Forging The Fire

1 ⚔️ Weapon Selection

He Whirled his white fingers around the hilt of a Spiky Iron Club and picked it up, He also Picked up A wooden bow, and a leather quiver: full of arrows, along with a butterfly Karambit knife. Diato's lips stretched to a side, resulting in a slight smirk, as he was pretty sure that these weapons suited him best to slay a dragon. Because if the dragon was close, he'd use the club, and if it was far: he'd use the bow. Despite the modern technology; there were no options for weaponry like guns or grenades. And it also made sense as it would be hard to make so many bullets with the only metal that can kill a Dragon. Because other metals like iron were not enough to slay a Dragon.

"Are you sure you'll take these weapons, Deleto?" His Trainer asked him who placed himself in a relaxing armchair, swinging back and forth

"It's Diato!" He turned to him, With a slight smirk still hanging on his face. He stared at him with his dark brown eyes and said, after a long pause, "And yeah, I'm pretty sure"

"Okay then, as you wish" The trainer hung a pale smile on his face, "Look how far we've come! Where were you then: struggling to handle a butterfly knife? And where are you now: still struggling with that knife but with some skills"

"Was it an insult? Or a compliment?" Diato jokingly raised an eyebrow, as he turned back to put his selected weapons in a bag,

"Depends on what your last two brain cells think, Deleto" The trainer smiled widely, trying to control his laughter as according to him: his jokes were funny

"It's DIATO!" He smiled as he knew the trainer was messing with him

"Whatever, you can leave the weapon room now, or you'll be late for the final selection lobby. And you'll have to try next year" The smile faded

"I know" He picked up his bag pack: containing the weapons he chose, "Where's the lobby; by the way?"

"at the Wild Circle"

"'kay," He said while hanging one strap of his bag on the shoulder

Diato went towards the sliding glass door which was the only way to enter or exit the weapon room, as it had no windows or any other doors. The only thing the room had was a Room large enough to fit three double-decker buses Horizontally. The Walls were painted with a colour that looked grey to some people while it looked off-white to others.

The glass shelves stuck on the walls carry Several Knives. There were eight to nine shelves on each wall: all of them filled with different kinds of knives piled on top of each other. Various kinds of medieval Weapons like Swords, Clubs, Spears, and Bows were hanging from the iron nails. The wall on the right had all kinds of Different Swords while the Wall in the middle had All Of the spears you would have seen in your entire life. The left wall was full of bows.

The Weapons were hanging as if they were in a museum but with no glass protection. There were also Some wooden tables with glass tops and wooden legs on the corners which had things like arrows, Grips, Handles, Empty quivers, And many more piled like a mountain on the tables. The door was on the bottom left corner of the room. Despite being so large: The room was just a small part of the Drayers Organization Building in the middle of a tiny island on the river Dividing Shenezwa into two parts. But it was well hidden so no one could find it. And the island wasn't visible on the map of normal people.

Diato thought that the glass door was open and tried to step through it while swallowing his drool to get rid of his dry throat. But the door was closed. He Crashed his nose on the glass. His sweat made a mark on the glass as the pain started to flood. The trainer, along with some other random dudes, packing their weapons: chuckled at him for crashing his nose on the glass door.

There was a big dude, with bulky muscles, he almost looked like the Incredible Hulk if he was green. The other two were girls, probably twins, as they had the same coloured clothes and both had multicoloured hair. Diato could never understand why some girls wanted the gay flag on their hair even when they were straight. He was sure that the girls were twins or else they'd be fighting each other for not matching their clothing. Other than the Bulky dude, The Twins, and His Trainer; No one was in the room.

Diato was sure that the bulky dude would most likely smash the Dragons and his chances against him were low, very low, lower than low itself. He always had trouble with doors. Even at his own house. He shook his head and covered his nose with his hand, gripped the side panel of the glass door with his other hand, and pulled it open. It didn't. 'The door must be jammed' he thought. He tried to pull it again and failed.

The trainer jumped out of his chair and went toward him. He gripped the door from the opposite panel and slid it open, while giving him a pale sarcastic smile, before heading back to his chair. Diato stared at the door for at least five seconds in surprise before leaving the room. But his bad omen wasn't over yet. While heading out: he struck his pinky toe on the side panel of the door. He immediately pulled his leg up and gripped his toe with his hand while his other hand was still covering his nose. He jumped across the hallway with one leg. While everyone continued to chuckle at him

*****

8:00 PM, Sunday

He slid into the crowd of well over twenty people: standing in front of a mini-stage at the Wild Circle. There was an Attractive Lady probably in her forties, standing on the mini stage. She was holding a mic in her hand while her other hand swung from her shoulder. She was wearing a yellow dress. It was shiny and was reflecting the rays of the morning sun right into Diato's Eyes. He Lifted a hand to block the light. His hand wasn't blocking his vision, but just the light. There was an iron fence wall behind the mini stage, which had a big gate and a board on top of the gate that read, "Final Selection"

Diato wondered how they kept the organization secret if they had a massive sign saying 'Final Selection', and an iron fence around the whole forest. Some very intense discussion was going on in the crowd,

"Do you think you'll be able to pass the selection like this?" A voice murmured in his ears,

"I will" Diato turned to see who this bastard was, and how dare he.

It was an old man with a wrinkled face. his skin hanging upon his eyes and dark circles which seemed deeper than a black hole, and darker than dark itself. his eyeballs popped out of his face as they could just slide out any time and fall on his shoes while he would take longer to realize what was happening because his movements were as slow as a sloth.

the man was wearing a white cloth beneath his open torso with a mixture of dense black and white vegetation on his chest: the cloth looked like what Diato would call a 'Langot' in his language. Diato recalled an Indian traditional cloth worn just like that called Dhoti, which people wore and almost seemed like it was torn. The old fella barely stretched his lips across his cheeks, just to throw an awkward grin you'd make when your friend took you to a party and you had to act like you were enjoying it, while you were not.

"What's wrong with you?" Diato asked in astonishment, "You're very old: what do you think you're gonna do after becoming an official Drayer? Tell bedtime stories to dragon kids?"

"I Dunot know what you are taking 'bout," the old man said in an Indian Accent while he hovered his fist in the air, just at Diato's Eye level. He suddenly popped a middle finger out of his fist and showed it to Diato, "Phak Yoo"

Diato had come up with the most savage reply in his mind 'Joe Mama So Fat -' But he decided not to say to maintain the old man's respect in the crowd of twenty people.

"Attention Everyone!" The Lady on the stage spoke in the mic, "We are currently at The Wild Circle, And behind me - is the gate to the Archers' Woods"