Time To Fight

Chapter 4

The floor sparkled with specks which were engraved into the smooth, light grey tiles. Carving upon carving made up the not only the dark grey walls, but the ceiling too. Some carvings were familiar, like the symbols of the elements, but the rest were foreign designs, but no matter how foreign the swirls of each design were, as they overlapped each other, the blending of designs turned everything into not just symbols, but into an artful masterpiece.

We followed Mintos past the wide pillars that surrounded the room and headed down a hallway with windows short in width but spanning the height of the walls. As we took a left, Minots motioned at the wall beside us. “This center part of the wing would be Miss Leira’s and the rest of the guards’ rooms. Your rooms will be in the West wing in the same area.”

A turn to the right revealed a massive door less room. Tatami mats spanned across the floor with brown pillars scattered throughout. Mintos headed to a corner filled with weapons as Jaden, Ariel and I waited in the center of the room, taking our new surroundings. There was no mistaking that this was a training room and a well-kept one at that. The guards must use this room frequently to sharpen their skills in order to protect the priestess. They had to been the ones cleaning this massive place too for there didn’t seem to be anyone else around who took care of that. Strange how only five people would occupy this temple. Of course, now there would be eight.

The Fighter within me stirred with the need to use the training room to fullest and to use it right then and there. As I let my fingers flicker with the essence of a flame, Mintos returned to us holding two swords of the same design. They were both as long as my arm, and consisted of only metal. Each had a crescent moon shape sticking out from one side, the base being covered in thick red cloth to create a safe handle

He held them out for me to take. “Miss Leira’s orders were to give these to you. There is another pair with black cloth on the wall for you to use as well. However, it is her wish that you only use these.”

Taking his offer, I let my hands slip through the hole between the crescent and the sword, testing the amount of cloth between my hands and the metal.

“When did she give these orders? She didn’t mention them in the forest,” questioned Jaden. No matter how hard he tried to hide it with suspicion, I could sense the jealousy and curiosity within his voice. There would be a lot of sparring in the future.

“These orders were before any one of you entered the forest. As you heard from Pane, Miss Leira has been expecting all of you for quite some time.” He took a step to the side. “Those swords can handle elemental use. Why don’t you give it a try?”

“Elemental use? Seriously?” Ariel was right. Seriously?

Just as there were few who could bend more than one element for combat, there were even fewer who could handle using the elements with weaponry. No one like that existed in our town, but there had been rumors that many neighboring towns and even countries were learning to use all sorts of other strategies for combat, this included. Our town was always known as the one place where the basics, the very fundamental powers that Mother Nature offered, could be learnt to a great degree.

“I say go for it.” Jaden’s eyes were glued to the weapons as if they were an object he had never seen before.

Focusing on my right sword, I let a small flame trickle from my fingers to the tip of the sword. Then I went to the left sword, upping the power of the flame. Both flames whirled around the sword as if the sword was an extension of me. I shuffled my left leg forward and sliced the air with my left sword, leaving a fiery trail. Then I sliced my right sword upward, mustering as much strength and fire as I could. This time, the trailing fire became a force of its own and pushed forward into one of the pillars. The pillar became streaked with a black mark as the fire dispersed.