A Few Moments Earlier...
Gaffer sat alone in his private chamber within the tribe house.
The room was dim, illuminated only by the soft glow of the screen pad before him. Symbols and diagrams covered the surface as he continued to draw plans—careful, detailed plans that had nothing to do with the present.
They were for the future.
More precisely, for his son's future.
The rain had begun sometime earlier, tapping steadily against the tall windows. The sky outside had turned a heavy gray, the kind that carried an ominous weight.
Inside him, the beast stirred.
[I can feel it coming. Our episode is coming! The curse!] the beast muttered darkly within his mind.
Gaffer did not answer immediately.
His eyes remained fixed on the screen pad as his fingers continued moving across its surface.
He was designing something like a territorial map with borders and settlements.
