Chapter 9: The King

You walk behind your parents as the tribe marches through the forest, maneuvering with enough ease to make a deer jealous. Tonight was the Gathering where representatives and the new Titled of different tribes met. You’ve been told that the Gathering was meant to keep the peace between the tribes as well as share new information in order to keep the forest safe.

The location of the Gathering is always kept secret and only known to Elders and as such, the path to get there was very winding and confusing, intent on making non-Elders very confused and to lose any potential stalkers. You took that as a challenge and tried to memorize the path, closely looking at every landmark and interesting bit in hopes of understanding where you were. After a few minutes though, you realized there was no hope.

The journey itself was peaceful, but the quiet allowed for contemplation. Thoughts that you tried to ignore, to shake off, inevitably drifted into your consciousness. What does it feel like to have lived a life so bad it drives you to a final escape? Surely other things in life could substitute for that despair?

“Here we are, the Gathering.” Runsi, the guide for tonight’s Gathering, eventually stopped at a small dip in the ground. The area was surrounded by shrubbery and tall rocks, creating an effective camouflage. “Ah, it seems the others are here.”

The five of you walked down. Two Elders, Runsi and one you’ve never seen before, and then your biological parents. Down in the dip, you see too many groups intermingling with one another. Even with Xin’s explanation of various tribes, you could barely understand who was who.

When the Elders reached the bottom, they immediately melted into the crowd, impressing you with how fluid they seemed. Thankfully, your parents decided to stick by you. Your biological mother, Xin, took the opportunity to introduce some of the Elders of other tribes.

While most of them fly over your head, there were a few notable ones. The Eternal Searchers, or the Searches for short, are known for the eternal quest to find new information. According to Fallhij, the Cultivators are only managing to survive in the harsh forest conditions because of the Searcher’s investigations. There was also the Peace Guides, known for their impressive stubbornness and capability to talk even the most brutal of fights down into a more calmer argument.

“Settle down to begin our Gathering.” A buff feminine person with a surprisingly soft but powerful voice took center stage. The others around started to quiet down and turned to look at them. “Let us make room for we shall begin with news of the forest. Who shall speak first?”

“I will speak first. I greet the Gathering and introduce myself as Hark of the Elders. My tribe, the Runners of Swift Leaves, have found evidence of an invasion on the forest. The Empire to the Mon seeks our submission.”

What happened next, you couldn’t even keep track of. Shouting matches immediately broke out, some accusing of espionage, others hearsay, a few even declaring that the end was nigh. One particular Elder you saw, probably from the tribe of the Quiet Watchers, disappeared into the bushes.

“QUIET!” The buff person bellowed out. Even after they had closed their mouth, you could still hear their voice piercing your very soul. “Let me introduce myself as Reson of the Elders, from the Peace Guides. I see the struggle, let my tribe negotiate with the Empire. There should be no reason that peace can’t be accepted.”

There were some murmurings between the elders, until there was a grumbly consensus. One guy even shouted his approval to a mild chuckle around. You looked on, confused about the guttural outroar.

“There was a treaty a long time ago.” Xin explains. “Between the tribes of the forest and the King of the Empire as well as the Dual Monarchs of the Kingdom. There was even a meeting between a Peace Guide and a King from the Drian Isles.”

“If the Empire broke the agreement, this means the forest will be at war.” Fallhij finished grimly.

The whole Gathering took quite a while, long enough for the sun to be close to the horizon, splashing broken golden light through the trees. When at the ceremony of the Titled, you tried to act proud, but the previous words hung over your head, clouding everything.

“Will the forest be alright?” You ask on the way back. You were only met with pitying glances and quiet anxiety. You suppose your question was answered in that silence.

Over the next few days, life was tense. What usually was a lively evening with cultivated and hunted dinners, but now it was just embers, flickering in the wind. It all felt wrong, but what could you do?

“Yex, will you come with me to go hunting? It’ll be good to learn, hmm?” Xin offered a hand, smiling softly. Their eyes spoke of generational hauntings but you do see some brightness. You decide to take their hand. “A very important thing about us hunters is your Will. The stronger your Will is, the faster and stronger you will become. This is essential in hunting targets, especially the bigger ones.”

You nod, not entirely sure, but you have seen some impossible feats of strength from others before. Perhaps that's what Xin was talking about. As if reading your mind, they nodded and said exactly what you were thinking earlier.

