The light began to fade, and soon everything in the tent grew dark.

  Ankai opened his eyes and looked around, seeing his mother, father, and siblings all around him.

  Saheera stopped singing and looked at Ankai.

  "My sweet boy, how are you feeling? Do you feel pain somewhere?" Saheera asked, worried he might still be hurting.

  "I'm alright, Mother."

  "Are you sure you feel okay now?" Kha'Ruun asked.

  "I feel even better than before. There's no pain anymore." Ankai's sweet voice reassured his mother.

  "Ankai! I'm so glad you're alright. I was so worried about you." Meysha said with teary eyes. "I don't even know what I would have done if anything had happened to you."

  Meysha was relieved and happy.

  "Tari was also worried about little brother." A sweet, innocent voice came from Tari.

  "Brother, it's good you've recovered — but you seem different." Rokan had been observing Ankai since he woke up.

  When the light disappeared, he had been curious to see what had happened to his little brother. Ankai did seem different — he looked taller for a four-year-old. Rokan thought he was hallucinating at first, but with everything that had happened tonight, it wasn't impossible.

  "Now that you say it, it's true. And not only him — all of you have changed. You all look healthier than before. It must be because of the blessing bestowed upon us." Saheera concluded it must be the cause.

  "Ankai, tell me — do you feel anything strange inside you?"

  Ankai knew exactly what his mother was asking about.

  "Mother, I had a strange dream. In it, I saw a great snake. He called himself Uhn'Zaka."

  "Uhn'Zaka?" Kha'Ruun asked.

  "Yes. He saw the suffering of the oppressed people of this land, so he answered." Ankai paused for a moment.

  "He told me that he would bestow upon us his power — the power of one of the Twin Serpents." Ankai made up a story, mixing in some of the truth of what had really happened. He knew he certainly couldn't tell them the truth — that he was a grown man living in a child's body.

  Everyone listened carefully to what Ankai told them, and they learned the name of the god they had been praying to just a moment ago.

  "Uhn'Zaka — one of the twins, the serpent god. That name sounds majestic," Tari said with awe.

  "Yes, just hearing it gives me chills," Rokan said, the memories still fresh in his mind.

  It was an unbelievable story, but it touched them all.

  "Uhn'Zaka, the god who answered the prayer of my Oru line — I will forever be devoted to you." Saheera kneeled and made a vow. She would forever remember this moment in her life.

  Everyone here had felt the divine power. They were all certain that things would change.

  "Okay, children. It's time to sleep. Tomorrow will be a busy day, so go to your mattresses and get some rest." Kha'Ruun interrupted Ankai mid-story. He needed to meet Saghor right away, even though he had seen him not long ago.

  "Not nowww, Father. We didn't hear the whole story." Tari threw a small tantrum.

  For her, this experience felt like something straight out of a legend — but things were serious.

  "Tari, it's already late. Tomorrow we all need to wake up early, so we need to rest now to be in good form. Do you understand, my sweetheart?" Kha'Ruun explained with a caring tone.

  "Rokan, watch over them and make sure they are all asleep when I return. Saheera, I need you to come with me. We are going to see Saghor." Kha'Ruun picked up his spear from the ground and walked outside.

  "Okay, children, behave while we're gone. It won't take long." Saheera kissed the children and looked at Rokan, signaling with her eyes that he should call them immediately if anything happened.

  "You can rest assured. I will watch over them!" Rokan said.

  "Mother, I will be alright. You may be at ease!" Ankai was quietly relieved his father had interrupted him — he had been nearly out of things to say to Tari.

  Saheera followed Kha'Ruun outside.

  "My love, you can feel it too, right?"

  "Yes. Maybe the children can't feel it yet, but we have all gotten stronger."

  "That's true. Maybe some of us could awaken totem powers one day too." Saheera said, thinking of the future.

  "Even without that, Ankai awakening totem power is already more than enough for me." Kha'Ruun didn't say it without reason.

  Right now, he felt a burning sensation in his chest from the mysterious energy that had passed through them all. He was sure only Ankai had fully awakened, but he felt stronger — and maybe the children had changed too, in their own way.

