Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Book 2: Chapter 21: Asura’s Bloodwrath

It was the twenty-fourth day that things really had a change.

On the edge of the day’s sun, with dust curling through the air like spirit smoke, Alex stepped into the open training circle and faced down a Terraxum soldier built like a stone wall. The man bore glyphs across his collarbone, arms and legs and a jagged scar across his left brow. His name was Korran, and his boots looked like they’d kicked down doors in every province of the kingdom.

It was luck that he managed to get invited into the ring. During camp at the end of the day, the soldier always built up a large ring to train in. Alex and the other Worldstriders were relegated to an area a short ways off.

He and his fellow earth-born soldiers would train among themselves. Fist to fist, no weapons, no spells, not with the bracers still active.

Meanwhile, the Terraxum soldiers had their own training. Theirs, too, was without weapons and spells, as their training ring bouts seemed to have rules. Strength against strength, skill against skill, technique against technique, that was all.

The last bits of sunlight was dimming down when the Terraxum ring quieted and became tense. He couldn’t quite make out what was going on, but Alex assumed there was an argument of some kind happening.

He began to move closer, hoping to catch a glimpse, or hear a snippet of the activity. No one spared him even a first glance and he slowly moved his was, step and by step toward the now large ring of soldiers gathered around.

“No one, no one at all? Pansies. I’ll take you off night watch rotation for the rest of the way to the capital.” The voice carried over the crowd. Deep and mocking.

“Eh, no takers? That’s what I thought.” The man pushed through the crowd, letting Alex see him for the first time. His tattoos stood out immediately, scroll-work covering each limb and part of his upper torso. They were exactly what he needed to study.

The Terraxum man was nearly through the crowd when Alex finally found the courage to speak up over them all. “I’ll do it.”

Silence yawned and heads turned toward him. In his trousers, pants and woven sandals, his hands tied, and bracer’s pulsing sporadically with the faintest of light; he looked almost pitiful. A few chuckles began to travel among the soldiers that could see him. Others began to whisper, asking questions.

“You?”

“Sure, why not?” he shrugged, the bracer clinking from the movement. “I can’t exactly be taken off of guard duty… but if I win, maybe you can add something to my rations for now on?”

The others laughed, one soldier slapped him on the back. He just smiled confidently.

And now, there he was, standing alone in the ring across from the man. His hands were freed of the rope and bracers for the fight. The rules still said no spells, but Martial Styles were allowed, he made sure to ask about that.

"Just a bout," Korran said. "First to yield or knockout. Nothing fancy."

"Sure," Alex said, cracking his knuckles. “No bloodshed. Promise.”

“Bloodshed is fine boy, we just try not to go too far with it,” Seargant Korran, as Alex had learned as his bracer’s were being removed, smirked at him and popped his knuckles. His tattoos rippled along with his muscles, and he watched that intensely. The man starred back at him, probably getting the wrong idea about Alex’s apt attention.

“You got this Alex!” Garret hollered from the edge of the ring. There rest of his team was there, having learned what was going on and coming to watch.

He simply shot Garret a thumbs up and grinned. His eyes never left Korran though, the green-ish glyphs on his skin was the only thing he cared about for the moment.

A lieutenant stepped forward just within eyesight of both men. “You ready?”

They nodded to the watching officer, circled once, then moved. Alex came in fast, feet light, fists whipping out like a viper. He feinted left, shot in low, and moved through the stances of the Demon Asura to angle under Korran’s guard. His sudden speed let him landed two clean strikes to the ribs before the bigger man twisted, stepped through, and snapped out a leg sweep that nearly took Alex off his feet.

Their styles clashed hard. Alex being wild but precision, raw speed and rage-filled power; while Korran was steady and honed, every strike or block was a mountain subtly moving its face one way or the next. He shifted weight like a bear that had somehow been taught ballet.

Alex ducked under a punch and brought his elbow up to crack against Korran’s jaw but the soldier grunted, glyphs flaring, and suddenly his body absorbed the force. It dispersed into his skin like rain drops falling on a lake.

What the hell. He thought.

Then he was hit, a short, brutal fist to the sternum. He gasped, skidding back across packed dirt, feet leaving a stream of dust. He didn’t lose his balance from the blow, but it was close. The man’s punch was far heavier than he hf thought it would be. His chest ached already, a bruise nearly forming at a speed to the naked eye. But he didn’t fall. He gave a short cough from the stinging pain, and spat on the ground at his feet.

