With no roof to shelter her, and no one to protect her, Deborah was force to learn how to survive at a young age.

Family, happiness, love, none of that matter to her. The only thing she ever care about was just simply living to see another day. That is, until she met James.

Semi-Finale

No Matter What...

“Alright, now shoot.”

Follow her order, I let go of the string and the watch the arrow fly. A sense satisfaction hit me as the arrow lands perfectly into an apple.

“You gotten pretty good at this, but don’t get cocky, all your targets won’t be standing still like that.”

Walking up to a tree, mom lightly taps it. After a few seconds an apple falls right into her hand.

… I thought I knew everything about my mom. But after I started training with her, I realize I know nothing. Now that I think about it, everyone in this family seems to have a dark secret.

“Your next task is to hit this apple while it’s still in the air. You ready?”

“Yea.”

In an instant, the apple that was in her hand vanish.

Eh? Where did it go? I didn’t even see her throw it?

“Don’t you think you should be looking for the apple instead of looking at me?”

She’s right, I don’t have time to bewilder. I frantically look around, until I notice something small in the air. I had to squint just to see it.

No way, that can’t be the apple. How high did she throw it?! Never mind, I need to hit it before it hit the ground.

I aim my bow up in the air. Obviously, aiming directly at the target while it’s moving is pointless, since it’s constantly changing positions. The best way to hit a moving target is to predict where it’s heading and shoot there.

After adjusting my bow, I fire my arrow. I watch as the arrow soar into the sky and hits the falling apple. A smile spread across my face. How funny, hitting a simple apple is enough to fill me with joy. I guess it has something to do with the frustration from previous training.

Before I started training with mom, my dad was the one who train me. He tried his best to teach me how to wield a sword. But it became apparent really fast that I didn’t have any talent with swords. My inability to get stronger gnaw at me. But that doesn’t matter anymore, because now I found something that I’m good at. With this bow I can now protect my sister.

“Good, I’m very proud of you.” Mom gave me a bright smile while clapping her hands. “But if you really want to become an adventurer, than a shooting a bow isn’t enough. Your next task is going to be the  most important one. If you fail this one, than I’m afraid you’ll never become an adventurer. So, are you ready?”

“Yea, I’m ready.” I tried to sound as confident as possible.

“Good, follow me.”

Even though I’m kind of worried about the next task, I’m more curious about mom past than anything else. The more I train with her, the more I wonder about her past life and how she got strong.

“Mom, who are you?”

“You just answer your own question, I’m your mom.”

“No, I mean who were you in the past? You know before you became a parent.”

Crossing her arm, mom tilted her head back and forth.

“That’s a tough question. Hmm a hunter?” Mom blurted out. “Yea hunter, I think that’s the best way to describe who I was in the past.”

“You were a hunter?!” I can’t even picture my mom going around tracking monsters down.

“I wasn’t an official hunter. It was just something I did to survive, since I couldn’t afford any food in the past. So my only option was to eat anything I could get my hands on, including monsters.”

“I’m sorry…” To think mom had such a tragic past. I can’t even begin to imagine what she been through.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. That’s all in the past now. Besides, having you was one of my happiest moment. Although I wish I did a better job as a parent. Your sister took better care of you than I did. That’s why I’m helping you, I want you to take care of your sister, just as she took care of you. But to do that, you’ll need to do more than just shooting a bow.”

Mom slowing walk up to a bush before crouching, after a few seconds past, she silently signal me to come over.

“Completing this task will show me that you’re capable of becoming adventurer and protecting your sister.”

“What’s the assignment?”

“Look.”

Following where her finger was pointed at, a white rabbit quickly came into my vision. The rabbit was standing in the middle of the field eating grass.

“I want you to kill it.”

“What?!”I’m not sure if I misheard her, but I sounded like my mom wants me to kill a rabbit.

“This is your next task I want you to kill this rabbit, can you do it?”

“Y-Yea, I can do it.” It should be simple, it’s just like shooting apples, right?

I shakily aim my bow at the clueless rabbit. It’s just like shooting an apple, it’s just like shooting an apple. I kept repeating to myself.

Even though my hands were a little shaky, I was still fully lock on to the rabbit. All I need to do is just shoot it. A simple task really, just let go of my bowstring and I’ll be done. But even the task is so simple, it’s too cruel. Why would mom make me do something like this?

“Can’t do it?”

“No. I’m sorry.” I put the back in my quiver. “So did I failed?”

“No not yet, I didn’t expect you to be able do this on your first try. So I’ll give you a week, if you can’t manage to kill anything by then, than you fail.”

