The Emerging Part I: Dream

Chapter CHAPTER XLI



The dark master watches as his apprentice trains before him. The master critiques inside its mind all of the errors the apprentice makes. The master’s lips twitch into a smirk. ‘Far less errors than usual,’ the master thinks.

The apprentice mercilessly attacks the men put forth to test every fiber of being the apprentice has inside. The heavily armored and sword and shield wielding men attacking individually and simultaneously in no particular order, forcing the apprentice to merely react.

The master notices this and shouts in anger, “No! How many times must I tell you, do not merely react to the situations growing around you. Attack and force the situations to how you desire. Enough!”

The master’s words cut through the attacking men and the men sheathe their swords and retreat to the stand on the wall. The master rises from the throne and approaches the apprentice. The master feels the apprentice’s fear. The master spits in the apprentice’s direction. The glob of spit narrowly misses the apprentice’s hooded face as it lands just inches behind the apprentice.

Suddenly, anger spikes through the apprentice’s aura and replaces the fear. The apprentice then stands in a defensive posture as if ready to attack the dark master. The apprentice can feel the power surging through its master but it does not care.

“You believe you have what it takes to duel me?” the dark master asks incredulously, wielding its sword and striking the apprentice’s left blade faster than a blink of an eye.

The clang resonates through the walls and back to the now dueling opponents. The apprentice remains in the defensive position, defiant to its master. The apprentice draws its left blade away and strikes with its right blade. The dark master swats away the incoming blade as if it is nothing more than a fly buzzing by.

The dark master’s eyes spike in fire watching the apprentice stumble, turn its back, and slowly regain its balance. The dark master punishes the apprentice severely by pouncing on his apprentice’s open back and slashing powerfully.

The apprentice grits its teeth hard to the pain that breaks through its back. Blood begins to flow from the slash causing the appretnice to collapse to its knees. The dark master spits at the back of the apprentice’s head and turns away to disappear from sight in a cloud of smoke.

The apprentice collapses completely to the ground to see the men on the wall file out of the dark room. The apprentice seizes in agony as its blood begins to pool around its body. Each breath suddenly becomes saturated with crimson liquid.

The apprentice loses consciousness.

Fuzziness overtakes the apprentice’s vision as it regains consciousness. Blinking slowly, the apprentice sees its dark master hovering over its head. Fear surges through the apprentice’s body. But just as quickly as the fear entered the apprentice’s mind, anger displaces reigns supreme throughout the apprentice’s aura.

The apprentice regains complete control to attempt to rise from the table to only fall back down with the world spinning dizzy before the apprentice’s eyes. The dark man smirks, feeling the apprentice’s anger.

The dark master speaks, “Relax, my protege. I am having you mended. You have such rich, powerful blood, it would be such a waste for me to kill you. You have such potential in you. I see it now. You will do great things.”

The dark master’s apprentice merely glares at the master as stitches and rough hands work their way across the slash on the apprentice’s back. The apprentice does not wince once as the needle pokes through skin, tightening the two slabs of flapping skin together to create a seam of interlaced thread and skin.

The apprentice glares at the dark master the entire time. The dark master returns the glare with equal pleasure.

“What I am doing to you, for you, is to only make you stronger. You will be unstoppable. Something I was never allowed to be until I took it myself. I am giving you invincibility. A gift. You should be most grateful.”

The dark master watches as the medic finishes the final stitch. He commands, “Leave now.”

The medic nods once, grabs his needles, thread, and cloths, and exits quickly.

“You, rise, you have much training to complete. Rise, and fight me. I will teach you myself. No more of these mediocre training dummies. Learning from the best, perhaps you will one day rival the best. Now, arm yourself.”

The dark master suddenly lunges just as the unsuspecting apprentice rises on unsteady feet with a hand placed loosely around a handle of a sword. The apprentice blocks the incoming blow moving faster than a blink.

The dark master’s eyes betray surprise for a moment before returning to cold and calculating. The dark master feigns a slash at the apprentice’s head, then redirects the attack at the apprentice’s gut. The apprentice is fooled into the feint, but conjures a fire wall with its other hand to block the incoming strike to its gut.

The dark master breaks away from the apprentice and nods.

“Excellent. Maybe you will not be a disappointment after all.”

The dark master lunges again and watches the apprentice’s every move.


Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.