17 Sword

After a short interlude we continued. Basic hand to hand combat was also very difficult although we were only doing blocks and counters ,from what looks to me a new form of martial arts that Orchid created from the amalgamation of memories and data she had received, it was very draining, after 5 minutes my arms were sore and my body was gasping for air yet at the same time, it felt amazing as my gene enhancements were shifting into maximum overdrive trying to adapt to the rigorous training.

getting used to the rhythm and the pain another couple hours passed before Orchid told me to have another rest. which I then folded onto the floor at the word. "are you ok Apollo-mate? Orchid will understand if you want to continue tomorrow instead of after a break." while I wanted to do so, I promised myself a long time ago that I will train with everything I have. A little pain and sweat are no problem some rest and my enhanced body cant handle. deciding to rest standing up as i fear my legs will turn to jelly if I continue to lay down, I have some banter with Orchid for 30 minutes before continuing to the last part of todays training.

"For the last training we have made a few swords for you love, please choose one which resonates with you and Orchid will train you in that style." Orchid said this while picking up 2 swords they are both bone white with golden accents down the shaft of the blade. the blades themselves are slightly curved with the bottom half being serrated and the top part of the blade is more than razor sharp. looking at them closely they reminded me of old Orchid.

"I like your swords Orchid they remind me of your old scythes." I commented. I liked to mention her old body from time to time as to reassure her that its the Orchid inside the flesh sack that I like not the beautiful outer shell.

Orchid let out a gleeful smile at the comment and responded "yes Apollo-mate that is what Orchid had in mind when having these swords created I had used my scythes for centuries after all. a weapon of similar shape helps with combat memory." "now choose your weapon dear it took a lot of effort making non biological weapons that are psionic in nature" looking over at the makeshift weapon rack I perused over a few different types of swords. great swords , short swords, curved swords even rapiers and estocs while all had their merits I wanted something that provided a good variety then I spotted a sword and was instantly drawn to it. 

the sword is an arming sword in design perfect for one handing but the black leather wrapped handle is large enough that two handing is perfectly viable. the blade. the blade itself was 33" A little bit larger than a standard arming sword. the material used in the blade was unknown to me but looked black with blue psionic engravings running down the fuller of the sword. As if noticing my enthrallment, the blades blue engraving pulsated and glowed.

"This one" I said as I picked up the blade. I felt a thrum of energy enter my body as I did. Orchid looked a bit uneasy at my choice. "are you sure Apollo?" "while it is an excellent weapon it is the only power sword here the rest are just standard psionic weapons, we know that due to the psionic imprint added during creating a power weapon, the weapon develops a sort of pseudo-conscious and the conscious can have hostile or negative effects on its wielder." 

while both of us were unaware, during its creation the psionic energy used was so tainted with the hives love for me its literally a part of the sword now, along with something else.

"I think the sword is fine my little worry bug, in fact when I picked it up I got a wave of energy that coursed through me and it felt great." a small blush appeared on Orchids face at the endearment. "If you think the sword is fine then I trust you completely now stand over there and get into the movement position we were doing earlier." "you mean before I had my delicious lunch?" I teased making Orchids blush re appear "ye-yes thats correct now to start we are just going to move back and forth while we engage in slow clashes, after that Orchid will show you a solo technique to practise."

I'm somewhat relieved that the basic swordsmanship felt easier than the hand to hand. it felt like the sword was somehow aiding my subconscious into making corrections and mistakes in my stance. but I couldn't get overconfident because as soon as I made some progress Orchid will pick up the pace or add a feint and hit me with the flat part of her sword. After another few hours and Orchid showing me the solo practice, which was basically just the Meyers square, I was done with my first day of combat training. 

"phew what a day I'm going to sleep well tonight, what about you?" I asked Orchid "Orchid sleeps well every night she is with you dear-Apollo" she purred. I gave her a warning look before continuing. "this sword is incredible by the way, What material was used to create her?" giving the swords fuller a caress. "her?" Orchid turned towards me as fast as lightning. "yes humans often call their weapons she. their ships as well. as if you take care of them as well as you take care of your lover they will go above and beyond." "Orchid sees..." she eyed the sword carefully before answering my question. "That swords components are actually rather impressive it is created from the queen of another hive we fought long ago. our Queen decided to leave her biomass in reserve just in case her psionic imprint reserves were powerful enough to overtake the bio forms that she would have created.

