Chapter 6: We Can Only Go Up From Here
Hai softly landed on the sand. It had been a few months since the last time she had come in contact with the beach. And if her current situation wasn't so worrying, she could have stood there gazing at the sea for hours.
Hai ran desperately towards Mac. Her pace only started to falter when she heard the painful groans coming from the person that Mac had attacked.
Hai's knees touched the sand as she felt despair fill her head with a hopeless truth. It was over! Sooner or later, the rest of the invaders would send someone to look for the missing ones! The same invaders that the crazy old man and Mac had beaten.
"That is all their fault!" She thought. "If it wasn't for Mac... If he hadn't brought and enraged the old man..."
Hai's despair started to be replaced by rage. Flames began to erupt from her body. Her blazing hair started to float. And the air around her became heavier.
Hai tried to control her fury. But her mental state was too frail. She feared that she could go on a rampage just like the old man.
Mac observed all this in silence. He was pondering what he should do. Hai looked like she could attack him at any moment.
Mac had his options; he could fight back, he could run away, he could wait and see if Hai would calm down on her own... But he took a different decision and started to walk toward her.
Mac felt Hai's penetrating gaze on him. As he got closer, it got harder to breathe, and the air seemed to be pushing him back.
Hai tried to look away, as she only got angrier with Mac's presence. But it seemed her rage was taking control over her, and that rage wanted more power.
Mac did not stop. He looked directly into Hai's feverish eyes. Before such a threat, Mac's mind was as clear as his objectives.
On his way, Mac swiftly dropped his warhammer on the ground. He wanted to try the same approach that Hai used on him back in her father's tent. No fight, no physical conflict. He was going to resolve this situation with a conversation.
"Hey, Hai. How you doing?" He started with a faint smile. "You seem a little... agitated."
"AGITATED!? THAT IS HOW I LOOK TO YOU!?" Hai's rageful state barely allowed her to speak. "I AM COMPLETELY DESOLATED, MAC! IT IS OVER! SUN GROW TRIBE IS DOOMED, AND I CANNOT STOP IT!"
"Are you sure about that?" Mac tried to think positively once more. "You seem pretty strong to me. Maybe we can fight them off together!"
"AGAIN WITH THAT IDEA!?" Hai's state worsened. "NO, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE! I CAN FEEL THAT I AM NOT THAT STRONG! I AM MORE THAN SURE THAT THEIR NUMBERS WILL BE MORE THAN ENOUGH TO KILL ME AND LATER EVERYONE ELSE HERE!"
Hai's body trembled furiously. The idea that her power would not be sufficient to save her loved ones only made her angrier.
Mac started to be pushed back by the flames emanating from Hai. They did not burn him, but they were condensed enough to leave bruises on his body.
"That might be the case if you were fighting alone!" He said, covering his face with his right hand. "But if we plan this out, if we fight together, we might have a chance!"
"WORKING TOGETHER? WITH YOU?" She screamed. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, MAC! YOU! YOU, THAT TRIED TO COME TO THIS BEACH FIRST! YOU THAT MADE THE OLD MAN GO CRAZY! YOU ARE THE CAUSE OF ALL OF THIS, AND NOW YOU WANT ME TO WORK ALONGSIDE YOU!?" Hai started to walk towards Mac.
Mac saw Hai coming closer. The threat just kept getting bigger. He was weaponless; Hai was actively approaching him, and worse of it all, her powers seemed to be getting more violent.
And, before all that. Before such a powerful individual, Mac got on his knees, one at a time. He looked up directly into Hai's eyes once again. "You know what? You are right for the third time!" Mac said calmly with a smile. "This is all my fault! This whole conflict began with me! I am the one to blame. And I am truly sorry." Mac bowed his head forward.
Hai hesitated. At that moment, she was rageful and filled with despair. Even on the day that her dad died, she wasn't at such a low point. But that was not part of her true nature. Hai wanted to do good. She desired to live by her father's words. And seeing Mac's apologizing, even if it was far from enough, decreased her anger.
But Hai was still furious and hopeless. She wanted to scream at Mac about how being sorry wasn't enough. She wanted to cry at Mac how his words were meaningless at the end of the day. She wanted to wail more at Mac!
But Mac was faster. He knew that he had created a chance when Hai hesitated. Mac got up and walked towards the startled Hai. The pressure immensely increased as he got closer. But Mac endured the pain and finally grabbed Hai's hand.
Mac felt like his whole body was burning as he touched her! It was as if he was a demon touching something sacred. His entire existence seemed to be hostile to her body.
Mac wanted to let go of Hai's hands. He did not expect this type of reaction. But he persisted. There was something inside him, a primordial desire that allowed him to stand the pain and exist before Hai as an equal. He was not letting it go!
"But I want to help!" He said as he gritted his teeth. "I am not from this tribe! I am not even your friend! But I CAN help! I CAN fight! I CAN deal with this problem!" Mac stopped for a moment and then continued, using Hidden Will. "So please, for one last time, help me, and I swear for Hevi that I will save your tribe!"
