23 Vhalar, 720.
“Be careful making wishes in the dark
"Can't be sure when they've hit their mark
And besides in the meantime
I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart
I'm in the details with the devil
So now the world can never get me on my level
I just got to get you out of the cage
I'm a young lovers rage
Gonna need a spark to ignite
My songs know what you did in the dark”
She couldn’t get back to sleep. It happened more often than she liked to admit lately and had nothing to do with the stark amenities at Storm’s Edge. Truth be told, she preferred it at the fortress. Splitting time between Rharne Proper and Storm’s Edge hadn’t been easy on her but necessary. During the time spent with the people at the fortress though, she found something new and interesting – companionship. Her arcs at the Academy in Viden had been spent in study and work, not making connections. Without such things to hide behind in Storm’s Edge, connections had begun to be formed. Having just returned from the Caverns, her mind was still working through what she had seen there…and that process included some horrifying nightmares – on a nightly basis.
Sighing softly, she rose from the bed and dressed. She could either toss around in bed and not sleep…or she could do something constructive that might make her tired enough to sleep. Pursuing sleep was pointless at that time so option number two it was.
Making her way down mostly empty halls, she remembered that most things in the fortress were open all the time, accommodating all the shifts of work that needed to be done. Just because most of the inhabitants slept didn’t mean everything came to a screeching halt. Guards were still guarding. Patrols were going out and coming back. Weapons were being maintained. People were being fed. She hoped her destination, however, was free of people…at least for a while.
Entering the training facility, she was rewarded with an empty room. Good. Her mood was foul, and issues needed to be sorted out. She was the sort that always tried to keep others going but the nightmares were getting to her and no matter how much she tried to push them away, they came. She knew she needed to talk to someone about them – that would be the smart play. But Elisa didn’t know who.
That’s when Lore arrived at Storm’s Edge for a quick chat. He hadn’t been able to stay but he did have wise words for her, and she needed time to process them. Loosening herself up, she spent several bits warming her muscles back up. Nights were getting colder and the stone fortress wasn’t exactly tropical. Having deemed herself sufficiently ready, she stood in front of the training dummy and began.
***
“There comes a point where you need to find an emotion to fuel the energy you put into your sword work. I can’t tell you what that emotion will be. It comes from within and is different with each wielder. It’s the emotion you will reach for when you need to dig deep.”
***
Lore’s words rang in her ears as she launched into a furious series of strikes. Right shoulder, left shoulder, right gut, left gut, right leg, left leg…over and over without stopping, letting the fluidity of the motions and momentum keep her moving. As she worked, she thought about everything she had been through in the past trials, everything she had seen…but her thoughts didn’t remain there. She followed them back to her earlier arcs at the Academy in Viden. Her childhood had been happy – at least she thought it had been. Vin and Rilith were good people that loved her and wanted all good things for her…yet they kept a secret. It was unknown if they kept it on purpose or not or if they even remembered they were keeping information from her. She guessed that if they had known at one time, the knowledge was gone. Elisa was aware of the world of monsters and magic now so nothing could be taken for granted.
***
“My girl, you are all heart, hope, and mind. You’ve lived a sheltered life. You were in no way prepared for what was to happen. That isn’t anyone’s fault. It just…is. If you continue to pursue this path, it’s your responsibility to make sure you are ready. Every spare moment you have, you train. Every training opportunity that comes your way, you take. You must be ready faster. It’s not fair to you, all this pushing, but it’s necessary.”
***
Something rose within her. Something unfamiliar and raw. Her strikes became slightly less controlled, more feral…. but she didn’t stop.
Taking deep, measured breaths, trying to regain her composure, she adjusted her stance slightly and started incorporating more of the footwork she had been shown. Standing in front of the training dummy was one thing but measuring an approach, timing a strike correctly…that was something that took practice. Stepping back to the side of the room, she rushed the dummy, pairing the motion with one of the strikes yet this time, adding the head strike back into the rotation for emphasis
***
“Heart, hope, and mind won’t get you to where you need to be. You have to go through the pain to the other side…“
***
Stepping away from the dummy, she began a series of cutting patterns. Designed to hone fluidity and control, she started with a drill of alternating descending cuts, staring on the right. After several bits, Elisa moved to ascending cuts, starting on the same side. As she got used to the motions, she would increase the speed to further test her arm strength, endurance, and balance. If she were off-balance, it could potentially make her unable to continue the pattern. It helped to focus on the motions, but her mind wouldn’t stop. When confronted with danger, she stood strong, not allowing anything to scare or intimidate her…but in the dark of night, the nightmares came, torturing her beyond anything she had experienced or seen.
