Chapter 147.6: Fortnight 6: Uncanny Celerity

River Brawn had long lost his passion for teaching. He thought the art of archery and bow craft had long become dead skill sets, only passing his knowledge onto his son, Stream.

The system itself proclaimed him as the oldest bowman alive, giving him the title, Acu. He thought his son who he believed to be far more talented than himself would claim the title from him, but the day never came.

Stream felt unchallenged and bored by archery for as long as River could remember, but for the first time in centuries something had changed. The look in Stream’s eyes when he approached him that day made River’s old heart beat quicken. The very words his son spoke filling him with disbelief.

“More talented than you?”

River turned around to face his son. The young man had approached his father in their home within the city of palaces, a grim look settled on his features.

Is that doubt in his eyes, or excitement…?

“I’ve never seen anyone learn as fast as him, father. He just won’t stop shooting, no matter what I say, no matter how many people venture in from the outside and tell him that he is going to fail as everyone else has failed. He just keeps going, he’s been at it so long that I even started to give him advice…”

“Ha, that’s interesting. Has he even hit a single target yet?”

“No,” said Stream shaking his head.

“But I’m sure he will soon.”

“Bah, come and talk to me about the brat in a few season cycles when he actually—“

“Dad, you're not understanding me, I give him a handful of days, at most, to hit his first target. When I said I’m giving him advice I meant real advice, not the bull we feed the rest of the nobles and royals, real advice that I would give to my future rival or…” His son trailed off, looking away as deep thought took him. River smiled, knowing what his son was experiencing for the first time in his life.

“Your rival…” River finished for his son, more in question than stating what he already knew to be true. His son slowly nodded.

You have finally found someone whose talent makes you want to improve, haven’t you, my boy?

The mixed race man stood, coming to his full height of nearly ten feet and picked up his bow for the first time in almost 10 season cycles and chuckled.

His son looked up taking in his father, knowing that for the man ridiculed for his mixed background, being the son of mixed race parents, his interest must be high for the man to step into the streets that shunned him for his very blood.

“Well then, my son, let us go and see this supposed talent.”

…

Arson’s fingers had gone numb days prior. Anastasia told him that he was still only able to shoot because of how his body had been trained since his youth. He hadn’t believed her at first, but then realized the statement must be true as he could sense where his fingers were naturally. Even not being able to feel them.

Over the past few days Arson learned many things. He realized that shooting directly at his target would never work, and that he had to know every factor that could disrupt his arrows path, including the various traps in the room. As well as the air fluctuations, movements of natural energies, and even the positioning of his bow at all times.

Breathe and release, move, breathe and release, move, breathe and release.

With each shot variant different effects were achieved. His first shot, was slow and lacked power, whereas his second and third were much faster and used to knock aside incoming projectiles, or even explode to blow open a clear path for the first arrow fired.

Arson had even begun to use exploding arrows to change the path of his own arrows, or change the acceleration of other arrows fired.

This made his capabilities with the bow triple in proficiency in a very short period. Arson lost himself to the practice, not aware of the group that had gathered near the entrance of the shooting range, watching him work.

Anastasia, not wanting to distract him, kept silent. The pair's only interaction was Arson’s occasional need for the laser pointers Anastasia helped him aim with being cast from his watch.

“So you were serious, my boy. He is good,” said a voice behind Arson. The voice’s depth made Arson look back, and the arrow he held in his fingertips fell as he was forced to look up at an incredibly large man.

“Woah…”

Arson noticed the grimace come across the face of a man who stared him down, telling him that his reaction to the man’s ferocious appearance was wrong.

The man was ten foot tall. Had the horns of a dragon, elven features, but yet scales ran up his arms and he had the musculature of many of the orcs Arson had seen walking through the city of palaces.

Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t make an enemy of this guy, Arson thought as he extended a free hand and smiled up at the large man.

