Apple of Discord: Chapter 1

Master Da’Mon’s head snaps up alarmingly fast. He closes his eyes and raises his arm slowly, holding his hand up to the sky.

“What are you doing? Everything okay?” you ask.

“Reading the air,” Master D’Mon replies.

“What? I feel like you’re still holding out on me with all this extra power stuff.” You shake your head in disbelief. “What does reading the air even mean?”

“Us old warriors have talents that come from using swords all the time. We are always in fight or fight mode.”

“You mean fight or flight, right?”

“Did I say that?” Master Da’Mon glares at you.
“We have other battle senses that are woken from the deep history of the world and our ties to warrior tradition. When I read the air, I can sense approaching danger. Violent intent moves differently through space than most other things. The air notices, and it wants to share.”

Master Da’Mon cocks his head to regard you.
“We don’t have a lot of time. Let’s train.”

Towards the end of your training with Master Da’Mon, you notice that your sword instructor doesn’t seem himself.

He seems to be struggling with something you can’t see. Whatever it is, it isn’t obvious, but you know enough to know something is wrong.

You’ve seen this kind of behavior in movies: where a character is fighting off some sort of evil, thought controlling villain. There’s always a lot of head shaking as the character struggles to regain their senses.

Is that what’s going on, or was this just how Master Da’Mon behaved while training demigods?

He hands you a small bundle, nothing more than a knot of dirty oil cloth bound together with rubber bands. He mutters the word “mistake” and then continues to train you.

This seems weird, even for a demigod in Austin.

You start to wonder if this was part of the danger he warned you of earlier. Master Da’Mon continues his training regime until you hear the massive pop and hiss of a soda can opening—a telltale sign that a belch has appeared.

Right in the midst of a session? That’s strange.

Just as you get ready to ask if Master Da’Mon is okay, something, an invisible force maybe, reaches through the belch from behind you, pulling you through the doorway.

It happens so fast all you hear is Master Da’Mon yelling the word, “Mistake!”