Seeing how this came to be (Flashback, Solo thread)

[Darren]

Part 1 out of 2 in the Flashback series Avanthal 5th day of Spring, year 511 Darren was at his room in the Whitevine hold looking at the ceiling. It was his day off from work and he was taking his time in the morning to reflect on how he ended up the way he was. Sigh* "Oh right...it was those two people I met when I was younger that made me pursue the goals that I have today" he reminded himself. He looked around his room. It was based on the bottom floor of he WhiteVine Hold, it really didn't held much to be honest, just the usually starter pack stuff. "Hehe...I should really spruce this place up" he thought aloud as he looked outside. Well at least it has a window view of...snow he thought sarcastically as his consciousness drifted away...

[Darren]

Avanthal, 17th of Summer, year 503 It was in the summer of his 15th year when he first met up with them. Charles and Faust were traveling hunters that wanted to be world renown celebrities. They regularly visited the area since Darren's father was a pretty respectable person when it came to massaging, and best of all he worked relatively cheap for people he knew well or liked. Alongside him was his mother who was a chef. The two were pretty popular with their customers so they usually go to them if they were to ever pass through the area.The two came to his dad for some easing massages after their hunts with the animals in the area. He actually didn't talk to them until their 4th visit to his father's office. "Hmm? Hey is this your assistant?" one of them asked his father as he took a good look at Darren. "Oh that is my son, Darren. Darren this is Charles and Faust they are very good hunters" he said as he nodded to the two. "And... by the looks of it very active ones too" he noted as he put a huge amount of pressure into the one named Charles as he cringed from the pain. Oww, oww, oww he said ruefully as Darren's dad finished up the massage and checked if there was anything else to be done. His father tsked at the two. Heh, you guys should really take care of yourselves more he said first looking at Charles. You, you have to be more careful hunting around here, having a strength contest with a polar bear wasn't the smartest of ideas I've ever heard from around here he smiled remembering the story of the polar bear hunt. He then turned to Faust and addressed him, And you! Your on the scrawny side and still insist on using Flux magic? Faust looked at him sheepishly before turning away. It's not the same to punch a fox straight in the face then it is to throw a fireball at them he muttered. At this Darren stood in wonder as the word magic was thrown around. Umm Magic? What's that? Flux magic if I heard right...

[Darren]

At this the pair smiled while his father had a bemused looked on his face as watched Darren's curiosity started to rise. "Magic my dear boy is the usage of the body's energies to achieve feats of power that aren't normally achieved by normal means." Faust said simply as he looked at the curious boy. He looked at Darren's father, who nodded back to him. "Oh yea, technically speaking you should be fine if your only doing a small demonstration"he said as they made their way outside, Darren still confused by the situation. Faust smiled as he then pointed a nearby boulder that sat near the compound. The group watched as he walked to where it was and testing it out. This will do he stated as he looked back at the group Little Darren prepare yourself for something amazing. At this Darren watched intently as the man moved withing arms's length of the rock. An air of mystery surrounded him as he stared intensely at the thing. Faust slowly raised his hand, breathing in and taking slow deep breathes he moved his hand towards the rock. What happened next Darren couldn't believe with his own eyes. He watched as the man with a single hand raise the small boulder from the ground and showed it to the group. "What in th-" he started to say, "Shh-that's not the best part" his father said cutting him off. Darren turned and watched as the one named Faust was slowly crushing the rock his hand looking as if it had the boulder in an iron clasp and was systematically whittling away at it. He finished by crushing the pebbles that remained in his hand into a fine dust, shoving it in front of Darren to prove the reality that was just given to him. Darren jumped in surprise as he then snapped his hand and the remaining dust was drifted away.

[Darren]

The three laughed as Darren's face was completely astounded by the display of brute force the lanky man produced with just one hand. "Hehe, I bet you never thought you'd see something like that eh?" Charles guffawed, giving him a hearty slap on the back. "As you can see with that "little demonstration" magic is something eh?" He smiled proudly looking at Faust. His father looked Darren trying to gauge his next move. Darren then looked up to him with a look of wanting, his eyes shone blue as it telegraphed the message quite clearly "I would like to learn this." His father at this smiled at his boy's determination to be strong. Faust... he said slowly causing the scene to turn slightly morbid, show him the side effects of using Flux. Darren turned to Faust with another look of naivety, gulp* side effects? he thought as he watched Faust take off his shirt for Darren to view. Darren could barely stomach what he saw, he saw small blotches and red bumps across his back. It looked as if his body had a few small, confined explosion as the afflicted areas appeared in pretty random place. However he noticed the areas where his sockets were looked to be the ones affected the most. My arms is where I usually feel the aftereffects the most Faust explained to him as he took off his gloves and showed his hand to Darren. His hand looked slightly dis formed as calluses lined his knuckles and his hand was bent in a way that almost looked broken. "I've broken my hand more then fifteen times already" he replied sadly, he looked at Darren straight in the eyes and continued, "Now...are you sure you would like to pursue learning such a dangerous art?" he said covering himself as he stood up straight.

