The First Day of Training.Arriving at The Martial Novices Guild Amaris let us to their leader waving goodbye as she left me in his care.
Draught bowed calmly and sincerely.
Welcoming Yami and me.
"Welcome young Shadowfang. It pleases me to see you are doing fine. I heard the stories from one of my scouts. You barely survived that struggle didn"t you?"
"Yes Guildmaster, survival at a high price, but I earned myself a trusted ally in the end."
I looked at Yami with relieve, grabbing her hand as Draught continued."
"As for why you are here... Amaris believes in you, young one. The recommendation of a Guide is one of the utmost importance, which is why we are willing to teach you the basics of Close Combat.
You will be staying here for an entire week during which we will go through the basics of hand to hand combat. Depending on your understanding and growth you might learn more, even gaining abilities. But that all depends on you both."
Confused Yami looked up as she asked in disbelief;
"The both of us?"
"Did you hear me stutter child? You are sir Shadowfang"s trusted partner, ally even... are you not?"
"Y-yes, sir!! Yami will do whatever she can to aid Master!"
Yami answered Hesitant at first but proudly powering through her answer with pride.
"Good... but, before we begin... I need to know what you are my child. You see, I wasn"t human by nature either. For I am the mighty Glazial Thunder Tiger."
Draught said slowly revealing his spirit beast for, ad his human body morphed. Razor-sharp fangs and claws formed, his face turned into a snout as his skin turned into white and black fur.
Yami looked hesitant to Michael not knowing what to do. Michael nodded showing her it was okay. As she breathed in deeply she straightened her composure, slowly turning into a wolf. Horns began to form on the sides of her head as well as fangs and claws.
"Would you look at that, true to the name in any sense. A Shadowfang to the core. You can be proud of such a partner young Shadowfang.
Come to think of it... were there not Dire Wolves Sighted in the fields of the beginning? Might Yami be one of them?"
Draught answered surprised.
"Yes, sir! Michael stopped the rampage of our leader, promoting him to pack leader since that day we are loyal to him and him alone.
Yami even had the pleasure to be named by Master, even granting his family name to one such as myself."
Yami proudly announced.
"Oh... how fascinating... so you were the boy the Adventurers talked about as of late?
This will make things easier... Young ones, we will start training shortly, if you would follow me, I"ll be introducing you to your training partner."
Walking through the courtyard again huge groups were following instructions training in unison.
Closing in Draught ordered the teacher to stop the training, choosing and calling one of the graduate students to him.
Standing in front of us was a beautiful fighter, a woman with long brown hair, who had a gentle nature to herself. Young ones meet Chiara, she is the one who will teach you the basics. I have seen her in action... and this is her chance to prove to us all that she has what it takes to become a teacher."
The girl bowed down traditionally as her bright yellow eyes linked with mine.
"You will have a small garden to yourselves for the next seven days. Be sure to follow each and every command she makes, as I trust her judgment more than most. Don"t let me down, child..."
As Draught bowed down to take his leave a boy stood up out of the group. Dissatisfied by the decision of the teacher, he closed in on us.
"Master, I beg your forgiveness, but please let me prove that I Ji Xiou am a better fit to teach them. I Ji hereby challenge you Chiara to an affair of honor, putting our pride on the line proofing to all, that men are better than women."
The teacher wanted to stop disrespectful behavior, but... Draught saw promise in the pupil."
"Oh... this little one is daring... well then, show us what you both are made off. This is also a fine way to proof the teacher here made the right choice. Clear, the fields!"
Making way for the two, the entire field got cleared. Students on both sides sat down, lighting fires around the area.
"Now, make sure you watch them both, you might learn something young ones."
Draught said laughing to himself.
As the two took their places on the field, their teacher closed in.
"I will act as referee overseeing your match. Immobilizing or making the opponent forfeit is allowed, but you are not allowed to kill each other, this duel is only allowed only to show off your capable prowess and abilities. I suggest you do so keeping a clean match."
"Yes, Master!!"
The two students said in unison. Taking their stances readying themselves for battle.
"Begin"
The teacher shouted leaving the field.
As soon as she did, torches lit up the entire courtyard. Ji launched at Chiara. Unfazed she kept her posture. Making the slightest calm movements to dodge Ji"s extravagantly huge energy-consuming movements. Hitting nothing but air.
All the while through this, I could have sworn I saw energy emanating from her body... this energy rose from her feet, into the rest of her body. All the way through her hands. Just when I thought she finished collecting energy, at that exact moment, gently moving her palm towards her opponent. A blast of wind like energy went through Ji, blasting him several meters away. Quickly standing up Ji began emanating the same kind of energy.
