Author's Note: I will be rewriting this chapter, along with Chapters 2, 3 and 4. Just a heads up because my writing style has changed a lot since I started :)

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It was a beautiful day, the perfect representation of an ideal summer. The grassy plains shone bright green, the flowers adding spots of vivid color to the endless ocean of lime. The foliage swayed back and forth as the wind rushes through their bodies. The insects were flying from flower to flower to collect as much nectar as possible to fill their bellies.

In the middle of one such field sat a boy, silently observing the scene in front of him. His short blue hair swayed with the winds and his white pants were flapping in every direction. He sat there, motionlessly and shirtless, eyeing all activity in front of him as if to absorb every little detail. His dark blue eyes were focused on everything and nothing at the same time. His tanned skin shone brightly in the sunlight.

He then proceeded to close his eyes. He cleared his mind from any distractions and stood up. He placed his hands in front of him and poured spiritual energy into them. A heavy long sword with light blue blade appeared in his hands out of thin air. The air around it was frigid, the sword radiated an aura of ice which contrasted with the heat from the sunlight on the boy’s face. The handle of the sword was golden, full of intricate patterns and a green jade-like gem protruded on the hilt’s end.

The boy shifted his body to compensate for the sudden change in weight. He assumed a stance where we would be able to react to any sudden movements, right foot forwards. The boy listened to his surroundings, the sound of the wind rustling and the bees buzzing. He took in his surroundings with only his hearing.

He then opened his eyes and started his training. The boy lifted the sword and placed his left foot in front. He swung down, cleaving empty air, and he rotated his body halfway. Taking another step backwards in the same direction, he raised his sword again as fast as possible and continued to turn his body. After completing a single rotation the boy had raised his sword again in a fluid motion and continued to attack the imaginary opponent in front of him. The motion resembled a whirlwind of cold steel, flashing the sun’s reflection in various directions.

After repeating the same pattern a few times, the boy returned to his defensive position and prepared for his next sequence of attacks. He took a few breaths and then stepped forward again with his right foot. While doing so he lounged forward with his sword’s tip thrusting forward. Stopping mid motion he raised the hilt of his sword and created a defensive surface in front of his body with the blade. He then proceeded to thrust again and repeated the same actions a few times.

Sweat was running down his spine, the heat of the sun didn’t make his training any easier. Even the cold aura of his sword was not enough to keep him cool. After completing this sequence a few times he had to stop and rest for a while. He struck the sword in the ground in front of him and sat on the ground again. The sword disappeared and some energy returned to the young swordsman. He sat with his legs crossed and breathed deeply as if in a meditative state. He closed his eyes and went back to observing his surroundings with his hearing.

He noticed a discrepancy, there was something approaching him at a slow speed. It was obvious the approaching entity tried to conceal their presence, they just weren’t good at it. He kept sitting still as if he didn’t notice anything. He kept waiting patiently and a smile appeared on his face. The moment the lurker was at his back he yelled at the top of his lungs:

“BOO!”

“AAARGHH!” the visitor exclaimed in a girly voice. She fell to the ground with a soft thumping sound.

The boy turned around and looked at the little girl. She, too, had blue hair cut off at her shoulders. She wore a simple one piece dress that made her look cuter than any other girls her age. Her big blue eyes looked at her brother as if ready to start crying.

“Ragnar, you’re so mean! At least you could have pretended to not notice me!” she said with a quivering voice.

Ragnar laughed and said, “And miss out the chance to mess with you? Dream on!”

“But my dress is all dirty now! Dad’s going to get mad at me.” She stood up and showed the back of her dress which was clearly stained bright green. “I’m going to tell Dad!”

“But Mia, that is all your fault! You should always be ready for the unexpected. Let that be a wise lesson to you on how to survive,” said Ragnar as he stood up. He patted of some dirt from his pants and looked his sister. Even though only a year older, he seemed much more mature than her. He had clearly already reached puberty, his body displaying fleshed out muscles while she was still as adorable as any other 10 year old.

