Post by Guardsman Patrick on Oct 12, 2006 23:23:43 GMT -5
Chapter 3: Patrick
Patrick struggled to unwrapped himself from the cocoon of covers he had slept in as he tried to stand. As he pulled himself up, a shocked expression crossed his face, and he fell to the ground again, not able to keep himself up. Alex noticed that he refused to show how badly hurt he was. He just gritted his teeth and tried once more. This time he stood and looked down at the rip in his jeans. The outline of the rip was caked with dirt and dried blood. It looked painful, but the bleeding had finally stopped.
Alex thought he might bandage it, but after the blood stopped, he didn’t think to do it. He stood, going to the first aid kit to get some bandages when he heard Patrick drawing his large blade.
Alex watched, not trusting him. His guest was weak from the cut, but that didn’t make him less dangerous. It just meant he was not at the top of his game. There was no attack, but instead he drew the blade down to his wound.
Alex watched in awe as it began to glow with a strange brilliance. Patrick passed the blade about half an inch from the cut and it began to heal quickly. It disappeared after the first passing and Patrick sat back down. He picked up his bowl and began to eat quietly as if nothing had happened. He had just done the strangest thing Alex had ever seen and he just sat there like it was nothing at all.
“How exactly did you do that?” Alex questioned, still staring at the sword as it was returned to its previous position on Patrick’s back.
“That is not for you to understand. It is for me to keep to myself,” Patrick returned, stunning Alex with his calm but serious manner.
“Oh… just forget I asked then.” Alex didn’t like the fact that he was left clueless, but he knew he couldn’t force it out of him. Then it occurred to Alex.
“Do you happen to spar any?” he asked, connecting the obvious dots together to come up with this question. Patrick had to keep that large sword with him for something, and Alex doubted it was because he was prone to getting open wounds.
“Sure, I guess, but you may be better than I am,” he added, drawing his sword into an attacking position, facing Alex with his shielded eyes.
Alex stared at Patrick, watching him intently for any sign of movement. All was quite, nothing moved as the world itself stopped breathing.
Alex saw no flinch or any places that might be open. He didn’t even see him breathing.
Alex attacked, aiming for Patrick’s calf, but missed horribly and stumbled slightly. He quickly jumped backward to dodge the coming attack, and then began to block the rain of blows delivered by his adversary.
Sparring with him was like sparring with a bullet train, strong and fast. It always follows the path that it decides, but can change quickly and easily to another when necessary. Patrick seemed to dance with the blade, swinging it with the perfect amount of speed and grace.
Alex couldn’t take this kind of beating long. He finally had his blade knocked from his hands, the red flame sizzling on the grass before it fizzled out.
Patrick hit Alex hard on the cheek with the flat of his blade, sending him flailing to the ground. Alex tried to stand, but found that he was facing the sharp tip of his opponent’s blade.
Alex didn’t know what to think. He had started the spar. Would he end up dead in the end? He didn’t know what this person, this warrior, would do. He didn’t trust him either. What if he had really planned to kill him, only making out to have been hurt? His life was in his opponent’s hands. What would he choose?
“Well, I think I’ve won,” Patrick said in a calm voice. He quickly sheathed his blade and held out his hand for Alex to grab. Alex lay there for a second before he grabbed it and was jerked off the ground.
He let out a short sigh of relief, caught himself and made it out to be a cough, but timed it wrong, and instead started coughing.
Alex looked at his adversary, making note of his experience, and wondered how he was so strong, but yet gave no sign of intense training. His limbs were smaller than he would have expected for such unequaled strength.
His thoughts were cut short when he saw Pairon, just coming into view in the distance, carrying two enormous boxes in his front claws, two in his back claws, three strapped to his tail, one on his back, and another in his teeth. Alex thought he looked ridiculous, but that was probably the only way he could haul it all back. He landed with surprising grace, and dropped the box that was in his mouth. He spat for a second before he looked up.
“There. Are you happy now? I got plenty of really big bricks, just like you asked and I got the—" Pairon paused as he looked at the young man Alex had recently rescued. “... lumber and stuff.”
“Good, it doesn’t look like enough though… I might have to send you for more tomorrow, seeing as how we also need pipes for plumbing, we need some parts to put in the heat and AC, and…there’s always paint and furniture. So, you will be pretty busy this week,” Alex went down his mental list, checking everything off as he went, “Oh, and this is Patrick, I found him out in the woods with some pretty serious injuries, so I brought him back here to get him fixed up.”
