VS Layrn

Joshua strains his voice calling it out. His body completely ragged now. As he starts mumbling aloud Draxis listens in. "Roxanne must have blocked those memory off because of my nightmares.”

His mind flashes back to the first time he met his teacher, long red hair, slender frame, her body covered in a dusty brown cloak. Her amber eyes glowing in the moonlight. Her hand resting on her blades hilt. Joshua clearly in distress was clutching his abdomen, propped up against a wall, blood staining his tunic. Seraphina had already long been taken to the order of Serox.

Snapping back to reality he continues. “That must be what was bothering me this whole time, that buried memory. The camp itself was destroyed, the gates were broken, and strange monsters flooded in. That must be why Gyles escorted me, Wil, and Vilhelm away from Blackwood.”

“Nepotism.” Draxis replies.

“Yeah, honestly though I don’t know if that was a blessing or not, it prevented me from getting out from under the watchful eyes of father and the others. After that I just trained with Leon.”

“Wait a minute we’re only about two months in; I thought you said that this training lasted five and a half months though.” Draxis curiously asks.

“Honestly as you can tell, my memories have been kind of hazy since regressing back into my childhood body. I think besides the black sun their may be other mental blockages. I just don’t know who would have done it. Aside from Roxanne, she did always complain about me screaming in the middle of the night. Hell one night she had to hold me like a child." A pained expression spreads across his face. "I still kinda miss that feeling."

Draxis pauses in thought and asks if he can look through Joshua’s memory of the black sun.

“Have at it, I’m going to go for a walk.” Stumbling back to his feet, he hobbles over collecting his shirt as he slowly starts walking loops around the perimeter of the base trying to clear his mind.

A little while later Joshua mumbles to himself as he has a realization. Since he tried to clear his mind, the only thing coursing through it is the dreary atmosphere and death. “So, this is why she must have blocked that memory off. It’s like a constant gnawing at the back of my mind and I can’t let it go. I wonder if there’s more to it than what I saw.”

“You bet there Is.” Draxis pipes up.

Replying half-heartedly Joshua places a hand on his side. “Have you finished going through my memories of Blackwood.”

“Yeah, and you’re going to want to hear this, head back to that watchtower unless you want to risk waking the other three up.”

Joshua nods as he makes his way back to the tower, climbing back up still faint. Sitting back down against the railing he speaks. “So, what is it Draxis.”

“The Black Sun you’re talking about is a sacrificial ritual.” Joshua’s eyes widen.

“What do you mean?” Joshua’s jaw is left agape.

“That purple and black energy is one sign; the other is that I’ve seen it before.”

“I thought you said that you got sealed up a long time ago?” Joshua asks genuinely curious.

“I was, I’m pretty sure your founder stopped a similar ritual before its completion by himself. Do you remember what happened to the rest of the people at Blackwood last time.”

Taking a moment to reminisce; Joshua tries to remember any conversation about it, but as far as he can remember no one ever talked about Blackwood again after he returned home.

“That means the ritual most likely succeeded or everyone here died.”

“So, I guess it’s a good thing we’re up here then.” Joshua sweat drops weakly. “How did Durand stop it?” Joshua questions his draconic master for an answer.

“Oh, that’s easy, he just killed the summoner. The problem is your nowhere near as strong as he was, so I don’t think that’s possible.”

“That much is obvious.” Joshua closes his eyes as Draxis finally relents his influence over his body now that his aura and emotions are back in sync.

Feeling that pressure off his chest and shoulders he lets out a sigh of relief. "I guess I shouldn't waste anymore time!" Joshua still having some time before sunrise restarts the process of rebuilding his 3rd aura node and connective network. And just like that, five more hours pass by.

The sun finally begins to shine its light over the horizon illuminating their once darkened surroundings. “Finally, the sun shines once more. That was miserable.”

Joshua looks over towards his companions tents as the sun beams on his face. “Hey Draxis, what would you say my current progress is towards the 3rd node and connective network? My brain is beyond exhausted right now. I can barely hold my head up.” Clutching his head, his eyes are visibly grey and red, the bags under his eyes clearly visible.

“Surprisingly you’re almost halfway done, that’s a lot of progress in one night, did you have a realization?”

