“Rise and shine!” A voice rings in my head. What?

I open my eyes to a blinding blue light.

“Ah!” I swat the light out of my face to no avail.

“You can’t touch me, Kid. Don’t tell me we’re gonna have another book throwing incident.” Emit said.

"No I just…” I trailed off and sighed. I really was hoping to wake up and for it all to be a dream, but the dull pain from my injuries and the orb circling around my head said otherwise.

“What are you doing?” I said to Emit. My eyes couldn’t help but to be attracted to him trailing around me. His spinning was making me dizzy!

“I’m ready to go! Do you know how boring it was watching you sleep?”

“No?”

“Extremely! As a free floating soul, I need no sleep. Honestly, even with my body I didn’t really need to but that’s besides the point. There’s only so much you can do with no hands or anything, so I spent the night counting the feathers on your head before I lost count. So then I floated around the area a little bit. Man your little girl-griffion friend has a lot of junk in her room, you know that? I think I even saw a couple of broken smartphones in there! What’s the point? You can’t get service anymore! And then I-”

I raised my talon. “Please stop. You’re giving me a headache.”

“Well excuse me princess! Next time I won’t bother you with my activities!” Emit said. Am I the princess when he’s acting like a drama queen? Whatever, I hopped out of bed. I quickly changed my clothes and went over to my bookshelf to grab my journal.

My heart skipped a beat. It was gone. Missing! Where was it? Did Lyra sneak in here and grab it? I told her to stop snooping around but she never listens! I’m so gonna kill her.

“Calm down, It’s on your desk.” Emit said.

To my surprise, it was right there. I have no idea though. I didn’t leave it there last night, so who moved it?

“Oh that’s easy. I left it there after I was done reading it.” Emit casually said.

“...You what?” I said.

“I read your diary. Let me tell you, it wasn't really worth it. You go on way too much about the pink bird. And there was a decent amount of scantily clad catbirds in there too.”

“I-I draw them for anatomy practice!”

“If you say so, Kid. That doesn’t explain that one entry of you detailing what you would do with Amelia if you-”

“Stop! I’ve heard enough.” I covered my face in pure embarrassment. “How’d you even read it? Doesn’t everything faze through you?”

“Oh, I can minorly manipulate things by abusing the flow of mana in the air. It's tough but with enough practical knowledge on mana control it’s easy to pull off.”

“Well next time you feel like reading something, pick something else other than my private writings!” I barked.

“You don’t need to yell. I pinky promise I won’t do it again. At least I would if I still had a pinky.”

I rolled my eyes. I swear it’s like dealing with a child.

“Gross privacy violations aside, we got a lot of work to do today." I said.

I made my way downstairs into the main area. Nobody else was up yet, which was surprising. It was very early in the morning, the sun had only just risen. Usually I'm the last one to wake up but I guess not everyone has a glowing ball screaming at them.

I went to my desk area and rolled out the blueprints the Master gave me. Well, calling them 'blueprints' was a bit of a stretch. Really they were just the basic components of a bow and that was that. I'd expected that much though. The Master likes us to be able to think and improvise for ourselves, it's not often we get anything more than a command to make something and figure it out on our own.

"Sounds like he's ripping you off." Emit remarked

"No, he's not. The Master actually is teaching us for free." I replied

"Oh yeah? That's kind of him. How'd you end up with such a sweet deal?"

"Well, I guess it was a combination of good luck and circumstance. He didn't have any current students, Lyra and I needed a place to learn and stay since we were basically homeless. So it worked out."

"Homeless? What did you run away or something?" Emit said.

I didn't really want to answer that question. Instead I switched my focus to my current project.

Making a bow wasn't terribly difficult. Fallen have been using them for quite a while. Apparently there were signs of even humans using them. It's a universal weapon for taking on targets from a distance.

First things first, I needed a good piece of wood. I went over to where we kept various boards of different sizes. I picked out a few smaller boards. They were a nice crimson color and about my height in length. I didn't need the frame of the bow to be bigger than me. In fact I'm probably going to cut it down to half my length or so. I'm aiming for mobility here rather than pure power. After all, those rabbits weren't exactly tough, just too quick.

