EPISODE 5; TRAINING OR HELL?!

I was surrounded by darkness. I looked around but saw no one and I was still in my pyjamas.

"Heh! Heh! Heh! Zan, are you prepared for your training?" a familiar voice asked.

It was Ayumi‟s voice. Suddenly, I saw a flicker of flame, faint orange and growing stronger with each passing moment.

"What‟s that flame? Could it be Ayumi?" I wondered.

The flame began to brighten the darkness and soon, it became crimson-red. I saw that the flame was formed around a sword.

"That‟s Ayumi‟s sigil, Ayumi!" I called as I ran towards her.

"Zan, are you prepared for your training?" Ayumi asked and that was when I noticed that her eyes were flaring.

"ARE YOU PREPARED TO DIE?!" Ayumi roared and charged towards me.

She took a wide swing with her sigil that could have beheaded me if I hadn‟t ducked at the last moment. I took to my heels as fast as I could.

"Ayumi! Calm down! Why are you so angry?!" I screamed.

"I‟m not angry. I just want to kill you Zan. Please let me kill you" Ayumi said as she pursued me.

I ran as fast as I could.

"What‟s going on? Is this a dream?" I wondered.

"STAND AND DIE ZAN!" Ayumi ordered.

"Are you crazy?! Not even an animal would do that!" I screamed as I continued to flee for my life.

I turned around to see whether Ayumi was catching up and I tell you, she was more than just catching up, she was rapidly catching up! When I looked before me, I saw Ai charging towards me from the front.

"Ai? C‟mon! Not you too! What the heck have I done that is so bad that both of you want to kill me?!" I questioned the sisters.

"Ssshhh, don‟t talk Zan, JUST DIE! RAGING OCEAN ATTACK!" Ai roared as she swung her sigil towards me.

A huge wave of water blew me off my feet and knocked me to the ground. I opened my eyes, coughing as though I had just been choked. I found myself lying on the couch in the hall of the Kirisawa residence. I realized then that I had been dreaming, but I couldn‟t understand why I was wet till I saw Ayumi towering over me with an empty bucket in her hand. That was when it hit me that the water wasn‟t a dream. Ayumi had woken me up by pouring a full bucket of water on me.

"Rise and shine Zan, your training is about to begin" Ayumi said with a dastardly smile on her face.

"What the hell were you thinking?! Do you want to kill me before I actually become a Dream Knight?!" I complained.

"Don‟t blame me, I tried everything to wake you up but you didn‟t. But thanks to that I now know the most effective way to wake you up" Ayumi said indifferently.

"WHAT?! DON‟T TELL ME YOU PLAN TO MAKE A HABIT OUT OF

THIS?!" I roared.

"Well, that depends" Ayumi chuckled gleefully.

"You‟re seriously beginning to creep me out you know? I actually had a nightmare of you" I said angrily.

"How cute" Ayumi said.

"Well if you can call trying to dismember my head from the rest of my body cute, then I guess my nightmare was really cute" I said sarcastically.

"What‟s the time?" I asked.

"It‟s already nine and you‟ve missed three valuable hours of training" Ayumi said.

"Just give me a few minutes" I said as I ascended the stairs.

After performing the daily ritual of brushing, bathing and transformation which by the way requires the use of human hands to change clothes, I took my breakfast and walked to the field behind the house and what I saw sure scared the hell out of me. As if the daily sight of Ayumi in black jeans and a tight fitting vest wasn‟t scary enough, today I actually got the privilege negative of seeing Ayumi in army camouflage and I tell you, that was the scariest thing I‟d ever seen since Bunnyos Extremos. I mean, hell can‟t get much worse than that or so I thought because when Ayumi summoned her sigil, it was then that I realized that there was no limit to the number of horrors that hell can present.

"Summon your sigil and let‟s get started" Ayumi ordered.

"Like now?" I asked.

My mind was as confused as the boy in Oswald Mtshali‟s „Boy on a Swing.‟

"Yes now!" Ayumi said in such a firm voice that, I felt jitters circumnavigating around my body.

"I am Prince Ayzan Nightbane, just appear sigils of light" I muttered but nothing happened.

"What are you doing Zan? We don‟t have time to waste" Ayumi scolded.

"Fine, I AM PRINCE AYZAN NIGHTBANE! IN MY TIME OF „HELL‟ I

SUMMON THEE SIGILS OF LIGHT! HEED MY CALL!!!" I called and in a flash of light, the Nightbane appeared in my hand and I was clothed in golden armour.

"Wait a minute Zan, did you just say „hell‟?!" Ayumi roared.

"Go figure" I muttered.

