In his home, Mupan was smoking something when Alex walked in. He promptly invited Alex and gave him a seat. The seat was a thick wooden stump shaped and polished to make a chair.
"Do you know why our tribe is called the stone head tribe?" Mupan asked while gazing at a stone figure in his house. It was a circular single-room house, everything in it was in plain sight. And the stone figure was placed near the east corner of the house.
"It is because of the nature of our power. The mysterious energy that we control helps us strengthen our bodies and increases our defence. For a moment, we embody everything that a stone is. A body as strong as the stones are a gift given to us by the great guardian spirit." Mupan walked to the stone figure before continuing.
"And when the first chief of our tribe used this power to headbutt a mammoth and smash its skull. We became the stone head tribe."
"For generations, our tribe seek knowledge from the guardian spirit to awaken our younglings. What you experienced during awakening was a vision connecting your spirit with your guardian spirit to transfer the knowledge that cannot be taught."
"It was the only way to gain that knowledge. No human can impart that knowledge through words. You have to experience it to understand it. Therefore we seek the guardian spirit that resides in our bloodline."
"We go through the process of awakening every year to make our tribe strong."
"To make our future generations thrive."
"Now, do you know why I called you here?" Mupan asked.
'Yes. To ask me about my awakening.' Alex replied vaguely. He didn't specify his experience during awakening nor did he explicitly say that he didn't see any stone giants in his vision.
"Huh!" Mupan chuckled.
"Kid, don't be cautious. Sometimes you need to take a leap of faith. Don't always hide your thoughts. I might be able to help you. Just like how you might be able to help me in the future."
Mupan said after seeing Alex put up a mental guard. He could see the impenetrable defence Alex had against everyone. And he was considerate enough to understand this and deal with it.
Even then, Alex stayed tight-lipped. He was caught red-handed and he didn't have a way out. Once again he felt like a little kid.
"Hahaha ha… Still being as guarded as ever. I really want to add you to our trading caravan. We need a cautious sceptic like you in our team. It's good to not fully believe in the words of others."
While he was talking, Mupan rummaged through the room to pick up something.
It looked like a small iron coin. It was smaller than a thump in diameter. It had a circular hole through the middle and some things were written all across in an unknown language.
Mupan took this coin and gave it to Alex.
"This was left behind by your father. He wanted me to give this to you when you are an adult. As promised, today I am handing over this keepsake to you."
"My father!"
"Yes, your father." Mupan paused after that. Taking a seat on the wooden chair nearby. He asked.
"Are you willing to listen now? As I said before. This will be helpful to you. And the only prerequisite is that you hear me with an open mind."
Hearing the old man complain. Alex knew that his methods were wrong. In a small tribe, everyone knew about everything.
And as an elder and the only shaman in the tribe. Mupan might be the most knowledgeable of them all. How can he not know about things that happened to Meru?
Alex realised that his origin might not be as vague as he had thought.
He was just entertaining Alex when he lied.
After realising this, Alex was ready to have a good conversation.
"If so, let's have a good talk Mupan." Alex said with a smile.
"Ha ha ha. Finally, you are acting like one of us. I almost thought that a ghost possessed you or something."
"..."
"Okay! Where was I? We were discussing something about your father. Yeah, he is not from our tribe. It's as simple as that. You made it hard for me to say it. But that's the truth."
'As expected, it was birth secret.'
"So, it might also explain your weirdness. I prayed for you to have the guardian spirit of your mother's side. But when you released the smoke from your palm. I realised that you have the guardian spirit from your father's side." Mupan breathed in a plume of smoke from his pipe before saying.
"The power you gained. It is just like the smoke from this pipe. It bends and flows and at times interacts with the environment around it. It was a weird power befitting its weird users. I don't know if your father fully understood it. But one thing was for certain, he was sure that he barely scratched the surface of what that power could do before he died."
" And what I wanted to say was that your father released a reddish smoke instead of the greyish smoke that you have. That's all that I know. I believe this information would help you in the future." After saying that, Mupan silently observed Alex.
Alex lifted his head and made eye contact with Mupan.
"Thank you for sharing this knowledge with me." He said with sincerity.
"So what should I do when others ask about my spirit guardian? Should I continue to lie or can I say the truth?" Alex asked.
"It's up to you to make that decision. And the truth is that no one would notice it until you reach the full body strengthening stage. Only then can you fully materialise the body strengthening on a scale that would be obvious from a glance. Nonetheless, It doesn't matter if you chose to say it or not. You are not the only one with a different spirit guardian than that of our tribe."
"Huh! Are you saying that all the mental strain I put myself through to make a perfect lie and act like it was true was all for nothing?" Alex was exasperated.
"That's why kid, you should talk more. You would have known that if you had interacted with your peers a little bit." After saying that, Mupan looked at Alex like he was a lost cause.
Alex who saw this felt ashamed. He wished to vanish from the face of the planet than to stand there and experience the shame. As a man from a civilised society. He was ashamed of the foolishness in which he dealt with the problem.
Yet, it didn't stop Alex from asking.
"Mupan, it's cold outside, isn't it? The sky is dark and there is no light. Can I stay here today?" Alex asked shamelessly.
"Don't get cheeky with me kid. Run away right now, before I whoop your ass. Mani is waiting outside right now. He treats you like his own son and now, just as you become an adult. You want to run away from home. Is this how you should behave?" Mupan grabbed a piece of wood, before throwing it at Alex. He was fed up with his nonsense.
Alex who understood what to do next was happy to leave the house of Mupan. He once again used his impeccable skill to say one thing and drain more information from his target.
Instead of asking where his home was, Alex made Mupan indirectly give him information about his home.
After successfully failing his mission. He went outside to meet with Mani. They went home in silence.
Alex was in deep thought. He was making a plan for tomorrow. He had so much to do and a very important thing to make.
'It is going to get hectic from tomorrow onwards.'