... 5 Years Later...

The Harvest Festival

The clip clop of horse hooves were more frequent than normal and it could only mean one thing. It was the harvest festival. People gathered from all around to take part in special markets and festivities to celebrate the final harvests of the year. Mirio had always been too young to take a close look at what was going on but in his fifth year of life he finally felt like he had at least some control over who he was and the world around him.

I mean sure, he had no skills to speak of and was just like any other kid, but he had started learning how to read and even knew how to count to one hundred.

He jumped up onto a stool and looked out the window.

“The king still hasn’t sorted out the roads, and it has been half a decade, I used to think he might grow into his role, but he as incompetent now as the first day he put on the crown”

“Fortunately, a few adventuring bands help clear the way for the harvest festival or towns like Gimly would’ve be done for”

Mirio “Gimly? Is that the name of our village… Hrmm, interesting”

“So which way did you hail from?”

“I came from the north”

“No way, you came through the misty meadows, you are a brave one”

“Bah, its not so bad, just travel fast and have a few keen eyes with you and it is alright”

“I always come from the southeast myself, by the Galian sea, helps me to avoid the worst of the banditry to the East”

“I guess we all find out ways to keep in business hey?”

“You aren’t wrong”

Mirio “Hrmm, guess those guys are dedicated, travelling to and from the village sounds like trouble”

“Oh look, its the adventuring troop. Hey guys good job on clearing the roads, we appreciate all your help” one of the merchants shouted.

Mirio’s gaze turned to the direction the merchant shouted. Five men in armor glistened in the sunlight, and one woman with a shield and spear on her back. The bright eyed brunette lifted her hand in a casual salute “thanks guys, just doing our part”.

Mirio “wow”

Lady “We are heading on our way to do a demonstration, if you guys want to watch just come to the main square and we’ll show you how we keep those roads safe for ya!”

Mirio leapt up onto the windowsill without thinking, and then plopped down outside into the grass. “Oh, whoops, I guess my dad might get mad if I go running off” he said as looking back inside the house. “Hrmm, if I get in trouble I get in trouble, something about this just shouts that I have to watch”.

Mirio darted out onto the street, the crowd got thick enough that he had to dart between peoples legs in order to keep up with the lady with the spear.

“Huah, hwah, ya!” Mirio sprung and leapt his way through the crowd, until finally the main square opened up before him.

The adventurers began beating their weapons against their shields and armor “attention, attention everyone! Let us show you how we keep ya’ll safe from the monsters and bandits that lurk near this village and the roads to it”

Mirio pushed his way to the front of everyone as they started to form a circle around the adventurers.

The crowd cheered “Yeah! Show us what you’ve got!”

“I the great Yara call forth the blessing of the goddess, to enhance the tip of my blade with the pure light of my devotion, and the burning flame of my passion. Come forth, flames of devotion!”

Ribbons of white light circled around Yara’s spear tip. She thrust it up high above her head and it exploded into a sheathe of white flames.

Yara smirked confidently as one of her men threw a melon high into the air. Yara spun and leapt up from the ground with the grace of a cat, and sliced the melon in two. The white flames seemed to sharpen the blade such that two perfect halves of the melon came apart before crashing back to the ground.

The crowd gasped in astonishment. It seemed to Mirio that each of her moves were precise and powerful in equal measure, her motions were connected by a sense of balance and poise that made them seamlessly flow into each other. It was as if the tip of her spear sang as it cut through the air. And yet, something about it seemed deeply familiar to him, as though he had sensed it before.

The deep voice he had heard when he had come to life, somehow her movements were connected to the gravitas it held. It seemed as if each motion could not escape some form of drag, or distortion… Almost as if her spear tip was splitting reality at its seam, and energy beyond just the white flames were spiralling off from the metal.

Mirio’s eyes reflected the sparkling display of Yara’s spear forms. He wasn’t just watching, but rather was in some kind of a trance, as if part of his own soul moved through her movements. He occasionally turned and twisted his hands and feet to mirror her motions, and connect his body to the feelings of her movement.

“Thank you, thank you!” Yara blurted out at the end of her display taking a deep bow. She began to pull together the copper and silver coins tossed into the circle during her display and put them in a small pouch on her waist with a contented smirk.

Mirio couldn’t take his eyes off of her, and stumbled after her as the adventuring party walked through the market towards the other side of the village. His legs were not very fast so as much as he tried to keep up, eventually Yara and her group disappeared amidst the crowd.

Mirio looked around in order to check where he was, but came to realise he was lost.

