“C’mon Hunter,” Kai was complaining. “Why can’t I just stay home and learn more of the Forms? Why do I have to go guard some random caravan?”

Annoyed, the Hunter answered gruffly. “Because, boy, Cultivators can’t just spend their days accumulating energy and practicing their Techniques and weapons. The best way to forge a truly powerful Cultivator is through new, unfamiliar, and sometimes dangerous experiences.”

“But I’m not even a…” Kai started and then seeing something in Hunter’s expression, he cut himself off and muttered, “Never mind.”

It had been two years since Hunter had decided to start teaching Kai the Way of the Sword. Since then, Kai had mastered three of the ten Forms, which was surprising to say the least. Even Hunter was surprised by Kai’s growth, because even though he’d told Kai that he might have an easier time learning them than others, even he hadn’t expected this level of growth. Mastering three Forms before the age of 13 could be considered almost genius level talent in many Schools and Sects. Hunter could only hope that Kai didn’t catch their eyes before he was powerful enough for their politics.

Hunter, after two years of rigorous training had finally decided that Kai was ready to put his teachings into practice. 12 years before, slavers had destroyed one of the only merchant’s caravans that visited Brasbury. It had taken 8 years before another caravan had decided to run their route south enough to reach Brasbury.

The Merchants Association this time around on their visit to Brasbury had lost almost half of their guards and so they had decided to hire more in the village. Hunter had decided that it would be a great experience for Kai if he were to join this caravan as a guard.

They both headed into town and as they walked the streets, they were met with the normal respect and fear that Hunter inspired. This respect had also spread to Kai because of his association with Hunter and because of this, it had been hard for him to make consistent friends, other than Mera of course.

They walked towards the center of town, towards the square, which was where the caravan and the group of guards was located. As expected, there was a large crowd packed into the square, but as the people at the edges caught sight of who was approaching, they opened up a bit of a path towards the middle, so that Hunter and Kai could squeeze through.

While pushing their way towards the middle to see what was going on, Kai caught sight of Mera towards the front and called her name. It took a couple more cries to get her attention, but when she caught sight of him, she waved him towards her.

Kai and Hunter finally pushed all the way to the front where Mera was and she said to Kai with a glance at Hunter, “I’m surprised you’re here, Kai. Didn’t you guys already resupply a few days ago?”

Kai gave Hunter a dirty look before answering, “Yeah, I’m surprised to be here too.”

He looked past Mera and saw a fight occurring in the middle of the square. A large armored man with a sword was standing across from another man wearing a simple grimy tunic and pants holding a hammer.

Both the armored man, who Kai assumed was a caravan guard, and the other man, who Kai recognized as the blacksmith’s apprentice in the village, were around the same age at 20.

“Mera, what’s going on? Why are they fighting?” Kai asked with a surprised expression.

“The caravan’s hiring guards since they lost a bunch on their trip here,” she answered him. “The test you have to pass is defeat one of the guards in a one on one fight. The fights are only until surrender or knockout, no killing allowed.”

Kai nodded in acknowledgement, finally understanding exactly what was occurring in the middle. Even after finding out that there was a test required to join the caravan guards, his stoic expression didn’t change.

And even though he’d complained to Hunter about having to leave Brasbury for six months, Kai was excited to both enhance his skills and learn more about the world outside of Brasbury.

The fight only took another half minute to finish, with the caravan guard disarming the blacksmith’s apprentice, Dorian, Kai faintly recalled was his name. Dorian quickly surrendered after that.

Other villagers entered the circle to challenge a guard of their choice and earn a spot in group of guards, yet of the seven others that came forward, only three passed the test. After the seventh, a large mace wielder by the name Kane who had passed the test, Kai felt a slight push on his back that he knew was from Hunter.

With an accepting sigh, he cut through the circle they’d created for the test and heard Mera say, “Kai what’re you…” before her voice was once again swallowed by the crowd.

The guards didn’t acknowledge him for a few seconds, thinking he was just a confused child who’d accidentally come into the circle and either his parents would pull him back out or he himself would leave. But, as Kai kept walking towards them, some of the guards lounging there smirked while one of them, presumably their captain stepped forward.

“Hey kid, what’re you doing?” he asked Kai.

“Same as them,” answered Kai, nodding towards the three who had passed now standing with the guards. “Here to take your test.”

“This isn’t playtime boy. This is serious shit. Go back to your parents. You want no part of this.”

“Is there an age limit?” Kai asked tilting his chin up a little. “No, so then get this test over with.”

Some of the guards behind the captain snorted at Kai’s confidence, while the captain, maybe seeing something in Kai’s eyes or catching sight of the sword on his belt, silently agreed to administer the test.

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He stepped back and said, “Fine, kid. Choose someone to spar with. You win, you’re in. You don’t, you’re out. No maiming or killing, so it should be safe enough.”

Kai nodded and looked over at the score or so of guards, his observant eyes easily able to pick out the weakest of the bunch. However instead of choosing any of them, he looked right over at one man who’d been smirking the entire time Kai had been in the circle, and pointed at him.

The man’s smile grew wider as he saw Kai point at him and he looked over at the captain as if asking for permission. The captain nodded, his attention still focused on Kai, trying to figure out who exactly this kid was.

The guard Kai had picked stepped into the circle and chuckled. He unsheathed his sword and said, “Oh boy. I don’t think you know what you’ve done. Other than our glorious captain here, I’m probably the best sword user in this entire unit.”

Kai just looked at him, his body as relaxed as it could be, not even having drawn his sword.

After seeing that Kai wasn’t going to answer him, the guard said, “All right then kid, but I’m not going easy on you.”

The guard, as soon as he had finished warning Kai, rushed forward, surprisingly quickly for someone with such a large frame. However, from years of training with Hunter, he knew that someone with a larger body size didn’t necessary mean they were slower.

