"Siya, pick up your sword." Mara cried out to me.

My head was foggy. I was fully conscious, but it was like someone else was moving my body. 'My sword…'

As I looked down, a massive greatsword suddenly appeared on the ground at my feet. It was attached to a spear shaft, only making it more unwieldy. 'She wants me to fight her…'

Her eyes began to glow bright red as they became bloodshot, and I felt an uncontrollable fear take over my body. "Now Die!" she yelled.

Her body moved like that of a starving animal, charging at me for its next meal. I struck her four times, managing to evade her advances, but she deflected one of my attacks and in an instant, I could feel my arm tearing away from my body.

Before I could even process what was happening, she was back to the position she was in at the start of the fight, several yards away.

She whipped the blood off of her sword and effortlessly twirled the blade that appeared even larger than her.

'Thats… My blood…' I looked down to see my dismembered arm lying on the ground. With no other options, I tightened my grip on the weapon I was given and prepared to fight for my life.

In a flash she was standing next to me, slicing at my neck…

…

I sat straight up in my bed, gasping for air and clawing at my own throat, trying to cover the wound. 'It's… not there.'

It was too dark to see my hand in front of my face, but I could feel the soft fur blanket against my cold, sweating hands. Without a doubt, I was in my bed. 'It was just a dream then…'

The cold air brushed against my face as it blew open the window. 'Just another nightmare…'

It wasn't uncommon for me to have bad dreams. Some I forgot, like any other dream, but that one felt different, it was burned into my mind. Every detail down to the glint of my blade and the way it felt in my hands.

I could feel sweat trickling down my body. My chest was burning as the wind chilled me to the bone, 'I need to move… Or I'll only get colder…' I jumped out of bed, feeling too uneasy to stay still anyway. A dull burning ache in my eyes from being tired and trying to see in the dark, but my sense of balance was good enough to at least keep me upright as I headed for the door.

'I wonder what time it is.'

To clear my mind I went down to the well and splashed some water on my face. It made me feel more at ease, but my heart wouldn't stop racing.

Staring back at the house, I grabbed my arm where it was slashed off in my dream, the same place Zu had struck me in our match. 'I have no reason to think she would try to kill me now of all times… Even if she doesn't act like it, she is my mother, that has to count for something, doesn't it? She wouldn't actually…'

As I squeezed my arm, my blood pressure increased, and the surge caused it to ache, making me start to feel like I was spiralling into a panic. 'No. It couldn't be real… If Mara ever does have to kill me, she would do it in one hit.'

My heart finally began to calm down, strange as it was. 'Even if it was just a dream, I won't get any rest if I have to worry about having another one…' Heading back to my room I slowly stared at my blanket, standing still. As much as I hated nightmares, the alternative wasn't the greatest…

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Finally giving in, I rolled up the fur blanket and covered myself with the course sack cloth sheet that I would have otherwise used. It wasn't warm, or soft, quite the opposite, but that was the point. 'If I sleep in the cold I don't have dreams… That is… when I finally manage to fall asleep…'

I was used to it, the dull aching of my muscles being pressed into the hardwood from my weight, the cold air brushing through the blanket. The uncomfortable feeling took my mind off of everything else. It was still hard to get any proper rest, but at least my mind would be at peace.

"Agis… Are you watching?" I whispered. I didn't want to be alone. 'Is this childish too? No… Nobody likes to be alone after a bad dream… Adults just handle it better…'

I rolled over onto my side and curled up to stay warm. 'The thought of him being there looking over me was a nice one, but even if he was watching me, it was different than being next to him. Ultimately I was still alone…

"Get up, let's go!"

Everything blurred together and before I knew it she was leading me out to the courtyard. It was midday, and we had already done countless exercises that pushed me to exhaustion. 'What time is it?' I slowly trudged along behind her, my head aching from waking up so abruptly from a short nap I had taken during my break. 'Sword training?' That was the only reason we would be going to the courtyard. 'Why though, usually wouldn't we do flexibility training first, because the bruising makes it harder to stretch… Maybe that means she'll go easy on me?'

I looked up at her as she quickly moved down the hall and out the door, her fists clenched. The door crashed open.

'Maybe… Not…'

She was moving faster than normal, stiffer than normal, her muscles so tense she was making me nervous. Still, there was no reason to hesitate, especially not if she was angry… It would only cause bigger problems…

'Well, whatever. This will be over soon enough.'

I walked out and stood in front of her, a thin line of tension holding our eyes locked to each other.

She violently grabbed a massive metal sword off the rack against the wall and threw it to the ground at my feet. "Pick it up."

My eyes widened as my mind nearly overloaded. 'A metal sword? She would never treat a weapon like that, she takes care of them, why would she throw it on the ground… Why does it all feel so familiar?'

I bent down to do as she said, freezing stiff as I saw my reflection in the blade.

"Siya?"

For a single word her voice softened. But as I looked back up at her I could plainly see her face was still stern. I slowly swallowed. "I-if I do… What happens next…"

Certain things were different from the dream, like the weather, and the sword, but… It was too similar. 'Is this it?

As the image of my limbs being torn free in a bloody mess flashed through my mind, my legs began to shake. 'No… that was just a dream, come on… Stop shaking…'

"You said you wanted me out here today too, right Mom?"

My sister walked out from the other side of the courtyard, before Mara could answer, her presence alone giving me so much relief that I almost collapsed as Mara handed her a sword even larger than mine.

'Ok… ok, so does she want me to fight her then? That I can handle.'

I took a deep breath and focused. As I exhaled I could see the vapor mixing with the cold air as I picked up the sword. The solid leather straps around the hilt felt good in my hands as I slowly unsheathed the blade from its scabbard.

'a real blade.' It never bothered me that I wasn't allowed to use them for training since they were too heavy anyway, but that only made it feel even better to finally hold one. There was a certain sense of accomplishment to it. I lifted it and rested the flat on my shoulder, it's cold metal weighing down on me.

'It's not as heavy as I thought it would be…'

I looked over to Lu who was spinning her sword around with one hand, testing its feel. To her, the sword was like a feather, and it was all the more impressive because she had left the sword in its heavy sheath. I couldn't help but envy her.

Mara clapped her hands together just once to grab our attention. "Lu, what are the three most basic stances?"

"Face breaker, Mammoth, and Sovus." As she spoke, she looked like she was at attention, waiting for orders from her commanding officer… It, honestly, made me feel a bit of pity.

"And what is the significance of these three forms?"

Lu suddenly looked like a deer caught in headlights. 'Guess she doesn't know.'

"Even if your answer is that you don't know, you have to respond."

Lu gritted her teeth. "Does it even matter who made them or why? They work, and I can use them…"

'Did she bring me out here to help Lu?' I mean, the answer isn't really all that complicated. "The three forms were all used by different heroes."

They both turned to look at me, the tension between them disappearing as I continued. "Each form individually isn't just a stance, but an entire fighting style of its own, combined they form the sword arts we use. Since they were developed independently, that's why their names are so different. Of the three of them, only Sovus can be considered a defensive stance. That's because the creator of the art focused on fighting ogres and other opponents that were far stronger than him."

"She didn't ask you…" Lu scoffed, turning away.

'She doesn't sound like she's in a good mood either…'

Mara let out a sigh as she walked to the center of the ring. "Demonstrate the three stances and explain their uses, starting with the first one, Facebreaker."

'I can barely hold these stances with a wooden sword though…'

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