The trio had been exploring for several hours. Finding another chamber bereft of anything living, dead, or undead, they took a break. Vera immediately summoned the Usurper’s Throne onto the cobbled floor. As soon as she did, Sya plopped onto it and passed out. A recovery boost mid stargate raid would be vital to keep everyone at their best. When Sya was rested up, she would switch with someone else.
Arden checked on his sister, relieved that she was sleeping without any problems. Training for a few hours the day before, then being pulled into a stargate in the middle of the night, followed by exploring a long abandoned labyrinth of death was a lot for one to take. Even more so if one happened to be a Blight Walker.
“She good?” Vera asked, inspecting her newly acquired sword.
“More or less. Just tired mainly.”
“Makes sense. As a Blight Walker, she has a weak constitution. I might know something that can help. I can train with her and give her a technique to improve her longevity. It won’t heal her, but it will make her last longer. I’ll teach you the same thing sometime later.”
Vera had planned to teach Sya a breathing technique at some point. She wanted to improve her mental foundations first, but in a scenario like this, they needed to keep moving, so Sya’s constitution hindered them.
Of course that wasn’t to say that only Sya was tired. Both Arden and Vera were lacking in sleep as well, and Arden had a weak body.
“While we have the time,” Vera said. “Let's do some training. Just until Sya wakes up, then you can take her spot.”
“Anything in particular, or just physical training?”
“We have swords now. I think you should know how to use them properly. Let me take a look at yours.”
Arden handed Vera the sword and she inspected it like she had with her own moments prior.
The swords were the opposite of elegant, as was expected from weapons buried in a mausoleum. They had presumably served their original users in life when their owners fell. The swords were almost complete carbon copies.
Both swords were around 75 centimeters, double-edged and had a simple u-shaped guard. The only difference was cosmetic, in that Vera’s pommel was discolored. Vera handed Arden’s back to him.
“Our swords are best used with both hands, but they can still be used with one if you want to use something in your offhand. I don’t recommend it though, unless you want to use a shield. Dual-wielding is something that only the best trained swordsman can accomplish. Some people want to improve where they lack to make themselves well-rounded. If you’re part of a party though, it's better for everyone to have their own roles, and focus on improving their strengths. It's the same principle with the swords.”
She held up her sword with the blade pointing down to the ground.
“These swords are made for cutting and severing. They focus more on being reliable, which is what you want in a battle, hence the double edge. They are versatile, and have solid reach, with good balance to boot. With the notable exception of thrusting swords, the majority of swords follow the same principle.”
Vera took the sword in both hands, one near the pommel and the other near the guard and made a downward slash.
“Leverage is key. This is why two-handing this sword is better. The higher hand pushes the sword down, and the hand next to the pommel pulls up.”
She performed another downward slash so Arden could see what she meant. He watched as her hands moved simultaneously in opposite directions increasing the speed and power of the strike.
“Your turn.”
Arden gripped his sword the same way Vera had. Two hands on top of each other, one just below the guard, and the other just below that. He raised the word to mimic the slash that Vera had done. Slashing down, he scowled. The strike didn’t possess the same power that hers had.
Watching Arden’s strike, she spoke up, letting him know his fault.
“You’re mistaken about generating power. You’re only using your hands to create power, when they should be transmitting it. Your entire body needs to be incorporated into your strike. It comes from your feet, your hips, your core, your shoulders, and then to your hands to attack. Watch again.”
Vera once again performed the downward strike. Arden paid attention to everything Vera did, from her stance to her movements, like his life depended on it. Which it did. They were in a stargate after all.
When it came to fighting, he was a novice. However, he had been on the receiving end of numerous people who made violence look like an art form. Calling upon his old memories, he used them as inspiration. He never thought that he would receive help from Yaan like this.
Yaan had always been great at inflicting pain. Honestly, Arden believed it was the only thing he was good at. There was a reason normal physical pain didn’t bother Arden much. Yaan was scum, but he was talented. He’d gone through an awakening and survived the Trial afterwards, becoming a Starborn. He knew how to fight.
Arden recalled how Yaan would move, comparing it to Vera. If they fought, Arden had absolute faith in his teacher. Even if he wasn’t biased, he’d seen the way they both fought. Yaan had skill, there was no doubt. But Vera fought like she had years of experience. Actually, it was more like she was made to fight.
That was the difference.
Nevertheless, Arden noticed similarities between the two styles and focused on them. Yaan didn’t use a sword, but he still used his full body to punish Arden.
Arden performed strike after strike, and each time, Vera would point out his faults, and he would correct them. He continued until there were no faults left to point out. Satisfied with Arden’s progress, Vera nodded her head with a smile.
“Good.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Arden smiled back at her, proud of his progress. He had gone from someone who could barely hold a sword to someone who could swing it with approval of Vera.
“Now, do it until Sya wakes up.”
The smile stiffened on Arden’s face. He had no idea how long Sya would sleep, but he believed it would be at least a few hours. He sighed and got back to practicing. He didn’t want to disappoint Vera, and he also wanted to get stronger. This seemed a good way to accomplish both.
“And not just downward slashes. Attack from multiple angles. Can’t have you be a one trick pony.”
Arden raised his sword again and began to slash. He left Vera to her own devices as he trained with the sword. The sword whistled through the air as the first slash came down.
