Cylus woke from his night of dreamless sleep. The old man had a routine he did every day, it always began with stringing his bow. He got up from his bed, walked over to the stand where the bow was, took it then he twisted his legs around the bow to string it, bending it over his thigh and moving the string into place. He then hung the bow in it's spot on his wall. The second task he performed daily had been meditation for over two decades and hadn't changed. Cylus wore his shoes and his clothing and went to his garden to do what he did every morning before the sun rose. 

The garden was coming back to life, the flowers were beginning to face upward again. Though now was the time to relieve himself of thought. He thought of many things in his hour, Bile's screech, his wounds that were now healed. He though of Mira and her son, though he didn't know the young man's name. He had yet to thank her for saving his life. All of these thoughts left him, but not entirely for it would be ridiculous if all thought left him. His meditation is simply a time to work out the problems he faces with his inner demons. 

The sun had risen by the time Cylus arose from the ground, he made his way back I to his house and prepared himself for his day of teaching. He gathered his usual gear of just his clothes and his sword. As he took his blade from the place he had put it the night before he realized that it hadn't been cleaned. It was covered in dried blood. He took it and left the house intending to gather water in order to clean it before gathering his students for the day. Cylus walked to his door and opened it to find that all five of his students were waiting for him. They sat on the ground meditating. 

"Ah, you are here early?" Cylus interrupted their thoughts quizzically. 

As if planned out they all stood and bowed saying "Master!" Cylus raised his eyebrow at this but waved his hand for them to follow. He began walking out of the town, the gate keeper opened the gate as always. [i]No one seems to remember the events of the other day... Wait... How long was I in Mira's home?[/i] Thoughts like this raced through his head. [i]Breath in, breath out.[/i] As he thought it he did it. He could think about that later, right now he was arriving where he would be teaching for the day.

The group had arrived in their usual field, the posts had been taken down and replaced with five small wooden makeshift tables. On the tables were ink, brushes, and five canvases. "Everyone take a seat." The sword master instructed his students and they did so clambering into their seats. "The first task is simple, write your name on the canvas. This is not just an activity to pass the time away. This is to teach you precision, a swordsman must learn to be precise. Remember you cannot take back a stroke of the brush or a stroke of the sword." 

Cylus closed his eyes and felt the warm air brush against his face. He thought of Bile, [i]Demons don't usually like to outright attack a village. They'd have no fun after a while.[/i] He scratched his chin. [i]Either Bile was very aggressive or the demons are becoming more rambunctious doing as they please with no one controlling them?[/i] "Hmm." [i]Was or has anyone ever been controlling them? Someone must have been otherwise there would be nothing left of any city.[/i] 

The old man opened his eyes again and took everything in, the rolling hills, the leaves blowing in the wind, the waves in the lake not far from where they were. He also saw that the students had finished their task. He walked behind them table by table seeing that they had done well and made minimal mistakes. "Very good." Cylus had all five looking at him by this point. "Now, let's move into the forest." He began walking towards the tree line, all five students with him. 

He stopped at the entrance and turned to his students, "Using your surroundings to your advantage is of key importance when in any fight. It doesn't matter whether or not you use it to attack you opponent, or defend yourself from attack." A man came walking from the town, he was in his mid twenties and wore a guard uniform and wielded a blade at his side. He was not a master, but he was trained and would help to instruct Cylus' students. "Roh, you are on time as always." Cylus said with a smile bowing to greet his friend. 

"You asked for my help, it is the least I can do for all that you've done for me and our village." He wore a grey tunic with a leafless black tree stitched into the front as all guards did. On his side was a broadsword and a shield slung on his back. The man, having left his sword on the ground by a tree and collected a wooden sword, turned and walk into the wood having already been told what he would be doing.

"Gather your practice weapons." Cylus instructed his students whilst pointing to where the wooden swords had been stacked next to a tree not far from where they stood. "Roh and I will demonstrate how to use your surroundings to your advantage." He unclasped the sheathed sword from his belt and leaned it against the same tree Roh had set his sword next to he collected a wooden one. 

Cylus entered the treed area walking calmly. He had already meditated that day and so not many things were in his head to distract him. He held the sword on his right side facing downward both hands on the hilt, he turned his head so he may listen for any movement. Him and Roh's goal was to subdue the other and since they were in the woods they would have to use their surroundings to do so and thus give a demonstration.

A twig cracked to Cylus' left he turned sharply bringing his sword up and scanned the area in front of him. The two were making sure to stay close to the tree line so the students could see what they were doing. All Cylus saw were trees, [i]He could have moved?[/i] he saw a particularly bushy tree, [i]he could hide himself behind it...[/i] he moved closer not allowing himself to forget that there are many places where the man could hide himself. 

Cylus jumped back having spotted Roh's sword shoot out just before they crossed blades. Roh emerged from a bush to Cylus' right. Cylus regained his posture, his eyes focused on the man in his front. In between some of the trees was bamboo, the wooden swords were sharp enough to cut through it but not sharp enough to inflict a mortal wound, they would cut through skin however. Roh turned on his heel and dashed off, Cylus chased after him, his age hardly slowing him down. 

The younger man swiped his sword around to his sides and cut the bamboo to make an obstacle for Cylus, he brought his weapon up and cut through the falling bamboo. Roh was slowed just a bit because he took the time to cut the tick grass, Cylus had caught up to him. Roh turned 'round a corner and Cylus followed. As Cylus turned he was met with bamboo having been bent and swung around to hit him. He quickly brought up his sword, the tip pointing down the hilt up and his hand bracing against the blade, the bamboo hit against the sword and knocked the old man to the ground. He saw that the younger man he was fighting had climbed the tree the bamboo was next to while pulling the grass to hit Cylus with it. 

He jumped down to Cylus intending to kick the sword from his grasp and win, but Cylus had already moved and they crossed swords as Roh hit the ground. He jumped back as Cylus lunged at him their blades crossing again, Cylus slide his downward in an attempt to knock Roh's blade out of his hand from the hilt. Roh knocked Cylus' blade away before he could knock his from his hand.

The encounter went on like that for a bit, lunge, parry, sidestep etc. Finally, Cylus brought his blade up as though he was going to bring it back down at Roh, who then brought his up horizontally to block. Cylus, however did not bring it down at Roh, but at somemore bamboo, slicing it and causing it to fall down on Roh who swung his sword to block it. Cylus threw himself at the younger man, locked their blades and knocked his sword from his grasp. 

The students spent the next few hours trying to do the same thing. They paired up and went into the trees and began learning to use their surroundings to their advantage. By this time Cylus had showed them to use a blade very well and all they needed was to learn concepts such as using their surroundings. 

After the day the students returned to their homes and Cylus to his. Cylus knew that the town wanted to thank him for his encounter with Bile, but Cylus made it clear when he came to the town that he didn't need any thanks and refused to accept it. What he didn't tell them was that he did this because he failed at Verion and was trying to do what he could to make sure that it didn't happen again. He knew that he could not protect the world from it, but this town was enough for him, he felt guilty but doing this eased the pain. 

His garden was looking alive again as he sat with his legs crossed and thought.