“Yeah, once the memories of the black sun resurfaced, I began remembering lessons that I was taught about aura years ago by Dialos. Combining how he explained the nature of aura, alongside your guidance and understanding on top this ‘blessed’ body of mine, everything went a lot smoother than I thought.”

“That much already? Wow, perhaps before the ritual begins, you’ll even be able to finish breaking through.”

“Hopefully” Joshua smiles weakly as he makes his way down the watchtower over towards his sleeping quarters as he makes his way into his dark room ready to pass out. Propping himself up against the wall, he sits down letting out a sigh of exhaustion. “I need some sleep.”

“You’re telling me kid. I can tell from your eyes, the bags under them make that very clear.”

As his companions began to get up one by one, they greet him before they went out for their morning run. Everyone still slightly sore from sleeping on the ground.

“Okay then, they’ve been greeted. I’m going to take a little nap, I don’t think I can go another twenty-four hours without sleeping.” After pricking his finger and carving a sound proof rune on the wall near his ‘Bed’ he gently lays himself down propping one of his bags up as a pillow. Soon after, he closes his eyes and is out like a light.

Six hours later, wolf squad gave Joshua some time to rest. The three of them did as they discussed the night prior and continue to train as per routine. Still not being used to the change in altitude Vilhelm takes a tumble early on before re-gaining his bearings, whereas Wil was completely fine his body and mind acclimating very quickly to his new surroundings.

Susanna on the other hand was just still tired from dragging that stag, her muscles still strained. Aside from that she continues working on refining her senses and archery until Layrn strolls on up to have a conversation with everybody.

“Anna, go wake up Joshua.” Vilhelm calls out.

“Gotcha,” Susanna makes her way over to Joshua’s sleeping area honestly feeling a bit of pity for him. He didn’t have anything to cover up with and was sleeping in a literal cave.

As she takes a closer look, she notices the blood stains on his chest, eyes, and shirt. Her eyes widen in concern as she kneels down beside him, thankfully seeing that it was dried. His eyes having dark gray bags underneath.

Gently nudging him gently she whispers into his ears. “Wakey, wakey Joshua; Captain Layrn want to have a chat with all of us.”

“Okay Roxanne, I'm getting up. Can't a man get some sleep around here!" Joshua mumbles out still half asleep while sitting himself up.

“Roxanne?” Susanna ignores his mumblings and assumes it was more of the strange babble she could hear from Joshua’s room at night. It takes about ten more minutes after Susanna departs for Joshua to finally stir awake.

“Morning kid, or well afternoon, how’d you sleep?” Draxis cheekily replies.

“I want to go back to bed. My bed, that’s soft and warm.” Joshua whines.

Draxis deciding to pester his student continues. “Wow I thought you didn’t like being at home.”

“It’s only been a few weeks but I’m sick of sleeping on rocks. My back agrees with me.” After fake crying and getting himself up, he starts stretching and popping his neck and back. “Whew.” Joshua shakes his face and asks his companion. “Where am I going now exactly?”

“I should have figured you barely heard the girl; Head to the fire pit, I’m pretty sure she said Layrn wanted to talk with everyone today.”

“Gotcha.” After wiping his chest and face with a damp towel, he simply throws his boots on and quickly makes his way to fire pit. Still shirtless, he gazes around as everyone just sits around waiting on him. “Sorry I’m late guys.”

“Don’t sweat it kid, now that you’re here I can begin.” Layrn stands eyeing his clearly damaged body, but ignores it as she starts her debriefing. Susanna on the other hand notices his lack of a shirt and turns to her master blushing. "Oh my go-d, wh-y d-idn't he p-put on a s-shirt!"

With a cough, Layrn pulls the attention back to herself “So, like I said yesterday, Andric and the other captains wanted to get you all off of the premises for some reason. I’m not quite sure why, but there have been updates to that information.”

“What is it captain?" Susanna questions, trying to distract herself from Joshua.

Layrn looks down, slightly defeated. “Not only were wolf squad assigned outside of camp Blackwood, I’ve also been assigned a mission to scout all the surrounding areas for the foreseeable future, in other words I feel like I’ve been demoted.”

“WHAT.” Both the twins yell in tandem. “That’s ridiculous, if anything the psycho instructors should have to that.”

