Chapter 25: Two years passed away

"What is this place? "

The darkness around seemed to engulf everything within itself. No sensation, no perception. Only monotonous darkness seemed to surround everything. The fear of the unknown with the sadness of never being able to return back crazed me even more. Then suddenly a blank.

.

.

.

Waking up Kiel found himself in his bedroom. He was startled but when he started to recall what happened, everything was just a blank.  He remembered losing his way inside the forest then… nothing came up no matter how much he tried.

When his family found him awakened, he was in for a harsh time. But when he asked his mother about how he came here, she notified him that it was the pretty doctor that helped him earlier who said to him.

She was in the forest picking up herbs, where he found him unconscious and bought him back. Luckily she found him or… 

After that everything went as usual. Practising in the morning, playing with his sisters and basking in the comfort of childhood. 

Two years passed by in the midst unknowingly from his whole life.

Everything was perfect and would have been if not for the unseen event which shook the small family to its core.

***

"Haiyahh!"

A young kid and a young lady, both could be seen standing at a small distance from each other in an open courtyard. The boy had silver hair, and cyan-turquoise eyes, wearing a ragged black tunic and white trousers, holding a thin wooden sword in his left hand and was standing in a curved stance. His right hand held the sword hilt, seemingly ready to draw his sword at any time. But he seemed to be panting, with a drop of sweat drenching his body. Although he was panting, he still had a vacant expression on his face.

A little distance away stood the young lady, with a stoic expression on her face. She had a deep blue toga like a short dress worn over a light blue sleeveless blouse and a brown leather waist-belt for holding her toga tightly with a leather strap on her right shoulder. The toga was up to her knee-height, leaving behind her long and slender legs exposed. Paired with her big rack, she would mesmerize any man who even slightly graced upon her. Perfect curves at the perfect place with her wonderful face. The only thing that the god-given wonder lacked was a smile on her elegant face. But what was in its place was a strict expression. A sword in her right hand, with the left hand, relaxed. Unlike the little boy who seemed tense, she seemed to be too relaxed. Even her sword at the side was in a relaxed way. 

The silver-haired boy, who was standing still up to now, suddenly burst out in speed and drew his sword from his left hand, swinging it horizontally with great speed at the lady who still seemed unfazed. The transition between the sword drawn to its swing was so smooth that it seemed that the kid had been practising sword for ages. But the sword never reached its target, as the lady immediately appeared in the right. Just the slicing of empty air was heard.

Just after swinging his sword, the little kid traced backwards at an amazing speed, instead of pressing forward. Just as he moved backwards, a heavy sword strike appeared at the place he was standing just a moment ago. If he was still standing at his original place, he would have been badly bruised by the heavy strike.

"Good your movements are as splendid as always. But don't expect me to be lenient because of this."

As the words left her mouth, the lady vanished from his sight. The little boy couldn't even respond to being praised by such a beautiful lady. And he wasn't even in the mood to be joyed by the praise. His whole body was in a tension that made him more aware of his situation. Standing in a diagonal way with the right foot behind the left one, and his right hand holding the sword vertically at the front, while his left arm rested behind his back. It was an unusual stance, but the boy seemed to be habituated to it. Eyes all alert, and ears standing, the little boy tried to predict all the places the lady could attack her while imagining all his counter moves. He knew that he lacked strength and speed. And all he could do was really on his reflex and prediction to defend himself. He stood no chance at all if he attacked head-on. 

It seemed that all this was taking too long, but not even a second later the lady appeared just above his back and struck down mercilessly. 

"Gotcha"

 But the moment her sword was about to hit the shoulders of the little boy, it was intercepted by a horizontal sword slash. The little boy could be seen with his waist twisted back, as his eyes stared at her intently. 

Both the swords were interlocked in a criss-cross manner for a few moments, but then the lower sword slowly started to bend downwards by the heavy force of the upper sword. The little boy wanted to hold on but he knew that his one-handed sword could never hold the two-handed sword above. He persisted for a moment, however, that was his limit.

But, he was already aware of the situation, and the moment he reached his limit, suddenly he let go of his four fingers from the sword. Using his thumb as leverage, he used the force of the bigger sword to rotate his thin sword and hit the side of the bigger sword, as it started to fall down due to the sudden removal of his sword with his backhand now. The bigger sword diverged a little, and seeing this, even the beautiful lady had a surprised expression on her face.

But that was not the end, as he rotated his fingers this time, to hold the sword properly and pushed the hilt backward towards the lady. All of this was executed in a fluid and systematic way leaving no room for errors. 

However,  once again the sword missed his target, as the lady seemingly vanished and reappeared at her original position again, but even then, her face carried a bit of amazement in it. 'Sigh! It seems that the boy is unpredictable as always'

She wanted to compliment the little boy for his hard work, yet her eyes tweaked slightly at the scene before her. The boy had a big grin on his face like he had won something big. And this irritated her a little.

