"Teacher Marium? Are you gonna explain to me what exactly the concepts written in this book are, or are we just going straight to the martial exercises?"
Sol asked.
"Straight to the exercises, you won't be needing this at the early stages of martial arts." Maruim said, as he snatched the martial art book out of Sol's hand flung it onto the table that sat in the middle of the forge.
"But before we get onto that, I have to warn you the martial art exercises can get really intense, so it would be best if you told me the location of your house, so if you pass out I can take you there."
"Makes sense, want me to point out my house for you."
Sol offered to point to where in the city his house was located, this was made possible because the village was built on a mountainous area, so some parts were more elevated than the other.
"Yes, please, that would be most appreciated, I don't want to have to take care of your unconscious self for the night."
Sol walked to windows, and pointed at an inconspicuous black building that lay around the edges of the city.
"Over there, that's my house."
"The black building with three windows?"
"Yep that's the one," Sol confirmed.
But not even a second after he said so, Sol felt a force that struck him several times across different parts of his body.
At first Sol didn't feel anything after the initial blow, but just a few seconds after the strike, Sol suddenly vomited blood and collapsed to the ground.
'What is hap–pp–ning?'
Sol felt extremely light headed as he struggled to raise his head.
"Stop struggling, You'll only die faster that way." Maruim said from above him, Although Maruim was just a few steps away from him, his voice sounded somehow distant in Sol's ears.
"The only way you'll survive is if you listen carefully to me."
Maruim said then knelt down and laid a hand on Sol's back.
"Given the vigor of your blood and vitality, you have till sunset to stop the escape of your vitality and become a warrior, failure to do so will result in your death."
"There are two main ways of stopping the escape of vitality, the first is to individually close all the tiny pores are located on the first layer of your skin, to stop the leak of vitality —
This method is rarely achieved without excellent physical gifts and decades of practice.
The only other option was to directly take control of your life force and restore balance to your body — Only children who are spiritually gifted can use this method.
But in your case it doesn't really matter which option you choose because the speed at which your vitality is escaping is too fast, for a mortal to even have a minute chance of becoming a warrior they must have atleast a period of five days to stop the leak of vitality.
Sol, so believe me when I say it's hopeless for you."
Sol felt a strong sense of terror when he learnt he was going to die, the rush of terror was so so strong, it instantly cleared his mind of any distractions.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Sol asked Maruim, in a perfectly composed manner, not because he was unfazed by what Maruim did to him, but because he didn't feel any need to be angry, being angry wouldn't affect the situation he was in now.
"Would it have made a difference If I did?"
If Sol had energy to spare right now he would have rolled his eyes, Answering a question with another question was so fraudulent, he should have just gone straight to the point.
Sol spared no effort to reply to Maruim's question for obvious reasons, instead he closed his eyes and tried to sense the so called life force he was talking about earlier.
'I know Maruim said it's hopeless, but I still have to try, don't I?,
'If I fail without putting my all into it into my goals… I deserve to have failed'
'So for that reason I must try my best.' Sol resolved himself to do his best because it was to do or die or to do and die,
There was no backing out.
Sol lay in absolute silence trying to stop the escape of his life force while Maruim sat and wached him do it.
When the moon had risen and cast it's resplendent silver rays onto the Puden city. Maruim spoke to thin air.
"Boy, If you are still alive or conscious, I'm going on a walk, It's boring watching you lie on the ground."
A short moment of silence ensued after he spoke.
"Hah ~ Why do I even bother to talk to a ghost, I should spend my time on something more productive."
Maruim grumbled to himself as he left his smithy, locking the door behind as he did so.
The tight–shut doors elimated the majority of light that spilled forth from the moon, leaving Sol in relative darkness.
But Sol didn't notice any of rhis, not because he was too busy trying to sense his life force, no, the real reason was
because his consciousness refused to form a single train of thought.
The rapid deterioration of his life force left him physically unable to do anything, he couldn't think, he couldn't open his eyelids, even now it took all his strength to maintain a muddled sense of consciousness, because he knew if he lost that his death was certain.
And so he did, using all his determination he forced himself to stay awake, his consciousness fluctuating like an unfocused camera lens, the one moment his thoughts would be clear and in the next muddled.
It was like his train of thought was getting derailed and rerailed every single second.
In those brief moment of fragmented consciousness Sol still struggled to sense the existence of life force.
But after an unknown amount of fluctuations, after constant on and off's in Sol's consciousness, Sol lost track.
Sol lost track of what he was fighting for, he forgot the reason he was fighting so hard not to die.
And without that determination, without that desperate desire to keep his life, his will started to falter…
Bit by bit his consciousness started to blur just like it would if he was falling asleep, but only this time he was falling into an eternal slumber.
But just as his brain was about to shut off permanently a bright spark of light lit up his fading consciousnes, Then another spark came about, and another and another.
Those numerous sparks of light were the few neurons in Sol's brain firing for the last time akin to how a star would glow brighter before it's death.
With the short moment of clarity Sol gained before the last burst of energy he had ran out, he used it to contemplate about his life.