![[-]](https://www.horuset.com/images/igame/collapse.png "[-]")
Jadzia breathed sharply between the sequences, her arms aching from brandishing the two foils for what felt like hours on end.
Find the rhythm... manipulate it...
Off-hand protecting while the main-hand attacked. Main-hand defending as the offhand struck. Always one defending, one attacking, though the roles were fluid. Slowly she settled into a pattern, gaining more confidence as she swung, slashed and braced against the air, keeping her footing over the uneven wet ground. A haunting tune played on a stringed instrument seemed to fill the air, giving more structure to her movements while also deafening her to her surroundings. The beat of that song guided her steps, body taut and controlled as she completed the sequence, both foils held angled away from her body at different heights. Zia felt like she had been dancing, though she had never been taught.
She had not stumbled at all. A first.
She had also not noticed the man who watched her. Zia froze when she finally saw him materialise out of thin air, his eyes preceding the rest of his features.
Brown eyes widened as she recognised him; dark hair scraped back from his brow, strange tattoos etched into his forehead and chin; his arms were folded across his chest as he leaned against a tree trunk, intrigue glinting in those eerie eyes of his.
He stood up straight, fingers flexing as a saber hilt snapped into his hand from his belt, a second saber drawn from behind his back.
"Defend yourself." The smooth, Balmorran-tinged accent rang through the space, the apprentice surging forward less than a second later. Zia scrambled to defend herself, her offhand trembling as it blocked his first strike. His second slash came in high and fast while his first smacked her foil aside. She struggled to keep his sabers parried, even with Augmentation coursing through her veins. Each of his strikes had the strength of durasteel - and she could tell he was holding back.
Every time she thought she had his fighting rhythm understood he changed it, always keeping her off balance. Back and forth the pair slashed and thrust at each other, their movements dance-like upon that slippery grass beneath the mountain and the trees. Before long she felt the chill of the mountain shadow looming over her; he had successfully herded her towards a wall. Brown eyes glared into eerie yellow, and something hardened inside her. Zia kicked off the rock behind her, using the momentum to bring her main-hand down in a zone one slash while her off-hand sliced down to intercept his reactionary attack.
She saw a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes as he easily blocked her strike, ducking aside and shifting his attack pattern yet again. Zia pressed the offensive, her off-hand mainly acting defensive as she strove to beat him back towards the line of trees. She did not slip or stumble. Her foils hummed through the air as strike met strike, somehow managing to meet or evade each of his attacks. The apprentice unleashed a vicious horizontal slash, Zia finally slipping on the wet ground. Gravity saved her as she watched the glowing red blade pass an inch above her nose, the acolyte rolling away and scrambling back to her feet.
He did not relent, his second attack chopping down where she had been lying a moment before. Zia brought her foils up to parry the next set, but he was too fast. He twisted one blade around, catching and flicking both of her foils aside, lunging forward to stab her in the stomach.
Zia juddered. The saber burned white hot through her insides. Her mouth opened but no words came out, brown eyes staring in horror at the apprentice whom stood right in front of her. She heard the hiss of the lightsabers being powered down. Her knees buckled. She tasted mud.
A hand gripped her shoulder and flipped her onto her back. He knelt beside her, flexing his gloved fingers before placing his hand over her wound. His eyes locked with hers as they began to glow. He twitched a smile down at her.
"Look at me."
Then the pain blazed through her frame. Concentrated from his hand, waves of dark power emanated through her body. She could feel her damaged insides starting to stitch themselves back together. Piece by piece. Nerve by nerve. Centimeter by centimeter. Zia could feel every single moment, the pain roaring beyond anything she had ever experienced before.
She could not look away.
His eyes blazed with channeled power.
A scream tore from her throat...
...
...Jadzia bolted upright, panting and clutching at her unharmed stomach. She could still feel the burn of the lightsaber blade impaling her; the gentle pressure of the gloved hand resting on her damaged skin...
Those eerie, glowing yellow eyes staring into hers.
