Footwork

The first rays of sunlight beamed directly onto my eyelids, forcing them open. My lack of sleep left me feeling restless, proven by the dark circles under my eyes. Jasper was already up, seemingly full of vigor, after all, he had slept like a baby. I dragged my body across the room to gain some strength back through food. The orc appeared especially enthusiastic today, something was amiss.

"Why do you seem so joyful?"

"Did you finally find out why you're not married?" I added.

"Continue mocking me," he said with the widest grin.

He would usually yell at me, but he took my jokes on the chin without a saying a word back. I scratched my head and tried to find out why, but then, all the pieces of the puzzle suddenly fit.

"What are we training today?" I asked.

"We'll be training footwork. Wait, I'll go get the stuff ready," he said.

"Stuff? What stuff?"

Jasper walked towards the pile of miscellaneous objects and pulled out a rusty metal box and a metal rod; the pipe was stained red, with blood presumably.

"What is in that box?"

"Why don't you open it and find out," he replied.

My hands reached for the box and slowly opened the lid as the old hinges creaked. A white powder filled the entirety of the container.

"What's this?" I asked.

"This my dear Jett is chalk-"

"I can see that you idiot. But what are we going to do with it?" I interjected.

His smile became even more sinister before speaking.

"We'll apply the chalk to your heels so that everytime they touch the ground, an imprint will be left."

"Understood, but what about the metal rod?" I asked.

"Well everytime your heels touch the ground, you'll be hit with the stick," he ominously said.

"How awesome..."

Once we reached the clearing, Jasper put some of the chalk on my heels and instructed me to stay on the balls of my feet while in my fighting stance.

"How do you expect me to stand or even fight like this?"

My body was barely able to stand without falling over; at that point, even a gust of wind would knock me down!

"You have to get used to it. Moving while your entire foot is in contact with the ground is slow and is not energy efficient. Changing positions while being on your toes is far quicker once you get the hang of things."

"For our first drill, you'll be moving forwards from one end of the clearing to the other. You should push off of your rear leg and move both feet at the same time."

Heeding to his advice, my weight shifted onto my back foot before I pushed myself forward. As I made contact with the ground, my front foot slipped leading to me tumbling over. I barely had the time to sense the change in airflow before the metal rod struck my calf and a shooting pain emanated from that region.

"Argh, why did you do that?"

"Because you slipped. In a fight, as soon as you fall, it's over. Your opponent won't simply wait for you to get back up, they'll capitalise on your clumsiness."

I lifted myself up and got back into my stance, making sure my heels were off of the ground. Once again, my weight was placed on my back foot before I sprang forward. Using all of my might, I was barely able to keep my balance when I landed, but fortunately, I did not fall.

"Great! Now you have about thirty more repetitions before reaching the other side," Jasper said.

"How great," I sighed.

Each time I failed, the orc made me go back to the edge of the clearing and start all over. The metal stick had become acquainted with my legs after the many times I was hit. On my twentieth attempt, I had finally reached the other side without messing up.

"At least you did it, no matter how slow you were."

"Now do the same but backwards. Remember the principles that you used when going forward, but simply reverse them," he added.

Without missing a beat, I shifted my weight onto my front foot and lunged backwards. My vision suddenly lowered. My buttocks hit the ground hard as I tripped on a rock.

"Wait wait," I said.

"Wait for what?"

"Don't hit me. I fell because of a rock," I replied.

"Awesome. You can tell that to your enemy. Maybe he won't beat you then!"

The pipe dug deeper into my leg each time he struck me. The region turned dark red and was beginning to swell. I stood up once more and endured the pain. After I had completed a whole lap, Jasper asked me to continue moving to and fro each side of the clearing. The movements became more comfortable to perform and my speed was also increasing.

Despite my legs being bruised and having already moved so much, I still had a lot of energy left. After ten whole laps, it was only then that I was beginning to feel exhausted. My mouth was wide open, gasping for air and my stance had begun falling apart.

"This won't do. How are we supposed to move on to the next part of our training session if you're already breathing like a dog," the orc said.

"Take ten minutes of rest. We don't have all day!" he added.

I lay flat on the dirt floor, my eyes staring at the sky. The endless azure blue sky was void of clouds; the blinding sun was slowly but surely moving towards the center of the vault of heaven. The birds chirping was a symphony to my ears before Jasper's ugly voice ruined the mood.

"Are you still alive?"

"After hearing your voice, I'd rather be dead," I replied.

"Do you want to know what we'll do next?" he asked.

"Well of course."

"We'll integrate some striking into the footwork. There's no point in knowing how to move if you don't know when to attack."