“Do you want to die in the mud apprentice?”
“N-no master!”
“Then run!”
Alisson shouted at me. Rain poured in thick waves from the black sky above, turning the ground into a thick paste.
“On your belly!”
I dove under the razor wire, and, mud splashing over face, I crawled on my belly through the course. Alisson launched off spells that whizzed over my head, only adding to my stress.
“Up and over!”
I did as I was told, and leapt to my feet, quickly scaling a wooden structure before jumping down with a heavy thud. I was about ready to collapse in exhaustion, the rain having thoroughly soaked through my entire body, making my hair sloppily stick over my eyes.
Wobblily on my feet, I stumbled forward, right into a warm, and especially dry, embrace.
“Well done.”
I looked up to see Alisson smiling down at me, enveloping me in a large towel. Now under the roof of a gazebo, I finally caught some respite from the rain. He wiped the hair out of my eyes. “So, feel like giving up yet?”
He asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer. I wrapped the towel around my shivering body, and shook my head. My stupid pride wouldn’t let me bow my head in submission.
“You’ve done better than my previous apprentices; All of them quit on the first day, but here you are, a week in. And when I say ‘quit’, I mean that they threw away their pride.”
Alisson remarked wryly, staring off into the forests surrounding the Capital’s third layer of walls. I could only stare down at his feet, unreceptive to his complements, the only feeling coursing through me being utter tire.
After a lapse of awkward silence, something becoming a common occurrence between the two of us, Alisson remarked, “It’s getting late…I’ll go fetch our mounts, you deserve the rest.”
I bobbed my head shakily, not looking up at him. For a while I was left sitting in the gazebo, isolated from anyone else, left to my own thoughts as the rain pounded the wooden roof above.
Ah…what a week. My master’s first concern was no unknown to me…He means to test my mettle, my guts. Putting me through a constant barrage of physical and mental stress as to break me was certainly one way to do it. I’ve never been one to voice my complaints. If he could’ve heard all the groans of pain I never vocalized, he probably wouldn’t think me as stoic as he does now. At first I thought I could learn more about my master as he learnt about me, but it was made abundantly clear to me that I didn’t have the leeway to think about anything other than my master’s orders were I to accomplish them.
During a drill, or any sort of test, he was stern, commanding, and unrelenting. His…effeminate…voice, quickly became more akin to the voice of supreme being, like that of a god, simply announcing an absolute will. My eyes were dull, and I really couldn’t think too hard, so I shook my head to try to dispel the tire, but only ended up making myself woozier.
The largest gripe I’ve had so far is that Alisson hasn’t let me lay even a finger on any sort of weapon. The itch to show off my skills with my blades were slowly biting away at me. Maybe that desire to prove myself to him was what was keeping me going, along with my usual hubris.
I was just sitting silently when I heard an unusual squish of mud. It wasn’t any kind of sound that the rain would make, so I turned my head lazily without thinking, only to be greeted by the sight of a lunging Beast. My eyes widened and my body kicked itself into action, perhaps still thinking I was being tested. I was shocked at my own speed, but I managed to avoid the monster’s initial lunge as it crashed through the gazebo’s railings.
It appeared to be a normal Roamer. A quadrupedal, sickly white beast, the most common. It was about half size of a horse; merely being body slammed by one was enough to kill a weaker man, let alone having your head gouged off by its massive jaw. I backed away, instinctively reaching for my stilettos, only realize with a gut wrenching thought:
I’m not armed! I’m only wearing my training clothes too, so no armor!
Is this some sort of final test? My heart raced. I don’t think Alisson is the kind of person to risk his subordinate’s life like this, but I wouldn’t put it past him if it was to test me. I clenched my fists. I’ll have to use the only weapon available to me then. I’ve killed beasts before but…Without my weapons, any armor? And with no help?
The Roamer leapt for me again, barring its roars of teeth, it’s pearly black eyes boring through me. I dove out of the gazebo and into the rain, reasoning that the open space of the proving ground would provide a better environment to fight in. I turned, and planted my feet, my fists glowing with a faint yellow.
I worked frantically to put together spells in my head, but it was hard to do under so much pressure, and with so little forewarning. There was a reason most warriors couldn’t use spells in combat, because the mental stress of fighting and weaving together spells was too great. But standing back like this…I successfully managed to make two spells before the sickly white monster leapt at me once more.
