Harry's optics started booting up, and with it was he was hit with the world of pain.
[Configuring System… 4%]
His whole body was in pain. For some reason, he could feel all the nerves under his skin, and they were all aching. Before he could make a semblance of where he was and what he was doing, he got hit by the smell of the place. The room smelled worse the shit pit of the tribe.
With his optics slowly getting their clarity back, he started looking around to find that he was in a small tent. Green flies were humming around him, while he could not hear the usual chattering noises of the tribe.
With pain now easing up, he pushed himself and looked from the flap of the tent. He could only see green grasslands outside, no sight of the tents and mud huts of the tribe. Crawling his way out, Harry found himself in a small clearing of sorts.
Someone had created a circle by clearing out the grass. In the outer rims of the circles was a layer of white powder, which he recognised immediately. Karina had introduced him to the powder just the other day. It was made by drying a special flower and then churning it into dust. This powder basically acts as a repellent to the snakes that roam these grasslands.
[System Rebooted] He was rather surprised, because he remembers that previously the rebooting process took ours. Yet it was done in just a few minutes this time.
[Two power sources detected]
[Nerve and Skeletal Input device detected] Now more surprised, he commanded his system to show the details of the power source.
_____________________
Source 1
Energy Type - Unknown
Usage - Unknown
Energy Quantity - Un-calculable
_______________________
Source 2
Energy Type - Unknown
Usage - Unknown
Energy Quantity - Un-Calculable
______________________
He figured this much, he knew that there was no way that his system would be able to comprehend and analyse a new type of energy source.
Show me nerve and bone input data, he commanded.
Before his eyes, a window appeared with a skeletal diagram of his body. It showcased every bone and nerve ending that was present in his body. The surprising part was the live feed of the image.
The organ located beside his heart, the one that contained Vita, was pumping Vita throughout his body.
This organ is acting more like a heart, a Vita pumping heart. He thought.
But he clearly remembers that when he first scanned the Grand Priestess, her organ was not pumping Vita through her body. She was only channelling the Vita from the organ to her hand, making him question whether his organ is supposed to do this or not.
"Adui!" He heard someone yell, he turned around to see that there were some children from the tribe running towards him. And it is then that he realised that he was not far away from the tribe as well, the rock of their tribe was just South of him.
"You are awake!" one of them yelled. Before he knew it, they had surrounded him. All of them had their respective noses crunched, making him realize that the smell was coming from him.
The children started spraying on some sort of powder, which dampens the smell to a certain extent. Then one of them came and pulled him up. Harry was in no condition to walk on his own. The children knew that, so they supported him as they made their way towards the Tribe.
When Harry got to the tribe, they noticed that the people were astonished to see him. No one cheered for him; they just looked at him with contempt and fear. For some reason, the adults seemed to be disgusted by his sight, making him further confused.
The children, who didnt seem to be afraid of him, brought him straight to the hut of Groga, who was sitting outside the hut.
The children brought Harry before Groga and made him sit on the ground before him. Groga, with his hulking figure, stood before him, his eyes glaring at him, trying to judge him for some reason.
"How do you feel?" Groga asked.
Nonchalantly, Harry replied, "As if someone had thrown from the forge, onto the ground,"
"You know what has happened to you?" Groga asked.
Harry didnt know what to say, "I dont know,"
Groga immediately added, "You became a Vita Wielder."
Really? Harry questioned, Then why are some of them looking at me as if I have done something very sinful? You guys are supposed to be in love with Vita Wielders, right?
Groga answered his question immediately after, "After one gets Lord Leh's scriptures, they would have a whole day before the Cleansing Process starts. But you didnt inform any of us about you getting a scripture. Any particular reason?"
Harry knew that the truth could open a can of worms that he was in no condition to handle. So he decided to lie instead, "I.. I.." But he could not come up with just any lie. He was first going to say that he forgot, but seeing that Vita Wielders are such a big thing there, he knew that they would catch on that he lied. And that could open a whole new can of worms.
"I dont know what you were thinking, boy," Groga finally added, "I dont know what you had in your mind when you hid this fact from us. But you could have died up there. The cleansing process is a very tedious thing. Not to mention, yours was particularly more tedious. Elder Joron even said that this was the messiest cleansing that he had ever seen."
Harry could not understand what Groga meant by messiest cleansing. But he was relieved to see no one questioning him about the Lord Leh scriptures. As far as the scolding that he got, he couldnt care less about it.
"I really apologise," Harry said, I didn't mean to offend anyone." He finally added.
"Oh boy.. You have no idea what you have done," Groga said with a stern face. "You see, when someone gets the Lord's Scripture, they are celebrated and a ritual is performed. This ritual pleases Lord Leh so that they blesses our tribe with hunt and success. And with you… Only time would tell whether we will face Lord Leh's wraith or his blessing,"
Harry didn't know what to say. The atheist part of him found the idea of there being a god part very absurd. But he understood that for these people, their god was their lifeline. And you just don't mess with it.
"Is there anything that I can do to make amends for my mistakes?" He asked, thinking there might be one way.
"There is one way," a voice came, Harry turned to see Elder Joron standing not far away, "You need to show your worth to Lord Leh. Offer him some gifts to appease him, for a full Lunar Cycle. Go on an Atonement Hunt,"
"NONSENSE!" Someone from the tribe finally yelled, "No one can cool the wraith of Lord Leh. His anger will rain down on the whole tribe like fire, because of this insolent child."
"Punish him in our ancestral ways," someone else added.
"Yeah, do that," and before he knew, everyone in the tribe was yelling for his punishment.
Harry just sat there, basking in the anger of the tribe, trying to come up with a plan of getting out of this place, as this was his cue to leave this place for good.
"SILENCE!" Groga yelled, and with that, the tribe was once again shrouded in silence.
"Father," Groga said, looking at Joron, "Is there truly a way from which we could save ourselves from the wraith of Lord Leh?"
Joron nodded,"Like in the story of Hunter and Watsumono, the hunter pleases Lord Leh by offering him sacrifices every day for the Lunar Cycle, Adui could do the same."
"Will that truly work?" Came a voice of a woman, Harry saw that the voice belonged to Gremla, Adui's mother.
"It would," Joron said and then further added, "But the only catch is, Adui has to do hunting alone. There is no other way,"
Gremla then made eye contact with Harry and then nodded, "Then he would do it. If he fails, he will take the ancestor's punishment."
Who the fuck let the bitch decide? Harry thought.
But a part of him was happy. Because after a week of hunting training, he was sure that he could do this. Otherwise, he could always run away from this place…