As I was returning home I thought about what just happened at the market. Could this truly be happening to me? If this hadn't been real, I wouldn't be thinking about it while riding my bike home. Laughing at what I was thinking I stopped. It was at this moment I realized something. How am I going to explain this to my parents? If I tell my parents I'm sure they would freak out.
I kept asking myself, 'What should I do? If I told my mom, she would have most likely passed out or blow her stack. As for my dad, who knows what he would have done. Oh man, I was not in a very good position at that time.' Suddenly, I had an idea. I would just wait until I was almost finished with my training before I told them. That is if I ever made it that far.
If what that master swordsman said was true, then not only would I gain the skills that parallel to my grandfathers, but I would also gain his enemies; should they find out that his family is still alive we would all be in danger. I thought I better try to keep this to myself.
Little did I know that keeping this secret from my family would be easier than I expected. When I had finally reached home, it was already extremely late. I knew my mom was going to be furious, or at least that's what I expected.
When I walked inside, I announced to my mom that I was home. Immediately my mom turned to me anxiously and said, "There you are Xeonix, you are home. Where have you been?" I started to speak, "Well, I uh… See at the market I met ---" My mom interrupted me saying, "Oh, never mind that, I have a guest here I would like for you to meet."
Shocked about how quickly my mom changed the topic so easily, I replied with, "Um, who is it?" She immediately turned around and sharply said, "Boy, mind your manners!" I backed up a bit slightly frightened. "This is my new friend Mrs. Kazuki!" she continued. I replied, "Uh, yes ma'am, and hi pleased to meet you Mrs. Kazuki, I'm Xeonix her son."
I looked at the lady in her long gown like dress; she looked to be no older than my mother possibly in her late thirty's or forty's. Though I didn't know for sure, but I fear not ask for my life. Older women and their age are like time bombs waiting to go off for anyone who asks.
Her dress had a vast arrangement of various plants and flowers and it stretched from her shoulder to right below her knees. As I looked down to the ground, I noticed she had on a very particular nice pair of shoes on. Her hair had a flow like that of a radiant orange-red sunset as it was pulled back into a ponytail.
Her face was like that of grandmother that was pleased to see her son after years of travel. She was simplistic in nature yet loving and kind. Her hands seemed soft like my mothers.
The lady then turned to me and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you Xeonix. If I knew you had a son Leah, I would have made my son come today. Or at least tried. You see his work permits him to travel. So sometimes he accompanies me on my trips.
Last I heard he was supposed to be going through this area in a few days so you might see him." "Why thank you Kazuki! I have two more children but they're already asleep. Their names are Milow and Florent. Oh, before I forget what's your son's name?" asked my mom.
The lady replied, "Oh your sons have lovely names! My sons name is Steve, it's not fancy but I liked how it sounds. I bet you would have loved to meet him, huh, Xeonix?" "Oh, um, sure maybe," I replied.
To be perfectly honest; I really didn't want to meet him or anyone else because I wanted to focus on my training. I didn't want any distractions, and on top of that no one knew that I was doing this. "Well, I better be on my way. I have a way to go before I reach Victory City in Vargus Prime north of here," Mrs. Kazuki said.
When I heard her say that, it immediately clicked; that was the very city where my grandfather's blade was supposed to be on display as an artifact from the war. I oddly enough felt this very strong desire to go retrieve the sword. I need to get my hands on that blade someday, but until then I must practice swordsmanship first in order to retrieve it.
By the way, Vargas Prime is the continent that is to the east of Picodesh and is about one-fourth the size of Picodesh. It is kind of shaped like a radish. Picodesh is shaped like a cornucopia more or less with three lesser islands to the south and a large body of water to the north and east.
The massive ocean to the east is called Grand Genevieve (meaning Great White Wave) because of the crisp whiteness of the waves, though I have yet to see it for myself. The ocean to the north though not as massive as the one to the east is named after an underwater city that was supposedly lost, we call that body of water Aciomari Ocean.
No one knows whether the city Aciomari still exists or not as communication with it was cut off after the war. Victory City is one of the nine main cities in Vargus Prime and accessible by boat through an inlet of water between the continents.
This inlet is a river like lake that connects the northern ocean to the southern one. It's called The Sea of Manmiota or the sea of echoes. There are a lot of theories to how it got its name though none have yet to be proven.
After a few seconds, my mom replied to what Mrs. Kazuki said, "Oh, why don't you stay the night? It's a bit late at night for you to be traveling. I will fix you breakfast in the morning, so you at least are well fed and ready to go in the morning." Mrs. Kazuki agreed to these bold terms and stayed the night.