I bobbed to a side, and punched the air toward the monster with a fist, releasing a single yellow bolt of energy, a Pict spell. I quickly punched with my other fist, sending off my other pent-up spell. The spells impacted on the beast with little effect, doing little more than making it stagger back, not even drawing blood. I can’t say I was expecting to kill it but…I didn’t think the first-tier attack spells were so useless against a beast of this size.
Apparently taking my futile attack as evidence of my weakness, the beast charged, this time not lunging. I tried to evade, but it simply pivoted, and pounced on me. I pushed into the mud, it’s massive frontal paws almost crushing my ribcage, but the mud might’ve saved my life in cushioning me. In that brief second I panicked wriggling back and forth and kicking all I could, before it’s jaws shot for my throat. I shut my eyes tight, and awaited the inevitable.
…?
But death never came. I opened my eyes cautiously to see a rapier stuck through the side of the beast’s head, drawing black blood.
“An unwelcome surprise…”
Alisson muttered. He gave a kick to the beast’s corpse to stop it from falling on top of me. He offered me his hand, I stared at it for a long moment, trembling, before I reached out and pulled myself up.
“The garrison will be notified…” Alisson said sharply. “There must be a Breach near the city…” He turned away with a flare of his cloak.
“Good work on not dying, Celistine.”
My fist tightened. He totally sees me as helpless, doesn’t he?
…
The Nuam dining hall was filled with the clinking of silverware and the calm discussion of numerous Nuam officials and soldiers. Normally, Alisson would eat his dinner alone, but now that he had an apprentice, he thought it’d be quite awkward to use his private dining room, and simply stare at each other in silence as they ate. The atmosphere made it easier for him to speak his mind. Celistine picked at her food, occasionally stealing glances at Alisson. This wasn’t normal. His apprentice usually wolfed down food within minutes like an animal.
After rinsing down the last of his dinner with a gulp of water, Alisson tilted his head, asking nonchalantly, “Is something the matter, Celistine?”
Her mouth furrowed and she reluctantly stuffed a piece of food in her mouth, keeping the fork in her mouth for a moment as she thought.
“I want to prove myself to you.” She finally stated, placing her fork down and staring Alisson in the eyes.
Alisson smiled wryly. “If this is about that beast earlier in the day…I assure you I don’t expect you to be able to fight and win against a beast yet. I did watch for a while before intervening though, and you did your best.” He gave a consoling smile.
Celistine tightened a fist on the table. “That wasn’t my best! I can do better-!” She spat to herself, then looked up to Alisson once more. “Let me spar with you!”
Alisson’s smile faded, and he sighed, but still his apprentice redoubled,
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“I’ve been training for a whole week now and I haven’t laid my hands on a weapon yet, I want to-”
“I understand.” Alisson declared, rubbing his mouth with a towelette. “I’ll entertain you this.”
He figured that it was about time to show his apprentice just how weak she really was. An ego was not something a learner should have. He smirked, a piece of himself deep inside looking forward to impressing his apprentice. She needed to be put in her place, it seemed.
…
Alisson stared at his apprentice as she hefted the wooden practice blades. These weapons were meant for sparing – They were as light as normal weapons, without the added weight for drilling purpose. Stilettos were certainly an uncommon weapon. The only similarity his apprentice’s preferred weapon shared with his own, is that they were both thrusting weapons. A rapier was a dueling weapon. It would simply bounce off armor in most cases, especially heavier plate amor. The trick came with attacking weak points, in the forms of joints for mobility. If Celistine was worth her spot in the 51st, she’d already have some muscle memory in striking places such as the elbows, armpits, necks, knees, that sort of thing.
He planned to suck in as much information about what she knew as he could. This was as much as learning experience for him as it was for her. He’d know what to teach her heading forward, where she was weak, and where she was strong.
He made sure that no one saw them enter the sparing hall, and the room was empty save for the two of them. No one would be dueling this late at night. The both of them sunk into stance. Celistine’s stance with her blades looked like someone holding out their fists to fight. She kept low to the ground, her vision locked on Alisson. His wooden rapier pointed squarely at her head, he said,
“Go on. Show me what you’ve been so eager to prove.”
She stared at Alisson for a moment, before blurring forward in a charge, her body low. She lunged forward with a blade.
