He jumped at me. A blur of hands and feet to everyone else, but I saw it all. A spinning kick aiming for my windpipe. Not holding anything back, huh? Aunt Wendy and the others gasped from behind the bushes. The immediate area around me was clear. Good. There’ll be no collateral damage. I should use this opportunity to teach them proper self defence.

“Girls! Girls over here! As you can see, this is a dangerous, unknown man.”

I dodged the kick by tilting my head to the side. Such blatant attacks won’t do anything. The stranger’s eyes widened, and he twisted his body away from me. After landing, he lunged at me again, this time with his arms.

“When apprehending a stranger, it’s good to make use of your numbers. However, I’ll be taking this one alone.”

I stepped around his fists with minimal movement. He’s indicating his punches too much. Even a blind child would spot them. After a few more dodges, I smacked his fist away and threw his guard open.

“Overwhelm them and then use their own weight against them.”

I grabbed his throat and pushed down. Already unbalanced, he fell with a brief struggle. I pinned him down by the neck and leaned on his stomach.

“With a bit of practice, you guys should be able to do it too.”

“I don’t think we’d be able to take down a Shimmer.”

Wendy stepped forward with a basket of fruits hanging on her arm. The other girls were unwilling to come closer.

“Tell the girls to get me a rope.”

Some girls snapped out of their dazed state and hurried off. The guy below me struggled. Finally realised the situation you’re in, huh?

“Unhand me!”

I looked away. It’s a nice day, eh? The sun had almost fully risen.

“I said unhand me!”

“Listen buddy, you were the one who attacked me.”

I sighed. His voice was more shrill than a seagull’s.

“But you dared to offend me!”

“Then you’re in the soil for the same reason.”

I scratched the back of my neck. It’s too early to be this hot. I should volunteer for barn duty today.

“Offending a Golden will get punished severely.”

“Is that your family name?”

I finally paid attention. Golden?.. Uh…

“Sorry, don’t recognise that one.”

Josie told me I needed to get out more. I only knew the names of the founding families. This might be a new one, though. These families keep popping up all over the place like weeds. How am I supposed to keep track of them all? The guy below me struggled less after my last statement.

Amber came running up with the same rope that we used on the cows when they ran rampant. We’re really giving this guy the VIP treatment. Well, he attacked us, so he deserves it. I tied him up and dragged him over to the meeting hall. By then, he had passed out. Maybe I used too much strength… Oh well, that’s in the past now.

After dumping the intruder into the meeting hall, I rushed to Aunt Wendy’s cottage. By the time I got there, the girls were already leaving. Did I miss the task selection? Damn it. I hope that the leftover ones are decent. It’s fire season, so the tasks shouldn’t be too demanding. I strolled up to Wendy, who was shuffling papers. She raised her head at the sound of my approach.

“Zeke, you left for a while.”

“He struggled too much.”

I shrugged. He would perk up every so often and flail for a bit before getting tired again and going limp. It didn't end until he passed out. Someone would think he was being dragged off to be executed. Wendy nodded and brushed her ginger hair away, letting me see the faint scrunch on her face.

“Right, these are the leftover tasks. The girls were understanding enough to leave you with decent ones.”

She handed me a list with most of the tasks crossed out. I peered at the ones that weren't. Hay bale stacking, pulling out damaged equipment from the deep valley, fixing the iron roof on the cowshed, repainting the outer fence and catching the runaway pigs. These are…

“These are all the labour intensive jobs.”

“You could do them easily, though.”

She clicked her pen a few times.

“I’m not invincible.”

“Do you think the others could do them?”

I glanced away for a second, then put down the list.

“What would you girls do without me?”

I crossed my arms.

“Well, that’s not something we have to worry about, right?”

I took in a deep breath and clasped my hands together.

“I’ll do them all.”

“No, leave one or two for me as well.”

Wendy chuckled.

Right. If I left, you would still be here.

After choosing my tasks. I headed out to the field with a vacant expression.

At this farm, you can’t say that one task is harder than the other. I, however, prefer indoor work. No sun, no bugs, no wild animals, no bugs… I’m not complaining, though Aunt Wendy raised me, so it’s the least I could do.

