INCIPIT VITA NOVA
The jungle, some ad'nam after.
Rarama ran through the thick jungle, the dense vegetation prevented sunlight from penetrating fully, keeping the air cool, and yet her lungs burned with exertion, each breath of air felt like sharp thorns in her chest. Behind her, a terrifying roar echoed through the thicket as something stirred the fern leaves and palm tops.
She endured the pain and hurried up, her r'daya pounding as if it wanted to get out of her chest. The adrenaline was pushing her muscles to the limit.
Sudden fear assaulted her mind, I won't make it , she had a few more moments before the beast that was chasing her caught up with her. She dismissed the thought when she finally saw the mark that she'd etched in the bark of a tree at the side of the path just a few nok ahead. Rarama smiled, almost.
Upon reaching the signal, she jumped and landed onto the ground and shoulder-rolled in time to face what was chasing her. That was close , she sighed. Her muscles had grown over the past few days, she could run faster and jump farther then she had ever been capable of.
The truth was, she wasn't being chased, this time, she was the predator, luring her prey into a trap.
A large beast appeared, barreling towards her, roaring and growling. Its four jaws flared open as its mane of dread-like appendages flapped in the wind. Rarama stuck the pole of her spear into the ground, stepped on the end, and aimed its pointed tip at the animal. She narrowed her eyes in concentration.
-"It's time of the truth," she said with conviction, clenching her weapon firmly.
Rarama remembered the beast's name: Dawon, the same creature she had seen the day she woke up in that strange world, she'd fled from Bal and had hidden in the mud.
It was a young adult, judging by the length of its mane, Bal told her that their skin was hard as rock and its claws were sharp like his own blades. If she wanted to be able to kill it, she'd have had to resort to another strategy.
For that, she had dug a large pit on the spongy jungle soil that morning, and filled it with sharp fire-hardened wooden pikes. She recalled when Yuva and the other hunters made similar traps for big game back in her world.
Yuva … she thought, his death still stabbed in her heart. No , she came back to herself, he walked with Antaka and she had a new life now, in that strange world.
The dawon kept running without slowing down, roaring furiously. When it reached her mark, the ground gave way under its talons and it fell to the bottom. The combination of the animal's enormous weight and the sharp points did the trick, the dawon was caught in the death trap.
-"Yes!" Rarama exclaimed, her plan had worked perfectly. She dropped her spear and peered into the hole.
Her victory was short-lived, she watched horrified as the beast shook itself and with a swipe of its paws, broke the stakes that imprisoned it. The dawon then looked up and growled, fixing its four yellowish eyes on the woman who was watching it from the edge of the pit.
The broken pikes protruded from its body like thorns on a sea urchin, again the creature roared in fury and effortlessly leapt. Its front legs, armed with three terrible claws, grasped the edge and the dawon then used its hind legs to propel itself out of the trap.
Rarama recoiled and tripped, falling onto her buttocks, she crawled back until she reached for her weapon again. The beast growled shaking its huge head sideways, the sound was similar to gurgling followed by a series of clicks. She waited for the right moment.
The monster roared, spurting droplets of hot, frothy saliva at her face. Rarama reacted quickly, thrusting her spear into the cavernous maw, piercing the throat and roof of the mouth until it jarred against the skull bone.
The dawon screeched in pain, gave one blow at Rarama, throwing her against a log. It tried to lash out again, but the animal fell on its side, phosphorescent orange blood bathed the grass and, with a final bubbling sound the beast died.
Rarama grunted as she stood from the ground, putting her hand over the gash on her belly. Fortunately the wound hadn't been deep, the thick bluish mud she used for camouflage protected her. Nothing the ci'kitsa couldn't heal, she said to herself. She approached the body and retrieved her spear, bright orange blood stained her hands.
-"Not bad, huh?" She asked, staring up at the treetops while wiping her hands on the leather loincloth.
Behind her, something heavy hit the ground and Bal materialized in an explosion of blue sparks.
The Yaksa clicked reluctantly. Technically, the use of traps was forbidden, but he had to admit that those little ghomon compensated for their lack of stamina with cleverness, making them equally adept at defeating larger and stronger foes.
Bal approached her and took her hands, then touched her head with his. A condescending gesture but at the same time respectful. The expert hunter took some of the dawon's gelatinous blood with his fingers and drew his clan's mark on Rarama's forehead with the thick liquid.
-"What you did there was admirable. Only a few face a beast like that and survive." Bal clicked again, "The same way you survived the beast from your world."
-"I-I survived..." The female stuttered, her wet eyes filled with grief, "Yuva, Soona and the others… didn't. Just because..." She paused again and then she broke in tears, "I should be known..."
-"U-uu R-rr w-worthy. Jyok! R-ra-rama," Bal exclaimed, struggling to express himself in the ghomon's primitive dialect.
Rarama was suddenly surprised, he had called her by her name, she wasn't N'vara any more. She fell to his knees to the ground, gagging and puked. "Sorry, I felt dizzy…"
Bal had noticed since the day she recovered her memories the young female had zesa'ku, a very rare condition on the Yaksa, and ultimately forbidden. To them, a survivor was the product of its abilities and strength.
