Although it was just a rumor my parents seemed to believe that the vampires were coming. After all, the source was one of their dear friends.

  The rumor quickly became reality as my father had gotten an escort job to the central continent and there he saw a lot of demons asking people to help them. Normally demons didn’t get along neither with other species nor themselves. Though this time some were asking for help from those they didn’t get along with, according to my father’s testimony.

  This was around two years ago and it seems things have calmed down since then. Was it a calm before the storm? No one was certain.

  Although they hadn’t told me what the elf doctor had told them right away, they told me after father returned from the escort job and told me they may consider moving away in the coming years.

  This was probably due to Rivenwood being the closest to the demon continent. Although the vampires need to cross through the central continent to get here, they thought that they may have some other way to cross here.

  The focus now was my tenth birthday. My aunt and teacher, Bett, said that she would be coming to my tenth birthday when she left two years ago. She also sent a letter reassuring us that she will come. She also said that she had found a partner and a new student as well, though she didn’t get into detail.

  According to the letter she sent, she said that she would arrive after two weeks or so. She said that she would come with her new student but that her partner wouldn’t come with her. My parents seemed to want to meet her partner. Maybe my mother wanted to approve of him? I wasn’t sure .

  Because she wouldn’t be arriving for two weeks, I decided to start on a new type of style.

  This past two years I managed to learn and execute the forms and footwork of three of the four sword styles. Every style had ten forms each with different footwork and moves.

  Out of the four, the one I didn’t even bother learning one form until now was the earth style. This was due to the requirement of a heavy strong body, kind of like my old body. So instead of focusing on something I didn’t have I decided to learn the other three. I had started with the water style as I deemed it the most useful to me, I had learned seven of the ten forms. While for the other two, I had managed to learn five from the wind style and three from the fire style.

  Learning the fire style was by far the second hardest task I had after coming to this world. The first being, trying to move my body as an infant. This was due to me learning the water style first.

  As my aunt had said, she couldn’t learn the water style after learning the fire style first. The same thing happened to me. I first learned the water style therefore, making the fire style hard for me to learn. The reason why I had been able to learn two opposite styles was mainly because I had no mana.

  The forms and footwork of the elemental styles were originally designed to complement the flow of mana. For those who wield mana, learning a style meant not just mastering the physical movements, but also internalizing the corresponding magical principles. That's why learning opposing styles was so difficult – it required a mage to essentially rewire their internal mana flow, to reconcile fire's explosive nature with water's fluid grace, for example. But for me, who lacked mana, the styles were purely physical exercises. I could learn the movements without the added complexity of managing the magical energies, making it akin to learning dance steps rather than conducting an orchestra. I wasn't trying to bend fire and water; I was just mimicking their movements.

  For now though, I had decided to develop my body. Although it would be hard to get the same type of strength as I had in my old life and older people from this world in a short time, it would be enough to learn some of the forms of the earth style, or so I hope.

  *******

  Two weeks passed in a haze and a carriage just pulled up near our house. I was out training on my body when the carriage pulled up. I could guess one person who would come out.

  My aunt.

  She said that she would bring her student with her, and I felt a thrill of anticipation. Maybe her partner had come along, though I found that unlikely since she mentioned in her letter that he wouldn’t be joining them.

  The door to the carriage opened and a girl seemingly younger than me opened the door. She jumped down out of the carriage and took out a wooden sword which resembeled a rapier, but was a little wider and seemed heavier than the usual designs.

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  She had long blue hair and blue eyes.

  “All clear, you can come out now master” she shouted.

  Hmm is she maybe the new student that my aunt mentioned. I considered it but I didn’t think she would take this kind of cheeky girl. Is this carriage another person’s carriage perhaps? I thought.

  “It was all clear to begin with, you can stop acting as my body guard. People will think I am not a capable teacher.”

  A familiar voice came from inside the carriage and some moments later a person I knew very well came out. It was my aunt.

  I was a fair distance away from where the carriage had pulled up, but I could hear what they were talking about easily. I approached them and as soon as I did my aunt saw me and was about to greet me when.

  “Who are you? Mysterious boy. Don’t approach my master” the girl that my aunt had brought said, jumping between us with an exaggerated stance.

  I could hear my aunt let out a long sigh and after that she held the girl’s left shoulder.

  “Trix, don’t jump head on when I’m about to talk, and this ‘Mysterious boy’ is your senior because he is my first student. Meet my nephew, Kael Ashford”

  “Oh, so he is the kid you brag about”

  Trix, looked at me with some kind of side eye and then hugged my aunt tightly and shouted, “You have finished your session already, she is mine now”

  My aunt sighed again holding her head, “What am I gonna do with you?”

  Hmm, seems like, this Trix always acted like this. If that’s the case, what she had said made sense. She seemed wary of me.

