Chapter 8 - Sarah Elori

The glass sliding panes of the mall slid open as Sarah and her group of around 6 friends made their way inside.

"Weren't you on the news just a second ago?" One of their voice called out from the crowd, in her hands held the phone with the breaking news and the two S ranked hunters displayed on it.

"It was pre-recorded. We went to visit them last night." Another voice replied, although his face was hidden by his hoodie, a closer look would show that his appearance matched one of the hunters in the video exactly.

"Why did you pre-record...?" The first voice asked in confusion,

"It was the only free slot the station had, but Mr. Fable here already had a date planned for today." Rein grinned, wrapping his arm around his pal.

"It's not a date," Fable shrugged off his arm, his face slightly red.

"Hm, What do you think, Miss Girlfriend," Rein looked over at Sarah whose face was also red."We're just buying stuff for the raid," She tried to punch him, albeit missing horribly.

"I'm kidding. I'm kidding," He put his hands up in self-defense while whistling.

The group quickly made it to the center of the gigantic mall, spotting the circular platforms ready to send them to the upper floors. The Laidside mall consisted of 15 floors, each floor with its own theme and purpose.

"The 6th floor please," Rein smiled at the operator, nudging the group into the cramped space of the platform.

"Understood,"

The operation tapped a button as a beam of light circled the outer rim of the platform.

"Please stay within the light," the operator explained, pressing another button.

The platform began to float as a glass barrier rose up, securing the group from falling out.

With a soft buzz, the platform quickly whizzed up, reaching the 6th floor within seconds.

"You have arrived." A mechanical voice spoke as a small ding rang out. The platform light dimmed and the glass lowered.

"Uh, which way was it again," Fable muttered, taking out his phone from his white cotton jacket.

"The left," Rein interrupted, walking off the platform and heading to the left.

The group quickly found the store they were looking for. 'Reynald's Gear and Items.'

Inside, hundreds of customers were also browsing through the reinforced glass shelves.

"Ah, Fable! Rein!" An elderly voice came calling from within the store, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Guy, this is Mr. Reynald's. Owner of the store. Best weaponsmith in the area." Fable introduced.

"N-Nice to meet you," Sarah bowed alongside a few other friends.

"Nice to meet you too, young lads. What kinda weapons y'all looking for?"

Fable looked at Sarah, nodding his head.

"I need a bow. Preferably light and sturdy." Sarah explained.

"Bow, I see. What about the rest of ya." He glanced at the other few people standing behind her.

"A sword." "Dagger." They quickly listed their items.

"If you want the good quality ones, they're sturdy but expensive you can come with me to the back or you can take a look at the ones at the front." Reynald offered, pointing to the small curtain at the back of his store.

"I'll browse through these ones then," Sarah smiled, flinching at the word 'expensive'.

"Actually we'll take a look inside," Fable interrupted, grinning and grabbing Sarah's hand and leading the group into the store.

"F-Fable!" Sarah called out, being dragged close behind.

"It's the least I can do," He whispered to her, patting her head.

The customers in the store glanced over at the couple, some with their eyebrows raised in the special treatment given.

'L-Let's hurry up," Sarah whispered to him as she saw all the eyes on her.

Inside the back, the shelves no longer had the protective glass shelves over the items. Although the room was one-third the size of the room outside, anyone could see that all the items displayed here were definitely of higher quality.

"These are my masterpieces I've created over the years. Feel free to look around,"

"Thank," Fable replied, guiding Sarah to the bow section.

The rows of finely made bows sat on the freshly dusted oak shelves, each weapon separated by a thin wooden slab.

"These... They're too expensive!" Sarah exclaimed, her eyes glued on the price tag, "I can't afford even 1/10 of this weapon with my life savings!"

"Which one do you like?" Fable asked, ignoring her complaint and picking up a black-colored bow from the shelf. "This one's quite sturdy. It has a bit of a weight to it as well. I wouldn't recommend something too light,"

"I-" She stuttered, "T-that one," Pointing at the bow he was holding.

"Seems like we have the same tastes even in equipment," He smiled handing the bow for her to hold.

Sarah blushed as she took the bow, feeling the weight.

"There's a practice room through that door," Reynald interrupted the couple with a cough.

"O-Okay," Sarah looked over to the small wooden door he was pointing at.

Inside was a dimly lit yet extremely spacious 100m long room with a small red and white target hung up at the other side of the room.

"Target's set at 100m away. Press that red button there to set it to motion mode." Reynald explained, nodding his head to the left, crossing his arms as he leaned on the door frame.

"Sir! there's a customer that's asking for the manager outside!" A young voice cried out from a distance.

"Oh mother-" Reynold grunted, getting up and grunting out the door, his mood instantly soured. "Just press the button again to turn off the machine." He pointed out before leaving.

"Understood, sir."

The door shut behind him as Fable and Sarah stood next to each other awkwardly.

"Anyway," Fable chuckled, easing the mood as he grabbed an arrow from a nearby quiver and pointed at the target, "Try to hit it,"

She nodded, walking up to the red line marked on the ground.

She lined her feet directly parallel to the line and positioned her body to the target. With a deep breath, slotted the arrow on the bow and raised her left arm straight ahead.

Pulling the string back and lining it to her right cheek. She aimed and shot.

*Whoosh*

*Thud*

The arrow shot forward, instantly piercing into the target ahead. Right in the bullseye.

"That," Fable whistled, "That's impressive, Have you done archery before?"