As per Vera’s instruction, he swung from a multitude of different angles. As he trained, Arden’s mind was split between two things: training, and wondering how well he would hold up in real combat. Against skeletons, he didn’t think he’d have a problem because he had speed on his side. If he wanted to fight stronger things, he needed to learn more from Vera.
Not that he minded.
Push and pull, Arden thought to himself.
He knew how to correctly apply force. Now he needed to get to the point where it would become second nature to him. He didn’t know when that would happen, but he would make that his goal until Sya woke up.
By the time that happened, two hours had passed by. Two hours of swinging, sweating, and straining his body. When she finally woke up, Arden lowered his sword and took a deep cleansing breath.
Sya stretched her arms and got up from the Usurper’s Throne. With vacancy now created on the couch, Arden made a beeline for it. His body, mainly his arms, were incredibly sore. Resting on the super couch would be just what he needed.
‘I wonder if the recovery boost for the couch applies to muscle fatigue.’’
“You’re awake,” Vera said.
“Good as new,” Sya replied. “Ignoring the Blight.”
“We’ll get to that soon. First, I have to teach you two about fighting. Sooner rather than later. It looks like Arden’s about to slip into a coma.”
“I'm awake,” he said with his eyes shut. “For now.”
“Eyes up, Arden. One more lecture then you can sleep.”
“Deal,” Arden said, opening his eyes and leaning forward on the couch.
Sya sat back down on the couch next to Arden. They both looked up at Vera who stood in front of them.
“This is quite possibly the most important lesson. Mentality. That will be your key to winning every fight. Sya, did you ever read a book that talked about this?”
Sya nodded.
“Most of them covered it in some form. They all said something along the lines of how mentality is nine tenths of the fight, and actual skill is only the remaining ten percent.”
“Because that is very true. Keeping a calm head is essential to winning fights. Arden, what were you thinking when you fought your clone?”
“Holy crap this guy is strong,” he answered.
“Did you panic?”
“Yes,” he admitted. “The dude’s limbs were easily shattered, but it didn’t stop him from curb stomping me. He effortlessly dodged pretty much all of my attacks, and punished me for even trying.”
“That’s because your mentality was shaken. So long as you are smart with your fights, your fights won’t be as one sided. You will probably still lose a lot, but that's to be expected of a novice. So long as you learn from your defeats, then you can come back stronger. A single loss is worth more than a thousand victories.”
Vera’s carefree demeanor was gone. Arden had seen her like this when he began with the sword. This was instructor Vera. The kind of instructor that pointed out what you did wrong so you wouldn't have to worry about them in the future. The good kind of teacher. A teacher as good at teaching as she was attractive.
All the more reason to pay attention.
She moved on to the next topic.
“A fight itself is a series of moments. Even shorter than a second. It is your goal as a fighter to dominate each of those moments. Each moment you dominate is another one that your opponent doesn’t have. Everything you do in a fight is to dominate your opponent. Take control, and win. Any questions?”
“So dominance is the backbone of combat?” Arden asked.
“I wouldn’t have made a bone joke, but yeah,” Vera said.
“You literally made a bone joke when we were looting earlier.”
“You should be happy that he didn’t make a joke about being dominated,” Sya said.
“Would you think less of me if I said I was planning on it?” Arden asked.
“Getting dommed?” Vera replied. “Or making the joke?”
“I feel extremely put upon,” Arden asked, avoiding the question.
Vera steered the conversion back to the art of murder.
“Other than domination,” Vera said, shooting Arden a glance, “the other thing you have to learn is like a battle trance. At some point as a warrior you will achieve such clarity in battle that you can seemingly see everything happening. Clarity, unlike the others, cannot be taught. You have to achieve enlightenment, most likely mid-battle.”
“Have you gotten that far?” Sya asked.
“I have. I learned it after I was almost killed for stealing the couch.”
“Most people would have phrased that better,” Arden said. “Or at least in a way that made them look heroic.”
“Does the sub want me to act all big and strong?” Vera teased.
“I'm not a sub!”
They had gotten off track again, but they quickly returned to the lesson.
“Domination is the key to winning a fight, as I said. But until you get to the point where you can completely dominate a moment, there are three things to work on. Repetition, experience, and clarity. The last one is something that will just happen when it happens, so don't force it.”
Vera picked up her sword and asked Arden for his. He took it out of his inventory and gave it to her.
“I'll take care of maintenance for now. Just remember the three golden rules: repetition, experience, and clarity. Each one is more important than the last. No matter how much training you've done, it will never be as fruitful as one real fight. That’s experience right there. But you need to at least be at the level to survive a real fight, hence repetition. Arden has a slight edge in experience from actually being in fights.”
Arden shot Sya a smug preening look, who challenged it upon seeing it.
“And how many of those fights have you actually won?”
Arden grumbled and looked away.
“Why are you so good with words?”
“It's not like I had anything to do before all of this weirdness. Reading and sleeping was all I had.”
“Arden has been practicing his sword technique while you were sleeping. Now, he's going to rest, and I'm going to teach you something that should help you keep up. You're very perceptive, but your body can't get any stronger without it failing, like it did when we first got to this chamber.”
Vera led Sya a bit away from the already asleep Arden to begin teaching her. Before they began, Vera asked her a question.
“Is he really a sub?”
“How would I know? Didn't you sleep with him already?”
