Isla

In the dark of night in the training field, lit by the blue full moon, Isla saw a girl shooting a bow at a target. She held the bow with her right hand and the arrow with her left. Her black eyes were red and there were dark circles under her eyes. Though her posture looked tired, when she shot the arrow, she hit the target on the tree dead on center.

‘You almost hit me!’ Isla protested. At the time when she shot, her head was close to the target.

‘You were between me and my target,’ she protested back with a weak voice. She looked horribly tired.

‘I didn’t—notice you there… You’re practicing the bow at this time of night?’

‘… I couldn’t sleep.’

‘Nightmares?’

‘I’m not confident if I could wake up after sleeping. Out of the way, would you?’

Isla shifted herself in front of the target, preventing her from getting a clear shot.

‘Forcing yourself isn’t healthy,’ Isla said.

‘You think I wouldn’t know?’ She pulled the string and shot her bow. She curved the arrow and hit the target without hitting Isla.

Isla looked back to see the target, and the arrow was dead on center. Her jaw slacked in surprise.

When she turned back to see the girl, she had vanished into the night.

*

‘You met Kayla,’ Vignette said as she was leading Isla to the forest in the morning.

‘She is Sir Argonaut’s daughter?’ Isla asked.

‘I question the same thing myself. Unlike Argonaut, Kayla is disobedient. The child never listens. I think that she had gotten herself involved in drugs, but I couldn’t stop her. At the very least, she isn’t stepping into the forest, so I’ll have to allow it until you get rid of the monster, Isla.’

‘You can count on me, Elder Vignette.’

The villagers Isla came across looked at her without a glimmer of hope. They appeared dejected; for the previous Agents had failed.

‘May Argonaut watches over you,’ Vignette said.

‘If he does, I’ll make sure he knows that he could rest in peace,’ Isla smiled.

Isla stepped into the forest.

*

Walking inside the forest, Isla stepped on a trap.

She jumped backward in reflex and saw a sword lunging at where she previously stood. An Artifact which belonged to one of the Agents which she had dispatched.

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‘How many traps are in this forest?’ she shouted. Frustration was written all over her face.

Inside the forest, she proceeded cautiously, searching for traps and hand near the hilt of the sword beside her waist. Regardless, she would step on another trap again and evade them. This time, it was a hammer. Another Artifact used as traps.

‘So unlucky today…’ she muttered.

As she ventured forth, she heard a rustling of the bushes. There was no wind at the time and Isla grew aware. She went toward the sound. From high-ground, she saw the monster near a river.

‘What in the world?’ Isla asked herself.

The monster was on its last of breaths. On the gap between its scales there were plenty of arrows, more than Isla could count. Its body was resided by many arrows and its face was a haystack of arrows save for its right eye. Its limbs were covered by the blood it had dripped.

As Isla tried to get a better look of the monster, she stumbled on something. A leg.

Isla then noticed that near her there was a girl wearing an outfit the color of the forest. She was crouched, holding the bow with her right hand and pulling the string with her left. Her concentration remained even after Isla had disturbed her.

Eyes still on the monster, Kayla released an arrow. At the time of her release, the wind blew and curved her arrow. And the arrow went through the small gap between the monster’s hard scales, stabbing it. Dead on target.

The monster looked at the direction where the arrow had curved and vanished.

Kayla stood up and went to chase the monster. Though she was having difficulties in walking, her presence remained subtle and she made no sounds whatsoever.

She looked as though she would fall at any moment.

‘You did all that? By yourself?’ Isla had to ask.

Kayla looked over her shoulder. Tears of blood were dripping down her left eye. ‘Not by… myself.’

She was about to fall sideways, but Isla was quick to catch her.

‘Are there anyone else I’m not seeing?’ Isla wrapped her arm on her shoulder.

‘Raladr had—stolen its left eye. The other hunters’ deaths had told me how dangerous the monster was. Someone’s letter gave me information on that monster. Loy had sacrificed his left arm to protect Lila; who wounded the monster and gave me poison. The Agents' weapons made for effective traps. I stole Shanar’s drugs to keep myself going. And Thrall stayed to make me steel arrows. I just… shoot at the monster.’

Isla looked at both Kayla’s hands. Each of her fingers were bandaged. The result of continuously shooting arrows.

Blood still dripped from her eye.

‘Effects from the drug?’ Isla asked.

‘From the poison. Coated the tip of my arrow, had it close to my eyes to aim, stronger than expected because its vapor must’ve gotten to my eyes.’

Going toward the direction of the monster, Isla saw the monster lying down motionless.

‘You killed it…’ Isla said with astonishment. ‘An A-rate monster, without an Artifact.’

‘It might be playing dead. It did that a week ago.’

‘You don’t even drop your guard. How long have you been shooting at it?’

‘Ever since the death of Agents.’

‘That’s a month ago,’ she remarked.

Looking at the monster, Isla leaned Kayla to a tree and approached it nonchalantly. When she was close to the monster, she kicked it but there was no response.

‘It’s dead.’

When Isla turned to see Kayla, she saw her slipping to the ground.