Balance [Zenshin and Aegis ; Private]

Seeing his opponent steel himself, Aegis' smirk grew wider as the knight assumed a balanced stance with wide footing and strongly bent knees.
"Hahahaha, I see you are starting to get serious." - words echoed as the knight extended one hand straight up while the other straight down and drew an imaginary circle with their palms before gathering them before his chest and extending his left one towards his foe. - "Let's dance."

The knight began retreating back a single step for each jab thrown at him, twisting his body in accordance with the trajectory of the attacks.
"Now..."
As the diagonal attack came flying down, the azure man leapt three metres back with a barrel roll flip in mid-air, landing on his feet in a stance so low it was almost impossible to tell if he was lying down or not.
"...is the moment!"
Immediately and with great resolve he sprung from his stance, covering the three metres as if they were never there with movements synchronised perfectly with the end of Zenshin's wide swing. The time frame he had to exploit his opening was small, thus the knight had no choice but to time things so perfectly.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
The knight was not holding back any more.

With a laugh some might call maniacal, Aegis unleashed a storm of blows against Zenshin's body, his speed probably reaching 3 strikes per second. They were all chaotic, yet systematic. With each strike a step forward was made and each blow held force sufficient to make Zen stagger. All the strikes were coming from different angles to make it impossible to evade every single one as well, for when a punch flies towards his chest, another flies towards his kidneys in an upward diagonal trajectory after which a straight is sent towards the pupil's face. The onslaught continued for what seemed an eternity, even though it was probably less than 10 seconds.
"Break!"
With his shoulder the cyan-eyed swordsman struck Zen, though it was a blow which worked on the principle of the one-inch punch, so it held force far greater than that which it logically should.
"And then...!"
Aegis lunged towards him, but this time remained extremely close to him, so close it wasn't even possible to punch his enemy, but that didn't stop the knight. He began to move around his enemy, each and every movement he does used as a wind-up for an elbow to the ribs or a fast strike at a weak point of Zen's body meant to numb parts of him.
"Shatter!"
Moving right in front of his opponent, the knight performed a series of fast almost point-blank punches aimed at his diaphragm, lower ribs and stomach which were immediately followed by a double open palm uppercut, guaranteed to disorientate and knock Zen off balance should it hit. Using his already extended arms, Aegis bent them and brought them down on his foe's shoulders, attempting to strike them with his elbows.
"This is the end!"
Finishing the combo, Aegis made an advancing step and performed an open palm strike with his left hand as he aimed to strike the enemy's solar plexus, though even if he failed it would still create distance between the two.
Then suddenly, the knight smirked.
"Hah, don't bet on it!"
After a step forward, he jumped towards Zenshin and spun around his axis twice in mid air, keeping his arms and legs together, but having his right leg bent to form a 45 degree angle at the knee. Upon landing on his left one, the azure knight used the angular momentum gained from the manoeuvre and extended his leg to throw a powerful straight kick at Zenshin's solar plexus, guaranteed to at least throw him some distance away if it was not somehow avoided.

As soon as Aegis completely avoided Zenshin's jabs and the cleave, he knew he was getting serious and decided it was time to 'clock out', as it were. By the looks of his lips, Zen could tell that his mentor had let out a hearty guffaw, but he couldn't actually 'hear' it. The only noise playing in his head was that of the same metronome that had helped him get this far. There seemed to be some truth behind the old expression "let's dance" when talking to an opponent that you are about to engage in a fight with. Tick, tick, tick, tick Aegis rushed at him with punches that seemed completely random, but actually had their own rhythm.

The first came right after his cleave had finished. A horizontal blocked saved his chest from being pounded into, having to audibly cut the air to reach the strike in time. Tick, tick, tick the next one went for his lower stomach. Sliding his leg back, his body turned sideways to avoid the attack, there was no way he could block it with the sheer force that was put behind it, he only barely did so with the first attack. Finally, an uppercut came, still within the same second, but Aegis was trading off unpredictability for speed at this point. Even though he was taking a step forward with each attack, he kept performing the same combination every time for ten seconds. If only I had use of a free arm, I would trap that darn kidney shot and he'd be in a bad spot he thought, taking two steps back after Aegis finished his combo.

