TICK

TICK

beep

Finally, I can get my next fight over with.

It took 60-something matches before my Patron, Kirasu, invited me to her domain. Following a few well placed arrows, and 20 more strangers technically dead by my quiver, I received my second and final invitation where I became her Chosen.

“Your inclination with a bow is impeccable for your level, and your innate connection with nature has already allowed you a supreme command over one of its most vital aspects. Not only that, but your mind and soul have guided your actions and emotions to reflect that of the temperament of Mother Nature. Of me. I see no other human better suited as my Champion, Willow.”

Kirasu had been an easy choice for a myriad of reasons. First, she loved nature, and spoke highly of the delicate balance nature must hold, something I’ve long revered.

Second, she called me by my preferred name. Prior to the tournament, my birth name was Cere, Cere Jord. My parents passed not long before this, but my sister and had been handling the families responsibilities for quite some time prior.

Still, the weight of knowing my big sister and I were well and truly on our own, no family to our knowledge to lean on or just…have, was undeniably suffocating. That, and the grief of seeing the last modicum of a spark left escape their eyes on their final day on earth. Hopefully, drunk driving won’t be a thing anymore now. My elbow still hurts just thinking about the accident…

We lived in a small little disheveled shack in Idaho, tucked deep in the woods. It sat about 15 miles out from a small town, where we’d shop for medicines and hygiene products. After my parents' respective addictions sidelined them from hunting or working when I was just a little girl, my older sister, Tiara, carried most of the load for a long while.

She had gone straight to work at age 15, doing any odd jobs she could get her hands on in town. When opportunities ran dry, Tiara would set traps how father had taught her as a little girl to catch animals roaming the woodlands.

Tiara always found a way to get me something for my birthday. We’d struggle to keep our parents' booze full and our bellies sufficed, yet she never failed to get me something special. When I was 9, she brought home a toy bow and arrow.

“Practice up, Cere. I got one for myself, and one day, I’m going to need your help if you’re gonna keep growing and eating all my damn game.” Tiara said with her usual confident smirk, her dimples indenting. Even on days we hadn’t had a meal in a week, or father going on one of his aggressive tirades when he was low on booze, she maintained her conviction in our suffering being temporary. Her posture was unshakable by his blows, the physical when we were younger, and mental as he aged and had to result vitriolic insults when he drank.

I always held my end of the bargain, and damn, did I love that little plastic bow she gave me. Being inside was never fun, especially when mom and dad got into it, so most of my free time was spent practicing on empty cans while Tiara worked or hunted. That, and my kinship I’d grown with the wondrous life that teemed in the woodlands around me.

See, I resented my parents at a young age and rightfully so, but the creatures of the woods? The various brightly colored plant life, the bark skinned giants strewn in vines lining every which way like the veins along my inner forearm forever vividly etched into my mind. The birds that flew overhead, giving notice to predators serving as my heroic watchers of the forest gave direction. Only reverence and adoration filled my little heart with every stroll through the myriad of giant roots and foliage riddled grounds around our property growing up.

At least, property we squatted out, as it had been in shambles and practically falling apart when our parents found it before I was born. Apparently they were happier back then, and I even had a brother, but I didn’t hear or see much else of either outside of stories my sister told. Truthfully, it felt more like a tall tale to inspire hope, much like the tooth fairy, but I appreciated it all the same. By 13, I got my very own bow. On my 16th birthday, Tiarra bought me a compound bow, and elected me the primary hunter of the family while she focused on her job and education.

It was with much pride that I carried my duties for the family. Pride, and sheer elation to feel a part of the beautiful natural balance that ensued around us all. My propensity for climbing trees to hide from father as a little girl allowed me to easily traverse up their 20+ foot trunks along their many limbs and vines. The view was immaculate from whatever wood giant you chose to ascend, both in visual majesty and tactical vantage points for identifying suitable game. Never would I over hunt, and avoiding dangerous predators was a habit formed at an irresponsibly early age.

There was little difficulty assimilating into their food chain having adopted tactics I’d learned almost exclusively from the animals that inhabited my hunting grounds. We were all alive and worthy of living after all, but we’d all one day perish too.

Just being out there was my way of freeing myself of all my troubles, doubly true when our parents passed after I turned 21.

Life had become easier on our pockets without having to fund their alcoholic benders, but our purposes began to sunder.

“We can finally get out of here, Cere. We don’t have to rot in the shithole anymore. We have nothing holding us back!?”

“Nothing except our lives, this is all we’ve ever known, Tiara. We eat good, we have our home, and town's just a bike ride away. Why do you want to leave?”

Tiara’s eyes widened as she raised her voice in apparent frustration.

