"Ben I'm sorry I'm sorry, your words just shook me. I didn't do it on purpose. 

But Ben wouldn't hear any of it. All he had done was ask a simple question and for that, he got a spit in the face with a mouthful of water. He felt he had been completely and utterly wronged. 

Lowen saw that none of his words were getting through to him, but he really didn't know what to do. He had never needed to appease a 5-year-old child before. Ben continued to cry louder and louder; Suddenly, Lowen thought of a solution. 

"Ben, Ben, if you stop crying, I'll show you a magic trick." 

Those words caught Ben's attention and his loud wailing voice, came down to a whimper. 

"Really, big bro? You're not lying?" 

Lowen shook his head several times. 

"Of course not, would big brother lie to you?" 

Ben stared at Lowen suspiciously. 

"Ok ok, you don't believe me. How about this, if I can't do a magic trick, then ill get you more snowberries, what do you think of that?" 

Ben's big brown eyes immediately lit up like stars in the night sky. 

"Really, will you really get me some snowberries? How many?" 

(How many? how many does this kid want? If I retrace my steps, I bet I could easily go back to all those bushels of berries. I could probably get there and back within 2-3 hours.) 

"How many do you want?" 

Ben's brow scrunched up, he seemed to be thinking incredibly hard, finally, he held out his arms in a big hug like manner and said. 

"This many." 

But Lowen had no clue how many that was. Could it be 5 or 3 jars worth of bushes, Lowen had no way of telling, he eventually gave in with a sigh. 

*Sigh* 

"I'll tell you what Ben if I can't show you a magic trick, then ill get you enough for a month, how's that. 

Ben himself didn't know how many he wanted exactly. He just knew he wanted a lot. He didn't know how many snowberries a months' worth was, but he knew it was certainly bigger than the gesture he made with his tiny arms. Ben shouted readily in agreement. 

"Yay! berries, berries!" 

Lowen looked at Ben and interrupted him. 

"Hey hey, that's only if I can't do it, got it?'' 

Ben's face became pale with fright. As his eyes began to tear up again, he whispered. 

"So big bro won't get me any berries?" 

(Ah, this kid fights dirty.) 

*Sigh* 

"Ok ok, how about this, you stop crying and not only will I show you a trick but ill also get you some snowberries. What do you think?" 

Ben looked at Lowen with a starry gaze, he wiped away his snot and tears and then nodded his head again and again. 

"Ok kid, watch closely." 

Lowen said that, but he had no idea what he was gonna do. He didn't technically know any tricks. As he pondered for quite a bit, Ben was starting to get impatient. As tears began to well up at the corner of his eyes, Lowen finally thought of something. 

(I may not know any magic tricks, but I do still have ki.) 

Lowen sat down and grabbed a single black hair from his head. He then plucked it out and showed it to Ben. 

"I have here a single piece of my hair. Tell me Ben, is this a normal piece of hair or a magic piece of hair?" 

Ben looked at the hair with confusion before looking back at Lowen. 

"Isn't it just a normal piece of hair?" 

"Tch tch tch, to the ordinary eye it may appear normal, but to someone like me, the truth lies elsewhere." 

Ben looked even more confused. 

"Little Ben, watch closely." 

With that, Lowen slowly closed his hand, covering the hair completely. Ben, however, immediately thought it was the same trick his sister had pulled on him before. She would put something in her hand and then open it and it would be gone. She would then put her hand behind his ear and pull her hand back to reveal that the thing was hidden behind his ear. He may be 5, but she had done the same trick so many times, he knew she had just hidden it behind her hand. So looking at Lowen's hand, he immediately became disappointed. He was almost about to call Lowen mean for trying to trick him when suddenly, something amazing happened. Lowen slowly opened his hand to reveal the hair, but the hair wasn't just hair anymore; The very center of the hair held a small orange flame. The flame was no bigger than the flame from a candle, but that wasn't all. The flame stayed in the center of the hair. It didn't burn up the rest of the hair, instead, it just stayed there in the very center, burning bright while refusing to even flicker, Ben was utterly shocked. 

(How...how did he do that?) 

Seeing Ben's amazed face, Lowen wasn't done just yet. 

"Ben, watch the flame." 

Ben nodded his head and Lowen commanded in a loud voice. 

