Morning Stroll

Atka finally reached the top of the bank. Although wet from his swim, he handled the cold beyond human limits. His swim was superhuman in itself, the strait that seperated america from asia.

"Well well, what do we have here?" A strange man stepped on the rock where the boy grasped. His english was perfect, which didn't make sense for a Siberian. Unlike Atka who still wore some warm clothing, this one was insane to wear nothing but pant and boots. This stranger grabbed Atka by the head and lifted him effortlessly. It didn't register until now, when Atka had a clear look at the man's torso. There, on his abdomen, was a great fanged mouth, open and ready to devour anything. "You'll make a nice snack!"

Atka kicked and screamed as best he could, but the stranger merely laughed as his second mouth enlarged. It was entirely possible for this mouth to swallow the boy whole. He shut his eyes, waiting for whatever pain would come his way once he was eaten. This moment did not come, and Atka opened his eyes to see a wall of ice over the mouth.

"That is going to far, Griffith!" The yell was a language unfamiliar to Atka. It belonged to a blonde man who appeared from a snow drift. He was clad in magnificent gold armor.

"Bah!" This Griffith made a rather ghastly expression, almost like both a snake and a wolf. Darkness shrouded his eye sockets, and his teeth seemed to sharpen with his scowl. With a gutteral hiss, he smashed the ice apart with a hammerfist.

"I guess I have to persuade you the hard way." Again, Atka couldn't understand the speech. This good man made a pose, with both his hands clasped before him. Atka blinked to make sure he really did see a water jar above this man's head. His hands cocked back, as if they pushed something. Once he did this, Griffith had been entirely blown away. Atka watched in wonder as a storm of ice crystals carried the assailant far away into the distant tundra. What had been a calm overcast just minutes before was now a raging blizzard. The rescuer stood before Atka.

"Thank you, Mr. Gold Knight! That guy was going to eat me! I don't know how to repay you!"

He seemed puzzled at first, but spoke english. "Just calm down first. My english is not perfect yet, so please talk a bit slower."

"Oh, sorry, Mr. Gold Knight."

"Please, call me Hyoga."

"Of course, Mr. Hyoga."

"Just Hyoga. You do not have to bow, please stand up."

"Uh, sure." Atka nervously stood, his wet clothes still slowed his movements.

"You are soaking wet. You can get sick out here like that."

"No, I'm fine. The cold doesn't really bother me."

"Not at all?"

"Well, a little, but I just swam here."

"You swam here? From where?"

"From over there." He pointed behind, to the horizon.

"The other coast? You mean Alaska? That is over 50 miles away from us!"

"Well, it took time. There was swimming and walking, but I finally made it."

"Finally made it? You mean you intended to swim the strait?"

"I worked hard at it, but I finally did it."

"Why would you travel all this way on your own?"

"Ever since I could remember, I was able to survive the cold better than anyone else in my village. When I was younger, I decided I should work harder to be able to hunt a whale on my own. I got lost, and I struggled to get home. Ever since, I promised to be strong that even if I got lost, I could still survive the cold." He looked up and down Hyoga. "That armor doesn't look warm. You can survive this cold better than I can?"

"Well, let us just say I got a head start over you." He indicated for the boy to follow him. "But what are you going to do now that you came here? You must be tired from traveling already."

"I just need a good night's sleep, then I can make my way back."

"How long does it take?"

"Three days. It would be nice if I could do it faster."

"You can do it."

"What makes you say that?"

"I can sense the potential within you." The blizzard waned, as if it only fell for Hyoga's rescue of the boy. "If you don't mind, I want to accompany you on your return trip home."

"Um, Hyoga, why are you out here?"

"Me?" He paused a moment, then answered. "Call me sentimental. I used to live in this land when I was your age. This is where I became strong."

"You think if I kept swimming between here and my home, I could become strong?"

"It is a start. I can teach you to go beyond that." Atka could not forget the way Hyoga looked ahead as he spoke. His eye looked both serene and stern, the sort of look only the hardiest men held. This Hyoga was younger than Atka's initial guess. The boy swore there was a gentle glow coming from this man, and it put him at ease.

