The 7th Sector.
Located almost six million kilometers from the 8th Sector, this sector was the childhood home of Merrion. She grew up in the Elah, a rare nature preserve ship designed to simulate a natural environment separate from the vast lifeships at the heart of each sector.
Merrion's earliest memories were that of a small child, barely 5 years of age, running across a wooden floor and playing with toys made for her by her father. As a child, Merrion's father, a man she thought the world of, would sit her on his lap and tell Merrion stories about his own life. Her father, who she learnt was addressed as Mr Ingvash from his interactions with others, regaled her with stories of intrigue; times spent in service to noble lords and ladies; carrying out dirty deeds and shadowy dealings to further his liege's whims.
Merrion, bright-eyed and naïve, had only heard the tales for what they were at face value, stories of daring adventure and suspenseful tension. She loved the time she spent listening to her father's tales, but after a few months, Merrion began to realize that there was no way that the stories were true and began to tire of them.
Ingvash was a strict father and a stoic man. He taught Merrion everything she knew; how to clean up and wash herself after showering, how to eat properly without dropping anything, how to read, write and count. When she made a mistake, Ingvash would always ensure that she knew what she had did wrong, and what he wanted her to do instead, always disciplining her harshly as well. There were many rules, but the most important was that Merrion was not to wander too far from the house. She was told this was for her safety, but Merrion had a rebellious streak in her.
Every few days, Ingvash would tell Merrion to stay in the house, while he went outside for an entire day. He would instruct her about where the food was, how to reheat it, what to do in the event of an emergency, just in case. During this time when he was out, Merrion would watch, on the screen in the house, videos of dashing men and graceful women clashing swords. Her eyes were filled with wonder, seeing these duellists clash and engage in heart-pounding combat, with their life and pride on the line. Of course, she couldn't have known that aside from the most fatal of wounds, most injuries could be fully recovered from, but regardless, to the young Merrion, the spectacle of their skill was more than enough for her.
On one such day when Ingvash was out of the house, Merrion, now seven, grew bored of playing with her toys and snuck out from the house. There was a small fence going around the house where she lived, made out of barbed wire. Merrion noticed that when insects that touched the wires, they would start to release smoke and then drop dead. She quickly resolved not to touch them, and eventually, found a way to shimmy on her stomach between a particularly high gap between the wire and the ground.
There, on her first adventure, Merrion headed down a narrow path outside the fence. She made use of her small size to travel through the shrubbery that flanked the path, eventually chancing upon another compound similar to hers. In this compound, much like her own, Merrion saw another kid. This kid had short hair, unlike her own. Was this a boy? Merrion had never seen anyone else besides Ingvash, not that she could remember and not in the flesh.
The first time she approached the boy, the boy shied away from her. Merrion would not be dissuaded, however, and she persisted until the boy started to talk with her. Through this, Merrion made her first friend, Otakar.
Otakar was a strange boy. He had blonde hair and grey eyes, much unlike the silver mop of hair Ingvash had and Merrion's own jet-black hair. While Merrion was headstrong and loud, Otakar was meek and quiet. Occasionally, when they did fight, Merrion came to realize just how quickly Otakar could react. Whenever Merrion tried to snatch an object from him, Otakar seemed to react with unnatural speed, dodging her every move. No matter how hard she tried, Merrion could never best Otakar in a fight. Otakar never hit her though, and Merrion was always confused about this. It was during this time where that feeling first entered her heart.
After several times of sneaking out when Ingvash was not around to play with Otakar, Merrion eventually met his parents. The idea confused her, parents. More than one. Having only grown up with Ingvash around, Merrion had simply assumed that only one parent was needed. When she learnt that Otakar had both a father and a mother, and saw how they showered him with hugs, kisses, and affection, Merrion felt that feeling again.
Merrion couldn't keep her escapades a secret for too long, however, and eventually, Ingvash found out. Merrion knew that once he discovered, he'd punish her, and he did. Out of the blue, Ingvash showed up outside Otakar's house one day, catching Merrion playing with Otakar in the yard. Merrion could hardly sleep the nights after that with the pain shooting up her buttocks every time she tried to lie down. But after she fully healed, when he next went outside, Ingvash took Merrion along with him.
