《Bloody Gods》


 0.

    I really shouldn''t be here.


    I can tell myselfthat I''m trying to help. That I''m trying to look out for her, that I''m doing what any colleague would do if they thought someone they knew, someone they worked and laughed with could be hurt walking home.


    Except that wasn''t true. She wasn''t just another person that I''d worked with. I knew her. In a way that few other people could claim to know her.


    She''d be angry if she caught him foll-, walking behind her.


    She''d probably never notice, she was far too preoccupied with walking quickly and staying in the orange streetlights area of influence to notice him.


    It had started with the smallest thing. I''d overheard somebody say something to her at lunch about her area not being that safe, and offering to walk home with her.


    It was barely even a conscious decision, I''d managed to convince myself that I just happened to leave at the same time as her, that I was taking a different route to normal. But even I couldn''t delude myself about what this was any longer. I was following my ex-girlfriend home.


    I stopped walking. This was stupid. What was I even trying to do right now? She''d made it clear that we weren''t going to see each other any longer. And even if I did go up to her right now, she''d probably just hit me for following her after work, and maybe even report me. That''s what I''d do.


    This was stupid. I should just go home. I turned to leave, looking back at her one last time before I left. What I saw made me stop in my tracks, frozen to the spot.


    I could see a large shadow, rushing towards her. It surrounded her until she was barely visible to me. Her feet left the ground briefly as she kicked off the ground, I jolted as I made to move, before realising what this was.


    She was hugging someone. Was that a guy?


    Wait. They weren''t hugging any more, her face very clearly flushed red.


    They hadn''t even broken up that long ago. For fuck''s sake! Jesus! Was this why she didn''t want to see him anymore? She''d told him she ''wanted to work on herself''. That lying bitch.


    That lying bitch!


    I wasn''t a violent person. I really wasn''t. I tried to actively avoid getting into fights. But this, this made me want to go over there, and do ... something! I really wasn''t a violent person, I''d probably just yell at her, from a distance, that guy looks huge.


    I hung back, staying out of sight as the person walked her home, I could hear her laughter, so loud it hurt my ears, even with all that distance. I was seriously beginning to hate this guy. They parted ways just outside her house, but not before an agonizingly long kiss goodbye.


    He hung around watching her get inside, leaving me with a problem. If I wanted to argue with her I''d have to wait for him to leave, but she probably wouldn''t let him in after hearing that it was he who wanted to get inside. I decided I could just follow her new guy, maybe even get some dirt on him, maybe enough to... I shook my head to clear my thoughts, there was no point in fantasising about finding information like that.


    Better to just focus on the guy. He seemed to be almost constantly covered in shadows, even under a light. Maybe he was dark-skinned or something.


    I waited with teeth gritted, before following the guy further onwards as he walked quickly with long strides, now that she''d gone home, causing me to move faster to keep up.


    He only stopped once, in a bright streetlight, and even there I couldn''t get a good look at the guy. He stopped with his head cocked to the side as if stretching or something. He quickly continued onwards though.


    He stopped once again in front of a blank brick wall. He just stood there, draped in shadows, like he was waiting for something.


    I blinked.


    He''d vanished.


    And where before there was previously a blank wall, there was now a door in the wall.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    I blinked a few more times. Maybe I was just getting tired, It was exhausting, after all, following people around like this all night. I felt like I would have noticed a door that looked like THAT though.


    It was all dark wood. The handle, one of those ball-shaped ones. Really impractical to open, but they just looked so fancy that they always won me over in the end. It was a little tall, maybe even three meters? Who even needs a door that tall anyway? It had carvings with nature with open valleys and towering trees as well as some strange animals etched in all at the bottom. But at the top, it was all constellations, stars, and planets that littered the thing, the carvings were so lifelike they almost seemed to move as I got closer. It was beautiful.


    I had my hand on the doorknob before I knew what hit me.