“I know that, but I can’t disobey direct orders from the commandant even if I’m pretty sure the order is actually from Andric. This is what I get paid for I guess.” Layrn shakes her head, shrugging her shoulders.

“So, that bastard is obviously is planning something, we’re just not sure what then.” Joshua’s teammates look around confused as Layrn nods her head with a smirk.

“I also just wanted to let you all know what I’ll be doing if you guys try to look for me. Also to warn all of you to not let up on your training!” A strange pressure could be felt by everyone in their new campground.

After everyone takes a momentary pause everyone in unison cries out “UNDERSTOOD SQUAD CAPTAIN.” The pressure then vanishes as Joshua notices that it came from Blackwood.

Keeping it to himself, Layrn returns to her usual state. “I’ll try to keep some communication with you all.” Layrn pulls out a small black whistle before blowing it, almost instantaneously a hawk swooped down to her shoulder as she cooed at it.

The hawk nestles its head against her. “This is my hawk, Dartz.” Pulling out a spare whistle, she hands it over to Joshua.

“Dartz here is bonded with me so he knows exactly where I’m at, at all times, that’s where these whistles come in handy. We’ll write back and forth to keep up to date concerning any new information that pops up is that understood.”

“Understood captain.” Joshua nods his head towards his captain.

Joshua attaches the whistle to a small necklace tucked into his tunic. She winks at him while avoiding the others ire while mouthing. “We’ll discuss more later.” Joshua nods in understanding as Layrn cracks her knuckles. “Since I’m here though, who wants a warmup!”

A fiery look fills her eyes as the four of them decide to draw lots. The first one to lose the drawing is Vilhelm. “Vil you’re up, give me your best shot.” Layrn throws a taunt at Vilhelm hoping to get him to lose his cool however to her surprise he stays still and picks up his blade lifting it close to his face before closing his eyes.

“I’ll show you how far I’ve come captain.” He lets his arm blade arm fall before lunging at her, aiming for her dominate arm. Layrn dodges out of the way without much effort.

“Your footwork has definitely gotten much better, I’m glad to see it. But I hope there’s more where that came from.” Layrn gives a half-hearted compliment mixed with a taunt. Vilhelm pulls his arm back, matching strikes with Layrn keeping the spar deadlocked for a bit before activating two of his aura nodes.

His body glows with swirling cyan blue light. “VILHELM, you had an awakening.” Wilhelm jumps up in surprise. Sitting back down quickly he takes a deep breath to calm himself down. A look of self-disappointment crossing his face.

Susanna seeing this, places her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t feel bad about him getting ahead right now Wil, you just got to keep pushing and you’ll get there in no time.”

“But he actually has someone he can spar with, what am I supposed to do with a bloody mace.” Joshua walks up behind the two.

“Sorry for interrupting, but did you say you’re behind Vil?” Joshua questions as he takes a seat on the other side of his brother.

“Yeah.” Wilhelm sighs.

“No, you’re not. If anything I’d say your stronger than he is currently.” Wilhelm looks at Joshua curiously. “Just because someone can utilize more aura doesn’t mean they’re stronger, Vilhelm has been focusing more on flashy techniques. It doesn’t exactly translate well to fighting monsters. Your mace on the other hand requires much more physical strength to even wield properly. Don't let it get to you.”

The three continue watching for the next couple minutes as Vilhelm fails to make any headway with their captain despite the increase of power output.

“Haa… haa… How are you still avoiding my strikes and blocking everything? I’ve been practicing so much, how is it not doing anything?” Vilhelm speaks out between breaths. Layrn quicksteps towards Vilhelm, instantly breaking through his guard and knocking his sword from his grasp.

On the ground Vilhelm lifts his arms up in forfeiture. “That’s because I’m teaching you how to fight on the front-lines like your life depends on it. Learning all those fancy movements and tricks are great for putting on a show or fighting in a spar with a knight, battling a seasoned veteran or bloodthirsty beast not so much.”

She reaches out her hand pulling her cadet up as she pats him on the back. “Don’t let this get you down Vilhelm, learn from your losses and you’ll grow to be a stronger warrior from it. Also don’t bring out your aura like that, you were wasting your internal energy by doing that.” Vilhelm nods his head in understanding as she has his complete undivided attention “It should be controlled and confined within your body not flailing all around. Do you understand?”

