Flieday stood near the start of Moon Tribe's settlement. The white snow barely hid the ivory ponds sparsely spread around their buildings. Houses and shops made of dark wood stayed away from the ponds as if the pond contained monsters.
Maybe it did.
Flieday tactfully wore layers of animal clothing instead of the magical attire granted by the voice, after all she did not want the Moon tribe to be even more alienated by her.
Flieday patiently waited for a tribe elder to contact her, she was sure they knew about her.
Flieday waited, the houses slowly opened and people started to go on with their daily lives. While she did receive some stares, be they hateful or curious, no elder approached her.
Playing hard to get, are we?
It had been one hour till she had arrived, thus she took the second step. She went back to her group with the help of the grade three beasts and went to a camp.
Inside it the abyss like eyes looked at her before nodding,
"Flieday… you want to lead a tribe, right?" Dawn's voice was weirdly calm and composed, unlike her extravagant side she had shown before.
Well, it resembled when she first met Dawn, giving Flieday goosebumps. They walked deeper into the camp as Flieday nodded.
"So… why did you want to kill a fellow member of your future tribe?"
Flieday gave her a confused look as she recalled a name.
Carrie…
In her attempt to put herself together, she had forgotten about the woman she had aimed to kill.
Should I come clean?
"Tell me more about that sacrifice, Flieday."
Flieday took out some goods as a bird flew out of her right palm.
"Well, as you know, the Hum tribe trapped me and tried to use me in a ritual of sorts to grant one power to a grade 1 beast.'
Dawn's lips curled upwards as she watched Flieday store the goods on top of the bird. Walking out of the camp, Flieday glanced at Dawn before sitting on top of the bird.
Dawn nodded as Flieday flew away, mumbling something under her breath.
"Liar," she mumbled.
Flieday entered the bustling settlement of Moontribe and started to walk deeper into it. She could have asked Dawn to help her find the elder's residence but was put off by her look.
Is she figuring it out?
Flieday was soon standing in front of a huge house; it was made up entirely of logs. Flieday was about to announce herself when a loud, rattling bugle call rang in the air.
She stopped and looked toward the sky. The vermilion sun was shining brightly, covering the snow sheet with a red shroud.
A loud cry reverberated as she noticed a crane flying in the sky. It was as small as a crow, as high as the heavens. Flieday stood frozen, overcome by dread.
"What is happening?" She muttered,
[As you ascend and change, you would be able to sense 'Fate' of others hindering your own 'Fate'. ]
I see apparently fate exists and this crane
The crane started circling right above her, seemingly growing bigger and bigger.
In a few breaths the crane descended as Flieday got a good look at it.
The crane was twice as big as her, with its alabaster wings adorned with colourful jewels; the jewels upon closer inspection were small colourful insects. Sitting on the crane was an old man with a long, flowing beard.
"Greetings. I am Re moon, an elder of this tribe… you are?"
Flieday looked at the man, who was smiling charismatically. He had an aura of authority and friendliness.
Flieday meanwhile could not move, even breathing felt like a chore when she stood in front of him, it was as if her 'Fate' was under a malevolent attack.
Huh?
Suddenly all the grim dread in her disappeared; her mouth was left agape as she tried to make sense of things.
"Ah, I humbly apologise, my appearance can be overbearing at times."
Flieday took a deep breath before speaking, "I am Kra Flieday of the late 'Kra' tribe, I am here to represent a small group." She lied.
Re moon paused before nodding, "Ah, I am here as the supreme Elder of the moon tribe, for your group of remaining tribe members, I hope you know where you are standing."
His smile was still as cheerful as ever. Eyes glowing with happiness with posture was still as friendly and open as it could be.
Still, Flieday felt something wrong with him, something unsettling about his existence.
How could he suppress our fate's reaction?
Flieday pointed to her grade three beast as she spoke, "I hope you also see who I am, after all I am standing here merely for simple trading and a contract among us as the remnant 'Kra' tribe and Moon tribe."
Why would the Supreme Elder contact me directly?
I had not lied about the kea
"Trading, you say? Let's meet and talk about it at my residence!"
His hospitality and the subtle threat made Flieday urge to rub her face. But she smiled, she gave out her most pleasing smile and sat on her beast.
It was her bonded beast, residing a single muscle around her belly. When she willed it would arise from anywhere she wanted.
The bird-like beast was coloured dark blue, or dark red, anything she chose was its color.
That was what Re moon knew now.
Flieday sniffed the air around Re moon and asked curiously, "What is this smell?"
It smells similar to the burning wall of flesh in my ritual.
The question was both directed towards the flawed old man and the terribly flawed spirit residing in her.
[It is not of a ritual.]
"What smell?"
Re moon showed a confused expression as he sat back on to the bird.
As a Laity, my senses are superior to him, thus he must have assumed I could not smell it. The fact that the voice denied the possibility of it being from the ritual could derive that it is indeed a similar smell.
Wait… can I trust the voice? Can I trust Re moon? Can I trust Dawn?
In my path, the only one I can trust is me, so it seems.
Flieday sat on her birdie as Re moon lifted himself. She simply commanded the birdie to follow Re moon.
…
Flieday gazed down, staring at the settlement beneath her. It was quite humongous; it was far bigger than her own tribe. At the start of the flight, she saw sparsely spread houses with white, glistening ponds.
As she flew more and more into the heart of the tribe, she started seeing orderly buildings made out of wood, snow, and stone. Re moon, too, was flying close to the ground, perhaps showing the strength and extent of his tribe.
Slowly the size of the ponds increased along with the level of the ground, it was rising. Similar to a slope, the ground kept going higher as the buildings kept becoming more sophisticated and tamers started to patrol the area.
Soon they both landed on the topmost house, if it could be called that. It alone was bigger than the area the 'So' tribe occupied.
Re moon brought her to a beautiful room like a gentleman, making small talk on the way. She weirdly felt relaxed and uneasy at the same time.
Now they were sitting on two masterfully chiselled wooden chairs, looking at the board in front of them.
It was a classic board game, made for rulers called: Plec board.
"Say, Flieday, do you know why so many of our games are 'Plec'?"
His voice was soft and melodious, with a curious and almost childish excitement in it.
Flieday shook her head, prompting him to explain, "You see, in a distant place called Levine, there once existed a river of information. The problem was no mortal could ever understand it and its water was too heavy for anyone to use. Once a crazed grade 5 beast destroyed it, leaving its fragments and tributaries."
Re moon paused as Flieday raised an eyebrow, she wanted for the voice to elaborate but it strangely kept quiet.
"From one of the fragments of the river, an essence beast was born. The great scholar of Levine was able to tame him and set out on a noble cause.
He travelled throughout the whole continent, spending hundreds if not thousands of days travelling."
Flieday was visibly shaken, a human cannot live past hundred days, and being able to travel for hundreds and thousands of days was impossible.
"Do not be confused, he was not a regular human like us. He is said to receive a blessing from the gods and was able to achieve a truly divine feat."
[That is not true.]
Flieday held her breath, the whiplash of the information was too great for her to be calm.
"Ah, I rambled on and on, forgive this old man. Well, the point is, the great mindful scholar, as we call him, created many such games and made them world renowned by traveling and playing such games with everyone."
[No divinity has touched this world for thousands of days. Even I am merely a spirit.]
Flieday coughed before nodding,
"So… about the contract,"