Barely a few minutes had passed when the youngling returned, clutching the hand of a young woman. Her skin was a lighter shade of blue than the others, almost cerulean, and her eyes carried the sa striking coloration. Despite the alien features, she was absolutely stunning in comparison to everyone around her—her features refined and graceful in ways that transcended species differences.
She was clearly the beauty of the clan, and there was no question about it.
Moon observed her calmly, curious why the leader would specifically call for this woman rather than approaching themselves.
As she moved forward, everyone in the gathered crowd began quieting down in obvious respect. She was without doubt a figure of authority and reverence among her people, despite her youth.
She approached Moon and Selene with an excited yet respectful expression on her face.
Moon’s hand instinctively clenched around his staff, his eyes hardening with caution. Looks were deceiving, and he wasn’t going to fall for tricks or drop his guard based on appearances alone.
"Oh great descendants of the benefactor. Yara, maiden of the Savi clan, welcos you to our humble residence."
Her words were perfectly clear to them, even if it wasn’t exactly perfect in terms of accent.
"What? You speak English?" Selene exclaid in surprise, her exhaustion montarily forgotten. Her eyes widened at the impossibility of indigenous people in a hidden realm speaking a human language.
"Yes, I speak the language of our benefactor," Yara said, her eyes lighting up like stars as she spoke with her hands clasped reverently before her. "The great warrior who once saved our clan from extinction taught us a very few of our ancestors his tongue. We kept it preserved so we might honor his mory."
She gestured toward the forest settlent behind her. "Would you mind following us to our humble abode? It would be disrespectful for us not to welco you with our best food and accommodation."
Her voice was quiet and sincere, filled with warmth rather than deception or malice.
Moon and Selene exchanged aningful glances, conducting a silent conversation through eye contact alone. The situation was bizarre, but they were exhausted, and stranded. Refusing hospitality seed both ungrateful and unwise if these people genuinely ant no harm.
Moon nodded slowly. "Then, we thank you for your accommodation in advance."
Yara’s face brightened with genuine happiness. "Of course! Please, follow ."
Moon guided Mirage to walk behind Yara as she led them toward the settlent. The gathered clansn fell into step behind them, respect clearly etched in their expressions as they regarded the newcors.
♢♢♢♢
Surprisingly, the Savi clan’s housing was considerably more advanced than their primitive clothing suggested. The settlent consisted of separate buildings, so constructed in the trees using woven platforms and living branches, others built on the ground with wooden fraworks and thatched roofs. The architecture showed good skills and long-term planning.
Most importantly, privacy appeared to be valued by these people. Individual dwellings were spaced appropriately apart, and families seed to have their own distinct living areas rather than communal sleeping arrangents.
That was always a positive sign in Moon’s assessnt.
As Yara led them toward what appeared to be the central gathering area.
It was a large campfire where food was being prepared and cooked. The other mbers of the Savi clan stopped their activities to stare. The young looked with open eyed curiosity, their large eyes wide with wonder. The elderly regarded Moon and Selene with happy, warm expressions, as if witnessing sothing long hoped for.
"As you can see, the people of the Savi clan deeply respect you," Yara explained as they walked. "You are of the sa clan as our benefactor, the sa appearance, and the sa language. Ever since he left to attend to his other duties, we had never encountered anyone from your people again."
She paused, emotion dwelling deep within her voice. "The benefactor promised us he would return soday... but he never did. So watching you appear gave all of us hope, a chance to finally repay the imnse kindness he showed our ancestors and a possibility of his return one day."
Moon couldn’t help but ask the question forming in his mind. "When was this exactly? How many years ago did this benefactor leave?"
Yara tilted her head in confusion. "Years ago? What does that an?"
Selene imdiately understood the communication gap. Although Yara could speak English fluently, she clearly didn’t have the full cultural context. The Savi clan must use a different thod of tracking ti.
"We an ti, yes. How long ago was it?" Selene clarified, using basic hand gestures and body language to help explain the concept.
Yara’s face lit up with understanding. "Oh, I see! You an how many lunar cycles have passed. Well, today marks the six thousandth lunar cycle since the day our benefactor departed."
Moon’s mind imdiately began calculating.
’A lunar cycle is approximately 29.5 days—essentially one month. Six thousand lunar cycles equals..Approximately five hundred years..’
Moon’s thoughts froze completely. Once again, this realm had forced him to rethink everything he believed he understood about the world.
The Collapse, the apocalyptic event that had introduced the awakener system to Earth had occurred approximately two hundred years ago.
That catastrophe was followed by the Era of Recovery, which lasted roughly fifty years. During that period, humanity had co to understand the awakener system, rebuilt society around classes and awakeners. Discovered and mapped the First Sanctuary and ford new social orders and power hierarchies.
After the Era of Recovery ca the Era of Evolution, which had lasted approximately one hundred fifty years and continued to the present day. This era encompassed three full generations of relative stability, during which ancient guilds and powerful families had consolidated their positions and humanity had begun its progression through the sanctuary system.
They were currently living in the Era of Evolution.
But if Yara’s tiline was accurate, that ant a human had been in this realm five hundred years ago—three hundred years before the Collapse that introduced the awakener system to Earth.
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