The Unbreakable Bow

As the only thing lighting up their path was their lamps which were attached to their luggage, Aefrine was hoping that the tiny dot of light at the end of the tunnel could get bigger, especially since the king couldn't stop asking him questions like what is his favourite hobby, or why he prefers archery. All of his questions were ones that Aefrine couldn't answer despite their simplicity. He didn't have any hobbies, so he just said reading since it was the only thing he could say. And that wasn't the bigger problem. With each answer, the king would start a story about himself that would last forever. The king would always laugh loudly, trying to make his "funny" stories even funnier, thus making the whole place echo his laughter. Aefrine wondered if the guards could hear him. He tried his best to seem like he was very interested, wishing they could see sunlight soon.

After exactly eight different stories, they reached the exit of the cave since as much they got closer to it, the more Aefrine realised that it was indeed a cave more than a tunnel. As the sun gently touched the relieved face of Aefrine, he examined the place. They were in a high position on a mountain with nothing but dense trees to be seen.

"Aefrine, remember that you can only use the lead to make the Utahraptor go forward or to stop it. Anything else, you would need the whip to give it your command. "

"Yes, Your Majesty. "

He had already pulled the lead since he saw the king do it first.

"No need for formality here. Today, we are just hunter partners. Call me Hans ."

"As you wish,...Hans ?"

"Yes, that is much better. Come, let me tell you the essential parts of hunting. "

"Ok."

He used the whip, and both were getting down the mountain.

"First of all, see that lamp ?"

"Yes?"

"Never lose it. It is the most important tool."

"But why? We aren't at night ?"

"It doesn't serve only as a light source but also as a defence against other predators. We don't want to end up as prey ourselves, do we? "

"Of course, not."

"It is enchanted to send long-distance sensations for most dinosaurs to keep away from us. It is mostly used for smaller ones because in case you didn't know, the smaller dinosaurs are much more dangerous for us than any T.rex."

"How is that ?"

"Well, they prefer to attack orcs or humans more often, unlike T.rexes who don't. "

"But a T.rex attacked me. He almost ate me !"

"Well, I guess you are really unlucky, or the animal was really desperate. But trust me, facing a single T.rex is much easier than a pack of Velociraptors. There isn't much you can do if you get surrounded by them. "

"Then-"

"Don't worry, as long as that lamp is still burning, they won't bother us. The next thing to consider is the capabilities of the Utahraptor that you are riding. It can jump very high, and it can outrun a T.rex, but not for too long. Keep that in mind. It is very agile and it can stick to big trees with its claws. "

Aefrine took a look at their feet. In each foot was a big claw that stand out of the others.

"And the most useful aspect of them is their ability to fire a blinding beam of light from their mouths. T.rexes, despite having good sight, are quite sensitive to light. So, if you hit them with light magic in the general direction of their eyes, it will confuse them greatly. Try to give an order to yours."

"I just need to imagine what he should do and hit with the whip ?"

"Yes."

"Ok.."

He tried to imagine a shot of light coming out of its mouth and whipped the animal. It simply turned its head.

"You need to be more specific, like try to imagine where, how, and what you want to happen ."

"I need to choose a target, you mean? "

"Yeah, something like that .."

He imagined the shot hitting the biggest tree that he could see. He was mainly using an arrow format for the shot. He used methods like this with his arrow. He whipped again. The Utahraptor opened its mouth, and from it, a beam of white light was released. It hit exactly the spot that Aefrine had wanted to hit. It had no effect on the tree, though. After all, it was just a beam of light.

"Wow, you are indeed a quick learner, no joke. Try to jump high and grab onto a tree trunk ."

"You mean the Utahraptor, right ?"

"Obviously.."

Aefrine went to the gigantic tree that he had just hit. He observed it. He whipped the beast, and he went flying. Aefrine nearly fell off his saddle. He had imagined climbing only a small portion of the tree, but his Utahraptor had jumped all the way up to half of the tree's impressive height. Luckily, it had balanced itself after grabbing the trunk. Thus, its rider didn't fall. Hans looked very small from this height.

