Outside I could hear the crickets chirping and looking around I saw darkness from every house.
I turned and began walking along the path, just admiring the scenery and making plans for the future.
After a while I left the area where the dorms were, the path narrowed down and became more of a lane which eventually entered into the mini forest.
All around me I could hear the sound of small critters scurrying about and the occasional hoot of an owl once in a while.
After walking for what felt like an hour I decided it was time to head back to my house and rest.
'I think I've gone far enough, if I sleep now I'll get about four hours of rest.'
I turned around and took a step before pausing, suddenly warry.
About ten meters in front of me was a shadowy figure. I stepped to the side trying to see if the person would walk past me but instead the figure's head turned, and with that I decided that the person was definitely here for me.
'What's the protocol when a person sees a shadowy figure in the woods?' I ponder on the thought for a moment before shaking my head and focusing on my current situation.
'First I have to confirm the person's intentions.'
"Hey, who are you?" I didn't receive an answer so I asked another question. "What do you want with me?"
Suddenly a sword appeared in the figure's hand. My eyes narrowed once I saw this.
'So this isn't going to be peaceful.'
I tapped my XOC a few times and turned on a program that blocked Freestone's ability to track me.
At times like this I feel glad that I always bring my daggers with me where I go.
I slowly pulled them from their sheath and crouched down, preparing myself for the fight to come.
All was quiet around me, the owls had gone quiet or maybe they left, almost like they sensed the atmosphere and thought better of staying here. I could feel the wind stop and the moon seemingly become brighter, this made me realize that my senses had sharpened, I was ready for combat.
The shadowy figure raised their sword and pointed it at me, I responded by planting my feet in the ground and adjusting my center of gravity.
The shadowy figure then took a step forward and disappeared from my sight.
Moments later the shadowy figure materialized in front of me and stabbed their sword towards me, I turned my body to the right and moments later a sword appeared where my heart had been.
My attacker then changed from a thrust and slashed to the right.
I reacted by raising one of my daggers to intercept the sword.
*CLANG*
Now that I was close to my attacker I saw that the person was wearing a black mask, I made eye contact with the person before we separated and I jumped back.
Sliding back on the ground, I left drag marks with my feet. I looked up when I stopped sliding back and saw the figure rushing towards me, without wasting time I shot forward and met the person with a huge clash of metal.
I once again made eye contact with the shadowy figure and moments later we both disappeared.
*CLANG*
*CLANG*
*CLANG*
We both kept disappearing and appearing in different spots, clashing and separating, then appearing once again and repeating the same process over and over.
'This person isn't playing around,' I ducked down to avoid a wide slash. The slash kept on going and cut a tree that was behind me in half.
*CRASH*
I briefly glanced back and swallowed hard, I could see how clean the cut was, this person is definitely not a rookie. 'If I'm slow for even a moment I'll definitely find a sword in my heart. I need to end this soon before some instructor finds me here.'
I somersaulted and used the cut tree's stump to propel myself backward. Once I landed I grabbed a rock and threw it at my attacker.
Without pausing the rock was cut in half and my attacker continued running toward me.
I turned around and ran deeper into the woods.
Weaving in-between the trees I kept a close eye on how far the person was behind me.
I jumped over a bush and just avoided landing in a rabbit hole. This mistake slowed me down for long enough that the shadowy figure reached me and grabbed their sword in both hands before stabbing down heavily.
'Shit!'
I rolled forward and luckily the sword missed hitting me by a hair's breadth.
"Can you stop dodging!" Finally I heard his voice, shouting probably out of frustration of not killing me yet.
"Why would I stop? Do you think I want to die?" Although I was seemingly arguing with him in reality I was trying to place his voice.
'I know I've heard that voice before, and with how familiar it sounds I think it wasn't that long ago.'
I heard a large intake of air coming from my attacker before he closed his eyes, after that he brought his arm back and raised his sword to point straight at me.
"Doesn't matter," He then opened his eyes, revealing a sharp glint. "I'm going to kill you now."
I bent my knees and readied myself.
"You can try." I smirked. "I don't give you a high chance though."
The shadowy figure scoffed. "Keep acting arrogant, I'll soon wipe that smile from your face."
He then narrowed his eyes and shouted.
[Conduction Stance]
'Is his sword shining?' I looked closely and realized that yes, there was faint white shine around the sword.
He then shouted again and rushed toward me, this time much faster than before.
In basically an instant he crossed the distance between us and appeared in front of me.
"THIS IS THE END!"
He then thrust his glowing sword toward my stomach.
I gasped as the sword entered my body. I reached out and grabbed the hand that was holding the sword as my head lowered.
The shadowy figure laughed. "Not smiling anymore are you?"
*SQUELCH*
He then pulled out his sword and took a step back. "How does it feel?"
I swayed on my feet for a few seconds before looking up and breaking out into a broad grin.
"Not as bad as I expected."
*SHINK*
His eyes widened and hurriedly he took a few steps back in shock. He then looked down and touched his stomach, when he brought his hand up he saw blood.
He then looked back at me. "What did you do?"
I smirked. "You're not the only one that knows a stance."
He shook his head and narrowed his eyes. "That doesn't matter, what matters is how you stabbed me. I stepped back just so your daggers would not be able to reach me."
He then glanced at my hand.
"Wai..t," He sputtered in shock. "Where did you get a spear from?"
I looked down at my hand and raised up a double bladed spear, one blade on each end.
"Oh this," I turned back to him and smiled. "I would tell you but why would a dead man need to know?"
For the first time in this fight I could see fear in his eyes.
He stepped back in fear.
"But before I kill you I'd appreciate it if you would tell me who sent you after me." As I stepped forward I twirled the spear in my hand.
The shadowy figure began backing away but tripped over a rock and fell to the ground. After he got up he turned around and began frantically running through the trees.
I sighed and began running after him.
But before I made it past three steps I stopped and fell to the ground.
I felt something coming up my throat and moments later coughed into my hands.
After I finished coughing I turned my hands and saw a red liquid.
'Blood.' I thought grimly. 'Shit, I thought I fully stopped the sword from piercing me.'
I looked down and saw blood around my abdomen. Then raising my head I saw the person that attacked me moving through the trees before seconds later I lost sight of him.
'And now he's gone,' I sighed and stood up before I turned and began walking back to my house. 'But I'm not going to kill myself chasing him down, I value my life too much for that.'
I glanced at the twin bladed spear, as soon as my eyes landed on it the shape of the spear began changing.
First the shaft grew smaller and smaller then after the shaft practically disappeared it separated, and now in my hands were two daggers.
'That was too close,' I thought as I stepped over a tree root. 'If not for the fact that I kept the ability of the daggers a secret I probably would have died. But that's if I didn't reveal all my cards,'
I put my hand against a tree and took a deep breath before continuing walking back.
'Still, it's too early to show that card to anyone, it would cause a lot of problems.'
Alex continued to slowly make his way home and soon after he disappeared into the woods.