Albert Foster

Without giving its title much thought, I opened it. Small tears can be seen on the edges of the book's paper. With a highly intriguing design on the back, similar to abstract art in a circle.

I turned the first page into the second page, which contained the narrative because the first page was once more just the title.

'Thousands of years ago, non-ordinary humans with God-given magic were in a parallel Universe where they were free to use their gift. Different gifts and strengths were given to each one of them. They were once all happy, and they were all once wonderful to each other.

Albert Foster was a young Paragon who aspired to be more powerful than the other Paragons in the Universe. He despised the God who gave him magic, and he despised how useless his magic was. So his thirst to become the most powerful Paragon began.'

I'm intrigued as to whether this novel is entirely fictional or based on a real event. The library door unexpectedly opened as I was ready to turn the next page, startling me. I hastily tucked the book behind my back.

I squinted my eyes to try to identify who it was. I let out the air I was inadvertently holding when I realized it was just my mother.

With a lamp in her left hand, she is dressed in her white nightgown.

She approaches me and says, "Sequoia, why are you here and not on your bed? You should be sleeping after such a long, exhausting day." she said, her brow furrowed.

I showed her the book I was hiding behind me and said, "I just can't fall asleep so I decided to check some books and I found this. How about you? Why are you here?" my brow furrowed too.

Why is she still up when she ought to be asleep by now too? Can't she also sleep?

Her mouth slightly widened, "Huh?" She mumbled, her gaze darting around the library anxiously.

Her response made me question her actions at that very moment.

She came here unexpectedly, and when she saw me, she seemed stunned and unsure of what to do.

I repeated my question, squinting my eyes a little and tilting my head, "I asked why are you here when you should also be asleep."

She then opened her mouth and nodded her head like she finally understood my question, "Oh, I-I ahmm... I just decided to check this room because I heard noises coming from here." she said, and touches her tied black hair.

She is acting very suspiciously, so I'm not sure whether I should believe what she just said, but she is also one of the owners of this castle, and she is allowed to do whatever she wants, so I just nodded at her.

With her face filled with curiosity, she gently grabbed the book out of my hands and read the title: "Universe of The Gifted." She then looked back at me and questioned, "Where did you get this from?" to which I simply pointed to the shelf next to me.

"I have checked this shelf before and I haven't seen this book in my entire stay here," she says as she walks towards the shelf and creases her brow.

She continues to check the book and hands it back to me after a few minutes.

"It's strange because the book seems to be quite old, and covered with dust, implying that it has been in here for some time now," I said, to her.

However, she simply shrugged her shoulder and said, "Maybe I just did not notice it. Let's go; we should return to our chambers, especially you. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow." She then pointed toward the door with her head, and I nodded in agreement as I put the book back on the shelf.

-----

The first month of our training was a living nightmare! It was so exhausting that I thought I was going to die from exhaustion, but it gradually changed as I would have to get used to it. I can now run 10 laps around our center without becoming exhausted as quickly as I did on the first day.

I can now easily do push-ups and punch harder, and my kicks have improved. I won a one-on-one fight with Mr. Edwards' student by knocking him out with my kick.

He was unconscious for a brief moment, but he was fine. He even thanked me for kicking him.

This is the day when Mr. Edwards decided to bring a different kind of weapons with the help of Mr. Amado.

On the wooden table at the side of our center, they have bow and arrows, and different types of swords and knives.

They also set a target for bow and arrow not far away from where we standing. And a clone body on a different side of the center.

Mr. Edwards grabbed the bow and threw it at me, which I graciously caught.

Awesome, my reflexes is really getting better these days.

He then gave me a bunch of arrows. He said, "Today's training we'll try all these weapons and see which one you prefer and is suited for you."

I gave him a nod. I took a glance at the bow I was carrying; even though it was hefty, I could manage. It is half the size of me, silvery in color, and has a simplistic design.

"Ten steps away from the target, try your best to hit the colored rings ." He said, I did what he told me and took ten steps away from the target.

When our village hosts festivities, I've seen men use bows and arrows, but I've never had the chance to do it myself. However, I'm fairly confident that I could pull it off because of them.

It's so simple—you simply have to aim for the target and shoot.

I attached an arrow into the bowstring and raised the bow in my hand while holding the arrow. I positioned my body as the people in our village do, then stretched the bowstring confidently and released it a grin spreading across my face.

I blinked multiple times as I saw where my arrow landed.

oh...WHAT THE?!

Mr. Edwards suddenly started laughing, he said, "That's absolutely... awful." I turned to look at Mr. Amado, who was standing next to him and saw him struggling to contain his laughter.

Damn, what did I do wrong? I'm positive I pulled it out just as my village's people there did.

How did my arrow land so close to me—just one step away?! I think these bow and arrows are broken.

When Mr. Edwards approached me, he took my bow and took one arrow, "You see this space in between?" He asked, and showed me the end o the arrow.

"Yes," I said, nodding my head.

"You clip that right onto the bowstring and put it underneath this brass knocking point. One finger above your finger and two below." I was intently observing him as he explained and demonstrated it for me.

"The arrow fell right next to you because of what you did earlier—you simply stuck the end of the arrow on the string, which has no force..." He said, and I nodded, understanding what he meant because that's exactly what I just did.

"...the energy you exert is stored in the bent limbs as you draw the bow back. The limbs return to their neutral position when you let go of the bowstring" he explained as he stretch the bowstring.

As he released the arrow, he remarked, "Don't overextend the string; relax your body as you shoot. When releasing the arrow, you should be in a straight across posture."

My eyes widened at how elegantly he performed it and it was "Bullseye..." Mr. Edwards said lowly.