Emptiness

by Viktor Zólyomi

  He left, and promptly returned. Other than the katana in his scabbard, he carried two additional weapons: a flail and a quarterstaff. He put the flail on the ground near the water, and came to me with the staff.

  `Now listen. The trial will be unlike any training we had before. There will be three parts to it. I will be armed with a different weapon in each phase. Your task is to force me into defensive fighting. Plain and simple. How you do it, is up to you, but you must not use your magic.'

  `Alright.'

  `You must be on your guard, for I will not hold myself back. I will fight to kill you.'

  I did not understand this.

  `What do you mean with that?'

  `I mean, that if you cannot properly defend yourself, I will kill you. I expect that you will fight with the same goal.'

  `Is this to be a fight to the death then?'

  `If I defeat you, yes. If not, then not.'

  `But you just said I should fight to kill.'

  `I did, and you should. If you don't, you will not be able to survive. I have taught you much, but I have not taught you everything I know. In such little time, I could never have. In the duels we had so far, I held back. Today, I will not. You will never defeat me if you do not fight like you mean to kill me.'

  `I do not want to kill you. What if I...'

  `What if you do kill me?'

  `Yes...'

  `If you actually manage to kill me, then you clearly do not need me any more.' he said casually.

  `I... I never thought we'd fight to the death one day, Master.'

  `As I said, your task is to force me into defensive fighting. I will stop the fight at a certain point if you demonstrate that you can take the upper hand in the fight. If you can survive that long, you will live. If not, you will die.'

  `So, I need not risk killing you? All I must do is defend myself?'

  `No. Didn't you listen? You must attack. There is no other way you will survive. My attacks will overwhelm you. If you do not attack, you will die. Now, draw your sword... and fight knowing that your life is at stake!'

  I slowly nodded, and unsheathed my katana.

  *

  The fight started so quick I barely realized it. He attacked with the staff with such ferocity and speed that I was in awe. At first I thought he was using magic to enhance his fighting skills, as he had never fought me like that when he trained me to use the staff. But soon after I realized that he was merely performing the moves that he taught me in quick succession in a methodically designed chain of moves. When I realized that, I tried to follow the pattern, to learn what his next move would be. But I had to realize that he was constantly changing the pattern.

  His blows came in a wild flurry, one after the other. Several times he tried to knock me off my feet, tried to sweep my legs out from under me with the staff. I had to move fast and I had to parry his strikes swiftly. After the first several minutes I still did not attack him.

  `Are you even trying to attack?' he sneered. `You will not survive like this.'

  Perhaps his insulting words helped, perhaps it was just having been overwhelmed for so long, but I increased my efforts to fight back. Still, it took me a while until I found an opening in his combination of moves, and managed to strike towards him. He was trying to knock me down again, but I was able to jump up and let his staff sweep away beneath me. I saw that his staff had a large momentum, and I knew that if I managed to strike towards his upper body at that moment then he may not be able to continue his relentless series of attacks.

  But I also knew that he was very fast. I had to strike as fast as I could, and my sword was in such an angle that striking towards his head was the fastest. I was afraid I'd slay him, but I swung my sword as soon as this opening appeared. His staff somehow met my blade just before the sword could cut into his flesh.

  It was a powerful strike, yet the staff blocked the blade without breaking. The sword didn't cut into the wood. That made it clear to me that the staff was magical. I realized that the magics of this weapon may be helping him fight so fast, but I had no time to ponder over that. Before I could catch my breath, he was striking back after parrying my blow. Again, he had the upper hand.

  `Is that the best you can do?' he asked sarcastically.

  Then I understood what this test was all about. He wanted me to do what he was doing to me. To relentlessly attack in a long chain of moves such that he is forced to constantly defend himself, to prevent him from attacking.

  Forced into defense yet again, I once more tried to follow the pattern of his moves, until once again I found an opening and struck him. This time I was able to strike towards his ribs.

  Again, he parried, but this time I was quick to counter his next move, and used the time thus gained to counterattack once more. This carried on for more than a dozen pairs of attacks. I struck him, he parried, struck back, I blocked, counterattacked, and so on...

  `How pathetic...' he sneered, taunting me once more. `Where is your battle fury?'

  Now he was trying to distract me. The battle fury would not have helped me there. I had to control my moves, methodically place one after the other. Methodically... That was the key, really. Fortunately I learned that fast.

  As we were exchanging those blows, I was actually observing him. Watching how he reacted to each of my blows, how he counterattacked after each parry. This let me come up with a strategy. I knew what moves could be countered by what other moves, and I could think up a chain of blows that he may not be able to counter. So, I gave it a shot.

  After parrying a blow to the head, he tried once again to sweep my legs out from under me. Before he could push the staff that far, my blade was moving towards the position where his hand would be if he actually completed the move. He would probably knock me off my feet, but at the same time I'd cut off his left hand. He saw it, and pulled the staff back into a defensive position. Then I resumed my attack.

  This was the key. I knew his moves by then, I knew where his hands would be after executing each attack he attempted, and all I had to do was swing my sword in a direction in which it threatened to cut off his hands, thus forcing him to pull back and try a different move, and thus forcing him to lose time, and give myself the time needed to attack again.

