[Flashback] An Imaginary Foe II (Solo)

[Eridanus]

Day 23, Summer of 509 AV
Early Morning
Somewhere Quiet Near Syliras

Eridanus was back here again, for he found the previous experience enjoyable enough to do it again. It was highly invigorating for the soul, and he was in generally high spirits for the rest of the day. Thus he did the same thing as before, leaving the city just as Syna's rays peeked over the mountains and he started with the standard meditation. It was not just procedure, for calming his thoughts was highly essential to what he planned to do, and also helped to settle his hyperactive mind.

He unstrapped his leather sheaths, propping them up against the same tree he used before. He realized that the tree had roots that partially show themselves above-ground, forming a natural, dry platform above the moist grass, and so he decided to conduct his meditation there.

Sitting cross-legged, he first began by slowing down his breathing, taking in deep breaths and exhaling slowly. As he did so, he peeled away the active part of his thoughts by simply willing himself not to think about anything but what he was going to do next. Naturally, his body soon followed suit and he could feel his body relax somewhat as his breathing calmed his heart and in turn calmed his body.

Before he closed his eyes, he mentally gave his full attention and conviction to making the best out of this spar. He had an idea of what he was going to do, but it would require a steel mind, the attribute that Wysar favored. He did not expect the God to help him, for he fully believed that the divine only helped those who helped themselves. Instead he paid tribute to the domain of discipline that Wysar was Lord of, and with this determination he continued with his self-training. Only after he did so he began to actively focus his thoughts on the state of his breathing to the exclusion of all else. No more plans, no more ideas, no more mental doodling.

Breathe in, breathe out. Rinse and repeat.

That was all in his mind, and by clearing his mind further his body began to relax more as well. Now, his breathing calmed his heart, which calmed his body, and now it took a step further to calm his soul.

His mental processes were rested, reassured, restored, and though physiologically he was going into the sort of half-slumber that people who go into meditative trances do, his mind and soul were being refreshed. The trance was like a cool, clear spring water that acted as an elixir to the weariness of his soul.

[Eridanus]

Time passed, and everywhere else early-risers began to prepare themselves for their business while most slumbered on. But it did not matter to the vantha, for all such earthly concerns were out of his tranquil mind for the moment. He experienced a sort of fluid time unique to fellow practitioners of meditation where time passed slower than usual as one focused on nothing, simply appreciating the present with no other thoughts, but time somehow seemed to pass faster in that blocks of time seem to just pass by like that. It would be difficult to explain and the best way to do so is to often get the person to experience it himself.

It was that sort of experience.

Now that Eridanus felt calm holistically, it was time for more physical activities, and so he opened his eyes slowly, taking a while to adjust to the new sights that were greeting him - a change from the serene nothingness in his mind. Unhurriedly, he rose from his cross-legged seating, leisurely drawing out his blades from their sheaths while keeping the sheaths propped up against the tree trunk.

He walked a good distance from the tree to provide himself ample space, and as he began to organize his thoughts both consciously and subconsciously for what he wanted to achieve. He wanted to not just practice against groups like before - to familiarize himself to fight in uneven odds - but also he wanted a challenge. He wanted something that would make him gasping and frustrated, something that would stretch his creativity in terms of tactics as well as in physical form.

With this in mind, he looked hard in front of him, and slowly he visualized a rough humanoid shape taking place in front of him.

"Mr.B, good to see that you're well." Eridanus acknowledged silently.

[Eridanus]

A leg passed behind him, though he was still comfortably in a shoulder-width posture, and he bent his knees slightly for flexibility in movement. He gripped only the thumb and first two fingers for both weapons in a half-relaxed fist grip, only tensing the entire fist for swings.

The left hand - and his weaker one for he was still not as versed in dual wielding as he hoped to be - was in roughly in front, his grip at his waist level and the sword drooping downwards in a modified Half Iron Door.

His right hand - which was his primary arm - shifted back and to the right, the sword also pointing loosely downwards to the rear and to the right in a rough variation of the Tail. This was a modification he made based on a single-weapon swordplay and was the most invitational guard that he came up with, for it made him look deceptively exposed.

"Let's get at it, Mr.B. Show me what you've got."

Mr.B looked wryly at Eridanus - the vantha readily accepted that his imagination sometimes had a dry sense of humor - and he stepped forward, suddenly disappearing and appearing directly in front of him. His sword was already up high to deliver a high-aimed diagonal cut, and the vantha had mere split seconds to gasp in surprise before passing backwards quickly and bringing his left sword up to parry the attack.

No sooner when he had parried the attack, Mr.B flashed his own imaginary sword in a blinding spin as it swerved sideways, using the parry as a rebound, to cut the vantha's left side, which was his open spot.

Eri frowned. He realized that he had been quite complacent in his training, and now that his mind was actively working to access his own openings and weaknesses he was getting trounced. By himself.