After around ten seconds, Aegis charged at him life a football player, except much, much faster. Tick, tick it kept echoing in his mind as Zen made a quick hop and a vertical, downward cleave on the shoulder before it pushed him back significantly due to the nature of the blow. Zenshin was taking full advantage of the fact that no matter how hard Aegis tried, he wouldn't be able to disarm him, finally realizing that it could be used to his advantage. Almost in the blink of an eye, however, Aegis lunged at him and began moving around him, I can't he thought, being struck in his ribs, back, and everything in between. Need to, recover he thought, knowing that if he didn't, Aegis would completely and utterly end him.

Finally ending up back in front of Zen, he did something rather... silly. He went for a very close diaphragm strike, one which Zenshin was actually quite fond of himself, but his sword was still being held vertically in front of his body, so all it managed to do was push him back, allowing him to regain his breath, how ironic. Aegis lunged at him once more, going for the same kind of strike, but now that he wasn't winded, he was back in the fight. Tick... it echoed as he bent his need, some of his hair falling off to the sides, being caught in Aegis' attack, before he shot up with the intention of driving his weapon through his mentors outstretched arm. After which he would go for a flying kick to his midsection, in where Zenshin would raise his left arm to block, being sent to the ground and numbing it almost entirely.

It was, indeed, a rather reckless charge, berserk some might say, but it served its purpose. Aegis did suffer deep wounds on his shoulder and his left arm was broken, but Zen was thrown to the ground. The knight's goal was to achieve something like this when he attacked, so despite the injuries it may have been a successful tactic.

Smirking, the azure man pounced towards Zenshin as he lied on the ground, pinning him there. Aegis used his broken arm to grab his foe's wrists and pin them to the side before cocking his right arm and throwing a punch at him, after which many more followed, all of them intent on punching the consciousness out of him.

Before he could react, Aegis had already come and pinned his left and right arms up above his head while punching him in the face repeatedly with the gauntlet. Punch after punch flew at his face before he realized that he had cut deep enough into his mentor's shoulder to at least sever a major artery. If it wasn't treated soon, he would bleed to death. Certainly he would bleed enough for his hands to be unbound by the wrapping that was over it. Just as Zen was about ready to lose his consciousness, he smiled at Aegis and thought to himself before the final punch knocked him out. Check

Restrained, Zenshin could do little to protect himself. His body was weakened by the many negative factors most would call unpleasant, the same factors Aegis called "training". Perhaps it was sadistic, perhaps it was too much, but it wasn't his fault. In the end, he was only a catalyst and the one who created all this hardship was Zen himself. He chose to walk the path of suffering, so it couldn't be helped. The curse of martyrdom, extending its grip towards his very soul. It was a curse in escapable, a searing prison devoid of hope, yet built upon it. A... contradiction, much like many others, a driving force in this twisted world. It was in that prison that Zen willingly threw himself, he dared forces greater than his mere self and he was given a chance... only to give up?

"Don't kid me..."
The azure knight stopped his assault.
"You are giving up already? You allow yourself to lose so early?"
He released his hold and stood up. With a spiteful glare, he observed the person before him.
"You wish to be come a knight... yet you let yourself fall so easily? ... Don't kid me, do you think this is a joke?"
The cyan eyes pierced him mercilessly. It was almost like... hatred, emanating from him.
"A true knight doesn't give up, doesn't surrender! He is humble in victory and determined in defeat. When there is hope, they uphold it, when there isn't they create it, they persevere and push through the darkness to stand as a beacon of purpose, goal and chance. Of hope."
Aegis pointed at him.
"What do you hope to achieve by losing? What do you fight for, Zenshin? Do you fight for a worthy cause? If so, then by dying you win the fight, but lose the battle. You betray everyone. Or is it that you fight for yourself? If so, then you have already betrayed yourself, you've walked into a battle that was lost. Betrayed my blind trust, perhaps."
With his right hand, the azure knight gripped his sword as it lied beside him and pointed it towards Zenshin.
"A man like that does not deserve to live. If you betray everyone only to betray yourself, then you should die here and now."
It was clear what Aegis was going to do next. But one question remained; what would his pupil do?

"Don't kid me... You are giving up already? You allow yourself to lose so early? You wish to be come a knight... yet you let yourself fall so easily? ... Don't kid me, do you think this is a joke? A true knight doesn't give up, doesn't surrender! He is humble in victory and determined in defeat. When there is hope, they uphold it, when there isn't they create it, they persevere and push through the darkness to stand as a beacon of purpose, goal and chance. Of hope. What do you hope to achieve by losing? What do you fight for, Zenshin? Do you fight for a worthy cause? If so, then by dying you win the fight, but lose the battle. You betray everyone. Or is it that you fight for yourself? If so, then you have already betrayed yourself, you've walked into a battle that was lost. Betrayed my blind trust, perhaps. A man like that does not deserve to live. If you betray everyone only to betray yourself, then you should die here and now." he said, Zenshin's smile grew even more while his face burned and bled to his side.

...mate, Aegis he thought. Raising his hands to his launching his right leg into the side of his mentor's left shin in an attempted to trip, or at least surprise him. If sword fighting is sixty percent instinct, how would the dance go if you are upset he thought while rolling to his side and recovering from the blows to the face he just took, stumbling a bit. His right eye was completely swollen and his lip was bleeding profusely, but that was nothing compared to the wound he had inflicted on the swordsman. Even with all the training in the world, humans are humans, and as such, need blood. "A true knight also knows when to bide his time, know patience. Isn't that right?" he asked before charging at Aegis with his weapon lowered.

Taking a hard step to the right side of the swordsman, he ducked and swung and spun horizontally, aiming his attack for the back of his left calf, just above the greaves he had been wearing this entire fight. I need to end this soon... I... I'm running out of steam.

OOC: Okay, I decided to try writing in a rather... different style.

---

As I drew my sword out from the ground, a cold shiver struck my shoulder. A creeping chill, a looming omen of defeat, it made its silent approach in rhythm with the thumping in my chest. I tried to move it, the shoulder, but I couldn't, or rather I didn't feel it any more. Perhaps it wasn't even there any more and the burning pain was just a remnant of when it still was or perhaps it still responded to my wilful commands... but either way I knew it wouldn't last for much longer.
So why was I winning?

I glare at him now as Zen's smile grows wider. He kicked me in the shin and rolled, rising to his feet, but only barely. His attack was meek and his stance was wavering. I knew he was drawing his last breaths and even though he wasn't so deeply wounded, a strain far greater writhed on his face.
"A true knight also knows when to bide his time, know patience. Isn't that right?"
I lower my weapon. I feel a smirk twisting on my lips, it too understood what this means.
The enemy is charging towards me with his greatest speed, rushing to end the losing fight.
A sidestep, then a turn.
A spin, sword was swung.
Keen edge speeding towards flesh.
Its speed flew blurred, the strike was predestined to hit me. A passion-imbued swing, indeed, but it was the idea behind it what mattered.
...- I do not know what he fights for. It's a truth meant for his mind to bear.
... But...
Regardless, it is a truth that drives his weakened body. I can see through his act now, his mind is straining to continue, he is at his limit... no, that's not right, he passed it long ago. His boundaries are gone and the scaffold that held him together toppled. In its stead lies a gap, a void perfect to a fault. His soul is now broken and shapeless...

...- It is being reformed.

To him now only one truth remains. Before him stands his enemy, the two paths have crossed and this day, no, this very minute one will have to end. To him, that's all that really matters now. A battle of life and death, in it two zealous souls clash... in a dance of end so that one may reach the next beginning.

