Fantasy Chronicles of Cre' Est

[Mothman]

"You're too kind, Doctor Almna..." Whimsey gave a weak smile to the woman. "But I can't just leech off of you and the others forever. It already leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

As Linde offered a hug, she blinked twice at her and let out a soft exhale before nervously stepping forward and wrapping her arms around the woman. "Did I ever tell you about my mom...?" She couldn't remember mentioning it, but her memory was poor enough that she wouldn't have been surprised if she had.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Linde wrapped her arms around Whimsey and gently stroked the girl's hair.

"You told me a little bit, yes." She whispered.

"If you have something you want to say, I'll listen. But for now, given the situation, maybe it's best to hold it for now and just try to unwind for a while." She cooed.

A little pat on the back, and Linde ended the hug with a smile.

"Anyway, the clinic is waiting for us. So let's get to it, shall we?"

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

"Y-Yeah. Right." Nodding in agreement with Linde, she quickly wiped at her eyes and brushed her hands her pants. With a few coughs and a clear of her throat, she agreed that now wasn't the time to spill stuff about her past. They had work to do, after all. "You're like... The maternal figure I never had. I just wanted to say thanks, is all..." Walking after the woman to the door, she glanced down at her coat, or lack thereof, and paused.

"My coats back in my room. Sorry, Doctor Almna, I'll be real quick." She nodded and darted out the door, not wanting to break into a full on run thanks to worries about her hip, but still keeping her pace quick, until she returned just a few minutes later with her hair slightly fixed up and coat on. "Right. Business as usual, then, Doctor Almna?"

GojiBean​

 

[Mothman]

Whimsey caught herself being lost in her thoughts a few times as the day went on, trying to come to some conclusion about what to do in the future. Though, she quickly snapped out of those thoughts when they came up, glad they had a pretty casual day, with no pressing injuries, and a pretty slow flow of patients. When the day came to an end, she bid Linde a brief goodbye before heading back to her room and changing. With how Shadow had thrust her into that situation that he paid her for, she wouldn't have been awfully surprised if Shadow just attacked her or something when she arrived.

With a fair amount of time to spare, she left her room in tight black clothes that would be easy to move in, with a brown cloak over the top of it. Heading out, she made her way to the Church Clock Tower, climbing up without any problems. No guards got in her way, and the way up was simple enough. Once on top, she leaned over the side, looking down at the streets below and sighing. While she certainly wasn't afraid of heights, she wasn't awfully fond of them, either.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

The night was calm and serene.

Nobody in the streets below. No animals or birds nesting in the tower to suddenly leap out and startle her. Whimsey could see the entire city from the majestic Royal Palace looming over the city's North end to the South end of the Common District leading out to the flowing green pastures rolling on seemingly forever to the horizon.

With the moon overhead, now half-full, she had plenty of light to see everything all around her.

The breeze and the sound of the wind flowing through her hair and over her clothing kept her company as she waited for the moon to reach its highest point. And it was only the fainest brushing sound from behind her, like two pieces of cloth brushing against one another, that heralded the arrival of the one she was here to see. Lo and behold, Shadow walked around the side of the Bell itself, one hand softly brushing against the golden metal before flicking off of it and falling to his side.

"So you're going to learn after all." He said, less as a question and more of a statement.

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

As she waited for Shadow to arrive, knowing that he wasn't type to skip out on arrangements, she eventually heard the quiet sound of Shadow behind her, turning and crossing her arm.

"Romantic spot you picked." A small yawn followed her words. "Never agreed. Wanted to hear what you had in mind."

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Shadow's perpetual frown betrayed nothing despite the most subtle increase in the intensity of the glow coming from them.

"Do you fear me?" He asked in a low voice.

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

"Used to. You had me losing sleep for weeks." She leaned against the railing, putting her palms on it as she simply stared at Shadow for a moment. "After seeing how tame you are with Linde, and how you've been helping me out... Now I just think you're rude." Putting it bluntly, she didn't want to lie to Shadow, or skirt around things. "I'm grateful for your help, though."

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Shadow's eyes narrowed.

"A step in the right direction."

He leaned in, getting uncomfortably close to Whimsey as he glared a hole into her right between the eyes.

