Training

As the sun started to rise, I sat a small distance away from the entrance of the small mansion. The door was now covered as they clumsily tried to fix it.

After waiting for about an hour, I still had yet to see anyone from inside the house step out. "Tsk." As I assumed they weren't coming I got up, preparing to leave. Until I heard the makeshift door creak open. 

I looked back to see everyone, including the injured Luca, all standing together, staring at me. Even the people who usually didn't fight were here, such as Stacy.

"We've thought about what you said. And we'd like to… learn from you." You could tell that Aaron had to swallow his pride and admit this, which he was not enjoying.

"Alright. Before we start I want you all to know we aren't friends. Any relationship we had on earth is now gone. The only reason we tolerate each other is because we have a mutual goal. Now let's begin."

"Wait. What do we call you? What's your name?" Asked Noa. I paused for a second then replied, "My name's Mirage. That's all you'll be calling me."

It was clear she was annoyed by this answer, but I didn't care. I carried on walking around the house to which they all followed obediently.

As we got there I stood in front of all the training dummies and had generously assembled.

"Now I want you to take a dummy each, and start hitting it with your weapons," I stated. 

Although they all looked confused and had some questions such as 'Where did he bring the dummies from?', they didn't argue as they held their weapons and did as they were told. 

As soon as they started I noticed some irregularities when they used their weapons. I mean it was no secret they were weak, but damn. Aaron could be seen trying his hardest to reload his bow after every shot, but he was way too slow. If it had been a real fight, he'd have died seconds after shooting his first arrow. He got so frustrated at one point that he just dropped his bow and shoulder-bashed the dummy.

Most of them just used bows and longswords. There was no diversity in their weapon choice. It seemed as if they picked what the majority picked. Colt could be seen swinging his sword clumsily. His robotic movements and pathetic swings made it hard to even watch him. 

Although, it was interesting to see when he missed a swing, and somehow twisted his body, so that he could land an elbow, right in the face of the dummy. However, this did nothing but hurt his elbow. 

Moving on he came across a man with glasses, and honestly looked like a bit of a nerd. But his movements were far from what you'd expect. 

Don't get me wrong, he was still bad. But compared to the others he could fight. He was one of the only people to use a unique weapon, he used a red katana that he seemed to understand quite well. 

I walked up to him and stared at him. 

"What's your name?"

"Eric." He answered. Right off the bat, I could tell this person wasn't much of a talker. As I walked away I made sure to make a mental note of him. 

As I walked around my eyes fell upon a girl who used a bow and arrow. She was quite an attractive female, with nicely shaped curves and long curly blond hair. As she was practising, I couldn't help but notice the arrows she shot were mostly aimed at the vital point of the training dummy. 

Such as the throat, heart and even the eyes. Evidently, Most of these targets were hard to hit and she wasn't the best archer, therefore most of her shots completely missed the target. To an untrained eye, it would look like she had no sense of the weapon she was using.

I continued to walk when I noticed a certain shy girl, confused as if she had no idea what to do. Although her short black hair slightly covered her eyes, it was obvious to tell from her body language, she was distressed. 

"Hey," I said, which seemed to make her jump slightly. 

"Relax. What's wrong with you, you're not even trying to hit the dummy."

"Well, it's just that I don't know how to. Usually, I'm in charge of cooking and cleaning, I don't fight." She explained. Looking at her I could tell there was no point in having her do this exercise. 

"Fine. Instead, you can follow me and tell me about the others." To this, her eyes brightened and she dropped her dagger to join me. It turns out the previous girl was named Sophie and she was quite popular amongst everyone in the house. Even when they had more people. 

She then started to point out everyone and told me a little bit about them. She explained a bit about Johan and Noa. And to be honest, they didn't seem very interesting, other than the fact Johan was quite the smart cookie. 

"That's Liam. He's a sweet person. Quite kind. He sometimes stays behind to watch the house, we get along quite well and…" As she continued to ramble on, which was completely out of character for her, even blushing a little, I paid close attention to this 'Liam'. 

He was using a sword, but he was using it terribly. Almost like he was blindfolded and didn't know what weapon he was holding. Instead of swinging, he was stabbing and piercing, which looked completely unusual for a sword technique. He had slick blond hair and blue eyes. Quite the charming fellow.

