Some days passed and there was a day left until my tenth birthday. The day started like every other day. I woke up, ate breakfast then headed out for practice. Today, my aunt and Trix decided to join me, which they haven’t done this past week.

  We warmed up and did some practice swings. Although we were only warming up, I could see why my aunt said that Trix had talent. She had strong form and an excellent stance, probably better than Ela's when she left.

  “Ok, that’s enough for warm up,” said my aunt clapping her hands, taking control of the session. I could feel a sense of deja vu when she did this.

  “Since Trix and I joined you today, why not have a light spar?”

  Yep, that was the feeling. Around five years ago, when I was about to reach the age of five, specifically on my fifth birthday, my aunt had proposed that I have a spar with my sister. Even though today wasn’t my birthday and Ela wasn’t here, the way she did it was kinda the same.

  “So I am gonna have a spar with Kael?” said Trix her voice brimming with excitement. It seems that she wants to fight me

  “Oh no, you and he are gonna spar with me. It would be good to see how my students had grown myself”

  She was being cheeky. While I liked the idea of sparring with her, I didn’t think I could work well with Trix—or anyone, for that matter.

  We decided to use wooden swords since this was just a spar. I still had the sword I used to train with when I was a kid but, it didn’t suit me since I had grown. Fortunately I found Ela’s wooden sword that she had used when training with us. It seemed like she didn’t take it with her when she went to Thaloria.

  My aunt also had the old wooden sword that she mad for herself back when she made ours.

  Moments later we took position to start the spar.

  We began the spar, with my aunt standing opposite Trix and me. My grip tightened around my wooden sword, trying to anticipate Bett’s first move. I hadn’t seen her fight before so I didn’t know what to expect. Without warning, she dashed forward, her speed blinding. Trix reacted almost instinctively, raising her rapier to block, but the force of the impact pushed her back a few steps.

  “Keep your stance strong, Trix!” Bett called out, her voice both encouraging and commanding. “Your sword, although a little heavier is still a rapier so you have to keep up with agility and keeping your stances.”

  “Yes” she shouted as she stood back up.

  I tried to find an opening at that time, but Bett was too fast and had already noticed my attack. She pivoted smoothly, deflecting my strikes with ease while still keeping Trix on the defensive. It was clear she was holding back, but even so, her skill was miles ahead of ours.

  I hadn’t yet used my ability so I decided to go full out. I activated my ability and I saw two red dots, one near her leg and one near her torso. To attack her torso, I had to get behind her without her noticing, which is impossible at the moment, or that’s what I would like her to think. If I use my ability’s other features and add some moves from the water style, I could dodge the attacks that she would throw at me and get behind her.

  I charged with this plan in mind. Trix seemed to have noticed I was going for a decisive blow and tried to attack Bett with all she had. She headed her sword head on but due to the difference in weight between the swords, she was thrown back but, that had given me the time to get behind Bett and it seems that she hadn’t noticed me yet. I was about to attack when, I felt danger. I jumped back and tried to know where this sense of danger was coming from.

  “Oh! good choice” said my aunt. “If you had carried on with that attack you would have surely been out of the spar by now.”

  “.….”

  I didn’t respond, I was trying to figure out what she had meant.

  Without waiting for me to respond, she started doing the footwork of one of the ten forms of the wind style, Wind blast. This form was when the person does footwork that looks like a runners although a little higher and then add wind magic to their body and sword. This would make them faster and the attack would be a huge blow.

  Although I knew what was coming, I wasn’t sure how to counter it. But would she hurt her nephew. No it must have been a bluff, right?

  “Dodge!!!” a loud scream came from Trix.

  At that time even though I knew I had to dodge, I couldn’t move. My aunt attacked and it hurt like hell. It seems that she doesn’t hold back while training but this showed me that I still need to get stronger. I had this realization when I was about to be five but this was a good refresher as well. I didn’t get knocked out though, it seems like she had still been holding back.

  Although Trix was still standing Bett finally called the spar off. Some minutes passed, and we both collapsed to the ground. We were both out of breath, while she hadn’t even broken a sweat.

  “You both did well,” she said, her tone softer now. “But remember, a sparring partner isn’t an enemy. You need to learn to trust each other’s strengths.”

  I glanced at Trix, who was panting but grinning. She looked like she enjoyed the challenge, and despite my initial hesitation, I had to admit it felt good to train alongside someone else, even if it was just for a spar. Maybe there was something to be gained from working with others after all. I also discovered that she uses the wind sword style. With a rapier, that is probably the best choice for her.

