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“Did you make this?” I asked.
“Make it? No. The world has been here from the Great Beginning, but we have shaped the world in the way that we wished, as is our right. We have different environments and we ensure that they do not spill into each other. There is balance. Every creature has a place to survive, until it is time for them to sacrifice themselves for the hunt. Each area of terrain also provides unique challenges for our hunters too. Only the best can master hunts in each of the areas.”
“And I assume that you have done that,” I said, rolling my eyes. No matter where I went men were always arrogant, although by the look of him he had the strength to back it up as well.
“And soon it will be time for the Great Hunt.”
“The Great Hunt?”
“There are great beasts lurking in the depths of the jungle, monstrous things whose savagery knows no bounds. We must hunt them to keep them under control and warn them away from attacking our village. It is always a risk though, and during these hunts, many lions lose their lives. But it is one of the few challenges we have left in this world,” he said. His tone of voice hinted at regret. I turned back to look out at the world, wondering what kind of animals existed here. For a moment, I lost sense of my frustration as I couldn’t help but be swept up in this glory and the magnitude of this moment. I was the first human to step foot on another planet!
But the longer I lingered there, the more I wondered about what he had planned for me. He was showing me this, but why? Was it just to give a girl a treat before she was killed?
“What are you going to do with me now?” I asked in a small voice. “What does it serve bringing me up here?”
“It helps me to learn more about your world. I can see that our world is much different from yours. And it’s clear by your reaction, that you had no idea what was waiting for you, which makes me believe that you are telling the truth when you claim that your arrival here was an accident. This also means that you are only here because you ran from battle.”
I rolled my eyes, and my features became pinched. “Oh, don’t start with calling me a coward again. I told you before, I only ran into those ruins because I had no choice. The Night Fangs aren’t like us. They’re more savage. I’d like to see you fight them.”
“If they are a worthy foe, then I would gladly slay them, but that world is not mine, and I cannot find a way through the passage. You are the world walker, and yet you do not know how you did it. This is troubling, and it makes me wonder whether the stories do have as much truth in them as they should.”
“What stories? What do you mean?”
“There is a story that there will be a lion who could walk through worlds willingly and can pass back. The ones who left never had the intention of returning. One who could traverse the passages would contain great power within her heart, and such power would be impressive. But you are clearly an accident. There is no great power within you.”
He spoke so calmly as he insulted me. All I could do was stand there and take it. This story of his… I had never heard anything like it before. I didn’t feel special, but if the only way to get through that door between worlds was to open it myself then perhaps, I had something inside me?
“Maybe there is, and I just don’t know it yet. You don’t know what could be hidden inside me,” I shot back.
He shook his head sadly. “Hidden power is worthless. The only power worth anything is the power that can be used,” he clenched his fist as he said this.
“So what are you going to do with me then? If I’m so useless then you might as well let me go. Maybe you should let me try to pass through the door again, then I can prove to you that I have the power and all of us will be happy.”
“I have another way for you to prove to me that you are worthy of my attention,” he said.
There was an ominous tone to his voice, and I had the feeling that I wasn’t going to like what he had to say next. “What’s that?”
“There is a ritual we have, perhaps it has been passed down between your generations as well. It is the ritual of the hunt. We send our young out to the plains of Orestes to hunt a fearsome beast and prove that they have the strength to join the pride. You will undertake the same hunt, and by doing so you will prove that you have what it takes to belong here, and that our blood still runs through your veins. Perhaps it might even help you understand this power inside you, if it truly is hidden.”
“And if not? Will you let me go?”
“If not, then the hunt will claim your life,” Axanar said. He then walked away from me, as though I had no say in the matter at all. He had guards take me back to my cell and he advised me to get some rest and eat a hearty meal before the hunt began, because I was going to need sustenance. He warned me that this world was more savage than my own.
Chapter Eight
Volkan
The morning sun was radiant and light spilled into the room. Kara was brought in, wearing a sullen look upon her face.
“Did you sleep well?” I asked.
“What the hell is going on here?”
“Did Axanar not tell you? It is time for the hunt,” I replied.
“Of course, he told me! But he also told me that, if I didn’t make it back, then I was going to die. This isn’t fair. All I want is to get home. I don’t care about walking through worlds or having some kind of power inside me. I just want to get back to my world and, at the moment, you are the ones stopping me from doing that.”
“It is Axanar’s way of allowing you to prove that you are worthy to be kept alive. Our pride is built on the strongest. We all must prove ourselves in this way.”