  I dealt him six-seven attacks in a chain when he turned the table on me and gave me a taste of my own medicine. He managed to strike my hand hard with the staff, and I felt like my bone was broken. I had to grab the hilt with both hands then.

  `Not bad, but you have to do better than that, or you will die!' he exclaimed, and he proceeded to attack.

  With my right wrist injured, I retreated into defensive fighting once more, but once I found a steady enough two-handed grip on the sword, I started to look for an opening again. Eventually, I found it. Mimicking the previous attempt, I was able to force him into defensive fighting again.

  This time he broke the chain of my moves after a mere four attacks, and again he struck towards my wrists. I was able to evade his blow. Then, I immediately counterattacked, striking towards his leg. He parried, but a little slowly, like he did not expect I'd attempt to strike back. This gave me time to resume my attacks, and finally he failed to break the chain of my attacks for more than ten moves. That's when he made us stop.

  `Enough!' he shouted. He was in a very prone position at the time, blocking my sword with his staff, with my blade inches away from his face. `Well done! It took you a while, but you managed it. Excellent!'

  I lowered my sword, and he made a few steps backwards. He dropped the staff, and picked up the flail.

  *

  The second part of the trial was very different. He was not so fast with this weapon as with the staff, and that let me catch my breath. His attacks were much more powerful however. His flail was an intimidating, very heavy weapon. The weight at the end of the chain was a spiked ball as big as my two fists combined. Due to the way the spiked ball is attached to the shaft of a flail, there is really no way to parry the strikes of a
flail without a shield. He had taught me this well, and I remembered it well. I knew, that if I had attempted to parry his blows with my weapon, he would have knocked the sword from my hand. So, I had to keep my distance, evade his every blow, and then move in fast enough to strike him before he could attack again. By then, my right wrist had recovered fully, so I could wield the sword in one hand once more.

  He attacked first. He swung the flail in the direction of the left side of my chest. Had he done so with the sword, I would have effortlessly parried the blow with my weapon. Against his flail, all I could do was jump aside. I jumped to the right, and as the spiked ball swept past me, I struck forward with my sword. As he pulled his flail backwards, the spiked ball was knocked into my blade, and this made my sword turn aside. At the same time he moved away, and so I completely missed him.

  This surprised me, and that left him more than enough time to attack again. He aimed at my head this time. The spiked ball was coming in from my right side. I ducked, and let the ball pass over me. He jerked the flail to try and force the ball to move downwards. I expected he'd do so, and so as I ducked, I immediately rolled aside. The ball struck down at the place where I had been. Had I stayed there, it would have struck my left shoulder.

  In a kneeling position, I swiftly thrust my sword towards him, but again he pulled his flail back and it knocked my blade aside.

  This time I did not hesitate and I counterattacked. He jumped aside as fast as he could, and my sword missed him by an inch. Attacks of a flail were impossible to parry with a sword, but the flail was also completely useless to parry the blows of any weapon. He had to use his flail to keep me distant from him. So, as soon as he managed to jump aside, he swung his flail at me.

  He came too slow, so I slipped away easily. I struck again, but he knocked my sword aside with the head of the flail, and I was very fortunate that the chain did not curl around the blade.

  We fought like this for quite a while, and I had to realize that I cannot truly force him into defensive fighting any other way than by disarming him. So I changed tactics.

  I could have tried to let the chain of his flail wrap around my sword, and then pull on it strong enough to force him to release the weapon. It was a straightforward option, but very risky. A small mistake would have left me unarmed. As he clearly forbade me to use magic, I did not want to risk it before trying something else.

  During our fight it occurred to me that his flail may in fact not be enchanted. The reason I had this suspicion is that a magic enchantment usually makes the weapon lighter than it normally would be. The velocity of his attacks suggested that his flail had a normal weight. Of course it was impossible to tell for certain in the midst of our duel, but I decided to put my suspicion to the test.

  Each time I evaded his blows, I struck towards his flail. Specifically, towards the end of the shaft, where the chain was attached to the handle. I knew that if the flail was not enchanted, then my enchanted sword could eventually cut the wood, and then Doorn would lose the spiked ball of the flail.

  After my first blow, I could not tell whether I had any success. After I cut the flail a second time, I noticed that I slightly managed to cut into the wood. Just the fraction of an inch, and that was not enough to cut the flail in half. But it was proof that I could do it, that his flail was not enchanted.

  Doorn must have also noticed this, as he was trying desperately to keep me from striking his flail, but he could only do so at the cost of leaving his body unprotected. So I used the opportunity to strike at him. He of course evaded, but that allowed me to strike his flail again, and again. We fought on like this, until after over a dozen cuts to the shaft, I achieved my goal. My sword cut through the wood of the shaft and the spiked ball with the chain flew away with the momentum of Doorn's last swing. It fell right into the water. Doorn was left with nothing but the shaft of the flail to fight with.

  `Not bad! Not quite what I had in mind, but... I suppose you have done well enough under the circumstances.' he said, ending the second part of the trial. I stayed back, and he dropped the shaft of the broken flail. Then he unsheathed his katana.