This surprising speed truly meant nothing to Kai because Hunter wasn’t an easy Master. He’d lived through back-breaking torture for years and one of the reasons he’d never given in was because his mind still remembered the ghost of his pain from his last life. And if Kai could live through 17 years of that, this training was truly nothing to him.

And so, when the guard flashed forward and all the townspeople gasped at his sudden burst of speed, Kai was still as relaxed as he had been before. And only when the guard had reached the halfway point between his starting point and him did Kai finally put a hand on the hilt of his newly bought sword.

The caravan that came to Brasbury every six months for a couple weeks had decided to stay an extra week this time to both replenish the guard corps and sell the rest of their wares. It was fortunate that the first day of the arrival of the caravan was also the day Hunter and Kai came into town to resupply. And since Kai had turned 12 only a few days before that, Hunter had finally bought Kai his first sword as a gift. It wasn’t anything special, just a smaller longsword more suited for a younger man, but it was still Kai’s first sword.

Kai pulled on the hilt of his weapon just a little, breathing slowly to calm his racing heart. Because no matter how much he looked stoic and in command on the outside, Kai was still full of emotion on the inside. After all, it was still his first spar with someone not named Hunter.

He breathed out and looked up to see the large guard rushing him. He observed him and saw that the guard boasting of his sword skills wasn’t fully false. He seemed much more trained than the rest of them.

His grip was slightly tighter than it should’ve been and his stance before he’d rushed Kai hadn’t been grounded. But, it was still a better showing than anybody else in the ring. Which was the exact reason Kai had picked him to fight.

Sure Kai could’ve picked the weakest of the bunch but, not only was that a waste of his own talent, it wouldn’t help him grow and learn. After all, that was why he was being forced to go on this trip in the first place. Why not start now?

Kai slowly moved his left leg back and finally drew his sword. And then the guard was finally there. The attack was brutal, a chop by the guard to finish this fight in one hit. Kai could see there was no finesse nor any hint of the Forms at all.

However much Hunter had told him that the Forms were an essential building block to weapons usage, it was hard to find an affordable Master that could sufficiently teach someone. The truth was, Kai had just gotten lucky.

Kai sidestepped the guard’s attack easily, letting the blade pass him, before his sword snaked out and cut deeply into the man’s arm. Kai didn’t push the advantage, retreating backwards before the guard could recover.

The man stopped and just looked at the blood running down his arm, as if shocked that a child could ever hurt him. Then, he looked back up, his face hardening. Kai had the same relaxed expression that he’d sported before the fight, which seemed to enrage the guard more. He decided to bull rush Kai again.

The spectators said later that the fight had been almost beautiful. The guard kept trying to use his size and aggression to attack Kai while he was able to easily dodge and use the mastery over the first three Forms and over his own body that he’d built up over that last couple years to dance around the guard, scoring many cuts. A dance, they’d later called Kai’s movements. A beautiful, deadly dance.

A few minutes later Kai stood across from the panting, bleeding guard once again, ready for another bull rush.

The guard suddenly grinned and said, “I underestimated you. You’re one hell of a brat, aren’t you?”

Kai grinned right back at him, blood rushing wildly through his veins, the thrill of the battle giddying his brain. Then, there was one final exchange and the guard finally surrendered.

He turned to see the score of guards standing there, gaping at his showing, while their captain just gave him an approving nod, as if he’d been sure of the outcome from the start, and said, “Good fight, kid. Show up here a bell before dawn tomorrow.”

Kai nodded in acknowledgement before turning to the crowd surrounding him, one that was somehow even more surprised than the group of guards. He didn’t care for their whispers and pointed comments and pushed himself through the crowd until he had reached the outside, where a small body collided with him.

“Woah Mera, settle down,” Kai said to the girl hugging him.

She pulled back quickly, red quickly rising on her cheeks.

“Are you okay Kai? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine Mera.” At her disbelieving face, Kai let her check him for injuries until she was satisfied.

“Where’s Hunter?” Kai asked her after a couple minutes.

“Oh right. He told me that he’s at the inn buying and packing some supplies for your trip.”

At that, she started to lead him towards the town inn. They were both silent for a minute before Mera asked, “Kai, where did you learn to fight like that?”

“You know I’ve been learning from Hunter,” Kai said sheepishly. As he saw her glaring at him, he continued. “I did show you some moves that one time.” His voice died out.

Mera didn’t say anything at that, seeing the embarrassment clear on Kai’s face. Kai watched the breeze push Mera’s long, brown hair back, and he felt something as his heart jumped. He just couldn’t understand exactly what that something was.

He shook himself out of his thoughts as Mera turned to him and, a little awkwardly as if not knowing exactly what to say, said, “So. You’re leaving tomorrow, huh?”

“Yeah,” Kai answered briefly, as if trying to end the conversation there.

She stopped walking abruptly, forcing Kai to also stop, and then turned and glared at him, her chocolate brown eyes almost burning with what he thought was anger. However, by the time she’d opened her mouth, her face had softened.

“Why?” was the only thing she asked.

Kai sighed before answering, “Hunter wanted me to grow and learn more about the outside world. He says the best way to do that is through firsthand experience. I’m sorry.”

He didn’t know why he felt the need to apologize yet he still chose to. It seemed like the right choice as Mera once again suddenly collided with him, her arms wrapped around him. He sighed again as he hugged her, Mera’s heart thumping wildly against his chest.

Then he felt her breath tickle his left ear as she said, “You better come back in six months Mordekai, or I’m gonna come find you and drag you back.”

Then, just as quickly as she had rushed to embrace him, she turned and ran, hair and white dress both fluttering in the breeze.