Many would not believe it, but Mac said those words from the bottom of his heart. Mac is always looking for different ways to amuse and distract himself. And he usually accomplishes that by acting irresponsibly and carelessly. He may have caused a lot of trouble along the way to other people, but at the end of the day, there is a sense of justice inside of him that tries to make him help them. In a way, Mac lives in an infinite loop, where his will to help other people will always conflict with his passion for chaos. He only hopes that his better side will win in the end.
Hai instinctively tried to shake Mac's hand off the moment he grabbed them, but he only let her go after he finished talking.
Hai stumbled backward and stared at Mac, with fury still visible in her eyes. Once again, his words failed to quiet her rageful fires down. But it would be a lie to say that they didn't have an effect. The intensity and meaning of his actions impacted her will. Suddenly, bright ideas started to share her mind with her rage.
Hai wanted to believe! She wanted to believe that there was still hope. And every time she looked at Mac's earnest face illuminated by the red sea, that desire grew brighter, like the moon that had just hit its prime.
There was still rage inside of her, but she controlled it. The flames around her dissipated, and the air became lighter. She suddenly felt a strong sense of fatigue, which made her collapse on the sand.
"Just a little more..." She muttered with difficulty. "Mac Key Kast, I will trust your words! I hope that you can really help me and my people."
Mac let a deep sigh of relief. He always tends to forget how intense the stupidly dangerous situations he gets himself into can get. That was probably because of his chaotic side.
"So then, what can we do now?" Hai weakly said as she managed to sit down. "Please, don't tell me we are gonna have to fight the invaders just like that! I wasted a lot of energy when I was... outraged."
Now the worst part for Mac started. He hated when he had to take the lead and make the decisions on his own. He feared that he would be smashed by the weight of responsibilities. Again, probably because of his chaotic side.
Mac thought hard about the situation. Something that he doesn't usually do, as he likes to say. Mac started to ponder everything he knew, trying to find a solution. He thought about everything that happened this night, from the beginning to now. It didn't take long until he found one.
"Ha, brain blast!" He said jokingly. "I may have just come up with a reasonably decent plan."
Those words did not fill Hai with confidence. "What did you come up with?"
Mac smiled maliciously and then extended his arm in a specific direction. He vaguely pointed to where the old man and the invaders were. "Arani!" He called. "Please."
Suddenly, out of Mac's orange curly hair, a single wild and wobbly thread started to go up. That single thread was illuminated by the light of the moon and the red sea. It wasn't orange like Mac's hair. It was clear white.
Hai had no idea what was happening. Arani? Was that the name of someone? And why was a thread coming out of Mac's bushy hair? Just as usual, Mac confused her again.
When Hai was about to ask what was happening. That single thread shot in the direction where Mac pointed. It was fast, at least faster than Mac's top speed. The thread was going in such a straight line that it looked like a needle.
In less than a second, the line reached its objective. The thread was aimed at the kid. Or, to be more specific, the strange rock he was holding. That kid had stayed there the whole time, incapable of moving out of fear. So then, when the line enveloped the stone, the kid dropped it in a panic.
Mac then leisurely pushed the thread toward himself as if he was some kind of fisherman. He even whistled as he dragged his catch through the sand.
"..." Hai was speechless for a while. "Mac... how did you do that? And what is that stone?"
"Well, Hai..." He happily said as he pulled the line. "Due to the shortage of time, I will have to answer your first question later. So, answering your second question, that stone that I fished is what we call a Komyu stone. Simply put, that stone allows you to talk with other people far away if they have another Komyu stone connected to this stone. It is just like a cellphone, though I doubt you know what a cellphone is."
Hai watched the stone coming closer. She didn't even process Mac's last line as a terrible possibility popped into her mind. "So then, if that kid had one of these Komyu stones, does that mean..."
"Yep," Mac confirmed her fears. "The other invaders probably already know that something happened and are on their way here right now!"
Hai froze. Why were things only getting worse by the minute? What did she do to deserve this?
"Mac, what are we gonna do?" Hai tried to stand up but failed. "Doesn't that mean we WILL have to fight them head-on?"
Mac showed Hai his malicious smile again. "Ha, what do you take me for?" He said. "I can tell very well that you are in no condition to fight. That is why I decided to try... a different type of approach."
"What do you mean?"
"We have two things that will help us get the upper hand on those invaders! Can you guess what they are?"
Hai tried to think, but she was too tired and stressed to make logical conclusions with the information she had. "I give up. What do we have that will help us?"
Mac's smile grew wider. "We have a hostage;" He pointed to the kid with his free hand. And with that same hand, he grabbed the Komyu stone that he pulled. He showed the rock to Hai and said at least. "And most important of all, we have a way to contact the other party!"
Hai could hear some voices coming out of the stone.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Umagon
Umagon I really liked writing this chapter.
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