The next morning after breakfast Mrs. Kazuki was on her way. But I couldn't help but wonder how it is that a woman like that would appear up and out of nowhere.
Visit and stay with people she did not know and then tell us about the capital city so easily. It was like she knew that something else was to happen. Thoughts like this ran through my head all day and into the night. The weekend was long and tedious as usual.
However, I was excited because the next day was supposed to be my first day of training. So, I set out early so I could get there with little resistance. I was so excited I ran as fast as my legs could carry me at the time until I reached my destination. When I reach the village entrance, I looked around at the village to find where the dojo was supposed to be.
As I carefully walked through the small village; it looked like it was ravaged by a battle. Buildings were either burned or blown to bits. There were bodies on the ground everywhere, some regular people and some bandits. As I continued looking around, I saw more blood, bodies, and destroyed buildings. I continued walking and came across a small sword in the street.
It still appeared to be in good condition and had a nice color to it. The handle was a purple-black color and the blade had a dark green metalic finish. So, I picked up the nearest sheath and put the sword in it and place it on my side. "Wow, real swords sure are heavy, ha-ha," I thought to myself. Excited to have found a sword.
As I continued to search the village, I spotted a place still intact on the outskirts of the town. Considering the condition of the community; that building had to be the dojo that master swordsman was referring to. It would explain why it's not damaged right?
So, I headed in the direction of the building when I started to feel a very murderous intent in the air. Then I heard a sudden sound of metal clanging in the air. Just then out of one of the broken buildings above me four bandits jumped out and surrounded me with knives in hand.
I immediately drew the sword on my side in self-defense, but in trying to do so, I nearly sliced one of the bandits in half, it was so heavy. Of course, the bandits jumped back out of the range of the weapon.
"Where did these guys come from and what do they want?" I thought to myself. "The village is destroyed and everyone dead surely they should have left by know right?"
All I knew is that I can't die here or at least not yet anyway. The bandits then charged at me. I suddenly felt the urge to fight back and defend myself. After several minutes of fighting with me trying to defend myself, everyone started backing up. "I am doing well on defense, but if I don't do something soon, I will be killed."
Then I looked at the sword and thought for some strange reason, "This is no more than a larger knife. Oh, I have an idea!" With that I held the sword like a knife as if to carve wood, but instead of attacking first I waited.
The leader of the bandits raised his hand as in to signal the others to hold back. Then with great dynamism, the leader charged at me with full speed. In reaction to his incoming attack, I turned the blade sideways with the tip of the blade facing my left hand and the edge of the blade facing the sky and ground.
As the approaching bandit was about to attack, I took a step forward and thrust the sword upward with all the strength I could must toward the enemy. Knocking the bandit backwards into the air; when the bandit hit the ground, he didn't move again and had a hole in his chest. Well, this, in turn, made the remaining three bandits upset as they, in turn, charged at me one after the other.
But instead of defending myself or being afraid; I felt pretty confident in what I could do. So as with a carving knife, I use the similar techniques to defeat and kill the remaining three bandits. Exhausted, I dropped the sword and fell to the ground.
After about five to ten minutes I heard a voice from behind say, "Well done my pupil. I did not expect you to pass the first exam so quickly and early on. I did not even start training you yet, ha-ha." I turned and looked to see Kenshin Sensei examining the lifeless bodies. Then I said, "Level one exam!? Are you crazy? I almost died!" He looked at me and then around again.
Then he said, "Ah yes, but you didn't and with that you finished your first graduation exam. Although when I was going to have you take it, I was going to tell you not to destroy the robots, but seeing how you didn't. However, hit every vital area as if it were human, I'd say you did well. Of course, even, though you passed the test I will still have to teach you the basics."
His face looked as though disappointed by something; I didn't think much of it at the time. I then replied, "Oh, I understand now, I think." He spoke again, "Ok, we will start with the basics, and then I will teach you the basic defense material. But before we head to the dojo I must ask where you found that practice sword you have. A beginner should start with a wooden sword, not a real one."
"I found it in the middle of the street over there," I said. "You can have it back it is too heavy for me right now." He then examined the blade said "It did not appear so the way you were swinging it. But don't worry about your strength we will work on that when it comes time for the second exam, ha-ha. As for this blade it looks to be the one, I lost the other day."
I looked at him excitedly and said, "Okay, sensei, I will do as directed…." Then I paused to think then said, "Wait! Did you say second test? The first one was hard enough as is, and did you say you will work on my strength? How are we going to do that? And what's with the robots?" I shouted.
He looked back at me and just smiled. Then he followed with, "Come on, let's get back to the dojo to begin your training, okay?" Knowing I may not get an answer, I gave it no second thought. I smiled at him and agreed, and we were off to the dojo.