1 Just Another Shot

After a long and unproductive day, an old lady sighed and started to put her work tent away. She proceeded slowly and ill-willing, not because she was getting too frail for this work, but because she knew that she would have to set it up all over again for another long and unproductive day tomorrow.

Unwilling of progressing in her work right away, she opted to spend her time looking at the sun disappear. But she wouldn't be able to find the sun just by looking at the horizon, because that is not how it works in the land of Omnelum.

In Omnelum the sun did not settle beyond the mountains or the seas. Every habitant of the land could see it disappear just by looking at the sky, where, by the end of the day, the distant and bright ball of flaming light would slowly shrink at the end of the day.

The old lady tried to find comfort in the shrinking sun, a beautiful scenery that even though neither she nor anyone she knew could explain, was hers to gaze at and appreciate, and no one could ever take it away from her.

The old lady stood there looking at the sun, but when her neck started to hurt, a young and strange kid called her attention.

He was not like the other members of her community or the rare travelers that would sometimes stumble over her tribe. His skin tone was much darker than hers, "He must have spent his time looking at the sun way more than me." She would have thought. But there were other things way weirder about the young one calling her attention.

He had a giant and voluptuous strong orange curly hair. In her 100 years, the old lady had never seen such extravagant hair. She could swear that the hair was shining a little.

The old lady also noticed how the kid's clothes were damaged and dirty, probably because he spent a long time traveling in the wild. On the other hand, his hair was as beautiful and clean as it could be.

There was also another thing that tinged the old lady's confused state with fear. On his back, there was a black and imposing warhammer. In the old lady's mind, she wouldn't be able to find a less fitting weapon for a child even if she spent her whole life learning about the different types of weapons.

The weapon looked too heavy. It seemed only a brute could use it in a fight. But instead, a kid that looked no older than 15 years old was so nonchalantly carrying it around.

The kid walked towards the old lady and inclined with a warm smile, which let the old lady apprehensive before such a weird kid.

"Hey-ya." He said with the enthusiasm that any kid would have. "Is this tent yours? I wanted to buy seeds from this area and some villagers here told me that you sold them."

Another wave of surprises shook the old lady. Seeds? Did he travel all the way here for seeds? And what would this kid with such a big weapon want with seeds? All questions that the old lady would not dare to ask.

"Oh-ah." She said, trying to maintain composure. "If... mister is in search of seeds, my tent will have the best collection that you can find in our humble Sun Grow Tribe."

The old lady would not avoid a possible customer, even if she was about to head home.

"Please come in, come in." She said, swiftly entering her tent.

The kid casually followed her, entering the tent with his weapon still stuck on his back. He silently sat on the mat the old lady had layed for him.

The old lady carefully analyzed the kid. She noticed that despite being very young, the kid had a penetrating and strong gaze. When he looked at her, she felt like he could understand things that even her experienced and tired eyes couldn't.

"S-so..." She started saying with a forced smile. "What type of seeds would mister be interested in? We have a variety of seeds from fruits and flowers that..."

But she was interrupted right away when the kid signaled for her to stop.

"There is no need for you to tell me the specifics." He said. "As I would not be able to understand them anyway. I am only interested in buying a handful of every type of seed that you have."

"Every type of seed? Are you sure? Because some of these seeds will only grow under specific circumstances and will demand constant care to grow."

"Nah, it's probably ok." He said, after thinking for a while. "I am buying for my friend, and I am sure she will be able to grow these seeds in no time."

The old lady stared at the kid for a second. She was curious about how this friend of his could be able to cultivate without knowing how to. But in the end, she managed to control herself, and then she started to gather the seeds for him, as it would be unprofessional of her to keep bothering him with questions.

"Here it is." She said as she gave him the seeds in a bag, still fighting the urge to ask about his friend.

She calmly collected the payment as she watched the kid trying to fit the sack of seeds in one of the bags that was tied to his pants.

"Hm, this will make it hard for me to move." He commented. "But oh well."

The old lady smiled. She was finally getting used to the kid. "Will the mister be needing of anything more?"

When he heard the question, the kid's expression changed and his joyful demeanor started to disappear.

"Yes, I do." He said, scratching the back of his head. "I heard some rumors, as one could say, about how the sea close to here has some healing properties. I heard they called it Crimson Coast or something."

