Memor brandished his sword, facing Uncle Ceres who stood leisurely, his hands crossed behind him. They moved to an open space, the wind fluttering their clothes like the scent of dust.
"Ready?" Uncle Ceres asked.
Memor nodded, his eyes fixed on Ceres.
Uncle Ceres released one hands from his back, he opened his palm, a ripple extended in the direction of Memor, the space wavered from his hand, materializing into a longsword.
The moment it appeared, Memor dashed, slashing at Ceres, their blades clashed. With both his hands on the Swiss Sabre, Memor pushed Uncle Ceres back, his attacks quick and precise.
Every fight they had before, started in the same manner, Memor charging forward and Uncle Ceres being pushed back, but Ceres was never pushed back, if one were to watch Ceres's movements apart from his arm he would look like a man on a stroll.
Memor kept pushing, his attacks turning more vicious by the second. Memor thrusted his Sabre. Parrying, Ceres struck. Memor escaped, only a graze marked his shoulder, streaming in blood. They continued their game of cat and mouse, leaving their surroundings in destruction, Memor would get parried, striking a tree and get struck too. As the fight went on Memor's body got more mangled. Soon Ceres went on the offence, he bashed Memor's sword out the way, following with a kick, knocking him to the ground, Memor was disoriented.
During the fight he has already lost a lot of blood, the kick was the last straw, he could not stand even if he wanted to. Through his blurry vision, he saw Uncle Ceres towering above him ready to strike him down. Right before the blade fell, Memor grabbed a handful of sand, chucking it at Ceres, he rolled to the right, the longsword grazed his calf.
Now at Ceres's side he slashed upwards, but Ceres was already prepared for his final assault. The moment before their blades clashed, the edge of the Swiss Sabre rippled.
WOO!
It ate the longsword to two pieces. His Sabre charged at Ceres's abdomen.
It hit, but nothing happened. The Swiss Sabre stopped after cutting Ceres's garments, his body was fine.
You can't be serious. Memor drooped his head, his ragged breathing echoed in his head, then his sword fell from exhaustion.
Ceres looked down at Memor—the cuts, the gashes, the mangled limbs, and the trembling hands. Only for a moment, a disturbing smile slipped past his stoic demeanor.
"First time you won." Ceres said, dropping his broken longsword that dissolved a few seconds later.
"Please." Memor let out a self-deprecating chuckle" I didn't even hurt you one bit."
"Beggers can't be chooser Memor." Ceres said.
Kneeling down, Uncle Ceres placed his hand on Memor's head, then Memor's wounds started to close leaving no scars behind.
"Why do you think lost?" Ceres asked, standing up.
"Lack of knowledge." Memor said, picking himself up.
"And how do you get knowledge?" Uncle Ceres asked.
"I don't know, Read." Memor answered, a smirk on his face.
Uncle Ceres shook his head at Memor's answer." You should have tested me."
"Well. Never had the chance." Memor said.
Ignoring Memor's comment, Ceres and Memor went back to the bunker, Memor retrieved his sheath and Uncle Ceres went back to his craft.
"Go home and rest, he will work you to the bone."
Memor nodded and went home.
***
43 cycles till Memor becomes a Learner.
It was no surprise to Memor when got a letter from Councilor Spyro, he was ordered to volunteer in the coming resource gathering expedition for the construction project in the cliff next to Torsal. In the letter it referred to the reason of punishment as 'irresponsibility of one's self', whatever that meant. Memor had a gut feeling that Spyro was scheming something, but he knew whatever it was it won't be hurtful enough to cause Memor and Uncle Ceres to leave the village.
Uncle Ceres's unwillingness to leave Sal Village has been evident to Memor as far as he could remember. When Memor was younger he asked his uncle to tour another village, he was met with...
Just outside the village, under the brittle stream of the eclipsed moon, a dozen wagons dotted its surrounding, battalions of trained officers stood at ease numbering in the hundreds, deployed in various parts outside the village.
Memor was crouched at the edge of the temporary camp, observing the bustling workers carrying supplies crates from the village to the wagons, most of the wagons were Artifacts, holding Last Anchor Fragments in them.
In a year Sal Village would issue two to three large scale expeditions, as it was not self-sustaining. Whenever the Councilors of the village decide to expand on its infrastructure, an operation like the one Memor is viewing would occur.
In his black jalabiya he borrowed from Calypso, Memor drew shapes in the ground to pass time, his Swiss Sabre rested on the ground to his left.
