Here is the corrected version of number three; It now has {} around
Akakios' thoughts. Originally, these were supposed to be in italics, but I
couldn't figure out how to get that to work. Anybody know? Anyway, more
revies, more updates. If it makes you feel any better, I'm working on
chapter four right now.
------
Akakios slashed violently, sending Morgan sprawling backwards to the ground. He then kicked back with his hind foot, knocking Samuel into the wall, lightly denting it. After only a split second pause, however, Samuel launched himself from the wall and engaged a series of swift strikes on his opponent.
Akakios repeatedly blocked several of the attacks, barely having enough space or time to launch an offensive of his own. Morgan was back on his feet as well, and set about pressing in the advantage.
Unable to keep up with both of the weapons coming at him, Akakios attempted to dodge to the side and scoot past the paladins to take them from the rear. As he made a break for it, Morgan swung with all his strength and smacked the pommel of his sword into the demon's upper back. The beast fell to the ground with a groan, as his own weapon slipped from his grip. Akakios looked up after he hit the ground, and desperately lunged for his weapon, but Samuel pressed his foot against the demon's wrist and held his sword to the demon's neck. Akakios lowered his head to the mat, resigned to his fate.
"You did very well, considering it's your fourteenth year," informed Samuel, releasing his foot from the boy's arm.
"Indeed, those were some impressive strikes, and you are quite strong," agreed Morgan, lending a hand to help Akakios to his feet.
"Thank you," the demon replied, breathing heavily and leaning slightly against his training sword. "But it seems I have much to learn."
"You have learned enough for one day," intoned Samuel, "it is time for you to rest. Your strength and dexterity are coming along fine, but your largest disadvantage is your focus. Sleep well, for we continue training your mental abilities tomorrow; and you know how draining that usually is."
Akakios nodded, turned, and left, trying not to think about the next day. The mental disciplinary classes were always the most strenuous things to be put through. He climbed the stairs of the rear dormitory tower, and settled for a quick bath before heading to bed. He paused to examine himself in the mirror before settling in for the night, examining his features.
His oval eyes, black as the pitch used in mending the ships, were only slightly larger than a normal human's eye. His nasal slits were about two and a half inches long, with no protruding nose to speak of. He opened his large mouth, looking at the large array of pointy, sharp teeth that filled it. He held up one hand, turning it over, and looked at the his long, thin fingers, the nails of which had to be frequently shaved down. They had once neglected to shave them for almost a month, the result was a set of quickly developing talons.
Akakios shook his head and touched the top of his face to the cool glass. Or at least, it was probably cool. His rough, scaly flesh did not respond to temperatures as much as the human's did. He had been able to stick his hand into a pot of boiling water without extreme discomfort, although upon latter inspection it turned out he had injured his hand rather badly. He lifted his head and looked at his reflection again, this time looking himself in the eyes rather than at them.
"Who are you?" he asked the person in the glass. "What are you? You are different from the others, you know that. But how? And is it more than how you look?" Akakios turned away from the mirror then, and headed to bed, not wanting to listen to the sound of his own raspy voice any longer.
******
"Suppose a man must climb up a fifty foot rope. It takes him three seconds to climb up three feet, and then spends two seconds sliding down one foot. How long will it take him to reach the top?" Samuel called out this question to Akakios as he sprinted in circles beneath him. The demon struggled to concentrate as he shifted the weight on his shoulders and ignored the biting cold from the water being sloshed on him. Since he had shown a resilience to extreme temperatures, Samuel had insured that the water came directly from the nearby glaciers, and it still had chunks of ice in it as it was poured unto the demon's running form.
{Let me think, fifty times three minus...no that's not right, oh it's cold, it's cold...Ok wait, three seconds to go up three feet, two seconds to go down one, that's five seconds COLD!...five seconds for every two feet, Five seconds for every two feet...coooollldd, huhhhh, coooolld....Fifty, decided by two is COLD! And twenty five times five is REAL COLD! Is,} "One hundred twenty five!" screamed Akakios, finally coming to his answer.
"Wrong, try again Akakios," replied Samuel calmly. "And if you give me a wrong answer again, I'll invite some of the ladies in here to watch you run." This threat chilled Akakios far more than the water did, as he was somewhat shy and all anyone was allowed to wear when undergoing these exercises was a pair of boots and a loin cloth. "I'm sure Jennifer would be very interested in watching you," added Samuel, for extra kick.
