Way of the Warrior - Steppenwolf

[Revenant]

Passersby to the Ixian Knights special training room might have thought nothing of the rapid staccato beat echoing out of the dojo. The sound of metal on wood wasn’t a terribly uncommon event in a place when real weapons and practice ones clashed on a daily basis, so why would one think that this beat was any different? A more casual glace, however, would reveal an oddity to the training going on. For one thing, there weren’t enough students in the room to beat out the rapid rhythm. In fact, if said passerby were to just lean in the doorway a little, they would find all of the trainees standing in a goggle-eyed group, whispering amongst themselves in awe. All of them, that is, except for one.

William’s breathing was hot and ragged, just shy of being shallow enough to be called a pant. Heat flowed in waves from the Revenant, who had assumed his demonic form for his training and was pushing his supernaturally enhanced body to its limits. Bone covered arms and legs, hardened by his power to the level of steel, flew against the rotating punch tree almost faster than the spectators could follow. There was a limit to the extent that William could push himself though, and even if he wasn’t visibly tiring, the few observers who could keep up with his movements noted that the Revenant’s savage aria appeared to be building to its crescendo. A snarl curled around William’s lips as he finished, sending a flurry of blows against the training device that was so fast and precise that the wooden limbs extended from the central pylon cracked and splintered under the strain.

When it was over, the assembled mass turned to talk amongst themselves excitedly, wiping the pouring rivers of sweat from their brows. William ignored them, as he always did, shaking off the collected dust that covered him in place of sweat. He had lost that particular human trait when the ancient magic of a forbidden ritual bound demonic essences to his soul, forever altering him and separating him from his former humanity. Not that his humanity was completely gone, he reminded himself, a fact that his employer and comrade Sei Orlouge had worked hard to uncover. True he was no longer the same person, and would still be considered a monster by most standards, but there was still a decent core lurking under the fire and brimstone.

“Speaking of Sei,” he muttered, reverting to human form as he approached the only non-trainee amongst the gathered assembly. “You’re one of the Knights assigned to be his messengers, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Captain Arcus,” the man responded, snapping to attention. William frowned at the pomp and ceremony that so many of the Ixian Knights required of themselves when addressing him by his rank. He had no desire to flaunt the glory or prestige that came with his position as one of the prophesied nine Ixian Commanders. It was, after all, just a fluke of destiny.

“Knock it off,” William snapped, perhaps a bit too venomously judging by the way the messenger jumped. “I’m guessing that whatever message Sei has you running is for me.” The boy stared stupidly at William for a second before he added, “Otherwise why would you be standing there gaping at me like a gasping fish?”

This snapped the boy out of his stupor. “Right, of course. Here you go, Captain.”

There was that title again. William snatched the message and waved the boy off, sending him back on his way without acknowledgement or thanks. The message itself was simple, a summons from Sei to his personal training room with a tantalizing hint that the mute had a surprise for him. Not knowing what Sei had in store, William wasted no time in gathering his belongings and making his way to Sei.

[Silence Sei]

When William had entered the official training room for the higher ups in the Ixian Knights, he would find himself with the same basic equipment that was in all the other rooms. Training dummies, a few workout machines, and even what appeared to be playground equipment littered the massive area. Whereas outside in the courtyard had been used for more militaristic training, this room was used for recreational training. William would find himself facing down a large form, a big puff of pink sprouting from his scalp.

"Hey there!" the giant of a man said, turning around and kneeling down to get a better look at William. In all reality, the blue-eyed Steppenwolf Orlouge was only seven foot six, nowhere near the size he exaggerated himself to be. Sei stood feet from his brother, arms crossed and eyes rolled at the lengths Steppenwolf went to in order to prove his size advantage over people.

"Pleasure to meet you, Willie. Name's Steppenwolf Orlouge, I'm Sei's big bro." The inventor stood back upright and patted himself on the chest with his fist, as if some sort of tribal ritual whenever he mentioned his brother's name was taking place. "I hear tell that you're looking to advance yourself in fighting styles. Hoturi and Mr. T are real blabbermouths when they fought me. As such, I decided to storm in here and get baby bro to send you a summons. Like it or not, your training under me now!"

"Steppenwolf, you have not trained a person in fighting a day in your life." Sei spoke, clear enough for William to hear the mute's protests. Steppenwolf closed his eyes and waved his hand back towards Sei, a smile across his lips. "Details, details. An inventor doesn't think about such things when he is in the middle of his work, why should a personal trainer?"

"That's another thing. You're an inventor, not a fighter. What kind of fighting style would you teach Wii---"

"Grappling."

Sei stopped his objections once Steppenwolf made his intentions clear. Of all the Orlouges, Steppenwolf was a master in submission style fighting. Time and Time again, he had made several of his brothers submit to his skills. The tougher members of the family, such as elder brother Niche, and father Tinerad, would often suffer broken bones at the hands of the large Mystic due to refusing to submit to his grapples.

Sei's own blue eyes now focused on William, remembering that the Revenant was a part of this, after all. "Though you don't have to do this, William, there is no person better to teach you the tricks of the trade than Steppenwolf."

"Stop acting so high and noble," Steppenwolf said, waving off his little brother again, "Truth is, I've made Sei cry like a little girl time and time again. At least, I think it was screaming." Steppenwolf turned to his brother, an eyebrow raised, "What do you people call a scream?"

Sei sighed a heavy breath at his eccentric brother's question. Steppenwolf turned back to William and shrugged, not waiting for a reply. The giant stepped past the former woodsman, slapping him on the back as he did so. They were about to become good buddies after all. "Good things. I'll see you tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn. Be late and you'll be doing your training with a broken arm."

Steppenwolf left the room laughing. Leaving Sei to send several apologies to William between now and the morning.

[Revenant]

William accepted Sei’s many apologies with a practiced stoicism, knowing how overly polite and accommodating his commander could be when it came to members of his family. William, frankly, took no offense at Steppenwolf’s overbearing approach to the situation, happy to have another source to help him further his goal of martial mastery. The impotent man who had faced his demonic reflection in the test of the Icehenge was already long gone; hammered out of William’s flesh through hours of intense training. But William was a creature of destruction, a living weapon who relished every opportunity to further his ability to defeat all that opposed him.

In any event, training with one of the older Orlouge brothers certainly piqued William’s interest. Sei himself was a warrior of no little skill, someone who William could only now even hope to stand up to in a fight. But for as good a warrior as Sei was, the leader of the Ixian Knights was supposedly the runt of the litter. William found the idea hard to believe, as he had never met any of Sei’s extended family. But after meeting Steppenwolf, the Revenant found it a little easier to believe. If Sei was a challenging opponent, William wondered just how much more of a challenge the enormous Steppenwolf would be.

The excitement made it hard for William to concentrate. He spent the evening sheltered in the little room that had been afforded to him as one of the Nine, thinking about what Steppenwolf’s training would involve. Both Hotouri and Ta’Gaz had formulated complex tasks for William to complete during his training, teaching him precision and control. Though the styles were different, they both used the same basic foundation. Grappling was an entirely different creature.

William made his way to the training room early the next day, well before any appointed arm breaking time. His every step radiated enthusiasm as he entered Sei’s formal training room, believing himself to be ready for whatever Steppenwolf had in store for him.

[Silence Sei]

"So then Steppenwolf looks to all of us. He's stone faced and serious as ever. Now, we never really liked Ciato, but he was family. He sits there and he says 'It's true that one man with enough resolve can change the world. Put him with a bunch of guys with a similar resolve, and you can change history. You four know where I can find some boys like that?" Sei said as he spoke to Hoturi, Ta’gaz and Tobias. Apparently, all three of the trainers had wanted to see just what Steppenwolf Orlouge had had in store for William.