His first impulse was to panic, or even to cry, but some part of that deeper feeling still lingered in his body and mind and drove him to persist. He ran ahead into the crowd without looking back determined that if he followed the feeling forwards he might find something important.

After a few minutes of running, he heard the clashing of steel, along with a potent smell of smoke. As he made his way out of the middle of the street, he looked up to see a giant anvil, and towering over it an even larger man holding a large hammer.

“Hyah!” the man grunted as he struck down the hammer. Sparks flew from the red hot iron as he beat it into shape.

Mirio was momentarily stunned, but knew it wasn’t what was creating the clash of steel he heard earlier.

“Yah, yah” he heard sounds off in the distance behind the far wall of the forge. He jumped between different piles of metal and weapons in the forge and made his way to the back. Pushing through a cloth curtain that covered a doorway, he came out the other side into a guard training ring. Several men were clashing swords against each other in heated sparring sessions.

Mirio quickly looked around his surroundings for a quiet shaded spot to watch from where he wouldn’t be easily spotted, and ran to an area in between two bench stands. He sat there and watched on in a trance similar to when he was watching Yara with her spear forms. He put his feeling of his own body into each of the men as they trained, and twitched his arms and feet in the same rhythm as each of the men as they fought.

As hours passed and the sun began to set, Mirio hadn’t noticed time pass at all. The men who were training however were glad to end it and call it quits for the day, all except one.

“Alright men, you are dismissed”

“Woo!”, “Yeah man, nice work today”, “What a workout”, “Bah you guys are slackers I expect you to work harder tomorrow all your forms were sloppy”, “C’mon boss don’t say that”, “Ah alright, just get your rest” “Dereo… You going to train by yourself again? Don’t forget to get some rest before tomorrow”, “You bet boss, just a little more and I’ll head in”.

Mirio “Dereo huh? Let’s see how he trains alone”

Dereo sheathed his sword and stood at attention. He then took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. As he released his breath he let out a harsh “haar” sound, and brought one of his feet back at the same time his front hand moved to his sword hilt on the opposite hip. With one fast moment the blade flicked forwards,and Dereo braced the hilt with his rear hand. His muscles were firm and to some extent resisted his movement as he then raised the sword above his head. He took in another deep breath, and then slowly drew down the sword close to his chest with the tip pointing upwards until it came down to eye level.

He slowly swept his back foot out to the left, and lifted the hilt of the blade up above his head while the tip remained at eye level forming a shape like the letter K. He pushed forward the tip of the blade and then spun, and formed the same stance again but now facing the other way.

Mirio understood somehow that it was a defensive stance used to parry multiple opponents on each side, and that the man was using his breathing to judge timing and control the space between himself and his imaginary opponents. He could feel the purpose of each of Dereo’s moves as if the feeling within each of his limbs was speaking to him somehow. Dereo’s moves seemed incredibly slow to Mirio even as his pace picked up, almost as if he was moving through a thick ocean of dark shadows that couldn’t be seen with the eye.

Mirio “His motion needs to be more pure, to cut through it”. His arms moved in sync with Dereo’s as he imitated each movement, but a small flick at the end of each motion made a crisp snap. “Yes, more like at the end where it snaps… He has to relax his arms more, and then bring it all together in a flick”.

“Hyah, yah yah” Dereo launched a flurry of blows, and then spun to finish the form. He raised the sword, then brought the hilt down to his waist as he had done at the start with the tip at eye level, and then with a flash, spun the sword around and slid it back into the sheath.

Dereo “I still can’t quite get it… I feel too stiff… I guess I’ll just have to try again tomorrow”.

Dereo packed up the last of his things and headed inside the barracks.

Mirio made his way to the curtain at the forge and then peeked inside. The man was still working at the anvil and furnace, so he snuck on by back to the main street. He looked in both directions and remembered the direction back to the square and ran all the way until he was where the show took place. He stopped for a moment as he noticed a fountain in the distance that had earlier been obscured by the crowd.

“That’s the fountain? I guess my parents were stood over there at the time of my first memory…”

Mirio wiped sweat from his brow and looked around to find the direction he had come from to find the main square. There were only two roads leading there from the direction he came, so he followed the one on the left and smiled as he saw the window to his house. He jumped up and grabbed onto the window sill, and struggled as he pulled himself up and over. He plopped back into the house and looked around. His mother was asleep in her room, and his father wasn’t home yet. He went into the kids room.

“Where were you?”

