Two Worlds among the Stars (G/t)

1. Chapter: The Sacrifice

The one, who broke the rule was nobody else than the son of the mayor himself. The young man often spent his time in the forest, hunting down all kinds of animals just for his own entertainment, instead of fulfilling his duties as the future mayor. He had practiced his hunting skills since his early youth and by now the walls of his home were decorated with dozens of his trophies. Soon he knew every path like the back of his hand and his daily hunting sessions lost their appeal.

Unfortunately, he was still the same reckless and immature person he had been since his teenage-years. Which led to the mayor's current dilemma.

It began with his son bursting through his door, panting like a dog and pale like a ghost. It took him several minutes to catch his breath, before he was able to tell his father what had happened. 

Apparently the hunter had slipped into the forbidden part of the forest, unnoticed by the town's people. He had successfully killed a deer with large, impressive antlers, normally something a hunter like him would be proud of, if he had had the time to admire his catch.

His shot didn't go unheard by the giant. As soon as he had heard the thundering footsteps he had fled from the forest, fueled by pure terror.

The mayor knew the giant would pay them a visit to take revenge for irrupting his territory and probably for killing the deer too. If it had been anyone else the consequences for them would have been fatal. The previous mayor, his father, had decided that the person, who broke the rule would be sacrificed to the beast as punishment a long time ago. But he couldn't sacrifice the next mayor, his one and only son, to the giant. So he came up with another solution.

Someone else had to take the place of his son.

The mayor just prayed that no one had seen the terrified man running out of the northern part of the forest and towards his house, so the other people of the village would never find out, that he sealed the fate of an innocent person, he was supposed to protect, so his son wouldn't have to pay the consequences for his own actions.

For Noah the morning started like any other. He got ready for the day and would have to leave the house to go to work soon. He was just about to grab an apple from the kitchen and leave, when a knock at the door interrupted his morning routine. The knock itself was sharp and somehow sounded oddly familiar to Noah. But he couldn't pinpoint why. 

The fact that they apparently had a visitor was also strange. Normally the only people, who visited the orphanage were the ones, who were interested in adopting a child, obviously. And even they had to wait for the visiting day, that was once every week and definitely not today, or needed an appointment. But even if the later was the case they never came this early.

While Noah was still slightly confused about the whole situation, Miss Harris, the old lady, who was running the orphanage, walked past him to the front door. When she opened it, Noah could catch a glimpse of a stern looking man, dressed in a uniform. Not far behind him was another man, looking just as stern and wearing exactly the same. Both of them weren't strangers to Noah and unfortunately neither to Miss Harris.

The one in front of her stepped forward to address the elderly woman. "Hello Miss Harris, we are terribly sorry to disturb you this early in the morning, but we were sent by Mr Delmore to take the oldest child with us." 

This combined with the authoritarian voice, he should be used to by now, made Noah stop in his tracks. He had turned fifteen barely a month ago and was thus the oldest child, living at the orphanage. What could the mayor himself possibly want from him? It's been a while since the last time he had dealt with the guards at the door... or the guards had dealt with him.

Noah was a well-known thief around the tiny village and the guys standing in front of the door had caught him more times than he would have liked to admit. Usually they only came to the orphanage to return him after they had gotten their hands on him. Thankfully he had leared a few tricks over the years and found ways to get away, before they were able to catch up with him. At least most of the times.