Steppenwolf, who had his back turned to William and was several feet down from the crowd, was blushing and waving off his brothers story. "We always had to go rescue Ciato. Sure, the guy hated my guts, but a brother's a brother. Maybe one day he'll get over that petty jealousy issue he has." Steppenwolf turned around, seeing William's face and smiling brightly. "There ya are, Willie! You don't mind if I call you Willie, huh? Too bad, I'm going to anyways!"

It was obvious that the Mystic with the pink afro was incredibly energetic today. Why shouldn't he be? It was his first student, and he had spent all night trying to find the right things for his tests. The large warrior stepped aside to show William a potted tree. The tree was about three feet wide in diameter, and a good four feet tall. Gesturing one arm to the living wicker man, Steppenwolf gave him an 'all yours' kind of look.

"The test is simple, pull this tree out from the pot. If you fall down, you have to start over again. Pull too hard, and you fail, pull too softly and....well, you'll see what happens when you pull too softly." Steppenwolf smiled. "This will teach you how to perfectly control your body. You want to use just the right amount of force. Not enough to crush bones, but to break them. People like you and that Jensen guy can recover from your bones becoming powder. People like Sei and Duffy Bracken can't. Let’s see if you got the drive to control your entire body at once there, Willie!"

[Revenant]

Not what I was expecting, William thought, cocking an eyebrow at Steppenwolf’s stunted tree. Still, William had learned well enough that the tests he was forced to endure under his masters’ tutelage were always far more complex than they first appeared. As easy as uprooting so small a tree should have been for a creature that possessed more than twice the strength of a trained warrior even without unleashing his full power, William approached the plant from the viewpoint that looks were deceiving.

A thin chill ran down the length of William’s spine as he studied the tree, his senses keenly aware of the pairs of eyes that trailed his every move. He had no doubt that he would have already broken out in a nervous sweat were he still capable of such a thing, but as it was his nervousness only served to increase the temperature around him by several degrees.

William slowly circled the squat vegetation, letting his magic eyesight take in all of the inherent flaws and weaknesses that he could see within it. It quickly became apparent that the blessing he had received from the Thayne Goddess Jomil after completing the test of the Icehenge would prove rather useless in this situation. His eyes took in all the natural degradation that the tree could suffer, but it did nothing to let him see or understand whatever magic enhancement that the afro-haired mystic had placed upon it. Further, with the magic sink that he had become since the curse of Milleius Cordeaux had been bound to his soul, William was unable to sense even the slightest magical effects upon the tree.

A soft giggle brought William out of his silent contemplation. Tobias has said something to Ta’Gaz, low enough that William couldn’t hear, but the smirk on both of their faces told him just what she had said, which was “get on with it already.” A similar look from Steppenwolf brought alternate feelings of embarrassment and anger to William. Embarrassment that he was treating such a simple task as if it were a life-or-death trial, and anger that he was being pushed in such a manner when he was, for once, trying to take a challenge seriously.

“Fine,” he grumbled, low enough that none of the others could hear and then stepped up to the tree. The tree was small, but the trunk was still thick enough that William couldn’t quite get a firm hold on it. He definitely couldn’t get his arms all the way around it. Still, with the supernatural healing he possessed he had little worry about digging his arms into the tree’s bark to obtain a less tenuous hold. Carefully, not wanting to topple himself on his first attempt, William jerked lightly on the tree.

[Silence Sei]

As William pulled at the tree, the thing slowly started to become uprooted. Specks of dirt began to pour out of the pot that was the plants home and spill upon the floor. William continued to grunt, making quite the effort and even coming so close as to pulling several of the roots out of the bottom of the base.

And then the catch to the test took effect.

Out from the bottom of the tree, as if by some enchantment, more roots shot out from the plant and buried themselves in the dirt. The new hold of the tree caused the plant to slingshot back to the position it was originally in, forcing William's grip to slide off of the bark. Sei smiled as he looked to Steppenwolf, an eyebrow raised at his brother's training methods.

"A Mystic Tree? Why on Althanas would you try to get him to uproot a Mystic Tree?" Sei looked back to William with a look of sympathy painted upon his features. He felt bad not informing the former woodsmen of the properties of Mystic Trees; that they rerooted themselves almost instantly if pulled from the soil. Prying the thing from the pot could take a very swift movement coupled with precise strength, something Sei was unsure that William could do at the moment.

"Think about it, Bro," Steppenwolf walked over to William and offered his hand, helping the monster up. Once William stood, Steppenwolf looked to his hands and hissed through his teeth as he looked at the charcoal imprint that the revenant had caused. "Son of a biscuit eater that stung. Anyways, if you didn't notice, William only used his arms and his back on pulling this thing. What was the one thing Dad always taught us about lifting anything?"

"Always have a massive caloric intake before you do it?"

"Always lift with your knees, dummy." Steppenwolf walked over to the tree, wrapping his huge arms around it. He could feel the heat from William's intense try searing off of the self-healing tree. Bending his knees downward Steppenwolf pulled the tree completely upwards as he nearly jumped straight back up. The simple act came with the applause of the rest of the crowd, and Steppenwolf placed the Mystic Tree back into its pot so it could take root for William to try again.

"See Willie, the first thing I noticed is you were only using your upper body. There's more to grappling than that. You use your legs, arms, back, head. Every part of your body can be used for either slipping out of a hold or slipping into one. With the precise amount of force used to uproot that Mystic Tree, you'll pass the first training session and prove that you can control what your limbs do, rather than letting your limbs control you. And soon enough..." Steppenwolf began to approach Sei as he finished speaking.

Without warning, the giant man wrapped one of his arms around Sei's neck, using his free hand to extend one knuckle out and rub it across the top of his little brother's hair. Sei squirmed under the power of his brother, flailing his arms a bit before slipping his head out from under Steppenwolf's lock. The Mystic knew his brother let him escape, and that if he had been trying, Sei would have instantly lost consciousness from the surprise attack. The group laughed at the mussed hair of the mute, causing Sei to try and shoot a dagger-throwing glare at the spectators. "You'll be able to give noogies to the Hero of Radasanth!"

But it was hard to look serious when your brother was around to make you look silly.

[Revenant]

Mystic Tree? William snorted to himself as Steppenwolf stepped away from the plant, motioning for William to try again. They even have their own stupid breed of trees? The more he learned about the Mystic race, the more William came to believe that the human-looking creatures were bred specifically to be ridiculous. Many of the people who spent any significant time around the generally light-hearted people had been devastated by the doom that Kyla Orlouge had accidentally brought upon her race by wiping out most of the Mystics on Althanas. William too had been among the gathered crowd to express him sorrow and regret, but the destroyer in the back of his mind had laughed.

William felt more than heard the humorous snickering from the assembled crowd as he approached the Mystic Tree for his second attempt. Whether or not the mocking was real or merely perceived wasn’t important to William. What was important to the demonic creature was that he felt ridiculous at not being able to pull a single stunted tree from its pot.

“So the tree roots itself back in the pot if I don’t pull hard enough?” William asked, pacing around the tree once again, only this time like a predator stalking its prey. While he would have been hard pressed to point out just why the test and the smirking observers irked him so much, William nonetheless felt the situation ignite his blood.

