Mac continued through the forest that separated the Sun Grow Tribe from the Crimson Coast. He followed what used to be the path that the villagers probably used when they still could visit the beach.
Mac couldn't help but leave a heavy sigh as he walked. He was thinking about how the old lady was crying, begging him to not continue.
"It can't be helped after all." He said out loud to no one but himself. "Besides, it is not like no one so far back here could pose a threat to me."
Mac looked ahead of him. He could only see his path because of the faint lights of the moon and the fireflies. Mac noticed how the route made out of dirt started to slowly transcend into sand. He was getting close.
Oddly enough, though, Mac couldn't feel the salty air in his face, and he quickly found out why.
Before he stood a giant, imposing stone wall of at least 10 meters. Mac noticed that the barrier didn't look firm. And not only because it was built in sand, but because the stones didn't fit together.
"Hm," He wondered. "I don't think the people from this village built this wall. It looks recent. So it must have been those outsiders the old lady was talking about."
Mac tried to see where the wall ended, but the light from the fireflies could only help so much. He started to think about the situation and tried to draw conclusions based on the pieces of information that he had."
"There is no way a small group of people could raise this wall, so that means I would have to go against a good amount of people." For some reason, for him, conflict was inevitable. "These people probably went through the trouble of blocking the path to the beach because there really is something special about it." He didn't look as happy with this assumption. "But then... who are these people, and where did they come from? Urgh, I should have asked the kind, old lady for more information instead of behaving like a dumbass. But oh well!"
He reached a conclusion.
He drew the warhammer from his back and held it with two hands. The weapon seemed too big for a 15-year-old, but he still could hold it easily.
He decided that he would face whatever came his way head-on. He really was a dumbass, after all.
But he was interrupted. When he was about to swing his weapon, he felt someone behind him holding it back.
The person behind him must be super strong, he thought. He could pull the warhammer from their grasp, but he would have to exert a ton of strength.
He slowly looked back beyond his shoulders, but he did not see an adult filled with muscles but a girl no older than him.
The girl seemed as weird as Mac himself. Instead of having shiny orange curly hair like him, the girl had vibrant and enticing red hair. Even her bushy eyebrows were a bright red. She had freckles all over her red cheeks and her skin tone was lighter than Mac's. She also wore torned and dirty clothes just like him.
She didn't look happy, though. Her eyebrows were furrowing, and her mouth was slightly open as if she was really offended.
"What-in-the-world-do-you-think-you-are-doing!?" She was whispering screaming.
Mac, for some reason, felt really offended by the presence of the girl too. He facepalmed and groaned loudly, startling the girl.
"Holy fucking Hevi! You gotta be kidding me. ANOTHER ONE? Seriously? I thought there was no more of you Chosen around here!"
"Uh, what?" She said, still whispering. "Anyway, get out of here before you alert those guys."
Without waiting for his answer, the girl grabbed his arm and dragged Mac away from the wall.
She was literally dragging him. Mac did not put up any kind of resistance and let his body be yanked like a ragdoll.
"Oh my Hevi." He said, trying not to cry. "Even without that guy, I still somehow managed to find another one of you guys. How is that possible!?"
The girl did not care about Mac's sobs and continued to drag him. When she reached a distance that she considered sufficient, she let go of him.
Again, like a ragdoll, Mac fell face-first on the ground. He did not bother getting up.
The girl looked at Mac's lifeless body on the ground. She was seriously wondering if she had killed him somehow. She let a relieved sigh when she noticed Mac finally getting up.
Mac started to act as if there was nothing wrong. He began to casually clean off the filth he got on himself as he was dragged through the forest. He only carefully cleaned off the dirt that got on his hair.
The girl watched him silently until she broke the silence. "You... you are actually retarded, aren't you?"
Mac flinched. He then smiled, and without looking at her, he said. "Well, that is certainly not the first time I heard that, and more certainly not the last."
Mac looked really satisfied with his joke, but when he looked at the girl a second time, his mischievous smile disappeared. He looked like a student facing a very annoying task that he could not avoid.
"URGAAARGH!!!" He complained loudly once again but then continued normally. "You are a Chosen one, aren't you?"
He sounded like someone who didn't want to know the answer.
"I am a what!?" The girl was wary of the crazy man in front of her. But there was something about a weird person in the middle of the forest calling her the 'chosen one' that picked her interest.
"Yeah, of course, you wouldn't know." He said, annoyed. "To heavily summarize it, you are one of those hundreds of special people born 15 years ago. The year known by some as 'The Year Of Many Begginings' or something."