    What was I doing again? Oh yeah, and the memory came back, along with the shame, the hurt. This wasn''t really about her, not anymore. The feeling that I wasn''t good enough. That I wasn''t as good as this other guy. I hated that feeling. That feeling that had hounded me all my life, Inadequacy.


    And with that thought, I twisted the handle and practically fell through the doorway as it swung open much more quickly than I was expecting.


    I had a white-knuckle grip on the handle. The weight of the floor swung me like a ragdoll to the floor.


    My knees hit the floor sending a bolt of pain all through the length of my body. I caught myself on the blinding white floor with my hands. Wait, blinding white?


    I looked up in confusion, meeting the eyes of a man, that jawline ... that''s the guy I was following.


    Bright, glowing red eyes stared back at me with a dull look, in contrast to his words and face. His clothing seemed to be all white, like a robe or something, but it matched his skin and hair. He looked down at me with a half-smile on his face.


    "Well, that''s interesting."


    I looked around in shock at the blindingly white surroundings, noting with rising alarm that I couldn''t move anything below my neck, I was frozen in a hunched over position.


    "I was really hoping that you weren''t going to follow me in here..." He seemed genuinely frustrated with me for some reason, but then I realised what his words meant, that he knew that I was following him, and the curiosity was replaced with my anger and then fear.


    I also found that I couldn''t speak which seemed strange. I couldn''t move and I couldn''t speak. Was I drugged or something? Was that why I could barely move? It was just so frustrating as I was forced to listen to this thief spew drivel.


    "Hush now boy, that''s quite a rude thing to say, especially to someone who holds such power over your life."


    What the hell was this albino motherfucker talking about? And did he just call me boy? He wasn''t that old ... was he? No, he was clearly just really into roleplaying, as shown by the ridiculously bright room. Was he somehow threatening me?


    He''d taken away the one good thing in my life, and now he was telling me to shut up? Fuck him!


    My mouth seemed fixed in place but there was a little give when I tried to move, like pushing a heavy door, and I twisted my mouth desperately, wanting to scream at this asshole.


    The man sighed and got up off of his gleaming white ... chair, I think it was a chair. He took a couple of steps towards me and squatted down so he was at eye level. There was something seriously off with this guy.


    "It seems like you really don''t understand the position that you''re in." I felt a blinding pain in my scalp as he grabbed hold of my hair pulling me closer to him.


    "You came into my home with the intention to kill. By heavenly law that gives me the right to kill you, torture you to death, and anything in-between really. Now normally, I''d just throw an annoying mortal like you into another dimension, preferably one with mind-eating horrors or something similarly fun but while I''m known as a peaceful god, you came after my woman with seeds of hatred in your heart, and that''s something I don''t let off with a mild punishment like having your body used as meat puppet by a parasite."


    This guy''s words didn''t make any sense. Did he really just refer to himself as a god? How fucking self-delusional was this asshole? Good god, she had terrible taste in men.


    But this guy did seem a little pissed off that I''d just barged into his weird looking home with no warning or without asking for information. I tried to open my mouth to try and explain that I had no intention of hurting the guy, I just wanted to talk to him, but the man''s face twisted into a sneer as I tried to open my mouth, and he clenched his fist.


    I felt that pressure on my face increase, to the point where I started seeing stars. It made me forget all about moving as I just tried not to cry from the pain, after a few seconds the pain went away, which the guy followed up with a stern look like he was telling off a misbehaving child.


    "It also just so happens that I''m looking for someone to test something out for me. It will be painful, and horrifying, as well as unpleasant, terrifying at times I hope, and maybe if you''re lucky, even exciting. But hopefully, it''ll mostly just be very painful, although that would be disappointing."


    I was getting a little freaked out now, no one even knew I was here, this guy had hit me with some kind of paralyzing drug, and now he was talking about doing very painful things to me. I felt my thighs get uncomfortably wet as something cold ran down them.


