FSE

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Chap 1. Sound of The Blade

The plains of China were calm as usual. Green and brown stained stalks of tall grass could be heard swaying in the breeze. The smell of pure nature filled the air as the sun was just beginning to raise over the lush horizon. Birds could be seen gliding across the blue and gold sky ; Not a cloud in the sky for miles. The only soul walking these plains was a young Jiànkè (swordsman) named Silver Joel Crest. Silver stands at around five feet, six inches tall with dark brown fur all over his body. Silver was clad in a roguish navy blue top with the sleeves cut off and khaki colored pants, similar to the pants of a karate uniform. Silver also wore a long red scarf year round that was slightly tattered at the end of it. He didn't have very long fur but it was fluffed enough for it to be seen blowing the same direction as the scarf. His head fur was as black as night, contrasting nicely with his body. Silver's figure was slim and slightly curvy, aiding him in battle keeping him light on his feet.

Unlike any around, Silver was a dual Jiànkè, not in the way you may think. He wields two blades entirely different from each other and not simultaneously like most. His first blade, which he called Arbitrium, was formed to the shape of a katana but the metal was forged from melted dragon horns, making the weapon nearly unbreakable and it never dulled. When he wanted more accuracy at the expense of power, he would switch blades to his weapon fashioned after a rapier which he named Spera. Just like a rapier it allowed its wielder to strike with incredible speed and precision, catching most opponents off guard. He received training from his father,Resh Crest, who was a renowned weapon master throughout the land.

Walking in silence tends to leave you plenty of time to think and all that came to mind was the day before Silver's departure from home.

He remembers it was a morning like every other for twenty two years. He woke up, washes up, proceeds to breakfast then chores, and finally training with light studying. Only thing different was that today's training session was gonna be his last for awhile with his father.

"Alright Silver, today I want to test your skill with both blades. Are you ready?" Resh exclaimed, preparing his stance.

"Yes sensei." Answered Silver.

"Start with Spera and attack me!" Resh stood his ground with B? staff in hand. Raising the staff parallel to the ground, he bowed and Silver did the same in respect. All in one swift motion, Silver drew and struck at his mentor, a clash noise resonating from the swing. Resh countered almost as quick by sweeping up his staff and forcing Silver's sword up, leaving him open to a kick to the gut.

"Ah!" Cried Silver. The kick wasn't hard but it was a solid one. Seeing his pupil struggle, Resh moves in to sweep his feet with the staff.

"Don't be so obvious!" Shouted Resh as he dashed forward. Surprising both Silver and Resh, Silver immediately flipped sideways, opposite the way the staff swung. As he landed, he began to swiftly job and slash at his opponent stammering to get up. Resh was forced to dodge while trying to regain his footing. Silver continued the onslaught as Resh finally got to his feet. A wild exchange of blows was now under way. Neither combatant have the upper hand for long. Every strike Silver performed Resh countered and vice versa. Finally Resh went for a harder blow aimed at Silver's head. With less than a moment to counter, Silver instead arched his back swiftly as to dodge the swing. The wind from the blow brushing Silver's hair. Resh caught off guard once again, Silver rose back up and unleashed an even faster barrage of attacks. Barely able to keep up, Resh was being pushed back, forced to be strictly defensive. Silver started to move gracefully with each strike almost as if he were dancing around his opponent. Resh was backing up at a moderate speed and couldn't get good footing. Seeing the opening, Silver swept the awkward leg and pointed his sword at Resh's neck.

"How's that for obvious?" Silver boasted.

"Good. Very good Silver. You surprise me everyday." Silver smiled at his father's praise.

"On to the next match then sensei?" Silver offered a hand to his father.

"Eager to fight i see. Alright let me grab the reinforced staff." Resh walked over to the wall of weapons and grabbed a staff with a glossy see through surface.

"This staff won't brake to Arbitrium so easy." Resh swung the staff in beautiful motions to show off, wind sounds made audible several feet away to where Silver stood. Silver had a much wider stance than before so he could remain more stable 'like an immovable object' he was taught. Resh took his place directly across from silver and assumed his stance as well.

