From time to time, Chao An felt like his powers came in handy.

And it was as he was annoying a certain merchant by the surname of Qin that he felt like it was one of those occasions.

“You know, I’m really hungry right now. Like really, really hungry. I could eat grass at this point!” Chao An made an act of pity as he eyed the array of red apples before him.

Standing with their arms crossed behind the stall, intently watching the boy was Merchant Qin. His hefty black beard did nothing to hide the frown on his face.

“You’re getting nothing from me. Now scram,” Merchant Qin firmly stated.

It would actually be more accurate to say that he wasn’t annoying the man, but actually begging.

“Come on, Pleeease. Apples are my favourite food out of like- all time,” Chao An pleaded once more.

Merchant Qin didn’t budge.

“Come on-“

“Hello Miss, how can I help you today?” Merchant Qin suddenly brightened up, greeting a young lady while at the same time, keeping a keen eye on the boy and making sure he didn’t pull any tricks.

At this, Chao An noticed the lady’s attire and couldn’t help but hatch a plan. It took him a couple seconds and a moment of his eyes flickering around to gauge his surroundings, but he put it right into action.

Not this time Merchant Qin.

As the merchant and the lady began talking, Chao An curled up his pointing finger repeatedly like he was pulling on a string, causing a small ball of dust to form in front of him. Then, focusing on a wooden box covered in a white fabric that sat inside the stall, Chao An clenched his fist, causing the ball of dust to rush up his nose.

Raising his head backwards, he prepared himself and then flung his hands forward. All at once, he loudly sneezed and a large gust of wind blew past the other two people and blew the fabric off of the wooden box and with it, several dozen apples.

In the chaos, Chao An carefully plucked an apple from its flight mid-air with another gust of wind and swiftly hid it in his robes. Finally, he mustered up his best guilt expression.

“Sorry?”

“You goddamn fiend!” Merchant Qin shouted, raising a clenched fist up in the air as Chao An ran away with another gust of wind. The middle-aged man didn’t bother to chase though, knowing that it was useless to try and catch him.

After a couple of turns down a few alleyways, he pulled out the apple and threw it in the air repeatedly, smiling to himself.

Eating the apple, he eventually found that throughout his mindless wandering he had arrived at the port. It was the most heavily constructed part of town with stone-paved paths along the coast, long wooden bridges extending out into the bay, and many large and small ships anchored down in it.

With the sea wind blowing against his face and a blue sky stretching out into the horizon, he took a seat on the edge of port, his legs dangling down to the rocky outcropping below, the sea waves periodically smashing against the wall.

Chao An looked into the distant ocean with a melancholic expression, a half-eaten apple in hand.

“Hey,” A voice said as a hand touched his shoulder.

Chao An jumped back in fright and yelled, “Ah!”

Looking to his right, Chao An saw a small girl with a cute face.

“Li Fen?”

“What are you doing out here Chao An? You look so lonely. Are you okay?” The little girls asled in her-pitched, cute voice.

“Just… thinking,” Chao An replied, averting his gaze to the ground.

“About what?” Li Fen asked, confused.

Suddenly, Chao An changed topic and asked, “What do you want to do when you grow up?”

Putting a finger on her chin, the little girl gave a moment of thought before answering, “A nurse. So, I can help my mommy all the people who got big scars and can’t get up from bed.”

Chao An nodded.

Then, he let out a big, long sigh.

“Why? What do you want to do when you’re older?” Li Fen asked, getting a bit too close to Chao An.

A few moments of quiet silence passed until he replied, “When I grow up, I want to-“

Suddenly, an earth-shaking tremor shook the ground, causing the girl to fall over the edge of the port, down to the rocks below. Be it due to his magical powers, Chao An didn’t move an inch but the girl had.

Relying on pure instincts, he lifted his hands up and, in a blood-curdling screech shouted, “Rise!”

The low-tide suddenly rose several meters within an instance, catching the small girl in a water-shaped hand. Controlling the magic water hand, he brought her back to land.

When she landed, she was terrified and ran over to Chao An and hugged him. She began sobbing. Then, another tremor ripped through the ground, but this time Chao An had a decent hold of her and didn’t let her go.

Chao An stood up and looked around, wondering what the cause of the tremor could be. Then, it happened again. But instead of fading, it turned into a low rumble.

A man nearby who had been fishing shouted in pure terror, not hesitating to run away, “Tsunami!”

