Rahul noticed us before she could answer, waving us over, impatiently. Sighing resignedly, I followed Sneha into the clearing, already dreading the rest of the day.
"Acharya." I greeted Swati, following Sneha's lead and giving her a bow, before nodding at Rahul, and asking him how he was doing. I ignored Vince on purpose, and could almost sense him bristling with anger.
His lack of an outburst did surprise me, however, but I didn't get any time to ruminate on it. As soon as Rahul and Sneha took their leave, Swati snapped into trainer-mode.
"Alright," she said, addressing me, "now that you have access to your magic, it's time we started training you to be a warrior. Unlike what you might see in a movie, being a good warrior isn't just about martial skill or bodily fitness. It's a mindset of its own, and understating tactics is a big part of inculcating that mindset.
"As such, we have something of a routine planned out. You will continue to meet Vince and myself here every morning for your physical training, followed by some Wielding exercises. After a quick break for a meal, you are to report to Ronald for tactical training, which will continue through the afternoon. Once he dismisses you, you'll be reporting back to me, right here, for a second round of physical training.
"You may be tested by myself or any other senior Wielder at any point in time. Some of these tests will be scheduled, while others may be sprung on you at any time. If you work hard enough, both, you and Vince, might be able to join the rest of the warriors in two or three years.
"Any questions?"
"Not at the moment," I replied, nervously, "no."
"Good." she stated, "Let's begin."
To say that she worked me to the bone would be an understatement. I knew I wasn't the fittest person around, but Swati really pushed me to the edge over the course of that morning.
We started with an all-out run through the forest, just Swati and I. She'd let me rest each time I got too winded to continue, but it couldn't have been longer than forty minutes overall, before my legs just refused to move. I tumbled to the ground and lay there, panting and covered in welts from branches and bushes, all of which were set aflame by the sweat flowing down my body.
"Okay," Swati said, after confirming that my limbs just wouldn't obey me anymore, "turn over onto your back, and close your eyes."
I did as she asked, wincing as my legs protested even that meagre movement.
"I know that you're in pain, and that it's hard to focus, but that is just what you need to learn to do. You will be a warrior, Chris. Warriors get hurt. They get beaten and stabbed, have their bones broken, and their limbs chopped off. Through it all, they must learn to remain true.
"The center of your being, the source of your Power, can be your sanctuary. In time, you will be free of the sensations your body experiences, while you're in there. Go there now."
I tried to do as she asked me to, but the pain was just too distracting. I simply couldn't will myself back into my center.
"I can't," I groaned, "I just can't."
"You can." she replied, in a tone that booked no argument. "Focus! Find a way to look beyond your pain."
I had no clue what she was talking about, but since she didn't seem inclined to tell me more, I decided to try to focus on my pain. I started with the cuts and welts on my face, concentrating on them, and on the sensations radiating out from them. The longer I "looked" at them, the less they actually seemed to sting.
Intrigued, I expanded my attention to the rest of my body, focusing on the sources of my pain. Gradually, they all seemed to fade away, till only my legs were still hurting. The pain was somewhat bearable, though, and I was finally able to find my way to my core.
"I'm here!" I exclaimed, as I looked around my cave, "You were right, I don't feel anything!"
"Good," Swati said, "and now, I want you to tap into your magic and heal yourself, just like yesterday."
I did as she asked, noticing that my pool seemed to be deeper than the last time I'd checked. Dipping my feet into the pool, I shifted my attention to my body, finding it easier to redirect the flows of energy into the wrongness I encountered. As I finished restoring the spent muscles in my legs, a sharp explosion of pain broke out across my torso, shocking me out of my core, as my eyes snapped open.
Swati stood over me, a thin branch in her hand, and a red welt spreading across my stomach.
"What the hell?!" I exclaimed, scrambling away from her, "You hit me!"
"I did," she said, calmly, "and as expected, you lost hold of your Power. Tell me, Chris, what would have happened if this branch had been a sword, and I'd thrusted it through your heart, instead?"
"I'd have died," I mumbled, seeing her point.
"Exactly. Now, get up," she continued, "we're going to repeat this over and over again, till you're almost drained of magic."
"Are you trying to kill me?!" I shouted, the prospect of repeating that all multiple times over, sending a surprisingly potent spike of rage through my brain.
"On the contrary," Swati replied, pulling out two pebbles from her pouch, "I'm trying to teach you how to survive. Stand up and hold out your arms."
Seeing that I didn't really have much of a choice, I did as she asked. A deep red halo seemed to flicker around her for a second, and was gone before I could even register it. I should have been paying more attention to my arms, in any case.
I jumped back with a start, as balls of dirt started flying towards me. Rather than hitting me hard, however, they seemed to stick to my arms, chest, and back, molding themselves to my frame.
In seconds, it felt like I'd put on over ten kilos.
"This should suffice." Swati said, with a satisfied smile, as I stumbled and caught my balance. "The added weight of the dirt will help stress your upper body as well, while we run. When I feel that you're strong enough, we can move on to actual strength-training."
With that, she turned around and started running again, leaving me with no option but to follow her. The added weight of the dirt taxed my body much more, and I was on the ground again, barely ten minutes later. My entire body was aflame with pain this time, but with a little effort, I could look beyond it and heal myself again. A pebble flicked at my head is what broke my concentration this time, and then, we set off running, again.
Two hours later, as the sun was about halfway to its zenith, my magical reserves were almost completely depleted, and I told Swati as much. Nodding, she released her spell, and I let out a sigh of relief as the mud fell off my body. She motioned for me to follow her, and we walked through the forest in silence for a while, eventually finding ourselves back in the clearing we'd started in.
Swati had clearly assigned Vince his own tasks as we ran through the forest, and he'd actually transformed the clearing into a training arena. A rack lined with poles of varying thicknesses, swords, axes, and bows of varying lengths— all made of wood— stood off to the right. To our left were a bunch of wooden dummies, which were obviously meant to be archery targets, and straight ahead, was a clear, circular patch of ground, which I assumed was to be a sparring circle.
Vince was standing by the weapons rack, and Swati nodded approvingly at him, as we walked towards the circle. He came over to join us, but remained outside the circle.
"Here's how this will work," Swati instructed me, as we faced off inside the circle, "I'll walk you through some movements and combinations, and correct you as you practice them. Once you have them down, you and Vince will face off, using them on each other, so you can see how to apply them in an actual fight. Two weeks from now, we'll transition to the two of you free-sparring at the end of a session, as well.
"Considering the fact that you have no training whatsoever, I think the best course of action is to spend a few months on hand-to-hand combat, before actually moving on to weapons. I will teach you to use each available weapon to a rudimentary degree, after which, we can decide which ones you should work on mastering.
"This plan only applies to melee weapons, however. The skillset you'd require to use a ranged weapon is different enough for us to begin assessing whether or not you'd make a good archer right away, so you'll be learning that from today, along with hand-to-hand combat."
I just nodded my agreement, and she shifted into the same ready stance as the one I faced when I first fought her. I tried to emulate her, and she stepped over to correct me, spreading my feet farther apart, but showing me how she actually kept her thigh muscles tense and ready to spring into action. Once she was satisfied with my stance, she walked me through some basic strikes and blocks, and had me repeat them over and over again, while she corrected me.
By the time she was somewhat satisfied with the way I moved, my muscles were screaming for relief, and a dull ache persisted in all my joints. Even my fingers seemed to hurt. I had no clue how she expected me to spar with Vince or learn how to handle a bow after all that, but we were interrupted before I could ask.
"Acharya!" Rahul called, riding into the clearing, "The Sapt Senapati have been summoned, as has Chris bhaiya."