“Because this is all we’ve ever known, Cere. There’s MORE to life than hunting, skinning, making fires for warmth before bed, for fucks sake you don’t have to make your clothes anymore?!” Now pinching at my handmade coat. It was my favorite coat.

“When did you become too good for us, Tiar-“

“WHO’S US?!” She yelled, leaning into my face. We’d spent weeks arguing about moving, almost immediately after mom and dad died she was ready to pack up and head for the city. Now, she was clearly over it.

“There’s no drunken children in adult skin to care for anymore, Cere! We did it, it’s done, it’s time to fucking MOVE ON!”

I was going to retort how I normally did, reminding her of why we stayed in the first place having never been for them. That it was her idea to stay once we became capable of caring for ourselves, to embrace the beauty around us instead of harping on what we couldn’t see. Before I could begin to speak however, there was a knock at our front door.

Turning, we both stepped back to see it was already open, with a scruffy overweight man in blue overalls and a dirty beanie, with two others peering in behind him. He smiled as look around and spoke.

“We heard some commotion comin’ over here. Y’all ladies alright?”

We looked at eachother, then back before Tiara spoke.

“We’re fine, thank you. Please, if you would shut the door behind you, our family will be home soon and won’t take kind like to uninvited company.”

He smirked, narrowing his gaze.

“Now, that dead momma and poppa talk you were hollerin’ about didn’t sound like you were waitin’ on nobody.” Now he had taken a few steps in, and the third man inside closed the door behind them.

“Would be a shame if you ain’t had nobody strong to take care a ye’. It could be dangerous in the woods for some pretty ladies like y’all.”

The other two men, both in dirty tank tops and grass stained jeans, had brandished a knife and tape between them, while the first was inching closer to us, now only a few feet away.

“How bout it bell? A little protection for a little lov-“

As he grabbed at my arm, Tiara grabbed one of fathers empty whisky bottles on the table besides her and smashed it into his face and grabbed my arm.

“RUN!”

We beelined to the staircase, where we were cut off by the creep with the knife. Tiara began to slow her momentum, but I knew this was our only route, as the backdoor was cut off by the asshole she just gave a makeover. Sliding by her, I raised my hand taking his attention, and jammed my foot into his knee. His leg folded under my boot, and he collapsed to the floor, his knife thrown up to the second step of the staircase.

“Come ON”, I commanded, grabbing Tiara as she stood stunned a moment, we ascended upward, Tiara apparently stumbling behind me as we started up the stairs. The sounds of large footsteps and the occasionally ‘fucking bitches’ and regards to how they intended to treat us like ‘toys’ tailed behind as we bolted for my bedroom.

The rope holding asshole got a hold of my sister’s hair, but my bow and quiver were resting by the bedroom door. Grabbing hold, I turned to find he grabbed her around the neck, whispering in her ear. Suddenly, his face leaned to the side yelling in pain as Tiara swiped a knife across his face.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Without thinking, I loaded and loosed an arrow, driving it deep into his eye. He convulsed before going limp, allowing Tiara to pry his arm from her before he fell lifeless to the floor through tears.

She lurched from the staircase walkway, and we dove into our room, slamming the door closed behind us. Surveying the room, I decided the window was our only feasible chance at not having to fight this asshole. As I went to open it however, the pig of a man threw himself into the door, sending Tiara flying at the impact.

“You stupid bitch. You’re never gonna walk again when I’m done with you.”

He leapt forward as I drew my arrow from my quiver. His weight was fully forward, much like the boars that roamed our woods when they were agitated, so I stepped to the side, kicking my leg off the wall like I would the trunk of a nearby tree.

He dove straight into the window, though not with enough force to break through it. Didn’t look like it felt good though.

Turning back to me, he loaded a punch as I took the arrow I had gripped out and flipped it in my hands, slamming it between his knuckles before kicking him in the chest. He yelled in pain holding his hand as I knocked my next arrow, and before his angry face could contort to that of fear as his gaze met my hands, 3 feathers suddenly filled the center of his forehead. His eyes crossed upward, and he dropped with a single stream of blood running down his face.

Dropping my bow, I went to check on Tiara, when everything went white. Before I left the strange room with the equally uncanny fellows assistance in getting a bow and quiver along with the low-down on this multiverse bullshit, I was told I’d be in a tournament for Earth’s best ‘prospects’.

Knowing it meant I’d have to kill again, I dropped to my knees.

“What is the matter, Cere?” The strange man with no clear features said in a considerate tone.

“I-…I can’t. I can’t kill again.” I said, through tears.

