The Scarred Path

"Our wounds are our sources of Growth." – A Herald

One of Man's greatest strengths is the ability to heal its wounds. Only…this skill of regeneration is too often taken for granted. What is also often overlooked is that this ability is also quite symbolic, as no matter how many times they're knocked down, they heal and get back up.

The dark underground arena was cast in a multitude of shadows from the limited light offered by the two large torches on either end. The walls, floor and ceiling of the arena were all made of a tough stone, with the carving of a sword in a flame etched into the floor. Though, from the darkness, a figure could be made out, kneeling in the centre of the arena, right on the cross-guard of the sword.

Suddenly four more torches burst into flames, banishing the darkness and replacing it with light. In the low orange glow of the flames, the figure was more easily visible.

Remaining in his crouched position, he wore a face scarf around his neck, which was pulled down at the moment to reveal his matte-black mop of hair. He wore a pair of glasses with a metal frame, which had an interior that seemed to glow white in the faint light.

Over his body, he wore a dusty-brown short-sleeved shirt and a pauldron that connected with a sheath on his back. In the sheath was a scimitar with a copper hilt, slightly dirtied from use. Covering his legs were a pair of three-quarter black trousers that reached down to his shins. Over the trousers his legs were covered in steel paddings and guards, finished off with a pair of black, leather, steel-reinforced boots that reached up to the ends of his pants.

The figure took in one deep breath as the last of the torches were lit. I can do this…I can do this…I can do this…

"Sze Khun Esinti," a voice commanded. "Are you ready for the trials?"

Sze Khun looked up to see the large man he was kneeling in front of. More than five metres away from him, standing behind a podium on a raised platform was a well-toned man in metal leggings with chainmail over his bare chest. Even with the distance between them, Sze Khun still felt the same sense of danger whenever he was in the man's presence.

It was a feeling of incredible expectations from the man, expectations that he would suffer for if they weren't met.

"Yes." He said loud enough for the sound to be echoed through the entire chamber. Then, three seconds of silence passed before the sound of gears turning and grinding metal broke it. It was the black-haired boys signal to rise from his crouched position and draw his weapon. The scimitar, Yakmak, glowed a faint shade of amber in the light of the flames as he held it out to his side. Upon opening his eyes, they were revealed to be a bronze-colour, like a smothered flame that refused to go out.

Turning around, he faced a metal gate that was slowly being retracted into the ceiling as a large, shirtless man with a horned helmet and a two-metre long greataxe. The man was dragging his weapon against the ground, causing sparks to fly as he made his way over to Sze Khun, only to stop six feet away.

They both stood in battle stances as they waited for the order to fight. Sze Khun had the advantage of visibility as his glasses highlighted his opponent, standing a foot taller than him. They also served to increase the brightness of the room around him, adjusting so that he viewed the world with a different frequency of light.

"Begin!" the deep voice echoed out as the axe-wielder moved in for a devastating overhead smash. The impact of the axe didn't even crack the stone floor as Sze Khun quickly skirted around his opponent before taking two quick slices at him with his scimitar. The blade cut into the man's Aura as he swung his axe again to bat away the scimitar.

Sze Khun continued to riposte and parry the heavy strikes for a few seconds before he found himself backpedalling to get out of range of another overhead smash. He then used his the size of the weapon and his speed to his advantage as he ran up the handle of the greataxe to perform a leap attack. However, instead of driving his sword through the man, Sze Khun instead used the man's body as a pivot to create a long gash across his upper torso that his Aura absorbed.

The large axe-wielder staggered slightly from the blow, but so did Sze Khun as he landed with the wrong foot and almost tripped over himself. A cold sweat flashed over him as he worried whether or not his mentor had seen it or not, paralyzing him temporarily as he thought whether to look at him to check, or whether it would give away that he didn't mean to.

He didn't have any time to come to a decision as he heard the sound of gears turning and metal clamping together as the axe-wielder had transformed his greataxe into a portable mortar cannon.

He fired a salvo of three shots at roughly where Sze Khun was supposed to be. Again, the floor showed no cracks or damage, aside from a few scorch marks as smoke and dust was kicked up into the air by the blasts.

All three shots had missed, though.

When the dust settled, the black-haired boy was nowhere to be seen. The axe-wielder turned his head left and right in search of his opponent, but could not see him anywhere in the arena.

Quickly reloading his mortar, he fired off another salvo of three shots in every direction around him, only to be surprised by a kick to the back of one of his legs, causing him to fall to one knee. Sze Khun then reappeared out of thin air and began quickly slashing away at the man as he attempted to block the strikes with his cannon, only to have it knocked out of his hands with an uppercut-swing.

He was then kicked onto his back by a well-placed boot to his face as Sze Khun quickly put the scimitar to his neck.

There was a moment when Sze Khun actually considered plunging the sword into the man's neck simply because he was his opponent, but it never manifested itself more than just a thought in his mind. Offering a hand to the axe-wielder, he hoisted him onto his feet with great effort as he turned to face his mentor.

