Getting Started

(5yrs 3mths)

Waking up the next morning sucked ass. My whole body exploded in pain. It felt like I got ran over by a steamroller, blown up, burned, dipped in acid then the goo left over was beaten by a gang armed with spiked baseball bats.

Seeing water on the table next to the bed I reach for it causing a spasm of pain to wrack my body, sadly the cup to falls to the floor. “OWW!!! FUCK MY LIFE!!” I go to cradle my arm but that just causes more parts of my body to flare up in pain. It was nothing when compared to the pain I went through after drinking the dragons’ blood, but at that particular moment I couldn’t careless which hurt more.

Why does it seem my life has become just small moments in between immense pain?

A loud slam in the direction of my feet catches my attention. Looking towards what I assume to be a door slamming open I see Mira standing there. The look on her face seems torn between kicking my ass, hugging me or running to get the old goat.

“Uhh, Mira? Why do you look like you are considering bodily harm? I mean I figure I did something stupid again, but th-“ Next thing I know my world explodes in more pain. Mira decided hugging to be my punishment for whatever I did.

WHACK!!!

“OWWW-ie!!!” I holler, she figured I needed more I guess, because she slapped me on the side of my head, again, damn abusive bug. She really is a sweet-heart.

“Do you have ANY idea how much of the pain in the ass you can be? I swear you come up with this shit on purpose. I mean seriously if it wasn’t for the fact that you not only saved my life that day and that you continue to help me through feeding, I would beat your ass to death!” Damn it she’s crying and again it’s my fault. What the hell did I do? I remember going to slash that old goats’ ass for stabbing me.

Speak of the bastard, standing in the door way sporting several bandages wrapped around different parts of his body was the old goat.

“Looks like you are back to being you, boy.” Huffs Ironvigor, he limps ever so slightly to my bedside. He grasps my chin, turning my head side to side. “Luckily for you, you have that high speed healing. It looks like most of the minor damage has healed already.” He lets go, but begins poking random points of my heavily bandaged body.

“Oww! God damn it that hurts!” I holler at him, a pained grimace covering my face.

“No nerve damage, well even if there was I believe it wouldn’t stay like that. Anyway once you are back to full strength we can begin your actual training.” He turns and starts walking out of the room.

“Wait!! What the ever loving fuck happened yesterday? The last thing I remember was…something about why I was sent to you, after that it’s all kind of hazy.” I try hard to remember, sadly nothing clears no matter how hard I try.

Is it finally happening? The thought hits me like a ton of bricks. What if it’s the old me coming through? Oh god. Looking at the bandages covering the old goat it dawns on me.

“I did that.” I whisper.

Turning around whip quick the Koodak gets right in my face. “No you did not boy. I did this to myself. I was the one to push you this far. You were only responding to your anger. You are not at fault.” A smile spreads across his face. “Also you made me very proud. To be strong enough to injure me this badly all while trapped in your anger. You have some remarkable combat skills, unrefined, completely useless against real opponents, but remarkable nonetheless.” He pulls back, placing a hand to his chin. “I would say based on what I saw and what your sister has said that you are a brawler at the least. No real combat experience, but you seem to have a good working knowledge of combat. From how she described your body beforehand I would have expected you to die in that little argument.”

“ARGUMENT?! Really?! That didn’t look like an argument to me! It looked like you fighting for your life, while he tried to kill you! UGH MALES!!!” Mira storms out of the room, clearly upset by this particular turn of events.

“Don’t worry about her, she’ll settle down. You had her really worried you know.” Instructor told me.

Looking down I couldn’t help but to feel bad, I have put her through so much shit already and never once has she left. I really should try and do something nice for her at some point. Looking at my bandages I could tell at a glance that it was Mira who did the work. All the places where knots were supposed to be had a small amount of green ooze instead. The stuff was amazing. It hardened into an almost steel like substance. But a bit of magic and it quickly breaks down.

One of the bandages on my right arm had a heart and smiley face drawn in the stuff.

A sigh escapes me. “I really fucked up this time.”

“No you didn’t boy. This is on me. I pushed you too hard. I shouldn’t have stabbed you.” Rubbing the back of his head, he stares at the floor. “It was the way I was taught, minus the stabbing of course, but my old mentor used to beat me something fierce when I first started working with him. Heh, you lasted a lot longer than I did, or anyone would have really.”

“Well to be honest I kind of figured with the menial work you were just trying to get me used to my new muscles. I figured once you felt I was ready you begin to actually train me in combat. As for the hitting and shit, I figured it was a minotaur thing.” I say, giving him my honest opinion.

