Chapter 16

  Out of Time

  Wooden clacking as it struck together echoed all around. Grunts of pain accompanied the rhythm of wooden training swords locked in an endless spar. A parry here, a feint there, but most of the strikes were shallow; as if those wielding them were trying to hit each other’s sword, not each other. The training hall was filled with students, all vying to gain the attention of those more skilled. This was their chance to prove themselves worthy to take as disciples.

  Pain lanced through Hyato’s head as the Master brought his sword down. As Hyato dropped to the ground. “How is it that you are so skilled and yet so sloppy?” Master Zyle asked, his spectacles glinting.

  The courtyard was a new sight, and Hyato stood up to look around. Where had the training hall gone? Simple fencing made of tall bound reeds, a creek of flowing water surrounded by flowering bushes. Tall standing stones jutted up from a garden of sand, and Hyato was standing in a flattened earthen courtyard with a coating of dust and chalk lines. “Hyato, what are you doing?” The Master snapped.

  “Sorry.” Hyato said, turning to attention. Hyato recalled that he was in the midst of training, but didn't know how he got here.

  "Sometimes I worry about you," Master Zyle said with a sigh. "You are my best student, you pick things up so fast and are so earnest. Sometimes." The Master frowned, taking a stance, "And then you space out and forget all your training."

  "Sorry." Hyato repeated. He didn't know what else to say. His shoulders slumped down. "I know I joined to learn, but I don't remember much else."

  Master Zyle gave Hyato a critical look, “Pondering your place in the world is not what you should be doing right now, Hyato.” He said, his voice stern. “When it is time to train, you must pour everything into training. Do not lose focus, do not waver, and do not stray from your efforts. Now.” The Master demonstrated a swing, “Show me a front slash.”

  Hyato raised the sword and slashed forth with it. “Good,” Master said, correcting Hyato’s stance. “Keep going.” Hyato swung his sword again. And again. He struck the empty air before him. He made sure his hands were spaced in the right way. He kept his stance balanced. He swung at the empty air. Hyato swung, hitting the training dummy. Hyato swung his sword, cutting the branch in half. Hyato swung the training sword, knocking the sword out of his opponent’s grasp. Hyato swung his sword again, slashing a clay disc out of the air.

  For weeks Hyato continued to swing a front slash, but his arms didn’t seem to tire at all. He didn’t pay attention to the world around him, only on that slash. If he mastered that, he would be allowed to learn a new attack. Maybe even a Tech!

  Once more Hyato swung the training sword, performing the front slash with flawless efficiency. The Master grinned and clapped Hyato’s shoulders. “Well done! There is that focus I was looking for.” He seemed pleased.

  Hyato rubbed his shoulder a bit, it hadn’t felt quick. “Thanks Master!” Hyato said, smiling despite his uncertainty. His voice sounded rather young at the moment. “Can I learn a Tech now!”

  Master shook his head. “No, first you need to learn the diagonal slash.”

  “Aww man...” Hyato took his stance again and tried out the diagonal slash. It seemed to work pretty well.

  “You need to follow through, Hyato.” The Master said, correcting him a few times as he swung the sword. Once he got it right, Hyato began to swing again, and again. And just like before, he saw different images. He swung at a falling leaf, he swung through a snowdrift, he swung at a slow waterfall. He seemed to practice the diagonal swing a hundred times. To the left or the right, two handed, one handed, using both hands, he continued to train. His arms felt sore, but not for long. He felt different each time he swung.

  Are these... memories?

  When Hyato finished with the diagonal slash, he was standing before Master Zyle again. “Astounding. And you are sure you have never studied the sword before?” The Master asked. Hyato shook his head, but before he could speak the Master grinned. “Then I believe it is time to teach you a Technique after all.”

  Atop a dusty hill above a small village sat the old stone shack. On one side the huge metal dome was bolted to the ground. A thick plume of heavy smoke erupted from the chimneys atop that dome. Hyato had come here for a reason, but couldn’t remember what it was. He went to open the wooden sliding door on the storefront, but the track was damaged. “You have to force it.” Said the gruff voice from inside. Hyato used some extra force and opened the way. He stepped out of the harsh sunlight into the cool building.

