Some time later that same day...
Explosions could still be seen near Seth's old village when he and the rest of the Misty Woods Tribe were already in boats, fleeing westward.
Four small boats were sailing side by side through the crystal clear water with 20 people, from young teenagers to elders.
Most were looking to the east, seeing the disaster that had struck their island, their world. Everything they knew was in that place, but now they could only flee helplessly.
Seth was in command of the first boat and avoided looking in the direction of his home, but the sounds of explosions reached his ears every few seconds. He didn't want to think about what was happening but couldn't ignore all the signs around him.
From the smell of smoke to the sounds of fleeing animals, it all made him think how far away he was, how he was leading an escape instead of joining the fight.
Hell, he wanted to fight and defend his village!
But as he looked at his boat, which was filled with young people who couldn't bear to fight, he couldn't help but sigh and stick to the First Elder's plan.
'The First Elder knows what he's doing. He wouldn't make a mistake.'
This thought helped him keep going and help his companions row into the unknown.
"What do we do now?" A young teenager asked, looking at the chaos of the island.
Giant Island, like its name, was giant. But the chaos created in the small part of the island where Seth's tribe was located caused mess all over the land.
An old man sighed when he heard the young man's question. "Now, we can only use the opportunity created by the First Elder."
They had all heard from Seth's group about the tribal leader's order.
Some didn't like it. After all, their relatives and friends had been in the village at the time of the attack.
Their feelings for those people were strong, and everyone who had left people behind wanted to go back and try to get them back.
Maybe the First Elder was wrong...
But only the younger ones, who didn't know the extent of the First Elder's powers, had considered that. Everyone else knew exactly how accurate the man's predictions were.
All those who knew of the First Elder's accuracy swallowed their grief and accepted his final orders!
"Now we can only count on young Seth." An old man with white hair said, closing his eyes to avoid seeing the disaster.
A young teenager looked into Seth's square face and saw the black eyes of the tribe's strongest survivor. 'From now on, the chief will be the first elder.'
The Misty Woods Tribe didn't have a clearly defined patriarchal or master position. That was not a tribe where one person had absolute power to rule over their people. The tribe leader could give some orders himself, but most of the time, decisions were made by a council of elders.
The First Elder was highly respected, and the council approved virtually everything he decided. Even though the tribe did have a council, his word was enough to make him an exception in the long list of tribal leaders throughout history.
One word from him was enough to convince those who knew him!
With a special power that gave him the ability to control time, when Elijah decided something, everyone followed him, even without the approval of the council of elders.
With the end of the tribe still on the Giant Island, Seth would naturally become the tribe's first elder, as he was the strongest and most talented survivor.
Seth hadn't told his group some of Elijah's last words, but there was no need. Everyone on those boats knew that he had inherited the position of the tribe's leading expert!
Seth O'Brian might be young, but he was the second strongest in the tribe and possessed the highest skill between them.
In a world where people had at most one innate ability, Seth O'Brian broke all the rules. With his ability to mimic, he could copy the abilities of anyone he interacted with!
Considering the time he had spent with First Elder Elijah, he was only the second person in the village's entire history to use the special ability of Time!
Everyone looked at Seth after the previous elder's words, confident that there was no one better to lead them than the most respected person in the village after Elijah.
"What are we going to do, Seth?" Moses Snyder, the only elder of the council who hadn't been in the village at the time of the attack, asked, his fists clenched.
He hated the helplessness in his heart!
But even though he had no good track record with Seth, Moses let go of the past to hear what this young man had to say.
The tribe did not have the habit of following leaders, but in this crisis, there was no room for democracy.
Seth pressed his lips together, not so worried about the responsibility he didn't want to take on, aware that he couldn't deny it.
He said in a firm tone. "First of all, let's ensure the survival of our bloodline. The First Elder didn't send us off the island to waste our lives.
We don't know what lies beyond the Plyrose Sea, but there must be other islands like ours. Let's find a safe place for the weakest among us and establish a base.
He closed his eyes, clenched his fists, and said.
"Then we will take revenge!
We will understand who did this to us, why, where they came from, and more. We will not stop until those responsible pay for this day!"
Everyone shouted in agreement, fully agreeing to follow the steps Seth had mentioned.
Revenge was on everyone's mind. All of them, without exception, left something behind.
"But is there anything else in this world?" A young woman asked, drawing the attention of the entire group.
Having grown up on an island and never left it, they didn't know what existed outside Giant Island. In fact, over the generations, several of the First Elders, including Elijah himself, had reiterated the idea that outside the island, there was only doom, a hell of endless flames where one would burn forever if one risked it.
The lands beyond the Plyrose Sea were corrupted, and those who left the island could never return.
With that in mind, some of them couldn't help but be a little hesitant to find a new place.
Amid this, the boats moved quickly, making the island smaller and smaller from their perspective.
"There must be," Seth said. "Each First Elder received a part of their predecessor's memories to this day, so maybe First Elder Elijah knew something."
Dax agreed. "And we have no choice. Let's set sail and find a place to drop anchor. Then we'll decide what to do about revenge.
First, we need to understand the place we're coming to."
Emery noticed something ahead of their boats and called out. "Seth, there's something rapidly approaching the surface a kilometer from us."
Seth's eyes colored like Emery's, and he saw something massive rising to the surface.
He couldn't see as clearly as Emery since it wasn't his original ability. But he could use practically 70% of the powers of the tribe's main tracker.
He frowned and jumped from the bow of his boat into the air.
As he made a parabolic trajectory in the air, a huge hammer appeared in his hands.
"Sea beast, this was a bad day for you to show off."
Without waiting, Seth brought his giant hammer down on the huge whale with a body 100 meters long, 40 meters high, and 35 meters wide that had just surfaced.
BOOOOM!
As the group sailed a little behind Seth, his hammer struck the creature's head, instantly destroying its body.
The massive body turned to mush as soon as it was hit, but soon after, the particles of its body disintegrated to such an extent that almost nothing remained but a dark stain on the water.
This group didn't know it, but at that moment, a whale that could cause countless disasters in the place they would soon come to know perished at Seth's hands without any difficulty for him!
That was the beginning of the Misty Woods Tribe's journey!