His blade dives to hamstring me, but in response I only attain a smile, helplessly I remain, staring defeat in the face with a grin.
Simply because,
... I have already surrendered.

Flesh rips and blood splatters as I fall to the ground with severed legs.
But that is not right. Instead, my death never comes as a metallic cling replaces its imminent existence.
"Haha, that's better."
I catch his blade with my armoured hand.
"You finally took it seriously."
I pull it from his clasp.
Rip.
The cloth breaks.
"Now you see..."
A cool wind flutters my stainless coat.
"... the power of belief."
I stand up and turn around, so that my unbloodied back faces him. As another gust rushes past, my head turns away and my eyes glance at Zen's wavering figure.
"You were never bound, nothing ever impaired your actions. But because you believed that you were, it became your truth and it bound you, but also gave you strength for you believed that it was a life or death situation."
I raise my sword arm high, my sword cuts through the air to challenge the heavens above, and even in this unforeseen scene my smile only grows. I can see the trees before me as they sway in unison with the cold breeze, their leaves flung from side to side with monotone repetitiveness. I see it now, within the scope of this mere moment I spot the multiple algorithms shaped into the eternal cycle that we can only define as 'the present', yet it stands as part of a larger one. A system of cycles, twisting as they turn, turning as they spin, always the same and always different.
And there, amidst a scene frozen within the loop, I raise a sword. As if, only, merely, to simply... challenge it all.

"That is the power of faith! And so my final question remains."
As I bring my arm down, in a sea of shimmer fell my sword, condemned to drowning in that which formed it until it too became a pure illusion, a mirage fading with the endless moment.
"What do you fight for, Zenshin?"
And so it ended.
I walked away as the crunching sound of grass announced my retreat. I had no reason to remain within the scene, verily it was foreign to me. Indeed, I had no need to stay for what remained there was for him alone. A question without answer is what would haunt him now, one which he would have to answer eventually if he is to survive.

Zen's weapon was caught in the palm of Aegis' gauntlet and ripped from his hands, the cloth going with it, and as for him, he was done. Everyone had their limits, and Zenshin was well aware that it had been quite some time since he passed his. "You were never bound, nothing ever impaired your actions. But because you believed that you were, it became your truth and it bound you, but also gave you strength for you believed that it was a life or death situation." I can't say I'm surprised that you'd pull something like this, Aegis. But it wasn't completely predicted either Then, Aegis asked the question to top all questions. One that would completely destroy his foundation of the meaning of anything really.

"What do you fight for, Zenshin?" and as soon as those words were uttered from the mouth of the man, Zen reached for the sword that was taken from his hands and took it back, holding it in his right hand by his side. He had remembered him asking this question before, and had actually come up with an answer that he has stood by for as long as he could remember. Knowledge alone wasn't enough to drive him to where he was alone, he dreamed big, and reversed a common saying as his motivation, his biggest dream.

"What I fight for, Aegis? Knowledge is one of my main drives, arguably my biggest. But my biggest dream, that's what you are asking me. There is only one word that sums up the answer to that question, and I have never told anyone my true intentions. I congratulate and thank you on being the first to get me to want to tell someone. I feel like you are the most likely person to help me to achieve this goal, if you can. You know the simple saying adults use to show their kids that if they really like something, they should moderate it. Along the lines of 'too much of anything is a bad thing'. And no matter how hard the child tries to think of something, they can't come up with an answer? Well, that's where my dream stems from. I dream of a world of perfect balance. Just the perfect amount of light and dark, good and evil, humans and nature. That's when real harmony will be achieved and people can just live without fear of being unsafe at any time, because not only will it exist around them, but they will be at rest with themselves. Sure, it might seem impossible and childish ideology, but to me, it's a goal that will be met with enough persistence. Even if I can't do it in my lifetime, I will raise a child and hope that I can teach him the same beliefs like all of those before me. This is not only my dream, but the dream of my father, and his father, and everyone up to the point of creation, which is why I'm doing this. Stepping off the beaten path and making a drastic change in the course of my families future, as I plan to be the one to achieve this goal. There was no way I would come and do something like this without an enormous dream that I need to have fulfilled in order to achieve the goal that has been in my blood since the earliest Hitsumo. Now that you know exactly who I am, what do you fight for, Aegis?" he said with a breath and a sigh.

