A kick... was not what forced Brutus out of his sleep this time; he rose earlier not because he felt strong, but because something inside him had finally gone quiet.
For the first time, he wasn't pushing himself forward.
For the first time, Brutus chose his own path.
He rose out of his make-shift bed on the floor, a simple mattress of straw placed on the floor of the cottage. He slipped into the same beige shirt, black pants, and boots, and soon found himself outside of the cottage bathed in the night's cool darkness.
Brutus took one unhurried step after another toward the flat valley.
...
An hour later, Alicia opened her eyes. She almost mechanically rose out of the same type of bed that Brutus had slept on, dressing herself in the very same clothes, too. As she was about to head out through the door to begin her training, she noticed in the corner of her eye that the bed Brutus slept on was empty.
She was so used to seeing him busy snoring at this time that she almost missed it.
'Huh. Where did he run off to' She wondered as she stepped outside the cottage.
She continued out of the cottage to a familiar flat valley that dipped into the desert, following her routine, she'd almost missed the faint figure of someone sprinting laps around the rim, a deep line carved out of the many steps taken.
'Is that...?'
Alicia had to make sure. She slipped on a heavy vest and began to jog down the valley's slope. Reaching the bottom, she felt a gust of air burst past her face, accompanied by the blur of a man bolting past her.
'That's definitely...'
After her momentary shock, Alicia sprinted, attempting to catch up to the hazy figure up ahead. But, no matter how hard she pushed her legs off the sand, the distance between her and the silhouette only increased further.
'Is that really...?'
The figure had bolted to the opposing side of the elliptical valley in a short amount of time, then it moved further down, and back again to where Alicia was running.
This time, she made sure to get a good look at the figure's identity. And sure enough, it was-
"Brutus!" She beamed. "Wow, he got up early tonight."
She ran a few more paces, "I'd better focus on my own running now though... I can't fall behind!"
With that, she somehow managed to dig her legs into the sand with even greater force than before, increasing her speed.
After an hour had passed, Alicia's eyes gazed at the figure of Brutus walking up the slope of the valley, calm and steady.
Completely transformed.
Alicia ditched the rest of the run and caught up to Brutus.
"Hey!" She barked, jogging up behind him.
"Oh, good morning." Brutus turned to her with a smile.
"How come you woke up so early this time?"
"Woke up?" Brutus asked. "I was here the whole night!"
Alicia blinked. "What? What do you mean by the whole night? Why were you here for the whole night?!"
Brutus turned to look at the tall dune. "Because I wanted to." He smiled.
"What the hell..." Alicia stared at Brutus.
Then he suddenly burst out laughing. "Oh, you should really see your face, you know."
Alicia did some more blinking. "What's so funny now?!"
"Because you really did believe me when I said I was here the whole night, that's why!" He flashed a warm smile at her. "I only woke up about an hour before you did."
Alicia sighed and rubbed her eyes. "You really piss me off, you know that?"
"Likewise," Brutus replied.
"What was that?!" She yelled as she bolted after him as he sprinted away. "Stop running, you coward!" She roared. "Why are you so fast all of a sudden anyway?!"
Brutus turned around while running, "It's not me that's fast... It's you who's slow!"
Alicia's rage detonated. "OH, YOU LITTLE-!"
The two chased each other up to the top of the mound.
...
Alicia was striking against the beam particularly hard today, while periodically glaring at Brutus.
Then came the time to sprint down the slope.
"You sure you okay?" Alicia pampered.
All Brutus did was grin. "Just make sure to watch well, okay?"
Alicia snorted. "I'll be sure to engrave the image of sand falling out of your nose, sure."
Brutus made an offended face. "How low!"
"Just get to sprinting, I have my own ghost step to practice, you know!"
Brutus then assumed the familiar position over the edge of the cliff, and didn't force his body off it; he let his body fall over it.
The wind familiarly brushed past his face as he flew down the incline, and when he finally made landfall, his feet barely produced any force. His first-ever try started similarly, but eventually led to him pounding his feet into the sand.
As he felt the sand subtly move under his feet, his mind drifted to the advice Brutus received from Alicia. 'Let the sand guide you, not you guide it.'
His chest loosened. Something inside him, something tight, and angry, and tired, finally uncoiled.
He didn't push.
He didn't fight.
He chose.
The sand's subtle humps and dips no longer felt like sabotage. They felt like suggestions. His feet adjusted naturally, each step bending with the land instead of against it.
A gentle truth surfacing from inside him.
'I don't need to force myself into anyone's shape... I only need to be mine'
He exhaled fully and let his shoulders relax.
And suddenly the sand stopped moving unpredictably.
It had a clear shape to it, a clear goal.
One more step altered his trajectory slightly, exactly like he wanted.
The bottom of the slope neared once again, and Brutus knew that this time, he was going to touch it.
The bottom rushed up to meet, and this time... he finally touched it standing.
No crash.
No sand in the teeth.
He stopped his movement as he reached flat ground.
He fixed his eyes on the sun that crawled over the far-reaching dunes, spilling the first light of day as the world seemed to acknowledge Brutus's success.
Off in the distance, Allistair stood at the ledge of the flat valley, arms crossed. "Hmph, the kid finally stopped fighting himself."
Brutus closed his eyes and exhaled deeply, basking in the warm morning sun, only until he felt the crushing impact of someone barreling their body into his back.
"You did it!!" Alicia cheered, the biggest smile Brutus he'd ever seen pulling on her lips.
Brutus groaned on the ground under her. "Ugh... get off me... you're so heavy I can't breathe."
A fist struck his ribs. "You little..." She sat back, crushing the wind out of his lungs. "You're lucky you just had a breakthrough, or you'd be a bloody pulp!"
"Please..." Brutus weakened.
"Stop horsing around," Allistair said, appearing suddenly.
"But uncle! He just ran down the slope!" Alicia beamed.
"I'm aware," he said, looking at Brutus. "I was watching."
Alicia finally got off Brutus's back, letting his lungs breathe once again.
Brutus weakly got to his feet, too.
"So, am I able to learn the ghost step finally?" Brutus asked impatiently.
Allistair grunted. "You already have."
Brutus blinked. "Huh? No, I haven't."
"Yes, you have."
Brutus looked around. "Uhh, no, I haven't."
And before he could even think, his legs jolted to move his body out of the way of... Allistair's thrusting of his sword to where Brutus's heart would've been.
Brutus looked down at his legs. "How did I just..."
"Yes, you have," Allistair repeated flatly. "In truth. There is no ghost step."
Brutus and Alicia exchanged confused glances.
"It's a step without force, that's all it ever was." He said evenly.
"WHAT?!" they said in unison.
"Relax. You mastered the foundation frighteningly quickly, like always," Allistair said to Alicia. "But he-" He gestured at Brutus. "Mastered the principle behind it."
The two gawked at Allistair.
But his demeanour suddenly turned more serious. And he handed the two a small paper envelope.
"You've learned what you came here to learn, so now leave me alone." Allistair declared.
Brutus's and Alicia's eyes fixed on the small envelopes.
"Is this..." Brutus begun.
"The recommendation letter...?" Alicia finished.
"Yes."
The two turned to each other with massive smiles plastered on their faces, as Allistair turned to leave for the cottage, almost letting a smile slip onto his lips too.
He took several paces before stopping. "Oh, by the way."
He looked over the shoulder directly at Alicia. "If you want that letter, you'll return to Ironheart."
At that, Alicia's face dropped to the sand, a storm of emotions brewing behind her eyes.