"If you did still fear me, we'd have a problem."

He leaned away and stood up straight.

"No matter their size, strength, or training, Te'i Sai are still human. And they bleed just as red as you or I do. And easily too, if you know how to approach them."

He withdrew one of his orichalcum daggers, and tossed it to Whimsey. And upon catching it, she'd feel just how heavy it was. Easily three times heavier than the average dagger of the same size with a fourteen inch long blade and a seven inch handle and guard. But given the metal's borderline mythical status as the hardest metal on Earth, could anyone expect otherwise?

"That dagger is older than you and I combined. And since the day I received it it's seen countless battles and spilled far too much blood. Yet for all its durability and achievements, it's only a hunk of metal in the hands of one who doesn't know how to use it. So tell me... Presuming you were used to the weight, would this blade any more effective than your own dagger in combat?"

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

"You've got no sense of personal space, either." She quickly took a step to her left as Shadow made his declaration, rolling her eyes at the man.

As he withdrew a dagger and threw it her way, she raised an eyebrow and caught it all the same. Could Shadow never just say something without making a riddle? She was surprised with the weight, turning it over in her hands as she listened to him talk again.

"It's a bit heavy for me, Shadow." She shrugged and continued to get a feel for it in her hands, holding it up to the moonlight behind her for a short moment. "...But yeah." She pulled out the dagger she had been using for years, that clearly wasn't intended for fights. It was more on the smaller side, and intended for use in a number of things. Food, cutting rope or plants, and conveniently enough, piercing flesh. "This thing would get knocked out of my hands in a flash, though. I've never learned how to fight an armed target. Just to execute unaware ones."

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Shadow's eyes narrowed.

"I didn't ask whether or not it would get knocked from your hand. I asked if mine would be more effective than the one you carry in a combat situation." He said in a lower voice.

""Yes," or "no?" And then explain to my why you think it would, or would not, be more effective. No scenarios. No hypotheticals. Just a simple explanation of your opinion will do."

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

“Yeesh...” Whimsey put a hand to her head as Shadow chided her for her evasive answer.

“Yes.” Rolling her eyes, she tucked her old dagger back under her cloak. “It would be way easier to gut someone with a massive thing like this, as opposed to mine.”

“If I was able to swing it, it’d be more effective then mine in any way. It’s cut deeper, block better...” She let out a breath and held the hilt of the knife back out to Shadow. “But I’m not great with physical strength. I’m agile, acrobatic, fast... Not that tough, though. At least not compared to you.”

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Shadow let slip a "Hmph," as he took his dagger back.

"Your assessment was what I expected. Overly analytical, and entirely incorrect." He said as he sheathed the dagger.

He brought out a much smaller throwing knife with a blade barely three inches long, and held it flat in the palm of his hand.

"There's nothing my orichalcum blades can do that this blade can't. Because knowing how to use the weapon is far more important than the weapon's shape, length, or weight."

He sheathed the throwing knife, and gave Whimsey a rather grave glare, even for him.

"Your body is a weapon. And like any weapon with an edge, the knowledge of how to use it is more important than your height, weight, durability, or strength... You said you wanted to know what I had in mind? Well that is what I'm offering. A chance to learn to use your body, as is, to its maximum efficiency so that you can stop relying on myself or Linde to bail you out in a tough situation."

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

Whimsey didn't speak as Shadow chided her and her answer, simply nodding to the man as he went into the differences between the two daggers. It wasn't until he got to the topic of using her whole body as a weapon that she nodded, before crossing her arms and meeting eyes with the man.

"...I'm listening. I'm done being dead weight for you and Doctor Almna." Bowing her head forward, she paused for a moment. Shadow's training was going to be hell, especially if Linde had considered it as such. If she had training from her father, a general for godsake, she'd likely be dead within the week. She didn't have anything even close to that in terms of training.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

"If you're done being dead weight, then follow me to my training grounds. I need to assess your capabilities as they are now before I can teach you anything."

Without waiting for a response, Shadow immediately looked to the edge of the bell tower and, as if it were no different from walking down the street, walked off the edge. Dropping from height, he allowed himself to fall halfway down the tower before slamming his orichalcum dagger into the stone structure to slow his descent before gracefully pulling the dagger free, rotating around, and landing softly on his feet on the roof below. Standing to full height, he looked up to the tower and waited for Whimsey to find a way down to him.

