Boy Meets Ai

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The quiet mountain top glistened with fresh fallen snow. It blanketed the trees and rocks. This high up, the air was thin, Seiko could see his breath curl and whisp with each exhale. He sat on a fallen tree, hands stretched toward a crackling fire. Oaklee stood on the edge of a sheer drop, looking at the sky with binoculars. She counted in her head. Ten minutes and forty-three seconds to convergence. Her calculations shifted and revised constantly, accounting for air pressure, wind, gravity, velocity, drag, etc. Oaklee bent down, using her finger, she drew two footprint sized holes in the snow. She called Seiko over as her internal timer hit the three minute mark. Seiko put his feet in the holes as she directed.

"Could you be a little less theatrical and just tell me what we're doing?" Seiko said.

Oaklee didn't respond. She was intensely focused as she checked her binoculars again.

"Draw your bow."

"What? Why?" Seiko asked.

"Just do it! It's coming!" Oaklee barked.

Seiko pulled out his bow and knocked an arrow. The ai tilted it upward to just the right angle.

"Ok, now hold there."

"What am I shooting?! There's nothing here, we would hear it coming."

Again, she ignored him. Oaklee stretched out her hands toward the bow. Red energy bloomed from her palms, like living vines, the red light wrapped around the arrow. The shaft began to glow the same crimson. Next, she clasped her hands together, chanting arcane phrases to form a spell. Greenish blue mist fell from her mouth as she spoke, pooling around her head.

"Acceleritas!" As Oaklee finished the enchantment, the smoke seeped into the bow. At that moment, Seiko felt the string dig into his fingers. It felt as if the force he was holding back had tripled or even quadrupled! His arm shook slightly trying to maintain the draw.

"Fire in 4..." Oaklee began counting down.

Seiko looked confused. "Fire at what?"

"3..."

"What are we fighting?" He growled.

"We aren't. 2..."

Seiko sighed in dissatisfaction.

"1... Fire!"

The ranger let the arrow fly. While doing so though, he didn't take his eyes off of Oaklee. It was a pointless shot anyways and he wasn't aiming at anything.

The arrow tore through the sky at incredible speed. It was like a bullet from a gun. Air built up at the tip and exploded with a BOOM! as it broke the sound barrier. Oaklee held out her binoculars to Seiko. He looked at where she pointed. The little Ai was filled with a deep smugness as her partner's face went from confused to completely shocked. It was hard to see because of the distance, nearly a mile away, but he could see a flying beast through the scope. It was humongous with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. A Gryphon. It flew over a distant frozen lake.

"Thats EisTod Lake. It magically freezes anything that touches its waters." Oaklee said as she stamped out the campfire.

Seiko watched in disbelief as the arrow he fired slammed into the monster with the force of a truck. Red tendrils exploded outward from the point of impact, constricting the gryphon's wings. The beast plummeted from the sky, wounded and entangled. Seiko followed it with the binoculars as it plunged down to the lake, through the ice, into its freezing depths. Oaklee threw her hood over her head and started walking down the mountain. He followed her in a daze, not noticing the giddy expression on his own face.