The Commander of Orion ✔️

Chapter 5

Half of the day was spent exploring the new territory, or as much as I could in so little time.

To my surprise, the layout of Orion was vastly different from the layout of Fucus. Unlike Orion, the 3 tribes of Fucus were separated by a vast amount of forest. Each tribe was distinctly located and about a day and a half from each other. Houses were built close together, creating a small segregated community within each tribe.

Orion, on the other hand, was loosely packed. The centre of the territory was marked by the large packhouse. Wooden houses were scattered around the forest with no clear indication of where each tribe ended and the other began. Creating a kind of web- wherever you ran, you were guaranteed to bump into a house.

I was back at the packhouse before the sun had set. I wanted to take some time to explore the basement and put in a couple of hours of training before it was dark.

The basement of the packhouse wasn't hard to find since the stairs leading to the dojo where large and brightly lit.

I walked down the stone steps before being blown away by the sheer size of the room. It must've taken them years to build this.

Metal bowls filled with wax were lit and hung, lighting the room with a soft orange-yellow hue. Pushed up against the stone walls were rows and rows of possibly every weapon that existed. Four large dummies stuffed with hay stood in each corner, along with punching bags and targets. A mat covered most of the floor, indicating the allocated training area.

I felt like I was in heaven.

I walked over to my favourite type of daggers and took two out. I felt the weight of them before I walked over to a dummy and dragged him out of his corner. I practised my strikes, controlling the angels and the amount of pressure I used.

Noticing Alpha Kaelon, Commander Zoron and Commander Edrik walking into the room, I immediately dropped my hands to my side and bow.

"Edrei," they all greet, acknowledging my presence.

"You won't learn anything training alone," Commander Zoron said. "Come, spar with me."

I walked to the middle of the room and wait for Commander Zoron to equip himself with two daggers and join me.

I see Commander Edrik and Alpha Kaelon watching us from the slide lines. Their eyes are focused and attentive, causing me to think this may be some sort of test to prove myself.

Commander Zoron takes an aggressive stance opposite me, holding the blades out. I matched his pose and wait.

He was the first one to strike, and for someone so big, his speed surprised me. I managed to block his attack before he struck again and again. I slowly lost ground as I defended myself from his assault. Once I was off the mat, he stopped.

"You can do better," he told me barely out of breath as he moved back to the middle. I pursed my lips together. I can.

As soon as we take out stances, I attack. If I had surprised him he doesn't show it as he effortlessly blocks my attacks. I swiped to the left my right dagger as I tried to make contact with his torso. Commander Zoron jumped out of the blade's path and grabbed my wrist, and spun me around so that my back was towards him.

I felt his blade slice through my forearm.

Pushing through the pain that radiated throughout my body, I spun around to face him. I lifted my foot up and kicked his torso hard. He lost balance, his face showing surprise before he fell to the floor.

Commander Zoron pushed himself up and tore the bottom half of his shirt into one long strip of cloth. He walked up to me, lifted my arm up and tightly wrapped the cloth around my bleeding wound.