Ice Bonds

Atka was an hour into his training regiment when he heard a faint sound. It came from beyond a drift, so he decided to check it out. It couldn't hurt his training if he worked more, he figured. Instead of a calm decline from the other side of the drift, there was a sudden cliff. The sound was louder here, and sure enough he found that it was a plea for help. He followed the sound as best as he could, and discovered the person below, among the ice. His entire body save for his head had been trapped inside the ice. His cry was faint, worn from an unknown amount of time. The tide was rising, already brushing against his mouth. It would not take long for the tide to drown him this way.

"Don't worry! I'll get you out!" He dove in, finding this water particularly cold. It did no good to move the block of ice which held him, as it was a projection of the glacier. "I'm going to have to break you out! Hold on!"

Atka gulped, since this was the most daring feat he would do, and under such pressure that a human life depended on him. He struck the ice near his left arm, but it only chipped. Blow after blow failed to fracture the ice. He was sweating now, both from panic and effort. Time was precious, and already the entrapped person faced directly up at the sky to keep breath.

"This ice is being... fed its strength. I would have... gotten it, but I wore myself out before I learned." Although in a tight situation, his english was clear enough.

"Where is it?"

"There's a vent from the bottom of this slope. The colder... water from the pole is hitting this spot. If it's blocked, this ice will weaken, and... the water won't rise as fast."

"At the bottom?"

"You can make it... in about 3 minutes! Just don't stop... no matter what you do, don't stop! If you do, you'll get frozen too!"

A new chill overwhelmed Atka. This was the most critical life or death moment her ever faced. He had to brave the most cruel, frigid depths underwater, then break open the ice that trapped the poor man. This was beyond anything his training prepared him for. "I don't know if I can."

"Don't doubt! If you doubt, you'll be as dead as I am!" He suddenly caught water in his breath, and struggled to avoid drowning.

"Right!" Atka clenched a fist, and threw all his courage into it. He dove, and, without stopping, sought the vent. The water was murky, much too dark to see any opening in the glacier. He couldn't slow down to change direction too much to search. He needed to make as few turns as possible, and keep his speed. He gathered all his strength and pushed into the depths. He struck solid ice, the edges too strong and sharp that his hands cut. He desperately fed his pain to his speed. There was no option for him to tend to the cuts. Then he felt it, the greater chill. A current fought him, but he gradually prevailed. He found the mouth of the outlet of the coldest water imaginable. The salinity hurt his eyes, and he shut them since his sight no longer contributed to his navigation. Then he was in for a surprise. He had rushed into this problem with no way to break the glacier vent closed. There was no free chunk of ice or rock either. The only way to close it was form new ice.

He was desperate. If he failed now, not only would he die, but so would the life that depended on his success. He couldn't let the unthinkable happen. Then he felt heavy. He had slowed down! The weight of the water, and the force of the current, coerced him towards the jagged ice, towards deeper water and doom. His head struck an outcrop of ice, causing him to let go of air bubbles. With only less than a minute of air, the problem of being lost to sea, and the failure to save the trapped man, this was his darkest hour! Atka just wanted to break through everything, to burst out of this hellish doom.

Mr. Ice Guy

Atka clung to the very edge of the cliff. His arm had already lost feeling, but he could see that it wasn't going to last. All the numerous cuts coupled with the tension of his own body, and that of the unconscious one he was rescuing, caused his arm to stretch at the joints, and even tear at the muscles. He didn't know if the man drowned already, but he couldn't risk time and check. He had to get the both of them to safety. With all his remaining stamina, he hurled the body over the edge and onto the safe ground. His hand was too numb to feel when to let go, and this saved him, because the flying body pulled him along as well. He had suspended half his body on the top ledge now, but his stamina was gone. His weight began its slow return to the icy abyss below. However, a new grip took hold. The arm that bore the stranger's weight was held in turn by the stranger. There was only thoughtless emotion, and the man's cold body eerily jerked and flung the collapsed boy over to the ice nearby. Both bodies remained still.