Memor has already gathered the information he needed for the expedition. There were around 700 people included in this operation, they will be split into 3 teams, each guided by a member of Figure, a few Mind Shifters, and the rest, Learners who were either soldiers or workers. A couple students from the academy volunteered to join, as they could gain experience from the operation if they were to ever take on the career path of a hunter.
Memor was stationed with the team heading North— Elena's party, which included all the volunteers from the academy.
Soon it was time to leave, he picked up his sword, buckling it to his belt, stood up, and scrapped away his finger art with his foot. Just then, an arm wrapped around his head from behind, it was Luni, a cheerful smile on his face.
"Did you miss me?!" Luni asked.
"Not anymore." Memor answered, his expression smug.
"Yaaa! So, mean! how could you?!" Luni spoke in a hurtful expression.
"I heard that the theater is hiring, you should go try your luck." Memor walked towards where Elena had told them to congregate, swiping Luni's arm off his shoulders, smirking.
"What?! Aren't we supposed to be brothers that are renowned throughout the Memory domains as the strongest duo?" Luni skipped forward following Memor's footsteps.
"Have you heard? The Merchants from Cafoori Village will be coming early this month." Luni strung his arm around Memor's shoulder again." Rumor says, they got stock from the big cities."
"What are you fussing about. Even if they did, how could your broke ass afford anything." Memor said, laughing at Luni.
"Brother. You know who my sister is?" Luni asked raising an eyebrow.
"You know who my uncle is?" Memor replied raising an eyebrow as well.
Arriving at the gather point, he was met by his peers, from the bunch, one looked familiar. Memor remembered, it was one of the ladies he met in the shopping street with the short blond hair when he ran into Alara.
Elena arrived just after Memor and Luni, not wasting anytime she quickly explained the rules for them. The students were moved to the wagon they were assigned to, before Memor could join the rest of his peers, he was pulled aside by Elena.
"Memor...uhh I know Councilor Spyro put you up to this. I can sneak you out if you want?"
That's a bad idea, Councilor Spyro is bound to find out. Then it won't be just me and Uncle Ceres, he might involve Elena too. Memor stood in thought on Elena's offers.
"I think I'll stay. It can be fun with Luni with us." Memor smiled.
Elena let out a sigh." Ok. Come on," she waved her hand." go to your friends, you don't want to be late."
Nodding to Elena, Memor joined his peers on the wagon.
"My name is Yorgos..." A bulky man said in his deep voice.
It seems like Memor has walked in on the group giving self-introductions, ten students occupied the wagon not including Memor and the wagoner.
He unbuckled his Sheath from his belt, placed it in-between his thighs as he sat down next to Luni. To Memor's left was the bulky man named Yorgos that eyed Memor disdainfully, to his left, next to Luni was the blond girl he met at the shopping district,
Looking at her they made eye contact, her expression turned to one of disgust, with no attempt at hiding it.
There it is. I thought something was off. Memor looked away scoffing as he sighed internally.
The people in the wagon continued their introductions, since most of them were assigned to different classes or never spoke during their short time at Learners Academy.
Zinon, a blond-haired man, that gave off charismatic aura— He has been eyeing the blond girl for quite some time now. Chara, a blue-eyed lady with long black hair, she sat timidly grabbing her knees. Demi, blond-haired friend of Alara, she emitted more manliness than Luni could ever muster. The rest have already introduced themselves and didn't seem to care if Memor knew them or not. It was to be expected, most of the volunteer were of the middle-class and has gotten an education in combat and wilderness survival, they looked down on people of the lower-class.
Twenty minutes later, their team began their expedition, Memor's Wagon started to move with the pack.
"Hey Mori," Luni called." Don't you have to eat a Bayel flower?"
"Ahh thanks for reminding me," Memor said.
From the pouches on his belt, Memor retrieved a Bayel flower, before shoving it his mouth.
The familiar heat rose through his esophagus, then it was the sharp pain, but his face only wavered a slight bit in discomfort.
If a grown person were to eat a Bayel flower they would experience mild heat in their stomach and esophagus, but Memor has been abusing it since his days as a toddler, his digestive track has been tortured to the point it can barely handle a Bayel flower. He feels immense pain every single time he ingests it, and it will only get worse until he becomes a Learner.
"What?" Yorgos laughs, "we got a baby with us here." He laughed more, some of the other students giggled as well. Memor shook his head with an emotionless face.
The rest of his peers made chitchat amongst themselves—Luni spoke with Demi while Zinon glared at him, Yorgos sat in silence as if preparing for war, same with Chara with her timid self.