Sword Basics (Part 1)

Months turned into years as my training continued. I turned fourteen years old, and grew up a lot. Mother threw all sorts of challenges my way, but no matter how hard they were, I gritted my teeth and overcame them. A lot has happened throughout these four years. Not only did my strength improve tremendously, my balance became perfect. I realised how useful that exercise was. It taught me how to move and position my body better. I became more nimble and swift. I was able to judge the terrain better, and use it to my advantage. If I were to take part in the endurance contest at that stage, there was no doubt I would fly past these obstacles. Mother wasn't interested in that though, so we didn't go again.

Instead, she took me to see Sedon, just before I turned fourteen years old. Sedon, a large city belonging to Shades. The city was located quite a distance away from where we lived. That made me realise why Dawn visited me so rarely, it took us three weeks to get there. This time though, we didn't travel with Slate. Instead, we used Tauruses mother borrowed from a friend. Sedon was a bit gloomy, but the people were really nice and accommodating. The most prominent features of the city were its walls, and the Lake of Sludge. The walls were very tall, thick and had four towers at each corner. Sedon looked majestic and proud from afar, but not the way I imagined it. The Lake of Sludge looked creepy to me. Although it looked like a purple sea from afar, it was anything but water. Mother even demonstrated that to me. She placed her hand on the constantly moving surface, and released her energy. A gap opened up, revealing countless red eyes looked at us from underneath. I jumped back almost suffering a heart attack. This looked like a creature from some sort of horror tale. Mother told me to avoid walking atop, or going near the Lake of Sludge. The Lake wouldn't attack us while we passed next to it, but the instance we stepped on it, we would get attacked.

She also told me to mind the Black Sludge. We encountered a few of them on our way, but they quickly retreated when mother released her energy. Although they were not intelligent like Humans or Furians, they knew when to leave if an opponent was too strong. Mother told me they feared fire, it was the best way to keep them away. Sedon was partially located atop the Lake of Sludge, but it was safe to walk around those areas when inside the city.

During our visit, we met up with Dawn who lived in Sedon. She showed me around the city, and even took me to see the walls from the inside. That wall sightseeing confused me at first. Only when we actually entered the walls, did I realise what she wanted to show me. The insides housed large bow-like weapons, all pointing towards an opening in the wall. Dawn explained that those were called Scorpions, and packed a lot of strength. The Scorpions were mostly there as a display, since no one attacked anyone in the North. Yet, if they ever needed them, those things were ready to defend the city.

Besides the large weapons, Dawn showed me the fields. She said that in the past, Shades didn't cultivate fields. Times changed though, and Shades learned how to grow their own food. She even said they had some poisonous herbs, which of course were used to treat Shades. I also noticed loads of Vanauts inside the city. Dawn explained that Vanauts usually helped them cultivate the poisonous herbs and fields. She added that they were really nice and helpful, despite their looks. I learned not to judge people by their looks a long time ago, and didn't mind Vanauts at all.

Other than that, she showed me the stage just outside Sedon. The stage wasn't anything like the Arena in the Land of Sands. There were no buildings, or shops littering every corner of the place. It was a simple squared stage, where anyone could perform. Dawn explained that they had stars perform there too, but the stage would change a bit and there would be much more stuff around. She also mentioned it was fairly new, hence such a bare state of it. We watched a few people perform, but it was done by complete amateurs. Still, it was free and we had some fun. The performers could get some tips from those who liked it, but that was that.

We visited uncle Crow and aunt Lira too. That was when I learned a bit more about Dawn. She was one of their students, at least in a way. Uncle and Aunt didn't teach Dawn personally, but she belonged to their faction. I asked uncle why he didn't teach Dawn himself, but he couldn't answer that question. Not that he didn't know the answer, but he didn't want to answer. I accused him of being lazy, and even aunt Lira chimed in with some complaints. He finally gave up, and said he would help her out once in a while. Dawn's eyes almost popped out, that's how shocked she was. "Thank you! I will study hard!", she thanked uncle and me. She was a strong and very nice person, uncle being lazy wasn't an excuse.

Their son Drak grew up a bit. He could walk and talk just like Leran in the past. Although aunt Lira was still very protective of him, I was able to play with little Drak, but nothing too serious. He didn't seem to recognise at first since we met so rarely, but quickly warmed up to me. Dawn joined us, but she acted more like a guardian than a friend. Drak seemed to like her more than me. 'Probably because Dawn is a Shade too. Since I'm Human, Drak thinks less of me… Which doesn't feel nice', I thought.

I spent most of my time in Sedon with Dawn. Mother was busy with work. After all, the whole trip was only because she had to go to Sedon for work reasons. Of course, she didn't tell me any details, but uncle Crow wasn't as tightly shut. I asked him instead, and got some answers. "Hmm, she's probably here to check up on that new Formation Alicia and others are making", he replied. Uncle also mentioned that they proved it worked on a small scale, hence the decision to create a large scale Formation between two cities.

