010 – A Kata of the Sword 1
Lucian walked into the room, the floor was made of simple bamboo and every step echoed like it was empty beneath, a few steps later the floor came to an end, revealing a drop about twice as large as an ordinary step.
The lower section of the room was a large open space with a thin layer of loose sand on the surface, due to his late arrival the students were already swinging their swords, with beads of sweat glistening on their faces.
Lucian stepped around keeping himself on the wooden platform as he made his way to his instructor, a man in a black robe, he wore a purple belt around his waist, his bald head shone with the lustre of a lamp, and his goatee beard stretched down to his chest where it took an abrupt hooked curve.
The instructor stepped out of the pit in the centre of the room, and sat down in the lotus position, on a thin mat, laid out on the wooden floor, as he sat he waved Lucian and Miksha over.
Lucian followed behind Miksha and mimicked the bow she performed when she reached the instructor.
Lucian clasped his fist and gave a deep bow, "Master," he greeted and slowly stood up straight.
"Miksha please give me and the young prince a moment," the deep voice of the instructor came out.
Miksha bowed and stepped back taking a seat at the far wall of the room.
The instructor looked up at Lucian, "Would you care to sit next to me for a moment young prince?" the Master asked.
The instructor had barely finished speaking when Lucian plopped down next to him, he didn't need to be asked twice, he found the act of walking and standing tedious, even sitting up straight was a waste of energy in his opinion.
The instructor's brow twitched ever so slightly, as the moniker of the prince came to mind, but he relaxed his mind and looked out at the students currently training.
"Young prince what is it that you see when you look out at the training area?" the instructor asked as he gestured to the field.
'By the gods, what is this old geezer on about?' Lucian internally complained with a roll of his eyes, but nevertheless, he looked out at the field.
"A group of royals and possibly noble's, who have been assigned here to act as my sparring partners so that I may build up my renown as a swordsman," Lucian answered with a loud yawn.
The instructor tilted his head but didn't refute his claim, he seemed to be giving some time to think of his next words, "The sects try to stay out of the games of power, but we must all bend to the will of the strong from time to time,"
"So long as no lines are crossed, no boundaries broken, favours can be done," the instructor spoke after much deliberation.
Lucian sighed softly at the confirmation, "So which families do they belong to?" he asked, since none of them wore their crests on the white robes and they all used plain wooden training swords, it was impossible to determine which lineages they belonged to.
"These are the members of the branch families of Mercurion," the instructor answered as he wrapped his fist around his beard and pulled it down.
"Now enough about your games of power, I asked you a question and you have still not given the answer I seek," the instructor said, a bit of impatience creeping into his voice.
Lucian widened his eyes, and looked at the training field, "A bunch of kids trying to become sword wielders," he answered.
The instructor shook his head, "They practice the kata I thought them this morning, the kata I thought to all those who were on time,"
"A kata this master shall not repeat for you, if the sword is the path you have chosen then you must watch your peers and learn it for yourself,"
"It takes most between four months and a year to pass this part of the training and become a novice of the sword, but every moment counts on the path to success,"
"For this crop of children, I see most passing in less than three months, I wonder how long it shall take you, young prince," the instructor spoke in a manner to spark his inner competitiveness.
But this tactic only caused Lucian's eyes to grow dull, he had no desire to compete, no desire to excel in the public, it would only bring him trouble, trouble that would eat away at his already withering resting time.
The instructor stood up, "Watch and observe the actions of your peers, when you feel you have understood the movements step onto the field," the instructor said and stepped back onto the field, walking between his students, occasionally smacking their legs and hands with a cane when they made a mistake.
Lucian watched on for a while as he reflexively fell into his trance-like state, but all the while he kept his eyes trained on the field.
He watched the students, swing their swords, he watched them sweat, he watched them pant for breath, and the cycle continued.
Several hours must have passed before he rose to his feet, but he didn't walk onto the field instead he circled it, the students looked at him with curious eyes, but after a look at the instructor, they turned their tired bodies back to training.
Lucian soon spotted those with a better handle on the motions of the kata, and let his gaze linger on them.
He observed the motions, the tension in their muscles, the rate of their breath, and the movement of their feet, each time they moved they left a distinct mark in the loose sands.
As noon came a big change occurred one of the students got her breathing under perfect control for just a moment, and she let her body move, the air flowed through her limbs releasing gusts of air with every motion she made, an imprint was left in the sands of the floor with her every step.
When she reached the final motion, she brought her sword overhead and slashed it down, all the sand five feet in front of her pathed in her wake as a strong force of wind pervaded the field and swept the sands away.
The Master clapped and gave some words of encouragement to the rest of the class and the girl calling her a true prodigy of the sword.
"Everyone take a water break," the Master said much to their relief, the exhausted students who were earlier curious about Lucian didn't pay him a second look as they raced out of the class.
"Is that it?" Lucian asked when the room cleared, it was only the instructor, Miksha, and him still in the room.
The instructor pulled on his beard and chuckled, "That is hardly the first step of becoming a novice, the less talented take about a week to achieve that much, while most of those in this class should only take a day or two, it's like I said she is a prodigy, but nothing more, and if I may be so bold to say that it was my instruction that got her so far so fast,"
"Why young prince were you worried that there could possibly be one so talented in your generation?" the instructor asked.
Lucian shook his head, "You mistake my words master, what I'm asking is if it truly takes so little to be called a prodigy?"
The instructor smiled ever so slightly but it was Miksha who spoke, "Those are bold words for one who didn't even perform the kata once, it seems that you are no different from the other royals young prince, a master of boosting but incapable of action," she spoke in a cool tone, but her eyes betrayed her anger.
"How dare you besmirch the hard work those children have put into bettering their skills?" she asked coldly.
Lucian sighed, "Hard work is pointless if you do not look for every method to improve yourself, yet the method for improvement was displayed to them all so many times I stopped counting, yet their eyes failed to see what lay before them, am I, correct Master?" Lucian asked.
The master only smiled, "If you seek conformation, then show me what you have seen, that the others did not," he gestured for Lucian to take the field.
Lucian paused a glint of uncertainty in his eyes, he planned not to excel, but his body was trembling, it was like an urge was growing within, an urge begging for release.
He walked along the platform and reached the door, his mind still not made up but his body seemingly having already made its choice, he slid the paneled door shut and walked out onto the field, and picked up a wooden sword that lay strewn across the field.