Chapter 1

First chapter of Phoenix Blood! Introduction of two of the main characters. Hope you enjoy!

9/29/14

Chapter 1

Clear your mind. Become one with the world. Bridge the gap. Inhale. Exhale. There! That ebb and flow you feel is exactly what you’re looking for! Don’t try to force it; don’t try to grab hold of it. Simply become lost in it, let it guide you first, only then may you guide the Koki.

Reiku Pharos stood rooted to the damp earth beneath his bare feet, a shallow stream pushing along the fallen leaves of autumn. The water rushing over his feet served to remind him of his place in nature. The cool air brushed his shirtless back and arms with the tenderness of a painter adding finishing touches to his masterwork.

Reiku stood in a small clearing in the forest that covered the hill he and his Master lived on. He did just as his Master had instructed him all these years: to become almost unaware of himself, becoming a mere conduit for the Koki to flow through. For nature to flow through. Focusing. The goal was to get the channeling of Koki to be second nature, and Reiku had certainly come a long way from when he had first begun his training, but he was still nowhere near as quick as his Master at harnessing his Koki.

Well, I suppose that’s only to be expected. He is old, afterall. I’m not even an adult yet. He’s had way more time to practice at this stuff compared to me. I’ve still got a long way to go to get to his level, much as I hate to admit it.

If his Master were able to hear his thoughts right now, he’d probably just laugh and tell Reiku not to be so impatient as always.

You’re still only fifteen,  he would say. You’ve got way more time ahead of you to get better than I do. I’m maxed out already.

Damn it, stop letting your mind wander, Reiku. And stop letting your body get so tense. Relax.

In response to reprimanding himself, Reiku allowed his muscles to relax, and closed his blue eyes. His toes, previously digging into the wet dirt of the streambed, now released their desperate clutch. Be present, not dominant. The goal is to move together with the Koki, not drag it along behind you.

The water at Reiku’s feet began rippling outwards in swirling shapes, reflecting the movement of the Koki within him. He was close to being ready. His feet spread to shoulder width, then his left foot shifted further forward than his right, making him a smaller target to an opponent approaching from the front. His hands moved into their familiar positions; right hand poised to attack with fingers pointed down and held above his shoulder, elbow pointed out, and left hand held out palm facing inward and slightly cupped, arm slightly bent, ready to intercept any enemy movements.

Reiku opened his eyes again, looking straight ahead at his target; a practice dummy his Master had set up at one end of the forest clearing.The target was a sack filled with sand with a target symbol painted in the center, strapped to a pair of wooden rods tied together in a cross-shape. It stood about thirty paces away from Reiku, in a straight line from him. The task assigned to Reiku was to strike that target in the dead center, from where he stood now.

He had failed this task several times in the past; at best he had managed to hit somewhere on the sack, but not in the dead center.

“Why isn’t hitting the sack good enough? If it were a person, that would be enough to injure him and make the fight easier for me!” Reiku had complained once before.

“If it were a person, they most likely wouldn’t be standing stock-still during a fight. Your aim needs to be perfect, to account for any movement of an actual,  living target,” had been his master’s response.

Reiku took a deep breath, bringing most of the Koki up to his arms and hands, ready to begin his attack. This stance was one of many phases of the Serpent’s Dance Technique, a stance-based martial arts form which had been taught to Reiku during his seven years of training  and living with his master. It was a highly adaptable and flowing form of fighting, but the most basic form of attack in this stance involved attacking in quick succession with the hands and legs, followed by a final strike with either the tips of the fingers or the palm of the hand, sending Koki through each strike but saving most of the energy for the final strike in order to do penetrating damage to the opponent.

As Reiku understood it, Koki in its natural, unaltered form was simply pure life energy, and could be found in all humans and other living things. But there was a way to alter it into various other types of energy, known as the Elements. In fact, in the current times, it was somewhat rare to find people who knew how to harness pure Koki energy; it was actually easier to alter it into an Element than concentrate it enough for practical use in its purest form. On top of that, certain Elements were more common to be usable by Elementalists than others, the most common Elementalists being those who could control Fire, Water, Wind, or Earth.

But Reiku had been taught the hard way by his master. He had learned to harness pure Koki energy, even though it was easier for him to alter it and harness the Element of Wind instead. At first, Reiku had questioned the purpose of learning to harness and use pure Koki energy if Elemental energy was easier to tap into. His master had told him that while Elemental Koki was easier for most people to tap into, it actually used up a greater amount of the body’s natural Koki reserves, thus exhausting people much faster than if they stuck to pure Koki. Furthermore, learning to control pure Koki effectively made your control of Elemental Koki better, since it forced you to learn the fundamentals for what you were doing.  Additionally, in certain situations, it was more useful to use pure Koki. Of course, with training, one’s stamina for Koki or Elemental Koki use could be increased, just as physical stamina could; however, just as a person’s physical stamina would eventually reach its maximum threshold, the same was true of their stamina for Koki use.

Like a snake uncoiling to strike its prey, Reiku launched his attack.