A polar bear roamed near and sniffed at the two bodies. Satisfied with the discovery, the bear raised his mighty arm to formalize the scavenge. It would've torn Atka to pieces, but the other body instantly dug his hand into its neck. He pushed up and and eventually lifted the beast off the ground. Strength was running out, and he spent most of it in a final snap of the creature's neck. He nearly fell first, which would've smothered him under the massive carcass. His second wind kept him on his feet, and he pulled Atka along the ground. The bear was now the discarded body. The desperation for home exceeded the fatigue of his entire being. As slow as his staggered march was, the man dragged Atka back to his hut. He set the boy on the bed before crumpling right on top of him.

In the distance, upon a peak stood a lone observer. I'm sorry I could only watch, but I could not have any less faith in you than my master had faith in us. As unfortunate as it was, it was the test of saints. You have no idea how happy I am that the both of you overcome such adversity. The knightly man looked up at the aurora sky. For a brief moment, he saw the image of his mentor. These two are the students you deserved, they are every bit the saints you wanted in us. He began his contemplative descent from the mountain.

Atka awoke to a familiar face. "M-master?"

"No, just a friend. Just keep sleeping. You need your rest."

Atka dreamt the events of his ordeal, and it was too much to bear that he snapped up from sleep. He hyperventilated, then relaxed to see that he was in a cabin. At bedside was the same familiar person. "Where... where is this?"

"You're in my cabin. Thanks to you, we're both alive."

"You were the one in the ice!"

"Yes. I owe you my life."

"That means I really made it!"

"You said 'master.' Do you mean Master Hyoga?"

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"He's my master too."

"Wait, so that's why you were able to give me advice back then?"

"I was reckless, but yes, I told you so you wouldn't make the same mistake I did."

He wondered why Hyoga made no mention of another student before. "Uh, if we're both Aquarius Hyoga's students, we should be friends."

He put his hand out to shake. "Griffith."

Atka took his hand. "Atka." They shook. "Hey, this is your bed, you must have been put out because of me." Atka tried to get out of the bed, but found it unusually soft.

"Nah, don't worry about it. I can make more beds."

Atka found himself unable to feel any sort of mattress. On closer inspection, he found the bed to be nothing more than a mountain of pelts. All of them bears, even polar. "Holy smokes! You tanned this many bears?"

"Well, here in Siberia, there's not much else to do."

"Where is all that meat? Did you sell it?"

"Well... not exactly." He awkwardly laughed the topic away. "No big deal. Actually, what I want to know is when did you last see the master?"

"Oh, just yesterday, why?"

"I haven't seen him in weeks. I'm a bit annoyed, especially when I improved so much."

"Since I saw him so recently, that means he intended for you to be alone so long."

"Probably, but there isn't much left out here that I need to survive against. The polar icecap temperature is the only challenge left."

"You seem like you've been training under the master for years. I can tell you're so much stronger than me."

"Years? Heh, you wish. I've been out here for almost a year."

"No way! You even look like you could even teach me!"

"Nah, I'm too young."

"Too young?"

"What do you mean 'too young?' How old did you think I am?"

"I don't know. 20 maybe?"

"Whoa! Easy on the years! I am nowhere near as old as that!"

"But you look so grown!"

"Eleven. I'm 11 years old."

"Impossible! You can't be 11!"

"Well I am. Master said I am big for my age."

"You can't be 11, because I'm 11!"

"You? But you look like such a kid."

"Hello? Eleven years old IS a kid! Where did you crawl out from? A rock?"

"Yes..."

"Really now--What? What did you just say?"

"I crawled out of a rock." Griffith was met with total bewilderment. "That's all I can remember, climbing out from under a rock. You think I'm making that up?"

Their eyes stared for a moment. "You're pretty freaky." Atka didn't notice that Griffith took it as an insult.

"OK! Enough chit-chat! I think we should resume our training! You know how Master Hyoga is! It's train! Train! Train!" He had no trouble handling his peer to the door.

"Hey wait! What's the rush?" Any response from Griffith was cut off by a tremendous, unearthly groan. "What in the world was that?"

