Cinders

Chapter Nine - Trials


Most of the days in Prox would continue to begin, and end, in the same way. Once the dull light of the sun appeared above the mountains, it would slowly light up the little town, and that light would grow brighter and brighter as it reflected off the snow and ice. And every sunrise, Felix's training would continue.

Menardi was there to wake him even earlier than she was the day before. She came in without a word, and knocked a few times on the inside of the door. That was enough to wake him, and he quickly shot out of bed and got dressed. Menardi was again waiting downstairs to shepherd him out and to whatever place he was to train. It was clear that she was used to waking up at these hours, probably from her own training, however long ago that had been.

Her sister wasn't awake. She hadn't started her training yet, which seemed odd since she'd lived here all her life as far as he knew… And Menardi seemed like the type to train the girl from birth. Tonight was supposed to be her first session, and Felix's second. Maybe that was the reason she was so cold to him the day before; she wanted to start before him, or maybe she just wanted her sister all to herself.

Menardi led Felix out into the cold again, and led him out into the early morning haze. It was difficult to see far, but the ground had been covered in a fresh blanket of snow, covering up the ice and slush that had been there the day before when it rained. His clothes and boots were still soaking wet from his training with Saturos, and the constant snow covering the ground did little to help him dry out. Now that a few days in the snowy climate had passed, however, Felix was starting to gain more balance in the deep snow; If only there was a way to be light enough to walk on top of it, that would make things so much easier. But from what little he'd seen of the town, it looked like the village was shoveled out often, lest the houses be buried up to the windows every night, but having his training sessions on the outskirts of town, or just outside it, kept him away from the luxury of easy footing.

Saturos was waiting for him in a snowy field which was completely indistinguishable from the landscape around it. The haze was thick, and it was difficult to see from where they had come or where they were, but they must have been somewhere just outside the village, just like before with Menardi. Saturos was again clad in his armor and sword in hand. It had become a familiar sight, but still far from comforting. However, this time he wasn't alone.

There was a boy with him, another Proxian by the look of him. He looked to be about the same age as Felix, but he was bigger, and he had a very serious look on his face. It was probably his first day of training too, just like Menardi's little sister. He could have been related to Saturos too, but it seemed unlikely. His skin was green, much like the village leader Puelle's, and his hair was white, unlike Saturos's light blue color. The way he stood by Saturos though, made it seem like he held a great deal of respect for him, even if they weren't related by blood.

"It took you long enough, Menardi."

Saturos cocked his head at Menardi, and didn't acknowledge Felix, who followed closely behind her.

She pushed him over to the younger, green-skinned Proxian, and quickly left the three alone. She waved goodbye to Saturos, who returned her gesture with a brief nod, then turned his attention to the two boys. Felix looked at the other boy for a moment, who didn't seem to even notice him. Nobody seemed to notice him around Prox. He quickly returned his gaze back to Saturos, who crossed his arms and stared back at him.

Saturos drew his sword, but did not motion to attack Felix or the other boy. Instead, he thrust it deep into the snow between his feet.

"I hope both of you brought your training swords." He said, eyeing Felix in particular. Felix reached behind his back and drew the little sword from it's sheath, and the other boy did the same. They both looked up at Saturos, who eyed them both for a moment, and then spoke.

"Agatio, Felix; As of today, you are both training under me. You'll obey every command I give to either of you, understood?"

The other boy, Agatio, snapped to attention and nodded vigorously. Felix followed suit, albeit without the added enthusiasm of the other boy.

Saturos drew his sword from the ground, and Agatio immediately readied himself. Felix stared blankly at the two, and held his sword beside him as Saturos crossed his blade with Agatio's and corrected the boy's stance.

"Good work, Agatio, you have a natural form…" Saturos said to Agatio as he inspected his stance. "Oi, runt! Stop standing around!"

