{Holy Orders of Prosperity} Chapter 1: Bullseye

WHOOOSH was the sound of a dagger zooming across the training grounds of the Dreighart Military House. The wind accompanying its trail stings the ears of a couple of people yards away from its vicinity.

A hand reaches out towards the wall where a lotus of cracks line from the impact, right at the point where the dagger struck. The hand, belonging to a teenager grasps the handle and yields it out from the wall. The laughter coming after hinted a snarky and nasal wisp, usually from a man’s sneer.

“I got it! One more time!” The teenager shouted.

His feet scuttle back to where he was a few seconds ago, and his knees bend in an acute direction pointing to the wall. His right hand swipes the air and the dagger follows after, twisting and spinning towards the crack one more time.

A sharp ping echoes along, and the young boy claps his hands.

Behind him, an older man, frailer and hinged, watched the boy taking out the dagger, and then pushing a cloud of dust that was initially stuck on its blade right after.

“Did ya see that, I got the target twice in a row! I’m definitely going to pass today’s training examination later, right Professor Shen?”

The boy turned around to show the crack on the wall, pointing it with his dagger.

“Yesterday, you nearly sliced your cheek while perfecting the trajectory for your throws, you should know better to be careful this time, Oneil.” The old man responded.

The boy, Oneil, retorted. “Ahhh, but I did not! I did better this time! You should be proud of me Professor Shen, instead of scolding me to take risks.”

The old man, Professor Shen, patted Oneil’s head and smiled cheekily.

“I am proud of you, keep this up and you’ll get a flattering grade for our examinations before the Moon Festival begins.”

Oneil’s eyes roll slightly before heading back to his spot. His breaths heave into a pattern; into his nose and out from his mouth.

Professor Shen treads a few feet behind Oneil. “Be careful, Oneil. Just because you got it now doesn’t mean you’ll repeat the same mistakes. Mistakes can come any-“

“-Where, and I should always watch out for it. I understand that Professor Shen, but I want to try anyways!” The young boy completed his mentor’s sentence without any second thought. The old man sighs.

“You’re welcome to take a break anytime, if you’d like. It’s best to prepare and take breaks at even intervals.”

Oneil’s mouth blew out to push his bangs away from his eyes. His focus circle into the target, and in a second his hand swiped through the air again, the dagger spinning vertically into the wall. It hit the target, but this time a few centimeters to the right from the last throw.

His lips curl upwards to form a smile. A smile of victory and exhilaration.

“Again! I did it again! I’m on a roll!” exclaims the boy, jumping up and down like a child.

“I’ll leave you to your practice.” Professor Shen issues a nod and turns his back towards Oneil. “I wish you good fortune on your performance.”

Oneil waves to his mentor. “Thank you, Professor Shen!” He then turns around to grab his dagger from the wall. Another target hit; another step closer to achieving an impressive combat grade.

In the Dreighart Military House, examinations are held monthly. They alternate between written form and practical form, and they contribute a major part for each student’s final grades that would be tallied up by the end of the year.

Oneil wipes the sweat beaded on his forehead and walks back to where he was standing only to feel a slight tap on his shoulder.

“You’re amazing at this, Oneil! You hit the targets so well!”

His head cocks back to see another boy, chubby and tan with a forest of curled hair sprouting on top of his head, smile at him as he approaches.

“KD! What are you doing here?” Oneil’s eyes widen at the sight of his best friend walking towards his practice grounds.

“I’ve already finished my practice quota. I was wondering if you were free to come and play together! Our unfinished video game is waiting for us since last night.”

Oneil takes a deep sigh and nods his head sideways. “I’ll be free in a sec, I’m still busy trying to master my aim.”

“I’ll wait for you here. I want to see more of your awesome dagger throws!” KD crosses his arms and taps his left foot on a stray stone pebbled between the grass.

Oneil gives a slight nod to him before turning back towards the wall. His hand reaches out to the back of his head, and his head leans upwards. At the count of three, he lurches his hand right next to his ear.

The sight of the dagger distorts into one silver blur, as if a snake were to be tumbling back and forth in the air only to hit the wall in its head. The dagger sprung and tremored as it hits the target again, one centimeter off to the left from its throw before the last one.

“I pity the fools who have to witness my expertise with this weapon later.” Oneil grins as he holds the dagger as if it’s his own child. His left palm nudges beneath the dagger’s tip.

“Wow! You’re so confident, I feel quite embarrassed of my own aiming prowess.” KD comments.

