Tsumera Anukai
Dec 17th, 2007, 02:16:56 AM
Four Years Ago
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Blood splashed across the sweltering sand, staining the tawny canvas a deep crimson.
It was the first time I had ever been hit in training. I marveled at the pain that tore through my jaw, became entranced by the blooming vortex that had impacted with the ground.
Only half-aware of the silence that had swept over the many spectators that had come to observe the spar, Tsumera Anukai brought up a hand to smear away the dribbling essence that seeped from a crescent wound carved into her lip. Hesitation. Her fingers trailed the warmth that emanated from the blood but never dipped inward to explore the foreign substance.
By now, my eyes had torn themselves from the wine-hued liquid that had steadily began to seep into the beach sand. My brother, my opponent, had swept back from the offensive stance that had landed him the hit. He seemed as shocked as I.
Her gaze, once vibrantly rebellious against the piercing rays of the suns above, hardened into a slate tone so artic that her kin might have doubted the honesty of her wound and mistaken the plasma on the ground for ice. Her hand dropped carelessly to the side, the most apathetic motion she had ever managed, afforded. All the while those eyes bore into his.
I was going to give him time to come to terms with it all.
Her head turned back to right then, her neck conceding a violently loud crack. The sound was about lost as the waves came crashing to the shore, wiping away the evidence at her feet. The sodden ocean-earth was undisturbed as she took up her own stance. One hand to her side, the other before her. Palms were toward him, focused. Her eyes, they took in all of him and yet stared through, unabridged. She took her time settling into a bearing that always came so naturally.
I wanted him to know that he was going to die.
---------
She could feel it spill off her hands every time she punched. The various items decorating her surroundings shuddered with each sweeping gesture. No, it was something more. Typically, the outward advance of pressure would rattle the tender objects that creatures found themselves so drawn to. But the reality was now, she could harness enough of this unseen power to shatter glass or even implode a wood paneled wall.
“What are you doing..?”
Tsumera turned her white eyes upon her father whose frame took up the entire doorway of her room. He didn’t bother taking in the broken assets but rather, he scrutinized her movements and waited for some slip. But she was not as disregardful as her older brother.
“Improving my technique, sir.” She answered, her voice oddly mature for a girl of only fourteen.
“The use of the force is strictly forbidden when applying that technique, Tsumera.” He replied in that hardened voice. In truth, she had obtained most personality traits from her sire. Often times, it was like talking to a mirror.
“To know oneself, one must uphold the laws of our combat while exploring the Tiers. The force, weapons, and armor only hinder the sacred communication of battle.” She repeated the lesson that had been engraved into her brain time and time again. He didn’t seem pleased or angered by her mechanical repetition of his very words. One moment he was there, the next he was gone.
I think he knew then how it would turn out. Even though I did not reveal my enthrallment through the link of our people, I was quite certain he could feel the change in me. Like a ripple in the wind when a storm began to haunt the horizon.
---------
Tsumera had never seen him so staggered and she found that realization almost agreeable. He stumbled as he launched forward and his arms quivered as he brought them up. Surprisingly, he was much faster. It didn’t matter, he knew it too.
She shifted effortlessly. Posting one leg to the back and turning her foot, she brought the other forward. He was just about upon her when she swept her arms forward much like she had that morning in her room. She displaced the source as if it were as crucially light as air and broke through his frontward guard. Her palms slammed into the joint of his elbows, knocking his arms out of commission.
Then, luring her own limbs back to her torso, she gathered the force she knew would end the cycle of her life here with them and pushed it all into her hand. Her arms cut forward and she shoved every last bit of that sensation into the wall of his chest. The finality was bittersweet as was the sanguine flood that erupted from her brother’s contorted lips just before his body collide with the waves that had rushed forward to meet him.
“To know oneself, the sacred communication of battle must not hinder the true calling of self-expression. The force has allowed me to breach the restriction of the Echani Tiers.” She spoke aloud, looking past the corpse of her opponent and into the faces of those who observed. Among them, her father, with his detached expression.
