Bray Hyrian, Kivi B. [best summer reads txt] 📗

So much information in such a short period of time is surely something to process.

“Alrigh’. And what ‘bout this Inanis that you mentioned?”

The officer’s face changed to a grimmer state, as he elaborated.

“Inanis is the world of the dead, of the wretched and cursed. Only those whose balance of deeds and sins are clearly favored towards the evil, will be sent there. There rest the Fiends, who are the guardians of the Statera.”

“The Statera?”
“It is the stability between the living and the dead. Should more living souls than 'inactive' souls be in Thalwyn, the Fiends then act by taking lives to restore it. They will create catastrophes and other unnatural occurrences. At times even for their own satisfaction. Some say the Great Nation War, the one as we are currently participating in, is a work of the Fiends.”

“…is it?”, he seemed to have prolonged my attention span.
  “Very unlikely. It fully concerns politics and power play between the great Nation lords. And naturally, we fight the wars for them. But I will not bore you with the details of this war - for now.”

He lifted his hand and all of a sudden there was a strange purplish light followed by a brief but loud buzzing. A glassy, purply translucent sword appeared in his hand. I frowned once again, before he tossed me the weapon. I caught it by the handle, to my own relief.

“Come at me with all your might, Bray.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Strike me down, as if I were your arch enemy.”
“You gotta’ be insane, old man”, I said but felt the anxiety spreading throughout my body. Why the sudden challenge?

He closed his eyes and shook his head in disappointment.

“If you won’t attack, I will.”

Without another additional warning he charged towards me. His swift and controlled movements were hard to track as I instinctively raised my own blade with both hands. Both our swords collided in horizontal slashes against each other in a loud clink. He nodded before applying pressure and whirling both blades around in a circle, letting his blade dance around my defenses.

I took a safe step back and attempted to retake my guard, before his second attack came. His blade thrusted towards my stomach. It missed me by a hair’s length. If I hadn’t repositioned myself and sidestepped to evade, it would’ve been fatal.

I tried to use his opening to counter attack. My sword swung around and was directed at his neck area, which was easily repelled by an effortless lift of his armguard. Now I was wide open, as my sword struck for the sky.

His sword riposted in an upwards diagonal slash from left to right. My body spun out of the danger zone on its own, which amazed me. After successfully avoiding his attack, I returned to my pose, facing him. But this man didn't plan on easing up after my recovery. He was already on the move, using quick but quite powerful blows targeting all my possible openings.

We exchanged blows that didn't really seem like fencing, but more like the Head Captain toying with me. Despite my lack of past memories and experiences was I barely able to keep up with his agile attacks.

Our blades locked together in a loud clink. I stared him down, giving him an evil eye. Nex on the other hand, seemed relaxed and focused. With my young and unexperienced arms, I attempted to shove the Captain's beautiful sword back with all my physical strength.

His sword was clearly hand crafted and had imitations of dragon wings as a crossguard and several very precise carving adornments.

Nex led out an amused chuckle. People who have been on the battlefield for decades, shouldn't feel this thrilled anymore in one-on-one combat, I thought to myself.

I switched over to offensive tactics. My light-footed movements secured me a slight advantage, or so I thought. My arms feinted an attack aimed at his right side, before I spun my body around, lowering myself to my knees. The glassy sword flourished at his left hip.

Nex Buothor, an experienced war master, anticipated my attack pattern completely and only brought his blade back parallel to his own straight pose to guard his vital spots, carefully observing me.

With a minor flick of his wrist was he able to deflect my attack by slamming my glass sword sideways. Once more, was I wide open to be attacked.

He lifted his foot and stomped into my chest, sending me literally flying through the corridor. My body bounced off the stone plastered ground not twice, not thrice, but four times before I finally hit a wall. A near-liquid substance started to surface inside my mouth. It tasted like metal. Dappling the side of my index finger onto my lips made me realize, that it was blood.

Bruises and abrasions covered my body from head to toe. I grunted and hissed in pain. How can a kick be that powerful?

It was in that moment, when I knew that he bested me. He disappeared in the same fashion as earlier and rematerialized in front of me, lunging out with his sword. Though, his blade stopped a mere centimeter in front of my face. My eyes fixated the tip of his blade, as I already felt a harsh sting of shock in my guts.

The right side of his mouth wrinkled upwards to a smirk. He withdrew his blade and sheathed it in such a skilled motion. The sword lying next to my injured body shattered into thousands of shards. I stared at my hand, which was shaking uncontrollably and still didn’t understand what actually happened.

My eyes flicked to the Head Captain and I gritted my teeth in frustration.

 “I have seen enough”, I heard the Head Captain say.

The brightness of the room seemed to be intensifying. I covered my eyes, as soon as it reached a painful level.

I removed my arm, which covered my eyes and found myself back in the officer’s tent. Jeik Staeger and Xodin stared at me, as if they’ve seen a ghost. I didn’t blame them. My head felt dizzy, my hands were shaking fiercely and my face was probably pale as snow.

