Spiral (solo)

After the long chat on the history of Sa Shin Mu, Master Sung sent Arawn home. He told him that they would begin lessons again, but at another location. Arawn expected to meet back at the trap riddle house, but instead he recieved a note in his room late at night to meet in an area in northern Rukongai. The note came with simple map to lead him to the desired spot. Upon retiring for sleep Arawn wondered what awaited him there.


A little before noon the next day

Using shunpo he made excellent time. Within minutes he was well through most of the districts and nearly to the place shown on the map. He had to stop to rest several times, but the breaks didn't hurt his journey too much. It didn't take long for him to find out what the new location was. It turned out to be a place called the Forest of Whispers. As he made his way through Rukongai he asked for directions and referred to the map. A helpful citizen was kind enough to give him much information. Apparently the forest was rumored to be haunted, the whispering was to be the sound of ghosts that called the woods home. Since they were already spirits Arawn found that story abit unnerving. Malicious spirits lurking in the forest to steal people's lifeforces wasn't a very friendly spot for training. A elderly woman overhearing the conversation was quick to correct the man's tale.
"There's no ghosts in those woods." she began after tugging Arawn's arm to get his attention. "The way the wind passes through the trees makes the sound like people talking. Since then the ghost stories started about it and people stayed away." Arawn chuckled upon hearing this. That made more sense than the other man's story.
"It's nice to know there's nothing to fear." He bowed to the old woman.
"Oh there's plenty to fear!" she cackled "Because everyone is afraid of the woods bandits made it their home. And there are plenty of strange creatures there as well. Oh there's plenty of more dangerous things than ghost."
With a sigh Arawn continued down the dusty street and to the edge of the woods.
"No ghosts, but bandits and creatures." he sighed once more, looked back at the district, and entered the woods

The sunlight barely shifted through the trees, giving the area a dark feel. He tightened strap on his shoulder holding his pack and the strap holding his sword. The thought of being attacked by bandits wasn't far from his mind. He was sure he could handle people one on one, perhaps even many vs one. But the problem lay with the setting. In an area they were familiar with they could easily ambush him, or use hit and run tactics to wear him down. He continued forward while looking ever which way. As the woman said there was the sound of whispering as he walked. Almost if people stood in every shadow of the trees talking in hushed tones. Arawn could see the green leaves flicker in the sparse light when he looked up. After awhile it was almost relaxing rather than scary. Walking in silence he came to a fork in the dusty road. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the map. It did mention something about the path splitting.


"Seems easy enough." Arawn said as he placed the paper back in his pocket and started down the central path. He counted in his head as he walked. It wasn't hard to notice the forest had gotten darker. "37, 38, 39, 40." As he stopped counting he stopped walking as well. Arawn looked to the right off the path he was on. The forest was pitch dark in that direction. The light was completely blocked off by the thickly woven branches. Swallowing hard he turned right as instructed continued. The relaxing whispering from before was heard even here. But now that it was much darker it did indeed seem sinister. Every other step broke a fallen twig or branch with a loud snap. In the corner of his eye he thought he saw movement. His hand went to his sword as he traveled deeper into the darkness.

Without knowing it Arawn had began to run through the forest. The darkness was unnerving, the whispering trees, and the snapping of twigs all made his trek unbearable. Just as he was beginning to think Yuki had sent him astray the darkness of the tress faded, and a light entered the path. He rushed forward into the lighted area.



