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A Path to Follow
July 14, 2021|Short Story

A Path to Follow

A Path to Follow

Letting his movements guide the next, Azura trained in the courtyard of an ancient monastery. Repeating the training that is now stored in the back of his mind, he looked like a dancer going through his routine.

Azura had no special interest in using his craft. He was there to follow the journey to obtain the perfect body. This was not the first training camp where he has lived in the last fifteen years. In fact, Azura couldn’t remember the times before he started training.

He was just a kid when his first mentor discovered him. Seeing the grace of his training was quite a spectacle. Today he was alone. Strange. However, Azura paid little attention to the details and continued with his daily routine.

Twirling and jumping while swinging his toned arms. Kicking and screaming to keep up with his breathing. Letting the rays of the morning sun bathe his naked torso.

Azura paused.

There was an unusual feeling around him. There was no way to know for sure. But he trusted his instinct… walking slowly towards the armory. There, he grabbed a katana and waited.

Eventually. A couple of men appeared. They wore black kimonos and had their faces covered. “Azura,” said one of them, “we have come for you!”

Azura expected such a visit after humiliating the locals in their last tournament. “What do you want?” he asked, holding the sheathed katana in one hand.

“It’s about time someone taught you a lesson.”

Azura noticed that the men carried weapons… This was not a friendly visit. They intended to do him mortal harm, but he couldn’t be sure.

“You will soon have a chance to show your skill in the next tournament,” Azura said.

“There will be no more tournaments for you,” said the masked man and drew his katana.

Azura dodged a metal star that was thrown at him from the ceiling. “This intrusion will cost your lives,” he said and drew his katana.

Four more masked men appeared.

Azura couldn’t wait for them to band together and attack. He leapt down the stairs from the armory and landed his sword first on one of the masked men, and heard the clash of steel. Then, he turned to the side and sliced the skin off the other man’s arm.

Azuna stopped, found his position, and raised his sword to block an attack. Then, after filling his lungs with air, he jumped up and pushed the attacker with both legs, spreading his body and contracting it just in time to land on his feet.

One of the men leapt from the side, while another brandished his sword at Azura. The only way out from them was to block the attack, leaving his side unprotected. He pushed forward to evade both attackers and took cover with his sword.

He found himself in the middle of four attackers, two of whom were already brandishing their swords. Azura blocked one of their attacks as he spun and kicked his other opponent’s feet.

He back flipped to get away from the group. “This is not going to end well,” Azura said and swung his katana to deflect another metal star thrown from the roof of one of the houses. “Help your friend! He’s losing a lot of blood.”

The five masked men ignored their bleeding partner on the ground and continued.

Azura concentrated on his breathing and waited for them to approach in front of him. He grabbed the swinging hand of the first attacker and turned to strike his head with an elbow. Then, he brandished his sword to cut the skin from the hand of the next two opponents.

A metal star passed Azura, landing on the back of the masked man who was regaining his senses after elbowing his head. Only one of them continued to hold a sword. Azura faked a swing and noticed his clumsy defense, and continued his movement to give his leg more strength and jumped up kicking him in the jaw.

Azura dodged another metal star. Then, he raised his hand and pointed at the masked man on the ceiling, but was unable to find him. After a short while, a red kimono appeared on the courtyard. He was also wearing a mask.

“Bravo,” said the man in the red kimono, and took off his mask. “Rumors do you justice. You are quite competent. I am Broken Moon, the master of this land.”

Azura looked up but couldn’t find the man on the ceiling.

“Don’t worry,” Broken Moon said. “That was just a test to see if you are a worthy opponent.”

Azura raised his katana, while Broken Moon unsheathed his.

“Let’s see how good you are,” Broken Moon said and attacked.

Azura dodged the downward movement of the blade, attacked with his own, and heard the impact of the blades. They both continued with the dance, blocking their attacks. Moving around the courtyard and demonstrating their mastery of armed combat.

The balance of the fight left no margin for error, even the slightest mistake could cost them their lives.

Azura breathed heavily, while his opponent didn’t give him time to rest. Broken Moon walked carefully after each swing to get the proper posture to attack. The fight was taking its toll on Azura’s body, but the man in the red kimono didn’t seem bothered by the nonstoping attacks.

Broken Moon controlled his breathing and maintained his speed to prolong the fight. His strength had always resided in his stamina, allowing him to outlast his opponents.

He’s not stopping, Azura thought. I’m going to…I have to stop this fight.

