Chapter 29: Sacrificing a Life Stone.

In the middle of the day, when the brightness of the sun was at its peak, all the tribesmen were in front of a cave beneath the Guardian Tree, where the Sacred Altar of the Phantom Tribe was located. The tribesmen were on their knees, heads lowered, and their both hands were above their heads with opened palms, they look like they were asking for something.

Alfred didn’t like this position, he felt like he was a member of a cult, but he didn’t want to disrespect the tradition of the Tribe. Therefore, he followed them to show that he supported them. In front of this crowd were the 3 Elders who were also in the same position, the difference was, that Chief Viren had a Life Stone on top of his palm.

Soon After, the 3 Elders stood up, then walked inside the Sacred Altar. Alfred was curious about what was inside the cave, he had already seen this cave multiple times, but every time he asked someone about it, the only answer he got was, that it was the location of the Sacred Altar and only the Elders were allowed inside.

This response didn’t quench his curiosity, instead, it made it worst. In the open room beneath the center of the Guardian tree, the 3 Elders were standing in front of the Guardian’s Heart.

The 3 Elders used the Energy Eye (Energy Eye is when a person covered their eyes with Life Energy. they used this to observe the Life Energy within an object, people, beast, monster, etc.) to observe the Life Energy of the Guardian’s Heart. The weakening of its Energy was very visible.

The 3 Elders let out a sigh of relief for obtaining the Life Stone earlier than anticipated. Chief Viren didn’t waste any more time, he walked forward, then slowly put the Life Stone in the hole located in the middle of the Guardian’s Hearth.

After a few seconds, the Life Stone inside the Guardian’s Heart crumble and turned to dust. The Guardian’s Heart glowed in green light signifying that its Life Energy was increasing. At the same time that the Guardian’s Heart glowed, the Guardian Tree also glowed.

The tribesmen cheered when they saw the glowing light coming from the Guardian Tree, they basked themselves in this light. Alfred was surprised when the Guardian tree suddenly lit up, he felt relaxed when the light touched his body.

Alfred felt an Energy, but this Energy was not the Life Energy that he knew of, this was different, it was denser, and within this Life Energy was another unfamiliar Energy, this Energy was very weak, if someone didn’t focus all their attention observing this Life Energy, they wouldn’t be able to feel this other Energy inside it.

One of the Tribesmen screamed in joy.

“The Guardian Tree accepted our sacrifice, and now showing its willingness to continue protecting us”

A lot of tribesmen believed this, even Alfred thought this was the case, they didn’t know that this was only an effect after the Guardian’s Heart absorbed the Life Stone sacrifice by Chief Viren. After a while. The 3 Elders finally came out from the cave, the 3 of them were smiling widely.

“Now that we are done with our sacrifice, we must celebrate this joyous occasion. All of you prepare the meat of the beast, we are having a feast tonight” Chief Viren commanded while smiling.

The tribesmen cheered even louder when they heard the Chieftain’s order, they immediately busied themselves preparing for the feast. The 3 Elders separated to went back to their own shelters, but Alfred stop Chief Viren because he was curious about something.

“Chief!”

Chief Viren turned around when he heard someone calling him.

“Oh, young Alfred do you need something?”

“Uhm… I wanted to ask, what is that light earlier? Is it true that it was the Guardian Tree’s approval?”

“Let’s just say it was, we still do not know a lot about the Guardian Tree, so, we are not sure what really it was.”

“I see, then what about the other Life Stone? There are 2 of them, why you did not sacrifice both of them?”

“Because this is the first time we obtain 2 Life Stone in a single hunt, we do not know what will happen if we sacrifice both of them at the same time. Therefore, we decided to sacrifice them separately to make sure.”

“I understand. hunting a beast is very difficult, we do not want to risk losing something valuable”

“That is right, is there anything else?”

“Then, may I know what is inside the Sacred Altar?”

“It is too early for you to know, just be patient for now.”

“I understand, thank you for answering me. I do not have any more questions.”

Chief Viren continued on his way after answering Alfred’s question. Alfred went home to see Leo, he left him in the tent afraid that Leo might cause a disturbance in an important tradition. When Leo saw Alfred, he ignored him.

Alfred saw Leo lying on his sleeping spot, he smiled when he saw that Leo was trying to ignore him. Alfred sat down beside Leo, he tried to get Leo’s attention by putting his face in front of him, but Leo just let out a weak snarl and turned his body around.

“Come on buddy, I am sorry I promise that I will bring you to the next one.”

“Grrr,”

Leo’s ears move a little seemed like he was a bit interested in what Alfred said, even though he didn’t understand it, but it was still not enough to make him turn around. Alfred caressed Leo’s fur.

“I will give you a lot of meat tonight.”

Alfred finally caught Leo’s attention, although Leo didn’t fully understand human language, he still know what meat was. He finally stopped ignoring Alfred when he heard the word meat. Leo cuddle Alfred showing his affection towards him. Alfred hugged Leo, then they both cuddle while lying around.

When the sky turned dark, the tribesmen gathered again in the largest open area in the tribe, but the reason this time was different. The tribesmen were dancing while circling around the bonfire, a lot of them were laughing while holding a slice of beast meat in their hand, and some were just sitting telling their own stories.

Because this was a joyous occasion the tribesmen set aside their differences and start talking to the new member of their tribe. Dara was happy when she saw the tribesmen happily celebrating with her people.

In the last few days, they were always on guard against the Blood Tribe hunters, they didn’t get the chance to rest properly and the stress was starting to affect them. Dara was thankful that they saw Vir’s group while hunting if not for them maybe they were all dead by now.

Dara was walking while observing her new tribesmen, then she saw Vir sitting on the corner with a slice of beast meat in his hand. Dara sat beside him.

“Why are you not celebrating with them?”

“I do not like things like this”

“Why? do you not want to see your tribesmen happy?”

“Of course I want them to be happy, I just felt that I do not deserve to celebrate with them”

“But why? I think they will be happier when they saw you celebrating with them.”

This time Vir didn’t answer Dara, he just stared at the people dancing around the bonfire.

“Fine, then I will just join you.” Dara gave up and just joined Vir to watch the people.

Alfred was together with Aponi, they are sitting on the ground while watching Leo, Amra, and Cari happily eating meat in front of them. Shaman Catori left Cari with them to talk to the new member of the tribe, she wanted to exchange knowledge with them.

“So, how is your hunt with the Arrows?” Aponi asked Alfred.

Alfred almost vomited when he remembered Vir popping the head of the young man like a watermelon.

“Gulp… What can I say? It was pretty intense, even though I did not join the fight it was too much for me, I think fighting is just not for me.”

“Do not beat yourself up, you can help the tribe in another way. For example, your ability to make runes, you just need to focus on something you can do rather than the things you cannot.”

“You are right, thank you.”

Alfred smiled, his heart was beating faster the longer he stayed beside Aponi, he had never been in a relationship before, even in his previous life, that was why he didn’t know what to do. Aponi saw Alfred’s face was a little red, she became worried that Alfred was sick, so she placed her hand on Alfred’s forehead to check his temperature.

“Are you okay? Your face is a bit red, do you feel anything?

Alfred’s heart started beating even faster, he finally couldn’t stop himself. Alfred held Aponi’s hand that was placed on his forehead, even though he didn’t have experience when it comes to love, he still had some idea what to say.

Alfred was a bit nervous, but he mustered his courage and looked straight into Aponi’s eyes.