And then there was the Sequence…
The Sequence was a series of precise movements whose purpose was to train focus. It reminded her of the Tai-Chi moves the elderly practiced at the park under the pale light of dawn. But that was where the resemblance ended. The Sequence happened at about twenty times the speed. In this Alex expected perfection – every angle, every step, and every beat had to be precise. He made her practice it constantly, in every break between his various sadistic physical torture drills. She repeated it so many times that she started dreaming it in her sleep.
Pride was a powerful motivator, as the days wore on, it became her only motivator. It convinced her to take just one more step and then another and another – until it didn’t…
Every person has a limit and Allyra reached hers about two weeks into the training. There was nothing particularly special about the run Alex was making her do, she was three quarters of the way up a rocky slope, on her fifth trip up. Her hands and knees were covered in blood oozing from the cuts and scrapes she collected from every tumble she took on the unsteady footing. But there wasn’t anything particularly special about that either – Alex didn’t consider a training day to be successful unless she ended the day covered in a variety of cuts and bruises. He was a firm believer in the character building properties of suffering.
Alex was running next to her, making it look easier than a Sunday morning stroll in the park. It was the serene expression on his face that finally lit a fire within her, rage slowly blooming into life. As abruptly as driving into a brick wall – she’d had enough.
There were no fireworks. She simply stopped and sat down, digging in like a stubborn old mule. Alex paused and looked down at her. Despite all the rebellious lava churning inside of her, it wasn’t quite enough to overwhelm her pride and she found herself unable to quite meet his eyes.
“Get up!” He snapped.
“No.”
“No?” Alex’s voice was quiet, dangerous, like a cat about to pounce on its prey.
“I can’t.” She said; hating the petulant whine that had found it’s way into her voice.
“You can’t or you won’t?” He asked quietly.
“I can’t! Of course it’s I can’t! I’ve tried – really tried to do everything you asked. I’ve pushed and pushed until I have nothing more to give! I’m not you. I’m not an emotionless robot with no limits – so stop demanding it from me!”
He stared at her for a long time and she cringed under the spotlight of his glare – feeling more and more like a child having bitterly disappointed her teacher.
Suddenly he exploded into action, like a leopard from the shadows, moving so swiftly that he was nothing more than shadow playing in the periphery of her vision. She felt him extract the stick from its straps. Confused, she turned to see why and was greeted by grey metal swinging straight at her face.
Allyra barely had time to duck and she heard it whistle past her ear. She scrambled desperately to her feet and half turned to find the stick flying directly at her face. This time she wasn’t quick enough to get out the way.
Allyra flung up her arm to protect her head. Even though she was expecting it, the pain of the stick crashing into her arm was unbelievable, travelling and spreading like a spider web of glass shattering. The force of the blow sent her stumbling backwards and Alex flicked the stick around in his hand and swept it across her legs. She crashed to the ground and skidded down the slope as the razor sharp rocks imbedded themselves into her back.
“Stop.” She gasped, shocked by the violence of the attack.
Alex ignored her and took two steps down the slope to close the distance between them and swung the stick again – straight down at her head as she rolled out the way.
Rage roared into life within her, uncoiling like a long slumbering dragon. The world slowed down as white-hot anger bloomed into life within her. She was consumed by a single purpose – to make him share her pain, to make him feel it deep within his bones.
Her vision narrowed. All she saw was Alex and the dull grey stick.
She swung herself to her feet and faced Alex as he came at her again, but this time she was ready. She watched steadily, following the grey metal as it moved towards her. In the second before it made contact, she grabbed it with both hands – the metal cool and smooth under her fingers.
Her body knew what to do. Somehow, during the relentless repetition of the Sequence, her body remembered. The muscles in her body tightened and she twisted, using her weight and gravity against him.
She landed first, but momentum forced him over her. She followed the movement, allowing it to pull her back to her feet. She jerked the stick out of his grasp and in one fluid motion swung it over her head and into his shoulder. Then copying his earlier flick, she cleared his legs from under him, sending him crashing to the ground with a satisfying thump.
Allyra didn’t pause. Without thinking, she flung herself on him, pinning him down with the stick.
She could hear her heartbeat thundering in her ears and feel the blood racing through her veins like molten lava. As the seconds ticked by, adrenaline started to recede. Like a wave slowly leaving the shoreline, conscious thought returned in its wake.
Allyra stared down at Alex, simultaneously astounded and appalled. For the first time since she met him,
