A commotion exploded as Eastar and Aros walked to an enclosure for afternoon training. Inside, a young man was lying on the floor with a sword in the neck, it was held by a sirion with black skin and shine brown eyes, didn't had even one hair in the face. His skin glistened with sweat and he smiled, showing teeth incredibly white.
The audience seated around the fence clapped and whistled as he gave his hand to the fallen young man to help him up. The star commander joined the class and everyone turned to him and his son who were at the entrance to the pen.
— A fantastic fight, captain Jorg. It is always a wonder to see you with a sword in your hand.
— Commander! — The captain opened his arms, turning to the newcomer. — Don't flatter me, you still owe me a rematch this morning.
— Well, no doubt we will repeat it, but now I hope you can give a lesson to this brat. — He pointed a thumb at his son beside him.
— Young Eastar. Nice to see you again, boy — said the captain.
Only then did the star remember that he was the man who accompanied the king when they arrived at Londrian, the captain who had been sent to the kitchens to warn of the new guests.
— My pleasure, Captain. — He made a slight bow in response and, as soon as the sirion approached, shook hands.
— Your father said you were training to learn how to use earthlings weapons. Well, we will start immediately with the swords.
Jorg whistled for two young men who were watching the fence and pointed swords, which were leaning against close to them. The young men took one each and handed it to the captain.
— Thanks. Now go to Garret and ask him for two edgeless swords of star dust.
— Dust swords? Already, Jorg? — Aros raised an eyebrow, a small interested smile on his face. — I thought the brat would only train movements today.
— I thought so in the beginning, but then I heard the archers commenting on his workout this morning the thought that we might have to go with everything.
He threw one of the swords at Eastar, who caught it in the air. Then he turned and headed for the center of the small arena. The young star followed him as his father took his place at the fence near the other soldiers, who were already there to enjoy as much of the event as possible.
— Very well, it seems like you learn things fast, so I want you to watch my movements first and then repeat them.
The student nodded, his expression serious.
Jorg spread his legs and raised his sword with his right hand while holding his left to his side, lowering the sword vertically and slowly. He watched from the corner of his eye to see if the boy was paying attention and was surprised by the concentration that seemed to come from his eyes.
Focusing back on the movements, he twisted his wrist and raised his sword diagonally as his left arm moved to maintain balance in his movements. Spined and stopped with the sword held in both hands and close to his face. Then he took steps forward while performing various strokes. Until he suddenly stopped and looked at Eastar.
— Can you understand what I did?
— I've been training for millions of years, Captain. My dad is pretty strict when he wants to. — He supported the point of the sword on the floor, placing both hands on the cord. — I understand well movement techniques, focus and... well... I've been learning a lot about balance.
A loud cough came from Aros, but Eastar was sure he heard the word "distracted" coming out of his mouth. The young stellar rolled his eyes and continued:
— But I bet you can repeat that a lot faster.
— Sure.... — Jorg widened his eyes in surprise and looked at Aros, who blinked with one eye, a small smile on his face.
The captain retraced all moves at an impressive speed. He looked back at Eastar and saw that he was watching the hilt of the sword, completely absorbed by the carvings.
— Eastar... did you see what I did?
— Wait, did you repeat? I didn't know you was going to repeat!
Jorg put a hand on the face, understanding what the commander had coughed from the fence.
— I'll repeat. Watch.
— Yes, sir! — The star saluted.
This time, he accompanied the sirion as he made rapid movements.
— Very well. Your turn, boy. — Jorg stopped and looked at the student.
The young man got into position, took a deep breath and slowly retraced the captain's footsteps. His movements were precise and identical to the coach's, despite the visible effort on his face to repeat everything. As soon as he was done, Jorg ordered him to repeat, and he did it a few more times, growing more confident and faster, until the young men arrived with their star dust swords.
— There they are. Thank you, Sean and Drun. You can go now.
Sean was the tallest, thin and straight as a stick, with curly black hair and brown eyes. He looked at the captain, making his best supplication.
— Captain Jorg, we'd like to stay to watch.
— You should be helping with the market patrol, shouldn't you?
— Yes, sir, but lieutenant Edwin is already there. He said we could stay here because he wouldn't need us. — The kid shrugged and looked at his friend.
Drun nodded, confirming. He had blond hair that was messy and falling over his deep green eyes. He was shorter than Sean even though he looked older, his muscles already more developed by daily training.
— Is Edwin on patrol? Well, I didn't imagine he would deign to work today, as he will attend Eastar training later this week. One workday out of ten is usually the maximum available. — He scratched his chin and smiled. — Well, we have a record.
The soldiers at the fence began to laugh and the two young sirions held back not to laugh either.
— Alright, alright. It will be good for you to watch this.
— Thank you, captain Jorg! — The two said together, making a big reverence and going to sit on the fence.
— Very well. — The captain turned to the new student, who was leaning on his sword. — Let's see what you're made of.
Jorg threw one of the weapons, Eastar picked it up and began to watch it. It was beautiful work, the blade was reddish in color, and the handle was black, simple but well done.
— Captain, may I ask you something? — He looked up at the black sirion, who wielded the sword in front of another.
— Of course.
— If I use my strength now, I won't break the swords. This I understood, but what prevents me from breaking your body with the force of the attack?
— Why? my reserve, of course. Did you think I would train you without any energy?
— Reserve? What do you mean?
— Energy reserves, boy, didn't your father explain to you?
The captain look at Aros, who only shrugged. Jorg shook his head.
— Very well, I think I'll explain it to you. — He sighed. — Since Prediction, many earthlings have focused on find a way to strengthen themselves. Most didn't want to remain dependent on the stars, they felt humiliated. So, after many studies, some found that humans had energy reserves in their bodies that they didn't know about.
The master put a hand in the belly, up the stomach, before proceeding:
— These reserves allowed the humans to increase their strength in an extraordinary way, becoming faster and resistant. Many researched ways to control it, some succeeded, and we, sirions, obviously inherited that, but in our case occurs more frequently, due to the stellar remnants of blood.
Seeing the look of admiration on Eastar's face, he sighed again and pointed his sword at the boy before continuing.
— You see, it's not simple, and even among sirions, few can figure out their reserves or use them correctly. Misuse of this energy can fatigue the body in a… unrecoverable way. Because that, it shouldn't be used without a long time of training control. I'll show you.
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment and, when opened, the light emitted was larger than normal for a sirion.
— Now, attack me with all your might...