The whole festival came to a stop abruptly. Another horn was sounded again, followed by another one. Harry didnt know what it meant, but he figured, looking at the expressions of the people of the tribe, the horns were not as inviting as they seemed.
"GO!" Groga yelled, and people started hurriedly started walking hurriedly here and there. Harry thought that they were under attack or something, as hunters and protectors were going for their weapons. He pushed himself up and was about to arm himself as well when he noticed the people were now gathering with their children and forming little groups.
Soon Harry found himself standing with his father and mother, along with their sibling, in a group.
Damn, these guys breed really fast, Harry thought as he looked at he dozen or so children beside him. He knew that he had a lot of siblings, but he never imagined this much. And he could be blamed for that; he never even tried talking to any of his siblings.
The tribe was enveloped in a silence, which was ultimately broken when Groga and Joron came to the tribe, escorting some new faces.
The new group consisted of people bearing blue paint stripes on their bodies. They are also banner holders of a blue colour flag. Harry recognised the flags as it was the flags of one of the tribes of the Heks. But he didn't know this flag belonged to which tribe, and what they were doing here in the first place.
Groga was the person who was wearing a red colour tattoo on their chest, he recognised the person as one of the guards of the Grand Priestess.
As the group entered the tribe's premises, Imka stepped forward and bowed to the group, "I, Imka, son of Timka.. Welcome the Divine Messenger and the Aqua tribe to the Vulcans' homeland. Our fire is yours."
Everyone bearing the blue stripes bowed as well, except for the Divine Messenger. He stood there, gloating in the importance that he was being given…
The tribe's atmosphere took another turn with Aqua Tribe's presence. Another fire was lit for the guests, and only a few selected people from Vulcan were allowed to sit in the special fire. Extra food was brought, meat was conservatively distributed, all in order to accommodate the divine messenger and the dozen or so Aqua Tribe people.
And for some reason, Harry was one of the people he was allowed to sit around the special fire, beside Groga himself.
"So this is the one, eh?" The Divine messenger asked, "This child?" he was talking about Harry.
"Yes," Joron said, who was sitting beside the messenger, "This child completed his Atonement Hunt, and not only that, he is quite talented in the Vita Arts as well."
"Finally, Vulcans have a prodigy of their own," Maya said. She was a woman in her twenties and was the head Aqua tribe members. Harry didn't know anything except the fact that she was quite strong based on her Vita. He could put her just along with Groga.
Groga nodded, "It could be said that his talent even rivals Homera of Mars."
Messenger seemed intrigued now, "Is that so? I have the honour to see Homera personally in combat. And.. I don't believe that this child could go up against Homera,"
"He could," Groga added with utmost confidence, "With sufficient training, he could easily outmatch Homera."
"Sufficient training?" Maya scoffed, "How much did you have to drink, Groga?" Her words infuriated the man, but he held back as she was the guest in the tribe.
"I think we should see how the boy fares in a real fight?" Messenger said. That man was really enjoying the rivalry between the two tribes.
"That is a great idea," Maya said while clapping her hands, "Let's do it."
"I don't…" Joron was trying to say, but he was cut off by his son, "Agreed."
Joron gave Groga an angered look, which Groga gracefully ignored.
"What do you say boy?" Messenger asked Harry directly, "Care for a match?"
Harry looked around, and he saw the egotism of Groga, along with the arrogance of Maya. He realized that it would do him good if he made Groga and Joron look good.
"Sure," he simply said, "But like Lord Leh.. I only pick my weapon to kill. Not to display power,"
This prompted Messenger and the Aqua tribe member to burst out laughing. Maya then looked at her subordinates, "Bring the one-eyed slave. He would be this boy's opponent,"
A middle-aged slave was brought forward before the group. That man had one eye, with a scar running along its other half of his face, taking his other eye with him. He had a well build body, with scars covering most of his body, clearly the man was a fighter of sorts.
A knife was handed to both Harry and the slave. The tragedy was, Harry was allowed to kill the man. While the man was only allowed to superficially hurt him at best.
The news of his fighting was spread through the tribe soon, and soon everyone from the tribe gathered around to see him fight. The Aqua tribe had smirks on their faces, clearly they believed that their slave would win. But the same could be said of his own tribe, they still looked sceptical.
"Are you ready?" The messenger who was going to act as a referee asked him. While the slave wasn't asked the same question.
"Then fight," The man, clutching his knife, made his move and came rushing towards him.
Harry didn't panic, just remained standing in his place, staring at the man.
The man, when he came into range, swiped his knife at Harry. And at the precise moment, Harry activated his burst of speed. He dodged the attack with ease, then proceeded to grab the man's hand and cut the artery of the man's knife-wielding hand.
The man let go of the knife in pain, but Harry was not done yet. While clutching his knife, he rotated in his place, gathered momentum, and then shoved the knife in the man's stomach. With a burst of strength, he pushed his knife down the stomach of the man, spilling his intestines out in the open. Then Harry took his knife out and took a step, asking.
The man, clutching his stomach, fell on his knees. Harry then moved once again and used his knife to cut the neck of the slave, making him drown in his own blood…