Effortless Grace

Carmicheal

I threw myself back, harshly, barely managing to dodge the attack. I brought my blade up to parry, but the creature was too fast. The blade was flicked coolly out of my grasp and the creature attacked. I returned the attack the only way I knew how, I punched it in the face.

It burst into several tiny pieces.

Darn Poring. I ambled back to collect my modified Main Gauche, which seems to work only for those without experience in battle. Which is just as well, considering it works for me. I adjusted he straps on my backpack, straightened the eggshell on my head, and paced slowly towards Izlude. I heard a howl, and saw several wolves sprinting towards me. So I did what any sane person would do...

I ran.

I sprint up the hill, getting closer to Izlude. The wolves cries were growing louder, apparently, they were gaining ground on me. I felt one dive for me, I shifted all my weight to the left, side-stepped, and continued running straight for the sanctuary the town provides. One of the wolves leaped, so I ducked. He went sailing over my head, and landed between me and the town.

The wolf howled in challenge, and I drew my blade; time to die like a hero. I charged the beast, and its jaws ripped into my arm and threw me to the ground. My arm, now dripping with blood, pulsed with pain. I shoved myself to my feet, determined to go like a warrior, at least. One arm limp, one arm functional, and all bad luck; the working arm was my off-hand. I parried the strike poorly, the blade was sent careening off into the water, and Izlude was only a few paces away. I made a run for it, leaping over the wolf, and broke into a sprint. I was a few paces from the guard's line of sight. That's when the other wolves caught up, and tore into my leg with bestial strength. I feel to the floor, broken and bleeding. I closed my eyes and accepted what may come.

Oddly enough, the scratching, biting, and ripping just stopped. I shivered, afraid to ruin my safety by seeing what was going on. A young female thief, about 5' 8", was taking on the wolves. Her slashes were quick and precise, going straight for weakening points. I struggled to get up, to help her, but my legs were useless at the moment. So I stared at her.

I don't know if you've ever seen someone really, really graceful do some sort of dance, or perhaps a master doing Tai Chi. Their movements are completely graceful, without error, and efficient. Her movements oozed of grace, practice, and devotion. The wolves, fast as they were, couldn't keep up with her. Her short hair shifted gracefully with her, it's movements a short second behind hers. Her features were very attractive, and held sort of innocent cuteness, as opposed to the sensual "comehither" that some girls manage to do. The kind of face that told me she was a nice girl. Her body wasn't terribly muscular, just a well-toned set of hardly visible muscles. After the last wolf fell to her blade, my angel walked over to me.

"You okay?"

I swallowed hard, nodding. "Yeah."

She leaned over to get eye-level to me, and her cleavage became very clear to me. I tried not to stare at it. Tried…

She just smiled, and sat down near me, apparently unaffected by my stare.

"You're new to this, aren't you?"

I wasn't sure if she was talking about dealing with a lady, or battle. "Yeah."

Both were true. She reached into her pouch and handed me a red leaf of some kind.

"Chew on it, it'll make the pain lessen." I did.

"Thanks."

"Hey, what's your name?"

I smiled, or tried to, it must've looked ghastly. "Arin."

"I'm Riven, nice to meet you."

Well, I've never taken a course on diplomatics with women, or anything with women, for that matter. But I was of the age where testosterone had it's say in most of my thoughts. Her smile was angelic, and her beauty unrivalled. Her smile stayed on her face.

"Thanks for saving me. I was sure death had caught me."

"How could I let a cute little adventurer like you die?"

Cute? Did I hear that right? Oh continue as if I didn't.

"So, you're a thief, yes?"

She nodded.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to help me, would you?"

She shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

I gathered all of my strength and hopped to my feet. She lead me to a different area, both Rockers and Poporings were looming here. They scared me, a lot.

"Don't worry, I'll hold their attention."

All long legs and grace as she sprint for the nearest one, I followed, my pace nominally less impressive. While running, I grabbed a vial with a warm, red liquid, downed it, and saw my angel blocking and dodging several Rockers at once. I sprinted after them.

I slid my knife slowly out of its sheath and slashed at the Rocker, unprofessional, harsh, and weak. I blade barely cut into the Rocker, but still elicited a scream from the beast. Riven simply stepped on it's foot as she dodged, harmless, but annoying, the Rocker began attacking her again. This went on for several moments, until all of the Rockers' corpses were at my feet. She smiled at me. "Good job."

