NOVEL SIMPLE “Hello, Hello? Mr. Fireball, are you even listening?”, Advik waved at the Fireball who looked as though it was deep in thought.
“Oh, yes-yes, I’m listening”, it abruptly answered to him.
“Where should we go from here?”
“Oh, we should head towards the voice.” The Fireball said.
“Which voice? I can’t hear anything anymore. I just purified this area and there is no voice and no sound coming after that”, he smiled and emphasized, “You know, I did a fabulous job. No voice will come now, hehe.”
The Fireball flew some inches ahead and paused, “Probably the voice of the guy you are searching. We should go straight in the direction of this voice, I’m sure this voice is not some kind of trick of demons.”
Advik stepped close to the Fireball, the Firefly followed him, “Are you sure that we won’t get ourselves in any more trouble”, his voice was worried.
“I am sure, it is the kid. I can hear voices from miles away and I promise this is not any demon’s doing”, the Fireball confidently reassured him.
Advik took a deep sigh. Stretching his hands as high as possible, and putting them down. He again looked at the Fireball, “Then lead our way once again.”
He just took one of his legs on the path when the Firefly came right in front of him and started to jump in the air like it was scolding him for leaving and forgetting it behind. He smiled, “I have not forgotten about you”, his left hand gently patted it. It stopped jumping when the big-gentle hand patted it so gently. The Firefly quietly just went for his shoulder. It swiftly sat down on his shoulder. Advik was surprised, he giggled, letting the Firefly do as it wanted. “You are also very stubborn, my tiny friend.”
“Tara!”, the Fireball said while flying ahead from them.
“What?!”, Advik was confused.
“Tara, its name is Tara and she’s a girl. Call her by that name. She doesn’t like when people don’t call her by her name.”
Advik looked at the Firefly who was sitting comfortably on his left shoulder, “Oh, so your name is Tara and you are a girl. I thought you were a guy, haha! You know you have a very good name. Just like stars today you illuminated my path. Thank you, Tara.” He gave a bright-gentle smile looking at her once again. Then he looked at the back of the Fireball who was floating ahead from him. He had something in his mind, thus he called out to the Fireball, “Mr. Fireball!!”
“Vismay”, the Fireball said.
“What!? What you just said?”, Advik asked the Fireball with tensed lines on his forehead.
“My name is Vismay. I thought that you were going to ask my name as well because I just told you her name, hence, I also told you mine.”
“Ohhh”, sighed Advik, “Vismay! Quite a unique name for a fireball, haha.”
“Not as unique as yours, I think”, the Fireball chuckled lowly.
“Yes, yes, nice joke.” Advik rolled his eyes. He sighed. After some minute of running, he glanced right and left as he was huffing because of running, following the Black-Fireball, Vismay. He was going to ask something again but he was disturbed when he heard someone shouting.
“Help! Help! Help! Someone, help me.”
Advik was worried, forgetting what he wanted to ask, instead, he asked, “Mr. Fireball? Is this the voice you were talking about?”
“Yes, we need to hurry, Someone is in danger”, said Vismay then they all geared up their speed on the way to the voice of the boy.
When they arrived at the spot, Advik tried to look in all directions. Now, it was easier to see even far away because they left behind the thick dark forest. It was still dark here, the vermillion moon was covered by black clouds, the wind was blowing faster because the area was open, the road was hard with only small and big rocks everywhere and there was no grass to be seen anywhere. Even after looking everywhere he could not find the boy but his voice was coming even louder than before.
“Can you hear me? Where are you?”, Advik shouted.
“Help, I’m here, I’m stuck here”, the voice replied.
Advik and Vismay heard the voice. Nodding at Vismay he slowly stepped ahead. He was alert that this could be a demon but still, he chooses to follow the voice. He, Vismay and Tara slowly stepped ahead and to their surprise, they end up standing at the near edge of the mountain. He looked down in the abyss and shouted once again, “Are you down there?”
After a few minutes, a voice came from the dark abyss, “Help me, I’m stuck here”, The voice was asking for help yet it was not looking like it actually wanted help rather the voices’ tone was more like it was commanding them. The Fireball flew a bit down to check, the abyss lit up the second it went down. Advik again looked down in the abyss and because of Vismay, he saw someone standing and waving their hands. The handsome teenage boy was standing on a small cliff which was attached to the mountain Advik was standing on, it was just nineteen or twenty meters down.