Nex Buothor was still facing me, before he returned to the round table, which was located in the center of the meeting.

"Well then, Lieutenant Staeger and Sergeant Phoyas, have you witnessed the death or capture of Lady Manist with your own eyes?"

Jeik shook his head and Xodin didn't make any indication of an answer at all. I sat on the nearest chair to recover from that strange experience.

Did we duel in my head? Or did it really happen? The questions reverbrated inside my mind. No bruises or injuries were infliced on my present body, so it really must've been a mental fight.

Nex rubbed his eye and sighed. 

"In that case, Lieutenant, pick your men for an infiltration unit. Scour the enemy outpost and find her."

  "But sire, all remaining officers and non-commissioned officers have already returned to Ysoldia and the garrisoned soldiers at camp Dubach lack the experience to handle the task of an infiltration." Staeger said.

“I see. In that case we must act quickly, but cautiously. This is Princess Kiria Manist who we speak of. Failures in that regard are an absolute insult to the Crown, which will result in execution.
I will send you two to scout ahead until I have assembled the necessary forces to take the Hraygnan outpost. Since you are from the Task Forces, this will pose no problem for you.”

Both of them nodded and slammed their fists onto their left chest side as a salute.

"Yes, sire."
“One more thing.” The Head Captain said and raised his right index finger.

He eyed me and nodded towards the pair.

“You will take him with you.”

A brief pause was in session from everyone inside the tent.

“What?!”, Jeik and I said simultaneously.
“I do not understand, Head Captain.”
“Bray may not be an Ysoldian soldier. But you can clearly see, even with the lack of his memories, that he was once a warrior. You are going to need him.”

I was speechless. I blinked and peered between the two officers. I didn’t know what to think of Nex Buothor before. This made it even more difficult.

Though, something acutely bothered me. 'He was once a warrior'.
Could it be, that he saw other memories but decided to keep it to himself? Or did he just determine so, by having that duel with me?

It felt extraordinarily natural, handling a sword in combat. It frightened me. Was I really a warrior before I lost my memory?

“Only if you want to, Bray”, the Head Captain added and flicked his eyes to meet my own.

A blurry image of Kiria's smiling face popped into my vision. I don’t even know this woman. Every other sane person wouldn’t want to get involved in wars, which do not concern them. But for some reason it moved me. I wanted to save her, no matter what. It may have been a personality trait of mine, which I probably forgot.

“Of course. You people saved my life, and she was one of them. I owe ya’, so you can count on me!” I said with an ounce of determination. 

Head Captain Buothor nodded with a subtle and satisfied smile.

The young Lieutenant shifted his head forward in bafflement, although regained his pose upon noticing his flawed discipline.

“Sire, the Ysoldian military has superior battle tactics and hand signs during operations. This ... boy does not have enough experience for our squad. He will only get in the way.”

“What was that?”
I raised my fist in a threatening manner and stomped over to him, holding it in front of his face. I felt insulted, even though I didn’t understand why exactly. Jeik folded his arms and snorted at me arrogantly.

“You heard me. Three days ago you were a barely alive and now you think you can fight for us?”

Three days? My thoughts paralyzed me for a moment. My fist lowered itself and I squinted my eyes at Jeik Staeger.

“That is enough, Lieutenant and Bray” the officer said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Head Captain, for him to adapt to our level of skill will take y-“
“You will take him with you. That is an order, Lieutenant. Bring him to the armory. Gear him up as he pleases. Dismissed.”

Why would he want me to go?

Both of them saluted again in their Ysoldian manner without another word being said. Jeik grabbed me by the shoulder and dragged me along on his way out. Xodin followed in silence, as always.

We arrived at the armory. The entrance was heavily guarded. Staeger identified himself and stated his purpose to the guards. They stepped to the side before we entered. 

The inside was filled with weapon stands, containing swords, axes, spears, bows and shields. Large lockers were also lined up next to the stands.

"Listen, Bray. You may be our companion for now, but you need to do much more to gain my trust. But, we cannot let you roam around with us unarmored. Do you prefer light or heavy armoring?", Jeik Staeger said skeptically.

"I suppose something with a good attribute of protection, without any restraint of agility and speed of my movements."

Xodin peered at me with a surprised expression.

To be fair, it felt strange saying that, as if it was my second nature. Jeik walked over to the lockers in the corner of the armory tent.

"Technically, only Officers are qualified to wear this. However, the Head Captain insisted on giving you what you desire."

He grabbed a chain mail and a few leather parts out of the locker.

"As we all are not too eager for you to die, take the Adamanti chain mail. It suits your … description perfectly. It's as light as silk but tougher than hardened steel", he explained proudly and handed me the armor.

I accepted it and agreed with him silently, upon holding it in my own hands.

“You will need more than that, Bray. Xodin, fetch the rest of the gear and get him ready, will you?”

A few moments passed by, as adjustments were being made to my gear.

Since I was apparently right handed, they mounted a large lion head shaped steel plate onto my left shoulder, typical Ysoldian