ARIA POINT OF VIEW.

“This sword is just perfect.” I said to myself.

The sun was just beginning to climb, its pale light cutting through the lingering morning mist as I swung my sword in a wide arc.

The clash of steel rang out again and again, loud enough to scatter the birds nesting along the barracks roof.

My boots dug into the packed earth, dust rising around me in little spirals with every pivot and strike.

A circle of trainees stood around me, most of them panting, drenched in ...