Thinking back about the day of Samuel's birth, he couldn't help himself from smiling. All those crazy things that happened were a good reminder that the world wasn't as simple as he thought it was.
'What was it about their child for all those beasts to behave like that? Who knows? Maybe it's something we'll never know.' He thought.
It didn't take long to notice the difference between him and the other kids though. The first peculiar thing was that he refused to eat meat, no matter how they tried he spat it out again. At first, it was something they worried about. In this world people needed strong bodies as a foundation for their future cultivation and eating meat, especially meat from magical beasts containing Ki, was something essential for gaining strength. But all their worries seemed for naught as he was somehow always stronger than his peers. So, they just fed him vegetables and fruits and the kid was happy, problem solved.
It was when he was a little older that the first signs of his incredible intellect started to show themselves. He began to show interest in all the things around him, and when I say everything I mean everything, there was no end to his curiosity. Can you imagine a four-year-old kid throwing rocks against a formation to study its composition? Learning how to read and write as well as any other adult in mere months? It didn't take long until he knew pretty much everything the people were able to teach him, and at that time he was only seven years old.
Then there were these periods where he was often bored, depressed even. You could see him staring at a tree for half a day. It's beautiful he said, how it dances in the wind. He began to see things in the most insignificant things like clouds, animals, and random rocks. There was this time where he was obsessed with a woman from a visiting group of merchants, she was special he said. And although she was quite the beauty sure, nobody thought she was anything special. We thought he was in love or something, a seven-year-old kid who fell in love with a woman who was over forty years old, maybe he was far ahead in that area as well?
All animals loved him, no exception. It didn't matter what kind of animal it was, they were always at ease with him around. It was like he had that special kind of aura that made them docile and act as if they knew him since birth. Take birds, for example, they always fly away if you approach them right? But in his case they land in his hands or on his shoulders, almost begging to be pet. And there is this weird discrepancy between male and female animal behavior in his presence. Where the former clearly act subserviently and the latter, well... take a guess.
At the age of eight, he started getting interests in arts like stone sculpting, wood carving, drawing, and painting. We knew he was smart before no question about it, a once-in-a-lifetime genius even. But it was when he started mastering his arts that we truly realized that he was out of this world, someone blessed by the heavens, a miracle.
"What is art?" You ask him.
"It's a language," he said.
From the most realistic paintings to vague and abstract drawings, from massive stones sculptures to random carved-out phrases on a wooden pole, everything he made had something unique, something weird and special about it. It felt like his work had this kind of mystical connection with the world around it, as a tree connects to the landscape or a bird with the sky. If he painted a lake for example, it was as if just by looking at it you were drowning in it, surrounded by water flowing all around you.
His most popular painting was that of a giant, massive tree. It was made on a huge canvas of over twenty feet high and ten feet wide, it was enormous! The tree was painted so beautifully, so extremely lifelike it was unbelievable. Down to the smallest of details like the shades and sunlight on each and every individual leaf, it was perfect. It felt like you were looking at the tree for real instead of looking at a painting, it was a masterwork!
But that's not the only reason why it's so popular, it's the feeling you get when you look at it that makes you truly fall in love with it. It makes you feel young again, overflowing with crazy amounts of energy, refreshing your body, soul, and mind. Such an intoxicating feeling made your pain and worry disappear as the snow melts in the sun. It makes you feel alive, ready to take on the world and carry its burdens.
There was this old woman in the village that was always in pain. For the majority of her life, every joint in her body hurt with every movement she made, it was unbearable. She sat in front of the painting while laughing and crying because for the first time in years she felt no more pain. After six days of not eating and drinking, people started getting worried about her mental health. They thought she was addicted to the painting and would die if she stayed there any longer, so they took her away by force.
Poor woman the people thought, now she would have to live with that unbearable pain again, maybe it was better to let her die in peace? But to everyone's shock and disbelief, her pain never returned! They waited for days, weeks, and when the pain had still not returned after several months they could only come to the conclusion that the painting had cured her disease! The entire village went in an uproar, it was a miracle, a miracle!
When he was born the people knew he was fated for grander things but that was it, nobody knew why all those things occurred after all. But this time it was different, this time he made a permanent, irreversible change to people's everyday lives. They started seeing him as a prophet, a holy child send by the heavens, he who cures sickness and ends all suffering, the bringer of life!
It didn't take long for news to spread as in no time, from one village to the other, everybody heard about it. More and more people started visiting the village, they all wanted to see the miracle with their own eyes. After confirming the truth they started bringing in their sick and each and every one of them got healed, no exceptions! Thousands and thousands of people started to worship him. They prayed to the heavens for his good health and brought food and gifts to the village. They all wanted to meet him, curious to see this child blessed by the heavens, the boy behind the painting.
And Samuel? He refused every single one of them, hating all the attention more than anything. He's always been an introverted person, someone who hardly socialized. When we asked him why he never talked to other kids or even adults for that matter, you know what he told us?
"Imagine having a conversation with a bird, a dog, or a cat? I love animals."
'What the heck!?' We thought.
Walking out of the woods Elkana was shaking his head. 'Crazy kid' He thought. 'Hmm? People flying in the air? And they are heading towards the village? Not good!'
Slightly panicked Elkana ran back towards the village and when he arrived, he spotted three people standing in the air above the central square. He rushed through the entrance gates as fast as he could, curious to see what was going on. He got that faint feeling they were here for Samuel, what else could attract them to their little village? Let's hope these people don't have bad intentions, to be able to fly in the air they had to be at least in the golden core realm. The strongest person in their village was only in the late foundation realm, they would have no chance of winning a fight at all.
After having a closer look at these people high up in the air, he realized they were all female. One middle-aged woman and two girls around fourteen to sixteen years old. They were all beautiful and were wearing the finest dresses made of silk, no one around here would be able to get these types of clothing, let alone afford so if they could. It was obvious they were not from around here and probably came from one of the big cities far away. What purpose would these people have to come all the way to our little village?