Unfortunately, when Chao An snapped his head to look into the distant sea, he saw a tall wave that continued to rise every second. Seeing this, Chao An fell to his knees. He didn’t know how to respond and stared on with wide eyes, terror taking a hold of his heart.

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“Are we going to die?” Li Fen questioned, tears falling down her cheeks.

Chao An couldn’t answer that question.

It had all come so suddenly. One moment he had been relaxing and in the next he was facing his imminent death. He could already see how big the wave was too. It was gigantic. It looked to be at least a hundred meters tall. The whole town would surely be killed by it. There wouldn’t be a single survivor.

Chao An shivered in fear as he faced the tsunami. He almost wanted to curl up in a ball and let it happen. But, deep inside him was a force that wasn’t going to let this happen.

Somehow, he found himself standing back to his feet and he confronted the tsunami. He stood with his head up high and his fists curled.

Wiping an emerging tear from his face, he let Li Fen back down to the ground and told her, “I’m going to save everyone.”

Li Fen didn’t stop crying but a sliver of hope could be gleaned from her expression as she looked on at Chao An.

“I haven’t ever pushed my powers to their limits before. I hope it’s enough,” Exhaling all the air in his lungs, he squatted down and put his hands in front of him, palms facing the tsunami.

The life of everyone in town was on the line. He thought about all the other kids at the orphanage, Merchant Qin, the happy families that called it home, and all the people interacted with on a daily basis. He may have not of gotten along with everyone, but they were human and thinking back on it, they weren’t all bad.

And all of it to be taken away by some tsunami.

No.

No.

NO.

“Please!” Chao An screamed with all his heart as he pushed against the impending tsunami with his magic.

Instantly, he felt a great force smash against his hands, sending him flying through the air.

“I-I’m going to-“ Chao An’s foot slipped as he tried to regain his footing and stand up.

Trying again, he gritted his teeth and stood up.

Taking a look back down the previously quiet street, he saw a large crowd rushing through it to escape the impending tsunami.

“I guess I’m going to have to use this stuff then,” Chao An admitted as he looked at his surroundings.

He would be incapacitated for the next while but so be it. He didn’t think of himself as the hero-type but it was a sacrifice he was going to have to make.

Chao An stomped on the ground and suddenly a golden aura wrapped around his figure. It ravaged around his figure like a storm. The very matter that made up the surrounding air, ground, trees, and buildings trembled as a kind of energy trembled and prepared itself.

Chao An, his eyes having turned a bright golden, pulled on this energy and summoned it forward, causing an illusory tsunami to pounce forward to face the real tsunami.

“Never!” Chao An’s entire body screamed in testament to his fate, refusing to give up. This time, he didn’t get blown away, but it was still like pushing against an immovable boulder.

With each second that passed, he tried harder and harder to use more and more of his power. The golden light in his eyes shined brighter and brighter. His nose began bleeding, and he felt a distinct crack in his hands.

With Chao An’s efforts, it seemed that the tsunami would be stopped but it had only slowed down slightly. For kilometres along the coast, a significant portion of the water had been pushed off the wave and back into the ocean. It looked shorter than before, but it was still a mighty opponent that wouldn’t go down just like that.

“One… final… push,” Chao An muttered underneath his breath, gasping for air in between each word.

Once again, he summoned all the energy in his surroundings but this time he reached further beyond. Beyond this town and deep within the surrounding forests and neighbouring coastlines. Beyond the mountains and rivers. Deep within the earth and high up, past even the clouds. The ravaging golden aura around him blew up in size, becoming several meters tall and his eyes now glowed as bright as the sun.

And in that moment, something seemed to take control over his body.

Moving like lightning, he grabbed onto the energy of the surrounding ten kilometres. His body was a blur as he launched forward, smashing all the world’s energy against the tsunami.

In one push, the tsunami was completely blown apart, water being blasted backwards and away from the town. Only a few-meter tall wave remained, only big enough to cause a small flood.

And with that massive expulsion of energy, the golden energy surroundings Chao An dissipated and he fell to the ground. The last thing he saw before falling unconscious was Li Fen’s face of shock.

But it was not a moment later that a short, beige-robed figure appeared from thin-air and hovered over Chao An’s unconscious body.

“I-impossible. For there to be an eighth must mean that the heavens have gone mad. There can only be seven worldly beings. But here he is. And to think I would find him in a small village like this,” An elderly man muttered underneath his breath as he gazed upon Chao An.

“It seems that the world will be thrown into chaos once more.”