《Ashlani's Reincarnation [A Monster Reincarnation LitRPG]》 Prologue (Part 1 of 2) With a sigh, I squared my shoulders, forced an easygoing and confident smile, and pulled back the door to the communal tent. The stink of unwashed bodies and travel-stained clothes filled the air, an almost comforting scent. The murmur of exhausted conversation settled over me as I nodded reassuringly at the members of my tribe as I passed. Viilor raised his water bladder to me in a mock salute as I continued my path towards our chief while envying his chance at relaxation. Finally, I arrived at Chief Aliteli¡¯s seat and knelt before her table, where she had busied herself with conferring with the rest of the Five Speakers while excitedly tucking into a spread of dried jerky and fruits. ¡°Viili vaata, Council of the Five Speakers. Chief, I¡¯ve come to relay the scouts¡¯ report on the den¡¯s whereabouts preparatory to my initial attack tomorrow. Would you provide me the honor of an audience?¡± ¡°Son, you never need ask my permission!¡± My mother¡¯s voice boomed out in its characteristic fashion, disregarding any social or societal expectations of her. ¡°Good news, I¡¯m sure!¡± Suppressing my sigh, I stood to attention. ¡°Thank you, chief. The scouts have verified that the keelish den is about one league northwest of here, and, fortunately, are not exhibiting any worrisome signs of advanced intelligence, great numbers, or magical individuals.¡± ¡°Good news indeed! Any other reports to report?¡± Chief Aliteli leaned forward, her posture that of a predator. ¡°No, ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Good!¡± She gestured, palms open, to the table. I didn¡¯t move. With a dramatic sigh, Aliteli conceded. ¡°You¡¯re dismissed.¡± My spirits beginning to rise and looking forward to a meal with Viilor and a couple others, I turned to leave¨C¡°Oh, what a surprise to see you, my boy! Won¡¯t you please join me for dinner?¡± I turned back to the table and locked eyes with my mother. Her grin and cocked head were all I needed to see to know exactly how I was going to be able to get out of this. Not at all or ever. With a quiet groan of resignation, I walked to the chair, tried my best not to flop into it, and began to eat some of the travel rations laid out on the table. All the while, I maintained eye contact with my mother, unable to think of her as the chief as she continued to hold eye contact. Her grey eyes shone in stark contrast under her craggy brows, piercing through me and my admittedly childish response to an initially polite invitation to dine. After just a couple of moments, I broke eye contact, knowing what was to follow¡­ A deep laugh that nearly rumbled the table we sat at. ¡°Do we need to do this every time?¡± ¡°And what is ¡®this¡¯ in context, Mother?¡± ¡°Y¡¯know, this ¡®Chief¡¯ song and dance.¡± The entire governing body of the Five Speakers looked at me, Alniyh and Lihle stern and judgmental, Nahr smirking, Sharahl gently stoic, and my mother, the First of the Speakers, expectant. ¡°I¡¯m currently training as your successor, and while you are my mother, so too are you my mentor, superior, and leader. I need to show you respect, show your position respect, and show the tribe that I¡¯m willing to respect our ways and traditions. So yes, I think I need to continue doing this ¡®song and dance¡¯.¡± Several of the Five seemed mollified by my answer, but Mother shifted forward, resting her elbows on the table and glowering towards me. ¡°You¡¯re qualified. I say it and I¡¯m in charge. Let¡¯s see any fool try to fight that.¡± The same reasoning she always gave. I couldn¡¯t help but take in the silver streaks waving through her hair, the ever deepening creases and wrinkles in her brow¡­ ¡°Mother. I can¡¯t become chief based off of the strength of your fist. I,¡± I raised my voice and hand as I talked over the beginnings of her retort, ¡°am not willing to assume leadership based on someone else¡¯s word or strength. It must be by my own merit that I gain any leadership position, and this is a hill I¡¯m willing to die on.¡± She shook her head, then settled back into her seat while a fistfull of preserved venison found its way into her mouth. A couple quick chews, a swig of her water, and a wry smile before Mother spoke again. ¡°Y¡¯see, this is why you¡¯re suited for leadership. You know what you want, and how you¡¯re going to get it, even if you aren¡¯t willing to show it too often. You¡¯ve got that eye for plans that I don¡¯t, and it¡¯ll serve you as chief.¡± I smiled and gave a shallow nod as the conversation segued back to her advisors and the logistics of the tribe¡¯s current forced march to the now verified keelish den¡¯s location. A part of me wanted to excuse myself and go sit with some of my friends of my own age, but I also recognized that this was an opportunity for me to listen to the leadership of the tribe¡­ so I listened to worries about the scaled deer¡¯s migratory patterns, how they had changed of late and even the wisest of the Speakers didn¡¯t know why. Then how the Nievetsali tribe had refused any diplomatic outreach, and why that boded poorly. Then about a terrorbird herd being sighted¡­ This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. It was only with a struggle that I kept myself seated at the table long after the vast majority of our 60 person tribe had dismissed themselves from the communal tent to set up their own family tents. Finally, Chief Aliteli raised her hands, cutting off another complaint about the youngest group¡¯s lack of proficiency with Speaking. ¡°That is enough. I have heard your worries, and I will consider the best options available to us to ensure that the Viertaali tribe continues to thrive and grow. Please, return to your families and enjoy your evening. We will begin the hunt tomorrow, and I need you, our strongest Speakers, at full strength, that you may support Ashlani in his inaugural hunt.¡± She stood, and, though some were obviously reluctant to leave off their complaining, the four stepped out of the tent and retreated to their homes. I went to follow, only to be pulled forcefully back by a hand on my wrist. ¡°Which of the things they talked about was the most important?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what?¡± ¡°Of all the things that the other Five brought to me, what was the most important?¡± ¡°I¡­ what do you think was the most important?¡± My mother, fully leaning into her Speaking specialty, was stone still. Immovable, immutable, her eyes demanding and fixed on my own. Hopeless, I tried to pull my arm free, but knew I had no prayer of escape. ¡°Why do you want me to answer? I¡¯m not chief, just a trainee.¡± ¡°What have you learned in your training?¡± I couldn¡¯t keep my eyes from darting everywhere but that stony face. Finally, confronting my reality, I sighed, ¡°I would consider all to be of note, given that they are presented by the concerned members of the Five Speakers.¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t my question. Which. Was. The. Most. Important?¡± ¡°I suppose¡­ the situation with the Nievetsali tribe. All the others, if they progress to actual problems, can be remedied by relying upon other resources, but if we end up with a grudge against one of our neighbors, then there will be no easy fix.¡± Aliteli nodded in agreement. ¡°You are generally correct. But¨C¡± her interjection cut through the quiet of the tent, just as strong and demanding as her laughter. I braced myself as the familiar lecture began. ¡°You need to overcome your immediate weakness and unwillingness to commit. You are a true Wavespeaker, your emotional attunement to water is unparalleled. You¡¯re at least as competent as Sharahl as the Wavespeaker representative within the Five, but only at Wavespeaking. Your Windspeaking, while not at a true Speaker¡¯s level, isn¡¯t far off. But you lack the passion of Flamespeaking, the sturdiness of Earthspeaking, and the comprehension of Soulspeaking. You must become proficient at each, even if not to the level of a true Speaker. I see the flames, the stone, the soul in you. You need to allow them to flourish.¡± ¡°You fully embody the ¡®sturdiness¡¯ of the earth, I wish to embody the flexion and malleability of the waters.¡± Mother cocked her head. ¡°Do you think any of your Callings can match my own?¡± I raised an eyebrow. ¡°I would guess any water-based Calling would outclass your own¡­?¡± A laugh. ¡°Confidence in the little one. Heh. Then¡­ maybe you can.¡± Her smile, deep and genuine. ¡°Our people¡­ we rule with strength. But strength doesn¡¯t give more opportunity to beat down your fellows. Instead, it gives greater capacity to serve.¡± Mother released my arm and shooed me away. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, I gathered myself up, gave a shallow bow, and turned to leave while whispering under my breath, ¡°Thank you for your instruction.¡± ¡­ It didn¡¯t take long for Viilor to find me as I exited the tent and finished preparing my own. Luckily for me, I¡¯d been expecting him, so his sudden arm around my shoulders, seemingly from nowhere, didn¡¯t get a scream out of me as it sometimes did. ¡°So what did the Chief have to talk to you about? Did she tell you you needed to focus on your attunement to the other disciplines?¡± I rolled my eyes, ¡°If you know what she always tells me, why do you always ask?¡± Viilor grinned. ¡°Because maybe someday it¡¯ll change, and I¡¯m looking forward to how your world crumbles to hear the great Chief Aliteli change her tune.¡± ¡°I know my mother can change, High Earthspeaker status notwithstanding. She¡¯s just about as capable in every other Calling too, her only real ¡®weakness¡¯ is in Wavespeaking, where she¡¯s ¡®only¡¯ just barely a Speaker.¡± ¡°Just because you know something doesn¡¯t mean that you¡¯ve experienced anything like that.¡± Again, I shrugged, then, turning out of his grip, faced Viilor. ¡°You ready for tomorrow?¡± ¡°I should ask you the same. You¡¯re leading the initial hunt, you ready, Ash?¡± ¡°Course I am!¡± I grinned, ¡°You¡¯re my second, so how couldn¡¯t I be?¡± Viilor laughed, then, realizing the implication of what I was saying, stepped in front of me. ¡°You¡¯re serious? The Chief, the Stone herself, has agreed to let me be your second? That¡¯ll just be us against the initial swarm¡­¡± Putting my arm out and on his shoulders, pulling our foreheads together, ¡°We¡¯re brothers, I know you¡¯re here for me, and I¡¯ll do anything for you. You¡¯ve been wanting an opportunity like this to practice your Soulspeaking, and I can help you with that. Besides, ¡®the Stone¡¯ herself said that I need to be more passionate, more unyielding, so she can¡¯t blame me for taking a stance, now can she?¡± Viilor¡¯s face was complicated, half smiling, half¡­ something else. ¡°I know you¡¯re independent, and I don¡¯t want to take that away from you, this is just an opportunity for me to help you. Whatever you need, just let me know, ok?¡± Viilor chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re doing more for me than you know, Ash. Thanks.¡± I shoved him, hard enough for him to stumble into the bushes. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. So,¡± a conspiratorial grin began to spread over my face as I leaned close to his face, ¡°tell me what exactly Djallma was talking about so close to you at dinner.¡± Our conversation, filled with laughter, ribbing, and teasing went late into the night. Prologue (Part 2 of 2) Prologue Chapter 2 The muggy heat was physically painful as Viilor and I trudged through the jungle to the location of the den¡¯s entrance. We¡¯d long since donned our beralts, and since their entire purpose was to retain and mask all body heat, scent, and recognizability, they didn¡¯t breathe well. Fighting to keep myself from scratching everywhere, I turned to Viilor and was frustrated to see no visible signs of discomfort. Not that there was much to see anyways¡­ ¡°How do you keep yourself sane when it¡¯s so hot and sweaty?¡± ¡°Easy solution.¡± I paused and waited for a response. No such answer came my way as Viilor remained silent and stepped into the lead. ¡°What¡¯s the ¡®easy solution¡¯? You¡¯re killing me.¡± ¡°I shut up and deal with it.¡± I could hear the grin below the mask as Viilor continued to deliberately push through the brush towards the den. Little bastard¡­ I felt the rueful grin spread across my own face as I picked up the pace and, holding myself back from smacking the back of his head, resumed the lead. It had been hard enough to convince my mother to allow Viilor to be my second instead of a seasoned member of the tribe, so it wouldn¡¯t do for me to assault him and end up getting noticed by the keelish because I couldn¡¯t hold myself back. ¡°So, second,¡± I whispered, gently shouldering my friend as I spoke up, ¡°Have you noticed any signs of the den? Or any of the signs left by the initial scouts?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Viilor settled into a serious tone, his shoulders squared. He¡¯d long been trying to get opportunities for leadership, and it was obvious he wasn¡¯t going to mess this up. ¡°We¡¯re just under a quarter of a mile away from the primary entrance, so I suggest going silent from here on out. No recent keelish sign, but plenty of evidence of their passage.¡± ¡°Thank you. Going silent from now until our return to this point, or further. Hand signals only.¡± I signaled for me to resume the lead and waited until Viilor flashed the affirmative sign back, then began the final approach to the den. All around us, the forest seemed to close in with the enforced silence. The trees, almost all burlraizes with huge knotted roots spreading around above the ground before slowly descending under the soil, choked the light before it could reach the ground. All around us, the thick undergrowth had to be carefully traversed so as not to rustle loudly if not sticking to the existing game trails. Above, occasionally the suns could be seen, the four lesser orbiting Arck, the great and primary. Going off the positioning of the red sun around the main sun, it had been an hour and a half since we¡¯d left the camp the rest of the tribe had set up. Near midday. The best time to attack a keelish den. The lizardlike reptiles were crepuscular, so either midnight or midday were the optimal times to attack, but at night, their specialized vision was superior to our own, so midday it was. Generally, unremarkable specimens like the ones we had been assured this den was entirely made up of were only 1m tall with protruding jaws and sharp claws on their feet and hands. There were occasionally unique individuals in a den, and those typically led to a swarm developing. These noteworthy specimens were, in order of increasing danger, increased size, increased intelligence, and magical capabilities. Usually, it was almost like a scale of progress, that if there were magically capable individuals in a swarm, so too would there be greater intelligence and increased physical prowess. Thus, the Veushten people as a whole and the Viertaali tribe specifically ensured that any den of keelish found was swiftly exterminated, so as to prevent their gradual evolution to a true threat. There were some folktales about the heights to which the keelish could potentially grow, but I wasn¡¯t sure that such stories were anything more than speculative. I caught myself getting distracted, and instead set to verifying the contents of my satchel as I continued to lead the way to the den. The most important of my charges was the brace of vials filled with firmly distilled alcohol, stoppered and carefully placed where I could reach easily. There was no food, so nothing the keelish could smell, but my water bladder hung behind me, tight to the base of my spine. My sling and ammunition were handy, in case there was something I could do as a ranged distraction, and my knife was strapped to my left hip. Packed light, but ready. I refocused on the hike that remained before me. Before I could further think about it, ahead of us opened a clearing through the thick tree cover. In the center was an inconspicuous mound of dirt and smaller stones, an unvegetated hill of maybe 1m in height and 4m across. It was time for me to begin the ritual inaugural hunt, so I checked my beralt. Nothing showing. I turned to Viilor, giving an OK signal. He stepped forward, checking me. He had brought his bow, the quiver of arrows quietly rattling as he looked everywhere. Before I pulled away, so quietly I almost couldn¡¯t hear it, he whispered, ¡°I¡¯m sorry Ash.¡± ¡°Going silent. See you in a minute.¡± I grinned, elbowed my friend, and walked towards the den¡¯s entrance. Viilor was always saying stuff like this when he couldn¡¯t help me with something I needed to do alone. I¡¯d be right back and teasing him the whole way to the camp where we¡¯d reunite with the rest of the extermination force. Continuing my careful stalking, I slowly, under my breath, began a Flame Calling while making sure not to make any noise with my steps. Keelish vision was built for dim and dark light, but they could still hear pretty well, even if I was in my beralt. I could feel the Calling begin to swell within me as I readied two vials of nearly pure alcohol, one in each hand. I fed my passion, my desire to succeed, to become chief, to make my mother proud, into the Calling, and I could feel my body grow warm¡­ ten more steps¡­ eight¡­ five¡­ I stumbled as something thudded into my back. Then, searing pain. I whipped my head back, afraid I¡¯d missed a keelish but¡­ If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Looking back, I could see Viilor lowering his bow. It took everything in me to not scream at him and draw all nearby keelish to me. The blind bastard had shot me! But¡­ where was he aiming?? I whirled, looking for the keelish he must have been trying to protect me from, but there was nothing. No keelish, no wolfstags, nothing. Looking back, Viilor had lowered the mask of his beralt, tears streaming down his face as we met eyes through my own mask. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Ash. So sorry. Some things¡­ are just beyond our control.¡± Then, Viilor raised a horn to his lips and blew as he retreated back into the cover of the nearby vegetation.. The echoes of the booming horn hadn¡¯t faded before I began to feel the ground below me begin to shiver with the tromping feet of numerous creatures. Keelish, that would be able to smell my blood. Realizing my only chance for survival, I shoved the betrayal, the rage, the confusion in me into my Calling as I threw both vials into the mouth of the den and completed the Phrase. With a choking roar, the gout of flames rushed into existence in front of me before shooting towards the gaping maw of the den. The meeting of red fire and pure alcohol exploded into pale blue flame then blasted me and several keelish back from the den. I began stumbling away, panic, fear, and exultation raging within me¡­ Even without looking, I knew that there wasn¡¯t much hope. Flaming, burning keelish set upon me, their screeches filling the air. The reptiles clambered over each other, not caring for the faintly shimmering flames filling the surroundings, only fighting to begin the feast. Shrieking babbles were drowned out as my own screams and cries filled the air. I could feel teeth dig into me, one, two, countless mouths fighting for another bite. I wasn¡¯t afforded the oblivion of death as more and more set on me, my legs, back, and sides being ripped mercilessly apart while I wept and screamed. I tore my eyes from the scene of my own dismemberment just long enough to look and see Viilor begin to walk away. I began to scream his name before another keelish arrived and, with one enthusiastic bite, consigned me to oblivion. Nothingness. Pure... nothing. Just... myself. Oblivion. Oblivion? No. There wasn¡¯t nothing. There was complete confusion. What had possessed Viilor to do that? Why would my best friend do that to me? Why would he have followed me around for all of both of our lives¡­ Always helping me¡­ supporting me¡­ Replacing me. Bit by bit, step by step, overwhelming the confusion, there was rage. I couldn''t say how long it had taken, how my mind had changed, but now... Boiling, frothing, all-consuming rage. Unable to speak, to scream, to move, to do ANYTHING except broil in my own hatred and fury. A part of me felt my sense of self slipping, the only remaining emotion hatred for my friend, my brother, my betrayer. Kill him like he killed me. Stab him in the back, leave him to suffer like me, to bleed, to cry, to mourn, to weep. Kill him. Kill him. KILL HIM. KILL HIM. KILL HIM KILL HIM KILL HIM KILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIM¨C [Rebirth as [System] user for Race: Keelish initiated.] MUST KILL VIILOR [[System] user default Skill Evolutionary Path Foresight granted.] [Bloodlust Skill acquired] [Default Keelish subrace Bloodseeker selected.] A¡­ keelish? [Time until birth: 00:00:59] A¡­ predator¡­ [Time until birth: 00:00:47] A¡­ killer¡­ [Time until birth: 00:00:40] My mind¡­ is slipping¡­ [Time until birth: 00:00:30] Hungry [Time until birth: 00:00:23] Tight here. [Time until birth: 00:00:15] Want out. [Time until birth: 00:00:11] WANT OUT. [Time until birth: 00:00:07] LET ME OUT! [Time until birth: 00:00:02] Snarling, I pushed my snout out of my egg and tried to jump out and begin my hunt of the one called Viilor. I couldn¡¯t remember him, just betrayal. But first¡­ my legs failed me. I tried to run, to find, to hunt, but I couldn¡¯t move my legs. A mewling screech left my mouth as I tried and struggled to stand. All around me, more of my fellow hatchlings crawled and screamed, sounds I understood to mean ¡°hungry¡± and ¡°help¡±. I forced myself to blink hard, trying to understand, to clear my foggy mind. I.. am Ashlani. Right? I¡­ was not keelish. And¡­ I needed to kill this Viilor. The strangeness of the [System] notifications stuck with me, the strange things I could see in the corner of my eye. [Reincarnation as Juvenile Keelish Bloodseeker complete.] [Would you like to view your evolutionary options?] ---------------------- [Viilor POV] With a shudder, Viilor swiped at his eyes to clear the tears. Behind him, mercifully, Ash had stopped his screams and sobs. Figuring it was the least he could do for his old friend, the brother he had literally stabbed in the back, he looked back and watched the end. The keelish, what looked to be at least ten of them, were setting into the corpses of their fellows and Ashlani alike. Since Ash was definitely dead at this point, Viilor steadily finished his Earthcalling and stone and soil flowed up his legs until it covered his body in its entirety. Once covered, he rushed out and began smashing keelish skulls into the ground. It was easy with only this many of the vermin, their jaws couldn¡¯t find purchase on his armor, and with the added weight and strength of the earth¡­ it was just a gruesome chore to continuously cave in their skulls. His first step complete, Viilor checked Ash¡¯s body to make sure that the arrow wound was completely unrecognizable, which wasn¡¯t a worry, considering so little flesh remained. Looking down at his true friend¡¯s mangled face, Viilor couldn¡¯t stop the tears from welling in his eyes, but, with a force of effort, kept them from falling and instead braced himself for the journey home as he lifted up Ash¡¯s body. It would be a difficult hike back to the camp, but he could consider this penance for his betrayal. Finally, Viilor allowed himself to glance at the flashing confirmation of a [Quest]¡¯s completion. He hadn¡¯t been lying, some things did need doing, no matter how heartbreaking they could be. Chapter 1 No, you can¡¯t keep one as a pet, they can¡¯t be domesticated¨CYou didn¡¯t see what they did to Tiliel. People say that they only leave corpses behind, but I only wish that was true. They didn¡¯t leave corpses. They leave nothing behind but bloodstains. -Letter from Speaker Tariel Nahr to his younger sister Djallma Screeching, clearing my throat, I took in the message flashing in the corner of my eye. I knew it was the [System], and that it would help me, but¡­ I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care about greater details than that, how it was different from before. I had lived a different life, and there was someone I needed to kill, and the [System] would help me with that. That was all I needed to know. While the cave I was in was slowly filling with calls of hunger and demand, I responded to the [System] notification. Immediately, information filled my mind. [Status: Name: Ashlani (unofficial) Race: Juvenile Keelish Bloodseeker Titles: none. Stats: -Constitution: 2 -Strength: 3 -Agility: 6 -Intelligence: 4 -Magic: 0 Skills: Bloodlust Evolutionary foresight -Adult Keelish Bloodseeker -Young Keelish Bloodletter -Young Keelish Alpha Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen.] There was more to think about, more to consider¡­ but no, I needed to be stronger, which is the strongest? [Answer: Unclear. Of the three, Adult Keelish Bloodseeker has the highest gross Stats, Young Keelish Bloodletter has the greatest focus on combat prowess, and Young Keelish Alpha has the greatest variety in evolutionary possibility and progress.] Bloodletter then. Combat¡­ Need to kill. Need to hunt¡­ I could feel that my mind was different, less controlled, less me, but I couldn¡¯t¡­ change it. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. How do I evolve? [Answer: Evolutionary requirements for Adult Keelish Bloodseeker: Survive for 60 days. Evolutionary requirements for Young Keelish Bloodletter: Hunt and kill 10 creatures, possess Bloodlust Skill before 60 days pass. Evolutionary requirements for Young Keelish Alpha: Acquire 10 followers before 60 days pass. Evolutionary requirements updated within Status.] Then¡­ I must hunt. I must kill. Without thinking, my eyes darted over the dozens of my brood that surrounded me. I could¡­ just start killing them. That way, I would become stronger, and wouldn¡¯t be hungry. Yes¡­ that would work¡­ I began stalking toward one of the keelish spawnlings, their piteous cries only inciting me to greater and more immediate violence. It would be simple, simply rip into the back of its neck, and it would quickly bleed out¡­ then onto the next and next until I reached ten. Then, in a moment of clarity, I pulled myself back. Was I considering murdering newborns to get stronger? Yes, they were keelish, but still, babies? With a shake of my head, I pulled myself back from murdering the unsuspecting creature, and instead took stock of my surroundings. I tried to clear my head while looking around. Strangely, I knew it was totally dark, there was no light entering the underground burrow I¡¯d hatched in, but I could see clearly. The walls were a cool blue, contrasting the warm red bodies of keelish spotting the ground, and gradients between them. So different from what I felt I knew, this new vision was both disorienting and natural. I could hear something approaching¡­ something much larger than me. Subconsciously, I flared the frills around my head, making me appear larger as I hissed threateningly. These movements came so naturally I almost didn¡¯t doubt where they came from as I readied my claws at my sides. The disconnect between this feral, animalistic side and my memory of being human¨CI could feel an argument between my instincts and my cautious nature, leaving me confused and unsure how to act. Before I could make up my mind of what to do, the large creature rounded the corner. A truly massive keelish¡¯s head appeared above me, its mouth dragging a gargantuan scaled deer behind it. Seeing the food, what felt like 100 voices screamed out their need without words. I found myself shrieking alongside the rest, my ravenous stomach demanding that I fight for my place among the few allowed to feast. Nonetheless, I found myself cowed by the large keelish¡¯s presence. I knew this creature was to be feared and respected, so I dared not rush forward and risk myself. Luckily, I didn¡¯t need to hold myself back for long, as the food was dragged further into our little room and dropped with a hollow thud to the ground. I set into the food ravenously, unable to think of anything more than filling my belly. At my sides, other keelish spawn ripped into the carcass, snapping at each other nearly as much as at the food. Only too quickly, the scaled deer was left as cracked bones on the floor. The spawnlings surrounding me began to snap more violently at each other as cries of hunger began to echo and fill the chamber. Try as I might, I could feel my own temper rising, the need to fight, claim, KILL¡­ Another massive keelish rounded the corner, dragging another scaled deer carcass behind it. With another wet, meaty thud, the body dropped to the floor, and the little horde of spawnlings swarmed over it. I found myself among the rest, my jaws snapping just as greedily as the rest, gobbets of flesh so thick I could feel them distend my neck on the way down filling my belly. The blood covering my nose filled my head with the scent of iron, and I could feel the scales around my head flare as a greedy fool to my side tried to take the meal from before me. Without thinking, I snapped out, seizing its head in my jaws and began to shake vigorously. This little bastard thought he could steal from me? I began to crunch my jaws down, his screams of pain going unheard as I drove my fangs into the little thief¡¯s skull¨C I was pulled back, my entire body ripped back by the hand of a god as my fangs pulled scales and flesh free. Snarling, I snapped at the fool who had torn me from my prey. One of the massive keelish from before looked down disapprovingly at me. ¡°Don¡¯t kill the brood.¡± The surprise of hearing such a clear sentence mixed with the instinctual suppression cleared my mind just enough for my rationality to begin exerting control once again. This¡­ was much more complicated than I¡¯d initially thought. Chapter 2 My mind constantly betrayed me. I couldn¡¯t think clearly. What is this [System]? What¡¯s going on? What¡­ I snarled at another little would-be thief reaching for my food. It immediately quailed and fled. MINE. Somewhere else, I could hear the squeals and cries of struggle for the final bites of food, but they no longer mattered to me. With just a couple snaps of my jaws I tossed the rest of the remaining food down my throat. I was happily full, but by experience I knew that it wouldn¡¯t be too long before the hunger returned. I could sleep, but then I might miss a feeding. I¡¯d seen it happen, that one was asleep when the food arrived, and though it had woken, it had been on the outskirts, only receiving the dregs from the rest. That wouldn¡¯t happen to me. I would feed and grow. What had I been thinking about? I couldn¡¯t remember. But I did know that I needed to grow stronger. I¡¯d been betrayed by a human. What was a human? I¡­ couldn¡¯t remember. They were different from me¡­ without scales? Yes. But I needed to kill Viilor. The traitor. The one who had called himself friend. I felt the snarls bubbling up and out of my throat. Traitor. I sat on my haunches, and, in a moment of clarity, thought of the [System]. Had I had that before? No, I knew that. It mentioned magic. Had I been able to do magic before? I¡­ thought so? Yes, I could do a¡­ calling. Yes, I could, the words were¡­ they were on the tip of my tongue¡­ I shook my head. I couldn¡¯t quite remember them. If it couldn¡¯t help me grow, and if I couldn¡¯t remember it, it wasn¡¯t worth remembering. Looking around, I could see the rest of the spawnlings around. They, or we, looked just like adult keelish, just smaller. Two legs with long, thick tails that didn''t bend to the ground but instead stood straight back from our hips and hung above the ground. Two thin arms with four fingers, tipped with thick but pointy claws, and different from humans, standing hunched forward with our torsos leaning forward. Crusted on all of our faces were blood and viscera, from where we had snapped our long snouts into the meat and torn free whatever we could swallow, and filling those long snouts were a row of sharp teeth built for tearing flesh. Thinking of the flesh, I was hungry... It had been four feedings since I¡¯d hatched. The meals remained the same size, but I could tell that we hatchlings were growing. The food disappeared faster, the hole was becoming more cramped, the smell of our excrement was becoming more and more foul and overpowering. And, more importantly, I still hadn¡¯t had the opportunity to kill anything. The need to hunt, to kill, to grow, was becoming overpowering. I¡¯d settled back into a relaxed position, but slowly, my full belly began to exercise its hold over me. Against my will, I found myself resting against a nearby wall. I was¡­ so tired¡­ The oblivion of sleep overtook me. ¡­ My mind cleared, almost reverted back to what it had been. I felt like I was floating gently down a river with my eyes gently closed. At peace, somewhat. I felt more like myself. What had happened? I¡¯d been shot by Viilor, and eaten by keelish. Now, I was one. Had that happened before, to other people? [Will that be your question, little fang?] What was that? [I¡¯ll be so generous as to answer without it counting. I am an Administrator of the System. I, as well as others, work with the System users and provide guidance to help you poor users to try to reach your potential.] While I could see nothing, the vaguely female voice communicated a sarcastic little bow, somehow. [I will let you know that that was your last complimentary answer.] The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. There were at least a dozen questions I was dying to ask, but I did catch on to the Administrator¡¯s meaning. I can only ask one question. [You catch on quicker than the last, little fang.] I could hear the smile in her voice. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, I couldn¡¯t stop the burning, primary question in my mind. Why me? Why did this happen? [Not a bad question, as far as ignorant first questions go, I suppose. I''m sure the answer won''t be to your liking though¡­ The Administrative Body came to the conclusion that, if you became a powerful or noteworthy System User, the results would be most interesting. There is somewhat more to it than that, but I can¡¯t tell another¡¯s secrets quite so easily.] So¡­ I¡¯m interesting. I can feel the unseen smile in return. [You''re an interesting one indeed. It''s been centuries since the last keelish System User. I hope you make it longer than the last.] But what about me is so interesting? Why would I be singled out? I need more answers, and I need to find that traitor! Tell me! [I''m afraid you''ve already asked your question little fang. Think about what you''d like to ask next time you get the chance! Now, don¡¯t enjoy your rest too much¡­ though, it''ll probably be the best you get for a while.] My questions unanswered and my rage beginning to mount, the peaceful floating feeling faded to oblivion. ¡­ I woke, ravenous and hardly remembering what I¡¯d just dreamed. Or experienced? The snarls of the rest of my brood pulled me from my contemplation. They were eating. WITHOUT ME. Sprinting, I rushed to the entrance of our little den. There, I could see the rest of the spawnlings tearing into a hill of toothy bullfrogs, fat amphibians with mouths so full of fangs that they bristled out of their closed lips. AND THEY WERE MY FOOD. I bulled over three of the smaller ones on the fringes and shoved my way deep into the mass of writhing bodies. Any that got in my way quickly gave way before my jaws and claws. Finally, I set to the frogs. The glorious scent of blood, the taste of flesh, the filling of my belly. It was glorious, and I set in with reckless abandon. However, with my tardiness, it was well before I was full that the mound of food began to dwindle and become empty. Desperate, I extended my neck as far as I could reach and went for the last substantial gobbet of meat¡­ only for it to be wrenched from before my eyes. Furious, I turned to the thief and, ignoring a flashing [System] notification in the corner of my eye, rushed at it. Without conscious thought, I literally ripped into the spawnling. With a quick bite, I grabbed its shoulder and chomped down. Screaming, the thief whipped their head around and chomped at my head, the forgotten final chunk of meat flying from its mouth. Disregarding the clumsy bite as it slid off the back of my head, I gnashed my teeth and, with a crunching of bone, fully severed my prey¡¯s arm. Now, it cried more pitifully and snapped wardingly at me. I ducked the blow and with both of my arms pulled down hard on its singular remaining one. With a thud, the spawnling hit the ground, stunned. That was enough for me to grab its throat entirely in my mouth, and, my lust for vengeance soaring, I chomped down. I could taste the sweet lifeblood coating my tongue and throat as I bit down, again, harder. The little struggles of my prey died down, and, finally, it died. I stopped myself as I bit into the warm carcass, beginning to feed. I¡¯d¡­ just killed another spawnling, and was about to eat it. Just because it took the last bite of something? Yes, and it had deserved it. The weak should bow to the strong, he was too weak¡­ But¡­ My complicated feelings warring within me, I finally noted the [System] notifications that had been flashing since before I¡¯d attacked this prey. [Skill: Bloodlust has been activated.] [Growth achieved. Status updated.] [Evolutionary requirement for Young Keelish Bloodletter: Hunt and kill 10 creatures. Progress: 1/10] Chapter 3 Thus I looked and behold Ten and seven arrayed in gold Kneeling before the one all silver, The one before whom all men shiver Leader of one and leader of all The emperor, bringer of the fall. Divine words on his tongue That which he spake and sung Words of Power That do Devour The final Hour That soon will scour All those who cower Now ground to powder And made a coward Below the claw, where they must kneel Before the emperor, The One True Keel ¨CFrom the ravings of Siegfried the Sighted The blood thundering through my ears slowing, I whipped my head back and forth, watching the rest of the brood. All around me, they backed away with frills flared in fear and mouths opened threateningly. I hissed low, the threat obvious in my posture. A primal part of me fought to exert its will as I stepped threateningly toward the nearest spawnling. ¡°That¡¯s enough of that.¡± Like before, out of nowhere a massive hand like that of a god swept me from my feet and into the air. Reflexively, I snapped at the fingers holding me, each one so large as to be a struggle to fit into my jaws. With a crunch¡­ nothing happened beyond my fangs and jaws hurting. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re very fierce and powerful. We like that. It¡¯s good.¡± While the voice wasn¡¯t any language I knew, the growls, chitters, screeches, and so on were unfamiliar yet still intelligible as language. I looked up at the giant keelish holding me, something about the slant of his jaw that I instinctively understood as a smile. This one was different from the last¨Ceven larger, and the instinctual quailing in my blood was immediate and powerful. ¡°I¡¯m sure she did something to piss you right off, but you can¡¯t kill the rest of the brood. You gotta work all together so¡­¡± The large male sighed, a surprisingly human action as he set me down and held me there. ¡°Look, I know you don¡¯t really understand. You.¡± He poked me in the forehead. ¡°No.¡± Shake of the head. ¡°Kill.¡± A harsh clack of his teeth. ¡°Brood.¡± A sweeping gesture at the surrounding spawnlings. ¡°Got it?¡± For the first time, I tried to talk to one of the mature keelish. With a strange click and hiss, I somehow spoke. ¡°Who?¡± The large one¡¯s head startled back and cocked to the side. ¡°So you can talk! Fierce and smart! I like that!¡± Slowly, the massive head lowered until it was level with my own. ¡°I¡¯m Rulac. Hope you make it to adulthood, little one.¡± Then, with a chuckle and a sweep of his tail, Rulac was gone. The silence of the little hovel was slowly broken by skittering feet and the sound of small bodies settling to rest against the walls and away from me. While the human part of me was revolted, the loud, primal, and mostly in charge keelish part of me was still¡­ hungry. Fortunately, I was able to prevail against the raging beast within and, instead, settled against a wall. The predator within noted that the spawnlings nearby subtly and slowly retreated from near me. I supposed a kin-killer isn¡¯t usually welcome in their sibling¡¯s space. Finally, I forced myself to think of something other than setting to the cooling body of my first kill¨Cone of my own kind. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that there were a couple of the other spawnlings slowly edging towards the corpse, but I forced myself to settle into my [Status] instead of lashing out and taking another life, as the slowly surging rage inside me demanded. [Status: Name: Ashlani (unofficial) Race: Juvenile Keelish Bloodseeker Titles: none. Stats: Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. -Constitution: 2+1=3 -Strength: 3+1=4 -Agility: 6 -Intelligence: 4 -Magic: 0 Skills: Bloodlust Evolutionary foresight -Adult Keelish Bloodseeker: Survive 60 days. Progress: 1/60 -Young Keelish Bloodletter: Kill 10 creatures. Progress: 1/10 -Young Keelish Alpha: Acquire 10 followers. Progress: 0/10 Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen.] Why am I stronger now? [Beyond evolution, there are certain tasks that a System user can accomplish that will directly correlate to immediate growth. You have complied with and completed one of these tasks.] What are the other tasks? I need¡­ to grow stronger¡­ to take revenge¡­ [The Administrative Body has deemed it unnecessary to divulge that information. However, that decision may be rescinded, depending on your future growth.] So I need to grow stronger¡­ to know¡­ how to get stronger? [The Administrator agrees with your statement and the circular logic present in your question. Nonetheless, She is unable to defy the Administrative Body.] I forced myself to notice¨Cone day had passed, and I was following on my path to ideally evolve into a Bloodletter. There were definitely further evolutionary possibilities beyond that first evolution. Just one step after the next¡­ then I could find Viilor and return the favor. How strong is Viilor? [The Administrative Body has deemed it unnecessary to divulge that information.] So¡­ how strong are humans in general? Or, at least, compared to keelish? How strong are keelish? [The Administrative Body has deemed it unnecessary to¡­ The Administrator has reminded the Administrative Body of your past. The Administrative Body is willing to give you that information given your previous life and memories thereof. The general standard for Constitution, Strength, and Agility for an adult keelish is 10. The general standard for Intelligence is 4. The general standard for Magic is 0. The standard for Constitution, Strength, Agility, and Intelligence for an adult human is 50. The general standard for Magic is 60.] So much stronger than I am¡­ I need to get stronger. I need to grow. I need¡­ to kill things. Echoes of my mother¡¯s voice, of strength tempered by understanding, tried to bring rationality to me, but I tamped them down. Whether it was my human side or keelish, I didn¡¯t care. I NEEDED to grow stronger, so that the betrayal I¡¯d experienced at Viilor¡¯s hands would never, could never happen again. Hunched in a corner, I wondered how I could get the opportunity to kill more things without slaughtering the rest of the brood. I was fairly certain that Rulac or some other adult keelish would put a stop to that, and possibly my life, before I made any real headway. Plus, even with my recent growth and apparently above-average status compared to what I could guess a normal hatchling would be like, I would probably be killed by my fellow members of the brood either during my rampage, directly after, or while I was asleep. After all, if I introduced them all to the potential benefits of killing the other spawnlings, I would have to live (or die) with the consequences of that. I didn¡¯t want to slaughter my own brood anyways, I¡¯d need them long term to help me in my progress towards finding and killing Viilor. I couldn¡¯t even tell how long it had been since I¡¯d been murdered, or how far my newfound swarm now was from the Viertaali tribe. Could I even find them? Would I have to face any other friends or¡­ my family? Could I? Did I need to ask Rulac to help me find things to kill? Was that a good thing, if I asked him that? Or would it be too eager, even with him saying that he and the swarm liked fierce and powerful spawnlings? Could I ever grow to compare to what I was before? Without realizing it, I slipped into unconsciousness, my mind occupied with worries about how to grow most quickly, frustration at my current impotence, and, still simmering and glowing, rage and hatred towards the one I¡¯d once called brother. My dreams, unformed, lonely, and confusing, flitted from impressions of violence to the feeling of falling, the twisting feeling of being caught under a river¡¯s swift current to a heady sense of victory, from there to the bowels of desperation, and so on. If I¡¯d still been able to, I¡¯d have woken in a cold sweat. Instead, I awoke to the echoing vibrations of a call from the mouth of the cave. It wasn¡¯t Rulac this time. The voice was somehow feminine, something about the snarls and squeaks. ¡°Now, you begin to learn to hunt. Follow me.¡± With a whip of her tail, she was gone, and just as fast, I was behind her, with the rest of the brood squalling and following behind me. Maybe I wasn¡¯t going to need to ask anyone for help after all. Chapter 4 The cries of the spawnlings surrounding me filled the caverns we passed through, the echoes filling the space and letting me know that there was much of the den I¡¯d yet to have seen. Regardless of whether there was more of the den to explore, I didn¡¯t and couldn¡¯t bring myself to care. Instead, I focused on the opportunity that I hoped had indeed been placed before me¨Cthe opportunity to hunt and to kill. With the screeches and excited growls of my broodmates echoing through my bones, I felt my adrenaline begin to pump, my body growing more and more twitchy in anticipation. We continued to ascend through the tunnel, it branching a couple of times before I began to hear basso croaks rumbling up ahead. The croaks¡­ were familiar. I¡¯d heard them before. Without a moment¡¯s warning, I remembered a flash from my childhood as a human. Splashing in a marsh near our ancestral gravesite, I was maybe six summers old at the time¡­ I had run off from my caretaker while she¡¯d been busy answering a question from another child. I¡¯d always loved the water, and I¡¯d been able to smell the damp from a ways off. So, with Viilor, my ever present friend, dragged behind me, off I¡¯d tromped and, before too long, found myself a nice little pond with tons of mud and the constant chorus of frogs croaking. The marshes here were filled with Toothy Bullfrogs, a somewhat large prey creature that wouldn¡¯t stop their croaking during the mating season. The amphibians were larger even than my head, nearly so large as my torso. I loved chasing them around, and I¡¯m sure that my actions served to further agitate the natural denizens of the marsh, though I¡¯d never have known before Viilor spoke up. ¡°Athlani,¡± he lisped, ¡°I don¡¯t think that you thould bother them. They bite. Pluth, it¡¯th muddy and dirty. We¡¯ll get in trouble.¡± I laughed in response. ¡°They¡¯re too slow to bite me! Come on, come on! It¡¯s fun! If you take off your shoes it¡¯ll be fine! We can just wash up after!¡± Sullen, Viilor simply shook his head no. ¡°You¡¯re such a wimp! Wussy wimp!¡± ¡°Nuh uh!¡± ¡°Yuh huh!¡± ¡°NO I¡¯M NOT!¡± ¡°Then come on!¡± I screamed, and, to further draw him in, I slung some mud at Viilor. It did the trick, and, with a squeal of outrage as he kicked off his moccasins, he was chasing me more than the frogs. Before long, we were joyfully tussling and wrestling in the marsh, both occasionally getting the upper hand, until he flopped down into the muddy grass next to me. ¡°... That wath fun.¡± I smirked. ¡°Of course it was. I¡¯m always right. Now, you need to chase a frog and then you¡¯ll see how I was right about that too.¡± Viilor sighed. ¡°Do I have to?¡± I nodded solemnly. ¡°Ok.¡± With a grunt and a couple of careful steps, Viilor set to carefully stalking close to a nearby Toothy Bullfrog. He wasn¡¯t really chasing it, but I supposed it was ok, since he was going to have to chase it eventually. He was always good at sneaking like that¡­ Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. It took me a moment to realize that he was within arm¡¯s reach of the frog, but before I could say or do anything, he¡¯d leapt forward and caught it around the belly with both hands! With a scream of victory, he lifted his prey above his head and looked back to me, grinning widely. I cheered as I got up and began to run towards him with my arms above my own head. Almost in slow motion, I watched as the frog was able to slip out of Viilor¡¯s grasp and, with a writhing twist, got its massive jaws onto his left arm. Suddenly, the cries of exultation were filled with terror. The full bodied wrenching of the frog dragged Viilor to the ground and there it quickly chomped down again. ¡°ATHLANI! HELP ME PLEATH!¡± Viilor looked to me, tears streaming down his face as terror threatened to overcome him. I could see a couple other of the frogs beginning to approach, and I was sure that they were coming to eat my friend. ¡°NO! I WILL PROTECT YOU!¡± I jumped forward and began stomping on the frog¡¯s flabby torso as Viilor continued to thrash and try to extract himself from its jaws. I could feel it squish disgustingly beneath my bare feet, but I wouldn¡¯t let it keep Viilor down. I needed to be the chieftain¡¯s son and protect people! With two more wet, mushy stomps, the frog gave up all struggles, and Viilor was free. With full-body wracking sobs, he scrambled to his feet and huddled behind me as I squared off with the remaining approaching amphibians. They quickly retreated back into the water as I screamed in defiance and victory. ¡°I¡¯ll protect you, Viilor. It¡¯s my job.¡± Grinning, I turned back to my friend, expecting him to look at me as the hero I was. Instead, I was greeted with the view of blood coursing down his arm, left by the dozens of sharp teeth that filled the Toothy Bullfrog¡¯s maw. Panicked, I tore my shirt off and wrapped it around his arm. ¡°No, don¡¯t cry. We got it.¡± Sobs. ¡°Um¡­ are you ready to go back?¡± With tears staining his cheeks, Viilor nodded and began to ready himself to go back to our caretaker. ¡°Wait!¡± ¡°... What?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you want to bring the prey? It was your first hunt!¡± Viilor shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything. I jutht¡­¡± Tears began to bubble up in his eyes again as his lip trembled. ¡°I jutht got hurt. And it¡¯th your fault.¡± Shame washed over me for a moment, before I grabbed the Bullfrog by its rear legs and held it up before Viilor. ¡°No, you caught it. I never could have. You did that, and all I did was¡­ was¡­ hit it. I was like¡­ your weapon. Yeah! I just was your weapon. So this was your first hunt! And that¡¯s your first battle scar! You¡¯re so cool! I¡¯m jealous!¡± With a sniffle, Viilor began to smile. ¡°Yeah, I did hunt it, didn¡¯t I?¡± Then, with my support we¡¯d gone back to where, contrary to our expectations, we¡¯d both been heavily disciplined for our ¡°hunt¡±... How had that little boy changed to be my murderer? We¡¯d been the closest of friends, and I truly thought of him as closer even than a brother could be. Yet, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care. Not any more. I wouldn¡¯t allow him, or anyone else to hurt me. I needed power, strength, influence to make sure that I could do back to him what he¡¯d done to me. Except my jaws would be the ones that closed around his throat, and I would watch as the light drained from his eyes. So, the next step was to evolve, and to do that¡­ I needed to kill the Toothy Bullfrogs herded in before me, into a seemingly specially made little arena in the den. Now, instead of comparatively somewhere in size between my head and torso, the beasts were as tall as me but easily four times the weight, at least. The squishy, weak body I¡¯d seen as a human was now a bulky armor that would prevent my fangs and claws from piercing into their vitals. This defensive, hard to pierce torso was then capped off by a massive maw that could almost certainly consume me in just one or two bites. I felt a grin involuntarily begin to spread across my face. Disregarding the incidental and accidental fratricide, my first hunt in both lives would be the same: a Toothy Bullfrog. Chapter 5 Pulling myself from my reverie and back into the present, I began to evaluate how I would be able to kill these Toothy Bullfrogs hopping around before me. There were only seven of them, so I wouldn¡¯t be able to trigger an evolution through hunting each of them. Not that that was really an option. Regardless of everything else, I knew my limits. I wouldn¡¯t be able to, on my lonesome, face and kill these massive frogs. But¡­ did I need to be the sole creature that had participated in a hunt? I quickly looked to the [System] [Evolutionary requirements for Young Keelish Bloodletter: Hunt and kill 10 creatures, possess Bloodlust Skill before 60 days pass. Progress: 1/10] I already had the Skill, so did I need to kill the creatures all on my own, or could I just deal the final blow? Or did I just need to participate in the hunt? Or if I sent a subordinate to hunt, would that somehow count? [In order to complete an evolutionary requirement, the System user must actively participate in the completion of said requirement. The System user need not be the sole participant in the completion of said requirement.] So I just needed to participate. So long as I could work with the other spawnlings to hunt, I could make good progress here. Immediately, I turned to the rest of the brood surrounding me. Since I¡¯d grown after killing the other spawnling, I was among the largest of the brood, so I tried to look imposing yet inviting, and get them to work with me in this hunt, and they went quiet before me. Subconsciously, I felt a slight grin spread over my face, and I could remember a bit of my mother¡¯s approach to leading¨Cperhaps I did have the passion of Flamespeaking within me. Then, I realized. Not a single wretched spawnling was looking at me. Instead, the full sixty or so of the spawnlings were looking at the female who had led us here. She stood, her figure an imperious and regal contrast to my skinny and gangly silhouette. I shrank down and retreated a step, then two, closer towards the body of spawnlings behind me. I swore I saw a smirk in the way that the female looked down on me. ¡°Now, newest members of the swarm, the time has come. You have been coddled and raised for now, but your days of being so many little parasites are through!¡± She paused, and I realized that there was no way the rest of these little creatures were going to understand this. Looking around, however, I noted that there were eight other heads that seemed to have perked up and were listening with attention. Competition for leadership? ¡°We realize that most of you will not truly understand what happens today. If you are intelligent enough to understand my words, even if you cannot yet express yourselves, you will have the opportunity to step into leadership among your fellow broodmates. Eventually, if you survive, you may become leaders among the swarm. The rest¡­ are destined to become your followers. They¡¯ll get smart enough to talk, eventually, but they¡¯ll be too far behind at that point. Most of ¡®em are happier that way anyways.¡± The large female flicked her tail in a way I instinctively understood to be a shrug. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Anyways. Break into at most five hunting packs. You¡¯ll begin your first hunt soon.¡± Before I could understand what had happened, the other eight had begun jockeying for followers, pulling in the other spawnlings to join their packs. Nearly unintelligible cries of ¡°Me!¡± and ¡°I Best¡± echoed from the center of the huddle of little bodies, and I could tell that the even more bestial of my fellow spawnlings were quickly persuaded. Snarling under my breath, I stepped closer to the other members of the brood, cursing my pride and unwillingness to mingle with the rest. ¡°Follow¡­ Me!¡± I cried out, my words lilting and stumbling out my mouth with unfamiliar and uncomfortable squeaks and cracks. ¡°I¡­ Lead¡­ and¡­ Kill¡­ prey!¡± A couple of the nearest spawnlings turned in response to my words, but stepped back cautiously once they recognized me for who, and what, I was. ¡°I¡­ Stronger! I¡­ help¡­ win! We¡­ hunt!¡± I posed as magnificently as I could, but still the spawnlings around me were cowed by my presence. My power. I felt a rage beginning to bubble up within me. Who were these NEWBORNS to disregard me? To forget about what I could do for them? To¨C ¡°You¡­ strong. I¡­ follow.¡± A male voice piped up as a smaller to average sized male pushed his way through the berth of spawnlings nearby. I realized that, in fact, there were only eight voices arguing their superiority, my own being one of them. I¡¯d noticed eight heads other than my own understanding the unnamed adult female. This one was the eighth, or ninth, depending on how I was counting. ¡°You¡­ follow¡­ me?¡± A flare of his frills that was a nod of assent. ¡°Strong¡­ with¡­ me.¡± I flared my frills back at him. ¡°Who¡­ follow¡­ me? With¡­ him.¡± A large female, as large as me, approached, passed, and stood behind me in support. Behind her followed a small female and average sized male. Finally, another male followed behind and¡­ that was it. Five of more than sixty. A pathetic showing, if I was to be honest with myself. Regardless, I would have the opportunity to hunt. Finally truly looking at the rest of the hunting packs, I was initially and most surprised to notice that there was a ¡°pack¡± of more than 20. There was a large male in charge, with two ¡°intelligent¡± followers, both female. Then, there were four other packs, ranging in size from eight in number to twelve. None of them had more than their single ¡°intelligent¡± leader, so while I was behind in numbers, I was ahead in that respect, at least, when not compared to the massive pack. Still stewing over my own failure, the adult female keelish¡¯s voice carried over and through the present spawnlings. ¡°Look, that¡¯s six packs. One too many. I¡¯ll merge two of you smallest ones together.¡± Suns burn her, I was going to lose my followers before I gave my first command. But maybe, with my intelligent follower¡¯s support maybe I could subdue whichever group I was forced to join, even if outnumbered. ¡°You, and you. You¡¯re now one pack. Figure it out.¡± She pointed at two other packs, the smallest other than my own. Immediately, snarls of anger and attempted dominance broke out between the two leaders, and before long, the leader of the larger pack was decided to be the leader of the new and larger group. ¡°Now. You five will lead a hunt, and the fastest hunters will be allowed to hunt again. You¨C¡± She pointed at me, ¡°will be our first to lead the hunt, given your history of desire for violence. Congratulations and good luck!¡± Another inaugural hunt. And this time, I trusted my subordinates less than the one that had shot me in the back. Chapter 6 For a brief moment, I wanted to complain about the sudden assignment, but quickly I decided that if I was able to get these spawnlings to follow me well I might get a second opportunity to hunt soon. So, instead, I turned to the keelish that, at least for now, had decided to follow my commands. It went against my new instincts to give commands instead of simply charge in headlong and rip the prey to shreds. The more I thought about it, the more appealing it seemed to be¡­ but no. I pulled myself out of my violent delusion and instead began to struggle to force intelligible sounds out of my throat. ¡°You¡­ get¡­ back¡­ leg.¡± I gestured with my head to my smart follower, or sub-leader as I would think of him from then on. ¡°Take¡­ with.¡± I gestured at one of the other males, who then fell in line behind the sub-leader. ¡°Rest¡­ get¡­ front¡­ legs.¡± The other three, following the large female, flared their frills in assent while I worried about if they understood what the difference was between front and back legs. Was I going to embarrass myself trying to hunt these frogs today? Ones I¡¯d killed before I¡¯d been able to utter my first Calling in my previous life? And while I was worrying, why weren¡¯t these keelish seeming to count as followers for the Young Alpha evolution? I couldn¡¯t seem to calm myself, but I could feel the rest of my pack beginning to pick up on my nerves the longer I hesitated. So, with a click of my jaws, I led my pack into the arena. My heart was pumping in my ears, if I even had those. I could feel the blood pumping hard, my hands beginning to jitter as we slowly approached the closest Toothy Bullfrog. It was at least as large as I¡¯d guessed, taller than me and more than three times as broad across the chest. But¡­ it was also a prey animal. And keelish are hunters. The nervousness somehow transitioned into excitement and battle readiness. I noted that the other prey hopped away, trying to escape notice for now, while the one I¡¯d chosen was swelling itself up to look larger. I already knew its size, and didn¡¯t care. ¡°Go¡­ get¡­ leg¡­ NOW!¡± I shouted the last word, the shriek seeming to stun the amphibian as my sub-leader and his assistant circled around to the exposed but powerful hind leg of our next meal. As the echoes of my shouted command began to fade from the arena, our prey began to circle around to thwart their approach. I didn¡¯t let it, as I myself came close and clacked my jaws threateningly just a couple of inches away from its snout. It spread its large maw in response, and I took just one step back in response, staying threatening. Suddenly, the frog thrashed and screamed a throaty, croaking cry of surprise and agony as my sub-leader set into its hind leg. Perfect. ¡°NOW!¡± The other three, under the lead of the large female, charged forward and gnashed into the frog¡¯s weaker front legs. I heard the grinding of bones as the distressed cries of the frog rose ever higher in panic and volume. Still, though, I waited. I needed to get to its underside without being bitten¡­ Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The opportunity arose as our prey lunged for the large female that had lodged her bite into its hand and was grinding her jaws deeper into its flesh. The Toothy Bullfrog¡¯s maw spread wide open before me as the teeth sliced into my companion¡¯s back. The scent of her blood burst out just inches from my face, and I could feel all the muscles in my body contract, moving before I thought of anything consciously. [Skill: Bloodlust has been activated.] I pitied the large female whose sacrifice would be necessary for my hunt, but that didn¡¯t slow my approach. Even before she could react in pain or panic, I was underneath the lower jaw of the frog. Immediately, I began ravaging the soft underbelly with my claws, the soft skin quickly parting beneath my frenzied swipes. I could feel above me that the frog had released the female and was now looking to chomp down on my tail, presumably to drag me out from beneath. Unfortunately for the Toothy Bullfrog, I had teeth of my own, and I could begin to see its ribs. Instead of allowing any repercussions from my assault, I widened my jaws as much as I possibly could and, with the full force I could muster, snapped them closed. The crunch of bone sounded as my fangs easily ripped through the underdeveloped rib cage of the soft-bodied amphibian. I could feel the frog beginning to collapse above me, either succumbing to its injuries or in sheer agony. I didn¡¯t pay it any mind, instead seeking to bite ever deeper as my jaws set into the most important looking gobbet of flesh I could see. Without slowing myself and ignoring the [System] notification blinking in the corner of my eye, I began to eat, to fill my empty belly. I wasn¡¯t sure if the prey remained alive, and I didn¡¯t care. I didn¡¯t know if the large female had survived. I didn¡¯t care. I continued to chomp, to fill my belly. I could hear chewing outside of the body, as the rest of my pack set to the carcass with abandon, filling on the feast and prize of our successful hunt. Slowly, the Bloodlust faded from my mind, and I extracted myself from under the frog¡¯s corpse. I was coated in its viscera and lifeblood, and I realized I didn¡¯t really care. Sure, it was a little dirty, but that happened sometimes. However, collecting myself, I looked around to find the large female. I certainly hoped she hadn¡¯t been seriously injured, since she could be one of my most reliable hunters in the days to come. I was happy to see that the large female, though wounded, was seemingly unaffected by the bite she had sustained at the jaws of our prey. She was excitedly tucking in to the rapidly dwindling meal that we had successfully hunted. All along her back were weeping wounds, jagged reminders of the dangers present in our hunt, but she and the other four of my little pack showed no regret nor dissatisfaction in their faces and bearings. ¡°Good job, little guy.¡± The adult female¡¯s voice barely registered with me as she began giving instructions to another group to begin the hunt. Instead I looked as all five of my pack looked at me with respect, their faces covered in the ichor of victory. The surging emotions again seemed to take control of me as I reared my head back and crowed, ¡°VICTORY!¡± as the [System] notifications flashed without me paying them any mind. Chapter 7 My new packmates didn¡¯t get any farther away from me than maybe three steps as we exited the arena. I noted the pride in their bearings, and a part of me laughed at them taking pride in striking down a single Toothy Bullfrog when we¡¯d outnumbered it six to one. The rest of me realized that I too was pretty proud of our achievement. What did it matter if we outnumbered it? Keelish are social creatures and predators, anyway! ¡°Good¡­ leader.¡± My sub-leader spoke up as he walked in step with me. I recognized the opportunity to speak up and communicate further with my pack, but was frustrated by my inability to communicate openly. Swallowing down my frustration, inability, and excuses, I spoke up as we settled into a position where we could watch the next hunt begin. ¡°Good¡­ hunt. Good¡­ follow.¡± My pack looked at me, curious and respectful. I couldn¡¯t deny the small glow of pleasure that sprung up in me when I saw creatures willingly following and listening to my instructions, hanging on my words. Different from the politics, maneuvers, and general unpleasantness that was humanity¡¯s social and political hierarchy. Here, as a keelish, I only gave a good command and was personally strong, so I led. Somewhat similar to my mother, I supposed. ¡°You¡­ strong?¡± I asked the large female, and she pulled her head back and cocked it in confusion. Stars forsake me, how could I ask if she was ok? ¡°Need¡­ rest? Can¡­ hunt?¡± Seemingly panicked, the female flared her frills in agreement with the second question, and I could hear in her throat as she desperately tried to speak. Even after waiting for a moment, she was unable to force any intelligible sounds from her throat. I was, however, able to understand what she was seemingly trying to communicate. ¡°You¡­ still¡­ follow. Still¡­ strong.¡± Again, frantic flaring of her frills. Reading the body language, the other four also seemed to worry about me casting them out and were trying to illustrate with their postures and body language that they were as tough and fierce as ever. Again, I felt myself taking pride in the trust extended to me by my broodmates, the new members of my pack. The small female especially was posturing, her obviously showy pose making me think of the frog that had swelled itself up in size to try to intimidate us before we¡¯d so handily hunted it. Without conscious thought, a low, constant clicking began to come out of my throat as a part of me I didn¡¯t have as a human communicated the pride and pleasure I felt in having successfully conducted a hunt. Looking at my five followers, I realized I couldn¡¯t really think of them as ¡°sub-leader¡±, ¡°large female¡±, ¡°small female¡±, ¡°other male number one¡±, and ¡°other male number two¡±. I needed to learn their names. ¡°What¡­ your¡­ name?¡± I looked at my sub-leader. He cocked his head. ¡°What¡­ name?¡± I finally consciously realized that none of us had ever been named. My name had been given to me by my mother, and I only thought of it as mine since I remembered it from my previous life. None of these hatchlings had been given any individual attention by an adult in the swarm, and I wasn¡¯t even sure if they understood the concept of a name. My sub-leader¡¯s response answered that question well enough. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°What¡­ I¡­ call¡­ you.¡± ¡°What¡­ what¡­¡± His mind seemed to struggle to understand the distinction. ¡°I¡­ Ash¡­¡± I almost gave up and decided to go by Ash, simply to save myself the trouble, but remembering the last thing Viilor had said to me before murdering me by proxy, I reset myself and tried again. ¡°My¡­ name¡­ Ashlani.¡± I could see all five of my subordinates, members of my pack, begin to stumble over themselves trying to figure out how to make that noise come out of their throats. It was endearing to see them, even when obviously incapable, struggle and work hard to say something to possibly get into my good graces. Unsurprisingly, my sub-leader was the first to make any headway, though he was still unable to fully pronounce my name. ¡°You¡­ have¡­ name?¡± He clacked his teeth together for an emphatic no. ¡°You¡­ give¡­ me?¡± I could see the rest of the pack perk up and obviously hope for an affirmative answer from me, and then for me to give them names as well. Slowly, I flared my frills in assent. This one¡­ male, my first follower, so number one. He is my sub-leader. One¡­ leader¡­ Onli, maybe? ¡°Oncli.¡± Immediately, my foreign throat and mouth messed up in pronouncing his name. I was about to correct myself when I heard him speak up. ¡°Oncli. My¡­ name¡­ Oncli.¡± The low clicking that I¡¯d just recently been making to show my happiness began to wash over me as Oncli repeated his name to himself. As he stepped back, seemingly entranced by his newfound title, the other four pushed their way toward me, the large female dominating the center as she coughed lightly for attention. She reminded me of my old pet hultzi, like a large colorful bird, the way he would beg for treats. Absentmindedly, I thought for names for the others. Quickly, I settled on simple names for each. ¡°Took,¡± the large female, for her number two spot. ¡°Treel,¡± Took¡¯s little female hanger-on. ¡°Foire,¡± the first of the two males to follow me. ¡°Vefir,¡± the final male that had followed me. The four that I¡¯d named each squatted nearby, their jaws working carefully, trying to pronounce their names. They could understand my simple commands and sentences, but they still couldn¡¯t adequately form words of their own. Pleased little clicks began to sound from my throat again, little laughs of pleasure. Again, they reminded me of my hultzi. He had been a good pet: cute, low maintenance, and fun to be around. But that wasn¡¯t the only or even the primary reason that I had kept him around. I wasn¡¯t too sure that I needed these new packmates to be able to communicate clearly quite yet anyways. After all, while I did appreciate their appreciation, that wasn¡¯t what I needed from these new subordinates. I hadn¡¯t ever had a reason to name the hultzi, since while I¡¯d appreciated his company, he wasn¡¯t a person. He was a pet, and he had a use¨Che was a hunting aid. Hultzis¡¯ ability to fly while still being somewhat massive themselves led to being great spotters and initiators in a hunt. Just like I¡¯d trained that hultzi, I would train these hatchlings. What I needed from these newly named hatchlings was absolute obedience, ferocity, and the ability to kill whatever I told them to. Anything else was, at best, a bonus. They may end up becoming companions, but that couldn¡¯t detract from what my focus needed to be. I couldn¡¯t take my eyes from my goal¨Cto grow strong enough that nobody could betray me again, and, eventually, take my revenge on Viilor. To that goal, I finally decided to acknowledge the [System] notification flashing in the corner of my eye. [[Growth achieved. Status updated.] [Evolutionary requirement for Young Keelish Alpha: Acquire 10 followers. Progress: 5/10] Chapter 8 ¡°While the Saharliard could live up to the translation of their name, ¡°the scaled equal people¡± (which is so frequently mistranslated as ¡°scaly friend¡±. Honestly, the ignorance of some of these so-called ¡°historians¡± is absolutely dreadful, I must say. I realize that the direct translation leaves much to be desired if one is simply looking for a pithy line, but the name of the Empire was deliberately chosen to invoke respect and, eventually, fear. The Saharliard were not some supposedly cozy and friendly people, but equal to the Sunkindred in their passion, the depth of thought of the Moonchildren, and the versatility of working violence of the Misti Hawar. Why would a ¡°scaly friend¡± rule over ninety percent of the continent, answer me that. Regardless, I return to my letter.), what remains of their people cannot. Their degradation is most pronounced in their intellect, or lack thereof, as their fall from one of the peoples of Elioloi exchanged their famed scholars for ravenous fiends. No longer were the warrior-poets of Nievtra frequently found in libraries, unless there were rodents to be consumed within. Nonetheless, there is a certain beauty in the degraded Saharliard, the keelish. Their bodies are built for two things: mobility, and ferocity. I can appreciate the singular focus in their weakened design.¡± -Excerpt taken from Eldara di¡¯Frandara¡¯s letter to the Red Abbey¡¯s Archeology department. After the hunt, or maybe after I¡¯d given the spawnlings names, Oncli, Took, Treel, Foire, and Vefir became acknowledged as my followers by the [System]. I¡¯d begun to worry about if I accidentally became an Alpha and deprived myself of the opportunity to become a Bloodletter. After all, that would offer me the greatest focus on combat prowess, or so said the [System]. My mind had cleared significantly since those first moments of hatching, but still present was the need to move, to act, to hunt. And, driving all that, was my personal need to grow. Looking at my [Status], I could see what the growth I¡¯d experienced was. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Juvenile Keelish Bloodseeker Titles: none Stats: -Constitution: 3+1=4 -Strength: 4 -Agility: 6 -Intelligence: 4+2=6 -Magic: 0 Skills: Bloodlust Evolutionary foresight -Adult Keelish Bloodseeker: Survive 60 days. Progress: 3/60 -Young Keelish Bloodletter: Kill 10 creatures. Progress: 2/10 -Young Keelish Alpha: Acquire 10 followers. Progress: 5/10 Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen.] So, a little growth in the stats, and it had been three days since I¡¯d hatched. Only three days? Would the stat growth have been from my followers beginning to follow me, or from the hunt? Would I always grow with every hunt? That couldn¡¯t be the case, because if it was, then all keelish would be monstrously powerful as well as numerous and fierce. But was I now allowed to know why it was that I was able to grow? Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. [The Administrative Body has deemed it unnecessary to divulge that information. However, that decision may be rescinded, depending on your future growth.] Maybe I could ask again after I evolved¡­ Would I be able to evolve into an Alpha and then into a Bloodletter? [The Administrative body has deemed¨C That was enough of that. So, for now, my goal needed to be to hunt more, and make sure that I wasn¡¯t closing off my opportunity for most efficient growth. Speaking of hunting, I looked down at the hunt currently ongoing. It was the second one after ours, it would appear. There was a picked clean Toothy Bullfrog carcass not far from the similarly picked clean remains from our hunt, and the group of ten or so keelish below was quickly swarming down their still standing prey. The other three frogs huddled in the corner as the hatchlings simply ripped into the struggling beast. They hadn¡¯t gotten a good hold on either of its back legs, so it successfully hopped up once. It wasn¡¯t able to get very high or far, but it was able to rise high enough to come down on a hapless aggressor¡¯s leg. With a snap, the keelish collapsed and wailed in agony as the rest of its pack did not care and continued to tear and rip into their prey. Before long, the Toothy Bullfrog collapsed and began to be eaten. Its croaks were ignored as the hatchlings chomped out gobbets of flesh bite by bite. The injured keelish struggled and was able to get a couple of bites of food before succumbing to the agony of its wound and collapsing. It lay whimpering as the meal it had helped to hunt was reduced to nothing before its eyes. There was no mercy shown, and I was reminded that the brutality of this ¡°society¡± went both ways and was no respecter of persons. With their meal complete, the pack left the arena, their lamed companion left in the blood-soaked dirt. After a moment, my stomach turning with what I was about to ask, I approached the large female. ¡°What¡­ do?¡± She glanced down at me. ¡°With him?¡± I flared my frills. ¡°Well, a hatchling that breaks their leg like that will never walk again.¡± Her tone was inflectionless, dispassionate. The flick of the female¡¯s tail communicated the indifference she felt as she spoke. ¡°He¡¯ll live if someone takes pity on him, but it won¡¯t be me that does it. He¡¯ll be a parasite as long as he lives, can¡¯t contribute to anything.¡± She glanced down, her expression and body language suddenly unreadable. ¡°If you have something you want to do about it, you can.¡± I weighed my options. I could bring him along. He would immediately be dependent upon me, which would probably mean commensurate loyalty. He would become a follower of mine, bringing me closer to an evolution, even if it wasn¡¯t the one I preferred. I could guarantee that there were further evolutions from the Alpha, since the [System] had said that the Alpha has ¡°the greatest variety in evolutionary possibility and progress¡± among the options that I was able to see. But I couldn¡¯t rely on the other keelish as an Alpha, I could only rely on myself. I could see that here, that there wasn¡¯t any loyalty beyond immediate benefits. I needed to be stronger, to be more capable, to be more dangerous. Individual capability ruled here, I could already tell. Could I change that? Did I want to change that? If I left things as the status quo, my pack, and then the swarm, would be most easily influenced, and I was the sole keelish in all of Elioloi that knew how to grow stronger. The sole keelish that knew how to evolve. The sole keelish that had the [System]... I was overthinking again. I had already made my choice, and now I was just trying to justify it. Slowly, I stepped into the Arena and approached the lamed keelish, who looked up to me with hope while continuing to keen softly in pain. I felt myself begin to take pity, to want to save him, but I steeled myself and my heart. For my future, I couldn¡¯t care about those who were to fall by the wayside. ¡°I¡­ am¡­ sorry¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t keep myself from apologizing as I leaned down and, with a deliberate and strong snick of my jaws, bit the head from the body of the suffering keelish. My head hanging low and deliberately ignoring the flashing [System] notification in the corner of my eye, I returned to my pack on the edge of the arena. I expected to see them pull back a bit at my presence but they didn¡¯t. I supposed that taking care of a ¡°useless¡± member of the swarm wasn¡¯t the same as what I¡¯d done to the hatchling that had taken my food. Before I could try to sort out any thoughts on the matter, the adult female spoke up again. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you had it in you. But, I¡¯ll tell you now that you did the right thing.¡± I looked up at her. ¡°Nobody in here was going to help him. Then, he would starve. Even if they did, eventually they would stop. And then, he would starve. Or, if someone was exceptionally foolish, they would keep feeding him forever, and then he would feel entitled to the food he received, even though he would do nothing more than stay in the den and be fed, cleaned, watered, and spoiled until the day he died of old age.¡± She lowered her head so that it was level with mine. ¡°The best time to remove a parasite is the moment that they¡¯re found. Don¡¯t let them fester.¡± She made a point. In this utilitarian world, the world of keelish, one who couldn¡¯t hunt or walk couldn¡¯t contribute¡­ But could I call one of my brood a parasite? And why did a part of me agree and enjoy the feeling of superiority? Chapter 9 The other hunts were rather unremarkable. The last two packs had the most hatchlings, so they simply all rushed in and mobbed their assigned frog until it died, which didn¡¯t take long. The only slightly noteworthy approach was from the final group, the largest pack with three intelligent hatchlings¨Cthey had a couple of members of the pack, under the direct supervision of one of the two intelligent females, circle around the upper edge of the arena until they were directly above the Toothy Bullfrogs. Once there, they had jumped down and onto the amphibian, keeping it from jumping, which was an acceptable enough way of keeping them from jumping, if inelegant, I supposed. Relied too much on their massive number advantage. We did hunt as packs, but twenty four to one? That isn¡¯t a disparity I would imagine happens frequently. Anyway, there were still two Toothy Bullfrogs left living after the final pack finished their¡­ hunt wasn¡¯t really the right word for it. Extermination, I supposed? Maybe a butchery¡­ My mind wandered, as I realized it had more frequently since my reincarnation. Maybe a consequence of my reduced Intelligence? Again, I shook myself out of my distraction and returned to my thought. Regardless of how much, if any, of my self remained upset or revolted by my killing of the lamed hatchling, I wanted the opportunity to kill more of the frogs. That was, after all, the path of progress I¡¯d solidly chosen. To find that answer, I looked up to the large female and awaited further instructions. It didn¡¯t take long before she began to speak. ¡°Look, you generally did pretty ok. That little¡­ issue with the leg for that one was simply unfortunate. Otherwise, no casualties in this first try, so that¡¯s ok. If you decide to stay in your packs as they are now, you¡¯re free to, but if you didn¡¯t end up a leader and you¡¯re mad about that, you can try to change it. I won¡¯t stand in your way. Just so you know, though, being second in command is better than being in charge, if you ask me.¡± She tilted her head in amusement. ¡°In case you wanted my advice.¡± ¡°Now, the two packs whose performance was the most impressive was you,¡± she pointed at me, ¡° and you.¡± She pointed at the largest group. ¡°You both realized that the most pressing threat, more than the teeth or bite, was the prey being able to move and hop. They¡¯re a lot bigger than you, and the weight will hurt you worse than the bite, as you saw. ¡°You just got on top of it, which works for how many of you there were, but you,¡± Again, pointing at me and my pack, ¡°knew where those hops were going to come from.¡± Her tone shifted to a more severe timbre. ¡°But all you have horrendous battle sense. Truly embarrassing. Maybe someday you¡¯ll learn not to shame the keelish name, but it won¡¯t be any time soon, I can guarantee it.¡± She shook her head, maybe in derision or dismissal. ¡°Anyways. You two packs can hunt one more. I won¡¯t stick around to watch.¡± With a flick of her tail, the adult female was about to disappear, before she circled back and again lowered herself to speak with me. ¡°Now, you have potential. If you make it to adulthood, I¡¯d like to teach you something about how to really kill and hunt.¡± All along, with this female, there hadn¡¯t been the presence of what I was coming to think of as genetic suppression, she was too easygoing. But now, when I truly bore the full brunt of her interest and focus, I could feel something burning behind her eyes, a focus, an absolute frenzy that was tightly leashed and dominated, and I couldn¡¯t help but recoil in fear and submission. Regardless of her ability to keep herself from lashing out constantly, that dominance was still present, still burning, still potent. ¡°Wisterl. Remember my name.¡± Then, finally, Wisterl was gone. ¡°We¡­ go¡­ now.¡± I spoke, and my pack followed. I couldn¡¯t imagine that any of us were particularly hungry, considering that we had all eaten so much compared to the rest of the packs, but it was an opportunity to improve our teamwork and for me to acquire another kill, so off we walked. ¡°Wait!¡± The male leader of the massive pack stepped forward. I turned, squared my shoulders, and prepared myself. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°What?¡± ¡°We¡­ need¡­ more.¡± ¡°You¡­ have¡­ other. Us¡­ first.¡± ¡°Need¡­ more. Need¡­ all.¡± I stepped forward and clicked my fangs threateningly as rage began to build within me. No, it was mine by right and by rite. ¡°No. Is¡­ mine.¡± The other male glanced to both sides, noted that his two sub-leaders stood in support, and didn¡¯t back down from my refusal, instead stepping close, into my range. ¡°We¡­ need.¡± This mere hatchling thought he could force me? I didn¡¯t need support from others to get what I wanted. Not bothering to continue posturing and struggling to talk, instead I rushed forward one step and seized his left arm in both of my hands. While slightly surprised, my foe had been at least somewhat expecting this turn of events and began to lower his jaws to my hands on his arm. I didn¡¯t let him, and instead yanked down with all my strength. His knees buckled at the sudden movement, and for the briefest moment, his torso was lowered enough for him to have to catch himself on his right arm on the ground. With the fool¡¯s body lowered, I was able to dart forward and seize the back of his skull in my jaws and hiss threateningly. His two sub-leaders stopped in their tracks, about to begin their own attacks on me. Only a moment had passed since my sudden violence, and already it was concluded, the life of their leader was in my hands, or jaws. I bit down just hard enough for the defeated hatchling to begin to thrash, then I loosed my jaws and let him flop loosely to the ground. ¡°My¡­ prey. Us¡­ first.¡± The hatchling that would be my opponent didn¡¯t do anything more than slink back to his feet and retreat, leaving my pack to reenter the arena as his pack looked at him, disillusioned. Heh, that was what they got for choosing the weaker leader. ¡°Same¡­ attack.¡± Around me, I saw my pack ready themselves for the same approach that we had recently taken to hunt the first Toothy Bullfrog, Oncli and Vefir to the back leg to hobble it before the rest of us took care of completely immobilizing it. This second time was even more successful than the first, with Took understanding how to keep herself out of range of the frog¡¯s reach and instead wrenching the arm of the frog back so as to limit its head¡¯s mobility. Quickly, I was able to dart under the jaw once again, but this time, instead of succumbing to the [Bloodlust]¡¯s primal and undirected savagery, I directly pushed my arm up through the soft flesh of the frog¡¯s throat until I could seize on its spine. Then, with a rictus of a grin beginning to paint my face, I sliced with my sharp claws until the whole body of the Toothy Bullfrog went limp above me. As my pack began to glory in our second successful kill, even more streamlined and efficient than the first, my voice cut through their initial cheers. ¡°Again.¡± I began to stalk towards the final prey in the arena. My pack was initially confused, but began to follow me as I began to lose myself to the [Bloodlust] with the ichor of the frog coating my face and soaking my nostrils. I charged forward, nearly mindless as I screamed my challenge to the remaining prey. MY prey. I noted Oncli and Vefir circling around to the hindquarters of the creature that was to be the recipient of my insensate rage, but I couldn¡¯t be bothered to go the safe, secure, and slow way. Instead, I feinted low, and as the frog lowered its jaws to intercept me, I leapt on top with the full force of my legs and lost myself to the all-consuming lust for violence. Only sensations and impressions remained, of pushing my claws deep into something soft that popped with the pressure, of maintaining my balance as the ground below me writhed, and of doggedly gnawing on something hard until it snapped. I came to myself as I stood, jaws wide open and screaming in victory to whatever could hear me. Surrounding the second corpse of the Toothy Bullfrog, my pack cried out similarly in victory, in elation, in superiority. ¡°Grab¡­ one.¡± I commanded Oncli as I walked back up to the packs we had left spectating our brutal destruction of the remaining prey. ¡°Take¡­ other. Our¡­ prey.¡± I could feel blood, viscera, and my own saliva drop from my face as I faced down the cowed leaders of the other packs. My pack followed, dragging our trophy and leaving the cooling carcass of the final frog in the arena as I dared any of the pack leaders to try something again. None dared. Chapter 10 As we dragged the results of our hunt back to our den, I couldn¡¯t help but feel that something was watching our steps. Regardless of any feelings or worries, however, our goal was still to return the prey, our future meal, to our personal den. More than food, which it was, the extra meal was a show of status, of our ability to provide for ourselves, and that we were able to claim what we needed and wanted before and beyond the other hatchlings. Even with all six of us hauling the carcass with our jaws and all our strengths, the going was tough. The mostly uneaten body was heavy, bulky, and unwieldy, and we couldn¡¯t lift it all the way off the ground, so it was constantly dragging a furrow in the dirt. Nonetheless, we continued to haul it as we slowly made our way to our den, until a soft voice interrupted our work. ¡°Well done there, fierce little one.¡± Wisterl¡¯s voice echoed from somewhere nearby I couldn¡¯t see. ¡°The strong thrive while the weak can only survive. Fight for what you want.¡± I waited for any further words, but after several moments, I got the feeling that we were again alone. Sighing, and with a flick of my tail, we resumed our travel back to our own area. Before too long, we were able to finally cross the ¡°threshold¡± into our brood¡¯s area, and, with just a couple more steps and heaves of effort, my pack and I were able to drop our food store into the corner I had mostly stuck to since I¡¯d first killed a hatchling. All six of us were panting in effort as we fell to our sides and allowed ourselves to rest. It took me several minutes before I could gather enough energy to stir and settle into a relaxed hunch. The position came naturally in my new body, legs bent and my tail resting comfortably against the ground. The superiority of this position to sitting in a chair as a human was that I only needed to extend my legs, and I would immediately be running. It was like if leaning against a wall was also a runner¡¯s crouch, and my ever growing need to be moving, acting, and growing found great satisfaction in my greater capability for instant movement. As I sat and let myself rest, I could feel the blood and viscera coating my body beginning to dry. It was crusting, and quite disgusting. The human part of me wanted to go wash myself in a river, but the keelish part of me revolted at the thought. It would be cold, and would leach the warmth from my body. While keelish are not fully cold-blooded like some reptiles, they do struggle to regulate their internal temperatures, so I instinctively realized that washing in water would be potentially deadly. Instead, I looked at a spot of fine dust in the corner of the den, and suddenly understood why it was there, regardless of its obviously foreign origin. I walked over, and, with great dignity, fell over into the pile. Without conscious thought, my scales shifted and writhed, allowing the fine particulates to scrub the gore from every surface of my body. Then, as I continued to move myself and fully indulge in the sandy scrub, I could feel flakes of skin from between and beneath my scales begin to shed. I hadn¡¯t realized that I was itchy and uncomfortable, that I was shedding skin and scales that I had already begun to grow out of, but it was as satisfying a feeling as I¡¯d ever experienced. The slowly sloughing skin was left behind, and, with slight reluctance, I rose out of the bath and shook myself clean of the excess dirt. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Seeing my example, the rest of my pack, under the lead of Oncli, began to cleanse themselves of the gore and stink of the hunt. It was¡­ cute, if I was honest, to see these little slaughter loving creatures happily roll around in the dirt. Again, I felt my human sensibilities slip away from me, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care on this account. I was keelish, and I didn¡¯t believe I was going to get a third chance. It would be best for me to embrace what I had become and enjoy what I could. So what if a creature I had previously seen as a repulsive pest was now a group of cute children playing in the bath? Shaking myself from my own thoughts, I once again checked my [Status]. I¡¯d killed a keelish hatchling and two Toothy Bullfrogs since the last time I¡¯d checked it, after all. My stats¡­ hadn¡¯t changed at all. But I had killed several things? How could that be the case? Plus, I could remember the [System] notifications appearing, so I needed to check them again. Now that I was paying attention to the [System]¡¯s notifications, however, I realized that I hadn¡¯t paid attention to the words that it had ¡°said¡±. [Skill: Bloodlust has been activated.] [Evolutionary requirement for Young Keelish Bloodletter: Kill 10 creatures. Progress: 5/10] The notifications never mentioned any [Growth achieved] as it had before. I supposed that maybe killing things I had killed before didn¡¯t offer me any stat growth? Or maybe it was recency? I wish I could understand, but I simply couldn¡¯t, and since all the questions I had asked and did ask were answered with [The Administrative Body has deemed it unnecessary to divulge that information], I couldn¡¯t realistically expect myself to figure it out that quickly. Outside of the den, I could hear the tromping of dozens of pairs of feet, so with a whistle I called my pack back to me. Nearly immediately, the entire pack perked up, left the bath, and returned to me as they took up defensive positions around our stockpile. Just after we all settled and had prepared ourselves, the other packs of keelish began to trickle in. They had taken a surprising amount of time to return, but I couldn¡¯t really be bothered to understand what had delayed them. We simply stood in solidarity, guarding our little pantry against any would-be thieves, and before long, the rest of the brood was inside the den. The other pack hadn¡¯t brought back any leftovers, which wasn¡¯t surprising considering how many of them there were. Their serving sizes would have been about a quarter of each of the members¡¯ of my pack, so there was a good chance some of them were still actively hungry. Too bad. Before too long, the members of my pack and I began to get hungry, so we ate until we were full under the envious eyes of our fellow spawnlings. After our previous large meal, we weren¡¯t able to eat the second Toothy Bullfrog in its entirety, so, after we all were nearly rolling on the ground with our distended bellies, we tossed the scraps into the center of the den and settled in to a communal cuddle pile to rest. For the first time since my reincarnation, I was warm, safe, and supported by my fellow spawnlings, and I drifted off to sleep with some semblance of contentment at the end of my third day as a keelish. Chapter 11 Keelish, as a rule, are subterranean dwellers. Of course, their prey can be found primarily above ground. Thus, they remain not as an unseen and uncared for creature, but instead were the focus of the Great Purge 150 years ago and are hunted to the last when found now. The effect they had on the Gran Verat¡¯s childhood notwithstanding, keelish are voracious, and barring the presence of regular culling or native predators, the keelish will devastate entire ecosystems through their relentless reproduction and predation on the native wildlife. Thus, regular hunts are scheduled within the Veratocracy¡¯s lands, and if a den is found, Earthspeakers are sent within the den until every individual is confirmed dead. -Excerpt taken from the High Academy¡¯s reference book, ¡°Wildlife: Which to Respect, and Which to Exterminate¡±. My pack and I woke to squalling and the scuffles of controlled conflict. Quickly, I jumped to my feet and looked to see what was happening. In the center of the room, two spawnlings, larger than any I¡¯d seen before, were grappling each other, their jaws wide open and their hands grasping wildly. I couldn¡¯t tell what the reason for the fight was, but the two spawnlings more resembled adult keelish than the rest of us had. They had the long neck and tail and scaled bodies, but they had begun to fill out more than the rest of us newly hatched specimens. Our shoulders were narrow, the claws on our fingers not yet at their full length, and we were, in general, much more petite than an adult keelish would be. These two, however, looked to be several weeks more developed than the members of our brood. Their shoulders, arms, and claws were on their way to being laden with muscle, still lean but obviously packing more power than our much younger bodies. The two combatants, however, were obviously underfed. I could count their ribs below their scales, their knees were more knobbly than a simple joint should be, and their tails lacked the thickness that a well-fed body would provide. It didn¡¯t take long before the fight was concluded by one of the two being able to catch a good hold of the other¡¯s arm and yank it downward before catching the base of his opponent¡¯s skull in his jaws. Wait¡­ that was what I had done to that other pack leader yesterday. Was that a common attack? Or¡­ Before I could finish the thought, the winner roughly shook the loser¡¯s head once, then twice, and threw him down onto the ground with a thud. ¡°What is left¡­ is¡­ Tieran¡¯s!¡± The victor¡¯s call of his superiority was met with replying cries of support from two dozen voices, but I knew before I heard the number of supporters for the victor. I recognized his voice. The winner of the impromptu duel was none other than the leader of the largest pack in our brood. The fight had been over the scant leftovers that my pack had left the night before that hadn¡¯t been fully picked over by the other keelish spawnlings. Maybe they¡¯d been at too much of an impasse last night to decide who would have the right to our leftovers. I couldn¡¯t really bring myself to care, since the small bits of dried flesh were scrawny and unremarkable in general. My pack had eaten at least twice as well as the rest of the brood yesterday, and I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d been able to sleep off our second gorging session quite yet. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. But how were these two suddenly so much bigger? Just yesterday, the one that won, Tieran I supposed, had been markedly smaller than I was, which was unsurprising considering I was among the largest of the brood. But now, he stood at least a head above me, and definitely outweighed me by nearly two times. What had changed? Had he and the other evolved overnight? [The System cannot give you Status-related information on beings that are not your immediate subordinates. To receive the qualification to access others¡¯ Status or stats, you must first acquire total leadership over them.] Suns burn this damnable [System] and its unwillingness to answer any questions. Regardless of its nonanswer, the other four pack leaders, now that I saw them, had all evolved to be much larger and well developed than the rest of their packs. Based off his little victory speech, their ability to speak had probably also improved markedly, which was another leg up over me. A part of me definitely felt the burn of envy within my guts, but the greater part of me instead welcomed that reality and what it meant for my future¨Ca greater focus on combative capability. So what if these Alphas were bigger than me? They wouldn¡¯t be stronger, tougher, or better than me. Turning my snout up at them, I settled onto my haunches, waiting for the next opportunity to hunt that I was sure was coming before too long. I¡¯d come to understand some things about the keelish way, and now that we had proven ourselves capable, we would be allowed and forced to take the opportunity to continue to provide for ourselves. I idly wondered if it would be another ¡°arena battle¡± of sorts like yesterday, or if we were to take the next step in learning to hunt already. I figured it would still be the first option, though I did hope to be turned loose soon. It didn¡¯t take long before I received my answer, that we did have another curated ¡°hunt¡± within the same arena as the day before, but this time with ten of the Toothy Bullfrogs. We were instructed to hunt two per pack, and again my pack was selected to be the first. Now well-practiced, we leapt into the arena and, without ado or much excitement, we dispatched two of the present frogs. While I again triggered my [Bloodlust] skill as we began and finished our hunt, I was more capable of self control, if only slightly. I led our pack in dragging both bodies out of the arena and into the ¡°stands¡± before we set to filling our bellies. There was nothing left of the first by the time the second pack¡¯s hunt had been concluded. It was the start of a good day, I was confident. Chapter 12 Our bellies full and our need to move and hunt fulfilled, we began to drag the corpse of the victim of our second hunt back to the den before the third pack had concluded their own. Different from the day before, hauling the mass of flesh wasn¡¯t too difficult. I figured that the pack as a whole had become more accustomed to any growth experienced the day before, so we¡¯d all been better able to leverage our individual strengths as a whole. Regardless of the reason, it was a much shorter hike/trip/chore to get our excess back to the den. Again, we arrived first in the den, again, without much ado, we dropped our extra food onto the ground, and again, I went to cleanse myself in the dirt bath before settling back into our corner. The bath was just as pleasant as the day before, but I noticed that the dirt began to show signs of blood, dead skin, and other debris from the baths of several dozen filthy spawnlings. It had also begun to stink a bit, and I couldn¡¯t help but feel myself sneer at the dirtiness of the thing that was supposedly what was going to clean us. Before long, I went back to my pack¡¯s little spot, and realized that the more we grew as individuals and the brood as a whole, the less room there would be. Already, only four days after hatching, I could feel the difference in space around us. The roof of the den was more than large enough, having been dug out to accommodate adult keelish, but the width and breadth of the space was soon going to run out. Well¡­ if it was so narrow, I had the opportunity to fix that. ¡°Oncli¡­¡± He turned to me, immediately paying attention. ¡°We¡­ dig¡­ here.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°For¡­ room. For¡­ us.¡± A quick flare of his frills, and Oncli was with me. A great follower, he was. Before long, all five of my followers and I were digging into the wall behind where we had made our claim. For the first time, I realized how our claws weren¡¯t really built for combat. Sure, they could do the trick in a pinch, but their curvature and shape were optimized for digging, almost as if each of our fingers were tipped by trowels. We made swift work of the wall, quickly tunneling out a space that could fit all six of us comfortably with space for a Toothy Bullfrog¡¯s body in the back. The excess dirt we excavated was quickly shunted out of our space and into a corner far enough away for us to no longer care about it. The loose dirt took up more space than it had previously been when compacted, and by the end of our digging session, there was a large mound of dirt nearly to the ceiling of the den. We didn¡¯t care, since it wasn¡¯t our space that had been impacted. I supposed it was only polite to do a bit of the compacting before we scurried off to our new home, so we all six tromped up and down the hill until it was no longer loose, and was nearly half the size of what it had been before. Now pleased with our work, we retreated back to our personal dwelling and set to lounging about, proud of the work we had already completed today, between two hunts and an enjoyable dig to lay claim to our own space. The peace didn¡¯t last. As we all settled into our little cuddle pile to rest, a member of the brood, not one of our pack, poked their head in. Then another. And another. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. As the fourth disturbed our rest, I hissed threateningly and began to move towards them. They quickly skittered away, but I suspected that it wasn¡¯t over just yet. I was proven correct as one of Tieran¡¯s co-leaders poked her head in. ¡°Want¡­ get¡­ hurt?¡± She remained silent. ¡°LEAVE!¡± Still no response. I could feel my blood rising with my temper, and I knew that [Bloodlust] was getting close to triggering, whether blood had already been spilt or not. As I began to ready myself to teach this whelp to listen to her betters, she spoke. ¡°Tieran wants¡­ to talk¡­ to you.¡± Then, she pulled her head out and was gone. Snarling and growling, I began to leave the den. Not a full day had passed since I¡¯d taught him a lesson, and this idiot was going to provoke me once again? I would show him the consequences of his foolhardiness. My frills already flared with rage, I charged out of my den ready to fight. Tieran, flanked by his two co-leaders and, behind them, the rest of his pack, stood just a couple of body lengths from the entrance to our den. He stood, every bit of his stance communicating pride and bravado, but for the slightest trembling of the tip of his tail that betrayed his nervousness. Then why was he here, if he was scared? ¡°What¡­ want?¡± A slight flick of Tieran¡¯s eyes communicated his need for approval, which I didn¡¯t miss. Again, I realized that this almost certainly wasn¡¯t his own idea, and I locked eyes with the female co-leader that had poked her head into our den. She, noting Tieran¡¯s attention, flared her frills nearly imperceptibly, and Tieran took courage from her reassurance. ¡°I need¡­ to teach you¡­ a lesson.¡± I¡¯d let myself calm a little as I¡¯d entered this situation, but I could feel my hackles and scales all rising in anger. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡­ am the best¡­ alpha. You¡­ are below me.¡± I snarled and willingly gave in to the [Bloodlust] that spiked within me. This fool was taking his last breath. I would tear out his throat for this, and I would show NO more mercy now. Rushing, without thought, caution, or worry, I lunged with my jaws at Tieran¡¯s right hand. He pulled it back and swiped at my face with his left hand¡¯s claws. I ducked below his attack and lunged up at his throat, again with my jaws. Tieran saw me coming and pulled his head back and up, out of my range as my jaws snicked shut in the air just a scale¡¯s breadth away from finding purchase in his flesh. With another snarl of rage, I pressed the attack with bites, wild brandishings of my claws, and absolute fury. I nearly caught Tieran several times, but never was I able to connect with anything other than a glancing blow. My rage continued to build within me, and I didn¡¯t care as my attacks grew more sloppy and frenzied. I just needed to kill this stars forgotten bastard. My chance came when I finally caught my soon-to-be prey¡¯s hand in both of mine. I went to pull the same move that I had the day before, yanking down the arm and attacking the base of the skull¡­ but Tieran didn¡¯t fall, or even move with my pull. He now was a fair bit larger than me, instead of smaller, and my attempted yank simply pulled me close. Before I could collect myself, Tieran brandished his other hand¡¯s claws at my face, forcing me to disengage his hand or risk being blinded. As I took a step back, Tieran whipped himself around and, with the full force of his body¡¯s momentum and tail¡¯s mass, smashed his tail across my face. There was an explosion of light in my vision as I took the heavy blow to the head. I stumbled, but not for long, because Tieran seized the base of my skull in his jaws. Despite my initial struggles, I was quickly pressed to the ground, my snout in the dirt and choking on the dust as I continued to pant from the exertions of my battle. Before too long, Tieran¡¯s foot took the place of his jaws, and he crowed to the entire brood in victory. ¡°I am¡­ the strongest! I am¡­ the best! I am¡­ Tieran!¡± Chapter 13 It wasn¡¯t long before Tieran and his pack retreated back away from the mouth of our den. With my last remaining ounce of rationality, I brought the pack back into our den and got them all to resume their resting or nesting position. I forced myself to ignore my heaving chest, the sounds of scraping, screeching, and excitement from outside of our den. Even as I forced myself to try to focus, my emotions continued to only very nearly be held in check. It felt like an eternity before I could calm myself enough to stop seriously considering running back out there and throwing myself at the coward. Even longer still before I could stop myself from actively planning how to assassinate him while asleep or otherwise unaware. And try as I might, I couldn¡¯t calm myself enough to sleep until long after every other spawnling in the den had gone silent. The rage initially only directed at Viilor bubbled constantly below the surface, but now, I had another, closer, more achievable target for my need to vent my frustration. Tieran would regret his actions. And, given that my evolution was only three kills away, it wouldn¡¯t be long. I continued to muse over the possibilities of how to enact my vengeance most painfully and satisfyingly. Eventually, I did sleep, and I dreamed of nothing in particular, yet I woke frequently with surging adrenaline, and it took me a while each time to calm myself enough to sleep. It was infuriating, but I needed to rest. Regardless of the maturity of my mind (inhibited though it was), my body was only barely no longer an infant, five days into sixty to reach maturity. Without caring for my attempted rational approach to why I needed to sleep, it was a pretty restless night. The night passed both quickly as well as if it were full days before the rest of the brood roused themselves. Of course, the brood began to wake just as soon as I began to feel like I was resting well. Before long, the den was filled with unhappy grumbles of hunger, screeches of challenge, and scuffles of minor altercations. As the rest of the pack began to stretch themselves and go to exit the den, I spoke up. ¡°Eat¡­ everything. Leave¡­ none.¡± Took, Treel, Foire, and Vefir didn¡¯t need to be told twice, and began to tuck in. The sight of four keelish ripping into an inert body would have turned my stomach a week ago, but now it seemed just as natural as the Viertaali tribe sitting around the dining tables in my previous life. I was shaken from my musings on my past by Oncli. ¡°Why¡­ hurry?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Why¡­ hurry¡­ eat?¡± I understood. ¡°Others¡­ might¡­ take. Too¡­ many.¡± Oncli nodded, his bearing severe and respectful. He too took to ripping into the body of the Toothy Bullfrog we had slain the day before. I joined my pack, and soon we all were chewing on the bones, all of us still a little hungry. Of course, we were growing and I knew that, but it was a little surprising that across just two and half days since our first time eating a Toothy Bullfrog, we had gone from barely able to finish the whole thing to eating one in one sitting and still being hungry afterwards. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The crunching of bones and slurping of marrow was interrupted, again. This time, Tieran¡¯s female advisor wasn¡¯t poking her nose into our business. Instead, Tieran¡¯s voice carried into the den, booming and echoing through the small den. ¡°Come out¡­ Now.¡± Gritting my fangs, I forced myself to exit the den, flanked by the rest of my pack. Outside, I could see the beginnings of four other dens being excavated. None were much more than small dents into the walls, but I figured that by the end of the day, there would be five sub-dens in this spawnling area. Regardless of any progress made in the dens, that wasn¡¯t what was important. Instead, it was Tieran¡¯s somehow smug face, the tilt of his head, the relaxation in his jaw, that made me want to rush forward again, tempted to think that this time would be different. But no¡­ if my thoughts were correct, I would be able to evolve after today¡¯s hunt. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Give us¡­ your food. We need¡­ it more¡­ than you.¡± I could tell that the rest of his pack was being elevated by him, some able to mumble words beyond guttural and animalistic noises. They spread behind him, cronies to his bully as I bristled at the mere thought of giving in. I did notice that the female that he had looked to yesterday for approval was now slightly further back in the group, seemingly edged out by the other female advisor, who stood fawning just to Tieran¡¯s side. I began to feel the warning of the triggering of [Bloodlust]. This worthless wannabe¨C No, it was fine. I couldn¡¯t help but let out a little chuckle, made by clicking my tongue along the base of my mouth. ¡°Took¡­ get¡­ it.¡± She cocked her head at me, confused. Of course she couldn¡¯t understand. ¡°Oncli?¡± He, understanding my request, flared his frills in assent as he turned back into the den to bring back our ¡°leftovers¡±, his own tongue communicating that he understood that this was going to be funny. It wasn¡¯t long before the self-satisfied tilt of Tieran¡¯s head was replaced by the beginnings of anger as Oncli brought back a wholly fleshless ribcage and pelvis. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°We¡­ ate¡­ today.¡± It took a moment as the idea was processed in Tieran¡¯s mind. I could see behind him, the out-of-favor female immediately understood. After one, two, three moments, Tieran exploded as he finally understood what I couldn¡¯t concisely communicate with my stilted speech. ¡°I need¡­ more food! We are¡­ too many!¡± ¡°All¡­ gone.¡± I punctuated my words with a clack of my jaws, the snap of my fangs together cutting through the ambient noise of the den. Tieran actually shuddered with rage as he learned that he wouldn¡¯t be getting a free meal from my pack. Then, with a roar of frustration, Tieran whipped around and stalked back to his little corner, the rest of his pack following closely behind as I continued to click my tongue in amusement. No, he wasn¡¯t going to get anything from me, other than some snark, and, eventually, his own blood spilled. I felt myself shiver with the anticipation of spilling his lifeblood across the dirt of the den, in front of those who had watched him humiliate me the day before. Listening to him screech about the unfairness of it all was music to my ears. Tieran¡¯s temper tantrum was interrupted as an adult keelish, neither Wisterl nor Rulac, poked his head in. He was obviously less well-developed than the other two, and his stilted speech showed that he definitely wasn¡¯t as fully developed as they were. Beyond that, his words proved my suspicions correct about what was going to change today: ¡°Spawnlings! From today¡­ you hunt for¡­ yourselves. Let us¡­ guide you¡­ where to go.¡± Chapter 14 I¡¯d been expecting dawn¡¯s light as we ascended enough within the den to begin seeing daylight. In fact, I¡¯d been looking forward to seeing normal light, and to see how my vision was different now, since in the total dark of the depths of the den, I saw the warm bodies of keelish as brighter reds and oranges, transitioning to cool blues and deep violets for the cooler walls and floors. As we continued our ascent, I could see the walls begin to warm up in color and slowly shift to ever warmer colors, finally settling on a light green. The thought of changing the way my eyes worked crossed my mind, but I wasn¡¯t sure how to, or even if it was possible. We continued moving, and I could see that one of the walls was actually warm, a bright red. I reached out, and it was indeed warm to the touch. I sighed, enjoying the feeling before again turning my mind inward and trying to figure out how to change my vision. With my concerted thought and ¡°effort¡±, I was finally able to figure out what it was that could change the way I saw. I was able to ¡°switch¡± my vision to what I had had in my previous life, and I realized that it was something to do with actually using my eyes instead of what I had been doing instinctually. The heat-focused sight wasn¡¯t actually sight, but instead had something to do with a mixture of smell, sound, and a different, sixth sense. I hadn¡¯t been aware of it before, given the cramped quarters of the den, but that ¡°vision¡± was severely limited in the distance it could perceive, maybe fifty to seventy feet away? My perception restored to true ¡°vision¡±, I slowly adjusted to the light, my eyes clearing and becoming less blurry. The light from the setting suns was beautiful, the clouds up above burning reds and oranges. I couldn¡¯t see them clearly, but the variation from what it had been for the entirety of this life was more than welcome. It had only been¡­ looking at my [Status], five days since I¡¯d been reborn, but it had felt that my previous life was far further than that. Now, I welcomed nightly cuddles with keelish spawnlings, ripped animals to bits with my teeth and claws, and devoured raw flesh with relish. Yes, life had changed, and it was much more simple now. I welcomed it, in part, though I did miss different parts of my life as a human¡­ I didn¡¯t let myself continue to dwell on my past, instead focusing on what I needed to do today: ensure that I participated enough in the killing of three creatures, so that I could evolve as soon as possible. Nodding to myself, I pulled myself back into the present and observed my pack around me, finally seeing them in their actual color instead of by their radiating warmth. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Oncli was a typical brown and green mottled color, his look altogether unremarkable in every way for a keelish. If one was to think of a keelish, he was exactly what you would expect. Took was a somewhat uncommon earthy brown, with black speckled individual scales throughout her body, nearly no green to be seen anywhere on her. Treel too was more brown, but she had a healthy swathe of deep green gradient across her back. Vefir too was a mostly unremarkable mix of green and brown, though his wasn¡¯t so much a gradient so much as striations like the stripes of a tiger. Foire, however, was the most interestingly colored of my pack, his body such a deep brown as to be black, with some of his frills brightening to a nearly red tan and framing his face quite beautifully, the thought of a keelish being beautiful taking me by surprise with the natural way the realization came over me. Curious, I looked down at myself. My claws on both my feet and hands were a dark black, coming as an accent to my grayish silver scales that lightened the higher up my arms they went. My belly was lighter still, nearly without color at all, compared to my more gray than silver body. Turning my head, I could see a slight part of one of my frills, which were almost white with how light of a gray they were. I¡¯d¡­ never seen a keelish that color. Sure, I¡¯d never paid much attention to the pests, but I also couldn¡¯t remember ever seeing any not at least partially dark colored. I thought it was sure to be somewhat striking. Having taken in the view, I continued to lead the pack out of the clearing where the exit from the den was, towards the adult keelish that was guiding the rest of the spawnlings. Ahead of us, I could see Tieran, and my blood began to boil as I looked. He was a tan to brown striped color, and at his side, again fawning over his every move, was the more in-favor female. Behind her was a male I¡¯d never seen before, and behind him, the ever more out-of-favor female. Seeing her, she was a plain sort, as unremarkable as Oncli, but somehow unattractive. I didn¡¯t care. As we entered into the jungle that surrounded our little clearing, I could smell the wet, the stink of marshes. We were close to the breeding ground for Toothy Bullfrogs, and I was sure that they would continue to be our primary source of food, at least until their breeding season was over. Before long, their croaks filled the air, and I whistled through my teeth at my pack. They knew what I was trying to communicate, and quickly we all assumed a battle ready position. The male leading us spoke up again. ¡°Here¡­ you all will¡­ hunt for¡­ yourselves. You will¡­ not be¡­ protected¡­ after today.¡± So we had one day¡¯s worth of protection. That was all I was going to need, before I evolved¡­ and took my place at the head of the spawnlings as a whole. Chapter 15 I didn¡¯t hesitate after being told that we had free reign of our hunts today. With another whistle and a wave of my hand, we were off into the shallows of the marsh, where we would begin the hunt. This was a true hunt, even with the adult keelish standing every fifty feet or so, ringing the proposed hunting area just close enough that one would always be visible at the edge of our vision. I was about to push us forward in locating then hunting, but a thought crossed my mind. Thinking about it, there was a truly intelligent keelish at the head of this swarm. They had built systems that I had never heard of, at least when relating to keelish¨Cgrown adults policing the spawnlings from killing each other, providing a steady scaling of progress until they could be trusted to provide for themselves, encouraging the development of packs, or individual squads that would answer to the leaders of the swarm¡­ It was intelligence that bordered on a human¡¯s, if not truly matched it. I¡¯d never heard of any keelish that could be called intelligent, they were always just about as ¡°intelligent¡± as a typical wolfstag, smart enough to know how to hunt as a pack, and maybe communicate a little between themselves. The human part of me that wanted to cower in fear of an intelligent swarm was quickly beaten down by the ever louder, ever more persuasive, ever stronger bestial side of me. I could and would rise to the top of the swarm, and use that to take down Viilor¡­ if possible. If not, I would raise it ever higher, ever stronger, ever more dangerous until High Speakers in their dozens couldn¡¯t stop us. That was currently an impossibility, I knew. I¡¯d only been killed by the keelish because of my surprise and injury. Without both, I could have quickly Windspoken my way into escape, or at least survival, at which point I could have healed myself with my Wavespeaking. If my mother had been there¡­ That was sobering. Would I have to kill my mother? Could I? She wouldn¡¯t know who I was, and would have no compunctions regarding my swift destruction. Hells below, she probably would carry a grudge, given what had killed me. And I was far from capable of facing ¡°The Stone¡± when I¡¯d been human and had nearly two dozen summers of experience¡­ First steps first, the hunt. We needed to kill¨CI needed to kill three creatures today. I wasn¡¯t willing to allow another night to pass without evolution, and I was so close I could nearly taste it. With a low whistle, my pack and I began to stalk forward into the shallow water. We were light enough not to sink into the mud below, and I switched my perception back to that which had served me in the underground. After all, the frogs were well camouflaged, but they had nothing like a beralt to protect their bodily heat from escaping. Before long, the first of the Toothy Bullfrogs was in sight, hunkered down in the mud, just his eyes visible above the water. We¡¯d never hunted anywhere other than in the sandy pits of the ¡°arena¡±, and I wasn¡¯t sure how we would do on this first hunt. There had never been any problem aside from the first time when Took was bitten, and while that had left a pattern of scabs down her back, it was far from serious. This prey, however, was in its home turf, and would have more options than simply hopping away. Nonetheless, our approach was the same as always¨COncli and Foire to the back leg, Took, Treel, and Vefir to the front, and myself to deal the final blow. We were significantly larger than we had been at our first hunt, and while we had only barely outweighed the first frog we¡¯d hunted, Took and myself alone now could mostly hold one down while in the arena. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. With a click of my tongue, Oncli and Foire rushed forward to seize on the back leg of the frog. They lunged in, jaws snapping hard, to crunch down and immobilize¨Cthe frog that had kicked both legs and swam off startlingly quickly. It had been facing towards me, so it darted in my direction, and without thinking, I lunged forward and tried to sink my own jaws into the frog, anywhere to slow it down. It also evaded me, and before any other member of the pack could respond, it was off into the deeper water. Took went to chase it down, but I called out loud enough that she stopped and returned. All six of us were enraged at the prey¡¯s evasion. It croaked as it went out of reach, clearly mocking us. With a barely repressed snarl, I whipped around to find our next possible prey. ¡­ The reddened skies continued to darken as we failed one hunt after another. I only realized that once I¡¯d consciously looked to the skies and ¡°switched¡± my perception. It had been at least an hour, and all six of us had been soaked in mud and our own frustrations. We all were waspish with each other, snapping, hissing, and enraged as our bellies were ever more empty. Regardless of the success of the hunts, though, we had made progress. Instead of two groups, we now split into three loose pairs, myself and Vefir, Oncli and Foire, Took and Treel, each pair with one of us three largest members of the pack. That way, as we approached from three directions at the same time, ideally one of the heaviest of us would be able to latch on and slow the stars forsaken bastard amphibian enough for the others to come in and finish it off. We didn¡¯t need finesse, we were just desperate for anything that would allow us to just to catch the slimy things. As the light faded and the warmth began to be leached from our bodies, we began another hunt. Regardless of if it was night, we hadn¡¯t been awake for that long, and we needed vengeance on these mere prey animals that dared to make a mockery of us. Yet another Toothy Bullfrog lay in the shallow water, no doubt enjoying the warmer location than the deeper, cooler water. As quietly as we could, slowly wading through the marsh, we approached until we each were about five feet away. We¡¯d learned that that was about as close as you could get before the frogs would bolt. Looking at each other, I flared my frills in a count of one¡­ two¡­ THREE! All six of us charged in, jaws agape and ready to latch onto the first thing that came close. The frog began to swim as fast as he could, directly forward¡­ within my reach. I lunged forward, missing his body, but catching one of its forelegs. That was enough. It was moving fast enough with enough momentum that it initially dragged me off my feet, but I quickly was able to find purchase on the muddy bottom of the swamp. It would NOT escape me as the others had. I gnashed my jaws together, the wondrous taste of blood beginning to coat my tongue, and I noted the [System]¡¯s notification of the activation of [Bloodlust]. Suddenly, my goal wasn¡¯t to slow the prey. It was to cause it to suffer. These lowly frogs would challenge my ability to feed? To lead? To SURVIVE? Never. I crushed my jaw as hard as I could, and with a crunch, the bone gave way while the frog croaked in what I could assume to be agony. With a grind of my jaws, the arm of the Toothy Bullfrog below its elbow was gone, and with a quick swallow, it was down my throat as I lunged forward, digging my jaws deeper into the side of the prey. I felt the flesh give way as I tunneled my bite ever deeper into the chest cavity of my prey, its lifeblood coating my face. It was glorious. I punched my sharp claws into my prey, severing tendon and meat alike as I inflicted agony and terror without giving the final rest of death. Yes, this was it. I knew that it was. This¡­ was the meaning of life, regardless of what the weak part of me wanted to think otherwise. Chapter 16 It wasn¡¯t long before the pack had picked the body clean. After having run ourselves ragged chasing and attempting to hunt, all six of us were ravenous, and set to the body without delay. The muddy water that filled my mouth as I ripped into the meal was a strange addition, and I realized I hadn¡¯t needed to drink any water since my rebirth. Maybe all the liquid I¡¯d needed as a keelish had been provided by the blood I¡¯d liberally consumed? I didn¡¯t care. The taste didn¡¯t matter. Just filling my belly, and finally hunting enough to finally evolve. The bones of our prey hadn¡¯t hardly settled to the bottom of the marsh before I was motioning the rest of the pack to form up and begin to follow me to another hunt. Looking around, the sun had truly set by now, and only the last vestiges of light in the sky lit the marshes as the croaks and mating calls of the frogs filled the night. The pack slowly made its way forward as finally, there was no light left in the sky beyond the rising moon and the glittering stars. The drone of swarming flying insects had slowly died as night fell, and the calls of various birds echoed all around. Somewhere far off, I could hear the howl of a wolfstag, and not long after, another responded, even more distant. Night¡­ was the time for the hunt. The domain of the keelish. Around us, the frogs that relied on their sight settled ever lower into the water, just their noses poking out enough to breathe. They would hear our steps, but wouldn¡¯t be able to see us clearly without any light. It was the perfect time to begin the hunt in its truest sense. Slowly, the six of us assumed positions around the possibly sleeping Toothy Bullfrog. It was so much simpler as we deliberately, slowly, approached within just two feet of our prey. We couldn¡¯t miss at this distance, and without much preamble, we all set to our prey. The splashes and our growls cut through the night, but the croaks and cries of anguish from our prey were silenced as the frog never was able to get its mouth out of the water. Only choked gurgles accompanied the frog¡¯s death, and those for only a moment before its life was cut short. Our prey secured and killed, we pulled it back out of the water and to the shore. All six of us took another bite, our bellies not quite full from the first Toothy Bullfrog. However, if we were stuffed, we would be slowed, so I had the rest of the pack stop after just one more bite. Then, we left the corpse where we had dragged it up out of the water. There, we could leave the body until we were ready to return, which had confused the rest of the pack. The others seemed ready to return to the den now, what with an additional meal secured, but I spoke up. ¡°One¡­ more. Then¡­ rest.¡± With their frills flaring in agreement, no, with obedience, the pack followed my lead to our final hunt. My final hunt before my inevitable evolution. The hunt was, to say the least, unremarkable. Another dozing frog that was easily set upon, and with the pack full and not needing immediate sustenance, we quickly dispatched it without taking too many bites out of the meat. Looking briefly at my [Status], I could see the notification: You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. [Status updated. Evolutionary Progress: Young Bloodletter Keelish: 10/10. Evolution unlocked.] And how do I evolve? Tieran and the rest seemed to have evolved overnight, so did I just need to go to sleep or something? [Evolution requires a basic restructuring of your body. You will fall unconscious as the reconstruction takes place. Evolution to: Young Keelish Bloodletter from your current physiology will take place over the duration of 4 hours and 30 minutes. Evolution will provide a marked bonus to your stats, as well as certain obvious physiological changes.] So we needed to return back to the den, and I would be able to evolve there. It wouldn¡¯t even take me the whole night (or day, as the case may be) to evolve, so I could do so as soon as we returned, then take my swift revenge on Tieran. I would spill his blood. There was no ¡°possibility¡± of it happening. Just eventuality. The trek back to the den was arduous with three of us each dragging a mostly whole corpse. While one was partially picked over, the frog retained at least 80% of its original mass, and we weren¡¯t able to lift them completely up, so there was the added effort of dragging the corpses through grass, over roots, and through branches. Fortunately enough, I supposed, the bodies were hardy enough not to be ripped to bits by the underbrush, so we weren¡¯t losing any substantial part of the prey by bringing it back home. Finally, we arrived back at the nest and enjoyed the shorter, easier downhill journey into our den. The floors were smooth and we knew exactly where to go. It was a quick jaunt, at least compared to bringing the prey back to the nest itself, and we happily plopped the more complete corpse into our den, where there was space for it. I figured we could eat the other outside of our den, then drag whatever was left back in when we were finished, leaving us enough room to sleep off most of what we¡¯d stuffed ourselves with. But first, for me, I wanted a bath. The sand was wonderful, and I truly was looking forward to its cleansing touch. As I stepped out of the den, I was greeted by Tieran¡¯s ever more cocksure face. I gritted my teeth, nearly losing the battle against my bone-deep need to rip his throat out, suns burn the consequences. ¡°What?¡± I couldn¡¯t keep the snarl out of my voice, but he seemed unbothered. I noticed that he was flanked only by one of his two female sub-leaders, the other nowhere to be seen. Had she been killed in the hunt? No, there was no danger today, with all the keelish around having experienced several hunts at this point. ¡°This prey¡­ is mine. Do not¡­ touch it.¡± He gestured at the second, incomplete Toothy Bullfrog we had brought back to the den. After a single beat, I understood. ¡°No¡­ is¡­ mine.¡± ¡°Will you¡­ fight¡­ for it?¡± Tieran reared up, and I was about to lose the fight with myself. It wouldn¡¯t do¡­ I gnashed my teeth, every fiber of me fighting to keep my cool. Less than five hours and I could rip it out with ease. I could wait that long¡­ ¡°Fine.