Maria heard a voice that carried immeasurable power with it, the voice said she and Aina were safe, and she believed it. There was just no way to contradict that voice.

She saw the villagers panic and tremble, the arrows one of the villagers had shot towards her were turned into dust. A wave of warmth entered her body and all her wounds disappeared as if they had never been there.

“Worthless people trying to end a life only because they do not understand her. Pathetic, that’s why scum like this can only crawl in the ground envying the glory of greater beings.”

Maria turned around toward the voice, it came from behind her, right were Aina was. She opened her eyes wide when she saw the source of the voice. A giant tiger stood in the air above Aina’s stake, overlooking the plaza as a monarch overlooking his subjects.

The tiger put one of its paws on top of Aina’s head and her scream ceased, Maria’s heart skipped a beat as Aina stopped moving, and then sighed in relief as Aina looked towards her with a smile.

However, the lightning around her became even more intense, the wind started to blow strongly and clouds gathered in the sky.

Lightning cracked both in the heavens and the earth, thunderclaps filled the village.

“Do you feel better now, little girl? Please stay still, you can embrace your mother in a minute, be a little patient.”

The tiger spoke softly to Aina as he cut the ropes that bound her to the stake.

“Y-yes! Thank you!”

Aina’s first instinct was to run to hug her mom, the person behind her seemed to have read her mind. She hadn’t turned around to look so she hadn’t noticed it was a tiger, not a man who was speaking to her.

“Close your eyes, and focus on the feeling inside you, make sure to remember the sensation.”

The tiger instructed her and she obeyed silently.

The pain in her body was gone, and the sensation of fiery ants running through her veins and under her skin had changed to a pleasant feeling. It was now like running water, soothing the pain in her body, the raging lightning inside her was now under the control of a firm hand, guiding it through the correct path, making it build instead of destroying, strengthening and healing instead of hurting.

She immersed in the feeling as she noticed the lightning flowing through her, she didn’t know it, but she was entering a state of enlightenment right now.

“Madame, your daughter is in a delicate state right now, please stay back.”

The tiger said to Maria as she tried to approach him and Aina, despite the lightning flying in the air around the two.

“Please, save her! I don’t care what happens to me, just save Aina, I beg you!”

Maria fell to her knees and put her head to the ground, kowtowing to the mighty spirit in front of her, it was the only real hope of her daughter surviving, she was certain of it.

She didn’t care what this supernatural tiger was, whether it was a spirit, a monster, a demon or a god was irrelevant so long as Aina could be safe.

“I offer you everything I have, everything I am, my life, my body, and soul! Please, save my daughter!”

She didn’t care what price he might ask of her. If it would keep Aina safe, she will do anything.

The tiger seemed a bit surprised by her words, it looked at her for a couple of seconds before speaking with a light chuckle.

“You really are a courageous woman, and a splendid mother.”

The tiger raised his head to the sky and roared.

“My name is Navin Lakar. I swear upon my name, this girl, Aina, will be safe now, she will not die tonight and no harm will fall upon her, be it from men or gods, I will protect her.”

As if challenging his words, a huge lightning fell from the center of the storm above, but it broke in the air as if hitting an invisible dome above Navin, the dispersed lightning was then absorbed by him.

Maria trembled after listening to Navin’s words, and tears flowed endlessly from her eyes.

“Thank you… thank you.”

She raised her head to look at the scene unfolding before her eyes but remained on her knees in front of Navin and Aina.

The villagers were terrified, a huge tiger-like monster had appeared to protect the witch and her mother had sold her soul to it in exchange for saving her daughter’s life.

Lightning was falling from the heavens to punish the evil spawn, but the demon was strong and kept protecting her, the most worrying thing was that the lightning started to fall into other places, not only around the plaza but the whole village, starting fires in many houses and farms.

The scared villagers started to kneel and pray to ask for the gods’ protection, but it was to no avail, with each passing second the lightning got stronger and more destructive, burning not only the houses but also the villagers.

“Evil monster! This is your doing! Get away from this village, and leave us alone!”

The village chief yelled but was ignored completely.

Lightning continued to fall, and one of those hit him and burned him to a crisp, the villagers kept screaming, praying and dying.

Maria watched all this stupefied, this exceeded anything she had ever seen in her whole life.

Navin continued to watch over Aina and helping her channel her energy appropriately through her body to cultivate and manipulate her energy. He was also protecting her mother, the tribulation had been triggered by the awakening of her special physique, she was born with an extremely high affinity with lightning, to the point of making heavenly lightning react to her.

