Prelinsa made her way alone back to the training field, still lost in thought on the reappearance of the MFF. She hoped things wouldn’t get too serious. The longer the MFF was allowed to stick around, the more damage they would cause. Innocent lives were at stake. The thought made her upset, but there was little she could do about it as a trainee.
Some distance away from the field, she though she sensed a presence suddenly appear. A new scent, footsteps, and a change in the flow of mana. She stopped, scanning around and looking for it, but then it vanished again. Frowning, she decided to ignore it for now.
As she entered the field, she noticed that it was now totally empty. She walked and scanned around, looking for Rupeth. The Matriarch had said he would be here, and he couldn’t be that hard to spot. She already knew what he looked like, more or less.
“Boo!” Someone suddenly said from directly behind her.
Prelinsa immediately took some steps to get space, and swiveled to see an older, male pokkit. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties, like the Matriarch, and was both tall and well-built with toned muscles. Unlike Corynn and the Matriarch, his hair was solidly black, and his eyes were frost blue like Prelinsa’s. His fur looked coarse, but well-kept, and a sheathed katana was holstered on his belt. He also had a backpack that looked quite full of stuff. A laid-back grin emerged on his face as he looked down at Prelinsa, sizing her up.
Prelinsa recognized him from pictures in her lessons. He was Rupeth Silvermoon, the eldest of Kirith Silvermoon’s three children, and the ‘rabid fox’ of House Silvermoon. Whereas the Matriarch and his sisters were more diplomatic, Rupeth was infamous for being a musclehead. In that sense, she could actually relate to him more.
“Did I scare ya?” He asked Prelinsa.
“How’d you get behind me?”
“Not saying. Gotta learn it first~”
Prelinsa had been confident that her senses were sharper than they’d ever been. No, she knew for a fact that they were sharper, yet she hadn’t heard or smelled Rupeth coming. On top of that, Rupeth’s Phoenix Heart was very strong – of the people Prelinsa had met so far, only the Matriarch’s was stronger. It should’ve been easy to sense him coming, but somehow, he managed to sneak up right behind her. It must’ve been some technique that she didn’t know about yet.
“Well. Okay, then,” she said, feeling kind of annoyed. “Was that you I felt earlier?”
“Was what me?”
“For a moment, I felt a presence outside the field.”
“Nah. The Great Rupeth would never be that sloppy,” Rupeth said confidently. “So anyway, Mother wanted me to train you in magic while she’s busy. But you already heard that, so let’s get right into it.”
“Alright, where do I start?”
“Right here!” Rupeth grinned, outstretched a hand, and blasted Prelinsa with fire. Prelinsa instinctively braced herself and shut her eyes, but she didn’t feel any pain, just heat. Slowly, she relaxed, and opened her eyes again. The fire swirled around her in a small, but raging vortex. It was definitely hot, but it wasn’t burning her. It was actually quite comfortable, like back in the cave. In fact, it was even more comfortable than that – maybe because it was from another phoenixfire user.
Rupeth snapped his fingers, and the fire vanished immediately.
“Feel that? Right now, that’s the limit of your Spark. Both in terms of power, and what you can actually handle. By the end of today, you should be throwing out phoenixfire with that level of heat. Though not as easily as me, of course,” he added.
“So… how do I do that?”
Rupeth put his hands behind his head. “You already know how! You watched me. Just think back to what you saw and felt~”
Prelinsa frowned. “I… oh.” She thought back, replaying her memories in slow motion. Before Rupeth had even begun to attack, she had already felt the mana flow. It seeped up from the ground, through his feet like tree roots absorbing water, and into his body. It interacted with his Phoenix Heart, where it became energized, and erupted from his hand as phoenixfire. Then, the phoenixfire was directed to swirl around Prelinsa. So intuitively, she already had an idea of how to do it.
Prelinsa turned to face a training dummy. She held out her hand, breathing in and out, trying to replicate what she saw. Pulling the mana from the ground, through her feet, into her Phoenix Heart, and out of her hand. Suddenly, there was a loud fwoosh as bright orange flames bolted from her hand. Surprised from the light and noise, she fell over backwards. The fire shot forward and slammed into the dummy, exploding like a large firecracker and leaving some scorch marks.
“Whoo! That was good for a first try!” Rupeth said, clapping his hands. “You’ve got a knack for this. Even Ren didn’t make fire until her third go.” He was of course referring to Rensa Silvermoon, the middle Silvermoon sibling whom Prelinsa hadn’t met in person yet.
Prelinsa blinked, then pulled herself to her feet.
“Now then, take this. I heard from Mother and Corrie that ya like katanas~”
Rupeth pulled out a sheathed katana that was strapped to his backpack and tossed it to Prelinsa. She caught the weapon in both hands – it didn’t feel like the wooden ones she’d been training with. She slowly unsheathed the weapon, revealing a gleaming metal blade. A wavelike pattern ran the length from tip to hilt. It felt comfortable – not just to hold, but simply being around it. Like with the Matriarch’s firestone staff, it was packed with energy.