“Uh, I was just nearby, collecting some pebbles”

“Pebbles? Why? That is so weird”

Mirio’s face contorted in discomfort, he didn’t want to tell his brother and sister about where he had really been, he didn’t trust them like that, they were always very quick to judge and to react. While collecting pebbles was an obvious lie it was preferable that they fixate on that lie than mocking and shaming him for telling the truth.

Mirio sat down and pretended to be interested in their game, but deep down felt out of place in his “family” home. He longed to feel that sensation again, that mysterious depth that surrounded warriors as they fought, something about it held the truth about who he really was… He didn’t know why he had such a connection to it but he just did.

…

The next day Mirio approached his father “Dad, I want to learn how to fight”

Barny looked down at his tiny little body with disdain “Bahaha! You, fight! Don’t make me laugh! Scrawny as you are, don’t you know you are sickly like your mother, and you want to fight!? HAHAHA”

Mirio’s eyebrow twitched, not out of humiliation however, but resolve and even anger.

“Oh what is wrong little Mirio, did somebody pick on you, and you want to fight back, is that it? Well too bad, life is getting spat on, learn to live with it, some things you can’t fight back against. And I don’t want you punching and kicking your brother you hear! If you are weak, just accept it and stay out of everyone else’s way!”

Mirio bundled his fist “I will learn how to fight! No matter what!”

“Oh, so you have a spine is that it? More than I expected of you… Tell you what, come back to me in a month with the same resolve and I’ll think about it”

“Okay, I will!”

Barny wandered off murmuring to himself and chuckling “stupid little bastard, he’s too dumb to realise he’ll forget it by then, kids are idiots, haha, hilarious I’ve out done myself I really have, I’ll really enjoy teasing him about losing his resolve later, I will watch his little spirit break ahaha!”.

…

The following days and weeks Mirio jogged down to the militia barracks to watch the guards train. Dereo was always the last to leave, and the hardest worker during the training sessions and Mirio was there for every session from start to finish. He recreated each slash, each step, and each motion in his mind. He was hungry to learn and had no idea whether just visualising training like he was had any real merit or if he would be left behind in the end, so did as much as he could with his effort to make up for it. He was visualising all eight men at once as they trained, and memorising every move they made. Copying the main motions with curves and twists of his arms. His body could not move like theirs because of how small and weak he was, but he could understand the motions well enough that given a bit more time for his body to coordinate itself he could do the moves too.

The training session for the day ended, and Dereo stayed behind as usual. He stood at attention and took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. But instead of pulling back his foot and flipping out the sword from its sheath he breathed out in a heavy sigh.

“You there!”

Mirio froze in place.

“Yes you, the one watching me between the benches”

Mirio pointed his finger at himself “He’s really talking to me, I thought he was too big to notice me…”

“You have come every day to watch us train for almost a month, and you stay even to watch me train by myself. Come on out, let me see what you’ve learned”

Mirio “Really?!” he said while restraining his enthusiasm.

“Hmph, really, come on now”

Dereo looked at Mirio as he emerged from the shadows, “Hmm, he’s really young, doubt he can remember much”

“Okay, do you know how the form goes? Show me how much you know of it”

Mirio “I’ve never tried it before, so it might be off a bit”

“Don’t worry I expect mistakes”

Mirio “Okay, I will try my best”

Dereo “Here take this bit of wood in place of a sword, don’t worry that it isn’t a sword, any great warrior can make do with what he has at hand” he nodded firmly to encourage Mirio.

Mirio grabbed the stick and put it at his waist with his left hand and then stood at attention. He took in a big gulp of air, and then released it in a harsh “har” sound and pulled back his left foot, and slung his right hand to his waist. He drew forth the tip with a whoosh as he breathed out, firming his forearms to brace each motion. He then drew the piece of wood above him, and then brought the hilt down so that the tip was at his eye level. He then kicked out his foot to the side creating a K shape and rotated the hilt above his head, he poked the tip forwards and swung it around him in a large arc “rarrrr” he yelled out, while keeping in mind opponents all around him. He held his breath to control the pace of the potential attackers for a moment, before spinning back the other way and flicking the end of his strike so it could cut through the dark shadow feeling surrounding him. He then stepped forwards with a flurry of strikes, and then pivoted and struck, slashed, pierced, blocked and counter slashed again. He turned to the side and added to each move with a further attack connected to each and then finished with a strong blow. He then spun the piece of wood, and took in a deep breath, and let it out slow as he flicked it back to his waist where he grabbed it with his left hand.