"Be ready Silver," Resh slammed his staff into the ground. "I won't hold back this time."

"Right," Silver dug his feet in. "Me neither!" The sound of the wind was the only sound until Resh exclaimed.

"Begin!" As soon as the word left his mouth, Resh dashed toward Silver's mid section with incredible speed. Silver managed to block the blow with his sword in time but was pushed back; his feet leaving marks 10 feet from where he once stood. Silver couldn't remember his father having such power before. Was he really holding back this much? Before he could even finish his thought process, Resh was flying towards him again from above. Silver narrowly slid out of the way and dust flew from where his father struck. When the dust cleared, all that was there was a divot left from the blow in the ground. By the time Silver realized Resh wasn't there, Resh was already sprinting towards him again. Silver was sick of running and decided to do the same, both fighters screaming as they closed in on each other. A loud sound of metal on metal filled the air for awhile as sparks flew. The power struggle lasted for about a minute before both of them backed up, a bit winded from the altercation. Silver was panting much harder than his father, staring him in the eyes. Silver thought to himself. How can I be so weak in comparison to him? I barely made it out of that clash. Silver's expression switched from fatigue to determination now as he had a new goal in mind, to break the tempered staff in half. Silver started to leap towards his father, his feet not once touching the ground and Arbitrium held firmly in hand. As Resh prepared for the attack, Silver suddenly lept into the air flipping over his father. Resh, caught completely off guard, turned around and braced for an attack from above. Silver slammed down on the staff dead center, hard enough to put a notch in its reinforced surface. As he landed he kept striking at the same spot in a flurry of swings. Resh couldn't react to anything without having to block. Almost as if he were a new man, Silver danced around Resh in a circle, less gracefully than he did with Spera but much more powerful. With a war-like cry, Silver spun around and nailed the staff dead center one more time. Keeping the pressure applied, he could feel the staff readying to snap despite Resh's efforts. After one loud snap, Resh was knocked over, now holding the two halves of the now broken staff. As Resh was falling, Silver nailed Resh right in the chest with his foot and knocked him to the ground, foot to chest the entire way. Resh, on the ground and a bit dazed, looked up and noticed Silver standing over him, blade pointed at the bridge of his nose. Resh nods, stands up, and bows in respect.

"Now I am confident you'll be safe on your journey."

"Thank you Father." Silver bowed as well, still winded from the battle.

"Now after lunch we'll get you packed up." Resh smiled

"Yeah...sounds..." Silver had passed out and his father caught him and carried him inside. The next morning they exchanged final words.

"I love you son"

"I love you too daddy."

---

It's been a day since then and Silver had been walking the whole time. In the distance, he could see buildings. Good thing too because it was starting to get late. As the sun was setting, Silver came to see the buildings made a small town that looked no longer than 2 or so blocks wide. At the entrance, there was an arch with a sign in the center. The sign was vandalized by the look of it with red paint. What should have read Welcome to Kord instead read Welcome to Kild.

"What a stupid prank." Silver muttered to himself. As he walked into the town he noticed there wasn't much color to the place. Every building was the same shade of weathered plywood and the roads were just flattened dirt. Not even so much as a patch of grass. Silver stuck to the right side so he wouldn't be in the middle of the road. Not like there was any activity it was just a precaution. Silver immediately became focused on finding an inn, if there was one in this town anyways. He was looking around for a sign and without looking ahead of him, turned the corner and bumped into someone. Silver didn't move much but whoever he bumped into fell down. As he started to offer a hand it was smacked away and met with a rough scowl.

"Why don't ya watch where you're going mutt?" Silver acted to ignore the insult and noticed the man before him looked to be a badger. His voice was raspy as if he was a smoker and grating on the ears quite frankly.

"My apologies sir," Silver bowed quickly. "I was just wondering where the inn in this town was. Might you be able to point me in the right direction?" The stranger said nothing, spat at Silver's feet, and shoulder checked him as he stormed off. Near Silver's foot now was a gross brown wad of chewing tobacco.

"That explains the voice." Silver muttered under his breath.