    "My name is Leon. Yes I know, it is quite unfortunate that we share the same name. It''ll just get confusing so I''m giving you a new name." I felt anger bubbling up inside me at the fucking arrogance of this guy. He just waved his hand around like he was wafting away a bad smell.


    "Now, Now, don''t get so annoyed. People would gladly kill for the honor of giving me a name, you should be grateful. From now on, your name will be ... George." God, this guy was such a fucking cunt. That was the name of her dog.


    He was calling me his bitch, wasn''t he? I really didn''t like the look on his face, and what with calling me his bitch and telling me he was going to do painful things to me ... I really wanted to leave right about now.


    "I''ll give you more instructions once you get there, and settle in a bit, but for now just try and stay alive. And if anyone tries to kill you, just say you''re a priest of Leon." He said that last part with a smirk, he was clearly messing with me.


    With no warning, he swung his leg forwards and kicked me backward, sending me flying through the doorway I''d come in through.


    My last thought as white light rushed in to fill my vision was ''That door really is beautiful''.

 1.

    1.


    It was cold.


    That was my first thought. My second was that I was asleep but now I am awake. My third thought was mildly existential. Mostly just regretting life in general, I wasn¡¯t really a morning person.


    My head hurt, and when I opened my eyes I immediately closed them again with a grimace. It was too bright.


    Wherever I was, that place was bright and cold.


    I slowly opened my eyes again while sitting up and off the ground. It was grassy right where I was, but there were also trees all around me, hemming me in like high walls.


    I was in one of those things! What did you call them again ... oh yeah, glades. I was in a glade.


    My eyes opened wide in realisation as my brain finally started working again, to form actual thoughts and question the situation that I had found myself in.


    ¡°Why am I in a forest?¡±


    My memory was hazy. I remembered deciding it was a great idea to follow my ex back to her home. Then I decided to ¡­ , huh, everything after that, was just a big white blank.


    I really hoped that I¡¯d get my memories back soon. I had no idea what this was.


    A prank? Maybe I¡¯d gotten really drunk and walked into a forest somehow? Maybe I¡¯d been mugged, and then they¡¯d carried my body several hundred miles to drop me in a forest? I really didn¡¯t know what was going on. I didn¡¯t know what to think.


    I thought about not moving, maybe I was with another group of people, I¡¯d gotten lost, and even now they were out there looking for me. Unlikely, I didn¡¯t really do camping trips in the wilderness, at least not with other people, I also didn¡¯t have anyone that I knew would like to go camping with me. I¡¯d done it a couple of times on my own, just for the hell of it. It was fun. Probably one of the few things I¡¯d ever found that were better to do on your own, than with other people, they sort of just got in the way.


    I shook those thoughts and memories away and got back to analysing the situation I was in.


    I still remembered my name, who I was where I worked, it was just last night that was a blank. Or at least what I thought was last night, I¡¯d seen it on tv all the time, people losing time, waking up somewhere with the last six months a blank slate to them.


    I must have sat there for at least half an hour thinking about useless stuff before something deep inside me got fed up with me wasting time and whispered ¡®go¡¯ right at the back of my thoughts.


    Or maybe I just couldn¡¯t handle lying down in my uncomfortably wet jeans, probably from the morning due.


    The trees, I didn¡¯t recognise them when I went right up to them and looked over the bark patterns and leaves, which made me think I was somewhere very far away from where I lived, or maybe even another country entirely. But I was wearing the clothes I wore last night, and I didn¡¯t smell too bad and they didn¡¯t look too bad either. It was weird.


    I left the grove.


    Quite a distance away, I thought I could see smoke, which reassured me that I wasn¡¯t too far from people, and I set off in that direction. Maybe it was a forest fire and I was walking to my death, but I was reasonably comfortable that that wasn¡¯t the case.


