“Hey Kaiel, long time no see buddy!”
A boy came running over to sit in the seat next to him. It was his best friend, Lao. Kaiel and Lao would always do everything together, that is until Lao started to focus more on his training.
“Do you want to practice with me today in the courtyard? This time I’ll go easy on you Kaiel.”
“You? Go easy on me? Lao I have improved my swordsmanship and you will be blown away at my amazing progress!”
Lao and Kaiel both started to laugh. Kaiel’s swordsmanship was among the worst in the school and everyone knew that. When striking a target he would sometimes loosen the grip of his sword causing him to drop it and make a fool of himself.
An older man in a blue robe walked towards the front of the class. Every child started to quiet down except for Lao and Kaiel who continued to laugh and poke fun at each other.
“Quiet down you two, I’m about to begin the lesson.”
They both responded unanimously, “Yes teacher.”
“I hope you all remember what day is coming up in the following week. Yes, the long awaited testing day! All of you will have your physical strength, techniques and aptitudes tested. Hopefully I’ll get to see some of you grow into great warriors in the future.”
The class of fifty all stared at the elder with sparkling eyes. They had all worked hard for this day, getting chosen as a warrior was the greatest honour one could bring to one’s family. Those who were not chosen could retry the exam in the following three years but after that they would be stuck doing jobs in the village.
“Now it’s time for the cumulative lesson, I will briefly go over everything I have taught you over the past three years. Our world is called Xen. Xen is split up into different territories, the molten territory, desert territory, ocean territory, and sky territory. In these territories are several kingdoms. These kingdoms all have one city and control several clans. The more clans a kingdom possesses the stronger the kingdom is. These clans also have one capital city and several villages belonging to it, the more villages the greater power the clans have. Each warrior selected will go to the capital city of our clan and study the art of becoming a warrior. If you are strong enough then the clan might even send you to become a great warrior of the kingdom. The territories have always been at war to control the area in the center of our world, we call it God’s Connection. God’s Connection is the only truly safe place in our world. Can anyone answer why?”
A young girl raised her hand.
“Yes Sheili.”
“God’s Connection is the only place without calamities. It is said that it is under God’s protection and no harm can be done inside of that area. It is an area without death, an area of immortality.”
All of the boys in the class looked at Sheili.
“As expected of Sheili, she truly is the number one beauty in our class.”
“She has it all, brains, beauty and strength. If Sheili was my girlfriend I would become extremely happy!”
Several boys would always comment to each other about Sheili anytime they got the chance to.
“Correct Sheili, it is the only place without calamities, without struggles. Calamities are the reason this hierarchy system was set-up in the first place. Calamities are mysterious events that appear randomly in our world. Often times Calamities will wipe out several villages and Clans before it is controlled by the kingdom. They are strange occurrences and unless one reaches a certain class, one will not have knowledge of what a Calamity is. Speaking of classes, can someone explain the different classes?”
Lao extended excitingly his hand.
“Yes Lao.”
“There are ten initial classes, the first sealed class, second sealed class, third sealed class, fourth sealed class, fifth sealed class, sixth sealed class, seventh sealed class, eight sealed class, ninth sealed class and tenth sealed class. After the tenth sealed class is the unsealed class each going from one to ten again. After that is modern class.”
“Wrong.”
“Teacher how can I be wrong? I recited all the information about the classes you told us!”
“Yes you did very well, however what I told you wasn’t the complete truth. There are classes even greater than the modern class.”
The children in the classroom couldn’t contain their voices. “Greater than the modern class? I heard the village elder is a modern rank! There are people above that rank?”
“Of course you idiot! The people in the capital and the kingdom must be way stronger than the modern rank!”
All of the children’s eyes lit up as they started talking about strength. If there was one thing everyone admired, it was those with strength.
“Okay now class settle down, I want someone to tell me about beasts.”
Kaiel heard this and shot up. He loved learning about beasts and he became the class expert on beasts. He could identify what a beast was from a glance and remembered all their attributes from the books that he had read.
“Yes Kaiel.”
