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jiggibidy -> Currently Untitled (8/21/2009 23:31:58)
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Here's the link to the comments thread.
Chapter I:
Vengeance Re-awakened:
The sparks of the flame flickered around the dimly lit room, singing the woman's curly, blond hair and dancing across the floor. A flock of crows flew past an open window, unseen by anybody, but heard as they cawed while they searched for their next meal. A light wind blew across the plain stone houses of the village, bringing with it an ominous air. The wind blew through the window of the room, causing the woman to shiver, and the sparks to swirl around in a dazzling display of light, before burning out and floating to the floor.
From a corner of the room, a whip flew out and cracked as it struck her leg, piercing her skin, which started to bleed; the pain caused the flame to fizzle out as she fell to her hands and knees. Her glasses slid off of her pale, tear-stained face and one of the lenses cracked on the cold, stone floor. She looked up and saw a blur of grey and black, with the flame of the torch glowing orange.
A gruff voice rumbled from the shadowy corner of the room as she sat up, picking up and examining her glasses as she did so, "You need to concentrate, ignore everything else around you."
The woman's voice was shrill as she spoke through tears, "How am I supposed to concentrate with these cuts all over me?" She lifted her robe to see her bare leg, huge cuts plastered her leg from her thigh to her ankle, many of which were bleeding profusely; some of the blood had dried, sticking her robe to her leg, and when she lifted the robe, some of the scabs were peeled off, causing more blood to spill out of her leg.
"If you can concentrate through the pain, then concentrating in peace will be easy! You'll shatter all expectations!" The sound of a stool grinding along stone filled the room as the voice stood up, walking into the candle-light. The man looked to be in his fifties, although that was just because of the large amount of time he spent outside, which had weathered him immensely; he was, in reality, only recently turned thirty.
The woman stood up again, her entire body aching from the cuts that lined her body, and looked the man in the eye. "Pay attention when I say this, because I'm only going to say this once." As she spoke, the flame of the torch flickered and the breeze flowing through the open window increased, causing the woman's hair to blow out behind her. "I don't care about your expectations of me, I will do as I please and you daren't try and stop me." She turned on her heel and walked towards the door, blood dripping on the floor with each step she took.
As she went to reach for the handle of the door, the man's whip flew out from over her shoulder and latched onto the door handle, preventing the woman from pushing the door open. "I'm not going to give up on you. I know you have the capability to go far, if you'd only put the effort in."
Fire bubbled through the woman's body as she slowly removed her glasses and put them in her pocket. She looked over her shoulder to see the stony face of the man, holding the whip taught. She clenched a fist, and a red glow filtered through her fingers. "Listen here, Calx, if I'm happy with my abilities, then I don't see why you should be pushing me further, I'm doing as good as I want to do, and you should just accept that!" As she spoke, a roar of thunder could be heard outside as a bolt of lightning struck the sea; a fine rain started to descend on the village.
She opened her fist and her palm was ablaze, a furious red flame spat sparks into the air, which blew about the room as the wind outside picked up even more. She looked at Calx and saw a mixture of fear and awe as his eyes widened. She grabbed the whip and it instantly snapped as the fire incinerated the thin leather. As the smouldering remains of the whip floated to the floor, Calx spoke quietly, "I always said you only had to apply yourself, Aestuo. You never listened to me."
Aestuo just pushed the door open and stormed out of the building into the tempest that had built up in the courtyard. She looked up to see a flock of crows lining the roof of one of the stone houses. They could probably smell the blood on Aestuo's legs, and thought that she was going to die soon. All Aestuo could smell was stinging salt of the sea that lay at the base of the cliff that Calx' house was built on.
The blistering chill of the night washed over Aestuo's face like a tide; luckily, the flame in her hand was still burning fiercely, keeping the cold at bay. "Dear me, it's freezing!" She muttered, her breath leaving her in large clouds of mist. She looked over her shoulder at the building she had just left and saw Calx standing in the doorway, the occasional drop of rain hitting him; in his hand was the handle of the whip, the end still glowing from where it was burned. She knew she couldn't ask to come back in after the way she lost her temper, so she pulled her eyes away from Calx and started her way back to her own house.
As she wandered through the village and the salty sting of the sea faded away, the flock of crows followed her, flying from building to building, and landing on the occasional snow blossom tree. The rain had started to soak through Aestuo's robe, and she started to walk a bit faster. She could feel the blood sticking her robes to her legs again, but knew that if she peeled it off, they'd only start bleeding again.