Felix jumped as Saturos lashed at Felix's feet. He quickly looked over at the other boy and mimicked his footing to Saturos's apparent dissatisfaction, who immediately scoffed at his stance and gave him a sharp kick in the ankle to correct his footing. Felix gritted his teeth and attempted to correct himself, widening his stance slightly and gripping his blade tighter in front of him, until Saturos seemed satisfied. Felix glanced at the other boy again, who hadn't once took his eyes off Saturos.

Saturos watched both of the boy's stances consistently as he led them through a series of movements with the sword; an aggressive attack against an invisible opponent. Saturos gave strict attention to each movement, stopping Felix mid-swing and correcting him over and over again. Agatio didn't seem to have any trouble maneuvering through each cut and keeping a perfect form and tempo.

"A strong offense is a warriors best defense!" yelled Saturos, "Do not break your attack, not even to aid an ally." He took a breath continued his chant, speaking over Felix and Agatio's panting as each swing seemed to make their swords heavier. "This is what makes us the Proxian elite. This is why we are the most powerful warrior class in the entire world!"

He repeated himself over and over again. "A strong offense is your best defense! Don't stop your attack for anything!" Felix listened to him until his words became a mantra, and the pattern of the attack became natural. Right, swing, left, swing, lunge, thrust, push, disarm, kill. Saturos's interventions became fewer and fewer until at last he seemed satisfied with their work and commanded them to stop.

"That's enough. I'll show you the next set tomorrow, you may go."

Agatio quickly sheathed his sword and stood before Saturos. He gave him a long, drawn out bow and quietly left without a word. Felix timidly mimicked Agatio's action and quickly stumbled off through the snow in the direction of his new "home". He didn't bother to look back to see where Saturos or the other boy had gone. His aching limbs were a much bigger concern as he trudged through what seemed like an ocean of snow.

After lugging his exhausted body through the snow for what seemed like forever, he could see the small cottage in which he now lived. It was still before midday, but he had nowhere else to go as he was forbidden to see his parents. It seemed strange that Saturos had cut his training so short.

"Just a few more steps…" He thought to himself, "and then I can rest."

"Almost there…" He said. He took his last, large steps through the snow, and felt ready to collapse as he reached forward to open the door.Bang! Felix's head reeled as something struck him clean across his face, and sent him down into the fresh bed of snow on the doorstep. His vision spun around as he tried to get a fix on what had hit him, and he could see someone's legs sticking up out of the deep snow next to him.

"Go home, kid. You don't belong here."

He didn't recognize the deep voice, but he could see the footprints leading back behind the house.. Whoever he was, he had been waiting for him.

The stranger picked him up by the collar, and let him get a good look at his face. It was the same boy he had seen before, Agatio.

"Why would Saturos ever train a weakling like you?" He said, striking Felix again, this time in the gut, so hard that he could barely breath.

Agatio looked at him for a few more seconds in disgust, then let him go. "You're lucky Menardi's looking out for you, scum." He said as he walked back in the direction of town, leaving Felix in the snow, attempting to catch his breath.

He struggled back to his feet and forced the door open, and was greeted by a blast of warm air from the small house. The fireplace was lit again, and both Menardi and Karst were nowhere to be seen.

He wouldn't want it any other way.

Leaning up against the door, he tried to make sense of what had just happened.. But nothing made any sense to him. "Why would he attack me? I didn't do anything to him…" He said to himself. "And where are the others? Would they really leave a fire burning if they weren't home?"

Felix sighed and slid down the wall to sit. He didn't have the strength to crawl to his room, much less walk. He just tried to take in all the heat from the flames as he could, hoping they would give him the strength to force down any food he could find in the house. He was grateful for the warmth, since even though the Proxians could resist the cold, Felix still wasn't used to living like they did. He wondered what they would even need a fire for, but quickly put it out of his head as he worked up the strength to make himself a midday meal. He picked himself up and took some small herbs from the kitchen cabinet. They were bitter, but very rejuvenating. He would have preferred some meat, but there didn't seem to be any around the house. The only things he could find were the bitter, dried herbs.

