Chapter 13 former hero

  A few days later I made my way to the Elders house. A light snow coming down, my breath misting as I knock on the door. After a moment the Elder answers.

  “Xion, so glad you could make it, come in, come in.”

  The elder gestures towards a seat and he takes the one opposite me.

  “Now, Xion, what I'm about to tell you is a secret that no one besides your parents know. Remember those stories I told you when you were growing up? Well… I might have fibbed a bit. They weren't tales of an ancestor, they were tales of my journey. I was once known as the thunder tailed hero.”

  My eyes open wide as he begins to tell me of the truth, his journey, his experiences and his fight with a dragon.

  “I've been looking for a worthy successor for my skills. I was considering Alice but once I saw your class I knew you should be the one to learn them. My signature skills are ‘tail arts’ and ‘thunder weave.’ I heard you're heading out in a month with your party, my wish is to have you learn these skills and use them.”

  I nod with greater vigor, lessons from a former hero? Who wouldn't accept it?

  The old Fox kin smiles at my eagerness.

  “We'll start right away in that case, we'll begin with tail arts, its my own technique, when an old friend of mine suggested I use my tail more in combat I thought to myself, ‘why not?’”

  The elder and I get up and walk to our training field, Jean and Alice who were working on their martial arts quickly bow to the elder.

  “Now, its a bit hard on the back but I should still have it in me…”

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  The elder throws his cane to the side and stretches before slowly throwing a kick which cuts the air and as he spins from the roundhouse his tail stabs into the air with just as much force.

  “Awsome!”

  We all say in unison, the elder chuckling a bit before going back to his stance.

  “Xion, we'll begin training immediately.”

  I take my stance a few feet from him, copying his moves, my tail clumsy in its movements. After a few hours pass, with the others copying the movements I finally get the skill.

  [New skill learnt! Tail arts initiate- “with how you move your tail you should use it like a weapon!”- Higgs the mercenary.]

  With a few practice swipes of my tail it feels far smoother, and more deadly, a stab with my tail feels like it would be a bit dangerous, though it would probably hurt me more as my tail isnt used to being used like a weapon. The Elder notices my refined moves and claps, he grabs his cane and leans on it once more, a bead of sweat falling from his face.

  “You've got the basics down,that's good, ill return tomorrow to train you all once more.”

  We all bow and sit down in a circle once he leaves.

  “Who knew the old man was so strong?”

  Jean says.

  “He's the elder for a reason, even if he's not as strong as he once was. I heard he once took on a bandit camp with only his tail.”

  Alice says back. We continued our discussion for the rest of the day.

  Over the course of our remaining month we train with the Elder, we work on our tail arts relentlessly, everyone at least getting the basic skill while I get the advanced version.

  [Skill has leveled up! Advanced tail arts- use your tail as if its another limb, weave it between attacks and overwhelm even the sturdiest opponents- “i wont let you take my village foul dragon, on my name as the thunder tailed hero I will strike you down!”- the thunder tailed hero, Kottl.]

  As we finish training for the day the elder beckons for me to follow him, we head back to his house where he asks me to take a seat once more. He walks to his bookshelf and rummages around behind it before pulling out a dusty box. He blows away the dust and opens it, inside is a large ring with runes all around it.

  “This is a tail ring, something i had made in my glory days as a weapon for the tail, it opens up and-”

  He places the ring on his tail, a thin flexible armor is produced from the ring to the tip of his tail where a small blade then pops out.

  “Does that. My days are over, I've passed on the thunderweave to someone else, my gift to you is the tail ring, consider it thanks for humoring an old man.”

  He takes off the ring and hands it to me, I place it on my tail and with a mere thought the mechanism unfurls, a small blade at the end of my tail swaying with my movements.

  “I humbly accept elder.”

  His face breaks out into a big grin with my words.

  “With this, my promise is fulfilled… it'd be best if your party leaves tomorrow, spring has come early, best not to tempt fate no?”