A Fight for Escape (training)

[Seul Galemoon]

Seul stood in front of the War Storm Pavilion, shifting her weight nervously between her feet under her. Inside were the greatest warriors in Endrykas. She knew she was no legend, not yet. That was why she was here. She needed to improve. She was a diamond, and once she molded herself into a warrior, only then would she be able to hold her tiny place in the world. "Right." she sighed as she walked into the pavilion, clutching her spear with white knuckles. She needed this, for her. Once she finally got all this right, she could finally get out of the sea of grass.

As she entered the pavilion, barely anyone looked at her. That was encouraging. Seul had always hated being looked at when she was nervous, or unsure. She examined the area, trying to find the area she could train in. After a small amount of walking around, she spotted a group of young drykas, all wielding spears and sparring together in an open field, not far from where she stood. She walked to where they were grouped and slung her spear over her shouder. Here we are. she thought. I have to do this.

"Hey!" she called out. "Have room for one more?" she shifted her weight onto one leg and rested her hands by the wrists on her spear as she rested it on her shoulders, one on each side.

The trainees that weren't involved in a spar all stopped their conversations and looked to Seul. They all collectively sized her up; not in an unfriendly manner.It was like they wanted to see what the new kid was all about, wanted to see what they would be up against, even if they were just practicing. She knew she was the same way. She kept a slight smile on her lips to dispel the idea that she was intimidated. In truth, she was. She had no idea how strong these people were. She wasn't the best with a spear.

A young, semi attractive boy, perhaps of twenty stepped up, clutching his spear in hand. "I'll take you on." he said, as he readied his stance.

This guy doesn't waste time Seul thought to herself as she slipped into her stance and readied her spear, having no idea how this was going to go. She had to do this right. If she wanted to see the world and make her stories, she needed to be worthy of legend.

[Seul Galemoon]

Someone from the sidelines called, "start!" and the man began to rush at her, wasting no time at all.
He was a whirlwind, obviously comfortable with his weapon. He moved to hit her in the right side. She dodged and blocked the hit, only to realize too late that the blow was a feint, and he slashed at her other arm, making a superficial cut. She felt her cheeks heat up slightly in embarrassment. She had always hunted with bows before. This was completely foreign.
The boy drew himself, preparing himself for another attack. This time, Seul thought. This time I'll get it. She planted her feet and held her spear in front of her with both hands. She waited until her combatant came at her again.
This time, when he moved to hit her, she didn't bother trying to determine if it was a trick or not. She jumped to the side, crouching to avoid the spear. In mid swing, Seul moved her spear to bat away his, and swung the sharp end of her spear at him. A shallow cut turned bright red on his left shoulder.
Now, each of them had managed to mark the other, even if the cuts most likely wouldn't even scar very badly. Seul, more confident now that she had managed to land a hit, kept moving. She held the spear horizontally in her hands like a rod and moved to hit the man's left side. When the blow bounced off, the weapon ricocheted off and her blow landed on his right side, sending him stumbling. Seul took a step back, giving her partner time to gather himself. She was into the exercise now, but she wasn't one for cheap shots. The man found his balance and swung the blunt end of his spear toward her knees. Seul made an attempt to move out of the way, but the man was much too fast, and bashed her knees, and her legs, out from under her.
The girl hit the ground, quite hard and heard her hip crack from the impact. Propping herself on her side with and elbow, she made no attempt to get up. The fight was over.

She had a lot of work to do.

[Seul Galemoon]

"Hey," her opponent said, offering a hand to help her up. "You put up a good fight." She took his hand and allowed herself to be helped up, wincing at the sharp pain he felt in her hip. It wasn't broken, but it was going to be sore for a while. She looked down to the spear in her hand.

"You too," she said, with a thrust of her chin. The boy clapped her on the back.

"You have a name?" he asked.

"Seul. And yours?"

"Mikah." He answered. "You up for a round two?"

I laughed, awkwardly. "You know, I really don't think I can today." I rubbed my sore hip for emphasis.

"Even more the reason that you should!" he insisted, and he backed away from me, holding his spear. "get ready Seul. You want to call yourself a warrior?"

I did. In truth, I didn't really feel like it mattered. I had come here for training, and that was what was going to happen. I slunk into position, ignoring my protesting hip. "Ready." I said, strongly.

He laughed. "I never asked!" he called out, and he made a jab at me with his spear.

Now that I had gone through round one with him, I was warmed up and ready to go. He probably wasn't much better at this than I was. I batted his spear to the side and lunged with my own. This time, I caught his with the tip of my spear, grazing his stomach. Satisfied, I jerked the spear to bat the other side of his stomach, making contact again. He stumbled, and I held my ground. He straightened up again, and readied to attack again. I held fast to my spear, ready to hold my ground.

He wasted no time, swiping at me again. His style was aggressive, relentless. It wasn't a bad thing, per say. Once he got in practice he would be a force to reckon with. However, at the current time it just left him with weak spots open to be exploited. I was an archer, first and foremost. Looking for weak spots had become second nature in the grass sea. As of right now, Mikah had a weak spot just in the center of his chest. It was a strange place for him to leave so completely unprotected. With the blunt end of my spear, I whipped it up, jabbing it at his heart. I didn't hit hard; just hard enough to prove my point. As I held him at a distance with the pole, he loosened his grip on his weapon and lowered it down.

"Heh, you win this one." he said, lightly. I grinned to myself. I was still far from being truly proficient with the weapon, but I had won a fight. That was something. I lowered my spear to my side.

"Do you all train here everyday?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Pretty much. There's the occasional comings and goings, but for the most part it's pretty consistent. You going to come back?"

I nodded. "I've got learning to do. I'll be back." The sun was setting in the sky. Seul needed to find her adopted brother before it was dark. "I'm leaving now," she said. "And I want a rematch tomorrow." She was already walking toward where she first entered. With a quick wave, she turned and hastily made her way out of the pavilion.

If she kept training like this, she would gain skill in no time at all. She would get out of the sea of grass.