[ Viewpoint: Oliver ]
My name is Oliver, I'm seventeen.
I lived in a small isolated village in the middle of the forest with my family, our life was quiet and happy even though we did not have many things, we had just enough to survive, and I had many children my age, we spent the day playing while the adults hunted and took care of the plantations.
One day a cultivator arrived in our village very bloody and with his body full of wounds asking to be hosted by us, the head of the village ended up letting him stay, and that for sure was a big mistake.
About a week later a group of bandits came to our village, they knew that the cultivator was in our village, and if we did not deliver the man we would suffer the consequence.
We ran towards the hut he was staying at to ask for his help but when we got there we panicked, the man had run away the day before leaving traces of his aura in the room with the help of some kind of treasure in order not to attract the attention of the bandits with his departure and using the village as an ísca to get away.
When the bandits discovered that they were made a fool of by the cultivator they went mad and completely destroyed our village, setting fire to our houses, brutally killing the men and children, leaving only the women alive so they could have fun with them.
I managed to hide in the rubble of a destroyed house, but had to endure for a whole day the screams of men being tortured before they were killed, laughter from bandits who had fun with a game where they promised to leave children alive if they could run far enough before they could reach them, but obviously that was a lie and they fell to the ground one by one with a mixture of fear, hope and tears etched on their faces.
The worst fate was for the women, where the bandits took turns to relieve themselves with their bodies, some acted violently during the act, so at the end of the day these women were covered with bruises, and dry tears on their lifeless faces, and seeing that they had already broken the desire to live of these women the bandits simply killed them saying that it was no fun when they no longer reacted.
When the sun was fading on the horizon they decided to leave, and then there was just one little person left in that place, I, in just one day I descended from my little paradise of happiness to hell on earth.
The strong smell of iron mixed with the smell of soot from the burnt houses invaded my nostrils and brought me to the reality where I looked only left rubble, blood and dismembered people, everything was gone, my parents, friends, neighbors, home, food, happiness...
Realizing this my body stopped responding, simply falling to my knees on the ground while tears flowed endlessly through my eyes and a loud hoarse sound came out of my mouth, all my pain could be felt through this act, I screamed for a long time, no matter if I would attract the bandits again or some hungry animal from the forest.
Then I ended up falling to the ground exhausted and blacked out, I do not remember what happened after that, I only remember waking up in the room of the patriarch of the Higher Body Sect.
He adopted me and raised me as if I were the son he never had, according to him, because I was his only son I was being raised to be the next patriarch of the sect and I would have all the resources to help me conquer this position, but things changed when I turned ten and my talent was tested as mediocre, the attitude of everyone who flattered me daily changed drastically.
I didn't care about that, after all I still had the patriarch by my side, unfortunately I couldn't be more wrong, he took away all my privileges and let me survive on my own without ever visiting me again as if I had never existed.
At the time I had a grudge against the patriarch, but as I matured I realized that it was my fault to be naive to believe that he would take care of a stranger without wanting any benefit in return.
After all I have been through, I have come to the conclusion that if you are strong, no one will throw you away like trash and they will not dare to treat your life as if you were a mere ant who can easily be intimidated, in this world the strength is absolutely everything.
While I was practicing a martial art technique in my yard a man appeared in front of me, I raised my guard instantly, people usually avoid me and those who approach me for sure have bad intentions.
"Relax, kid, if I wanted to hurt you I wouldn't show up in front of you like that"
The man spoke with a firm voice and a serene face while his hands were behind his back, I felt no malice from him, but because someone would come to meet me if it were not to debase or harm me.
"Your technique is interesting but it needs to be polished, maybe I can help you with that... Meet me at the place marked on this paper tomorrow at sunrise"
With a strange look on his face, Oliver remained cautious as he watched the man without moving to pick up the paper from the outstretched hand of the mysterious cultivator, after a few seconds of silence the man sighed deeply and did an action that surprised Oliver.
The man performed the same movements that he was training, only the mastery each one had in that martial art was the difference between heaven and earth, and suddenly Oliver's mouth opened in shock, in his last movement the man slowly extended his fist forward, and after a few seconds a noise as if someone was whipping the air could be heard.
There are some high level elders who can make this noise, the problem is that they can only do it by moving their fists quickly, how difficult would it be to accomplish this feat by moving their fists slowly? Oliver wouldn't dare imagine.
"I'm in a bit of a hurry, kid, think about it carefully..."
The man disappeared without giving me a chance to answer anything, picking up the paper he dropped I sat on the floor to watch the stars as the man's last speech echoed in my mind.