"How much longer?" Hilo wondered. Staring down at the ocean. Another morning spent waiting, anticipating. 'Hilo' a voice shot through the forest behind him. 'Yeah!' he said, rushing to his feet making his way through the trees. 'Hilo!' the voice repeated.
"She sounds pissed." Hilo thought. Passing the tightly packed trees, jumping over the thick roots that hugged the floor, he finally made it to a clearing where he was pushed back by a gust of warm air. A mountainous woman with scarlet red skin paced around in a circle. Her long fiery hair flared up with every step she took, getting hotter and hotter. Kalena, Kupua of fire and one of Hilo's guardians. Her raging eyes darted at Hilo as soon as she saw him.
'You're late!' She said.
'Sorry, I got distracted.'
'With what?'
'Ah- I was practicing my channeling.' He said as his eyes slowly darted to the floor. Kalena's sharp charcoal-colored eyes stared him down. She let out a soft sigh as her hair slowly simmered down.
A gust of wind carrying a chill blew through the forest. 'He's lying, Kalena.' Said an owl that sat on one of the trees before morphing into a young man with silver skin and sharp ears. Kai, Hilo's other guardian and the Kupua of wind. His golden eyes stared at Hilo as he plucked a bunch of guavas from the tree.
'It really wasn't anything.' Hilo said, turning to the man who began to chuckle as he took a large bite out of the fruit.
'Kai, shut up and stop interrupting my lesson.' Kalena said.
She turned to Hilo as her hair hardened, becoming obsidian. Lecturing Hilo again wouldn't get her anywhere so she decided to ignore him being late.
'Today, we'll be focusing on survival. Make it past three attacks you pass. Land a hit, you get the rest of the day off.' she said.
Hilo's eyes focused on hers before darting at a branch on the floor and charging at her. She swiftly sidestepped and kicked him in the stomach, which sent him sliding back.
'One.' she said as the sides of her face curved into a smile.
Hilo charged back at her, sidestepping at the last moment, and swung at her side. Kalena flipped over him. Grabbed his collar and flung him into a tree. Hilo barely managed to duck as Kalena dashed towards him, punching the top half of the tree off. Her fist inches over his head. Radiating an intense heat. The burnt fumes rising from what remained of the tree clouded Hilo's mind.
'Focus' she said.
'Yeah. I am.'
'Use your size' she said
'I know,' Hilo said. He used the bottom half of the tree to launch himself past her. Rolling back to his feet. Hilo turned around and held his stance. He stood slightly slouched panting excessively as sweat trickled down his face. "I can't be this tired already." Hilo thought to himself.
His heart beating faster than normal. "She's pissed." he thought to himself. Kalena's hair began heating up as it slowly rose. A wave of heat shot out of her scorching the ground she stood on. Hilo's eyes dilated and his mind raced. "What won't she expect?" he wondered. A smile flashed on his face as he channeled mana into the stick reinforcing it. Flinging it into the sky he then channeled mana into his legs and dashed at her. The closer he got the hotter it got but he wasn't going to turn back now.
He threw a sweeping kick to the side of her face. She caught it bringing a stop to his momentum. Twisting his body he brought his left leg up to her face. Forcing her to loosen her grip and block. Ripping his leg out of her grasp he redirected mana into his arms. Propelling himself into the air he grabbed the stick redirected mana into it as he swung downwards. Kalena grabbed the stick holding it in place. Clenching her fist she punched him into one of the trees splitting it in half.
Kalena stared at the broken stick in her hand and began to chuckle. "Where'd he learn something like that?" she thought to herself. As she raised her head her hair instinctively flared up and formed flaming hands which barely stopped the stick inches from her face. Her eyes dart to a barely standing Hilo with a smile on his face.
'Not bad,' she said with a smile.
'Well, I guess we're done here then.' Hilo said.
'Not so fast, you only nearly hit me and where'd you learn that jumping in the air thing?'
'Impressive right? I copied Captain Rhodes.'
'No, not impressive it's a ridiculous and impractical move the time it took you to do that I could have turned you into ash.' Kalena said.
A cackle came from Kai who had finished all the fruit he had on him. 'Don't listen to her kid; that was an amazing move.' he said.
'Can you not do this right now? I don't say anything when you're teaching him'
'Maybe that's because I know what I'm doing.'
'Don't act like you're any better off; the only thing he can read is that damn book and that wasn't even your doing.'
Kai jumped down from the tree as a flurry of leaves began gathering around him. 'Maybe if you didn't use up all of his daytime on combat that he's already decent in we'd be able to get some actual work done.'
'If he can't even protect himself then what's the point of books?' Kalena said as her hair started flaring up which set the leaves on fire.
'You can't be serious right? Hilo only moved against you after analyzing the situation something I taught him.' Kai said blowing the burning leaves onto the trees, setting them on fire.
'And where did that get him? He may know when to attack but that doesn't mean he'd be able to. Some things have to be shown through actions instead of just words or theories.'
'Everything has a weakness by finding it he's able to take that thing down no matter how big it is. And how do you do that? By analyzing it!'
Kalena's hair burst into flames, setting the surrounding trees on fire. The green grass was reduced to a charcoal black.
'Sorry, but can you guys stop at this rate you'll burn down my forest?' A small brick redbird said. Landing between the two and transforming into a man with vines around his arms and legs. Two jagged branches stuck out of his head.
