[FLASHBACK] An Axe to Grind (Cryos)

[Paragon]

Timestamp: 56th of Summer, 477 AV An eighteen year old Adarin stepped out into the martial training ground. He glanced behind him, scowling at Cryos. "Hurry up," he snapped. His patience would wear thin quickly with this mongrel Isur. Only a year ago, his parents had been killed in a fire lit by a bastard Inartan criminal. His lack of love for outsiders was not a secret, but toleration was difficult. And even now, asked by his instructors to help show Cryos the basics of the battle-axe, his anger seethed and broiled beneath the surface. He would hold it in, if only for the sake of his superiors. Once Cryos had learnt a little, he would be passed onto the proper instructors anyhow. Grabbing a battle-axe from the weapons wrack, he half had a mind to chuck it at Cryos. But he resisted, passing it roughly to the Isur as he approached. Holding his own battle-axe, he lowered it for the moment, making distance between himself and the foreigner. "The basics. The battle-axe is heavy. Heavier than a sword, or even a great sword, thus you can not use it in combat with the same principles." He narrowed his eyes, making sure Cryos was listening. "Did you understand that, dimwit?"

[Cryos Bladebane]

The Isur was young, only about seventeen in human years, even though his growth had made him about thirty four years old, which was how long he had lived in Mizahar in Denval for, from when he was born. He understood a bit of common, enough to know what the man was saying to him. Hurrying, he made his way behind the man, looking up towards him, as the battle axe was thrusted at him. Grunting a bit, he quickly grabbed it from the man, in his strong left arm, which bore a red mark of Izurdin upon it, the gnosis the young blacksmith happened to be born with.

As he was spoken to, it seemed to be with anger and hate towards outsiders, but this man didn't seem to understand that Cryos' family had lived in Denval for quite a bit of time, and Cryos himself was a Denvali citizen. They borrowed a blacksmith, from which Cryos learned how to craft items, weapons, and armor, but this was different. He had never really been into learning the arts of the weapons he would wield, but his father suggested that he learn the basics of the battle axe, in case he ever needed to defend himself. Which he most certainly would need to now.

At the mention of the name calling him dimwit, he simply said, "I understand. My name is Cryos..." and he nodded his assertion at that, knowing that he would soon have to learn from this cretin that was younger than him, although physically older than him, but younger in age. It didn't matter though, the native Isur would work his hardest to prove to the boy that he, himself, happened to be better than him, and would work to learn what he needed to learn from the man, in this case, how to utilize the battle axe...

[Paragon]

Adarin sighed through gritted teeth. "Oh, I know your name," he trailed off, muttering under his breath, "I know all about you." He walked towards the Isur, eying the man's stance. And then, with a snarl, he kicked at the man's left foot. Cryos managed to stay upright, just about. "Wider. You need to have your feet wider apart. As I said, the battle-axe is one of the heavier weapons. When you swing, that momentum is gonna' pull you places. If you don't have a firm base below, you're going to end up tripping, or falling head first into the floor." With any luck... "Keep your body as square as possible. Square and tense. The battle-axe is no dagger, it requires upper and lower body strength, and a heightened level of concentration. If you don't follow those steps..." He make a cutting action in front of his neck. One clumsy mistake in battle, and that would be the end of Cryos. "Stand how I told you, and try swinging."

[Cryos Bladebane]

As he kicked at Cryos, the Isur felt his left foot slide apart from his right foot, and barely managed to stay upright. Perhaps this would be harder than he initially thought. Holding the grip of the battle axe with both hands, he would assume the stance that Adarin happened to be speaking about. In doing so, he would tense up his muscles, look forwards with his emerald hued eyes, and then concentrated upon Adarin. Swinging the battle axe, he thought. Gripping it tightly between his hands, he would hold it out in front of him and swing it to the right, and then the left, practicing how he held it, making sure his grip was tight upon the battle ax's handle, so that he didn't lose control over the weapon and injure anyone.

It wasn't the best, but he would start of swinging it slowly, so as to try not to injure himself or anyone else, and then would speed up his swings as he practiced them. Maintaining his stance was difficult as well, and he felt his body moving with the axe at certain points in his swings, so he would tighten his musculature up even more in an effort to keep himself from falling off balance while swinging the battle axe around...

