Completed Fly like an arrow

[Raeyn]

16th of Summer 518AV

Albeit quite tiering, the long trek across rocky and traitors paths was worth the sheer beauty of the Kinell Hotsprings that had been Raeyn's destination. He came there often, braving the walk, finding his way by landmarks and marked tree stumps, in pursuit of solitude by the emerald pools in which Leth's stars bathed their reflections. The sound of the trickling water and gentle breeze calmed the Inarta. The peaceful ambience of hot steam shrouded him from the frigid midnight air.

Once he arrived at the location Raeyn took off his shirt and cloak, no longer needing them in the warm, natural sanctuary as long as he staid close to the water. Within a few minutes he found himself a good target, a hollowed out piece of wood on which he marked a little spot. Wasting no time to create some distance between himself and the target, Raeyn began the training for tonight. As an archer it was up to him to keep his aim sharp and the only way to do so was practice.

A little whisper came from the bushes behind him and instantly the Inarta's head turned to look in the direction. Sharp eyes looked for something, anything between the leaves and twigs but to no avail. Was it just another one of those feelings, those odd voices that spoke to him sometimes? Were they watching him? After a few moments of looking he was satisfied that no creature was going to jump out at him and so he did his best to shake off the unease, allowing the scenery to embrace his senses and relax his mind.

Raeyn breathed in and out in long, drawn out breaths. With each one he felt his body relax a little. He employed the few meditation techniques he had to slow down his heart and allow himself to focus on the task at hand.

Raeyn hadfreshly polished his grandfather's bow just before leaving the house that afternoon. Now with it held at his hip, the Inarta knocked on an arrow at the anchor point and let the string sit snugly in a little indent at the tail end of the projectile. His fist grasped the wood, the thumb forming a little ledge against it where the head end of the arrow would now sit. Closing his eyes for a moment the hunter inhaled deeply, feeling the air fill his lungs and steadily brought the bow up.

[Raeyn]

Raeyn's white skin lined eyelid opened, focusing on the tiny dot he marked on the log. Like a hawk he watched it for a few moment, judging the distance. Inside his head calculations formed. He would judge curve along which the projectile had to travel if it was to counteract gravity and hit it's target in one fell swoop. His aim had to make up for the direction of the wind which at this moment was almost negligible. All of those things were taken into account in an instant as the Inarta aimed.

Controlling his breath, Raeyn became increasingly aware of his body and so he corrected his stance. Legs spread hip width apart to provide a sturdy base from which he could shoot. His back straightened and his arm lengthened with his pointer finger lining the bow with the direction of the aim.

Another whisper echoed in his left ear. It was as if his own mind was trying it's best to sabotage him.

He then focused on his heart, slowing it down. Adrenaline never helped anyone aim, especially not Raeyn for he was a perfectionist. Steadying his heart beat with meditation would allow him to minimise any shaking in his hand from the excretion they were about to go though. And though Raeyn was no master of either archery nor meditation, doing so took him quite a bit of time and effort. As far as he was concerned without trial and error he'd never reach such levels of perfection.

The Inarta hunter pulled back on the bow string in one, smooth motion. In that exact moment he forced all the air out of his lungs though his mouth. For a moment the length of a blink he felt and though nothing but the stillness and the silence of that very moment and then... then his fingers let go of the arrow.

[Raeyn]

A whistling sound tore though the air, soon to be followed by a loud thud of metal on wood. Raeyn stood there for a second, beholding the accuracy of his own aim.

At a closer inspection the arrow head missed the tiny dot by a negligible margin. If it had been a rabbit not a target of wood, Raeyn would still have made the head shot. It it had been a man, that man would have been dead. Still the level of perfection wasn't quite where Raeyn wanted it. Retrieving the missile, the Inarta aimed and fired once more with similar consequences. A fairly good shot. Not perfect, not tragic, just good. And Raeyn was never satisfied with just good.

Even though he's never stepped foot in Wind Reach and his knowledge of Inarta culture came only from stories, he still shared the natural inclination towards archery with his kin. The art of firing a bow had been in his family for generation. Even though the last man to wield the weapon he now possessed was his grandfather, it had likely been in the family for far longer than that. The silence and concentration of aiming and shooting brought him calm. A necessary distraction from all this weirdness that had befallen him as of late.

