"You won't steal my hat next time!" the girl muttered as she threw another stone, even if nobody was around to hear her.
After hearing the news that somewhere far away a single man had swooped away a rebellion, her friends started reenacting a war through their games. As they fought one another, each of them bet an object they cared for. The object the girl bet was her dear hat she had gotten from her mother. However, being the weak little girl she was, she had lost the hat after going against an older boy.
Mad at her own lack of power, the girl started training by throwing rocks. She thought that throwing rocks would get her really strong, so she had been at it the whole day, and even as the weather got worse and worse, she refused to stop.
The winds were strong enough to push the stones back at her, but that only got the girl to try even harder, and before long, every throw was accompanied by a struggling scream coming from her heart.
Every throw, she felt pain in her shoulders. Every stone flew less than the previous one. With every move, the girl felt herself growing weaker, and that frustrated her even more.
Before long, she had exhausted herself, and she fell on her back, left with nothing but the gray sky to stare at.
"I want a new hat…" she cried, her fists balled to give away her exasperation.
That's when, from the thick clouds above her, a faint light made way. Noticing it, the girl closed her eyes and spoke her wish again.
"I want a new hat!"
As if answering her, the clouds shone even brighter, and before long, the light started descending towards her. The girl had never before heard of a shining god who granted children's wishes, but if she was the first one to see Them, then she for sure would be first on the wish-granting list.
Yet, gods don't simply appear out of nowhere, and as the girl's hair started floating for no apparent reason, she understood why the light in the sky kept getting brighter. However, by that time it was too late. The little one only found the time to gasp, and no words came out before a lightning bolt struck right where her body stood.
With the bright light blinding her, the girl closed her eyes. She wasn't ready to meet her end, but she had no time left to complain about it. Everything should have ended in an instant, and a worthless life was going to meet an uninspiring end in another corner of the world.
Only, the girl got to open her eyes again, and when she did, she saw the gray sky as if nothing had happened.
She got up and looked around—she wasn't alone anymore either. Next to her, there stood a man dressed in thick fur and wearing a funny helmet.
"Mister? It's hot around here," the girl said, completely forgetting about the danger she was just moments ago.
"Forget about my clothes! What do you mean by 'a new hat'?! Was there really nothing else to wish for?" the man clapped back, as if that was the main concern of the moment.
But the girl didn't budge on her wish.
"I said I want a new hat, so I want a new hat! Are you here to make my wish come true? If so, give me your hat!"
"Ha? What would a kid like you even do with this?" the man asked while pointing at his helmet. "If I put this on your frail neck, it'll snap like a twig! Ahahaha—"
As the man laughed at his lame joke, the girl staring at him got teary-eyed. It wasn't long before she bumped her head in his belly and started beating on his chest with her small fists.
"It won't! I'm not a weak girl! I'm a strong girl, so I deserve a hat!" she screamed, her words making no sense to the man who had randomly appeared next to her.
"Wow… girl… calm down…" the man said with a worried expression, lifting her up by her white, dirty robe. I have to say, that man was really bad at handling kids.
Still mad, the girl stuck her tongue out, trying to keep herself composed so as to intimidate the weird guy into giving up his helmet.
"Haha! I like that attitude!" the man said. "I tell you what, if you ever see this helmet come off, I promise I'll give it to you!"
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He didn't even get to finish his words, and the girl's hands were already stretched trying to reach for the metal wings at the top. However, the man was much quicker and kept her just out of reach, he let go of her soon after, no care given to how high he was holding her.
As the girl's feet touched the ground, she lunged at the man once again, but a hand on her forehead kept her back.
"If you are to take it off yourself, then you have much more to learn, lady," the man said with a kind smile.
"Fine!" the girl answered. "Then teach me yourself!"
"Ha? No way I'm wasting my time with a little kid!"
"But you have to!"
"Why would I?"
"Because… you were the one who almost landed on me!"
At the girl's words, the man opened his eyes wide, but before he could speak, the girl continued.
