A Test of Blades

Fortunately, when Dannas and I reached the mess tent, the morning stew just finished cooking. I guess Dannas must've adjusted somewhat to me because we didn't talk while we ate. Either that or he's not a morning person. Regardless, I definitely wasn't going to disturb this ever-endangered silence; it was always easier for me to think and focus when everything was silent.

Eventually, when we finished eating, we left the tent and walked back down the path that led us to it. I smelt something strange. It was like a mixture of dew, sap, and some kind of pleasant flower. It smelt much like plants more than any other kind of life, yet something about it seemed odd. It was almost as if it somehow wasn't a plant. Before I could come up with a theory as to what it was, I saw a female figure, mostly covered by a leafen cloak, walk out of the captain's tent. She looked at me very briefly and pulled her hood up just after she emerged—giving me just enough time, despite the distance, to see her face. It was a light green skin tone, which looked woodlike with lines indicating a grain. Her long and lightly-braided hair looked like normal light red and brown autumn hair aside from all the small flowers in it. Her eyes were unlike any I've seen—narrow and white, with an almost unnoticeable large green pupil to fill where the iris would've been. Her face was slender and narrow and almost didn't look like there were any cheekbones or structure behind to give its incredibly smooth shape. Much like Lili, in all my years drifting through the world, I'd never seen anyone like that. Any spare attention I had stood no chance to aim anywhere else but her.

"Who is she?"

"Who?" Dannas asked.

I pointed at her. although her features were now hidden completely. "That girl. Over there."

Dannas lazily answered, "I dunno. Someone who came to talk to Captain, I guess."

She silently rushed out of camp looking as if she wanted to avoid anyone seeing her. I could recognize that way of speed walking anyday. It's part of my toolset after all. Seeing the distance, I took no chance at trying to catch up to her soundless steps and talk. As soon as she was gone, the captain walked out of her tent with vice captain Soras just behind. They turned to their right, looked at me, and walked straight to me.

"Ooooh, I hope you're ready, Ladon," Dannas said while rubbing his hands together in ever-growing excitement.

"What do you mean? Ready for what?"

"You'll see."

As they approached me, it seemed most of the camp began to wake up. Many rangers started leaving their tents; most of them looked bound for the mess tent. At least, that's what I assumed since that'd be one of the first things anyone would want in the morning. It became clearer as the captain and vice captain got closer that everyone else was converging to the same place. It looked like everyone was in on something. Like they all knew what's happening—what will happen, and I couldn't be the wiser. After a short time, both the captain and vice captain reached me.

The captain looked me straight in my eyes. "Now that you have healed and been here for a day, it's time for your tests."

"Tests?"

"Yes. Before we can train you with a blade and bow, we must test your abilities as they are. Think of it as tradition."

"Okay."

"Follow me, Ladon."

We walked to the training area. When we entered it, I saw a table with several blades. Eventually, we stopped in an area devoid of anything but dry dirt in a large circle. Soras walked to the far end of the circle from where I was. All the rangers about were now crowded around the circle like a wall, with Dannas behind me. The captain and someone else I haven't met stood on the right-center edge of the circle. I saw Lili and Yara on the center-left edge. Yara had her shoulder sling pack, and Lili had her ever-confident smile. I turned around to see Dannas give me two thumbs up, then turned back to Soras, taking his cloak off to reveal his full frame and massive scabbarded sword.

"If the rangers behind you would clear the way, you'll see a table with several blades resting on top."

I looked behind just as they moved to let me see the same table I saw earlier.

"On it, you'll see two of each weapon you can choose from in order of length: kleine messers, regular messers, langes messers, and kriegsmessers. You can pick any of them in any combination. I use a larger version of the kriegsmesser."

I walked up to the table to see them. I noticed the kleine messers looked similar to Dannas's daggers. I then thought of which one I should use. I was growing more anxious by all of this, but I tried to think anyway. I didn't want to use anything too short or too long, so I found the middle ground for me and picked up a langes messer. The handle was long enough for up to two hands and the blade looked like it was maybe a little less than a meter long. The guard, rather than the classic cross guard you'd see on any average sword, was perpendicular to the blade for half of its length then bent straight downwards for the second half to protect my fingers on one side. On the other side, it was perpendicular for half of its length then bent straight up to allow for dexterity. It also had a metallic protrusion slightly pointing outward on the right side to protect the back of my hand. The handle resembled a knife's much more than any handle I've seen on a weapon. The blade was curved and ever-so-slightly tapered on the back. It was also single-edged, though its edge continued from the point onto the back until the apex of the taper.

Now holding the sword, I turned back around to Soras. I slowly walked back to the circle, changing my gaze to everyone around to see if I could piece together any untold information. Obviously, I'm gonna fight; I don't know who, but I know I'm gonna fight. I could see everybody looking at me. Some looked curious about who I was, some looked excited for what's to come, and some looked afraid as if they were reliving something they went through. Yara was gripping her sling pack along with a frustrated expression.