I dived at a pig, wrestling it to the ground. Wonder how it felt having to do most of these tasks by herself. I can’t imagine it. That’s probably why she aged so fast. Ugh, if she heard me say that she might’ve made me do the rest of the jobs… I probably could do them, but I’m not indestructible.

After finishing the rest of my jobs, I paced back to the cottages. Everyone else was already clearing up for the night. Penny and her group were carrying milk to the storage room. As they passed me by, Penny stopped by me for a second.

“Zeke, I heard about what happened in the morning. You’re not hurt, right?”

I glanced down at my hands. No scars that weren’t there before.

“When has anything ever hurt me?”

“Don’t say that in such a nonchalant voice!”

She checked me over anyway.

“You’re fine… Thank goodness.”

“Penpen, what were you expecting?”

A girl from Penny’s group chimed in.

“Yeah, if he got hurt, there’d be no hope for us!”

Another girl said. They linked arms and strolled off, laughing.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t worry…”

Penny mumbled. The crowd coming over was growing in number now. Ah, isn’t it today? That would explain the many appearances.

“Zeke… You might not get to join in on today's session.”

You’re kidding, right?

“Penny, I have never missed one since I first learned, so why would I now?”

She rubbed her wrist with her free arm.

“Aunt Wen said that it might be better for you to watch our uninvited guest…”

Hrrm, is that it?

“Penny, it’s spirit night. You know what that means, right?”

She stared at me with raised eyebrows, then nodded.

“Some things are more important than an intruder… I’ll tell Aunt Wen.”

She swayed off, carrying away the milk bucket like it was full of air. I headed back to my cottage to grab my case. Nothing is going to ruin this night.

***

This is humiliating. Bound up like ham in some place unknown. My acquaintances back home would tear themselves up in laughter. Maybe it’s a good thing that I’m over here… No! This could never be good no matter where I am! I wriggled like an air drowned fish, alternating from struggling on my stomach to my back.

With gritted teeth, I built up a rocking motion that let me jump to my feet. I inhaled through the ropes covering my mouth. Breathe, Trist, breathe. You are a Shimmer, those people are simple duds. You can wield the power of life, death, and fire. My breathing mellowed out and my pupils turned a brighter orange. A gold spark shot down my body, cutting every inch of the rope to shreds. The simpletons that did this don’t deserve to live.

For such actions, the punishment is usually death, so I’m in the right... They’re below you, so killing them shouldn’t be too big a deal… Let’s go.

I nudged open the door and glanced around. It’s so dark that I can’t see far beyond the door frame. I sent out some of my particles to check the area for movement. They came back undisturbed. No one should be about in this darkness anyway. I made my way to the nearest building, using the particles to help me navigate. Huh? Nothing alive or moving inside.

I slinked over to the next building. No signal here too? Are they all away? What about my bloody revenge? I itched my head. This has to be the third worst day of my life… Wait! That sound… I hear… Music… Crouching over to the source of the sound, I eventually found a lit building. It was a large building, similar in size to the one they threw me in.

They're all in one place? How… Convenient. Time for revenge, I guess. I took a step away from the building and held out an open palm. Firebug energy gathered around it. The particles pulsed in sync with my heartbeat. More energy gathered, and it pulsed faster. This much should be enough to wipe out a bunch of weak duds…

“This is in the name of the Golden family. Phew...”

I muttered the lines and squeezed my eyes shut. Does this… Does this even matter anymore? Before I could go any further, a firebug energy, several magnitudes bigger than my own, surrounded me. What?

“~Watch where you point that thing honey~”

A voice barely breathing in my ear got drowned out by a colossal explosion before I could process the words. The explosion pierced past my body deep into me and I felt a sensation comparable to my body being torn apart. Something restricted my voice from coming out. Just as quickly as it came, it left. I dropped to my knees, then face-planted into the soil. Ugh. I feel numb… and hollow. As if I lost something important...

Summoning the last of my energy, I moved my face into a position that let me breathe and reached an arm out towards the building. Do I want those people to save me? First, I ended up here, then I had to deal with that stupidly strong guy and now whatever that was…

Pah, living would be more of a bother.