This time being directed to his feet. Giving off a warm feeling I could have sworn his legs got enveloped by fire. Striking from a distance fire shot towards Chiara.
Trying to repel the thread, moving her arms around a current of air formed around her, this time forming a sphere-like barrier repelling and dispersing the flames. Moving her arms straight down to the ground and up towards the ceiling, twirling around ending towards Ji, again gusts surged towards him.
Trying to repel the gust of wind, Ji formed small blasts of heat around his body as he made them turn and turn to create a current of flames. Before the wind would impact the heat-blasted the gusts to the ground. Unaware of Chiara"s intent the gusts formed spheres trapping young Ji.
Jumping towards them Chiara struck them as hard to the ground as she could. Releasing the current inside. Cyclones formed were the sphere previously where.
Turning in the opposite direction of the flame current, completely canceling them out. Now, unable to counter-attack Ji got lifted by the air, leaving him to fall from an immense height. Slamming into the ground, slowly losing his consciousness.
"It"s done... now, stay down if you know what"s good for you!"
Chiara yelled, lowering her guard.
At that moment Ji rose from the ground, completely enveloped in flames, he murmured something to himself.
"I can"t give up, not until I meet you again... Mother!!"
Slowly closing in his form began to gradually change shape. Turning into something demonic of nature.
Losing control, his eyes began glowing white.
It became clear, Ji was no longer with us.
The teacher raised her hands announcing the winner.
The winner of the Affair for Honor is Chiara Shardilla.
At that moment rage overpowered Ji, rushing towards Chiara attacking blindly. Backing away, the teacher and Draught jumped in to stop Ji. Holding him back he finally calmed down. Frustrated by this betrayal he left the guild vowing for revenge.
Draught walked towards us. Apologizing for the rude behavior, his student had displayed.
"My apologies for Ji"s behavior, you see he is very pa.s.sionate and short-tempered. But has his heart in the right place."
Draught looked at Chiara. Resting his palm on her shoulder he continued to speak.
"As for you Chiara, you have proved your combat prowess as you displayed excellent performance and calm judgment throughout the entirety of the duel.
You are ready to take on your next challenge, students of your own."
Draught bowed down greeting us all as he left us in Chiara her care. Leading us to the area next to the fields of combat, she introduced herself once more to us.
"My name is Chiara since my teacher and Master Draught wish it so... will I teach you both the basics of combat. Starting off right away, I want you both to tell me what you saw during the duel."
"Other than the both of you moving at an incredible speed you mean? Well... looking at your fight I could see energy emanating from your body"s even from Ji"s."
"Yes, I saw you dodge in place as if you read his energy."
"Very good, both of you. You both are correct, we emanated energy as this vapored from our bodies.
As I was able to read these it made dodging all the more easy for me. Which is why I will be teaching you the Princ.i.p.al of inner strength. This will both help you to understand the basics, while at the same time conserve and collect energy from around you."
"Yes, Master!!"
"Michael, since you are the one Amaris requested the training for and since I don"t have a clear view of your capabilities, I suggest sparring to find out more about this for today."
"Getting in the action right away, I like it! Yami, stay back, you can spar against her when we are done."
"Okay Master, please be careful."
Getting ready for the sparring match I walked towards the field. Standing in front of me was Chiara.
Already proofing to be a formidable opponent, I was pumped to see what I could learn from her.
"Before we begin Michael, let me tell you what this sparring match is actually for, of course you know I will be examining your combat capabilities. But, there is also something else. I will also look into how much you learned from the previous match, to check how much you will be able to grow within this week.
The same goes for you Yami, so I suggest preparing for when we are done. Now... to begin our sparring match I will give you the first strike, Michael."
"Begin!"
Taking into account the way Chiara was moving during the last match I was a bit cautious, taking on a defensive stance slowly closing in on her.
Chiara did the same but stayed in place. Taunting me to come.
"The one who strikes first tends to have the advantage of battle!"
I yelled jumping in to strike at her guard.
Just then Chiara shifted stance, enabling her to become offensive. Flowing past my fists she danced around them like water falling from rocks.
I tried to continue my attacks but soon found out that they all got blocked or parried in the same way. Ending her flowing movement what seemed like a dance, she threw us in the air, away from her.
Falling to the ground I got frustrated...
"You are so much stronger than me... I have to carefully consider what to do next."
"I won"t give you time to recover fletching, now it"s my turn."
