We were inside a massive jungle canyon, its walls towering several hundred meters high.
All kinds of trees grew at the top of the canyon. To the right, a river split the ground in two, ending on the left in a waterfall. Right now, it looked more like a creek than a river, but you could still see the outline of a riverbed in the ground.
The cliff by the waterfall marked the end of the canyon, which opened up into a vast tropical forest stretching across the horizon. Some of the trees were so enormous that the trees on Earth would look like weeds in comparison.
Smoke drifted up the canyon walls, rising from fireplaces that were lit next to what resembled teepee tents.
These tents were made from various types of leather and pelts, stacked on top of each other, with plant leaves filling the gaps. At the top of each tent rested a giant bellflower, covering the tip.
In the center stood a tent larger than the rest. Instead of a bellflower, a tree peeked out from the tip. Its condition was undeniably the best of all. The leather used for the walls was even engraved with intricate patterns, with the silhouette of a dragon swimming among them.
It looked... gorgeous!
The delicious aroma of roasted meat reached my nose. It came from an area where about twenty people gathered around a fireplace. Above it, a contraption made of sticks held a massive armadillo impaled over the fire. With its size, it looked more like a dinosaur.
She tugged me along, pulling me into the settlement. As we walked along the curved paths connecting the tents, we passed other people. Whenever they noticed us, their expressions shifted to grim ones, and some even stopped what they were doing and rushed into a tent.
I think they were scared of me.
It makes sense when you think about it. Humans are afraid of the unknown, and that's what I was to them—something they had never seen before. Modern clothes, pale skin, and blue eyes. My height on top of that was just the icing on the cake, making me seem like some kind of monster to them.
The strange thing was, even the girls I had encountered in the cave seemed scared.
After this almost depressing tour of the settlement, we arrived at a tent near the central one. It was also engraved and in better condition, but smaller. Its diameter was about the length of a car.
A smell that was almost chemical came from inside. She set some of the pelts aside, creating an opening, and entered. I could hear a low, commanding voice from within as she did. The voice sounded old and coarse.
It slightly reminded me of my grandpa, who died years ago.
After speaking for a bit, the pelt opened again, and a very old man, looking like a shaman, invited me to enter. His body was decorated with tied bones, scales, feathers, and colorful stones. He had paint all over his body, drawing some kind of runes and patterns, and atop his head was a carefully placed feather crown.
As I entered, I saw all kinds of materials on bamboo shelves—small dead animals and their skins, strange pastes and powders in every color and variety, even skulls and bones. It looked like a primitive laboratory of some kind.
The girl then adopted a more formal posture. She raised her elbows and hands to shoulder height, laid her left hand over her right fist, and gave a deep bow toward the shaman. She looked at me afterward, as though that was simply a demonstration.
It seemed like a formal greeting, so I tried to replicate it. But as I began to bow, my body hesitated. I had to force myself to follow through with the motion.
It felt horrible.
My body screamed at me to stop, and so I did, performing only a slight bow.
I glanced at the shaman and caught a small smile forming on his face, briefly breaking his otherwise serious expression. It didn't last long, fading as quickly as it had appeared.
Then, his deep voice entered my ears again as he pounded his chest.
"Umbra," he said.
The girl did the same but instead said, "Mia."
I assumed they were their names, so I followed suit and said, "Nox."
Her noble image faltered as a smile formed on her face. She began repeating my name over and over, gazing at me longingly.
"Nox, Nox, Nox~hehehe..."
Meanwhile, the shaman took one of the bowls from the shelf, filled with a red liquid that resembled blood, and rubbed it onto my forehead with his thumb. He then picked up a staff made of bone and feathers. At the top, it looked like a nightmare catcher.
He then began waving the staff around me, chanting some kind of anthem.
-CHING~CHING-
The staff let out a melody, in sync with his chant.
It sounded like chimes made of bone.
He struck the floor. It was covered in animal scales and made a dull sound.
As he finished his ritual I felt soft warm feeling in my chest.
At first, I thought it was some kind of magic from the ritual, but then I noticed Mia's head buried in my chest.
Her breath came in ragged gasps, uneven and erratic. A crazed smile spread across her face as she called out my name over and over like a broken tape recorder, inhaling the scent of my body.
I didn't notice it at first, though—my attention was entirely on her fluffy fox ears as I petted her head. The moment she felt my hand, she pressed her head even further into it.
Every time my hand touched one of her ears, she twitched in pleasure, and the ear began to tilt to the side.
"EHE~EHEM."
A loud cough interrupted our moment. It was the shaman, still standing next to us. Realizing he had seen what we just did, Mia's face flushed intensely.
I giggled, discovering that Mia had a shy side, which made her even cuter.
The shaman, however, started laughing out loud. He was the only one in the tribe who cared for Mia, and seeing her act like that made him happy.
He grabbed a bowl filled with a dark green liquid, handed it to me, and gestured for me to drink.
And I did...
But looking back, I should have really taken the smirk on his face more seriously.
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