Coming Tide part 1

Skali city is bustling, yet it was quite giving off a solemn feeling like everyone held bated breath.

It has been two days since Eric and Conor brought the news.

Since then, the once loud city transformed into a silent bastion. and giving everyone in it a grim determination.

Since returning, Eric installed himself on the wall, sniping any animal that got too close.

Zeus left on the first night and came back with Odin a couple of hours later.

Yet after he left, Eric found he could remain calm as long as he had his bow.

With this new revelation, Eric stopped resting and taking breaks and kept his watch.

For two days, Eric kept going.

He ignored warnings from Odin and Zeus to rest or he would burn out before the fight even began.

He even ignored Conor's plea and Syd's order to rest in favor of keeping going.

He would work himself until he would collapse, and nothing could stop him.

Finally, Eric found something he could do to feel normal again.

Why would he stop?

Why would they ask him to stop when he finally felt normal again?

After two more days of this, Eric kept pushing himself until his aim and body were a mess.

Grabbing an arrow and notching it, Eric looked down toward the sea of trees, waiting to take his next shot.

When suddenly, his vision was slowly consumed by black.

He awoke to a familiar white ceiling.

Instantly falling into a panic, Eric reached out for his bow but couldn't find it.

He continued to panic, ignoring the two birds, trying to calm him down.

Until a short woman came in.

She had an attractive face framed perfectly by her long dark brown hair that was tied back and light blue scrubs.

followed in by a walking pile of fluff.

"Where is my bow?" Eric asked immediately

Ignoring Eric, the woman looked at the pile of fluff and said.

"Baxster, can you please pin him for me?"

A boof resounded through the room as the fluffy being quickly laid on top of Eric.

After confirming it pinned him, the woman took out a needle and injected Eric with it.

Both birds immediately puffed up as if they would scare her.

"Don't worry, I'm just putting him back to sleep." She said, looking at the birds.

Hearing this, but not understanding any of it, Eric was dragged back into his slumber.

Waking once again, he looked around and was greeted by everything covered by a layer of shadows.

Seeing Odin and Zeus on a tray on the side of the room, sitting up slowly and turning, and getting ready to stand.

But before he could get out of bed, a voice interrupted him.

"Where the hell do you think you are going?" It asked.

It came from the darkest corner of the room, where now an outline of a man was walking out.

"Do you think if you can keep selfishly fighting, so you can feel whole?" It continued, walking closer.

"Well, look where it's already gotten you, a broken body that can barely move and a worthless bow that can't even be shot." The man said, throwing a bow onto the bed.

The bow, if it could still be called that, was a mess.

It had a massive crack that went down the entire length of the arms.

Its string was so frayed it could be used for a harp.

The bow was broken; it was beyond repair.

Even if you could notch an arrow, the bow would snap before even shooting.

"I'm not letting the selfish whim of a brat endanger everyone. As the captain of the guard, I'm forbidding you from stepping onto the wall until the tide hits. I believe you should also replace your bow before then. After all, I can't let one of the few tamers I have to go to waste." Syd said, fully emerging from the shadows.

"But what am I supposed to do, then?" Eric asked desperately.

"I don't know. Maybe rest, get a new bow, or maybe sort whatever the hell possessed you to do this out. Honestly, as long as you're not on MY wall or going out of the city, it is up to you. We should have three or four days before it starts, so do whatever till then." Said Syd with a tired look as he walked out with a small wave.

Grabbing the broken bow, Eric got out of bed and tried to stand.

Only to fall forward.

Hitting the floor, the bow snapped in half, with one half impaling itself into the wall on Eric's left.

The bow itself was nothing special, with the body made from untiered deer bones and the string from the sinew.

To normal Eric, it was just a bow that could be replaced.

But to current Eric, that bow was his only way to feel normal again.

His final and only hope.

But that illusion was shattered when the bow snapped.

The only thing Eric could do was to deny the bow breaking and forge a new, stronger illusion to hold himself together.

Clutching the remaining half of the bow, Eric dragged himself to the corner and got into the fetal position.

Eric numbed himself from everything, convincing himself that he and his bow were how they always were; whole.

As long as his bow was whole, he is whole.

Eric was finally broken.

Hello everyone, why here your friendly mental health nuke(it's not intentional, I swear) here. You may wonder what I'm doing out of my little cube at the bottom of every chapter. Other than dropping the grammar score on my editing software, I'm here to ask all of you how is my work. Simply put I'm asking you yes you the reader, what you think of my world and work so far. Is there anything that irks you or anything you really like? This is my first work so I'm still pretty new to writing a story so I'm pretty far from where I would like to be and want to know what I need to work on as a writer to make this better for all of you reading,

I also thank all of you for reading this far into the work of my last two brain cells colliding and my fingers hopping around on the keyboard. I hope to hear from you. Thank you in advance why