    Once I left, the birdsong which had been previously all around me like a permanent personal choir, left me behind quickly dampening my mood considerably. Only faint sunbeams shone through occasionally, the trees here seemed to really jostle for space, but other than the trees and where the patches of light hit the ground, I found that the forest floor was almost barren.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    It was strange, but also comforting. It had been a while since I¡¯d gone hiking, and while it was strange not having any of my normal hiking gear or safety measures which accompanied the activity, it was also quite liberating, I felt light on my feet in a way that I hadn¡¯t felt for a while, or at least since I¡¯d stopped exercising and I felt I could walk for hours.


    I hadn¡¯t been hiking in years, but I quickly settled into my familiar patterns and I convinced myself that I was just traveling off-trail, which helped calm me down from my shock of having woken up in a forest.


    I saw a lumbering shape, a silhouette really, far off in the distance and slightly to my right. It seemed to be heading away from me though, so I managed to successfully take a wide detour around it. I really couldn¡¯t outrun a bear out here, so I took extra measures to try and avoid it, just to be safe.


    It took me a few hours, quite a bit longer than I was expecting, but I reached the end of the forest. Slowly the trees started thinning out, and I could see the smoke much clearer now too. One massive plume was joined by several others, but I couldn¡¯t see its origin however as the ground sloped upwards into a hill in front of me and blocked my view of the source.


    The hill, curiously enough, was also devoid of any trees whatsoever, with patches of grass alternating with the soft white rock beneath in places. Maybe this tree which was with me since I¡¯d woken up didn¡¯t grow so well on slopes.


    Not seeing another way through, I scaled the hill in front of me, for the most part walking, but using my hands for security in other places. While mostly being soft, short grass, there were also patches of rock, like someone had torn off the grass, or something had impacted it in other places. It was weird, but I just continued climbing no point worrying now.


    I¡¯d enjoyed hiking, but this trip was making me remember all of the things I hated about it, like the blisters, the burning sun, the sometimes lack of food and water, the lack of security pretty much constantly. I was just looking forward to getting back to my nice and safe city.


    I was still mostly trying not to freak out about the fact that I¡¯d woken up in the middle of nowhere this morning though, and I¡¯d been trying to focus on literally anything else around me, including stupid fucking trees. I really didn¡¯t care about trees, I was just trying not to focus on how ¡­ freaked out I was over this whole thing.


    I was really hoping that this whole thing was just a prank because then I could hit the said person in the face, and move on with my life and be done with them. The other options ¡­ the other options were a lot scarier.


    I reached the summit, tired and exhausted and more than a little sweaty, even after wrapping my jumper and coat around my waist.


    Far below me, I could see a sprawling rural village. Most of the buildings seemed to be made of wood and ¡­ was that daub? Jesus, where the fuck am I? I¡¯d seen that in like museums and Wikipedia, but I didn¡¯t think anyone still used it.


    I was thinking more and more that this was a prank, or maybe a kidnapping, they had a lot in common as ideas.


    The town got larger and closer as I walked towards it, allowing me to make out that they¡¯d had a bonfire in the centre of the town at some point, maybe even last night, with the main wisp of smoke coming from a pile of grey ash in the centre of the town, and smaller streams coming out of the scattered homes around the village


    . It wasn¡¯t until I got within a hundred meters of the stone wall which surrounded the town that they spotted me, and I saw a humanoid outline start moving towards me. The wall was made of flat stones, piled on top of each other, and barely made it past my waist in height.


    I was curious that if they were using the wall as a way of keeping their farming animals close at hand so they didn¡¯t run off, then how did they keep out bears? Maybe the bears were scared enough of the buildings that they didn¡¯t have to worry about it. I wasn¡¯t sure, I didn¡¯t know much about bears to be honest.


    I¡¯d stopped just outside the wall, it was their town, and I wasn¡¯t even sure if I knew the language, I really didn¡¯t want to get off on the wrong foot with these people, first impressions mattered.


    I watched a massive bear of a blond man approach, wrapped in fur and leather, making me think more and more that this was somewhere in Europe.