[Darren]

Darren took in Faust tangled form once again.To him the thought of having his body look as grotesque as Faust really worried him...yet, the man just showed him a great deal of force and efficiency. Something that Darren couldn't even dream of, something that he now yearned for. At Faust's question he nodded furiously, "Danger is natural for those walking the path to the top. I'll accept those consequences tenfold if that means I shall be able to seat comfortably at the highest tier of humanity, and possibly ascend to a god's status." His father who has always been the one to push him to perfection nodded in approved of his decision. "Good answer my son. He looked back at Faust and Charles who smiled reassuringly but looked somewhat worried for the boy. "From here on out I'll be the one to train you. You'll be taught flux under my guidance." Darren happy to see his father's approval smiled, he knew his father was the one who molded his ideals and has never failed him when it came to achieving them. "Alright, soon you'll be able to rival our respective skills my dear boy, it will just be a matter of time..." he said softly, "now,if you don't mind..." he turned to Charles and Faust. "Please excuse us as we'll retire early today. Thank you for you help, just be sure to take care and to visit regularly" he smiled saying his goodbyes. "Darren we'll start first thing tommorow morning, eat as much as you can for dinner. Your gonna need it."

[Darren]

Retiring early, Darren shifted around in his bed in anticipation of tomorrow. He as his father said ate a huge diner laid out for them. The family had a huge meal that was in celebration of Darren's upcoming training day. Wheats, red meat, fruits that had an abundance of carbohydrates, it was too much and at the end of the dinner Darren was feeling lethargic as he stayed lying in his bed for the rest of the day. Avanthal, 5th day of Spring, year 504 The sun was barely rising as Darren, accompanied by his father started out of the Whitevine compound and headed to the wilderness. The early signs of morning dew everywhere making the area seem alive and moist added to Darren's excitement. They kept at the trail until they came unto a field,they then started some warm ups before they started. Darren took in the area around him, A small quarry was to his right, a small stream to his left he noted as his father turned to him. "Tell me my dear boy, what is the one of the more important aspects of combat?" Darren looked inquisitive for a second before he answered him, you know I never really thought about that he told himself as he looked to his dad giving him his answer. "Power" he answered, "with power, one's enemies will succumb that much faster. With enough power it doesn't matter if the opponent is tougher or smarter, their compelete defeat is all that is required." His father averted his gaze from Darren "Power...without form is meaningless, son. Form is one of the things that every fighter should strive for. With form opportunites come more often, one gets countered and hit less, and most importantly, your in control." he ended indicating the end of the stretching. "I'll leave you to think about that during our little run"

[Darren]

Darren nodded, not completely sure what his dad meant by the last part, In control? What is that suppose to mean? I mean I'm in control I'm the one behind the attacks he thought looking at his father questioningly. "Alright, with that in mind lets start" he said as he lead the way. They first started out with what his father called a five kilometer run, Darren's father managing to keep a comfortable lead on Darren. Darren watching from behind watched from afar looking at his father's technique since, even though he might be more in shape then his father his intelligence and technique caused him to get fatigued less compared to Darren. But at his young age he only managed to do the heel toe movements as he tried to catch up. They went around the whole length of the field, the quarry and the steam once, alright we gotta do this one more time his father said to the somewhat winded Darren, who nodded. They ran the whole stretch again and did another half lap for good measure. By the end of it Darren was doubled over next to a tree breathing raspy ragged breaths as he tried to keep going. His whole body looked it was soaked with a bucket of water as sweat pored from every imaginable outlet. " Water?" His father offered him as he looked as Darren. Darren took the water skin greedily taking in the rest of the water. "Sigh* ...I just don't see how you do this without too much problems" he said looking at his father. His father was sweating profusely also but with only a thin sliver of sweat outlining his body. "Flux can make one's workouts more effective while at the same time reducing the amount of fatigue one feels physically, at the cost of mental tiredness," he explained raising a somewhat exhausted eye at Darren, breathing in deep concentrated breaths. When he caught his breath he urged Darren on "come on catch your breathe as we walk" he said making his way to the quarry.

