Shadow Slave novel Chapter 3171

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Tatal's wedding was a grand affair...

By the standards of the nascent civilization of the Age of Gods, naturally.

The whole village participated in the preparations. The best seamstress of the tribe prepared her wedding dress; the hunters ventured deep into the forest to procure meat for the feast. A few of the daring youths robbed the nest of an Awakened queen bee and made it away with several jars of mystical honey.

The shadow had to scare the enraged creature into abandoning its plans of revenge.

The old women created an elaborate headdress, using ember, carnelian, and rubies to decorate it. An elderly craftsman carved the auspicious charm — the figurine of a ferocious wolf — from a piece of precious jade.

Special dyes were created. The shaman of a tribe spent many days preparing to officiate the ritual. The children prowled the forest, searching for sweet berries on the ground and glistening gemstones in the streams.

Usually, the tribesmen would build a home for the newlywed couple. But ever since Tatal's grandfather passed away several years ago, she had lived alone in his house — one of the largest in the village, decorated with bestial skulls and fearsome antlers.

The shadow was surprised by how much work went into ensuring that Tatal's wedding was as grand and festive as possible. Granted, she was not just any young girl — despite her youth, Tatal was special to the tribe. She was the last descendant of its most fearsome hunter, after all, and a powerful Awakened in her own right.

She had been very young when she Awakened, too — unusually so — and powerful as well. So, the elders treasured Tatal, hoping that she would grow more powerful in the future... perhaps even more powerful than her grandfather had been, and would therefore ensure the safety and prosperity of the tribe once they were gone.

And, naturally, there was the fact that she had been offered as a sacrifice to the terrifying creature that dwelled in the darkness, and was returned to the tribe alive.

So, perhaps it was no surprise that the tribe treated her wedding with such zeal. In fact, it had taken a lot to arrange the marriage itself.

By then, it was customary for the young people of neighboring tribes to marry each other. The chieftain of the tribe — its best hunter — was usually a man, while the shaman was usually a woman. The former dealt with outside threats, while the latter took care of the people, so women held more authority in the inner workings of a tribe. Therefore, the groom usually moved to live with the bride's family.

However, Tatal was not just anyone — sadly, there were no suitable young men in the neighboring tribes to become her husband. So, the elders put a lot of effort into reaching out to the far reaches of the realm, eventually finding her an outstanding groom among the youths of the Grey Wolf Tribe — a tribe of fearsome hunters that had yet to abandon its nomadic ways, wandering the vast expanse of the realm despite its many dangers.

While learning about the Grey Wolf Tribe, the shadow was also surprised to learn how Tatal's own tribe was called...

It was the Shadow Tribe.

And the reason her people were called that was none other than the shadow himself, even if he had known nothing about it.

It seemed that all tribes of humans came from a small number of great tribes who had formed a long time ago, when their ancestors left the blissful cradle of the Heart Forest.