Memoir Inanis

I was slowly regaining consciousness. My head hurt like crazy and my vision was blurry. I analyzed my surroundings. I was by a bonfire. Its warmth was soothing, a comfort I hadn't felt in ages. On further analyzing I noticed a familiar man by the bon fire.

Instinctively, I jumped to my feet and was ready to swing my blade. Something was wrong—I realized my blade was missing. I recognized the man as my savior. "Your blade is right by that tree, kid. Relax and eat your fish before it gets cold." He said as he continued roasting the fish.

The food was perfectly cooked—the best I'd had in years. I still knew what I had to do. I could not let myself be distracted or grow soft. I finished my food and went and picked up my blade.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" my savoir asked. "I am thankful for your kindness but I have already made up my mind." I responded. "Do what you must." He responded.

I unsheathed my blade and dashed at the man as fast as I could, hoping to end this quickly. Cain didn't even flinch, his eyes remaining fixed on the fire.

Right before my blade reached his neck, the man flicked his finger. In that instant, I was thrown back by some invisible force and ended up hitting a tree. He looked at me and pointed at me. Once again, I felt some invisible force crushing me. No matter how hard I tried to resist it was just overwhelming. I blacked out once more.

When I regained consciousness, one thing stood out immediately. All I could see was the ground and for some reason it was currently moving. It took a few seconds to realize what was going on.

I jumped out of the man's shoulder, ready to fight. The man turned around and looked at me. " I know you have been tracking me down but you are light years away from being able to harm me let alone kill me." He said with quite a lazy tone.

As always, he had already confiscated my katana which he was currently holding in his hand. I was not willing to let his words discourage me but the reality was that his words held some truth.

Unless I could find out what mysterious ability he had, I had no chance of defeating him. I had no idea how to proceed. Suddenly, a sound interrupted my train of thought.

"I can help you grow stronger if you follow me. I will not stop you from trying to kill me but only through direct confrontations like you did before. Anyways you do not look like the type of guy who would resort to less. It's your choice." He concluded as he walked away. He was not giving me much time to think about it considering he still had my sword in hand.

I took his offer and followed this mysterious man. I had no idea why he wanted to train me but it worked in my favor. It was clear I wouldn't be able to find him again. For now we were neither friends nor partners. We just two people who both had something to benefit from each other thus were travelling together.

For a week, he made me repeat a kata of sword movements telling me not to focus on the sword itself, but how I felt within. At first, I was not too fond of his choice of words but after some time if felt like there was something different about my attacks that I could not fully understand yet.

In exchange, he indulged in every single one of my request to try and kill him. Most ended the same way—with me passing out in under a minute.

It was during that time that we were ambushed by a large brigade of bandits. They had surrounded us while we were at mountain pass thus escaping was not really an option. They rained down an almost infinite amount of arrows on us.

We were at an obvious disadvantage. They had both the high grounded and the numbers. Luckily, Cain had a knack for achieving the impossible. He leaped at them attaining heights that should not be humanly possible.

I could barely hold my own, but I managed to avoid being a burden. On the other hand, Cain was blitzing passed the bandits dodging and catching their arrows, catching and breaking their swords all whilst swiftly killing each and every one of them.

Even at the face of a superhuman like Cain, this group of bandits did not waver even slightly. Even whilst they were our enemies, I had to respect their unwavering courage. Unfortunately, they were no match for Cain.

The katas Cain had taught me proved invaluable. The katas allowed me to slice arrows mid-air and shatter blades on impact. I was actually quite shocked to be able to break another sword on contact but on the battlefield one does not really get time to celebrate small victories.

I aimed to kill in as little blows as possible to avoid being teamed up on. I was already drenched in blood, the metallic taste still fresh in my mouth.

I had just finished up on my end and was waiting for Cain to finish with his massacre. He had finally snapped the last neck and came walking towards me. He walked in such a calm but terrifying manner that it sent shivers down my spine.

Out of nowhere Cain suddenly lunged at me. I tried moving back by instinct but he grabbed me into a hug and turned me around taking the position I was in.

I could not understand what was going on until I saw blood flowing from Cain's torso and sword sticking out from it. He looked at me with a soft smile and gave me a very gentle nod.

He looked back at the bandit who had his sword plunged through him with a very menacing look that the bandit immediately pulled out his sword and tried to end his own life. Unfortunately for him, Cain was not that merciful.

Right before the sword reached the bandits neck, Cain caught it and using only the strength of his fingers. He shattered the sword. The bandit looked at Cain with absolute dread. It was as if he was face to face with the devil himself.

Cain grabbed his head and slowly squeezed. The bandit held onto Cain's arm as he cried and squirmed trying to escape. Mucus was flowing from his nose and soon blood was flowing from his eyes and ears.

Soon Cain's fingers drove into the sides of the bandit's skull. The bandit's arms fell and he stopped squirming. His torture had ended and his life was no more. Even by my standards that was a bit too much.

Cain walked towards me with the same cold expression he had to kill the bandit. It was absolutely terrifying. My instincts were screaming at me to run away as shivers ran down my spine. Even if I ran, would I be able to escape this monster.

Cain might have noticed the fear on my face since he decided to give a very gentle smile. In a way, after all he had done, a smile like that was a bit more terrifying.

"Why did you do it?" I asked. "Do what?" he asked trying to act oblivious. "Why did you save me especially at the cost of your own safety. I can handle myself fine you know." I told him with my voice a bit shaky.

"I know you could protect yourself but as an adult it is my duty to protect those under my care. So as long as you travel with me I will protect as many times as you want even at the cost of my own life." Cain said in a very gentle voice ironical to his capabilities of mass destruction.

We left for shelter abandoning the blood bath we had caused. Once we got to a decent shelter, I helped tend to Cain's wounds.

After all, he was my partner. Despite his overwhelming power, his unrelenting ruthlessness, and that unnerving smile, I couldn't deny the truth anymore. He had saved me, not once but many times. He didn't have to, but he did.

And now, for better or worse, we were in this together.