In The Wolf's Den

It was summer and it was hot. These two things had crossed Steiner's mind as he had hopped the border from Russian into the lands that had belonged to a new rising power known as Vastime. He had fun with Ritsuko in Russia, but that short time in Russia had given him the want to continue to fight the disease that was plaguing him, and to continue to walk forward steadily with his head held high regardless of what threat he was facing. The people at the border had been handsy, checking through every single bag, and asking about past affiliations. They had scoured his backpack, questioned him on his sword, and had done an extremely thorough background check on him, but after the green light had been given, Steiner was welcomed with open arms into a rather vast country that had formed rather rapidly in the time that he had been away. "They grow up so fast.", the sick young man jested as he made his way into the country's interior to see just what this wonderful new nation had to offer him. Over the course of a week, Steiner meandered from one place to the other, taking in the budding culture, and seeing just how different it was from the rest of the world outside.

In truth this was a place of martial excellence and Steiner could see that from all the academies, the dojos, and the training centers that he walked by. Everywhere he looked there was a clash of martial styles, but those clashes were not something that detracted from his surroundings, they only added to his fascination and wonder of this beautiful country. Loving to train and to learn new things, Steiner found himself picking up a plethora of detailed pamphlets that people were handing out, and found himself pausing to observe training exercises and sparring drills. He could pick up a few things from observing, but in essence he knew it wouldn't stick until he actually began to participate, or learn from someone who actually had combat experience. So though he managed to sit through quite a handful of drills and sparring sessions, Steiner didn't feel anymore learned than he had the moment he had began.

However, he did feel quite a bit more healthy than he had since he had began to travel through this land. The black veins across his body had faded away and his coughing fits no longer ended in a need to cleanse his mouth and hands of blood. It was odd though as the more he traveled, the more he began to feel some kind of strength returning to him, but it wasn't like he was completely healthy. No, he still felt a bit groggy and his reflexes were no where near what they had been before the disease had reached its Apex, and had began its slow crawl into destroying his life. Still...he was better than the day before or the day before that and with each passing day of marching from town to town aimlessly, Steiner felt better, and his mind seemed to sharpen. Hell, maybe in a week or two I will be back to my old heroics. Steiner thought to himself as he came across a beautiful city near a vast forest which he had spent the better part of two days hiking through.

He had remembered this cities location from a flier that he had found during his many stops over the course of the week. The flier claimed that there was some great teaching wolf within this city and that to learn to become a greater warrior that anyone that found these fliers should come to this city and seek them out. Steiner, who had been feeling rather healthier with each, and every passing day looked upon the city in the distance and made a quick decision to seek this great wolf out. What could it hurt to learn from someone with a vast knowledge of combat and someone who was willingly looking for students to teach their ways? Without further hesitation, the Hero of Honor found himself making way to the city with a great deal of wonder in his mind as to the identity of this great wolf teacher, and what they could possibly offer a guy like him who had all the potential in the world, but had yet to full realize said potential.

That wonder gave way to another wonder as he walked through the streets of the city, seeing its structures, and its people up close rather than from afar as he finally entered into the city after an hour of walking from the forest's edge. It was a rather huge city from the outside, but from the inside it was even more grandiose, it reminded him of some cities back from where he had used to live, and not just from the structures but from the diversity of the people and the vibrancy of the culture around him. Much like every other place he stopped, there was a feel of martial excellence, but that feel was further escalated beyond anything Steiner had seen before on his journey here. There was a much vaster line up of different fighting styles, ranging from the complexities of Krav Maga to the simplest of basic kung fu, there was everything here. But Steiner's mind was fixated on learning from this great teaching wolf, he had to know what mysterious techniques the wolf could teach him, and just how much he could improve with that wolf's guidance.

Pulling out the flier once again, he would locate the general location he needed to go from the flier's directions, and began to make his way past all of the exciting training complexes filled with different people training to hone themselves into fighting machines. It was with similar purpose that Steiner approached what looked like a cafe. For a second Steiner stood there confused outside of the wonderful looking cafe near the center of the city. He had thought the location on the flier would be a grand training complex, filled with hundreds of disciples all looking to study under the powerful wolf, but instead it was just a cafe filled with customers enjoying themselves. "Looks can be deceiving, I suppose.", said the hero as he entered the cafe only to be hit by the vibrant smell of multiple types of brews. The aromas and fragrances of brewing tea, coffee, and a multitude of things that Steiner couldn't even begin to describe invigorated the young man bringing a rather broad smile to his face as he walked up to the front counter.

He lay the flier down on the counter and then began to look around for whoever was manning the helm of this cafe before uttering out loud so that people could hear him: "I'm looking for the great teaching wolf? I'm here to learn from a true master." Silence fell over the store which had once been loud, causing Steiner to turn around, and look at his surrounding as people in the store had began to stare at him. Judging him by the looks of it and that was fine with him, he didn't care if they did. He was there to learn and he didn't care what sort of trials he would have to go through to reach his goals.