Martial Arts

Two days later Sana slowly blinked her eyes open, already sitting up. A quiet giggling made her turn her head towards the sound. There she saw her mother holding a hand in front of her mouth trying to stifle the noise.

After a few moments realization dawned on her face and she turned away pouting, making her mother laugh even louder.

Sana quickly took a morning bath and put on the clothes her mother set aside for her. They consisted of light full length pants and tight white robes which didn't flutter around but also allowed for a full range of motion.

Excited, she ran into the courtyard. Her parents were already waiting for her, her father sitting underneath a tree and her mother standing in the center with two wooden spears in her grasp. Sana rushed to her mother's side.

Aria put one of the wooden spears in her daughter's hands and began, "Before your body can start absorbing the Primal Qi, it first needs to be brought to absolute exhaustion. So, I will train you in the basics of combat first until you can't stand anymore. Then we will switch to meditation. Any complaints?"

Even though the harsh tone in her mother's voice scared her a bit, she got into a stance she copied from her mother in one of her parent's spars. Her mother twirled the remaining spear in her hands and before Sana could react she was falling and landed roughly on her back.

Shocked, she lay there looking at the blue-orange sky for a while until a hand was thrust in her face. Her mother was smiling down at her, helped her up and before Sana could say anything positioned her body into a different stance. "It's good you paid attention to our training but just because a stance works for one person doesn't mean it works for anyone. The proportions of our bodies aren't similar enough for that. Though I have to give you credit for enthusiasm."

With the new stance her mother showed her various ways to dodge, parry or, when absolutely necessary, block attacks directly without falling and then immediately return to a stable stance.

After hours and hours of constant training Sana started having difficulties holding the spear up and after a particularly difficult block she collapsed and laid on her back breathing heavily.

Her mother watched her for a while and when she didn't stand back up Aria took the spears, set them aside and sat herself in front of her daughter.

Having caught her breath, Sana slowly sat back up and sat herself cross-legged like her mother. "Very good, you held out a lot longer than I thought." She preened under her mother's praise. "Now that you're ready I want you to close your eyes, breath deeply, in and out and think back to yesterday. The feeling of that cool energy entering you body..."

Aria continued guiding Sana through setting aside all other external stimuli like the air swirling around them, the warmth of the sun on her skin or even the ground beneath her while continuing to take deep breaths. Eventually Sana felt like she was floating and occasionally cool streams of ...something touched her skin. As she lost one sense after another, she felt it more and more clearly until she was surrounded by it, constantly pressing against her body.

She breathed in deeply and surprisingly the energy followed her breath through her nose into her chest where it immediately began to spread throughout her body. It seemed to gather on her sore muscles and dissipated into them with a profoundly comfortable feeling. After an indeterminate amount of time of breathing in what had to be this Primal Qi she heard about, all the sore muscles in her body were soothed and she slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

Someone shook her awake and she lazily opened her eyes to see her father bending over her body laying under a tree. He helped her up and sat her down at the table in the corner with her mother.

She was surprised to hear her trance lasted several hours and not just a few minutes. During lunch she told them of her experience while meditating and her parents exchanged astonished looks.

"Looks like you have a great talent at sensing and absorbing Primal Qi. We thought it would take a few more days before you could sense it enough and at least another week before you could take in enough to nourish your body."

Her father continued, "As you have felt, this Primal Qi is everywhere, all around us, in the air, the water and even in the ground. It is something that connects the whole world. Martial Warriors take in that Primal Qi to, at first, strengthen their bodies and the weapons they wield and eventually even directly control the Primal Qi in and outside their bodies. Having taken your first steps you would be considered a Martial Artist, the first stage.

"You will keep absorbing Primal Qi and suffuse it throughout your body until it won't accept any more. Because of your diet consisting of the meat of strong spirit beasts your muscles have already been strengthened, so this part shouldn't take you too long, especially with your talent."

Her father stopped to eat and her mother continued, "Until then we will cycle through different weapons until we find one you feel comfortable with. Though it would be better to get one with a larger reach considering you probably inherited my height. Also, your father will teach you bare handed combat in case you loose your weapon during combat or are attacked by surprise.

"It will be hard and you can rest whenever you want but the longer you hold out now, the faster you can reach your goal." With that her mother patted her head and left Sana to think for herself.

While it was true the training was hard and tiring it also felt fulfilling to Sana. The more she moved and dodged and clashed against her mother's spear the faster her heart beat. Only her uncle's training stopped a giddy smile from spreading on her face. She couldn't wait to finally venture outside her home.