Anwar's Saga

Anwar stood at the mouth of a cavern just inside the shadow line. His gaze was directed to the East. The giant sun was just beginning to rise above the horizon, and Anwar stood, mesmerized by the intensity of colour it revealed on the landscape. It slowly revealed the purple-red mountain ranges and the giant forest trees' intense green at their base. The sky began to light up with brilliant hues of yellow and orange, and he could just see the deep aqua colour of the small body of water in the distance.

It was getting hotter by the minute, and Anwar knew he had only mere seconds before he would have to traverse the narrow corridor behind him before heading down the sloping road to his underground village. He wiped the now pouring sweat from the dark skin of his brow. It was time. His eyes were beginning to become blinded by the light.

Anwar turned and made his way down the corridor. He stopped where the path began to turn and went to the wall on his left. There, embedded in the rocky wall, were stones with strange markings on them. Anwar tapped specific stones in a pattern, and suddenly the cavern entrance was filled with a soft blue light. Behind him, a barrier had formed. The barrier emitted a cooling sensation and offered physical protection from the fierce creatures of his world that had evolved to survive the extreme daytime temperatures.

Anwar continued down the winding path. The path sloped downwards, gradually taking him deep underground towards his village and family. He could already hear the bustling sounds of the daytime markets preparing their stall for business. Every artisan in the village operated its own stall. Weapon makers, food growers, clothiers, potters, and the like would soon be ready to peddle their wares to each other.

Anwar sighed to himself as he moved closer to the main cavern where the village lay. Anwar's family was different. They did not operate a stall in the daily market. Anwar's family were beast-slayers. His family's men would leave the village at night to trap and kill the nighttime beasts to provide the village with much-needed meat and materials.

The women of his family prepared their kills and ensured equal distribution of materials in the village. Anwar came from a long line of the beast-slayers and was currently considered the 'best' in the entire village. He was also the youngest. He had only reached the Ascension Age a mere three cycles ago, in fact. In that time, Anwar had trapped and killed more beasts than any of his family had in the last ten cycles, thus creating a time of great prosperity in the village.

As he entered the vast cavern, he stopped to let his dark eyes adjust. The entire village was riddled with bio-luminescent plants and captured insects to provide light of sorts. It was quite beautiful in its own right, but unlike most of his people, Anwar found the brief glimpses of his world's day-lit landscape far more beautiful than the village itself.

He stood every morning after the hunt and watched for as long he could and, as a result, had managed to bleach a small section of the front of his black hair. This gave him an incredibly unique appearance amongst his peers, and he was teased about it often. They had taken to calling him 'Anwar The Light' because of it. He didn't really mind the light-hearted teasing. It was worth it to witness the incredible sight of the sun rising that he enjoyed so very much.

The truth be told, it was the only thing in his life that he truly enjoyed.

As he began walking through the market section towards his home, he was being waved to, and celebratory calls were sung. Last night's hunt had been exceptionally successful after all, and the people were delighted. Last night, they had trapped and killed an Elephendron. Typically such a beast being brought down would be reason enough for the people to celebrate as even an average specimen was quite massive. However, the animal Anwar had tracked and trapped last night was of a record-breaking size and would likely provide many, many months worth of meat rations for the village and a great many materials to work with.

His family's women would be busy for weeks preparing and distributing its meat and materials, wasting nothing. After several months of finding only small creatures, this was a welcome event. Anwar smiled gratefully at those taking the time to acknowledge his accomplishment as he passed by. He was quite tired, and all he wanted to do was find his bed and sleep before the next hunt.

Anwar made his way past the Marketplace and down a long narrow corridor that lead to the village living quarters. Each family had its own cavern area that served as a community room. Individuals and couples (with or without children) were assigned small caves, based on their needs, that served as private quarters. The entrances to the family common rooms and private quarters were blocked using heavy, thick hides for privacy.

According to the elders, it had taken a long time for the tunnelers to create these living quarters for his people. Although they used a natural cavern system wherever they could, some areas had been hand tunnelled to fit the village's needs. As he walked to the very back of the corridor, he passed a familiar family entrance with a slight smile. Mayori's family lived there. Her family made the weapons for the Hunters. She was beautiful and about his age. She had a shy smile that melted Anwar's heart every time he saw her. He couldn't help but hope that she would someday become his Mated, but it was not up to him.

Anwar reached the entrance to his family's living area and entered. He was greeted warmly and was pleased to see that his family was already working on stripping and preparing last night's kill. They were happy and grateful to be busy. His mother handed him a small bowl and cup and bade him eat before retiring. Anwar sat, cross-legged on the eating hides and gratefully ate his meal in silence.

Anwar placed his bowl and cup into a stone basin carved into the cavern wall just off the side of the eating hides and thanked his Mother with a single kiss to the forehead. He then stepped through a nearby doorway that led to the private chamber area. Finding his entrance, he drew back the heavy hide and stood for a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness within.

His chamber was small, just enough room for his sleeping hides and some stone shelves carved into the wall for his personal belongings. On the other side of the doorway to his left was a stone and a hollowed-out basin used to hold a specially prepared hide bucket. This bucket served to catch all bodily waste. He removed his bone armour, placed it neatly on the floor beneath the stone shelves, and headed to the waste bucket to relieve himself. As a single man, it was his duty to take his own bucket to the waste handlers when it was full for proper disposal. He placed a covering hide on top of his bucket when he was finished and stripped himself naked, placing his clothing hides neatly beside his armour.

The sleeping hides were soft and thick and offered a great deal of comfort. They were made from a bird-like animal, the Plaandron. Though not an aggressive species, they were challenging to trap because of their intelligence. Anwar was rather good at it, another thing the entire village was grateful for.

As Anwar lay down on these hides, he let his mind wander a little. His thoughts always turned back to Mayori, however. He was a bit anxious about that because he was only days away from being put through the rite of Choosing. The ritual of Choosing was the traditional way to celebrate a man's nineteenth cycle celebration. During the ceremony, he would be brought to the village elders for assessment by the Runic Council. From there, three suitable families would be instructed to present him with a similar aged female candidate for him to choose from. Anwar would be temporarily removed from hunting until he had gone through the rituals, chosen his Mate, and impregnated her.

He knew nothing of the required individual rituals themselves that occurred during the Choosing. Learning them would be part of his preparations with the elders.

Anwar could not help but hope that Mayori would be among the three women presented to him. After all, her skills as a weapon maker would suit his family's chores rather nicely.