The small settlement of the tribe had become a small village by then. The number of humans populating it had increased, while the tents made from fur and hide were replaced by wooden huts. The offerings brought by the villagers were more generous now — by their standards, of course.
But perhaps, they still felt that it was not enough. Or maybe they had grown fearful and desperate, for some reason… the shadow did not know. It did not care to know, either. All it knew was that, one day, its peaceful state of slumber was disturbed by a new noise. It wasn't the usual mumbling the tribesmen engaged in when leaving sacrifices on their altar.
Instead, the shadow heard a child crying.
Displeased, it let out a heavy sigh and slowly, laboriously pulled its consciousness from the state of non-existence, creating a distinction between itself and the world once more.
'What now?'
Its neighbors were proving to be most frustrating.
