The Emerging Part I: Dream
CHAPTER XLV

The Pentad is sitting in a room. They are watching and listening to Vaiqon instruct. He is speaking in a mesmerizing voice, in an attempt to tell the Pentad about the Oqoponh cycle, Qigids, and the speed at which they will all be trained. The Pentad are not mesmerized though, and look about the room with glazed eyes.

Pork tries to pay attention to Vaiqon, but ends up with his hands supporting the back his head, and falls asleep.

Desert begins to notice all the details of the room they are in. He sees a large window to the right with Hawk in front of it. He sees Santhemum glancing around sporadically. He sees a mural depicting a man in the center holding a sword in his right hand, a shield in his left, a quiver on his back, a bow on his back, and numerous other weapons in a flurry around all of him. Next to the man is a ponodel, a vicious looking humanoid that resembles a burned person mixed with a snarling wolverine, and an evko, a humanoid figure with over-sized features. To the other side of the man, Desert sees wondrous birds of all shapes and sizes. Desert can only recognize a few. He recognizes a phoenix, a gryphon, a falcon, a halcyon, and a hawk, but the others, he can only guess as to what they could be.

Santhemum, glancing around sporadically, has her eyes fall upon Hawk for a moment, but quickly she glances away as Hawk glances her way. Santhemum continues to glance sporadically and stops when she sees three statues in the left corner of the room behind Vaiqon. She studies the statues and comes to realize that they are unique figures portraying three Rniti donning incredible armor. She gapes at the armor when she discovers that the armor is not made of metal but of some other substance she knows nothing of.

Hawk chose the perfect place to sit down, directly next to an immense window that allows him to look out upon the Injhihato but still appear he is listening to Vaiqon. Hawk looks out to the fields and rings of the Injhihato and wishes he were out there instead. He sees Rniti mastering their techniques of their individual weapon classes and observes the war axes sparring. He is amazed at how the axe is powerful, yet nimble and, in the right hands, creative against opponents. He continues to gaze out at the Injhihato and witnesses Rniti learning to flash into oblivion and then flash into existence once again. He witnesses Jayyojjeks appearing and disappearing at will. And he watches a great practice duel between two powerful and skillful Jayyojjeks. Hawk wishes he could join in on the duel and fight himself. He feels eyes on the back of his head and turns just to see Santhemum quickly glancing away.

Fox is the only one paying attention to Vaiqon. Listening, absorbing every word.

Vaiqon, lecturing, takes notes in his head as to what each child is doing while he is lecturing. He makes the note that Fox is very interested, he is the only one actually hearing Vaiqon’s words. He sees Desert and Santhemum staring off behind him. And he notes that Hawk is gazing out the window. Seeing Pork asleep makes Vaiqon become agitated, “Alright, that is enough! You all need to pay attention to my lecture!” The Pentad is each shaken awake from their daydreams and nap and are stunned at Vaiqon’s sudden outburst. “I am attempting to explain the Oqoponh cyclce, Qigids, and your training! Now, in the hopes for you to be interested, I will ask you all what you were all thinking about that is seemingly more important than the words that are coming out of your commanding Daijok! Fox, as you were the only one paying attention to me, what would you like for me to educate you all about?”

Fox is flabbergasted at Vaiqon’s anger and cannot seem to form any words from his thoughts. “Oh very well, I will speak about the Oqoponh cycle, though I have already explained it,” Vaiqon erupts. Fox’s jaw drops at the surprise of Vaiqon’s knowledge of Fox wanting to learn of the Oqoponh, again. Vaiqon erupts again, “I can feel the thoughts in your head, Fox. They might as well be coming from your mouth at the loudest you can yell!

“But since you cannot form meager phrases I must teach you the reason why you are here and what is expected of you. Again. Now, as I have said before, what is expected of you at the Injhihato is for you all to take the place of the ones that came before you. You will all learn the aspects of how to protect the lands of Munda Luna. You will learn the ways of zoltind. You will learn how to rely on yourselves and the rest of your Pentad. And you will learn the discipline that is associated with the Rniti. But as of this moment, you have no discipline. I will force some discipline on you all after each of you have had a sparring session with me. Right now! Hawk, you are first!”

The Pentad is so stunned they can hardly breathe. They stare at their Daijok and only twitch their mouths up and down. Hawk is the first to break out of the trance and forces the others awake. “Desert, Santhemum, Fox, Pork, move the bench now!”

The Pentad finally moves and springs into action, they move the bench to the window and prepare to watch Vaiqon and Hawk duel.

Vaiqon tells the rules to Hawk, “We will be competing in a zoltind duel. This is just like any other duel with swords, but instead of swords, we will use our zoltind skills. The first zoltok to hit the other five times in the stomach or knocks the other flat, wins the duel. Begin!”

