A morning on a mountain far, far away.
Huff
Huff
A man in a long, simple robe stood outside his pavilion surrounded by bamboo.
The scent of fresh barley was sweeping under his peculiar straw hat.
His quiet mind was rustled by the sound of exhausted breath.
"…He overworked himself again, staying here all night." His inner voice was tired, like an old man.
His gaze, loose with indifference, pulled across from him.
Huff
Huff
A shinai wobbled in mid air, where it leaned forward to point almost parallel to a single wooden log.
The log was thick, wider than a brown bear's neck.
It stood across from a young man, with fire burning in his heart and lungs, a head of azure blue hair suffocated the top of his head as if a blue hedgehog burrowed there.
His torso was bare, showing skin that was almost as sun-tanned as the strange man overlooking him.
His body was sharp, pouring out a glistening coat across a structure of muscles built into place.
The shinai wobbled more now, with the weight of exhaustion and something heavier…
Doubt.
Then an image flashed in the boy's mind.
A ring of stone, a pit of burning sands with the roar of a crowd.
A black cloak, capturing a man like wrapped in shadows.
A simple blade, wrapped in cloth at the handles, cheap and chipped as if worn by desperation itself.
Eyes.
Two muddy brown eyes, with a hue of something deep like amber.
The shinai suddenly straightened with immense focus.
The boy's jaw clenched.
His arms, now tense with something pushing the boy onwards, began to raise above his head.
The man in the robe continued to watch, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
"He has a long way to go…"
…
C r u n c h
A twig fractured under Adrian's heel, the sound failing to shake him from his muddy temperament.
His face draped murkiness upon himself, his eyes casting bitter resentment toward the woods at the back of the school grounds.
The wood was open where the school sat, decorated with the occasional tree that grew in the circular plain, like a ring of surrounding Forest.
Though behind the school, the trees seemed to pull apart just a tad, leaving a crowded path toward another part of the deep forest.
Adrian pulled himself past each tree, travelling a line of ground so beaten with time it tore the ground just enough to form a somewhat traceable path.
The roots of nearby trees invaded this path, roots appearing under Adrian's step occasionally as if this forest were alive and pulling itself toward him.
Adrian continued, and then continued some further before finally finding a shambolic shack in the distance.
The building was a cubic mass of wood, overgrown with roots, corroding the building with time.
The shack was large, at least half the size of a circus tent.
The closer he got, the more he could notice the sound of faint rumbling, like the faint hum of an engine, but this sound had the lethality of a beast.
As he approached the stable, his hand reaching toward the door, he heard a southern "Whoa, there, junior!"
A furry hand carefully plucked Adrian's hands away, the thin greyish-brown hairs, with the hand of something human, disgusting Adrian and making him yank his hand back.
He quickly refocused his vision in a tight gaze over the intruder.
He found a short, clothed man, dressed in dark, aged red.
His entire body was covered in scruffy, light fur from head to toe, coloured a faded greyish-brown.
Bare horse hooves occupied the part under his ankles, instead of smooth human feet.
His face was the smoothest part of his body, with hair dancing around the edge of dull skin.
A pair of dark horns, like chivalry narwhal horns, protrude from his head, shooting up and curving outward from each side.
"Careful there, buddy." He spoke in a southern tone, not rough but smooth with the friendless.
"Even the reaper wouldn't dare touch this barn so damn easily." The thing cofed out again.
"A saytr." Adrian mulled to himself, his body loosening an inch as his knuckles unwound themselves by his side.
He didn't know who this "reaper" was, and nor did he care to know, pulling his gaze aside as he folded his arms silently.
"Not much of a talker, ain't ya?" The saytr teased, cackling an old, gentle laugh before waving his furry hands toward the barn entrance where Adrian previously reached toward.
The door was a flat hunk that protruded out of the rest of the wall.
It was taller than both of the two combined, with faded white paint smoothly trimming the edge, crossing the door with two diagonal lines that ran right into each other down the middle.
He sighed as he turned his horned head toward the door, repeating himself as if he had forgotten he had already said it.
"Even the reaper himself wouldn't touch this barn."
