The leaves rustled. Water streams down the hills and mountains. Birds chirped, animals roamed, and fish squirmed in the clear river. In a vast plain in the middle of the forest, tents were set up. All of them were yellow. Some were small meant for one and some were bigger meant for more people. The camp was filled with an unfathomable silence as if the world had held its breath.
From a particular tent, a woman was in labor. She was wearing a simple orange robe with ancient patterns inscribed onto them. She had black hair and blue eyes. She was also surrounded by other women wearing the same clothes as her. She moaned, drawing sharp breaths. The woman surrounding her held her hand with worried faces, trying to ease her.
After an unknown amount of time, the cries of a newborn baby cut through the tense silence. The new mother went unconscious from the pain. A few stayed by her side tending to her. The newborn was cleaned and warped in a clean fabric and brought outside.
Outside many men wearing simple yellow robes with ancient patterns imprinted on them were standing, waiting for the news of the child.
"It's a boy!" The woman holding the baby shouted.
The men shouted back in a joy, their laughter echoing and mimicking each other's in a symphony. Instantly, dark grey clouds started covering the sky at a rapid pace. Their dense bodies stopped the sun from seeping onto the earth. The crowd looked up.
"It's a nimbus!" An elderly man exclaimed.
"A divine blessing!" Another man added.
"Praise the victorious fighting buddha!" The crowd shouted.
They rejoiced happily. The woman held the baby high up in the air. The clouds started to rumble and contort. Right at that moment, Golden lightning struck the child. The woman's eyes widened, the entire crowd stared in silence out of pure shock…but it didn't end there. It struck twice before stopping. Strangely, it didn't conduct to the woman, nor did it hurt the child. And more strangely, the thunder didn't come after.
"T-This is a sigh from the lord. That child is his Apostle."
The other listened to his words and began to pray to their God.
"Praise the victorious fighting buddha."
"Hail the great sage equal to heaven."
***
After a few hours, the child was returned to his mother. She cuddled the child with love. The child slept soundly beside her.
"You wouldn't believe this! He was struck by lightning three times and didn't get hurt!" The woman exclaimed.
The mother's eyes widened in surprise. She stroked her child's head with gentle movements. Her eyes lingered on her child for a moment longer – his reflection in her pupils.
"Sun…" She whispered.
"Huh?" The woman said.
"His name will be Sun…Daishen." The mother acknowledged.
"Welcome to the world, our little sun." The other woman said with joy.
***
Eight years later...
Sun and his friends laughed and smiled while playing around the ball. They all wore simple yellow robes with ancient patterns inscribed onto them.
"Sun! Catch!" His friend exclaimed.
He threw the ball at the apostle and sun caught it. He smiled and threw it towards his other friend.
"Hey! Catch!" He shouted.
The friend tried to catch the ball, but it slipped out of his grasp. The ball bounced on the ground and then was dragged into the forest.
"Aww…man." Sun said.
"Hey, it's okay. Let's get it." His friend encouraged.
"Are you sure this is a good idea? Shouldn't we tell the adults?" The other friend asked.
"Oh, it couldn't have gone that far. Come on." The friend replied.
The two children followed the other into the depths of the forest. They moved through trees and bushes, sneakily moving towards where the ball had gone. They moved further away from the camp to the point where they couldn't see it anymore. Eventually, they stopped and looked around.
"I think it flew here…" Sun's friend said.
They continued to look around with no luck. After a few minutes, they sat down at the base of a tree. They didn't talk for some time. Eventually, Sun looked up out of boredom. His eyes widened. He saw the ball they had lost stuck in the tree.
"Hey, guys. The ball is up there." Sun said.
His friends looked up and saw the ball. They instantly jumped to their feet while looking at their toy.
"How are we going to get it now?" Sun inquired.
"I don't know." His friend replied.
"Maybe we can climb the tree." The last one suggested.
"We can't climb that high." Sun retorted.
"Your right. Then, what should we do?" The other friend asked.
Suddenly, their conversation got interrupted by a loud roar. Birds flew frantically, alerted by the noise. Between the bushes and trees an animal could be seen. It had orange fur with black patterns covering its entire body. It walked on all fours with silent steps. The tiger approached the three children. Sun's friends froze – they backed off with trembling legs. Their entire bodies were paralyzed out of fear. But Sun…Sun stood in front of the mighty Tiger.
The Tiger stopped a few inches from them. Sun fiercely glared at it with his blue eyes. The tiger glared back but saw something abstract in sun's eyes. A bright yellow light gleamed from sun's eyes and a blurry figure appeared behind. The figure looked like a monkey with a golden headband on its head. seemed to smile before disappearing. The tiger shuttered and ran away with its tail tucked between its legs. Sun's friends gasped.
They rushed towards sun, wrapping their arms around his neck. All of them fell to the ground. Dust rose up as sun and his friends coughed. Then, they asked together.
"How did you do that?"
The two of them asked at the same time.
"…I don't know either." Sun said awkwardly.
"Come on! Just tell us!" The first friend exclaimed.
"I really don't know…" Sun replied.
Sun's other friend coughed and drew the attention of the others.
"Maybe we should go back before another tiger comes to eat us." He advised.
"But what about the ball?" Sun asked.
"We can have the adults get it for us." His friend answered.
"Okay…" Sun replied.