He had to pull up his figurative socks.

[Eridanus]

Mentally rewinding the events, he resumed his previous stance and placed Mr.B in front of him again, with that blinding fast diagonal cut and he quickly brought his left sword up to parry. He realized where his mistake was - which was committing too much in a parry - and immediately after the parry he released most of the tension from his hand.

The imaginary sword curved to his open left side, but since now that the tension was released he had the ability to use his own rebound to swerve the sword downwards, blocking the left cut from entering his body.

Triumphant, he brought his clenched his right fist, bringing the sword up to cut the right part of Mr.B's body that was left open. His imaginary sparring partner shimmered as he disappeared a few steps back, his sword coming down hard on Eri's upwards strike and assuming the Boar's Tooth guard.

Something deep inside Eri's mind screamed at him to defend himself, and he unconsciously brought his right blade down for he was in a partial state of the Unicorn, which would be quite fatal against low strikes. He was, however, too late, and Mr.B's sword went up from the Boar's Tooth and into Eri's ribs.

The vantha blinked in surprise. He knew he wanted a challenge, but did not really realize the true meaning of the word until now. That meant no more easy victories. He was going down hard on himself, critically scrutinizing and exploiting any weaknesses in form and techniques that he had, and this meant that he had to fix them up pronto.

Worse, this also meant that he would not leave until he was satisfied, for he always had the paranoid belief that if he did not fix his techniques immediately, he would meet someone hostile who could take advantage of his weaknesses and he would then regret it.

Shaking his head, he focused his mind again and looked ahead, placing Mr.B a good distance away from him. He could not afford to be complacent.

He had to be sharp if he wanted this to go anywhere.

Again.

[Eridanus]

The swordsman resumed his standard invitational stance, and Mr.B dashed forward, stopping just before Eridanus with insane speed. His imaginary foe's weapon moved at the speed of thought, while Eri's own actions moved at a merely mortal speed, which put him inferior to Mr.B in terms of physical attributes.

It made sense, for his imagination moved as fast as he could think, merely needing to attack wherever he was open - information gained instinctively from years of swordplay - while his body simply moved slower due to the fact that it had to obey laws of physics and that it had to receive orders from his brain before it could move.

Eridanus was in quite an obvious disadvantage, but he also knew that with strategically well-placed moves a physically inferior combatant can still triumph over a superior one.

Mr.B's blade no longer looked like a blade, but like a single grass strand whipping in the wind as it flashed against the air which did not provide resistance at all - for he did not exist - and Eridanus processed the thought quickly, relying on his muscle memory to slope backwards to the right, bringing his fist up to his collarbone level to block middle-aimed swing.

He knew from experience that such a fast and powerful swing would likely generate enough force to push his own sword inwards, and to prevent gutting himself he put a boot forward close to the point of the sword to provide the stable mechanism it needed to stay in place. He had instinctively rotated his wrist such that he was using the flat of the blade to parry, and thus his boot could squarely support the blade without fear of being cut.

It was an unorthodox move at the spur of the moment, but it worked and he paused the moment at this point of time to take note of this move so that he could mentally add it into his arsenal of tricks.

[Eridanus]

Facing Mr.B again, who simply looked bored - like he believed, his imagination had a certain sort of humor - and he resumed the action, using the leg that he used to support his parry to pass backwards again, but this time bringing his left sword down diagonally to the bottom right to guard the lower bit of his body, and bringing his right sword in a upwards-left diagonal cut.

Normally he would pass forward to press the advantage, but he knew that with Mr.B's superior speed moving forward would simply guarantee being skewered, and so he had to step back to buy himself time. Doing so would net him the same results as stepping forward against a more fair opponent.

As expected, Mr.B's sword appeared in the exact position it should be to parry Eri's offensive, and as Eri quickly used the 'rebound' from the make-believe collision to aim another cut in a lower position in the opposite direction. Mr.B pushed his sword down to block his body from being cut, and Eridanus had a split-second of recognition.

Boar's Tooth!

He brought his left sword swinging up to his mid-level to block the upwards thrust that came, for his right sword was already extended and he would have no time to bring it back to defend himself. It worked, but then Mr.B stepped back quickly to withdraw his blade, then stepping forward with blinding speed and placing a thrust neatly in Eri's torso, his right sword hanging uncertainly over and his left blade freshly extended for that block.

'Checkmate', the wry smile on Mr.B's expression seemed to say.

[Eridanus]

The vantha could feel himself bubbling with frustration, but he knew that there was no other fault but his own. It was stupidly childish to get angry at himself, and so instead he paused the moment, taking a few breaths to calm himself and to reflect on what went wrong.

Examining his stance and going through on the previous few engagements, he realized that he had been unwittingly led to entangle his arms, disabling his defence entirely by over-committing to opposite directions before being dealt the fatal blow.

