Bow for Nature

I stand firmly on my feet; one foot resting on the thwart and the other foot catching a grip on the water filled floor of the rapidly swaying boat. I take one swift look at the cyclops and notice that it’s tired from all the magic that my crew has used. It’s weakened and I can kill it swiftly in one go. I pull the arrow back and shoot for its heart. We watch as the creature falls back in the water holding his heart.

“You did it! Delia!” Everyone cheers on. I give everyone the same satisfied smile that I’ve given before in these mini battles where we usually defeat lone water beasts.

“You did good to Gia!” I tell my big sister. She gives me a warm smile and the boat gets pulled to the shore.

The fatigue is getting to me. I don’t think I have the energy to walk home. I’m a skilled archer with water energy. Fighting in bodies of water amplifies my strength. My big sister on the other hand is a mage. We come from a family of very powerful mages and only the eldest child ever inherited the trait. I trained in archery while my sister trained in magic. She is still a novice though.

“Are you tired Delia?” Gia pulls at my arm and asks me sternly. I have a habit of lying through pain. But I can’t hide this one.

“Very,” I reply dryly.

“Get on my back. I’ll carry you.” She offers.

“Are you crazy? I’m not a kid.” I tell her, mustering up some strength to climb up the stairs leading to a narrow pathway which will lead to a bridge that we have to cross to get to the rough rocky terrain on the hill which would eventually lead to our home.

“I give up.” I say sitting down at the very first step. “I think I’m getting weaker.” I say opening up my bag to take out some berries to eat.

“I could use teleportation and get us home.” Gia says gleefully looking down at me.

Gia is an intelligent mage with amazing powers, but still far from perfect at her craft.

“Didn’t you faint the last time you did the spell? What if it fails? You won’t have any energy either.” I tell her. Teleportation is one of the most difficult spells that are not to be done without supervision of a more senior mage.

“Just trust me.” She says and before I could say anything a blue light engulfed both of us and we land on the soft bed in my room. I look at her in awe, completely amazed at the perfect casting of the spell.

“Let’s go out and tell mom. She’ll be thrilled. Uncle Charles would be so envious.” I say opening the door and walking downstairs only to end up back in my room. I look at my sister with a raised eyebrow, waiting to see if she realized that something was amiss.

“Home sweet home! Mom! Dad!” She calls out happily peeking her head out the door. Gosh! Why is she so oblivious.

“I think you did something wrong. Didn’t you see I just entered my room after going downstairs?” I ask her frustrated as panic sets in and I run downstairs again to view the kitchen but end up on the hallway outside my room this time.

“How could this happen? This is our house.” She says.

I look at my window and hatch an escape plan. We could climb down the vine that is hanging outside my bedroom window and enter the house from the front door. I tell Gia my plan and after a lot of persuasion I convince her to climb down the fragile thin vine and I follow slowly after her.

I open the front door and walk in to the basement. It took a few seconds to realize I was utterly and completely lost. The house was a maze and random doors were leading to random places within the house. How do we escape?

We walk up the stairs of the basement and end up in the kitchen.

“Oh food!” Gia comments grabbing a slice of apple pie sitting on the dining table.

“Do you realize the situation we’re in? We have to find a way to get to our real home.” I tell her, as my nerves get worse and worse every passing second.

“Calm down. It is our house. And this pie is delicious.” Gia says nonchalantly, licking at her finger, her eyes going big as she takes another huge bite of the pie.

“Gia. I have assignments tomorrow. I can become the head archer of the school if I beat the hippogriff tomorrow.” I tell her, sitting next to her, almost pleasing for her to care enough.

“I can’t use my magic though. For three days. Besides, isn’t it good here? No monsters, no quests, and lots of food.” Gia says.

“Are you kidding me?” I yell out. I get off my seat and taking a slice of apple pie and walk out of the house eating a bite of it. We’re surrounded by nothing but huge trees under the moonlight. The stillness and lack of life scares me more than the cyclops we fought just an hour ago. An hour; for her to recover her magic will take seventy-two hours. This is sad.

“I have a confession.” Gia says standing next to me, staring at the empty forest. “I hate being a mage and doing the quests. I hate it with a burning passion.” She says looking seriously at me.

“Okaaay.” I proceed slowly. “I knew you disliked it but why are you telling this now?”

“Because, I messed up on purpose. Because this is where I want to be.” She says.

“In this maze?” I ask her perplexed by her statement.

“No. There. In the forest.” She says pointing at the forest. “I want to be in nature. With the trees. They speak to me. Killing creatures is not in my nature.”

I take a step back, trying to process her words in my head. Is she ever going to want to go back.

“You don’t have to take on the quests. You can live near nature. But we have to back to our actual home first Gia. You know that right?” I try to convince her, knowing full well that our lives would still be the same if we go back since we don’t have a choice but to fight, honouring the gifts we received from our forefathers.

Gia walks back inside the house, which opens to her room this time. I walk back and open the door only to end up in the courtyard instead. It seems her emotions play a big role on which door leads to which part of the house.

*****************

“We have some oats porridge and fruits. Let’s eat to our heart’s content.” Gia says the next morning. She starts singing a song, dancing around the house and twirling every now and then. She really is happier here.

She hands me a cup of porridge. I take a spoonful. “It’s delicious!” I quicken my pace and eat more. Gia is a great chef too.

“Listen. Let me enjoy for three days. I promise I’ll take us back home, okay?” She says gently. Maybe this experience wouldn’t be so bad.

The next few days go by foraging for fruits in the forest, swimming in the lake, eating different soups of veggies we discovered in the forest, and above all, singing our hearts out, something that we were not allowed to do as kids to prevent attracting monsters in to the town.

The hesitant hums turn into powerful vocals withing few hours. I learned the precise art of baking. I stared outside my window for hours looking at the night sky filled with intricate constellations that my tired brain never used to grasp before.

Under the bright moonlight I take one last swim in the lake, with no fear of any monster attacking me or my town. I’ll miss this.

Three days pass by sooner than I would’ve liked. Gia takes one last look at the forest and all the supplies we’ve collected that we are planning to take home.

“Thank you for all the food and nourishment you have provided for us.” She says keeping her hand on her heart. She has always had a special connection with plants.

“Ready?” She asks. I nod my head.

She closes her eyes preparing for the teleportation magic.

I hold her arm as she’s about to start her chant. “Wait. Let’s go somewhere else. Not home.” I tell her.

“Why?” She asks me confused.

“I can’t fight for the rest of my life. I don’t want to.” I tell her.

She closes her eyes and starts her magic. This is it. I’ve made the decision to leave my old life behind. I choose to get joy from the simpler things. I want to watch the stars every night. I want to swim every day. I want to sing and bake pies. The blue light once again engulfs us and this time we end up in a small town at the hill top. All the shops and houses are abandoned with no signs of people or beasts.

“It’s a ghost town. Seems freshly abandoned.” I say as I look around.

Gia starts to walk toward the trees behind the shops. I follow after her as we both disappear into the woods.

“Sound of water.” She says. I quickly run to the river stream and follow it to witness the most beautiful waterfall falling into a magical pool at the bottom. The place near the pool has the most beautiful glowing neon trees and is surrounded by pink and blue hills. The sky is orange.

“What is this place?” I ask her.

“Artis Grove.” She says reading the sign next to us. “Our new home.”