Morning Light [Solo]

by **Serrif Von Chatlyn** on November 1st, 2011, 11:21 am

52nd Fall 511AV

It was the day his change of Mistresses would happen. He had been up for some time now, having almost no energy about him. But he knew he couldn’t let Ildin down…nor his new Mistress, whom he still didn’t know. He had no clue who she was or what she would be like. But he did know he was going to learn about daggers, which was the reason for him having gone to the Heart of Steel. And he had walked away with two ornately crafted daggers that would forever remind him of Mura. They held his sweetest memories of this place which was more than welcome for him. He knew he had no idea when he would be coming back to this place. Or even if he would ever be coming back, death was an eventuality that all reached. He just didn’t know when death would come and take him. And he had no idea if he would ever really be ready for it when it did. Unlike the Konti of this isle he would face death much earlier than any of them ever would. They lived much longer lives; which was why they lived in peace. But his life was much more compact, meaning that there was a certain violence of action about it.

His feet fell on the walkway toward the Suvai Pavilion every step brought actual anxiety to sit in his chest. He knew Ildin’s training style but he had no idea who this other trainer would be, nor what she would be like. But he was sure Ildin as always knew what she was doing. She had obviously put in a word for him with this other Mistress. She would obviously have some pre-conceptions about him and be prepared to test him farther than almost anyone else depending on who she was and what she was like. He knew that he was going to be tested yet again; and would have to build up trust with this Mistress, start all over from the beginning again. But he knew form the get go he would have to trust her from the very beginning. He was ready but he wasn’t sure for what. Was he really prepared? He had only one way of knowing and he was going to find out. He would have to meet this challenge like every other challenge…head on with his feet firmly planted underneath him ready to face down whatever was to come.

As he approached a lone figure stood in the second story looking out, so he was an early riser just like Ildin had said. She looked him over on his approach, he would be fun indeed. He was large, but she could tell that he was also strong as well. But he was anxious, and she couldn’t blame him for that. Ildin had told him nothing about her. All she did say was for him to go and get a set of daggers. The reason for which hadn’t been revealed to him yet. Her eyes caught a glimmer off of his body and indeed he had purchased two daggers just like instructed. And by the looks of them they were personally constructed just for him. Well they would have to be because he was so large and nothing like the Konti who those weapons were originally intended for. K’Sein was known for her wonderful work. And the daggers he carried on his person were no exception. They were indeed works of art for any to wield. She watched how he walked, determination in every step across the balk toward the pavilion. He was here before sunrise even. That brought a smile to her face; but she could also see how tired he was. That would be something she would use against him during the training.

She continued to watch her new student cross the balk, indeed he was gaining confidence with every step. Something he would need to face what she had designed for him. Ildin came to her only three days ago asking if she wouldn’t mind training this man. She was curious why Ildin would take an interest in one of her students like this. Ildin confessed that she hadn’t ever seen a strength like this man in some time. He was determined and had the vigor and violence of action to back it all up. This was why she suggested he be honored and be sent away to do the Orders bidding. Since the start of this tradition no non-Konti had ever been sent away. Which made him an oddity, she had gone to Lym to gain more knowledge on her perspective student before agreeing. She also spoke wonders of him, never knowing when to stop. He pushed himself constantly and always performed admirably. He was thirsty for knowledge and would be an asset to the Order here or away. So after some thinking she decided to take Serrif into her fold and for a week drive him harder than ever before. He thought Ildin had driven him hard in the past? He had never met her.

