The Eyes of Fate (Currently in Rewrite)

The Captain

Sentinel

The Eyes of Fate Headquarters

Washington State, USA

October 1st, 2019

The room Sentinel walked into was clearly some sort of training area. It was made almost entirely from wood, from floor to ceiling, except for a handful of long glass windows on the right-hand wall that were filling the room with natural light. The left-hand wall was hidden behind what looked like giant panels of bamboo blinds.  On the back wall were two closed doors on it that Sentinel assumed were storage, and there were wooden training dummies scattered about the room. Some of them had knives sticking out of them, while others had pieces broken off or long gouges in the wood. In the center of them all stood Fang, the leader of the Eyes of Fate.

There was also a knife spinning rapidly towards his face.

Sentinel fell backwards with a shout, the knife barely missing his face, and landed flat on his back. When he looked back up, Fang was standing over him already. Sentinel felt a twinge of fear looking up at the man, knowing Fang could kill him easily if he felt like it. Fang eyes him for a long second, and he felt the fear grow as he wondered what Fang was going to do to him.

What Fang did was smile warmly at him and offer him a hand up, which Sentinel gratefully took. 

"Good dodge," Fang complimented him, his warm voice slightly rough, like he yelled a lot or used to smoke. There was also just a hint of a southern accent, but it sounded almost muddled, like he'd lost it over time. "And good reaction time. That would've killed you if it had hit you."

"No it wouldn't have." Sentinel said, prompting Fang to raise an eyebrow at him. "With the spin it had, it would've hit me with the pommel. But then, you knew that already, didn't you?"

Fang eyed him again, but slower this time. Sentinel again felt that twinge of fear, and worried if he had offended Fang.

"Man, you are good!" Fang broke out laughing, and it was contagious enough that Sentinel found himself laughing too. Fang clapped him on the back, and he suddenly seemed a little less scary, his eyes a little less intimidating. Fang stepped back and offered his hand. "I'm Fang. Sentinel, right?"

Sentinel took the offered hand and shook, noting that while the other man's hands felt rough and scarred, the handshake wasn't a vice grip like he had expected. "That's right, but how-"

"Did I know that already?" Fang broke in and grinned at him. "Oracle, of course. She keeps me in the loop with everything she learns."

That made sense. Of course the Eyes would be in contact with each other while they were testing a new member. That was probably why Oracle had gone first, so she could learn some of the basics and make notes to spread important information to the others.

"Oracle also told me that you don't know how to fight, is that true?" Fang asked.

"Yes, it's true." Sentinel said sheepishly. "I've never had to fight before."

"Well, you'll be required to learn to fight here." Fang walked over to the bamboo covered wall and hit a switch that was next to one of the panels. They all started raising as he talked. "I require all of my people not just know how to fight, but to be good at it. You need to know how to defend yourself in this line of work, or you'll die, plain and simple. I'm assuming that won't be a problem.

"No, of course not sir." Sentinel answered, staring mostly at what was being revealed by the bamboo as it rolled up. 

There were dozens of weapons displayed on the walls. They were mostly hand to hand weapons, knives being the obvious favorite, but swords and axes and even spears as well. On a panel further down were bows and arrows and even a few guns, which was interesting. In all of the stories Sentinel could find online, it seemed like nobody had ever seen Fang actually use a gun.