Tears began to run down her cheeks as the images of what came alive in her mind after sleep came to claim her. Why couldn’t she make the monsters go away? They weren’t real. They couldn’t hurt her. Only those she had faced could and they weren’t there. Was she weak? Maybe she needed to run back to her libraries and hide in the stacks. Perhaps her mind was screaming at her that she wasn’t what she thought she was.
***
“Deep inside you is everything you need. You will find you are stronger than you ever thought you could be”
***
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
The scream was one of desperation and disbelief. How could she be strong when she couldn’t even keep the nightmares from affecting her? She obviously lacked something, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. How could she be so in control…yet utterly lacking it?
The salty mix of sweat and tears dripped off her face as she moved onto a furious set of defensive poses, lithely moving from one to the next as if defending off a ferocious attack. Arms shrieking in defiance of her vigorous session but Elisa pressed on, knowing that if she stopped, she likely wouldn’t be able to begin again. By that point, she just wanted to beat something up, and swinging the sword around wasn’t feeding the growing need inside of her.
Dropping the sword nearby, she studied the training dummy with a calculating gaze, breathing labored with her efforts. Being the only thing available to hit, it was going to have to do. Lore had shown her a few things, and a few things she had figured out on her own. Elisa didn’t really care about footwork or form at this point, taking up a centered stance with her dominant foot to the back, twisting her body, and striking out at the dummy with the heel of her hand. Lore hadn’t wanted her to do closed fist striking yet but open hand to the chest was fair game. The strike hit its target with a satisfying ‘thud’, spurring her on to repeat the strike multiple times until her arm begged her to stop. She didn’t want to though. Throwing herself into the moment, Elisa struck the dummy with anything she could think of – punches, strikes, kicks – just to feel the sensation of impact. It sparked something inside of her that she couldn’t explain…but right then, it was what she needed.
Bits later, her form dropped to the ground of the training room, sobbing uncontrollably. Her long dark tresses a mass of wet tendrils clinging together with sweat. Whatever it was that she needed to find within her, needed to happen quickly. Things couldn’t continue like they were and answers were desperately needed to the question of her nightmares.
Maybe she needed to talk to someone…
Lore’s words picked that moment to reach back out to her…
***
“You are more than you realize. Pain fuels transformation. Just when you think you’ve sunk to the bottom of the pit; is the moment the light comes again. Fight the pain and you will see the light…”
***
He always said things like that, but at that moment, Elisa was having a hard time believing him. So much for being made of hope, heart, and mind. She felt none of those right then. Desperation, anger…maybe. But who was she angry at really?
Herself.
"Can't be sure when they've hit their mark
And besides in the meantime
I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart
I'm in the details with the devil
So now the world can never get me on my level
I just got to get you out of the cage
I'm a young lovers rage
Gonna need a spark to ignite
My songs know what you did in the dark”
She couldn’t get back to sleep. It happened more often than she liked to admit lately and had nothing to do with the stark amenities at Storm’s Edge. Truth be told, she preferred it at the fortress. Splitting time between Rharne Proper and Storm’s Edge hadn’t been easy on her but necessary. During the time spent with the people at the fortress though, she found something new and interesting – companionship. Her arcs at the Academy in Viden had been spent in study and work, not making connections. Without such things to hide behind in Storm’s Edge, connections had begun to be formed. Having just returned from the Caverns, her mind was still working through what she had seen there…and that process included some horrifying nightmares – on a nightly basis.
Sighing softly, she rose from the bed and dressed. She could either toss around in bed and not sleep…or she could do something constructive that might make her tired enough to sleep. Pursuing sleep was pointless at that time so option number two it was.
Making her way down mostly empty halls, she remembered that most things in the fortress were open all the time, accommodating all the shifts of work that needed to be done. Just because most of the inhabitants slept didn’t mean everything came to a screeching halt. Guards were still guarding. Patrols were going out and coming back. Weapons were being maintained. People were being fed. She hoped her destination, however, was free of people…at least for a while.
Entering the training facility, she was rewarded with an empty room. Good. Her mood was foul, and issues needed to be sorted out. She was the sort that always tried to keep others going but the nightmares were getting to her and no matter how much she tried to push them away, they came. She knew she needed to talk to someone about them – that would be the smart play. But Elisa didn’t know who.
That’s when Lore arrived at Storm’s Edge for a quick chat. He hadn’t been able to stay but he did have wise words for her, and she needed time to process them. Loosening herself up, she spent several bits warming her muscles back up. Nights were getting colder and the stone fortress wasn’t exactly tropical. Having deemed herself sufficiently ready, she stood in front of the training dummy and began.
***
“There comes a point where you need to find an emotion to fuel the energy you put into your sword work. I can’t tell you what that emotion will be. It comes from within and is different with each wielder. It’s the emotion you will reach for when you need to dig deep.”
