“See you on the losers side Lockwood,” Brandon mocked Luis as he gawked him.
Luis ignored his remark as he steadied his bow and arrow, his fingers suddenly lost the presence of the arrow’s butt end, since the feathers or tips of it was not smooth. He shot his first arrow, which did not even make it to the target at all, Luis was confused on what was going on. He checked his second arrow and shot it swiftly with steady aim and patience, but with the same result. Brandon was getting more of shots by the black and white region of the PITA target system. Luis was getting embarrassed as the crowd gawked at him, for not even getting one of his arrows on target. He took out his third arrow, but as he felt the tip of the butthead, he noticed the ripped feather.
“No,” Luis spoke in disappointment. He looked at Brandon who winked at him happily.
Luis could not leave his post since those were the rules. He was desperate to ask the referee to get new arrows since his arrowheads were damaged, by Brandon, he figured. For almost half a minute, he was not sure what to do next in a confused mindset. What am I supposed to do now? He thought as he looked at the grass immensely.
He pulled out pieces of short, trimmed grass from the ground and began to tie these around the arrowhead’s butt which made it look more jungle like. As Brandon was about to shoot his last arrow towards the target, Luis shot his and hit right below the bullseye off by a few centimeters. The crowd was shocked, that Luis managed to fix the problem with his arrowheads so quickly and swiftly in time. Luis was a creative guy when it came to combining components to objects such as a bow, throwing knife, samurai collective items and other garage-based tools. Brandon himself could not even get one arrow close to the bullseye which did support Tom’s statement, that he was cheating the entire tournament and had been manipulating everyone’s arrows.
“HOW?” Brandon yelped in shock as he witnessed Luis’s jungle based feathered arrows that he created from scratch.
After a couple more infuriating shots, the final round ended. Luis did not get all his arrows on the bullseye or near it since the featherheads were broken or ruined by Johnson. He knew that he lost, before the announcer said.
“The champion of this tournament is Brandon Johnson,” the announcer yelled excitedly.
“That’s a big lie!” Luis spoke to the entire crowd and the announcer.
“What?” the announcer spoke.
Luis was about to reply but something was not right, his head began to feel dizzy, he was getting very lightheaded and could not focus on what was going on, suddenly-
SMACK! THUMP!
Luis’s body collapsed onto the grass and he completely fainted. Tom and the referee attempted to wake him up. A few close people he knew came to see if he was okay, they had no idea on why he suddenly collapsed.
♦♦♦
Surrounded by the cosmos of the space like Trixie, Veronica and Aiden were, Luis was stunned by the beauty of the universe itself with the cosmic primordial entity approaching in front of him.
“You have been chosen Lockwood,” Mr. Universe spoke. “I will let you go if you pass these trials or decide not to do them.”
“Is this real or some sort of dream?” Luis spoke in anger. “Cause either way, you just interrupted me revealing the truth at the archery tournament. What are these trials for and what happens if I pass these so called ‘trials?”
“Alright Lockwood,” Mr. Universe spoke in his soothing tone. “I understand that you are an honest fellow who has been manipulated by a cheater. So, if you were to pass these trials, you will become a Stellar-Being, chosen to provide good in this world, use whatever powers, abilities, or techniques that I will assign you, which in a way will benefit the world.”
“As long as I can prove the world is filled with cheaters, manipulators, etc,” Luis spoke in a tampered tone. “Alright then, get on with it.”
Mr. Universe asks the same three set of questions to Luis, like he did for Trixie, Veronica and Aiden. Luis slowly and patiently answered, “I desire Allison most, I’ve grown up with her all my life. I also desire my sport archery, being fair to others, to me, money isn’t the desire a human should have, if that’s what you are testing me on, greed or corruption. The wish I would have in the world would be everyone to be fair, kind, no manipulation as I stated briefly or vaguely to you before. Lastly, I would use my powers to teach people who try to manipulate others or hurt others, a lesson if necessary. Could you answer me one question?”
Mr. Universe said slowly; “Sure.”
“What happened to Trixie and Veronica? I saw a glimpse of her getting white hair along with Veronica getting ice on her skin bit by bit?” Luis questioned Mr. Universe intently. “Were you behind this?”
“You really are clever Lockwood,” Mr. Universe answered back. “Yes, they have become Stellar-Beings just like you are. Do not worry, no harm has been done to them. But you will not have any memory of this event happening at all unfortunately.”
“Pretty slick and sweet, I guess,” Luis answered. “Still a bummer I don’t get to remember this conversation. Where were we?”
“You have passed,” Mr. Universe said simply.
Before Luis could react, the entire cosmos around him went completely blank black.
♦♦♦
Only a few seconds had passed when Luis suddenly woke up surrounded by Tom and his close ones. Tom helped him up as he steadied himself towards Brandon himself. Luis assured everyone that he was fine, he had no idea what happened, but something extraordinary was already