He had entered a clearing in which sat a humble cottage. Arawn fell to the ground to catch his breath from all the running. The place looked peaceful enough. After a moment of rest he got back up and walked over to the door to knock. The door swung open and Yuki stood in the doorway
"Took you long enough." she muttered before moving out of the way.
"Nice to see you too." he breathed as he entered, shutting the door behind himself. The place looked much larger from the inside. He wondered if it was the same trick Master Sung employed in the mansion in the Serieti. There was a definite western influence as apposed to the usual japanese feel most the houses he saw. They passed a modern looking kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, and a couple bedrooms before reaching the back of the cottage. His master sat out on the simple wooden porch that faced the dark woods.
"Welcome to my summer house." the old man chuckled, his feet dangled off the edge of the porch kicking the short grass. "It so beautiful here when all the flowers start to bloom." He looked out at the dark trees and sighed. "The problem is it's way too dark. We're going have to clear some trees to brighten this place up."
Arawn eyes widened. Had his master called him here to cut down trees? Was this some kind of training? Master Sung read his expression and laughed. "Yes, this is part of your training follow me." With that the old man hopped off the porch and walked into the dark woods. Shrugging his shoulders Arawn followed leaving Yuki on the porch alone. He turned to look again and Yuki was gone.

They walked in silence for many minutes until Sung stopped and gazed upward at the high trees. Arawn stopped behind him. The branched were so tightly knit together and yet it wasn't completely dark here, just as if a large shadow was being cast.
"What did you see in the quarry that day?" he asked without turning around
The question caught him off guard. He thought back quickly to the incident. With much thought he finally replied "I saw you rise into the air and the wall was damaged as you jumped. ."
"Did I jump?" he asked now turning to eye his student. Arawn could only blink. What kind of question was that? Of course he had jumped how else had he gotten so high into the air?
"I saw as much." Sung's smiling face told him he was wrong. "Well, I thought I saw you jump." He added doubtfully.
A gust of wind buffets Arawn's face and Sung is gone. But in the following second a rain of leaves and branches fall upon him and light comes down. Covering his face and head with his arms he looks up. The canopy of the trees has been broken large hole allows the sunlight to filter down. In the middle sunlit hole Master Sung descends. He lands on the ground, and dusts several leaves from his robe.
"Now what did you see? Did I jump?" he asked smiling. It could be so very vexing when he asked such questions when he knew the answers.
"No sir, the wind was in my eyes..." Arawn stopped. Wind? Since he had arrived in the woods the wind had moved the leaves and branches to 'whisper' but there had been no gust strong enough to blind him temporarily. Quickly he wet his finger and held it aloft, there was a faint wind but it was coming from BEHIND them. Sung was already nodding his head. "I don't understand how, but you created that wind." Arawn looked up at the hole his master had made in the trees. Although not perfect it was nearly a circular cut much wider than his small frame.

"Twice now you've see the technique, any insights?" The old man asked him. Arawn's brain ticked away at the puzzle before him. He tried to remember the details of the first demonstration. His master rose into the air, and there were markings left on the wall in his wake. There was something else. From so far away it was hard to see much. And now that he was closer he was blinded by a gust of wind. The wind was created by his master of course. That wasn't much to work with. Looking at the other techniques he'd learned Sa Shin Mu employed the reiatsu in some way offensively or defensively. Sung stared at hims intently while he thought about it. He tried to ignore the pressure. In both demonstrations Sung rose into the air.
"You used your reiatsu to catapult yourself into the air?" he quickly blurted out. He regretted saying it the second it left his mouth. Sung only smiled. Arawn hoped he wasn't mad. But he felt it unfair that he had to figure something out from only seeing it twice.
"Not quite." The old man grunted "Perhaps this will help you figure it out." The man vanished only to reappear barely a foot in front of him. Suddenly there was a roar in his ears as wind whipped at his back, but it wasn't wind it was spiritual pressure. He felt something slam into his chest, not once, but five times. Then he was falling. Falling? When had he left the ground? He looked down just as the earth came up to meet him and everything went black.

