Warrior

Warrior

One year later: I stepped out into the sunlight for the first time since I set foot in the caves behind me, or headquarters as I now think of them. I was surprised at how dull the world was. You'd think that after spending a whole year, or more, in a cave, that I'd appreciate the outside a little more. But then again, I'm not the same person I was back then.

Turning my head slightly, I glanced back just a bit to check that Clare was still coming. Surprisingly, she was being followed by someone else, Rubel. 'Why is he coming too? I thought two were enough here. Even if it wasn't, I doubted that he would be very helpful.

"I saw that. You're still acting like a human. You must trust your instincts!"

'oops!' I felt like a child being scolded. "Sorry" I said, not letting on how embarrassed I was for being caught in my mistake. Turning back to the woodland, I stopped for a moment, concentrating, I knew I felt something; it was faint, but definitely there. Maybe it was simply a passing yoma, or it could be something far more dangerous. I had no way to know. But being caught outside would be worse than anything, so I whispered to Clare, "Did you feel that?" She looked confused for a second, then she closed her eyes for a second, and said,

"It's an average yoma, but he's all the way on the other side of the valley. We don't need to worry yet. We're going the other way. And if he comes closer, Tabatha will know and she'll alert the others. Come on, we should go." With that we turned and ran off into the mountains above headquarters.

"Draw your sword." Clare reached back and gripped the hilt of her claymore sword. Hesitating slightly, I reached back and started to pull my own sword from its sheath. Quick as thinking, she flashed her sword out in front of me and, barely missing my neck, swept it in front of me saying, "Too slow. You can't afford to hesitate."

Steeling myself, I tried to copy what she just did, but I slipped and ended up catching my sword on the ground. To my surprise she started laughing. Not loudly or anything, just chuckling under her breath.

"Let's wait awhile before you try the wind-cutter. Right now you can barely hold your sword straight." Mortified, I lifted my sword back up and into its sheath, my eyes flicking over the green symbol, an X with two lines horizontal on the right and left. Sensing my embarrassment, she said,

"Don't worry, its going to be tough for you. Typically we use a little bit of our yoki to wield our swords, at least until we get the muscle to do it our selves, but because we can't afford to be detected, we all have learned to fully suppress our yoki. Eventually you'll lean to release your power without releasing your yoki, but for now, you can do things the old fashioned way. Now, as I said before. Draw your sword."

This time I reacted immediately. And to my surprise, she didn't use her wind-cutter. She simply drew her sword.

"Better. Now I'm attacking."

The second the last word left her mouth, Clare was on top of me, pressing me back down the slope. Luckily, my sword had been in a good position to ward her off, or did she pick her attack based on my defense? Anyway, I knew I was in trouble, because the edge of my sword was facing out, which meant that it was also facing me. Vainly, I tried to turn it, but with a single push, Clare turned the move against me and drove the blade into my chest. Screaming in pain, I barely heard what Clare had to say next,

"That was lesson #1. This is lesson #2. Try to heal that wound, releasing just enough power to regenerate, but here's the catch. You can't let you yoki grow out. At ALL."

Struggling to concentrate, I pushed though my pain and found the feeling that had been growing inside me. Instinctively I knew it was my yoki trying to heal my wound. Pushing against it with all my might, I felt the pain in my chest lessening, even as the surge of yoki calmed down. Confused, my hold relaxed for a minute, and the yoki slipped my control, almost breaking out. Quickly regaining my focus, I again pushed back and felt the energy recede. Moving one hand from my sword, I felt the place where I had been cut. It was perfectly smooth; the armor was torn, but no wound. Looking up, I saw Clare smiling.

"Good. You passed the first true test. But honestly, you had it easier than the rest of us. Nothing to unlearn." The sarcastic smile that crossed her face reminded me of the way Raki looked whenever someone was saying that we should be happy that the yoma don't just go around killing random people. He'd always tell them, he'd have that smile on and say, so it's better they do it systematically, just picking people from these little farms like cows to the slaughter?

Back then I had never understood what he had been saying, but now I think I was beginning to understand. And that was why I had to fight. If we could defeat Isley, then humans would at least have a fighting chance for survival. Raising my sword to a fighting stance, I waited for the next attack. Just as my arms were starting to get tired from holding the heavy claymore, Clare attacked again. Even more ferociously this time. I was hard put not to fall on my butt under the onslaught. Barely keeping her sword from hacking me to bits, I could feel myself getting tired. As I slipped into a sort of trance, reacting on instinct alone, I felt my yoki rising up against my mental barriers, trying to push out my full, deadly strength. "Stop!" Clare shouted right next to my face, breaking my trance-like state. As I pulled away, I felt something off about the air, even though no blood had been spilled this time, the whole area around us was tainted with the awful stench. Looking around, I tried to figure out where it was coming from. Slowly, it dawned on me. The scent came from my own body! But why did I smell so strongly of blood when I had not been wounded?

"Teresa! What were you thinking?! Your yoki was so strong I though a yoma was coming! What happened to your control?!" Clare was really yelling now. She was scared. Then again, so was I.

"Well? What was it?"

"I-I don't k-know." My hesitant reply was shaking. I knew only too well what would happen if any yoma had been in rage just then.

"We'll take a break now." Clare turned to face the forest below us. Grabbing my claymore, I protested,

"No! It's alright! I can keep going!" 'Is it just my imagination, or was that a smile?' Sighing, she closed her silver eyes and told me,

"Relax. Discipline is a balance of training and rest. Don't push yourself too hard. Or do you want to die?" Soundly mollified, I sat. Clare tossed me an apple from her pack.

"Did you have any training before?"

"Huh? Uhh, no. Well, I got into a lot of fights, but no one ever taught me anything."

There was a rather awkward silence for a while. Feeling better after eating, I stood up and Clare followed suit. "One more round, then we're done for the day." I nodded and had my hand ready to draw my sword, when she said,

"Let's change the rules a bit. I thought to teach you the basics without yoki, but if you never learn to release your power, you'll never learn to control it. But if I think you're pushing too far, I'm going to bring you back. And if I can't," She let her words hang in the air for a moment "Draw." Almost instantly this time, I flashed my sword out, my speed close to her non-wind-cutter speed. This time, I attacked first. Taking a slash at her left shoulder from above, letting gravity and a small amount yoki lend the blow power. Almost like she knew my move before I did, Clare casually blocked with perfect timing. Even a novice like myself could tell that much. I went on the defensive then, seeking an opening. Thinking I saw one, I lunged in, too close for Claymores. Shifting my grip to my left hand, I punched Clare solidly in the face. Stumbling back, she drew her sword back to reform her stance, it was in perfect position. I put my own sword up and twisted up and out with a deft flick of the wrist and sent her sword flying. Clearly not expecting this, Clare had loosened her grip and her claymore flew out of her grasp, landing firmly in the ground about 50m away. Wiping blood from her newly healed face, Clare said,

"Great. You have real potential. Maybe you should spar with Miria tomorrow."

Now I'm working on the story of how the orginization fell and Isley's take over, all that good stuff. Look forward to it! It might take longer than these chapters have, because for the basic after the war part, I want to try and stay as close to the true story as possible.

Don't forget to review!