Aestuo's anger at Calx kept the fire in her hand burning brightly, and she amused herself by passing the fire from hand to hand. For a while, she even tried juggling the fire, but soon realised that juggling something that was weightless in strong wind was a bad idea; luckily, it was late at night and nobody heard the fireball whizzing past the houses, luckily hitting the waterfall, which hissed as steam rose from it.
Eventually she reached her house, a small hut on the edge of the village. She passed her hand over the torch that stood outside her door, and as she tipped her hand, the fire flowed into the torch, which illuminated the immediate area; it was tradition for somebody to light the torch outside their house when they were home. Aestuo took a few steps forward towards the door of the house and noticed that a shadow loomed over her.
As she turned to see who or what was casting the shadow, a hand grabbed her throat and pinned her to the door. The impact with the door caused her to see spots, and her glasses were still in her pocket, so she couldn't see who it was who had grabbed her. The person spoke in a muffled voice, like he was wearing a scarf over his face, but it definitely sounded like a male voice, "Gotcha!" The boom of the man's voice caused the flock of crows to fly away.
The man was crushing Aestuo's throat, turning her voice into a faint squeak, "Who are you?" The man released her throat slightly, allowing her to breathe properly and her eyes to focus. She pulled her glasses from her pocket and put them on, a big crack still running through one of the lenses. The man was adorned in a thick suit of what appeared to be gold armour, with only his head left unprotected, but that was almost invisible in the pitch night sky; only the torchlight in the background outlined him.
The man's eyes lit up, almost as if he was smiling, "Don't you worry, girl, you don't need to know." He pressed harder on Aestuo's throat, making her see spots. Fear and anger welled up inside of her as she clenched her fist; a thin trail of smoke rose from the gaps in her fingers and the man looked down to see where it was coming from.
Aestuo opened her hand and another fire was blazing in her palm, raindrops spitting and hissing as they hit it;, she grabbed the wrist of the man and he quickly relinquished his grip, the metal of his armour glowing red with heat; this gave Aestuo a chance to get away from the door, standing in the courtyard. His voice sounded maniacal as he flailed his arm around, trying to put out the fire. "You little witch! I'm not the sort of person you want to anger!"
He lumbered towards Aestuo and grabbed her wrist; the flame flickered into nothing as she felt the bones in her wrist grind together. The man threw her away from the door and sent her flying into a wall, the force of the collision nearly concussing her.
Aestuo could only see the mans shadow looming over her as he made his way to finish her off. Thinking it was all over, and barely being able to move, she just stayed still as tears streamed down her face. The shadow of the man was suddenly illuminated and the man fell to the floor.
Aestuo's vision slowly returned to her and the figure of another person could be seen standing between her and the man. The voice of this new arrival boomed across the village as he spoke, "Leave here in peace, Durus! Or you shall leave here in pieces!" The metallic ringing of a sword being unsheathed broke the deafening silence that was left behind after the man spoke.
The Durus chuckled heartily, and unclipped the weapon off of his back; he held the blood-stained hammer in two hands, then spoke to the man, "You always were protective over your students, Calx Ventulus. I wonder if you have the strength to save this one."
Aestuo was confused. How did Calx know that she needed help? How did the Durus know his name? Choosing to try and stay alive rather than ask questions, she slowly pulled herself to her feet as Calx spoke, "I have more than enough strength to protect her! You only bettered me last time because you blind sided me like a coward!"
The Durus stopped dead, not an inch of his body moved when he heard this, "Coward... you dare to call me a... coward! Face me Calx! Now we shall see who is the coward!" The Durus raised his hammer and charged towards Calx, who merely stepped aside; the Durus skidded to a halt and turned to face Calx again.
Calx rested his sword on his shoulder, "What's the matter? Did I hit a nerve?" He rushed forward and struck the Durus in the chest with his his sword, which merely glanced off of the thick plate. The Durus swung his hammer to the ground, leaving a crater in the floor; however, the slow movement of the Durus made it easy for Calx to jump backwards, out of the way.
"And you call me a coward, at least I have the gall to take a hit." The Durus picked up his hammer once more and ran towards Calx, who ran towards the Durus; the Durus' eyes filled with glee as he went to butt Calx with the end of his hammer. Calx, who knew what the Durus was going to do, fell to the floor, causing him to slide between the Durus' legs.
