Rise Of The Spatial Dragon

The brilliant sun rays glinted against the sharp edge of the arrow. Kedan raised it high and aimed. The bow was powerful and special. He could feel the wind against his skin, his hair briefly turning.

Very rarely did he ever get to do this. True archery. No tricks, no magic, just good old fashioned bowmanship! To say that Kedan was an enthusiast would be an understatement. This was one of the things that even among other Faction protectors, he stood out. His excellence with the bow and arrow, on pure skills, was unequaled, and given the competition, that was saying something.

Kedan could still remember where his passion had begun. He was a young trainee faction protector, but he still could go under. This time he had an assignment to destroy an empire that was causing massive losses to a god.

Born to a son of a woodcutter, his prospects had been pretty low right from the start. However, things quickly changed as he met his master, Farion. He had been a vagabond, little more than a rascal. Still, his skills at pickpocketing and other petty crimes stood out.

His father naturally didn't approve but given his station in life, his son rarely paid much attention. This was all part of the act, as he needed to be a degenerate to achieve his goal, but somewhere along the way, things changed.

Kedan had been stalking a wealthy-looking man. From afar, Kedan, or as he was called then, Towett, had picked his prey well. The man didn't look at all threatening, instead, he looked more like some easy prey, someone that would spook easily. Secondly, the man's clothing and accessories told of a wealthy individual, and the boy hoped to collect something good from the encounter.

Reaching for the wallet that was conveniently hanging out of the belt, little Towett could almost count the coins. He thought of all he would do with such a tiny sum, maybe even support his dad for once, show the man how it's done. One could guess that this was not full immersion, but a partial one.

Remember Kedan's first induction into going under, when he was with his big brother. In that case, it had been a full immersion, where the consciousness is fully alert and aware. In such a case, from the moment the soul is attached to the body, which usually happens at conception, the consciousness is fully alert and aware of everything.

There were obvious merits to such a method. For one, the individual became brilliant and had a cheat sheet through life because all this was not new. The whole concept of YOLO (You Only Live Once) was overruled. The tasks given were easily achieved and the individual hardly put a foot wrong.

The drawbacks included the obvious strain that the immersion placed on one's consciousness. Having to experience 9 months, or whatever gestation period the species underwent, was no joke. Secondly, the child might end up being abnormally bright, which would attract a lot of attention. If the wrong person was alerted, then the individual would lose the mission before it even began.

The other type of immersion was known as partial immersion. Unlike how the name suggests, one's consciousness would be fully immersed, but it would be sealed. These seals were put in place as a way of protecting the individual from the process of growing up.

Usually, locks for these seals were placed when one made breakthroughs. For instance, one would gain some level of self-awareness upon birth, just enough to quicken the development process. Next, one would gain more knowledge as they grew, with objectives that the consciousness would reveal to the person.

This was the type of immersion Kedan had gone in to become Towett. The boy was not fully developed, and while he knew that he needed to set up a criminal organization, he didn't know what for. He was following the guidance of his consciousness. This was why he had such imm.a.t.u.r.e thoughts, he was imm.a.t.u.r.e.

Turns out, Darion was not such a simple target. The boy had been caught on his attempt. The law of the land dictated that any thief caught should be arrested, but contrary to Towett's expectations, Darion spared him and took him in. It wasn't like his father minded, he was just glad to be rid of the nuisance.

Darion was a master archer and a warrior. He had such a love of the bow and arrow, and it was this love that he passed on to the boy. The story went on to be a big twist. Towett gained power and authority. Using these, he revealed the empire to be corrupt and tore it down, building another, with the d.e.s.i.r.ed effects. He ended up being a hero and the name of him and his master lived on as legends.

Now as then, he was on an animal's back. The wind on his back and fury in his lungs. Yes, the faction protector was irked to no end.

He had done it. Kedan had not only challenged the all-important Quest, but he had indeed succeeded. Not only that, by winning, he had managed to uncover a treasure trove that could overturn the politics of this continent for millennia, if not forever.

Not one to toot his own horn, Kedan wanted his return to be special. To rub it in the face of Joyce and see the smug looks and sneers wiped off. He wasn't vain, but damn, victory tastes so much better when there are people to prove wrong. And yes, a hero's welcome is not a bad idea either.

Yet for all that, what did he find? An abandoned camp! Signs that a violent struggle had happened, starting from the lake, but spreading out as people had tried to run. Bodies were littered everywhere, telling a tale of awful carnage.

From his perch on a hafiti bird, Kedan followed the tracks, vowing deep in his breath to put the fear of God in whoever did this!