That was not the first time that Mac had this conversation. He only hoped this one would be the last.
"You... you really are crazy!" The girl naturally did not believe such a lazy and incomplete explication. "Honestly, who are you anyway?"
"Hmph, my name is Mac Key Kast. My friends call me Mac-K." He said with a smile. For some not-so-mysterious reason, Mac's humor always goes up when he talks about himself. "And you would be?"
The girl observed Mac with suspicion until she finally answered. "My name is Hai, and that is all you need to know about me."
"Well, ok then, miss Hai." He giggled. "Could I know why you are bothering me right now?"
It seemed Mac had already forgotten about the "chosen one" thing.
"Why am I... WHY AM I BOTHERING YOU!?" She erupted. "DO YOU HAVE THE SLIGHTEST IDEA WHAT YOU WERE ABOUT TO DO!?"
Mac silently watched the girl in front of him lose herself. He playfully poked his ear as if her screams had physically affected him.
"Hehe. Would you start to be mad at me if I told you that I really didn't know what I was doing?" He said with innocent eyes.
"YOU..." Somehow Hai was getting angrier. And redder. "You could have doomed my entire tribe if you had offended those monsters! Can you even understand something that simple!?"
Somehow, in her enraged state, Hai was producing actual flames from her body.
And Mac, being as he is, didn't really feel threatened by the flames. He was left speechless, though.
"You know, that was a convincing argument." Maybe not that speechless.
"...What?" Hai did not expect this type of development.
"It was kinda bad of my part not taking into consideration that my reckless actions may have harsh consequences." He clapped his hands.
"Huh? Seriously?" Hai was still dumbfounded.
"Yup." He said with a smile and turned around. "Therefore, I will make sure to deal with those guys before they have the chance to harm your tribe. I will be expecting a reward from your tribe, though" He started walking in the direction of the wall again. "Well, see ya later, Hai."
At that moment, Hai observed Mac going on his merry way without doing anything, as she was still confused about this situation. Until she finally came back to her senses and summoned a giant ball of fire with her hands.
"Enough! I will not let you put my tribe in danger!"
Mac turned and looked at the ball of fire nonchalantly. He had obviously seen and dealt with things worse than that, so he was not worried or surprised. But then he noticed that he had accidentally (and stupidly) dropped his weapon when he was playing ragdoll with Hai.
"Huh, who would have thought?" He said, observing the ball of fire coming in his direction. "My reckless actions do have harsh consequences."
And just like that, he missed his chance to dodge just to make a single stupid joke.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Mac did not die. That was something strange about that ball of fire. For starters, there was no heat emanating from it, just light. Which was one of the reasons why Mac didn't bother to avoid it.
The attack wasn't just for show, though. When the ball reached Mac, it was like he was being hit by a boulder, knocking him back.
He fell to the ground, seemingly passed out.
Hai proudly walked up to Mac. It seemed conjuring a giant ball of fire was nothing for her.
"Now that you have been stopped..." Hai sighed, relieved. "Miss Florinda and the whole tribe will not have to worry about you."
The reason why Hai was in this forest so close to the beach was that, earlier, she had heard the sobs of the old lady whom Mac had talked to, miss Florinda. The old lady told her about a strange kid with a warhammer that was about to get himself into danger, and she asked for her help.
Hai was about to grab Mac by the legs and drag him again, this time towards the tribe, so he could be imprisoned. But then, things started going terribly wrong for her.
"Well, aren't you a sweetheart?" It turned out, her attack wasn't enough to knock Mac out.
Taking advantage of Hai's confusion, Mac skillfully bent his arms. He then managed to throw himself from the ground in Hai's direction.
It took Hai a moment before she realized that she was hit in the stomach. She was unprepared, and the attack was too strong for her. She awkwardly stumbled backward and fell to one knee.
When Hai came to her senses, she saw Mac attacking her again. This time Mac was throwing a punch that would hit her directly in the face, probably knocking her out.
Everything was going too fast for her. She was inexperienced and didn't know the tides of a battle could change instantly. At one moment, she was arrogantly looking down on Mac's body, in the next one, she was on her knees, about to have her face destroyed by him.
She instinctively closed her eyes, expecting the pain.
But nothing happened.
She cautiously opened her eyes and was greeted by a flick of her nose. Mac had stopped his punch moments before hitting her face and transformed it into a harmless joke.
"I guess this is my victory." He said with a cordial smile. "So stop bothering me and go home. I promise you I will try not to let any of those invaders escape."
