The mountainside terrain was steep and sporadic; the lack of experience resulting in many of them tripping over the odd rock or slope, having to be caught by a neighboring traveler at the last second. At many points when the slope was especially slick and steep, they got on all fours and shuffled downward feet forward to avoid getting thrown down the hill by their own momentum.

The hunters were a different story. The group was still well within their familiar territory, and equipped with hundreds of days honing their nimbleness, they traversed easily across the logs and rocks, sometimes climbing into trees to use them as a brief path. Milan and Ram were always a ways ahead but never out of sight, guiding the line to their optimal path. Ahupathi, one of the two rear hunters, seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself and the moment in spite of the mess they were in. Meanwhile Abiral put in minimal effort, following fairly close behind the last member of the line.

The usual feeling of cold subsided noticeably as they got lower in altitude and the trees partially obstructed the wind, and so they settled into a comfortable rhythm for the remainder of the day. As the sun began to set, they drew near the base of the mountain, and the hunters directed the group to a rocky outcrop where they used to set up camps often. It was relatively flat and naturally protected on multiple sides to the elements, remnants of charred wood and random materials lay around the area from bygone expeditions.

Though they all felt weary, Shirisha and Milan quickly divided them into groups. One of them gathered what wood they would need from the forest, and the other would lay out pelts that needed to dry from absorbing slick snow on their descent, as well as distributing the pelts they had left and determining sleeping arrangements. Bibek was of course part of the wood group, and easily had the greatest stock when they returned in an hour's time. Shirisha used her crafting ability and materials from the environment to create thin racks for the hanging and drying of wet clothing. Everything was set up with little conversation, and as the sky became dark they slowly settled into sleep.

It was unfit and devoid of any good rest to the ones who were accustomed to sleeping in comfortable huts their whole lives, several waking up the next day with aches in their sides and backs. At dawn the sun didn't hit them with its normal light, being blocked by the sloping hills and dense forestry, as well as they themselves being much farther below it than they were ever used to.

They started a little later than Shirisha hoped, everyone stretching out and adapting themselves after waking up to a new environment. The young boy in the group was especially drowsy and walking seemingly half asleep. As she expected the hunters appeared just the same as yesterday, though Abhiral still appeared irked about the situation as a whole.

There were several sudden stumbles on roots and brambles in the beginning, but became less frequent as people recovered their bearings and the ground itself became more and more level, and as the trees began to thin out around them.

Shirisha could tell distinctively now that the air was warmer here past the foot of the mountain, though not quite yet warm enough to justify removing any pelts. The biggest difference though, was the wind. The harshest winds up on the mountain felt like a shrill force tearing through the entire body regardless of how thick ones pelt was, but here it was a chilly breeze at the strongest.

Shirisha strived to keep pace with the scouting hunters, but also checked behind her often to ensure the formation was held and no one was being dragged along. Bibek followed her fairly closely, and would sometimes do the same. They had spoken very little to each other since the beginning of the journey, now feeling a level of tension between them concerning Sang. Despite whatever disagreements she and him felt though, what always had bound them together and still did was the immense sense of duty, one that they both thought proved far more important than squabbles they may have.

The sun was clearly shining and approaching its peak when they began to hear the sound. Running water, though not the trickling of the dozens of small streams they would find cascading along down the mountain, but a powerful moving mass with depth they had never experienced before. Shirisha saw that before long they were all aware of it, and as excitement took them they started to move faster as a group, all four hunters also seeming to feel the anticipation.

As the minutes passed and they picked up their pace a little, the sound of the water became louder and louder, even cacophonous. They were all lightly running now aside from Milan and Ram, who sprinted across the terrain and up a gradual rise that obstructed their view of the river. Then suddenly as they reached the top, they both stopped dead, Ram drawing a quick breath of shock. Shirisha also came to a stop as she noticed them, as did everyone else. Milan came steadily back down with a serious look, Ram still looking straight forward away from them. Milan addressed all of them:

"There is no doubt that the river is a beautiful thing. But do not let yourself forget the reason we came here as you go forward."

