There was something about the lands of Inyankara, something that brought both peace and strength to those who walked it.
This young man could feel that something. He had used that something to his advantage, and he became the right-hand man of the general named Aurelio.
"Come on, won't you stay with me for a drink, Lieutenant?" her sweet voice caressed hie ears.
His strength and achievements didn't go unnoticed. After all, he came to Inyankara as a sergeant yet climbed his way through the ranks in just a couple of years.
Many admired him, and many were jealous of his strong presence whenever he entered the room.
But it had not always been like that.
Soon after he left Rema, the man became the punching bag of many higher-ups. He was not fit for the military, yet he was caught off guard in an aggressive drafting attempt, and he signed his life to the army in a matter of seconds.
For such a weak and easy-to-sway man, nobody held any respect. Even his subordinates would often tease him, asking how come he reached the rank of sergeant before them. In truth, the need of a scapegoat had put him there, as it was way easier to place the blame on a submissive soul rather than a rowdy one.
Yet that all changed soon after landing in Inyankara.
After losing a fierce battle against the locals, he had gotten lost on foreign lands, with no hope of anyone coming to his rescue. In his usual clumsiness, it was not long before he tripped while trying to cross a canyon.
As the Reman was falling with his gaze towards the dark sky—too scared to look at the fast-approaching ground—the man had already made peace with his short and miserable life. He only had one face on his mind. He couldn't forget the face of the sly woman who had tricked him into signing his life away. Combining her charm with her authority to sway the boy's heart for but a second was all she needed. Now, her smile was etched into his soul—no, she was etched into his mind so much that he still felt the soft touch that guided his pen over a piece of paper.
"A strong young man like you would make a fortune in the army. Maybe I should stop, or I'll have trouble keeping the ladies away from you. No… that's not right. I may have trouble keeping myself in check."
Those were the words that swayed his heart—the words that sealed his fate.
His heart filled with hate, the man felt powerless, so he closed his eyes.
"Well, if you say so…"
Be it a miracle or dumb luck, by the time he should have reached the ground, instead of an impact strong enough to splatter him on the walls, all he felt was an electric shock paired with a soft landing between some enormous feathers.
He wasn't in a better position by any means, as the electric shock running through those feathers would have been enough to end his misery were he to stay in contact with it any longer, but he was soon picked up and gently placed on the ground.
By the time he dared to open his eyes, he was at the bottom of the canyon, looking at a gigantic bird with feathers colored blue.
"AHHHHHHHH!"
All the man could do was scream at the monster in front of him. The size of it, the static field it was emitting, and the electrifying sensation all over his body. It was the first time he'd come to know such an intense feeling, and it easily overwhelmed him.
Yet the bird didn't seem bothered. Without giving him a second look, it flew away, as if the man was just an insect it had plucked out annoyed.
Somehow finding himself alive at the bottom of the canyon, the Reman looked up for a way to get up.
"Nothing…"
In the end, he had no way of climbing out. He spent the whole night trying to find a solution, but thirst had soon erased his will to go forth. Drained of life, the man fell to the ground, deeply disappointed at how he had failed to take advantage of the chance he was given.
That's when he heard it. Beneath the ground he was standing on, there was water flowing.
If this poor sergeant was good at one thing, it was moving water nimbly—even from far away. With a little bit of effort, he managed to get some out of the ground.
The man kissed the cold dirt, sipping away at what little water he could pull out, feeling how every drop game him the strength to push on—maybe a little bit too much strength.
Once hydrated, he felt a new wave of energy surging through him. It was just enough to get him out. And the way he chose to go to the top was by climbing the tall wall of the canyon. That's how much power the water had given him.
Once the man was out, the ground started shaking below his feet, so he ran as fast as he could, reaching superhuman speeds he wasn't aware he could run at.
When he got back to his camp, everyone looked at him in disbelief, having witnessed nothing else then the revival of a ghost.
But that wasn't enough for his superiors to change their attitude. It was not long before they started bullying the man again, giving him tasks impossible to accomplish just to get a good laugh out of his struggles.
Yet the man completed every single task. Not only that, but his attitude had also completely changed. He didn't take shit from anyone unless their rank was higher, in which case he listened to everything he was told with a straight, confident face. He made a name for himself through many battles, and one day the man caught the eye of the general.
It was only after a long medical inspection that they understood what came over him. Apparently, he had found what the general set out to search for in secret. He had found the Sacred Waters of the Serpent.
Telling the general that the canyon wasn't there anymore after he was sent in search of it brought the newly appointed lieutenant a lot of trouble. He was forced to look for it for the next six months, but there was no trace of what was once a giant hole in the ground.
Now, upon leaving the quarters of a lady he met in the camp, the man lit up a cigarette and walked away with a strong sense of satisfaction.
