Not all great warriors were well-known. Some simply spent their time in reclusion, honing their skills for centuries, before suddenly popping up in a battle and slaying every enemy.
Like the First Martial Saint, some didn’t even know about their own capabilities; others, instead, knew about them extremely well.
A young man nocked an arrow in his worn-out bow and kept still, slowly breathing through his gills. When he saw something moving far, far away, he released the arrow.
The projectile moved as if there was no water in front of him, or not even air, but just a vacuum in which it traveled at an insane speed.
It struck a monster many kilometers away.
The Charybdis died on the spot, not even knowing how.
…
His race was known for spears and tridents for what concerned long-raged attacks. No one in his domain had ever picked up a bow unless they were troop specifically trained for assaults on land. However, he was not one of those forced into learning a weapon most of his people were not interested in.
No, he had chosen the bow because he had been fascinated after seeing one for the first time. He had bought one from a guy who resold loot from the land, then, he had tried to shoot an arrow clumsily. The first one had barely left his bow. Not only had the bow been fashioned for someone much stronger than him, but the water resistance at the depth he lived in made it almost impossible for an arrow to travel more than a few meters.
For the first time in his life, Ninth Prince Syracuse had found something he liked. Day and night, he would just wield his bow and shoot the few arrows he owned.
With days going by, one by one, he became more and more estranged from his family. He stopped attending functions and ceremonies, even his Sisters Sacred Marriages.
The bow was everything he had always needed.
He needed nothing else. A bow was enough.
His family had never liked him that much. His father had deemed him a waste of his great dynasty, his Brothers and Sisters a simple-minded, if not wholly retarded, useless younger sibling.
So, they indulged his newfound passion. No one had any expectation for him, in fact.
And Syracuse studied the bow, he bit into the wood, feeling with his teeth how elastic and hard it was. He carried everywhere he went, the few times he left his training grounds.
And one day, he became strong.
No one noticed at first. Not until someone saw an arrow cross the walls of the training grounds, splitting the water as if it hadn’t been there.
That day, another Triton approached Syracuse, who had unfortunately broken a few arrows the day before. Being able to shoot far was not a blessing for a poor guy with few arrows and no attendant to fetch the ones he shot very far.
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“Brother,” Second Prince Noto appeared. “You seem to have become very capable with the bow. Do you care to join an expedition to the land? We will give you more arrows and a new, stronger bow. If you prove worthy, you may even join an expedition to the Depths.”
Syracuse had started nodding at ‘more arrows’, his main problem.
“What are you fighting?” Syracuse asked, curious.
“Humans, again. We are arranging a banquet for our Royal Father,” Noto smiled with sharp teeth.
Syracuse wasn’t that interested in food, not even Humans, to be honest. He didn’t mind having a bite every now and then if the Royal Kitchens were stocked, but it wasn’t an obsession in the same way it was for many of his family members.
“I’ll join, yes,” Ninth Prince Syracuse had declared, interested in challenging his own skills.
…
On Land, Second Prince Noto attacked a coastal city full of humans. Even though the Sirens and Tritons were known to be stealthy predators, alluring humans with their wiles and charm.
Ninth Prince Syracuse challenged himself to strike some moving targets, warriors that he hoped would pose a challenge.
Syracuse found them lacking. After killing a few with his arrows, which traveled much faster than in the ocean on land, he realized this city was weak.
“Brother, these humans lack strength. I’m not amused,” Ninth Prince Syracuse said.
“This is just a low-leveled city,” Second Prince Noto said, “we weren’t looking to lose soldiers just to get some food. This is a simple raid, brother, not a real battle. If you really want a challenge, you might train with me sometime.”
Noto would instantly regret those words.
Curious to test his skills against a truly mighty warrior, Syracuse nocked an arrow, got a bit far away, and then shot it toward his brother.
His brother fell with an eye sprouting from his right eye, and Syracuse smiled.
It turned out he was really good with the bow, and that pleased him endlessly.
Now, the other Sirens and Tritons that had been herding humans, warriors, and civilians, all the same, turned toward Syracuse and started shouting at him.
The Ninth Prince thought this would be a very good chance to know how good his archery skills had gotten. Maybe Noto was a fluke, and his brother had just been distracted.
So, he started taking out one arrow after another from his Interspatial Ring and felling every Siren and Triton he could. Humans were too weak to have a nice sporting session with them, so he just let them be.
In less than ten minutes, Syracuse had murdered the entire force his brother had prepared. Not one of the warriors had required more than one arrow. Syracuse had not even used his special shots or anything, they had just died like that, with plain simple shots of his bow.
Some humans under him started bowing and kneeling, shouting of a ‘Divine Archer’, a title he had never heard, but that did please him.
Maybe they know more than us about the bow, Syracuse mused while slowly approaching the city under the half-grateful and half-terrified gazes of the humans.
It turned out that humans were not just good food but also an interesting company. Thus, Syracuse started living among them, enjoying the city's growth in the form of new artisans making more bows. He even taught children and adults when they came asking about archery. Nothing pleased him more than talking about the bow, save for shooting it.
So, he felled his entire family when they came looking for him, protecting the frail humans. Not that much out love, but simply because.
One day, he found a true monster, capable of wielding the most evil magic his kin had ever discovered.
Nerea, Queen of Sirens, from the biggest and baddest Empire underwater.
She killed him personally, not sparing a second glance before pouncing on the humans Ninth Prince Syracuse had been living with.
…
Ninth Prince Syracuse opened his eyes in a young body.
He looked around and was surprised to find himself in the same palace he had grown up in. It all looked like the first day they had mysteriously traveled to another world.
He ignored the thoughts and the Tritons and Sirens screaming confusedly all around the palace.
Syracuse got up from his bed and flexed his hands, unsatisfied with their emptiness.
It was time to find a bow.