Inner Demons

Chapter 12: Uphill Motion

I woke up well before dawn the following day, dressed, and dragged myself to my feet. If I stand any chance in this tournament against my new warrior comrades, I must be well-prepared and ready for any craziness they could throw at me. I trekked out to the outskirts of Limbo and woke myself with some light cardio. Hopefully, it would be enough of a warm-up for whatever hell Draco has planned for me. Since I blew off his training yesterday, I am still determining how things will turn out. He could decide to run me into the ground for all I know, so I had best be prepared.I ran around the outer boundaries of Limbo before hearing a voice keeping up behind me as I ran. "Starting without me, are we?" Draco said; the sudden sound of his voice sent me to a sudden halt. "How long have you been watching?" I asked. "Not terribly long, long enough to know we still need to work on your running form; not much of a track star, were you?" Draco asked. "Nah, I was on the Alexandria high fencing team, though; it was Grampa's idea," I said. "it seems George was preparing you for this after all. Anyway, I thought for a bit last night; I want you to be well rested for this tournament, so you should take the day off of training." Draco said, "Really, that's great...incredibly unexpected but great," I told him. "Don't think this will be a recurring thing; you are the first of my students to participate in one of these tournaments in decades, so you've got to represent me well." Draco smiled sharply.

"I'll come to get you around three, and we'll gauge how well-prepared you are. Until then, enjoy yourself." Draco said, Shadow-walking away and leaving me to my own devices. "I should use this time to explore the parts of limbo I haven't had a chance to yet," I thought aloud. As I walked, I passed Mark, who was training with a woman who appeared to be in her mid-to-late forties. Mark was in a deep focus, throwing what appeared to be walnuts at a target, so I thought it best not to interrupt him. He and his mentor were probably trying to Squeeze in some last-minute training before the tournament.

I continued passing my fellow warriors training with their mentors as I strolled down the path to Gary's house; I planned on starting there and then figuring out what to do next. I arrived at Gary's house and climbed the three small white-painted steps to his wooden porch, where I found Gary sitting in his antique rocking chair, blocking his front door. "Hey there Conner, want some potato salad?" Gary said, holding a plate of mashed potatoes covered in chopped lettuce and diced tomatoes. "No, thank you. I'm not hungry right now," I said politely, declining. "Ah, ok, then more for me!" Gary said as he shoveled a spoonful into his mouth. "I wanted to ask you something, Gary," I said, figuring out how I wanted to word things in my head before I spoke. "Yes, your sister is still out there...alive and kickin' too," Gary said with a mouth full of mashed potatoes. "How did you?" I asked, but he interrupted me, "I'm a seer; your head will hurt less if you don't question it." Gary said, his eyes glowing, emanating a brilliant violet hue. "Do...Do you know where she is?" I asked hesitantly, trying not to stumble over my words. This was the most information I've gotten about her in years of trying.

"Do I know where who is?" Gary asked as his eyes stopped glowing. "My sister Sarah, we were just talking about her," I said," You have a sister?" Gary asked; he was visually confused. "All I remember talking about was my favorite Soap opera; I wonder if Raymond will ever find his sister," Gary said, and I could tell I had lost him. "Never mind, well I'll be seeing you, Gary," I said as I began to head out. "That girl really overdid it with the blue," Gary said quietly, but I was too far away to hear him.

As I walked, I could hear the song of the many wind chimes hanging from Gary's awning, echoing through the grassy fields as they began to sing and dance about in the light breeze. I quickly learned that there is only so much variety in weather here in Limbo.

It hardly ever rains or even gets cold, though there have been a couple of times when it looked like it was about to rain. I had asked Gwen what was up with the weather, and she explained that when Draco made this place, he made it so that it would always be the "perfect climate for training." she also added that the only time it actually rains is when one of the other warriors with weather-controlling powers is training.