Steppenwolf nodded, still grinning from his fun with Sei. William’s eyes closed to slits as he assessed the tree. He’d learned firsthand that he couldn’t finesse his way through this test. The bubbling rage under his skin made him hands twitch uncontrollably and William knew that he needed to calm himself if he were to succeed, needed a distraction to get his mind away from the fire within him. Thinking quickly, William remembered that Steppenwolf had mentioned that pulling too hard on the tree would also result in a failure. He wondered exactly how the Mystic Tree’s rooting property would work if pulled too hard, and knew that testing the question was just the thing that he needed.

When William sprang forward he pushed his supernatural physique to the limit, almost propelling him into motion faster than the gathered observer’s eyes could follow. His mind registered a low whistle of appreciation from the speedy Tobias as his charred claws dug into the bark of the Mystic Tree, and a grunt from Ta’Gaz, whom William had faced in battle as his final test. None of that mattered to the Revenant however as he heaved against the Mystic Tree with a strength that no normal human could hope to match.

He had expected some further trickery from the magic plant to resist his full force, like the bark shedding off or the trunk striking back at the obvious attack. Instead of trickery however, he found that the Mystic Tree merely held on to the pot and that his prodigious strength had lifted the entire thing off the ground, tree, pot, and all. The rage flowed out of William as he looked as the pot hanging in midair. Sometimes, he realized, the no abnormal qualities were needed to overcome an obstacle other than being really determined not to move.

Without the red tide of his rage flowing behind his eyes, William was free to laugh at himself as he set the Mystic Tree back down. He held up a hand to the giant Steppenwolf, who had such a look of humorous excitement on his face that William knew he would be standing around for another twenty minutes listening to some dissertation from the pink haired Mystic were the man given time to talk. It seemed that going way too into detail about even the smallest things was a trait that ran in the Orlouge family.

“I think I figured out the problems with that strategy,” he said, placating Sei’s older brother. “You had said it wouldn’t work but I was curious to see what would happen anyways.” William let his demonic power fall away as he spoke, allowing his flesh to reseal itself as his body returned to human form. “I’ll give it an honest try now, promise.”

William gripped the Mystic Tree again, though he approached it with a different stance this time. “You said lift with the knees, right?” William asked and then heaved before he could get a reply.

[Silence Sei]

Watching William try his hardest to pull the tree up made Sei smile. The mute had not seen the woodsman with so much passion in his work since the telepath had personally engaged the Revenant in combat. The sounds of dirt hitting the ground once more filled the dojo. Steppenwolf looked to his brother with a smile. Sei nodded to the other Mystic in the room, for they both knew that William was about to pass this test.

The ripping of the roots from the dirt made Tobias Greenleaf cringe. The elf had better hearing than the rest of the instructors, so the disturbing echoes now in her head caused her to muffle the sides of her head. Before anybody in the room had realized it, William was holding the Mystic tree, the plant wiggling its roots around in an attempt to find some fresh dirt. Steppenwolf approached the demonic man and slapped him on the back.

Of course, the slap was harder than Steppenwolf gave himself credit for, and the blow caused William to let go of the tree. The Mystic tree fell into the dirt from wince it once resided, happy to be back home. Steppenwolf grinned out of the side of his mouth. "Uhp, Almost had it Willie, time to start over!"

William shot his head over to Steppenwolf with a guttural growl. Steppenwolf only replied with a hearty laugh, grabbing both of his sides as he did so. The rest of the dojo joined the large Mystic with fits of laughter.

"Relax Willie, I'm totally kidding with you! Gee, you're stiffer than Sei during the Gisela. I guess that means that that’s where we're going to focus next." Steppenwolf reached into his pocket, withdrawing a small slip of paper from the pocket and handing it to the confused demon. "That there is a ticket for a message, -just- a massage, at one of the best parlors in Radasanth. Tell em Steppenwolf sent you, they'll set you up real good."

William looked to the slip, then back to Steppenwolf, and nodded, starting to take his leave.

"Oh, and Willie?" The Revenant respectively turned his head back to his temporary sensei. "I don't wanna see you back here until you are in absolute fits of laughter yourself."

[Revenant]

William brooded that night. Sitting alone in the hot, humid confines of his living quarters the Revenant stared into blank space for hours. He had faced tests of patience and skill before, and had gone through training sessions which pushed him to the limit both mentally and physically. Now however, Steppenwolf wanted him to do the one thing which the Revenant found nearly impossible to do, laugh.

Certainly there was a hint of humor in the demonic warrior’s soul, but it was a snide, sarcastic humor which focused more on pain and irony than true comic relief. It had been years since he had issued more mirth than a savage chuckle to show his delight. Things from his life before his transformation into a Revenant were always somewhat foggy, but William was fairly certain that he hadn’t been much of a laugher even while he was human.

“What’s the point?” he growled, still unable to connect laughter with grappling. “Ta’Gaz forced me to build benches for the training room for Thayne’s sake, but at least he told me why.” It was a frustrating puzzle, and it was one that William would have to solve before his training could continue.

Realizing that he was getting nowhere by brooding alone, William wrapped his heavy cloak around his shoulders and headed out to pace the hallways of Sei’s Tomb. As always, the roving groups of Knights in the tunnels nearly jumped to get out of the Captain’s way, eager to avoid scrutiny. Instead of ignoring them, however, William did his best to lighten his mood, offering the Knights a pleasant smile, or what passed for one from him, as he passed. The result was a trail of confused soldiers who had no idea what to make of the situation that had just happened.

Traces of idiotic laughter floated down one of the side passage, causing William’s makeshift smile to curl into a frown. Though he wasn’t prone to laughter himself, he wasn’t as a general rule opposed to it in others. But if there was one person who could break the mold and force William’s attitude to shift paradigms, it was Jensen Ambrose.

William thought for a moment about following the echoing trail of laughter. He was in a foul mood and giving the Senior Knight of Apocalypse a sound beating always put him in a better mood. Besides, the man’s laughter was the only constant thing about him. If Jensen couldn’t teach William to laugh, then who could?

He had made three steps down the side passage before a thought halted him in his tracks. Jensen’s laughter wasn’t out of mirth, but out of annoyance and frustration. It was a mask that the man wore to cover his true feelings just as William’s growling rage was for him. There were many things that Jensen would make a good source to go to, but laughter wasn’t one of them.

Besides, William hated Jensen with a burning passion.

Sighing that his only inspiration had come to a dead end, William turned back to the main corridor and began his pacing once again.

[Silence Sei]

"Willie, what the hell are you doing," the shocked, soft voice of Tobias Greenleaf questioned, "Aren't you coming to the sauna with the rest of us?" The Revenant raised an eyebrow at the query, apparently unaware of anything the elf girl was talking about. Tobias smiled out of the side of her mouth and patted William on the back. It seemed as though Steppenwolf's laid back attitude was contagious.

"Steppenwolf's treating us all to the Radasanth gym. While working out isn't really my cup of tea, the prospect of the sauna is." The thief sighed with a dreamy demeanor at the thought of relaxing in the heated room. Indeed, Radasanth's sauna were said to be heated by coals taken straight from Haidia, the demon country. There was not a temperature the room could not reach, so long as the people inside could stand it.

Tobias attempted to take the hand of William, withdrawing her own when she felt the heat coming from him. She was not a fan of third degree burns, after all. Motioning for the confused Revenant to come with her, Tobias began to jovially skip towards the rest of the group, located at the mouth of the cavern known as Sei's Tomb.

Hotouri, Ta'Gaz, Adolph, Anita, Tracer the Sniper, Steppenwolf, and Sei were all located outside of the Tomb, awaiting Tobias. When the group realized that she had brought William, Steppenwolf let out another bellowing laugh.

