Ashborn Primordial

Chapter 18: Kalaripayattu

No! Riyan scolded, grasping Virs arm and fixing his form. Not like that. Like this!

The fresh rays of the morning sun filtered through the skylights in the training domes ceiling high above as Vir worked through his moves on the sand far below.

He threw another uppercut, for what must have been the millionth time. Any more, and he felt like his arms would fall off. To make matters worse, his feet were red from spending hours on the sand.

For the past two weeks, Vir and Maiya had risen at dawn every day. For the subsequent five hours, they would train without a single break. Riyan would then dismiss them for lunch, after which they would reconvene for their afternoon sessions. Unlike the morning round, which had a fixed duration, their second daily session lasted until they collapsed from exhaustion. They lived and breathed training.

The moment Vir had recovered from his duel with Riyan, both he and Maiya had been subjected to this endless training.

Vir found it a little surprising that Riyan didnt have them do pushups or any other strength building exercise. They focused only on either stretching exercises or combat practice. Their instructor said that alone would give them all the strength training theyd ever need.

The worst part was as their endurance grew from their training, the days only grew longer and longer. Vir still keeled over every few minutes from the exertion, but he could now rest for a few minutes and go again. And he could keep up the exertion for a few more seconds before reaching his limits now.

Of course, that was still nowhere even close to Maiyas development. Herstamina had improved much quicker than his had, which widened her lead over him.

To the posts! Riyan suddenly shouted.

They both ceased their punching practice and sprinted over to the wooden log posts that had been erected at the center of the training dome. The balancing posts were two or three paces tall and were just barely wide enough to stand on with one foot.

Vir climbed up onto a post and extended a leg onto an adjacent one, falling into a stretch. The posts served as platforms to practice stretches while also improving their balance.

Riyan was big on efficiency like that.

The reason theyd sprinted over was because their draconian instructor was only too happy to assign them penalties if they failed to meet his absurdly high standards. Even a delay of a second or two was enough to earn them extra chores or an extra hour of training.

But Vir noticed that Riyan never once restricted their diet. In fact, theyd been eating like kings ever since theyd arrived, and Virs scrawny body was already beginning to flesh out slightly.

From a myriad of fruits and vegetables hed never even seen, to various lentils, spices, and exotic brown riceshed never eaten this well in his life, and so hed hoped for a bit more growth. But it was not to be. Perhaps eating less than his fill for most of his life had already ruined his body. He prayed to his dead father it wasnt true.

It was, of course, always himself and Maiya who did the cooking. Vir didnt mind; he enjoyed experimenting with the myriad of expensive spices and ingredients with his one and only friend. It was one of the few pastimes available to them.

The Kalari arts demand supreme flexibility, Riyan lectured as he circled around his training-absorbed students. Your command over your own body may very well mean the difference between life and death in a fight. A hairs breadth may be all that separates a successful dodge from a deadly wound. Between a severed throat and safety.

Ah ah aaaaaah!!! Maiya shrieked before falling off of her post, faceplanting on the sand. Vir pitied her at first, but now he could only shake his head. If there was one thing Maiya would never surpass him at, it was balance and dexterity. Vir was a natural. Maiya was not.

His friend sat back up, looking depressed, her face dimpled and red with grains of sand.

Up! Again, Riyan mercilessly commanded. Maiya was back on top of her balancing post in a flash.

Now, bend over backward and put your hands on the posts behind you.

Thats impossible! Maiya said.

Virs brow furrowed. It did sound hard. Really hard. Of course, that only made him want to try it even more.

He gave it a go. The most difficult part was assuming the position in the first place; he knew hed be able to maintain the stretch once he was in it.

Craning his neck backwards, he located the two posts Riyan wanted him to touch. They looked a lot farther than hed initially thought.

After attempting to reach out a few times, he realized that the only way hed make this work was with an explosive movement. Hed have to crouch and leap as if he were jumping only hed be jumping horizontally. It was an incredibly awkward movement, and if he missed his posts, or if he put too much or too little power into his legs, hed fall onto the sand below.

Vir stared at the posts, burning their position into his mind. Then he took a deep breath and went for it. He bent over backward and, as he began to fall, he crouched. Then he lunged forth

And touched the posts. His right hand slipped off, threatening to destabilize him, but Vir clenched his abs and forced his body rigid. That bought him a precious extra second to get his palm back onto the post.

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Hed done it! Barely. And as hed suspected, maintaining the position wasnt nearly as hard as actually getting into it.

Good. Few can succeed with this exercise on their first attempt, Riyan said, giving him a rare compliment. Without its foundation, a building crumbles. So it is with your training. Build your foundations strong, and they will serve you well. Now, girl, it is your turn. The boy will hold the position for two minutes, but you hesitated. You watched your friend instead of taking initiative. You will hold it for four.

Virs best friend ground her teeth in frustration. She kept quiet; they both knew the consequences of talking back to Riyan.

Maiya wallowed in indecision for several more seconds before biting her lip and going for it.

Maybe now that shes seen me donoope!

The moment she lunged, Vir knew she wouldnt make it. Sure enough, both her aim and her power proved insufficient, and she ended up doing a half-backflip, faceplanting right into the sand. Again.

