Fiction:Everlands/Stories/Journal of Jacen Jhuul/Chapter 2: Training

'''[This is the journal of Chosen. Written sometime during the Dark Age, it recounts his training under Chosen .]'''

“Jhuulnaar left this out of his audio logs, probably for good reasons, but my time as his apprentice was rough. Day after day of cardio and strength training. I’m not talking about your run of the mill training either. Jhuulnaar had me jogging through the marshes while outrunning the huge lizards that preyed on the weak, had me climb several meters up steep cliffs, and literally threw whatever he found on the ground at me to ‘increase my reaction time’. As a kid I hated that crap. Though at the end of it all I was grateful for it.”

“See, despite all that, Jhuulnaar was like a father to me. Or...well the closest thing I thought a father would be like. Strong, dependable, and above all that, I felt like in some manner he did care about me. When we would go on small trips into the wilderness, he would share his knowledge about survival and stories about his past. We read that old book my uncle gave me and Jhuulnaar would chuckle while pointing out what he called ‘exaggerations’ and ‘total nonsense’. After a while he even let me call him ‘Jhuul’, which I’ve come to understand was an honor he didn’t bestow lightly. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the old man.”

“Aside from training my body and honing my skill with a sword. Jhuul also revealed to me that the Chosen could use magic. I had never actually seen magic before...in fact I wasn’t even sure if it was real. But when I saw Jhuul kill a Dark Beast using a blast of energy, I couldn’t pretend like what he did wasn’t magical. He taught me the basics of harnessing this power, but I would have to master it on my own.”

“One day, he comes to me saying that he has to leave Root for a little while for some official Chosen business. At first I was eager to go with him, but he warned that I wasn’t ready to make the journey. Trusting his judgement, I decided to hold down the fort as it were until he got back. I spent the next week training myself in preparation for whatever Jhuul was going to throw at me when he got back from his business.”

“Some days passed...and a stranger walked into our town. He was dressed in black rags from head to toe and wore a hood that made it hard to really get a good look at his face. He didn’t say much to anyone either. And when people tried to greet him, he just...looked at them. At some point during his arrival, our eyes met. We looked at each other for only a moment, but it felt like an eternity. I couldn’t understand why...but his gaze made me feel really uneasy...sick even. He smiled at me, or at least I think it was a smile...more like an imitation of one really. It was rigid and forced.”

“Anyways, he turned around and left town. It was the strangest thing. I thought that he was just some crazy person. Turns out...I was right. He was crazy...just crazier than I originally thought.”