Before even the cocks in the slums started crowing, Henry was up. He was just listening to the melodious songs from the mosquitoes in different corners of the house. It could be assumed that the mosquitoes were the ones which disturbed him from his sweet dreams but the reality remained that he had two tasks awaiting for him in the same day: The slums competition and the military competition. Maybe he was preparing himself psychologically or he was just imagining of what could happen in the two events. The first sound from the early birds made him to look for water to take a shower.
This was the day Miho was going to be exploited with a hive of activities. The inter-slums shooting competition was set to commence at exactly 7:00 Am of the global time system and was set to take a maximum of thirty minutes. The government military competition was set to commence at exactly 9:30Am of the global time system and it was set to last for three hours since the competitors were many. As usual, in Miho slums early in the morning every day there was always barking of tired dogs. Sometimes residents used this to manage time because at exactly 5:00Am in the morning they could bark together as a chorus. Henry also used this as his alarm to go for road works. Exactly at that time Henry left the water in the bathroom and went for road works. He ran for about 20km and came back sweating. He went straight away in the bathroom and took a shower. He was now set to go for the first competition.
He took his fake spear for the inter-slums rematch competition and with him was an artificial spear for government military competition. Time in Miho was treated as linear meaning that it traveled on a straight line and once it is gone it never comes back. Time was highly valued to an extent that it became their culture. Everyone was ready exactly by 7:00Am and the competition started. Some competitors were fearful of loosing hence they gave up early before the match began. Only three street boys accepted to continue with the challenge. On the line of four competitors, Henry was second. The competition started. The first to shoot was David and this time round he was keen not to loose. He had somehow copied skills from Henry. He closed one eye and looked at the plates at the top of the tree at a 90° angle and let the arrow to go up. The arrow targeted one plate and just hit it until it cracked into pieces. That was an excellent performance from David.
Some street boys cheered up for David and others jeered since they were supporting Henry to win the entire match. When Henry's turn came, he just shot without doing measurements and lost. Those who followed shot and just lost. Since only one plate was remaining at the top of the tree they decided to repeat the came for a fair competition. They had only ten minutes to complete the game so everyone was to minimize time spent on every shoot. Henry chose to shoot the last one. The competitors alligned and they began. David was the first to shoot but he lost. The other two boys who followed lost hence Henry remained to be the determinant. This time round he was keen not to loose. He used his mathematics skills in construction and measurements keenly. When he left the arrow, it just hit the plate and he was declared a winner. Though they had a draw with David but they just used the yesterday's results to do comparison and announced him a winner.
His supporters were happy with his competitive skills and were very hopeful that he was going to win the military competition. Without wasting any time, they all headed to the Miho national field where the government military competition was to be done. Lucky enough, just as they stepped on the tarmac road, they saw a government bus collecting competitors from the slums. Henry ran towards the bus and on arrival he saw a list of people who were to be collected by the bus from the slums. Top on list was his name written in bold. Government officials had known him earlier before he even introduced himself. He was given a seat in front of the bus just near the driver. He looked all over and just saw people armed with spears ready for the competition.
They travelled to Miho national field for a do or die competition. In the competition, the government only needed one boy to join armies in training. The only way to join the army was by passing the interview. On a line of fifty people, Henry was at the middle just relaxing. The government officials then started giving directions.
"We only needed ten people in the competition. I have seen many of you have turned up for the interview which is okay. I would have wished that all of you compete but that's out of my control because the government has rules and regulations governing it. So am going to use a certain criteria of which if you don't merit just move out of the field. Up to there I think am very clear."
The government official jerked out a paper to eliminate people as fast as possible. " If you know your name is not on this list moved out of the field." Thirty contestants moved out of the field. The remaining twenty were to be eliminated through different mechanism to remain with only ten in the competition. "If you know you are above fifteen years or below seven years also follow the group that has just left." After the elimination twelve contestants remained. The goal was to remain with only ten then after the competition, they could choose only one winning candidate.
To eliminate the remaining two, they were told to run one round on the field and the last two will move out. Henry did not cry or laugh at the same time. He jogged for some minutes before the whistle was blown. Henry ran to an extent that you could see dust moving out of a wet field. He emerged first and the last two were just simply eliminated. The spear shooting competition began. Sculptures of five cats were placed on five different tables few meters from the competitors. The instructions were quickly given out. "In this game, you are supposed to shoot all the cats at the same time for you to qualify to join the military training." A straight line was drawn to mark the shooting point. If anyone could cross that line was to automatically be disqualified.
Within no time, the competition started. The government had a clear intention to prove if Henry had really fought the dragons or not. He was placed at the fifth position on the line of ten competitors. Each and every one was given five arrows and one spear. This was to test their shorting skills and tactics. The first one just shot and missed. His arrows went in direct direction away from the sculptures. "Game lost, you only have one chance, " the officer in charge said as he called the next candidate. They were now remaining nine since the first one had lost the game. Remember that all the candidates were well trained except Henry. The other candidates were children to government officials hence had the upper hand in accessing government services. The second candidate released the arrows and just hit two sculptures. That was a good trial but most importantly he had lost the game.
Third on the line was the son of the ex- military army. Henry knew that one was going to win the game easily since he was well trained. To some utter surprise, the boy only hit one sculpture. The other arrows went in air missing the sculptures. All the people had strong believe that the boy was going to win but this time round he lost. Him having an upper hand in the government, he was given another chance, he shot again and lost leaving people's mouth wide open not to say anything because it was a shock to them. The fourth boys was called to shoot. This one was also skilled in arrow shooting. He shot and he just hit three of the sculptures. Before Henry was called for his turn, a mechanical voice rang in his mind.
[Congratulations for binding to the dominator system. You have been awarded 2 skills.]
[Don't pull the spear with alot of force and don't face the sculptures directly while shooting. Good luck, a win for you is a win for all.]
The system disappeared and immediately Henry was called for his chance. He went happily knowing that he had already won. He knelt down and pointed the arrows in different directions and just shot. Everyone knew he had just lost even without shooting. Henry left the arrows to go. The arrows went up in different directions and upon landing, they just hit the five sculptures at the same time. Each and everyone in the competition was shocked. But people from Miho slums were happily celebrating the win.
"There is no need for the remaining candidates to compete because we have already found the winner," the officer in charge said. Some officials were doubtful and ordered Henry to repeat the game alone and prove his win. They assumed that it was a guess work. The sculptures were rearranged and Henry was told to shoot again. He followed the system and just shot in the similar way hitting all sculptures. The government officials now had a prove that he fought with the dragons. He was given a chance to join the military school for him to perfect his skills. During this time, he is only thirteen years old.