Alisson sidestepped and tripped her. She went fell face first into the floor. She scrambled up to her feet, glaring at Alisson. She tried to hide her anger, but it still manifested itself in the form of her lips curling into a scowl.
“Stop looking at my eyes. Cross your eyes if you have to if that’s what it takes for you to see my entire body. If you saw my legs move, you would’ve known what I was going to do.”
Celistine frowned. He knew he was being a bit unfair, since at her level, she really couldn’t ‘see’ Alisson move. He could move faster than she could react. That was something that would get better only with experience and time. Celistine neared, this time, moving forward slowly, like a fencer inching forward. If Celistine was slithering toward him, then Alisson was a coiled snake, ready to lunge. As soon as she reached her maximum lunge range, she attacked. Alisson backstepped immediately. Alisson was expecting her to be able to stop her attack so early, but he was mistaken, she went through with the full motion, her blade swishing at the air that Alisson had been in not a second before. Alisson reached out with his offhand, grabbed onto Celistine’s wrist, and pulled her into the ground, using her own momentum against her. He stepped back, his rapier still pointed at her as she got to her feet indignantly.
“Still want to try?”
He asked, trying to provoke her. It was obvious she was getting angry that he wasn’t even using his bladework. His movement alone was enough to nullify her attacks. She seemed determined to clash blades with him however, for her next attack, was a flurry of slashes and thrusts, this time, Alisson didn’t bother to evade. He kept his feet planted, determined to wave away her attacks with his rapier alone. Her attacks were sporadic, untrained, and above all else, held no plan or reason. Alisson saw her actions for what they were: She was taking out her anger. He parried each one of her attacks, never riposting. He could’ve easily disarmed her as well, but he chose not to. She continually got close, until eventually, Alisson’s patience reached a breaking point. She raised her arm for a completely exposed attack, leaving herself defenseless by attacking with such a large, stupid motion. Alisson blurred forward with an expression of scorn. He came chest to chest with his apprentice, her eyes widening. Then, his rapier followed, slamming into her gut. She was knocked flying backwards, spittle flying through the air. She gasped out, the air being punched out of her chest. She hit the wood floor with a heavy thud.
Alisson stood sharply in front of her with a frown. She lay on the ground unmoving. Alisson was about to spout a long-winded explanation on her fault of assuming he wouldn’t attack back, and how she foolishly let her emotions control her movements, but he stopped himself, peering at her as she continued to lay unmoving. Something was odd about it…
She wasn’t breathing. Alisson suddenly realized.
“Celistine!”
Alisson dropped his weapon and slid near her, lifting her chest up, and looking into her face. She was out cold. Her body was limp. As Alisson held her, it only took him a moment to also affirm – She no longer had a pulse – her heart had stopped.
…
Alisson paced with his hands behind his hip before the door. His heart was racing, and had been since he realized what he’d done. His face kept a stony composure, but his eyes kept on darting back and forth, and his breathing sometimes stopped entirely before he took a heavy breath and continued.
The door creaked open, and Alisson stopped in his tracks. He turned slowly, fearing what news he was to hear.
Lente stood in the doorway, a frown and a furrowed brow across his face.
“Alisson.”
Alisson stood straight, and turned his body completely to meet Lente’s gaze.
“She’s going to be alright.”
Alisson let out a deep sigh, and his shoulders lowered from their previous tension. Lente shook his head in response.
“Some really bad luck…You hit her in just the right place at the right time and with no fortune to her name, gave her a cardiac contusion…”
Lente shook his head, and walked forward to Alisson. He put a hand on Alisson’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault, Alisson. Things happen. Even to the best of us. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
Alisson’s fist tightened. “This is an apprentice’s life we’re talking about here…! I’m…I’m terrible! Despicable!”
Alisson spat. Lente sighed.
“It was bad luck Alisson. No one would believe that you wanted this to happen. I’ll keep this a secret between us, okay?”
Lente, despite being a fair bit shorter than Alisson, continued his consoling tone, and gave a shake to Alisson’s shoulder before continuing past him.
“Go, there’s no harm in seeing her now. I need to get back to my duties though…”
If there was one lucky thing to emerge this night, it’s that Lente had been running an errand to the Nuam keep, his brother Ardinand whom was in close call with high command had passed him some official papers regarding the apprentices transferring into the 51st to give to Alisson.
Alisson looked back toward Lente.
“Thank you…Lente…”
Lente smiled and shot a glance back at Alisson. “Don’t mention it.”