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

"That's fine. I can keep-" Before she could finish reassuring Shadow that she could keep up, the man had thrown himself off of the bell tower. Stepping forward and leaning over the edge to watch him descend, she let out a quiet whistle of surprise.

"What a maniac..." Knowing that he expected her to follow quickly, she glanced over the side of the tower and let out a short sigh. At least she didn't regret wearing easy to move in clothes...

Throwing the hood of her cloak up, she hopped over the fence around the church bell before descending just a bit, nowhere near as far as Shadow let himself fall, before reaching out and grabbing at one of the bars on the windows leading up to the top. Once she had a firm hold, she glanced down to see the next window, before doing the same and grabbing hold on the next.

Repeating the process as she went down, all was fine until the got to the third floor. As her hand reached out to grab at the bar, it came clean off, having been loose in the window. Having only a second or so to react, she at first tried to get a hold on the windowsill with her other hand, not having the time to do as such. Starting to fall, she kicked off the wall of the church and leapt towards the rooftop that Shadow was on. She broke into a roll to spread out the impact of the landing, making it without breaking anything. Though, she would probably have a bruise on her shoulder in the morning.

"Shoddy architecture..." Scoffing at the bar she still had held in her hand, she dropped it and shook her head. "Where're we going, anyways? Or is this yet another thing you're gonna speak in riddles about?"

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Shadow watched her descent and took note of every detail he saw in the way she moved, however subtle it may have been. And as she landed, blaming the architecture for the ungraceful last stretch before landing and asking about where they were going, he turned around and spoke over his shoulder.

"We're going to the mountains, Southeast of the city. The higher altitude makes it harder to breathe, which is perfect for developing your cardio conditioning alongside teaching you how to engage them if necessary. They can't kill you if they run out of stamina chasing you."

He broke immediately into a jog, following the natural pathway created by the interlinked building architecture as he led them towards the East Gate. The lockdown was still in place which would make sneaking out difficult. But he had few doubts, given what he'd seen, that Whimsey would have little trouble following his lead and sneaking through undetected. And indeed it was so. With Shadow leading, they wove their way between the patrols and utilized a distraction technique by throwing a stone back towards the city streets to draw the guards from the gate itself giving themselves just enough time and room to exit and dash to the tree line.

Once they were in the clear and amongst the trees, Shadow abruptly came to a stop and turned to face Whimsey.

"I suppose I should mention that I'll temporarily be leaving you to train on your own after the first week. I have business to attend to, which shouldn't take more than a few days. Once I'm done, I'll return to oversee your training. So while I'm gone you'd best push yourself hard in my stead. If I see any drops in progress when I return, I won't ease you back into the rhythm you had before my departure. I'll simply throw you headlong into the next phase with no time to adjust. Understood?"

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

"Should I have packed more...?" She tilted her head with a bit of worry at the idea of heading up into the mountains to train. Not that she had too much more than changes of clothes and her journal to bring; she was sure they would be safe in her room back at the Clinic.

Following Shadow without much more to say, she silently followed his lead at sneaking out of the city. It was things like this that she specialized in, and had no trouble following Shadow's lead in sneaking by patrols as well as distractions. If she have had to fight one of those knights, though, that would have been a completely different story.

She nearly barreled into Shadow as he stopped once they were out of town, stopping herself and taking a step back to make space. As he mentioned he would be leaving her alone for a few days after they eased into it, she simply nodded. "I'm not a kid who's gonna slack off when you're gone. Understood. Do I get to know what this business is?" She assumed the answer would be no, but was curious and thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

His eyes flashed like candles suddenly energized by a flammable fluid.

"Te'i Sai will be down a few bodies by the time I return."

With that, he turned on his heel and jogged into the woods leading Whimsey towards the mountains.

...

The 1st Day of the Fourth Laetal Moon had arrived, and it had been three days since Shadow had taken Whimsey to the mountains. Linde was on a break and eating lunch in her office while Jessica ran the clinic with Maretu still working with Karly in the Apothecary.

