by Katie Pottle
His next shot was even further off the mark, hitting all white several inches away from the red center. The third shot hit right next to his first, just inside of the red wrath’s-eye. Cadin breathed a little easier but was not thrilled with that round. Lep was too far from Cadin’s station to see if he got through or not, but he could see that both Vincent and Xeno had a red wrath’s-eye. Only seven of the fifteen made it through to the final round including Cadin, Xeno, Vincent, and Lep.
“I got a black wrath’s-eye!” Lep told Cadin as they sat down, this time to the right, on the opposite end of the stations from where Sun and the other archers from the first end awaited their turn.
“Awesome! I only just made it in the red.” Cadin told him.
“Even if you do get this badge,” the older, dark-haired girl interjected, “you first years have no chance of qualifying. You have too much to do in too little time. I don’t even know why they changed the rules now. You will just get your hopes up, and have them crushed by older and more experienced students.” She flipped her hair out of her eyes as she turned back to the competition.
“Who are you?” Cadin asked
“Not that it is any of your business, but I am Araina, and I am the leader of my all girls Com Games team.”
“Hi, Araina,” Cadin said as politely as he could towards the stuck-up girl. She even had nails painted to match her outfit. Who does that? Cadin wondered as he continued, “I’m Cadin and this is Lep, one of my teammates, and this is Xeno and Vincent. They too are on a team of first years, and I see no reason for you to put us down, simply because you are older.”
“Hey,” she said without looking at any of them and keeping her eyes on the archery field, “I just want to give it to you straight since obviously none of the teachers will.” She had a hard look on her face as she glared at Instructor Kade and Headmaster Tripharian, who had started up the second group made up of mostly second and third years.
“My girls and I practiced all of high school together and even we have had to wait until our fourth year to compete in the Qualifiers. Whatever,” she said with a wicked smile. “My whole team is amassing enough badges this year, so we can focus purely on the Qualifiers our senior year. Some of us need just one more Warrior Path badge—even if it is archery."
“Well, good luck with that,” Cadin said, trying to end this unpleasant conversation.
“Please, I don’t need luck! Unlike some people here I rely on pure skill. But it will take more than just luck to get a second-year team through qualifications. Heck, I would bet three betos that not a single second-year team makes it through to the Com Games.”
“I will take that bet.”
Araina turned to look at him, as if surprised to see an actual person at the other end of her conversation. “You are going to bet me three betos that one of your little groups will make it through the Qualifiers next year?”
“Yeah,” said Cadin, looking straight back into her dark eyes, “I am.”
“Oh, please. Like you even have three betos to bet.”
“You are not backing out already?” Vincent asked, jumping in. Cadin was surprised that he hadn’t said something earlier. She seemed like just the type of person that would really get under Vincent’s skin.
“It will be the easiest money I ever made.”
“Three betos then,” Cadin said holding out his hand to shake on it. Araina looked at his hand like it was a mutant cloud-worm trying to bite her.
“I agree to the terms, but I will not shake your hand,” she said.
“Fine,” Cadin said.
“Oh, and I want three full beto coins. I will not walk around with thirty aros weighing down my beautiful celebration outfit.” With that, she got up to congratulate two girls that just finished the second round.
“Wow, what a piece of work she is,” Xeno said quietly.
“Yeah,” Vincent said. “What an attitude.”
Cadin and Lep laughed with Vincent while Xeno just shook his head. They watched Araina sit down with the other two girls a good distance away from them. They were giggling.
“She won’t be laughing when she has to pay up,” Lep said.
“Look, Sun, Bart, and Jade are going this round.”
Sun hit a red wrath’s-eye her first shot and two black ones for her second and third shots. Jade got a nice red hit on her second shot but barely hit the target with her third arrow. Bart’s arrows were all close to the red, but Cadin couldn’t see if any of them actually hit.
“Come on Bartholomew!” Cadin shouted as Instructor Kade bent down to inspect his target.
