...and that concludes our last lesson. It’s been a pleasure teaching a sharp student such as yourself, and I hope you’ll make me proud at the academy !” The tutor said with a sly smile, knowing how his student didn’t liked to be complemented. His curiosity, coupled with a perfectionist mindset, made most of the lessons longer than they should. the one he was teaching would pepper him with precise questions, that made even his professor ask himself about the deeper meanings of the subjects they studied. All in all, he really meant what he said, even if the child was unsatisfied with the current state of his knowledge.

Still, he was impressed. In 5 years, the child had gone through, memorized, and understood pretty much everything a 20 years old Kalisz would need to know. His knowledge wasn’t perfect but that was only natural considering his age.

All in all, he really meant what he said, even if his student wouldn’t accept it.

He hoped the Academy wouldn’t break this small one, his body not being his best asset.

Kai stretched, satisfied by the strength and flexibility of his muscles, making him realize once again how much he had evolved in the past 7 years.

Even thought it was most likely the last time they would see each other, he thanked him like he always did, with the addition of a bright smile, seeing the one his teacher had given him. He couldn’t help but feel a bit sad about these farewells, as he had come to like the skills his teacher possessed for his job, and the cunning sense of humor one would not expect to find within others of the same profession.

Still, he left the house in a pretty joyful mood. Even if clouds where coming, autumn was his favorite season.

Nights are cold, but you could enjoy being outside without being drenched in sweat in the first five minutes. It was closer to winter than summer, and even thought the naked trees could resemble monsters coming straight from one’s nightmares, fallen leaves showed that, even in death, there could be beauty. A baby would be too afraid to look through his windows at night, but when the sun came, the first rays of light reflecting on the droplets would be an amazing sight.

This time of the day would make the colorful leaves that littered the ash-like floor push him try and brave his fears to see what kind of beauty the moon could unravel.

He suddenly heard footsteps. His expression grew darker with every squeal, that could only be made with boots coming into contact with sand. He was slowly turned around the face the person he knew was coming.

He was like a mountain, his two and a quarter mels making even the otherwise tall Kalisz look like children. He was also very large, but where for other men this adjective would hint towards a life of depravity and laziness, here it was only a witness of the hundreds of years spent on the battlefield, wielding all kinds of weapons and fighting his way through death. His arms were like huge metal ropes, thick enough to stop a ship from leaving the docks. His legs were big enough to make the idea of the ground crushing beneath him believable. Deep scraps ran all over his bare chest, arms, what was observable of his legs, and face. That gave the latter, which was already impressive enough with the short black hair, very sharp features seemingly cut with a knife, and most importantly, these narrow obsidian eyes that looked like they could see right through you, and to them, one would be as bare as the day he was born.

“Kai.” His gravelly voice, worn after shouting orders above cries, pain and death of hundreds of battlefield, greeted Kai the same way it did for the past seven years. Without adding a word, knowing his intentions would be understood and followed, he turned around and left.

Kai followed him, observing for the last time the garden he was so used to seeing, memories flowing inside his mind. He observed the large area covered in grey sand, and saw himself running around it, dashing down the fifty meter long alley, feeling like a sprinter.

He saw himself testing his balance on the centimeter-wide stones marking the way.

He saw himself near the big trees notching their property, a rare sight and luxury in this part of the world, sometimes climbing their majestic branches. He would rely on their strength to hide himself from the rest of the world, and talk to them like he would to his best friend, if he had one. Sometimes they would become the foe of some epic battle, a towering demon, with hundreds of menacing saber looking arm, the height becoming a terrifying aspect while climbing, their toughness now becoming the danger if he fell. Trying to attain its imaginary weak spot now becoming a question of life and death, taking all of his focus, and occupying his every thoughts.

He saw himself taking the junction of the alley, in the middle of it, to attain the training ground used by his father.

He saw himself being magnetized by whatever exercise he was doing, the deliberate slowness of his movements, their gracefulness, wondering if he could ever attain this level.

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Then he saw something else. He was down on the ground, sweaty but gleeful, catching the hand his father was extending to help him back on his feet.

‘What is this scene ? I don’t remember him ever helping me stand up, or ever leaving a session with only sweat on my body’

“Faster ! Clouds are gathering and it would be annoying to train under the rain.”

The voice of his father snapped him out of his gaze, bringing him back into the present. Seeing how he was standing still, a dozen meter away from his instructor, he started running lightly. He still couldn’t wrap his head around what had happened. Could it be something he had forgotten about ? He quickly evicted this idea considering he would never forget about a unique event like this happening. As they were approaching the training ground or arena, as he had come to call it, he moved these thoughts to the back of his head. He had to focus on the last session, for he had to do something for once.

