CHAPTER 9

Kurai and Fi talked about many things, most of which went over Sapphire's head and she fell asleep before she even realized it. When she woke up there was no one in the room except her, both Kurai and Fi were gone. She got up and looked around the room, finding no clue of where they went or when. She caught a glimpse of the outside from the window and rushed to it.

The snowy ground outside was gone, in fact, everything was gone. The inn seemed to be floating in the middle of nothing, or the room she was in actually, she couldn't even see the rest of the inn from the window. It was as if the room was plucked into empty space from where it was before. She figured she was hallucinating or dreaming and walked to the door and opened it.

A man was standing right in front of the door when she opened it, wearing a black robe with golden linings, and seemingly possessing no facial features. His entire body appeared to have been made from the dark void itself, as if the darkness of the world was given the shape of a human. Sapphire instantly froze and stared at the man in terror, everything suddenly felt more real and less of a dream. For some reason her heart told her to calm down but her brain just didn't listen, which seemed like the right thing to her.

"Didn't mean to scare you," the man said in a gentle voice.

Sapphire calmed down slightly from his voice, her wish to jump out the window and disappear into the void entirely gone, though she was still on the verge of making a run for it.

"You can choose to follow the path others pave for you and live in their shadow, or create your own path to the light and become a different self." The man advised her.

"What?" Sapphire asked completely confused.

Suddenly the entire room gave away beneath her feet and she fell right into the void. She screamed at the top of her lungs and woke up on her bed, still screaming and completely shaken. She looked around and stopped her screaming, breathing heavily as she tried to calm her nerves. Fi and Kurai stared at her with worried expressions, neither of them knowing what happened.

"Are you alright?" Kurai inquired.

Sapphire did not respond, too shaken to have even heard what he said. Fi slowly and gently pulled her in an embrace and patted her on the head, trying to calm her down.

"There, there, nothing to worry about, we are right here for you if you need anything," Fi reassured her.

Sapphire buried her face in Fi's clothes and just remained like that for a little while, finding them surprisingly soft. Kurai just sat where he was, a curious and worried expression on his face. After a little Sapphire pulled away from Fi and simply sat there, expressionless. Fi looked at Kurai with a confused look but neither said anything for a while.

"I... guess I will be going now, I don't want to be late." Fi said getting up from the bed.

"Alright." Kurai got up and opened the door for her, seeing her off.

They waved at each other as Fi left, having clearly became friends. From Kurai's expression it seemed as if he wanted her to not go, but didn't wish to stop her either. He sighed after a few moments and turned to Sapphire.

"So, are you alright?" Kurai inquired.

Sapphire slowly nodded, unsure herself.

"Are you willing to train? If you don't want to you can say so, I don't know what just happened but you seem to be in some mental distress," Kurai asked her after thinking for a moment.

"I am completely fine, nothing to worry about," She replied getting up.

"I am guessing that is a yes," Kurai said hesitantly.

"Certainly is." Sapphire said standing right in front of him, back to her normal self.

"As you wish then," He sighed.

He led her down the stairs and out of the inn. They walked through the snowy streets to a large open field. Kurai gestured her to wait where she was, which was near the center of the field and stood a few steps away from her.

"In combat, strength, power, and speed matter a lot, but only to a certain extent," Kurai explained, "even if your opponent is comparatively weaker than you, there are many ways in which they can win, and it works the other way around too. In a life or death situation, its more about how you use what you have, rather than what you have."

Sapphire nodded understandingly.

"You need to outsmart your enemy at every turn to win if they are stronger than you, otherwise you might as well try to escape. Deception works wonder in these cases, though it might not be the most noble approach there is, but still, in the end it matters who survived rather than how they survived," Kurai explained with a shrug.

Sapphire was slightly taken aback by that. From how he looked he seemed more like a person who cared about honor, but what he just said contradicted it completely.

"Faking weakness is a good way to catch them off guard." Kurai waited a moment for a response from Sapphire, which he received in the form of a nod, before continuing. "While all this matters it still doesn't means you can defeat any enemy as long as you are smarter. Deception and skills help close the power gap, but they don't completely overcome it. You need to grow stronger too in order to ensure victory in every battle, but victory doesn't mean everything, sometimes you should step out of a dangerous fight if there is not much advantage of doing it.

"As an assassin, I can teach you some pretty good tricks for stealth, deception, and strategizing," Kurai added with a smirk.

Sapphire nodded, looking forward to what she will learn from him.

"Try to hit me," Kurai commanded her.

Sapphire nodded and threw a punch at Kurai, which he easily smacked away and gave her a 'Really?' look. Sapphire constantly attacked him with punches and kicks, but never having trained in actual combat her attacks were sloppy. Kurai easily dodged and deflected them, only using one hand to do so.

Back stepping as Sapphire performed a roundhouse kick he stepped forward instantly as she faced him, a small dagger in his left hand primed for her neck, having stopped just before making contact. Kurai retrieved his hand and the blade disappeared inside his sleeve. Stepping back he sighed and shook his head.

"Remember one thing, anyone can have any trick up their sleeve, even literally, don't overcommit to attacks, be on your guard and always prioritise defense. Don't do reckless charges unless you have a plan," Kurai explained.

Sapphire looked to the ground, feeling defeated, which she was. He barely even tried to dodge her attacks and yet she failed to do anything, not a single hit landed.

"Let me give you a tip, something even Kessho used to do so it might work for you as well. You have low strength, in terms of physical strength you can't compare to me. But you are faster than me, use your speed to add strength to your attack, or just attack at a speed faster than your opponent can block." Kurai advised. "But," he added, "you are still physically stronger than Kessho, though a bit slower, and as a midnight you can easily get as strong as dragons, maybe more than me even. Unlike me or Kessho, you have great potential in all parameters, and can easily get much more powerful than me or her once you have learnt how to fight and strategize," he explained reassuringly.

Sapphire nodded, her spirits having lifted a fair bit. She was now determined to get as strong as possible for her, knowing it would only be of help in her long journey. In the forest, she only ever needed to, and was taught to escape from any dangers and wait for help to arrive. But now, there was no one to help her in this journey. She could only rely on herself, and Kurai for now, whom she knew nearly nothing about, and so didn't wish to rely on for long.