Unsurprisingly, I woke up groggy, annoyed, and unhappy. After a strenuous and tiring two days, my body wanted for nothing more than sleep but yet, it was denied this by the blaring bleeping of the alarm on my phone, telling me to wake up.

For as much as I wanted to sleep in, it was a school day today, and my grandparents definitely wouldn’t allow me to miss it. Therefore, with great reluctance, I got up out of my bed, turned off my alarm, and got dressed.

Once I had reached downstairs and walked into the dining room with a bowl of cereal, I was shocked to find both my grandfather and grandmother sitting there, eating their own breakfast, as well; a ‘family meal’ wasn’t something that occurred often in this house.

“Good morning, Charlotte,” my grandfather called out to me once I had sat down. Just hearing him say that put me on edge; I wasn’t sure whether it was merely a greeting out of politeness or whether he had something he wanted to talk about.

“Morning,” I solemnly replied, too tired to inject any real emotion into my voice. I was still half asleep at this point.

Silence fell upon the room. For as much as a stern, serious man as my grandfather was, he seemed hesitant to talk for some reason.

Eventually, however, when it became obvious I was soon finished with eating, he spoke up.

“We need to have a serious talk,” he began. His tone was as firm as it always was, like speaking to a child, and I stayed stuck to my seat, paying him all my attention.

He didn’t wait for my reply before continuing to speak:

“For living here, we have responsibilities we need to fulfil. You’re eighteen, now, and I’m under no legal obligation to care for you, but I still do; I provide a roof for you to sleep under as well as food to eat. In exchange, you’ve agreed to go to college and continue your education. For as long as you’re living here, you are attending college. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” I meekly answered. Seeing my subservient reaction gave him pause for a second but he carried on, seemingly unperturbed.

“Good. Well, for the past week, you’ve listened to what I said. We’ve had no reports from school and you’ve been home on time as well. Seeing as how you’re eighteen, I’ve decide--we’ve decided that you no longer have to come straight home when school ends.

“We believe you’ve shown enough good will that as long as you’re attending your all your classes, you can use your time to do with as you want. Okay?”

Frankly, I was a little surprised to hear this. The week felt very short to me and I hadn’t expected him to relent so quickly. I did have a sneaking suspicion in my mind that, perhaps, my grandmother might’ve swayed his view on this but, knowing him, he’d never admit that.

“Okay,” I nodded.

“Good, good,” He regained his usual humour. “Well, off to school with you now.”

And with that, I left.

School, like always, was boring, drab, and bland, and I wiled away my time simulating imaginary conversations between S1, S2, and me. I thought about what it was like to be a heart, how that would feel. 

After realising that their System Specialisations actualised rather differently from regular users, that encouraged me to ponder upon all the other varying differences there could be. Of course, it was all idle speculation, but the vastness of possibilities was beguiling enough I managed to get through the whole school day without experiencing an unquenchable urge to just get up and leave.

Perhaps unexpectedly, I continued straight home even though those restrictions were lifted from me. Needless to say, both my grandparents were surprised to see me there so early but a bittersweet expression appeared upon my grandmother’s face when I told her I was merely grabbing something before heading off again.

Predictably, I made my way over to Luna’s place with my archery hardcase in hand. As a side note, I had gone there often enough by now that I could reliably make my way there without needing to use my Specialisation.

We had discussed when I had bought my bow that she would help to train me to use it, since she apparently had years of experience with archery. How she managed that within a city and without joining a club (to my knowledge) I don’t know, but she was a mysterious person in general. 

Unlike yesterday, she was actually home when I knocked on the door. S2 greeted me with an approachable and happy smile and I was once again inside the warehouse.

“You’re ready to learn archery?” She asked. All three of them wore identifiably athletic wear, like they were prepared to go for a run.

“Yep; I’m all prepared,” I lifted up my arm holding the hardcase. “When do we start?” 