“That all you got, pansy?” He said to the Terraxum sergeant with a grin.

Korran paused a moment at his words, then grinned back.

They clashed again. Fist on fist, technique against technique. The blue-black aether aura of Alex’s martial style attempted to enter the man’s body, but it failed every time. The caustic energy would enter Korran’s skin, then be drawn toward a glyphs focus on his skin where it would be attacked and overpowered by the man’s own aura.

Meanwhile, Korran’s fighting style seemed to have effects of its own. His stances were wide and low, each one thundered loudly in the ring. And Alex could tell that the more he fought with the man, the longer he dragged it out, the harder his blows seemed to land. Like he was getting even stronger as time went on.

They both closed again, he through a kick, while Korran sent a knee at his face. He was forced to pulled back, giving up on his kick in the process. Korran went wide on the missed attack and Alex leapt on him, literally.

It was a move that he had done many, many times back in his home world. He grabbed Torran’s arm and wrapped his legs around the burly man’s neck settling into a triangle hold within the time span of a short breath. Once he locked his legs, Alex smiled. He knew he had won.

But more important, he was so close to him now, that he could see the fine details of his tattoos. This close up, Alex could see that the glyphs weren’t just on the top of the soldier’s skin, it was underneath the skin at some depth. The greenish hue that he was seeing, it was the glow of the earth attuned aether showing through.

If he consciously turned off his aether sight, he could see that the glow dimmed immensely, leaving behind only a very faded looking tinge of color. There was no way he would have been able to see the detail that he did without his aether sight ability, that was for sure.

Interesting. I wonder if the glyphs are actually etched into their muscles instead of on their skin, since its uniformly deep all over, then it’s probably-

His thought ended abruptly as he viciously slammed into the dirt.

Korran was still in the choke lock, but he hadn’t given up. He lifted Alex from the ground and raised him back up to chest level, and slammed him back down into the dirt yet again. This time, his breath was knocked from his lungs, stars bloomed in his vision.

Holy fuck, he’s strong.

The third slam almost knocked Alex out completely as the back of his head bounced off the compacted dirt. His grip faltered, only for a moment, but it was enough. Korran pried his arm away and pushed against the legs wrapped around his neck.

Alex was far too dazed to put up the proper resistance and regain the hold.

Eventually, he found himself pinned instead. Face and stomach in the dirt, arm locked, breath shallow, glyphs humming around him like disappointed court room judges.

He tapped out.

Korran grinned and helped him up. “You’re good. Better than most recruits.”

He coughed and wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. “Not good enough.”

The sergeant shrugged. “No one is. Not at the start, but there is some potential there. You got some kind of formal training though, that’s for sure.”

The crowd clapped, scattered but respectful. He could see and hear his friends off to the side though. They all clapped or cheered loudly. It took a minute for the soldiers to place the restraints back on his arms before he was able to rejoin his friends.

Kate, watching from the sidelines, muttered, “That was a sloppy turn-step on your second feint.”

“Thanks for the support,” Alex said, wheezing.

“Anytime.”

“You almost had him there man, that move was sick, where’d you learn that, from the elf guy? Garret was already there, hand held up in front of him.

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“No, Jiujitsu, on earth,” he ignored the attempt at a high-five.

“Well, it almost worked. Just a little longer and he would passed out for sure.”

“No, he would have loosened his grip if the sergeant was about to pass out.” Zach stepped forward this time, his gaze sharp as he looked at Alex questioningly.

“No, why would he do that?”Eric asked.

“Why indeed,” Zach said.

Holly grabbed his elbow, pulling him towards the prison wagon. Her voice was low, just loud enough for the other Worldstrider to hear, but no one else. “You were studying their tattoos weren’t you?”

He looked at her, eye brows raised, how had she noticed? “Yeah, I was. I needed to study them up close. What gave me away?”

She laughed, “Because you kept looking at his body like it was the heavens’ gift to mortals. And you never looked at anyone else like that before.” She leaned in closer, her mouth just barely pressed against his ear. “At least no man, that is.”

He grinned at her and chuckled. “You caught me.”

They all made it to the prison wagon before night settled in completely. Within moments, he was settled in the large cage, his back against the slated wall on on side. Bruises were already forming over backside, pressing against the hard wood of the wagon. But he didn’t care, there was something else that gathered his attention.

He didn’t get any experience points for the fight, as he hadn’t killed the soldier. But he did receive a System notification nonetheless.

A mental nudge brought the screen up into his vision.