Training area 5

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Tiae entered the training area and waited for Donovan to arrive. She tied her braid a little tighter in the meantime.

Donovan walked in a little after Tiae and mvoed over to her smirking slightly. "So how are we going to do this?" He asked, not having much of a clue on how to use a mace.

"May I see that mace you're carring?" Tiae asked and stretched her hand to receive the mace. "I've no experience teaching people how to use maces, but I'll try my best" she said.

Donovan pulled the heavy mace out of his belt with one hand and handed it over to the woman. "It's one handed." He added as a side comment just in case.

"Yeah" Tiae said, "so you know somewhat about it". She smiled and wielded the mace. "Nice. I prefer light maces, though... well, see, this is the way you should grab it" she said showing him how to hold the mace. "Use your whole hand. Here" she returned the weapon to Donovan.

Donovan reached over for the mace trying to take a hold of it the way Tiae has. "Like this?" He asked to reassure himself that he held it properly. "I was thinking of getting a lighter material to have a lighter but just as resistant one forged out but that Aura person didn't really want to cooporate thought she was ready to tell me where to get the material."

"Yes, so is good" Tiae answered. "I wanted some pitch demon leather to make myself a better armor. Aura said that if I won a fight I'd become it for free. But I lost... it seems she gives all the hard way to get things" she said, then returned to the class. "Uhm, well, as every weapon, a mace is the extention of your arm. You must hold it right not to loose that extention... but, my point was that you must use also your whole arm to swing it... like this" she moved a bit away from him, took her mace and made the movement. "Now you try"

"Ah, that is the way us Dah'kin are I suppose. We don't give for free and often hope we won't have anything to give at all. Of course, if something is given I suppose it's already right to return it somehow." Donovan smirked slightly and observed as Tiae swung her mace. As she gave him the signal to try he held onto his mace tightly enough and gave it a try. He figured it would take some time to get sue to the weight of the mace and how to wield it since he seemed to realize had trouble stopping at the end of his swing.

"Well, I hope so" Tiae said about returning things, then commented Donovan's swing. "That wasn't quite right. Look at your legs, they must help you too" she thought for a second. "It would be good if there was a puppet you could practice against here... maybe behind one of those doors?" she said heading to the door on the right side. "You try to swing again!"
Tiae returned a moment later having some trouble to carry a puppet. She placed the thing near the door she had taken it out from. "Come, try to hit him" she said to Donovan.

Donovan gave the woman a nod and took in a slightly more battle like stance before he began to busy himself with practicing his swings while Tiae suggested to use a dummy for practice. He paused himself after a few swings, his arm already getting tired over it. He figured he would have to train a little more after learning the proper procedures of use of his weapon. As Tiae moved out from behind the doors, Donovan made his way over to her and looked at the dummy. "I suppose I should try." He waited for the woman to move out of the way before he took in a stance and gave it a swing. "How's that? Is my stance alright?" He was determined ot get the whole mace mastery thing right before he would engage in any arena battles.

"Hm" Tiae watched while Donovan hit the dummy. "Not bad! you learn fast" She moved a couple of steps back. "Try moving to one side and the other while attacking the dummy. You can try to fight against me after that" she said with a smile.

Donovan smirked at the compliment made by the woman and put himself back to work. He paced from one side to the other as if he pretended to dodge blows from it before he swung the mace at it. He repeated the procedure a few times, each time trying to fix the problems he could identify himself.

Donovan has learned Handle Heavy Mace!

"Very good!" Tiae said. "I think you're ready" she smiled.

Donovan turned over to Tiae with a smirk. "Well, it hasn't shown itself to be so hard as of now." He moved away from the dummy slightly and waited on the woman to see if she still wished to have him face her.

"Do you want to fight against me for a while or do you prefer to return to the Colosseum and see what's going on there?" Tiae asked. She wanted to go to learn a new spell somewhere, but she guessed there was still time for that.

Donovan shrugged. "I wouldn't mind either. I have a little quest to go on. And a priestess to bother." He smirked to himself. "I just need to find some people to go in the woods with." He shook his head as the thought of returning something to Tiae came to mind. He remained silent wondering if she would remember he owed her something or now thinking maybe he could get away with it for a little while.

"Right, so I guess we're done" Tiae said. "But you still have to pay me..." she thought for a moment. "You said you had no money... so either you bring me something interesting from the forest, or you could teach me something of use"

Donovan smirked, she remembered. He shook his head. "I doubt anything I could teach you would be of use. I suppose I can try and find you soemthing in the forest. I'll be sure it'sof osme use to you don;t worry." He chuckled slightly. "Well then. I suppose I will be seeing you some time. If you really want ot be paid though you will ahve to run after me because I won't. I wil keep whatever I find for you though till you ask to have it." He turned and began to move out of the traning area.

"Alright then" Tiae said, "money is one of the few things I do not forget about, so I'll ask!" she also walked out of the training area.

Marching in and stopping smack in the middle of the large circular room, Virul waited for Tylien to appear.

Tylien walked in a moment later and after having stopped about five meters away from Virul, gazed around the room, the sunlight hitting its face so that its eyes could be seen again temporarily. "Which one will teach the other first?" it then asked, its voice strangely soft now as there were no other noises to disturb their hearing.

"Welly, welly, well... hmm... aah, since you hold mine blade, I suppose I'll teach you first, eh?" Virul stretched a little and massaged his neck before holding his blade toward Tylien and getting into a ready stance. "Very well, the first thing one must learn when holding a rapier, which is what I can teach you for the time being since I have no other blade, is to never grip the handle too tightly. This will limit your actions and movement with the blade; thus, hold it lightly, but firm enough not to drop it when clashing blades. You must use your arm as your primary strength control in handling it, but use your muscles to a minimum until the actual action occurs. Do you understand, thus far?"

Tylien turned its gaze first at Virul as he spoke and then the rapier in its hand. It held it delicately and passed it from hand to hand until it stayed in its left hand. It then extended its arm, pointing at Virul with the sword and positioning itself into a similar stance. "Yes", Tylien answered simply.

"Good, good." Virul nodded, pleased, before getting serious. "Next, the wrists. The art of fencing uses wrist movements for many attacks and parries, so I recommend you practice some with your wrists. Once you get the hang of things, we will practice movement and, after that, clash blades." Virul coughed a little, "No hits of course."

"Alright", replied Tylien. It made a few soft and slow wrist movements with the hand that was holding the rapier, and after that a few harder and faster movements, waiting for more advice.

"Hmm, hold the blade as if you're holding a small bird. Good, good... now we shall get to the most damaging and most important part of a fencer's game, that is, the lunge." Virul walked over and stood beside the Hauken. "Remember this, good friend, the lunge must, and I do mean must, be fully extended in order to properly damage or touch your foe. Therefore, you must extend thine rear leg and bend your front. Like. So." In the blink of an eye, Virul extended his back leg to its limit, nearly touched his front knee to the ground, and lunged forward with his blade, covering a great deal of range without moving his rear foot. He quickly recovered and stared at his companion. "It'll take you quite a few tries to do this. Go ahead, I'll observe."

Tylien then tried to imitate Virul, spread its legs, turned forward and went lower as it extended its rear leg even more. At the same time, it thrusted forward with the rapier, not as quickly as Virul, but did so nevertheless. Its position made it lose balance though, but it manouvered its wings and regained its balance. Tylien stayed in that position, its rear knee almost on the ground, the front knee bent and left arm extended, while its right arm was invisible under the cloak.

Virul stared at its form for two seconds before nodding his head slightly. "Not bad for a first try! Keep on giving that a shot later on. Anyway, for movement, one may think that taking large steps to cover distances is a good idea; of course, that just doesn't do. The larger the movement, the slower the attack speed. The weapon speed may not be the fastest, but the time it takes to complete the movement should be left as minimal as possible." Virul took several quick, short steps away from Tylien before stopping abruptly. "Not only will you get faster recovery..." The young thief unexpectedly followed up with quick, short steps toward it and stopped his blade an inch from the Hauken's face. "But inertia, speed, and timing will work greatly to your advantage. Once again, the less movement when attacking, the better your agility and timing." Taking a few elegant steps back, Virul eyed his companion. "Come then, let us touch blades for a little while until you get a good handle of things. I shall point out any mistakes you make along the way. With practice comes true understanding."

Tylien stayed silent now, making only a small invisible grin under the hood of its cloak as a sign of consent. It then got up from the position and stood still for a second with the sword hanging on its side, thinking what to do. It then just imitated Virul, taking quick small steps toward him, but also one to its right, and brought the rapier at him, aiming approximately at his left side, but intending to miss even though Virul was more than likely to block its first strike anyway.

Virul stepped aside and watched the blade go by. He then looked at Tylien, "In a real fight, if you expose yourself like that when your opponent is expecting an attack, dangerous repercussions will follow. The way to go is to use your wrists, stay on your toes, and keep your distance. Don't be predictable." Virul stepped back and held his blade in front. "What we are about to do is called, in the fencing world, a 'conversation'; that is, a back-and-forth play of blades in a compose of phrases followed by gaps of no blade action. A 'phrase', by the way, is a set of related actions and reactions in a conversation. Now, we train on!" Virul hopped forward and quickly thrust his rapier toward the tip of Tylien's own. "Remember! Touch the blades! Nothing more!"

Tylien took two more steps forward, following the momentum it already had and then faced Virul again. It stayed silent, only trying to remember what he said. It raised the rapier, and as Virul came toward it with his, hitting the rapier Tylien was holding, it swung its wrist and forearm to the left, at the same time also turning its body to the left in an attempt to direct Virul's strike away. As their blades were still touching, Tylien took two small steps back, extending its right bigger wing again to keep balance.

Virul smirked in satisfaction before continuing his offensive. Thrusting his rapier forward repeatedly, he took a few steps toward Tylien while talking at the same time. "Stay on the defensive! Parry as many attacks as you can! Use the lower half of the blade to parry, it's the strongest part of the rapier."

Accepting Virul's suggestion, Tylien kept on blocking the strikes as well as it could. However, as it swung the sword, trying to block the strikes up, down or to the sides, it used not only its wrist and forearm but the whole arm, making somewhat large moves. However, it seemed to be able to match and catch Virul's attacks, at least this far. Simultaneously, it took steps backwards and to the sides to be able to avoid the hits.

Noting Tylien's slow reactions as it used its whole arm in combat, Virul frowned a little and slowed down for a few seconds. Instantly afterward, however, he increased his speed and tempo and thrusted repeatedly with his rapier, taking many steps forward. "Handle the blade delicately and loosen your arm. Keep parrying until you get it right!"

Tylien has learned the Handle Rapier skill!

Tylien smiled widely behind the veil even though it noticed it hadn't been doing it exactly as it should have. As Virul increased the speed of the attacks, Tylien noticed it didn't have time to move its whole arm, and so only tried to move its wrist and forearm while still backing away. It kept on clashing the rapier in its hand against Virul's, and finally, after first taking a step back, attempted to thrust toward his face by dashing its front leg forward, extending the rear one and lowering its body; like he had showed in the beginning. It aimed for the blade to swish just past his nose.

Virul blinked and double-backed a few steps just as Tylien's blade nearly reached his nose. Taking a few steps back, he stared fiercely at the Hauken before grinning broadly and bowing to his companion. "I believe, sirrah, that you need no further training from me."

Also grinning widely, Tylien rose and bowed to Virul as well, placing its right hand to its chest and taking the rapier behind its back. "I thank you, Virul Bassior, for teaching me this skill", it said softly, then straightened itself and the cloak it was wearing fell peacefully to cover its upper body again. Again getting a little curious, Tylien continued, with a slightly mischievous tone in its voice: "I'm not exactly a sir, my friend." After having said this, Tylien brought its other leg right next to the other, standing gracefully and held the rapier between its hands, the other hand on the handle and the other holding carefully the tip of the blade.

Virul blinked a few times, bemused by the last comment. "Not a sir, you say? Curious." Looking at the rapier, Virul accepted it and gently placed it in his pack. "You'll have to clarify, si-, good Tylien. What would you call yourself? And how should I address you?"

