CHAPTER II

Jieun threw herself to the ground, narrowly escaping the sword slashing for in a wide arc. She was breathing heavily, her heart beating rapidly in her chest, and she had to readjust her grip on the hilt of her sword every few seconds thanks to it almost slipping out of her sweaty palm.

Shooting to her feet with her hair billowing, she twisted and turned while hacking away at her foe. But despite her best efforts to disarm and force her enemy into submission Jieun knew that she had practically already lost; she could feel it in her limbs, the tremble of exhaustion throwing her off-focus, and she could see it in her opponent’s eyes that she knew it, too.

But Jieun refused to give up, so instead of backing off and yielding Jieun frantically continued her vicious offense. But no matter how hard Jieun fought her blows were still as easily deflected as they had during the start of their sparring session by the woman, and Jieun’s face was twisted in frustration.

Suddenly Jieun lost her balance after miscalculating the space between herself and the woman, and in a flurry of movements the female moved forwards and pushed Jieun backwards, making her fall heavily on her back on the dirty ground, sword pointed at and a victorious smirk on her lips.

Breathing labored, Jieun looked at the tip of the sword with wide eyes, her brain taking a few seconds before registering her loss, before slowly letting them drift upwards to look at the female grinning above her in triumph.

“Jieun, you really need to practice your sword skills on your own free time,” the woman said, “because clearly our sessions aren’t enough.”

Jieun pouted before opening to reply. “I don’t like fighting with swords, you know that. And also, my Fire is more than enough,” she paused before twisted into a wry smile. “Except for in fights against you, of course, Hana. But it’s not as if I’m going to fight against you in a fight to the death on the battlefield, so I figure I’m safe.”

Hana, as was the other woman’s name, snickered – her  powers were Water, neutralizing the destructive Fire Jieun was so fond of and rendering them useless – before sheathing her sword and helping Jieun up from the ground. Hana was one of Jieun’s closest friends, and they had gotten to know each other when they had gotten promoted to Lieutenants three human years earlier. Their bond had only grown stronger from that point. They often partook in sparring sessions – such as the one Jieun had lost just moments ago – against each other since it never hurt to keep their abilities sharp and honed, and because Hana was extremely proficient in the arts of the sword and had decided to tutor Jieun. But, to be honest, it more than often ended with both of them only sparring for a short while before they took a break and spent the rest of their “training” talking, joking and gossiping. It really was no wonder Jieun had barely made any progress in sword fighting during the past years, especially when considering that Jieun had never been very fond of fighting with anything but her powers and therefore never really paid any attention to the stances and the slashes and everything else during the short periods Hana tried to teach her them.

Sometimes Jieun wondered why Hana even bothered trying to train her, because surely it must feel like fighting an uphill battle, or trying to make an old dog sit.

The two Ascended spent another two minutes evaluating their practice, Hana telling Jieun what she needed to practice on and how to go about it and Jieun listening somewhat passively while gazing at the imposing walls surrounding the Headquarters which the training grounds, where she and Hana were currently located, was situated right outside of. She knew that what Hana told her was important and very useful for Jieun if she ever end up in a position where she was unable to use her powers and had to rely on her sword instead, but the thing was that Jieun knew that that would never happen; humans didn’t have the abilities (like what Hana and some of the other water-based Ascended had), to neutralize her Fire and so she never had to worry about her powers being ineffectual. That was one of the reasons behind her flippant attitude when it came to any kind of close-combat technique.

The other reason was simply that she did not like the unfamiliar, heavy weight of a weapon in her hands, and how she related any and all weapons with the savage Humans.

Hana’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. “Jieun, are you even listening to me?”

Jolting out of her thoughts, Jieun quickly nodded. “Yes, um, of course.”

“Really?” Hana said, distinctly unconvinced.

Floundering for a reply that’d sound convincing but coming up short, Jieun ended up looking like a deer in headlights until the sound of Hyosung calling for them both made them turn around and look at the woman approaching them across the training grounds.

