I step through the Door and into the Otherworld. I look down at my feet, I am barefoot and the ground beneath my feet is covered in dead leaves. My legs and arms are bare and my body is covered by a rough leather hide and a knife is tied at my waist. All is quiet and as I look around me I see that I am in a wood in late autumn at dusk. In one hand I carry a wooden bow and in the other a handmade arrow.
There is a broad path before me and I follow it through the wood. I walk quietly, slowly but with an easy stride. I feel the leaves beneath my bare feet, they are soft and I am surprised at how comfortable and at ease I am in this place. As I walk, I begin to feel a strong hunger in my belly and slowly a sense of urgency creeps into my body. I begin to feel a strong need to complete some crucial task and return to my home before it is too late. There are those I love in need and I must provide for them or they will suffer. My heart is pounding so loudly in my ears that I can hear nothing else.
The feeling of constraint, of real need, becomes so strong that it is almost overwhelming. Then I see her, standing in the middle of the path a dozen yards in front of me. I stop and stare at her and she looks at me. Our eyes meet and I am overcome by her beauty as I raise my bow, nock my arrow upon the bowstring, pull back and aim at her heart.
The moment I release my arrow, my heart almost explodes, and when it pierces her heart, I feel the sharp point penetrate my own. My body convulses with the shock as I make my way to her as she falls. When I reach her, I kneel at her head and with my knife I slit her throat. I can feel the life and spirit leave her; I can feel our blood drain into the earth as I hold her as she gives up her life to feed my own.
My bare legs and feet are covered in her blood as I kneel beside her beautiful body and I place my hands in the blood pooled upon the earth around me and bathe my arms and face with it. I understand the cost, the sacrifice and the true connection between the hunter and the one who is hunted to feed the tribe. It should be painful to take a life; it should sacrifice a part of the hunter to fill the need.
