Legend of the Divine Archer

The world around Yan Jin appeared to slow as he released the bow string. He could sense the strain in the air, the hum of energy coursed through every strand of his existence. His enhanced senses detected the slight static electricity dancing across his skin, the very environment alive with expectancy.

Before gravity seized and dragged the arrows he had summoned earthward, they briefly hung in the heavens like stars in the midnight sky.

The sound of the arrows slicing through the air was like a whisper developing into a roar, the harsh hiss of thousands of missiles cutting through the atmosphere together. Each one trailed a fiery stripe behind it, the friction against the air igniting them into brilliant streaks of light as they dropped with the speed and intensity of a meteor shower.

Above Pine City, the heavens were a magnificent tapestry of gold and silver, the arrows turning into blazing comets as they sped down Earth.

Yan Jin smelled ozone, sharp and metallic, mixing with the earthy perfume of the city below to now be electrified with the force of approaching catastrophe. As the survivors saw the spectacle, his ears caught their collective gasp; the sound of their wonder was a faint murmur in comparison to the mounting thunder of the descending arrows.

From his elevated position, the heat from the falling missiles reached him as well; it was like the breath of a dragon brushing over his skin. Yan Jin's concentration stayed constant, his body a vehicle for the great force he had released.

As if they were extensions of his own will, he could feel the surge of energy in his soul, the link between himself and every arrow reaching out to eradicate the corruption below.

–

Wei Xi observed in shocked stillness on the ground, his tear-filled eyes fixed on the sight of Yan Jin high above, a figure of pure, unspoiled power. The air surrounding him hummed with an unnatural energy, a low hum that connected in his bones, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on edge. Like standing under a big wave just before it slams, he could sense the weight falling on him.

The first arrow dropped like seeing a star ripped from the heavens. The sound the flaming bolt of light produced, a piercing whistle, echoed throughout the city like a death knell as it hurtled toward the ground with terrible speed. Wei Xi's breath seized in his throat as hundreds of these fiery arrows, each dropping with the luminosity of a meteorite shower, covered Pine City.

The air started to smell burned wood and charred ground mixed with the caustic smell of sulfur from the flaming missiles. Taste the ash on his tongue, Wei Xi could feel the bitterness of the recollection of the devastation all around him. Like being too near a blazing furnace, the heat from the dropping arrows flowed over him in waves, stifling and suffocating.

With every hit, the ground shook beneath him, the force of the arrows roaringly hitting the ground. Deafening, the sound was a chorus of explosions and cracked stone drowning out all else. The once-still air was now alive with the shockwaves rocking his innermost core. The attack.

Watching the corrupted entities writhing helplessly beneath the assault, Wei Xi's eyes were wide with a mix of terror and wonder. Their bodies wounded by the flaming arrows, they were converted to burning piles in a second and caught in the arrow tsunami. The sight was both terrible and somehow beautiful; the fiery downpour turned the evening into a show of light and shadow.

Wei Xi couldn't look away from Yan Jin even if all around him there was anarchy and damage. Rising above all, his older brother was a model of calm among the tsunami of power he had set off. The innocence Wei Xi had once linked with Yan Jin was now replaced by something far more powerful, a force capable of changing the planet itself.

The city went silent save for the distant echoes of their strikes when the last of the arrows landed on the ground. Try to digest what Wei Xi had just seen; his heart hammered in his chest and his breath came in harsh spurts. Pine City still stood, but Wei Xi had also been permanently altered and so had Pine City.

Pine City fell in great silence as the last of the arrows landed on their targets and the flaming rain stopped. Having seen the celestial fall and Yan Jin's overpowering power exhibition, the survivors were left in shocked disbelief.

Their responses were a tapestry of unadulterated feeling, each person interpreting the historic event anyway they felt best. A cacophony of gasps and whispers soon shattered the first hush as those who had managed to flee the immediate peril started to really understand the scope of what had just happened.

Wide with wonder, their gaze tracked the paths of smoke rising from the burned remains of the corrupted entities, their features mirroring the brightness of the still-glowing embers.

Tears started to come freely among the survivors. Some wept silently, their cries a mixture of relief and incredulity as they held their loved ones and gazed around at the ravaged city. Almost too much to handle was their weight of loss at the losses they had experienced mixed with their great delight at their redemption.

