Ollowyn woke up early as he usually did. The sun was already announcing her arrival on the horizon, while the young swordsman got up. He stepped out of the little shed that he had made camp in and observed his surroundings. The first sunlight was starting to fall on the training space between the buildings of the Iordai Clan and one could observe the glistening dew on the grass in the gardens around it.

Ollowyn stepped barefoot into the cool grass and drew his blade. He loved the feeling of his feet gliding through the wet grass and let his sword Silverswallow swing slowly, while he practiced various attack and defense positions in slow motion.

He moved faster and faster and slowly his routine practice transcended into practicing the 128 moonflower technique.

So far he had not been able to even fulfill even a single strike. It was possible to use Korduí and Zenzen after each other in quick succession, though the flow felt off and Ollowyn knew that he was far too slow in his execution.

But it was getting better day by day, although slowly and he could barely wait to master this technique as well.

As the doors to the largest building opened up approximately one hour into his practice, Ollowyn ended his training. He was too late already, since the great master had ordered him to show up at first daylight.

Ollowyn hurried over to the sanctum and made sure to wipe his sweat off his face before entering.

Luckily the old man seemed to be submerged in meditation. Silently Ollowyn crept into the room and set down with his legs crossed. He immediately closed his eyes and began meditating, with a little luck he wouldn’t be found ou-

“Did you oversleep?” The old master said.

Ollowyn made sure to respond slowly, as if he was in concentration. “No, master. I have been here for some time, meditating.”

He ignored the sandal that hit him hard in the shoulder and continued his pretend-meditation.

“However that may be.” The old man grumbled. “Lord Enguràl of House Irtó has sent us a letter. He asked me to bring my successor to Rukbrick and that we both swear fealty to Zenshin.”

Ollowyn opened his eyes and eyed the great master, that was apparently not in the mood for joking around this time. It seemed to be really important.

“Master… do you not want to go?” Ollowyn did not understand what the great Ritto Iordai could possibly be afraid off. He was the strongest warrior that he had ever seen and with all the stories he had heard from others so far, there were very few that could be equal to him.

“No. In the past I have postponed this visit again and again by saying that I would only follow a true king of Zenshin. But Lord Enguràl has made it pretty clear to me that he would declare to be king soon enough. Apparently he has strengthened his position with the other nobles sufficiently.”

Ollowyn understood very little of politics. It was unimaginable to him, how one could submit to someone that was weaker than oneself. He thought about it for a bit before he spoke. “If we don’t like him, we don’t have to swear anything to him? We could just go home? He could not stop you, master.”

The old man eyed him with tired eyes before he nodded. “We will see. Everything depends on how warm they welcome you as my successor and as a Valurén. It could very well be, that we make a lot more enemies than we already have.”

Ollowyn nodded. “Okay. What will we do today?” The great master had taught him breathing techniques in the last few days and Ollowyn was looking forward to learn something that was not completely boring.

“Nothing for today. At least no real training. You are going to be my successor, Ollowyn. What do you think does that mean?” The old man observed him patiently.

Ollowyn thought about it. “We train students so that they fight for us? I would lead the clan and train as many as I can to spread the Iordai Clan and our fighting practices into all corners of the world!”

Iordai shook his head. “You don’t understand, Ollowyn. It was never about something like that for me. When i retreated into this empty valley, a few farmers in search of a better home have followed me. I was able to defend them whenever something dangerous came, be it bandits or wolves. In exchange they fed me and showed me hospitality. I only ever searched for a quiet place to hone my sword skills.”

Ollowyn listened the story quietly. It was really interesting to learn of things that happened in the past, way before he had grown up in his first pack.

“The students came after a while. Thasun was one of the first. He had always been a wild kid. Nearly as much as you.” The old man laughed quietly. “Although... you are the smarter one and you are also not causing me much trouble. I have taken in all the students that came in search for training. Of course I have also thrown out some, that did not do as I ordered them to. Some left after a few years, in search for work. Most of then ended up in Zenshin, serving one lord or another. I have contact to them from time to time still. But, Ollowyn, this is not what you should focus for the future. For that I have Marun and Karthan. Even without Thasun our Clan will exist long after I am gone.” The old man seemed a little proud and sad at the same time.

Ollowyn interrupted him. “But if not that, what then? I am only good at fighting? I can’t do anything else?”

The boy looked concerned and Ritto Iordai knew this feeling all too well. He was a wild beast. Not unlike Thasun. Not unlike himself. Sighing he tried to calm him down.

“Ollowyn, I am still alive. You won’t have to start taking over my position any time soon. First you will need to learn.”

Ollowyn immediately looked less concerned. “Learn?”

“The people in this valley are relying on the Iordai Clan. We defend them and that is the most important thing. We defend women and children, the old and the weak. That is our duty. Though most of the time it’s not war or savage thugs that are a threat to our people. Almost always it is the winter.”

Ollowyn nodded. It was a concept he was very familiar with. It did not happen rarely that a wolf pack felt hunger. And the winters were often harsh and cold. “I know. There was a winter once where our pack had nearly starved.”

Iordai blinked. Of course. For a moment he had forgotten how the boy had grown up. Apparently it was not necessary to make this point very clear. The point was already brought home. Nailed tight by years of survival.

“You understand this danger much better than most people in this valley. We have had a rather mild winter and the refugees that we took in from Zenshin, have been fed through with food deliveries that Zenshin brought us. But they won't do that forever. This duty now belongs to us.”

Ollowyn frowned. “We have to find a way to feed everyone? How do we do that? There are nearly twice as much people here now.”

Ritto Iordai nodded. “Exactly. So far the people in the Valley of Ending have lived of their livestock and their grown vegetables. The valley is very fertile, but only very little of the land is arable. The forest is growing everywhere, as I’m sure you already know. We can’t grow wheat without creating new arable land first.”

