Half an hour later, the linen bags were full. I found a rabbit, some snakes and an impressive number of squirrels. The performance had been beyond expectations. I didn't feel tired at all, even with so many hunts done. The hit rate was high, around 80%, and I knew that wasn't normal. The forest, with so many trees and obstacles, made the hunt more challenging. But for me, it didn't seem to be.
The two guards were stunned, looking at me with a mixture of admiration and perhaps a little confusion. I could see in their expressions that they were wondering how it was all possible. Was it that easy? I really seemed to be hunting with an ease that didn't fit with their reality.
"Go back and escort the children. I'll wait for you both here." I said, my tone respectful, trying to maintain the leadership posture always required of me.
"Young master?" one of the guards asked, clearly puzzled as to why I would choose to stay behind.
"I'm just going to rest here." I smiled, trying to appear lighter than I really felt. At the same time, I tossed the head of the centipede I had just caught into my mouth, as if that were the most natural gesture in the world. It wasn't.
The truth was that I was starting to feel strange. I'd already trained hard today, and this extra hunt was exhausting me more than I'd imagined. But something inside me, a latent energy, still pushed me to keep going. I sat down by a tree, leaning my back against it as I watched the guards walk away. It was there, at that moment, that I began to notice the changes in my body.
In the last thirty minutes, I had eaten about ten centipede heads. And the most curious thing: I didn't feel any poisonous effects. On the contrary, I felt something... warm, something growing inside me. It was as if the "Light of Life" I knew had intensified, increased in its concentration. My body seemed to heat up from the inside out, as if a flame were igniting and spreading through my veins.
The sensation was strange but comforting, as if it were a sign that something bigger was happening. Something I didn't fully understand, but couldn't ignore.
"Actually, we've heard about the benefits of the centipede... Has anyone tried it before, but nothing happened?" the guard who had sat next to me asked, his voice low and thoughtful.
"Someone...?" I mumbled, confused. What did he mean by that? Was he talking about others who had tried to consume the centipede? But why hadn't anyone mentioned that before?
"Yes, it was Nora and Vera's grandfather. He was a master fighter, you know. When he came here, he was looking for those centipedes before the crisis that overtook his family." Zaatar said thoughtfully, surprise evident in his tone.
I had always suspected that my mother had some connection to that region, but now to hear that someone with a lineage similar to mine came specifically after it... It was too much to process all at once.
Nora and Vera... both of a similar ethnicity to mine. Something there was starting to make sense, but I still didn't quite understand what.
"So nothing happened to him?" I asked, more to confirm.
"No... he was burned by the poison." the guard said, his gaze distant, almost lost, as if remembering something horrible.
I stood still for a moment, trying to take it in. Why hadn't I been burned then? It was clear now that something was different about me, but what? Why hadn't I suffered the same effects?
Concentrating, I closed my eyes for a moment, searching my own body for any signs. Nothing seemed out of place, except... a slight dark red tinge in the area around my heart, pelvis and head. Some energy was concentrating there, but I didn't know how or why. It confused me.
This discovery was completely accidental. The guard's information, however, seemed to attract me with an uncontrollable force. The feeling that I should understand it better consumed me. But I didn't know exactly what for. I only knew that the desire to devour the centipedes had become a necessity. Even the guard seemed surprised by my lack of reaction to the poison.
For the next fifteen days, I dedicated myself to hunting every day in the forest with my brothers. I taught them to ride horses too, and gradually I began to realize that they were seeing me more as a brother than a stranger. This brought unexpected relief to the whole family.
Still, something bothered me. I didn't know exactly why, but their fear of me seemed greater than I had imagined. They didn't say anything, but the furtive glances and tension in the air were obvious.
***
It was midday when I entered the forest, the sun already high in the sky. The shadows created by the light filtered through the trees, cut into pieces by the leaves that danced in the gentle breeze. The smell of damp earth and vegetation enveloped me.
Suddenly, a black arrow sliced through the air, striking a red-headed centipede with precision, and it flopped to the ground with a thud. When I heard the sound, I took a step forward, my body tense, and a teenager emerged from between the trees. He was wearing simple hunting clothes and holding a short, black bow with the arrow still stuck in the end. That movement was familiar to me.
Calmly, he approached the branch where the centipede had fallen. He deftly pulled out the arrow and, without hesitation, grabbed the creature, bringing its head to his mouth. It began to chew with the familiarity of someone who had done it hundreds of times. The warmth of its body radiated in a strange but comforting way. I could feel something vibrating inside me, as if the same energy that ran through him was also touching me.
Over the last few days, I've been obsessed with this instinct. Every day, I ate more red-headed centipedes, repeating the act as an automatic reflex. Something in me was changing. Something I still didn't fully understand. In the last 15 days, I've noticed a subtle change. The light of life that filled me was different, more concentrated, with a power that gathered in me in an inexplicable way. It wasn't a physical strength - my body didn't seem stronger, faster or more resilient. But there was something in my eyes. A red glow. An energy pulsing in them, as if the concentration was greater with every movement I made.