“Today we will hunt a Nij. They are quite tough, so be prepared to focus your will in strength and fortitude.” Xin grinned a little manic, before taking off. You speed after them, but their speed was something to be desired as they quickly disappeared leaving you alone.

Thinking that this must be part of the test, you start to quickly scan about yourself. You realize that you are standing in the middle of an animal trail. A snort brushed against your skin in an almost horror-esque way. You turn slowly, almost terrified of what might be there. Much to your relief however, you only see a very small Nij. Its cute brown wide eyes are completely disproportionate to its smaller furry body and pointy stubs that would eventually grow into large tusks.

Then your heart stops. A baby Nij means parent Nijs. Without even bothering to assess for dangers, you take off to the nearest boulder. When dealing with large animals, it was best to get to higher ground. Sure enough, you hear behind large crashing sounds and the snorts of a very angry Nij.

Terror pumps into your veins but your only focus is the boulder in front of you. Before you realize it, your feet start to move just a bit faster and just moments before you crash into the rock, you push off the ground and to your surprise, you actually make it to the top of this very large boulder in a single bound.

As you take the chance of safety, you take a peek down and see that the Nij has somehow rammed its tusks into the rock and it can’t get itself out. You feel a little sorry for the Nij, but you are a hunter now and this Nij is what you were tasked to hunt.

Thinking no less of what was going to happen, you steel yourself before dropping down onto the Nijs back. The beast tried to rear back in protest but once again found that it couldn’t move its head in the slightest. You ball your hand into a fist and without much of a second though, you strike fast and hard right to the spine. With a sickening crack, the Nij suddenly went slack underneath you, forcing you to roll off to the side.

As you come back up, you see that Xin had somehow made their way right next to the Nij. They inspected it quite closely before standing back up and giving you a wide smile.

“Nice job, now let’s take this back.”

The two of you walk back home to the hollow, lugging the Nij’s corpse behind you. It was rough going, but the two of you made it work. There were a few occasions where either you or Xin had to fight off some other predator from taking the corpse, and while you struggled a little, Xin made quick work of them.

“Why didn’t you kill them?” You ask after the fifth one. It was perplexing, funny as it was, to see Xin chase away a large bear-like creature called a Kuno.

“The Cycle must be maintained. To kill unnecessarily breaks the Cycle and introduces chaos.” Xin spoke like she had witnessed that very chaos. “Chaos only brings the seeds of even more pain and suffering. Even The Plague-Carrier would not appreciate such unhappiness.”

“The Plague-Carrier?”

“A deity that feeds on our misery to keep happiness in the realm of the living.” Xin chuckles at the face you make. “Do not worry, young Yex of the Hunter, you will come to learn and love these deities. It comes with experience as well as encountering each and every one of their domains. That’s called living.”

You fall quiet after that, unsure of what to say. The rest of the walk was comfortable though, leaving you more or less satisfied. But just as you reached contentness, you spot smoke drifting up between the trees’ canopy.

Without wasting much breath, the two of you abandon the Nij and take off through the woods. Zipping between the trunks at high speeds was exhilarating but even with all that, Xin quickly disappeared as they sped up ahead. Frustrated, you push even deeper into the dirt, picking up even more speed.

Just as you bolt through and into the encirclement, you just had time to register a knocked out Xin and the burning huts before you receive a massive blow to the head. The momentum spins you out of control, bringing you face to face with a tree trunk before feeling intense pain. As you screamed out in agony, you see through bleary eyes a grinning face before everything went black.

Time passed differently in one’s head. But just as you tried to save Akari from jumping for the eighth time, the world shifted into harsh reality. You cough yourself awake, instinctively jerking, but find yourself incapable of doing so.

“It’s no use, Yex.” The familiar voice of Fallhij was hoarse and dripping with pain. Your head pounds frightfully so, but you try to open your eyes to gain some kind of awareness. While your eyes adjust, you become slightly more aware of metal collars of sorts around your neck and ankles. Then you hear the chains that are attached to said collars and slowly, a realization dawns on you.

“Slavery?” You choke out.

“Yeah. The Empire’s King declared war on the forest and won without much effort.” A choked sob racked your biological father, but Fallhij took a calming shuddering breath before continuing again. “Apparently we’re going to be trained and then sent to the front lines against the Kingdom.”

“Enslaved soldiers.”

“Yeah.”

Your dreams don’t sound too bad now as you laugh a little dryly.