"My name is sufficient", replied Tylien and looked away for a moment, for Virul had asked a rather difficult question. "To put it bluntly, I don't exactly know what I am, either." It paused again, and then did something it didn't really believe itself that it was doing. Tylien lifted the hood of the cloak over its head, revealing its head again, and then even pulled down the veil that had earlier been covering the lower half of its face. Thus revealing its rather exquisite face, Tylien spoke again, this time its voice clearer and yet more ambiguous as it wasn't muffled by a layer of cloth. "I am an androgyne, I believe. And not only that, I'm not fully a Hauken either." Saying this, Tylien raised its hands to its ears and pulled the tiny wings on them slightly. "These are characteristics of Eolan Planetarii. And you never wondered why my steering wings are so small, did you?" Tylien smiled at him slightly while its arms went to its sides again. It had thought about mentioning something about its parents first, but then decided not to. That was no one's business to know.

Err.... Virul blinked. Twice. Well this is an interesting turn of events. He was rather confused. "Not fully a Hauken, hm? Quite singular, if I may say so myself." After contemplating everything he heard for a second, he decided that he didn't particularly care and so shrugged his shoulders. "Well, unique is unique and not much else. Now then, shall we start in my magic training?"

Tylien raised the veil to its face again and pulled up the hood, still thinking whether or not it should've taken them off in the first place. "Surely." It took a step toward him and continued with a somewhat quieter voice: "Unlike sword handling, casting spells is not much at all that physical. It is mostly the spiritual flows that grant you the power to control the elemental forces." It paused for a short while. "For Yellow Magic, you have to concentrate on the air around you. You have to feel it inside your mind and body, within your spirit; you have to understand it before you can command it. This... is something that came to me rather naturally. I'm not sure how long it will take for you. If you can meditate, you could use those techniques; if you can't... well, we should start with that."

Virul stared at it blankly before scratching his head in befuddlement. "Meditate? Isn't that where you sit down and float and stuff? Sounds pretty hard for me." Dropping himself on the floor, Virul closed his eyes shut and said "HuuuuuummmmmmmMMMMMmmmm...." Eyes still closed, he spoke to Tylien, "Am I floating yet?"

Tylien looked at Virul, amusedly bewildered, but it couldn't help bringing its hand to its face and shaking its head slightly after he had closed his eyes. This was going to take an eternity, it thought. It then sat down in front of him, cross-legged. "Not that I can see", it answered to his question. "I'll tell you how to do it. You can forget all that humming and eye-closing ...well, unless it does actually help you. The point of meditating is to empty your mind, first of all. To think about nothing and be fine with it. If you're not used to that, it can be very hard indeed. And, after you have learned to think about nothing and thus to be ready to recieve the free essence of the elemental forces, you can learn to focus on a single thing and assimilate it with your spirit. In this case, that would be air and wind."

Virul frowned in disappointment when he realized he wasn't floating, but shrugged and listened intently to everything else Tylien had to say to him. "Empty my mind, hm? Well, this room's quiet enough... I'll give that a shot." Inhaling deeply, Virul once again closed his eyes and tried to remove images of gold and silver from his mind. A fairly cold gust of wind passed by, causing him to twitch slightly. This'll be difficult.

"By all means, don't mind me talking", said Tylien. "After all, you will have to do this in the middle of the battle some time. It will of course get easier after a while, but that is not likely to happen for a while." It was quiet then, letting Virul concentrate and looked up into the sky. As it was doing so, it inhaled and summoned forth some more wind after the breeze. Its cloak fluttered in the wind as it kept watching Virul.

"Alright, concentrate, concentrate, concentrate..." Virul muttered to himself while trying to ignore the increasing winds in the area. The day has gone pretty chilly lately. Funny... argh, I"m not concentrating! Ok, ok, empty mind, yeah... empty my mind, relax, think of nothing... breathe in, breathe out. The thief was slowly beginning to relax the more he repeated this to himself as the seconds passed by.

Tylien noticed that Virul was calmer now, but had no way of knowing to what extent he had succeeded, or if he was on the right path at all. But it could be tested, and after a long while of silence, Tylien said abruptly: "Now concentrate on the air around you! There is nothing else in the world but air and you have to be that air. Sense all the gusts, small blows, breezes, storms, hurricanes, the moisture and ice in the clouds, the electricity of lightning!" Saying this, Tylien accomplished a rather strong gust that blew from behind it, making the cloak flutter more wildly, and at Virul's face. However, the wind stopped very suddenly and the air was unnaturally still. Tylien kept on observing Virul. If he had succeeded in this first stage, Tylien would now feel some change in the air around him.

Virul, unusually silent now, merely nodded his head and slowly released the tension in and around him. Tuning his senses, he heard the whispers of winds sailing by and felt their cool touch on his skin, hair, even clothes. This stil involved some difficulty, however, as his mind occasionally strayed to glimpses of his past, which he grimaced and tried to shut down; each time, Virul twitched and remembered where he was and what he was doing, and so focused again on being the air. Feeling a gust of wind strike his face, he frowned slightly, and tried to clear his mind. The wind is hitting nothing, I am not here, I am the wind, I come and go, come and go... Focusing on these words, he slowly attempted in believing them.

Tylien looked at Virul, saying nothing. It then very quietly got up, not wanting to disturb him, walked behind him and from there near to a wall. Once there, it flapped its wings and flew up to stand on the wall. It looked around the place, standing gracefully with its wings spread, feeling a wind from northwest blowing to its back. Tylien turned at Virul then, seeing his back down in the room. "Tell me, my friend, what is the direction of the wind up here?"

Virul remained silent, he cleared his mind of everything, even words. He suddenly felt how every cell in his body shifted and reacted to the wind, how each one of his hairs would bend as a pattern to the drafts. "It is coming from the northwest..." he replied bluntly.

"Indeed it is!" said Tylien, rather happy that he had managed it. Jumping off the wall, Tylien floated back in front of him and sat down, folding its wings. "Now, you should also be able to create a little gust of wind. Focus on the air like you did, and try... but don't try to take over it, only suggest that it should blow, and you will manage better." The air was still staying put in the room and the only flows of air had been caused by Tylien's moving.

Getting up and looking Tylien straight in the eye, Virul nodded once and focused on the air once more, feeling the slight wind blows coming from the part-Hauken's direction. Reflecting back on its words, Virul slowly breathed in, raised a steady arm toward his chest, and extended it as he breathed out. A fairly decent gust of wind emanated from his person and flew toward Tylien before dissipating halfway through. Virul half smiled and shook his head, "Dang, tried to control it, I suppose. A couple more practices ought to do the trick."

"Oh, to cast the actual spell you'll have to do much more than that", Tylien said, leaning on its arms and looking up at him. "Just go on creating small gusts like that for a while."

Smirking at the prospects of learning such a versatile technique, Virul again continued focusing and practiced creating gusts of wind. He repeated this technique over and over, each time noting his mistakes and attempting to correct them.

Tylien kept looking at him, occasionally lying down on the ground for a while. As soon as it thought Virul had it more or less under control, it got up. "I think you're ready to start with the spell." It took a step toward him and kept on explaining. "The spell is called Wind Blow. When casting it, you use your magic energy to gather air and winds and then release them as a compressed blast to some direction." Pausing for a while, it looked around as if thinking what to say, and then continued in more detail: "You have to focus on the air like you did just now, only instead of just creating small gusts you will have to start focusing them to one point, using your magic power. And you need to release it, you wouldn't want to have it blow right in front of you into every direction. Now, there are different ways to do the gathering and releasing. I find the gathering easier if I inhale, it reminds me of the air and I imagine I'm creating a pressure similar to what the air is doing in my lungs, except of course more powerful. It also helps to use my hands to indicate the direction to which I want the blast to go. Did you understand that?"

Virul looked up at him, listening closely to every detail and thinking of how to effectively use the magic skill. "Alright, I'll give it a shot." Breathing in deeply, Virul summoned forth a portion of his mana power into gathering more wind and air. Concentrating the energy and winds into a compressed form with both hands, the young thief held them temporarily still, before releasing them up as a powerful, concentrated blast of air.

Virul has learned Lv 1 Yellow Magic!
Virul has learned the Wind Blow Spell!

Tylien stepped back as Virul started casting the spell. Seeing as he succeeded, it shouted: "Yes, that's it!" It hadn't really believed he would have learned the spell during this day, but was happy to be proved wrong. It walked back to him, looking straight at him from under the hood, its eyes beaming.

Virul laughed, pleased with himself, and shook hands with the part Hauken. "Yes, si-.. Good Tylien, I now believe we will be most formidable, indeed I do." Looking around the room, he shrugged his shoulders and spoke again, "Our payday shall be tomorrow, thus, let us part paths until then." Walking out of the training area, he waved his hand to the part Hauken and headed off to the Lemirian Colosseum.

Tylien also waved its hand, but stayed silent. It seemed that Virul could do his farewells without Tylien saying a word, and it was in fact happy for that. It then thought what it should do now, and while sleeping sounded like a good idea, it thought it should see a little more of the place, as it had no idea where it could sleep in the first place. After a while of standing around, it then walked out.

Garu entered the silent training area, and waited for Lhayav to follow.


Lhayav followed Garu, stopping near him. "What do we do now?" she asked.

"Well, this is a training area, so...we train." Garu said. "what weapons ar you best at? Maybe i could teach you a thing or two, or maybe you could teach me a thing or two. Like, I dn't know...I have 'Lightning Speed"

"Uh, I can handle swords and maces..." Lhayav said quietly. "Can you handle maces? If you can't... well, then I could teach you that and you can teach me the Lighting Speed -thing, okay?"

"Ok! that'd be great!"Garu enthused.

"I guess so. So, which one teaches the other one first?" Lhayav asked, smiling.

Garu smiled again. "I'm always ready to learn something. How do you use maces?"

"Like this..." Lhayav said, pulled out her mace and walked a little further away from Garu. She waved it in the air, showing several ways how to use it. "Of course you can always use it for something else, but I assume you mainly want to fight with it", she said, giggling a little. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell, this is how you should hold it." She turned to Garu, making sure he saw how she held it. "All this doesn't look too hard, right? Try swinging it yourself now", she said and stretched her hand to give the mace to him.

Garu watched Lhayav complete each maneuver, remembering her actions and trying to mimic them without the mace. He reached out a hand to grasp the mace in his hands, as Lhayav had instructed, and changing his grip to what she had demonstrated. He then went slowly through each of the maneuvers again, picturing Lhayav in his mind's eye and ajusting his pose and stance accordingly.

Lhayav watched Garu swing her mace and smiled. "You sure are a fast learner. There's nothing wrong, actually... just some stiffness, but it goes away once you get used to the mace. I can already teach you some harder moves..." Lhayav said and streched out her hand while slowly walking towards Garu.

Hearing a huge horn, Garu gasps. "the tournament has started! we'd better get out there. Thanks for trying to teach me. Another time, eh?" He quickly exits the training area, giving the mace back to Lhayav.

"Typical..." Lhayav mumbled to herself. As she prefered flying, she flew out of the training area.

Tylien walked in and scanned the area. Seeing that it was empty, it walked further and stopped in the center of the room.

"Ahh yes, this place." Virul yawned a little as he headed further into the area. Stopping some feet away from Tylien, he stretched a little and cracked his neck, "What a day it's been..."

"Indeed..." Tylien waved its wings around again, still trying to dry off its clothes. "What shall we do first?"

Virul smirked as he observed Tylien still trying to dry off its clothes. Thinking a little, he looked down at the floor for a few seconds before looking back up again, "Considering the tournament is still taking effect, and we have little knowledge as to when our next battle shall occur, mayhaps we'll focus on teaching one another 1... maybe 2 skills. Time is short and bittersweet, I've heard some say." He motioned his head toward the long sword Tylien held, "We can begin with thine blade training, and then move on to teaching one another magic."

"I agree... Alright, let's start with this", said Tylien, grabbing the longsword into its left hand and taking a some sort of fighting stance.

