Two years flew by so quickly.

 

A topless Ezra could be seen swinging his sword repeatedly. His sun-kissed caramel skin glistened in the sun as he was covered in sweat. His determined, deep brown eyes focused on the tip of his sword as he struck the air. His black hair had now grown into long wild tight curls over the years. Apart from all these noticeable changes, physically he was no different from a regular 12-year-old boy. Even though his muscles were not bulky or visible the power contained in each swing could not be hidden.

 

He had just finished the last set of his two-year training.

 

A set consisted of running a lap around the island, chopping wood and transporting them, moving heavy stones and swinging a wooden sword 1000 times. In the past, it took him a whole day to complete a set but after two years, he could now complete at least 5 sets a day with enough time to rest.

 

Old Man Hooks looked at the sweat-drenched young man. "I have nothing left to teach you. You need to find your way of the sword."

 

"I once heard a legend from my master, this very island once had a temple dedicated to a sea god. 

 

Go explore the island, and spend the next month relaxing. You need to be in top form for the marine selection in a couple of months."

 

"Yes, master" Ezra replied.

 

Upon leaving the hut, Ezra had begun to think of where these ruins could be. Over the two years of training, he had explored almost all the areas on the island except one...

 

The top of the mountain!

 

1 hour later Ezra was now standing on top of the mountain admiring a moss-covered statue. Making his way into the ruins was not too difficult; he was used to chopping wood and moving stones. At the centre of the ruins, he found a statue in a much better shape than the others. Looking at the name engraved at the bottom of the statue "Poseidon".

 

The statue was sculpted riding the sea waves with a trident in his hand

 

Ezra decided to spend the night camping in front of the majestic statue. For many days he just sat in front of Poseidon imagining how powerful one had to be to ride the waves like this, he even imagined himself as Poseidon chasing and stopping pirates from destroying innocent lives.

 

20 days went by in a flash. For Ezra this was a relaxing time, no physical training had been done other than on the first day of arriving at the ruins, the rest of the time he spent in his imagination.

 

Ezra loved this statue, he felt at loss knowing he will have to part from it in a few days.

 

He decided to tidy up the area around the statue to show his gratitude to Poseidon for allowing him to dream. Without wasting time he got to work, cutting, moving and cleaning his way from the centre out to the perimeter of the temple.

 

On his final day on the mountain, he was back to admiring the statue of Poseidon. Maybe because the area was tidy or a work of fate, Ezra noticed a wooden pole sticking out from the base of the statue. Without looking carefully, it would be difficult to differentiate between the wooden pole and the statue.

 

'What is that' Ezra thought.

 

Digging did not take long but getting whatever was buried out was not an easy task. What looked like a short wooden pole ended up being an 8m long wooden pole, but buried beneath it was a treasure box.

 

Ezra at this point was covered in mud, the excavation site was now 10m deep. He decided to open the box in the pit afraid it would create unneeded attention. Looking at the box without a lock, he gathered his courage to open it.

 

Inside it was something that resembled a blue fruit and a note.

 

 

 

For a boy who had lost everything, all he needed was something to believe, a type of hope to anchor him towards his dreams.

 

Without thinking much he took the fruit in his hands and climbed out of the pit. Ezra looked at the Poseidon statue once more before shoving the fruit down his mouth.