Pretty good chapter. Though very short :| Oh, sorry it took so long lol, to my few fans.
Prologue:
Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Giant beads of sweat raced down Riku’s cheek, so large that they welled up his vision, and a person could easily assume he was crying. He took numerous steps back across the large meadow, being careful not to bump into the few trees in the area as blades swirled and rampaged around his head, nearly slicing off his ears multiple times. And five years ago, each cut certainly would have.
Riku was both excited and terrified to finally be able to do a sparring match with real swords against his sensei. Shinru was, or course, a master in fighting long before Riku had even known what a sword truly was; hence Shinru was inevitably more skilled than him in every possible way. There was a little to be happy about; neither of them were using the weapons sacred to them, for Riku, Soul Eater and for Shinru, a spear that Riku had yet to discover the name of. They were both simply using weapons that resembled those two, so the danger was reduced... a little bit anyway.
Shinru took a half-step towards Riku while thrusting the polearm into his chest, only to find the boy next to him swirling the blade to either side and occasionally switching sides while slowly walking towards his sensei. Shinru rose an eyebrow, he wasn’t sure if he should scold him for showing off, or praise him for keeping his enemy guessing how he would attack by using that method.
Riku finally judged himself within attacking range and swung multiple feints before actually doing the real attack—a deadly swipe to the neck. Not a moment too soon, Shinru stabbed his blade at the flat of his student’s, sending it propelling into the air and finally stabbing awkwardly into the ground.
Before Shinru could finish the battle, via a touch with the tip of his blade to any vital part of the body, Riku pushed one leg in front of him, pushing him backwards, and used the other to push him to the side of him that his blade lay stuck in the ground. Shinru was quick to follow after him, appearing right between he and the sword, thrusting the spear. Riku’s reflexes were sharpened enough to spin around the spear while grabbing the spear just below its blade, nearly getting his hand cut off. Shinru suddenly felt himself being
jabbed by the butt of his own spear.
Riku was daring enough to try and pull the spear back and use it has his own weapon until he could grab the sword again: big mistake. The second he pulled forward, Shinru shot his blade upwards, hitting Riku on the chin with the flat of the spear, suddenly seeing nothing pass the darkness of closed eyes, the boy could only feel two, hard hits to each side and then a blade pressing against his neck. He opened his eyes to see Shinru in front of him holding the blade Riku was using to his neck with the spear behind his back and standing
on one leg as if he was a peacock of some sort.
Shinru sternly locked his gaze with Riku’s for a few more, silent seconds, the only sound being the chirping birds around them, finally, his gaze softened, “Three years and you still need more work,” he said as he turned around on his heel, mumbling curses to himself as he walked to off over a small hill.
Riku simply smiled, that was a compliment based on what he used to say. Stuff like that was basically just Shinru’s way of motivating you, he’d always say it when you were too tired to fight back so the next day you’d do twice as well, but he’d always do something that made you look like an idiot. Somehow, Shinru had found a way to say “excellent job”
once and yet was able to make him feel as though he had done horrible simply by the aura he released.
Riku ran up to him and then started to walk when he finally caught up, “So... what are we doing now?”
Shinru turned to him curiously, but still walking, “Now? I go to the tavern to try and forget about your “ostentatious” performance today,” he said, spitting out the word “ostentatious” rather than saying it.
That one hit Riku a little harder, “Washing away your horrors with mead? That sounds healthy.”
Shinru stopped and swept a leg, making Riku fall on his face, “Apparently much more healthy than you. Now go practice,” his voice held a deadly “end of story” tone.
Riku turned and walked back onto the meadow they had finished fighting on. Distaste fell upon him when he noticed the patches of blood. The distaste growing even worse when he realized most of it was probably his blood.
Riku fell on his back, lying on the ground and looking up at the sky as he watched the sun set. He never really trained when Shinru told him to unless he was actually around. And he had the feeling that Shinru knew that as well. Instead of training, he would only look at the sky, thinking of everything, the present, the past, the future, there wasn’t anything he didn’t think of. And he learned every part of the sky that there was. The constellations, when the sun sets and rises, both of the solstices...
His thoughts were cut off by a breeze... but it didn’t sound like the normal winds...
howling? And then he heard another sound, muttering... no... growling maybe? He pushed himself up alertly, still sitting, but leaning on his hands looking around frantically, eyes almost shooting out of his head.
And then he saw something, it looked like a... campfire? But the fire wasn’t the part that made his mind race, the part that made his blood boil, the part that made his skin prune. The part that put his mind in turmoil was that the fire was moving in a formation that he hated, that gave him turmoil his entire life. But the formation seemed promising, beckoning almost, it seemed like it would give him all the power in the world if he just walked towards it.
Almost like a zombie, he rose up and started to walk towards the fire as if he was hypnotized. A voice told him to stop, but another voice, a stronger, louder, and more soothing voice told him to continue towards his destiny.
He walked... towards a red cloud of fire.
