Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1998 22:00:23 -0400 From: cindy franklin Subject: The Scar Chuin put the finishing touches on the snowman he'd just built. Taking a stick, he put it in the small lump of snow that served as the snowman's hand. He took a few steps back and drew his sword. Swiping the sword, he disarmed the snowman and sliced it apart. Chuin sheathed his sword and looked at what remained of the snowman. He heard clapping behind him. "Not bad." Chuin spun around to see an older man standing behind him. "Not bad, against an inanimate object. But you need to work more on your technique if you every want to stand a chance against a real opponant." "Is that a challenge," Chuin asked, reaching for his sword. The older man held up his hands. "No. It's simply an observation. You have the raw talent and, with training, you could be a good swordfighter. With training you could fight against others." "I already can," Chuin proclaimed, with all the arrogance of his 17 years. He drew his sword. "And I'll prove it!" He rushed forward, striking. The man easily blocked. Chuin gave several more strikes, but each was blocked without much effort. *This man is good*, Chuin thought. *But I'll beat him. It shouldn't be too hard. I've been teaching myself for the past 3 years.* Chuin continued to strike, but couldn't get one hit in. *I'll have to use my ability to beat him* Chuin didn't like to use it too often as it made him weary. But this time, he felt he had no choice, if he was to beat this man. Chuin focused his energy. A pale blue light began to form into a small ball around his left hand. He pulled his hand back, then pushed it forward again. The ball of energy flew forward at the man, knocking him back a few steps. Before he had a chance to recover, Chuin formed another ball of energy at the older man, knocking him back more. Chuin felt a little light-headed. He fought to stay on his feet. The man had recovered and looked at him strangely. People with such abilities were rare. If the boy wasn't so arrogant, he'd take him and train him. *Maybe I should give the boy one more chance*, he told himself. Chuin, though very tired, struck at the man again. The man shook his head. "No more of this." He swipe his sword upward. The tip of the blade put a long gash on the boy's face. Chuin gasped from the pain and fell backwards. Blackness swirled around him. He saw the man standing over him. "Let that be a reminder to you not to be so brash and overconfident of your skills. Next time, be a little wiser when picking your opponant." Chuin faded into oblivion. Chuin woke and found himself in a cave. In fact, it was the cave he'd been staying in the past couple of weeks. No one else was in the cave, but a fire was had been built. Chuin slowly sat up. *Was it a dream?* The pain in his cheek told him it wasn't a dream. Bringing his hand to his cheek, he felt a bandage. The man had taken care of his cheek, but where was he? Chuin got to his feet and walked outside. The sun was rising, so he knew he'd been unconscious for the rest of the past day as well as the night. Anyways, he hoped it had been only one day. He looked around, but couldn't find the man. All he saw was a set of footprints in the snow. Chuin went back inside and grab what few belongings he had. *I must find that man and ask him to train me. If he will accept me.* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two years had passed and in that time, Chuin had continued to practice his sword fighting, as well as his ability. He hadn't improved much, but he kept training himself. He wasn't sure why he still practiced his ability, after all that ability was what had gotten him kicked out of his village and disowned by his family. He believed it was given to him by the gods, but they thought it was given to him by evil spirits. He sometimes wonder if maybe they were right and that he was cursed by demons. The cut the man had given him healed, but he had a scar that ran down his right cheek. He hadn't forgotten the man's words. It was his arrogance that was his downfall. He had learned to be more cautious around others, not that he saw many other people in his travels. *Maybe that should change.* He looked around at the mountains. They were all he'd ever known. He'd never been away from them in the 19 years he'd been alive. But now he felt that he should leave them. See what lay beyond the mountains. *There might even be more like me out there. More with an ability.* Chuin turned south, the shortest way out of the mountains, and began walking.