However, there was no one who could guide her on the process of learning to control her powers in this remote village, and she had been all her life suppressing her abilities, resulting in the lightning energy in her body hurting her.

Now that Navin was personally supervising her awakening, success was guaranteed as he used his own energy to show her his own secret way of channeling Qi, he was already thinking of taking Aina as a disciple, and taking this chance to teach her was very useful, since she was in a state where her perception was enhanced many times.

He was also sending the heavenly lightning that fell from the heavens towards her, to help her absorb it and make it part of her own power. This was the most beneficial for her.

“You can let loose, Aina. Don’t worry about anything, your mother is safe and the villagers can’t hurt you. You don’t have to hold back or clench your fists to trap your energy, let it run free, free but under your guidance, free but not wild.”

Navin spoke to Aina as she was deep in her enlightenment, his voice resounded with power and sent his message towards her soul.

“You are the ruler of your power. Don’t fear it, don’t trap yourself worrying about the opinions of those ignorant villagers, the stars in the heavens never worry about the opinions of the bugs crawling in the mud.”

He kept on talking as he reduced the influx of his energy inside her, letting her take control, guiding her energy with her own willpower.

Inside her mind, Aina recalled her life.

When she was little and her talent started to manifest, Aina showed her friends that she could make sparks flying from her hands, the kids got scared and called her a freak, she cried and stopped using her ability. This was the start of her self-imposed torture, as she resisted her innate talent and fought it back trying to get rid of it, that was when she started to close her hands to trap the lightning flowing through her.

Aina recalled her life in the village as she grew up, all the times she saw the people around her looking at her with eyes full of fear, resentment, anger, and disdain. Looking at her as a freak because of her condition.

Only her mother cared for her and looked at her with eyes full of love, hugging her each time she was in pain, even as Aina sometimes accidentally let the electricity flow out of her body, her mother never let go.

“Do not let the words of mortals bind you, such things are not meant for you, their rules and laws can’t tie you down. Only you choose what to do and what path to follow, only you can choose what affects you. They wouldn’t understand you, they simply couldn’t do it even if they tried, because you are something beyond their knowledge and comprehension. They feared you and called you dangerous because you were out of their control.”

That’s right, they called her a witch and decided to kill her, despite her mother’s cries, despite all her pleas they still hurt her mom as she stood to defend Aina.

“The villagers didn’t understand you, and from now on, they will not have control over you, now you are free.”

Navin’s voice echoed inside her mind and soul.

He asked the essential questions she needed to answer for her full awakening.

“Do you know who you are?”

Yes, I know who I am, I am Aina Ranaborak

“Do you know what you are?”

Aina looked inside herself and she knew the answer immediately, it was so simple, it was her own nature, her essence, who she really was deep down in her soul.

She opened her eyes.

Navin let go of her and took a step back, letting her face the end of the storm by herself, he knew she would succeed.

She already had her answer.

“I am lightning!!”

Aina raised her voice with a thunderous roar as Heavenly Lightning descended upon her, and she pushed back at it with her own lightning, coming from the core of her soul, her true nature, finally unleashed, she absorbed the lightning from the heavens and made it hers, then she threw her own lightning towards the center of the storm above.

With a loud boom, the storm exploded. A final giant lightning gathered and descended, turning the village into a giant scorching crater on the ground.

The tribulation ended and silence returned to the night.

Standing in the air above the smoking ground, Navin, Aina, and Maria looked at each other.

Navin moved them to a hill a few kilometers away from the crater, once they landed, Maria hugged tightly Aina, they cried and laughed while holding each other, they were saved, the village was gone, but so long as they had each other, everything would be okay, they would face anything together as a family.

Navin stood silently at one side, a few meters away from them, giving them time to vent their emotions.

Maria was the first to calm down, she gave a light kiss on her daughter’s forehead and led her by the hand in front of Navin.

They both kowtowed in front of him.

“Thank you, great spirit, for your benevolence and benefaction.”

Maria said with her forehead touching the ground.

“Thank you, great spirit, for saving me and my mother.”

Aina said from the same position as her mother.

“Please, stand up.”

Navin said with a slight smile.

Mother and daughter raised their heads and saw that the tiger had transformed into a young man wearing exquisite purple clothes of a quality they had never seen, he was like an emperor, standing with both hands behind his back with a confident smile on his face, as if everything that existed was grasped in the palm of his hand, as if the mysteries of heaven and earth were open and bare in front of his eyes.