Broken Moon saw a flash of blue in Azura’s eyes, and leaped back to see the bare-chested fighter’s skin glow.

Azura dropped his katana and dragged a foot back, as a blue light formed between his hands.

Broken Moon stood upright holding his sword in front of him.

Azura pushed the energy with the palms of his hands towards his opponent. His eyes glowed blue, and the face of a dragon of the same color appeared around him.

Broken Moon saw Azura turn into the head of a dragon, and saw the glowing blue creature open its mouth. Flame was thrown out of its mouth.

Azura kept his arms straight as he felt the energy pouring out of his palms. He saw his opponent covered in blue flames and held his position for as long as he could.

As soon as the fire was exhausted, Azura spread his arms at his sides and gathered energy with his palms. He lifted his arms and a blue energy ball floated on top of his head. Then, he lowered his arms guiding the energy over his body.

Broken Moon appeared as the smoke cleared, he was unharmed and surrounded by a red aura. “Legend does you justice, blue dragon,” he said. “I will not allow you to wreak havoc on my land.”

Azura saw his opponent’s sword glow red and grabbed his katana from the ground. “What are you?”

Broken Moon ignored the question and attacked. Azura saw the swing coming, locked his blade with his opponent’s, as he focused the energy on his free hand. Then, the face of the dragon appeared on his arm and the flame came out of his hand.

Azura burned the side of Broken Moon’s kimono, heard the whistle of the wind, and stopped to dodge the metal star.

Broken Moon glowed red and pushed Azura back with the surrounding energy field. “I’ll be back for you,” he said, and a smoking bomb exploded next to them.

By the time Azura could see, the masked men had disappeared.

92 comments
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Sebastian Iturralde

I am a fiction blogger and lover of literature, art, and all things creative. As a citizen of this beautiful planet, I am constantly inspired by the natural world around me.

92 comments

  • July 14, 2021 at 8:25 am

    Lovely…. πŸ™ŒπŸΌπŸ™ŒπŸΏπŸ™ŒπŸ½πŸ™ŒπŸΎ

  • July 14, 2021 at 8:49 am

    This was a great read, thank you for sharing.

  • July 14, 2021 at 9:08 am

    Amazing writing

  • July 14, 2021 at 9:59 am

    Very true lines and inspiring photo πŸ‘ŒπŸ™πŸŒ·πŸ˜ŠπŸŒΉ

  • July 14, 2021 at 11:34 am

    Wow! what a great story. πŸ‘ŒπŸ½

  • July 14, 2021 at 11:48 am

    Give the spoken words their own paragraph so that you story will not appear to have only telling. This would make a good graphic novel because it’s so visual.

  • July 14, 2021 at 1:04 pm

    I must admit I know less about karate and kung- Fu stories, yet it was good to read, the choice of words was very good.

  • July 14, 2021 at 1:23 pm

    .all Backround Figures disappearn in the enhightened Combat from two , – moving with Pictografic Elasticity. I’m likeing it very much, I really enjoyed the carismatic dynamicity fromtfrom your short Storry. Cool – great , how impressive

  • July 14, 2021 at 3:31 pm

    πŸ‘

  • July 14, 2021 at 5:46 pm

    Sebastian are you published ? Your stories are great to read.

  • July 14, 2021 at 6:11 pm

    When you are on any path delete myth, insert math, stay on the path, don’t turn right or left on the path and you won’t end up in the middle!

  • QED
    July 14, 2021 at 7:49 pm

    I really like all of your stories!

  • July 14, 2021 at 9:23 pm

    I really liked the visual of the blue energy shifting into a dragon around Azura, very cool effects at the end. Great dynamic fight scenes. Tight and fluid composition. Enjoyed reading this πŸ™‚

  • July 14, 2021 at 9:41 pm

    You took me there.
    I was frightened.
    Great writing!

  • July 14, 2021 at 10:38 pm

    Ain’t that the truth? My life hasp many zigs and zags and circles and u-turns…..

  • July 14, 2021 at 11:06 pm

    very good

  • Businessviews
    July 15, 2021 at 12:04 am

    Amazing. Love this stuff

  • Ruel F. Gonzales
    July 15, 2021 at 1:14 am

    What a great short story!

  • July 15, 2021 at 1:15 am

    If someone has reached the height of his art, it might be time to withdraw from the field of contestants and β€œfollow” wisdoms calling to move on to a more worthy course.

  • July 15, 2021 at 1:23 am

    What a great short story!