"Well, this oughta be fun, Willie! Let's see if you can't lighten some of that tension of yours up at the gym and sauna!"

[Revenant]

William had never been to a gym in his life, let alone a sauna. As a human he’d always had more important things to worry about than primping and relaxation. For one thing, there was always the need to have food on the table for he and his wife, and the worry of how to get it. And the need for a gym was lost on someone who spent their days cutting down and hauling trees through the forest. But now here he was, with arguably the oddest, most eccentric group of people on the face of Althanas, wrapped in nothing but a towel and uncertainty.

“So how’s this thing work again?” Anita asked as they entered the Radasanth gym’s magic sauna. The girls had already giggled themselves silly about seeing everyone wrapped up in their towels and were enthusiastic about getting into the hot room.

“All you have to do is rub the little cylinder on top of the coals one way to raise the temperature, and rub it the other way to lower it.”

“Neat,” Anita said, running over to the coal furnace as the others settled onto their seat on the wet teak benches. Sure enough, as soon as Anita touched the furnace’s cylindrical cover, the humid air inside the sauna rose several degrees.

“Steppenwolf, ya big lug,” Tobias sighed leaning her head back and putting her arms out in a reclining position, “a girl could get used to this sort of thing.”

Light conversation filled the sauna, from Hotouri’s wise yet humorous anecdotes to tales of Adolph’s heroic exploits, broken every now and then by Sei’s bad jokes. But there was one voice that no one ever heard and that was Williams. The Revenant noticed Steppenwolf’s disapproving looks every once in a while but shrugged it off. It had never been his intention to come here after all, and the social scene had never really been his thing. Finally, having decided that he’d had enough, Steppenwolf coughed, “so Willie, what’s on your mind?”

All conversation stopped, and all eyes turned to the Revenant.

“I’m thinking that it’s not hot enough in here,” William grunted.

“Not hot enough?” Steppenwolf laughed boisterously. Sure enough, the steamy sauna air had brought out a glistening sheen of sweat on everybody’s body except William’s. Where all the others were leaving pools beneath them, William was bone dry.

“You know anyone can raise the temperature in the sauna, right Willie? Not just my boisterous niece,” Steppenwolf laughed.

“Don’t be ridiculous Uncle Steppenwolf,” Anita said, gesturing to William. “Look at him, if he were to turn the temperature up enough to feel it then we’d all be cooked.”

“Think of it as a game,” the pink haired mystic replied, his eyes twinkling, “the person who can stay in the longest with ole’ charcoal here is the winner.”

A mummer of agreement rippled through the sauna, though Anita looked a little nonplussed. Finally, once a consensus had been reached, all eyes turned back to William, though this time in expectation.

Sighing that he had singled himself out in this, William got up and walked over to the furnace and gave the cylinder a vigorous swipe. The room instantly shot up in heat, turning the sweaty press of bodies inside into a red sweaty press of bodies. William eyed around the room, noting the sudden discomfort in several of the room’s occupants. He was loathe to admit it, but there was a certain sense of satisfaction to be gained in the situation.

Tobias and Anita appeared the most uncomfortable. Everyone in the room but Anita was a trained warrior in at least some aspect, and was used to pushing through uncomfortable situations, and Tobias was a rail thin elf. The agitation between the two of them built until they were both literally shaking from the heat, but neither one wanted to be the first to give in. Finally, the both jumped up in unison, holding their sodden towels tightly around them, and ran out of the sauna shouting that “they quit”. A new round of laughter rose from the sauna’s remaining occupants, and everyone was surprised to see that even William’s normally dour face had formed the hint of a smile.

“You call that heat Willie,” Steppenwolf taunted, seeing that no one else was ready to leave at the room’s current level. William shrugged and gave the cylinder another swipe, again raising the sauna’s temperature several degrees.

The air inside the sweat box was hot enough now that it burned to breathe too quickly. It was less than a minute later that Adolph and Tracer were forced to leave the sauna, red and panting for breath, and another minute after that Sei got up and demurely waved his defeat to his giant brother. William’s grin widened as the mute mystic left the sauna, though it was still one more of savage pleasure than jovial mirth, but at least he seemed to be getting into the spirit of things.

Another swipe brought the temperature of the sauna to a nearly unbearable level. Hotouri had assumed a meditative trance to separate his mind from the sauna’s blistering atmosphere, but the new temperature proved to be too much for his training. William stood calmly near the furnace, lazily taking in the bright, panting faces of Ta’Gaz and Steppenwolf to see which of them would prove to be able to take the most. Both of the men were almost literal mountains of muscle, and though William didn’t know Steppenwolf very well, he knew of Ta’Gaz’s legendary toughness from firsthand experience in training with the fighting master.

And so William chuckled a bit as he swiped the cylinder again.

“Is this more like it?” he said, wonderingly. “I think I’m actually beginning to feel something.” Neither Steppenwolf nor Ta’Gaz said anything, their eyes locked upon one another from across the sauna, unblinking even in the moist inferno. “Make a bench William,” William taunted, swiping the cylinder again. “Pick up this tree William.” Another swipe. The air in the sauna was literally shimmering from the heat pouring off the coals, but William had to admit that he was greatly enjoying himself. Finally, just as William was about to swipe the cylinder again, Ta’Gaz broke down, rising unsteadily from his seat and stumbling out of the sauna on legs that looked more like rubber than the hardened weapons that they were.

William actually laughed out loud at the sight, and then swiped the cylinder the other way, instantly dropping the sauna’s temperature back to normal levels. He could see that Steppenwolf looked physically exhausted from the effort of staying in the super heated game of chicken, but he still had enough left in him to guffaw.

“That was surprisingly entertaining,” William chuckled. “We should try it again sometime after we finish my training. What do you say pinko?”

[Silence Sei]

"Anytime, Charcoal King," Steppenwolf said, giving William a slight thumbs up. As he did so, the pink haired Mystic now noticed something different about the Revenant. His posture had become more relaxed, his form more loose than before. The inventor smiled at the fact that his trip to the sauna had not been in vain. In providing the challenge, William had loosened up a bit, just enough for Steppenwolf to be able to teach him his next lesson.

"So Willie," Steppenwolf said with a smile, placing his massive hands on his knees. "When you get home tonight, there's gonna be a book in your room, ok? This book is a detailed anatomy tome that will provide you information about the bones of just about every known race on Althanas. I expect you to not only read the entire book in three days, but be prepared for a pop quiz when you come see me again in Hotouri's training room. Understood?"

Steppenwolf stood up before William answered, deciding now would be the best time to leave the sauna, before the demon could further interrogate him. As he made his exit, the large Mystic found himself looking at Hotouri and Sei, the former having a very stern look on his face.

"Steppenwolf-Sama, I must know, how did you manage to bear such extreme temperatures?" the swordsman asked, making the large Mystic grin. He looked to Sei as if he expected his brother to answer.

"It's a common trick for Light Mystic's who have learned the higher up skills," Sei told Hoturi, the orange haired, younger brother of Steppenwolf said. "A Light Mystic gets more attuned with the sun, and as such, learns to stand even the hottest ultra violet rays that it provides. This aids the Mystic in never being sunburned, as well as having an inhuman resistance to heat. Shadow Mystics can do the same with cold."

"So what you are saying is, I did not stand a chance?" Hotouri asked. Sei pulled himself off of the wall he was leaning on and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. A smile formed across his lips. "Against Steppenwolf? You lost before the deal was made."

