Dawn of the Black Sun by Timo Burnham

Author:Timo Burnham [Burnham, Timo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter　13

The next few days passed without them seeing any other farms, merchants or travelers. The mornings and afternoons were filled with walking, while the evenings were passed with first more sparring and sword practice, then with meditation. By now, Ryu had collected a number of bruises from his bouts with Zash. Each time he thought he was making progress, the master would increase the intensity, making him feel like it was his first day all over again. Whenever Ryu expressed frustration, Zash would only say that he had to ensure Ryu was prepared by the time they reached the mountain top.

Meditation was less frustrating, although Ryu did not understand exactly what the point of it was. Zash continued to insist that it was just as important as other training, and so Ryu continued his practice.

On the fourth day, he did have one odd experience. He was meditating as usual, sitting with his eyes closed and keeping his breaths deep and even. As Zash had instructed, he visualized his hyo like a reed, with one end connected to his body and the other to the spirit plane. As he was doing that, he had been suddenly struck by a vision of a strange figure. It appeared to be a man, with pale skin, pale enough that it was almost white. The man’s eyes were strange as well. They burned with a ruby light, as if lit from within by red fire. He was shirtless, with a lanky though still impressively muscular build that made Ryu feel like a stick man by comparison. At first, the figure simply stood, staying as still as a statue, eyes burning their strange light as he watched Ryu. Then, without warning, the man lunged.

It had been enough to jolt Ryu from his focused state. He had thought about mentioning it to Zash, but after taking time to calm down, he had decided that it was just his imagination being a little too active.

It was early evening on the fifth day when Ryu spotted another sign of civilization. Down a slight slope and across a long, flat plain were the faint shapes of buildings, all clumped tightly together.

“What town is that?” Ryu asked.

“Liun,” Zash said. “It’s big enough to be considered a city. It is our last stop before we cross the border from Oroto into Dho.” He looked Ryu up and down. “We can get you something to wear that’s a little more suited to the northern temperature.”

Ryu looked down at his shirt and pants, now covered in many stains from grass and dirt. They had suited him fine whilst living in his parents’ hut, but now the days and especially the nights had an extra chill to them.

“Something warmer would be nice,” he agreed.

They made their way across the plain to the edge of Liun and Ryu slowed to marvel at the vast number of buildings. This makes Danjum seem as small as Keshi’s farm. As the main street came fully into view, Ryu looked in wonder at the mass of bodies.

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