23, Weapons

I approached the building after the others had already entered inside. The outside of the building was largely undecorated aside from the area above the entryway. There were carvings of a bow, spear, axe and sword.

There was no door and the entry wasn't darkened like the towers so I could see through it to the inside. I entered the building and saw that Minili and Dotam both already had their weapons in hand and were waiting for me.

Minili was holding a battle scythe that was the right size for her stature. It was a pole with a blade on the top that resembled an animal's claw.

Dotam held two double headed war axes that resembled a pair of wings. They were around arm length and the blades all together were about as wide as his forearm.

All of the weapons were entirely made of wood, both of them looked very happy holding their weapons. "Do I just pick the weapon that I passed the illusion with?" I was pretty sure this was what I was supposed to do but I asked just to be certain.

"Yup. We are only allowed to use the wooden ones though." Holding his axes must put Dotam in a good mood as he didn't have any insulting words to say to me.

There was a training dummy in the middle of the room but aside from it the room was mostly empty. The walls of the room were lined with weapons and each one was covered in a different category of weapon.

There was a wall for ranged weapons like throwing knives, shuriken and tomahawks. There was a wall for close range weapons like axes and swords.

There was also a wall that had mid range weapons like spears, staffs and other polearms of varying styles. The fourth wall was covered in bows and javelins, this one was for long distance weapons.

In the back corner of the room there was a staircase leading down to lower levels where I assume the better weapons were kept. I walked over to the wall with the polearms and selected a staff that was around my height and gave it a few swings to get a feel for it.

It didn't quite feel right so I put it back and selected one that was a little bit longer and swung it around. This one felt better so I walked back to the others to join them.

As I joined them Minili told me something odd. "You need to strike the dummy in the middle." "Why?" "It's tradition, it is for good luck in this upcoming training session. Both Dotam and I already did it."

Dotam nodded in agreement so I decided to go with it. I walked over to the middle of the room and jabbed the end of my staff like a spear into the chest of the dummy.

There was a jarring impact in my hand but aside from that nothing happened. Afterwards I walked back to the two and we all headed back to see John.

When we all got back to John he was standing with a staff that looked similar to my own but it was the right size for a grown adult. "Dotam, Minili you will be going over the same strikes I showed you before. Make them as slow and precise as you can with good control over your weapon at all times. Don't just swing them around, learn them."

The two nodded their heads and found their own spaces where they wouldn't hit anything and started to practice. "Etanali I want you to copy my movements. I will go over 5 different ones today and I want you to practice all of them in a controlled manner. Don't go fast at first. I want you to be in control, don't rush this."

"I won't, I know that proper form is important." "Good. Now take a stance." I stood with my feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart and staggered my feet so that I would be able to be stable being pushed in all directions.

I held the staff with my left hand higher than my right and angled it forward slightly. "Good stance, keep your legs bent and ready for action. Your arms should be loose but not relaxed. Follow me when you are ready."

I mimicked John as he struck with the reverse end of the staff, sweeping up in a straight line as if to hit an imaginary figure's chin. He kept both arms bent around 90° and used a lot of shoulder and hip rotation in the swing.

He kept his hands frozen in position and stepped forward with the back foot. Afterwards he jabbed twice with the now front end of the staff, stepped forward and repeated the jabs.

It was like after uppercutting someone he then received a double smash to the face and then another as he stumbled back. I paid close attention to his wrist movement on the four jabs to make sure I was doing them correctly.

After the second set of jabs he stepped forward with the back foot bringing him back to the original stance and swung the staff down. With this final strike he was back into his starting position and he used the front end of the staff.

It had a push and pull motion to that final strike, the back hand pulled the staff back towards you while the other hand pushed forwards. It was fast and made a crisp snapping sound in the air.

"Don't expect to make the sound, it's just more fun for me to do it like that. Was this too fast for you?" he asked. "No, I got it." "Good, show me what you remember. If you know it all then I will show you blocks."

I got back into position and swung the upper cut keeping both arms bent and twisting my body into the blow. I changed my footing while keeping my hands as still as I could then performed the first two jabs.

