Larger Than Life, Bigger Than Us

Lily took her position in front of her master and submitted herself to his attentive eyes. He just observed her for a long while without saying a word. Lily wasn't aware how long she had been standing on her one leg holding the crane position but her leg was starting to shake and cramp.

The Lord just came close to her and flicked her with his fingers. There was no strenght in the flick but that was sufficient enough for her to lose her equilibrium and put her foot down to prevent herself from further humiliation.

"No foundation." The Lord uttered only 2 words.

Lily had a lot of difficulty in managing her anger thus she did not reply but in her heart a lot of thoughts were flashing. "What did he expect? For her, who never had done any martial arts, to be a genius and hold position the first day? Was she supposed to be a monster? Of course she had no foundation, this was the FIRST DAY ever of her training."

The Lord then shook his head, took a small rectangular object wrapped in leather from his c.h.e.s.t and put it in her hands.

"Looks like we'll need to make you a bit stronger before continuing learning more. Please follow to the letter what This Lord have written in this small book. We'll resume again in a week."

"The day is no longer young, This Lord will take his leave now. Rest well dear disciple".

Lily walked her Master off and, impatient to know what her Master had given as instructions, she unwrapped the small package and turned to read the first set of instructions.

Unfortunately, Lily (and Ran as well) was not able to read it. The langage it was written with was not all familiar to her. To some extents, it resembled some characters but put together made no sense.

"How was she supposed to follow it if she can't read it?!?" Was it coded? How was she going to decipher it?

Lily just sighed and decided to go sleep. She still had a week to figure the instructions out. Tomorrow she will go look for her Master and ask him to read it to her. After all, he was the only one she knew in this valley.

During the night, a quiet shadow appeared next to her bed.

"Young Mistress looks so tired." The shadow took his hands and passed it over her face and then her body. "Now she looks better".

He then noticed the instructions book. Careful not to wake Lily up, he started flipping trough it.

"Strange, why does young Mistress have a book written in such an antique language? Can she even reads it?"

He put it back. He stared at her, then took her hand. He blew a bit of air on it. Slowly, lines were revealed. He could clearly see the mark, formerly invisible, on it. This was their bond. Comforted, he slightly pressed the hand against his.

"Young Mistress, I will come back. Now that I have found you, I will not let this hand go in this lifetime. I will repay my debt."

He released her hand and again disappeared without leaving traces.

As soon as he left, Lily woke up in panic. Was someone in her room? While sleeping, she could feel a shadow hovering over her and she felt so uncomfortable it triggered her to open her eyes.

It was still the middle of the night. There was no one with her. The room was quiet. She could not notice anything out of the ordinary. Maybe the training made her too weary?

She headed back to the land of dreams.