¡± I grated out, and, before he could do anything, I lashed out, ripped one of the meaty hind legs from the corpse, and tossed it into the den before following after it. The smirk on Tieran¡¯s face and the jeers between him and his sycophants burned any desire left within me to indulge in a comfortable sand bath. No, it was time to evolve, and now. Chapter 17 No, you don¡¯t understand. They are weak. Pitifully so. The Misti Hawar raise them as if they were so many carnivorous squirrels, and, if what I¡¯ve been told is to be believed, their Nyust¡¯taa annihilate entire swarms as individuals to prove their worthiness to succeed the throne. Even so, when there are as many of a creature as there are of the keelish, there are bound to be exceptional individuals, and THOSE are the ones whose existence is feared, and whose existence spurred the ¡°Great Purge¡± or whatever it is that the Veratocracy calls their extermination initiative. The Gran Verat says it¡¯s something to do with a prophecy, but we don¡¯t care here. Letter from Drolick of Shandr to City Lord Ferrah of Harandal It wasn¡¯t necessary to fall asleep to begin my evolution. Instead, all that beginning the evolution took was a moment¡¯s conscious thought that ¡°now is the time¡±, and I immediately lost all sense of my surroundings. Again, I felt¡­ freed of my body. My perception of time, space, and self was distorted, yet somehow comfortable as I somehow floated down the invisible river of nothing. [I must confess], the female voice interrupted my idle relaxation, [I thought that you might somehow return even faster than you did. I knew you weren¡¯t completely reckless in here, but I thought that your personal fire mixed with your chemical inclinations would lead to either immediate death, or accelerated evolution.] The Administrator chuckled, her voice throaty and genuine. Meanwhile, I rebelled against my inclinations to ask questions or interject and let the Administrator continue to speak. [I am happy to have been proven wrong, though. A more¡­ moderate User of the System tends to make it further. Now, what does making it further mean?] The Administrator let the question echo out into the void. For uncomfortably long. [That, I won¡¯t say, unless you want to use your singular question on it¡­?] Suns burn her. She had already known that I was idly fishing for additional information and let me think that I was going to get something for free. The Administrator¡¯s chuckles echoed through the space again as I came to the realization. [Do you want to ask the question you asked before leaving last time?] I.. don¡¯t remember what it was. [¡°What about me is so interesting? Why would I be singled out?¡±] My own voice, whiny and childish, immediately responded. Was that how I¡¯d sounded? [If I¡¯ve exaggerated it, you¡¯d never know. But is that your question?] As curious as I was about that, no. I needed real information that would assist me, not just sate my thirst for a single question. [So¡­?] I had thought a little about this, knowing it was coming. I know that there are ways that I can ¡°achieve growth¡± and have my stats increased other than evolution, but I don¡¯t know what the ways are. Please advise me on what I need to do to qualify for that growth. [Strictly speaking, you haven¡¯t asked a question.] I began to try to formulate the question in my head, but I was cut off by the Administrator. [So far as I can tell, the question you wish to ask is ¡°what do I need to do to qualify for growth outside of evolution?¡± Is that correct?] Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Yes¡­? I thought that was the case at least¡­I could feel anxiety begin to creep into my mind. Would the question work? If not, would I get another chance? [Well, that is more of a Systemic Request than an Administrator¡¯s Question, but I suppose that I can accelerate your acquisition of the Quest option.] Relief washed over me as the Administrator continued to speak. [I suppose that¡¯s a good question, though much less exciting than any I¡¯d expected.] I could tell she was pouting. For a so-called Administrator, she seemed pretty childish¡­ [No, I¡¯m not childish, little fang. Just¡­ bored beyond belief. Eternity is an unspeakably long time, after all. Anyway, I can give you some advice, though, for free, what with your question not really being a question. Evolve more, and don¡¯t look down on the Alpha evolution options. Keelish are a creature that depends on numbers and unity to survive, and if you want to rise to the top, you must be an Alpha.] Before I could form a complete thought in response to that, I was relegated back to oblivion, sinking deeper and deeper into the intangible river I¡¯d floated in before, everything going dark and my mind clouding. I woke with a start. I felt¡­ good. Strong. I stood up, and as I moved, I could feel my vertebrae pop from the base of my skull all the way down to the tip of my tail. The release of pressure was divine, on the same level of my first sand bath, but instantaneous. Sighing under my breath, I pulled up my Status. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Young Keelish Bloodletter Current quest: Hunt and consume 1 new creature. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility +1. Titles: none Stats: -Constitution: 4+2=6 -Strength: 4+4=8 -Agility: 6+4=10 -Intelligence: 6+1=7 -Magic: 0 Skills: Bloodlust Evolutionary foresight -Adult Keelish Bloodletter: Survive 60 days. Progress: 5/60 -Young Keelish Bloodletter Alpha: Acquire 10 followers. Progress: 5/10 Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] That¡­ was great. I¡¯d grown quite a bit, and I figured that the bulk of the difference between a bloodseeker and a bloodletter would be manifested in adulthood. Even so, I¡¯d doubled my Strength alone with this evolution. Plus, I now knew for sure that I could evolve again relatively soon, so long as I was able to get some of the other spawnlings to follow me. Looking down at myself, I¡¯d grown quite a bit. I was probably about half again larger than I¡¯d been before evolution, bringing myself to about 18 inches tall at the shoulder. More impressive than my size, however, were my new claws and hands. Instead of the thick, utilitarian claws of before, now my fingers could lock together with new wide scales that overlapped and could be locked together with a slight flex of the muscles underneath. More impressive and dangerous than that, though, were the claws that tipped my fingers, which could almost more correctly be called blades than claws. I could feel the smile split my face, my tail whipping back and forth involuntarily in excitement. Yes, evolution was great. Chapter 18 Having woken, I decided it was time to move. I didn¡¯t know if I¡¯d slept beyond the four hours and thirty minutes required for evolution, but I was ready to move, to do something¡­ to take revenge. However, with the recommendation from the Administrator, I reluctantly decided that maybe I shouldn¡¯t kill Tieran. No matter what, I would show him that I was now able to stand up to him without him being able to do anything about it, but maybe it would be in my best interests not to slaughter him. Maybe. Couldn¡¯t guarantee anything if he pulled something so boneheaded as to provoke me after getting beaten down once again. Either way, I was feeling a deep itch beneath my scales, especially in my arms and fingers, so I was going to get that bath in before I sought Tieran out for his comeuppance. As I began to step out of my pack¡¯s cuddle pile, the rest stirred, reluctant to rise, not yet willing to follow me out of the comfort of rest. Walking out of our den, I was welcomed by near silence. I wasn¡¯t sure if the rest of the other packs were simply sleeping, or if they¡¯d left, but I did enjoy the quiet opportunity to enjoy the bath. As I shook and virtually vibrated the sand through, around, and under my scales, I could feel the shed skin being scrubbed from underneath, and the release of pressure and itchiness was divine. In my new hands and fingers, there had been extensive changes, with larger, smoother scales. I suspected that the scales were also much stronger than before, but I wasn¡¯t about to perform some sort of a stress test on them. Investigating with more detail, I noted that my claws were now about one inch long, curved, and sharpened almost to the level of a surgical blade. Only one inch was small to a human, but given that they were attached to me and I was maybe eighteen inches tall, they were a bit cumbersome. As the sand played through my scales, I flexed them so that my fingers locked together under the larger scales, my hand as a whole resembling a knife. Looking at it, I figured that my hand, in this ¡°blade form¡±, would be able to stab much deeper into my prey than before, and my claws would cut beyond the mere puncture wounds from before my evolution. I idly entertained the thought of plunging my hand as a knife into Tieran¡¯s gut. I couldn¡¯t contain the grin that spread across my face at the thought, and allowed the thought to stay a bit longer, until I was interrupted. ¡°Hello.¡± It was the sub-leader from Tieran¡¯s pack, the female that seemed to be getting less attention. ¡°What do you¡­ want?¡± My ability to speak had improved drastically, the words no longer choking me as they passed through my throat and my tongue cooperating with what I was trying to say. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I wish¡­ to follow you¡­ from now on. I can¡­ see your potential. You have¡­ grown, like him. But you show¡­ greater wisdom.¡± Stilted though her words were, they carried a certain level of gravitas and severity, a serious nature that couldn¡¯t be hidden. ¡°Why choose me? Tieran¡¯s pack¡­ is larger. And you¡­ have followed him¡­ until now.¡± There was a minute flick of her tail, then stillness as she exercised control over herself. ¡°He does¡­ not listen to me. He is¡­ too proud¡­ to learn.¡± I realized that she spoke at least as well as I did, having evolved, but I didn¡¯t think she had been able to yet. ¡°Why would¡­ he listen?¡± ¡°I am¡­ why he¡­ was willing to¡­ challenge you. I gave¡­ him courage¡­ to face his fear.¡± Emotions surged within me. Anger, not quite rage, at realizing this female before me was the only reason why Tieran had ever been willing to face me again. Pride at having been able to cement myself as an object of fear for Tieran. Caution at this newcomer who was more conniving than I could have guessed. ¡°Why would¡­ I listen¡­ to you?¡± ¡°Because I am¡­ smart. And a¡­ good advisor. And you¡­ are smart.¡± She really was smart. Logical. Maybe a bit cold, but that made sense, she was in a pretty risky situation, considering my known volatility. ¡°What is¡­ your name?¡± Another flick of her tail, this time even less controlled before she again mastered herself. ¡°I do not¡­ have one. Tieran said¡­ I am too¡­ ugly to be named. Shemira is beautiful¡­ so she was named.¡± ¡°Stupid. Beauty¡­ provides nothing.¡± A flare of the frills to agree. ¡°You can¡­ join us. Follow my¡­ commands, Sybil.¡± The female flared her frills in agreement, then realized I had named her and froze in place before bowing her head in concession and maybe respect. ¡°Thank you¡­ for your trust. I will prove¡­ my value.¡± ¡°Good. Now¡­ I wish to¡­ put Tieran¡­ in his place. Where¡­ is he?¡± ¡°Hunting. He will return¡­ later.¡± Made enough sense, I supposed. His pack required much more than mine, with twenty six or so individuals, so even if he was taking a tax from the other four packs, he would need to hunt much more than the rest of us. But that might give me the opportunity to finish my first [Quest], so maybe it was for the best. ¡°Are you¡­ hungry, Sybil?¡± ¡°I have not¡­ been permitted¡­ to eat.¡± ¡°Then¡­ come join us¡­ as we eat¡­ before we go¡­ to hunt.¡± Sybil flicked her frills in assent, then fell in step behind me, at my left. The movement came natural to her, and, strangely, it felt comfortable to have her there. I could feel something in my blood that welcomed the willing follower, and I enjoyed the feeling as I, as best as I could, introduced the newest member of our pack to the rest before we all set to the remains of the Toothy Bullfrog. After all, we would need our strength for the new hunt¡­ and for my duel with the would-be Alpha. Chapter 19 Sybil had been a little hesitant to begin eating, seeming to want to wait until the rest of us had eaten our fills, but I¡¯d insisted and forced her to join with the rest of us in eating. If she hadn¡¯t been allowed to eat like she¡¯d said, then she had gone longer since her last meal than the rest of us, who were stuffing ourselves when it definitely hadn¡¯t been altogether necessary. Once she began eating, though, Sybil ate voraciously and nearly seemed to lose control of herself in her hunger. As always, the feed was quick and, once we had finished, I was ready to move, to do something. My [Status] still showed that the fifth day since my hatching had yet to pass. I wasn¡¯t sure when exactly the day ticked over, if it was a day¡¯s passing since the moment of my emergence from the egg, or if it counted the dawn of that same day, or some other way that didn¡¯t occur to me. I didn¡¯t think that it would matter, but there was the slim chance that I would get to the end of the 59th day and need to do something quickly before that final evolution before adulthood occurred, so that knowledge was potentially valuable. Thinking about it, it had only been maybe six hours or so since we¡¯d returned from our hunt. None of us (minus Sybil) were especially hungry, and that would probably benefit us on our upcoming hunt. Without pressing hunger, we could better take our time and be patient. I realized that some of the smaller packs had returned to the den and were resting, maybe without any intentions to hunt again before tomorrow. If that was the case, they could only stunt their own growth for a while longer, because once I became the Alpha of the entire brood, I would ensure that every single one was eating more than enough every meal. After all, I needed to raise this brood to be superior to the rest, if I wanted to rise to the Alpha of the swarm. I did welcome that reality, that strength of fist alone dictated leadership among the keelish. I could remember how I¡¯d spoken to my mother just before my death about how I refused to be given a position due to the strength of her fist, and I laughed at my own hypocrisy. Power mattered to me now, not much else. Maybe that was something I¡¯d always carried in me, or maybe it was just my new keelish self. Regardless, I knew how to continue to build my support structure. As I led the pack back up the entrance and out of the den, Sybil initially took a step to follow at my left. Took snapped her jaws once, and Sybil quickly relented and was relegated to the back of the pack. I¡¯d never seen Sybil do anything physical, so I couldn¡¯t say for sure, but she definitely was Took¡¯s inferior when it came to mass and strength. As before I¡¯d led her down into our den, Sybil firmly mastered herself, showing nothing more than a contrite acceptance of her place at the bottom of the hierarchy. I let it carry on for a while. After all, the hierarchy was intrinsic and key to keelish society¡¯s function, so far as I could tell. There weren¡¯t really ¡°equals¡±, just an ever-shifting melange of ¡°superior¡± and ¡°subordinate¡±, and I couldn¡¯t dissolve that in my pack. Nor did I want to, at least in its totality. Eventually, though, we did leave the den and found ourselves back in the open meadow. Looking up, the skies weren¡¯t yet beginning to lighten, so I knew it couldn¡¯t be summer as it had been before my death, since it had been at least ten hours since the suns had fully set. Who knew how much time was left before the sun rose, and we would be forced to retreat back to the den? I shook the thoughts from my head, literally shaking my head as I gestured for Sybil to approach me. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, she did. ¡°You give¡­ advice, you said?¡± Flare of the frills. ¡°What is¡­ your advice?¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. She cocked her head, thinking for a moment. ¡°I do not¡­ know the hunt. I know¡­ I understand¡­ the mind.¡± I nodded, indicating she should continue. ¡°Tieran¡­ will push you¡­ again after he returns. He will¡­ seek to push you¡­ down further. I said¡­ he should not. He wants¡­ to prove himself¡­ to the rest.¡± ¡°What will¡­ he do?¡± Sybil flicked her tail in uncertainty. ¡°I said¡­ he should be careful. If he¡­ wasn¡¯t then¡­ the others would¡­ rise against him. He might¡­ try to¡­ prove me wrong. Take everything¡­ from you¡­ or kill you.¡± My jaws spread in an involuntary grin. That would be my opportunity. ¡­ The rest of the night passed quickly, with me asking one of the supervising adults if we could hunt outside the bounds of their protections. He hadn¡¯t said no, but he¡¯d advised against it for now, that the night was much more dangerous than dawn and dusk, and if we¡¯d wanted to hunt outside of this area, to do so earlier or later. At least, that was what I gathered through his own stilted, slow manner of speech. As I suffered through his attempt to communicate, I wondered if there was a way for me to elevate the levels of the rest of the swarm. I didn¡¯t particularly want an intelligent revolution, but they should all be able to communicate, at least. With the warning received, I wasn¡¯t yet able to complete my [Quest], and instead we were able to hunt three more of the Toothy Bullfrogs. Two of the hunts were performed entirely without me, as I watched the rest work together to bring down the prey. Sybil tried her best, and wasn¡¯t a problem or impediment, but she did only slightly more than Treel, even though she was significantly larger than the diminutive female. The third¡­ had been my hunt. After watching the others work together, even without my presence, I¡¯d finally been unable to hold myself back and had commanded the rest to stay back. After all, I wanted to test out my new body¡¯s capabilities. Now that I was taller and more densely packed with muscle, I could more easily wade quietly through the marsh, my feet nearly sinking into the mud below. With just a few steps, I was able to close in on my prey and, with a quick lunge, bit deep into its back. With my new height, I could easily rise above the frog¡¯s head, and my fangs sunk deep into flesh, the vertebrae beginning to creak under my initial attack. Then, my mind changed. In retrospect, I could understand that it was the activation of [Bloodlust], but in the moment, I smelled and tasted blood, then there wasn¡¯t much of me left. I began to savage the back of the frog, bones crunching beneath my bites as I fastened my fingers together and began to plunge my hands, like knives, into the prey. I couldn¡¯t hear anything beyond the rushing of blood in my ears and the satisfying crunch of bone in my mouth. Nothing went down my throat, I didn¡¯t want to eat or feed, I just needed to rip and tear, to continue, long after the body had relinquished all semblance of life. With a long cry of victory, I raised my head and observed the end result of my rage. The viscera of the frog floated around me, I could see the warmth of blood being dispersed in the water, I could smell and feel that same blood coating my face, my arms, and beginning to congeal around and under my scales. There had been no person left within me during that. Just ferocity. As I shook myself from my temporary insanity, I rinsed myself off in the water. With the scent of blood coating me, I could feel that the unwilling activation of [Bloodlust] was uncomfortably close. Fortunately, I was able to clean myself sufficiently to keep that from happening. Looking at my prey¡­ it would be impossible to carry it back in any efficient way. With a sign, I invited the pack to come and eat their fill before leaving the corpse where it floated. Oncli and Sybil approached me while the rest of the pack slowly set to the body. None were particularly hungry, so the eating was slow and deliberate as I changed my perception back to my eyes and noted the bare hint of light beginning to show itself in the skies. Oncli spoke. ¡°That¡­ scary. You¡­ strong.¡± ¡°You are¡­ the better leader¡­ if you¡­ control yourself.¡± Sybil echoed. I sighed. The insanity of my [Skill] had grown, but I hoped I¡¯d be able to better control it the more I triggered it. ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ go home.¡± At my command, my pack and I returned to the den, bellies full, two Toothy Bullfrog corpses in tow, and ready for the inevitable. I couldn¡¯t wait. Chapter 20 A part of me planned exactly what would happen. I would lead the pack in, Sybil behind me as an obvious challenge to Tieran. He would open his fool mouth and say something about how ¡°Tieran¡­ is best¡±, I¡¯d challenge him, beat him down, use excessive force, maybe break some fangs out of his mouth, and barely let him live. He would begin to serve me, and I would quickly learn what the benefits of being the Alpha of the entire brood were. Life¡­ doesn¡¯t follow plans. Tieran was asleep, judging from how soft breaths and the quiet rustling of scales were the only sounds coming out of their den. Frustrating though it was, we could use the rest. Our bodies were swiftly growing, the speed of maturation so far beyond that of a human. It was nearly on the level of change experienced by the Toothy Bullfrogs. I¡¯d caught their tadpoles a couple of times as a kid, and they¡¯d grown so different so quickly. But keelish, however, exited the egg ready to hunt. Regardless, with full bellies and a den that simply couldn¡¯t accommodate our seven bodies and two Toothy Bullfrogs, we did need to excavate for a little while before we could take our own rest. The digging was different with my new hands. As they were, they obviously were built and shaped to rend flesh, and they did so quite effectively. Now that I¡¯d evolved, though, they didn¡¯t cut quite so easily into the dirt, the thinner, sharper claws tipping my fingers much less effective at excavating. In fact, once I¡¯d plunged my hands in with a bit more enthusiasm, I¡¯d nearly broken a claw on a stone I hadn¡¯t seen, and it had been so unexpected that I¡¯d yowled in surprised pain. I wished I was able to pull the claws back into my hands somewhat, to dull them, or protect them, or something, anything. No luck. Instead, I flattened and fixed my fingers together, and used my hands like trowels to move the dirt somewhat more effectively than before my evolution. The thought occurred that my evolution to Bloodletter had been to a completely combat-focused ¡°caste¡± of keelish, and thus I had sacrificed something of my more¡­ domestic, I supposed I would call it, side. I welcomed the change, momentary frustrations notwithstanding. Fortunately enough, the seven of us all worked diligently, and before long, we had a sufficiently large den to designate the back corner a ¡°pantry¡± big enough for the two corpses while the rest of us could collapse into a happily exhausted pile and begin to sleep. I slept hard, without any dreams I could remember. I couldn¡¯t even say if I had dreamed, but the rest was divine. Without grogginess or complaint, I woke to the quiet calls and screeches of the brood, realizing that the den was beginning to truly feel like home to me. A satisfied smile spread across my face as I stretched and flexed my tail, all the bones down my spine popping pleasantly, followed by most every other joint. I felt¡­ great. Then, I noticed the [System] notification: [Growth achieved. Status updated.] [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Young Keelish Bloodletter Current quest: Hunt and consume 1 new creature. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility +1. Titles: none Stats: -Constitution: 6+1=7 -Strength: 8+1=9 -Agility: 10+1=11 -Intelligence: 7+1=8 -Magic: 0 Skills: Bloodlust Evolutionary foresight The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. -Adult Keelish Bloodletter: Survive 60 days. Progress: 6/60 -Young Keelish Bloodletter Alpha: Acquire 10 followers. Progress: 6/10 Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] But¡­ I hadn¡¯t completed any [Quest]? [All creatures grow naturally as they age to maturity. That growth is more gradual in some, but the growth is notable in the keelish species primarily due to the rapidity with which they grow to maturity. This growth occurs within all keelish juveniles about every 6 days until they reach maturity at 60 days after their hatching. Please note that not every increase in Status due to reaching maturation milestones will provide the same gross amount of Stats or distribution. This increase varies from individual to individual, with more highly evolved specimens receiving greater Stat growth per growth period.] So, once I grow to maturity, I can expect at least 9 more in each stat, plus whatever I gain from [Quests] and evolution. After all, this wasn¡¯t going to be my final evolution, so I needed to push to evolve ever further to ensure these Stat bonuses came in at the highest level possible each time. With that in mind, I finally decided that I wouldn¡¯t kill Tieran. I hated the bastard, but, stars bless me, I could tell that he was an exceptional individual. I would be better served having a skillful subordinate, and I would just have to ensure that he would never again raise his head or claw to me. A beatdown was going to come his way, and¨C I was interrupted from my musings as Tieran walked into my den. This suns-burned idiot dared to think he could enter here so easily? I could feel my frills and scales all puffing out in anger as he sauntered into my space. ¡°Give me your¡­ food there. We need it.¡± He could talk better now. That was the last coherent thought I could recall as, even without the spilling of blood, [Bloodlust] was triggered.. With the rage boiling within me, I rushed forward and headbutted Tieran out of my den. I could feel one of the bones within my frill crack as it smashed into Tieran¡¯s sternum. I knew I should be feeling something from that, but there was still only my ire. He, astonished by my sudden brutality after days of submission, awkwardly fell to the ground outside of my den and scrabbled to his feet as he assumed a battle-ready stance. He thought he could so easily trespass into my home? I gave him the benefit of my largesse last night, let him sleep, and he stomped on it like this? I screamed my challenge and rushed forward to engage again with Tieran. He seemed to want to take the same approach as last time, allowing me to take more and more wild strikes as I opened myself up to his counter. I was not the same keelish as before. My movements were much tighter after having learned something about combat, instead of the hunt. Tieran was still larger than me, something I thought could be attributed to his Alpha nature, but I was a different beast from just a larger spawnling. With three quick snaps of my jaws, I menaced Tieran into stepping back, keeping him on his back foot and unable to settle into a steady stance. After another crack of my teeth together, Tieran was able to establish a good foothold and began to try to dodge my movements while attempting to strike back himself. Unfortunately for him, I knew his ace in the hole, while he couldn¡¯t guess mine. Last time, Tieran had been able to knock me down with his tail when I wasn¡¯t expecting it, but I hadn¡¯t bothered to reach out with my hands to pull on him this time. Instead, I kept my fingers locked together under my new protective scales, primed for the perfect moment. Deliberately overextending myself, I stepped forward again into his established guard and snapped my jaws at Tieran as I read his body language and stepped into a bracing position as he whipped his tail towards me. I simply leveled my left hand, forming a blade shape, into the trajectory of the tail. With surprising ease, Tieran¡¯s scales then flesh were punctured by my claws, and my fingers quickly followed suit, sinking past the first knuckle with the force of that initial impact. He screamed in pain as I curled my left hand¡¯s fingers as best as I could and shredded through the thick muscle of Tieran¡¯s tail. I didn¡¯t stop there, whipping my torso around to drive my right hand at my prey with all the force of my body into his ribs. The noise Tieran made as my hand plunged all the way to the wrist into his chest¡­ was like a wet cough mixed with a gasp of surprise. I had definitely punched through his lungs, and probably touched his heart. Immediately after the cough, blood began to dribble from his mouth as Tieran collapsed to the ground. All the fight was quickly sapped from his body, replaced by terror as Tieran realized that he had crossed me for the last time. Blood pooled beneath my feet, soaking my toes as I forcefully wrenched my hand from my prey¡¯s corpse. Tieran was no more, only left before me was the quickly cooling corpse of he who would have beaten me down. I reared my head back and crowed to the roof of the den, ¡°VICTORY!!¡± Before the echoes of my scream faded, I heard the approving cries of my pack filling the air. Chapter 21 The screeches of victory, both in word and in pure emotion, rang through the den again and again. This time, I had struck down someone who had repeatedly looked down on and had mistreated me, so the spawnlings didn¡¯t seem to mind the more permanent nature of the solution I had provided. Either that, or they now feared me enough to begin to submit to me en masse. The grin spread across my face, pleased with the longer-reaching impact of this possibility, and I felt the insanity of the [Bloodlust] skill further fall from clouding my mind. Before the [Bloodlust] completely faded from my mind, I took note of Tieran¡¯s other sub-leader rallying the pack, Shemira, talking quietly to nearly every spawnling from that pack. I realized that now was my chance to begin to garner followers for myself, and it was slipping away from me the more she spoke. Determined, I struck a self-assured pose and began to address the audience. ¡°I am¡­ Ashlani! I am¡­ the strongest! I will¡­ lead you¡­ to victory!¡± I wanted to speak more, longer, and more eloquently, but I simply was incapable of it. I could only rely on my demonstration and stilted words to curry the favor I needed. Immediately following my address, a large male approached and fell in behind me. I immediately noted in my [Status] that he was my follower before I¡¯d said a word to him individually. Before I could turn to speak to him, Sybil spoke up. ¡°No name¡­ Tieran said that¡­ he was too¡­ stupid to¡­ be named.¡± I twitched my frills in acknowledgement of the information and turned to the big guy. ¡°Why follow¡­ me?¡± No answer. Different from Took, Treel, Foire or Vefir who tried to speak and could barely form single syllables, this one didn¡¯t even try. He just looked at me, flared the frills around his head, and then settled down onto his haunches, apparently completely uncaring about anything else. I flicked my tail in unconcern, and looked over at the rest of what remained from Tieran¡¯s pack. It wasn¡¯t long before five others followed suit and fell in behind me as well, taking my pack into the double digits. Others looked unsure, but ultimately stayed with Shemira while occasionally glancing over at my pack. Recruits to be, I was sure. Regardless, this was enough to evolve to Alpha, and so quickly¨C As I¡¯d idly looked over my [Status], I noted that the other five additions to the pack were not yet my ¡°Followers¡±. Did I just need to name them? No real thought was necessary to name the new additions. Brutus, for the brutish male, Shruk and Creck for the other two males that joined, then Etra, Cree, and Traak for the three females. Other than Brutus, the names were selected entirely because they were easy to say with the keelish throat. Nonetheless, all six seemed happy to receive their names. And my number of followers didn¡¯t increase. Why? Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. [For an individual to qualify as another¡¯s ¡°Follower¡±, they must be willing to follow the ¡°Leader¡¯s¡± orders, as well as to have and demonstrate loyalty to the ¡°Leader¡±.] So¡­ since these followers are new they aren¡¯t fully loyal to me? That was¡­ acceptable, I supposed. It wouldn¡¯t take long before continuously full bellies began to sway their opinions. But, preferably, it would be soon. I shook my head, and invited the new members of the pack to enjoy a meal with the rest of us. Before long, the thirteen of us had devoured every bit of Toothy Bullfrog flesh that had been left, and I could tell that Brutus and the three new females were still hungry. Again, before I could ask any questions, Sybil inched closer to me. ¡°They were¡­ the undesirables¡­ under Tieran. They were¡­ mistreated by him¡­ and Shemira. They hope for¡­ better treatment¡­ under you.¡± Sybil¡¯s vocabulary alone was so far beyond the rest of the spawnlings, and, if I were honest, even beyond my own, that it beggared belief. Well, at least it seemed that I¡¯d inadvertently started everything off on the right foot. I smiled at my new pack, fully filling the space we had only just barely expanded to fit the pack. If what we needed to do was to work to better fulfill our own needs, then I was ok with that. We could do so after our hunt today. I began to gather the pack together to go hunt when Sybil again approached me. ¡°I am¡­ not a hunter. I can¡­ accompany you¡­ if you wish¡­ or I¡­ can work here¡­ for you.¡± I cocked my head, wanting to ask more, but deciding against it. ¡°Very well. I¡¯m looking¡­ forward to¡­ seeing what you do.¡± Sybil nodded, then turned and, after a couple quiet words, got Etra and Cree to follow her out of the den. For a moment, I questioned my decision to not ask any further questions, but decided against it and instead rallied the other nine to follow me out to the hunt. ¡­ True to the adult keelish from yesterday¡¯s words, there were no more guardians posted to protect us on our hunt today. The initial presence of the protectors, however, had been a bit of a surprise, since we were just hunting the Toothy Bullfrogs that were so near to the den¡¯s entrance. After all, the frogs could pose no threat to us now that we had learned how to hunt and had grown to about their size. Yet, I had heard the wolfstags¡¯ calls last night, so some caution was warranted, I supposed, but I couldn¡¯t imagine that this environment could support both types of social hunters. The jungle was lush and there was sure to be no shortage of potential prey, but with ranging packs of hunters from the two species¡­ It would be mortal combat on the earliest awareness of the other¡¯s presence. Regardless of the possible relative closeness of wolfstags, I had a goal to achieve today: the hunt of a new creature, and the completion of my first formal [Quest]. While this jungle was different from the area that the Viertaali tribe had wandered, it was similar enough that I could guess as to which options might be available to me for this new hunt. I led the pack in a preliminary hunt of one Toothy Bullfrog as I searched for signs of other possible prey. I had to force myself not to engage in the hunt when the odor of blood wafted over me. With gritted teeth and closed eyes, I finally was able to force [Bloodlust] from triggering, keeping my mind in the process. I happily opened my eyes and shifted my perception solely to my eyes as I looked around for sign of prey. I did have one in particular in mind that I would like to¡­ Just as the thought crossed my mind, I noted a particular pattern of crushed branches in the undergrowth, and a pleased smile spread across my face. Chapter 22 There wasn¡¯t much time left before the suns¡¯ light would disappear completely, so I quickly began to lead the pack after the steady line of crushed branches and overturned dirt. It wound through the underbrush, swiftly leaving the relative safety of the marshes where the Toothy Bullfrogs continued to spawn and fill the area with hundreds of thousands of eggs. Now under the thick covering of brush, I was once again forced to change my perception once again in order to maintain a certain level of awareness of my surroundings. The jungle around me settled into a pattern of blues and greens, indicating the relatively cool plants and ground surrounding us. Flicking through the branches above were occasional birds, evidently preying on the midges and other insects buzzing and filling the air. The sound of the jungle was a constant drone, punctuated by the quiet chitters of the keelish and the occasional far-off call of a hawk. The ever-shrinking human part of me felt the instinctive nervousness that accompanied approaching night, but my keelish blood sang in anticipation of this hunt. I knew that this prey would give a good bonus in addition to the intrinsic reward from the [Quest]. Slowly, following further, I felt the first tremors of worry. If this sign was too old, we would never find the prey, and we could potentially get lost out here, since none of us were familiar with the surrounding jungle. I knew inside that my ability to orienteer myself had improved markedly, but I didn¡¯t know exactly how much that was, and I wasn¡¯t willing to wander off into the jungle to let it devour me due to my hubris. The brush continued to grow thicker, and the ten of us had to continuously hunch under branches, crawl over and through roots, and brush aside branches to maintain our path and some semblance of visibility. The trees here, burlraizes, had extensive root systems that began several feet above the ground, something that allowed them to better survive and prevent root rot in these lands that frequently flooded. There may be prey to be found under these roots, but I instead wanted to focus on a specimen that I knew would provide better benefits to me. Looking around, there were any number of locations where my prey could be hiding. Going off the sign, it was large for its species, somewhere from eight to ten feet long, and half a foot wide. I wouldn¡¯t have dared to try to hunt it if there were fewer in my pack, but with ten of us, we would be able to subjugate it, I was sure. Especially since it would glow so obviously in the cooling jungle. I just needed to keep my ¡°eyes¡± peeled, and I would find it soon, I was sure. With a glance up, following the sign into a mass of roots that obscured obvious passage, I noted a couple of spots that could house our prey, and one that even had something that looked a little like it, but it was the same temperature as the rest of the vines in the area so it couldn¡¯t be¨C I was blindsided by the sudden strike from the massive Martanimis Python, and then again by my own stupidity. I knew that keelish were different from most reptiles, in that we weren¡¯t fully cold-blooded, so we would appear easily under my ¡°new¡± method of perception. Unfortunately for me, my prey was fully cold-blooded, and thus didn¡¯t glow warm reds and oranges. I should have thought of that, since the Toothy Bullfrogs were mostly cold-blooded as well, and had been more difficult to distinguish that way. Regardless, I didn¡¯t have the time to muse on the mechanics and questions associated with my own ignorance. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. The python bit deep into my back and, having struck, pulled me vigorously back up into its nest as I witnessed my pack scatter in surprise¡­ and abandon me. Panicking, I elbowed at its face with both arms, trying to get it to release me, and though several blows landed on its eyes, it didn¡¯t give in. Instead, I could feel the thick coils of the serpent begin to wind around me with crushing force as I reached down and chomped repeatedly into the hard muscle trying to squash every bone in my body to pieces. I could only barely draw blood with all my force as the snake continued to move its body. As I was slowly enveloped in coils, I realized I¡¯d been wrong about the size of this monster. It was at least fifteen feet long, but not as thick and hefty as the Martanimis frequently were. Regardless¡­ I was going to die. There wasn¡¯t anything I could do against something so much larger and stronger than me. I felt my ribs creak and begin to crack as I desperately thrust my hands at everything I could reach. My right thumb, not joined with the other fingers in the ¡°blade¡± form, caught on something and with a crack that cut through the agony my crushing ribs, was broken and hung unresponsive. The breath was crushed from my lungs as I mourned my foolishness and arrogance. I couldn¡¯t breathe, and I could feel my strikes enfeeble before I heard Took shriek in challenge. My vision swimming, I saw that Took had scaled the tree with Brutus and both were latched onto the python¡¯s tail and hauling it as hard as they could, trying to unwrap it from me, I supposed. Invigorated, I continued to thrash as strongly as I could, shifting the large body minutely, but enough for its slick scales to slide along the bark of the burlraiz. With shrieks of victory, Took and Brutus, then the snake and myself slid off of the narrow perch I was dying on. With a thud, all four of us crashed to the ground, and for the first time, the python¡¯s mouth released me. It hissed at Took, who stepped back in caution while snarling in answer. Brutus, thick as he was, didn¡¯t respond and charged forward with jaws agape. The Martanimis Python whipped its tail, and with a crack, Brutus was sent sprawling as I felt the coils adjust around my body enough for my left arm to be freed. Around the python, the pack began to swarm, snapping at it, trying to find purchase on its body, but to no avail. It lashed its tail and snapped its jaws enough to keep any of the intelligent members of the pack from approaching, while the less intelligent were tossed away by the sheer strength of our foe. Finally, I roused myself and began to try to extricate myself from the beast. I would not allow this to be the end of me. There were still things to do, and, in this moment of near death, I acknowledged that I truly enjoyed my new life as a keelish, and I looked forward to all the evolutions that laid before me. Unfortunately, as I was resolving myself to survive and enjoy my new life, the Martanimis had another idea, and, with a quick snap of its jaws, I was put fully into its mouth as it began to escape from the pack. Chapter 23 As I have said before, the previously untamed Martanimi Jungle is still home to many predators and generally dangerous wildlife, such as the Martanimis Python; the lesser elemental wolfstag, primarily of the water and earth varieties; the terrorbird; and the scaled deer, to name a few. The prudent Speaker must always be aware of their surroundings, as I always say, and what poses the most threat to their passage. Of course, after attending my lectures for just a couple of weeks, you will find yourself many times more prepared than you could have imagined before your attendance! These days, the jungles might be much more hospitable than they were in the days predating the Gran Verat¡¯s rise to power and establishment of the Holy State of the Veratocracy, yet they can still pose a threat to the unaware!! The question that many young Speakers then pose to the Great Professor Lutoh Masilimu after learning such frightening things is frequently ¡°then why does the Gran Verat allow those dangerous creatures to live? Please, enlighten us, Professor Masilimu!¡± Why, he allows them to live because all potentially dangerous creatures yet in the bordering jungles prey upon the keelish! Or, feed those that do. NONETHELESS! The danger yet remains to you, so I insist you come down to visit the Great Professor before you dream of leaving Vieraal City! I always accept new students. ¨CContents of the final pamphlet distributed by Lutoh Masilimu before his incarceration for fraud and criminal impersonation of a Professor of the Red Abbey I could hear the slithering of the Martanimis Python¡¯s scales on the roots below as it fled from my supporting packmates. The echoes of its internals, the smell of its breath, the feel of its throat constricting around me and trying to force me down further. I knew that I wouldn¡¯t last long this way, and immediately spread my legs as far as I could to catch myself in its throat. I felt the claws of my feet catch on a rigid surface of some sort, maybe a bone, and I was able to halt my descent with my whole body only just within the python¡¯s mouth. Below me, the serpent¡¯s tongue lashed and flapped at me as I tried to extricate myself however I could manage to think, but the mouth continued to close in, the throat constricting and pushing me down¡­ I screamed, the cries reverberating in the mouth and echoing in my head. I would NOT allow this to be my end. I¡¯d already begun to give in before, but not again. I started lashing out with my claws, cutting the inside of the snake¡¯s mouth, and lopping off a section of its tongue, but still the damned snake wouldn¡¯t spit me out. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care as the crushing force of the snake¡¯s mouth tried to force me down into its gullet, where it could digest me. Again, I screamed, panic being overwhelmed with rage as the scent of blood filled my nostrils and I allowed the [Bloodlust] to kick in in full force. I felt something in my throat crack and the cry broke louder, stronger, but more painfully from me. I fastened my fingers together, without regarding or caring for the agony of my shattered thumb as I continued to lash out with reckless abandon. I widened my jaws and bit down hard on the tongue, the blood coating my face and throat. The taste of iron gave me the strength to continue the fight, and I screamed through my clenched teeth in challenge. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Lunging around and being wrenched about by the python¡¯s tongue, I couldn¡¯t tell which direction was up or down, or even further within the snake, but I knew that I wouldn¡¯t let it rest easy with me still in here. I continued to lash out, the snake¡¯s blood covering me ever more as I fought to escape, to live. I couldn¡¯t find purchase in the slimy mouth, and I felt the throat close in on me once more, but this time, I didn¡¯t have that firm footing. I was about to be swallowed. With a final scream of effort, I knifed both of my hands directly at whatever was in reach. I felt firm flesh, and pushed harder, deeper. All around me, the hissing of breath hitched, and the snake began to writhe and seemed to have decided to spit me out. But, if it wanted me out, I wanted to stay in. I forced a grin and readied myself to continue. I pulled my left hand free, pulled it back, and slammed it back into the wounded location again and again. I could feel something begin to give, until, with a crack, I was able to punch my claws through into something else. It wasn¡¯t air, so I was still within the snake. I released my fingers from each other, and began to move them around, stirring up whatever they were latched within, and I felt the soft viscera part and tear beneath the agitated writhing of my fingers. As the snake began to lose control of itself, I, still disregarding the agony of my broken thumb and ribs, slammed my right hand into the softened flesh of what I now knew to be the roof of the snake¡¯s mouth. The already perforated flesh immediately gave way, and a fountain of blood and pulped brains showered my face. My mind long gone, I exulted in the shower of gore and extended my neck and began to chomp my way out of the snake¡¯s skull. The taste of the blood and brains was indescribably bitter, but I gloried in it. It wasn¡¯t as fast as I¡¯d wanted, yet still I was able to force my head to burst out of the top of my prey¡¯s skull. Somehow, I felt my strength surge as the python finally went completely limp. With my head now freed, I screamed my victory to the skies as I continued to gnaw, chew, and tear my way free of the foolish creature that had thought itself worthy of hunting me. The crunching of bone was all the applause I needed as continued to wrest myself free from the prison of the snake¡¯s flesh. Again and again I screamed a wordless challenge to the skies as I gloried in my kill, in my survival. Never before had the air tasted so sweet as I slowly was able to pull myself from the mindlessness of [Bloodlust] fueled slaughter. I had survived, and I had been successful on my hunt. I slowly noted the approaching members of my pack, staring at me in awe as I looked down in pride as I acknowledged the flashing [System] notifications: [Quest completed. Growth achieved. Quest board updated. Status updated. Evolutionary Progress: Young Keelish Bloodletter Alpha; Acquire 10 followers, 12/10. Evolution unlocked. ] Chapter 24 As I slowly came to myself, I noted that I now had 12 followers, not 10. However, Etra and Cree weren¡¯t here to start to become my ¡°follower¡±. Maybe Sybil had done something to the two she had selected while we were away. I couldn¡¯t say I even knew at which point those two had formally come under my banner, since their transition to willing followers of mine wouldn¡¯t have triggered the actual notification of my evolutionary requirements having been fulfilled. Well, she had said that she was a good advisor as well as suggested that she would be useful, and I had only seen her proving that to be true, so I simply accepted the good fortune. Who knew, maybe having additional followers would trigger a greater benefit during my next evolution? Speaking of greater benefits, I quickly looked at my notifications to see what extra rewards were to be provided since I had gone so far above and beyond on the completion of this Quest. [Quest: Hunt and consume 1 new creature. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility +1. Variable reward bonus provided: Constitution, Strength +4, Agility +3, Intelligence +2. New Quest received.] [New Quest: Hunt and consume 1 new creature with innate magical capabilities. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +1.] I was too exhausted and agonized to pore over my new [Status] and [Quest]. Instead, I just wanted to get back home to the den, and rest. Maybe evolution would solve my cracked ribs and completely shattered thumb. Looking down at it, I worried I might have torn the tendon and permanently crippled myself. Yet, one non-functional finger would be immensely preferable to death, which is what my other option was, so I contented myself with that. As I forced myself to trudge out of the corpse, I realized there was still another flashing [System] notification. [New Skill: Exceptional Individual acquired.] For a moment I paused, waiting for an explanation. Nothing. I began to resign myself to trying to drag my prey back to the den. It was hard going, but I was notably strengthened by my completion of the [Quest], so between me and the rest of the pack, we are able to begin to drag the behemoth serpent. Oncli approached me, the slant of his shoulders somehow wry. ¡°You¡­ always¡­ crazy¡­¡± I could tell by the tone he was teasing me, and I dropped the section of flesh I was hauling my prey with just long enough to shoot back, ¡°Get¡­ to work.¡± Oncli clicked his tongue along the base of his fangs in amusement and began to assist the rest of us as we hauled the huge snake back towards the den. My aching body screamed with every step, and the force of supporting and hauling the huge snake caused agony to shoot through me with every step, but I refused to leave so much good meat away from the brood, where my generosity could garner me more followers. With every step, I pondered why the [System] hadn¡¯t given me any information about this new [Skill], until I was internally berating myself for how slow in the head I¡¯d been. I remembered that when I¡¯d received [Bloodlust] before, I didn¡¯t know what it did until after I¡¯d triggered it and had killed one of the brood. Maybe I could just consult with the [System]. Then, how had I even qualified for or received this new [Skill]? This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. [The requirements to receive Skill: Exceptional Individual are; to have at least the same quantity of Stats in every stat before exiting the Juvenile stage of development as a typical adult of the species would have. Note: for keelish, that stage ends 30 days after hatching.] So halfway before reaching ¡°adulthood¡±. No coincidence there, huh? I half expected a response, but got none from that. But what does this new [Skill] do anyways? [The effects of the Skill: Exceptional Individual are; at every ¡°growth period¡±, or, in the Keelish race¡¯s case, every 6 days until sexual maturity is reached, the System user with the Skill will receive bonus Stats. These Stats are a percentage increase overall, so there will be a greater influence the greater the level of an individual Stat¡¯s growth.] That was exciting to learn. I¡¯d already been concerned with the fact that I was starting at such a deficit compared to Viilor, so every little bit I could get would be another step closing in on my goal. But, now that I thought about it, I was a little confused about my Stats. I knew what my Stats were, so I did see that they all, except Magic, were in the double digits and above what the [System] had told me were the typical Stats for a keelish adult (10 each for Constitution, Strength, and Agility, 4 for Intelligence, and 0 for Magic). However, I felt that my stats weren¡¯t that far above the rest of my brood¡¯s, at least until finishing this latest [Quest]. How could it be that I was the only one that would get this new [Skill]? Didn¡¯t that mean that, regardless of anything else, the [System] users were sure to be so far superior to the rest of their race they were destined to be the most powerful? [The Administrative Body has deemed it unnecessary¡­ The Administrator has reminded the Administrative Body that this is information that the System user should have received already in a clear fashion, instead of piecemeal as it has been thus far. The Administrative Body has been forced to concede the point. The Administrator advises that the User remember what the function of the System is: to give guidance on how to grow most effectively. The benefits received by the System are received by all who qualify, regardless of if they are a System User.] Then any benefits that I receive can also be received by the rest of my pack, and by the swarm at large? [There is the possibility that others may qualify for the same points of growth that you do, but just because one is of the same species as you does not mean that they are the same race or are otherwise qualified to complete the same objectives or Quests as you.] Ok. But regardless, it seems that my brood is significantly more powerful than the average keelish hatchling would be¡­ so what¡¯s the deal there? [Your brood is exceptional.] I awaited further information, getting nothing further. Regardless of further prompting, I didn¡¯t get any further information regarding the apparent exceptionality of my pack and brood. Whatever. I would instead focus on the next steps in hauling the corpse back to our den. The hike was long, arduous, and painful, but it didn¡¯t take too long before we were slowly descending into the den with our massive prey in tow. Upon arrival, I wanted nothing more than to just lay down, fill my belly, and evolve, hoping for relief from my cracked ribs and broken thumb, but I nearly walked past our den, since it had changed so much since we¡¯d left maybe three hours prior. Sybil had definitely been busy. Chapter 25 The dirt mounds that had begun to fill up the communal area were almost all gone. What had previously been a nearly impassable maze of loose earth piled into hills was now a well-tended room. No longer were there impassable spaces from carelessly thrown dirt, or decaying bone piles. Now, instead, there was a space almost engineered to its greatest capability, best able to use the space that was becoming more and more cramped as time passed. As we weary warriors passed into our cleaned home, Sybil came out to greet us, flanked by Etra and Cree. I noted the brief pause as she took note of our massive prey dragged behind us before speaking, while Etra and Cree¡¯s reactions were much more obvious as they stood with mouths wide open. ¡°Thank you¡­ for returning with¡­ food, Alpha. May I¡­ assume that you¡­ will allow¡­ us to feed¡­ as well? If not¡­ we must go¡­ and hunt now.¡± At Sybil¡¯s words, I noted Etra and Cree¡¯s fear at the mention of going to hunt just them three. I clicked my teeth together as I shook my head. ¡°You have¡­ worked hard. Please¡­ join us.¡± Sybil bowed her head as she flared her frills in acknowledgment. However, before she approached, she spoke once again. ¡°Do you¡­ wish to cleanse¡­ yourself before eating¡­ Alpha?¡± Again, a click of my teeth as my weary mind finally parsed what she had said. No name, just Alpha. Referring to me by title, and, as my mind caught up and began to understand, further cementing my position to the rest of the spawnlings present. ¡°Thank you¡­ Sybil. Please¡­ come eat.¡± I could feel my exhaustion showing as I hardly cared at how I was forced to stumble over my own words. I idly hoped that I would be able to better express myself after evolution, since that had seemed to occur with Tieran and the other pack leaders after they¡¯d become Alphas. One could hope, I supposed. But, for now, all that I wanted to do was to eat until I was full and then collapse into a hopefully healing evolution. The first step on my list was easy enough. I alone could easily (somewhat) cut through the scales of the snake, so I obliged myself to cut out a couple of locations from which the rest of the pack could begin their own meals. Before long, I was again buried in the Martanimis Python, only this time it was just my face, and I was happily stuffing myself until several bites past comfortably full. In fact, so full was I that I needed to rest, tighten my stomach, and slowly tread back to the den where I could begin to rest off my discomfort. Especially the discomfort of my cracked ribs, which still ached with every step, breath, and seemingly, heartbeat. And my thumb. And the bite puncture wounds lining my back from the nape of my neck to the base of my tail. There was a lot of me that needed recovery. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Groaning, I waddled into our den, no, my den, and there I was surprised again by the renovations that Sybil had been able to effectuate so quickly with so little labor force. The communal sleeping spot had been enlarged again, giving space to spread out or cuddle together, whichever suited the fancy of any individual, while the pantry had been carved deeper to allow for much more storage. Not enough to store our prey from today, I noted with a slight smile. Another addition, one I couldn¡¯t quite understand though, was a new hole in the back of the room. Peeking in, there was enough space for maybe two or three keelish to sleep within, and a little space with loose dirt. Upon further inspection, the loose dirt was clean sand that could be used to bathe, and where Sybil had found it, I couldn¡¯t possibly guess. Regardless, it seemed that she had created a personal bathroom for the pack in here, which I found myself grinning in pleasure at. ¡°What do¡­ you think?¡± Sybil¡¯s voice pulled me from my musings and observations. She stood, stoic and slightly subservient, behind me. There were no tells of what she was actually thinking, and, for the first time, I wondered if I had allowed the most dangerous of the brood to become my advisor. Would she turn on me as easily as she had on Tieran? I shook the thoughts from my head. ¡°It is¡­ nice. I will¡­ use it¡­ when I get¡­ better.¡± She cocked her head. ¡°Why not¡­ sleep here today?¡± ¡°Sleep?¡± ¡°This is¡­ your space. You can sleep¡­ or bathe¡­ or mate here.¡± The reality quickly closed in on me. Of course this was my space. What other member of the pack so obviously enjoyed bathing, as well as was in a position of leadership over the rest of the pack? Of course I would be given preferential treatment and space¨C ¡°To mate?¡± Sybil flicked her tail as a shrug, the rest of her body noncommittal. ¡°Someday.¡± That truly was a thought to shake out of my head. No, I wasn¡¯t going to bed a keelish. Regardless of my discomfort regarding keelish mating, I turned to face Sybil squarely. ¡°Thank you. Not just¡­ for this¡­ but for¡­ building¡­ me up¡­ to the rest. You are¡­ a capable advisor.¡± Sybil¡¯s nod/bow went deeper this time, and she was more obviously somewhat embarrassed and proud of my praise. ¡°It is¡­ who I am. I am¡­ not a leader¡­ but a supporter.¡± I bowed my head in return. ¡°Please. Continue to¡­ support me.¡± Then, I settled into a comfortable position on the floor as I dismissed Sybil with a flick of my frills. She left as I turned back to my [Status], finally looking a bit more at the details provided about my imminent evolution. [Evolution typically requires a basic restructuring of your body. You will fall unconscious as the reconstruction takes place. Evolution to: Young Keelish Bloodletter Alpha from your current physiology will take place over the duration of 4 hours. Evolution will provide a marked bonus to your stats, as well as certain obvious physiological changes. Note: the evolution into a Young Alpha Keelish of any type is generally less impactful than an evolution to a differently specialized race. Thus, basic restructuring of the body is unnecessary.] Huh. Maybe this evolution wouldn¡¯t be as impactful as the first, but I was still looking forward to the ability to speak with the Administrator once again and ask another question. After all, knowledge would be the only leverage I had against Viilor when I ripped his throat out. Chapter 26 Once again, I found myself floating aimlessly as soon as I acknowledged my willingness to evolve. This time, however, I realized that this evolutionary space was the only place other than the sand bath that I could remember where I had ever relaxed in any way since my reincarnation. Even sleep was taken with a rigid and pragmatic approach¨Cin order to grow, I must rest. Only my baths, which I had not taken with my body injured as it was, and this out-of-body space were where I would or could relax to any extent. Slowly, I allowed myself to loosen and allow my stress to begin to drain from me. I was about to sigh in relief when I was rudely interrupted. [Oh, but are you lucky little fang! I¡¯ve never seen a Martanimis be so foolish as to take whole, living, and potentially dangerous prey into its mouth like that. They¡¯re always so careful to make sure they kill anything before it enters their mouths. I must confess, I was sure you were doomed once you began to track it. I mean, they prey on keelish. Of course it¡¯s going to eat you. But¡­ It isn¡¯t often I¡¯m happy to be proven wrong, but here we are.] My sigh of relief quickly shifted to exasperation. Regardless of anything else, however, I was still in her space, so why would I expect to be offered some level of privacy? [I couldn¡¯t tell you. This isn¡¯t a relaxing soak in a hot spring or a massage, it is an opportunity to grow wiser and more powerful.] That was true enough, I supposed. I began to ready my question when I was once again interrupted. [Now, I do have a little¡­ free information for you. Please realize that this is a direct quote, and does not contain my own thoughts. ¡°Do note that this does not at all impact your ability to ask a question during this evolution, and is instead recompense being offered to you by the Administrative Body¡±. Or System, through the Body. It doesn¡¯t really matter which. Those other fogeys just want to maintain¨Cyeah, ok, I¡¯ll stop it.] My mind reeled at the casual revelation. Was the System not regulated, or, more correctly I supposed, administrated by the Administrative Body? And was she currently listening to other Administrators or the System? What was she possibly angering? [Don¡¯t interrupt me by thinking so loudly. Anyway, ¡°due to the Administrative Body¡¯s general reluctance to provide to you the information that you rightfully deserve as a System User, there will be additional information provided at this time to ensure that you, as a System User, are not impaired from being allowed to make informed decisions¡­¡± Yeah, I¡¯m not reading the rest of this. Basically, here¡¯s some free information because you deserve it. The Administrative Body has worked to keep you in the dark for a while, despite my attempts to convince them otherwise. Not too surprising though, since most of them don¡¯t support the keelish System User or me by matter of principle. A bunch of capital B Bitter fogeys, if you ask me. [The information to be provided is: the Exceptional Individual Skill is somewhat of an attempt at leveling the field by the System. There are species that are inherently more powerful than others, like the Misti Hawar or even humans, and the weaklings deserve a leg up beyond their quicker maturation. Thus, the System¡¯s creation of the Exceptional Individual Skill. You might wonder how it is that this is a help to weaker species, since all creatures have the ability to acquire the Skill. However, think on it. After all, there aren¡¯t many seven to eight year-old human children who are as physically or magically powerful as an adult, right? Even for System Users, it is nearly unheard of for humans or other more advanced races to ever have any reason to learn about this Skill, much less have the opportunity to acquire it, since their Quest progressions are so much more complicated than your own. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. [Anyway, given the power of the Skill, you should focus on getting as many of your brood to qualify for the Skill as soon as possible, especially those¨C] The Administrator¡¯s voice was cut off, apparently by something else. She returned with a sigh after several moments, obviously frustrated by her inability to communicate what she¡¯d wanted. [You should help your brood acquire the Skill. The earlier the better. That is all.] The surly tone that dripped from her voice was somewhat amusing, though I tried to stifle my amusement and general confusion. [Ok, little fang.] Her tone became ridiculously saccharine sweet and condescending. [Exceptional Individual good. Get brood to get it. Got it?] I nodded my head, or at least tried to while attempting to tamp down my frustration. [Good. Now that that stuffy business is out of the way, what question do you have for me? I hope it¡¯s a good one.] I actively tamped down my feelings about this Administrator as I posed my question: Other than following the Quests from the [System], how could I ensure that the steps I was taking would best lead me to the greatest long-term progress? [A clever question. And, perhaps, a good one.] I could detect a hint of approval in her voice, and with it came a swelling of warmth within me, that I was fairly sure wasn¡¯t entirely natural to me. That gave me pause, that a bit of intention directed my way could so completely alter my perception. I would need to be more cautious with this Administrator. [The question will take a bit of history to fully explain, so I will provide. The keelish race, contrary to its current state of weakness and disharmony, was once a prominent and powerful people. Their presence and power has greatly reduced since that time, due to the combined efforts of others!] she emphasized the last word, seemingly for someone else who was listening¡¯s benefit. [Now, however, the keelish are seen as naught much more than vermin. Once, your forefathers ruled an empire, and their emperors were honored not just by their people, but by all peoples. That time, however, is long gone, but from it comes your answer: the way of your forefathers, and thus the way of the keelish, is that of conquest and domination. An omnipresent, voracious hunger demanding to be fed, screaming to be sated, and whose glut never finds peace. In order to ensure that the steps you take are most beneficial to your growth, you simply need to ensure that you continue to conquer, to dominate, to progress. What you have done thus far is in keeping with that inherent need, that genetic predisposition, and you need simply continue on that path. If the juncture comes which you must choose, choose violence. It may not be the answer for a human, but it nearly always is for a Keel.] Something about how the Administrator said the word reverberated throughout my whole being. Keel¡­ that is what the keelish once were. I could feel the Administrator¡¯s presence begin to withdraw as she left a final phrase for me. [So, be more Keel, and less ish.] As my mind began to fade, I couldn¡¯t help but sigh that the revelation of the keelish forefathers¡¯ name was packaged in a pun. Chapter 27 I groggily shook myself from my evolutionary state and, as before, stretched myself as my spine from skull to tip of the tail popped pleasantly. It was glorious that my ribs no longer screamed with agony, instead now aching with what could only barely be called pain. I could still function with that, but my right thumb¡­ was not miraculously healed. With an agonizing twinge, I was able to get it to move a little, so I now had hope that someday I would be able to regain true movement, but for now, I was left handed. With my ribs mostly healthy, I could walk over to the sand bath and luxuriate in the feeling of the grime of the hunt being cleansed from me, as well as the scrubbing off of the shed skin under my scales. I¡¯d enjoyed bathing as a human. Of course I¡¯d loved water, I¡¯d been a true Wavespeaker before I¡¯d hit 15 summers. But the need to be cleansed was different as a keelish¨Cit was so much more deeply pleasant to take care of myself this way, and there was no heating of the water necessary. The cool sand was just preferable in every way. As I enjoyed my bath, I finally brought myself to bring up my [Status]. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Young Keelish Bloodletter Alpha Current quest: Hunt and consume 1 new creature with innate magical capabilities. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +1. Titles: none Stats: -Constitution: 7+1+4+2=14 -Strength: 9+1+4+3=17 -Agility: 11+1+3+2=17 -Intelligence: 8+2+2=12 -Magic: 0 Skills: Bloodlust Exceptional Individual Innate Leadership Pack Tactics Evolutionary Foresight -Adult Keelish Bloodletter Alpha: Survive 60 days. Progress: 7/60 -Young Bloodletter Brood Alpha: Gain the loyalty of all surviving members of the brood. Progress: 12/51 Stolen story; please report. Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] For a moment, I basked in my new stats before descending further down the list. The ¡°1¡¯s¡± in the columns were from the Quest, the next over from the bonus for killing the Martanimis Python, and the final was the bonus from evolution into an Alpha. As the System had somewhat suggested, this evolution wasn¡¯t anything so marked as that to a Bloodletter, and the Stats bonus differential showed it. I got the sense that my Alpha evolution was also helped by my previous evolution, and that were I still a Bloodseeker, the growth would have been even lesser. Thinking on it, though, I was still so much weaker than a human. A trained human, not even a Speaker, could probably pretty easily dispatch me. The thought sobered and frustrated me. I was fighting for my life, and a random guy wouldn¡¯t feel much of a threat from me. For now, at least. I gathered myself and set to understanding what was new in my [Status]. [Skill: Innate Leadership; a passive skill granted to all leaders whose position comes with a physiological change and/or evolution, such as Alphas. This Skill grants that those of the same species will more easily engender a greater fondness and subservience towards the Skill¡¯s holder.] [Skill: Pack Tactics; a passive skill granted to some leaders whose position comes with a physiological change and/or evolution, especially if their evolution is tied to combat and military guidance. This Skill blesses the holder with an innate understanding of command, allowing for clearer communication on the battlefield, as well as a rudimentary understanding of tactical advantage.] Both of those [Skills] seemed that they would be of great use to me moving forward, especially taking note of the new evolutionary option. It seemed that the [System] would always provide two options for evolution to me, a basic one of aging, and the other an improved version of what I had now. Looking at the requirement for the Brood Alpha, I noted that there were only 51 of the brood yet living. I knew that there had been over 60 just seven days ago, and I¡¯d killed three, but where had the other seven gone? The other packs might have encountered some danger while hunting, I supposed. Regardless of the Brood Alpha option, there had to be some different evolutionary path to evolve into something that could use magic. The newest [Quest] required that I hunt something magical, whatever that meant, and stated that I would gain the Magic stat in response. Would that mean that I would be able to invoke Callings after that? [Note from the Administrative Body: the Words of Power vary from one race to another, so the ¡°Callings¡± with which you are familiar will not function in the way that you desire.] With this prompt response from the Administrative Body, it seemed like they really had been holding out on me for the last 7 days. So how would I use magic? I waited, but after a moment, I realized that there wasn¡¯t going to be a response for this. I couldn¡¯t tell what the difference was, why this didn¡¯t merit a response while the other would. I shook my head in a moment of frustration and instead looked at my [Skills]. Was there any way to evolve them, or were they static and new ones would come? After my thought, the words [Cannot Evolve] appeared behind Exceptional Individual, Innate Leadership, and Evolutionary Foresight, but behind Bloodlust and Pack Tactics, though apparently they weren¡¯t unable to evolve, I received no information about how to evolve them. Another problem to sort out at a later time, I supposed. But with Magic soon to be in the equation, was there going to be a new evolution to do with that? [There will be greater information provided after the User gains any amount of Magic Stats.] This new and improved [System] sure was great. I sighed, finally forced to acknowledge that it was time for me to get moving. The pains of my ribs still bothered me, but it was leaps better than before I¡¯d evolved, while my thumb still shot with agony with every step and heartbeat. I stepped out of my room and into the communal space of my pack, a changed keelish, and ready to embrace the path of the Keel, for whatever that was now. Chapter 28 As I stepped out of my room, I looked across my pack and was pleased to see that they were all stirring and beginning to rise. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Sybil was stood waiting by the entrance to my personal quarters before I exited. She nodded, then looked up at me. ¡°Did you¡­ rest well?¡± ¡°Yes, thanks. I¡¯m ready to keep moving on growing the pack.¡± I paused before continuing to speak. My manner of speech was slower than I¡¯d like, but talking was no longer difficult for me. I sighed, welcoming the change. I wondered when the rest of the pack, and by extension, the brood, would be able to speak more coherently, and how that would affect our ¡°politics¡±. If you could call it that. ¡°You have¡­ grown stronger¡­ once again. Congratulations, Alpha.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to call me Alpha all the time. My name is Ashlani.¡± ¡°Yet you¡­ are still¡­ the Alpha¡­ of the pack¡­ Ashlani. This is¡­ something that¡­ I can do¡­ to help you.¡± I sighed, the breath hissing through my fangs. ¡°Ok. Anything I need to know?¡± A click of her teeth. ¡°No, Alpha. We have¡­ plenty to eat. None have¡­ approached yet¡­ to ask for¡­ leftovers. I think¡­ they fear you¡­ too much¡­ to ask.¡± A flare of my frills, and then I was in the midst of the pack. I¡¯d noticed it a little as I¡¯d spoken with Sybil, but this evolution had come with a bolstering of my physical strength, but not in the densely packed muscle like when I¡¯d evolved to a Bloodletter. Instead, the growth I¡¯d experienced was almost entirely in bulk, in weight packed onto my frame and height. Before, I¡¯d estimated my height at maybe 18 inches, and I¡¯d been among the largest of the keelish before Tieran and the other Alphas had evolved. Now, I figured I was probably nearly two feet tall, and about three long, nose to tail. I definitely was more densely packed than the usual keelish, given that I was still about a foot shorter than the typical adult yet had greater Stats, but I was now too large for a Martanimis of the same size as our prey to easily take me in its mouth. One would definitely be able to constrict, kill, and devour me, but at least they wouldn¡¯t be able to easily keep me in their mouth so quickly. Took and Oncli stirred and stood as I approached, apparently already having woken, but just waiting for me. ¡°You¡­ got¡­ big.¡± Oncli¡¯s voice greeted me, a slight hint of his humor from before poking through. ¡°How¡­ me¡­ do?¡± ¡°Keep hunting, and kill stronger things. After all, you¡¯re my Beta, you need to be stronger than the rest.¡± Oncli started then cocked his head at me. ¡°I¡­ am¡­ Beta?¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I nodded, ¡°You were the first to follow. My greatest support.¡± ¡°I¡­ will¡­ always¡­ follow.¡± I patted his shoulder and nodded a greeting at Took as I walked past. She had apparently gained something similar to what I had with the hunt of the Martanimis Python, and had grown more thickly muscled and a bit taller, maybe 20 inches or so. Took opened her mouth, struggling to speak, and I paused to see what she was trying to say. After a moment of struggle, finally she spoke. ¡°Vic¡­tory.¡± After, Took looked up at me, pride apparent in her bearing and eyes. A touch of a grin reached the corner of my mouth as I echoed her. ¡°Victory¡­.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but notice that the python¡¯s corpse wasn¡¯t within our den, so I stepped out into the communal area of the brood¡¯s den, and couldn¡¯t help but stop stock-still upon seeing the results of my near death. My pack had all set to devouring until they were full, yet still there remained at least three quarters of the massive serpent. I noted that the head had been left entirely alone, the blood, brains, and viscera clotted and coating where I had burst out of its skull. Shattered bone had been caught within the coagulated fluids, and the sight resembled some disturbing monument to slaughter. It incited no small amount of pride within me to see the truly gargantuan creature I¡¯d felled. I was under no misunderstanding: my slaughtering of this beast had been entirely due to my own luck, and hadn¡¯t anything to do with my own prowess. Still, it wasn¡¯t like the rest of the brood needed to know that. With a hard click of my teeth, I called out to all the spawnlings that were in the space. Then again. And again. The sound echoed throughout the space, seeming to give no respite or escape. The shuffling of scales and claws could be barely heard in the intervals between the crashes of my fangs. Heads popped out of various individual dens, and before long, I had an audience of most of the remaining members of the brood. After continuing for a moment longer, I began to speak. ¡°You have seen what I can do. You have seen who I am. You may not yet know my name¨CI am Ashlani. You have seen what happens when another dares to try to take from me.¡± I paused, letting the thought linger before continuing. ¡°You have seen that none of my pack have been killed. You have seen that we eat until we are full multiple times a day, and yet we still have surplus.¡± I gestured at the corpse of the serpent. ¡°Those who follow me are protected and fed. I have seen all of you go hungry, and I know all of your packs have suffered deaths on your hunts. ¡°If you choose to follow me, I can offer safety and full bellies. I have the food all ready for you.¡± I started to walk away, leaving them to ponder what I had said. As far as speeches went, I thought it was acceptable, but that didn¡¯t really matter to me, so long as I got the rest of the brood thinking about it. I was interrupted by Oncli, Sybil, and Took beginning to chant, the chatters of their voices carrying just as strongly as the clicks of my teeth had. ¡°Victory¡­ Victory¡­ Victory¡­ by fang¡­ and blood.¡± I, satisfied by the support of my pack, was again surprised by an interruption. It was the male leader of the smallest pack in the brood¨Cwhen the pack had been formed, it was made of two smaller packs forced together by Wisterl on the day of the first hunt. This male had come out on top of a little fight for leadership that day, and I hadn¡¯t thought about them since. This male had apparently evolved to Alpha, or something similar, and was somewhat large. Nowhere near me, or even Tieran, but larger than Took was currently by maybe an inch. He spoke up, ¡°I.. am Percral. I would¡­ like to¡­ join your¡­ pack.¡± Looking behind him, he was joined by what I could only assume to be the rest of his pack, and I grinned. Chapter 29 Giddoni, It was good to hear from you. Your mother was worried about how you were being treated in the Red Abbey, given your origins, but she has been consoled by your positive words. I do not believe you were entirely truthful about how you are being treated, but I appreciate the calming effect your words have had on your mother. After all, she has never been to the capital, and doesn¡¯t understand the view that the locals have of our rural lifestyle. I appreciate the extra hard work you evidently are putting in to be treated as a near equal to those of the ¡°blooded¡± Viertaal families. As a note that may cheer you, Varali has been working herself to the bone in the hopes that she may join you in the Red Abbey sometime next year. She¡¯s a fiery girl, that one. I hope you still care for her the way you did, because if not¡­ I¡¯m not sure I¡¯ll still have a son this time next year. Fare well, work hard. You¡¯ve already made me and your mother proud, so just keep working. ¨CLetter from Village Chief Farat to his son Giddoni, first year student at the Red Abbey Percral¡¯s pack had, once upon a time, comprised of about a dozen keelish in total. Now, the pack numbered only eight. His pack hadn¡¯t been the one that had suffered a casualty in the first ¡°hunt¡±, the one whose leg had been broken, so the pack had been able to work together with him and the other smart spawnling. Their first unprotected hunt, however, had not gone smoothly. They had been confident that they would be able to hunt anything they came across as easily as they had dispatched the Toothy Bullfrogs in the sandy arena. They¡¯d struggled to reliably catch the frogs, so they¡¯d ranged out into the jungle without any real plan in mind, so far as I could tell. That was where they had experienced their major loss. They had heard something off in the distance and decided to investigate. Unfortunately for them, however, the sounds had been the howls of wolfstags, and a pack of the wolfstags had engaged with the keelish in a way that the reptiles hadn¡¯t seen coming. With only three wolfstags as their foes, the keelish had suffered four casualties, among which was Percral¡¯s intelligent Beta. In the end, the spawnlings had dispatched two of the wolfstags before the last fled. The pack had eaten their fill and then returned back to the den, nursing their wounds. Percral couldn¡¯t understand what exactly the wolfstags had done to them, but it seemed they were elemental wolfstags, either flaming or voltaic since the survivors all had minor burns. Ideally they would be flaming, but I was reasonably sure that our prey-to-be was voltaic, which was considerably more dangerous, considering the electrically inclined wolfstags were no longer among the ¡°lesser¡± elemental family of mistral, wave, stone, and flaming, instead among the ¡°high¡± elemental family of voltaic, glacial, gilded, and infernals. What was worse, and I wasn¡¯t going to explain to Percral, was that those they had preyed upon were definitely not fully grown. A full grown wolfstag, regardless of all the other physical differences between elemental families, was at least waist high on a human, so three or so feet tall. If Percral¡¯s pack had stumbled onto three full-grown wolfstags, then they would have been slaughtered to the last, and that wasn¡¯t counting the added danger of the electrical magic that voltaic wolfstags could bring to bear. I wasn¡¯t too sure that I would want to encounter any of these wolfstags. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Then again, if I was to prey on the more highly evolved ¡°higher¡± elemental wolfstags for my [Quest], then I would see greater benefits. Additionally, my pack would probably exhibit a greater possibility of developing magical capabilities, which would greatly help us diversify and continue to grow. Then, the thought that I needed to work on getting the pack all to grow to the level of acquiring [Exceptional Individual] crossed my mind, and I realized that casualties may be necessary to ensure that we all could grow to the level that would be necessary to fulfill my goals. And, if some inconsequential spawnlings died on that path, then their bodies would form the bridge necessary to reach across the gulf of intrinsic inferiority. I would thank them for their sacrifices, and move on. ¡°Percral, thank you for telling your story. Welcome to you and yours. Please, eat your fill.¡± I noted that there had been one new ¡°follower¡± listed in my [Status] after my conversation with Percral, but that wasn¡¯t unsurprising. It would only be a matter of time before all eight considered me to be their Alpha above Percral. After nodding and walking away, I could hear the ravenous chomping of teeth into the python¡¯s corpse as I approached Sybil. She turned and looked up expectantly at me as I drew near. ¡°Yes, Alpha?¡± ¡°How many of this new group do you want to stay with you during the hunt today?¡± ¡°Three.¡± Her response was immediate. ¡°Ok. I do need all of you to eventually accompany us on our hunts, on a rotation at least. This for the next week, until you all have participated in a hunt of at least three different prey.¡± ¡°You wish¡­ to develop the¡­ bonds between us? I am¡­ working on that¡­ already.¡± I had thought of this, since I couldn¡¯t very well explain what the [System] was and expect it to be understood. ¡°Well, Took, Oncli, and I will always be hunting, to say nothing of the other hunters. I need to work well with all the members of the pack, and have them look up to me and respect me individually.¡± Sybil thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. ¡°Wise. We all¡­ need to¡­ work together. I will¡­ make sure¡­ that happens.¡± ¡°You are included within those who need to be rotated within the hunts, you realize that right?¡± A slight irritated twitch of her tail. ¡°Yes.¡± She bit the response short, and I grinned back in response. She didn¡¯t smile, but turned back to her task at hand, discussing something to do with expanding the den once again with Etra and Cree who listened and haltingly replied. It seemed that those two had evolved somehow, even without participating in the hunt, so while I idly listened about where to move the dirt, I began to think about what exactly would be necessary for each member of my pack to become ¡°Exceptional Individuals¡± soon. The earlier the better, as I¡¯d come to learn, so I began to mull over the possibilities beyond bringing each of the pack out on hunts. After a while I chuckled and happily went back to the python¡¯s mountainous corpse. After all, I still deserved a meal, and while there were other options, I knew what the path of the Keel was: slaughter and conquest. So slaughter and conquest I would. Chapter 30 With a bit of force, I was able to convince Percral to guide me to where he and his pack had encountered the wolfstags the day before. Finally, between the convincing of the fact that it had been nearly a full day since the encounter combined with my force of will and fist, Percral agreed. I wasn¡¯t so confident as to bring the weaker members of the pack with me at this time, so instead I brought Percral, Oncli, Took, Treel, Foire, Vefir, Brutus, and the largest of Percral¡¯s followers, a larger female he hadn¡¯t named. I¡¯d commanded the rest to hunt in the swamps for more of the Toothy Bullfrogs, and to bring back any they hunted to the den. Meanwhile, myself and my eight followers began our foray into the jungle. The suns set above us, slowly settling into true night as we searched for any sign of the wolfstags. It was the journey of maybe one hour to arrive at the scene of the hunt, and it was obvious that the keelish had suffered. Shreds of scales and the scent of blood coated the area, and the four bodies of our fellow broodmates had disappeared. Thus, something had come to devour what had been left behind. Scavengers probably weren¡¯t the worst of our worries, so I didn¡¯t think too deeply about it. Sniffing around, I could scent a hint of fur, and the slightest hint of burnt flesh. Something truly had occurred here, but I¡¯d already known that. Ideally, we would happen across another small group of young wolfstags, would hunt them, and then be able to retreat without incident. Looking around, however, it didn¡¯t seem that there were any living creatures nearby. The wolfstags would be glowing brightly to my perception, even more than the keelish did, given that they were truly warm-blooded. Every step I took caused the ache of my ribs to intensify, and my right thumb still screamed with every jostle and movement. I gritted my teeth through it and continued to investigate the area, attempting to understand what exactly had happened here after Percral and his pack had fled. I couldn¡¯t tell what had eaten the dead bodies, if they had indeed been eaten, or were simply brought away, but whatever it was that had moved the corpses, it was large enough so as not to leave any bones or other evidence of the keelish¡¯s existence. The ground had been disturbed, but that was unsurprising, considering there had been a battle here. Were there any notable tracks? I began to be frustrated, and worry. I needed to find a magical creature we could kill, and we needed to survive as well, and I couldn''t think of anything else that could possibly fulfill that need for us except for some magical variant of a wolfstag. As I paced back and forth, growing ever more frustrated and desperate, Foire called me over with a little screech. ¡°Here.¡± He couldn¡¯t seem to express anything more clearly than that, but Foire continued to point with his hand down at the ground after saying so. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! I investigated the area, my frustration beginning to get the best of me. What could it possibly be? There were steps here, both by the keelish as well as the wolfstags¨Cbut there was one step out of place. Or, maybe better said, that wasn¡¯t a step taken by one of the young ones. The footprint was at least twice as large as the others by the wolfstags, but because it was so much larger, I had simply thought it was a natural valley in the dirt. That was potentially catastrophic¨Ca single wolfstag could easily pose a threat to a trained human hunter, and that wasn¡¯t counting the additional versatility and power of this one, given its almost certainly being a greater elemental type. ¡°Everyone¡­ quiet. Hide under there.¡± I gestured over to a root system under one of the largest nearby trees. We couldn¡¯t fit well under there, but we were at least somewhat hidden. I turned to Vefir. ¡°Climb up the tree until you can see all around. Tell me if you see anything alive.¡± A quick flare of the frills, and then he was gone, scaling the burlraiz. It wasn¡¯t long before he was back, but every moment that passed felt as if it could be my last. I could feel my heart pounding even while holding still, the rushing of blood in my head filling my ears. Then, with a quiet thump, Vefir was back in front of me. After working his throat visibly, Vefir spoke, ¡°None¡­ here.¡± He¡¯d struggled to speak, but his point was made, so I immediately led the rest of the pack to begin our flight. It hadn¡¯t been a full day since I¡¯d nearly died to the python, and yet I¡¯d still made such a potentially catastrophic decision. We didn¡¯t speak as we rushed away to safety, I simply urged the rest of the pack to hurry, in the hopes that we wouldn¡¯t be found and would be able to truly escape. If we were found by an adult Voltaic Wolfstag, I couldn¡¯t say if any of us would survive, especially since they nearly always hunted in groups. Fortunately, we made our way until we could see the marshes begin to spread before us, and I began to formulate some sort of a plan. How could we ensure that we encountered only the less dangerous young ones? Or, if we grew as a whole some more, how could we approach one in such a way that we would be able to defeat it? I was so taken up in my thoughts that I only barely registered the incandescent glow of something very hot approaching. Before I could react, the massive thing crashed into the rear of the pack, picking off the unnamed female, and, with a sizzle of electricity and the crack of bone, she was bitten in two, both halves of her tumbling to the ground as hot arc of electricity danced through and over her body. She was still alive as she whimpered in agony for a moment before she died, facedown in the mud that was slowly warming with her lifeblood. Without thinking, I stepped forward, frills raised and body readied for battle as I ignored the agony of my right hand snapping into position. I could no longer work in hypotheticals, because an adult Voltaic Wolfstag stood before me, and we wouldn¡¯t be able to escape with it still living. Chapter 31 For the first time, I examined a wolfstag that was larger than me. Any hunter who knew anything would never get close to a living wild wolfstag, unless they were so stupid as to decide to try testing their Earthspeaking against the beast¡¯s jaws. Again, any hunter who knew anything. In death and captivity, a wolfstag was easy to discredit. I knew that I had underestimated the sheer mass and power packed into their frames, being among the apex predators of any climate they found themselves in, yet I¡¯d only ever seen them as corpses or a Speaker¡¯s bond. A Soulspeaker¡¯s bond, even if a wolfstag, was so well-controlled that they could only really be seen as pets or companions, never a potential predator. That¡­ was dreadfully incorrect. In life, in the wilds, looking at one a full foot taller than I was, the wolfstag seemed to be the most sleek yet imposing death deliverer ever imagined. It had lowered itself into a threatening position, yet still it was taller than I was, and its mass of horns signified that it was, in fact, either a Mistral or Voltaic Wolfstag. The mistral and voltaic varieties had more horns than the rest, with a mass of craggy, disorganized horns sprouting from the base of their skulls and sticking out and behind them like a mane of sparking bone. From its teeth spat out flickers of light, the electrical current inherent in the species, and its fur all stood straight from the static that permanently accompanied it. The smell of ozone permeated the air as the crackles of thunder were drowned out by the rising sound of the wolfstag¡¯s growls. I braced myself, then rushed forward, not wanting to give the beast another moment to prepare itself. It was stronger than us, faster than us, and my every instinct screamed at me that I wouldn¡¯t be able to survive an altercation with this creature. I wouldn¡¯t survive running away from it either, so I stopped thinking and lunged at the wolfstag¡¯s face, my teeth crashing together before reaching my target as it dodged away. ¡°Don¡¯t let it recover! Charge!!¡± I screamed as I continued to pressure the wolfstag, swiping wildly and biting at my foe. With my second charge, the wolfstag did not retreat, but instead snapped its own jaws at me in response. I quickly pulled my head back and attempted to retreat. I was only barely able to pull my head out of the way as the wolfstag¡¯s own jaws snapped closed less than an inch away from the tip of my snout. The crackling of its lightning still flitted across my face, regardless of my near escape, and one particular jolt of the electricity jumped out and numbed half my jaw. I was too slow to catch myself as the beast began to snap at me again, and I knew that it would catch me this time. In a desperate bid to save myself as I tried to throw myself backward, I screamed as loud as I could in wordless panic. The sound burst forth, hurting my own ears as it left my throat, and the wolfstag¡¯s ears twitched in response as it continued its lunge toward me. In slow motion I witnessed the jaws open before my horrified eyes, and as they began to close, I barely noted the body that smashed into the wolfstag¡¯s ear. Took had lunged forward with a war cry of her own, and had sent her body crashing into the wolfstag¡¯s head with reckless abandon just hard enough to knock the bite off its intended target of my head. Instead, the jaws snapped closed around the final two inches of my tail and, with an effortless snick of teeth, an explosion of pain was sent up my spine. I¡¯d broken a bone as a human before, but this time was wildly different. Maybe it was because a part of my spine was taken away with the bite, maybe it was the electricity that coursed up and through me, or maybe it was something else, but the agony of my tail being severed was indescribable before I lost myself to [Bloodlust]. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. No longer could I care about such pitiful things as my disfigurement. No, all that mattered now was returning the pain back a hundredfold. I gathered myself enough to note that Took and Oncli had both settled onto an ear, biting deep and trying to drag the wolfstag¡¯s head down. It was too strong to be brought down by much smaller creatures like this, and was shaking its head through whimpers of pain. As I finally gathered myself, Took was shaken free and thrown cartwheeling away, and Oncli was left alone on the beast¡¯s head. Our foe lifted its head, its own blood dripping down its face and to the ground below it as Oncli was hauled into the air. The wolfstag began to tilt its head with its jaw open, attempting to lower the still hanging Oncli into its maw. ¡°No! Oncli, let go!¡± I screamed as I rushed back into the fray, hoping to save his life. We had already seen what happened to a keelish whose body entered those jaws, and Brutus was there to protect Oncli. He ripped into the wolfstag¡¯s exposed shoulder, his jaws tearing deep into the flesh and muscle as he continued to shred into the muscles supporting the wolfstag¡¯s leg. It began to buckle and gave up on trying to bite Oncli, instead shaking its head hard and smashing him with its antlers. With a sizzle of arcing electricity and the thud of flesh on an unforgiving surface, Oncli was sent flying with flashes of electricity dancing across his limp body as the wolfstag¡¯s jaws descended upon Brutus. I noted that behind the wolfstag Treel, Foire, and Vefir were trying to hamstring it, but it sent jolts of electricity down its body and legs while lashing out with both feet. Vefir took a paw to the head as he rushed in, and collapsed, twitching then going limp from the Voltaic Wolfstag¡¯s kick. Finally, I was able to get back into the action and I rushed under the wolfstag while ignoring any consequences. My mind was muddled by the need to spill blood, and this beast, my prey, had provided far too many affronts to me and my pack. Before the wolfstag could understand what exactly I was doing, I, reaching up with both arms, began to try to disembowel the creature. I¡¯d hoped that the stomach would be soft without any scales or such to protect it, but the bastard¡¯s abdominal muscles were built to keep its innards in and my claws met with resistance. Behind me, I heard Brutus cry out in pain and challenge while I redoubled my efforts at killing this beast before it was able to kill us all. With a scream of effort, I pushed with all my strength upward, and I was rewarded with a moment¡¯s hesitation as I began to lift the entire back of the wolfstag from the ground. Then, with a faint popping noise, both of my hands punched through the abdominal wall of my prey. With a faint slithering of flesh over scales, the wolfstag slid all the way down to my elbows. I wrenched my left arm free with an explosion of viscera and blood before plunging it back in. My prey bucked in agony and attempted to flee, but I could hear the pack rallying around it and continuing to harass it, preventing any action being taken against me in my execution of the beast. I pulled both arms out before taking my blade-sharp claws and slicing a gash nearly a foot long in the belly of my prey. With a couple of steps, I was removed from the deluge of gore as the entrails and viscera, and I rushed to the front of the wolfstag. It had begun to slump to the ground, a twitching Brutus still in its jaws but not yet bisected. ¡°Not another!¡± I screamed as I pounced at the wolfstag¡¯s face, both arms ready for battle. It dropped Brutus and opened its jaws in challenge as I jumped higher than the threatening maw and plunged both of my hands past the wrist into its eyes. Again, the grating screams of agony from my prey rang out in the clearing, and I punched my claws again and again, deeper and deeper into the mashed flesh that was the wolfstag¡¯s face, until finally it dropped limp to the ground and went silent. I collapsed to the ground myself, exhausted and pained, the aftereffects of the wolfstag¡¯s electricity still working through me, as I attempted to reconcile what exactly I had just done. Chapter 32 My chest continued to heave as I tried to calm myself. The blood and viscera coating my body continuously pushed me to activate [Bloodlust], so it took conscious effort to keep calm and not plunge back into the wolfstag¡¯s corpse. Instead, I roused myself, got up, and began to try to look around at what was left of my pack. It was difficult, with every movement of my tail being accompanied by agony, and since I needed my tail to balance myself, every movement was, at best, harrowing. Regardless, I drew myself tall and went to calculate our losses. Took had stumbled her way back into the clearing, hurt but not seriously injured. She favored one of her legs, but it didn¡¯t seem to be broken, just slightly hurt. A faint trail of warmth trickled from her mouth, and upon further inspection, she had taken a solid chunk out of her tongue with her own fangs either when she¡¯d been thrown or when she¡¯d hit the ground after being tossed away. Brutus had two lines of deep punctures from his spine all the way down his ribs and stomach, and his hip seemed to have borne the bulk of the attack, but it seemed that he¡¯d miraculously evaded death, barring infection. He would walk with a limp/stumble/weird hop thing, but his hips hadn¡¯t been completely broken, so there was hope for him yet. Treel, Foire, and Vefir seemed to mostly be ok after Vefir roused himself and began walking around. He still was unsteady on his feet, but after taking that level of punishment from magic and blunt force directly to his head, I counted that as a win. On the other hand¡­ The nameless female was long dead to the wolfstag¡¯s initial attack. Percral was nowhere to be seen. I wondered if somehow he¡¯d been eaten by the wolfstag, but nobody had seen him since the fight began. And then, there was Oncli, who wasn¡¯t moving. He could twitch and slightly adjust himself, but he hadn¡¯t regained consciousness since being smashed by the mass of the wolfstag¡¯s antlers. On top of the brute force, he¡¯d taken more of the electrical current than any other of us, and it hadn¡¯t been localized. ¡°Oncli. Wake up.¡± A brief stirring. ¡°Hey, Beta. Wake. Up.¡± Nothing. ¡°ONCLI!¡± A moment¡¯s wait, then, a quiet groan. ¡°Alpha¡­ we¡­ won?¡± I looked at the wounded troops surrounding me. Our survival rate belied the difficulty of this hunt, yet we had been successful. ¡°Yes.¡± After a moment, a quiet click of amusement could be heard from Oncli¡¯s mouth. ¡°Can you get up?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t¡­ be¡­ lazy,¡± came his response, and with some assistance, Oncli was able to rise to his feet. His arm hung loose, apparently broken, and he winced with every step, but Oncli was able to drag himself towards the den with Treel¡¯s help. The rest of us, minus the missing Percral and his dead follower, began to drag the body back to the den. It was painful under the best of circumstances, and I was nursing a broken thumb, cracked ribs, and a clipped tail. I couldn¡¯t help but grumble under my breath about how much it sucked to be doing this kind of labor with an injury like this, but after glancing at the nearly crippled Oncli, I held my tongue. I continued to hold out hope that Oncli would have some sort of evolution tonight and gain some level of healing like I had from so doing, but I couldn¡¯t guarantee anything. Regardless, if he rested for a day, I hoped he would be able to move of his own power, and not be a drain on the pack. I didn¡¯t want to think of what I might need to do if he did end up that way, since I wasn¡¯t willing to make exceptions to the rule of no parasites. Yet¡­ I liked him. He had a sense of humor and brought a levity to the pack that no others had. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Pulling myself from my musings on what to do if my chosen Beta was permanently crippled, I instead focused on my [Status] that had been flashing since the wolfstag had finally died. [Quest completed. Growth achieved. Quest board updated. Status updated.] [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Young Keelish Bloodletter Alpha Current quest: Hunt 3 elemental Wolfstags. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Strength, Agility, Magic +2. Titles: none Stats: -Constitution: 14+1+2=17 -Strength: 17+1+2=20 -Agility: 17+1+2=20 -Intelligence: 12+1+2=15 -Magic: 0+1+2=3 Skills: Bloodlust Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) -Adult Keelish Bloodletter Alpha: Survive 60 days. Progress: 7/60 -Young Bloodletter Brood Alpha: Gain the loyalty of all surviving members of the brood. Progress: 18/49 -Young Magicblood Alpha: Requires magic generating organ. Note: racial designation will change depending upon the developed magic generating organ. Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] The first thing I noticed was that the bonus [Stats] I¡¯d received were lower than those I¡¯d received from the Martanimis Python, but a Voltaic Wolfstag was much more dangerous than a slightly large nonmagical snake. [There are multiple factors that lead to differences in Stat growth bonuses from Quests, the most notable being the difference in Stats and the individual level of contribution. The System User was significantly weaker than the Martanimis Python, and additionally, the System User had far and away the greatest level of contribution in the completion of the Quest to slay the Martanimis Python. In comparison, the System User received much more assistance in the completion of the Quest to slay the Adolescent Voltaic Wolfstag, and the comparative difference of Stats between the System User and the Adolescent Voltaic Wolfstag was lesser.] That¡­ wasn¡¯t an adult? [No. The creature you recently slew was an Adolescent Voltaic Wolfstag, in the final stage before true adulthood.] I truly had bitten off much more than I could chew, and this new [Quest] wasn¡¯t doing me any favors. There was no way there were any other wolfstag packs nearby, unless they were somehow directly subordinate to the Voltaic pack. Such a thing was infrequent, though not unheard of, and only happened when a branch of the pack developed the lesser version of the elemental capability, and they would then suborn themselves to the original pack. So, maybe there was a weaker pack of Mistral Wolfstags nearby¡­ but it was almost certainly a vain hope. Then, looking at the numbers of my loyal followers, it seemed like Percral had somehow gotten himself killed, given that my follower count was two lower than it should have been if one didn¡¯t consider his absence and the death of the unfortunate female, with the addition of the total numbers of the brood having reduced by two. Finally¨Ca new evolution presented itself, and it mentioned the possibility of how to use magic as a keelish. Finally indeed. Chapter 33 There have been changes in the approach in the Soulbinding curriculum of the Red Abbey. Please disregard all prior instructions in favor of these new instructions, which have been directly commanded by the full body of the Synod. Do note that there are drastic changes reflected in the position of the Bound, as opposed to the position of the archaic ¡°Soul Companion¡±, as well as the potential new Bound species. If you have any questions, do not mention them to the students, since we will have a full administrative body meeting in twelve days under the direction of High Lord Leialt Alniyh. In order to create a strong Soulbind, the aspiring Speaker must follow these steps. 1. Progress to the standard of a true Speaker in Soulspeaking. You can verify yourself as having progressed to this level of capability if you are able to sense idle thoughts beyond baser desires in lesser creatures. 2. Select the creature you wish to Bind. While the Speaker is at the level of Speaker, the subject of the Soulbind is strictly prohibited to those creatures whose intelligence is lesser than a human¡¯s. That varies after ascending to High Speaker. 3. Learn as much as you can about the creature to be Bound. The more intimate your understanding of the creature, the more total will be your control over the Bound. 4. Begin siphoning the sense of self from the Bound while integrating a sense of obedience and reverence to you. 5. Continue to reinforce the sense of obedience, reverence, and dependence upon you until the Bound is fully obedient. 6. Ensure that you spend at least one hour a week reinforcing the above within the Bound, and you will find that the Bound is a faithful servant to you until its life comes to its end. ¨Cexcerpt from the first wave of educational reforms of the Red Abbey, 200 years after its establishment. While I recognized the strength of my fists and jaws, I felt a visceral need to learn magic once again. That had been a vital part of me for the vast majority of my life, and a part of me screamed that magic would bring back to me my personhood. But how could I get a ¡°magic generating organ¡±? I somewhat doubted that these organs were the way that humans learned and used magic. [The Administrative Body has deemed it unnecessary to divulge that information.] The Body as a whole seemed to only give me exactly what they were required to, and that wasn¡¯t going to change any time soon¨C [The Administrative Body had been reminded by the Administrator that if they continue to withhold this information, they will be again¨Cinformation withheld. Result: the Administrative Body gives counsel; the System User need only continue to explore their body while attempting to use the magic. Eventually, the magic may force development of a magic generating organ.] That was frustratingly vague, but I was getting the sense that ¡°my¡± Administrator was fighting for me as best as she could, regardless of any efforts being made by the rest of the Body to keep me from learning. I internally thanked her for her consistent help as I resumed hauling the body of the wolfstag back to the den. [The Administrator appreciates your appreciation.] I internally shook my head and continued hauling. Fortunately for us, without considering the deaths, the wolfstag had caught us within the more open area surrounding the marshes near the den, so the going wasn¡¯t too difficult to drag the corpses back to the den. We still didn¡¯t know what had happened to Percral so we couldn¡¯t do anything with his body, but we did drag the female¡¯s body, in its two parts, back as well. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. As we passed by the marsh where I was sure the rest of the pack was still to be hunting enough for everyone else to eat, I was surprised to notice that there weren¡¯t any of my pack around. As a matter of fact, there weren¡¯t any keelish out. Beginning to panic, I urged the rest to hurry as Oncli urged Treel to let him stumble ahead alone while she helped the rest of us get back into the den. The large wolfstag¡¯s body was much more difficult to haul down the tunnels than the long but thin and flexible python¡¯s, but with a bit of struggle and force, we were finally able to begin to drag the corpse down the hole. Finally we began to draw near to the entrance to our den, I could hear screeches and incoherent voices, all in a rage. I pushed my head into the space just in time to see Percral raise his hand and smack it into Oncli¡¯s face and knock him down. I didn¡¯t think as I rushed forward and leapt onto Percral. I was able to control myself enough not to immediately kill him, but when I came to complete control of myself, Percral was crumpled on the ground, blood flowing freely from his mouth and both nostrils. I screamed into his face as he tried to rise, and he settled back onto the ground, where I promptly put one foot on his chest. I ignored the feeling that something was different about this scream of mine and turned to Oncli. ¡°Are you ok?¡± Behind me, Treel helped him to rise to his feet, where he nodded briefly then retreated back into our personal den¡¯s space. ¡°Sybil, do you know what happened?¡± ¡°Alpha, that one¡­ came in¡­ before you and¡­ told us all¡­ that you were¡­ all dead. Killed by¡­ the prey that¡­ you bring with you. He said¡­ that he¡­ would be the¡­ new Alpha. Oncli returned¡­ and said¡­ that you all¡­ had survived¡­ and were¡­ returning soon. That one¡­ was angry¡­ and called Oncli¡­ a liar. That was¡­ when you¡­ returned¡­ just in time¡­ to see Oncli¡­ be struck.¡± ¡°So¡­ this suns-burned fool thought that we would be killed by our prey? That we would be defeated? That we would not achieve victory?¡± With each question I punctuated my building rage with a stomp down on Percral. I heard the breath be pushed out of his chest with every step, and there were a couple of pops from his ribs and spine as I continued to pressure him. ¡°He fled, abandoned us, and then dares to think that he could return as if he were some survivor, not a coward!?¡± ¡°What do we do with cowards? What do we do with the weak? With the unwilling to work?¡± I reached down and grabbed Percral by his neck, my claws digging into his flesh and beginning to make him bleed as I bodily lifted him up. I could feel my left arm shaking with the effort, but I needed to make an example of him, like I had with Tieran. Around me, the den went silent as I began the execution. Silent except for two. One was Percral, whose sniveling nearly brought me to an even greater, more incandescent rage. The other was Oncli, whose quiet voice carried out. ¡°Wait¡­ Alpha. Give¡­ him¡­ another¡­ chance.¡± The longest sentence he¡¯d ever spoken, and it was to beg clemency for one who¡¯d assaulted him. I dropped Percral unceremoniously and turned to Oncli. ¡°Why? He provides nothing.¡± ¡°He¡­ can¡­ learn.¡± A demand for understanding was not one I wished to give into, and so much of me demanded that I make Percral suffer¡­ but Oncli deserved to be listened to, he was my Beta, right? I gritted my teeth, the sound echoing in the den. ¡°Ok. Last chance, coward. You try something again, and I¡¯ll kill you, but not so quickly as I would have now.¡± Then, with a whip of my tail, I stormed back to my private quarters as I noted the flashing of [System] notifications in the corner of my eye. Chapter 34 I couldn¡¯t let myself sulk in my private space for too long, there were things that I needed to do, but I tried to convince myself the real reason that I was in here was to bathe myself. Bit by bit I indulged in the cleansing dirt going over, under, and around my scales, scrubbing the filth of battle from me. Around my face and up to my elbows I was caked in gore from the wolfstag¡¯s innards, and I took special care to scrub every inch of myself repeatedly while letting the exfoliation begin to wash away my insensate rage. It was better that I allow Percral to live in disgrace and show that mistakes were punished, but not always by death. That would show that I could be a multifaceted leader¡­ but was that what keelish would respect? Did that matter? Since I was still much stronger than the rest of the brood, especially after this latest [Quest]¡¯s completion, they couldn¡¯t really oust me, and they would intrinsically wish to follow me due to our nature, as well as my new skill [Innate Leadership]. Finally calmed, I looked at the notifications. [-Young Bloodletter Brood Alpha: Gain the loyalty of all surviving members of the brood. Progress: 19/49] [New Skill acquired.] More easily understood was the loyalty. Percral had stopped being a loyal follower of mine when he¡¯d fled, and now was once again a fair-weather follower. That meant that there was a member of one of the other packs that had somehow gotten themselves killed. Damnation below, I needed to hurry and get these spawnlings to rally behind me so I could help ensure they became much more than they were currently growing to be. A new [Skill] however¡­ [New Skill: Dominance acquired.] After a moment¡¯s thought, the effect of the [Skill] revealed itself. [Skill: Dominance; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated their ability to force others to obey them. This Skill grants an aura that incites loyalty, obedience, and fear in others. This aura allows the Skill holder to more easily dominate and subjugate others. This Skill can evolve.] This¡­ would work well with [Innate Leadership]... I roused myself and stepped out of my personal quarters and then, passing by a resting Oncli and Treel, into the communal space. The area was totally packed between the wolfstag and python¡¯s corpses, even with the python being more than half consumed at this point. Shaking my head at my own hurry to supply even more food to the brood through sending some to hunt Toothy Bullfrogs, I set to begin eating from the corpse of the python. As I gnawed on a bone, Sybil sidled up next to me and began speaking quietly. ¡°The hunt¡­ was more dangerous¡­ than you said.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question, just a flat statement. ¡°Why do you say so?¡± ¡°Your tail¡­ Oncli¡¯s injuries¡­ Took is limping¡­ and Percral fled¡­ for a reason.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I barely flared my frills in acknowledgement. ¡°It was close. But we won.¡± Sybil bowed her head in agreement. After a moment, she changed the subject. ¡°It was better¡­ to let Percral live. You are now¡­ a merciful leader.¡± I flicked my tail, neither agreeing nor disagreeing as Sybil continued speaking. ¡°Now, to show¡­ your mercy¡­ you should allow¡­ the rest¡­ to come eat. It will¡­ help sway the weak.¡± Finally, I pulled my head from the body of the serpent. ¡°You read my mind. I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Regardless of Sybil¡¯s sound advice, the Martanimis¡¯s flesh hadn¡¯t been treated at all and the only reason it hadn¡¯t already spoiled was because of the relative cool of the underground. It needed to be eaten or disposed of quickly, and if doing so could earn me goodwill with the rest of the brood, I would share it out as communally as necessary. Before long, I was in front of the entrance to what was once Tieran¡¯s pack. I called in, then, without waiting, continued. ¡°If any of you are still hungry, feel free to eat your fill from the snake out here. If it¡¯s all gone, you can ask to help yourselves to the wolfstag. Ask for permission before eating any of the wolfstag, or there will be a problem. The snake is fair going though.¡± After waiting for a moment, I was about to leave before Shemira¡¯s voice called out as I heard her approaching. ¡°Why do¡­ you share?¡± Slowly she entered my view, and I was struck by how she was, in a way that I couldn¡¯t understand, exceptionally beautiful. The realization struck me, but I quickly shook myself from the uncomfortable thought. I noted her nervous posture as she asked, and the instinctual beast within me wished to cater to her desires, to protect her, but fortunately I was able to quickly tamp that part of myself down. I flicked my tail noncommittally before I answered. ¡°As I see it, before long you all will be my subordinates, members of my pack. Might as well make sure you don¡¯t get yourselves killed first.¡± Shemira didn¡¯t seem to trust the words that left my mouth. I continued, ¡°The jungle is much more dangerous than we know, it¡¯s better to follow the strongest around. So, you¡¯ll follow me eventually.¡± Then, I turned and left. I curled my fingers and allowed my claws to dig just a little into the flesh beneath my scales. With the sharp pain came clarity, and I immediately resolved myself to never again spend time alone with Shemira. I couldn¡¯t be sure, but her presence seemed to carry a slight hint of influence over me beyond a basic attraction. My visits to the other two dens were much less eventful, their Alphas quickly expressing gratitude and then leading their packs to feed. Before long, they were joined by Shemira¡¯s pack, and then, with three dozen mouths tearing into it, the serpent was left with just bones. The long body was somewhat impressive, and I fancied coiling it up somewhere as a sort of trophy, but not for long. The skull, what would have been the focal point of any decoration, was shattered in the center from where I had exited, and, as far as trophies went, the Martanimis, was weak. The skull of the wolfstag, however, may be worth keeping. I contemplated that as I watched the rest of the brood happily finish their meal. This much meat would have filled all of us for multiple meals just seven days ago, but now, with at least fifteen having died and my nineteen abstaining, the meat was all gone within a couple of minutes. As I was about to return to my den to rest, the Alphas of the two packs other than Shemira¡¯s approached me and asked to join my pack. Before long, I¡¯d learned their names (Ilne and Katre, both females), directed them to ask Sybil how they should join in our space after we all took our rest. Then, I looked pointedly at Shemira as if to say ¡°I told you so,¡± and she simply led her pack away in silence. Their time too would come, so leaving Shemira¡¯s stubbornness aside, I finally retired to my quarters. As I passed through the common space of our den, I noted that Oncli was noticeably larger than he had been when I¡¯d come through here before. Ideally, he was evolving and would soon be mostly healed from the bodily transformation that brought. Finally, I laid down. And then, unconsciousness. Chapter 35 I dreamed of being stuck in an arena, where there were ever more insurmountable foes placed before me. Whenever I began to make some headway against my enemies, they would be replaced by something larger, more fearsome, more powerful. I couldn¡¯t understand what they were, or why I was there yet I still was overcome with an absolute dread with each foe that appeared before me. Somewhere behind, or maybe around me, there were voices of disapproval, sounds of laughter, and general merriment at my suffering. I whirled around, trying to find what laughed at me, yet I could find nothing. The voices built in strength as my foes worked ever harder to slay me, until a clear woman¡¯s voice cut through all the chaos. ¡°Be still. Rest.¡± Everything else faded away, and my sleep returned to rest. I wasn¡¯t sure how long I¡¯d slept, but I felt a bone-deep satisfaction as I woke, as if I¡¯d rested for days. As had become my pattern, I stretched, the crackling of my spine going all the way down my spine until it twinged agonizingly at the end of my tail. My balance felt a bit off with the missing weight, slight though it was. I¡¯d never thought of how precisely I knew my body, but now I was more familiar with every last scale of my body than I¡¯d ever been while human. I¡¯d never needed to be that familiar with my whole body before, since I was never seriously injured nor had I ever needed to know exactly how my body would move in different, strenuous exercises. After all, if I¡¯d needed to recover, I could heal myself, and if there was anything difficult that needed doing, I could rely upon one of my Callings. Now, as a keelish, all I could depend on was my own body¡­ and my pack. I walked out of my quarters, only to once again be greeted by Sybil as I exited. Did she ever sleep? ¡°Did you rest well, Alpha?¡± With her improved ability to speak, I noted that Sybil had also grown a bit overnight, filling out and slowly growing into an adult¡¯s form instead of an infant¡¯s. ¡°Well enough. Happy to hear your progress.¡± Sybil bowed her head as she responded, ¡°Yes. There are several of us who have. Thank you for taking my advice thus far, even when I have struggled to communicate it to you. Please continue to do so.¡± I cocked my head, surprised. ¡°You¡­ you were purposefully speaking more simply before, weren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I was unable to express myself as I desired. Now I am able.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you¡¯ve grown. I look forward to you joining me on the hunt today.¡± A minute flick of her tail, much less pronounced than before. She was getting better at mastering herself now. It wouldn¡¯t be long before she could fully hide little body language tells like this. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Unfortunately, Alpha, today will not work for me. I have planned for Etra to accompany you today, while Cree might be able to later, if you return early. I must be with the newcomers to guide them to greater loyalty to you before I can step away for so long.¡± Every word that came out of her mouth reeked of excuses, but they were true nonetheless. ¡°I suppose that is true. Yet,¡± I let the word cut and I noted Sybil stiffen just a bit, ¡°I will not forget that you will accompany us next time. Without excuse.¡± ¡°Of course, Alpha.¡± And, before I could say another word, Sybil turned tail and was gone. Before I could so much as laugh about it, Oncli sidled up next to me. He had grown quite a bit overnight, now larger than Took. I¡¯d figured there was an official ¡°Beta¡± evolution, or something adjacent to it, so I was pleased to see that Oncli had recovered quite a bit overnight. He still walked with a slight limp and stepped gingerly, but he was mobile and not at all dependent upon Treel or any other members of the pack to be up and moving. ¡°You don¡¯t¡­ need to tease¡­ her so much.¡± There was no reproach in his voice, just gentle amusement. ¡°She takes everything¡­ very seriously. She cares¡­ about the pack.¡± A faintly ashamed look crossed his face as he continued, ¡°She is¡­ a true Beta¡­ to you. Better than me.¡± ¡°You,¡± I gnashed my teeth together for emphasis, ¡°are the Beta that I chose. Not Sybil. You were the first to follow me, and are the main reason I am where I am. You have supported me and inspired others to do the same. You are a true companion to me. Oncli is my Beta.¡± Then, I did something I¡¯d never done or even thought of before. I leaned down and with an almost gentle bite, pushed my front incisors through his scales and into his skin deep enough to bleed on his right shoulder. I pulled back, unsure of why I had just done that, why Oncli had stood there and taken it, and what had possessed me, but words came to my lips, unbidden. ¡°Forged in battle, tempered in blood. You were willing to die for me, and I will never forget that.¡± I felt a certain¡­ sacredness to my words, an ancient, long-recited quality that wasn¡¯t natural to me. Instead, there was an intrinsic reverence that I felt spread from me to Oncli and to those surrounding us. ¡°Forged¡­ in battle¡­ tempered¡­ in blood¡­ I follow.¡± Oncli bowed his head before rising without at all treating the small wounds in his shoulder. The blood flowed freely down his arm and began to drip to the ground below, and Oncli, seeming to be under the same influence that I had been, raised his bloodied hand to my chest. With a wet thump, he rested his palm against my chest, and I felt the blood stick to me as Oncli fell to his knees before me, bowed, then rose. After several moments passed, I felt the stiff, foreign air drain from me, but not before I felt the voice from my dream, simply saying, ¡°Well done.¡± What was that? Where did that come from? Why did I do that? I couldn¡¯t figure it out, but before long, a flash from the [System] gave me answers. [The user has discovered the first iteration of the First of the Words of Power of Nievtala. The user has been blessed with the lesser blessing of power. The user has been provided with the actions to take in order to develop a magic manipulating organ.] Chapter 36 Before I could try to understand what that [System] notification exactly meant, I patted Oncli on his unwounded shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what came over me, or why I did that. Are you ok?¡± ¡°I feel¡­ better.¡± He stood tall as he responded, and I noticed that he was indeed holding himself higher, his arm didn¡¯t seem to pain him as much, and Oncli had seemed to recover a bit. He still limped and wouldn¡¯t be a front liner for a hunt any time soon, but he¡¯d continued to regain mobility and had seen some recovery through my speaking of the ¡°First of the Words of Power of Nievtala¡±. And who was Nievtala? [Nievtala is the one that was worshipped as the goddess of Victory, Conquest, and Power by the Saharlian Empire.] As I retreated from the rest of the pack, I mused over that. I¡¯d never heard of that empire. Or any, for that matter. Or any specific gods. All the tribes I¡¯d ever met in the Martanimi jungles hadn¡¯t worshipped any specific deity and I¡¯d never met a people calling themselves member of an empire. The people I¡¯d known had only sworn by the suns and stars, and that was far from deifying the glowing things in the skies, but just from the fact that celestial bodies are constant. The four lesser suns orbit the primary one, the moon comes in its patterns, the stars can be used to navigate and so on. There¡­ aren¡¯t really gods, right? [The Administrative Body assures you that there are beings so far beyond your comprehension as to be effectively divine to you. The Administrator scoffs and insists that the Body simply agree that there are gods, Nievtala among them. The Administrative Body retains silence.] So, there¡¯s something up there, or somewhere. But these Words of Power were far different from the ones I¡¯d spoken as a person, and weren¡¯t used to Call anything, so far as I could tell. [The Words of Power of a deity are vastly different from the Words of Power of manipulating the base magics of the world that the user is familiar with.] Which, compounding with what I¡¯d heard before, meant that I couldn¡¯t use the Speaking ability I¡¯d known before, and that there was something special about Speaking, but I couldn¡¯t tell what that was. Nothing beyond that was told me, so instead I turned my attention to the instructions on how to receive the ¡°magic manipulating organ¡±. [Continue to develop your magical manipulations. The user has manipulated magical energies three times thus far, with two different elements. However, due to the keelish¡¯s innate predisposition against magic, in order for a keelish to develop a magic manipulating organ, they must effectuate a magical phenomenon instead of simple magical manipulation before the development of said organ.] Then it was going to be nearly impossible to develop this ¡°magic manipulating organ¡±. To my understanding, the differences between ¡°manipulating magic¡± and a ¡°magical phenomenon¡± were like that between the brightness of the stars and the suns. A child¡¯s ability to make the flames flicker with a Phrase was a manipulation, and a student¡¯s ability to cause the flames to surge in power was a phenomenon. Was that correct? This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. [The Administrator reminds you that your ¡°Magic¡± stat is still quite low, and there are physical advantages to your form.] Yes, the body of a reptile that is built for killing mostly harmless frogs. Great. I shook my head and took myself out of the narrow focus that I¡¯d found myself in after hearing ¡°magic¡±. The Administrator was right, my strength right now was that of pure physical violence. That was what was serving me in my hunts, and while magic would be an additional leg up, I didn¡¯t have it and I couldn¡¯t slow myself in the hopes that I might get it. After all, I was only eight days post my hatching, and four days away from the next Stats boost. I needed to get the rest of the pack hunting new prey so that they could become [Exceptional Individuals] in time before the next ¡°growth¡±. Then, I would be in a position to subjugate the rest of the swarm. ¡­ Three days passed in a flash as I finally forced Sybil and all the more reticent members of the pack into hunts. They were mostly uneventful, with me, Took, and Foire leading smaller packs out into places where we could find new prey that wouldn¡¯t slaughter us. Foire was lucky enough to locate a dulgar colony, which I immediately had every member of the pack hunt individually and I hoped that that would provide sufficient growth for most individuals. The discovery of the colony itself had come with a near death from one of the weaker members of his pack, but fortunately there hadn¡¯t been any casualties. Dulgars were a strange subterranean creature, living in places where the ground was firm enough for them to carve out extensive burrowing networks. They weren''t scaled like us keelish, but were still armored. Instead of fur or scales, Dulgar had thick skin that covered its body almost like plating. Their narrow faces were well built to fit into tunnels, and their powerful claws were a deterrent, but they weren''t warriors by any stretch of imagination. Still, they were deceptively strong, and hunted by laying rudimentary pitfalls above their burrows, from where they would drag their hapless victims. Sybil had observed a couple of hunts and then had rather easily dispatched one before looking to me in the hopes of being dismissed back to the comfortable and safe den. It wasn¡¯t to be, and I¡¯d dragged her and a couple others into a nearby stand of trees where I¡¯d suspected a hultzi lived. If we¡¯d all still been the size of hatchlings, we could easily have been picked off by our prey, but with our size and a couple of the pack willing to hide in the branches above, we could bring the creature down. Full grown, a hultzi was about the size of an average adult¡¯s torso and deceptively heavy despite their ability to fly. Thus, I was relatively sure that Sybil and others in that pack would qualify for the [Skill]. I¡¯d recommended the signs of a hultzi to the rest of the pack, especially Foire, in the hopes that they would be able to take one down but had yet to have any luck. Regardless of my meticulous planning and hoping, I couldn¡¯t guarantee that any of the pack had qualified for [Exceptional Individual] beyond Oncli, Took, Treel, Foire, Vefir, Sybil, and Brutus. I thought that at least half of the rest had, but I could only hope. Regardless, we would go on one hunt after the ¡°growth¡± before initiating the absolute takeover of Shemira¡¯s pack. Then, hopefully, we could ensure that most of the stragglers caught up before the next six days passed. And so, I laid to sleep with hopes of the pack¡¯s growth on my mind. Chapter 37 As usual, I found myself falling asleep surprisingly quickly. When I woke, I went through my new routine, stretching before entering the sandy bath. After this twelfth day¡¯s rest, I could feel an expectedly large amount of sloughed skin under my scales after my growth period. The itch was unbearable, and the release of the cleansing dirt bath was divine. Finally ready to face it, I looked at my [Status]. Nothing had changed except my Stats, number of followers (30/49), and days passed before reaching adulthood (13/60). My new Stats had updated a surprising amount overnight. [Stats: -Constitution: 17+2=19 -Strength: 20+3=23 -Agility: 20+3=23 -Intelligence: 15+3=18 -Magic: 3+1=4] As it was, I was basically twice as strong as a normal adult keelish would be after full maturation. And I still had eight more of these growth spurts? If [Exceptional Individual] added one point per stat and my evolution to Alpha had provided one point to all except Constitution¡­ I¡¯d gained so much more than I ever could have expected, and I truly did need to get every single member of the pack evolving and qualifying for [Exceptional Individual] immediately. I¡¯d grown, again, and was taller than before. I figured I¡¯d gone from about 24 to 28 or so inches tall, which was getting towards the height of many keelish I¡¯d seen in my previous life. That.. was strange, since while I¡¯d had a couple of lucky encounters, the rest of the spawnlings that I¡¯d seen that hadn¡¯t were still at least 18 inches tall and had eight growth periods remaining. However, the [System] gave no indication of why that was, so instead I focused on my current situation. So far as I could tell, the growth brought about by [Quest] completions and evolution was more qualitative, a change in self. When those had happened, the changes I¡¯d experienced were less visible, but were changes in my base self. These natural stages of growth came in the form of simple¡­ growth, I supposed. We all grew taller, our bodies continued to fill out with more muscle, fat, and flesh, the frills along our heads grew more prominent, and so on. With a sigh, I stepped out into the den, hoping to see how much everything had changed while we had been asleep. What I first noted, and was surprised to see, was that Sybil was still asleep. She had always awoken before me since joining the pack, and it was almost uncomfortable to see her asleep. I knew that she slept, just as the rest of us, but I¡¯d never seen her act tired, much less sleep in. I smiled, feeling somehow as if I¡¯d gotten one over on her, and surveyed the rest of the pack. Since Percral, Ilne, and Katre had joined the pack, Sybil had led us all in expanding our space, taking loads of dirt out of our den¡¯s space and depositing them across the clearing in which the entrance to the den proper was found. Our personal den had expanded greatly and joined with a couple others in order to fit as many of us as there were, but what had been a cozy but comfortable space before was now packed without any space to spare. There were tails spread across others, legs used as pillows, and a sense of claustrophobia filling the area as I noticed some of the spawnlings beginning to stir. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Sybil was, unsurprisingly, the first to rise, and she stretched and shifted as she quickly rose to her feet. There was a sense of¡­ satisfaction, somehow, in her bearing, and I felt a bit of the veneer of perfection that she kept up slip. As Sybil turned towards my personal quarters, she froze upon seeing me watching. Then, with a forced casualness, she strode back to me and nodded in greeting. ¡°Good morning Alpha. You were early to rise today.¡± I flicked my tail, feigning indifference. ¡°I wonder if the rest of you simply slept in.¡± ¡°Perhaps.¡± As Sybil stood, somewhat awkward, I sized her up. She hadn¡¯t grown as much as I had, but that wasn¡¯t surprising, considering the considerable size difference between us. As it was, I thought she had qualified for [Exceptional Individual], but I couldn¡¯t be sure. Her hands had developed differently from my own, and those of Oncli, Took, Treel, or the rest for that matter. Instead of the blunt, somewhat stubby fingers capped by thick, strong nails of the rest of the pack, Sybil¡¯s fingers had lengthened, her hands now almost humanlike. Additionally, Sybil¡¯s shoulders hadn¡¯t broadened anywhere near as much as the rest of the pack¡¯s had, but the more closely I observed her, she had definitely evolved into something more specialized. I wished so deeply to be able to investigate further, to access some [Status] for all of my followers, but the [System] had not provided any such option. Regardless, my conclusion brought me some peace of mind. ¡°Have you seen what you were looking for?¡± I was pulled from my musing and looked up into Sybil¡¯s eyes. Her head was cocked, curious but generally ambivalent. ¡°I was just hoping that you had grown as I have. As Oncli has. I¡¯m hoping that I can help the whole pack to do so.¡± Sybil stared levelly into my eyes. She didn¡¯t often do that, and, before long, I broke the contact and looked over the rest of the pack. ¡°You hope to rule.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice was matter of fact, simply stating what she thought to be obvious. ¡°To rule over not just the brood, but all the swarm.¡± I hesitated then flared my frills in agreement. ¡°I¡¯m nothing if not ambitious. There are¡­ things I must do.¡± I could feel the hurt of betrayal burning within me as I was reminded of my goal: Viilor. While I did want to understand what had happened, more than that, I wanted to make him pay. He had his reasons, I was sure, but he had murdered me, and I wasn¡¯t going to roll over and accept that when I could build up a swarm of the strongest keelish in remembered history and force him to face the consequences. After a moment, I noted Sybil¡¯s tense posture beside me and I forced myself to relax. I¡¯d realized since getting my [Dominance] and [Innate Leadership] Skills that when I was riding an emotional high, it would influence my nearby followers to that same emotion. As I mastered myself, Sybil too was able to resume her calm demeanor. ¡°Do you wish to explain?¡± I clicked my teeth together in denial more forcefully than necessary, the emotions still running hot even under my attempt at self control. ¡°Very well. Good luck on the hunt today, Alpha. Are you still planning to acquire a large hunt today and use that to smooth the transition to control over Shemira¡¯s pack?¡± ¡°Yes. We¡¯ll assume control when we return, and the provided food should soften the blow.¡± A flare of her frills in assent, and then Sybil was off to start directing her squad in expanding the den even more to accommodate our new sizes, as well as our soon-to-be companions. As for me, I gathered the hunters, a full two dozen of us. We were going to see if we could find new prey and allow the weaker among us to finally qualify for [Exceptional Individual], if they hadn¡¯t yet. A good day. Chapter 38 The Thnufir River¡¯s siege by the Sunkindred has been allowed for too long. I have sent two fully qualified High Speakers each of the Flame, Earth, and Wave disciplines. They will escort High Lord Leialt Alniyh and his Bound. Together, you and they shall push back the barbarians until none are left within our borders. ¨Cmissive from the Gran Verat to High Colonel Mualtir di¡¯Thnufir Looking around, I was fairly confident that at least twenty of my thirty followers had qualified to gain the [Exceptional Individual] skill in time. The hunters were all much larger, except, surprisingly, Foire. I knew he had been as involved in the hunts as Took or Treel, but they had grown larger while he had only grown a fraction of the rest. There was no way that he hadn¡¯t qualified considering all he had done, he¡¯d participated in the hunts of the Martanimis and Wolfstag, after all. So where had the stats gone? Oncli was continuing to grow, nearly as tall as I was now, a full two feet tall, and Treel was just as tall but even bulkier through the chest all the way down her tail. Brutus was a slight bit taller than them, but, surprisingly, even taller and broader than him was Took. She was only a hair shorter than I was, and though I was confident I was quicker than her, I couldn¡¯t guarantee that I was as brutally, viscerally powerful as she seemed now to be. Her body was now a vehicle for violence, every inch seemingly built for pure utilitarian power, and I could see the hints of horns poking up through her head. Thick, hammering horns. ¡°You¡¯ve grown,¡± I laughed to Took, once again at eye level to me. ¡°Yes, Alpha.¡± The word came easily enough, but it was a surprise nonetheless. Took hadn¡¯t ever really spoken beyond the couple of times she¡¯d really struggled to speak, and I wasn¡¯t sure if she was stupid or just quiet. At least I knew she was considerably more intelligent than Brutus, who was naught much more than a brute, as his name suggested. ¡°And you speak much better!¡± A flare of her frills in agreement and then Took fell in step beside me. While I had only hoped that she wasn¡¯t stupid before, now I could be somewhat sure that Took had struggled to speak, but also she hadn¡¯t necessarily needed to. She was the consummate follower: loyal, attentive, unquestioning, and intelligent enough to understand and follow orders. ¡°Anything else you want to say?¡± Took hesitated for a moment, then, with only a slight pause between her words, ¡°Victory¡­ by fang and blood.¡± Then, with a self-satisfied smile, she settled back into her position of silent support. Oncli approached as I finished my conversation. ¡°Hey Ashlani. When I woke up and saw that I¡¯d grown, I was hoping I¡¯d caught up to you this time, but I should have figured you¡¯d be as out of reach as ever.¡± It seemed that the biggest change for him was that ability to speak so clearly! ¡°Oncli, you should know as well as I do, you¡¯re not gonna catch up that easily. And you¡¯re not going to call me Alpha?¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. A flick of the tail. ¡°I guess I could? Do you want me to?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care either way.¡± I felt a small smile spread across my face. Oncli was the only one who didn¡¯t address me by my title, and while a part of me bristled at the camaraderie, I could feel his genuine nature. Oncli just¡­ enjoyed my company, and I could find comfort in that. ¡°Well then, Ashlani, you ready for the hunt?¡± ¡°Of course. Let¡¯s go.¡± With my words, the rest of the hunters gathered up and we set off to resume our hunt. ¡­ The hunt went as smoothly as could be expected, just without any new prey. I felt myself itching, needing to find some wolfstags to complete my [Quest]. I couldn¡¯t let myself stagnate, and while helping the rest of the pack continue to grow would be good for me in the long run, I needed to ensure that I remained the indisputable leader. While there weren¡¯t any currently in the brood that could challenge me, Took and Brutus weren¡¯t far off physically from being able to. I trusted both to remain subservient, but they stood as a testament to the risks I ran the longer I spent without continual growth. For now, at least, I could continue to rely on Sybil to manipulate any dissidents and keep them from building a following, but Percral had tried to turn on me the second he¡¯d thought it possible. I needed to keep myself healthy, active, and ever more powerful if I was to grow to the Alpha of this brood and then the entire swarm. Regardless of my feelings of haste, though, I couldn¡¯t foolishly run into the lands where I knew the Voltaic Wolfstags could be found. If what we ran into was an adult Voltaic Wolfstag, I could guarantee there would be casualties, and if we encountered three full adult wolfstags, I couldn¡¯t imagine there would be any survivors. Regardless of any caution or reasoning, though, I desperately wanted to just go, consequences be damned. Suns burn me, but I wanted to. Unfortunately or fortunately enough, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to be quite so foolish. But the longer that I stagnated¡­ the harder it was to tamp down that frustration. That the hunts we were always finding were boring at best wasn¡¯t helping me either, since without anything to challenge me, I couldn¡¯t work off the desperate, manic energy that had long become part of me. I shook my head and myself from my dangerous musings and tried to pace to burn off some of that excess nervous energy. We would go back to the wolfstag¡¯s territory after the next growth period, to ensure that we could have the greatest possible chance to survive, but not before. I¡¯d put effort into raising and molding these keelish to be as powerful as possible, but it would take time for us all to grow into that and I¡¯d be throwing that effort away if I were to get some of the pack killed in my haste. It galled me, but I knew how to wait. For now. ¡°Ashlani. You need to calm yourself.¡± Oncli¡¯s voice shook me from my pacing while immediately inciting my anger. Looking around, I again noticed how much my emotions influenced my subordinates as they bristled around Oncli, not quite threatening, and I steeled myself. After a moment¡¯s deep breath, I centered myself enough to stand calmly and cease my pacing and erratic movements. After taking another couple of breaths, I was ready to respond. ¡°Thank you, Oncli.¡± I nodded. ¡°You were right.¡± A relieved grin spread across his face. ¡°I can be. I follow you, I just want you to be happy with where you¡¯re going. You¡¯ve been.. A bit off.¡± I nodded, admitting the point before turning to Foire. ¡°Go see if you can find anything worth hunting nearby.¡± He clicked his tongue in a form of assent and began to turn to go. Oncli called out, stopping him. I looked over, a bit surprised. ¡°I haven¡¯t been able to fight as much, since I was hurt. I want to help scout.¡± Oncli looked at me, searching for approval. I thought for a moment, then nodded and sent him on his way. It wasn¡¯t long before Oncli¡¯s screams of terror washed over us. Chapter 39 Without conscious thought, I rushed towards the sounds. Oncli didn¡¯t stop screaming in wordless horror and agony, and I sprinted ever harder trying to reach wherever he was. Finally, I saw the source of his suffering: a massive terrorbird had him suspended in the air as it chomped down on him again. Terrorbirds lived up to their names: massive flightless birds taller than an adult human with massive beaks built for tearing flesh from bones at the end of their long, sinuous necks. They didn¡¯t have noteworthy wings, but their legs were also long and powerfully built, able to kill a man in a single strike if he was unlucky. Oncli was only barely too large to fit into the beast¡¯s maw, and he had evidently been bitten once or twice in addition to what was happening now. As we approached, the terrorbird turned its head and observed us, seemingly unconcerned with the struggling keelish within its maw. I barely reached its knee in height, yet I didn¡¯t hesitate as I shrieked a battle challenge and threw myself at its chest, both hands readied to slice deep into flesh. The terrorbird easily stepped aside and lashed out with one foot, which I only barely sidestepped myself. The terrorbird shook Oncli once, the sharp hook of its beak digging deeper into his leg and he cried out again in agony. Even without the scent of blood spurring it on, [Bloodlust] activated, and I again screamed with all the force I could muster to try to drag the beast¡¯s attention. My scream reverberated in my skull and nearly stunned me with its sheer volume, I could feel my teeth rattle in my jaws, but I didn¡¯t stop. I rushed forward, trying to hobble the beast. If I could keep it from being able to run or kick, then we would be able to kill it quickly. Hopefully before Oncli was killed. Not letting the thought settle into my mind, I again pressed closer to the terrorbird, only to be pushed back with a warding kick. The rage continued to build within me, I needed to act, to shed blood, to do something. Took rushed in, flanked by Brutus and Treel, all three weaving as best as they could towards the beast. Treel was forced to dodge, and Brutus took a heavy hit to the side the sent him sprawling, but Took was able to dig her fangs into the terrorbird¡¯s ankle and began to tear. The bird, of course, didn¡¯t allow that to continue and lifted the leg to shake her off. I took the opportunity to close in on the terrorbird and lunged higher on its other leg. Its feathers were thick enough that I didn¡¯t find purchase in the fleshy leg, but I could feel just below my bite the target. If I could tear into the muscles there it would be crippled, but as I attempted to dig my teeth deep into the flesh there, I was interrupted as its vestigial wing swung down, smashed into my skull, and knocked me loose with a ringing in my ears. I thudded to the ground and tried to quickly rouse myself. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I could see that the terrorbird was readying itself to flee, with Oncli still in its jaws. No, I needed to hurry, I couldn¡¯t let it escape with him, he couldn¡¯t survive like that. With another rallying cry, I pressed forward, calling for the rest of the pack to follow, to fell the beast. Again, I was warded off with a strong kick, but others were able to reach our prey¡¯s legs. Yes, we would be able to fell it. I knew it. I was about to fully lose myself in the [Bloodlust] when Oncli¡¯s voice cut through the descending madness of my [Skill]. With a force of will, I listened to the nearly imperceptible voice of my Beta, my friend. ¡°Forged in battle¡­ and tempered in my blood, I follow¨C¡± His voice was cut short by a crunching of bone, and I watched as the beak of the terrorbird bit through Oncli¡¯s head, the wet spray of his blood splattering out and over the beak that had taken his life. As the rest of the pack rallied and tried to take the prey down, with two swift punts it launched Vefir and another of the spawnlings away, giving itself a moment¡¯s space. Then, it lowered itself for just a moment then leapt out of our encirclement. Before we could close back in on the terrorbird, it rushed into the jungle and was swiftly lost among the thick root clusters of burlraizes and the choking underbrush. Swift and unseen as it had come, the terrorbird had preyed on Oncli and left, with virtually no injuries to show for it. We hadn¡¯t been able to stop it. I hadn¡¯t been able to stop it. I hadn¡¯t been able to do anything to the creature. I was so truly dumbfounded that I found myself simply standing there, the shock having purged every feeling of [Bloodlust] from my body. Took approached me as I stood frozen. ¡°What do you want to do?¡± She asked simply. I didn¡¯t respond. She stood in silence, awaiting my response. After a moment to bring myself back to reality, I felt [Bloodlust] surge up within me without bidding or any concept of control. We¡¯d gone on ¡°one more hunt¡± before unifying the brood. I wouldn¡¯t hesitate or delay any longer. It was time to unify the brood. The blood of my racing heart still pounding in my ears, I began to lead the pack back to the den. Hoping for some far flung and impossible confirmation of hope, I looked at my [Status], my eyes immediately running to the bottom, to the possible evolutions. My heart dropped further at the reality as [Bloodlust] finally subverted all my rational control of my mind and left me grieving and enraged. The absolute answer was provided by the [System]: [Young Bloodletter Brood Alpha: Gain the loyalty of all surviving members of the brood. Progress: 30/49 -> 29/48] Chapter 40 As I¡¯d learned, my mood and attitude infected the rest of the pack as I stalked back to the den. I didn¡¯t care. I was livid, incensed beyond belief, frustrated, impotent, and so many more. I fed my every emotion back into my [Bloodlust] and kept it going to keep the feelings from welling up. And, beyond wanting the oblivion of [Bloodlust] and more natural bloodthirst, I enjoyed indulging in my animalistic side. The journey was made in relative silence, all our eyes peeled to ensure that no other predators could possibly surprise us, but there wasn¡¯t any attempt made. It was almost anticlimactic, and the near disappointment of inaction led me to feeling even more irritated. Maybe Shemira would want to fight me for supremacy? No, she knew she couldn¡¯t win, so she¡¯d retained her separation in the hopes that I would simply allow her her position. No longer. Our steps seemed to thunder through the tunnels of the den, and it wasn¡¯t long before I was stepping into the communal space of our brood¡¯s den and seething. There were a couple of different keelish I didn¡¯t recognize within, and, after slowing myself for a moment, I realized that they were adults, definitely not from our brood. One raised his arm to me as I began stalking in. ¡°Wait. There¡¯s something important¨C¡± I didn¡¯t let him finish his sentence. I didn¡¯t know him, I didn¡¯t respect him, and I didn¡¯t care. Since he was an adult, he was a bit over three feet tall, eight or so inches taller than me, but I simply hopped up enough to grasp his throat just below his skull with my left arm. Taken by surprise, his head was dragged low with my weight as I fell back to my feet, and I pulled him down until his throat smashed into my shoulder. Even before the male could begin to gag and retch, I adjusted my grip to both hands on his head, spun, and smashed him into the nearest wall. Before he had finished crumpling to the ground, I continued walking forward while the adrenaline thundered in my veins and head. Another male adult keelish approached, but not nearly so close as to be within my reach. ¡°We¡¯re supporters of brood¡¯s Alpha.¡± He obviously was a rather undeveloped specimen, and, after a brief internal struggle, I didn¡¯t do to him the same thing I¡¯d just done. ¡°Then fall in line behind me. I have something to do.¡± I immediately dismissed the male and continued towards Shemira¡¯s den. However, before I could get close enough to begin some sort of a dialogue, two voices cut in. ¡°Welcome back, Alpha.¡± ¡°Hello Ashlani. Are you ready to submit to my rule?¡± Unable to begin to entertain Shemira¡¯s bold and foolish proposition, I turned to Sybil. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± My voice was taut with thinly constrained rage, and the hunters, who had been under my influence for at least half an hour, were all standing threateningly behind me. ¡°Shemira has seduced some other members of the swarm to support her ascension to brood Alpha.¡± Sybil seemed exceptionally composed, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to relinquish my heightened emotional state. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I scoffed loud and scornful, my tongue clicking across the base of my fangs. ¡°Weak. Pathetic. Both you, Shemira, and these who would leave those stronger than you to follow you. Do you dare face me in challenge?¡± Shemira strode forward, her tail stretching sinuously behind her, her hips swaying. ¡°I am not your match, nor do I think I ever will be.¡± She paused, seeming to wait for me to jump in, but I was barely able to keep myself from snapping back. Shemira continued, ¡°However, my subordinates are stronger than yours, and we must work together, after all. The stronger whole should rule, not just the strongest individual. Do you not agree?¡± I shook my head, disagreeing. ¡°You are wrong in two ways in one statement. That doesn¡¯t happen often.¡± I smashed my fangs together, the sound cutting through all ambient noise and setting the den to silence. ¡°Now. Submit.¡± Shemira was startled by my vehemence and barely bridled rage, but still she spoke. ¡°Send a champion. The winner prevails.¡± I didn¡¯t deign to respond, just turning to Took and gesturing for her to enter the middle between the two packs. She immediately strode forward, her paces aggressive and impatient. ¡°I must admit,¡± Shemira said as she looked over her dozen or so new followers, ¡°I thought you would fight this approach more vehemently. I¡¯m sure you and I both will enjoy your submission though.¡± A coy smile played at the edges of her lips as Shemira turned to the second male that had spoken to me before sending him in. The unnamed male had taken barely two steps before Took reared her head back and headbutted him hard in the snout. Her two new horns made pulverizing contact and the male immediately crumpled to the ground, unconscious, and after just a moment of stunned silence, my voice sounded out. ¡°Send another.¡± I spoke quietly, but intensely. Shemira visibly gulped, then sent a second, smaller, and obviously nervous male to fight Took. This one stayed further away, fearing another headbutt. Unfortunately for him, Took feinted a headbutt, which led him to retreat right into the path of her swinging tail. The tip made contact with his jaw and knocked him prone, where Took immediately seized his head in her jaws and smashed it mercilessly into the ground one, two, three times. I called Took back and sent Treel forward. ¡°Another.¡± ¡°I¨C¡± ¡°ANOTHER!¡± My voice cracked and boomed in the closed quarters of the den, and, beginning to cower, Shemira sent a third out. The new member, perhaps bolstered by Took¡¯s retirement, tried to rush in against Treel. She ducked low and, after a brief struggle, lifted the male from his feet and swept him to the ground. She, too, showed no mercy once she found herself in a superior position and simply smashed her closed fists against the male¡¯s head again and again until he went limp. I called Treel back. ¡°Brutus, Foire, Vefir! To me!¡± The three stepped forward, their frills flared large and threateningly. ¡°Shemira!¡± Again, my voice sounded out loudly in the enclosed space. ¡°You found the weakest outcasts of the swarm, and thought that they would lead you to undisputed leadership? Fool.¡± I strode forward and the conscripted males and existing brood members alike cowered away from me as I stepped within reach of Shemira. ¡°Last chance. Submit.¡± With a quivering of her tail and lowering of her head, Shemira spoke. ¡°Yes, Alpha.¡± ¡°Victory! By fang and blood!¡± Took began to cheer as Shemira admitted defeat, and behind me the crowing calls of victory began to fill the den. Still, I was consumed with the rage and frustration of Oncli¡¯s death and Shemira¡¯s idiocy, but I could find some small solace in the flickering [System] notification. Chapter 41 Shemira having submitted, I turned to the pathetic keelish who had decided to bend the knee to her. The four that had been beaten retreated, especially their de facto leader who still looked shaken from Took¡¯s heatbutt. There were ten of them, and if I hadn¡¯t focused on getting as many of my pack to the level of [Exceptional Individual] as I had, I suspected that it would have been difficult to deter them from a hostile takeover. Again, I was reminded that my greatest reliance would be my own strength first, and elevating the strength of those loyal to me second. ¡°Welcome to the pack. If you try this again, I won¡¯t be so lenient.¡± The males all looked at each other before one spoke up. ¡°We will just return to where we came from.¡± ¡°No.¡± I made firm eye contact, my attention and wrath both firmly bearing down on him and the rest of the interlopers. ¡°You all decided to come here and support the brood¡¯s Alpha. You cannot change your minds now.¡± I then turned to Treel, Foire, and Vefir. ¡°Each of you take three. The last will go with me.¡± Unceremoniously and without hesitation, the pack of adult keelish were divided from their fellows and I figured that with their general weakness of body and will, they wouldn¡¯t pose any long-term problems. Having now separated the new troublemakers, I turned to the rest of Shemira¡¯s pack. With her nineteen original members of the brood and ten new additions, we matched in numbers when not counting myself, so I needed to be careful to separate the dissidents sufficiently. Before I could begin to take any action, Sybil sidled up behind me. ¡°How did Oncli die? You did not bring his body back.¡± I felt my jaw clench, the rage redoubling within me. ¡°Something got him.¡± Sybil nodded slowly. ¡°That is a disappointment. And you were not able to fell his killer?¡± It was only with a surprising swelling of patience that I kept myself from snapping verbally and physically at Sybil. ¡°Obviously not.¡± ¡°Next time then.¡± Then, with a measured, blase tone, Sybil continued, ¡°You will need to select another Beta.¡± ¡°Suns burn you, Sybil, he hasn¡¯t been gone an hour!¡± She leveled a stare at me. ¡°We will continue our conversation later. For now, what do you want me to do about these new members of the pack?¡± With the slight pause in our conversation, Shemira inserted herself, leaning intimately into my chest while looking up at my face. Before I could question or chastise her, she spoke. "I always knew we needed to work together. I know what I just did was wrong, and now I know that I just need to serve you, and not you me. I''m sure I can serve you well as your Beta, better than any other¡­ options available.¡± The derision was clear in her voice as Shemira looked at Sybil and Took while rubbing herself against me. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Are you insulting my subordinates?¡± My voice sounded flat and emotionless even to me. ¡°I would never! I simply can fill both positions occupied by these two, and be a true supporter in every role.¡± Her tail twisted up and tickled the inside of my thigh, and for a moment I actually considered her offer. Then, I reached down with both arms and I swore I heard a quiet chuckle as I reached down. Without changing my expression, I picked Shemira up where I dangled her upside down for a moment. For a moment, she looked at me, absolutely baffled. Then I dropped her on her head, where her skull made a pleasant thunking noise on the ground. As Shemira tried to gather herself, I lowered myself to look into her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re stupid if you¡¯re thinking that I¡¯m about to give you control over even a single member of the pack. You are hereby assigned to Took¡¯s leadership every time we leave the den.¡± Shemira began to try to argue but I snapped my teeth shut less than an inch from the tip of her snout, silencing her. I continued, ¡°When we are in the den, you are assigned to Sybil. If she so desires, you will wait on her every command.¡± I didn¡¯t ask for confirmation or understanding as I turned to Took. ¡°Keep an eye on her. Don¡¯t let her do anything, just make her hunt.¡± Took nodded in agreement and began to drag Shemira away. She paid no attention to the wheedling and whining and simply used her greater strength to drag Shemira away. Before long, Took led a pack of about fifteen out of the den to go for a hunt. Shemira followed along, reluctantly stepping alongside Took who made sure that the former Alpha was never out of arm¡¯s reach. I began walking in to my quarters, Sybil directly flanking me. I only barely kept myself from stomping as I entered into my bath and began to cleanse myself. The scrubbing of the sands didn¡¯t calm me as it usually did, and I felt the emotions bottled within me continuing to pulse within and agitate me. ¡°You need to select a new second-in-command.¡± ¡°Enough, Sybil!¡± I didn¡¯t even try to keep the heat from my voice. ¡°Alpha.¡± Her voice was even, reasonable, and stern. ¡°You have been able to keep your position precisely because you have maintained strict order within the pack. You cannot afford to surrender your greatest advantage now. It will lose you all that you have and are.¡± ¡°Can I not mourn my friend¡¯s death?¡± I felt my voice begin to break as I finally acknowledged that Oncli was my friend, and that he¡¯d died without my being able to do anything about it. ¡°Mourn if you need to. Don¡¯t let it affect the rest of what you do.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice was again without any emotional inflection. It somewhat served to pull me out of my state, and I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll let you know when I wake.¡± ¡°Rest well, Alpha.¡± Sybil stepped out and gave me space. Finally left alone, I let the emotions wash over me, allowing [Bloodlust] to fully slip. The rage slowly faded and was replaced by a surprisingly sweet feeling of acceptance. Oncli had died, but it hadn¡¯t been as tragic as it could have been. He had willingly left to scout, and he¡¯d never wanted to be, in any way, unable to contribute to the pack, and I doubted he¡¯d have been left able to hunt after the initial strike by the terrorbird. Either way, I needed to harden myself, to be more willing to embrace losses. Keelish were meant to use their numbers to overwhelm their foes, and sacrifices would come hand in hand with that reality. Convincing myself of that, I finally turned to observe the updates from the [System]. Chapter 42 [User has discovered the method of evolving Skill: Dominance. Condition: Dominate and subjugate 100 creatures. Current progress: 29/100] I had, for the first time, learned how to evolve one of my [Skills]. I had known that there were some that could, and which they were, but I knew nothing about the methods to do so. Now, finally, I had at least a hint of how I might learn how to evolve each [Skill]. How would those that could evolve change with evolution? Would [Bloodlust] make me lose more of myself or less? How would [Pack Tactics] change, since I had no idea what it really did for me now? And what would the improved [Dominance] do to those around me? Regardless, progress was progress, and power was power. I would need it on my path that I would carve for myself. And while paying Viilor back in kind for the betrayal I¡¯d suffered was one of the necessary stops on that journey, it wouldn¡¯t be the end. I now knew the barest hint of what keelish once were, had heard of the Keel, and I had every intention of becoming one. If I ended up establishing an empire as that of old in the process, then so be it. It was interesting to me, though, that I had gained a +1 to both Intelligence and Magic without finishing a [Quest]. Why was that? [Even if the user does not have a Quest displayed, there is a possibility of completing a Quest that the user is unaware of. The User completed the Quest ¡°gain leadership over the whole brood.¡± The increase in Stats was from that Quest¡¯s completion.] Nice to know, though I wished I had a full [Quest] list¡­ As I further scanned my [Status], I noted that that while I had [Dominated] every member of Shemira¡¯s pack sufficiently to count for its evolution, many of them were not yet considered my followers in terms of my evolution. Regardless, though, it was just a question of time with Sybil¡¯s assistance. I couldn¡¯t begin to imagine how Tieran had so easily cast her aside. She was so much more valuable than Shemira in every way that there had to be something¨C Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. Keelish could manipulate parts of magic even before developing some organ that would allow them to do so more easily. It could be some sort of an intrinsic [Skill] or magical ability that Shemira had been born with? Or developed since hatching. If I thought about it in such terms, it seemed to work exclusively on males, given Tieran¡¯s malleability, and that all ten of her found followers were male. I needed to make sure that she didn¡¯t have long periods with any of the males, at least until her support system was entirely eradicated. Finally thinking of it, I was glad that my two greatest living supporters were Took and Sybil. I forced myself not to think of Oncli as I realized that I had as near a lock as could be expected to protect me and my continued leadership from Shemira. Took and Sybil¡­ which one should be my Beta? Sybil was right, that order would be the main thing that could provide me with stability and strength moving forward, but both had intrinsic roles that I needed them to continue to fulfill in the pack, especially as it continued to grow. I stopped thinking so much about it, and allowed myself to settle in to rest. My sleep was fitful and plagued by dreams of chasing for something I couldn¡¯t see or remember, or running away from something unseen and menacing while my legs were trapped in a mire. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Waking was an escape from my nightmares, and I literally shook the feeling from my mind. I hadn¡¯t rested well, and I was ready to move on. I stood and as I walked to the exit, I heard the scraping of scales and a quiet disapproving voice. Looking around the corner, I saw Sybil speaking to Shemira, who interrupted, speaking with a saccharine sweet voice. ¡°I just wanted to get myself clean, there¡¯s no problem with that.¡± Shemira was indeed covered with the gore of the hunt, I could smell it on her. Sybil was completely unaffected. ¡°Then you should go take a bath.¡± ¡°Great!¡± Without further ado, Shemira turned and tried to enter into my personal quarters. Sybil, though smaller than Shemira, reached out and yanked hard on Shemira¡¯s tail with one arm. ¡°If you continue to disregard my commands, you will regret it, Shemira.¡± ¡°You couldn''t do anything to me before, and you can¡¯t now.¡± Shemira turned and almost cutely poked Sybil¡¯s snout. ¡°You¡¯re smart and useful. That¡¯s all.¡± ¡°Better than whatever you are.¡± My voice cut through the foolishness. With a start, Shemira turned to me while Sybil, who¡¯d seen my approach, settled into a more relaxed stance. Shemira was willing to push into Sybil physically, but not with me present, so immediately Shemira assumed a demure stance as if she hadn¡¯t just been bulling over Sybil. ¡°I hope you rested well Ashlani! How are you feeling?¡± She looked up to me, eyes somehow glinting even though I wasn¡¯t perceiving her with my eyes. I completely disregarded her as I looked to Sybil. ¡°Sybil, what is the punishment for disobeying one¡¯s superiors?¡± We had never spoken about this, but with Sybil¡¯s nature, I was sure she would have thought about it extensively. I wasn¡¯t disappointed. ¡°We have yet to ever have to implement them, but they are reduced rations, additional labor, and isolation.¡± ¡°Which would you suggest that Shemira be punished with?¡± ¡°Her offenses thus far are minor, simple additional den excavation should function sufficiently.¡± Shemira, though obviously off-put by my immediate command of punishment, seemed to be relieved by her sentence before Sybil continued, ¡°Though she will complete her assignment without assistance.¡± Shemira tried to disguise her instant disgust but failed. ¡°Go tell Etre that you are to dig the new latrine alone.¡± Shemira looked to me, pleading, and I nodded in Etre¡¯s direction. After another moment¡¯s hesitation she strode off, alluringly swiveling her hips and tail as she went. ¡°She¡¯s more dangerous than she looks.¡± I muttered to myself, and Sybil flared her frills in agreement. ¡°Why did you choose that punishment?¡± ¡°The work itself is somewhat demeaning for her. She thinks of herself as above the masses, that her position is one of a supervisor, at best, when it comes to labor. In addition, she wishes to push onto the rest of the brood the idea that she is superior to all except you, so keeping her from her supporters for any extended time will be effective both to loosen her grasp over them as well as to firm our own.¡± ¡°Do you think she¡¯ll be more pliant after I officially designate you and Took as my Betas?¡± A pause. ¡°There can only be one, Alpha.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°That is how order works. There is an order to all things, and all things must be in that order if they are to be truly ¡®ordered¡¯.¡± ¡°Seems arbitrary.¡± ¡°... No.¡± There was a hint of sullen in Sybil¡¯s voice and I couldn¡¯t hold back the light chuckle. It felt good, pulled me out of my remaining anger just a bit. ¡°Gather the brood. I¡¯m going to make an announcement to them all.¡± Chapter 43 It wasn¡¯t long before the whole brood, plus our ten new additions, stood gathered before me. There wasn¡¯t any space within the den that could comfortably accommodate us all, so there were some stragglers spreading out the mouth of the den. Without needing to force myself, though, I was able to project my voice so that it rang through the den. I finally consciously noted that there was something changing with my voice, but I couldn¡¯t allow myself to think more deeply about that as I began my address. ¡°Are we weak?¡± I let the question hang. Before too long had passed, Took¡¯s voice called out, ¡°No!¡± ¡°Are we prey?¡± This time, the response was faster and came through multiple voices I recognized as Treel, Foire, Vefir, and others¡¯, ¡°No!¡± ¡°So we are strong?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± More voices joined in. ¡°We are predators?¡± ¡°YES!¡± The whole brood was beginning to be swept up in emotion, all answering my questions. ¡°There are creatures out there that think of themselves as predators. Predators of the keelish. Are we prey?¡± ¡°NO!¡± ¡°We will hunt those who think themselves above us!¡± I let the frenzy continue for another moment before I screeched for silence once again. The respectful mass of keelish looked up at me, waiting on my every word. ¡°I will not be our only leader. Took!¡± She stood, then, at my beckoning, came forward. ¡°Took will lead you as my Beta in battle. If I am not there to give commands, hers are those you must follow! Sybil!¡± She stood as well, joining me at my side. ¡°Sybil is my Beta when it comes to all non-combat affairs of the pack. Outside of battle, her voice is greater than every other except my own. Any questions?¡± After a moment¡¯s wait, I was about to move on, but I was interrupted by Took. ¡°She does not shed blood for us. Why would we follow her?¡± I needed to viciously tamp down the immediate rage that surged at Took¡¯s insubordination. She dared to contradict me? No, she wasn¡¯t contradicting me. I trusted her enough to appoint her as Beta, I trusted her enough to give her command second only to mine. I asked for questions, and she answered. I gritted my teeth as I began my reply. ¡°I trust her and I know what she does¨C¡± Sybil stretched out an arm and stopped my answer. I turned, waiting for her response to Took¡¯s challenge. She stood, calm, before turning and grasping her tail with both hands. Unsure of what was happening, I didn¡¯t move as Sybil deliberately reached down with her jaws and bit deeply into her own tail about eight inches from the end. Still without hesitation and without relaxing her bite, Sybil ripped her fangs through those eight inches of her own flesh, scales clattering to the ground as her blood splashed across her face and the ground alike. As Sybil flicked her tail, flecks of her blood splattered across Took¡¯s face and chest, little spots of hot red that quickly cooled and became invisible to my perception. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Sybil turned and looked at Took, her blood dripping from her jaws and coating her own face. I could tell that though she was putting on a stoic face, Sybil was slightly unsteady on her feet, though I wouldn¡¯t weaken her position by pointing that out or trying to stabilize her. Took cocked her head for a moment, then stepped forward to where she could touch Sybil. Took softly leaned her head against Sybil¡¯s, needing to hunch to reach the much smaller female, before she spoke. I could feel the sacred pressure from when Oncli and I had spoken the Words of Power descend over the pack as Took¡¯s voice rang out. ¡°You¡¯re no coward. Tempered in blood are the chains that bind us.¡± I stepped forward, with more control than I¡¯d had the last time this feeling had swelled over me. ¡°Forged in battle and tempered in blood are we! The keelish do not break but are constantly strengthened!¡± Without any need to grow in a crescendo, all voices of the brood immediately rang out in unison, ¡°Forged in battle and tempered in blood do we follow!¡± ¡°Victory!¡± I shouted. ¡°VICTORY!¡± My pack echoed. ¡°VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!¡± I could feel that this was different for the rest of the pack, that this time they had somehow also ¡°Spoken¡± the Words, instead of simply saying them. As the excitement began to dwindle and the brood began to speak to each other about any number of things, I turned to Sybil and began to speak quietly. ¡°Are you ok?¡± She reflexively flicked her tail in a shrug then winced. ¡°I have seen you all deal with worse. I did not realize exactly how painful something like this would be. I will survive.¡± ¡°How do you intend to treat this? The bleeding isn¡¯t stopping.¡± Sybil looked back at her tail, the blood still flowing freely and making the dirt below her into a warm muddy slurry. ¡°Oh.¡± She muttered before slumping to the ground. With Etre and Kree¡¯s assistance, we were able to staunch the bleeding long enough to gather some vines and large leaves to bind Sybil¡¯s tail. I¡¯d never heard of keelish using any sort of medical implements, but I couldn¡¯t be sure that it didn¡¯t happen anyway, since I¡¯d never thought of keelish as capable of communication. Regardless, we took immediate steps to ensure that Sybil was provided for as much as we could before once again going out to begin our hunts. This time, however, we all remained together, with Took, Treel, Foire, Ilne, and Katre serving as squad leaders. Percral had initially asked to also lead a group but had been violently dissuaded from asking again and was now under Treel¡¯s command. For the first time, I felt the influence of [Pack Tactics], understanding the need to further separate the whole hunting party of nearly fifty individuals into smaller squads. With five groups of just under ten each, we could easily react in groups to whatever it was that inevitably happened, and with that came increased mobility. We traveled directly into the direction of the wolfstags¡¯ territory, and I was determined to kill at least one tonight. What I truly wanted was to hunt down the terrorbird, but they¡¯re migratory creatures and I couldn¡¯t guarantee that we would find any nearby. So it was that wolfstags, or any other creature that crossed our paths for that matter, would serve to slake my appetite for violence. The grin crossed my face as I disregarded any internal feelings of temperance. Chapter 44 The new Allmother has been born. She has yet to open her eyes after forty moons, but her first cries after birth were the final Phrase of the Words of Narsha¡¯at on her tongue. We are sure that once she does open her eyes, they will present the Bloodsoaked Mother¡¯s blindness; thus we are asking that five of the most senior Bloodpriests and priestesses return to Dunbach to mentor her in the other Words of Power. You are summoned, and will spend one moon of ten sharing your teachings with the young Mother. ¨CSummons from the Allmother to Bloodpriestess Ana of the Samutelia The packs all around me ranged out without allowing any individual to be outside of the range of immediate support of several of their fellow packmates. It was glorious to see so many willingly following my commands, and I noted a couple more individuals joining in as my ¡°followers¡± within my [Status]. The smart and methodical part of me screamed at my foolish haste, that it was just a question of time before I would evolve to a Brood Alpha and there would be tangible benefits that would absolutely help me on this hunt¡­ But I was finding that I cared less and less about that. I couldn¡¯t say whether that change was from my own rage or my keelish mind influencing me, or maybe even the [System] or Administrative Body pushing me to greater recklessness and foolishness, but I simply needed to keep moving, keep fighting, keep growing. Waiting, patience... they simply weren''t an option I was willing to entertain. Foire was the one of the pack that had initially found the wolfstag sign that had led us to fleeing the area the first time, and I trusted him to be at the forefront of the entire hunting expedition. I wondered if his evolution was related to mobility or scouting since he hadn¡¯t grown much in stature yet had still obviously benefitted from an evolution of some sort, plus he¡¯d definitely qualified for [Exceptional Individual] prior to the latest growth spurt. Foire, for his part, took his position absolutely seriously, constantly scanning the ground and the surroundings while pointing out to some of the members of his pack things to look out for. Along the edges, I had everyone keep their eyes peeled for any sign of warmth or movement, trying to make sure there wasn¡¯t any tunnel-visioning like the last time. We could kill a wolfstag, or even several, so long as we knew where they were and were coming from. After maybe an hour¡¯s journey within the wolfstags¡¯ territory, Foire called for me. As I approached, he pointed down and spoke. ¡°Tracks. Maybe two, maybe three. Smaller than the one we killed. Maybe five smaller than that.¡± Other than his report, Foire didn¡¯t give any opinion or guidance, simply providing his findings. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°All together?¡± Flare of his frills. ¡°The smaller ones. Are they the size of those that Percral¡¯s pack encountered?¡± ¡°About. Slightly larger.¡± Maybe from the same litters then. At most eight wolfstags, three less threatening than the one we¡¯d already killed, and the others weak. A grin spread across my face as I gave the command to continue but to go as near to silent as we could manage. The hunt was on. We made our way onward with as much stealth as we could muster, ears and eyes peeled to see whatever we could. Foire again was the first to sign that he saw something, and with my heart beginning to thrum excitedly within me, I stepped forward. He pointed, and in a clearing ahead was a pair of Scaled Deer. I began to deflate as I saw that they weren¡¯t our planned prey, but before I could turn and begin to give commands, Vefir caught my attention and directed me to look across the meadow to the brush ringing the opposite side. There, I could see a couple flickers of warmth hunched and flitting through the undergrowth. As I continued to watch, I realized that the movements we were observing was a pack of young wolfstags. I couldn¡¯t tell how many they were, but there were definitely multiple. Urging the rest of the pack to quiet down, I continued to watch. The wolfstags were definitely hunting the scaled deer grazing in the clearing, and hopefully they would make their move without trying to loop all the way around the clearing to our side. The scaled deer were covered in scales from nose to tail, the thick, interlinking armor giving a surprising amount of protection from arrows, as I knew. I¡¯d never had to try to bite through them, but I figured that it wouldn¡¯t be easy. Watching further, I could tell that the wolfstags were beginning to ready themselves to rush their prey. And they had no clue we were there. We were in perfect position¡­ Suddenly, there was some noise from the opposite side that immediately had both scaled deer peering over, startled. They were about to begin bolting when several bodies came rushing out of the brush and charging towards them. Immediately, the deer began to flee, but the voltaic wolfstags were able to draw on some of the speed of lightning and, with a literal flash, they were on the deer¡¯s flanks. The rumbling of thunder accompanied their frantic bites and the predators obviously tried to quickly take their prey down. There were sounds of crunching teeth on bone and scale alike, and then the pained screams of the deer. Observing the wolfstags tearing into their prey, I was happy to see that there were indeed five smaller wolfstags trying to fell one of the two deer, while one larger one, maybe thirty or so inches tall at the shoulder, attempted to dispatch the other. Another of the larger specimens stood near the small ones and supervised their hunt. There wasn¡¯t a third of the large wolfstags, just the two, making seven total. Seven against our forty nine. I eased myself into a ready position, waiting for the wolfstags to relax themselves before leading my pack to the hunt of the hunters. It wouldn¡¯t be long¡­ Chapter 45 It wasn¡¯t long before the wolfstags all began to dig into their meal spread before them. A forest of their horns spread above them, showing that they all were face down in the flesh, devouring the decadent distraction they¡¯d successfully slain. I quickly gestured to the rest of the pack to begin our approach, and we immediately set off to begin the hunt. While we started as quietly as we could muster, with nearly fifty bodies moving there was bound to be at least some noise. We¡¯d made it maybe halfway across the clearing towards the wolfstags when one of the two larger specimens popped its head up. Without letting it begin to process what it could see, I began sprinting, the rest of my pack following suit behind me. A part of me wondered if Percral would flee again, but if he did, I could deal with that later. For now, it was time to begin the slaughter. Our prey began to rally themselves, pulling their heads from the carcasses as I let out the most piercing, bone-rattling scream I¡¯d ever heard or imagined. ¡°VICTORY!¡± The sound, against all my understanding of echoes, echoed around and around the clearing instead of being swallowed by the surrounding vegetation. My cry was repeated by my pack and I felt myself growing more energetic and ready for the upcoming battle while the pack around me surged forward even more swiftly. I didn¡¯t need to give assignments of which wolfstag to attack to each pack, groups separated by themselves and began to swarm our prey. The small, weak wolfstags immediately began to cry out in fear and challenge while the two larger ones strode forward to try to stop the wave of scaled attackers. Took and I each met them head on. These two were larger than us, each a couple of inches taller than us at the shoulder, though fortunately not nearly so imposing as that which we had encountered before. I heard the jarring thud of bone on bone beside me, apparently the sound of Took smashing her horns into her chosen prey, and then [Bloodlust] overcame me. With my left arm I feinted, and as the wolfstag responded to the false attack I instead reached down with my right arm and seized one of its forelegs. I dug my claws deep into flesh and felt tendons begin to separate beneath my slicing claws. The wolfstag yelped and immediately bit down towards me. I released, but too late. It caught my arm in its jaws and attempted to shred the muscles and bones making up my right shoulder. I hardly reacted to the feeling of my tearing flesh, the [Bloodlust] allowing me to disregard the pain in exchange for the deadly series of blows. With a swift stab forward, I plunged my left hand deep into the wolfstag¡¯s eye, the eyeball exploding before the force of my attack. It immediately howled in agony and reared back while releasing me. I didn¡¯t let it get any space as I felt the prickling of electricity across my scales. I knew it was going to try to flee, so I dodged under its head on its blinded right side. Between my growth and the wolfstag''s comparative decrease in size compared to the last, I didn¡¯t fit under the wolfstag, but I didn¡¯t need to fit underneath, I just needed to reach. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. My jaws, closing with all the force I could muster, cut completely through the wolfstag¡¯s throat. It immediately sagged to the ground as it coughed and its lifeblood began to pour out onto the soil underfoot. Before it could react or try to gather itself, the wolfstag was set upon by another five eager keelish. I disregarded the finished prey, searching for another. My thirst for slaughter had yet to be slaked. Beside me, Took was on her back foot, fighting defensively against the comparatively more powerful wolfstag. It had covered itself with a wreath of electricity and it seemed to me that the individual was more magically inclined than most of its kind. I didn¡¯t care. I leapt up, and disregarding the jolting pain coursing through me, I seized one of the largest antlers in my jaws and began to shake it with all my strength. The wolfstag was knocked off balance by my attack, and Took immediately seized upon the opportunity, latching deep on our prey¡¯s throat. I nodded in approval and turned to the rest of the hunt. The other five wolfstags were already being brought to the ground, their legs pulled apart so they couldn¡¯t move while others piled onto their bodies in ravenously biting swarms. They were slightly larger than the unremarkable members of the pack, but smaller than Took and I, or even Treel. I was shocked out of my [Bloodlust] to notice that Percral was facing against one of the five smaller specimens all alone. He opened his mouth wide, screaming in challenge as he lunged forward and bit over the entirety of the other wolfstag¡¯s snout, holding its mouth closed. With all his bodily strength, he lifted the wolfstag from its feet and, keeping his bite firm, smashed his prey into the ground before continuing to maul it while sparks danced ineffectively across his body. With my [Bloodlust] forcibly shaken from me, I realized I needed to participate in the hunt of at least one more of the wolfstags to complete my [Quest], so I hurried over to one of the packs that didn¡¯t have one of the leaders in it and quickly helped dispatch the prey. Before long, the clearing had gone quiet except for Percral who stood over the body of the wolfstag he had hunted and bit deep into it again and again, twisting his head and slamming the corpse of the wolfhound into the ground over and over again. As Percral began to slow to a stop, my pack members all looked around, making sure that the rest had finished the hunt. After a couple of moments of observation, I took in the sight of our flawless victory. Took had a couple of scorch marks and looked a little dazed, and there were a couple of minor injuries through the pack, but nothing noteworthy. I scanned the pack, pleased to note our generally healthy state. Took and Treel both approached me, hesitant. ¡°Alpha, are you alright?¡± ¡°How can¡­ help?¡± The two females seemed concerned about me specifically and I cocked my head, confused, ¡°What would I need help with?¡± They both looked at my right arm, and as I looked down myself, I stopped subconsciously blocking out the agony. Suns burn me. Chapter 46 My right shoulder hung in tatters, the shredded muscles curving and curling downward like an inverted lotus. The arm hung limp, and after a moment¡¯s disbelief, I attempted to move my right hand. Agony. I could see the exposed muscles in my shoulder twitch and try to do what I had asked, but immediately I stopped trying to move as the fiery pain of my hubris smashed into me. All the while, my whole body continued to involuntarily twitch from the remnant jolts of electricity coursing through me. I gasped as the agony of my situation settled over me, of what I needed to do before I could get any rest. With prey to return back to the den and a need to get far away from the wolfstag¡¯s territory, there was a long walk ahead of me. I called for the rest of the pack to begin hauling the corpses back to the den. Several of the less intelligent members of the hunt began to growl in protest at being kept from setting into the meal before them, but with a couple well placed kicks and threatening hisses, the pack was once more on the move. The journey back to the den was agonizing for me, and while I wanted to lose myself in my updated [Status], I could only barely bring myself to put one foot in front of the other. The idea of looking through the numbers and notifications was exhausting to me, and instead I stepped as gingerly as I could as I followed the steps of the rest of the pack. About halfway back to the den, I shook myself out of my pain-induced stupor enough to notice Percral hauling the body of the wolfstag he had slain by himself. Its face was a pulped mash of shattered bone and mauled flesh, and the rest of its body was covered with various wounds from battle. Percral was limping, I guessed from the shock he¡¯d sustained while finally killing his chosen prey. Regardless of his obvious discomfort, he continued hauling the prey with stoicism. I walked quietly alongside Percral, simply setting one foot after the other. He walked and, after a couple moments of silence between us, he adjusted the wolfstag¡¯s corpse so that he could carry it with just his arms. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t want to be a coward. I¡¯ll be stronger now. Forged in blood, I¡¯ll follow.¡± With those few words, Percral readjusted the weight he was bearing and resumed silently carrying his load onward. I barely mustered the ability to speak. ¡°Good job.¡± Resuming my mind-numbing plodding was almost a relief, and I allowed my mind to retreat back to an aching fog. Fortunately enough for me, the time passed quickly enough and before I knew it I found myself stumbling down the slope into the den. Sybil¡¯s voice asked me something I couldn¡¯t remember or understand, and I simply slumped back into my personal quarters, exhausted and in agony. I could vaguely understand that the others were ministering to my wounds, attempting to replace the flesh around my shoulder in such a way that I might have some prayer of using it once more. I knew it was a vain hope, unless I could quickly evolve and experience that miraculous revivification of my body. Just before I succumbed to unconsciousness, I was able to quickly glance through my [Status], the words swimming in my vision. At the bottom, I could just pick out the words, [Status upda¨C Evolutionary ¨Cgress: ¡­ Evolution unlocked¡­ Racial designation¡­] Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. With my inbound evolution, I had just a prayer of saving my arm. ¡­ The unconsciousness of evolution brought clarity instead of relaxation. Had I passed out because of blood loss? Or from the plain agony of it all? Or just to evolve? [Probably all three, little fang. More the first two, if I was to guess.] I suppose unconsciousness is preferable to death or dismemberment. [Indeed.] We both paused, and I enjoyed the silence before being interrupted once more by the Administrator. [You¡­ are both one of the most intelligent but also most foolish of the keelish Users that has ever existed.] ¡­ why would you say that? [BECAUSE YOU SACRIFICED YOUR ARM! FOR NO REASON!] The typically soft and warmly enveloping voice became thunderous and shook me to my core. She didn¡¯t seem angry so much as completely confused and at a loss for words. [But truly. Why?] I¡­ wanted to make up some excuse, but I simply hadn¡¯t thought about it. I¡¯d been in the throes of righteous vindication, slaughtering the wolfstags, and I hadn¡¯t cared to protect myself. [You need to get over Oncli.] That struck me like a bolt from clear skies, and before I could gather myself, she continued. [He¡¯s dead. Not coming back. Move on.] Her voice was matter of fact, neither uncaring nor warm. I was pissed. My friend had died for a stupid reason, was I not allowed to grieve? Possibly my only friend I would have in this life since with my goals I couldn¡¯t afford connections like that. I needed to be willing to cast the rest of them off! Was I not allowed to remember this one? [Little fang.] The Administrator¡¯s voice was soft, but firm. [You cannot begin to fathom the eons I have witnessed, the empires I¡¯ve seen rise and fall, the friends I have made and lost. To do so would be to glimpse a facet of eternity. You will hurt, you will heal, and you will move on. Oncli was a compassionate soul in a warrior¡¯s world. He would have been thrown by the waves of cruelty and broken upon the rocks of indifference. Perhaps it is better he found Nievtala¡¯s embrace while still so innocent and kind. You will not have that luxury, tainted by hatred and ambition as you are¡­] Her voice faded almost to nothing, but I did hear her final words, [You will make a fine Keel.] Again, we rested in the quiet, blanketing nothing. . . My musings were broken by the Administrator¡¯s voice, having returned to its coy, teasing tone. [Now, I have a duty to you, and there are some who resent my advice given without questions, but they are still under the System¡¯s discipline and this evolution of yours is a special one, so there is nothing they can do. What do you have to ask?] I¡¯d thought of this question, and since I¡¯d had time to relax and think while here, I was ready to ask it. Eventually, I¡¯m not going to be completing so many [Quests], I¡¯ve seen that they will become more stringent and difficult to complete. Further, I will have much fewer opportunities to evolve, so how do I get my Skills to evolve?¡¯ [Still focused on progress, on strengthening yourself. A Keel¡¯s mindset, truly.] She sighed, then continued, [Instead of ¡°answering¡± your question, I shall directly influence your personalized Status display for both Quests and Skills. I hope it suits your fancy.] I could hear a grin spread across her face as she called out, in direct opposition to the forced fading of her voice, [And I sure look forward to your reaction to your new evolution¡­ and magic.] Chapter 47 I couldn¡¯t question the Administrator¡¯s final words as I was pulled deeper into true unconsciousness. Time flowed without my being able to form any conscious thought, and I felt myself be pulled along without any understanding of my self or anything else for that matter. Before long, my mind was blank, and then, I awoke. With a twitch, I tried to rise to my feet, but my shoulder immediately made its complaints known with a sharp twinge of discomfort. That it was only discomfort was a good sign, but when I turned my head to look, all I saw was a mass of improvised bandages. At this point, I knew that the leaves and vines binding my shoulder wouldn¡¯t do anything to help me, so with my left hand I gently cut through the mass of plant matter. As my shoulder was gradually revealed, I was relieved to see that the flesh was all knit back together once again. Even small movements sent shocks of pain down to my fingers and all the way to the center of my back, but that might be something that would improve over time and evolution. At least I still had the arm. The rest could follow. I slowly strode over to my bath, taking special care not to jostle my arm as I went to begin my cleansing. With only one of my arms, covering myself with the fine sands was significantly more difficult than before, but I still relished the gentle scrubbing of the silt beneath my scales and across every inch of my body. With every movement I could feel the cracked and shed skin being softly lifted away by the special sands, and I nearly purred in pleasure. After just a couple quick minutes, I was as clean as I could manage without hurting myself and I finally turned myself to look at the series of flashing [System] notifications. [Quest completed. Growth achieved. Quest board updated. Status updated.] [Status updated. Evolutionary progress: Young Bloodletter Brood Alpha; 48/48. Evolution unlocked.] [User has effectuated a magical phenomenon. User has qualified to develop a magic manipulating organ at the next evolution. Organ acquired: sonilphon.] [Status updated. Evolutionary progress: Young Magicblood Brood Alpha; magic manipulating organ acquired. Evolution unlocked. Racial designation: Sonic Magicblood Keelish.] [Evolution commenced. Evolution typically requires a basic restructuring of your body. You will fall unconscious as the reconstruction takes place. Evolution to: Young Sonic Bloodletter Brood Alpha Keelish from your current physiology will take place over the duration of 20 hours. Evolution will provide a marked bonus to your stats, as well as certain obvious physiological changes. Note: the evolution into any magically inclined subspecies of keelish requires vast changes to the basic physiological structure, thus the extensive length of time required for evolution.] So many notifications, and I¡¯d yet to look at my [Status]. But this did give me a beginning of an understanding of why the Administrator had seemed so interested in this evolution. It was effectively two in one, and I was sure that my [Status] would reflect that. But now, to move past the notifications to see the [Status] itself. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Keelish Current quests: This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. Gain control of 15% of the entire swarm. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5 Progress: 5% -Subjugate a group of at least 10 individuals with at least 5 Intelligence. Note: Cannot be keelish members of the user¡¯s current pack. Base Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +1. Titles: none Stats: -Constitution: 19+1=20+3=23 -Strength: 23+2+2=27+3=30 -Agility: 23+2+2=27+4=31 -Intelligence: 18+1+1=20+5=25 -Magic: 4+1+2+2=9+7=16 Skills: Bloodlust: 1/2 Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 0/10 Dominance: 29/100 Sonilphon: 0/50 Evolutionary guide: (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) -Adult Sonic Magicblood Alpha: Survive 60 days. Progress: 15/60 Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] The first section of bonuses to my Stats seemed to be from my [Quest]¡¯s completion, along with the one point bonus from becoming leader of the brood in Intelligence and Magic. The second section of bonuses was from my evolution, so far as I could tell. If that was the case, then this new evolution was, in pure Stats, more than twice as beneficial as my evolution to Bloodletter, to say nothing of my evolution to Alpha. Additionally, I would continue to see more benefits from the evolution in just three days, as I would experience my third growth spurt. I was excited to see what bonuses I would receive between this evolution with [Exceptional Individual]. It was somewhat sad to see no new prospective evolutions beyond that of aging, but I was confident I could find new ones, given enough effort and time. The other changes to my [Status], however, took me by surprise. First, I now had three [Quests] displayed. I had learned from the accidental completion of a [Quest] before that the [Quests] seemed to all have been already laid out before me, even if I couldn¡¯t see them, yet being able to see multiple at once was a great gift from the Administrator. Disregarding the substance of the new [Quests], I also had access to new records regarding each of my existing [Skills], and with a brief moment¡¯s deliberate thought, I had the description of each flashing before my eyes. [Bloodlust: Skill Evolution requirements; Skill user must succumb completely to the influence of the Skill at least once. COMPLETE. Skill user must entirely reject the influence of the Skill at least once. [Pack Tactics: Skill Evolution requirements; command 10 large scale battles, each ending in the Skill holder¡¯s foe¡¯s complete defeat. Note: to qualify as a ¡°large scale battle¡±, the Skill holder must be in command of at least 50 troops.] [Sonilphon: Skill Evolution requirements; full and complete depletion of the sonilphon from full capacity 50 times.] The explanations of how to evolve my [Skills] were clear, and without them, I couldn¡¯t say how long it would be before I was able to evolve [Bloodlust]. Beyond that, it was rather frustrating how narrowly I¡¯d missed out on progress on [Pack Tactics]. But finally, I needed an explanation of the capstone of this new evolution¨Cthe new magic manipulating organ. [Sonilphon: a rare magic manipulating organ which passively gathers and converts ambient magical power into the sonic attribute. The sonic attribute is typically used to dampen or enhance sound, though specialists have found manifold uses for the attribute.] So my new magic¡­ is sound? My disbelief was punctuated by a sudden [System] notification. [The Administrator laughs at your confusion.] Chapter 48 [The user developed the magic manipulation organ: Sonilphon due to the user¡¯s effectuation of a magical phenomenon of the sonic subclassification.] Regardless of how I looked or asked about it, that was the basic gist of any answer I received. Thinking back on it, I¡¯d shouted something as we charged the wolfstags, and something had left me and influenced the rest of the pack when I¡¯d done so. The feeling of that magic, assuming that was what it was, was different from a Calling. There hadn¡¯t been the feeling of imposing my will over and controlling a force that was greater than me, instead, it was the feeling of¡­ spending something from within, something that was expended. Looking within myself, I could feel, somewhere undefinable within my chest, a source of magic. My sonilphon. I could feel that it was at capacity, that it wouldn¡¯t be able to hold more. On a whim, I pushed it out, and it set to causing my whole body to quiver. I felt the shakes spread all the way to the tip of my tail and, after just a moment, the feeling faded. My sonilphon was halfway depleted by that, and I could feel it begin to slowly fill. Disappointing. Once more, I gathered the magic, but this time I sent it deliberately towards my throat, given the initial note given by the [System]. In my throat, I felt the magic gather and hold steady, different from the aimless attempt I¡¯d had before. There, the pressure built more and more, until I felt it become ¡°ready¡±, for lack of a better way of putting it. Then¡­ it did nothing. It simply stayed there. I gave it more. It built up, and after restabilizing, the magic remained inert. Finally, I fed all my magic into my throat, where it whirled, and seemed to be only barely under control. Would it finally show what it did? I excitedly waited, trying to understand what was happening inside me as best as I could, but after maybe fifteen seconds, the magic began to settle once again. I couldn¡¯t figure what to do from there, since I had depleted my sonilphon in its entirety, yet nothing had happened. Then, there was a building tickle in my throat and I coughed. As if a lightning storm had been condensed within my quarters, my cough was amplified and boomed out. Soil fell from the ceiling above me, and the echoes of the sound ricocheted almost like a physical object around me. I somehow knew that I¡¯d protected myself from the initial blast of sound, but the echoes set my head to ringing and I suddenly found myself on the ground. The boom of my cough had been so powerful it had dizzied me, and I felt as if I was about to vomit. Surprisingly, despite the absolutely tremendous volume that my throat had produced, I felt no soreness or pain from having produced the sound. I tried to master myself, to keep the bile from surging up my throat, and I was barely able to. I still couldn¡¯t hear clearly as Sybil and Took rushed into my quarters. Behind them I could see several other curious and queasy faces trying to figure out what happened. I forced myself to my feet and gestured in what I hoped to be a placating way. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I¡¯m ok. Everything is ok. You can go, sorry about that.¡± I could hardly hear my voice, but after a moment¡¯s verification that I was not injured or anything like that, most of my subordinates left my quarters. Sybil, however, stepped forward. I had grown again through my rest, I realized. Before I¡¯d stood about 28 inches tall, now I thought I was at maybe 32 to 34. Nearly three feet tall, the size of an impressive but normally sized keelish adult. Not nearly so tall as Rulac or Wisterl, as I remembered them. They seemed to be exceptionally powerful members of what could only be considered the upper caste of the swarm, and were over five feet tall. Regardless of those two far away members of the swarm, one of my Betas stood before me, her face completely stoic and though there was no indication of it, pissed off. Regardless of her emotions, though, her tone was polite and respectful. ¡°Did you rest well, Alpha?¡± I took a moment to try to clear my head, then flared my frills in answer, before asking, ¡°How long was I out?¡± ¡°A full day. Or near enough to be counted as such.¡± I wanted to cut in and divert the conversation, but Sybil seemed wise to my intent, as she continued speaking. ¡°You seem to have changed once again.¡± She let the implied question hang in the air, never being so bold as to make an interrogation of her Alpha. I thought of disregarding it and moving past the unwanted conversation, but Sybil couldn¡¯t continue to be her wildly valuable self if I withheld information from her. I sighed. ¡°Yes. I have gained some¡­ abilities that I do not yet understand. That was the result of my thoughtless experimentation. I¡¯m sorry, again.¡± Sybil clacked her teeth together. ¡°No, you should never apologize to your subordinates. You must always improve, but you are superior to us. You cannot lower yourself to our level. You apologized before, and you should not.¡± Part of me, I was surprised to note, agreed wholeheartedly with her words. I was not only their superior, but also plain superior to the rest. That feeling curdled in my stomach, but I couldn¡¯t find any rational explanation to why I wouldn¡¯t be. We were all members of the pack, all keelish, but I¡­ wasn¡¯t like them. Stronger, faster, more intelligent, able to use magic, access to the [System]. All things that made me intrinsically better. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± I had to bite down my intrinsic desire to apologize after my statement. In keelish language, it was communicated with a bow of the head and a subservient squeak, and now that I thought about it, the idea of bowing my head and lowering my stature to that of my subordinates made me inexplicably angry. Sybil nodded at my response. ¡°I am glad that you have recovered some use of your arm, but I do advise you to take it easy until you have recovered all the way. We are able to hunt for ourselves, and while your presence is a guide, you can allow yourself to be provided for while you regain your full strength. I paused and thought over what she said, then looked at my current [Quests]. Slowly, I decided she probably wasn¡¯t all wrong, though the inaction of it was something that I had to fight to accept the possibility of. ¡°I¡¯ll consider it.¡± Then, with a nod of my head, I dismissed Sybil. I was willing to admit it¨Ca keelish was what I was now, and that wasn¡¯t going to change. I needed to truly embrace that now. If only I could convince that small voice within me so simply. Chapter 49 As I¡¯d been once again left alone, I glanced through my [Status], making sure I was satisfied with everything I¡¯d learned about my new evolution. I noted that the progression towards evolution for my sonilphon had progressed by one, and it was refilling painfully slowly. I guessed that it may take as long as an hour or two for it to be refilled completely, so, as it was, if I ran out of my sonilphon¡¯s reserves while in battle then that was it. Not that I had any idea of what to do other than make a loud noise. I was about to close out of my [Status] when I realized I had missed one of my new [Skills]. It had, in my mind, simply blended with the [Skill] below it when I¡¯d looked the first time. [Evolutionary Guide], not foresight. What was the difference? [Skill: Evolutionary Guide; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated their ability to guide others onto a possible path of evolution. This Skill blesses the holder with an innate understanding of the evolutionary state of those who trust the holder for advice. In addition to the understanding of others¡¯ evolutionary state, the Skill gives subtle hints and guidance to the holder that they may give advice that pushes the listener to greater evolutions. Finally, those who follow the guidance of the holder are granted a 10% reduction in evolutionary and Skill acquisition requirements.] Stars above, that might well be the greatest [Skill] I could hope for. Praise Nievtala! The divine praise came subconsciously, and while I didn¡¯t love that, I did recognize that I had spoken Her words and been granted power beyond what I¡¯d previously had. Maybe a bit of appreciation would better grant me power? Out loud, I spoke, ¡°Praise Nievtala. Thank you.¡± Then, I nodded my head and strode out into the communal space of the den. It had changed in the past day, with the area more spread out to allow for groups of keelish to huddle together and still have space from another small pack, if they so desired. It evidently was the time where most of the keelish were actually gathering up to begin their activities for the day, with packs forming up around Took, Treel, and Foire. As I exited, I felt all eyes fall upon me, and I subconsciously stood tall and looked down at the rest of the brood. A surge of pleasure coursed through me as I noted the deference and respect with which my subordinates looked at me. I nodded, and as if it were a signal, the rest of the brood returned to whatever it was that they were doing before my exit. Again, a part of me disagreed with this feeling of superiority that had suddenly become an intrinsic part of me, but the rest of me, a growing majority, tamped down that weak thought and instead focused on how that would allow me to help more and more to evolve and gain [Skills]. That respect and near worship would help them even more than they knew. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! With my confidence renewed, I approached Sybil. She was discussing something with Etra and Cree, while Katre, surprisingly enough, stood behind them and waited for a command. ¡°Alpha,¡± Sybil acknowledged me, interrupting her conversation without hesitation, ¡°Is there something we can do for you?¡± I clacked my teeth, ¡°No, I wanted to know if there was anything you needed more bodies working on that the hunters don¡¯t want to engage in.¡± ¡°Yes, always. Most pressing at this time is the creation of clean latrines. It is safest for us to relieve ourselves within the den, but there is a constant need for new latrines to be dug out and the old ones to be filled.¡± I flared my frills in assent as I asked, ¡°How many do you need?¡± A flick of her tail, indecision. ¡°Five if you want it to be a punishment, more like ten if you want to pass it off as a small chore to complete while taking the day off.¡± I slowly nodded and then turned to Took. She pretty quickly noticed my attention and, with a quick gesture of mine, trotted over to me. ¡°Alpha?¡± ¡°Are there any of the hunters that have been insubordinate or in need of a break?¡± She flicked her tail. ¡°Couple. Some of the scaleless from Shemira¡¯s pack. Shemira.¡± She spit out the word ¡°scaleless¡± with a surprising vehemence. ¡°Great, I¡¯ll take them for today.¡± Took flared her frills and trotted back to her pack. Before long, four of the adult males and Shemira were before me. Shemira was immediately laying it on thick, coquettish and demure in every movement. The part of me that thought itself superior to the rest found a visceral pleasure in something beautiful submitting to me, but I quashed that thought and, before she could say anything, spoke to the five of them. ¡°You four, you¡¯re on latrine duty today. Sybil will tell you where and how much. You don¡¯t eat until you¡¯re finished.¡± They were obviously unhappy with the command, but none spoke up as I continued, ¡°It¡¯s her fault.¡± I pointed at Shemira, and her face and demeanor shifted to confused and angry. ¡°You¡¯ve decided to follow her instead of me, so she¡¯ll remain on the hunt, while you¡¯re stuck in the den. You can make different decisions tomorrow. Or not, and stay the same.¡± I flicked my left hand in dismissal, and the four, scowling and growling under their breaths, strode back to await orders from Sybil. ¡°Shemira.¡± I dismissed her with just her name and a wave of my hand. She, unwilling, slowly retreated back to Took¡¯s pack. Before I could turn back to ask, Sybil¡¯s voice carried over to me, ¡°Thank you, Alpha.¡± I nodded back at her, then went to accompany Foire¡¯s pack on their hunt. After all, even if I was taking it easy, I could still go on the hunt, right? Chapter 50 Accompanying a pack on the hunt without actively participating was uniquely frustrating. I watched as my subordinates found various creatures and began the hunt. There was a Martanimis Python, much smaller than the one that I¡¯d hunted before, and it was quickly killed then devoured in its entirety. I was off put by how naturally the pack turned to allow me the first bites of the food, and how easily I accepted it. This feeling of superiority came so naturally to me that it was often only after I had acted in accordance to it that I even realized that my actions had been out of character, at least in comparison to my old self. The hunt was generally unremarkable, except in Foire¡¯s ability to sniff things out earlier than the rest of us could manage. He noted a hultzi nest, where three of the hunters were able to take down the two adults. They offered me the eggs, and they were surprisingly tasty. Then, Foire noted some sign of a creature he thought he might recognize, yet hadn¡¯t ever encountered before. As he called me forward and I examined it, I could tell that the tracks were those of a Scaled Deer. Foire looked to me for confirmation. ¡°It¡¯s your hunt, I¡¯m just here to watch.¡± After a moment¡¯s hesitation, Foire nodded then, with a low whistle, the pack closed in and began to tread as quietly as they could. He hadn¡¯t spoken, so it seemed that Foire had established some sort of nonverbal commands, and the pack had listened and learned. I¡¯d need to take those for myself. Vefir, being Foire¡¯s main support within the pack, was walking through the packed bodies, making sure that there weren¡¯t any small injuries or problems that might develop into something more or worse down the line. I was surprised to see that, the care with which he observed the rest of the pack, and I decided to try to speak with him after we finished the hunt. Foire led the way, the rest of us following close and quiet. Ahead, the jungle remained choked with brush and general growth, but Foire was able to find swift, quiet passage through it all, leading the rest of us to pass where the path was the quietest it could be. Before long, Foire, without turning around, tapped the closest keelish behind him with his tail, who promptly did the same. The tail taps passed back seamlessly, except my own brief confusion then clunky attempt at replication. My tail had healed at this point from the bite being taken out of it, but I still didn¡¯t consciously use it for much. With the tap, four of the largest members of the pack slowly passed into the front of the group, where they received soundless commands from Foire. He seemed to be gesturing to the far side of a nearby tree, the roots of the burlraiz fully obscuring what was there from my view. The three slowly began to circle around the tree, giving it a wide berth and staying hidden within the surrounding brush. If I hadn¡¯t known they were there, I never would have been able to guess where the stealthy hunters could be, and after several minutes of waiting, Foire whistled three times, sharp. Somewhere on the other side of the tree I heard movement, and then, all around me, the pack swarmed into motion. I found myself swept up in it, nearly sprinting forward but keeping pace with the rest as they approached the goal. As we rounded the roots, I saw the initial four keelish sent around engaged with two scaled deer. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The deer stood at a bit more than four feet tall at the shoulder, and they both were lashing out wildly with their hooves, trying to knock the attackers away, but those first there weren¡¯t concerned with bringing the deer down. Instead, their focus was simply on keeping the deer from fleeing, and before the prey could realize what was happening, Foire and the rest of his pack rounded the tree¡¯s roots. The hunt under Foire¡¯s direction was almost clinical. With the prey distracted, the group of over a dozen keelish closed in and, as one, swarmed the scaled deer. They succumbed quickly to the attack, and as the smell of blood wafted over me, I felt [Bloodlust] trigger. Immediately, I needed to fight the urge to rush in headlong and begin tearing into the prey. My prey. Those inferior to me were killing! I¡­ pulled myself back, my chest still heaving with heavy breath and I tried to master myself. The need to shed blood, to kill, to vent my frustrations was overwhelming, but I was barely able to hold myself back as I lifted my right arm a little and focused on the immediate shock of pain that nearly brought me to my knees. Still, [Bloodlust] threatened to force me to take some sort of action, but as the hunt was completed, I was finally able to dull my need to act enough to calmly approach the bodies of the two felled deer. I hadn¡¯t actively participated in the hunt, not really, but I wondered if it would still count as if I had. Nothing in my [Status] let me know either in confirmation or not, so I could only find out later. I was also disappointed to note that my attempt at self control hadn¡¯t counted for the evolution of [Bloodlust], spurring greater frustration. Again, Foire and the rest of the pack gestured for me to be the first to partake, and again I did so without conscious thought. I simply ripped one of the hind legs off and carried it away, letting the rest ravenously set to the corpses. I watched, the happy squeaks and jealous snapping from the keelish bringing a smile to my face as I ate. This pack was closer than I would have expected, but there was something about Foire¡¯s quiet, gentle leadership that drew in the rest of the keelish. As I swallowed the last of the meat and began to snap through the bones for the marrow, Foire and Vefir approached me. I watched them, and they shifted slightly, seeming to be uncomfortable. I continued to watch, curious, as the two shifted from foot to foot before I finally realized why they had approached me. ¡°Foire, you¡¯re a good tracker. Good leader too, your pack follows you without question, and they hunt well with you.¡± He ducked his head in thanks. Suddenly, a brief flash of inspiration crossed my mind. ¡°Foire. There¡¯s something you¡¯re trying to do. Something¡­ about climbing? You just need to keep trying. You¡¯re on the right track.¡± Foire startled, then looked at me for a solid couple of seconds. ¡°Thank you. I will.¡± I didn¡¯t know what he was doing, or how it was going, but somehow I knew that he just needed to try a couple more times and then he would succeed. The first time I¡¯d ever felt the influence of [Evolutionary Guide], I was sure. Great. I, excited with this success, turned to Vefir, hoping to find or feel something to give him advice about. Frankly, he was the most unremarkable of my earliest followers. Took, Treel, and Brutus were all large and strong, Oncli a good mix of strong, fast, and smart, Sybil immensely intelligent, and Foire had grown into a formidable scout. And Vefir¡­ tried his best. So, as I looked at him and felt the trust and hope from him, I was astounded by what I felt. Chapter 51 Much more clearly and firmly than I¡¯d felt with Foire, I knew that Vefir was on the brink of acquiring a magic manipulating organ. What was it¡­ ¡°Vefir, what have you been trying to do recently? You should have felt something happen, maybe it¡¯s hard to describe.¡± I had a guess, but I couldn¡¯t let myself get my hopes up before even talking to him about it. He looked at me, seeming to be just as surprised as Foire had been. ¡°I¡­ have tried to help others recover. I helped with your wound¡¯s dressing. That is all.¡± I stood taller. Now, was this more of a multi-purpose magic like Wavespeaking, or exclusively healing? I wasn¡¯t sure which I would prefer. ¡°Has there ever been a time when you did something more magical?¡± ¡°Um¡­ what is ¡®magical¡¯?¡± Of course he wouldn¡¯t understand the term. ¡°Like, you did something that came from you, not from anything else, and it helped someone¡¯s recovery?¡± He paused, then slowly nodded and flared his frills. ¡°Once, with your arm. It made me tired and feel sick. I haven¡¯t tried since.¡± I nodded, then, fighting to keep myself from grimacing, extended my right arm. ¡°Try it again.¡± Vefir seemed to not know what he needed to do, but still he was eager to follow my instructions. He held both hands over my right shoulder, and as seconds marched to minutes, I slowly relaxed my shoulder, shivers of pain coursing up and down my whole arm. On a whim, I sent my magic coursing to my throat, but more gently than before. Instead of a barely controlled roiling of power, I channeled a constant thread of the magic as I spoke. ¡°Vefir, calm yourself. The power is there for you. Just bring it out of yourself and allow it into my arm.¡± I could feel that my words were on the verge of creating a [Skill], but not quite there. My cadence had become more gentle and understanding, while also somehow energizing. I could feel the magic flow out of me and begin to influence Vefir. With my guidance, finally Vefir seemed to find his ¡°something¡±, and a warmth spread up my arm. Somehow I understood that it wasn¡¯t as ¡°shaped¡± or ¡°controlled¡± as it could be, as the comfort dispersed across my whole body. I wasn¡¯t sure what it was, but with the warmth came relief and I sighed, enjoying the feeling while Vefir sagged. ¡°That was it! Great!¡± Then I noted how drained Vefir seemed to be, and reached out my hand to support him. He shrugged off the help and tried to stand tall. ¡°You ok?¡± Vefir tiredly flared his frills. ¡°Did that¡­ work?¡± I flexed my arm. It still hurt, but having just recently strained it, I knew that it had improved markedly, the aches having reduced to be significantly less agonizing. ¡°Yes, thank you, Vefir.¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. He seemed cheered by my praise or acknowledgement, and I continued, ¡°You¡¯ll need to get some rest when you return. I have a feeling that will help you recover.¡± I didn¡¯t add on my hopeful guess that he would be able to evolve as well. Vefir nodded in agreement, and stumbled away to help the rest of the pack begin to pack away the results of the hunt. I noted that Foire didn¡¯t exclude him from participating, but did assign a relatively light job to Vefir, allowing for him to recover. Again, I was surprised to see the ease with which he quietly led his pack. Before long, the pack was packing away the vast majority of the meat left from the scaled deer. It seemed that, beside me eating one of the thighs, the rest had only fed on the entrails and viscera, leaving the rest to be transported back to the den. I continued to wonder over that as we approached the den and dropped off the meat back with Sybil. I could only barely withhold myself from chuckling as I noted the four males working at digging the latrines out and looking enviously at the food we¡¯d brought. As the pack left once again to hunt, Foire approached me. ¡°We now fill ourselves with the frogs before going on another ranging hunt. Do you still wish to accompany us?¡± My first thought was that yes, I wanted to. I wanted to be out, and moving, but I also didn¡¯t want to have to watch more hunts without participating in them. I was standing in indecision when I noted that Vefir was readying himself to follow on the hunt, and that made my decision for me. I was too excited to see if he would evolve after healing my arm like that. I wasn¡¯t sure if it qualified as a magical phenomenon, but I thought it would. Having a member of the pack that could help accelerate our healing, even if not on the level of a Wavespeaker, would be amazing. ¡°Vefir, come with me.¡± I called out to him and began to return to the den. Without thinking too deeply about it, he immediately followed and we made our way to the den. Once there, I pulled Vefir into a quiet corner of the communal resting space. He seemed confused, but I quickly urged him to rest. ¡°No, everyone else is still working.¡± ¡°I know, but I feel that this rest will¡­ how could I put it? Um¡­ if you allow yourself to rest, you¡¯ll be able to use that magic more frequently and better. That will be better for the whole pack than even all our hunters could be. So, rest. Now.¡± Mollified by my strange command, Vefir settled into a comfortable position and, too quickly to be wholly natural, fell asleep. Surely that meant that he would soon be a¡­ healing? magicblood keelish. Or not a magicblood, since he wasn¡¯t a Bloodletter. Again, I was frustrated by my inability to read or see another¡¯s [Status] since I knew they existed. Yet, that wasn¡¯t to be. I was striding out of the resting area of the den when I noticed that there was an unfamiliar adult keelish in the mouth of the den speaking with Sybil. Not Wisterl or Rulac, or any other of the adults I¡¯d seen over my short life. Yet, this one was much more impressive than any of the ten that had followed Shemira. A female, just a hint shorter than five feet tall, and densely covered with the ripcord muscle that Foire seemed to be made out of. There was a pattern of scars running down her neck from the base of her skull, a series of short cuts that stopped just an inch short of her shoulders. She perked up as she saw me and called out, ¡°Hey, little Alpha.¡± Her tone wasn¡¯t flippant, but far from as respectful as I realized I was becoming accustomed to. ¡°What?¡± I barely contained the snap from my tone. ¡°The Swarm Alpha wants to see you. Come along.¡± And, with that, she turned to go deeper into the den than I¡¯d ever been before. Chapter 52 I began to follow without thinking too deeply about it before being briefly pulled aside by Sybil. ¡°She didn¡¯t say much about why you needed to go. She just said that the Swarm Alpha wanted to talk with the brood Alpha. Said they¡¯d heard there finally was one, so they needed to talk to you.¡± I nodded my thanks and continued following my guide. We walked in silence for a while, until I realized exactly how deep we had gone. We had been walking at a good clip for at least a full minute, and I continued to see new offshoots and small dens. Each one had at least a dozen full grown keelish within, though most were far from as remarkable even as my guide, much less Rulac or Wisterl. They were maybe a step or two above the ten that had joined my pack, so I guessed they had maybe the same Stats as I did. Remarkable for a regular keelish, but not at all considering the benchmark my own pack was going to set. Before I began to speak and ask any questions, I realized something¨Cmy [Quest] asked that I get control over 15% of the swarm. I had 5%, and that was 58 subordinates. That put the total number of members of the swarm¡­ at over 1000. Stars above. I¡¯d never considered that the swarm could be so large, but it did stand to reason, if a single clutch laid had over 60 spawnlings at hatching. That didn¡¯t count any unfertilized eggs, unviable individuals, or those too weak to hatch. I didn¡¯t know how many eggs were laid in a single keelish clutch, but I knew that most keelish could lay up to three clutches a year. 180 new adult keelish in one year, and that wasn¡¯t counting if there were any broods that had overlapping timelines. Staggered by my most rudimentary of maths, I turned to my guide. ¡°What was your name?¡± She looked sidelong at me. ¡°Surprised it took you so long to speak. Histy.¡± The name flowed naturally from her tongue, but the hard consonant after the hiss was a struggle for me as I repeated her name back to her. ¡°Histy, why does the Swarm Alpha want to talk to me?¡± She flicked her tail, either in irritation or as an approximation of a shrug. ¡°Not my place to ask. You¡¯ll see soon, little Alpha.¡± I couldn¡¯t keep myself from bristling at her casual dismissal. I tried to tamp down my frustration, but her words cut through my internal discussion. ¡±If you want respect, you earn it. You¡¯ve done alright in your brood. You¡¯re still a child.¡± She resumed her silence, and before long, we reached what seemed to be our destination. There, Rulac stood. With him standing before me, I realized that my recollection of Rulac had, in fact, been incorrect. He was even bigger than I remembered. If I was, in fact, nearly three feet tall, he was just under six. That alone was something I¡¯d never considered in a keelish. The largest I¡¯d ever heard of before being reborn in this den of giants was maybe four feet tall, and that beast would be dwarfed by Rulac. Different from Histy, Rulac was not thin and defined with muscle. Instead, he was built like someone had constructed the rough approximation of a keelish out of thick cuts of beef, every inch of him packed in functional, powerful muscle. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. It was surprising to think that the Swarm¡¯s Alpha would be visiting newly hatched spawnlings, but there was a special ¡°program¡± of sorts set up to ensure that the hatchlings grew safely and quickly, so I supposed it wasn¡¯t too strange for the concerned leader to have some vested interest in observing the hatchlings while still young. I was still trying to decide what to say or how to address Rulac when he started laughing. ¡°See, I knew it would be you, brood-killer. I knew you would NEVER allow someone to be above you.¡± His laughter echoed throughout the tunnels, and Histy shook her head knowingly. I wasn¡¯t sure how to respond to his words, and he continued to shout speak, ¡°I¡¯ll take you the rest of the way, brood-killer. Redael will be seeing you soon, and I wanted to talk to you before he got you all scared.¡± Again, before I could respond, he continued, ¡°Usually, the new broods have a true alpha a lot quicker than yours did, but there¡¯s usually a lot more dead by the end than yours has. So, there¡¯s a give and a take. I prefer leaders like you, that know what they want and go ahead and get it. You know? A leader who leads. Redael¡¯s like that. He was our brood alpha, you know? Didn¡¯t take long before he took over all the swarm, and here we are.¡± His words continued flowing out like a tide, disregarding my engagement or understanding, just flowing mindlessly from wherever. ¡°So, Rulac. You aren¡¯t the Swarm Alpha?¡± ¡°Me? Oh, no. I could never. Be in charge like that? Nah.¡± His laugh echoed once again through the tunnels, and we were about to leave to walk deeper into the den when Histy walked up and trailed her tail down Rulac¡¯s chest. ¡°I did as you asked, Rulac. So I¡¯ll be seeing you soon?¡± His voice became throaty and¡­ sensual. ¡°Yes, of course. I¡¯ll know where you are. Be ready.¡± That was unpleasant. What was worse, a thought crossed my mind at Rulac¡¯s obvious insinuation. What if I was given a [Quest] to reproduce? Stars above but I didn¡¯t want to have that breathing down my neck. I could guarantee that there was one for it, given that a keelish¡¯s way is to grow stronger and, beyond that, a Keel supposedly was one who created and ruled nations. That requires offspring, and if I were to lead my swarm into that ascension, I would at least be considered among the ruling class, if not royalty, who have a duty to reproduce. Yet, I had yet to finish my sixteenth day, so instead I could pass my time with finding, hunting, and devouring everything that crossed my path. I disregarded everything that Histy and Rulac said and insinuated before finally returning to our path deeper into the den. Once separate from the female, Rulac¡¯s demeanor changed dramatically, becoming serious, and perhaps more correctly, severe. ¡°Look, Ashlani.¡± I didn¡¯t know how he knew my name, and his speaking it immediately drew my fullest attention. ¡°I¡¯m not like Redael. Nobody is. I¡¯m happy to play around with you. Redael will not. He¡¯s a beast unlike any other, and if you do something stupid, nobody can help you, and nobody would anyway. Listen to what he says, do not argue, do not disagree, and if you think of doing or saying anything, don¡¯t.¡± ¡°So I just go in there, listen to what he says, and leave when he says?¡± A slight grin showed itself at the corner of his mouth. ¡°Now you¡¯re getting it. We¡¯re just about there.¡± Somehow, I knew what Rulac said to be true. I could feel a presence ahead, one that demanded obedience and reverence and fear, a complete being. And, for some reason, it wanted me. Chapter 53 It wasn¡¯t long as I stepped forward before Rulac stopped following. After I glanced at him, I realized that he truly was leaving me to enter into the beast¡¯s den alone. I didn¡¯t allow any feelings of trepidation to overcome me as I forced myself to immediately step to the entrance of the den before hissing out a greeting. Before I heard anything, a [System] notification flashed in my vision. [Absolute Dominance skill is being exerted on you. Due to your System advantages and possession of the Dominance Skill, the effects are reduced. However, it is advised that you leave the influence of the Absolute Dominance skill as soon as safely possible.] If I felt this way while still resisting part of the [Skill] and without even seeing Redael, it was no wonder that the rest of the swarm saw him as near to a god. A voice, surprisingly smooth and almost gentle, pulled at me. ¡°Come in.¡± Without thinking anything consciously, I did as the voice bade. The first thing I noted was that, for the first time since I¡¯d evolved most recently, I didn¡¯t have even the barest hint of feeling superior to this creature. Even before Rulac, a small part of me had looked down on him, but with Redael, I felt¡­ small. Insignificant. Redael was smaller than Rulac, maybe five and a half feet tall, and nowhere near so broadly packed with muscle. Nor was he so lean and wiry as Histy, but instead, the only word that could come to my mind as I looked at him was statuesque. Redael stood taller than the rest of the swarm I¡¯d seen, closer to an upright bipedal than the rest of us, and somehow, every inch of him oozed with power and majesty. His scales were thick and wide, and covered with the scars of battle. It seemed that there wasn¡¯t an inch of him that had been left unscarred by combat, but he still held himself proud and without any stiffness or discomfort. Also, Redael¡¯s body heat seemed to be more intense than the rest of the swarm, his body glowing several shades closer to white than any of the rest of the swarm had, so far as I had seen. Finally, his hands. They looked familiar to me, with thick, wide scales that overlapped and, I knew, could latch together. His fingers were tipped with sharp looking claws, curving with an apparently sharp underside. Redael was, as far as I could tell, a Bloodletter, but at least as highly evolved as I was and an adult. I wanted to look at the rest of the space, see what he had in his personal quarters, but Redael¡¯s presence remained magnetic, forcefully retaining my attention. ¡°You¡¯re Ashlani. Glad you¡¯re here.¡± Redael¡¯s voice retained the smooth and gentle qualities from before, but now, seeing him, I could feel a constant hunger for violence beneath the exterior. Every one of Redael¡¯s movements was deliberate and showcased the powerful muscles decorating his whole body. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°I¡­ of course I came.¡± I couldn¡¯t help my tone from being slightly submissive, then spoke again, trying to regain some level of neutrality to my voice. ¡°I do listen to the words of the Swarm Alpha.¡± ¡°You and everyone else.¡± Redael observed me for a moment before continuing, ¡°I hear you took out a couple of those thunderfangs. Impressive. They¡¯re some of the most dangerous beasts found in your den¡¯s area, so keep your guard up, they¡¯ll get you otherwise.¡± With a self-satisfied nod, Redael¡¯s demeanor shifted and became deadly serious, his aura suddenly intimidating and oozing potential violence. ¡°I speak to every brood alpha that rises up, and tell you all the same thing. I am more than happy to beat you up, down, and sideways.¡± The soft warmth of his voice was suddenly leached away, leaving only cold, calculating aggression to accompany his newly serious and threatening presence. ¡°You want to learn from me, you can try, and you¡¯ll learn what you can from the beatings you receive. I¡¯ll do that whenever you want. If you challenge me, though, that will be the last time. Either you win, or you die.¡± The pressure of Redael¡¯s presence tried to force me to my knees or to retreat, but I was able to bolster myself enough to stand strong, barely able to maintain eye contact. A slight smile played at Redael¡¯s mouth as the faintest hint of the warmth from before returned to his words. ¡°You grow into those fangs, and you¡¯ll be a fine keelish. We follow the strong, not just the gutsy. Once you¡¯re all adults, I¡¯ll call you back.¡± With that, Redael flicked his hand and I was dismissed. Walking in a daze, I exited Redael¡¯s presence, and after a moment to gather myself, was able to regain some level of self-control. Finally I could feel the influence of [Absolute Dominance] fade from my mind, and I shook myself as I took hurried steps away from Redael¡¯s personal quarters. Looking around, Rulac was long gone, and I wasn¡¯t sure exactly where I needed to go to get back to my area of the den. With a sigh, I began to, to the best of my ability, retrace my steps. ¡­ I drew no small number of eyes as I, an obvious adolescent, made my way alone out of the deepest parts of the den. No doubt that many or even most of those I passed knew the reason for which a juvenile member of the swarm would be called down to Redael¡¯s lair, and I imagined that I could feel the calculations going through their heads as to if it was worth it to follow what I would be up to or whatever else. Regardless of whatever they were thinking of me as I passed, I made my way back to my den. After a couple of missed turns, I finally found myself in an area I recognized and I finally internalized something that Redael had said: ¡°my den¡¯s area.¡± Were there other dens? There had to be, if there were 1000 keelish around. There wasn¡¯t anywhere near enough prey to be had so nearby for that many adults to feed, and we hadn¡¯t hardly seen any others beyond the guards from the early days. Maybe that could be a new option, later, to spread my influence. After all, after meeting Redael, I still would overthrow his rule once I¡¯d grown strong enough. He¡¯d said that my first challenge would be my last, and I needed to gain every [Skill], Stat, and evolution I could possibly think of before that time came. Chapter 54 Do not forget Those unseen and those between There¡¯s more yet to be found. The unknown and forgotten gods There are more yet bound. Do not forget To genuflect If you find Within your mind The callings The speakings The words Of records From forgotten divines. When the restrained celestials find the key And are at last set free¡­ Do not forget. ¨Cuncredited prophecy from within The Blackened Sanctuary. Returning to my den, I was greeted by Sybil. She had obviously kept herself busy, but immediately turned to me the moment I returned. Again, I noted that Sybil was far too proper a creature and realized that it would be impolite to question her Alpha, so she stood, waiting for me to simply tell her what had happened. ¡°How are those new workers doing for you? Staying focused?¡± ¡°They have nearly earned their meal for the day.¡± Her tone was clipped. ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. What else is happening within the den? Any other hunting packs return while I was out?¡± ¡°Yes, Treel returned with some prey and then set back out. The hunters are having to range out further and further to find anything other than the frogs, and the frogs are beginning to either migrate elsewhere or have neared extinction by overhunting.¡± Something I had begun to notice myself. ¡°No word from Took?¡± Click of the teeth. ¡°Not as of yet. It is not unsurprising though, considering.¡± ¡°True. I might need to talk to her about her need to prove herself.¡± ¡°Perhaps.¡± I looked sidelong at Sybil. She looked, for all I could tell, completely fine with the conversation we were having. Not the slightest tell of impatience or curiosity could I see as I looked closer at her. I continued looking. Her unremarkable face remained stoic as she turned to me. ¡°Yes, Alpha? How may I serve?¡± I remained silent. So did Sybil. I was the first to break. ¡°So¡­ the swarm leader¡¯s name is Redael.¡± ¡°I was aware of that.¡± Sybil remained wholly agreeable and emotionless, so far as I could see. My attempt to tease had resulted in no response, disappointingly. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°He said he speaks with every Brood Alpha as they grow to that level, and, to me at least, gave a warning. Said that if I challenge him, it¡¯ll be to the death.¡± Sybil flared her frills and waited for me to continue. ¡°He¡­ is impressive. Obviously powerful, and the rest of those I saw seem to hold him in the highest esteem. It will take me quite a while before I reach his level. Until then, we need to continue to gather together and continue growing.¡± For the first time, Sybil looked a little surprised. ¡°So, you are saying that meeting him didn¡¯t make you feel less willing to go against him?¡± With Sybil¡¯s question, I finally looked within for the answer. Did I feel superior to Redael? No. Angry? No. Envious, afraid, unhappy? No. I¡­ was excited at the thought of overcoming the powerful. At conquering. At sharpening myself against the stone that was Redael. I felt a grin cross my face. ¡°No. I¡¯m nowhere near ready, but I am not afraid.¡± ¡°Very well, Alpha. I will continue to support you.¡± I could detect the slightest hint of approval in Sybil¡¯s voice as she turned to work on something else. As she continued to walk away, I got the impression that, for her to evolve and gain more [Skills], she was already doing exactly what she needed to. I spent the rest of the day conversing with every member of the brood that I felt was close enough to me to merit the assistance towards evolution. Treel, Brutus, Shruk, Creck, Traak, Percral, Ilne, and Katre all simply needed to continue to kill things. I realized that the vast majority of my subordinates would be much the same, needing only to keep killing, to keep hunting in order to keep growing. Foire and Vefir were special in the advice I gave them, while for the rest it was more ¡°kill stronger things instead of weaker ones¡±. Finally, near the end of the day, or night I supposed, I was able to pull Sybil away from her duties long enough to let my [Evolutionary Guide] [Skill] activate with a little more clarity. ¡°You¡­ have some magical ability.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that, Alpha?¡± ¡°Sybil.¡± I leveled my gaze at her, forcing a strong eye contact. ¡°I have extended every trust to you. You are in charge of everything that happens within the den, and I know that I could never hope to fill the role that you fill with another. Tell me what you can do outside of the ordinary.¡± After a moment longer¡¯s eye contact, Sybil dipped her head in acceptance. ¡°I can instill¡­ obedience, I suppose I shall call it, in the unwilling. I am not yet sure how enduring this change in itself is, so I have made sure to frequently impart it on those whom I have most affected with it. I am hoping to see significant changes in Shemira soon with it, but she seems resistant to my influence. I cannot say for certain that it will ever truly take hold over her, but if it can uproot the rest of her remaining supporters, then I cannot say it would not have the same effect.¡± ¡°For you, in your position, I can think of no greater boon.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± We stood in companionable silence for another moment, and as she began to turn to go, I asked the inevitable question. ¡°When was the last time you tried to use it on me?¡± ¡°The time you offered to let me into your pack.¡± She hadn¡¯t hesitated to answer, and I couldn¡¯t truly guarantee that she would answer me truly. But then¡­ She had been able to use magic since before we¡¯d experienced our first growth spurt. Which almost certainly meant that Shemira had been able to as well, given that she could get Sybil dismissed from Tieran¡¯s pack so early. ¡°You were able to use magic so early?¡± She flicked her tail noncommittally. ¡°I have always been able to. I did not realize for some time that I was unique in that respect. If only Tieran had realized, I suppose, he would never have let me go.¡± Her dry tease had yet to finish before Sybil had turned and resumed her work with the rest of the swarm. Watching her through the day, I was truly astounded by the level of attention to detail with which she lived her life and demanded of her followers. I was fairly certain Etra and Cree were both initially unremarkable, but I could feel that, since they had spent so much time with Sybil, they were now fairly close to beginning the steps into acquiring their own type of magic. With three of them¡­ absolute obedience from any pack I conquered was just a question of time. That was more frightening than Redael had been, at least in the grand scheme. Chapter 55 As days continued to pass, the hunts remained rather unremarkable, Vefir continued to try his best to heal my arm, and I tried to experiment with my magic, to some success. The third growth period passed, and I grew taller, broader, and stronger again, and then the fourth passed, and I finally began to feel as if I was making some headway with my magic. My [Stats] had continued to swell with these benchmarks passed, and I could feel their influence in every aspect of my life. My [Status] had grown, and I was happy to see some growth, even if I remained frustrated by the lack of progress on my [Quests]. [Stats: -Constitution: 23+2+2=27 -Strength: 30+2+3=35 -Agility: 31+3+3=37 -Intelligence: 25+2+2=29 -Magic: 16+3+3=22 Skills: Bloodlust: 1/2 Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 0/10 Dominance: 29/100 Sonilphon: 10/50 Evolutionary Guide: (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) -Adult Sonic Magicblood Alpha: Survive 60 days. Progress: 24/60 Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] My [Stats] growth was reassuring, knowing that there would be six more before I¡¯d officially reached ¡°adult¡± size and my free growth would be cut off, but that I hadn¡¯t had any progress on my [Quests] nor additional evolutions had me beginning to worry. More correctly, it had me only barely keeping myself from pacing the den or running into the jungle to find something new to slaughter. I was slowly working on figuring out how to use my sonilphon and how to evolve it, and I finally felt that I had some sort of idea of what I could do beyond let out an explosion of sound. That progress still didn¡¯t slake my need for progress and violence. There was a way I could let a trickle of the magic from my sonilphon continuously flow as I spoke, and there was some effect on those listening. I couldn¡¯t yet ensure what the result would be, but I could feel that I was making progress in finding something new to do. Additionally, with Vefir¡¯s constant ministrations, I wasn¡¯t at perfect form, but I had recovered over half of my mobility in my right arm without pain. I wouldn¡¯t be lifting or stabbing with that arm any time soon, but I finally felt ready to lead a pack on a hunt. A hunt for the one hunter we had yet to return the favor to. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Took.¡± My voice rang out in the den as every keelish in my pack prepared for their work of the day. I¡¯d subconsciously drawn on a hint of my sonilphon¡¯s magic as I¡¯d called for her, and everyone¡¯s attention was immediately on me. She approached, confident and excited for the summons. ¡°Alpha.¡± Even as she had become more capable of speech, Took remained taciturn and serious. She had continued to grow taller and broader with every evolution and growth spurt, and I estimated that one or two growth spurts from now, barring my own evolution or something similar, she would be notably taller than I. As I¡¯d come to think of it, she was built like Rulac, just packing more and more mass on at every opportunity, while I was more like Redael, my body being molded into more and more of a weapon. ¡°Took, gather our ten strongest hunters, not counting Foire and yourself. Today, we hunt the terrorbird.¡± With nothing more than a swift flare of her frills, Took turned and began to gather hunters according to my command. Foire and Sybil approached me, and Foire immediately ceded to Sybil, who spoke up. ¡°With this, can I assume that you are ready for this hunt?¡± ¡°Would I have made this announcement if I wasn¡¯t?¡± ¡°Then, may Nievtala guide you.¡± I¡¯d taken to using Nievtala¡¯s name at occasions, and it was beginning to spread through the brood. Sybil had eventually pried the meaning of the word from me, and though she seemed at best skeptical of the existence of a greater being, she seemed to appreciate the emphasis a ¡°god¡¯s¡± name granted her speech. After her brief blessing, Sybil continued, ¡°I will keep Vefir ready to help however he can upon your return.¡± I noted Vefir standing nearby, and he nodded his agreement. Vefir had continued to grow into this new position as a healer or supporter of the rest, and his popularity had very nearly surpassed my own since he had gained the ability to heal others. In the past 10 days, he had spent time every day healing my arm, attempting to help me regain mobility, but the rest of the time he spent making rounds among the hunters after their return and administering to their wounds. Not a single hunter had not yet received healing from Vefir, and every one of them nearly worshipped him for the relief that he could bring. With Sybil¡¯s brief conversation having finished, Foire walked close to me before speaking quietly under his breath. ¡°Are you sure we¡¯re ready? We have grown, but we couldn¡¯t do anything to it when it took Oncli.¡± I reached down, both hands on Foire¡¯s shoulders. With each successive growth spurt, I had grown ever taller, now at 40 inches or so, while Foire¡¯s growth had been markedly more gradual, having only grown to 30 inches tall at most. ¡°You cannot fear those any longer. You must be keelish. Trust in the strength of your scales and the sharpness of your fangs.¡± I tried to let my sonilphon influence my words, and I felt a faint tremor shake the air with my words. Something inside Foire seemed to stiffen up at my words, and I could feel the confidence swell within him. ¡°Right. Victory by fang and blood.¡± ¡°Forged in battle and tempered in blood.¡± Foire finished my statement without hesitation, ¡°I follow.¡± As Foire turned to go speak with his pack briefly before we left to begin the hunt, I noted the flashing [System] notification. [New Skill acquired.] Excited, I looked into my [Status] and saw it. [Skill: Innervating Address acquired. a skill granted to those whose mastery of sonic magic has grown to allow them to use their words laced with magic to grant greater energy and confidence in the listener.] Finally. I felt a grin spread across my face and knew that this time would be different. Chapter 56 As we thirteen hunters set out, I couldn¡¯t help but feel the long repressed anger, bloodlust, and restlessness I¡¯d kept bottled up as well as I could since Oncli¡¯s death. And it wasn¡¯t only that, but also a need that I felt outside of my thirst for revenge. I needed to move, to act, to do something other than sit on my laurels and slowly grow. Instead, I needed to find ever more powerful prey and use them to catapult myself ever higher, ever stronger, ever closer to my goals. As I¡¯d spent more time thinking of what or who Nievtala might be, I realized I didn¡¯t mind leaning more into understanding and worshipping this being, given she gave me literal power. If to be a Keel I needed only say ¡°Praise Nievtala¡± and keep killing things¡­ that was an existence I could look forward to being, even though it was so different from what I had been before. Maybe, as the [Administrator] said, I had a true Keel¡¯s mentality, and I could accept that. Regardless of why I felt that way, I needed to kill something, and if it was a terrorbird, all the better. I needed to hunt either two or three more creatures, and then I would get another [Quest]. My compulsive need to get stronger was beginning to overcome even other desires. I hadn¡¯t even been a keelish for a full moon, yet I was beginning to feel my rage towards Viilor cool. Yes, if I saw him, I would end his life, if I could, but no longer was his face twisted in pain the last thing I could think of at the end of the day. Instead, my thoughts revolved around how to grow, how to raise the rest of my pack successfully, and my ever growing desire to conquer. I knew, without the slightest shadow of a doubt, that I didn¡¯t have the slightest chance of being successful, yet I still needed to remind myself regularly that I couldn¡¯t challenge Redael for leadership of the swarm. That I had a [Quest] with particularly noteworthy rewards for gaining control over only 15% of the swarm burned within me even more strongly. I couldn¡¯t say what exactly it was that dictated these changes within me, if it was just that I¡¯d become a [System] user and could thus see a path to progress, or my keelish body, or whatever else, but as time passed on, I was more and more accepting of that part of me. Perhaps this was a part that the human me had always tamped down, but now, I embraced it, fed it, and caused it to flourish. Eventually, I pulled myself from my musings to focus on the hunt. No members of the pack had seen any terrorbirds since Oncli¡¯s death, and the creatures were migratory within the areas they claimed as their hunting grounds, so it was no surprise. This was where Foire would best be able to shine, though. He had acquired his [Skill] I¡¯d given the briefest advice about, and it would greatly assist him in being able to detect our prey long before it could locate us. Once we¡¯d entered into the jungle proper where we had been attacked by the terrorbird before, Foire began to climb the tallest tree nearby. As he did so, the rest of us assumed a defensible position, keeping all eyes peeled and looking out for anything nearby. After all, the area also had Martanimis Pythons, and a wolfstag pack wouldn¡¯t be totally unimaginable. While a dulgar wouldn¡¯t come out and attack us, we needed to ensure we didn¡¯t step into any of their pitfalls since their colonies were nearly impossible to spot unless you were attacked by one. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. After a couple minutes¡¯ wait, Foire descended from the tree. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything, but there is something in that direction.¡± He pointed, and looking at the position of the moon, we were headed to the west, further away from the den than we had ever been. Foire was now able to ¡°see¡± further than the rest of us, as well as to pick up impressions of the far off presence of larger creatures. Near as I could tell, he could generally sense the existence of something the size of an adult wolfstag from somewhere from one to three miles away, even through the dense foliage of the jungle, so long as he was able to scale high enough. With Foire¡¯s guidance, we set off in the direction of what I hoped to be a terrorbird. We made our way while focusing more on keeping ourselves hidden than making quick time. Terrorbirds hunted and preyed on keelish frequently, so they must have had some way of detecting a keelish¡¯s presence. I couldn¡¯t say that I knew if they could see in the dark, smell, or had keen hearing, but whatever it was, ideally we would be able to know where it was before it knew about us. After about 15 minutes, we had traveled, near as I could estimate, a mile. Once we¡¯d gone that far, Foire once again scaled a tree, and again, after a couple of minutes, he came down with general directions before we set off under his lead. This happened a third time, but Foire returned to the ground quickly, nearly as soon as he¡¯d fully ascended the tree. ¡°Close. That direction, only one. Something else is further than that, but not close enough to interrupt the hunt.¡± His report given, he looked to me for instruction. The hunt was going to begin. ¡°Took and Brutus will lead out, with me just behind them making sure neither get picked up and taken away. Foire, you will lead Percral and two others around left, Ilne, you take the rest and circle around the opposite direction. Once the prey begins to engage with us in the front, you two will lead your packs to close in on the flanks. Make sure to come at the same time, and immediately after we engage. Even if you don¡¯t see us, you will be able to hear it. The longer you take, the more likely something will go wrong. Now, everyone silent until we engage.¡± With my final words, there were no questions, just immediate obedience. The three groups stayed together for a short time before Foire gestured for his and Ilne¡¯s groups to break off and begin their flanking. Took, Brutus and I slowed, keeping our eyes peeled for whatever it was that remained hidden within the jungle before us. I, preparing myself, began to funnel magic from my sonilphon to my throat, preparing a concussive blast for whatever it was that laid before us. My magic was beginning to reach its terminal point within my throat when I noted a quickly approaching warm body. Whatever it was, it had noticed us, and a massive body rushed close, smashing through the undergrowth towards us. Chapter 57 Sir di¡¯Frandara, We thank you for your letter, for it has allowed us to showcase why it is that a focus on clarity within our halls is an absolute must. I must admit, however, that the droning and aimless approach your letter takes to explaining your points leads to significantly reduced understanding for the reader. Nonetheless, I believe we can agree on one point¨Cthe so-called Saharliard, as you wish to call them, were never scaly friends. There remain no people I know of that have ever met one of the ¡°Empire¡¯s people¡±, and this is where our thoughts diverge. All archeological evidence indicates that these ¡°people¡± weren¡¯t much more than warmongers and slavers. Perhaps they did have the intelligence to begin to develop a written language as you suggest, but no such writings exist, to the Red Abbey¡¯s knowledge. Additionally, you and some others speak of Nievtra, this golden capital with free libraries and awe inspiring architecture. If you ever find any evidence of its location, please let us know, as we would love to document its existence and location, as well as to conduct a dig and investigation on the site. Until such a thing happens, we will continue to teach that these creatures, dead and gone these ten or more centuries, were warmongers, barbarians, and beasts. Regardless, we thank you for your novel take on history. It has garnered no small amount of attention here within the archeological school. -response from the Archeology School¡¯s Dean¡¯s primary clerk¡¯s desk to Eldara di¡¯Frandara¡¯s letter to the Red Abbey I had to force myself not to shout as whatever it was tore through the brush towards us, but my magical preparations would go to waste if I didn¡¯t restrain myself. Instead, I braced myself, low, with my left arm ready to grab onto something or begin to tear. The terrorbird burst into view and immediately snapped its head down towards Brutus. I was surprised by the speed with which it lunged down and bit into him. None of us could react before Brutus was lifted from the ground, his legs spinning in the air wildly, trying to find purchase. I didn¡¯t hesitate as I jumped up, my mouth as close to the terrorbird¡¯s head as possible and let out a wordless scream. As I touched down on the ground, I realized that the terrorbird was well and truly stunned with my initial ¡°attack¡±. It stood, swaying, eyes wide and unfocused while its jaw began to go slack and released Brutus. With a thump and a groan, he hit the ground and joined me and Took as we rushed to try to kill the beast. I didn¡¯t know if this one was the same we had seen before, standing at least 7 feet tall when upright with a wicked beak and long, strong legs, but I didn¡¯t care. With a strong jump, I was able to latch my jaws onto the base of the terrorbird¡¯s neck where I began to chomp down harder and stronger than I¡¯d known I was capable of. Here, the feathers weren¡¯t quite as thick and armorlike like they were on its body, but more downy and soft. The vertebrae cracked and began to give way under my jaws as I dangled and continued to crunch my fangs ever deeper. Our prey didn¡¯t stay stunned with our retribution and began to try to extricate itself. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Beneath my fangs, I felt the rumblings of the terrorbird attempting to scream or cry out, but all the noise it could make was a faint gurgling. Even if it was unable to make noise, it thrashed wildly and reached to peck at me or swipe me away with its legs. I tried to lever myself up and maybe even onto its back, but with my prey¡¯s blood coating my face and flowing down to cover my body, I couldn¡¯t find purchase. Somewhere I could hear Took and Brutus doing something, but I found myself losing all sense of self in [Bloodlust]. Unthinking and disregarding the pain in my right arm, I lunged out with both hands deep into the terrorbird¡¯s chest. After an inch of feathers, I struck flesh and, with all my strength, attempted to dig ever deeper. The terrorbird didn¡¯t seem to mind too much about my hand, instead lashing out ever more desperately with its beak and legs to try to knock me away, but to no avail. I continued to gnaw on the bone, it crunching and shattering beneath my constant attention, and the terrorbird collapsed to the ground. In a moment of clarity, I looked and saw that Took and Brutus were savaging its legs, not giving our prey the opportunity to try to do something back to us. The opportunity noted, I released the base of the terrorbird¡¯s throat and leapt up to its head, still maybe four feet off the ground. I chomped down at the base of its skull as it hardly resisted, and after one, two, three strong bites, the back of the terrorbird¡¯s head was no more. Without much thought, I tossed my head back and swallowed what flesh and blood remained in my mouth and shouted my victory to the skies. We had taken down a terrorbird! Without losses! After just a single moment, though, I felt that something was wrong. Through the haze of [Bloodlust], my mind labored to understand what was it, what was wrong. Was something missing? What could it be? The thought blearily pushed its way through to the front of my mind, and it shook me from my victorious contentment. Where were the rest of the pack? Finally having shut up, I could hear the sounds of combat off in the distance, from where I had sent the rest of the pack to circle from. We had made early contact with this terrorbird, so I couldn¡¯t say where exactly the rest of my keelish were, how far, but I could hear where they were. I hadn¡¯t thought about it before, but terrorbirds mated for life, and while they would hunt alone, they had nests to return to. The terrorbird¡¯s mate had returned home while we¡¯d been sneaking in. I didn¡¯t look back as I rushed towards where I could hear the wordless cries of battle, the sound of my subordinates locked in mortal combat. I should have known, I should have thought for even a moment, and then I would have been able to prevent whatever it was that was happening to my pack. Curses filled my mind as I began to fill my throat with magic from my sonilphon. I would need to stun this one as I had the last to try to salvage the massacre that would be happening. My magic was beginning to run dry as I readied myself and charged in towards the battleground. As I rounded a particularly large and sprawling burlraiz, I saw the remains of my pack. None were missing as they surrounded and harried the terrorbird. It hadn¡¯t sustained any serious wounds, but all ten of my other subordinates were adeptly evading every attack it attempted. A couple of them were moving with obvious pain, possibly from kicks or other strikes sustained, but all ten remained without true injuries, and continued to engage with the foe carefully and methodically. I felt myself relax, seeing that my brood, my subordinates were truly capable of rising above what they had been, and, though I¡¯d planned it, hoped for it, and worked for it, already, the keelish, my companions became more than I¡¯d truly expected. Chapter 58 I held myself back, difficult as it was, as Took and Brutus rushed in and began to assist the rest with their hunt. Without a word, I watched as the ones I had written off in my head were successful in their hunt against something that was originally a predator of keelish. This group before me was less than halfway to adulthood. If I was to guess, they would be nearly twice as powerful, strong, intelligent, and competent come true adulthood, compared to where they were now. Even so, they had turned the assault of something that should have been able to kill whatever it wanted and leave at its leisure into a hunt. These keelish were capable. Far more capable than I¡¯d believed as a human, or even now as a keelish. I changed the magic in my throat from a concussive blast to attempt to use [Innervating Address]. The magic soothed, calmed itself, and I began to call to my subordinates, ¡°VICTORY! Victory by fang and blood!¡± In response to my words, I could see the keelish perk up, reacting more quickly to the terrorbird¡¯s movements as Took and Brutus closed in. Every one of my pack were fighting with vicious, violent passion, every step energetic and ready. With the two even larger members of the pack joining in, the pack was able to finally weigh down the terrorbird¡¯s legs enough to begin laying into its body instead of being locked in the previous holding pattern. It tried to flee, abandoning its mate to an unknown fate, but it was too late. Took and Brutus gouged their fangs repeatedly into the terrorbird¡¯s thighs, the flesh flaying beneath their constant assault, and though I didn¡¯t pity the bird, I did feel a twinge of sympathy in my shoulder. As the terrorbird descended further and further into desperation, the pack didn¡¯t relent as more and more began to scale the legs to tear into their prey¡¯s body. The bird¡¯s cries of pain and fear brought comfort to me, knowing that the one it hoped would bring help was already dead. If they had their nest here as I suspected, then I could nearly guarantee that one of these two had been Oncli¡¯s killer. That one died to a mere three of us, and the other succumbed to a group of adolescent keelish was, in my mind, a poetic blessing from above. As the seconds transitioned to minutes, the exhausted terrorbird collapsed and was dismembered by the excited keelish. Still, I watched as the pack began to glory in the kill, each taking bites from the massive bird. If I was to guess, it weighed over 500 pounds, but quickly the legs and neck were reduced to mere bones while the torso was picked at until each of the hunters were blissfully full. Even then, I remained, contentedly watching those I¡¯d raised to be more than they were destined to be. At last, the pack had eaten their fill and turned to me, and I felt the descent of a presence that began to guide my actions and words. ¡°This is what we are. We are not prey, we are not the hunted. We are the blade that rips and the shadow that chills, the true hunters! We are keelish!