Chapter 8: Panic
It's been a few days since Zac left camp. Using the skills he learned from the old man when he was last lost in the forest, he makes his way out.
Leaving the forest, Zac feels a sense of freedom. Having been stranded in a forest while doing intense exercises and then leaving has left Zac happy to see the outside world where it was once a terrifying place for a young child like Zac.
Zac leaves the forest and stumbles into an unknown small town that's very unfamiliar but safer because of the seclusion, where no one will recognize him due to no wanted posters posted up on the buildings.
Knowing this unknown town is near the forest, Zac has led to believe that Ray would be somewhere around; Zac decides to ask the people of this town if they've seen "a man with short black & a hint of red hair, dirt brown vest, slightly torn black pants with leather knee guards, and dark brown boots."
Unfortunately, after asking around, everyone has denied seeing a man that fits Ray's description, but luckily while asking around, he also thought to ask where he is.
[STILLACRE]
A small isolated place that resides in the city of Wrance, a town that the city lord abandoned long ago due to the lack of manpower to control the bandits that have made Stillacre their home base.
The bandits consisted of more than 100 people, and they terrorized the town when they got there but had made a deal with the townspeople that if they were to do what they said, no one would be hurt. The bandits had trouble with people fighting back, but it only took a week to establish their authority leaving everyone that lived there obedient slaves.
The townspeople survived by building what the bandits wanted, fixing what they wanted, and hunting for their food, leaving the townspeople to only have scraps of the bandit's feasts.
Upon hearing what the townspeople are going through, Zac naturally felt disgusted and sick to the stomach, knowing that there's more evil in the world than he had initially thought.
There wasn't just corrupted nobles, but corruption among the common people.
Out of impatience, Zac led himself to this small town to only find Ray, but now, with his sense of justice, he felt the need to help everyone in town by taking down the bandits.
"This must be where Teach is; of course, he would be here to stop those human garbage!" Zac whispered to himself as his admiration towards Ray became even more remarkable than before.
Even in disgust, Zac avoided confronting any bandits he had passed when trying to find Ray.
Zac believes that Ray has a plan to wipe out all the bandits and is the reason why the bandits still walk around.
Day turns into night, Zac, after hours, is still looking for Ray, but it's nothing to Zac due to his training.
*Muffle*
When passing a random building, Zac hears people talking behind the thin walls, and although the voices are muffled, Zac believes in making out one of the people talking to be Ray.
Hurried to find Ray, Zac decides to go with his assumption and enter the building he had heard Ray's voice in.
Zac goes around the building to find the front door, and as he comes closer to it, he can hear people's voices talking, laughing, and people yelling in anger.
Without much thought, Zac enters the building with a sign above the door in bold [TownHall].
*Creak*
The door let out a loud creak loud enough to fill the whole room, which everyone in the room filled with chatter and yelling became silent.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their natural, glaring eyes towards Zac.
Standing there, Zac forgot to remember that when being told about the bandits, it is where the bandit hideout is.
"This ain't no place for a little boy like you to be wandering." A bald man with a scar across his face said to break the silence.
"Nah, Nah, Nah, this child is clearly in the right place. I bet he wants to tell us where his mum is so we can give her a night of her life!" A second man yells from his seat, looking as ugly as the first man.
*hahaha*
Everyone in the building starts to laugh, leaving Zac with apparent anger on his face.
"Awww is the kid gonna cry?" The scar-faced man said as he stood in front of Zac.
"Hey buddy, if you're worried about your mum being too ugly for us, don't worry about it. I know some of my boys who don't even discriminate against pigs!"
The laughter gets even louder.
"Why? Why is everyone so insistent on hurting and slandering my mother? She's dead, but even when gone, these steaming piles of garbage that don't know anything about her or me decide to open their filthy mouths! Why must there be people like this? Why must my mother die at the hands of people like these? She can't rest in peace, and I can't be at peace until everyone like this is wiped off the face of the earth!" Zac thought to himself.
