The Sim

"Back straight, chest out, balance your feet."

"Erlan slow down."

"Your enemy isn't going to go easy on you, now would they?"

"Again!"

I straighten my stance with my wooden Bo staff.

"There must be fluidity in your movements. In combat you must be as graceful and also as flexible as the Sylph." Erlan revolves around me.

I try to turn my head without ruining my stance ."What if my opponent is a Sylph?"

"Then you've got your work cut out for you."

As soon as he says that he effectively delivers a strike with his Bo staff. It takes everything in me to counter it and not fall to the ground.

He moves gracefully, in a rhythmic motion and I continue to block all his strikes and blows. I don't make any attack of my own, instead only take a defensive stance and try to stay on my feet.

We go on like this for a while till Erlan delivers one last deadly blow sending me to the other side of the room, my back hitting the wall, at least I don't fall flat on my bottom like I've been doing in all our earlier rounds.

Erlan moves forward to help steady me. "Well you've certainly gotten better, you didn't fall this time."

I try to regain my breath. "Yeah."

He hands me my water bottle. "But you've not gotten your attack mode quite right yet. In combat you have to know when and how to balance your offensive and defensive tactics."

"I know," I sigh while wiping sweat from my brow. "What if I hurt you?"

"Hurt me? Isn't that the whole point of combat?" He looks dazed. "The whole essence is to subdue you opponent."

"Take a short break while I set up the Sim."

"The Sim" otherwise known as The Simulation, is a technique of representing the real world in a virtual reality, where everything looks and feels so real. It is used in training by amateurs and soldiers by causing a sort of controlled hallucination or acousma.

"I know this is your first time in a Sim but please remember this, whatever happens in the Sim, your body feels it in reality so be very careful." Erlan hands me a microchip before inserting one himself at the back of his ear.

"I'll be with you the whole time and we'll both hear and see the same thing. If it's too much for you and you want to stop it, all you have to do is take the chip out. It might hurt a bit."

He moves to the large screen and after a few clicks and taps he activates the virtual reality program, while it counts down I slip the chip at the back of my ear and close my eyes.

A few minutes later I open my eyes. I'm no longer in the training room but on the palace grounds, in its large maze. It's dark out and I take a look at my surroundings.

Erlan stands before me his attire completely different from what he wore back in the training room. He's in a black fitting spandex suit which hugs his slender frame, showing his muscles perfectly and is also appropriate for fighting. Strapped to his person are two plasma guns on each side of his thighs, for easy access and not far from his reach.

I'm still staring when Erlan speaks up. "Elanor to Karina." He snaps his fingers.

Heat flooding my cheeks. "Forgive me for staring. You look a bit different."

He laughs. "Instead of checking me out, why don't you take a look at yourself."

"What?"

My attire is similar to his, black spandex zip up suit. I run my hands through my hair only to discover that it has been made into large braids. A huge bow and arrows similar to the one I used on the day of the accident is strapped to my back.

"This is amazing." I laugh excitedly while looking at Erlan.

He chuckles. "Indeed it is."

"Is this spandex?" I gasp.

"Yes Karina. Now focus. Let's focus on the real reason we're here ."

"Sorry, I just got a bit excited." Did it just get hotter in here?

"I understand, you should have seen me the first time I went in a Sim." He adjusts his ponytail. "Anyway, we're here to practice, our enemies would be upon us soon. I set four in total. It shouldn't be that difficult right?"

Now I'm feeling nervous. "I hope so."

"They should be further in the maze. I chose the bow and arrow for you because it's the weapon you're most comfortable with and you're pretty badass with it." Erlan winks at me.

I roll my eyes "Ha ha very funny, the last time I held one I almost got you killed."

He presses a button to load his guns. "I'm hoping you can put the same energy in the opponents we're going to face."

"Yes sir." I say jokingly as we walk deeper into the large maze.

"Now be quiet and alert we can run into them at any momen..."

A female elf dressed in a kind of ninja suit jumps out from the bushes and tackles Erlan to the ground.

"Erlan!" I scream frozen to the spot.

When my legs finally respond to the signals sent from my brain, I pounce at the elf. She pushes me off easily.

That gives Erlan time to switch their positions now she's wriggling under him. "I'm fine Karina, don't worry. LOOK OUT! BEHIND YOU!"

In a split second I twirl around barely dodging a knife thrown in my direction.