Not really shaken from his encounter, Silver continued down the walkway and not too long after did he find a sign that read Belle's Ring. The sign was the only thing that made the building known because it was the same exact Shade of brown as every other building in town. Silver could hear the sounds of a bar from outside the door way. Laughter, shouting, bottles of sake hitting both together and the floors. The moment he opened that door, the entire bar fell silent as every head seemed to glare in Silver's direction. He stood there for a second as every eye slowly left his sight. The bar soon settled down but left an unfriendly feel on Silver's mind. As he walked towards the bar area he kept hearing the same word poorly muttered under people's breath;outsider. Silver finally reached the bar, feeling a bit uneasy now he took a seat and was greeted by a cheerful personality.

"Hello child! My names Belle. What can i get'cha?" Belle's voice was very nice and always seemed to project. She seemed to be 5 feet tall and of the panda family. A red panda to be exact,which was apparent based off her fur color and patterns. She was a big on the big side too but not in a bad way. She was rocking blue jean short shorts and red spaghetti strap halter top that barely fit over her large bust when combined seemed to accent her already obvious hour glass figure. Her fur was short and a vibrant shade of amber and white.

"Well Belle i'll take a bottle of sake and-" Silver was cut off by a loud commotion coming from the ledge just above his head that hung over the entire bar area. It must have been a part of the level where the rooms are located. The sounds of a struggle got louder and louder with every crash and thud. Next thing you know there was another crash sound and a body being flung through the railing; wood shards raining from the sky as it plummeted to the floor. With a final thud, the body hit the ground and the entire bar fell silent. Everyone seemed to look up simultaneously and noticed another person standing at the hole in the railing. The figure didn't make a sound as he stood motionless.

"Damnit all, i just fixed that railing!" Exclaimed Belle. At the blink of an eye, the figure flipped off the ledge and landed directly in front of the body. Before anyone could say or do anything, the culprit quickly dashed out of the bar, leaving everyone stunned at what happened. Silver couldn't remain idle as he went to check on the body laying before all. At closer examination, the body was similar to the badger he ran into just as he entered town. Noticing he was still groaning, Silver left the bar hastily to catch up with the culprit. Hearing motion to the right of him he rushed towards the sounds. A few feet later he heard more motion to the right again and then silence. The perpetrator must be hiding now. Walking down the alleyway slowly, he kept his ears tuned for any sounds. A bit to the left was a barrel behind a water trough and then the dead end of the alley. He could hear labored breathing from that direction. Silver drew spera with a shing noise.

"Might as well come out. I can hear you back there." A moment passed.

"Okay...okay." Spoke the figure as it stepped out. Silver was absolutely shocked to find how innocent and, to be frank, cute the guy was. He also had the look of a raccoon. In his paws were two daggers being held to the blade pointed towards the wielders elbow. Silvers was almost looking down so the guy couldn't have been an taller than 5'4. His eyes were brown just like silvers only at the moment, they were becoming glossy from small tears forming. He was wearing a pink top that hung over one shoulder and thigh high shorts. What made this guy stand out was the fact that instead of having the raccoon's 'mask',he only had a black circle around his right eye. Suddenly, the man dropped his weapons.

"Please don't hurt me. I promise it was in self defense." Cried out the coon. Silver still had the look of a growl on his face.

"Explain yourself then." Silver sheathed his blade so the coon would calm down.

"That man that i really wasn't trying to kill was one of the badger gang that likes to pray on the weak in this town." Responded the coon

"Badger gang?"

"Yes. They showed up maybe two years back and ever since then this place has been almost desolate. People are to scared to even step outside for fear of being hassled."

"That explains why it's so empty looking."

"I'll gladly go back and pay for the damages. I didn't mean to upset Belle. My name is Tyler by the way. Tyler Vixen." Silver smiled and offered a handshake. Tyler met his paw and winced a bit from Silvers grip.

"Silver Crest. Great to meet you formally. Sorry i drew on you like that." Silver scratched the back of his head. Tyler giggled a bit.

"It's fine. I understand." They both started to walk back to the bar, making small conversation on the way.