"Good job, Aefrine! Now try to jump to another tree !"

"What ?"

"Jump to another tree!"

He had heard him the first time, but he simply wished he heard him wrong. And he did it again. The second time was a bit easier than the first. As he jumped exactly five times successfully without much issue, he finally felt like he was good at something. Where was this talent when was training with Rudolf...

"Hey, Aefrine! Do you see a brown line somewhere to your right?"

He looked and searched for whatever this brown line could, and then he saw it. It was far away. He couldn't figure out what it was.

"Yes, I see it."

"That is the road to Olson. You be taking that path soon, "

"Ah,OK.. "

He felt a bit dumb. He thought it was a river.

"That will be enough. You can come down ."

He whipped again, and the animal jumped to the ground. He didn't like the feeling of falling that fast.

"Remember, your Utahraptor has mana too. Don't overuse it, or it will get tired just like you can. "

"Does it only use light magic?"

"No, it can use phys magic as well as gravity magic to some degree. That is how it can jump like that."

"Makes sense.."

"So, I think you are ready. Do you hear that ?"

"Hear what? "

As silence finally took place, he could hear distant grumbles.

"Is that ?"

"Yes, now follow slowly and steadily."

Both of them approached the source of the sound with lots of caution. The more they approached, the louder the grumbles would get. And soon enough, Aefrine could hear hundreds of footsteps of giant creatures. And finally, they were there. It was a green plain. The grass was so tall it was Aefrine's height. A horde of four-legged gigantic animals roamed the place. They mostly looked like Styracoes. However, these are much larger, and they had three horns instead of one.

"Those are Triceratops. They are the main food for T rexes. We are lucky, we found a horde of them so quickly. All we have to do now and wait for a pack of T.rexes to come out to play. "

"Wait,a pack? "

"Don't worry, we will only hunt one of them. "

"Can't we just hunt these dinosaurs? "

"No, only a pack of T.rexes would dream of doing so. I know they might seem peaceful, but if you get close enough, they will make you regret coming to nature. Our plan is to wait until the T.rexes arrive. They will split up to divide the horde and we will chase the weakest one of their pack, get him away from his friends while they are busy with their own hunt and we finish him off before the others notice and we will get on our way. So, for now, all we can do is wait."

And they waited.

It was clearly the afternoon, and yet nothing had happened. Hans always kept telling him to keep his eyes open for anything that moved while he went to do something. Yet, the only things that were moving were the horde and time.

Maybe the T.rexes aren't hungry today?

At last, Hans woke him up from his daydreaming.

"Look,look,over there!"

He looked. There was a big head staring into the horde. Soon after, two, no three, no four, actually six T.rexes came out of the forest. The horde quickly took up a defensive position, but Aefrine didn't have time to observe them.

"Quick, follow me ."

They had entered the tall grass. The boy could feel the ends of the leaves tingling his legs.

"Listen carefully, we are going to jump and attack the T.rex from a distance to get it to follow us. Don't get too close and not too far. And always be careful of its flames. "

"Which one?"

"That one over there ."

He was pointing at the one that was far from the rest of the action. As they approached rapidly, Aefrine remembered the terror of these beasts. Their colourful appearance only serves as a warning for those who challenge them, yet this time, Aefrine wanted to believe that he and Hans could take them down. The struggle commences.

Hans is the first to jump and hit the monster in the eye directly. It roared furiously. And a breath of fire was retaliated. Aefrine barely missed it. This was too much fire. The fire that came out of the first T.rex he had met was nothing compared to this flamethrower. Maybe the one that chased him that night was sick or something...

He jumped and shot at the beast. Again, the T.rex would roar in rage and fire his flames. Aefrine was managing to keep up with Hans. The dinosaur was following them slowly. Suddenly, it gave chase and was rapidly approaching their position.

"Run Aefrine!"