“Serpent’s Dance: Gale!”

Reiku’s front foot lifted briefly before stamping back down into the stream, this motion accompanied by his left hand pulling back to his ribs as his right hand shot out, fingertips extended like a blade, the twisting motion of his body creating a strong push and pull of energy. Reiku altered his Koki into Wind, knowing from previous attempts that with pure Koki he could never hope to reach a target thirty paces away. The Wind energy surged from the firm extended fingertips of Reiku’s right hand, creating a thin rippling effect in the air as it shot towards its target.

Before Reiku could confirm if his attack had reached the target, the faint whistling of objects falling from overhead drew his attention skyward. Several throwing knives had been set aflame, and were closing in on him!

Even in the face of imminent danger, Reiku’s concentration did not break. He was still in his heightened state of awareness from having filled himself with Koki, and so he remained calm and arrived at the best of his options given the perilous situation. He had been taught to react quickly and efficiently even under pressure; expect the unexpected, always be ready for anything. This also wasn’t the first surprise attack he’d faced during training with his master.

Reiku gathered more Koki within himself, and returned to the default Serpent Stance. Right hand poised and ready to strike, left hand forward ready to deflect incoming attacks.Neck craned upward, his eyes rapidly assessed the speed and number of the incoming incendiary knives.

As soon as the knives were just a few inches out of his reach, Reiku began knocking them out of the air with outstretched fingertips, sending pure Koki along the path of his arms and spear-hand form to blow away the threats. With this method, Reiku did not have to leave his position, and nor did he have to touch the knives directly and risk burning or cutting himself.

Staying rooted to his position, Reiku continued to knock the knives out of the air with his energy alone, as if swatting annoying pests in the summer. His feet twisted and pivoted in order to cover the full three-hundred and sixty degrees of his post. His body continued to sway and twist and pump blasts of the invisible Koki energy until the threat had passed.

Once all the knives had fallen to the faded grass or into the narrow stream he stood in, Reiku listened calmly; waiting for any other surprises. Satisfied that nothing else was coming, he finally looked back at his original target, the dummy thirty paces away.

“Not bad, kid. You finally got it,” his master said, grinning and wrapping his strong arm around the practice dummy as if it were an old friend.

True enough, there was a hole dead center in the target symbol on the dummy. Reiku had done it!

“YES! Finally! Hah! In your face, old man! I told you today was the day I’d do it!”

The old man’s smile stretched even further, making his already slightly wrinkled face appear more wrinkled.

“Oh? But you say that everyday, don’t you?” Reiku’s master said while stroking the grey beard growing from his chin.

Reiku simply laughed back. He had made his way over from the stream to his master by the practice dummy, happy to be out of the cold water, but unhappy to walk around the woods with wet, bare feet. He admired his master; despite being in his mid-sixties, he was a skilled martial artist and Elementalist, and had been the kind, albeit a bit strict caretaker of Reiku, who was an orphan. His Master had long grey hair that was tied back in a braid that went down his back, and a grey beard on his chin. His skin was the wrinkled skin of an old man, but he was in great shape, making his skin taut rather than saggy. His purple eyes were intelligent and wise, but still held that childish playfulness that showed up whenever he teased his poor student.

“So, Master Qu-Ran...” Reiku began expectantly.

“Yes?” Qu-Ran responded, as if he didn’t already know what Reiku was going to say.

“You promised me the first time you gave me this assignment, that if I were to succeed, you would make dinner for me--anything I wanted. Remember?” Usually Reiku was the one who prepared the meals for the two of them.

“Oh yeah, I guess I did say something like that, didn’t I?”

“Quit playing dumb, you old fart.”

“Hmm, I’m starting to really think I never said anything about making dinner…”

“W-wait! I’m sorry! Please forgive me, Master!”

Qu-Ran laughed and rubbed Reiku’s messy hair. No matter how Reiku tried to comb that damn hair, it always found a way to stand up when it wasn’t wet. His master often remarked it reminded him of a rooster. Reiku didn’t get the comparison, but was still offended anyway.

“Alright, alright. You did well today. Not only did you hit the target properly, but you also deflected the surprise attack. I suppose that does deserve a reward,” Master Qu-Ran said as if disappointed to be rewarding his student for a job well done.

“Hell yeah!” Reiku clenched his fist in excitement. He always had to do the chores, and do the cooking, but didn’t even get to pick what they ate. But tonight would be different.

“But if you had managed to detect my presence in the woods surrounding the clearing and attack me after said surprise attack, you would have gotten bonus points,” Qu-ran continued with upturned eyebrows and a satisfied I win kind of grin.

“Guess I’ll take what I can get,” Reiku said with a sigh.

“Good boy. I’ve trained you well these past seven years.”

Screw you, you old fart. Reiku thought to himself, careful not to voice his insults this time.

Author's Note

Any feedback at all is welcome. Please let me know what you think of the characters and/or dialogue so far. Feel free to let me know what you'd like to see more of, as well