"Hm, hm... I've never been a fan of longswords; powerful weapons, that they are, but cumbersome." Virul eyed Tylien's stance critically as he mumbled to himself. "Very well, good Tylien. To begin with, as thou may well know, handling a longsword is quite a ways far different than handling a rapier; it is a weapon that is more suited to being held with two hands rather than one, but can still be used quite as effectively with the latter... though it involves more time and effort in swinging such a blade with one hand than with two." Heading toward Tylien, Virul stopped just short of where he predicted the Hauken's range with its longsword would reach and continued talking, "It is both an offensive and defensive weapon, used for parrying and warding, as well as cutting and thrusting. Remember well, good friend, that it is at its most effectiveness when the longsword is used mid-range; swing it too far from your opponent and you'll usually leave yourself exposed to a quick attack... recovery issues and all. Using it close generally leads to sloppiness, though under these circumstances you may use the handle of the blade to stun thine foe before cutting him down. Do you understand, thus far?"

Tylien stood around, still moving about slightly, and listened to Virul speaking. It tried holding the sword with both hands as well as only one. As he walked nearer, Tylien slowly stretched its arm and the sword toward him. "Yes, all clear, sir Virul", it replied.

Virul eyed the way Tylien held the blade and nodded a bit, "Hm... first thing, I want you to hold the blade with both hands. When I think you ready, then I'll ask of thee to hold it with one. Have to get used to the blade, and all." The thief circled Tylien as he spoke, thinking on how to follow up, "The blade is mostly a cutting type, so I want you to slowly.... slowly... swing it vertically to the left, stop, swing it vertically back to the right, left foot back as you do so, stop, and repeat." A short pause before he added, "Swing the sword faster each time. 15 reps, I believe, shall suffice. After that, you will practice twisting your body 180 degrees with each swing of the sword, stop, twist back another one 80 as you swing the sword back. Repeat this also 15 times, moving faster with each successful swing. Keep the blade steady as you do. If you make a mistake, do it over and over again until you feel comfortable."

Tylien held the blade in place and grabbed it with its other hand as well, changing slightly its posture as it did so. It then took a more general position, holding the sword at the height of its stomach for now. As Virul told it to swing the sword, it grabbed the weapon in a way it usually held its musket by the barrel; left hand above the right one and the weapon pointing upwards in front of its left shoulder. "...To the left. Alright", it said and instead held the blade in front of its right side. Tylien stood there for a moment and then switched the placement of its hands as well, so that the right one was above the left. Having done that, it placed its left leg a little behind itself and swung the sword slowly to the left, stopped and then swung it back to the right. It stopped there, to hear whether Virul had anything to say about its first try before it would go on repeating the movement.

"Well done, good Tylien." Virul grinned a little as he observed, "Go on."

Tylien smiled behind the veil and kept on repeating the movement, increasing its speed as it did so. As it swung the sword the 15th time, it extended a wing to keep balance and the wing waved so close to Virul so that it might hit him. "Sorry." It then regained a more upright posture and tried to remember what he had said about the other movement. It kept holding the sword smilarly as before. "So, I should turn my body... hm", it said, thinking about the coordination. It turned its body to the right, and then began the slash slowly like before. It then kept on going to the left, and having turned 180°, ended the swing as before. It then reversed the movement and took the sword back to the right.

Virul moved his head back as the wing came near his face, but said nothing as he continued observing. "Hmm...I can see the advantages of using a longsword and having wings... disadvantages, also. Upon finishing thine repetitions, I want thee to swing the sword in a vertical figure 8, moving as you do so. Remember, Tylien, that you must be ever alert and on the move when using the blade. Trust your instincts." He frowned a little, remembering his upcoming battle with Reyin and Ein'lith, but said nothing about it and continued his speaking, "Again, use both hands. Soon after, you will repeat everything you just did, except with one hand; afterward, we will move on to defending."

"As long as I keep them out of anything's cutting reach..." Tylien commented about its wings. "Though, I can make the bigger ones disappear using magic." It then kept on repeating the movement, turning its body back and forth. Having finished the 15th one, it stood upright and extended all its limbs into different directions; repeating the same movement was somewhat straining. Tylien regained its fighting position, grabbed the sword properly again and swung it slowly in an infinity figure. It gradually increased the speed again and stopped after having done it for some time, after it felt that it went well.

"Rest will come only after you have mastered the blade, Tylien." Virul noted somewhat quietly, "Continue, please. Inform me when you want to begin defending with the sword."

"I was merely stretching, sir Virul", Tylien replied, grinning slightly behind its veil. It then detached its right hand from the sword, put its left foot back and swung the sword from right to left and back. "Or should I stand the other way around?"

"Whichever way allows you faster recovery and flexibility", Virul said. "Sword handling, like other arts, is adaptable to the whims of its practitioner."

"Hmm", went Tylien before switching its pose. It then did the same movement it had done with two hands before, only in reversed order, swinging the sword from left to right and back. Having finished 15 of that, it started repeating it again, only twisting its body simultaneously. It noticed that the sword covered a little more space now that it didn't have to keep a hold of the sword with its right hand, but that would mean that it would also be more vulnerable as it was turned for a slightly more longer period of time. Again, it finished 15 swings before moving on to swinging the weapon in an infinity figure. It swung the sword for so long until it felt the sword might drop if it didn't stop. Tylien regained its upright posture, took the sword in its right hand and shook the left one slightly. "Shall we move on to defending?"

"Thought you'd never ask." Virul smirked and raised his Estoc in the air, "Curiously shaped weapon, this one... have yet to try it." Looking over at Tylien, he spoke up again, "I'll attack with the blunt end of this weapon at different angles... not too fast, though. Meanwhile, you'll try and deflect my blade; I recommend the use of both hands while blocking, by the way. Now... prepare yourself." With that last message, the thief hopped forward and swung his blade downward, close enough for Tylien to block, but not close enough to actually cut it should it fail to do so.

Tylien raised a curious eyebrow at Virul's estoc. As he told it what to do, it grabbed the sword with both hands again, and prepared to defend. As it saw Virul jump and swing the weapon, it moved its left leg back slightly and raised the sword to clash with his estoc.

Virul came down upon Tylien and watched sparks fly as the blades clashed with one another, "Excellent, but don't get your guard down!" Continuing his attack, the thief swung the Estoc vertically, horizontally, and diagonally, making sure to 'attack' in a cutting motion as opposed to thrusting (since the blade could pierce, but not cut); each time observing how Tylien guarded.

Tylien focused on the training and as Virul came at it, it turned the blade to clash more or less perpendicularly with his estoc each time, albeit slightly slowly.

Tylien has learned how to handle Longswords!

With one last clash of the blades, Virul flipped back in the air and landed some feet away; the expression on his face showed that he was very pleased, "Excellent, Tylien! Excellent! Thou have mastered the sword quicker than I anticipated."

Once again, Tylien smiled widely behind its veil. It stoop upright and stretched its arms slightly. "Happy to hear that." It put the sword away. "Now, shall we move on..." Tylien didn't finish that sentence as it started thinking about something else, and instead it stared at Virul. "May I ask, what was your reaction about when I took off my cloak in area three just a while ago?" it asked with a somewhat strange tone in its voice.

"Hm? Heck if I know." Virul shrugged, either not remembering or not caring about the past, "Actually, good Tylien, thou can train me later. My fingers currently itch for the taste of battle and I can think of nothing else." Turning around and dashing off to the Coliseum, he quickly waved before disappearing.

Tylien stared at the thief weirdly and sighed as it didn't get an answer out of him. It put a hand on its face and leaned on it, thinking: "That'll probably haunt me for the rest of my life. Great." As it heard Virul saying something about battling, it began "Wait..." but he was already nearly out. Tylien looked down, actually feeling rather rejected. It then walked slowly back into the colosseum.

Entering the training area, Virul made a slow trot to the middle of the room and sprawled himself on the floor. Feeling the sun on his face, the thief relaxed and began to conserve his energy while waiting for Tylien.

Tylien entered shortly after, now barefooted. Seeing Virul all over the floor, it grinned and spread its wings to their full length before pulling them back closer to its body again. "Shall we start? I remember that you last taught me to handle the sword, so I guess it is my turn now. Haste, was it?"

Unusually silent, Virul lay sprawled for ten seconds and looked as if he was asleep. At the eleven-second mark, the thief leapt up and dusted himself off before turning to Tylien with a confident grin, "Yea, sir-... good Tylien! Begin, if you may."

Looking at Virul with some curiosity as he lay silently and bounced up, Tylien started speaking, its tone becoming more excited toward the end: "Well, as usual, you start by concentrating profoundly. Think about the air and winds around you and inside you – just concentrate on them until you're not entirely sure what you are yourself!"

Remembering this from their last magic session, and having done a few yellow magic spells afterward, Virul did as he was told and closed his eyes, feeling the winds gently lapping around and entering his body. He stayed like this for several seconds, not breaking his own concentration and attempting to relax and not think about idle thoughts. While he did so, Virul patiently waited for Tylien to continue.

Tylien observed the thief for some time, walking around him in a large circle as it did. When he seemed to be concentrated enough, Tylien stopped on its tracks to continue with its soft voice: "Now, think about the wind right in your immediate vicinity. Think about becoming that air..." It paused for a moment, allowing him to keep the cocentration as well as he could. "And do not only think of it, become that air itself. As fast as the wind that blows past you, every piece of your body is quick as that wind!"

As he listened and did as followed, Virul couldn't help but smirk a little, "And if the wind is slow?" Breathing in and out slowly, the thief stood stone still and continued feeling the wind that blew through the arena. It was a difficult thing to do, convincing oneself to become air, and it took a while for Virul's normally energetic self to delude himself that he was not a human, but a mere gust of wind. Slowly, however, as the seconds passed and the thief kept feeling the gentle breeze, he unconsciously forgot himself and began to think about the speed of the wind.

Tylien grinned at Virul's comment. "Then you make it faster yourself, do you not?" it said back as it concentrated itself to control the winds and blow some gusts at Virul.

"Hm hm..." Virul felt a stronger force of winds as he continued concentrating. The gusts went faster and faster and gave the impression of an incoming ocean breeze, an impending hurricane... which was funny since the thief had never really seen the ocean, merely heard tales of her cruelty and love through random travelers. Physically, he was still standing stone solid, eyes closed, but through an active imagination, he imagined himself as a warm wind coasting through the ocean waves, raising a large blue mass of water to its peak, ready to engulf and drown the poor sailors trapped in their small ship in the middle of nowhere. The thief smiled lightly at this... maybe he should tone it down.

Walking a few more circles around Virul, Tylien kept on observing him and made a weird face at his smile. Going on with its soft voice, it said: "Alright, this part can get tricky, for there is no single right way to do it." It paused for a moment and walked in front of him before continuing. "It is a gesture that should finish the spell. Raise your arms high enough that you can bend your hands downwards and still hold them in front of your forehead, your palms facing your head. Then quickly turn your hands upwards while lowering them to around your middle. Once there, turn your hands upwards again so that your palms are turned outwards and raise your hands by your sides a little bit. After you've raised them to your chest, approximately, turn your palms so that they face each other and swing them down." However, after having finished that raw instruction, Tylien continued anyway: "Do note that when you raise your hands up a bit before swinging them down, it should be a small circular motion. The whole movement should be done as naturally as possible, and relaxed, so that the thing that we're trying to accomplish here is actually accomplished... speed." It held a little pause again. "Now, you should only need to repeat it until it goes."

Raising an eyebrow in bemusement and amusement, Virul listened with a mixture of focus and caution as Tylien explained the odd hand movements. Trying to imagine how he'd look doing the somewhat complicated gestures, the thief turned a slight shade of red out of embarassment, but decided, Hey, and began the process. Raising his arms, bending his hands down, and facing his palms to his head as instructed, the thief slowly and carefully began to do the next consecutive motions. Repeating the entire thing over and over, Virul went at it in a slow pace, trying hard yet failing miserably at not thinking about how goofy he must be looking right about now. Seconds and minutes passed, with the thief going at the routine in a faster pace the more he got used to it, doing the circular motion with the hands faster and faster with each repetition. The more he did the motions, the more the thief just about stopped thinking about his image and, thus, the more he calmed down.

