I Hate Systems

Snort!

A boar went around a forest, using its tusks to scrape the bark of a moist tree to reach the algae growing behind. It ate the algae patch, consumed a couple of mushrooms growing nearby and then proceed to sniff out the next potential algae patch.

There were traces of tree bark being removed at the foot of many trees, all thanks to its appetite. The boar was massive in stature, spanning a length surpassing two metres, weighing almost a ton.

To maintain such a statue, it had a voracious appetite. And since it primarily fed on algae, moss, and mushrooms, its feeding time spanned hours at a stretch.

This was its usual feeding grounds, evident by the markings it had carved out on the trees previously to warn any other creature that dared intrude. But unbeknownst to it, two figures were observing it in silence from atop a tree.

One of them, a boy around fifteen years in age held a knife in hand, alert as he kept it close to a rope stretched taut. The rope was the trigger to release the trap they had made. The trap was just a net camouflaged on the ground. A set of roots—similar to a banyan tree's secondary roots—were tied to form rope that stretched out from the trap, masked into the natural environment of the place.

Its other end connected to a bag weaved out of tree roots. Within the bag was a cut block of wood from a tree trunk, weighing a few hundred kilograms.

The boy observed the boar gradually approaching their trap as he watched his sister nearby, a girl around 21 years in age pour water into the trunk carefully, watching it absorb all the moisture, "Is it heavy enough to handle the boar's weight?"

"I think so." The girl replied and carefully took out a pouch and held it ready to throw at the boar. It was a sleep-inducing powder, one potent enough to even knock out the boar in a matter of seconds.

She stared at the boy, "Don't mess up the timing, Pnolli."

"I know, sis." The boy, Pnolli nodded and watched with bated breath as the boar approached the trap while continuing to eat its way through the region. Twenty metres, ten metres, five, two…Pnolli watched as the boar set foot around the edges of the net.

But just when another step would set its fate, the boar turned around, smelling something as it began to proceed in that direction.

"No, where the heck is it going now?" Pnolli couldn't help but curse aloud in frustration.

"Shush, don't be loud. You'll alert it." His older sister, Pneua chided him and observed the boar's actions, gripping the pouch tighter as she was planning to throw it the moment a chance presented itself.

The boar went sideways for a dozen metres and stopped before a boulder, sniffing something that resembled a log of wood from afar, covered with moss.

Upon the sight of the log, Pneua was surprised when she observed carefully, almost failing to conceal her voice, "That's a person!"

Pnolli took a second glance at her surprise, observing that under the layer of moss was a human man, more or less around his sister's age in terms of appearance.

He was currently naked, but most of his body was covered by a thick layer of moss, as if he had been in that state for weeks, if not months, something impossible for a normal human to execute.

"S-Sis!" Pnolli shouted and grabbed her sister's arm, "H-His hair! Look at his hair!"

"It's fully orange."

"Y-Yeah," Pneua couldn't control her emotions by this point. There was surprise, anticipation, expectation, and fear in her as she stared at the obscured face of the entity, only able to make out a portion of the forehead.

She pinched herself to become aware that she wasn't dreaming, turning around to stare at the black hair of her younger brother, "His hair is coloured."

"Sis, does that mean…?" Pnolli stared with an expectant gaze, "Is there finally hope for our village?"

"We can't be sure if this is our hope or not." Pneua stated solemnly as she urged her younger brother, "Quick, run to the village and alert everyone. I'll remain here and keep an eye on that individual. If he is a Saint, I'll signal. Just run away and vacate the village. But if not,"

She stated in all seriousness, "Prepare an offering."

"Okay, be careful, sis." Pnolli nodded and was about to descend the tree when suddenly, the boar snorted and bit onto the moss hard and pulled, removing most of the moss layer.

Immediately in response, the eyes of the individual opened as he got up with a start and stared at the startled boar that rushed at him instinctively to pummel him into bits.

"No!" Both Pnolli and Pneua shouted instinctively in response, alarmed at the boar's actions, having never expected the individual to have woke up so abruptly.

Snort!

The boar roamed into the man, surprised to crash into the boulder. And by the time it reoriented itself, the man had climbed onto its back as a voice of authority resounded while his fingers pressed a couple of locations around its neck region, "Sit!"

Bang!

The boar fell flat on the ground, unable to move. The man remained seated on it as he stared at his arms, watching the moss come off little by little as he moved, "How long…"

He stared at the impression on the ground that resembled his body, "was I unconscious?"

He closed his eyes and trained his senses to the peak, instantly turning around to stare at the sibling duo.

Startled by his gaze, and at his followed silence, the sibling duo hurriedly descended from the tree, flustered as they rushed towards the man and prostrated a couple of metres before him, "We greet the Divine Deity!"

"We greet the Divine Deity!"

The man observed their body language, the minute facial expression, and the rate of change in their heartbeats, calculating based on the available data to utter curtly, "You sure we're related?"

There was an expectation in their emotions, as if they had finally found something they had sought, which became apparent by their greetings, which felt a bit odd at one word where their confusion, excitement, hesitation, etc. was focused the most—the.

Based on his observation, it was as if the sibling duo wished for the word 'the' in the greeting to be replaced by 'our', hence the reason for his statement.

Immediately in response, the sibling duo shuddered, terrified even.

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