They knew immediately what he meant by that, and a little light dropped from their faces as they moved with the group to where Ram was standing. Yet still as they met the sight, there were several gasps and even cries.

For nearly a whole day now Abhinatha had been out of their sight, and the idea of the body had traveled further from their minds as they busied themselves with the constant act of walking and trying to stay comfortable. This made seeing the endless unmoving mass of sheenless bronze scales all the more impactful. For several days the body had been just a long colored shadow far below them, but now seeing it just on the other side of the river confirmed for good the concept that plagued all of them.

The rest of the day continued with a more serious aura as they walked along the riverside, but they all felt a little closer to each other because of it.

It was a very new feeling in Shirisha's life, no longer gazing down into the valley but looking up from it at the titanic mountains which shot into the sky on both sides. After some time everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves at least a little bit as well, a few of them wading and playing in the shallow water when it was a little more sunny during rests, despite it being so cold. There was still one person whose emotion had changed very little through all this, and that was the younger, harder looking woman, whose name she knew to be Nishita. Shirisha did not inquire so much about why she was like this so as not to be rude, but was glad nonetheless that she was someone with their emotions in check.

They were now on their third and final day, and here the natural destruction of Abhinatha's fall was very apparent. The ground by the river was almost wholly flattened and muddy from the impact, the jagged fragments of once massive boulders were scattered across the landscape along with splinters of large trees that stuck haphazardly out of the mud. In what nature was untouched though, the forests had started to come a lot closer to the shoreline, with denser and taller trees.

Within the dense forestry Ahupathi's keen eye revealed a grassy hill, and upon proposing to rest there was met with unanimous agreement by everyone else. From the ankles downward they were caked in mud, and exhausted from pulling their feet through the difficult terrain over and over again. As the hunters guided them through the new patch of forest and into the clearing, many started dropping down onto the grass to relax. Others followed suit and some started falling asleep, but Shirisha still felt alright. She wanted to wander off a little as she realized from here she could reach a higher vantage point, and maybe even see Abhinatha's head. She turned to Bibek to see if he wanted to join her, but it seemed a nice patch of grass after a long trek was far too tempting for him, and as such he was already dead to the world.

She walked past Milan, turning to him and mentioning off-handedly that she was going to have a look around.

"That is fine," Milan said. "But ensure you can trace back your own steps, and do not stray anywhere you cannot hear us. If you're not back when we start moving again, Ram and I will whistle for you."

With a brief agreement she strode off, walking away whilst lifting herself over mossy rocks and root infested clumps of earth, higher and higher until she could tell for certain she was on the foot of the mountain. Moving a little farther along the base, she found a sparser area with a very clear view of what lay ahead. The natural terrain still obstructed Abhinatha's head from her sight, and she found herself disappointed yet at the same time a little relieved that she did not have to deal with the image just yet. She looked across the chaotically unfmiliar but beautiful landscape, and realised fully for the first time how much beauty in details they missed from their village in the sky.

Then, among the lower bushes she caught a quick gray movement. She stood alert while leaning over the rock, and a moment later she spotted a head poke up above the underbrush. Bright white ears, small pointed horns and deep black eyes. Unmistakably a nilgai. Her heart started beating faster, and she soon forgot about why she was here in the first place. As the animal once again disappeared deeper into the forest, she began quickly descending the small slope, thinking excitedly to herself: It's antlers were short; definitely a juvenile, so the rest of the herd must be somewhere close by. She broke into a light jog through the bushes, making sure not to accidentally get too close and scare it away.

She entered through the treeline, slowing down as their shadows passed over her, feeling the slight warmth of sunlight leave her skin as the massive trees blotted it out. Here she was beyond the wreckage from Abhinatha's fall which left massive swathes of nature annihilated, but now instead just in a place that she had never been.

As she walked across the ground littered with small twigs and leaves, she couldn't help but notice the silence. She could hear none of the usual background ambience of bird calls or a few skittering feet, which is why her heart jumped when she heard a hard thump followed by a brief high pitched snap a little way forward, just past some large rocky formations that were a part of the land surrounding the mountain.