“That one was forged in Pear Mountain, like Mother’s firestone staff. Really good sword. It’ll help you control your magic.”
“Where did you get this?” Prelinsa asked curiously.
“No comment. Look, just put the sheath on your belt, okay?” Rupeth said, deflecting Prelinsa’s question. Prelinsa complied. “Yeah. That’s good. Now, try getting some fire going through that katana. See if you can keep it in and on the blade.”
Prelinsa gripped the katana with both hands. She exhaled, pointing the sword towards the dummy. She felt it resonate with her power, as she drew mana and the blade glowed brightly with fire, crackling and causing the air around it to shimmer with heat. The sharp cutting edge began to glow a dim red.
“Great job! Now see if you can cut the dummy from where you are. When you swing, shoot the fire out like you wanna cut something.”
Prelinsa yelled and swung. Flames erupted from the edge of the katana and shot out like an extension of the blade itself, slicing the dummy cleanly in half. The top part slid limply and fell to the ground with a thump. She couldn’t believe it. It felt really good.
“Awesome! Awesome!” Rupeth clapped again, this time more enthusiastically. “You’re better than I imagined. Don’t have to swing that hard, though. It’s not like cutting with a sword, it’s all magic. How much force you put in doesn’t matter. Save that energy for a real swordfight.”
“Right,” said Prelinsa. “So, that whole flaming sword thing. Can I use it like that in a real swordfight?” It seemed incredibly cool, and she also remembered the wererabbit thug using it before.
“Yeah, you can! Saves you some energy over shooting, and it’s easier to do while you’re moving,” Rupeth said, seemingly happy to praise the ways of flaming swords. “Because mana comes from underground, right? So it’s harder to gather and shoot it if you’re not standing still. That’s why on a battlefield, you have both melee fighters and ranged attackers. In a one-v-one, you can still easily blast a bit of fire to distract someone, though! Mages will need to catch on to what you’re doing, and non-mages will never see it coming.”
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
“Kind of dirty, isn’t it?” Prelinsa asked. But she liked that idea.
“Do you wanna play by the rules? Or do you wanna win?” Rupeth asked, grinning. “Because everyone who wins fights dirty. I learned that from Ren. She always wins. Except against Mother and me. I think Ren and I are like fifty-fifty now?”
“Well, I want to win,” Prelinsa said.
“Good, good~”
Prelinsa thought about why Camilla didn’t try to blast her with fire while they were having a fistfight. She was probably moving around too much to launch a good attack, but a distraction flare could’ve still thrown Prelinsa off and let Camilla win easily. However, Camilla was surprisingly straight-laced. She likely wanted to take Prelinsa on in a more fair fight.
“Anyway. You gotta remember, though – when your sword’s on fire, you need to fight differently from usual,” Rupeth added. “One moment, please~”
He raised his hands and conjured a human-sized stick figure out of fire. It had a crude face, and even had its own fiery katana sheathed on its belt. Prelinsa snorted at the sight of it – it looked ridiculous. Rupeth laughed too.
“Yeah, I suck at art,” he said, putting his hands on his hips as he admired his handiwork. The stick figure put its hands on its hips too, as if to complain to Rupeth about its poor appearance. “Takes me for-ever to get that looking good. Whatever! Just pretend my opponent is a normal person that isn’t on fire, okay~?”
“Okay,” said Prelinsa.
Rupeth and the stick figure both took ready stances.
“So. With a normal katana, you wanna fight like this, right?”
Both he and the stick figure drew their katanas quickly with a single hand, and crossed blades. Then, taking two-handed grips and keeping their eyes on each other, they began making light engagements, followed by more frequent ones. They kept their spacing while trading quick blows and parries, backing off and reengaging as necessary. It was the same kind of sparring that Prelinsa did with Corynn, but faster-paced. Eventually, Rupeth was about to land a “killing blow,” and both he and the stick figure stopped. They stepped back from each other, and both sheathed their weapons again. Both of them then bowed, which made Prelinsa snicker. It was a stick figure.
“Yeah. That’s how I’ve been learning,” she said, collecting herself.
“Right. But when your sword’s on fire, the spacing and movement’s all like this~”
With that said, he and the stick figure re-engaged. Only this time, as Rupeth drew his sword, it burst into flames, the edge and tip glowing red hot. He also drew it from further away, and the technique looked a bit strange. The two opponents then began making further exchanges. Rupeth’s parries were still similar, but his attacks were lighter and quicker, and his spacing from his opponent was odd. Instead of trying to cut with the edge of his blade, he was prodding with weak-looking jabs and swings that couldn’t normally break someone’s defense, let alone cause them real harm. However, as she watched, Prelinsa quickly understood how this was supposed to work.
“I see the lights going on in your head! You got it, right?” Rupeth said. “Let’s end this.”
Rupeth’s sword brightened suddenly, and the stick figure shielded its eyes from the light. While it was ‘distracted,’ the pokkit very lightly touched the stick figure’s wrist with the end of his own katana. For dramatic effect, the stick figure dropped its sword and grabbed its wrist in pain, making a frowny face of despair. Rupeth then cut it down with a final swing, and it vanished with a puff of smoke. It looked so funny that Prelinsa actually laughed out loud.