Calx quickly stood up and turned to face the back of the Durus, and noticed the thick leather straps that held his armour in place. He rested his sword on the top of the highest strap, and ran it down, the leather tearing as if it were paper. Infuriated by Calx' evasive manoeuvre, the Durus spun around, which caused his armour to fall to the floor with a clunk.
Even with no armour, he was still a big man, but Calx was unfazed, merely muttering, "Now let's see if you can take a hit." He ran forward, sword aimed for the Durus' chest, and thrust forward, piercing the skin of the Durus with ease and bursting out his back.
The Durus looked Calx in the eyes as he muttered his final words, "While I die in body, I live on in strength." He grabbed the handle of Calx' sword, letting his hammer fall to his feet, and pulled it out slowly, blood dripping off of the handle and pooling on the floor, "May your body be infused with my strength, live on my brother." When the sword was removed, blood gushed out of the wound, soaking Calx as the Durus fell to the floor; Calx' sword stuck in the ground, the Durus' hand still wrapped tightly around it.
Calx stood still for a moment, observing the body of the Durus as the pool of blood steadily widened; he peeled the Durus' hand off of his sword, pulled it out of the ground and sheathed it. He turned to see Aestuo standing with her back to the wall of a house, her mouth open in shock and her face stained with tears. He walked over to her and put a blood-stained hand on her shoulder, "I think it would be best if we went indoors, I have a lot to explain."
The inside of Aestuo's house was well decorated, despite the pittance she earned doing jobs around the village; A fire burned in the corner, casting a warm glow around the single room that was her home. Aestuo pulled a chair out from underneath the surprisingly ornate table and motioned for Calx to sit down; she then pulled a chair out from the other side of the table and sat herself down.
Calx sat down and met Aestuo's gaze, her voice was soft and calm in the warmth of the house, "So, who was that Durus? To be more precise, what is a Durus?" In the warmth, Calx found it hard to keep up his rigid posture and laid back in the chair.
"Well, I'm sure you know what we are, right?" Calx asked this question quite flatly, certain that she knew the answer.
"We are the Magus, we manipulate the elements to our will." Aestuo had memorised this line, as Calx had made her recite it before every training session, which she had been attending since she was fifteen.
"Yes, however, there are people who think this is wrong; people who think that people should rely on their own strength to prevail. These people are known as the Durus." Calx' face was stony once more, Aestuo could tell then that he was serious.
"That Durus? How did he know your name? And what did he mean about your last student?" Aestuo leaned right across the table, her eyes were lit up with curiosity.
"Ah. That Durus in particular had met me once before. We'd met when I was about your age, and I had a student under my wing. She was only fifteen, the same age you were when you started training. Well, we were ambushed in the middle of the night by a large group of Durus. My student was out walking and I was out on patrol; I saw the Durus advancing into the village, but I couldn't get back fast enough to protect her. All the rest of the Durus tried to ransack the village, but they were sent packing by the other guards. This one Durus saw the sadness in my eyes when I saw her dead body, and instead of attacking me, gave me his helmet. I was too upset to attack him, so I just accepted the helmet and watched him leave. It's been 10 years to the day since my last student died, and on this day, every year, I make a patrol of the village, just to be sure that the Durus didn't return. As soon as I saw that he didn't have a helmet, I knew that it was the same one that had killed my last student." Calx turned away from Aestuo as he sobbed; Aestuo stood up and walked over to him, embracing him in her arms.
"Don't worry Calx, it'll be okay, there's no need to cry. I'm sure you did your best, and that's all you can do." Aestuo's voice was calm and soothing, much like the warmth of the fire. "Thank you for saving me, if you weren't there, I would've surely been killed." She cupped Calx' chin in her hand and looked into his eyes; the tears made them shimmer in the firelight, and she could almost see her reflection in them. She moved closer towards him and gently kissed him, his rough moustache tickling her upper lip.
Calx was shocked by this. Due to him always being in a war zone, he'd never kissed anybody before; also, Aestuo was his student, he couldn't get involved with her, there were far too many risks. He stood and turned away, making his way towards the door. Aestuo's arms slid off of Calx and fell to her side; she didn't know what to do, or what to say, this was something new to both of them.
Calx walked out the door and closed it behind him; Aestuo watched the door for a while, hoping Calx would change his mind and come back, but soon realised that it was a lost cause, and slumped onto her bed, the warmth of the fire making her fall asleep almost instantly.
