Village

"Achebe, come on, you have to play your part as a bullox, can you at least try to run away!"

"It's not fair. Why do I have to play the animal? Why can't I be a hunter like the rest of you?"

"You are already the Chief's son. You can't always get what you want"

"Well, It's still unfair you guys are the only ones who get a choi-"

Suddenly the conversation ended when they heard the sound of a ringing bell coming from the Village Inn.

"Let's race to the Village Inn. The winner gets to choose their meal first."

"Heck yea, come Achebe show us your bullox skills."

"Ohh, I'll show you my skills," Achebe said as he ran.

As Achebe ran, he looked around where he lived, the island of Atale. A place filled with many valleys trees and tiny hills all around, with no mountains in sight.

The ground is dry, filled with cracks, and rain coming at least once every week fails to satiate it, eating away at whatever vegetation sprouts. The vegetation that survives is as dry as the ground it lives in, ready to burst into flames at any moment.

The trees of Atale no livelier than the ground they root upon, look grey and lifeless. such trees sprout thorny leaves, spreading an unwelcoming almost rotten egg-like aroma.

What was most terrifying about the island was not on it but around it. Black waters surrounding the island would slowly eat away whatever was on its surface and kill anything that count survive the bottomless abyss below the surface.

Currently, it is summer yet the sky looks no different than in winter, spring, or autumn. Always with a gray dulled-out blue.

Animals such as Bullox, Cowthorns, lotus bugs, and Ferrel minks live through, skin tough enough to survive the impact of any arrow and strong enough teeth to rip apart any living thing that they come across.

Yet in this unwelcoming land live the people of Atale.

Villages filled with hundreds of men, women, and children. Huts made of cob and wood, tents made from leather, refined to look nothing like the rough skin of the animals they were made out of. Women wore light clothes to cover their private parts, some wore jewelry made from the bones of beasts slain. Men wore only pants, most holding spears and bows ready to hunt the next beast. The elderly used their life experience to teach kids. at the center of each village lay a merchant plaza, where people from all over the 9 villages could congregate and trade with each other,, spreading prosperity throughout. Finally, all towns had an inn with a metal bell situated next to its entrance, which was used to remind people when it was time for food to be served for the day.

In one particular village, right next to the entrance to the village inn lay four boys on the ground, all gasping for air.

"Wow I told you, you would be a great bullox Achebe, look how great of a runner you are"

"shut up. I am not being chased around and poked with sticks. Plus I don't even run fast, you guys are just slow. When was the last time you trained Chilue?"

"Whatever," Chilue said while rolling his eyes.

"Stop yapping you two let's head in, I am dying of hunger." Nwoye, another of Achebe's buddies said.

"I hope there is meat today, we haven't had meat in like a month now." Dimbu, the last in Achebe's friend group said.

"Yea I am tired of bugs, their shell always gets stuck in between my teeth," Chilue said.

As the group of friends enters the inn they are hit with a puff of steam, engulfing them in a sweet aroma of spices, and most importantly, what most excited them was the smell of cooked meat.

The inn currently had over one hundred people within it, yet it still managed to feel somewhat empty. Right in the middle of the Inn lay a giant desk fitted to sit fifty people, around the main desk lay 7 similar desks that could fit 10 people each. Looking to his left Achebe could see the open kitchen where the beautiful aromas were emanating from. The walls of the inn were made from thorn wood and the roof was made from cobb.

"MEAT!!" Dimbu exclaimed his mouth already watering with the thought of tasting meat.

"don't get too excited here, that meat is probably going towards our warriors," Chilue said

"Still I have hope," Dimbu said now with a more solemn expression.

"Don't worry I also still believe" Nwoye replied.

"Hey look it's uncle Luk, he just came back from a hunting trip, I bet he has an exciting story to tell us!" Achebe said excitedly while walking towards his uncle.

"You can go Achebe well catch up with you later. Plus uncle is always exaggerating his stories, I don't know why you still believe him"

'the smell of the inn will never get old,' Achebe thought as he approached his uncle.

"Oh, Hey Achebe, you here to hear about the fishing trip today?"

"You went fishing today!?"

"Yes, Yes we did. It was really scary, the fish were big and took a while to kill."

"What about the water, was that scary too?"

"The water was the scariest part. dark as a scarlet night, yet I could see my reflection perfectly almost felt like it was waving back at me."

"Stop lying to the kid Luk. You dint even go fishing. All because you were scared of a little water getting on you." Suddenly another man joined the conversation

"You really have to ruin my image to the kid like that, and also have you ever seen what happens to the warriors unlucky enough to get exposed to large amounts of those waters? They say that if you get the black sickness your days on Atali are marked"

"And when was the last time someone got infected with 'black sickness'? I don't remember anyone in my 50 years of life ever getting that sickness, for all we know it could be a myth used to get people like you out of the water "

"Whatever man, either way, I still get to eat meat today."

'Black sickness huh I wonder how it would,' Achebe's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice.

"Seatel down guys it's time to serve the food" a feminine voice scolded the two men who were arguing.

"Hey mom, I need to ask dad something do you know where he is?" Achebe said

"Hello, he is currently in an urgent meeting with the other village leaders he won't be here for the rest of today. we will talk later, settle down, for now, it's time to serve the food."