Those who don't were either unworthy or had faced an honorable death and now hunted on Cetanu's realm. The concept of surviving by pure chance or cheating, was unthinkable to them.
It seemed that the young woman still suffered from bouts of waking up screaming, but with training these were less and less common until an ad'nam or two earlier...
A sudden realization came to mind. As a good hunter, he knew everything about his prey, from their habits and capabilities to their language and... their reproductive cycles. He typed a few commands into the computer on his wrist and the vision in his mask changed with a sweep. Not only was the HUD designed to optimize its wearer's natural thermal vision and track the heat of their prey, other viewing modes were built in and one of them was a computer assisted axial tomography.
He aimed the device at the woman and activated the tracking. He hadn't done that since that time he'd rescued her from the river.
It was disrespectful for the Yaksa to do an unsolicited analysis. An exception made either on a prey or an enemy, and at that time what he was looking for could not have been detected.
Rarama's body transformed into a bluish silhouette, the wound sustained by the dawon stood out as a red diagonal line. Bal continued his analysis, going deeper. The internal organs displayed a range of reddish orange hues, he quickly located her r'daya, still pumping with adrenaline.
He looked down at her lower belly and adjusted, the speakers of his mask translating the sound of her breathing, and behind it, the faint beat of new life.
- o -
Somewhere inside the Yaksa outpost.
The tall, dark brown warrior stood inside the poorly lit chamber. His red armor turned the color of dried blood in the amber light. Two yaksa with yellow-green skin and mottled black were standing there, waiting for him. Gho'ra could not see their faces as they were covered by bronze-colored masks with various inscriptions.
They were purists, fanatics whose zeal for tradition could go so far as carry out purges among hunters considered impure. Such conduct could be considered worthy of a raksasa by the rest, so they were kept secret. Among their ranks there were yaksa of all categories, the common denominator being their xenophobia and fanaticism.
-"Why have you summoned us?" the shorter of the two inquired, a male.
-"The kau'tika named Bal'raj'Kitran, honored one," Gho'ra exposed, bowing before them on one knee. "The one who treats those filthy ghomon as equals. That female is not just his pet, they say he has been teaching it the yaksa way."
- "Ah," the other purist, a female exhaled, recognizing who Gho'ra was talking about. "The one who humiliated you at the market," she remarked.
-"I challenged that old fool as the custom dictated," Gho'ra excused himself.
-"And yet, others say that you tried to force that..." the female purist growled, tilting her head, "How did you call it? filthy ghomon?"
Gho'ra he clicked in protest, but the male's look of disgust made him hold back. It was not wise to challenge them, their mannerisms and arrogance betrayed them as members of a breed of experienced warriors.
-"Bal is a respected hunter and warrior, such accusation..." the male trailed off.
-"The kau'tika purchased a set of armor for the pet," Gho'ra interrupted him before he could finish the sentence, emphasizing his contempt.
-"Very well," the female agreed, "We'll see what that kau'tika is up to."
The male headed for the exit and soon disappeared into the shadows.
Gho'ra narrowed his eyes and clicked maliciously, his plan would bear fruit and he would get revenge for his humiliation, the sound of extending metal dragged him out of his celebration. The purist female drew a huge blade from her bracelet and with a swift blow, beheaded him. The body stood for a moment before falling limp next to the severed head, the yellow eyes still wide in astonishment.
-"That kau'tika may like beasts," she said deliberately, "but only a coward would live with the disgrace of having been humiliated in a fight." She spat down at Gho'ra's head, then cleaned her weapon with the edge of her cloak and left without looking back.
- o -
Bal widened his amber eyes, the female did not suffer from zeza'ku, she was in a state of su'hnom. She carried a new life, most likely from the male ghomon she spoke of before, when he had found her it had been too early to detect it.
-"What? What happens?" Rarama asked, she was worried about Bal's gesture, usually the hunter was concise, it was strange that he stood there thoughtfully.
He took his h'rpe and beheaded the beast, stuffed the bleeding uncleaned trophy into a net hanging on his shoulder, and headed back home.
-"Come with me," he said.
The way back through the jungle passed smoothly, although Rarama wondered at the deathly silence of her mentor. After all, the Yaksa had always been discreet, revealing only what needed to be revealed.
Bal walked fast, the matter on his mind had to be resolved as quickly as possible. Although the little ghomon was an excellent apprentice, he could not keep her much longer, he had to return her to her homeworld.
Su'rya's eyes had already fallen on the purple horizon when they reached the clearing where Bal's home and landing platform were. He continued straight towards the ship followed slowly by Rarama.
Bal pulsed a few commands on his wrist device and the ship's hatch hissed open, releasing a cloud of steam which illuminated the platform with an eerie green light briefly.
-"Where do we go?" Rarama asked, but Bal only motioned for her to enter. She stopped at the ramp.
"Not until you tell me what's going on," she insisted firmly.
