Milos waited. It wouldn’t be long before the rabbits he was hunting returned to their den, and he was on top of it, standing on the branch of a tree in total silence, his claws sharp as ever. Suddenly, three rabbits appeared from behind a bush and headed for the den’s entrance. They hadn’t noticed him yet, so they approached carelessly.

The moment they were directly below him, Milos jumped on top of them, killing one instantly and beheading the head of the other with a single swipe. The third rabbit stood frozen in fear and Milos didn’t give it any time to recover. It was an easy encounter. A successful one. He savored it. And he relished in the hunt.

As he was triumphantly returning to their camp for the night, Milos could hear the sound of Vreil’s sword striking Ashter’s wooden shield. In the three days they’d been traveling, Vreil was constantly undergoing sword training while he was not riding his horse, and muscle empowering exercises while riding it. Right now, he was trying to get past Ashter’s defense. The old wizard was only using a wooden shield to block Vreil’s attacks, and yet that seemed like a rock wall to Vreil.

“I’m back”, Milos announced when he arrived at the camp.

“Oh great”, replied Ashter, taking his eyes off Vreil while still blocking the young man’s attacks. “Did you bring the food?”

“Of course I did. Don’t underestimate the wolf, old man.”

“Hahaha, I am sorry. But you see, your friend here is not even trying. I could defeat him with my eyes closed and using only my left hand.”

“I AM trying”, growled Vreil, frustrated and sweating all over, swinging like a madman.

“Then why can I block your attacks without even looking? You should just go be a farmer”, Ashter taunted.

“Don’t mind him, Vreil. He's just trying to provoke you”, Milos laughed, trying to comfort Vreil. “I think that since this is your first time using a sword, you are doing pretty well.”

“Okay, practice is over, time to eat and regain our strength”, responded Ashter. “Milos got us some rabbits.”

“How can you be so strong?!” Vreil asked, panting as he took a seat next to the campfire. “You are like, a hundred years old, let alone not being a warrior. Are you really not using any magic?”

“Hmph, if you really intend to protect anyone, you will have to face much tougher people than me. The sooner you realize how weak you currently are, the better. Now eat up, you have one more thing to do after food.”

The three cooked and devoured two whole rabbits, saving the last one for the next meal. Vreil was exhausted, and frustrated at his inability to get past a single old man, but he had to admit one thing; exercise made the food taste better. Much better.

They chatter merrily as they ate; they’d been traveling together for some time, and the three men had gotten used to each other. Ashter shared with them stories and legends of old times, of dragons and giants from the second age, and of the sand people from the fifth.

They did not believe those stories, of course; sand people. Who’d thought of that?!

After they had cooked and eaten the rabbits, Ashter stood up suspicously energetically, dusting off the hems of his robes.

“Get up, both of you. I want to see which of you is the strongest”, he declared.

“What? I have to fight Milos?” Vreil protested. “What if we hurt each other?”

“Do not be so scared, Vreil. I will use magic to protect you if Milos gets too close. And I will do the same for him too if you manage to land a hit. In short, you can both go all out, I will make sure no one gets hurt”, the wizard assured them, wiggling his fingers, and a shield-shaped patch of iron suddenly appearing between his hands.

“I’m not scared”, Vreil mumbled.

Milos had a feeling this would happen. He too had wanted to pit his strength against an Arknas, ever since they explained to him what Vreil was. He calmly stood up and changed to his wolf form, while Vreil grabbed his sword from where he had left it on the grass.

For a while, they stood and stared at each other, prepared to give it their all. Milos attacked first. Vreil stepped back as the air in front of his face was split by sharp claws and tried to slash back with his sword, but the werewolf had already gotten away.

He is faster than me and he has two weapons, three if I include his fangs, Vreil calculated. I only have one weapon, but my range is longer. That is where I can beat him. At the end of my range. If he gets past that, I’m dead.

In Vreil’s life so far, his only weapon had been his mind, so he decided to use it.

Milos attacked again, but this time Vreil was ready. As the boy entered his range, he swiftly moved the sword towards the wolf’s head but Milos managed to duck in time, barely dodging the blade. His confidence was hurt though, and now the two opponents were on even grounds.

Milos decided to be more careful around Vreil’s sword. He was much faster so, for now, he would just dodge attacks until he found an opening.

This time, Vreil was the one to attack. He slashed at Milos but the boy dodged it easily. He continued to attack and Milos was forced to step back, again and again and again. Vreil had never been taught the correct way to move with a sword, but his movements were better than one would expect from an amateur.

Ashter noticed that the correct paths of attack came naturally to Vreil, and he executed them without too many unnecessary movements, leaving openings too small for someone with Milos’ little experience and range.

As his attacks came one after another, Vreil’s movements became even sharper and faster, his sword became an extension of his hand, and now Milos could only barely dodge even though Vreil’s movements were predictable.

Vreil had never experienced anything like this in his whole life. His pupils had dilated to almost dots and his concentration was razor-sharp, his awareness absolute.

He had become one with his sword, moving at an incredible speed. He was aware of his surroundings and could tell in which direction Milos would dodge before he actually dodged. If it weren’t for the werewolf’s extraordinary speed, this match would have been long over.

As his barrage of attacks continued, Vreil’s eyes momentarily crossed Milos’. He realized he was just moving mindlessly, just following his sword’s momentum after every movement. What he lacked was not speed, it was unpredictability. I got him, he thought.

His next attack was a swipe aimed at Milos’ head, or so it seemed. At the last moment, he stepped forward with his left foot and twisted his body so that instead of cutting through his opponent's throat from left to right, his attack’s course was now a stab in a straight line from Vreil’s chest to Milos’ nose.

The boy didn’t see that coming quick enough. As a last resort, he fell back and landed on his ass. But then Vreil got careless. Sure of his superiority, he slowly tried to approach his sword to Milos’ throat to claim victory.

It was to his surprise, then, that Milos kicked Vreil’s sword off his hand and quickly jumped on him, with the sharp tip of his claws pressing against the man’s throat.

“Let this be a lesson to you, Vreil”, declared Ashter from the side. “Never underestimate your opponent, even if they lie at your feet. Only relax when they are dead, and sometimes not even then. If this was a real battle, you would have died a stupid death.”

“But now you can both see what it is that you lack. Vreil, if you had been faster or more unpredictable, Milos would have been unable to dodge all of your attacks. To increase your speed, you must train your muscles. Also, you relied on your weapon’s momentum to transition from each movement to the next. That seems smart, but you will not always be fighting inexperienced opponents. It does not matter how fast or strong you are if your opponent can read you like an open book.

Milos, what you lack is strength and experience. Your claws and fangs are not suited for straightforward fighting, but for ambushes, deadly, singular strikes. If push comes to shove though, you must have a way to stop your opponent’s weapon. Just dodging is not enough, unless you improve your speed to such a degree that you can slip through your opponent’s guard mid-swing. But besides those,” he concluded, smiling genuinely, “it was a very good match. Congratulations! To both of you. Now get some rest. We ride at dawn.”

“Yes, Ashter”, replied the two young men as one, quickly lying down with sweat still dripping off of them.

But still, Ashter mused to himself as he kept watch, chewing on his pipe and letting out small smoke animals which flew around their camp, that boy’s potential is terrifying. He might already be stronger than me if I really do not use magic. Arknas really are amazing.

And Milos too… A Transformational, all the way out here…

To meet them both is too much of a coincidence. What are you planning for us, oh fate?...