They travel to various places across Newfoundland. From Lanse aux Meadows up on the northern tip of the Northern Peninsula; to Cape St. George on the Port aux Port Peninsula in the west; to Port aux Basque in the southwestern most corner of the province; and down to St. Lawrence on the Burin Peninsula. At Lanse aux Meadows, they visit the replica of the Norse settlement that had been built there around the year one thousand. Don remembered the Norse well, and had even fought an immortal one, a man, in nine hundred and fifty. He is impressed that the facts are right about them, even verifying it so to Sakaki whenever they are alone together. Sakaki for her part had learned about the Vikings in high school. About how they had been the first ones to reach North America roughly five hundred years before Christopher Columbus.
Don and Sakaki even travel up to Labrador by ferry to have a look at the interior. The whole trip lasts for two weeks and they soon return to his cabin.
"I had a wonderful time traveling over this province, Don-kun," Sakaki said softly as she enters the cabin behind him. "I really enjoyed it."
"It was only fitting since we'll be living here until the fall, Sakaki," he answered. "Also, I want your head clear so that you can begin your training tomorrow."
As night falls, Sakaki notices Don making no intentions to sleep on the floor as he is now getting into his own bed. For the past two weeks, they slept in separate beds wherever they stayed. They never even so much as kissed.
"Am I to sleep on the floor now?" She asked suspiciously.
"No," he said quietly. "We're husband and wife now, Sakaki."
"Don-kun," she whispered gently as she walks over to him. "Does this mean that you're feelings for me has grown?"
He sighs deeply as he rubs his face then cradles her own in his hands. "When Sarah and I divorced after one hundred years of matrimony, I thought that I could never love another woman again," he said tenderly. "That is why we remained lovers from time to time. Then she was vanquished and I was left all alone once again for several hundred years. Then you came along."
"But it was like you said," Sakaki cooed. Her eyes looking as if a man might drown in them. "You were both married for one hundred years, then your love faded away and died. Even though you would be intimate with each other on and off, you never truly got back together again."
"You're right about that," he sighed as he lowers his head. "However, if you recall, she was two hundred years older than me and already well established with herself."
"What attracted you to her in the first place?"
"I cannot deny that it was her immortality that played a huge role. Yet it was more than just her being that. Beneath her steeled exterior, lay a gentleness. She was both strong and soft at the same time."
"And what of me?"
"You have that similar temperament like she had. But unlike her, you're a newly-minted immortal who's young enough to be my distant descendant. Someone whom I can help and guide."
Sakaki nods and takes a step back, then does a deep bow. "Please take care of me."
She steps forward and they kiss deeply. Don discovers that same soft but hard passion about her that Sarah had. This is a woman who buries her emotions. Such women are intense with their passion when it's coaxed out of them. Sakaki finds him to be powerful yet gentle as he stokes her passion. It feels as if she might be incinerated.
It is some time before they get any sleep as they are intent on enjoying the thorough consummation of their marriage. Sakaki screeches whenever she climaxes.
They get up early that morning before sunrise. This is to be done on an empty stomach because hunger allows for focus in physical events. So they both only go to use the toilet and fix their hair before dressing only in shorts, with Sakaki wearing one of Don's pairs (although she is also wearing one of several pairs of sports brassieres that she had brought). With the simpler saber in Sakaki's hand, and Don with his more elegant one, they go outside. Sakaki, being a gentle woman, feels uneasy over having to use a sword.
"Here is something that you should do," Don said as he holds his sword aloft. That is when a light glow surrounds it.
"Wha-What did you just do!?" Sakaki asked.
"I simply thought about this glow and it surrounded the sword. It can surround anything you wield that has iron in it. That glow makes it indestructible, just like our skeletons. Now you do it. It's like flipping on a switch."
Sakaki focuses on such a glow and it immediately surrounds her sword.
"Very good, Sakaki. Only immortals can see it, by the way. Now then, let's begin."
The air is still and mild, though a touch of coolness lingers in the air. It is mostly clear, yet a haze hangs across the sky. The eastern horizon is blood red, giving rise to the mariner's rote: red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Yet Don won't allow a looming disagreement with the weather to prevent him from giving her the lessons. In fact, he had explained to her that there might be a chance of her fighting another immortal during a tempest. That and they're not going to catch a cold.
Warrior and apprentice face each other. They both do their mutual small bow and take their stances with their swords held aloft, staring the other down. Sakaki's expression is more uneasy than Don's, who looks like a wolf about to attack. All around them is the mixed forest nestled in the weathered ancient mountains. Birds chirp and ravens scream. Some even nestle on branches nearby, as if eager to watch the sparring match about to unfold. The air is still and calm and a light rain begins falling. The tension is thick, as if nature is holding its breath.
