Splash.
Splash.
Splash.
The night was fresh, the rain constant yet not too hard. The moon shined like a diamond in coal. A young boy walked through the rain, cold and shivering. There were bandages covering his face, drenched in rain and covered in dirt, his medium length black hair drenched and now covering his face down to his nose.
He staggered his way through the mud of the town, looking heavily sick yet no one went near him. They avoided him like the plague. It was the same kid who stole from their shops on a regular basis. Some shopkeepers would even throw things at him, curse at him but not a soul cared to stop them.
Even the bystanders cursed him under their breaths, muttering conversations as they glared at him with disdain.
The sound of his steps repeated, until they stopped, the boy had bumped into an older man. The man's face was kind, inviting, and warm. Those concepts were foreign to the boy, he backed up in fear but the man simply offered his hand to the child.
The child only looked up, scared, yet he still took the man's hand, something compelled him to. As the boy took the man's hand, the curses from the people around them stopped, only to be replaced by gasps, degrading the man yet it did not phase him.
The old man's hands were rough, the hands of a warrior. The young boy followed behind him until they reached a grand dojo, great in size and the architecture was beautiful, unlike anything else in the town. Once they entered, the old man motioned for the boy to wait, before walking with an increased pace to retrieve a towel.
The child felt small in this dojo, yet there was a warm feeling in his heart. The walls were covered in cave-like paintings depicting war and other things, yet it didn't feel unnatural.
"Welcome to the Bleakburn Dojo." The old man said in a calming tone, a kind smile tugging at his face while drying the boy's hair with the towel he retrieved. The boy's hair was softer than he expected, his hands running through it with ease and smelling like a coconut mixture. "What is your name, boy? Mine is Egura."
The boy made a writing motion with his hands, Egura's eyes widening slightly before realizing, "Ah, you cannot speak, my apologies." Egura went and fetched an empty scroll, ink and quill already in the room as he passed them to the boy.
The boy dipped the quill in the ink, his handwriting was rough but eligible, "Ebon" was what it said. "That is a unique name, did you receive it from your parents?" Ebon shook his head hard, before writing, "Alone." on the scroll, the boy had no one.
"You've been wandering, haven't you? Living on your own, like a vagabond" Egura said kindly, his voice was as rough as a smoker, yet calming to the heart. Ebon nodded his head, this young boy had been thrown into the dark life of a wanderer, yet it seemed not to bother him.
"Come, I want you to meet someone." He reached his hand out again and that warm feeling returned to Ebon's heart. He quickly reached for the man's large hand, finally taking in the man's appearance. He was short, his hair was long and grey but tied into a ponytail, his outfit was a martial artist gi, yet Ebon didn't know from what branch.
They traversed through the winding hallways, weapons upon the wall with varying designs, the boy's eyes widened in awe, taking in each weapon they passed by until they reached an opening, another young boy, rushing towards a training dummy with a training spear in his hand.
The boy's movements were swift as he attacked the dummy at various points, the neck, the side, the leg, and then the head before, "Ashura, come, I want you to meet someone."
Ashura was a slightly taller boy, his hair was curly and he was always smiling.
The boy stopped, putting the staff down and looking at Egura, before looking down and seeing Ebon, his eyes litting up as he ran towards him with a smile on his face, "Hi! I'm Ashura, what's your name!" Ashura was excited to possibly have a friend his age.
Egura stopped him, "His name is Ebon, he cannot speak but he should be the same age as you. Or at least close to your age." Ebon waved, you could tell he was smiling even through the bandages on his face.
Immediately, Ebon was fascinated by Ashura, he was kind and didn't question the bandages on his face, he was unlike the others and wanted to know Ebon for the person he is, not caring about his appearance.
Egura smiled, he was happy they could get along so well and so fast, he felt good. Watching the two run around and play was a nice feeling, letting the vagabond child live as a normal child. Ashura had suddenly stopped, grabbing Ebon's hand and leading him to the weapon rack.
"Wanna try one" Ashura said while pointing upwards towards the many weapons, the wood smell filling their nostrils. Ebon walked towards the weapons, running his fingers over the wooden sword before looking back at Egura and making a "small" motion with his hands while pointing at the weapon.
Egura asked, "You want a smaller one?" He asked Ebon, who nodded his head energetically, then holding up the number two. "Twin swords?" Egura asked once more, which Ebon continued to nod to. Maybe the boy had witnessed someone wield the same style, it is a quite unique one to want without any prior knowledge.
Egura thought how strange it was that the child knew what kind of weapon he wanted, especially with how few people master dual wielding blades. He moved through the halls, finding the storage room and walking towards a barrel filled with swords.
He grabbed many and compared them, trying to find swords that were the same size in both length and width, while also at least being similar in weight. His eyes lit up as he grabbed two matching blades, rushing back to the main dojo area and handing the blades to Ebon.
Ebon brandished the blades with ease, as if he knew what he was doing. He looked at Ashura before walking to the other end of the dojo, entering into a battle stance. Ashura jumped with joy before picking up the spear he was using prior.
Ashura entered a battle ready stance, "Give us a countdown old man!" Ashura shouted, his brashness making Egura laugh. Egura raised his hand, holding still for 3 seconds before bringing it down swiftly and dashing backwards, the two children charging towards them.
Ashura's movements were explosive, he jumped into the air and dove down, aiming the spear towards Ebon. Ebon swiftly parried the staff, the sound of wood clashing was loud and rang through the room, his other blade was already flying towards Ashura.
Ashura's eyes lit up, noticing the second blade coming from below. He propelled his body to follow the spear, falling and landing behind Ebon, sweeping his legs with his polearm. Ebon was knocked off his feet, catching himself with one of his arms while swinging his left leg down upon Ashura, who had raised his spear in defense.
"Wow you're crazy good!" Ashura said while pushing away Ebon's leg, Ebon was happy, he could fight equally with someone without risking his life. He used his arms to spring himself up, landing low on his feet, dashing towards Ashura who was barely standing up yet.
Ebon raised his right blade as if he was going to attack, Ashura's eyes were locked on it, ready to defend himself. As he was too focused on the blade, he didn't see the flying knee Ebon had launched into his chest.
Ebon had pinned Ashura on the floor with his knee, his blade pointed at Ashura's neck. Egura walked up to them, grabbing Ebon by the collar of his shirt and making him stand on his feet. He patted Ebon on his head, "I would never expect this much talent." he said, as he helped Ashura stand to his feet as well.
"Do you admit defeat Ashura?" Egura asked while looking down at the boy, Ashura made a deep bow, "I admit defeat" He raised his head, a huge smile on his face as he looked up at Ebon. "You're so strong Ebon! Would you like to be my partner?" Ebon nodded his head happily in agreement, reaching his hand out for a handshake.
Ashura grabbed Ebon's hand and shook it firmly, smiling as hard as he could.
Egura had basically taken these children as his own. He wanted to care for these lost children, make sure they didn't feel alone much longer, so that they didn't feel forsaken by this world.
The two boys had an instant brotherly connection, feeling as if they were each other's missing piece in their lives. They felt complete when they were together.
They never spent a moment without each other, playing together, eating together, and even sleeping side by side when they could. Ashura never minded that Ebon couldn't speak, he could understand him just fine even without Ebon having to write his thoughts down, almost as if he could read his mind.
Ebon didn't understand the warm feeling he felt when around Egura and Ashura, but he enjoyed it, he didn't want to ever forget it. He committed himself to savoring and remembering every moment, he would hold these times close to him.