Lightning flashes across the misty fog of the arena. Eel runs helter-skelter, dodging the arrows flinging across him. He turns around and sees a void. Everywhere and everything was shrouded in darkness, but him alone, standing on the rumbling surface. He looks at his hands, they are stained with blood but not his...…. A voice yells his name in the distance, he turns and yells back, but
"Wake up" yells Oriòn as he slams the door shut behind him.
Eel yells out frightened before realizing it was a dream. He looks around for Nymèŕa but can't find his furry friend for comfort as he tries to calm his breathing down.
"It is embarrassing that you still find sleep knowing fully well what's ahead," says Oriòn, walking towards him and shaking his head
"It's my day off Captain, and frankly I deserve it after the month it has been". Eel had spent every day in the last month training hard like never before. It was grueling going there every day and being shit every day.
"I don't know why you're so upset, I think we are making great progress. We should have had you join the cadets ages ago, but your mother wouldn't let you because of your sickness", says Oriòn, his voice echoing across the room.
"And now that she's gone, Father wants to feed me to Nògù"
Oriòn chuckles before replying, "Well no one expects you to beat him. The Regent just wants you to show everyone you are also ferocious like the leopard"
"He's sending me to embarrass myself. That man thinks very little of me", Eel walks off his bed and towards his mirror In truth, Oriòn was not wrong. His training has had its benefit on his physique. He could see his muscles forming and the stretch marks lightly surface on his dark shoulders. But this is nothing compared to his cousin, Nògù.
Nògù is his uncle's third son. He's eighth in line for the throne, but everyone speaks of him like he's the heir. Eel remembers him from when they were younger. They were 10, and he convinced Eel to sneak out of the castle and go hunting in the forest below the fortress. They snuck off early in the morning, and he quickly caught a rabbit after a few minutes of scouring the terrain. On their way, they see a man dragging a young girl into a small cave along the path. She was passed out and her clothes looked ripped. Nògù wanted to intervene, and Eel tried to hold him back, begging that they run to the fortress and get the guards. But Nògù wouldn't have it, his eyes flared in ravaged excitement as he snuck into the cover of the Bush and slowly walked towards the unknown assailant.
Eel turned back and ran to get help, he ran up the pathway and met Oriòn by the gates smoking Shine. Oriòn picked him up and they ran towards Nògù with two guards. They got there and found the man bloodied on the floor. Nògù had split open his head with a rock and then proceeded to stab him with his knife repeatedly. They all stood there in horror at what they saw, Nògù stood over the body smiling, thick blood plastered all over his body as He held onto the knife tight. Eel vomited after staring at the body, he remembered the way Oriòn picked him up and covered his eyes before taking him back to the castle, "Bring the Prince and the bodies" he commanded as they walked away from the scene.
"Yes, the boy is deranged. But he's a lieutenant now in the Grand Army of The Regents, I'm sure he would have stopped all that nonsense" Oriòn says, smiling at Eel's reflection.
"All I'm hearing is my cousin has had 7 years to hone his murderous lust and perfect his craft and I'm supposed to go up against him on the grandest stage ever for a young man to defend his honor with just 4 months of preparation. Oh, the gods must be having a good one at my expense," Eel frowns at his reflection, and he walks away to sit on his bed. Nymèŕa stretched out from under the bed, he was bigger now and his dark spots were beginning to grow bolder. He jumps on Eel's lap, purring for him to hold onto him.
"Yes, he's stronger, but it doesn't matter. In real combat, In wars, do you think it mattered what rank you held? How many years have you trained and honed your skills? We fought giants, sorcerers, and Monsters beyond your wildest dreams. What mattered was surviving. And you can do that by either killing your opponent or living to fight another day. These next 2 months, I'll teach you to survive"
Eel lets out a huge sigh before standing up and placing Nymèŕa around his shoulders. "Okay Captain, teach me to survive," he says, feeling the soft fur of Nymèŕa warm up his shoulders.
"Good, now wear something light and meet me in your mother's private garden", Oriòn walked out of the room gently. "And bring Nymèŕa along, we can't have him turning out like its owner now can we" Oriòn says with a subtle laughter brimming on his face.
"Ah Ah Ah, very funny. Leave my baby out of this" Eel yells, dropping Nymèŕa down on the bed and getting ready to train.
Eel gets to his mother's garden, the last time Oriòn and he were there, he ended up getting choked unconscious. Eel wondered what new training would be, All they had been doing the last month was mostly physical training, and the combat at the end of the day routine had already revealed how useless he would be in any fight. The door opens and æsà walks in with Orion. The winter winds brushed lightly against her gleaming figure, æsà's face had been the best part of the last month. She rarely spoke to him in the beginning, but now she makes his failure less humiliating by being the best in a group of men.
"æsà here is going to help you with the first part of your survival training," Orion says, walking in behind her.
"What? how is that supposed to work?" Eel asks, avoiding the glare of æsà as he spoke
Orion laughs a little before he replies, "What do you notice when you see æsà?"
Eel looks at her now. Her slender figure must have been sculpted by the creator gods themselves. Her dark skin was daunting against the winter snow. Like a panther in a blizzard, she stood out amongst everything and everyone around.
"Well?, Won't you answer? What do you see when you look at me, my lord?" æsà asks, running her hands against the thick locks of her hair.
"Uhm…." Eel stutters, shriveling away from the thoughts that warm up his mind. "You'll have to help me out here Orion."
"I thought so too, have you never wondered how someone so small can go toe to toe with the huge boys at the academy?"
Eel looks to æsà once more, now he sees what Orion means. She was barely his height. And other than her slight muscular frame. She looked rather small for someone with the kind of skill she possessed. Last week during a sparring session with another squad, One of the boys made a rude comment about girls being allowed to train with men and they got paired for combat. The boy laughed strolling around the mat with his training sword.
"I dont need a weapon against a woman" he declared, laughing with the other members of his squad as he threw the wooden sword against the floor. æsà threw hers away too. She stretches her right hand out and takes a firm stance opposite the boy. The floor went silent, there was a look on her face, or rather no look on her face. Just the plainness of utmost focus and confidence. The boy rushes towards her swinging high and straight for her face, but æsà dodges into him. She grabs him by his hands and flips him on his back before holding him down with her legs and twisting against his arm.
"Yield!" she yelled as the boy struggled beneath her, "Yield before I break your arm!!!"
"Never.." he screams
Æsà twists and Eel could see the bone crack, the boy begins to yell in pain and their captain stops the fight.
"How are you so good at fighting bigger people?" Eel finally asks
Orion claps his hands, " I knew I wasn't training an idiot. æsà fights people bigger but she is more skilled and has honed her body to know how and what can disable a bigger opponent. That my boy is what she is here to teach you. How to fight smart and maybe a few agility and skills"
Eel smiles at Orion and æsà. He doesn't think any of it would matter on the day, but the thought of being with æsà so closely is not a chance he would pass up. "Okay, Teach me, please. Both of you"
"It would be my pleasure" æsà responds with a gentle smile that brings warmth to Eel's fears.