Don attacks without warning. He quickly yet brutally slashes Sakaki across her eyes, causing blood and fluids to spill. In short, blinding her. Then follows up with a slash to her throat. Next come her arms, legs, breasts, and stomach. Her mutilated breasts spilt out, along with her intestines. The slashes to her torso are deep enough for her to be frozen. Don knows this and with a huge graceful flurry, he hacks off both her arms at the shoulders and legs halfway up her thighs, causing them to disappear in an instance and for Sakaki to fall onto her back. The whole attack lasted several seconds.
There she lies, looking as if she had been done up for a horror movie. Throughout it all, none of the wounds had hurt. Finally, she unfreezes and the grievous wounds begin disappearing. Within a period of ten seconds, she returns to normal, though her limbs take a little longer. With the exception of her shredded brassiere, she looks no different from the second before Don's ruthless attack. Never mind that she is now smeared with blood, along with the other fluids smearing her face.
She lies there for a moment with her eyes now wide with shock over the speed of the brutal attack. For a split second, she wanted to berate him. They are husband and wife, and had just made love last night for the first time! Yet she refrains from doing so as she is going to be all right now. It had been the mortal equivalent of having a dual in full protective gear. Once her limbs fully regenerate, she slowly stands.
"That was just to show you what to expect when you go up against another immortal," he said casually. "But they would have chopped through your neck instead of your limbs."
"You are a hard teacher, Don-kun," Sakaki said uneasily.
"I have to be," he said simply. "Especially since we're both immortals. Though I can tell that you're a natural athlete. You have long and shapely strong limbs and torso, so you have an edge to help you. Okay, now the lessons truly begin. I will not vanquish your limbs ever again, you have my word on that. First off, I want you to be as brutal upon me as I had been upon you. No, I demand it! The only thing you are not to do is chop me in half after you have frozen me." He then grins ruefully. "But trust me, you will not be able to freeze me."
"May I put a new brassiere on first?" Sakaki asked as she fingers a shred of it as her large breasts with her large nipples stand stoutly out.
"Very well then," he answered. "And I'll also try not shredding your brassieres either."
For the rest of the morning, the lessons continue. She is taught the basics such as the stance, the defense, and the offense. Despite Don's insistence, Sakaki finds it hard to be ruthless with her attacks. Even so, she has a hard time trying to nick his torso, let alone slash or stab him. Each and every time she makes a mistake, he shows it by stabbing her. The sword play is actually fencing since the goal of either immortal is to stab the other, something that fencing emphasizes, so that one of them can be frozen then chopped in half, usually through decapitation.
"But can't an immortal vanquish another immortal by just simply chopping through their torso without needing to stab them in the first place?" Sakaki asked him at one point. "Surely that immortal will have already been frozen before the blade reaches their backbone?"
"Realistically, you're right," Don answered. "You will be able to vanquish an immortal without needing to stab them by simply chopping through their torso with a sharp enough sword in just one strong enough swipe. After all, we are frozen the instance the muscle tissue is complete penetrated. But . . . I did not manage to live these fourteen hundred years by even attempting that. Simply because not only will the other immortal not allow that, but any attempt to do that will leave you wide open, even if it's only for one second. Because that's all the time it takes for any skilled sword fighter to stab you. So it has to be stab, then chop. Understand? Stab, then chop."
"Understood. But what if the other immortal is wearing armor or bearing a shield?"
"No immortal will ever wear armor nor bear a shield when they're confronting another immortal. For some odd reason, we will immediately feel intense distress and will end up needing to discard them. I should know. Back when I confronted that immortal Viking, we were both armored. It felt as if my skin were going to explode and only when I ripped off my chainmail and other bits of armor did I manage to feel better. The same went for him as he threw down his shield and removed his helm."
"What if both immortals managed to stab each other at the same time?"
"They'll cancel each other out. Anotherwords, they won't freeze each other. It happened to me with the last immortal that I fought. And something else happens too when an immortal is frozen." He then emphasizes this by stabbing her once again in order to freeze her.
Don then effortlessly lifts her with one hand and sets her down once again. This time he pushes her, but something extremely odd now happens. Without augmenting his strength, he needed to put considerable effort against her before she finally topple over like a statue! It's as if her feet had been glued to the ground! Even though she had not shown any signs of being stuck to the ground in the first place! Nor had she felt any strain being placed upon herself as he attempted to push her down! He then picks her up and places her back upon her feet, where she stands once again without threatening to fall over.