They carried on as they stumbled upon someone else. 

"That's Alex. You might know him. He was the vice-captain of the biscord server. He wasn't very active, but when he was you could tell he was quite kind." She stated. 

Watching this man, who again was using a longsword, you could tell there was something off about him. Almost like he was frustrated and taking out all his anger on the dummy in front of him. He didn't have the most outstanding face, just normal. With straight black hair, brown eyes and fair skin. By no means was he ugly, he just wasn't good-looking either, just basic. 

They then came across two girls. Who again were using basic weapons and weren't good with them. What was noticeable about them was their opposite personalities. 

One looked like she had a great fire burning in her eyes, while the other looked calm and mellow. "Those two are Lia and Ester." She pointed out, noticing that I was staring. Lia seemed to be the fiery one while Ester was the other. 

Lia looked quite interesting, with wavy short black hair and black eyes. While the other, Ester, was a brunette with pigtails.

"Lia is quite the stubborn one." She said with a chuckle. 

"But to be honest it's a good type of stubbornness. She always has the determination and will to keep fighting. She would always secretly train and try to become more proficient in her weapon. Although, it doesn't seem to work as she never seems satisfied with her progress." 

To me, this didn't seem like the worst person. Things like determination and stubbornness would do you good in most situations.

"Ester isn't that much of a talker. She only speaks when spoken to, and even then she gives short and quick answers. I can never really tell what she's thinking." She said with a nervous smile. 

Finally, in the corner, I saw Luca. 

Even after being stabbed he was utilising his longsword better than any of them. He seemed to have a deeper understanding of it. 

"How are you feeling?" I asked as I walked up to him. 

"Good as new. Whatever you did to me worked like a charm." He said with a chuckle.

I nodded to him and let him get on with his work. After about ten more minutes of watching everyone swing aimlessly, I brought them all to a halt. As I told them to gather up, they were all sweating buckets. 

I started to walk again around the house as they followed me. They all dragged their feet as they breathed heavily. After walking for about a minute we stopped at a table with multiple weapons on it.

"Alright, everyone spread out," I said while sorting out the weapons. First up was Aaron. 

"Take this." I gave him a giant battle shield. 

"From what I've seen and heard, you have a habit of dropping your bow and going in with brute strength. This will suit you better." I stated as he took the shield willingly. I then walked up to Sophie and gave her two daggers. 

"These are better for kill shots." Carrying on, I got to Eric. 

He looked completely uncomfortable, tightening the grip on his katana as if he didn't want to give it up. To this, I just looked and walked past. Waking up to Colt, I gave him white bandages and kept walking.

I decided to skip Noa, Luca and Johan and came to Lia and Ester instead. I handed Lia a rapier, to which she was confused. 

She's never even seen a rapier and had no clue what it was.

"This is the sword that's used in fencing. Try it out." He said while looking at Ester. After a second, he handed her a bow and moved on. 

Liam and Alex were the only ones left. He stared at them, then turned around to look for something in the pile of weapons. Turning back to them he held a spear and what looked like a bo staff in his hands. He handed the spear to Liam and the staff to Alex. 

"A sword isn't the right weapon for stabbing, that is." He said while looking at Liam.

Liam slightly blushed due to embarrassment. 

Walking closer to Alex, he walked past him and whispered "Take out your anger using that staff." To which Alex looked surprised. He didn't try to deny it as he looked down at his weapon, as if he was in deep thought. 

"For those of you who have new weapons, they are weapons which I think will best suit you due to what I've seen. And for the others who kept their weapons, you did a good job picking them." I said, specifically looking at Eric. To which he slightly smiled. 

"Hey, wait a second. What is this, you took my sword away and gave me bandages. You trynna tell me imma be some sort of medic?" Said a slightly irritated Colt. 

"Wrap it around your hands. Your weapon is your body. You'll be a hand-to-hand fighter." I explained. 

"What, no way. Imma be a boxer. I got a special weapon no one else has, these hands. Ahahahah!" He said obnoxiously. 

"No, it just means you're bad at every other weapon so you get nothing," I explained. To which others chuckled and he fell silent. 

I only said this to pull his leg. I thought this would be good for him and that he'd be extremely proficient in it. 

"Alright back to the training dummies!"