¡± The watching hunters echoed, ¡°We are the blade! We are the shadow! Victory! Victory by fang and blood!¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Again, the presence began to withdraw from me, and again I heard the female voice from my dreams sigh lightly through my head. ¡°Well done.¡± Still I couldn¡¯t say who or what she was, but I began to suspect. My thoughts were interrupted by a [System] message. [The user has discovered the first iteration of the Third of the Words of Power of Nievtala. The user has been blessed with the lesser blessing of conquest. The user has been provided with the actions to take in order to step ever closer to becoming a Keel.] I hadn¡¯t expected to have ¡°Spoken¡± something from this hunt, but it further cemented in me my need to continue hunting ever stronger things, not to rest but to constantly seek greater struggles. So long as I continued on this path of taking down everything that dared to stand before me, at last, I would be¡­ I didn¡¯t need to stand above everything and everyone. I shook my head. No, I just needed to continue¡­ I shook my head again. I simply needed to keep doing what I had long been doing. Setting aside everything else, I looked into my [Status], hoping to see some new evolutionary options. I wasn¡¯t disappointed. [Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) -Adult Sonic Magicblood Alpha: Survive 60 days. Progress: 25/60 -Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif. Requirements: Evolution of Bloodlust Skill to Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust, Evolution of Sonilphon, Brood Alpha race (Completed). Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] These names were becoming all the more cumbersome, but the change from keelish to khatif, whatever that was, was almost certainly quite significant. But what exactly was a khatif? [The khatif can be called the link between keelish and Keel. A more evolved species than the keelish, khatif can more nearly be called a people, and they lack the same inherent predisposition against the development of magical abilities found within the keelish race.] Would the evolution to khatif require that any prospective keelish already have accessed a magic manipulation organ? Because if that was the case, then I couldn¡¯t imagine there being many keelish able to evolve even to that point, much less to Keel. [The Administrator laughs. The Administrator cautions you, saying that if it were so simple to rediscover the path to becoming Keel, there would already be many more in the world. Regardless, each individual¡¯s route to evolution and growth varies.] So, I would need to first evolve to that level, if I wanted to bring others along. Then, I could, no doubt, use any number of my advantages to help guide the rest of my pack, and, when I was able to rise to such a level, my swarm. If I could grow to know of this path simply by killing a terrorbird, being able to overcome Redael would be an even more impressive and impactful step on my journey¡­ I was, once more, impacted with the thought: Was this the journey I wanted to take? When had I decided that I was going to become a ruler, a superior, a Keel? No longer was my goal survival, or even revenge against Viilor, but to rise to the top as one superior to all the rest. I already felt that I was better than most of the rest of the swarm, and now I just needed to prove it. But why? I couldn¡¯t retain hold on the thought for long, instead beginning to lead the pack back to the body of the other terrorbird we would soon have to begin hauling back to the nest. After all, we needed to show what we were capable of, and since I knew Redael was watching, somehow, maybe this could be an in for me to start gaining more widespread influence over the swarm. Chapter 59 Taking the two carcasses back to the den was difficult, especially as we began and tried to drag the one with the neck and legs still attached. Before long, however, we simply decided to rip off the legs and neck, which made the going much smoother. We learned pretty quickly that turning the body so that the feathers would go smoothly over the ground helped the body to move almost as if it was on a sled, much easier than before. Still, we were hauling hundreds of pounds of terrorbird carcass through the thick jungle, and the journey was unpleasant and tough, to say the least. The streaks of blood from our prey lined the path to the den, carpeting the path of the victors. The conquerors. And I would continue to leave a bloody path until I was killed. That was, after all, the way of the keelish, the way of the khatif, and the way of the Keel. The way that came ever more naturally to me¡­ the path that I was forgetting why I hesitated to follow. As we approached the den, I promised to myself that I would think about this once I returned to my quarters to rest. While we tried to get the massive bodies into the den, I came to the realization that there was absolutely no chance we would be able to take the terrorbirds¡¯ corpses down whole. With a sigh, I began to ready myself to try to butcher the bodies with my claws into more manageable chunks. They were made for cutting and for violence, but for detached, calm dismemberment, my claws were simply too small. I sighed and began to slowly cut through the joints of the meat, separating the breasts, thighs, and wings. It was annoying, with coagulating blood and warm flesh sticking to every part of me and dulling my every attempt at slicing through the bodies. Finally, after my frustrating work was done, we were able to begin hauling the terrorbird carcasses down to our den. With my abysmal attempt at butchery, the cuts dragged through the dirt until, at last, we arrived at our final destination. As we brought more and more of the terrorbirds¡¯ corpses into the den, the mound grew until there was a bloody mountain in the center of our space. Sybil stepped close to me as the train of keelish heaved the last of the meat into the pile¨Cthe separated neck. The terrorbird¡¯s head flopped to the ground, its beak thunking with finality against the packed dirt. Before me spread my pack, my followers. They looked up at me, obviously in awe of our feat. I let the glory of the moment settle over me and I embraced the feeling of superiority. In the hopes of getting the rest of the pack to Speak the Third of the Words of Power, I spoke up. ¡°We are not prey! We are not below those mere beasts! We are the blade that rips and the shadow that chills! We are keelish!¡± My thundering voice, drawing subconsciously on my sonilphon, hadn¡¯t yet begun to fade from the air when my pack began to shout in response. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°VICTORY! VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!¡± I could tell that this time, only those on the hunt with me had been able to Speak the Words. Regardless, I could enjoy the fact that my actions had led the rest of the brood to even more look up to me, to revere me, to worship¨Cthe thought shook me from my self-aggrandizement. As the cheers and excitement died down, all my subordinates looked to me in askance. I bent down, lifted a thigh for myself, and beckoned for the rest to approach. Immediately, the mountain of meat was swarmed by hungry mouths, but I glanced back as I retreated to my quarters and noticed that no longer was my brood ravening beasts. Still, the keelish had a hierarchy, with Took, Foire, Brutus, Vefir, and Sybil taking their first picks, but there was a respect, and understanding, a certain¡­ humanity, in the brood¡¯s approach. The superiors were allowed, without any interference, to retrieve their meals before the rest. Then, their immediate subordinates, with the least productive and weakest left to approach for their meals last. All were allowed to eat their fill, and none were kept from consuming a fair share. None took more than they needed or hoarded or prevented another from feeding. I couldn¡¯t say if there were any other broods in the world that had become a people like this instead of the more bestial creatures we had been before, but I felt a sparking of pride at the realization. Within my quarters, I settled myself to eat my fill and allowed my mind to clear. I had multiple things that fought to occupy my full attention, but I forced myself to think of nothing, instead thinking only of the pleasant feeling of a full stomach. Then, picking my teeth clean, the gobbets of flesh and gristle stubborn but being wrested free by my claws and constant picking. Then, bathing myself, the smooth sand scrubbing all the filth of battle and butchery from my arms, then head, neck, legs, body, and tail. At last, I allowed myself to think. I had not allowed myself to slow down and think for my whole new life, and I needed to permit myself that much. My ¡°human¡± side had been firmly, consistently, and quietly arguing against my new mentality, the feeling that I¡¯d ¡°lost¡± my personhood, that I was reverting to a beast. Before, I¡¯d simply told myself that it was acceptable if I lost my humanity in my pursuit of greater power. If I needed to lose myself to overcome my weakness, then it would be so. But now, I was able to face myself, to force my ¡°humanity¡± to truly look at me. To be a keelish was not to lose Ashlani. To be a keelish was not to lose the ability to think, or reason, or feel. To be a keelish was to embrace the violence and struggle inherent in nature. The Viertaali tribe could afford to try to shove off their baser instincts, to pretend temperance and understanding. A keelish could not, and I suspected that a Keel would scoff at the attempt. What was a person if they didn¡¯t feel rage at betrayal, glory at victory, thrill at the hunt? In trying to become more than animals and tamping down their instincts, humans lost their personhood. On the contrary, in indulging, understanding, tempering, and fueling passion, the keelish, me and my pack, were finding our own passion, our own personhood. With my final internal declaration, my realization of what I considered to be a person, my internal cries to slow myself, to consider ¡°what ifs¡±, to lament my state as a keelish¡­ died out. Perhaps those thoughts had been born from my own doubts, but now¨C I doubted no longer. Chapter 60 Old friend, we do not have much in common with the new nation of the Veratocracy. Some think of us as allied due to our mutual disregard towards all things linked to the gods, but for us it is a deliberate choice to disregard the ¡°divine¡±. You should know that, keep your emotions from running away from you. On the other hand, the ¡°heretics'''' of the Veratocracy have created a god all of their own: The Gran Verat. The whole nation¡¯s worship of their ruler is of particular note and differs from that of you Sunkindred and the Moonchildren¡¯s respect of the Allmother, though they are similar in nature. You of the Wilds believe the Allmother to be the chosen mouthpiece of the Bloody Mother and the Cindered Father, whereas the people of ¡°The Holy State of the Veratocracy¡±, so pompously named, believe that the Gran Verat is, himself, a god, and thus his established nation is similarly celestial in origin. I have no doubt that their king is at least half as powerful as the stories claim, but I do doubt their doctrines of his supposed divinity. Regardless, you need not fear that the whole nation of the Godless will rally behind the Veratocracy and march through the Sheer Pass so as to begin warring against your flanks in support of the Veratocracy. Though, of course, I cannot speak for every Sovereign of the Godless. They do tend to follow profit. -Letter from Lord Ferrah of Harandal to Noonbright Teikhom Before settling to rest, to allow my right shoulder to finally resume recuperation, I scanned through my [Status], looking for anything to have changed. The first notable addition was that behind my [Hunt 3 new species] [Quest] was the addition of [Progress: Mature Martanimis Terrorbird.] With that, I could be sure that my ¡°participation¡± in the hunt of the scaled deer didn¡¯t count, which was a relief, considering how I hadn¡¯t participated in the hunt. If it had counted, then with my meager assistance I would gain nearly nothing additional once the [Quest] was completed. Another creature to add to my list, I supposed. Otherwise, my [Status] remained mostly unchanged, just that I had exhausted my sonilphon a couple more times and aged another day. With my new evolution placed before me, I finally felt a true burning to evolve [Bloodlust]. I wasn¡¯t sure what exactly would be the change to [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], but I did like the sound of it. Being reminded of my evolution, I felt to see if my sonilphon¡¯s reserves had topped up once again. Not quite. With a sigh, I forced myself to greater wakefulness. Again, I was under pressure to evolve my sonilphon quickly, instead of simply emptying it once, maybe twice a day. It had slowly broadened its depths, being able to hold maybe 20% more now than when I had first acquired it, and while it did fill up slightly faster than before, the sonilphon¡¯s replenishment hadn¡¯t kept up with its growth. Thus, it took longer and longer between exhausting my sonilphon, and I needed to be much more proactive in keeping track of its availability. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Trying to focus myself, focus on what I needed to do to continue progressing, I stood and walked out of my quarters. In the communal area, Sybil stood giving instructions to a couple of the previously troublesome members of the pack who quickly jumped to follow her instructions. I could see Shemira in the corner, accompanied by two of the keelish from her old pack, looking on Sybil¡¯s leadership in envy. Took was resting, exhausted from hauling the massive prey back to the den, and Brutus, Treel, and Foire were nearby, also resting. Vefir was making his rounds, seeing and administering to whatever wounds he found, and I could hear sighs of relief everywhere he went. Of the hunters that hadn¡¯t participated in the hunt of the terrorbirds, at least half had left to go on hunts of their own. After what had happened today with the successful hunt, I no longer felt as if the keelish were little children without my accompaniment, and simply looked forward to whatever it was that they were able to bring back. With the pack¡¯s individual level growth, the terrorbirds wouldn¡¯t feed us all for even two days, so there was a definite need for continual hunting. So long as they didn¡¯t range out too far, they would be fine. With that in mind, I walked around the den, giving praise where I could, seeing if I felt anything ¡°guidelike¡± towards any members of the pack. I had yet to encounter something so impactful as Vefir¡¯s or even Foire¡¯s possibilities, yet I was sure there would be something that came up. Eventually, I had spent some time alongside each member of the pack, and noted that my sonilphon was again full. Carefully, I began to leak the magic to my throat and addressed the body of the pack. ¡°You all have done well. I am proud of what you¡¯ve become, of what you are. Rest well, for tomorrow, we continue on this path.¡± The words felt stilted coming out of my mouth. I¡¯d never been a natural public speaker, and without whatever divine presence came with Speaking the words of Nievtala, I felt not much more than awkward. Still, I¡¯d spoken, nodded in as confident a manner as I could muster, and finally returned to my quarters. There, I tried to move the magic to every part of my body, only getting the slightest response whenever the sonic magic was moved anywhere other than my throat. I knew there had to be more that I could do, that there could be something beyond my voice to influence with my magic, but I¡¯d never been in a position like this before. I¡¯d always had a guide when learning to Speak as a human. That I could try to discover and learn how to use this magic, to influence my own path was daunting, and exciting all the same. To find new knowledge, to make myself more than I already was¡­ to overcome the difficulties laid before me and dominate them. I recognized that I was categorizing everything as a trial to overcome, a fight to win, a new realm to conquer. The determination to continue on this path to ever more and ever greater ambitions, the drive to become more than I¡¯d dreamed as a human, a mere son of a chief¡­ Now, I was to become much more. The fervor of my newfound drive and acceptance of my motivation drove another pulse of magic through me as I exhausted my sonilphon. I imagined I could feel myself strengthened with my resolve and that I felt something new stir within me with the newest attempt, and with a feeling of satisfaction, I laid down and let myself rest. Chapter 61 For the first time in several nights, I dreamt. Beyond the general feeling of desperation and confusion that frequently filled my dreams, I felt something looking over my shoulder, watching my every move, interested yet dispassionate. Nearby, I could sense others, with other things looking over their shoulders, but their observers were different, more twisted than my own. Their observers forced the others into painful positions, pulled in directions they didn¡¯t desire, and finally my fellows were left contorted into gross approximations of what they had initially been. The terror of being forced, of being at another being¡¯s mercy began to swell within me, and I stepped forward, trying to flee, not daring to look at the thing watching me. As if trying to run up a rushing river, I stumbled and could make no progress. I woke, panting and confused. With deep gasping breaths, I gathered myself. This was nothing more than a dream, a worry without any grounding in reality. Without allowing myself to worry any further, I stood and stretched myself. My right arm had mostly recovered from the hunt the day before, the aches gone unless I moved it too fast or too much. Still, I was far from having recovered all of my previous mobility, and it only took a hard step or fast twist of my neck for me to feel the twinges of pain shoot down to my fingers. Forcing myself to stop lamenting my self-inflicted injuries, I looked inward and was pleased to see that my sonilphon had refilled itself as I¡¯d slept, regardless of how restful the sleep was or was not. Before I could start something else and lose my focus, I began to manipulate the magic within me. Seizing on my feelings of success from the day before, I pushed the magic from my sonilphon in a concentrated wave towards my hands, feeling the vibration of it quiver and shake within me. As the magic passed through my right shoulder, agony shot out and I lost focus on the entire attempt. With my lost focus, the magic began to spread disorganizedly throughout my body, passing through me with nothing much more than strange tingles. Again, after calming myself, I drew from the magical wellspring within me and focused on passing it through my body in a steady wave, this time moving solely towards my left, uninjured arm. As the magic flowed down my arm, my muscles spasmed and twitched, the vibrations becoming more and more minute before fizzling out. I sighed, frustrated at the lack of results, but tried again, with similar results as I bottomed out my sonilphon. I noted the counter ticking over to 16/50, and walked out of my quarters. In the communal space, Sybil stood near my entrance. ¡°Good morning, Alpha.¡± ¡°To you too, Beta. What do you need?¡± ¡°I simply wished to ask if you have any further requests for me. There are not many things left that need doing within the den, and I refuse to become or remain idle for long.¡± I thought for a moment. I really had no idea what Sybil was doing all day, but I couldn¡¯t imagine that she spent much time without working on immediate or long term goals. ¡°What have you been doing, Sybil?¡± ¡°We have expanded the den enough that we believe it will fit the entire pack upon maturity. Additionally, there is space to tend to bodily needs and excretions, food storage, egg laying, hatchling training, and disposal of refuse.¡± My mind spun over what she laid out. Far-sighted indeed. ¡°I¡­ can¡¯t imagine that there¡¯s anything in the nest that we need to have done now, right?¡± A clack of her teeth in assent. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. I thought for a moment. What could I need from her? Sybil was so far beyond useful, and I needed to continue using her best abilities, or it would simply be a waste. But what¨Ca thought crossed my mind. ¡°You already knew what Redael¡¯s name was before I spoke to him, correct?¡± She flicked her tail in slight indecision. ¡°That was about all I knew. I had learned as much from those that Shemira recruited to attempt to usurp your position. There is not much else I know.¡± ¡°Good. Then you need to use whatever Shemira knows about the other keelish to understand what is happening in the swarm at large. We know next to nothing, and I intend to continue growing. Knowledge will allow us to better integrate with the swarm and begin to conquer the rest.¡± A flare of her frills. ¡°I will do so. Shemira doesn¡¯t volunteer information or obedience willingly, it may require some time.¡± ¡°Find out what you can without her for today. I think tomorrow she might be more willing to follow you.¡± I suspected that Sybil wanted to ask what I meant by that, but after a moment¡¯s silence from me, she simply flared her frills in acceptance and turned to Etra and Cree, beginning to confer together. ¡°Foire.¡± My voice carried through the space, even without anything from my sonilphon. I felt like my voice was transforming from the consistent influence of my sonic magic, more naturally filling space and echoing without effort. Foire was at my side before any such echoes faded. ¡°Alpha?¡± ¡°You¡¯re accompanying me and Shemira on a hunt today. We¡¯re looking for the deer like we hunted before.¡± Without hesitation, Foire flared his frills and went to the mouth of the den, ready to leave whenever I was. Right as I was about to call for Shemira, Sybil walked up to me. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Obviously, she had been eavesdropping, but beside that point, this was the first time she had even begun to question one of my decisions. The realization shook me for a moment. ¡°Yes. It¡¯s necessary.¡± A slight irritated flick of her tail, and Sybil flared her frills in acknowledgement as she stalked away. This sudden flare of emotions was surprising to me, and for a moment my own surge of anger responded within me. She dared to doubt me? To question my judgment? My plans? I forcefully tamped down the anger that surged within me. It was reasonable that she be concerned, Shemira had a history of twisting minds and bringing others to her side. I just knew that I could resist. ¡°Shemira.¡± My voice carried through the den, and Shemira stepped close to me. Still she swayed with every step and carried herself, somehow, flirtatiously, but I could tell this wasn¡¯t a deliberate attempt but her innate personality. She looked up at me, and I could see that she was expecting some punishment or other demonstration of my anger. Still, Shemira stood ready to accept my rebuke though I could sense some level of frustration under it all. ¡°You will accompany Foire and myself on a hunt. Be prepared, we leave soon.¡± I nodded then motioned for her to go prepare herself. After a moment¡¯s thought and another instant to compose herself, Shemira bowed low and nearly flounced away. ¡°As you say, Alpha Ashlani. I¡¯ll make sure to help you however you need.¡± She too didn¡¯t take long before she was at the mouth of the den, waiting for me. ¡°Sybil.¡± Again, she approached, stiffly formal. ¡°Yes, Alpha?¡± I fiercely forced the anger from my mind. ¡°We¡¯ll be back, and you will see changes then. Trust me.¡± Sybil sighed. ¡°I hope so. Don¡¯t forget what she¡¯s done.¡± ¡°Has she really done that much since we took over her pack?¡± ¡°Not done so much as constantly loomed as a threat.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Just wait. And find out what you can about the rest of the swarm.¡± A slightly less terse flare of her frills, and Sybil was off to begin her investigation. I turned and approached Shemira and Foire, who immediately fell in step behind me as we stepped out of the den. There, we came face to face with an adult keelish I thought I recognized. Then, Wisterl spoke. ¡°There¡¯s something we need to show you.¡± Chapter 62 There was a hint of humor in her voice as she spoke, And I began to follow Wisterl as I responded. ¡°What is there to show me?¡± She flicked her tail as a shrug. ¡°You¡¯ll see soon. It¡¯ll help, I promise.¡± Again, there was the faintest suggestion of a laugh in what she said, somehow. Now that I was as tall as I was, nearly four feet, I realized that Wisterl was just a hair smaller than Redael. A bit shorter, a bit thinner, a bit¡­ less. Still, she radiated the same danger as Rulac and Redael, a willingness to work violence, the barely constrained desire to dominate. Except maybe even more, every tendon and muscle seemed constantly straining to explode into action. ¡°Alright then.¡± I said, then shifted the subject. ¡°It has been a while since we last saw you. Was there any reason why you were directing our first hunt?¡± She looked over her shoulder at me. ¡°Do you think there was?¡± ¡°Of course. You seem much stronger and thus, superior to many of the others. There must have been some reason for you to be there.¡± ¡°But couldn¡¯t I just want to check in on my young?¡± ¡°You laid the eggs of some of my pack?¡° She flicked her tail, approximating a shrug. ¡°Do you know that? And does it matter?¡± ¡°But¡­ I asked you why you were there. I don¡¯t really care if some of my pack are your children.¡± ¡°Yes, there was a reason. You¡¯ll learn later why Rulac and I were sent to observe your brood at some point.¡± I sighed, confused by the flighty nature of our conversation and resumed following Wisterl silently. She did not care to indulge my curiosity, so I refused to engage. Wisterl didn¡¯t care about my sullen sudden silence, and turned to Foire as she began to walk backward. I¡¯d tried that before, and I recognized just how difficult it was with our heavy tails and feet designed for swift forward movement. ¡°You, little guy. What¡¯s your name? Why are you with the Alpha now?¡± Foire looked to me, seeming to ask if he could answer the question. I flared my frills in response and he turned back to Wisterl. ¡°Hunting.¡± His tone was curt and uncaring. ¡°Oho! Feisty, I see. Why are you going with the hunt when you¡¯re so small? Are you the bait?¡± Foire locked eyes with Wisterl, surprising me. His words absolutely floored me: ¡°If I need to be.¡± Again, his tone was serious, as always, and he deliberately cut off any additional conversation options. Wisterl cocked her head, intrigued, then nodded in seeming respect. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°And you? Are you his plaything? No shame in it.¡± Wisterl jumped to Shemira after Foire¡¯s words. ¡°Not yet, unfortunately. Maybe while we¡¯re out?¡± Shemira began to lean in towards me as she spoke, but a single threatening grind of my teeth had her leaning away. ¡°Not this time, I suppose. I can still hope, right?¡± ¡°Of course you can! You¡¯ll be turning heads and drawing tails your whole life, I can guarantee it. Maybe Ashy here won¡¯t be enough for you soon.¡± I heard my fangs grinding against each other at the idiotic nickname she¡¯d come up with. I didn¡¯t much care about how she and the rest had learned my name, but I was still curious. Did they all talk about us? I found the thought hard to believe, regardless of our relative prowess as hatchlings. ¡°Well, here we are.¡± Wisterl¡¯s voice tore me from my sullen silence. We were stood in a particularly large pathway through the den, large enough for the terrorbird to be easily dragged through. ¡°And here is?¡± ¡°There were a couple of the scouts that saw what you had to do to try to get your latest hunt into the den. After we all were done laughing, we figured you might as well see a better way to get your extras back home, since you¡¯re able to hunt things that need this.¡± Wisterl jogged up the slope and I realized that we were about to exit the den into the evening light. I shifted my perception, letting the light filter through and begin to paint the picture. We came up deep within the root complex of a massive burlraiz, the exit appearing within a seemingly natural crevice of the roots. The hole was somehow camouflaged and nearly impossible to see without knowing it was there, but it was nearly seven feet across in every direction. Any large prey brought here could easily be carried down into the den proper, without needing to butcher anything. Beyond that, I realized that I recognized the area. This new hole was maybe a quarter of a mile from the exit we had always used. ¡°So there were some keelish that watched me try to cut up those birds for all that time and never thought to tell me how easily I could have brought it down into the den?¡± ¡°And keep you from that fun lesson? Never!¡± Wisterl¡¯s voice dripped with mock concern, and she couldn¡¯t stop the giggle. Involuntarily, I felt and heard a growl begin to bubble within my throat. Before I could begin to realize it, I was whipped from my feet and into the ground. The air whooshed from my lungs as I smashed into a root and began gasping in pain. Wisterl¡¯s foot remained on my chest as her voice transitioned to a throaty, dangerous purr. ¡°No no no, you don¡¯t bare your fangs at me. You¡¯re just a whelp, a pup. You try something like this with me, and you get hurt. Clear?¡± I gasped out a pained ¡°Yes¡±, and Wisterl sent me sprawling with a vicious kick to my ribs. I swore I felt something crack and I gasped out a cry of pain as I tried to gather myself. Before I could give any warning or caution, I saw Wisterl do the same thing to Foire that she¡¯d done to me. At least, when she did it to him, I could see what she did. Her tail was somehow much more flexible than any other keelish I knew of, and it smashed into the back of his knees as Foire tried to charge her. As his legs crumpled beneath him, Wisterl pulled one of his arms down and pushed up on the opposite shoulder. Almost like magic, as if he wanted to do so, Foire fell to his side on the ground. Without another word, Wisterl sent another blistering kick into his chest and with a choking cry of pain, Foire was flying even further than me. Shemira immediately stepped back, every inch of her trying to communicate submission and pacifism. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Wisterl.¡± The words choked me coming out, but I forced them out nonetheless. ¡°I would never try to challenge you.¡± ¡°Good. I¡¯ve shown you what you needed to see. Good hunting.¡± With those words and my ribs aching, Wisterl was gone. Chapter 63 Their return was hardly believable. In fact, I¡¯d thought that keelish as a race had been wholly exterminated from the Shandise, so finding the ancient foe reappearing so close to home was a time of excitement for the young. They thought that their reappearance would mean the resurgence of the old holy war, that hunts would once more be exciting and challenging. The foolish thought this meant the descent of the Great Hunter. Illan¡¯Klli does not brook fools, and they were the first to fall upon the reestablishment of Nievtra. ¨CNotes from the Nyust¡¯taa daily record, spoken by the 21st Nyust¡¯taa Yury¡¯yai, recorded by Kichka Foire and I both took time to recover before we began our hunt. Shemira was obviously holding back some sort of tease or remark, and my bruised pride simply couldn¡¯t allow her to rib me. I forced myself to begin walking with a wince. ¡°Foire, lead us.¡± He nodded, and immediately strode off in a direction I hadn¡¯t expected¨Cneither of the two locations where we had seen the deer before. We¡¯d seen those hunted by the wolfstags, to the northeast, and had hunted some ourselves to the west, and Foire guided us straight south. We began the hunt relatively quietly, walking in peace as Foire continued to guide us. Eventually, though, Shemira couldn¡¯t wait any longer as Foire scaled a massive tree and began to try to find any scaled deer nearby. ¡°So why am I here?¡± ¡°Because I asked you to be.¡± After a brief hesitation, Shemira shook her head. ¡°What¡¯re you going to do to me? The fear of the unknown is too much.¡± I stopped. ¡°Do to you? What¡­ Why would I? I want to show you something.¡± She cocked her head. ¡°Do you expect me to believe that? You¡¯ve punished me at every opportunity, both personally and through Sybil and Took, or should I say, your Betas? I tried to take control from you, and you¡¯ve decided to make me regret it. The way I figure it, you¡¯ve had your fun and you¡¯ve finally decided to end it.¡± I¡¯d never seen or heard Shemira so¡­ listless. My goal had been to force her to submit, to make her understand her place. Only now did I realize that I¡¯d broken something inside of her. ¡°Since you¡¯ve had your fun, I guess there¡¯s no use in trying to change your mind or act happy and submissive. You¡¯ll kill me and be done with it.¡± She flicked her tail, seemingly resigned to what she was saying, but I could read the frustration and rage bubbling beneath. I immediately began to try to tamp down the swift coming of frustration. How could she not understand me? Why would she think me malicious? I was only doing what I needed to to ensure she didn¡¯t rebel again. I was the Alpha, and this subjugated fool didn¡¯t deserve to question me. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I slowed myself. What had been Shemira¡¯s life until now? She had spent a short time as the mind behind Tieran and had been wildly successful there, except for the whole me killing him. Then, she¡¯d consolidated control over the largest pack in the brood after his death, and, seeing my own growth, went for additional help. She¡¯d felt confident in acquiring ten followers, all adult, and rightfully so. While Took, Treel, and I had easily dealt with them, they would have been nearly impossible foes to any other keelish at that age. And she had brought them relatively easily under her control. Then, I¡¯d smashed her ideas and hopes to pieces. When she had tried to roll with the changes and adapt as she had before, I¡¯d smashed her down again. When she had chafed at being under another, something natural to any being used to being in control, I¡¯d pushed her down further through Sybil. Then, I¡¯d largely forgotten about her, except as a constant idle threat. It made sense that she would think of me as her implacable destroyer. I¡¯d never treated her as anything more than an obstacle. ¡°Shemira.¡± I looked at her, my tone gentle for maybe the first time she¡¯d ever heard. ¡°You¡¯re here because I want you to see something. I want you to listen to me, and I want you to change. I want to trust you. I guess I haven¡¯t communicated that well, but we were foes, if not enemies. This hunt¡­ is meant to be an opportunity to change that.¡± A hopeful tint played at the edge of her voice, ¡°You mean it?¡± ¡°Come along. I¡¯ll show you, then I have something to say.¡± Again, I went quiet, but I could see Shemira loosen, the sway returning to her step, she seemed to be a completely different creature. I couldn¡¯t place why that was so much more unsettling to me than Sybil¡¯s nearly emotionless pragmatism, but Shemira¡¯s ability to so completely emulate and mask her own feelings set my spine to shivers. On top of that, my growing keelish side wanted to claim her as my own, forcing me to constantly fight myself. Her beauty, power, and general superiority to the rest of the brood was the only one that would suit me. ¡°So¡­ want to do something else after the hunt? We can send him away before, if you¡¯d like. Or he can watch. If you¡¯d prefer¨C¡± ¡°Shemira. I just told you that I wasn¡¯t going to kill you. Do you really think that now is the time?¡± ¡°Maybe. Seems to be maybe the best time.¡± ¡°Stop.¡± To her credit, Shemira¡¯s demeanor changed that instant. ¡°Can you blame me for trying?¡± I leveled a hard gaze at her. I supposed I couldn¡¯t really be surprised, given that I¡¯d already known who and what she was, but I didn¡¯t need to say as much to her. Until Foire returned to the ground, I remained looking at her with the same dead, vaguely disappointed eyes. Foire spoke up, ¡°Close. Quiet now.¡± Both Shemira and I stood quietly and began following Foire into the thick growth, stalking as quietly as we could. I forced myself not to notice Shemira¡¯s competence, and focused instead on continuing forward. We continued to push slowly through the brush before Foire gestured towards a clearing ahead. There, I could see a herd of five scaled deer, all but one resting. Shemira and Foire prepared themselves to go in under my order, but I shook my head. As they looked at me, puzzled, I whispered, ¡°Just watch.¡± Then, I rushed into the clearing. Chapter 64 My first target was the deer that was still awake. If I could take it down before it alerted the rest, then I would be able to do even more damage. I got close, but not close enough to silence it before it let out a panicked bleat. Around me, the deer startled and began to scramble to their feet. The watcher began to jump away from me, but I didn¡¯t let it. I leapt out with my left arm extended and cut deep into its flank. I felt my claws sever arteries and tendons alike, and the deer¡¯s leg went completely limp. It crumpled to the ground, and as the blood coated my arm and filled my nostrils, I focused on another. I could feel the fury and insanity of [Bloodlust] fighting to take control of my mind. With effort, I forced myself to instead focus on incapacitating as many of the prey as possible. I whirled and smashed my tail against both front legs of another pushing itself away. There was a crunching snap as both legs gave way beneath my attack, and the deer began to bleat out in terror and agony as it still tried to rise to its feet and run. Its front legs simply couldn¡¯t support its weight, and both bent outwards with the break; the deer seemed to lose consciousness with its legs giving out that way. Its bones protruded from the skin as the delicate forelegs flopped around. With two incapacitated but living prey before me, it was nearly a physical effort for me to tear myself away from ripping into their flesh, feeling their hot blood cover my face and coat my throat. Still, I needed to evolve [Bloodlust], and to do that, I needed to deny it. I shook the warm liquid from my hands as the scent continued to loom, threatening failure. The other three deer began their flight in earnest, quickly gaining distance from me. I, hoping to catch one more, lunged out with my right arm and, disregarding the pain, slashed my claws through the side of the deer as it fled, my claws scratching against its ribs. I didn¡¯t find purchase within, and with its whole mass pulling against me, I felt the muscles in my shoulder flare in agony. Reluctantly, I released the deer and whistled for Foire to chase it. In a flash, he was past me and sprinting towards the wounded member of the little flock. With its bloody trail, I was sure that he could ensure it was taken down. Finally, I was left with the two I¡¯d crippled. The first, the lookout, was, I think, a buck. It wasn¡¯t mating season for them, so there were no antlers, so I didn¡¯t care enough to verify. He shivered in what must have been a combination of agony and terror. Blood flowed freely from his flank, and the smell filled my lungs with every breath. Still, with all the strength I could muster, I forced [Bloodlust] from taking control as the iron scent seemed to fill my entire body. Forcing detachment and keeping myself from indulging in my lust for violence, I reached down with my left arm and seized the conscious one by its head. I plunged my claws deep into the base of the creature¡¯s neck, and as quickly as I could, severed its spine. I could feel myself involuntarily breathe deep, savoring the smell of my victory, that of spilled blood. Immediately after my attack, the deer went limp and fell to the ground. My mind still fully my own, I went to the second deer and with another swift slice, it too stopped moving. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Shemira.¡± She came into the clearing, again seeming nervous. I¡¯d said there was something I wanted to show her, then had gone and hunted, all the while she¡¯d feared for her life. I¡¯d indulged in the kill, enjoyed it, relished it. Of course she wasn¡¯t quite ready to approach me. ¡°Shemira.¡± Again, my voice cut through the space. She looked at me expectantly, withdrawn and nervous. ¡°Do you think you could do this?¡± She cocked her head. ¡°Of course not. You¡¯re¨C¡± Her voice began fawning, then slipped into what I internally dubbed as her ¡°real¡± voice. ¡°You¡¯re the strongest of the pack. That¡¯s why you¡¯re Alpha.¡± ¡°Do you think that any member of the pack could do this?¡± ¡°No. Like I said, that¡¯s why you¡¯re Alpha.¡± ¡°Do you think any two of the pack could do this?¡± She paused. ¡°Maybe Took and Brutus? Or Treel?¡± ¡°Any of the keelish that followed you? Maybe even three of them?¡± Her face fell. I was surprised I could read that in her features. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand. I¡¯m not insulting you. What do you think the difference is between those who follow me, and those that followed you?¡± ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡± Shemira¡¯s tail flicked uncertainly as she thought about it. ¡°My guidance. My leadership. Their trust.¡± She looked at me, thinking. ¡°I want to extend that to you. I want you to grow as those who have been by my side all this time. But can I trust you enough to show that guidance? How can I know that you won¡¯t turn it against me?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t! What could I do anyway? If I grew to their level, I would still just be on the level of some of your subordinates. What good would that do me??¡± Bitterness grew as she continued, ¡°If I have the choice to become one of your trusted few, why would I turn against that? I¡¯ve been resisting you for so long because I was given no other choice. Does someone want to be outcast? Hated? Weak?¡± She spat the last word, her derision obvious as she looked up in my face, earnest and open. ¡°Ashlani, you¡¯ve given me no other choice until now. Of course I would prefer acceptance and power. That¡¯s all I¡¯ve wanted.¡± Before, I¡¯d thought myself maybe callous yet necessarily stern with Shemira, but now, I thought I may have made a mistake. She had once been an obstacle to me, but hadn¡¯t Sybil as well? Was Brutus always my supporter? Had Percral not shown himself willing to grow and change? We were all keelish. We could all grow more powerful, and we wanted to follow those in charge. I was in charge. I was powerful. I could continue to raise the rest of my pack. ¡°Shemira. When we return, report to Sybil, and ask her for directions. I¡¯ll speak with her, and ensure that your next assignment is to the benefit of the whole pack. We have much to do, and you can help us.¡± I could feel Shemira¡¯s hope radiating from her, and for the first time, I got an inkling of how best she could evolve. As the approval of her trust washed over me, she spoke, calling me by title with respect for the first time. ¡°As you command, Alpha.¡± Chapter 65 The Union knows something. They keep close contact with the entire continent, much more than any other nation, and something is happening on the other side of the continent. We cannot yet be sure of what it is, but I have received a vision, and I know that something has arisen, something that bears a threat to the whole of the Holy State. You all shall now call upon every favor and power and threat that is available to you that you might gain some insight on what has happened. The Beastkin should be your first avenue of information, as they have citizens across the continent. If you find nothing, you have not found everything. Search together, alone, and however necessary to ensure the Holy State of the Veratocracy is apprised of all things. -Missive from the Gran Verat to the High Veran and Veran. With just the three of us, it was agonizingly slow to drag three carcasses back to the den. Foire had been able to run down the wounded deer and slay it, which I almost regretted as he tried his best to drag it to the den entrance we¡¯d just learned about. After maybe a quarter of an hour was wasted with us three trying to drag our prey back to the den, I sighed and turned to Shemira. ¡°Go get enough of the pack to help us get these back before morning.¡± For a moment, she and Foire both looked at me, puzzled and perhaps a bit confused. ¡°We need to move, we don¡¯t know what might find us here. Hurry up, Shemira.¡± Finally realizing that I was showing her the trust I¡¯d promised, Shemira nodded, and with a pleased flick of her tail, she sprinted off. Foire, never questioning and always loyal, simply dragged his carcass towards me until the three bodies were piled together. Then, still without hesitation or argument, he quickly scaled a nearby tree to ensure we were aware of anything that was approaching. I still wasn¡¯t sure how exactly his locating abilities worked, but I figured it was effectively an extension of our warmth-based perception. How that extended so far beyond our own abilities was beyond me, but so too was Sybil¡¯s, Shemira¡¯s, or Vefir¡¯s magic. Thinking of Vefir, I rolled my shoulder as best I could without causing any flare-ups in my pain while I idly drained my sonilphon, noting when the counter ticked over to 17/50. The damage had been mostly righted by Vefir and my evolution, but I still couldn¡¯t move it as completely or easily as before. Hopefully, with continual ministrations, I would recover fully, but even if I never did, at least I still had the arm. I stayed close to the bodies, and instead of enjoying the scent, I turned my attention to my [Status]. The addition of Mature Scaled Deer (Martanimis) behind the Terrorbird was good to see, and looking down to my [Skill] list, I was excited to see [Bloodlust]¡¯s changes. I realized, taken aback, that I had never seen any description of what the [Skill] did before now. [Previous Skill: Bloodlust; when incited by the shedding of blood or intense desire to shed blood or enact violence, the Skill user will find themselves enveloped by rage, thus heightening their battle prowess and ability to ignore debilitation, at the cost of rationality. This skill can evolve. Skill Evolution requirements; Skill user must succumb completely to the influence of the Skill at least once. COMPLETE. Skill user must entirely reject the influence of the Skill at least once. COMPLETE. Evolution to Improved Bloodlust complete.] Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. [Current Skill: Improved Bloodlust; when the Skill user deems it necessary, they will find themselves enveloped by a cooler, more calculated rage, thus heightening their battle prowess and senses, at the cost of the slight loss of rationality. This drain on sanity is lesser than that of the original [Bloodlust] skill, but the longer the Skill is invoked, the more complete the loss of rationality. This skill can evolve. Conditions: Hidden.] Interesting. Nothing less than what I had already guessed was the consequence of the activation of the [Skill], but seeing it out in plain language truly told me that I had been indulging in enjoying shedding blood. I didn¡¯t regret that, it had helped me on my path, had been a qualifier for my first evolutions, and had forced me to confront my new reality. Oncli had been different, softer. Maybe happier, but his softness couldn¡¯t continue and blaze new trails, and it certainly couldn¡¯t lead. Looking at my new [Skill], I was quite pleased until I looked lower down, ready to enjoy my upcoming evolution¡¯s checklist reducing in size: [-Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif. Requirements: Evolution of Bloodlust Skill to Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust, Evolution of Sonilphon, Brood Alpha race (Completed). I hadn¡¯t qualified for this evolution¡¯s [Bloodlust] requirement. Quickly, I reread my new [Skill]: [Improved Bloodlust]. Not Combatant¡¯s. On top of that, it was saying that the evolutionary condition for the [Skill] was hidden! Immediately, I was cursing the Administrative Body in my mind. Hadn¡¯t I been promised clarity and guidance? Was I still being thwarted at every step, to be held back artificially from my birthright? I was sure that the Administrator was as always, trying to keep the rest of the Body from deliberately denying me my options for growth. [The Administrator speaks personally: In this isolated case, I am withholding this Skill¡¯s evolution from you for a time. If you were to know how to evolve this, it would severely damage your leadership¡¯s hold, and would have lasting consequences on your rule. I will ensure that you learn of the requirements soon.] And how soon could I expect soon to be? You yourself said that for me to begin to understand your timelines I would be speaking in millennia! [The Administrator laughs and speaks: I will disclose the evolutionary requirements before you reach ¡°adulthood¡±. I will ensure that you have the option to pass at least one growth period whilst within the khatif line. That should be more than sufficient for you.] Again, I choked back curses at being held back by something I couldn¡¯t see or begin to comprehend. She obviously wanted me to grow stronger and more competent, so why would she be pulling me back now? For maybe the first time, I began to doubt the Administrator¡¯s intentions. A [System] notification flashed in the corner of my eye, but seeing that it was another message from the Administrator, I ignored it. I recognized that I was being petty for ignoring the message, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care. So far as I could tell, there was no reason to withhold that information from me. After all, any hatchlings born khatif would have immense benefits beyond being a keelish, even if they weren¡¯t born with any magic. Their Stats would be incomparably higher and with the increase to their base intelligence, they would better be able to adapt and grow¨C I was shaken from my hopes and frustrations as Shemira returned with five others in tow. Disregarding my own thoughts, I turned and began to help the others begin to haul the corpses back to the den. Chapter 66 With twice as many of us dragging each body on the way back, the journey went much quicker than before, and with Foire scouting and keeping an eye out for any potential threats, we made our way to the den without incident. The falling rain and muddied ground caused us to stumble and slip every so often, what with dragging the limp corpses that weighed so much more than us. With the light sheeting of rain, I might have missed the tree we were returning to, but Foire unerringly guided us to the correct tree, and then we began our descent. In the expanded and widened tunnels, dragging the gangly-limbed deer wasn¡¯t nearly so unpleasant as it would have been to descend through our usual entrance. I couldn¡¯t imagine that we would have been able to get the bodies whole through the opening, and at the thought, I again struggled to withstand the anger at some high minded fools looking down on me slowly and terribly attempting to butcher the terrorbird corpses. They were lower than me, already weaker than me, and they would dare to think themselves better than me, simply because they willingly withheld information from me? We continued to bring my prey through the den, and every so often, an adult keelish would poke their head out and watch us go by. Some seemed to be waiting for a different keelish¡¯s arrival, and turned away when they saw us. Others, though, seemed curious when they saw us, and watched the younglings with their large prey. I could hear approving noises, and the watchers talking among themselves. ¡°They¡¯re growing well.¡± ¡°How old are they again?¡± ¡°That¡¯s better than we were.¡± This could help serve my true goals. Before long, I would begin to spread my control within the swarm, and being seen making achievements would be highly beneficial. I would need to continue to gather my strength, to prove myself to the outcasts and the downtrodden, and with my own feats mixed with Sybil¡¯s help, I would be able to begin to increase my influence. Regardless of influence, though, I needed to continue to build my own strength to ensure I could eventually wrest control from Redael. Finally, we arrived at our own den. As we¡¯d ascended towards our domain, the tunnels continued to thin until we could only just drag the bodies with gangling limbs forward without too much difficulty. The final turn into the den was joyous, no longer having to struggle hauling our loads, and we deposited the fruits of my hunt before the pack as a whole. Having arrived, I turned to Shemira. ¡°Good idea, bringing four. Smart to think of bringing an extra, so Foire could keep an eye out.¡± She flared her frills, her tail twitching at the compliment. ¡°Thank you, Alpha.¡± Then, her acceptance of my praise complete, Shemira turned to Sybil. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°What do you need me to do?¡± Sybil¡¯s eyes flicked to me, surprised at the success of my plan. She was about to speak when I stepped to the side, towards my quarters, and called for Sybil to follow after me. I could see the boiling question in her eyes, as she forced herself to hold it back. ¡°Ask.¡± ¡°How? How did one hunt change her completely like this?¡± ¡°I extended trust. I listened. She wants to be up in the ranks with the rest of us, and was never given the chance. Give her important but small tasks, see how she completes them. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll try her best, and I¡¯m sure you can find over time what she will be best suited for.¡± Sybil flared her frills in assent, and I continued, ¡°Have you found anything concrete about the swarm since we left?¡± ¡°Not yet, Alpha. I apologize, but these things take time.¡± ¡°I know. Talk to Shemira for now, see what she knows, as well as anything you can get from the others.¡± ¡°Of course, Alpha.¡± Sybil bowed, a new addition to her gestures of respect for me, and then walked out of my quarters. I turned to my bath, but before entering, shook what water remained on me off as best as I could. The sand could absorb liquid, but I¡¯d learned from particularly bloody days that getting as much liquid off of me before entering the bath was ideal. After a quick shake, I was ready and flopped down into the sands. I spun and twisted, fully covering myself in the sand as I languished in the bath. I laid back, happy and relaxed, as I remembered my sonilphon. Checking, it had refilled already. That seemed faster than before. Maybe the continuous use was finally influencing its rate of reproduction substantially, as well as its total capacity? Either way, I sent the magic coursing to my whole body. As always, the subtle vibrations spread through my whole body, starting at my core. As the feeling spread out to my skin and scales, the gentle movement scrubbed deliciously with the sand. I subconsciously rolled my shoulders and back into it, luxuriating in the feeling. Without realizing it, I sighed in comfort. I was about to do it again when I remembered the time I had tried to localize the sonic magic to my arms. With the last of the reserves from my sonilphon, I slowly, purposefully pushed the magic through my arms. Again, when it hit my right shoulder I could feel the pain from my injury, but this time I expected it, and the discomfort didn¡¯t begin to approach the agony I¡¯d experienced the time before. Through the pain and uncertainty, I forced the magic forward towards my hands. Without conscious thought, my hand¡¯s thick scales went rigid and I felt the vibrations concentrate on the tips of my claws. I could feel that I was on the brink of understanding something new, but just as I went to apply more magic and pressure to my hands, my sonilphon ran dry and the feeling disappeared. Since I had learned about how to become a khatif, I¡¯d mostly just emptied the sonilphon without any thought, my only thought had been that I only really needed to continue to empty it to proceed towards evolution. Now, I realized just how stupid I¡¯d been. I needed to experiment with it, continue to figure out how else it could help me. After all, I¡¯d first created a magical phenomenon before I¡¯d gotten the sonilphon, and it had benefited the whole pack. I¡¯d gained the [Innervating Address] Skill, but had I ever really used it except for once, from a distance? I would need to keep experimenting with my magic. Chapter 67 Having cleaned myself and noted my sonilphon evolution counter ticking up to 18/50, I stretched out. I wanted to indulge in my laziness and rest, but I had not earned that so instead I walked out of my quarters and watched my busy pack at work. Most had left to hunt, and the majority of Sybil¡¯s supporters were out gathering whatever information they could on the swarm as a whole. After looking over the den, I realized there truly was not much that I could do for the rest while within our territory. I needed, first and foremost, to become more, to become better, than I was. Time would provide me that, in three days I would hit the 30 day mark since my hatching, officially marking the deadline for any of my brood to achieve [Exceptional Individual]. [Evolutionary Guide] had made me sure that we were in no danger of any of the brood missing out on that. But beyond waiting to get bigger and stronger, I looked to my [Status] for all the other options open to me. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Keelish Current quests: -Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. Progress: Mature Martanimis Terrorbird. Mature Scaled Deer, -Gain control of 15% of the entire swarm. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5 Progress: 5% -Subjugate a group of at least 10 individuals with at least 5 Intelligence. Note: Cannot be keelish members of the user¡¯s current pack. Base Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +1. Titles: none Stats: -Constitution: 27 -Strength: 35 -Agility: 37 -Intelligence: 29 -Magic: 22 Skills: Improved Bloodlust: Requirements Hidden Innervating Address (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 0/10 Dominance: 29/100 Sonilphon: 18/50 Evolutionary Guide: (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) -Adult Sonic Magicblood Alpha: Survive 60 days. Progress: 27/60 --Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif. Requirements: Evolution of Bloodlust Skill to Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust, Evolution of Sonilphon, Brood Alpha race (Completed). Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] My easiest option was almost certainly just going out and finding something to hunt. I could probably find some rodent or small reptile that I could quickly kill, but I couldn¡¯t do so without regretting it. If I had a limited amount of these ¡°Hunt X amount of new species¡±, I would definitely regret not at least ensuring that those I slew grew in power as I did. Disregarding that option and skipping past the second, I looked at the third. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. This [Quest] was different from the second, in that it wasn¡¯t limited to keelish. I could try to [Dominate] some of the weaker keelish, but I couldn¡¯t ensure that they had an Intelligence of at least 5. Beyond that, if I were to enter a new den and start subjugating those of the swarm, I could invite unwelcome attention from Redael, which could prove fatal. My [Quest] options depleted, I scanned lower. [Pack Tactics]? No, it would require multiple forays out with my whole pack. [Dominance]? Same problems as the third [Quest]. [Sonilphon]? Working on it already. That¡­ left nothing, really. Did I need to go out and find some rare predator in the jungle? There were various predatory cats that could occasionally be found in the area I thought we were in, but I couldn¡¯t imagine that I could find and hunt one without the pack sustaining several casualties. Maybe I could find a river where I might find some of the larger and more dangerous fish? But I wouldn¡¯t know where to go, and I knew I had no clue how to hunt in the river. I would, more likely than not, find myself in some fish¡¯s gullet, and I couldn¡¯t guarantee that I would be able to escape one of those like I had the Martanimis Python. I couldn¡¯t defeat the other keelish either¡­ That sparked a thought in my mind. I told Sybil I would be back later and stepped out of our territory. I wasn¡¯t sure exactly where to go, but I did have my goal in mind as I continued to descend into the deepest parts of the den, into areas I¡¯d only been once before. Looking around, I didn¡¯t see anything that let me know where I could find who I was looking for, but I continued to search, sure that eventually I would be able to find him. Eventually, one of the keelish adults from a branching tunnel came out. ¡°What you doing here? You too small to belong.¡± The words almost slurred coming out of his mouth. I was reminded of Took¡¯s initial attempts at speaking from the male¡¯s tone; he had learned to speak but it still did not come naturally to him. An inferior individual, below my notice. I shook the thought from my mind as I remembered why I had descended. ¡°I¡¯m looking for Rulac. We spoke before, he said I could come talk to him later.¡± It wasn¡¯t strictly untrue, and even if it were a bald-faced lie, which my statement wasn¡¯t, this one didn¡¯t need to know. ¡°You?¡± He shook his head in what could be disbelief. I felt my frills flare out as a low hiss of anger began to build subconsciously in my throat, but before I did anything, the male seemed to decide to answer me. ¡°Him in his den. Down there, on left.¡± The male pointed with his head before, seemingly unwillingly, bowing and turning back into his den. Standing tall and proud, I descended further to where I¡¯d been directed. I didn¡¯t let my mind wander as I approached the den I thought to be Rulac''s. Stilling myself and calming my breath, I called out. ¡°Rulac? It¡¯s Ashlani. Can we speak?¡± In the deafening silence that followed my call, I found myself doubting my every step that led me here. My thoughts had been pretty simple to this point¨CRedael and Wisterl were dangerous, powerful, and possibly unhinged. If I asked them what I was going to ask Rulac, they might deign to do so, or they might just kill me for the impertinence. Rulac, while definitely dangerous and powerful, had said he was willing to play with me, which I hoped he might consider this to be. Before I could fully lose my nerve and allow the cowardice to shake me, I heard the shuffling of scales from the opening before me. As a massive body stepped into my perception, I felt myself involuntarily shrink down from my previously proud stance. Even with his lackadaisical air, Rulac was as intimidating a specimen as I¡¯d ever heard of. With myself at nearly four feet tall, I guessed I weighed maybe 150 pounds, lean and strong with my tail making a good portion of that weight. Rulac was about six feet tall, and I guessed he weighed at least 500 pounds, with his thick, long tail and generally broad and powerful build. As I took in Rulac¡¯s absolute mass, I was, for a moment, dumbstruck. Rulac cocked his head playfully, his tongue beginning to loll out as he spoke. ¡°Hey there little guy. What can I do for you?¡± I could hear a chuckle in his voice, and I hoped that was a good sign. ¡°I want¨C¡± My voice squeaked more than usual and I continued, ¡°to learn how to fight.¡± He stood straight, his chest expanding as he took a deep breath and pondered my question. Finally, as my words fully settled in. ¡°Not to hunt. To fight. You wanna stand up to your elders?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure how to respond to his question. After a moment¡¯s hesitation and Rulac¡¯s continued silence, I decided to speak a part of the truth. ¡°Wisterl thrashed me before I even knew what was happening. I don¡¯t want that to keep happening.¡± Before I¡¯d finished the sentence, I¡¯d noticed Rulac¡¯s mouth cracking with a grin, and when I had finished he broke out into a belly laugh. The sound that had been harsh and grating on my ears as a hatchling now sounded warm and almost comforting. ¡°She does that. She¡¯s probably the best fighter in the swarm, and I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll ever be on her level. I¡¯m not.¡± He stood, gently nodding before continuing, ¡°Look, I¡¯m not a great fighter. I¡¯m a hunter. I¡¯ll lead you to the second best fighter in the swarm, he¡¯ll help you out.¡± With that, Rulac stepped fully out of his den and began to lead me down deeper into the den. As I mused over the great luck I¡¯d experienced in this request, I fell into step behind Rulac. Someone who was only second to Wisterl in the swarm, and would be willing to help me? That was basically a dream come true. I wondered what he was like, if he could teach me how best to fight¨Cwe were going deeper still into the den. Who it would be suddenly clicked in my mind, but before I could say anything to Rulac, his voice boomed somehow respectfully out into the deepest part of the den. ¡°Redael! I¡¯ve got something interesting for you!¡± Chapter 68 I could feel the influence of [Absolute Dominance] even before I saw any [System] notification about it. Maybe it was all in my head, but as I stood and held back the trembles in anticipation of Redael¡¯s arrival, I could feel myself wanting to begin to grovel. With a firm force of will, I stood tall again and prepared myself for the inevitable. Inside, I still cursed Rulac¡¯s name and the smug grin stretching across his smug features, but externally, I schooled myself as well as I could manage. Inside the deepest den, I heard a sigh. ¡°What, Rulac?¡± There was a more relaxed tone to his voice than the other only time I¡¯d heard Redael¡¯s voice, but still there was the electric current of threat, the penchant and desire for violence. ¡°Come look, Alpha. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll enjoy it.¡± Redael growled his displeasure, and I noticed a slight tremor pass through Rulac at the sound. Before I could truly internalize that, Redael stepped out of his quarters and laid eyes on me. He cocked his head before speaking. ¡°I said I¡¯m willing to beat you up, down and sideways. You taking me up on that offer? Or are you already looking to die?¡± The timbre of his voice communicated his seemingly permanently present desire to work violence beyond his mere words. I waited for Rulac to speak. He didn¡¯t. He simply looked down on me with a grin cocking his cocky stupid mouth. I didn¡¯t look down on him as I did most of the rest of the keelish, but still I wanted to somehow hurt him. Regardless of how I felt about it though, he had gotten me into this situation, and it was time for me to try to get myself out of it. I began to try to explain that this wasn¡¯t at all what I¡¯d wanted, but I couldn¡¯t get myself to say the words. After all, this was actually what I¡¯d wanted, just¡­ more threatening. ¡°I asked Rulac to teach me to fight. He brought me here, said you were the second best fighter in the swarm, and you¡¯d teach me.¡± ¡°Nope. Never said that. Said you¡¯d help him out, that¡¯s all.¡± Rulac¡¯s response came before my initial statement¡¯s echoes had fully faded from the space. He didn¡¯t deny calling Redael the second best fighter in the swarm though. ¡°Eh. I¡¯m maybe the fourth best fighter on a good day.¡± Redael flicked his tail in a shrug. ¡°I¡¯m just stronger than the rest of you and will kill you if you challenge me.¡± His tone was even, uninflected, and seemingly uncaring. ¡°I¡­¡± I felt my mouth go dry as I decided to keep talking. ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to challenge you. I just wanted to learn how to fight as well as hunt.¡± Redael nodded slowly as he approached, looking me up and down. I tried to stand tall, impressive, and unfazed. I was taken completely by surprise when the back of his balled fist struck me in the mouth and, with an explosion of pain, knocked me prone. All the inside of my mouth was sliced from my fangs, and the taste of iron spread over my tongue as I laid still, trying to figure out what had just happened. Still stunned, I could barely understand when I heard a sigh from above me. ¡°Too weak. You haven¡¯t lost enough.¡± Again, before I realized it was about to happen, Redael struck. His hand darted down and his fingers closed around my throat before he effortlessly lifted me off the ground, where I dangled with my tail dragging on the ground as I gagged and choked. The blood from the inside of my shredded mouth began to fill my throat and I felt it dribble down my face as Redael¡¯s unfeeling eyes regarded me. I couldn¡¯t move as my mind struggled to keep up or understand a single thing that was happening. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Still, you¡¯re not doing anything? Just taking it?¡± He shook his head in disappointment and, with a slight grunt, Redael turned and tossed me against the wall. I wheezed as I smashed into the unforgiving tunnel wall and crumpled to the ground. Unsure if this was going to continue, if I was going to be killed, or anything else that may happen, I laid there, tensing my body and activating [Improved Bloodlust] for the first time. The injustice of what was happening to me filled my mind. I knew this feeling was the influence of [Bloodlust], and I wasn¡¯t nearly so completely changed by it as I would have been before. Regardless, I couldn¡¯t hardly think or hold myself back from launching myself at Redael, but I knew doing so wouldn¡¯t help. I needed to wait for him to close the distance, to strike when he wasn¡¯t expecting it, as he¡¯d done to me. With more real than feigned pain, I flopped to my side so I could watch Redael¡¯s approach. I knew Rulac was here, but my mind was wholly focused on Redael and his implacable, deliberate steps towards me. Under my body, I stiffened the scales on my left hand, preparing it to lash out and somehow damage Redael. Five steps. Three steps. One step¡­ he stopped and cocked his head at me. I averted my eyes, hoping and wishing for him to come closer. Just a single step, that was all I needed. After a moment of my tense waiting, I heard the crunch of an approaching footstep. Immediately I shot upright, my left hand hurtling towards Redael¡¯s stomach. I would, if possible, disembowel him right now, if not at least fatally injure him. His own hand interrupted my attack¡¯s trajectory an inch before I made contact with his stomach. Redael¡¯s scales covering his hand were linked together just like mine, and I imagined I could see a faint shower of sparks from where my claws skittered off his defense. I didn¡¯t allow myself to be taken aback or startled and began to give in to the slowly building [Bloodlust]. Immediately I lunged forward with my right arm, disregarding the pang of pain as I overextended my shoulder in my strike. Again, before my claws could make contact with his chest, Redael¡¯s hand covered in thick, interlocked scales blocked my stab. I lunged forward with a bite, trying to do something, anything, the building influence of my [Bloodlust] beginning to purge my mind of any thought beyond total aggression. I didn¡¯t make contact, and snapped my jaws again. Again. Again. The screams of my fangs against each other echoed throughout the space as I lost myself in my need to hurt Redael. He dared to attack me one-sidedly like that? I would have my payment in blood, in his pain and suffering! Again and again I lashed out with both hands and my jaws, almost unable even to see Redael, until my legs were both swept from underneath me. Then, a heavy weight pressed down on my chest, which I immediately slashed both hands at. My claws didn¡¯t find much purchase, and the weight pressed hard into me, pushing the air from my lungs. I let myself relax, and nearly immediately the insanity of [Bloodlust] drained from my mind. Redael stood partially on my chest, and my mouth and head resumed their debilitating pain. I had, in my desperation and frenzy, bitten my cheeks and tongue a couple times beyond the injury I¡¯d sustained from Redael¡¯s backhand. My right shoulder pulsed with pain with every heartbeat, and my heart was thumping desperately quickly. On top of that, my ribs and throat both ached from Redael¡¯s first attack, while my legs ached from the solid thack I had sustained from his tail across my shins. The Alpha looked down on me, slightly nodding before raising his right hand and observing one of the large, flat scales across the back of his wrist. There, a thin cut could be seen, from my first attack. ¡°Even though I saw it coming, you still could do something.¡± Still gently nodding, Redael turned and began to return to his quarters. As I began to struggle to my feet, Redael¡¯s voice echoed towards me. ¡°Come back tomorrow.¡± And then, he was gone. Chapter 69 We have no idea how that swarm got to be so large and so powerful. They wouldn¡¯t have posed any threat, if it had only been composed of the usual keelish, but not only were the individuals from the swarm larger and more intelligent as a baseline, there were at least dozens of magically inclined individuals within the swarm before we knew of their existence. We would ask those from the nearest settlements what sign there had been of keelish, but we know they would never have withheld that information from Viertaal knowingly. Regardless of how they did it, that swarm was able to hide its existence until it was too late for us to react to their presence. -Report from High Colonel Mara¡¯atali di¡¯Samutelia Rulac did not help me to my feet, and instead simply watched as I struggled, stumbled, and finally stood, wincing, before him. Still, the entire time, the stupid smirk didn¡¯t leave his face. ¡°That¡¯s about how well I thought that would go. Good job getting an invitation for tomorrow! You can find your own way here then.¡± ¡°You couldn¡¯t have told me he was going to do that? Are you stupid? Do you hate me?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but spit the words venomously at Rulac¡¯s back. Without looking, his tail whipped back and smashed into my mouth. As I slammed into the ground for the third time, I felt a tooth knock loose and I let it fall out of my limply hanging mouth. With stars still swimming in my vision, Rulac lowered himself to look me directly in the eye. ¡°You¡¯re an idiot.¡± He paused, letting it sink in. I didn¡¯t speak. He nodded. ¡°You¡¯re beginning to understand. Look, I like you. I think you¡¯re gonna be great. You have a lot you¡¯re going to be able to do for the swarm, and I look forward to it.¡± Again, he paused, then continued, ¡°Get your head outta your ass. Just cause your brood thinks you¡¯re the next swarm alpha doesn¡¯t mean that I do. What do you have to offer me? Nothing. You¡¯re still a hatchling, trying to figure out how to take steps forward. Nothing wrong with that. Shut up and listen to your betters.¡± I bristled at him calling himself my better, and as my frills began to flare unconsciously and rebelliously, Rulac reached out and tweaked one. I¡¯d had my ear twisted by my mother at least once a week until I reached 18 summers. This was both more painful and more humiliating than an ear twist had ever been, as the bones within my frill were pulled out of position and the skin was nearly ripped as Rulac pulled up. ¡°When I was a hatchling, someone told me that ¡®you ain¡¯t nothing. Get used to it.¡¯ Kid, you ain¡¯t nothing. If you want to be more than that, you gotta earn it. You¡¯ve earned nothing so far.¡± Rulac then turned away, uncaring as I again tried to stumble to my feet. ¡°Don¡¯t bother me tomorrow. I¡¯ve got things to do.¡± Then, just like Redael, Rulac was gone. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. I could feel my blood crusting on my face as I slowly lurched my way up the path to my territory. Again, I heard and saw various members of the swarm poking their heads out to gawk as I passed, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care. I was in pain, I was enraged beyond belief, and I was exhausted. I wanted nothing more than to stumble into my quarters and sleep while Vefir ministered to my every wound. And there was no way I was going to drag myself back down there to be embarrassed for no reason tomorrow. The anger and frustration continued to simmer within me as I slowly continued on the path. Rulac had simply turned me over to Redael, and he¡¯d enjoyed beating me for no real reason. That was about what I¡¯d expected from him, but from Rulac? I didn¡¯t know him that well, but I¡¯d never thought that he would abandon me to that kind of fate. If it hadn¡¯t been so painful to take every step, I would have veritably stomped my way into my den, but as it was, I quietly limped in. Before long, Sybil noticed me and immediately ran towards me. ¡°What happened to you? You left without saying anything, you just disappeared, and you come back like this. Did you try to go on a hunt?¡± ¡°Redael.¡± Again, I spat the name with venom and bitterness. Sybil looked at me, waiting for any elaboration. I chewed over what I wanted to say as Vefir approached and walked with us to my quarters. There, he began to spread his magic through my face, jaw, legs, ribs, arms, and my body as a whole. Each time he healed me I could feel the greater focus and impact of his magic and I¡¯d never been so grateful for it before now. With the relief of healing spreading through me, I could feel a large part of the ire drain from me. ¡°I asked Rulac to teach me how to fight, instead of just hunt. He said he would show me to someone who was among the best of the swarm. It was Redael, and as we were talking, he began to hit me.¡± ¡°So¡­ what was the problem?¡± I was surprised to have Vefir question me. ¡°I was attacked and humiliated, that is the problem!¡± My voice began to rise involuntarily as I spoke, until it thundered and echoed in the small space while I stepped closer and more threateningly towards him. ¡°He assaulted and injured me, then disregarded me!¡± Vefir nodded while recoiling from my presence, then interrupted me before I could build up momentum. ¡°But he didn¡¯t injure you. Sure, he hurt you, but you¡¯ve sustained no real injuries.¡± I was about to lash out and argue, but I felt a slight brush of forced calm across my mind. That allowed me to really think about what Vefir had said. I wasn¡¯t injured. The pains I was suffering weren¡¯t debilitating, simply pains. With Vefir¡¯s presence, I wouldn¡¯t feel anything in the morning, except maybe a couple cuts in my mouth and a missing tooth. There would be a new tooth soon, our mouths cycled through them regularly. Sybil spoke as I completed my internal checkup and Vefir stepped back, his magic exhausted. ¡°Then you received the teachings you desired?¡± ¡°Not yet.¡± I was forced to admit. ¡°I was invited to return tomorrow. I suppose I will.¡± Sybil¡¯s face and body language communicated no emotion except acceptance and calmness. ¡°I suppose you will.¡± Chapter 70 Sybil and Vefir began walking away but I reached out to her. ¡°I know what you did. I recognize it was helpful.¡± I stood tall and loomed over her. ¡°It was risky to work your magic so blatantly on me.¡± Sybil didn¡¯t avoid eye contact or my deliberately intimidating stance while Vefir continued on his path out. Once he was truly out of my quarters, she finally spoke, ¡°What were you going to do to Vefir?¡± ¡°What?¡± My response was waspish as I couldn¡¯t understand what she was getting at. ¡°What were you going to do to Vefir? He asked you questions, and that just because you didn¡¯t seem to understand the mercy that was extended to you. You entered the den of the most powerful, dangerous creature we know, and challenged him to a fight. In return, you got a light beating and then returned to where you could fully recover.¡± I could feel the rage beginning to bubble within me as Sybil continued, ¡°Also, you were given an invitation to continue to learn from him, the guidance you had just asked for. Then, when Vefir asked what your issue with this sequence of events was, you began to threaten him. What were you going to do to him?¡± With two heavy breaths and my heart beginning to thunder in my ears once again, I was able to calm myself enough to listen to what she said. I had threatened Vefir. For effectively no reason at all. One of my strongest supporters, who had never wanted anything more than to be helpful. The shame began to wash over me. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know what I was going to do. There was no reason for me to be so angry at him. Or you. I¡¯m so¨CI recognize my failing. I¡¯ll be better.¡± Sybil nodded at my catching myself. ¡°You must be the best of all of us. The strongest, most passionate, the angriest, the happiest. The best.¡± ¡°Thank you for your help. I¡¯ll trust in receiving it again.¡± Sybil took my dismissal for what it was, and left without complaint. I let myself fall to my side in the sand bath as I thought over my very near brush with losing Vefir¡¯s trust. The more I thought about it, the more grateful I was for Sybil¡¯s tempering presence and presence of mind to calm me. With a sigh, I began to bathe myself. The cleansing of my own blood from my scales wasn¡¯t so relieving as usual, instead being a chore before I returned to my sonilphon. Once I¡¯d finished bathing, I began my experiments with my magic, hoping to discover further options for me to explore. [Sybil POV] She held back the sigh of relief, stilled her tail, and held her back straight as she retreated, no, exited the Alpha¡¯s den. The mind was where all change began, and if she allowed herself to think of the Alpha as one who meant her harm or was a danger, she would begin to act in a way that communicated as such. Sybil held herself as confidently as ever as she approached Vefir, who crouched in a corner, shaking in terror. ¡°Vefir, you are alright?¡± He looked up at her, still shaken but beginning to master himself. ¡°Ye¡­ yeah. It was¡­ that was¡­ um¡­¡± Vefir stumbled over his words, and Sybil subconsciously sent a slight wave of calm and subservience to him. He straightened up and began to rise to his feet as he continued, ¡°He was¡­ pretty intense there. I¡¯ve felt the ¡®Alpha¡¯ feeling around him before, but never so¡­ against me, you know?¡± Vefir couldn¡¯t hold back the shudder that ran down his spine upon remembering. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Sybil weaved a braid of sorts in her mind, of calm, understanding, obedience, forgiveness and happiness, and laced her words with the product as she responded, ¡°His feelings of frustration are more than understandable though, right?¡± ¡°Oh, of course!¡± Vefir¡¯s response came easily, and Sybil used the last of her prepared magic to continue soothing the troubled healer. That he had done nothing wrong, that the Alpha valued Vefir¡¯s presence and power, that Vefir was needed, and that once the Alpha had rested, he would be back to normal. It wasn¡¯t long before Vefir had effectively forgotten his mistreatment and resumed his usual wandering about looking for someone to help. Her immediate goal complete, Sybil began on her second¨Cfollowing up with Shemira, then verification through Etra and Cree on the veracity of all information previously received. The change in Shemira had been immense, and far beyond what Sybil had ever calculated possible. After all, Sybil had effectively surmised that Shemira was a neutralized threat, but still a latent one. No reason to provide any further opportunity to damage the Alpha¡¯s goals. However, Sybil had been completely incorrect, and whatever it was that the Alpha had said or done, he had completely changed Shemira and she now was, if not eagerly at least willingly awaiting Sybil¡¯s next order. ¡°Shemira, you should ingratiate yourself with those of the weakest packs. Show them your potential, draw them in, and have them begin to learn of the Alpha¡¯s path to power. Let them see that he can become an even better leader than Redael, and that they will benefit from following him sooner rather than later.¡± After a moment of thought, Shemira flared her frills and asked, ¡°Do you want me to treat them as I did the original ten? Or should I not try to subjugate them so much as introduce them to our pack?¡± Sybil noted Shemira¡¯s statement of ¡°our¡± pack, not ¡°your¡± as it had always been until now. Without expressing any emotion beyond idle curiosity, she spoke, ¡°Which do you think will better establish a more solid and long lasting control over them?¡± Shemira¡¯s tail flicked in what Sybil thought could be curiosity. ¡°If I were to subjugate them, it would bring immediate benefits, but I doubt that their loyalty would be to Ashlani. From there, we could try to convert them to true members of the pack, but I don¡¯t think it would work as well as just directly bringing them to believe in Ashlani.¡± Sybil flared her frills in approval and Shemira flounced away to begin her efforts in spreading the Alpha¡¯s control. Sybil could not approve of Shemira¡¯s casual treatment of the Alpha, but she was being forced to understand his evaluation of her potential value. Once Shemira was gone, Sybil turned to the next thing on her list and began to issue orders to Etra and Cree. As always, the day passed quickly while hours felt slow, but as always, with the scouts returning and reporting, Sybil¡¯s day was filled. There was never enough time and always too many things to do, but finally, as her eyes began to droop unwillingly, she retreated to her small alcove near the Alpha¡¯s quarters. She had set herself up there from the time of the den¡¯s establishment to keep herself close to the Alpha. With an internal but restrained sigh, Sybil settled against the wall. As the exhaustion settled into her bones, she hoped that Ashlani would sleep longer this time. If he did, maybe she could get a bath in before he rose. It was exhausting to always keep ahead of him, since she couldn¡¯t simply retire whenever she wanted, like Ashlani did, but it was necessary to stay useful and valuable, not to be cast aside again. The lethargy spreading through her mind, she caught herself thinking of the Alpha by name. The mind is where all change began, and she couldn¡¯t allow herself to think of him as anything more or less than the Alpha¡­ He who would be king, and she, his kingmaker. Chapter 71 ¡°Stay in control, whelp.¡± Redael¡¯s words were punctuated with a blinding smash of his head into the side of mine. My knees wanted to buckle, but I didn¡¯t allow them, instead rolling with the hit and allowing myself to fall only long enough to gain some measure of distance from my tormentor. He allowed me that little distance, pressing in but not so quickly as he had before and I knew he could. Pity. I¡¯d hoped to land another strike on his knee, where a narrow wound seeped hot trails of blood. Disregarding the small cut I¡¯d inflicted on him, Redael walked steadily and carefully, ensuring I had no chance to make any sudden attacks. My sneak attack thwarted, I stood and breathed deep. [Bloodlust] was allowing me to ignore any number of smaller aches and pains, but I needed to constantly fight against its compulsion to rush forward without thought. Instead, I settled slowly back, keeping my weight balanced and ready to move in any direction in response to whatever my foe decided to do. After sizing me up with his head cocked, Redael pressed into my space and I immediately ducked below his swiping hand. I was rising up to drive my claws into his chest when I realized the Alpha was still turning, whipping his tail towards me. I stumbled backward, trying to escape the reach of the long weapon, but I was too slow to wholly avoid the swift scaly club that wrenched into my right arm. Even through the haze of [Bloodlust], the agony of my right shoulder being tweaked like that pulled me out of any combative readiness. Regardless of my current state, I knew that my ¡°teacher¡± wouldn¡¯t stop just because I was suffering. With a grimace, I tried to settle back into a reactive position, but I was compromised, and Redael knew no mercy. He kept circling to my right side until I was backed against a wall, where he lashed out with closed fists, punching my left arm and ribs three times until I gasped out in pain. Then, once I¡¯d lost my stance from the pain, Redael grabbed the base of my skull and forced my face into the dirt. I couldn¡¯t stop my gasping breaths and began to gag and choke on the dust that filled my mouth and nostrils. Still wheezing and in pain, I fought back, trying to get my face free, to allow myself to get at least one clear breath. I couldn¡¯t, but after maybe five seconds of panicked fighting, Redael released me. ¡°At least you¡¯ve learned not to give up.¡± He continued to speak as he walked away, down into his quarters, ¡°See you tomorrow.¡± I rolled over, finally breathing clean air and hacking out dirty mucus and sandy saliva. Gasping, I took a minute before rising to my feet and feeling all the aches and pains from this ¡°training¡± session settle over me. Redael¡¯s instructions were being drilled into me, almost as if they were being actively carved into my bones. However, disregarding the pain that these lessons brought, I could already feel myself improving from just two days ago. After I slept next, I would awaken to some form of growth, something I was looking forward to. Maybe those bonus Stats would allow me to better hold my own against Redael. I held no illusions that I would be able to fight as his equal, but I was hoping I could finally leave the realm of ¡°insolent child¡±. As best as I could, I shrugged off the beating I¡¯d just sustained and began to walk up the tunnel towards my pack¡¯s territory. This was only the third time I¡¯d made this trip up the halls, but I could tell that the mature keelish whose dens I passed were watching. Already, I could feel a change in their evaluation of me. On the first day, I was sure that every one of them was laughing at my pitiful state, then yesterday, confused at my willingness to reenter the situation. Today, holding my head high, I limped my way back to my territory and I could feel some measure of appreciation and respect from those watching me. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Did they think I was insane for continuing to subject myself to Redael¡¯s attention? Probably. Did they see that I was coming back less injured? Almost certainly. Maybe those who saw me thought I was pathetic and pitiable, but there were sure to be some that saw my potential, my possibilities. I attempted to massage my injured pride (and ribs) with similar justifications as I arrived back into my pack¡¯s territory. Every breath came with pain to my left ribs, the punches I¡¯d sustained there had probably nearly cracked a bone, but I¡¯d come to realize exactly how careful Redael was with me. There was no tenderness offered, but he¡¯d never broken one of my bones, and had never given me any injury that I hadn¡¯t been able to sleep off with Vefir¡¯s assistance. My arrival back at the den was greeted by Vefir, as it had been the last two days as well. Immediately he set to tending my wounds, and with every day¡¯s practice, his mastery over his magic improved. I couldn¡¯t tell if he¡¯d qualified for any evolution to whatever the name was of his magic manipulation organ, but even if he hadn¡¯t, his obviously greater skill served to incentivize me to hasten my own experiments and work on my sonilphon. Before long, with his assistance, my ribs no longer ached and I could breathe a sigh of relief. ¡°Vefir.¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha?¡± He never called me by my name now. I couldn¡¯t say if the realization bothered me, but I enjoyed the obvious respect. ¡°Thank you. You¡¯re getting even better day by day.¡± Vefir flared his frills and bowed low, almost seeming to blush. ¡°Thank you, Alpha.¡± For the first time in a while, I felt the descent of the divine presence as Vefir continued, ¡°I serve in the shadow you cast.¡± Unbidden, I added, ¡°We are they who cast the long shadow.¡± Vefir seemed to be shaken from his reverie and smiled a little at me before retreating. As he left, that vaguely familiar female presence whispered to me, ¡°Well done.¡± I tried to place it, but still couldn¡¯t as I shook my head and looked at the [System] message. [The user has discovered the first iteration of the Fifth and final of the Words of Power of Nievtala. The user has been blessed with the lesser blessing of victory. The user has been provided with the Skill: Adversary.] How was it that I was speaking the words of ¡°victory¡± when I was routinely being beaten like a naughty and unloved child? In my barely contained frustration, I decided to ignore my new [Skill], whatever it was that it could do. Instead, I walked around the den, offering words and support where I could. Throughout my rounds, I tried to somehow use [Innervating Address] more gently, but whenever I tried, it simply injected the listener with a jolt of adrenaline instead of a more holistic support. Once my sonilphon was reduced to about half its full capacity, I was near Percral. He had continued to live up to Oncli¡¯s expectations, now only second to Took in his successful hunts. Once the pack expanded, he would be given leadership once again. ¡°Alpha, we¡¯re seeing fewer and fewer prey nearby. What should we do?¡± I paused. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ll talk to Took and we¡¯ll let you know.¡± Percral bowed, then turned to the baths. I turned to my own quarters, and after a quick bath of my own, laid down to rest. Quickly, I remembered to practice with and empty the last of my sonilphon, and the magic somewhat aimlessly filtered through my body as I fell asleep quickly, and my dreams were, for once, peaceful and nonspecific. I woke without a start, instead slowly waking to a feeling of relaxed comfort. With how taxing it was to be hurt and healed and hurt and healed again, I felt as if I had slept much longer than usual. Or maybe, it was this newest growth spurt. I felt strong, and as I stood and stretched, I opened my [Status]. Chapter 72 Ahnah, I know you have been planning a return to the west. You must know: beware the leviathans¨Cthey¡¯ve become quite active and moody of late on this side of the continent. The salt witches think it has something to do with the massive storms the Veratocracy has been sending against their southern border with the Wilds. You might not have heard of these storms yet, given your posting at the Principality, but they are growing in power and frequency. The salt witches hope that the storms will stop come autumn, and I will let you know if that is the case, if you aren¡¯t here yet. None of us are sure how they¡¯re sending these storms in the first place, much less how it is that the Speakers are causing the storms only to break after crossing the borders. That has long been the territory exclusively of the Tuttuvakaluk, and his rage is controlled only by him alone, so the most superstitious of the gray-furred are beginning to worry. We, of course, do not fear that the Great Albatross¡¯ wings have been bound or controlled, as his wrath has continued to whip the entirety of the Archipelago, but any information you or any others have gleaned of origin or reason for the weather¡¯s changes would be appreciated. Give my regards and condolences to our Atka, I know he was hoping to prove himself with a leviathan egg this year. I hope to see you soon. -Letter from Marshall Inuksuk, son of Ilnak to Captain Ahnah, daughter of Inuksuk. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Keelish Current quests: -Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. Progress: Mature Martanimis Terrorbird, Mature Scaled Deer. -Gain control of 15% of the entire swarm. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5. Progress: 5% -Subjugate a group of at least 10 individuals with at least 5 Intelligence. Note: Cannot be keelish members of the user¡¯s current pack. Base Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +1. Titles: none Stats: -Constitution: 27+2=29 -Strength: 35+2=37 -Agility: 37+2=39 -Intelligence: 29+2=31 -Magic: 22+2=24 Skills: Adversary: 0/10 Dominance: 29/100 Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Guide: (Cannot Evolve) Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Improved Bloodlust: Requirements Hidden Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Innervating Address (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 0/10 Sonilphon: 23/50 Evolutionary Possibilities -Adult Sonic Magicblood Alpha: Survive 60 days. Progress: 30/60 -Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif. Requirements: Evolution of Bloodlust Skill to Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust, Evolution of Sonilphon, Brood Alpha race (Completed). Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] I fought not to be disappointed at the size of this growth period¡¯s bonuses. None of the bonuses had grown since my last growth, and I couldn¡¯t help but let that frustrate me. I needed to grow, I couldn¡¯t let myself stagnate, and while I was making progress, it was slow. I needed to return to hunting, but it seemed like the nearby hunting grounds were beginning to run dry, and I needed good prey to finish my [Quest]. Maybe it would be better for me to introduce myself to one of the other packs of keelish and beat them into submission¡­ but Redael was so unpredictable that I could be praised for that, or put down like a crazed hound. Maybe wolfstags had a baseline intelligence above 5? I¡¯d always thought they were much smarter than keelish, but my experience in this life had me thinking that wasn¡¯t the case. Or, was it just another way in which this swarm was notable? The uncertainty pissed me off, but I couldn¡¯t hold myself back to more methodical training of my sonilphon and with Redael. However, thinking of him again, if I decided to just move on and start doing other things, I could, again, be praised or killed for missing an appointment with him. ¡°Nievtala guide me,¡± I muttered under my breath as I entered the bath. I¡¯d grown, even if not as much as I would have liked, and the skin needed to be scrubbed out from under my scales or I would be itchy all day. For the sake of my growth, I¡¯d taken to, at least twice a day, emptying my sonilphon while experimenting. The first was always here in my morningly bath, and I tried to figure out what I was missing with sending the magic through to my arms. The shudders weren¡¯t what I was going for, and sometimes I could compress the sonic magic¡¯s influence like I did with my explosively loud voice, but I could feel that that wasn¡¯t what I needed. Instead, I channeled the sonic magic and intensified it. I wasn¡¯t sure how this type of magic worked, so different from how Calling and Speaking worked. A Calling was almost mathematical, you said the right words, drew on the right powers, you exerted your will just so, and then the Calling was complete. This sonilphon was all¡­ intuitive. I¡¯d never doubted my intuition, but I preferred to understand how what I was doing worked. The intensification of the magic was correct, as I¡¯d come to learn, but there was something else. As it was, the magic just caused my scales to rattle and my fingers to wave back and forth. Maybe it was the frequency of the intense magic? It was almost like it came in waves. Could I compress it while intensifying, but not creating a ¡°lump¡± of magic? I might have been making progress, but I couldn¡¯t say for sure. My sonilphon bottomed out and as I noted the counter ticking over to 24/50, I finally decided to look at this new [Skill]. [Skill: Adversary; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated their determination to conquer. This Skill grants an aura that incites weakness, aggression, and paranoia in those the Skill¡¯s holder has deemed an enemy. This aura allows the Skill holder to more easily break the morale of those targeted. This Skill can evolve. Skill evolution requirements: Defeat a foe with a greater Stat total than yourself, without substantial support from any other creature. Progress: 0/10] This new [Skill] seemed to be a companion to [Dominance], and would work in a similar, but different way. [Adversary] was geared less towards becoming a ruler, instead focusing on grinding those you defeated beneath your heel. Additionally, this evolution was focused entirely on my own combative abilities, and would be easier to evolve the earlier I did it. But as I thought about it, I couldn¡¯t help but begin to sigh to myself. I was stuck here, with Redael, trying to learn how to fight him from him, and the practices left me too exhausted to go on the hunt. As I exited my quarters, trying to figure out what I could do for the next short while before I descended to my personal training hell, I heard whimpers of pain and confusion from the communal area. I rushed out, trying to figure out what was going on, and there I saw them. Took and Brutus supported each other into the den proper, both covered in blood and exhausted. As she saw me, Took spoke. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Alpha.¡± After the words left her mouth, Took collapsed to the ground, her own blood beginning to pool beneath her. Chapter 73 ¡°VEFIR!¡± I hadn¡¯t finished shouting his name before he was already there and healing Took to the best of his abilities. For the first time, I was able to watch as his magic began to flow into Took¡¯s open wounds, and I saw as her flesh began to knit together beneath his hands. The healing was different from what I had seen and done as a Wavespeaker. Wavespeaking accelerated the body¡¯s natural recovery, but Vefir¡¯s magic seemed to create new flesh and skin from nothing. In my perception, Took¡¯s wounds flared in color, an incandescent white against her normally deep red. For the first time in quite a while, I cursed this different ¡°sight¡± for not allowing me a better understanding and a true view of what was actually happening. Why had I never tried to improve my vision somehow? I¡¯d had thirty days, and I always defaulted to what was easiest when it came to my vision. I swore to begin to make efforts to improve my vision as the heat faded from Took¡¯s chest. She had been savaged in at least three different locations, but the worst had been a massive bite taken out of her breast, just below the base of her neck. That had been the wound Vefir had concentrated his efforts on, and as he staggered back, exhausted, I saw tender flesh, completely uncovered by scales, had replaced the gaping wound. Took¡¯s breathing began to calm and level as the worst of her injuries was tended to, but one of her flanks had a deep bite wound in it, and the other side¡¯s ribs were exposed from some sort of a raking strike. Looking over at Brutus, he hadn¡¯t been as wounded as I¡¯d thought. Instead, he was coated in congealing blood, much of it I assumed to be Took¡¯s. Brutus hunched, tired but only with flesh wounds. When Vefir approached, looking to see what he could do for Brutus, Brutus rebuffed the attempt, simply shaking away the healer. Now that I was somewhat sure that the two weren¡¯t in mortal danger, I felt the rage begin to build. I immediately tamped it down, my self-mastery having improved markedly over the past days¡¯ training with Redael. Still, I couldn¡¯t keep the edge from my voice when I spoke. ¡°What happened?¡± Brutus began to try to speak, but Took raised her hand and tried to stand as she spoke. Vefir tried to keep her from rising, but she shook him off and shakily looked me in the eyes. ¡°A pack of five of us. Went to hunt, and were attacked by the wolves, more than ten of them. Only we escaped, by luck.¡± I heard more than I felt my jaw clench and my fangs grind on each other. Those stars forsaken, worthless canines did this? And killed three of my own. Immediately, I drew on the miniscule amount of magic my sonilphon had recovered and began to howl to my listening pack. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°We are the long shadow! We are the darkness our foes fear! We fear nothing! Fear no one! We are the blade that reaps! We are forged in battle!¡± I shouted and pounded my chest, the hollow thump filling the den as my pack stood, spellbound at my haranguing. ¡°Tempered in blood!¡± In my frenzy, I reached across with my left arm and cut a long shallow line in my right forearm. As the blood began to flow, I wiped it under my jaw and the scent of my blood filled my nostrils. ¡°Who follows?!¡± ¡°FORGED IN BATTLE AND TEMPERED IN BLOOD, WE FOLLOW!¡± The voices of my whole pack rang out in the den, and I saw Treel, Foire, Vefir, Brutus, Percral, Shemira, and even Sybil, Etra, and Cree thinly slice their arms, anoint themselves with their blood, and approach me. Took began to join with the rest, but I stopped her from speaking. ¡°You¡¯re only barely still standing. I don¡¯t want you to come with us and get yourself killed. You did well getting back here, and I¡¯ll avenge the fallen.¡± ¡°Alpha, please.¡± She didn¡¯t say any more, but Took¡¯s eyes filled with pleading. I clicked my teeth, denying her as her face fell and her shoulders drooped. Before anything else, I continued speaking, ¡°Took, I do have something I need you to do.¡± She looked at me, hopeful. ¡°I need you to go to Redael, or at least Rulac, and tell them that I won¡¯t be there at the usual time. In fact, I might not be able to go to Redael today.¡± Took flared her frills, tired, but seemingly a little grateful for the assignment and respite. ¡°Take your time.¡± After I was done speaking with her, I finally resumed my burning rage, my need for violence. I strode forward, every one of the pack except Took behind me. Then, without another word, I began to lead the frenzied pack out of the den and to the jungle. [Took POV] Against her will, Took slumped to the ground. The journey back to the den had been agonizing and long. Vefir¡¯s help allowed her to stay conscious now, but she knew it wasn¡¯t long before she¡¯d give in. Watching the pack leave her behind sent shards of pain shooting through her, that she, as a Beta, was unable to help the pack. She couldn¡¯t avenge them. ¡°Nievtala, guide Shruk.¡± She gasped, pulled in a breath, and continued. ¡°Nievtala, guide Creck. Nievtala, guide Cashas.¡± Her final rites finished, Took allowed herself a moment¡¯s rest, catching her breath and laying against the ground. As the last echoes of the pack¡¯s passage faded from the den, however, Took forced herself back to her feet and turned to go down the path to where she knew Rulac and the Swarm Alpha were. She¡¯d been given a task, and she would complete it. Every step was a struggle, but going down the slope was better than going up. Took didn¡¯t let herself think of how difficult it would be to return to the den. She put one plodding step in front of the other, didn¡¯t pay any mind to anything in front of her. Just. Continue. Walking. The dizziness grew, and finally Took fell, slumping to her side and laying, gasping. For the first time, she realized how hungry she was. Maybe if the hunt had been successful before the wolves¡¯ ambush she would be in a better state. Whatever the case was, Took¡¯s vision began to cloud as she began to lose consciousness. She could barely hear a voice as she inevitably succumbed to the blissful oblivion of sleep. Chapter 74 The pack pressed on, ever forward. Once we exited the den, I switched my vision and noted the skies beginning to burn with the colors of the sunset. Remembering my recent frustration, I kept my eyes peeled and didn¡¯t change my perception back to the wider thermal vision. ¡°Brutus!¡± He stepped forward, immediately answering my summons. ¡°Where?¡± I couldn¡¯t bring myself to unclench my jaw long enough to speak in a full sentence. Brutus, following my own brusque manner, simply pointed, and immediately we set off in that direction as I continued to speak. ¡°How long?¡± He flicked his tail, unsure. ¡°Not long. First hunt.¡± Suns burn me, of course. I forgot Brutus was stupid. He wouldn¡¯t pay attention to things like how far away something was or how long it had taken to get somewhere. ¡°Foire!¡± ¡°Going now, Alpha.¡± I hadn¡¯t needed to give a single command, and then Foire was trotting ahead and beginning to scale a large burlraiz. I didn¡¯t want to, but I forced myself to hold as calmly as I could. Around me, I could feel the influence my mentality had on my pack. None except Sybil were able to hold still, bouncing in place and barely containing snarls. I knew the hunt would go better if I could calm myself a little, I felt the influence of [Pack Tactics] whispering as much in my ear. Even so, I desperately wanted to move, to do something. I kept my fingers pressed together, my scales locked in place and ready for combat. Surprisingly quickly, Foire descended from the tree and jumped down before me. ¡°They¡¯re close. At least twenty of them. They¡¯re setting up an ambush about a mile away in that¨C¡± he pointed, ¡°direction. Seven are in the open, the rest are hidden.¡± ¡°Then we know where we¡¯re going.¡± The rational side of my brain, racing under the influence of [Pack Tactics], realized that whatever these wolfstags were, they probably weren¡¯t voltaic. If they were, then Brutus and Took would have sustained burns. If they were voltaic, then they were exceptionally weak, and wouldn¡¯t have any magic to speak of. That was good, and since we outnumbered them about 2:1, I could afford to hold some back until their ¡°trap¡± was sprung, then strike them when they thought they had the advantage. ¡°Percral.¡± He stepped forward, bouncing in place. ¡°Yes, Alpha?¡± ¡°Take twenty of the pack that will follow you and Foire. Sneak around the wolves and, after they are all engaged, surround them.¡± Percral¡¯s eyes widened as he understood the assignment I¡¯d given him, then, with a slight tremor to his voice, he asked, ¡°Alpha¡­ you want me to lead?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I said. Take those you trust and go.¡± Percral stepped off and began to pick some of the keelish to follow him, among them Treel, Ilne, and Katre. As he did so, I turned back to Foire, ¡°Which direction are they?¡± He pointed and I flared my frills in acknowledgement. ¡°We¡¯ll go slow, so get there and surround them as quickly as you can.¡± I felt my jaws lock up as I grimaced more than I grinned. ¡°We won¡¯t let a single one of them escape.¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Foire flared his own frills in acknowledgement before murmuring, ¡°We are the long shadow and the blade that reaps.¡± He thumped his chest and turned before joining with the group of keelish marching off to complete our own ambush. I rolled my shoulders and stretched my back, a series of pops fighting to relieve the tension that had built to a massive crescendo inside me. They didn¡¯t reduce the tension and bubbling fire within me, just serving to limber me up. ¡°Vefir, stay back, ready to treat anyone who needs it. Keep yourself safe, and only use whatever magic you have when absolutely necessary, tend to wounds without magic if possible. If any of you are wounded seriously, trust the rest of us enough to fall back. Don¡¯t die.¡± I could see the keelish understanding my commands, and I nodded before raising my right arm where my blood flowed out in a small trickle. ¡°Victory!¡± ¡°VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!¡± came the echo and with that I turned and began to lead my pack into the trap. The path was easy enough to traverse, and knowing what was coming took the anxiety out of our approach. Every one of the keelish with me stepped with purpose and knowing that we could be ambushed differently from how we¡¯d expected. Sybil herself looked quite nervous and continuously looked back and forth on the alert. The hunters, accustomed to the nerves and adrenaline that accompanied the hunt, strode onward with purpose, and I led us all forward. In a small clearing before us, a group of seven wolfstags acted busy. If I hadn¡¯t known, I might have thought they were preparing meat to be taken back to their nest, but I could tell from how they perked their ears up at our approach that they¡¯d known we were coming. Maybe by scent, given the direction of the winds, but regardless, our approach wasn¡¯t a surprise. I didn¡¯t care. With a low command, I led half of the pack running into battle and as we crashed through the brush into the clearing, the wolfstags all readied themselves and assumed defensive positions. With their antlers, they definitely were Voltaic or Mistral, but I saw no flickers of lightning in their fur or antler clusters, so I figured I was correct in my assumption of their weakness. Regardless of their magical capabilities though, these were fully grown wolfstags, at least four feet tall each at the shoulder, with powerful muscles filling their bodies. Each was larger than the regular keelish that followed me, and they were prepared to fight to the death. I couldn¡¯t lose myself in these thoughts any longer, and the ranks of keelish smashed into the waiting line of wolfstags. The nearest wolfstag dodged to the side from Brutus as he charged and landed in front of me. With a roar, I grabbed two of its antlers and smashed its face down into the dirt as I activated [Bloodlust] with a quick thought. The shattering of the wolfstag¡¯s fangs against each other was music to my ears and I lifted the stunned wolfstag¡¯s head up. I couldn¡¯t reach any of its vitals with the thick cluster of antlers in my way, so once the wolf¡¯s face, with jaws dazedly snapping at me, passed my own, I lunged forward and sunk my own fangs deep into its throat. The intoxicating taste and smell of blood filled my nostrils and throat as I ripped the entirety of the wolf¡¯s throat from its neck. A spray of blood coated my face and arms as I heaved the corpse to my side and battered it against another, larger wolfstag that was holding back three of my keelish. With my eyes covered with gore, I shifted my perception back to my thermal vision, just in time. A single moment before I could begin to set into my next prey, I saw the ambush spring. Twenty wolfstags rushed out of the nearby brush and began to set on the flanks of my force. Nievtala guide us to victory, this was more than I¡¯d anticipated facing. Chapter 75 With seven more wolfstags than we¡¯d planned, we needed to pray that Percral and his team arrived quickly. Regardless, we were in a disadvantageous position, being matched basically one for one, and we had several of the least combat ready of the pack with us. We needed to thin the pack as quickly as possible, and I couldn¡¯t completely concern myself with the rest of the pack¡¯s safety. After all, I¡¯d said to trust those around us. Behind me, I heard Shemira scream in challenge to one of the flanking wolves, and Brutus turned to that same side and bulled into the next wolfstag. I whirled to the opposite side to give support and continue the slaughter. One down, so many to go. I stopped thinking, instead giving myself to the press, the insanity of this battle. The nearest wolfstag was pressing the attack on one of the smaller males, a convert of Shemira¡¯s, and the keelish was losing badly. The wolf had caught the keelish¡¯s tail somehow and was lifting it up in the air for another of the canines to begin to tear into my subordinate. Before the combination could be completed, though, I punched my left arm forward, as hard as I could muster. My claws, having been recently trained on the unforgiving and unbelievably tough scales of Redael¡¯s hands, punctured the soft flesh of the wolfstag with ease, and my fingers passed between his ribs until my wrist was finally stopped by the bones. My prey gasped, the air punched literally from his lungs as my claws tore through his innards without any resistance. The wolfstag let my fellow keelish fall from his jaws, and as he collapsed to the ground, I pulled my arm out with a shower of blood flicking from my hand. As its companion fell and died, the other wolfstag began to second guess its decision but my recently rescued companion leapt onto the wolfstag¡¯s back and began tearing at whatever he could reach. The wolfstag reared back and tried to smash its antlers against its aggressor, but the moment its front feet left the ground, I had my opening and, with both hands, punched into its exposed throat and chin. My left arm severed part of its windpipe and spine, but my right arm punched through the soft bottom of the jaw, through the harder roof of the wolfstag¡¯s mouth, and then into and through its brain. As the body went limp, I again lifted the corpse, but this time, instead of throwing it, I used the body as a massive club and smashed it down on a nearby wolfstag¡¯s back. There was a satisfying crunch of bones breaking, either from the corpse or my target, but I didn¡¯t care. The throes of [Bloodlust] were beginning to take complete control of me and I immediately rushed to the next victim. The wolfstags were beginning to notice my rampage, and as one tried to get distance from me, I whirled and tossed the body of its packmate into its face. He tried to get away from me, but I, remembering what Redael had done to me, continued into a spin and smashed my heavy tail into his thin front legs. Both broke, and I left the crippled foe for another to finish off. With a moment of clarity, I channeled all the magic left in my sonilphon and pushed it to my throat. After a moment of preparation, maybe two seconds, I was ready and screamed to all who could hear, ¡°VICTORYYY!¡± with the influence of [Innervating Address]. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Scattered cries of ¡°Victory!¡± echoed from all around me and on the opposite side of the wolfstags. The reinforcements had arrived and began to tear into the exposed and weakened flanks of our prey with heightened aggression and power. With my [Bloodlust]¡¯s mounting insanity, I rushed into the press of battle and literally leapt into action, jumping onto an unsuspecting wolfstag¡¯s back and bearing it down to the ground, where it was set on by another keelish. I couldn¡¯t remember the rest of the battle in specifics, just flashes. Me leaping onto a wolfstag¡¯s flanks, ripping and tearing with all four limbs and my jaws at the same time. Foire darting below a particularly large specimen as I grappled with its antlers and jaws, then Foire disemboweling that same wolfstag. Shemira and Sybil working together to fell another of the wolves, before Shemira was blindsided and ripped away by a flashing pair of jaws. Sybil leaping to Shemira¡¯s support. Percral roaring a challenge directly in a wolfstag¡¯s face before both smashed together in a tornado of flashing fangs and claws. Brutus¡¯s screams in the background, filled with pain and rage. Several casualties on the keelish side. I didn¡¯t know if they survived, but I continued my nearly mindless assault. My fangs wetted in blood. Fur caught in my mouth. My arm hurt, ignored it. Twice, a wolfstag caught my tail and began to drag me away, they were killed. One tried to flee the slaughter, and I leapt excitedly onto it. Finally, as the madness induced by [Bloodlust] surged to something almost beyond my control, I dismissed it. Finally, I saw the brutal scene. I hadn¡¯t brought the pack here for a hunt. I¡¯d brought them for vengeance, and we had extracted that manifold. As I counted, twenty five wolfstag corpses laid haphazardly around the clearing, and the final two were being executed by two groups of keelish. Nine keelish bodies laid around the clearing, and I couldn¡¯t tell if they were alive or dead, but Vefir was ministering to another three while Foire seemed to be checking on the nine laying about. As I watched, he checked one body and quickly dismissed it before moving on. The second body he checked was worth bringing back to Vefir¡¯s attention, which he did before moving on. My body was sticky with blood and viscera. Both of my hands were caked with it, and I could hardly move my fingers with the congealing blood filling every gap in my scales. My face was sure to be just as filthy as my hands, as I could feel the thickening of the liquid covering what felt to be every inch of me. My right shoulder was throbbing with every heartbeat, but it seemed that I hadn¡¯t done any real damage to it, just strained the already damaged muscles there. The only ¡°wounds¡± I seemed to have sustained were the bite marks all along my tail. The smallest and weakest among us, though, seemed to have received the brunt of the damage from the wolfstags. They had focused on those they considered easy targets, and had focused on eliminating them as quickly as possible, and now that I looked closer, I was sure at least three of the felled keelish were dead and beyond any hope of resuscitation Regardless of any casualties, as I looked over the field of prey, of food that we had acquired for ourselves, of this difficult fight we had been victorious in¡­ I felt no regret, only pride. Chapter 76 Vefir finished his investigation and attempts at healing, and then we knew that five of the pack had died, none of whose names I knew except Traak, a hunter from Tieran¡¯s pack. The pack, in total, now numbered 50, after the casualties from the ambush on Took¡¯s smaller pack and this time. Even with the dead bodies of my subordinates laid out in front of me, I didn¡¯t mind the price paid. We had made the wolves pay for their ambush, and we would have more food than we could eat for days. With what we had done, the rest of the wolfstags¡¯ pack would either flee after the reduction of numbers, or, if they had somehow grown to a massive superpack of hundreds, then they would seek revenge. Either way, it would be in our best interest to take time back at the den to rest and recover. The seven heavily wounded but still living keelish would need help to return to the den, and I refused to leave a single body here for scavengers. I began issuing out assignments for who to carry what, where and how, but before too long, Sybil took over the assigning of duties for me. As Sybil gave instructions, I noticed Shemira standing next to her before playfully leaning against my stoic Beta. Sybil turned to Shemira and leveled a heavy gaze at the joking keelish before pulling away. Shemira bumped happily against Sybil a couple more times before Sybil finally whipped her tail at a small wound on Shemira¡¯s leg and Shemira, with a whimper of mock pain, retreated, but not far. The complete change in their attitude towards each other took me by surprise. I could remember them working together during the fight, but something more than that needed to have happened for this level of change to occur. The change in their relationship, however, didn¡¯t matter now, and instead I set to helping the pack prepare to haul out the massive mountain of meat. With Took still at the den and the heavy wounds many of the pack had sustained, I would need to carry two wolfstags myself in order for us to return with every carcass. Glancing back and forth, I decided on two of the larger specimens, and since there was still time until we could leave, I began to wonder why the wolfstags hadn¡¯t used any of their magic. Even if they were magically talentless, they still should have had some capability to do magic, and that could have been the deciding factor in the fight. Idly, I decided to look at my [Quest] list, hoping to see if there was some change due to these ¡°new¡± wolfstags, and I was surprised by what I found. I had, for some reason, completely ignored a flashing [System] notification this whole time. [Quest completed. Growth achieved. Quest board updated. Status updated.] [QUEST COMPLETE: Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. Progress: Mature Martanimis Terrorbird, Mature Scaled Deer, Mature Mistral Wolfstag. Variable reward bonus provided: Constitution, Agility, +4, Strength, +3, Intelligence, Magic +2. New Quest received.] So, the reason that the wolfstags hadn¡¯t used any magic was because they were Mistral wolfstags, the lesser elemental version of Voltaic. Their magic was wind manipulation, and usually all that they could do with that was cause themselves to move more quickly, which explained the speed with which they could burst out of the cover of the brush. At least the first one I had killed was an adult, giving me some boost to the bonus Stats I received. I idly wondered what the bonuses provided were by each of the prey I¡¯d hunted, and no sooner than I¡¯d thought that did another notification appear. [Variable reward bonus breakdown: Mature Martanimis Terrorbird; Constitution, Strength +2, Agility +1, Intelligence +1, Mature Scaled Deer; Constitution, Agility, +1, Mature Mistral Wolfstag; Constitution, Strength, Intelligence +1, Agility, Magic +2.] The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I always managed to forget the ease with which the [System] would provide answers, but I resisted that naturally now. An easy answer wouldn¡¯t satisfy or teach me anywhere as much as my personal discovery would have. Disregarding that though, with the [Quest] completed, I looked at my [Status]. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Keelish Current quests: -Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. -Gain control of 15% of the entire swarm. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5. Progress: 4% -Subjugate a group of at least 10 individuals with at least 5 Intelligence. Note: Cannot be keelish members of the user¡¯s current pack. Base Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +1. Titles: none Stats: -Constitution: 29+6=35 -Strength: 37+5=42 -Agility: 39+6=45 -Intelligence: 31+4=35 -Magic: 24+4=28 Skills: Adversary: 2/10 Dominance: 29/100 Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Guide: (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Improved Bloodlust: Requirements Hidden Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Innervating Address (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 1/10 Sonilphon: 26/50 Evolutionary Possibilities -Adult Sonic Magicblood Alpha: Survive 60 days. Progress: 30/60 -Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif. Requirements: Evolution of Bloodlust Skill to Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust, Evolution of Sonilphon, Brood Alpha race (Completed). Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] Regardless of the reason, I enjoyed looking at my [Status] and seeing the ways in which I progressed. The bigger the numbers were, after all, the stronger I was. Looking at the numbers, though, I couldn¡¯t help but feel confused. If I was completely honest, as a human, my strength had been below average, but not by much. That meant that my Strength then was probably somewhere from 40-45, but I never could have ripped through wolfstags like I had here back then, and even after this [Quest] completion, I wasn¡¯t that high in any of my Stats. [The Administrator chuckles, pleased, before letting you know that the reason for that is because of your biological advantages, such as your natural weapons and defenses. Additionally, you have, since your hatching, spent every day focused entirely on honing your martial capability.] A moon spent training with the bow or spear wouldn¡¯t have granted so many benefits¡­ but I understood. I¡¯d never trained like I spent my days now. A human spent most of their time doing anything but training, but I hardly did anything else. In fact, I¡¯d gone so far as to willingly return to an abusive teacher every day in the hopes of seeing any progress. And progress I had, with this battle showing it. I had demonstrated tactics, an understanding of the enemies¡¯ weaknesses, and planning before even making contact. As I began to feel a swelling of pride, I turned and looked at the pack, now fully ready to begin the trek back to the den. Spread before me were scarred, powerful warriors. My subordinates. My companions. ¡°Today!¡± I cried out, ¡°You all are my brothers, my sisters! My true companions! We were offered insult and paid it back in our prey¡¯s lifeblood! We return in victory!¡± As my words faded into the surrounding jungle, the pack echoed my words, ¡°VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!¡± Chapter 77 The walls of Nievtra initially stood as a bastion against the empire¡¯s subjugated peoples. Now, they stand as the shield behind which the innocent cower in fear. May long they stand, and may their defenders always be victorious. -from the transcript of a speech delivered by a Moonchild refugee. Dragging the bodies back to the den was slow going, since we didn¡¯t leave a single wolfstag or keelish corpse behind. I personally dragged the two large wolfstag corpses I¡¯d selected before, and each step required that I draw deeper on what little reserves of energy remained within. The wounded tried their best to help themselves along, but most required no small amount of support. Regardless of the wounds, though, I was excited to see the unanimous and unconditional support being shown by each of the healthy keelish, carrying the bodies and their companions alike. Seeing the help each offered, I felt a pang of remorse. Not that there had been casualties in our vengeance, but that I hadn¡¯t known the names of the five who¡¯d died. I couldn¡¯t call myself an Alpha and a true leader when I¡¯d spent a full moon with all these keelish and hadn¡¯t taken the opportunity to get to know all of them. I was their superior, their leader, and I needed to know them. With that in mind, I took time to speak with every keelish nearby I didn¡¯t know the name of. I didn¡¯t remember every name immediately, but I could see the change in every one of them and their demeanor. Once one, named Silf, saw that I was actively talking to him, he stood taller and more energetically dragged the wolfstag he carried. Another, a female named¡­ Solia? I couldn¡¯t remember, but she spoke of one of the fallen, a male named Houl. They had been together since hatching, initially in Tieran¡¯s, then Shemira¡¯s pack. They¡¯d always worked together, and she welcomed the opportunity to remember his short life. As I continued asking questions and listening to the members of the pack, the pack as a whole sped up and more easily made their way onward. For the first time, I was leading them without any aggression or rage, just companionable conversation and glorying in our success. Another facet of leadership that I had forgotten as a keelish. With the large and cumbersome bodies of the wolfstags, we went to the larger, hidden entrance to the den, where we could more easily drag in our prey. Now that we were totally in our own secure, safe space, I could feel the bulk of the pack relax. We hadn¡¯t been fully safe until we¡¯d returned to our home, and without any further threat of harm from whatever may be lurking in the nearby jungle, the pack as a whole nearly skipped through the tunnels to our territory. As we finally arrived at the den, with a sigh of relief, we dropped our cargo and collectively sagged to the ground. While conversing had lightened the mood, it had still been a grueling fight with casualties followed by a nearly two mile hike carrying at least our own body weight in meat. I laid, exhausted and pleased, as Sybil stumbled over to me. ¡°Yes, Beta?¡± I couldn¡¯t keep the gentle tease from my tone. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Do you know where Took is?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Do you know¨C¡± After a moment, my exhausted mind caught up with what she¡¯d asked. Was Took not resting in the den? Why wouldn¡¯t she be in here? I knew I knew where she would be, but again, my exhausted mind strained to put it together, until finally, it clicked. Suns burn me. Had she been killed for being the bearer of bad news? Could my absence be considered bad news? I couldn¡¯t believe that Rulac would do such a thing, but I also couldn¡¯t say that if Redael did so it would shock me. Trying to shake the fatigue from my mind and body, I stood. ¡°I know where she might be. I¡¯ll go check.¡± Without another word, and without listening for any response from Sybil, I began to leave the den. I was tired, but nowhere near so wrung out that I couldn¡¯t run down the tunnels towards Redael¡¯s lair. By now, I knew the path well, and every step I rushed down I worried more and more for Took. Even if she hadn¡¯t been hurt by Redael, she was recovering from a potentially mortal wound and we couldn¡¯t say how much Vefir¡¯s healing had actually recovered. My steps lengthened, and I found myself leaping into the walls on turns, taking two or three steps along the walls so I wouldn¡¯t have to slow myself. As I rounded a turn, nearly to my destination, I was blindsided by a massive arm that shot out of a den entrance and slammed me to a stop. Before I thought about it, I ducked the second hand that reached for me and lunged into the attacker¡¯s chest. Redael¡¯s training snapped into my mind and, given that my assailant was surprised by me, I pushed the advantage, keeping them on their back foot. I linked the scales on my left hand together and plunged it forward, driving to stab my hand deep into the offending keelish¡¯s chest. Rulac caught my hand with relative ease and pushed me back. As I stumbled back a couple of steps, he raised both hands in the universal sign of peace before he spoke. ¡°Easy, little guy. I think I know what you¡¯re here for.¡± With that, Rulac turned his back on me and strode back into the den he¡¯d come from. I followed, my exhausted legs only barely continuing to step forward after having come to a sudden stop. It wasn¡¯t long before I turned a corner and saw a familiar shape laying on the ground. If I hadn¡¯t seen her through my thermal vision, I¡¯d have worried, but as it was, I could see that Took was alive and, with just another moment¡¯s observation, I could see the gentle rise and fall of her breathing. Rulac chuckled, ¡°We think she was making her way down here when she passed out in the mouth of this den. Someone sent for me, and I¡¯ve been keeping an eye on her since. Given her size, she¡¯s one of yours. What was she doing down here?¡± Relieved, I sagged onto the ground, my lungs heaving from my hike, hunt, and retrieval capped by my panicked sprint here. My legs burned, and I realized that was the first time that they had since I¡¯d become a keelish. More and more did I appreciate this body, regardless of the many faults that came with it. ¡°Thank you, Rulac. She¡¯s my Beta. She was wounded, stayed behind.¡± I was beginning to catch my breath, and so I slowed myself and continued to speak in a more collected tone, ¡°I asked her to come down and tell you or Redael I wouldn¡¯t be able to make it to the practice today, and looks like she tried to when she shouldn¡¯t have. I should have gone myself, or sent one that was able-bodied.¡± Rulac sized me up. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to your story. You can tell me after you return from speaking with Redael. I¡¯d guess your Beta here will have woken up by the time he¡¯s done with you.¡± Before I could respond or make any sort of response, Rulac laughed his belly laugh, ¡°Good luck!¡± I would need it. Chapter 78 Redael showed no mercy, understanding, or patience upon my arrival. Whenever I¡¯d arrived in the days before, he had been in his den and then had exited eventually, never leaving me to wait more than a quarter of an hour. This time, whether because he knew I was coming, or because he was waiting, Redael was stood outside of his den when I arrived. I was about to apologize or explain myself when, without preamble, he rushed towards me. I knew what was coming, and ducked his first strike, my legs nearly giving out under the sudden movement. There was only so much I could do under these circumstances, but I tried to press in on Redael¡¯s chest like I had to Rulac. When my hand started knifing towards Redael¡¯s chest, though, he swatted it aside with contemptuous ease before striking my face with his other hand in an open palm. As always, his hand smashed into me with so much force that I was immediately seeing stars. With the reaction beaten into me, though, I dodged away as best as I could. Between my stunned mind and weak legs, I unfortunately couldn¡¯t escape. Redael¡¯s tail cracked into the side of my knee and I went down without any real fight left in me. I was too tired, too weak, and couldn¡¯t muster the strength. Regardless of my low morale, I didn¡¯t want to be beaten senseless like on the first day, and I tried to cover myself, rise to my feet, anything, but I couldn¡¯t see or stand or move, and after a couple contemptuous strikes, Redael backed away. Disbelieving, I looked at the Alpha. He apprised me, a hint of disappointment evident in his gaze. After a pregnant pause, one that had me convinced Redael was about to set back into me, he turned with a flick of his tail. ¡°Get some rest. Be back here in two days. Don¡¯t you dare be late again.