  • July 15, 2021 at 1:26 am

    Very true

  • July 15, 2021 at 5:17 am

    Wow

  • July 15, 2021 at 6:19 am

    Yaa dude that’s right
    Man needs difficulties and challenges in life because they are necessary to enjoy the success .

  • July 15, 2021 at 11:58 am

    Oh my God that was the best one I’ve read so far! Except for all the ones I read πŸ™‚ lol

  • July 15, 2021 at 1:13 pm

    A very good read! Great work.

  • July 15, 2021 at 2:26 pm

    I liked the fight scene….I could feel the excitement. Dr. B

  • July 15, 2021 at 3:16 pm

    Great content as always ;))

  • July 15, 2021 at 7:50 pm

    I like how you tell stores.

  • July 15, 2021 at 8:10 pm

    Is there a first chapter to this? Sorry, this is the first time I read your stories.

  • July 15, 2021 at 11:10 pm

    Azura the indomitable protagonist with uncanny powers! Well done.

  • July 15, 2021 at 11:37 pm

    Awesome story

  • July 16, 2021 at 3:01 am

    Awesome story. Gave me goosebumps.

  • July 16, 2021 at 4:44 am

    A wonderful story, I enjoyed reading this a lot πŸ™‚

  • July 16, 2021 at 6:33 am

    Cool story, it has a feel of “mortal combat”.

  • July 16, 2021 at 7:29 am

    great fiction.

  • July 16, 2021 at 10:44 pm

    Excellent!

  • July 16, 2021 at 11:43 pm

    This action-filled story is engrossing. I enjoyed reading it. But by “metal star”, do you mean “shuriken”? Other than that, great work!

  • July 17, 2021 at 1:03 am

    beautiful

  • Ashlee
    July 17, 2021 at 1:24 am

    This was a great read!!!

  • July 17, 2021 at 1:50 am

    good job

  • July 17, 2021 at 2:08 am

    That was not just well written. The choice of words you used to describe the action taking place, and all then attacking him at once. I would of thought the guy in red kimono would have not only gotten there going of how good the guy was, but he actually thought he’d win in a duel with him. Lol! Guess he figured it out which was why here disappeared. I genuinely liked that short story. Great job

  • July 17, 2021 at 5:23 am

    Hey, you are extremely good at this craft, Im glad you found me, keep up, this is great!

  • July 17, 2021 at 6:07 am

    Such powerful imagery. Lovely writing

  • July 17, 2021 at 8:31 am

    Great writing! Thank you for sharing your talents with others and supporting my blog!

  • July 17, 2021 at 11:24 am

    Some of the toning of the words felt a little odd. Like yelling (using !) that the guy was injured, then going back to speaking (using .) that he was bleeding out. Maybe state that he calmly said, or that he yelled out, rather then leaving it all to the punctuation?
    I enjoyed the fight scene, a few of the actions felt strange to read, but overall it was very well done!
    Thanks!

  • July 18, 2021 at 1:00 am

    great story!

  • July 18, 2021 at 2:05 am

    Great story!

  • July 18, 2021 at 6:42 am

    Good morning, good read, great stuff πŸ™‹

  • July 18, 2021 at 8:57 am

    Amazing read

  • July 18, 2021 at 9:48 am

    πŸ‘ŒπŸ‘ŒπŸ™

  • July 18, 2021 at 12:45 pm

    You’re such a good writer!

  • July 18, 2021 at 1:55 pm

    Kept my attention to the last word!

  • Aviyah
    July 19, 2021 at 9:51 am

    Great read and word artistry! Really enjoyed the story. 😊

  • Camden
    July 19, 2021 at 2:50 pm

    Thank you for liking my recent WordPress post on the TEFL Apocalypse! You are an amazing writer and highly talented. I enjoyed reading this story. It inspired me. Thank you Sebastian!

  • July 20, 2021 at 4:56 am

    Quite captivating

  • July 20, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Thanks for following my site, and for the likes that you have put on my posts I appreciate your kindness.

  • July 20, 2021 at 5:10 pm

    Wow, great writing! I clearly got the visuals.

  • July 20, 2021 at 5:46 pm

    Great blog

  • July 20, 2021 at 11:48 pm

    the art is really lovely, comes with the story make it a perfect piece

  • July 21, 2021 at 9:58 am

    Somehow I feel the truth from your words… “sparring”…

  • Elizabeth Evans
    July 21, 2021 at 5:45 pm

    I am so glad you tuned into my blog because I really am enjoying reading your work!!!

