Chapter 8: Eliminating the doubts

I didn't have time to react...the swing came at me so fast that I knew it was going to hit me. The pain to follow was immense...

"Get up Mizuki...I didn't hit you that hard." Alna stood over me as I took to one knee after her blow. 

"Still hurt..." I said finally rising to my feet. Alna just shook her head and readied her weapon, a giant stick she found on the floor.

After we had finished eating, Alna left for a bit and when she returned, two large sticks were in each of her hands. She tossed me one, which I barely caught and held on to the other for herself. 

"This is what we will be training with." Alna held her stick out like it was a majestic sword. 

"Sticks?" I held out mine like it was a feeble weapon that would break if I coughed on it. 

"Yes, here's something I realized. While we could train with our actual weapons it won't help you get better as a fighter. Your sword already seems to be able to block any attack automatically but that is the sword doing it...not you. I want to see how you can fight without that sword."

 It made sense. The memories that flooded in me when I originally took ownership of the sword I think had a lot to do with me being able to block like I did. I had wondered was that the only reason I could block so well? Or did something else occur when I gained that katana as my weapon? Did those strange memoires have something to do with my ability?

"Alright...bring it on Alna!" I held my sword properly as if I was holding a shinai and not just a fallen tree branch. 

"Make the first move." Alna made a hand gesture to hit her first. I debated it for a moment but then strangely launched forward. She blocked my initial attack effortlessly, the force of the blow made me feel muscles I hadn't used in a while but I continued on. I took more swings and she continued to block, occasionally swinging to push me back. It dawned on me, that sword gave me something I know I lacked before...technique. 

When I was younger, I trained in Kendo very briefly but that shouldn't explain these movements. I was swinging the stick as if I knew how to use a sword properly. Yet why then when I tried swinging the katana the other day it didn't seem to listen? What was I missing? 

"Pay attention!" Alna screamed as she launched an attack my way. That was when we return to me being on a knee and feeling pain...

As I attempted to stand again, Alna was on top of me in a second. 

"No resting!" She went in for a strike but somehow I put my stick up just in time to block the overhead attack. The stick made a slight breaking sound but it was still in tact. I could see that maybe the auto defense of the sword wasn't all just from the sword itself. No...I think I somehow inherited the skills of the past warrior to use it.

I rose to my feet as Alna backed off and finally went on the offense, taking a swing but this time beleiving in my own skill. Sure enough, the stick went forward and Alna tried to block. However, I knew...somehow I knew...she was going to block and I changed the swing to a stab. It connected pushing Alna back as she made a muffled groan. 

"Ouch..." Alna said as she rubbed the area the pierce attack landed. 

"Sorry." I did mean it but equally I was smiling internally. Maybe I could do this and be a hero...a few more hits from Alna reminded me not to let my ego win. I was far from being a hero. 

The training went on for another hour...by the end of it I was completely soaked in sweat and unable to move much. Alna on the other hand was cleaning up our makeshift camp and looking at the path ahead of us. I think I was beginning to learn why she was considered a good hunter/protector.

Despite the ache in...my everything, we did indeed keep moving following the outline of the river. I occasionally found myself surveying the lands like a gamer inside the popular gaming store in Shibuya. Alna occasionally would notice my intrigue and point out various objects and things to clue me in on them. 

Another day of traveling and another night befell us. Alna once more took to cooking while I grabbed us sticks and kindle for the fire. I also grabbed some water from the river, probably because of my dire thirst, our supply was already dwindling.

That night, Alna and I sat there for hours trading stories about our lives. I learned her favorite hobby was to write even though she claimed she was terrible at it and I told her some of the things I did in Japan. She was very curious about public transportation, I guess that makes sense. Going from walking miles to taking a train that can bring you to a nearby stop in just minutes was truly outrageous to her. It was nice getting to know Alna more though. I wasn't much of a talker back home but here I found someone who wanted to hear me speak and was willing to listen. 

"Mizuki?"

"What's up?" I drank from our new supply of water.

"Are you mated in your world?" I immediately spit out my water like a terrible gag from almost every anime ever made. I guess those scenes had some validity to them. 

"Mated?!" I coughed a bit still chocking a bit. 