“I-impossible!” Dereo stammered “I can’t believe it… It was flawless”

Dereo came down on one knee in front of Mirio, “You sure have some crazy talent kid, I dare say you pulled that off better than me and I train harder than anyone else here… Hey, what do you say you stop just watching, and next training session you train with us. The boys will laugh at first, but if you just do like you did just now they won’t laugh at you again. And maybe one day you’ll be really strong”.

Mirio smiled “of course! I’ll come and train tomorrow”

Dereo “I’ll have to let the captain know but I don’t see him being against it, I’ll tell him you are my sisters kid or something… I’ll work it out. You just head home for now yeah, and let your parents know”

Mirio looked down, “I’m not sure if my parents should know, I might not be able to train”

Dereo “Ah, I understand… Then no matter what I’ll see you tomorrow then”

Mirio “Mmph! See you tomorrow”

Dereo “Bye”

…

The next day Dereo tapped the captain on the shoulder when Mirio arrived “ah, here he is, he’s been watching us train the past month and he’s pretty good. I promise he won’t get in the way, just take a look at his moves and let him shadow us”

The captain raised and eyebrow “so you are Dereo’s little nephew, huh? Well lets see if you have the same work ethic, join in and follow my orders like everyone else, we won’t be slowing down to help you catch up, and the first time you interrupt our training or slow us down and you are out, do you understand”.

Dereo winked, “just follow along okay”

Mirio “Mhm”

The men all warmed up with air swings, practicing downward strikes, diagonal slashes, and piercing with a forward step. They then joined into groups of two, Dereo took Mirio and one side did an attack and the other deflected by bringing the hilt of the sword to different heights to match the attack while stepping back. Some of the guys turned their heads and prodded each other “Hey, look at the kid, he’s doing pretty well”, “Ha maybe we have a little mascot”.

Captain “shut you idiots, don’t get distracted, do you want to get out worked by a kid”

“No sir!” the men stood at attention and then bowed “We will do better sir!”.

The captain stood back and murmured to himself as he observed Mirio train. It looked as if Mirio had some real grit, and had good movement, if the boy could learn to think and strategise as he grew older he might just become one hell of a fighter despite not having a big frame.

Captain “Okay men, now to do counters! Mirio, don’t worry if you can’t keep up on this one, it is complex to get the timing down”

Mirio “Let me try!”

The captain waved his hand, “as you wish”

The counter required that you first attack, your partner defend while stepping back, and then when they attack you move forward as you defend, and roll your sword around theirs and pierce to the throat.

Dereo did it first, and then Mirio copied but at the last part of the technique he was too short to reach for the throat so he chopped down at Dereo’s hands and knocked the blade flat out of his hand.

The captain’s jaw almost dropped to the floor.

“My god kid! Did you just come up with that on the spot?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t reach the throat, so I just felt the next best spot was to strike his wrists”

Captain “That is remarkable! Please keep coming to training!”

Dereo patted Mirio on the back “Good work, that was really clever, you adapted to your short reach and found a good move even within your limitations, not many can think on the spot like that, you did really well”

Mirio smiled “Yes captain!”

The other men let out a hearty laugh “hahaha! He’s like a little soldier now!”

Each of the men came up to Mirio after training “good work kid, keep it up”

Dereo “you did pretty good today, even though you had to do it with a stick, let’s go to the smith and get him to make you a training sword”

Mirio “Really?!”

Dereo “Yes, really!”

Some time passed as Dereo explained the situation to the smith. At first the smith was surprised, and then he became amused “Sure I can make it to scale for the little fella, but I’ll round the tip and avoid bevelling the edges so he can’t possibly cut himself, I’ll have it done by practice tomorrow”.

Dereo “its all set up, when you come by tomorrow ask the smith for the sword okay?”

Mirio “Okay I will come early tomorrow and get the sword!”

…

Mirio ran to training with an extra pep in his step, he was attracted to the blacksmith like a magnet from the distance and closed in on it like a hungry wolf.

“Oh there you are little Mirio, you’ve been the talk of the whole guard recently, everyone expects big things from you, and here, I have a gift… Your very first sword!”

Mirio awed at the sword as the smith placed it in his hands.

“Always keep it in its sheath unless cleaning it or intending to do someone harm, or to practice of course. Never become complacent, always remember that the cutting edge kills, and do not use it to threaten or provoke, only ever draw it with the resolve of a killing blow. Remember that okay”

Mirio slid the sword out of the sheath and looked at it, it even had an inscription of his name up the blade. “Wow, you are really talented! Thank you so much! I will treasure it”

“You honor me kid, now head out to train with the rest of them, I’m rooting for you”

Mirio ran out to the practice arena and practiced the sword form he had learned off of Dereo while he waited for others to arrive.

