Spiritas

The damage brought by the sword was something that the three angels couldn't assess easily.

A large deep cut had appeared on the ground with its reach to the outer part of the clearing and nearing the forest edge. It was a powerful strike but not a clean one as the cut seemed to bend and the ground formed large cracks around it. The sound of the strike was deafening.

The three angels were wide-eyed at the scene and forgot that some of the dirt had sprayed all over them. Kyle was the most surprised as he quickly looked to the sword. He breathed in sharply as he could see a bit of the sword that was now revealed.

The scabbard had loosened after that strike and had sagged downwards to reveal a bit of the blade.

Kyle hurriedly pulled off the scabbard that gave no resistance now and admired the blade. It was smooth and flat. He could definitely feel that the sword had become less heavy on his hands. It was now easy to carry and he swung it a few times. The air around the blade seemed to be distorted every time he swung it.

[PERFECT!]

To Kyle this result was more than he had hoped for. Ignoring the 5 metre cut in the ground the sword was definitely great for him to use. He put the sword back in its scabbard and walked over to his friends with a bright smile. Hannah was still starring at the cut while Alicia ran over to peer at the sword in Kyle's hand.

"I need to go next."

This was Alicia, if Kyle's sword could do that then she wanted to try out her bow as well even though she couldn't seem to unstrap it. Kyle was holding the sword in his right hand tightly as he walked over to Hannah.

"What do you think?"

"Definitely useful...problem is that it's too loud."

"I can definitely work on that."

Kyle was still smiling as he watched Alicia who had walked deeper into the clearing. She stood at the edge of the lake with her hands grabbing the upper limb of her bow.

*********

(Alicia POV)

Kyle sure does know how to show off...honestly.

*sigh*

I can definitely do better than him...just need to know how to use this bow on my back. I only asked for a bow since Kyle's father recommended that I should practice with it. He had given me lessons on it but I wasn't really good at it.

I still wanted to prove I was better than Kyle though.

I pulled on the bow again and again but it just stayed there and frustrated me even more. I thought that maybe I could miraculously pull it off like Kyle but it stayed.

I tried to pull it from its lower limb and found it became unstrapped immediately. I didn't hold it properly as it dropped to the ground and made me flinch.

I looked down and looked to the bow and tried lifting it. It was light, so light I lifted it with my thumb and index finger easily.

The bow was black with a few streaks of gold across its metal frame. It was definitely not wood as it felt a lot tougher than wood and lighter than any wood I've heard of. The grip was fit with some soft material that fit my hand perfectly. The shelf looked normal and the nocking point extremely narrow.

[it's more of a hunting bow than anything else.]

I had inspected it enough and decided to try it out. I aimed the bow towards the lake, I was hoping to see something more dramatic than Kyle's own power. I had no arrows but that wasn't something I was worried about.

[time to remember what Mr.Ryder taught me.]

I lined my body perpendicular to the centre of the lake. I pulled my right leg backwards to be about shoulder width from my other leg. I had my back straight and my fingers on the string. I slowed my breathing and raised the bow to the height of my face. I made a T shape with my arms and my centre of gravity was stable. I pulled the string towards my face and stretched as far as I could.

I felt something strange from the string the closer I pulled it to my face. A small ball of light was growing at the tip of the arrow rest. I was now excited, I pulled and held the string as long as I could.

The ball of light was the size of a marble at first but was now growing in size the longer I held the string. It grew to the size of a small ball before I started feeling some kind of resistance from the bow itself.

I tried to hold it but I couldn't resist it for any longer and the string released itself with an audible 'twang'. I had the bow still aimed at the centre of the lake and the ball seemed to move at the same speed as the string. It had left the arrow rest and was shooting straight towards the lake with its shape changing to a lance form.

I had to shield my eyes as the light grew brighter just as the ball hit the lake. I don't know about my sister and Kyle but I hoped I had done better than Kyle's performance.

The ground under my feet started shaking a bit and I heard a loud splashing noise. But the light prevented me from opening my eyes.

The shaking of the ground seemed to intensify and I couldn't stand straight anymore and fell on my bottom. It was painful but I still couldn't open my eyes.

********

Kyle and Hannah had watched Alicia prepping herself and pulling the string back. Her form was good and her tension seemed relaxed. Kyle knew that she wasn't really that great wit the bow nonetheless he wanted to watch what she would do. Hannah on the other hand had walked farther back and was watching from the edge of the forest.

She looked to Kyle and had a worrying look on her face.

"If you hadn't noticed...she's aiming at the centre of a lake."

"yea?"

"Lakes are full of water and she essentially is shooting straight at it."

"well yes...so...that means...OH NO!!"

It was too late the water of the lake made a loud sound as it crashed against the edge of the lake and rose high into the air. The blinding light was less bright as the water surrounded it and formed a sort of sphere that expanded outwards. The ball of light was exerting a lot of force.