“Teacher beasts are like us humans. They have many different sized areas in all of our territories and outside of our territories. Beasts can survive in many different conditions and they are ruthless. Beasts can also serve as pets for many strong warriors, since some beasts are able to have high cognitive abilities.”
“Correct, and on the topic of outside our territories I need to stress the importance of never leaving the territories. Outside these territories are barren wastelands, not much is known about what is on the outside since there are very very few survivors who live to tell the tale. The living conditions are extremely harsh and there is unknown danger in those lands. Alright class, I think that is enough for review for now, you all look antsy to test your strength after learning about the multiple classes.”
The class seemed to nod in unison.
“Grab your wooden swords and let’s go outside to the courtyard!”
Each child positioned themselves in front of a training dummy. Grabbing their swords they all began to whack away some practicing basic motions and movements, others just randomly swinging their swords. Kaiel was somewhat in between the two categories, he looked as if he knew what he was doing, yet when he swung down his sword many times it would fly away from his body.
Lao and Sheili on the other hand were both geniuses at swordplay, they both practiced like no other in the class and before they knew it they were the representatives for each gender.
“Wow look at Lao he’s so strong.”
“Well duh he practices longer than anyone else in our class does.”
“If Lao doesn’t pass the test I don’t think anyone in our class will pass.”
The girls overheard the boys’ conversation and decided to speak up, defending their pride.
“Hmph, you boys think that Lao can match up to Sheili? Sheili is much stronger than Lao and if Sheili can’t pass the test then no one in our class can.”
The girls and the boys both looked at each other with fierce looks.
“Lao will definitely score higher than Sheili on the aptitude test!”
“You boys wish! Just accept it, females are starting to be stronger than males, if Lao dueled Sheili he would definitely lose!”
“No way would Lao lose! Sheili isn’t strong enough to beat Lao.”
“Yes she is! Sheili would destroy Lao!”
Both sides went back and forth and the courtyards turned into a giant debate. Lao and Sheili could not help but sigh as both sides continued to spit out words.
Kaiel couldn’t stand it anymore and spoke out.
“Why are you guys comparing other peoples’ strength? Who gives you the right to be prideful of their strength? If you want to brag, brag about yourselves.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Both the sides turned and looked at Kaiel. Just as they were about to yell at him too the teacher spoke up.
“Now now why don’t Lao and Sheili have a friendly duel”
Both Lao and Sheili initially turned to face the teacher then looked at each other.
“Sheili why don’t we spar. Im sure we could learn something from one another.”
“If Lao is willing then I don’t see a reason why not.”
Both parties entered the sparring ground in the middle of the courtyard. The boys stayed behind Lao watching and the girls stayed behind Sheili watching. Kaiel watched from the side and the Teacher was in the middle as the referee.
“Three strikes. When one party is able to successfully land three strikes on the other this duel is over. Ready your swords and move to the middle.”
“Sheili I hope you can give me a couple pointers.”
“Likewise.”
The teacher raised his hand in the air. “Three… Two… One… Start!” He lowered his hand and jumped out of the sparring grounds.
Lao lunged forwards keeping his sword steady in his right hand.
Sheili instantaneously jumped backwards and held her sword horizontally with both hands to block the incoming attack.
“Lao I never knew you were so fast.”
“Haha it’s only a jab I’m more impressed at your ability to block.”
“This time I will be on the offensive.”
Sheili rushed forward with her sword behind her body, out of Lao’s sight. As she closed in Lao did not know where the attack would come from so in a panic he decided to try and jab her again. Lao relied on his speed while Sheili relied on her technique. As she saw the same jab motion she twisted her body to evade it and swung her right arm out sideways and counter-attacked Lao. It was a clean hit towards the side of his chest.
“Sheili 1 hit.”
“Hah you got me good Sheili, I’ll have to repay you for that.”
Lao held his sword in the same spot as if he were to jab. Sheili rushed towards him again with the same tactic. This time Lao jabbed towards the right side of Sheili’s body, ensuring that she could not spin and counter. However, Sheili had thrown the sword to the side behind her back and caught it in her left hand. Spinning around Lao’s jab once again she countered.