Captain “is that Mirio out there, his moves are crisp and fast, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid that young move quite like that”.

A young soldier about 16 years of age ran out towards him, “hey there! You are training already, I can see why everyone is making such a fuss about you, but save some of that enthusiasm for training”

Mirio “No, I am okay, I won’t run out of enthusiasm trust me, I have too much to learn”

Dereo “Hey Mirio, I see you have met my nephew Carlson, after hearing all the fuss yesterday I think he got a little jealous and decided to start training again”

Carlson “I’m not jealous, it was just inspiring to hear about a little guy trying so hard was all, made me feel like I was being lazy”

Dereo “Well, I’m glad you came, we need more guards around here”

Carlson “Yeah! Haha, you guys really are desperate for recruits, even scooping up Mirio here, how old is he, like five?”

Dereo “It isn’t age that counts Carlson, its the spirit with which you train. Don’t listen to him Mirio”

Carlson “We know why the guards fight for a living, Mirio, but what about you, why do you want to learn to fight? Do you have a bully or something?”

Mirio “Not a bully exactly… But there is something I feel uneasy about I guess”

Carlson “Oh really, and what is that”

Mirio “It is hard to explain, kind of like a shadow, or an emptiness maybe… It makes me feel uneasy, like there is something waiting out there ready to hurt everybody”

Carlson “Haha! Listen to you, I didn’t know a five year old could say something so ominous, did your mother tell you a scary bedtime story?”

Mirio “... My mother is sick… And my father doesn’t read stories… So no… It is just something I feel in my bones… And I have to learn to protect people from it, I don’t know what it is, but it scares me, I think it is connected to why I am here”

Carson “Oh, sorry to hear about your mother”

Dereo “I think that whatever your reason Mirio you are making the right choice, a man who is strong enough to fight, can protect those he loves, and before long everyone you love will be safe with you around”

Mirio smiled “Yeah!”

…

Mirio hopped in through the window, but unlike all the other times he had gone to training and come back home, there was now a large figure standing by the living room table.

“Where have you been?”

Mirio “It has been a month, I want to learn to fight! You said I could if I asked again with the same passion!”

Barny “So you have been off fighting have you… That is… Unexpected… But you fail to realise they cannot teach you much at the guard, I know more than those fools ever will. You should have come to me and only me”

Mirio was in shock, what could Barny possibly know that the guard did not.

“Come out the back my boy and I will show you some moves I picked up over the years”

Mirio followed Barny to the yard where he signalled for him to sit down and observe.

He squatted in place and stayed there for a minute or two. “This right here is to train your legs, you squat until it starts to hurt, and when it hurts you just keep doing it. Because pain is just in your head, learn to ignore it and focus on your aim instead”

Barny then stood up and shook off his legs, and then cracked his neck side to side, before half squatting and sticking out his butt in some kind of fighting stance. Now come and punch at me.

Mirio stood up and moved over to him and threw a slow and half hearted punch.

*fwip*

Barny twisted his wrist in a fast flicking motion, “Notice I did not move far, only half an inch to block. This is the next lesson, never move further than you need to. If you can do something in a simpler or smaller motion, then do it that way. Efficiency is everything”

Mirio didn’t know what was more disturbing, how ugly Barny’s stance was, or the fact that his advice seemed to actually be useful. He scratched his head.

“Now the next lesson, imagine someone comes to strangle you, how do you get their hands off you… Keeping in mind I am much bigger than you”. Barny lifted his pinky finger and wiggled it, “Grab it with your whole hand, putting your thumb behind it like a lever, your whole arm is stronger than my finger, if you slam it back you will break it. Always attack the weakest spot in your opponent’s attack, it will force him to retreat to protect it”.

Mirio looked at Barny and his crooked smile and was truly confused that he had given three points and not one of them was wrong yet… He must have stolen them from someone surely.

“And for the last lesson, never fight angry, you are easy to predict, fight with a cooler head than your opponent and you will predict him better. And if you are really good, provoke your opponent into predictable attacks, and then wham kick him in the balls, throw sand in his eyes, or push him onto rocks or other hazards. Don’t fight angry, fight with cunning, no matter how dirty it gets, win!”

Mirio’s jaw dropped, these ideas weren’t just stolen, they were probably from the manual of some degenerate bandit.

Barny lifted his chin with pride, “and now you have these secret weapons, I shall permit you to learn to fight with the guard, but only on one condition. NEVER strike your brother. Do that even once and it is the end for you, understood”

Mirio “Okay, you have my word”