The Apocalypse Hunter.

Another dream

LEO

"The sword is more than simply a weapon; it is a way of life. The best masters are those who fully embrace the aspects of the sword in their day-to-day life. They become sharp in mind and manner. Legend speaks of great warriors who become wielders of the heart of the sword which is a special state where one's own will becomes a powerful tool for killing," Leo's father said to him in a sombre tone. This was the first time he would be trained properly in the way of the sword and would be assessed.

His excitement was enough to blow up a giant mastodon. He looked up at his father and listened eagerly to everything he said. He had recently turned 5 and his father wanted to begin moulding him into the future swordsman he would be. Sword arts were his family's creed and he would keep the legacy strong. His father looked at him and smiled reassuringly.

"First embrace the knowledge that the sword is for killing first and foremost, all other uses are secondary to its main purpose. A swordsman must always be aware of that harsh reality before he tries to place his ideals into his sword. Our family creed is the sword that protects however it is useful to note that we have two different skills that we inherit from the moment our 'sword will' is born. The Sword of Protection and the sword of s*******r. Both are intrinsically tied to our family because of our ancestors and are our bloodline skills."

His father then took out a practice sword that was dull and could not cut anything and he smoothed it out further by placing a coat of energy on the edge. He swung it a few times and then he looked towards a large metal pillar in the courtyard they stood in. "I will demonstrate a simple attack using the s*******r path, observe carefully to truly understand."

He lifted his foot and stepped lightly and then an oppressive feeling suddenly shook the area around them. Somehow Leo was protected from it however everything else shook and then his father disappeared from where he stood and appeared behind the pillar already putting away the sword while striking a cool pose (at least Leo thought it was). A few seconds later the metal pillar made a grating sound and then the top half slid off and fell with a loud boom on the ground to the utter disbelief of Leo.

"Wow, Pa how was that possible? It was a dull iron blade and that was an obsidian steel pillar. Is it some form of magic?" Leo asked in the wonder to be expected from a five-year-old child. He did not understand how it was possible for such a sword that had been dulled beyond normal to be able to cut obsidian. His father had told him that obsidian steel was the strongest non-divine metal and that it was what most armours were made from. And this was a 1:1 metre pillar made from the stuff. He was beside himself with wonder.

His father laughed boisterously as he walked over to him and rubbed his head affectionately, "that is the thing about the s*******r path skills my son, they enhance the sharpness of the sword to a very terrifying degree making it simplicity itself to take life. It will also affect the mind to make one lose control and gain a bloodthirst that has broken a lot of good men. We must always be careful when we are using these techniques above all others. Now to demonstrate the Protect path we will need to relocate to the archery training field."

Leo held his hand as they walked to the training field. his small hand was enveloped in his father's large sword callused hand but he felt no hardness simply the softest of grips from a man capable of great violence and yet showed a level of gentleness with his baby boy. They arrived at the training field of their army where a large number of their men at arms were standing with quivers of arrows and bows as if waiting for some war. His father arrived and talked to Leif Springwood, a half-elf and one of his oldest friends and followers, also quite possibly the best archer in the land. They spoke briefly out of Leo's earshot and they shared a laugh and then his father gestured for Leo to come forward.

"Now son, I want you to see what our family's Protection path can do. Watch safely from here and do not be alarmed." He walked away from them towards where the targets were and stood in front of them with his sword at the ready. Leif lifted his hand and called for archers to take aim which freaked Leo out, but before he could protest 30 or so arrows were sent flying after Leif yelled 'fly' to his archers.

The arrows were extremely fast and invisible to his eyes therefore in the split second they were let loose he looked towards his father and simply found him standing there nonchalantly as if he was in a field of comfort. That is when Leo noticed all the arrows planted in the ground with a few of them broken around him. His father had effectively blocked and destroyed those attacks as if he were some deity. Leo was consumed by a wonder that was more than what he felt when he saw the s*******r path at work.

"My son, you have just seen my sword domain of protection, any attacks that enter my domain are made obsolete by the different techniques in the protection skill path. This will be your greatest tool in defending yourself, your comrades and your loved ones. I would prefer you become a master through this path than through the path of s*******r for the rest of your life."

Leo and a majority of the archers were dumbstruck by the display with some of them even staring with jaws dropped as his father walked towards them, the picture of an absolute beast. He reached them and the applause began with loud cheers from the men. Leif went and clasped the lord's arm and said with an impressed smile on his face, "I do not think I will ever be able to get used to how awesome that is no matter how many times I have seen you do it over the years."

Leo's father simply grinned at his old friend then linked eyes with his son and then winked at him. "this is our legacy and also our mandate, we are meant to walk these two paths and discover our own hearts and become sword lords like our ancestor. Are you willing to learn? The path to your own legend starts now Alex, my boy."

The moment the name was mentioned It was as if Leo's consciousness was disconnected from the young body and it flew out to look down and see the young boy and his father before fading away just as he noticed something odd about the boy's features.

Leo woke up sprawled out on the ground, he seemed to have fallen off. He held slight recollections of the dream he had just had and was trying to memorise them because he felt as if they were important for some reason. They were fading extremely quickly as if by magic. He held his head which started to hurt and then it was gone. All that was left was a vague memory of an oppressive force from the dream. 'weird, why do feel so weird like I forgot something. Why does this feel like déjà vu' he thought to himself.

He stopped thinking about it when he remembered that he would be training in combat with Jacobs that day. He washed up and went out for his morning run and did a quick workout in his workout park. He arrived home at around 8 am to find Jacobs in the kitchen eating cereal.

"Morning bro, are you ready for training today or what?" he asked excitedly. Jacobs looked at him funnily and then he started to laugh in an eerie manner which kind of creeped out Leo.

"What is so funny, I thought we agreed that you would help me raise my combat standard. Do not tell me you are going to back out now." He said with a bit of annoyance in his voice. He did not want to seem like he was whining but the man seemed like he was about to flake out on their agreement.

"No, the deal is still on. I am quite excited actually, I want to see just how fast I can break…. I mean help you improve. I am laughing because you are honestly the first person who has been excited to get trained by me in a while and it was refreshing."

Leo realised that the guy seemed to be more terrifying than he had thought. Jacobs put a hand to his forehead like some wronged hero and said "those little soldiers, always looked like they had some death sentence when they were told that I was in charge of their training back then. They even called me 'the demon' and hurt my feelings. Now I have a cute little bro who is so excited. Let's go out back right now."

He rinsed out his bowl and took off his army jacket to show off his toned physique in his 'wife beater' vest. He looked at Leo once they were outside and put one arm behind his back and said, "knock me out if you can so that I can see your current ability. Bring it on and do not hold back."