Kira knocked on the door of her father’s house impatiently but still restrained herself from using too much power. Regardless of her father’s brilliance in woodwork, there was no way this old house could hold up against the strength of a rank-3 totem warrior.

‘’Alright! Alright! I’m here.’’ Her father’s voice sounded as the door opened. Under his disheveled gray hair that covered half of his face, Agon threw her an irritated look. ‘’No patience whatsoever. And you call yourself a hunter? Ridiculous.’’

‘’Three rooms,’’ Kira said and tossed the large bag she was holding to Agon before storming inside the house. ‘’You have three small rooms in this house and a tiny backyard. How could it take this long for you to open the damn door?’’

Agon caught the bag with some struggle and followed her after. ‘’You know I don’t like to be interrupted when I’m working. You’ve been away for two weeks. Can’t you wait for another two minutes?’’

In a haste, she removed her leather sack and put it on the table along with her spear. ‘’Nope. Not before Theron can take care of himself,’’ she replied and rushed to the backyard. Her eyes lit up when she found a toddler, playing with wooden toys. In a single leap, she arrived before the boy and picked him up gently into a hug. ‘’Oh, my little warrior, mommy missed you so much!’’

‘’Am I not taking care of him?’’ Agon asked, raising his voice. He walked toward the corner of the garden and put the large bag in front of the larder. ‘’Look at the silly smile on his face. No kid in the tribe has this many toys.’’

‘’I’m sorry, dad. I didn’t mean it,’’ she said, already beaming as she embraced her son. ‘’I don’t know what would I do without you.’’

Agon gazed at little Theo who was pulling Kira’s hair curiously and chuckled. ‘’Don’t worry about it,’’ he said, waving his hand dismissively. He bent a bit and opened the bag’s mouth to look inside. ‘’How was the hunt? Your game seems to get bigger every time.’’

‘’It does, but only a little. I got the biggest share in the team again, but even this would be barely enough for us,’’ she replied. ‘’Poor Luissa didn’t even get a quarter of this. I’ve no idea how they will feed their families.’’

‘’Chief wouldn’t let them starve. They always keep emergency food and share it with the ones in need,’’ Agon said and started placing the body parts of the beasts into the cold larder.

‘’It’s getting worse and worse every year. Nothing grows in the safe zone, and every attempt to farm outside of the safe zone ends up with a disaster,’’ Kira said, shaking her head. ‘’Now, the tribe’s only source of food is meat, but we’ve hunted every low-ranked beast in our hunting routes. We need new routes or deaths from starvation will start soon enough. Emergency food or not.’’

Agon sighed. ‘’You know how dangerous that is. Even Lakhaes–’’

‘’I know what happened to my husband, dad,’’ she interrupted, gritting her teeth. ‘’That’s exactly why we must take risks. If we do nothing, we'll eventually become extinct in our safe haven. That would be the greatest dishonor to the ones we had lost.’’

Agon turned around with a rueful smile. ‘’Kira, whether you’re right or not, our Warlord made his stance clear on this. He said that before there is a team of rank-5 totem warriors, anyone who goes to explore the forbidden places will be banished for good. According to him, even the chances of such a hunting team would be low, for the others, it’s just suicide.’’

‘’He can keep his stance for another three years. It doesn’t matter if he isn’t the Warlord anymore,’’ she said, straightening her posture and hugging Theron tightly. Seeing the pitying look on Agon, she added hastily, ‘’I already have more than a dozen followers. All I need to do is advance to rank-4 and beat the other candidates in front of others. Three years is a long–’’

A restless knocking sound came from the door, matching Kira’s rhythm from before.

Raising an eyebrow, Kira exchanged glances with Agon and went to answer the door, ignoring her father’s grumbling about the tribe’s new trend. She caught herself moving toward her spear but stopped the next second and shook her head. This wasn’t the jungle anymore but her home. It was safe.

Switching the little Theo to a more comfortable position, she opened the door. Surprisingly, it was one of the shaman’s pupils, Mirei.

‘’Congrutalions, Kira!’’ Mirei exclaimed with exaggerated gestures. ‘’The Titans have spoken. You’ve been chosen as one of the sacrifices!’’

‘’T-The Titans?’’ she repeated with eyes wide open.

‘’Yes! The real ones!’’

Dumbstruck, Kira blinked. ‘’Sacrifice? Me?’’

‘’Yes, you,’’ Mirei said with a weird look and sighed. ‘’I know it’s a lot to take. Let me give you some space to process, but if you want to celebrate, you better hurry. You will be leaving together with the shaman tomorrow at dawn.’’

Kira barely noticed Mirei who withdrew her envious gaze and skipped through to some other house. Without closing the door, she trudged toward the couch and placed her kid on it before sitting next to him and staring at the floor blankly.

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Sacrifices… Every year, their deities, the Titans, would choose five people from their tribe and tell the shaman in his dreams. The chosen ones would give their lives in a ritual as an appreciation for the Titan’s blessings. This wasn’t only the most honorable duty in the tribe but also a chance to be reborn as a Titan in the next life. Not a member of the Horned Titan tribe as she was right now, but a real Titan. A being superior to most creatures in this vicious world.

When she was a little kid, she often thought about what would happen if she got chosen, but eventually, she stopped caring about it. Because every year, only five people was dying as sacrifices, while the death toll during the hunts was more than a hundred, not to mention old age, sickness, and wars with the rival tribes. Death was a common occurrence and being a sacrifice was the most glorious one.

