Entity of the East

~ Sadness ~

Winter tells me that there is a group meeting that is going to be held later in the day, and until then, he will train me in combat.

He takes me outside, which up to now, I have only seen through the windows of the house. We take the back exit and I feel for the first time the sun’s warmth gently touching me directly. Behind glass, the warmth felt more like hot soup all over my body.

I feel the grass beneath me tickle my skin as it grazed over it and its green shade looked full of life. The blue sky is spread all over the air with its fluffy clouds bouncing around. I do not see any other houses nearby, so I assume that we live in an isolated household. It also seems that we are near a cliff. I remember times at night. I would peek out the window and see Winter standing on the edge, looking at the stars.

Winter pulls out a wooden sword out of thin, cold air and hands it to me. He then casts a spell, which created a thin ice sword. He looks at me and speaks with his mind.

“Come, strike me. I would like to see if you are suited for the path of the blade.”

“Why not train me in magic?” I ask him.

“When the time is right. If you try and use it now, you may not be able to control it.”

“I understand. I shall strike you.”

I raise the wooden sword, positioning it in front of my face. I look at Winter, focusing on him to look for the best place to strike. He is standing still, not even raising his ice sword.

All openings confirmed. Target is unguarded and has a high chance that it will be struck.

I dash for the target, reading my sword. I am about to strike the target when it quickly swipes its blade and I anticipate its movement. Whilst ducking, an opening was sighted in the facial region, and thrusting the wooden sword, I went for it. However, the attack failed due to large portions of ice shielding the target’s face.

“That’s enough.”

I lower the sword. “How was I?”

“Nicole, do you… feel alright?”

“Yes, I am fine. How are you?”

“You do seem to have… potential,” he says, ignoring my question, “but it seems you are slightly… off when you attack. Perhaps my eyes deceive me. Now, attack me once more.”

He gets into a fighting position now and I ready myself to attack, but-

Now, right in front of me, I have the blade pushing against Winter’s chest. Despite not seeing his face, I sense… tension from him. But I do not think that it is happiness. I sense that it is not a good feeling either.

“…I see,” he says.

“What had happened?”

He remains silent. “…I see.”

He then tells me that that is enough for now and that I am free to do what I wish until the meeting.

“Tell me Winter, what happened? Is the path of the blade suited for me?”

“That is enough.” His words inside my mind seemed to scratch the insides of my head, with a piercing ringing hitting my brain. I did not realize until after the ringing stopped that I had put my hands to my head. Winter has his back turned on me and speaks to me, this time with his voice. “Just go.”

He walks back into the house and the winds whisper into my ear. He has never done that before. Not to me nor the others. He would always answer my questions. What I did nit understand he would make me understand. Why is it that he turned his back on me then?