For he'd been hearing disembodied murmurs he could not explain. And there was little more he could do to rid his mind of the unnecessary distraction than to learn to meditate. That was the true reason he came to the Hotsprings after dark. The archery was a distraction but the environment in which he could zone out and grasp control of his mind with both hands was the true reason he was here.

Few places were more tranquil and more conducive to the art of meditation than the springs. Imagining himself rooted into the ground with invisible roots, Raeyn focused his ears on the trickling water and the slow pounding in his chest. Inhaling air, he aimed again.

[Raeyn]

Some men found excitement in brawls, others in testing their own strength against the unforgiving environment around Lhavit. For Raeyn, however, there was something profound in that moment between aiming and releasing the arrow. That moment where the air becomes still and he can hear his own heartbeat in his ears. That moment where the rest of the world outside himself and the target is no more than a blur. A moment when the mind is sharp as a knife and would cut all and anything in it's path.

Some men learned the meaning of peace meditation atop a mountain or feeling the weight of a waterfall crashing upon their shoulders. Raeyn learned it whilst perfecting his archer's precision.

Once again he breathed out and steadied his hand before releasing the arrow and watching it slice though the wind. And once again it pierced the target albeit this time a little further away off the mark. Although he no longer had to wear a sling around his arm and the dull ache has stopped all together, it still gave him a little trouble under strain. And the strain of archery was quite something. More often than just once or twice Raeyn would have to wince in pain and lower the bow. He did power though it however using his breathing to push it into the back of his mind.

[Raeyn]

Come midnight it was time for a rest. Even men as determined as Raeyn had to rest sometimes. It was then that reality became bothersome once more. For as long as he focused on nothing other than achieving that perfect aim, the strange whispers took a back seat somewhat. They seemed far enough that he could ignore them just as he ignored the crowds of Lhavit every morning on his way to lessons. The moment he sat down on a rock near the muddy bank of the hotsprings where hot fog enveloped his body and curled around his musculature, they returned louder than before.

A whizzing sigh came from Raeyn's mouth. "Why me? Out of all petching souls in Mizahar, why do bad things always happen to me?" To say he was growing used to the constant white noise in his ear would be about right. He didn't find it any less strange than when he first heard it but as he could barely make out any actual words, it was a mild annoyance rather than a serious ailment. As a child Raeyn learned that everything has a rational answer. Even magic in his mind was as rational as seeing Syna's light first thing in the morning. For this he had yet to find answers but whole heartedly believed that such answers were out there somewhere.

Raeyn focused on his heart beat as he pulled his legs into a cross. His back straightened. Closing his eyes, the man blocked out the world and soon enough felt nothing but the soft, caressing touch of hot vapour against his freckly skin. Once again with every breath he'd allow his muscles to relax one by one. First his fingers, then his arms and shoulders and his chest. Just like that, in order he'd relax every muscle group. He'd imagine he could see it happen as disembodied sparks flying from his skin. Even though not quite reality, the image inside his head helped him to focus.

Once there was not a single body part he was aware of any longer but his whole being felt like one living mesh, Raeyn imagined everything fade to white. He mentally pushed everything away, the world, his thoughts and the voices. Inside him mind he was in a white, impenetrable bubble held together by rhythmic breathing and the sound of his own heartbeat.

[Raeyn]

For the longest time the Inarta sat there, motionless, loosing track of time. Albeit not without disturbance, he pulled himself back into a state of meditative peace. And with each time it became easier just that tiny little bit. Once the much needed break was over however, he came back to what he came for in the first place.

Raeyn once again knocked on an arrow and aimed at the target that now boasted quite the impressive amount of cracks and scratches. If he carried on he'd likely break the thing. Closing one eye he lined the very tip of the arrowhead with a point on the log. His bow arm shook a little from the strain of bent wood and ache from his injury. He was about to release the arrow, about to watch it pierce the target. That moment was so close. But it never came.