Pairon stared at Patrick for a minute, inspecting him from head to toe. Pairon was, by nature, extremely untrusting, but, if Alex was cool with the person, he really had no choice but to like them.
“Are you sure he’s hurt? He looks fine to me.”
“Well, I’m not exactly sure how he healed the way he did, but he seems to be just fine, so we will keep him here a while, of course, if it’s alright with him,” Alex said. He wanted to be sure to give him the option of leaving, so he did not feel trapped in a possibly disturbing situation.
“Um, sure I guess, and you seem to be in need of help anyway, building…whatever it is that you’re building, so I could stick around and help for a while I suppose,” Patrick nodded.
Helping others is usually the last thing on anybody’s mind, strangely enough, and it is always so pleasing to hear somebody, some one you barely know, offer to help to the fullest extent of their ability, Alex thought. I think we all feel this way, but yet as soon as it comes to helping, we’re suddenly too busy, or don’t know how to help. It is shameful how our world thinks, how selfish people can be.
“What exactly are you two building here anyway?” Patrick asked, his curiosity peaking as he looked at the large stack of bricks.
“Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention. I am starting a small organization of peacekeepers, if you will, and am building a tower here in this clearing that will serve as an HQ. It is called The Three Gym Masters, or T3GM for short, and I am currently looking for two other people to fill the spots as the Gym masters, hence the number three in the title,” Alex said, trying to sound as formal as possible, as if though he was again presenting to the city council about the corporation. Alex thought about Patrick possibly becoming the second Gym Master. He was a good swordsman, and he was willing to help out. Alex wasn’t sure. He decided to wait until he had a better idea of Patrick’s skills before he invited him.
“So, now what are we doing?” Pairon asked, breaking the silence.
“We should first make a layout for the tower then we eat. After that, we hit the sack,” Alex said, motioning to the center of the clearing where the tower would soon stand, high and mighty above the tree tops announcing the coming peace. Announcing that there was help for the city of Andorg and there was a new hope that someday, the city wouldn’t be a shadow of darkness, but a beacon of light to the rest of the world.
Patrick struggled to unwrapped himself from the cocoon of covers he had slept in as he tried to stand. As he pulled himself up, a shocked expression crossed his face, and he fell to the ground again, not able to keep himself up. Alex noticed that he refused to show how badly hurt he was. He just gritted his teeth and tried once more. This time he stood and looked down at the rip in his jeans. The outline of the rip was caked with dirt and dried blood. It looked painful, but the bleeding had finally stopped.
Alex thought he might bandage it, but after the blood stopped, he didn’t think to do it. He stood, going to the first aid kit to get some bandages when he heard Patrick drawing his large blade.
Alex watched, not trusting him. His guest was weak from the cut, but that didn’t make him less dangerous. It just meant he was not at the top of his game. There was no attack, but instead he drew the blade down to his wound.
Alex watched in awe as it began to glow with a strange brilliance. Patrick passed the blade about half an inch from the cut and it began to heal quickly. It disappeared after the first passing and Patrick sat back down. He picked up his bowl and began to eat quietly as if nothing had happened. He had just done the strangest thing Alex had ever seen and he just sat there like it was nothing at all.
“How exactly did you do that?” Alex questioned, still staring at the sword as it was returned to its previous position on Patrick’s back.
“That is not for you to understand. It is for me to keep to myself,” Patrick returned, stunning Alex with his calm but serious manner.
“Oh… just forget I asked then.” Alex didn’t like the fact that he was left clueless, but he knew he couldn’t force it out of him. Then it occurred to Alex.
“Do you happen to spar any?” he asked, connecting the obvious dots together to come up with this question. Patrick had to keep that large sword with him for something, and Alex doubted it was because he was prone to getting open wounds.
“Sure, I guess, but you may be better than I am,” he added, drawing his sword into an attacking position, facing Alex with his shielded eyes.
Alex stared at Patrick, watching him intently for any sign of movement. All was quite, nothing moved as the world itself stopped breathing.
Alex saw no flinch or any places that might be open. He didn’t even see him breathing.
Alex attacked, aiming for Patrick’s calf, but missed horribly and stumbled slightly. He quickly jumped backward to dodge the coming attack, and then began to block the rain of blows delivered by his adversary.
