"Easy there, boy," I said with some difficulty; having a two-hundred-kilogram snout on my chest would do that. Hellboy, as I had named the Angtsìk that I had... Um, tamed? Domesticated? I still didn't know how to call whatever it was that I did every time I said the magic word "obey" and had the staring contest.
Nevertheless, after one month and four days since waking up in this body—perhaps it was more time on Pandora, but I used the time scale from my old world—so thirty-four days, one month and four days. I'd adjust it once I could find a human calendar with the current date. But that would be for later.
But anyway, getting back to the point at hand, I had discovered something incredible, though equally terrifying. You see, after having... let's say, made a mental Tsaheylu with Hellboy, a strange connection formed with him. It was like comparing it to a hand, and I might not be explaining it well, but you'd have to understand it that way because I didn't know how else to explain it.
And it was that I now knew where Hellboy was, knew his condition, and sometimes even his mood. As for the comparison to a hand, it was that you didn't need to see your limb to know where it was, what position it was in, and its state of health.
While it was strange to know where they were at every moment, the strong feeling had calmed down as the days passed. Now, instead of having the constant pressure in my head from the presence of both Fang and Hellboy, their states only appeared once I decided to think about it.
But that wasn't the surprising and terrifying part; rather, I could even see through their eyes. Yes, I was crazy to believe it! But it happened; it happened while I was sleeping, only I didn't know I was sleeping. I simply felt like I was waking up. At first, I felt strange, but I dismissed the feeling until I tried to get up and noticed that my range of vision was blurry, even null.
However, my hearing and smell were exceptional; any noise, even the soft brushing against branches and leaves in the trees at great height, I could detect, while my body felt different but familiar. It was like being in a dream, and at some point knowing you were dreaming but unable to control your dream.
That was the sensation.
That was a week ago, and since then, I had tried to recreate what had happened. I even gave it a name: Warg. Yes, nothing original, but that ability of the Free Folk from the A Song of Ice and Fire book series was my closest and most accurate comparison.
Since then, I had made some progress. While I hadn't been able to do it while awake or consciously, and could only enter their... minds? While asleep, even so, now I could control what I did once it happened. So, well. Something was something.
Extending my hand and brushing the lower part of Hellboy's jaw, the big guy shuddered and stood up on his hind legs, giving me enough time to get out from under him and stand up from the ground.
I had discovered that part during one of my Warg sessions with Hellboy. After several times, I had started to know his body almost perfectly. "Aleyx, Aleyx!"
"Froooo!" Hellboy flared his large blue fan, while positioning himself in front of me, protecting me from any harm or danger. Fang also rose from his lethargy to one side.
Seeing this, I positioned myself to one side of Hellboy, urging him to calm down. "Hey, mawey!" Without stopping to reassure him, I looked ahead, where a Risak warrior and two hunters had arrived to us, though they had stopped at a certain distance due to Hellboy's outburst. And since he was the alpha of the pack, the pack itself also positioned to support their alpha in protecting me, though I wasn't in danger, but rather those who had arrived.
"Aleyx," Ika'tun, the Risak warrior, was the one who explained the purpose of his visit. "The Olo'eyktan and the Tsahìk need your presence at the gathering place of the great Kelutral." I nodded, showing that I understood. "I have to go; I'll be back in a moment, and please, try not to attack anyone."
Having left certain measures with Hellboy, Fang approached and I mounted him, to go together with the three Na'vi who had come to fetch me. As we got closer, I could see how the place was filling up with clan members; many had their spears, and even some were on Pa'li or had their Txumre nearby, as if we were expecting an attack. "What's happening?" I couldn't help but ask, noticing that the atmosphere was very tense.
"Outsiders have broken the Great Pact," was Ika'tun's response, which made me frown. The so-called Great Pact was an agreement between more than twenty Na'vi clans, made by my ancestor and the ancestor of the Omaticaya, right after the time of great pain.