Vismay was not enough to lit up the whole place, hence it was still dark. He spoke, “Advik, can you see him?”
“I can but I cannot tell the details, your light is not enough, the abyss is too deep and dark. But he’s not that down, we can help him.”
The person was still calling for help but the tone of his wasn’t a tone of a scared boy rather it was a young and bossy kind of voice.
“Hey, kid, do you need our help?” Advik humbly asked looking down at the boy.
“No! I don’t! I am just playing here and I’ll fly from here when I am done!”, the brat savagely said.
“Oh, okay, then we should go back. Mr. Fireball I mean Vismay-Tara, he doesn’t need our help, let’s go back. I thought he needed our help but he doesn’t”, Advik innocently turned and stepped ahead, he heard the brat shouting again.
“Hey, can’t you help me? Can’t you see I’m stuck here? Are-are you stupid or what? Do I have to tell you or beg you to let you know that I want your help?”, the brat was angry and irritated.
Advik turned his back, having a smirk on his face, he spoke, “You should add “please” when asking for help, don’t you know? Well… sigh…whatever”, he bent himself, while stretching out his hand, he said, “Take my hand, I’ll try to pull you up.”
The kid looked at the hand then at the man who was giving him the hand, crossing his hands, he spoke, “I am not going to touch a dirty hand like yours and more importantly do you think your hand can reach me who is more than ten meters down here, stupid. This is why I hate adults.”
Advik looked at the hand and moved it up and down, “Mmmm… I don’t think my hand is that dirty. Don’t be like a maiden, okay. I am trying to help here.” He pulled back his hand and stood up. The kid thought that Advik is going to leave him there, he worriedly glanced at him. Advik saw the worry on the brat’s face, he knew the kid is prideful and he won’t gonna ask for help even if he wanted to. Advik chuckled softly. Smiling at the kid he said, “Don’t worry I won’t leave you here like this. Just wait I’ll find a way to lift you up.”
The boy was pissed with his stupid smile but no matter what he had to believe the only ray of hope he had, “Whatever……just do something fast.”
“Yes-Yes”, Advik said, he stepped back and look around. However, his face changed from confident to worried as soon as he turned, “Oh no! No! No! No! No! No! I said I will help him! But how? How am I gonna do it when I can’t even reach him”, he started to walk in circles with an anxious look on his face.
The Fireball and the Firefly surprised-ly came ahead of him to stop him, “Hey! Wait…what happen? You were so confident just now? Where did your confident self has gone?”, the Fireball asked in a thick and low tone.
“No! I can’t I don’t know what to do! I am such an idiot”, Advik hit himself two or three times with his left hand. He was about to go see in the abyss once again when Vismay came beside his ear. Advik looked at it and questioned, “What? Do you have something to say?”
“Can you see those high mountains ahead of this endless abyss?” Vismay said, floating beside him.
There were indeed some huge rocky mountains ahead of them. They were some hundred meters away from them and it looked as if the wind was swiftly clashing there. Many tornados could be seen even from afar. The wind was really strong even Advik was feeling the power of the wind when the cold but swift, forceful but light wind was touching his whole body. His ripped clothes were flapping because of the gust.
“You don’t know but around this time of the day the air of those mountains gets heavy and it blows at a rapid speed. The wind becomes so strong that it can throw anything back to us with much more force.” Vismay said.
The Firefly Tara tightly grabbed Advik’s shoulder because the wind was getting stronger. It would have flown away if it didn’t clench something to support itself so Tara grabbed him.
Advik was thoughtfully staring at those mountains. After some minutes of staring, he looked at Vismay, “What did you mean?”
The Fireball chuckled, “Aren’t you a bit naive?”
Advik was confused and pissed, “What do you mean? Just tell me directly?”
“Do you know archery? Are you good at it?”
“Huh?……what do you mean by that? I don’t understand you at all”, he sighed, “I don’t know if I am good or not but I can shoot flying birds or kites easily.”
“Hmm… I think that is enough then”, Vismay flew back inside the forest where some big trees were stood. Vismay was trying to find something, it was looking as though it was also inspecting those trees there.
Advik curiously followed the Fireball. He heard that brat’s noisy voice but he decided to ignore it for now. He stepped next to Vismay, dying because of the confusion, he asked, “What the hell are you doing? The wind is getting stronger and your behavior is getting even weirder. Asking dumb and irrelevant questions at the wrong time and now mindlessly roaming in this forest! Just…what-what the hell is happening here? Care to explain anything to me?”