“HAHAH! You are one interesting ‘hue-man’, you know that? Not many would even really consider such things given your current situation. Dropped into an entirely new world full of things you don’t understand you try to just accept the world as it is, you don’t even bother to question things that would seem obviously wrong to anyone else!” Ironvigor roars with laughter.

Hearing the mirth in his voice is oddly soothing. “Well what can I say? I am living in a world that has so many things mine never did. I can’t just idiotically hold on to my beliefs. With the ponies for example, they have this thing called herding. Back in my old world it was called a harem and was frowned upon by ‘modern’ civilization. To the ponies it is common practice, due to the fact that there is such a significant gender difference. But at the end of the day who am I to say such an option is wrong. I mean from what I have been told they have been doing so millennia. If you told me that dating young ones was the way a group did things I wouldn’t stop to question it. Because again, who am I to question another societies practices? I may not agree with some of them, like dating a young one, but if it’s okay in that society I have no right to really say anything. Trying to stop it would put me in the wrong. Damn it I am spouting exposition again. Sorry, I have a bad habit of speaking my opinions like that.”

Koodak just stares for a moment before laughing again. “HAHAHAHA, boy never change!! You are truly a delight. I am glad that scaly bastard sent you here.” Sighing Koodak walks to the door. Looking back he gives me a smile. “Rest easy and heal up. Once you are back at full we’ll begin work on you fighting skills. Get good enough and I may just sign you up to join the Arena.”

~~~~~~

It took about two weeks for my body to finish healing completely. Though it only took about a week and a half for me to be good enough to move about my room. I noticed something really strange in that time. I had no fucking stamina. Even though I was stronger, faster and more resilient, I couldn’t move for more than a few minutes at a time before I became too exhausted.

Mira finally came back to my room that night. We sat and talked for a while mostly about nothing at first. It wasn’t until it was time to change some of my bandages that I was able to actually apologize to her for fucking up again.

She just smiled and told me that she forgave me. She surprised me with a kiss, not on the lips you perverts, it was on the forehead. She said that she knew it wasn’t really my fault it happened and that after talking to Koodak she realized she just felt useless.

I tried to tell her that she wasn’t but she refused to hear a word of it, at least until I reminded her of all the times she has saved my life. Yeah that stopped her dead in her tracks.

So in the end we both agreed that, even though we joke about it, we really do need one another. I need someone to help keep my head on straight so I don’t get myself killed and she needs a food source that won’t cause her and endless supply of trouble.

When I told her that she was getting the short end of the stick she laughed, saying that as much trouble as I cause it’s not nearly as bad as it could be. I guess I have to agree, out of everything that’s happened we are still free.

That night something crazy happened. Mira and I cuddled till we fell asleep. To be honest it was the best sleep I have had since coming here. You would think that her exoskeleton would be hard and uncomfortable, but surprisingly it’s actually kind of soft. It’s malleable and very warm. Also found out Mira makes the most adorable little cooing noises when she is held while sleeping.

She helped me recuperate the entire time, when she had the time anyways. She would bring me food and even feed me. I swear on any and everything I did not ask her too, she just did it. Discovered during that time, the more I eat the faster I heal. I still won’t instantly regenerate but after eating a lot meat and veggies most of the less serious injuries were gone. I still had a ton of broken bones in my body.

After getting up and finally being able to move I discovered my appetite was now outrageous. I could literally eat an entire ham, the holiday spent with family kind, five loaves of bread, and several pounds of fresh vegetables and still be hungry. After eating all that though I felt good enough to run around the city, twenty times. It was like I finally had the stamina I was supposed to. After a little testing we found out that the more I eat the more energy I have, obvious I know but it was much more intense.

My stamina/healing to food intake ratio is insane, I could eat and eat and eat. Depending on what I ate I could either fulfill a days’ work in a few hours or be dragging ass all day. We came to idea that it all depended on the current state of my body. The more injuries I sustained the more it went into healing, if I was fine than it went into stamina. God my body has gotten fucking weird.

Once I was back up to Instructors’ standards though, he started waking me up before sun up to train. He would have me run laps around the block, having Mira track me from the air disguised as a Pegasus to make sure I did it. After laps it was a combination of sit-ups, push-ups, pull ups, weight lifting and a ton of other exercises all designed to help me build stamina and work on muscle control.