"Flame, I command you to move to the right." 

With that order, the small orange flame like a loyal soldier quickly made its way to the right end of the hair. Just before it was about to reach the end, Lowen once more commanded." 

"Flame, I order you to the left." 

Once more the flame moved on his order. As it quickly changed direction, it reached the end and was about to fall off when Lowen commanded again. 

"Flame, I order you to stop moving." 

And with those words, the flame once more stood at attention at the left end of the hair. The hair remained unharmed and a few seconds later the flame went out. 

Ben was shell-shocked, this was truly amazing. Ben's heart raced like lightning, each and every hair on his body stood on end. As he stared on in pure excitement, the mean words he wanted to say before turned to dust in his throat. Once more he thought: 

(Mage.) 

Of course, Lowen knew this wasn't magic at all; Instead, it was ki. He wasn't making a flame from ki, he was heating up the hair in his palm to such a high degree that it eventually caught fire. Then using his ki, he supplied energy to the flame so it would not go out. 

 After that, he did something that was quite difficult. He can't move the flame with his ki because his ki doesn't extend out yet. Instead, he had to use the world's ki. So when he ordered the flame to move right, what he did was concentrate ki underneath the hair on the right side of his palm, while at the same time absorbing ki on the left side of his palm. As he absorbed ki on the left side it created a small force on the left side of his palm. Then he increased absorption from the left side of his palm, and moved the absorption towards the right side of his hand. With that, It pushed the flame slightly to right and to make the flame go to the left he did the opposite.  

Anyone that saw this would only assume that Lowen had moved the flame from the center to the right and then to the left but anyone who understood it, truly understood it, would marvel at how he accomplished such a difficult feat. And although this so-called trick literally only lasted for several seconds, it took Lowen's utmost control. It was like controlling 100 release valves all at once, letting some ki enter his palm while at the same time releasing ki. One to push the flame while the other maintained it. There was a precise balance within his palm and with these two different forces, he managed to accomplish his goal. 

Ben started praising and clapping as loud as he could, he had never seen anything like it before in his entire life. 

"AMAZING, AMAZING, HOW DID YOU DO THAT?" 

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

Ben's thoughts raced all over the place, there were so many questions he needed answers to, but one thing, in particular, stood out to him. 

"Big bro, can I ask you something?" 

"Sure ask away, I'll try to answer whatever I can, that is, without giving away my secrets." 

Ben nodded his head in understanding before asking. 

"Why did you use a piece of your hair?" 

"What?" 

(After what I just did he wants to know why I used a piece of my hair, not how I made a flame appear from out of nowhere, or how I controlled its movements. Haha, this kid, is he perceptive or is he just curious?) 

Lowen simply shook his head. 

"I can't tell you that, its a trade secret." 

Ben's eyes showed a bit of disappointment before returning to their former brightness, he nodded his head as though he understood something but still he couldn't help but stare at Lowen, now with even more curiosity. 

The real reason why Lowen used a piece of his hair was to prevent it from burning himself. He had filled that piece of hair with ki before he plucked it from his head and placed it in his hand. Although it technically was no longer a part of him, it was already changed from his body, therefore, it could hold a bit of ki without being destroyed. If one were to look closely, a tiny speck of the hair had actually caught fire. Lowen couldn't create a literal flame from nothing, so he did actually burn just a bit of the hair to get the initial flame. The rest of the hair was left unharmed but it would have completely burned if the flame lasted a little longer. With the hair there, it held the flame overtop of it instead of directly touching Lowen's skin but he could still feel some of the heat and his hand now stung a bit, any longer and his hand too would have been burned. 

As the atmosphere returned to silence, the two now had a smile on their faces but very quickly, that silence was broken with a scream. 

"AHHHHHH!" 

The two jumped a little from shock before Ben's face paled, he immediately recognized that voice and shouted. 

"Big bro big bro, that was big sis screaming, something happened. 

Ben quickly tried to stand but just as quickly his legs buckled below him. If Lowen weren't there he would have hurt himself, but Lowen easily caught him and laid him down. Lowen speedily ran out while yelling behind him. 

"Ben don't worry, ill be back soon so just rest." 

