City of Fate

Training: Week two

Emelia hit the mat hard, sliding a bit before she slammed her fist down in frustration. She had trained for nearly a week with Britt in swordplay and a bit of the Green arts. Today she's sparring with Gormley and Galadon, learning hand to hand combat. 

She stood up quickly, her anger a red hot cloud shadowing her mind. She knew she needed to calm down, slow her breathing and concentrate. She needed to imagine the candle and the void. Her heart rate slowed and the strands of the Flux came to her, flowing out of her opponents, dim but there nonetheless. They never attacked at the same time, they tagged each other in to teach Emelia their two separate but equally efficient styles. She readied herself and gestured for Galadon to attack.

Galadon came at her, side stepping in a clockwise circle around her, hands up in a ready position. He struck at her, a flowing combo of jabs and chops, his style somewhere between Karate and maybe boxing. Emelia dodged and blocked the borage with sweeping forearms and well time spins. She could usually hold her own pretty well against him, he wasn't really the source of her frustrations. She swiped aside a jab and landed a solid open palmed strike to his chest, powerful enough to send him sliding back a few feet. He recovered quickly, shook out his arms and cracked his knuckles one by one before dancing in a mocking sort of boxing shuffle. He attacked, lightning quick, using only his hands in display of lefts and rights. He backed Emelia up as she slapped away the attacks as best she could, a few landed without any pain, he pulled his punches so he wouldn't injure her. He reset, and danced around Emelia in an anti-clockwise direction this time. Emelia seeing an opening became the aggressor and spun a high kick, then continued with a low sweep, knocking Galadon off his feet. Before he hit the ground however, he disappeared in a black shadowy cloud that dissipated as quickly as it appeared. In the same instant he appeared in a black cloud behind her. It was as if he slid into a shadow and slipped back out. He kicked out her legs and she hit the ground.

Emelia sat up on her elbows. "What the hell was that?" she questioned.

"I spent some time with the Sha'od Dani, the "Shadow Dancers" of Anor'ndor, what you know as Egypt." He said, with a bit of bravado mixed in. "I learned a few things while I was among the Dani."

"Well, none of that means anything to me." Emelia retorted.

"They have a way of slipping from one realm to another. They literally go into a shadow realm." Galadon said in an annoyingly matter of fact way. "It allows the user to move from one place to another inside the shadows."

"That seems incredibly useful." Emelia supposed.

"We can get into that another time, it's dangerous, if you don't know how to use it correctly. The farther you go the more energy you use. You can only go as far as you can see." He waved off the subject. "Now are you ready for a break?"

In answer, Emelia dusted herself off and returned to a ready position. She couldn't stop thinking about the Shadow Dance. It was amazing, sliding in and out of this realm. Gormley stepped into the ring. He stretched his arms and took a ready position. Emelia circled, Gormley stood almost completely still only making minor adjustments to keep Em in front of him. She attacked, side-stepping at the last second and spinning with an outstretched backhand strike. Gormley ducked, grabbed her arm and hip tossed her across the mat. She hopped up quickly and went straight back at him. Punching at him with a quick combo, he easily blocked with little effort, one hand behind his back. She took a step back, picturing the void. She calmed her breathing, and attacked again. Gormley stepped aside as she punched at him. She unwittingly let a single thought of the Shadow world slip into the void and she stumbled. Gormley grabbed for her arm in another hip toss attempt. Emelia, mind still slightly distracted by the single thought that blocked her path to the void, just barely managed to avoid the grapple and spin away. Gormley came in and feinted a high punch, then ducked low going for a an elbow to the midsection. Emelia jumped back narrowly escaping the blow, but Gormley continued spinning, throwing jabs and elbows. Emelia's concentration once again slipped with the thought of the Shadow Realm and as Gormley's elbow was about to connect, Emelia felt a pull, a tug from within and then all went black.