Vir sighed. Poor Maiya.

She finally got it on her third attempt. By that time, Vir had already finished his two minutes and was resting. She actually held the position for four whole minutes.

Their instructor led them through a series of further stretches when she was done, correcting their forms when they deviated.

Now that I have shown you these exercises, I expect you to practice them after each training session. And when you have mastered this set, we shall progress to the next. Now, we break for meditation.

Again!? Maiya said. What do we gain from that? It has nothing to do with fighting! Right Vir?

Vir didnt hear her. Hed already adopted the cross-legged sitting position and sunk deep into meditation, turning his prana vision inward to monitor the pathetically tiny amount of inky black prana that trickled through his body.

For some reason, watching the prana course through his body soothed him. And he was now confident that it was prana. It behaved exactly the same as the stuff that was in Maiya and Riyan.

Just that his affinity was nowhere to be found in nature, nor did anyone seem to even know of its existence. But he had all the proof he needed, right here in his own body. No other explanation made sense, and simple explanations tended to be right.

Good, Riyan boomed, startling Vir. You have taken your first step, boy. Continue practicing your meditation and you will grow as a warrior.

Their teacher then dismissed them until the afternoon session.

If you are wanting for things to do, I encourage you to familiarize yourself with our surroundings. Awareness of ones surroundings is a useful skill that everyone should know. Sadly, precious few ever bother to learn it.

Cant we just use a map? Maiya asked.

Riyan smiled, as if hoping shed ask that question. I have no maps to give you. Consider it training. What will you do when you find yourself in a new place, lacking a map? Will you complain about how the gods are unfair to you? Or will you use your mind, he said, tapping his head, to build a mental one?

Vir, feeling emboldened by his recent string of successes, asked Riyan a question that had been on his mind lately. What would you say my Balar Rank is, Riyan?

The Ghost of Godshollow snorted. Zero.

Then he turned and left, leaving the deflated Vir alone with his friend.

Well, you shouldve expected that, Maiya said, offering her hand to Vir, which he took.

I just figured wed both improved so much lately. It was worth asking, he said, rising to his feet. Lets go get cleaned up.

Along with cooking with Maiya, Riyans hygienic facilities were the only other luxury afforded to them.

Well, that and waking up to his furred friends face every day. Neel followed the two, his tail wagging with excitement.

Virs cabin didnt have a bath. In fact, the only family in the entire village that did was Maiyas. It wasnt so much a matter of heating the waterMagic Heat could do that, and while not cheap, wasnt beyond the means of some villagersit was more a matter of keeping the water clean and sanitary without having to flush it out every time.

C Grade Water magic orbs could conjure water from thin air, but not a single person in the village could use C grade magic, besides which those orbs cost one hundred times what D grades did. Rainwater catches and the village well were the only proper sources of water, unless one felt like venturing into the Godshollow to find a watering hole. No one ever did.

Drawing water from the village well was tedious, and each villager had a quota so that the well wouldnt run dry. Flushing water for a bath twice a week was out of the question.

Riyans place had a solution to that. There was some sort of water source deep underground that fed the entire abode, and from what Vir had seen, there was no chance of ever running it dry. And Riyan had D Grade Magic Heat orbs aplenty, which even Maiya could use.

So, you wanna check out the area like Riyan suggested? Or do you just want to soak today? Maiya asked.

I think we should check out the area, in case we ever need to escape. Or if we get lost. Its a good thing to know.

Yeah, I think so too. Lets shower off and see how far we can get. I saw something like an oasis in the distance when I went searching for you that day. I think we should go back and check that place out.

Sounds like a plan, Vir said as he stepped into the bathing room. The very thought of an oasis got his blood pumping. There was something about ponds in the middle of deserts that were just plain cool.

The bathing facilities were in the deepest part of Riyans home and differed from every other room in one crucial way. All the other rooms were built with hard-packed clay, shaped like domes. This room was also shaped like a small dome, but it was carved into the bedrock of the hill into which the abode had been built.

Small alcoves in the walls contained Magic Candle orbs, which dyed the space with a cozy red hue. The humidity here was far higher than every other room in the home, causing moss, vines, and other plantlife to grow abundantly within. Vir always felt like he was walking into another world when he entered.

Its key feature was the spring-fed soaking grotto in the very center that dominated the room. Steam vapor rose from its surface, and the shallow waves it cast reflected onto the black rock, painting a scene of serenity and peace.

Vir gave it a longing look before turning aside. As much as hed have loved to soak in the grotto, they simply didnt have the time.

Vir went left while Maiya went right, to their respective stalls several paces away from the pool. Riyan had a way of flowing hot water through a pipe that eventually dumped out on top of ones head. Vir had never heard of anything like this until he arrived. It was like being drenched in hot rain.

That sounded uncomfortable, but was in fact pure bliss. The feeling of the hot water droplets tingled Virs scalp in a way that both soothed and energized him. Riyan had actually limited his usage of the shower after hed spent an hour standing under it.

To Virs delight, their instructor had installed a regular tap for his convenience.

He opened the tap and let all of his problems melt away.