An air of awkwardness fills the room,

Lyra lays silently, clearly not sleeping, while Kage sits and contemplates his next move.

Should I help Lyra?

My goal is to get as much information as I can about this place,

I feel no attachment to Lyra or her people,

I need to think about this smartly.

Picking up my bow I quietly exit the room.

On my way out I spot the girl, Karina, from earlier she doesn’t say anything except stare distrustfully, she stands arms folded, watching me as I leave the house.

***

The void looms overhead in an empty area of land a little ways up from the orphanage, the ground covered in wood and other supplies, presumably for construction, endlessly stretches out into the distance….

U.C Government

I read, engraved unto the bow as I examine it,

The name sounds familiar, but I can’t seem to recall ever hearing it being mentioned,

My memory of before here foggy, I only remember the trauma I felt…

……Vwoop! I fire an arrow at some scaffolding in the distance, it narrowly missing for the fifth time,

I have to get better at this.

Squeezing the grip, I attempt to fire another shot

The bow clamps down on my hands lighting up,

“Ahh!” I exclaim as it crushes down on my knuckles,

“Ahhh!” The bow folds itself over my hand squeezing with immense force

The pain excruciatingly awful,

“Ahhh!”

What is this!?

The force of the bow presses down hard on my hand folding itself into a glove-like shape, covering most of my hand leaving only my fingers exposed,

What is this, magic or technology?

……!!

The pain lingers in my hand after the bow stops transforming, all that’s left is a strange glove-like device, strapped to my right hand

Examining it I see an empty slot on its topside while under it a touchable interface,

Pressing it, a stinging pain runs through my hand once more as it expands into a bow again.

“What form of magic is that!?” A voices approaches

Turning I see the young man from earlier I had an altercation with, Apollo I think he’s called.

He walks towards me glancing at the bow

“I usually come here to train at this time.” he states stretching his legs

“Aunt, the queen, told me that you knew Cousin Omari.”

I forgot that he would be related to Omari.

Pinoki did say he was a member of the royal family.

Vwoop! I fire an arrow in the distance,

“I barely knew him, we just ended up in the same circumstances, though he was there longer than I, he was a strong one.”

“Look, Apollo fumbles, “I don’t apologize for attacking you earlier, since I still don’t trust you,

But I do admit we got off on the wrong foot,” Apollo says proceeding to do squats

“I don’t really care either way, I don’t blame you for attacking, I wouldn’t trust anyone new to a place like this either.” I say running to get back the arrows I fired.

Apollo starts to say something but stops,

An awkward tension looms

“Well...,” I cough grabbing my arrows,

“I’ll see if the queen is ready to have a word with me,”

Squeezing the grip of my bow, it retracts back onto my hand, hurting less painfully than before.

Apollo eyes it but says nothing,

At least I don’t have to carry around a bow strapped to my back,

Leaving Apollo rigorously training his body, I head back to the orphanage.

***

Lyra frowns seeing me re-enter the house

“Thought you ran away” she says mockingly

“The queen is ready to speak with you ” Karina, who sat at the table in the main room, pipes in.

“Thanks, I’ll see her now,” I awkwardly reply

Lyra follows as I make my way to the Queens room.

…

The queen smiles daintily upon us entering the room,

“I heard from Lyra that you’re interested in learning magic among other things,”

“Indeed, I am very,” I try sounding formal

Lyra’s voice groans from behind me

“In exchange for my information will you be willing to assist me with something?” the queen offers

She looks at me pleadingly,

Lyra steps on my foot, as I’d been thinking about it for a couple minutes

I will be happy to hep you in any way”

“Very well then”, she smiles,

“Let us begin.”