Arawn woke up face down. There was a dull throb in his chest, but he was fine. Sung stood some distance away watching over him. He was thankful he was kind enough to keep him safe while unconscious, but then remembered he was the reason he was on the ground in the first place.
"So now have you figured it out?" he asked like previous events hadn't happened. Although he wanted to shout at the old man, this time he was sure what had happened.
"Somehow....somehow you created a tornado. I could feel myself being pulled in and yet repelled." And somehow he had hit him five times while doing it. He rubbed his chest. "And you got me in the chest several times." Sung laughter filled the forest.
"Well you're still wrong, but you're much closer than before." he gestured for him to stand. "The technique you just witnessed and experienced" he smirked. "Was a simple spin." Arawn was in state of disbelief. "Yes, I was just high speed spinning. it's through that speed that it's able to deliver multiple attacks."
"If it's spinning why does the technique rise into the air?" he asked remembering his fall to earth.
"Go ahead and try spinning right now." He nodded his head at Arawn's questioning look. Reluctantly he began spinning in place. "Go faster." the old man chimed in. Arawn tried to go faster and tripped over his feet and fell to the ground slightly dizzy. The old man walked to his grounded pupil. "Using such a high speed on the ground would be just as bad. Rising into the sky and striking with such speed is the principle of this skill."

After getting up they began to practice. "You were correct in you first guess; you launch yourself using your spiritual power. Then you must alternately burst from your arms to spin yourself." It sounded simple enough, but nothing is ever so simple. The rest of the day was spent jumping only using reiatsu from his feet.
"Learning to focus energies through you feet is difficult at first. It's a necessary skill. Beck-Ho and Ju-Jak can be utilized from your feet as well as hands." he mentioned as he practiced. To punctuate the point he slammed his foot down and sent out a shock wave of reiatsu. Arawn redoubled his efforts. He remembered how daunting harmony of his hands was, and expected the same with his feet. He never realized he was 'right-legged' He toiled at it for hours til found himself a shortcut. Just using the feet was what made it difficult. Instead of focusing only on his feet, he pushed his energies to his abdomen and then pushed through his legs. Even Master Sung was surprised at how fast he pulled it off. He spent the next few hours jumping without moving his legs. A blast of spiritual power propelled him into the air. He made short hops before blasting himself through the hole made by his master. As he cleared the trees he took a quick look at the sky. The sun was low in the sky. They'd been at it for a long time. When he landed Sung said as much.
"You've done well for the first day." he patted the younger man on the shoulder. "We'll continue this later. As I said before don't neglect your other skills." He smiled and winked at Arawn.
"Yes, Master." was the reply as they made their way back to the cottage.

And so the weeks passed. Days spent the woods, and nights sleeping in the cottage. When not jumping he practiced his other forms. It wasn't until third week that Sung informed him of the next step in his technique.
"The complexity of his form is quite daunting. You are able to handle it thus far...." he looked at Arawn, then turned around. "The same way you propel yourself upwards must be employed to create the spin. It's just simply a matter of releasing power, but bending with the flow." Arawn listened intently, but that didn't give him much. "Your body it the axis on which you turn. From your legs the energy travels to your arms. The burst of reiatsu only moves you, not empowers. Speed is gained, and power is lost. But from that speed some strength is gained." It made some sense to Arawn, the fast spin did make the strikes seem powerful. The question was how was he to pull it off. "Try to focus on a single spin first." Sung spoke softly.
"Yes Master." Was Arawn's only reply. He tried to pool his focus to the back of his arm and shoulder. Standing in a simple fighting stance he tired to release energy as he hooked a punch. The energy built in his arm, but held there. It was an odd spot to release from. Punch, release, this time a slight push as the energy came forth. Not much but it was a start. Punch, release, this time the push came too slow. The timing was indeed tricky, he would need to build up the charge before he punched. A well planned punch to be sure, but Master Sung did it so effortlessly. Spinning and rising in quick motion. Well had invented the art, so it would be very easy for him to preform. How many years had it taken to obtain that level? Decades? Centuries? He shudder to think. And so he continued with his punches. Sung just watched him quietly from a downed log.