I took a step forward and jabbed another two times, imagining the dirt figure from the illusion receiving the blows. I finished with a step forward and the final strike, moving my hands a split second after my step forward with a push-pull motion.

I was now back in the same position I started in. "That was good. You are ready for the blocks."

He held the staff in both hands with the knuckles of both hands facing upward. "This is important for blocks and being able to use both ends interchangeably. You need to have the knuckles face the same direction, also having your palms face up limits your options. Now mimic me again as we go through the blocks."

He raised the staff horizontally above his head and bent the front knee, the other leg staggered behind it at a slight angle. Then he brought his arms down low to block a rising attack.

The stance didn't change, just the position of the hands.

Then he kept his right hand anchored and allowed his wrist to rotate with the staff as he brought his right hand over top of the left. His back leg pivoted in the opposite direction of the staff. "This is a left block. This position is one of the best for side blocks."

He lowered his right hand slowly, anchored it and then rotated the left hand to be above the right. For his footwork he pivoted his foot so that the side block turned into a forward vertical block.

"I know that technically there were 10 movements I showed you, but there are really only 6. The high and low blocks are the same. Both the left and right blocks are also the same depending on your stance. There were the two variations of those, then you have 3 different strikes to make 6 total. I want you to go through all of the blocks and strikes in the order I showed you today 200 times each. The blocks should be done on both sides with both stances. When you are done you all will have to do some sparring to show your efforts in action so make each one repetition count."

When John finished with his explanation he walked away, presumably to get something to eat or drink because he was heading back to the housing section. Even though there was no one watching me now I started to go through the blocks.

I decided to do six blocks, 6 strikes, turn and repeat. Moving back and forth so I would change my stance each time, this would help me get used to the footwork as well as keep me from moving too far in any one direction.

I was able to catch glimpses of what the other two were doing as I pivoted. Minili's scythe was moving like a spear only with more slashes than straight up jabs. Her blocks looked to be very similar to my own.

Dotam's strikes were violent and strong. He would swing both arms at the same time and in sequence to execute some vicious combos. The blocks I saw him do seemed to revolve around him either deflecting the blow with the sides of his axe or catching it between the two blades on top of his axes.

Eventually my moves started to feel smoother but my staff seemed to get heavier in my hands as I continued to swing it. It was taking me around 30 to 45 seconds to complete the movements and turn to repeat them.

After close to two hours John came back with a tray with three drinks and three sandwiches. "Alright everyone, if you completed all 200 you can come and grab a drink. The sandwiches are for after the spar."

Dotam continued to swing his axes for a bit longer. I wasn't sure if had yet to finish all 200 or if he just wanted to do more, it was pretty clear he likes his axes. Minili and I both walked over to him and received our cup of water.

We drank them slowly as we waited together in silence watching Dotam go through his motions a few more times before he joined us. Despite the low weight of the cup, I thought it was abnormally heavy in my hands.

I knew that this was only due to my exhaustion though. Dotam drained his cup in one go and set his empty cup back down on the tray, we set ours down a few seconds later.

"Next up is sparing. You will each fight each person 2 times and whoever wins the most rounds will receive two of the three sandwiches. The loser will not receive any of them and the person in second place will get one. Minili will fight Etanali first then Dotam. After Dotam will fight Etanali, then Etanali will fight Minili and then this will repeat once."

"I will mark your weapons with a spell that will make it clear that they make contact. A hit to the chest will count as that person's loss. Also three to the limbs will also count as their loss. If you hit someone's head that automatically causes your disqualification along with punishments. Leaving the boundary of the match will also count as your loss. Do you all understand? I want to see control and technique, not blood and power."

John walked over to Dotam and placed a hand on each of his weapons and said "Sticky Glow." The weapons glowed red like they were enchanted weapons with a fire attribute from a video game.

He walked over to Minili and used the same spell to turn her scythe vibrant green. This one looked to be radiating a strong poison energy.

He walked over to me and my staff turned light blue from his spell. It looked like it would give my attacks frost or cold damage.

We all followed John as he led us towards one of the many large circles on the training ground. It was lined with a heavy looking rope that was embedded half way into the ground.

Minili and I were both directed to stand within the circle and take our stances.