Using his sharp ears, Lowen had already located where the scream had come from and so like an arrow released from its bow, Lowen shot off in a certain direction. Using his Shadow Steps, he easily covered 100 feet in only a few seconds. Had someone seen his movement, they would have sworn there was something wrong with their eyes. How could a small child be so quick? Standing at the entrance of the village square, Lowen spotted a small crowd of villagers gathered around two people. One was a tall young man in his 20's with a medium build, while in his hand he gripped the arm of a young lady. With chestnut covered hair, a few freckles, and dark brown eyes, Lowen instantly recognized her. 

(Nia.) 

They seemed to be arguing over something. The young man yelled toward the gathered crowd. 

"This little traitor stole someone's fish and is trying to trade it away." 

Hearing this, some of the other villagers became enraged but Nia looked the man in the eye and quickly refuted. 

"No, let go of me! It's not true, I didn't steal anything! The boy who's staying with me caught it and he gave it to me, I wanted to trade it for some vegetables when you..." 

Before she could finish saying anything, the young man slapped her in the face and yelled. 

"You fucking liar, how can a kid catch a fish nearly half his weight, huh? Do you think we're all a bunch of idiots? Now tell me, who did you steal from, hurry up and talk or its just gonna get worse for ya." 

Seeing this, Lowen felt something in his stomach sink and a force of fury began to rage within him. As he was about to step out and deal with the villager he saw a familiar look in Nia's eyes. It was the same determined look he had in his previous world when he vowed to never give up and to survive no matter what. 

Nia struggled from the man's grip; Biting his hand with her full force, she tore some flesh from his hand and spit it on the ground. With that, the man screamed in pain and threw her to the ground. Nia knew that no matter what she said no one here would listen to a word of it. So, backed into a corner she would fight. As she spat the piece of flesh on the dirt-covered ground, people looked on in shock. They had never seen Nia be so vicious. Usually wherever she went, whatever she did, people would say and do awful things to her. Spit on her, kick or trip her and even some of the other children would throw rocks at her and she would simply accept it with her head hung low crying pitifully, but today... today, something seemed different, she was different.  

Nia felt indescribable anger fill her body. After she met with Lowen, she was changing more and more at a rapid rate and she wouldn't take these people's shit any longer, how could she? When had she actually done wrong, how was she a traitor, who did she ever harm until now, but still these people didn't stop, they wouldn't stop. Her brother had almost died just a day before, if this abuse continued, then wouldn't she and her brother die in the near future, caused by these awful villagers? Nia looked the man in the eyes once more and for the first time, a feeling of pure hatred from the depths of her soul welled up within her. In anger, she shouted at the man. 

"I DID NOT STEAL FROM ANYONE, YOU CAN BELIEVE ME OR NOT, BUT DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN, ASSHOLE!!!" 

Once more everyone was shocked, they all had the exact same thought. 

(Did this girl finally snap?) 

The young man, however, was furious, he grabbed the sword at his waist and unsheathed it. He wanted to kill her. Although it was illegal to kill a fellow villager, looking around, the young man didn't see anyone trying to stop him. Besides, who would be upset if he killed a traitors daughter, they might even praise him for getting rid of a burden from the village. With these thoughts, he approached Nia ready to kill her. Looking at her though, he didn't see the expected fear, instead what he saw was determination and absolute hatred. 

(Bitch, looking at me like that...) 

Raising his sword he slashed at her trying to end her life when suddenly, a small rock no bigger then a pebble flew over. The pebble came too quickly and the word dodge couldn't even form in the man's mind before like a comet, it precisely smashed the young man in the eye. It threw his slashing sword completely off its mark, causing his blade to miss by a wide margin. With a rock to the eye, the man's eye immediately began to bleed profusely as both blood and a greyish liquid flowed down the man's face. The pain this caused was excruciating, causing him to howl in agony. What was left of his eyelid flapped about as it hung on by a small fragment of tattered skin. As he moved around in pain, everyone could see in horror that his eye was no more than mush now. The young man roared at the top of his lungs like a wounded beast. 

"WHO THREW THAT? COME OUT AND FACE ME!" 

The man was about to shout some more when Lowen jumped over the small crowd of people, landing in front of the young man, separated by only a few feet. With a confident smile, he looked at Nia and then at the young man and with a calm voice he simply said. 

"It was me, so what?"