Wild Beauty

New Friend?

I dragged myself into the house, both my mind and body were aching after 6 hours of non-stop punishment inflicted by my insensitive instructor, who seemed to relish the prospect of torturing new recruits. I don't even think half my mistakes were mistakes at all, but patience was a part of my training process.

"Oh honey, you are finally home, go get fresh, I will bring you dinner." My mom was probably feeling sympathy for me as she never allowed us to have food in our bedrooms.

After dinner, I tried sleeping but found myself pondering over my darkest fears. What if my trainer was right? What if I never get a chance to prove myself? After all, it was very rare for girls to pursue the path I have chosen, and for most of those who did pursue it, almost all of them quit after the first few weeks. I couldn't blame them. After all, I knew how hard it is for women to survive in a patriarchal society. I knew that whenever a female tried to step out of the suffocating norms, she gets condemned and denounced from every direction.

What I didn't know was, if or how I will become the first female warrior but I was determined to put up a good fight not just for myself but for Celion.

So, with that in mind, I got up early the next morning and went to the academy alone after leaving a note on the fridge. Soon enough, I was drenched in sweat after hitting the punching bag continuously, letting out all of my frustrations. I turned around when I sensed someone behind me.

"Aren't you the new girl?" I saw a guy standing with crossed arms.

"So?" I asked. Keeping it short because I couldn't see his face and it was tripping me out.

"So, your stance is wrong, if you stand like that in a dual match, you will be knocked out within seconds." He snorted.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, guess there's no point in teaching you, you'll probably quit after a few days."

Okay, now he was really getting on my nerves. "For your information, I don't remember asking you to talk to me, I was training here peacefully until you barged in and disturbed me."

He chuckled and took his hood off. "You've got some fire, maybe I was wrong, maybe you will stay here longer than I expect."

I just stood there, looking unimpressed while internally I was a bit shocked. He had dark brown hair, hazelnut eyes, and a genuine smile.

"My name is Felix Kage, I'm a veteran here."

"Flair Manon," I said as I shook his hand.

"So Felix, can you show me the 'right' stance, or are you here to annoy me like everyone else?"

"What have I just told you that you don't need to put power behind your punches, just look for the right spot," Felix said after I kept trying to land punches unsuccessfully. I pouted and pretend to give up.

"What's with that behavior?" He raised an eyebrow as he walked closer to me and I finally managed to punch him on his stomach while he was distracted.

"Not bad but I'm afraid that it won't last you for very long," he smiled.

"I don't get how I'm supposed to beat my competitors when everyone around here is stronger than me and has much more experience"

"Use your head stupid, the reason you'll have a chance to win is that you have an advantage that no one here does."

"And what is that?" I asked as I really did not see any chances of me getting out of this alive.

"You are a weaker opponent, which makes you less of a threat. You're going to use that to your advantage."

"Wow, you know what, you could be a half-decent motivational speaker, I can sign you up if you want," I said wiggling my eyebrows teasingly.

He just rolled his eyes and held up the pad, indicating me to hit it again and so both of us practiced until the sun shone brightly over the two exhausted figures.

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It's been a few weeks since I joined the training academy, I can't say that I have made a lot of progress with weapons since I have only been working on my body to get it into shape. Every day I would go early and train for 8 hours and return home with soreness and pain from head to toe. After that, I would sleep all day because my body wasn't used to this much exhaustion.

I didn't talk to anyone in the academy as every time I would try to make a conversation with someone, my instructor would notice and make me run an extra lap. I sighed as I watched my brother train with his partner, he was extremely talented with a short sword. Since my time here, I have never seen him lose a match, he had a way of tiring out his opponents and he used that fully to his advantage.

Come to think of it, I have never seen Felix lose either, although he rarely fought with others, I have noticed that he was extremely fast, skillful, and observant. Unlike Alex, he would never wait to tire his opponents but would test their strengths and weaknesses. Before his opponents could get a chance to settle in. Boom! he would hit them on their weak spots and they would knock out.

I was doing squats when I heard our trainer calling us for attention. I noticed a girl near my age standing beside him with a shy smile.

"What are you waiting for? Introduce yourself to the rest of the class, I don't have all day." The girl flinched a little at his loud voice.

I rolled my eyes, why does he have to be so loud? She's literally standing two feet beside him.

"H-Hello everyone, my n-name is Evelin F-Finn and it's nice to m-meet you all."

Poor girl. I could see her hands trembling and she looked like she was about to break down while our horrid trainer was telling her the rules.

I had this sudden urge to protect and help her, she was probably feeling uncomfortable in a room full of mysterious and strange guys and besides, she looked too innocent and fragile to survive on her own.

I was grateful that I finally got to meet a girl who had the same dream as I did, maybe we can help each other out and become good friends.

As soon as the trainer walked away, I hushed to get her attention. She turned with a confused look but immediately smiled when she saw me offering her some sweets.

"Thanks." She mumbled and popped the candy in her mouth.

"My name is Flair Manon and I joined this academy a few weeks ago."

"Oh, I'm glad to meet you. I was so nervous before, I hope I didn't mess up." She looked around anxiously.

"No no, you were great and I can understand what you're going through but don't worry. You can trust me, I will help you out." I smiled reassuringly at her and she calmed down a little.

"So what do you think of our lovely instructor?"

"Oh, umm- he's nice, I guess." She twisted her light blonde hair.

I burst out laughing, completely oblivious to my surroundings as I heard the word 'nice', I mean there were a lot of things to describe him as, but nice was not one of them.

"Are you sure that you meant to say nice? Maybe what you meant was rude, obnoxious, annoying, maybe a jerk."

"Really Miss Flair? Oh sorry my tongue slipped, I meant really little girl? Do you actually think of me so highly?"

I turned around slowly as I heard his intimidating voice. I laughed hesitantly as I saw my instructor's eyes burning with rage.

"Not at all s-sir, I was just joking with Evelin, you see I was trying t-to comfort and help her out."

"Oh? that's really nice of you, but since you really want to help Miss Evelin, why don't you teach her something much more valuable than some mere words?" He smirked.

I just looked at him blankly as I didn't understand a sudden shift in his mood.

"Felix and Flair into the ring, right now!"