“Wrath’s-eye,” Headmaster Tripharian announced after conferring with Instructor Kade.
“Yeah, Bart!”
Only five made it through from the group, and they celebrated as they joined the others waiting for the final round. Treven and Gregor stepped up in the final group for round two, along with Lexi, a few other Challenge Club kids and the rest of the second and third years including Gregor’s other two teammates. Sun sat next to Lep while Bart took the empty spot by Cadin.
“Nice grouping on that last set Bart.”
“Thanks, man, I was nervous.”
“Just one set left.”
The last group did surprisingly well, and nine of the fifteen made it through to the finals, including Treven, Lexi, Gregor and his friends.
“Okay, we have twenty-nine students that have made it to the final round from our original seventy-five or so,” Instructor Kade said as the targets were moved back to the two hundred-foot mark. “We will have two groups for the final round. Anyone with a black or red wrath’s-eye in this round will earn a Level 1 Archery Warrior Path badge. Good luck to all of you.”
Cadin pulled out his new paper from the bowl: Group 2, position #14. Cadin breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn’t in the first round. Most of his friends were. Sun was in position one again, with Araina’s friend to her right in position two, Treven was third, while Lep stood up to the fourth position. Xeno, Bart, Jade and Vincent and Araina were scattered down the rest of the line. Cadin sat by himself as they got started, and Gur started his pacing again.
“Your lizard looks as nervous as you do, firsty,” Gregor said getting up and sitting down next to Cadin.
“Not right now, Gregor, my friends are going and I want to watch and prepare for my third round. And Gur is a dragon, not a lizard,” Cadin said without looking up.
“Sorry about that,” Gregor said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “I guess what they say about pets taking on the look and personality of their owners is true, and I just thought he looked more like a spineless lizard than a dragon,” he said with a chuckle. “My bad.” He stood up and moved to the other side of the field. Cadin didn’t let what Gregor said get to him. Instead he cheered for his friends and other people from the Challenge Club that had made it into the finals while trying to focus his breathing and energy to prepare for his turn.
Sun was the only one to hit all three arrows in the red. Instructor Kade raised his hand and announced ‘tripple wrath’s-eye.' Others missed the targets completely at the farther distance with one or more of their arrows, and one of Araina’s friends had hit the target of the angel to her left by accident. Needless to say, Araina’s friend did not get a wrath’s-eye and ran off crying when Instructor Kade and Headmaster Tripharian announced ‘no hit,’ while crossing their arms. Cadin cheered when both Treven and Lep got the hands up wrath’s-eye from the instructors. Araina hit a wrath’s-eye and looked smug as they announced it. Neither Xeno nor Jade could hit the red, but both Bart and Vincent finished up the line with wrath’s-eyes.
“Last group, you are up!” Instructor Kade said.
Cadin put his hand over Gur and walked to his position. There was no one to his right to fill in position fifteen. There were two older girls to his left so his end of the field felt calm and peaceful. Cadin pulled up one of his arrows and ran his fingers gently over the blue and green feathers. Feeling confident, Cad
in loosely set his arrow and waited for the start of the final round. Instructor Kade said ‘begin,’ and Cadin looked downfield. The target looked far away and Cadin’s confidence wavered. Cadin heard someone curse down the line, but tried to block everything out. Gur was silent on his shoulder and did not make a move as Cadin pulled his arrow to the ready. The arrow moved ever so slightly with his breathing. The first arrow hit all white.
Cadin pulled his second arrow, his line of sight moving with his breathing, and the small target dancing in and out of line with his arrow. The second arrow hit near the top of the red wrath’s-eye, but he didn’t think that it hit. Pulling his third and final arrow to the ready, Cadin took a deep breath before sighting down the shaft of his arrow at his target. He saw the arrow line up perfectly with the small black circle for just a moment and let the arrow loose. Quivering, the arrow settled into the target, surrounded by black. Cadin hit the center and pumped his fist in the air in celebration. Gregor, on the other hand, was throwing his fists in the air in frustration.