Bal let out a scolding roar and pulled her into one arm. "You must go back to your world," the experienced hunter said.
-"What?!" Rarama exclaimed, surprised, "Why?!"
-"This is no longer a place for you," Bal replied, unperturbed.
Ignoring the female's pleas, Bal pressed the buttons on his wrist and the interior display of the ship lit up, showing a field of stars. Rarama caught herself and looked closely at the images.
The screen showed two bright spots surrounded by four pale circles and a light green cloud. A red triangle marker blinked on the second of those spheres, Rarama's sharp mind quickly identified the points of light as Su'rya's eyes.
Bal punched in another command and a red line emerged from the triangular mark, stretching to the edge of the screen, the image zooming out to show many more points of light. Rarama couldn't identify any of them, but they seemed very far away.
At last, the point stopped at a small yellow sphere, the image rotated to fix the target in the center of the screen, and it was then that Rarama saw a distinctive pattern: she was looking at Arudra, the celestial hunter. The seven points of light shining in the night sky, the line and the triangular marker originated from what would be Arudra's head*.
Bal pointed at the blue-green globe topped by a white cloak at the end of the ride. "Your home." The girl backed slowly toward the hatch intending to stay there, that was her world now. She didn't want to go back!
-"No," she refused, shaking her head, "You brought me here, I suffered, I lost everything," Rarama raised the tone of her voice, "you taught me the way of the hunter, and now you just throw me out?!"
Bal remained silent, he continued to program the course back to Rarama's home planet.
She stepped out into the cool outside air. The stars, very different from those of her world, shone in shades of blue and white in the blue-green background of a nebula. It was a wild and dangerous place, yes, but also beautiful.
-"It's time," Bal's voice echoed behind her.
-"Why?" she asked once more, "What changed?"
Bal clicked, he should tell her about the life she led in her womb, but he didn't know how she would react. He had learned about the ghomon and their strong emotional ties with their partners, something that the Yaksa found strange, Bal thought that would probably make her happy.
He extended an arm towards the young woman's belly, opening his hand, to let her know...
Bright blue lightning streaked across the night sky between them, Bal roared as his arm below the elbow fell to the ground, phosphorescent green blood splattered onto Rarama's face.
- o -
Welcome back, The wait is over! finally this chapter is posted, take this as an anticipated christmas present and I hope you're enjoying with your families. Thanks to elven_prophecy for the editing, don't forget to comment and stay home, stay safe. Here's the glossary I've been improving each time. Soon I will publish it as a companion book for all my stories in the Yaksa saga:
a'dnam: \a'•di•nam\ - Day, Planet cycle.
bal': \bal'\ - Powerful, having great power or strength. Mighty, strong.
cetanu: \ke •ta•n ů\ - Grim reaper, a personification of death. From PIE katha \kə•tha\. Dead, the one whom nothing remains but his life-story, and suf. -nu /nů/ a tool, device or implement. Black Warrior.
ci'kitsa: \ci'•kēt•tsä\ - Medikit, a box containing equipment needed to give immediate medical help in an emergency.
dawon: \da•wōn\ - Sacred lion. Unknown carnivorous synapsid (unk. sp.), Massive feline-like body with four powerful mandibles and four eyes.
ghomon: \hw•ō•man\ - Human, bipedal primate mammal (Homo sapiens sapiens) native from planet Earth (Sol III). Humanity, the totality of human beings. The human race.
gho'ra: \hw•ō'•ra\ - Terrible, violent.
h'rpe: \ha'•rpe\ - Scimitar, a saber having a curved blade with the edge on the convex side.
j'yok: \j'•yōk\ - Emotional expression of approval, joy or victory. A formula used to another person or persons when departing. Cheers!, Hooray!, Goodbye, Farewell.
kau'tika : \kaœ'•tē•ka\ - Trapper. Who specializes in setting traps and big game.
kitran: \ki•tran\ - Clear-mind, the ability to think clearly.
n'vara: \n ē ' •vär•a\ - Mud. Muddy, covered in or full of mud.
raj: \raj\ - King. the male ruler of an independent state, especially one who inherits the position by right of birth. Royal. Belonging to royalty.
r'daya: \rē'•daya\ - Heart. muscular organ that pumps the blood through the circulatory system by rhythmic contraction and dilation.
su'hnom: \su'•nam\ - Conceive, bare a son/daughter. Pregnant.
sur'ya: \sur'•ēa\ - Sun. The parent star of a planet. Pl. Sur'ya n'tra \-nē'•tra\ noun. Eyes of Su'rya, Twin stars.
yaksa: \yaœt•sha\ - Predator, Hish-qu-ten. Member of the species who had succeeded in all trials, a true hunter. f. yaksi \yaœt•shē\ Female yaksa.
zesa'ku: \zhe•sha'•ků\ - PTSD, is a mental disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event.
*Rarama is seeing the star Meissa (λ Orionis), a multiple star approximately 1,100 ly away, surrounded by a ring of nebulosity thought to be the remains of a supernova explosion.