"Well then, I‟ll show you hell!" Ayumi roared as she charged to attack me.

"Ayu, calm down, I didn‟t mean that" I pleaded.

"IT‟S TOO LATE ZAN!" Ayumi roared as she closed in on me and took her first swing. I ducked and felt the large whooshing sound and heat of Ayumi‟s sigil pass over my head but before I could regain my composure, a kick from Ayumi sent me flying through the air and when I fell, I learnt first-hand that indeed, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

I stood up and tried to block Ayumi‟s next strike. Well, good luck with that. Not only did I end up being disarmed but I received a rapid, uncountable round of successive combos that I couldn‟t even comprehend. I mean, I wondered whether those were Street Fighter Ultra Combos or an Edge Master Strike Combo from Soul Blade. Well keep dreaming, even a guy as strong as me lost consciousness after being struck by the diabolic diva from hell. I only remained unconscious for like three minutes for in the next moment, I felt like I was drowning and you can guess what Ayumi had done. If you guessed that she poured a bucket of water on me then you‟re dead wrong! It was much worse than that! The psycho of my dreams had dropped me into the reservoir and when I regained consciousness, I was so shocked that I nearly drowned and guess what? She was laughing like hell! Man, I was so peeved that in a single outburst of rage, I actually unleashed a rage attack that tore through the reservoir and knocked Ayumi off balance. But Ayumi, being the well trained knight that she was somersaulted safely to the ground.

I charged towards her hoping to disarm her and did I succeed? No, I got hit with another rapid succession of combos and this one I did recognize. It was Kitana‟s brutality move from Mortal Kombat and I tell you, knowing this move did not in any way help me to fend off Ayumi‟s attacks because she had upgraded and customized that move to fit her fighting style. Unfortunately for me, I got another round of stargazing.

When I finally managed to open my eyes this time, I was back on the couch in the hall. That was the first thing I noticed. The second thing I noticed was that, there was not a single cell in my body that was not crying out in pain.

"Are you okay Zan?" a familiar voice asked me.

I looked and saw the other Ayumi, the one with a smile. What was her name again? Yeah, I remember now, Ai. Her smile was by far the only means by which I could distinguish between Ayumi and her.

"I feel like I just got ran over by a jumbo jet" I groaned in pain and I tell you, I actually felt like crying.

"Ayumi sure gave you a hard time, didn‟t she?" Ai asked.

"Yeah, it‟s almost as if she has a personal vendetta against me" I said sadly.

At this, Ai began to giggle.

"What‟s so funny?" I asked.

I was in no mood for jokes.

"I think Ayumi actually cares for you" she said.

"WHAT?! IF YOU CALL THAT CARE, THEN WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN SHE ACTUALLY HATES ME?!" I exclaimed in disbelief.

"Can I tell you a secret Zan?" Ai asked.

"Sure" I said.

"You must promise not to repeat this to anyone, especially not Ayumi" Ai said.

"Well that‟s the whole point of keeping a secret isn‟t it?" I said rhetorically.

"You‟re right. Okay, so here goes. Ayumi is not the kind of person that is good at displaying her feelings. It‟s mostly because, since mom died, Ayumi tried to be mother, sister and Dream Knight all at the same time. She never really had the privilege of making friends, and whenever she did, she always ended up scaring them off. Part of her is scared of forming new relationships. I‟m sure by now, she‟s frightened by the fact that you‟ll eventually abandon her so she has put up this massive wall of defence to ensure that she doesn‟t ever get hurt again. She cares about you but she‟s just scared that she‟ll scare you off so she‟s being extra hard on you and pretends to hate you. She doesn‟t want to be shocked when you leave and now more than ever, she wants to make sure that you‟re strong enough to protect yourself. This new world you‟re about to face is unlike any nightmare you‟ve ever encountered. Ayumi doesn‟t want to be hurt when you either decide to quit and leave or fall in battle" Ai explained.

"Whoa, sounds like Ayumi‟s got a lot of issues. I understand but I‟ll never abandon her and I think I actually understand her now. I‟m gonna try my best to become the strongest Dream Knight ever and I‟ll always protect Ayumi and the Kirisawa family. That is a promise" I swore.

Ai turned away.

"You really love Ayumi don‟t you?" she asked.

"Huh? Where did that suddenly come from?" I tried to hide my feelings.

"There‟s no hiding it Zan. Your eyes are suddenly filled with light whenever you see her and you always want to make her angry" Ai said seriously.

"And how does that prove anything?" I asked.

"You‟re a really good guy Zan. One of the best guys I‟ve ever known. Please take good care of my sis" Ai said. I nodded.