"Knives, really Erlan." I flail my arms in frustration.

There's something or someone lurking in the shadows. Whatever it is it's very fast. My eyes can barely keep up.

Swoosh. Another blade flies in the air and I'm able to dodge it just in time.

I turn my head to see the another female elf punch Erlan in the jaw.

He'll be fine.

I focus my attention to what's lurking in the shadows. I move further away from the action going on with my trainer and his opponents.

I pull out a platinum arrow from my satchel. Feeling the cool metal between my finger tips. My bow in hand, I slide the arrow in and a blueish hue emanates from the bow meaning it's locked in.

My eyes are peeled as my attacker can jump out of these bushes at any moment.

A rustling sound causes my whole body to go rigid and I fire.

A small mammal scurries off as soon as I do that.

"It's nothing." I turn around.

A great force knocks the air out of my lungs sending my bow flying to the opposite direction and making me fall to the ground.

"Urghhh, what the?"

As soon as I get my bearings right I notice a figure hovering around me.

I spot a shimmering set of knives in each hand.

I feel for my bow. "My bow." I gasp when I see it on the other side of the man elf. The only way I'll be able to get it is if I'm able to eliminate the enemy here which I can't do without my weapon.

This is a huge problem.

Not taking my eyes off him I carefully stand up.

There's an evil glint in his eyes.

I take another glance at my bow and our eyes meet, as if he knows what I was thinking he lurches forward, knives flying in the air.

I feel it happen in an almost slow motion like manner, the swoosh of cool air, the cold blade brushing against my cheek and adrelanine rushing through my veins as I carefully dodge the blades.

I do that in a rhythmic motion till I'm within arms length of my attacker. I take out his legs sending him crashing down then quickly sliding on the floor to pick up my bow.

I succeed and just as I fire he sends two blades in my direction, my arrow takes out its target but not before one of his blade's pierce my shoulder.

"Arghhh." A sharp pain errupts from my shoulder as I cry out in pain.

The pain in my shoulder doesn't make me notice the sudden drop in the temperature.

"You froze him?" Erlan jogs in my direction moving past the frozen body of my attacker. "The arrows can do that?"

"I guess so, I'm as surprised as you are, I'm guessing each arrow has a special feature." I give a strained laugh while holding my hurt shoulder.

"You're bleeding. Are you alright?" There's a horrified look on Erlan's face.

"Yeah I got hit." I wince at the sight of my own blue blood.

"Alright Karina pull out the chip." Erlan says.

I shake my head. "No, let's finish the training, the knife's not too deep ."

"YOU ARE HURT!" Erlan's eyes are as big as saucers.

"Yeah but it's not real right? It'll all be over soon, we're down to the last enemy, let's just finish it. Please." I say through the pain.

"Fine but we need to pull this knife out and apply pressure. On the count of three. One,"

"Owww I thought I you said three." I grit my teeth and my countenance worsens.

Erlan smirks. "Thought you said it's not real."

"Now we've reached the last stage. This last enemy is going to be a bit tougher than the first three. Once we defeat this then we win." Erlan looks at me while explaining.

I try to sound brave even though my shoulder feels like it's on fire. "Then let's hurry. The earlier we get going the earlier we can go back."

We start moving into the palace's quadrangle.

There our last attacker is waiting for us under the night sky.

"This isn't a bit tougher, this is a BEAST!" I cry out to Erlan.

The last enemy is so huge with bulging muscles that my eyes hurt just by looking at him.

I turn to Erlan holding him tightly as we hide behind the water fountain. "There's no way we're going to take him down."

Maybe this was a bad idea.

"Come out, come out wherever you are." The enemy says in a wicked voice

Erlan whispers. "We flank him. You go right, I go left. I'll go first."

Erlan puts the plan into motion by going first.

Once he's gotten the attacker's attention, I suck in the pain and run in the right direction.

Erlan fires plasma bolts as he tries to lure him into the main building. The enemy crashes into him and knocks his weapons out of his hands. Through the pain and with my weapon drawn I fire at the entrance of the building and there's a familiar beeping sound.

"Erlannn get out of there. It's going to explode." I scream.

He scrurries to his feet and runs. The enemy hot on his trail.

Erlan yells as he runs. "Take it out, the chip. Take the chip out Karina."

Just as I do the timer goes off on the arrow and I hear a loud blast in the distance but it's like I'm falling, falling, falling...