Outsiders

It's been about a month since the funeral pyre and things had been relatively quiet. There had been no sign of any remnants of the Gutizia tribe, and all the other tribes seemed to have no idea what'd actually happened.

This was very worrying considering two tribes had already disappeared... That they knew of. Who was to say that some of the smaller tribes in the outskirts of the territory hadn't disappeared too? It was too difficult to contact them to confirm that they were still around, and that wasn't even mentioning the more Nomadic tribes who'd move from place to place whenever it suited their needs.

There had been a few people accusing the occasional visiting outsider, but such things were quickly refuted... The outsiders barely spoke their language, and their drastically different clothing and weaponry would make it very easy to tell if they were responsible... The destruction of both the Karaskir and Gutizia had clearly been caused by another tribe, yet, no one knew which.

People had actually started to suspect the Sua'jiki tribe, as both tribes that'd disappeared were at war with them. Indeed even some Sua'jiki tribesmen started pointing fingers, more specifically, towards Luca, who'd been one of the last people in both tribes before they vanished.

Fortunately, his close relationship with Sarr'ina and Sarr'vuln had given him some degree of protection from further criticism... Not that he minded it, their intervention was more to stop rumours from getting out of hand than anything else.

Speaking of which, Luca's relationship with Sarr'ina had finally been made 'official'... At least, between the two of them, it had. It'd taken a week or two for Sarr'ina to return to her 'normal' self, the deaths of so many tribesmen, close friends included, had been hard for her to deal with. But Luca made sure she was safe, happy, and well-fed.

To be honest, it was a drastic difference when considering how he'd been when he first entered the tribe... Their roles had been flipped, with him taking care of her now. During that time, the two of them spent far more time together than they usually had in the last few years, and now that Luca had been given the 'Ok' from Sarr'vuln, he made his move.

His confession was one of the main things that'd finally brought Ina from her funk, the abrupt, comical, and cheesy way he'd done it causing the both of them to go into a fit of laughter.

Nothing much had really changed after that though, side from the increase in intimate moments, the two acted the same around one another. It was as if nothing had changed between them at all.

Like this, half a year passes before anything else of interest actually occurred. Though, it was only two things in particular.

The first is Luca finally meeting one of the visiting outsiders who were looking to buy some blue rocks which Luca quickly realised were actually Lapis Lazuli (Courtesy of Minecraft). The meeting was quite a surprise...

Flashback :

Luca had been visiting the Olmnar tribe with Sarr'ina so they could speak with Jubba about securing some more fish to prepare for winter when he'd noticed the relatively large contingent of strangely dressed people.

Their clothing was drastically different to anything he'd seen tribals wear... They wore incredibly fine and colourful silks, with sandals and a litany of gold jewellery embroidered with blue rocks he knew as Lapis Lazuli. Not to mention, their skin was much darker than the light tan of the tribesmen, as if they spent most of their time in the sun.

His eyes also focussed on their weaponry... Strange curved copper daggers and short swords strapped to their hips. These must be the people Gaiztoak originally got his copper sword from...

Luca's curiosity eventually got the better of him as he walks over with a light wave, "Greetings, what brings you here?" he politely asks, getting surprised looked and raised brows from the outsiders.

"You speak our tongue? Are you an exiled one?" a man questions, his hand twitches towards his blade as if ready to fight if needed.

Oh, shit... Luca mentally exclaims, only now realising that his strange language comprehension ability allows him to speak in anyone's language. He couldn't imagine how this would look to the Olmnar tribesmen or the outsiders...

Luca quickly shakes his head, "Er, no... I... Have been studying your language since you started trading in the region... Your people interest me, and I have always been good with language." he quickly explains.

Indeed, his explanation was good for some, but others still looked suspicious. Though, they may be something to do with his crimson hair, since they kept glancing at it.

Feeling the silence start to suffocate him, he continues trying to speak wth them, "So, what do your people actually call themselves? The tribesmen usually just call you outsiders, but surely you don't consider yourselves that?"

The man nods, "We are Sumerians, people of the Sumerian empire which is far to the southeast of this region." he states.

Sumerian empire? Luca could've sworn he'd heard that name before, but he just couldn't recall from where... He was beginning to wish he'd tried harder in geography... And every other subject for that matter... Building his social media accounts hadn't meant much to him in the end, had they...

"Do you have a leader? A king or something?" he asks, curious to see how different such an empire would be compared to the tribes he was now used to.

The man nods, "King Enmebaragesi currently rules, he might be young, but he is as wise and kind as any of the elders. The gods have truly blessed us with his presence."

"Gods?" Luca asks, wondering what sort of religion they worshipped. Around the tribes, the closest religion you'd get was worshipping nature and the shamans such as Ina and her mother. Though, this was mainly due to the fact that they could use supernatural abilities... Further proof after that wasn't really needed.

"There are many gods, but we worship Enlil so that he blesses us with good seasons, and that we are spared from his wrath."

Spared from his wrath? Well, it wasn't as if that sounded worse than being damned to an eternity of torture for simply not believing in a certain god... At least this god supposedly had a personality and wasn't all-knowingly cruel like the religions he remembered.