  "That's right. To think a totem spirit would be born here in this barren wasteland, and to awaken among us — Uhn'Zaka's blessing is a miracle we can't repay in our lifetimes," Saheera said with reverence.

  While walking, they passed a family still praying outside, hoping for a god to help them through this hardship. Life had always been difficult, but with the Shakra's appearance and the influx of slave traders, it had grown harder for everyone. Others seemed to have already fallen asleep. With the majestic Twin Moons in the sky, this night would mark the wasteland forever.

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  Soon they arrived at Saghor's tent.

  Earlier, when the serpent had first appeared, Saghor sat with eight others around a bonfire, their hands locked together.

  Among them was an old man — older even than Saghor. He was called Thar'Zun, born in this wasteland to slave parents who had fled captivity in the innerlands.

  He still remembered the story his mother had told him — of the carnage that had come to his tribe. They were a weak tribe, without many awakened totem warriors. They had sought peaceful cohabitation with others, but fate had been cruel to them. They hadn't provoked anyone, but trouble had found them anyway, and with it came the destruction of everything they had.

  He remembered the moment his mother screamed, shouting at him to flee. A slave trader took her from them. Without power, he couldn't do anything. His father passed away shortly after from grief.

  So he had left the innerlands, fearing capture, and made his way to this wasteland. At least here, it was harder for slave traders to hunt.

  He had seen all the tragedy this forsaken place could offer — and he had also seen the great change the man named Saghor had made for their settlement, without favor or condition.

  Right now, the situation wasn't good. Saghor was performing another divination. His health had already been deteriorating badly, and recently he had done many in quick succession.

  They were all chanting together to help Saghor with the divination — to find the new totem spirit's true name. Only by finding it now could they help conceal its presence.

  Thar'Zun stopped chanting and looked at Saghor. His eyes filled with tears immediately.

  "Saghor, I know you have already made a decision, and I have learned many things being with you all these years. Now it's my turn to be useful to your cause. You need to be here longer than I do — they will need you more, with the birth of this totem." Thar'Zun said to himself. He knew he had little power left, and in this divination, their role was to channel vitality into the mystic flames fed by Saghor's power.

  He channeled his vitality into the flames — like pouring oil into a fire. His vitality left his body as if he were bleeding out.

  He knew this sacrifice meant the end of his life.

  With Saghor's power and Thar'Zun's sacrifice, they would hasten the birth of this new totem spirit and its anchor.

  "What's happening?" Saghor stopped chanting and looked at the flames.

  More vitality was being poured in than needed. He felt the vitality he had spent over the last three years return to him.

  He looked at the others — all chanting with hands locked in a circle around him, helping carry the burden. It was a way to share the weight of divination, preventing him from exhausting himself completely.

  "Thar'Zun! What are you doing — stop it right now!" Saghor could only shout at this stage of the ritual. He couldn't stop it without causing everything to fail. It was a critical moment.

  "Saghor, this is my contribution to your great cause. All these years, you never shared your burden with us — but deep down, I knew it." Thar'Zun looked Saghor in the eyes. Everything they had built together passed briefly through his mind.

  "But there is no need to go this far," Saghor replied immediately.

  "I saw everything. We have found an opportunity impossible to come by — so this is my gift to you." Thar'Zun smiled. He felt peaceful.

  "My life is worth the sacrifice. Hahaha — see you all in the next life, if there is one." Thar'Zun shouted, giving everything he had left.

  "What's happening, Master Saghor?" Jaknu, the youngest of Saghor's assistants, felt the burden suddenly lessen and heard Thar'Zun cry out for a moment.

  "It's Thar'Zun. He paid a great price to help me find the totem spirit's true name." Saghor looked at the old man, who was aging even faster now. There was no more sound from him.

  "Sigh. There's no time to mourn right now. We must finish what we started." Saghor kept the ritual going.

  The fire erupted stronger, and writing appeared above the flames.

  It was Uhn'Zaka's name, written in purple fire.

  "I see — so you are Uhn'Zaka. Let me give you some help to conceal yourself, and pour all this power from the wanderers toward you." Saghor changed his chant and threw some bones into the flame. A dark smoke rose and wrapped around the name.