"It's the wind, you know. It only sounds weird when it hits the cabin! Out you go!" What started as a toss ended up a long-range pitch. Atka landed headfirst in a hill of snow... a league away. He couldn't even see the cabin anymore. A blizzard rolled in.

"What was that all about? That was mean of him. I thought we were friends."

Meanwhile, Griffith braced himself against the door. "Not now! Not now! Please!" The monstrous grumble resounded, this time twitching his abdomen. "No! Why do you have to force me to be this way? Just leave me alone!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, and a demonic expression possessed his face.

Atka heard the yell. It sounded as if the person was in great pain. "Griffith!" He desperately pushed through the dense snow. What was a burdened trudge became an exhilirated run on the very surface of the snow. His weight had not loaded the snow because he ran so fast. What felt like hours was really minutes when he caught sight of the light of the cabin. That would've been his final destination were it not for the fact it denotated.

Once the column of tossed debris, snow, and dirt cleared, Atka could make out the humanoid shape at the epicenter. He stopped his progress when he found the entire abdomen of this individual was a mouth. The maw gaped open, ready to bite and tear into whatever meat was close enough. Unfortunately for Atka, this berserker spotted him, and began his mad dash to his quarry. About halfway into his charge, a golden impact ejected him far away. It seemed like lightning struck the ground, such was Hyoga's arrival. It wasn't over, as the berserker recovered and sped at Hyoga with higher bloodlust. Hyoga made no hesitation in performing his Aurora Execution, a technique Atka could only dream of performing. He knew its power from a demonstration before. He stared in awe as the berserker broke most of the attack away with his own use of Diamond Dust. He still took the remaining impact, but it was no longer lethal.

"Master!" Atka forgot his place, he was so worked up over what went on, and hurried to Hyoga.

"Atka, no! It's too dangerous!" With his attention diverted, Hyoga left himself open to the berserker's Aurora Thunder Attack. His pauldron coated in ice, the gold cloth's analogue of being frozen, since the cloth itself could not freeze. The force behind it still pushed Hyoga back. Another Diamond Dust pushed Hyoga down to one knee; the element of surprise made this much a difference. Atka saw the berserker begin another Aurora Thunder Attack, this one intended as a point blank maneuver. "No! You'll be destroyed!" Hyoga was unable to stop his student from shielding his master. The attack was imminent, with the berserker already upon Atka.

Nothing happened. Atka remained clenched against the mysterious man. He felt the demonic teeth of the maw brush against his cheek. He looked up to see the man's face. It had calmed down to the point of familiarity: Griffith. He did not move. All of his raised cosmo had vanished. Cluelessness is what kept them frozen in place for several seconds. Atka finally let go, and Griffith crumpled before the boy.

"Griffith..." He saw his new friend crying. "Griffith... you stopped for me." His sniveling ceased. Hyoga was just as shocked as ever. "That means... you're really my friend." The tears were different now.

"At... ka..." He clung to the boy, his sobbing a mixture of sadness and joy.

Hyoga no longer wondered of Griffith's frenzy. Even as Griffith cried compassionately, his face still held the demonic shadow. The two versions of the same boy had become a single Griffith. He finally conquered the darkness inside him. Athena... Only Athena could have brought these boys together! This small boy saved all of us! Atka... you have no idea how happy I am to see this compassion in Griffith. The two of you made a miracle. He closed his eye in resolve when a tear fell from it.

Hyoga let them cry and settle down before breaking the scene. The sky had cleared now. "You both reached a new plateau in your training. Griffith, you presented strength. Atka, you presented heart. You are very different, but complimentary. Now you must continue to learn from each other. I can only mentor you now, since you both have all that a saint needs. From here you carve your own paths toward sainthood. I watched everything that the two of you endured. That sea you encountered, the coldest water that jeopardized your lives, that is your next plateau. Let me show you what I mean." Albeit weary, they followed him to the edge of the glacier. The trek could have been another test in its own right. The scene of the sea was inviting, but hid its deadly peril well. "At the bottom of this body of water is something that doesn't naturally belong. I want each of you to bring me something from it. When you do, I will make you saints. This is the rest of your training. I don't care how long it takes."