{He wouldn't! Oh no, he might...} panicked Akakios, still running. Jennifer was a female paladin that Akakios constantly denied to himself and everyone else that he had any affection for. Akakios shook this line of thought from his head and tried to get back on track. {Was my math wrong? No, I can't think of where I gahhhh....cold...where I might have made a mistake. I mean, five seconds to two feet, it all makes...wait a second, if he made it in the last one...If he got to 48, then he would reach the top in two more seconds, and wouldn't slide down for two seconds, so it would be COLD!! Would be 125 minus four, which is} "One hundred twenty one!" shouted Akakios once more.
"Hold the buckets!" called out Samuel. To the demon, he said, with a slight smirk, "Excellent, I'll be sure to inform Jennifer of how well you did." Akakios groaned in despair.
******
Akakios was still shivering and moving stiffly as he walked into the mess hall. After waiting in line and grabbing his tray, he sat down with a few of his friends, or at least, a few of the people who weren't openly hostile towards him.
"What's with you? You look like you've seen a ghost," asked Enric.
"Focus and mental discipline training," Akakios replied, with only a mild stutter.
"Ugh, brutal," growned Roswell, stirring the mystery soup of the week with his spoon. "What did they make you do? Meditate in the waterfall?"
"Worse," informed Akakios. "The Running Well."
Roswell let out a low whistle. "I'm surprised they set you on that thing already, it's not nearly our level."
"Both Samuel and Morgan think I'm ready to advance," shrugged Akakios, taking a sip of what was essentially tasteless lukewarm water.
"What exactly is the Running Well?" asked Enric, looking from Roswell to Akakios.
"Picture running a ten foot circle at the bottom of a six foot pit half naked, with twenty pounds strapped..."
"Thirty," corrected Akakios.
"All right, in this case, thirty pounds strapped to your shoulders while a bunch of people poor icy cold water on you. Oh, and you have to solve a bunch of problems and questions that you'll never need to know in real life," informed Roswell causally, spreading his biscuit with some kind of paste.
"Wow. But, uh, what's the point?" wondered Enric, starring at Akakios in awe.
"No clue. Something about separating mind from body, you know, so you can still think even when your body is going through a lot of abuse," replied Akakios, wondering if his soup would warm him up better if he just dunked his face in it. He was on the brink of doing this very thing when a thick envelope flew from no where and landed in his bowl. Muttering some rather soft profanity, Akakios pulled the envelope from his meal and looked at the label. Seeing it was indeed addressed to him, he opened it up, and began to read.
"What's it say?" asked Roswell.
"Is it another prank letter?" asked Enric, prodding the "Mystery Meat Loaf" to insure it didn't move to attack him.
Akakios continued to stare at the paper in utter silence, the other two waiting for him to finish. When it was starting to take to long, Enric leaned over to the side and began reading it as well. After several more minutes of Enric wordlessly staring at the parchment, Roswell snatched it away and read it for himself.
"This has to be a joke..." muttered Akakios.
"I know, I mean, it might be real, but I mean..." stuttered Enric, equally shocked
"Their sending you on a mission?!?" asked Roswell, a little to loud.
"I leave in a week," confirmed Akakios, keeping his voice low.
"This has to be a mistake," replied Roswell, turning the letter over in his hands. "You're still in training, there's now way they'd send a trainee out on a mission..."
"He's always been one of the best students," replied Enric. "I mean, they may want to see how he handles himself in a real life situation. It probably won't be to big a deal..."
"Can't be, I haven't even learned auras yet," agreed Akakios. "They're probably just seeing if I go dementedly evil as soon as I step out the gates..."
"Akakios,..." murmured a soft voice. The demon stopped wiping his ear free of watery soup as he heard his name being called. He knew that voice... "I just wanted to tell you that Samuel told me how well you did," informed Jennifer.
"Uh, did he?" asked Akakios, turning around. "I didn't do that good, I mean, I, er..."
"You did wonderful!" breathed Jennifer excitedly. "Nobody does as well as you did on the first try! Keep up the good work!" Jennifer knelt down and gave the demon a quick peck on the forehead before scampering off to be with her friends. Akakios quickly realized he no longer felt even remotely cold.
"Ooo, looks like the demon child is being led into temptation," smirked Roswell.
"She was just...congratulating me," replied Akakios, picking up a bread roll and examining it with absolutely no interest in putting it into his mouth.
"Where are they sending you, anyway?" asked Enric.
"Uh," replied Roswell, scanning down the letter. "The Rogue Monastery."
