The biggest evil grin appeared on Sir Gorou's face. His eyes darkened and he bent at the knees.
"Now this is more like it!" His voice is deep and monstrous.
Tsugi threw punches and kicks as hard as he could, but Sir Gorou dodged each one with ease. Tsugi had no idea what he was doing, but he knew he wanted to kill this person in front of him. His first and only gift that he loved and treasured so much, had disappeared in the blink of an eye. Even when his arms and legs were aching painfully and he struggled to move them, he kept swinging and kicking away.
Eventually, Sir Gorou grew bored and stopped dodging. The punches and kicks were so weak that it felt like taps against his stone-like body. Tears of anger streamed down Tsugi's face as he screamed with every punch. Every contact he made, just felt like he was punching a brick wall.
Sir Gorou reached down and placed one hand on top of Tsugi's head, lifting him into the air like a doll. Tsugi continued to swing in the air, kicking at his fathers arm, and clawing at his hands.
"Are you done?" Sir Gorou said in a bored voice. Tsugi just cried with frustration and dropped his arms to his side. Sir Gorou placed him back down on his feet, and released his grip. "Do you wish to kill me?"
"Yes." A small flame had lit inside Tsugi for the first time.
"Are you willing to do whatever it takes to kill me?"
"Yes."
"Follow me." Sir Gorou turned and marched down the steps.
Tsugi gazed at his fathers back. He was confused, scared, and angry, but he quietly followed him down the long winding staircase.
As they reached the base of the tower, Sir Gorou mumbled something, and the brick wall started to shift and the ground shook as the wall folded away. Sir Gorou blew once, as if blowing out a candle, and one by one the candles lit down a long set of winding stairs deep into the earth. Tsugi's eyes widened, today was the first day he had seen magic.
They descended the staircase and finally came to a halt. With another blow, candles lit as if a fire storm flew through the enormous room. All kinds of weapons and armor decorated the black stone walls. Logs, tied to strings strung from the ceiling and stuck up from the ground. Pit's with balancing logs over spikes, moving platforms...it was a training room.
"From now on, you will be training here. If you want to be able to kill me, you must do everything I say, whenever I say it, and you do not question me." His voice stern. "When I ask a question, you respond with 'yes sir'." He glared down at Tsugi. "Do you understand?"
"Yes sir." Tsugi felt no emotion, no fear, nor joy, nor anger.
"Harden your heart. You will only get stronger if you are not weak. When there are things that make you weak, you must cut them out immediately. Like a cancer, it will grow and slowly consume you until you die a slow painful death. Do you want to die?"
"No sir."
"Good. If I tell you to train, you train. If I tell you to kill, you kill. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir."
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"From now on, I will be personally training you." He took off his cloak and armor. His body was strong and muscular, a sense of intimidating aura surrounded him. "Let's begin."
Sir Gorou's training was tough and brutal. It was a constant beat down after beat down. According to Sir Gorou, he had started slow, but it was beyond fast for little Tsugi.
Bout after bout, Sir Gorou sent Tsugi flying all across the training area. They went over the logs, and across the spikes as Tsugi dodged and blocked everything he could.
Day after day, the rigorous training left Tsugi so exhausted, he could sleep standing. Sir Gorou would have him hold fighting stances or positions for hours at a time. Tsugi swallowed his fear as best he could. The only way he could get his freedom is when Sir Gorou dies, but would he be able to do it?
Although the training was rigorous, Tsugi felt like it was just another reason for a personal beat down.
"Whether you hate me for this or not, you will thank me one day." Sir Gorou would say to him.
Just when he thinks he's doing great and he's gotten stronger and better, Sir Gorou reminds him of how weak he really is, by pulverizing him like a worthless ant.
'I can do this.' Tsugi would tell himself. 'I will kill him one day. I have to.'
Tsugi was able to practice using all sorts of weapons, doing his best to master every one of them. He was even able to use weapons in a bout against Sir Gorou, but he was never able to even land a scratch on him.
After a harsh beating, he could always count on Xeni to bring a tonic. Before, he would always feel ill and was never able to hold down the tonic, but now he was able to take it with ease. He enjoyed those short brief moments with her.
On days that it would get really bad, Mare would also visit and cheer him up. She would bring him a potato, reminding him of that feeling of happiness that made him want to live.
Whenever Tsugi could, he would sneak into the woods to try to see his friends, but Yahni would always say that they aren't home or they can't come out to play. Tsugi would wait, but they never came out.
Summer had gone and went.
Tsugi's fear slowly began to creep in as the rainy season approached. He knew what was going to happen. He would never be able to escape his fathers grasp.
He was so paranoid that he couldn't sleep, he would run and hide at every sound.
“It's lightening!” He would say and run to hide. He mistakenly showed this side to Sir Gorou during training once, and that's when Sir Gorou knew, 'that' was Tsugi's weakness.
An evil grin could be seen across Sir Gorous face.
As Tsugi cowered in the corner of the room, rocking and crying. Sir Gorou calmly approached him and placed a gentle hand on top of Tsugi's head.
"Remember our deal. All you have to do is hide." He would say and walk out. There was no beating, no other words. One could even say his voice was very calm and serene, but Tsugi knew, 'that' was when he was the most dangerous.
"Hide." Tsugi woke up to Mare's concerned whisper in his ear, but she was nowhere in sight. It was still dark out. A cold wind blew through his window. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, he could smell a big storm brewing in the air. A sense of danger erupted him to his feet and out the door.
He ran through the castle searching for some place to hide. Running by the kitchen, the library, all the many bedrooms and bathrooms were too obvious, Sir Gorou would find him right away, he had no doubt about it. He didn't have much time, Sir Gorou was probably already looking for him, if anything right behind him, sneering and watching, just waiting to pounce.
'Calm. I must stay calm.' But his heart was beating out of his chest and his breath was fast. He found a tiny crawl space and squeezed in. He closed his eyes and meditated.
His breathing slowed and his heart calmed. He could feel the hurricane in his body become like a calm body of water.
A flash of lightning followed by ground shaking thunder, forced Tsugi out of his meditation and the once calm water began to ripple. He clenched his eyes tight and breathed, calming it again. If he can do this, he might just be able to overcome this fear.
Feeling a bit more confident, he continued to calm himself after every lightning strike. Feeling like he got the hang of it, he relaxed a little more. The anticipation started to wear him down. It was as if fear was waiting around the corner, just waiting, cause it already knows. Tsugi shoved the fear away and out of his mind. If he lets it consume him, it'll be the end.
He could hear footsteps approaching, the water began to ripple like a light rain shower on a lake. His heart pounded in his ears, he's going to get caught. He breathed and he tried his hardest to stay calm. The footsteps walked pass, and didn't notice him. His confidence grew a little more. Now he just needs to keep this up till the storm passes.
Tsugi woke up, still in the crevice of the crawl space. The sounds of birds chirping after a rain could be heard in the distance. It was morning. He had survived his first storm.