His footfalls sounded in the empty first floor of the Suvai pavilion. He could hear the empty air wisp around him and out of the pavilion across the lake. It was cool this morning something he noticed on his walk over. But then again it was almost cool in the mornings here on the Isle. He gently touched the ornate handles of his new daggers and smiled. He hadn’t ever really owned anything before he came to the isle. And now he was making coin and able to buy things he could hardly fathom. He knew he had plenty of expenses waiting for him since he was leaving Mura. He had all kinds of things he needed to purchase for his journey to Riverfall and then to Wind Reach. The travel arrangements were still spinning his head though. He wasn’t sure how he was going to make it there but he knew he would. And along the way he would take notes about his journey and learn all kinds of things as well. But he knew he had a good many skills he would have to learn before he set off into the rest of the world. He knew what it was like out there and he knew that he had to be better prepared than he was right now.

by **Serrif Von Chatlyn** on November 1st, 2011, 11:22 am

He remained in the first floor of the Suvai pavilion waiting; he knew his new Mistress was to meet him here. But as to when…well all he knew was morning. So he closed his ears and listened. Above him on the second floor Val’mara ran her hands over her bodysuit again to make sure everything was in order. She nodded and then stretched a little before she descended the stairs to Serrif. She observed him, he was indeed tall for a man. But he was also young. Well in her eyes. Her time traveling and being a mercenary likely equaled this man’s age. This was going to be absolutely delightful. He had much to learn and very little time to learn it in. And she would teach him quickly and fiercely. She didn’t have time for niceties here if he was to learn what he needed to know before he was to leave. Especially if she was to compact it all into a weeklong training schedule. He would have to push past the pain and know what he was really made of if he was going to make it through all of this and learn at the same time. But through Ildin she knew that he could indeed do just this. But she was curious and wanted to know how far she could push this man.

Serrif heard an oddity in the sounds of the pavilion. He opened his eyes slowly and there walking down the steps was a Konti woman dressed in a black bodysuit accented in deep dark blue. Was this his new Mistress? She appeared quite confident, and why wouldn’t a Mistress of the Pavilion seem confident? No, she seemed more confident than most of them. Like she was battle hardened. Was that normal for a Konti? He didn’t think so but he didn’t know much about the women of this Isle. They were like ghosts to him in a way. He wanted to know more about them but they just avoided him. He knew almost nothing of his teacher or Lym and here he was being handed off to another Mistress to learn more. He assumed that it would be like Ildin’s training but he had no way to know for sure. So he watched her as she descended. She spoke first.

“Serrif, you are everything Ildin said you would look like. Now, let’s see if you are everything she has made you up to be. We have little time and much training. So let’s get started.” She knew his name but she didn’t know hers. But all he needed to know was she was a Mistress…and that she demanded respect.

“Yes Mistress, where do we start?” He asked as Val’mara then smiled and drew a pair of training daggers from a shelf.

“The beginning.” She said as she tossed him a training dagger.

Serrif caught it as it impacted his chest. Well yes he assumed they would start at the beginning but he didn’t even have a clue where the beginning was. That was half of the reason why he was here in the first place. He knew nothing of daggers and would love to know more. He knew that he may one day have to rely on them to save his life, or even another’s. So he would have to learn them because he couldn’t always depend on just his skill with the bow. He knew he would have to have an arsenal of skills at his disposal in order to be of any good once he left the Isle. But how did she plan to test him. Would it be like Ildin? Her movements were purposeful; this told him that she was likely a veteran of war or combat. Ildin moved with that same grace when she carried and used her bow. The grace of a master. He knew he was in for a real beating. Something told him that was true. His hand wrapped around the hilt of the training dagger and he felt the weight of the blade in his hand. It was light meaning he could make quick movements with it.

Serrif watched as she stretched some and then readied herself. “So can I assume you have no idea how to use the dagger?”

“I have no idea Mistress.” He responded as she then nodded.

“Then we have a long way to go. We shall spar a little to determine your aptitude.” She smiled and then waited for him to signal any type of readiness to her.

She was schooled in Suvai, and in all honesty a dagger was a suvai. And she could teach him far more than he could comprehend. But this was a skill test. She wanted to know just how much he didn’t know. And she had a feeling by how uncomfortable he was with the practice dagger in his hands that this was going to be quite entertaining. She was far lighter on her feet than he was, far more graceful. He was large and heavy; he did however have an extended reach. His arms could reach a good distance whereas she was limited; but again she was far more nimble than he was. She would use this to her advantage and would use it to also show him there was far more to using a dagger than just the simple blade. She had seen him spar several times, he knew how to use his body as a weapon as well, and in fact he seemed comfortable with it. This was good, because she was going to show him a thing or two.