“You do?” Oneil’s eyes glint toward his direction. “Show me what you got, KD! You’re a marksman, you can use my target for your guns.”

“Alright! Don’t blame me if I break the wall though.”

“I definitely will.” Oneil teases.

His eyes dart towards KD’s sniper. He anticipates the moment KD pulls the trigger, and his heart lurches out from his chest.

“C’mon KD, you can do it!” He cheers with an attempted vigor.

“Hahaha, thanks!” KD replies before raising his sniper. Suddenly, a laser shoots out for the barrel and teased at the target’s bullseye. Following that was a bang from a small pellet bullet, and the lotus of cracks evolve into that of a tree’s roots and branches.

Oneil smiled and cheered, but deep inside his chest felt a hint of electricity.

“You did it! You hit the target!!” He exclaims.

KD swipes his hair back like silk from a blanket. His eyes turn towards Oneil who ran back to him.

“It was no biggie, Oneil. You gawked at the same thing yesterday when you watched me at my training grounds… you know, since you were bored and discouraged from missing the targets.”

Oneil flashes a pouting look. The tease snaked into his skin and little hairs jolt out.

“Shut up! Th-that’s not important! I told you not to remind me of that. You’re just like Professor Shen!”

KD laughs, and soon Oneil laughs as well.

“At least you got the targets now. You’ve seemed to hold a better grasp on your aiming abilities than last practice.”

“Yeah, and I will make sure I will beat not only the examination, but YOU as well! I will get the highest score this month, watch me!”

KD pats Oneil’s shoulder, and a few seconds later he wraps his arm around the humiliated boy.

“You will, Oneil, you can do it!”

--

The sun begins to descend, and the sky transforms into a fruity shade of yellow and orange. The examinations are about to begin, but Oneil remains in his practice grounds, sweating and breathing deeply from throwing his daggers repeatedly. Nobody else in the grounds is present besides KD, who was cleaning his sniper, and Professor Shen who just entered the grounds a few seconds ago to check up on his students.

With a face caked with sweat, Oneil clamors his throws until his breaths turn shaky. Footsteps can be heard in between the raspy exhales.

“Your hair is all tousled up, Oneil.”

Professor Shen treks towards the boy now grasping his kneecaps with his palms and ducking inward to catch his breath. He ruffled the boy’s hair, forming wave after wave in a dark mass of colour. Oneil fixed up his mullet with a struggle.

“The examinations will be held soon, in two hours. I suggest you clean yourself up and have dinner for the meantime. You too as well, KD.” Professor Shen advises.

KD gives a thumbs up to the mentor’s way, his smile glistening against the auburn glare of the sky. “Will do, Prof!”

Professor Shen chuckles before turning his head to the wall. In there, massive cracks, faults, and fissures plague the square lined up with wires to border each student’s practice ground. Bullet holes and dagger punctures line up close to the target. He issues a smile.

“You two are doing an extraordinary job,” He folds his arms in front of his chest. “At this rate, the Moon Festival could be looking forward to two different celebrations from our ‘humble’ little class!”

“Two celebrations?” Oneil rotated his head to his left.

“Two celebrations, one for your outstanding examination results… and another a secret, left for you to find out at the festival’s award ceremony.” Professor Shen clasps his hands together in peaceful joy.

“I wonder what the secret achievement would be…” Oneil pondered.

KD walks towards Oneil and slaps his hand upon his left shoulder.

“Oww…”

“Sorry Oneil,” KD patters a bit on his shoulder, in a rhythm of three before stopping momentarily. “I’m so excited about this mysterious celebration. We should take a shower before heading out somewhere to grab a bite.”

“You know what, good idea. I’m hungry. Let’s take a bath together at the Freshwater Sector.” Oneil looks towards the sky and his breaths smoothens.

“Let’s go! Thank you, Professor Shen, we’ll do our best at the examinations!” KD assures the old man before walking away with Oneil by his side.

Professor Shen waves them goodbye before packing the dagger and the sniper in each of their respective training ground chests, and calls the house crew to clean up the marks left on the wall.

Inside the house halls Oneil and KD skips to the Freshwater Sector, where the boys of the house bathe. The girls go to the Riverside Sector, slightly edged to the right of the main halls instead of the left where the two boys head to. For those without a clear gender, they are assigned to the baths in the Waterfall Sector, jotted out at the north of the main halls.

As the two boys round about the Freshwater Bathrooms, they smell a hint of aloe vera snaking its way out into the halls.