***

Joyce woke up with a start. Her head felt as though there were giants banging drums in it. She could barely rise, and when she tried her weak body gave up and she hit the ground once again. Her actions attracted a young maiden who rushed over to her. Grabbing a waterskin, she tried to get Joyce to drink some but this only led to a bout of coughing.

Pushing the waterskin away, Joyce took the time to look at the maiden tending to her. This was her, the same girl who had saved her. She was the girl that had arrived with that hero. As disorientation quickly set in, she wondered where she was, and how she'd gotten there, but she didn't need to ask. The girl was rabbling away.

Gathering her wits, Joyce began to put together what had happened. They had been ambushed by the wolfkin. Her people had been indiscriminately slaughtered and those that survived were bundled together and led back to the city, and into some dungeon. Their fate was unknown, but it was safe to say that their lives were forfeit.

As Kayla watched this brilliant commander listen to her narration of events, she saw the complex emotion that flashed across her face. The poor girl interpreted it to be rage or determination. How could she know the deep and utter despair that loomed over Joyce's heart at that moment?

The woman had tried everything, given her all, yet she knew the truth, just didn't want to face it. Previously, she had faced the wolfkin before, and in some battles, she had emerged victorious. Maybe it was these victories that had led her to forget, or mask the truth yet deep down, she knew it.

Her cause was a lost cause. Against the tyrannical power that the wolfkin wielded, there was no winning. She was in a losing war and there was nothing she could do about it. All her tricks were nothing compared to the power she was facing. She was like a straw trying to stop a flood. Her power was just too lacking.

She always hoped that the humans would put up a good fight before it all went down. She had promised herself since long ago that she would never submit to them. She might have never seen it, but she knew of the power of humans, and she knew her race was not meant to be on its knees.

Now, none of that pride lingered in her heart. It had been one major operation and they had been hopelessly bitten up! Though it was plain to see, she still was having a hard time processing all the manner of the devastation she had witnessed. The wanton killing still haunted her. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was responsible, she had done it.

Brave words and bold displays, that was her leadership. She thought if more humans joined in, they would have the numbers. Now she knew that it wasn't all about the numbers. It was apparent that using zerg tactics against such an overpowered enemy was just offering up lives as sacrifices. One that was meaningless. Bitter tears started flowing, which was Kayla's cue to live.

***

From 15 miles away, Kedan had his arrow nocked. He made last-minute calculations before finally releasing the string, which let out a musical note as the arrow flew. Wind buffered it to the left and the right. Gravity was pulling it downwards. The air resistance was slowing it down, and don't forget, for such a long flight, one had to take into the effect of the Coriolis force. In a nutshell, Kedan knew what he was doing, and he didn't need any magic.

The bow he was using was enchanted, it could shoot arrows from 20 miles away. Of course, accuracy depended on the user, but the range was more than miraculous. This was one of the weapons that Kedan found in his treasure trove. Even without the weapons, the wolfkin would still have gone down, now he just had more fun ways to deal with them.

On the west wall, atop the highest pillar in that side of the wall, there were four guards, each overlooking a side of the wall. They would interchange their positions regularly, and this was something Kedan had observed. What they didn't know was that there was a flaw in their movement.

When changing positions, they would cross each other or walk beside each other. Just as they were moving, an arrow came hurtling at them. They didn't even notice its approach, but in an instant, all four of them were down on the ground.

Kedan had managed to calculate the distance and pick the right time and angle to shoot to use one arrow to take down four. He repeated the same among all 12 towers on the west wall of the city of Harrow before anyone could notice, and he'd only done so with 12 arrows.

Xiu ... Xiu ... Xiu ...

Raising an arm, he summoned all his arrows back. Each of the arrows he'd used to hit the towers came running back to him to his quiver, and he was back to his full compliment again.

As he picked an arrow and nocked it on the bow, he appreciated the performance of the arrows. They too, like the bow, were top-notch highly enchanted weapons that he wouldn't want to lose. Each one of them had enchantments that allowed the arrow to gain flight over the wind, instead of being buffeted by it. It also had gravity resisting enchantments, one of the rarest kind when it came to arrows.

These were just some of the weapons and resources he'd found in that cave. the mine itself was otherworldly, meaning that someone had intentionally embedded the mine into this world as a spatial dimension. Kedan could only think of one person who'd do that.

It was obvious that Dane was pulling all the stops in this mission, hence, following his lead, even he wouldn't hold back.

'Towers down, targeting wall security!' Kedan thought as he let his arrow fly.