“Not everyone is a military freak as yourself,” the little girl said and she stuck out her tongue.

“Oh Mia, how naïve you are…” the boy sighed. This was Halram Kingdom, a country that is constantly at war. He was going to protect the village and everyone he cared about. To do so he’d have to become strong, stronger than any enemy he might face.

“I watched you for a bit from afar. You seem to have gotten much better with your soul sword,” Mia had already calmed down a bit.

“Off course! I train hard every morning just to get better with it! How could I not improve?” Ragnar had been doing this kind of training for the past few years. Every morning, before the rooster woke, he’d start his daily routine of push-up and pull-ups. Afterwards, he would always move to a quiet and remote location to practice his swordsmanship. His body had formed very fine muscles in the process.

“But why a 2 handed sword? Isn’t a one handed sword easier to handle?” asked the girl. Ragnar had been training like this since before she could even remember, but she never actually understood her brother’s thinking.

“A claymore might not be as easy to use as, let’s say, a cutlass, but it is far more destructive. It can cut through enemy armor much nicer and can also provide a defensive surface to protect myself.” Ragnar had researched weapons for a long time and had come to the conclusion that longswords were the best.

“Uhu,” the girl nodded. Her brother knew everything about weapons so she didn’t doubt it. “And why did you make it blue?”

Ragnar let out a small laugh and replied, “That’s just for style. I chose to make my sword in the ice element because it just suited my looks.” He pointed at his eyes and hair.

The girl thought about that for a moment. She could understand that last part very well. They were the only ones in the village, apart from their father, with blue hair. Visitors always pointed it out and called them freaks and Mia had cried herself to sleep more than a few times because someone made fun of her hair color. But as they grew older, they grew to accept their difference. Her brother had not only accepted the fact that he was different, but was flaunting it proudly.

“That’s really cool!” the girl exclaimed.

“Literally,” said Ragnar as he winked.

(Narrator's note:Is this a bad pun or what?)

The girl looked at him blankly, she clearly didn’t understand. The boy sighed and placed his hands in front of him again. He concentrated his energy into the form of his sword. The sword appeared again in the blink of an eye and it instantly started to cool the air around it.

Then girl then understood and said, “Oh, now I get it!” She looked at the sword for a second and asked, “Would it still be this cold in any other shape?”

Ragnar hadn’t really thought about it. He had experimented with various different weapons and shapes, but the cold was only a recent addition. Not knowing the answer, he decided to try it out and concentrated on the sword’s shape. The sword lit up in a bright blue light and started to change shape. Little by little the outlines of an axe could be seen and once it was done changing form, the light disappeared. He now held a double sided axe with a golden handle and light blue head, the head featuring some golden designs on it.

“So cool! This axe looks really pretty, why don’t you use this one?” the girl proclaimed.

“Because an axe gets stuck too easily,” he replied. “An axe might have more attack power, but it just gets stuck after every strike. A sword swings much more fluidly.”

Mia had never seen combat but she imagined the splitting of firewood and she could sort of grasp what her brother was talking about.

“You’ve asked me these questions before though. Didn’t you know this already?” said Ragnar and he made the axe dissolve again. It was kind of heavy.

“Teehee, I just forgot,” said Mia with an innocent smile meaning she just didn’t really care for the answer.

“Anyways, Ragnar, let’s go visit Ymil in the bookstore. I bet he’s lonely!” the girl was hopping up and down.

“We should let him be. He’s at work,” Ragnar replied but he was already getting up to go.

“You wanna go play with him too, just admit it,” said Mia cheerfully and she ran back in the direction of the village.

Off course he wanted to play, he’s only 11 years old, but he wanted his sister to think of him as mature. “Yeah yeah…” he said and followed Mia. But as soon as he started to run his competitive side got the better of him.

“The last one at the book store is a fat little piglet!” And he sprinted past his little sister.

“Hay, that’s not fair! You’re older!” And she started to run as fast as she could.

Edited by Wesley Au (Paradox)