Alisson stood there for a moment as Lente left, and then smiled a small smile to himself. He must’ve looked quite desperate, running through the halls, calling for help with his apprentice limply in his arms. He was glad that Lente was the first to run into him.
Alisson entered the room, an empty guest space that probably hadn’t been used in decades in the keep. It was late into the night, and but a single candle illuminated the room, set on the end table next to the bed. On the bed, was an unconscious Celistine. Alisson took a seat near the bed, and stared into Celis’s face, lit warmly orange by the candle.
Without thinking he raised a handout in front of her face, to feel her breath against his skin. He was reassured when his skin was pricked by her exhale. Her chest bobbed up, and down, and her eyes were gently closed. She looked so, so peaceful, even though that she heart had stopped for a couple minutes thanks to none other than him.
Alisson saw her hand, and for a moment of hesitation, fought with himself on whether or not he, the man who had just hurt Celistine so much, was allowed to grab it for his own selfish desire.
Only for a second.
He decided, and reached for her hand, and squeezed it tightly with his own.
“I’m sorry…Celistine…”
He sat grabbing her hand for a long while, averting his eyes, staring into the floor with a guilty frown.
…
When I cracked open my eyes, a ray of sunlight blinded me, so I immediately shut them, a bit annoyed from being disorientated. After a moment of my body waking up, and my eyes clearing from their haze, I saw a figure beside me, and jumped, my mind believing it to be a hostile assailant or monster. But when I looked directly, I saw it was just Alisson. He was staring into the bed with a dull expression, like he was staring through it, clearly focused on thoughts in his mind, so much so that he didn’t notice me waking up until I moved my head toward him.
“Celistine…you’re awake…”
His eyes suddenly locked onto mine, and were filled with a glimmer of light.
I averted my gaze.
“I’m…I’m sorry master…” I mumble. “I…I shouldn’t have tried to challenge you…”
“No.” Alisson objected simply, and it made my eyes widen and I looked back to him in surprise.
“It’s my fault. You’re the one who got hurt under my watch…I’m the one who…who used too much force…I’m sorry.”
He closed his eyes. “I…I should apologize for the last week too…I…I never meant to put you under so much stress for so long.”
“Wh-what?”
Alisson took a deep breath, opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped, and smiled to himself, finding better words, “I was waiting for you to give up, Celistine.” He closed his eyes. “My former apprentices all gave up on their first day…Jackson lasted two…they all eventually stopped and refused to comply with my orders…But you…You never gave up. I meant to break your pride and your will, to show you true hardship but…It looks like it’s come to this…”
He smiled to himself. “Perhaps the world is sending me a message. I would rather not push my luck further. Celistine,” Alisson laid his gaze on me and, I swallowed. “You passed the first phase of your training with flying colors. You have an unbreakable will.”
Unbreakable pride more like. But sure, that’s a nicer way of phrasing it.
I looked away. I wanted to tell him that I’m glad it was just a test, and that my pain and suffering have been for a reason, and not just the side effects of a normal life. But I couldn’t muster any words or the courage to say them…I don’t want to look weak, I don’t want to admit it…
Alisson opened his mouth to continue, but suddenly shot his gaze up, his mouth hanging parted as his eyes caught a shimmer of blue from the sky outside.
“W-what is it?” I peered at him nervously.
Alisson stood still for a moment, before snapping out of it and looking down at me.
“It’s Sidonia. She wants to speak with me about business. I have to go.”
He stood up abruptly, adjusting his collar. “You stay here, Celistine. Rest.” He turned to leave, and looked back one last time, “And…I’m sorry again.”
With that he turned away.
“W-wait.”
I meekly said, unsure if I should really be bringing this up now, but it was fresh in my mind. And, well, I didn’t want him to leave.
Alisson looked back at me again, wondering if something was wrong.
“Master…you can…just call me Celis…”
Alisson smiled gingerly. “Very well, Celis. And you can drop the ‘master’ title when we’re alone.”
I nodded with a small smile.
“Rest up, Celis.”
With that he left me alone. My smile faded, and my shoulder’s slackened.
He…he left so fast…Sidonia’s calling sure is important…
I frowned. I’m not important. Not nearly as much as Alisson is. Nor am I as strong. I almost died in a training match against him…Just how am I supposed to survive a real mission?
***