Act 3: The Water Park

…

“There is one last place I have to show you, I promise you won’t regret it.”

That is how Kia found herself at a water park. This was the final place that Mwana wanted to bring her before closing the day. While their plans for the day had included going to the library then the information center before accompanying their aunt to the cloth shop, now everything had already been jumbled up.

“There are two main activities at this water park, swimming and the bridge battle.” Mwana quickly explained as the two entered the park.

“People everywhere!” This was the first thing Kia noticed. The place was stacked full of people; a sea of them, an ocean of humans.

Mwana took Kia to a stand section where they could join a team to participate in the bridge battles. Each team needed at least 5 or 6 members to be eligible for participation. In fact the more the better considering the game seemed to encourage chaos. After they were assigned to a team and given blue shirts signifying their team, the two finally moved to the section where the bridge was located.

Looking ahead of her, Kia finally understood what the bridge battle was all about. Above a giant pool, there was a swaying bridge suspended above with two groups occupying opposite sides of the bridge. While Kia was still watching, the two teams started jumping and moving causing the bridge to sway violently. As the bridge swayed left and right, those from each team who fell into the water were disqualified. It was something that Kia had never seen before and most of all it looked like a very fun activity.

As the two teams competed, one kid was rocking the bridge as if he had no cares in the world and little by little the other team started going down.

“Now prepare to fall!”

After the boy at the front of the bridge uttered those words, he started moving so vigorously that he was even dancing. In fact, he was jumping and swinging with one leg at a time to increase the momentum and whenever he was about to fall into the water, the teammate behind him would grab his hand and pull him back onto the bridge. Meanwhile, the opposing team was dropping off the bridge like flies. One of them grabbed onto the person in front of them who also did the same to the one in front leading to a situation where the remaining team members fell into the water in a file. They were absolutely demolished.

A complete wipeout!

In all the water bridge battles Mwana had witnessed, he had never seen such absolute dominance. Now, the team of little kids who had just won looked like adults in small-sized bodies to him.

“Who will be next to face the Ankle-Destroyer Team? Get reeeeeeady!!!!!” The announcer was hyped up and screaming at the top of his lungs like a man on drugs. Although he did not use anything to amplify his voice, it travelled far and wide rocking everyone’s eardrums like a beat drum.

At this point the bridge battle had already attracted Kia’s attention to the max. She was lost in the rising emotions and she could not help but stand when she heard the announcer’s statement.

In her blue team uniform, she quickly stood up and raised her hand while shouting excitedly, “Us us us!” at the top of her voice.

Mwana was flabbergasted. He was incredulous. He was even a little scared. After all, the Ankle-Destroyers truly lived up to their name. Everyone had just witnessed them destroy other teams left and right. They were absolutely demolishing everyone. Who would want to face them?!

“Us!” Mwana could not help but protest in a scared tone. However, it was too late and the announcer was already excitedly beckoning their team over.

“Just look at their legs!” Their legs were like rocks so Mwana was indeed right to be scared.

Although everyone in the Ankle-Destroyer team was young, Mwana wondered if they were secretly child bodybuilders or something. These little fellows had calves bigger than even real world adult footballers.

Seeing Mwana in shock, one of their other team members pushed him forward while persuading him, “It is okay, it is okay.”

“Okaaaay???! Look at their legs man!”

However, it was too late to back down now. Needless to say, the next thing Mwana remembered after getting on the bridge was waking up in the water. Their team had indeed been absolutely destroyed. Although it was a ‘traumatizing’ experience in some angle, this was also what made the water bridge game attractive to these children. In the end, Mwana and Kia spent hours at the water park and climbed the bridge over and over again no matter how many times they fell into the water. It was that addictive.

Act 4: True Purpose

…

“You know, as someone who is experienced with embroidery, the fabric of the universe is not so mysterious. As a painter, the world is just like a painting on a canvas. To understand the world's secrets, one must be able to gaze at the canvas below.”

“Seriously, what are you talking about? Are you half-dreaming?”

“No, I am just thinking out loud. These seams, these patterns, just think about it. Isn’t this how the Creator made the world? As humans we can paint and make all sorts of complex designs so what of the gods.”

“Mmmh.”

It was a strange conversation spoken in a serene atmosphere set by the beautiful orange afternoon sun while Mwana and Kia sat in the grass at a green park. Looking at the setting sun and the scarf he was knitting, Mwana suddenly felt a little philosophical. Kia on the other hand just felt like he was airing his stray thoughts out loud.

