The Quest for Onyx (Book 1)

Chapter 5

"Climb Essix, we don't have all day!!" Sergeant Hansen yells.

"I'm trying!" I yell down at him. "Climbing the tallest mountain in Orea isn't exactly easy you know." I mutter to myself.

So here I am doing the entrance test for the village army. Sergeant Hansen is the mediator for me. He's a high ranking warrior in the army. He's really tall and muscular and he looks intimidating. Because he is. Just my luck I get one of the toughest people to impress.

"I'd like for you to get up there in five minutes, so shake a leg!" Hansen barks.

I bit back a sharp remark and keep climbing. It wouldn't do me any good to get smart with him.

A rock under one of my feet slips out and falls down the mountain side. I make the mistake of looking down after the rock and I'm met with the dizzying sight of the ground very far away.

I quickly look back up at the mountain in front of me. I plaster myself to the rock face and squeeze my eyes shut. "Oh jeez it's so high."

After I psych myself up to continue climbing, I begin to slowly make my way up. Finally after what seemed like an eternity of climbing, I got to the top.

"Well...finally you got up here." Hansen says. He is sitting on a rock with his feet propped up like he's lounging on a couch.

"How did you-" I start very confused. He was down on the ground a few minutes ago. How did he get up here before me?

"Now you can climb back down." Hansen says while flicking his hand towards the cliff I just climbed.

"WHAT?! I CLIMBED ALL THE WAY UP HERE" I turn towards the cliff" TO CLIMB ALL THE WAY BACK DOWN AGAIN?!" I exclaim furiously.

Silence.

I turn around and I'm shocked when I don't see Hansen anywhere. I'm about to be worried when I hear Hansen way down below.

"What're you doing up there?! I told you to climb back down!"

I looked over the edge and saw that he was already halfway down. How does he do this? This is unnatural.

I step over the edge of the cliff and sigh. Then I begin climbing back down.

🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

"Ok kid. Time to see your sword skills. Let's see what ya got, draw your sword." Hansen says.

I do as he instructed. I reach down and pull my sword from the holster. It catches the sunlight and shimmers.

"Ah I know that sword anywhere. That's Erin's sword." Hansen says impressed. He pulls his own sword out of its holster and points it at me "Ok give me all you got, attack me."

"Alright you asked for it." I say.

I dart forward and deliver a two handed sword strike. It's an extremely powerful blow that Erin taught me, it would normally disarm the person you are attacking, but Hansen deflects it like it's nothing and sends me skidding backwards.

Hansen chuckles and flicks his sword downward. "That was a solid hit. Erin must've taught you how to use a sword."

I recover and strike again. "Yep. Taught me everything I know about sword fighting." This time the blow connects into his armor and I have one brief moment of satisfaction before Hansen knocks me backwards again.

"Not bad, but can you handle this?" Hansen asks while raising his sword.

With insane speed he darts forward. Before I can register what he's doing, he uses his other hand to twist my sword hand. The forceful quick motion cause my sword to be wrenched out of my hand. Wow that was quick and precise.

Hansen smirks and pushes me backward.

I dig my feet into the sand to stop myself from sliding anymore. "So that's how you want it? What's the matter Hansen, I thought you were more of a man than that." I smirk "What kind of sergeant attacks an unarmed civilian?"I say.

I was hoping my little tease at his pride and morals would distract Hansen long enough for me to attack him. But he brushes it off like it's nothing.

Hansen darts forward again, but this time I'm ready. I dodge his attack and start running towards the sloping mass of the mountain. Hansen is confused. I can see it on his face. The confusion changes into another smirk. He thinks I'm running away. Well he is certainly mistaken.

I took the second of surprise that I got and run faster until it looks like the only way I'll have to go is up the mountain side. I'm very aware that Hansen is right behind me. At the last second I jump and push off of the mountain side. I flip over Hansen and kick his sword hand with a hard kick. His sword is knocked out of his hand and wedges into the cliff.

Hansen rubs his wrist. His face is showing a lot of surprise, a little bit of respect...and is that wonder I see? He's a little impressed.

"Nice move." He says while cracking his knuckles "Now let's see if you can do something like that again."

This sword fight just turned into a brawl. Punching people is something I excel in. Who do you think protects Mr Copperfield's store? Yep, it's me.

Hansen is fast. He lands several hits. I'm barely making it where his punches deflect enough so they don't do major damage. It still hurts though. I'm doing my best to fight back and I've landed some solid hits to Hansen too. It's taking me a while but eventually I figure out his strategy. He likes to attack his opponent's weak spots.

The next time I attack I manage to grab him by the arm as I deliver a punch. He doesn't realize what I did fast enough and before he can recover I slide around behind his back and flip him over judo style.

I smile and bow like a karate master "Match point Hansen-son."

Hansen brushes himself off and stands up. The smile on his face tells me he's impressed. "Well you're not too bad at fighting Essix." He crosses his arms and cocks his head at me "Just know next time I'm not going easy on ya kid alright?"

"I thought you were going easy on me." I tease.

Hansen laughs "That's a good one Essix." He walks over to where my sword is laying on the ground and picks it up. He walks back over to me and hands it to me. "Keep practicing your sword skills. You're going to need it when you're doing missions for the village army."

"W-what did you say?" I say incredulously.

"I said I'd see ya tomorrow at the village army initiation." Hansen says while walking away. "See ya kid."

"I can't believe this! I did it!" I exclaim excitedly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yay she did it!

Glad to see you guys again! I'm happy to be editing this story after way too long. It should've been done a while back but I've procrastinated and haven't gotten around to it until now.

Enjoy!

🕸Thwip🕸
ScarletApollo99 🕷