"Well yes...you know have someone that is bound to you for life. In our world we call it Mated. You fall in love, confess your feelings and then are bound to them forever." Alna shifted her feet a bit. Was this one of those romance moments from almost every manga and anime I've absorbed?! Did Alna have romantic feelings for me? It seemed so cliché but I did notice she kept having a flustered face when we got closer or if she had to be very close to me. We still didn't know much about one another though...

"No...I'm single. I've only ever had one girlfriend in my life. Her name was Cynthia. She was a foreign...from another far off land. We were together as boyfriend/girlfriend for a few years but eventually we broke apart. Not because we were bad together though...she had to move to another...land...and I couldn't follow." I knew I had to simplify my answer for Alna to understand. Cynthia was a foreign exchange student from American who came to Japan for a few years. We got together in high school but when college was about to start she left to go back to America. 

"That's sad...why couldn't you follow her?"

"Back then, I was too young. I had too much holding me back and I couldn't afford to follow her to her land. It pained me but she moved on. I heard she...mated...someone in her land and is expecting a kid already." We kept in contact despite our break up but I won't lie, it always hurt to see her move on while I stagnated thanks to work and my own personal fears.

"I see...I was just curious." Alna said and then looked back at the moon abruptly. 

"It's beautiful isn't it?" I said looking up as well. Tryin g to change the subject. This was indeed such a cliché move...

"Yes...it truly is." Alna and me went to sleep shortly after. Both of us were quiet but deep down thinking the same embarrassing things. 

The next day was like a repeat of the last. We trained after a quick breakfast. Once more we used sticks and not our actual weapons. However, today I held my own a lot better than the last and quickly discovered I was able to overpower Alna if I tried hard. 

"You are excelling so quickly Mizuki." Alna said wiping her brow. 

"I have a great teacher." I played cool but was once more exhausted and felt like laying down in the cool water. 

"No...I think that because you're the hero, you are able to adapt faster maybe. That or the sword gave you special talents that give you an understanding of how to fight...no one should be able to already match me in two days." 

"I was thinking the latter as well Alna. When I held that sword...the feeling that overcame me was like I had absorbed another person's life and talents. I don't know anything about them but I know how they moved and how they fought." I pulled out the katana and unsheathed it. Despite its clear age and wear, it shined in the sunlight almost majestically. 

"This weapon...it was indeed what I needed to be closer to becoming the hero." I re-sheathed the katana and watched it vanish from sight, knowing I could easily summon it when the time came.  

I'll skip ahead a bit. We walked, camped, trained, walked and then camped again for a few more nights. It wasn't the most exciting adventure but it was very freeing. As someone use to going to work 5-6 days a week and doing the same monotonous tasks day in and day out, this wasn't the same. I actually enjoyed training and talking with Alna about random things. Yet our adventure together would change quite soon.

 After several long travel days two things happened.

The first is we could see the mountains closer than before and we saw the dragon sleeping. It wasn't on the top of the mountains like some cool book cover but laying directly in the front of them. I was a bit surprised but maybe it was so confident it could best any foe out there that it didn't need cover. I looked at it's terrifying form. It was dark red, almost the color of blood and it was quite large. As it snored, smoke plumes rose from its nostrils and closed mouth. I think the sight of the dragon solidified me in realizing I wasn't in Japan anymore...

We scanned the lower areas of the mountains looking for a hidden entrance that could house our third party member, the hero before me, but found nothing. 

"There's still a good day or two of walking around the mountain so we can't give up hope just yet." Alna said as we sat down on some nearby tree stumps. 

"Yeah, he has to be here...but is it possible he left when the dragon arrived?" I wondered out loud.

"I doubt it. A dragon won't kill a human/thing for no reason or harm them. Even if its nesting it won't do that."

"Yeah but remember that fire storm it launched a few days ago?" I still shuddered remembering that scene. 

"Yes but that is for a different reason. It's like to mark its territory for other dragons and entities who want to challenge it. The fire wasn't meant to hit us, just bad timing we were in the vicinity." Alna explained.

Where was the hero that shirked his mission and hid away in these small mountains? I wanted to know but then it dawned on me we were closer that we could imagine. I stood up and looked at the tree stumps. These were cut with tools...they were too neatly sliced. I then looked around and only a few yards away saw a strange wood-like entrance. Right before our eyes was the heroes hidden home and was just waiting for us to barge in.