The Unbreakable Bow

"Is there something else ?"

"Err, no but could you please wait for my bones to dry up ?"

"Ok"

replied Aefrine.He sat on the green grass examining the keys , toying them around his fingers .He didn't know how much time passed before the bones started moving. He stood up in fear .

"Don't not worry, I am just getting up"

Electric bolts came out of each bone and the bones started getting closer to each other like magnets until they connected and then they climbed each other forming a complete body .

And sure enough, a complete skeleton was standing before the boy. It wasn't tall . It barely exceeded Aefrine's belly . It quickly reached out for his hand . The boy tried to back away but he wasn't fast enough. His hand felt the warm embrace of a pair sun-heated hands .

"I , Larry will commit my life for your service, my master."

Larry Affirmed with his lower jaw moving as he spoke.

"Wait ,what?" Asked Aefrine as he pulled his arm in clear confusion .

"I am your loyal servant, master. Your desires are my orders. Ask anyt'ing and I will do it ... as long as I can ."

Aefrine didn't know what to reply so he simply said the only thing he knew :

"I am not your master , I have never seen a skeleton in my life and I am sure that I was never a master of anybody . Maybe you mistaken me for someone else?"

"No, I am pretty sure t'at you t'e master w'o got me out of t'e well and waited for my bones to dry up , rit'g?"

"Well, yes but.. that doesn't make me your master , does it ? I just did it to help you , anybody else would have done the same."

He thought maybe all talking-moving skeletons were like this?

"Actually you're the first master to listen to me and not run away . T'ere were two before you and none waited long enough to 'ear me."

The idea of a skull asking for help in an isolated well did seen suspicious even for a stranger like Aefrine. He too would have ran away if he didn't knew the complete joy that radiates from the skull even after his rescue.

But he couldn't help himself out of his curiosity and asked :

"How long have you been in the well ?"

"O' , I was stuck in t'ere for er-rrr...for a long time as far as I know "

"Don't you remember? Do have any friends, family out there ,people who will be worried about you?"

"No, I don't remember 'aving any people out t'ere w'o need my service "

"Do you remember anything before falling in the well ?"

"Actually , I do remember! I was err-r...a' yes I was running from somet'ing for a long time I t'ink and t'en I t'ink I triped over and fell in a hole full of water and since t'en I would be watc'ing t'e sun coming and going waiting for someone to 'elp me ."

"You are sure ?"

Said Aefrine trying to imagine a short skeleton triping over a well and clumsily falling in it .

He moved on into a more important question:

" From what were you running from ? "

"I don't remember really, it is really unclear ,master."

Aefrine felt a bit disappointed at this dead-end . He thought for a few moments before he went back to asking :

"Do you at least remember the way which you came from ?"

"Yes , of course" Larry turned away, looking into the horizon before turning back and saying "No ,not really"

At this point, Aefrine lost his interest and went ahead and said the question that personally interested him the most:

"Are there any others skeleton out there ? That can err-r you know... speak and move ?"

"No , I never met an anot'er skeleton in my life and I don't t'ink t'ere any others . But I would remember it since I remember t'at 'umans exist....Sorry master."

Finished Larry with his head now looking downwards, unable to look at his master with his inability to give any proper answers.

"Nevermind " Aefrine sighted. He took a look at his surroundings and finally figured out the major he faced . He doesn't remember which way he came from nor did he know where to go .

He panicked for a few moments before realising that the sun had always rised in the direction he was running. He sat down . He began to think through his situation.

He knew nobody , had nowhere to go . There is an army out there , probably still chasing him . Yet,he had three magical keys that can change one's fate or that what they supposed to do . How do there work anyway. If only he bothered to ask the shogun before stealing from him .

He stood up and tried to opened an imaginary door mid-air with the key that adorned red rubies . Yet , nothing happened. He tried an another key which was an exact copy of the first one with the exception of containing green Prasiolite gems instead of rubies. Again,nothing happened as Larry sat down to see what ever his master was doing.

Aefrine tried his luck again with the third one which was also like the others but contained a different type of gems which was blue lapis lazulis. As always, no magical door would open . Out of anger , Aefrine took all three keys and tried opening with all of them at the same time and of course the result was the same .

Cooling down his temper , Aefrine thought that logically opening a door out of nowhere isn't how it would work due to the fact that a child could unintentionally do the same thing. So he tried again opening the imaginary door but this time he chanted

"Keys of Fate..show me your gate!"

Larry clapped with his skinny skeleton hands

"T'at was nice poetry master!"

Disappointed ,Aefrine threw himself on the ground. Did he really just threw everything for this . Oh wait

"Do know how the keys of Fate work ?"

"Sorry master , keys of w'at?"

"Keys of Fate , it has the power to change one's fate!"

Now thinking of it , Aefrine didn't even know what that meant.

"Er, sorry I never 'eard of keys of Fate master ."

Aefrine gave up for real this time . He felt a bad feeling but didn't know what ,anger,disappointment, regret,shame? He knew that there no way back now . What was he going to do ?

He sat there deep in his thoughts ,blaming his selfishness for what he had done . Larry was still sitting next to him starring at his master with his hollow eye sockets ,waiting for his next order .

Suddenly, they felt some vibrations on the ground. In fact , Aefrine had felt these vibrations a few minutes ago but it had grew stronger. Aefrine got to his feet and started to run eastwards with Larry following him not far behind.

Aefrine could imagine an army of black samurai causing such rumbling. He wasn't going to stay around to find out . As he sprinted through the green plains trying to get to a the nearby trees for cover . He was after all in plain sight but something else was .

It caught Aefrine 's sight off-guard. He stopped running. Not far away, there a giant pack of long necked,four-legged animals marching in the plain emitting large clouds of dust with there huge feet .

These colossal creatures, with their massive, armored bodies and towering horns, moved with a primal grace that belied their immense size.

Their footsteps shook the earth beneath them, leaving deep indentations in the soft soil as they forged . Clouds of dust billowed up in their wake, obscuring the horizon and giving the impression of an unstoppable force advancing across the plain.

It was clear where the vibrations came from .Aefrine could see that despite the big distance between them ,there were huge . The beast that he encountered the other day was nothing compared to them .

Aefrine felt both relief and fear . He wasn't followed. Yet it seemed like the world held too much giant creatures he could take. Despite his fear, Aefrine liked the view of these majestic animals marching confidently through the wild .

From a safe distance, he was amazed by the sight that he probably would never be able to see had he stayed home .

Larry caught up and realising the amazement of his master by the look on his face , he said:

"T'ose are dinosaurs , never 'eard of t'em ?"

"No . Are they common?"

"Of course, t'ere are 'undreds of different types of t'em t'at I can never distinguis' ,some friendly, some 'ostile. I am surprised you never seen one , you will get used to t'em. We better find some sort of s'elter before the 'ostile come out to play. "

Aefrine whom 's brain reminded him of what was definitely a hostile one agreed without any questions.

They spent rest of the day climbing a close mountain until after the night covered the sky with it dark abyss, they found a cave . The only light they had the full moon brightness and Aefrine 's glowing bow that wasn't a good source of light.

Luckily , there seemed to be campfire inside. Aefrine was more than happy upon the idea of meeting other humans who weren't trying to kill him . He almost started hopping towards it before he heard an aggressive voice shouting:

"I swear I going to make a hole in your chest ,coward!"