“Thank you, thank you!” Rupeth said, sheathing his sword and bowing like he’d been putting on a show. “So! What did we learn today?”
“All you have to do is touch someone with that sword. If you do that, you win,” Prelinsa observed. It was like the hot poker she used to fight Vincent, back in the Commune. Just the tip of it had been enough to burn the lycan and send him packing.
“Yeah! It can get crazy hot, too! Once you get good enough, you can melt through most weapons and armor like they’re nothing,” the older pokkit said. “It’s cheating, really!”
Prelinsa remembered the Six Stages of the Path of the Phoenix from her lessons. They weren’t a hard set of rules, but each Stage marked a certain important milestone in the progress of one’s Phoenix Spark or Heart. In order, the Stages were Origin, Synthesis, Purification, Adamance, Renewal, and Rebirth.
The Origin Stage was where one received a Phoenix Spark.
The Synthesis Stage was where the Spark became a Heart, and integrated with the body.
The Purification Stage reconstituted the body – increasing its lifespan, burning away weaknesses, and making one largely immune to poisons and illnesses.
The Adamance Stage increased one’s lifespan even further, and allowed one to cast fire that would never go out.
The Renewal Stage allowed one to live without food and regrow entire body parts.
The Rebirth Stage was a mystery, as nobody had achieved it.
Prelinsa was right at the start of the Origin Stage. Corynn was at the start of the Purification Stage – the stage where Prelinsa would be freed of her sickness. Rupeth and his sister Rensa were in the middle of the Renewal Stage. The Matriarch was said to be at the very peak of Renewal, and had so much power that it was said she could destroy a city like Pyrus by herself. But most people weren’t really sure of that. Who would dare ask?
“Must be awesome, being that strong,” she marveled.
“Sure is! But hold your kits now, you’re still in the Origin Stage. So. Against most opponents, you’re gonna defend mostly the same way, but when you attack, all you have to do is land the tip. Distract the other person, or deflect their weapon juuuust enough so you can poke them. If you hit them on the hand or wrist, you disable them. If you hit their chest, they’re dead.” He tapped his own chest for emphasis. “Of course, everything depends on who you’re fighting, and where. The same tricks won’t work in every situation. Remember that, and you’re gonna have a good time~”
“Can we practice this now?” Prelinsa asked eagerly. She was really starting to vibe with Rupeth, and wondered why the Matriarch hadn’t introduced him sooner.
“Well, first you have to practice more with magic. Now, here’s what you need to do…”
----------------------------------------
The Matriarch dropped by that afternoon. “I take it you’ve been having a good time,” she observed.
“Mother!” Rupeth said, bowing.
“I greet the Matriarch,” Prelinsa said, also bowing.
“At ease. I wish to see what you have learned. Show me.”
Prelinsa nodded. She drew her katana and with a few deft swings, sent several waves of fire towards the practice dummies. Most them just missed, but two of them sliced through dummies.
“Very good. Though I believe you can do somewhat better, you have made excellent progress for less than a day’s worth of practice. Control your movements more tightly, like this.”
The Matriarch conjured a flaming katana and demonstrated with slow and deliberate movements. It didn’t look quite as natural, but Prelinsa could tell that it was more efficient.
“Aw, Mother. I was gonna get to that,” Rupeth said, pouting.
The Matriarch slowly crossed her arms. “Given your history, you must forgive me when I say that your words do not entirely convince me,” she replied sternly. “Now, I must leave again. Continue to practice, and do not forget to go over safety protocols.”
She paused, turning back.
“On a related note, Rupeth. I believe I must speak with you later about that katana. The one that Prelinsa is presently holding…”
Rupeth scratched the back of his head. “Oh, yeah! I wasn’t supposed to take that, right? My bad~” He said flippantly, not actually sounding sorry at all.
Prelinsa raised an eyebrow, looking at the katana, then at Rupeth, then at the Matriarch.
“Although this is somewhat unexpected, you may keep it, Prelinsa,” the Matriarch added. “Bring it home with you. It seems you have a good affinity with it, and it is about time you began sparring with a real katana. However, continue to practice with training swords as well. A real weapon is not always suitable for lessons.”
“Yes, Matriarch,” Prelinsa said.
“Very good.”
The Matriarch turned tail and exited the training field. Prelinsa and Rupeth both watched her leave. Then, Prelinsa turned to her new teacher.
“Uh. I think I see why the Matriarch didn’t introduce us before,” she commented.
“Aw, is this about me stealing the sword?” Rupeth asked.
“No? I mean… your way of teaching is totally different. I think she wanted me to learn from her first. Before I met you.”
Rupeth laughed heartily. “Well, I’ve been busy with stuff, too. Haven’t really been around, ya know? But I think she’s right! Sometimes, even the Great Rupeth skips over stuff. Even little Corrie’s better about details than me. But you’ve been having fun, right?”
Prelinsa smiled. “Yeah.”
Rupeth patted her on the back.
“Great. Come on, let’s keep this up! I know you’ve got more oil in the lamp~”