Garim slowly walked toward the mountains. Young as he is, he knows that his days are numbered now. In his village, one of the hunters showed signs of the 'Harms' before suddenly attacking everyone in the village square. The village men managed to subdue the hunter and had him smothered to death, but it was too late for Garim. The maddened hunter managed to grab and bit him before being subdued by the others. The whole village saw this action and they knew that Garim is beyond salvation. While it is probable that the hunter managed to offend a forest spirit and got cursed by it in return, they know that the curse is indiscriminate and can afflict whoever was physically injured by the maddened person, especially a bite like that where their blood intermingled momentarily.
Garim looks at the sky. He keeps wondering why was it he that was singled out by fate. He remembers the last view he had of the village. His mother was weeping at the village entrance whereas his father had a bleak face but they were helpless to go against the curse of the spirits. The mercy of the village meant that he was allowed to take 5 sunshine of supplies. However, this is in part due to selfishness. After all, more supplies means he will reach farther before succumbing to the curse. The 'Harms' will usually show effect after 8 sunshines. There will be senior hunters shadowing him to make sure he doesn't stay in the nearby area of the village. If he did, they would have shot him with arrows instead of letting him leave peacefully.
Garim is a 10 year old boy. In this world that means he is already nearing his manhood and he knows some of the grim realities in this world. If he stayed, he would be shot and his parents would be driven out of the village as they would be deemed to not have taught him to prioritize village safety over personal interests.
This is already his 7th sunshine walking. His supplies are gone, the senior hunters have left him last night after ensuring he won't be able to return to the village once the 'Harms' surfaced. Once the 'Harms' surfaced, he would just be a mindless beast bent on attacking everything he sees. While his thoughts wandered, his feet are slowly taking him to the mountains. In his thoughts, since he is going to die anyway, might as well make the last thing he remembers as the view from the mountaintop.
He has always glimpsed the mountains from his village but never had any business here. He has heard from his parents and the village elders about the 'Starfall' that happened 20 seasons ago. Legend has it that it was an extremely powerful spirit that fell from the sky after fighting demons. The star fell towards the mountain and there was an earthshake after it fell. On that day, the whole village spent the entire day in solemn watch towards the sky in fear that other stars will fall towards them.
His vision is blurring. His stride is faltering. He could only walk towards the mountains with a single-minded determination. He knows that his hungry stomach is protesting the fact that he hasn't had anything to eat since yesterday, but he feels that since death is so near, might as well walk faster towards the mountains.
-
After some time, Garim knows that he is on his last legs. He has no more energy. From his faltering steps, he was forced to kneel. Watching the mountains, he slowly collapsed on his side. He knows his body couldn't go on anymore.
While his awareness flitted between conscious and unconscious, he seemed to see a silhouette coming towards him.
"Oh no. A demon is coming to eat me."
Was his last thought before succumbing to the darkness.
-
"!@#$**&IweTRT)8_)"
Garim slowly woke up upon hearing voices around him. He opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings. It is a dark place. A place of metal and stone. He is lying down on what seems to be a stone bed, however, there is a soft layer beneath him and it felt tens of times more comfortable than the grass woven bed in his home.
Then he saw the source of the voice.
There was a man there. A man wearing a white robe facing away from him. He could only see the back view of the man. The man had long hair, but his back screams masculine. The white robe looked so simple and comfortable, yet it seems to exude a majestic feeling more than the stiff luxurious robe his village chief wore for the season festival.
Then the man turned. Garim looked at the man and was stunned. The man looks quite young, probably around 20 seasons or so, but what struck him the most was his eyes. The man's eyes regarded him with the eyes of a senior quite beyond his age. In fact, it reminds him of the way Grandfather Holgo would look at him. Grandfather Holgo was the oldest person in the village at 62 seasons. He would look at young people with kind and tolerant eyes, exactly the same way the young man in front of him is looking at him right now.
"!#@^&^$)&)*(&**&^(???"
While he couldn't understand what the man said, he instinctively understood it was a question about his condition.
"I am hungry and I have been bitten by a maddened one. I have the 'Harms' now. Please be careful."
He just pointed to his stomach to signify his hunger, and his arm to show the bite marks of the maddened hunter.
"Hmmm.... !#*&$*!&*$)!"
The man noticed his hunger and went away for a while before returning with a bowl of some sort of gruel. However, it smells hundreds of time more appetizing than the sweetest porridge he had at the season festival. Garim was puzzled, but as he is hungry, he just ate the meal without much question.
Then Garim noticed the man looking at a wall. The walls were sparkling with lights.
(What magical place is this?)
Then the man turned back to him and smiled gently. After that, he looked towards a hole in the wall and said something which seemed to be a command.
"!@$*&*@$((*()*(&)"
"&%%^(^&^&&^)^"
Garim was surprised to hear a reply from the wall. He was further shocked when the hole in the wall started shining brightly before there was suddenly a cup of liquid there when there was nothing there before.
Garim was so shocked at this that he fell off the bed. When he got hold of himself, he found himself kneeling and touching his forehead on the ground. This magical view scared him so much that his body instinctively genuflected towards the man.
He felt a touch on his shoulder and fearfully looked up, afraid the man is angry. But what he saw was still the gentle smile and the cup of liquid in his hands. The man gestured the cup towards Garim, and he understands that the man is telling him to drink the liquid. While scared and confused, the gentle smile of the man convinced him that he should just go along with it.
Gulping the liquid down, Garim slowly realized that the bite mark on his hand has disappeared. This shattered his view of the world. Everyone knew that the bite mark of a person afflicted with the 'Harms' would never disappear until death, and yet, this man has made it disappear so easily.
Could he be one of the fabled sorcerers? Sorcerers are reputed to be eccentric old men with unfathomable knowledge and skills unknown to others. Yet the man in front him doesn't look a day over 20 seasons.
After that, Garim slowly became drowsy. The man noticed this and gently lifted him up and put him on the bed.
Garim looked at the man one last time before closing his eyes. He felt that everything is an unbelievable dream.
-
After putting the young boy to sleep, Zuman looked at the monitor.
"An extremely violent variant of the rabies huh. Good thing we have the experimental medical scanner and matter synthesizer in this Habitat."
"Professor, the boy has fallen asleep. What is our next move?"
"Well, I've already administered the rabies antidote tailored for this variant, so he should be okay. We'll keep him fed for a few days before giving him some food and sending him home. Also, did you manage to translate his language?"
"There were some language markers that was similar to the ones in our database. Try to interact more with him professor so that I can further cross-reference our database. If possible, try to establish words usage using food or anything else available."
"Alright then. The first indigenous life form we encountered! It's so exciting isn't it?"
"I apologize professor for being unable to share the feeling of excitement."
"You know, I'd be a bit worried if you did feel excited. Oh, please inform me later once he wakes up. The medicine should make him sleep at least another 8 hours, and the food he ate just now should be digesting slowly within that time. Poor boy, to think he was wandering alone in the forest like that. What do you think happened to his family?"
"Conjecture. Maybe the rabies variant wiped out his family and he is a lone survivor?"
"Poor boy if that were true. But we'll find out in the next few days."