Tylien stood still and looked at Virul, knowing that performing the hand gestures would be rather embarrassing. Still, it couldn't really help but smile a little as he started waving his hands around. "Now, as you do it more naturally and fast, it should seem like you don't actually do the circular motion at all, only slow down for a moment as you bring your hands down and swing them. Of course you have to still keep doing it. Just do it even faster, more relaxed. Don't be that tense", it added as it observed him.

"Hm hm... speed comes naturally to me." Virul, now completely used to the entire thing, did as instructed and performed the motions in nearly rapid-fire pace. Hardly breaking a sweat, the thief idly figured this would be good for pickpocketing training and relaxed even more. This was his element.

Virul learned haste!

"So you say", commented Tylien, not really seriously. As he seemed to get the hang of it, Tylien smiled. "Now, what is next on the list?" it asked as it eyed its feet.

Virul stopped the exercise and sat indian-style on the floor. Pondering a little on what else to do on the agenda, the thief spoke up mildly, "I'm unsure whether we shall have enough time for the next spell training. What do thou think, Tylien? Shall we go about our own business for the time being and prepare ourselves for the upcoming battle or continue our tutoring?"

Tylien stood still for a moment, thinking about the options and fidgeting with its toes now that they were visible. "Well, I think we could finish another spell. I'd guess it doesn't hurt to start either", it said with a shrug. "Shall we start? I guess it is now my turn to learn... can you recommend a spell or should I just pick one?"

Still on the floor, Virul closed his eyes and thought a little on whether to teach Wind Slash or Sonic Blow. Figuring the latter to be too unpredictable in a 2-on-2 match, the thief shrugged and replied, "I suppose I'll teach thee on how to use Wind Slash. It's a bit similar to Wind Blast, so it shouldn't be too hard to learn."

"Alright, that sounds good to me", replied Tylien. "I'm ready", it went on, shifting its weight around a little.

"Very well then. You know the motions... feel the wind around thee and let it enter thee till thou become it." Virul got up from his position and felt his cloak and poncho stir with the push of the wind. "Wind Slash, however, is different in that it involves the usage of emotions... thou must force the wind to feel what thou feel, to think what thou think, to have the adrenaline within thee pass on to it... it's a matter of emotion and brotherhood." Staring around the room idly, the thief continued speaking, "Let the wind be thee now... relax and become it. Chant whatever you wish to chant, words do not matter. Only the feeling... let the wind excite thee, anger thee, depress thee... it matters not."

Tylien listened to Virul, standing idly and letting its mind comprehend the words as they came. It concentrated and closed its eyes, spreading its wings as it felt the winds blow around itself. Thinking of becoming wind wasn't hard for Tylien, after all, that was what it had been made for. With its wings spread, Tylien nearly floated above the ground, with its arms and legs hanging relaxedly. Hearing Virul's words about involving emotions made Tylien open its eyes again. Thinking what emotion would fit the situation best and what would not be too hard to accomplish, Tylien concentrated on aggravation and vengeance, thinking of the zombies that had slain it in the temple catacombs. With the memory fresh, it didn't have to think about it for long until it scowled at the emotion. However, it was hard for Tylien to sustain the feeling as it generally thought emotions were rather useless. It still tried, though. It glanced at Virul, its eyes showing slight annoyance now.

Virul smirked a bit as he strolled around the Hauken. Glancing at it, the thief began to chuckle, "I can see expressing thy emotions will be a bit difficult. Well, good Tylien, that's why we're here." Looking up at the sunlight above, he basked under the rays, but continued talking, "It's a matter of releasing thy inner self, I suppose. Emotions... to make a comparison, is like poison going through your body. Bottle it up too long... if thou try to contain it, it'll damage thou mind much like poison would do thine body. So what to do? Release it. You don't have to do it all the time of course, but it's useless to hold back things that come naturally to anyone. To be stoic and emotionless... that's rather forcing things upon thyself." Looking back at Tylien, Virul observed what he could from its face and spoke up, "I can see from thy eyes thou are choosing anger... if it is difficult to hold that emotion for long, I can... 'assist' thee." Chuckling a bit at this last comment, he closed his eyes and smiled dryly, "You won't like it, though."

Tylien eyed the thief somewhat curiously, now with a some sort of grin on its face. "Expressing an emotion isn't the problem here, so to speak, sir Virul", it said, more firmly now than before. "Having one is." However, now that it had gotten on the way, Virul's voice started annoying Tylien, so it concentrated more on that. "I do not 'bottle up' emotions... they simply fade and die out – like the wind", it said, another grin crossing over its face momentarily. It then thought what sort of a wind would an aggravated wind be, and the gusts started circling around it slightly, twirling Tylien's cloak and robe around its legs. "However, like wind, emotion starts from somewhere." At hearing that Virul could assist it with becoming angry, Tylien let out a short laugh and threw its head back slightly. "I am sure you could." It had deliberately given no answer to the suggestion. Tylien knew that once it gained the state of aggravation, its mind would stay in that state for quite some time, but it seemed like there was no other way. It then continued concentrating on Virul's annoying behaviour and the loathable zombies while the winds continued twirling around it.

Smirking one last time, Virul replied mildly, "Very well then.... weakling." Striding about the room, the thief pondered on what else to add, "I don't even know why I bother with thee. Not only did you lose to me once, but you got your wings handed to thee by a couple of corpses and a walking skeleton! Ha!" Idly wondering if this tactic would work, the thief continued with his verbal barrage, at this point forgetting to use the Olde English accent and now speaking normally, "And that contraption you carry! Real warriors fight to the death hand-to-hand! Sword-to-sword! What do you do? You hit them with some thunder spell from that thing about a dozen or so feet away! Utterly pathetic!"

Tylien stood rather idly until Virul first called it a weakling, and then it just stared at him, mildly amused, but keeping its annoyed state. It smirked weirdly as he went on, noticing how his style of speaking changed, though it didn't know how, since it hadn't previously paid any attention to it. His words annoyed it nearly as much as they amused it, and that made Tylien feel more like laughing at his face. It scoffed, standing still idly as he went on. Thinking that if it was to get any deeper into it, it would have to play along and really get off, Tylien then turned sharply toward him, this resulting in the twirling winds to blow at his face momentarily – and if successful, blow off his hat. Getting into it, Tylien started speaking back, its tone still more firm: "This 'contraption' of mine is one of the most effective weapons I know! Not only has it superior range, it has mighty attack power as well." Tylien now tried to poke him in the stomach with the barrel of the gun.

"Pff. Some weapon. Real men fight with fists and swords!" Noting Tylien not really being moved much, Virul decided to go for a different direction, "Then again... I can see why you don't fight like a real man. Heh, you can't even fight like a woman." Shaking his head in mock tragedy, a grin unlike the usual smiles Virul had on his face, the thief continued, "Haven't had much luck with the ladies either, I suppose? What about men? No? Whatever deity that's up there must be laughing by now. The bitch of the universe... would sound rather fitting if not for your little problem. Would mule of the universe suit you better?"

Tylien had a some sort of amused and yet annoyed grin on its face until Virul started speaking of fighting like a woman or man. Everything that might be called a smile just disappeared from its face – not that that was visible either way, as the veil covered half of its face. Glaring daggers at Virul, Tylien didn't yet say anything though, but as soon as he started talking about having luck with people, Tylien seemed to explode. "WHAT did you say?!?" it exclaimed before he had even finished, missing the deity sentence completely. Its face was getting rather red. "I DO NOT have a problem, you close-minded Dah'kins' toy! If there's anyone with a problem here it's YOU!!" it screamed, pressing the barrel of the musket into his stomach harder.

"Well OBVIOUSLY I do." Despite feeling the musket on his stomach, and wondering whether he went a little far, Virul put up a front of boredom and arrogance, "But they're peanuts compared to yours. Now, mule, get that stupid little thing away from me and try your magic instead. Don't want to remain a failure now, do you? Why don't you prove me wrong and try that spell I was supposed to teach you? Or are you incapable of even doing that?"

Standing still with every muscle in its body tense, Tylien glared viciously at Virul as he spoke, its face gotten completely red some time ago and now the color was spreading to its eyes. "Didn't you hear me, you miserable, despisable thief! I have NO 'problems'!!" Tylien felt very compelled to just shoot him in the stomach until he mentioned the spell again, and some sense came over Tylien's mind and it realized much more of what Virul had said. It was nearly ready to dispel the emotions that hurled its mind around, but instead pushed itself further mentally, trying to keep a hold of the feeling. "If there's a failure, it sure is you! If you didn't even manage to teach me so simple a spell like THIS!" it said while it stepped back, imagining the winds that whirled around it forming into one sharp edge like its final emotions would as it expressed them in words. "Besides, the ultimate creator of this world of Lemire and the universe was an ANDROGYNE!" it howled as it swung the gun by the barrel at Virul, not attempting to hit him with it, but personally create a concrete direction for its spell, concentrating all its emotion and the winds that whirled around it to the performance.

Tylien learned Wind Slash

Stepping aside so as not to be struck by the spell, Virul looked firmly at Tylien before cracking a lazy grin and clapping his hands a few times, impressed, "My my, did I not tell you it wouldn't be hard to learn? Excellent work, good Tylien." Walking about to and fro as he spoke, the thief kept up his relaxed persona, speaking eloquently as he moved, "You'll have to forgive my insults, by the way. I'm afraid they were too effective. Well then, I will leave you be and let you get a better grasp of yourself. When you calm down and forget the silly diatribe from before, go get those shoes you've been wanting. Seeing you barefoot is amusing." With a casual wave of the hand, Virul stepped out of the area and went off to the Coliseum.

Laying the handle of the gun to the ground and keeping a grip of the barrel, Tylien leaned on the gun and eyed Virul furiously, despite having just learned the spell. Its face stayed red, though it now had a tint of embarrassment from lashing out at Virul like that. While it probably would have apologized in another state of mind, now Tylien said nothing. At hearing his comment about its lack of shoes, it raised its head a little and said: "Oh shut up." Watching him go, Tylien uncoiled its cloak from around its legs and flopped down on the floor to lay on its back, spreading its wings all over the place. It calmed down a little, but as usual, the feeling stuck around and it couldn't yet return to its normal, calm state. Tylien lifted its feet up a little, eyeing the difference in the length of the legs of the trousers and wondering what it could do to them, and while it was thinking that, pondered where it might get the clothes cleaned some day. Not being able to decide anything, it rolled over onto its stomach and lay there for another minute. However, it didn't take long for it to get annoyed at the feeling of boredom, and it finally left, walking swiftly out of the room and back into the colosseum.

Entering the training area, Virul looked around at the now-familiar locale and basked in the sun and wind, waiting for his apprentice.

Shortly after Virul walks in Zarrel enters the Training grounds.He checks everything in his pouch just incase Virul took anything.

"My my, but where is the trust, young sir?" Virul commented, very amused, as he observed Zarrel before shaking his head, eyes closed and mouth in a smirk, "Thou have nothing I'll be wanting to steal... for now, anyway. Well then, on with our training." Grabbing the Estoc strapped to his back, the thief looked at the weapon nostalgically for a moment before tossing it over to Zarrel, "Catch."

Zarrel wasn't the greatest catcher in the world. He tried to catch the sword but it slipped off his hands and fell on the ground." I'm such a idiot," he muttered to himself.

"Ahh... teenagers and your inferiority complexes." Virul smirked, still amused, sheathed Swiftlash, and grabbed his second epee with his free hand. Holding both blades now, the thief swished the air around him while speaking to Zarrel at the same time, "If you really want to be among the greatest, raise that self esteem of yours. No point in insulting yourself. Now then... we shall commence. First thing's first, pick up that blade."

Zarrel nodded very slowly. He grabbed the blade, waiting for the next step.

"What thou hold in your hand, sirrah, is a piercing weapon. Not particularly effective against walking skeletons, mind you, but highly effective against practically anything else." Virul explained calmly as he did figure-8 motions with both epees in a slow, careless manner, "Certainly my favorite type of sword. What these weapons do for thee, young Zarrel, are to allow punishing blows to either kill or cripple an opponent and to give thee increased mobility. The estoc is not much different than these epees I hold, so do what I do." Holding the right epee in front of him, Virul placed his leading leg forward, while the other leg was behind, "Position yourself so as to be able to make quick steps forward and backward with losing your balance. Do not hold the blade's handle too tightly, as doing so will hamper your actions and movements."