“What’s your name. boss? Are you any good with a bow? I’ve been here for days and haven’t even hit a single target.” The man’s face changed and he nodded slowly, extending his own massive hand to Arson in turn.

“The name is River Brawn, but most call me Acu,” said the large bowman.

“What would you prefer me to call you? My mother always told me to show respect to those who show it without demands,” responded Arson as they shook, the man’s large hand completely swallowing Arson’s own.

“Acu is fine, I haven’t been called River honestly in centuries.”

“Nice to meet you Acu, my name is Arson from what my watch tells me,” said Arson lifting his wrist to show the bowman his wrist, Anastasia’s smiling face displayed as she gave the man a smile of her own and a nod.

“I see, and what brings you to my fine school? Are you seriously here for training?” asked Acu.

“Yeah, this place seems incredibly dangerous from what I’ve gathered so far, saw many warning signs positioned outside the other distortions that exit the city, and the gates that lead into the jungles beyond also seem perpetually locked. Know anything about that?”

“Of course I do. I’m part of the team that helps cull the invasions that often swarm the city. There are many more distortions outside within the jungles, and they release countless enemies,” Acu said chuckling.

“I see, what are the jungles like? I’m assuming they're not easily explored?”

“Some find it to be okay, but others don’t. I used to travel beyond the walls, but after losing my life to a distortion, I choose to remain within the walls and protect my home to the best of my abilities.”

Arson nodded, but couldn’t help but feel excited by the prospect of there being many potential unexplored areas held within the jungles. He was looking for a way out, and as far as he knew, the more untouched an area, the higher the odds were that his chances to escape the trial rose.

“I see, well I plan to explore as many places I can in the near future. Any suggestions?” Arson asked, lifting his bow in Acu’s direction. The man nodded, and then yelled.

“Stream, get over here. It’s time to show this young man how to truly shoot a bow!”

The same attendant Arson had spoken to days ago, rushed through the gathered group of people that had lingered to watch Arson shoot. The young man wearing a smile that Arson would have previously thought was completely outside of his character, was now holding a rather elegant recurve bow with a powerful design.

“This is my son, Stream. He is the most talented archer I have ever met. As the foremost bowman in this plane, trust me when I say this, he can teach you almost as much as I can. If you are truly dedicated to learn from me, you must at the very least be able to rival my son first, otherwise it would be a waste of my time,” Acu stated, and Arson nodded, extending a hand to Stream.

“Nice to meet you, Arson. Sorry I didn’t do this sooner, but many enter this place and don’t take the art seriously, but I can tell you are different,” said Stream, slightly bowing to Arson after they let go of each others hands.

“Thanks, honestly lost myself here, my watch says that I’m a bit of a demon when it comes to learning new skills and abilities, the bow I guess is my current fascination, but I’m excited to learn from you both.”

The father son pair shared a look and Stream chuckled. The expression nearly identical to his father’s own deep laugh.

“What makes you think that you’ll be able to learn from my father? You have to rival me first?”

Arson looked back at the course he wondered at multiple times being a complete impossibility, and then between the father and the son. His mind already made up on the challenge at hand.

“Well… either I learn from your father… or I die trying.”

…

“You sure this is going to be…” Arson trailed off after taking in the area Stream and Arson would be practicing.

“Safe? Absolutely not, this place is as dangerous as a volcano that shoots lightning.”

Arson’s eyes took in the palace before him and Stream. The lush greenery was filled with moving vines and small winged panthers that seemed to have 4 legs that reminded him of arachnids. The extra appendages surrounded their nearly translucent wings, and grew from their backs,.

Yet, that wasn’t the biggest problem for Arson. It was the panthers abilities to teleport. The insectoid mammals were spreading a webbing created from the tips of their tails, only to disappear and reappear on the opposing side of the webs they hung from. Arson had never seen creatures like this and found himself not only wanting to run, but also pet the creatures.

“Do they bite?”