For some reason, there was this nervous energy coursing through my veins. For one, I was excited; like anyone who’s watched fantasy movies, archery has always had that cool presentation to it and being able to proficiently shoot a bow? That just seemed awesome.

However, the nerves came about with the understanding that archery, just like any sport, was a hard, tiring thing to do. It required talent, skill, and a whole lot of effort to become competent at.

“First of all, we’re not doing it here.” Luna quickly stalled my energy.

“Why not?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“It’s indoors, far too small, and does nothing to emulate the actual situations where you’ll be using a bow.”

“But hives are indoor as well.” My reply came unexpected for Luna for she actually just stood there, mulling over what I had just said.

“That’s right. Okay, forget that point. This place is still too small and too calm. When you’re fighting, people are going to be moving about, there’s going to be loud noises, and you need to be prepared and able to respond quickly. A stale, quiet warehouse does nothing to simulate that environment.” She gave a comprehensive answer.

That was something I was beginning to notice about Luna; she’d tackle things in a very pragmatic and well-thought of way. She gave no indication of being well educated but the systematic way she deconstructed the pros and cons of ideas belied a sharp mind.

Perhaps how keen she was made me feel safe with not being the leader and merely following her around? For some reason, I felt like there wouldn’t be too much trouble if Luna was in charge.

“So, where are we going?”

“You know where we got S1?” I nodded to show that I remembered. “There.” I didn’t quite understand why there was a better place than this warehouse but it wasn’t like I knew anything about archery to begin with.

Complacently, the four of us stocked up and supplies, refreshments, and archery gear and began our expedition to the random abandoned trailer park.

Unusually, Luna wasn’t that talkative on the journey there and so, it mostly passed in silence. Maybe I would’ve asked about directions or where we were going but I already knew where we were going and had even been there before; considering the serious demeanour of Luna, I felt unwilling to initiate a rather mundane and inane conversation that wasn’t pertinent to what we were going to do.

However, once we arrived, I was quite surprised by what Luna said first.

“To begin with, Charlotte, take out your bow and show me what you can do.”

Normally, I thought, instructors would assess previous experience, evaluate the work plan, and then start with basics and slowly build up. Archery was a hard sport that requires a lot of skill, you could probably injure yourself if you do something wrong. This was my first inkling of suspicion that Luna wasn’t taught archery by a professional instructor

However, Luna had far more experience and talent than me, so not once did I think to question her order; I was here to learn from her, after all.

So, I stepped up alongside her, keeping a reasonable distance, and took out my bow. She gave me a blunt-tipped arrow that she must’ve prepared for practice (whether her own or mine I didn’t know).

Next, I simply dug through my memories to find images of archers. I wasn’t particularly fond of sports--I wasn’t invested in any specific one and hadn’t cared much for international events--so my knowledge of archery actually, embarrassingly so, was mostly derived from movies and games rather than real world archery.

Well, it’s the best that I can do.

Taking one movie that focused around protagonist archer, I drew upon that as inspiration. I separated my feet into a firm stance, with one in front of the other. I pointed my toes where I was aiming and stood in an ‘A’ shape. With hand clasped around the shaft of the bow and the other pinching an arrow between my fingers, I slapped the arrow loosely against the shaft, pulled back the bow, and-

“Stop,” Luna called sharply right as I was about to loose the arrow.

“What? Why?” I quickly replied as I lowered my arms, tiredness already pathetically sinking in.

“Because you’ll injure yourself; that’s why. Honestly, do you have no experience at all?”

Does she think I have some experience?

“Let me try again,” I hastily got out once an idea formed in my mind.

Luna bounced that idea around in her head for a few seconds, clearly thinking about whether to let a liability potentially injure herself, before coming to an answer.

“Fine, but still stop when I tell you to.” I nodded in response.

This time, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes--not for any particular reason; it just felt like the right thing to do. The second that I opened my eyes, I activated my Specialisation.