"I'm ready for the next trial!" he declared, with a deep sense of confidence as the axe wielder made his way out of the arena and through the gateway. His mentor stood perfectly still for a few moments, giving Sze Khun the unshakable feeling that he was being scrutinized and judged just by his choice of phrasing the declaration, but the feeling subsided once the figure raised his right hand, and the sound of more footsteps could be heard getting closer from the gateway to the arena.

What worried Sze Khun at this point was that there were more than one set of footsteps headed his way, his confidence from the earlier fight dropping instantly. He could take on any opponent, he was sure of that. However, more than one opponent at a time?

In no time at all, he was flanked on all sides by three men, each wearing the same outfits but carrying a different weapon.

All wore various arrangements of body armour under a poncho made from a fine, bright-red silk that covered their upper body, as well as helmets in the shape of the sun. One carried a pair of twisted swords while another carried a long halberd, while the last carried a large sickle in one hand.

Sze Khun slowly span in a circle where he stood, scimitar held up in a defensive stance as he kept a close eye on each on them so that he wasn't taken off guard.

"Hesitation is an asset that only you can give to your opponent." His mentor remarked as neither side made a move. Though it would sound like advice to anyone else, Sze Khun knew what it actually was; a warning.

A warning that he wasn't acting upon what his training had taught him. A warning that if his mentor wanted to, he could end the trials right now and declare him unworthy amongst the Desert Raiders.

A second after the remark had been made, Sze Khun brought his weapon down on the man wielding the two crooked swords.

He was able to break the man's guard relatively quickly, but it left him vulnerable to the other two, which they were taking full advantage of as they both engaged him at once. He was able to parry the halberd to the side, and just barely ducked underneath the horizontal slash of the sickle. Losing his balance during the duck, he vanished again and carefully weaved in between his opponents as he rolled right behind the one wielding the dual swords, as he seemed the easiest to defeat out of the others.

"The shadows will only be your ally if you can maintain their silence." The voice of his mentor rang out, telling him all he needed to know and more.

They knew where he was.

He had fallen for their trick as just as he was about to attack the duellist in the back, he spun around and met Yakmak with both of his swords.

Sze Khun then became visible again as he was caught off guard at being found so easily. Was I that noisy? Or was the attack too predictable. He wondered as he pushed back against the dual swords with both hands. He placed one on the flat side of his blade for better leverage before he quickly glanced behind him to see the sickle-wielder approaching and rearing up for an attack.

"Do not fight a battle worth less than the fight itself." His mentor warned again. Sze Khun was sick and tired of the warnings and scolding, but they were what pushed him to do better.

Kicking out at one of the duellist's legs, he was able to break the weapon lock and turn to meet the sickle before it stabbed into him. Unfortunately, that left him completely vulnerable to the halberd, which stabbed him in the side and sent him skidding across the floor.

He quickly regained his composure and decided to use his trump-card. Twisting a knob on the hilt of his scimitar, he caused the blade to split apart, revealing a focussing lens connected to a laser emitter.

He then trained it on the closest of the three opponents and fired a red beam of superheated gas at the man, who didn't have time to raise his sickle to protect himself from the blast and was knocked to the ground by it. The black-haired swordsman then fired at the duellist, knocking him back a couple feet because he was able to raise both swords in a cross to block the laser beam.

He didn't have enough time to aim and fire at the halberd-wielder, so instead used Yakmak, still in its beam-gun form, to parry an overhead-diagonal attack. Knocking the halberd into the ground, he twisted the knob on the handle once more and exchanged blows with his opponent.

He wasn't able to gain enough ground in time because of the halberd's reach, and soon had to deal with the duellist at the same time. He had to spin on his spot constantly as he struggled to deflect both weapons at the same time, getting cut and hit more than once as he did. Eventually his opportunity came when the sickle-wielder leapt in a wide arc over the halberd-wielder, causing him to dash to the side to avoid being hit.

Rolling to the side to avoid the strike, Sze Khun turned invisible once again, but didn't remain quiet for very long. He was able to get under the duellist's guard less than three seconds after he had turned invisible, and was able to disarm him of one of his swords by sticking his scimitar under the man's guard and flicking the weapon out of his grasp, all the while grappling for the other with his free hand. Focussing on maintaining his invisibility, he delivered a deadly barrage of attacks as he focussed on the one target before him, and nothing else.

That was his last mistake.

With a powerful sweep-kick, he was able to topple the swordsman before him and was ready to disarm him of his second weapon, when a sickle hooked around his mid-section and pulled him away. His Aura dropped significantly as it protected him from the hook-shaped blade, giving him no time to turn invisible as he tumbled right into the halberd-wielder. It was now his turn to go on the defensive as he was continuously assaulted by the barrage of blades. Sparks flew in every direction around Sze Khun as he tried to switch Yakmak's beam-gun form to fire off beams of energy at point-blank range at his opponents.

He executed the form perfectly, but they reacted too quickly and were able to deflect and block the beams. They had him on the run.

