The roar of the waterfall was constant, yet inside the cave it felt like silence. Silence filled with waiting. Alpha rose from the cold stone where he had slept in fragments, his body still aching from wounds and exhaustion. But his mind was restless.
The skeleton knight had not moved once since the night before. Still seated, sword across its lap, the figure might have been a statue if not for the faint weight of presence it carried. Alpha could not name it, but it pressed down on him—like the certainty of a storm before lightning.
He cleared his throat, unsure if words even mattered here. "You said I would begin today."
The skull tilted, slow and deliberate. Empty sockets regarded him, yet Alpha felt as though the gaze stripped away everything he was.
"You seek to live. That is not enough."
Alpha clenched his fists. "It's all I've ever had."
"Then you will die as you are."
The words hit harder than any whip. His lips trembled, but anger steadied them. "Then what do you want from me?"
The skeleton lifted the sword, bones creaking like wood long buried. Its blade was simple, chipped in places, yet the air seemed to hum as it left the knight's lap.
"Stand."
Alpha obeyed, though his legs felt unsteady.
The knight extended the blade, not in attack but in offering.
"Take it."
Alpha hesitated. He had only ever held rusted iron, scavenged from corpses in Viren. His hands shook as he reached for the weapon. When his fingers closed around the hilt, a chill traveled up his arm, seeping into his bones.
The knight released the sword, and for a moment Alpha thought he would collapse beneath its weight. It was not heavy, yet it felt as though the blade carried centuries of grief.
"A sword is not a chain. Nor is it freedom. It is decision. Every swing cuts a path. Every path demands cost. Remember this."
Alpha tightened his grip. He wanted to ask what the words meant, but he knew already that answers would not be given. They had to be carved out.
The knight rose then, towering though it was nothing but bone. The air shifted with its movement, the cave itself trembling faintly. It circled Alpha, each step echoing hollow against stone.
"Show me."
Alpha swallowed. "Show you what?"
"Your will."
The boy raised the sword with both hands. His stance was clumsy, feet too close, shoulders stiff. He swung once, the blade cutting through air with no grace. Again, harder, as though force could make up for form.
The knight watched in silence until Alpha's arms gave out, the sword clattering to the stone. He fell to his knees, chest heaving, sweat dripping despite the cold cave air.
The knight's voice cut through the sound of his gasps.
"You swing as a slave. Desperate. Blind. Seeking to break chains that are already gone."
Alpha grit his teeth. "Then how am I supposed to—"
The skeleton knelt suddenly, bringing its skull close to his face. The hollow sockets burned with something unseen.
"You are fateless. That is your flaw, and your strength. To wield the sword, you must carve what fate denies you. Again."
Alpha picked up the sword, his hands raw from the grip. He rose, slower this time, and swung. Not to break invisible shackles. Not to scream at emptiness. He swung because he chose to.
The blade cut through air, steady though weak.
The knight did not praise. It only stepped back, returning to its seat.
"Fifteen days," it said, voice like stone cracking. "Fifteen days you will bleed, strike, and fall. If you endure, you will leave this cave. If you do not, you will remain, nameless, among the dead."
Alpha's arms quivered as he held the sword at his side. His body screamed to rest, to collapse, to yield. But his eyes burned with something else.
Resolve.
He looked at the figure before him—this nameless knight who had seen countless fates unravel—and bowed his head, not in submission, but in acknowledgment.
"Then I'll endure."
The knight closed its jaw, silent once more, but Alpha felt it: the faintest stir of approval in the weight of the air.
The waterfall roared beyond the cave, unending. Time had no meaning here, only struggle. Only decision.
Alpha lifted the blade again.
And so the first lesson began.