  • July 22, 2021 at 1:57 am

    I like the descriptions….. Took me to scenes from Ruroni Kenshi

  • July 22, 2021 at 8:21 am

    Nice one, keep ot up

  • July 23, 2021 at 12:20 pm

    Excellent story. I tried to LIKE your story, but WordPress kept bringing me to a login screen. My friends have told me the same, they cannot LIKE any of my posts unless they log in to WordPress, which they don’t want to do. This is a shame…. I FINALLY got here through my account to comment and Like. PHEW, that was a journey. GREAT STORY WRITING! FYI – I found you, because you LIKED my post (thanks for stopping by) and I came to visit you. I was pleasantly surprised. I’ll enjoy reading more of your stories.

  • July 24, 2021 at 3:01 am

    You used to comment on my blog, so I decided to check yours out. I was never really great at short stories because my plots were quite long but I love yours! Really good reads. I also want to thank you for your support at my blog πŸ™‚

  • July 25, 2021 at 11:44 pm

    What a story. Perfectly described.πŸ‘Œ

  • July 28, 2021 at 9:06 am

    I want blue dragon energy now…I think it would make a good energy drink! Oh, and weapons…That sounds good too…and an automatic knowledge of martial arts. I don’t ask for much, really lol. Fun to read! You always manage to leave me charged in some way. Love it! πŸ™‚ <3

  • July 28, 2021 at 7:58 pm

    I don’t understand everything you write but I see where it bends.

  • July 30, 2021 at 8:57 pm

    Sebastian, you are a great writer. Thank you for supporting my news blog.

  • Jide
    July 31, 2021 at 4:50 am

    Beautiful writer. Gripping story. First time here….will be back for more. Well done.πŸ‘πŸΎπŸ‘πŸΎπŸ‘πŸΎ

  • July 31, 2021 at 3:35 pm

    I’ve read through the first few. They are good. Do you ever take it any further than the short version you post here?

  • August 6, 2021 at 11:26 am

    Great detail, Sebastian. The battle with the 5 intruders was so intense I thought I was there.

  • August 6, 2021 at 1:24 pm

    The Path of Souls is a Multi way path – it can be traversed in any way you like. What do you feel??

  • August 7, 2021 at 7:24 am

    Dear Sebastian, Interesting story

  • August 7, 2021 at 10:01 am

    Thanks for your likes – there is so much more to what we write and do online – making a better future through actions and words!

  • August 7, 2021 at 7:29 pm

    Great story, I have a lot to learn about writing a blog.

  • August 11, 2021 at 8:08 am

    A very beautiful peace there…πŸ˜„πŸ˜β€οΈ

  • August 11, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    I just read your papers and it’s really incredible mam….. I in love with your superstitious imagination, your eye’s of mind it’s just out of the world…… I dreams to be write like you….. Your creativity, suspense all are too realistic ….. For few moments I just lost in second world …..good work Keep it up ….. Hope you soon gotta millions of reader

  • August 13, 2021 at 5:08 pm

    Awesome job brother – you really pulled me in

  • August 14, 2021 at 1:10 am

    Thank you for reading my blog .Glad you liked my talk on short poem by Shelley. Amazing how so much can be said is so few words. An empire of a story told in short an epic by a mind far advanced of his age and times

  • August 14, 2021 at 7:43 am

    Is there a part 2? Maybe I missed it.

  • August 14, 2021 at 5:57 pm

    Healing Arts using brilliant mind, worlds and heart. Thanks!

  • August 17, 2021 at 12:15 pm

    A good read

  • August 19, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    Great read, Sebastian. Would make a great book. Millon de gracias otra vez.

  • Thristina
    August 20, 2021 at 7:58 pm

    Amazing read!!

  • September 16, 2021 at 9:13 am

    An amazing writer. A great Inspiration for me too.

  • September 17, 2021 at 11:56 pm

    Quite an interesting article. Thank you.

  • September 19, 2021 at 5:24 am

    Truth!

  • September 28, 2021 at 10:52 pm

    Love this!!! πŸ‘

  • October 8, 2021 at 9:15 pm

    You are right

  • November 11, 2021 at 4:53 am

    Nice Article… Thanks for share

  • January 30, 2023 at 6:50 am

    This is outstanding. One can’t help but to be on Azura’s side since he is the main character. As I read, I saw in my mind’s eye, Jean Claude Van Damme. Excellent story.

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    Author's Note
    The Andes' highlands served as a source of inspiration for this short story. I hope you'll find the same beauty and wonder in its words that I did while crafting it.
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