Fifteen people earned the archery badge; eleven were Challenge Club members.
Headmaster Tripharian melded the metals himself and shook hands with each person that earned a badge.
“I would like to say that so far, the Challenge Club has made a good impression on me. Keep working hard toward your goals.” With that, the Headmaster walked off the field. Cadin looked down at his new red badge that Gur was now trying his hardest to take off.
Cadin smiled as he plopped down next to Bart where Yi Field abutted the school forest. Taking a level two cloud-shifting class had many challenges, especially being the only student without wings, let alone an Aura; however, it also had its benefits.
"Any new ideas today?" Cadin asked. He was the only one in the Challenge Club that took a class with Bart, so they could relay messages better and observe older students, and strategize what younger teams would need to do to beat them.
"Well, I still think that the biggest challenge for a second-year team challenging third and fourth-year teams in the Qualifiers next year is a lack of flight experience."
"Yeah, but there is not too much we can do about that, except practice when we get wings. Besides, we have you." Cadin peeked at Bart's back. "Your wings should be sprouting any time, right?"
Bart hunched down and let out a sigh. "Man, I hope so. I am one of only a few second years that didn't get them over break."
"I know exactly how you feel," Cadin said softly as he gazed out at luminescent glow emanating from his fellow students.
"Everyone, up!" Instructor Russ barked as he approached. The advanced cloud-shifting instructor was large in every way, standing taller than most angels and with what Cadin assumed were pumped up muscles under his slightly flabby skin and barrel belly. "Circle around!" Everything he said was loud, and rough, matching his exterior, though Cadin knew that Instructor Russ, despite outward demeanor, was actually a very nice and patient angel. He accepted Cadin into his class, no questions asked, not treating him like a lost little cloud-raven like a lot of the older students did.
Cadin and Bart found a spot where they could see Instructor Russ as he summoned a natural cloud over to him.
"Weaving is a necessary level two skill," Instructor Russ boomed as he stepped up on the fluffy cumulus. "We don't fall through the clouds when we cloud-walk!" He unnecessarily stomped his very large feet. Wisps of cloud flew up around his tree-trunk legs, but he stayed atop the little cloud, hovering a few feet above the ground. "However, cloud-walking will suck your energy dry after a while, especially if you are not moving around." The angel made a motion with his hefty arms as if hugging the cloud closer to him. "So, when we need to stay in one place that is not a cloud-land for a while, we weave!" He reached into the cloud, his green Aura flaring, and started making quick motions that were obscured from view.
"Now, what I'm doing is essentially cloud-shifting many lose tendrils, and weaving them together to form a cloud-nest. It is important to not fully harden the cloud or you will expend all of your energy to form a small cloud-land that will be too small to rest on."
He lifted a piece of the cloud he was working on so the class could see. "The consistency you are going for is rope-like. My sisters always said it was like braiding hair if that helps anyone." He stepped off the cloud and made a pushing motion with his hands. The excess cloud blew away, leaving a thatch of woven cloud.
"Everyone feel and stand on it before it dissipates. They don't last long without the rest of the cloud."
Cadin stood in line behind Bart and felt the slightly firm ropes of clouds that undulated under his touch. "Awesome," He said as he climbed on top of it next to Bart.
"Yeah, but I don't know how it's gonna help us."
"Oh, you won't be complaining about this skill after you get your wings and need to rest for a bit mid-flight!" Instructor Russ' voice boomed.
Bart was so shocked he took a step back and stumbled off the nest. Cadin jumped down to help him up.
"Finish looking—and start trying!" It was a common saying in the class, and many of the students had taken to finishing the sentence after Instructor Russ started it. "Yes, and maybe after you all get some good weaving practice in, I'll set up a couple more complex Cloud-Wheels for you to test last week's skills on."
