Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (14 page)

Most beginners started with the five zone imperial system at a distance of forty meters, but the field currently available was the ten zone world archery system.
Nash stood in front of a target with a distance of seventy meters away. He clutched the metallic green bow in his hands and felt confused just looking at it.
It didn't look anything like the one he had in Zectas. He was surprised to see that the bow in the real world had many complicated attachments.
There was a sight, sight window, center stabilizers, fiser, arrow rest, nock point, and many other parts that the guide mentioned that he forgot.
He closed his eyes and pictured himself that he was inside Zectas. He pulled the arrow back and aimed for the target.
WHOOSSSH.
The arrow soared awkwardly from his bow and dropped on the ground some thirty meters away. He couldn't believe at how short his shot was that he felt like digging a hole in the ground and hiding in it.
He fired again and again and again. Until the tenth arrow he finally nicked the target. He searched for his Mima in the bleachers and saw her give him a round of applause.
He kept on firing more arrows until he felt that he knew how much force he should put into his fingers and shoulders to get the desired distance.
After three successful hits on the outer white zone, he looked to his grandmother once more but this time he found that she started reading a pocket book she had brought in her fanny pack.
With all thirty-six arrows out he decided to walk to the target and collect his arrows. He kept on practicing again and each time he finished a round of thirty-six arrows he got more arrows in the target.
On his tenth round of thirty-six arrows, his Mima called him and asked if she could return to the cabin ahead of him. He immediately dropped the bow and arrows and ran to her.
"I'm so sorry Mima, I got caught up in the moment. I never realized how much I liked firing an arrow before."
His Mima touched pinched his cheeks. "Don't worry about it. Your Papap was the same. You go on ahead and practice some more. I already asked one of the guides here to escort me back."
"Are you sure?" Nash asked.
"I'm positive. Now, go and have fun. You looked good out there." His Mima gave him a hug before she went to their cabin.
Nash instantly picked up the bow and resumed his training. After another fifteen rounds of thirty-six arrows, all of his shots went inside the blue, red and sometimes gold target zones.
He tallied his score and found that he got 268/360 (74.44%) points from all thirty-six arrows. Yet, if he had used the five zone imperial system, his score would have been 284/324 (87.65%) points.
It was then that a middle aged man wearing a jersey with the flag of Austria walked up to him. "Hello there!"
He turned around and observed the middle aged man closely.
"You know, you have an interesting form but if you're trying for a different technique on drawing your bow I'd like to make some suggestions."
"Huh?" Nash simply raised an eyebrow as he was caught off guard by the stranger.
"Sorry if I disturbed you, but you looked too interesting to ignore. I haven't seen anyone as dedicated to archery as you in a while." The middle aged Austrian stretched out his hand for a handshake. "My name is Nico. How long have you been practicing?"
Nash shook Nico's hand firmly. "I dunno, maybe three?"
"Three, huh?" Nico's excited face changed abruptly. "I guess I must be wrong. I could have sworn you just recently picked up the bow. If you've been practicing that long and still haven't discovered your own pull. How about I give you a few tips?"
"Sure, why not?" Nash shrugged and stepped aside as Nico showed him a different posture.
Nico began explaining the positioning of the foot, the fingers, the shoulders, and the breath. He said that all of his body parts had a specific task and a purpose.
Nico fired six arrows and all of them went into gold target zone. Five inner golds and one outer gold. Nash could only whistle at what he saw.
Nash followed what Nico taught him to the letter and fired into the outer red, followed by another outer red, and slowly moved his way inward.
In the next series of shots, he got an inner red, then finally his first outer gold quickly followed by another outer gold. Nash turned around and shook Nico's hands excitedly.
He saw from Nico's smile that he was impressed and confused, but Nash wasn't sure if Nico was pleased with him or at his own teaching method.
"Nash, you managed to do an orthodox shot perfectly. Provided that I slightly modified of it course, but still you did it. What was the reason for your awkward stance before?"
"Oh, I just stood like that because I usually dodge or run around after I fire an arrow. It would be game over for me if I stood in one place. I didn't realize that until you showed me."
Nico's face grew more confused. "Moving around in archery?"
TTOOOOOOOTTTTT!
Etona Lawa's horn for supper time blew and Nash had to stop his archery practice and join his family. He thanked Nico one more time and ran straight for his log cabin.
Nico returned to his friends with a blank expression. "Hey, Nico. What's wrong pal?"
"I dunno. I just met a kid who said he started practicing archery for three years now and doesn't even know the orthodox stance."
"Well, maybe he got a bad coach or something?"
"Yeah, I think that could be it." Nico said with a bothered face.
"Quit thinking about it. Come on, let's head out to our cabin."
"The kid said something really strange."
"Like what?"
"He said that he had that awkward stance because he needed to keep running around after each shot, otherwise it would mean game over for him. Are you familiar with any running archery competitions?"
 

