As Valin closed his room door, He was feeling so hyped up that his stellar night ceremony has come.
The ceremony was a ritual for monkey folks who reach 5 years old in age to awaken their inner talent.
It was usually done at the night during the child birthday in the central town which is quite far from his village. Well at least according to what little research and information he managed to found.
It's also worth mentioning that 5 years old kid can participate in public classes that were unavailable before at the beginning of next year.
There, they teach self-defense and knowledge that was unavailable to him previously.
Valin sometimes wonders why even his parent doesn't teach him anything at the outside world. (well except the bits of information he managed to gain accidentally)
But as he remembered tomorrow was, in fact, his birthday makes his hype reduced somewhat. Well, the reason for this is Valin has a secret that he kept himself for a long time.
He seems to be reincarnated or at least that was what he assumed. All of it is because each year when his birthday comes, a great headache assault him in his sleep.
After the headache, bits and pieces of memory and experience resurfaced on his mind after he wakes up.
Although some are fuzzy, all those memories are so lifelike and come from the same human (that Valin think was himself) consistently.
As the headache keeps coming, it gets more and more hurtful. But it also makes those memories and experience clearer to him.
He even remembers that one time when he was on his 4th birthday his headache was so great that he groaned and screamed a bit that he woke up his parents and his little brother that was at the time a baby.
This, of course, made his parent worried sick about him that they bring him to the baba for a check-up in case if anything is wrong.
But the baba managed to find nothing so she then just gave him some medicine.
They even strictly watch over him for a few weeks but nothing came up.
Those bits of memories and information he gained gradually make Valin more self-aware about his situation and all of his surroundings.
He became more aware of the dangers of the world. Even his exercises method he is doing in the wood this 2 years is all because of the memories.
Although unwilling, Valin just braced himself for the headache tonight hoping that it will not hurt as much. After all he still tomorrow is his stellar ceremony and he can't miss it.
Sometime after he closes his eyes, a faint snore can be heard throughout the room. It was quite a nice scene actually.
A few hours later a rock splitting headache emerges, waking Valin up and making him scream in pain.
His parents who heard the sound hurriedly woke up and headed to Valin room but they are too late because as soon as they enter the room, Valin has stopped screaming and became unconscious.
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In the middle of darkness, Valin's figure was laying down on the floor. His closed eyes were fluttering as if he was trying to wake up in the middle of a nightmare.
Not long after his eyes were opened up while he hurriedly sits up.
He looked around only to see darkness everywhere. He then tried to walk and run around the darkness searching for something or anything but it just seems never-ending.
He can only see ripples that were created as he steps to the ground. The ground was so clear that he can see his own reflection as if it was a mirror, bringing the cold and eerie vibe stronger.
Valin feels that he lose count of time and losing himself to the darkness the longer he stayed here.
As Valin started to become scared, warm light suddenly envelops him from behind. Giving some color to the darkness around him.
In front of him, there's a faint silhouette of a man about 2 meters tall. His body was covered with the darkness so dark that even the light from behind him can't give some budge to it.
Only his golden eye can be clearly seen as if it can penetrate everything and anything.
"You're not ready to be here, " said the silhouette calmly as it reverberates throughout the darkness.
His sound has a deep harsh tone yet it was also captivating in its own way that Valin became unable to speak for a while.
Suddenly a faint voice can be heard from the light behind him, calling his name repeatedly. Valin feels very familiar with the sound.
"Hmm. It's time for you to return," said the figure as his hand making a shooing gesture.
Out of nowhere, dark grey winds start pushing against Valin's body, making him fall back toward the light source.
"Wait! Who are you?" screamed Valin toward the figure
"All will be known in due time." simply said the figure.
Valin then gets pushed out of the darkness by the grey wind. As he starts to go unconscious, he sees a large rusty black door that was slowly closing with some creaking noise.
From the gaps of the door as it was closing, he sees a golden eye staring at him with clear clarity.
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"Valin.... Valin... wake up!"
Valin who's unconscious suddenly wakes up from the harsh shaking of his body.
Cold sweat can be seen all over his body as he huff for fresh air.
He then notices his mom was hugging him tightly with a tear-filled eye, happy that her son finally woke up from his sleep. To the side, his father was looking worried while silently holding a sleeping Milark with his hands.
"You've finally awakened," said Even with a happy tone
"What happened to you kid? Why did you get unconscious for 2 hours?" Ask baba that has been "hiding" behind his mom for quite a while.
The baba was an old woman around 1 meter tall with full white hair and grey eyes.
She works as the chief doctor of the tribe.
"Valin answer to baba honestly! It's for your own good," said Howard to Valin.
"I.. I.. remember that I've been having a nightmare and a great headache comes after that" answer Valin while stuttering.
Valin then started to hold his head as he gets a mild headache that lasts for a few seconds.
"Are you still sick?" asked Eve worriedly.
"Nah I'm fine mom just some headache after effects, " answered Valin while silently gripping his fist.
"Well get some rest kid. Tonight is your ceremony after all and you need all energy you can get for it, " said the baba while giving a cup of medicine to Valin
"Okay" Valin simply answered as he started to lay down and snore not long after as he doesn't have enough rest from the whole ordeal he has gone through today.
As his snore was heard in the room, Eve gives a good sleep kiss to him. The baba and his parent then silently heads out toward the living room.
The baba and both parents were talking for quite a while until the baba hurriedly left to return to her house quickly, its 2 am in the morning after all.
Silence return to the house as Howard and Eve put back down Milark to his bed
They then go to rest after all the things that happened today have exhausted them. They still have their work and duties to finish in the morning after all.