It was an agreement that made it clear that no Na'vi clan would cross the boundaries of our clan's territory, this because the time of great pain happened due to members of the Subaiya, Omaticaya, Aranahe, and Mangkwan.
That's why no member of these four clans could set foot in the territory of any of the four, and as for us, we had apparently decided to become hermits, cutting ties and closing communication with the other clans.
And now, after several generations, the Great Pact had been broken, which could trigger a war between us and the clan to whom those Na'vi who broke the pact belonged.
"Olo'eyktan, Tsahìk," I greeted my parents the moment I arrived; both acknowledged my arrival and indicated that I should stand at their side. "Do we know who the outsiders are?" I asked, wanting to know more about what was happening. "Tipani; apparently, they are two young ones who strayed from their village and ended up being found by scouts," my mother answered me, giving me clarity on the matter.
"That's not all," my father decided to speak, and from the tone of his voice, I knew he wasn't happy at all. "A dreamwalker was with them." That did surprise me; a dreamwalker was a sky person who controlled a demon, a Na'vi body, but with certain differences from us.
Thinking about that, Jake came to mind, who, if I remembered correctly, was a demon too. Though it could be someone else.
"They are here."
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I woke up with a strong headache; being pulled out of the neural link with the Avatar body wasn't a pleasant sensation. The link door opened and Esteban's face was the first thing I saw. "Dr. Grace!" I immediately closed my eyes, while feeling like a hammer was pounding in my head.
"Oh, sorry; it's just that I'm worried. Your computer issued phase-shift caution warnings, and then your link opened and well," the know-it-all wouldn't stop talking. Couldn't he see I didn't want him to speak? "Just shut up!" My shout seemed to solve that aspect, because Esteban wisely closed his mouth.
"Bring me something to eat, and prepare another link; I need to go back as soon as possible," I told him. My avatar was still healthy, or at least as much as possible; otherwise, the computer would have shown that the neural link was impossible due to the lack of the channel. So that meant I could go back to linking, though after the mandatory twenty minutes of waiting due to neural health concerns.
So I just had to wait and pray that not much had happened to my avatar, or I'd have to wait five years for a new body.
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The light entered my eyes, forcing me to close them again almost immediately, while a strong cough came from my throat, caused by the rope around my neck, which extended into a line that joined another in the form of shackles on my hands. Very well, I was a prisoner; at least I was still alive.
I was sitting in a squat position inside what I assumed was a wooden cage, which... was moving. Looking closely, I noticed that the cage was hanging from one end of a Titanothere. Ahead walked another large specimen, and Nigdy was there, in another cage, and Saky was very likely in one too.
I counted four Titanotheres, with at least seven Na'vi mounted on each one, both on the creatures' backs and on both sides, hanging from their ends, holding onto vines pre-arranged over the Titanothere.
Looking ahead, I noticed that a wall of floating rocks was approaching, which extended upward; the rocks were separated from each other by scant centimeters, but colliding with the nearby rocks, and that's when my eyes opened in astonishment.
I had found my objective, the Subaiya. This was the great round fortress I had seen in the images Max had sent me, the circle that protected what could be the Subaiya's home.
That place that had been hidden from all of us for years, but that I could now see head-on. I wish I could take some samples.
The great arch of floating rocks opened the way to a huge grotto, through which the Titanotheres could cross without problem, while roots hanging from the ceiling provided light to the passage due to their glow. And after that, it opened the way to the Subaiya settlement, the place they called home.
A great open field, covered in grasslands, large Pa'li horses, and even herds of Sturmbeest grazing at a distance, which left me completely surprised. Had the Na'vi reached a point of being ranchers?
The idea sounded crazy, but the proof was right in front of me, though all of that had to be set aside for the moment, because ahead I could see a huge Hometree, much larger than that of the Omaticaya. And if that weren't enough, a huge number of Na'vi were already in the place, which caused a bit of nervousness.
Though well, since I was here, I had to make the most of it; it wasn't time to be scared of the skin after killing the tiger.