Oliver Camlach had always mentioned that his mind was quick, and this was now where he truly understood that. His own mind had outwitted himself in the intellectual meta-game behind swordplay, and relying on pure instinct and muscle memory just did not cut it anymore. Not if he wanted to survive against highly skilled opponents.

He realized that the bandits and rabble that he had fought over the years to defend himself were generally poorly skilled, and relying on his superior experience and muscle memory sufficed to defeat them. However against a trained opponent (like himself) he would most likely stand no chance unless he learned to not only be faster physically, but to think even faster and to integrate both muscle memory and tactical decisions.

He resumed the action, though mentally pulling out the invisible sword in his torso. Placing Mr.B a distance away from himself again, he took a deep breath to calm himself down, then decided for a more defensive approach. Adaptability was key, after all.

He brought his right sword backwards but slung over his right shoulder in a modified guard of the Woman, and his left sword facing at an angle upwards with the hilt close to his waist in a left-handed Short.

A combination of two of the most defensive guards for single-weapon swordsmanship combined into a single stance made possible with two swords.

Come at me, you inhumanely fast figment of my imagination.

[Eridanus]

Mr.B shimmered again, dashing forward with incredible speed as he swung his blade. It was a flash of movement that was difficult to follow, but the moment Eri saw the initial direction of the blade it was enough, and he immediately responded by pushing out his left elbow and rotating his left wrist such that his fist is in line with his fore-arm for stability. He barely blocked that cut when there was another flash, and as he struggled to resume the left stance by going back into position, barely blocking another middle thrust.

Getting better?

Mr.B swung back before swinging his blade in a whirlwind spin that was completely impractical for real life purposes but worked because of the ridiculous speed at which he could do so. It was embellishment at work, but the important thing that resulted was the powerful cut from the right.

Eridanus understood the direction of the cut and quickly passed forward on his left leg, twisting his torso to the right. The guard of the Woman was a powerful defensive guard that completely shuts down any attacks coming from the right by virtue of its positioning. He did not leave any time to think, for his mind had already been in action while twisting his torso.

He realized earlier that he could improve his speed by not moving, thinking, moving, thinking. It was far faster to think, move, think while moving, then immediately move. However, it was highly taxing to the mind and required not just immense clarity of thought but mental discipline, and it was spiritually exhausting for him to keep his attention up like this.

Immediately after twisting his torso, he swung his right sword in a left-aimed downwards diagonal manner, pushing away Mr.B's blade from his flank as he did so to deliver a power cut. Mr.B sloped to Eri's left, his blade flashing in the air as he whizzed it back to its original position to parry Eri's main offensive swing, but he did not take into account that Eri had thrust his left sword from the Short a split-second after he released his diagonal cut.

Check-mate.

Mr.B looked at him with a raised brow, and finally having been defeated, he disappeared, leaving Eridanus once again alone in his mental landscape.

[Eridanus]

The vantha sighed, and he walked back to the tree, sheathing his swords once more. He proceeded with the customary cool-downs, stretching his muscles and patting his calves and thighs to further blood circulation. This was also to prevent muscle fatigue from degenerating and when he felt sufficiently relaxed, he went back and seated himself comfortably in a cross-legged position for some introspective reflection on what he learned today.

He had finally defeated himself, and from challenging himself he learned quite a great deal, both mental and combat-related. The need for discipline in training and avoiding complacency. The use of unorthodox methods halfway in order to adapt. Switching tactics when the previous one did not work. Acknowledging a far superior opponent and adjusting to deal with that.

The vantha customarily uttered a short appreciation for Wysar for the guidance He or His domain provided, and he proceeded to enter meditation again.

Just before he closed his eyes, though, he heard a cry from the side, and he turned his head to find two adolescents, maybe sixteen to nineteen years of age, approaching him. They each had a long sword strapped to their waist and wore rudimentary chain-mail.

He sighed, wondering what they wanted. He listened to what they had to say, replied with a few curt phrases, and they left, bidding him farewell with a wave. He would deal with that another day. oocIntentionally left vague to expand on in next thread, but you'll know what's coming up Emblem, since it's your idea xD

For now, he closed his eyes and slowed his breathing once more. It was time for reflection and to mentally review what he went through. It was highly important to do so after every battle if possible, to properly ingrain the lessons one learned so that the same mistake would not happen again.

[Emblem]

Congratulations! You Get Glorious Experience! Eridanus Skills Longsword- 4 XP Dual Wield- 4 XP Tactics- 3 XP Meditation-2 XP Acrobatics- 1 XP Lores Adapting to Ones Opponent Beaten By Your Own Mind Unorthadox Mehtods Comments : Once again a nice training thread. Looking forward to seeing what happens with the two boys from the end! Any questions, send a PM!