Saokalt’s Shack
Chapter II

“For outstanding dedication to get as far as possible and help out in anyway possible, I am glad to announce the promotion of Recruit Ryuu Jhannson to Private and he will be following in the footsteps of many before him in fighting for his country. Congratulatons Ryuu.” The room burst with applause as I accepted the promotion on the stage. I didn’t want to do a speech, as I couldn’t think straight after the incident with Altak, but I couldn’t do anything about it. As I went back to my table, an old man approached me..

“Hi, my name is Saokalt”, trembled from his lips, “I’ve heard so much about you”.

“Saokalt….nice to meet you..my father has spoken about you before” I replied.

“Yes..I know..follow me.” I was confused, should I follow him? How do I know this guy is actually Saokalt? Why do I need to follow him? As he walked off I saw my father gesture to me to follow, and because of that, I did. We walked a fair while, through places I had never seen in my 19 years of life. We ended up at a tiny shack, where Saokalt lived.
“Welcome to your new home” mumbled the old man. As I reluctantly walked in, confused from what he had said, I saw all my belongings, but what stood out most was a massive sword on the wall.
“Was this yours?” I enquired.
“Was this mine?” Saokalt chuckled…“Of course it wasn’t, how do you expect me to carry something the same height as me. Although I did snatch it off Lord Albratta in the war of the 53rd cycle.”
Wow….he must’ve become immortal. The 53rd cycle was 4 cycles ago!

As I looked around the shack, it became aware to me that it was a lot bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside. Saokalt told me to get some rest, saying I had a lot of training to do the following morning. As I tried to sleep on the hard wooden floor (as there was no other beds) I began thinking. Why do I need to train more? I want to be fighting for Rultar, not more training. I also wondered why my dad had done this for me…he was never keen on me becoming a warrior. As I drifted off to sleep it became more and more obvious to me that life was going to become harder.

“Rise and shine!”, yelled Saokalt, “the sun of Remaro doesn’t rise for you to lay in bed all morning you know!”
“Urhhh…” I attempted to reply. I wasn’t much of an early bird but I guess things were changing and this was one of them. After some quick breakfast of Kwaange fruit, I began my training. It was nothing that I expected. First I had to sit on the floor with my eyes closed, repeating “Krioyoo Teema Ipa”, which meant “Clean my aura”.
Then, we went on to something fun. Saokalt taught me a skill, “close your eyes, think of fire, take a breath….and yell ‘Pyrio Go Fle’” he said. Then without realising it, a flame shot out of my hand. We then practiced doing it quicker and quicker, and I eventually mastered it with eyes open. Saokalt doesn’t believe that I have what it takes to single handedly win the war, so I’m guessing I should take a few friends. He said I should only be with him a week, so I’m either gonna get loads of new skills, or one or two that are really powerful.. either way I think I’ll do fine.

The next day I learnt how to summon a charging bull and control it. I also challenged Saokalt to a duel, to maybe train my swordsmanship. He declined, so, being the ‘smart person that I am’, I made fun of him, thinking he couldn’t use a sword. He summoned a giant, grabbed a sword, slashed it’s head off in one. As I was closing in on war, I began getting the feeling something bad had happened to Altak. I couldn’t be sure, but I knew I would find out sooner or later.

After a few boring days of training (although they were useful), I had come to my last day of training. Saokalt had said previously that this one would be the best. He made it seem like forever, he started off with some boring sword “tricks”. Then we did the fun part. He taught me how to summon minions, and how many I summoned depended on my energy at the time. Then when it came down to doing it, it was the exact same thing as Altak had done, “Royo Contarnay Disploa”, but I only managed to summon 20. As I packed my things and left, Saokalt said
“Alkat says he’ll meet you at Guiiran.”