"Don't get full of yourself Kiel. I was not even warmed up then. Let's see how you handle this..."

The boy who had a vacant expression all along was none other than Kiel. He was now 3.5 feet long with his silver hair adorning his vacant face. The cute and sweet smile had nowhere to be seen. All that remained in the once angelic face was a vacant expression. His eyes looked dead, and his cute smile had now turned into an evil grin. 

Looking at the lady in front of him, Kiel remembered her to be the same cold doctor that helped him to be born into the world, and even to be the same lady who had even saved him from death once. Kiel remembered, he didn't even know her name, until she brought him back from the clutches of death itself. She was Anabelle Tanner, the one who taught him how to fight with his sword. The one who gave him hope, when he had truly broken down. The one he respected the most. His master. 

Two years passed unknowingly, as Kiel understood the meaning of strength in this world. The young and immature self of a little kid had long gone from his face. What was left behind was the vicissitudes of maturity. Although he was still just a 5 years old little kid, he seemed to have grown up too much. Sighing he thought about the things that changed his life totally in these two years. Although it was not much in this dog eat dog world, it was enough to change his whole world.

But he didn't get much time to reminisce, as Anabelle appeared suddenly this time at his right. She slashed her sword at him, as he tried to parry it head on this time. But the result was him forced back by the force. His hands became numb as he lost his sensations in them a little. But he didn't even get time to recover as Anabelle appeared at his left again and struck him down at him. He was forced to pay attention as he did what he could to withstand her blows. Kiel knew that his master had become serious now, as every blow was faster and heavier than before.

Dodging whatever he could and parrying others, Kiel had to defend all the time. The fight became more and more intense as Kiel got struck more and more. Left, right, up, down, front, backwards, the blows came from everywhere, and Kiel was having a hard time coping up with her current speed. But as the fight grew more intense, a smile slowly crept onto his vacant face. The smile remained on his face no matter how many attacks he faced. He really liked to fight, and this was one of his only pastimes in recent years.

Although he could see a  lot of gaps in her defence, he knew that most of them were feints or traps. Kiel had already learnt the hard way in these two years. He was waiting for the perfect moment to strike. One genuine chance and he would give it his all to attack.

"Come on.. attack … all you do is defend. How can you wish to defeat someone while being defensive."

Though she was berating him on the surface, she was surprised to find out that the little kid could block so many of his attacks now. Although she was not using any mana in her attacks, it was not something a five years kid could defend. She had her experience and techniques and even her strength and speed were greater than the little boy. Anabelle knew she had found a gem. A swordmaster could understand one's understanding of the sword with one glance, and she had been teaching him for like two years already. So she knew what he was truly capable of. So she wanted to shape him up even more.

 "Did I teach you to defend only! Use your sword more flexibly."

Kiel just ignored the rantings of the old lady, as he held his sword in his right hand, and focused on his defence. His left hand behind his back added more flexibility to his movements, helping him by giving him more chances to avoid attacks as the fight intensified.

'Chance'

Seeing an opening, Kiel drove his sword straight at her. Anabelle had already sensed the attack this time, as she dodged the attack and smashed her fists straight at his stomach.

Kiel had all his force on his sword, so he couldn't protect his stomach. Taking the full brunt of the attack, he flew backwards and was stuck on the wall behind him. 

Seemingly aware of her victory, Anabelle threw down her sword and went to pick up the little kid from the wall. She saw Kiel lie down with his eyes closed, fainted. Seeing the little kid, trying his best, a brilliant smile graced her face, which could even mesmerize the heavens.

Waking up, Kiel saw Anabelle at the side looking at him. He remembered how he was defeated earlier, as his eyes contained blame in them.

"Master you are cheating… You used to force more than my level. And lastly, you even used your fists in a sword fight! You are bullying me way too much." Although Kiel was complaining, his eyes still had the dead look in them. It seemed that his eyes had lost their previous shine.

Even Anabelle felt a little guilty by her heavy hand. But she would not accept it.

"Kiel this is for your own good. Remember that in a battlefield your enemy would not be merciful thinking and give you a fair fight. You have to go for your First Mana Ceremony to the provincial capital in only a week. The people there are not as friendly as me. So you have to be prepared for everything."

"OK"

Hearing the word province, Kiel's expression changed a little, but he soon resumed his poker face. Yet his tiny change didn't escape from Anabelle's eyes. She caressed his hair slightly. Kiel likes this gesture. So he relaxed and started enjoying it.

 She knew that the little kid had suffered too much for his age. But she couldn't do anything to help him. And she was not good at consoling people. So she could only teach him to be strong and depend on himself. She knew he would be someone great in the future. So she wanted to help him in his starting phase.

A/N: Toga is a Greek tunic. It is like a tight tunic but Greek style. Google it if you all don't know it.