1 1.01.1 The Vagrant living on the hill.

Girium sat atop a tall tree, overlooking the village down below. His eyes were either clouded with confusion or sometimes with determination.

He even questioned whether the choice he had made was the right one.

"Hey… it's that weird man." Down below from Girium, a couple of kids from the village pointed at him, and in some of their hands, Girium could see a couple of stones.

Girium already understood what these small runts intended to do to him. As this was not the first time it will happen.

The children can be cruel to those that they consider weak. And as he was an outcast that lived in a broken hut just a little far from the village, they considered him a target.

Not like he can up and fight back against these youngsters. It was the fault of the parents for not instilling proper morale in their kids at the right age. And Girium was not their parent as well.

Jumping from the tree, he gave one last look at the kids before going towards his hut. Ignoring the pelting that came.

He knows that if he just scares the kids one time, they won't probably bother him again.

But it will also give the adults in the village the right to kick him out of his hut by blaming him for harming their children.

Which Girium didn't want to see. He still has a job here, he was just biding his time. He wanted to confirm whether the choice he made all those years ago was correct.

Whether the life he chose for himself was the right one.

After walking for a while, he heard the kids behind them laughing and then running off.

They used up their stones, or so Girium thought.

Walking inside his hut, Girium picked up a giant metal rod with a pointed nip. It looked like a spear used for spearfishing and if one looked closely, it was crudely made.

The only reason it looked unique was due to its full metallic body and weight. As rarely would one find a spear completely made of metal?

Not to mention, in this day and age when technology was taking the world by storm and there were even machines that made it easier for people to communicate over long distances.

And with these technological advancements also came an upgrade to the traditional weapons, with most of them being abandoned with time in favor of better and easier to use weapons.

So Girium would be considered an enigma in this day and age.

Getting out of his hut, Girium walked down the hill and reached the bank of the river, far away from the villagers.

He was not stupid enough to fish in the area frequented by the villagers, he had been blamed once for stealing their catch, but he won't repeat that mistake once again.

These villagers already showed enough patience with a stranger like him to live with that clone to them. He doesn't want to antagonize them for any reason.

Not for now at least.

With swift hands and aim as steady as a boulder. Girium easily caught four medium-size fishes that were now impaled on his spear. Their blood dripped slowly into the water, attracting a snake hiding under the rock in the river.

But a snake-like this didn't scare Girium, nor did he intend to kill it just for approaching him.

All he did was slowly leave the water, ignoring the hungry animal.

Killing something that approached you for food didn't feel right to Girium. And not like he had anything to obtain from the small thing. It would have been just collateral.

"Hmm?"

But while coming back to his hut, Girium noticed something strange with the village.

There were some black cars stopped at the village entrance. And the villagers who usually had smiling faces every morning now stood in the middle of the village, huddled together. With some men pointing their guns at them.

And it was not like Girium didn't identify these gun trotting men. They have come to this village a lot of times. But this was the first one where they brought guns with them.

"Hmm…" After contemplating whether he should act, Girium made up his mind and got back to his hut and wore a shirt, covering his tanned abs, and then slowly took out the fishes impaled on his spear and placed them on a clay dish.

After which, he picked up the dish and went to a smaller hut next to his house and started a fire.

Girium, usually cooked in a different place in fear of smoke taking over his hut and making it inhabitable.

And it also gave him more excuse to remain in the open, right under the sun.

Using a small knife he bought from the villagers down below long ago, he slit open the neck of the fish and cleaned its entrails. After which he added a minute amount of rock salt and some dried herbs he collected from the mountain. Before skewering it with a small stick and fixing it next to the fire.

He did this to each one slowly and steadily, ignoring the villagers down below completely.

Girium didn't wish to let the life of these fishes go to waste.

*****

"Remember, you forced us."

The leader of the men in black complained while looking at the village chief and the villagers that were huddled together in the village.

The man can even hear the cries of children and the worries of the mothers. He can see the men ready to fight to the death and some youngsters ready with stones in their third hand.

A single spark or mistake might cause a fight to start and the man knew that none of these villagers would survive. Young or old.

A fact that the village chief understood as well. Hence he did his best to stop other villagers from sparking the fire.

"What you are doing is illegal. The monolith is our cultural heritage." But this didn't mean the village chief would change his mind. He accused the man, ignorant of truly how easy it would be to end him.

"Old men like you don't understand what this is. So shut up. If you have taken the money silently. The children in the village would have been able to go to better schools and you could have rebuilt your house with better materials. But now those same kids are crying in the bosom of their mothers."

Hearing these words, the village chief was left speechless. It was the truth, the early approach of these men was way more formal. They even promised to rebuild them with new homes. But to the old folks like him who pursued tradition over anything else. Abandoning the monolith that had been part of their culture would be blasphemous. But it was too late for that now, these men would get what they want. And the promised gifts won't even fall in their lap.

As for the leader of these men, he didn't want to do this and he was truly forced to play the role of the villain here.

But he knew how important the job was. The divine construct hidden in this village would awaken soon enough which would attract many more dangerous people than someone like him.

From his perspective, he was doing the village a favor. Taking away the source of disaster before anything bad happens.

'Ignorant is truly annoying.'

Turning his head to the side, he noticed smoke rising from the hill of the mountain.

"Is that your way of sending a signal for help? Something so old?" The man laughed at the meager attempt of these villagers.

Even if the message reached some nearby village, they would take a lot of time to come here. By then their work would have already been done.

But this didn't mean he would let the rat who escaped and caused the problem go away unharmed.

"No… he is a vagrant that lives on the mountain." A young man among the villagers spoke as if worried they would be punished for the vagrant's actions.

"Is this true?" The man turned to the village chief, waiting for his answer.

"Yes, he came here eight months ago and he mostly lives on the top, rarely coming here." The chief told the man. Sweating hard as the guns aimed at his head increased.

This was a pressure play, scaring the villagers to speak the truth. And from what the man can feel. This was the truth.

But it still didn't sit right with him.

"You two, go and get him down. We don't want any problems occurring at this point." He ordered his two men, before shifting his focus to the rocky monolith in the middle of the village.

From the outsider's perspective, it would look like some collection of boulders. But those that lived in the village knew the magic these rocks held.

And so did the man.

"How long will it take?" He asked the digging crew.

"Around two hours. If we hurry, the artifact inside might get damaged." The leader of the crew explained. Not knowing why the face of his boss turned angry.

"Don't be a bunch of retards, it's impossible to harm the artifacts. It's rare for these artifacts to even be damaged." The man cursed, regretting that he didn't come here to check before.

"Stop fiddling with that rock and level it. We need to leave this place… fast."