"Move, stretch your legs," he shouted towards the growling snowstorm, as they were climbing the narrow rampart within merciless nature of Lycanaus Mountains. They were all dressed thick, with fur coats and a huge backpack with them. It was Fauran, Urnyras Jael, and two other initiates called Gea and Shevach. Master Fauran was taking them away, to a place he called 'the Nest', a dojo, a hall of meditation, art and warfare built by the ancestors of the eila many centuries ago. Cut from the outer world, it was just the place for ultimate and absolute isolation for their training.
Yet, where it was placed was just as hard to reach as it would serve as the best spot for training when reached.
The snowstorm was getting stronger as they climbed up high. Urnyras Jael could feel the decreasing pressure in her ears, she had this urge to hold her nose and breathe out so she could keep it in balance. Her blood-red eye pupils were drying out everytime she dared to keep her eyes fully open. Her crimson hair was free in the snowstorm, just above her brown, fume colored thick coat, the contrast of colors was like a piece of art. Gea moaned after a while, but it was too low for Fauran to hear, or at least, it was low enough for Fauran to justifiably pretend that he did not hear it.
...
They eventually made it to a manor, built atop of some cliffs. The snowstorm was now preventing the entire vision for them to see the details of the architecture. Urnyras Jael could guess, before they approached to the Manor, that it was quite huge compared to the Manor the Intelligence Corps use as headquarters down back in N'ya. She sheltered her eyes, and followed Fauran towards the entrance of the building.
They walked and eventually stopped in front of a wall. Fauran observed the wall for a while, touched it, then slowly chanted a spell with his eyes closed. He kept his palm on the door and the initiates observed how his hand started to glow, and ultimately pushed a secret door which appeared from the wall. A white light drew the borders, along with a dagger strangled by a snake appearing in the middle of the door. He was pushing that very symbol.
They realized that door was opening towards a giant training ground, with a quite high ceiling and horizontal, rectangular windows at the very top of the sidewalls. There were fyllian inscriptions on the walls, a weaponry at the end of the room, an altar similar to what she had seen back at her initiation. There was nothing else, as far as Urnyras Jael could see, in the dark.
Fauran moved his hand towards the columns in the hall, and with his hand movement the candles on the columns started to light up one by one. When all candles were lid, the halls looked a bit more chilly, yet cozier and smaller. The ambiance was soothing, but ironically urging the one to be more aware, more awake. 'This,' Urnyras Jael thought, 'Would probably be the exact assassin training place I would imagine, if I was to imagine one.'
"Get yourselves ready," Fauran said, as he took off his thick fur coat. "Today will be our first lesson. Do not bother bringing your weapons with you. Meu will show you your rooms."
"Let'sh go," said a creepy, thin voice, out of nowhere. Presumably an eila, a male, with an apparent limp on his leg, and a terribly disfigured face, was looking at them; leaning on one of the nearby columns. He was wearing a torn, gray shirt and brown trousers, just as much torn as his shirt. "Followh mei."
The initiates followed him hesitantly. Urnyras Jael was a bit intimidated by the terribly ugly look of this man, but it wasn't long before she was ashamed of herself for being intimidated by the looks of a person. She was never such shallow.
"Sho, what are your namesh?" he asked, slowly looking back while walking towards a corridor at the end of the hall. The initiates told their names.
"Very well," he said, with a unique cheer in his voice. "It'sh been a whileh shince Master Fauranh brought inh new initiatesh. It'sh my pleasure to sherve you here. Anything you needh, you tell me. Okay?"
Initiates nodded.
"Perfecth!" he clapped his hands. "Here are you roomsh, you must be Urnyrash Jael, your room ish thish one, you girlsh are goingh to shtay together there, shince I guessh there will be one other initiate arriving later, who will share her room with Urnyras." he showed the rooms as he was talking.
After doing so, Meu left, with monotone, slow and limping footsteps on the wooden corridor.
"He was a bit scary, don't you think?" asked Gea.
