(Solo) The Crossbow

[Edward Travers]

Ed walked into the small cottage where he now lived and looked around. He looked at the small bunk, a hearth, and the small wooden table that made up the contents of the room. He had only been here for 3 days and he was still not used to having a place of his own. Without any taciturn wizards in the room at all. Ed sighed and unslung his crossbow from his back. He placed it on the middle of the floor. He then went over to the small chest hidden near his bed and retrieved a piece of chalk. He set about carefully drawing a figure on the floor. The figures consisted of two large circles connected with a thick line. The circles were not quite perfect but he knew from experience that they would work their purpose fully. Their purpose, of course, was magic. Although he knew that many people around Mizahar thought of magic as vile and dangerous, Ed always thought that, although it was defiantly something to be respected, it was not dangerous in and of itself. Ed finished his drawing and sat in one of the circles. The crossbow was already in the other circle, as Ed had drawn one of the circles around it.

Ed’s first task was to create a LP, or Life Principle, for the object. He took a small knife out of his pocket and cut himself on the finger. A drop of blood dropped onto the floor and the circle was activated. Ed concentrated, creating a soul for his crossbow using his own soul as a baseline standard. It took about 30 chimes to finish for this process to finish. Once he was done creating the soul, he got up and stretched for a bit. He knew the next step would be harder and take much longer, for even as simple an animation as this.
The next step was to establish a set of directives. These directives would be the ones to control the animation and tell it what to do. Ed thought as concentrated as hard he could and set some directives, in order of importance.

Directive #1: Obey verbal commands from Edward Travers only.
Directive #2: If Edward Travers has been killed, cease all operation forever
Directive #3: On the word Kill (in Ancient Tongue) cease operations until the word Resume (in Ancient tongue)
Directive #4: On the word Load (in Ancient Tongue) draw the crossbow string up to catch and lock the catch.
Directive #5: On the word Shoot (in Ancient Tongue) release the catch
Ed also took care to define words such as killed, operations, and all parts of the crossbow itself. Finished with this step, he started the last step of the process.

The creation of the astral body would be the easiest portion for an animation such as this. All he had to do was teach the crossbow how to pull the bowstring, lock the catch, and release the catch. This process took about one bell. After a long day’s work, he had finally finished creating his first animation in his new house, and without anybody’s help. He activated the crossbow, making it fully functional. This was the most dangerous part of the entire creational process. If he had done anything wrong before, the crossbow might start to destroy his house.

However, the crossbow just sat there. Ed cautiously picked it up and held it in an aimed position. An alien sound came out of his mouth and the crossbow immediately obeyed, automatically drawing the crossbow to a ready position. Ed smiled at his success and put a bolt into his new device. “Shoot” said he, and the crossbow did as it was told. An arrow arced across the room and embedded itself deep into the wall with a loud thump. Ed was ecstatic and jumped with glee. He retrieved the bolt and replaced it to his quiver. He slung his crossbow back onto his back. It was getting to be dinner time by the look of the outside sky and he wanted to celebrate his success. Besides, he had some things to buy for his next project.