Soras fiddled with the side of his belt, and detached his scabbard from it. He then grabbed his sword's handle and pulled the blade's incredible length out, perfectly silent.

"As you probably figured out, when it comes to melee weapons, we specialize in messers. They're great for combat, but even more useful outside of it. When travelling through the wilds of this world is your lifestyle, it can help greatly to have a sword that can cut through said wilds when no other choice beyond going around is granted. Cutting through vines, bushes, brush, and even wood can be done easily with a messer. Obviously, mine is much bigger than the average… Don't let it scare you."

Soras entered a wide stance with his left side facing me. His facial expression never changed from his patient and cold one.

"Once you enter your stance, we can begin. Oh, and don't worry; I'll go easy on you."

Not knowing anything about sword fighting, I emulated his stance. My body was definitely shaking much more than his. I was shocked and terrified that the man I saw easily kill the largest of the shadow wolves in that pack is now my opponent. Even though he said he'd go easy on me, I still felt like this was going to go terribly. What does easy even mean right now? If that shadow wolf looked so easy for him to kill, then is that what he means by easy?

Before I could continue thinking, Soras moved toward me. Backing away wasn't an option, and I didn't want to get closer either, so I hesitantly moved toward him. The closer I got, the more afraid I became. I didn't think he'd kill me, but I didn't think this would be painless either.

As soon as we got close enough, he stopped. "Strike."

"W-what?"

"Try to hit me with your sword."

I tried to hit him with a poor downward slash just for it to get easily blocked by him.

"Not terrible. Your edge alignment is off."

"Edge alignment?"

"The sharp part of your blade. Always aim it with its angle at the person you're trying to cut. Now, strike again."

I went for the same angle, trying to make my edge alignment right. He blocked just as well and pushed my blade back.

"Good; I already see complete improvement with your alignment. You're a fast learner. Now block!"

Suddenly his body shifted forward as a down-right diagonal slash came my way. My body instinctively jerked back as I used my blade to meet his. Surprisingly, my arm barely budged from his strike.

"Good. Your technique is messy at best, but I can definitely feel the strength I'd imagine a demidragon to have. Always block at forty-five to ninety degrees. Keep your feet firmly planted. It's time for the real fight now."

Quickly, he shifted forward, thrusting his blade at me. I narrowly dodged to the left just for him to strike rightwards without hesitation. I blocked it, pushed his blade away, and went for a down-left slash. He looked like he allowed it all to happen and blocked it without any effort. We kept trading blows for a while, striking and blocking, until suddenly, when I went to cut him, he blocked, rotated his sword, and counterattacked me. I barely dodged back away from getting cut. Soras lightly smirked and rushed toward me faster than before. Scales formed up my neck, arms, shoulders, sides, and parts of my legs while he sent a flurry of slashes and cuts my way. I either barely blocked or barely dodged each of them. I couldn't think about anything; not the crowd, and certainly not where I was in the circle; I just had to keep moving. Soras wasn't leaving me any opportunity to attack, and it felt like one small slipup would bring my end. Suddenly, at the end of his latest flurry, he went for a very wide down-right slash. It took more time than any of his other attacks, so in one movement, I stepped to the right, blocked his blade with mine angling downwards, then quickly rotated my wrist, bringing my sword over my head and toward his in less then a second. Just as quickly, he changed stance to his right leg, blocked my attempt at a counterattack, and shoved me onto my rear. The whole crowd laughed and gossiped at my incompetence, save Dannas, Lili, Yara, the captain, and the man I haven't met. The only reason I knew was because they were the only ones I didn't hear, except for Dannas who was just saying things like, "Come on!", or, "You've got this!"

Soras changed back to his original stance as he said, "Smart idea. Unpolished… but smart." He took a step back. "Come at me."

As he said, I moved forward. Trying to mimic him, I used my own version of flurries. I made sure to not swing wide just as I saw him do. Doing so allowed me to attack him as fast as I possibly could, changing angles after every attack, but he had no struggle blocking and dodging all of them. Over enough time, the lack of any success began to annoy me, so I put more strength behind each attack out of frustration, hoping it would make things easier. It didn't. Just when my frustration was making my voice leave with each strike, he deflected my blade to my left, and slapped my face, making me stumble in the same direction. I paused for a moment, realizing what was just done to me. Even more angry, I turned back around to him and rushed forward, attacking him, using even more strength. This time, he deflected my blade to my right, backhanded my face, and, before I could stumble away, kicked me in my rear. My frustration turned to a fiery anger ready to burst out. I rushed back at him. On my first attack, he deflected my blade and punched me in the face, making me stumble and fall to my hands. Now even anger was too weak a word for what I felt. I got back up, gripped my blade extremely tight, and yelled as I rushed him. No longer worrying about my strength or techniques, I put everything into my attacks. I could feel Soras put a lot of effort into blocking my blade without faltering his arms. Just when it seemed that maybe I could get the upper hand, his blade met mine, then in a spiraling motion, rotated around mine, causing my wrist to twist and my grip to ruin until he flicked his wrist up, and my sword flew straight into the air. After a second, it fell back down into his offhand as if he'd done it a thousand times. Not expecting this, I stopped in whatever tracks I was following.

