"Zok, get your butt off the bed right now!" A woman's voice echoed in the room.
"Ten more minutes, ma..." Zok mumbled a half-a*sed response before returning to his dreamy world once again.
It had been a weird dream where he was killing monsters, and that was something the other tribesmen used to do, not him.ย
The 15-year-old, Zok doubted he would ever attack a monster unless the monster threatened to take over his bed or food. He peeked out of his blanket to make sure no one was around.
The green-haired boy had grown quite a bit in the last months and stood at 5'7". As a result, he couldn't fit in the bed comfortably. But Zok didn't let that stop him from maintaining his schedule to sleep, eat and repeat. Even though all he did was eat and sleep, his body was surprisingly in the best shape it ever had been.
Zok slowly opened his emerald green eyes and was immediately greeted by the usual morning sight. Both of the stars, named Zimi and Numi, of the planet Occuna were hanging in the sky like a couple of luminescent pendulums.
"Don't make me come and beat your ungrateful butt!" Mirelia warned her son for the last time.
But Zok still didn't even try to get up. He knew his mom was all bark and no bite, and she loved him too much to ever lay her hands on him, just like he loved his bed more than anything else in their jungle of a world.
On top of that, he would gladly listen to his mother's scolding rather than leave his bed and start the day even a moment earlier than he needed to. And by need, he meant only once the breakfast was ready to be served.
"Oh, great, Okun! Why did you make my son so lazy?" Mirelia asked their tribal god before leaving her son alone, "Why couldn't you make him a great hunter like his brother or a leader like his father."
'Was disturbing me not enough for you that you started disturbing the gods? Don't listen to her, great Okun, you made me damn near perfect.' Zok wanted to say it out loud but decided to keep his two cents to himself in case his mother suddenly decided to break her vow of non-violence.
Mirelia sighed and accepted her defeat. If only her youngest son had been anything like her oldest, all the worries she had about him would disappear. But it looked like the heavens were not in the mood to accept her wishes anytime soon.
While her elder son, Ahuli, was the poster child she had always dreamed of having, Zok had always been a problem child.ย
With every passing day, it became more and more difficult for the tribe to tolerate the tantrums of the youngest son of their chieftain. In their eyes, it was her fault for spoiling him too much; maybe they were correct.
Zok could only have these tantrums because he was the son of, Skah, the chieftain of the tribe. Had he been the son of someone else, they would have been thrown out of the tribe a long time ago.ย
After all, the Zukira tribesmen were famous for their talent in warfare and ferociousness. Thanks to this, they were the only tribe allowed a seat at the table of high kings.
But things hadn't always been as great as they were now. Right before Skah's ascension, the tribe had not been doing so well. They constantly struggled to secure a permanent food source as the bigger and more powerful tribes invariably secured unexplored parts of the forest for themselves.ย
Thus if someone from other tribes wanted to enter and take anything from those areas, such as fruits, vegetables or herbs, they would have to pay a ridiculous amount of tax to the tribe in control of that area.
A little over two decades ago, this had been fine for the Zukira tribesmen. Their ancestors had acquired the rights to large parts of the forest around them, so they could live their lives comfortably.
The trouble began when the former chieftain, Zus, decided to visit the council of tribesmen. It was a rare occasion when all the tribes of the continent gathered together to discuss politics and show off their valour by hosting duels between warriors and animals.
It was also common for the chieftains to place bets on the warriors. Zus had a terrible gambling addiction, and the other chieftains took advantage of it. On Zus' last night there, he was betrayed by the warriors of his own tribe.
The warrior intentionally lost to warriors from the other tribes as they had colluded with the other chieftains who promised to give them the most beautiful women from their tribes and enough resources for them to live on their own.
That night after fights were over, Zus had lost rights to all of the lands the tribe had cultivated over the years. Soon hunger became as common as the wilderness around them.ย
There were rarely any days in which they got enough food to eat twice a day. Due to Zus' incompetence, even those tribes who had been their allies for hundreds of years turned away from them.
Everyone rightfully hated Zus. After all, he was the reason for their misery, and thus he and his family became an easy outlet for the tribe's anger. Fearing for the lives of his wife and children, Zus ran away, and Skah was made the new chieftain of the tribe.
Back then, he had just married Mirelia, and she was carrying their first baby. The road ahead of the new chieftain was challenging, to say the least, and he had a lot to do.
Thankfully he had the full support of the tribesmen behind him, and together they made the impossible, possible. They became the first tribe to successfully conquer the 'wilderness'.
Even though the tribes lived in the forest, meat wasn't their primary source of nutrition. Mainly because the monsters in the area were more fearsome than the Occunians.ย
The monsters were the ones who were on the top of the food chain and not the Occunians. This was also one of the reasons why the tribes fought over lands that were rich in nutrients.
The wilderness was that part of the continent where the most vicious of the monsters lived. As the food stored in the warehouses got less and less, the Zukira tribe was left with no other option but to venture into the wilderness and hope for the best.ย
Skah was the one who suggested this. In his eyes, it was better to die at the hands of the monsters than of hunger.
The tribe put their trust in Skah's shoulders, and soon, the entire tribe was uprooted from their original village and left for the wilderness. Their lives didn't get any easier, but at least they never had a food shortage again.ย
It took them well over a decade to tame the wilderness and make the most extensive and substantial tribe to ever walk on the planet. But Skah wasn't happy. He had not forgotten what the other tribes did to them and swore revenge upon them.
This was the tale Zok had been told since he was a toddler. But since he had never faced those hardships, he grew up to be a brat, unlike his brother.
"I should probably get up before those two return from their morning duties..." Zok yawned before kicking the soft blanket off himself, "Dang it! I forgot I have to meet Sera today!"