The two had played around at the water park for hours and now they could not even go to the library. They settled in this green park and were actually knitting while admiring the orange afternoon sun.

With the evening fast approaching, Mwana and Kia started packing up whatever they were working on. The day had been fun but it was now time to retire. Mwana glanced at the scarf Kia had been making and he could not completely stifle his laugh. Kia turned to him and frowned with a slight trace of unhappiness. However to Mwana, she was still extremely beautiful with her long black hair and elegant face. Her striking dark eyes which seemed to mirror the sun and always held a tinge of amusement now held a bit of a ‘down feeling’.

“Why laugh? Is it that ugly?”

“Ugly! What? No way. It's beautiful, Kia, really beautiful.” Mwana quickly replied. He had just thought the design was funny but it was far from ugly.

“Well, it is good that you think so because when I finish it, I’m giving it you. If you think it is so beautiful, then you better wear it.” Kia said in a tone that signified ‘and that’s final’.

Imagining wearing a scarf knitted for him by Kia herself, Mwana’s heart was jumping around restlessly. In his mind, it was like having Kia’s hands around him at all times. How could that not move him?

“Of course, I will wear it. I will wear it every day!” Mwana quickly replied, perhaps too enthusiastically which caused Kia to burst out in laughter. A moment later, Mwana also joined in and started laughing. For a while, the two laughed until they forgot what they were laughing about in the first place.

After a pause Kia spoke up again, “Do you know why I followed my uncle to this country?”

Hearing her tone, Mwana knew that she was speaking about something serious. In life, even when you are close to people, there are some personal things you cannot bring yourself to ask until they open up to you. In Mwana’s case, he was always wary of asking about the matters of Kia’s family. After all, while she and Fury were technically cousins, they were not related by blood at all. As far as Mwana knew, Kia was not even from Eastern Jin nation originally.

Therefore, when Kia decided to reveal her personal matters to him, Mwana just shut up and listened. In a way he was glad that the trust between them had crossed a certain threshold at least something a bit beyond ordinary friends.

“I am looking for a flower. I know the general location where I can find it but I don't know when or how I can get it.”

“Haha, I did not know you were a flower girl, Kia.”

“Shut up.” Kia slapped Mwana’s thigh while berating him with a smile on her face. She could not truly get mad at him even if she tried.

The two started pushing into each other while joking around in silence. However, a moment later Mwana took on a serious tone and asked what was truly on his mind.

“Is it really that important to you?”

“Yes.” Although Kia did not mention it, the main reason she was looking for such a rare flower was for her family’s sake.

“Then you can count on me. Even if it is in hell, you can count on this warrior to go through it with you!” Mwana courageously said while even slapping and pointing at his chest with a heroic look plastered across his face.

No matter how she tried to hold back her laugh, Kia could not triumph and burst out in laughter. In a way, Mwana’s antics always lightened her mood.

“Don't laugh.” Mwana was smiling while speaking in a fake aggrieved tone, "I'm serious, you can count on me," but he finished his sentence with a more serious tone while looking directly into Kia’s eyes. Although he did make a joke about the situation, he was completely serious in helping Kia through anything.

Hearing Mwana’s reply and assurance, Kia was felt emotionally touched. Although she wanted to say something more, in the end the words that came out of her mouth were:

“Mhm,”

She proceeded to hold her legs against chest in a sitting position while thinking about her future. From the side, Mwana just watched her but he did not say anymore. He had already spoken his heart and she had understood him.

After some silence while watching the gradually disappearing sun, Mwana finally spoke up again.

“We won’t be able to make it to the library today will we?”

“Nope,” Kia said while packing the last of their things.

With that, the two finally left the green park. Originally, they were only supposed to spend a few minutes at the water park before heading to the library but they ended up wasting their whole afternoon there. After leaving the water park, they had decided to relax at the green park while knitting for a while. Therefore, they did not have time to visit the Infinity Magic Library today.

For Mwana, it was very important for him to visit this library as it was said to have infinite halls built by the Magic Grandmaster and containing a grand number of mostly magic works, historical literature, martial arts, and most importantly hybrid arts. For someone who was prepping for the Magic Student stage, hybrid arts were absolutely integral to his success as they could assist him in forming flexible arts and easily transforming his existing martial techniques into spells. The general definition of a Hybrid Art was a technique that combined different aspects in the same manner as but less complicated than a canon, for example Magic + Martial Arts.