EVE Fiction

Even five minutes hasn't passed as Master Kira raised his fist and slammed it down to an ancient stone slab of pavement, raising up a cloud of grey dust.

When it settled down, both Master Paakkodan and Kishida saw cracks on the ancient stone. Even Paakkodan himself couldn't reach this amount of power. "How dare you!" - raised he and rushed towards Master Kira. But the opponent was ready. He jumped up and pushed his foot right into the chest of approaching Paakkodan, with sound thump sending his huge body flying backwards towards monastery column.

"H-How did you do it?" - stared Kishida in awe, quickly wiping the cheek with his sleeve.

Master Kira stood tall and called out for Master Paakkodan, pointing his finger down at him: "Have YOU lost anybody?"

"No," - defeated Master said, feeling his guilt. He raised up on his feet and dusted himself off, calmly returning to his place: "But we have only started, you should walk the whole way, as only with the reaching of the end you will be able to grasp the Power."

"ENOUGH!" - interrupted him Master Kira, standing tall and pointing his finger on the old man one again: "How can you speak of love, if you didn't feel the sorrow at all? Love without the sorrow is just a slight affection. Only by realizing the feeling you get when you lose something dear you can understand what are you missing. Those, who have passed, are still with us. They are in our hearts, in our souls. Even if they can't be present in this world and help us physically, their spirits guide us, they give us strength... through both sorrow and love. Through guilt and shame. Through anger and fear. Fear of loss of someone you love. And anger to bring the fury on those, who can take them from you."

Master Kira took a pause, exhaled deeply and continued: "And whom are you trying to turn your student into, old man?.. An animal without guilt and shame? Without morals and compass to separate right or wrong? We should learn from our mistakes. We should always understand, that other people lives depend on our decisions. And we must bear consequence for what we choose. We must feel with all our souls what wrong decisions can bring. You ask him to remove fear. But will it make him braver? No, it won't. Because to be brave you must have fear, and you must face it, walk through it, feel it and defeat it. And bravery gives you strength. Only through those so-called negative emotions you can enter into a special state, a state of pure fury, anger and rage when you ignite your soul into incinerating fire, when your body will turn into steel and won't feel pain, you will become stronger than any other human."

"This is why I was losing your contests, Paakkodan. Because no lives were depending on it. But on the battlefield, when my strength will be required, it will help me. And it will help others. While you will stay here, teaching your lessons and rotting, disregarding millions of lives that are perished around you. I will better die and save a hundred lives, than will be living for hundred years, looking how those, who were dear to my heart, die around me... again. I don't need self-preservation anymore. I will walk through the fear, channeling it into the will to fight. I will turn myself into the death incarnate to smite with great vengeance those who would hurt my comrades. And my strength will be multiplied with the fire of my soul."

Then he turned his head down to the soldier: "But this strength doesn't come without the price. Should you succumb to this flame, it will consume your own soul and your own body long before you will reach your goal. And to prevent this, you should train."

Master Kira offered his hand to still sitting Kashida: "Now tell me, young warrior, will you take my hand and learn the way of fire and steel, or you will stay here to rot with this old man?.."

The soldier stood up, grabbed the offered hand and opened his eyes. Master Paakkodan has disappeared from his sight, but in his place Kishida has recognized his former teacher - monk Pakko, the old and wise man. He was a good teacher, but he did never use his craft. All his life monk Pakko was growing cabbages. They were very good cabbages, though. Even peasants from nearby villages were buying them from him. However, when bandits attacked the village, they simply took Pakko's cabbages together with other provisions as spoils of their victory over barely armed farmers.

Then Kishida turned his head to the right, but Master Kira has disappeared as well and nobody was standing in his place. The soldier put his eyes down on his hand and he found that he was holding his trusty sword with coiled handle, enwrapped around the firm and folded hundred times Caldari steel, sharp enough to cut even through strongest armors. It was the sword, that yesterday cut down heads of these bandits, who had stolen Pakko's cabbages, and helped to return the food to the starving villagers.

Kresh leaves were dancing in the air, slowly descending on a stone plated road around the old wooden monastery. The chill wind has hushed down, bringing the silence - the old palisade wasn't whistling anymore. First heavy drops of rain have fallen on the dust along the road and the weather was about to erupt with the new rage.

Kishida bowed his head to old Pakko, silently turned around and walked away. Through the outer gates his way was leading: he had a new master now.