"Zan?! ZAN! WHERE ARE YOU?! YOUR TRAINING ISN‟T OVER

YET!" I heard Ayumi calling.

I stood up, endured the pain and walked outside.

"I‟m here Ayu. Ready for some more „hell‟ as usual" I joked.

"I expected you to have packed your bags and left by now" Ayumi said.

"You don‟t scare me Ayumi. You‟re stuck with me whether you like it or not. We are going to be partners for a long time. We will find the stones together, beat the seven souls of evil together, defeat the nightmare together, get married together and have kids together" I said earnestly but you know me, always trying to add a bit of sarcasm to everything I say.

"If you‟re trying to anger me, then you have succeeded! I‟M GONNA KILL YOU!" Ayumi summoned her sigil and charged to attack me.

Leave it to Ayumi to turn a nightmare into a reality. She swung her sigil. I was able to block the first blow. I even managed avoid her kicks for about five minutes but on the sixth minute exactly, I was disarmed.

"You‟ve actually grown a bit stronger" Ayumi complimented.

"And I‟ll grow much stronger! Strong enough to disarm you! Strong enough to protect you! A-a-and strong enough for you to actually fall in love with me" I joked.

Big mistake! No sooner had I said that than I came face to face with infinity. For those of you that don‟t understand, it means I blacked out and you can probably guess why.

When I woke up, I was back on the couch and Ai was staring at me.

"Was I dreaming?" I asked.

"Nope, that was real" Ai said and I soon realized that for myself because, I suffered a migraine which nearly split my head in two halves.

"OWWWW!!!" I screamed in pain and if you really wanna know, I cried like a sissy.

"What‟s wrong Zan?" Ai asked in concern.

"I don‟t think I can take this anymore" I said in a shaky voice.

"Don‟t give up yet Zan" Ai encouraged me.

"I won‟t give up but…Ai, can‟t you train me instead?" I pleaded.

"I think Ayumi‟s doing fine with you. Do you know what you need? Some good ol‟ fashioned anime and I‟ve got just the thing for ya" Ai said as she charged up the stairs and soon returned with a DVD in her hand.

"What anime is that?" I asked.

Ai threw it towards me and I caught it.

"Thundercats" I read.

"Well there‟s one episode in this anime that can help you in your training" Ai said as she turned on the DVD player and inserted the disc.

"Now lemme see, which episode was it again? Yeah, the Duelist and the Drifter. Yeah here it is" Ai mumbled as she selected the episode.

We sat down to watch it.

An evil duelist challenged the hero, Lion-O to a duel in which the Sword Of

Omens owned by Lion-O would become the duelist‟s if Lion-O lost and Lion-

O did lose but he didn‟t give up. A drifter advised Lion-O telling him

"A strong sword doesn‟t make you strong"

He advised Lion-O to quit but the hero never quit and even attempted to forge a new sword to challenge the duelist to a rematch. The drifter who happened to be a sword-smith had a change of heart and forged a sword for Lion-O with which he challenged the duelist but his sword broke. The drifter reminded Lion-O that, although willows are weak, they bind other wood. Lion-O understood and dodged the attacks of the duelist with cat-like agility and disarmed the duelist with his broken sword! I watched that part observantly and got an idea.

"As long as I move with the wind, I cannot be defeated!" I declared with determination.

Another realization hit me.

"A strong sword doesn‟t make its wielder strong" I thought as I recalled every single time I‟d summoned the Nightbane.

"Why do Dream Knights always call out their identity before their sigils appear? It doesn‟t make sense…unless…?!" I suddenly realized and charged out of the hall into the field.

Ayumi was waiting for me with the same unpleasant smile she‟d been wearing since morning. By then, it was around 3:00p.m in the afternoon.

"I‟ve got to admit Zan that I‟m really impressed with you. No matter how hard I beat you, you always keep coming back for more" Ayumi said.

"I told you Ayu, you‟re stuck with me whether you like it or not" I said.

"Don‟t you value your life Zan? It‟s almost as if you‟re begging for death" Ayumi said worriedly.

"I do value my life Ayumi, more than anything else but I‟m not afraid to lose it because my life is strong enough to protect itself" I said with a smile.

"You‟re not making much sense" Ayumi sighed in exasperation.

"Don‟t you get it already Ayumi? You are my life!" I declared as I summoned my sigil.

Ayumi stared at me in surprise.

"Don‟t make fun of me Zan!" she roared as she summoned her sigil.

"You are my life Ayumi and I must be strong enough to protect my life so enough fooling around, I‟m going to prove to you that I‟m strong enough to protect you!" I declared with absolute determination.

There was no trace of sarcasm in my voice and Ayumi noticed it.