"They want to connect Arangard and Sedon with that Formations. It's gonna take a few good years before it's functional, but that is the gist of it", he added. Arangard was the main Lizard City, located in the Obsidian Mountains. We never visited Obsidian Mountains before, but I knew it was a hot climate due to lava and the volcanoes. I asked if we could see the Formation, but uncle Crow shook his head. "They don't really allow anyone unnecessary to enter. I can understand why, so we don't bother them", he said. Since we couldn't we couldn't. I left it at that, and didn't ask anymore.

We stayed at Sedon for a few days, until mother's work came to an end and we could go back home. Of course I wanted to stay longer, but she didn't agree. After that trip, I returned to my daily exercises and training. Since my balance was perfected, mother allowed me to finally train with the sword. I was still thirteen at that stage, and really looked forward to learning how to use the sword properly. My expectations were shattered, when mother said she didn't use swords. "Although I can't teach you much, I know someone who can. For now, you just have to focus on getting used to the sword. I will be there to watch over you, and make sure you can handle a weapon, alright?", she said. Although she wouldn't teach me, she found a replacement, so I was fine with that.

Since then, I swung my sword every day, getting used to its weight and who knows what else. Only after my fourteenth birthday, did I find out who would be my teacher. It turned out that uncle Harlin would be teaching me about swords. After my birthday party, uncle and his girlfriend Jira stayed over, so that uncle could teach me a bit. He told me about different styles and stances, as well as different ways of attacking and defending.

I usually slashed or thrusted the sword, that was that really. Uncle Harlin introduced a few basic ways of attacking and defending to me. There were seven basic ways to attack with a sword called stab, cleave, tap, swipe, curve, rise and fall. There were also two ways to defend called block and parry. Parry was a bit special, it was used for defence and attack at the same time. Still, parry was considered defence as that was its primary focus. Uncle demonstrated all the attacks, and also explained the differences. Stab was really simple to understand, besides the clue was in the name. Thrust the sword horizontally toward your opponent, in other words stab. Cleave utilised the downwards swinging motion, and promoted splitting. It was more of a slamming attack, rather than slashing.

Tap was an attack with the use of the hilt, or rather the pommel at the end of the hilt. The attack was designed to disturb or numb the opponent. Tap wasn't a lethal sort of attack, but it was basic and everyone who practiced sword learned about it. Swipe on the other hand, was a horizontal slash. Uncle even demonstrated that with a spin. This sort of attack promoted both slashing and slamming the target from the side. There were a few variations from what uncle said, but he told me not to worry about them at that stage. Curve was also another way of slashing, but this time diagonally. Uncle demonstrated how he curved the sword to slash from bottom to top, or from top to bottom. Rise and fall were both concerned with slashing upwards and downwards respectively. Both attacks were vertical, and looked the same as cleave. I didn't get why not just call them cleave, and asked about it.

"Cleave is about slamming and splitting your target. It's damage done by weight and strength. Rise and fall are different. You have to hold the sword differently and make sure your wrist is flexible. You want to cut using speed and the sharpness of your blade, not the weight and strength behind it. With cleave, your hand needs to be much stiffer to exert more strength. That is the difference, and it's a large one", uncle explained. After the small demonstration, uncle asked mother to help him demonstrate defence. "Can you help us a bit here? Practicing with Anna might be a bit too risky", he asked. Mother agreed and borrowed the sword from me. "Ah yes! Before we begin. This is just a demonstration, alright? Just don't go crazy", uncle added before they began.

Mother slashed horizontally in a plain manner, while uncle blocked with his sword. "Clang!", the two swords met and released a clashing sound of metal. Mother didn't stop though, she swung the sword a few more times, while uncle asked her to stop. When she did, uncle Harlin explained, "This is block. You use your sword to block your opponent's attack. It's not a perfect method of defending, but it is vital. If you are too weak, and your opponent is too strong, your block will be broken. In that case, an injury is very possible. There are advanced methods of getting around that, but basics are basics". Uncle asked mother for another attack, but this time he wanted to demonstrate parry.

When mother swung the sword horizontally, uncle did the same albeit at a different angle. Both swords met, but mother's sword got deflected to the side. She attacked a few more times, and uncle deflected all of her attacks. "This is parry, or more precisely deflect. Parry is concerned with striking back, whereas deflect is concerned with diverting the attack and not following with a counterattack. If you are very good at deflecting, you can even take care of arrows flying your way. You will need someone to practice those two defensive techniques, but your mother should be able to help you", uncle said. I nodded, but then realised we didn't have two swords. After all, mother didn't use swords. "Huh? Oh, right. I will give you one of my practice swords. Your mother can use it", uncle replied. I wanted to immediately try out some of those attacks, but uncle stopped me. "This is not the end just yet. I still need to show you stances and how to hold the sword properly. Before you can attack or defend, you need to know how to hold your sword and position your body", he said. I had no problems with that, the more uncle showed me the better.