A scuttling sound echoed from the undergrowth. This time not a voice, not a whisper or a name. There was something there, he was certain. Startled Raeyn pointed the bow in the sound's direction and released the arrow faster than he could think abut his actions. Immediately he regretted it. What it where was someone there and he had just killed them? What it that one shot was the beginning of the end for him?

Immediately panicked the Inarta ran over towards the undergrowth where tail end of the arrow still stuck out of something. Upon further inspection it had become buried in damp soil. No dead or wounded body in sight. Beside the arrow there were some fresh reptile paw prints, evidently let there by the lizard his arrow missed. Raeyn breathed a sigh of relief.

"Find the lizard. Kill it."

[Raeyn]

"Hmm?" murmured Raeyn, looking around. The words were barely audible, so faint was their sound and just for a moment he had convinced himself he never heard them at all. But once again the voice came.

"Kill it... kill it..."

"Who'se there!" now alarmed the man screamed into the night. Nowhere could he find the source of the voice. He must have looked like a mad man but this time, however, he was certain he was certain it was not his imagination speaking.

"Holy light of Leth and Syna." Raeyn's voice trembled as he slowly came to the grave realisation of what the source of the words was. His palms covered his ears as he fell to his knees, pressing his forehead against the muddy ground. His eyes shut tight, praying he was dreaming. Praying that when he was to open his eyes again he'd be back in his bedroom.

But back in his bedroom he was not. Upon opening his eyes he was right where he had been this whole time, on his knees in mud, when a gleam caught his attention.

[Raeyn]

It took some time for Raeyn to find the source of the odd sparkling but at last, after rummaging though the exotic foliage around the hotsprings, he came across a true oddity. A round objects of battered tin sat there, half covered in mud and shrouded by leaves. Confused, Raeyn picked up the object, twisting and turning it around in his fingers to examine the truly unremarkable, bronze surface. There was a clasp on the side which, after a moment of contemplation, he opened only to reveal a freshly backed and delicious smelling blueberry muffin inside.

For a man who deals with unusual magical materials on the regular, nothing in his life had confused him quite as much as this very moment. For the tin looked like it had been bound to it's confines for centuries. It's weathered surface told a tale of an object forsaken by time. How was it possible then, that inside there was a delicious, inciting piece of cake? Unless... unless it was a trick not a cake?

Feeling like he didn't quite trust this mysterious item, Raeyn took the cake and smelled it. A still warm smell of deliciousness filled his nostrils. He pressed his tongue against the golden crust and indeed it did taste of cake. He took a bite. yes, certainly this was cake. But how was this possible? Had he lost his mind and now he'd been reduced to a man who eats rocks and twigs thinking they're muffins?

The lid of the tin closed accidentally and so, wishing to inspect it some more, Raeyn pried it open again only to find yet another muffin inside. This time a fragrant concoction of banana and toffee glazed with icing sugar.

Screaming as if he had just been bitten, Raeyn dropped the tin. His whole body tumbled backwards and onto his arse where he could contemplate just how embarrassing it would have been if anyone had seen him right now. "By the holy light of..." It took a few more delicious muffin flavours, some indeed quite odd, before the Inarta finally accepted what his eyes were seeing. He'd return home that night with the mysterious muffin tin in his pocket. Perhaps he would find a use for such a quirky magical item if only to pretend as if he'd finally learned to bake and fool his sister.

[Madeira Dusk]

Grades Awarded!

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Raeyn

Skills

• Observation: 5xp
• Meditation: 5xp
• Shortbow: 3xp
• Mathematics: 1xp
• Endurance: 1xp
• Logic: 1xp

Lores

• Location: Kinell Hotsprings
• Mathematics: calculating distance and drop
• Shortbow: proper stance
• Lore of perfectionism
• Meditation: using a touchstone
• Logic: there is always a reasonable explanation
• Lore of the magical muffin tin

Awards & Retribution
+Magic Muffin Tin: for all your magic muffin needs

Notes
Oh boy is Raeyn's mental health deteriorating. I look forward to seeing where this downward spiral goes!

As always, contact me if you have questions or concerns.