I know myself. I have no desire to further serve the laws that restrict my nature.
----------------
Blood splashed across the sweltering sand, staining the tawny canvas a deep crimson.
It was the first time I had ever been hit in training. I marveled at the pain that tore through my jaw, became entranced by the blooming vortex that had impacted with the ground.
Only half-aware of the silence that had swept over the many spectators that had come to observe the spar, Tsumera Anukai brought up a hand to smear away the dribbling essence that seeped from a crescent wound carved into her lip. Hesitation. Her fingers trailed the warmth that emanated from the blood but never dipped inward to explore the foreign substance.
By now, my eyes had torn themselves from the wine-hued liquid that had steadily began to seep into the beach sand. My brother, my opponent, had swept back from the offensive stance that had landed him the hit. He seemed as shocked as I.
Her gaze, once vibrantly rebellious against the piercing rays of the suns above, hardened into a slate tone so artic that her kin might have doubted the honesty of her wound and mistaken the plasma on the ground for ice. Her hand dropped carelessly to the side, the most apathetic motion she had ever managed, afforded. All the while those eyes bore into his.
I was going to give him time to come to terms with it all.
Her head turned back to right then, her neck conceding a violently loud crack. The sound was about lost as the waves came crashing to the shore, wiping away the evidence at her feet. The sodden ocean-earth was undisturbed as she took up her own stance. One hand to her side, the other before her. Palms were toward him, focused. Her eyes, they took in all of him and yet stared through, unabridged. She took her time settling into a bearing that always came so naturally.
I wanted him to know that he was going to die.
---------
She could feel it spill off her hands every time she punched. The various items decorating her surroundings shuddered with each sweeping gesture. No, it was something more. Typically, the outward advance of pressure would rattle the tender objects that creatures found themselves so drawn to. But the reality was now, she could harness enough of this unseen power to shatter glass or even implode a wood paneled wall.
“What are you doing..?”
Tsumera turned her white eyes upon her father whose frame took up the entire doorway of her room. He didn’t bother taking in the broken assets but rather, he scrutinized her movements and waited for some slip. But she was not as disregardful as her older brother.
“Improving my technique, sir.” She answered, her voice oddly mature for a girl of only fourteen.
“The use of the force is strictly forbidden when applying that technique, Tsumera.” He replied in that hardened voice. In truth, she had obtained most personality traits from her sire. Often times, it was like talking to a mirror.
“To know oneself, one must uphold the laws of our combat while exploring the Tiers. The force, weapons, and armor only hinder the sacred communication of battle.” She repeated the lesson that had been engraved into her brain time and time again. He didn’t seem pleased or angered by her mechanical repetition of his very words. One moment he was there, the next he was gone.
I think he knew then how it would turn out. Even though I did not reveal my enthrallment through the link of our people, I was quite certain he could feel the change in me. Like a ripple in the wind when a storm began to haunt the horizon.
---------
Tsumera had never seen him so staggered and she found that realization almost agreeable. He stumbled as he launched forward and his arms quivered as he brought them up. Surprisingly, he was much faster. It didn’t matter, he knew it too.
She shifted effortlessly. Posting one leg to the back and turning her foot, she brought the other forward. He was just about upon her when she swept her arms forward much like she had that morning in her room. She displaced the source as if it were as crucially light as air and broke through his frontward guard. Her palms slammed into the joint of his elbows, knocking his arms out of commission.
Then, luring her own limbs back to her torso, she gathered the force she knew would end the cycle of her life here with them and pushed it all into her hand. Her arms cut forward and she shoved every last bit of that sensation into the wall of his chest. The finality was bittersweet as was the sanguine flood that erupted from her brother’s contorted lips just before his body collide with the waves that had rushed forward to meet him.
“To know oneself, the sacred communication of battle must not hinder the true calling of self-expression. The force has allowed me to breach the restriction of the Echani Tiers.” She spoke aloud, looking past the corpse of her opponent and into the faces of those who observed. Among them, her father, with his detached expression.
I know myself. I have no desire to further serve the laws that restrict my nature.