Unlearning my trade

I left my apprenticeship with a bad habit.

Troaliss was a vagrant, and I his only student. There were no journeymen and no classmates. When we sparred - or fought - it was the master against the apprentice.

I would always lose. The question was how long it took me to lose.

So I learned to duel: to forget the world, to ignore my surroundings, and to focus only on Troaliss. He was my only threat.

It served me well, and when Troaliss realized what he was doing he did what he always did.

He challenged me to a fight and beat me.

After rubbing salt in my wounds, getting drunk and sobering up the next afternoon, he told me that I was doing it wrong, and showed me how to do it better. He was trying to help.

It only made things worse.

And so, very confidently, I've repeatedly found myself walking into the jaws of death since last Midsummer. If I can find somebody to solo against, it fares better than usual.

If I can't, I usually find myself inches from the Void.

And so, with what little money I have, I have decided to learn a better way to stay alive.