The Sunset Arrow – Arrival - Chapter 6

“Right, first off, the bow’s made up of three parts: the body, the limbs, and the string. You can’t do without any of them.” The Master held the Sun Chaser Bow, his tone calm and steady, as he laid out the bow’s structure for Aiya.
Aiya was hanging on his every word, her gaze locked on the bowstring, her fingers instinctively twitching to touch it. She could feel the sheer, raw power contained in the weapon, but she knew that raw power was useless unless she could tame it.
Time absolutely flew. When the Master finally wrapped up his explanation of the bow’s anatomy and how to use it, the sky outside was already painted with the colors of the sunset.
“We’ll call it a day here. Go and properly absorb all that knowledge. Tomorrow morning, I’ll be testing you on the basics, and if you pass, we’ll start the practical shooting training in the afternoon.”
Aiya nodded, feeling a nervous mix of excitement and dread about what was coming next.
—
The next day, the sun broke bright and early.
Aiya stood back at the training ground, facing the neat rows of targets. The Master stood nearby, hands clasped behind his back, a slight, knowing curve to his smile as he watched her.
“When you shoot, your mind has to be quiet, and your body must be solid. When you draw the bow, you shouldn’t rely just on your arm strength. Instead, you need to pull with your entire back, driving the power through your arms. That saves your energy and lets you shoot further, and more accurately.”
The Master positioned Aiya in the shooting stance, his fingertips lightly correcting her arm and spine, guiding her into the proper posture.
“Got it.” Aiya gave a small nod.
“Ready, raise the bow, aim, draw the string, loose!”
As the Master’s command rang out, Aiya immediately moved in sync with the rhythm.
The arrow hissed through the air and thumped into the edge of the humanoid target. The fletching at the tail end fluttered before going still.
Aiya frowned, feeling a sharp sting on the inside of her left forearm. She looked down and saw a thin, fresh red welt had already appeared.
“Haha, that’s completely normal. I used to have hands scraped raw by the string back in my day,” the Master chuckled, seeming rather amused by her situation.
“But why would the bowstring hit my arm?” Aiya asked, confused.
“There are two reasons,” the Master replied, gesturing with his hand. “First, posture and angle vary; some people’s arms jut out more, making it easy for the string to graze them. Second, your movement isn’t quite right; you’re not fully extending when you draw. But relax, this can all be fixed with practice.”
“I understand.”
She pulled the bow again, ready to continue practicing, when the Master suddenly broke into a malicious, wicked grin.
“Right, time for you to play a ‘little game’ for training!”
The next moment, hordes of ghostly figures suddenly materialized around Aiya—and yes, I mean hordes. So many that her scalp crawled with terror.
These slightly transparent ghosts still looked like they did the moment they died—some headless, some missing eyes—and they lunged at her, claws out and teeth bared, intent on swallowing her whole.
Just as she was about to cast ‘Thousand Miles of Ice’, hoping to get rid of the ugly things in one go—
“Eh???” She couldn’t conjure a single spell!
In a flash, a burly ghost swung its huge palm, aiming to flatten her skull. Aiya quickly ducked and reached for the dagger tucked into her clothes—
“Ehh!!!” She patted herself all over and realized her weapon was gone!
Excellent. That was it. Her last flicker of hope had just died.
This unreliable Master was absolutely setting her up!
Now, Aiya was left with only a bow and a quiver of arrows for company.
With no time to waste, Aiya rapidly drew and released the arrows—one, two, three… The arrows flew out in quick succession. Initially, her aim was deadly accurate, but as her stamina dropped and the ghosts got less dense, she started finding it tough.
Just as Aiya shot an arrow and hadn’t yet recovered from the effort, a ghost’s sharp claw slashed out. She was too late to dodge, and three vicious gashes immediately appeared across the side of her face. Without blinking, she reversed her grip and thrust an arrow into the ghost’s forehead. Another ghostly figure dissipated into nothing.
The remaining ghosts wisely kept their distance, seeming to realize that if they kept back, Aiya’s arrows would be harder to land. The confrontation settled into a tense stalemate.
Aiya took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm and patiently wait for an opening.
Finally, when one ghost lost patience and lunged fiercely at her—
Swoosh. An arrow tore through its forehead, and the ghost dissolved into a black mist.
Seeing this, the other ghosts charged forward, but one by one, she picked them off.
When the last ghost vanished, Aiya just crumpled to the ground, unable to stand, panting fiercely, every muscle screaming. The bl00d on her face had dried, the pain was intense, and her entire body felt like it was coming apart at the seams.
“Well? Was the game fun?”
The Master’s voice suddenly came from above. He had appeared beside her out of thin air, leaning down with a beaming smile.
“Absolutely hilarious!” Aiya bit out, teeth gritted.
“Hahaha, I thought so too. Honestly, watching you scramble around was pretty entertaining.”
Aiya’s face was dark, and she couldn’t be bothered to argue back.
However, the Master’s next sentence completely flattened her—
“Time for a rest, then. Once you’ve recovered some energy, you’ll need to shoot a thousand arrows. Only then will today’s training be over.”
Aiya just stared silently up at the sky. She hadn’t just jumped into a terrifying situation, she’d been dragged in.
“Yes…” she replied helplessly.