  The name was swallowed in a bubble of smoke — then it exploded and disappeared.

  All of them fell, some flat on their backs, exhausted from the loss of their vital energy. It would recover with time. This had been one of the most draining rituals they had ever performed.

  They all looked toward where Thar'Zun had been sitting. They had heard his cry — but they had been too focused, the ritual in its final stage.

  All that remained of Thar'Zun was ash.

  "No, no, no, no! Thar'Zun — where is he? Where is he? He screamed, and then he stopped. Saghor, Thar'Zun, he... he?" Soronhar, a middle-aged man, was the first to panic. The others didn't understand what had happened until they saw the ashes where Thar'Zun had been sitting.

  "Saghor, what happened? Where is Thar'Zun?" a man named Ardon'Zaik asked, his voice breaking.

  "Thar'Zun made a great sacrifice for this cause. Those ashes are all that remains of him. Preserve them well." Saghor looked at the ashes with pain. If only he had done better.

  "We should hold a grand ceremony for him — and for those who will follow him, because the road ahead of us is dark and filled with challenges. So let's not give up. I will do my best to help alleviate what is to come."

  Saghor stood and left the tent.

  He could hear crying from his assistants behind him. The pain of losing one of them was devastating, and his words had only made them understand that the future would not be easy.

  He hadn't even reached the entrance when a guard called out to him, followed by Kha'Ruun's voice from outside.

  Saghor went to the entrance.

  "Let them in," he told the guard.

  Kha'Ruun entered with Saheera. They looked at Saghor, who sat on the ground near a small fire. He looked tired.

  "Zah'Ruun fateya, Saghor, Sage of the Wasteland," Saheera greeted him.

  "May Uhn'Zaka watch over you, my child." Saghor's response left the couple speechless.

  Normally he would answer with the usual — "may fate not turn its back on us" — but they had never expected him to say Uhn'Zaka's name.

  Saghor looked at them. He knew they must have many questions.

  "I can predict why you have come to find me," he said. There were no secrets in the settlement. He knew what had happened tonight. The recently born totem spirit in their household had been felt by many, and through his divination, he had already determined it would happen in their family.

  "So you already knew all of this would happen?" Kha'Ruun asked. He was surprised — he had almost thought Saghor was spying on his family.

  "Sigh. You did well returning, but even if you hadn't, I would have come looking for you myself." Saghor looked at them both.

  "Now we need to move faster. I want the migration to begin immediately. And right now, I can only give one answer to one question — so think carefully before you ask."

  What Saghor said left them confused. Only one question.

  "I see. I think I understand what you mean, so I will be the one to ask," said Saheera. It seemed she already understood why Saghor had said that.

  She had always suspected he was a shaman. Her grandmother had always told her how shamans were the cornerstone of great tribes — and Saghor was certainly one. Things that should have been impossible to know without being there, he somehow knew. He always made the best decision for the whole settlement.

  Many only knew him as a wise man blessed with wisdom beyond what one would expect from someone born into wandering life — or forced into it.

  "Saghor, you must have seen something you can't tell us directly. So my only question is this — how much will he suffer?" Saheera's voice carried a quiet, almost mystical weight as she asked.

  Saghor's expression changed.

  This family can't stop surprising me. For a god to be born, and a child blessed by the world itself — and for the mother to carry this much soul power herself. He couldn't even imagine what they would accomplish.

  "Saheera, of all the questions you could have asked, this one holds the most weight in your heart." Saghor, with a tired look, had a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.

  "Oru family, hear my words. Your child is an anomaly." Saghor's voice rose.

  "In this world, being an anchor to a god or totem spirit has never happened in the entire history of the Tanhuka realm." He paused and looked at them with a quiet pity.

  "Suffer? He will certainly experience that. Even gods and totem spirits will pity him."

  "But all of this... is only what I glimpsed for a brief moment in the river of destiny. In the end, everything will depend on him — because fate seems impossible to change for most of us. But there are those born to defy fate itself." Saghor's eyes shone.