  It was dark out as Hyato entered the shop. Sitting atop a cushion on a table was a bearded Sennish man with a hammer attachment on his tail mace. “You must be Hyato.” He said, grunting a bit.

  “That’s me.” Hyato confirmed. Hyato wasn’t sure why he was here, but he felt a heavy pouch of gil on his belt.

  “Close the damn door.” Hyato turned around and slid the door shut, using extra effort this time. The door slammed shut, damaging the track. When Hyato turned to apologize the man waved it off, “I can fix it.”

  The Sennish man slapped a heavy iron bell with his tail, then waved Hyato forward. As Hyato sat, he spoke, “I got your request, and already made up a few designs.” He said, “I recommend an alloy of Sky Steel and Esnedt.”

  “Oh. Okay?” Hyato said.

  “Mm,” The man grunted, “They’re both third tier metals. Esnedt is heavy, but lighter when using energy. Sky Steel is sturdy, and when used as an alloy makes the resulting weapon able to withstand more force. That should suit your needs.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.” Hyato said, realizing who he was talking to.

  “Okay, then give me two weeks.” The Sennish swordsmith said, “You have the payment?”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Hyato handed over the money, and the swordsmith nodded with a stern smile. His tail lifted and the hammer end smacked the iron bell. “Two weeks.” He repeated. Hyato nodded, and held out his hands, accepting the completed sword. The smith seemed much happier today. “Thanks for waiting, and for your business.”

  When Hyato left the store the door was stuck again, and the suns were shining hard, illuminating the dusty valley. What is this? What is happening? Hyato examined his surroundings. The red moon lit up the dark plains, the fields of grass almost black in the night, swaying in the breeze. Hyato watched the suns set, then watched the suns rise earlier that same day.

  The sharp tang of a sword being sheathed preceded the last of the collapsing men. With a sudden lurch of unsteadiness, Hyato almost fell to the ground. His arms and muscles were sore, and he felt the drain of having spent too much energy. Had he been fighting?

  On the ground all around were young folk clutching their hands in various states of pain. Some knelt, others lay on the ground, but all had bloodied hands and lay next to fallen swords. One woman’s hand was on fire, due to her Phanokai heritage. The only thing that had fallen next to Hyato was his red coat. Why did he take it off sometimes to do battle?

  As Hyato retrieved and replaced the red coat, bunching it up around his shoulders as he preferred, a child ran out from one of the buildings. “Are you a Hero?” The child asked, stopping before Hyato and stirring up a small puff of dust.

  “Err, no.” Hyato said, looking around some more. This place was familiar, a dusty town surrounded by hills covered in yellowed brush.

  “But you beat all the bad guys.” The child said, “So you are a Hero!”

  Hyato frowned, but did not have to find a response as the mother of the child caught up. She took her childs hand and gave Hyato a curt nod, “Thank you for dealing with these ruffians, traveler.” She shot a dirty look at the whimpering warriors. Had Hyato dealt with them? He must have, but why didn’t he remember it?

  When Hyato turned to respond to the woman she was gone. The town had vanished as well, replaced by the rocky crags of a mountain path. He did not spend long looking around when someone called out to him.

  The scene changed again as Hyato looked up. He saw the rainbow after a storm, then felt snow falling all around. He was walking in the forest following a faint blue light, then surrounded by glittering crystal and dragging his sword. The scenes continued to change, too fast to get his bearings, until Hyato closed his eyes.

  “Am I losing my mind?” Hyato tried to think back, when did this start happening? What happened before this? He tried to meditate, to summon some memory of the past.

  Nothing.

  He didn’t remember what came before. Did anything come before? Has it always been this way? Was he doomed? Cursed? Broken?

  The world changed around him in many ways. Days of training turned into weeks of travel, followed by months of sleeping. Time began to lose meaning, even in the halls of Feros he found no solace. “I am cursed to wander forever.” Hyato thought, voicing the despair he felt. He wanted to accept this fate, but his heart wrenched at the thought of it.

  “Hyato, snap out of it. We need you, man.” Hyato opened his eyes, lost as to what was happening. The person in front of him didn’t vanish. Hyato was in some kind of cloth room, a tent or something. The fabric of the tent was a deep green. “Hyato?”