He looked me straight in my eyes. "Anger can make you stronger. It can make your body push harder than it otherwise would. But it leaves you extremely vulnerable as well. You should always do your best to control it, lest your enemies use it against you. Also, be careful of the damage it might do to your sword."

He tossed my sword back to me for me to see my grip left a permanent shape of my hand crushed on it. "Now. Let's continue."

All of a sudden, I started to notice everyone was cheering, laughing, and making remarks. It seemed the crowd changed a small bit. I looked at Dannas to see him giving two even more excited thumbs up. I saw Yara nervously and excitedly clench a fist on her chest. Then from the corner of my eye, I saw a blade pushing toward me. Thanks to my reaction time, I narrowly dodged away from it.

"Focus."

Quickly, I reentered the stance I didn't realize I left. Without a second of waste, I locked my nervous eyes with his before we both shifted toward each other. We traded attacks and defenses as we moved around one another. I've never even picked up a sword in my life, yet somehow, I was keeping up with him. It felt almost like a dance; both of us grew to share a rhythm. Our steps and actions reflected each other, though that may only hold cause to my one path requiring copying him. After enough time, he altered course and quickly stepped backward to bait me forward. Without a second thought, I took it, then went for a down-left slash, putting my right foot forward. Just when that foot landed, he kicked it away to my left, ruining my attack and my footing as my side began to fall. Before I could hit the ground, I put all my effort into swinging my body. In less than a second, my left leg hooked his right as I twisted my body a small bit to see his blade coming at me. I caught his forearm with my left hand using both my leg and arm to stop his attack and my fall while thrusting my sword just past his neck to show I could cut it. We stayed like this for maybe ten seconds while the realization my right foot was laying on the ground ready to support my weight never reached me. Eventually, we both unstiffened at the same time, causing me to suddenly fall on my back.

"That will be all, Ladon."

Soras walked to his belt, put it on, then scarbbarded his sword while I just layed on the ground letting all of what happened run through my head during a breather I never realized I needed. The crowd was silent—nothing but a few words shifting between them.

Suddenly, I heard the captain speak. "So, what do you think, Soras?"

"He has no experience, is a quick learner, definitely has the strength and speed of a dragon, and has a lot of potential. His anger may be a pervasive issue, but I think he can become a great fighter. He also seemed to have a strong protective nature. That or he's spiteful. Only time would tell on that front. After his training, once he's officially a ranger, if it happens, I may have to get serious in our next duel."

The crowd seemed to become dead silent. It was as if a collective awe was the only thing left to express.

"I see. He might be one of the best we had at this test then, all things considered. Let's see how good he is with a bow."

Soras turned to the crowd. "To the second test!"

The crowd all dispersed in the same direction behind the captain, Soras, and the man I never met.

Yara walked up to me. "Are you hurt?"

"I . . . don't think so."

"Good. If a wound makes itself known, please come to me." She walked away.

Dannas then walked up to me. "That was awesome!"

"Barely. I lost, didn't I? I was the only one who got hit."

"Well yeah . . . but he's a seasoned warrior. Nobody here ever beat him on our tests or after. I don't think anyone in the world has ever beat him. There's no need to beat yourself up like that, man."

He reached out his hand to help me up. I accepted his aid, not without hesitation. Dannas grunted as he tried to lift me up by my arm. I did most of the work getting up, but let him feel like he did.

"See. We're getting to be friends already."

"Why does he do that test? What are we supposed to prove by going up against him?"

"Well, they need to know where your skills are at to know how to train you. Personally, I think it's just an excuse for Soras to feel like a warrior again since he's been a ranger for so long. Not many battlefields for us anymore. But I don' know. Maybe it's fun for him; maybe it's just tradition. Who can say, really?"

"I see."

I walked back to the table with the messers and put mine back. After putting it down, I got a good look at it. I felt a little guilty since it didn't look worth using anymore; the handle was crushed and the blade chipped and slightly warped. I need to control my anger better. What if I was holding something alive?

"You alright, Ladon?"

I quickly turned around as my mind was pulled from being lost in thought. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Hmm... Alright then! Onto the next test for you!"

I looked around and realized everyone except Dannas and I was down at the archery range. They all looked in my direction, probably waiting for me.

I put my hand over my eyes and rubbed my face a little bit. "Oh gods."

"Come on, Ladon. It'll be more fun than the first test, I promise."

"Fine," I continued under my breath. "Gods, why are you so positive all the time?"

"What?"

"Nothing."

I started walking to the archery range, mentally preparing for the next test.