Chapter 25

A monumental moment for this world was occurring in a small clearing in a forest.

There was no fanfare, no music, no applause. Just two people, a young man and a boy. They sat in front of an outdoor fire pit, a clay disk that sat on the fire separating them from each other.

Pino POV:

“That really does smell amazing!” Attila said, his mouth watering as the delicious scent of thick slice, pine smoked bacon wafted into his nose.

“You said this was… bah-kan, right?” He asked

“Yes.” I smiled, “Bacon. It’s not great for your health, but it tastes even better than it smells.”

Looking at the bacon while talking, I saw it had cooked enough, so I turned it over, allowing the other side to cook as well.

Attila hummed his acknowledgment, and we sunk into a comfortable silence, both absorbed in our own thoughts. I turned my head, looking at all that I had. The smoking stands, the house, all the tools I’ve managed to build. The fact that this clearing has a dirt path, a testament to the amount of time I’ve lived and traversed this area.

This is the life…

but

It feels empty

“Oh shit!” I called out, grabbing the bacon that’d started to burn off of the pan.

I quickly tossed the extra crispy meat into a bowl that’d already been set aside for that purpose. Once the food was secure, I jumped up and waved my hand through the air like a kite, warding off the burning sensation that assailed my fingers.

My antics were suddenly interrupted by a burst of laughter that came from across the flames.

I looked at Attila, rolling on the ground, and asked in false anger, “What’s so funny? Huh??”

I then grabbed a stick that was on the edge of the fire, nowhere hot enough to cause any damage, but it’d still be uncomfortable to touch, and I began chasing him around our clearing.

His startled face soon turned to one of childish jubilation as he ran as fast as he possibly could.

Eventually, the stick ran cold, and we tired of our little game, so we settled down to eat.

The world seemed to slow as I watched Attila dive into his meal, heaping praise after praise upon the “bah-kan.”

A tiny twinge of pain attacked my heart, I’d been in this foreign land for close to a year. I’d never get to see my mom or dad again, I’ll never hang out with my friends, I’ll never get to confess to that girl, I-

“Are you okay?” Attila inquired with concern.

He was suddenly a lot closer to my face than he was a second ago.

He took his greasy hands, and wiped away tears that I didn’t know had begun to fall.

“If I ate too much, I’m sorry. You can have the rest.” He said downcast, handing me the few scraps that remained in his bowl.

I looked at him and sighed, “Do you want to hear a story?”

He immediately perked up, agreeing without a second thought.

I started slowly, telling him about fields upon fields of food. Animals that you don’t have to hunt, but are readily available. Tents that are higher than clouds, and tribes with more members than the stars above. I told him about men who could fly on wings, and how all people communicated through a large web. How people sailed across massive rivers in very hard rocks. Spears that would shoot their tips at extreme speeds, felling both enemy and prey alike in seconds.

I told him all of this, and he sat there, eyes growing wider and wider at these tales.

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Once I’d quieted down and he was sure that I wouldn’t continue to speak, he exclaimed, “That sounds like paradise!”

He fantasised aloud about living in a tall tent, and never hunting again, then he asked, “Who passed on this story to you? I’ve never heard it before.”

“Story?” I chuckled, “What if I told you it’s no tale, but the truth?”

He laughed at first, but seeing the seriousness in my eyes, he quickly stopped.

“Bu- but, if there was such a tribe, surely we would’ve heard of them. Or seen the flying men, the boah-tsa of hard rock crossing rivers. There’d be stories, but this is the first I’ve heard of it!” He said inquisitively.

I sighed, contemplating how to explain time travel or soul migration to a kid who didn’t even know how to count a few months ago.

“Look up.” I said, while turning my gaze to the stars.

“What do you see?” I asked.

“The souls of the damned, burning in eternal darkness, reminding us what happens to oath breakers and mu… muttans alike.” He finished softly.

I processed his words silently, remembering some of the folktales that my other mind was fed as a kid.

“What if I told you that’s wrong?” I said in a contemplating manner, my eyes never breaking contact with the sky.

Attila’s breathing became unstable, but he didn’t respond, so I continued, “Those are all akigi, every last one of them. Those akigi are worshipped by these things called planets. Planets circle the akigi, praying to them for all eternity. On some planets, there are people, like you and I, we-”

My monologue was cut off by a sudden question, “but… if those are all akigi, where do the damned souls go?”