Serrif got himself in a simple stance, nothing to interesting about it as he held the practice dagger in his right hand blade up. He centered himself feeling his weight across his feet as he then nodded to his new Mistress. She smiled and well took the attack; Serrif didn’t expect it but she closed the distance fast. Much faster than he thought was possible. She was on him in no time. And with a thrust she aimed for his chest. Serrif countered by reaching out and deflecting her arm at the wrist with his free hand. She hadn’t completely expected this but with her trained mind she worked at a million miles an hour. In response she noticed several things. Since he had deflected her attack with his free hand he also twisted at the waist exposing his shoulder to her. She took her free hand and reached around him and grabbed his shoulder. With an extreme amount of strength she pushed at his shoulder while she slipped a leg against his tripping him.

by **Serrif Von Chatlyn** on November 1st, 2011, 11:24 am

Serrif fell to the ground hard face first and before he could recover his new mistress had the tip of the practice blade against the back of his neck. “Countering the original attack does nothing if you still die.” She said as she then got off of him and readied herself again.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that this woman was far different than any of the other mistresses of the pavilion. She was rougher and more direct. But at the same time she was teaching him things that were relevant. The learning process may be hard, but anything that was worth learning usually hurt. Especially when the process was confined. And he was indeed beginning to hurt already. His hands hadn’t completely healed from the climbing of the rocks. They were still messed up pretty good bleeding a little, but one had to learn how to push past blood and pain in order to achieve what was really important. He saw pain as only a barrier separating the weak from what they really wanted to achieve. Anyone in the right circumstances would push past pain to get what they wanted; but only if it was important enough. Otherwise people just took the easy way and settled for something else that wasn’t what they really wanted. But Serrif was going to get what he wanted and push well through any pain and suffering to get it.

Pain was what really separated those who had from those that had not. When you started at the bottom suffering was the only way to achieve anything. You had to toil. And he had indeed started at the bottom not even knowing his own history before the slave camp. He still didn’t know, but he knew he could always go to the Vision Center and maybe just maybe someone would tell him. But he didn’t want that, no he almost believed that what was dead was best left there. He didn’t want to know his past. He was remade here in Mura. He didn’t want to hold grudges against those that harmed him and his family if he had one. He was new, when he took his name that HE made he was new. Reborn here in Mura. He had walked away from his past and knew that he would live from this point on. Thinking on his past was no good.

He stood up assessing what had happened. She had floored him but he was still trying to find out how. He deflected her initial attack, but then she took him by the shoulder and stepped into him. Then with force she was able to trip him up and floor him on his face. And there he was vulnerable to her completely. And she was free to strike him dead. She was right; he couldn’t make himself vulnerable to her because she would manipulate it completely taking advantage of how large he was. And it seemed she knew well how to use his size against him; she was fast and very agile. So he would have to really watch her dagger hand and then because that was what was going to kill him. He didn’t understand the purpose of this. He knew he had work to do with daggers; and he was honestly pretty tired and worn out. He was struggling to bring himself to his feet again. He almost just wanted to stay on the ground so he could sleep.

He stretched some shaking sleep from his figure as he then nodded to her again. Establishing that he was ready for another go. She closed this distance again but this time she flipped the dagger in her hand so its blade was facing downward. He noticed this and this time he didn’t simply deflect it. He gripped her arm just past the elbow and pulled her off center releasing his grasp as he did so. He had more than enough weight and strength to throw the hundred and fifty pound Konti off balance. She would move past him and stammer some while she regained her stature. She was fast though and again turned around and was on him again before he could think. Serrif decided to do something a little different. As she closed the space he crouched some and then when she got close he stepped out of the way. And instead of dodging her she reached out and tapped his side with the practice dagger. He knew that cut would be nasty because of how hard the implement had met his side. It would’ve likely caused all kinds of dangerous bleeding that he wouldn’t be able to stop no matter how hard he tried. He wasn’t even sure if any of the healers could fix it. He would’ve bled out indefinitely.