Immediately, I saw four arms emerge from my torso, one pair interlaced and superimposed on top of another. They moved with practised, graceful motions, completely unlike me. I was clearly standing straight, my back bent ever so slightly forward as one hand rested on the bow while the other gripped an arrow.

I wasn’t in a position of immediate readiness to fire, but that wasn’t for long. Without any notice, I suddenly leaned backwards, pulling the bow to not even full draw in barely a second, the arrow nocked nicely and tightly against the string. As soon as my arms were extended, I let go, and the arrow flew fast and straight through the air.

That was it.

Well, it didn’t look too hard.

Steadily, I copied the starting position that I had seen, one of rest. Next, almost instinctively, my Specialisation still on, my body began to move, flowing through the motions like they had been instilled in my brain through long, arduous practise.

One moment, I was relaxed and preparing a shot. The next, the arrow was already sailing, ready to pierce its target. The whole thing was too fast for me to cognizantly understand my movements, and it was like muscle memory that I never knew I had came to my aid.

As I let go of my stance, I felt an ache and pain soar through my arms but shook that sensation off to the best of my efforts; it was most probably due to me not stretching beforehand.

“That’s… An unusual technique,” Luna’s voice dragged me out of my shock over my own actions. Her face, similarly, was one of surprise as she just stared at the arrow--or, rather, where the arrow was; the caravan was dented slightly from the impact.

“Unusual?” Frankly, I was too shocked by what I had just pulled off to think deeply about this. Admittedly, part of me was also giddy with excitement;

I did it! I shot an arrow with a bow!

Did it land on target? I didn’t know; I was just following motions, not necessarily aiming at one thing in particular. That seemed a little too much to ask of me currently.

“Yeah; not something I’ve seen before,” Luna clarified.

“Do you have a lot of experience with different techniques?” I wasn’t trying to undermine Luna’s knowledge but rather wanted to know more about what she did understand.

“No, not really. I only know what my father taught me.”

“Your father?” I felt like I was treading new ground; she hadn’t brought up her father before. In fact, she hadn’t said much about her personal history at all. Then again, neither had I, so I felt no need to probe.

“He was a hunter.” Nothing else. Clearly, I wasn’t getting more. “More importantly, where did you learn that technique?” She asked inquisitively.

“No-Nowhere. I didn’t learn it; I just copied my Specialisation?”

“Your Specialisation? But I thought you could only see the future?” Once she said that, I realised that even if I explained my System Specialisation to someone, that would not transmit all the nuances and applications of what it could do.

“I activate it and see what movements I do. Then I copy that.” As soon as the words left my mouth, Luna held both hands on her head, unable to utter a response.

Was it really that impressive to muster such a reaction?

She did, however, speak again.

“Okay, that is fucking bullshit!” Her sentence began calm but it ended with an indignant shout. She began to pace, annoyance exuding from her body. I was a little hesitant to approach her, in fact.

After what felt like a good minute of awkwardly observing someone’s breakdown, Luna came back to me, apparently calmed down.

“Okay, Charlotte,” She breathed out slowly. “Just to test this, can you try aiming at the centre of the door, around head height?” She asked, pointing at the caravan I had just shot at. The door was closed and relatively stainless.

“I can do that,” I replied, not actually sure whether I could even make the shot.

Once again, I activated my Specialisation. I saw my arms move in a familiar fashion, the whole thing rapid and swift. It was nothing like what I had seen in the movies; a slow, methodical affair. This felt much more like shooting out of desperation, though the skill that I flourished in my vision made me think it was more perfect optimisation rather than skill-less speed.

With an audible whistle, the arrow left my bow not a second after I nocked it and landed straight against the door, bouncing off with a ‘chink’ and leaving a shallow dent in it.

“Fuck,” Luna replied in a drawn out curse to my demonstration. She seemed a little… Disappointed? Not sure why. 

“Was this bad?” I felt like I was poking a bear.

“No, no it’s not,” Her voice was tinged with reluctance and exasperation, “You can shoot accurately and quickly and that’s a good thing. I’m just annoyed,” She relented, giving me an insight on her emotions.

