Nathan had been obstinate, and insisted that I undergo extensive training before I entered the Realm. I'd agreed, because it had been eating away at me; how could I enter the middle of a battle, without even knowing how to punch someone? For the past week, Nathan and I had trained all day on the peak of the mountain. Hikers seldom came this high up, and when they did, Nathan and I retreated back into the alcove and trained there instead.
All the while, the Nixies had been creating weapons for us. For me, they had designed a bow from thick pine branches. They'd enchanted the bow so that it was as strong and as powerful as the tree it had come from. The upper and lower limb were glossed in a fine brown pine, with swirls of lighter brown. For the string, they had used one piece of my hair,
