Angelic Omen

First Day

I pushed the strange dream, still plaguing my thoughts even in my waking hours, to the back of my mind as I walked down the halls of the castle. The captain had told me to go to the courtyard for an assessment of my skills. After multiple wrong turns, I finally came across the place I was searching for.

The courtyard was quite large, like most things seemed to be with this castle. There were multiple unique trees that I had never seen before, such as one with thin, whiplike branches that hung with their own weight and that of the green leaves on them. Another had dark, mint green needles and rich brown bark. Cobblestone pathways weaved through the growing plants to prevent anyone from tracking through the fragile, non-sentient life forms. There was a sign at one fork in the path. It read "Training Area," and had an arrow pointing to the right. Figuring that was where the captain would be waiting, I walked down the path to the right.

Sure enough, the angel captain was waiting there, leaning against one of the many trees that were scattered around the courtyard. This one seemed to have small, green fruits growing on its branches. I think they're called apples. Must not be ripe yet, I thought they were red.

The captain noticed me coming and nodded in acknowledgment. "Hello, Inarix."

It took me a moment to reply. I still wasn't used to being referred to by my angel name. "O-oh, hello, Captain."

"You can call me Kyrlas," the captain corrected, "The others feel compelled to call me captain no matter what I say."

Something about him was different today. He seems more light-spirited than he was when I met him yesterday. Maybe he'd gotten some sleep.

As if he had read my mind, Kyrlas stated, "And I apologize if I seemed aggressive yesterday. I didn't get much sleep the night before."

"Alright," I shrugged. "So what do I do?"

Kyrlas stood up straight. "You're gonna fight me."

I blinked. "What?"

I hadn't really met many people who formally asked to be attacked.

"Well, you're not gonna be killing me, obviously," Kyrlas chuckled, "But you're going to be disarming me. How are you with a spear?"

"Fine, I guess."

"Good."

Kyrlas walked to a training weapons rack against the wall and grabbed two spears. He tossed one to me. I caught it with ease, gripping the long stick's smooth surface. The point was made of metal, steel by the looks of it.

"So I just attack you?" I asked for confirmation.

"Do I need to say it again?" Kyrlas questioned. "Come on, just do it."

I gripped the spear with both hands and looked Kyrlas in the eyes. "Alright, then."

Without warning I launched myself forward. Kyrlas, seeing my line of attack, swiftly prepared for a frontwards impact. But was expecting this. I quickly dodged to the left, spinning around and shoving Kyrlas with my spear. He let out a surprised yelp, and fell face first into the dirt. The point of my spear was pointed at the back of his neck.

Kyrlas looked up at me and grinned. "You're good, kid."

"Please don't call me that," I remarked.

"What, kid?"

"Yeah. I don't like it."

"Noted."

I pulled my spear away and watched Kyrlas stand up, grabbing his spear as he did.

Suddenly, Kyrlas sped towards me, a blur of gray and white as he darted behind me.

Realizing the sudden ambush, I ducked out of the way of his spear and grabbed it, pulling him to the side. Kyrlas was sent tumbling a few feet away. I once again pointed my spear to his chest.

Kyrlas looked up at me, surprised. "You're a lot stronger than you look, you know that?"

I shrugged.

I once again stood aside as he got up. He didn't have his spear, so I wasn't worried about another counterattack. I handed the spear to him, and he took it.

Kyrlas dusted the tip off. "You know, the way you fight is a bit similar to how demons fight."

I tensed up slightly. "Y-you think?"

"Yeah," Kyrlas stated, "That corkscrew move you did, I've seen that. Multiple times. I've been observing what the demons do in combat when I run into them. That's a fairly common one."

Well, he wasn't wrong. It was probably the first thing I learned in battle training.

Kyrlas nodded his approval. "I think it's pretty neat. How'd you learn it?"

I cleared my throat. My hands were wet with nervous sweat. "Just picked it up, I guess. I've fought demons before. I kinda learned from what they did."

"Interesting," Kyrlas remarked, "We can use that."

I gave a silent sigh of relief. "T-thanks."

The captain patted my shoulder. "Good job today. You can go ahead home."

I nodded. "Thank you."

Kyrlas walked off. Once he was out of sight, I relaxed a bit.

"That could have ended worse," I muttered to myself.

I decided to heed Kyrlas's instructions and go home. I wasn't needed here right now.

———

855 words