Well over an hour had passed. Arawn turned to look and Sung was gone. He wasn't worried, that often happened. Master would leave and come back for him later when practice was over. He hadn't made much progress. One arm wasn't enough, and using two hadn't given him much a boost either. When using both arms he found some added force, but not enough to push him around 360 degrees, 90 degrees at best. Arawn sat down the tree Sung had occupied. He needed to think about it. From his upper body there was only so many ways to release energy. He could try his back, but that would give him a push rather than a spin. Sung spoke of bending, but he couldn't just adjust it like that. The wind passed through the trees and the whispering increased around him. At this point it didn't bother him anymore. The practice area wasn't as dark as the rest of the woods thanks to the hole his master had cut. Sunlight filtered down from the gap, and the wind took told of the branches and pushed the leaves. A few of them were knocked down and fluttered to earth. Arawn watched the leaves drop a welcome distraction to his current problem. Many of the leafs sailed on the wind, while others turned end over end as it fell. Inspiration. Could it be that simple, turning in the wind the wayward leaf finally reached the ground. Still focusing on the ground Arawn looked for the spot Master Sung had leaped into the air. There were some leaves on the ground, but it was easy enough to see, there was a particular pattern cut into the ground. A spiral. It wasn't just the upper body to make the spin. As he had said, the body is the axis, so the entire length is used to make the spin. He was proud to have figured it out, but execution was another story. From the legs to the arms, he needed to release almost instantly. Standing in the same spot as his master he attempted the same feat. He expelled his energy from the right side to strongly and knocked himself the ground. The second attempt sent him forward instead of staying in place. And then he kept at it, until Master Sung reappeared. A grin was on the old man's face.
"So how are things?" he had thought his master was watching over him. Arawn had made his own markings on the ground, none as perfect as Sung's. "I see you're gotten better." The man said observing the strange patterns his student had left. "Just remember to keep your balance."
The old man patted Arawn on the shoulder, and brushed the dirt and leaves that had gotten there. "Practice is over, remember all you've done today."

The days that followed had him focusing on balance of the forces he used. From the left and right he had to equalize both pressure and timing. Truth be told Arawn had slowly come enjoy these exercises. It was like a deciphering a code, putting a jigsaw together, or any other puzzle. All the pieces were there and it was up to him to slowly assemble them into the desired result. And yet all this took place within himself. Mastering his own energies and finite control. As he practiced he realized that his reiryoku flowed pretty quickly now. Shifting and bending his own power to meet his needs. Initiating Beck-Ho and Ju-Jak had become quicker. Perhaps his workouts had a positive effect overall. As the wind moved the branches around him he once again focused his reiatsu. Left and right had to be synchronized. Arawn released a quick burst from each side, the power was just enough to spin his body 180 degrees. With his feet dragging on ground he almost tripped himself. Resetting his position he tried again. Another half turn, and yet again he reset position. He'd learned long ago that such repetitive motions helped with the process. But in the time he had taken to accustom himself to it, he felt more than ready to take the last steps. As he reset his position again, closed his eyes and stilled his breathing. Eyes snapping open Arawn released a full blast of his energy. For the first rotation he used his foot to pivet, but couldn't handle the second one. Under the pressure he dropped to his knees scratching the skin against his uniform. Although painful, he still stood up and smiled.
"Almost there." Indeed he was almost ready. Now he only had to combine his jump with the powerful spin.

Another puzzle arose as he prepared to try. Did he spin first and then jump, or must he jump first then jump? As he thought it over either would work and both had their applications. With a sigh he got ready to attempt the full technique. With one more deep breath he released a burst of reiatsu and in the same instant from his feet. Arawn's arms swung as he spun like a top and rose into the air. He tried to count his rotations, but he was spinning too fast. Well over 3 spins was the best he could guess as he pierced the tree branches. As he emerged into the sunlight, he ended the flow of power. He stopped spinning long enough to look down. There was now as hole next to the one his master had made. It wasn't a perfect circle like his master's, but it was almost half the size. He grinned as he fell back down through the misshaped hole. From the shadows Sung smiled as well. He had perched himself on a branch of a tree. "And so he conquers the dragon...." Yuki sitting beside him sighed.

Sa Shin Mu
Chung-Ryong - Dragon Spiral - A burst of energy sends the user into a high speed spin. On the ground this would result in on falling down and tripping. It's most effective in the air mainly in a rising attack. The flow of reiatsu creates a vortex that strikes out at the opponent. Creating a series of high velocity attacks similar to slashes than punches.