“Are you annoyed because I hit the target?” She already said it wasn’t bad but I felt like it was this point which was riling her up.

“No-Yes, but no. It’s good that you can shoot a bow without any effort or training. But it’s that part that’s infuriating; it feels like so much of my time has been wasted.”

“Oh,” Was al that I could get out. Honestly, this was not what I had expected from Luna. Perhaps it was because I didn’t know her that well after all, but I felt like she was a bastion of confidence, able to get through anything without any self-doubt. She was inspirationally self-assured, or so I had thought.

“Well, I still need practise. I can’t always rely on my Specialisation; without it, I’m useless!” It was a vain attempt at alleviating the stress placed on Luna’s mind. She smiled a little, at least.

“Yeah, yeah. When can you come here?” 

“I can come every day after school… So like four o’clock.”

“Come here every day then to practise. I’ll be here as well.” It was a command rather than an offer but it didn’t feel that way nor felt rude or demanding. Perhaps it was because I likened it to being told how to improve by a teacher?

That, actually, was all the archery that I had done for the day. After my flashy display, Luna, even though she took her own bow down here as well, didn’t shoot a single arrow. I asked why, but she just replied that she wasn’t in the mood to.

Not that I minded that much. After merely two arrows, my arms were aching and sore, and I dreaded firing another one. Having Luna abstain as well made me feel less guilty about my pathetic, frail body.

S2, however, reckoned she wanted to try shooting a bow just once. When she came up to Luna and I to request the use of Luna’s bow, I was flummoxed by her actions; this was an unprecedented level of agency that I hadn’t experienced before. Luna, however, was unfazed, so maybe they were this determined at the warehouse?

Unlike me, unfortunately, S2 failed miserably at using the bow. She took a couple of tries to nock the arrow properly, having only ever seen me do it (and I did it far too quickly to watch) and then the arrow kept drifting away from the bow. By the time she shot the arrow, the enemy would have already ran up to her.

Needless to say, she did not hit whatever target she was aiming; she spent half the time looking for the arrow in the tall grass! As soon as the arrow flew through the air, she dropped the bow with a yelp and chased after the arrow.

By the time she found it and presented it to Luna, she had a noticeable wound on her forearm that I was certain wasn’t there before.

Apparently, she had injured herself in her first and only attempt at shooting a bow. I wasn’t even aware you could injure yourself, but Luna certainly was. However, luckily, it seemed that servants had superior regeneration abilities to heal; by the time she had shown us her wound, it was already scabbed over and healing.

Seeing this, Luna commanded S2 to not shoot at all for the rest of the day--a command that visibly displeased her--but instead, she asked S1 to try with a bow. Maybe her interest was peaked by the difference in the utility of System Specialisations in regards to archery?

Never one to disobey her masters orders, S1 gracefully picked up the bow. I felt like I was watching a seasoned archer but when I lobbed a question to her about whether she’s ever used a bow before, she replied ‘no’. Perhaps she was just using what she had picked up from Luna?

Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t as good as I was but was better than S2. It seemed that her Specialisation offered her no unfair advantages but the natural strength inherent to a servants body gave her an excellent foundation for archery. 

I off-handedly mentioned that she’d have great potential due to her keen eyesight and with that comment alone, Luna reacted and told S1 that she should practise from now on. It felt like a spur of the moment decision, but it wasn’t like I was their master.

The rest of the day proceeded as one would have expected; S1 practised archery while the three of us conversed. Midway through, Luna grabbed S2 to go and buy some refreshments from a nearby store and this practice session quickly turned into an unplanned picnic. 

However, all good things must come to an end. Eventually, the clouds drew close over the sky, the sunlight began to darken, and even S1’s industrious body began to fatigue. Once all signs of the day ending began to show, we headed back to the warehouse where I shared my goodbyes and headed on home myself, hardcase in hand.