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Sakai set staring as his instructor explained the proper ritual prayer to gain the spell battletide from his deity, Garagos. Today his mind was far from his lessons however. “I can’t believe the clerics actually expect me to sit here instead of training with the guards” he muttered to himself, “We serve GARAGOS, The Master of All Weapons, we should be training our skills at combat and war to worship him, not sitting here studying fancy chants”. “Sakai, I can tell you’re not paying attention again”, said the teacher gruffly, “I thought we had finally agreed you would pay attention, perhaps you will be more appreciative of your lessons when you have served a week expelled”.
Later that day Sakai was storming around the town, still disappointed about his temporary expulsion. “I don’t care about the prayer classes, but I will miss the small amount of weapons training they let us do at the end of the days”, he grumbled. He wasn’t really familiar with this part of town so he decided to take a look around. Eventually he found himself staring at a large courtyard in front of a large barracks, watching a small squad of the local militia training with swords. “Hmm, some of these soldiers aren’t too bad, but you’d think they’d be better since that’s all they have to do”, he sighed, “I guess the best place to train is still The Reaver’s temple”. “I couldn’t really leave his service anyway, I just really think that he gains more glory by the study of war than the study of prayers”, he said while preparing to leave. A sudden slowing of the motion in the court yard caught his eye though. He looked back at the court yard to see one man surrounded by five other men; all of them were holding practice swords. At a signal all five of them moved cautiously towards the man in the middle. Suddenly they all seemed to blur as they exploded into motion, they all moved quickly enough that Sakai couldn’t follow the fight, but one moved faster than the others. The single man stood over the others leaning on his sword at the end. Sakai stared in amazement. “The last one is better than even the trainers at the temple and all six of them are better than me”, he admitted to himself.
Sakai had a troubled night. He was considering asking the militia to train him but he still wanted to serve Garados. He finally decided he would train there for the remainder of his sentence. “Not like I have anything else to do”, he joked to himself. The next day found him among the militia recruits training, and the next several days as well. On the last day before his return to the temple he finally convinced the man he saw on the first day, a gruff man named Masana, to spar with him. He lasted about five seconds before ending up on his back with stars in his eyes. “Still not good enough” he yelled in his mind. Suddenly a change came over him. He felt... good. He concentrated for a few moments and the pain vanished. Then a quite voice seemed to whisper, “I accept you”, barely enough for him to hear; like the voice came from a great distance or something was in-between him and the source. It took him a moment on the ground to consider that this might be Garados himself speaking to him. He bonded to his feet, the pain really WAS gone, and asked the startled Masana to a re-match. “Might as well test my theory” he thought as he concentrated. He remembered his teacher once talking about a spell that increase the power of ones muscles, bull’s strength he thought, and held the idea in his mind for a few moments. He gasped as new found strength seemed to flow into him form no where. He grinned. As he stepped into position against his opponent he imagined his body responding to him quicker and faster and felt another serge of energy. “Ready... BEGIN”, shouted the official. This time the fight lasted much longer than the first had, and Sakai was not the one on his back when it was over.
The militia asked him to stay with them but he refused. The temple never saw another sight of him either. Based on his new found strength and the proof that Garados approved of him he decided to wander the land looking for fights that needed bodies to fight them.
Later that day Sakai was storming around the town, still disappointed about his temporary expulsion. “I don’t care about the prayer classes, but I will miss the small amount of weapons training they let us do at the end of the days”, he grumbled. He wasn’t really familiar with this part of town so he decided to take a look around. Eventually he found himself staring at a large courtyard in front of a large barracks, watching a small squad of the local militia training with swords. “Hmm, some of these soldiers aren’t too bad, but you’d think they’d be better since that’s all they have to do”, he sighed, “I guess the best place to train is still The Reaver’s temple”. “I couldn’t really leave his service anyway, I just really think that he gains more glory by the study of war than the study of prayers”, he said while preparing to leave. A sudden slowing of the motion in the court yard caught his eye though. He looked back at the court yard to see one man surrounded by five other men; all of them were holding practice swords. At a signal all five of them moved cautiously towards the man in the middle. Suddenly they all seemed to blur as they exploded into motion, they all moved quickly enough that Sakai couldn’t follow the fight, but one moved faster than the others. The single man stood over the others leaning on his sword at the end. Sakai stared in amazement. “The last one is better than even the trainers at the temple and all six of them are better than me”, he admitted to himself.
Sakai had a troubled night. He was considering asking the militia to train him but he still wanted to serve Garados. He finally decided he would train there for the remainder of his sentence. “Not like I have anything else to do”, he joked to himself. The next day found him among the militia recruits training, and the next several days as well. On the last day before his return to the temple he finally convinced the man he saw on the first day, a gruff man named Masana, to spar with him. He lasted about five seconds before ending up on his back with stars in his eyes. “Still not good enough” he yelled in his mind. Suddenly a change came over him. He felt... good. He concentrated for a few moments and the pain vanished. Then a quite voice seemed to whisper, “I accept you”, barely enough for him to hear; like the voice came from a great distance or something was in-between him and the source. It took him a moment on the ground to consider that this might be Garados himself speaking to him. He bonded to his feet, the pain really WAS gone, and asked the startled Masana to a re-match. “Might as well test my theory” he thought as he concentrated. He remembered his teacher once talking about a spell that increase the power of ones muscles, bull’s strength he thought, and held the idea in his mind for a few moments. He gasped as new found strength seemed to flow into him form no where. He grinned. As he stepped into position against his opponent he imagined his body responding to him quicker and faster and felt another serge of energy. “Ready... BEGIN”, shouted the official. This time the fight lasted much longer than the first had, and Sakai was not the one on his back when it was over.
The militia asked him to stay with them but he refused. The temple never saw another sight of him either. Based on his new found strength and the proof that Garados approved of him he decided to wander the land looking for fights that needed bodies to fight them.