It was a nice, bright sunny day. And everything almost felt like it had gone back to normal now that Te'i Sai wasn't actively hunting Whimsey.

Linde had to admit to herself that it was kind of nice to feel 'normal' again.

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

Shadow's training was running her ragged. Sure, she could already tell that it was effective, and she was learning things about even just the human body she knew next to nothing about... But she'd be damned if Shadow wasn't a bit of a slave driver at times. Just three days in, and while she was working hard, it was getting exhausting.

"Shadow...?" After another particularly grueling workout session, she hoped to get the man's attention before he ran off to do whatever it was Shadow did to pass the time. "You haven't said much. About this... Am I meeting your expectations?" For whatever reason, she already knew that Shadow wasn't going to be pleased with the question, but needed to know. She was giving it her all, but this felt like a regime made for Shadow, not for a young woman like her.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Shadow's regimen for Whimsey was anything but kind, but it was the first day which was the worst.

On day one, they woke up before dawn and jogged a two mile route through the high mountains. But what made that so difficult was not only the thinner air at altitude, but the fact it was all up and downhill with next to zero flat ground to maintain a consistent effort on. Following that, they would stretch every major muscle group for ten minutes. Next, they would practice basic fundamentals of combat such as footwork and body positioning. Not so bad on paper. But when Whimsey was made to perform the same routine motions, such as a half-step forward and a half-step backwards on both sides 500 times each, and all within the course of ten minutes per motion... Well, that spoke for itself when one considered that there were ten basic motions for her to do. 1,000 repetitions per motion when taking both sides into account. And all had to be completed within that ten minute time bracket, which equated to one hour and forty minutes for the entire thing...

Once this was done, they would break for a proper breakfast... Which meant heading down the mountain and into the forest to hunt for food. No pre-made meals were allowed or prepared. Everything was caught, killed, cleaned, cooked, and eaten "properly," according to Shadow.

Once breakfast was over, Whimsey received a one-hour break to rest, stretch, or pass time with whatever activity she wanted while Shadow disappeared higher into the mountains. Once the hour was up, Shadow would return and training would resume with combat practice. Strikes and evasive maneuvers were the order of the day, and Whimsey would practice each individual strike 100 times on each side before moving to the next strike. This would continue until the sun began to go down in the mid-late afternoon. Once Whimsey had completed her strikes, it was time once again to descend the mountain to hunt for her second meal of the day (of which she only got the two).

Once back at camp, and with the meal having been completed, the final hour of training was meditation. Whimsey was expected to sit quietly in the middle of a circle carved into the rocky ground by Shadow for the duration of the hour and reflect on her training for the day. When her reflection period was over, she would be ordered to tell Shadow where she felt she needed the most improvement, where she made mistakes and how she would correct them, etc.

Shadow was... Forceful, about this phase. His own analysis about her mistakes was always harsh, filled with brutal honesty and, to a subtle degree, disgust, with whatever he pointed out. For example, Whimsey seemed to have the most difficulty, in Shadow's opinion, with kicks. Being more a stealth-oriented individual who used her wrist and arm strength most frequently for silent and swift kills, her leg power was "lackluster at best," as Shadow not so eloquently put it. And since it had only been three days, she'd seen next to zero improvement to this point on the matter.

Meanwhile, day two of training was far more relaxed and focused on Whimsey's mental toughness more than physical activity. She would hold isometric positions for as long as possible until she dropped from muscle fatigue. And Shadow would take note of her time and keep it in his memory for later.

Today, day three, was only half of what day one had been. 250 reps of all 10 basic motions on both sides, for a total of 5,000 reps total by the end in the same amount of time. Still brutally punishing considering the fatigue which had built up over these last two days. But far easier to manage once the adrenaline kicked in to numb the soreness of the first day's activity.

Following Whimsey's question about whether or not she was living up to expectations, Shadow simply glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm still gauging your capabilities, so I have no expectations yet."

His head turned almost robotically to face her.

"But once I'm satisfied with my assessment, that'll change. So be ready. Because by this time tomorrow evening you'll know exactly where you are versus where I know you can be."

With that he returned his gaze forward, which wasn't really looking at anything in particular. But he seemed to do that a lot. Staring ahead into nowhere'sville lost in thoughts which only he could possibly understand.