‘’Who was it?’’ Agon asked as he entered the room, waking Kira from her daze.

‘’Uh, M-Mirei.’’

‘’That’s weird,’’ Agon commented with a faint frown. ‘’What did she want?’’

‘’She came to tell me that I’ve been chosen,’’ Kira said, lifting her head. ‘’As a sacrifice.’’

‘’What!? Are you serious!?’’

Kira nodded absentmindedly.

Agon jumped forward excitedly but stopped himself from hugging Kira. Noticing her mood, he crouched down and gently caressed her cheek. ‘’What is it, honey? Are you okay?’’

She locked her hesitant eyes with his father’s. ‘’I… don’t… want it?’’

Despite his calm appearance, Agon couldn’t hide the surprise in his eyes. ‘’It’s okay to be fear–’’

‘’I don’t fear death!’’ she snapped, pushing his hand away. ‘’I-I have so many things to do! I will be the Warlord, the leader of the hunters! And that’s just the start, I have so many plans for our tribe–’’

‘’Do you think your plans are more important than our deities’?’’

‘’B-But–’’

‘’Kira, the Titans chose you. You’re destined for great things,’’ Agon said with a caring tone. ‘’Not to mention, refusing this opportunity would be an immense disrespect. It’s all thanks to the Titans’ protection that our tribe is safe. In this world, where humans are at the bottom of the food chain, no creature dares to come near our tribe. We even owe our strength to them. If not for the bone marrow we drink in our ceremonies, it would be impossible for us to hunt totem beasts and become totem warriors. Do you want to help our tribe? Then trust the Titans and follow their guide.’’

Leaning back, Kira fell into silence. There was another meaning in her father’s words. One of the reasons that no one has ever refused to be sacrificed was the fear of abandonment. Regardless of the difficulties, the Horned Titan Tribe survived for thousands of years. That would’ve been unthinkable without the fragment of Titan’s power they had been given and the terrifying aura that surrounded their village.

‘’Ma,’’ Theron uttered as he tugged Kira’s ivy belt.

Startled, Kira turned her head, and a helpless smile shaped on her face. The next moment, amber-colored tribal tattoos appeared on her fair skin, and the ivy belt stirred to life. It started to move toward little Theo while its leaves glimmered vibrantly. As Theo cheered and tried to grab the ivy in a thrill, she turned back to his father, her gaze turning sharp. ‘’I need beast skins. A lot of beast skins.’’

That night, Kira locked herself into her room and wrote notes to his son under the dim light of moonstones. She was never good at writing or reading for that matter, but still used everything she’d learned as a kid and inscribed the letters to the beast skin with utmost dedication. Every plan she had for her tribe was written to the smallest detail. Once that was over, she felt awful for not mentioning how much she loved him and started explaining how she felt. After that, she realized that her son will never know his parents and started writing about herself and her late husband. Then, it was time for motherly advice. Without a break, she poured out anything that came to her mind and only stopped when the sunlight entered from the window.

Looking out the window, her resolute expression gradually turned serene. She stood up and walked toward Theron’s bed. With a thousand different feelings, she stared at her kid for a time between a moment and an eternity before planting a soft kiss on his forehead and leaving the room.

Her father was waiting for her at the entrance with an unreadable expression. When she went to fetch her spear, Agon started chuckling. ‘’You’ll take your spear with you, huh?’’

‘’Of course. I’m keeping it until the Titans give me a better one,’’ she replied. As Agon shook his head with a smile, Kira bit her lip. ‘’Are you gonna be okay, dad?’’

‘’Don’t worry about us. I’ll take care of everything.’’

‘’I’ve left some letters for my followers and asked them to help you guys as much as they–’’

‘’There is no need,’’ Agon said. ‘’I’ll return to my old job. Food won’t be a problem.’’

‘’But you hate stone carving.’’

Agon rolled his eyes. ‘’I guess I’ve no choice but to suck it up. I said don’t worry, Kira. Both little Theo and I will be okay.’’

Kira nodded stiffly and gave a hug to his dad before leaving the house.

‘’And don’t forget child,’’ Agon called behind her back with a raspy voice, ‘’this isn’t the end but the beginning!’’

Kira didn’t turn back and kept walking with steady steps. Leaving her family, her ideals, and her future behind… hurt. She couldn’t care less about being reborn as a Titan either. Yet, this was a debt she must pay. Without the Titans, her tribe wouldn’t exist. Her life was borrowed from the beginning, and now it was time to pay it back. Nothing more, nothing less.

The tribesmen of the Horned Titans were naturally aware of the sacrifice, but there was no celebration. Just a silent send-off where everyone stood in front of their houses and longingly stared at the chosen ones as they walked toward the Assur Forest’s entrance to meet with the shaman.

Assur Forest, Kira thought as she strode the streets of her village. Another forbidden zone that I wanted to explore. They say the sacrificial altar is a day-long walk from the tribe, and it’s at the border of the safe zone. There must be countless opportunities in the Assur Forest, especially when there is a retreat option, but they don’t allow anybody inside unless it’s for sacrificial rituals. Chief, Shaman, and Warlord, all speak in one mouth and say that it’s extremely dangerous. Uncharted waters where no one managed to return. Heh, at least the day before I die, I’ll see these uncharted waters myself.