  The rest of the day passed quietly. We returned home, and after lunch, my aunt took Trix aside for a private lesson, leaving me with some free time. I decided to head back to the hill, wanting to clear my mind and reflect on the day. The sky was beginning to darken,and the sun was setting. Shadows started gathering and the unease I was feeling this past week returned.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  I moved through some water style forms to refresh my mind but some moments later I decided to stop and sit down. As I sat there, the cool breeze ruffling my hair, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was coming. The sense of unease that had been gnawing at me for weeks was only growing stronger. I tried to push the thoughts away, focusing instead on the idea of my birthday tomorrow. But it was no use—the feeling lingered, a constant, nagging presence at the back of my mind.

  I returned home where I only found my mom. She was preparing dinner and because she said that she didn’t need me to help her, I decided to sit down. Some time passed and my father returned. Shortly after Bett and Trix returned as well.

  My dad had brought some alcoholic drinks for the “adults” and since my mom was preparing dinner, my dad and Bett started drinking.

  “So how was this last two years?” asked my dad. Since my aunt has been secretive about a lot of things that happened this two years, I thought they were trying to get her to tell them by making her drunk. Maybe.

  “I told you. You will know when the time is right.”

  They just started drinking so she probably would be in her normal mindset. But why go through all this. Trix was probably with Bett all this time, right? So why not ask her. Since Trix and I were sitting alone I decided to ask her.

  “Do you know anything about her partner?”

  “No. Every time she went to meet this mysterious guy, she would ask me to train or something.”

  “Wait, didn’t you travel together with him?”

  “No, I didn’t even meet him once but, if I remember correctly she started leaving me alone when we were staying in the Bell kingdom. Maybe that’s where she met him. Though I want to know what kind of guy took the heart of my master”

  “Yeah, I would like to know what kind of guy he is as well”

  I really don’t know why this guy is such a mystery but, I am sure Bett has a good reason to hide him.

  My father and Bett stopped drinking for a while when my mother told us that dinner was ready. We all went to the table and ate dinner. The air felt slightly festive, probably because tomorrow was my birthday and every one was being nice to me. Even Trix didn’t tease me once, which she always did this week. Everybody seemed to be looking forward to tomorrow.

  After finishing up dinner Trix and I were sent to sleep while my father and Bett went back to drinking. They will probably have a bad headache in the morning tomorrow. My mother joined them as well but I didn’t think she would drink that much.

  Some time past midnight, everyone was asleep including me. The house- No, all of Rivenwood- was silent but it was woken up by a sound that seemed like flapping. The flapping was loud. In legends, only a dragon's wings could make such a high-pitched sound. Though, there was no way a dragon would be here. After all, when the world was divided into six, all the dragons went to the sky continent and they weren’t seen after. People did tame dragons in the past and according to what I heard, the last person who had tamed a dragon was a demon king that died around two hundred years ago. The dragon should have probably survived since dragons and dragon folk live way longer than any other species. If not killed, a dragon can probably live five thousand years while a dragon folk can live around three thousand years. Some demons can also live as long as a dragon folk. But still the dragon used by that demon king hadn’t been seen escaping from the demon continent so people assumed it was dead.

  I had also assumed it was dead since that was written but this sound gave me a bad feeling.

  My room had a mirror that showed straight to Rivenwood . Although the sound was coming from the opposite direction I could see lights going off from the village. Everyone was probably wondering where the sound was coming from.

  Although Rivenwood is the last place that will be seen in the north west of the human continent on a map, there were still about some dozen houses farther than Rivenwood.

  “AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!”

  A loud scream was heard from where the flapping sound was coming from. It startled me and I turned around as if the sound was right there. Then-

  “AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!”

  Another loud scream even louder than the last was heard. The flapping sound was also getting louder and another sound was also being heard. A marching sound. I went down the stairs with my sword and I found my parents, Bett and Trix there. My parents had a tense look on their face while Bett was holding her head, probably because she drank a lot and Trix was still sleepy and was yawning. Bett had her sword while Trix had her wooden sword.

  Bett had called Trix and asked her to come with her sword as a defensive measure after hearing the shouts. My parents were in a room on the ground floor and they thought that Trix and Bett, who were in the first floor but these two had though that my parents would call me so no one called me and I just came down on my own.

  Moments later another scream was heard, even louder than the two before it and the two other sounds were also getting closer as well.