Eventually, the duellist re-joined the battle – albeit with one sword – and Sze Khun was surrounded on all sides. He parried the halberd away before quickly turning to block a stab from the duellist, leaving him wide open to the sickle-wielder. Locking the hook of the weapon around Sze Khun's arm, his opponent pulled back on the weapon, causing him to lose his grip on the scimitar as he was not prepared for the sudden motion.

He stared in shock as the sword clattered to the floor, as he knew what it meant.

He had failed the trials.

His attention was drawn back to the halberd-wielder by the sound of metal scraping against stone, to see the man spinning the weapon around for another attack. But the trials are over!

Instinctively, Sze Khun raised his left arm to block the weapon, resulting in a deep gash across his left wrist. The slash also sent Sze Khun tumbling to the floor on his back as his opponents all aimed their weapons at him, as if to finish him as he cradled his wounded arm close to his chest.

"Stop!" he heard his mentor shout. Just like that, all his opponents seemed to freeze as if they had been turned to stone. He took the momentary reprieve to tap the side of his glasses with his good hand to see his opponent's Aura readings. They all appeared on the glass, as well as the time and the outside temperature, though that wasn't very relevant.

He was shocked to see that they were all still well over 40% while his was none-existent but slowly increasing.

Then why am I still bleeding? He thought as his opponents took a few steps back and stood at attention. Sze Khun scrambled onto his knees in haste as he realised that his mentor was approaching them now. He bowed his head as low as he could, out of both shame and respect.

His mentor didn't stop until he was more or less one foot from him. He still clutched his wound in his good hand as he looked up at his mentor, breath still heavy from the fight.

"Why do you not kneel properly?" his mentor asked in a hushed, yet stern voice. Sze Khun knew this was coming, but he had hoped that if he kept quiet that his mentor would simply forget about it. Of course he wouldn't. Sze Khun slowly fell forward on his hands and knees, the sharp pain of the wound on his wrist stinging as he fell on his palm.

His mind raced with things that he could say to resolve his failure, or at least reduce the pain of it. He honestly had no idea what his mentor had in store if he failed; he had always only thought of success. "Mentor, please forgive me. If I retake the trials-"

"Then you will fail again." His mentor cut him off in a stern tone. That was also his cue to not speak as his mentor would list off his failures. "Your first mistake was not initiating the fight; you gave your opponents time to assess your strengths and weaknesses. You second was not fully utilising your abilities; I saw more than half a dozen opportunities that you did not take, so either you did not see them either, or you were too lazy to take them."

Sze Khun was baffled at how he was able to pick out so many flaws in his fight. In his own opinion, he fought as well as he could. But, he was obviously wrong. "Your third failure was not keeping each of your opponents in mind; you shut off every other opponent but the one you are fighting!" his mentor shook his head. "No, you are clearly not ready to join our ranks. Especially since you have seemed to have forgotten my words on not raising your bare arm to block an attack; it will not save you!"

"Father, please I-"

"I will not have my own blood beg for mercy!" he suddenly shouted, cutting off whatever Sze Khun had to ask. Sze Khun was worried that he would have him executed right there, but his mentor – his father – seemed to calm down after that. "However, you fought exceptionally in the first trial." A spark of hope re-emerged in his mind. "How unfortunate that it was only the first of six trials." A spark that was immediately smothered. "Because of this, I will allow you to leave with your weapon, and with your life, nothing more. You are henceforth banished from this sanctum and from Vacuo. Should you ever set foot on our soil again, and I will see to it that you are executed where you stand."

His mind and heart froze at the words. B-banished from Vacuo? This can't be happening. Vacuo was his home, it was all that he had – this life was all that he had. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe. He could only stare hopelessly at his father's cold, unwavering gaze as his wrist continued to bleed on the floor.

"Leave now, before I resent this grace." He warned through grit teeth. "The Desert Raiders shall no longer watch over you."

Sze Khun slowly rose to his feet and gave his mentor a final bow before he moved to retrieve his weapon. He had long ago learned to shed no tears and instead let the pain swell within him. Sheathing Yakmak onto the scabbard on his back, he looked in between his former opponents, who stood at attention by the entryway out of the arena before bowing to them. Despite having humiliated him in front of his own father and having him banished from his own home country, he knew that they were only doing what they were tasked with, as well as the fact that they were great warriors who deserved this respect. Stopping by the dark entryway, Sze Khun could see faintly glowing torches further down the path he now had to take. However, he paused to turn around and see his father continue to glare at him, urging him to leave before he embarrassed himself again.

"Farewell, father." He muttered before pulling the cowl he wore over his head and drawing the face-scarf over his nose. On the back of the scarf, covering his head, was the pattern of a yellow flame with a sword piercing through its centre.

The symbol of his family; the symbol of the Desert Raiders.

He didn't deserve to wear that symbol. I have failed, and now I must live with the failure.

He had walked into the arena with his head held high, but now he wished that they had just left him headless. At least that way, he could think that he had died with honour.