Student and Master
I wrote this all the way back in 2018, before I had a blog, and decided to publish it now because it came up as possibly relevent in a conversation with my brother. In any case, wether relevent or not, it is a story that I'm proud of. The formatting is awful, and I could do a lot better in describing minor actions and feelings, but it was a start for me.
I've posted it here with no changes other than bolding the speakers name and putting non spoken words in italics, hopefully making it easier to read. Everything else, including the text walls, odd uses of quotations, and uses of motions vs thought is exactly how I wrote it in 2018.
Student : "Master… today is the day?"
Master : "yes, it is."
Student : takes a step back and draws sword.
Master : readies his stance and takes on the semblance of a planted tree, immovable.
Student : "who do you think will win this time?"
Master : "who knows? We have both grown in this cycle, much has changed."
Student : "well, I think I'm going to win."
Master : "really? After not having one once, even in training?"
Student : "well yeah, I know your moves. You can't teach an old dog new tricks" smirks and relaxes stance
Master : "ok then, then see you put some nicks on this old log" suddenly limbers up, creaking as if made of stone and iron
Motion : the master leaps forward swinging his arm towards his student and faster than his student can see he grabs his sword from his back. The student un prepared for the oncoming blade (having been expecting only a fist) ducks and deflects the blade inches from his face off of his bracer. The master launches off his students bracer bruising both his hand and that of his students. Recovering from his masters attack the student gets off the ground and adjusts his marred bracer, checking from cuts on his arm where the bracer ends against his arm stabs his sword into the ground. The master takes advantage of the second he was distracted and lunges. The student, expecting this, lunges back and thrusts his sword upwards spraying dirt and stones in the air.
Master : "aha, you knew where I was that time"
Student : "yes, you always start like that, you'd assume I'd learn by now"
Master : "I would have assumed you would have learned the first time, not the 30th" smiles and remembers their fights over the time they have been together
Student : "your getting lost again, I want to move on. Lets get started for real."
Motion : the master recognizing the reason behind his students impatience takes a step towards the center of the clearing that the spent so much time clearing out, knowing they would both be leaving soon. The student, feeling equally sad and resentful at the same time step into the center. They bowed their heads, and started towards each other. They circled until they were each at the edge of the clearing. They ran at each other at speeds they saved only for today, knowing the energy would be wasted otherwise, throwing sticks and plants into the air as if a storm were on top of them. They clashed, move after move parried perfectly time and time again, they had fought for so many years these first few steps only ended when someone made mistake. It went on like this for hours. The master knew he could outlast his student on endurance if he matched only his speed, but his students strength was astounding, more often than not he had to dodge rather than deflect for fear of being buried in the strike. Every strike of the student was worth 5 of the masters, he had little in the way in terms of placement, but on luck shot meant a great deal when behind it came a cloud of dust the size of a cart. On the students side, his master was faster and he knew that his master would out last him by weeks. He also has magnitudes more expense than him, he knew how to use his strength, where to place the blows and when to use his skills. For the students part he was pure fury, he had spent decades learning to handle himself in a fight, he had learnt little in the way of strategy, always focusing on ways to control his power, how to not loose control and forget what little he did know. He put everything he had into each blow, hoping it would be the one, but it cost him. It seems no mistakes were made today. It seems the student was right, he had memorized the maters attacks . But, eventually the students movements slowed, he could no longer cross the clearing in a single step, it was almost taking him 3. the masters chance was coming, the mater was sad, it had been so long since any progress was made, they had so little time.
Master 'if only he would wake up and see what to do, things would be so much easier' the master thought
Motion : the master lunged in, building his strength untill it was enough to cleaving anything in its way into dozens. At the last moment the student looked up noting his position and knew he was defeated.
Student : 'why again, I did everything perfectly' he was overwhelmed with the agony of loss, even before the blade had struck. Feeling the agony and knowing the blade would be worse he dove into it, searching for the end. Insead, he found what he had been searching for this whole time. His weapon, the key to his vicory.
Master : sensing a change in his student his twisted his blade to the sky, throwing the force to the wind. 'is this where it begins?'
Movement: *as the student adapts to what he's found a mist forms around him, sparks forming in the thin parts of the cloud. Suddenly a large spark, appearing like lightning but of less power and light, arcs out of the mist and hits nearby tree, shearing in 2 and tearing the remaining stump out of the ground. The student emerges from the cloud sparking and burning with tendrils of energy racing down his sword. He launches towards his master, having clearly lost control once again and screams in agony. *
Master : 'he did it, it unlocked. The next step is to leave, it will work this time'
Movement : the master, still having most of his energy left is confident he can still defeat hi student and teach him how to use his newfound power. But he will have to use more of his power to do so, clearing his mind of the excitement and relief he stands perfectly still as only he can and forms armor of dense wood around his body, branching out to form an Ent like body around himself. It will slow him down but will amplify his strength.
The student seeing this new threat launches himself at it only to be launched back to the ground by a large branch arm. The sparks stutter. Coming back with new vigor the student comes at his master again and this time takes off the arm before it touches him, charring the end. The master is surprised at the heat, not realizing he could already char such dense wood. Again the student flings himself again and again an arm is lopped off. Now smaller branches begin to grow out of the masters armor and form a cage around him, not being able to regrow charred arms without the whole shell he has resorted to defense. In one swoop the student send an arc into the brush and chars it all to the inside of the masters shell. Having exposed his goal the student leaps into the hole he created and stabs his master in the heart.
Master : happy to have been defeated and to see his student succeed casts a spell to calm his students mind so he can close the ceremony. Then slowly folds away, going to the next goal.
Student : waking hours after with a clear mind and a perfect recollection of what occurred during the fight. He is ecstatic that he accomplished his goal, but nervous as he has never done this side of the ceremony, it was always him that had been defeated. He went back to the house and grabbed the wooden chest that held the instructions meant just for him on the day he won. He went around the house gathering the supplies he needed and burning the rest, they didn't need it anymore. He went back out to the clearing and laid everything out with the chest in the middle. As he set it up, making sure to keep the chest in the middle as it was linked to where they planned to go, he thought about his newfound power. He tried to summon it again a few times and failed, only mustering some of the strength and a slight smell of a thunderstorm. So, hoping that his master was waiting as he promised and that he would tach him more about his power, he began singing of home and where he wanted to go, then preceded, in the midst of the song and his emotions, to take out a short thin blade and stab himself in the exact spot he had his master. As he faded away he worried that he had failed, as he felt was his curse. Then he woke next to his master in a field flowers and they laughed, happy to have another goal.