Picking a board with the right size and a pretty color wasn't enough though. The wood needed to be flexible. I put my weight on one of the boards, my foot leaning on it.

With a loud crack, it broke. No good. Next one I tried didn't even bend. That one's out. Third time was the charm, it flexed perfectly. This is it!

I looked back on the broken piece of wood. I feel bad wasting materials like that. Heck I feel bad for my recent mass use of materials in general. And, if the recent events are anything to go by, I'm probably gonna need a lot more.

"At least you got near infinite stuff to work with." Emit said.

"What do you mean?" I said

"Did you forget? You've already lived through this day a couple times now. You can just test out whatever and the next go around it'll be back." Emit said

...That's an excellent point. In a weird way this thing happening to me could be a massive boon to me. Technically I'm not limited by cost or need to preserve materials as long as I'm living out these repeating days… With that realization, my guilt faded away.

Anyway, I took the board and placed it on my workbench. I marked out an arch. Moments like these are why I'm glad I like to draw, I got the kind of outline I wanted on the first try. Now for the actual hard part. I took out a saw and began carving out the large chunks of wood. At the end I was left with a rough, crescent moon shape.

While it was now in the proper shape, it's not usable yet. I'd get a splinter if I tried now! Taking my carving knife, I slowly cut and smoothed downed the rough edges. I tried my best not to overcut, which would leave the final product too thin. In the end, while it was still a bit rough at some points it was a lot better than what I started with. The last few bits I sanded down with some sandpaper.

Now it was good enough to handle without the fear of getting pricked. I held it in my talons, to see where my gripped naturally landed. I did some air motions, pretending there was the string attracted.

"Shouldn't you hold it with the other hand?" Emit asked.

"Why?" I asked back. I was holding it in my right hand and I'd be firing with my left.

"It's the wrong one! Aren't you right handed?"

"I'm actually left handed." I corrected him.

Emit fizzled in the air. "That explains a lot. Lefties are always crazy."

"Says the erratic flying spirit." I shot back.

Finishing up my fake shots, I wrapped a cloth around where my talon would be holding the bow and stuck it down with some adhesive. This was my final measure for maximum comfort while holding it.

Now to actually add a string to this thing. I took a knife and cut two holes near the tips of the bow. I'd be fastening my string to these.

There's a number of different types of strings one could use for a bow. Hemp, cloth, even the guts of animals were used to fashion a string.

"Back in my day, we also used polyethylene compounds to make strings out of." Emit added

"What's a 'polly-metha-line'?" I asked

Emit sighed. "You catbirds are so uncultured. I'll show you one day but it's a super tough material."

Huh. Sounded neat. Maybe I can use some of that poly stuff next time. Right now though, I already knew what kind of material I wanted.

Silk! It amazes me how something made by insects can produce such a strong material. We thankfully already have some pre-braided strains available.

I sized it to my bow, I needed to be not too loose but also not too tight. Too loose and I won't have any bow for it to fly. Too tight and I actually won't be able to even draw it back.

I cut the ends of it to the size I wanted, making sure that it didn't unravel as I did so. Part of its strength as a string material came from the braids of it. Multiple tiny strings twisted to make an overall stronger whole.

I was about to attach it when Emit spoke up.

"You should dye it. It'll be more fun that way!" Emit said.

That's not actually a bad idea. Currently it was just a white-ish yellow color. Kinda sickly looking honestly. I decided to take some ink in a bowl and soaked it in it. After drying, I got a nice black color as the result.

I attached my string and I was done!

My end result was a deep crimson red bow. The dark spots from the wood shined from my sanding and buffing. The cloth I put on matched it perfectly if I do say so myself. I gave the black string a tug. A vibrant twang echoed in the room.

"You making instruments over there?" Lyra said. When did she get here? I guess I lost track of time again.

"Yeah, an instrument of destruction!" I said. Lyra rolled her eyes and got back to doing whatever she was fiddling with. I will admit that was pretty corny.

While the bow itself was done. I just needed arrows.