Was that the nilgai? She thought to herself. Or maybe just a falling branch?

Then straining her ears she caught more sounds, very slight and difficult to describe, but reminded her just a little bit of the sounds that were made when hunters took home a kill and started removing what was inside to prepare for meals.

She continued tentatively, dragging her hands along the craggy rock wall, and as the sound grew louder her anticipation followed. She turned around the sharp corner, and the sight that met her eyes made all other perceptions of the world fall away.

The nilgai was sprawled lifeless, its neck turned at an awkward angle as blood poured from its torn open abdomen, flowing around patches of grass on the ground. Hunched over the corpse was a massively long and spry body covered in a wavering, sinisterfully striped pattern of orange and black. The beast with fur the colors of fire. A bagha.

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Her knees instantly became weak and her breathing fast and heavy, wobbling as she fell backwards onto the ground while clutching at the rock, snapping a succession of twigs.

With eerie silence, the bagha lifted its head from the feast of its recent kill. Its face had a pattern like a radiant flower, infatuating yet terrifying. The small jade eyes seeped into her while tiny rivers of blood ran through the fur of its mouth, rolling off of the whiskers and onto the dirt. It lifted one of its wide padded paws over the nilgai, and pressed it silently into the ground. It took another step, then another, baring its yellowed fangs as a deep rumbling growl came from its throat.

Shirisha hardly had control over herself, trying to scramble away on her still trembling legs, but her frantic movement just seemed to aggravate the beast even more. She could see the back legs tense up and the tail swish, the rows of teeth fully unveiled and ready to make a kill. Her legs had come back but it was too late, she now covered her head in her arms as she saw the bagha's lean back legs leave the ground.

Suddenly, in the very moment the beast jumped, she heard rapid and thunderous footsteps from somewhere above her and a moment later, a deafening yowl that echoed through the woods. She looked, and there clinging ferociously to the back of the wildly moving bagha, was a human figure. It reared up on its hind legs, a writhing pillar of muscle, and with the full force of its body threw the figure off. With an incredible athletic ability the figure rolled onto his feet in a low stance, and looking straight back at the bagha with steely eyes and long knotted hair, was Sang. The man who had hurt their community immensely and loomed away from them in the distance, staring down an animal seemingly three times his size to save a life.

The bagha became rigid with anger as they slowly circled each other, not even for a moment breaking eye contact. Shirisha noticed that behind the beast's ear there was a scar, three worn marks that ran alongside each other. She had now hidden herself behind the moss dressed stone while, but did not dare turn and flee. Still staring intently, Sang's hand went down to his waist where it pulled a finely honed stone dagger. At this moment the bagha leapt forward in rage, and in the same blink of an eye Sang rolled straight under it, quickly whipping himself around to leave a long shallow cut on the beast's right hip. Carrying its speed, the bagha whirled around and swiped an extended paw just a hair's breadth from Sang's nose. Shirisha saw for a brief moment the curved white claws that extended from its flesh. It looked as if the next were to come straight down on Sang's head, but an arrow then whizzed over Shirisha and pierced the animal's muscular shoulder, a second hitting the ground right next to its paw.

Shirisha looked up, and the hunters of the party were there, bows drawn. They could not see her from where they were standing, as Ram and Abhiral had now prepared their shots. Ram's arrow grazed over its back, and looking confusedly at its adversaries, the beast turned and fled in an orange streak. She expected Abhirals arrow to follow it and try to finish the job, but there was nothing. She looked up to see that the arrow was still notched, but down the sight of Abhiral's fear and hate filled eyes it was trained on Sang.

It was obvious he was tense, his arms and legs shaking as he kept the bowstring at its highest tension, never looking away. Milan shouted at him vigorously to stop and control himself, but the words never seemed to reach him. Just a short distance away from Milan, Ram notched another arrow, and in a much more serious and calm manner did the same as Abhiral.

"WHAT HAS CONSUMED THE BOTH OF YOU?!" Milan yelled frantically looking between them. "MORE BLOOD WILL SOLVE NOTHING!"