  My mom, who was inside came out to see what the commotion was. As soon as she saw who it was, she immediately invited them inside.

  We went in and since it was around lunch time, my mother who was already preparing lunch for the two of us, started making other portions as well.

  Some time later my mom came out with five plates of rice and meat. I could understand why there were four but why a fifth. Maybe my father was coming home. That was the only reasonable explanation right?

  As I was thinking about that my father returned from farm work. He had helped some of the farmers and returned at this time. Apparently, he had already met my aunt when she was on her way here. After all they should pass by the village and the farm to get here.

  After that we eat lunch and we talked about some things. My aunt told us how Trix came to be her student. Her full name was Trixina and apparently, some bandits were about to sell her to slave traders. My aunt saved her after Trix had asked her for help.

  Trix was fascinated by the moves of my aunt and started following her and mimicking what she did, which included swordsmanship. My aunt feigned ignorance at first but as she saw that Trix had some skill with the sword she decided to train her. She gave her a wooden rapier to learn swordsmanship but, Trix insisted that she wanted a sword like my aunt’s. That’s how she had a weird looking wooden rapier when I first saw her and also how she became the student of my aunt.

  “But what about your partner, how did you two meet and why didn’t he come with you?” my mother insisted to know.

  “You will meet him when the time comes. I won’t tell you anything till then”

  Anyways, seemed that Trix had a painful time with the bandits. Maybe she was a gloomy girl at first but it seemed like my aunt had influenced her very much as to be this cheeky.

  After we finished lunch I wanted to get some fresh air and then train a bit. As I went out, I could feel someone following me. Trix was behind me, I don’t know why she was following me though.

  I walked to a nearby hill, a place I often went when I wanted to be alone—Ela had told me about it before leaving for Thaloria.

  Trix kept following me, and I couldn’t figure out why so I decided to ask her about it.

  I turned around and asked

  “Why are you following me?”

  She turned her head as if to not see me eye to eye and said, “I am free to do whatever I want.”

  She was right and I didn’t have the authority to send her back. Although I was a year older I was still a kid so she wouldn’t listen to me. The only way to send her back was if I used violence but I would absolutely not do that. It wasn’t just about the idea of ‘never hitting a girl’—which I’d ignore if I had to—but because I knew I’d get in trouble for it.

  From this hill, you could get a cool breath of air and look down on Rivenwood. I decided to sit down and make the food I just ate settle down as to not cause problems to my stomach later.

  I started thinking-- The past two years of rigorous training had honed my skills, but there was always room for improvement.

  A few moments later, I got up and began moving through the forms of the water style I had learned, my motions fluid and precise. The rhythm of the practice usually calmed me, but today, I couldn’t shake a sense of unease. My mind wandered back to the conversation I had overheard between my parents and the elf doctor. Six years, he had said, maybe ten. But what if it was sooner? What if the vampires were already on their way?

  As I was lost in thought, a voice interrupted me.

  “Boring.” Trix said from behind me, rolling her eyes.

  I turned around, my eyebrows raised ,”What do you mean?”

  “Why are you only moving the same forms over and over again? I thought the ‘G~R~E~A~T’ Kael’s training would be more, let’s say interesting”

  This kid is really frustrating. And what did she mean by, ‘The GREAT’ Kael. Whats so great about me.

  I could hear her sigh.

  “Anyway, I thought that you would be using a real sword, since your so great.”

  Uhh, she is really infuriating me.

  “I do, just not for training. And what about me is so great that you are always calling me something like, ‘The GREAT’ every time you talk to me”

  “Oh I don’t really mean anything by it. It’s just that master always say that you were a great student and that I should look up to you” she said flailing her hands.

  I sensed a hint of jealousy and anger in her words. Although I didn’t share those feelings, I could understand them from observing others. I wasn’t sure if I deserved the title of ‘great,’ but I believed Trix had the potential, considering she was trained by my aunt.

  “I’m not sure if I am great as you claim but if I am, I think you can be too, after all we have the same teacher.” I said as I extended my hand to her.

  She looked shocked for a second but then, I could see her eyes watering a little.

  “You are the second person to believe in me” she said as she took my hand and wiped her watering eyes.

  “Oh, so I could guess the first one is my aunt” I said teasingly

  “Yeah, she is”

  I guessed she would be but I didn’t think she would accept it so readily.

  “Anyways, clouds are gathering, why don’t we head home” I said, noticing that some clouds were gathering near the village.

  “Oh yeah, seems like a storm”

  I collected my stuff and we started heading home. The unease I felt before, although a little bit, had decreased.

  We arrived home and my aunt slept in the room she had been living here before while Trix slept in Ela’s room.

  That concluded the day and my tenth birthday was only a week away.