As it turned out, Ingvash was a teacher of some kind. At a large building, farther from home than she had ever travelled up to that point in her life, Merrion sat in a corner as she watched Ingvash instruct a large number of children on how to wield swords. Eyes wide with wonder, Merrion watched as all the children swung their dull practice swords, and occasionally engaged in mock duels with one another, stopping at the first impact upon flesh.
Eventually, Merrion was able to persuade Ingvash to teach her as well at around the age of nine. Just like at home, Ingvash was extremely harsh upon her. Whenever she made a mistake, he would shout at her loudly and berate her, and force her to repeat the movement until it was perfect. It was so different from all the other children, to whom when they messed up, he would squat down to their height and gently tell them what they had did wrong and what they needed to change. Again, Merrion felt that feeling build up inside.
After four long years of studying, while Merrion watched all the other children improve rapidly and accelerate past her, graduating with a celebratory duel against other students, she was still stuck at the beginner-intermediate grade. Ingvash had long stopped trying to teach her more advanced skills, realizing that Merrion had plateaued, but Merrion still persevered, utterly unwilling to yield, her frustration, her jealousy of everyone else only growing.
It was around this time that Otakar first joined the academy. When Merrion first saw Otakar again, after four long years, she could never have had imagined that the scrawny little boy that had always been so gentle with her would have grown up into a man taller than her, with gentle features and a handsome face hidden beneath his blonde locks. At the start, Merrion took the chance to reconcile with Otakar, rekindling the friendship that she had forced upon him all those years ago, offering to help teach him what she knew. Perhaps having him around would be the impulse needed to break through her plateau.
Merrion could never have imagined that in two short years, while she did advance by a single grade into the lower intermediate tiers, that Otakar would shoot past her, advancing up to and beyond her in a fraction of the time. Ingvash would always praise Otakar for being a born prodigy and berate Merrion in the same breath for not being able to even keep up with the lessons, even after six long years. Even though he was always so much better than her, blessed and loved by the sword, and admired by all the other students, Otakar always treated Merrion well, never showing her a hint of arrogance or smugness even though it was well within his position to do so. Merrion didn't know why, but this only further intensified her jealousy towards him.
Then, one day, Otakar's graduation duel arrived. On that day, in special respect for his prodigious skill, Ingvash declared that Otakar would fight all the other students one-by-one. Lots were drawn, and Merrion would be the last to fight. As Otakar faced off against all the other students, all more skilled and higher ranked than Merrion was, Otakar fended them off all easily, disarming and dispatching them within minutes. Each dispatched combatant left the building, leaving behind only Otakar and the remaining combatants.
At long last, it was time for Merrion to face off against Otakar. She entered the ring, wielding the ceremonial blade that had already passed through many hands before her, and stood before Otakar, who only wielded a practise sword. With rage burning in her heart, Merrion swung the ceremonial sword fiercely at Otakar.
Every blow and every thrust were smoothly redirected or parried without a moment's hesitation. Merrion sensed that something was wrong, however. Otakar was going easy on her. If he wanted, he could have easily riposted, loosened the sword from her grip and disarmed her in a single quick and clean manoeuvre.
He was toying with her.
Not a single blow had landed upon her body, only upon the sword she was wielding, as if he were treating her like some kind of feeble opponent not capable or worthy of taking a direct blow.
Merrion let loose a flurry of blows, all quickly and cleanly parried and dodged. Her rage intensified, but so did her fatigue. Going easy on her and intentionally dragging out the match was tiring, even for someone with Otakar's prodigious skill. The match dragged on, as Merrion's breath slowly became ragged, and her thrusts and slashes weakened. With a final blow, Otakar let loose a strike that sent Merrion tumbling to the ground, still clutching the sword and still in the match.
From her vantage point on the floor of the ring, Merrion watched as Ingvash stood up and left the building. Deep inside, Merrion fumed with rage.
Even her own father would not bear witness to his daughter's impending defeat at the hand his most prodigious student.
She closed her eyes and waited for Otakar to disarm her.
Otakar: "Finally. Finally, we can have a chance to talk."
Merrion: "Huh?"
She opened her eyes, to see Otakar standing before her, sword down.
Otakar: "They told me not to talk with you after Teacher came by and took you away from my house. I thought we were friends, but…you were always avoiding me, weren't you?"
Merrion: "A-avoiding? You? What do you mean?"
Otakar: "When I first came here two years ago, I was so happy to see you again. I had last seen you four years before that, and I thought I'd never see you again."
