บท 15: Emile vs. Ray
Emile found the window Ray used to climb to the roof. There was a problem though. Emile would never be able to climb up himself without getting shot. Ray would assuredly hear or see him coming up before Emile could do anything.
Minutes passed in silence. With nothing else to do, Emile called out.
"Hey Ray."
"Hey Emile, what's up?"
"Oh you know—sitting around I guess."
"That's cool. You wanna come up and hangout?"
"You know Ray, I have a feeling you're not gonna let me up that easily."
"You could tell?" Ray joked, "Maybe I should work on my acting."
A heavy sigh escaped Emile's lips. "So how are we gonna do this Ray? You need me to come up and I need you to come down."
"I think you should come up."
Emile was standing at the broken window, looking out at the expanse of empty buildings. Ray wasn't going to come down. Emile needed to think of another way to do this. He walked over to one of the tables and placed his bow on it.
He emptied all of his pockets too. They were filled with unorganized seeds that all looked the same. Due to his lack of soul essence, Emile was essentially limited to growing flowers.
He thought about throwing flowers out of another window and causing a distraction while he climbed up to the roof, but flowers aren't heavy or hard enough to make noise when they hit something. But that was it, Emile needed to go up.
After a while Emile started smashing all of the boards on the third floor.
"You finally coming up?" Ray yelled out.
Emile didn't respond and kept opening all of the windows. Once they were all open he gathered all of the existing furniture together. There was a dining table, coffee table, four chairs, and a smaller table that would hold candles or a lantern.
Then Emile tossed all of his seeds onto a table and filled them with life. Purples, reds, blues, an amalgamation of colors burst forth and covered the room in a mellow, sweet scent. Emile sat in one of the chairs and began braiding all of the flower stems together.
The makeshift ropes probably weren't strong enough to hold a person, but Emile believed they would hold the chairs for a bit. With them, he tied a vine around the leg of each chair and leaned them over the edge of all the windows except for one.
He tied the other end of the vines together and then attached it to the table, which he moved to the window he'd be climbing out of. Emile sat in the window frame, his body crunched together as he hung out of the building.
He took a deep breath and counted down from three. Then he used his knife and sliced right through the vines. Immediately he pushed his legs open and leaped up to the roof's ledge. The second his hand grabbed hold of the ledge, the chairs shattered against the hard, stone floor three stories below.
Emile started pulling himself up. His eyes made it over the edge and he saw Ray's back leaning over the side. Emile got his chest onto the ledge, then one of his legs wrapped around too. As he was pulling his bow over him, Ray's head swung around.
Emile's mind went blank. His nervousness grew and his hands began to sweat. Emile and Ray simultaneously pulled their arrow back and immediately let it go. Emile's arrow flew by Ray's head. Ray's arrow was sent far past Emile.
Emile dropped his bow and pulled out his knife. He lunged across the roof and charged towards Ray. Ray stared at Emile, he didn't move a muscle. A smile slowly crept up on Ray's face.
Immediately an arrow pierced two inches into Emile's back. He slowed his steps and stopped a foot in front of Ray. Emile reached around his back and felt the arrow deep in it.
"How?" Emile questioned.
"It's my gift, although I've never been able to use it until now." Ray said.
"You control arrows?"
"Objects. But yeah that sums it up."
Emile and Ray climbed down onto the third floor and walked back to the start. Emile pulled the arrow from his back and his body quickly closed the small hole. When they made it back to the start, their instructor congratulated Ray and told the other two cadets to head out.
"You did well Emile." Their instructor said.
"I lost." Emile dejectedly replied.
"Yes, but you didn't lose because you were worse. You lost due to unforeseen variables. I honestly thought you did wonderfully. You survived a surprise attack, located and approached Ray without his knowing, utilized your gift in a creative and expansive way, and you would have won the knife fight if it came down to that."
"I instinctively aimed for his head and had to throw the arrow so as not to be disqualified." Emile explained.
"Like I said Emile, you did far better than expected. Ray was made to be an archer, I put you against him because the other two would have lost from the beginning."
Nobody said anything after that. Eventually round two of the mini tournament ended and Ray faced the victor. Ultimately, Ray decimated the other archer before he even knew where Ray was. It was as their instructor said.
The day continued as normal with more training and class and more training. The second month was quickly approaching its end and that meant another examination. This examination would be a solo fight against a new beast, weapons allowed.
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