There was just something about him, a certain weight to his presence. Maria had a strange sensation when she looked at him. She had the impression that this person in front of her was like pure power taking a human form, as if within his body were contained large mountains and oceans, as if the stars of the night sky were shining within his eyes.

“A pleasure to formally meet you, my name is Navin Lakar. I am an immortal cultivator.”

Navin spoke with a serene but firm voice, his tone was steady and projected confidence without seeming arrogant. He cupped his right fist with his left hand and bowed slightly to them in greeting.

“Ah, we are honored to meet you, Lord Navin. I am Maria Ranaborak, this is my daughter Aina Ranaborak.”

“Madame, you can just call me Navin, there is no need to be overly formal.”

Navin moved his hand and two streams of light covered Maria and Aina, new clothes covered their bodies, the old clothes had been damaged during the previous fight and the Lightning Tribulation.

“No, how could I address you in an informal way? You are our savior, rather, it is me who does not deserve to be called ‘Madame’, I am but a simple cook in the village.”

Navin laughed lightly upon seeing the flustered Maria.

“You faced a whole village and fought them to protect your daughter, and you did it without hesitation, prepared to die. Such courage and unyielding love, it is worthy of my sincere respect.”

Navin sincerely praised Maria for her courage in defending her daughter. He then looked towards Aina and smiled.

“You have a great mother, be sure to be nice to her, okay?”

“Yes! I definitely will do it!”

Aina answered with a red face.

“Aina, I have a proposal for you, please think about it carefully before answering.”

Navin walked forwards and crouched in front of Aina before he started to explain.

“I’m sure you already know, but you possess a very special body constitution, a physique with an extreme affinity towards lightning, so it is very beneficial for someone who practices cultivation. I would like to take you as my disciple, to teach you how to control your powers properly and ascend to higher realms of existence. To become my disciple implies that you swear obedience to me, of course not as a slave or servant, but a student must follow her teacher’s instructions faithfully and never betray the trust put on her. You will follow me on my journey and learn my art to carry on my legacy, it also means that you will fight by my side against any enemy that may appear, of course, the same applies for me, as I will protect you, guide you, and make sure you have everything you need to be safe and happy.”

There were a lot of other things that becoming a disciple carried with it, but those were the most important, Navin knew that Aina couldn’t possibly know such stuff, so he explained patiently to her the implications.

Aina didn’t really need to think about it, it was a great thing for her, even if she would need to fight in the future, that would only be after she had trained and become stronger, so there was nothing to be scared of, as her Master would be by her side to guide and protect her.

“What about my mom?”

That was the only concern that Aina had, she didn’t want to leave her mother behind. Maria felt a pang of pain and nervousness. Was she going to be separated from Aina? She had been determined to die before, but what she valued above everything else was her daughter safety and happiness. Now that they were both alive, the thought of being separated hurt her deeply.

And yet, she put a strong front for the sake of her daughter.

“Aina, you don’t need to worry about me, I will manage somehow, just focus on your training with Lord Navin, as long as you are safe I will be happy.”

Maria hurriedly said to her daughter. She had heard the tales; great Mages and extraordinary warriors who found talented children and decided they had met by fate, thus decided to pass down their knowledge to them. Maria wanted Aina to take this opportunity for greatness, she didn’t want to be a hindrance to her daughter’s success.

“Oh, don’t worry, your mom will come with us. She already accepted to work for me.”

Navin said with a playful smile.

“Really? Mom will come with us?”

Aina was very happy to hear that. Maria was a bit surprised, she didn’t expect for an immortal to take her along just because her daughter had become his disciple.

Wait, he said I already agreed to work for him?

“Ah!”

Maria realized what he was talking about, indeed, she had offered herself to Navin in exchange for saving Aina back when she thought he was some spirit or demon that she could bargain with. She made a deal with him and she even offered to give her soul to him.

“You offered, body and soul, remember? Of course, I won’t do any weird thing like abusing you or taking your soul, but working for me as an attendant would suffice, that way you can also travel with your daughter and everyone is happy.”

Navin laughed as both mother and daughter thanked him with tears of joy. No matter what kind of circumstances life had for them, if the pair weren’t together their happiness would be incomplete and Navin was aware of it, so he made this arrangement to make things easier for them.

“Then let’s leave this place, you don’t need to worry about roof, food or clothes, I will take care of it.”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

Mother and daughter answered with a strong voice, they had no doubt the man in front of them could easily handle their basic necessities and more.

With a wave of Navin’s hand, the three of them disappeared and started their journey to explore this world.