After discovering my unusual body mechanics meal-time became a buffet for me, whether I wanted it or not. He was really using it as an excuse to push me even harder. Damn bastard. He did have a point though, if I can repair most of the damage done to my body just by eating than why hold back?

His training was brutal. He broke a finger when I blocked edge on edge the first time. After that he would have me redo my morning exercises while wearing lead weights. God it sucked, mostly because I blocked edge on edge more than I really should have.

He taught me all manner of combat techniques. Grapples, punch and kick combos meant to break through an opponent’s guard, and all manner of other things he thought I should know.

I did manage to surprise him with some things that popped in my head while fighting. It was like the more I fought the more I remembered about fighting. Though to be honest it confuses the crap out of me. Like I said before, I know I have never fought like this before. I know I was a non-combatant, a civilian. I lead a peaceful life before coming here. I was fat, had no stamina, and had snail level reflexes.

Everything he threw at me I tore right through. I never complained, openly. I just bit my tongue and bore it. I never quit, never gave in. Though I never did more than what I was told. Some part of me knew that training on my own after everything would be more detrimental than helpful. Also he worked my ass to the bone. By the end of the day I could barely even move.

I loved every second of it. The pain, the exhaustion, the sweat pouring off my body even the ache deep in my bones that came from working so hard. I cherished every single damn moment, because every day I could run further, exercise longer fight harder. With everything he beat into me I learned the limitations of my body and how to shatter those limits. I discovered under his painful tutelage that I could take a beating. He beat me bad. I never once won against him in all the time I spent there. But I learned more from him then I had any right to.

The harder he pushed me the harder I pushed back. I loved everything about it, as much as the soreness sucked. Some part of me was really glad to be learning all this. I oddly felt like I was being granted a wish. Don’t know what kind of crazy I was before hand to wish for something like this, but hey I am learning to fight from a mythological creature.

He even taught Mira how to fight hand to hand. He wasn’t as hard on her though. He treated her gently. Me he beats the crap out of, but her, he just walked her through the forms. Showing her the moves step by step. Jackass.

(5yrs)

Waking up before the sun sucks major ass, but if I want to be able to use the dragons blood to its’ fullest I need to be at peak physical form. So with nothing more than a sigh I hop out of bed and immediately start doing push-ups. After fifty I start on the sit-ups, fifty of those as well.

Once my whole morning exercise routine is done I take a shower before heading down to eat breakfast.

MMMMM, the smell of bacon, eggs cooked in the bacon grease, a stack of pancakes ten tall, cream of wheat topped with blue-berries, a pitcher of juice and Gods most wonderful creation, coffee. God do I love coffee in the morning.

Nothing wakes me up like it or even tastes as good. Sitting down I take a sip of that heavenly black liquid. “Ahh, that hits the spot.” A smile spreads across my face.

Giggling from behind catches my attention. Looking over I see Mira standing there wearing an apron, holding a spatula. She is wearing nothing else, like she normally does but somehow today just makes it erotic.

Quickly looking away I try to stammer out an apology, for some reason I can’t understand.

When the hell did I become such a little pussy about this? Normally I would make some joke about her trying to flirt with me! What the actual fuck?

A kiss to my cheek freezes me, which has Mira giggling. “Wow Walker, I didn’t think it would be this easy to fluster you.” She poses one hand on her cheek, giving me a flirtatious smile. “Maybe this is you fetish? If you want I could dress like this more often.”

I down the rest of the coffee, hoping that it will sooth my frayed nerves. I mean what the hell is going on? I’m normally the one making the dirty jokes and I NEVER get like this. I take a few deep breathes to settle myself.

Mira seems to be having none of that, she decides to step up my torment. How do I know this you ask? The evil bug grows herself a pair of knockers the size of melons and rests them on top of my head.

“So Walker are you enjoying your breakfast this morning? Would you like more coffee? I could add some milk to it if you want.” When she says milk, she jiggles her new body parts getting them to bounce on my head.

“Mira I think that’s enough. I mean it’s still early and I have a lot of training to do today. As much fun as teaching you the errors of your way would be, I just don’t have the time.” I say, eyes closed, mentally going over the steps to disarm an opponent. Who knew violence was a good mood killer?

“Aww, your no fun this morning.” She pouts.

“Like I said, I have training to get to. I can’t sit around playing with you.” Turning around I give her a grin. “Not that I wouldn’t mind playing with what I see.” A quick adjustment to my sitting position and I begin to slide my hand up her inner thigh. “And trust me what I see is definitely worth playing with.”