He sighed and faced her again. “Nice try but remember keep your eyes on your opponents weapon.” She said as she then stretched some and then stepped beside him.

“The truth is a good master of the dagger learns to weave unarmed combat into the mix. If you have to use a dagger your opponent will be dangerously close to you, and you will need to employ everything you know to defend yourself against them. Face me.”

Serrif knew what she said was true, if he had to use daggers he would need violence of action to make sure he wasn’t the victim here. He knew he would have to employ every skill he had to make sure he walked away alive if anything got close enough to him for him to need daggers instead of his bow. He stretched some as she then nodded to him. “You already have some of the basics. You know that you can’t catch a dagger and that it is far easier to manipulate an arm at the wrist. Especially when the hand holds a dagger. But here is a little known fact. If you are in a fight getting cut on your arms is acceptable, but getting cut along your neck, sides or legs is not. Those areas will cause you to bleed to death.” She squared off with him then spoke again.

“Most people will go for an easy stab in the chest.” She nodded indicating that she wanted Serrif to try for it. He did slowly so he could see what she did.

As his arm got closer she motioned for him to stop. “There is an interesting pressure point in the wrist, on the inside. Come at me full force and let me show you.” Serrif nodded and was unsure as to what she was going to try and prove here. But it was all part of learning he had to trust his Mistress.

by **Serrif Von Chatlyn** on November 1st, 2011, 11:36 am

He came at her full force to stab her square in her chest and she instead stepped back some while with a flat palm she hit the inside of his wrist with a decent amount of force. His hand spasmed almost immediately and his grip loosened. Her hit was forceful enough that it threw his stab off and the dagger fell out of his hand to the ground. There was an almost searing amount of pain screaming through his hand and arm as he gritted his teeth a little. That was indeed a handy trick to know, if he could disarm his opponent he could then subdue them. He flexed his hand some trying to get rid of the feeling in it as it was stinging a decent amount from her hit. He was obviously going to learn a good amount of useful information from her because she seemed to be well versed in these kinds of things.

“You will have to be violent because when it boils down to it Serrif you will be fighting for your life.” She said waiting for him to pick back up the training dagger. He eventually did and looked to her again.

“Make no mistake Serrif, if you ever draw your dagger be ready to kill; and be ready to accept that your life will hand in the balance of your skills in the hope that they are better than your opponents.” She stretched and nodded to him.

“Now Serrif what do you really have? How vicious can you really be?” She asked as she then readied herself, Serrif did the same. Did he understand her correctly?

By the way she placed her body he knew that she was indeed not kidding. She wanted to see his ferocity. Her stature was such that she was going to assault him first. He saw it in her eyes. A trick he learned from the slaver camps. Before someone made a movement their pupils grew in size suddenly. It was a reaction that many were not even aware of and hence almost none tried to stop it. He wasn’t even sure if the reaction could be stopped at all. But he knew it was a good tell for when someone was going to make quick action. It usually happened only a fraction of a second before they made the action not allowing much time for one to make a counter unless they had one planned already in their head.

Her pupils flashed and he knew she was coming. Again she closed the distance fast making a slash for his side. He countered with his left arm rolling her attacking arm off of his the practice weapon drug along his arm but that was acceptable; he wouldn’t die from bleeding out of his arm. But again she surprised him with a sideways kick to his right leg. She impacted hard and he winced some. He hadn’t been suspecting that. By now her dagger hand was back this time aiming to slash his throat. Again he countered with his arm but this time while her arm rolled off of his he gripped her wrist with his hand and jerked her hard to his right side. She was pushed off balance by this act and Serrif took the opportunity to try and trip her up with his leg. Her response was indeed quick as she threw her body into his.

