Unseen Stars III [B]

As I arrived to the scene, I seated myself comfortably on a nearby flagstone left over from the construction of the barracks. The thunder rat Lion-O was presiding over the meeting. He's short, hardly coming up to the shinguards of many of the warriors from among our people, but his fierce aspect isn't to be denied. The rodent twirled his stick in a brief display of martial prowess before summoning a tremendous thunderbolt from the clear, blue sky. The force of the strike knocked many of our own onto their rear ends. This sort of power, he explained in his stern, bestial voice, was what they would be up against should they fight demons. Not only what he had delivered with his impressive show of electricity, but fire and many other elements with powers multiplied several hundred times over.

He let the men have a moment. The idea had to sink in.

Then he moved on to explain that each of the thunder rats --and there appeared to be almost as many of them as human fighters present-- had that same power within them, but that many of the spirits could not yet control that nascent potential. Specifically, there was the very real risk that one of them might accidentally harm their human partner. I looked towards the masses in training again and noted that they stood not in legions to themselves, but that they accompanied human partners. The reasons for this, I wasn't completely sure of, except that it might have been an exercise in control and caution.

The commander for the moment separated the soldiers into separate legions and commanded that they spar each other.

Such an event might be amusing. I want to watch it in its entirety before recording it here, so I must lay down my pen for the moment, dear reader, and perhaps find some spot more distant where I won't risk harm from the thunder. An old man like myself must be careful for these things.