When they returned, they were greeted by a silent bar from the presence of 6 intimidating badger thugs, including the one that was injured by Tyler earlier. Both Silver and Tyler stopped in there tracks and Tyler seemed to inch a bit closer to Silver. Silver didn't budge staring back at them.

"Alright outsider, hand us the coon now and we may decide not to kill you for interfering." The one who spoke was the tallest and had a earily calm grin on his face as he spoke.

"I'll do nothing of the sort," Silver put his hand on Arbitrium "It would be best for you to leave now." The leader just laughed as if Silver had told a joke.

"Look no one needs to die over that nothing behind you. The way i see it he owes me for hurting one of my crew and i intend to collect," He glared at Tyler and licked his lips slowly. "In full." Tyler hid completely behind Silver now gripping onto his daggers tightly. With that Silver drew his sword completely.

"Enough. You'll have to get threw me first." The leader didn't change his smug expression for a second and snapped his fingers. The two thugs two the farthest ends sprung into action simultaneously towards Silver. They jumped into the air and swung down towards Silver's head. All that was heard was a loud clang of metal as Silver blocked and held both swords inches from his hairline. No one even saw Silver move. Tyler jumped to the side figuring he'd get in the way otherwise. Silver looked at both thugs and broke their swords in half with one push of Arbitrium. The thugs were launched back to the group barely landing on their own feet. With a growl, the leader was beginning to look visibly annoyed.

"Someone get me that coon now and kill the mutt!" 3 more thugs came running in Silver's direction. Two targeted him while one broke off after Tyler, of whom was running up the stairs. Silver was angered because he couldn't back up Tyler because of the two thugs slashing wildly at Silver's person. Tyler made it up the stairs but was closely followed by a more built than usual thug. Tyler readied himself as the thug approached. The thug smirked as he begun to strike at Tyler. Being almost infinitely faster than the thug, he blocked every blow with ease. Once the thug became angered, he struck down at Tyler and Tyler was forced to block the blow with both blades while crossing his hands in an X formation. Noticing this as an opening, Tyler thrust up with the little strength he had, caught the thug tilted, and elbowed him right in the diafram. The thug, now winded, dropped to one knee and looked up towards Tyler only to be greeted by his foot. The final blow forced the thug over the already broken railing onto his arm, shattering it. Tyler sighed with relief as he saw his opponent unconscious, unfortunately the fight was not over for Silver. Silver was still having a bit of trouble with the two thugs, currently pushing him back. Everytime one struck, the other would wait for an opportunity to do the same. Eventually one of the thugs managed to land an attack on his lower middle midsection, just above the hip. Silver winced as he swung in a backhand motion towards the culprit. The hit landed and down went one more thug. Holding his side with one hand and his blade in the other, Silver stood ready ever still. The remaining badger was visibly shaken but smiled as he realized he was at an advantage here.

"Silver!" Cried Tyler as he lept from the platform and back to the ground floor, sprinting towards Silvers enemy. Hearing Tyler's advance, the thug turned around to face him. Tyler didn't slow a bit as he stared into the eyes of the thug. Just as Tyler was almost on him, Silver quickly seized the moment to clip the thug in the back of his calf so he went falling. As he fell, Tyler jumped into the air and drove him into the ground with even more momentum than the original fall. The leader, who had stood out of the fight the entire time, was showing such an intense rage on his face as he stared toward the mightier than he had expected duo.

"Are you alright Silver?" Tyler asked as he stared back at the leader.

"Y-yeah. I'll live..its nothing vital." Silver panted out as he struggled with his words.

Silver and Tyler had there crosshairs set on the leader now as they stood in a staredown for a minute or so. Bar still hushed from previous events. Knowing he couldn't take them both, Even with one injured, he darted for a window and crashed through. Every other badger staggered out the same window, some even falling over the window sill. As the very last badger retreated, Silver fell to one knee.

"I got you man." Tyler said as he helped Silver onto a table. He then started towards Belle, who he presumed to be hiding behind the bar. Sure enough she was their gripping a bottle in her hand. Tyler leaned over the counter.

"Belle, can you get me some things to help out Silver?" Belle jump to a standing position.

"Sure thing baby. Whatcha need?"

