Focus is the key Sammael.
It spoke to him as a mere whisper of thought in his mind, so cold, so unrelenting. He had damned himself the day he took the swords from their cave deep in the realm.
Focus!
His body twisted in a deadly dance of swords and manuevers. The art of the Dragon stance was almost mastered but there was still so far to go in his mind that it blocked his forward progress.
Release your mind.
Both of the twin katanas shined with clarity, the blades as brilliant as the day they were first sharpened. They sliced the air with such clarity it was said they could even cleave a dragons head in two. It was a constant battle to release the focus of the voices that never stopped pushing him, constantly forcing him further in his quest to master the stance he had, for so long, practiced night and day.
The dust on the ground didnt stir as his padded feet touched and released from the earthy presence into the air while his arms twisted the swords in an intricate pattern against an invisible enemy. The depthless eyes of the skeleton stared out into the black walls of the Castle and again he focused on the motions.
Now, prove your worth Sammael!
The Samurai was faced with a mirror image, a warrior exactly like him, brought into being by the pair of spirits trapped in the Murasame and Masamune. It fought him inch for inch along the grounds, swords clashing in mid air as both combatents mirrored the moves of the other to the point where one would lose track of which was which.
The robes of the true Samurai was ripped asunder and black ooze crept onto the fabric as he sneered and released a torrent of counter-attacks. It wasnt until one flaw, the one he saw in himself, was opened before his eyes that he made his move. The mirror image thrusted the katana too far out and Sammael reacted with instinct instead of mind. The katana was enveloped along the smooth edge of the Masamune's edge while the Murasame was brought around and under the arm of the Mirror's blade-hand. With a quick upward draw, the body of Sammael flipping back as it happened, the arm was cut at the wrist and the mirror image screamed in pain.
Then he landed, no dust, no sound, no nothing as he turned to see his opponent still forced to stare ahead from the damage done. Sammael drew back and with a final stroke felled the enemy with a precised attack to his enemies back. A gutteral cry echoed across the empty courtyard as the image flickered and faded into black mists leaving Sammael alone again in the quiet night.
Thats when the voice echoed in his head, the sounds of the two spirits which haunted and helped him daily.
You are now a Grand Master of the Dragon Stance.
He had finally succeeded. Sammael had finally ascended to his rank and was ready to join the ranks of his brethren in true battle. The Samurai of the Tainted Shade was ready to be unleashed.
Posted by Armanon at July 7, 2005 11:56 PM