“A week? Don’t you think that’s a bit short? I mean you’re telling me to kill something in a week.”

“Aaron, the reason why I’m giving you a time limit in the first place is because in a fight the enemy isn’t going to wait for you to make a decision. Imagine this, you and your sister got into a fight with bandits or some monsters. She gets pin down, but you have the perfect shot, all you have to do is just shoot and will you be able to save her, but you hesitate. That split second of hesitation can easily get you and your sister killed.”

To kill someone, do I really have to kill someone just to stay by my sister side?

“You’re a good kid Aaron I know you think killing is wrong. And in most cases it is, but there are times when it’s the right thing to do. Your father for example kill to protect the people around him, I did it to so I could survive, and your sister…. let’s not talk about her.

I get what mom is saying. Sometimes you have to kill to protect yourself and others around you. Just like my sister kill a wolf to protect me.

“I understand mom, I need to find a reason, a good reason to kill someone right?”

“Aaron.” Mom places both of her hands on my shoulder.

“I rather you never have to do this, but your sister, whatever path she plan on taking I don’t think it’ll be a happy one. If you follow her, I’m afraid you’ll be force into situations where you have no choice but to kill.”

“I know that mom.” That’s the main reason why I want to become an adventurer. I don’t want my sister to suffer by herself.

“Don’t worry mom, before this week end, I’ll find a good reason to kill.”

.

.

“I’ll find a good reason to kill.” Looking back I sounded so stupid saying that. Four days has pass and I still haven’t kill anything. I came close multiple times. Every time I ran into an animal I’ll think of them as an enemy that’s trying to hurt me and my sister. But before I shoot, I always think of the enemy as an innocent bystander and lose my motivation immediately.

*Sigh* laying down, I look up at the black sky to see a full moon floating in the darkness.

I’m running out of time, I need to hurry up and kill something or I won’t be able to become an adventurer.

I blankly stare at the moon for a few more minutes, before finally deciding to get up. The path through the woods at night is usually pitch black, lucky for me, the moon is illuminating my path home.

I hope no one upset that I been out so late. Probably not ever since I started trying to find a reason to kill, I pretty much been on my own. Mom would check up on me every now and then. But I haven’t talk dad or Anna in ages, when I get home they are usually asleep or gone. After I finish my training I hope I can sit down talk to her.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Finally arriving home, I tried my best to sneak in without waking anyone. But it’s pretty much impossible with these creaking floors.

“If you’re trying to wake everyone up, then you’re doing a damn good job.” The voice made me stop in my track. I was immediately able to tell who it was, since there’s only one person I know who eyes glow red in the dark.

“Anna?”

“You guess it.” There was a little bitterness in her voice.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I wasn’t sleeping I was just reading.”

“In the dark?”

“I have good eyesight. Listen why don’t you go to sleep, I’m not in the mood to talk.”

“Are you alright?” Walking into the living room, I notice a bunch of tore up paper around Anna’s chair. And that wasn’t even the shocking part. What surprise me was that my sister actually look sad. I know it may sound like I’m exaggerating, but I never seen my sister sad ever in my life.

*Sigh* “Fine, since you’re so hard headed, I’ll leave.” Without another word, Anna got up and left the room without looking at me once.

I stood in the middle of the room like an idiot trying to figure what could possibly make my sister sad, until I notice the book that was in her chair.

“The Demon King.” Was the title of the book. Why was she reading about herself? I flip through the book hoping to find some answers.

The deeper I got into the book, the more the pages were tore. Chapters like “The hero” and “Excalibur” Were understandably rip in few places. But what confuse me was a chapter title “Lilith.” Other than the chapter name, everything else was tore apart. Why did she completely tear this one up and not the others?

I let out a sigh while sinking into a chair. I blankly stare at the cover of the book.

I remember when I was a kid, mom told me the stories of the Demon King and all his evil deed. Just like any other kid I grown to resent the Demon King without knowing any detail about him. But now that I know my sister is the Demon King, I can only wonder, is those stories true?

If so, why did she choose to be evil? Is it because you wanted to, or were you force? And if you were force, why do you continue down that path?

Hahaha, I can’t even imagine it. Fighting an entire world that hate you. Than to die repeatedly. How can anyone stay sane going through that?

Sis… why did choose to be evil, if it was just going to lead you down a tragic path?

.

.

I’ll protect my sister and make her happy no matter what. And I kill anyone who stops me achieving that goal. I know it’s a petty reason, but that’s what I decided on.

