Fencing

Have stuff you created and want to share? Here is the place.
User avatar
Kyuukei
Posts: 84
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:56 am
Location: At dawn's edge

Fencing

Post by Kyuukei »

"To master your Gates, you must first master your body."

These were the words of the fencing instructor Rand was now sparring with. It had been nearly two weeks now since they had met at the banks of the Gohoda. The blonde-haired Elvan woman had apaprently been watching his struggles with mastering the Dead of Time essence, and surprised him by seemingly coming out of nowhere to calmly explain to him that while he was more or less on the right track in terms of focus, channeling the powerful Compression energy outwards from his arms was simply straining his body too much to use the technique reliably.

It was with a deadpan yet slightly-amused tone that she had carefully explained her observations to Rand, and since she was impressed with his industriousness, she had offered to give him private lessons at a discount. Being a woman of considerable experience, it was not remotely hard for her to deduce that if Rand was practicing Dead of Time, particularly in the form of externalization away from himself, that he was an initiate in the Society that was slowly gathering power throughout Hanjia, but she did not care. She had dismissively said that following strength was both natural and sensible, then immediately told Rand where they would be training.

And so, here and now, their weapons clashed as they sparred in a relatively flat and secluded spot within the great orchards of Erwule. To the uninitiated, it would look as though they were trying to slaughter each other, but instead they were simply going through the motions, the instructor mostly 'observing' as Rand felt her out, learning by example from her stances and footing, and doing his best to strike at the openings she was intentionally leaving for only moments at a time. She had noted before they began that he was the type that best learned by direct approaches such as this, and indeed, he was already considerably more honed than when he started. Initially, at this level, she had seemed almost totally impervious to anything he could try, but over time both his body and mind had picked up on what she was trying to teach him.

Now, after an unspoken gesture of 'warning,' she stepped up her technique by a few levels, advancing swiftly and threatening to disarm Rand with the same ease she did only a few minutes into their first training session twelve days ago. The advantages of years of training along with the unique musculature of her Elvan body immediately became very apparent as Rand realized that he had now passed his first 'test,' and the second was now starting. He backed away and circled around carefully as his kodachi just barely managed to parry the deft thrusts of her rapier, trying to keep her from backing him into a corner against one of the several massive trees that encircled them.

After a near-miss to the side of his head, he instinctively channeled the essence which was bonded to his Hand Gate, Reflecen. A calming wind-like energy flowed upwards along his arms from hands, and his reflexes instantly increased exponentially. He stepped swiftly to one side and deftly parried his teacher's next few strikes, his mind taking in the lessons that his body was now rapidly learning. There were times when direct force and output was not all there was to applying a technique, whether one was channeling an essence or simply defending themselves from an oncoming blade. The same finesse, fluidity, and subtle control that he was depending on to keep up with his instructor in the art of fencing could just as easily be applied to essences he had bonded to his form. To master his Gates, he must first master his body. "Very good," he thought. Now, he understood.

His teacher scoffed slightly in approval now, just as she did away with more of the limiters on her own prowess and redirected his blade far to one side, disrupting his footing just long enough to suddenly advance and literally shove him up against a nearby tree. "Good," she said with an amused smirk on her face. "We'll take a break for a couple hours, and then you can try channeling your essence again, hm?" She outright laughed now and gave her protege a somewhat rough but affectionate 'poke' to the stomach with her free hand, indicating the essence he knew she meant, causing him to huff slightly in exasperation. Now, he nodded his affirmative and exhaled deeply, slumping down against the tree as the fatigue of his morning's training became apparent to him.

After he and his instructor shared breakfast and tea, and he had lounged for a bit, Rand got up carefully, readying his staff and heading to the center of the small clearing they had been sparring in. The winds Erwule was well-known for were now blowing strong, and the late autumn leaves danced beautifully in coalescing spirals, rising and falling in what almost seemed to be a pre-ordained pattern as multiple intersecting winds met in this one spot. This was the secondary reason they were training here - for reasons unknown, multiple vectors of wind always unfailingly crossed here when autumn came upon the land. It made this specific spot perfect for training Rand's Dead of Time.

He exhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and focused his power, carefully attuning his senses to the world around him. This time, instead of channeling the energy directly outwards from his staff, he planted it firmly into the ground and used its innate properties simply to help optimize the energy circulation out from his Core. Slowly, carefully, he raised his other hand and let the energy of the essence flow through his outstretched arm, letting the gravity from his Core gradually rise up along it. Rather than forcing the energy through his body by sheer output, he focused on the center of the wildly-spiraling leaves, envisioning it as a larger source of gravity and waiting for the compressive energy withing his Core to 'agree' with his perceptions and externalize there. Rather than trying to externalize Dead of Time with raw force and output, he would instead apply the lessons he had been learning. Finesse. Patience.

His body seemed to nearly collapse for a moment out of sheer relief as the technique worked. After less than a few seconds of concentrating in this way, the energy escaped from his core all at once, using his arm as a pathway and externalizing in a massive black sphere of dilated time, slowing the intersecting network of leaves to a near-complete standstill as the technique stabilized, shimmering with a faint shockwave that caused the immediate surroundings to ripple for just a moment, then glowing quietly until its dispersal around fifteen seconds later. Rand flopped down onto the ground now, the leaves he had 'entrapped' now falling on and around him all at once for just a moment before the wind managed to pick them up again. He wiped the accumulated sweat from his forehead now, and in the corner of his vision he saw his instructor nod approvingly. He had finally gotten it right. Now, it was just a matter of improving on his stamina.
Leader of the Victory Road clan.

"If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you." - Gladstone, 1865

Bell: you were just all 'bring it, son'... make up your mind.
[Banned] RevengeStar: Split personality disorder
Bell: Ohhh
Bell: I'm sorry to hear that.
[Banned] RevengeStar: Yeah, i have two people inside me, one is called the Joker and the other is Ace of Spades


[23:38] <Marie> Kyuukei ace machine born killer