A month had passes since First had taught me how to dance and although I can't say I'm good yet, I've gotten better. Ever since I got the eyeshine, First became more dedicated to teaching me. Every morning after We woke up she has been imbuing me with Shimmer. She was so focused on training I had to remind her of her injuries every day. As I finished replacing her bandages she grabbed my face and looked me in the eyes. "Your eyeshine has developed further, in a couple of months it will be visible in the daylight." I responded "and your wounds hasn't healed at all. I fear that they will get worse if you don't relax.". She stayed silent. " I won't ask what happened to you but at least take care of yourself." She stared at me " fine but this doesn't mean you can slack on training. Puffling" she put her shirt back on and stood up. " we will be sparring today." I shook my head " that's the opposite of what I asked for." She opened the door " shut up, I will be relaxing like you said. So instead someone else will be sparring with you" we made it to the parking lot where we train. First didn't like the concrete floor so she changed it into tatami mats she also added walls and wooden swords and staffs. There was a rack with dumbbells and weighted clothes. And a circle in the middle as a arena. " you really like eastern culture huh?" She sat down on a beach chair she created and opened a patio umbrella for shade. The scene was quite pleasing to the eyes." I find it's architecture pleasing" she answered. I grinned. " I wondered what you was looking up on my holowatch this past week" she nodded and made herself a drink, lemonade. " so, who will I be sparring? " She summoned a ball of Shimmer and sent it flying to the middle of the arena. When the ball touched the ground it formed into a doll made of gray clay that looked identical to First. It wore a gray hanfu. The doll grabbed a one edge wooden sword off the weapon rack and stabbed its tip into the ground and rested in its hilt. " Today you will be taught swordsmanship by this clone of mine" she took a sip of her drink. " and I will enjoy the show" I grab a wooden sword. I raised the blade in front of me, preparing myself. The R.E.S was known for using triple edged swords but I've never used one before. I walked into the arena. The doll raised it's weapon. First began to count down." Three, two, one, start!" I rushed at the doll and swung my sword down at it's head. The doll just move slightly to the left and dodged my attack. She sent a horizontal slash at my stomach the same moment it dodged. The strike knocked the wind out of me and I fell to my knees blinded by pain. The doll touched my neck with its sword. "clone one, puffling zero." First was keeping score. I got up and grabbed my fallen sword. Once First saw I was ready she started the next match."begin". This time she doll didn't wait for me to attack and charged at me. She swung her sword at my neck and I could barely block it. The impact made me stumble and the doll attacked low hitting my knee. As I fell the doll put it's foot on my shoulder and pressed the tip it's sword on my forehead. It looked down on me expressionless. " doll two, puffling zero". The next few matches were the exact same and the doll bested me each time within seconds. I couldn't hit it. It had this way to slip into my blind spots and defeat me instantly. " doll twelve, puffling zero." The latest match had me sprawled on the floor. Battered and bruised. First got out her seat and looked down at me " do you see your problem yet?" I shake my head. " you don't plan ahead, you just rush out the same way each time. It's predictable." She grabbed my wooden sword off the ground " a sword is a work of art. You can't swing it randomly like a bat. It has to become a extention to your body. As part of you as your arms and legs are." I sat up and put my arms on my knees as she talked. " don't be disappointed Faye, we have only been training for two months, there's plenty of time for you to improve in four years." She seemed to notice that my moral didn't improve. "I'll tell you what, I will teach you the first part of my martial arts." I jolted to attention then. " really?" She smiled softly at my change in mood. "Yes child. I will teach you the first part of my martial arts. Since you have my eyeshine you will eventually be able to use my Shaka." She sat down on her knees in front of me. " my martial arts is known as the star rage blade. It allows it user to form artificial stars and explode them to increase the speed and damage of your blade. This ability can only be used with Shimmer at the Stellar knight level, so you have a way to go before you can use it. It also includes my shaka which is starlight. Allowing the stars to guide my blade and increase my precision." She stood up
" without shimmer the star rage is a deadly sword dance that is near impossible to predict when mastered at a high level. I will show you" she began dancing with the sword spinning slowly. But the longer the dance lasted the faster she became. She moved faster and faster until she was a blur of motion. I could no longer follow her movements with my eyes and yet she began moving faster. Her form completely disappeared from view. The sharply blowing wind was the only indication that she was still there. I could see footsteps move across the dojo floor igniting it with its impact. It felt like a hurricane had appeared inside the dojo. The wind blowing so fast it felt like it was cutting me. And then she stopped. It was like she appeared from nothing. My ears popped and I could only hear Ringing. Then a massive burst of wind blew in all directions. She smiled beautifully. " what do you think?" I was speechless. If she did all that without shimmer, how disruptive would it be with it? I thought back on her claiming to be able to end half the life on this planet with one punch. That seemed like a understatement now, this brought into perspective how incredible a person First was. far beyond the Olympic knights and the sovereign. But what terrified me the most was that even as strong of a being she was, there was something or someone out there who nearly killed her.
" Hey First?" She answered "yeah?"
" I'm thankful that you're teaching me." She walked to me and pat my head "you're welcome puffling". She tossed my wooden sword to me. " now then, back to sparring!" For the next few hours I sparred with the doll and every time I lost First would correct my form or give me pointers.on how to keep the edge of my blade aligned. When I wasn't sparring she taught me the forms of star rage. She made me swing my sword down constantly and if it ever wavered she made me restart the set. She also taught me how to dance with the sword in my hand. The training finally end at 7 pm. I sat on the ground as First healed me. " remember today, and know that you will only improve from here. Don't focus on the distant future and instead focus on being better tomorrow then you were this day." I wiped the sweat off my face. " I didn't even hitting her one" First looked at the doll. " that's to be expected, you are a beginner who has never touched a sword before and she is a clone of someone who had centuries to master it." After she finished healing me she pat my shoulder "come on, it's getting late. Let's head back to the room." She stood up and started walking out. " we got plenty of time to improve your combat." Thirty minutes later after I finished cleaning myself I walked into my apartment. I found First laying on my bed watching some ascended sports league. " you really like that team huh" she continued to stare at the projected screen. " they always find a way to lose no matter how far ahead they are" she looked at me " don't you have meditation to do? You still haven't felt the shimmer within you" I sigh. " alright, I'll get to it" she turned her head back to the screen "good"