The one who couldn't accept it, however, was the little girl who landed in the middle of the village, far from where she was just seconds ago.
That was even more proof of how much stronger Einar was than the girl. Of course it bothered her, but she had something much more important on her mind at that moment.
With everyone around looking in stupor at the girl who fell out of the sky, she got up and screamed.
"Einar!"
The next second, the girl transformed her limbs into electricity and rushed back to where the man was, completely ignoring the village as if it wasn't her hometown. She'd performed a miracle and left with no explanation to the people who barely got to see her.
Yet even though she gave it her all, she was much slower than when she was thrown back. That means she had plenty of time to look at what was going on in front of her, and she was stupid enough to do so.
Far away, more so up in the sky than on land, blue and yellow colors painted the sky.
Flashes of energy flew from a blue bird, as if she could produce them at will.
Meanwhile, Einar relied on what he could—be it transmutation or using lightning coming from the bird—and struck back, scorching the grass below them without even touching it.
In comparison, the purple trail of electricity that the girl left behind as she traversed the savanna felt small. She felt weak.
She understood why she had been pushed away, but she wouldn't let Einar put himself in danger alone.
"One moment everything seems normal, the next one you push me away, and that thing pops up? That's too sudden even for the thunder representative, Einar!"
But lightning is always spontaneous. You can never tell it where or when to strike. If you're lucky, you get a warning mere seconds before, and after an instant, all you're left with is the aftermath.
Lightning can bring disaster in an instant and disappear just as quickly, but the girl didn't wish for that. She needed more time to reach them. Until then, she could only watch the fight unfold.
Such fights are hard to observe with a human eye. Maybe it was because of her skills that she was able to pick up on the moves. However, what she saw only troubled her.
The man called Einar—the representative she viewed as the strongest being in the world—was struggling to keep up.
Every blow he deflected flew at a speed faster than sound itself, and wherever it landed, heavens would tear and land would burn. Even so, it was not enough.
For every strike Einar defected, another three would come his way. The speed at which the man dodged was nothing like the girl had seen before. It served to prove that the representative had always been playing with her. She had even mastered transmutation at a young age, yet what she knew was maybe a drop in the bucket Einar carried.
"Careful!" the girl screamed from far away, as a lightning bolt burned the man's palm, turning one of his fingers black.
On the other side, all the bird did was scream and summon lightning, every flap of her wings lifting random things from below while she kicked the clouds away.
Still kilometers away, the girl felt herself getting lifted into the air. It took all she had just to keep her feet that shined purple on the ground.
The Bird didn't seem to have it easy, but she didn't seem to struggle either. On the other hand, Einar was much more expressive.
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"Is he smiling?!" the girl asked herself, looking at the injured man. After so many years spent together, she had no problem telling what expression was under that helmet, yet it was the first time in a while she doubted her special sense.
"Why? Why would you smile?" she shouted, but the thunder on the battlefield was too strong for her voice to break through.
Yet, putting one leg in front of the other as fast as she could, every step took her closer and closer to the two. As the girl's body traveled through the ions in the air, as much as she could keep the tension up, she got closer and closer.
"Hold on, Einar! I'm almost there."
Finally, her scream reached the man. Tired and burned, Einar caught a glimpse of the girl, but when he saw her, he tensed up even more. One second before, he seemed to be moving swiftly, but now he was barely able to dodge the bird.
Maybe it was because of the girl, or maybe it was bound to happen, but it was soon after that Einar stopped fighting altogether.
"Einar? Einar!" the girl called his name, but the man didn't react. Instead, he looked at her, smiling calmly, as if he were a father looking at his daughter he was going to disappoint one last time…
The next moment, the thunderbird mercilessly struck him. The sight of the man being burned alive is gutting to describe. No scream came out, for he had no throat left to scream with.
His body shining from within, even the man's eyeballs lit up for a second. Soon after, he closed his eyes so as not to show the girl the horrors of them melting. Even at that moment, Einar found it within himself to smile through the pain.
"EINAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" the girl screamed, powerless to do anything even though she had almost reached them. The man who'd taught her everything she knew had become a bright torch right under her gaze, and all she could do was watch further as her legs gave out.
When it was over, the thunderbird stood for but a second to look at the girl.
More than fear, it was anger that flooded her gaze. Anger at the bird and at the man who pushed her away when it mattered. No, she was angry at herself. She was disappointed for being so weak.
Unimpressed by the young lady, the bird disappeared in an instant, leaving screams and traces of blue lightning behind to mark her victory.
As such, the girl was left all alone, frozen right under the battlefield. She wanted to look up for Einar, but she already knew there was no point in doing so. The man had been burned completely, leaving nothing in the world of the living.
That's when something hit the girl on the head, and her vision turned dark for a moment. Confused, she put her hands on her head and felt something cold to the touch. She quickly took it off, and when she saw what it was, tears started flowing out.
"Idiot!" she shouted while holding a familiar helmet in her palms. "Why would you protect this instead of yourself?"
And what do you know? Einar also had the answer to that. It was written then, and it's still written now. Right here, inside the helmet, are the parting words of the previous thunder representative.
*****
"Not much of a hat, but this is what you wanted, right?" Nayavu read the words inside Ayanda's helmet, his finger trembling as he traced every letter.
"Ayanda…" he spoke, looking at the lady's solemn, expressionless face, then with gentle moves, he handed back her treasured "hat."
The boy stood motionless, words clogged up in his throat, as he didn't know what more he could say. That's when Ayanda took it upon herself to break the ice.
"It wasn't long after that I became the representative myself. Imagine the look on my face when I found out that the bird I planned to take my revenge on had become my god-given target."
Nayavu listened to her story in silence, and now that it was over, he understood that silence was all he could give back. It came to him slowly, but he understood that what he was looking at was not merely a supernatural being, nor was she a tool of the gods. Ayanda was her own person. She had her own goals, her own feelings, and her own wishes.
Could it be that you wanted to give back to the world the way he did? Nayavu wanted to ask while touching his tattoo, but he was stopped short by a screech coming from far away.
"Haha! Look who's back!" said the woman, the same confident, unbothered smile blooming once again on her face.
With an imposing presence, the thunderbird flew graciously towards the three who were waiting for her. She held her wings straight, for every flap could have ravaged the land she was getting closer to.
Despite the fear-inducing power the bird possessed, Nayavu couldn't help but notice she wasn't in her best shape. The thunderbird had grown smaller, and even though she was still big enough to swallow a human whole, the size difference compared to when he had met her was considerable.
Imagine what she looked like back in her prime, Nayavu thought.
"This is nothing compared to what she was before," Ayanda spoke suddenly, almost as if she had read the boy's mind. "Now, get up! It's time you two settled your scores!"
"Hasn't the score already been settled?" the boy responded, his mouth twisting into a subtle smile.
"Haha! Don't project yourself into my past, boy! You have your own fight to win."
Nodding at Ayanda's remark, Nayavu jumped on the back of his trusty friend.
"It doesn't look like she's stopping to greet us first. Are you ready, Tahu?"
The buck puffed out his nose and shook his antlers, flaunting their growth in front of the approaching beast.
In response, the bird screeched once more, dropped the prey she had gathered, and opened her beak, ready to strike the two.
"Here we go, friend! This time we're taking her down!"