A few hours later in the late morning, Grud slowly opened his eyes and quickly found himself in the worst pain he experienced while conscious. He groaned in pain and immediately stopped groaning when even that caused him pain. The only part of his body that was relatively ok was his left arm that he was using to stab the Big Tooth Cat.
He painfully turned his head around looking for something. At the corner of his sight, he saw what he wanted, what he needed. 'The shaman said to eat its heart and gain its power, if i do not get that power, i may just die.'
Grud began dragging himself towards the Big Tooth Cat using his left arm. When he finally reached the dead beast, he propped himself up against it, grabbed the half spear that was sticking out of its chest and knowing he was currently too weak to enter through the ribcage, Grud used the spear tip and made an insertion from under the ribcage and up into its body to look for the heart.
When he finally found the heart, pulled it out and ate it, it triggered a hunger that was equivalent to when he first ate the Tusk Pig, Grud began literally and metaphorically digging into the Big Tooth Cat. All the while his head was fuzzy, barely being able to string coherent thoughts together due to the blood loss and hunger.
By the time he was levelheaded enough, it was a few hours later and he was covered in blood from the messy eating. When he got a better look at the carcass, he noticed that one fifth of it was gone and it was late in the afternoon. He was still in pain but it was noticeably less painful, it was bearable enough for him to slowly get to his feet and hobble over to his shelter, get his water skin and drain it of its contents.
As he looked at himself, he decided to limp his way to the stream to wash off all the blood and dirt to avoid letting his wounds fester, if they were not already. What was usually a fifteen minutes walk to the stream took about an hour to get there. The good news was when he got there and started washing, he found that all his wounds were nicely scabbed over.
What he did not notice due to being ambushed while sleeping, getting into a fight and falling unconscious, was that he was now slightly taller than most of the men from the tribe now. Due to last night's intake of biomass from the deer bulking his body up to a huge size for his age and even gaining some body fat. That body fat was now lost due to his body burning it to repair some of the damage done by the fight.
What his sore and battered body needed now was a lot more biomass and rest. He drank his fill, refilled his water skin and hobbled his way back to camp while picking up whatever loose firewood he found on his way back. When he reached the camp Grud went to the Big Tooth Cat and dragged it with great effort closer to the campfire, started another fire and started cooking.
By the time he was done eating, another two fifths of the Big Tooth Cat was consumed and Grud took his broken spear to his shelter and went to sleep already nude due to him not getting the chance or bothering to get dressed since the Big Tooth Cat's attack. That night his body was so tired that his dick and balls did not have the energy to spare to get horny.
—
While Grud was asleep, two changes happened in his body, the first change was the mutating agent taking the Big Tooth Cat's muscle structure and information to adapt it to Grud's muscles thus making his body bulk up with muscles a bit more. The second change was that the eyes adapted the ability from the Big Tooth Cat to better adapt to see in low light environments.
When Grud woke up early the next morning, his body was still aching but the good news was that his scabs were not festering and his bruises were a shade lighter than yesterday. Even better news, was that he did not cum all over the place from any wet dreams, even though he still had morning wood despite how tired he was, but that did not mean his balls were not working hard and doing their job. When Grud got to his feet, he felt his balls droop lower than before, he reached down to check his balls and found that they weighed quite a bit heavier than before.
"Dammit, this is going to take awhile to empty my balls." he looked up at the position of the sun to check the time and muttered to himself. "Due to me being injured, it is going to take me a lot longer to get back to the tribe, I do not have time to empty my balls. I better start my journey now. But before that I need to take some proof that I killed the Big Tooth Cat for my coming of age hunt."
As he made his way to the carcass, he could smell that the meat had gone bad and maggots were already having a feast. As quickly as he could, he skinned the Big Tooth Cat for its pelt and took its head as an additional trophy before he started his slow trek back to his tribe.