  `Now... We'll see just how good you really are!' he said, and he lunged forward.

  *

  The final part of the trial was the hardest. We had the same kind of weapon, and we both had specialized in the use of that weapon. We knew the same tricks. But he had a distinct advantage. He had a vast experience. And his katana was more powerfully enchanted than mine...

  The one and only thing in which I was at the advantage, is that I appeared to be faster. Since the reach of our weapons was the same now, and I could move faster than him, I could evade some of his blows without needing to parry. In turn, that allowed me to counterattack faster, but he was always quick to parry. He himself was slower than me, but he was able to move his weapon quicker than me, much like he did with the staff.

  Our fight was not as unbalanced as when he wielded the staff, frequently we exchanged roles of attacker and defender, but I was supposed to force him into a defensive. For all my effort, I could not do it. For fifteen minutes we fought and I could not force him into a constant defense. It was like a stalemate in a precarious balance, and I needed to do something to disrupt that balance, and in my favor. Magic would have done the trick, but he strictly forbade me to employ magic, so I had to think of something else. So, I thought of a risky tactic.

  I allowed him to move closer to me, and this made him attack more furiously. He took his sword in two hands, and struck towards my head. I parried, and countered by swinging my blade towards his chest as he drew back his blade. He parried, and struck back at my side. Then, I struck towards his head.

  He parried, but I did not pull my sword back. Instead, I tried to push it closer to him, as if I was trying to overwhelm him with brute strength. By then, I had developed a physical strength I never had in my youth as a mage, but I was no powerhouse. I was however stronger than him. I pushed my sword closer and closer with just my right hand, while Doorn held his own sword in two, trying to force my blade back. My sword advanced slower and slower, and eventually, it stopped. He was strong enough to keep himself safe from my blade, even if not strong enough to push me away. Again, it was a stalemate. He was not in a threatened position, so I did not achieve the goal I was supposed to.

  `You won't beat me like this.' he said. He expected that I'd pull the sword back and try something else. Instead, I kept us in this evened position, with a distinct purpose he did not foresee.

  `Had enough yet?' I asked harshly, mimicking his constant taunting.

  `What makes you think so?' he asked in a similar fashion.

  Then, I moved the blade of my dagger close enough to his neck so that he could feel its touch. He startled as he felt the cold metal at his skin. He peered down at the dagger in my hand. In that defensive stance, he did not notice me drawing my dagger and slowly moving it towards his neck. He smiled, and looked up at me.

  `Enough, yes...' he said, thus signaling that the third phase of the trial was complete.

  I took the dagger from his neck, lowered my sword and bowed my head in respect.

  `You have done well!' he told me. `You have passed the trial. In a most unexpected fashion, but you have passed it.'

  `Am I ready now?'

  `Do you feel ready?'

  `I... I don't know...'

  `Then you are not ready. You have learned all I could teach you, and you've learned it well, you proved that to me today. Now you must learn more. By yourself.'

  `How?'

  He sheathed his own sword, and sat down by the lake. Looking up at me, he asked:

  `If I were to ask you to do something for me, would you help me?'

  `Of course! It is the least I can do to repay you for all you've taught me.'

  `Then listen well... I've a task for you which will allow you to reach your final goal. It will not be easy, and you may even die.'

  `What would you have me do?'

  `Far to
the northwest of here is a ruin of a once majestic castle. Today it is nothing more than rubble, but the dungeons beneath the ground exist still. There, in that dungeon, lies a magical artifact. It is called the Amulet of Darkness. I'd like you to bring me that amulet.'

  `That's all? Just bring you some amulet from an old ruin?'

  `You will face adversaries there.'

  `Undead?'

  `No. Worse. Much worse...'

  He stood up and looked me in the eye.

  `In truth, you may come across some undead, but they will be the least of your worries. The Amulet of Darkness is guarded by a powerful mage called Drabangar. Drabangar himself is guarded by his three guardians. You must defeat them all in order to acquire the amulet. You've proven to me that you are capable of defeating the guardians. But Drabangar... He is ancient. Older than you could imagine. He is immensely powerful. Your own magic will be useless against him.'

  `How do you know all this? Have you been there before?'

  `Yes. I fought them. I defeated the guardians. Drabangar was too much for me however. I may be a great warrior, and may even know some simple magics, but his magic is overwhelming. I was forced to retreat. But I could still see how he restored his guardians to life before I left. He also saw to it that I would never be able to enter those dungeons again. He is very powerful, you must take care.'

  `If you could not defeat him, how could I?'

  `Through proper strategy.'

  `Do you have a strategy to suggest?'

  `Yes. It is simple, really. You have no power to defeat Drabangar. You must use the power of the demon inside you to defeat him.'

  `No!' I screamed at him, with my eyes opened wide. I did not anticipate that he would even suggest such a thing. `How could I?! I did not come all this way to just simply...'

  `You have come to learn to keep your inner demon at bay.' he said harshly, interrupting me. `Do you really think that you will ever be able to do that, if you are unable to control the demon?'

  `Control it?! I don't want to control it! I want it to be gone from my life!'