Chapter 8: Time to Learn

Time to Learn

 

Gregor stood in the center of the empty training field, all fifteen of his combat instructors arrayed against him. Well, really they were off duty town guards, but here he gave them the respect that comes with the position of teacher. Accordingly, he wouldn’t hold back, and gripped his sword firmly.

 

Kicking off the ground, Gregor launched himself at one of the larger combatants on the field. However that wasn’t why Gregor singled him out. The reason for that was who this man was, one Squad Captain Minshew Sylvester, the person Logan deemed as most likely to successfully coordinate his opponents.

 

So Gregor cut that future out at its roots, his second monstrous step taking him past Minshew’s guard to deliver all his momentum with a volatile shoulder slam. Gregor saw his victim’s body fly over 5 yards as he turned his attention to the rest of the converging guardsmen.

 

Three of them reached him simultaneously, but their numbers ended up working in Gregor's favor as two of the guards struggled to get an angle to attack him without hurting their compatriot. That left the third of their number isolated against Gregor for just a moment.

 

That was much too long an opening to leave Gregor, as with a simple parry and riposte, disarmed, then dismounted the guard from the Earth, sending her flying into another of Gregor's opponents.

 

He quickly leapt after the space her short flight had created, just as he felt the displacement of air on his back. He then turned his back on the guard who had dropped his weapon to catch his fellow, and stood his ground as he was once again approached on three sides.

 

Unfortunately for his training partners, this is why he had created his own special move. Gregor swung his sword horizontally with impossible speed, before reversing grip and doing a mirror movement back through the space he had just cut. He didn’t exactly understand why, but doing such an action at his speeds created a vortex of air that accompanied the momentum of his swings, battering any enemies within range of Gregor with intense air pressure.

 

Another five enemies fell, including the man standing at Gregor’s back. Gregor had found that people who weren’t as durable as him would pass out automatically via some function of their ears. He had learned this via numerous complaints from sessions just like the one undergoing this second. The guards wouldn’t be happy with him, but at this point they knew what they were signing up for.

With the last group falling out of the contest, Gregor now stood in a one on eight. Although these were better numerical odds than he had started with, the fight reaching this stage introduced new dangers. Namely, Ian Greene, the town’s sole Attuned. 

 

Ian’s element of choice was obvious immediately, as head sized chunks of rock rapidly began flying towards Gregor. However, Gregor was familiar with the man's abilities and tendencies, turning what could have been a mad dash to avoid getting brained into a calculated slalom through the obstacles as he made his way into closing distance of the attuned.

 

If the fight had been just between Gregor and Ian, there would be no doubt of Gregor emerging victorious. Unfortunately for Gregor, they were not alone. The guards had clearly done some planning, or more likely Minshew had, as the seven remaining quickly pulled out crossbows with blunted tips. Normally, these and the boulders would be lethal, but Gregor wasn’t normal and both sides knew it. Although his strength was a mighty advantage, it also meant that others were able to use closer to lethal force and level the playing field.

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This quickly showed its merit, as the systematic barrage forced Gregor to abandon his momentum and try to stand his ground against the hail of projectiles. He wove his wooden sword in complex dance with his body, as he pivoted and sashayed into the path of the least tangos.

 

Still, try as he might, Gregor couldn’t evade, deflect, or block all the impacts, and was eventually made to say the words, “I yield.” The projectiles stopped, and Logan sat down on the packed Earth, bruises already forming all over his body.

 

Standing over the yard, Gregor’s father looked down, studying as the downed men shakily got to their feet. Grenneth was the reason Gregor had started having these sparring sessions once more. Since his discovery of the Codex, his father had pushed Gregor relentlessly, to the point he wondered if it was training at all, or some experiment to test the limits on what would become the village's foundational power.

 

Catching his breath, Gregor stared straight back at his father. Then he stood back up, and got ready to run the gauntlet again.

Logan’s next couple of days passed in a blur. Mostly because he spent the majority of the time with his eyes closed, in a deep self-induced trance-like state. It was a blast.

 

Magic, that he could do. It made it easy to accept his new waving appendages. Instead of calling them tendrils, Logan officially named them his tentacles. Within a day of learning it was possible, Logan had gained control over them as easily as any of his other limbs, and now found himself absently weaving patterns in the scant few minutes he wasn’t practicing real magic.

 

Well, technically it was called Divinity, as it originated with the King of the Gods death. Jeremiah had laughed before saying magic wasn’t real and a whole spiel when Logan had pressed for more information on the bonding failure.

 

Apparently, the old man hadn’t expected Logan to be able to even attempt to bond Bennett the Bear. Most people just couldn’t do it, regardless of if they had an instructor or not, Jeremiah had said.

 

Given the complexity in the pattern, Logan concluded his ability to directly perceive souls must be abnormal. Sure it had been difficult for him then, but now? After just two days Logan thought he could execute the sequence perfectly. Still, it had started bothering him when he had realized his previous attempt should have been good enough to work. 

 

Logan had realized immediately that he was no longer human, but had learned nothing about what he actually was. He knew his kind must be intimately attuned with the Void, as that knowledge still hung ripe at the back of his mind, trying to sneak onto the tip of Logan’s tongue.However, with that knowledge came the absolute certainty that channeling any void energy through his body would instantly kill him, as Logan lacked the immense strength necessary to control the Void even if it would answer his call.

 

Still, that didn’t stop him from trying to figure out how to control said energy. As Logan slowly peeled Jeremiah’s other spells out of him and practiced, he had Divinity on his mind.

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