Arablest/ Prototype

I left the Barracks as quickly as I could, but I quickly got myself lost, still in a daze about what happened earlier. Unfortunately, I didn’t know as much about this place than I did at Gravius, the capital city of Thrycia, and I wasn’t sure if I should ask.

Well, of course I should, but I highly doubt anyone would help me. I’m only but a child, after all, according to everyone else here.

So I wandered through the barracks as if I had a purpose, so then I wouldn’t look so lost.

Interestingly enough, the first person I ran into happened to be Gwen. Gwen, the hunter that I met while escorting Leona to Thrycia.

“Jeremy? Is that you…?”

Ah, to be recognized when I least expected it. Perhaps Gwen can help me out.

“Hey, Gwen. What’s up?” I asked.
“Up…? The only thing up here is the ceiling…” she replied, confused.

Oh, why me? I need to remember that I’m not home, and some of my ‘speech and mannerisms’ as Leona put it, are strange.

I tried again. “Uh, never mind. What are you doing?” I asked.

“I‘m about to go train with my bow! Want to come along?”

What should I say? It would be safer to go along, but… ah, nevermind.

“Uh… sure, why not. I got nothing else to do.”

So I started following Gwen. I swear, this is probably the most awkward day in my life.

“So, what are you doing here?” she asked. “I thought you were in Thyrcia. Wouldn’t King Raymond need your help in the revolution?”

Revolution? What Revolution… oh, that.
I also assumed she knew about King Raymond because she was to be educated about other countries as well, being the wielder of Elridian.

“It’s already over. We found the culprit behind it already.” I replied. “Now, I’m finding my way home.”
“You live in the Northern Isles?” She asked.
“Uh, no, I don’t.” I was eager to change the subject, as long as it wasn’t about me. “How’s Nicolas? I don’t see him around.”
“Nicolas? He’s probably out on another spying mission. Can you believe it? He’s already acquired so much information for the Apostle, or so I’ve heard. He’s getting closer and closer about the truth behind the rogue soldiers who attacked us than anyone else, but now that they’re dormant… Well, it’s kind of hard to find information if they’re not doing anything anymore at the moment. It seems that they have disappeared from the face of Lehrail.”

Interesting. Where could all those soldiers suddenly hide in? You can’t hide a real sized army that easily…

“I see.” I replied, trying not to reveal what I thought.

We continued walking towards… wherever Gwen was going to train. I thought it would be interesting… Why was it called the lightning bow? I wanted to see for myself why, without having to ask.

When we finally reached the area, it was deserted. Empty.

“Where’s everyone? There’s no one else training here…” I asked.
“That’s because I got my own private place to train, because they didn’t want everyone seeing me use the bow.”
“So, I should be here, then?” I asked.
“You can. I brought you here, after all.”
“So, why me?”
“Jeremy! Everyone says you’re a great tactician, and I won’t disagree, especially since I’ve served under your command!”

I sighed. My tactics were nothing. I bet the worst tactician on Lehrail could beat me at a game of chess.

“So, are you going to start practicing?” I asked.
“Ok!” she said excitedly. “Except for my teacher, I haven’t showed anyone what I can do with this amazing bow!”

Well. Someone was certainly excited.

”So, show me.” I replied.
“Well, first, like any other bow, I can fire regular arrows.” She said, drawing an arrow, and in one fluid motion raised it, firing at a very distant target. I couldn’t tell if she hit the bull’s eye on the target, with it being so far away, but I was sure she hit it.

Interestingly enough, along the path of arrow was other targets off to the side, facing the flight of the arrow. In other words, at a ninety degree angle with Gwen. Or something like that.

“But unlike other bows,” she started, and I snapped back to attention. “I can do this.”
She drew another arrow, and again, in one fluid motion, raised the bow. Only this time, the arrow seemed to crackle with energy, and as she released it, I could see electricity crackling around the arrow as it flew, reaching out to hit the other targets as the arrow flew close by.

then I understood. With the bow of lightning, you could control lightning, or electricity, with your bow. When firing an arrow laced with electricity, the electricity would arc out from the arrow and reach all nearby targets, even if it doesn’t conduct electricity, meaning you could completely miss the target, but as long as the arrow was near it you would still shock the target.

“That’s not all, though.” She said, unstringing her bow.
“Why are you unstringing your bow?” I asked, curiously.
“Because I don’t need the string for this last shot.” She replied, which made me even more curious.

With the strong off, she appeared to be holding a piece of wood. Or maybe iron. The bow did look like a regular iron bow, after all, but one couldn’t tell after seeing it fire electricity. All metals conduct electricity, so wouldn’t the wielder also get shocked if it was iron?

She raised the bow, this time without drawing an arrow. No arrows? And she made a movement as if pulling back the string of the bow, only there was no string.

But as she did, I did see a string. Only, it wasn’t a string, it was electricity acting like string. That didn’t make any sense at all.

And when she pulled it all the way back, an arrow, also made of electricity, appeared.

When she released the arrow it pretty much zapped the target before I could blink. It had hit the target the instant she had released it, and smoke was rising from the now scorched target off at a distant.

“As long as I have the energy to move, even when I run out of arrows, I can still shoot.” She said. “Even if the string breaks during battle, I can still shoot, as well. The problem is, it draws energy from me instead.”
“From your life’s energy source, or your source of magic?” I asked. I was glad I had a few conversations with Ira about magic back at Lehrail; that was very helpful.
“I can draw from either, although magic would be more desirable to use first.”
“I see…” I replied, at lost of words. This weapon might even be good enough to match guns on lethality, or even better. The only drawback is the time it takes to nock another arrow, but… “That was… well… amazing. I didn’t know they were like this…”
“Yeah, me too! It’s a really powerful bow! And… and… to be chose as it’s wielder… It’s like a dream, isn’t it? Sometimes I wonder why it chose me and not someone else… Ah well, back to training!”
“It’s simple.” I replied, quickly. “Some weapons seem to fit better in your hand, right?” I asked, making things up as quickly as possible. “Well, this bow… Elridian, it fits you very well, doesn’t it? You know, it just… works with you. ”
“Like, a bow that was meant for me to use? I think that makes sense… Well, thanks for helping me feel better about it.”

What? That last part; I had no idea why she said that. But I had nothing else to say. So I just sat there and watched her rapidly fire arrow after arrow (they were the normal arrows, I think she was working on being able to draw and fire quickly with good accuracy) at the far off target.

I had no reason to be here, but I had no reason to be anywhere else, so I just sat there and watched, giving her encouragement from time to time, until she was done.

Her teacher never appeared once.

It’s true that I finally got to know the true power of a legendary weapon, which was nice.

But I was nowhere closer to getting home.