Zarrel position himself almost exactly like Virul."Ummm....like this?" He asked to Virul. He almost lost his balanced a coupled a times but he gained it back.

"Hmm... yes that's fine. Always good to develop one's own style." Virul stared at Zarrel's stance with a critical eye before continuing with his tutoring, "That weapon, the estoc, is primarily used for piercing through armors and the sort. It is not quite as fanciful as a rapier, but it is more effective in some cases. What thou must do with the weapon, young sir, is to make swift strikes, letting momentum guide you. First thing's first, practice lunging the blade forward. Don't actually lunge your entire body along with it, just get a good handle of the blade and get accostumed to it. Toy around with it, if you will. Don't swing it like you would some mace or hammer. I'll give you five minutes to experiment. I'll be resting here on the floor until you have a good enough grasp of its feel to move on to the next lesson." Plopping down to the ground Indian-style, Virul closed his eyes and looked as if he was dozing off.

Zarrel practiced lunging. He counted how many times he lunged the blade forward.(One..two...three....) He pretended he was attacking a random person.

Despite his eyes being seemingly closed, Virul continued with his instructions, "Remember, young sir, that mastering an estoc involves much more than just swinging your blade around. Lunge randomly like that and you'll find yourself injured or dead at the hands of your enemy." Opening his eyes, the thief got up and paced around the young necromancer, "Other than that, you show potential. The lunge I'll show thee in a bit. For now, however, we shall practice handling the sword. The estoc, like the rapier and these epees here, needs to be controlled by your arm, the primary strength coordinator. Use your muscles to a minimum until just before the actual action occurs. The wrist is important for these kind of swords, as wrist movements are the basis in terms of parrying and attacking. Move the blade around with your wrist, hold your arm steady and loosely, and tighten it just before the attack. Go ahead, I'll observe."

Zarrel position himself and loosened his arms but kept them steady just like Virul said. He moved the blade around with his wrist. He then lunged the blade forward with his arm muscles tightend.

"Make sure to repeat, repeat, repeat. Practice makes perfect, after all." Virul commented as he stopped his pacing and continued staring critically at Zarrel, "Next we work on the lunge, a must-use in the world of fencing. Lunging with an estoc is similar to doing the same with a rapier, with a small exception. When thou lunge, you push your whole body forward without actually moving your feet. Extend your rear leg as far back as you can and push your leading leg so far forward so as to near the ground. Don't extend thy arm so far with the estoc, however, as its weight, which is more than a rapier, may unbalance you." As an added example, Virul looked over at a fictional opponent, right epee raised toward him, and lunged forward, covering great distance and putting in strong power despite not moving from his original spot.

Zarrel was amazed by Virul's attack. He positioned himself again and he lunged the blade forward and his body forward. But he extended his arm too far so he lost his balance. He regained his balance he did it again, this time he was careful not to extend his arm forward to far. He did it over and over again.

Virul silently observed Zarrel go through the motions, becoming impressed as the kid improved before continuing with his instructions, "Not bad, young sir. Like all forms of training, one cannot truly understand how to handle a sword until they practice against a live opponent. We shall spar a few times, blades only touching of course. No need to injure the other now, is there? I'll be on the offensive with one epee, you defend. After I deem your defensive skills satisfactory, you attack and I defend.... and after that, I attack with both epees. Ready?"

"I'm ready," Zarrel said nervously as he positioned himself again in a defensive stance.

"Hm hm... we'll see." Dashing in, Virul struck out at the very tip of the estoc with his own epee foil, making sure to attack somewhat slowly so as not to overwhelm the young necromancer, but fast enough to keep him on his toes. His right hand held the other epee, which at the moment was sheathed, as he continued to press the attack, "Above all things, do not panic! Keep your arm steady and your mind focused! Do not drop thy blade!"

Zarrel focused on Virul's attack. He defended Virul's attack with the estoc. He then got ready to attack Virul.

"Hmph, confident are we?" Virul smirked lazily as he took a few quick steps back to put some distance between himself and Zarrel and prepared for the necromancer's incoming offensive manuever.

"Yes we are," Zarrel said with a grin. Zarrel attacks Virul's epee by lunging the estoc at it.


Still smirking, Virul stepped aside and lightly swung out once again at Zarrel's estoc, "Press on the attack, young sir, press on."

Zarrel did what his teacher said, he pressed the estoc with all his strength forward.

Virul hopped back as Zarrel continued his attack, before smiling lightly, "Hm hm, let's step this up, shall we?" Unsheathing his second epee, the thief rained out a flurry of strikes on Zarrel's estoc with the two weapons, "You're doing well! Don't give up!"

Zarrel parried one of Virul's epees but he didnt know what to do with the other one. He reacted quickly, he let go with the one epee that he parried and he parried the other one.

Zarrel learned how to handle Estocs!

Grinning now, Virul flipped back through the air and landed steadily, several feet away. Sheating both epees, the thief clapped a few times afterwards, impressed, "My my, you did better than I thought thou would!"

"Hmmmm.....a necromancer using a blade," Zarrel said to himself with a smirk."Now let's go to the mage tower so I can learn new spells."

"Hm hm, yes about that...." Virul's grin broadened as he thought of a scheme, "I want to test my skills and thou surely would rather get scrolls for free, right? Here's the plan. You enter the Mage Tower first and talk to whoever runs the place. Distract him or her, and for the sake of making this easier on myself I will refer to them as 'he', and make sure he does not, I repeat, does not see me. I will sneak in and try to steal a few scrolls." As he said this, the thief headed over to the Lemirian Colosseum.

Zarrel nodded and followed Virul out of the training area.

Meridian entered the training area and waited for Oda and Razorfang to arrive. He pulled out his scimitar and epee and gave a few practice swings to pass the time.

Oda arrived, already holding his spear from the incident with Tylien. He tapped the stone floor lightly to test the balance and sharpness of the weapon. "Shall we wait for Razorfang or shall we catch him up later?" he asked, impatient but trying not to let it show he busied himself with adjusting his grip on the guisarme.

Meridian shrugged. "You snooze, you lose. He can catch up later. What kind of skills do you have?"

"Speed based skills. Attacking with finesse and counterattacking." Oda stated, pushing his bamboo hat up with the tip of his spear. "and you?"

"Your counter-attack, discipline, and finesse is definitely of interest to me. I just recently learned two-weapon fighting and I already know lockpicking, exotic weapons, and death touch. Do you want to train or be trained first," asked Meridian.

"At the moment I don't want any of your skills, you may just have to 'owe me one' or so to speak." Oda thought over Meridian's current skills. "So I shall train you, providing that you want to learn one of my skills."

Razorfang runs into the training area, "Aye, I am here, so, what are we discussing?"

"We're discussing which skills we have," replied Meridian. "Which skills do you have?"

"I have two-weapon fighting, camoflage, and handle swords," Razorfang said to Meridian, "Either of you know how to handle a bow?"

Loka, who had closely follwed Razorfang into the area, now settled down in a corner of the room, preparing to fall asleep.

"Doesn't sounds like you'll be doing any training of us, though I suspect Oda and myself can probably teach you a few new tricks," said Meridian.

"Sounds good to me, just tell me where we are starting," Razorfang said, ready to learn a few more skills to help him in battle.

"I guess I'll start by teaching you Lightning Speed," said Meridian. He sheathed his epee and held his scimitar. "I'm going to try and hit you with the flat of my scimitar. You are going to try and move as fast as you can to avoid it. Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, go ahead," Razorfang said, waiting for the mock attack.

"Ready? Now," shouted Meridian as he brought the flat of the blade down at Razorfang.

Razorfang tried to jump to his left to avoid the blunt edge of the blade.

"Good," said Meridian. He held his scimitar away from himself, parallel to the ground. "Now, draw your weapon, and as quickly as you can, attempt to strike the blade of the scimitar."

Razorfang pulled his falcion from his belt, "Sorry if I'm a little sloppy, this is a new blade for me," He then took the blade and swung it towards the edge of the blade.

Meridian quickly pulled the scimitar back. "That's it," he said. He went to one of the storage rooms and brought out a small wooden ball. "Okay, I'm going to throw this at you to simulate you dodging a ranged attack. Ready?"

"Ready," Razorfang said, preparing himself to dodge the attack.

"Now," shouted Meridian as he hurled the ball at Razorfang's head!

Ryoko walked into the training area to look around and observe some. She caught sight of Razorfang and purred softly, hoping immediately after she had done it that he hadn't heard for fear of embarrassment.

Razorfang jumped to his right while turning to avoid the large wooden ball flying towards his head.

The wooden ball strikes Razorfang in the head, sending him tumbling to the ground. There is no injury though, except maybe to his pride.

Meridian frowned and retrieved the ball. "Please, ignore the ladies for another moment and pay attention. Here we go again!" He threw the ball at Razorfang.

Razorfang stood back up, and leaped to his left to avoid the ball as it came towards him for a second time.

"Okay," said Meridian. "Let's do it again." He retrieved the ball and this time sent it flying at Razorfang's feet!

Razorfang jumped, pulling his feet upward.

"All right, I think you're starting to get the hang of it," Meridian commented.

"Let us hope so," Razorfang said, waiting to continue the training.

"Let's bring it all together now." Meridian took the wooden ball and put it away, then drew four foils. He gave two that fit Razorfang's falchions, and two that fit his own epee and scimitar. "All right, now we're going to spar. Ready?"

"I am ready, good sir, let us begin," Razorfang retorted to Meridian's question.


Meridian began by swinging his scimitar at Razorfang's legs, and his epee at his chest.

Razorfang jumped to avoid the slash at his legs, as he turned to the side to avoid the blow to his chest, rolling into a ball and performing a backflip.

Meridian's blades struck Razorfang, despite his fantastic move, sending the shadowcat to the ground.

"Focus more on speed," said Meridian. He set himself defensively to prepare for Razorfang's attack.

Razorfang stood back up, lightly growling at his misfortune, he then unsheathed his falcions again and attempted to strike at Meridian, first attempting to feint an attack towards his left shoulder, trying to change his blades trajectory towards his leg, and struck towards his right shoulder.

Meridian attempted to dodge the attack by leaping backwards away from Razorfang.

Razorfang only nearly misses Meridian, with his falcions whipping past the shadow warrior and nearly catching his clothes!.

Meridian thrust forward at Razorfang's midsection with his epee and his scimitar swinging at Razorfang's head.

Razorfang stepped back with his left foot, opening the side of his body for the blade to hopefully whip by as he simotaneously ducks his head to avoid the second blade.

Razorfang's maneuvers allow him to adeptly dodge the scimitar aimed at his head, but the epee painfully pokes him in the ribs.

"OW!" Razorfang yells as the blade pokes him in his ribs, and begins to rub the spot where the blade made contact.

"Don't stop," shouted Meridian. "Attack!"

Razorfang quickly pulled his falcions, thrusting one towards Meridian's stomach and slashing at his neck with the other.

Meridian ducked the falcion aimed at his neck and blocked the other with his scimitar.

Meridian successfully ducks the first falcion, but is not able to prevent the second from striking him in the chest.

Rubbing his chest with his forearm, Meridian swings both his blades down in thrusting motions at Razorfang's shoulders.

Razorfang leans backwards and pushes off his feet into a backflip to attempt to dodge the attack.

Razorfang's maneuver sends him soaring out of the reach of Meridian, quickly and easily avoiding the power move by the attacker.

Razorfang learned lightning speed!

Meridian exhaled loudly. "There you go. Oda, any wisdom to impart to Razorfang?"

"Hmph..." Oda grunted while he thought. "Guess I can teach him Finesse or even Counterattack but that’s probably going to take awhile. I could also teach you some Discipline, and from the looks of you, you need it." Leaning on his spear, he sized his potential student up.

"Ready when you are, Sir Oda," Razorfang replied to his potential trainer.