    He raised a hand in greeting, as well as calling out once he got close enough that I could clearly identify his facial features.


    ¡°Ho there.¡± At least we spoke the same language. Hooray for small miracles.


    ¡°Hello. Sorry, but could you tell me where we are?¡± The man didn¡¯t even blink in response to my question, he just responded gruffly, were abandoned people common out here or something, was the people who dropped me here as part of their kidnapping ring using this place regularly? Were they still using it?


    ¡°Green hill village.¡± He motioned to the hill I¡¯d just climbed behind me. I smiled at my ridiculous chain of reasoning, and the man in front of me, mistaking the smile for its recipient, smiled back at me, a big, monstrously yellow grin.


    ¡°Sorry, no I meant, could you tell me what country we¡¯re in currently?¡±


    ¡°Country? We¡¯re in unclaimed lands boy.¡± That one stumped me. Was this guy messing with me right now? He clearly spoke English, but he claimed that there was a section of land in Europe that was unclaimed? Also, him calling me boy felt weirdly familiar and also strangely off-putting.


    ¡°Well, if you won¡¯t tell me what country we¡¯re in, can you at least point me to the nearest airport?¡± I looked at his scrunched up face as the giant of a man very visibly thought hard about what I¡¯d just said. After he didn¡¯t respond, I just kept asking for different things until he finally answered me.


    ¡°A train station then?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d take a bus?¡±


    ¡°How about a phone? I can just call myself a taxi, I don¡¯t mean to be an inconvenience.¡± I tried to regain some respect by being respectful in turn, and then hopefully they¡¯d just drive me themselves, I really didn¡¯t want to know what the taxi cost was going to be like all the way out here.


    I saw the man¡¯s face straighten out in front of me as if he¡¯d just figured something extremely important out.


    ¡°Did you just call me a ¡­ LIAR?¡± He roared that last word, catching me off guard and sending me stumbling backward as the man went from peaceful to wrathful in seconds.


    I tried to open my mouth to explain and apologise, but before I could speak, the man in front of me, his mouth widened abruptly, stretching it so I could see his weirdly large canines, as well as straight down his throat.


    ¡°This is-,¡± He tilted his head back, letting loose a roar. I felt like the world had just got a lot heavier as a strange heaviness came over me. My knees sank to the ground as I clutched at my head, bewildered as to what was going on.


    He let loose another roar, this time making me feel like someone had just hit me in the jaw, I tasted blood, losing control of my limbs as my arms flopped down, to dangle uselessly like broken puppets. Finally, as I began to see stars multiplying in my vision, I fell over and the ground rose up as a rising wave to collide with my face.

 2.

    A searing pain ran through my body as I returned to consciousness. I could feel my hair sticking to my clothes from the pool of sweat that I had been lying in for who knew how long for.


    There was a short moment of disorientation as I briefly thought that I¡¯d just woken up from a terrible dream, it was the most logical explanation considering what I¡¯d just been through, but I threw away the idea in despair once I opened my eyes.


    The ceiling that I woke up staring at was clearly made of mud, and a fire burning in the corner of the room helped me remember everything. My breaths came faster and faster as I quickly remembered what I¡¯d just experienced. The bear-like man, with his enormous mouth, huge teeth, and a roar which had knocked me out, making me taste blood and see stars.


    I was too afraid to look around. Was I in the crazy man¡¯s house right now? Shit, shit, shit!


    I really didn¡¯t want to die, that guy looked like he could probably eat me, and maybe he did, normal people didn¡¯t grow that big, did they?


    Maybe the other huts were just empty, and he¡¯d eaten all of the previous owners himself. Countless theories and thoughts raced through my mind, in time with the unnaturally fast beat of my heart. I quieted my thoughts though and decided that if I wanted more information, I would need to look around, but I would need to be careful, I didn¡¯t know who was in the room with me right now.