"Yeah. I played it competitively back in high school," She smiled, lowing the bow and looking over, "I think this bow really suits me."

"I agree," Fable nodded, walking over to the left wall of the practice room, "Want to try with the motion settings?"

Sarah nodded, moving back into position.

A small whirring sound rang out as Fable pressed the button.

The target started trembling, causing the arrow to fall onto the ground. A small glow appeared below the target as it slowly lifted into the air a small red scanner revealing itself underneath.

"Shoot when you're ready. I'll leave the quiver beside you." Fable explained.

"N."

Silence filled the room as Sarah concentrated and shot her first arrow.

"Woosh!*

The arrow left the bow, flying towards the target. Within milliseconds of shooting the arrow, the target suddenly hovered to the left. A miss.

"You still got 10 more arrows,"

Sarah picked up another arrow and concentrated. This time, she aimed a little off, attempting to predict the movements of the target.

*Whoosh!*

*Thunk!*

Another miss.

A frown formed on her lips as she lowered her bow, confusion in her eyes.

"The trick isn't to predict the movement. The machine has a sensor. It moves after you shoot. Therefore, it predicts your movement and moves to avoid it. The trick is to either shoot the arrow fast enough so it doesn't have time to react, or to fire it in a way that it can trick the machine." Fable explained, walking up next to her and taking the bow.

He slotted in an arrow, taking aim and shot.

*Whoosh!*

*Thud!*

It hit.

"How?" A confused look in her eyes,

"A curved shot," Fable handed back the bow. "Instead of slotting the arrow directly at the middle of the string, slot it a bit up instead, and aim a little more to the right."

"When did you learn-??" Her mind was still blown from the shock reveal.

"I've done archery too," He flicked her forehead, "Now concentrate."

Sarah pouted her lip and nodded, taking back the bow and attempting the shot.

*Whoosh!*

*Thud*

It had just made it right on the edge of the target.

"I did it!" She spun around in surprise.

"You did," Fable smiled, patting her head in response. "I think the rest of them are waiting for us outside,"

"Mkay."

The two quickly turned off the machine and left the room.

"What were you guys doing taking so long?" Rein grumbled, "We've already gone and paid for the stuff we want. You two lovebirds go and hurry up."

"Geez, calm down. We still need to buy her some armor." Fable retorted, grabbing Sarah's hand and taking her to the armor section.

"Fable. I'll buy my own armor. I don't want to keep owing you more."

"You don't owe me anything" He turned around, a confused look on his face.

"I'll buy it with my own money. It'll make it feel more genuine. Something I got with my own hard work." Sarah smiled, dragging him out the back room and into the main shopping area.

They quickly made their way to the armor section where Sarah quickly found a plain yet aesthetically pleasing light leather armor set that she fancied a lot.

"I'll take this one," she smiled at the store assistant who walked over to the glass shelf casing and unlocked it, retrieving the armour from within.

"Would you like to try it on first?" The assistant asked, handing them the armor.

"Yes please," She replied before being led to the change room.

"You can simply wear it over your usual clothes," he explained, stopping in front of an empty change room.

Within a few seconds, Sarah was equipped like a new adventurer in a game. Her chestnut brown hair tied in a high ponytail and the bow slung across her back while the light brown leather armor accented the entire outfit.

"It's perfect!" Fable clapped, completely in awe.

"Yeah, That's not the only thing perfect! It's also the perfect time to leave now. So won't you two just hurry the fuck up?!" Rein shouted from the outside of the change room area.

Sarah and Fable looked at each other with a sigh as she went back into the change room to change out of her armor.

A couple of minutes later, the two came out with a bag with her armor in her left hand and the bow placed carefully in a casing with a quiver of a hundred arrows in her right.

An extremely annoyed and impatient Rein stood at the entrance. His expression explaining everything.

"Where did everyone else go?" Sarah looked around to see none of her other friends in the area.

"They all left an hour ago," Rein grunted in reply. turning around and getting to leave. "At least I still kind enough to wait for my friends."

Fable and Sarah looked at each other a cheeky smile emerging from their faces.

"Oh~ Rein! Aren't you just the best!~" Sarah ran up to him, ruffling his head while Fable wrapped his arm around him and chuckled,

"Oh, get off of me, you two!" He yelled, jumping around in an attempt to shake them off.

The three made their way out of the mall, continuously joking with each other as they entered the residential area.

"I'll be heading home this way then," Sarah said, separating from the two, heading towards her apartment complex.

"See ya,"

"I'll talk to you later," They replied, waving to her and heading to the right.

Fortunately, The light in her apartment was turned off, indicating no one was home.

Opening the front door, Sarah peered her head in and looked around. Clear.

She quickly closed the door behind her and bolted to her room. Safe.

Looking around, she opened her closet door and stuff the bow and armor into the back. Hiding it behind the rest of her clothes. Mission Success.

She closed the closet door and went to lay on her bed. At this moment, the front door suddenly opened as the voices of her brother and mother entered.

"Sarah? Are you home?" Her mother called out from the front door. "Come help put the grocery away."

"Coming!" She called back, a small sweat dripped down from her forehead. If it had taken her even a second later to arrive home, she would've met them at the front door, and that would've been bad.

She jumped out of bed and hurried out. Taking in the bags of groceries into the kitchen.

"I'll be making dinner now. You two got anything in mind?" Her mother asked, walking into the kitchen with the last two bags of groceries.

"Not really," she replied, heading back into her room.

"Neither," Marcus also replied glancing at Sarah and heading into his room as well.