Chapter 8: People

Before long, the whole thing became like a little feast, people were joyous and the children were playing without care in the world like ‘catching the monster’ or competition of who threw a stone farther.

But most of the children between 5 and 12 were there playing around, while the older ones were with the adults, they were doing their best to be with older people like adults, and elders.

In a society where everyone does everything to live one more day every day, childhood becomes just a passing phase, teenagers are already working with adults. Children of all ages help their family and the whole tribe. Like a big family, any rebellious thinking was already suppressed in their mind, ‘if you don’t work, you are just a dead weight.’

But it’s not that hardcore, the whole village takes their time for everything. Everyone helps in their own way to every work in the village. And again like a big family, they became familiar to each other, creating new families and new houses.

With it the familiar and the unfamiliar things are the opposite. And their gaze now at the unfamiliar, the stranger, the new face and the new race of people. In years living secluded, this tribe had found a new thing, like finding a new animal, their curiosity became the foundation of change. And it can take different forms from it.

Some people were fixing without shame at the new children from the forest. It’s a curious view, she looks like a child of maybe 8 to 10 years, but her inhuman addition made them unable to make a clear mind.

Her ears and a tail made her like an animal, but her body and face made her a young child like the one running around playing with joyful thought. Before long the children of the tribe made the first step. Like a plague ingrained in humanity, children were more heavily ill of it. They could only approach first even if it’s dangerous, only experience made people wary, young children are innocent of vice and familiarity. They crave for change and adults are the only ones that would do anything like their own parents had done before.

Adults in any society crave a thing that any society thinks: ‘stability and familiarity’. But when neither of them can be completed then change needs to be done. And this is where evolution starts to find its way, new stability and later new familiarity.

And today, familiarity is strained by one individual.

Now approaching, 20 children from 5 to 14 were following in a semi circle around the two new things. Becoming now the new center of attention, she could only become nervous. A familiar man from behind the crowd could only reassure everyone and calm them.

“Do not be too aggressive, she’s a warrior and a hero that saved my grand-daughter. As a chief and great warrior, she is safe for us. Please take good care of her!”

With his declaration, the growing tension became a calming for the adults, but for the children, excitement became a new power. Multiple children and young girls and boys talk at the same time, in a cacophony.

“Who are you?”

“Where do you come from?”

“Wanna play?”

“What are you?”

“Are those your real ears?”

“You are cute!”

“You have a tail?! I want it too!”

Before she could muster the courage to say a word, a human wave started to touch her ears and tails. Sometimes it touches other parts, but it wasn’t the problem, she could not move now. She could only scream in a whine, even if she's stronger than those children, she can’t go against them.

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Minutes later, only grandpa could liberate her, now fully disheveled, too stunned to know what’s going on. Looking around everyone had taken some distance, the man was standing near her.

“For now, we’re gonna take care of her, you will know her later. For now, everyone eats and goes home, it’s nearly night. We have a lot to do for the growing coldness of winter, the birds from the north are migrating! And with it good night!”

The village became calm, finishing the evening meal until nightfall with good food and a tiring day. Some of them were still glancing at her, it was still a stranger after all but it didn’t take long before most people were gone to sleep. Night Shift people are out, doing their work, watching any potential danger.

As for her, she had found a bed with Lucina, her grandpa sleeping on the floor like nothing mattered. And Luna falls asleep with her clone and Lucina.

Waking up in the middle of the night, Luna sees the man standing up. Knowing she was awake he made a hand sign to tell her to follow him. Only the main body is moving, the clone sleeps like a rock.

Out I could see the beautiful sky. Not the one obscured by artificial light, but within view, with every star and even a satellite like the Moon. A beautiful view only fans of astronomy would love to see.

While staring with sparkling eyes, the man could only be amused by her innocent display. Like a child discovering a new world. He stops his track in the middle of a place that looks like a dirt place where activity like shaping wood and knapping where done. His first word broke the silent standoff.

“With all the trouble, I will present myself. I am Gordak, the chief and the strongest warrior of this community. I could only observe you as the chief of this village and I know a thing… You are not from here. Who are you exactly?”

His words could start tension between two people, but this was an honest question from a man who had seen a lot of things. But anything like her. She could only mutter her answer like caught by surprise, she did not have anything to hide now.

“I… I’m not from here, I was transported here by a god to help people and to spread their influence. But I don't want to do that! The goddess who sent me is for now sealed and I can’t communicate with her. And like you know I’m from another race…”

Several seconds later, the man is now thinking about the information he had gotten from Luna. It was meager, like it was just born yesterday, something told him that she doesn’t even know on which land she is. Not suspecting the possibility of her coming from another world, he could only suspect she came from far away from this island. With resignation, he starts to recite, as if speaking to a newborn child, where they are and what this world is.

It was a time before the influence of gods, a world where even mana did not exist, a world where people and animals only exist. Before it, everything is unknown to him. At that time everyone was human and weak, everything was manaless and human surviving each day like ancient tribes.

On a normal day, a wave of what would be named later the Great Evolution appeared. Wave of an invisible force courses through everything that exists, human, animals, plants and even the planet itself were now changed to the very roots of every existence. Plants died and grew anew, some people died and others survived becoming part of the evolution. Races from various species appeared, mutation forms with animals becoming monsters and magical beasts.

But it wasn't only that, people lost the memories of who they were, and some still have their memories of before this disaster and the first sign of civilization were lost, turning back to the end Neolitthic era.

And this is only the beginning.

People became accustomed to the power: Magic. Its effect, leading to a new type of growth.

Not everyone could be strong enough to develop this power. With those changes making it a real disaster to every creature and intelligent race, creating a real decline in civilization. Trees growing slowly and food being scarce for years leading tribes and creatures to fight for even a bit of food. Creating the start of discrimination and abuse, it was a time even for his tribe to make the best choice. Flee.

The tribe fled with the only boat that existed at this moment for everyone to flee on this island. Far from the danger of the new world, its parents have a new duty to protect its people from danger who’s most of them were powerless.

It was a hundred years ago. Now the tribe is still growing, Gordak now is 128 years old and is duty always active. With the mana came the power to defy age and weakness, looking physically 45, but everyone died in the end. His own father, powerless, had lived for 62 years, dying from a monster emerging from the ground. Gordak could kill it, but it was too late, 50 people died that day. It was 61 years before, losing his own son’s family. Only a remnant, his grand-daughter is alive.

A year before this incident, a proclaimed messenger of a goddess, told them to submit and become the strength of his goddess, claiming she would let them find a golden age. But he died while claiming he could hunt the biggest creature, nothing to be surprised when he died against a Big Wild Boar. And his influence stopped instantly, the village did not dare try to pray for a goddess sending a warrior so weak.

Sending now his gaze on her, this time Gordak questioned with seriousness.

“What do you want and what will you do?”

Luna while listening to the story of what he was talking, everything is tragic. But she wasn’t here to cry for them, only to survive, this man wanted something from his story. Maybe because Luna became Luna, she did not think along with this thought. Only to think about the age of these people.

‘So mana can make people live longer? Then Gordak has a lot of magic! And Lucina? Now I’m curious.’

Now it was a moment of who she would become, in this world everyone had become stronger. But it didn’t mean that once everything is back to ‘normal’ that she would not become a new victim of this world. This old man is not here to kick her but he wants certitude, something that would lead him to help her.

With her power and body she could do something to help them to solve her life debt. He saved her, now bound to solve it. She could only think of two things.

‘I need power and knowledge!’