    I very slowly turned my head, like you¡¯d do if you shifted in your sleep, just in case somebody was watching, I grimaced a little as I did so, my whole body hurt, what the hell had that guy done to me?


    I slowly turned my head, taking in a smallish room with a large pile of assorted furs in the corner, a fire with a pot hanging above it. There was one exit, a door shaped gap in the wall with a slab of wood placed over it, but it wasn¡¯t fixed in place by any hinges.


    That slab looked heavy, I¡¯d probably struggle to move it on a normal day, let alone when I was feeling as shit as I did right now. The slab which was guarded by a brown-haired woman who was staring directly at me with wide eyes, her expression covered by a strip of cloth.


    She took a step towards me, something in her hands, and I scrambled up with my hands outstretched, keeping her back and away. I groaned as I did so, my body was clearly still injured, but I had no idea what was wrong with it.


    I stumbled until I pressed my back against the cold wall, propping me up and make me calm down a little. The woman held her hands up, a brown cloth in one hand, which she then pointed at my body. Her intention was clear, she was probably just cleaning and/or tending to his wounds, he didn¡¯t know if they needed that or not. There was a very real limit to the number of sinister activities you could do using a cloth.


    I was breathing heavily, but I still wanted to talk to her, I wanted to know what the hell was going on, both with me being here and what the hell happened with that big guy earlier.


    ¡°Hah ¡­ Hah, who ¡­ who are you?¡± Why the hell was I so out of breath? I¡¯d taken a total of two steps since I woke up.


    ¡°Mera. You should really lie back down.¡±


    ¡°Where am I? Who was that guy earlier?¡± She just motioned towards the bed which I was lying on previously, in answer to my questions, which made me think that she probably wasn¡¯t going to answer any more of my questions. I sat on the bed and told her my name. Gifts generally received a reward, even small ones.


    ¡°Alright, fine. My name is Le-George.¡± My eyes widened. I¡¯d tried to say my name, but it was like someone suddenly doused me with cold water when I tried to, and I lost control of my mouth, it was like I¡¯d started the sentence and someone else finished it.


    The woman, oblivious to what was going on inside my head, just started answering my questions. She also started talking in a way in which I was very familiar with due to my high turnover rate, she was in a welcome speech mode.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°You¡¯re in Green Hill Village, and you know why. You made a choice to be here, and the rest of us made a similar choice at some point in our lives. If you want to tell us your story, you can, but there is no rule requiring you to do so. That ¡®guy¡¯ is my husband Alguk, you can apologise to him yourself later at the Feast, but for now, you¡¯re going to need to lie down, your body needs to not waste any energy right now, as its using it all on much more important things like keeping you alive rather than answering questions which you can get the answers for any time.¡±


    I¡¯d always had a weakness for authority, and this woman radiated it like nobody else I¡¯d met in a long time. So I laid down on the bed and did what the scary lady told me to do.


    A lot of what the woman had said didn¡¯t make sense, but it made me think a scary thought. Had I known how and why I¡¯d arrived here, but I¡¯d lost the memory somehow? That ¡­ didn¡¯t seem so far off of the truth honestly and a lot of what I¡¯d seen so far seemed to support the theory.


    Kidnapping and taking someone abroad was a lot of hassle to do to a regular office worker. It was much more plausible that I¡¯d taken a plane abroad, gone hiking in the woods, and tripped and hit my head. But what with all this talk about the ¡®Feast¡¯ and mud houses, I was starting to suspect that I was in some sort of Cult town.


    I lay down, doing what the scary woman with the even scarier husband told me to do, but while also telling myself to keep an eye out for a way to leave quickly. She rolled up my shirt, putting her cold hands on my honestly extremely flat abdomen. I had my eyes closed but I could feel a warm sensation, following which I could feel my heartbeat sped up. Was she doing some sort of strange massage technique? Either way, I quickly felt very warm and comfortable and the sensation sent me fast asleep.