  The man in front of Hyato was a little taller than him. He had shoulder length white hair that clumped up in spikes, and a patient look on his scarred face. Most of the scars were small recent ones, but the black scars on his cheeks were each long and harsh. Each of the two scars seemed to point to his eyes, brilliant violet eyes. That’s odd, there were no pupils.

  “Hyato, are you okay?” The man said.

  “I... don’t know.” Hyato said. “Where is this? Who are you?” Hyato looked around again. He heard a commotion in the distance.

  “You don’t... Oh.” The man said. “Here, have a seat.” The man offered Hyato a chair and gave him some water.

  “Michael! We need to hurry!” Someone outside the tent said, sounding flustered.

  “Just a minute John.” The man next to Hyato called. He took a seat.

  “We don’t have much time!” John said.

  “Who lit a fire under you? I’ll catch up, don’t worry.” Michael said. Michael turned his attention towards the now seated Hyato. “How are you feeling?”

  “Me? I don’t know.” Hyato said, clutching the tankard of water.

  “You can tell me.” Michael said. “You may not know it yet, but we’re friends. And you can count on me. We always have been.”

  “Friends?” Hyato said. “I don’t know who you are.”

  “You don’t.” Michael agreed. “Do you know who you are?”

  “Of... course....” Hyato said, but looked down at the water. “No.” He said, “No... I don’t.”

  “But I know who you are. And I’m not asking you to do anything. I just want a chance to tell you what you told me once.” Michael said.

  “And, what’s that?”

  “Hyato. Things are confusing, for you more than most. You don’t experience things the way we do. You don’t experience Time the way we do.” Michael said. “For us, Time moves on. Forever marching along, no regard for the effect it has on us. But it’s not the same for you. For you, Time works in a different way.”

  “Hyato, Time jumps for you. You spend weeks sleeping, days training, minutes eating, then you get a breather. Sometimes you get a whole day to yourself, to carry out in the way you are in that time. But that’s only how you see it.”

  “For the rest of us, we just see you. You are there with us, sometimes you space out and forget where you are, but you are quick to adapt to the situation. You help where you can, keep to yourself, and observe.”

  Hyato listened to the man speak, and shook his head. “But, how do you know that?”

  “How? Because you told me. We were already friends when you told me, but it was a long time ago. You decided to tell me because you thought it was important. You knew things about us that no one had told you, because the you in that time had already learned those things later.” Michael said. “Not later as in you learned them later, but later as in later for us but earlier for you.” He gestured while he spoke, and looked more silly than he meant to. Hyato laughed.

  Michael smiled, “You know, you don’t laugh much. I’m glad you’re amused.” He said.

  “I don’t? So should I stop laughing in the... in my future?” Hyato asked.

  “You know, I’m not sure. I don’t think your future will affect my past. But does that mean your future version of Michael might not end up here, explaining all this to you? I really don’t know.” Michael said.

  “If you never tell me this, how would I have told you before?” Hyato said.

  “Well before we start throwing around words like Fate and Paradox.” Michael said. “Let’s, uhh, skip ahead a bit.” He smirked. “Just do your best, and I’m sure things will turn out alright.”

  Hyato drank the water he had been holding. “Okay. Thanks. I don’t understand it, but... thanks.”

  Michael nodded and held out a fist. Perhaps some sort of greeting? Hyato reached out and grabbed it, shaking it up and down once. Michael laughed, “No no no, bump it with your fist.”

  “Oh, right.” Hyato pushed his fist in Michael’s and the man tapped him with a brief punch, bouncing their fists away. Michael laughed, it was pretty cute.

  The world seemed to start shifting again. It hadn’t happened this way before, but he knew the scene would shift. “Michael. We’re always friends, right?” Hyato asked.

  “Always.” Michael said, smirking. “See you soon, Hyato.”

  The world changed again, and Hyato found himself sitting on the branch of a tree full of pink flowers. No one was quite nearby, but there were people around. Hyato watched something happen, and sighed. “Always...” Hyato said to himself, looking up at the blue sky. “Always friends.”