Chapter 24 - Pressure

Everyone gathered in the temple and was waiting for the start of the ritual. Ulf was in the right corner of the crowd. He wanted to reach the front part to have a better sight to observe upcoming performances. When Ulf had found a good spot, the shamaness came out of the inner room of the temple and began praying.

"Under the blessing of the hunting goddess Dali(1) and with the power given from supreme god Hadda, our tribe had a successful hunt..."

After that, it was just the usual process to express admiration for their gods. Ulf and some others from the younger generations didn't care about that part at all. The older generations were more focused and attentive to the ritual.

Ulf was more interested in what Dorgon had told him. From Ulf's point of view the event that his ancestors called the rain of the fire, could only have one explanation - the meteoroids. On earth, the meteoroids were known as shooting stars. When they start nearing the planet, they are getting heated by the collisions with the upper atmosphere. That must have been the reason why that occasion had that kind of name.

As for the result of the fallen meteoroids, Ulf thought that they were the reason for the appearance of qi in this world. They just had something that was the source of qi or catalyst that helped this planet to produce a new power. It seemed to be logical because the meteoroids were the main reason for changes on the earth. When the planet was still newly created, the meteoroids brought the first living organisms and water to the earth. That's why it isn't a weird concept that the origin of qi came from the asteroids.

It looked like a reasonable version of the true story, especially the powerful creatures that made the appearance very soon after the crash of the asteroids. Right after the methods to cultivate emerged too. This last subject was the next mystery. Where did these techniques come from? The cultivation here had very big flaws, but even to create the imperfect methods some level of knowledge was needed.

At the same time, the shamaness and others finished praying.

"Now the time for the offering has come. Each group leader will bring the objects they want to send to our gods and guardian. The guardian represents our gods. He serves as the bridge between us and the supreme existences. The guardian helped us in the past when we were in many great dangers and saved our tribe. We were told to keep all information about the guardian, as taboo. Only the adult members and hunters of our tribe are allowed to know about this matter. The tribesmen and women, which came here the first time today, must remember not to mention the guardian even inside their families. The temple is the only place where the guardian's existence can be spoken about. Careless actions must be punished harshly."

'What? The guardian, that saved us?' Ulf was shocked.

However, others didn't give Ulf the time to perceive the new surprise. The fourteen group leaders came in front and started to get close to the shamaness one by one. They started to bring their offerings with them too. Three southern groups were the first to move forward. They put their gifts for the guardian on the big, black-coloured stone next to the entrance door of the inner room. As Ulf found out, most of the time, they put different kinds of fruits, which were most useful for the cultivation from their harvest.

That was why the two group leaders brought the fruits. Only Ursa was the exception. When he showed the blue core in his right hand to everyone, it caused little commotion. Even the shamaness's eyes brightened a little bit. Only Ulf was one, who felt a little, lingering regret. However, it wasn't something that would cause him to go crazy anymore. The first reason for it was that he would get something good in exchange, the very sturdy spear, that would accompany him for some time. Ulf would also put his life and well being of the family at risk if he would try to steal it. This small object wasn't worthy of all of these things.

The ritual continued and other group leaders brought their gifts too. Ulf noticed that some of the fruits were the same as what he and his teammates brought. Though, it was also clear that their quality was much higher. Only leader rank and stronger hunters had to eat regularly of them and they also weren't allowed to give the fruits to others, even their children. In the village, everyone got whatever they deserved and worked for. Only rare exceptions were permitted, like Ulf's family, when Bjorn had vanished.

The last one was Njal. He had the strongest group among the hunters, who were out for the village. Ulf and the others were more concentrated on what he would take out for the offering. Njal's group was the only one, which moved into the northern forests this time. The peak leader hunter firstly showed the clay bowl and said:

"This gift from my hunting group is the heart blood of the golden sparrow. We were lucky. It had only the peak beast stage, so after working together we only got some serious injuries and no death. "When leader Njal finished his speed, the loud noises and the uproar followed from the crowd behind.