Sakaki finally unfreezes and stares at Don with bewilderment.
"Wha-What just happened!?" She exclaimed softly.
"When an immortal gets frozen," Don answered, "they become geo-locked for that duration."
"Geo-locked?"
"Ah, it's just something I made up," he shrugged as he shakes his head. "It's my way of telling you that we're hard to knock over when frozen. That way it makes it easy to vanquish the frozen immortal without having them falling over before you can effectively vanquish them."
"It's almost as if we immortals are meant to battle each other," Sakaki concluded.
"I know," Don said reflectively.
They continue with the training. The rain is falling even harder now and this time the rumble of thunder carries through the air. Next comes a flash of sheet lightening, causing Sakaki to worry.
"I've been directly struck by lightening dozens of times," Don assured her. Saying no more since it is obvious.
The practice continues as the storm increases. The lightening becomes ever brighter and more frequent, and the thunder louder and sooner. The rain is now falling like a waterfall, drenching them both. But the lesson still doesn't stop, even as blue ribbons of lightening seem to split the sky, answered by explosions of thunder in an instance.
It's at that moment when a bolt of lightening strikes the ground between them. An explosion of light appears before their eyes and they feel the intense heat of the bolt in that instance. An explosion of thunder makes their ears ring as they both fall from the massive amount of electricity that flow through them.
Sakaki and Don stare at the ground. She is dumbstruck while he is merely annoyed; yet both are breathing heavily. If they had been mortal, they would have been dead.
"I-I think that's enough for now," Don finally answered, then holds her close as they share a deep kiss. There is a tingle of leftover electricity in them. "Let's have some breakfast and wait until the storm has blown over."
Sakaki nods and they return inside to change out of their wet clothing. The storm keeps up its rage as the rain keeps falling hard. Their breakfast is of toast and muffins, with milk and juice to drink.
"So how was I, Don-kun?" Sakaki asked before biting into a muffin.
"Nobody can become a master in one day," Don smirked with a shrug as he holds a slice of toast. "Although what I am about to say to you is the absolute truth," as his tone turned respectful while giving her a firm look. "You were a little bit better on your first session than I was on mine."
Sakaki beams. That had to be the height of all compliments. Yet she knows that she still has a very long way to go if she is to even attempt to come so much as halfway close to her husband's skill.
"Since the storm is still going on," Don said amorously as he snuggles up to Sakaki after finishing his toast, then kisses her, making her smile and blush. "Why don't we pass some of the time away?"
By afternoon, the storm begins passing over, yet it is still raining. After a small lunch, they pick up where they had left off with the swords. Even as the sun is setting, they continue. It clears a little by then. The red and orange rays of the sun cast through the layered yellowed clouds, giving the whole scene a surreal appearance. They continue until twilight grows too dim.
And this is how it continues to be over the entire summer. Early to bed and back when twilight grows dim. It isn't all sword play as it also includes intensive regular exercise. Things like balancing on a beam with a rod across her shoulders with either end weighed down with buckets of water. There is also swimming up a river, climbing a rock face, running while carrying a boulder in her arms or a knapsack filled with rocks on her back. Even though she is a natural athlete, she still finds them to be extremely difficult to perform and ends up frequently faltering. With the rock-climbing, there is no sort of equipment to help her, just her bare hands. Many a time she falls from heights that mortally injure normal people.
But Don keeps goading her to continue with these tasks. He even displays his own prowess at them as he does them all before her with ridiculous ease, due to enhancing his strength and stamina. Sakaki learns that despite being immortal, she can still get tired, and still take just as long to recover. Although the soreness from the lactic acid in her muscles is always extremely quick to go away. Don assures her that as more essence accumulates within her, she will be able to will it forth to augment her stamina and strength levels. Except this way, she will gain the extra edge if she increases her strength and stamina by natural means.
Yet it's not all grueling work as there are just the usual wood-chopping and other easier chores. With the wood-chopping, Don explains that it will help sharpen her reflexes and strengthen her arms and wrists. And as always, more fencing sessions. There are times when they go into the nearest town to buy more supplies. When it comes to the issue of money, Don does have some stashed away since he had been able to pay for a five-hundred thousand-dollar vase in the first place.
It's night time and a cool breeze is blowing off the Atlantic Ocean. Fall will soon be setting in. A tall muscular man of mixed Black and Arab ancestry sporting a beard and no-nonsense haircut steps out of the St. John's Airport, carrying a cello case and knapsack. He is an immortal as his eyes reflect more than what a single lifetime could reflect within his ageless face. He calls himself simply, the Hunter. Whatever alias he uses is strictly for convenience as he is aloof from them, not trying to make them his own. He has been around as long as his religion, Islam.
