Nine lives

Does that ring a bell?

Ch.3

After building myself a makeshift tree house with some loose planks I found lying around the hunter's house and "borrowing" some of his belongings, I leave the cabin. Sitting with my back against the wall, my head tilted back and my eyes closed, I recall a long forgotten memory.

"Lucif" he had whispered to me. "Lucif, wake up, you must leave." He told me more urgently. Opening my bloodshot eyes, I perceive Othel. Othel, my long dead friend, was a loyal and accepting farmer I had met three thousand years ago in  a region now part of India. Blind in one eye and having felt the tinge of societal exclusion, he somewhat understood my predicament. For this reason and the refuge he had offered me from a cult that believed my abilities and cunning were product of witchcraft and were bent on my destructionI entrusted him with my secret . He slowly helped me to my dirt crusted feet. Although I knew he was sad to see me go he wore a genuine smile on his face. When I finished gathering my small belongings and thanking Otrisco I headed towards the exit of his abode.

"No, Lucif, wait..." running as fast as his little legs would take him, he scurried to the back of his makeshift hut. Returning, he held something in his fist.

"What is it?" I asked, searching his kind face. Without a word he opened my palm and slipped a ring into it. Just as fast, he closed my palm into a fist and hurried me outside. With no more than a small wave, he left me alone to continue my trek to a safer haven.

I didn't open my palm for the longest time, hoping to save myself a surprise, but when I did I made sure I was alone. When the crook of my fist became bigger and bigger I began to see what had been given to me. A gold ring, expertly crafted by the looks of it, bearing minuscule rubies and emerald was what Otrisco had given me. I slipped it on and promised myself to never let it out of my sight, until death do me part.

Felix and Othel, how could they possibly be connected? Only one way to find out.