Solar Knight: Dark Veil -book 1-

chapter 42: remembering the past

The king and queen gave us room and board for the night. This pandora thing isn't gonna be over anytime soon anyways. All the citizens in Japan are in safe houses and the demons aren't exactly gonna be able to crack em.

According to the advisor luna and sorceress beryl, after i mentioned Pandora being after me and fearing that others will be hurt because of me, the two notified me that the palace is masked with an magical energy to prevent Pandora from seeing in. The spell worked sorta like a glazed window, one could see the object, but it's blurred. The palace was visible to the naked eye, but everyone's presences were camouflaged as if no one was there. So in short, we can rest easy without being hunted constantly.

The beds weren't all cracked up to be, but at this point, I'm not going to complain. We were all sleeping in an empty room with simple beds spread evenly apart.

I couldn't sleep, all i heard was snoring all around, so i laid there, staring at the ceiling.

I started to remember the times when me and sis were younger all of a sudden. Like when one's mind just wanders out of boredom.

I was taken back to our younger years as martial arts students.

When the inarians settled in the woods, near the somewhere in the canadian region, a middle aged, blind inarian man, created a dojo for young inarians to learn martial arts. The martial art in question was an inarian exclusive, the way of the fox. His name was master Keito

Master Keito was a kind, gentle man. Though he was blind, he still seen beauty in everything, no matter how grim or depressing. The way of the fox was a martial art of gentle flow and using your opponent's strength against them.

Mom made us attend so we could learn self defense and discipline....cuz we were rowdy and violent to each other when we weren't being sweet to each other.

Everso patient the man was, he would always break things down into bite sized information so the whole class could understand. However, did what most teacher's wouldn't and not teach to the mass, but tought to the individual.

He had a keen way of noticing when we were faltering despite being blind, like he was seeing with spiritual energy instead of eyesight. When we thought we'd be "smart" and tried to sneak out of class, he'd promptly look in our direction and tell us to get back to the floor or he'll notify our mother of our disobedience. If mother were notified, me and my sister would have our butts lit up by her hand, but he was merciful to give us a warning.

Though i was human, he seen me as a soul, rather than a being of flesh and race. He taught me how to keep up with the other inarian boys and girls by using my head and thinking around my weaknesses as a human. What i lacked in strength, i used my opponents strength against them and would eventually pick up on their habits, then use the information against them.

For example, one of the boys favored his right side, albiet using more right punches and kicks, than left. So i used my head and stayed to his left. When he'd catch on, I'd zip to his right, forcing him to change strategies, effectively "breaking his legs" in better terms.

Keito told me that observation and analyzation are probably the most vital things in combat, which i excelled in surprisingly. Time after time, I'd focus on defense and evasion, making my opponent mad or frustrated to get a wedge in on them, then drive that wedge and get a crucial opening, rather than go full offense and swing wildly.

I was human, far weaker than inarians, so i had to think outside of the box.

One time, me and my sister were about to spar. She was top of the class and had ferocity to her techniques. One hit could have done me in, but she's my sister.....so i knew how to get her pissed off so she'd go into gorilla mode. Though she was fast and stronger than most, I'd often catch her at her weakest, which was brief, and pin her or get her in a hold. Inarian or not, a hold is a hold regardless of how strong they are.

Don't get me wrong, she clobbered me plenty of times when she'd catch my blind spots. I've kissed the mat more times than all of them, before i found my foothold. Me and sis were evenly matched in the ring. She is ferocious in a fight, giving me no time to breathe or analyze her attack habits, because she caught on quick about how i roll.

Some of the best times we had were in that dojo and i hope our master is doing alright during all of this....