“Yes captain.” Vilhelm bows before returning to his seat both a bit tired and disappointed by his progress, but also a bit excited to get back to training to work through his flaws.

Taking a short break, everyone rests for a moment before Layrn calls forth her next opponent. “You’re up next my darling pupil, show me what you’ve got.” Layrn puts her sword down and picks up the dagger on her waist getting into stance. “You bet master.” Susanna jumps up quickly putting on the gloves she had tied around her waist before unsheathing her own dagger. The two of them eye each other down before Susanna makes the first move twisting her body around throwing an overhead kick towards Layrn. Blocking the strike, she pushes her back swinging her own dagger upwards aiming for her chest, however as if being instructed by a third sense Susanna kick flips out of the way and slides across the ground backwards.

As she focuses her eyes, the colors start shifting to black and white, she begins to see the world in black and white and can pinpoint the natural energies surrounding them. “So, you finally figured out how to use your eyes, good job half blood. I’ll join you.” Following her pupil’s lead Layrn’s sclera turn completely black with white pupils.

The two of them clash once again with Layrn obviously having the edge in physical strength. Noting this, Susanna makes a risky play and stops blocking. Instead she swings herself around, instantly jumping in close. After sidestepping another strike, she whips around through the air and hooks her legs onto Layrn’s left arm and she reels herself around aiming for her back.

“Interesting play coming from Anna don’t you think?” Wilhelm comments, slightly jealous of how flexible the two of them are. “I don’t think I could contort my body like that even if I tried.”

“You’re telling me bro; I’d have been sent straight to the infirmary if I tried that.” Vilhelm laughs aloud as he starts joking around.

“It’s over.” The two of them look at Joshua. “It was a good attempt but Anna needs to get physically stronger before moves like that will be effective. All she did was leave herself completely vulnerable.” And just like clockwork Layrn reaches her free arm around and holds her dagger to Susanna’s throat. “Nice play kid, if I was someone not trained in hand to hand combat you would have passed with flying colors.” Shortly after she falls to the ground herself.

“Thanks,” Susanna sighs out as she takes Layrn’s hand to get up. Looking towards her last two cadets she smiles and looks towards Wilhelm. “You’re up.”

“Understood captain.” Wilhelm’s eyes fill with resolve. Immediately standing up, he walks towards the sparring area drawing out his mace while taking a deep breath.

“Don’t overthink it Wilhelm, go all out. If I can’t handle a bunch of cadets, why would I have ever been made a captain in the first place.” Layrn smugly laughs, her eyes filling with glee.

“As you wish.” Wilhelm closes his eyes before rushing forward.

The two of them clash immediately Wilhelm actually pushing Layrn’s blade back with his raw strength. Looking at his two squad mates Joshua comments on the fight. “Pay close attention to what he’s going to do, you two. Remember to fight with your strengths in mind.”

As Wilhelm continues to swing down at Layrn she smirks. “I like the gusto, keep it up.” Wilhelm uses his body as he throws himself towards her knocking her slightly off balance.

Following that she forcibly falls to the ground rolling out of the way as she draws out a second sword crossing them in an X-motion catching Wilhelm's next strike. That is until a green light pours into the mace illuminating the clash as green particles fill the arena.

As he gets a second wind, he unlocks his mace from her blades and begins barreling down over and over eventually shattering the shorter of the two. Blade pieces and green dust litter the arena as Wilhelm collapses to one knee.

“Haaaah, Haaaah,” barely holding himself up with his mace he looks towards his surprised captain. A slow clapping ensues.

“Good job Wilhelm, I didn’t think you had it in you. Hell, you even broke one of my swords. Keep up the training and working on your stamina, it will carry you far.”

“Yes, squad capta….” His head immediately gets woozy as he collapses and passes out as Vilhelm rushes over to catch his twin. Holding up his unconscious twin he chuckles. “You did good bro, you did good. I’m proud of you.”

Looking over towards Joshua he remarks, “Now don’t let our dear Wil outshine you vice-captain” I’m looking forward to see what you’ve accomplished yourself.”

“Likewise,” Layrn comments brushing herself off and sweeping the debris out of the sparring grounds. “You got this Joshua.” Susanna cheers him on while blushing slightly.