"Oh, great, they'll probably shoot you as you walk through the gates," replied Enric, rolling his eyes.
------
Akakios slashed violently, sending Morgan sprawling backwards to the ground. He then kicked back with his hind foot, knocking Samuel into the wall, lightly denting it. After only a split second pause, however, Samuel launched himself from the wall and engaged a series of swift strikes on his opponent.
Akakios repeatedly blocked several of the attacks, barely having enough space or time to launch an offensive of his own. Morgan was back on his feet as well, and set about pressing in the advantage.
Unable to keep up with both of the weapons coming at him, Akakios attempted to dodge to the side and scoot past the paladins to take them from the rear. As he made a break for it, Morgan swung with all his strength and smacked the pommel of his sword into the demon's upper back. The beast fell to the ground with a groan, as his own weapon slipped from his grip. Akakios looked up after he hit the ground, and desperately lunged for his weapon, but Samuel pressed his foot against the demon's wrist and held his sword to the demon's neck. Akakios lowered his head to the mat, resigned to his fate.
"You did very well, considering it's your fourteenth year," informed Samuel, releasing his foot from the boy's arm.
"Indeed, those were some impressive strikes, and you are quite strong," agreed Morgan, lending a hand to help Akakios to his feet.
"Thank you," the demon replied, breathing heavily and leaning slightly against his training sword. "But it seems I have much to learn."
"You have learned enough for one day," intoned Samuel, "it is time for you to rest. Your strength and dexterity are coming along fine, but your largest disadvantage is your focus. Sleep well, for we continue training your mental abilities tomorrow; and you know how draining that usually is."
Akakios nodded, turned, and left, trying not to think about the next day. The mental disciplinary classes were always the most strenuous things to be put through. He climbed the stairs of the rear dormitory tower, and settled for a quick bath before heading to bed. He paused to examine himself in the mirror before settling in for the night, examining his features.
His oval eyes, black as the pitch used in mending the ships, were only slightly larger than a normal human's eye. His nasal slits were about two and a half inches long, with no protruding nose to speak of. He opened his large mouth, looking at the large array of pointy, sharp teeth that filled it. He held up one hand, turning it over, and looked at the his long, thin fingers, the nails of which had to be frequently shaved down. They had once neglected to shave them for almost a month, the result was a set of quickly developing talons.
Akakios shook his head and touched the top of his face to the cool glass. Or at least, it was probably cool. His rough, scaly flesh did not respond to temperatures as much as the human's did. He had been able to stick his hand into a pot of boiling water without extreme discomfort, although upon latter inspection it turned out he had injured his hand rather badly. He lifted his head and looked at his reflection again, this time looking himself in the eyes rather than at them.
"Who are you?" he asked the person in the glass. "What are you? You are different from the others, you know that. But how? And is it more than how you look?" Akakios turned away from the mirror then, and headed to bed, not wanting to listen to the sound of his own raspy voice any longer.
******
"Suppose a man must climb up a fifty foot rope. It takes him three seconds to climb up three feet, and then spends two seconds sliding down one foot. How long will it take him to reach the top?" Samuel called out this question to Akakios as he sprinted in circles beneath him. The demon struggled to concentrate as he shifted the weight on his shoulders and ignored the biting cold from the water being sloshed on him. Since he had shown a resilience to extreme temperatures, Samuel had insured that the water came directly from the nearby glaciers, and it still had chunks of ice in it as it was poured unto the demon's running form.
{Let me think, fifty times three minus...no that's not right, oh it's cold, it's cold...Ok wait, three seconds to go up three feet, two seconds to go down one, that's five seconds COLD!...five seconds for every two feet, Five seconds for every two feet...coooollldd, huhhhh, coooolld....Fifty, decided by two is COLD! And twenty five times five is REAL COLD! Is,} "One hundred twenty five!" screamed Akakios, finally coming to his answer.
"Wrong, try again Akakios," replied Samuel calmly. "And if you give me a wrong answer again, I'll invite some of the ladies in here to watch you run." This threat chilled Akakios far more than the water did, as he was somewhat shy and all anyone was allowed to wear when undergoing these exercises was a pair of boots and a loin cloth. "I'm sure Jennifer would be very interested in watching you," added Samuel, for extra kick.