I thought about that for a moment… There was no God here, no Allah, no Greek, norse, Hindu religions. How do I explain this to him?

“Everything that lives will one day die.” I began

“And there is life in everything, from the birds in the sky, to the ground below us. When you die in one form, you’re born in another. No one is ever damned, only always changing.” I said, looking at Attila, who was on the verge of tears.

“Is there no punishment? For the evil, for the muttans?” He asked, with bated breath.

“Nature controls all things. She makes life both arduous and beautiful. To her, there is no such thing as evil, no such thing as muttans, only the endless circle of life and death. She’s impartial, and once this lifeform dies, you’re washed clean and your new life has nothing to do with the old.” I stated sagely.

Maybe this started as me venting, but for some reason or another, I could tell that he needed this.

“That’s not what I’ve been told!” He bawled.

“These aren’t the stories that’ve been passed to me! Who do you think you are, how do you know this?? Why should I believe you?!” He cried, clutching his chest.

I looked at him with a sad sympathy, he clawed at himself, a vain attempt to scoop the pain from his chest.

He’s still a kid, a child who’s had to go through something perhaps unimaginable to me.

I scooted nearer to him, and put my arm around his shoulder.

“Have you ever wondered why I’m in this forest?” I asked him.

I could feel his body language exuded curiosity, but he couldn’t manage any words over his emotional state.

“I’ve come from many akigi away, or perhaps many akigi from now…” I said, sinking into my musings.

“Regardless of that,” I affirmed, snapping myself back into the moment, “I’m from the largest, most powerful tribe on that planet. These stories are passed down to us, and there is even proof! We use a mystic called science.” I finished matter-of-factly.

I knew I was mixing science and religion. I knew I was feeding him half-truths. I knew, but…

but…

I also knew there was someone in need. I knew I could help him, and I knew how to help him.

So the consequences be damned, there are no politicians or religious zealots here! Only a hurting child, in need of love, guidance, and assurance.

While I pondered my actions, it was as if a dam had broken in Attila. He cried as he retold the story of his parents being stoned to death, him being ostracised from his tribe, begging this Tana’Il to let him kill those who’d murdered his family.

He regaled me how the Il’ clan set alight one of the two large tents, and slaughtered the people as they ran out, burning alive. How those in the other tent cowered, daring not to come out. How he, in the crucial moment, wasn’t able to kill his fellow tribesmen. The racking guilt that barraged him as they died in the heat and the snow.

“I killed them, this is because of me.” He thought.

Finally he told me how Tana’Il said to him with disgust, “A muttan father will raise a muttan son. I kept to my end of the bargain.”

Then the Il’ clan chased him away, to survive alone, in the wilderness and the snow. How he wondered for days upon days, eating snow to stave off hunger and thirst. How when he felt he couldn’t take another step he happened upon a strange square hut. He only remembers running towards the hut, then everything else is history.

I listened to all of this silently.

I truly didn’t know what to say, how to comfort him.

‘Everything will be okay?’ His parents are dead.

‘Things will get better?’ He’s lost everything he’s ever known.

‘They deserved it?’ This kid just watched his neighbours get slaughtered and burned alive.

I’m barely twenty-one, I was born in an era where strife is mostly a foreign concept. I have no experience with things like this.

I settled on saying the only thing I could assure with my own two hands.

“We can’t change the past, but I promise… from now on, nothing like that will ever happen to you again.”

It was a bold proclamation for a world like this.

I have no power, no weapons, no influence.

But what I do have now is a purpose, an ambition.

Protect those close to me, protect the weak, be the change I want to see.

I smiled at the corniness of my thought process.

“brother…” Attila whispered.

“yes?” I softly responded.

“I wish I could see it. I wish I could’ve been born on your planet.” he said, tears once again welling up in his eyes.

“I can’t assure you that you’ll get to see everything that I described to you… it took thousands of years for my tribe to reach that point.” I said honestly.

“But”

“Although you can’t decide where you start, only you can choose where you’re going.” I continued

“I’ll show you Attila, I’ll show you what humanity can- will be.” I stated, hugging him tightly.