"Here I come Zan!" Ayumi roared as she charged to attack me.

She took her first swing and I jumped back so that she would miss but Ayumi paired her strike with a turning kick. I shut my eyes.

"Now is the time, the time to prove to Ayumi that I am strong enough to protect her! Visualize Zan! Visualize Lion-O! He moves with the wind, now I‟ll do the same" I thought and everything around me suddenly became silent.

I could hear only, the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind. I pictured a leaf falling from a tree, being swayed gently by the wind and suddenly, I could feel the path of Ayumi‟s kick by sensing the direction of the wind.

I ducked much to Ayumi‟s surprise. Ayumi thrust her blade forward quickly as though she intended to stab me. I felt the hot wind heading my way and dodged to the right. Ayumi‟s blade missed me but she turned it and initiated a lateral strike. I leaned back so far that her blade passed right over me.

"I don‟t know how you‟re able to dodge all of my moves but now, I‟ll no longer hold back!" Ayumi roared as she performed a reverse somersault and landed a distance away from me.

"FLAME SIGILS OF THE KIRISAWA CLAN, GIVE ME THE POWER OF THE BURNING FLAME OF COURAGE!!!" Ayumi roared and her sigil disappeared.

"Huh? What‟s going on?" I called in a puzzled tone.

"You know Zan, the sigil you‟ve seen me fight with isn‟t the actual form of my sigil. It is actually the dormant form of my sigil" Ayumi said.

"Great, just great! So now you‟re not just strong, you‟re freakishly strong" I said in sarcasm.

"I‟ll show you the true active form of my sigil. I, AYUMI KIRISAWA OF

THE KIRISAWA CLAN OF DREAM KNIGHTS, HEIRESS AND TRUE SUCCESSOR TO THE BURNING PATH OF FLAME SUMMON THEE! PYROGEYSERS! TWIN SCIMITARS OF FURY!!!" Ayumi roared.

There was a great outburst of flame that engulfed Ayumi. The flames were so bright and intense that I had to cover my eyes. The flame burnt Ayumi‟s army camouflage to ashes and when I opened my eyes, Ayumi stood before me clothed in a flaming crimson armour. A crimson fiery headband was tied around her forehead and in her hands were two wicked looking Arabian swords.

"Am I scary enough now Zan?" Ayumi asked me.

"How can you be scary? Being scared of you is like being scared of myself, it just makes no sense" I laughed.

"Let‟s see for how long your optimism can last Zan!" Ayumi charged with great speed to attack me.

"There is just one fatal flaw with your power-up Ayu" I said as I evaded her first strike.

She tried a combo attack next but I still dodged with ease.

"Why can‟t I hit you?" she complained.

"Here‟s the thing Ayumi. I‟m sensing your attacks by predicting the path of the wind. The stronger your flame, the hotter the wind and the more easy it is to evade your attacks" I said confidently.

"You‟ve got to be kidding me" Ayumi said in disbelief.

"No, I‟m not. I also realized something else. The reason why Dream Knights identify themselves before their sigil appears. It‟s not just to sound cool. It‟s because the sigil isn‟t just a weapon. It is the manifestation of its wielder‟s nature. The sigil is the identity of the Dream Knight and in knowing this truth I‟ve gained another power" I said with a laugh.

"Stop kidding around Zan! Just knowing that can‟t give you any power" Ayumi said.

"Oh but it can Ayumi and me having that power is partly thanks to you" I said.

"Thanks to me? I don‟t understand" Ayumi said.

"You said the stone of light is the symbol of truth and that it seals lies right? You also called your power the burning path of courage. My sigil is lightnatured and so…I walk the path of truth and I have only one truth and it‟s that I want to protect you with all my strength. If my truth is to protect you, then that truth becomes part of the Nightbane. I won‟t lose to you

Ayumi! I PRINCE AYZAN NIGHTBANE ACKNOWLEDGE THE

NIGHTBANE AS THE MANIFESTATION OF MY WILL! MY WILL!

MY TRUTH IS TO PROTECT AYUMI SO PLEASE SIGILS OF LIGHT,

GIVE ME THE POWER TO PROVE TO AYUMI THAT I CAN PROTECT HER!!!" I roared.

At that moment, my heart began to pulsate with light, a very strong light that flowed through my veins into the Nightbane. The Nightbane began to pulsate as well and soon, it was in sync with the beating of my heart. A sudden angelic silver light engulfed me and the golden blade of the Nightbane shattered to reveal a shining silvery-white blade made of light itself. The Nightbane rose from my hand and floated in front of me. I stared at it in amazement. Ayumi was even more amazed than I was.

