Awakening

Rell suddenly realized that he could see. The world was glassy and distorted. He tried to move, struggling at first. However, with enough effort, he was able to push through, like wading through thick ice. The crystal fractured more and more with his effort, before finally, it shattered. 

Rell fell to the ground, free from his prison. He coughed, taking his first breath in, well, he didn't know how long. 

"Where?" He shook his head. "This is below where we fought that shadow. The explosion must have buried me, and..." He turned, looking at the crystal prison. "Encased me in this crystal?" 

He took a few more moments to get his bearings. His uniform was torn in several places, but was otherwise still intact. Other than the dull head ache and the stuffy nose, he seemed to be uninjured. He still had all his fingers and toes as far as he could tell. His sword was also still fastened at his side. 

"Weird." He noted. "I could have sworn I had it drawn when the explosion happened..." 

A girl screamed. He realized that she was fighting shadows, and had gotten on top of one, savagely stabbing it to death. A shadow leapt at her. She reacted, spinning and barely dodging as it clipped into her arm. The girl faced him for just a brief second. But he could recognize that face anywhere. It was Alicia. Her hair was cut short, but that was without a doubt her. Rell drew his weapon. 

He watched as Alicia tried to stand her ground. She was actually losing to shadows, and wolf classes at that. He didn't think he'd ever seen her lose to a shadow.  The shadow raised it's blade arm, ready to finish her off. 

Rell remembered the image of a dark form of himself killing Alicia. It sickened him, and angered him. He wasn't going to lose her. Not like this. 

"Alicia!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, channeling Shadow Nin. 

Now Wind Nin was typically seen as the best form of Nin for enhancing speed, but that was because most people could not use Shadow Nin. Shadow Nin had the peculiar ability to enhance a users speed, among other seemingly unrelated abilities. Rell had claimed it wasn't as if he sped up, but the world around him slowed down. No one believed him. 

The black and red runes formed from his shadow, rising up and spiraling around his body, forming a bubble as he ran forward. The world seemed to shiver, before suddenly slowing down. The shadow's attack moved in slow motion, swinging down at Alicia's neck. Rell ran forward, swinging his blade to block it, which in turn broke the shadow Nin bubble. 

The world exploded into motion, shocking Rell as his blade made contact with the creature's arm. He caught another shadow in the corner off his eye as he drove his weapon into first one's chest. In a second he called upon shadow Nin again as he drew his sword from the creature's body. 

Rell stepped aside, the world suddenly becoming cloaked in a red haze. an image of Rell stood still. After Image, another unusual ability of shadow Nin. The shadow drove it's arm into the after image's body. Rell simply walked around to the other side of the creature just as the image faded from the attack. It was over in an instant. He finished this one off with a backstab. 

The last two he dealt with with simple swordplay. He can't remembered how many thousands of hours, how many early mornings and late nights he had spent practicing swordsmanship, all in the pursuit of matching Alicia. In the end, he had never beaten her once. But, it was enough to easily counter the two shadow attacks simultaneously, easily finishing them in quick strokes. 

He turned towards Alicia. She was looking up at him in confusion. He had never seen her so beaten up. She was bleeding everywhere. He tucked his blade back into its sheath. 

"Alicia, you all right?" he asked, offering a hand. 

"Huh?" She shook her head. "Who?"