"That bolt of lightning—I saw it! It was you! You almost hurt me, so you have to teach me how to do that too!"
Stunned by what the little lady said, the man had but one question.
"How do you know it was me?" he asked. Surely, he tried to trick the lady and get out of trouble.
"Don't try to hide it from me! I felt it was you!" the girl answered, making the man's jaw drop even lower.
"Pfft! Ahahahaha!" the man laughed, his voice resounding like thunder.
"All right then, twerp—"
"Hey—"
"You seem to have a knack for it, so you get to be my apprentice!"
The girl didn't get a choice, her perceptiveness being what ended up biting her.
*****
Many years later, the man was sound asleep somewhere in the jungle when something next to him started buzzing. The buzzing was faint, but it slowly crept up on him.
The sound came from a girl whose form was now pure electricity. She approached the man she had been training with for most of her life, and when the moment was right, she lunged at the helmet the man wore.
Unfortunately, the girl was nowhere near quick enough, and all the man had to do was transform himself into electricity and rise to the clouds above, letting the young lady taste defeat together with dirt.
"Come back here, Einar! How is that even fair? You know I can't take to the skies like that!" the girl screamed to the heavens as she stomped her feet, only for a loud laugh to resound as the answer she had come to despise.
She was now a proud young lady—with stunning looks, I may add—but that mattered little for her teacher.
"Twerp, I thought you knew better than to strike lightning with lightning!" the man called Einar spoke from high up in the sky.
"It's not my fault; that's all you've taught me! What's up with this whole 'representative' stuff either way?"
With a deep sigh, Einar came down like lightning and looked at the girl, his disappointment readable from the closest village.
"Look, I think it's every month that you ask me this… You're a big girl now. Isn't it about time you start listening when I answer?"
"Ah, whatever!" the feisty lady snapped back. "I've gotten you where I wanted!"
As the girl spoke, her palm grabbed onto one of the wings on Einar's helmet, almost pulling it off if it wasn't for the man's quick reaction.
"Tsk, I'll still get it one day…" the girl said, her attempts failing one after another.
In response, the man laughed once again.
"For a second, you had me there!" he said. "But you still have a long way to go!"
The lady, who was now in her teens, was displeased at her lack of power. She had already learned transmutation, and the man in front of her called her a genius who would "become a representative in no time," yet when looking at Einar, the huge gap between the two was clear even after all those years. She felt frustrated, for no matter how much she tried, she was still so far away from him.
Of course, the girl didn't hate the idea of being near her teacher for a while longer. Ever since she'd met Einar, the man had taken her more or less by force on many adventures. The girl was seldom home, most of her time being spent in the savanna, chasing after some peculiar clouds that seemed to always run from them.
As she looked at the man, she was once again impressed by how simple, almost goofy, he looked. His body was strong and chiseled, always covered by thick fur except for his arms and calves. With his peculiar way of dressing, Einar looked funny, and that helmet he always wore didn't help his case.
Yet, that day, something about the man looked off. He stood motionless, staring at the clouds he had just come from. It was the perfect moment to reach for his helmet, but the girl didn't do it.
"Einar?" she blurted out without thinking, having the man snap back to reality.
"You really shouldn't call your teacher by the name like that," he said, trying to play off the moment of distraction, but the girl's expression remained unimpressed, demanding of Einar to speak what was on his mind.
In response, the man sighed. Defeated by the young girl in everything but fighting prowess, he had no choice but to admit to his worries.
"You know those clouds we have been chasing for a while now?"
"Yes? What about them?"
Just then, a loud screech resounded throughout the savanna. It was an angry screech—a screech that looked for trouble. Hearing it, the girl instinctively covered her ears, scared at what might come out if she looked at the sky.
"We've reached them," the man said out of nowhere, his voice solemn as if that screech signaled his meeting with fate.
Too fast for the girl to even react, she was launched away to her home village on the other side of the savanna, thunder roaring in the distance as all she could do was watch her master's silhouette get smaller and smaller.