Outback Odyssey: Hamanu's Fading Reality

The sun had set hours ago, leaving the sky a deep cerulean from horizon to horizon. The moon was already up and shining brightly across the desert, providing just enough light for Hamanu to find his way back to camp. He was still shaken about what he saw and couldn't stop thinking about it as he walked through his tribe's territory.

He wasn't sure if he should tell anyone about it or not, but something inside him told him that he had to do something. The thought of what happened made his stomach churn. His mind raced with the possibilities. He couldn't even begin to comprehend any of them. He wasn't sure if what he saw was a mirage or if his mind was playing tricks on him. He didn't know why it happened or even how it happened. He just hoped that when he arrived back at camp everyone would be in their tents and sleeping so he wouldn't have to answer any questions.

It never occurred to him that what he saw might be real, but after all of the stories that were passed down for generations about the gods and spirits that watched over their people, maybe what he saw was real after all. Maybe this is how the gods help their people. Maybe those white skinned people who visited their village every year weren't just visitors from another place far away. Maybe they were Gods too?

"Maybe?," Hamanu said out loud as he started walking again, "What does a God look like?"

Hamanu tried to put himself in one of those white skinned people shoes and imagine looking down at himself from above and seeing himself dressed in a strange black outfit with a hood on his head and carrying some type of staff around while walking around in the desert talking to himself, but he couldn't get it right in his head.

"Maybe we're not supposed to look like them," Hamanu said with a shrug as he continued walking through the desert night alone.

After a few more hours of walking through the desert darkness, Hamanu finally arrived back at camp just as everyone else was settling down for bed inside their tents. Everyone was silent as they went about fixing dinner or putting away their belongings before bedtime began. The only sounds Hamanu could hear were Alder scratching behind her ears then letting out an annoyed "Meow!" when she realized there wasn't anything left for her to eat, and Snail laughing with his brother Croak about something stupid that happened earlier today at training with their father Big Oak who was telling them both how proud he is of them while they cleaned off their spears and knives together before they went to bed. Everyone seemed calm and peaceful even though tomorrow they might have to fight off an attack by one of their enemies tribes just because one of them some months ago decided to take advantage of a rival tribe's predicament during an eclipse and attacked them when they were weak instead of following tradition like everyone else does by waiting for three days until the sun came back out again so no one would get hurt ever again because it wouldn't make much sense for them to follow long-standing traditions if one of their enemies decided not too in order to gain an advantage over them would it? Even then, some tribes don't respect tradition at all and decided that attacking someone during an eclipse works just fine for them too just because they can! It makes no sense whatsoever! So yes, tomorrow might end up being quite eventful for everyone in camp depending on which tribe decides attacks first because even though there are laws among tribes that say you shouldn't attack your enemies during an eclipse there really aren't any laws saying you can't so tomorrow could end up being very interesting indeed! But tonight was peaceful as everyone settled down into their beds before going to sleep hoping nothing bad happens tomorrow at all!

When morning finally arrived everyone woke up refreshed, rested, and ready for either peace or war depending on who decideds to start things first today! For now though everyone sat outside their tents eating breakfast while watching Croak practice throwing his spear while running through the morning desert heat without breaking a sweat! Another thing that made today different from yesterday was that Alder didn't meow once last night when she went looking for food because even though there wasn't any food left for her she did manage to catch a field mouse which she ate earlier this morning before everyone started getting ready for breakfast! She's been acting brave lately which has taken everyone by surprise especially since she's still recovering from her wounds after getting attacked by Big Oak's enemy's vicious hunting dog two weeks ago! Snail is also excited about today because today is the day Big Oak finally decides whether or not Snail is ready to go hunting with him and the rest of the tribe again or if he needs more practice hunting deer like this past weekend when they went hunting together just like always! Both boys seem happy today regardless of what might happen later today which would make sense since neither boy knows yet that things will be much different than usual today since usually no one attacks each other during an eclipse which is why everyone is so relaxed right now not knowing how things will turn out tonight when Big Oak returns home from hunting later tonight!