And then, without a worry in the world, he went back on the path for the third or fourth time.
Meanwhile, Hai was still on her knees. Mac may have held back on his second attack, but the first one was too effective. Hai felt like throwing up from the pain alone.
But she couldn't give up now. This lunatic scaping her would bring nothing but trouble if he wasn't stopped.
She weakly extended her hand in his direction and shot another fire attack.
If the first one felt like being hit by a boulder, this attack would feel like being hit by the end of a log.
The attack blazed through the night at a greater speed than the first one. It would hit directly at Mac's back.
But unfortunately for Hai, Mac wouldn't let himself be hit again, even for a joke. He managed to avoid the attack, even though he was not facing it.
"Hey, what was that for?" He said, comically jumping sideways with one leg to avoid the attack. "Don't you have a... uh... moral code? Yes, moral code!" He found the correct term. "You don't just hit someone on the back. Especially after he just spared you."
Seeing that Mac was still standing, Hai tried her best to get up again, to no avail.
"I don't give a damn about your moral code!" She declared in frustration. "I will not let you leave, whatever it takes!"
Mac watched Hai giving her best, trying to get up. He scratched the back of his head and then sighed.
"Well, it can't be helped." He walked towards her, clearing up his throat. "I think someone should put you in your place."
Hai was ready to face Mac when he started walking towards her, even if she couldn't stand. But the last word that he said... She couldn't explain it, but she felt an immense amount of pressure.
"I can understand why you are still challenging me..."
The pressure she felt increased even more. She couldn't even look at Mac's face, imagine raising her hand to attack.
"But you keep bothering me over and over again that I am starting to lose my patience..."
Once more, the pressure increased. Hai didn't know if she was in real pain or if it was all in her head, but she was drenched in a cold sweat. And Mac was only getting closer.
"So I kindly ask you, brave but foolish chosen one, for the last time..."
It was over. Hai didn't even know if she was breathing anymore.
"Stop!"
And so she stopped.
If someone were to look at this situation from afar, they would find nothing wrong with it. But in reality, Hai was in unimaginable pain. But this pain didn't come from Mac's words because he was not that vile. The mysterious power he used wasn't to cause pain. It was just for her to obey. But Hai was fighting back.
She somehow knew. She knew that if she gave in, the pain would disappear, and she would probably fall into a comfortable sleep.
But she wouldn't give up. How could she? She loved her tribe and everyone that lived there. If she failed here, she would be failing all of them. That was not why she was born for. That was not why she was given a second chance at life.
But how could she stand before such pain? Before such will that went against hers? She then realized that she didn't need brute force to win. She just needed to use her will.
But could her will be enough to face the one of another? She did not know, but she would still try. She would not falter before anyone.
Hai fought back with her whole might. It hurt, and she knew that she could give up at any time, but she did not stop. She was ready to face Mac with everything that she had.
Mac was looking down at Hai, perplexed. She did not stop as he asked. She was actually getting up, slowly but steadily. He could strike her down with a single move, but he just looked in awe.
And there she was, after 2 whole minutes, Hai was firmly standing before him. She stared directly at his eyes as he stared at hers.
Hai felt the pressure dissipate, and only confidence filled its space. She would not stop now. She had already defeated Mac's will. Now she would face and defeat Mac in combat.
She started throwing a punch at Mac's stomach as a payback. But, unfortunately for Hai, her will could only take her so far.
Mac seemed to be able to read her movements. He swiftly grabbed her punch and actually pulled it. If someone blinked, they would have missed Mac's movements. When he moved, it was like he was sliding on the ground. He redirected Hai's attack as he held her fist, and with that, he managed to pull her entire body. In less than one second, Mac managed to find himself behind Hai as he immobilized her with one hand.
Hai couldn't be more surprised. It appeared that she overestimated her abilities and underestimated Mac's. But Hai was not giving up. She felt Mac grabbing her other arm with his free hand, so she decided to kick back at him.
Unfourtnaly, once again, Mac saw it coming. He quickly kicked her leg, stopping her attack.
And then, less than two seconds after her triumphant return, Hai found herself under Mac's control again. It was quite embarrassing for her, honestly.
But things were different now.
"Hahaha..." Mac laughed his heart out. "I gotta say, seeing you standing before me after I used that move filled me with determination." He said as he made a reference that only he could understand.
Mac casually pushed Hai, to her surprise, letting her go free.
"This fight really fixed my bad mood." He said with a satisfied smile. "Hey, do you wanna know more about The Chosen?" He said as if he was talking with a long-time friend.
Hai was more confused than ever.