  “What’s going on? What is all this noise?” said Trix still sleepy and rubbing her eyes.

  Another scream was heard again, even louder.

  “Whoever or whatever it is, is getting closer” said Bett, her face starting to tense up.

  Hearing that my parents face became more tense. Are they maybe thinking about what the elf doctor had said before. But wouldn’t it be impossible for them to get to the here without crossing the central continent.

  As I was thinking this, an arrow came through one of the mirrors breaking it. It was aimed at my parents and Bett quickly reacted and cut in half.

  I was sure my parents could have easily dodged the arrow given that they were former pro adventurers but, right now, they are in a state of confusion. Probably thinking that they should have moved when the elf doctor had told them that the an invasion might be coming.

  “Damn…… didn’t hit”

  Although it was not that hear able I could hear someone say that. Was he trying to say that it didn’t hit. I turned to the window which the arrow had came from and I saw a vampire flying.

  As soon as I saw him, I knew the answer for the question I was thinking about before. Vampires had wings. They use mana to fly and they may reach here if they preserved their mana for a long time. But that won’t make sense either. They would probably be depleted of their mana when they arrive so they will need at least months to gain their lost mana back. That means they have been hiding for months right beneath us or they used a boat to get here which is highly unlikely since this world isn’t that civilized and I don’t think they know how to make boats yet. But I could be very well wrong.

  “Well it’s your turn now” said the vampire that had been flying, looking down at the ground. He was shouting so I heard him clearly Then-

  BAAM!!

  Our front door came down and another vampire got in. He had a scary face and had some armor and a sword. Bett upon seeing this, went in her shirt and pulled out something circle almost like a necklace. She then pulled it and the rope broke. She put it somewhere around her chest and then- an armor started spreading out of it covering her body. She had always wear this armor when she stayed here for my training. But when she returned, she was wearing normal clothes but then yesterday she had been wearing the armor when we sparred. What was that about?

  The vampire started running towards us aiming his sword at Bett. Bett reacted and blocked his sword then instantly went on the offensive. She slashed the vampire’s head cleanly which killed it. No one really showed fear. Except for Trix, I’m sure everyone here had killed a monster before but even Trix wasn’t fazed so she had probably killed once as well. Surprisingly, I had a moment of disgust as the head separated from the vampire but it was only for a second.

  “Everyone, I’m sure this isn’t the end of the vampires we should retreat to Rivenwood and warn the villagers as well.”

  We got out of the house using the freshly broken door and the vampire that had shot the arrow at us before seemed to be surprised. Bett had her sword in her hand and some blood was clearly visible. As soon as he saw the sword he started retreating probably fearing that he would be killed as well.

  “I won’t let you escape,” Bett said, her voice firm. She shifted into a stance, fluidly moving through the steps of a wind style technique, followed by the footwork of a fire style.

  In an instant, she launched herself with Air Steps, a technique that uses wind magic to propel the user forward at incredible speed. Her sword followed with Fire Strikes, sending five flames arcing through the air—just like Ela had done years ago. It was a devastating long-range attack.

  The five flames cleanly hit their target and we saw him fall down. We didn’t have time to check if the vampire was dead or not as the marching was getting more closer so we decided to head for Rivenwood.

  I glanced at the house I had been living in for ten years and wondered if I would come back.

  As Kael and the other’s left the marching and flapping sound arrived at their house. They were about a hundred vampires in total and there seemed to be someone leading them. This vampire could see another vampire on the ground, gravely injured. This was the flying vampire that Bett had just shot down.

  “The humans…… they have got…….a strong person” said the injured vampire struggling.

  “Oh so you lost to a pesky human” said the leader. He was a vampire general. Only second to the demon king. There were three others who had the same title as him but he was the best out of them.

  The vampire was still struggling and couldn’t reply. Even the words he mustered up before were probably his last.

  “Well, I guess the other one also got defeated. I would have killed you if you weren’t already about to die so, enjoy your last moments”

  The two vampires that had attacked first were ordered to clear out humans before the main forces arrive.

  The general sighed,” Well guess I have to kill every person in the village here. Wouldn’t want them to tell other people about the invasion starting. I wouldn’t want all the planning we did for the past three months to go to waste.”

  Kael’s guess was right. The vampires have been hiding near the border for about three months after depleting their mana after flying from the demon continent to the human continent.

  “Well let’s go”

  Hearing that, the one hundred vampire soldiers along with their unnamed leader started their march to Rivenwood.

  CHAPTER END