Their tears, each a tribute to the emotional toll the war had taken on them, sparkled in the low light.

Some, on the other hand, were totally ecstatic. Their yells of triumph resounding over the streets, they embraced one another. Desperate faces now radiated a brilliant optimism as the knowledge dawned on them they had been spared from the brink of annihilation. Their cheers got louder, a group celebration soaring over the last of the smoke and dust.

Still, among the celebration there were still hints of hopelessness. Some survivors gazed at the ruins, the devastation a sobering reminder of the price of their battle. Their hearts carried great weight from the broken houses, the scars left on the city, and the dead. Still, there remained hope—a conviction that the sacrifices had not been in vain—even in their grief.

One name started to show up among the tumult as the tsunami of feeling swept across Pine City. With each time that passed, the survivors' voices grew louder and they started chanting. The moniker held great respect and thanks as well as a respect of the hero who had turned the tide in their advantage.

Their voices rose in a forceful cry that permeated the city, "Huang! Huang! Huang!," they yelled. Once uttered with awe and respect, the term now reflected almost reverent adoration.

The sound was a triumphant shout of identification and gratitude, a unified cry of thanks to the one who had brought them from the darkest of hopelessness. Their spirits raised and their worries reduced, the survivors kept applauding and yelling Yan Jin's name. Carried on the wind, the chorus permeated the streets and reached their fresh optimism as well as the hero who had bestowed it upon them.

Huang! Huang! huáng!

Still hanging in the air, Yan Jin let himself a time to become aware of his surrounds. Now augmented by the Heretical God Eye-Soul Form, his senses served as channels to the world below. The once-opaque curtain of the city had opened to him, showing the complex tapestry of matter and energy that comprised Pine City.

First he sensed the traces of his Soul Domain, the space he had charged with his influence. Though its influence was still felt, the residual pressure applied was now fading. His enhanced awareness helped him to follow the waves of energy as they emerged from the attack's epicenter, therefore smoothing out the distortions and ripples generated by the arrow assault.

Once strong and threatening, the corrupted entities were now a disorganized mass of dispersed energy and smoking ashes. Their earlier resistance had been totally overcome. Yan Jin could feel the scattered, faint remnants of their once-strong forms, their energy lost. Once pulsing with evil intent, the sensation of their distorted auras was now barely audible among the surrounding devastation.

Previously cloaked in fear and sorrow, the survivors now exuded a mix of relief and wary hope. Once faint and quiet, their combined auras were now clearer and more cohesive. Unlike the anxiety that had dogged them just minutes ago, Yan Jin could almost feel their fresh hope and will.

Yan Jin's senses swept across the remains of Pine City, the once-vibrant and busy region now covered in a terrain of charred ground and broken buildings. Still hanging in the air, the residual heat from the arrows was almost physical, a sort of warmth clinging to the wreckage.

Though it was now softened by the cooler wind of the aftermath, the smell of smoke and burned garbage was a sobering reminder of the intensity of the fight.

Sounds reminiscent of the turbulent scene he had just calmed—the faint crackling of embers and the occasional sigh of settling trash. Once strong and unpredictable with the tremors of war, the vibrations of the ground under him have calmed down to a consistent, quiet rhythm.

Yan Jin inhaled deeply as he kept his levitation high above the city; the remaining energy still whirled inside him. Though he was returned to normal, his body still throbbed with the force of his change. The great concentration needed to grab and guide that power had left him both energized and thoughtful.

He could feel the changes in the city's energy flow, the way the hopes and worries of the survivors matched the fresh equilibrium he had found. Along with physically changing Pine City, his activities changed its spiritual and emotional terrain. Not only was his regained balance a relief from the immediate danger, but it also provided a basis for reconstruction and rejuvenation.

Yan Jin let himself a moment of contemplation as he swept his senses last over the metropolis. His strike produced unambiguous results: the corrupted menace had been destroyed, the survivors were protected, and although scarred the city had opportunity for reconstruction. He could sense the weight of his choices and deeds, the result of which would be heard in the still wake of the war.

Content with the result, Yan Jin started to fall, his attention back to the here-now.