Despite being asleep, Aestuo had an air of discomfort about her; she dreamt of the Durus' final words to Calx, "May your body be infused with my strength, live on my brother." If the Durus were who Calx said they were, then why would he call him brother? Was there something that he didn't tell me? Also, why did he leave like that? Oh well, I'll just have to put it behind me.
Aestuo was awoken by a clash of steel on steel; a voice in the distance roared, "You shan't take this village while I still draw breath!" It was Calx! It sounded like he was in trouble; had more Durus shown up? Aestuo quickly sat up and rushed towards the door, nearly pulling it off of its hinges in her desperate rush to help out Calx; just before she left, she made sure to put out the fire burning on the torch outside her house.
Calx was just outside his house, where he and Aestuo normally trained; as Aestuo got closer, she found that he was surrounded by three Durus, and the body of another lay on the floor, presumably dead. Not wanting to draw Calx' or the Durus' attention, she crept behind a barrel, peeking her head over the top to watch the fight. Unlike the last Durus, only one of these Durus wielded a hammer; one of them held a lance out in front of them, another held a double headed axe on their shoulder and the last one held a hammer in both hands; a large sword was stuck in the ground next to the one that was dead.
"So, Calx, do you have any last words before we kill you?" the hammer wielding Durus asked, laughing as he spoke; the other Durus joined in the laugh, their armour clinking as they did so.
"Hmm, funny, I feel like I should be asking you the same question." Calx spun his sword in his hand, a fire burning brightly in his other hand. The lance wielding Durus thrust forward, lance aimed towards Calx' stomach; however, Calx quickly side-stepped it and rushed it's owner, running his sword along the lance. When he had reached the Durus, he jumped, landing on the flat of the sword, forcing the blade through the Durus' hand, which fell on the floor, unlike the lance, which Calx quickly picked up.
Within seconds the lance was glowing red from the fire in his hand, the Durus with a hammer swung for Calx, but missed and hit the lance; the heat had made it malleable, meaning that it just bent. Calx looked at it and chuckled, "Looks like you could do with a bit of straightening up, maybe you should get married?" then he threw the bent lance behind him, landing point-first at it's owners feet. He merely fell to his knees and waited for the lance to cool down.
Enraged, the Durus wielding an axe swung at Calx, who deftly jumped up and landed on the axe head; taking this as an opportunity to make an opening, he kicked the Durus in the head, causing his helmet to fly through the air, clattering on the floor about thirty feet away. The man had jet black hair, tied tightly in a ponytail, the end of it disappeared into his armour. His nose was bleeding slightly from when Calx kicked him, and he scowled at Calx, who gave him a sly thumbs up and he said, "Cheer up, your nose looks better this way, beats paying a doctor to reshape it."
In a fit of rage, the Durus flung his axe up, catapulting Calx into the air, who gracefully flipped. Before he landed, he held out his sword and as he fell, which cut the straps of the Durus' armour, causing it to fall apart, leaving him completely defenceless, aside from his weapon. The Durus swung around, his axe in tow, and Calx fell almost horizontal on the floor to avoid the razor-sharp blade; he quickly sprung up, flying above the Durus and landing on his shoulders, resting the tip of his sword on the top of the Durus' head.
Calx muttered, "Any last words before I finish you off?" The Durus was completely defenceless, he only turned his head up to look Calx in the eye, he dropped his axe, landing with a heavy thud on the floor.
He spoke with confidence, despite knowing his fate, "Don't kill me like this, preserve my head, so that my wife may see it once more." he rose a hand to his heart and closed his eyes, knowing that this was the end. Calx smiled, he loved it when people showed compassion.
"Whatever you say, anything in particular? Or do you just want the usual through the chest routine?" He stepped off of the Durus' shoulders and landed on the axe, making sure that he wasn't going to try to attack him. The Durus with the hammer had found his chance to strike, he raised his hammer and swung down, the head of the hammer aimed at Calx' head.
The grunt of the Durus as he lifted the hammer raised Calx' attention, and he realised what was about to happen, he slashed his sword across the axe wielding Durus' chest, blood rushing out, covering him and Calx with even more blood as the Durus fell on the floor, gasping for breath. Calx tried to counter the hammer blow, but instead, the hammer struck the sword, forcing it back into Calx' chest, leaving a deep cut going down his chest.
