Archer & Disciple: by Nick Venom (short books to read .txt) 📕

The monster was the height of three stories, composed of stone and mud - a stone golem. It moved slowly, flinging its limbs at the roofs of buildings, but never at the bottom. It pressed forward, avoiding people in its path. 

Avin drew Esperanza, releasing an arrow. It cracked through the air, flying through the air and hitting the head of the golem. The arrow was crushed, falling to the ground. The golem continued forward as if nothing had happened.

He drew another arrow, attaching his Wind skill to it. It flew through the air, hitting the golem’s head. The wind propelled the arrow into the golem’s head, going cleanly through it. The golem stood still for a few moments, as the hole in the head became apparent. However, it quickly sealed itself up, the hole disappearing as the golem healed itself. The golem then turned its head to face Avin, revealing a man dressed in a black cloak standing on its shoulder. The man recognized Avin, pointing a long index finger at him. The golem moved towards Avin.

Avin drew a third arrow, enhancing it with Light. He released this arrow to little effect, simply bouncing off the golem. The Wind Arrow was pushed forward by the wind, but the normal and Light Arrows had nothing that could pierce or, at the very least, dent the golem.

The man motioned for the golem to kneel, jumping off it and facing Avin. He was a black-haired man, his body masked by a black cloak. He was around Avin’s age but lacked the same muscles as he did. He had a smaller frame than him.

“I’m here to challenge you Avin. It’s time to end this rivalry and see who’s the true King.” The man remarked.

“It’s been a while Sudo,” Avin remarked, drawing a Wind Arrow. He pointed it at Sudo. “You haven’t changed.”

“How can I change when I haven’t beaten you?” He remarked.

Avin glanced at the Golem kneeling behind him. “Was all of this necessary?”

Sudo nodded. “Of course, this is necessary. If I didn’t make a grand entrance then I wouldn’t have gotten your attention, right?” He said with a smug face. 

Avin sighed. “If you wish to get your petty revenge then you could have simply asked for it. Now you have included the citizens in it. For that, you don’t deserve the chance to fight.” Avin said. He then muttered something under his breath, something in a demonic tongue that Sudo reacted to quickly. Sudo bolted towards him, hoping to strike him before he finished his chant.

Avin activated a skill that he rarely used, known as Inescapable Barrier. As the name implied, a barrier of transparent walls left the people inside unable to escape from it.

He cast it on Sudo, stopping his momentum. Sudo hit the transparent walls hard, bouncing off it and landing on his back. “Well,” he said before sucking in air. “, you still have that ability.”

“And I will continue to use it against your petty grudges,” Avin remarked, turning around. “Help me Elizabeth, I need to-” He noticed Elizabeth’s eyes frightfully staring at something behind her. She pointed at something behind her, forcing him to turn to face it. It was a petite tanned girl standing in front of him. She had golden locks that went down to her waist, straight and clean. She had a tanned face with large features; large eyes that were doubled the normal size, big lips that were thin and petite but large enough to be noticeable, and ears that stuck out like a sore thumb.

She was dressed in a black and purple robe that covered her body, only her face and her hands being seen. She wielded a two-foot thin wand the color of night. She held it tightly, pointing it at Sudo. “Well, it would’ve worked if I didn’t join him.” Avin froze as he eyed down the girl. She was another rival he had in his earlier days, a magician who was known as the ‘Witch of Red’

“Why are you here, Hill?” Avin asked. “It couldn’t be that you want to beat me as well?”

“Would you believe me if I said yes?” Hill asked.

“As much as you telling me that you like Sudo.” Avin teased. Sudo turned to face Hill, his eyes widened. Hill shook her head, blushing.

“I don’t like Sudo, he’s lying. I like-” She cut herself off. “Oh, now you provoked me.” She said while smiling menacingly. She began chanting, getting rid of Avin’s Inescapable Barrier to his annoyance. 

She then focused her chanting on Avin, activating a fire spell and a water spell. She threw Fireballs and Water Slashes at him. He glanced behind him, noticing his disciples behind him. That’s how you want to play? Avin thought to himself before he enchanted the arrow he drew to become a Wind Arrow, releasing it. It cracked through the air, passing through a few fireballs and nicking Hill. 

Hill dodged the arrows, chanting for more spells. She threw everything she had at Avin, who eliminated them with his Wind, Light, and normal arrows. He used a mixture of the three to stop her attacks. He couldn’t move or the attacks would hit his disciples.

Elizabeth noticed this, grabbing Jaylee and taking her away. She left his back empty, allowing him to dodge without worrying about their safety.

Jaylee drew an arrow, releasing it. It flew towards Sudo, who had recovered and was retreating to his golem. The arrow nicked him. He glanced in her direction, seeing both of them. However, they were too far for him.

