here when its hard

Humming thoughtfully, Artorias carefully repositioned the training dummy he had set up in the center of the sparring ring, getting it juuuuust right before stepping back to observe his work with a nod. Yep, that should do it! He stepped a couple paces back from the dummy to look over the straw-stuffed mannequin of a wolf, eyeing it like it were a potential threat. He rolled his shoulders, feeling the way the weight of his new, proper sword rested across his back. Amber eyes narrowed, muscles flexed, claws scratched at the stone floor. Turning his head, Artorias gripped the leather-wrapped hilt of his sword and drew it from its scabbard with a soft scraping of sharpened steel against leather. The swirling pattern of the Damascus blade glistened in the light streaming through the narrow windows around the top edges of the walls. Artorias felt the added heft of the steel in his grasp, a far cry from the wooden training swords he'd been used to. He would have to train with his real sword more often to get over that quickly.

Pacing side to side in front of the dummy, Artorias gave a little growl and sprung into action. He leaped forward, bringing his sword up with a twist of his head aimed for the dummy's neck. The blade sliced clean through the burlap, straw, and sticks holding it together, and the dummy's head toppled to the ground with a soft thud. Artorias blinked in surprise, taking a step back while staring in awe at how easily he had just decapitated his "foe". All at once, Artorias began to comprehend the lethality of the gift his parents had given him. This was the real deal, meant to do real damage. He thought back to when he had used Sirius' knife to stab the Warlord, and the feeling of power and deadliness it brought him. He would have to be extremely careful with it.

Artorias carefully slid the sword back into its scabbard, sliding it off of his shoulders while he began to collect the debris from the destroyed dummy. Shit, at this rate, he'd run out of training dummies before he could let any of the other Knights get some practice in!


"Artorias" | Thoughts | "Corbin"