One With Nature

Walk and Talk: 2

"Keep moving. Unless you're literally vomiting your organs, don't stop," Scathach barked at me.

You know, I always thought that all those talks about how Scathach's training is harsh and unrealistically painful were just exaggerated.

I was wrong.

The woman has me running with a boulder tied to me. That wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact she tied one of her spears to the boulder so that, if I slow down, it would stab me because the boulder caught up.

I had gotten way better in using the puppet body. I can mostly move like a normal human. There is the occasional mistakes like confusing the right limp for the left, but I rarely get that.

"Alright, that's enough for today," Scathach jumped on the rock and tore the spear out, making me stop.

"So... what... now?" I asked as I took a few deep breaths.

"Now, the real test begins," That would have sounded ominous from Scathach if the line wasn't so cliche. "We have trained within the safety of your Reality Marble. Now, we will take your training to my Castle of Shadows."

"Alright, how do we get there?" I asked.

"YOU will be headed in that direction," Scathach said pointing south. "Make sure to have something to defend yourself with. There are ghouls and beasts along the way."

"... I'm sorry, did you say that I'll have to go there? As in, on my own?" I asked, looking at her.

Scathach looked at me as if I just asked what color the sky was. "You'll be going on your own. As all my students did, you have to make it to the castle with your own strength."

I transferred back to my real body. "I just learned how to move properly," I said back.

"All my students barely knew how to fight before I took them under my mentorship," Scathach defended with a shrug. "You should have seen Setanta. His stance alone made me shake my head."

"Shit, I really hope I wasn't like that with Svend," I mumbled. I did make him go through a lot, but I never threw him to monsters before I taught him how to fight.

Scathach blinked at me for a few seconds. "Svend... are you, perhaps, speaking of the Shield King?"

Now it was my turn to... oh, wait, I'm not in the puppet body, so no blinking. Let's just saw I'm confused. "You know about Svend?"

"One does not learn Primordial Runes without reading on great names such as Sigurd the Dragon Slayer and Svend the Shield King," Scathach replied. "Stories say that Svend was taught by an Elemental. I assume that was you?"

I nodded. "Pretty much. Svend was my first student and he kind of wouldn't leave me alone until I took him as a student."

Raising an eyebrow, Scathach asked, "First? Did you have another?"

I stayed quiet for a few seconds before looking away. "There was... another. A swordsman from the east, but I'd rather not talk about it."

Scathach nodded and mumbled. "I see."

I was surprised she accepted it so quickly, but she most likely has her own regrets with som students and how they turned out.

"Back to your training, you should get started," Scathach began walking away. "The Castle of Shadows is quite a way from here. I believe it should take you no less than a month of travelling."

"A month? You want me to fend for myself for a whole mo-" I stopped halfway through and looked around. "Alright. I guess I can-"

"No, you can't move in your Reality Marble until you're near the Castle of Shadows. You have to start from her with the puppet," Scathach cut me off.