"Wheeee!" Alika giggled as she ran circles around the Class Teacher. A group of adults followed them, acting as a safety net as the ten children accompanied their Class Teacher to the edge of the island, entering the root platform region.
"Don't go anywhere near the potholes." The Class Teacher said, warning everyone, "It's dangerous if you fall into them."
"But, I can swim, teacher." Alika raised her hand, saying in response.
"Despite that, it's risky." The Class Teacher said, bringing them to the edge of the root platform, pointing them towards a treehouse that was built atop a sturdy tree that had grown in recent times. "Come up!"
As everyone climbed the flight of stairs leading towards the treehouse, Hazen followed them the last, climbing up slowly as the scene of the grand ocean came into view, its waves highlighted by the sun's glimmer.
Seeing this scene, he stood rooted to the spot, feeling emotional upheavals as he felt like crying for some reason. After all…
"Save me…"
"My son! Please spare my son!"
"Ten Essence Stones, I'll be able to free my brother as long as I have ten more Essence Stones…"
The screams of people slowly resounded in his ears as Hazen blocked his ears, troubled as the screams continued to become louder and numerous, creating a cacophony of noise that unnerved him.
Suddenly, without his realisation, blood dripped out of his ears as he fainted soon after.
"Hazen!" The Class Teacher shouted in alarm, ignoring the danger to herself as she hurriedly jumped in the way, catching Hazen, cushioning his fall before looking at him in a fluster.
"We'll take care from here." The men stationed nearby in support hurriedly rushed to his rescue, carrying him back to his home.
"Grandpa…" Hazen weakly opened his eyes, pointing at the horizon, "I…have to go."
"No, this is your home." The Village Chief said in a hurry.
"I'm needed there." Hazen said, "People are suffering."
"I need to be there…for them." Saying so, he fainted once again.
The Village Chief and the other adults gazed at each other, utterly confused as to what they had to do at this point.
Had they just been blind devotees, they would have catered to all his wishes. But, in their eyes, Hazen was just a child under their care, someone they had watched grow up from a baby.
And upon seeing the burden he was enduring and his suffering every single night, they felt that he wouldn't be able to endure out there, aware that the cultivation world was a cruel place.
The previous time Hazen had arrived at their village, he was a deity. But for some reason, he had died, reborn as a baby in their village through the statue that they worshipped daily.
And recalling his solemn decree back then, they were aware that peace was fleeting. It was something that had to be fought for throughout the span of time, through the dotted history, and into the blank canvas.
Unlike before when he just reeled from the effects, Hazen had directly expressed willingness to head to the mainland. So, they were worried.
"…Grandpa?" Hazen woke up after a few minutes, looking around in confusion as he noticed the expression of concern on the faces of everyone, seeing them hurriedly force a smile on their faces.
"Are you alright? You fainted all of a sudden." The Village Chief asked.
"I'm fine now." Hazen whirred his hands in an effort to show that he was fine.
"Alright, you can return to your class now." The Village Chief smiled, watching Hazen rush off immediately.
"This didn't happen, alright?" He said after a minute had passed.
"Yes," The other nodded before returning to their respective tasks at hand.
"Hazen! I thought you died!" Alika shrilled upon seeing Hazen return, rushing to grab hold of him as she looked at his ears, "You were bleeding!"
"Alika!" The Class Teacher chided her as she stopped speaking. But, her gaze was directed at his ears, seeing that there were no signs of blood on them anymore. The villagers had obviously cleaned it up beforehand.
"You'll…kill me!" Hazen grunted as Alika was exerting too much force in her hug.
"You won't die, right?" Alika asked, tearing up.
"Heck no." Hazen rolled his eyes before rushing to the edge of the treehouse, gazing at the vast ocean before him, admiring the scenery now.
After that, he never once said anything about heading to the mainland as days turned into weeks and weeks into months.
Hazen was now sixteen years old, having become a fully-fledged member of the village's workforce, tasked with collecting the various fruits that grew in the stretch of trees beyond their island.
He hung upside down from the branch of a tree, plucking a fruit dexterously that he threw while Alika—that was on the ground—caught them expertly, used to the task.
They soon filled up their respective baskets of fruits, beginning to return to the village. Alika was a head taller than him, so she casually used his head as her armrest as they walked, chatting.
Hazen had protested this at first but as Alika continued to repeat the same over the years, he eventually gave up trying to convince her otherwise. "We had a good harvest today."
"I've learned a new way to make jam out of these fruits. They're pretty delicious." Alika said excitedly, "I'll make you some tomorrow."
"Awesome!" Hazen smiled, looking forward to it.
As the two continued to talk, Alika motioned for him to quiet down all of a sudden, pointing at a group of elders that were seated within a treehouse, discussing something.
"Shall we spy on their discussion?" Alika whispered.
"That's not proper." Hazen said, breaking into a smile, "Let's do it."
"Hehe." Alika grinned as the two stealthily crept towards the treehouse, hiding within the range of hearing, spying on what the elders seemed to be discussing so seriously that they had to move it to this treehouse away from the village.
As they listened in on the contents, Alika was mildly surprised. As for Hazen though, he went into a trance.
"Hazen is of age now. Why don't we marry him to Alika? I feel like they make a good match."
