Chapter 36: In the shadows

Far away from the hideout, Dante had taken Eric to an opening in the forest. He immediately created some practice dummies which astonished the blonde haired boy. Upon seeing his dumbfounded expression, he told him the same thing Serena had said in the hideout.

"Don't worry they were just cloaked with a cloaking device", Dante scratched his head afterwards.

Not wanting to look stupid, Eric accepted this explanation. Though deep down Dante knew he could not keep on telling him this kind of lies. Lucky for him though all Eric needed to do was proof himself to him and Serena. That way they would be able to trust him with such a huge secret.

"Eric why don't you demonstrate your ability."

Moving forward, he picked a stone in his hand before closing it tightly in his palm. Taking aim of one of the practice dummies, Eric threw the stone straight for it's head. The stone did not hit it's mark but instead it hit the arm of the dummy. To Dante's greatest surprise, the stone seemed to have phased through the dummy. On a closer inspection however, he found out that it had burnt it's way through. He could tell by the red hot embers in the hole of the dummy's arm. Looking further to the stone on the ground he realized that it was red hot as well.

"Hmm, nice", Dante smirked.

"That's not all though", Eric said clearly sounding like he had more in store.

Focusing hard on the same dummy, Eric stretched forth his hand. At that instant Dante could her cracking sounds. The dummy and the ground it stood began to freeze quickly.

'So this was what he meant by being able to control the temperature of a thing from a distance', Dante thought to himself.

Eric now having a kind of exhausted look in his eyes walked over to the dummy and placed his hand on it. Within a few seconds steam could be seen emitting from it as the ice gradually began to melt. When he had fully defrosted the dummy, Eric began to stagger before Dante came to give him support.

"Hey are you okay?", Dante asked clearly concerned.

Eric didn't know what to make of this as he still felt that he didn't know where Dante stood. The previous day he had confused the heck out of him with his threat. He left Eric wondering if he really wanted to protect him. Now he was being kind to him all of a sudden.

"Yeah I am okay. I just over exacted myself. I will feel better in a minute or two."

"Why would you do that?", Dante looked slightly confused.

"So that I would leave a good impression on you with my powers. That way I won't be thrown away."

"What!? And why would I do that?"

"Well from what you said yesterday I didn't really know what to think of you anymore", Eric explained.

"Even if you have useless powers I wouldn't abandon you. My goal is to create a place where people can leave happily, a place where they wouldn't have to be terrified and most of all a place where we can work together for the betterment of humanity. I know what I said, however that is because we still have our doubts. Prove yourself and then you will be free from these doubts."

Eric now having a better understanding of the situation felt relieved. Though he was going to work as hard as he could now to win their trust.

"So anytime you use your powers you get dizzy?", Dante spoke as if he was making an assumption.

"Nah not really. I actually start getting dizzy when I use my temperature abilities on a distant object. It is super taxing on my head."

Dante at that moment began to wonder why Eric wanted to impress him with his ability. It was already quite impressive as it was.

"Why were you trying to make a good impression with your powers. Aren't they already useful?"

"Well yeah but the issue is that after using my powers a few times I get exhausted. I can't always get the target i want when using my temperature manipulation ability. If something is really large I can't change the temperature of that thing completely as well. Usually my best way of using it is by using objects around me", Eric explained with a dull expression.

"Don't worry, you just need more training", Dante attempted to cheer him up.

"I hope so."

"Come on let's get back to work", Dante and Eric went back to practicing on the dummies.

A few hours later, their training session had come to an end. Eric was currently sweating and gasping for air. This was the first time he had ever used his ability so much before. The dummies in front of them were completely destroyed. They were either frozen or burnt to a crisp.

"Nice work Eric, why don't we come back here tomorrow and practice some more", the smirk on Dante's face caused Eric to sigh.

Even though today was one of the hardest days of his life, Eric was determined to become useful to Dante and Serena. Besides his major goal was still the same. This was to take down Ren and Mia, that way he could free the people that were being oppressed by them.

"Let's head back home, it's getting dark", Dante said looking at the sun which was going down.

Turning around they began to walk towards the hideout. As they moved forward a figure from a distance watched them. This was Nightmare, and she watched them from the shadows following them carefully to their base. Upon reaching the camp, Dante and Eric exchanged pleasantries with Serena before proceeding to their rooms to rest. Serena had decided to do the same, however on sensing a strange presence in the the environment she looked around the place carefully. Unable to see anything strange, she thought it was her imagination. Afterwards she entered her room in order to rest, however she refused to drop her guard down.