From that, Aegis could tell exactly what kind of person he was, it was only fair that he peered into the kind of man that his mentor was, at least, in his mind.

The sound of heavy feet against ground ceased.
"Hm? What I fight for? I fight for death, just like you do. Isn't that what we all do? Of course the reason we want death is different, but ultimately it's the end result."
The knight turned around.
"Ah, but our desires differ. You seek death in order to achieve a dream you presume is unreachable because you only fight. However, you remain blinded to the truth, that the essence of your dream is to keep on fighting, for through fight you achieve it. If fighting ceases, the other side will dominate and the balance would be broken. If it does not, then you will forever keep on fighting faceless beings in the name of your strife to one day reach something you live within. You are probably unhappy as well, for you do not see the fact that your dream is already achieved and you must simply sustain it, which brings forth a question. Is that what you truly desire? If it is balance you strive for, it's already there. Why do you still seek it? Haha, perhaps equilibrium is not what your heart truly desires, but instead you confine it to chains of conservatism. In that regard, you do not fight for a "childish ideal", you fight for the sake of fighting, because you know not what to fight for."

Aegis extended a hand towards the nearby forest.
"As for me, I fight for the trees. I fight for the grass. I fight for you and me, so that we may all one day die. Sounds pointless, doesn't it? That's because it is, but it is also not what I fight for, instead it is merely the embodiment of the senseless strife. The truth is that I fight for what one would consider a true childish ideal, a dream, ever present and ever distant. Unlike you, I do not live in it without knowing it. It lives in me, eternally within an arms reach, and yet impossible to grasp."

With a smirk he turned back and shed one final string of sounds in signification of the conversation's end.
"I fight to destroy your "ideal". Balance has no place within my dreams."

"You are probably unhappy as well, for you do not see the fact that your dream is already achieved and you must simply sustain it, which brings forth a question. Is that what you truly desire? Haha, perhaps equilibrium is not what your heart truly desires, but instead you confine it to chains of conservatism. In that regard, you do not fight for a "childish ideal", you fight for the sake of fighting, because you know not what to fight for." he said, commenting on. "I know when it has already been achieved when it sustains itself. That's the nature of it. We each assign meaning to our reason to fight differently, but it's all the same in the end. But I believe that every so often, a dream is actually achieved. As seemingly ridiculous as it sounds. And that leads to massive changes in history. It doesn't come very often though, so there's a good chance that my ideals won't see the light of day. A lot of the time, fighting for the sake of fighting is all it really comes down to in the end, it's how you fight that determines the result" he responded, waiting for Aegis to do the same.

"I fight to destroy your "ideal". Balance has no place within my dreams." he said, seemingly ending their conversation. "Oh, but it does in mine, and that's all the reason I need to keep doing what I do" He can think what he wants to think. He doesn't know how set on this I am. All he can do is speculate and theorize on what 'I really want', but I already know, and no one can tell me otherwise he thought to himself before standing up, wobbling off balance due to the engagement they just finished. Slowly, he walked over to the shrubbery that sat parallel to the cliff and sat down. "You can't tell me what I want and what I think I want when I'm already dead set on it, master Bright. Though, it's basically the same, applying meaning to something without it just to justify our actions. I know exactly what I fight for, and the moment that real balance is finally achieved is the same day where fighting will become pointless. We can only get through so many doors before we reach the last one and realize that we don't have the key" he said, trying to come up with a metaphor off the top of his head.

For once, he genuinely believed his own guild master was wrong. No one's perfect, everyone has their flaws. Aegis' flaws just happened to be the fact that he thinks he's right about things that he shouldn't be. At least, that's just how Zen felt about the knight's rather aggravating statement.