He jumped onto his golem, ordering it to attack Avin. The golem complied, staggering towards him. Avin, meanwhile, fought Hill’s spells head-on. He threw the spells towards unpopulated land or extinguished them.

“I can’t believe none of them are connecting.” She exclaimed, her mana on the low side. “You made me use this!”

Avin’s eyes widened as he recognized what she was trying to use. “Hill, don’t use it! It’s too dangerous!” He shouted. He drew a Light Arrow, infusing it with wind. He fired off the mixture of both elements, watching as it neared Hill, but dissipated against the spell she cast. She threw a spell towards him, a magic circle made of black goo. It moved quickly towards him. 

Sudo noticed the black magic circle, his eyes widening further. “Hill, that’s dangerous. You’ll kill him. It's supposed to be a simple duel, not one to the death!” He shouted.

He glanced behind him, towards his house but didn’t see his disciples. He sat them a comfortable distance away. Good idea Elizabeth. He thought, smiling for no more than a second. He turned back to face the oncoming threat. I told Master Nyla I’ll never use this skill, but I can’t wait any longer. Hill has already sacrificed everything for this petty duel and this spell will take everything out of me, so what do I have to lose? My disciples? They will be sad without me, but Elizabeth can train Jaylee in my stead. Maybe Master Nyla will return and train them.

Avin activated his fifth and most dangerous skill - Ruin. Ruin was a dangerous element that needed the fusion of every Main Element into one---Fire, Water, Light, Darkness, Earth, and Time. The Ruin element was the seventh and often forgotten Main Element. It was the most dangerous of them all.

He drew his bow, pouring a skill under Ruin known as Drain, into the arrow. He knew that the skill and the element itself would have a large backlash that could kill him, but if he didn’t extinguish the spell in front of him, the city would be destroyed.

Hill cast Instant Death, a vicious skill under the element of Death, which itself was an element under the Ruin element. Instant Death was a poison that didn’t stop once it made contact with something. It would continue to move, fighting against all beings and corrupting them all. If Avin’s house was affected by Instant Death, it would move like a parasite to cover the remainder of Paradise before absorbing the rest of the world. It was too dangerous to leave alone, the only way of stopping it being to extinguish it before it hit anything.

He took in a deep breath before releasing the arrow. It flew towards the black circle, piercing through the middle of it. The circle began to disintegrate but continued with its momentum. Avin took a few steps back, grabbing an arrow from his quiver. He was out of arrows, the Ruin Arrow being his last one.

A Fire Arrow came out of nowhere, striking the black circle and finishing the job. Avin glanced at his side at Elizabeth, who had her bow now pointed at Hill. Her bow’s name wasn’t random as she named it Phoenix because Avin taught her because of her fire skill known as Hellfire. It burned faster and did more damage than normal fire.

The black magic circle was gone, the last-ditch attempt made by Hill failing. She collapsed to the ground, her mana running out. Sudo, who saw that the duel had changed and Elizabeth now drew an arrow aimed at him, jumped off his golem and went to Hill’s side. 

“We give up, the duel has gone too far. It’s Hill’s fault. Since I brought her here, it’s also my fault” Sudo kneeled, one hand resting on the collapsed Hill.

Avin approached them, his body trembling out of Mana Exhaustion. Sudo looked at the ground, ashamed. “You did well. You’ve improved.”

Sudo looked back up to see Avin smiling. “You’ve done better than I expected.”

Sudo smiled back, a tear escaping his eye. “It wasn’t done how I wanted, but I made a big golem. And Hill has learned more spells, it’s just…”

“It’s okay Sudo,” Avin said, resting a hand on his shoulder. “However, you two must face your crimes of destroying parts of buildings and inciting panic. You should-” Avin collapsed, his body hitting the ground. Sudo jumped, taken aback.

Elizabeth and Jaylee rushed to his side as Sudo stared, confused and surprised. 

Am I dying? Avin thought before he went unconscious. Is this the end of me?

TBC…

Avin awoke two days in his bed after he collapsed from the backlash of using Ruin. What happened to me? He thought as he strained his neck to look around. His bedroom was empty and devoid of sound. It was eerily quiet. 

Where is everybody? He thought to himself as he forced his body to sit up, his body trembling softly as he readjusted himself. He positioned his back against the head of the bed. 

Now sitting up, he looked around again. He strained his neck and ears to detect if anybody was nearby. Did the spell touch anything? Could… Could everybody be…?

He got out of bed, wincing at the pain. He stumbled towards his bedroom door, opening it and peering outside. He saw Elizabeth and Jaylee in the dining room, which was in front of his room.

“Master!” Elizabeth shrieked, sprinting towards him. She hugged him tightly. “You’re okay!”

Avin patted her head, smiling. “Don’t worry, I-” He winced in