    ~


    I woke up, the ceiling is the first thing I see, and my entire body feels like I¡¯d just been in the most comfortable bath in the world. I sat up with ease, swinging my legs around onto the floor with no change in my breathing.


    The wooden slab which had previously covered the entrance of the door was gone, and the ground outside was dark but lit by bright flickering flames. I got up, marveling at how relaxed I felt compared to earlier, that woman''s massage technique was really incredible, it made me wonder why she lived in a mud hut in the middle of nowhere when she could be charging thousands for every session with rich old fat white guys.


    I looked around for the source of the fire, and spotted it quickly, it was hard to miss, a towering pillar of red which was blindingly beautiful to look at. Did they do this every night? If so, that would readily explain that burned out remains of a fire I¡¯d seen on my entry into the village, but I could have been out for more than one day so it was useless to speculate.


    As I got closer, I could see that people were rushing about, putting seats around the outside of the fire, facing inwards, and cooking food on smaller fires in pots or on skewers. Some people were sitting down, but most were rushing around, trying to do something to help. It was quite wholesome to see. As I approached, one of the shadowy figures looked over and rushed over to stand in front of me. It was that woman from earlier, Mera.


    She wordlessly handed me a cloth and pointed to the seats, then left.


    I did as I was told, I still had no idea what her husband had done to me, but it frightened me all the same.


    I dipped the rag in a bowl of murky blue liquid which she also handed to me, and wiped down the seats. Curiously, the cloth didn¡¯t seem to clean the seats all that much, its main purpose was to make the seats shine a little in the firelight. I moved on once I¡¯d reached diminishing returns with the first stool and moved onto the next seat, an actual chair. Some of the seats seemed to be just wood stumps like from traditional campfires, and some were full chairs, with a rigid back.


    I¡¯d made it maybe three-quarters of the way around the circle before Mera came back up to me to take the bowl away. And sat me down in one of the unfinished seats. I watched as a group of people came to the fire and sat down, as someone started walking around with several large plates of food which people would take skewers, soup, and bread off of. People sat down in the varnished seats first, with the people with the better clothes choosing the ones I¡¯d done first, first.


    I took a skewer, soup, and bread from the hooded man as he passed me by, nodding in thanks.


    I was looking around nervously at this point as I had yet to see the man who attacked me earlier yet. I heard a loud thump next to me, not needing to check to see who had sat down next to me. He didn¡¯t say anything. Neither did I.


    The food was ridiculously good, and I was a lot hungrier than I¡¯d given myself credit for.


    As the seats filled up, conversations started up, but only after people had finished their food. I¡¯d finished my food, and I didn¡¯t want to be alone with my thoughts, so I turned to the only person who had sat next to me.


    ¡°I apologise if I upset you earlier.¡± Alguk the huge man, just grunted in response. So I continued with my questioning.


    ¡°I wanted to ask how you did that thing with your mouth? You know,¡± I motioned to him by opening my mouth wide and tilting it upwards. The big guy just looked confused for a second with his big furrowed brows and then laughed loudly.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a blessing. It¡¯s my bloodline.¡± He turned away after he finished speaking, leaving me with more questions than answers.


    What was a blessing? What was a bloodline? Also, this guy had seemed a lot simpler when I¡¯d spoken to him earlier. But before I could start interrogating the guy much more thoroughly, an old woman stood up and clapped once, silencing everybody, including my thoughts.


    She took a step towards the fire, then got down on her knees and clasped her hands together. I¡¯d almost forgotten that this was a cult for a minute there. In unison, people put their bowls and skewers down and stepped forward, falling to their knees, both young and old. I followed along, I stuck out enough here as it was with my clothes being so different from everyone else''s cloth garb.


    ¡°Oh holy Leon, we beseech you¡­¡± They went on and on like that, the older woman leading the rest in prayer, with the rest intoning in low voices after her every line.


    I only had one thought though.


    ¡®Why were they praying to me?¡¯