She sighs softly as my hand travels up her thigh. I make sure to go agonizingly slowly. Her eyes slowly fall shut, the feel of my hand turning her on. A moan escapes her lips as my hand gets within inches of her sex. Her eyes fly open, the need in her eyes is clear, pure. She wants me to keep going.

Too bad. I quickly pull my hand away, turning back around I act as if nothing had just happened. “I’m glad you made such a delicious looking meal.” I eat one pancake and a slice of bacon. “Too bad I don’t have time to enjoy what you have so wonderfully offered.” I get up from the table and begin to head out back.

“Boy, you better not be turning down a meal made for you by a female.”

“No Instructor. I just wanted to get my training in first so that way I could enjoy her delicious looking meal all the better.” I lie. I know if I stayed she would have taken everything from me for the stunt I just pulled.

“Sit and eat. Now.” Ironvigor says.

Sitting back at the table I begin eating. I do overhear Mira ‘humpf’ as she walks back into the kitchen. She should know better than to try and tease me.

“You two seriously need to have sex and just be done with it.” Ironvigor pipes up, while eating his own breakfast, same as mine just smaller portions.

I damn near choke on the eggs I was eating. Guzzling down some juice clears the pipes up nicely. “Excuse me?”

“I said, you two need to have sex and just get it out of the way. It’s painfully obvious the two of you like each other. Unless you are into males, but I am sure she could accommodate any unique preference you might have.” Koodak states, completely at ease, as if he was talking about the weather.

Taking a few deep breathes I settle my surging emotions. “While to you I would assume it would seem like a simple choice, to me it is not so simple, Instructor.” I wipe my mouth with a napkin after finishing breakfast. “I’ll be outside if you need me.”

Before anyone can say another word I walk out back and begin going through my morning weapons practice.

Ironvigor sighs. “That boy needs to loosen up and pull himself together. He really is all over the place.”

“Like I told you before, he doesn’t know who he is or even who he is trying to become. He just responds. He has been trying to be more proactive in his life but he just can’t find any real stability in his own mind, and that’s what worries me.” Mira says, standing in the door way watching me practice. “I want to help him. I hate the feelings swirling around him when he gets like this, and sadly he is like this more often than not. He once said that he didn’t want to hide how he feels behind jokes, but he always does. He tries to be strong and indomitable, but he is really just a child trying to be an adult.”

“How old he? He looks like he is still pretty young.” Ironvigor asks.

With a sigh she says. “We don’t really know. My best guess would be that he is around sixteen cycles, though that is based on the fact his species lives on average to around one-hundred.”

“Do you not know his day of birth? I know you both have said he knows nothing of his past, but I would assume his birth date would be among his memories.” Ironvigor asks, trying to gauge how old I am only on appearance.

“He doesn’t know. He has fleeting memories of general things, sadly nothing specifically pertaining to him.” Turning to look back at the old minotaur, a tear rolls down her check. “He doesn’t even remember whether he had a family or not.”

A scowl takes hold of Koodak’s face, a huff escaping him uncontrolled. “That is no way for one as young as him to live. No wonder he is so accepting of the world around him, he has nothing to compare it to.” Adopting a thinking pose he sits quietly for a few moments. “Do you know when he first came to our world?”

“It was around the ponies’ summer sun celebration. We tracked his arrival too within a few days of it. He isn’t sure how long he was unconscious for. I figure it may have only been a few hours after his arrival.” Mira explains, as she watches me perform several moves meant for breaking an opponents’ limb.

“Hmm. I guess we’ll just have to use today as the date than.” Ironvigor nods as if setting it in stone.

“Why do you want to know his birth date anyways?” Mira tears her gaze away from me to ask Koodak.

“The dragons sent him a gift, one meant to be given when one reaches a certain age. Considering what they gave him, I would like to give it to him sooner rather than later, that way he can practice with it and truly come to know it.”

Mira tilts her head to the side. She couldn’t think of anything else the dragons had sent along with them. “What did they send?”

Koodak stands up and walks out of the room for a couple of minutes. Upon returning he places a leather wrapped bundle on the table. “You can unwrap it, but I was told not to unsheathe it. Walker is to do that himself.”

Mira cautiously walks over, wary of the bundle. She slowly undoes the leather thong holding the bundle shut.

Resting on the table is a dagger roughly around nine inches long. The handle is solid metal and has what look like ‘brass knuckles’ covering one side of the grip. The handle has a polished black walnut cap covering the metal. The appearance of the blade is hidden by the sheath. Both Koodak and Mira are curious about the look of the blade but decide listening to the dragons is a better idea.