"All right, but I warn you, I am a much harsher trainer than Meridian." Oda gave a grim smile as he faced Razorfang. "Since I don't know how much time we can waste, I shall start with counterattack." He gave a short bow to show that they had begun. With no other warning he brought the butt of his guisarme around in a arch in hope to hit Razorfang at the side of the face.

Razorfang pulled his falcions across in front of him to knock the guisarme back down, and continued to attempt to strike Oda with the blunt of the blades after he knocked the spear down.

Not yet being able to pull of an effective counterattack this early, Oda had time to react, easily dodging to the side. "Too slow!" the fencer laughed as he prepared his own counterattack.

Oda let Razorfang continue his attack until he was facing his side. Trying to knock him off balance with the end of his spear, he aimed a casual slap at Razorfang's back.

Razorfang continued with his forward motion, trying to get out of range from the spear.

His newly honed speed helped Razorfang avoid the attack. However, trying to stop the momentum of his dodge, Razorfang skidded to a halt further away than he had anticipated.

"Don't stop. Attack me!" Oda yelled as he got into position. “Quickly” he added after, knowing he would have had enough time to make a suitable attack against Razorfang.

Razorfang struck back at Oda with his falcions, trying to make up the distance he lost during his skid.

Though Razorfang was quick enough to carry out the early part of a counterattack, he could not follow through sufficiently. With a quick step backwards, Oda moved with the falcions to escape harm.

"Not bad..." but Oda seemed unimpressed. He ducked to the side in an effort to move past Razorfang’s blades and to strike him in the face with the base of his guisarme. "Pay more attention to how and when I counterattack."

Razorfang pushes off his right foot to jump to the side to avoid the attack, "Ok, I get your point."

Not being as fast as Oda, the butt of the guisarme knocked Razorfang in the side of the head, swatting his dodge and sending him to the floor.

Although only a slight hit, Oda watched Razorgang with a concealed smirk. "You need to be faster,” he muttered as he lazily stabbed at Razorfang with the end of his spear, hoping the tiger were capable of dodging this time. "Although that is something you must do on your own."

Already flying away from the spear, Razorfang followed with his normal dodging procedure, and continued with his momentum, away from the end of the spear.

Dodging the attack with ease, Razorfang rolled and came up on his feet to face Oda.

"Well at least you've got sense enough to keep moving." Oda shrugged, casual to say Razorfang was about to attack him.

"Common sense saves the common man, intuition saves a warrior," Razorfang says as he takes his falcions and strikes at Oda, so he can use that attack to learn from.

Ignoring whatever Razorfang was saying, Oda tried to dodge both falcions as effortlessly as possible so that he could counterattack quicker.

Moving in a fluid motion, Oda contorted his body to dodge the first falcion but overconfidence made the second hit him across the stomach.

With a successful attack made against him, Oda carefully suppressed his shock and anger. Staggering backwards, he instinctively focused on his own attack. Using his guisarme more creatively, he twirled it in both hands like an over-large stave. Releasing a spinning attack, he aimed to take Razorfang's feet from under him.

Seeing Oda's spinning attack, Razorfang jumped up, trying to vault over Oda's shoulders, trying to hit him in the back with the hilt of his falcion.

Avoiding the main attack, Razorfang was about to launch his own counter attack when Oda reacted.

Upon seeing an oppotunity, Oda grabbed the middle of the spear shaft, in hope to smash Razorfang's face with it.

Razorfang tried to bash the spear away with his first falcion at struck at Oda with the other blade.

Even though the spear was blocked by one of Razorfang's falcions, Oda shoved it into the tiger's face, not quite hitting Razorfang but pushing him a few paces away.

"You are attacking too early now, but that’s better than not counter-attacking at all." Which was how things had started. Oda took up a fighting stance once again and beckoned Razorfang to attack.. "You know how I counter-attack, now watch when I counter-attack."

Razorfang took his falcions, and stabbed at Oda with the first and slashed with his second.

Oda tried to dodge the first attack and knock the second away with his guisarme.

The first missed completely as Oda hopped out of the way. Being preoccupied with other attacks, Oda did not see the second slash, which grazed his arm as he tried to bash it away with his spear.

Not wasting anytime on curses, Oda waited till each of Razorfang's attacks were finished. "It is foolish to try and attack at the same time as your oppinant." he lectured as he lashed out again with the blunt side of his spear.

Realizing his time was probably better spent elsewhere, Meridian left Oda and Razorfang to their training and headed over to training area 1.

Razorfang tried to sidestep the spear and aimned his falcion towards Oda's neck, not pushing the weapon forward, into his neck.

Still getting the timing wrong on the counterattack, the guisarme hit Razorfang in the middle of his stomach. Being the blunted end, this did no damage but did knock the wind out of the shadowcat.

"Bah, you are not listening!" Oda paced round the winded tiger. "Don't try and dodge and counterattack at the same time, dodge first then counter-attack." 

Panting, Razorfang regained his breath, "Ok, try again."

Oda also getting tired but refusing to let it show, attacked again. "Now just dodge!" This time he went for a more traditional approach, jabbing the point of the spear at Razorfang.

Razorfang dodged again, sidestepping the point.

Razorfang was weighed down by his black leather armour but managed to just escape being hit. "Now you counter attack!" Oda yelled.

Razorfang thrust the falcion in his forward hand at Oda, seeing as it was closest to the fencer.

Oda dodged by throwing himself backwards and using his spear to keep his balance.

Oda already knew when Razorfang would attack, so he safely hopped out of range of the blow. Even though the attack had missed, Razorfang had started to make better counterattacks, now he just needed to make them hit!

"Not bad." Oda commented, "Though try to actually make them hit next time." Then to prove his point he stabbed with the blunted point of his spear in an attempt to take Razorfang under his arm.

Razorfang lifted his arm to open the space and turned to his side, only after he opened the space did he counterattack with the falcion in his left hand.

Still trying to counterattack and dodge at the same time, Razorfang was struck in the knee cap with the blunt end of the spear. With a grunt the tigerman dropped to one knee.

"Tsk, you are not listening. I attack, you dodge, you counterattack and I dodge, simple!" Oda said gruffly, not allowing Razorfang to regain his feet before he made his attack. This time he thrust the barbed point of the guisarme at the tiger, hoping he would have sense enough to escape it.

Razorfang, still feeling the pain in his knee, rolled backwards to try to dodge the spear, afterwards, standing up and stepping on the spear behind the head, trying to take it out of Oda's hands, then tried to counter attack by striking him in the shoulder.

Razorfang safely evaded the spearhead. In an attempt to stand on it, Oda yanked it so it dislodged the shadowcat's feet, sending him to the ground.

Though disciplined to be patient and be able to push his emotions aside or call upon them when he wished, Oda was quickly becoming angered. Only letting this show in his reckless and abusive training style, he kept his stony expression. "You cannot dodge or attack in the same turn. You have to make a successful dodge before you can make a successful counterattack. Once you have the timing right, the rest should follow." Then with a grunt he prodded Razorfang again to give him another opportunity to prove himself.

Razorfang again shifted his weight to the side to step away from the attack, trying to keep his footing and stay on balance so he would counter attack, which, once he had made sure he had clearly dodged the spear, he countered with a blow of his own.

The attack went wide, as Oda had expected. With a sigh, he allowed Razorfang to counter, even though in reality he knew they would have been no time.

"Not bad, still needs work on the timing though. You attack me, and watch how I do it." Oda calmed down, acknowledging Razorfang as capable, if not his equal.

Razorfang, who was now getting extremely tired of his incompetince of not being able to successfully counter attack, once again thrust his blade at Oda.

Oda attempted to leap to the side to avoid the attack.

Making apoint of only dodging, Oda hopped ot the side to evade the blade

"Now I counterattack." Oda said with a lunge at Razorfang, hoping to hit him with the blunted end of the spear.

Seeing there was no way for him to dodge the attack, Razorfang tried to block the spear, now having seen his errors.

Using both falcion's to block, Razorfang succesfully stopped the spear before it reached him.

"Now you try." Oda waited for Razorfang to attack.

Having blocked the spear, Razorfang flipper up the spear with the swords, and having cleared it from his way, tried to stab ar Oda's stomach with the blades.

Amused by Razorfang's frantic attempt, Oda tried to knock away both swords with his spear.

Knocking one sword out of the way, Oda safely avoided the first assault. However the second blade caught him by surprise. The flat of the blade winded him as it struck his stomach, sending him reeling backwards.

"Let's see how you fare under more pressure." Oda gave a wolfish grin. Before Razorfang could even wonder what 'more pressure' meant, Oda leapt into full assault. Standing on one foot with the other raised, he 'fell' into a lunge aiming the flattest side of the spear at Razorfang.

Surprised, Razorfang took a step back away from Oda, hoping to see him fall flat on his face.  

Oda landed the lunge, thrusting underarm with the guisarme. Razorfang instinctively stumbled backwards in shock, barely escaping the long point. The spear's point bounced of the floor, cracking the stone slightly as the fencer tried to keep his balance.

Razorfang saw his opprotunity to counterattack, he stepped back towards the fencer, aiming above his spear to hit him in the armor with his falcion.  

Planning on not being so easy to hit this time, Oda ducked so the attack would go over his head.

The falcion slashed at air as Oda quickly ducked the blow.

Now it was his turn to counterattack. Oda gave a upwards thrust with his guisarme.

Razorfang stepped around behind Oda, thinking he would have been clear to the side of him, but wanted to clear some room for error.

Side-stepping the long spear, Razorfang evaded the blow. Although he couldn't quite get around Oda because of the long range of the guisarme.

Although not at the vantage point he wanted, Razorfang still carried out a counter-attack by thrusting his falcion at Oda's side.

This time it was Oda who tried to sidestep, contorting his body so that the blade would avoid him.

Oda only just managed to avoid the falcion, hopping away from Razorfang.

Jumping backwards from Razorfang, Oda left even more room for himself to attack with his guisarme. Keeping his opponent at spear-length, he jabbed forwards.

Razorfang again sidestepped the spear and tried to grab the spear.

Razorfang successfully dodged, and with more confidence in his ability he managed to get a grip just below the spearhead. Though now the barbs and curved blade were in reach of Razorfang's arm, and could pose a threat if he did not make a successful counterattack.

Razorfang yanked Oda towards him with the spear, letting go of it in the process, and tried to hit him with the blunt end of the falcion, so as to not do any damage to his instructor.

Not really built for endurance, Oda had little choice but to go with the flow. He ran towards Razorfang hoping this would take him by surprise. At the last second he tried to roll over the blade.

Unfortunately for Oda, he miscalculated and jumped too early. Getting struck in the stomach with the flat of the blade, he fell backwards with a thud.

Slowly trying to get up, Oda waited for Razorfang to attack again.

This time, expecting Oda to counter attack, Razorfang struck at Oda with only one blade, keeping the other back to try to block the attack.

Oda tried to turn away the attack with the shaft of his spear.

Relying on instinct rather than brains, Oda took a glancing blow on his left arm. Lucky that Razorfang had not pressed the attack, and hesitated instead, Oda stumbled backwards even more.

Not stopping to catch his breath, Oda lunged back at Razorfang, hoping to use the long reach of the Guisarme to his advantage.

Razorfang tried to stop the spear with his falcions, crossing them in front of him.

The spearhead slammed into Razorfang's defense, knocking him backwards alittle, but it was still a succesful block. With a failed attack, Oda knew he could make no counterattack.

"You blocked that attack, so I cannot counterattack, you can only counterattack when you evade an attack." Oda grumbled and withdrew his spear into a defensive position. "Since you blocked my attack, you can launch a counterattack, then a standard attack against me." He waited for Razorfang's attack, wondering if this was making any sense.

Razorfang nodded, as he thrust towards Oda's midsection with the tip of his falcion.

Oda tried to side-step and turn to escape the blade.

Not escaping the blade, Oda managed to move fast enough to evade harm but the blade hit his spear and the force of the attack knocked him further off guard.