A moment passed, and with that a dream. As another, and then once more. Like blood they flowed, seeping into the foundation they were built upon.
....The knight stopped once more.
"I guess he just won't listen." - he smirked, then snickered falsely, a manoeuvre of politics that sprouts from the act of concealment.


"Is that so? Then what if I tell you there are no doors? What if... there is just a path? Path stretching unto the neverending start to draw the paradox of life. Perfect to a fault, it twists, turning within the scope of a line, edging edgelessly to form the impossible within the outside. A stroke of confusion bred to clarify. What if I told you insanity is another state of clairvoyance? And what if I tell you clairvoyance is another state of insanity? A different state, the state of conviction, and conviction is what draws reality around you and me. It is no more than an eternal contradiction, existing meaninglessly for the sake of not being different."
The knight's deep voice spoke of fervour and nonsense, much like a madman retelling a the story of his mind.
"You say that you know your path. You claim to know your goal and to understand when it is achieved. Yet you look down upon my words with respect, thinking them arrogant.... but tell me, am I really the arrogant one?" - the speech drew nearer still, approaching Zenshin with a stride, stopping abruptly as its origin reached him. Aegis rose his hand and brought it down as suddenly, if not more, and with it followed a sword which pierced the small patch of ground between the two men. It was truly a simple weapon, made of simple metal and of humble looks. There was only the shine of its blade to remember as it held no other qualities that struck the mind. So, as the swordsman's tool faced his pupil with the broader of its sides, Aegis peered at him, sternly, with those deep, cyan eyes.
"Do you truly take reality as a coin? Yes, it can land one way or the other, often those sides are symbolised as "good" and "bad", so verily it must be as a coin.
....But it's not, for even that alone is a paradox. Heh, sometimes, the coin lands on its edge."

He turned around halfway, standing towards the edge of the cliff, but a few metres from it. The unfitting song of birds kept on still, much like a broken record turning endlessly. The cool wind grazed it though, softened the sound to make room for a different note, one not as pleasant. But more so than all else, there was the greatest star of all to colour the landscape gold and yellow, and towards it the azure knight peered.
"And here you are at fault, for while I spoke of my truth," - 'You only saw your own.' he finished, his cold words as if emphasised by the chilly gust that followed. Then, simply silence followed suit.
"...The world is a sword, Zenshin. It is simple and straightforward, only holding a handful of parts. It has a hilt where it is safe to grasp it, a cross guard to protect one's hold and a blade sporting a broad and sharp sides. Can you tell me which part kills?" - Aegis asked mockingly as a teasing glance shot towards his pupil.
"Of course you can. It's the blade. Or is it? You can be more precise and say that it's the edge of the blade, but that is wrong too. What kills is the hilt, because it is what guides the lethal edge to its target. Consequently, what grasps the hilt is you and me, those who reach out to the world. Much like a sword, it is a simple concept that has two parts, a grip and a blade. Yet to contradict that fact, it also has other segments, and they have parts that make them up. Eventually we realise that the blade is not just a blade, because it can also show mercy alongside its spite. It both strikes and recoils from the pain and impact, but above all..... it is the simplicity of it all that makes it complex."
The previously rigid tone of his voice had begun to soften, as if to draw a vivid transcendence from a sermon to warning... and then a threat veiled behind sincere care.
"Such a paradox can not be understood nor lived, so that's why 'reality' and 'ideals' exist. That's why they differ. What you see as a weapon, I see as a tool. What you see as death, I see as rebirth. What you see as hope, I see as foolishness.... but to see what I see, you first need to 'see' that 'you' and 'I' are but an abstract visage of the ever-morphing concept we call 'truth'."