Calx lay on the floor, gasping for breath next to the axe wielding Durus, as the hammer wielding Durus stepped forward, casting an ominous shadow over them both. The Durus laughed and said, "Any last words, Calx Ventulus?" Calx struggled to breathe, all of his ribs had cracked, prodding his lungs. Feeling sympathetic, the Durus raised his hammer for the coup de grace.
The air was filled with the horrified scream of Aestuo as she ran towards the Durus; the fire in her hand glowed with white heat and trailed far behind her, "No!" Aestuo bowled a fireball and it careered along the floor towards the Durus in a blaze of white heat; catching on a cloud of dust that had formed during the fray between Calx and the Durus, the fireball exploded, sending the Durus flying over the edge of the cliff that Calx' house was precariously built on. Now the only Durus that remained was the lance wielding one.
He was knelt on the floor, his lance still glowing with heat, staring at his hand that lay lifeless on the floor. He knew that he would not be able to return to the village, for he would have disgraced the name of Durus; he couldn't pick his lance up, as it was still too hot, so he looked at Calx, who wheezed as he attempted to breathe, and then to Aestuo, who was walking towards Calx, "Kill me now, please; if I return to the village, I will be killed anyway. I have nothing left if I have but one hand."
Aestuo looked at the man pitifully, and watched as his eyes filled with tears; he started to shiver uncontrollably, probably due to fear of him being killed, coupled with the loss of blood from having his hand cut off. He collapsed on the floor weeping, tears spilling on the floor, thinning the pool of blood that had accumulated from the fight. She picked up Calx' sword that lay on the floor next to him and walked over to the Durus, "Get up, I want to see your face before I do this!" Aestuo's voice boomed across the almost silent village.
Despite the fray, the other villagers were still asleep, either that or they knew not to get involved. The Durus got up, sitting on his feet, arms behind his back; Aestuo walked in front of him, flame still burning white hot in her hand, and she raised the sword so that it was level with her shoulder. The Durus gulped and closed his eyes, praying that he would die instantly, no pain at all; after a while, he felt a sharp sting across his cheek, he looked up to see what had happened, rubbing his cheek as he did so. Aestuo was standing in front of him still, the sword lowered, she couldn't do it, she couldn't find the strength to kill him.
"What did you d-do to me?" the Durus asked, looking at his hand to see a small smear of blood on the palm, a small drop of blood also hung from the tip of the blade, "D-did you s-slap me?" He looked up to see Aestuo turn away from him, the tail of her cloak whipping his face as she rushed towards Calx.
"Calx! Are you okay? Can you hear me? Talk to me Calx!" She shouted hysterically as she knelt down beside him, she couldn't stand the thought of Calx dying, he was the only person she'd ever really gotten to know, the only person she'd ever really cared about. If he died, who else would train her? Who else would be able to put up with her? She checked his pulse, it was weak, but still there, "Hang in there Calx, I'll get some help."
She stood up to run to the medical house, when she heard the Durus speak, "Wait, don't worry." He stood up and slowly made his way over to Calx.
"Get away from him!" Aestuo threw a fireball at him, which he ducked under; the fireball singed the stone wall of Calx' house.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt him," He lifted his good arm up and fumbled with the back of his neck for a while, something glinted in the moonlight, which he threw at Aestuo's feet, "Take this as my surety, my daughter gave me this, and it's what I cherish most." Aestuo picked it up and examined it, it was a large amethyst inlaid with swirls of gold, which seemed to encapsulate it. Aestuo looked closer at it and found out that the swirls of gold were in fact words; the font was incredibly fancy, so it was difficult to read, but it appeared to say, I will love you forever, Daddy.
This touched Aestuo's heart, it was so sweet, "Okay, I trust you, but if you kill him, I'll make sure you die slowly."
"Don't worry, I'm a medic anyway, it's my duty to help, even if he is supposedly my enemy." He started to press down on various part of Calx' chest, and Calx' sharply drew breath with each one; Aestuo trusted the man, so she could only stand there and cry while she clutched the pendant to her chest.
"Wait, what did you mean by supposedly your enemy?" Aestuo was curious, surely he should think of him as a blood-nemesis.
The Durus stiffened up for a while, then quickly returned to his work, "Nothing, oh yeah, Calx is going to be out for a while, the fresh air will heal the wound, but I would recommend that he didn't move for a while," He walked inside Calx' house, and emerged a few minutes later holding a thick blanket, "This should take the chill off of the wind, and make sure he doesn't catch a chill, it's too risky moving him in this state, I'm afraid you're going to have to leave him out here."
