Chapter 06: Making a Decision
When Alfred calm down, he felt a little embarrassed, but he didn't stop Vir from carrying him. Alfred knew that he was already bothering them with his favor, but if he still insisted to walk on his own even though he can't, he just going to bother them even more.
Alfred stopped thinking about this and tried to observe the surrounding area, he noticed that there are still some tribesmen who are staring at him, but a lot of them stopped and started doing their own business. So, he just ignored those few.
Alfred saw a lot of shelters that were made from the same materials, he also saw a lot of children playing, but there was something that bothered him. A lot of tribesmen had skinny bodies, while some are very healthy and full of muscles, he wanted to ask Aponi about this, but before he could, Vir stopped in front of a tent.
"Elder Ahote we are here!"
Elder Ahote walked outside of his tent when he heard Vir's voice, he got surprised when he saw Vir carrying Alfred, he laughed, greeted them while laughing, then invited them inside.
"HAHAHA! It looks like you two already getting along. Come in, I am going to give young Alfred something."
The trio walked inside, Alfred instantly saw a lot of different materials laying around the ground, he saw woods, animal bones, animal skin, rocks, stones, and some minerals that he didn't recognize. When Aponi saw Alfred's reaction, she explained why Elder Ahote has so many different kinds of materials in his tent.
"Elder Ahote is our tribe's best craftsman, he can make a lot of amazing things using these materials. Almost every tool and weapon you saw in our tribe is made by Elder Ahote, he is an amazing Elder, and we are very grateful to have him in our tribe."
While Aponi explained to Alfred how amazing Elder Ahote was. Elder Ahote finally found the thing he was been looking for. It was some kind of prosthetic, that was made from animal skin and wood. After finding it Elder Ahote interrupted Aponi.
"Young Aponi you do not need to compliment this old bone, it is my duty. The tribe should not be grateful to me, I am lucky enough to be a part of this amazing tribe, I wish nothing more, but to fulfill my late father's dream. That is for this tribe to prosper, and I am fulfilling it by creating new things for the tribe."
When Elder Ahote was done talking, he tossed the thing he was holding to Alfred.
"You see young Alfred, my father also lost one of his feet to a monster while hunting. because he cannot hunt anymore, he chose to focus on crafting things to help the tribe. That prosthetic that I give to you, is what my late father used to walk when he is still alive. I want you to use it instead of piling it up here and collecting dust."
Alfred became speechless, he didn't understand why would Elder Ahote give something important to him.
"Elder Ahote, I cannot accept this, I know it is very useful for my current situation, but why would you give something this important to me? You do not even know me."
"Like I said I do not want it to pile up here, just think of it as my investment to you, maybe someday you can help me fulfill my late father's dream. Oh well, that is enough for today, you can all go out now and resume what you are doing, I am quite busy." Elder Ahote kicked them out while smiling.
Alfred looked at the prosthetic that looked like the foot of the pirate he saw in the movie with a complicated gaze. When Aponi saw his expression, she reassured him.
"Do not worry about it Alfred, Elder Ahote is always like that, he is very kind to anyone. If you really want to thank him, you should use the tool he gave to you. Elder Ahote will like it when the tools he or his father created were being useful to people."
After that, they continued on their way. As they walked, Vir remained silent while Alfred was listening to Aponi as she explains the history of the tribe to him. From time to time, when Alfred saw something that piques his interest, he will ask Aponi about it. After a long time, they are finally done walking around the tribe, so, they decided to go back.
On their way back, near the place where Alfred stumbled. Alfred remembered something that he wanted to ask Aponi.
"By the way Aponi, I wanted to ask this earlier but got interrupted. Why there are so many tribesmen that are so skinny as if they are starving for days, but at the same time there are also a lot of tribesmen who are healthy as if they are eating so much food every day?"
Vir stopped for a moment, but didn't say anything, and started to walk again. Aponi became depressed when she heard Alfred's question, she didn't answer Alfred's question and stayed silent. Because of Aponi and Vir's reaction, Alfred became worried that he asked something that he shouldn't have asked.
Alfred wanted to speak but was afraid that he would say something wrong again, but after a while, Aponi finally spoke, and explain it to Alfred while they are walking.
When they finally came back to Alfred's tent, he gave his thanks to Vir and Aponi before they left. In just one day, Alfred experienced a lot of things that changed his view, personality, way of thinking, and belief. Because of this, he changed his plan entirely.
At first, Alfred just wanted to be useful, and help the tribe a little for his survival. However, when Aponi, Vir, and Elder Ahote showed kindness to him, he felt a little moved, even though Vir didn't show it, Alfred felt that he is a good person, and cares a lot about his tribe, but this was not the only reason why he changed his mind.
Alfred learned that the tribe was having difficulty procuring more food, because of this the food that they can distribute was limited, but the Elders made a difficult decision. They decided to distribute a large portion of the food to the hunters because hunters needed to be healthy to hunt for more prey, they also needed rations because sometimes the hunters could take days before they can hunt something.
Even though the tribesmen had a smaller portion of the food, they still had enough to survive, but most adults chose to give their portion to the kids of the tribe. As a result, a lot of tribesmen became skinnier by day.
When Alfred found out about the tribe's situation and how selfless the people of this tribe are, he started to admire them. Because on earth, there were a lot of selfish people, and some of them would do anything for their own benefit, they would betray any person, friends, or even their own family if the benefit they could gain was good enough.
But in this tribe, anyone would sacrifice themselves for the good of their people, anyone would sacrifice themselves for the good of their tribe. Their belief was so strong that they are starting to affect him. Alfred started to change his mind, instead of being useful just to survive, he wanted to be useful now to help this tribe and help these people.
"I change my mind, I want to stay here in this tribe, If I want to stay here, I should help the tribe and the people. I know a lot of the tribesmen don't like me, but that is understandable. This world is very dangerous, and every unknown is terrifying. If I want them to like me, I should show them that I have good intentions." Alfred talked to himself.
After making a decision, Alfred took out the parchment, he started reading it again. Alfred already knew the first part of the parchment, it was an instruction on how to make a rune or rune formation, but this time he wanted to finish reading the parchment. Alfred found out that the bottom part of the parchment was a runic symbol or alphabet, with an English translation beside them.
After examining the runic symbols, he tried to read the instruction part again. The instruction was divided into two parts. The first was how to make a rune, while the second part was how to make a formation to support the rune. No matter how much he studied the parchment, Alfred still can't understand some of the instructions.
"I don't understand what is this energy that is written on this parchment. The instruction said that I need to write the rune using runic symbols with some kind of Energy. While writing, I need to keep the image of what kind of rune I am trying to make in my head or what represents the word I am writing until I am done, and If the image in my head is not clear enough the rune will fail. I kind of understand the latter part, but the first part I don't have any idea."
Even though Alfred didn't understand some parts of the instruction, he still tried to follow it. Alfred sat down, then started making a rune on the dirt. First, Alfred made an image of a fire in his head, when the image of the fire in his head was clear enough, he started writing the word fire in Runic symbols on the dirt. After that, he waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened.
"Why is it this rune doing anything? Did I fail? Do I really need to use the Energy to write it?"
Alfred read the parchment again to see if he did something wrong.
"Ah yes, how can I forget about this part? I need an Energy Source or some kind of battery. It says here that the best source of energy is a beast core, and the alternative is a monster's blood. I still don't understand this energy source, maybe it is better if I rest for now, then asked Aponi tomorrow if she knew something about this energy."