Waiting to see if Razorfang would push the attack, Oda lost patience and launched his own attack. Using the long spear he lunged forward at a distance, making a stab at Razorfang's torso. The last second he took a step forward and adjusted the aim so that barbed blade would strike Razorfang in the head.

Razorfang crossed tyhe falcions in front of him to deflect the blow, but noticing as Oda's attack changed direction, Razorfang lowered his head and stepped forward, towards Oda.

With his catfolk agility and a bit of luck, Razorfang managed to avoid the blow. But the quick movement sent the tiger clansman off balance as he moved towards Oda.

"Now counterattack" Oda said as he held his ground.

Already on his step forward, but a bit off balance, Razorfang lunged towards Oda, sticking his right falcion forward, and slashing with the other.

Oda laughed as the tiger clansman attacked with both weapons. Both would provide two opportunities for a counter attack. With the lunge, he tried to side step the thrust.

Oda easily managed to step out of the way, this left Razorfang open to a counter attack.

The Xiadomian fencer wasted no time in waiting for a reaction. Gathering up his strength, Oda tried to bring down the shaft of his spear on Razorfang's hand, knocking the first blade out of his hand.

Razorfang tried to sidestep the down coming spear to avoid it hitting his hand.

Already moving forwards, Razorfang found it hard to side-step in time to dodge. The Oda's spear came down on his hand and disarmed his opponent, sending the blade sliding across the room. This however did not hinder Razorfang's second attack.

Effectively dodging the first blade, Oda had to try and duck out of the way of the second.

Preoccupied with the first attack, Oda was surprised by the second but still managed to evade harm. It did however knock the fencer back, interrupting any chance of a counter attack.

Skidding to a halt, Oda quickly recovered. "You already know that with counter-attack you have the chance to make another attack every time you successfully defend yourself, but you also get a regular attack..." he explained vaguely, trying to trip Razorfang with the long guisarme.

Razorfang jumped, "Yes, I know that, it just slipped my mind." 

Razorfang managed to hop over the spear, in time to launch a counter attack of his own

"Yes, that’s it. Now counter attack!" Oda roared some encouragement, waiting for the tiger clansman to strike.

In mid air, Razorfang came down on the fencer with his one falcion he still had in his hands.

Again, Oda tried to dodge, hopping to the side.

However, Oda was too slow this time, and he took a glancing blow on the arm.

"Now launch your official attack." Oda commanded as he was momentarily distracted by the blow he had just received.

Seeing that his last blow actually connected, Razorfang struck back at Oda's side.

Without thinking, Oda tried to block the attack with the shaft of his spear.

The blow connected again, and again only glanced off Oda's arm as he tried to knock the attack away.

"Better, your starting to get it." Oda nodded with approval. "It shouldn't be too long now." he said as he started to attack again. Striking lazily to Razorfang's left, he hoped to give the shadowcat a chance to defend himself.

Razorfang wheeled his falcion around to his left side to block the spear. 

Razorfang easily blocked the lazy attack, knocking the spear point back to give him an opening for a counter attack.


Taking his opening, Razorfang stabbed his falcion at Oda's now open gut.

Having chance to recover his senses, Oda tries to sidestep the attack again.

The agile fencer easily manages to manoeuvre out of the attack. Oda quickly side-steps and positions himself on Razorfang's left-hand side.

Taking his chance to counter-attack, Oda tries to bring the spear down on the tiger's neck.

Razorfang followed Oda's movements and tried to side-step around to Oda's side to avoid the attack.

Oda's attack connected, but bounced off of Razorfang's shoulder rather than his neck, as the shadowcat tried to dodge.

"We should slow down and try the exercise I started with..." Oda said, refusing to admit he was in the least bit tired from sparring. "I'll attack you, then I want you to counterattack. I'll then repeat the process." And without warning, the fencer struck out in hope to test what Razorfang had learnt.

Razorfang jumped around to the side of the spear.

The spear missed Razorfang completely as the shadowcat hopped to the side. Oda braced himself for the counter attack.

Being tired of not completing his training, Razorfang concentrated himself on this one attack, lunging at Oda with his falcion at full strength.

Meridian entered the training area and watched as Razorfang continued to train with Oda.

Oda tried to dodge the attack again, not even noticing Meridian entering the area.

Also weary of the training, Oda did not have the effort behind his dodge. Caught by surprise, the flat of the falcion hit Oda in the side of the face and sent him falling backwards.

Meridian inwardly winced sympathetically at Oda's misfortune, but did not move, not wishing to interrupt the exercise.

Walking into the training areas, Donovan gave a glance around and watched Razorfang and Oda go about with their training for a minute or so before moving near Meridian. "So...?" He simply asked, watching the man with his typical lazy expression.

Lil'ly simply followed Donovan in the temple, screeching a little as she noticed the two fighting before following her master.

Loka who had fallen asleep in the corner of the area, perked his ears at Donovan's voice, knowing that that little creature he had would be following him, he craned his neck up, and stretched it, then stood up and shook off his legs, stretching after his long rest, and slowly trotted over to where Lil'ly was standing, and began to sniff the scarab.

Turning to the cub that came up to her, Lil'ly let out another screech and took a few steps back, closer to her master before tilting her bug like head to the side.

Loka poked his nose in after the scarab, still trying to figure out just what it was.

Lil'ly screeched once more before finally sitting down next to her master's feet and let the pup observe her with out complanining.

After a few more minutes of sniffing about, Loka got bored of his inspection and laid down next to Lil'ly.

"It's a slow going process," replied Meridian to Donovan. "For me, however, it was much quicker just paying Abbot to instruct me in a new skill." He turned back to watch Oda and Razorfang spar.

"Mmm, I think we should have enough time to exchange essential techniques with eachother for the time being." Watch the two, Donovan moved to cross his arms and let out a light sigh. "I also found a Dah'kin warrior in the coloseeum. He was following me not too long ago, if he really is what he's spoken of himself ot be then he should be showing up soon. I want you guys to teach him a few things before we move on with things." Closing his eyes, he streched the wings resting on his back before wrappping them around himself. "Finally, a few more tasks have been added to the bulletin board. A few caught my eye. I expect you guys to help me with some of these." He spoke to Meridian for the time being, hoping he would transmit the message to the two others once they would be over with their training. "I still have some little training to do for the time being."

Skidding to a halt, and using the length of his spear to keep him standing, Oda turned his attention to Donovan and Meridian. With the prospect of battle close, the fencer hoped to wrap things up soon and lashed out at Razorfang again.

Razorfang jumped back and to the side, turning away from the spear so as to make a smaller target for the spear, also off to the side of where the strike was intended, striking at the spear with his falcion to keep it away from him.

Again moving to the side, Razorfang managed to dodge Oda's attack. Not taken off balance, Oda stood his ground and waited for the counterattack.

Meridian nodded. "I'd be happy to be help. In the meantime, would you mind passing the time waiting for these two by teaching me the art of black magic, and perhaps a couple of spell," he asked Donovan, hoping to pick up a few more tricks before they went off on their quests.

Ke'rehl entered the area and drew his weapon. He walked up to Donovan and said to him,"Is there anythign amiss my liege? I am eager for battle and grow weary of this wait."

Razorfang continued on with the counterattack, thrusting the falcion towards the fencers gut.

Donovan gave Meridian a light nod. "I will agree to teach you a few spells that might be of use, in return you must teach me something as well." Uncrossing his arms, he took a steps closer to the Caerham human and reach up to pet him on the head. Grinning, he turned to Ke'rehl as he entered. "You won't be getting any chaotic battles done quite yet." He replied calmly. "For now, the two sparing there and Meridian here are the ones that'll give you some little training. I don't intend to bring you out with us with out it." Glancing back at Meridian, he made a little hand motion for him to follow. "The both of us will be going to another training area for spell teaching. You can either come along or wait for them to finish and try to explain why you're there." Having that said, he headed out of the area to Training Area 2.

Lil'ly bounced to her feet when Donovan moved out of the area and headed off to Training Area 2 along with him.

Meridian followed Donovan and his scarab out of the area.

Nearly falling over his own feet, Oda still managed to fend off Razorfang’s attacks.

“My liege?” Oda spluttered at the newcomer’s comment. Shrugging off the remark, he returned his attention to Razorfang. “You need to strike more on instinct, you need to quicken the attack.” Without a moment’s waste, the fencer stabbed out at the tiger catfolk.

Getting extremely tired of the training now, Razorfang tried to jump around the spear again, posistioning him closer to Oda this time, trying to ready himself to attack quickly.

Although tired, Oda must have been even more exhausted, because Razorfang managed to dodge the sloppy attack.

Razorfang saw the opening in Oda's defenses, and quickly struck at the fencer, thrusting himself and his falcion at him with all his strength.

Oda was ready to dodge, trying to step aside so the attack would pass him by.

Although much faster with the counterattack, Razorfang had attacked too recklessly. Oda easily side stepped the attack which led to Razorfang losing his balance and nearly falling on his face.

"At least you attacked quicker, now you have to be more intelligent as to where you strike." Oda nodded to himself then lashed out with the Guisarme's dull end.

Knowing his motion was already going in a spinning motion, Razorfang continued and tried to spin around the spear.

Razorfang learned counterattack!

Oda stopped abruptly to catch his breath. His usually calm composure was now sweating but still appeared defiant against looking as exhausted as he felt. "And that's the end of your training. I could teach you finesse but you’re too slow to make any use of it. As for you, your more of a knight than a agile fencer, I doubt I can teach you anything of use." Oda stated as he turned to face Ke'rehl.

Razorfang bowed, "Thank you, Sir Oda, though I do have one more request of you, if you may, I would like to learn the discipline of a fencer."

Oda's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Do as I do." he said as he sat down and crossed his legs. "Discipline is mostly meditating anyway." The fencer then closed his eyes and waited for Razorfang to comply.

Razorfang followed Oda's routine, sitting next to the fencer, crossing his legs, and closing his eyes.

"Now clear your mind, you must be able to at least suppress your emotions to achieve discipline." Oda mumbled. "Emotions can be a help but more likely a hindrance in battle."

Razorfang tried to calm his mind, letting deep breaths from his mouth and inhaling into his nose, trying to completely calm his mind.

Razorfang slowly slipped into a meditative state but he still seemed tense as to what was happening around him.

“Good” Oda commented while studying Razorfang’s position. He slowly got to his feet and propped himself against his spear. “You should ignore all outside effects and concentrate on maintaining your meditation. This should aid you fight fear but also enable you to combat black magic trickery”

Razorfang tried to shut out everything around him, blocking what was being said, or whatever he could hear from his head, maintaining his posistion and breathing.

Razorfang was finally able to separate himself from the background noises of the arena and isolate himself in a sort of trance.

“Good” Oda repeated, but this time it wasn’t directed at anyone. With an attempt to make sure Razorfang had blocked all outside actions, Oda lifted his guisarme and gave him a light push, trying to distract him.

Razorfang sat where he was, blocking out all outside actions to the best of his power, focusing at the task at hand, he knew if he could not finish this training, he would never be able to become a fencer, so he pushed all emotions and feelings from his body and focused on meditating.

Unfortunately, Razorfang hadn't quite trained his mind to switch off to danger or fear so his body acted on instinct and snapped out of his meditation as Oda's guisarme struck out.

"Hmph, not so good." Oda grumbled giving Razorfang a tap on the head, as if trying to knock discipline into him. "Try picturing a place where you feel safe, if there is such a place that is. Other than that just try again."

Razorfang never had any problem with finding himself a place he felt he could confide himself in, and brought himself back to his medatative state, bringing his mind to a place in which he felt comfortable.

Again Oda tried to break his concentration by poking Razorfang with his spear.

This time Razorfang did not respond to the spear and ignored it, pushing the feeling aside.  

Clicking his fingers in front of Razorfang's face, Oda paced around his student. "Well now you've done that, imagine your greatest fear." the fencer instructed.

Razorfang tried to conjure his greatest fear into his mind, yet maintaining his meatative state, remaining calm and trying to not let the fear overcome him.

Razorfang conjured one of his greatest fears into his mind. His fear was even more vivid with a clear mind. Unsuccessful at resisting, Razorfang lost his cool and awoke from the meditation. With his facial fur covered in sweat it appeared that the catfolk clansman had awoken from a bad dream.

