Before anything, I would like to thank my reviewer Punk-Rampant320 for his helpful input about my writing style. Even if anyone can leave a review with ideas on how to improve my writing style, that would also be appreciated. With that out of the way, enjoy the read!

An Act of Honour – Chapter 2

As Theum 'Ripostee found himself in the solider barracks, he could think of nothing that he could do to rectify this wrong. He felt empty, like a soulless thing with no purpose. Resting his head in his hands, he thought of the numerous cycles of training that would need to be repeated, all of the arduous time spent learning true Swordsmanship.

Resigning himself to another term of worthless research and sparring, Theum exhaled and sprawled himself on top of his small bedroll. He knew that the Swordsmaster was stubborn and headstrong, and that nothing he did would fix that problem. No argument he made would ever allow him to retake his final test without repeating the proper conditioning and trials beforehand.

Without realizing it was occurring, Theum found himself drifting in to a dreamless slumber, a final respite from the torture and haunting failure that had occupied his day.

* * *

Waking abruptly, Theum spasmed and flailed instinctively before taking a grasp of his surroundings, his eyes taking in an alien darkness. Slowing his breathing and taking a moment to regain his thoughts, the day's events surged into his mind and he was overcome with disappointment. Realizing that he would be unable to sleep with unshakable thoughts locked in his head, he pulled on his skin-tight gelsuit and weakly pulled himself to his feet.

A gentle brightness came from the floor, emanating from perfectly aligned strips of light set at equal intervals. Theum used the purple luminescence as a guide towards his destination, and approached the exit door in the corner of the large room. The opening mechanism on the door twisted as he approached, and as it opened Theum took a step out of the barracks and into the cold night.

As soon as he had cleared the door, Theum felt a rush of cold wind assail him. He was used to the cold, but his gelsuit was not thick enough to provide him with any real protection. Steeling himself against the harsh elements, he set off at a brisk pace towards the training centre not far from his current location. If he was going to have to repeat his training, why not get ahead to ensure this did not occur again?

Theum reassured himself in this logic, and increased his pace. Before long, he could see the outline of a large building in the dim light of the planet's moons, and adjusted his route so that he was heading straight towards it. Soon enough he was at the entrance. As Theum approached the door, he observed quietly as the opening mechanism twisted slowly before parting the door at its midsection. Taking a single glance behind him before turning back to look inside the dark building, Theum stepped inside.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, Theum was assaulted by a wave of light that illuminated the wide building. Theum could not help but feel his breath catch in his throat. Despite having frequented this building in the past for his training, the sheer immenseness and overwhelming space before him never failed to show the true awe of the peak of Sangheili architecture.

Admiring the perfectly set out rows of training equipment and sparring rings, Theum gazed around while trying to decide which skills to focus on first. With a shrug of his shoulders, he decided to forgo a full body warm up and merely rolled his arms and stretched his joints before stepping closer to a nearby weapon rack and taking a sparring-variant energy sword hilt in his hand. Backtracking towards a large square shaped area with a holographic panel in its centre, he pulled his right hand up to meet the panel, tapping the controls on it smoothly and with an experienced hand.

As soon as Theum finished modifying the options of the projector, he took a step back and activated the training sword. Admiring the single blade producing from the hilt, perfect for sparring, Theum glanced up again to see a hologram projection of a sword swinging gently in front of him and he raised his own sword in readiness. Watching as the sword swung towards him in a slow horizontal motion, Theum brought up his own sword to block it. The second that the hologram came into contact with the training sword, it swung back around in a sweeping arc and forced Theum to quickly bring up his blade to block it again.

They must have upgraded the motion sensors… He thought to himself, before realizing the hologram was rushing towards him in an overhead motion, forcing him to react quickly. With each deflected blow, the hologram began to increase in speed until it reached the point where it was a whirlwind of blue light, twisting and feigning in mid-air. Watching as the light swept to one side, Theum shifted his body to better position his sword, only to catch a glimpse in frustration as the hologram flicked under his defences and glanced off his side. With a cry of temporary shock, Theum stumbled off-balance before falling to the floor.

Panting, he regained his breath before switching pulling himself off the ground and deactivating the training simulator.

Still out of breath as he placed his sparring sword back in its previous place amongst the other training weapons, Theum turned his sight back towards the entrance of the training centre with the intention of ending this session for the night. As he took a single step towards the doorway, he stopped dead. Standing there, blocking the entrance, was the large figure of Narth 'Mandee.

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*Gasp*, I don't think this little run in will end well :O

OK then, glad that this chapter is out of the road. I've been struggling with different aspects of my writing, as I have been trying to determine what styles and techniques work best for me. I like to measure up my different fight scenes to see which I think works better, and the "honor-obsessed, withdrawn" personality is a hard thing for me to write. Additionally, I have been having a lot of work to complete at school, and this has greatly restricted the time that I have to work freely on the Internet, hence the time it took for me to churn this chapter out. Anyways. Any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, so go nuts with that. Thanks for reading!