Merrion could hardly believe what she heard. Instead of ending this match, he was talking to her, prolonging this humiliation? When did he become this chatty?
Otakar: "It made me happy when you first offered to help me learn as well. The sword, well, I'm glad for it. Because thanks to it, I got to meet you again."
Merrion: "H-happy? The sword? Made – you – happy?"
Merrion looked up, only to see Otakar smiling happily at her.
Merrion (thinking): Why?...Why are you smiling? What's there to be happy about when all I feel…is misery?
Otakar: "Yes. Before you first came to me, I was all alone. I didn't have any other siblings, only my parents. I felt lonely, until you came. Those times we spent together were some of the happiest times I had."
Merrion began quivering. Something had slipped, deep within her. Something inside her had cracked open and was now spilling out. Something that had been fermenting for a long time had now burst out of confinement.
Merrion: "Happy? You…were…happy?"
Otakar: "Yes! Yes! I – "
Merrion: "…WHO GIVES A DAMN ABOUT YOUUUU?!"
Merrion watched herself shout out those words to Otakar as she stood up, ceremonial sword firmly gripped in her hand. Stepping forward, one foot at a time, one slash at a time, she continued her rage-filled tirade as she struck at Otakar.
Merrion: "Otakar, the amazing; the prodigy; the once-in-a-century genius with the sword! Of course, you'd be happy!"
Otakar stumbled backwards, struggling with the impact of Merrion's words and her strikes. The clean and surgical precision with which he had bested the other combatants earlier was now unsteady and weakened, faltering beneath Merrion's relentless assault upon both his stance and his psyche.
Merrion: "For six long years I struggled – STRUGGLED – with the DAMN sword, watching all my friends and peers shoot past me! And you waltz in here, and in two short years, THE SHORTEST TIME EVER, make it to graduation?! DAMN YOU!"
Merrion drew upon the last reserves of strength and stamina within her as she continued her unrestricted assault upon Otakar, letting all her pent-up frustration, jealousy, and anger spill out upon him.
Merrion: "Why am I stuck here while everyone else leaves in glory?! Why am I the only one who's treated this way?! My own father, gentle and caring to other children while he alone beats me when I make a mistake?! He won't even be in here to see me getting defeated by his star pupil! He's written me off already! THERE'S NOTHING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT!"
Merrion shouted out at Otakar, relentlessly bearing down upon him with a torrential rain of blows that Otakar could only defend himself against without hurting her.
Merrion: "TELL ME!"
In her mind, Merrion could still recall the gentle kindness Otakar's parents had shown her, even in that brief moment when she was nothing but a stranger's kid playing with their son.
Merrion: "WHY?!"
Mixed together with that memory was the memory of her own father beating her for every slip-up, her pain and his disappointment tightly intertwined with it like roots in the soil. His face, filled with disappointment. The faces of Otakar's parents on that day when Ingvash dragged her away from his house all those years ago, that look in their eyes that screamed like they had been playing with unfathomable danger letting this girl play with their son.
Merrion: "WHY IS IT ALL SO UNFAIR?!"
Merrion slashed at Otakar with a final heavy strike, sending his sword flying out of his hand. Where the blade had lightly traced Otakar's skin, a thin red line broke out, with blood oozing from the wound. Merrion saw this and flung away the ceremonial sword, sending it clattering to the floor with a loud metallic tone. She looked down and saw Otakar beneath her, defeated at long last. But even then, her rage would not subside.
Merrion had no skill with the sword, and she would not use it to end this duel. No, she would end this duel on her own terms. This was her rejection of the way things were. This was her reply to the one gifted with everything that she didn't have. She would defeat he who was loved by the sword in the most humiliating way possible, with her own fists.
Merrion: "Hey…you said you were my friend…didn't you? So…why don't you do me a favor? Grit your teeth…Otakar…and feel my pain."
Everything after that was a blur. Merrion pummeled Otakar beneath a withering hail of bare-fisted strikes, his blood smeared across her bruised knuckles. Each drop of blood spilt sent a surge of strength and speed into her. Her emotions exploded forth as she assaulted and savaged the helpless Otakar, feeling her every blow accelerate beyond her normal capabilities. She watched as he became sluggish in comparison and faltered beneath her unrelenting blows.
The last moment that Merrion could recall of that day was of her, straddled atop the bloodied and mangled Otakar, being wrestled off by Ingvash before everything went dark as the high faded away.