The Son Of The Dragons

The First Training

"Get up Zulah!" Eren said. Zulah moaned and turned onto his other side. Eren sighed to himself and kicked Zulah in the ribs, lightly. All of a sudden he felt his foot being seized, and then suddenly he was thrown to the ground. He spluttered, trying to get back up, but Zulah was holding on to his legs. He stopped struggling and looked at Zulah. "What was that for?" he asked indignantly. Zulah grinned, partially asleep. "For waking me up rudely." He let go of Eren's legs and stood up. "What's for breakfast?" he asked, yawning in the process. Eren got up. "What we can find in the wild..." he said ruefully. Zulah yawned again. "Greeaat... Wild strawberries and pine bark for breakfast." He stretched.

Eren smiled to himself. "If that's what you want. But, while you're out scavenging, I think I'll stay here and cook these two pheasants that I caught in a trap. He held up two fat pheasants, already skinned and ready to be cooked over and open fire." Zulah turned around and grabbed his bow and arrows. "Whatever..." he yawned. "Just make sure..." he never finished what he wanted to say. He turned around slowly. "D...did you say pheasants?" he asked with a dumb smile on his face. Eren grinned. "Looks like we won't be having pine bark for breakfast after all." Zulah let out a whoop that made Eren's ears whistle and shook the trees. "Quiet down, will you?" Eren said anxiously. "We don't know who or what's listening. We don't want everybody to know we're here!"

Zulah smiled apologetically. "Sorry. I'm just happy that we get to have pheasant for breakfast." Eren grinned and started making a fire. "You go out and scout the perimeter. I'll get the food going and check our supplies." Zulah turned to go, but Eren grabbed his shoulder. "Be careful out there. We just got out of prison, don't end up dying so soon." Zulah grinned. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." He turned and walked away, into the bushes. "Look out for some edible berries and stuff!" Eren yelled after him.

30 minutes later...

"Guess what I found?" Zulah said excitedly. Eren glanced at him. "I have no idea," he said, without much interest. Zulah's face fell. "Aw come on! You're not even curious?" Eren smiled at Zulah. "Nope," he said. Zulah frowned and sat down. "Fine, then you're not getting any." Eren chuckled. "I'm just pulling your leg, idiot. Now show me what you got." Zulah's face brightened. "Well, I found a patch of wild strawberries that we can eat afterwards..." he stopped speaking. Eren motioned for him to continue. "And then...I found...This!" with that, he procured a large oval shaped fruit from his pack. It was about as big as his head, with green stripes running lengthwise down the sides. Eren grinned happily. "You found a watermelon. Nice. Something sweet to eat with the pheasants. Now come, let's eat. Breakfast is ready."

After breakfast, they took all leftovers and wrapped it in a large leaf, and then set off again. "How long will it take us to reach Struven?" Zulah asked. "Eren checked their map. "About...two weeks on foot." "Two weeks?!" Zulah exclaimed. "It's far, but not THAT far!" Eren shrugged. "We're going to be moving slow, and rest every now and then to train. So yeah...It's gonna take a while."

Later that afternoon...

"I think we'll settle here for the night. There's enough daylight left for us to train by, so let's get started!" Eren said. "So, let's start with detection." "Detection?" Zulah interrupted. "That's boring." Eren smiled patiently. "Boring, but very important. It will help you detect the presence of any living and breathing entity nearby. Now, I need you to listen carefully." Zulah leaned forward as not to miss anything. Eren also leaned forward, letting the pressure build. "DO NOT INTERRUPT ME!" he yelled. Zulah recoiled with shock. "HEY! What was that for!" he said indignantly. Eren was rolling around on the ground, laughing. He sat back up. "Sorry for that," he said, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "It's just important not to interrupt me, or we'll miss something. Now, let's begin."

"To isolate how the eyes detect presence, let us pretend that it is dark. The first way to detect a person's presence in the dark is movement. The second way is the shadow or outline of a person's silhouette. Lastly is colour because the darkness inhibits the detection of colour. Using this concept, you are also able to see in the dark, or, more accurately, you will be able to detect someone's presence in the dark. So, the eyes see these things in the following order: Firstly, movement. Secondly, silhouette, and finally, colour.

Now, when we hear a noise, our eyes tend to look for the disturbance at our eye level. Very seldom would our eyes look up or low down to seek the cause of the noise. Are you still listening, Zulah?" Zulah nodded, frowning in concentration. "Good. Now I'll tell you how to fool the eyes and avoid detection."

To avoid detection, slow down your movement when sneaking in the dark. If someone is facing you, stop moving. Blend in with the silhouette of natural elements in the environment, like trees, rocks, bushes or furniture, if you're in a building. The watcher's eyes will be fooled and he will not see you. Unless, of course, it is bright enough to see colour.

Conceal yourself in the darkest portion of the shadows while sneaking and hide behind objects and crouch to make yourself appear small.

Be aware of light sources. You do not want to stand in front of a lamp and show your moving shadow. Remember! The eyes see movement first. This is the most important rule. If someone is looking at you, DON'T MOVE! Even if you think you are detected, don't move. It is often after people think they are detected and move, that the watcher sees them for the first time.There is one more important thing: people almost NEVER look up. " Zulah nodded, "Well then, tonight, we practice." Eren got up and walked to his pack. "Now let's eat."

A slight breeze was blowing. Zulah was crouched behind a bush. Eren was at their campsite, by the campfire, acting as lookout, trying to find Zulah. Zulah moved slowly. He synchronised his movements with the movements of the shadows created by the breeze blowing through the trees. Eren suddenly looked in his direction. He froze. Eren looked away again. Zulah kept still, aware of the tactic some scouters applied: They would look at a spot, then let their gaze drift away, and then suddenly flicked their vision back to the spot, trying to catch even the slightest movement. Eren did just that. Without warning, he suddenly looked back at where Zulah was crouched, but he didn't see anything.

Zulah moved again. Carefully, making sure he didn't step on any twigs or dry leaves, he inched closer to Eren. Eren kept looking around, completely unaware of Zulah's current whereabouts. All of a sudden, he swung around and looked Zulah in the eyes. Zulah froze, not even daring to blink or breathe. Eren didn't see him. He looked away again, and didn't look again. Zulah climbed into a tree, inching along the lowermost branch so that he was directly behind and above Eren. He wanted to drop down behind Eren, and then lock him in a choke hold. Eren turned around, and Zulah saw his chance, and took it.

He dropped from above, landing on his feet, but just as Zulah wanted tograb Eren in the choke hold, Eren spun around and kicked his feet from underhim. He fell to the ground and lay there, stunned. Eren grinned down at him. "Not bad for your first try." He grabbed Zulah's hand and hoistedhim to his feet. "You made the mistake of getting excited and breathing fasterwhen up in that tree. I could hear your breathing, but only just." Zulah dustedhimself off, and grinned at Eren. "Man, you're really good at this. I thought Ihad you for sure." Eren smiled at him. "We'll try this again tomorrow. Makesure you get enough sleep." With that, he walked to where he made himself a bedof leaves. Zulah followed him, excited for the next day. It took Zulah a while to fall asleep, thinking about what the future held in store for them.