I took some of the chunks of wood that were left over from my original board. They should be just enough for what I needed. I took the longest ones and with my carving knife, whittled them down into long narrow pointed shafts. Each one I tested to make sure they were straight but also flexible. I believe they tend to wiggle in the air, so without the proper flex they might break on me.

Regrettably it was time for the most painful part for me. I didn't have any feathers for the arrow fletches around, so I had to make use of some locally available ones. With a few painful yelps I plucked several feathers out of my own body. Art is pain! I bleed for my craft!

I cut my own feathers into thirds and with some of the leftover silk, wrapped the very tips around the end of the shaft. I took some of my adhesive and glued the very edges of my feathers so that they stuck straight up.

After all of that I had twenty arrows. The tips were very sharp, they easily could pierce a thick hide. My fletches also came out very well in my opinion. The three sides of feathers were perfectly spaced. This should in theory increase the spin of the arrows, which in turn makes it into an airborne drill!

I had both a bow now and ammunition for it. I just needed something to carry said ammunition in. Thankfully, It wasn't too hard to make a quick and dirty quiver.

I took some brown leather we had around and laid it flat. I used a knife to cut out a piece that was length-wise about ten or so centimeters shorter than my arrows. This was I could actually grab them out without it being a pain.

Then I rolled it into a loose tube. I had only twenty arrows but I made it large enough so I could comfortably fit maybe thirty or so. I didn't want it to be too big either. I'm not going to be sitting around just pelting things all day. Ideally I'd use it, then continue on, so I don't want it to weigh on me.

Using a thread and a thick sewing needle, I sewed the tube and sealed the bottom portion. Only thing left was a strap. Using the leftover leather, I cut out a thin piece that was long enough to wrap around my body. Then it was a simple matter of attaching it to the main portion of the quiver.

With that it was complete. I fastened it to my back. It fit quite well on me.

"You're done!" Emit said. "Go test it out!"

I nodded. I took my new creations and went outside to the courtyard. There stood a dummy ready for punishment. I took my bow and notched an arrow. I closed one eye and pulled the string back. I took a deep breath and let go.

The arrow flew… right over the dummies head.

"Your aim is trash, Feathers." Lyra said as she entered the courtyard.

"I never used a bow before." I said, trying to defend myself. "I'd really like to see you do better!"

"Let me show you how it's done." Lyra snatches my bow away from me. Jerk.

Lyra holds the weapon straight, her poster much more stable than my own. Her stance was wide, with her arms stretched straight out. She had her wings extended, probably a subconscious action of attempting to gain higher precision. As much as I didn't want to admit it, her form was so much better than my own. Why does she have to make all the physical tasks seem so easy? The arrow was pulled back and...

"Ha! You missed!" I mocked her.

"Listen, I never miss! Your bow must be busted or something" Lyra said. I heard Emit mumble something but the only part I caught was 'I bet you never miss huh...'

"Oi! What's with the racket!" The Master said, now joining us.

"She said my bow was trash!" I said

"It is! He just can't admit it!" Lyra said.

The Master raises an eye. "I swear with you two. Here let me look at it."

The Master takes my bow and examines it for a few moments.

"There's your problem! You see lad, the notch placement is off a good five centimeters from the top and inward into the bow, this is making your overall releasing point unstable. Not only that but your string is too loose you need to adjust that. Also..." The Master rattles on. Lyra smirks at me as if saying 'I told you so'

"But other than those, you did a fine job on this. Your arrows are perfectly made and in regards to ya bow, most of these are easy fixes. In fact..." The Master takes out a knife from his pocket and cuts into my bow at several places, making on the spot adjustments that if it were me, I need more tools than just a knife to make.

The Master puts his knife away and looks it over.

"Here boy, try it now."

I take it and try again. I draw one of my arrows from my quiver.

I attempted to mimic Lyra's shooting form, I widened my stance, stretched my arm out straight, I even extended my wings out. I took a deep breath once more, aimed and released.

The difference was night and day. The arrow cut through the air, soaring without any sort of restriction. It spun straight into the dummies head, piercing straight through and lodging itself in its cotton filled skull.

"Good job lad!" The Master said. I awkwardly scratched my head at the praise.

Still this was a good step, and it hadn't even taken me that long. Now all that was left was to test it out for real.