Three Months

-8:07 AM, October 25th, 2054-

The leaves rustled on the ground as footsteps so subtle that they were barely audible approached the ground below me.

I took a deep breath as I watched Sirius approach me. He had yet to notice me.

With my padawan about to be below me, I dropped out of the tree in complete silence. Not even the air dared to whistle as I accelerated towards the ground.

With just a fraction of a second before my outstretched hands grappled him, he crouched and rolled forwards. He then pulled a stick that was about the size of a lightsaber from his belt and turned around. "You nearly had me."

I pulled a similar stick from my belt as I smirked. "I'm a quick learner. Seems you are as well."

Sirius nodded. "How could I not be?" He brandished the stick, twirling it in his hand. "You're a fantastic teacher considering the complexity of the subject."

In the instant that those words left his mouth, he became a bolt of lightning. His figured blurred as he approached.

I barely had enough time to react as I blocked his attack. Our sticks were now stuck together like glue. Despite me being physically stronger than him, I couldn't push through.

He slid his stick up towards the end of mind and then pressed with more force. I could only step forwards to apply more pressure in return.

He quickly twisted, sliding past me with ease as I stepped forwards. He then smacked my side as he went. "Come on, master. You're an engineer. You should be well aware of leverage. Speed and application of force is everything in cold weapons combat."

I waved my hand and rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, it's about how it's applied, not about how much."

Sirius nodded as took a step back. As his foot moved, it hit got caught on a rock that was about the side of a bucket that wasn't there before. He tripped and fell to the ground.

I smirked and lunged forward, thankful that my trick had worked. I swung my stick and then held it against his neck as he hit the ground. "Technique and speed aren't everything."

He sighed. "Fair enough."

I reached out, offering my hand. He took it and I pulled him up. "Let's take the rest of the day off."

Sirius shrugged. "That sounds lovely. What shall we do?"

I closed my eyes and started slowly spinning. I randomly stopped and then pointed in the direction I faced. "Let's explore."

Hours passed as the sun slowly glided across the blue skies. We cut through dense jungle, dominated by colors of brown and green. The ground was bare, no plants surviving under the shade of the canopy above. Thick brushes covered every inch of ground exposed to the light of the sun.

Rivers crossed our path. Fish sped with the current, headed to a destination unknown. They were colorful like ones that could be found in a coral reef. The water was clean and clear. We stopped to drink some. Each sip was refreshing beyond belief. All of the minerals within would do our bodies well.

At one point, we found a cove that appeared to be ripped straight out of a movie about pirates. There was a small cave with deep water inside. We went for a swim, cooling our bodies from the exhausting hike we had undertaken. It gave us the recovery we needed to carry on. We would definitely have to come back here on our return trip.

The most stunning part was the towering waterfall that we found ourselves at the top of. Rocks jutted out, splitting the water as it flowed and fell. A heavy mist floated in the air, taking on a rainbow hue as the light of the sun refracted through the water droplets. It was utterly breathtaking.

We stopped for a proper rest at the top of a mountain. There was a large clearing with a lone tree in the center. Despite being alone, it was humongous. Its canopy spread for at least 200 feet and the trunk was at least 10 feet across.

Comfortable was the shade we found beneath. The mossy ground was cool to the touch and sucked the exhaustion right from my body. I sucked down some river water from my flask as I closed my eyes. What an amazing feeling.

I glanced over at my padawan, finding him to also be drinking water. I moved on from my drink and started chewing on some dried lizard meat that I had brought in a small sack that I attached to my belt.

I gazed upon the massive island around us. It was easily several dozen miles across. This was one of the mid-sized land masses on this planet. It was big enough for our purposes but not too big where we could easily get lost.

As I scanned the land, I found something that looked out of place. I pointed towards it. "What's that?"

In my peripheral vision, I noticed Sirius glance at me to see where I was pointing. He then focused his gaze at my direction. "I'm not quite sure. It doesn't look natural, though."

I furrowed my brow. There was a slight thinning of the jungle and a lot of exposed stone. "Hmmm."

After a few seconds, I grinned. This was exciting! "Let's find out!"