It was going to be a feast that night for the tribe.

Himi was the progeny of the alpha warrior and the elder's daughter, making her the most important child in the tribe. Not only had Kynos saved her, but he had also brought down three giant crabs, the top predator and most common killer of villagers on the island. He was being given the hero treatment, and since the villagers saw that he moved at Mith's command, she was being fawned over by Himi's mother and a few other women accordingly.

The feast consisted of crab innards and fish bone soup, cooked in the three giant crab shells. The two uncooked crabs had their meat scraped out and dried, while the cooked crab's meat was scooped into crude wooden bowls along with the soup. The meat on the fish were filleted off and cooked on stone plates, in a stone oven with some plant shavings on top. Some bluish vegetables and white, soft fruits were passed around on a huge stone platter as well.

Villagers ate surrounding the cooking fire, and Kynos was made to sit next to the alpha warrior as he was served by Himi. Mith was served by the other young girl of the village and sat next to Kynos. All present dug in to the food with relish, and as the last bowls were cleared away, a smoothed crabshell drum and wooden flutes were brought out.

The grown women stood up as one and put on a dance full of swaying and twisting, then some of the men joined in with stomping and jumping. Mith was entertained, but Kynos, who had never seen song and dance before, was rather confused.

Following that, two large, muscular stood before the alpha warrior and yelled at each other. The alpha warrior gestured wordlessly, and the dancers cleared as the two combatants faced off in front of the fire. They fought in a style that focused mainly on what looked like slapping, thrusting, and diverting with their hands. After a short while, Mith became excited and nudged Kynos.

“They...They're using mana! Look, they clad their bodies with mana and fight by using it to add force or protect themselves!”

The two fighters continued to attack each other, ramping up their speed to the cheering of the crowd until their hands were a blur. Interestingly enough, neither of them moved their feet much, and seemed to be attempting not to give any ground to the other. After a dozen minutes, the smaller fighter was struck cleanly on the chest, and fell flat on his back. The alpha warrior stood up and grunted, which seemed to signal the end o the fight.

A woman brought out a stone with a carving on it, and placed it next to a large slab of drying crab meat. The larger of the two fighters would eat well in the coming days. Everyone cheered as the man helped the other up. A bit more song and dance followed, then, as if choreographed, everyone cleared the area before the fire while Himi dragged Kynos up from where he sat. She then pushed him towards the clearing and made explosion and stabbing gestures with her arms. Mith also gave him a thumbs up, and all of the music had stopped.

Kynos scratched his head as the entire village stared at him, and without warning, pointed at the fire. A pillar of flames shot up from the large bonfire, curling into the sky. The villagers cry of awe turned into a stream of panic as it came crashing down back on Kynos. Mith giggled as the fire dispersed around him, whose arms were now completely covered in shadow.

Kynos swung his arms around meaninglessly, and the shadow took on the forms of all sorts of weapons as they flew through the air, changing from flail to sword, hammer to axe. Flushed with confidence, and in accordance to Mith's plan, who had already anticipated he would need to show his power as some point, Kynos gathered a thick shadow disc around his feet.

Riding on the disc, he lifted slowly into the air, until he was floating above the bonfire, then he glided in a tight circle around the clearing, finally landing back where he began. He took a bow and the villagers howled their pleasure, and walked back towards Mith. As he moved towards her, he had a bad feeling about the glint in her eyes.