"<No, no, NO! PATHETIC!>" the old archer yelled to the kid's face. He was dressed in dark red robes and the orange hair on his head and face went down to the floor.
"<But... I only missed once...>" the kid protested in a respectful tone.
"<Only once? ONLY once?!>" the master repeated. "<ONCE is enough to make you unworthy. In battle, ONE lost arrow could mean one less defeated enemy. One miserable piece of excrement that will get to live because of your failure. That's not acceptable.>"
The old master left the lad's side and started walking along the line of formed young archers. "<No, all resistance must be erradicated
as soon as it's spotted, not one moment later,>" he continued. "<I congratulate you on the quickness of your reactions, lad, but your lack of accuracy makes you inferior. From now on your training hours will be doubled.>" The master stopped walking and talking for a moment, the idea of a punishment forming in his mind. "<The same goes for the rest of the group.>"
The master continued walking until he reached a wooden door. "<As a consequence, your sleeping time will be reduced by half.>" He opened the door and stepped outside without looking back. "<You have young Zarch to thank for that.>"
As soon as the door was closed, the rest of the boys in the large room turned and looked at Zarch. As he stepped back, they formed a circle around him, and then...
...Zarch woke up.
"Where the hell...?" he looked around. He was lying on a rustic bed with no covers in a small room with wooden walls.
"<What did you say?>" another Red Archer, sitting in a nearby bed, asked.
Right. Another dimension. Archer dude. Weird lenguage.
"<Nothing...>" Zarch said, sitting up. "<What happened?>"
"<You got caught, that's what happened.>" the other archer answered. "<They killed Hark and your group, but they kept you alive, possibly for questioning. We caught them and found you gagged and uncounscious.>" The archer grinned. "<You looked pathetic.>"
"<Where are the ones who caught me?>" Zarch asked.
"<They escaped. Some sort of portal.>" The archer looked at Zarch. "<You want revenge, don't you? I knew it. That's why I waited for you. We're making a small tracking group. Three of us, no more. Once we find them we'll let the rest know and ambush them. They're not to be taken lightly, it seems.>"
"<Count me in,>" Zarch said. He was about to ask something, but hesistated. He wasn't sure if it would give him away. In the end, he decided to ask. "<How will we track them if they used a portal to escape?>"
The other archer cocked an eyebrow. "<We have their signatures,
obviously. What's wrong with you, are you forgetting Master Ark's lessons?>"
"<Oh, no. I'll never forget that old bastard. I still remember the beating you gave me because of him.>"
The other archer smiled. "<How could you. We sure taught you a lesson that time. Let's part, now. It's going to be a long walk.>"
"<Indeed,>" Zarch replied. "<I'm eager to find those bastards...>"
Memory is a funny thing, Zarch thought to himself as he walked outside the room with his comrade. It's there when you need it to save your ass.
If only he could remember this guy's name, though...
After walking through the halls of... whatever the place they were in was, Zarch walked past a small window that led to a torture chamber. He recognized the person being tortured inside.
"<Wait, isn't that one of the strangers that captured me?>"