Chiara said grinning as she rushed towards me.
Quickly taking up my stance I focussed on my breathing, the most important thing, for now, is calming down and a.s.sessing the situation.
Will my body be able to keep up?
Looking st her stance as she closed in it felt like she would attack from the left. Readying my guard hoping to slow her down I prepared for impact.
Now Chiara was standing in front of me, with a full force she struck, not from the left, but underneath.
I tried jumping back, but I couldn"t... with one flowing movement she struck my side what felt like three times before punching me straight in the air.
"Let"s end it here for now."
Chiara said calming her stance.
Offering her hand to help me up she smiled.
"I see you have what it takes to be a quick learner fletching, tell me, what could you have done to prevent my attack from connecting with your chin?"
"I should have let my actions be guided by your movement."
"Knowing you should have done this in the end, what did Michael do wrong Yami?"
"Michael focused his guard too much on your attack not taking into account the possibility of a pincer attack. If he had taken in the flow of battle and taken the time to read your movements he would have been able to counter."
"That is correct, you both are really good observers,
I have faith that you both will learn the basic principle of inner strength. Yet, for now, it is your turn Yami."
Defeated, yet learning something new I left the field.
Thinking of what I could have done better.
"I have to be more focused on my surroundings, looking not only at movement but all other senses.
Hearing, sight... even smell and touch."
During this time Yami took my place on the field, preparing for her sparring session. Even if it was small, she had an advantage going last. Because she was able to observe the flow of battle more than once. Not that it mattered in the end, seeing as how strong Chiara really is, was in a way frightening, yet oddly fascinating.
Clashing their fists small shockwaves thundered throughout the fields, creating cracks... their footing got disturbed by this allowing small chances to attack. Just when Yami thought she could strike Chiara she vanished from sight.
Cautious of her surroundings Yami tried to locate her opponent, but to no avail, as she was nowhere to be found. Thinking this would take a while Yami lowered her guard acting nonchalant. In that small moment, Chiara came falling from the sky, striking with her heel face down. As luck would have it, Yami jumped back in the nick of time as Chiara"s heel sc.r.a.ped past Yami"s Ears.
Seizing her chance to strike Yami rushed straight back baring her fist at Chiara. Chiara remained calm, calculating the possibilities she jumped back elegantly turning over her axis. At the same time, she hit Yami her chin making her fall to the ground landing on her back, you could tell it was a devastating blow, as she was unable to stand up.
Stripped from all movement Yami kept struggling to stand up. Growling in frustration she morphed back to her natural form, or so she tried...
The hit seemed to have been critical keeping her part in her human form, making it impossible to completely turn into her primal form.
"Good... good... you just refuse to give up, don"t you? I like that fighting spirit of yours, but let"s end it here for the day... I have a good grasp of both your capabilities. Tomorrow we will start as I will give you both special individual training. Bear in mind that the basics are your foundation, one cloud says it"s on of those things easily forgotten by most... yet, in itself, it"s the basis and most important aspect of combat.
Without a good foundation, you wouldn"t be able to master skills, abilities or even handle your weapons.
Think about this as we will start training for the basics tomorrow. You man leave! Rest up well!!"
"Yes, Madame!" Yami and Michael answered anxiously in unison. Chiara left the fields leaving both of us to rest. A sigh of relieve escaped my lungs.
*sigh*
"That was intense, wasn"t it Yami?"
"It sure was a Master! Yami can"t wait to see what tomorrow has in store for her."
"Yea, I agree, but we better rest up, something tells me it will be more intense than today."
I smiled at Yami and gently petted her head.
"You did really well today Yami, show me more of your combat prowess tomorrow!"
Yami moved her ears up a little showing that she liked the fact of my hand is on her head. Even her tail twirled around little showing signs of affection.
"I"m curious where we will be staying during the training... Chiara didn"t show us to our living quarters yet."
"Yami thinks Chiara will be showing us soon..."
"How come you think that Yami? Didn"t Chiara just leave us?"
"Yes... but she is walking back, she must have realized she forgot to mention something and show us where to stay too haha. Look! There she is."
Looking in front of us, indeed Chiara was walking back the way she came. A bit embarra.s.sed she huffed and puffed, seeing as she must have rushed back right away after she realized forgetting to inform us.
*huff* *huff*
"Fletchlings... I seemed to have forgotten a few things, for example, I never asked Yami what she could have done to improve or more importantly shoe you where it would be that you both would be resting and preparing for tomorrow. Haha, silly me, sorry about that."