I nodded, "Thanks. You're really good."

She smiled, and I returned it. "Thanks, you're a nice man."

I shrugged.

The bladed dance, Riven dodging, Rockers attacking, me slashing, went on that way for several hours, neither me nor Riven spoke much during that time. In the end, we were both exhausted and needed rest. She lead me to Izlude, brought me into her cottage, and she cooked some dinner. I was surprised that she was doing this for a stranger, and I held on to a hope the she maybe liked me. Y'know, liked me.

We both ate dinner fairly silently. She broke the silence.

"So, have you picked a job?"

I nodded, "Swordsman."

She nodded, "Okay, that sounds cool."

After dinner, I helped her with some dishes, and we retired to individual rooms.

The following morning, I was awake first, and went into the kitchen to grab a drink. Her bare feet padded quietly behind me.

" 'Morning, angel."

She arched an eyebrow at me, "Angel?"

Oops, I said that out loud.

"It's a nickname I gave you, considering you saved my life. Like a guardian angel, or something."

She digested that information, then nodded, "Okay, you can call me that."

I smiled, so maybe she did like me.

"Well, I'm off to go meet my boyfriend, don't mess up the place."

The door closed, but my mouth hadn't recovered from the shock. Riven... boyfriend? She had a boyfriend? I wandered out the door and into a nearby building. A large man rumbled as he spoke. "Ah, a new recruit for a Swordsman, yes?"

I nodded, feeling very small. His voice nearly shook the room.

"Okay, sign up in the next room, and take the test."

I nodded, and spoke to the guard. He tossed a gem at it, and the room imploded, then another exploded in it's place. I was in the testing ground. I felt an unearthly voice.

'Arin, now challenging the testing grounds!'

I drew up my dagger and prepared for the worst.

I saw a long, narrow path. My talents involve speed and balance, so this cat-walk will be a walk in the park for me. If they made me do it in high heels, though, that would be a different story.

I sprinted down the corridor, easily deflecting the smaller monsters that got in my path. I jumped down ledges and climbed stairs. The whole thing, while stamina-draining, was fairly easy. I arrived at the last room, one person was standing there. "Congratulations, you've passed the test." I smiled.

Before I knew it, I was standing back in the room I was before. The swordsman behind the counter, his deep voice booming, smiled, "Congratulations, young one. You will make an excellent addition to our ranks."

I feel something deep inside me release, and I felt less heavy, and more composed. No matter my stance, there was an obvious way to attack, and to move. It's like something I knew from a long time ago just jumped back into my memory. It felt nice. I lifted my dagger in my hand and did a practice swing, as I did, the blade wavered and broke.

Apparently I had too much experience to use this old knife anymore. I tossed it into a trash collector nearby and strode purposefully toward the weapon and armor shops. The armor I had on was much like the knife, it became useless. I bought a muffler, a mantle, and a blade.

The light hit me as I stepped outside, my new Swordsman equipment made me look better. I walked confidently toward the exit of town. Nothing could ruin this moment for me.

I was dead wrong. I stepped outside town, and saw two forms; one, a beautiful woman, Riven, and the other, a man, whose features seemed bland. The man had a very average height, very unassuming features, and even a dull voice.

"So, you helped a new guy out this morning?"

She held a smile that lead me to believe that she liked this guy a little more than me. But this guy was practically a robot. He turned and glanced at me.

"Hey there, you do realize that eavesdropping is rude."

I nodded, apologized, and wandered over into the sun, still barely in earshot. I laid here, looking like I was asleep, and listened.

"Riven, I love you." I heard his armor clink as he kneeled down. "Will you marry me?"

As though I summoned it from my surprise, a beast appeared and began attacking Riven. She barely saw it in time, and shifted her weight fluidly, and began dodging it easily. I recognized how she was doing it, and I looked a lot easier now. The guy, whom I'll refer to as Martin, (a bland name for a bland guy) got up, growled angrily at the beast who interrupted him, and bore his sword down in a deadly arch. The beast dropped with one blow.

Martin drew out his ring, again, and proposed. Now, if you've ever seen a proposal. It's usually very emotional. Martin, on the other hand, managed to make that look boring, as if he's telling her something while tying his shoe. How in Rune-Midgard did this bland person have better luck with women than me?

More howls erupted from the background as several more wolves began their attack.