"Wait!" the lady screamed as she rushed out the door with only a blanket to cover herself. "At least tell me your full name! Why does the general keep it hidden?"
"My name? It's hidden because of my past. We wouldn't want people to know a random boy from a poor family climbed your ranks with some magical water," the man answered bluntly.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, the general called me for an important mission," he said while turning away from the woman.
"Besides, you should already know my name. You were holding the paper I wrote it on."
*****
It was around when the first ray of the morning sun entered Nayavu's tent. The moment it landed on his eyes, he knew it was long past his usual wake-up time.
As he was being ripped away from his dream, the sounds of the busy village slowly flooded his ears. Today was his big day, yet waking up wasn't an easy task even on such days.
As the heaviness of his eyelids and the pain in his skull started to fade, the man slowly lifted his head.
He found it odd that the light that woke him up didn't blind him once he opened his eyes, but he soon understood why that was.
"Nayavu~! Are you really sleeping in on your big day…?"
Above him, covering the light coming from the entrance, stood a girl with white hair and an even whiter smile that didn't fit the scolding she was giving him.
After looking at Tiva for a second with a blank expression, Nayavu let his head fall back and closed his eyes.
This was a ritual meant to help him gather his strength, but Tiva didn't know that.
"Don't fall back asleep!" she said as she reached in to grab his head.
At the same time, Nayavu took a deep breath, tightened his core, and tried to get his torso up with one swift move.
*Bang*
He failed. Something stood between him and his desired position—something hard.
The shock of the impact finally woke him up for good, and what he saw in front of him was his good friend holding her forehead and whimpering softly.
Soon, the pain of the impact also caught up to the young man, leaving both of them to roll on the ground and let out the same sounds for a couple of seconds.
"Tiva? What was that for?"
"You're asking me? Who even wakes up like that?" the girl asked while rubbing her forehead.
"Don't tell me it was on purpose, was it? Is this your rebellious phase?" she continued.
"Of course not! Why would I do that to myself? Ah! I think my brain moved a little!"
While Nayavu was busy complaining, Tiva already got back up on her feet.
"Ok! Clear yourself up! The party is about to start!"
"Huh! So it's true what they say that idiots have nothing up there…" the young man said. Fortunately, his remark faded unheard.
When Nayavu finally got out of his tent, the whole village was already decorated with different flowers and colorful stones. Everyone sat tight, waiting for the star of the show to finally come out.
The tradition in Inyankara dictates that once everyone has gathered, the first one to speak must be the one celebrated, so everyone around stood in silence and waited for the young man to give the first words of the day.
"Ahh… Morning?"
It mattered little what the words were. As long as he said something, everyone was free to party. That doesn't mean Tatanka didn't smack his own forehead at the words Nayavu chose, but he wasn't expecting a grand speech from him either way.
A loud burst of cheers followed, and everyone ran to Nayavu, surrounding him from all sides.
"To our future!"
"For the village!"
"For the stone!"
Every time someone came with a new replica, Nayavu would get tossed into the air higher and higher. For the first twenty times, he found it fun, but once Tiva started getting creative, the man started wondering wether his life was in danger. In total, he was thrown a total of fifty-eight times. By the end, it was mostly Tatanka who was doing all the lifting.
The Coming of Age ceremony was scheduled to take place once "the sun had completely left the plains." For the most part, the day of the ceremony was a continuous party. Everyone gathered around, danced, laughed, ate, and played different games to rank their strength. The men were looking forward to those games especially, as this was their chance to prove themselves in front of the ladies.
First was a game of target shooting with a bow. The winner was Tatanka.
Second, a game of walking on hot coal. Tatanka won that too.
The third game consisted of lifting the heaviest boulder around. Many put up a fight thanks to their magic prowess, but Tatanka still won.
Out of ten games, Tatanka won all of them.
It was now time for the eleventh and last game. The game's rules were simple. Everyone had to throw an ivory knife at a wooden log and see whose throw could pierce deeper.
As expected, after Tatanka's attempt, every other shot seemed shallow compared to one knife that stood fully swallowed by the trunk.
The last one to try was Nayavu. He held back on most of the challenges in an attempt not to stand out, but he was not going to let the giant walk away with all of the glory. Not on his big day.
As he was getting in position, he took one look at the crowd—specifically, he looked at Tatanka. He left behind a smug wink, turned his head, and threw the knife.
Powered by subtle yet strong wind currents, the knife pierced cleanly through the log, digging itself into the ground behind it.
Everyone was taken aback for a moment.
"Nayavu! Nayavu!" shouted a man of the village, followed by another, and soon the whole village chanted his name in ovation.
Rules didn't forbid the use of magic, so even if Tatanka did catch on to what his pupil did, he stood there with a wide smile, clapping away for the man Nayavu was going to become.