I was shocked at the revelation the hive had fought another hive before and won? 'goodness gracious imagine the amounts of bodies and death two hive species could throw at one another. it would make the casualties they've inflicted on other species look minuscule.' "how long ago was this war of the two hives? as I shall now call it" "Oh long before Orchid was made it was when we were just leaving our solar system through the psionic tendrils for the first time. that was at least 75000 years ago." 

!!!

By all that is psionic thats a long ass time ago. "and your saying my swords materials is that old wow. well than looks like I've gotten myself a little relic" I said rubbing my swords blue engravings. they hummed at that comment.

placing my sword back onto the wrack I walked back from my personal room into the main room in front of Jewel with Orchid. As soon as I was in sight of my bed, something strange happened. two of the 20 meter tall hive guards turned to look at me. this is the first time since I arrived here that they had moved.

"Ư̴̬̌̌̏̿̉͝n̸̲̍̌͆̈́ä̸̲͎͙͖͎́͘ủ̷͚̅͋̈́̃̒̈́͂̚t̵̩͚̼̫͐ḩ̷̳̲̘̫̰̟̐̓͊ǒ̵͈̤͎͔̼̳͖̜͋̅͂͘ṛ̴̨̦͍̐i̸̲̥͇͐ș̸̿͒̓͑̑͐̈̈̅e̸̛̦͖͗͒͒̏̐̀̔͗d̵̩͂̂! ̷̧̖̤̲̘͈̄̓̾̌́̋͛͠Ṕ̶͈̞̰̣̬̤̘̬̿̆r̷̤̬͍̤̣̮̙͊̍̐̄̓ẹ̵̡̲̯͙̅͗̂̿̾͆̃̊̏p̷̮̞̥͉͆̏̒̚̕̚͝a̶̢̭̰͙͇̬̾͗́̅̉͐͝r̸͎̞̼̟̟̗̓̄͂͋̚̕ȅ̷̛̩̲͖̇͂͋̆ ̵̧̡̡͇͙͔͙͚̥͙͋̑̿̆͘f̴̗͖̥͓̗̲̺͐́̈́͠ö̶̤͂̏̒̍̿̕ȑ̷̡͇̏̅̚͝ ̶̹̺͚̲̘̠͙̏̏͠d̸͉͉͍͔̠̀͑̈͂̎̓ḙ̴̻̮̥͕̭̗̘̀̐̀͂͗̍̕ͅs̷̨̝͈̻̥̋͜ͅt̵̝͚͈̱̞̎̏̽̉̕r̵͚͉̎͊̑͊̌͒̏u̷̧̠̬̝͉̮̱̓̊͝c̵̨̹̗̭̳̳̺̝̫̭̀͆̈́͋̌̂t̸͖̣͇͖̹̲̝̫͙̬́į̷̡͔̟͔̩̟͚̟̠̿͛̿́͒̿̿̂̚͘o̶͈̜̣̗̫͋̓̔̇̈́̔̈͒͜͠ņ̴̳͍̯̣̩͈͖̎̓͌͛̊̐͊̕ͅ"

The mere words that they said through the link had made me throw up and could no longer move. I got out easier of the two as Orchid was on the floor convulsing. clearly these anti psionic beings are way above our paygrade. just as they were about to advance towards us and deliver their destruction, Jewel noticing the guards movement came back online. 

"STAND DOWN AND RESUME POSITON THERE IS NO THREAT AND NEVER ATTACK MY MATES MIND AGAIN OR I SHALL DESTROY YOUR BIOMASS IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT NEVER WOULD HAVE EXISTED TO BEGIN WITH!!!!!" 

Jewels scream echoed through the collective link. if I hand not been training for the last 5 years my brain would defiantly be oozing out of my ears right now. it was nowhere near as bad as the queen guards attack as that was a warning and was made of anti psionic energy. but was still very powerful for just words.

Jewel extended two tendrils to myself and to Orchid to heal the damage caused by the anti psionic energy. I was fine after two minutes but Orchid took half an hour to heal I was so worried i held her hand the entire time. when she finally came to I sighed before yelling not at jewel but rather to her. "What the hell was that? The guards just attacked us out of nowhere!" Jewel let out a sigh through the link before she replied "My love, you and Orchid were caught in the crossfire so to speak you were not the target the parasite I thought I killed behind you is what they were attacking."

huh? I turned around and what stood, or rather floated behind me was my sword. 

"it seems like my old rival is more tenacious than I expected" Jewel relayed out causing my sword to shake in the air.

I could not process what was going on all I could think was 

"my head hurts" before deciding to pass out.