Early the next morning, Guy was woken with a strict rap to the head. He groaned, opening his eyes to see the walking stick over his face. Jumping, his head flew up into the stick, whacking his nose. Guy laughed at his own idiocy, getting up. "So... Master? What shall we do today?" He asked politely. The old man was silent again, then gestured to a pack on the floor, indicating for Guy to lift it. Guy looked quizzically at him, then picked it up, gasping at it's weight. He flung it into his back, trying hard not to fall over, then followed the old man, who had went out the door. They walked for several hours, Guy muttering and cursing under his breath. When they stopped, Guy had stopped paying attention to his surroundings along the road, and was surprised that they had entered the forest, and found that they had stepped into a small clearing. The old man gestured for Guy to put the sack down. Gratefully, he did, peeking into it and finding a dozen large stones inside. He frowned, but then jumped for the second time that day as the master spoke suddenly. "To be defensive, you must learn how to block a strike." He lifted his stick again, and swung it at Guy, who lifted his arm and deflected it, wincing at the sharp pain. After a few more minutes of practicing his blocking, Guy had found a way to deflect the stick with minimal pain. He began getting bored. "Master, can't we do something real? Something hard at least?" he asked. The old man's eyes went hard, and the stick swung down again. Guy sighed, and raised his arm to block it yet again. Suddenly, there were multiple cracks, and pain sprung up all over his body. He gasped, falling over. "You must learn the basics to advance..." his master said, "now get up, and we shall do it more!" So the two trained on, until sunset, where Guy picked up the sack of rocks yet again, and they traveled back to the meager home of the hermit.
So, I gave a little thought about this, and I came up with this conclusion... I'm gonna take a break from this story, because I have no idea how many people are actually reading it. I have it at three, but there are many other stories with many more readers that deserve to be higher up in the list
Instead, I'll release a whole series of stories, each with a different title... All leading up to my final story. I have no idea how long these will take, but I hope I will be supported