'Sorry, Keola' Kalena said as her hair simmered down. The fire on the trees slowly died out.
'Yeah she didn't mean to,' Kai said stopping the barrage of wind.
'Just promise not to burn down my forest again.' Keola said touching the ground causing the broken and burnt trees to regenerate. They both nod their heads.
'Really though I thought things got better since Hilo...'
'It would have been fine if I taught him everything. Splitting it between us just complicated things.' Kalena said.
'Yeah, sharing the kid with her really limits what I can do with him.' Kai said.
'Look, you two have the most knowledge on mortals out of all of us so it's easier this way. Trust me if there was any other way…' Keola said.
Kalena sighs before turning to Kai whose head was focused on the floor, avoiding eye contact. 'Now that I think about it where is Hilo?' They finally realized that he was no longer there.
'He's probably back at the cliff' Kai said.
'Really though… with every day that passes the less, I feel he'll be coming back.' Kalena said.
Hilo sat staring at the ocean with intent on the cliff before leaning over it and adding a mark next to the many that covered most of the cliffside. 'Another day' he mumbled; maybe tomorrow… he thought to himself. Preparing to go back he is stopped by the sudden eruption from the volcano further up the mountain which spewed out an ash cloud. Was the old man mad for some reason he wondered? As his eyes met with a small object on the horizon of the ocean, he froze in place.
Back in the forest, the Kupua became wary at the volcano's sudden eruption, knowing it could only mean something bad had happened. Keola kneeled on the floor closing his eyes.
'What's happening?' Kai said.
'Apela has summoned everyone.' Keola said.
'Why?' Kalena asked.
'He didn't say he just said we should all gather at the volcano.'
Then suddenly Hilo dashed past them heading down the mountain at full speed with the help of his mana.
'Hilo?!' Kalena said. She called out to him but he didn't respond.
'He's probably heading home for today.' Kai said before turning back into an owl and flying up the mountain.
Hilo flew through all the trees cutting himself in the process. The words you're back repeating themselves over and over again. Reaching the beach and bursting through the bushes to a group of men disembarking their ship.
'A native!' one of them said. He had a yellowish-grey fur with black lines on his face, spots all over his body, and some tattoo on the side of his face. 'Hey kid help us out would ya' he said.
Hilo had never seen anything with so much fur before. Standing there frozen Hilo decided to back up. Which made the man move closer only for a large hand to pull him back.
'Aaron you're scaring the kid.' Said an older man with white stripes going through his tied-up hair.
'Really? Ya not scared of me are ya kid?' said Aaron.
Hilo ignored him. His eyes only focused on the departing crew mates waiting to see a face that didn't appear. It wasn't him he thought to himself.
'See? He won't even look at you'
'Oh…sorry ya? I didn't know' Aaron said.
A smile grew on the older man's face as he went closer to Hilo who had let his guard down.
'My name's Captain Ben Rogers but you can call me captain or just Ben.' he said while squatting down the kid. Hilo's eyes brightened and a grin popped up on his face
'Captain? Like Captain Rhodes?' he said.
'Ah… Not exactly. You see I'm not a pirate. We're merchants.' He said.
Hilo's grin only grew wider. This man is a captain like Rhodes, meaning he's a man of the ocean and wide world Hilo thought to himself.
'Hilo, Captain, my name's Hilo.' 'Hilo? That's a strange name' the captain said.
'The name's Aaron' Aaron said followed by a purr.
Hilo's interest began shifting to the strange person in front of him he'd never seen anything with that much fur in his life.
'You look strange. Are you sick?' He said before walking up to him. Hilo grabbed Aaron's hand and started pressing his paw.
'Whatcha doing kid?' Aaron said.
'I've never seen a person like you before.' Hilo said.
'I'm guessing y'all don't have Beastmen this side.' Hilo shook his head.
'So Hilo can you help us I'm not sure where we are, and our maps aren't working here. If it isn't much could we stay here the night?' the captain asked.
'Shouldn't be a problem. I also sometimes sleep on the beach it's fun.' He said.
'Ah-sure if it isn't much could you help us procure some food and water?' the captain said.
'Procure?' Hilo said.
'Find' the captain said.
'Oh okay I have a lot of food and water back home I could go fetch them for you.' Hilo said.
'There's a bunch of us why don't some of us help you?' the captain said.
'You could all come.' Hilo said.
'No, we don't want to intrude on your village.' the captain said.
'Villiage?' Hilo asked.
The captain stopped and stared at Hilo who stared at him back. 'No, I insist we stay here.' he said.
'Okay if you want to' Hilo said while shrugging. Captain Ben looked around at his crew for a while before deciding on who to send. 'A small group should be fine. Aaron, Marco, and the stowaway.' He said.
Marco was a large bald man with a bunch of crossed blades tattooed on his body and the stowaway they spoke about was a young dark elf boy who had a scowl on his face.
'Maybe another… Where's Irene?' the captain asked.
'She's asleep,' one of the crewmates said.
'Well I tried, I guess you're it.' The captain said. '
AY Captain' Aaron said.
'Gotcha boss' Marco said and the boy simply grunted.
Hilo nodded as he walked towards the forest with the others following closely behind.