Where Are You Looking?

Michael Krakowiak

Where are you looking?

         "Are you sure you aren't getting slower?"

"Heh...who...asked you?...heh"

"Oh, no one. Just seems to me that I've seen seasons pass faster than your slash" boasted a lion of a man dressed in heavy steel greaves, a white robe with flaps to each side and one diamond shaped flap in front, all covered with a floor-length white cape with large, standing posts for the collar. His ocean blue hair fell back and upwards in a series of thick spikes, his smirk accented by a chin curtain style beard in a zig-zag, lightning-bolt shaped fashion down his jawline. As he leaned against his massive, sheathed greatsword, he couldn't help but see the struggle in his pupil's eyes.

"Huh...they're fast enough...huh...to wipe that...huh...grin off...your face...huh" panted a tall, very muscular young man with jet black hair and long, thick, straight strands of hair seemingly jutting out in every direction from his head. In an outfit identical to his master's, minus the large cape, he faded in and out of view as he teleported back and forth with super speed against a black, starlit background, slashing at shooting stars flying with tremendous acceleration in his direction. His cuts delivered so quickly that they weren't even visible until his katana-shaped blade was already back in its sheath, with only the diamond-shaped hilt of the blade and the handle at his side. His quick draw style of swordsmanship was making quick work of the comets crashing towards him, dicing them to ashes before they crossed his position...until a giant comet far larger than the rest appeared on the horizon and jetted towards him with unexpected speed. As it neared, his eyes widened as he realized he wasn't ready to deliver a cut powerful enough to deal with the colossal projectile. Seconds away from collision, his master appeared in a flash in front of him and shattered the shooting sphere with ease. As the threat disappeared into a cloud of stardust, the night sky-filled room faded into a stone arena in the middle of a sunlit temple with a glass dome as its ceiling and four giant, black obelisks supporting the structure and marking the borders of the arena.

The master looked down at his exhausted pupil with a wide smile. "I'm still grinning..."

"This is pointless. How the hell am I supposed to take out one that large?! I can barely finish the small ones before it's right on top of me. We should just go..." muttered the student as he stood up from one knee having already caught his breath.

"I must admit, my idiot pupil, that you've come a long way from barely being able to stand within these walls. However, despite you having raised your aethereal resonance beyond the 100,000 aether forges worth of pressure this chamber can generate, you seem woefully unaware of the fact that the Hall of Endless Aether manifests itself differently to everyone training within it."

"Manifest this: I'm out of here..." as he neared the edge of the arena with his defiant stride, his master overshadowed him as he quickly appeared behind him, grabbing him by the back of his robe and tossing him back into the center.

"Is this how you intend to challenge Dario?" asked the master as his visage quickly changed to a serious scowl.

"Dario...!!!" growled the pupil as he quickly stood to his feet, his entire body shaking with rage as an aura of crimson energy surged all around him, enough to make his scattered strands of hair stand at half mast. He shot the master an equally serious look, his eyes sharp as steel.

"Excellent! That's the spirit! Truth be told, if I was beaten as badly as Dario beat you, I'd be embarrassed to show my face in public..." muttered the master under his breath as he chuckled.

"Y-you..." the student tightened his face with increased agitation and a pang of embarrassment.

"Alright, alright, I'll make you a deal: You have 3 chances to land a single hit on me, no holding back. If you do, the training is over and you can go. If you don't, you man up and face your trial once more. Agreed?"

The student nodded and grabbed a hold of his blade, slashing without warning as quickly as he could at his master standing before him. As he did his whole arm seemed to be covered in a thick sheet of ice, as if the chamber itself was slowing his attack. Though the slash was quick as lightning, the master sidestepped it easily. "Too light. A breath of air could slow down your attack...". As quickly as the blade was sheathed it flung forth once more, however this time his arm was enveloped in seething flames that burned him and roared loudly.  Cutting through an afterimage, the master appeared behind his student with the master's back to him. "Too strong. With that much rage behind your attack, it can be predicted easily...". Taking a deep breath as his edge was sheathed once more, he assumed a neutral stance and exhaled deeply. Seemingly serene, he disappeared before his master's eyes, only to reappear behind him, striking now without interruption. Once more his assault met only thin air and he felt a quick tap against the middle of his back. Light as it was, it was enough to send him flying across the arena again, his master standing where the student just was. "Where are you looking?" with a wide grin. "Anyway, that's 3, delinquent student of mine, and you owe me another trial."

"If I can't even hit you, how am I supposed to shatter a shooting star that huge?"

"The type of training is unique to each person who enters the chamber."

"So, the shooting stars...are there specifically for me?"

"Not just the nature of the exercise. The trial at the end of the exercise is also designed to eliminate your weaknesses and build on your strengths. Think carefully: What is your style's greatest strength?"

"Speed, obviously...I think"

"What, then, is your greatest weakness?"

"Um...strength, maybe?"

"Exactly! Though you can induce massive damage with your blinding speed, if your speed is somehow stunted, there isn't enough raw power behind it, leaving your attacks slow, and more importantly, weak."

"How do I fix that?"

"Think about it: Why are all the comets small enough for you to cut through with ease, all until the last one? The trial depletes you of your lightning fast speed and, in your moment of greatest weakness, requires you to draw upon raw power in order to overcome the final comet!"

"But how can I summon raw power out of nowhere, especially when I'm at my weakest?!"

"Must I tell you everything? Remember why you're here in the first place..."

"Dario...!" the student tightened a fist and suddenly the answer became clear to him. After assuming the standard quick draw stance, with one hand holding the top of the sheath and the other hand holding the hilt of the still sheathed sword, the chamber filled with the darkness of night and on the horizon, a wall of blazing asteroids, comets, and meteorites raged towards him. After what seemed like hours, his energy completely depleted, his colossal nemesis flew towards him with blinding speed. Bitter, shameful memories filled his mind of the man who so easily defeated him. "Quick draw? The only thing you'll draw quickly with that style is your dying breath!" A great rage stirred within him, and suddenly a geyser of power erupted from deep within his aether forge. His hair stood fully as he was surrounded with a crimson aura, the diamond shape of his blade's hilt ejected two energetic wings that functioned as thrusters. "Double Void Edge!" His blade flew ten times faster than it ever had, and as the hilt touched the top of the sheath, two man-sized vacuum slashes cut through the massive comet, and from these two slashes sprang forth several more in the opposite direction of the first two, creating an orb of slashes that disintegrated the comet to bits. The darkness of the sky faded once more and the master's clapping hands played in harmony with the audible pulses of energy emanating from his newly powered apprentice.

"How does it feel, to finally achieve a Sacred Forge?"

The student grinned through the crimson aura surrounding his face and in an instant he was at the master's back, a forceful tap to the middle of the back being enough to knock the master off balance.

"Where are you looking?"

"Hahaha! Where indeed?" laughed the master as he rose to his feet, glancing his pupil once over with a look of pride. As the energy faded and the student calmed himself, the master approached and put an arm around his shoulders. "Now, there's the small matter of my payment..."

"P-payment?! Are you serious?!" barked the student incredulously as the master bopped him over the head with a mighty fist, and the two guffawed in triumph as they exited the arena.