Vismay stopped and came near him, with a usual gentle but thick tone, the Fireball replied, “Do you know how to make bow and arrow using this type of wood?”, Vismay was indeed serious while asking the question.
Advik was making a dumb face, “……Huh?”, he was surely more than surprised by what he heard. “Wh-what did you say? Are you stupid or what?”
Vismay was as calm as before, “You know, the wood of these trees is very durable and flexible. They can bend as much as you want and won’t break unless one uses their hands to break them. If you make a bow and arrows from it, it certainly will be of very high quality.
The anger and confusion were building more and more inside of Advik, he was frustrated, “Oh! Wow! So what can I do if the wood of here is so good for archery? I don’t care!”
“Just go and ask the kid if he knows mountain climbing, even a little. Well, I know they teach them every survival technique in that palace but just ask him to be sure.”
“W-what? Mountain climbing? Do you even know how straight the mountain is from his side? It doesn’t even have any cracks or holes to barely put one’s hand and you want him to climb the mountain? He can never do that, he’s just a child!”
“Just go and do as I say.”, Vismay pushed him from behind and dragged him near the abyss where he was standing before. Advik was too tired to argue any more than he already did, thus, he just stopped thinking much and looked down. The kid was still waving and shouting but silent himself when he saw Advik up there. Without any interest, he spoke, “Hey kid, do you know mountain climbing? Do you have some upper body strength?”
The boy was also exhausted after waving and shouting that much. He also didn’t want to argue or waste any of his energy, hence, he just gave a straight answer without much thought, “Mountain climbing is not my plus point but I am very good at doing handstands, so I am sure my upper body’s strength is higher than many people.”
Advik turned with an irritated face, “You heard that, right? Now what?”
“Go back where those trees are. Make a bow and some arrows using the branches of those trees. It would be not that strong but it will work for us. Use some vines to make the bowstring, understand? Now get to work.” Vismay ordered.
Advik just opened his mouth to ask something but Vismay interrupted him by saying, “Don’t you even dare ask anything right now. Just do what I am saying.”
The Firefly Tara also jumped in midair with amusement seeing Advik got ordered by Vismay.
With irritated heart and half-assed feelings, Advik went to collect the woods. “I will kill that Fireball, no…what’s its name? Vismay? Vismay….right. I will definitely kill him. How can he order me around like that?”, Advik searched the ground, and every tree, touching and feeling them to find the best wood. He broke some branches and tried to bend some of them one by one. Just to see how flexible they can be, “I have to find some long and slim one for arrows.”
He collected some beaches that were everywhere on the land and put them on his waist. He tied them over his waist with a long vine. Then he tied one side of another branch which was in his hand with a long vine then tied the other side of it with the same vine, “This should be fine”, he smiled and stretched the bowstring. He positioned himself as though he was about to shoot the arrow but there was no arrow on the bow, “It’s kinda nostalgic feeling for me. It’s been so many years since I last aimed at any target with an arrow.”
The feeling in his heart was warm and innocent after holding the bow and arrows. Even though the bow and those arrows were just made from a branch and even if they looked just like some kid’s toy it was still a bow and arrows. They were nothing compared to the real highly spiritual bow and arrows yet they were giving him the peace of mind he was searching the whole day. He always used a sword as his personal weapon however bow and arrows were just too special to him. Someone very special thought him archery so, obviously, archery was special to him. Way more special than any gold palace or thousand of precious stones.
Even the emotions he was feeling while smiling and aiming at the sky without any arrows, was priceless to him. It was the heavenly pleasure he was feeling when he remembered to take those arrows and bow to Vismay, “Oh fuck! I have to go back or else I don’t know what can happen to me.” He rapidly stepped back to where he came from.
Vismay and Tara saw him coming. Tara was like always, jumping in midair after seeing Advik come back to her.
“It seems you’ve made the bow and arrows”, said Vismay with a dim happy tone.
“No, I have to sharp these arrows to it become more like arrows. Right now they are just branches. Let me sharp them”, he searched the land and found a keen flat rock. “This will work”, he sat and started to sharp those arrows with the rock. After getting satisfied with the sharpness of each arrow he stood up. “Hmm…here”, Advik showed the bow and arrows to Vismay. “So what now? How this is going to help that kid?” He was still frustrated and perplexed.
Vismay flew a bit higher and came back soon, “Do you still remember what I said a while ago about those mountains and wind?”
