We all turned and followed Jupiter out the door, even though he was halfway to our training field by now. Seth and I followed behind the other Star and Warrior and I had to wonder if Seth was as daunted as I was. I glanced over at him, but all I got in return was a cocky smile and a playful wink.
We trudged across the snow covered fields, nobody wearing coats or even seeming to be effected by the near zero degree temps. By the time we reached Jupiter, he had already spread out the weapons across the field. I almost laughed, realizing he had clearly just picked up the different swords and tossed them randomly as far as he could. He was tossing swords! I shivered to think of any poor woodland creatures that got in his way.
“We will continue to train with swords and introduce other weapons later, as I see fit. But right now, since Stella is struggling with the basic skill of protecting herself, I think this is our top priority,” Jupiter announced gruffly.
I cringed at his frustration with me and then centered myself, remembering why I needed to push myself. Jupiter was right, I had to get better.
“Let’s start Star against Star, and add more opponents as time progresses,” Jupiter instructed and I realized at some point this morning he expected me to be able to fight all three of them.
Gulp.
“Stella, Serena choose your weapon,” Jupiter waved his arm across the expanse of the field, while Nate and Seth stepped out of the way.
Serena flipped through the air and landed twenty feet away, gracefully picking up a long, thin sword before her feet touched the ground. She turned back to me with a glint in her bright blue eyes that I was honestly scared of. And then she raised her sword defensively, and poised her body for the fight, her long sinewy body stretched and ready.
Double gulp.
Schooling my trembling appendages, I backed away from her, finding a katana sword to match her nodachi and raised it in a similar pose, more mimicking her than moving comfortably into position. Serena looked like the goddess of battle, her orange hair whipped behind her as if on fire and her eyes shone with the brightness of heaven, even in the daylight. Her body tensed and she waited for me, her muscles flexing in anticipation and her eyes narrowing against me.
She was a Warrior.
I was a seventeen year old girl that felt awkward holding my heavy weapon.
I tried to mimic the grace of her stance, but my foot sank lower in the snow than I intended it to and I stumbled a little before recovering. We faced each other from across the field, neither one willing to go on the offensive and give up our position.
“Serena, you attack her,” Jupiter commanded when he realized we could wait each other out all day. I saw only a moment’s hesitation before she obeyed.
Going against every instinct, she crossed the field at a flat out run and leapt through the air, with sword strong above her head. She was not holding back. Not at all….
And for a second I really thought she would kill me.
But then my blade was moving before my brain told it to and I responded out of pure instinct to protect myself. I met her sword with a crash that resounded through the farmland, and then moved swiftly…. gracefully even…. to the side so that I could swing at her again.
The clang of swords was loud and piercing against the quiet of the winter morning, but blow after blow I met hers with a force that surprised even me. I shut off the thinking part of my brain, the part of my brain that was raised in a human world with human reactions and let the supernatural nature I had repressed for far too long take over.
I started to feel like I had the upper hand, if only for a second, but for that second I was swinging first, doing more than just reacting; I was attacking her.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see my inner light encompassing my body, even in bright daylight. Serena and I lit up the field with the blinding brightness of our inner essence. Her features blurred the more ingrained in battle we became, but her sword stayed silver and strong, slicing the air and aiming for me. The snow melted at our feet, exposing the dirt and remnants of last year’s crops.
She let out a battle cry that sent chills of fear racing over my spine, before flipping into the air to deliver the final blow. At the last second, I leapt backward into a flip of my own and midair…. mid-flip….. I connected with her shoulder pushing her to the ground and landing next to her on one knee with my sword at the base of her throat.
I stared at her for a long moment, wondering where I learned to do that and thankful for the way my hand paused. In that moment, I wasn’t training, or fighting a fellow Star, I was defending myself and the force of which I planned to press my sword into my opponent surprised me…. scared me a little.
“Good,” Serena whispered in between heavy breaths and then smiled up at me from under my weapon. “That was very good.”
Still stunned from my win, I backed away slowly, giving her breathing room and removing the threat of my katana from her neck. I stood up, shoulders heaving from exertion and pulled in my light so that I wasn’t a baby version of the sun. Seth stood next to Nate smiling as widely as he could and I got the distinct impression he was trying very hard not to cheer for me. Nate too was smiling, but more like he was relieved for my sake than anything else.
Jupiter was not smiling. Jupiter eyed me from across the field skeptically, like I had just cheated somehow or Serena had gone easy on me. If she had, I couldn’t tell….