The wolves dove at me, Martin, and Riven. I'm still not strong enough to take on a wolf by myself, but at least I can hold my own. Riven and I danced in and out of the wolves bites and scratches. Bland Martin, on the other hand, took them, and countered with earth-shaking blows. The wolves around him let out yelps, probably very weak at this point. He drew the sword high, and brought it down, a shockwave of energy, explosive, drew forth from the ground and ripped into the wolves' flesh. They all dropped.

Shortly, with Martin's help, Riven had taken hers out. I was too busy dodging blows to counter-attack. Riven slid beside me and attacked with me, both our movements coordinating surprisingly smoothly. When the wolf looked away from me, I attacked. She dropped to the ground, defeated. I smirked, and gave her thumbs up. She blinked at me, and then it dawned on her.

"Arin? Is that you?"

I nodded, "Yep."

She made a circuit of me, whistling. "You look good as a swordsman."

I gave her a confident smirk. "Yeah."

Martin glared at me from the background as Riven and I made small talk.

She continued to stare at me. "Wow, look at you, Arin... You look... handsome."

I gave her my best winning smile. "Flattery will get you everywhere, dear."

She laughed, and I smiled easily. "You seem so different."

Apparently, confidence does a lot for your charisma. "I'm still the same."

She glanced at me up and down, "No, you're much more muscular."

I smirked, "I am as I am."

She giggled, and it was a lovely sound. Martin shot me a glare promising death, or at least, as angry as I've ever seen bland Martin. I didn't strike fear into me heart, at all.

Martin stepped up to us. "Hey there, eavesdropping person." I gave him a mechanical smile, which probably annoyed him more, but his features looked no different. Smiling, when timed correctly, is infinitely more annoying that anything you can say. Riven looked up at him. "Oh, Arin, this is Martin, a friend." What? Martin is actually his name?

I smiled at him, and thrust my hand forward, "Hey there, Martin." He ignored me.

"Riven, so, I'm a friend, is it?"

She glared over at him, and muttered, tried to get me not to hear, "Martin... Be nice, I like this guy."

His eyes narrowed, well, kinda, but bland-man Martin can't really show much emotion. I smiled at him, and I was pretty sure something like anger appeared almost unnoticeably on his features; had I been walking by and glanced at him, I've have never noticed it.

A goddess of beauty stepped between us. "Guys, I know I'm attractive, but let's not get violent, here." She glared lightly at both of us, but more at Martin. I smiled lightly at her, and her features softened. I stepped over lightly, and kissed her. Her eyes jerked open in shock, and lowered slowly. Her body melted into mine, and Martin was fuming in the background. No matter how I describe it, no matter what bland-man does, it's hard to emulate the lack of emotion in his actions.

Riven pushed off of me and took a breath. "Wow."

Martin simply drew his sword, bored-looking, and got into a stance suggesting death to me. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed. Riven looked at him and shook her head, in a 'don't do this' fashion. He did it.

Martin's a hulking ox of a man, and was slower than a slug trapped in a bowl of salt. I managed to easily side-step his attacks. Ever once in a while, the ground shook as he used a skill that swordsmen seem to acquire. I simply hop back, clearing myself of any danger. Martin snarled, as much as I could imagine Ben Stien snarling, and paced quickly after me. It really just looked boring. After a few minutes of me dodging, and bland-man Martin, Riven's voice shattered our battle.

"STOP IT!"

I looked at her, apologetic. Martin was silent, staring blankly at her. She growled at him. "MARTIN! Go away, before I hurt you." His features didn't believe she could, which was wrong, considering that if I could dodge his attacks that easily, her more agile form could attack while doing it, too.

He glared at her, a glare suggesting he was squinting to read something, not the anger found in other people's eyes. What can I say, he's bland. But he just turned and walked away.

Riven glanced at me and smiled sheepishly.

I stepped forward and kissed her again. Her body pressed into mine, and I felt her tongue try to push through my lips, I let it in.

After our tonsil hockey match, Riven and I sat in the grass, panting.

She smiled at me, and I smiled back at her, behind her, in the distance, I saw Martin, he mouthed a challenge to me, I shot it down with a simple shake of my head. He glared at me, and I really was expecting a line like, "I'll get you next time, gadget." or something equally cheesy. I returned my attention to Riven.

"Want to go get some lunch?"

She nodded. We both got up, kissed again, and ambled, hand in hand, back into town.