—
By the time Grud reached the tribe, it was late afternoon. A couple of the hunters saw him approaching the tribe and were suspicious of him. They did not see this man before, 'is he from another tribe?' they thought and moved to intercept Grud
Hunter 1: "Stop! Who are you? What tribe are you from?"
Grud: "What? I am Grud I am back from my coming of age hunt"
The two hunters looked at each other and then gave Grud an incredulous look.
Hunter 2: "Is this some kind of joke? You look a bit too old to be on a coming of age hunt"
Hunter 1: "Yeah, besides…. The only ones who know about his coming of age hunt is our tribe."
The hunters became more alert and leveled their spears at Grud.
Hunter 1: "So who are you and what have you done with Grud!"
This was followed by a sharp whistle from the second hunter.
Confused by the hunter's line of questioning, it took him a while to remember that he was now a lot taller than when he first left for his hunt.
Grud: "Wait! I am telling the truth, Shaman Dhuk sent me on the coming of age hunt "
Soon after Grud said that, more hunters arrived along with Chieftain Froll.
Froll: "What is going on here!?"
Hunter 2: "This man is claiming he is Grud and that he is coming back from his coming of age hunt"
Hearing this, Froll took a long hard look at Grud. He saw a young man almost as tall as he was with a very familiar face, a body full of bruises and scabs in the pattern of claw marks from a Big Tooth Cat. Under his right arm was a rolled up pelt whose patterns look like a Big Tooth Cat and tied at his hip with vines was a Big Tooth Cat's head.
Froll: "If you are Grud, what is the name of your parents?"
Grud- "Drud, son of Droff and Scera, daughter of Jer."
Froll eyed Grud up and down for a few seconds and walked up to Grud and whispered loud enough that only he could hear.
Froll: "What was the name of the one I betrothed to you before you left for the hunt?"
Grud: "Nita, your youngest daughter"
Froll: "What was the last thing the Shaman told you before you left on the hunt?"
Grud: "Dhuk told me to eat the Big Tooth Cat's heart to gain great power"
Froll paused for a while to try to get his head around this strange situation.
Froll: "What happened to you boy? Why do you look like you aged into a full grown man?"
Grud: "I am not really sure myself, it may be as Dhuk said, that I got great power after eating the Big Tooth Cat's heart, I was going to ask Dhuk about it when I got back."
Froll sighed, all this Spirit stuff was confusing. He would sooner wrestle a Mammoth on his own then deal with all this Spirit stuff, that was why he had a Shaman for in the first place and left it to Dhuk to give him the abridged version of the situation after he figured out everything.
Froll: "We will get you to Dhuk to get those wounds looked at first."
Froll signaled at the hunters that everything was fine and the tension eased, leaving a bunch of hunters confused about what was going on. Then he took the head and pelt off Grud, passed it to a hunter and asked him to pass it along to get it cleaned and processed. He then accompanied Grud to where Dhuk was.
When they entered Dhuk's Shaman hut, Dhuk who was on the ground grinding some herbs looked up and saw the two men. "Hello Froll, who have you brought me today? He looks like he needs some patching up."
Froll grinned mischievously while thinking how Dhuk would react. "This is Grud, don't you recognize him? Just came back from his coming of age hunt."
Dhuk paused for a while "Can you please repeat that? I thought you just said that that man is Grud."
Grud: "But I am Grud"
Dhuk looked at both of them with a blank stare then looked at Froll, "My Friend, even for you this is a weak joke, you could have gotten some of the other boys to play his part. This one is a few years too old."
Grud: "But Shaman Dhuk, it is true, I am Grud. I did as you said and ate the Big Tooth Cat's heart and gained power"
When Dhuk heard that, he looked closer at Grud for a few moments then looked at Froll with incredulity, only to be met with Froll nodding his head to confirm that it really was Grud.
Dhuk sighed, if he heard what Froll was thinking earlier he would totally agree, all this Spirit stuff was confusing, even more confusing now that the result of the Spirit's vision was now so literal, usually the results from following the Spirit's vision was quite vague.