“Sheili 2 hits.”
Both parties looked at Sheili in admiration.
“She can use a sword in both of her arms?”
“How long does she practice for?”
“Wow Sheili is so strong!”
Lao held his sword in his hand once again and looked at Sheili. He needed to find a way to get past her counter. He couldn’t use his jabs so he thought of using a wide strike.
“Come at me Sheili, this time I will break past your technique.”
“Let’s see if you can.”
Sheili rushed forward once again. Lao prepared his stance. It was different this time, he held his sword to his side rather than in front of him like for a jab. Sheili noticed this change and slowed down. She prepared her feet for another counter.
Lao swung his sword at Sheili, but Sheili quickly kicked back with her left foot and watched the sword barely swing past her. She then kicked forward with her right foot and struck Lao right in the middle of his chest.
“Sheili 3 hits. The winner is Sheili.”
All of the kids cheered. They were happy to see a genius in their class. Both the boys and girls forgot their differences and began praising Sheili.
Lao bowed towards Sheili, “Thank you Sheili for allowing this spar, you have taught me many things.”
The teacher spoke up.
“Alright class I think this has been a good break, it's time to resume the lesson let’s go back inside the school.”
Kaiel couldn’t focus for the rest of the class. He kept thinking back to the duel between Lao and Sheili. They were both strong using swords. How could swords be used to that extent? To him it looked like it was a part of them, like the swords were an extension of their bodies. Kaiel’s eyes lit up as he had this thought.
The sword was an extension of the body. Was that what he was missing all this time? He would always loosen his grip on the sword because he was not comfortable using it. However, when he saw Lao and Sheili using the wooden swords he couldn’t help but feel mesmerized. He had to become comfortable with using a sword in the few following days to increase his strength for the aptitude test.
“Now class, this concludes the end of our final lesson together. I look forward to seeing you in the following week. I hope some strong warriors come out from this class. Dismissed”
Kaiel left the school and headed straight home and to his room.
Both of his parents were working right now, usually Kaiel would visit the forest but since his father had banned him from going there he only had the option to stay at home. He could also go train at the courtyard, but Kaiel wasn’t the type of person to publicly display his training or strength. He preferred to do such alone, it was how his parents raised him.
After closing his door Kaiel stared at the wooden sword in his hand.
He closed his eyes and entered the same tranquil state he was in when he killed the boar. Holding the sword with his right hand he slowly began to lift it above him. This action caused sho to flow from his lower body into his upper body. Feeling the flow of sho he gripped harder. Sho slowly started to pour into the sword. Kaiel could feel that the sword had become like an extended right arm for him. Sho started to pour in faster and faster as he became more comfortable with this feeling. He imagined the same boar in front of him, charging at him.
Kaiel swung downwards. Sho bursted out from the sword in all directions as he went through with his swing. Before having a chance to think about anything else Kaiel began to wobble. He tried to maintain his stance but his legs gave up and he ended up falling on the ground of his room. After resting for a couple of minutes he repeated the swing over and over again. Every time he would need to rest after, but the amount of time it took for him to recover was getting lower and lower each time. During the resting period after his twelfth swing he heard the door open.
“Kaiel we’re home.”
He stood up and excitedly ran down to meet his parents.
“Mom, Dad welcome back, what are we having for dinner?!”
“Kaiel we’re going to have your favourite tonight. Boiled Greybear and potato stew.”
His eyes lit up as he ran into his mother’s arms.
“Thank you mom, thank you thank you thank you!”
“No problem honey, now go and train. We’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”
“Okay!”
With those words Kaiel ran back into his room. Clarissa and Bernin were initially smiling watching their son happily run up the stairs. Once Kaiel was out of sight their smiles drastically changed into looks of fear.
His parents had noticed the change in Kaiel’s sho. They would need to have a very long conversation with their son and maybe tell him the truth...
Author here! Hope you enjoyed the story so far! I have a wordpress website if you’re interested in following the book and its progress. The website is uncomfortablefridge.wordpress.com