Sword Basics (Part 2)

Next, Uncle showed me how to hold the sword. There were a few holds, and it depended on the situation, stance and so on. The most basic was the front hold, and it was quite easy to do. I had to grip the sword with either of my hands, and hold it in front of me at a specific angle. I could only use one hand to grip the sword, as it was a one-handed sword. Moreover, I had to grip the hilt in the middle, as this was the most neutral holding position. Uncle told me to practice this hold during attacking and defending, instead of simply standing there like an idiot and holding the sword. Uncle then showed me two other ways of holding the sword, but in the same straight forward position. They were called long and short holds. The names were self explanatory really, I had to either hold the sword at the top or bottom of the hilt.

There were benefits and disadvantages to both holds. The closer my hand was to the guard of the sword, the faster my attacks would become. This worked a bit differently the other way around. The closer my hand was to the pommel, the stronger my attacks would be. There was a price to pay with both holds. Faster meant less strength and smaller range, stronger meant less speed but longer range. Those were the basic holds that uncle showed me. He said to practice them first, before moving on to something else. He mentioned that there were other holds, but there was no point introducing them at that stage.

I tried a few attacks with each hold, but even I knew something was off. 'Well, it's not like I can learn this in a day. Practice it is then', I thought. After my little session, uncle showed me the stances. "There are three basic stances, and I will show you all of them today. The first stance is the neutral stance", he said and demonstrated. Uncle grabbed his sword in a front hold and positioned his body. Both of his legs were spread out while his posture was a bit bent forwards. His tail almost touched the ground, but I didn't have a tail.

"Uncle, I don't have a tail, so what should I do?", I asked. He laughed, "You think I didn't notice? You don't need a tail, you just have to bend a bit, so that your head is further forward than your backside…", I interrupted before he finished, "Is it about balance?". He looked at me for a while before replying, "Yes, that's exactly the reason. I'm a bit surprised you figured it out". I explained to him that my balance was already great, so I understood how to move my body in order to keep the balance. He was even more surprised and said, "Heh... Then you should have no issues with body positions. That is great news, you will pick up much faster".

I tried a few times, and it was very easy for me to repeat the stance. Uncle then showed me the attacking and the defensive stances. They didn't seem that different, but there were a lot of differences. For the attacking stance, I had to position my right leg forward, my left leg a bit backwards and at the same time keep a specific distance between both legs. The right leg had to be bent a little, which allowed me to spring into action instantly. Moreover, my right side faced the opponent. It was plain to see how that was an attacking stance. With one leg forward, it promoted advancing. Since the right side of my body was positioned toward my opponent, my left side was a bit behind. That made me a smaller or thinner target, compared with a full frontal neutral stance.

The defensive stance was almost the opposite. Left leg forward with a slight bend. The right leg remained behind, serving as means to support my body and taking the blow. The left side of my body faced the opponent. The sword was still in the right hand, but positioned horizontally in front of me. Uncle said I could do it vertically and horizontally, because the hold didn't change. What changed was the position of my arm. In case of a vertical position, I had to keep the sword more to the left side, but I preferred horizontal position. Uncle watched me perform the stances, holds and a few attacks for a while, he seemed impressed. "Because you learned how to balance yourself, you are picking up very quickly. Balance is really important when fighting with a sword. If you lose your balance, the opponent will have an advantage", he said.

Since those were really the basics, uncle told me to practice attacking and defending with my mother. He would visit us in the future, to check up on my progress. "If you learn well, next time I will introduce more things to you", he added before bidding us farewell. Mother told me to practice alone for a while. To get used to the stances, the holds and so on. After that, we would practice together. Thus my new training started. Besides practicing with the sword, I never stopped drawing the Runes. Throughout all the years, I mastered all the intermediate Runes. Suly and aunt Alicia were really impressed, so they told me to practice Formations. They wanted to make sure I could properly draw those Runes into Formations, before moving on to the most difficult and complex Runes.

There was one more change in those four years. I finally learned how to use my energy. It wasn't that simple though, and took me a while to accomplish. I had to focus, think about it and direct it towards my hands, legs or wherever I desired. I felt nothing in the beginning, even questioned whether I had energy. With time though, I faintly felt something inside my body. This made me practice more and more, until I learned how to move my energy between different parts of my body, and use it for drawing Formations. Mother also showed me another use of energy. She explained that focusing my energy in one area would improve it. In other words, make me stronger. One such example would be running. Directing the energy to my legs, would make me faster. Of course the more energy I used, the quicker I would get tired. Mother also told me that overuse was very bad, and I should never do that.

Since I could use my energy, mother prohibited its use during my training. I wasn't too happy about it, but learned to accept my mother's challenges. I could use my energy for Formations though. This allowed me to create stuff without the use of special paper. I still had to use the ink and brushes though. I couldn't release my energy outside, I could only move it around my body. Suly or aunt Alicia could exert their energies outside of their bodies, hence the ability to form Runes and Formation with their energy alone. Even then, the method of drawing Rune with the energy alone, wasn't something anyone could learn in a month or two. Either way, with the use of a special brush that absorbed my energy, I was able to create proper Formations. I even placed one on my sword. It wasn't anything great, but I thought it was cool. The effect of my Formation was rather simple. When activated, I could release an air blade. The Formation used my own energy, because I didn't know how to set up Collecting Formations yet.

Other than the constant training with mother, grandpa visited us one more time. Grandpa didn't stay for long though, he had to return to his Academy. I asked more about that, and apparently Endrosians had a school full of people who learned about Formations. Something like that was not present in the North. I wanted to visit, but of course mother wouldn't agree. I also learned a bit more about Endrosian Empire's Formations. They could set up a Collecting Formation, which collected any Element from the area, but they had no control over it. They neither had the knowledge of Elements themselves. They simply assumed it was energy, which got converted into fire, water or whatever. Of course that wasn't the case, but I wasn't allowed to say that. Moreover, not everyone had access to what I learned. Only grey Lizards and Hatmandor had such knowledge. If not for Suly and aunt Alicia, I would never learn about that stuff either.

I became more and more intrigued by the Endrosian Empire though. Mother once told me I would be able to travel around by myself, as long as I was prepared for that. One day or another, I would visit the Endrosian Empire and other places. Witness all those things myself. Of course I didn't plan to abandon my mother at all. The place we lived in, was still my home. A place where I grew up, a place with many memories. I would never abandon that, unlike a certain someone who wasn't around.