"I guess," said Urnyras Jael. "I wonder what had happened to him."
"Meh, I hardly care," Shevach said, heading towards her room. "I wonder who will be coming as the fourth initiate." she got inside and closed the door.
"Yeah, why did not the last initiate come with us?" asked Gea.
"How am I supposed to know?" shrugged Urnyras Jael. "Probably because she's... special or something. I don't know. I don't care. I have to go now." then she headed for her room and closed the door calmly.
...
"I see anxiety within your souls," Fauran spoke in a remote corner of the hall. "If there is one thing I'd start your training with, young ones, that would be urging you to leave aside any feeling that is not certain. Anxiety, doubt, dilemmas of any sort, emotional complications - they are your arch enemies. An assassin cannot and shall not doubt. If you doubt, you die. It is a simple equation."
"A fylla, young ones, is born with many specialties. A fylla is strong, agile, perceptive, cold-blooded and a master of emotions; and when you merge all of these with a high level of sensation, you will realize that a fylla has everything there is to be a wise warrior. The trick is, not every fylla is born with the treat of revealing these powers and being aware. You, among your brethren, are the ones who might be able to that. And the art of war we will teach you is the ultimate way for a fylla to battle. We are not blunt footmen, we are assassins. We are shadow, we are fog, we are darkness. We are anywhere, everywhere and nowhere."
"Never forget where your allegiance lies within. First, it is to your people, the fylla; and the second, it is to the Empire. The unity, peace and serenity of the Solian Empire is one of our best interests. No matter how dire the situation might get, and no matter how dreadful the enemies you may encounter will be, never forget that. You will not doubt, you will build your own spiritual shields around you against deceit and manipulation. Your souls are strong enough for that."
"Without a doubt, it is apparent that this path you are now obliged to take is challenging. It will be tough. It will be painful. Most importantly, it will be long. It will be in solitude. Solitude, young ones, is one of the best mentors of an assassin. You will learn how to battle and survive in solitude, as well as you will be obliged to serve the cause as a team. You will master both. You will be a member of a team, even in the most desolate place, in the most remote point of the planet. However, this will not prevent you from being a part of the team, and you will know it. We will know it."
"Your training will be in five sections. One of them will be the Blademastery. Your weapon of focus will be daggers and shortswords, and you will learn how to use them."
"The second will be Ùrda, a technique only us fyllian assassins know; it can be defined as focusing your spiritual energy and converting it into different forms of material energy. Can be offensive, defensive, rejuvenative, reproductive or necromantic. Not many assassins know the limits of Ùrda, but every and each of them are obliged to know how to use it to a certain point. Never forget, however - Ùrda will not tolerate recklessness."
"The third one will be the Meditation. As an assassin, your usage of spiritual energy will tire you mentally, if not physically. Mastering the skill of Meditation will grant you the chance to regain your energy. Meditation is also used by several assassins and Masters for means of communication with distant colleagues."
"The fourth one will be Stealth. This is one of the two fundamentals of an assassin - subtlety. You have to learn how to remain hidden. This very training will grant you many secret powers. Only by this training you will learn how to turn into shadows."
"The fifth and the last training will be Politics. We, as you might have figured out, will not only turn you into skilled war artists, but also skilled diplomats and manipulators; for you will have times when you will have to act as intelligence gatherers. We are the Intelligence Corps of the N'yaian Army, so this might have given you an idea about what this is all about. You will learn disguise, different accents, different languages, different cultures, politics, diplomacy. A broad knowledge of history."
"Your training will be eternal. Slacking, tiredness and whining are not tolerated. Never forget; you are to be assassins. You are to shake the very foundations of this world. You are to protect what is rightfully yours from the evil. You are shadow. You are death and life. You are the cold breath at the necks of our enemies. You are the warm blood flowing down, and the ground that very blood falls onto. Now, rest, young ones. A long journey awaits you."
Urnyras Jael, Gea, and Shevach stood up, bowed their heads and went back to their rooms.
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