"Okay, I just hope he's alright," She held out the pendant to the Durus, "This is yours, you should take it."
The Durus pushed it back to her, "He's not healed yet, when, or should I say if he makes a full recovery, then I shall need it back, until then, it's still my surety."
Aestuo was taken aback, surely he should want it back if it was so personal, but he appeared to be an honest man, "Tell me your name, before you go, so I know what to tell Calx." As she was saying this, the Durus picked up his lance, which had cooled significantly in the cold wind, and held it over his shoulder.
Upon hearing the question, he looked over his shoulder and said, "Pallens, Pallens Durus." and then he walked off into the darkness.
Aestuo continued to stare at the pendant, and at the words inlaid on it, and then put it round her neck; the amethyst sat cosily at her bust, and glimmered in the moonlight. She knelt down to see if Calx was okay; the warmth of him being wrapped in the thick blanket meant that he could sleep peacefully, his broken chest rising and falling slowly as his breath formed in small clouds in the night air.
She bent down and kissed him on the cheek, "Goodnight Calx, I hope, no, I pray that you are better soon." This surprised Aestuo, as she'd never prayed for anybody; perhaps it was because of the kiss, that she felt this way. She gently kissed him on the cheek once more, and then stood up, walking away from the cliff on her way back home.
As she walked home, she started to get a headache; perhaps it was due to the cold, although it may have been because she was confused about Calx. Either way, it hurt. The flame in her hand started to splutter, sparks flying and scorching the ground as she fell on her hands and knees, then toppled on her side. Images flashed through her head of places she had never seen before, people she had not met before; the pain in her head became excruciating and she passed out. The pendant around her neck glowed softly in the moonlight.
Aestuo was awoken by the cool morning breeze; she gently stirred and then sharply sat up, "Calx!" she screamed. Luckily it was still early morning, so all of the residents were still asleep. She picked herself up, brushing dust off of her robe as she did so, and noticed the patch of burned ground; the fire in her hand was still burning, although it had cooled down so it burned deep blue, rather than the ferocious white it had been burning last night.
She waited until her eyes had adjusted to the light, and then looked towards the cliff where Calx' house stood; the blankets were on the floor, but that's all she could see. She walked towards the house and when she reached it, she gasped in horror; Calx wasn't there! In a frantic panic, Aestuo ran inside to see if Calx had managed to get inside and out of the cold, but the room was as bare as it was the night she was training, except for a few blankets, which were outside.
The snow blossom trees were so beautiful in winter; they were a strange tree, throughout the entire year, the tree would be covered in blossoms. These blossoms are said to represent eternal life, because as long as the tree is alive, so will the blossoms; they also represent dependency, for the blossoms need the tree to survive. If the tree were to die, then the blossoms would wither and die too; somewhat similar to human life, as long as the world is alive, so too, will humans.
As Aestuo walked underneath one of the trees a single blossom floated down and landed on the tip of her nose. She looked at it for a while, and saw the real beauty of it, something few people noticed. Despite it being so fragile, this single blossom could see more than most people could even dream of. If a slight breeze were to catch it and carry it out to see, it could then be taken by a stronger sea wind, and that small blossom, which people take for granted and ignore, could end up hundreds, maybe even thousands of miles away.
A slight morning breeze picked up the blossom and whisked it off of the tip of her nose and over edge of the cliff, and in an instant it had disappeared, a mere speck soaring across the ocean along the path of the wind. Aestuo wished to live like this, living free of anybody's rules, stopping to smell the roses of her own accord and taking any detours she wanted.
She looked down at the pendant hanging at her bust and thought of the Durus, their rules that they had to obey, their codes of "honour". She never quite understood what honour was, but she'd never tried to understand it either. Calx had tried to explain it to her, but it seemed to her like if you don't think you can win, you should kill yourself, which seemed stupid. Why should you kill yourself if there's still a chance, however slight, that you could win?
Aestuo was scared. Calx had been seriously hurt that night, how could he have gotten up in such a short amount of time? Unless of course somebody else had taken him? Aestuo pushed the thought out of her mind, she had to stay positive; she decided that she would walk around the town, looking for him, and if anybody saw her, she could say that she was just getting some fresh air, so other people wouldn't need to be worried about Calx. Calx was one of the best fighters in the village, and if he died, the town would fall into panic.
