, what she didn’t know was that I had already undergone two years of insane training... in a parallel world, inside my dreams.
But there was no way I could explain that.

"No excuses!" she declared, grabbing my sleeve and dragging me along.

Before I knew it, we were walking to a large playground near her house.
It looked like a private garden, lush and beautifully quiet.
Apparently, it was her secret training spot.

"Let's start with basic spells," she said, her voice serious.

She raised her hands and summoned a sharp wave of ice magic toward me.
I stood still, letting it hit.

Nothing happened.

Deeksha’s face froze in shock. "W-What?! Why didn't it affect you?!"

I chuckled and explained, "It’s my skill—Reversal. I can negate opposing forces, which makes enemy spells useless against me."

She stared at me like I'd grown another head.
"You can even reverse my spells...?"

"Yup," I said, smirking. "Here, watch this."

I focused, applying Reversal to myself—and the next second, I was floating in mid-air, weightless.
I had reversed gravity!

Deeksha's mouth dropped open.
"You even floated...?!"

She looked a little sad, like something was weighing on her heart.

"If I had your skill..." she whispered, "maybe I could have saved Ram faster yesterday."

I floated back down and patted her shoulder.
"It's not about the skill," I said gently. "It's about the will to protect."

The sadness in her eyes faded, replaced by determination.

Trying to lighten the mood, I grinned.
"How about a game of badminton instead of boring spells?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Badminton? With what?"

"You’ve got ice magic, right?" I said, chuckling.
"Create two rackets and a ball. Just focus your magic and imagine the objects."

Skeptical, she tried it.
To our surprise, two beautiful ice rackets and a frozen shuttlecock appeared between us.

"Whoa, nice job!" I clapped.
"Looks like you’re better at this than you thought."

I secretly scanned her with my palmtop device—and something popped up.

"Deeksha, did you know your ability is Skill Sync  ? It lets the user instantly absorb knowledge or skills by seeing them once.That’s why you’re always topping the class," I teased.

Instantly, her face turned red with anger.

"W-What did you say?!"

She started chasing me around the field with the ice racket.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry! Please forgive me, Class Rep!" I laughed, dodging her swings.

"Don't call me that! Call me by my name!" she yelled.

"Okay! Sorry, Deeksha!"

After a good few minutes of chaos, we finally settled down and actually played badminton.
Turns out, Deeksha was way better than me.
She crushed me in every match.

But it was fun.
For the first time, she wasn’t the cold, serious girl from class.
She was laughing, smiling, and… blushing.

As we packed up, Deeksha looked down shyly.

"Thanks," she said softly.
"For helping me... and for making me forget my worries for a while."

We shared our contacts before waving goodbye.

"See you tomorrow, Ash," she said, giving a small, sweet smile.

"Yeah! See ya!"

I walked home, the cool breeze ruffling my hair.
It only took 20 minutes to reach my house.

After a refreshing bath, I flopped onto my bed, tired but happy.

Ping!

It was a message from Deeksha.

"Tomorrow... can we visit Ram's house together?"

I smiled and replied instantly.

"Of course."

"I'll wait for you near the park. 10:00 AM sharp."

Feeling more relaxed than I had in days, I closed my eyes, letting sleep take over.

But just as I was drifting into peaceful dreams...

The Time Dock locket hanging on my neck started to glow.

A faint hum filled the air.

Before I could react, I reached out—and the moment I touched it, everything changed.

I was pulled into a strange, dark place.
An endless void.
No light.
No sound.
No people.

A chill ran down my spine.

"Where... am I?" I whispered, feeling fear grip my heart.

And even worse—
I suddenly remembered.

Tomorrow, Deeksha was waiting for me.
We were supposed to visit Ram together.

But right now, trapped in this unknown space...
What was going to happen next?

(To be continued...)