Zia buried herself in her meagre blankets, curled up with her head under the rough material. She could not sleep for the rest of the night, shivering from a new, deep-rooted dread.
Find the rhythm... manipulate it...
Off-hand protecting while the main-hand attacked. Main-hand defending as the offhand struck. Always one defending, one attacking, though the roles were fluid. Slowly she settled into a pattern, gaining more confidence as she swung, slashed and braced against the air, keeping her footing over the uneven wet ground. A haunting tune played on a stringed instrument seemed to fill the air, giving more structure to her movements while also deafening her to her surroundings. The beat of that song guided her steps, body taut and controlled as she completed the sequence, both foils held angled away from her body at different heights. Zia felt like she had been dancing, though she had never been taught.
She had not stumbled at all. A first.
She had also not noticed the man who watched her. Zia froze when she finally saw him materialise out of thin air, his eyes preceding the rest of his features.
Brown eyes widened as she recognised him; dark hair scraped back from his brow, strange tattoos etched into his forehead and chin; his arms were folded across his chest as he leaned against a tree trunk, intrigue glinting in those eerie eyes of his.
He stood up straight, fingers flexing as a saber hilt snapped into his hand from his belt, a second saber drawn from behind his back.
"Defend yourself." The smooth, Balmorran-tinged accent rang through the space, the apprentice surging forward less than a second later. Zia scrambled to defend herself, her offhand trembling as it blocked his first strike. His second slash came in high and fast while his first smacked her foil aside. She struggled to keep his sabers parried, even with Augmentation coursing through her veins. Each of his strikes had the strength of durasteel - and she could tell he was holding back.
Every time she thought she had his fighting rhythm understood he changed it, always keeping her off balance. Back and forth the pair slashed and thrust at each other, their movements dance-like upon that slippery grass beneath the mountain and the trees. Before long she felt the chill of the mountain shadow looming over her; he had successfully herded her towards a wall. Brown eyes glared into eerie yellow, and something hardened inside her. Zia kicked off the rock behind her, using the momentum to bring her main-hand down in a zone one slash while her off-hand sliced down to intercept his reactionary attack.
She saw a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes as he easily blocked her strike, ducking aside and shifting his attack pattern yet again. Zia pressed the offensive, her off-hand mainly acting defensive as she strove to beat him back towards the line of trees. She did not slip or stumble. Her foils hummed through the air as strike met strike, somehow managing to meet or evade each of his attacks. The apprentice unleashed a vicious horizontal slash, Zia finally slipping on the wet ground. Gravity saved her as she watched the glowing red blade pass an inch above her nose, the acolyte rolling away and scrambling back to her feet.
He did not relent, his second attack chopping down where she had been lying a moment before. Zia brought her foils up to parry the next set, but he was too fast. He twisted one blade around, catching and flicking both of her foils aside, lunging forward to stab her in the stomach.
Zia juddered. The saber burned white hot through her insides. Her mouth opened but no words came out, brown eyes staring in horror at the apprentice whom stood right in front of her. She heard the hiss of the lightsabers being powered down. Her knees buckled. She tasted mud.
A hand gripped her shoulder and flipped her onto her back. He knelt beside her, flexing his gloved fingers before placing his hand over her wound. His eyes locked with hers as they began to glow. He twitched a smile down at her.
"Look at me."
Then the pain blazed through her frame. Concentrated from his hand, waves of dark power emanated through her body. She could feel her damaged insides starting to stitch themselves back together. Piece by piece. Nerve by nerve. Centimeter by centimeter. Zia could feel every single moment, the pain roaring beyond anything she had ever experienced before.
She could not look away.
His eyes blazed with channeled power.
A scream tore from her throat...
...
...Jadzia bolted upright, panting and clutching at her unharmed stomach. She could still feel the burn of the lightsaber blade impaling her; the gentle pressure of the gloved hand resting on her damaged skin...
Those eerie, glowing yellow eyes staring into hers.
Zia buried herself in her meagre blankets, curled up with her head under the rough material. She could not sleep for the rest of the night, shivering from a new, deep-rooted dread.