The faces of those men were still stained in my mind, and appeared clear as day every time I blinked. It wasn’t the same as animals, they were people. Though, they certainly behaved far worse than any animal I’d encountered…

“Cere, you must understand, no one will actually die here. This is merely a way of proving your grit and potentially gaining a great advantage in a powerful ally. Losing participants are merely teleported to a viewin-“

“I KNOW! But what about after? The tutorial will be full of us, of…monsters.” I said, now clutching my arms to my chest, sobbing more than talking.

The odd man paused for a moment, like a mannequin at a tailor, before he spoke.

“Your sister lives, Cere. That won’t be for long however, if she isn’t equipped to survive the multiverse, and neither will you. Only one of you have been selected for this prestigious multiversal event, but it is entirely an option to waive participation. I will leave the decision in your hands, but decide now.”

It was the most human he’d sounded in over an hour of discussion, and it felt almost…threatening. He was right all the same though, but I couldn’t continue into the tournament with a clear conscience. Not with the person I was, someone so afraid of change they put everything that matters at risk. I had to be someone willing to adapt without losing my true nature.

Something that could withstand the blazing heat of conflict, while holding firm and rigid in the face of the rigid nature of life, tribulations being as inevitable as the seasons changing. Something I’d long envied in the natural sky scrapers that inhabited the forest since I was just a little girl for was their strength, and certainty of purpose without needing to much any external affirmation.

“If I’m to do this, I do not wish to go by my birth name any longer. I wish to be known simply as, ‘Willow’.

The man froze again, before smiling making eye contact once more.

“The system does not find this request to be unreasonable, however you may not change your displayed name again until a skill is accrued to do so. Do you accept and wish to continue your journey into the Placement Tournament?”

For a moment I felt hesitant, before Tiara’s bruised and bloodied face from its impact to the door flashed in my mind.

“I accept.”

“Good luck, Willow.”

Ever since, it’s been a practice of discipline trying not to see everyone as another hunt or an agitated predator. To treat them like people, because people are the real monsters. At least many I’d encountered other than my sister were. Brutality was not nature’s priority, it simply is or isn’t.

My thoughts of prior matches brought a concoction of emotions. Hatred for a few braggadocios dickheads talking about ‘going easy’ on me, some stipulating a fucking kiss for peace. Joy at the vivid look of terror as my arrows pierced into their bodies. Finally, remorse for the few clearly scared and out of their natural habitat in combat. I’d grown so frustrated with prior bigmouthed competitors, occasionally that anger slipped into fights with kinder spirits. A particularly younger fellow who looked a bit shaky, something I retroactively noticed after sending a series of arrows through his chest. He didn’t deserve all that, but nobody here did.

My mind was still swirling with conflict when my first top 10 opponent spoke.

“Hello little lady, in case you do not recognize me in these hideous garments they’ve provided me, my name is Prince Artullo, next in line to the throne of the most beautiful lands the world has ever known. I’ve been trained by the finest warriors since adolescence in the infallible nature of the rapier, and I’d like to take this time to allow your immediate surrender.”

My brow furrowed as he spoke, my gaze locked onto his mouth as he formed his self serving speech.

“Besides, I do not recognize you, and no average feeble woman belongs in a place of supreme combat such as this one. That goes for you as well, though your skills are impressive.” He added, now turning to the blonde.

“Neither of you seem as though you’ve had the amenities to nurture your warrior spirits, though I commend yours all the same. Nothing more valuable to a King than competent servants.”

My eyelid twitching, hands balled in a fist, with the sound of my knuckles cracking under the added pressure. My heart, pounding faster than it had since…that day. Rage filling my chest.

“Now, please. Place that ugly stick you call a bow on the floor, and get to your knees, peasant. I grow tired of your stares.”

Oh HELL no.

“You know what, your highness? I don’t think I will.”

“Pity, you’re pretty too. I considered offering you my seed to ensure your saf-“

Not willing to allow that sentence to finish, I loosed an arrow aimed straight for this fuckers ugly mouth. He raised his rapier, deflecting it with a gaudy smirk.

“Petulant girl.” With that, he approached in a mild stroll, his blade held in front of him.

Taking another arrow, I aimed once more at the pompous prince, this time at his shoulder. Once more, he deflected it to the side. I fired again, only at his sword hand, which he side stepped all together.

“I can’t imagine this was all you used to get here, peasant. No matter, I’ll make this quick as a merciful ruler should.”

Grabbing another arrow from my quiver, I moved the tip over from the quiver with it behind my head, and dropped it arrowhead-first 3 feet behind me. Nothing could prepare me though, for the look on his face changing from unbridled confidence to bewilderment as his vision rose behind me.

Focusing my intent on the core concept that gave me the courage to come here, to build upon the nature within I celebrated and sunder that from the greedy human-aspects of me, sounds of wood popping and crackling filled the air as my Willow Trees sprouted from each of my downed airheads.