Hyosung was wearing the same uniform that Jieun and Hana was wearing, consisting of a black military jacket and equally dark pants and boots, the pieces of clothing form-fitted and elegantly tailored with fitting boots. The only difference was that, instead of the blue, intricate pattern that was decorating the fronts of both Hana’s and Jieun’s, Hyosung’s was blood-red, indicating that rather than being a Lieutenant like them Hyosung was a Captain.

Jieun and Hana immediately straightened, and Jieun clenched her right hand and brought it up to her face to rest the back of the hand against her forehead, the customary salute for Captains. Hana mirrored the movement.

Normally they greeted each other a lot more casually, but the way Hyosung was walking – her back ramrod straight, chin slightly raised and shoulders set, her whole demeanor a display of quiet power and authority – Jieun knew that this was not the time for pleasantries. Right now, they were not friends; they were Lieutenant and Captain.

“Lieutenant Jieun, Lieutenant Hana,” Hyosung greeted them with a small smile, nodding at them. “At ease.”

They dropped their hands to lace their fingers together and rest them against the small of their backs, their stances a little bit more relaxed.

Jieun spoke, her voice respectful. “Captain, what do you need from us?”

“We have gotten order from General Southeast,” as always Hyosung didn’t beat around the bush, and both Hana and Jieun shared a quick, silent look at the name ‘Southeast’, before refocusing their gazes on their Captain. “We are to travel to Lineos, one of the bigger cities belonging to the Humans nine miles away from here, as soon as possible. I shall explain our mission on the way there.”

Lineos.

Jieun expertly concealed the frown that threatened to cross her face at the name of the city, though she could not hinder the way her shoulders tensed. There was something with that name… something that had awoken the Fire within her, making it coil and twist and whisper in her ears, but she couldn’t understand what it was It was trying to tell her or why it had reacted this way. The words were too strange, too foreign.

“Understood, Captain,” Hana’s voice snapped Jieun out of her puzzled introspection, “I’ll go and assemble my squad right now–”

“There is no need for that, Lieutenant,” Hyosung interrupted, halting Hana and making both Jieun and Hana look at her in surprise. “The General specifically ordered it to be just the three of us. You will have to leave your squads in the hands of another Lieutenants during our absence.” Hyosung paused shortly to hand them a letter each, their names written in sharp cursive on their designated letter, before she continued. “You have four hours to pack one bag each and prepare for our leave. We will be gone for at least two weeks.”

“Yes, sir!” They replied in unison, saluting once again – to which Hyosung smiled, the Captain replaced by their friend now that she had issued her orders – before they began jogging across the training grounds towards the huge entrance leading into the Headquarters.

“This is the first time in a long while that we’re ordered not to bring our soldiers… I wonder what our mission could be” Jieun said to Hana, her voice breathy from the jog, before she grimaced. “And ugh, we’re going to spend at least two weeks in a Human city? I’m going to die.”

Hana giggled, not affected at all by the running, another example of her superiority when it came to anything connected to physical activity. “With that attitude, of course you will. I will never understand how bothered you are by the humans, to be honest. When you meet them on the battlefield you don’t seem to have a problem with being near and fighting against them.”

“But on the battlefield it’s different,” Jieun said, gesticulating with her hands. “I’m only near them to kill them and complete whatever mission I might have, you know? But in the cities I have to play Human, pretend I’m one of them and be amiable to them – unless I’m supposed to destroy the city or village, of course – and it just feels so disgustingly wrong.”

Hana smiled strangely at her but didn’t reply, a sure sign that she didn’t understand what Jieun meant, and they let their discussion die in favor of planning ahead of what things to bring on their mission.

When they entered the huge building of the Headquarters, the quiet stillness of the huge entrance hall immediately replacing the buzzing sounds of summer the two women had been surrounded by outside on the training grounds, they parted ways with short goodbye’s to hurry off towards their allocated rooms, the metallic sounds of the ironheels on their boots echoing through the labyrinthine corridors.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sooooorry for the incredibly long wait! :( the picture for this chapter will be uploaded shortly <3

Love and a million hugs because you guys are amazing,

Elysionista

05/12 2013