Vaiqon suddenly unleashes a devastating air current, taking Hawk completely off guard. Hawk takes the full blast of the air current and gets whipped around, but stays on his feet. He wonders to himself, ‘How did Vaiqon do that? It was as if he already had it built up and just let it go.’

Another air current comes spiraling towards Hawk. This time Hawk can counter with a simple air wall that does little to the spiraling vortex of Vaiqon, but does keep it from hitting Hawk. Hawk spins to his left and fires a blast of his own. Vaiqon merely nods in the direction of the incoming blast and sends it back towards Hawk. Hawk, surprised again, receives another hit. Vaiqon, moving only slightly, fires off a wind bomb that Hawk has never seen before. The wind bomb careens and curves towards Hawk and explodes solidly on Hawk’s stomach, sending him flying.

Hawk, amazingly, stops mid-flight, fluidly moves his hands, and shoots a wind wall, that seems to pull all the air from the room, at Vaiqon, all before he lands on his feet. While the wind wall is moving through the room, the rest of the Pentad feel as if they are being pulled in the direction of the wind wall’s momentum and see the disturbed airwaves radiating from the wind wall. Vaiqon sees the powerful wind wall zooming at him and only frowns to himself.

When the wind wall smacks into its target, the giant window explodes outward, causing the Pentad to dive to the ground. Vaiqon is thrown backwards and slams into the wall behind him. Vaiqon looks up and sees Hawk preparing another current, but before he can, Vaiqon unleashes another wind bomb, this time moving with intensity. Hawk finishes his air current just as the wind bomb comes towards him. The wind bomb explodes as soon as it touches the air current and sends Hawk flipping backwards into the wall behind him. Somehow, Hawk lands on his feet and he keeps score in his head, ‘That is four for Vaiqon and only one for me.’ Suddenly, Hawk feels the still air behind him start to creep forward. He glances at Vaiqon to see nothing, Vaiqon is not moving, until he unexpectedly reaches out and pulls his hands to himself. The creeping air behind Hawk transforms into a gale, but before it can knock Hawk down, Hawk blows out a vortex at Vaiqon, keeping Hawk in place as the two forces act against one another and causing Vaiqon to defend against the vortex.

The gale ends allowing for Hawk to prepare another attack, but before he can, he sees Vaiqon redirecting his vortex back at him and that Vaiqon has sent another vortex along to hit Hawk on opposite sides. Seeing the vortexes quickly move toward him, Hawk, having no knowledge of how to defend against two simultaneous vortexes, focuses on the air all around him. He concentrates on the increasingly faster wind blowing towards him, spins, and then sticks his fists out that causes a massive amount of wind to erupt outward. The wind eruption collides with the vortexes and continues to fly towards Vaiqon. Vaiqon, surprised by the fact that Hawk did not fall on his back, is overwhelmed by Hawk’s wind eruption and is hit again.

Vaiqon recuperates and is met with another air current that doubles him over. He then forces his hands together, sending out a sphere of air around him, then forces his hands outward, causing the sphere to dive at Hawk.

Hawk, again seeing something of ire zoltind for the first time, knows nothing for defense. He rapidly sends out wind wall after wind wall in the hopes of destroying the sphere. He sees his first few wind walls dissipate as if they were nothing, but his last few wind walls start to weaken the sphere. When the sphere reaches Hawk, he is able to wipe the sphere away as if it were a fly. Hawk continues his swipe and punches the air multiple times, and then performs a roundhouse kick that forces a sliding eruption vortex towards Vaiqon.

Vaiqon is hit for a fourth time and thinks to himself, ‘Ah, if only he knew I were toying with him. I do not want to hurt him, but he is pushing me to some limits. How can Hawk defeat these techniques? No matter, I must show him that an Ummkoniyo cannot defeat a Daijok so easily.’ Vaiqon then draws a curtain of air from floor to ceiling that blocks all of Hawk’s continued attacks. Hawk ceases his efforts as he cannot blow through the curtain. Vaiqon then smoothly moves and aggressively jabs once, sending the curtain away.

Hawk does not see the air curtain move but knows it has once he is flat on his back with a whistling sound of dissipating wind filling his ears.

“Very well done, Hawk, I have not had a duel like that, with an Ummkoniyo that is, in quite a while. I should tell you, though, that I was not displaying my full power.”

Hawk sits up slowly and asks, “What? That was not full power? But then what was it?”

“Why it was merely the first advanced techniques of ire. I do not know how you were able to defend against them, or conjure them, but that was mightily impressive.” Vaiqon feels the wind from outside and looks at the broken window. He raises his hand and grunts and the glass is restored to its former glory.