The Spiritguard

Kael and I bump into Mira on our way down to the training field, where we are going to be spending our day today. The Spiritguard Training Program involves a day of lecture, followed by a day of physical training. It's a nice setup and it is good for the people that overwork themselves and need a rest. They told us in the second half of the training, during year 2, we'd be doing a lot more physical exercises, but right now the most important thing is to batter us with information until our brains are sorer than our bodies.

 "Hey you two!" Mira says as she sees us stepping out of the barracks. I have no idea how she discovered us so quickly, but I go along with it. "Sigmund and Kael! My two buddies! So are you guys excited for today?"

 Kael scratches his head. "Um…well, I'm a little bit nervous," he says. "I've never really been much of a fighter. Sigmund, though…he's really good."

 Mira pouts. "Don't worry, Kael! I'm not very good either. I actually haven't ever really tried, so I don't know if I'm good or not. I'll give it my best, though! Sigmund, you're a fighter? I would've never guessed! I mean, you're not tiny, but you look a little on the scrawny side."

 I flash a menacing look in Mira's direction, but she doesn't notice it. Who's she calling scrawny? Anyway, it doesn't matter. Kael actually said something to her unprovoked. This is good for him, getting in some socialization.

 "I've practiced with Sigmund a few times, but I never really got anywhere," Kael reflects back on the good old days, where I tried to teach him how to do a few basic sword moves I learned from my father. The first time he tried to do a thrust with Crossed Heart, he toppled over from the weight of the blade. Back then, that sword had to be held in two hands by us just to use it. Nowadays I can wield it one-handed with ease.

 It wasn't dangerous training, by any means. We always kept the sheath on the blade so nobody would accidentally cut themselves in half, or anything.

 "So did you guys meet any cool, interesting people yesterday? Besides me of course!" she giggles.

 Kael nods and takes the conversation into his own hands. I don't mind listening to them talk. I'm a bit antisocial myself, so this is right up my alley.

 "We met a guy named Marc, he's a tall—"

 "Oh, Marc!" Mira squeals. "Did you know he's from Greenwald Village, just like me!? I never really knew him personally, but I'd seen him around a ton of times. My older sister was friends with one of his brothers. Did you know that Marc's entire family is Spiritguards? It's crazy! His mom and dad met in training, and all of his four older brothers came and became Spiritguards too!"

 "No, we didn't talk to him much, we met him pretty late last night," Kael explains.

 "Aw, bummer! Well, hopefully I see him again today. I talked to him before lecture yesterday and he seemed like a really nice guy! So, anyone else?"

 "No, actually," Kael admits. He's thinking 'Sigmund has a crappy personality and I'm shy', but he doesn't say it.

 "Oh, well this will be fun! Let me introduce you to everyone. You see that guy over there?" she says, pointing at someone walking a bit ahead of us. I don't see his face, but he's a pretty big and tall blond guy. "That's Walt, I don't remember his last name. Ringham? Ringman? Anyway, that doesn't matter. He's seventeen, if you can believe it. He's the oldest trainee here. Apparently he was a blacksmith but he decided to not follow in his father's footsteps and join the Spiritguard. That's probably why he's so big and tough, huh? Being a blacksmith for your whole life is tough work! He probably knows how to use swords, too, because I bet he made a few." I think Mira will be good at fighting. Her lung capacity is awe-inspiring.

 Mira scans the group of people walking around us and introduces a few more. I don't really listen, because most of these people I've never seen before. She points out Lance, though, and I listen to what she has to say about him. "That's Lance," she starts. "He's from here in Arcona Village. Do you two know him?"

 "Sort of," I say bitterly. I don't think she senses the hatred in my voice. She doesn't ever seem to sense the hatred.

 "He's sooo weird, though! Like, not in a bad way, because he's actually super-duper nice, but he always seems like he's bothered by something. I tried asking him what was up with him, but he didn't tell me! Do you guys know?"

 "Maybe he's haunted by the ghosts of his past," I scoff.

 "Maybe! Oh, that girl there, you see her? With the long yellow hair? That's Kavella!"

 I look over to where she is pointing, and for the third time in my life I spot the mysterious girl. She's just as much of a people person as I am, it seems like, which is to say she's not much of a people person at all.

 "She said she's from a village to the north, but she didn't give me any other hints. She's so mysterious! What do you guys think? Isn't she pretty?"

 I open up my mouth to speak as I continue to stare in Kavella's direction. "Yeah, she is," I say gently. "So she hasn't told you anything about herself? I talked to her on Commencement Day, but…we only really exchanged a few words. Kael and I, we talked to her."

 "She seems to have a lot on her mind," Mira says pensively. "I mean, I can't blame her. We all have our reasons for coming here. I guess her reasons are a little more serious than the rest of ours, huh?" Interesting point, Mira. Interesting point.

 We arrive at the training field and our Instructor Mark Copper is standing there, next to an aluminum bin. The bin is stuffed with wooden swords, and it's on a little pair of wheels. We all gather around him, and at eight sharp, he starts to talk.