"Then, Sei-Sama, why did you not use the same trick, and keep yourself in contention for a while longer?" Sei shifted his eyes downward in reply to the question. Steppenwolf provided the same motion, and the two kept quiet for several moments. It did not take a genius to figure out the answer. Hotouri simply nodded and went back into the sauna, not wishing to pry further into his leaders affairs. Steppenwolf touched Sei's shoulder, and the two of them began to head off to get back dressed and return to Ixian Castle.

"Don't worry bro," Steppenwolf said in an assuring manner, "I promise I'll teach you how we do it. Just because you're a lower level Light Mystic doesn't make you a weakling..."

[Revenant]

The light mood that the sauna had granted to William steadily fell away as he marched back to the Ixian Knights' headquarters. Replacing it was the same sour mood which seemed to always hover around the Revenant like a thick storm cloud. Everyone who knew him knew that look well and moved aside as quickly as possible, and even those who didn't know him instinctively grasped the inherent menace in getting in the brooding warrior's way. Jaime and Pell, the night watchmen at the entrance to Sei's Tomb, practically jumped behind the bushes as soon as the noticed the Ixian monster hunter's approach. Even Aerith, Cassandra Remi's misfit 'child' fled from William's silhouette, her serial killer's emotionless mentality not quite as in place as her adopted mother's.

First build benches, William fumed, winding his way through the Tomb's twisting passages. Then it's punch apples. Next it's get to know Taka. Then it's learn to laugh. Each reminiscing thought about the various trainings that he had been forced to go through brought William further down the path of frustrated anger. True each had only been a stepping stone to getting to the real training, but it didn't negate the fact that William was sick and tired of jumping through hoops like a trained animal to be able to get where he wanted. The heavy door to William's room boomed open like a firecracker going off as the Revenant threw it open. Sure enough, sitting in a neatly sealed package, was the book Steppenwolf had described.

Loosing a primal growl of frustration, William tore the wrapping from the book and idly flipped through it. Inside were countless pages of diagrams showing everything from full body nude sketches to intricate closeups of how tendons and bones linked together. William flipped and flipped through the pages but was dismayed to see that the pages he had left to the end of the book never seemed to get any smaller.

"Another mystic trick," he snarled, hurling the book across the room. Leave it to the pink haired inventor to create a single book that could hold an encyclopedia's worth of text between manageable pages. Snarling at his current mentor, William reached over to the torch which illuminated his quarters and wrapped his fingers around the open flame, snuffing them out. Lost in the darkness of his room, William quickly fell asleep,


*****

Groaning in annoyance as he awoke, William bit the tip of his finger and let the flammable blood touch on his torch, causing the treated wood to jump instantly back to life. William shook his hand to clear it of blood as his wound healed over and then turned to look at where he had thrown his newest training tool the night before. The mystic book remained in a disarrayed pile where William had flung it, and William somehow felt the distinct impression that the magic book was somehow mocking him.

Sighing with the knowledge that his training would never progress if he didn't do what was asked of him, William recovered the book and flipped to the first page. Reading and studying had never been his strong point, born as he was in the middle of the backwater woods. Similarly, his early life as a woodsman hadn't lent itself necessarily to the task of reading and it hadn't been until he married Rebecca that he had learned. His wife had put up with many of William's eccentricities but not being able to read was not one of them.

William sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Three hours of pouring over diagrams, switching back and forth between pages to quiz himself and here he was thinking about his dead wife. A stab of loneliness that he rarely felt anymore cut through him but he pushed it back into the dark recesses of his merged soul. He was no longer that person, he reminded himself, forced to become the blasphemy that he was because he hadn't been strong enough to stop it. He needed Steppenwolf's knowledge, his skills, to make himself strong enough that nothing would ever be able to do so to him again. Shaking his head to refocus his attention, William poured himself back into the mystic's book and redoubled his efforts.

[Silence Sei]

Steppenwolf had spent several hours in Sei's meeting chambers, patiently waiting on William. The large Mystic had not set a true deadline for the literal hot blooded warrior to come meet him. Instead, he continued to pace back and forth, simply wondering when his temporary student would come barging through the doors.

As if on cue, William slung the wooden entrance open, stomping forward to Steppenwolf and throwing the book down at the inventor’s feet. "Done!" a frustrated William declared, causing Steppenwolf to look up from his book and smile at his disciple.

"Excellent. What did you thi---"

"No, I'm done with this stupid book!" William declared, "I'm ready to fight, and I'm ready to fight now!"

Steppenwolf looked behind him. On a throne his people had created for him, Sei sat, thinking of ways to trim the thing down to make it look less regal. The younger brother merely glanced at Steppenwolf with a nod. William needed to be taught the importance of the thorough book the pink haired Mystic had bestowed upon him.

"Very well, Willie, come at me,"

William charged like a mad bull, claws at the ready. Steppenwolf met the claws with his own hands, and locked his fingers with what could best be described as William's talons. It looked like a rather extreme game of 'mercy'. As both warriors stood their ground, neither giving way to the other, Steppenwolf grinned, and started to talk.

"Scaphoid, a bone in ones hand, located closer to the thumb. Without it, wrist movement is extremely hindered and painful."

"What the hell are you ----" William Howled in pain as Steppenwolf tightened his grip, particularly in his thumbs, which were now pressing down on the back of Williams Scaphoid bone. A blood curling crack brought Sei to look at the two engaging warriors. He found Williams grasp released, and Steppenwolf capitalized by shifting behind him, locking the man in a full nelson hold by throwing both of his arms underneath Williams, and locking his hands over the demons extremely hot neck.

"Clavicle, known in layman’s term as the collar bone. When enough pressure to the shoulders is applied, the arm functions are rendered useless. It will also prevent the force of a blow from being transmitted and spread out through other parts of the body. A very vital bone." Another sickening crunch echoed in the room, and Steppenwolf threw the demonic woodsman down, his head just inches from the book. The beast, not showing any more signs of weakness, merely growled as Steppenwolf walked over to William's front, and knelt down.

"Tomorrow, you're going to come at me harder, faster. I know you heal fast, but you still need to study this book. The point of the thing is so when you fight me, you can grapple the right areas, break the right bones. If you don't know where the bones are to break, you can't man handle your opponent like you want. Understand Willie? Good." Steppenwolf lightly slapped the cheek of the man before standing up and walking out of the room, leaving William with Sei.

"Consider yourself lucky," Sei spoke in passing to the healing Revenant, "When we were kids, he'd break our malleus, incus, and stapes bones, or as everyone else knows them as, the middle ear bones. Niche went deaf for weeks..."

[Revenant]

It wouldn’t take long for William’s shattered bones to heal but his pride was another matter entirely. He wasn’t used to being overpowered so easily, given the tremendous strength that his demonic powers gave him, but Steppenwolf was deceptively strong himself. There was also the matter of William’s strength being muted in his human form but that was an entirely different matter. He was sure that he could have easily crushed the pink haired Mystic had he transformed but that was missing the point. William wanted to learn the art of grappling and he would have to follow the instructor’s rules to do so.

Returning to his room, William ruminated about the book that he held in his uninjured hand. Steppenwolf’s book had been heavy when he had first begun his study, but it felt even heavier now that there was shame added on top. He didn’t understand just how he was supposed to memorize the entire skeletal structure of a Mystic let alone being familiar with that of every race on Althanas. It would take a miracle to accomplish Steppenwolf’s task.

Or would it?

