Burning Embers Part I: Origins [Arc 1-5]

Arc 2 Interlude: A Hunter's Courage

—Nat's Perspective—

The afternoon sun shone at its brightest as Nat trained in the sweltering heat. Ever since he had learned that he was the competitor for the first challenge, he had been training unceasingly. Of course, it had been only two hours since then. Even still, two hours in the full summer heat felt like a lot. He nocked another arrow onto his longbow, and was ready to fire when he felt a presence behind him. Turning quickly on his heels, he aimed the bow at the presence—

"Oh, it's you." 

It was just Finrod, observing him from a distance of a few steps. Somehow Nat had failed to detect his approach. That's not very good.

"You're practicing with the wrong bow," Finrod said.

"Eh?"

"You can't effectively use a longbow on a horse, unless you're an elf, which you aren't," he reprimanded. 

"Oh. Then what do you suggest?" Nat inquired, tilting his head. 

Finrod withdrew a smaller bow from his back, extending it towards Nat. It was curved at the ends and had a very thin mainframe. "This is a horse-bow. Specialised for horse-archery."

"It looks like it could break any moment," Nat commented, taking the bow.

"Don't worry, it's been reinforced by magic. The draw weight is low, which allows for a faster rate-of-fire, but the range is only about a 100 metres at best," he explained, showing Nat how to draw it and that it wouldn't snap.

Nat examined the bow, realising it was made of some extremely high quality wood. "What was used to make this?"

"Yew of the finest quality, much like how the elves made theirs," Finrod replied.

Amazing! Nat's eyes sparkled as he continued to examine the bow. This is great! Joining this guild was a great idea! 

Nat had been a huge fan of archery ever since he was a child, also being excellent at it during his academy days and when he realised he was compatible for the Hunter class, he jumped at the opportunity. He had always thought joining the guild was a good idea, but now that was confirmed. 

"Anyway, listen to me. Did you learn the horse-archery skill?"

"I did," Nat confirmed. 

"Good, do you have enough skill points for another skill?"

"Yeah, I can learn 'Multi-shot'."

"Perfect! That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Learn it, and I'll tell you what to do."

Nat slid his finger across the glowing writing that said, 'Learn Skill: Multi-shot.'

"It's done," Nat said, as he saw the skill appear underneath his list of learnt skills. 

Finrod nodded in approval. "Good, as the name implies, you can shoot multiple arrows at once, and they diverge to hit multiple targets. This will be useful for you because you'll probably encounter monsters in the forest."

"M-monsters?!" Suddenly, Nat was very afraid.

"I know you have a phobia Nat. Trust me, I've seen it before. You have to overcome it, just this once. The forest is full of targets hidden, and you'll need to use your archer's instincts to find them. Red targets are yours, green are his. You can't proceed without shooting down a target, as they've put up multiple magical barriers," Finrod moved closer to Nat, conviction in his eyes.

"I-I see." How did he know?

Finrod continued, "There's a final target at the end, painted blue. The first person to shoot it wins. You have the edge over him in archery, but he's a phalanxeer, so has the edge in horse-riding. It might come right down to the wire."