*huff* "pfeeww"
"So... Michael, let"s start with you, what could Yami have done better?"
"What I could see, during the sparring match, when you hit her chin... Yami could have prevented that if she had raised her hands at that moment, thinking back she also had to make split-second decisions so it could have been difficult, yet... had she blocked your foot with her hands she wouldn"t get stunned for that crucial moment."
Yami looked at Michael in disbelief.
How could master explain this in such detail? This could be what allowed him to adapt during the battle against Garou, our leader then attacked in blind rage... now I see... defense is just as good a weapon as an offense.
"Thank you, master! I"ll take it into account and work hard on improving."
"I must agree with Michael, Yami... had you not loosen your guard there you would have had a huge opportunity to counter my attack, please take the advice to heart and work on it tomorrow.
Still, please tell me what you think could have gone better? Ah, before you answer me... do note that you are exceptionally flexible and up until that point in the match you were getting the upper hand, I have to compliment you on that.
Your master can be proud of a partner like you."
"Yes, Teacher! As I must agree on what you both said and of course Yami will do everything in her power to improve, but there was something else that bothered me... you see, during the match what caused me to lower my guard there, was my breathing.
The sparring got so intense and I got so into the moment I completely ran out of breath. Please, for me to improve ever so slightly, teach me how to maintain a steady breathing tomorrow."
"Good... since you already know what went wrong, I will help you out tomorrow, but for now let me show you both the rook you will be staying in for the training duration."
Chiara led us through a huge stone gate, which slowly and steadily shrank in size as it led to what seemed like an alleyway of some sort. We pa.s.sed multiple doors made out of specially carved wood, leading us to believe this was a corridor. In between every door, Crystal"s could be seen emitting a faint glow, as they illuminated the edges of the walls around us.
At the end of the corridor two bigger doors blocked our way, specially carved figures ill.u.s.trated a Tiger and Dragon fighting a fierce battle over what seemed like a Hollow Orb. The Dragon shot its flames at the orb while the tiger struck the orb with lightning.
Looking at it closer before the doors opened, something felt off, the attacks... it felt like they got sucked inside. Could the orb have been something else? Something... more like a vortex?
Walking through the doors leading to a big hallway.
"Here we are fletchlings, the living quarters of the students of the Guild."
Pointing to the door on the right of the middle one Chiara continued.
"This will be the room we prepared for you both,
it should be big enough as it is the only one suitable for two people. There will also be breakfast, lunch, and dinner if you look at the right before we enter you will see a hallway, which leads to a huge restaurant.
There you"ll be allowed to get food and drinks whenever you please. I will leave you for now as we will have a busy day tomorrow."
Chiara left with a smile on her face.
*grooowll*
"Hungry aren"t you, Yami?"
Yami looked away dropping her ears down,
feeling ashamed by her hunger.
Michael gently caressed Yami"s head petting it with care.
"Don"t worry, I am hungry too, nothing to be ashamed about."
Yami looked up with great respect in her eyes and wiggling tail. As her excitement for food took over, her ears gently rose up. Making her eyes glow and her belly growl once more.
"Yes, Master!"
We both made our way to the restaurant and ordered our dinner for the day. For Yami a freshly grilled steak, as for me... having a plate with freshly made pasta was just what I needed.
As we enjoyed our food I noticed Yami never had the chance to eat prepared meat before, looking at her she looked like a child in heaven as the taste made her forget about today"s hardships.
"Delicious!! To think we can eat this every day!! Amazing, isn"t it Master?"
"Yes, I am very grateful for the food, and the opportunity to prepare and trading before heading out to the capital."
Finishing up, we left for our room, upon entry we notice the beds had been joined together into one.
Leaving a huge two-person bed.
"Yami will sleep in your shadow, master, you take the bed."
Michael shrugged his head...
"Don"t be silly... there is plenty of room for both of us, join me. I won"t do anything weird. We better both get as much rest as possible for tomorrow."
"You"ll really let me? Yami never slept in a bed before."
She slowly walked toward the bed, feeling the side, then the top... soon she jumped on and embraced the softness of the blankets and pillows.
"Wow... Amazing! This bed, master was talking about is so soft!"
Laying on the bed, quickly Yami sneezed off into her dreams.
*Poof*
Being tired made her turn back into her original wolf form. Laying on the foot end of the bed.
"She must have been really tired..."
I gently caressed her fur seeing as she was soundly asleep. Following her example, I changed in a new pair of underwear and tugged myself in nicely, before drifting away into my dreams.