Kingdom of Mildelar (Elyndra), 9 years earlier.
"En garde, Constantine Serev! This time, I'm really going all out!" eighteen-year-old Zayn Thzraneel declares, leveling his saber at his sparring partner.
"You've been telling me you'd go all out for the past hour. Don't you think it's about time you actually did?" Constantine replies with an amused smile, casually spinning his massive war hammer between his index and middle finger as if it were nothing more than a pencil.
"Up until now, I was just fooling around. But this time, I'm seriously going all out! Here I come — get ready!"
Zayn bursts toward Constantine, crossing the entire training ground in the blink of an eye.
And yet, Constantine doesn't flinch. He calmly answers every attack that comes his way.
He nimbly slips past the first slash, blocks the second with the shaft of his war hammer, then capitalizes on a tiny opening in Zayn's guard and drives a crushing hammer blow into his ribs.
