The World Of Infinity - Ultimate Setup

Ch. 12 - Alone again

Hael slammed down to the bottom of the bowl. 

Exhausted to the point of delusions, there he spent a good five minutes trying to clear the lights from his vision before slowly crawling up and sheathing his weapons. 

With shaky steps, like an infant trying his feet on ice for the first time, he crossed the crackled stone spread wide across the bowl, eventually reaching Carmel who seemingly had passed out after launching her final attack. Gently taking her to recover on his lap he started inspecting the result of the battle.

...What a mayhem. 

Solid ground was nowhere to be seen at this point and even the clouds that once appeared above the bowl had drifted apart, allowing the sun to shine on top of the rugged earth.

"You did great",

Hael whispered, while a Congratulations pop up appeared in from of him returning some power onto his body. Apparently some stamina was gifted if finished victorious.

"Heh, pretty handy", he though relieved, but that light feeling was cut short. 

"Crackle."

It was feint, but clear. The sound of something crushing a branch under their feet. 

Hael quickly accepted whatever he had achieved from the fight without reading further, grabbed Carmel oh his shoulder and drew one of his swords ready to fight again if needed. 

Attacking at a time like this would be the basic bandit strategy. Surely if a change like that arose, not many with foul tendencies like that would be able to resist... But no bandits appeared. Instead, a young man, from the first glance around the same age as Hael, poked his head up over the edge of the bowl.

The visitor lifted his hands and spoke. 

"That was quite the battle... I swear Im not up to anything shady. I would just like to confirm something with you." 

Hael didn't drop his guard but gave the man a sign to join them. Somehow he felt like a good person. 

(From Haels point of view, his actions followed the protocol of a proper individual, thus there was no reason to act hostile.) 

The man sat down on the ground. Up close he wasn't exactly a normal looking guy either. He had midnight blue hair, a narrow, pretty good looking face, dark shades under and a pair of unpredictable black eyes. It didn't take much to see that he was an oddity as well and for some reason Hael knew what he was going to say next thus, he skipped the introductions.

"Well then... I can pretty much guess your intentions, show me what you got."

The stranger nodded and smiled, then grasped the air in front of him.

Distorting the space around his fist, a dark thorny bow appeared in his hand leaving the air trembling in an odd white glow. 

"A bizarre sight...", Hael though impressed.

"Care for a duel or should I shoot the walls?" The man asked. 

Hael didn't really bother thinking any further and before he realized he already had gently left Carmel leaning to the side of the bowl and stood ready to face his new opponent... who by the way, was by no means an ordinary archer when compared to the one back in the starting town. That much was obvious.

The opponent spoke. 

"Lets not go killing each other off here just to measure our skill yeah?" 

Hael shook his head. 

"No here's a better idea. You try kill me with one shot and ill try blocking it. Ill know if your capable from that."