Spirit Shadows: Rivals

Rivals is the third major story in Spirit Shadows, and the fifth chapter overall.

Story
The clouds were stripped away from the noonday sun, which shone down into the remains of an ancient, roofless, open building, onto two metal blades, wielded by two soldiers.

With his left hand, Jetera pulled his cloak further over his eyes, trying not to be blinded by the light reflecting from his opponent's golden sword. His own sword, held in his right hand, still felt large and clunky, even though he had an hour or more to learn its strengths and weaknesses. Hearing the sound of boots on the sandy ground, he lifted his head up and pulled his sword across his chest, blocking a strike which would have gone to his head. He parried to his right and thrust at his attacker, but he nimbly jumped out of range, and pulled back his sword, knocking Jetera's own sword away from him.

The two continued attacking, parrying and dodging, as they had been for the past several minutes. Jethryn tried a particularly vicious attack, striking over his head, then sliding his blade underneath the blocking blade of his enemy and finishing his strike at his opponent's head. His opponent recovered, then tried to strike Jetera's sword away from him. Jetera was preparing to strike again when he felt a hand around his neck. He felt a sudden burst of heat and found himself launched into the air, before slamming into the ground below him.

He lay on the ground, breathing hard and staring into the sky, until he saw his attacker standing above him. He was stretching a hand out to him. Jetera grabbed the hand and felt himself pulled back on his feet. His opponent was looking him over, seeing a number of scars and cuts in his armor. "Good match", he said.

Jetera nodded back to him. Saidon, the Master of Earth, was considered the most honorable of the Toa Vihagu, and never had hard feelings for the people he fought with. This belied his sinister appearance, dressed as he was in dark red and black armor, with plates of gold and a black cape. His left hand was covered in a purple glowing gauntlet, which he used to amplify his elemental power.

Jetera turned his eyes from Saidon to the other figure in the arena, a muscular figure clad in iron, with orange plates. "Again?" He called. Emekal, last of the Toa Vurka and mentor of the Toa Vihagu, had lost the sense of surprise he had when his student repeatedly volunteered for another bout, despite the fact he lost every time and sustained several injuries. But this time, Jetera had an objection.

"Why can't I choose a different weapon?"

Emekal thought it over, choosing his words carefully. "Every weapon has its own use and its own style. But the sword is the strongest of all these weapons. With it you are at your greatest strength, with the ability to stand alone and battle one-on-one. You are the one that prefers to be left alone, to fight without relying upon your element. You will need to know how to use the sword.

"But the sword might not be meant for me," Jethryn replied. "I am a tactician, not a swordsman. I don't like to be restricted to one weapon."

"That does not excuse you," Emekal returned. "You may rely on other weapons now, but you will need to know the use of the sword... if you are to truly conquer your weakness and reach your destiny."

"What of the Stormfork?" Jethryn called out. Then he stopped himself. He had just made the conscious agreement that he was the Stormhawk - when he was hoping upon hope that he would not turn out to be that dreadful warrior.

"If you were knowledgeable about the Stormhawk," Emekal retorted, "You would have deciphered the myth enough to know that it has been known to use many more weapons than a spear."

Jetera stood in silence for a moment. Then, he bent down, and grabbed his sword. He began rushing towards Saidon, letting his blade rise as he went. When Saidon turned his head, Jetera was already over top of him, bringing down his full weight on his sword. Saidon tried to block the attack, but he didn't have enough time to resist the pressure of the attack, and was knocked back, followed by a swift kick at his back. He fell onto the sand.

"Tricky", Emekal said. "And not quite a part of the swordsman's code of honor."

"But effective", Jetera said, sword raised above the Earth Toa. He was glad to have made some headway in the fight.

Saidon was down, but not out. Jetera saw his a purple glow around his opponent's left hand, then watched as the Master of Earth was launched through the air, out of the way of the sword. Upon landing, he rolled himself over and was soon back on his feet, sword in hand. The two of them rushed at each other. When they met, Saidon deflected Jetera's three successive strokes, then swept his sword at Jetera's legs. Jetera tried jumping over the blade, but it still hit, hurtling Jetera sideways. However, the future Master of Swords had a great sense of balance, and managed to land on his feet, while still having his sword up to deflect Saidon's next attacks. Then, Jetera pushed towards Saidon, trying to knock him off his feet, He ended up rolling himself upon the ground, but managed to kick out against his opponent's groin, then got up and smacked him across the face with his forearm. Saidon fell over from the force, but was not knocked out.

Jetera's moment of victory was interrupted as he felt a sudden jerk on his arm, and saw his sword fly into the sand. He suspected Saidon, but he was still on the ground. Looking to his left, he saw two other Toa - Ayen, the Toa Vihagu's deputy and Master of the Jungle, accompanied by Drainu, Master of Stone, catching his Stone Hammer, which he had sent flying at Jetera's blade to get his attention.

"Practice is over," Ayen said. The grave seriousness she had was almost broken when Drainu commented, "Personally, I wanted to join the duel." Ayen shot him a glare, and the plant growing out of her back bristled.

"What news do you have?" Emekal called out, helping Saidon to his feet.

"Enemies have landed on Erkelon's shores."

Trivia

 * Stormjay Rider intended this chapter to be a definitive way of setting Spirit Shadows' tone, style, and sense of destiny, in contrast with the first parts of Spirit Shadows, Spirit Shadows: Dawn and Spirit Shadows: Awakening, focusing on particular characters in the story.