“I want to give this to him as soon as possible. Actually….” He looks out the window and sees me getting ready to start the next set of grapples. “COME HERE BOY!” He hollers out to me.

A quick sigh escapes my lip. I walk back into the kitchen and see both of them standing around the table. Something covered in a piece of leather resting between them. “Yes Instructor?” I question a bit annoyed that I was called back in so soon.

“This is for you.” He points to the bundle on the table. “It is another gift from the dragons, a coming of age present.”

I am immediately wary of it. Last time I got something from the dragons I spent around three months in agonizing pain as my genetic structure was rewritten. Seriously that shit fucking sucked. I remember having some really fucked hallucinations because of it.

Don’t you dare try to tell me pain can’t do something like that, cause that shit happened.

I walk up to the bundle and begin to poke it. “The fuck is it?” I ask though I don’t expect an actual answer.

“Just take a look Walker. I promise it’s nothing dangerous.” Mira says, like that explains anything.

Sighing I uncover the bundle to see a sheathed dagger. “Well so far so good.” A sigh escapes my lips. “It’s gonna fuck me up the moment I tough it, isn’t it?”

Silence prevails. That is NEVER a good sign. Another sigh and I take hold of the handle.

Nothing so far, no pain, no weird visions of freaking shit happening in the future. Maybe this won’t be so bad.

I unsheathe the dagger. It slips free with oiled ease. The blade is truly beautiful. Single edge, spikes running along the back meant for tearing more flesh on the way out. Four holes cut into the blade; they rest between the spikes allowing for an even lighter blade than it already is. And is this blade is light as hell already.

Taking a closer look at the handle I see small symbols craved into the metal. I can’t make heads or tails out them, but I notice that they run all the way under the wood handle. Whatever they are I bet they are more important than I realize.

A few test swings and god damn does the dagger feel wonderful. Holding it makes me feel like I could take on the world.

“Think fast” Ironvigor throws a wooden bowl at me. Without a seconds thought I swing the blade straight through the bowl, slicing it clean in half. There was no resistance as the blade passed through it. If I hadn’t seen it, I would have thought I missed.

“Whoa.” I whisper. I look at the blade. No nicks, dents or even a scuff mark. This is one hell of a weapon.

“Impressive craftsmanship, no telling how long the dragons had it for yet it is still sharp.” Ironvigor inspects the blade in my hand. “It looks like someone craved runes into the handle, possibly why it’s still so sharp. May I?” He asks holding out a hand.

I flip it around handing it to him hilt first. The moment I let go of it though the tip of the blade sinks straight to the floor. Koodak immediately lets go, the dagger buries itself about half an inch into the wooden floor.

Needless to say all of our jaws dropped upon seeing this happen. I for one know that dagger was not that heavy, even if it was Ironvigor is WAY stronger than I am.

Koodak stares at the weapon for a moment before leaning down. He takes a firm grip on it, of course he has to wrap his hand around the whole handle since his fingers are too big to fit through the ‘brass knuckles’ part. A mighty heave from the minotaur and…nothing, not even a wiggle. The dagger stays firmly wedged in the floor.

“Mira be a dear and try to pick it up.” Instructor says.

She eyeballs him for a second before trying to pick it up as well, only to receive the same result.

“Hmmm, Walker your turn.”

I roll my eyes and I quickly lean down taking hold of the dagger. I pull the dagger up with ease. “Well this is unsurprising and just further proves my point Mira.”

She sighs before asking. “And what point is that Walker?”

“I am living in a storybook universe. I mean come on.” Hold the dagger up and give it a wiggle. “A weapon that only I can lift? I mean how much more storybook can you get. Watch next I’m going to find out that holding it makes me immune to your telekinetic left, or that I can cut through offensive spe-“

I am interrupted as Mira’s green colored mana wraps around my body. I turn and look her dead in the eyes. “Please tell me you are faking right now. I don’t know if I could really handle anymore of this shit right now.”

Her eyes shift about.

Fuck. My. Life.

“Seriously? You’re telling me that it actually does that?”

“Y-yes?” She reply’s nervously. Mira wrings her hands beating herself up for doing that. She knew I was already having a rough morning and was hoping that wouldn’t happen. She had hoped it would just work like normal and I would calm down.

I open my mouth to bitch about this shit, because seriously this shit is starting to wear on my already frayed nerves.

“Let’s head outside and test that second theory of yours. If it’s true than that dagger will be quite the useful battle companion.” Koodak says as he walks out into the back yard.

The next sound in the room is the dagger hitting the floor again followed by the sound of running feet.

Both Koodak and Mira turn to see I have ran off.

“Where does that boy think he is going!? The city is about to rise!” ��>feq