Aught stared at the sky as his mind filtered through Clearwind's memories.
He stabbed himself? Aught sat up and looked at the sword on the floor next to him, then down at his chest, to find not a hint of blood.
How peculiar.
He couldn't help but think about the being in the white expanse. Why was he transported to the body of a dead man? Was my consciousness or soul transported instead of my whole being?
"What did i want to achieve in that white expanse?" Aught's gaze turned complicated. "Who am i..?"
He shook his head and wore a bitter smile. No point in thinking too much, all i end up with are more questions.
All he remembered were a few muted memories and still pictures.
A memory of a tall pale man pointing at him, seemingly scolding.
A memory of a woman preforming a sword dance… it was beautiful and almost mesmerizing.
A memory of a man preforming sword arts non stop in a forest, some slow, some fast, some unpredictable, some ethereal. All kinds of sword arts were being preformed by him, but he couldn't completely comprehend them, he couldn't see through most of those sword arts.
A still picture of a lake, hut and a boat.
These were the only memories that could be said to be truly his.
Step. Step. Step.
Aught's recollection was suddenly interrupted by the sound of wet footsteps.
"Hm?" Aught picked up the fallen sword before getting up and turning towards the sound of the footsteps, only to see a hunched old man with a walking stick, and a bearlike man with a spear on his back approaching slowly.
"Tenacity village's chief, Tenasky." this thought came naturally to Aught's mind. The old man was the fourth generation chief of Tenacity village. The village name represented what the first chief hoped for the village, to possess the tenacity to survive in this obscure area, and the tenacity to continue striving for the future. All of that was told to Clearwind by his father. Aught was amazed that his mind has already adapted to Clearwind's memories.
The bearlike man accompanying him is Tenahawk, he is the current captain of the village warriors, he could also be considered the strongest in the village with his peak Body tempering cultivation. The village warriors are responsible for the protection of the village against wandering beasts and also the procurement of meat, leather, etc…
"Clearwind." Tenasky couldn't help but sigh as he looked at his good friend's son. The young man's clothes were ripped and dirty, he has stayed up here throughout the rainy night mourning his father's and mother's deaths.
"Village chief." Aught greeted respectfully. Tenasky was a good friend Clearbreeze made in his younger days while adventuring outside to temper himself. When escaping the Flowcrest clan's pursuit, the only place Clearbreeze felt would be safe was Tenacity village, as it was obscure and more importantly, the village chief was his good friend.
"Why don't you come back with me to the village? I've already had a change of clothes delivered to your home, and you should take a bath and rest. Your parents would be saddened seeing you like this." As Tenasky spoke he looked at the two graves nearby with regret.
Home? Ah right, the village chief had a wooden house built for Clearbreeze and his family when they arrived at the village.
"Alright" Aught nodded. he was at a loss as everything was too sudden, he needed time to process everything.
…
Aught followed Tenasky and Tenahawk in descending the hill and approaching Tenacity village.
The village had 8 meter walls lined out of wooden logs, and a wooden tower next to the wide village gate.
A watch man atop the tower caught sight of the village chief and company before shouting out "open the gate! The chief and captain are back!"
"Quick open the gate."
"Hurry."
Amidst the hubbub of sounds, Aught could see the large village gate open slowly.
Entering the village, everything seemed exactly as Clearwind's memories told.
The village was quite large housing dozens of families and a population of hundreds. It can be seen how much effort the consecutive village chiefs put into expanding the village walls and helping build homes to accommodate so many people.
In the middle of the village surrounded by the many wooden houses, was a large training field. The training field was split into three areas.
The first area is for children under the age of twelve to train their body's flexibility and fist arts, the adults would usually take turns teaching them the correct postures and fist arts. The village predecessors have always emphasized body flexibility and hand to hand combat for the early age, to build control and understanding of the body.
the second area is for teenagers between the ages of twelve and eighteen to practice movement, carry stones to strengthen their bodies, and spar with each other to build experience. of course they are encouraged to continue practicing their body's flexibility in their spare time, after all in some cases control over the body can be the difference between life and death.
The third area is for the adults to practice the village's signature spear art passed down from the first village chief himself. The training is usually headed by a village warrior with sufficient experience.
"Ow ow OW! Dad i can't pull my legs that far apart!"
"Tenaweave i may have lost to you last time, but you better watch out lest you embarrass yourself!"
"With me! Slide your right foot back and then quickly thrust, remember to let your left hand guide and your right hand do most of the work!"
The surrounding women and men couldn't help but smile as they looked on at the training. It was a joyous part of the day which gave hope to the future of the village.
Aught smiled as well. As he looked on at the men, teenagers and children train, he couldn't help but put words together in his mind to describe what he saw.
Generation after generation
We look for salvation
Through dedication
We build a safe haven
For the smiles of our beloved families
We charge forwards happily
Aught thought this was quite a fitting description for Tenacity village's warriors.
"Chief, you'll have to excuse me, i have to prepare the new warriors for today's hunt."
The bearlike Tenahawk smiled.
"But of course. be careful, makes sure you don't go too far this time." Tenasky nodded and sighed.
"Yes." Tenahwak nodded towards Aught before leaving.