Dhuk: "Ok fine, take a seat and start recounting your journey to me while I treat your wounds."
Grud recited his journey to Dhuk and Froll but leaving out the part about his dick, balls and that which comes from it, because some things are just private. The only reason no one noticed the humongous bulge is because a piece of leather was hanging down in front of the leather holding back his dick and balls.
After Grud was done telling them what happened, All of them lapse into silence. After a long moment of silence Dhuk spoke "It seems the Spirits have granted you the blessing of nature's beast, that their strength be your strength and that you will stand above them. And may your strength be the tribe's strength."
Froll cracked a smile, catching the shaman's meaning. "Then it is only right for me to honor my promise. Grud, I give my daughter Nita to you in marriage, do you accept?"
At the end of all of this, Grud was fucking exhausted physically and mentally drained. All he heard was "bla bla bla… Nita… bla bla… marriage… bla bla bla?" the only thing he could do to reply to the sentence that sounded like a question, was answer with "....Yes?"
"Goog Good! Grud, you stay here and rest, we have a wedding to prepare" Froll said as he waved goodbye to Dhuk who chuckled as he collected a few small jars of salves to treat Grud's wounds.
It was a good day for Froll. If Dhuk said what he thought he said, then the tribe just gained a powerful hunter and warrior. And the best way to keep him in the tribe was through the bonds of family. And when better to start that bond than now, he had already kind of promised Nita to Grud, but expected Grud fail the spirit quest, escape with his life, hunt something normal and build up some achievements before they marry, but now that he hunted a bloody Big Tooth Cat on his own, it should be more than ok.
What skipped out of Froll's mind from the excitement was explaining to Grud how to make love to a woman, especially one who is a virgin woman. This was usually a Father's duty to teach their son, which Grud did not have the privilege of having, so Nita was going to be in for a surprise later.
—
While Grud was resting and Dhuk was making arrangements for the marriage, Froll went to find his wives and daughter to inform them of the sudden marriage. Iko, Rae and Nita were already aware of the betrothal but did not expect the marriage to be so soon and they were worried about the reason for the rush until Froll told them an abridged version of what happened and that he was not the poor emaciated young man they knew a few days ago anymore.
After speaking to them he went off to join Dhuk in preparations for the wedding. This left the wifes to prepare Nita on what's to come on the first night of marriage.
—
The wedding was held the following night after Grud had slept through most of the next day after his return. When dinner was over and the tribe was gathered before a bonfire. The Chieftain stepped forward to address the tribe. "My people, today is a joyous occasion for one of our own has succeeded with his coming of age hunt, but it would not be a big occasion if it was only that. His coming of age hunt was dangerous but he survived and came back to be a true hunter!" After which Iko raised the pelt of the Big Tooth Cat and Rae held up its skull. Word had already spread of who had hunted the Big Tooth Cat and they cheered.
"Grud, son of Drud, come forward" Froll said as the tribe quieted down "You have earned great honor for yourself and the tribe and as I promised you, you shall have my daughter Nita in marriage. Nita, come forward" Froll nodded to Dhuk as he stepped away for Dhuk to take his place.
Dhuk Motioned to Grud and Nita "Grud, son of Drud, Nita, daughter of Froll, stand before me and receive the blessings of the Spirits for his union." Both of them stepped in front of Dhuk as he started painting their faces with tribal markings while chanting.
When Dhuk was done with his ritual, Grud's already over stuffed balls became even tighter for some reason and his half erect penis that he was keeping down with pure willpower, threatened to undo his loincloth. "Now with the ritual of fertility finished, the celebration has come to an end. May the couple have many strong children.'' As the couple was ushered to a remote hut to give them some privacy, the rest of the tribe was whooping and teasing the new couple with lewd jokes making Grud and Nita red in the face from embarrassment.
After waiting for everyone else to leave, Grud and Nita were finally alone with a small fire pit between them.