Oda studied the clansman patiently. “Try again.” He ordered as he squatted on his heels. He rested his chin on his hand. “Take into consideration that we Xiadomian’s are born into discipline. It comes naturally for us.” It would have sounded like encouragement if it didn’t sound so hollow.

Razorfang stared Oda square in the eyes, he forced out a deep breath and closed his eyes, taking himself into another medatative state.

Again Razorfang was able to clear his mind, it actually came alittle easier this time.

“Think about whatever your fear is, perhaps the Dah’kin slaughtering your kind would be a good one.” Oda added but it didn’t sound like it meant to be offensive. As the fencer thought about it, the reasons for the tiger catfolk to side with them were still a mystery. Shrugging that off he waited to see how Razorfang would respond this time.

Razorfang pushed out another breath as he brought to mind the thought of his parents, which still haunt him all these years after they had abbandoned him, which was also a reason for his rage, but also brought a fear of them, as it was a twisted dream which is truly his biggest fear because
of that hatred.

With the painful memories of his parents, Razorfang nearly lost his focus but just managed to hold on through sheer determination. Though frowning in concentration, it was obvious to Oda he was losing it.

Oda observed Razorfang almost loosing control and giving into frustration. "Suppress the anger and fear you feel or it will only hinder your progress." he instructed while he watched patiently.

Razorfang tried to push the feelings of fear and hatred from his mind, and discerning the hatred from his parents in an attempt to overcome his fears.

Razorfang fought the fear with determination but ended up falling to despair again. He held on longer this time but the harder he fought the stronger the fear became.

Watching this, Oda commented on his progress. "Not bad, but next time don't try to fight the fear, just accept it as illusion. Fear is just an illusion of the mind, if you truly believe you have no reason to be afraid then you are not afraid. So you should just suppress all emotion and surrender to the fear.” he said thoughtfully. Trying to work out a better way of saying that, he gave up to watch Razorfang's reaction.

Razorfang returned himself to the medatative state. He closed out all emotion in him, and brought forth the fear within him. He kept thinking that his fear was only illusion, and that there was no way to frighten him, trying to push away any reasoning behind the fear and accepting it as the illusion that it was.

Ke'rehl snorted and sat down on the ground. He laid on his side squashing the row of ants crawling beside him. After he wasted soem time with his little project he grew bored and left the area. Ke'rehl proceeded back to the Lemirian Colosseum.

Razorfang learned discipline!

Oda shook his head at the impatience of Ke'rehl. "Congratulations. Now that you've achieved discipline, can we get moving?" the fencer said in his usual gruff voice.

Razorfang shook his head at his rather impatient "teacher", "Yes, we are now ready to go, although to where, I do not know."

"Well the Dah'kin said he was going 'spell training'. Damn mages and their meddling." Oda grunted squinting to make his eyes look even more like slits. "I suggest you go over to training area 2 or 3, probably the former considering that Dah'kin's love of destroying things. I'm heading off to see Abbot." and with that, he left the catfolk and moved towards training area 1.

Watching Oda leave the area, Razorfang motioned for Loka, and headed for training area 2.

Seeing his master's motion, Loka sprung from his posistion and followed the catfolk from the room.

---

Byron walked into the empty arena and waited for Ometla. He sure hoped whatever she knew was worth the time he was wasting waiting on her. While he waited, he eyed the whip in his hand, wondering why anyone would want to fight with such a thing..

Ometla walked through the archway and noticed Byron eyeing the whip curiously, "It's a usefull weapon when you know how to use it. The most useful thing I could teach you would be how to move lightning fast for a short amount of time! Does that appeal to you at all?"

"Didn't do you much good.." Byron said under his breath as the hauken talked about her whip. Moving fast did intruigue him, though. He already saw himself dashing between his opponents, his twin kukri blades flashing crimson..
He blinked, realising Ometla was waiting for an answer. "Um, aye. Speed be an interesting trick.. but how would ye try and teach me speed? I mean, it's all in the muscles, aye?"

Ometla nodded in reply, "True, it is very physical, but at the same time you will also undergo psycological training as well. If you don't believe that you will make it, then chances are that you won't. Are you ready to begin?"

Byron grinned, at last they'd start! Sitting around doing nothing wasn't something he was good at.
"Do ye want yer whip back?" He rhetorically asked, at the same time answering Ometla.

Ometla wasn't appreciative of the mans attitude by this time, there was a small pause, "Start running, I want you to run as fast as you can around this area. I want you to tell yourself that there is no wind blowing against you, and that there is nothing in the entire world that can outrun you. I'll be waiting here when you finish your round."

It was Byron's turn to pause. He wasn't used to being given orders, especially from people he'd put holes in moments before! He managed to keep himself from saying anything, though. He was here to learn to better himself, and if he had to endure this.. woman.. to get better, then so be it.
He started running around the arena as fast as he could, leaning forwards into the oncoming air a bit!

"Good!!" Ometla was slightly surprised that the man had done as she had told him, almost to the last word. "Your run was good, but you still have a long way to go. When you go running off at lightning speed you have to be just that. Lightning. Where you can pierce through the storming sky without anything in your way, and strike whatever is in your way with a fierce blow. Watch." At that moment Ometla took off around the arena, a strong gust followed her along with the dust that had collected on the floor.

Byron did watch, with his arms crossed over his chest as he gently regained his breath. "Showoff." He thought to himself as he watched the lady zoom around.
"It's easy for ye to do, ye aready know how!" He said. He was glad he did good on his first run, but he had expected this to be easier. "Know that I'am a pirate, lady. There ain't much room on a ship ter run around in."

Ometla stopped suddenly and looked at the man, "Stop your arrogance! Instead of crossing your arms and telling me that it's so easy because I already know how to do it, keep in mind that at one time I was going through the same training you are right doing now. I also know that there is no room for running on a ship, so it's not as though I'm expecting you to get it on the second, or even fifth try, for that matter. But you're doing well, so keep that in mind. Now just like before I want you to run and block everything from your mind. The only thing that you should be thinking about is not the wind blowing past you, but you blowing through it. And not the ground underneath you, but rather you on top of it. Almost like you're not even on the ground. I'll be watching from the topside this time, so I want you to run until your body will no longer allow you to run." And with that, Ometla flew to the top of the arena.

Byron was caught by surprise as the hauken suddenly snapped at him. He clenched and unclenched his teeth a couple times to calm himself before grudgingly starting another sprint. He was doing this for himself, not for her, he told himself. To better himself.. and to show her that he was better than she!
As he ran, Byron tried to visualise what she said; him blowing through the air instead of it blowing against him and the ground not really being there.. At this point, he switched to his own mindset of things. The ground wasn't there afterall, in his mind. He was his ship sailing over the seas! The wind brushing past him wasn't there to hinder him, but to fill his sails and aid him! He would learn soon, he promissed himself. To top off his legs' incentive to run faster, he visualised himself running after something. He always ran faster when chasing something. A wide horizon spanned across his vision and he chased it as fast and as hard as he could, chased it until his legs gave out beneath him and he stumbled a short distance before coming to a stop. He was breathing hard and sweat was stinging his eyes.

Ometla could tell that the man understood what she was telling him, and was pleased not only with him, but also with herself and flew down to the man to see if he needed anything. "That was quite a run, it was very good. Are you understanding how this works well enough or should I try a new way to help you better understand it?" A small smile fell over her face as she thought of the man's progress.

"What I don't get," Byron stated between breaths. "is how this is going to help me in battle." He decided to sit down against a nearby wall to help catch his breath. He rarely ran this hard, which brought him to his point. "I doubt I'll be running around like an idiot during any battles. Even if I did, I couldn't put up a decent fight after my sprint, it takes the wind out of me and I'm pretty sure my opponent won't give me a minute to regain it! You were there during our fight, swift, quick strikes were what helped me win. I thought you were going to teach me how to move faster, not how to run faster!" He finished, and tapped two fingers on the whip he still had slung over a shoulder to give Ometla a reminder of what her incentive to teach him was.
He might also want to put the whip and his knives down before the next run, too, he thought to himself.

Ometla at this point realized that she had explained how to learn lightning speed, but not what it really did. "I see your frustration with everything, so let me explain. Yes it is tiring I'll give you that, but once you learn this it won't take so much out of you. Secondly, this will help you gain an advantage over your opponant. Just think, one minute your several feet away, then in the blink of an eye, or even before they can plan their own attack, your right in front of them ready to strike. The point is that you can get to and away from anything so fast that it would be mildly confusing. I was watching you from up there, and I think a good way to get your spirits going would be a race. You've come a long way and maybe running next to someone would help you. What say you?"

"A race.." Byron repeated, "On foot?" He added, giving Ometla's wings a slight glare. He was pretty sure he could take her, especially now that he knew how to run around like an idiot.
"Aye," He nodded as he got up. "I guess a race couldn't hurt. What're the terms?" He unslung the whip from across his shoulder and was in the process of unbuckling the belt holding his knives.

"No, keep your weaponry on. If you learn to run without it, you might have difficulty later with the weight difference. And to answer your question, yes, the race will be on foot. It wouldn't be very fair for me to fly now would it? The terms...hmm...there are none really, nobody's winning or losing anything. So I guess you could say that we are racing for bragging rights. How do you like the sounds of that?" At this Ometla got excited, she loved a challenge and the fact that Byron was getting faster with every run made the trill even greater. Also the man had an ego the size of a rather large melon, so winning couldn't hurt.

Byron grumbled, but kept the belt on. The lady had a point.
"Aye, foot race around this arena.. say, two laps?" He said, nodding to himself and quite confident he'd win. He touched his tribal necklace and smile at the sound it made as it's wood and bones rattled. People had found it strange indeed to find a pirate who had learned the shaman ways. He had yet to learn any glyphs, but the training he undertook was enough to make him a better man, both in life and in battle. The necklace was there to remind him of that.
"I think we can trust each other to be fair. No need for a refferee." He picked up a stone. "When this stone hits the ground, the race starts. Ready?" He had a grin on his face and he readied to throw the rock upwards.


Ometla nodded in agreement to the terms' "Aye, that sounds fair". She found the man's necklace a bit odd, but quickly went back to thinking about the race ahead. "Whenever you are ready then."

With a nod, Byron threw the stone into the air and quickly got into a suitable position. He cleared his mind and thought of nothing but the race ahead of him, and of him winning it!
The stone finally hit ground! The race was on! Byron gave a great heave with his legs and went off into a dash that made dust rise from the ground!

Ometla squated down into a ready position and watched as the stone cut through the air. She knew that if Byron won his ego would only get bigger and make him harder to teach. She was ready to go, the stone hit the ground, and she took off in a dead sprint witha determined look and a confidence that could win the race on its own.

After a lap or two, Byron proved his speed was fairly superior to Ometla's. even if her initial sprint was better, the Rysallean easily beat the Hauken in the race.

Byron learned lightning speed!

Jumping around in glee as he finished the second lap, Byron gave the air a few quick punches to show his victory.
"Ha! The student becomes the master!" He said, gloating a bit. "But I think I get it now. I sure felt faster! What would ye say to a good cold ale? They must have those somewhere around here!"

With a smile and nod of appoval Ometla looked at the man celebrating, "A cold ale sounds nice, a good way to celebrate!"

"Good. And just so yeh know, I'm not running there. In fact, I think I'll not be doing any more running today." Byron said glad that he finally learned the trick. He knew he had been good enough, and yet again he prooved to himself and to someone else that he was one of the best.
"I think I recall a mess hall sign somewhere.. And I'm guessin' that's a-where we be going next!"
And with that, he made as if to exit the arena, but stopped. "The name's Byron, by the by. Captain Byron." He said, and then set off towards the Arena Mess Hall, not waiting for Ometla's name. She could tell him at the hall when she got there.

Ometla knodded in approval, she was impressed by how quickly he caught on. She also felt like she may have gained a little of the mans respect seeing as how he had finally introduced himself. walking sounds nice she thought to herself as she followed Byron out of the arena towards the Arena Mess Hall.

---

Realms of Lemire Arena