“You bet they do, but it's the webs you should be most worried about,” Stream said with a point toward a hanging apple in the distance. Arson watched the fruit with a scrunched brow, until a line of webbing shot from what he felt to be thin air; the moment the web made contact a nearby crunching sound could be heard from the panther that teleported the fruit directly into its mouth.

“Now, that right there is a problem…” Anastasia said, Arson lifting his wrist, nodding in agreement as he clutched his bow ever tighter.

“So how are we supposed to go about this,” Arson asked, gesturing toward the two baskets laid behind him and Stream that were meant to be filled with the apples throughout the palace before them.

“Well, there are multiple ways, but some are safer than others, if we find a nest, we get a lot of apples really quickly, but could get swarmed, or we could be out here all day picking apples from the outside perimeter, it's honestly up to you my boy, you’re the one that needs the practice.”

Arson looked at the teleporting insectoid panthers and took a deep breath, knowing the he wanted no part of what he was witnessing, but couldn’t back down from the very first challenge he’d been presented with.

Come on Arson, you’ve got this, just take things slow.

“How about we practice out here first and move inward after I get a hang of fighting these crazy looking things? What are they even called?”

“Not a bad idea, and they're called pantherflies,” Stream said answering both of Arson’s questions. Arson nodded, and looked back toward Stream not knowing where to begin.

“What, don’t look at me like that, get to shooting.”

Arson sighed, and looked back into the distance as he drew back on his bow string. The arrow made of dragon bone formed and Arson took aim, not noticing that Stream was already stepping backward in preparation for something.

Arson fired, and smiled. His arrow’s flight was true and sped toward his target at incredible speeds. Only a moment before the arrow struck, Arson watched as the pantherfly spun aerially, doing his projectile completely, before it turned and looked at him.

“Son of—“ Arson’s curse was cut off by a spray of webbing that latched onto his knee in a fraction of a blink, and in the next instant he felt four insectile legs latch onto his leg.

Arson screamed and the pantherfly's mouth opened as it prepared to bite off Arson’s knee whole. The creature already flapping its wings to drag Arson off his feet.

Just as the creature was about to bite down, an arrow took it directly in its head, piercing it from ear to ear. Arson looked over to see a cackling Stream, unable to breathe as laughter took him.

“Wow, you're hilarious,” Arson roared annoyed.

“That bloody thing almost took my leg off,” Arson said yanking the creature off his leg.

“Oh man, you should have seen your face when that thing appeared on your leg. Never seen eyes so wide in my entire life, going to have to tell my dad about that one for sure,” Streamed said unable to stop chuckling.

“Ha ha ha, are you going to show me how to fight these stupid things or not?”

Stream finally stopped laughing, and nodded slowly, drawing two arrows from his quiver.

“It's a stagnated shot, just aim for the largest point of their bodies right after they spin a web, and…” Stream trailed off and Arson watched as the young man fired two arrows seemingly at the same time. The first soared toward another of the creature's center mass, while the other was directed toward the opposing side of the creatures web.

The creature tried to spin out of the way but failed, instead forced to teleport out of the way. Only to appear directly in the path of the second arrow. Arson gaped as the creature was easily slain; the second arrow easily pinning the creature to the tree behind where it dangled.

Sparks and embers…

Arson looked over to the smiling Stream. The young man simply shrugged, apparently having had done this many times previously.

“See, it’s as simple as that.”

Arson again nodded slowly. It took him a moment to find another target, as well as find the nearly invisible webbing that the pantherfly had dropped from. Pulling back on the bow string, Arson focused.

He couldn’t help but notice Stream’s distancing in the moment as his two arrows formed at his fingertips, glancing at the young man who gave him a nod of his own, making Arson worry, as he too drew back on his bow, pointing it in Arson’s direction.

Guess I know how much faith he has in this going well.

Arson focused, waiting for the pantherfly to pull a nearby apple into its mouth, crunching down hungrily as it swayed slightly above the ground below.

“Here goes nothing…”