[Darren]

"Alright, next we focus on putting some strength into those bones" His father said as he lead Darren to the quarry. Once there they found a few piles of neatly sized rocks stacked into three piles, one filled with tall but thin pieces, another filled with medium sized hefty looking rocks, and the what looked to be two giant boulders, similar to the ones that Faust showed them yesterday. "Alright we'll be focused on moving the skinny rocks first." His father said picking out one about his size from the pile and propped it up next to him. He assumed a martial arts pose as he then pushed out his right arm in a palm knocking the pillar flying a few feet. It bounced and tumbled a bit from the blow as it was knocked a clear 5 feet. Astounded and very impressed, his mouth gaping open, Darren nearly bum rushed the pile of rocks as he propped up the rock ready to learn flux. "My turn! My turn!" he nearly squealed from excitement. "Hehe no son you won't be striking these things with flux" his father smiled, "if you did that for an extended amount of time your bones will break and your body would be nearly irrepairable. For now we work on the form." A bit disheartened but willing nonetheless he assumed the same stance his father took. "Raise your stance higher, stand proud as if when you do this move you are better then them. And shove them with your arm, preferably in their face as you leave the rest of your body ready to defend. This move has a lot of reach but is easily avoided if it's used as a opener. Just use this move as a quick push down from mid-range. If done right..." He hit another rock he propped up next to Darren he watched as this time it didn't tumble as it hit the ground, but was knocked on it's back and slid a short distance. "It will cause them to fly back into the ground, if hit at the right angle and position. Where you can probably gloat a little. And...with enough power from flux it should send them rolling away like I showed you before. Alright do this for a good amount of time while I try out the next part of your training."

[Darren]

His father continuously fixing his positioning as he struck the rock back down and set it up for what felt to be a good 30 minutes. From what he gathered his stance was kept high to be able to quickly move out of the way. His arm was the only part that committed to the attack while the rest of his body was ready to flee/defend during the whole movement. When he started out he was able to send it back a few feet back, his muscles tensing and straining after the continous effort, tck this thing has to be at least 25 pounds, maybe even 30. he thought as he picked up the stone for the 50th so time. He took in deep breaths, trying his best to conserve his energy. It wasn't no race he had all the time in the world. "Alright switch hands" He took deep breaths as he worked, feeling the blood and oxygen going through his body. Slowly resonating, slowly grasping a bit of control of it. Is this flux? he thought as he was finally ordered to stop. "Alright make sure to keep the form in mind" Darren nodded father. "Right. Form is most important. It helps with my control" He repeated remembering the words his father bestowed upon him. He nodded "That's right! Now we can work on using the martial form to be able to apply power" He motioned them towards the medium sized rocks. "Alright when you want to have a power move thrown in the mix here's what you do." He did an amazingly quick step in from his position and brought his hands out, one palm over another. Darren watched as his hands brushed up against the rock in slow motion...-BAM!!! the contact caused the rock to shoot out. It suddenly going from a still rock to a flying projectile as it shot out and hit the wall. Darren's mouth gaped open as the rock collided with the mine wall, making a small indentation on the wall before bouncing back into the air. He looked back at his father grinning widely at his little performance. "Alright got the form down? Your turn!" Darren shook his head in disbelief as he took a stance next to his father, he looked at his father for instructions. "Alrighty like this! Step in and minimize all space as to nullify and or otherwise diminish their blows and getting your energies into your arms as you brush up on them slowly...and wham-o! big hit!" he grinned.

[Darren]

This type of exercise wasn't too different from the one handed move. He just committed his whole body into the strike. Totally not different at all... he thought sarcastically as he practiced the quick step in, first his father giving him pointers throughout the process. Mixing up different variations in his step he quickly gained enough confidence for the actual strike. Stepping in uncomfortably close he was only 2-5 inches away from the rock before he move his arms. He moved his palms up his palms barely touching the stone before he did a full body spasm and hit the rock head on. The thing just rocked back slowly as it landed on the ground. His hands ached, his knees shook, he was at the end of his rope. He was exhausted from training as he finally was shaking from all the strenuous work. His veins pulsed all around his body, he was able to feel the his blood as it circulated around his body, another thing he suddenly sensed in his system it was his neural pathways. His whole body tensed as he felt this new sensation, it made no sense to him but...it felt good. It made him feel powerful... Was this flux? he thought as he looked to his dad. He looked back to see a laughing voice aimed at him. "Alright alright, that's enough for today. Let's head over and get something to eat and rest for today."