Aestuo started her walk around town, weaving in and out between the buildings, each of them made unique by the families who have lived in them for generations. The roar of the waterfall Aestuo had accidentally thrown a fireball at could be heard in the distance. Perhaps Calx was there; he was always saying that the sound of the waterfall soothed him, perhaps somebody took him there. If he was somewhere that calmed him, then his heart would beat slower, causing his blood to flow slower, which would end up in him losing less blood from his wounds.
While Aestuo was walking to the waterfall, thinking about the events of last night, she caught her foot on a root from one of the snow blossom trees and fell to the floor; her glasses slid off of her face again, but landed on the soft earth, so they weren't damaged. Aestuo picked up her glasses and wiped them off on her robe, then slipped them back on her face.
She turned around and looked at the root that had tripped her, it was odd for a root to grow this much without being cut down; so Aestuo knelt down and passed her fiery hand over the root, where it shrivelled and writhed in the heat, then sunk back under the ground. Snow blossoms were peculiar trees, not only for the permanent blossoming; a snow blossom tree was alive, in a sense far more than just growing towards light and photosynthesis. Planting a snow blossom tree doesn't require a seed, as it only produces blossoms; instead, snow blossom trees grow from graves.
Aestuo recalled the snow blossoms that had grown in a village about thirty miles from this one. Her and Calx had ridden up there to help in an ambush, but they were too late. The village was strewn with bodies; torn, mutilated and broken. The village was full of monks, their religion dictated that the use of any weapons was punishable by banishment. The monks stood no chance as they were attacked. They never found out who it was who attacked the village, they were smart enough to cover their tracks, so it couldn't have been bandits. The only feasible option was the Durus, but surely they had more honour than to attack a village that they knew couldn't defend themselves?
The village was in ruins, it was unlikely that it would ever be lived in again; therefore, they decided to bury each of the citizens. Being monks, their souls were pure as they had never killed another person, let alone even held a weapon. The purity in both their bodies and souls is filtered through the soul, and having committed no sins, they had nothing that they had to repent in the next life, so instead of rising into the sky and fading away, they grow as a tree, as a sign that this person has died free of sin, and they won't be returning.
Aestuo had returned to the village once, not long before the winter, and was amazed by what the village looked like. Snow blossom trees had grown all around the village, the cool summer breeze making the blossoms dance around the village in a graceful silence as they fell to the ground. The branches of the trees were swaying and rustling in the wind and Aestuo just stood there in awe watching the spectacular dance of the blossoms coupled with the soft music of the wind in the trees. I want to be buried here when I die, somewhere I know I will be undisturbed and surrounded by beauty.
Aestuo's train of thought was broken by the near deafening roar of the waterfall as she approached it; fish darted about, shimmering flashes of gold, red and white as the drops of water shattered the surface of the pond. A small ledge was visible underneath the cascading water, with a larger ledge that protruded from it; somebody was sat on that ledge, barely noticeable in the mist produced by the waterfall.
"Calx?" Aestuo asked the figure in vain; the roar of the waterfall masked her voice. She knew there was only one way to get their attention, she had to climb to the ledge herself. She thought about it for a while, if she tried to climb along the small ledge that was covered by the waterfall, she'd be knocked down instantly. She looked down at her hand, which was still burning brightly; perhaps she could evaporate the water. The idea was farcical, it would take the power of at least three dozen people to generate that much heat, but she had to try.
Aestuo clenched her burning had into a fist; only a thin stream of grey smoke rose from her fingers, as it always did. She raised the fist to her face, the heat of the fire causing her to shield her eyes with her other hand. She opened her fist slightly, and blew into it; the fire roared and black smoke billowed out of her hand. She held her hand out flat and watched the fire burn brilliantly. She walked towards the waterfall, and hoped for the best.
She held her hand out under the falling water, and the water bludgeoned her hand, forcing her to withdraw it. The fire spat and spluttered as water dripped onto Aestuo's shoes, "Well that didn't quite go to plan." Aestuo clapped her hands and the fire slowly burned away until it was gone. She walked over to the edge of the waterfall and slipped off her shoes; she then sat down, her feet just touching the water. The cool water soothed her and she let out a deep sigh.
Aestuo looked at the pendant with curiosity. Unclasping it, she held it in front of her. The morning sun danced as it refracted through the amethyst, just as beautifully as the blossoms danced in the monks' village. She watched as light flickered across the inlaid words, and a tear welled up in her eye as she read them; she blinked it away, she had more important matters to attend to. She was almost certain that the figure on the ledge was Calx, although it was questionable in so many ways. She saw how badly hurt Calx was after the fight, he was lucky to survive a blow like that.
