I practiced day after day, sharpened my skills to a point where my hands were sore for days by swinging my sword too much. The training I put forth brought a whole new smile to my father's face and it pleased me as well. With all this training I really lost track of how fast the days went by and it was almost time for the annual Sword Fight Competition or SFC for short. Sword artists from the far corners of Seilis get together and battle each other for the title of best swordsman. My father thought this would be a great opportunity to show off my skills and continued pushing me into signing up, even though he himself has never signed up for the competition in the recent years. But despite my father's constant nagging I tried to keep a safe distance from the competition. I was still not sure if I should share the power I was given with everyone and that's exactly why I chose to stay away from the competition.
The little city of Seilis had all its preparations lined up for the big day, and this was one of the days that the city shines the brightest at night. Sword artists were already preparing for the event and the constant clashes of swords could be heard through the hills and valleys. Jeiki, Benji and I used these distractions to leave the city boarders and head out to the northern hills where the more exciting Acacia forests are, but this time it was different. Both these dumbasses took part in the competition even though they were weak as hell, on top of that they wanted me to join as well but I rather not, and that's exactly why I'll be avoiding those two clowns till the competition ends as well. I still had my father nagging for me to take part and just so I won't upset him, I said I will be there and consider taking part, that ought to keep him calm for now.
The day of the competition arrived and the streets were lively as ever, the day was so special that the schools were closed and the major foot traffic meant that it was calmer indoors. I spent the rest of my day polishing off my sword skills in the backyard and trying to think of many ways to avoid my father's vicinity tonight. That's when I heard the loud thud at the front door, I put away my sword and ran to the front, and realized what a waste of energy that was. It was Benji and Jeiki, "what the hell are the both of you doing here?" I questioned. The both of them smiled their perverted smiles as they said that Reneya was attending the competition tonight. Reneya is by far the best looking girl in our school, she's popular, smart, funny but not into perverts like Jeiki and Benji or losers such as myself. However, this did give me a chance to at least know her better and therefore I decide to go to the competition. I thanked Benji and Jeiki as they took there leave to go practice.
It was finally the competition, Seilis was brighter than ever and every year the decorations become even more grander than the last. Various fighters from all over Seilis had showed up and by the time I arrived, few fights have already taken place. I constantly scanned the place for Reneya and finally I did spot her, I built up my courage to go speak to her and as I approached her, a loud voice screamed in the back, "Yo Trevor!". My cover was blown, Reneya looked in my direction with a sour face as she walked away with her friends. "Jeiki you rat son of a..", I placarded as the bell rang for the next match. Jeiki slipped away and I stood there with a lot of eyes on me. I made my way to the front to witness the fight and to my amusement saw Benji in the ring awaiting his opponent, he seemed afraid, well he should be considering the fact he's about to get his ass kicked.
Everyone was dead silent as to see who entered the ring, and just for our bad luck it was Sasara one of Genko's goons. There it was again, a light streaked in front of my eyes, it took me a second to focus but my eyes rested on the knife hidden behind Sasara's back, but it was too late to interfere. The match had already begun and everyone's screaming didn't help my voice travel far enough. Sasara approached Benji and in one swift move leaped forward, reaching for the knife. My instincts kicked in and all of a sudden it's as if the world had slowed down, I reached for my sword as it took its form. I leaped into the ring and pulled my sword out just in the moment to stop Sasara's strike. It was dead silent, all I thought to myself was, "shit this is the whole school incident again". I grabbed Benji's hand and stormed out the ring. Jeiki and Benji raised a million questions but I had no time for that. I promised to answer them later and left the place. As I walked out I saw Reneya's confused expression as she caught a glimpse of me leaving, I planned to ignore it and left for home as soon as I could.
The next morning there was a knock on the door, my sister went to greet the visitor, she said that someone had come to visit me. Confused, I walked up to the front door, it was Reneya. "Can I help you?" I asked. She asked me if she could speak to me in private, I agreed and took her up to my room. We sat down and she questioned me, "Are you a part of the Eselate legacy?". All I could think of is the number of people that must've witnessed my swords appearance and raised all sorts of questions. However, I knew I had to come clean and what better start than her, so I started to explain.