You walk over to the quiet man, Thang. There is something about him that you feel is off; when you look into his eyes, you see something alien there. A gap exists between you, not some lack of communication but a completely different frequency. It is something uncommunicable and utterly divorced from your reality. Within you is a desire to know more about this man that unsettles you, to see if this is something you have just conjured up in your head or if there is actual substance to your conceived notions.

Jogging over to him, you ask, “Thang, how about me and you?”

“Sure,” Shrugs the human as he looks at you with narrow eyes. “What you did to Murl and Halaben was impressive. But I would have killed them; you’ve now got two enemies that hate you. But more importantly, how did you call upon such power, any advice?”

You reiterate your earlier answer to Yira, “I barely understand it myself, and I am nowhere near educated enough to help others yet.”

“Shame.” He replies simply, and his interest suddenly evaporates. “Well, I guess I need to listen very diligently to our teachers to catch up.”

“I think we all do.” You give him a smile, trying to create some sort of familiarity.

Lord Thane speaks over the crowd, “Everyone has a partner and a sword? Good. Space out and slowly begin sparring; warm up gradually. There will be those with no experience and cutthroats with too much. And remember, hurting each other is fine, but no deaths here. Throwing a body in the oven the first day makes me look bad.”

Hefting the sword, you test its weight while Thang slices at the air around him. He looks at you with those same eyes you detest, waiting for you to signal your readiness. You are one of those with no experience that Lord Thane was mentioning. With a final experimental swing, you shoot him a nod. Thang approaches you with a quick forwards step that isn’t quite a lunge. Slowly, he slices with his blade, attacking you, the lack of speed giving you time to dodge and parry. Your natural speed and agility make this new task far from impossible, but not easy. Thang’s casual assault has you fighting to control your blade, moving it in your defence.

Frustration builds as you are stuck on the defence, not allowing you to throw any offence back towards your attacker. Deciding to roll the dice, you slice your blade out at Thang in an attempt to disrupt his overwhelming rhythm. Thang saw the strike coming before you even threw it, he counters with his own attack, thrusting his blade towards your hand with pinpoint accuracy. A shout of pain bursts out as your blunted blade falls to the soft dirt. Cradling your hand, you look at it, making sure everything is still intact. A curse escapes your lips from the pain that radiates from your intact hand.