He hails a taxi cab and is driven to a hotel. Along the way, he reflects upon his hunch for being here, since they are the ones that guide him. No, he believes that it is Allah's will that guides him. It can only mean that there might be an immortal on this island. Whoever they are, he will find them.
Or more specifically, hunt them.
Almost from the day he had been turned into an immortal, he considers it his most sacred duty to vanquish any immortal who are neither a Muslim nor a proper one. He reflects that Allah had clearly touched him to do His will all those centuries ago to exterminate such immortals, because their mere existence is the ultimate blasphemy. It really doesn't matter that new ones keep appearing, for they won't continue to keep appearing as far as he is concerned. His belief is that the time will come, as his Koran dictates, that the Day of Judgement will happen. Allah will judge absolutely every single human being that had ever lived. Those specific immortals will be thrown into Hell where they will suffer the greatest torment of all for eternity.
But until that anointed day, he will continue hunting them down one-by-one, God willing.
He didn't hunt during Ramadan nor on a Friday (an exception is made for either whenever he unintentionally crossed paths with one, as he had sometimes done). Currently, he had vanquished ninety-nine of them, and not all of them were heathens. Twenty of them had been lapsed Muslims. He had yet to meet another immortal who is a devote Muslim like himself. The next vanquishing will be his one hundredth kill. Nothing special really, just a casual milestone.
During his centuries of hunting, he has come to see a pattern to hunting them. He never knows exactly where to go, he just simply wanders from one place to another where some clue is provided that points him in the right direction to find another clue to lead him to yet another clue, and so on, and so forth. Until he confronts either a heathen or lapsed Muslim immortal.
The Hunter shakes those idle thoughts from his mind. He needed to focus and pay attention to any clues that might come his way. Let the hunt begin as it has always gone on. And, God willing, always will.
Sakaki is chopping a thin post stuck into the ground with her sword. It is now well over three months since she had been turned into an immortal. It is a hot and clear day as the sweat drips from her, saturating her shorts and brassiere. With a yell and determined expression, she swings and hacks off a piece of wood. There are already various smaller pieces on the ground around her. As Don had taught her, she focused upon a point just past the opposite side of where she swung her sword toward. The goal, Don had further explained, is to hack off a whole piece with a single blow; claiming that if she can do that then she will be able to decapitate her foe with a single stroke. So far she had not been doing a very good job as it still takes her two hacks to chop off a piece.
This is also their last day here at his cabin. Everything is packed away and they are ready to leave at a moment's notice. Sakaki had also accumulated things for herself. Things of a cute nature such as stuffed animals and pictures of baby animals, especially kittens. Don remarked about that one time, and Sakaki explained, with some embarrassment, that she liked cute things.
Don comes out of the cabin, shirtless, to watch. He smirks as it was actually a little prank that he had played. A man's neck is actually easier to chop through with a single swipe than that thin post. He just wanted Sakaki to take the matter of decapitation seriously. Although if she both lives long enough and keeps up her training, she will be able to effortlessly chop a piece off with only one swipe and one arm, like he can.
"Okay, you can take a break for now," he called as he claps once.
"Thank you, Don-kun," Sakaki smiled as she lowers her sword and wipes the sweat from her brow. She picks up her scabbard and sheathes her sword.
"Tomorrow we leave for America," he said as he comes up behind her and caresses her neck.
"Where exactly in America?" Sakaki sighed sleepily with a smile.
"Perhaps to Wyoming. I have yet to live in that state. The closest seashore is several hundred miles away."
"What is that in kilometers?" The Japanese use the Metric System.
"Over one thousand kilometers."
"It's amazing how there are places on Earth that can be so far from the ocean," Sakaki mused. "In Japan, the furthest point from the ocean is roughly one hundred and twenty kilometers inland. Have you found a buyer for the cabin?"
"No, I want us to slip away like thieves in the night," Don explained as he pauses in caressing her. "That way there's no record of our departure. Although between canceling the Internet subscription and our mail that will mean we're moving away to the locals. But at least they won't know where we're going exactly."
True to Don's word, they get up at dawn the next day to get ready to leave. There is little for them to do other than use the bathroom and have breakfast. Then they are off.
As they get sight of the first turnoff, they now see a man standing in the middle of the road up ahead, holding a sword. Both quickly exchange looks, surprise on Sakaki's face and grim consideration on Don's. Neither say anything because they are both getting that same feeling from the stranger.