[Paragon]

"It's a little off," Adarin growled, "but it will do." He moved himself into a similar stance, holding the axe as if ready to strike. He would always be ready. Losing his eye had been down to carelessness. There was no one to blame but his own martial skill. "The most effective strike is one to the midriff. Your opponent has to react - move, block, or fall. If you can keep up strikes like that, from both sides, you'll overwhelm your opponent very quickly. But remember, you have to keep your own balance." He closed his eyes for a moment. If he had been there... he would have killed the Inartan. He would have stopped the fire. These were regrets that would always fester within him. "The training dummy's over there - you're going to practise your swings on them." He began walking towards one of the wooden dummies. "That one in the middle - the one that looks a bit like you. That will do."

[Cryos Bladebane]

Looks like me? thought Cryos as he looked towards the man. I wonder what he's playing at. The cold shouldered Cryos didn't say anything to the man in response, but simply walked over to the Training Dummy holding the battle ax carefully within both hands as he made his way over to in front of the one that Adarin spoke of. Looking at it through an emerald hued gaze, he did indeed notice that it looked like him a bit, if only through the fact that it was possibly as short as he was. Stature aside though, he prepared himself, and got into a stance that he had previously worked with when he was just swinging the battle ax around normally.

Raising it upwards, gripping it with both hands, his left arm having quite the firmer grip upon it as it was the arm that had the mark of Izurdin upon it, and was a deep hue of red, he would aim for the dummy's midsection, and slash towards it with the battle ax, working on keeping his balance, as well as making sure he was aiming properly, and at a decent distance from the target, so as to not miss from being too far away. Always calculating, the young Isur would swing with all of his might, and hope to hit the target that sat before him, putting his strength into it, and aiming the blade of the battle ax directly at the target's midsection as the man had instructed him to do...

[Paragon]

"Strike, you blithering fool!" Adarin growled, watching Cryos' hesitation, "too much daydreaming, not enough action." He was beginning to regret agreeing to this. His temper was short, a ship rope frayed by the cruel oblivion of the outside world. This Isur would feel a piece of his mind if he was not careful. "Stand your ground and swing the axe!" Or I might just use you as the training dummy.

[Cryos Bladebane]

And so Cryos struck the training dummy, slashing as hard as he could towards the center of it, it's midsection. And he struck it again. And again, and continued to strike it until Adarin told him to stop. Only then would he cease striking it. He had no intention of ceasing without word from his instructor, and would turn the training dummy into minced wood if need be. Using the strength in his left arm, he would grip the handle of the battle ax tightly, and strike as hard as he could, each time into the midsection of the training dummy, practicing his swing, working on his balance as he did that.

As he continued to swing, he would feel the sweat pouring from his body, and wetting the shirt he was wearing, as well as making the pants feel tight around his waste. But that did not stop him, he would continue to practice swinging into the training dummy until he was told to stop, or it was demolished into little pieces from the strength he was putting into each blow. Making sure he tried to keep his balance, he would work to try and make every blow to the midsection of the dummy count, in hopes of perhaps impressing his instructor. Not that he'd be able to, as the man certainly seemed to have a grudge against him for some unknown reason...

[Paragon]

Adarin watched the man for a while, begrudgingly telling himself he had gotten a hang of the stance. The swings were weighty too, a good amount of force behind them. But then he was an Isur. He was cheating, in Adarin's book. "You can stop now," he said, eyes narrowing. He beckoned with one hand, mouth twisting a little. "I think it's time we had a little one on one, don't you?" He would see how strong the Isur really were. He knew in his heart they were nothing. Mutant outsiders, alien foreigners, offshoots of humanity. Nothing could beat the Denvali spirit. Whether Cryos considered himself a citizen or not, Adarin could not trust him. His nose had been put well and truly out of joint by his kind. "You can put the skills you've learnt to the test."

[Cryos Bladebane]

One on one, eh? thought Cryos. Well, this could get interesting. Looking towards Adarin with his emerald hued gaze, he nodded, and stopped hitting the training dummy. I wonder if he'll want me to attack first? thought Cryos, as he began to move to position himself across from Adarin, the battle ax held in both hands, prepared to strike as he repositioned himself so that he was apart from Adarin. His left arm was his strongest arm, and having started reaching the point of adulthood would possibly be able to block and incoming blows. So I might have to use that to my advantage, he thought, as he looked towards the man, gripping the battle ax tightly, and then finally speaking. "You've been waiting to do this, haven't you?" he then asked, in a firm but cold tone.

He didn't much care for this Adarin as they had only just met, and the man was hasty to judge the Isur. Perhaps if he managed to somehow beat him at his own game, the man might just respect him a little more, but then again, his bigotry seemed to have no ends, and Cryos recognized this. Something had happened in his past to make him like this, and the Isur didn't care what it was. Only the present mattered, only here and now mattered, what they were about to do mattered, for it would determine the future...