* * * * * * 

After dinner, Nash and Sherry found themselves in the front porch of their log cabin. They sat in the wooden rocking chairs in silence and enjoyed the panoramic evening sky before them.
Sherry broke the silence. "You know who would like it here?"
"Who?"
"Igniz of course. If there was one character in Zectas that could come to life I would vote for Igniz."
"Really? I thought for sure you would have Sharur." Nash said in a teasing manner.
"Sharur? Now why would I bring him? For you however I know you would pick Laernea. I know you like how she dotes on you."
"Don't be like that. Laernea is like my little sister. If I had one that was extremely furry."
Both of them laughed as they talk about their friends in Zectas. As they laughed, Sherry abruptly took out a small gift wrapped neatly in red and green wrapper.
"Here, it's not much, but I hope you like it." She said shyly.
Nash hurriedly unwrapped his small gift and found a small silver necklace with a fiery silver Igniz at the center. "Wow! This is really nice. No wonder you talked about Igniz for a minute there."
Both of them laughed again. "Thank you so much, Sherry. I love it!" Nash immediately wore the necklace and gave her a quick hug.
They sat back down their respective rocking chairs and resumed their enjoyment of the night sky. "This is fun. We should do this more often." Sherry said out loud.
Nash smiled but it disappeared quickly. "Yeah it is. But I don't think we can do it anytime soon. Oh, right. I also left a surprise for you in Zectas."
"A surprise? Sounds intriguing. I wonder what the surprise could be... Maybe a fresh army of Avendre Mercenaries?" Sherry gave Nash her puppy eyes look.
"Oh no you don't. You're not getting me to tell you what the surprise is. I've still got a lot of things to do in Zectas but let's drop the topic, okay?"
"Yeah... Same here I've got a lot on my plate as well. Verbrannt isn't gonna defend itself. I was just saying that it's nice to get out of the game once in a while."
"Alright, let's not talk about Zectas right now." Nash said with conviction. He tried to think of something else, but the only other topic he could think of was her.
"So, Donny really likes you, huh? I hope he isn't bothering you too much?"
"Oh, not at all. He's a cutie. It's really interesting to be with someone who talks as much as Donny."
"Ah, I just remembered. I found an archery field and it looks really fun. I don't know if it's from all the archery I do inside the game, but I think I'm pretty decent at it. Want to join me there tomorrow?"
He saw Sherry's troubled face. He thought it was about their checkout time in the lakeside resort.
"Don't worry. We check out at noon. We still should have plenty of time for you to try out archery."
"Umm... Sorry, I can't. I haven't really done any archery in Zectas, and Donny made me promise to teach him more advance tricks tomorrow."
"Oh, okay..." Nash fell silent.
He could feel Sherry's intense gaze as she waited for him to say something else. He looked back at the stars and remained silent. Sherry followed his example and did the same.
Minutes passed and the two of them remained silent. They enjoyed the solace of each other's company. They didn't need words to convey what they felt at that moment.
Nash casually grabbed Sherry's hand and held it. Then a sudden meteor shower fell from the sky. Sherry got to her feet and held on to the porch railings tightly.
He stood behind her and said. "Quick, close your eyes and make a wish. Maybe you'll even find the thing you've been looking for inside the game."
Sherry arched her elbows and hit Nash's right rib squarely. "Ouch!" Nash winced in pain. Yet, a few seconds later he saw Sherry close her eyes.
Nash calmly hugged her from behind. He then gently leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.
 

* * * * * * 

Sierra opened her eyes and found herself inside the King's quarters of Verbrannt Castle. She excitedly searched for the surprise that Smoke had left her.
She opened her status window and various other windows. She found nothing out of the ordinary, until she saw the status window for Verbrannt.

Curiously, she walked out the balcony and saw a village of Centaurs camped inside the castle grounds. The dramatic rise in Verbrannt's population overwhelmed her.
She couldn't believe how many Smoke had convinced to join their cause. She remembered Smoke's grand fight with one of the witches and was impressed at the sight of a flying Centaur.
Once she got to the ground floor she found Adder complete with two arms. 'Just how many surprises does Smoke have?' Sierra thought to herself.
"Adder, when did you get your left arm back?" The red werebear gave Smoke's commanding private army a big hug.
"Not too long ago." Adder gave Sierra a sincere smile. "But I'd like you to meet Eldmar and all of the Condortlians who migrated here to Verbrannt."
Sierra was in a trance. Verbrannt's growth had touched her deeply. After she met with the Condortlians, she thought that Smoke's surprise had ended, until Adder said. "This time, I'd like to introduce Smoke's latest private army member."
"What he got a new member? Who is it? It isn't the flying Centaur is it?"
"... Just see for yourself." Adder said.
Without warning, something blocked the sun. Sierra looked up to see what it was. A creature with monstrous wings started its descent towards them.
She gave a devilish smile. She thought it was the flying Centaur, but she couldn't stop her face from showing a disgusted look when she found a monster with a head of a horse and a leg of a human.
"Sierra, I'd like you to meet Ledur. He is Smoke's commander for the Tikbalang corps." Adder said as he pointed towards the winged Tikbalang.
"Nice to meet you, Ledur. I'm sorry for my reaction. I was just expecting the winged Centaur to fly down."
Ledur gave a wry smile. "Don't worry about it. I think I would have reacted the same way if I saw myself diving down."
"Adder mentioned, a Tikbalang corps? I'd like to see them for myself. Do you think I can?" She asked Ledur.
"No problem, but just be reminded they are not the same as me. So, it's best to keep a safe distance from them. The Tikbalangs are hidden in a special earth dome that I built."
The red werebear followed the winged Tikbalang into the special housing built specifically for the Tikbalangs. As soon as she saw the monsters, she knew that they were on schedule to face Duke Burmistrz.
With this much improvement from Smoke's side, she felt that it was her turn to search for her new recruits. She left Adder in charge over Verbrannt.
Even if she left, the village had more defenses than it ever did before. She asked Sharur, Jinggu, Laernea, Gandiva, and Ledur with his special Tikbalang corps to join her.
Adder aided by the three Maneators and the rest of Smoke's private army, she was confident to leave them on her search for the werewolves.