Chapter 62 - Traces (1)

Chapter 62 – Traces (1)

“I won’t go easy on you! And just because I only made three it doesn’t mean that this is all I could conjure, okay?” Lugar defensively said.

“That’s because you can only make three.” Hizette muttered under his breath.

“I heard you, Hizette. Don’t start with me.” Lugar shook his fist at Hizette threateningly, but the younger man only scoffed at his attempt in intimidation.

“My ring will run as much as it could. If you cannot catch all of it, how about we proclaim it as my own win?” Lugar said.

Lugar’s butterflies that were made of rings hovered dazedly in the air, and one of the butterflies zoomed towards Lila and landed on her shoulder. It took off the second it landed, and Lila saw a tiny fraction of its wings crumble at the edges.

“Lugar, are you okay? I think one’s enough if it’s too much for you.” Lila said worriedly.

She saw bits of bright dust fall from the butterfly’s wings, also seeing how it took a lot of effort on Lugar’s part. Rings required sharp control, making it a hard feat to master. Lila herself could not even think of making one butterfly, much less three. One only needed to shoot from a pistol but moving rings was way tougher since extreme concentration was necessary. Making a large tiger was even easier than this one. Rings that were moving freely were just tiring, and one had to be adept in calculating its movements. Lugar clearly had the talent for it.

“So you’re looking down on me too, huh.” Lugar said softly.

“I’m not looking down on you.” Lila replied as she pointed at a butterfly. “Look.”

Lugar turned to where Lila was pointing at, and saw a butterfly’s wing slowly disintegrating. One of the rings was erratic in its movements before flying out of control, making Lugar scramble as he hastily righted it back to its calm state.

“That was a mistake!” Lugar said, completely flustered. “An accident, you know.” He added.

Lila did not believe him, not even for a second, but she nodded her head all the same. “Should we start then?”

Just as her words fell, Lugar let the three butterflies fly in separate directions.

*

“You need more than great aiming skills, I guess.” Lila grumbled as she searched the large expanse of grass, the training field too vast for her liking. She let out a heavy sigh, thinking that Hizette had the advantage since he knew the place better than she did.

But Lugar was by far the most fortunate of them all, and there’s a high chance of him winning since he set the rules himself. No wonder he had been keen in this activity; he just needed to hide the butterflies out of their sights and make them bolt the moment their rings tried to run after them. In chases like this one, the runners always had the upper hand compared to the ones chasing them.

Lila clutched her pistol tightly. “I can’t use rings like that.”

Hizette would be searching for Lugar’s rings using his own, while Lila had to search the rings by herself. She deemed that it was so unfair, but she shook the defeated thoughts away, not entertaining the idea of losing. Not on her watch. She just needed to concentrate as hard as she could, eyes squinting for any sign of movement.

“What’s this?” Lila found a small wooden structure in front of her as she looked for the butterflies. It looked like a warehouse that stored weaponry used for training.

She halted for a brief second, contemplating if she should go in and whether or not Lugar would hide the rings inside. After realizing that he would likely hide it in such a place, she pushed the door open and a gust of dust greeted her upon entry.

Lila coughed and waved her hand in front of her as dust settled in. Dirt and grime clung on wooden swords and armory, and all of it was thrown messily on the ground in an unorganized fashion.

“Why is this warehouse so dirty?” Lila mumbled to herself. There was sand everywhere, which was pretty understandable, but the black dust made it seem like the place had been long abandoned, like it remained unused for several years.

Lila blindly stepped into the darkness, not closing the door behind her as her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room.

She went here to look for Lugar’s ring, and she realized that she would clearly see it amidst the darkness because of its white color, should the rings be inside this warehouse. Lila decided to close the door and the pitch-black room engulfed her.

Breathing in, she saw a glint from the corner of her eye. She looked sideways and saw something sparkling in the darkness, and her face lit up with excitement. Small, bright things lurking in the shadows would stick out greatly, like a dazzling pearl beneath the deep blue sea. What lay between the wooden swords was a small light, prompting Lila to lift her hand as she shot the ring with her pistol, feeling her target break into minuscule pieces. “One down.”

She wondered if Hizette already found a ring since Lila took quite long to catch one. Time passed by so quickly, and the realization hit her as she hurriedly searched the pile of wooden swords.

Lila blinked in uncertainty. She really thought that she destroyed Lugar’s ring, but what she had shot was something else entirely.

‘What’s this?’