The Fallen Sun

Enriji Akatoush

The Fallen Sun

On the First Day…
The wind blew through the dusty landscape, howling and twisting through the empty air. Sand kicked up lightly buffering the red cloak that stood out against the earth-toned landscape. Alone the figure walked, bringing up a sleeve to shield his face from the small rocks that assaulted it. So quickly things had changed for him. He’d never given thought to defeat; it had never crossed his mind what losing would entail for him. The sun and sand on the freshly carved tattoos burned with the reminded of what had happened. His body still carried the bruises and cuts of loosing the fight. It wasn’t just that he lost, but he lost so easily. He’d barely scratched the man, and in return he’d been beaten to the point that he could barely catch his breath. After that he didn’t remember much, only that he had been grabbed, and drug away. He’d been laid out and held down, while the needles had been driven into his face over and over again, for an hour he was held while they finished. Eventually his face had gone numb from the pain and he’d stared towards the heavens, pleading with the gods in his own silent mind. Why had they let this happen, why did they forsake him, could they not see that he was the right full leader, that the priest was nothing but lies? When the final mark had been made he again was pulled to his feet and taken to the village gates, thrown a bedroll, some water and a weapon and the gates shut. Now he wondered alone, anger and uncertainty clouded his mind. Each thought, like a tiny piece of sand that blinded him from what he should do next. Enriji collapsed on the dune, the sand burning against his face as tear rolled down his cheeks. The tears stung his wounds and cleaned little paths down his dirty face. His hand slammed into the dirt and he screamed letting out a roar that echoed through the emptiness, and over the winds own howl.
“Raaah! Why!? What are the gods that do nothing!?” He yelled getting to feet as looked to the sky. “What do you want!? What should I do now!? If you are so great TELL ME!” He shouted throwing a rock at the sun, before collapsing to his knees. He sat there silently for hours, even through the setting sun and into the darkness of night. He began to realize that the gods wouldn’t hear the pleas, there were no gods. He felt truly alone at that thought, even when he’d lost his family, he had his mother and his village, when he lost them, he had the gods, but when he lost his faith in everything, only he was there on that dune. There was no holy being looking out for him, there was no destiny he was meant o have, only he held the power to change his fait, and if he did not he’d would die there with no one to mourn his passing. Standing he gave a dark glare to the moon, a hollow symbol of his family.
“I will not be naive anymore, From now on I need no gods…” He murmured and began looking for water. Luckily among the few things that had been given to him was a Naginata, and it helped him forge his path through the sand.

On the Second Day…
Early before the sun was even up Enriji had headed out once more, seeing a oasis last night, he had not had the energy to make tripe in the cold and had had to stop and wait until now for the last leg of the trip. It was used for the traders, that had to stop and water their mounts through their travels in the heat, it would be a good spot for him to stay and train. As he arrived he dropped his things on the dirt and looked at the small pond of water. This place would survive for now, with only his mind and the desert sounds he began. First on his mind was getting shelter, using fallen palm leaves and other materials on the ground as well as sand and water he made a tiny lean-to, he even dug a fire pit near the front to warm it at night. It took him three hours to complete but it was a necessity. After he’d taken care of the basics he moved to the Naginata and removed his robes so that only his slack red pants remained and he took up form training. His first strike was powerful and aimed for the tree trunk. His choice for aiming here was not for target practicing, clearly a tree trunk was not the hardest thing to aim for. But rather his powerful strike sent a tremor up through the tree and rattled the fruits at the top. Enriji watched patiently as the fruits rattled around and slowly stopped. His eyes narrowed, his strike had been too weak. He brought the staff around once more build up some more energy this time before knocking it into the tree again this time causing a few of the fruits to break free fall. Once down, Enriji collected them and sat down to eat.

Words 893

Day Four …
I awoke early, as was becoming customary for me. I would rise before the sun and not sleep until it had set, during the hottest part of the day I rested in the cool waters or in my shelter until the heat passed and I could resume my activities. My skin had already taken on a slightly darker tone by now. To day was a relatively laid-back day, as I spent the majority of my time training on a rock near the center of the pond. I sat upon it, legs crossed head bowed and arms at rest as I tried to channel my newfound powers. Normally my clan would have been a large part of teaching, and training. They would have guided me with their wisdom and experiences and helped easy my mind and strength my abilities. I would never know of their secrets, or how it would have been to grow up with them. I’d been robbed of that; it had been taken away when I was but a child, unaware or able to stop the events. The thought of the arrogant self-righteous fool who had sealed my family’s fait was almost enough to cause me to lost concentration. I would not let the hate for him through off my goals; no I wouldn’t give that worthless bag of flesh any power over me. Instead I would hone these talents. I would make realize that while his plan had been cunning at first he made a mistake with me, and leaving just one member, even if I was not a full blood clan member, would come back on him ten fold. Him and all those who followed him would fall, and I would saver every pleasant moments of it. As I took in the joy and anger that surged through my thought I was blissfully unaware of that fact that I had begun to levitate slightly off the rock.

While like I said I had no real idea of how my clan had trained, I did have ideas from my mother. As a child she would tell me many stories of my father and the others. She explained what they could do, though she hadn’t always known how they achieved such things, because those were well guarded secrets even from her. I had an idea though, some times when she spoke to them they would let details slip their tongues all I had to do was piece together what I knew and what I felt was right and I could easily achieve the same effects I had no doubts that I would learn all of their secrets.

Day Five…
It was midday when I attempted the first of the most basic techniques I had knowledge of. The crystalvision, a skill that would allow me to see great distances. I had trained for three days just simply meditating, gathering power and learning to hold it in a steady and controlled pattern. Now that I had achieved that, I could mold the magic to my will and for this skill it would be used for the crystalvision. I held my hands as normal out in front of me, as if they held a small ball, and closed my eyes. I began to channel the energy into the gap between my hands. Though it could not bee seen, there was a slight pressure from the energy as it built up, and to accommodate the growing energies I slowly began to widen the gap. I noticed it took a noticeably shorter time to gather the energy this time, my training must have been paying off. Opening my wolf like eyes I stared into the void between my hands, trying to form images. At first they came and went tiny glimpse of the dessert and creatures that crawled within it near by. I took my time, with no real reason to rush things, letting the images come and go, trying to get a fixed vision. Slowly the magic seemed to stabilize and allow me control, showing me a small caravan and in the distance my current location. I dropped the image and stood up on the rock to face the incoming party. I could see them as just now began to appear over a dune and into view. Nothing more than a merchant group though maybe a few guards, but nothing I gave much thought to, this was free land, I didn’t expect trouble. Fifteen minutes passed until they arrived, and while I was in plan view of them, I made no gestures or welcomes simply went about my own business and expected the same from them. They were far more less adept at ignoring me, whispers and strange looks were eagerly cast my direction, and when I turned to look, one man mistakenly made eye contact. He and I stared a moment, as if daring the other to look away, but he was a man of weaker will and so he drew his gaze away first leaving me victorious.

I sat in my small shelter, and watched them from the shadows of the midday sun. They kept far away, sticking to the other side of the water. My face had told my story without words; an excelled man forced to live alone. Obviously none of them wanted to share my fait, so they stayed as far away as possible. I did the same, making to effort to strike up conversation in anyway. It was a silent treaty, you don’t bother me and I won’t bother you. That is how it was and stayed, for nearly an hour until they saw fit to move on. I made contact of the eyes with the other once more as they left, and he seemed uneasy, but I didn’t give it much thought.

Words 970

1500 exp
Wisp Learned
Crystalvision Learned

363 exp
Left over

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Updated