Then continuing in his aged madness, obnoxiously going on, "The reaper was a tale my mama told me before I slept."
"They say he's a wicked saytr who takes bounties for coin. He got the name because once you see him…" The saytr cackled, turning his head back toward the clearly unlistening Adrian, pulling his thumb toward his throat and swiftly moving it along while sticking his tongue out "Y'know?"
He waited a moment, then, realising Adrian's silence, it sparked a thought, the saytr turning his head aside.
"So watcha doing here, kid?" He said whilst scratching his furry dome with just as furry a finger.
Adrian's eyes widened with a vague spark of realisation.
"This old peg is obviously the caretaker, but he doesn't know about the detention. I can just leave and lie to Mr Ignis later." Adrian coolly thought, planning on deceiving the headmaster into thinking he'd served his punishment, already turning his back to leave when suddenly-
"Ah! You must be the poor junior who rattled that lump of molten, " He cackled again, his aged memory activating as if scratching his head had scratched a neuron or sparked a synapse.
"Come, come, the job's pretty easy. I'll show you the ropes, I'm more than merry to have a hand for once."
Adrian growled.
He reluctantly stirred his shoulder back over to face the geeza, approaching the door with a sigh like a tired balloon.
The Saytr stepped forward, approaching the side of the door, his hairy hands planting against the white trim.
His entire body followed, pressing his shoulder against the door before straining his hooves into the ground.
With a rough grunt, he slid the door open inch by gruelling inch.
All the while, Adrian didn't move to help, watching with disinterested narrowed eyes.
When the Saytr cleared the way seconds later, he heaved back a withered breath before wiping his forehead with his forearm.
"Right, kid, let's get you set up." Then he spun toward the darkness between the two walls of the shack.
The white-trimmed door now occupies the space of the left wall, where the Saytr had slid the door over.
The other wall was a faded brown, though barely more grey than brown, roots corroding the space.
The darkness lured Adrian's attention, a faint vibration as dark as the shadow in the form of him, rumbling at the end of the room.
The Saytr casually stepped inside without a strand of fear clinging to any of the many hairs on his body.
Adrian's gaze narrowed, scanning the darkness with mild difficulty, somewhat making out the Saytr plucking a metal rod from a wall from the inside of the stable.
The next moment, a burst of orange erupted from the top of the rod, an orange hue curling vibrantly around a small metal basket-shaped top.
The orange swum brightly in the torch, illuminating the room just enough to show crates in the nearer corner of the room.
The Saytr approached it.
"Hydie loves her grub, y'see." He added as he pulled the top of the wooden crate open to reveal a bundle of slabs, like a couple of soft brown meshes.
Each slab seemed dried beyond life, if one tore the meat open, they could see the made the collection of brittle, dehydrated fibres.
The slabs were the size of a washboard, with the width of a five-hundred-page book.
There were 11 slabs in total, with two placed together in each stack, altogether taking up more than half of the space in the crate.
The Saytr reached down, torch still in one hand, taking one of the heavy slabs with difficulty.
The caretaker trudged over, carrying the flames' influence along the walls before the faded orange gathered ahead to reveal thick metal bars, the same plain silver-grey colour as the torch.
"Adamantine." Adrian easily recognised the metal from where he still stood.
Adamantine was a powerful metal, far more sturdy than any metal used in regular human civilisation.
This was because this metal was made with magic, most famously known for its origins of being created by Hephaestus, a god and brother of the famous dwarf Silhheimer.
The two brothers were once close, both talented at making great inventions, one of them, Silheimmer, even invented an entirely new type of device that made use of mana.
Though ultimately, Hephaestus grew jealous of his brother, who garnered the attention of all sorts of gods and beings for his talent, creating a rift between the two.
Though the metal now in front of Adrian was made by this very man.
The only material that could match Adamantine was celestial bronze, a natural but immensely rare ore that was known for generating its own mana.
It could be said that Adamantine is a man-made imitation of Celestial-bronze.
Though at the moment, inside this stable, there seemed not to be even a hint of celestial bronze.
Only a set of adamantine bars that caged another darkness from reaching the Saytr, and the wary Adrian.
As well as a pair of yellow eyes inside the darkness…
End of chapter 28