***
Lore’s words rang in her ears as she launched into a furious series of strikes. Right shoulder, left shoulder, right gut, left gut, right leg, left leg…over and over without stopping, letting the fluidity of the motions and momentum keep her moving. As she worked, she thought about everything she had been through in the past trials, everything she had seen…but her thoughts didn’t remain there. She followed them back to her earlier arcs at the Academy in Viden. Her childhood had been happy – at least she thought it had been. Vin and Rilith were good people that loved her and wanted all good things for her…yet they kept a secret. It was unknown if they kept it on purpose or not or if they even remembered they were keeping information from her. She guessed that if they had known at one time, the knowledge was gone. Elisa was aware of the world of monsters and magic now so nothing could be taken for granted.
***
“My girl, you are all heart, hope, and mind. You’ve lived a sheltered life. You were in no way prepared for what was to happen. That isn’t anyone’s fault. It just…is. If you continue to pursue this path, it’s your responsibility to make sure you are ready. Every spare moment you have, you train. Every training opportunity that comes your way, you take. You must be ready faster. It’s not fair to you, all this pushing, but it’s necessary.”
***
Something rose within her. Something unfamiliar and raw. Her strikes became slightly less controlled, more feral…. but she didn’t stop.
Taking deep, measured breaths, trying to regain her composure, she adjusted her stance slightly and started incorporating more of the footwork she had been shown. Standing in front of the training dummy was one thing but measuring an approach, timing a strike correctly…that was something that took practice. Stepping back to the side of the room, she rushed the dummy, pairing the motion with one of the strikes yet this time, adding the head strike back into the rotation for emphasis
***
“Heart, hope, and mind won’t get you to where you need to be. You have to go through the pain to the other side…“
***
Stepping away from the dummy, she began a series of cutting patterns. Designed to hone fluidity and control, she started with a drill of alternating descending cuts, staring on the right. After several bits, Elisa moved to ascending cuts, starting on the same side. As she got used to the motions, she would increase the speed to further test her arm strength, endurance, and balance. If she were off-balance, it could potentially make her unable to continue the pattern. It helped to focus on the motions, but her mind wouldn’t stop. When confronted with danger, she stood strong, not allowing anything to scare or intimidate her…but in the dark of night, the nightmares came, torturing her beyond anything she had experienced or seen.
Tears began to run down her cheeks as the images of what came alive in her mind after sleep came to claim her. Why couldn’t she make the monsters go away? They weren’t real. They couldn’t hurt her. Only those she had faced could and they weren’t there. Was she weak? Maybe she needed to run back to her libraries and hide in the stacks. Perhaps her mind was screaming at her that she wasn’t what she thought she was.
***
“Deep inside you is everything you need. You will find you are stronger than you ever thought you could be”
***
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
The scream was one of desperation and disbelief. How could she be strong when she couldn’t even keep the nightmares from affecting her? She obviously lacked something, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. How could she be so in control…yet utterly lacking it?
The salty mix of sweat and tears dripped off her face as she moved onto a furious set of defensive poses, lithely moving from one to the next as if defending off a ferocious attack. Arms shrieking in defiance of her vigorous session but Elisa pressed on, knowing that if she stopped, she likely wouldn’t be able to begin again. By that point, she just wanted to beat something up, and swinging the sword around wasn’t feeding the growing need inside of her.
Dropping the sword nearby, she studied the training dummy with a calculating gaze, breathing labored with her efforts. Being the only thing available to hit, it was going to have to do. Lore had shown her a few things, and a few things she had figured out on her own. Elisa didn’t really care about footwork or form at this point, taking up a centered stance with her dominant foot to the back, twisting her body, and striking out at the dummy with the heel of her hand. Lore hadn’t wanted her to do closed fist striking yet but open hand to the chest was fair game. The strike hit its target with a satisfying ‘thud’, spurring her on to repeat the strike multiple times until her arm begged her to stop. She didn’t want to though. Throwing herself into the moment, Elisa struck the dummy with anything she could think of – punches, strikes, kicks – just to feel the sensation of impact. It sparked something inside of her that she couldn’t explain…but right then, it was what she needed.
Bits later, her form dropped to the ground of the training room, sobbing uncontrollably. Her long dark tresses a mass of wet tendrils clinging together with sweat. Whatever it was that she needed to find within her, needed to happen quickly. Things couldn’t continue like they were and answers were desperately needed to the question of her nightmares.
Maybe she needed to talk to someone…
Lore’s words picked that moment to reach back out to her…
***
“You are more than you realize. Pain fuels transformation. Just when you think you’ve sunk to the bottom of the pit; is the moment the light comes again. Fight the pain and you will see the light…”
***
He always said things like that, but at that moment, Elisa was having a hard time believing him. So much for being made of hope, heart, and mind. She felt none of those right then. Desperation, anger…maybe. But who was she angry at really?
Herself.