Caught off balance he then somewhat released her arm from his grip allowing her to get her footing again. Serrif struggled and then just as he got his footing she was on the attack again. She aimed for another throat slash with the dagger and he countered just as before. But he wasn’t watching her free hand, mostly because it didn’t carry a weapon. But he felt her hand as she powered it into his chest hard and then again placed a rather high kick into his right side. He knew she was holding back because the kick didn’t break ribs when he knew she could. He had sadly underestimated her capabilities and was paying for it. His body was tired and beaten before coming here, and now things were only getting worse by the second. He struggled but blocked and countered most of her attacks while dodging others; but just barely. He was waiting for an opportunity. Somewhere where she would slip up allowing him entry to end this insanity.

Eventually he messed up on a counter and her training dagger hand slipped across his neck. The fatal wound. She stopped then and backed away indicating that they were done. “Well seems like you have work, but you will do just fine. One more for good measure.” Serrif’s body was dotted in perspiration as he breathed hard and nodded.

His body was really starting to feel tired. He had been up so long that his body was just feeling blank almost. Every muscle ached as he tried to summon something that resembled strength. He was struggling to find it as he prepared himself for her assault. There were only the remnants of adrenaline to fuel him now, and that was hardly anything at all when everything was considered. He sighed and figured he would give this his all like every other time. She came toward him quickly like every other time and he was trying to assess her quickly. She came at him with a slice at his right side and he countered and then twisted stepping away from her.

They faced off again and the fatigue was setting in, he needed this to end quickly or he was likely to just fall asleep on the floor right here. He faced her and continued to watch her movements carefully. The two of them circled as she then made a movement toward him. She moved to stab his chest and he countered her with his dagger and marked her arm as he then backed up some. He had longer reach than she did this was his one advantage. It seemed like he was beginning to get the hang of this even if it did seem to take forever. He was happy with those results and he knew that she was likely going to press the attack hard on him now.

And he was right. She moved to him quickly and countered his dagger. But she then whirled around intertwined her leg with his and placed a very strong elbow in his side to trip him over her leg. He fell and he knew that it would only be moments before she was on him. But instead of proving her point she merely stood and spoke. “Good try, you are dismissed.”

“Thank you Mistress.”

“I will be here in the morning Serrif, don’t be late. And bring all of your armor and weapons with you next time.” She said as she took his training dagger and then set it aside. Serrif nodded knowing that there would likely be many more mornings like this one; training harshly in the suvai pavilion. But he also knew that it was this harsh training that he grasped the best out of everything. It was the hands on training that really stuck with him. Mostly because it made the situations and training real to him. He didn’t like studying in a book if he couldn’t apply the information he was learning. To him this was useless, why read about something if you weren’t going to use the knowledge. He had a limited amount of things he could easily recall and he didn’t want to waste space with useless information.

That was why he knew this training was going to be just what he needed. His new Mistress was practical. She was also harsh, but necessarily so. He knew that she was right in everything she said. If he had to use the daggers he knew it would be a vicious fight; one that he would either win or die in. He couldn’t imagine how intense these encounters could be but he knew that they would be vicious. And he knew that he needed to have the mentality and state of mind to remain calm and collected in these close quarter encounters. Deep inside he knew he would eventually have to put these skills to use, and when he did he needed to be able to rely on them entirely. Because his target would be. His enemy would be waiting for him to make a mistake and that could be the end of him. That one little mistake could end his life. And he wasn’t going to go down easily; not at all. If he was going to die he would die on his feet, not on his knees. He would stand for something, and die defending it as well. He knew he would eventually have to do this as well. One day his time would come, and he needed to be prepared for it entirely. Mentally, physically and emotionally. His new Mistress would help him achieve this.

Requests :

by **Archelon** on December 21st, 2011, 8:33 pm

Thread Award

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And the Results!!!!:

Serrif :

Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? :