While walking down the long winding stone path leading to the gateway, Shannon and I used to leave Limbo when I noticed a small dirt path extending to the side. Naturally, this rugged path piqued my interest, so I followed it to its end. As I walked down the path, the trees around me began to sway in the wind; the further down I went, the closer to the path the trees became. Upon arrival at the end of the path, I found a small statue filled with meadow enclosed by a small stone wall that was only about waist height. I walked through a small entrance gap in the wall and made my way to the first of the statues. The Statue depicted a confident-looking skinny man with a scar across his left eye leaning on the hilt of his sword, the tip of which was shown dug into the base of the Statue. A small plaque was affixed to the Statue's sizeable square base. This Statue appeared older than the surrounding ones, showing early signs of rusting, while the rest appeared pristine. Most of the words on the plaque were worn away from years of sitting here, but what I could make out was "-- memory -- Victor ----- First ------- --- Wrath, --- Fallen Brother."

"These Statues must be memorial shrines," I told myself as the realization hit me. Moving on to the next Statue, which depicted an older bearded man with a laughing smile and a cloaked hood resting his blade on his shoulder. This Statue's plaque was more intact and cared for than the previous one. "In memory of Conner Zyphor, The Second Wielder of the Sin of Wrath, missing in action." "Huh, what are the chances that two Wielders of Wrath would be named Conner?" I said to myself. Suddenly, I heard the snap of a small branch nearby, tearing my attention away from the Statue. "Who's there?" I said clearly as I reflexively summoned my sword. Showing herself from behind a nearby statue, Shannon's smiling face quickly halted my racing thoughts. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "I was just wandering around. what are you doing here?" I asked her. "I was visiting my sister's statue," she said; I could hear the sounds of depression in her usually cheery voice. I looked slightly past her at a statue of a girl with hair down to her shoulders.

The Statue depicted her holding her sword above her right shoulder in a swinging motion so that the only way you could interpret it is she was in the heat of battle, swinging at something vile with her blade, well that or aggressively spreading butter with it. The blade she was holding my focus captive, though I had never laid eyes on it before, it had a strange sense of familiarity. "Conner," Shannon said, breaking my fixation on the sword. "Thank you for talking to me about her yesterday; it really helped me," she hugged me. "No problem, anything to see you smile," I said, trying not to show how flustered I was by the hug while trying to figure out how I got here. "If you two are done here, we got a few things to attend to, "Draco said, tapping me on the shoulder and breaking up the hug, much to the displeasure of Shannon, who was subtly pouting at him. "Let's get going; see you tomorrow, Shan," Draco said, placing his hand on my shoulder in preparation to Shadow-Walk. "See you later, Shannon," I said, and within seconds, Draco had Shadow-Walked us to our training area."We're gonna Spar quickly so I can gauge how far you've come," Draco said as he got into a fighting stance. "Are you ready?" Draco said clear as day. "Yeah," I responded, confident that I would at least be able to hold my own today. I got into a fighting stance of my own and watched as Draco entered his purity form. I focused, gathering all the rage I could muster in preparation for his assault, and awaited his first move. Draco was already on the offensive, rushing me from the front before the brilliant, jagged, scarlet crescent marking had finished burning its way across his face. Draco shot his fist toward my stomach, but I was able to dodge the momentum of his strike to get behind him and launch a punch that made contact with his jaw as I passed. The punch had every ounce of power I could put into it, and you could tell. This was enough to send Draco to the ground momentarily, not enough to take him out of the battle, but only just enough to piss him off. "Good job, kid," Draco said, standing up and wiping away the blood from his bleeding lip. "You've made enough progress to do well in the tournament," Draco said. "Thank y-" my thought was cut short by a swift blow to the back of the neck as Draco Shadow-walked, appearing behind me. "Though if you keep letting your guard down like that, you won't stand a chance out in the field." He said, my vision growing cloudy as I collapsed to the ground, blacking out on the soft grass of the field.