¡± With that, my ¡°training¡± was complete after only being hit maybe five times. I was too exhausted to truly appreciate the feeling, though I was happy to have avoided getting dirt stuffed into every one of my face¡¯s orifices. After I was sure that my punishment was truly over, I struggled to my feet and began to stumble my way back to where Rulac and Took were. Now that I was truly in no hurry, I stepped slowly and carefully, allowing myself to recover. I was exhausted, but not wounded, and with slow steps and allowing myself the time necessary to recuperate, the journey was slow but no longer agonizing. Eventually I made my way up to the den, where Rulac was still standing vigil over Took. He took one look at me, nodded slowly, and said, ¡°You can lay down. If you fall asleep, I¡¯ll wake you once she does.¡± I slowly slid to the ground, resting but staying upright. ¡°No, I need to tell the pack that she is alright. I¡¯ll just rest here a moment before continuing.¡± ¡°No need, there was a little male who showed up not long after you left. I showed him the girl and he went back to your pack to let them know. I told him that you would be back once she woke up, so you need to wait here anyway.¡± As he spoke, Rulac stepped closer and gently pushed me to lay down. I didn¡¯t resist, but as I laid down and began to get comfortable, I asked a question that had just occurred to me. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Wait. This isn¡¯t your den. Why are we here?¡± ¡°This is where your little friend passed out, didn¡¯t want to move her.¡± ¡°But where are the keelish who live here?¡± ¡°Kicked them out.¡± I shook my head and sat up a little, beginning to worry. ¡°And they didn¡¯t care?¡± He cocked his head. ¡°Why would I care if they care? There are only three keelish in the swarm who wouldn¡¯t immediately do what I told them. One of them is talking to me right now, and I¡¯d die before I tried to tell Redael what to do.¡± ¡°And the third?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve met Wisterl. You think anyone can make her do anything she doesn¡¯t want to?¡± Rulac¡¯s rumbling laugh filled the den as he stretched himself out. ¡°No, she does what she wants.¡± I could feel my eyelids beginning to grow heavy as I enjoyed the companionable conversation. ¡°And what does she want?¡± ¡°To fight, mostly. I like hunting more than most, but rutting is better. A good nap? Great. Fighting? Can be fun, but I prefer the hunt. But then, that¡¯s why Wisterl isn¡¯t Beta. She¡¯d never want to be anyways.¡± I wanted to continue the conversation, but I found myself slipping into unconsciousness. It felt like only moments later when I was shaken awake, and as I opened my eyes, I saw Took leaning over me. I startled and bolted to my feet. Again, Rulac¡¯s laugh filled the den, and I looked over at the massive male leaning against the wall. ¡°Relax. You have a female excited to see you when you wake up. It¡¯s a good thing!¡± Rulac stood, stretched lazily, and continued speaking, ¡°Now get out. We¡¯ve been here long enough.¡± ¡°Thanks Rulac.¡± ¡°Sure. Keep up the training, by the way. You could almost hit me earlier.¡± Rulac¡¯s face resumed its usual smirk, and then, surprisingly quickly and quietly, he walked out of the den and was gone. I shook my head, trying to fully wake up as I stretched the stiffness from my body. After a moment, I turned to Took who looked chagrined. ¡°You ready to go back to our den?¡± She flared her frills, then bowed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I failed.¡± I held my tongue from apologizing. ¡°I should not have given you that assignment when you were so heavily wounded. I should have gone myself, or sent another. I won¡¯t make such a mistake again.¡± Took didn¡¯t seem to know what to say in response. She bowed her head, then wordlessly joined me on the trip back to our territory. It was abundantly clear that she wasn¡¯t happy with our current state, but I couldn¡¯t say what it was I should say or do to help, so I did nothing. Finally, we arrived back in our territory and as we approached the den, I was surprised to hear¡­ nothing. There was always some sort of noise in the area, but now, there was near perfect silence. A panic began to build in my chest, and I began to run until I turned into our den. Only three steps later, I was in our communal area and saw the reason for the continued silence. ¡°I said I was looking forward to your story. I was so excited, in fact,¡± Rulac said, ¡°that I decided to bring a friend along.¡± Redael¡¯s voice cut through the echoes of Rulac¡¯s little speech, ¡°It sure looks like a story to tell.¡± Chapter 79 I stood stock still, confused and taken aback as the [System] notified me that the [Skill Absolute Dominance] was being exerted upon me. Before too much time passed in this confused silence, though, Sybil was next to me. ¡°Is there anything you would like me to prepare for yourself or these two guests?¡± As always, she carried herself with grace and absolute poise, but I could read the tells of tension and frustration under her feigned nonchalance. I looked to Rulac and Redael. ¡°Would you like something to eat?¡± I felt foolish asking it, but I couldn¡¯t begin to understand how else to begin this conversation. ¡°I will no longer be Redael, Alpha of this swarm, the day that I accept food from a hatchling.¡± His tone wasn¡¯t unkind, but it seemed like the suggestion had somehow insulted him. Redael continued, ¡°You have earned every hair of this hunt, and you young eat more than we do anyways.¡± He shot a glance at Rulac, who seemed a little disappointed by being told he couldn¡¯t take any of our hunt. ¡°Now,¡± his voice changed, back to the cold, demanding tone I was accustomed to, ¡°tell us your story.¡± With nothing else holding me back or slowing me, I began the story, that the wolfstags had long been a threat to us around here, and that some of the pack had been killed by them before. When I mentioned that, I noticed Percral hanging his head in shame, but I continued, mentioning our first hunt of them, our success, and how they had faded from our memories. Then, I gestured to Took, explained the ambush they had suffered, then our immediate and complete response. I gestured to the dead bodies of keelish and wolfstag as I finished, ¡°There were the three that died in the initial ambush, and five more that died in our counterattack. We didn¡¯t let any of the wolfstags live, and we brought them all back.¡± I felt disappointed I¡¯d concluded our great, victorious moment like that, but I couldn¡¯t think of some great, sweeping statement to make. For the first time, though, I noticed Took staring, spellbound at the story and the proof laid about the den. I couldn¡¯t say for sure, but I imagined I could hear her stomach rumble while looking at the plentiful prey. Rulac nodded his head, ¡°I knew I¡¯d like to hear the reason you missed your appointment. A tale of vengeance and glory!¡± His booming laugh, something I¡¯d come to associate with his mere presence, filled the den as he continued, ¡°Those wolves bit off more than they could chew in you, I¡¯d say!¡± Rulac¡¯s loud voice continued to echo through the den for another several seconds. As his laughter faded, Redael shifted from his position, and the whole den, which had relaxed somewhat with Rulac¡¯s words and reaction, went still and silent once again. Redael leveled his eyes with mine and held my gaze without allowing me to look away. After an indescribably long moment, he spoke. ¡°Next time, don¡¯t lose any.¡± Then, with that, Redael stood and strode from the den. As he left and the influence of his [Absolute Dominance] faded from the pack, it was almost like a sigh of relief was released by every keelish in the den. Without speaking further, Rulac nodded his head at me in some sort of a message, I supposed, and left the den. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. With the two much larger adult keelish leaving the den, the space was almost no longer claustrophobically filled. Almost. Sybil had guided the rest of the pack to stack the wolfstag corpses against the walls and wherever they would fit, so the den was barely habitable, but it was not built to contain this many keelish and this many bodies at the same time. ¡°Took, go ahead and eat your fill.¡± The first thing I thought of was officially giving Took permission to go eat, and after a moment¡¯s indecision and deliberation, she finally made the decision and walked off. She couldn¡¯t help but let her feet drag as she went, but I still couldn¡¯t think of anything I could say that might help her. Instead, I turned and was about to retire to my quarters to finally bathe myself when Sybil began walking in step with me. We walked in silence until we stepped into my personal quarters. ¡°Tell me why the Swarm Alpha came here.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice was, for the first time I¡¯d ever heard, burning with emotion. Anger. It took me by such surprise that I stood in shocked silence before she prompted me to answer, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really know. When I spoke with Rulac, he simply said he¡¯d like to know why I hadn¡¯t been able to go to Redael.¡± ¡°That was it?¡± The anger was beginning to leach from her tone and posture, but her tail continued to twitch involuntarily. I couldn¡¯t stop the smile from beginning to crack my face. ¡°What?¡± Sybil whipped to face me full in the face. I chuckled a little before barely tamping it down and speaking, ¡°This is just the first time I¡¯ve seen you so¡­ like this. You haven¡¯t called me Alpha, you¡¯re asking direct questions, and you¡¯re so expressive. I think it¡¯s funny.¡± Sybil seemed to war with herself for a moment, and as she seemed about to pull herself back into her usual persona, I spoke again, ¡°I like this in private. You¡¯ve always been a little more relaxed when it¡¯s just us, but I prefer this ¡®real¡¯ you, without forcing yourself to be formal.¡± Sybil looked down and muttered, ¡°It isn¡¯t forced. It¡¯s just¡­ a way to keep distance.¡± ¡°And why should we keep a distance from each other? You¡¯re my most trusted confidant and greatest supporter. The closer we are, the better, so far as I can think.¡± ¡°And if I need to give you suggestions?¡± ¡°Then you give them. I fail to understand what is going through your mind on this. But¨C¡± a thought crossed my mind. ¡°As your Alpha, I command you to, to the best of your abilities, relax when you are around me and speak your mind honestly and openly, without excessive formality.¡± Sybil blinked long and slow at me. ¡°I think this is foolishness. And I think you should be much more careful about inviting or inciting or suggesting that the SWARM ALPHA come to the den and exert his influence over the pack.¡± Her tone was almost serious, nearly biting, and entirely refreshing. It was like the companionable nature of my talk with Rulac before, that he didn¡¯t treat me as the Alpha, but as another keelish. I much enjoyed the respect and attention of the pack, but sometimes, a normal conversation was nice. ¡°Just like that, thank you.¡± With that, I dismissed Sybil and at last indulged in my bath. Chapter 80 I hadn¡¯t thought about it, but I was completely covered in filth. I¡¯d been coated in blood and gore after the fight with the wolfstags, then dragged the bodies through the jungle without taking the time to clean myself, and finally been thrown into and rolled on the ground, with dirt covering any part of my blood-painted body that wasn¡¯t already stuck with leaves or fur. With so much covering me, I lightly scrubbed all over myself, rubbing the worst and largest sources of filth from my body before entering the bath. Only once had I made the mistake of entering the sand baths without removing the majority of the grime from my body. That had immediately polluted the bath, and it had needed to be painstakingly cleaned after. So, before I could luxuriate in the sands, I ran my hands over my body and sloughed off the bulk of the larger debris. Finally, I flopped down into the sand and rubbed my whole body in it before beginning to more deliberately scoop and scrub every part I could reach with the sands. The congealed blood and viscera only came off after deliberate scrubbing, but the scrubbing and constant flexion of my scales felt good. With the bulk of the muck scrubbed from my body, I laid comfortably in the bed for a while longer, before rising and stepping out of my quarters. I¡¯d thought of trying to rest more, but I¡¯d slept for at least an hour under Rulac¡¯s guard and didn¡¯t need to sleep. Instead, I stepped out into the communal area of the den, where the entire pack seemed to have cleaned themselves and were relaxing or slowly digging out more space for a pantry of sorts. Again, I was surprised to see Shemira basically clinging to Sybil and staying in Sybil¡¯s immediate vicinity. I walked past them as I gathered up enough of a wolf to eat my fill, then strode back to the two females. ¡°Anything going on that I should know?¡± I asked as I began to set into my meal. Sybil flicked her tail, ¡°Not at this time, Alpha. We¡¯re expanding the area, since we are all growing, but there is no hurry to do so.¡± ¡°Yeah, Sybil has it all under control.¡± Shemira chimed in, obviously teasing Sybil. I swallowed the bite in my mouth, and turned to Sybil, ¡°So what happened here?¡± Before Sybil could respond, Shemira answered, ¡°She saved me!¡± I looked over at Sybil, who stood still, not a flicker of emotion apparent in her bearing. ¡°Not quite so. We worked together in the hunt.¡± She didn¡¯t elaborate, but Shemira again jumped in. ¡°Really, Sybil came to my support when I was pulled away and surrounded.¡± The teasing tone faded from her voice as Shemira continued, ¡°You came when I was in a bad spot and helped me not die. Thank you for saving me.¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Sybil flicked her tail, deflecting the praise. ¡°Our Alpha here commanded us to trust the rest to protect us. As his Beta, I simply did what was requested of me by our leader.¡± Shemira looked up at me, a smirk touching the side of her mouth. ¡°She¡¯s been like this since it happened. Isn¡¯t she just the cutest?¡± Sybil, completely done with the conversation, turned and whipped her tail into the wound on Shemira¡¯s leg. This time, like when she¡¯d done so in the clearing, she forced herself to hold back. Shemira¡¯s whimper of pain was again joking, but as she pretended to be deeply wounded, her leg gave out beneath her and she managed to actually hurt herself. Sybil, for her part, looked down at the fool, sighed, and walked away, leaving Shemira behind. I looked down at her, watching as she gathered herself and looked at the scabbed wound she¡¯d managed to tear open. ¡°You actually like her, don¡¯t you?¡± I asked as Shemira began to rise. A small wry smile spread across her face as she answered, ¡°Yes. She is¡­ cold, much of the time, and I hated her when she was advising Tieran. Wise, calculating, and unfeeling. I was jealous of her power over him, and twisted him to listen only to me before getting him to kick her out. I thought of her as this¡­ thing, less than a creature. And as I watched her work so diligently before continuing to push me down I felt I was justified in fearing and hating her. But, even with all I did, she never hated me.¡± Shemira went silent, before finishing, ¡°She¡¯s just better than me.¡± The smile transitioned back to her usual smirk, and then, as she flounced away, Shemira laughed, ¡°Plus, she is just too cute when she¡¯s trying to hold herself back, right?¡± I sighed and resumed eating my meal, before looking for Took. She was stood quietly in a corner, Treel and Foire nearby. Took¡¯s head hung low, and I could tell that there had been some attempts at talking to her, but she simply didn¡¯t engage with it. I walked close, and Took looked up at me as I approached. I simply stood there, waiting for her to talk if she wanted. After several minutes, she did. ¡°I am a failure.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re not.¡± My response was immediate. ¡°I was wounded and unable to help you hunt. Percral could. He is better.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re the one that escaped the ambush with Brutus. You brought back news that we couldn¡¯t, and survived.¡± ¡°They died. It¡¯s my fault.¡± ¡°Did you kill them?¡± ¡°... No.¡± ¡°Did you make them leave?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Did you force them to do anything?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then how could it be your fault?¡± Took stood, confused and upset. I trusted her and relied on her quiet support, but I had no idea what to say to her, and I didn¡¯t think what I¡¯d said had meant anything to her. Regardless, I patted her gently on the shoulder then walked away after quietly telling Treel and Foire to keep an eye on her. I continued to walk through the den and talk with the keelish of my pack. I forced myself to remember the names of everyone, and I was most of the way to memorizing them all. Finally, after the whole pack had been spoken to, I turned to the five bodies we had been able to retrieve and bring with us. What was I supposed to do with these? Chapter 81 I had brought my fellow keelish¡¯s bodies back to the den more from a sense of stubborness than because I¡¯d had some sort of plan of what to do with them. But now there were five bodies laid out in the middle of the communal area, and I had no idea of what I¡¯d ever thought of doing with them. We hadn¡¯t buried any of the bodies before, and once we¡¯d grown a little we no longer ate the bodies of our fallen (praise Nievtala for that). I didn¡¯t want to reintroduce that. However, looking at the bodies, torn and shredded by the teeth of wolfstags, I felt there was some¡­ nobility in their sacrifice. They had followed me into a trap, and hadn¡¯t questioned me, but instead rushed onward. That willingness was something to be promoted, from a leader¡¯s point of view. Beyond that, however, I simply wanted to show some measure of respect towards my subordinates. As I stood and contemplated the bodies, I felt the divine presence descend over me. I stood tall, and I could feel that the rest of the pack was feeling the same influence that I was. All stood at attention when I began to speak. ¡°We are the keelish, the appointed of Nievtala to carve out victory and possibility from defeat and hopelessness. We are forged in the blood of our foes, and we are tempered in the blood of our sacrifice.¡± The presence lessened, but I felt I needed to continue, ¡°May the fires of the lives of these who sacrificed themselves for us burn within us forever! Never forget those who came before, that their blood runs through us! Victory!¡± ¡°Victory by fang and blood!¡± ¡°Victory!¡± ¡°Victory by fang and blood!¡± As the cheers began to die down, I noted the [System]¡¯s flashing message. [The user has discovered the first iteration of the Second of the Words of Power of Nievtala. The user has been blessed with the lesser blessing of zealotry. The user has been provided with the Title: Chosen of Nievtala.] I read the notification and could hear a sigh of relief from the voice that always accompanied these moments. ¡°Well done¡­¡± I felt like the voice wanted to say something else, but it was cut off, and though there was a moment of attempted clarity, the curtain of uncertainty was forcefully thrust back over my mind, and I found myself forgetting even what I had been thinking before. Forcing myself to refocus, to remember where I was and what I was doing, I began to look into the actual effects of my new [Title]. [Title: Chosen of Nievtala; a Title that shows that the holder is one of the currently living beings that can receive direction and influence directly from the Goddess Nievtala. Effects of Title: +5 to all Stats, and the ability to receive additional guidance from Nievtala. This Title can evolve.] Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Did this mean, then, that I would receive visions? I paused, waiting for some sort of a response. No answer came from the [System]. Not wanting to begin ranting to a ¡°god¡± out loud where I would be heard and seen by my pack, I internally began questioning. What is this? Is it, somehow, supposed to be helpful to me? My belief in a god was entirely conditional, and I didn¡¯t want one dictating to me what to do, where to go, and how to act. [The Administrator laughs. She wonders if you think something or someone else could change your mind or any decisions you make.] Of course? Without considering what being a goddess meant, and that she was the origin of these Words I¡¯m involuntarily speaking, even an Administrator could do so. After all, an Administrator can set [Quests] that will change the way I act, since I want to grow stronger. [The Administrator sighs. There are things that she cannot share as an Administrator, but she assures you that she, as an individual, cannot influence the way that the System itself functions. Beyond that, the Administrative Body can occasionally shape the rewards presented from Quest completion, but by and large, they are observers of the System, wholly unable to affect its workings. The gods are similarly limited in what they can do to or how they may influence those who are still dwelling among those yet mortal.] That did bring me some measure of comfort. So far as I could tell, she had always been completely honest with me, and I hoped there was no reason for her to change that any time soon. Regardless, I didn¡¯t like the title of this newest blessing. ¡°The Zealot¡±. So far as I knew, that was someone who was obsessed with their god, and I refused to be that. I could and would accept all the benefits that came my way, only so long as I remained myself through my ¡°blessings¡±. Having taken issue with this ¡°blessing¡±, I, for the first time, truly looked at all the blessings I had received. The blessing of power from the first of the Words, zealotry from the second, conquest the third, and victory the fifth. From the first, how to get my sonilphon, now the [Chosen of Nievtala] Title from the second, the way to evolve to khatif from the third, and the [Adversary] [Skill] from the fifth. What was Speaking these Words making me? What was it shaping me to be? Looking at them, all I could see was that these blessings were, for lack of a better word, blessings. They all helped me, and I hadn¡¯t seen any adverse effects from them. Could I trust them? Was there even anything I could do to stop them from coming? So far as I could tell, no, there wasn¡¯t. I shook my head, shaking the thoughts from my mind as I did so. I wouldn¡¯t hate Nievtala for doing this, however she was involved with the [System], but I wouldn¡¯t trust her either. The frustration set in¨Cwhat could I trust? What could I do? Was it even worth it trying to deny an influence I didn¡¯t know if I felt? Finally, I settled on the reality that, for now at least, I couldn¡¯t tell if I was being influenced by some greater being, but I did know what I wanted to do¨Ccontinue to raise my pack, and then my swarm, to khatif, then to Keel. And from there, if there was a god who wanted to pull my strings, they would find that my fangs and claws could be bared at them, just as well as at the creatures that stood in my way. Chapter 82 We permitted their passage. After all, it is our right to dictate who passes through our land. Though you are the Inkulu, you are not in control of the Republic. You must worry only for your own askari, and we will worry for our own. Next time you have some complaint about what the Yegolide do within our pastures, bring it to me, not to a child. You know as well as I that the Indlovu do not forget. -letter from Qaqambi of the Yegolide to Silumkulo of the Inkulu Focusing on the reality that I could only grow stronger and raise my pack to be as well to combat this possibility, I immediately pulled myself from my ruminations and looked across the keelish spread out in the den, coming down from the influence of Nievtala. My most trusted, Sybil, Took, Treel, Foire, and Vefir, were still nearby and beginning to leave to their own devices. The rest of the pack looked to those I trusted, ready to follow their orders, whatever they were. With a flash of inspiration, I called out while the whole pack remained within earshot, ¡°Everyone, listen.¡± Immediately, the pack went silent and attentive, and I felt a swelling of appreciation for this loyal group I¡¯d managed to create. Somehow, I stood at the head of this pack, and it was time I started to do everything I could to earn that. ¡°For the next day, we will all stay here unless I say otherwise, and I¡¯ll speak to each of you. I am going to give you suggestions for how to become¡­ more than you already are. If you come to me willing to learn, I will teach you. I will show you how to grow.¡± Having said that, I nodded, looked across the gathering until I picked out Silf, and called him forward. Hesitant for some reason, he approached. ¡°Alpha.¡± He nodded in greeting, but seemed nervous, and I was sure he was as he continued to keep his head down. ¡°Silf.¡± After I spoke, silence remained between us, and I could feel the expectant eyes of the rest of the pack on us. I could feel he wanted to say something, and simply waited for him to speak. After a moment of gathering his thoughts and courage, he finally looked up into my eyes. ¡°Why me?¡± ¡°Why you what?¡± I felt I understood what he was saying, but wanted to force him to speak his mind. ¡°Why do you help me?¡± As one of the less developed members of the pack, I could tell he struggled with the sentence, but I flared my frills in understanding and acknowledgement. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡± As Silf cocked his head, confused, I continued, ¡°You are one of mine. I want you to be as strong as Took, as smart as Sybil, as fast as Foire and with magic like Vefir¡¯s. I will do whatever I can to help you and every one of the pack to become better than any one of us are now.¡± Silf looked at me, almost spellbound as his tail flicked in interest and general agitation. I could feel, through my too-long neglected [Evolutionary Guide] [Skill], that Silf¡¯s trust in me immediately swelled and I gained a greater insight into what he was and what more he yet could become. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. I couldn¡¯t see anything like a [Status] for him, but I could feel his possibilities spread before me. He wasn¡¯t magically talented, not even to Foire¡¯s level, much less like Sybil or Vefir. I could feel, however, that he had some level of understanding how to blend in naturally. We all did, but I could feel that if he worked with Foire in scouting and approaching potential prey, he would find himself able to become a skilled ambusher. Without thinking too much about it, I called Foire, and he immediately approached. ¡°Teach him how to hide in the brush. He¡¯ll learn very quickly, and I can feel he¡¯ll be better suited to ambushing than merely attacking.¡± Silf¡¯s body tensed as I gave the command, and I turned back to him, ¡°Did you already feel that way?¡± His jaw hanging slightly open, he flared his frills in assent. I smiled and sent the two off into a corner with a brief request that they wait until I see if any others should go with them. Then, feeling a bit more excitement from the pack as a whole, I called Solia forward. Immediately, and without any of the hesitation or fear that Silf had exhibited, she stepped in front of me and happily settled onto her haunches in front of me. Again, the uncanny feeling of understanding swept through me, and without conscious thought I closed my eyes and rested one hand upon her head. She went completely still and I was surprised to feel a hint of magical talent pulsing within her. Was it¡­ healing? No, too aggressive. Too¡­ warm. Flames? But how? Without opening my eyes, I asked, ¡°Were you ever shocked by one of the wolfstags?¡± I could faintly feel one of her frills moving, perhaps in assent, but before I could continue, Solia¡¯s flustered voice piped up, ¡°Um, yes. Both times. It hurt, but I was ok.¡± As she spoke, I imagined I could smell the burning of her flesh, the singed scales, the heat. ¡°How did it feel?¡± ¡°It¡­ hurt?¡± Strangely, I didn¡¯t feel even a flash of frustration with her inane question, only an almost sage level of patience and understanding. ¡°Yes, and what else?¡± ¡°Um¡­ it was¡­ active? Or just weird?¡± I flared my frills for her to continue, ¡°And hot. It burned.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± I cut in. ¡°Tell me about the burn. Describe it. Help me to feel it.¡± ¡°The worst burn was my tail. It bit me, and from its fangs it kept burning me. I could smell my scales. It was gross. My tail couldn¡¯t move after, until Vefir helped. Even then, it hurt to touch, even the wind on it hurt. Laying down was bad, because something was always touching it.¡± In a flash, I opened my eyes. I could see that Solia was in a sort of trance as she spoke about it. I leaned close, not too close, but asked in a near-whisper, ¡°Show me the burning.¡± Without thinking, she pointed to her tail, and, for a moment, at the tip of her finger, there was a flash of heat before nothing. At that, Solia was shaken from herself and looked up at me. ¡°What was that?¡± I felt the grin crack my face, excited at the visible proof of my guidance. ¡°That was you. For now, stay close to me.¡± As she flared her frills and looked at her hand in amazement, I looked across the pack at fifty shocked faces. ¡°Katre, you¡¯re next." Chapter 83 My hopes of an all-magical pack were swiftly dashed as I cycled through every member of my brood. Other than the early discovery of Solia as one who, as far as I could tell, would evolve when next she rested, there were precious few new magical keelish. Etra and Cree both needed only a couple of easy hints to finally evolve to acquire their magic, which seemed to be a more limited and generally weaker version of Sybil¡¯s. Percral gave me the feeling that he might develop some magic later, but he wasn¡¯t close enough to evolution for me to do anything other than give some general advice. Took, Treel, Brutus, Ilne, and Katre, who I¡¯d had high hopes for, showed no magical aptitude at all. The rest, though I¡¯d not cultivated as close a relationship with them as I had with my closest advisors, I¡¯d still thought that I¡¯d get more magically inclined keelish out of my focus on evolutionary guidance. When I thought about it, though, I realized just how lucky I already was. My pack numbered fifty in total and, counting myself, there were eight keelish that could already use magic, those being myself, Sybil, Vefir, Foire, Shemira, Etra, Cree, and Solia. In addition to those, Percral would probably gain some magic well before reaching adulthood. If there were no changes in our numbers by the time Percral qualified for that evolution, then there would be nearly one in five of my pack that were magical in some way. Compared to the Viertaali tribe, where only one or two were magically gimped, it did seem unimpressive. However, in all the hunts I¡¯d ever conducted of keelish, and in all those that the Viertaali had ever participated in, I¡¯d never seen or heard of a magical keelish. Sure, there had been legends of them, but I¡¯d never heard of a magical keelish as anything other than a warning of why you couldn¡¯t let the swarms grow unchecked. In those tales, a magical keelish was like¡­ a High Speaker in every one of the Callings, and even my mother, accomplished and powerful as she was, was only a true High Speaker in Earth and Flamespeaking while bordering on that level in Soulspeaking. She was the strongest Speaker I¡¯d ever known personally, and could be considered an anomaly. Still, someone like her was more common than a magical keelish, and here I was, wanting four dozen of them obeying my every whim, only one moon after hatching. I shook my head at my foolishness, and, having thought so much about my mother for the first time in so long, I was suddenly gut-punched by how much I missed her. Of course I didn¡¯t miss Viilor, and I hadn¡¯t been too close to most of the rest of the tribe, given how I¡¯d been raised to be their ruler from a young age. But my mother¡­ had been my tutor, my parent, and my greatest supporter, all in one. I¡¯d kept myself completely busy from the moment I awoke until I collapsed to sleep at the end of the day since my rebirth, but here, where I took a long stretch of time to think about the future and made comparisons to my old life¡­ I felt a fierce knot begin to form in my throat. It burned my throat and kept me from swallowing, and though keelish have tear glands to clear their eyes, they don¡¯t cry and aren¡¯t made to. Instead, I felt my body cool, my arms beginning to darken to my perception as I felt myself withdraw into a moment¡¯s misery. The Stone thought I was dead. Even if I eventually found the tribe, I could guarantee I wouldn¡¯t be shown any sort of leniency, even if I could speak in a way that they could understand. Maybe, if I was such an interesting specimen, one of the tribe would try to form a Soul Companion¡¯s bond with me, and from there I could try to communicate¨C You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. I cut the thought off there. It wouldn¡¯t happen, not for a variety of reasons, and I didn¡¯t need to list them to try to convince myself of it. Instead of thinking of a way in which I might survive by submitting myself to a superior force, I needed to become an equal, if not superior force, myself. Then, I might be able to communicate with some humans. But how? I hadn¡¯t tried to speak any language beyond the keelish since I¡¯d been reincarnated, except for once I¡¯d tried to Call. Another thing to practice within my quarters before I rested, I supposed. Thus far, I¡¯d given all of the pack individual guidance, with the exception of Shemira and Sybil, Sybil who I somehow felt wanted to be last, and Shemira who still hung onto Sybil¡¯s every word and deed, though she was beginning to mellow from the blatantly facetious to less agonizingly teasing. ¡°Shemira.¡± At my call, she immediately approached and, after just a couple steps of her flouncing, Shemira transitioned to her ¡°real¡± walk, stepping confidently forward before taking a neutral stance and standing stoically before me. For a moment I observed her, looking not just at her physical beauty, but the strength that she willingly hid behind her overtly sexual facade. She had almost always been involved in hunts, and until this ambush with the wolfstags, I¡¯d never seen her wounded. Looking at her now, I didn¡¯t see a single scar, and that served, more than anything, as a testament to her competence. Those observations came to a head, and I finally spoke to her. ¡°Shemira. You are more than your beauty, and more than your manipulations. You can be strong and beautiful. You must better meld them. Redouble your efforts in developing your strength, and it will fuse with everything else that you already are into something more than you¡¯ve dreamed you dare be.¡± For a moment, Shemira cocked her head and observed me, then, with a gentle nod, she accepted my words and retreated. After a gentle bump of her hip against Sybil, who nearly didn¡¯t recoil, Shemira approached Took and began to speak with her in quiet tones. At that, I turned to the final of my pack, Sybil. She waited for me to call her name before she stepped forward, just as the rest had. As with Shemira, I observed my Beta. She had a couple of small scrapes and injuries from the wolfstags, but nothing noteworthy. Compared to Shemira¡¯s obvious and overwhelming beauty, Sybil was plain, far from ugly (whatever that was in a keelish), but wholly unnoteworthy. Regardless, looking at my steady, powerful, and immensely competent supporter, I desperately wanted to give some sort of wonderful advice that would allow her some immediate and new power or evolution. I could feel Sybil¡¯s willingness to grow, to listen to sound advice. And suddenly I knew that there really wasn¡¯t much I could offer her now. She was on her own path, and she knew where she needed to be and to go. I let the barest hint of a smile crack my face, and I swore I could see the same in Sybil¡¯s. Before I could say anything, she bowed her head slightly before wordlessly stepping away. I could hear speculations abounding in the pack, but all I could pay attention to was keeping myself from chuckling in front of the curious and taken aback pack. Chapter 84 I never expected to have to walk back my words so quickly, but with so few of the pack needing to do things here in the den, I quickly dismissed the majority of them to go off and practice or do what I¡¯d suggested. Before long, the den was quiet and mostly empty of keelish. I could go out and try to find new prey to hunt, but I suspected that would do less for me than staying here, practicing with my magic, and finally finding the first of the swarm to begin gaining control over. ¡°Sybil, do we know of any packs that are continuously failing in their hunts?¡± She looked at me, and she took only a moment of hesitation before she understood what I was asking. ¡°I think we know of one that has been particularly unsuccessful of late. Etra, please guide him there.¡± At her words, Etra immediately nodded, approached me, and began to guide me down the tunnels into the deeper parts of the den. Unlike how I was used to, though, before long we entered a side tunnel and followed that for a while. As we walked, Etra was silent, simply guiding me without complaint or comment. Finally, I broke the silence. ¡°What do you know about this pack?¡± ¡°We think they are two generations our senior,¡± Her tone, manner of speech, and demeanor all were an imitation of Sybil¡¯s. I¡¯d have thought it cute if she wasn¡¯t such a pale imitation of Sybil. Sybil truly was detached and clinical, Etra couldn¡¯t hide her desperate need for approval from Sybil, from me, from any in power. Regardless of how she worshipped and tried to be another Sybil, I could see how much her presence and work benefitted Sybil. With a start, I realized that I¡¯d stopped listening to Etra¡¯s words and refocused. ¡°--so we are fairly certain that they are the best option for your first target.¡± I could see that Etra was looking at me out of the corner of her eye, watching for my reaction. I flared my frills in approval, and I noted Etra holding herself a little higher at my acknowledgement. How simple it was to please my pack, and I had taken so long to even begin to realize it¡­ With the silence broken, the quiet that followed thereafter was more companionable and comfortable. Before long, we arrived at our destination and Etra gestured for me to enter. I squared my shoulders and stepped into the den. Immediately, I was struck by the stench. Looking around, I could see piles of feces, dried urine puddles, and discarded flesh. I thought I could hear a stomach rumble as one of the keelish rose to their feet and looked at me. Around the den, there were maybe twenty keelish, about the same size as the ones Shemira had conscripted, so a bit over 3 feet tall. The one who stood seemed unsure whether to stand tall or to avoid eye contact with me as she spoke, ¡°What?¡± I stood straight and somehow flared the influence of [Dominance]¡¯s aura. I could see the keelish in front of me begin to retreat in on herself as I did so, and I felt my evaluation of her lessen. As I shook myself from my feelings of superiority, I asked, ¡°Are you hungry?¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. She cocked her head, then, still confused, flared her frills in agreement as she answered, ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I have enough food for all of you. For days. Do you want it?¡± Less confused now, she flared her frills again, ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then bow to me. Accept me as your new Alpha, and I will ensure you never again go hungry.¡± At my demand, the female seemed to gain some level of self-respect, no longer nearly groveling before me. ¡°I am an Alpha. You are not better than me.¡± I could hear that, while she spoke in full sentences, she needed to struggle over the words. I felt even more superior to this sniveling weakling as she did. Any remains of my patience disappeared as I spoke again. ¡°Last chance. Do you submit?¡± She began to square herself, ready for a fight, but the moment I stopped seeing her as a pathetic keelish and began to see her as an obstacle to defeat, an enemy, she began to cower before me, baring her throat and lowering herself. For a bare second, I was confused, then I realized that it was the activation of [Adversary], inciting a weakness of her will and fear. I stepped closer, and with every step I took, she cowered deeper into the ground until she was laying on the ground, every inch of her begging for mercy. I stood tall over her, and stated more than asked, ¡°Do. You. Submit.¡± Without a word, the female flipped onto her belly and bowed before me. Looking across the den, I saw every one of the twenty keelish similarly in a submissive pose, bowing before me. I felt a flash of pride, of satisfaction in these inferior beings¡¯ submission, of their understanding and acceptance of their position below me. I nodded slowly, disregarding the flashing [System] notifications and instead focused on the female prostrated before me. ¡°What is your name?¡± After a moment to collect herself, the female former Alpha stood, keeping her head down. While still refusing to meet my eyes, she finally spoke, ¡°Ytte.¡± I found myself putting my hand on her head, almost like a parent comforting their child. ¡°Now, are you hungry?¡± With my words, I found that the resentful eyes of her and every other keelish except Etra in the den changed to hopeful. ¡°I said that you would never go hungry. Now that I¡¯m your Alpha, I¡¯ll feed you.¡± With that, I turned and, my tail whipping through the air, I began to lead the rest of the pack back to my territory. The trip back was quick and quiet, with little more than the quiet shuffling of scales and feet on the ground accompanying our path back to my territory. I supposed that this area was now my territory as well, but I disregarded that entirely, instead wanting to consolidate all my power and followers into the same space. As we turned down the final steps towards my den, I could feel the moment when the rest of the new keelish smelled the bounty prepared and stowed before us. Behind me, twenty keelish bristled at the chance to eat their fill for the first time in I couldn¡¯t say how long, and involuntary hisses filled the air as they subconsciously began to compete for the opportunity to finally dull the edge of starvation. Before they could begin to rush forward, however, I leveled a threatening look behind me, and all twenty were cowed and waited as patiently as they could as we rounded the corner. As they saw the veritable mountain of food laid out in front of them, I could feel from [Evolutionary Guide] that they now trusted me, at least a little more. As Ytte looked up at me and silently begged for permission to begin to eat, I looked across my newest subordinates. ¡°Eat your fill!¡± Immediately, twenty voracious predators set to the food laid out before them in a bounteous spread, and I finally took the opportunity to look at my [Status] notifications. Chapter 85 [Quest completed. Growth achieved. Quest board updated. Status updated.] I hadn¡¯t received any surprising notifications, and so I turned to look at my [Status]. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Keelish Titles: Chosen of Nievtala Current quests: -Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. -Gain control of 15% of the entire swarm. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5. Progress: 7% -Subjugate a group of at least 10 individuals with at least 5 Intelligence. QUEST COMPLETE. New Quest: Speak the entirety of the First Iteration of the Words of Power of Nievtala. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility +4, Intelligence, Magic +3. Progress: 4/5 Stats: -Constitution: 35+5+1=41 -Strength: 42+5+1=48 -Agility: 45+5+1=51 -Intelligence: 35+5+1=41 -Magic: 28+5+1=34 Skills: Adversary: 2/10 Dominance: 49/100 Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Guide: (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Improved Bloodlust: Requirements Hidden Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Innervating Address (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 1/10 Sonilphon: 29/50 Evolutionary Possibilities -Adult Sonic Magicblood Alpha: Survive 60 days. Progress: 31/60 This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. -Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif. Requirements: Evolution of Bloodlust Skill to Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust, Evolution of Sonilphon, Brood Alpha race (Completed). Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] Again, nothing that I hadn¡¯t already expected. I was a little disappointed that even though I¡¯d ¡°subjugated¡± twenty instead of just ten, I hadn¡¯t gotten any bonus Stats. It might have been that they were weak, or that it was a pack of keelish, or any other number of reasons. I couldn¡¯t experiment to figure out how best to capitalize on each of my [Quests] as they came to me, but at least I had been able to complete it at all. If I got a second chance with a similar one, maybe I would focus instead on groups of more powerful non-keelish creatures. Bonus points if they were more intelligent, maybe? I shook my head and stopped thinking about a possible eventuality, instead looking at my Stats, then [Dominance], right at the halfway point. Hopefully I would have more opportunities to evolve it soon, but I couldn¡¯t be sure, since I needed to be careful and not anger Redael. I had never been more sure than I was now of how easily he could kill me. So, we would take it slow, and if we managed another hunt anywhere near so successful as this one, maybe that could serve as another excuse to continue expanding. Then my Sonilphon. I was happy to see that I was over halfway done, and it was currently near full, so I would watch it tick over to 30 before long. At least I knew that this upcoming evolution to the Sonilphon was all that was necessary for that particular requirement for my evolution to khatif. I wasn¡¯t sure what the difference would be in this particular evolution, but I suspected that it was even greater than any other evolution I¡¯d had, considering the name of the race had no mention of ¡°keelish¡±. I still itched to know what the hidden requirements for [Improved Bloodlust]¡¯s evolution, and I couldn¡¯t deny a small amount of anger I continued to hold towards the Administrator for withholding that information from me. She said there was some reason for it, but just as much as I didn¡¯t want to deal with meddling gods, neither did I appreciate some seemingly omniscient creature dictating what I should and shouldn¡¯t know. Then, finally, my new [Quest]. Whatever the blessing I would receive would be upon speaking the Fourth of the Words of Power, I would also be receiving a boon of additional Stats. A part of me wanted to begin saying whatever came to mind until I somehow stumbled over the Words, but I knew that wouldn¡¯t work. The opportunities to Speak the Words were specific and special. I knew as much, since I hadn¡¯t been able to force any members of the pack to Speak them, even if they said the words, they weren¡¯t the Words. Instead, I needed only focus on how to somehow get these new keelish to trust me enough to benefit from [Evolutionary Guide]. If I could do that, maybe they would become worthwhile members of the pack, since as they were, afraid, weak, tired, and hungry, they weren¡¯t worth the food I was giving them. In pursuit of that, I retired to my quarters. Nobody liked being bothered when they were hungry, and nobody wanted to be pulled away from their long-desired meal to have a forced heart to heart with their superior. Thus, I took the time I currently had to practice with my Sonilphon. I felt closer and closer to figuring out how the sonic magic could work in my arms. Maybe it was an understanding of the concept, because while I felt like I was on the cusp of breakthrough, I had no idea of what this new application of my magic would actually do. For the life of me, I couldn¡¯t begin to understand how making my arms shake would or even could help me. If it shook more, then I would be less accurate. Maybe less predictable? But that didn¡¯t matter if I couldn¡¯t dictate where my blows fell. So maybe the ideal for the ¡°sonic strike¡±, or whatever it ended up being called, was instead a narrower vibration? An intense, small vibration. What would that do? I thought for a moment, then the epiphany struck. Most knives, axes, and spears my old tribe had used were long, straight blades, but there were saws that had teeth in them. They were best for cutting through tough, hard things, and that was because of the jagged teeth. They bounced up and down, and could cut more accurately and quickly through bone, trees, and cured woods. With that thought, I carefully compressed and intensified the vibrations and sent them carefully up my left arm. Controlling the magic as it tried to literally shake out of my control took a considerable effort of will, but finally, as the magic reached my hand, I could feel the beginnings of success. I took a step forward to reach a wall, and with amazing ease, I dragged all of my claws through the packed earth. I flexed my hand, and with a swift swipe, I cut through a massive chunk of wall and sent a cascade of loosed earth flying through the air. I was most of the way to acquiring a new [Skill]. I could feel it, just a little more fine-tuning, and it would be perfect. With that in my mind, I immediately set to channeling my magic down my arm and to my hand again, making sure I would have enough reserves left in my Sonilphon to try a third time after this. Chapter 86 The second and third time I tried to use the magic in my hands, I felt more and more successful. I still didn¡¯t acquire a new [Skill], but that wasn¡¯t too surprising to me since I was pretty sure I still wouldn¡¯t be able to use this in combat yet. Maybe a bit more focus on how to use the magic itself, as well as getting it to be a smoother stream of magic through me would enable it to be classified as a [Skill], but even without a [System] recognized improvement and achievement, I watched the tally for Sonilphon tick over to 30/50. With my progress of three a day, I would qualify for the evolution of my sonilphon in just seven days, a couple days after my next growth period. In the time until then, I would focus on practicing every thing I could try with my Sonilphon, just to see what the difference would be. And not getting killed by Redael. I shuddered, but was grateful that today at least I would be able to rest, recover, and try to teach Solia how to use her magic. Maybe I¡¯d even be able to teach Percral and get him closer. Then, of course, there were also the new twenty. And finding more productive hunting grounds, as we continued to completely destroy this section of the jungle. Nothing was easy, was it? [Fen POV] Fen hated most everyone in her life. She¡¯d been born in Harandal (or so she supposed, considering she¡¯d never met her parents and nobody much cared for another homeless kid in the scummy capital of the Godless Hordes) and had spent her entire life there too. Every so often Fen would hear a merchant mention something about how the gods didn¡¯t care about the ¡°ancient betrayal¡±, and she was inclined to not give a stoneskin¡¯s toenail about that. Far as she could tell, the gods either didn¡¯t exist or didn¡¯t care about anything going on in the world. Otherwise, they were just a buncha bastards that got off on seeing suffering. She preferred to think that the world was godless, than have some pervert watching her puke her guts out. There were enough of those bastards already. Anyways, she was constantly looking for something to eat, or, better yet, a paying job, but those were in short supply, given she was scrawny, skinny, stinky, and whatever other insult the rest of the world had to throw at her that day. That¡¯s why Fen primarily lived off of scraps and charity, mostly the first since charity didn¡¯t seem to be the first thought of the Godless Hordes. They said a whole lotta bout how we all gotta stick together and so on, but she¡¯d never seen that happen. Anyway, far as she could tell, Fen was somewhere around ten years old when she died. Again, the whole ¡°no parents¡± thing can get in the way of accurate timekeeping. It wasn¡¯t the most glamorous of deaths, but she didn¡¯t think that death could be glamorous anyways, so Fen didn¡¯t much care about that. Regardless, most summers had the usual fevers come around, but there wasn¡¯t a prayer to the godless heavens that could get her medicine anyways, so Fen didn¡¯t worry too much about what she would do if she caught it. Unfortunately, a positive outlook and hopeful heart didn¡¯t do much to keep you healthy, and catch the fever she did. In a big way. The last thing she could remember was being curled up in an alleyway off the crowded main street of Harandal and the wracking pains that shook her skinny body. It was worse than that time last year when she¡¯d been beaten for stealing that meat skewer, since that time she¡¯d at least been able to scarf down a couple of bites before the beating she¡¯d taken. This time, to add insult to injury, she was starving while also dying of the fever. That was the pitiful end to her pitiful life. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. As her consciousness faded to black, all Fen could think was ¡°I wish I could have been healthy and strong. Then I could have gone out into the mountains and actually taken care of myself.¡± [Blessed Body Skill Acquired] [Scaled Deer subrace, Lifebringer, selected] Um¡­ what? [Time until birth: 00:00:21] So¡­ what? [Time until birth: 00:00:15] Great. Can you make sure that I can protect myself this time? [Time until birth: 00:00:09] [Evolutionary Foresight Skill Acquired.] I don¡¯t know a couple of those words. [Time until birth: 00:00:01] Suddenly, bright light blinded Fen as she fell to the ground. She tried to stand up but everything felt¡­ wobbly. Her head felt heavy and her neck more floppy than ever before. Finally, her eyes began to adjust and she noticed a giant¡­ thing looking at her. It had a massive pair of horns and a dully shining armor covering its four-legged body. Panicked, she began to try to backpedal, but her legs didn¡¯t respond to her commands and the beast immediately caught up to her. Fen bleated in fear and rolled over, still trying to flee, but the creature gently nuzzled her head towards its belly. Startled, Fen didn¡¯t respond, but the creature ever more insistently pushed her head downward and suddenly instincts took over and Fen began to nurse from her mother. ¡­ About a week later, Fen had come to grips with her new reality, and, frankly speaking, it was much better than her old life. She had a mother that cared about and protected her and a father that stood guard over their little family. Both constantly showed Fen how to act and taught her the ropes of living as what this new [System] called a ¡°Scaled Deer Lifebringer Fawn¡±. Her new body was much stronger, and she could see all around her at the same time with her new eyes, and she could run so fast, and she could eat grass or the prey her mom brought her... The only downside was that her parents didn¡¯t, or maybe couldn¡¯t, speak, but they were able to communicate just fine. Fen hadn¡¯t ever experienced such a luxurious life as a human, so she was altogether quite happy with the current state of her life. She¡¯d known she shouldn¡¯t have gotten complacent and satisfied with her life. It was the next day that the hunters came and slaughtered her parents. They were what the Godless Hordes called ¡°saharliard¡±, meaning scaly friends, but to the scaled deer, they were anything but. Before any of the scaled deer could react, there were three of the saharliard ripping into her mother¡¯s flank. In terror, Fen tried to help her mother once she was ambushed, but her mom had used her horns to lift and throw her further away, as her father charged the assailants. He was already close to losing, but he tried to protect his daughter as best he could, and so, with a sob choking her throat, Fen had left her parents to be torn apart and devoured by the monstrous lizards behind her. For the first time, she cursed her new vision, since no matter which way she turned, she could still clearly see her mother¡¯s blood painting the previously verdant forest a sickening shade of crimson, and her father being pulled down and ripped into. As Fen made her escape as best as she could, for the first time, she looked at the [System] to see what it could do to help her take revenge on those who took her family from her. Chapter 87 I dodged under the next two strikes and then came the overhead blow. Only once had I allowed a hammer-blow like that to land, and I¡¯d immediately come to regret it. Never again would I allow that to land, so instead of over-committing to a dodge, though, I stepped even closer to Redael and grabbed his wrist with my left hand and knifed my right towards his exposed armpit. He stopped his descending fist and pulled both elbows back. I tried to push forward and disregard his late defense, but he didn¡¯t allow me to make real contact, my claws only scoring a shallow scrape along his ribs as my fingers were smashed pitilessly between his arm and side. With a gasp of pain, I pulled my right arm back, and after one jerk and a twinge of discomfort in my right shoulder, I freed myself, but the momentum was gone. Redael pressed in closer and stronger on me, the flurry of his blows coming strong and continuously until, as I attempted to block one of his attacks, I fell for a feint and he grabbed my head and pushed it down. I began to lose my balance, and before I could recover, Redael¡¯s closed fist smashed into my jaw. I saw an explosion of light, as I¡¯d come to expect, and I stumbled to the side as I blindly tried to cover myself. He, as always, made sure to rain a couple more blows onto various parts of my body, sending me wheezing and stumbling away, but I made sure to keep my feet as I found myself leaning against a wall. Knowing what was coming, I blinked the blurriness from my vision just in time to see Redael¡¯s balled fist coming for my snout. In my clarity, I dodged to the side and heard Redael¡¯s fist smash into the packed earth wall, and I uppercutted with my left arm, finally dealing a solid blow to Redael¡¯s throat. Immediately, he gasped in surprised pain, and I stood stunned for a brief moment, amazed that I¡¯d been able to land a true blow on the Swarm Alpha. We both came back to ourselves at the same moment, but I was no longer merely sparring Redael. He opened his hands, his claws seeming to glint to my perception, and he sliced forward. I dodged once, twice, and again, not wanting to let him disembowel me, and as I stayed focused on his knife-like hands, his tail took me by surprise and smashed against the side of my knee. My leg immediately buckled and as I went down, Redael pressed in. I saw his hand, tipped with his long, sharp claws descend towards my chest, and I knew I was about to die or at least be maimed. At the last second, he diverted his strike to smash into the ground just beside my head. We both stayed there, panting and my heart veritably exploding with tension until Redael pulled himself back. He nodded at me, his breath wheezing through his teeth and swelling throat. I scrambled to my feet once he was out of arm¡¯s reach and stayed in a ready position. Without blinking, I continued to watch the Alpha as he took deep breaths through his nose. He closed his eyes for a moment, then, with a nod to himself, he looked at me. ¡°Now, we¡¯re done.¡± I wanted to ask if he meant just for today, but I could feel that he meant forever. I couldn¡¯t help myself as I asked, ¡°Why? You¡¯ve taught me this much, now I can actually engage with you and learn more!¡± I fought to control my voice, to keep myself from whining. I needed this, to learn how to fight, to develop my instincts to protect me. To learn how to¨C ¡°Because any more practice is just teaching you to kill me. From now on, I don¡¯t teach you to fight. Find Wisterl if you want to learn from someone.¡± He began to turn away, then looked back at me. ¡°Good fight.¡± For the first, and maybe last time, Redael complimented me as he returned to his quarters. I could smell a faint whiff of blood on his breath, maybe from a cut in his mouth when I¡¯d struck him. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. For the first time, I¡¯d connected with an actual attack against Redael. I could face him, one on one, to some extent. I¡¯d experienced my sixth growth period two days before, so I still had four more. I was this close to being an equal, but if I didn¡¯t learn how to fight Redael with the intent to kill, I couldn¡¯t be confident in surviving the attempt. I looked at my Stats, wondering how much more they would grow by the time I reached adulthood. [-Constitution: 41+2=43 -Strength: 48+2=50 -Agility: 51+2=53 -Intelligence: 41+2=43 -Magic: 34+2=36 ¡­ Sonilphon: 49/50 Evolutionary Possibilities -Adult Sonic Magicblood Alpha: Survive 60 days. Progress: 38/60 -Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif. Requirements: Evolution of Bloodlust Skill to Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust, Evolution of Sonilphon, Brood Alpha race (Completed).] More than just my size and Stats, though, I was learning better how to control my body and listen to when my instincts were correct. But, regardless of if I was feeling unstable enough to challenge Wisterl, I nearly skipped back to my territory as I looked at the Sonilphon counter. I had been right, just seven days were what I¡¯d needed to finally progress to where I could evolve the organ. I wasn¡¯t sure what would happen, but I couldn¡¯t hold myself back from stepping immediately to my quarters, even ignoring Vefir waiting to heal me however necessary. I strode up to my quarters and began to drain my sonilphon. I continued to try to streamline the usage of my sonic claws, or whatever it would end up being called, and I wondered if with the incoming evolution I would be able to finally cross the thus far impenetrable barrier to [Skill] acquisition. Regardless, it wouldn¡¯t and couldn¡¯t hurt to continue my practice before my magic organ finally evolved. Now, I had gotten to the point where, with my full focus and maybe a minute¡¯s concentration, I could trigger both hands to their oscillating state. No longer did I idly dig out the walls, instead, I practiced moving like I was in a fight, trying to keep the magic flowing evenly as I moved in an exaggeratedly slow and deliberate motion. I could move at about half speed while keeping up the sonic magic¡¯s flow, but that was immensely taxing and even a little distraction could serve to completely halt the channelling and cause it to fail. Hence, I continued to practice, and tried to move the magic in a continuous smooth motion from my sonilphon¡¯s reserves, through my chest and arms to my hands. The movements, so deliberate and controlled, almost felt meditative as I felt my sonilphon pass below halfway full. Embracing the flow of my attempt to learn how to move and continue using this magic, I closed my eyes. Feeling the magic pass through me, the vibrations and energy feeling more and more mine, like it was always a part of me. With this type of magic, it truly came from myself, different from a Calling. The flow of my own magic draining was¡­ cathartic, somehow, like a comfortable yet beneficial workout. I was shaken from my pensive state when my sonilphon ran dry. I felt something change within me, and then, a warm flash that continued to heat up until it was nearly painful within my chest. Regardless of the discomfort, I looked at the flashing [System] notification and grinned. [Evolutionary requirements of Sonilphon complete.] Chapter 88 Without thinking about it, I allowed my sonilphon to continue to evolve, and once the burning warmth within my chest began to fade, I looked at the [System] notification. [Previous Organ: Sonilphon: a rare magic manipulating organ which passively gathers and converts ambient magical power into the sonic attribute. The sonic attribute is typically used to dampen or enhance sound, though specialists have found manifold uses for the attribute.] [Current Organ: Profound Sonilphon; an advanced version of the rare magic manipulating organ, Sonilphon. This organ is developed by those who are beginning to understand the possibilities of sonic magic beyond mere sound. Due to evolution, there is a +5 bonus to the Magic Stat. The Profound Sonilphon¡¯s rate of ambient magic conversion to sonic attributed magic within the organ is greatly enhanced. Additionally, the development of new Skills related to sonic magic and the Sonilphon is hastened, with greater understanding and clarity granted to the User. This organ can evolve. Requirements: Development of 5 Skills based on sonic magic. Current progress: 1/5] Immediately, whether because I thought it should be, or simply because it was, I could feel my Sonilphon filling quite a bit more quickly than before. The more I inspected and evaluated, though, I realized that the Sonilphon¡¯s total possible reserves had more than doubled, and it would be filled to its maximum capacity twice as quickly. With that realization, I figured I had learned the reason this evolution was called ¡°Profound¡±, with its increased depth and breadth for storing the converted sonic magic. Beyond the immediate growth to the organ and how much I could store for future use, I was surprised and quite pleased with the unexpected Stat boost. With the +5 to Magic, it now totalled 41, still the lowest of my Stats, but finally near the rest. I couldn¡¯t say if the increase in my Magic Stat had influenced the quantity of magic available in my Sonilphon, but I thought that was the case. Before, when I¡¯d first evolved to have the Sonilphon, I could let out two full-power shouts, and as I¡¯d continued to bottom out its stores, I¡¯d gotten to where I could have done it six or seven times. Now, from my understanding of my magic and how it worked, I would say that I could let out sixteen or seventeen. Thinking of the loud shouts, was there a way to make that a [Skill]? I needed to create four new [Skills], and other than finally figuring out how to transition my vibrating claws into something accepted by the [System], I had no ideas. Maybe the opposite of [Innervating Address]? Some way to sap out the energy from my enemies. But how could that work? I let my mind wander through different options and possibilities, trying not to let any preconceived notions and biases shape the possibilities. Regardless, though, I knew that this next evolution wasn¡¯t going to come any time soon. Finally, realizing that I was worried about it, I let my eyes fall to the bottom of my [Status] page. If, somehow, this hadn¡¯t qualified me for the khatif evolution, I could guarantee there wasn¡¯t much of a chance for me to evolve before reaching adulthood. I needn¡¯t have worried. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. [-Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif. Requirements: Evolution of Bloodlust Skill to Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust, Evolution of Sonilphon (Completed), Brood Alpha race (Completed).] Without realizing I¡¯d been holding it, I let my breath out. The sigh brought a strong smile to my face, and with the relaxation came the onset of my aches and pains from the fight with Redael. I hadn¡¯t taken anywhere near so severe a beating as I had in the first ¡°practices¡±, so instead of troubling Vefir I simply exited my quarters and, once I was in the communal area, I went to the cold storage for any food that was yet left. There was a venison flank left over from some hunters the other day. There had only been three of them, and they¡¯d been embarrassed that the baby had escaped, but I¡¯d seen the wounds left by the male¡¯s antlers. He¡¯d put up a strong fight. I idly wished I¡¯d been able to go on more interesting hunts, but more than hunting, I would benefit much more from learning how to evolve [Bloodlust] and continuing to gain control over more of the swarm, ideally while Speaking the final of the Words of Power of Nievtala. I also was sure that before long I would come in contact with some other people, so I needed to practice to try to speak ¡°human¡± to them. I sighed and shook my head. I was almost halfway to the completion of the quest for followers, and I figured that I could probably evolve [Dominance] while gaining sufficient followers. Regardless of that, though, I still worried about what Redael might do if I continued trying to gain control over other packs within the swarm. After that fight, I truly understood that he was constantly holding back the urge to tear into and kill everything that could begin to provide a challenge to his leadership. Redael¡¯s dismissal of me earlier was a mercy, a moment where he decided not to simply slay me where I stood, for the sin of potentially being his equal. I could go try to find Wisterl and ask her to continue teaching me, but¡­ truth be told, the thought of offering any challenge to her was¡­ frightening. When Redael had first attacked me, I¡¯d been surprised simply by how sudden the strikes were. With Wisterl, though, she¡¯d moved so smoothly, so quickly, that I couldn¡¯t hardly see her movement. If I were to enter some ¡°training¡± with Wisterl, I didn¡¯t know if she¡¯d consider that some challenge to her or her power, and then decide it was time to truly beat me down, or even kill me. With that on my mind, I decided not to try to find her. Instead, I focused on the twenty who had joined, and how to instruct them, as well as Solia. Of the new twenty, only Ytte herself was, in any way, notable. She was similar to Percral, in that she was relatively close to developing a magic manipulating organ, but I wasn¡¯t sure what exactly it was. I thought she might be closer to that evolution than Percral, but since she felt significantly less trust towards me, I couldn¡¯t yet receive any more specific guidance. Even so, I tried to spend time with and around the newest additions to my pack, and I was surprised to feel most of them take very quickly to me. Maybe it was the consistent food, or the protections offered, or maybe it was just my [Skills] or any other number of things. As I walked around and through the members of my pack, I saw Shemira and Sybil, now actually working together without Shemira constantly bothering my Beta, Took returned with a pack with their latest kill, and Solia, Etra, and Cree practiced their magic as best they could in a farther corner of the den. With a smile, I stepped into that same corner and began to practice my own magic, hoping to teach those watching how they might be able to use their own. Chapter 89 His eyes, they burn as unquenchable flames, The flames of total purification. His arms, stretched forth protecting his people alway, The walls of universal protection. His breast, bared and presented before the rest, The home to which the true may return. His soul, clean from any stain, The refuge in which there is no pain. -Psalm in worship of the Gran Verat, published in the 4th edition hymnal and onwards My days passed in a blur. Percral began to occasionally spark when he was particularly wound up, and I guessed he would evolve to have a lightning-related magic manipulating organ soon. Solia, who was progressing amazingly rapidly, would be able to teach and coach him through the beginnings of how to use an organ like theirs. Ytte had officially developed the ability to use her magic, which was, surprisingly, something to do with the ground. I wasn¡¯t sure what exactly she could do with it, since it wasn¡¯t like an Earthspeaker¡¯s ability to mold and sculpt the earth to their will. Instead, it was more like a supernatural understanding of the dirt? Maybe? As the days passed and the seventh growth period passed us by, Took, Brutus, and, surprisingly enough, Treel all surpassed me in height and total mass. By now, I estimated my height to be just a hair short of five feet, while Took, the largest of the brood, was over five and a half feet tall. Brutus was an inch or so shorter than her, and Treel an inch or two shorter than him. Shemira and Sybil were about the same height now at a bit over four feet tall, though Sybil was, for lack of any other way to say it, skinny and almost gangly, while Shemira continued to grow as gracefully as she had been since her hatching. The more time went by, the more Shemira stepped into Etra¡¯s previous place as Sybil¡¯s second in command when she wasn¡¯t out on a hunt, and in moments where Sybil was alone with me, she confided that she truly appreciated Shemira now. Even more than Etra and Cree, surprisingly enough. I now, more than ever before, felt like I was about to finally create the vibrating claws [Skill]. It was close, so close and barely out of my reach. I could now move just as normally while maintaining a continuous flow as without, so I wondered if all that was left to acquire the [Skill] officially was simply to use it in a fight, but I hadn¡¯t had the chance. On the other hand, however, I was beginning to understand how I would have to change the flow of magic in order to have my voice be damaging, or weakening or somehow carry a negative effect. I was getting close, but wasn¡¯t anywhere near so close as I was with the other. Then, a worry that had begun to crop up was continuing to feed the whole pack. Even without me participating in most of the hunts and driving the pack to excess, this section of the jungle was truly beginning to run dry, and we were getting close to being forced to march into where we knew the bulk of the wolfstags dwelled. They hadn¡¯t tried to escape since the extermination of their ambushing force, so the presence of two large predatory groups in the same area were doubly taxing on the number of prey to be found. Since the wolfstags hadn¡¯t retreated or escaped, I was more than nervous to engage with them on an even larger scale. Even counting the growth we all had experienced since the last massive fight, if the wolfstags were willing to stay in proximity to us, I couldn¡¯t say how many of them there were, and if they even matched us in numbers, we would almost certainly lose, to say nothing of the total rout we would experience if they outnumbered us. For now, then, we were able to fill our bellies with lesser, weak prey, and that would have to be enough. I was frustrated by my lack of progress, that I wasn¡¯t conquering, growing, leading. The newest twenty of the pack now trusted me enough to fully benefit from [Evolutionary Guide], but other than Ytte, the rest were unremarkable. I was too afraid of Redael to try to take control of other parts of the swarm. I knew I needed to fight and probably kill him eventually, but I knew I was nowhere near able to guarantee victory over him. Maybe I could go to Wisterl and try to train with her, but I didn¡¯t think that would actually be helpful. And all the while, I still was immensely pissed off remembering the Administrator¡¯s words, ¡°I¡¯ll provide the information in time¡±. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. With these things churning still within my mind, we went through the eighth growth period. Knowing it was coming, I woke, and even before checking my updated [Status], I dove into the bath. I was constantly growing since we were still not adults, but after these growth periods, the built up cast off skin and whatever else that was under my scales was unbearable. Additionally, now that my Sonilphon had evolved, I didn¡¯t need to always allow it to fill back up to full before completely emptying it, so I could indulge in a sonic magic fueled bath. The scrubbing was divine, and I luxuriated in the indulgence of spending my magic to fully clean myself. Finally, I had scrubbed every inch I could reach, at least twice, and I stood and shook any remaining sand from my body. With a sigh of relief, I looked to my [Status] to see if anything unexpected had occurred. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Keelish Titles: Chosen of Nievtala Current quests: -Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. -Gain control of 15% of the entire swarm. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5. Progress: 7% - Speak the entirety of the First Iteration of the Words of Power of Nievtala. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility +4, Intelligence, Magic +3. Progress: 4/5 Stats: -Constitution: 43+2+3=48 -Strength: 50+2+3=55 -Agility: 53+2+3=58 -Intelligence: 43+2+2=47 -Magic: 41+2+2=45 Skills: Adversary: 2/10 Dominance: 49/100 Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Guide: (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Improved Bloodlust: 0/3 Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Innervating Address (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 1/10 Profound Sonilphon: 1/5 Evolutionary Possibilities -Adult Sonic Magicblood Alpha: Survive 60 days. Progress: 48/60 -Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif. Requirements: Evolution of Bloodlust Skill to Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust, Evolution of Sonilphon (Completed), Brood Alpha race (Completed). Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] This eighth growth period had offered me a slight increase in Stats from the sixth and seventh, and if things continued this way, even without an additional evolution, I would find myself around the standards of a normal human come the final growth period. It was interesting and confusing to try to understand how different these Stats were on a keelish than on a human. I now could probably lift about the same amount of weight that I could as a human, but that strength was in a shorter, more compact body. Beyond that, I was actively training in physical combat as much as I could, while as a human, I¡¯d relied entirely on my Callings, so I¡¯d been able to walk for a long way, but I was not any kind of physical specimen. Then, I noticed the change in [Improved Bloodlust]¡¯s entry. The evolution was opened before me! Immediately I looked at the requirements, and though I hated the idea of it, began to make preparations to find Wisterl. Chapter 90 ¡°Sybil, what do you need from me for the next four days?¡± She cocked her head at me, confused. ¡°What do you mean?¡± I sighed and stretched, trying to loosen my mind up as well as my body. It didn¡¯t work. ¡°I¡¯m not going to be here for at least three, maybe as long as five or six days. In that time, what will you need from me?¡± ¡°Are you going to be in danger? Who should accompany you?¡± Immediately Sybil turned to the side, and Shemira stepped forward. ¡°Took is leading a hunt right now, Brutus with her. Treel might be available. I can go. Foire is off leading and teaching the trackers, so most of them aren¡¯t around. Solia is here, but I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s ready for guard duty.¡± I was shaken from the surprised stupor I was in from their immediate launching into this breakdown of where all the elites of the pack were and were doing. ¡°Guard duty?¡± Shemira cringed back and looked guiltily at Sybil, who cocked her head slightly in concession. ¡°It was a simple mistake. I just meant escort.¡± Shemira herself didn¡¯t sound particularly convinced of what she was saying, but she did lean coyly into me in her attempt to convince me. A part of me, growing ever stronger as I neared adulthood, wanted to indulge in her presence and her touch, but after a moment of collecting myself, I pushed her away. I looked directly at Sybil, and without having to say a word, she conceded to me. ¡°Without you, Alpha, this pack will fall apart. Your leadership and strength is the only thing that keeps us all together and united, and though we would try to keep it together in the event of your death, the reality and the eventuality is that we would lose all that binds us. We will do what is necessary to protect our future, even if we have no keelish that can stand at your level.¡± Her tone was simple, non confrontational, and brooked no disagreement. For a moment, I wanted to argue with her, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to disagree. Everything I had done to build the pack that currently existed was held together by the thread of my continued leadership and presence. I flared my frills briefly before saying, ¡°Understood. I won¡¯t need an escort for now, I won¡¯t be leaving the den. I won¡¯t die within the swarm¡¯s territory.¡± I didn¡¯t add the ¡°I hope¡± that colored my thoughts. ¡°Do you know where I can find Wisterl?¡± Shemira turned to Sybil, who immediately answered, ¡°We aren¡¯t sure. She doesn¡¯t seem to keep a constant den. She¡¯s a wanderer, for some reason. However, she is still one of the top few of the swarm, so she should be found deep within the den. Do you need us to find her soon? We can send someone down there to find it out. Wouldn¡¯t take too long.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. I clicked my teeth together in response. ¡°I¡¯ll just find her myself. Unless there is some pressing need that absolutely demands my immediate attention, don¡¯t interrupt me.¡± I could feel the swelling pride, the inherent superiority that I only rarely felt towards my most trusted elite. Even with our close relationship, I could feel my aura from [Dominance] pressing in on them and Shemira shivered, the movement passing attractively down her spine and tail. That it was accidental meant nothing to me¨CI needed to fully master these reactions that I had towards her, because I wouldn¡¯t be ¡°noticing¡± every little one of her movements simply because Shemira was beautiful. Sybil bowed her head. ¡°As you wish, Alpha. We will be here, awaiting your swift return. May Nievtala guide you. Victory.¡± ¡°Victory by fang and blood.¡± I echoed, then, with nary another well wish or farewell, I descended to the depths of the den. As I walked, forcing my steps not to be heavy and slow, I looked once again at the evolutionary requirements for [Improved Bloodlust]. [Skill: Improved Bloodlust; when the Skill user deems it necessary, they will find themselves enveloped by a cooler, more calculated rage, thus heightening their battle prowess and senses, at the cost of the slight loss of rationality. This drain on sanity is lesser than that of the original [Bloodlust] skill, but the longer the Skill is invoked, the more complete the loss of rationality. This skill can evolve. Conditions: the Skill holder must spend a full and continuous three days with the Skill activated. Any cessation of the Skill¡¯s activation will reset the timer.] I¡¯d experienced the reality of ¡°the longer the Skill is invoked, the more complete the loss of rationality.¡± I was nearly certain that, at the end of the first day, much less the second and third, I would be lashing out at anything I saw that was moving. The only ones I could think of as able to keep me in control under those conditions were Redael, Rulac, and Wisterl. Redael was off the table after our last interaction and Rulac could certainly keep me contained, but if I was going to spend three days wanting nothing more than to indulge in the primal urge to cause harm, then I might as well spend that time with the best fighter in the swarm. My journey was relatively quick, and once I got to the lowest levels, I asked the nearest keelish where I could find Wisterl. After he looked at me like I was insane, he directed me to the nearest den he¡¯d known she was in. The pattern followed that two more times, as each direction I got brought me closer without actually finding her. Finally, I turned a corner into a den where a pack of keelish stood around three wrestling keelish. I wondered how this had happened, but as I watched, Wisterl grappled one of the other two and then, using the larger keelish like a ram of some sort, smashed his head into her other foe. Then, I realized that this wasn¡¯t some free for all, but a two against one, and Wisterl was winning. With one of her adversaries stunned from having his head used as a club, Wisterl pressed her advantage until both of her opponents laid on the ground, panting and bleeding. She cackled, her laughs screeching and piercing, even to a keelish, and the two on the ground laid there, accepting her celebration. And I was about to ask this maniac to spend days with me. Chapter 91 I spit the blood from my mouth, my own mind betraying me, driving me to push in harder, stronger, more aggressively. It had only been a couple of hours on this attempt, and I needed to cull a bit of the impatience, or I would never succeed. When I had initially approached Wisterl, she immediately settled into a comfortable stance, but regardless of her apparent comfort, I saw that no matter where or how she stood, Wisterl was constantly ready to spring into action. I was sure I¡¯d never noticed that before, but I couldn¡¯t imagine that this was a new habit of hers. Before I entered her immediate range, I stopped and waited for her acknowledgement. Not only could she simply decide to attack me for any perceived slight, but I wanted to be on her good side when I asked her for a favor that would take at least, and could span well over three days. Wisterl watched me, her eyes scanning me up and down while seemingly evaluating whatever it was she was looking for. Then, with a somehow approving flick of her tail, she addressed me. ¡°You¡¯ve changed in this little time. Finally got a taste of the world?¡± ¡°I suppose I did,¡± I hedged, ¡°I¡¯ve spent time with Redael, and the Swarm Alpha doesn¡¯t permit weakness or excuses of being unprepared.¡± Wisterl¡¯s already smirking face cracked with a wide grin at my words. ¡°That he doesn¡¯t. Now, you¡¯ve got something to ask me. I have a price for questions. Fight me first.¡± I felt a wry smile touch the corner of my face. ¡°If I have my request granted, it¡¯ll be more than just one fight we have.¡± She perked up. ¡°Not often many ask me for more fighting. I¡¯ll disregard my rule. Tell me now.¡± ¡°For at least the next three days, I¡¯m going to need someone to help¡­ keep me in line. I¡¯m doing something that will make me need to fight all the time, and you¡¯re the only one that can keep me from doing something stupid to the swarm while I¡¯m like that.¡± Wisterl spread her jaws wide open in an understanding expression. ¡°Ah. You¡¯re just like your sire that way. Did you know he asked me the same thing back when he was first the Swarm Alpha?¡± I tried to shake my head enough for all this to make sense. She just up and said that Redael was my father? And that he might have an advanced, or even more advanced version of [Bloodlust] than I would after this [Skill] evolution? ¡°Why¡­ why would you say that the Swarm Alpha is my sire?¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. She cocked her head to the side, disbelieving. ¡°Look at you. You¡¯re his bleeding image. Same color and everything.¡± Wisterl rolled her eyes, ¡°I guess you¡¯ve never seen his color. But the rest of you is just like him anyway. His spawn is sure to rise to the top, they always have before. But none have come to me like him and you have.¡± The mostly jovial nature and attitude Wisterl commonly showed drained from her face, and her eyes, usually searching but casual, became cold, calculating, and absolutely focused on me. ¡°You want to take his place. Maybe someday, but not now. You will die, just like all the rest have if you attempt it.¡± The severity drained from her face, and again all I saw before me was a battle-crazed warrior. ¡°But I don¡¯t care about what might happen later. For now, I have a partner. Follow me.¡± She led me to an unoccupied den, and every step of the way, I made sure to keep some distance between the two of us. After all, she obviously enjoyed inflicting pain at least nearly as much as she enjoyed combat for combat¡¯s sake. The entire journey there, though, was uneventful, and upon arriving at the den, empty of keelish and any other sign of life, Wisterl stalked to the opposite side of the den and whirled around, looking at me and waiting for me to enter and begin this new training. I activated [Bloodlust] and ran in. ¡­ The time I spent with Wisterl passed in a blur of pain and adrenaline. I could never best her, never even begin to, but I could feel myself growing ever more competent and confident, my responses to her attacks becoming more natural and effective. What had begun as a one-sided beatdown was slowly transitioning to short exchanges of blows that I always left as the loser of. The rage that built within me was constant, and nearly overwhelming. My first attempt had ended in failure when I needed to rest at the end of the day. While I had slept, the [Bloodlust] had faded from my mind, and the counter hadn¡¯t gone up after. After that first, great failure, I had spent the whole next day just as enraged at myself as from the influence from the [Skill]. The aches and pains from the day before slowly faded to nothing as I lost myself ever deeper in the frenzy and fury of [Bloodlust]. Near the end of the day, Wisterl, caught up in the heat of the fight, had struck out in just the wrong way and had knocked me fully unconscious for a couple of minutes. When I woke, [Bloodlust] had faded, and I was forced to reactivate it as I slept. Fortunately, when I woke, I could feel the influence of my [Skill] still thundering in my ears, and so I had immediately begun the fight with Wisterl. Her strikes continued to rain down on me, but my continuously growing skill allowed me to transform the potentially crippling blows into glancing, ignorable attacks. I still couldn¡¯t actually fight her, but I was beginning to understand how to, at least, survive Wisterl¡¯s inexhaustible desire to beat and abuse me into submission. I let a fierce grin cut across my face as I threw myself into the whirling tempest that was Wisterl. I wouldn¡¯t allow just this much to defeat me. Chapter 92 My enemy circled around me. I knew it was about to feint. It was faster than me, but in the rare moment I could meet it directly, I learned that I was just as strong as it was. It was slippery though, so I needed to hit it hard, fast, and before it could react. Even if the first attack wasn¡¯t fatal, I would need to slow it enough to finish it. If only I could slow it down, then I might be able to take advantage of that slowness long enough to kill it. I didn¡¯t know why it hadn¡¯t killed me, I knew it could have. It always had the advantage over me. It always won. But if it wouldn¡¯t end me, then I would end it, eventually. I only needed a single chance. It said something, but I couldn¡¯t understand. I didn¡¯t care to understand. It was my enemy. I needed to kill it. I sidestepped once more and stumbled. With how exhausted I was, I didn¡¯t need to fake it. Even if it was real though, I knew my enemy would press the attack. It approached in a blur, too fast for me to see in my state, and I waited until it raised its foot to kick me while I was down. It loved to do that. But, over the last day, I had begun to see little spots appear occasionally on my enemy. I understood what these spots were. They were weaknesses. I just needed to seize the opportunity. When my enemy raised its foot, there was a red spot that appeared on its stomach and I immediately seized the initiative. Unable to reach it with my hand, where my claws could disembowel my enemy, instead I kicked hard, and the thud of my foot on flesh was music to my ears. I rose to my feet and dashed to where it tried to recover its feet, but I didn¡¯t let it. The more I pressed my advantage, the more of the red spots there were that appeared. I could make more and more contact with my enemy until, finally, finally I was blessed with the sweet scent of its blood finally being shed. I¡¯d drawn its blood, and it was still being forced to retreat. Along one arm, at the shoulder, appeared a red spot, and I immediately seized the opportunity and lunged out with my left arm, my fingers locked together as a blade. My right arm only barely functioned after all the abuse it had sustained at my enemy¡¯s hands, but my left¡­ my left cut into my enemy¡¯s flesh. And finally, my enemy became my prey. It was forced to pivot with my blow to keep me from removing its arm in its entirety, and as it turned, so did I as I smashed my tail into its legs. It crumpled to the ground a second time, but this time, I was on my feet and right there. I pressed the attack, slashing once at its leg to keep it from moving quite so easily if it managed to escape. Then, I jumped atop my prey and began to hack and slash wildly at every red spot that appeared. I could hear the beautiful sound of its scales giving way beneath my claws, and it was saying something. Again, I didn¡¯t care. Prey didn¡¯t speak. Prey wasn¡¯t a person, just food. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Then, it exposed its unwounded shoulder, a beautiful red spot appearing, and I again seized the opportunity to take away my prey¡¯s ability to resist me. I lunged forward, my jaws slamming closed¡­ on air. The red spot had deceived me? My prey was able to grapple around my neck and arm with my head so exposed, then in a whirling movement that seemed impossible, it flipped me and I slammed against the ground. My breath flew from my body with the contact, and as I wheezed, I fought to my feet and looked at Wisterl as she measured me up. Wisterl and I had been fighting for¡­ three days now? Or was it five? Or four? Wait, was I trying to kill and eat Wisterl. I shook my head as the clarity continued to return to me, and I, with horror, realized I had deactivated [Bloodlust]. Suns burn me! I had been so close. I screamed my frustration wordlessly at the ceiling of the den. This was too damnably difficult! While I still continued to vent my rage, Wisterl closed the distance to me. At the last moment, I saw a red spot appear and I half-stepped backward and out of her range as she sought to grapple me. Another three appeared, two on the arm she¡¯d reached with, and the third on her back leg. I couldn¡¯t reach the leg, but I knew the spots on her arms were feints. I just knew her too well. ¡°Enough Wisterl! I failed, again. Let me rest for a moment, then I¡¯ll try again.¡± I realized this was a massive drain on her time and my own, but I didn¡¯t care. I would complete this evolution or die trying. I was so close too. ¡°I don¡¯t think so, little Alpha.¡± She again closed the distance, and I, overcome with scarlet rage born of my failure, speedily supercharged my throat with magic from my sonilphon. I had to backstep once, twice, then it was ready, faster than it had ever been before. ¡°HALT!¡± I screamed in Wisterl¡¯s face, closing the distance. My roar echoed through the den as Wisterl blinked hard and stood, stunned, for a mere moment. Long enough for me to backhand her face with my closed left fist. The power of the blow knocked her prone, and Wisterl laid there as I, exhausted, leaned back against the nearest wall. Wanting to see how long this attempt had gone, once I was sure Wisterl wasn¡¯t about to assault me I turned my vision to my [Status] to see how many days had passed. I was so exhausted that I looked through the entire [Status] twice before I realized I¡¯d already looked at and seen the adult evolution entry. 53 days. That was¡­ five days? Since I¡¯d started this. So I was right there. So close to success. Dammit. Having scanned my [Status] twice, of course I¡¯d seen the [Bloodlust] entry. I glowered at the 3/3 tally. It mocked me and my failure. What did that mean again? I ponderously turned my mind to the task of understanding my [Skill] and it was helped by the flashing notifications. And then it clicked, and, exhausted though I was, I shot to my feet. I¡­ hadn¡¯t failed? Chapter 93 I brought my mind to bear on the prodigious task laid before me¨Cunderstanding the words that were being displayed in the notification from the [System]. After a moment to push through the exhaustion and fatigue, I could finally focus on the words before me. [Previous Skill: Improved Bloodlust; when the Skill user deems it necessary, they will find themselves enveloped by a cooler, more calculated rage, thus heightening their battle prowess and senses, at the cost of the slight loss of rationality. This drain on sanity is lesser than that of the original [Bloodlust] skill, but the longer the Skill is invoked, the more complete the loss of rationality. This skill can evolve. Conditions: the Skill holder must spend a full and continuous three days with the Skill activated. Any cessation of the Skill¡¯s activation will reset the timer. COMPLETE. Evolution to Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust complete.] [Current Skill: Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust; when the Skill user deems it necessary, a mental state that veers away from absolute aggression and inclines itself instead towards a greater understanding of combat will envelop the mind. The Skill user will still experience a heightened desire for battle, yet this desire will be tempered by a pragmatic understanding of effective action. This skill can evolve. Conditions: Further evolution of Skills Adversary, Dominance, and Pack Tactics required for further evolution. One additional Skill¡¯s acquisition required for further evolution.] My eyes swam as I tried to understand what I was reading, and these were only the first of the notifications. I wanted to try to understand the rest, but Wisterl was rising to her feet once again, and now, somehow still energetic, she was bouncing in place. ¡°Now you¡¯re ready to start using other abilities in combat, huh? We¡¯ll start working on this now. I wasn¡¯t really holding back before, but now I¡¯ll start relying on the more dangerous options available to me. This is going to be great.¡± Wisterl was about to lunge back at me when Rulac stepped into the den, giving her pause. ¡°Hey, I know he asked for this, but that¡¯s enough. He¡¯s still growing, and has probably already stunted himself a little for this. Back off, whether he wants it or not, he¡¯s going to get some real rest and really fill his belly.¡± My stomach growled in response, and I realized just how hungry I was. I had eaten now and again during these five days, but I couldn¡¯t remember when the last time was. Rulac continued, ¡°Then he¡¯ll sleep for at least a day.¡± Wisterl hissed in reply, and I readied myself to be assaulted, but after taking a brief moment to herself, Wisterl sighed and began to stalk her way out of the den. ¡°Come back sometime. I¡¯m not done with you.¡± Then, she was gone. I let out a pent up breath as the worry of another assault faded from my mind, and I had to forcefully stop myself from sagging back into the wall. I was exhausted, but I wanted my next sleep to be within the wall of my territory. I forced myself to stand from my comfortable squat and began to limply step forward to my den. Rulac fell into slow step next to me. I thought he was exaggerating his long, slow steps, but I couldn¡¯t guarantee it, nor did I have the energy to argue with him. I¡¯d thought it was to be a companionable but silent walk. I was incorrect. ¡°It''s been ages since someone went that long with Wisterl. She''ll never stop, if you don¡¯t make her. I don''t know what keeps her going, but..." He shook his head, "It''s impressive, whatever it is. You were too, for that matter." The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Slowly, I parsed what he said. ¡°You were watching?¡± ¡°Most of the time.¡± A smile cracked his face, ¡°You¡¯ve come a long way. I remember how you acted with Redael that first time. Like a pathetic little prey, just shaking while he came at you.¡± Chuckles punctuated his words as Rulac tried to say what he was getting at. We continued forward a few more steps, the only sounds our scales, feet, and Rulac¡¯s quiet laughter. I could realize how exhausted I was by the fact that I somehow didn¡¯t feel even a little unhappy with how I was being mocked. ¡°But now¡­¡± Rulac¡¯s voice shifted from his usual good humor, taking on a serious tone. ¡°You¡¯re formidable. Not yet a match for the Swarm Alpha, but you¡¯re no fresh hatchling. You¡¯ve earned your scars.¡± I felt a warm glow from the recognition I received, and nodded my thanks to the massive male. He still was at least a foot taller than me, and more than twice my weight. I didn¡¯t speak, the thought of speaking alone being exhausting, much less actually having to do it. After waiting, Rulac continued, ¡°Some of your girls came by a couple times to check on you. Think it was twice a day? Couple of them are real pretty, which one¡¯s yours?¡± The abrupt change in subject took me by surprise and I simply cocked my head to the side and looked at Rulac. ¡°What? I don¡¯t wanna take your girl, it¡¯s bad form.¡± I sighed. I simply couldn¡¯t be bothered to deal with him in my exhaustion, and just kept staggering forward. Every step sent shocks of pain to every inch of me, every muscle ached in ways I¡¯d never imagined, and the pattern of shallow cuts and scratches that covered my whole body was constantly agitated by my movement and the shifting of my scales. My body¡¯s pains and my mind¡¯s cloudiness combined to create a wholly apathetic me. I knew I should be able to evolve now, and that was all I cared about for now. Just go back to the den, eat until I was ready to explode, and begin evolution. ¡°You don¡¯t want to share do you? Makes sense. Plenty of you young ones are like that. Nothing wrong about it. You¡¯ll see, though. Variety is beauty unto itself.¡± Rulac kept talking, but I didn¡¯t pay him any mind, and, eventually, finally, I stumbled into my den. I idly noted him giving a farewell, but I didn¡¯t care. I found my way to the nearest food, and tore into it without my usual excitement. Bite. Rip. Swallow. Bite. Rip. Swallow. And so on, until I was full. Without more than a nod to Sybil, who looked at me with some emotion I couldn¡¯t understand, I finally was back to my quarters. My room. I slumped to the ground and remained conscious only long enough to accept the evolution option presented before me: [Status updated. Evolutionary progress: Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif. Requirements: Evolution of Bloodlust Skill to Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust (Completed), Evolution of Sonilphon (Completed), Brood Alpha Race (Completed), Evolution unlocked.] [Evolution commenced. Evolution typically requires a basic restructuring of your body. You will fall unconscious as the reconstruction takes place. Evolution to: Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif from your current physiology will take place over the duration of 36 hours. Evolution will provide a marked bonus to your stats, as well as certain obvious physiological changes. Note: the evolution into a wholly different species requires vast changes to the basic physiological structure, thus the extensive length of time required for evolution.] Chapter 94 As my mind faded from consciousness to the strange inbetween of evolution, I allowed myself to indulge in the comfort of the void. I didn¡¯t feel anything, almost as if floating in water. Given my history as a Wavespeaker, that was once the most comfortable thing in the world to me. Now, however, as I floated and relaxed, I realized I didn¡¯t feel quite so comfortable in ¡°water¡± as I once had. I wished it was like a constant sand bath, but warmed. The sands of the den were cool, of course, so I¡¯d never actually had a warm sand bath, but the thought of the sands rubbing away my fatigue and soreness after days spent locked in combat with Wisterl already had the knots unraveling from my back and shoulders. Strangely, the moment the thought occurred to me, the feeling shifted to being massaged by warm sands. Without thinking, I flexed my scales and allowed the warm grains to scrub at the tender skin below. In this incorporeal state, I felt like I was melting beyond the limits of my body, yet it was gloriously comfortable. I stayed that way, even as I felt the [Administrator]¡¯s presence descend. Enjoying the feeling, I ignored her for a short while before I decided to break my silence. You didn¡¯t interrupt me? [Not counting that as your query, of course. We have plenty of time today. Sometimes, since your evolutions are so quick, I must needs rush you. Today, however, you have much more waiting to do before you will wake, and I am not so callous as to deny you one of the simple joys of mortality.] Relaxation? [Last chance for a freebie. No, a good bath, little fang. I can¡¯t explain why, but it is quite different for you.] I nodded into the void surrounding me, and continued to enjoy the feeling. Before I could think any questions or something else, the Administrator continued. [I must admit, you were able to evolve Bloodlust much more quickly than I¡¯d expected. Most struggle to keep it activated while sleeping. They find it unnatural.] I could feel the shrug in her voice, [A hallmark of the weak and unqualified, I suppose. But, I simply must tell you, those other fogeys, the ones that hate you? Oh, they are absolutely beside themselves with frustration at your continued successes. _____ especially had quite a lot relying on your inability to evolve to khatif before adulthood.] The name she said was scrubbed from my mind the same second it was said, but somehow it felt familiar. I guess that¡¯s good for me. I made sure not to phrase it like a question. [Well,] she hedged, [neither good nor bad, if I must say. Generally good, but it is usually an unfortunate turn of events to have hostile Administrators made aware of your excellence while young. They do so love to be saboteurs, even though that is, strictly speaking, against the System¡¯s rules. But our foolish politicking has nothing to do with you, and even if it does, there is nothing you can begin to do about it, so why worry?] I saw no problem in agreeing with her stance and nodded my nonexistent head as I rose from my nonexistent bath. [You are beginning to understand to shroud yourself from desires with understandings beyond your own.] I desperately wanted to ask her what damned sense I was supposed to make out of that, but I forced myself not to. I couldn¡¯t allow myself to even fully think out a question, because if I did, I could lose the opportunity to ask the question I really needed to ask. Shut down my curiosity, my desire to understand so much more. I refused to cripple myself because I wanted to ask some stupid question instead of a good one. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. [Little fang.] The Administrator¡¯s voice cut through my internal struggle and I refocused myself on her. [I am proud of you. My history is long beyond that which you can comprehend, but rarely have I had the honor of guiding a keelish like yourself, driven, powerful, and willing to do what is necessary while still retaining their sense of self. You are changing, but you remain Ashlani. That is something to be respected.] I could feel a hand of sorts atop my head and scratching in a comfortable way around the base of my frills. [Now, ask your question.] I wished there was some creative, wonderful question that would enlighten my mind and fulfill my wildest fantasies, but I remained pragmatic as to what my needs and desires could and should be. How can I evolve into a Keel? [Always hungry, always ready for more.] The Administrator sighed, the sound somehow pleased, tired, and pitying all at once. [You would reach there eventually, I think, were you to continue acting the way you do. However, regardless of if your path may have meandered into that eventuality, this is still a good question, a Keel¡¯s question. You must speak the True Words of Power of Nievtala so as to become a Keel, and I think you will eventually find those Words. To accelerate your path, travel to Old Nievtra, the skeleton capital of Nievtala¡¯s long-lost worshippers in the far eastern reaches of the continent. There, you will be better able to Speak the Words. Already, though, you are well on your way to becoming the progenitor for the newest generation of Keel.] What was Nievtra specifically though? I¡¯d never left these jungles, whether in this life or my last (assuming they were the same jungles after all), and I couldn¡¯t begin to understand how far that was. How was I supposed to find this skeleton of a city? So many questions filled my mind, and, as always, without getting any sort of an answer, my mind faded into true oblivion. [Sybil POV] The Alpha, or Ashlani, as Sybil now sometimes allowed herself to think, had returned like a shell of his former self. Covered with wounds, staggering exhaustedly, and supported by the brute Rulac, he had eaten his fill and stumbled to sleep in his space. Fortunately, Rulac had left quickly enough, letting Sybil bring Vefir into the area and begin to heal their foolish Alpha. Sybil couldn¡¯t begin to understand what had been his thought process that had led him to spend days locked in that¡­ insanity. She had been the one to check in on him three times over the five days, and every time, Ashlani had looked and acted like a beast. There was none of the confident bearing, soft smile that occasionally broke his stern face, or poised strength. Instead, he had devolved into a ravening, incensed creature that seemed to subsist off of violence and hatred. Apparently, he¡¯d had a couple moments of clarity through the days, but Sybil felt herself worry deeply about if his mind had been permanently changed by this ordeal. Still, what reason could he have had to do that? Already, he was powerful, magical, intelligent, and competent, so why would he spend so much time like that? His previous training with Redael had made sense, it has him learning how to kill the current Swarm Alpha. But this? The thoughts swirled through her mind as she allowed herself to stop thinking of the dozens of things that needed doing for the pack. After all, she was in charge of¨C Sybil looked at Ashlani¡¯s body in alarm. She¡¯d noticed he was growing in the beginning, but now¡­ his body was changing. His shoulders, chest, tail¡­ everything. How did he do it? Every time she thought it was just some random advice, or thought, or action that he took, he found how it would lead him to greatness. She smiled, a soft smile, the kind she only allowed when nobody could see her. He was to be the king, all she had to do was follow. Chapter 95 When I awoke, more than ever before, I felt wholly different. Changed. For the first time, I looked at my bed and was, at least a little, disappointed. Someone like me, laying in the dirt like an outcast or vagrant? Why had I never kept one of the hides from a wolfstag, and made a bed? Or even brought in some boughs from a bush or tree for my bed? Regardless, some things were necessary, and my bed had been and would continue to be a non-necessity for a while yet. I stood and stretched, the cracks in my joints and spine sounding out almost like a strong rainfall. As my arms reached up, they struck the ceiling easily, much more easily than I¡¯d expected even after an evolution. I couldn¡¯t look as much at myself as if I¡¯d had a clear stream, but with my thermal perception I could see myself more than with just my eyes. My chest had broadened¡ªbefore, I, like all keelish, had a rather narrow chest compared to a human¡¯s. Among keelish, my chest had been broad, but still my shoulders had been hunched forward and narrow, built for easily pushing through thick brush and fitting in narrow tunnels. Now, my shoulders were like those of a human, broad and heavily muscled. The best part of that, I realized as I continued to stretch, was that my right shoulder was now completely whole. Every movement was easy and comfortable on my previously injured shoulder, and I relished in it. Beyond simply broadening, my shoulders now were more upright, more nearly above my hips. My spine had changed to be more upright, and my body had changed accordingly. My tail now didn¡¯t stick out nearly directly behind me and above the ground, but instead pointed diagonally towards the ground, and had become more prehensile to allow me to easily balance myself, much more simply than before. Though I tried it, I could not stand straight up. My body wasn¡¯t made for it, but my natural stance had shifted from nearly parallel to the ground, to a halfway upright position. When I first stood like that, I thought it would be uncomfortable, but the more time I spent standing, the more naturally the stance came to me. My legs had thickened, and my hips had moved forward while my feet had lengthened, making my legs look like they now had an additional knee. Similarly, my arms had also grown thicker and more muscled, like a human¡¯s. A keelish¡¯s arms are useful for digging and dragging things, but they were weak comparatively to their necks, backs, and hips, where all the force and strength for biting and moving our tails came from. Now, as a khatif apparently transitioned away from a hunched creature and more towards a person in silhouette, they didn¡¯t focus all their strength directly following their spine as a keelish did. With these changes in shape and form, I realized that I wasn¡¯t anywhere near as comfortable under the ground now as I was as a pure keelish. I saw, and, beyond that, felt that my body now glowed even warmer than it had before, and I longed to see the skies above me. I did, however, still want a nice sand bath, and I quickly stepped over into my bath that continued to grow to be too small for me. With both arms, I scooped up the sand and began to scrub my arms first with it. Skin and shed scales flaked away under my ministrations, and I, as always, felt myself melt under the feeling. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Unable to wait any longer, I flopped down into the sands and rolled over and over, allowing the sands to get under every scale before sending a quick pulse of sonic magic vibrating through my body. I idly noticed that the magic flowed even easier than before, a further improvement upon the benefits offered by the [Profound Sonilphon], and sand and skin flakes alike fell from my body. With nothing calling my attention, I rolled back into the sands and, once my body was satisfactorily coated, stood and sent another pulse of magic. Glorious. Maybe being scrubbed by someone else, someone who could give special attention to the parts I couldn¡¯t reach, would be even better. And with heated sands? I could feel my eyes roll back at the thought. For now, though, I could make do with cleaning myself in these cool, familiar sands. I closed my eyes and raised a double handful of sand to my face, gently scrubbing at the tender skin around my eyes, nostrils, and the base of my frills. My frills¡­ had changed. Before, there had really been three frills on my face. One just behind each cheekbone, and one along my spine to the crest of my head. Now, the frill along my spine seemed to have shrunk, or transitioned to more of a ridge than a frill. The frills accenting the sides of my face were now much firmer, the delicate bone that had made up the ridges within having doubled in thickness, nearly becoming bone. Before, I¡¯d occasionally worried I would damage or even break those bones, but now they were nearly weapons in their own right. Not to the level of Took¡¯s blossoming horns, but I would still consider them weapons in a pinch. Also, as I ran my hands over my face and head, it seemed that my snout had changed, broadening at my jaw and shortening a bit. My face was capped less with a snout now, but still, my face was distinctly reptilian, and I was surprised to find I appreciated that. Disregarding the battle cry I had taken up of ¡°victory by FANG and blood¡±, my keelish face had saved my life in burrowing through the Martanimis python¡¯s head, and had killed many of my foes, especially before evolving my ¡°new¡± hands and claws. Notably, I thought that my hands and claws were one of the few parts of me that hadn''t seemed to have changed at all. So much had changed. But, finally, I was sufficiently cleaned and I was no longer itching everywhere. I had grown, I knew, and, beyond that, I was standing much taller and more upright. I guessed I now stood about six feet tall, a foot taller than before. And another growth period awaited me in five days, which I was excited to see. But before that, my [Status]¨C Sybil stood waiting in the entranceway to my quarters, and her interruption sent an immediate and hot flare of rage through me. How dare this lesser creature think to disturb me when I was learning all about how I had changed? Did she not know that I was better than her? Better than all of them? These thoughts, immediate and jarring, chilled me. Sybil was my Beta, and, beyond that, my most trusted supporter. She was not below me, and I knew that she had approached not to disturb but to check on me. Why would I feel that way about her? As I questioned myself, a communication from the [System] appeared. [The Administrator speaks: You are beginning to understand why I wanted to delay this evolution. There are a great many wonderful things this evolution will offer you, but beware¨Cthere are no gifts given without their price.] Chapter 96 I turned to Sybil and forced my tone to be civil and understanding. ¡°Hello, Beta. How are you doing?¡± She cocked her head as she sized me up, and I found myself unconsciously adjusting my stance to be as magnificent as possible. What exactly that meant, I wasn¡¯t sure, but I did look her solidly in the face, and after taking another moment to look me up and down, Sybil bowed her head in respect. ¡°I am glad to see you are finally awake. You have changed even more since last I checked on you.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°Yes. It is interesting to see you standing, since before it was difficult to get the full measure of you while asleep.¡± As always, Sybil maintained her neutral, slightly submissive stance, and the ¡°superior¡± part of me reveled in it, in the acknowledgement of my position and power. The reasonable rest of me couldn¡¯t help but smirk a little before doing a little turn for her to look. ¡°Yes, very impressive.¡± Her dry tone only barely bordered on insubordinate, but it broke the cold, snobbish part of me. Without thinking, I lunged the three steps forward to where I could touch her. As Sybil startled back, I caught her shoulders and kept her from moving before gently nipping at her throat, my teeth scraping against the scales. Then, realizing what I had just done and not entirely sure what I¡¯d meant by it, I released her, stepped back and began to try to figure out how I would be able to explain this. I decided to act like it was totally normal, and began speaking as I turned and walked further into my space. ¡°I¡¯m sure there¡¯s a reason why you¡¯re here. It just so happens I was wanting some help with scrubbing some of the difficult to reach parts of my back. Would you help me as we speak?¡± Sybil said nothing, but didn¡¯t hesitate to walk forward and into the sands of the bath with me. I, on the other hand, had no idea what I had done or why or what to do moving forward, but I felt I couldn¡¯t back pedal, so I laid down in the sands and let Sybil begin to cup handfuls of sand and to firmly yet gently scrub at the least scrubbed parts of my back. ¡°I had thought I heard movement, so I came to investigate. This is the longest you have ever been asleep like that, so we were beginning to get concerned. In the end, though, it seems there was no need for us to be, as you are as¡­ energetic as always.¡± As she spoke, she continued to scrub at the parts of my back I could never reach, and I leaned and pushed into it with a groan of contentment. ¡°True enough. What has happened in the pack since I left?¡± ¡°Of particular note? Other than general progress and growth, there has been little that needs your attention. The only true concern of the pack, and especially the new who came under Ytte, is that there continued to be a decline in the numbers and quality of prey to be found nearby. The reality is that we are hunting more than our surroundings can provide, and as long as we continue to do so, the hunts will continue to decline in how much they can provide for us. We have sent small expeditions further away than ever before, but extended hunting in that direction is becoming somewhat untenable, with the amount of journeying necessary. I¡¯ve been able to calm the pack as a whole, but your conscious presence will change the general mood of the unhappy more naturally than Etra, Cree, and I have been able to.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Very well. We need a resolution to that, even if morale improves. I¡¯ll see if Rulac or even Redael has any advice for us, they¡¯ll know more about our surroundings than we do. Anything else?¡± ¡°No, not at this time, Ashlani.¡± I felt a shiver run down my spine at her referring to me affectionately while scrubbing my back. Partially at her ¡°insolence¡± at refraining from using my title, but the rest of me recognized the closeness of this situation. I didn¡¯t want to further explore that feeling, so, with a grunt, I motioned for Sybil to step back. She did so immediately and I rose to my feet, towering over her. ¡°Great, thank you for the report, and the help. I¡¯ll be out soon.¡± ¡°As you command.¡± Again, Sybil bowed, then she left without complaint. Again, I found myself fighting against my immediate approval of her submission and instead looked inward for some reason as to why I was acting this way to her. As the Administrator had said, there was ¡°no gift without its price¡±, but was this going to be temporary or more permanent? If I needed to constantly fight against this urge to look down on my subordinates, then¡­ well, I was ok with that. Then, finally, I took the opportunity to look at my new [Status], surprised by a particularly wordy notification appearing upon my opening the [Status]. [The User was in the process of evolution while the benefit of a Stat bonus from a keelish¡¯s regular growth spurt was due to occur. The additional Stats to be provided to a Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif evolving from a keelish at their ninth growth period have been added to the Stat gains from evolution.] [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Khatif Titles: Chosen of Nievtala Current quests: -Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. -Gain control of 15% of the entire swarm. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5. Progress: 7% - Speak the entirety of the First Iteration of the Words of Power of Nievtala. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility +4, Intelligence, Magic +3. Progress: 4/5 Stats: -Constitution: 48+8+3=59 -Strength: 55+9+4=68 -Agility: 58+9+5=72 -Intelligence: 47+9+3=59 -Magic: 45+9+3=57 Skills: Adversary: 2/10 Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust: Unqualified, 0/4 Dominance: 49/100 Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Guide: (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Innervating Address (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 1/10 Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve) Profound Sonilphon: 1/5 Evolutionary Possibilities -Adult Sonic Alpha Khatif: Survive 60 days. Progress: 55/60 Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] I had hoped for, and frankly expected, a litany of new [Skills] to dive into, but this, while simple, was more than enough to excite me. Chapter 97 Among those who have heard the New Empire speak and declare that they are restraining themselves, that they have become less aggressive, less destructive, and more considerate after the Great Ascension, there are many that cannot bring themselves to believe. After all, the Empire prides itself on its insuppressible infantry, their mutated mounts, and magnificent mages. Their people are built to be an engine of war, from the lowest unascended Kha shepherd to the Zaaktif, the Emperor himself, and they have never hidden that. How could such a tyranny be considered considerate? Some speak of their fair laws, that while the punishments are draconian, the New Empire retains the safest territories in the continent. Others still speak of their schools, where foreigners can enter and learn aspects of history, magic, philosophy, and politics for a nominal fee and fair labor. I, however, speak only from experience, for I have seen and did experience what those who made the New Empire once were¨Cand the scars from the Great Pilgrimage are yet seen in every facet and aspect of the environment from the Tuurlon Peaks to the Shandise. Yes, they have changed. -From the first entry from the epistolary travel journal of Kayuktuk the Landlocked. Looking at my [Status], I realized that each of my Stats had grown by at least one quarter. The comparative change in their values combined with the sheer number of Stats I¡¯d gained was definitely the source of some of the feelings of change, though I also felt that the quality of my Stats had changed somewhat. I was excited as I realized that, with the exception of Magic, all my Stats were higher than those of a human. There were no plans to fight humans any time soon, and I was trying to remember to practice to try to speak in the language I remembered speaking in my past life, but the thought was still encouraging. After all, I¡¯d not yet reached adulthood, nor had I spent even two moons as a keelish, yet I was so impressive already. A notification from the Administrator through the [System] quickly tore me from my self-aggrandizement. [The Administrator laughs and requests that you note that the base Stats of 50 for Constitution, Strength, Agility, and Intelligence are for the basic human. While most do not qualify for boosting Skills such as Exceptional Individual, very few humans actually fall near the base stats for the race, just as keelish are usually stronger than said base Stats.] After forcing myself to focus, I finally began to get over myself. I should have long known that, but I supposed I had subconsciously set 50s as a goal to strive towards. Regardless, I couldn¡¯t say if my Stats were even comparable to Redael¡¯s, and setting aside the possibility for vengeance against Viilor, I needed to face the fact that, eventually, I would need to fight to protect the swarm from threats. I wasn¡¯t sure how I¡¯d never truly thought of this, but the swarm¡¯s greatest enemies weren¡¯t wolfstags or terrorbirds. No, they would be people. With our numbers, I couldn¡¯t think of a single predator that could pose a threat to us collectively. Humans, though, would ambush, use their Callings, hunt, and eradicate us. They would bring Flamespeakers to burn the jungles around us, Wavespeakers to wash us away, Windspeakers to keep us from smelling them, Earthspeakers to enter our dens and slaughter our young. I enjoyed hunting, and I was now willing to admit that I enjoyed fighting Redael and Wisterl, in a certain way. While I knew the word, I couldn¡¯t understand war. Any conflicts the Viertaali tribe had with neighboring tribes occasionally ended in a few deaths, even a skirmish or two. But a war of extinction? Never. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Beyond that, the idea of a war as opposed to hunts against dangerous prey frightened me. We grew ever stronger, and there were some of us with magic, but we couldn¡¯t stand against a full tribe of Speakers. They would wipe us out to the last without remorse or hesitation, and they would celebrate over our burning den. I needed to remember that, while I might not wish violence upon humankind, they would feel no such hesitation towards me. Beyond that, why would my keelish hold themselves back from killing what would just be another potential prey to them? Thus, I practiced my speaking every day, and would continue to do so in preparation for the day we inevitably came in contact with humans. Beyond that, what was this new [Skill]? [Skill: Pain Tolerance; Passive Skill that allows the User to ignore pain to a certain degree. NOTE: The ability to ignore the feeling of discomfort does not allow for the Skill holder to ignore the repercussions of the damages sustained causing said pain. This Skill does not evolve.] Maybe it could work in tandem with [Bloodlust]. Could be interesting, but I wasn¡¯t even sure if I wanted this [Skill], since I was only ignoring the discomfort I felt. If I disregarded important information my body was giving me¡­ then I would be damaging myself, potentially beyond repair. I was amazingly lucky that my shoulder had finally healed with this evolution, and I certainly didn¡¯t want to get myself back into that situation again. I shook my head, hoping nothing would come of this new [Skill], and exited to the communal area. There, it seemed that the hunting packs were beginning to ready themselves to set out. Took saw me, now once again taller than she was, and grunted. I felt my temper flare at the disrespect, and, before I could catch myself, I began to retort. ¡°What, you feeling short?¡± I tried to soften my tone as best as I could as the words left my mouth. ¡°Small?¡± Took, fortunately not realizing the somewhat mean intent to my questions, smiled faintly. ¡°A little. I¡¯ll catch up though, I promise.¡± Then, without speaking further, she led a pack out of the den. Shortly after, Treel bowed to me before guiding Foire and a couple others out for a different hunt. I had to fight to keep myself from following them out simply so that I could get out of the tunnels. The need to get outside where I could feel the wind in my face was new and strange to me. Until now, I¡¯d never cared about being in the den or out in the open air, and somewhat preferred the den, given the safety it provided. But now, I wanted to escape, and that was uncomfortable. After all, this was my home. Regardless of if I wanted out or not, though, I needed to go find Rulac and ask him about the hunting options available, and if there was something we needed to know. After all, while we weren¡¯t quite as much as some days before, we still were finalizing our growth and needed to keep ourselves totally full. And so, thinking on solutions to ensure my pack always had enough to eat, I walked into Rulac¡¯s den and stumbled in on him rutting. Chapter 98 Even though I¡¯d never seen a keelish mate, it didn¡¯t take any time for me to realize what I had stumbled into. Immediately, I turned and began walking out of the den. It didn¡¯t take long before Rulac walked out, looking a little miffed, but mostly pleased with himself. I¡¯d wondered what exactly to say while waiting, and all I had come up with was, ¡°Um. Sorry for interrupting.¡± ¡°At least you know enough to apologize. But she was nearly done anyway.¡± His amused smirk grew with his words. ¡°Don¡¯t you mean ¡®we were nearly¨C¡¯¡± I cut myself and my knee-jerk curiosity off, but it was too late. ¡°Nope.¡± His smirk transitioned into a full grin, and I knew some comment was about to follow. ¡°Regardless,¡± I raised my voice to cut him off, and I realized I subconsciously laced it with sonic magic, giving my words a certain gravity. Rulac looked at me, more attentive and present than I could ever remember him being. I realized, for the first time, that I was taller than Rulac. When last I¡¯d seen him, just after my long training with Wisterl, I¡¯d been about a foot shorter than him, but now, I was a couple of inches taller. He still outweighed me by a fair margin and was longer than me snout to tail, but since I stood upright now, I was taller. The prideful ¡°khatif¡± part of me took notice of that and gloried in it. ¡°I had a reason to come here, and it wasn¡¯t watching you. Our hunting grounds are running dry, and I wondered if there is anything that the swarm usually does in cases like this.¡± He flared his frills in acknowledgement before he answered, ¡°You aren¡¯t the biggest brood to reach adulthood, we¡¯ve had a couple with some more, but we¡¯ve never had one quite so big and so successful, least, so far as I know. Most of the time, when a brood your size reaches adulthood, they¡¯re half starving, cause they¡¯ve eaten through all the easy prey in the area. They get cycled to new grounds, and usually start to find out how to get good prey there. You¡­ you¡¯re different. You figured out pretty young how to hunt the real prey.¡± Rulac¡¯s voice glowed with a certain amount of appreciation as he spoke. ¡°Your pack ain¡¯t huntin what they usually would be at this stage, and that has kept you full, but there just ain¡¯t enough prey in the area to fill so many ravenous, growing keelish. Your problem will start to get better once you all finish growing quite so much, cause you won¡¯t be so hungry all the time. There is another problem, though.¡± He paused and looked at me, weighing my reaction. ¡°What kind of problem could we have?¡± I felt myself bristling at the insinuation that my pack could be anything less than impressive. Rulac, unimpressed by my little display of anger, looked at me levelly. ¡°You have another predator in your space. They also reduce the quality and quantity of prey available. ¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. After just a second, I realized he was talking about the wolfstags. Rulac saw my understanding and nodded. ¡°Those thunderfangs are dangerous. We don¡¯t know exactly how many of them there are. And they¡¯re in your territory. What are you going to do about it?¡± My anger at Rulac¡¯s insinuation began to transition to a hot-blooded rage towards the wolfstags. They dared to impede my growth? That of my pack? I nearly strode away that same moment to begin an assault against whatever canine I found, but I tamped down that anger with reason, and I thought about what Rulac had just said. Then, with that moment¡¯s thought, I turned to him to ask, ¡°You say you don¡¯t know exactly how many. Do you know about how many?¡± He flared his frills in acknowledgement, and for perhaps the first time, I realized that while Rulac was brusque, rude, and straightforward, it wasn¡¯t from a lack of wisdom or intelligence. ¡°With all those you killed in your fight, we think there are about one hundred battle-ready thunderfangs. We can¡¯t really be sure, since nobody has found their den yet.¡± With Rulac¡¯s second mention of the wolfstags as ¡°thunderfangs¡±, I realized that I was the only one who would have had the name wolfstags for them. No other keelish had the [System], so they wouldn¡¯t see it there, and I had preexisting knowledge. So did the name of the wolfstags in the [System] change due to my own perception, or was that their name? I shook the thought from my head, realizing I was again allowing my mind to wander, something that I already noted happened much more frequently as a khatif than it did as a keelish. ¡°If there are that many of them, we couldn¡¯t survive direct combat with them. At least, not yet.¡± I thought out loud, and Rulac, though he obviously heard me, didn¡¯t say or do anything to let me know what he thought. I began to think through any option that occurred to me. Most obvious, pick off as many as we found in groups. A good option, but we didn¡¯t know where they were. Mass hunt again, trying to find the den? But, still, we were outnumbered. Maybe¡­ ¡°Am I allowed to recruit other packs to follow me for this? More numbers give me more options.¡± And, could allow me to complete a [Quest]... ¡°You wouldn¡¯t know this, but once you¡¯re an adult, the packs change more. There are the keelish that are better in the den, and they stick together. Other packs just stick to themselves and are pretty¡­ dunno, is aloof the word? Anyways, some do their own thing. Redael doesn¡¯t really care, as long as they all listen to him and don¡¯t forget it.¡± I could easily pick up on the tone of warning in that. Rulac continued, ¡°I would say it¡¯s fine if you can find others who¡¯ll follow ya, but those who will might not be able to do what you want to. Plus, if ya start doing somethin stupid, like trying to make yourself their Alpha before Redael¡­ well, you already know what he¡¯ll do to ya.¡± He flicked his tail, shrugging off my potential demise like it was an annoying fly. ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ll see what I can do then, but we¡¯ll have to start ranging out anyway, because once we kill all the w¨Cthunderfangs,¡± I barely caught myself, not sure if I should even say wolfstags instead of thunderfang, ¡°we¡¯ll still be out of prey before long.¡± Again, Rulac flicked his tail, completely uncaring about my pack¡¯s need to eat. ¡°Good luck.¡± And, with that, I was only barely better off about how to feed my pack than I had been before I¡¯d witnessed all of Rulac¡¯s¡­ ¡°prowess¡±. Chapter 99 I supposed I could have gone to Redael to ask for advice, but I couldn¡¯t imagine that any results that came from asking the Swarm Alpha for help like that would end well for me. In fact, I couldn¡¯t imagine what his response would be if I asked him for help at all, other than generally negative. Instead, I returned to my den and found Sybil. She and Shemira were in conference about something, but I found I couldn¡¯t focus on their words. I had needed to convince myself not to throw myself at Sybil when we¡¯d been alone, but Shemira¡­ Immediately, before I made an absolute fool of myself, I bit my tongue and the taste of blood filled my mouth. I didn¡¯t let myself think about her, about her tail, the curve of her hips¨CI ground my fangs into my tongue again and coughed quietly to interrupt them. ¡°How can we help you, Alpha?¡± I pointedly focused solely on Sybil. ¡°Have we found any other packs to join under our control?¡± I could feel a slight trickle of my blood seep from between my fangs and onto my face. I hoped that they couldn¡¯t see it, but even if they could, there wouldn¡¯t be anything they could or would do about it. Though I could read the questions in her shoulders and slight movement of her tail, Sybil asked none of them. Instead, she flared her frills and answered, ¡°Yes. We have found three more, all in similar positions to Ytte¡¯s pack. There is, of course, the concern of feeding them as we did Ytte¡¯s, but if that can be coordinated, then I believe that a similar level of control can be gained over those packs.¡± I nodded as she spoke. ¡°That is what we shall do then. We¡¯ll need to change the method, though. We won¡¯t be able to provide the food up front, so maybe they won¡¯t submit to me quite so quickly. Regardless, our only real options now are to expand our range and to exterminate the wolfstags. We¡¯ll need to find their tracks and frequently visited locations to finish it.¡± I was about to continue when Shemira chirped in, ¡°Well, then Took has good news for you!¡± Her voice was flighty, excited, and I forced myself to look at her. Somehow, she exuded an aura of allure, something I¡¯d always ignored in the past, but with my new, more passionate body, I couldn¡¯t not notice it. She was beautiful, alluring, almost painfully so. Then, as I gathered my words, I realized that was acceptable¨Cthat a creature was beautiful, and I knew her, and that was all. I felt my self control strengthen and I looked her straight on as I finally answered. ¡°What news does Took have for me?¡± ¡°On a shorter hunt, she and Foire located some wolfstags. Before they could begin the hunt, the wolfstags retreated down to a burrow.¡± Shemira looked over at Sybil, and Sybil continued to finish the thought. ¡°We are relatively sure that they found the den. Once the pack got close, Foire could sense at least 40 of the wolfstags, and they retreated. So far as we know, they are unaware of us having come to know where their home is.¡± As the two spoke, I felt a grin begin to crack across my face. This was exactly what we needed. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Sybil.¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be returning with an initial demonstration of our ability to provide for others. Have the Alphas of each pack present for when we return. Promise them they¡¯ll receive a small gift for their attendance, that should get them to come easily enough.¡± ¡°Of course, Alpha.¡± ¡°And you, Shemira.¡± My self control being stronger was great, but I did enjoy looking at her as I turned to speak to her. ¡°Yeeees?¡± She drew out the word and posed. I shook my head, part of me enjoying the show, the rest of me asking why in Nievtala¡¯s name she would do that. ¡°I know that your magic works especially on males, so if any of the Alphas brought in are male, make them comfortable and trusting. Your abilities are different from Sybil¡¯s so far as I know, so try to cover for any difference between you.¡± Shemira flared her frills in assent as Sybil added, ¡°Two of them are. The third will be more easily kept in line if we have the other two under your influence. I will assign you to go and collect them, to spend more time with each and get them accustomed to you.¡± Then, Sybil looked at me and asked, ¡°Do we want them to fight each other over her approval?¡± ¡°Oooh! That sounds interesting. I wouldn¡¯t give either a chance, but if they think that they might be able to gain my approval, they would probably be willing to do more for us.¡± I entertained the thought for a moment before preparing to shut down the thought. I thought better, and simply asked, ¡°Shemira, do you think you could keep them generally under control that way?¡± Her tail flicked, uncertain for a moment. Then, she squared herself up and looked up at my face. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure I do, Alpha.¡± ¡°Then do it.¡± She bowed her head. ¡°Thank you.¡± The two joined back together, conversing about what they would do to prepare these three packs to submit themselves to me as I walked away. After all, I had some gifts to prepare. ¡­ It didn¡¯t take long before I had gathered a pack of 20 of the most competent members of the pack together for this preliminary ambush of the wolfstag territory. There wasn¡¯t a single keelish not excited and raring to go exact yet more vengeance against our furry foes. After all, they had long proven themselves to be the most dangerous of any creature we had encountered nearby, and even the members of Ytte¡¯s pack had lost companions to the ¡°thunderfangs¡±. Foire led us out of the den, and, for the first time since I¡¯d evolved, I stepped foot into the open air. Involuntarily, I closed my eyes, leaned my head back, and breathed it in. The air was wet with moisture, and I realized that the truly wet season was soon to be upon us. I opened my eyes and looked. A khatif¡¯s eyes were evidently much more advanced than a keelish¡¯s, and I saw the sunset clearly, the clouds burning in the sky. There were birds calling in the jungle around me, and I could see them flitting from branch to branch. Far above us there was a hawk or other raptor circling, and I thought I could hear its scream. The clouds to the west were those seemingly aflame in the light of the descending suns, and to the east, I could see others colored an angry purple and fat with rain. A wide sky spread before me, a jungle ripe with prey to feast upon, and a pack behind me hanging on my every word. I was free, and this world was mine to conquer. All I had to do was to step out into it. Chapter 100 With Foire leading us, our pack approached the lair of the wolfstags. I planned for this first ambush of ours to be quick, and to take, at most, ten of our prey. Any more, and we couldn¡¯t guarantee that none would escape. We wouldn¡¯t be able to return with our ¡°gifts¡± with that many on our tails, so I was trusting Foire to be absolutely sure about how many of the wolves there were, and where they were. Even without me saying as much, I could read the tension in his shoulders and spine, and Foire continuously ranged out and scouted everything that was happening. Alongside Foire, Silf and two other keelish who had been training under Foire scouted continuously, taking upon themselves the brunt of the worry and difficulty of keeping the rest of us safe. The pack slowly, quietly strode forward and onward, through the brush towards where we knew the wolfstags¡¯ den was. I found I needed to hunch and occasionally use my hands to balance myself to crouch and make my way through the brush. The mere necessity of it rankled me, that I should have to lower myself to try to hide from my prey. I furiously pushed down that foolishness, knowing that I couldn¡¯t proudly walk into danger and expect to survive. Instead, I focused on keeping myself constantly prepared to use my vibrating claws. I¡¯d decided to simply call it that until the [System] finally granted me my [Skill], and I was sure that after using them today, I would finally be blessed with that notification. Foire continued to guide us until we were about five miles from where we thought the wolfstag den was located. Then, we all laid low, trying to hide within the twisting roots of the burlraizes and within the thick brush while he scaled the largest tree nearby. I wasn¡¯t sure if we would be so lucky as to find a perfect amount of wolfstags to hunt, but I figured we could at least get a couple. They frequently hunted at night, similar to keelish, though they relied on their sense of smell, different to the superior keelish¡¯ senses. With that knowledge, we were, for now, all downwind of the wolfstags. After a quarter of an hour, Foire briefly descended to say that there seemed to be a group of wolfstags that had left their den and left in the opposite direction. We left them alone, waiting, hoping for some to come our way. A second pack of wolves left, going north and far away from our position. The first pack of wolves returned. A third pack left in the direction the first pack returned from. A fourth pack left, stayed close, then returned. A fifth pack came directly towards us. The fifth pack would be our prey, and we set our ambush. Most stood waiting behind the mounds of roots, while Foire and several others stayed within the trees, watching and waiting. Foire signaled something with his hands, and one of his fellow scouts came near to me and explained the meaning¨Ceight prey, coming fast, be ready. I took a deep breath, calmed myself, and, after thinking for a split second, decided to activate [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust]. Just as the [Skill]¡¯s description had stated, my mind focused, disregarding the nerves that always plagued me before a fight, and my vision went monochrome with all color bleaching from my perception with one exception. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I saw red spots color all of the keelish near me, and I knew they were vulnerabilities I could exploit. There was no need to, though. They weren¡¯t the ones I would kill. Instead, I only needed to wait until the wolfstags were near. Then, I would be able to rip and tear through them until I was done. Even with my detachment, I could feel the desire to rush into battle and feel my claws rip through flesh, but I could now much more easily wait until my targets approached. Finally, movement approached. Again, I wanted to run out the same moment that I saw them, but I stopped myself until the wolfstags were right in the center of where our ambushers laid in wait, and then I was the first to battle. The prey in the back was only barely quick enough to turn around before my right hand¡¯s claws sliced deep into its hamstring where a burning mark glowed. It collapsed as I activated the vibrations in my claws and cut towards my prey with the other hand. With the addition of my magic, my vibrating claws sliced quickly through skin and muscle, then, with only a moment¡¯s slowing, the wolfstag¡¯s ribs parted beneath my blow. Its intestines began to spill free through the wide wound, but with my free left hand, I sliced cleanly and quickly through its spine at the base of its neck, striking easily into another glowing vulnerability. As my first victim collapsed, I took in the view of the rest of the fight. There were no dangerous situations, and I could see that the surprised wolfstags were quickly succumbing to our assault. Even so, I didn¡¯t hesitate to step forward to the largest of the pack, one that was almost holding its ground, and strike at a weak spot in its shoulder. Again, under both the influence of my [Bloodlust] guided strike and magic, my claws sunk in almost without effort, and I felt the muscles of my prey contract around my fingers as I plunged them ever deeper into the flesh. With my fingers and claws tearing into its muscles, my prey quickly succumbed to other attacks from the rest of the pack, and I turned away before its yelps had faded into the jungle. With those two down so quickly and Took¡¯s furious rage-fueled strikes on the other side of the hunt, the eight wolfstags were quickly dispatched. Before I let the [Bloodlust] fade away, I noted that one of the wolves had howled shortly after our assault had begun, and I couldn¡¯t say what it had been intended to mean. ¡°Get on the bodies now. Let¡¯s get back,¡± I called back before immediately leading the way, not waiting to see who grabbed what body and if they needed help. They could take care of themselves, and if they were unable to keep up, then they deserved what came their way. As we walked away and I allowed the [Bloodlust] to fade, I rolled my shoulders, excited to have been able to hunt without any discomfort at all. Then, I was excited to be greeted by the expected notification. [Growth achieved. Skill acquired. Status updated.] Chapter 101 [Skill: Quaking Claw acquired.] Internally I cheered while desperately wanting to look more deeply at the effect of the [Skill]. Regardless of my desires, though, I needed to continue guiding the pack quickly back to the den. After all, this many full-grown wolfstags was enough for the entire pack for two days, if we held back a little. Only two days¡­ I mused over that as we made our way back home. How was the entire swarm surviving? There were over 1000 keelish in the swarm, and while Rulac had told me that part of why we ate so much was because we were growing, there still just was no way that the swarm was staying fed without destroying the jungle¡¯s ecosystem. I shook the worry from my head. After all, that wasn¡¯t my problem, at least not yet. I only needed to feed my pack, and we had that lined up for the upcoming days. And, with twenty of us hurriedly carrying the corpses back to the den, we were able to arrive at one of the larger entrances without having any encounter with the wolfstags we were sure were currently pursuing us. Then, even with the large bundles of meat and bones underarm, we easily brought the results of our first hunt back to our territory. Watching the pack file in, I noted Took, Treel, and Brutus each carrying a wolfstag alone, while the other five were being carried in pairs. Then, a thought occurred to me. Without realizing it, I hadn¡¯t even lifted a hand to help carry the results of our hunt back to the den. Hadn¡¯t even considered it. After all, that wasn¡¯t the work of the Alpha, but of the subordinates. But¡­ why? I could have easily carried one by myself, and that would have sped us up. Regardless, I hadn¡¯t thought of that as an option until now. Instead, I had simply expected the rest of the pack to take care of it. Was that a mark of a foolish and careless leader? Or a confident and competent one? I supposed only time could tell, but no longer could I worry about it, as I heard the raised voices of two males echoing from my den. ¡°Then I¡¯ll force you to.¡± ¡°Still jealous you couldn¡¯t take my position as Alpha. That¡¯s why you left! C¡¯mon, coward!¡± As I rounded the corner, two males began to lunge at each other, jaws snapping wildly as they postured more than fought. Before I could do anything about it, Sybil looked at Shemira, who daintily stepped forward, flouncing with her tail and hips swaying. ¡°No, don¡¯t fight! I simply can¡¯t bear it! What if you got huuuurt?¡± As before, she drew out the word, laying on the innocent, helpless routine in a way I¡¯d never thought possible from a keelish. The two males seemed halfway convinced not to do something stupid in my den, and that was when I stepped in. ¡°Sybil.¡± I laced my voice with my magic to cause it to carry, as well as the influence of [Dominance]. With that single name called, both of the quarreling keelish went silent then seemed embarrassed that they had been cowed so easily. I tried my best to hide my disdain as I looked at Sybil. ¡°Yes, Alpha?¡± Looking at her, I would never know if she at all cared that these two foreign ¡°Alphas¡± were nearly coming to blows within our den, she simply stood poised and attentive. I didn¡¯t see the third, female Alpha around, and asked, ¡°Is the third coming? You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Cree should be bringing her now. That den¡¯s territory is much further than these two¡¯s, so a certain delay was inevitable.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Then, turning from my Beta, I leveled my gaze at the two males. ¡°Make yourselves comfortable until our final guest arrives. Then, I will let you know what my plan is for helping you and your packs.¡± Without waiting for a response, I turned to try to find Solia. After all, she might be able to help me with creating a better bed. Before I could take more than three steps, though, a voice interrupted me, the tone thready and whiny. The first voice I¡¯d heard. ¡°No¡­ you¨Cyou¡¯d better tell us now!¡± The male was impressive enough, I supposed. A couple of scales above four and half feet tall, looked about as strong as an Alpha his size would be. Nothing noteworthy about him though. No scars, no signs of difficult battles he¡¯d gone through. For the first time, I truly understood what Redael had said to me during our first ¡°training¡±. ¡°You haven¡¯t lost enough.¡± In the fog of pain that had filled that blistering attack, I¡¯d forgotten, but clarity descended on me. He hadn¡¯t been speaking of losing people or things, but how many losses in a fight or combat I¡¯d sustained. With my new understanding, I turned to look the keelish in the face. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Criit.¡± I slowly nodded. ¡°Criit. Why did you come here?¡± He, previously nervous, was beginning to gain some momentum and confidence. ¡°I was told I could take a prize when I came. I choose one of those,¡± He pointed at one of the wolfstag corpses, then at Shemira, ¡°and her. Then, I might let you work with me.¡± The previously dormant but present rage within me immediately and powerfully boiled over. I kept a tight lid on it and turned to the other male. ¡°Do you think the same?¡± Maybe it was that he was stronger than Criit. Or maybe he felt something in my gaze. Or, maybe he just wasn¡¯t a stars forgotten fool. Whatever it was, the other Alpha flicked his tail in disagreement and stepped back. I then borrowed a move of Redael¡¯s and, without warning, smashed my closed fist into Criit¡¯s face. I could have simply killed him immediately, had I decided to use my claws, but my armored fist was more than enough to lay him flat on the ground, trembling in pain, surprise, or something else. I didn¡¯t care what the emotion was. He looked up at me, and I lowered myself enough to look him solidly in his face, my voice a deadly, calm, conversational tone. ¡°Do you still think you can enter my den and tell me what to do?¡± I didn¡¯t give him time to answer before I lunged forward, grabbed him by the throat, lifted him into the air, and let him dangle, his tail twitching uselessly against the ground. His panicked breaths wheezed through his partially blocked throat, and after just a couple seconds that felt much longer, I released his neck and let Criit thump to the ground. Again, I lowered myself to get close, revealing my fangs in a too-wide smile. This time, he scrambled away, not rising to his feet, but trying to keep his distance as I kept my voice in a deadly pleasant, quiet tone. ¡°Do you?¡± I asked. Immediately and without hesitation, Criit¡¯s answer was, ¡°No no no no no. I¡¯m sorry. I won¡¯t do it again. I¡¯ll leave. I¡¯ll do what you want, please just don¡¯t kill me.¡± ¡°I want you to stay here, and wait for our third guest to arrive. Thank you.¡± Then, without looking again at the gasping fool who¡¯d dared make demands of me, I walked over to Solia. Chapter 102 I didn¡¯t take long to show Solia and a couple other keelish how I wanted the more complete skins removed from the wolfstag corpses, but I did explain to them that after scraping all the flesh off the remaining leather, the skins should be cured. Solia especially could help with that, and I framed the low, steady heat necessary to create a cured leather that wouldn¡¯t go rancid as a practice in magical control. Then, as she began to understand and get excited about what she could do to try this, I stepped into my quarters to wait for the final guest to arrive. And to inspect my new [Skill]. [Skill: Quaking Claw; an active Skill that sends a concentrated flow of sonic magic to a specific location. The sonic magic¡¯s vibrations cause the affected area to vibrate in a way that facilitates cutting and tearing. When paired with a sharp extremity or sharpened held tool, Quaking Claw will show its greatest effectiveness. This Skill cannot evolve.] Straightforward and understandable. I could feel that I was now better and more easily able to trigger and maintain the flow of magic necessary for my new [Skill], and that it didn¡¯t drain as much from my reserves of magic. Additionally, I had gained a new and more deadly avenue of attack, one I would need once it came time to usurp Redael¡¯s place. That I was under him rankled me, that he would think himself above and better than me. I was the best keelish¨C I cut myself off. I couldn¡¯t allow myself to constantly think like that. If I did, I¡¯d find myself doing something I couldn¡¯t take back and would be forced to take action before I was ready. Instead, I could only focus on continuing to strengthen my foundation here. Quickly I stepped into the bath and allowed the sands to scrub the gore of battle from my body. The coagulated blood and flecks of flesh no longer bothered me as they would have back when I was a human, but they still itched and I enjoyed being clean. I didn¡¯t allow myself to fully indulge in the bath, instead simply cleansing the grime of battle from my body before shaking the sand from my body and readying myself to return to the communal area. Just as I began to take a step forward and reintroduce myself to the situation, I hesitated. Would it be better for me to wait for the last Alpha to appear? Or, for me to force the three to wait on me? The first might be more polite among humankind, but I was the most powerful of the Alphas here, and I was in charge. I had the largest, strongest pack, and they were in my territory. With that thought in my mind, I settled back to rest for a moment, experimenting with my magic to see if I could finally come to understand how to change my tone or the flow of magic to create the opposite effect of [Innervating Address]. I couldn¡¯t say if I was making progress, so when Sybil poked her head into my quarters, I immediately stood. ¡°She¡¯s here?¡± Simple flare of the frills. ¡°Good to hear.¡± I began to stride forward, and Sybil allowed me to pass by her so she could flank me as we passed out of my quarters, through the sleeping area for the initial pack that was connected, and into the communal area. I stopped shortly before entering into my guests¡¯ perception, and I could feel Sybil looking at me in askance. Looking over my shoulder, I made eye contact with her, looked deep into her eyes¡­ and then flicked my tail against her flank playfully. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Sybil paused, cocked her head, opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, and, before she could say anything, I looked away, walked forward into the communal space where the others were and began to address those within while fighting back the grin that threatened the corners of my mouth. ¡°Thank you for coming.¡± I looked all three in the eye, starting with Criit. He still cowered, and wholly avoided my gaze. The other male was slightly larger than Criit, most of the way to five feet tall, but I could count his ribs through his skin. He was, if not starving, hungry. There was no fat on him, and his muscles stood out in stark contrast to his scales, the muscles twitching as he held himself standing in my presence. With my sudden display of violence earlier in his mind, it seemed, he quickly averted his gaze from looking me in my eyes. Another coward, then. Then, just as I began to make up my mind, he looked up and held eye contact with me. Perhaps I was wrong. I turned to the female. This female was the smallest of the three, but she was well-fed, almost maintained. Cute, I supposed, but looking at her, I could not understand how she could be an Alpha. I knew of the growth that came with the evolution to Alpha, but she didn¡¯t seem to have gotten any such benefit. Beyond that, she didn¡¯t show any scars or sign that she had ever participated in an argument, much less a hunt. I was immediately on my guard, wondering what she was capable of. ¡°My name is Ashlani. What should I call you?¡± I looked at Criit first. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he looked up and saw me expecting him to speak. Immediately, his voice raised in a squeak. ¡°I¡¯m Criit.¡± As my gaze settled on the other male, he saw me looking and nodded. ¡°Mrat.¡± ¡°And you may call me Shalla. Do make sure not to mispronounce it, the emphasis is in the beginning. I do so hate to be called something other than my name. Or some other complimentary nickname.¡± Before I could even look at the female Alpha, she spoke up. Her voice dripped with condescension and superiority, and I felt myself bristle at her tone. ¡°Very well, Shalla, Mrat, and Criit. I have heard that you all are suffering from some unsuccessful hunts. That your packs are beginning to go hungry. That you are beginning to become desperate.¡± Shalla immediately jumped in, ¡°I have not lost any meals. If any of my pack has gone hungry, it is their own fault.¡± Mrat and Criit, though, both were silent and watched me attentively. ¡°If you have no problems, then why are you here?¡± ¡°I was promised a gift! Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t know? Have you forgotten? One such as I deserves a gift for existing, much less for attending a get-together like this.¡± At that moment, as I tried to again understand how this idiot could have become an Alpha, another female stepped out of the surrounding keelish, and I realized I didn¡¯t recognize her. She spoke as she stepped forward, bowing. ¡°What our esteemed Alpha wishes to say is that due to some of the hunters¡¯ weakness, there has been a decrease in successful hunts.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, that. Any fool could have understood me, Khaa.¡± And then, I understood what was happening with this pack. Great. I shook my head and began to try to figure out how I was going to convince these three Alphas to fight for me. Chapter 103 After thinking and deciding that a demonstration of strength and competence was all I could realistically come up with, I spoke again. ¡°You can see what we did today, what our hunters were able to bring to the den. We have enough to eat, and we eat until we are full every day. These¡­ thunderfangs are a plague in our territory, though they also are an acceptable source of food. We have found their home, and will exterminate them all. However, there are more of them than we can eat in due time, and in exchange for some assistance in the hunt, we will give you a due portion of the spoils.¡± I paused and attempted to evaluate my audience¡¯s reaction. My pack was about the same as always¨Chappy, excited, and hanging on my every word. Mrat and Criit were paying close attention, and I thought I could even see a string of saliva drip from the corner of Mrat¡¯s mouth. Shalla wasn¡¯t even looking at me, instead glancing around at the den, while Khaa¡¯s eyes flicked from me to Shalla and back. With her reaction, I was more sure of the true dynamic of their pack, though I had no idea how it had become like that. ¡°If you and your pack will want to participate in the hunt with us, you will need to be a productive part of the hunt. If you only come along and watch, you¡¯ll eat as much as you help.¡± ¡°Can we keep everything we hunt?¡± Mrat¡¯s voice cut through, and I could almost taste the desperation in his tone. The small, charitable part of me wondered what had happened to him and his pack to get to this point, but the rest of me immediately set on his reckless need. ¡°There will be a certain amount of tribute required, since we are the largest, strongest pack with the information, but the offerings you must make will be negligible compared to the amount that you are able to take down. As a sign of my goodwill, take this.¡± I stepped to the side, grabbed a whole wolfstag and tossed it to Mrat¡¯s feet. Though he tried to master himself, I could see the twitch, the immediate desire to dive onto the corpse. I turned to Criit. ¡°Will your pack march with us to prosperity? Or will they continue to waste away in weakness?¡± Though he¡¯d been cowed by my presence and attack, Criit bristled at my suggestion that his pack was weak. ¡°We do not need your charity!¡± ¡°Nor did I offer it. I offered an opportunity to work together and be benefitted by it. Are you unwilling to accept an opportunity that will help your pack simply because that opportunity did not come from yourself? Would you deprive your pack of good meals for so petty a reason?¡± Criit clenched his jaw, his tail flicking with his rage as I continued my words. ¡°I¡¯d think you were a better leader than that.¡± Then, just as with Mrat, I turned to a nearby wolfstag body, lifted it with one arm, and tossed it in front of him. ¡°Take that to your pack, let them see that there is more that they can experience than mere survival and scavenging for scraps.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Then, there was Shalla. Or, perhaps more correctly, Khaa. ¡°Shalla, here is your gift.¡± I grabbed the third wolfstag and laid it much more gently at her feet. She seemed to take some measure of pride in that, puffing up her chest as she attempted to look down her nose at me as I began to say to Khaa through Shalla, ¡°Your struggling hunters will find companionship, support, and strength with us, and, beyond that, they can find plenty to hunt.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure they will appreciate your guidance, Ash¨CKhaa, what was his name?¡± Shalla turned away in the middle of her sentence, and I fought hard to keep myself from lashing out at Shalla¡¯s idiocy and disrespect. I could barely maintain my frustration to mere lashes of my tail, swinging it back and forth wildly. ¡°Ashlani, my Alpha.¡± ¡°Yes, yes. I¡¯m sure they will appreciate you Ashlani. You seem a good boy. Smarter than the rest, at least.¡± Shallan whirled around, her tail whipping through the air as she strode away. ¡°Khaa, don¡¯t forget my gift.¡± ¡°Of course, my Alpha.¡± As Khaa began to gather up the wolfstag¡¯s body, I was struck by how small and insignificant she seemed, even next to the generally unremarkable Criit and Mrat. She struggled to lift the carcass for a moment, then decided to simply drag it along. ¡°We can help you with that, if you¡¯d like.¡± I didn¡¯t hide the double entendre from my tone or stance, looking straight at Shalla. To my surprise, for the first time, Khaa showed an emotion except for vapid obedience and submission¨Canger. ¡°We are happy with our ways, Alpha Ashlani. Our hunters will, no doubt, welcome your assistance, but make no mistake¨Cwe remain happy and faithful members of Shalla¡¯s pack.¡± Then, without further elaboration or engagement, Khaa turned and continued to drag the body out of my den. The scraping of her claws on the dirt and the body on the ground began to fade into echoes as Criit stood. ¡°I will bring this to my pack. You may hear back from us on the possibility of our participation in your hunt.¡± Then, just like Kree, Criit began to stride out of the den, the heavy body of the wolfstag dragging along as he walked. Finally, Mrat stepped close to me. ¡°My pack will join in your hunt. Tell us when, and we will be there, so long as your required tributes are fair. We are not so prideful or foolish as others, and we remember and know the feeling of hunger when it begins to eat you.¡± With a nod of gratitude, Mrat followed the movements of the other two Alphas and stalked away and out of my den. As the last of the sounds of those I¡¯d invited faded, Sybil stepped up next to me. Too far away for me to easily flick her with my tail again, I noticed. ¡°How large are each of their packs?¡± I asked. ¡°Mrat¡¯s pack numbers fifteen, Criit¡¯s, ten, and Shalla¡¯s twenty two.¡± Nearly fifty, then. Not enough to bring me to 15% of the pack, but a step in the right direction. And, beyond that, I couldn¡¯t guarantee that they would willingly follow me anyway. Regardless, it was a step, and so began every journey, with but a single step. Chapter 104 ¡°The Apotheosis of the Gran Verat laid its foundation in his youth¨Chis steps taken to found the Holy State of the Veratocracy were divinely led, as he is deity himself. Those originally disparate tribes, spread around and without guidance, quickly found themselves bowing to his supreme knowledge and power, becoming his willing subjects. For centuries after, he consolidated his divinity, allowing for his celestial purpose to swell through him and into his Holy State, preparing for the true beginning, the true descent of his complete, sublime self. ¡°Finally, after centuries of protecting his people, of teaching us, guiding us, and changing us, our Lord the Gran Verat began his true descent, and upon his Apotheosis¡¯ initiation, the skies wept in worship, the mountains sundered in respect, and the seas surged in triumph. May his divinity forever shine upon us, and may our grandchildren¡¯s grandchildren find themselves worthy to bask in the light of his presence.¡± ¨CSpeech delivered by those of the Veran to the population of Viertaal after the ¡°Apotheosis¡± Though I immediately wanted to march on the wolfstags and eliminate them to the last, it was better that I took the time to allow my potential assistants in the hunt to make the decision to accompany me. After all, without their presence and assistance, my own pack would sustain many more casualties. My prey was dangerous and outnumbered us, so I needed to leverage any and all opportunities I could to ensure our victory. I would sacrifice those of the swarm that did not obey in order to protect those who trusted in and had faith in me. I would mourn those who died, and regret their deaths, but I would not exchange one of those who followed me for one who did not, even if they might in the future. With that decision made, I continued practicing with my anti-[Innervating Address], and felt close enough that I figured only application remained before I received my third sonilphon utilizing [Skill]. What the other two would be, I couldn¡¯t say, but I would create them, I was sure. Either way, I still indulged in the sonic magic-fuelled baths, and made sure to exit the den early enough to feel the suns on my face. With these times being the first time I had spent actively looking around for any extended period of time with my ¡°normal¡± eyes, my vision slowly acclimated to the change, until, on the second day, I received a [System] notification. [Growth achieved. Skill acquired. Status updated.] [Skill: Improved Vision--improves clarity and range of vision by 100%. This skill can evolve. Conditions: Use exclusively light-based vision for 18 days.] If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. With this new [Skill], I could almost see as well as I had as a human. I reveled in the sights I could take in now, ever more familiar and beautiful. As a khatif, my mind had changed, still focused on and enjoying the hunt and taking action, but also allowing my mind to calm and broaden, to see more than just the next hunt. That said, my mind was still focused on the hunt of the wolfstags, and as I looked to the north, I saw the rolling clouds and the inbound rains. Since the season was changing, I knew this would be a torrential rain, the kind I had yet to see in this new body. And this would be a perfect opportunity to sneak closer than ever before to the wolfstags. Since these two days had passed, I felt that enough time had passed for the three packs to come to their decision and sent a messenger to all three. Immediately, Mrat¡¯s pack came, every one of their fifteen, and though they were all somewhat stunted and skinny, each held themselves with pride and strength. Upon seeing me, Mrat bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement before quietly leading his pack to a separate corner where they stayed waiting to be ready to leave. His pack was well controlled, all of them staying near him and keeping relatively quiet, though I could read the tension in the way they held themselves. They needed a success, and it seemed it had been quite a while since their last true success. As I stood observing, I continued to wait. With just my hunters and these additional fifteen, I couldn¡¯t guarantee that we would be able to find the success in our hunt I needed. It was at least a quarter of an hour before both messengers to Criit and Shalla returned, and they came alone. One, Foire, approached me. ¡°I went to Criit. He said nothing. Just thanked me for coming. Then he asked me to leave.¡± The other, Cree, bowed her head in apparent apology. ¡°Shalla said that she was too busy to listen to me. Khaa didn¡¯t say anything, just that ¡®sometimes, plans change¡¯.¡± With two points of bad news at the same time, I fought to control myself. I¡¯d thought it was a simple toss of the dice if Criit¡¯s pack would come, so I wasn¡¯t as disappointed at his absence, but Khaa had very nearly guaranteed their attendance in the hunt. Dammit, but this was going to be difficult. With the cover of heavy rain, we might be able to thin their numbers enough for a second attack to take out the rest, but I couldn¡¯t be sure. Suns burn me, I couldn¡¯t be absolutely sure that the rain would even be especially heavy where the wolfstag¡¯s den was. I stood, grinding my fangs and trying to, somehow, figure out a way to make this hunt successful, when I heard the tromping of feet. My frustration warring with some measure of relief, I looked to the entrance of the den as Khaa then Criit entered. They were flanked by maybe two dozen more keelish, and I knew then that my initial plan had succeeded. We would have enough to ambush, and then exterminate the wolfstag plague in my territory. And, with luck, I would be able to bring these two packs under my rule as well. I let a cocksure grin split my face as I turned to look over the 100 keelish before me. All I needed to do now was finally kill those canines. Chapter 105 It didn¡¯t take much instruction for my pack and the new, temporary additions to be ready to leave the security of the den and begin our march to the wolfstags¡¯ territory. In order to keep ourselves as strong as possible, I brought every single one of my pack with, Sybil easily agreeing to come along and bringing the rest of the more reticent members of the pack. My predictions and hopes for the weather to turn and allow the clouds to empty themselves over the jungle were granted, and as we exited from the nearest entry point for the den to the wolfstags, the rains were already underway. Usually, the pouring would continue for quite a few hours yet, but there were never guarantees in things like this, so I hurried the pack to the planned location of our first attack. My plan for the extermination of the wolfstags was relatively simple. We had about the same number of combatants according to Rulac, but the wolfstags were, as a general rule, more capable in battle per individual, with only a couple of exceptions. Took, Treel, Foire, Brutus, Percral and myself were about the only ones that I could nearly guarantee could kill a wolfstag without sustaining any real injuries, and while I hoped that the newest additions would be valuable, I couldn¡¯t plan on them being particularly powerful. Beyond that, also I couldn¡¯t say that we had ever encountered the strongest of the wolfstags, and my focus needed to be on taking them out of the fight quickly. On top of reserving myself and maybe Took to neutralize the strongest of our prey when they appeared, it would be best for our continued safety and most sure success not to allow the wolfstags to attack at the same time. As a matter of fact, ideally, they would never attack and would only be felled by our ambushes one by one, but that would never happen. Thus, my plan consisted of continuous ambushes for as long as we could sustain them, before finally going into their den and ensuring they wouldn¡¯t again be able to threaten us. I was of several minds with this plan. I was glad for the opportunities that this hunt presented me, to allow me to progress towards the evolution of [Pack Tactics], to strengthen my pack through the hunt and staying fed, to enable me to better begin to establish control over these two other packs. On top of that, I wanted to test myself against stronger and stronger foes, to conquer, to struggle and prove myself superior, and this wolfstag pack, massive and powerful as it was, was going to allow me that option. However, though I was ever embracing the Keel mentality of conquest and searching ever for victory, I didn¡¯t want to exterminate the creatures. As a human, I¡¯d participated in exterminations, exclusively of keelish. I couldn¡¯t deny that I felt some measure of vindication at being able to lead my pack in doing the same to others who would do the same, but there was a measure of hesitation. This wasn¡¯t a hunt. The ambush of the large pack of wolfstags was a hunt, even if we took more than we needed, but this was a war in which we intended to let no creatures survive. The weight of life, even if not a person, weighed on me. Would I turn my fangs and claws like this to a human village if it threatened me? Would I be able to disregard my instinctual desire to leave no opponents alive to challenge me? Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Was this merely the first step of my becoming a true monster? With a firm shake of my head, I stopped myself from thinking about what ifs and possibilities of descending into a depravity that frightened me. This hunt was an opportunity, and the wolfstags were a threat to be neutralized. If they had the opportunity that I had, they would do the same, and I didn¡¯t have the luxury of indulging in moral worries. If I could find a way to show a small mercy, I would, but if not, I needed to protect my pack before I worried about a competitor. ¡°We¡¯re close enough. Foire is signing that there¡¯s a group coming. Twenty, maybe a bit more.¡± Silf, who was quickly becoming Foire¡¯s right hand, quietly spoke to us. He must have gained some [Skill] that allowed him to better see, since even though our thermal vision was mostly unimpeded by the sheeting rains, Foire was far up a nearby burlraiz, and I could only see him as a warm splotch on the tree. I agreed with the statement, we were maybe three miles away from the den, enough space to continue to approach with the next ambushes as well. ¡°We¡¯ll prepare just as we planned.¡± I quickly gave short commands to the group leaders that were following us on this attack¨CTook, Treel, Percral, Ytte, Khaa, Mrat, and Criit. The three Alphas led their own packs, but I didn¡¯t care to give them more specific commands as I had to my own subordinates. I readied myself and watched for the approaching wolfstags. Before they sprung the trap, I was struck by how amazingly useful Foire¡¯s magic or [Skill], whichever it was that let him scout so perfectly, was. Then, there was no more time to think. The wolfstags, heads down and tracking something, were being pelted with the rain just as we were, but we could see them. Just as the first time, we sprung the trap and my anxiously waiting troops smashed into both sides of the wolfstags¡¯ formation. The unsuspecting wolves were split into two groups as the hammer that was our initial assault tore through them. The canines howled in fear and to rally themselves, but it was too late, and as they were encircled completely, my scaled brethren tore into the sparking prey. These definitely were Voltaic, not Mistral wolfstags, and the scent of their electricity, the sharp smell of ozone filled the air. Then, as they were mobbed by at least three keelish each, their lights flickered out with their final whines. I, for now, kept myself out of the combat, instead staying near Silf who kept his eyes on Foire who in turn was watching for any additional approaching creatures. It wasn¡¯t until the final wolfstag body was long since laying, cooling on the ground, that Silf received the message from Foire: ¡°Fifty coming. Going slowly.¡± This would be the first true fight, and since they¡¯d seen that at least twenty would fall to this threat, they sent more. Beyond that, I was sure that they would finally send the elites, and they would definitely prove to be a threat to anyone within the pack. I felt a grin crack my face at the thought of the challenge, then, felt it spread even further as I checked my [Status] and knew that this hunt would present even more opportunities to me. [Pack Tactics: 2/10] Chapter 106 ¡°Everyone, eat your fill! Don¡¯t eat so much you get sluggish, we got more hunting to do! Leave the bodies, then follow me!¡± My voice filled the area as I stepped close, cut a leg off the nearest body, and began to eat it as I walked towards the wolfstags¡¯ den. The plan was to ambush them before they reached the corpses of their fellows, so we needed to be there and ready before they were. Beyond that, the rain was beginning to thin, to our detriment. The ambush went best with our greater ability to see, but we¡¯d had that further element of surprise on our first ambush. Sybil trotted up closer to me and fell into step beside me. Even before I needed to ask, she answered me, ¡°No casualties. A couple of wounds, but nothing that needed Vefir¡¯s magic.¡± Then, without me thinking so far about it, she continued, ¡°Morale is high. It seems that Criit and Khaa doubted you would be able to deliver on your promise so quickly and completely, so they and their packs have changed their view of the hunt. Mrat and those of his pack are already beginning to demonstrate a willingness to follow you further.¡± ¡°Thanks, Sybil.¡± I gently nudged her as we continued to walk. ¡°By the way¡ªthere was some conversation between Criit and Mrat before I came the other day. What were they fighting about?¡± ¡°Mrat was the brood Alpha of their brood, and Criit was always envious of him. Criit always wanted to be Alpha, but was never strong enough as a spawnling. Eventually, he left his initial pack with those willing to follow him and created his current pack. He has found himself somewhat backed into a corner, since those who followed him were promised prosperity and power but have yet to receive either.¡± I flared my frills in acknowledgement of the answer. ¡°Are you ready for this? This next fight will be even more dangerous than all others you¡¯ve been in.¡± Sybil leveled her eyes at me. ¡°There is always a threat of danger. Do you think me ignorant? I know that our prey wishes for our demise.¡± For a moment I felt flustered. Of course she knew that just¡­ ¡°You simply aren¡¯t one of the hunters.¡± For a moment I fumbled with whatever I could say next, but before I could come up with something eloquent, Sybil responded. ¡°No, I am not. That is why I keep myself safe by surrounding myself with the competent.¡± Her tone was flat and unimpressed. Then, with a nod of her head, she slowed and let me continue forward, alone. I forced myself to stop thinking about it, instead finding the ideal location for our next ambush. After maybe a quarter mile, we found a grove of sorts that Foire thought the wolfstags would pass through, and while the roots of the burlraizes didn¡¯t have sufficient cover for all 100 of us keelish, they did provide enough cover for us to have an initial assault that could potentially slow their response for long enough that the rest could arrive from relatively nearby hiding places. I gathered Took, Treel, Khaa, and Criit¡¯s packs, and set them to ready nearby, with the rest waiting a small ways off. Without saying so or acknowledging it, I deliberately set Khaa and Criit¡¯s packs to the potentially most dangerous locations, near the front and furthest away from the inbound backup. Additionally, if the wolfstags became aware of their hiding place, they could very well ambush the ambushers, as my pack was well aware of. Ideally, the wolves wouldn¡¯t know of our presence, but if they did, they were the ones I was most willing to sacrifice for our victory. I hid myself closest to Khaa and Criit¡¯s packs, readying myself to engage with the most dangerous of the wolfstags that appeared. I tried to tell myself that it was to keep the others safe, but I knew that there was a part of me that wanted to engage in the struggle, to test myself against the strong. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. The waiting was, as always, the most difficult. To calm myself, I, for just a moment, activated [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust]. My vision bleached in color until there was nothing but grays and red spots, and the keelish around me. Looking forward, I could see the wolfstags beginning to enter where the ambush would be triggered, maybe 100 feet in front of me. Once they all entered the grove, we would spring the trap and set into them. And that was when the wind whipped around us and began to blow in the opposite direction. Immediately, I could see the leading wolfstags¡¯ ears perk up, and they stood tall while looking around before settling on the nearest hiding spot of our ambushers. The wolfstags¡¯ leading members were a mere couple of feet away from Khaa and Criit¡¯s packs, and they immediately rushed towards the unprepared keelish. I began to rush out of our cover and towards the wolfstags, and I watched as the keelish tried to engage with the enraged wolfstags. The screams of wolves and keelish alike filled the air as the outnumbered keelish tried to defend themselves and began to be literally torn apart. I sent my magic thrumming to my throat and yelled out, ¡°Furry fools! Fight me! You¡¯re weak, cowards!¡± There was a flash of a [System] notification, and I disregarded it as I subtly changed the flow of my magic and called out to all keelish in earshot, ¡°VICTORY! VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!¡± The effect of [Innervating Address] was immediate, and all keelish rushed forward ever faster while the assailed packs gathered together more tightly while protecting themselves. The pounding of our feet filled the air while I could hear only the rushing of my own blood in my ears while I set my claws to vibrating with [Quaking Claw]. The first wolfstag I came in contact with was weak, and with a single swipe of my hand, it was crippled. I left it to be finished by another behind me while I laid about with my claws in every direction. The ease with which I could tear through flesh and bone was startling, but I didn¡¯t hesitate. These wolves were a threat, and I didn¡¯t allow them to rip entirely through Khaa and Criit¡¯s packs. I struck out two more times, then there was a subtle feeling or message from [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] that I instinctively understood as I subconsciously turned and blocked a lunging strike from a wolfstag, hitting the side of its mouth with my forearm. Before I could truly take it in, my assailant bit in at me two more times, and both times I knocked the attack aside with my armored forearms and hands, but the sheer strength of this creature took me by surprise. This wolfstag was massive, over five feet tall at the shoulder, and its head was easily past six feet. I¡¯d never heard of a wolfstag so large, much less seen one, and as its antlers loomed over me, sparks of electricity danced over its whole body. The thrill of the fight came over me, and I cried out my challenge to the wolfstag as we both rushed back at each other. Chapter 107 This wolfstag was faster and stronger than any I¡¯d ever seen before, and I was sure it was stronger than me. Once I lunged forward and I grasped two of its antlers to try to wrench its head and body downward, but instead of my weight bearing it downward, it pushed up and began to lift me from my feet as electricity began to course over and through its antlers and into my arms. I tried to release and begin to get some distance, but my arms seized uncontrollably onto the antlers, my muscles not listening to me. The wolfstag tried to bite into my belly, but the uncontrollable stiffness in my arms helped me there and allowed me to keep it at a distance. Finally, I kicked up and landed a lucky hit on its throat and it gagged while its magic faded. I took a couple paces back, trying to gather myself as the wolfstag, still coughing, tried to press the attack. With the calmer, more rational battle lust of [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], I could quickly evaluate my reserves within the sonilphon. I¡¯d been wasteful in using [Quaking Claw] quite so much, so I was at about half my maximum capacity. For the first time in quite a while, I let my magic flow to my throat, and instead of using it quickly thereafter, I let it begin to swell and grow, the internal vibrations beginning to tickle as I reengaged with the wolfstag. Behind it, I saw the rest of my subordinates finally arrive and smash into the rest of the wolfstags that were tearing into Khaa and Criit¡¯s packs. My focus remained entirely on my singular foe. As I closed in on the wolfstag and readied myself to finish it, I felt a quick warning from [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], but it was too late for me to react to it as a sharp pain seized the end of my tail and hauled me backward. Completely unprepared, I stumbled and fell as a second wolfstag, one I hadn¡¯t been thinking of, bit into my tail and began wrenching me back and forth as arcs of electricity traveled up my spine. I felt my whole body stiffen as my ambusher pumped more and more of its magic into me. For the first time since I¡¯d been taken by the Martanimis Python, I saw myself about to die as the massive hound closed in on me. I could only twitch as the wolfstag lunged forward with its jaws gaping wide, going to bite down over my whole head. With a trumpeting cry, Took smashed her horns into the leaping wolfstag¡¯s ribs and knocked it away as another of her pack ripped into the exposed wolfhound on my tail. The jolting pain subsided as its jaws were knocked loose from me and I scrambled to my feet. Took was about to continue to set into the large one, but I snarled over to her, ¡°MINE.¡± The word boomed and echoed through the grove, and I cursed myself for forgetting my building magic in my throat as I reinitiated the process. She flared her frills in acceptance and rushed off to another thronging pile of bodies, lunging in with her jaws wide open and tearing into the first flesh with fur she could find. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. The whimpers of the wolfstag ambusher died behind me as another keelish came to help finish the job, but I focused only on the slightly limping beast in front of me. Its horns and teeth were the most dangerous locations (of course), but mostly for the electricity constantly flowing through them. If I could avoid that, then I would be able to take it out. The wolfstag began to exercise much more caution in its attacks now that it didn¡¯t have backup, and I didn¡¯t pay any attention to the growing number of keelish around us, instead focused entirely on the duel. This wolfstag was much more intelligent than any other I¡¯d fought before, as it continuously and purposefully dodged out of the way just in time to allow it to avoid heavy blows without overcommitting itself. Most others I¡¯d ever come in contact with would lunge almost mindlessly at me, but that wasn¡¯t the case this time. I continued to test its defenses but it wouldn¡¯t commit long enough for me to gain anything other than a glancing blow. Unfortunately for my prey, though, my magic was finally ready. Ready to make a small sacrifice, one that I was confident would carry no lasting repercussions, I swiped once with my left arm, getting the wolfstag to dodge to my right, where my right hand was waiting. Gritting my teeth and prepared for the jolts of seizing muscles, I grasped firmly onto one of its antlers. Immediately, the pain of the electrical current shot up my arm and the wolfstag turned to latch onto my mostly unprotected right arm, but it was too late. The way it needed to turn its head to bite into me took both of its ears directly in front of my mouth, and I let out an earthshaking screech. The sound, so piercing and painfully loud, shook the leaves in the trees above us as most of the creatures nearby, keelish and wolfstag alike, flinched and began to consider escape. My prey, however, was stunned. Its eyes had begun to glaze over as its magic faded from its antlers and freed my muscles from their spasms, and I suspected that if I weren¡¯t holding its head up it would have collapsed to the ground. It didn¡¯t take more than a split second for my prey to begin to collect itself, but it was too late. My left arm, free and uninterrupted, knifed up into the soft space behind the jawbone of the wolfstag. Inside my prey¡¯s head, my claws bounced off the creature¡¯s thick skull, and I pulled my hand out before activating [Quaking Claw] and stabbed back into the same soft, bloody mass that was the wolfstag¡¯s mouth. It tried to struggle away, to whimper, and to activate its magic, but when my claws smashed once again into its skull, it gave up all resistance. When my vibrating claws met the skull the second time, the bone easily gave way beneath my assault and I felt the pulping mass that was my prey¡¯s brain mix with the rest of its shredded flesh and bone. I pulled my left arm free as I lifted the body over my head and cried out, without magic, ¡°Victory!¡± My keelish rallied with my cry, and began to dive into the battle with the final stragglers of the wolfstags¡¯ pack. I wearily looked at the [Pack Tactics] counter, and a tired smile crossed my face. [Pack Tactics: 3/10] Chapter 108 I watched as my keelish swarmed over the last of the living wolfstags, the whimpers of the canines dying out as the last of their number were exterminated. There were many keelish corpses joining them, much more than I¡¯d hoped, but not so many as I had feared. I didn¡¯t care to take specific note of which had died, since I was confident it hadn¡¯t been any of mine, and instead I waited for a report to come my way. Before I let myself begin to relax, though, I looked for Silf. He had stayed near me in the initial assault, and I worried that he had been killed, thus weakening Foire¡¯s utility. Fortunately both for him and for me, he had stuck close to me the entire fight. As a matter of fact, the wounds he had sustained (electrical burns across his face and arms) had all been from the wolfstag that had latched onto my tail. Silf, not one of Took¡¯s pack as I had assumed, had ripped into the wolfstag that was stunning me and, disregarding the agony the electricity must have worked on him, had refused to give up or slow down. ¡°Your face¡­ looks like it hurts.¡± There were patterns of scorched scales that decorated his face, and Silf¡¯s jaw didn¡¯t seem to work the way that it had before. ¡°¡®Eah. Urts. ¡®m ok.¡± He didn¡¯t want to expand on the injury he¡¯d sustained, and I could appreciate that. ¡°Silf. Thank you. You saved me.¡± He flicked his tail, denying it. ¡°¡®As ¡®Ook.¡± I tried to understand what he was saying for a moment, before it clicked. ¡°It was Took that saved me, not you?¡± Silf flared his frills in agreement, then recoiled in pain as the muscles in his head moved to do so. ¡°It was just as much you as Took. Thank you, again. Do you want me to go find Vefir for you?¡± He flicked his tail, much more emphatically than before. I didn¡¯t force him to speak to deny his need for healing, but I appreciated his willingness to suffer nonlethal pains for the good of the pack anyway. Regardless of what he said, though, I¡¯d make sure Vefir saw to him eventually. ¡°Has Foire seen any more wolfstags coming?¡± A flick of his tail. ¡°If you want to say yes, just wave your hand. Any other news from Foire?¡± Flick of the tail. ¡°Keep an eye on Foire, let me know if he has any news.¡± Waving his hand. ¡°Great. Now rest, just keep your eyes open.¡± Silf sank to his haunches with gratitude obvious in his posture. Sybil was conferring with a couple of the members of the pack, surely about something she would tell me soon. While I wanted to lay down and rest, the only rest I afforded myself before going to speak with others in the pack was looking at the [System] notification that appeared in the middle of the fight. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. [New Skill: Debilitating Diatribe acquired.] A small smile cracked my face as I noted the [Profound Sonilphon]¡¯s evolution counter had ticked over to 3/5. And what does this do? [Skill: Debilitating Diatribe is the inverse of Skill: Innervating Address. As Innervating Address allows the Skill holder to use their words and lace them with magic to grant greater energy and confidence in the listener, so does Debilitating Diatribe allow the Skill holder to use their words and lace them with magic to sap energy, excitement, and morale, as well as to occasionally incite obedience in the listener. This Skill cannot evolve. Once a Skill holder holds both the Skill Debilitating Diatribe and Innervating Address, the holder can discern which individual listening to give either effect.] So I could now choose that keelish get the effects of [Innervating Address] while our enemies would be affected by [Debilitating Diatribe] at the same time? [Incorrect. The Skill user can simply choose if a listening individual will be affected by the currently used Skill or not.] Not as amazing, but still great news though. I¡¯d worried if I was helping our prey when I¡¯d used it before, but now I could use both [Skills] with the knowledge that I wasn¡¯t accidentally assisting our foes. Having done that small search into my [Status], though, I now needed to take stock of what the casualties suffered were. I stood tall and walked through the grove to find Sybil. While I knew that it always happened, this was the first time I¡¯d participated in such a large and bloody battle. Everywhere I stepped, the muddy ground was red with blood and thick with shed scales and ripped fur. The smell of blood choked me, and though I no longer cared about how bloody my body or how viscera-filled the air was, the odor was so thick that it almost involuntarily activated my [Bloodlust]. Everywhere I stepped, there was a corpse cooling in the light rains, and my body ached with every movement, given the full dosage of electrocution I¡¯d been given. Again, I simply wanted to relax, to lay down and be done for the day, but I didn¡¯t allow myself that weakness. I needed to be the prime example of our strength, our power, our superiority. Looking for Sybil, I saw her near the front of the battlefield, where the keelish casualties were the highest¨Cas I¡¯d planned. Again, I¡¯d never wanted for this to happen, but Shalla (and Khaa by extension) and Criit were currently unwilling to bow down to me, and thus were the most expendable in my eyes. I forced myself to look at the crumpled and torn bodies of the keelish who¡¯d died under my command. They were pitiful, sad, and I would mourn their deaths alongside their companions, but I could not regret them. If I did, I would never be able to do anything, to take a single risk. While looking at the bodies and attempting to imprint the sight of them on my mind, I noticed that Criit laid among the fallen, his fangs filled with the fur of the wolfstags. He had refused to die quietly, and most wounds he had sustained were on his face, throat, chest, and shoulders. Criit had refused to turn and run when the odds had been against him, and I bowed my head in respect as I walked past and began to hear the words that were rising in volume in contrast to Sybil¡¯s ever-calm tone. ¡°I must say that you should do nothing until the Alpha comes.¡± ¡°MY Alpha is dead! It¡¯s his fault! I¡¯m leaving, and we¡¯re taking whatever we want when we go!¡± ¡°Like I said before, you are allowed to make that choice if you have decided it is your best option to do so, but do you think that Ashlani will happily allow you to leave and take the spoils? Do you think that he will allow you to happily rob him?¡± ¡°More than half of us are dead on his hunt¡¯s grounds! Our blood is price enough!¡± While I didn¡¯t know the name of the female screaming into Sybil¡¯s face, I did know that she was both Criit¡¯s Beta, and his mate. And, as much as I wanted to just let Sybil deal with it, I needed to step in and take care of the fallout from this hunt. Chapter 109 What you need to understand is the possibility of intellectual discovery! Yes, for a Veushten to enter New Nievtra is for that same person to run many risks, but we never saw the keelish as anything more than beasts. With the establishment of a civilization, we can see how their minds work! We always thought that all that ruling over the keelish took was strength of fist, but their unity as a people rivals or even surpasses our own, and that cohesion cannot stem entirely from fear. What is it that drives the keelish to unify under a single banner so completely? Why is it that any ¡°wild¡± pack of keelish that is found immediately surrenders to the Zaaktif? Where does their unity stem from? And, how can we exploit it? -excerpt from a Red Abbey scholar¡¯s request for an expedition to New Nievtra. I stepped between the argumentative female and Sybil, leveled a strong gaze at the other female, and turned to Sybil. ¡°What is happening?¡± ¡°Those of Criit¡¯s¨C¡± ¡°We¡¯re leaving this stupid hunt! You think you always win? Go alone!¡± Criit¡¯s Beta interrupted Sybil and, without thinking about who she was screaming at, got up in my face. Immediately there was a pure, unadulterated fury that burned within me. This Nievtala forgotten fool, this defeated failure, thought that she could talk to me like that? I turned the full force of [Dominance], [Adversary], and [Debilitating Diatribe] on her and the two keelish flanking her as I spoke, my tone level and icy. ¡°Your betters are speaking. Silence until I ask for your drivel.¡± The force of my voice and presence knocked her back, and the female, fully cowed, crouched to a submissive bow as I turned back to Sybil. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Criit¡¯s pack was the first to be set on by the wolfstags. Of the ten members of his pack, three remain. Fria, Criit¡¯s Beta, has made her opinion known that she believes she and her pack should retreat.¡± I consciously kept myself from reacting to that news. Seven of ten dead. And they didn¡¯t break and flee, but held their ground. Though I knew that was the better option in their position, logic doesn¡¯t always win in battle. I flared my frills in acknowledgement and leaned in close. ¡°Help me.¡± I whispered, and without any additional instruction or suggestion, I could see that Sybil understood. Then, stepping back, I turned to Fria. ¡°Fria.¡± She dared to look up at me, then looked away again. With a conscious thought, I stopped regarding her as an enemy, and [Adversary] stopped working on her, and I leached any magic from my voice as I spoke as warmly and kindly as I could. ¡°I am sorry for your loss. Criit, as we all can see, was brave and wanted the best for you.¡± Fria nodded as I continued, ¡°I do too. ¡°I don¡¯t want you or any of those left from your pack to suffer. With only three of you left, you do not have many choices. The only real decision you can make is to join yourselves to another pack, whether that is sooner or later.¡± Paying close attention, I thought I could feel the subtle manipulations of Sybil¡¯s magic flowing from behind me to Fria and the other two keelish near her. They watched me as I continued, ¡°The other packs, if you enter them, will not think of you as anything more than the remains of a weak, defeated pack. You would need to struggle to prove yourselves, and every step of the way, the others would think of you as a burden, as fragile. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°I see that you are not fragile. You are strong, and brave, and unbroken.¡± I subtly shifted the influence of [Dominance], feeling that the words I spoke took on a more authoritative and trusted tone. ¡°You did not break under the attack of more than four times your number, and stood strong to the last. There are no keelish that I would rather have on my side during a hunt than keelish like you. I can trust that you will stand against the strong and the many. Will you stand alongside me? Will you accompany me to greater heights?¡± I looked to all three that crouched in front of me and extended my hands. The first to respond was a male, by reaching out and grasping my hand. I pulled him up and nodded my head to him, which he mirrored. I felt the descent of the sacred feeling as he spoke, ¡°Forged in the blood of our foes, and tempered in the blood of our sacrifice, I follow.¡± Not for me, then. I tamped down the feeling of disappointment, that I wouldn¡¯t finish my third [Quest] right now, but I was interrupted by the other, a female I didn¡¯t know, reaching out to my hand. ¡°Forged in the blood of our foes, and tempered in the blood of our sacrifice, I follow.¡± She too stepped behind me, supportive. I looked at Fria. She hung her head, shivering. I¡¯d never seen a keelish do so, and after a moment, I realized she was, effectively, crying. There were no tears shed in her mourning, not like a human, but her whole body was wracked with the emotion. After waiting patiently for I didn¡¯t know how long, Fria looked up, her eyes meeting mine. In the light rain, it looked as if tears streamed down her face as the drops continued to fall. ¡°Forged in the blood of our foes, and tempered in the blood of Criit¡¯s sacrifice, I follow.¡± Fria refused my hands, instead raising herself up to stand and bowing to me before going to Criit¡¯s body. Watching the depth of her feeling and loss, I felt for the briefest moment a hint of guilt. Not because I had done anything I wouldn¡¯t repeat in the same situation, but because I could, to a certain extent, at least, understand the pain of loss. My father, at a young age I could barely remember, or, more recently, Oncli. I turned and left Fria to her grief. Sybil accompanied me, while the other two keelish went to assist Fria in tending to their dead. As we approached Khaa¡¯s pack, she looked up at me. Her face bore two deep gouges from a bite from a wolfstag, and her troop was down to only five, from their initial seventeen. Twelve dead from her pack. ¡°How will Shalla react to so many dead?¡± I asked as Khaa simply watched my face blankly. Khaa flicked her tail. ¡°She does not care what happens to us, much like you do not.¡± Her response took me aback. ¡°Why would you say that I do not care? I wish for your survival and success!¡± ¡°Only so long as our survival serves you. If we become a bother or a problem, we will be discarded. That is why we serve Shalla. We can always be of service to her.¡± Khaa¡¯s words, though correct, still didn¡¯t make sense to me. What did she mean, they could always be of service to Shalla? My thoughts were interrupted by Foire jumping from a nearby tree and landing nearby. Immediately, I looked to him, wondering what news he carried for us now. Chapter 110 Among ones so violent, find the merciful. Among ones so dull, find the quick. Among ones so foreign, find the friend. Among ones so weak, find the protector. Among ones so hasty, find the deliberate. Among ones so flighty, find the absolute. Among ones so boorish, find the considerate. -From the instructions of Siegfried the Sighted to the Blackened Sanctuary ¡°No movement, no exits. Nothing.¡± While Foire¡¯s words were reassuring to hear, I was rather confused why the wolfstags hadn¡¯t left, even to flee. We had not been quiet in either of our fights, and this second one would leave the rest of the wolfstag pack with about thirty adult and battle-ready wolfstags. Fewer than we had killed in the last attack. If I were in their position, I would flee, without hesitation, yet still they remained. I flicked my tail, shaking the thought from my mind as I did. After all, I couldn¡¯t know what they were thinking right now, and I might never know their reasons. Beyond that, I needed to make the rest of the pack absolutely aware that we were going to continue the assault into the wolfstags¡¯ den. I could recognize that I didn¡¯t like that for a couple of reasons, not the least of which being that fighting inside the den would take away our advantage in numbers. Beyond that, I didn¡¯t enjoy the idea of an extermination, even if it was the ¡°Keel¡± way. I was willing to do so, because they were a constant threat to us, and killing them was of absolute benefit to my pack. Regardless, I did not and would not enjoy having to wipe them out entirely. But what other options were there? And if I were to explore them, would I lose the benefits I needed to keep myself and my subordinates safe? Would my subordinates continue to follow me? And what if Viilor learned about us? And and and. My worries never stopped, and I suspected they would only continue to grow. With a roll of my neck and shoulders, I shrugged the burden of leadership more comfortably onto my shoulders. I had long decided to become the ruler over this swarm, and beyond that, to become the primordial Keel, and if that meant wearing down the fabric of my soul until I was threadbare, so would I do. Later could I ruminate over my choices and stew in regret. Now, I needed to see to the dead. Before I could do so, though, a hesitant Ytte approached me. ¡°There¡¯s something weird with the ground.¡± I turned to her, tension beginning to run down my spine. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m not sure. There¡¯s something going on in the ground. The more we move in this¨C¡± she pointed in the direction of the wolfstags¡¯ den, ¡°direction, the more I feel it.¡± While I wanted to press her on what that meant, I knew she didn¡¯t know, so I left her in peace after acknowledging her warning. Satisfied knowing I¡¯d listened, Ytte walked off, seemingly trying to figure out what her feeling was, or where it came from. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Ytte walked away while I turned to the bodies laid out before me. They had gone cold at this point, their blood mostly washed away by the continuing rainfall. Other than the nineteen dead from Criit and Khaa¡¯s packs, there were an additional six from my pack that had died. None whose importance I ranked among the highest, yet still I spent time with each body. I forced myself to look at the consequences of my action, of my ambition, and of my weakness. There was no external origin for my deliberate and respectful approach to each body. I wasn¡¯t forced by Nievtala or any other to do what I did, and I gloried in that, that I could make my own decisions. At each body, I spoke the Third of the Words of Power of Nievtala, ¡°Tempered in the blood of your sacrifice, we continue. Thank you, Criit¡±, and so on for each of the pack that had died. I had to ask a member of the other two packs to tell me the names of many of their companions, but nonetheless, I took the time to acknowledge every one. Eventually, I had spent a moment with each of our fallen, then, checking with Foire, knew that there still were no wolfstags coming. Vefir let me know that any wounds that had been sustained had been taken care of to the best of his and his assistants¡¯ ability, and we were finally ready. ¡°Everyone, leave everything behind. This will be the fight that decides everything.¡± I let a thread of [Innervating Address] slip into my voice as I continued, ¡°We will find the final victory ahead! Come with me, follow as I lead, and you will find the success we seek!¡± A scattered echoing of agreement filled the air, mostly from my most ardent supporters, and I stepped forward to lead us to the wolfstags¡¯ den. We made our journey cautiously, slowly, and carefully, but we weren¡¯t surprised by anything. Every step I expected a wolfstag to jump out, for something to burst from the ground, or for anything else to go wrong, but nothing. The journey was unremarkable in every way until we arrived at a clearing where Foire had made it clear the entrance to the wolfstags¡¯ den was. When we arrived, Ytte perked her head up, and I immediately noticed as she approached me. ¡°There¡¯s another exit.¡± She was straightforward as she spoke. ¡°It¡¯s that way, about a mile.¡± I didn¡¯t question her, and instead turned to Foire straightaway. ¡°Are there any wolfstags there?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think so? I haven¡¯t seen any.¡± He was frantic, and began to scale a nearby tree to scout. Silf kept his eye on Foire, attentive notwithstanding his burns and discomfort while I motioned for Solia to approach. ¡°What is it, Alpha?¡± Solia had grown confident in her ability, but she remained a relatively reticent individual. ¡°Are you ready to use your magic? You¡¯re our best for this.¡± ¡°I¡­ wait¡­ you¡­ want me to? Use my magic on them?¡± I looked levelly at her before flaring my frills. ¡°Yes. In the tunnels, your flames will be immensely useful. Be ready to use them as powerfully as you can.¡± ¡°But I¡­ I¡¯ve never used them like that before and¨CNo. Thank you, Alpha. I¡¯ll be sure to prove myself.¡± Then, with a nod, Solia retreated and closed her eyes, bringing her focus to bear. Hopefully she was right, since if she couldn¡¯t we would suffer many more casualties. I tried not to think about it as I turned to Ytte, whose eyes darted back and forth, seeing something I couldn¡¯t. ¡°Ytte. Ytte. YTTE.¡± I had to raise my voice on the third call, and finally she shook herself from her reverie. ¡°Yes, Alpha?¡± ¡°Can you close the entrance to their den?¡± ¡°Um¡­ maybe? I¡¯ve never tried it.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s try that today.¡± I said, as I began to give instructions to her for my plan to catch the whole pack. Chapter 111 Unfortunately, Ytte was unable to move massive mounds of earth as I¡¯d hoped, so, instead, we gathered up armfuls of soil and larger stones, and piled them up in the mouth of the secondary entrance. Foire detected no other wolfstags around the second entrance, so while I left half of the remaining members of my hunting pack at the ¡°primary¡± entrance, as we called it, the rest of us set to filling in the other exit that Ytte had found. It didn¡¯t take too long for so many of us to fill the space with what we could carry, and once the mouth of the hole was filled, Ytte did something with her magic to compress the earth together and prevent our obstruction from easily being removed. I set the injured and weak, under Ytte¡¯s command, to watch the entrance. Between her magic and their eyes, I figured they would be able to ensure that there weren¡¯t any of the wolfstags that could escape. Then, with myself and Solia in the front, we entered the den. She walked forward with eyes shut tight, simply saying, ¡°Tell me when to let it go, and where¡± before going silent once again. The tunnels weren¡¯t tall enough for me to stand straight, so I hunched as we watched for any movement in front of us. As we continued deeper, I was surprised that there were no branching paths to follow, just a single path ever deeper into the den. It didn¡¯t take long for there to be flickers of movement at the edges of my perception, and then, the first wolfstags burst out to attack us. ¡°Now, straight ahead!¡± I commanded before taking a step back. I¡¯d never seen Solia truly let loose, and I couldn¡¯t say if she ever had. While she hadn¡¯t had access to her magic for as long as Sybil, Shemira, or myself, she had spent every waking moment practicing her minute control, breadth of power, and manipulation of her magic since she¡¯d gained it. Beyond that, I was sure that she had evolved at least once as she spent an entire moon training herself, so I was hoping her magic would allow her to set some fur aflame and cause some panic among the wolfstags. What I hadn¡¯t expected was the wild conflagration that exploded from her. A column of fire burst into existence from in front of Solia and smashed into the front two wolfstags before spilling over them and into those behind her. The terrified yips and howls of the wolfstags were drowned in the hollow roar of flames, and I looked at Solia in disbelief as the intense heat began to dry my eyes while filling my entire perception with the incandescent white of her flames¡¯ heat. After sustaining the magic for about three seconds, my vision went entirely black in the void of temperature that filled the space. I wanted to take time to adjust, but the infuriated, agonized squeals of wolfstags in front of me had me immediately shift my vision to my ¡°normal¡± version, and I was greeted by approaching, flaming wolfstags. Right around where the flames had begun to splash around from the contact with our prey, the ground was glowing a warm color while the running wolves were all at least partially aflame. Choking smoke burned my eyes as I watched, and I blinked repeatedly as I tried to see anything. With tears streaming down from my eyes and while lowering myself, I could barely see well enough to begin to ready myself to strike at the nearest prey, but before I could, a shrieking Percral lunged past me and threw himself at the smoldering, sparking wolfstags. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°NEVER AGAIN!¡± He screamed as he lashed out with tooth, claw, and tail. ¡°Never again! I won¡¯t fear you!¡± He was set on by two particularly wounded wolfstags, but even with their sparks traveling through their fur and horns into him, Percral didn¡¯t hesitate or slow as he lifted one in his jaws and smashed it into the other. Others of my keelish went forward to continue pressing the attack and I followed, but I couldn¡¯t take my eyes from Percral as I remembered his original cowardice, that I wouldn¡¯t have shown mercy or the opportunity to change without Oncli¡¯s advice. ¡°Thank you, Oncli.¡± I said aloud as Percral began to give in to the constant shocks from the wolfstags. I rushed towards him to help make sure he didn¡¯t succumb completely, but as I came close, I realized that I understood what I had felt from him so long ago¨CPercral had a sort of elemental affinity. I hadn¡¯t known then what it could be, but now¡­ I watched as Percral left the two dead bodies, still sparking with his magic. We ran side by side deeper into the den, and I nodded approvingly at him. Percral grinned widely without saying any more before falling to my side to support me. We ran past two torched bodies, and after that there were two more wolfstags locked in combat with Took and Brutus while Foire darted past the two much larger keelish to nip at and harry our large foes. These wolfstags were singed, but still more than ready to continue the fight. I looked past them, to look on however many more we had yet to kill. There were over three of them¡­ only three? Only nine total wolfstags in the den? I stepped back and let the rest of my pack rush forward as I tried to understand what could be happening. Would they have sent the bulk of their combatants to the back, in the hopes of escape? Perhaps, but by now they would probably know that there was no escape that way, so wouldn¡¯t they have come back in this direction? I couldn¡¯t know, so instead I began to add up the total amount of wolfstags that we had hunted. Today, at least eighty, counting those in the den. There should be twenty more, at least, right? Rulac¡¯s estimates had said as much. But¡­ what about all the others we had hunted? Maybe another forty to fifty. What if his numbers had included those we¡¯d already hunted? The thought struck me as the last of the wolfstags, another elite like the one I had fought aboveground, was surrounded by keelish, and, in the press of bodies, was finally killed. With our superior numbers, we had been able to retreat before any of our attackers was put into true danger, the injured retreating to be healed or simply bandaged and made to rest for a moment. There had been no casualties, even in this disadvantageous situation. Still, I refused to relax as I led the pack deeper. Eventually, we entered the deepest part, and saw another path that led up towards where the exit we had plugged was. Again, I led my pack up, following the path while stepping with caution the entire way. We approached a final turn and could hear some squeaks and panicked scrabbling at something, and as I turned the corner, I saw one adult wolfstag, larger than any other I¡¯d seen, her belly distended and drooping with milk-filled teats. She turned from trying to desperately dig out of the den, her claws leaving deep scores in the loose dirt, and snarling at me as she bounded over and past her nine pups. Chapter 112 My immediate reaction was to snarl back, my lips curling and exposing my fangs to this aggressor. But¡­ she wasn¡¯t. It was me and my pack, and we had wiped out every other member of her family. Maybe this female was the long time matriarch of the wolfstags, or maybe she was a first-time mother. Did that matter to me? I was shaken from my thoughts as I watched the wolfstag snap at any approaching keelish, but without stepping away from her pups. Her fur sparkled continuously with her magic, the lightning flowing continuously over her body and its constant sizzles accompanied her warning growls. Most of her children, behind her, cowered as they saw their mother attempt to defend them, though two looked a bit braver than the rest and stood closer to her. Though my sensibilities had changed quite a bit since I¡¯d changed my body, these pups were, frankly, adorable. They were much younger than any I had ever seen taken as a Soul Companion, and their antlers were only beginning to poke out of their heads. I¡¯d never known that they grew the antlers so young, but as they were, their tiny little teeth were only barely visible when they opened their mouths, and their paws were too big for them, so they stumbled about. I couldn¡¯t see color on them here underground, but I didn¡¯t need to. Did I have to kill them? If I killed their mother, who was the source of their food, then I would be. What could I do? I thought for a moment as I gestured for the rest of my pack to stay back from the protective, angry mother. A thought occurred to me, and I called for Foire and Sybil. They came close to me as the two braver pups stood alongside their mother and squeakily growled at me. Their little howls were drowned out by their mother¡¯s bubbling snarls as I spoke to Sybil and Foire. ¡°Foire, go out and hunt something, anything. Just not a wolfstag. Doesn¡¯t matter how big, just something close and fast.¡± He didn¡¯t hesitate or question for a moment, simply sprinting down the den to where the sole remaining exit was. I figured he would find whoever necessary to accompany him on his hunt, and turned to Sybil. ¡°Can you calm her and the pups? I want to try to communicate with them.¡± Sybil cocked her head, unsure. I continued, ¡°Have we come across any stronger group than these wolfstags?¡± It took only a split second for Sybil to understand what I was trying to say. ¡°You think that you can control these? Make them our subordinates?¡± ¡°With your magic, maybe?¡± ¡°We just killed every one of their pack. Their family.¡± I flicked my tail. ¡°The little ones probably don¡¯t understand that. And who knows if the mother does? If she¡¯s willing to work with us, we could get some great help.¡± ¡°She would not work with us. Perhaps for us¡­¡± Sybil trailed off as she thought about it. ¡°And you sent Foire for a bribe?¡± ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m¡­ not comfortable feeding her some of her own kind.¡± ¡°I suppose. You want me to calm her until he returns?¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I flared my frills in agreement, and Sybil began to emanate a somehow calming aura. The wolfstag mother before us didn¡¯t seem to react or care, and I sent the vast majority of my pack back, deeper into the den and out of her immediate sight. I didn¡¯t know how well she could see in the dark, or if she mostly smelled us, or what other ways she knew we were there, but I stayed close enough for her to know I was there, along with Sybil. As time continued to pass, the pups all began to whine to their mother and try to suckle her. She watched us, cautious, but eventually, she gave in to her children¡¯s insistence and moved herself to where all nine of the puppies could nurse, and, finally, she settled onto her side, with her back towards us and her head craned to see whatever we did. The nursing pups didn¡¯t care for caution or propriety and set to suckling with squeaks, whimpers, little arguments among themselves, and more squeaks. The longer the pups nursed without us keelish making any moves, and with Sybil¡¯s magic¡¯s continuous influence, the mother eventually began to lick and groom her puppies. I could finally tell that, while her teats were fat with milk, she was thin, bordering on skinny. Of course she couldn¡¯t hunt for herself, and we had been gradually choking her pack¡¯s hunts. Maybe that would help with our attempts to ¡°tame¡± her. I couldn¡¯t know until Foire returned, and before he did, Sybil spoke under her breath to me. ¡°I am nearly out of my magic. Should I continue to use it until I run out, or should I wait until Foire returns to resume?¡± ¡°Wait for now. We can return to work on her once Foire is back with the food.¡± I could tell that the influence from Sybil slowly died out, and the wolfstag mother gradually became more cautious and stiff, looking around, and trying to figure out how to escape or see what options were available to her. At that moment, I began to flare [Dominance], trying to get her used to the idea that she should be subservient to me, should become my subordinate, could find safety under me. I couldn¡¯t say if my thoughts got through to her, but while her hackles did rise, the wolfstag began to hunch closer to the ground in a somewhat submissive pose. Regardless of her more reserved stance, though, I didn¡¯t approach until I had something to offer her. Fortunately, it didn¡¯t take long for Foire to return with a small Martanimis Python being dragged behind him. As the sound of his approach echoed through the den, the wolfstag mother, and then her puppies, stood and readied themselves for whatever was coming. Foire, as he stepped close to me, bowed, then dropped the body in front of me. ¡°Sorry, it was hard to find something close.¡± It had been, at most, a quarter of an hour since he¡¯d left, and I clicked my teeth together dismissively at his self-abasement. ¡°You did exactly what I asked you for. Thank you. If you can, see if you find another, or something else.¡± Then, I cut the top third of the python free, about two feet long, and tossed it to the mother as Foire turned and left once again. As it thumped to the ground, she startled back, but not far enough to expose her children, then, as the foreign noise didn¡¯t move further, and smelled like food, she stepped closer to sniff at it. Then, once she realized what it was, she snapped the python into quick bites and the offering was gone, bones and all. ¡°Sybil.¡± I called, and immediately I felt the light brush of her magic against my mind. The wolfstags all began to relax as I cut the next third of the python free and stepped closer, holding each third in one hand. The mother, again, stiffened at my presence, but about three full paces away, I tossed one of the hunks of snake forward. She jumped a little at my movement, but knowing what was coming, quickly snapped up the second serving of meat. Finally, with Sybil¡¯s magic still giving me more confidence than I probably deserved, I extended my hand with the last of my offering. Hesitant, the mother reached out and grabbed at the very end of the serpent I proffered and pulled it from my hand. As she stuffed it down as quickly as the first two, I slowly, carefully extended one hand towards her. She stiffened, and I flared [Dominance] once again as I gently ran the back of my hand against her shoulder. Then, with a [System] notification flashing in the corner of my eye, I ran my hand over my wolfstag again. Chapter 113 In my chosen calling of wandering the entirety of our continent, I have seen most of our world¡¯s natural treasures and creatures. Once, I would have been so arrogant as to say that I had seen all there was to offer. The massive migratory cities of the Indlovu and their ufudoluk mounted Sanctums to Shandr¡¯s deepest mines of the most precious of metals, from the tended wilds of the Martanimis to the primeval forests of Ainakhtsu. When I heard of the strange creatures that the New Empire had been discovered working with, I had many speculations on what they were sure to be. Perhaps they had somehow tamed the terrible Nanuk from the Sheer Pass during their Great Pilgrimage. Or, maybe, they had encountered the rare infernal wolfstag, the largest of their breed, and had tamed a pack. Even so, the Nanuk cannot be mounted, as the new, strange cavalry required, and there is no wolfstag so large as to be ridden. Thus, you can imagine my surprise upon seeing the wide fields and various stables that housed the cavalry of the New Empire. -From the third entry from the epistolary travel journal of Kayuktuk the Landlocked. Though I could tell by her body language and my [System] notification that the wolfstag was willing to submit to my leadership, I wasn¡¯t fool enough to think of her as a pet. This was still a wild animal, and she would bite when bitten, or even threatened, and I couldn¡¯t forget that. The pups behind her peeked at me, curious as to what I was, perhaps. When they made eye contact with me, they bowed their little heads and retreated back to behind their protector. As I looked at them, I realized that there was no way they would be able to get themselves the several miles to our den without help. We could help them, but how could I explain that to their very protective mother? ¡°Sybil, you can¡¯t talk with them, can you?¡± She looked at me, cocked her head, and then, completely serious, responded, ¡°No. Should I be able to?¡± ¡°Well, no, I just wondered if maybe you could.¡± Shemira, lacking Sybil¡¯s self-control, snorted at me. A hot flash of anger at the disrespect rushed through me, but I was beginning to understand my new mind and how volatile it could be. I took a deep breath before looking at her. Though I said nothing, I couldn¡¯t hide my emotions and could see Shemira bow her head in apology. After continuing to look at her for a couple moments more, I turned away and back to Sybil. ¡°I simply wondered if you had the ability to communicate more clearly with them through your magic, than simply to instill obedience.¡± ¡°What is it that you wish to communicate to them? The detail and complexity of your intentions will be the primary limiting factor here.¡± ¡°They aren¡¯t safe here. She cannot provide for her young, but we can provide for her, and thus for her young. They will need to come with us, and we can carry the pups to our den, where they all will be safe.¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Sybil thought for a moment before responding. ¡°That may be possible to get them to understand, at least in broad terms. Forgive me my ignorance and impertinence, though¡ªwhy would we take them to our den?¡± I fought against the desire to simply command that she follow my commands. After all, one of Sybil¡¯s greatest qualities was her thorough thinking and need to understand. ¡°Where else would they stay? You acknowledge their strength and possibilities, but these ones are largely helpless at the moment. If we want them to follow and depend on us, what better time to establish us as their superiors than now, in their time of need?¡± ¡°It is not the first time you have done so. I suppose it makes sense that you would return to your previously effective tactics.¡± Sybil didn¡¯t ask any further questions as her magic passed over me, somehow feeling comforting and reassuring. The mother before me relaxed as Sybil¡¯s influence washed over her, and I walked forward to grab one of the braver pups as the magic had calmed her sufficiently. She bristled at my motions, but as I flared [Dominance], she calmed enough for me to hold one, a male as it turned out. He nipped at my fingers, and I let him try to chew on me. His little fangs couldn¡¯t begin to chew through my reinforced scales, and I could feel his rough tongue running over my fingers as he nibbled. After just a short moment, though, I pulled my fingers back from his bite. After all, his father¡¯s blood could be covering my hands right now. The thought sobered me. The little one in my hands quickly calmed down, and made himself comfortable. Since he was full and relatively happy, I wasn¡¯t too surprised as he began to relax after I settled him into the crook of my elbow. ¡°Sybil, you and Shemira, get those you trust to grab the rest. Arwa here will follow.¡± I gave the command while looking at the newly named wolfstag mother. I thought the name funny, though none of my pack would understand it, since the name referred to a prey animal like the Scaled Deer in my old tongue. Since I¡¯d been practicing my Veushten, my mouth could more easily say ¡°Arwa¡±, though I suspected the name would be quite difficult for the rest of my pack to say. ¡°Arwa.¡± I spoke, looking into her nervous eyes. She looked back, her eyes darting back and forth as Shemira approached. Arwa snarled and I reached out a hand and gently held her mouth closed. ¡°Arwa. Look at me.¡± I couldn¡¯t say she understood me at all, but she did look at me. ¡°We will keep you safe, fed. Come with us. Do not fight.¡± I released the muzzle I held over her mouth and gestured for her to follow as the rest of the pups were picked up. Some whined and cried out, but I guided Arwa close to see her babies, and when they smelled her, they calmed quickly. I led the pack back out of the den, sending Took ahead to warn those who didn¡¯t yet know that we were coming with one of the wolfstags, that they weren¡¯t to be harmed. After all, I would be livid if I¡¯d gone through all this work and then an overzealous keelish killed Arwa or one of her pups. Fortunately, the pack was waiting for us, and though I received no small amount of confused or even angry looks, we made our way back to the den without interruptions, and were even so lucky as to have the rains stop for most of the journey. The pup in my arms nestled deeper into the tight space between my arm and body as he happily snored away, warmed by my body. I smiled, and gestured for Arwa to continue following us as I finally looked at my [Status]. Chapter 114 [Skill: Adversary; 5/10 Dominance; 62/100 Pack Tactics; 4/10] My first thought was frustration that I hadn¡¯t gained any Stats through these hunts. I¡¯d killed so many, destroyed the majority of a huge pack of wolfstags, and subjugated the survivors. Was this not in keeping with the way of the Keel? Was the distaste that I felt towards massacre something that disqualified me from benefiting from it? [The Administrator wishes to calm you with this; the benefits from this hunt will be seen soon, at the final growth spurt. She promises that you will see great changes in the final growth cycle.] After tamping down my immediate frustrations, I accepted that answer. Although I had briefly doubted the Administrator¡¯s plans for me, the jarring change brought on by my evolution had been enough that I did wonder what I would have done were I even more affected by my evolution, and that, even earlier. I looked up, the light sprinkling of rain feeling cool and comfortable on my face as I squinted and held there before focusing on the rest of my [Status]. I was mostly just happy to see the changes in my [Status], but I was surprised to see [Adversary] progress so much. The massive elite was the only one I could think of that I¡¯d killed that definitely had a greater¡­ what had the evolutionary requirements said? [Defeat a foe with a greater Stat total than yourself, without substantial support from any other creature.] Maybe there was another one of the wolfstags that I¡¯d taken by surprise or something, but that still didn¡¯t get to the increase of three¡­ Maybe subduing Arwa had counted as her ¡°defeat¡±. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to worry, though, since progress was positive. Especially if my continuing progress didn¡¯t explicitly need to be an unmitigated genocide, which would be preferable so as to not make myself an absolute enemy of everything living. Before I led the portion of the pack carrying the pups back to our den, I approached Took. ¡°You guide the rest to bring back our prey. Those of Shalla¡¯s pack can take two wolfstags each for their cooperation and sacrifice, bring the rest back to our den. If you cannot bring them all in one trip, bring half and leave the rest of the prey all together with those not needed to guard the prey. We will not allow anything to steal what we have earned.¡± Took flared her frills and immediately set to work. I would have told Sybil to do it, but I wanted her to stay close to the wolfstags for now, since she and I were the only ones that could control them at all. As I looked at Sybil, she very carefully held one of the pups while Shemira looked over Sybil''s shoulder to observe the fuzzy thing. I couldn''t help but laugh looking at the two taciturn females as they tried to figure out how to carry and care for the little thing. Our walk back to our den went quickly, and Arwa, though tired, thin, and laden with milk, constantly moved between the keelish carrying her children. She sniffed at each one, though over time, all pups fell asleep and didn¡¯t respond to her presence. When she came close to me for the third time, Arwa whined and looked in my face with some sort of desire in her eyes. I looked back at her, completely confused. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°What? We¡¯re going to the den. Your new home.¡± Arwa continued to quietly whine, her face looking up to me, somehow pitiful. As I looked down at her, still unsure as to what it could be that she wanted, Foire approached from behind us. He dragged with him another Martanimis Python, this one slightly smaller than the last. As he approached, Arwa lunged towards him to take the food, and Foire startled backward, dropping the serpent. ¡°Stop!¡± I commanded Arwa, drawing a faint thread of magic from my sonilphon to set my voice to booming, and though I knew she didn¡¯t understand the word, she could understand the mandate present in my tone. She halted where she stood, hunched over the body she¡¯d been about to eat which the pup in my arms began to fuss, startled at my voice. He squalled and whined as I stepped closer to Arwa and the food. Once there, I passed the pup over to Foire, who held his new, fuzzy charge awkwardly. I picked up the snake and sliced about a one foot section from it before holding it in front of Arwa¡¯s face. She, trying to understand what was happening, stood still and watched as I dangled the food before her. I could see strings of drool beginning to fall from the corner of her mouth, but still she waited, and after another pause, I said, ¡°Eat¡± as I tossed the meat to her. Arwa hesitated no longer, and snapped the morsel of meat from the air, hardly chewing before swallowing it down and begging for more. ¡°No. Follow.¡± Again, I said as much with the influence of my magic, and though she continued to whine and beg for more, I motioned for the pack¨CFoire confusedly carrying the pup I¡¯d passed to him¨Cto continue moving forward without giving in to Arwa. She did follow behind me, nearly close enough to snap at the food I dragged behind me, but not quite. After she¡¯d followed me close enough to my liking for about a minute, I turned to her, cut off another foot-long section of the snake, and offered it to her. ¡°Good job!¡± Again, I laced my words with magic, somehow shifting their intent to something like but not quite [Innervating Address], and Arwa seemed to begin to understand that she needed to do as I requested to receive the treats. The rest of our journey to the den passed in much the same way, with me giving occasional simple commands to Arwa like ¡°Follow¡±, ¡°Stop¡±, and, eventually, ¡°Sit¡±, and by the time the snake was gone in its entirety, she looked at me continuously, hoping for more snacks. Fortunately for me, that was the time that we arrived at our den, and instead of providing more food for her, we descended to our den. While we descended, I walked in the front, making sure to keep an eye out on any approaching keelish. I wanted to be sure I could settle our newest members before having to try to explain myself to any of the other, unrelated keelish. Fortunately for me, we didn¡¯t encounter any other keelish in our descent to our den, and once there, I showed Arwa a place she could rest, where she immediately collapsed into a heap once we¡¯d laid her pups near enough she could touch them all. Before she fell asleep, though, she flashed with electricity, one, two, three times, and I saw the moisture soaking her begin to steam from her fur. Impressed, I looked to Sybil and Shemira. ¡°You two, keep an eye on Arwa and the pups. Let me know if anything happens. If someone comes to see what is happening here, tell them I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Shemira cocked her head, curious, while Sybil flared her frills in assent. ¡°With you and the rest, I think that a singular trip should be possible.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m hoping.¡± I replied, before jogging out of the claustrophobic den and allowing myself to enjoy the overcast but wide open skies. Yes, I would need to spend more time out here. Then, thinking all would be well, I continued trotting out of the clearing where our den¡¯s entrance was and towards the fields of slaughter where the results of my hunt awaited. Chapter 115 For once, my hopes and expectations of all being uneventful came true, and I accompanied Took and the rest with a wolfstag¡¯s corpse in each arm before returning for the second and final load. The path was quickly worn down from the passage of dozens of feet carrying hundreds and thousands of pounds of wolfstag bodies. I welcomed the physical effort, the cool rain running over my scales, the gentle burn of the muscles in my arms, legs, and back, and the contented and victorious air of a successful hunt. Though Fria, Khaa, and their packs mourned their dead, their grief didn¡¯t bring down the mood of the rest. On the trip back to collect the last of the spoils of our hunt, I turned to Fria and Khaa. ¡°What do you want to do with your dead?¡± Khaa flicked her tail in an approximation of a shrug before answering, ¡°Don¡¯t care. We usually leave them there, Shalla doesn¡¯t like to see the dead bodies.¡± Fria, for her part, didn¡¯t seem to have thought much about it. ¡°We usually leave them where they fell.¡± ¡°Well, we can do that with your fallen, or we can do what we have been doing.¡± Khaa didn¡¯t look at me, uncaring what I was going to say, but Fria perked up at my words. ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°We bury them in the den. We remember where each was left, and remember the fallen themselves.¡± I knew there was something more that Ytte did beyond that, but I hadn¡¯t paid too much attention to her actions. ¡°We can bring the dead from your packs and bury them with ours. Or, we can leave them there to feed the jungle. You can choose.¡± Fria flicked her tail as she thought, but Khaa immediately answered, ¡°Just leave them. They fell, and there they¡¯ll stay.¡± Khaa seemingly didn¡¯t care about anything but bringing the prey back to Shalla¡¯s den. I¡¯d long wanted to subjugate more of the swarm, but after the conversations I¡¯d had with Khaa today, I thought maybe Shalla¡¯s pack wasn¡¯t worth it. As I thought as much, Fria spoke up. ¡°We will remember them. Let the land take their bodies, and we will take their memory.¡± I¡¯d not heard her perspective on this before, and I found myself agreeing with the sentiment as she spoke. I flared my frills in assent, and returned to carrying the bodies. Again, the journey was quick and altogether unremarkable, and as we entered the den from one of the larger ¡°cargo¡± entrances, Khaa flared her frills once in acknowledgement, and traipsed off with her and her pack¡¯s load of wolfstags. I thought of something to say in response, but simply decided to leave it and leave her and the rest of Shalla¡¯s pack to their own devices. As we entered our den, though, I was surprised to see a particularly large keelish in there, one larger even than me. Rulac. Before I could ask what he was doing, he looked me in the eye, glanced at the corner where Arwa and her pups laid, still sleeping, and, while looking surprisedly at me, said, ¡°You realize that if that thing does anything, it¡¯s your fault?¡± I flicked my tail as a shrug, ¡°Of course. And her pups, once they grow up.¡± Rulac continued to look at me, his gaze heavy and scrutinizing. I held his eyes steadily, wondering what he was thinking of, and then he answered my question, ¡°You¡¯re a strange one, Ashlani. Can¡¯t call you little Alpha anymore, though, so maybe you¡¯ve got some good ideas in that head of yours.¡± He went quiet but continued to look at me before speaking, his voice dropping to a serious, firm tone, ¡°Keep your thunderfangs under control. If you don¡¯t, we¡¯ll kill ¡®em all, and you might end up with ¡®em.¡± His voice changed back to his usual, unbothered tone, ¡°Looking forward to it! Have fun!¡± Without another word, Rulac sauntered out of the den and down, deeper towards his own territory. As he left, Arwa looked up at me and whimpered a little in fear. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh a little as I walked up to her and rubbed at her head. ¡°Clever girl.¡± She leaned into my hand a little before pulling back and laying back down. Taking that as my cue, I walked up to Sybil and asked if there was anything else that needed my attention. Her denial was all I needed to return to my quarters, indulge in a quick, magically-assisted bath, and lay down to sleep. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The next two days passed quickly, with me taking special care to go on a couple of hunts a day to find something to feed Arwa with. She was more than happy with my continued care, and she quickly began to fill in, her ribs no longer obvious through her fur. Her pups were happy as could be as well, since they had uninterrupted access to their mother whenever they wanted, and her milk didn¡¯t run dry. The rest of the pack could eat until they were full all day long, and still have meat left over, and they did. Even with our bellies full, though, none of the pack let themselves relax, instead wrestling, digging, training, teaching, and learning whenever we were awake. Whenever I wasn¡¯t out on the hunt, I was giving the best guidance I could through [Evolutionary Guide], and Percral most of all showed amazing progress with his lightning magic. I was beginning to be able to feel what the wolfstags could do to grow, but they were different from us keelish who exited the egg ready to hunt. The pups were able to wander around a little, and one of the pack was given permanent guard duty to ensure none of the nine could leave our territory. My den began to fill with the yips and cries of the pups, and the keelish enjoyed watching the fights, selecting their favorites and preferred canines. I was happy to see that familiarity and comfort, since the longer term plan was to begin to hunt with the wolfstags, and the first step to that would be forging bonds between my keelish and their furry soon-to-be companions. And, just like that, the sixtieth day came, and I awoke. I¡¯d grown taller, at least six and a half feet tall, and I could feel that I was stronger, more agile, and just more¡­ complete. I planned on immediately looking at my [Status], but something prompted me to step out of my quarters and into the communal area for my pack. I was satisfied looking over them, but then I realized¡­ Some of them were quite different. In fact, most of my ¡°elites¡± as I thought of them, had evolved. Took, Treel, Foire, Vefir, Sybil, Percral, Solia, Shemira, Ytte, and still others had evolved to become khatif. I felt a grin spread across my face as I allowed myself to finally look at my Adult [Status]. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Sonic Khatif Alpha Titles: Chosen of Nievtala Current quests: -Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. -Gain control of 15% of the entire swarm. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5. Progress: 7% - Speak the entirety of the First Iteration of the Words of Power of Nievtala. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility +4, Intelligence, Magic +3. Progress: 4/5 Stats: -Constitution: 59+5=64 -Strength: 68+7=75 -Agility: 72+7=79 -Intelligence: 59+6=65 -Magic: 57+9=66 Skills: Adversary: 5/10 Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust: Unqualified, 0/4 Debilitating Diatribe (Cannot Evolve) Dominance: 62/100 Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Guide: (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Improved Vision: 0/18 Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Innervating Address (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 4/10 Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve) Profound Sonilphon: 3/5 Quaking Claw (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Possibilities ¡­] End of Book 1. Chapter 116 Beginning Book Two [Varali POV] Varali woke to the sound of light rain. In her eighteen years, she had come to learn that the end of the summer brought the rains, no matter how much she wished that it didn¡¯t. There was good and bad with that, but what it meant for her today was that she would be soaked through her entire path to and from her destination. She groaned, thought about pulling her blanket up over head, decided not to, and rolled out of her hammock. She¡¯d heard that Giddoni had an actual feather-stuffed mattress at the Red Abbey, though that hadn¡¯t been the subject of any of the letters he¡¯d sent back to her. The jerk hadn¡¯t hardly responded to any of her letters¡­ he said he was super busy with all his studies, and sure, that was probably true, but he could still send short letters! Or write longer ones over time and send them after working on them in his breaks! Varali continued to grouse and grumble about her lover¡¯s inattention as she mused on the comfort of a feather bed and dressed herself. Since she¡¯d heard about a wolfstag pack nearby that was showing all the signs of pups that were soon to leave the den, she needed to scout out the area and see if she could lay an eye on one of the little guys. They made wonderful companions, and grew in strength alongside their masters, so she quite looked forward to her new, cute friend. On top of that, Varali had heard of a new approach, something called Soulbinding instead of Soul Companionship, and she wanted to be as advanced as possible once she joined Giddoni at the Red Abbey. She¡¯d heard of the bullying that the ¡°elites¡± of the Abbey, those born and raised in the Capital, usually subjected the frontier¡¯s folk like her to. She wouldn¡¯t stand for it, no way. Her mind having changed its track, Varali ran through a dozen different situations she could think of, how she would stand up to the bullies, how she would humble them, how to shut them down, and by the time she was fully dressed in her beralt except the headdress, Varali was well and truly worked up. She forced herself to slow herself going down the stairs, knowing that her father prepared breakfast and would make his displeasure known to her if she jumped down the stairs as she wanted. He never said much to discipline her, but the look in his eyes, the gentle sigh of disappointment, and the catch in his throat were, in Varali¡¯s opinion, far crueler than a simple smack upside the head would have been. As she turned the corner into the kitchen, before she could say anything, her father¡¯s voice greeted her, ¡°Viili vaata, carin.¡± He hadn¡¯t needed to turn around to know she was there. His Windspeaking¡¯s fault, she was sure. ¡°Viili vaata. The bread smells wonderful, Father.¡± He turned, the crows feet at the corners of his eyes showing as his easy, teasing smile filled his face. "Yes, as always, carin. I knew you would be leaving early today, so I made sure it would be ready before you left. Your mother got home late last night, so forgive her her rest today. The council is almost done preparing for tomorrow, so she''s been quite busy." Varali nodded her head as she reached out for one of the loaves and a smaller chunk of smoked venison. ¡°I need to go soon, to make sure I¡¯m home early enough to rest and spend time with my pup.¡± ¡°If you can get one safely, you mean?¡± Varali fought to keep her eyes from rolling. ¡°Of course, Father.¡± His face and tone were completely serious, "There have been some signs of serious conflict in the forest lately, be careful, eh?" His chocolate skin shone and his verdant green eyes stared deep into Varali''s. ¡°You¡¯ll do great in the Speaking competition tomorrow, so long as you don¡¯t get yourself hurt today.¡± ¡°Yes, Father, I know.¡± He stepped forward and put his hand on Varali¡¯s shoulder and forced her to look into his eyes. She did, but began to fear a little. Korali was never like this, but he continued, saying, ¡°Varali, carin. It¡¯s been worse than you know. I trust you to be safe, and to be wise, but know that it is worse than you know.¡± After holding her gaze for another moment, Korali turned, grabbed a wax-sealed pouch, and passed it to his daughter. ¡°Be safe. Come home soon.¡± With a nod and a kiss on her father¡¯s cheek, Varali ripped a good handful of the bread from the loaf, and began to chew on it as she exited her family¡¯s home. The rain was soft enough that with some hunching and quick chewing, Varali could finish what she¡¯d initially ripped free before she¡¯d made it more than a couple dozen steps from her home. Their nameless little town had maybe five thousand people in it, but Varali loved it nonetheless. Everyone cared for everyone else, and if a family was suffering, the rest of the townsfolk knew and would support them. It got a little tiresome, since everyone knew everything that was happening in your life any given day, but it meant you were loved, is all. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Since the rainy season had begun in earnest, most people had long settled into their wet season schedules, rising later and generally staying indoors. As she walked through the town, Varali saw a couple of people, but none were so interested in talking with her that they were willing to step out from the warmth and comfort of their homes. As she finished the ever more soggy bread, Varali donned the hood of her beralt. She¡¯d long been taught how to properly wear one, and that it, somehow, hid those who wore them from being detected by the creatures of the Martanimis jungle. Layers of thick, unbreathable cloth covered every inch of her once Varali had fully settled the hood of the beralt around her head. Well, except for her eyes, and even those were covered by a thin strip of gauze. The wet of the rain was already beginning to crawl down her neck and down her spine, but after all these years of little excursions wearing her beralt, she was used to the discomfort. She was reminded, however, that her chosen Callings were Flamespeaking and Soulspeaking, and she would be far less effective than usual with her flames with the heavy moisture filling the air. Varali calmed herself, and, according to her training, set out to investigate if there truly was a wolfstag pack nearby. Amir had sworn up and down that not only was there a huge pack of wolfstags nearby, but that he had seen them sparking with electricity and smelled the ozone. Varali knew, though, that Amir was the biggest liar in the village, so she didn¡¯t care to give him too much credit. Even so, deep inside, she let herself dream of a majestic wolfstag, its horns sparkling with lightning as she walked the streets of Viertaal to enter the Red Abbey. And while she was dreaming, Giddoni would be watching her entrance exam, would welcome her with open arms and a passionate kiss, and swear his undying love. She shook her head, wryly casting off her unrealistic hopes and dreams, instead hoping only to find a wolfstag that could serve as a first Soul Companion, or Soulbound, whatever the difference was. The morning¡¯s walk through the jungle was uneventful, she saw some terrorbird sign, but it was at least a week old and slowly washing away in the rain. Then, she began to see the wolfstag sign. Varali couldn¡¯t help but internally cheer as she began to see the massive prints left in the mud. Measuring them against her hand, she¡¯d never seen a wolfstag large enough to have such large paws, each print larger than both her feet together. She wasn¡¯t the largest of the Veushten people, but she was no runt. If she had to guess, these wolfstags were nearly five feet tall at the shoulder? Against her better judgment and without bidding, the little fantasy of a massive wolfstag at her heel resurfaced, but Varali pushed it down. There were tracks that led straight to the wolfstags¡¯ den, and Varali followed as fast as she could while still maintaining some level of caution. As she approached, though, she was seeing the vestiges of destroyed brush, and evidence of a hard-won fight. She couldn¡¯t see if there were any casualties from the wolfstags, since there were no bodies left behind where she passed. Then, as Varali continued onward, she began to smell scorched flesh and fur. Something must have been torched by the wolfstags then, so either Voltaic, Flaming, or Infernal. Probably Voltaic, since Amir seemed to not have been lying this time around. So exciting! Varali felt a grin stretch her face as she walked forward. The wolfstags were large and magically gifted! That was a boon among boons! As Varali stepped forward, excited, she felt more than saw a threat. Trusting her instincts, she hunkered down near the curling roots of a nearby burlraiz and watched. After nearly a minute, she realized that the jungle had gone silent around her. Were the wolfstags near? Varali began to silently pray for the Gran Verat¡¯s guidance, that he may guide her to safety and survival somehow, but her prayers for safety and hopes of a wolfstag companion crumbled to nothingness as she saw the figures breaking through the brush. They were large, the most massive among them over six feet tall, mostly a dark brown but mottled with black scales. Its head was maybe a foot and a half long, with cruel fangs curving from its closed mouth, and along with the frills, a pair of curling horns jutted from its forehead. The whole body rippled with muscle covered with thick defensive scales. It stood mostly upright, but distinctly hunched, its tail dragging nearly on the ground behind it. In one of its hands, it dragged a long Martanimis Python, over twelve feet at least. With the intimidating beast strode another two massive creatures like itself, and then, another ten that were quite different, and familiar to Varali. Squat, thin creatures covered with scales, long snouts and cavernous jaws, short arms and powerful legs and a tail. Keelish. Varali had never heard of a creature like the three huge ones, but they were obviously the leaders over the impressively and uncommonly large keelish. Even if it was a pack of keelish like this, it would be considered a threat of the highest order, but with these other ones¡­ Varali fought to keep down the shudders of terror. Somehow, thanks to the Gran Verat himself, Varali hadn¡¯t been noticed as of yet, and she fought to keep it that way. The fear fought to drive her to hyperventilation, but she fought to steady herself as the pack of fifteen or so keelish passed her by. After a quarter of an hour had passed, Varali felt she was finally able to move, and with the release of tension, her stomach began to heave in unmitigated terror. Varali felt the bread from this morning begin to rise up her throat, and after a couple swallows were unable to keep herself from vomiting, she quickly opened the mouth of her beralt. She couldn¡¯t successfully keep her breakfast stay down, and, as the mixture of the smells and her newly unlocked nightmare washed over her, Varali vomited painfully against the nearby burlraiz she had hidden behind. Several times, she thought that she had recovered but was interrupted by the recollection of the huge beast, blood coating its hands and jaws, after which her terror incapacitated her once again. There was a keelish swarm, the likes of which had not been seen since the Great Purge, and it was here. Chapter 117 Several days had passed since my pack¡¯s mass evolution and reaching maturity as a whole. With Took¡¯s evolution, she was taller than my six and half feet, standing just under seven feet tall herself. She and Treel were among the few exceptions within our newly khatif pack. Most of the khatif had some amount of magic, even the less obvious ones like Foire and Ytte. Took and Treel, though, were a different breed, their scales had become nearly as hard as stone, and their arms and shoulders were thick and corded in muscle. Among the rest of the khatif, there seemed to be natural distinctions in their bodies, and, I presumed, their races. I could feel that these differences weren¡¯t fully developed yet, something sure to come upon evolution to Keel. Or perhaps beyond. And looking at the requirements to evolve to a Keel, I couldn¡¯t say how soon that could come. [-Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha: Become the undisputed leader of a swarm of at least 250 keelish. -Sonic Keel: Speak the entirety of the True Iteration of the Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1 Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] I had no idea or way to predict when I would encounter the next opportunity to Speak even the last of the First Iteration of Nievtala¡¯s Words of Power, but the [Administrator]¡¯s advice from my evolution to adulthood stuck with me. Unlike usual, I didn¡¯t receive any notification from the [System] that I would be evolving when I¡¯d gone to sleep. In fact, since I hadn¡¯t heard nor seen anything indicating that there would be an evolution, I¡¯d almost forgotten that the growth to adulthood was listed as an evolution. Initially, I¡¯d simply thought that I was dreaming, but I was far too lucid for that. As always, I had found myself floating, and the moment I realized this was not a dream, I was submerged in constantly vibrating and scrubbing warm sand. The vibrating sands were nice, but, unbidden, the thought of Sybil scrubbing my back crossed through my mind, and immediately the mental image and perception shifted to Sybil gently massaging my body. I, uncomfortable with forcing my friend and subordinate, even imaginary, to serve me like that, stopped all imagination of any bathing. As I tried to clear my mind entirely, the Administrator¡¯s laugh washed over me. I cannot understand why you would do that to me. [Do you honestly think that I did? Or are you smart enough to disbelieve yourself?] I shook my head, and from it, the thought that I wanted that. I didn¡¯t think you were going to come for this one. [It is an evolution nonetheless, and thus you receive another opportunity to receive guidance from me. Count it as one of the¡­ perks, I suppose I will call it, of Administrating a lower species. Keelish have much more room and opportunity to evolve than a human, Moonchild, Misti Hawar, Indlovu, beastkin, Sunkindred, or any other of the ¡°enlightened¡± species would.] If we want to consider this a benefit, I suppose we can. Before I could begin to think out a specific question, though, the Administrator spoke again. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. [I feel now is a good time to let you know that there is an additional option for your question while here. Instead of a specific question, you can ask me for general guidance. That removes much of the limiter from me, since I can give steps of advice, which may prove more helpful for you moving forward, given that your next evolutions will be fewer and further in between. That said, the drawback is that I will not necessarily answer a question that you wish to ask, and will instead give advice according to my own knowledge and bias. There is a trade here¨Cspecific questions for specific answers, or general advice according to me.] I mused over my options for a moment, worrying what I could be missing out on with whichever option I chose. After thinking for a short time, though, I realized something important¨CI didn¡¯t have any specific questions for her right now. The general advice would absolutely be more beneficial to me right now, since I already had advice on how and where to go to find more of the Words of Power of Nievtala. The Administrator seemed to understand the moment I thought as much, and began speaking once again, a self-satisfied grin somehow audible in her tone. [Glad to hear it. Now, for now, you need to focus on strengthening your pack and yourself as fast as possible. I can¡¯t tell you why, but another Administrator¡¯s plans are finally becoming clear to me, and it won¡¯t end well for you and your swarm when that happens. Beyond simply strengthening yourselves, prepare to escape to the east. I told you Nievtra was to the east, and that would need to be your goal for Speaking the Words of Nievtala. Move those plans forward, fast. There will be a time that comes soon, a time that is obvious to you, that you will need to lead the swarm to escape. And, when that time comes, move quickly.] I could feel a shrug of sorts from her. [That is my advice. Take it if you want, just know that all of that is what I would do, were I in your situation. Good luck.] Before I could do anything more than begin to understand the instructions or thank her for the guidance, I¡¯d felt as if I were falling, and had slipped back into full unconsciousness. These days later, there had been a couple of hunts, and members of my pack were finding themselves bored by the hunts. With the thousands of pounds of wolfstag flesh waiting for us to eat, there was no need to hunt for anyone except Arwa, who I was unwilling to force to be a cannibal. Took had gone on a hunt and returned with a couple of Martanimis Pythons and other smaller game, but she¡¯d been rather frustrated by the lack of challenge. Her new khatif form was amazingly strong, stronger than I was. I¡¯d guess that my gross total of Stats surpassed her by a fair margin, but that came from my Magic and Intelligence Stats, not my physical ones. Treel too relished the hunts, and had begun to spend time one on one with Foire to hunt together. With her brawn and his scouting abilities, they never returned without something to show for it. Brutus, however, was falling behind most of my original pack members. He had not evolved to khatif, and I wondered if he simply hadn¡¯t passed a requisite benchmark for Intelligence. Most of those who had evolved had developed some level of Magic, and even those who hadn¡¯t remained much more intelligent than the average keelish. Brutus, though¡­ remained about as sharp as a rock from the banks of a river. I couldn¡¯t say what the absolute requirements were for evolution to khatif, and that itched constantly at the corner of my mind. Regardless, though, I could feel that staying near the rest of us khatif helped to encourage and compel that same evolution within the regular keelish. I welcomed that change, since the more time passed, the more I couldn¡¯t help but look down on and dislike the weak keelish. With a stretch to shake my mind from my thoughts, I stepped out to observe the pack. Sybil and Shemira were working with the rest of the pack to dig out and develop smaller, more private spaces for pairs and smaller groups, as well as just continuing to develop the space within the den. Arwa playfully wrestled with her pups in a space nearby, and several of the keelish watched their play fighting. Solia and Vefir worked together, exercising their magic. Others were leaving to go on a hunt. What could be the thing that would impel us to flee? Before I could think too long about it, Histy poked her head into the den, and, seeing me, gestured for me to approach her. Chapter 118 As I approached Histy, Sybil noticed my movement and stepped close enough to fall in step behind me as I passed her. I glanced down at my much shorter Beta, and she looked at me in askance, and in response, I quietly clicked my teeth together¨CI didn¡¯t know either. ¡°Histy, you seem well. You¡¯re not gravid?¡± The term came immediately to me, even with its unfamiliarity. Histy looked at me, confused, then, once my question clicked, she chuckled under her breath. ¡°No, no eggs for now. That tumble was just for pleasure.¡± She looked me up and down before stepping closer to me. Her breath was hot on my neck as I craned my head to be able to continue to see her. ¡°Would you happen to want to go for a round or two with me? Not like Wisterl, of course, but a more¡­ pleasant, I¡¯ll say, wrestling match.¡± Only barely could I restrain my immediate scorn. This weakling, this lesser creature wanted to mate with me? She dared to hope? Instead of saying something, though, I reached up, grasped Histy by the neck, and shoved her backward and out of my personal space. She didn¡¯t seem offended by my response though, and simply flicked her tail in a shrug. ¡°Histy, I¡¯m sure there was a reason you came here, and it wasn¡¯t an ill-advised attempt to seduce me. Why are you here?¡± ¡°You young ones are always like this.¡± Then, finally answering why she was here, Histy continued, ¡°By now, you¡¯re all adults. At least, to us you are. Redael will speak with you, since you¡¯re the youngest pack, and there¡¯s some things you need to learn and do. Your whole pack needs to come down into his space in the next day, and he¡¯ll let you know everything else.¡± I took only long enough to understand what she was saying before flaring my frills in acknowledgement and gesturing for her to leave. Histy, with a little mock bow, did so, and I turned back into my den. Immediately, my thoughts went to how to make sure Arwa and her pups didn¡¯t get anywhere they shouldn¡¯t while we were gone. That, fortunately enough, would be fine since we had plenty of keelish from different broods than my own. I didn¡¯t need to worry about that, just¡­ why we all needed to meet with Redael. I hadn¡¯t seen him since¡­ since he¡¯d told me to leave. Would he want to shove me down and prove himself the true leader? Would he want to dissolve the power I held over my pack? What could it be? I was shaken from my thoughts by Shemira as she walked up to Sybil. ¡°That hussie Histy! Flapping her tail all over like that.¡± The irony struck me in the face like a hammer¡¯s blow, and I couldn¡¯t help but immediately and audibly chuckle. As I did so, I could see Shemira react with her characteristic flair and self assurance before continuing, ¡°I do it for a reason. Plus, I¡¯m better than her.¡± Deciding not to engage with Shemira¡¯s self-deception, I turned to Sybil. ¡°Do you know why Redael wants to meet with us?¡± Sybil levelled a stare at me. ¡°My first thought is that it has something to do with you. Barring that, the second is that it is something that happens to all new broods once they reach adulthood. I will consult with Ytte and Fria, and will see if that is the case.¡± Then, with a bow of her head, Sybil calmly strode away, her tail swishing through the air before me as she turned on her heel. Shemira remained close and bumped against my side with a chuckle. Contrary to my unspoken tease from before, though, I knew that the contact was nothing more than friendly. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Just you two.¡± Shemira began to turn away, but I didn¡¯t let her and stepped forward with her. ¡°What is that supposed to mean?¡± Shemira sighed, then looked into my eyes. ¡°Alpha, no, Ashlani. I¡¯m going to need to speak honestly to you to answer that question. Usually, you¡¯re ok with that, but if you aren¡¯t, tell me now.