Prologue:
You must be registered for see links
Chapter 1:
You must be registered for see links
Chapter 2:
You must be registered for see links
Chapter 3:
You must be registered for see links
The Fruits of Training
Giant beads of sweat raced down Riku’s cheek, so large that they welled up his vision, and a person could easily assume he was crying. He took numerous steps back across the large meadow, being careful not to bump into the few trees in the area as blades swirled and rampaged around his head, nearly slicing off his ears multiple times. And five years ago, each cut certainly would have.
Riku was both excited and terrified to finally be able to do a sparring match with real swords against his sensei. Shinru was, or course, a master in fighting long before Riku had even known what a sword truly was; hence Shinru was inevitably more skilled than him in every possible way. There was a little to be happy about; neither of them were using the weapons sacred to them, for Riku, Soul Eater and for Shinru, a spear that Riku had yet to discover the name of. They were both simply using weapons that resembled those two, so the danger was reduced... a little bit anyway.
Shinru took a half-step towards Riku while thrusting the polearm into his chest, only to find the boy next to him swirling the blade to either side and occasionally switching sides while slowly walking towards his sensei. Shinru rose an eyebrow, he wasn’t sure if he should scold him for showing off, or praise him for keeping his enemy guessing how he would attack by using that method.
Riku finally judged himself within attacking range and swung multiple feints before actually doing the real attack—a deadly swipe to the neck. Not a moment too soon, Shinru stabbed his blade at the flat of his student’s, sending it propelling into the air and finally stabbing awkwardly into the ground.
Before Shinru could finish the battle, via a touch with the tip of his blade to any vital part of the body, Riku pushed one leg in front of him, pushing him backwards, and used the other to push him to the side of him that his blade lay stuck in the ground. Shinru was quick to follow after him, appearing right between he and the sword, thrusting the spear. Riku’s reflexes were sharpened enough to spin around the spear while grabbing the spear just below its blade, nearly getting his hand cut off. Shinru suddenly felt himself being
jabbed by the butt of his own spear.
Riku was daring enough to try and pull the spear back and use it has his own weapon until he could grab the sword again: big mistake. The second he pulled forward, Shinru shot his blade upwards, hitting Riku on the chin with the flat of the spear, suddenly seeing nothing pass the darkness of closed eyes, the boy could only feel two, hard hits to each side and then a blade pressing against his neck. He opened his eyes to see Shinru in front of him holding the blade Riku was using to his neck with the spear behind his back and standing
on one leg as if he was a peacock of some sort.
Shinru sternly locked his gaze with Riku’s for a few more, silent seconds, the only sound being the chirping birds around them, finally, his gaze softened, “Three years and you still need more work,” he said as he turned around on his heel, mumbling curses to himself as he walked to off over a small hill.
Riku simply smiled, that was a compliment based on what he used to say. Stuff like that was basically just Shinru’s way of motivating you, he’d always say it when you were too tired to fight back so the next day you’d do twice as well, but he’d always do something that made you look like an idiot. Somehow, Shinru had found a way to say “excellent job”
once and yet was able to make him feel as though he had done horrible simply by the aura he released.
Riku ran up to him and then started to walk when he finally caught up, “So... what are we doing now?”
Shinru turned to him curiously, but still walking, “Now? I go to the tavern to try and forget about your “ostentatious” performance today,” he said, spitting out the word “ostentatious” rather than saying it.
That one hit Riku a little harder, “Washing away your horrors with mead? That sounds healthy.”
Shinru stopped and swept a leg, making Riku fall on his face, “Apparently much more healthy than you. Now go practice,” his voice held a deadly “end of story” tone.
Riku turned and walked back onto the meadow they had finished fighting on. Distaste fell upon him when he noticed the patches of blood. The distaste growing even worse when he realized most of it was probably his blood.
Riku fell on his back, lying on the ground and looking up at the sky as he watched the sun set. He never really trained when Shinru told him to unless he was actually around. And he had the feeling that Shinru knew that as well. Instead of training, he would only look at the sky, thinking of everything, the present, the past, the future, there wasn’t anything he didn’t think of. And he learned every part of the sky that there was. The constellations, when the sun sets and rises, both of the solstices...
His thoughts were cut off by a breeze... but it didn’t sound like the normal winds...
howling? And then he heard another sound, muttering... no... growling maybe? He pushed himself up alertly, still sitting, but leaning on his hands looking around frantically, eyes almost shooting out of his head.
And then he saw something, it looked like a... campfire? But the fire wasn’t the part that made his mind race, the part that made his blood boil, the part that made his skin prune. The part that put his mind in turmoil was that the fire was moving in a formation that he hated, that gave him turmoil his entire life. But the formation seemed promising, beckoning almost, it seemed like it would give him all the power in the world if he just walked towards it.
Almost like a zombie, he rose up and started to walk towards the fire as if he was hypnotized. A voice told him to stop, but another voice, a stronger, louder, and more soothing voice told him to continue towards his destiny.
He walked... towards a red cloud of fire.
