I spent years stuck in a rut. Trying to break through that damn bottleneck. I trained every day until my muscles screamed, until my body failed, and still... nothing. I had accepted that maybe I would never move forward. That maybe I was destined to remain there, stuck between two worlds — too strong to be ordinary, too weak to be legendary.
Then it happened.
Without warning. Without preparation. The change came like a flame igniting inside my bones, a warm current spreading not just through my skin or muscles—but through everything. Every cell. Every inch of my body seemed to wake up at once.
I had reached the realm of Combat Master.
But it wasn't what I expected. No thunderous powers with flaming bows or energy arrows. None of that.
The bow... was just a means to an end.
What I gained was something more primitive, more instinctive. A new perception. A kind of aim—but not just with my eyes. I could feel it. Feel everything. The environment, the air, the warmth of the living things around me, the very movement of the world.
Every little detail seemed clearer. My body... reorganized itself. The light of life, once so volatile, now seemed stored inside me. In my bones. I felt as if I had been a cracked jug, with energy leaking through the cracks. Now, every part of me was solid, cohesive. Compact and alive. Evelyn... she witnessed everything. She was by my side when everything changed. I don't know if she understood what happened to me, but there was something in her too. A new sparkle in her eyes. A silent determination. When we brought down the wooden tiger, the same one that had destroyed part of her life, something in her broke... or was completed. As if a silent story had come to an end.
She didn't say much after that, she just stayed quiet. But I saw it. I saw it in the way she looked at me, in the way she touched the rough skin of the dead beast.
She didn't want to go back.
I can't explain that feeling. It was as if the past had been buried with that animal. As if everything she had been searching for had been found there, under that sky of heavy clouds and the smell of fresh blood.
—•—
After a whole day of riding without rest, we finally arrived at the city of New Moon. The sky was beginning to darken, tinging the guard towers with an orange hue as the wind cooled. I felt Evelyn snuggle a little closer to my back, her face hidden under my cloak, clinging tightly to my waist. The smell of the forest and the dried blood of the dead tiger still lingered in the air.
Ahead, the gates stood like silent giants. The guards were in formation... but as soon as they saw me, their bodies froze.
I stared at them one by one.
It wasn't just to intimidate—it was instinct. My eyes fixed on the details. Most avoided eye contact, but it was useless. Through that brief exchange of glances, I could feel everything: their rapid heartbeats, sweat dripping from their temples, their trembling breath, and their stiff muscles, about to give way. They were tense. The presence I exuded suffocated them without me having to say a single word.
They felt it.
The light of life flowed through me now. It was still new, wild, like an untamed flame burning inside me. But it was there. Each step I took weighed more heavily, and I knew the others felt it.
The gate creaked slowly as it opened. No one said a word. I just walked through the city gates with Evelyn clinging to my waist, her head resting against my back, her small arms wrapped around my abdomen under my cloak. I could feel her warm breath against me—silent but steady. Even though she was clearly exhausted, she didn't take her eyes off the prey tied to the side saddle: the wooden tiger's corpse.
As soon as we passed, I heard the sounds of bodies staggering behind me. One of them fell to his knees. Another cursed under his breath, almost like a choked whisper.
"What the hell was that...?" I heard one of them say, in shock, trying to understand what had just happened.
"What else could it be...?" replied the patrol leader, his voice low and bitter. "He started storing the light of life. The brat came back as a combat master."
I heard the silence that followed.
"A master archer..."
The words sounded like a sentence among them.
I smiled slightly as I heard it echo behind me, without looking back.
It was a title that many spoke with respect. Others, with fear.
But for me, it was just the next step.
If they are wise, they will keep their distance. Otherwise... well, they will no longer be able to walk outdoors without four walls and a locked door to protect them.
And even then, they would not be safe.
—•—
"Ahahahah!" My father laughed loudly, his eyes red and filled with something I only saw on rare occasions: genuine pride. "My boy... look at you... I can't believe it!"
He pulled me aside for a private conversation as soon as he heard everything that had happened. I told him every detail—the hunt, the battle, how I gained mastery over the light of life. But what really surprised him wasn't my rise as a master archer... it was her.
His gaze rested on Evelyn as if he were finally seeing her for the first time—not as a peasant or someone with limitations, but as something precious that had somehow touched my heart and changed everything around me.
I saw silent gratitude in the old warrior's eyes—perhaps because she had been by my side while I broke through that barrier that had haunted me for years.
He turned to one of the servants with the enthusiasm that only comes after a great victory.
"Take this tiger," he said, pointing to the huge body lying on the ground, "and skin it. I want it to be made into a rug for the castle hall. An eternal reminder of this conquest."
"Yes, sir," replied the servant, hurrying away.
The party started before the blood had even cooled on the floor. Musicians tuned their instruments, soldiers laughed loudly, and trays of meat and wine paraded around like at a festival.
But then, beside me, Evelyn stared in silence. Her eyes followed the tiger's body being carried away. And when I looked at her, she smiled.
"See, Daddy? I promised I'd kill him one day," she murmured, serene.
That's when something in the air changed.
Her eyes lost focus for a moment, and she staggered to the side. I reflexively reached out and caught her before she hit the ground.
"Evelyn?" I called, feeling the world narrow.
I heard her mother's voice screaming behind me. I saw the faces around me turn. But all I could see was her. Only her.