Savio pulled himself up the first branch, and then the next. He could feel his shoulders and arms already protesting but Savio ignored it. He knew that training with Ximal was going to be difficult. So he just pushed himself on. Moving up the tree wasn’t that hard; perhaps a little trickier than climbing walls or buildings. Before coming to Ximal, Savio had to climb and run to escape angry monks who he declined joining. They were a violent bunch, and it was quickly obvious that they were more skilled in combat than he.
As far as religion went, Savio never really thought much about it. The gods were there, and they could help as easily as they could hurt. But he never worshiped a particular god. That required too much focus, and Savio’s focus was mainly on training.
It took a short while, but Savio finally managed to get to the branch Ximal had directed him to. With careful balance, Savio stood up and readied his stance once more. Though he did make the mistake of looking down. The young man wasn’t particularly scared of heights but they did still make worried when he wasn’t used to them. An acrobat once told him to always hold on to his fear of high places, that way you will try to avoid falling as much as possible.
Savio gulped and made the first punch, and instantly almost lost his balance. He quickly dropped down into a crouch and held on to the branch to steady himself. He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart before standing up again to attempt the punch once more. It took several more tries, and a few close calls before Savio finally figured how to keep his feet from moving while rolling his upper torso into the punches.
His body burned and his skin stung from the sweat touching the scraps caused from slipping on the branch. “How many should I do, Ximal?*
