The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

                                                    Zaos would never admit it out loud but really was a bit rusty. Not to mention, Erean was really strong. He could make things easier for him by using magic, but that wouldn't be enough. He didn't want to prove a point by winning in a spar… he just wanted to get rid of the rustiness.

                                                    Before Erean could try to attack again, this time was Zaos who dashed forward. Erean strengthened his guard since Zaos was faster, but then he was preparing to counter-attack once the blocks the first swing since Zaos was smaller and lighter. However, he changed his mind and a horizontal cut aimed at his left side came. He heard the sound of the wind being cut, and he realized instantly that it was dangerous. So, he stepped backward again while he swung his sword downward, hitting Zaos's weapon and breaking his stance slightly.

                                                    The impact passed through the sword and went for Zaos's arms. It didn't cause any damage, but it made them tremble a little, and that was enough to slow him down for some precious moments. As expected, Erean knew how to mess with the rhythm of the opponent.

"A big swing won't hit him, since I am rusty and I am not using magic," Zaos thought. "Let's try something more compact."

                                                    Zaos assumed the Ox Guard and then concentrated for a few moments, and then he dashed forward. He knew that a big weapon like that wasn't that suitable for thrusting, but Zaos eventually would have to get used to that. A little slower than he had imagined, he tried to pierce Erean's armor, but the veteran soldier blocked each one of his strikes. That being said, little by little, he was retreating due to the number of attacks and the speed behind them. Zaos was smaller and lighter, but he could make for it with sheer aggressivity.

                                                    Before he could notice, Erean heard a strange sound coming from his sword, and when he saw a crack in it. His beloved sword that he had been using for twenty years… how could have that happened? But then Erean noticed, Zaos was striking the same part of his sword over and over again. That had been his plan all along!

                                                    Erean decided to dodge the stabs instead of blocking, but then he was forced to retreat even more than before. At some point, he hit his back against the walls of the captain's cabin, and without any place to run, he just saw Zaos's sword approaching his head. However, Zaos stopped at the last moment.

"You are one tough old man, you didn't even blink while my sword was approaching," Zaos smiled and then began to massage his right shoulder. "Ouch… I should have warmed up a little bit before the duel."

"Nicely done," Erean said.

                                                    Although that was just a friendly spar, everyone around them was completely silent. Aside from Drannor, pretty much everyone looked astonished. The ones more surprised were Erean's men. They never saw his captain losing a spar. Rather than that, they never saw one where their leader had to retreat all that much.

"Why are you guys so quiet?" Erean asked while smiling. "The kid is the real deal; besides, I am getting old, I had to go easy on him."

"Yeah, right," Zaos smiled as well.

                                                    For a while, they just smiled like that, but then they broke into a burst of laughter. Zaos had moments like that when he was practicing with Elius; it was the moments where one of them could have died if they had tried a bit harder. It was like a form of recognizing the strength of the adversary.

"Oh, boy… my beloved sword," Erean said and then sighed. "It will take a while to repair… if you had used magic, do you think that my sword would break much sooner?"

"I don't like to discuss possibilities," Zaos said. "If the cracks had happened sooner because of magic, you would have noticed sooner as well that blocking was a bad idea. Thus, the flow of the battle would take a whole different turn."

Yeah, you are right," Erean said.

"Well then," Zaos said and then turned around. "Can I assume that Your Highness has been entertained? Or perhaps I can make Drannor bleed a little to make things more interesting. This time, I would gladly accept the command."

"What a bloodthirsty guy…" Drannor shrugged.

"No, no… that is fine for today," Ameria forced a smile. "Rather, it is enough for the week. We are going to participate in a party pretty soon and I don't want to see someone covered in bandages in there."

                                                    In the end, the rest of the journey passed really smoothly. Those who wanted to stretch their legs were spared against each other, but no one of them tried to spar with Zaos and Drannor. While they were younger, they had their fair share of combat experience, and they had the unique fighting styles that they have been forging since they were five years old.

                                                    For some reason, Ameria began to practice her archery on the boat. While they certainly didn't need food, she tried to hit some birds when they passed above the ship, and by using wind magic, she actually hit many of them… she also beheaded them as well. Apparently, she didn't want to get behind the others, even though she really had no real reason to sharpen her skills.

                                                    Fourteen days after they entered the ship, they finally saw the main island of Vezar, and they saw something else there as well. Right in front of it, they saw a weird-looking mountain that looked ominous for some reason… probably because it was emitting smoke.

"What is that?" Drannor asked.

"It is an active volcano," Distri replied. "The main island suffered many times when it erupted over the years in the past, but it is also an interesting place to visit."

                                                    Even Zaos was interested in that mountain… for some reason. It felt kind of familiar, even though he had never seen such a thing until now. Regardless, the island's people were pretty brave for building their civilization so close to something that could destroy them.

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