"Oh, I see." The old lady said, and just like the kid, her joyful demeanor also disappeared. "It's unfortunate then if that is your main reason visiting. Because you will not be able to find what you came here for"

The old lady did not want to continue talking anymore. The conversation was bringing bad memories back to light.

But the kid did not care and continued. "Oh, is there a problem? Was the rumor perhaps a lie? Or did these healing properties 'dried out' or something?"

The old lady watched the kid talking. And strangely enough, the kid didn't seem disappointed or anxious as he spoke. He seemed almost... relieved.

She then looked at the warhammer behind his back, and suddenly a bad and irresponsible idea started popping up in her head.

"Truthfully," She started talking again, slightly startling the kid. "The reason why I said that is because..."

She hesitated. The old lady was about to do something very wrong. But she was getting desperate.

"It is because our beach was invaded by some strangers."

The old lady closed her eyes. She did not want to see how the kid would react.

At first, she heard nothing but a single sigh, a disappointed sigh

"Oh, it is just that?" She heard the kid talking. "If that is the case, I think I should check it out."

While with her eyes still closed, she heard the kid getting up and hastily leaving the tent, leaving a somber and frail "thank you."

She opened her eyes, surprised. She ran out of the tent and was greeted by the darkness of the night. The sun had shrunk enough and was replaced by another ball with a fainter but gentler light called moon. She saw the kid going in the direction of the beach. She then cried at him.

"Wait!" She almost screamed. "It is too dangerous. It would be better if you turn around and go home!"

She realized that she had done something horrible. She could have lied, she could have just hidden some of the truth, and then the kid would probably go home on his merry way.

Instead, she gave in to despair. Despair that every member in her village shared. This despair was formed when some strangers from distant lands stormed their beach and stole it for themselves. And when they tried to fight back, the invaders effortlessly overcame the villagers and killed their strongest.

"Dangerous, you say?" the kid looked back without stopping and showed a faint smile. "Well, now I really want to check it out."

The old lady wavered again, but this time was because she felt something strange about the kid. When he looked back at her, his eyes appeared tired, like hers, as if he wasn't an inconsequential brat that would jump in a situation just because it seemed dangerous. It was as if he was playing a character.

"Wait, wait, wait!" She ran after him, this time holding him back by grabbing his clothes. "At least... at least tell me. Are you a cultivator?"

Cultivators.

The old lady did not know much about them. She had heard some stories hardly believable from travelers about how humans were capable of unimaginable feats because they possessed this thing in their dantian called Small Orbis.

Apparently, the Small Orbis allowed humans to reap an invisible power from their surroundings and transform it into their own.

She did not believe in such stories at first, but, at 67 years old, and only at that age, she saw a cultivator in person.

They looked normal at first, seemingly weaker than the villagers' strongest. But when they fought, the cultivators did not draw strength only from their muscles, but from a different source, somehow making them the winner. The old lady could only assume that was the work of their Small Orbis.

The old lady did not know how cultivators could use their Small Orbis or if everyone could use it. She only hoped that the mysterious kid in front of her had one. She hoped that the kid in front of her was more capable than he seemed and that she wasn't sending him to his death.

"Well, not really." The kid said with a forced smile, breaking the old lady's expectations. "After all, my Small Orbis was broken a long time ago. In fact, the reason why I came here was to see if the beach could heal it."

The old lady's legs gave out. She was really leading an innocent kid to his demise.

Noticing the old lady's state, the kid only sighed and continued on his way, not caring for her pleas.

"Please, go back! I lied. There is nothing for you there! The power of the sea stopped working a long time ago!"

She screamed and cried, but the kid did not turn back.

"I am sorry, miss," He said without turning back to look at her. "But I think that I am in a more desperate situation than you."

The old lady stopped screaming. Various horrific images started to fill her head. She kept imagining her burying the bloody body of a child in a nameless pit.

"Your name..." She managed to scream, at least. "Please, tell me your name!"

The last pleads of an old lady appeared to have its effects. The kid finally stopped and looked back at her with a genuine smile.

"Well, if it is just that, I will gladly give you my name." He straightened his hair and showed an even bigger smile.

The old lady could not tell if he was acting or not.

"It is Mac. Mac Key Kast."

And just like that, he disappeared into the forest, in the direction of the Crimson Coast.