*Crack* Hearing the sound of a branch breaking, I quickly turn around to face the sound. Standing in front of me was a rabbit.

I quickly crouch down and prepare my bow.

Alright, my breathing is steady, my hands aren’t shaking, and I’m fully lock on the rabbit. All I got to do now is just shoot.

“No matter what…” After saying those words, I finally shoot my arrow. It was a weird sight. It felt like my arrow was moving slow motion, like I could easily get up and grab it if I want. But all I did was watch as my arrow land into the rabbit head.

It was kind of anticlimactic. I thought the rabbit death would be far more exaggerated. I don’t know, I guess I was expecting blood to spill everywhere and the rabbit try to crawl to safety before it died. But none that happen, the moment the arrow hit its head it just simply fell over.

“Hah…” I place my hand on my chest. I could feel my heart beating ridiculously fast like it was trying to escape from my body. I couldn’t tell if I was excited, happy, or sad. But I could tell there was tears streaming down my face.

Suddenly, I felt someone hands on my shoulder. I turn around to see mom giving me a gentle smile.

“D-Did I past?”

“You just prove to me that you’ll do anything to protect your sister, so yes, you past.”

I turn around in hug in her. I don’t know if it was out of sadness or happiness, but I ended up crying in her arms.

.

.

“Aaron, I am very proud to say your training is complete.”

Hearing mom said those words put a huge smile on my face. It’s been two years since I started training with her. It wasn’t easy, especially that last task she gave me. Heh, I ended up crying that whole day, it was pretty embarrassing.

“But before we wrap everything up there’s one last thing I want to go over.”

“Huh? I thought you said I was done with training.”

“We are, this is more of a tip than a lesson. It’ll help you improve your archery. James did go over the four categories of magic with you right?”

“Yea, I remember him telling me.

Command: The ability to make your weapon perform a specific action.

Summon: The ability create something out of nothing.

Enhance: The ability to increase one own physical abilities

Element: The ability to control elements."

I also remember my sister helping me to. Now that I think about, I don’t know what category my sister power belong to. It seem like it can go into element, but I don’t feel like it really belongs there though.

“Mom, you saw sis power right? Do you know what category it’s in?”

“Your sister power doesn’t fit into a category.”

“Doesn’t that mean we need a fifth category?”

“No, it just mean your sister is special. She is, well was an Entity in the past. Entities are beings made entirely of magic. There powers defies logic, thus they can’t be categorize.”

“…” I knew my sister was strong. But to think that she has a power that can’t be comprehend. She really is something.

“Anyway back to the main subject, I want you to get use to using magic with your bow. Since your mana kind of low summon and element is out the question, and enhance can tear your body apart if use wrong. So we’re going to focus on command.”

“Isn’t that the weakest category?”

“There's no weakest, it just comes down to how you use your magic. Watch.” Pulling an arrow from my quiver, mom aim her bow at a tree.

Normally, an arrow get stuck in the tree if you shoot it. But mom arrow went straight through the tree leaving a huge hole. And it doesn’t stop there, her arrow went through three more trees before finally stopping.

“…” I was speechless, just how much mana does mom have?”

“Aaron, there’s one more thing I want to tell you. To be honest, I don’t have that much mana either, and fact, I think you have more than me. So let’s this be a lesson to you. You don’t need a lot of mana to be strong, just simply use the amount you got wisely and you can beat anyone. Well, that’s all I have to show you.”

“Huh, that’s it?”

“Yea, you already know how to use magic so I got nothing else to tell you.”

“But aren’t you going to teach me that move from earlier?”

“I can, but I think it’s better if you come up your own techniques. So from now on your training yourself try to use your imagination and come up with your own moves.” Before I could say anything else, mom was far ahead of me.

So that’s it huh, I’m finally done with training? I continue to watch mom as she kept walking.

What do I do now? I guess I can take her advice and keep training. Or maybe I can check on my sis and she how hers going. Although Knowing my sis, she probably finish training a long time ago…

(Anna P.O.V)

“I finally got you!” I swung my sword as fast as I could hoping I can get through his block. But his sword quickly intercepted mines.

What the hell is with this guy defense? No matter where I hit him he easily capable of block my attacks. It’s like reading my every move. If I want to hit him I’m going to have to disarm him.

Put all my strength into my sword swing, hoping it’ll knock his sword out his hand. But instead of blocking like he usually do, he slid his sword undermine and knock it out my hand. Before I could react to what happen his sword was already in my face.

“Not good Anna, at this rate you’ll never beat me.”

Next Chapter (Finale)

End of the Beginning