"Hey, kid! You got something to say? Look at me when I'm talking to you, you stupid brat!" The scar-faced man lifts Zac's head up, but the moment Zac's face is revealed to him, the bandit takes a step back in shock.
The laughter dies down as everyone watches their comrade step back.
"Hey, shit face! What are you doin? Just give him a little beating, and he'll leave."
The scar-faced man takes another step back.
"Hey fuck face! You scared of a child or somethi-" as the bandit moved in closer, chills ran down his spine the moment he also looked at Zac's face.
A boy filled with anger, sadness, loneliness, but most of all, a boy ready to kill everyone in the room. His teeth biting his lip so hard that blood drips down, eyes that can only see their corpses, nobody in the room can ignore such a face, although they've seen such a face on men that watched as their families were killed, wives raped and captured. It was easy for these bandits to do it without hesitation; they only pillaged while laughing, but to see such a face on a young boy, a boy too young.
Coming back from such a surprise, one of the bandits decides to take action. "Alright, enough of this crap. Why did you have to ruin the mood, boy? Now you're gonna die for no reason." The bandit unsheathed his sword, ready to swing.
"WHAT IS THIS COMMOTION?" Coming out from what seems to be a back room, a man dressed in a clean and good-looking tail coat with nicely made pants and shoes makes an entrance wearing a half-mask only covering the eyes.
"Ah, sir!? You see, this child barged in, so we were just about to teach him a lesson." The scar-faced man says while he and all the other bandits kneel down.
"I have a very important guest, and you dare to cause a ruckus over a mere child?"
"Well, sir-"
"Did I say you could speak?"
"N-No, sir!"
"Hmm," The bandit leader walks up to Zac.
"What's your name, boy?"
Zac stays silent in his blind rage.
With the leader annoyed, he goes for a slap but suddenly is interrupted.
"Wait!"
Zac comes back to his senses after hearing the familiar voice, and the moment he looks up to confirm that he heard correctly, he sees Ray.
Confused and enraged, Zac doesn't do anything.
"That's the boy I was talking about," Ray says to the leader.
"Oh, huh. So this is your apprentice, Zac, was it?" The leader asks.
Zac can no longer stay silent after he just heard his own name.
"You! How do you know my name?" Zac says, glaring at the leader.
"So he still doesn't know, huh?" The leader chuckles.
"Ray! I'm glad you're here, help me take down these trash!"
Ray ignores Zac. "Yes, I've trained him for a year as stated, and he should be strong enough to take down 20 adult men," Ray says to the leader.
"I hope you're right. Boys, ATTACK!"
Confused at what Ray meant, Zac has no longer time to be confused as now a group of at least 50 people is trying to attack him.
Ray and the bandit leader watch Zac's battle against the men that took around an hour, and both can't help but be in awe as they watch a 10-year-old boy take down grown men who have been trained and has years of battle experience, yet it only takes only a minute for them to be thrown to the ground and knocked out cold.
…
Zac has taken down at least 30 men, more than what was estimated, but he has lost his stamina fighting, he can't hold on any longer, and just the moment two other bandits come in to attack Zac, the leader suddenly steps in knocking the two out.
"I think that is enough!" The leader says to his men.
*Clapping*
"That was splendid, Zac; thank you for such a wonderful show. I've been getting bored lately, but I think you will be a great source of entertainment for a few years when you're with us," The leader grins.
"Wha- What do you mean with you?" Zac's breath fades, and his eyes slowly close, looking at the leader's grin right before passing out.
"He's better than expected, Sir Hero. I'll take him."
"If you're satisfied, then follow the deal and tell me where it is!" Ray demands.
"I'll tell you, I'll tell you, it's in an abandoned colosseum North from here In Briggand. Now, this show has got me parched. How about some te-" Ray disappears from the building without a trace.
"Ah, such a party pooper; oh well, at least he kept his end of the deal and didn't just kill me after he got the info. Now Zac, let's get you prepped up for what's to come."
Chapter End.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
BadStripes
BadStripes Sometimes I even forget how old Zac is. Maybe like 9 or 10? I'll just go with 10.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone