TBATE: Shadows Of The Past

Chapter 6 - A Spar

[1st POV - Arthur Leywin]

As nightfall descended, the once-distant mountain range appeared to have doubled in size. I wondered how enormous it would seem once we reached the foot of the mountain. Needless to say, I was thrilled to leave the tiny outpost that was my hometown, Ashber.

Eventually, we stopped to set up camp near a small cluster of boulders. My brother followed behind me, his hands in his pants pockets, while maintaining the same stoic expression he always had.

Anyways, I was feeling extremely tired. One thing I detested about this body was that it tended to tire quickly and required a lot of sleep to keep it going. Even though I had slept most of the way, I still felt tired after being awake for a few hours.

My brother, on the other hand, didn't seem to have this limitation as he was always brimming with energy, which sometimes made me jealous.

After setting up a couple of tents around the fire, our father and mother began conversing with the Twin Horns about old times. My brother had taken that chance to rest his head on my lap.

His actions annoyed me for a bit, as he didn't even ask for permission. But seeing his peaceful face while lying down, I decided to just let it go.

That's when Helen sat next to me and asked nonchalantly, "I heard from your dad that you both awakened when you were barely 3 years old. Is that true?"

Giving a slight smile, I nodded before replying, "Yes, we awakened a few weeks before our 3rd birthday."

Her eyes widened, and she muttered something that I couldn't exactly make out. Then, she started asking me questions. By this time, I had already figured out why my brother had come over to me and used my lap as a pillow to sleep. It was so that all the questions would be directed at me, saving him from being annoyed by the party members asking him questions. This fact made me annoyed, almost causing me to shift my weight so that his head would fall on the ground, but I controlled myself and did not do something so childish.

A couple of curious ears perked up around this time as well, with Adam asking, "Hey Reynolds, do you mind if I spar with your kids?"

Taking this as a chance to get back at my brother, I shook him awake.

"Cain, Mr. Krensh wants to spar with us. Wake up."

Groaning a bit, he acted like he was waking up, even though I knew he had been awake the entire time. I'd have to admit that his acting skills were top-notch. If I didn't have my past life knowledge, I wouldn't have been able to tell if he was sleeping or not, as he kept his breathing stable at all times.

Both our father and mother seemed hesitant at first, but they trusted their old comrade, so our father just replied, "Alright, but be careful. I haven't had the chance to teach them how to properly fight. We've just been doing light strength and mana exercises 'til now."

Adam got up from his makeshift log seat and looked around until he found a short stick he felt satisfied with.

"Come here, brats. Let's see what you both are made of!"

[1st POV - Cain Leywin]

Troublesome. That would be how I would describe the predicament I found myself in. So damn annoying and troublesome.

Retrieving my wooden daggers, I walked over to the edge of the camp with my brother, where Adam was waiting near a clearing.

"You both know how to reinforce your weapons, right, geniuses?" came the mocking words of Adam.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed that our mother seemed anxious, glancing between me, Art, Adam, and our father.

I sheathed one of my daggers and quickly got into a stance. I held my dagger with my dominant hand at waist level while my other hand protected my face and body. My feet were shoulder-width apart, with my non-dominant foot slightly ahead and my weight shifted forward onto the front foot. My front foot was pointing towards Adam, while my back foot was turned slightly to the side. My knees were slightly bent, and my weight was centered over my feet. The hand holding the dagger was held with the elbow bent and the arm relaxed.