Requiem Of A Failed Hero

Raith's training began without further ado. The squatting sessions he had for five hours were the easiest of his sessions.

Thard - Harl did not go easy on him at all. Every time Raith had to carry out the monstrous asura's absurd drills, his hatred grew and grew.

But Raith had no choice, his stubbornness persisted sure but the few times he dared to bare his fang, he was one-sidedly beaten, thrashed, battered, smashed and crushed, several times over. Left alone a tiny step away from the deep ditch of death.

The asura healed him once - when he broke his hand during their first battle. They've had several more battles after then and his bones had been crushed in even worse ways.

Sometimes, he would have to pick himself up after hours of suffering and crying in pain. Then he would fix himself something to eat.

His food at first was what he hated most about this plane but it soon grew to be what he looked forward to. The land was desolate and bald. As his body slowly adjusted to the weight of the bracelets, he began trek miles for something to eat.

Time after time, he would go in different directions. Having to endure the mind-tearing torment of seeing the same scenery with every progressive step he took. It was as if he was walking in circles no matter what direction he decided to take. But since he wouldn't come across the hill where his hut stood until he turned back, he knew he wasn't.

No matter how far and wide Raith search, there was no living organism in this plane. Not a plant, not an animal, not even a micro organism, he was sure. The plane was void of any living thing.

Finally, after his seventy-somethingth try. He came across a puddle of water. The water was unclean but he couldn't remember the last time he had even seen water. His cheeks had grown thin.

The bony structure of his face were becoming prominent, his hair was messed up and white with dust. His eyes had become hollow.

Eventually, he was able to drink water for the first time that day. Not to say, he had to trek miles every time he needed to drink water, at some point he built a makeshift water bottle with straws. The water was leaking a bit since he was not able to completely cover the holes on his first try and proved to eventually be a waste, so he threw it away.

After depending on the water for a long time, the small puddle of water diminished, it was there that Raith saw a plant that seemed to have been thriving beneath it.

The plant had purple petals and brown stems. Without thinking twice he consumed the whole thing, was intoxicated and almost died.

He did survive and even increased the level of his poison resistance to poison immunity from frequent consumption - the plants effect on him grew less and less. And so he continued to live on the purple plant. The water puddle refilled itself and he would also drink from it.

Some times later, he would soak the plant in the water, a large quantity of it. Then after the water had changed color, he would drink of it. Honestly, Raith had no idea what he was drinking, it was detestable at first but he quickly became fond of it.

Now anytime he wanted to eat, he was glad and looked forward to it.

The purple plant meal was the best part of his time in this plane. Anytime Thard - Harl appeared. His sufferings began.

His body had gotten very used to the weight bracelets. He almost didn't feel the overwhelming mass of them and went about his day casually. They also didn't hinder his training a lot of times.

Things progressed slowly. With a lot of beating from Thard - Harl but surely progressive.

With time he had come to respect Thard - Harl. Calling it respect was maybe far-fetched. It was born out of pure malice and fear of the asura's strength.

Raith hated him with every fiber of his being. But even now, he couldn't do Thard - Harl any harm. Not even a single hit.

That was how powerless Raith was at the moment. The drills he had been going through, he saw no use at first but over time that began to change… it naturally also warranted more seriousness from him.

The asura made him squat while running, he would make a pause every ten steps to squat once and take off again making sure he uses the same velocity he stopped at.

It was an insane idea, it proved futile at the beginning. Raith failed wolfully and for every failure he received harsh smashing from the asura. Thard - Harl became merciless and ruthless towards him - even when he hissed disrespectfully, the asura would not hesitate to beat the shit out of him.

Another time the asura would stand apart, surround Raith by massive stones that he controls psychically, the stones revolve around Raith, dash at him and he must jump over them each time while being mindful of the bracelets' weight. Even after Thard - Harl disappeared, the stones would still moving on their own.

Raith was subjected to this particularly training nonstop for as long as his mind could not keep up with. It was harder on him because this plane had neither day nor night. Everything was bright and still. No movement of time.

Even till now Raith had no idea how the asura kept tabs on hours.

He tried escaping during the drills, he either got smashed by a stone. So hard that his head would split open or there was an invisible barrier confining him to a particular space for so long that his legs would give out.

After several trials, Raith gave up on the idea of running away. He became some sort of native to this land. Awfully adjusted to its environment. Even by looks he seemed to be an insignificant part of it, a nomad, migrating from one corner of its expanse to another.

Another seemingly easy drill was 'the jumping devil' Raith had called it that because he was deceived. All he had to do was jump.

However, every time he jumped, the surface of the ground either ran far away from his leg, or became too close. He had no idea how possible that was but he was sure it was also Thard - Harl's doing.

No matter how much he tried, it was impossible to get used to the distance changes every time he jumped. The one time he did managed to get used to them. The distance got farther away from him or got too close. His femur had been fractured several times from having to fall so deep without control.

All those drills had become a daily thing.

Daily?

There was nothing else he would call it. Raith had made a calculation by the sequence of how the asura appears.

Whenever the Thard - Harl appeared. He started with the five hour squatting as he called it. In that five hours, Raith would complete 10,000 squats. At first.

But the number increased in twofold later. Then the asura appeared to give him a break. The seconds count Raith made between that break and the next time the asura would appear was five hundred. Of course, he failed the count several times and had to count the same number in five instances before he was sure and made it a rule.

When the asura appeared afterwards, it was for the running and squatting drill. Since the asura never said how long he counted Raith wasn't sure. But it was longer than the squatting session. That, he was sure about.

Then the asura appeared to stop him and disappeared. The seconds count in between his next appearance was four hundred.

After issuing the next drill which was the flying stone drills. The next break time count was two hundred. And the last drill… the jumping devil drill.

After the jumping devil the asura would not appear for a long time. That was when he usually had the time to walk over twenty miles to drink water and eat the purple plant then he would walk back to his hut another twenty mile.

He lived like a lost man in a desert, dirty and hopeless.

The next time the asura came back, he would start with the squat session again. Raith marked that the beginning of another day.

Counting the days, apart from the times he lost count, Raith had been staying here for seven hundred and thirty-two days.