Now, they had the predator's full attention. Aefrine was really hoping that the Utahraptor could indeed outrun the T.rex behind them. But it wasn't long before the monster simply fired again, making them jump high before leaving them.

"Fast, we are not far from the forest. Back to attacking it, "

They turned around and jumped over the wall of fire. Hans now took a sling and threw with all his might a projectile which after hitting the animal, exploded, releasing a gas. It made the T.rex angrier than ever. It was back chasing.

"Well, that was too easy. Back to running, Aefrine!"

As they jumped over the burning grass twice, he noticed that the grass wasn't really burning. It was mostly unaffected by it. Hans kept hitting the animal with his projectiles.

"Aefrine jump to the trees."

They finally reached the forest, and the beast was still chasing them. Once on the trunks, they kept hitting endlessly with light beams. The T.rex returned the favour with flames as always. Now, it was a hide-and-seek game. They would run and hide in the trees while their prey would try to seek them with any methods available. It wasn't really hard. Aefrine was used to this fast chase.

"Aefrine, all we need is to get it to fall to that net."

He looked behind. There was a black net in the distance.

Since when was it there?

"Keep blinding it. It relies on its hearing and smell. "

The Utahraptor that Hans was riding was very close to getting eaten by the T.rex. Aefrine hastily hit his eyes with more light beams. And jumped away. Its teeth shredded the wood of the giant tree before giving chase once again. As they reached the last tree, Hans explained :

"Jump to the middle!"

The T.rex fell for the trick. As it tried to fetch the two, he got struck in the net which made him collapse to the ground. He tried to stand up hastily, but the more he moved, the more he struggled. Until at last, his eyes closed gently. The hunters observed their prey.

"Is it dead ?"

"No, of course. The net only puts it into deep sleep. "

He pulled out his sword. It was big, carbon-black with spikes coming out of its blade. Aefrine assumed it was very heavy. Hans raised it high and, with one slice, made a big wound in the animal's neck. He backed away as warm blood spilt out like a fountain.

"We usually just tie down a T.rex and cut it like this to ensure a painless death. But thanks to this new net, we won't need it. It doesn't only put anything that gets in it to sleep, but it also reduces its weight greatly to the point that even two hunters can hunt and carry one. In the traditional way , we would need at least ten. Anyway, let's get going. Good job."

"But I didn't do anything..."

"Well, you survived,"

Somehow, that made it worse for Aefrine...

"You don't really expect to do a lot in your first hunt. But you did pretty well with the Utahraptor for a first try. Trust me."

They attached the net to their luggage. And now they got on their way. The giant creature seemed very light. It was like they were pulling a load of cotton instead of flesh.

"Today, we finished way earlier than I had expected. Guess we can get this one cooked for dinner. Hahaha."

"Hahaha..."

"So, tell me, Aefrine.."

Oh, boy, we are back at pointless questions...

"Do you trust me ?"

"Huh? Of course!"

"Even with your future ?"

"Er...yes."

"Then would you give me one of the Keys of Fate?"

"What? "

"Let me explain. Do you think that you would need all of the keys ?"

"Yes,most likely because Ryuji was trying to get all of them. He had two but still sought mine."

"Well then, I suggest that you leave one key with me and you go on your journey to find out how to use the keys. So, if you somehow lose them and the worst happens to you, the keys won't fall into the wrong hands. Remember, we are talking about keys that change fate. This is no joke. I have no intentions to use it, but there are many out there who do, and they might not have good goals. I mean, what do you think Ryuji wants it for?"

"I guess to conquer the world ...?"

"Well, if that is possible, the keys shouldn't be in any hands. I won't ask you what you want with such power because I trust you. So, all I ask is that you trust me. If nothing bad happens,I return what is yours, but if something indeed happens, I swear that your key shall remain hidden from the world until the fall of the kingdom. Of course, it is your choice but please think about it."

"Ok..."

"Just thinking about Ryuji wanting this sort of power scares me, I wonder what is he planning, right now.."