Sparring with him was like sparring with a bullet train, strong and fast. It always follows the path that it decides, but can change quickly and easily to another when necessary. Patrick seemed to dance with the blade, swinging it with the perfect amount of speed and grace.
Alex couldn’t take this kind of beating long. He finally had his blade knocked from his hands, the red flame sizzling on the grass before it fizzled out.
Patrick hit Alex hard on the cheek with the flat of his blade, sending him flailing to the ground. Alex tried to stand, but found that he was facing the sharp tip of his opponent’s blade.
Alex didn’t know what to think. He had started the spar. Would he end up dead in the end? He didn’t know what this person, this warrior, would do. He didn’t trust him either. What if he had really planned to kill him, only making out to have been hurt? His life was in his opponent’s hands. What would he choose?
“Well, I think I’ve won,” Patrick said in a calm voice. He quickly sheathed his blade and held out his hand for Alex to grab. Alex lay there for a second before he grabbed it and was jerked off the ground.
He let out a short sigh of relief, caught himself and made it out to be a cough, but timed it wrong, and instead started coughing.
Alex looked at his adversary, making note of his experience, and wondered how he was so strong, but yet gave no sign of intense training. His limbs were smaller than he would have expected for such unequaled strength.
His thoughts were cut short when he saw Pairon, just coming into view in the distance, carrying two enormous boxes in his front claws, two in his back claws, three strapped to his tail, one on his back, and another in his teeth. Alex thought he looked ridiculous, but that was probably the only way he could haul it all back. He landed with surprising grace, and dropped the box that was in his mouth. He spat for a second before he looked up.
“There. Are you happy now? I got plenty of really big bricks, just like you asked and I got the—" Pairon paused as he looked at the young man Alex had recently rescued. “... lumber and stuff.”
“Good, it doesn’t look like enough though… I might have to send you for more tomorrow, seeing as how we also need pipes for plumbing, we need some parts to put in the heat and AC, and…there’s always paint and furniture. So, you will be pretty busy this week,” Alex went down his mental list, checking everything off as he went, “Oh, and this is Patrick, I found him out in the woods with some pretty serious injuries, so I brought him back here to get him fixed up.”
Pairon stared at Patrick for a minute, inspecting him from head to toe. Pairon was, by nature, extremely untrusting, but, if Alex was cool with the person, he really had no choice but to like them.
“Are you sure he’s hurt? He looks fine to me.”
“Well, I’m not exactly sure how he healed the way he did, but he seems to be just fine, so we will keep him here a while, of course, if it’s alright with him,” Alex said. He wanted to be sure to give him the option of leaving, so he did not feel trapped in a possibly disturbing situation.
“Um, sure I guess, and you seem to be in need of help anyway, building…whatever it is that you’re building, so I could stick around and help for a while I suppose,” Patrick nodded.
Helping others is usually the last thing on anybody’s mind, strangely enough, and it is always so pleasing to hear somebody, some one you barely know, offer to help to the fullest extent of their ability, Alex thought. I think we all feel this way, but yet as soon as it comes to helping, we’re suddenly too busy, or don’t know how to help. It is shameful how our world thinks, how selfish people can be.
“What exactly are you two building here anyway?” Patrick asked, his curiosity peaking as he looked at the large stack of bricks.
“Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention. I am starting a small organization of peacekeepers, if you will, and am building a tower here in this clearing that will serve as an HQ. It is called The Three Gym Masters, or T3GM for short, and I am currently looking for two other people to fill the spots as the Gym masters, hence the number three in the title,” Alex said, trying to sound as formal as possible, as if though he was again presenting to the city council about the corporation. Alex thought about Patrick possibly becoming the second Gym Master. He was a good swordsman, and he was willing to help out. Alex wasn’t sure. He decided to wait until he had a better idea of Patrick’s skills before he invited him.
“So, now what are we doing?” Pairon asked, breaking the silence.
“We should first make a layout for the tower then we eat. After that, we hit the sack,” Alex said, motioning to the center of the clearing where the tower would soon stand, high and mighty above the tree tops announcing the coming peace. Announcing that there was help for the city of Andorg and there was a new hope that someday, the city wouldn’t be a shadow of darkness, but a beacon of light to the rest of the world.