 "These are wooden swords, and they're the most dangerous things we're going to put into your hand for several months. We don't need anyone killing themselves yet. Our goal today is to take these swords, and get a feel for them. We're not going all-out today, we just want you to get used to how it feels to wield a weapon. I'll be walking around to give you all tips, and to check in on your progress. If I see anyone slacking off, I'll make them spar with me. He taps his side, and I notice there's a very real sword clipped to his belt. "I'll be using this."

 Before we were allowed to take the swords, he made us all run around the gigantic field once, and then had us all get into rows and do twenty push-ups. Those who couldn't do twenty in one go, which was most of us (not me!) were allowed to take breaks and keep going until they got to the twenty. It was one girl who was only able to do about three at a time that held us all up, and when she was the only person still down in the dirt, we all just sort of stared at her.

 After the push-ups, he made us all do sit-ups. When we were too tired to do any more sit-ups, we were made to stand in a line. When the final person finished, he went up to the front of that line. The people at the front of the line got to pick their weapons first, and those in the back had to pick last. This was a fairly big deal, because some of the swords were in good condition, and some weren't. There were also a few wooden staves and bucklers (shields) to practice with, but since there were very few of them only the kids who were up front got them. Personally, I was twelfth to pick. There were nine guys and two girls that did better than me. I wasn't worried about that, though. I wasn't as muscular as a lot of the people here, but I was tougher when it came to battling. I don't need to be that muscular. I'm scrappy!

 I give the wooden sword a few practice swings as I test out how it feels in my hand. It's a little too clunky for me, but I looked over all of the swords in the can and it was probably the best one. I noticed one of the swords was broken in half, and another was covered in splinters. I feel sorry for the people that had to use those.

 The Instructor started walking around once everyone got their weaponry and was demonstrating a few basic steps with his own sword. What he was teaching them was elementary, and it was all stuff I knew. I was twirling my sword around and performing maneuvers that far surpassed what our Instructor was doing, hoping someone would take notice of my amazing skills.

 Someone did take notice, and they walked over. I look over and notice that it is Kavella. She's one of the two girls that outperformed me just a few minutes ago, but I see her and she's holding the sword like a limp noodle.

 "Hey," she says quietly.

 "Hey, Kavella," I smile. "What's up?" I do a flourish with my sword, and a risky one at that, because I throw the sword up in the air after a few swings and I catch it behind my back.

 She holds up the sword and shows it to me like it is a wounded animal. "I've never used one of these before," she says. "Can you help me?"

 I nod. "Sure thing. First off, try to hold it more like this…" I hold out my hand and show her how I am gripping the handle of the wooden sword. "Actually, you have really small hands, don't you?"

 I look from her hand to mine. "Okay. You're going to want to hold the sword like this," I show her, adjusting my grip. "Like it's a big hammer."

 I go about teaching Kavella how to hold the sword, and after a little while she's found a position where it is comfortable in her hands. She gives it a few swings and seems like she's satisfied with what she learned.

 "Do you want to try to do a practice fight?" I ask her. I've never actually tried to fight against anyone with a sword before, but I've thought about it and theorized about it a ton. I think I know what to do.

 "Okay," she says quietly. She braces the sword in her hand and nods. "Ready when you are."

 "Ready," I say, and she moves in quickly.

Kavella's footsteps are more grounded and fluid than I thought they would be, and she seems to have excellent control over her body. She moves like air through the space between us, but when it comes to her sword strike, she's swinging it too haphazardly. It's like someone trying to sledgehammer a wall. Because it's so inaccurate and has so much power behind it, I use my own sword to deflect hers out of the way and then let the wooden blade slide up the length of her right arm until it's pressed right up against her neck.

 "That's how you win," I grin. We have a few more rounds, and each time I can see her strikes becoming a little more controlled and deadly. The last time we spar, we cross swords about four times before I'm able to get into a winning position. As is standard with a duel, I never actually strike her body with the sword, nor does she hit mine. I simply hold the sword when I have her in a position that, had this been a real fight, would have ended in her being harmed.

 After a few fights, we've generated a small crowd, and people are asking me to teach them. I love the attention, honestly, and I start doing my best to show everyone the proper sword techniques. I show them all of the different slashes, thrusts, and maneuvers. They are techniques that I learned from my father, and also techniques that I have made up myself as I learned to fight with a sword.

 In a normal sword fight, positioning the blade strategically and countering the opponent is paramount. Since our techniques are designed to fight against Spirits, though, we operate a little differently. Almost always, a Spirit will not have any weapon to counter us with, so we have to learn how to use a blade to cut as hard and as accurately as possible, not learn how to parry and feint. Of course…all of my training has been in swordplay, and learning how to finely and accurately use a blade. I'm able to use it well enough that I probably don't even need a shield. My skills with a sword are just as much offensive as they are defensive.