William dropped the Mystic Book on his desk and settled into the cushioned chain in front of it with an audible sigh. Giving someone the task of memorizing so much information in so little time, let alone someone like William, was an insane thing to do. Steppenwolf wasn’t stupid nor was he an idiot, and he had never struck William as crazy; eccentric, yes, but not crazy. There had to be a trick to the Mystic Book, a method of learning everything that Steppenwolf wanted without resorting to rote memorization.

Sighing again, William leaned forward and flipped the book open, scanning the intricately inked line drawings. He softly traced the lines of the arm on the page, thinking of how gratifying it would be to hurl the book across the room again. But as gratifying as throwing a temper tantrum would have been at that moment, it wouldn’t be of any use in completing his task.

Hours passed as William poured over each line, each gentle curve, and each word of flowing script. He flipped back and forth between pages, his lips silently moving as he spoke the words on them to himself. No sign appeared to lead him to his destination, no hidden key of secret clue to Steppenwolf’s design but he was determined to get as far as he could without it. This was his last chance to succeed at his task and he wasn’t going to let it beat him.

But the long hours proved too much for even the Revenant’s stamina and morning found him asleep, head sunk low onto the pages of his study guide.

[Silence Sei]

"Sei, there's something about Willie that I don't like," Steppenwolf had returned a few minutes after decimating William in order to speak o his brother. "Don't get me wrong, he seems like a decent guy, but his moves... It's like he's saving himself for something special. One opportunity to unleash the beast within and utterly destroy anything in his path..."

"William is more than just a regular man, Steppenwolf,," Sei spoke, getting out of his chair and preparing to spar with his brother, "He has the combined souls of both man and demon within him. He is still unsure of which path he should walk." Sei threw a fist at his larger sibling, who weaved out of the blow, and delivered an elbow to the sternum of the mute. Sei let out a gasp of air, and Steppenwolf continued.

"It's not that. Take it from somebody who is half-Mystic, half-Orc. I know what its like to try and decide between two routes," Sei threw another punch, which Steppenwolf grabbed this time, and flipped the mute over his shoulder, causing a loud thud as the body hit the mat. "I think.... I think Willie means to use that power on you, eventually, bro."

"I think so too,," Sei stood to one knee, already resigning in defeat to his much more fighting-oriented brother, "Whatever his intentions are, as long as he continues to perform the duties I ask of him, I will not remove him from the knights." Steppenwolf smiled a bit and offered his hand to his mute brother, who took it and stood up straight.

"You know Sei; you give all these people second chances. Willie, Cassandra Remi, hell, Dan Lath'grim for Thayne's sake! These people who have done such...unspeakable evils, yet you believe in them. You know, you are the One Man, Sei. That one guy who, no matter what, will always have a following of some sort. The One Man who will do whatever it takes to get the job done, even if the rest of the world hates him for it. I don't think I could ever do that, not like you..."

"Am I interrupting something?" William asked, causing both Mystics to stare at the doorway in which the Revenant was standing. Steppenwolf shook his head with a smile and widened his arms as if greeting an old friend.

"Not at all, Willie! I'm assuming that since you're here, you're ready for a second try?"

[Revenant]

William stalked into the room defiantly and tossed the Mystic Book at the floor in front of Steppenwolf’s feet. “Take your toy back Steppenwolf, apparently books aren’t my thing.” Sei and Steppenwolf exchanged knowing glances, though while Steppenwolf’s seemed to say “This isn’t going to end well,” Sei’s definitely said, “Please don’t hurt him too badly.”

“This isn’t the way to learn these things Willie,” Steppenwolf said, his voice betraying neither sadness nor disappointment, “but you’re a man and it’s your choice to make.”

William nodded sternly, his face locked in a stern mask. “I don’t want or expect you to go easy on me, big man. Like you said, I can heal fast. Break me if you need to, but I’m doing this without your book.” From the corner of his eye William saw Sei look to the spot on the mat where Steppenwolf had just dropped him and wince, rubbing a phantom soreness from some previous encounter with his brother. “I understand it if you’re too skittish to stick around Sei,” William taunted, a jest to which Sei only nodded his head sadly and stepped to one side of the room so he would be out of the grapplers’’ ways.

“Alright then Willie,” Steppenwolf said, assuming his fighting stance, “if you’re dead set on this then we’ll do it your way. Come at be, friend.”

No sooner had the words left Steppenwolf’s mouth than William was locked up with the pink haired mystic. The pressure exerted by both men was enormous, but as before it wasn’t the force that was the determining factor in this fight.

“Patella,” Steppenwolf began and kicked out for William’s knee. Before the blow could land however, William twisted his leg aside so that Steppenwolf’s foot passed him, landing awkwardly on the ground next to the Revenant.

“Kneecap,” William hissed an automatic response, then added, “Talus.” Steppenwolf’s foot slid away from William a fraction of a second before William’s foot crashed down on his ankle. Both men froze in shock, their eyes going from each other to their feet on the floor and then back to each other.

“What in the name of …” William began only to be interrupted by a booming laugh from Steppenwolf who easily twisted from William’s grasp and then grabbed him up in a powerful bear hug.

“You had me fooled there for a moment Willie,” Steppenwolf laughed, shaking William like a ragdoll. “I really thought you hadn’t used the book.”

“I didn’t,” William protested, futilely trying to pry himself from Steppenwolf’s grasp before his air supply ran out. “I fell asleep trying to learn the damned thing.”

Steppenwolf paused his mirth only long enough to dump William unceremoniously to the ground at which point he slapped his knees and began laughing even harder.

“You slept on the book? I’ve never heard of anyone using it like that before.” William could only look around in bewilderment from Steppenwolf to the book to Sei.

”A Mystic Book automatically imprints knowledge in a reader who truly wants to learn its contents,” Sei’s mind told William. ”When you had truly wanted to learn from the book then you would have had no trouble remembering everything you read. Apparently, your obstinacy doesn’t come through when you are sleeping and the Mystic Book was finally able to teach you.”

Steppenwolf paused his guffawing only long enough to draw in a new lungful of air and then began his bellowing laughter all over again.

William closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. This was something he certainly wasn’t going to live down any time soon.

[Silence Sei]

“He…He slept his way to the top!” Steppenwolf managed to get out between deep fits of laughter. While it was unbecoming of him as a tutor, the whole premise of one being able to literally sleep their way through a Mystic book drove the gentle giant nearly to tears. A smile even formed across Sei’s face, his brother’s mirth becoming contagious. In fact, the only one in the room who did not seem to find this as funny as the Orlouge’s was William himself. When Steppenwolf realized this, he approached the revenant and patted him on the back, a blow that sent the hot-headed warrior tumbling onto the floor.

“Come on Willie,” Steppenwolf said and he grabbed William by the cloak and lifted him by his collar and placed him back on his feet, “On the plus side, you managed to pass that trial. Now, there’s only one more task for you to do to learn all the advanced Mystic grappling techniques.”

William scowled a bit. Sei could tell that the man had suffered enough humiliation to last a lifetime, at least in his own eyes. “And what might that be?”

“You gotta fight Sei.”

Before Steppenwolf could say anymore, the Revenant leaped at his leaders, claws bursting forth from his garments. Just before the pointed appendages clawed at the leader of the Ixian Knights, however, William paused. Sei could tell from the look on his face that, like the previous tests, this one should not be as simple as he should be lead to believe. The mute was surprised with how quickly the charcoal champion was picking things up.

“What’s the catch?” William’s head turned back towards Steppenwolf, an eyebrow raised. “Sei’s got that stupid glass barrier thing. If I hit him, he’s going to just use that.”