“Of course! How can I forget that? It was a long speech about how strong the wing is and how it can send anything back to us with much more force.”
“Hey don’t talk on your own. Help me I’m down here waiting for someone to help me. Is there anyone who still remembers me?”, the kid shouted with fury.
Advik looked down into the abyss, “Shut up, okay!! I am trying to help you here but this Fireball is just too stupid to understand that. Just wait”, he was also losing his patient.
“How long do I have to wait? Can’t you do something faster?”, the brat grumpily asked.
“Just wait!”, Advik replied to the kid. He looked at Vismay and asked, “What now? I don’t understand anything anymore! Why are you even more difficult than that riddle of that demon gate.”
It looked as if Vismay chuckled after hearing that. “Look, you have your bow and arrows in your hands and that mountain is ahead of you”, Vismay said, “Do whatever you can do with these three things. I’ve helped you enough. Now it’s your turn to help that kid.”
Advik was frustrated, irritated and perplexed about the whole situation. “What the hell? What can I do with these things?”, he put up his hand which had the bow, he stared at it. “What-what can I do?”, he pulled out an arrow from his waist.
Vismay and Tara were attentively looking at him and the kid stopped looking upwards because his neck started to hurt, he was thinking something with closed eyes.
After staring at the bow and the arrow, Advik glanced at the mountain. He remembered what Vismay said to him about those mountains. Closing his eyes he thought somethings while clenching the things in his hands. He straight up his hand which was holding the bow and put the arrow on it. With closed eyes, he positioned himself with the bow and arrow as if he was ready to shoot the arrow. He was still worried and confused but still stood straight and set his eyes on those far away Mountains.
This time Advik had an actual arrow on the bow to shoot. He was uncomfortable, unconfident about his archery, it was two thousand years ago when he last shot his arrow in front of someone. Even though it was just a Fireball, a Firefly, and a brat who were there it still made him anxious about his archery. He was not at all confident about his abilities. His memories were lost still he remembers the feel and pleasure he gets from archery. He was incredibly happy to have the bow and the arrow in his hands but the pressure of doing it in front of someone was somehow too overwhelming to him. His doubt on himself was making him tremble, his hands started to shake, he lost his whole focus. The only thought filled in his mind was he could not do archery anymore. He was about to lose the grip on the bow and the arrow but then a voice came.
“Advik, FOCUS! Just think of your target and you’ll understand everything else on your own. Just believe in yourself and your archery”, shouted Vismay.
His eyes widened, he woke up from his doubtful thoughts by Vismay’s voice. He again tightly held the bow and the arrow. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath then again tried to remember what Vismay told him about the wind and the mountains.
After some moment of silence, he opened his eyes, this time the eyes of his were somehow different, somehow confident, somehow sparkling with believing in himself it was as if the words of Vismay gave him some lightning like a strike. It was as if he realized what he has to do. He looked at those mountains and then down in the abyss, he looked as though he was examining and calculating the whole area. After staring at those mountains for a while he got something in his mind, “Ahh! Now I know what I have to do.” Quickly assuring that his arrows are still on his waist he moved on the right side of the mountain he was standing on.
Searching everywhere and looking everywhere he was moving ahead, “I have to find a higher place just a little higher than this mountain. It’ll be great if I could find a tree or a small hill.”
He was looking for a higher place and as if his wish was heard by some God. Just some moments after he saw a large and tall tree near the edge of the mountain. “My God! You really heard me this fast?” His legs swiftly moved towards the tree. Without any difficulty, he claimed the tree as soon as he came close to it. He sat on a strong branch which he found strong enough to handle his weight, “This will be fine.”
Advik was exhausted but ignored it and positioned himself to shoot. He grabbed the bow in his left hand and an arrow in the other hand. He put the arrow on the bow and pulled the bowstring. He took a deep breath and set his eyes on those mountains ahead of him, “Now I know what I’ve to do. I have to shoot these arrows from a right angle and if my calculations will be correct then these arrows will come with much more speed and stuck on the front side of this mountain. I’ll make these arrows straightly come and stuck on this mountain, near where that kid is waiting. These arrows can be like the branches of a tree or staircase. He’ll be able to climb this mountain easily.”
Advik smiled, he closed his eyes and sighed once again then he opened his eyes and shoot the arrow as he planned. Just after a few moments, he saw the arrow come back with rapid speed in the direction of the kid.
.