Ulf didn't know what use this heart blood had, but it must have been a very good product. The shamaness and the other tribe members were happy to watch the bowl. Ulf also took a glance, when he could. The so-called blood inside was golden instead of red. Ulf was a little tempted to check it.

Njal also put the fruits along with the bowl. Just the bright colour of these fruits was enough proof to see how beneficial they would be for cultivation.

After watching all of the offerings, Ulf wondered:

'why would Hadda tribe go that far? The shamaness said as if the guardian was a living being, but I had big doubts about it. These products on the giant black stone could nurture and help many hunters in the village.'

"Now It's time for the final part. Kneel everyone, with our gaze on the ground. No one must look up until I say so. If not, the consequences will be severe too."

Everyone followed the instructions obediently. Ulf wanted to know why they had to keep their eyes down and couldn't even look up, but when others did it without any complaint he was also forced to do it. They waited in this position and soon the changes started.

Enormous pressure descended on the people's bodies, who were inside the temple. Ulf noticed that the leader rank hunter ahead of him even trembled a little bit as if even knelt he could hardly maintain his position. when the warrior-rank hunter on his left side was forced to bow even more.

However, only one or two-person inside the temple could feel the real power and danger behind this pressure as good as Ulf did. His spiritual energy was in terrible condition like it could dissipate anytime soon. Ulf was trying to hide it as deep as possible into his body. Because of these changes the body was on the verge of a breakdown. This power was something that Ulf had never felt before.

Ulf was in horrible condition, but also very interested. Ulf despised the fact that he had to kneel in front of someone or something. After the huge changes took a place in the surrounding, he was more intrigued. Bit by bit he was trying to look up to see what was happening on the black stone. Because of his action, the pressure on him was also increasing, but Ulf has been stubbornly pushing his body over his limit.

However, as Ulf was about to see the situation above the crowd inside the temple, he sensed the fatal death threat. It was so close to him like never before in his new life. This feeling reminded Ulf of his past life experience, and what had caused his demise then. He knew that another attempt from him to look up would make the immediate loss of life. As soon as Ulf looked down, because of the sudden danger, he heard a strange voice inside his head.

'HM?'

This suddenly emerged voice was like the loudest ringing bell Ulf had ever heard. Ulf had to shut his mind down as fast as he could but still was not able to escape from some consequences. The blood started leaking from his nose. Ulf couldn't use the spiritual energy, so just covered it with his hands. He felt something astonishing strong was watching in his direction and also checking him. Even breathing became so hard for Ulf. Under such a state, Ulf would endure only for a few seconds.

Fortunately, there wasn't long any voice in his head and after some time pressure disappeared too. When Ulf felt it he started to use spiritual energy to stop gushing blood from his nose. His spiritual energy hasn't calmed down, although he didn't have time for it.

"All can stand up." It was a shamaness.

After such a terrifying display the proud Hadda tribe's warriors behaved like obedient kitties. Everyone stood up right away, but it wasn't weird for Ulf. he could finally understand why the tribe would do that much for the rituals. Whatever that so-called guardian was, it had enormous power. This kind of strength would make you shudder with horror if your enemy was the owner of it. But could also push anyone to become an ultimate believer if you thought that this unmatched power had been standing behind you and defending you from catastrophic events.

Ulf himself felt fear. He would never have imagined that in this village there would still be a strong existence like that and he was almost killed by it. He believed that this being wouldn't hesitate at all to kill him.

Ulf left the temple as soon as the ritual was finished. Most likely he would never have any will to go back.

After Ulf had come into this world his first and main goal to accomplish was to have the power for securing his life. Only then would he have any right to think about the safety of his family. But the more he had been learning, the harder it seemed to accomplish this 'simple' wish. Ulf felt despair because of what he had seen. The distinction in the power between him and the 'guardian' was nearly unmeasurable, even though, Ulf wasn't going to give up. He wasn't a machine and had human emotions, but wouldn't stop now. He had to try harder to achieve better results.

P.S. The gods, that I have mentioned in my novel, aren't created by me but have their history in different civilizations.