The boy was unhappy. “Can’t we just hunt? There is a lot of game in the forests. I hunt only small animals, but I have seen a lot of big ones too.”

Ritto Iordai shook his head. “Hunting will not be reliable enough. Meat doesn’t keep forever, and we can’t safely rely on being successful all the time. It will be a safeguard if the winter is too harsh. But for now, we should focus on building up more land and stockpiling grain. We can store that much longer than meat, without risk of spoiling.”

“But wont it take way too long to create that much land? How can we feed everyone, if all the plants die in the winter?” Ollowyn tilted his head slightly. “How long does it take for wheat to grow anyway?”

Iordai smiled. The boy wasn’t dense. But he could not know what Iordai had planned. The boy did not know how the world really worked yet. “I’m not sure, how long it takes for wheat to grow. I have never really had to think about such things in the past. But even if we can’t grow anything this year, we can still feed everyone. And the main reason for that is simply… trade.”

“Trade?” Ollowyn raised a brow. He did not like traders. Thasun had saved him once from one that tried to catch and deliver him to Valuan. Or kill him.

“We create new land by deforestation. The wood that we gain from this, we can sell. It will bring in enough gold to buy the necessary grain if we have to. It will easily be enough and we will have enough left over to build new houses and buildings.

Ollowyn thought about it. “I have cut down a tree once. Can I help?”

The old man smiled, before he took out an axe. It was forged out of duraksteel. “Of course. Who do you think has to cut down all those trees?”

As Ollowyn grabbed the wooden handle, the old master did not let go.

“But first I will show you a new technique. It is something that Karthan has developed.” The old man had a strangely proud expression on his face as he said that. It was clear how proud it made him if a student of his thought of something new. “It is not the best technique, because it would very often damage your sword too much, though for an axe or a blunt weapon like a mace it would be a very useful technique.”

Ollowyn received the axe and followed his master outside. There was immediately excited whispering as the great Ritto Iordai stepped outside for the first time in many years and was seen by the nearby students. Ollowyn grinned towards a dumbfounded Mephian and waved him with his new axe.

Then the old master jumped up the tall wall of the estate with a single leap. Ollowyn swallowed. It was not as easy as before to climb up there. The wall had been smoothed down properly and was four meters tall now. He flexed his muscles and dashed forward with a quick Korduí, jumped and tried to push himself higher on the slippery wall with his left foot. He barely managed to hook his new axe over the edge and pulled himself up with a rather arduous pull up.

He felt great respect for his old master, that was able to make such a jump with such ease. He was much smaller than Ollowyn and yet it seemed like a casual thing for him. Then he followed Iordai as he dropped to the street on the other side. They walked into the nearby woods casually.

“What is this new technique?” Ollowyn asked impatiently. “How does it work?”

The old man stopped at a small tree and grabbed a solid stick from the forest floor. “Pay close attention, I will explain later.”

Ritto Iordai’s body tensed up. Ollowyn could spot the muscles flex as he felt power radiate from his right body half. No, only from his right arm? It was a entirely different technique from the usual Iordai style. Those usually were techniques that relied on speed and skill.

This technique seemed… brutal. The aura of the old man that usually felt overwhelming, now felt like a giant beast. Incalculable, destructible. Ollowyn stepped back subconsciously. It felt like the old man could snap at him any second now.

Then the old man slammed the wooden stick into the tree trunk. The stick splintered as it impacted solid wood, but the tree did not fare much better. The wood was dented in heavily and the bark was largely gone. It did not look as impressive as Ollowyn had expected. The old master could have also hit the tree ten times in rapid succession to reach the same effect.

He frowned. “Is that all?”

The old master growled at him slightly and Ollowyn stepped back another step. “The possibility to have overwhelming power in a fight can be very often a deciding factor. Especially when you are not fighting with a mace or an axe instead of a katana or sword. With this technique you could break a man’s arm right through the shield.

Ollowyn nodded. “I’m sorry, master. How does this technique work? Does it have a name?”

Ritto Iordai nodded and reached for Ollowyn’s axe. “It is called Arrágatâ.”

Ollowyn memorized the name and gave the old man his axe. He would ask Karthan about it later, when he visited the next time. Come to think of it, there was always good food when he visited Alissa and him. Another reason to do that soon.

“When we use Zenzen, we use our legs to increase the speed of our strike and to let go of said power, thus transferring it. Speed is the main contributor to this technique. Here you use the weight and power of your entire body. You gather as much strength as you can and release it in an instant. It is not as easy as it sounds, but you will have enough practice time soon.

Ollowny observed the next strike of his master as he rammed the axe right through the whole tree trunk and watched as it toppled over. It was not the largest tree, yet to cut it down with a single strike was very impressive still. Then Iordai handed him back his duraksteel axe.

“As you can see, the axe isn't damaged. A common steel axe would surely have dulled a fair bit after this. Just pay close attention to the stalk. If you feel that it is about to break at some point, be careful. You could send the axehead flying otherwise. If it loosens up too much, don't use this technique and let someone repair the axe first.”

Ritto Iordai turned away from the cut-down tree and walked back towards the street. “Come, Ollowyn. We go for a little walk. It feels good to be outside once in a while.”

Ollowyn did as he was told and followed his master. But before they even reached the first house of the village, the old man stopped. He gave Ollowyn a letter and named who he should take it to and made his way back to the clan estate.

Ollowyn eyed the old man thoughtfully for some time. For some reason he did not like to be outside, or to be seen. What was the reason for this? He stood there, thinking about it for a few minutes. Then he continued onwards to the village. With a bit of luck he could grab some breakfast at Alissa’s and Karthan’s house.