Ash turns towards the door without saying another word.
"Come on," She says.
I don’t really say much else as I follow behind her.
With the elder already gone it is just time to follow Ash until we get to whatever spot we might be training at.
Fresh air immediately greets me as we exit from the building. It is a nice change of scenery after being asleep for 7 days... I could use the fresh air.
But I notice the place we’re staying at is surrounded by open fields with mountains stretching into the distance.
I definitely didn’t expect all of this when I came out here but it is nice. Makes me wish my parents could see such a sight instead of being in the village.
After everything that happened seven days ago, the emotions kind of hit me again out of nowhere.
They really are gone. Yet, I am here with no reason to be alive. I didn’t earn this by helping prevent the attack or from saving some of the people.
I guess I am cursed to move forward... Something I don’t believe is fair.
Ash suddenly stops walking and I almost walk right into her before catching myself.
I probably shouldn’t zone out while thinking about all that right now.
She turns around and looks me up and down.
"You really don’t know anything about swordsmanship, do you?" She asks.
"I was supposed to start learning before my..."
My words stop there.
She doesn’t push me to finish so instead, she walks over towards a wooden rack sitting near the edge of the field.
Several practice swords rest against it
She grabs two before tossing one towards me.
Thud.
I stare down at it for a moment before picking it up and honestly it feels lighter than I expected.
"Can you at least swing it?" Ash asks.
"Probably," I answer.
"Probably?" She questions.
She raises an eyebrow.
"That isn’t exactly a confident answer," She continues.
"It is the only answer I’ve got at the moment," I respond.
A small smile appears on her face.
"Well, let’s build up that confidence of yours," She says.
Without another word she lowers herself into a stance and gestures for me to come at her.
"Right now?" I ask with surprised tone in my voice.
"What? Were you expecting something else?" She responds with her own question.
I tighten my grip around the wooden sword.
"No. Just didn’t know we would jump right into it," I say while looking down at the sword.
"Good. Let’s begin then," She replies.
She points her sword towards me.
Without really thinking much about it I begin to rush towards her while beginning to bring the sword down.
Whiff!!!
I swing it right past her as she moves out of the way without any sort of problem. But I don’t let it discourage me, instead I swing it towards her while I’m already towards the ground.
CLACK!!!
She blocks it before I feel a foot kick me away from her.
Pain suddenly jolts through my body for a moment, causing me to lose my breath. The thought of my body not being fully recovered didn’t occur to me.
I cough a few times as she stands there waiting for me.
"I forgot you are still recovering. But just remember that the enemy isn’t going to care if you are hurt or not," Ash says while staring back at me.
She’s definitely right about that.
I force myself to stand back up properly and grip onto my sword once more.
Dash!!!
While rushing towards her I notice that she changes up her stance slightly. She moves one of her legs back and lifts the sword higher, almost like she is pointing it towards me.
JAB!!!!
As I reach her I feel a sharp pain with some pressure hit my shoulder... Yet I don’t let it stop me this time. Instead of letting the pain overwhelm me, I swing my sword down towards her.
The moment it is about to reach she backs up.
"You would’ve been on the cusp of death if that was iron or silver you know. Why did you still continue to swing your sword down?" She asks with curiosity in her voice.
"I was still breathing in that moment. No point in backing down when I can still get an attack in," I answer before dropping the wooden sword.
I begin to cough violently for a few seconds after that.
"Your lesson for today is complete. We will have plenty of opportunities to train but you do still need rest," Ash says as she sheathes the sword.
I’m kind of baffled by the fact that she put away a wooden sword like that but I guess that’s muscle memory. I don’t want to just be done for the day though.
Sleeping for 7 days as my family rots on the ground isn’t exactly the greatest feeling to have. So I can’t keep resting.
I need to get stronger and stronger until I can kill all the dragons...
"Kain?" Ash calls out my name.
"Yeah..." I respond weakly.
"It would probably be best to call it a day for now. You should head back inside," Ash suggests while standing in front of me.
I shake my head.
"Doing that feels wrong. I need to get stronger," I respond while bending down to pick up my sword.
"There will always be another day Kain," Ash says softly.
As soon as I pick up the sword I swing it upward towards her and she immediately backs up.
"Seriously this isn’t smart," Ash continues.
"And I was being serious too. I’m already cursed so I’d like to get strong enough to make it worth while," I reply while gripping the handle of the sword.
I thought I’d feel more sadness about everything that happened but it is turning into anger more than anything. My grip around the handle of the sword is so tight that I swear it could break.
I want to kill the damn dragons.
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