Mason shirama ran through the woods at fleeting speed, leaping through tree branches and dodging overhanging vines, his pursuers hot at his heel frantically weaving hand signs to impede his path, suddenly sharp blades of grass shot out from the muddy landscape towards mason.

"damn forest art! I need to increase my speed!" Mason gritted his teeth as he twisted in the air dodging several blades of grass made sharp by the forest art of his pursuers.

Suddenly the leader of the pursuers made a profound gesture to a tree branch causing the tree branch to become life-like and it shot out at alarming speed towards mason as he was agilely dodging the blades of grass.

"Fuck! I need to get out of here but  there are too many!"

Whoosh!

The branch wrung itself around mason's ankle as he was about to land on the trunk of another tree causing him to lose his balance and fall.....the pursuers gleefully smirked, as they quickly caught up to mason, the leader bearing a savage grin on his  face took out a club and walked briskly to mason...

"Fuck!! Fuck!!! Fuck!!!" Mason cursed under his breath as he madly tried to pry loose the thick branch that bound his angle like a snake..

"Stop struggling and I will make this as quick and painless as possible" the leader of the pursuers said, he planned to sell mason as a slave to the Mud ogres as payback for the lemba bread that mason stole.

This lemba bread had magic properties, it could increase the life span of an ordinary human by two years and it could also be grounded and used to conceal low level auras, he spent ten silver coins to acquire it from the mountain elves yet a measly human thief dared to sneak into his camp and steal it!.

Suddenly as he closed the distance completely and was about to hit mason with his club, sizzles of electricity erupted in the air!......a thick bolt of white lightning shot out from a distance and hit him squarely in the chest sending him flying into a tree.

Bam!!!

Vomiting blood, he groaned as his entire body was numb from the shock, his men suddenly rushed up to him, shock on their faces, what just happened! It was too fast for them to determine where the attack came from but then a brown skinned man wearing a yellow robe stepped out of the underbrush, his right hand sizzling with white lightning as he menacingly smiled at the group showing his white teeth.

"Leave this place at once, this is the territory of the lightning yao race, this is just a warning shot, my next bolt of lightning will be aimed to kill!" The brown skinned man said.

The leader of the pursuers struggled to get up with great difficulty as his men helped him hurriedly retreat a safe distance...."fuck that lightning bastard!" fury laced his words as he stood up on unsteady feet.

Mason could make out the faint smell of burnt flesh in the air as he chuckled inwardly to himself, he studied the brown skinned man in front of him and a sense of dread slowly crept up on him, what would happen to him now that he had trespassed on lightning yao race territory! He regretted stealing the lemba bread but now he had to think of a way to salvage the situation and escape.

"Gud sir pls help me! This men wanted to kidnap me pls don't let them take me, I am an orphan" mason said amidst tears that streamed down his face, snot oozing from his nose, the brown skinned man was even more angrier, this hooligans dared to kidnap an innocent defenseless kid even going as far as chasing him into lightning yao territory!

"You fucking lightning bastard! You don't know what's good for you! I will beat you to an inch of your life!" The leader of the pursuers exploded in anger after his consciousness stabilized somewhat....then he commanded his men to take up formations, he wanted to teach this man a lesson for daring to attack and threaten him so brazenly! He was a member of the tree bark race and he had four men with him also of the tree bark race, together he believed they could quickly neutralize the brown skinned man and take the kid away before any reinforcements arrived.

"Form the green trap array" the leader commanded as he started forming several hand signs at a rapid pace, his men all formed similar hand signs then suddenly hundreds of green vines shot out of the ground towards the brown skinned man, each vine as thick as an arm.

However before the vines could entrap the man, his body thrummed with white lightning as he weaved a simple hand sign summoning a shockwave of white lightning that tore through the thick encroaching vines and shot towards the group!

Bzzzzzz! Crack!

Arrrrrrrgh!!

Screams resounded through out the group as the white lightning promptly raked through the group, scorching them black as sizzles of electricity covered their trembling bodies knocking all of them unconscious!

The air was rife with the smell of burning flesh, mason looked at how the hairs on their heads had afro-like puffy disheveled looks with faint pulses of electricity passing through their twitching bodies and couldn't stop himself from laughing, they really didn't know how high the heavens were for them to actually challenge somebody of the lightning yao race with their inferior forest art.

The black skinned man suddenly grimaced, an aura of death was beginning to permeate the air, it was already nightfall and the necrophiles would start to roam about the forest region looking for souls to devour.

"Kid ,my name is elder Yuri, do you have any parents to return to?" The brown skinned man asked, elder Yuri was very worried about nightfall because of the necrophiles, a ghost race that roamed about during sun down, they especially liked eating the souls of children thus elder Yuri was very concerned for mason's wellbeing.

"Good sir, my name is mason and no I am an orphan, I am also very hungry and haven't eaten for three days" putting on an extremely weak confused puppy expression, mason began to walk weakly and feign fainting, Yuri quickly ran to him and caught mason as he "fainted".

Genuine concern on his face, he decided to take mason to his house, any further contemplation on his next plan of action could be done the next day.

The journey from the outer forest boundary of the lightning yao race to elder Yuri's house was a three hour journey so they quickly reached the house, it was a type of tree house built on top a very tall oak tree.

With a flick of elder Yuri's robe the force of white lightning propelled him to the platform of the tree house as he immediately opened the door with his key and carried mason who was still  "fainted" into an inner chamber, sprinkling Some fresh water to awaken mason.

"Wake up child, you need to eat before you can have a goodnight rest" elder Yuri said, mason suddenly stood up and blinked a couple of times, his stomach grumbling and his snow white hair swaying in the gentle breeze, elder Yuri remarked at mason's hair color, its color was truly rare in the five desolate realms perhaps he could adopt this young one and raise him as his own.

Elder Yuri beamed a warm smile towards mason as he patted him on the head and left to cook something for mason to eat.

After dinner, mason thanked the good elder and went to sleep, the night was peaceful and for the first time he felt truly safe within the four walls of elder Yuri's abode.

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