{He wouldn't! Oh no, he might...} panicked Akakios, still running. Jennifer was a female paladin that Akakios constantly denied to himself and everyone else that he had any affection for. Akakios shook this line of thought from his head and tried to get back on track. {Was my math wrong? No, I can't think of where I gahhhh....cold...where I might have made a mistake. I mean, five seconds to two feet, it all makes...wait a second, if he made it in the last one...If he got to 48, then he would reach the top in two more seconds, and wouldn't slide down for two seconds, so it would be COLD!! Would be 125 minus four, which is} "One hundred twenty one!" shouted Akakios once more.
"Hold the buckets!" called out Samuel. To the demon, he said, with a slight smirk, "Excellent, I'll be sure to inform Jennifer of how well you did." Akakios groaned in despair.
******
Akakios was still shivering and moving stiffly as he walked into the mess hall. After waiting in line and grabbing his tray, he sat down with a few of his friends, or at least, a few of the people who weren't openly hostile towards him.
"What's with you? You look like you've seen a ghost," asked Enric.
"Focus and mental discipline training," Akakios replied, with only a mild stutter.
"Ugh, brutal," growned Roswell, stirring the mystery soup of the week with his spoon. "What did they make you do? Meditate in the waterfall?"
"Worse," informed Akakios. "The Running Well."
Roswell let out a low whistle. "I'm surprised they set you on that thing already, it's not nearly our level."
"Both Samuel and Morgan think I'm ready to advance," shrugged Akakios, taking a sip of what was essentially tasteless lukewarm water.
"What exactly is the Running Well?" asked Enric, looking from Roswell to Akakios.
"Picture running a ten foot circle at the bottom of a six foot pit half naked, with twenty pounds strapped..."
"Thirty," corrected Akakios.
"All right, in this case, thirty pounds strapped to your shoulders while a bunch of people poor icy cold water on you. Oh, and you have to solve a bunch of problems and questions that you'll never need to know in real life," informed Roswell causally, spreading his biscuit with some kind of paste.
"Wow. But, uh, what's the point?" wondered Enric, starring at Akakios in awe.
"No clue. Something about separating mind from body, you know, so you can still think even when your body is going through a lot of abuse," replied Akakios, wondering if his soup would warm him up better if he just dunked his face in it. He was on the brink of doing this very thing when a thick envelope flew from no where and landed in his bowl. Muttering some rather soft profanity, Akakios pulled the envelope from his meal and looked at the label. Seeing it was indeed addressed to him, he opened it up, and began to read.
"What's it say?" asked Roswell.
"Is it another prank letter?" asked Enric, prodding the "Mystery Meat Loaf" to insure it didn't move to attack him.
Akakios continued to stare at the paper in utter silence, the other two waiting for him to finish. When it was starting to take to long, Enric leaned over to the side and began reading it as well. After several more minutes of Enric wordlessly staring at the parchment, Roswell snatched it away and read it for himself.
"This has to be a joke..." muttered Akakios.
"I know, I mean, it might be real, but I mean..." stuttered Enric, equally shocked
"Their sending you on a mission?!?" asked Roswell, a little to loud.
"I leave in a week," confirmed Akakios, keeping his voice low.
"This has to be a mistake," replied Roswell, turning the letter over in his hands. "You're still in training, there's now way they'd send a trainee out on a mission..."
"He's always been one of the best students," replied Enric. "I mean, they may want to see how he handles himself in a real life situation. It probably won't be to big a deal..."
"Can't be, I haven't even learned auras yet," agreed Akakios. "They're probably just seeing if I go dementedly evil as soon as I step out the gates..."
"Akakios,..." murmured a soft voice. The demon stopped wiping his ear free of watery soup as he heard his name being called. He knew that voice... "I just wanted to tell you that Samuel told me how well you did," informed Jennifer.
"Uh, did he?" asked Akakios, turning around. "I didn't do that good, I mean, I, er..."
"You did wonderful!" breathed Jennifer excitedly. "Nobody does as well as you did on the first try! Keep up the good work!" Jennifer knelt down and gave the demon a quick peck on the forehead before scampering off to be with her friends. Akakios quickly realized he no longer felt even remotely cold.
"Ooo, looks like the demon child is being led into temptation," smirked Roswell.
"She was just...congratulating me," replied Akakios, picking up a bread roll and examining it with absolutely no interest in putting it into his mouth.
"Where are they sending you, anyway?" asked Enric.
"Uh," replied Roswell, scanning down the letter. "The Rogue Monastery."
"Oh, great, they'll probably shoot you as you walk through the gates," replied Enric, rolling his eyes.