The madman made his play and merely gestured now, satisfied with his meaningless explanation. His hand pointed towards the simple sword, and simple words followed.
"Through that you can 'see' my world, and through it I can see yours. And if you do.... you'll see that they are not that different, instead mere paradoxical paraphrase of the senseless world. Consequently, ideals are the dreams of introducing sense into the said plane of existence."
The knight turned his gaze unto his pupil, peering into, or rather through his eyes intently.
"That sword is you. It'll be your only weapon until the day it becomes 'me'. But for now," - the knight grabbed the edge of his coat and spun, fluttering it around himself before dissolving into a blur for a mere moment. As it passed, his presence was already long gone with only a small remnant still lingering atop the cliff.
"Meditate on what you learned." - The disembodied echo to announce the end of yet another cycle, and the beginning of the next.

Aegis, as always, was as cryptic as he could possibly be when it came to explaining things of deep meaning. "You say that you know your path. You claim to know your goal and to understand when it is achieved. Yet you look down upon my words with respect, thinking them arrogant.... but tell me, am I really the arrogant one?" he started off his lecture with that, and even if he didn't think so, it was definitely true. By the time the 'lesson' was over, Zenshin responded quickly. "Yes, you are. But that doesn't make you wrong, in fact it's quite the opposite. The fact that your hubris hasn't consumed you by now means you're definitely something else. Crazy, or just really determined, I have no idea, maybe both. As for your question, that's just a single possibility, and not the one I believe in. If hope is foolishness, your student is the greatest fool of them all. But you're right, I only trust in the truth I was raised and developed from what I've learned, so when I'm presented with the possibility that it could all be wrong, I react with frustration and aggression, I apologize for that. he said, explaining his thoughts before the 'lesson' of his even began.

"Just like I don't believe the blade of a sword kills, or the edge of the blade, or the hilt, even though it guides the sword. What really guides the sword is the one wielding it, and they ultimately get the choice of what to do with the 'tool', the one pulling the strings" he finished, emphasizing the word that his mentor had used when describing the weapon. "Meditate on what you learned." and he did, for a time. About an thirty minutes passed before he passed out from exhaustion, due to the scuffle they just finished having. Though it was in his dream where the information was being processed and he was beginning to feel the sheer weight that words can carry, specifically the words said to him by his guildmaster. The point he was trying to get across that nothing is certain, especially not any impossibilities. Ways of thinking were also not certain, as one can't be more correct than another, as it's all just how people were shaped from the experiences around them throughout their lives, so not even Aegis' or he was right.

Everything was subject to change, all of it... he said, mumbling in his sleep like an intoxicated street bum living on skid row. It was also during this dream where he really learned that he just had to accept the fact that everything he thought he knew was right was as subject to change as anything, and that he would just have to make an effort to get out of the mindset of certainty. Aegis wasn't teaching him how to wield a sword, no, that was the surface of it all. What was really being taught was the fact that just because you think something doesn't make it true, as his teacher demonstrated with lying. He was never bound to the sword through blood loss, but as ridiculous as it sounded, he went with it. Who was he to challenge the word of his mentor? The apprentice? The student? He wasn't, and so he didn't, leaving all of his faith in mere words only to have it thrown back in his face after being thrashed about.

He couldn't even know for sure if how he was taking this all was right, maybe he was thinking this through or taking it was wrong. Though, anything was possible when you have the kind of "master" that Zen had, Aegis Bright. Nothing he said was absolute, it came off as such, but every single phrase, sentence, word uttered by Aegis held such power that would draw envy from even the highest of politicians. Count Sparrow merely cowered in a shadow with his words when compared to the guildmaster of a measly guild in a piece of the world. Zenshin was well aware that everything that the crazy man said could be wrong, but it could also be right, which is what he opted to believe in the brief time he had to meditate before passing out from simply being tired. For what his words lacked in the literal kind of power that the high chairman of the entire land of Fiore held, it made up for ten fold in the kind of philosophical, thought provoking ideals they held within them. Though it was difficult to look passed them, once someone did, they would be astounded to see what kinds of topics were being put into question, and some... some would probably collapse on such a scale. It was intimidating to think of what thoughts run amok in that mind of his...

The continuation: https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t5488-the-face-of-conviction-zenshin-and-aegis-private#82383