The people parted like the Red Sea to give way as the old man approached her. The old man's cheeks were sagging from old age. His eyes had vanished altogether and had become miniaturized black specks upon his wrinkled face. His white hair was so long that he might as well have used it as a broomstick. Unlike the others, however, his clothes seemed more refined(though still crappy). He wore a lot of bead necklaces and a very large pair of globular earrings.
"I can't believe this old geezer is the chicest person in the room," Hannah thought to herself, as the geezer knelt beside her with a low groan and finally spoke, "Our Lord, forgive us for our ineptitude in perceiving your awakening." Hannah was thankful that she could now understand their language. However, she still failed to comprehend what he was meaning. It seemed that the person she had been reborn as had a very high reputation in that village.
"What on earth is an awakening?" Hannah thought, staring at him as he muttered stuff. The rest of the room was dead-silent. A blind man might have entered and supposed that the room was empty.
"Uh, dude...can you explain what's going on? Firstly, what is awakening?" Hannah finally raised a query testingly, and the old man paused, his beady black eyes gazing at her with a look of sudden enlightenment.
"My Lord, have you perhaps lost your memories with your awakening?!" The geezer abruptly questioned, his voice heightened. The people in the room began murmuring amongst themselves in shock at the man's words.
"The Lord has lost his memories?"
"Does that mean the Lord has become retarded?"
"Don't you dare spout such palaver! The Lord has never been retarded in past generations!"
"How could that be?"
"What will become of our clan now?"
Hannah had now established that this old guy was something like an elder in that village. "Uh...yes, yes. I've lost my memories!" Hannah clarified, nodding her head to the surprised old man. Her confirmation made even the air in the room somewhat freeze, leave alone the people.
The fashionable elder hummed thoughtfully as the people quietened down before he pulled out a circular wooden block with blood-red inscriptions upon it. The wooden block had been strapped to his waist like a weapon. He also produced a stick from God-knows-where. Then he muttered, partly to himself, "This has never happened before. I must inquire what the spirits are saying."
"Oh yeah, you should," Hannah said, though she was as confused as a monkey in a desert as to what on earth he meant. Inquire from the spirits? Was the old man a shaman? No, he was definitely demented! Judging from their attire and how they were calling a child 'Lord', all of those villagers had to be off their rockers.
Anyways, as long as they don't think I'm possessed by an evil spirit, everything should be fine.
* * *
Hannah staunchly claims to have been unsurprised when spirits appeared inside the hut. In fact, she declares that her mouth had NOT been so wide agape that a fly mistook it for a landing. She also denies any claims that she had nearly swallowed the aforementioned fly.
Because spirits indeed materialized within the hut.
"Holy baloney," she muttered despite herself as crimson specks of light emerged one by one in the room, deepening the people's silence. Hannah discovered that the other villagers acted as though nothing weird was going on. Was it normal for them to see spirits?
The old man was only playing around with a block of wood and a stick yet such an otherworldly thing was occurring before their eyes.
Hannah could feel the pressure in the room rapidly increase as the number of crimson light specks increased. The people watched in silence, appearing apathetic, unlike Hannah who was shaking in ecstasy.
"Spirits, I beseech you, please grant us an answer," the old man spoke, his voice guttural and hoarse as though his life force was being sucked out through his throat.
Hannah extended her hand and attempted to grab one of the red lights. That might have been a bad idea...
As her palm clenched the light(lesser fire spirit, that is), there seemed to be vague turbulence in the air around her. The space seemed to warp as though her action had ruffled Mother Nature's feathers. The spirits shuddered as though the Devil himself had touched them.
However, it seemed that she was the only one who could see the slight warping of space since everyone was just focusing on the elder.
Oh, wait.
The elder was staring at her, and his gaze was peculiar.
Scratch that. His gaze...'peculiar' did not describe it adequately.
Instead, he seemed...extremely terrified.
He was sweating profusely as he gaped at Hannah, his beady eyes widening into a saucer-like pair. The puzzled girl could effortlessly witness each droplet of sweat tracing his wrinkled face as his bony hands shuddered.
"H-How...?!" he exclaimed, making the people's faces pale. It did not help that the old man started foaming at the lips as purplish veins grotesquely protruded from his body. Hannah herself was appalled by the sight but in a good way...I mean, she had always wanted to experience such a dramatic moment of pure chaos. But, sincerely speaking, the elder at this point was only half-conscious as he convulsed, still foaming at the mouth.
He was groaning bitterly as his palms clenched his neck which was etched with dark veins. Three men and two women darted from the terror-stricken crowd. The five villagers who extracted themselves from the crowd did something that made Hannah dumbstruck. It made chills run down her spine as excitement coated her senses.
They placed their palms upon the groaning elder's body. At first, she thought they were going to end the elder's suffering, like in the movies, and kill him themselves. However, perhaps it was a very dumb thing to kill someone without trying to treat them.
Anyhow, these villagers were not planning to kill him. They were...
Wait for it...
A bluish hue surrounded the pained elder!
The five (erotically-attired) villagers had cast healing magic!
"What the hell?!" Hannah couldn't but remark, staring in awe at the supernatural event.