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

The first day of training under Shadow had Whimsey ready to simply throw herself over the mountainside and let whatever woodland creatures resided in the forest below feast on her. She had thrown up multiple times from exhaustion, as well as the fact she could never properly catch her breath up on the mountains. Like Shadow had said, the altitude made it near impossible to breathe for someone who wasn't used to it. Every single time that Shadow chided her and scolded her about her mistakes, it made her that more frustrated with the man.

Her meditation was the only time in the day she felt actually relaxed. Even when Shadow was having her take a break to eat, she felt so on edge that he would come back and scold her for something else. It was like walking on eggshells with the man; that no matter how hard she worked at it, he wouldn't be satisfied. When she laid down at the end of the day, she was aching in spots she had never ached before.

The 'break' on day two was much appreciated, though having to hold positions until her muscles literally gave out wasn't all that comfortable either. By the time day three came around, she already felt herself wondering how she would keep going, much less keep going for weeks under his training.

The answer to her question was, of course, vague. It only left her wanting to ask more questions, like what he had planned for tomorrow, or what he thought of her capabilities thus far. The repititons of the same technique over and over again, while she understood the point of them, didn't feel like they would serve her so much as to be doing them this many times. By the time she was done here, even though she had been hunting plenty of food, she felt like she'd have lost all of her weight, not that she had much to lose.

"Vague as always, Shadow..." She sat down with a small huff to catch her breath, glancing up at the man and tilting her head. "I wouldn't even need both hands to count how many times I've actually known what the hell is going on in your head." She stretched her arms up above her head, letting out a short grunt of discomfort as the soreness of her muscles made her flinch.

"So... What's next on the agenda?" She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, standing up and taking in a deep breath.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

Continuing to stare out into the night, Shadow glanced at her again out of the corner of his eye.

"Next is for you to find yourself some shelter and get whatever sleep you can. Night's coming fast, and the temperature drop I just felt means there's a storm coming. Within the next hour or so it'll be pouring rain."

He stood up slowly and took a breath, turning halfway away from her and looking at her over his shoulder.

"I'll meet you here tomorrow at dawn, rain or no."

With that, he calmly walked away towards the same downward sloping path leading to the forest which they'd used to hunt for their meals.

Mothman

 

[Mothman]

"Yessir..." Whimsey watched the man go off, rolling her eyes once he was gone. Shelter searching hopefully wouldn't pose that much of an issue. The forest was large and dense enough that she was certain there'd be either a cave or thick enough foliage that she could find shelter from the water.

While it took her a while, and a bit of handiwork that she hadn't gone through the trouble to do in quite some time, she eventually found an area with dense enough forest for her to climb her way up into a tree and not have to worry about anything more than an occasional water droplets dripping onto her. While she would certainly be at least a bit soaked by morning, it was something she was used to. She slept like this plenty when she was still working as an assassin, and it never gave her any trouble.

When morning came, she found herself not as rested as she would have liked. Her limbs and muscles were still super sore, but there wasn't much to be done about it. Shadow had said meet her at dawn, and she didn't want to know what would happen if she kept him waiting.

So, she made her way back through the forest and to where Shadow had sent her off yesterday, taking a seat against the stone and waiting for the man. It was still raining, but she didn't really mind it; she was soaked enough as is.

GojiBean​

 

[GojiBean]

As the torrential rains poured down upon the land, Shadow slowly walked up the mountain path. The gentle sway of his head from left to right with each step, coupled with the glow in his eyes, produced an almost mirage-like effect with the light trailing his eyes with each sway.

He stopped in front of Whimsey, about a full five paces away which was pretty respectful space all things considered.

And above the roar of the wind and rain, Shadow had to raise his voice.

"Your goal today is to find a way to the top of the mountain!" He said, reaching up and pointing up over his shoulder towards the mountain peak high above him.

"There's no proper path to walk, and the rain makes all the rocky surfaces incredibly slippery! One false step, and you'll kiss the valley floor right before you turn into a red smear for the animals to drink!"

He crossed his arms.

"The storm should subside by sundown! You have until then to reach the peak! So get going!"

Mothman