Steppenwolf scratched the back of his head, his pink afro shaking around as he did so. “Well see, it’s a little simpler than just a straight up fight. Sei won’t be attacking you at all. Likewise, he won’t be defending himself---:” Steppenwolf sighed when he heard the glass shatter and explode outwards, certain that William just got a face full of crystal shards.

“You didn’t let me finish. He won’t be defending himself unless he’s using Mystic Protection.” The large man shook his head and looked down at the floor. “Seriously, Willie, you have to learn some dang patience before you go charging. The thing about Mystic Protection is that it can’t harm you if you’re already touching your opponent when it activates. This makes grappling the best solution to get past the spell. You have to grab Sei –without- any malice or ill intent. Then, when you have a hold of him, you can throw his around like a rag doll. It’s simple if you can just grab h---“

Another sound like that of a window breaking, another sigh from Steppenwolf. “Maybe you should take a step back and re-assess the situation, Willie…”

[Revenant]

“Oh come on, Willie,” Steppenwolf groaned, watching yet another hail of glass shards pepper his pupil. The trio was on their fourteenth day of this particular training ‘event’ and the pink haired giant wasn’t getting the feeling that today’s training would end on a satisfactory note. William, as suspected, wasn’t exactly the most thoughtful or patient of trainees. Still, the training “sessions” were lasting longer than ten minutes before William exhausted Sei’s daily mystic protection limit and was forced to wait for the next day to try again. He was up to a whopping one hour and eighteen minutes today and Sei still had one casting of mystic protection in his repertoire. It was not exactly the progress that Steppenwolf had hoped for from William, but it was still progress.

“Why don’t you take a break and meditate while we get the room cleaned up,” Steppenwolf patted William on the shoulder, eliciting an angry look from him. “You’ve got to try to think like,” Steppenwolf paused, “well, like someone who isn’t you. Why not try thinking like Sei?” William actually stopped and looked at Steppenwolf as if the mystic’s afro had just grown legs and walked away, unsure if Steppenwolf was trying to be serious or was just making another one of his jokes. He decided that, by this point in the training, Steppenwolf was probably being serious. Grumbling something that sounded like it had to do with the mystics’ mother but was otherwise inaudible, William stormed over to one of the training room’s benches and plopped down. William leaned against the dojo’s wall and closed his eyes. He appeared, for all intents and purposes. To be sleeping but Steppenwolf and Sei, knew better.

“As much as I want to help William out,” Sei thought, approaching Steppenwolf, “I really do have other things that need my attention.”

“It won’t be too long now,” Steppenwolf commiserated, slapping one of his large, meaty hands on his brother’s shoulder in the roughest form of familial tenderness. “I have a sense about these things, you know that. All of Willie’s failures are just as important a lesson as his success will be. I’d give in another day or two before…”

“I’m ready,” William interrupted, his eyes shooting open.

“Then I’m ready as well.” William could almost hear the sigh in Sei’s mind.

“Eight seconds, Willie,” Steppenwolf smirked ruefully. “That has to be a new meditation record for you.” William waved Steppenwolf away dismissively and approached Sei, who watched the Revenant in weary suspense. Stopping just short of the mute mystic, William grinned and then held his hand out for Sei to shake. Sei looked down to William’s hand and then back up with an expression that William didn’t need any telepathic messages to understand.

“You’re kidding, right?”

Sighing, William dropped his proffered and scratched uncomfortably at his pants leg. Shifting back and forth in what seemed to be embarrassment William muttered, “I thought not, but no harm in trying. It’s just that it would have been far better than doing it this way.”

Both Sei and Steppenwolf watched with curiosity as William closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, preparing himself for something. When he opened his eyes again, there was a wet softness to them, the closest a creature like William could come to shedding tears. “Sei, I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me,” he said in a soft voice, and then suddenly he lurched forward, arms open wide, and embraced the stunned mute. “I love you, man.”

For a second it seemed like all time stopped before a passing Jensen leaned in the room and called out, “GAY!”

Snapped back to reality, William leaned close to whisper in Sei’s ear, “there I did it your way, now I’ll do it mine,” and promptly suplexed his snuggled leader. Sei lay motionless on the ground, still too shocked to move while Steppenwolf began laughing harder than William had ever heard the big man laugh before.

“Looks like he’s still trying to sleep his way to the top!”

[Silence Sei]

A few days later, many of the Ixian Knights had gathered at the large wooden gate in front of the castle to see Steppenwolf off. The large man found himself surrounded by a who’s who of the castles most famous (or infamous) rabble-rousers. While there were tears coming from some of those closest to him, Steppenwolf was also sent off with cheers and friendly handshakes. The last person to wish the man farewell was his little brother, who embraced him tight without as much as a word.

“Careful now Sei,” Steppenwolf spoke with a grin, “It’s bad enough you got Ambrose and Willie fighting for your affection now. Don’t wanna make em think I’m a third competitor.” The comment about his baby brother’s sexual orientation caused the Ixian leader to release the hold on his much larger kin. Steppenwolf responded by removing the band from Sei’s hair, causing his orange locks to fall all over his face. Steppenwolf laughed as he rubbed his hands through the mess before continuing on.

Though Sei would miss him, the mute knew that his brother had to return home to Salvar, and to his pet. Pepper the dog would probably be out of food by the time the giant Mystic arrived, and was more than likely desperate for some human companionship. Furthermore, Steppenwolf had promised their nephew, Rehtul that he would be in Salvar by a certain date so the ice mage could start his training. Though it pained Sei to watch his brother leave after the pink haired wonder had spent so much time at Ixian Castle, he knew that it was for the best.

However, as Steppenwolf made his ways past the trees, kicking up dust upon the Concordian trail; he heard a small cough coming from some shrubs. The large Mystic stopped and turned to his east, where he saw some bushes moving rather suspiciously. Grinning, the large man walked over to the greenery, and dived into the shrub, when he rose from the bush, he was holding William Arcus in a full nelson hold.

“Aw, Willie, that’s so sweet of you,” Steppenwolf spoke mockingly, capitalizing it with a kiss on the Revenant’s cheek, “You wanted to have me all to yourself to say goodbye. I was wondering when your flaming butt would tell me adios.”

“I don’t speak Fallien,” William said sternly, fighting against the hold of the bigger man, “And I… I wanted to pay you back for all that training you made me do!” Steppenwolf grinned and pulled up on the flame based creature’s arms, lifting his feet off of the ground, “So put me down, damnit!”

“But I was having so much fun!” Steppenwolf mocked his disciple and released him. “Anyways Willie, you wouldn’t beat me if you tried. I saved all of my more advanced stuff to take you on later. I just hope you’ll keep practicing your grappling so you might be a challenge.” Steppenwolf began his pace down the road again, the smell of lilies starting to go through his nose. He could hear William follow him, so he added “Whenever you do take on Sei, give him hell, William Arcus.”

“Hey….Steppenwolf….?”

“Yeah?”

The large man didn’t even realize the cursed creature’s hand upon the lower half of his chin until it was too late. A smile came across both of their faces, smiles that showed each man respected the other as an equal. Steppenwolf knew it was going to hurt intensely as William said the word.

“Jawbone.”

The snap, and the large mans howl of hurt, was said to be heard all over Concordia forest that day.

((Spoils, Sei now has the ability to cast Mystic Protection 7 times a day, due to his intense training with William Arcus. He also gains Very minor heat resistance.))