"Milan, my friend." Ram replied, barely looking at him. "He has done enough, and has had enough forgiveness. I am sorry, but it is a rare opportunity we are in right now, and I do not want to risk seeing what else he is capable of. No one will ever know."

Meanwhile, Ahupathi stood like a stone staring into nothing. Sang himself also did not move in the slightest, but was still strangely calm and unafraid.

Ram spoke again. "Shoot, Abhiral."

Milan started angrily objecting immediately, but as a few tears of anger rolled down Abhiral's face, he was ready.

It was only at this moment after listening to their conversation in tension did Shirisha burst out into the opening, waving her arms at them and pleading.

"Stop! Please, I beg of you, please don't shoot him, hold back your arrows!"

Milan and Ahupathi looked surprised and then instantly relieved to see her safe. Ram instantly started to steadily lower his weapon, clearly also happy, quickly followed by shame in himself. Abhiral however, stood exactly the same, his face contorted.

"He saved my life." Shirisha stated firmly, holding her ground.

The others seemed to have understood this, and also now looked expectantly at Abhiral. A few seconds of confliction passed, and finally with a scream he shot the arrow far off into the woods, immediately crumpling to his knees with heaving sobs.

The other three vaulted themselves down to where she was.

Shirisha asked as they approached: "How did you find here? And how did you know to come?"

Despite what had just happened, Milan laughed heartily. "I do not believe there is a soul in this valley who did not hear that roar. Following the direction it came from as quickly as we could, the commotion that came from an actual living bagha led us right here."

Ram walked past them and right up to Sang, who had not moved anywhere for the whole encounter and bowed his head slightly.

"I apologize, Sang. For not seeing it."

Sang did nothing to this but nod slightly with acceptance, knowing that not even a year ago he had led Ram and hunted alongside him.

Ahupathi chimed in quickly. "All of the others are not far away. Come Ram, ensure they do not manage to lose their way."

As they left, it seemed one of the first emotions to appear on Sang's face was surprise as the other hunter mentioned that there were others.

Several minutes passed, and they heard the collective movement and conversation of their familiar crowd growing steadily closer. Shirisha heard clearly now the distinct voices of Bibek and the other adult members coming through the same enclosed path she had come, and she ran to intercept them. Immediately their faces lit up and they embraced her into the group, rigorously asking questions about what had made such a powerful sound.

Shirisha started alongside them, then answering their question with a seriousness:

"A bagha. It seems they are real after all."

This immediately prompted several gasps and more questions, and a silent and wide eyed terror on the face of the young boy in the group. Shirisha noticed this and said to him with a smile:

"Do not worry; it is far from here now. The brave hunters scared it off."

They were just around the bend from the clearing, and she could see Milan, who greeted the rest of the group. As they passed the corner with Bibek in the lead, she was suddenly reminded of who and what else they were about to see. Even more so she was hit by what Bibek had said several days earlier. She tried to speak up, but it was too late, and the scene of the torn apart nilgai and the ragged hunter appeared before them.

It went dead silent, and Shirisha could almost hear the stomachs turning before Bibek lunged forward, ripping his axe from where it hung at his side, and raising it overhead. He was only a few steps away from cleaving straight down into Sang's head before Milan tackled him from the side, quickly pulling his body to the ground and causing him to lose grip on his axe. Bibek gave Milan a look of angered betrayal and confusion, before continuing to crawl toward the axe. Shirisha ran to him through the crowd, knelt and put her hands firmly on his shoulders, stating in a similar manner:

"Stop Bibek, leave it be."

Bibek was still reaching for his axe when she continued:

"If not for him, I would be in no better state than that nilgai."

He stopped and turned his head, taking a few seconds to process the body on the ground. He then turned to her.

"You mean to say that is not Sang's kill?"

"Yes. It was the bagha's feast, and before its death I followed it here."

She continued to explain what had happened to him and to the whole group, how the four hunters arrived to drive it away only after Sang's one on one combat with the raging animal.