Most of the class cheered, Cadin and Bart included. The previous week they had worked on the skill of the cloud-shifting their way around a Cloud-Wheel, a ten-foot tall hollow wheel, with various hand and footholds along the interior. Your job is to navigate your way along the entire interior of the wheel without falling, Instructor Russ had informed them, a gleam of pride in his eyes. Everyone in the class had made it around 'Wheel 1.0', as Instructor Russ had called it. He had promised the class more challenging versions to come.
"Finish looking..." Instructor Russ called.
"And start trying!" Several students yelled back.
Cadin and Bart made their way to one of the natural clouds and attempted their first weaving.
A tingle ran up his back and Cadin smiled at the thrill of connecting to a cloud. Each one felt unique and Cadin took a moment to understand the flavor of the little cumulus under his fingertips. This one was full of water, and would probably have started raining soon if he wasn't about to capture some of the moisture and cloud-shift it to the center of his tendrils. Cadin smiled as he gazed up at the bright sun, heat washing over his face, while cool water played across his hands.
"I love this," Cadin said to no one in particular.
Bart grunted, concentration furrowing his brow.
"Excellent!" Instructor Russ said as he rambled over to their cloud. "Why don't you hop on your nests to test them out?"
"Uh, okay." Cadin hadn't particularly been focusing on what he was doing, just vaguely guiding the cloud into what he imagined to be a good bird nest.
"Right," said Bart as he stepped up onto his half of the cloud.
Cadin tried not to focus on Bart wobbling all over the place as he climbed up.
"Good, now sit down, so I know you are not cloud-walking and are dependent on your nest holding you up."
Cadin sat down and felt a little motion sick as the water in his weave undulated back and forth. His nest popped him up a bit as Bart plopped down hard on the other end of the cloud.
"Uh," Bart said as he tried to pull himself up with the edges of his nest. Cadin could see that he had sunk down in the middle but had not fallen completely through.
"Not too bad by either of you for your first attempt," Instructor Russ said as he reached into their cloud. Cadin instantly felt the change in energy as the large angel connected to their compact cloud. Strong, Cadin thought, as Aura energy rang through his nest—Instructor Russ was feeling, but not shifting. "Cadin, a little too much water in your ropes, I think. After a few minutes of sitting on that, you will get cold. Bartholomew, work on a tighter weave, especially in the middle." He nodded to each of them and moved on to a cloud occupied by several noisy gi
rls.
Cadin was exhausted by the end of cloud-shifting class, but he couldn't resist attempting the 2.0 version of the Cloud-Wheel after Instructor Russ explained the differences.
"A bit bigger, but the real difference is what you will find on the interior. There are a few obstacles for you to overcome. It’s not easy when you are hanging upside down, and there are fewer solid hand and foot holds. In their place, you will find some natural clouds that you will have to cloud-shift as you go." A large smile spread across his broad face as Instructor Russ gazed upon his creation. He turned to them. "Well—finish looking, and start trying!"
Cadin got excited by the challenge of puzzling his way around the wheel without falling. He had reached the top and was dangling upside down when he tried to reach over a large block-like obstacle and felt his energy bottom out as he attempted to cloud-shift a handhold. He tried to flip as he fell, but still landed awkwardly on the cloud-padded bottom.
"Nice try, man," Bart said as he came to help. "Want to stand in line for another go?"
"No, man—I don't have any energy left. But I'll stand with you if you want to go again."
"Cool, let's go." Bart ran it twice more and got slightly further than Cadin before falling. "I think I know how to get around that obstacle that got me last time."
"Avoid the pointy part," Cadin said with a laugh as he watched a second-year girl with newly sprouted wings fall at the same spot with two large spikes blocking her way.
"Duh," Bart said. "But I think I can use the spikes instead of avoid them. Watch."
Bart stepped forward to take his turn and methodically climbed up the inner curve—shifting hand holds as needed. He swung over to the side of the block that had stumped Cadin and continued towards the two large spikes. Instead of staying head forward, which was beginning to be down as he rounded the top of the curve, Bart flipped around while holding onto the top of the wheel and stood on the long edge stepping down around it.
"Oh," several kids watching said.