Oblivious to Aestuo, the figure in the mist of the waterfall watched her. He felt his ribs and winced with pain, he wouldn't be fighting for a while, he'd be lucky to be breathing properly within the next few weeks. His mind was wracked with guilt and pain; guilt because of what happened between him and Aestuo last night, and pain because of the Durus. They had returned again, and they are probably more prepared than last time, and they knew who to attack to bring him running.
He considered just letting her be killed by the Durus, and then refuse to train any more students. If he had nobody to get close to, then he'd have nothing that could be used against him. He kept no sentiments, he had nothing of value, everything he owned was cheap and easily replaced. Except for Aestuo. After five years of training, they'd gotten pretty close to each other, some might even say they'd become friends. Calx had never met anybody he'd consider to be a friend; sure, he'd fought alongside people, but they were comrades, brothers in arms, it was their duty to fight alongside him.
The figure had a strange thought in his head, What are you going on about, Calx? Would you really abandon somebody just to protect yourself? I thought better of you.
Calx muttered under his breath, unheard by even himself amidst the roar of the waterfall, "I don't know."
Calx stood up on the ledge, perfectly balanced, hidden by the mist. He looked at Aestuo, and his stomach lurched, the sight of her filled him with something, something that he'd never felt before, and it gave him a headache. Taking a deep breath, he thrust his arms up and leapt off of the ledge, the morning sunlight glistening off of his body, soaked by the mist of the waterfall. He knew that he needed to land this dive perfectly, or else his broken ribs would puncture his lungs, and he'd surely die.
He'd made this dive thousands of times, every morning for the past ten years. His old student loved water, but she was always too nervous to dive in because she feared that she'd make a mistake and hurt herself. He'd always wanted to show her that it was easy to dive in, you needed to stop thinking about what could go wrong, and only think of what you want to happen. She never found the courage to make the dive, and after she was killed in the last attack by the Durus, he still made the dive every morning, to prove to himself that anything is possible.
This was probably the most important dive he'd made; if he didn't clear out every thought from his head, he'd quite possibly die. The reason he tried this, despite it being farcical, was to try and get the thought of Aestuo out of his head. He arced and started on his way towards the water; his mind was blank, except for one thing, breaking the surface of the water immaculately. He knew he could do it, nothing could get in the way of what he wanted to achieve.
The tips of his fingers touched the surface of the water and everything seemed to stop for moment. This was the critical moment. At this moment, the adrenaline in the body reaches its peak and the brain clears itself of all idle thoughts, focusing only on a single thought; getting it right. A person could technically be called dead at this moment, the brain is sending out no signals to any organs, nor to any muscles; the person is in a state of rigor mortis, unable to move for that fraction of a second.
The fraction of a second passed and Calx broke the surface of the water, leaving barely a ripple. All idle thoughts returned and function of the brain slowed to compensate, the brain sent out signals to organs and muscles and his body returned to a state of complete normalcy. He kicked his legs and swam up, surfacing at Aestuo's feet. Breathless and in pain, he said, "Hey Aestuo, how are you?"
Aestuo was startled and dropped the pendant in shock; before it hit the water, Calx held out his hand to catch it, where it landed, the gold chain dangling in the water. Calx looked at the pendant curiously, reading the inlaid words, "What's this?" He asked.
Aestuo took the pendant out of Calx' hand and held it in front of her, "Pallens gave me this. He's the Durus that saved your life."
"I was saved... by a Durus?" Calx looked offended, "How did you know he wasn't going to kill me?"
Aestuo held the pendant in her hands and started to fumble with it, "I didn't, at first I was unsure, but he gave me this pendant. He told me it was a gift from his daughter."
"Well, I suppose it turned out for the best. Best not to dwell on what could have happened." Calx had a strange air of compassion about him; perhaps it was the fact that he nearly died and had a new lease on life, perhaps it was the fact that he'd just risked killing himself. Regardless of what it was, he was different, and Aestuo didn't know if it was a good thing or not.
Aestuo put the pendant back round her neck and looked at Calx, "I'd imagine I needn't bother coming to train with you tomorrow due to your injuries."
Calx looked at Aestuo for a while, ignoring his lurching stomach, "Yes, and for two reasons. First, you're right, I'm far too badly injured to train you; secondly, the way you fought last night assured me that you were ready. Sleep in tomorrow Aestuo, you deserve it."
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