Discovering this ability of mine was a complete accident that occurred in my very first match. I couldn’t shake my fear, my apprehension to kill overwhelming my mind’s physical commands. It was only after I dropped my arrow out of my bow before firing did I remember what compelled me to be here. The feeling achieved for a brief moment during the attack at our home, the feeling I had in the woods on my hunts only a hundred-fold.

That’s when the Willow tree exploded from the ground where I dropped my arrow, and a ding that followed with a message stating I’d made a skill. Ever since, it’s been my only piece of home I’ve had with me and became a staple in my fights as I felt the most comfortable with a Birds Eye view.

Stepping back and holding out my hand, I grabbed a branch and placed my foot onto a larger one as the willow sprouted at an unnatural speed.

Artullo stumbled back, before pointing his rapier at me.

“Your tricks and cowardice will not save you, peasant.”

The rapier tip erupted with a flash of golden energy that fired out like a laser to me. Quickly, I leaped over him, firing an arrow at him as I flew over, landing onto one of the other two Willows now standing tall where my arrows Artullo defended had rested.

The arrow punctured the space in his shoulder armor, followed by a high pitched yelp. He ripped the arrow free and threw it to the side.

“Get down here, that’s a command!”

That’s it, I’ve fucking had it.

Turning to my other tree, I fired an arrow at a downward arch, being sure I pulled as far back as I possibly could.

“How dare you take your eyes from me in battle?!”

He flexed forward to fire his stupid laser again, but not before my arrow was released. It flew towards the trunk of the Willow, only to be absorbed completely without breaking its path. As the tail end of the arrow disappeared into the tree, its tip formed out of the tree behind Artullo at knee height. It burrowed deep behind his knee, causing him to drop to a knee.

Swinging on the branch I stood on, I threw my legs into the shadow casted onto the tree’s bark, and felt myself slide through without resistance. Focusing my will, I appeared behind Artullo myself, and jammed my arrow into the back of his other knee. He fell once more, and swung his sword wildly behind him. It was greeted with the ‘thunk’ of his rapier hitting the bark, as I’d already stepped back into my Willow, appearing on the tree branch across from where I’d been originally.

Firing into the only appendage I hadn’t missed, his arm flailed in the air under the pressure of my arrow finding purchase in his forearm. Jumping down, I approached Artullo, now slumped on his knees wincing in pain.

“What was it you said, ‘on your knees’?” I said before backhanding the soiled brat before me.

“How…how dare yo-“ SLAP

His words were unnecessary, he said all he had to. I knew what he was.

“You know, I’ve never got to meet someone like you before. My sister told me of the rich kids that ran about our town, visiting in the summer in their newly built homes that crowded the locals hunting grounds. I couldn’t believe someone so ignorant, so astray from themselves they believed their material bullshit made them happier than us, better than us, could exist.”

He went to grab his rapier, on from an arrow to pierce his hand into the ground.

“Move again and you’ll become the roots for my children’s expeditious growth.”

Helplessness overtook his expression.

Good.

“As I was saying, you’re a new experience in detail, but the evil in your heart? I am all too familiar with that.” Pacing in front of him now, Artullo’s bravery entered rigamortis with a sniveling, shivering fear in its place.

“I’ve failed to maintain my trust in myself, At times wondering if I were mistaken about the nature of man, or rather how far from it most everyone has strayed. You act so sophisticated, yet you’re completely clueless to the ways of life outside of your echo chamber of a bubble.”

Artullo looked panicked, fighting fear, anger and shame all at once.

“Yo-You have no right to speak to me this way?! You’re nothing, show some fucking respect you ape!?”

“Ouu nooo no no, not cool dude!” A man’s familiar voice rang from the onlooking contestants. He’d been loud during the first fight, and even louder during his own.

“An ape would have known better than to drone on about themselves in the face of a predator. A squirrel understands the gifts nature provides, and terrible consequences for overstepping your place in the food chain. You believe yourself the apex, yet nothing you gallivant around demanding worship for is natural.”

Squatting down, leaning close to his face.

“You are a relic, Artullo. Obsolete, your nature is no longer fit for the world around you, because it was never made for it in the first place. Your kind tarnished it, pervaded and bulldozed your ways into majority rule. You could never evolve, not in time anyway. Nature has deemed you unfit for this world, Prince. Allow me to enforce its will here, before she has her way with you later.”

Jabbing an arrow into his chest, I kicked him back, laughing flat only with his legs bent back under his knees. With a thought, the rest of my arrows embedded in his body sprouted, ripping him apart as it expanded before he disappeared. Stepping away from the arena having teleported out, I found my original spot, making my way through the stares of my competition. Reflecting on the fight, I felt my conviction renewed for the first time since entering the tournament, and felt a smile raise across my face.

I needed that.