"PRINCE AYZAN NIGHTBANE! SON OF THE DARKNESS! SON OF

THE LIGHT! TAKE THIS NEW SWORD IN YOUR HAND AND KNOW THIS! YOUR LOVE HAS CHANGED THE NATURE OF THE BLADE!

IT IS NO LONGER A SWORD OF VENGEANCE BUT OF LOVE! FROM

NOW ON, HIKARI NO FUKUSHU CEASES TO EXIST! THIS NEW

SWORD SHALL BE KNOWN AS AI NO HIKARI! A SYMBOL THAT

DREAMS ARE A SIGN OF HOPE AND NOT DESPAIR! TAKE THIS SWORD AND PROVE YOUR STRENGTH TO THE ONE YOU LOVE!" an invisible voice from heaven said.

"Aiiieee! I think I just heard the voice of Nana Nyankopon Jesus Christ" I shivered uncontrollably as I took the new sword. Ayumi smiled.

"The name of your sword means „The Light Of Love.‟" She explained. "Show me just how strong you are!" Ayumi roared as she charged to attack me.

I stared at the sword. "This sword is sworn to protect Ayumi so it can never hurt her. Now, I can fight without holding back. Thank you God" I said gratefully as I charged to attack Ayumi. She raised her twin scimitars and aimed for a strike. Just before she could strike me, I stomped the ground hard and charged in with all my speed, swinging my sigil with all my might. My sigil shattered Ayumi‟s sigils and passed right through her. Ayumi screamed in pain as a massive amount of flame began to escape from her body.

"HOW DARE YOU INTERFERE ZAN!" a dark sinister voice roared.

I frowned.

"Who are you and what are you doing in Ayumi‟s body!" I angrily demanded an answer.

I am Cowardice, the first soul of evil!" the flames declared.

"Cowardice? That doesn‟t make sense. Ayumi has been brave, she‟s the bravest girl I know so how could you possess her?!" I roared.

"Well, you have defeated me so before I return to my imprisonment within the Mirror Gate, I will tell you. Ayumi may look brave to you but she is actually the biggest coward in this family. She is afraid of virtually everything, from relationships to losing the people she loves. To cowards like her, I am strength. I gave her a heart that could not love and with that came her fearlessness but make no mistake Zan, fearlessness is not courage for he who fears nothing will become nothing" Cowardice said.

"It still makes no sense! Ayumi is brave! She risked her life to save me from my nightmare!" I declared.

"I admire your faith in her but she did call you a coward and a weakling and ignored her own cowardice" Cowardice said.

"She ignored her fears, she is brave!" I argued.

"Foolish human, you are more ignorant than I imagined. But soon, very soon, you too shall face true fear for the greatest form of Cowardice in this world is denying your fears! I will see you again Dream and then we will see just how brave you really are. For now, you can have the gem of fire" Cowardice said as a gem dropped from its flames.

The flames flew into the sky and disappeared in a flash.

Ayumi collapsed from exhaustion and I caught her in my arms. She opened her eyes and smiled at me.

"Zan, you saved me" she said.

"It wasn‟t easy. You beat me up a lot before I could finally reach you" I said with a laugh.

Ayumi began to weep. I stared at her in surprise.

"Why are you crying Ayu? If I said something to offend you, I‟m really sorry" I apologized.

"You won‟t abandon me like everyone else did will you Zan?" Ayumi said and I became confused.

"I won‟t, I promise" I swore.

"I‟m glad" Ayumi said as she lost consciousness.

I carried her to her bedroom and lay her on the bed. Then I gave her a goodnight kiss to her forehead and left her room.

I met Mr Kirisawa coming out of his bedroom.

"How was your training Zan?" he asked cheerfully.

"It was scary but I‟ve got something for you Sir Kirisawa" I said as I removed the stone of fire from my pocket and showed it to him.

"Where did you get that?" he exclaimed with a look of excitement on his face.

"I got it from the first soul of evil, Cowardice. Apparently, it had possessed Ayumi" I said as I gave it to Mr Kirisawa.

"I wasn‟t wrong about you Zan. You really do have the potential to be the strongest Dream Knight there ever was" Mr Kirisawa praised me.

"Thanks" I said as I walked to my bedroom.

I was so exhausted that I dropped on my bed like a log. Then I realized something and it was not funny so don‟t laugh.

"If I fell in love with mean Ayumi and Ayumi was nice to me after Cowardice left her…then the one I really fell in love with…WASN‟T IT COWARDICE?! WHAT THE HELL?!" I screamed in horror.

I was so worried that it took me a long time to fall asleep and when I did, I prayed that I would not have dreams.