[Enigmatic Immortal]

A few notes about this thread before we get into it. I must admit that I came into this thread with a light heart and I enjoyed the read. You both have the potential to do high class level writing, and I hope that the advice I can offer you as well as the insight will serve you both well in your future threads. Yet again this was a thread where a big gap of time happened between beginning and end, but I did not notice a change much in styles nor growth that come from such a long dry period.

Story (5) – William has studied with Hotori, then Ta’Gaz, and now Steppanwolf. Yet I cannot get past what exactly you were achieving in this thread. I know you were supposed to learn how to grapple, but it sort of got lost in translation with all the overly complex tests. While at times you had me laughing, you also had me shaking my head thinking you two could have done a bit better. Another contributor that docked points was the feeling that you both didn’t really know what to post next and just threw something together and hoped it all worked out. Sometimes that will work well, and sometimes it won’t. An example is the sudden trainer spa day. I was left thinking what it was put in for and that it didn’t really add much of anything. Honest to god advice for both of you, and I mean this in all sincerity to help you grow, is to PM you partner and discuss your ideas and get on the same page.

Setting (5) – I thought how best to explain what I read, and this is how I think it will work; Imagine taking a salt shaker and pouring it. You sprinkle setting salt here and there, but then the cap fell off and you dumped it all at once and then used your fingers to dust it all aside. The best setting you gave me was the Sauna scene. I was in there, I could imagine it perfectly, and that was perfect in the way you portrayed it. Yet every other instance was very bland, and it seemed like you guys were rolling from one grey empty room to another. Setting is the means in which you describe the Where of a Story, and without it you can get a very bleak picture in the reader’s mind. (Biggest example would be post ten, Sei. Very little to no setting.)

Creativity (6) – The colorful use of the different unique trials did well to lighten up the story, but sadly the manner in which each was solved was a bit ridiculous. Pick up a tree, oh it’s a Mystic Tree, you can’t just pick it up you have to lift with your knees. Read this book. Oh you can’t read and learn unless you sleep on it. These trials and tribulations seemed to have an easy solution that had no real connection to training William to be a grappler, and also a lack of real actual training but stumbling upon an answer. Also, the shtick of doing a very simple task, but solving it in a very complex manner and vice versa was used in all three of your threads Revenant. This led to a repetitive feeling which is a trap for writer’s. Repetition will only hinder the growth of your character. They must constantly push out their comfort zones in order for a reader to be pulled into the story.

Continuity (6) I knew when this took place, where in the Ixian Knights it took place, but you guys did little more than brush upon some facts before blasting onwards. Why did William train so hard? It was covered in your other two threads, but in this one it was scarcely touched upon Revenant. Why, Sei, was Steppenwolf at the castle again? How long had he been there? You both left a lot to the reader to be desired, and considering the significant space of time I had forgotten people like Tracer Bullet even existed (While no bearing to the story, you mentioned names as if I would know who they were, something not every reader will be able to discern clearly). You need to always remember that while you don’t need pages upon pages to recap what’s happened, you do need to sprinkle it in there to keep the reader abreast of things they may not have read or need a refresh on. Like you did with Setting, where it was very sprinkled throughout would be the best way to handle continuity.

Character (5) This story had a lot of character in it, but I need to express a point that chaffed me each time I read. Sei, you are a talented writer, and a marvelous person, but you write other people’s characters where they are in total awe of Sei like they are slacked jaw morons. Hotorui, being a trainer, and never once given me an impression he cares about winning a silly endurance competition, seemed like a petulant child who was whining about losing just to make Steppenwolf look good. In addition, your style of writing William Arcus was a poor portrayal of who he was. I read you write William as if he was a stupid barbarian with no brain cells and no thought; like the Incredible Hulk. When I read Reveant’s post with William it felt like two William’s were in the story. The hotheaded, but reasonable William, and the WILLIE SMASH! You need to be a bit more careful with bunnying characters and get their feel right. To Revenant, I am also putting this on you. William is YOUR character, and it is YOUR responsibility to let your thread partner know if he’s doing it wrong. You just are as guilty as he is.

That aside, Sei, your character also came off a bit of a wall flower. Always there to be made fun of, but in such a manner that it was poorly delivered. My advice is if you’re going to have fun at your character’s expense, instead of letting people do it for Sei, let Sei make an ass of himself. If Sei had been pulling the Mystic Tree, or actually grappling with Ta’Gaz while Steppenwolf grappled with William it would have done well to serve your point and in a much more light heartened manner. Sei is a very untouchable character is what I got from this, and only his big brother’s can make him look foolish. I know you don’t want that image. Get Sei more involved will get rid of that.

Revenant, your character went through some tribulations, humiliated himself, and then came out a stronger man. Your play with Steppenwolf helped your characters grow well here, and it showed a bit more the human side of William Arcus. I will not say softer, for that isn’t what he is, but it showed more of William and less of the demon. A good show. The struggles you had to keep your anger in check is what I expect whenever you are faced with releasing the demon and choosing how much of the demon you call upon.

Interaction (7) I am very pleased with how you both interacted with each other through use of the NPC’s, as well as with each other. The partnered use of Steppenwolf as a glue kept your posts at least congruent with one another, and I have no huge words of criticism. The biggest thing I can think to say is that when you involve so many NPC’s, make sure they are given a defining roll they can fulfill to your story, or do not mention them at all. Otherwise they pull away from the main story and lead the reader to a dead end feeling and pulling them out of the story world to think why they were even there.

Strategy (6) A few posts were placed in with no real accomplishments to further the story more than a crawl, where as others advanced it several days along. Sei, post ten again is an example of this. You brought William out of the cave to go to a Spa. The end. Why did you not go ahead and have the party walk and discuss amongst each other, trying to include the sulky Revenant? Or discuss those stories Steppenwolf told about Sei growing up? There were spots in the story where it was a quick, concise post to pole vault the story for no rationally explained reason. If you feel a post is just cluttering up the space, or filling up a gap, then it is. And if you feel that, the reader will feel that. When you’re done with a post, look and think what you accomplished with it. If it accomplished nothing, or accomplished little with the amount you wrote, time to edit and redo. I know you both can do better than this, and this is why I am holding you to it.

Mechanics (8) A few hiccups here and there, but otherwise a solid jaunt with both of you. Very well done. Keep up the good work and just double check your work!

Clarity (8) I understood and had no issues going back and re-reading the posts save where a few grammatical slip ups hit. You both did well to describe your actions without getting overtly complex and losing me. Excellent job. To improve will come with mastering your Mechanics and word choices. Some words will logically fit into the context of what you wrote, but a different word that means the same will flow better and keep the reader eased into your reading. Go back, read the post aloud, and if you slip up in your thoughts or stumble on your tongue, switch out the words to make it harmonize better.

Wilcard – I never like to give this score without first giving you guys my final impressions. This is by no means a bad story, despite what you may think I wrote down. I did enjoy it. Very much so. I hold you Sei very accountable for your writing as the highest level writer and leader of the most notorious Power Group, as well as head judge. You, more than anybody on the sight, are what people look up to in an example of a good writer. Revenant, you finished yet another trek in the journey to personal enlightenment. You know that means another Potato Fight is in order to celebrate. Honestly though, you did well to show William’s human side, which Sei was using Steppenwolf to show you throughout the story. He wanted William to laugh, learn to approach people without hostility, and not to go gung hoe and reserve himself a bit. He wanted William to be a human who could be approached. I got that sentiment. A well done job, and a solid read.

(7)

Total: 63/100

Sei gets 1575 EXP 126 GP

Revenant gets 1100 EXP 126 GP

[Letho]

EXP/GP added.