“The bathroom must have already been used up by the other students while we were practicing this afternoon.” Oneil remarks before entering the bathroom.

KD follows after. “Only you who’s willing to spend extra time to practice instead of hanging out with your classmates would come to that conclusion.”

Oneil gives a slight scoff. “That’s why I’m going to crush them in the examinations,” He starts taking off his belt and his shirt. “I’m the ambitious one, they’re all there to hang out and joke around. Except me, I want to show what I’m capable of, especially at a crucial time like this. The examinations AND the Moon Festival coming this month? I’m lucky to have perfected my aiming skills today.”

KD starts taking off his clothes, which constituted a sweater and another shirt underneath as a top. “I have something to tell you, Oneil. It’s about the mysterious celebration.”

Oneil nods his head a bit to KD’s side. What could he know about the mysterious celebration?

KD continues taking off his clothes and grabs a towel to his left. “What about the mysterious celebration, KD?”

Oneil then heads into one of the shower stalls completely naked and sporting a towel, which he hangs on a hook behind the stall’s door. He turns on the knob and lets the shower hit his feet to test out the temperature. It’s cold, he thought, before adjusting a lever above the knob to make it warmer.

He hears KD open a stall right next to his, and another showerhead sprays out water. “Ouch! It’s hot.”

Oneil snickers before knocking the wall to his right. “What about the mysterious celebration that you were telling me?” He demanded an answer from KD. His curiosity was brimming to the core, but a little desire of being surprised held him back from commanding him to answer outright. Oneil never liked being spoiled of a dramatic announcement or news without his permission, but this information that KD could hold is different.

His feelings are not of purehearted interest, but rather a twang of envy. Oneil’s ear cocks against the wall, and besides the shower crying out water into the ground, the only thing he could hear is his own heartbeat rising up in consistent thumping.

“Oneil…” KD’s voice booms across the stall with less of an emotional rise. “I became an Elemental Warrior two days ago. They’re celebrating me.”

A gasp issues from Oneil’s mouth before clamping it shut with his right hand.

“Are you alright, Oneil? I knew you would be shocked.” KD rebounds.

Oneil used his left hand to support himself against the stall’s walls as soon as his knees softened and his sense of balance dissipated. It took several seconds before Oneil could catch his breath and take his right hand from his mouth.

“What element did you get?” He says weakly.

KD gave a little thought in his answer. “Think about it, Oneil. I was practicing with my sniper for a couple of days, and I asked to move my training grounds right next to an electrical box and under the electrical linings that somehow manages to reach us at a floor so high,” He takes a deep breath before continuing. “I got the Lightning element.”

Oneil’s eyes darted towards his showerhead and entered into the veil of water. He reaches out for the hand of soap and slathers his body as thoroughly as he can. After a minute he grabbed a bottle of conditioner and weeded out his hair’s ends.

“I knew you were always so talented… hearing this makes me envious of you.” He replied long after KD’s explanation.

He could hear his friend take a bottle of shampoo and rinse his curled hair. Thirty seconds later, in dead silence, he stops the showerhead from leaking out any more water and opens the stall’s door.

“It took a lot of practice, but I never expected to enter a new level. I’m going to be issued into a new Hexagroup, the first one in a while.”

Oneil listens quietly as he finished rinsing his hair from the conditioner.

“I’m telling you this because I don’t want to leave you behind.”

Oneil raises his hands to massage his hair and rinse out the conditioner. “What now?”

When he finishes washing up his hair and body, he turns the knob again to turn off the showerhead before grabbing his towel and opening the stall. He can see KD combing his hair across the mirror.

“Being an Elemental Warrior takes up a whole lot of practice and willpower. If I did it by excessive practicing, so can you with excessive practicing AND an ambitious will to excel,” He turns his head towards the boy who had just finished drying out his hair. “You will get there soon, you’re almost there.”

Oneil takes out his comb and straightens his wavy hair to each side. “How so, KD? How long will I take before I get to be on your level once again?”

KD frowns slightly. “Very soon. If you can use your envy and channel it to your power, with also your determination, anger, and will… you’ll get there.”

Oneil looked into his eyes at the mirror and stares. KD is right. Envy fuels him, and he has the choice to channel that power to his success.

“Thanks for thinking about me.” He said to KD. He places his comb away into his bag and slings it on his shoulder after putting on his new clothes.

KD does the same. “No problem, Oneil. We can do this together!”