"Well some bandages to wrap around Silvers' body, a bottle of whiskey, and a damp cloth if you have it." Belle nodded.

"I'll be back in a jiffy honey." Tyler returned to silvers side, putting pressure on his wound. It was pretty long of a cut but not serious enough for stitches.

"I really d-don't think this is necessary Tyler." Silver tried to sit up but was stopped by Tyler.

"Nonsense! Your hurt and i can help. Perks of having a nurse for a mother." Belle returned and placed the things on the table nearest Tyler. She then reached for a chair to join them.

"Is he gonna be okay?"

"Oh yeah, he'll be fine. It's not a deep wound at all and i'm only treating it to avoid infection." Tyler grabbed the damp cloth and wiped Silver's cut and his own hands clean.

"Sorry about this Silver."

"Hu-" before Silver could even finish a word, Tyler splashed the whiskey onto the gash. Silver rammed his fist into the table to cope with the pain. Tears were starting to form under his eyes as well. Tyler looked at the bottle confused and immediately hid it from Silver's view.

"You gave me cinnamon whiskey?" Tyler whispered.

"Sorry. It was the only kind I had, plus you never specified honey." Belle shrugged.

"Oh jeeze."

After a few moments of Silver writhing from the stinging, Tyler wrapped the bandages around the cut and helped Silver put on his shirt, blushing slightly as he brushed his abs.

"Belle, can I get that sake I wanted earlier please? I could really use-" Silver was interupted by Tyler smacking his wound lightly but enough to make Silver hesitate.

"Alcohol slows healing." Tyler exclaimed

"In that case, take a room for the night on the house. You earned it." Belle replied.

Silver just smiled and nodded as Tyler helped him to the room. Tyler helped Silver get into his bed as well.

"You should get some rest now. I'll stay up and watch you," Tyler's eyes got wide. "I didn't mean like that!" he exclaimed as he waved his arms. Silver just laughed a bit.

"You should be the one getting sleep Tyler. Today had to be more than you're used to."

"I'll be fine. I'm way stronger than I look." Silver laid down, confident in Tyler's reassurance.

Thirty minutes later Silver was fast asleep on his side, back to Tyler. Tyler was starting to feel fatigued so he smiled as he leaned back in his chair dozing off as well.

_________________________________

The next morning came around a just right time as the sun rose over the horizon, waking Silver. He sat up on his own just fine, astonished at how fast he felt better. As he stood he yawned and stretched with no complications too. Silver quietly moved around the room and got dressed as to not wake Tyler. He finally grabbed his blades as quiet as he could although they changed together once, not disturbing Tyler in the least. He closed the door silently and walked downstairs. He was greeted by Belle, who was cleaning off the table Silver was on previously. She must have picked up the wreck from the railing too because it was nowhere to be seen although the railing was still destroyed.

"Heading out Silver?" Belle spoke as she wiped.

"Yeah can't waste anytime at all. Tell Tyler thank you again for me please." Silver waved as he walked out and turned towards the end of town to the left. Belle sighed as she watched him go. About 3 minutes later Tyler came running down the stairs.

"Hey Belle, did you see Silver leave?"

"Yeah. Not to long ago actually." As soon a Belle finished her sentence, Tyler darted after silver thanking Belle quickly. Silver was almost to the edge of town by the the time he heard someone approaching. Tyler was panting pretty hard when he reached Silver.

"Please...Silver...Ugh." Tyler could barely get his words out.

"Woah. Breath dude."

"lemme...tag along." Tyler finally stammered out.

"Really? You wanna come with?" Tyler finally cought his breath and bowed.

"Please."

"I don't really have a destination. I'm just going all over to better myself."

"I don't mind. I want to better myself too."

"Well...as long as your fine with the journey, I don't see why not."

"Yay!" Tyler jumped up and down and then hugged Silver suddenly. Silver laughed as Tyler let go and they continued out of town.

"Those two seem like they are perfect." said a mysterious voice.

"When we gonna get em boss?"

"Very soon brother very soon." The voices snickered together as Silver and Tyler smiled down the road, blissfully ignorant of the future.