BLACK HALO

TALE OF ARAYA

CHAPTER 12

~TALE OF ARAYA~

100 years ago.

Araya swung a long stick at Aurelia, and Aurelia quickly used an equally long stick she held to block the attack from reaching her. The force of Araya’s attack pushed Aurelia down to her knees, and Aurelia clenched her teeth tightly, groaning softly.

“Get back on your feet, Aurelia. Your enemy will slice off your head the moment they get the advantage you just gave me,” Araya said, pulling her stick away and turning around.

Aurelia got back on her feet again and rushed back at Araya, yelling. She moved as fast as she could, swinging her stick in different directions with the intention of laying at least one good hit on Araya. Araya kept moving from side to side, avoiding Aurelia's attacks with ease.

Aurelia thrust her stick at Araya's stomach, but Araya just spun around, avoiding Aurelia's attack and arriving at her back.

“You’re too slow!” Araya said with a condescending tone, then slammed the edge of her right palm on Aurelia's neck, sending her to the ground.

Aurelia coughed repeatedly as she struggled to get back on her feet. “How the heck am I supposed to beat you? I've never had to fight in my entire life. You, on the other hand, are a highly skilled mercenary. It's totally unfair,” Aurelia complained with droplets of tears in her eyes.

“Blah, blah, blah. You always have something to complain about, don't you? I was also an unskilled rookie like you, but with years of hard work and practice, I was able to beat my masters. The moment you start to believe that you're weak, that's when you become weak. You don't just give up when life puts you down; you get up and continue fighting. You work through the pain until it becomes a soft breeze on your shoulder, and you keep on working until your body forgets that pain even exists,” Araya said with a stern tone as she stared into Aurelia's eyes.

She went quiet and walked to Aurelia. She placed her right palm on Aurelia's shoulder and continued softly, “Aurelia, when you're weak, you won't be able to protect anyone. People will die before your eyes, and you won't be able to do anything about it. I'm sure you don't want something like that to happen to you.”

As Aurelia stared into Araya's eyes, images of all the villages she had been to flashed in her head. Images of all the people that burned in the large flames flashed in her head, and the sound of their screams echoed in her ears.

She clenched her teeth and tightened her grip around her stick. An angry expression grew on her face, and she replied, “No. No, I don't. Please keep on training me.”

Araya smiled. “That’s the spirit,” she said.

She moved away from Aurelia, then assumed a fighting stance, holding her stick close to its end by the left side of her waist with her left hand, putting her right palm above the stick’s protruding end like it was a real sword, and spreading her legs apart, her left leg being further back than her right.

“I learned a number of martial arts from many different masters over the years. I learned from knights, generals, mercenaries, and even samurais. If you wish to attain my level of mastery, then you must be ready to bleed out your pores,” Araya said, staring at the ground, the surrounding wind slowly becoming turbulent.

“Is that even humanly possible…” Aurelia was about to speak, but before she could finish her question, Araya launched at her at full speed, large amounts of sand and dust rising along the path she blasted through. Araya swung her stick with a high amount of force and slammed it into Aurelia's stomach.