 I get a few people to challenge me to a duel, all guys. Some of these guys are big and intimidating, and a lot of them look like they'd know their way around a sword. I beat every single one of them though, effortlessly. I love that everyone is seeing how good I am out here. I won't be a star in the classroom, that's for sure, so if I can be a star out here then I'm happy. Kael, Mira, and Marc are all around me right now, asking me for advice, and Kavella is standing at my side. I can tell she's thinking about all of the tips I shared with her, and she's replaying through all of my duels so that she can learn and develop her unique fighting technique.

 The Instructor is looking over too, but he only seems mildly interested. He announced that he was going to stay by the aluminum can, and that if anyone needed help, to go to him and ask. He's probably glad I'm helping everyone out because that means less work for him.

 After I teach Mira, Marc, and Kael a few things, a new challenger steps up to duel. It's Lance, of all people.

 "Sigmund!" he calls out and moves into the circle of people. "If you think you're so good, how about we spar?"

 I turn to Lance. I've wanted this moment to come for a very long time. A chance to show Lance that I'm better at something than him. A chance to show him the same level of hopelessness that I had back when he used to beat me up. "I'm ready when you are."

 "Ready," he growls, and he comes at me with a wild swing.

 Normally, a swing like that would have been a piece of cake, but Lance is incredibly fast and strong. The blade whips right at my head, and it doesn't seem like he has any sort of hesitation whatsoever. I hold the wooden blade up above my head and duck, and then use his own momentum against him and knock his body forward. Then I slide out from under him and get behind him on the left side, and use my right arm to swing my blade as I pass him. I feel it strike his back and the momentum he still has from moving forward makes him fall to his knees.

 "Easy," I say, because I have clearly won the duel and showed Lance what he's dealing with. There's a light cheer from the crowd and I look back down at Lance. He turns to face me, and I sort of expect him to give me a death stare. He doesn't, though. The look he gives me is one of sadness.

 "Good job, Sigmund," he murmurs despondently. Am I supposed to feel bad? Because I don't.

 "Hey, you!" cries a voice from the crowd. A girl walks out of the crowd holding a sword and winks at me. "You think you're tough?"

 This is the girl who was in class yesterday, the one with the light blue hair that was obviously dyed. She was the one who was giving off explosive energy in the room, and now that I see her face, I know why.

 Her skin is dark, a rich olive color, and smooth. Her eyes are the same icy blue as her hair. She's got fake eyelashes on or something because her eyes really stick out. She's also wearing a bit of eye shadow.

 She shakes her head and her semi-short hair whips around her face. I notice her extremely thin and long braid behind her flies around when she does this as well. All of the guys around fall for it. I won't deny it, she's extraordinarily beautiful…and I remember yesterday, her voice practically had all of the guys on their knees. There's no doubt in my mind that this woman is beautiful. And dangerous.

 She's about the same height as me, and she looks tough. When we were doing the sit-ups, she was the very last person remaining. As such, she got the first pick at the weapons. That means she's not only beautiful, but she's also strong.

 The girl looks at me with all the strength and confidence anyone could ever have. "How about sparring with me next?"

 I was about to say no because she's a girl, but then I glance over at Kavella. "Sure thing," I say.

 "Well then, let's go!" she charges me, just like Lance did. When she swings her sword, though, it's on an entirely different level. This girl has used swords before, I'm certain of it. I barely block her attack and then parry her second, and then launch my own offense at her lower back, which seems open.

 She twists her body forward to evade my strike and then comes crashing down from about with her wooden sword. I dive out of the way and roll across the dirt field. I quickly scramble to my feet and I prepare for her next attack.

 She has a wide reach, and she swings to my left. Since I'm right-handed, I have to reach my blade around my body to block it. At the last second, before our wooden swords connect, she whips the blade in the other direction and catches me right in the rib with her sword.

 "I win," she sticks her tongue out and walks away. I think back to the battle. She…beat me. I'm not the best here anymore.

 All of the guys in the crowd suddenly lose interest in me and start cheering her on as they follow her away. I feel a bit bad about the whole situation, but I put it behind me.

 "Who is that girl?" I say to Mira and the others as I watch her walk away. I was right when I thought of her as dangerous, that's for sure. She could lure any man into a death trap, I'm sure. When looks like that and skills like that come together, you get one nasty combo.

 "That's Natalia!" Mira announces. "She's from Villet Village, and she's, uh…she's a fisherwoman I think! She told me that she never used a sword before, just a little while ago, but she knows how to use a harpoon, so she said it wouldn't be too hard to learn how to fight. She's really good, huh!?"

 "She's amazing," I am stunned by her skills. And if what Mira said is true, that means I was just beaten by someone who just barely learned how to use a sword. If that's the case, I'm not as good as I thought. I still have a lot of learning to do…

 "Talk about a real femme fatale," Kael laughs. "That girl is something."

 "What's a femme fatale?" I ask, although I should probably already know this.

 "Oh," he smiles. "It means a dangerous woman. Basically, she's charming, she's sexy, and she's a natural-born killer." I've never heard Kael call a woman sexy before today. Everything I know feels like it's been shattered in a single instant…okay, maybe I'm being dramatic.

 I look back over to her. "Sounds about right."