Bibek and the others listened intently. They were still deeply stunned, but a few seconds after she finished Bibek stood up, leaving the axe on the ground. Looking Sang firmly in the eye (though he had to look up a little at the taller figure), he said genuinely:

"Thank you."

The other adults in the group walked up to him and did the same, some speaking with clear happiness, possibly from the notion there was now something that went against his perceived maliciousness. The ones who did not appeared quite timid at the imposing man they knew little of, and Shirisha could understand that.

Once all had been said, Sang, still reacting very little, walked up to Shirisha and spoke in his low, dark voice for the first time.

"What has led you all the way here? And you of everyone, along with everyone else that has never left the village in all their life?"

In spite of his presence, Shirisha responded coolly and confidently, though internally she still clung to a bit of fear.

"To face what has been taken from us, and to ensure Abhinatha is dead and perhaps at the least give our people a direction for the future."

She felt conflicted now, reminded of their goal and realizing the cause of such catastrophe was the same man who had just selflessly saved her. Sang raised his eyebrows, impressed and surprised at what she said.

"I never would have thought this many people would do such a thing, but for you it does seem likely." He paused, and continued quieter, with a little less force in his voice. "I was also on my way to the head. I will join if you like."

She nodded, then announced to everyone:

"Abhinatha's head is very close. Sang will join us and lead with Milan, and we will follow to the river and where our journey ends."

She looked at all of them one by one, saying proudly

"Of course this was nothing easy to ask of you, and I will respect you all as long as I live for joining me. Never lose your faith, and know you have helped yourselves and each other by facing what we are about to see."

With a quick gesture to Milan they were off through the dense forest, hearing a steady stream of water which here was only a small trickle compared to the sound of when they heard it for the first time. Abhiral silently rejoined at the rear, speaking to no one and looking drained.

Together they broke out of the treeline, and just beyond a few shrubs and moss covered rocks lay a sight absolutely sickening.

The stream was small, partially overflowed and carving new paths into the surrounding dirt. The mass causing this was the monstrous head of a serpent on its side, its mouth wide agape and its tongue being dragged along, moving gently from side to side by the moving water.

By far the worst part, however, were its eyes. Surrounded by the same dulled bronze scales, the golden rivers that once flowed beautifully in Abhinatha's eyes were frozen over to the fullest.

Dead silence overtook them, and all was quiet. Shirisha looked over at Sang, and he seemed far away in his own thoughts, not like any of the others.

Some people started walking forward, then all of them, wading without care through the cold shallow water, and for the first time in their people's history, gingerly touched Abhinatha's scales. If they cried, it was silent, and the moment lasted long.

The only ones that did not immediately go forward were Shirisha, Bibek, Sang, and the hunters, excluding Abhiral.

Bibek was moving to the river but then stopped, turned to look directly at Sang, and asked without any anger but pure pain:

"Why?"

Sang avoided his gaze, and just said relatively softly:

"You would never understand."

Now a bit of anger flickered across Bibek's face, the hunters remaining silent.

"You speak like we are not of the same flesh and blood, like you are somehow a different being than us. With what happened today I do not know what to think of you, and I am sure few others do, but your welcoming back into the tribe will likely prove a very difficult decision to make."

As he said this, Nishita and Abhiral turned away from Abhinatha, and looked at Sang with that same pain and discontempt. Sang closed his eyes at this, nodding with the same neutral expression as he absorbed Bibek's words. When he opened them again, it seemed they had suddenly locked onto something, and he furrowed his brow.

"What is it?" Shirisha asked, confused, but Sang ignored her and started powerfully striding away from them and across the river, stepping over Abhinatha's tongue as he reached the other side.

This caught everyone's attention, and within seconds the whole group clustered around him as he knelt down in the dirt. Carefully, he pulled apart the leaves of a small bush to reveal clearly in the mud, a bare human footprint. It was clearly not Sang's as his own foot was nearly twice the size, regardless of the fact he was wearing the same wrapped leather footwear as everyone else. Still not speaking a word he followed the direction of the print, and leading away from Abhinatha's mouth was a similarly defined trail of small human footprints, going onwards into the valley and beyond to places that would not even be visible from their mountain village.