It wasn't long before the sisters returned to their home. Menardi entered first and compulsively shook out her hair; the same way she always did whenever she came in from the snow. It made her straight hair rather messy, but she did it so much that she didn't seem to even notice the difference. Karst came in right behind her, head down and covered in wet snow. She quickly collapsed onto a chair, not even bothering to take off her shoes or even dry herself off.

"Gods, what happened to you?" Menardi asked loudly, looking over at Felix. At first he didn't understand what she meant, until he remembered what exactly had happened outside, moments earlier. He hadn't thought he may have actually been hurt.

"Clean yourself up, you look disgraceful. Saturos had better have a good reason for this."

She threw him a rag from the table and he wiped his face, finding a surprising amount of blood. He didn't say a word about Agatio.

"Once you're cleaned up, come with me. You've got to start your training."

"What? Already?" Felix said, astonished.

"Yes! Do you think you stay in this home for nothing?" Menardi replied. "I've left some objects outside to help you focus your Psynergy. I need a strong boy such as yourself to move them for me." She smirked at him.

"You mean move them with Psynergy?" Said Felix, and he smiled for a moment. This was something his father had showed him when he was younger; the ability to move small rocks with his mind.

"Of course I do! That is an ability shared by both Mars and Venus Adepts. I'm sure you can manage… My sister still has much work to do with her weapon, so you're on your own."

Karst acknowledged this with an unenthusiastic groan, and refused to budge from her seat. That is, until Menardi tugged her off by one of her pointy, pink ears.

"You too, brat." Felix got to his feet as well, and followed the two back outside. There were two large scythes planted in the snow by the door, which Menardi and Karst both picked up and readied. He watched them for a moment, puzzled at how they held the weapons and twirled like dervishes through a series of attacks. Menardi's long hair and colorful dress whirled through the snow, creating an elegant, yet ferocious pattern as she seemed to cut the snowflakes clean out of the air…

He tore his eyes away from the girls, and moved himself out of sight. There was a line of large stones placed against the side of the house. He'd never used Psynergy to move something that large before, but he was confident. He had seen his father move boulders just like the ones set before him.

He once again focused his mind until he found a state in which he could tap into his power. Using his hand to direct the energy flowing from the ground into his feet and up his body, until he concentrated as hard as he could on forcing it out through his palm and moving the rock in front of him.

He moved each stone in turn away from the house. Menardi hadn't said where to leave them only that he must move them with Psynergy, so he decided to keep going until told otherwise and kept pushing each individual stone as far as he could, trying to reach further and further each time. It wasn't often he got to test himself like this, and it made him feel stronger for each extra inch he could muster.

There was still much more training to do that night. He was already exhausted from his training with Saturos and his run in with Agatio. He'd moved every stone into a line of brush a long ways away from the house, and left them there to rest. Menardi and Karst had finished before he had, since they had both returned inside while he wasn't looking. Menardi probably would have left him at work all day and night if he hadn't returned. She didn't command him back outside though, so he must have finished.

"You can rest for now, brat. You and Karst are going to do something once it gets dark, and I don't want it anything less than perfect." Menardi said, and handed him a plate of fresh cooked meat. She must have gone hunting while he was working, too.

Karst looked even worse than she did before; and this time she wasn't just wet, but bruised as well. Now Felix felt almost lucky to be training under Saturos. She didn't look well, to say the least, but she was happy to have something to eat, as was Felix. What he assumed was Menardi's cooking was actually quite good, especially given the lack of material for preparing any sort of meal. It smelled of spice, and was a very familiar smell as well. Something about it reminded him of his mother's cooking in Vale, and that made him feel comfortable, even if it was only for a few moments.


Okay, so I know I haven't uploaded anything in quite a few months. I've been very busy with college and work, so I've really been neglecting my fics this summer. I've actually been forced to write a lot of other things, since I'm being tutored by a friend (A published writer) and also taking courses in College. But I promise I'll finish Cinders no matter what! Let me know if my writing has improved even a little bit. It'd be nice to know. Although you probably won't see a huge improvement until this is all edited, which will be done once I finish the actual thing.

Ch. 10 will come soon, hopefully!