When they arrived, he only took a glance at the arena, a round space of almost twenty mels of diameter, delimited with stones. Even thought the floor had been put back to his usual state, the marks of yesterday’s training session could still be seen. Both of them took place in front of each other, only a dozen steps apart. Kai saw his father taking his usual stance, relaxed, opened and staring at him with open disinterest. Kai felt his anger flare inside him, seeing his father considering like he was nothing but an ant, only waiting to be crushed. Memories of the last session came to his mind, only fueling the fire his anger had taken the form of.

‘How can a father give this sort of expression to his son ?!’ Kai wanted nothing but to lash at him, run to his face to erase this expression, watch him on the floor, in front of his feet, apologizing for everything he had done to him.

Just as he was about to do what he had done many times before, his opponent smiled. It was small, barely even counting as a grin. It was the smile of somebody that was sure of his victory. Seeing it cooled down Kai’s anger. He remembered the training that had been beaten into him, and how it had ended every time he started the fighting the way he was about to. He exhaled, and on the outside it seemed like he had calmed down. The truth was the total opposite. In fact, he was even angrier than before, because he had allowed his emotions to get the better of him, which was totally against his training and the Kalisz’ ways, as it could get one easily killed in a fight. He decided to control his anger, letting it build up but not erupt, forming it into a really concentrated ball that would fuel his body. Past fights surged into his mind, growing the fuel past the point where it could be called anger. He saw himself on the ground, broken, with his father turning his back to him. He saw it hundreds of times. He could feel the pain and sorrows he went through in the past seven years, but compressed in an instant. It built his anger, built again, and built it some more. Just as he was about to lose his mind to the pain, desperation sorrow and hatred, inside his mind something clicked.

He exhaled for the second time, and something changed. He relaxed, and suddenly, he felt whole for what seemed like the first time. He relaxed his body, feeling his brain transmit information to every part of his body, ranging from muscles to tendons, and including the nerves information went through.

He felt the air around him, how it entered his body, the work of his lungs to absorb what it needed and eject the leftover.

He felt this energy fuel his hearth, fusing with his blood, and going through his body, redistributing it to every fiber of his self, allowing them to do what Kai wanted.

He felt how wrong his posture was and corrected it while questioning himself on the reason that made him so blind to his own body.

He felt the space around him like it was his own, and felt the intruder in this, his space. When he focused his gaze in front of him, his father was gone. He was replaced by the personification of everything bad he had felt in his life. Strangely enough, he could see the inner working of the shape in front of him almost like it was his own.

He knew his strength and weaknesses.

He could see the openings in his posture, and judging by the way and speed at which his muscles responded to the information given by his brain, he could, to a certain extent, predict how he would react to given informations. A course of action formed in his mind, and then, he started.

He slowly approached the figure in front of him, nothing showing on his face, feeling the air rubbing his skin, applying a very slight pressure. That annoyed Kai, who wanted nothing to stand between him and his enemy. All of a sudden, the pressure disappeared, letting him feel free for the first time. He soon arrived at a respectable distance, half a dozen mels separating him and the other.

Then, he started sprinting, giving his path a slight diagonal angle towards the left side of his opponent. When he noticed the later shifting his weight on that very leg to receive the attack, Kai crossed his left foot in front of the right one, where his weight was. That caused him to fall to his left side way faster than one normally would. When he was almost at a sixty degree angle from the floor, he set all his weight on his left foot and aimed just under the shoulder, his left hand shaped like a blade, where it would do devastating damage if it managed to hit. The enemy shifted his balance and turned his whole body, using his right foot as a pivot. Kai smiled. The other’s left flank was now right in front of him. While removing the leg where all his weight lied, did a minuscule jump backwards and landed on the other one. While unstable, he moved the upper part of his body forward to get himself in his opponent’s back. While his weight was starting to push him forward, he hit the left tight’s nerve with his left fist. He caught himself himself on his left foot, immediately removed the right one, uncrossed both of them, hooked his opponent face with the right hand and readied his left into a fist to meet the neck. The weight caused by the attraction of the Earth and his imbalance caused both of them to fall on their back, but Kai recovered his balance, setting his right foot on the ground, knuckle ready to crush everything be it skins, tendons or even bones, thanks to the sheer force created by the fall.

The very instant the impact was bound to happen, he remembered it was only a training, removed his left fist, but still added all the strength he could muster to accelerate his father’s fall. He slowly turned around and plopped down on the floor to catch his breath. Using his muscles to such an extent in a way he was not used to was taxing, and his breath was sharp. All of his actions could seem unnecessary, but his adversary was a six hundred years old veteran who had spent his life on the battlefield, causing the need of the two feints. He also needed him surprised, off balance, and with the leg he would put his weight on while falling, numb, otherwise he would never have been able to get a man almost twice his weight to fall. He suddenly heard a sound behind him, and turned only fast enough to get a glimpse of the boot that met his temple, before everything went black.