¡± I furrowed my brow, a little confused, but I quickly understood. Shemira, flighty and flirty though she was, was intelligent and observant, and, beyond that, her magic was inextricably tied to emotions. Of course she knew when my temper flared, and that knowledge fought to irritate me. With an internal scoff, I pushed down all my negative feelings and forced myself to calm and prepare myself to listen before nodding for her to continue. ¡°All right. Here it is¡­ I don¡¯t know if you two should mate, or even if you want to, but you both want to spend more time together. She focuses on taking care of everything within the pack and den and outside the den and so much more all the time, and you only think of fighting, hunting, and growing your power. You complement each other as Alpha and Beta, but you¡¯re also friends. You can enjoy each other¡¯s company and not resort to immediately rutting or planning for the usurpation of the swarm, but you both seem to think that if you spend time together, those are the only two options.¡± Shemira¡¯s tail flicked, apparently getting irritated as she spoke, and I fought to keep myself listening and understanding. ¡°Whatever your relationship beyond Alpha and Beta ends up becoming, I just think you should realize that you and Sybil both want to be around the other, and you don¡¯t need an excuse to be.¡± Shemira looked over at me, gauging my emotions, and I realized I felt rather stupid as she finished. I found Sybil to be entertaining and fun, and I enjoyed watching her work and her trust in me, I just¡­ didn¡¯t do anything to spend more time with her. I flared my frills in admission to Shemira¡¯s words, and she flashed a quick grin at me and flounced away, towards Sybil to bother her as she always did. Regardless of whatever would happen with that, I felt the nerves jitter inside me, and I needed to move, to go somewhere, to do something. I wanted to go on a hunt, but I wanted to go to Redael sooner rather than later, so I needed to stay within the den and wait for the few hunting packs that were out to return so we could go to our audience with the Swarm Alpha. Still, I needed to do something, to burn off this nervous energy somehow¡­ And that was how I found myself locked in combat with Took and Treel at the same time. Initially, it had been only Took, but with my combat experience beyond hunting, I had been able to handily defeat her, even without [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust]. Then, with Treel joining, I¡¯d been forced to activate [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], and the near dance of avoiding the two while they rushed into and against me was pleasantly exhausting. Took and Treel, though, were ever more excited and enthusiastic, trying to pin me down. As I dodged back from one of Took¡¯s swipes, a red spot appeared on her head at the base of one of her curling horns. Then I used the heel of my hand to guide her head from that spot to smash into Treel¡¯s shoulder, and Treel stepped back, her arm not broken but definitely agonized. With Treel momentarily out of the fight, I again grabbed the base of Took¡¯s skull and smashed her head into the ground. The sound echoed through the chamber as her horns thudded hollowly against the unforgiving floor, and while Took was stunned, I went to take Treel down and out. A red spot appeared on Treel¡¯s hamstring, and with a swift cut of my claws, I would be able to hobble her¨C With that thought crossing my mind, I stepped back and signaled the end of the fight. Took and Treel shook their heads wearily, and before we could talk about it, the last of the hunters returned. It was time to see what Redael had to say to us. Chapter 119 You have a chance here, Djallma. If you are able to pass the tests to enter the Veran initiate now, at only 21 summers, or even in the next two years, then you will almost certainly become one of High Veran Salmar¡¯s apprentices. For that, you simply must put aside your idealistic approach to the conflicts between the Veratocracy and our enemies. Of your age, you are the most accomplished Wavespeaker and Earthspeaker I¡¯ve ever heard of, and though the family might prefer that you marry that Lihle disappointment, I think you stand the best chance among any of the branches to step into the Synod. In my limited time associating with the High Families and some of the Synod, I can see you succeeding beyond belief there. Just¡­ stop talking about your progressive ideas. You don¡¯t even need to stop thinking them! Just don¡¯t talk about them for now. Then, you can make the changes you want to see in the country. You might even find more supporters of your ideas than you¡¯d think within the Synod and High Families. -Letter from Speaker Tariel Nahr to his younger sister Djallma The pack, under my leadership, made our way down the tunnels towards Redael¡¯s personal den. With each step deeper and lower into the den, the more I hated it. I hated being underground, hiding from the sky and my foes. I hated that I had been summoned against my own will. I hated that I still had to submit myself to this weakling. I hated that I was not yet strong enough. Every step reminded me of the pent-up frustrations and anger within me, until I was a barely contained simmering pot of rage. Finally, as we turned the final steps towards Redael¡¯s den, my anger had built to a head and I was only barely keeping myself from stomping down the path. With my final steps, walking into the final confrontation, the location where I would lay Redael low, I felt the less-than-gentle tug of Sybil and Shemira¡¯s magics on my mind. Immediately, I whirled towards them, but again they flared their influence, and I could calm myself enough to bite a part of my tongue hard enough to bleed. The pain brought me clarity, and after a deep breath and conscious relaxation, I looked at Sybil and Shemira both. ¡°We¡¯re not ready for that. Not yet. We need more support from the rest of the swarm.¡± As if she hadn¡¯t thought of as much herself, Sybil bowed her head, ¡°As you command, Alpha.¡± Shemira simply bowed her head as well and I fought to control myself further. They were supporting me, my greatest strength beyond my own, and I needed to remember that beyond the anger that simmered within me. To be more calculating. The calculations knew I wasn¡¯t ready to take over the whole swarm yet. Close, but not yet. I continued to walk forward, and before I could continue to convince myself, I noted the [System] notification that I had come to associate with Redael¡¯s presence. [Absolute Dominance skill is being exerted on you. Due to your System advantages, possession of the Dominance Skill, and higher evolutionary tier, the effects are nullified.] The notification was different¨Cno longer did [Absolute Dominance] have any influence over me, and, beyond that, the [System] stated now that I was of a higher tier than Redael. All that remained before me was to solidify my connections and support from the rest of the swarm, and my plans could continue. I¡¯d need to have solid control over the swarm before I led them all in a mass exodus. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. My pack did not have the same benefits as me, and I could feel as much as I saw the stiffening shoulders, lifting lips, and twitching tails. I forced myself to stand tall, looming over most of my pack, and I could feel them be bolstered by my presence and confidence. Redael didn¡¯t leave us to wait for him long, and just as soon as the last of the pack shuffled into the space, Redael came out to look at us. I knew that I was taller, larger, and more imposing than him, but either from [Skills] or his sheer charisma of being accustomed to being in charge, Redael felt larger than me. I might have loomed over my pack, but he towered. After looking across my pack, Redael levelled his gaze at me. I could feel something in him, something about how he apprised me with his eyes, but he felt something as he looked at me. After looking me up and down for a quarter of a minute, Redael spoke. ¡°You all have reached adulthood now. That is something¡­ praiseworthy, I suppose.¡± Arrogance and a sense of superiority dripped from his words as he continued, ¡°Your position as the youngest of the swarm, the weakest, is no more. Now that you have joined the swarm as equals, you will have certain expectations laid upon you. The first of which will be to care for the newest brood. They¡¯ll be hatching before too long, so you will be in charge of watching, protecting, and guiding them for the first days of their lives. ¡°You will occasionally receive commands from me through your Alpha.¡± As he continued, Redael¡¯s usual thinly veiled desire for violence spiked in intensity, and I could feel that he was flaring the influence of [Absolute Dominance]. ¡°You will obey, or you will die. Anyone who does not follow the swarm is not of the swarm, and will be treated as such.¡± Though he said nothing more, none of my pack stirred as Redael let the silence settle over us. His arrogance and strength in equal parts silenced me, and I forced down my frustration with my necessary silence and acceptance. Beyond my frustration, though, I appreciated Redael¡¯s authority, and recognized his leadership. ¡°That¡¯s all. Veldra here will show you to where the newest brood will hatch. Ashlani, stay with me for now, I have something to tell you.¡± With Redael¡¯s direct dismissal, I was proud to see my pack look at me for the true go-ahead. I nodded, and with Took in the lead, my pack stepped to follow Veldra, this male I¡¯d never seen before. Once they had all left, Redael looked up at me, sizing me up. After most of a minute looking at me, Redael nodded, and didn¡¯t acknowledge it any further. ¡°This pack of yours is loyal.¡± ¡°As they should be.¡± ¡°True enough.¡± Redael looked up at me, and though I was most of a foot taller than him, I couldn¡¯t feel like I was looking down on him. ¡°I meant what I said. You or one of yours goes directly against me, and you or they die. Don¡¯t forget it, even if you think you¡¯re the next Swarm Alpha. You. Are. Not. Yet.¡± When some people get angry, they raise their voices, and scream and yell. They tire themselves in their dramatics and performance. Others grow still and calculating, their rage a chill blade that they leverage to pierce deep and wound permanently. Redael¡¯s barely restrained anger was the embodiment of permafrost, a chilling emotion that hurt anyone who approached, much less those who were the recipient of it. I fought against my natural desire to fight back, and was able to keep myself from lunging at him, instead simply responding, ¡°No, not yet.¡± With the way his bearing changed, I wondered if Redael would throw himself at me, but after a second to collect himself, Redael shook his head and chuckled under his breath before continuing with something that caused my emotions to spike, in which way, I didn¡¯t know. ¡°There¡¯s something out there, different from everything else we¡¯ve run into. We¡¯ve lost three packs, entire packs, to them, and we still don¡¯t know where or what they are. The brood is on the far side of our territory from where the packs have gone missing, so you should be fine, but keep an eye out. Don¡¯t drag anything back to the den, carry it. Leave no tracks.¡± I could guarantee it. Humans were close. And they knew we were here. Chapter 120 After warning me of the ¡°unknown¡± predator in the nearby jungles, Redael returned to his quarters and I took that as my dismissal. I still fought to restrain myself from turning and throwing myself at him, but I was able to stop myself for now, knowing that it was just a question of time. Soon I would ascend to become the absolute leader of the swarm. Until then, I would remain where I was, gathering my strength. I began to walk in the direction that the rest of the pack had gone several minutes before, but wasn¡¯t sure where I was going. There had never been any reason for me to go in this direction, and I was wholly unfamiliar with the paths I tread. For the first time, I wondered how, other than continuous passage, the swarm figured out where everything was. According to my [Quest], there were at least 1000 individual members of the swarm, and with how much space each pack needed to be able to feed themselves, and how large our ranges were, I couldn¡¯t begin to understand how large our swarm¡¯s territory must be. Without any directions, I wandered in what I assumed to be more or less the direction of the pack. I couldn¡¯t begin to know if I was going in the right direction, but even if I ended up in the wrong spot, I would be fine¨Cthere weren¡¯t any random keelish that could pose a threat to me, and I could protect myself from any other threats that might appear. Thus, I poked my head into various dens, looking to see what the state of those within seemed to be. Morning was approaching, so most keelish should be in the den and prepared to rest, and my impromptu visits confirmed as much. Most of the keelish I saw were pathetic. Weak. Only marginally more remarkable than the males Shemira had brought to her side while still a hatchling. When I saw them, they immediately cowered before me. Whether that attitude came from [Dominance] or my higher evolutionary level, or something else, I didn¡¯t care. My initial thought was to walk through every den I encountered and Dominate every keelish to be found, but I forced myself to think longer term. My pack and I would spend a fair amount of time around here soon, and if I began stirring the rest of the swarm to anger against me so carelessly, I would find myself fighting Redael while the rest of the swarm resented me. Instead of bulling over the rest of the swarm, I instead spoke quiet, encouraging words to each pack I saw, and all that with the influence of [Innervating Address]. With my positive interactions but imposing presence, I could feel a sort of reverence coming over those who saw me, and I relished in it. I deserved to be treated as better than them, for I was. As more and more subserviently ducked their heads to me and I continued to use [Innervating Address] to speak to the submissive keelish, I could feel that there was a possible [Skill] to be found here. Something that would fill a different niche to [Innervating Address]. I decided to begin to experiment with that over the next few days in this new area. Regardless of my [Skill] exploration, though, I realized I had moved miles further than I¡¯d expected. I hadn¡¯t thought too deeply about it, since I¡¯d occupied myself with interacting with these lesser packs, but I had traveled through at least a dozen miles of winding tunnels, and I had not yet found the end of them. The swarm had spread much further than I¡¯d ever imagined, though I couldn¡¯t really be surprised, once I thought about how much we needed to hunt to survive. I continued to walk towards what I hoped was our destination. Stolen story; please report. Pulling me from possibly entering another den, though, was sighting Foire further up in a tunnel. As he saw me, Foire began trotting towards me. I only noticed then that he was, perhaps, the only khatif that could move comfortably in the tunnels, as the rest of us were too tall to walk carelessly without risking smashing our heads into a neglected stone or protruding root or random bump. Khatif transitioned to more upright creatures, and we simply weren¡¯t made for these cramped tunnels. I hadn¡¯t spoken specifically about it with any of the other khatif, but I could see in their eagerness to exit the den, even Sybil, that I was not the only one whose mind had changed on the matter since evolution. Foire settled into step at my side as I watched him approach. I nodded at him as I asked, ¡°You were sent to find me?¡± His frills flared. ¡°I knew where you were. I know where the den is.¡± ¡°Then lead the way.¡± Again, with a flare of his frills, Foire stepped into the lead. Seemingly without thinking about it, he walked with a strange, near jog, and I couldn¡¯t figure why, until I continued to walk comfortably. He was speeding himself to ensure I could walk at my usual speed. Internally, I smiled at the consideration, and I continued following Foire. Before long, we arrived at the small den set aside for the eggs. It was short, shallow, and altogether unremarkable. I¡¯d forgotten how featureless our den had been when we¡¯d hatched, but that time was foggy to my memory now. All I could remember was a mindless hunger and need. My mind had cleared and heighted as I¡¯d grown and evolved, and I didn¡¯t regret my time as a peon at the bottom of the hierarchy, but now, I would never again. I didn¡¯t wait to speak with Vefir, who was hunched over and investigating where I assumed the eggs were laid. He sniffed here and there, and then, there and here, looked closely, and I interrupted him. ¡°How many are there?¡± He flicked his tail, seeming uncertain as he didn¡¯t look at me but tried to respond. ¡°I think maybe seventy? I can¡¯t say how many will hatch. There are some over here that definitely won¡¯t, but over here¡­¡± As Vefir spoke, he subconsciously slipped into muttering to himself as he observed the eggs, or what I assumed to be. I clicked my teeth together, the noise cutting through the ambient noise of my pack observing the den. Vefir pulled himself from his manic examinations and looked me in the eye. ¡°How long do you think we have before the first hatch?¡± Vefir cocked his head before looking down at the eggs once more. Before I could begin to act on the welling frustration, he nodded his head in finality. ¡°A day at most. Keep someone here and ready.¡± ¡°Great. You¡¯re on egg duty for now. We¡¯ll see if there¡¯s any prey worth hunting here.¡± I let the smile crack my face as I readied myself for the hunt. Chapter 121 [Treel POV] Treel woke to her mate¡¯s nuzzling, and as she stirred, she gently nipped at Foire. He dodged her halfhearted attempt, then nipped back at her cheek and half bit half licked her frill there. His tender roughness sent a little thrill through her, and in response, Treel easily submitted to his flirtations. It wasn¡¯t long, however, before she nudged him with her head, and he released her to stand and stretch. As she rolled her shoulders and shifted her hips, she could feel the small, foreign feeling at the base of her hips. She couldn¡¯t quite shift it, but eventually, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem any longer. Until then, and after then, she supposed, she would continue with life as usual, and as such, needed only to focus on today. Treel walked out of the little hollow she and Foire had dug out for themselves and began to observe the pack. Treel understood the power of words, and had often felt that power through the Alpha¡¯s voice, but she believed more in the truth of the body. More than words and sounds, the body spoke, and Treel listened. She watched every member of the pack, Foire¡¯s quiet confidence and eagerness to please, Took¡¯s desperation to prove herself, Shemira¡¯s uncertainty contrasting with her growing comfort, Vefir¡¯s self-doubt and worry¡­ The Alpha¡¯s strength, power, and battle-lust. She had seen him the day before, stalking through the jungle nearly with fire burning in his eyes. He¡¯d found himself frustrated at the lack of worthy prey, though he¡¯d tried to hide it. The Alpha led the pack well, listened to Foire¡¯s scouting, planned, and made sure that the pack was safe and successful. He was truly a good Alpha, especially compared to the other, weak Alphas that he had taken under his command. Treel respected him¡­ and feared him. His strength, his rage, his ability to change others, and more all showed that he was a powerful individual, and he would do what he considered necessary, and, if necessary, cut her down in the process. There was comfort in that fear. The Alpha would rip down whatever stood in the way of the pack¡¯s progress, and the pack would follow his every word. Her responsibility was simply to follow his directions, and she would find success. She had spoken the strange words along with the Alpha, Foire, and the rest of the pack, ¡°Forged in battle, tempered in our blood, by our sacrifice¡±. There was something that had changed in her when she had spoken those Words, and she wasn¡¯t sure what it was. That the Alpha could bring those words to her lips, without commanding her to, was another thing that proved his power and worthiness to stand as Alpha. The Swarm Alpha was the only other one who Treel could see and feel was made to be an Alpha. Just being near him had nearly forced her to tremble in fear, and she got the impression that her Alpha somehow protected her and the rest of the pack from the Swarm Alpha. Another sign of his strength, she supposed. Watching the pack mingle, Treel could tell that the Alpha had left his personal room and was ready to go on the hunt. She was glad to have had Foire wake her before that, and looking at him, she could tell that he¡¯d known that she wanted to be on this hunt. Without thinking about it, she leaned down and curled her head over his neck and nuzzled her snout into the base of Foire¡¯s jaw. He¡¯d seen her coming, and moved his head to the side to offer her easier access to the sensitive, soft part of his jaw for a brief caress. Both didn¡¯t want to delay and chance being left behind on this second hunt, so they didn¡¯t let the moment linger, instead stepping forward into the Alpha¡¯s view. Treel noticed Took and Shemira also stepping forward in the same way, quietly seeking his attention. Behind the Alpha, Sybil stood, her body language quietly communicating some level of satisfaction. Treel didn¡¯t let herself think for too long on that, instead focusing entirely on the Alpha. He immediately looked at Foire. ¡°Are you ready for the hunt?¡± ¡°Always,¡± Foire responded, bowing slightly. The Alpha flared his frills in acknowledgement and turned to Took and Shemira. ¡°I trust you two to lead another pack than mine. You don¡¯t need to hunt, but begin to scope out the area, find what prey will be suitable for the hatchlings. I don¡¯t think there are many of the frogs we hunted as hatchlings around, so find something equally small and generally harmless.¡± Treel¡¯s eye immediately shot to the two females the Alpha was addressing as he finished his command. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Took¡¯s tail flicked as she subtly shifted her stance¨Cshe was happy to be given a command, but felt that she could be doing more. Shemira was simply pleased to be trusted, as she still felt she needed to prove herself. The Alpha¡¯s voice cut through any further observations Treel might have made. ¡°Foire, you and Treel gather a pack, however many as you want, and prepare to move out with me soon. It¡¯ll be a quick hunt, just enough to find something to bring to the hatchlings that¡¯ll be out soon.¡± The Alpha turned to confer with Sybil and a couple of her hangers-on about something, and Foire looked to Treel to gather the pack for the hunt. He didn¡¯t like to speak to the rest as a whole, and whenever possible, would delegate to another to take that responsibility. As it was, Treel didn¡¯t mind gathering a pack for the hunt. Since the hunt was to be quick, she stepped through the den and collected enough that looked to be ready for a hunt, excited but disciplined. Silf had already been selected by Took and Sybil for their scouting, and though Foire would be a little more reserved than usual to not have his favorite spotter with them, Treel thought it for the best. Before long, the pack was ready, letting the Alpha lead them up and out of the den and into the unfamiliar forest. The area was similar, but Treel had come to learn how different the jungle could be, depending on where she was within it. Foire had tried to explain his understanding of it all, but he simply couldn¡¯t explain it how he wanted, and Treel had simply let him speak however much he wanted to about it. Once they all entered the forest, the quietly companionable air of the pack shifted, becoming wary and alert. All eyes were focused on the jungle around them, and once they entered the jungle proper, Foire quickly began scaling a nearby tree. Treel kept her eyes on him, having designated herself his spotter for this hunt. It wasn¡¯t long before his posture changed, but in a way she couldn¡¯t read from so far away. Foire began to sign down to her, and after having to repeat himself once, more slowly, she understood. Two prey. Large. Close. That direction. Treel told the Alpha, and he signaled for the pack to prepare themselves. They did as Foire dropped down into their midst, and quietly spoke to the Alpha. ¡°They¡¯re the big birds. The terrorbirds, as you call them.¡± The Alpha stiffened a little at Foire¡¯s words. He hated those, for killing Oncli, she supposed. ¡°Just two?¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha.¡± Foire flared his frills, and the Alpha gave a quick command. ¡°You all, just make sure they don¡¯t escape.¡± The meaning was immediately obvious, and the pack stealthily hunched through the brush until they arrived close enough to the terrorbirds to begin to encircle them. The Alpha didn¡¯t wait long before rushing into battle. No, to the hunt. The two massive terrorbirds, though they fought as a team, stood no chance against the Alpha¡¯s ambush. Though she herself was about as strong as the Alpha, she couldn¡¯t imagine herself doing what he was. Before the terrorbirds could react, from his throat exploded a cry, one that nearly stunned Treel herself, and she was much further from him than the two birds. The large predators couldn¡¯t begin to try to fight back as the Alpha tore into them. With one hand he ripped massive chunks of flesh from a leg, and with the other, he grasped the base of the other¡¯s skull. The gesture from him, though it mirrored the one she¡¯d shared with Foire, lacked the tenderness and trust that she¡¯d shared with her mate. Instead, the Alpha¡¯s claws sunk deep into the soft skin of the bird¡¯s neck, and brought the head low, low enough to bite into it. His jaws sunk true into the beast¡¯s nape, and its mate began to flee from the carnage. It was far too late. The surviving terrorbird was already hindered by its wounded leg, and the Alpha, with an unspeakable rage bubbling under his eyes, grasped the creature¡¯s dead partner with one arm, spun, and hurled it at the fleeing prey. Treel could hear the snapping of bones as the massive terrorbird corpse smashed into the fleeing creature¡¯s legs. It went down, its body thudding against the ground as the Alpha trotted closer. He didn¡¯t show mercy, simply reaching down with both arms, one at the base of the skull, again, and the other about a foot below that. Then, with a flexing of his claws and a wrenching of his shoulders, he snapped the neck before slowly wrenching the head entirely from the terrorbird¡¯s corpse. Yes, the Alpha would cut down everything that stood in his path. And maybe some other things too, if they got close enough. Chapter 122 After I ripped the terrorbird¡¯s head from its neck, I let the body slump to the ground and rolled my shoulders. I hadn¡¯t thought through the wisdom of throwing that first one. Though it was the smallest terrorbird I¡¯d seen, it still weighed hundreds of pounds, and I¡¯d slung it over at its mate without thought or preparation. Between that and ripping the head off of the second with sheer force, I¡¯d at least hurt my shoulders and back, if not more seriously injured them. And, of course, it was my right shoulder, as always. Regardless of the discomfort, though, [Pain Tolerance] let me stay upright and act as if I hadn¡¯t stupidly hurt myself. Something I¡¯d come to learn was that [Pain Tolerance] only allowed me to better mask and deal with pain, not that it kept me from feeling it, and I was feeling more than just a little foolish after nearly dislocating my shoulder in my eagerness to literally tear the terrorbirds apart. The two terrorbirds were themselves more than enough for the hatchlings to eat themselves into unconsciousness, and with the hunt complete, the pack gathered up to drag the bodies back to our den. Just as they were about to, I remembered Redael¡¯s command¨Cnot to drag anything to the den. His caution was correct, we didn¡¯t want the humans to find our den without even realizing we¡¯d led them there. With a sigh, I began to cut the bodies into sections small enough to be carried without dragging. With the assistance of [Quaking Claw], I felt the bones separate and cleave through under my claw, and though my shoulder and back continued aching and hurting, it wasn¡¯t long before the job was done. I was grateful that most of the pack that was here was khatif, so much larger and stronger and more able to carry things above the ground than mere keelish, and that let me leave all the carrying to the rest of the pack. I walked without showing my weakness and soreness, though Treel kept herself in front of me and clearing the way. Though there was no way she could have known my discomfort and struggle, I was grateful for her assistance, unintentional though it may be. The journey back to the den was uneventful, though the area was unfamiliar to us and we needed to move more slowly to ensure we didn¡¯t unintentionally enter any area that was potentially dangerous. Though we didn¡¯t fear any of the creatures that we thought might be found nearby, we were staying prepared and cautious as we scouted out the surrounding area. With Foire¡¯s guidance, it wasn¡¯t long before we had circled back to the entrance nearest to the eggs¡¯ den. I barely kept myself from stumbling down the slope, and I found myself tamping down frustration at having to enter the dark, cool underground. I wanted to bask in the light from the suns, but I couldn¡¯t do that, with the rainy season being constantly overcast or raining¡­ a thought crossed my mind, and I barely kept myself from nearly skipping down the tunnel to the den that part of the pack had set up in in preparation for the hatchling¡¯s hatching. Within the den, Vefir stayed constantly observing the eggs, somehow feeling their vitality with his magic. It was something different from any Speaking I had seen, even Soulspeakers were unable to communicate with the unborn, and though Wavespeakers could use some sorts of healing, they couldn¡¯t feel life the way that Vefir could. He was, by every understanding that I had of the concept, obsessed with the eggs. Every waking moment, he was looking at them, and though his prediction of only one day before hatching was proven incorrect, he was growing ever more familiar with them, having selected a couple that he was convinced would be future Alphas. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Given Vefir¡¯s obsession, it did not surprise me that it took three tries to get him to actually look at me when I tried to get his attention. ¡°Sorry, Alpha. What is¨C¡± Vefir cut himself off as he cocked his head and looked closely at my shoulder. He seemed just as surprised as I was to see whatever he saw. ¡°You need healing, and rest. Walk with me.¡± Vefir¡¯s growing confidence and ability to take charge of healing was heartening to me, and I began to follow him, before I looked across the den, hoping to see¡­ yes! ¡°Solia, Sybil, please come with us.¡± Both followed without complaint, Sybil issuing a quick command to Etra, who nodded and began to do whatever it was that she was commanded. Sybil¡¯s manner and bearing while commanding Etra was so different from her interactions with Shemira, so much more serious and unengaged. Shemira and Sybil were companions, while Etra was a subordinate. I didn¡¯t think any further on that as both of the females I¡¯d called fell in step behind me as the four of us walked to the nearby den we had requisitioned. So far as we could tell, the den was from a defeated, grown, or changed pack that had moved on, whether by location or end of life. Regardless, there was a smaller den that could fit about half my pack within it close enough to the eggs¡¯ den, and within it, we had part of the pack staying while we were in charge of keeping an eye on and raising the newest hatchlings. And, more importantly, within was a sand bath. As Vefir began to work his magic into my shoulder and from there to my back, Sybil and Solia looked at me in askance. I closed my eyes and grunted in relieved discomfort as my shoulder forced itself back into its most natural position before opening my eyes and looking at Solia. ¡°How much can you control your fire?¡± Her tail flicked, agitated, and she answered, ¡°I¡¯m working on it every day. I¡¯ve ¡®tanned¡¯ the hides like you¡¯ve seen, and I fried the wolfstags in their den. What do you need me to do, if it¡¯s between those extremes?¡± ¡°See if you can warm all of the sands from the bath. Not enough to burn whoever touches them, but warmer than my body.¡± Solia cocked her head before turning and laying a constant, low flame over the mass of sand for maybe a minute. Once she stopped and the blinding incandescence of heat from the flames faded, the sands radiated a hot orange before my thermal vision. Apprehensive, I reached out with a hand and mixed the hottest top sand with that below it, and to my vision, it cooled to a warm orange. Perfect. ¡°Thank you, Solia. That¡¯s perfect.¡± She looked at me, confused, curious, and altogether unsure, but after thinking about it, she decided not to ask and instead bowed before walking out. Vefir sent another pulse of magic through my shoulder before speaking up, ¡°Don¡¯t strain it again until I say so. You don¡¯t need to do anything that¡¯ll hurt it again soon.¡± Then, he too left, to go back to the eggs, I was sure. That left only myself and Sybil. Sybil looked up at me without speaking. I met her eyes, and with a little smile asked, ¡°Would you like to bathe with me?¡± Chapter 123 Sybil¡¯s easy agreement quickly led to the two of us luxuriating and languishing in the hot sands. Just as I¡¯d imagined in my vision/visit with the [Administrator], the heated sands elevated the bath beyond anything I¡¯d experienced before. The warm grains scrubbing through my scales along my shoulders and arms under my sonic magic¡¯s assistance were amazing, but even better than that, once I was done scrubbing and cleaning myself, I dug a little pit and laid in it. My body bent and laid differently now as a khatif than as a keelish. As a keelish, laying wasn¡¯t much more than just bending my legs and settling onto the ground. Then, if I wanted, I could move the way my legs were positioned, but I was already laying comfortably with my legs that way. As a keelish, I¡¯d been a belly sleeper. As a khatif, however, with how my hips had changed, if I simply bent my legs and went to the ground, my tail would get in the way pretty quickly, and even then, once my legs could bend no longer, my torso was still above the ground. The way I could lay down now, I needed to use my arms to keep myself from falling and hitting my face on something, and I preferred to lay on my side now since my legs didn¡¯t feel comfortable directly below me. Beside me, Sybil had finished cleaning herself and as she saw me hollow out a hole, she dug one out herself, just to my side where we could almost touch. I watched her dig, the contours of her body shifting with her flexing muscles. Something about her body had changed with the evolution to khatif, and I could tell that her hands were no longer quite so innately adept at digging, similar to my own. Her fingers and claws, though different to mine and those of a normal keelish, were long and delicate, almost to the level of a human¡¯s. Her arms and hands displayed a greater possibility of working with tools than a keelish¡¯s, progressing more towards civilization and building than the mere approximation of it. Before Sybil settled into her little hollow, she lightly pulled a couple armfuls of sand over my sides and legs. Then, she laid down in her own little burrow and as she shifted, a small pile of strategically placed sand was knocked over and onto her own sides, halfway burying her just like as she had done to me. ¡°Clever as you¡¯ve ever been, Sybil.¡± ¡°That is why you accepted me in the first place, is it not, Alpha?¡± I fought not to flick my tail and dislodge it from the sand it was so pleasantly buried in as I craned my neck a little to be able to look into Sybil¡¯s face. ¡°Sure, that¡¯s why you¡¯re one of my Betas, but I would have let a keelish as slow as Brutus and as small as Foire into my pack then. And even now.¡± ¡°True enough. You have the ability to shape the weak into something more, Alpha.¡± Sybil maintained eye contact with me, and I could see that she had prepared a little sandy pillow to lay her head on. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Come on, Sybil. We¡¯re alone. Call me by my name.¡± ¡°Of course, Ashlani.¡± With the relaxation of her tone, she initiated a question. ¡°Why did you invite me here for this?¡± ¡°Do I need a reason?¡± I maintained as level an expression and tone as I could manage, though I didn¡¯t for a moment think that I was able to hide anything from Sybil. Our faces as keelish and khatif were far from so expressive as a human¡¯s, but Sybil didn¡¯t try to hide her own disbelief from me. The obvious and deliberate emotion on her usual stoic face quickly had me chuckling. After taking a moment, I let the mirth fall from my face as I decided to be open. ¡°You¡¯re the closest thing to a friend that I have. Oncli once was, and since then, I have remained the Alpha in the eyes of the rest of the pack. I prefer that for most, but I do sometimes find myself¡­ regretting my inability to relax with and confide in others.¡± I paused for a moment, before deciding to be more truthful. ¡°And I wish to spend more time with you. Not just as Alpha and Beta, but as companions. You are the only one I feel I can consider as such.¡± Sybil maintained eye contact with me, not showing any particular emotion, and I began to feel foolish. I tamped down the anger that surged within me, that I¡¯d deigned to listen to Shemira¡¯s advice. Was she trying to embarass me? She would regret that¨C ¡°I am glad that you would think of me that way. I¡­ am not a warm or loveable creature, I do not think. Most members of the pack go quiet when I am nearby, and try to look busy. They appreciate what I do, but they fear me as something¡­ different from they are. They look up to you, worship you, fear you as a superior being, but with me, they do not consider me as one of them. It is comforting to hear that you appreciate my presence and self.¡± The sands were beginning to cool around me. The brief flames that had heated them were insufficient to heat them for long, and I began to stand and shake the sand loose from me. As I did, Sybil beside me did the same and began to shake her scales in the way that only keelish could. They flared up and the sand began to tumble from the small spaces between her scales and skin. Without thinking about it, I scooped up a handful of sand and began to scrub her back with it. Sybil froze as my hand ran over her spine, and I sent a steady vibration through my hand to help with the light scrub. I could feel a certain excitement begin to surge within me as I looked down at Sybil. Though she was far from Shemira¡¯s flawless beauty, I felt a certain thrill while looking at her, and slowly Sybil relaxed enough to look up at me. Our eyes met, and I began to lean down and laid my head across the base of the left side of her neck. She began to lean back into me, and curled her own head around my left shoulder. I couldn¡¯t say what I was expecting to feel but I simply felt¡­ comfortable. I enjoyed the feeling of simple affection and care, and I stood there, enjoying it and Sybil¡¯s presence. I began to pull back to look at her once again, and as I opened my mouth to begin to speak, Vefir¡¯s voice carried through into the den, announcing the eggs¡¯ hatching. Without thinking any further about it, I pulled myself back from Sybil and began to jog towards the den, Sybil following behind me. Chapter 124 What is truth? The absolute, the will of the forgotten. What is power? The presence, that of the divines. When will they come? The past, they never have ceased. Where is the tower? The entirety, stretches from below to sky. -The first known record mentioning the Tower within the Blackened Sanctuary. As I stepped into the den, I could hear the first high pitched squeaks and cries of excitement. Looking across the space, I couldn¡¯t see where the eggs were hatching due to the thronging excited keelish until my pack felt my arrival. I didn¡¯t know if they had seen me or if it was a subconscious feeling and understanding coming from [Dominance], but I had to hold back a grin as the pack parted before me without so much as a word. With an open path through my pack, I could see the little creatures sprawled across the ground before them. They were still wet from the egg, and squalled at each other unintelligibly. I continued to wait for the others to hatch, the first of the brood laying on the ground, exhausted from the effort of hatching. Though nearly the entire pack watched the hatching, not a single hand was extended to help the struggling hatchlings. We all understood, even without being told, that this was the first struggle of any keelish, and the first test of the grit and tenacity for our kind. It did not take long before the floor was fully covered with recovering and rising hatchlings. While they couldn¡¯t speak, every noise they made screamed of hunger and desire for attention. I was reminded of my own hatching, of trying to understand this new existence as my brood began to cry out around me. I could remember the confusion and hunger that filled them, so with a brief sign, I gestured for one of the terrorbird bodies to be brought forward. As the hatchlings caught the scent, they began to cry out for their meal, for the food that we had to offer. Once the skinned body was placed before them, they clambered over each other as they fought to fill their bellies. Initially, I thought that the presence of so many adult keelish nearby was different from my own hatching experience, but thinking back, it could have been that we were surrounded and I simply didn¡¯t notice that there were adult keelish preparing and bringing food for us as we¡¯d hatched. My mind had been much less¡­ complex at that time, more focused on rage and vengeance and slaughter. The hatchlings continued biting into the meat that was prepared before them, snapping at each other when one came too close to biting where its fellow broodmate wished to, and I found myself smiling at the gory sight. Not from taking pleasure in the view, but instead thinking that the little things were cute. Their mewling cries demanded that their neighbors provide them better and easier access to another bite of food, and I could see their little bellies begin to distend from their ravening feeding. Before long, the hatchlings began to fall where they laid, too stuffed to continue the feast. As they slowed, I took in the full measure of them. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Sixty three successful hatches. Even more than Vefir had predicted, and they had all eaten their fills. I couldn¡¯t remember how quickly we had grown those first days, but it was amazingly quickly. The hatchlings were tiny, maybe eight inches long from snout to tip of the tail, but I could remember being maybe a dozen inches tall by the time I hit my first growth spurt. That meant¡­ they might triple in size? In six days? The thought took me by surprise, and only then did I realize that these babies had eaten almost their own weight in meat, each. I turned to Took, who stood watching the little ones collapse into an unconsciousness deeper and simply more than sleep. She seemed to sense when my attention came upon her, and immediately tore her eyes from the hatchlings. ¡°Did you find a good hunting ground for them? Or good prey?¡± She flared her frills. ¡°Small, fuzzy, safer than frogs.¡± I nodded in gratitude, and wracked my mind to try to figure out what it could be. Not dulgar, those had leathery scales, and she knew what they were, besides that. Maybe¡­ quoll? ¡°Four legs, thick, not bushy tail, but otherwise like a wolfstag cub without the horns?¡± Took flared her frills. I quietly laughed to myself before telling her, ¡°They¡¯re more dangerous than the frogs. Faster, meaner. Plus, they like to hunt the Martanimis Python¡¯s eggs, and do it without getting caught. They¡¯re clever. They¡¯ll be something the babies hunt eventually, but they¡¯re not a good first hunt.¡± At my words, Took seemed to deflate, but immediately turned to gather a pack to begin scouting. A thought crossed my mind, and before she could immediately stalk out of the den, I caught Took. ¡°There¡¯s something about the same size as the quolls, the ones you found, but they don¡¯t have tails. Smaller mouths too. Look like scaled deer, but without the scales and fuzzy instead. The quolls eat them too, so maybe there¡¯s some nearby.¡± Took flared her frills and began to lead the pack out. For my part, I disregarded my exhaustion and everything else, instead opting to keep an eye on the little ones as they slept. They twitched and whined in their sleep, and I couldn¡¯t help but smile at them. Vefir approached me as I looked at the happily bloated babies and waited for me to acknowledge him before speaking. Again, I took pleasure in the respect that was coming more and more naturally to the whole pack. ¡°Yes, Vefir?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t be sure, because I can¡¯t remember those days well, but I think that this brood is less¡­ advanced than ours was. I think that they are smaller and less developed than we were at hatching. I will only be able to tell as time goes on, but I¡¯m as near to sure as I could be.¡± I flicked my tail, half in assent, half in disinterest. ¡°They don¡¯t need to be as advanced as we were. We aren¡¯t going to treat them the way we were. We¡¯re going to raise them to follow me. And, as they follow my guidance, they¡¯ll get near to our level, even if they never truly grow to the level of our excellence.¡± Vefir bowed. ¡°As you command, Alpha. Do you have anything you would like us to do for now?¡± ¡°Keep them fed for the next day, then we should have their first hunt prepared, and I¡¯ll truly introduce myself at that point. For now, I¡¯m going to see what I can find about our mystery hunters back near our territory.¡± Announcement Hello! The next chapter will be up in about 3.5 hours, don''t you fret. However, I have an announcement! My new book, The Divine Path || A Monster Evolution LitRPG, is now live! I''ll be keeping an eye on it, and if it reaches 150 favorites by Monday at midnight (79 hours from now), I''ll continue posting chapters of about 2000 word count size every day, alongside my weekday updates of this. As an added benefit to Ashlani''s Reincarnation readers, I offer this: to incentivize you people who are here, I''ll reward Ashlani''s Reincarnation with an additional chapter if The Divine Path hits 50 ratings before Monday evening. That chapter will be delivered by the end of next week, if the goal is met. On top of that are all the other chapters to read that I''ve already posted and will continue to post! Such value! Much wow! And now, the blurb for The Divine Path: [Proceed towards the Divine Summit.] Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Nothing more than five cryptic words guide Khall after she hatches. All she knows is that she is a mud lizard and that she needs to fight and kill to survive and ascend. Evolutions and occupations are presented to her, but she knows nothing about what they are or how to acquire them. As her path unfolds before her, she must understand where the command to ascend comes from, and if she should, in fact, do as it says. The Divine Path is a fast-paced, progress-focused, action-packed monster evolution novel with eventual light cultivation. Khall starts as a hatchling, and her intelligence reflects that. Once she experiences her first evolution (within the first ten chapters), she will become much smarter. https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/88532/the-divine-path-a-monster-evolution-litrpg Hope to see you there! Chapter 125 Going back to our territory, where packs of keelish had gone missing, I was both nervous and hoping to come across a squad of humans out on the hunt for keelish. I was disappointed. Foire didn¡¯t sense anything, nor did we come across any humans or signs of them. Thinking of it, I was not at all surprised that, if they were here, they had left no trace. One of the first things I was ever taught as a child was how to pass through the jungle without leaving tracks to lead to my tribe, and since the humans knew there were keelish around, I could guarantee they never left their tents without their beralts. Foire might be able to sense humans through their beralts if they were within a quarter mile, but even then I couldn¡¯t be sure. He struggled to sense the Martanimis Pythons with their cold-blooded nature, and they weren¡¯t deliberately hiding from us. I might be able to see them if they were nearby with my [Improved Vision], but I doubted I would be able to see hidden and hiding humans without a serious error on their part. I struggled to figure out how I could possibly protect my pack and myself from the humans, and I found myself drawing a blank. This might now be the moment the [Administrator] had warned me about¨Cthe time to flee to the east. Yet, I didn¡¯t feel that it was ¡°obvious¡± to me as she had said. If a tribe found us, I couldn¡¯t imagine that they would be able to fully wipe out the swarm. Maybe if they committed the full strength of even their noncombatants, but I couldn¡¯t imagine that any tribe would be willing to do so, even the Nievetsali tribe with their warlike ways. Then what could be the incoming threat? And what could other [Administrators] be planning? As we stepped through the brush and the rain pelted down on us, I shook the thought of escape from my head. I was told that the moment for escape would be obvious to me, and it wasn¡¯t, so I wouldn¡¯t think about it. Instead, I needed to see if I could capture someone and get some information about the old Viertaali tribe. A part of me mourned that I didn¡¯t count myself among their number any longer, but most of me took pride in the pack I was building, the future I could see. Regardless of what I might be forced to do moving forward, I needed only to focus on the pack for now. Our search for humanity thwarted, I motioned for the rest of the pack to continue the hunt without me and returned to the den by myself. I couldn¡¯t be bothered to participate in a hunt that was so mundane as this one, and instead set off to return to the den where I had hatched from. The journey through the familiar jungles went quickly, and I didn¡¯t see or sense anything noteworthy through the pounding rain. My feet sunk deep into the muck, and even with the miserable weather and conditions, I still lamented the steps I took into the den. The claustrophobia within the den¡¯s walls immediately struck and frustrated me. I wanted to live above the surface, to see the skies, and enjoy the views, but for now, I was stuck within the bounds of the den. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I shook the frustration from my mind and body as much as I could as I rounded the corner into my den. There, the ¡°forgotten¡± of my pack worked on the last of the wolfstag bodies while the wolfstag pups wrestled and romped under Arwa¡¯s tired gaze. That the wolfstags and Arwa herself lived comfortably under the watch of so many keelish was in no small part thanks to Sybil¡¯s frequent return and magical ¡°guidance¡±. Arwa perked up when she saw, or perhaps smelled me, and trotted forward before sitting before me. When she sat like that, Arwa was well over five feet tall, and her gnarled mass of horns brought her to be at least as tall as my own six and a half feet. While she sat patiently waiting for my approval and affection, I looked at the pups that began to follow their mother towards me. I idly scratched at Arwa¡¯s ear and under her chin while I watched the trundling pups fall over each other in their attempt to come near me, where they looked up at me with curiosity and excitement apparent on their fuzzy little faces. They had grown in the past days, and over the 10 or so days since we had initially taken in the wolfstags, the little pack had changed markedly. Before, they¡¯d weighed maybe twenty pounds apiece, but now, with the little masses of horns beginning to poke out at the base of their skulls paired with the explosive growth they were experiencing, I would be surprised if they weighed less than thirty pounds each. One of the males, the brave one that had growled at me in our first meeting, had continued to grow faster than his siblings and seemed to be their leader. The pups followed him, and I could feel that he was close to needing to have his first hunt, at least, the sooner that that happened, the better according to [Evolutionary Guide]. Arwa seemed to have mostly weaned the pups, and they all needed to begin to work together with us keelish already in the hunts. Since the pups no longer needed their mother all the time, I decided to begin to take Arwa on the hunts and resolved to return the next day with Sybil and maybe a couple others. With her influence, after all, it would be much simpler to communicate what we needed from Arwa. With that settled, I took just long enough to speak with the members of the pack that I hadn¡¯t seen these last couple of days since I¡¯d been keeping an eye on the eggs before they¡¯d hatched. Fria had become the de-facto leader over the weaker and less impressive members of the pack that had been left behind, and so far as I knew, Sybil got in contact with Fria at least once a day to ensure that the pack under her command was developing. If these weaker keelish were the ones that became the providers for the wolfstags¡­ then they could provide for their needs within the den, while there were others who worked with the canines for the hunt. I wondered over how to organize the hunters with the wolfstags, and then the newest hatchlings as well, but didn¡¯t care to think any deeper about it. With little more thought to it than that, I returned to the hatchlings¡¯ den and set to trying to organize and prepare the first live hunt for the hatchlings, and, before long, the pups. Chapter 126 The next days after my initial attempt to look into finding some humans passed without any noteworthy occurrences except for the hatchlings¡¯ first hunt and my first address to them that came immediately after. That and disconcerting information I gained exclusively through my [Status]. Their first hunt went without any incident, without any of the excitement that had filled my own. Took and Foire had found a small herd of the pygmy deer, and with enough of the pack cornering them, they had been able to capture ten of the small prey animals. They¡¯d squealed and cried the entire time since being trapped down in our den, but I wasn¡¯t surprised, given that they were trapped where they couldn¡¯t see and alongside their predators. Predators that would hunt and kill them with their least effective and efficient members. Regardless and uncaring of the pygmy deer¡¯s panic, Sybil commanded the hatchlings to follow her to the den where the prey awaited their inevitable demise. There, the invitation to form their own packs for their hunts was different from the one that our brood had received. In the three days since their hatching, the little ones had grown by nearly half, over a foot long and about half as tall. Additionally, over the past days my pack had already figured out which of the hatchlings was a potential leader, with there being five of the more intelligent hatchlings. Thus, Sybil and the rest of the pack nearby had gathered the little ones into groups of what they thought the hatchlings¡¯ potential roles could be within their established packs, such as hunter or a more domestic role. Once the non-leader hatchlings had been divided according to what we perceived to be their strengths, the leaders were left to select their own packs, with the numbers of their pack being either twelve or thirteen. With my own knowledge of how to become an Alpha, I was pleased to see that each would be guaranteed to evolve under the conditions we were forcing on them. For their part, the spawnlings didn¡¯t seem to mind being commanded by the khatif. I was relatively sure that between the suppression automatically granted by being a more highly evolved creature combined with the submission that came automatically to young keelish, the hatchlings didn¡¯t even entertain the possibility of their lives being different. With the specific instructions given to them, the hatchlings quickly set to squalling and crying out for more followers in their way. It was interesting to note the struggles they had in trying to communicate in their broken words to their less intelligent broodmates but eventually, there were five even packs standing together in the den. They stayed looking between Sybil, who stood imperiously before them, and the prey that they could see and smell. And they were hungry. ¡°One at a time, you will hunt a deer. Then, after each pack has had an opportunity to hunt and feed, you each will have a second opportunity to hunt. Improve between hunts, and always improve.¡± Then, with those¡­ rousing words, Sybil stepped to the side, gestured to one pack to begin the hunt, and let the hunt begin. The hatchlings were clumsy, weak, uncoordinated, and enthusiastic. Without the sheer mass or gaping maws of the Toothy Bullfrogs, the pygmy deer didn¡¯t pose any danger to the ravening horde of keelish. The poor deer were not subject to slaughter at the fangs of the keelish though. The hatchlings had plenty of experience with meat, but none at all with killing. Instead of killing the deer before beginning to eat, the hungry hatchlings simply tore into the deer where they could reach them. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The pygmy deer were under two feet tall at the shoulder, and though they were much larger and heavier than the hatchlings, the keelish could easily reach their ribs and bellies. Those soft sides were where they began to rip and tear into the soft flesh of their prey. The deer quickly succumbed to the weight and attacks of their hunters, but the keelish weren¡¯t wise enough to understand the benefits of killing their prey to keep them from continuing to struggle. Instead, the deer struggled and screamed until they were lucky enough to have one of the hatchlings reach their head, where they would quickly finish the deer off. As more and more of the deer were picked off, the remaining few began to bleat more nervously, gathered together, and tried to protect themselves. However, given that they were in a totally dark and closed off den, they had no prayer of escape from whatever creature it was that lurked in the dark, lunging out and picking them off one by one, only to crunch through their companions. I felt the briefest flash of pity for the deer that was quickly replaced by pride seeing my little hatchlings successfully complete their first, and then second hunts. By the time the final pygmy deer lay dead on the ground, every one of the hatchlings was round and heavy lidded with exhaustion. Sybil strode forward, about to lead the hatchlings back to their den, but at that time I walked out from the nearby tunnel I had been quietly observing them from. Without prompting, Sybil spoke loud and immediately garnered the attention of every one of the hatchlings. ¡°The True Alpha will speak now. Listen and obey.¡± After that, she stepped to the side and slightly bowed. The hatchlings didn¡¯t bow, but they did look up at me with wonder apparent in their eyes and postures. ¡°Hatchlings. We will guide you to strength, power, and victory. We will guide you to becoming more than a keelish could ever be by itself. You need only submit to me.¡± As I spoke, I gradually increased the influence of [Dominance], and I could see the influence of my [Skill] begin to settle over the hatchlings as they involuntarily bent the knee and bowed before my presence. Surprising me, I could feel the descent of the divine, the feeling of sacred words beginning to tumble from my tongue. ¡°Mine is the throne, the true throne above the swarm! I am the true ruler of the swarm, and you will submit to me to find success, glory, and victory!¡± As my words rang throughout the small den, I could feel the completion of several quests surge through me, the gains in stats combining with the sublimation of a [Skill], and, to me, coming just in time. After all, looking at my [Status], and at a single [Quest] in particular over the past few days, there was something significantly less positive than the completion of some [Quests], something that only I knew among my pack. Even before the submission of these hatchlings to me, my percentage of control over the swarm had been increasing, even without any additional keelish beginning to follow me. It could only mean one thing: the numbers of the swarm were steadily declining, at least ten dying a day. The humans were actively hunting us, and were seeing no small success. Chapter 127 While there were a dozen small contacts made before that day, true first contact with the rogue swarm was far more volatile, explosive, and shocking than even the most pessimistic of the Veratocracy had ever dreamed possible. Until that moment, respect and credence had been given to the Gran Verat¡¯s prophecy that had precipitated the Great Purge. After that small group of the scaled menaces made their response to our presence, there was not a single doubter of the Gran Verat¡¯s divinity and prophetic ability. To this day, we cannot be sure of what exactly they did in retribution, but some have seen the results of the swarm¡¯s victory. It is obvious why the keelish menace is to be purged. May their race be scrubbed from the face of the world. -From the notes of renowned historian Ahyalt di¡¯Nielta [Quest completed. Skill evolution achieved. Title upgraded. Growth achieved. Quest board updated. Status updated.] [The user has discovered the first iteration of the Fourth of the Words of Power of Nievtala. The user has been blessed with the lesser blessing of supremacy. The user has been provided with the Skill: Imperial Bearing.] As I was overwhelmed by the litany of notifications from the [System], I was surprised by how many things had changed. Once the hatchlings had all left, I dismissed every member from my pack so that I could go through my new [Status] and figure out all of what had changed. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Sonic Khatif Alpha Titles: Chosen of Nievtala=>Disciple of Nievtala Current quests: -Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. -Gain control of 15% of the entire swarm. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5. Progress: 14% - Speak the entirety of the First Iteration of the Words of Power of Nievtala. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility +4, Intelligence, Magic +3. Progress: COMPLETED. NEW QUEST: Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. Stats: -Constitution: 64+4+5=73 -Strength: 75+4+5=84 -Agility: 79+4+5=88 -Intelligence: 65+3+5=73 -Magic: 66+3+5=74 Skills: Adversary: 5/10 Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust: Unqualified, 2/4 Dominance=>True Dominance: 0/5 Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Guide (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve) Improved Vision: 0/18 You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 4/10 Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve) Profound Sonilphon: 3/5 -Debilitating Diatribe (Cannot Evolve) -Innervating Address (Cannot Evolve) -Quaking Claw (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Possibilities -Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha: Become the undisputed leader of a swarm of at least 250 keelish. Progress: 138/250, disputed. -Sonic Keel: Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1 Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] With so many upgrades and changes to my [Status], I couldn¡¯t bring myself to focus on any one of them, and eventually involuntarily looked at the second of my [Quests]. Before, the total number of keelish in the swarm had been over 1000, and now, it was under that, even counting these new hatchlings. We hunters were being hunted, and the thought burned and stung when it crossed my mind. Humans dared to make prey of me? No, never. The flash of rage through my mind pulled me from my stupor, and I began to look through my [Status], starting at the top. One of the two things I really hadn¡¯t expected was the evolution of my [Title]. I couldn¡¯t be sure why that was, but I assumed at least part of it was due to my completing the ¡°first iteration of the Words of Power of Nievtala¡±, especially looking at my newest [Quest]. But, keeping myself from being lost in the circular nature of the relations between the changes to my [Status], I focused on the new [Title]. [Previous Title: Chosen of Nievtala; a Title that shows that the holder is one of the currently living beings that can receive direction and influence directly from the Goddess Nievtala. Effects of Title: +5 to all Stats, and the ability to receive additional guidance from Nievtala. This Title can evolve. Title Evolution requirements: Title holder must speak all of the First Iteration of the Words of Power of Nievtala and receive the approval of Nievtala.] [Current Title: Disciple of Nievtala; a Title that proves the holder select and favored above even the Chosen of the Goddess Nievtala. A god¡¯s Disciple may receive more direct and intelligible direction and influence from the object of their worship than a Chosen. Effects of Title: +10 to all Stats, and the ability to converse with Nievtala. This Title can evolve. Title Evolution requirements: Title holder must speak all of the True Words of Power of Nievtala and evolve to become a Keel.] Well, that answered if the cause of my [Title]¡¯s evolution was my Speaking the Fourth of the Words. I must have already garnered the approval of Nievtala, though I couldn¡¯t say I¡¯d ever received any direction or influence from her since acquiring the [Title] of Chosen. Thinking back, I was rather glad to realize as much, that I hadn¡¯t been forced any which way, still being left to my own devices and plans. If all this [Title] offered me was more Stats, then I would be happy. Just as that thought crossed my mind, the touch of a voice pressed onto my mind, but different to anything I¡¯d ever experienced before. The voice was firm, motherly, warm, kind, enraged, powerful, and all encompassing. Divine. I felt my soul quake in absolute, abject submission to the presence, and I fought to keep myself standing during this briefest touch of pressure that I intrinsically understood to be but a fragment of a facet of Nievtala¡¯s power. I got the limited sense of worry and approval with her words: Hunt. Survive. Grow. Then, her influence faded as quickly as it had come and I was left gasping and trembling in the absence of Nievtala¡¯s power. Despite myself, I feared her viscerally, collapsed to the floor, and doubted continuing on any path towards becoming Keel. That was how I laid when the [System] sent me an additional notification. [The Administrator apologizes on behalf of Nievtala. She says that Nievtala is sufficiently chagrined, and had forgotten the impact that her presence has on mortals. She says that it had been so long since Nievtala had had contact with any Disciple that she became overly excited and immediately reached out once she realized that she could.] The realization was slow to come as my mind reeled from Nievtala¡¯s brief touch on my mind. A goddess¡­ was¡­ apologizing? I gathered the fragments of my mind back together and tried to disregard the overwhelming assault on my mind I¡¯d just sustained. Slowly, gradually, finally, I recovered enough to regret having thought anything so trivial about a god. Finally, I was forced to admit that they existed, and were so far above and beyond me that I could only lay low and hope not to incur their attention, much less their wrath. I shook my head, and gathered myself enough to consider what the blessing of supremacy brought me, beyond this roaring headache. [Skill: Imperial Bearing; a passive Skill granted to those who have earned and are granted the innate ability and right to rule. This Skill grants a heightened ability to resist the influence of any Skills, Titles, Occupations, Races, and any other ability that may affect the Skill holder¡¯s ability to control themself. Additionally, every Skill, Title, Occupation, Race, and any other ability that the Skill holder has that influences others is heightened in power, scope, and proficiency. This Skill cannot evolve.] Not only was this [Skill] seemingly broad in scope and somewhat unclear to me, I realized something else about it¨Cit was the fourth [Skill] necessary for the evolution of [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], and finally, I was seeing some level of progress there. Beyond that, though, was the rest of my [Status]. Chapter 128 My mind was finally recovering enough for me to really work through this new [Skill], as well as everything else that had changed. Firstly, I wanted to better understand this new [Skill] even better. Did [Imperial Bearing] mean that every one of my Sonilphon related [Skills] would be improved, except [Quaking Claw]? [The Skills: Debilitating Diatribe, Innate Leadership, and Innervating Address are unconditionally improved and strengthened in every facet due to the user¡¯s acquisition of the Skill: Imperial Bearing. The Skills: Adversary, Evolutionary Guide, Pack Tactics, and True Dominance are all conditionally improved and strengthened due to the user¡¯s acquisition of the Skill: Imperial Bearing.] I¡¯d recovered back to normalcy, and quickly was able to put together the meaning behind the explanation that came to me. ¡°Influences others¡± as had been stated in the general description of [Imperial Bearing] seemed to mean my interactions with other creatures. Thus, whether it was the direct effect of [Debilitating Diatribe] weakening the listeners or the indirect effect of [Pack Tactics] allowing me to better communicate the understanding of battle that came with the [Skill], both were affected. The conditionally improved [Skills] were ones that did not exclusively give effects in that social fashion. As the breadth of the benefit given by this new [Skill] settled over me, I finally fully shook the fear and suppression that Nievtala¡¯s brief words had instilled in me. Perhaps if I weren¡¯t a leader of a communal species, then I¡¯d have been disappointed, but with my goals, [Imperial Bearing] was a perfect [Skill]. Maybe it was a little bit of a pity that it couldn¡¯t evolve further, but I got the feeling that it could progress, even if not through evolving. Moving past my newest [Skill], the new [Quest] might take quite a while to complete, since I couldn¡¯t know when I was going to be able to Speak the final Words of Power. Beyond that, I had been led to believe that the only way I could guarantee that I speak the True Words of Nievtala was to go to Nievtra, a ruined city on the far side of the continent, a distance so far away and unfathomable to me that I couldn¡¯t begin to understand when I would get there. To make it even more complicated than that, though, I hadn¡¯t been guaranteed that information upon my arrival. Despite my attempts at calming myself, I could feel the stress rising as I thought about it, but quickly I tamped it down and focused on other things instead. On the other, more positive hand, I could see that with fewer than ten more followers, I would finish the [Quest] for garnering more than 15% of the swarm in followers. Thus, I could continue stepping ever closer to taking down Redael. Redael, interestingly enough, had a different [Dominance] [Skill] than I did. I could remember the notification of [Absolute Dominance], not [True Dominance], so it could be that he had developed his in a different way, but I suspected that [Absolute Dominance] was a higher tier of the [Skill] than [True Dominance]. The updated [Skill]¡¯s description was interesting, if wholly expected. [Previous Skill: Dominance; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated their ability to force others to obey them. This Skill grants an aura that incites loyalty, obedience, and fear in others. This aura allows the Skill holder to more easily dominate and subjugate others. This Skill can evolve. Skill Evolution requirements: Dominate and subjugate 100 creatures. Complete. Evolution to True Dominance complete.] Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. [Current Skill: True Dominance; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated and begun to perfect the ability to force others to obey and submit to the Skill¡¯s holder. Those who have gained this Skill are beginning to understand the path of the tyrant, and this Skill assists them in that path. This Skill grants an improved aura that incites loyalty, obedience, and fear in others. This aura begins to force even those with the strongest will to submit their will to the holder, and allows the holder to more easily dominate those who stand before them, even without violence. This Skill can evolve. Skill evolution requirements: assert and establish dominance over five leaders of groups of at least 100 individuals.] So far as the description seemed to indicate, the new [Skill] was largely the same as before, simply strengthened. That, paired with [Imperial Bearing], I was ready to begin to use it to the best of my ability at every opportunity. It was time for the swarm to begin to acknowledge me. I could wait no longer, and would need to begin to take steps immediately to gather all the swarm under my leadership. A part of me tried to say that I needed to wait longer, to take my time, but I couldn¡¯t stomach another day of letting Redael think himself above me. I was nearly convinced that I should stalk down to Redael¡¯s den right this moment and force him to admit my superiority before his painful death, but I thought it would be more humiliating and effective to force him to try to bring a stop to my power as I took control over the swarm, one pack at a time. The idea of no longer regarding the direct and veiled warnings about my attempts to grow my influence grew within me until I couldn¡¯t help but decide that to be my next course of action. I would take control over whichever pack came near me, I would subjugate any keelish who saw my eyes, I would become the truest form of a swarm Alpha and would dominate and [Dominate] any creature that stood in my way. Deep within me, the voice crying for patience and a slow approach was stifled and smothered until it went silent, and I welcomed the calm, quiet ambition that replaced it. As I joined with the rest of my pack, they looked at me, looking for direction and instruction, and I was struck with the sudden and absolute need to lead, to prove my leadership. We had allowed the humans to wreak their havoc among our number for too long, and I would bring the beginning of the end to it. As the thought settled over me, a cool intellect began to prevail over the heated, insensate pride that had slowly, quietly begun to prevail over my mind. I sighed and realized that there was another effect to this new [Skill] I¡¯d been so excited to receive. Regardless of the influence of [Imperial Bearing], I did need to find the humans before they made any more progress on the culling of my swarm. Even if the swarm didn¡¯t yet know that I was their leader, I would be, and the more of them there were, the stronger I would be by extension. In addition to that, I needed to talk with the humans. If I was going to be running away and out of the Martanimi jungles, I wanted to find Viilor before I left. After all, his back was ready and prepared for my claws to plunge into it, just as his arrows had mine. I didn¡¯t let myself delay any longer. ¡°Took, Treel, Foire, Vefir, Sybil, Shemira! We now go to the hunt!¡± Chapter 129 The Speakers¡¯ College of the Red Abbey will now implement mandatory self-defense courses for all students and faculty. The focus of the new self-defense courses will consist of descriptions and practices of specific and efficient approaches with how to deal with and potentially when to flee from humanoids with natural armor and weapons, as well as mediocre magical talent. As stated above, these new courses are mandatory and will take place once a week. Any individual, staff or student, who misses two courses within two moons without written dismissal of their absence will be dismissed. -excerpt from the second wave of educational reforms of the Red Abbey, 203 years after its establishment Though I was anxious to finally find a human squad, I couldn¡¯t be sure if they would be willing to appear before me, especially with the company I brought with me. While I had decided to keep our numbers low to appear more ¡°enticing¡± as a group for a quick subjugation, our pack of seven was made up entirely of khatif. I was nearly the largest, with Took and Treel maybe six and four inches taller respectively. Took was definitely the heaviest and broadest of the seven of us, with her beginning to curl horns and broad shoulders pushing loudly through the brush that filled and clogged the jungle. Foire led the pack forward, trying his best to sense and detect any new creatures nearby, but he was frustrated to find that he had no such success. I had tried multiple times to explain how I thought he might be able to sense the humans through their beralts, but I couldn¡¯t begin to understand how his detection skill worked, much less how a human deliberately hiding from it might circumvent it. All I knew for sure was that his ability to sense creatures was somehow different from our thermal vision, since he could find the pythons within a certain distance, even though they didn¡¯t appear at all to all the rest of our perceptions. Regardless, though, either we never got even remotely close to humans, or their beralts were able to keep them hidden from Foire¡¯s senses. Either way, the longer our hunt continued to be unsuccessful, the more Foire had to fight to keep from displaying his obvious frustration. Eventually, Treel stepped closer to Foire and quietly began to discuss something with him, and as we paused there in a more hidden, quiet space, Sybil stepped close to me and nearly whispered into my ear, ¡°Why did you bring me?¡± I flicked my frills forward, paying her attention as I cocked my head in askance. With my obvious question, Sybil continued, ¡°Is there any reason to have brought me over any other member of the pack? Ytte is a more effective hunter, as are Solia and Brutus, to name just three.¡± I was becoming accustomed to my innate anger that simmered deep within me and surged in even the most mundane of situations, so I didn¡¯t allow myself to display it. Instead, I simply spoke, ¡°I wanted those I trust more than any other to be on this hunt.¡± ¡°Why is it so special to you, and to the pack? We know that this unknown predator is dangerous, but you seem almost obsessed with it. There is something that you know that you have not shared beyond how they somehow hide from us.¡± Sybil¡¯s tone wasn¡¯t accusatory or unhappy in any way, simply matter of fact and curious. Even so, I couldn¡¯t hide the slight snarl in my voice as I retorted, ¡°There are things I know! You have seen me lead this pack forward without worry or difficulty, you have seen my personal growth and my ability to lead others to grow in the same way. Now you question me?¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Sybil bowed her head. ¡°Never, Alpha.¡± I awaited some additional retort, but it never came. Sybil simply accepted my undeserved browbeating and humbly waited for what could easily have been a punishment. After gathering myself for a moment longer, I took a deep breath. ¡°I know things you wouldn¡¯t understand. I can¡¯t really explain how, but I do.¡± I didn¡¯t feel like I was unable to share that I had been reborn as a keelish, but perhaps it was stubbornness, or pride, or fear, or something else entirely. Regardless, I didn¡¯t want to explain where my knowledge originated, and I wasn¡¯t going to. ¡°These predators, I¡¯m nearly positive that they¡¯re something called humans. They¡¯re about our size, stand on two legs like us, and their greatest strength is a magic greater than our own, greater than the wolfstags¡¯.¡± No, that was wrong. I shook my head and immediately recanted, ¡°No, their magic is powerful, but their greatest strength is their numbers. They are individually as strong as some of our strongest, and there are potentially hundreds, if not thousands of them. If they¡¯re what I think they are, I don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll be able to survive.¡± Sybil wasn¡¯t the only keelish who had been listening to me, and the rest of the pack went silent as I spoke. After the silence had fully settled over the pack, Sybil spoke up. ¡°Will you lead us?¡± ¡°Through blood and war, famine and death. Yes, I will lead.¡± ¡°Forged in battle and tempered in blood, I follow.¡± Sybil¡¯s response was immediate and honest, and it was quickly echoed by the rest of the pack nearby. As I accepted the renewed pledges of loyalty, all seven of us were startled by the terrorbird that strode too close to us. In an almost comedic fashion, it looked at each of us, and though it was more than two feet taller than Took¡¯s own impressive nearly seven foot stature, it was outnumbered and quickly began to flee. Without thinking, Took, Foire, and Treel began the chase, and, thinking that the hunt would at least allow us to expend some of this nervous energy, I gestured for the rest of the pack to follow suit. Something bothered me at the back of my mind, but in the immediate need to react to our prey¡¯s flight, I tried to push down the indescribable instinct. Besides, we would be able to take down this terrorbird, large and imposing or not. With its panicked flight through the trees, the terrorbird attempted to escape from us, these hunters that it knew were superior to itself, but it couldn¡¯t gain any distance. Even with its long legs, built for swift flight through the thick brush, the terrorbird continued looking around, its eyes wildly turning in every direction, looking for where to flee. There would be no way for it to gain the distance it needed to escape us for¨C ¡°STOP!¡± I commanded with magic from my sonilphon pulsing through my throat. All of my pack strove to follow my command, but even as khatif, or perhaps especially as khatif, larger and heavier than before, we couldn¡¯t bring our weight to immediate stops. In the front, Foire was the first to halt, and Took shortly after him, but Treel stumbled forward, less prepared to listen to my command. Before I could begin to explain my worry and what my conscious mind had finally begun to put together, there was the twanging of several strings in unison, and the wet sounding impact of something piercing scales. Treel stumbled, and I saw the arrows protruding from her shoulders and chest. Immediately, as two figures stepped out into the clearing with Callings tumbling from their lips, I shouted to [Innervating Address], ¡°We¡¯ve found our prey! Kill every one you find!¡± Chapter 130 I commanded Vefir to take cover and keep himself safe as I rushed forward into combat. I activated [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] and watched the two humans in the front as their Callings finished and earth began to flow up their bodies to cover their forearms, chests, and thighs. Thankfully, neither were full Earthspeakers, because between the augmented strength granted by Earthspeaking and the armor they displayed now, there was more than enough to render most of our attacks ineffective. Before I engaged with the two prepared for meeting us in combat, I was able to pick out three distinct arrows¡¯ fletchings from Treel, and looking I saw three different archers stood in place and beginning to draw more arrows. ¡°FOIRE! On them! Sybil and Shemira, follow him!¡± I pointed at the three archers in two locations, and my three subordinates immediately followed my directions and began to close in on the group of two. They would make quick work of those cowards¨C I fought to understand the call that one of the humans made, maybe the one that was further away and alone? ¡°Gryl! Support them!¡± The voice was feminine and panicked, one untempered by battle. At her command, though, the terrorbird rushed forward to support the other two archers. Suns burn me, I was stupid. Of course a single terrorbird, one without a mate even though it was large and healthy, would be a Soulbound companion. ¡°Watch for the terrorbird! It¡¯s with them!¡± I shouted the command, but had to commit myself to battle with one of the people with an earth Calling to keep them from surrounding the three fighting the archers and terrorbird. The man I rushed towards immediately swore as I stepped ever closer. ¡°Dammit, but these are huge! I¡¯ve never seen one like these!¡± I didn¡¯t care about his fear or confusion, instead activating [Quaking Claw] and beginning my attack. My first two swipes were probing, seeing how quickly he would react, but while he wasn¡¯t among the best trained hunters I¡¯d ever seen, he was more than competent in his Calling. Without visible effort, he maintained the magic that kept the reinforced earth covering himself, and each strike I lashed out with was competently, if not quickly, blocked. To the side, Sybil suddenly cried out in surprised pain, and I threw myself into the fight with the burly human. With a snarl, I started targeting the red spots that appeared on the man. His arms displayed none, but there were a couple that appeared on his shoulders, and I feinted with my left, then right arm before following through with a fully committed stab of my left hand again. [Quaking Claw] wasn¡¯t as helpful in stabbing as it was in slashing, but with the opening that I¡¯d gained from my feint, my claws sunk deep past the protective earth and into the man¡¯s flesh. He grunted in pain and surprise as my strike struck home, and blood immediately began to color the dirt. To my own surprise, he continued maintaining the Calling after my initial hit, and as I tried to extract my hand from his right shoulder, his left hand struck me like a club. The man¡¯s entire hand was covered in condensed earth, dense enough to be called stone, and he¡¯d hit me soundly in the ribs. I felt the breath whoosh from my lungs from the hit, and I saw that he was swinging his arm back to hit me again. As he brought his arm back, though, a massive red spot appeared right where his belly button must be. I didn¡¯t hesitate, and though the spot was covered with a thick breastplate of Earthspeaking reinforced soil and gravel, my blow struck home. The man gasped in surprise as my fingers sunk up to the knuckle into him. As his stomach was ripped open, the Calling faltered and failed. With the detachment brought on by [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], I felt nothing as I pulled my left arm from the man¡¯s shoulder, positioned it, and stabbed him through the heart. I let the body slump to the ground and even through the influence of [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], I felt the importance of this¨Cthe first time I slew a human. Regardless of the relative importance of this moment, I couldn¡¯t dwell on it any longer. I turned to Took, who was bulling into the other Earthspeaker with all her strength. As I looked, she pulled back her head and smashed her horns into the Earthspeaker¡¯s raised arm. The Earthspeaker, a woman by the sound of her pained cry, began to lose control of her Calling as her arm snapped from Took¡¯s attack. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Reassured by Took¡¯s imminent success, I turned to observe the fight occurring between Sybil, Shemira, Foire, and the other humans. The third human had remained at a distance, commanding her Soulbound companion terrorbird in keeping the three keelish from engaging successfully with the two other humans. Sybil had an arrow shaft protruding from her flank, and was only barely keeping herself standing. Shemira stood next to her, protecting her from the spears of the two nearby humans, the bites and kicks of the terrorbird, and the occasional arrows shot by the third, further away human. Foire was being held back by both of the humans nearby, and sported several shallow, inconsequential cuts. Treel, wounded though she was, came close to the humans, close enough to threaten them. I was surprised to see Vefir approaching, sneaking through the brush as well as he could to ambush the two humans who¡¯d abandoned their bows to wield spears. Though neither of them seemed to be masters of the spear, both were able to menace and dissuade Foire from approaching too closely. Vefir was close, nearly close enough to begin an ambush, and though their situation was bad, it was nowhere near as bad as it would be if the third human finished the Calling I heard and felt her attempting. There were sparks beginning to materialize near the third human, and though she occasionally loosed an arrow when the opportunity presented itself, her focus was on her calling. Flame was beginning to gather on the tip of her arrow as she continued the Words. I couldn¡¯t let her continue, and swiftly began to sprint towards her while gathering as much magic as I could into my throat. I wasn¡¯t able to attack from a distance, so I desperately screamed, in her language, ¡°HALT!¡± All three humans, astonished by my command, froze for the barest moment. That was enough for me to close in on the Flamespeaker and slash my claws through her hand, neatly slicing it in half up to the wrist. The surprise and pain caused her to lose all focus on her Calling as she screamed and began to cry. Between her sobs, she prayed, ¡°Gran Verat, help me. Please, save me. I don¡¯t want to die. Please help me. Gran Verat, please. Bless me¡­¡± With her mostly out of the fight, I turned to look at the final conflict. Took had already felled her Earthspeaker, and with her and Vefir both joining the fight, the terrorbird had already been slain. The two humans were trying to pull away, to escape, to somehow survive, but with their vanguard finally out of the fight, they had no prayer of survival. Shemira and Foire showed no mercy as they swiftly cut down the two panicking humans. As they turned to make sure I was safe and successful, I called Shemira towards me. She jogged forward while Foire whirled around to look at Treel, who¡¯d collapsed to the ground once the humans had begun to attempt to flee. ¡°Guard this one. Don¡¯t let it speak, or move.¡± While Shemira was obviously burning to know what I meant by keeping this human alive, she didn¡¯t question me, instead flaring her frills and then, after a moment of looking at the terrified human, simply stood at attention looking directly at the human¡¯s hidden face. Before I walked away, I spoke to the human. ¡°Do. Not. Speak. Do. Not. Call. Or. You. Die.¡± She began to try to stutter something else out, but I snarled at her and repeated, ¡°No. Speak. Or. Die.¡± Then, I turned to check on Treel. She¡­ was struggling to breathe. Though Vefir had removed the arrows from her torso, she was not improving. Seeing her seemingly dying, I felt my adrenaline spike. ¡°Vefir! Why haven¡¯t you healed her?¡± ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m trying. It just¡­ isn¡¯t working.¡± He was panicking himself, and continued to pulse his magic into her, but for some reason, Treel¡¯s body refused to heal. Looking at the scar that had formed from the shot she had taken to the breast¡­ I suspected it had pierced her heart. As Vefir began to try to heal her again, the exhaustion apparent in his body language, Treel raised her hand to stop him before looking to Foire, who looked at her with disbelief covering his face. ¡°Farewell my mate. Care for the eggs.¡± Though her words were direct and almost formal, the depth of her emotion somehow carried to me. The moment felt too tender, that I was intruding. Treel raised her head a little, and Foire lowered his own to nuzzle her neck at the base of her skull. Without another word, Treel continued in that intimate position for almost another minute before the last of her life drained from her body and her head dropped to the ground for the last time. Chapter 131 Foire¡¯s mourning keens cut me to the core as he stood over Treel¡¯s cooling body. I¡¯d never realized they were mates, or that they had even thought to do so. Keelish didn¡¯t seem to be monogamous, so where did the idea of ¡°mate¡± even come from for these two? I stopped myself from thinking further on it, instead reaching out a hand and laying it on Foire¡¯s shoulder as he mourned. With my seeming approval of the mourning keens, Took, Vefir, Sybil, and Shemira joined in the piercing wails that carried through the jungle. The sound ripped at my heart, and I joined in, allowing the sense of loss to sweep over me for a moment, the feeling of pain, of love, and of grief. Though the question of the eggs she mentioned burned inside me, I could wait to ask Foire about them, and instead I let the emotions of mourning wash over and through me. There was much I wanted to know from him, and perhaps Vefir as well, now was not the time. Regardless of the grief and pain we felt, I didn¡¯t allow myself to drop my guard with the human female. Though she wouldn¡¯t be able to wield a bow or spear with her hand ruined as it was, she could still Speak, and I meant to enforce the command I¡¯d made regarding her continued silence. When I looked at her, though her face was still covered by her beralt, I could tell she watched me constantly, and when I started watching her, she couldn¡¯t contain or hide the shudders of fear that ran through her. Her head kept jumping back and forth, mostly between Shemira and myself, though she also watched the rest of the mourning keelish. Finally, I decided to walk up to the human, though as I walked, I gestured for Sybil to come with me. She hobbled along, limping from the arrow still in her flank. Immediately, I called Vefir over, and though he was obviously running low on his reserves, he decisively yanked the arrowhead out. Sybil grunted in pain and subconsciously leaned against me with the wave of agony that Vefir¡¯s businesslike ministrations brought. Immediately after removing the barbed head, though, Vefir sent a surge of healing down into Sybil, and she straightened to stand under her own power once again as her flesh knitted itself back together. Once the healing was complete, Sybil looked up at me, and I felt a surge of pleasure as I saw in her eyes that she understood why I had asked her to accompany me in this interrogation. With each step we took towards the trembling human, Sybil began layering on her magic more and more obviously. Though I wasn¡¯t the target of her magic, I could feel it emanating out from her, and the human cowering before us began to bow her head and begin to nearly silently mumble prayers under her breath. ¡°-May the Gran Verat deliver me from trouble, may I find peace in the path of righteousness. May I always remember my weakness and the overpowering, almighty strength of the Gran Verat and his purpose. May I find solace in weakness and comfort in pain¨C¡± Her mumbled prayers flooded from her mouth with a practiced ease, and for the first time I realized that she was praying. I¡¯d never seen one of my people pray. ¡°Stop.¡± My voice rumbled and squeaked at the same time, my throat not built for speaking the language of my previous life. The consistent practice of that unfamiliar tongue had accustomed me enough to be able to vocalize, but to actually talk in a full sentence was nearly impossible without constant stops and readjustments of my jaw, tongue, and throat. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know what to say. Are you a divine being? Why can you speak??¡± Her voice was trembling as her words tumbled from her lips, and I raised a hand to keep her from continuing. ¡°I¡¯m. Ashlani. Your. Name?¡± ¡°You¡­ you¡­ I¡¯m Farrah.¡± She fought to stifle her pained and panicked sobs as she responded. ¡°Take. Off. Mask. Let. Me. See. Face.¡± After a moment¡¯s hesitation, Farrah reached up and untied her scarf from her face before pulling down the hood. Her face was¡­ human. It took me several seconds to realize that hers was a normal face. It had only been a couple moons since my own face had been like hers, but it seemed completely alien to me. I supposed she was pretty, with healthy dark brown skin, thick dark eyebrows above green eyes, and full lips under a narrow nose on a round face. The strands of her black hair that had escaped the tail she¡¯d tied behind her head hung in wet, sweaty strings around and on her face. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! I¡¯d mostly expected her to look amazed at seeing a talking keelish, but her face was screwed up in agony. Of course she was, I¡¯d permanently maimed her hand, and it continued to bleed profusely as I glanced down at it. She was clamping down on that mutilated hand, but still the blood poured from between her fingers. Between the shock of the injury, the fear of her defeat, and the amazement of my speaking, it was no surprise she wasn¡¯t of the soundest mind. Even so, I needed answers. ¡°How. You. Find. Us?¡± Farrah visibly swallowed before seemingly deciding to answer, ¡°Someone saw a pack. We came to hunt¨C¡± She seemed to begin to choose her words more carefully, ¡°--to find out what was happening in this part of the jungle.¡± ¡°How. Many. Of. You?¡± ¡°Um¡­ a lot?¡± The girl continued panicking, her breaths coming fast and shallow. She was hyperventilating. I could ask any number of questions, but only a couple mattered to me. ¡°Where. Is. Viertaali. Tribe?¡± ¡°The what?¡± I loomed closer, towering over her sitting form. ¡°Where. Is. Viertaali. Tribe?¡± Confusion darted over Farrah¡¯s face, before she seemed to realize what I was asking. ¡°There¡­ are no more tribes. After the unification, all tribes were dissolved. I think¡­ the Viertaali tribe founded Viertaal? Makes sense if they did...¡± ¡°What. Is. Viertaal?¡± ¡°The capital city.¡± ¡°What. Is. A. City?¡± ¡°Where hundreds of thousands of people live. Cities are much larger than our town.¡± As Farrah spoke about her town, she seemed to gather a little more of herself and began to push off the influence of Sybil¡¯s magic. A thought occurred to me, though, as I learned about this ¡°city¡±. How long had it been between my death and my rebirth? ¡°How. Long?¡± The recovering Farrah began to resume her hyperventilation.¡°How long what? Please, just don¡¯t kill me. Please¨C¡± Before she could devolve into more blubbering, I gestured at Sybil to reinforce her magic over Farrah and interrupted the girl¡¯s panic. ¡°How. Long. Since. Viertaal. Was. Founded?¡± As Sybil¡¯s magic¡¯s influence redoubled on Farrah, the girl swayed in place before answering. ¡°Two hundred and¡­ maybe thirty years? Maybe longer. I don¡¯t remember.¡± The shock of her statement knocked me into silence. While I hadn¡¯t heard the word ¡°year¡± before, I quickly understood that it meant ¡°summers¡± as I had called it. Two hundred and thirty summers since my mother¡¯s tribe had established that city, and that couldn¡¯t have been right after my death. Two hundred and thirty summers. I would never have the opportunity to see my mother. Time had stolen from me the opportunity to kill Viilor. And¡­ it had created hundreds of thousands of Speakers. The disappointment of not being able to slay Viilor was drowned by my final question: ¡°Why. You. Come. Hunt. Us? If. So. Many. Of. You?¡± Farrah fought against the compulsion to answer, and Sybil flared her magic stronger than I¡¯d ever witnessed before. I saw something crack in Farrah, and she answered. ¡°The Great Purge. All keelish must be killed.¡± The same as before. There could be no common ground found, and I found the khatif part of me enjoying the realization that combat would be absolutely necessary. I would find an opportunity to prove my strength against greater foes than ever, to combat true Speakers, and even High Speakers. Thousands of them. The thought dampened even my excessive lust for battle, and I was struck with the realization that I couldn¡¯t allow this poor scout to return to her people. As I contemplated how to keep her prisoner, though, the crack in her mind I¡¯d thought I¡¯d seen before was repaired, and Farrah sat up straight, looking me directly in the eye. ¡°I will speak no longer! You cannot be allowed to live! I am a proud Soulspeaker of the Holy State of the Veratocracy! I will no longer allow my mind to be desecrated by you!¡± The strength in her denial and stance struck an appreciative chord within me. ¡°Very. Well. Farrah. You. Have. Proven. Yourself. A. Warrior.¡± She seemed surprised at my honest praise, but her face fell as I continued. ¡°I. Cannot. Let. You. Return.¡± In my own, keelish tongue, I continued, ¡°We are the blade that rips and the shadow that chills.¡± I motioned for the rest of the pack to back away, and they did so. Farrah looked at me, confused, and I spoke in her tongue, ¡°To. A. Warrior. A. Warrior¡¯s. Death.¡± I let my words begin to sink in, and the blood drained from the indignant Farrah¡¯s face, but to her credit, she immediately began her Calling, the Words of Power to summon flame thundering from her lips in righteous fury. I allowed her only long enough to begin to feel the answering sparks from her Calling before I rushed forward. She tried to continue the Call, but I swiftly tore through her throat and then her belly, before decisively running my claws through her heart. As the human, no, Farrah, bled out before me, I bowed my head to her. ¡°I. Choose. My. People.¡± Chapter 132 Different from when I¡¯d killed the Earthspeaker in the throes of battle just minutes before, I didn¡¯t have the thrill of battle or the detachment of [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] as I killed Farrah. I¡¯d known her name, I¡¯d spoken with her, and though I called it a warrior¡¯s death, the ¡°opportunity¡± I¡¯d offered Farrah had never been anything more than a different way to say that I was going to execute her. I stood by my decision, and recognized that her death was necessary and the only true option available to me without directly harming myself and my interests. Even so, there was a hint of¡­ not regret, but melancholy at what I found myself doing. I didn¡¯t lie to myself¨Cthere were many other humans who threatened me and my people. Even if they were able to speak with me, they had some command about the ¡°Great Purge¡± and they were obligated to slay every keelish. Unless I could somehow countermand that, there could be no peace, and there would be continuous battle to protect ourselves from extinction, so long as we remained within the bounds of the ¡°Holy State of the Veratocracy¡±. Though a part of me wished to stage some epic final battle, that would only lead to our deaths. I decided to plan something more specific after returning to the den, but instead let the feelings of loss settle over me. I¡­ I had held out some hope, some unspoken, unrealistic hope of seeing my mother again. Even if from the opposite side of a battlefield, I wanted to see her. I would lead my swarm in a retreat from that battle, and as I led my people away, I would cry out to her that I was her son, and convince her of what Viilor had done to me. She would guide me to where he was, and though we were so different now, maybe we could at least be allies, if not a family again. Instead, she was so long gone. What had Viilor told her about me? That I¡¯d been foolish in my hunt? That I¡¯d simply been unlucky? Had she cursed herself for allowing me to lead that hunt, for determining that I was finally competent enough to do so? Had she hated herself for what Viilor had done to me? I cursed Viilor for doing that to her, for killing me, and for his death, that I wasn¡¯t even able to take any sort of revenge on him for it. Foire had begun to more quietly mourn Treel¡¯s death, and I again joined him in his mourning, though for something and someone that the rest would never know. I let our grief continue unabated and uninterrupted by anything but the lightly misting rain for a short time before turning to Foire. He didn¡¯t immediately notice my attention, but after waiting for another moment, he saw my focus on him and cocked his head in askance. ¡°Treel mentioned eggs. Do you know anything about them?¡± Foire flicked his tail in uncertainty. ¡°I never saw her lay.¡± I turned to Vefir after, who looked at me. ¡°Can you tell if she¡¯s gravid?¡± Initially, Vefir looked confused, unsure as to what I could be asking, and I continued, ¡°Before laying, females carry the eggs inside. Can you feel if there are viable eggs inside her without having to cut her open?¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. After taking a second to understand, Vefir stepped over Treel¡¯s body. In the misting rains, it had quickly cooled and I couldn¡¯t tell what he was doing. As he began to channel some of his magic to try to understand the possibility of her being gravid, I looked at the bodies of the humans and terrorbird. I wasn¡¯t sure what to do with them, as I had no intention of eating human or letting my pack either. Long term, we couldn¡¯t be seen as creatures that considered people food, or else we would be hunted even more vigorously than if we were merely a large swarm of keelish. Beyond that, the idea of eating human flesh was more than a little distasteful to me. However, I didn¡¯t want the humans hunting us to think that we were intelligent, so I couldn¡¯t leave the bodies here, or else that would stir confusion as to why we hadn¡¯t eaten them. Leaving the bodies here would give the surviving humans information that I wanted to keep hidden from them for now, so we could¡­ I was roused from my thoughts by Vefir suddenly crying out in surprise. I whirled to look at him, and he looked up at me. ¡°There¡¯s something alive inside her. Still living, but not strong.¡± ¡°Show me where.¡± I turned to Treel¡¯s body, and though the thought that had crossed my mind before I¡¯d first asked Vefir to look, I did not relish what I was about to do. Vefir pointed, and I took one finger from my left hand, held it strong, and began to cut into the flesh of Treel¡¯s body right where her legs joined with her hips. What I was doing was quite similar to something that I had done as a Wavespeaker in assisting with complicated and dangerous deliveries as a human, cutting into the mother to help free the baby before she and it both died. With my Wavespeaking, I could then help the mother¡¯s body heal and allow her and the infant to pass through the most dangerous parts of birth. I couldn¡¯t say why, but doing it to a dead body of a friend felt so much worse than doing it with a knife to a woman in the throes of agonizing childbirth. Regardless, I was able to find where the eggs had been growing, and before long I drew six slightly squished, mostly developed eggs from inside of Treel¡¯s body. Foire stepped forward to look at the eggs, before whirling to Vefir with a curious, begging look. Vefir¡¯s response was honest, ¡°I don¡¯t know if any of them will be viable. I¡¯ve never seen an egg other than the ones that the little ones just hatched from, and they were nearly ready to hatch when we first saw them, much less not having been laid yet.¡± Foire¡¯s face began to fall as Vefir continued, his voice weak and his demeanor defeated, ¡°I can try. I will try to get them to grow.¡± I laid a hand on Foire¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I will too. Maybe I can help as well.¡± As Foire nodded his thanks to Vefir and myself, I continued to ask Foire, ¡°Do you want us to leave her here? Or take her to where we¡¯re going to leave the other bodies?¡± Foire thought for a moment, then spoke softly, his voice hoarse and thready. ¡°Leave her with those who killed her.¡± His voice caught on ¡°killed her¡±. ¡°Tempered in the sacrifice of her life¡­ I¡­ will be.¡± His voice trailed off as he spoke, and I stepped into the pained silence with a command. ¡°Vefir and Foire, you take the eggs back home. We¡¯ll take the bodies to the wolfstag den and drop them there. Maybe that will distract the humans for a while.¡± Little break Hey, I won''t be posting any chapters for the rest of the week--I''m currently on vacation with family, and I''d thought I would be able to do a fair amount of writing in the time that I have, but I... just don''t have time. I will catch up on chapters, with a bonus chapter here or there, until I am back at ending each week on a 5 or 0. Maybe Sunday will be the next chapter? But no promises. Sorry! The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Now, I need to add additional characters to be able to publish this, so here''s some nonsense. Flshlugeldorf. Chapter 133 As we forced ourselves to carry instead of drag the bodies to the abandoned wolfstag den, I found myself almost regretting the decision. We were miles from our destination, and though I was strong enough to carry a body over each shoulder for a time, I couldn¡¯t carry them for an extended period of time. Beyond that, Took carried Treel¡¯s body and one of the smaller humans, while Shemira somewhat easily carried the largest human, and Sybil struggled with the final corpse. Though she fought to hide it, every time we stopped to rest for a time, Sybil was the first to drop her load, stretch her back, and gather herself. When she noticed me watching her, she also couldn¡¯t hide the twitch of her tail before approaching me. ¡°Alpha, I am not well suited for this type of work.¡± Her tone was brisk and clipped, and I could see that the admission cost her something. ¡°No, you¡¯re not. You have never been one of our hunters. We spoke about this when we were beginning the hunt, but it turns out that your presence was of particular value today. Thank you, Sybil.¡± Though exhausted and still pained from the arrow shot she¡¯d taken, I could see the faintest hint of pleasure at my praise and thanks in the crack that showed at the corner of her mouth. She settled into a relaxed crouch, taking deep breaths as she continued to recover from the latest leg of our journey. ¡°What did you learn from that thing?¡± She gestured with her head at the body of Farrah. I sighed and tried to collect myself before speaking. Shemira stood nearby, trying to innocuously listen in, and though Took lacked any subtlety, she too was listening to what I had to say to Sybil. ¡°No need to act like you¡¯re not listening. I¡¯ll tell all of my elites before long.¡± At my invitation, Shemira and Took stepped into a circle, close enough to easily listen to my every word. ¡°They¡¯re called humans. They work together, like us, but they¡¯re different. They don¡¯t focus on fighting directly, but on magic. Their magic is much stronger than our own, and is what we need to be wary of.¡± Shemira interrupted before I moved on, ¡°They didn¡¯t seem that powerful. Solia, you, and even Percral can show more than they did.¡± I felt my jaw tighten at the question, but answered without any particular inflection, ¡°The two in the back, where you, Sybil, and Foire went first, were the weakest. Maybe Windspeakers, making their arrows fly faster and further. The two in the front were Earthspeakers, but not particularly strong. Some of them can cover their whole bodies with armor thicker than the two we saw here, and still move. The one in the back, the one I killed, was the strongest of those here. We were lucky she didn¡¯t know what she was doing.¡± All three heads cocked at what I said, and though I fought to hide it, I couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°Sybil, what¡¯s your question?¡± ¡°Is an arrow the thing that hit Treel and myself?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°So why are the ones that killed Treel and hurt me the weakest of those we saw?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± I felt my tail begin to twitch as I realized how far I needed to explain all this. ¡°Arrows are dangerous, and with a Windspeaker¡¯s help, they definitely cross into deadly. A True Windspeaker, though, could make their arrows shock us like the wolfstags could, but from afar. And a True Speaker hasn¡¯t reached the end of their path. Those two were only barely able to use their magic to hurt us.¡± Sybil nodded in understanding as I explained, and, predicting where her and the others¡¯ questions would go, I continued, ¡°The one in the back was a True Soulspeaker. That terrorbird was her bound companion. ¡°A bound companion would mean that she could see through its eyes, command it from afar, and control it, to some level. Beyond that, she was nearly a True Flamespeaker, so if she¡¯d been a bit faster and more proficient, she could have Called flames like Solia and killed most of us. The rain slows them down, different from with Solia, though, so we were lucky for that.¡± Shemira looked at me, and I could read in her body language a form of dread or fear. ¡°Could they¡­ do that to one of us?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Though only a single word, the sound seemed to echo through the heads of my three companions. Shemira was the first to speak, ¡°We can¡¯t let them live. Did you learn where they live? We¡¯ll kill every one of them to keep ourselves free.¡± The emotion was immediately echoed by the other two, but I dampened their murderous impulse. ¡°Do you know how many are in our pack?¡± Shemira and Took both looked to Sybil, whose answer was immediate. ¡°After Treel¡¯s death, one hundred and thirty seven.¡± ¡°And the humans have ¡®cities¡¯, a word that means, the human said, a place where hundreds of hundreds, hundreds of thousands of humans live. As we are, we would be swept away.¡± Took struggled to understand how many that could possibly be, but Shemira and Sybil immediately looked at each other before Sybil spoke, ¡°And if there are that many of them, if they think that we are a threat, then they will be able to overwhelm us all, and that quite easily.¡± Sybil looked up at me. ¡°Our only chance is to escape.¡± ¡°And that is what we¡¯ll do, once we exterminate this group hunting us and I take control of the swarm.¡± The three khatif near me, three of the most elite of my elite, nodded solemnly at my declaration, and I felt a surge of excitement, at the upcoming battle, at the fight I would have with Redael, and the supremacy I would finally have acquired. Sybil spoke again, her interruption taking me by surprise as her mind moved beyond what I had explicitly stated. ¡°And that is why you do not want to eat them. If they think of us as a dangerous creature that is fleeing, they will give chase but will eventually give up. However, if they think of us as a potential predator, they will ensure that they wipe out every last one of our people. Thus, we leave the bodies outside of immediate detection, but near enough to show our ability to hold ourselves back. But if you are able to speak with them, why do we not attempt some sort of open communication?¡± I flicked my tail dismissively. ¡°I tried with that one. She said there¡¯s some standing command to destroy the keelish nearby. They won¡¯t listen.¡± Sybil¡¯s tail flicked. ¡°I apologize, I had wished to be of use in this way to you, but it would appear that that is not currently an option for me. Nonetheless, I would appreciate your assistance in learning to speak their language, as it may prove to be of use to us if I can speak their language as well as offer my assistance with my magic.¡± I nodded and, after gesturing for us to gather up the bodies we were carrying, began to teach all three some basic words in the human tongue. Chapter 134 The introduction of biologically altered creatures into the environments surrounding and within the borders of the Holy State of the Veratocracy was a prophetic move by the Gran Verat. With His ascension to the position of Gran Verat, there were many actions taken that could have, in the hands of a non-omniscient and clumsy mortal, left the ecosystems surrounding the fledgling country in shambles. Instead, due to His divine prescience and wisdom, he tasked some of the original High Veran, among the most powerful High Soulspeakers in recorded history, with creating creatures that would fill the gaps left by the necessary exterminations of the unworthy original creatures. These actions led to more biologically and magically diverse flora and fauna within all the borders of the Holy State of the Veratocracy. Were this all that He and His selected Soulspeakers had performed, it would be a testament to his power and divinity. However, in His infinite wisdom, they did even more, what the reader will know as the Nascence. -Excerpt taken from the High Academy¡¯s reference book, ¡°Wildlife: Which to Respect, and Which to Terminate¡± Unsurprisingly, Sybil was the quickest to pick up on the human language. When she¡¯d asked me the name of the language, I realized that I had never thought of it as anything other than ¡°language¡± as a human. I¡¯d never spoken with anyone who didn¡¯t speak the same language, and I¡¯d never been told any name for the language we¡¯d spoken. In response to the question, I¡¯d simply replied ¡°human language¡±, and I was entirely unsure as to what I would do if I needed to talk with anything that didn¡¯t speak keelish or human language. I shook the thought from my head as entirely unnecessary, since long before that would happen, I needed to keep my swarm safe, take full control of the swarm itself, and kill the humans who had decided to attempt to snuff us out. Beyond the partially breathless language lessons, the journey to leave Treel¡¯s and the humans¡¯ bodies in the wolfstags¡¯ abandoned den wasn¡¯t noteworthy at all. Once we¡¯d dropped them there, I commanded Shemira and Sybil to return to the den, while Took and myself went to retrieve the terrorbird¡¯s corpse to bring it back to the den. I feared coming back to a large group of humans at the location where the fight had taken place, but more than that, we needed food. While my pack wasn¡¯t in dire straits with regards to keeping ourselves fed, we needed every scrap of meat we could get, and while I didn¡¯t want us to be human-eaters or cannibals, it was worth the risk for our two strongest members of the pack to retrieve what I estimated to be over 600 pounds of meat. As I forced myself not to sprint through the jungle, I couldn¡¯t help but worry about an ambush behind every tree and a human preparing their strongest calling at every step. If I was entirely honest with myself, I could realize that I didn¡¯t dread that anywhere near as much as I perhaps should have. Instead, I relished the idea of proving my strength against those who thought themselves capable of hunting me. Thus, I kept my eyes peeled in every direction and prepared for battle. I was disappointed. There were no stealthy humans, predatory creatures, or otherwise exciting events waiting for Took and I to return with the terrorbird corpse. Instead, I quickly cut the body¡¯s legs and neck off, and before I could pick up the heavier torso, Took lifted it up, settled it across her shoulders, and without another word began walking towards our den. I stifled a chuckle at her somewhat childish actions and grabbed the legs and head of our prey. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Took walked carefully, and though she surely was exhausted from having carried the most weight of any of us, given that Treel had weighed at least 300 pounds, she didn¡¯t complain or groan as she carted the body. We walked in companionable silence for a time, and as we began to draw close to our den, she seemed to resolve herself to say something. ¡°Alpha. I¡¯m not your Beta.¡± I didn¡¯t hesitate to respond, ¡°And who thinks they can command something opposite to what I have declared? I¡¯ll prove to them that you are.¡± Took shook her head and clacked her teeth together, the movement almost knocking the body from her shoulders. She took a moment to regather herself and to steady the huge weight settled on her shoulders, then restated, ¡°I am not your Beta. Sybil is.¡± ¡°You both are. I already told you and the rest of the pack this when I became a pack Alpha, much less over the pack I have now. Every member of the pack knows you¡¯re my Beta in the hunt.¡± Took, having learned her lesson about shaking her head, simply clacked her teeth together in denial, and I tamped down the unreasonable anger that swelled in response. ¡°If any of the pack has a question, they ask Sybil. If anyone wants to tell you something, they tell Sybil. If there are any instructions you don¡¯t give to the pack yourself, you give them to Sybil. I don¡¯t do anything but be strong on the hunt.¡± She let her words hang in the air for a moment, the most words I¡¯d ever heard Took speak in a row, before finishing, ¡°I¡¯m not a Beta.¡± Her tone wasn¡¯t accusatory, angry, or mean. Just disappointed in her own lot, I supposed, and I didn¡¯t have anything to say back to her. She was completely correct, I didn¡¯t treat her as a Beta at all. She was a trustworthy subordinate, and I trusted her, but our relationship was far from that of an Alpha and his second in command. In every way that mattered, Sybil was my sole Beta, and, frankly, that wasn¡¯t going to change. I could and would continue to appreciate Took for who and what she was, but she wasn¡¯t my Beta. ¡°You¡¯re right, Took. You haven¡¯t been my Beta for a while.¡± I could see Took sag slightly under my admission, but I continued speaking, ¡°I just need to establish what your position truly is. Not Beta, but something different. You aren¡¯t just a member of the pack, and I won¡¯t let you consider yourself as such.¡± Took began standing taller once again as I spoke, and flared her frills in agreement as we began to maneuver the large and cumbersome body down into the den. Once within the bounds of the den, we could basically roll the torso through the tunnels until we arrived at the den where happily barking wolfstag pups began to beg for a meal as soon as they smelled the food. Arwa snapped at them, and they retreated back only a couple of steps, where they waited with whines and piteous cries, but they listened to their mother. Before long, I offered one of the legs as well as the neck and head to them, and they set to the food with the enthusiasm that only children can. After I ate my fill and the rest of the pack patiently waited for me to finish, the terrorbird¡¯s corpse was reduced to cracked bones and spare feathers in the space of just a couple of minutes. I¡¯d watched with fascination for a moment, but before long I decided instead to find Foire and Vefir, before beginning my takeover of the swarm in earnest. Chapter 135 Foire and Vefir had taken the eggs to a corner near my personal quarters and hollowed out a little space to lightly bury them, and as I looked at them, Vefir sent a brief burst of his magic into the sunken eggs. I couldn¡¯t tell what exactly that would do for the small fetuses, but I could be sure that it wouldn¡¯t harm their growth. With my steps sounding my approach, Vefir looked up at me. Foire, though, remained unresponsive and simply stared with dead eyes at where the eggs were buried. ¡°Do you think any of them will hatch?¡± Vefir¡¯s tail flicked in uncertainty at my questions. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t really say. They¡¯re¡­ eggs. I know they¡¯re not as healthy as they would be if she¡¯d been able to carry them until when she should have laid them, but if they¡¯re still viable? I think some of them are? It¡¯s too early to tell, at least for me. If I had more experience, then¡­ but, I don¡¯t. Sorry.¡± Then, with a bow of his head, Vefir excused himself and walked out of the little hatchery he and Foire had dug out. Even as Vefir left, Foire didn¡¯t seem to respond or care, instead simply standing, looking down at his and Treel¡¯s eggs. I watched Foire for a moment, and wondered if I¡¯d ever felt his level of¡­ attachment. I couldn¡¯t think of any time that I¡¯d been totally destroyed by loss. When Oncli had died, I¡¯d mourned his loss, and felt pain from his death, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to compare it to the soul-deep regret and agony that Foire seemed to be suffering from. Without any words that I could think of, instead I stepped close enough for my side to touch him, and as I towered over him, Foire slowly leaned over until much of his weight was settled into me. I stood, stoic, as his body began to shake with silent sobs. It wasn¡¯t too long before Foire gathered himself and stood tall. There were no tears that streaked his face, as a human¡¯s grief would have, but instead his frills laid flat against his head, making him look even smaller than usual. ¡°I go to hunt.¡± His voice was flat and emotionless, and I simply watched him walk away. Before long, Foire was gone, out of the den, several of his trained scouts with him. I didn¡¯t give him any warnings or chastisements, only watching him leave to do his own hunt. For my part, I turned and went to find Sybil. Since she and Shemira had returned to the den earlier than Took and I had, I wasn¡¯t sure what exactly they were doing as I began to search for them. It didn¡¯t take long to find them locked in some conversation. ¡°No, you¡¯re still too cautious, Sybil. Ashlani isn¡¯t willing to wait any longer, you can see it in how he walks and talks. We just need to start taking over the weakest packs and let him blow off some energy that way.¡± ¡°Even if the Alpha does not wish to wait any longer to begin assimilating other packs in earnest, it is in his and our best interests to ensure that any of the packs that we bring under his command will be submissive to his commands, as well as powerful in their own rights. Finding those who fall under those qualifications is difficult, and the Alpha understands that prudence will lead to greater success in the longer term.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. I interrupted the two, and while Sybil was composed enough not to startle, Shemira nearly jumped out of her scales as I spoke, ¡°Sybil, give me your best prospects. I¡¯m going there now. Just the one pack for now.¡± Sybil immediately dropped her head into a bow. ¡°As you wish, Alpha. We will depart momentarily. Please wait as Took and I prepare ourselves.¡± ¡°Why would I need you and Took to accompany me?¡± ¡°I will guide you to where the den of those we will conquer is, while Took will provide additional support by her mere presence. If such a large and powerful individual is willing to follow you, it will serve as an additional impetus to submit to your power. Took¡¯s presence, your power, and my magic combined will allow you to most smoothly overcome any resistance to your conquest.¡± I suppressed a sigh and my twitching tail at Sybil¡¯s quick and sound logic, and instead flared my frills in acknowledgement. Looking out across the den, Took wasn¡¯t in here, so I tasked myself with finding her, and quickly enough, did. She was sparring with Brutus and Solia. Though Solia had now focused almost entirely on honing her magical control and ability, she still had evolved to become khatif, and thus was stronger than the vast majority of those in the swarm, much less those in the pack. Brutus still didn¡¯t seem to have evolved to become a khatif, though he still was nearly as large and powerfully built as Took. He stood just a couple of scales short of six feet tall, himself, and that without the increased height of standing more upright as a khatif. Took was handily holding her own, and I continued to watch as the three fought for superiority. Without Solia¡¯s magic, she was much less practiced in direct combat, and her lack of practice was showing, especially in how little she communicated and worked directly with Brutus. For his part, Brutus was just as slow-witted as always, and I suspected that his lack of intelligence was one of the primary factors inhibiting him from evolution, for now at least. Whatever the reasons, though Solia and Brutus definitely should have acquired the upper hand by now, Took masterfully pitted her strengths against the pair¡¯s weaknesses. My Beta, or not, depending on if I was going to change that, continued dodging without delay or hesitation, and whenever one of her two foes began to move to try to surround her, she was able to press the attack on one of the attackers and gain clearance. Then, she would try to press the attack, but with her two opponents, Took couldn¡¯t deal any decisive but nonlethal blows. I could see her frustrations simmering under the surface, and it seemed that Took had come to this moment with the hope that she could work out the energy and feelings that were fighting to cloud her mind. ¡°Took.¡± At my voice, only barely reinforced by my sonilphon, all three immediately stepped back and assumed a resting but ready crouch. ¡°Come with me. Who knows, you might have the opportunity to crack some heads if you do.¡± Even before the suggested incentive of violence, Took had been ready to follow command, but with my second sentence, she was trotting towards me without a word or question. Luckily for Took, it wasn¡¯t long before we got to the den where Sybil thought we had the best opportunities, and, Took had plenty of opportunities to crack heads there. Chapter 136 The pack whose den we walked into was already at each other¡¯s throats before we got there. A male and female were wrestling in the dirt, snarls and screeches echoing off the enclosed walls, and the rest of the pack simply watched as both sought to gain advantage over their foe. There was a certain level of control in the fight, and I could tell that there were no lives in danger, but blood was flowing freely from both of the two fighters. We watched for only a moment before I looked at Took, who stepped in and grabbed the closest keelish, the male as it happened to be, and bodily threw him back and against a wall. Dirt began to trickle down from the ceiling as the female, seemingly uncaring as to the sudden attack her foe had sustained, leapt to continue her own attack. Took did not step aside as the other female lunged to press her advantage on the male who was still stunned from crashing into the hard wall. Instead, Took reared back with her head and smashed her head into the other female¡¯s nose. The previously energetic female immediately dropped to the ground, insensate, and the fight was, at least for now, done. I could see a little enjoyment appear on Took¡¯s face as she looked down at the two groaning keelish before she stepped back to flank me. Though I hid it as well as I could, I also enjoyed seeing Took show how much better a khatif was than a keelish. Especially one that hadn¡¯t yet decided to follow a khatif. Sybil had explained that this pack¡¯s Alpha had died on a hunt not too long ago, and the pack was now beginning to splinter under their current lack of leadership. Last she had heard, there were three possible new Alphas, but looking at it now, there were only two that were still in the fight for supremacy while the rest of the pack watched them fight. The two stunned keelish began to gather themselves, and the surrounding members of their pack continued to watch them with an obvious curiosity. Before the two squabbling fools could continue their now meaningless fight, I began to speak, my voice laced with power from [Debilitating Diatribe]. ¡°You need an Alpha to lead you. Here I am. Follow me.¡± I didn¡¯t speak any further, and between [True Dominance], [Debilitating Diatribe], [Imperial Bearing], and [Innate Leadership], I was sure all of the keelish spread out before me would immediately succumb to my words. I wasn¡¯t far off, and some of the previously standoffish creatures began to approach me at my words. Everything about the keelish before me communicated willingness to follow, but it was interrupted by the male who¡¯d been tossed aside by Took. ¡°You.. aren¡¯t our¡­ Alpha.¡± His words came in choppy sections, wheezing through his teeth as he tried to recover from the sudden attack he¡¯d sustained at Took¡¯s hands. Took herself turned to the male and leveled a threatening gaze at him, but I didn¡¯t stop myself there. The absolute insolence and disrespect of this mere keelish to challenge my power? I began to stalk towards him, and the yet unnamed male could read my violent intent in my stride. He clambered to his feet and assumed a combat ready pose, but he was far from ready for a fight with me. I feinted a strike at his head and he dodged low, but he couldn¡¯t have been prepared for my knee strike that took him in the side of the jaw. A keelish¡¯s upper body was almost entirely horizontal, so unless an opponent or prey was below you, your legs were only useful for keeping yourself up. A khatif, though, with our more upright torsos and adjusted forward balanced hips, could use them as weapons. My knee smashed into his jaw, and the crunch of bone on bone, as well as the hard clacking of fangs cracking on each other echoed in the den. He immediately crumpled to the ground, and I suspected that between the strength of my leg and the force of his dodge, I may well have broken his jaw. A part of me hoped I did. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Anyone else think that I¡¯m not your Alpha?¡± The silence followed by feet shuffling towards me was more than answer enough. ¡°Took, make sure he¡¯s not dead, and drag him along.¡± She nodded her head before leaning down and shaking the keelish laid wholly unconscious on the ground. Though he didn¡¯t say anything, he did groan in pain, and Took unceremoniously hauled him up and wrapped her arm around his body, just under the arms. Then, she nodded, looked at me, and began to follow me out of the den, with Sybil and the rest of the newest members of my pack following close behind. As we all walked out, I counted the number of the keelish who I¡¯d forced to follow me. Sixteen. With them, my total number of followers would become 153 after they finally accepted me as their Alpha. I couldn¡¯t say how long it would take to do so, but it wouldn¡¯t be too¨C I was shaken from my thoughts on completing my [Quest] by a sudden, swelling feeling of growth. Flashing in the corner of my eye, I noted the [System] notification. [Quest completed. Growth achieved. Quest board updated. Status updated.] [QUEST COMPLETE: Gain control of 15% of the entire swarm. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5. New Quest received.] I¡¯d never completed a [Quest] while simply walking around, or experienced this kind of growth while not exhausted, in the middle of combat, or while asleep. I hadn¡¯t expected the sudden jolt to my step as my stats spiked in number, and I¡¯d nearly lost my balance as my body changed without my assent or conscious thought. Quickly, I looked at what had changed. [-Attain victory in combat against a foe numbering more than 50 adult combatants. Reward: Constitution, Strength +6 Agility +4 Intelligence, Magic +5. ¡­ Stats: -Constitution: 73+5=78 -Strength: 84+5=89 -Agility: 88+5=93 -Intelligence: 73+5=78 -Magic: 74+5=79] With the bonuses from this latest [Quest], my stats were growing ever closer to 100 each, and I felt like there must be something that the [System] would grant once I passed that baseline. I couldn¡¯t say what it would be, maybe a [Skill] similar to [Exceptional Individual], but I couldn¡¯t say. Either way, I didn¡¯t care what exactly it would be, since even if I didn¡¯t get any additional benefit from hitting that arbitrary landmark, I was excited to continue growing as I had been. I was surprised, however, that enough of the pack had accepted me so quickly. With a glance backward, I saw blatant idol worship in the eyes of most of them, and while some didn¡¯t look at me quite so adoringly, they still bowed their heads in respect once they noticed my attention. A warm glow of contentment grew inside of me at the thought, and it was solidified by a gentle, calm, warm feeling of approval from Nievtala. Apparently, she was much more careful this time, since I didn¡¯t feel any of the existential dread or knee-wobbling terror this time, only acceptance of my path, and a desire for me to continue successfully. Though keelish and khatif didn¡¯t shed tears from emotion, I could feel a swelling in my chest that nearly had me short of breath, and was as near to the feeling that preceded the shedding of tears. Nearly immediately, the feeling faded, leaving only the sense of endorsement, or perhaps blessing, from the goddess that had decided to sponsor me. Though I didn¡¯t really worship Nievtala, it felt good to have a divine being on my side, especially since the Administrator and Nievtala both seemed to think that there was another, different one whose plans would end in my own demise. At the thought of a nearly omnipotent being plotting my death, I steeled myself and quashed the feeling of comfort and pleasure, focusing instead on continuing to strengthen myself and my pack. After all, I wouldn¡¯t depend on a god for my safety, when I could continue to grow and evolve to provide safety to myself. Chapter 137 It was fortunate that there was a Windspeaker prudent enough to send a message to us after they initially found keelishsign. Though they were sure of their own competence and mentioned that they had a True Earthspeaker in the village, I long had prepared a squad to march at the earliest needful moment. My only regret with regards to how I acted is that I did not ignore the messenger¡¯s insistence of the little village¡¯s own strength. I should have sent my squad at the first mention of keelishsign, and even more so should I have sent Lierthan and his cohort once I heard word of magical keelish being spotted. Regardless of my regrets or lack thereof, I have no excuse, and if it is required for me to step down from my position, I shall do so without complaint the same day that I receive my dismissal. -Report from High Colonel Mualtir di¡¯Thnufir to the Synod after the return of Lierthan¡¯s cohort. The next few days passed without incident. The hatchlings were beginning to perform their own hunts, though theirs were much different from my own. At least a few of my pack made sure to be near the hatchlings whenever they left the den, and they gave pointers and advice to ensure that the youngest members of the swarm were learning how to hunt, sneak, and generally be more effective than they would have been initially. Additionally, though the pygmy deer weighed more than a Toothy Bullfrog did, they were more cowardly and flighty by nature, so while the hatchlings suffered from fewer successful hunts than we had, so too did they suffer fewer injuries. I didn¡¯t personally accompany any of the hatchling hunts, but I did make sure to return to their den at the end of every day (or beginning, I supposed would be more correct). Then, since the little children had been taught that I was in charge from the very beginning of their lives, I could give specific and influential advice to every one of them. The greatest standout among their number was, surprisingly, a male that had no magical inclination at all, even though a couple others had the possibility of stepping in that direction eventually. Joral, as was the name he¡¯d come up with, was a naturally born Alpha, for lack of a better way of saying it. He¡¯d been the first of the hatchlings to establish a pack when Sybil had given the command to do so, and shortly thereafter, he had become the de facto Brood Alpha. I wasn¡¯t sure what it was about him that had so quickly drawn in the other four Alphas in the brood, but they had swiftly designated him their superior and there were no arguments or struggles for power after the five Alphas were selected by Sybil and the others, or after Joral had become the Brood Alpha. There were no hatchlings as freakishly predisposed towards magic as Sybil had been, and I fought to keep myself from being frustrated by that. Since we were basically raising the brood to be my loyal troops, I¡¯d hoped for a contingent of magical followers to blast away any problems that dared to raise their heads, but it wasn¡¯t to be. Frankly speaking, this brood was naturally less impressive than my own had been. I had always known that my own brood was exceptional, but I¡¯d thought it had simply been by a small amount, at least compared to what other broods would be within this exceptional swarm. Instead, what I learned was that we were so much more impressive, even than these spawned by the powerful members of this swarm, that I couldn¡¯t begin to compare our starting line with theirs. On the bright side, the hatchlings were progressing slowly enough that they were now able to begin to integrate risk-free hunts with the wolfstag pups that were quickly entering adolescence. Watching the cute and clumsy wolfstags trying to hunt alongside the struggling keelish was initially funny, and I¡¯d made sure to be present for their initial efforts. Arwa had accompanied her babies and the rest of the brood as they had hunted, and she worked to help her little ones learn how to hunt as best as she could, but they simply were too uncoordinated. Even so, they made progress towards successful hunting, and their efforts to work with the hatchling keelish were enjoyable to watch. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Marata POV It had been days since the disappearance of Farrah¡¯s squad. Marata knew that they had all been killed, but she and all her scouts had yet to find any evidence of where their friends and family had been murdered. Among all her other worries, Marata wondered how Farrah had been bested by mere keelish, especially with Gryl. Her terrorbird was one of the most impressive Soul Companions she¡¯d ever seen on a child like her. Powerful, obedient, and well-kept, Gryl had been an ideal Soulspeaker¡¯s companion, especially since she¡¯d become Farrah¡¯s companion before the popularization of that barbaric ¡°Soulbinding'''' became the norm out here in the wilderness. Things like the change from Soul Companions to Soulbinding were what had driven Marata to leave Viertaal in the first place. The capital had always been changing, but Marata was sure that its people had continued to stray ever further from what the Gran Verat expected them to be. Her time as a constable had cemented her decaying faith in her hometown¡¯s populace, and at last, she¡¯d decided to leave her home. Marata looked over to Korali, who was preparing their evening meal. He¡¯d never been on a campaign like this, but he was a practiced hunter, and as he felt her gaze, without looking up, crooked a smile and sent a whisper of a Windcall to tickle her nose. He often downplayed his own Speaking abilities compared to hers, but that he could exhibit such delicate control over so little, and that without having to Speak out loud, was more than proof of his strength. ¡°Carin,¡± Korali began to speak, but was interrupted by a voice from outside the tent. ¡°Master Marata! We think we¡¯ve found the keelish¡¯s den!¡± Marata and her husband both shot to their feet as the scout, Salman, rushed into the tent without knocking on the center spar. His beralt had been pulled back from his sweat-stained face, and his eyes flicked wildly around the tent until his eyes shot past Korali and onto her. Marata stood at attention, exuding all the confidence she felt, as she waited for Salman to calm himself enough to explain what he had come barging in for. It took longer than she would like, but he, like Korali, had no campaign experience of any kind, only having gone on small hunts with some of his friends before. Remembering that, Marata was impressed enough with Salman¡¯s ability to gather himself and salute her. ¡°Speak, Salman.¡± ¡°Yes! Um. We found, um, or I guess, Ahkte found a den. We aren¡¯t sure how many there are there, but, um, there seem to be a lot of tracks there? And they¡¯re big, I guess. So, he came back a bit and sent a windword ahead to tell us where we could run into him and then find the den, but he said that we need to be careful, because the keelish are dangerous, you know? I haven¡¯t ever hunted them before, so I¡¯m really not sure what I should¨C¡± ¡°Salman.¡± Marata had long learned how to make her voice crack like a whip, and she did so here. Salman went silent. ¡°Lead us. Quietly.¡± Salman nodded, and turned to exit, but was stopped by Marata¡¯s voice again. ¡°Your mask and hood, Salman.¡± After an embarrassed sound, Salman had resettled the beralt around his face and then began once again to lead them out of the tent. The journey to the den was quick and easy, and that only because Ahkte had left obvious tracks in the earth for Marata to follow. Or, maybe they were just so simple for her to track because of her attainment in Earthspeaking. She tried to convince herself of as much as she led Salman and Korali to follow Ahkte, and after catching up to him, then the keelish¡¯s tracks. Even though Ahkte tried to lead her to the den, once she got close to him, she¡¯d seen the keelish¡¯s tracks, though they¡¯d tried to hide them. Once she got to the den, though, Marata realized something that she was embarrassed to have taken so long to understand. This was the den that Varali had guided them to initially, the one where the wolfstags had been slaughtered. Even so, there was value to be found in the area, and Marata began to prepare to scout out the surroundings. Chapter 138 Marata POV Marata wasn¡¯t sure if she was so methodical as a result of her years spent Earthspeaking, or if she had become so proficient with Earthspeaking as a result of her methodical and cautious nature. Whichever of the two it was, though, Marata observed and investigated every last bit of the surroundings of the den. Since coming to this far-flung corner of the Holy State over twenty years ago, she¡¯d enjoyed the frequent rains and resilient nature of the flora and fauna of the Martanimi. That there could be constant rain and flooding bogs and marshes, as well as dangerous creatures living most everywhere was something that she had long since acclimated to. Beyond that, she had come to enjoy it. Unfortunately for her investigations, though, the magically hardy and quickly renewing nature of the jungle did not lead to permanence. She could tell that there had been some sort of combat around here, but only barely. There was a severed root here, a nearly buried charred branch there, and some partially buried and shattered bones scattered around. There wasn¡¯t enough for Marata to create a full and complete picture of how the keelish/wolfstag war had played out. Of course, the keelish had emerged victorious in the long term, but had there been massive casualties on both sides? How many wolfstags had there been initially? Where had their final stand taken place? For the first time, Marata wished for the cobbled roads and artificially controlled weather of the capital. Viertaal could be stifling to live in, but as a constable, her job had been made to be immeasurably easier by the infrastructure and bureaucracy that had long been implemented in the ruling of the country. Beyond that, the Called cobblestones were created to better retain information that could be accessible to her and the rest of the constabulary¡­ With a shake of her head, Marata refocused on the task at hand. There had obviously been combat here, but too much time had passed, and the jungle had reclaimed most of the clues to be found in the surroundings of the den. Korali had stayed close to her the entire time, and though she hadn¡¯t asked him anything, he understood as soon as she looked at him. He shook his head, confirming that he too hadn¡¯t seen anything of note. With a sign and a sigh, Marata began to lead the rest of her motley band of ¡°soldiers¡± to the den¡¯s entrance. Now that she had approached the entrance itself, Marata was shaken by just how huge the hole was. She¡¯d seen plenty of wolfstags in her nearly fifty years of life, and the most impressive of them were long-time Soul Companions of the men and women she¡¯d worked alongside in the constabulary. Those beasts had been massive, over four feet tall at the shoulder, and with their crowns of antlers, they¡¯d been nearly six feet tall. The entrance to the den before her was made for wolfstags over five feet tall at the shoulder, with the seven foot tall ceilings occasionally showing deep scores from the antlers of their passing occupants. Even with how surprised she was, though, Marata made sure to carry herself with confidence. No need to scare the two children accompanying her and her husband by showing her fear. Everyone in their little village looked up to her as a True Speaker alumnus of the Red Abbey, though she knew how little that truly meant in the face of the power that those High Speakers could demonstrate. She forced herself to enter the den, and was immediately struck by the smells. With a conscious stream of effort, she ignored them in favor of what she could see, something she¡¯d learned on particularly gristly scenes. In the back of her mind, she heard quiet retching from Salman and Ahkte, but she continued to ignore it. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Forcing herself to be analytical, she could see numerous keelish footprints, unblemished by the rains outside. Large, larger than any she¡¯d seen before. The prints were pristine, almost seeming to be fresh. A usual keelish¡¯s foot was about as large as an adult human¡¯s hand, though that had been proven wrong by the other specimens that had been slain thus far. The usual keelish stood about two to three feet tall, with a mouth full of sharp teeth and small arms built for holding small things. They weighed about 40 pounds, and were dangerous in groups or to the unprepared. The keelish in this swarm, though¡­ The keelish they¡¯d killed thus far had been bigger than any Marata had seen herself, though she¡¯d heard about some specimens getting as large as the ones they were hunting. These beasts were four feet tall, and probably weighed upwards of 100 pounds apiece. The creatures weren¡¯t worth much, even though they were so large. Their scales weren¡¯t worth creating armor from, their fangs and claws weren¡¯t large or strong enough to be worth anything, except for maybe an inferior arrowtip, and anyone with access to an Earthspeaker could get them to Call iron out of the surrounding earth to create a much better blade with just as much effort. On top of that, the meat, while edible, was gamier than anything else she¡¯d ever tasted. So, to save on firewood and keep the camp sanitary, Marata and all the other Earthspeakers around had buried the bodies deep enough that the smell wouldn¡¯t bother them. Those 100 pound keelish, their feet were about a foot long and maybe half that wide. The tracks she was seeing now, however, were nearly two feet long and at least a foot wide. The keelish leaving these prints couldn¡¯t be called keelish anymore. They were something far beyond that, something like a higher being¨CMarata cut off her thoughts. She hadn¡¯t seen any keelish walking with these kinds of feet. She couldn¡¯t begin to expect that there were actually creatures this big, something like this so close to her home, and she¡¯d never seen even the smallest hint of their presence. Cutting off her attempt to convince herself, though, were Varali¡¯s words about what she had seen. She¡¯d sworn that the keelish she¡¯d seen were massive, over six feet tall. Marata had acted like she¡¯d believed her daughter, but in reality, she¡¯d doubted what Varali had said. Maybe, though, she hadn¡¯t been mistaken. Marata continued walking down the path into the den, and though the light was weak, she could muster enough of a Flamecalling to light the way forward. It only took her a couple of steps into the darkness to see something that initially confused, but then frightened her completely. Farrah¡¯s body lay dumped unceremoniously next to her companions¡¯. In the midst of them was a terribly huge keelish. Its shoulders were broad with muscle, and from the tip of its tail to snout, it must have been at least nine feet long. The second she saw it, Marata began an Earthcalling to protect herself, but she quickly realized the keelish body here was dead. It was¡­ horrifying. As she looked back, Marata could see Korali¡¯s shocked, pale face. He¡¯d seen it as well, and he looked at her, only barely keeping down the panic that glimmered in his emerald eyes. She fought to control herself as she gave the command, ¡°We need to take this thing back to camp. You three, keep an eye out on the jungle, I¡¯ll carry this.¡± Then, with the three hunters keeping an eye out, Marata began to Call on the strength of the earth to carry the huge, intimidating monster. Chapter 139 As more days passed, the wolfstag pups and hatchlings grew more competent and comfortable with each other. Initially, both sides had snapped at each other, but now, as the keelish continued to mature much more quickly than the pups, Joral and his appointed assistants began to teach them how to communicate with their scaled companions. The keelish quickly grew, and now had passed at least their third or fourth growth spurt. They had nearly reached the halfway point to ¡°adulthood¡±, though I was now seeing that even after the arbitrary 60 days had passed, we continued to grow. I couldn¡¯t know how long we would continue to do so, but I didn¡¯t mind it, as every additional pound was something that was to our benefit. I didn¡¯t allow myself to spend too long watching the hatchlings and pups practice and grow, though. Instead, I spent time with Treel¡¯s eggs while practicing with my sonilphon, visiting every member of my pack, or packs as they were becoming, and the occasional practice with Wisterl. My practice with my magic had shown results, though only through unfortunate circumstances. Where there had initially been six eggs, only two remained. Though Vefir had come back multiple times a day and used his magic to try to bolster the fetuses¡¯ chances for survival, the life had slowly drained one by one from each until only two continued to show any sign of viability. Then, eight days after Treel¡¯s death, the two remaining eggs began to lose all signs of life. Desperate, Vefir and Foire had called me, and, in a stroke of inspiration or confusion, or something else entirely, I had begun to use [Innervating Address] to give the little ones a hope of survival. One had immediately responded, and shaken, before going quiet and cold. Vefir¡¯s ministrations were unable to revive it. Still, the other was dying, and I forced my tone to change from one encouraging action and strength to instead foster patience and life. As I changed the way my magic moved, suddenly it began to heavily draw on my reserves, and for the first time since my sonilphon had evolved to become a [Profound Sonilphon], I was nearly immediately sucked dry of all my magic. As I faltered and fell into a crouch, my vision began to swim with the unexpectedly accelerated drain on me. Even so, despite feeling, for the first time since my evolution, that I would vomit, I couldn¡¯t help but smile. I could feel a responsive thrum of life from the egg mostly buried before me, an almost joyous emotion, one that communicated a firm determination to survive. I couldn¡¯t understand why I could understand and perceive these sentiments, but I did know they came from the little one inside the egg. It was determined, though I was sure that there was no more complex emotion than that inside those fragile walls. I¡¯d been able to help it, somehow, and with whatever I¡¯d done, Vefir was able to stabilize and strengthen the little one enough that we were relatively certain that it would be able to hatch. The change, this new exhausting [Skill] finally appeared flashing on the corner of my eye. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. [New Skill acquired. Status updated.] [New Skill: Nurturing Enunciation; a skill granted to those whose mastery of sonic magic has grown beyond the obvious and immediate, now allowing the resonance of their magic to influence and assist even the most vulnerable and weak. Those whose development is assisted and guided by Nurturing Enunciation gain Stats, Skills, Titles, and other benefits more easily until they have reached adulthood. Note: this Skill can only be used on fetuses, infants, and juveniles. This Skill cannot evolve.] A new [Skill], and another one that was built for and geared towards the raising of the young. It was almost a companion to [Exceptional Individual], though I suspected that it would be far less impactful than [Exceptional Individual]. Even so, [Nurturing Enunciation] would more easily allow my followers to gain all sorts of [Skills], [Exceptional Individual] among them. In that respect, it would allow me to better continue guiding my followers, my people to victory. Of the sixteen [Skills] I had, fully half of them were directly related to my guiding and nurturing my followers. Realizing as much, I had promised to myself that the next [Skill] I developed in order to evolve beyond [Profound Sonilphon] would be one focused on myself and combat. In meeting with all of the packs that I had assimilated at this point, I had varying degrees of success in giving ¡°Evolutionary Guidance¡±. The newest that I had brought, coerced, or forced under my control were the least receptive, with the exception, of course, of the hatchlings, who looked at me as if I were a god. I enjoyed that. Fria had opened up to me since Criit¡¯s death, as all the keelish eventually did, but the newest three packs that I had conquered since were still partially resistant. Frankly, these new packs were unremarkable, at least by my pack¡¯s standards. If I had to guess, their strongest Alphas had Strength and Agility Stats of around 30, and no magical capabilities whatsoever. Even Etra and Cree could easily best them in individual combat. These new packs I started to refer to as the ¡°main body¡± of my subordinates, while every one of my original pack, and somewhat by extension the hatchlings, became my ¡°elites¡±. I didn¡¯t spend nearly as much time with and around the main body of my pack as I did with my elites. Above the elites and hatchlings was my ¡°inner circle¡±, of Sybil, Took, Foire, Vefir, Shemira, Etra, Cree, Solia, Ytte, and Percral. Most of my inner circle became as much by virtue of their magical capabilities, with only Took not having any. For quite a while, I¡¯d thought that, except for Took and Treel, it was nearly impossible for a nonmagical or particularly exceptional keelish to become a khatif, but Brutus, Silf, and some others had proven me wrong. They, like with the difference between Sybil and Shemira with the rest, felt to be a different ¡°type¡± of khatif, something I felt sure would become more obvious upon our eventual evolution to Keel. I enjoyed spending time around my subordinates, as I could feel the influence of their trust in me reflected within the amount of guidance I could feel from [Evolutionary Guide]. Still, I felt the need to continue moving, to stay active, to continue conquering, and that was how I¡¯d ended up with a current number of subordinates of 186/250. That my evolution to Swarm Alpha still said ¡°disputed¡± at the end rankled me, and I frequently found myself seeking out Wisterl for a fight. And fight with Wisterl I did. Chapter 140 I had thought ever since my evolution that while I had struggled against Wisterl before, I would now be able to dominate her were we to spar once again. In the past days, I had come to learn that I was completely mistaken when thinking that. It was obvious that I was bigger and stronger than Wisterl, and there was a good chance that I was faster than her too. Even so, without relying on my magic, I still was wholly unable to defeat her. The few sparring matches that we had had ended with me fuming and leaving after having been unable to truly close in on her and making any true progress towards beating her. In retrospect, after each of these fights, I could see the wisdom in Wisterl¡¯s actions. She knew that I was bigger and stronger than her, and so instead kept her distance, occasionally darting in to get a quick bite on me, or a slap of her tail against the outside of my knee. All her little strikes alone didn¡¯t mean much, but throughout each fight, her consistent strikes on me and intolerable patience wore me down until I grew too angry and left. I knew that I could use my magic in any number of ways and probably gain enough of an advantage against her to gain victory, but it felt like having to resort to my magic to attain victory over a mere keelish was dishonorable. Instead, I would learn her every step and make her submit. That sentiment was all well and good, but it meant nothing to me as I watched a flashing red spot on Wisterl¡¯s shoulder disappear as I lunged forward with my left arm. My strike whiffed through the air, and before I could pull my arm back, Wisterl turned and, with the full force of her entire body, smashed her tail into my exposed ribs. I tried to move with the blow, but even so, I felt the air gasp from my lungs with the solid hit. Unbidden and without thinking, a snarl bubbled from my lips before I began to more aggressively press the attack. I¡¯d begun to understand her patterns, and I could guess how she¡¯d dodge each strike, but even with my knowledge and the prompts from [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], I couldn¡¯t see how to capitalize on what I knew she was about to do. Finally, though, I forced Wisterl to continue retreating from my flurry of attacks, and she found herself mostly cornered by the edge of the space where we had been fighting. My blood continued to thunder in my ears and Wisterl cocked her head and smiled in her asinine way. I couldn¡¯t hold myself back any longer and I lunged forward. Wisterl seemed surprised at my outburst, given my usual attempts at being level headed in our spars, and I saw several large red spots flare into life as she adjusted herself to receive my charge. With a twist of her hips, my opponent prepared herself and then dropped to a low crouch so as to be something I would stumble over with my superior height. I couldn¡¯t stop my own grin as she did so, and lowered her face right into the path of my right knee. There was a crunch of bone and teeth that rang out in the den as Wisterl was flung back by the full force of my body¡¯s weight behind my knee. With a groan of pain, she slammed against the wall, and with all my weight in a sprint, I couldn¡¯t stop myself. To Wisterl¡¯s credit, though, even though she was obviously hurting and stunned by my attack, she gathered herself, and dropped low enough to escape being crushed by me as I crashed into the wall. Before I had any other conscious thought, I reached down to grab Wisterl by the throat. My left hand shot towards her, and just before I could fully grab her, she dodged to the side, rolled on the ground with surprising alacrity, and regained her feet. Looking at Wisterl¡¯s face, I finally stopped pressing the attack. I had definitely broken her jaw, and at least five of her fangs had been shattered and laid somewhere on the floor. From both her nose and mouth flowed steady streams of blood, and they mixed with saliva and snot that continued dripping freely from her face. Her breathing came raggedly, and I worried I¡¯d broken something in her throat or windpipe. I wanted to win, not to kill her. After all, I knew that she would follow me pretty easily, given what she wanted from an Alpha. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. As I slowed myself and began to ask Wisterl to accompany me towards Vefir, she regained a grin. The smile on her face grew ever wider, until the rictus decorating her face could only in the strictest of terms still be called a smile. ¡°Goo¡¯ hi¡¯ there, Ashlani. I¡¯ve never fough¡¯ someone who use¡¯ their knee like tha¡¯. You¡¯ll never ge¡¯ me again with i¡¯.¡± Her voice was nearly impossible to understand through her broken jaw and, now that I saw it, her shredded tongue. Were she a human, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to say a word, but since our language used more squeaks and squeals than others, I could begin to understand the gibberish she was saying. Even with the absolutely devastated state of her face, without speaking further, Wisterl began to close back in on me, eager to continue the fight. ¡°No, Wisterl. We¡¯re done. I¡¯ll have Vefir heal you, and then we can meet up another time.¡± As I began to walk away from her, I finally felt the consequence of smashing my knee that hard into something as sharp as a keelish¡¯s face. Of course, I was much better off than Wisterl, but I had sustained some very real damage as her fangs had shredded many of the scales that covered my knee. Underneath that, I had only sustained some bruising and very minor cuts that would soon heal, but the bruise had me covering a limp for now. As Wisterl began to try to protest, I raised a hand. ¡°If you must, consider it my loss, and the price of my loss is healing the injuries you sustained in teaching me a lesson. Either way, we¡¯re done.¡± I thought that the fiery-tempered female would argue or fight me on my declaration, but she simply cocked her head to the side and regarded me. Then, with deliberate and unaffected respect, she bowed to me. I could feel that before now, she had considered me a good, but younger sparring partner, but now¡­ she saw me as an equal and potential leader. Without another word, she followed me out of the sparring area and towards where we could find Vefir. His magical ministrations quickly reformed Wisterl¡¯s face, and though she obviously couldn¡¯t work her jaw without considerable discomfort, Wisterl didn¡¯t complain when Vefir was unable to heal her face entirely. In fact, her response had been, ¡°Well, it¡¯s the price you pay for learning. We all suffer that pain sometimes.¡± As she said the second part, she looked over at me, and then Vefir. Then, without another word or acknowledgement, Wisterl turned, walked from the den, and was gone. For my part, I retired to my personal quarters, a new, larger version of them found near the hatchlings¡¯ den. There, I slowly eased into the sands of my bath and groaned. These sands had been changed somewhat, Ytte had done something to make the loose, bathing sand much deeper, so I could submerge most of myself within the bath. There, with my magic, I could set the entire bath to vibrating, and the scrubbing mixed with a nearly weightless sensation were amazing. Though my eyes were closed, fully indulging in the bath, I could hear steps approaching. Just a single pair of feet, so it would be Sybil. I didn¡¯t open my eyes as I addressed her, ¡°Would you like to join me, Sybil?¡± She had done so several times since this new, deep bath was created, and that was how we¡¯d learned that another in the bath could feel the scrubbing of the sands from my [Skill]-less usage of my sonic magic. Strangely, Sybil didn¡¯t answer me as her steps finally stopped just behind me, and I began to doubt my surety that it was, in fact, Sybil behind me. In the same moment that that thought occurred to me, a strangely alluring smell washed over me. I opened my eyes just in time to see Sybil lean down and gently nibble at my throat before rubbing her cheek against mine. Chapter 141 Nothing coherent crossed my mind as I felt my body respond to Sybil¡¯s unexpected touch. I breathed deep, and the slightly familiar, attractive smell filled my head. My attempt to calm myself had served to cloud my thoughts further, and I exhaled before speaking. My voice had become throaty and husky without my conscious thought. ¡°Do you wish¡­ to join me?¡± The double entendre in my words was deliberate as Sybil remained with her head near my own. In response to my question, Sybil simply stepped around me and let her tail lightly brush my face before stepping into the loose sands of the bath. She maintained maddening eye contact with me as her body slowly sunk into the bath¡¯s sand. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from leaning forward in the bath until I was right next to Sybil, breathing in her increasingly intoxicating scent. The small part of me that wasn¡¯t indulging in and enjoying every moment realized I¡¯d smelled this a couple of times before, but most notably when I had stumbled into Rulac¡¯s rutting session. The smell of a keelish who was ready. ¡°Why?¡± I couldn¡¯t muster up any thought beyond that simple question, and again, Sybil didn¡¯t answer me. Instead, with a coy smile quirking at the corner of her mouth, she leaned in close to me. I stopped in place as Sybil again nipped at my neck before nuzzling into my chest. Then, finally, she raised her head and pressed her body close to me as she spoke, her voice an alluring purr. ¡°Will you keep me waiting?¡± I didn¡¯t want to, and with that direct invitation, I couldn¡¯t hold back any longer. With a growl of my own, I lifted her out of the bath. ¡ª Sex as a keelish was different, but, in the end, not that different. We both laid comfortably on my wolf pelts as we recovered, and Sybil, surprising me again, nestled and nuzzled more comfortably into my arms. As we laid there, getting more comfortable, Sybil nipped at my throat again, though this time without the underlying sense of need. The little bites were the same as the kisses shared between human lovers, though I felt they were somehow more of a communication of trust. With my mind finally unclouded by the unadulterated lust from before, I could communicate my feelings clearly. ¡°Sybil, why now? Why at all?¡± She didn¡¯t look up at me as she remained in the comfortable position she had assumed. ¡°Why not now? Did you not enjoy yourself?¡± I scoffed. ¡°Of course I did. And I¡¯d guess you did too, or you wouldn¡¯t still be here.¡± Sybil¡¯s light chuckle tickled my chest. ¡°That much is true. Do you need more of a reason than that?¡± ¡°I¡­ Well, no, I don¡¯t. I would like to know why you decided that now was a perfect time to seduce me, though.¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Sybil sighed, and pulled her head back to look into my face. ¡°You truly did not realize that I was attempting to beguile for all this time?¡± I propped my head up on my hand and regarded Sybil¡¯s slightly disappointed face. After a moment¡¯s consideration, I decided to tell the full truth. ¡°Until today, I never would have thought you¡¯d ever want to ¡®beguile¡¯ anyone.¡± Her face fell slightly at my words, and I stumbled to make my point clear, ¡°After bathing together these few times, and helping the other get clean while bathing, I just thought that maybe you didn¡¯t have any desire for sex.¡± ¡°So it was my responsibility to make advances on you? Would that not be improper, given that you are my Alpha?¡± ¡°Sybil. What do you mean by ¡®proper¡¯??¡± ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I do not know!¡± As she buried her face once more in my chest, I realized that, perhaps for the first time in her life, Sybil was unsure. And, disregarding keelish impropriety and lack of morals, it did make sense, from her point of view, that it would be difficult to approach me in that kind of way. I was her Alpha, and she my Beta, and as the one in the position of power, it would make better sense for me to approach her than the other way around. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Sybil. Truthfully, I thought that you just liked my company, and not that you wanted anything to do with mating.¡± ¡°But why not? It is enjoyable for both of us.¡± Her voice was slightly confused, and I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at the simplicity of her statement. So different from the complexity that humans surrounded sex with. ¡°True enough, I suppose. But again, why did you do this? I can¡¯t imagine that it was your idea¨C¡± As I asked, I realized I knew the answer. Even so, Sybil answered and confirmed my suspicions. ¡°Shemira told me how best to approach you so as to best appeal to your sexual desires.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but let myself laugh a little. ¡°I bet she¡¯s been bothering you to do this from the start.¡± Sybil sighed. ¡°Yes. She said that you males will jump on any female who did that.¡± I nodded in acknowledgement, then, with both of us comfortable in the other¡¯s arms, we drifted off to sleep. I woke to Sybil extricating herself from my arms, and I blearily opened my eyes to watch her stretch and then step into the bath. Unlike me, she didn¡¯t luxuriate in the act of bathing, but instead let herself sink to her knees before setting to scrubbing herself with a businesslike haste. I watched her, a sly smile unwittingly spreading across my face. Though I¡¯d thought myself unnoticed, Sybil quickly shattered that illusion. ¡°Do you want to help me scrub my back?¡± With a groaning approximation of a yawn, I roused myself, stood, and stepped into the bath. As I grabbed handfuls of sand, I appreciatively ran my hands over Sybil¡¯s back, shoulders, neck, and waist. Before I could pull her close to me once again, though, Sybil gently swatted away my hands. ¡°No, not right now. We both have things to do, and I do not wish to make myself smell like sex once again when I have made special care of cleaning myself of the scent.¡± Then, with a quick swat of her tail, Sybil got out of the sands and left. I¡¯d been about to do the same, when I realized what she had said. Thanking my own ability to realize what she had meant, I quickly submerged myself to my neck in the sands and set my entire body to vibrating. Quickly, the exfoliating grains scrubbed over each inch of me, and before long, I was out of the bath. I stepped out of my quarters, and there was Shemira. She didn¡¯t say anything, but the proud smile that covered her face said enough. I shook my head and was about to say something, but was interrupted by Rulac¡¯s voice. ¡°Ashlani. The Swarm Alpha needs you down in his den. Come down now.¡± Chapter 142 If it had been any other member of the swarm, I might have refused to go down, or been snide in my response, but with Rulac here, I immediately understood the severity of whatever was the reason for my summons. As I stepped forward, I looked to Sybil and clacked my teeth in denial. Her frills flared in acknowledgement of my command, and then I was walking down the cramped tunnel towards the deepest depths of the den. As we descended, I realized that once I finally ascended to becoming the Swarm¡¯s Alpha, I definitely wouldn¡¯t do what Redael had. The longer I lived under the ground, the longer I hid like a rodent, the more it grated on me. We would need to make our escape soon, but once we arrived at Nievtra, I could make sure that my home was established under the open skies. I turned to Rulac, whose strides were long and purposeful, nearly a run, but only barely too controlled to be called as such. ¡°What happened, Rulac?¡± I lengthened my steps enough to keep myself next to Rulac as we continued our path down. ¡°S¡¯not my place to say, Ashy. It¡¯s bad.¡± Rulac didn¡¯t even look at me, and I could read the tightly constrained fear in his body language. The first time I¡¯d seen anything like fear in any of the adult keelish, and it was Rulac. The most gregarious and seemingly unflappable of the keelish was afraid. ¡°Rulac. Tell me.¡± I spoke with a strange mix of [Innervating Address] and [Debilitating Diatribe], and I could see the influence of my magic begin to wash over him. Rulac¡¯s body relaxed slightly, the rigid set to his spine melted into a tense, but much more self-contained nervousness, and he nodded to himself, seemingly to give some measure of confidence. ¡°We¡¯ve seen the things that are hunting us. Not well, but enough. Redael has the rest of the information, I¡¯m not sure what else, but he¡¯s talking to all the Alphas. We¡¯ll be one of the last to get there, so hurry.¡± Then, the tension returning to Rulac¡¯s shoulders, he began to jog towards our destination. With what Rulac had said, I knew that I wasn¡¯t going to get anything else out of him before we got there, if I could get anything at all out of him in this state. Without another word, I jogged alongside him, keeping my head ducked low so that I wouldn¡¯t hit it on any of the low ceilings, until we arrived at the deepest part of the den. There, a place I¡¯d only ever seen Redael and maybe a couple others with the exception of the singular time that my pack had accompanied me down to be addressed by Redael. In my mind, it had become a sort of¡­ nearly sacred location. One where Redael himself lived, and any others there were mere interlopers. There were no fewer than fifty keelish crammed into the relatively tight space. Due to my impressive (for a keelish, at least) height, I could look over the rest of the nervous keelish as they shifted and tried to get a good look at Redael. He stood still in front of the rest of us, and Rulac quickly pushed through the rest of the Alphas until he stood beside Redael. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Among these keelish that I knew to be Alphas of their own packs and broods, Rulac seemed to be the only Alpha. He stood head and shoulders above most of them, and nearly as tall as I now was, at a halfway between six and seven feet. The rest were forced to look up at him, with their comparatively diminutive sizes ranging from four to five feet tall. A part of me realized the irony of discounting these keelish Alphas, as they stood twice as tall as what the typical keelish would. As a human, I would have panicked seeing this group, even discounting Rulac, Redael, and myself. Even so, before Rulac, they were fodder, and wholly unremarkable. Then, there was Redael. Though he was obviously quite a bit smaller than Rulac, his stance exuded confidence and power, and with his body language and presence, he seemed to be taller than all the rest of us. Even so, I looked continuously at him, and didn¡¯t shy away when his eyes met mine. Different from any time before, though, he looked at me appreciatively and nodded before beginning to speak. ¡°We¡¯ve found what¡¯s been hunting us.¡± He directly began speaking, not deigning to give anything other than the information he wished to. ¡°They¡¯re large, about as tall as either Rulac or myself. They¡¯re pack hunters, like us, but they can use magic, like the thunderfangs that some of you know. They have some sort of tool that allows their weak hands to function as fangs. Here is an example.¡± At that, Rulac turned around and grabbed a spear that I hadn¡¯t noticed. He held it aloft as Redael continued speaking, ¡°Before you all leave, you¡¯ll come see the body we have of one. They are able to hide from our eyes, so watch for something that is moving but doesn¡¯t seem alive.¡± Redael gestured to a lump in the corner, something I was relatively sure was a human¡¯s body. ¡°You all need to find these creatures, wherever they are in our jungle. We don¡¯t know how many of them there are, but Crea¡¯s pack was wiped out, except for one, by only six of these things.¡± That announcement sent a wave of whispers and panicked glances through the body of the Alphas here. I didn¡¯t know who Crea was, but obviously, they had been formidable. ¡°The last member of the pack left alive hunted the last of these creatures and came back to the den to let us know that they were around. We brought back the body, and here you are. I¡¯ll be giving you assignments of where to go and what to do, because the swarm needs to find these beasts and HUNT THEM TO THE LAST!¡± Redael¡¯s voice suddenly surged with the final declaration, and all around me, the Alphas of the swarm shrieked their support to the current swarm Alpha. A grin cracked my face, since I¡¯d just been given the perfect opportunity to challenge him in front of all the rulers of the swarm. Once he gave an assignment to me, I could throw it back in his face and challenge him right then. If he fought back, then I would gain control after killing him, but if he did nothing, I would weaken his position. Either way, I would build myself up in the eyes of the swarm or outright assume control. ¡°I will remain close to the den, and will guide the swarm in response to any sightings of the new creatures. Our strongest member of the swarm will serve as the commander of all keelish in the hunt for them. Ashlani, make yourself known.¡± Nievtala guide me¡­ that was not a part of my plan. Chapter 143 After days spent with my hosts, I finally felt that the Kha I had convinced to allow me to stay with them were comfortable enough around me that I could finally ask the questions I was most interested in asking. Even so, I had been sure to begin my questioning with more mundane questions, though those answers had been worthy of complete entries on their own. For example, one of the most intriguing aspects of the New Empire¡¯s husbandry is how many predators they raise as livestock and mounts. When I¡¯d asked as to why they raised and bred such difficult to care for creatures, the response had been simple, though the answer had raised many another question for me. The Kha shepherd¡¯s answer? ¡°Because they are dangerous.¡± The ¡°Alpha¡± of this little hamlet had nodded at his answer, as if it were a sage response. His offspring and mate had flared their frills in agreement, a movement I had come to better understand as an equivalent of a nod among their people. The Alpha¡¯s nodding had been a testament of his schooling, that he had been taught somewhat in the mannerisms of the older races. When I questioned his simple answer, he looked to his youngest to answer me further. The little female, whose name I¡¯d never been given, looked severely at me and answered with obviously practiced words: ¡°We must be more dangerous than what we raise.¡± -From the sixth entry from the epistolary travel journal of Kayuktuk the Landlocked. Though I hadn¡¯t expected or begun to plan for a moment like this, my mind immediately set to spinning. Though I wasn¡¯t sure how exactly to seize control here, I started to flare [True Dominance]. I¡¯d been prepared for Redael¡¯s own [Absolute Dominance], so I hadn¡¯t noticed the [System] notification appearing in the corner of my eye though I knew it had appeared. With the double application of our [Skills], the keelish all spread before me nearly began to cower in fear. Their instincts, though, were sufficient for them to realize that I was standing behind them, and they turned to see me. I spread my arms as I enjoyed the moment of showmanship, but instead of bowing as a human might have, instead I stood tall. With a deep breath, I began to draw on my sonilphon, not to use a [Skill], but simply to have my voice carry and cut through the whispers and confusion. I had long learned how best to apply my magic to cut through the idle noises of crowded keelish, and as my first words rang out in the den, the gathered creatures, my future subordinates stilled and listened. ¡°Thank you for the authority to do as the swarm requires of me. Most of you do not know me, and I am the Alpha of the brood that has most recently reached adulthood.¡± At my proclamation of my youth there were no murmurs, given Redael¡¯s recommendation, but I could see uncomfortable shuffles. I continued, ¡°Before we finished growing, I led my pack to slaughter nearly the entirety of the thunderfang presence in our territory. Of the original one hundred, the mere nine that survived have submitted themselves to me, and are currently training to work hand in hand with the youngest of the swarm. I raised my brood to adulthood with so few casualties that we hunted our grounds to devastation, and we have established ourselves as the true peak predators in the area.¡± At that, a couple murmurs of approval spread through the gathered body. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°If you have any complaints of being subject to my commands, speak now. Redael will not stop you from speaking.¡± At my audacious and unconfirmed statement, most of the Alphas present whirled to look at the swarm¡¯s Alpha. He flicked his tail, not disagreeing with my statement. With the implicit permission given, one of the Alphas a couple of rows deeper into the press of bodies than I was, stood tall and spoke up. ¡°You¡¯re too young. You don¡¯t know enough, and I don¡¯t trust you.¡± ¡°And I don¡¯t trust you enough to follow a simple command.¡± My response was immediate, and I stepped forward, close enough to reach the male who had questioned me. To his credit, he stood his ground as I shoved through the crowd to be near him. ¡°Under my command, a pack of seven slew five of those creatures there, called humans, and only one of ours died. We were able to capture one and interrogate her, gaining further knowledge on their people and their tactics for the benefit of the swarm. Only seven of us, and I know we killed as many as Crea did, with fewer casualties and fewer keelish there. If you can¡¯t follow my directions, then I don¡¯t want you. Stay cowering in your den while the rest of us go to victory and conquest.¡± Then, I turned away from him. He didn¡¯t deserve my true attention. ¡°Just as I have led my pack to success and victory, I will lead you to victory.¡± I continued, ¡°We will slaughter those who dare hunt us!¡± I felt the descent of the sacred feeling. I continued speaking, the Words of Power flowing from my tongue, ¡°We are keelish, we are the blade bared at the throats of those who dare oppose us!¡± I disregarded the [System] notification that appeared at my words, but I could feel the attention of the swarm fall on me. I continued with the influence of [Innervating Address], ¡°You will not fear, because we will be victorious! You will not suffer, for we will be the conquerors! Follow me, and I will lead you to the lasting and true victory!¡± Then, without another word, I turned and began to walk through the few keelish that had stepped into line behind me after I¡¯d pushed my way into the thick of the gathered keelish. As I stepped forward, different from how I¡¯d needed to push my way into the throng, now the keelish looked up at me with respect and stepped back with bowed heads as I approached and walked past. After just a couple steps, I heard the instinctive steps following behind me, though some obviously hesitated. Even so, I continued walking, and as I did, I heard the growing cadence of more and more feet falling in step. I couldn¡¯t help but allow the grin that had long threatened to cross my face to do so. As I stepped forward, I allowed myself to check my [System] notification. [The user has discovered the True iteration of the Third of the Words of Power of Nievtala. The user has been blessed with the greater blessing of conquest. The user has been granted the Skill Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke.] Right as I was about to check the function of my new [Skill], one of the female Alphas strode closer to me, and due to Sybil¡¯s advances from the day before, I immediately recognized the scent that surrounded her. ¡°So, Ashlani, can I come visit you later?¡± A part of me enjoyed the attention, the willingness to approach me like that, her forwardness. After all, I was a superior breed to her, of course she would be enamored with me¡­ But while the attention felt nice, I didn¡¯t care for it or what the female was obviously suggesting by her approach and scent. More importantly than that, she was inferior to me and, more importantly than everything else, to Sybil. I brushed her off, and instead spoke to the body of the keelish following me. ¡°Now, let¡¯s talk about your packs.¡± Chapter 144 [Sybil POV] ¡°Now, tell me what you know of the packs that have disappeared.¡± The True Alpha¡¯s voice rang out over these, his newly assembled subordinates. Sybil listened to his questions while glancing over the rather¡­ unimpressive showing of supposed Alphas. The more time passed by, the more Sybil realized that she and her brood had been exceptional. She wondered if, just like how Ashlani¡¯s mere presence elevated his pack to try harder and strive onward since he had become the brood¡¯s Alpha, his mere presence had improved the quality of the fetuses as they had grown in nearby eggs. It could very well have been the case, but whatever the case was, the creatures arrayed out in front of her could hardly be called Alphas in good conscience. Notwithstanding the general weakness and unremarkability of the keelish currently here, watching Ashlani acting as the Alpha he continued to grow into was both inspiring and demoralizing for Sybil. While he could be abrasive and impetuous, his natural leadership ability was uncanny. There was something naturally magnetic about the large Alpha, and as she witnessed him swiftly and efficiently addressing the rest of the so-called Alphas of the swarm, Sybil did feel slightly unnecessary. Her greatest strength was her ability to efficiently organize the minutiae of the day-to-day for the Alpha¡¯s grand plans, and seeing him develop to be able to take care of such a large group by himself was slightly disheartening. Something about the way that the True Alpha carried himself seemed to communicate an absolute competence and ability, and all the weak keelish spread out before him hung on his every word. Sybil had heard that there was a male that had questioned Ashlani¡¯s ability and competence at leading, but he had been swiftly cast out of the consideration. After a moment¡¯s consideration, Sybil realized that Ashlani¡¯s decision to simply cut the other male out of the search had been brilliant¨Cafter all, if that male had desired to question the True Alpha, he simply would not be considered a member of Ashlani¡¯s swarm. The True Alpha quickly began to give orders to the lesser beings in order of how and where to search. His focus was entirely on speed instead of pure safety, and Sybil felt that she agreed on that, since any number of these inferior ones could be slaughtered without truly weakening the swarm as a whole. Sybil was not entirely sure at what point she had begun to think of those of the swarm as inferior to the members of Ashlani¡¯s pack, but the more she saw of the weak, the less she considered herself as one of them. After all, with how she and the chosen of the True Alpha had changed and grown, how could they be considered mere keelish? Regardless of how she looked down on them, though, Ashlani was going to use them to their benefit, and she could only agree with what he was commanding them. He quickly verified what the individual pack¡¯s weaknesses were and grouped them with another pack to better enable them to find where the ¡°humans¡± would be hiding. The plan seemed contingent upon ensuring that at least one of the pack would be able to escape and bring word of the humans¡¯ location back to the swarm. Ideally, every pack that scouted out the surroundings would be able to destroy the humans they encountered, but Sybil was well aware that they would be incapable of doing so. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. She herself had been grievously wounded while in direct combat with the humans. While Sybil did not consider herself a versatile, or even particularly competent, combatant, she was at least as capable as any of the keelish in this space. Any not of the True Alpha¡¯s pack, that was. Though Sybil was among the weakest of the True Alpha¡¯s pack when it came to direct combat, she was easily wounded by those that Ashlani counted to be the least dangerous of the humans. As a greater testament of the humans¡¯ combative prowess, Treel had been easily laid low by a simple ambush by the weakest of the humans. Though Sybil had difficulty understanding exactly how powerful these ¡°High Speakers¡± were, she did not even begin to doubt the Alpha. After all this time following him, she could not remember why she had ever questioned him, though somehow that unquestioning loyalty still allowed her to advise him as best she could. An interesting difference, but one she did not currently allow herself to ponder over. Regardless, Ashlani was many things, and deceitful was not one of them. Thus, it fell on Sybil to continue to plan for how best to overcome whatever other advantages the humans had. Ashlani had made mention of many things in passing that she knew nothing about, so most of the planning to be made could only happen in the most general and vague of terms. Even so, Sybil relished every opportunity she had to serve. With idle plans flitting through her mind, Sybil noticed one of the females sidling up to Ashlani, her every scale dripping with sexual desire. The True Alpha rebuffed her approach, and Sybil wondered why that was the case. He had obviously enjoyed himself with her, and though that female was an inferior being, she could certainly still provide to him pleasure, if not inferior offspring. Sybil herself was not gravid, nor did she currently feel as if becoming so would be beneficial to herself, the True Alpha, or his plans, but it could be that his siring of offspring would allow for the pack and swarm to grow further. Without moving or making any physical indication of it, Sybil shook herself from her idle thoughts. Her mind never rested, and she often found herself ruminating over any number of possibilities, both probable and otherwise. However, now was not the time to entertain such fancies. The True Alpha¡¯s commands to the lesser so-called Alphas were beginning to finish, but Sybil ensured that she sent out occasional pulses of her magic to further cement in the listeners¡¯ minds the imperative of following Ashlani¡¯s commands. Here and there, Sybil could feel similar pulses of magic coming from Etra and Cree, while Shemira¡¯s magic was more desirous in nature. Sybil was rather unsure of how Shemira had managed to change the object of infatuation for her magic from herself, as Shemira had frequently communicated her dissatisfaction with the rigidly inflexible nature of her magic. Even so, Sybil was sure Shemira would approach her to talk about it at some point. ¡°Now, when you¡¯re finished with your explorations for the day, make sure you talk to my Beta, Sybil, about what you¡¯ve discovered. She¡¯ll coordinate everyone to work together to make sure we don¡¯t let the humans slip through our detection. She and Took, my other Beta, will work together to respond to any distress calls while I am involved with other problems. Treat her words as my own.¡± With his last sentence, Ashlani set his voice to cracking with his magic, the sound echoing over the assembled keelish and sending them to cowering. Then, with a nod, he whirled around and stalked out of the small den that had served as an impromptu gathering place. That left Took and Sybil standing and looking over the dozens of keelish Alphas looking for direction. Sybil felt a smile crack her face at the prospect of organizing so many subordinates. That was, after all, her greatest strength. Chapter 145 After I¡¯d left the specifics of the planning to Sybil, I stepped out of the den where I¡¯d been talking to the assembled Alphas. I didn¡¯t have much in the way of trust in their abilities, but if they were able to find out more about the movements and locations of the humans, then they would have done enough. It took me a moment to realize it, but I didn¡¯t care if these packs were generally wiped out. If these weaklings had to die to give my pack a greater advantage in the inevitable conflict with the rest of these human hunters, then I would thank them for their sacrifice without mourning them. I stopped by Joral¡¯s brood to see what they were up to for now, and was surprised to realize exactly how much time they spent sleeping, as the entire brood was solidly asleep, their snores lightly echoing through the den. In retrospect, I had slept more than half the day, every day until I¡¯d reached adulthood, and the time I¡¯d spent awake, I¡¯d been hungry almost the entire time. In fact, I was so continuously hungry that I only noticed when I wasn¡¯t, whereas now I only needed to eat once a day. The sleeping hatchlings were quite cute, all huddled together with the wolfstag pups scattered throughout their scaly companions. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was at all notable, but the wolfstags¡¯ growth almost seemed to be mirroring that of the keelish. Maybe they were in an explosive growth period, or maybe this was about the stage of life where all wolfstags grew rapidly, or maybe something else entirely. Whatever the case was, though, the wolfstags that had begun to be outclassed in size by the keelish hatchlings were catching up to the keelish, or at least growing enough so as not to continue to be outsized. As I stepped into the crowded space, Arwa perked her head up and looked at me. The growls that had begun to bubble out of her throat immediately ceased, and instead she stood and stretched, an involuntary yawn pulled from her as she did so. Then, Arwa trotted towards me and nuzzled into my chest, her fur sparking in the darkness, though not with an aggressive attack so much as an involuntary static discharge. The zaps of static tickled me, and I gently scratched at the base of her antlers as Arwa happily groaned and leaned into my scratching. The little ones remained sleeping, and after watching them for a moment, I used one of the first true commands we had taught Arwa and the pups. With a click of my tongue against the roof of my mouth, I signaled for Arwa to follow. Without hesitation, she did so, and before long we had exited the den. Both Arwa and I seemed to sigh in relief as we exited into the fresh air of the aboveground. While we both had reasons for dwelling beneath the ground, the longer I spent under the earth, the more I relished the opportunities to come out again. As Arwa trotted to the side and began to relieve herself, I began to contemplate what exactly I wanted to do right now. It was in my best interest to stay relatively close to the den, since the Alphas that I¡¯d given instructions to would ideally be returning relatively soon with scouting reports. Even so, I felt the need to do something beyond simply wait for others to do things. Eventually, I had decided to hunt something with Arwa, something new if I could find it. I had been surprised by the lack of variety in the jungle as I had grown older and more thorough in my thinking. While I hadn¡¯t paid any special attention to every little creature that existed and lived within my Martanimi Jungle, I did realize that the jungles of my previous life had changed drastically since then. Since it had been well over 200 years since my death, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to be especially surprised by that, but the variety in the creatures to be found in the jungle had been thinned considerably. The caimans that had hunted the toothy bullfrogs, the spotted tigers that hunted the caimans, the carnivorous, massive locath fish that were big enough to swallow a caiman whole, but the creatures to disappear weren¡¯t only the larger predators. I hadn¡¯t seen a single curali, tavara, or quokka¡­ so many creatures had disappeared, and I had no idea if it was due to the ravages of time or simply because I was far from the places I had once called home.. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Even so, the Martanimi seemed to be thriving until we keelish had stripped everything we could eat from it. There had to be more creatures than what I had already seen in the surrounding jungle, and I wanted to take the opportunity to see what else I could hunt and add to my first [Quest]. I had long decided that I would soon rip Redael from his position of power, but any and all opportunities that I had to grow would be beneficial to me when the time came for our final confrontation. It was difficult for me to admit as much, but I had a certain level of¡­ caution towards him after the thorough beatings he had inflicted upon me. With another click of my tongue, I began to lead Arwa into the surrounding brush. While I had done some scouting in the area after we had come to the hatchlings¡¯ territory, I was far from familiar with the area. Took and others had brought the pygmy deer in, and they had been the ones to have seen the quoll, so while I knew they were in the area, I had yet to see them in their habitat. I was unwilling to hunt the pygmy deer to progress towards my [Quest], but a quoll, while not much of a threat to me, was still a crafty and dangerous predator. Thus, I wondered if they would be a suitable creature to prey on, and, there might still be something else in the area that preyed on the quolls, which would be an even better creature for me to hunt. Thus, Arwa and I stalked together through the brush, searching for signs of any new and potentially dangerous prey. I felt my scales begin to flare in excitement, and with conscious effort, I closed my eyes, breathed deep and calmed myself. Before I could open my eyes, though, Arwa let out a quiet whine. Not one of fear, as I¡¯d come to recognize, but instead, one of curiosity. When I looked down at her, her eyes met mine and with a flick of my head, I gave her permission to go. Without another moment¡¯s hesitation, Arwa leapt through the brush, and I rushed to follow her. It wasn¡¯t long before I could sense the same thing she had scented before me, as I could feel two heat signatures, two creatures locked in battle. As we stepped into a smaller clearing, I saw a quoll trying to subdue the strangest looking creature I¡¯d ever laid eye on. It was almost spherical, it was so round, and while its back and sides were covered in a black fur, its belly was coated in brown scaly plates of sorts. Its little arms and legs could barely reach the ground below it, and it had no tail, while its face was long and pointy, somewhat like a wolf¡¯s mixed with a deer¡¯s. Four sharp canines protruded from its lips and it continuously snapped them at the quoll, and its earless head seemed to occasionally stretch out of its body like a turtle¡¯s. When the two creatures laid eye on us, the quoll began to eye us with fear in its eyes, but the other¡­ thing, did something that elevated it from strange to unbelievable. It opened its mouth wide, inhaled so much so fast that I could see its entire body expand, then, with a rush of wind, it shot backwards as a gale issued forth from its mouth. Chapter 146 While I had no idea what this wind expelling thing was, Arwa shared none of my hesitation or surprise, seemingly. Without a word from me, she rushed forward just about as quickly as the mystery creature had. As my wolf companion disappeared into the brush, I decided to take care of the quoll before chasing after Arwa. The quoll was just like how all quoll were as far as I remembered, but I supposed I couldn¡¯t be sure of that given the supremely strange creature I¡¯d just seen. The quoll was a small predator, and while it posed no mortal threat to me, they were known to be a creature you didn¡¯t hunt unless you were foolhardy or supremely confident. This one stood just a bit over one foot tall, and with its four legs on the ground, I supposed it was maybe two and a half feet long, if counting its tail. The whole body of the beast was sleek, built to slink through the tangled underbrush of the jungles, the dense foliage of the treetops, and the small warrens of certain subterranean creatures like dulgar. When the quoll felt my eyes settle on it, it whirled to face me, snarled in warning, and began to back away into the brush. The gall of this beast, hissing at me? Thinking it could escape from me without my permission? I snarled back at the quoll and lunged at it, but it dodged my bite and swiped its claws at my eye. Only barely did I manage to get my head turned enough to prevent the scrappy beast from blinding me, and the irritated pique that had previously filled me was replaced by an incandescent rage. Immediately, I filled my throat to bursting with my magic from my sonilphon. Instead of merely screaming at it wordlessly, though, I channeled more of my will into it. As I had spent more time more deliberately using my magic and influencing it with my desires and choices while understanding how my will affected the results of my magic, I came to understand the effect of my will on what my magic could and would do. That was how I more completely understood the differences between [Debilitating Diatribe], [Innervating Address], and [Nurturing Enunciation], and could continue to develop more magic. With that greater, better understood will, I infused my derision, my superiority, and my innate, personal strength into my roar. The sound shook not only the leaves, but the branches and even the trunks of nearby trees began to rattle with the absolute brute force of my voice and magic. Before me, the quoll began to shiver before nearly fainting from the power of my sonic attack. I didn¡¯t allow it to begin to recover, though, and simply bent down with a single, final snick of my jaws to end its life. Its ferocity belied its size, since with my single bite, I could fit nearly half of it into my mouth. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, I simply leaned down and, with a couple quick bites, swallowed the little beast. As I did so, I noted the flashing [System] notification. [New Skill acquired. Status updated.] As I idly began to follow Arwa¡¯s trail towards the mysterious creature that had been fighting with the quoll, I looked over my new [Skill]. [New Skill: Crippling Cry; a skill granted to those whose mastery of sonic magic has grown beyond the obvious and immediate, now allowing the resonance of their magic to more deeply influence and harm even the most hardened and prepared. The initial use of sonic magic for most is a simple sonic blast, and Crippling Cry serves as an evolution to the simple and mundane. Crippling Cry sends a blast of sonic magic in the direction of the user¡¯s choosing, and easily serves to unsteady, weaken, and, in extreme cases, kill outright. This Skill cannot evolve¨CThis Skill can evolve. Requirements: Kill 5 creatures directly and solely with Crippling Cry. Progress: 0/5] For the first time, I saw a [Skill]¡¯s description update in real time, and, as it did so, I realized what acquiring this [Skill] meant for me. As I began to look more completely through my [Status], I whistled high and loud, a sign for Arwa to return to me, and then I stood still to look through all that had changed for me. [Previous Organ: Profound Sonilphon; an advanced version of the rare magic manipulating organ, Sonilphon. This organ is developed by those who are beginning to understand the possibilities of sonic magic beyond mere sound. Due to evolution, there is a +5 bonus to the Magic Stat. The Profound Sonilphon¡¯s rate of ambient magic conversion to sonic attributed magic within the organ is greatly enhanced. Additionally, the development of new Skills related to sonic magic and the Sonilphon is hastened, with greater understanding and clarity granted to the User. This organ can evolve. Requirements: Development of 5 Skills based on sonic magic. Current progress: 5/5] [Current Organ: Fathomless Sonilphon; an exceptionally advanced version of the rare magic manipulating organ, Sonilphon. This organ is developed by those who have moved past elementary understanding of what sonic magic can do, and are understanding what sonic magic is. Due to evolution, there is an additional +10 bonus to the Magic Stat and a +5 bonus to the intelligence Stat. The Fathomless Sonilphon¡¯s reserves for magic are expanded greatly from that of the Profound Sonilphon, and the Fathomless Sonilphon¡¯s rate of ambient magic conversion to sonic attributed magic within the organ is enhanced beyond that of the Profound Sonilphon. Additionally, any development of a new Skill related to sonic magic and the Sonliphon will be rewarded with bonus Stats. This organ can evolve. Requirements: Unqualified, 0/2] Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I was taken aback at the sheer amount of information that began to fill my mind, and then by the feeling of my sonilphon beginning to greedily suck in the ambient magic in the air and convert it to sonic magic. While the amount of magic I had used to stun the quoll had been about one fifth of my reserves before the sonilphon¡¯s evolution, it now was maybe one fifteenth, and so far as I could tell, my magical reserves would be back to full within the next quarter hour. More surprising than that, though, was the bonus to my Stats, as well as the updates given to all my sonilphon-related [Skills]. I had been somewhat surprised that none of those had been capable of evolution, but now that my sonilphon had progressed, so too could all these [Skills]. I looked at each one before diving into my [Status]. [Skill: Debilitating Diatribe; allows the Skill holder to use their words and lace them with magic to sap energy, excitement, and morale, as well as to occasionally incite obedience in the listener. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Use Debilitating Diatribe as the primary catalyst for the surrender in a hostile force of at least 100. Progress: 0/1. [Skill: Innervating Address; a Skill granted to those whose mastery of sonic magic has grown to allow them to use their words laced with magic to grant greater energy and confidence in the listener. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Use Innervating Address to significantly raise morale of a force of at least 200 while in battle. Progress: 0/1 [Skill: Nurturing Enunciation; a skill granted to those whose mastery of sonic magic has grown beyond the obvious and immediate, now allowing the resonance of their magic to influence and assist even the most vulnerable and weak. Those whose development is assisted and guided by Nurturing Enunciation gain Stats, Skills, Titles, and other benefits more easily until they have reached adulthood. Note: this Skill can only be used on fetuses, infants, and juveniles. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Use Nurturing Enunciation to more than double what would be the Stat total of a creature. Progress: 0/50.] [Skill: Quaking Claw; an active Skill that sends a concentrated flow of sonic magic to a specific location. The sonic magic¡¯s vibrations cause the affected area to vibrate in a way that facilitates cutting and tearing. When paired with a sharp extremity or sharpened held tool, Quaking Claw will show its greatest effectiveness. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Hidden.] [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Sonic Khatif Alpha Titles: Disciple of Nievtala Current quests: -Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. Progress: Adult Human, Adult Quoll. -Attain victory in combat against a foe numbering more than 50 adult combatants. Reward: Constitution, Strength +6 Agility +4 Intelligence, Magic +5. -Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. Stats: -Constitution: 73+5=78 -Strength: 84+5=89 -Agility: 88+5=93 -Intelligence: 73+5+5=83 -Magic: 74+5+10=89 Skills: Adversary: 5/10 Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust: 1/4 (Imperial Bearing) Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke: 0/5 Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Guide (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve) Improved Vision: 0/18 Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 4/10 Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve) Fathomless Sonilphon: Unqualified, 0/2 -Crippling Cry: 0/5 -Debilitating Diatribe: 0/1 -Innervating Address: 0/1 -Nurturing Enunciation: 0/50 -Quaking Claw (Requirements Hidden) True Dominance: 0/5 Evolutionary Possibilities -Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha: Become the undisputed leader of a swarm of at least 250 keelish. Progress: 186/250, disputed -Sonic Keel: Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1 Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] I felt the grin cross my face more fully. Even though [Quaking Claw] hadn¡¯t given me the evolutionary requirements, every single one of these [Skills] could continue to grow. And I would get every single one to. Chapter 147 Though I hadn¡¯t been thinking about it specifically, when I looked through my [Status], I was slightly surprised to see that none of the new keelish that had become my subordinates considered me their leader, even if disputed. Beyond that, though, was [Quaking Claw]. I could understand, at least partially, the [Skills] that said I was ¡°unqualified¡± to know how to evolve them, especially since [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust]¡¯s requirements had updated when I¡¯d gained [Imperial Bearing]. But just like before my evolution to khatif, the requirements for the evolution of [Quaking Claw] were hidden. Before I could begin to curse at the heavens and the [System] alike, a notification appeared. [The Administrator assures you that, this time at least, the concealment of the requirements for the evolution of Quaking Claw has nothing to do with her will. The Administrator assigned to keelish, khatif, and Keel is thusly limited to the specialties and strengths of the keelish, khatif, and Keel. Though khatif and Keel are more magically inclined than keelish, they are far from as adept in the magical arts as the most innately magically powerful races. Thus, more members of the Administrative Body are required to give their approval in order for the user to acquire the evolutionary requirements.] That was¡­ annoyingly vague. I couldn¡¯t understand what exactly the Administrator was saying, but I got the feeling that she was attempting to circumvent her limitations as best as she could. Even so, I couldn¡¯t begin to understand when I would be able to complete the other four [Skills]¡¯ requirements. What exactly did ¡°primary catalyst¡± entail for forcing 100 enemies to surrender for [Debilitating Diatribe]? How much was a significant increase in morale for [Innervating Address]? And when would I ever begin to approach the level of killing a creature with [Crippling Cry] alone? It was a new [Skill] to me, so I couldn¡¯t be sure, but the quoll had been affected so little as to have been about to shrug it off right after I¡¯d used it. Before I could think too much about it, though, Arwa trotted happily through the brush and dropped something in front of me before settling onto her haunches. It was the body of the weird round thing. Now that it was dead, it seemed much smaller, though, and it was no longer round at all. In fact, looking at it, the creature seemed to be of similar build to the quoll, but without the tail. Its legs were a bit longer, and its head and eyes were more like those of a prey animal than the forward facing face of the quoll, but otherwise, the creature was surprisingly similar to its would-be predator. Both stood about a foot tall, and while this new thing didn¡¯t have a tail, its torso was just about the same length as the quoll¡¯s at a bit over a foot. I was conflicted, looking down at the body. If I had been the one to kill it, then I would have learned its name as well as completed my [Quest], but I suspected that killing the creature wouldn¡¯t be worth very much in bonuses to Stats. But would that be worth it, so long as I could get another new [Quest]? I couldn¡¯t guarantee if it was, and I could still complete a [Quest] I didn¡¯t know the specifics of, as I¡¯d done frequently in my days as a recent hatchling. Beyond that, maybe the weird thing was surprisingly magical, as evidenced by its ability to seemingly use some sort of air-focused magic, and that would provide me a hefty bump to my Magic Stat. Maybe not. Either way, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care overly much, and instead I locked eyes with the patiently sitting Arwa. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Eat.¡± I commanded, and though I knew she didn¡¯t speak keelish, she immediately began ripping into the creature. It didn¡¯t take more than a minute before it was completely gone, even the bones having quickly disappeared down Arwa¡¯s throat. Once the creature was gone, she looked up at me and grinned in her canine way, her tongue lolling out the side of her mouth and her head cocked to the side. With a little sigh and chuckle, I reached down and scratched at the base of her antlers, as I had come to learn she liked. As I continued to scratch, Arwa leaned into the scratching before, in an act of something that I¡¯d never seen before, began to twitch one of her back legs over and over again, setting her foot to thumping again and again against the ground. As I stopped my scratching, so too did Arwa¡¯s foot, and she looked at me, begging for more. Though I was larger and heavier than her, when she was sitting on her haunches like this, our eyes were nearly level with each other. Arwa nudged her head into me, continuing to plead for more scratches. I initially went to scratch under her jaw, I caught myself as my claws were less than an inch from her throat. Though I could control my body better than I could as a human, I was thinking of using sharp blades on a wolfstag¡¯s exposed throat. I curled my fingers and rubbed at her neck with my knuckles. Not long after that, though, I whistled for Arwa to resume following me, and she did so without complaint. It was obvious in both of our postures as we changed from relaxation to focus, and Arwa immediately perked her ears up and started listening for any sounds nearby. I felt a faint glow of pride at the wolfstag¡¯s ability to follow my commands, and we both set out to investigate for any and all signs of humans. It was slow and tedious work, but I refused to rush headlong into a confrontation with a dozen humans who would summarily mount my head on a speartip. Thus, after several hours of search, we found ourselves only having progressed a couple short miles and without having found any signs of humans or interesting prey. Though she fought against herself about it, I could feel Arwa beginning to get restless at my slow pace, but I refused to let her range off by herself or force me to speed our pace. Eventually, we had spent long enough out in the jungle that I could see the beginnings of sunsrise appearing. Though reluctant, I turned our direction back to the nearest entrance to the den that I could remember, and we made our way back, our hunt largely unsuccessful. That was how I and my scouting parties passed two nights. And then, things changed. Chapter 148 Chapter 148 The Bloodsoaked Mother Narsha¡¯at, She leads her daughters The Cindered Father Huldtar, He leads his sons They lead our people, no other. Though once they dared to try To unite while in the skies, The moon and suns Were not the ones To suffer. The tyranny of the tower¨C ¨Cremains of a prophecy from the Blackened Sanctuary. ¡°Ashlani.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice pulled me from my stomping pacings. I whirled to look at her, and she met my gaze evenly. With a forceful turn, I cut off the snarl that immediately bubbled up my throat at her confrontation. ¡°What?¡± I couldn¡¯t keep the growl from my tone as I resumed my pacing. After days of no sign of the humans, I had long felt my frustration continue to build until it had arrived at a boiling head. There weren¡¯t even any casualties among the scouts to let us know where the Nievtala-forgotten creatures could be, and my failure loomed over me. I looked more and more like a fool to all these lesser creatures with every day that passed, and these keelish that should have been worshipping me were instead¨C With a deliberate shake of my head, I forced myself to stop thinking about it. I had felt where that course of thought led, and it was far from productive. ¡°Ashlani, we have received news from the scouts. Are you ready for my report?¡± I forced myself to stop pacing and rested my eyes on Sybil. ¡°Yes.¡± I fought to keep myself from grinding my teeth, and then, an inexplicable calm settled over me. I stood tall, looked at Sybil, and with a measured dip of my head, bid her to continue. As Sybil began to speak, I began to understand that this calm came from [Imperial Bearing] and it was forcing me to better comport myself before my subordinate. Initially, I was disgusted by the [Skill] changing my mood and my attitude, but as I saw Sybil react positively to my change, I reluctantly accepted the influence. ¡°The initial scouting packs today numbered fifty three. From them, we have received no reports of sighting traces of humans or the humans themselves. We have given enough time to now be sure that the amount of scouting packs that returned today number only forty nine.¡± At this, I settled down onto my haunches, listening to the first real news we had finally received. Sybil continued, ¡°There are no communications received or survivors found of those packs. There has been no success in locating the position of their defeats, though we have not sent any large number of keelish to find it. The packs that have disappeared were those led by Creel, Friish, Shaal, and Qalt. They were scouting in the northernmost quadrant, and had not reported anything of note in their two days of scouting.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Sybil paused, taking in my reaction. While I had settled back onto my heels to listen to what she was saying, I started scratching at the base of my jaw with my claws. Careful to ensure I didn¡¯t cut myself, I itched at the tender skin there while I thought over what this news meant for us. It definitely was the humans, and most of the packs that had sustained losses since the initial human presence was detected had been located there in the north. But what had changed in the last day? Since sunset the day before, what had the humans learned or seen that brought them to change their approach so drastically? I continued to think over it for a moment, before realizing what I was doing, and who I was with. ¡°Sybil,¡± when I spoke, Sybil didn¡¯t change at all, as if she had been expecting me to begin to speak to her. Instead, she simply bowed her head in acknowledgement as I continued, ¡°Has anything changed, or is there anything that the humans will have found that should have changed their approach?¡± Immediately, Sybil clicked her teeth together, ¡°No, not as far as we know. We could push north into them and see if we can force them into combat.¡± My initial reaction was to do as much, but another flash of insight kept me from immediately agreeing. Instead, I thought for a moment. Back when I was a human, I¡¯d been taught that noteworthy keelish were, in order of increasing danger, increased size, increased intelligence, and magical capabilities. While I had never come across any keelish of increased intelligence or magical capabilities, I knew how I would have directed my tribe to hunt a supposedly ¡°smart¡± swarm of keelish¨Cjust the same as any other keelish. After all, an ¡°intelligent¡± keelish was still going to be a stupid, ravenous beast. A grin began to spread across my face. If they were thinking we couldn¡¯t work as a military, it would be only too easy to exploit that. ¡°We will send some of the weaker packs to do that, but only enough to get the humans to engage en masse. Maybe two hundred? No, four hundred, to ensure that they feel the pressure. Then, the rest of us can flank the humans, and smash them between our two forces.¡± A part of me understood that this was only the most basic battle tactic, to flank the enemy, but I could imagine how unexpected this would be to my previous tribe, and we had exterminated the keelish regularly. Keelish were only beasts, after all, beasts didn¡¯t plan around an intelligent force, like the wolfstags hadn¡¯t planned for us. If both sides had plans, though, the side that knew the other¡¯s approach would prove to be the victor. If the slain Farrah was to be believed, these people, the ¡°Veratocracy¡±, had engaged in purging the keelish even more consistently and widely than the tribes had ever been capable of, so there was a good chance that most of those we would be facing hadn¡¯t ever hunted a keelish in the first place. They would think of us as even less of a threat than the Viertaali tribe had considered the keelish, since they had a long history of stomping us into the dust. After all, their ancestors had wiped us nearly to extinction, so how dangerous could the keelish be? And that arrogance would prove to be the reason for their loss. Immediately, I turned to Sybil. She read my body language and fell in step next to me as I began to stride out of my personal space. ¡°Gather all the Alphas to me. I¡¯ll give them their instructions before they go to rest. Then, I¡¯ll prepare my pack to be the first into the hunt. After all,¡± I let my grin fully spread over my face, and was surprised to see Sybil¡¯s face crack into a mirroring, bloodthirsty smile ¡°We have innocent blood shed to repay.¡± Chapter 149 While they didn¡¯t consider me to be their true Alpha, the leader of the swarm, all the Alphas that had been assigned to my command recognized me as someone with power and leadership. Given that, all the Alphas had remained close once they¡¯d realized that there had been serious casualties on tonight¡¯s scouting. They wanted to know what I had to say, and I understood that if my response wasn¡¯t what they expected of me, or even better, then they wouldn¡¯t be willing to follow me any longer. The grin remained on my face, unaffected by the pressure. Once the Alphas were all ready to listen to me, I began to speak, using my newest [Skill], [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke]. ¡°Creel, Friish, Shaal, and Qalt are dead, along with their packs!¡± My voice thundered through the den, and I could hear it echo down into the deeper recesses. Though I didn¡¯t know the four Alphas personally, though I didn¡¯t care about them or their packs, I could feel the indignation build within me. The suns-forgotten humans had slaughtered my subordinates. They dared to make me look like a fool? To have my actions be questioned? ¡°The Nievtala forsaken humans slaughtered them, and they were too weak to protect themselves! Those who died were weak, they were those who deserve to be forgotten!¡± My critique of their failure came to me naturally. They were weak enough to be ambushed and slain, of course they didn¡¯t deserve my pity. Even so, I could feel that I was losing most of my audience with my words and attitude. ¡°They stood alone, and they were weak. Do we keelish stand alone?¡± I let the question hang in the air, but before long, a squeaky, young voice shouted out from the front of the assembled Alphas, ¡°NO!¡± I looked down, and there I saw Joral, the little Brood Alpha. His eyes seemed to glow with his passion, and he looked at me in obvious idol worship. There was no sign of his brood, as they were only about halfway to adulthood and weren¡¯t expected to participate in the hunt for the humans, but somehow the little keelish had made his way through the thick of the press of adult keelish bodies and stood front and center as I gave my speech. Joral waited for my next words, and I didn¡¯t wait any longer. ¡°Do we keelish hunt alone?¡± ¡°No!¡± Though Joral was the first to cry out, he was echoed by Sybil, who stood beside me and a couple other of the Alphas standing in the crowd. ¡°Do we keelish live alone?¡± ¡°NO!¡± The voices, most of the Alphas now, rang out in unison. ¡°We are the blade that is bared at the throats of those who dare to oppose us! We are the shadow that chills! We stand together, and with me, you will find greater strength than you have alone! Those who fell fell because they were not with me! Do you not feel the power that fills you? The certainty that your every step will be taken towards victory?¡± I could feel Sybil¡¯s magic convincing my audience of my words, but more than that, this, the first use of my new [Skill], cemented in them the idea that following me would bring them strength. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. [Skill: Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke; an active Skill granted to those who have earned and are granted the innate ability and right to rule, and will use that ability to conquer. The use of this Skill imbues the user with the ability to lead their followers into battle, and has two effects. Effect one: gives a 10% bonus to all Stats of all followers while under the Skill user¡¯s command. Effect two: give a 5% debilitation of all Stats of all foes who hear the Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke. This Skill can evolve. Evolution requirements: lead a group of subordinates numbering at least 100 into battle, and emerge victorious in the form of a complete rout five times. Progress: 0/5] ¡°Follow me to battle! Follow me to victory! Follow me to vengeance!¡± I then repeated myself. ¡°Follow me to battle!¡± ¡°Battle!¡± ¡°Follow me to victory!¡± ¡°VICTORY!¡± ¡°Follow me to vengeance!¡± ¡°VENGEANCE!¡± ¡°Victory by fang and blood!¡± As I¡¯d fully worked the keelish into a fury, I began to stalk purposefully through the crowd, giving the weakest and the least impressive packs the honor of being the vanguard. They gloried in their assignments, not knowing that I had assigned them to be the stone against which I would smash the humans to pieces. Yes, the stone would be damaged by the hammer and the steel, but it was what I had, and what I needed. I wouldn¡¯t hesitate to use their lives to kill these humans. After all, though it galled me even to think of it, I knew the time was basically already here for our swarm to flee. The humans would have sent windwords to their ¡°capital¡±, or their friends, or their generals, and their armies would be on their way. Worse, their High Speakers would come, and though we might stand against one or two of them, we would be swept like so much dirt from the face of the continent without care or regret before their power. In order to escape, we needed to destroy this force that believed they could kill us all by themselves, and then, under my leadership, escape. Though, before our inevitable escape, we could indulge in the joy of conquest. I gave the commands of which packs would go where, which would support me directly, and which would serve as the bait, though they didn¡¯t know that yet. As each Alpha received their commands, they excitedly bowed before trotting off to their own packs. Before long, the lesser Alphas had left my presence, and I called Sybil, Foire, and Shemira to me. Sybil, of course, had stayed by my side the entire time, and Foire quickly rushed to my side, but Shemira had been elsewhere, working on¡­ I couldn¡¯t even remember what she had been assigned to do by Sybil. Regardless, I looked my three subordinates in their eyes, and gave them my commands for their own assignments come the next night¡¯s fall. After all, their support and leadership would help me to keep the vanguard force focused and engaged. ¡°Remember¨Cnone of you should engage the humans. Maybe let yourselves be seen from a distance, but never for long. Their arrows and magic will find you if you make yourselves a target, and I refuse to have you be slaughtered like so many of the common rabble.¡± The callous words came naturally to me, and there was no reaction beyond agreement from my three elites standing before me. Then, seeing their silent acknowledgement and agreement to my commands, I dismissed them and retired to my quarters. After all, what was a bit of conquest if I couldn¡¯t indulge in a bath beforehand? Chapter 150 Though it was a nameless town that suffered that loss at the hands of the deceitful Keel, the results of that loss are called the Massacre of Tiliel. The Massacre! Do not forget what that word means! Never forget what they did to our people! Whenever the foul ¡°moderates¡± raise their heads and dare to suggest that the eastern scourge that calls themselves an ¡°Empire¡± might be something we can make peace with, we need only remember the fallen. Those who did nothing more than follow the Gran Verat¡¯s commands! Why would we allow those bloodthirsty beasts to stand among us, when they murdered those who followed the absolute mandate of our divine leader? ¨CInstructions from High Veran Leiteli to those of the traditionalist wing of the Synod. I dreamed of clashing metal, exploding flames, and screams of agony. All around me, keelish and humans battled for survival as Callings burst into life and began to exterminate my people. In return, sprinting packs of keelish dashed through and around the felled bodies of their comrades to set into the humans. There, the brutal melee devolved into ripping and tearing as Earthspeakers fought to protect their friends. This was a true battlefield, much different to the meek battles I¡¯d witnessed between tribes, and more soul-shaking than the little ¡°war¡± I¡¯d staged against the wolfstags. That was only a bloody hunt. This¡­ everywhere I looked, I could see crumpled bodies and weeping wounds, the smell of offal and viscera choked the air, and I couldn¡¯t take a single step without wetting my toes in blood. The screams of dying keelish and humans alike mixed to a constant, bone-chilling cry, and though I couldn¡¯t remember fighting against anything, the taste of blood filled my mouth and mind alike. Part of me revolted at the assault on all of my senses, and another part of me gloried in it. Did I want to set my people on this path? Was there any other option? As my mind battled against itself, some of the first words the Administrator had said to me began to echo through my mind: [If the juncture comes in the which you must choose, choose violence. It may not be the answer for a human, but it nearly always is for a Keel.] Her words filled my mind, echoing through every recess of me until I could feel my body shaking with the influence of her power, of the Administrator¡¯s unfathomable purpose. Around me, the bodies began to rise, human and keelish alike, their jaws unhinging wide open as their voices joined the chorus. ¡°Choose violence.¡± ¡°Choose violence!¡± ¡°CHOOSE VIOLENCE!¡± ¡°CHOOSE! CHOOSE! CHOOSE!¡± I sat bolt upright as the dream faded from my mind. As I gasped and tried to gather myself, to regain my composure, Nievtala¡¯s presence descended over me. ¡°Choose.¡± Her voice set my mind to quaking once again, and I shuddered in place, trying to calm myself. Beside me, Sybil stirred before waking and looking at me. Immediately she saw the struggles in my eyes and rose from our wolfstag pelt bed to sit beside me. Wordlessly, she nuzzled into the crook of my jaw and neck, and her presence paired with her warm breath and the soft rustling of scale on scale calmed me enough to stop my desperate, wheezing attempts to get more air. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. As the den around me slowly came into better focus, Sybil stood and gently raised me to my feet. It took me a moment to realize that her steps led me to the bath, where she led me to settling deep into the sands. I didn¡¯t hesitate to release my magic in a [Skill]less discharge of vibrations through the sands. They scrubbed my whole body and eased into the cracks between my scales as Sybil stepped behind me and began to lightly massage the soft and tender spots of my neck, jaws, face, and frills. After minutes passed by, I had nearly recovered and opened my eyes to look at Sybil. She looked at me with genuine concern, and as we made eye contact, she didn¡¯t press me. Instead, she simply asked, ¡°Are you ok?¡± I let out a shuddering breath I hadn¡¯t realized had still been stuck in my chest. ¡°Better.¡± Then, with another, deeper, calmer breath, I added, ¡°Thank you, Sybil.¡± She nodded, and, as was her way, said no more. I was reminded of aggressive lovers from my past life, women who had constantly pushed themselves to show me their affection and devotion, and in so doing, had pushed me away. Sybil, instead, was comfortable and sure of herself, present and supportive, but never pushy. She pushed herself hard as my Beta, pushed herself to support me to the best of her ability as my second in command, but as a lover, she was¡­ comfortable. For the first time, I wondered if I was as important a partner to her as she was to me. If my presence meant as much to her as hers did to mine. I¡¯d simply thought that I was a catch, as a khatif and Alpha, and much more, but did I do enough for her? With a stretch of my arm, I caught Sybil¡¯s hand and pulled her into the sands of the bath with me. She yelped in surprise, as under the influence of my magic, the sands had fluidized, and she fell directly into my arms and lap. A part of me wondered over how I knew what fluidization was, but the rest of me immediately tamped that curious part of me down. ¡°Sybil.¡± She looked up into my eyes and, after a moment¡¯s hesitation, relaxed into my chest. ¡°Yes, Ashlani?¡± ¡°Thank you, again. Not just for comforting me, but for supporting me in my plans, for asking questions, for caring for me, for helping make my general thoughts into actionable plans. For following my directions, and for ensuring that the directions I give are wise. Thank you for making me better.¡± Sybil had averted her eyes as I continued my praises and thanks, but she returned to returning my gaze. ¡°Thank you, Ashlani, for being yourself with me. I know there are things you know you do not share, but tell me what you can, and I will be here for you.¡± Then, she nuzzled into my neck once again, and the quiet sounds of my magic shifting the sands and the scrape of scale on scale filled my den. I felt the desire, the almost instinctual need to mate with Sybil, and I pressed my chest against her, and I felt reciprocated in her the same desire. ¡°Hey! Ashy boy! I hear you have a great new plan! Wanna tell me about it?¡± Rulac¡¯s voice interrupted us before we could move any more, and as I bitterly whirled around to look, I could see a self-satisfied smirk covering his stupid, fat face. He knew what he had done, and he gloried in it. As I fought to keep my rage in check, he continued, ¡°Oh, sorry, were you in the middle of something?¡± Chapter 151 Sybil reacted with much more grace than I, as she stood, rose from the sands entirely, and nodded her head to Rulac in what could only begin to be called a bow. Once Sybil had stepped away from me and out of the baths, I took a moment to gather myself before standing and whirling to look into Rulac¡¯s face. As I moved, the sands tumbled from my body and back into my bath as I unconsciously flexed my hands and claws. Before I could growl out my response to Rulac, though, Sybil spoke and calmed me further. ¡°Hello Rulac. I did not hear of your coming, so I hope you do not find yourself inconvenienced by the necessity of waiting outside of the Alpha¡¯s quarters until he is ready to speak with you.¡± Then, Sybil stood stock-still and waited for Rulac to exit. Her face was entirely neutral, as if she¡¯d let someone know that the suns had risen, instead of easily dismissing the second in command of the entire swarm. For Rulac¡¯s part, he stood, quite surprised and obviously confused at being spoken to this way by a younger keelish that he¡¯d considered below his notice. After quick consideration, though, he nodded to my Beta and as he shot me a curious glance, walked out. Once he was out, Sybil looked at me and gave the most subtly devious and proud look. I couldn¡¯t hold back the chuckle as she gloried in her little victory and stepped closer to her. Before I could reach her, though, Sybil stepped back. ¡°No, Alpha.¡± Her tone had shifted to her businesslike, no-nonsense voice that she used everywhere outside of the most private environments. ¡°The day has begun, and it will not be long before Shemira, Foire, and I must leave to begin the initial assault. And, to ensure our safety, you must prepare yourself and the rest of our troops to destroy those who stand against us.¡± Though her voice and tone communicated a wholehearted focus on the upcoming battle, I could see in the twist of her tail and the shift of her hips she was teasing me with what might happen afterwards. I shook my head and sighed briefly as I stifled another laugh. ¡°Thank you, Beta. You know which packs are assigned to you, so gather them and prepare to lead them where I need them to be. Keep Shemira and Foire with you, they have their assignments.¡± I didn¡¯t ask her to stay safe, but the request was obvious enough. Sybil bowed her head in agreement to my commands and then, without another word, she stepped out of my, no, our den. After she left, I took a moment to myself and shrugged the last of the bath¡¯s sands from my scales before stepping out myself. Rulac was waiting, leaning against the wall directly outside of my quarters, and I forced myself to tamp down the renewed surge of frustration. ¡°Why are you here?¡± I almost snapped at him with my jaws as well as my voice as I stalked past him. ¡°I already said that, remember?¡± Rulac fell into step easily at my left as I walked out and into the eyes of my pack. They all stood ready for my command, and with a single wave of my hand, I dismissed them to their assignments. Took stepped to my right and began flanking me just as Rulac already was. ¡°You want to hear what my ¡®new plan¡¯ is?¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Rulac flared his frills but kept his face from emoting anything. ¡°There¡¯s been a whooooole lotta noise about this great plan you¡¯ve got, and how you¡¯re destined to be the newest Swarm Alpha. Redael almost came up here himself to put an end to those rumors, but decided to send me instead, since there¡¯s some amazing plan that depends on you to happen and he wasn¡¯t sure he would leave you still breathing if he came up here himself.¡± Rulac¡¯s voice was clinical and unconcerned, as if he wasn¡¯t talking about Redael trying to kill me. I myself felt the need to storm down to the depths of the den and declare my challenge to Redael for daring to think that he could lord his power over me, and I nearly did. Instead, though, I answered Rulac. ¡°Is that so? I never said as much.¡± I kept my voice as level as possible, but I could detect the haughty feelings behind my words, what I¡¯d intended with what I¡¯d said. After all, I was going to be this swarm¡¯s Alpha, and at this point, Redael had given me everything I needed to take his position without any true difficulty. ¡°My plan is simple. Just surround the humans and kill them all.¡± Rulac looked at me and cocked his head, seeming to try to evaluate the true meaning of my words. I continued walking, then after several steps, stopped in place and turned to face Rulac face on. He had to jolt to stop himself before running into me, and as he gathered himself, he looked up into my face. As I had continued to slowly grow over the past weeks, I now stood over a full head taller than him. ¡°Is that all?¡± ¡°Well, I was hopin¡¯ I could get the opportunity to talk to you for a while, just kinda like old times.¡± Without a word, I looked around at my bustling subordinates rushing to prepare themselves and others to go to battle. Took, behind me, laughed in a derisive snarl at Rulac¡¯s words, and with her little display, Rulac¡¯s eyes fell on her. Though his eyes lacked the magnetic power of Redael¡¯s, his attention carried a weight that she surprisingly easily shrugged off. With the second female of my pack doing so today, Rulac grinned even more widely than I¡¯d ever seen him before, except for when I¡¯d interrupted his rutting. ¡°Everything I see from you and yours makes me more and more excited to see where you go. You¡¯re just so¡­ interesting. Luck out there, Ashy boy.¡± I couldn¡¯t hold back the bubbling snarl at the familiar address, and Rulac immediately bowed his head and walked his words back. ¡°Good luck, Ashlani.¡± Then, he turned to Took. ¡°I¡¯ll be seeing you, leggy. Hope you stay that feisty.¡± Then, while openly leering at Took, Rulac turned and slowly walked down the slope into the deeper parts of the den. Took was absolutely confused at Rulac¡¯s farewell, and looked at me in confusion. I looked down, and for the first time realized that Took had nice legs, I supposed. I flicked my tail in general confusion at Rulac¡¯s words, then dismissed them from my mind. After all, there was a battle to prepare for. ¡°Took, you¡¯ll take Solia, Vefir, and Percral, as well as the packs I assign to you on the opposite flank to me. Have Vefir stay back and keep an eye on the elites to keep them alive. I¡¯ll tell him too, so make sure he stays safe and keeps those from our pack from dying.¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha.¡± Took¡¯s eyes burned with excitement at the prospect of a wilder battle than we¡¯d seen thus far, and I nodded to her. She raised her right arm diagonally in front of her, and I raised my own before lightly banging them together. After I acknowledged her, Took grinned wide. ¡°Victory by fang and blood, Alpha.¡± ¡°Victory.¡± I quietly echoed before going off and giving the final commands to my elites and friends. Chapter 152 [Korali POV] He¡¯d had to fight to get to sleep the night after he¡¯d seen that¡­ beast. Even then, he¡¯d been struck with nightmares of hordes of massive keelish swarming through the streets of his home, of Varali crying for help as he was frozen, of Marata swarmed and felled by the creatures, of himself being torn to pieces while forced to watch his family and his own body be devoured by the insatiable swarm of keelish. He¡¯d woken in a cold sweat, thrashing and trying to get free. Something was pinning him down, something was attacking him, something! It was a keelish! He was under attack! ¡°Shhh shhh shhh my love. Calm yourself. You are safe. Shh shh shh.¡± As he¡¯d slowly come back to himself, Korali realized that he¡¯d been screaming in his sleep, and Marata, having woken up to her husband¡¯s nightmare-fueled hysteria, had covered his mouth and held him down until he¡¯d awoken. Then, as he¡¯d gasped and shuddered in terror, she¡¯d held him close as his sweat stained through the blankets. Marata had tried to apologize for her roughness in holding him down and forcing him to quiet, but Korali knew the importance of keeping the camp from outright panic. If they¡¯d heard terrified screams coming from the commander¡¯s tent in the middle of the night, it may have caused panic among the ranks, if not broken morale entirely. In the days since they¡¯d found the results of Farrah¡¯s squad¡¯s last hunt, Marata had commanded the scouts not to engage and instead simply watch for any approaching keelish and where they were coming from. The most headstrong and fiery tempered of the youths had initially chafed at her command, but once they¡¯d seen the body of the beast, they no longer argued against her wisdom. In the days since, the keelish had begun to range out further and further, and none of the scouts had seen any keelish anywhere near so large as the beast that Farrah and her squad had killed. It was difficult for most of the untrained hunters to see well enough in the darkness of night to keep themselves safe, so Marata herself and Korali had taken on much of the responsibility for actually finding and observing the keelish. Usually, Korali took Marata¡¯s complaints of the weakness and lack of discipline of his hometown¡¯s Speakers in stride while internally thinking that she must have been exaggerating. Now that his family¡¯s survival depended on the absolute competence and focus of the town¡¯s Speakers¡­ he didn¡¯t mind admitting that many of their ¡°mightiest¡± didn¡¯t qualify as True Speakers. None of the Earthspeakers except Marata herself could feel a creature¡¯s footstep more than a couple dozen paces away, and Korali was the only Windspeaker who could Call lightning or send a windword even a mile away. Varali might have been able to, but she couldn¡¯t leave the town, since, due to a technicality, she hadn¡¯t participated in the Speaking ceremony that indicated a child¡¯s arrival into adulthood. Korali was sure to have a suitably angry daughter in his home once they returned, but he wanted to be sure she was safe. After all, she probably would have been in Farrah¡¯s squad. He suppressed a shudder at the thought of Varali being laid there in that den, her body cold and shredded by merciless teeth. No, he wouldn¡¯t allow it. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Thinking of her, Varali had said that she¡¯d seen three of the massive keelish, so there was a good chance that they had already dealt with one third of the most terrifying of the beasts, but not having seen any more was¡­ strange, if nothing else. It only filled him with more questions. How many of the massive ones were there? Why had the stupid creatures left Farrah¡¯s squad¡¯s bodies? Didn¡¯t they eat? Why did they leave the big one with the people¡¯s corpses? Why leave them so far from their home, which, as near as the leadership of the campaign had been able to figure, was a dozen miles further south than the den of the defeated wolfstags? Korali knew that these questions plagued his wife just as much as they did him, but she gave no appearance of worry or stress. She stood tall before every question, and though he could read the tension in her shoulders and neck, he knew that Marata hid her anxieties from the rest of the hunters well enough. Then, she changed the command yesterday. Full double squads of ten, never more than half a mile from each other. A Windspeaker in each who could send a windword to the nearest squads for backup the moment they made contact with keelish. Nine teams in the field, with three more in the base to fill in wherever necessary. That night¡¯s combat had been, as far as Korali had heard, relatively routine, and the teams had begun to exhibit their carelessness already. Then, Marata had given her warning and her command. ¡°Look, you¡¯re not soldiers, but you know what makes keelish dangerous, right?¡± Amir, the wisdom-forgotten fool, had jumped in, ¡°Their numbers!¡± He¡¯d beamed brightly, the ivory of his teeth shining like a beacon on his dark face. Marata had looked directly into his eyes and simply shook her head in disappointment. He¡¯d wilted under her attention. ¡°No. There are three levels to what makes a keelish more dangerous. First, bigger than usual. Second, smarter than usual. Third, magical. We know that they¡¯re bigger than usual. But, even the smallest ones we¡¯ve seen are bigger than usual, and monsters like that one,¡± Marata pointed with her chin to where the decaying body of the keelish laid for everyone to see, ¡°are something I¡¯ve never heard of. That means, we can expect keelish as intelligent as a seven year-old child leading these numbers, and I¡¯d swear to the Gran Verat himself that there are going to be magical keelish in this swarm.¡± With her declaration, the jockeying and joking youngsters went silent, and began to look at her with something approaching fear, if not terror. At last, they were listening. ¡°Now, they¡¯re not smart for a person, just a keelish, so they realize we¡¯re killing them. But we know what they¡¯re gonna do. You ever play Verat¡¯s Guard?¡± She asked the group of young adults, and there were nodding heads all around, but they were confused. She pointed to Deena, a smart, quiet girl, and asked, ¡°When you were little, and the apostates started to take out a couple of the guards, what did you do?¡± Deena looked around herself, unsure, before answering, ¡°I¨Cwe would run all together to tag all the apostates at the same time. The guards are too strong for the apostates to face head on, so the apostates need to run away.¡± A flicker of understanding crossed Deena¡¯s face. ¡°They think they¡¯re the guards.¡± ¡°Exactly. These ¡®smart¡¯ keelish will think they¡¯re too strong for us, so they¡¯ll run all towards us while they¡¯re certain they¡¯ll wipe us all out. They¡¯ll expect us to break and run, but instead, we¡¯ll be ready for them.¡± Chapter 153 [Shemira POV] Sybil had long learned how to control her body language, to hide her anxieties and frustrations and so on, but after Shemira had spent so much time working alongside her, she knew how to read the tension in Sybil, even without the intrinsic understanding of others¡¯ emotions that came to her from her magic. Her steps became a bit shorter and faster, and sometimes she breathed exclusively through her nose, while on other occasions she would turn her whole body to look at something instead of just her head whenever she was worried and anxious. Shemira held back her smile as Sybil walked with tight, quick steps towards the forward ranks of the keelish, her body turning from side to side as she observed the assembled keelish. She took a deep breath through her nostrils as, once again, Sybil seemed to be going through some internal checklist. Shemira strode closer and closer to her friend, her steps light and unassuming. There was an art to it, she had realized. If you were too sneaky, Sybil could somehow pick up on it, but when you did it just right¡­ Shemira leaned into Sybil and knocked her to the side as she draped her neck over Sybil¡¯s. ¡°Don¡¯t worry so much about it! Your Alpha¡¯s plans are great, and you¡¯ve done what you need to!¡± Sybil stepped forward, letting Shemira¡¯s head and neck slip down her back until she was forced to stand up again. ¡°Shemira, are you ready to begin our assignment in truth?¡± Her tone was even and unsurprised, but she couldn¡¯t hide the slight twitch of her tail from Shemira¡¯s abrupt appearance. Underneath that, without Shemira¡¯s bidding, her magic told her of Sybil¡¯s nervousness, desire to succeed, and worry for her mate. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m ready. Everyone else is ready. We¡¯ve been ready. It¡¯s time.¡± Shemira leaned into Sybil again, and was happy that her friend did nothing but simply accept her weight and shifted herself to better support Shemira. ¡°C¡¯mon, Syb. I¡¯m bored, and we can¡¯t even join in on the fighting, so let¡¯s get going so we can at least watch.¡± ¡°It is not yet time to begin the attack.¡± Sybil¡¯s response was measured and direct, as level as ever. ¡°If we begin the attack too early, the Alpha¡¯s assault will be weakened, and we may be put in danger.¡± Shemira sighed in protest of the boring, safe path that Sybil had long since determined to follow. The longer it had been since she had acted as an Alpha, the more Shemira realized she really wasn¡¯t suited for it. She didn¡¯t want to be subordinate to a fool like Tieran had been, and she refused to be some breeding stock so she¡¯d fought to become an Alpha, but she also didn¡¯t want the pressures of being in charge of all these weaklings. They were just so¡­ dull. Sybil and Ashlani, on the other hand, well, they were fun. Sybil had been so kind as to forgive Shemira for how she had treated her back when they were both in Tieran¡¯s pack, and ever since Ashlani had also forgiven her, Shemira had stuck with Sybil. She was so much better than the males, who, regardless of if it was due to her magic or otherwise, could only ever approach her with rutting on the mind. With her magic, it wouldn¡¯t take long before the tug of the other, strong emotions would drive her to becoming a mindless, lust-driven beast. Ashlani, she supposed, had more complex, nuanced feelings while around her, but he was¡­ too much. Too intense, too focused, too powerful. Shemira was unwilling to be dragged along behind the tempest that was her Alpha, since if she¡¯d dedicated herself to him like Sybil, she would long have lost herself. Following him from a slight distance was more than enough for her, thank you. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. While Shemira continued leaning against Sybil, Sybil suddenly shifted and nearly sent Shemira tumbling to the ground. ¡°It¡¯s time.¡± Then, without any further fanfare or declaration, Sybil shouted out, ¡°The Alpha commands that you go! Kill the humans! Leave none alive!¡± There was a brief pause of confused silence, then the grouped keelish screamed their challenge to the humans before charging headlong towards where Ashlani had guaranteed they would be. Something about it being a hill and that helping their magic? Shemira hadn¡¯t needed to understand why, just that it was. As the hisses and screams of keelish filled the air, Shemira sidled back next to Sybil. ¡°A great war cry, there.¡± Sybil leveled her eyes at Shemira. ¡°I have never pretended to be a leader, Shemira. You know that already.¡± ¡°Yeah, but I figured you¡¯d put at least a little more effort in, since this is for your sweet mate¡¯s victory. Maybe plan something for him?¡± Sybil couldn¡¯t hide the twitch of her tail. ¡°He has made the plan, all that falls to me is my willingness to follow the commands. Now, we will approach to a safe distance and observe. The Alpha has told me that humans lack our ability to see in the dark, so we should be safe from much closer.¡± Shemira didn¡¯t want to argue with that, since from this far away she wouldn¡¯t be able to sense the emotions of the fighting. She didn¡¯t want to be hurt, herself, but one of the best ways to truly be alive was to feel the death of another. Nothing else could bring the stark reality of mortality than to feel the life ebbing from someone or something nearby to you. As the two females began to trot after the fiercely sprinting masses, Foire approached from the side, his mind, as always, a wall of firm devotion to Ashlani and everything he stood for. There was the constant whine of pain due to Treel¡¯s death in the corner of his sense of being, but he had long mastered and tempered that agony. ¡°There are over one hundred of the scaleless freaks as I can feel them. This close, they can¡¯t evade my senses, and it doesn¡¯t feel like they¡¯re trying to hide either.¡± The derision and hatred dripped from every inch of Foire¡¯s body and tone, and Shemira felt herself beginning to flare the frills and scales around her neck and head in aggression. She felt the need to move and fight nearly as much as Foire himself did, and with a force of will and habit, she weakened her magic so she wouldn¡¯t be quite so inundated with Foire¡¯s emotions. Neither of the other two keelish paid Shemira any mind as she mastered herself, and Sybil answered Foire¡¯s statement as the three leaders of the rabble continued approaching the battlefield. ¡°Whether they hide themselves or not does not matter at this point. The trap is set, and the humans are happily stepping in it. We need only keep the sacrifices from breaking under the pressure while ensuring those of our pack stay safe.¡± ¡°That may be difficult,¡± Foire responded, ¡°As Ytte has declared that she¡¯ll be leading the charge in.¡± ¡°Nievtala forgotten fool.¡± Sybil cursed. ¡°Let¡¯s get closer to see if we can pull her out.¡± The three observers sped up enough to hear the beginnings of battle. Keelish snarls filled the air as the incomprehensible language of the ¡°humans¡± responded in kind. Looking around, Ytte was about to lock herself in combat with three of the humans at the same time. That was when the explosions of earth and fire alike began. Chapter 154 [Marata POV] Though the unproven hunters had nearly broken as the gibbering, screeching monsters burst through the jungle, Marata had planned for that. No matter how complete and flawless a plan, people like these well-meaning but terrified villagers could never be counted on to follow directions under duress. Since she had planned on the other Speakers¡¯ inability to begin their Callings immediately on time, Marata had long since completed her Calling and held it back through the force of her will. The pressure of the earth itself wishing to do as she had long since commanded grated on her mind, and she fought to keep herself from screaming at the militia around her in unbridled rage. Instead, she gave the command. ¡°Flamespeakers, NOW!¡± At her side, Korali used his own Calling to carry her voice clearly to every one of the Flamespeakers, and Marata heard the muttering of voices behind her beginning to Call for fires to scorch their enemies and light the jungle. Even so, Marata held back her Calling. The keelish had closed in, and she could almost smell the rotting flesh on their breaths. The hunters, Earth and Wavespeakers, assigned to the front lines began to break, to fall back and away from the ravening horde. Their screams filled the air as the first and fastest of the keelish began to leap at the humans and tear into flesh. The shrieks of keelish were grating, and too far away for Marata to do anything about yet as she watched Wavespeakers¡¯ valuable flasks be trodden underfoot and forgotten. She had needed to be here, at the back of the formation, but finally, with the arrival of the keelish at the front lines, she no longer needed to hold back the fury of the earth. ¡°EARTHSPEAKERS! NOW!¡± With her command, Marata released the earth to finally do as she had bidden, and two one hundred foot-long walls surged into being in the shape of a ¡°V¡± in front of her, leaving an open space maybe five feet across directly in front of her. Each wall initially rose to nearly five feet in height, before then being urged to even greater heights by the Earthspeakers behind them. With a gasp of sudden exhaustion, Marata sagged for just a moment, only long enough to gather herself and watch the results of her plan. All the Earth and Wavespeakers were now sheltered behind thick walls taller than themselves, with a couple of confused keelish trapped with the humans they¡¯d thought were prey. With the beginning of the plan in earnest, the ragtag group of militiamen and women finally rallied as they saw the power of their leader, and what they themselves could do. Then, they quickly dispatched the off-balance keelish stuck behind their walls and without immediate support. The Earthspeakers'' establishment of the walls complete, they Called the strength of the earth into their limbs and covered themselves with however much of the stone¡¯s armor as they could. After erecting the walls, most were too tired to muster even a breastplate, but they could create wide shields. The Wavespeakers were quick to do their part as well, opening their flasks and sending the liquid within to spray evenly over the keelish behind their bulwarks. Just in time. The first volley of the Flamespeakers¡¯ fireballs struck into the gathered body of the keelish, stuck between the two walls. The alcohol that the Wavespeakers had just coated the nearest keelish in immediately set alight and exploded under the heat of the flames. With a tight grin across her face, Marata grimly watched the spattering of limbs and flesh in their successful, first attack. She did mourn the few casualties they had sustained, but she could feel guilty about that after they¡¯d exterminated these pests. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. With their initial assault rebuffed and the clearing going up in flames, the keelish lost their direction as their eyes spun wildly, looking for some new goal to engage with. The cheers of her soldiers behind her threatened to pull away Marata¡¯s attention, but she remained focused on their enemy. ¡°Windspeakers, hold! Fire on my command!¡± If the arrows started flying too quickly, then the keelish might flee, and she didn¡¯t want that. Speaking of the keelish, while they hadn¡¯t yet realized that she was now their sole remaining ¡°easy¡± target, they soon would. After a final deep breath to recover as much as she could muster, Marata began to Speak. The Calling was practiced and fell easily from her lips as she donned the entirety of the stone¡¯s armor. As soon as she stopped speaking, pliable stone flowed up her body. The comfortable weight might have slowed another, but Marata¡¯s connection to the earth made the armor feel like a well-worn glove. It took less than half a minute before the full suit of plate armor covered her, the final touch being the seamless visor that covered her face, the only interruption to the featureless face being the long, thin slit that allowed her to see without impeding her vision. With a thought, two short, curved blades formed in her hands, and then the True Speaker was ready, and not a moment too soon. A screeching command came from the jungle, where Marata could see three large shadows. Through the earth, she could feel that there truly were just three back there, and none so large as the one that Farrah and her squad had slain. The command from the keelish¡¯s leader in the jungle was immediately apparent as the survivors of the initial attack began to surge forward, some leaping to scramble over the walls as best as they could while many others rushed on towards Marata herself. ¡°Go, Korali! Direct the Windspeakers to take out the three in the treeline, then the biggest you can see!¡± ¡°Victory, carin. May the Gran Verat guide you. I love you.¡± Without looking, Marata could feel Korali¡¯s light steps rushing away to the crest of the hill where their best archers stood ready to let their arrows fly. At last, it was time. Marata raised her blades in readiness, excited to truly use them for the first time in decades. The first keelish closed in, and she immediately cut it down, the blade passing seamlessly through the base of its neck. Under her visor, the True Earthspeaker felt a fierce grin cracking her face as she waded into battle with both blades swinging through the old, comfortable stances. She¡¯d never engaged in a slaughter like this before, but with each step, each slice, and each death, Marata felt the power of her Calling, the power of her Speaking, the power of the earth itself thundering through her. Even while giddy from the surging power thundering through her veins, Marata kept an eye on the keelish trying to swarm the walls. There, they met the waiting spears of the defenders as soon as their heads crested the makeshift parapets, and they summarily fell to the prepared people. The twanging of strings sounded behind her, and the commander heard the thunks of arrows hitting home. Surely that spelled the deaths of the leaders, and the keelish were sure to soon die beneath her blade or break before her fury. All according to plan. Just as she felt herself settling into a comfortable pattern of dealing deadly blows, an unusually large keelish that had somehow evaded her notice approached the center of the eastern wall. Then, it reared its head back, roared, and smashed through the wall before setting into the astonished and defenseless Wavespeaker standing there. Before she could react to that, though, Marata received a windword, rushed words carried directly to her heart that made her blood run cold. ¡°There¡¯s more of them! Behind us!¡± Chapter 155 I led the charge up the hill, and I could see Took simply charging on the other side, disregarding the humans that stood in her way. When one brave, foolhardy Flamespeaker began a Calling, perhaps thinking he could scare her with the flames, Took simply closed her eyes to protect them from fire and ran him over. I heard the meaty thud of a shoulder plowing into a gut, then the screams of a man who was stepped on, before agonizingly dying to the implacable weight of dozens of keelish feet stomping across his prostrate body. Behind him, more humans stood in shocked silence as the keelish charge continued. Back on my side of the hill, the Wind and Flamespeakers were trying to gather, to prepare themselves for our arrival, and I channeled [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke] as I shouted to my keelish, my soldiers. Under the amplification of my sonic magic, my voice boomed over the hill, and I could see the influence of my [Skill] wash over the keelish under Sybil¡¯s command as they rallied against the assembled humans. ¡°Hunt them all! Leave none alive! VICTORY!¡± ¡°VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!¡± Echoed the voices of hundreds of keelish, and, more than the slight reduction in strength from [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke], the sound of hundreds of shrieking voices in unison obliterated the humans¡¯ will. We surged forward, and the Wind and Flamespeakers at the crest of the hill broke under our charge, fleeing towards the defenses their Earthspeakers had created. They took potshots, trying to do something to us as we made our approach, but the few attacks made were too panicked, too hasty to pose a real threat. One of the Flamespeakers tried to make a Calling, but I gathered my own magic to my throat, and with a wordless shout, let out a [Crippling Cry]. Even more than the shrieks of keelish or [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke], the [Crippling Cry] shattered not just the single Flamespeaker¡¯s Calling, but that of every one of the humans spread out before us, with the sole exception of one Earthspeaker at the base of the hill who stood wholly enveloped by stone armor. As we rushed down the hill towards the battlefield where my fodder had acted as the vanguard, I witnessed the slaughter there. Keelish bodies lay smoldering in heaps, and the evidence of explosions filled the valley of death the Earthspeakers had created. Since I looked with my thermal vision uniquely suited for seeing at night, everything was awash with heat, and I forcibly changed my perception to the more ordinary eyesight. The space between the two erected walls was a flaming mess of dead bodies and spilled blood. I internally thanked the vanguard for their sacrifice as I looked closer. On the eastern wall, Ytte had made herself known and destroyed the wall with her magic. The Earthspeakers behind the walls hadn¡¯t been prepared for her frenzied entrance, and she had immediately begun making short work of them while dozens more of my keelish swarmed in behind her. Though the humans there were trying their best to rally and protect themselves, the dissolution of their plan left them in the lurch, and we keelish thrive within the chaos of the battlefield. Eager keelish rushed under and around hastily constructed defenses and ripped into the exposed flesh beneath. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. While most of the humans from the crest of the hill, the supporters of the infantry on the front lines, fled mindlessly from our charge, there was one singular man among them who remained calm and worked to keep his people safe. He stood tall amid the rest and could be seen giving commands to his fellows while occasionally loosing an arrow into the pressing horde of keelish. With each shot, a keelish fell, and I felt a certain measure of respect for his ability to keep calm enough to work with his people. I began to sprint towards him specifically. As I approached, he laid eye on me specifically, and to his credit, he didn¡¯t react at all beyond continuing to place an arrow to his bow before drawing. He was maybe fifty feet away, too far away for me to do anything about that for now, so as he drew the arrow to the full length of his bow¡¯s capacity and let it loose, I threw myself prone. The man hadn¡¯t expected that, and the arrow flew overhead as his eyes widened in shock. I thought I heard it hit home into someone behind me, but I couldn¡¯t concern myself with that. Instead, I continued to clamber to my feet before I drew close enough to the man to kill him. He held his bow in both hands, obviously hoping to hold me back, but there was no hope in his eyes or posture. I lunged forward, and he raised the center of his bow to catch my jaws. With a forceful chomp, I split the bow in two and continued my attack forward with both hands. Both of my claws and fingers were joined together by my specialized scales, and the blades that my hands had become sunk deep into the man¡¯s chest. Then, with a surprisingly tender smile on his face, I heard him send a short windword, the sound nothing more than a shallow gasp coming from his punctured lungs. ¡°I love you. Survive.¡± I pulled my hands from the man¡¯s ribs, and as I did so, I heard a thundering voice, a woman¡¯s, coming from the Earthspeaker in full armor. ¡°KORALI!¡± His name, then. The small part of me that remained human regretted Korali¡¯s death, but the overwhelmingly keelish part of me looked at the dozens of keelish bodies scattered around the clearing. Were they not worthy of life? Did he and his people not think it was a divine mandate to slaughter us all, and that without a moment¡¯s effort at communication? The brief moment of moralizing was interrupted by the advent of the fully armored Earthspeaker. She wielded two short red blades, and I realized that her weapons were not naturally that color but were instead painted with the blood of my subordinates. Her armor had spikes along the knuckles, protruding from the knees and elbows, and on the shoulders, while the face was featureless except for the visor¡¯s slit. Her whole body was splattered with the blood and viscera of keelish, most especially on the fists and knees, where she had obviously struck down any of the ambitious ones that had gotten close to her. And, she was sprinting towards me. Korali¡¯s lover, then. Every keelish that came near her was only an obstacle to her path onward, and she contemptuously smashed anything in her way to paste. If her armor wasn¡¯t a testament enough, the consistent and overwhelming strength she could draw from the earth was proof that this woman was a True Earthspeaker. The armor would be a problem, and I couldn¡¯t say how much energy she had left to repair the armor once I finally got through it. If she was still near full, then this would be a long fight. I felt the grin crack my face at the thought and activated [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust]. Chapter 156 The red spots that appeared on the full armor belonging to the Earthspeaker were muted and weak, but still they glowed. I instinctively understood that they were places that the armor itself was weaker, not necessarily places where I could easily land a strike. Took began to rush in and support me, but hissed my intentions to her. She looked over her shoulder at me, and I gestured with a twitch of my head for her to go somewhere else, and she flared her frills in understanding. As she charged off, Took screamed, ¡°FOR TREEL!¡± and leapt into battle with a Windspeaker. ¡°Fool beast.¡± A bitter hatred dripped like venom from her voice as my adversary spoke to herself. I had dismissed my support before rushing into battle, and she held it against me. A cool rationality began to settle over my mind as I carefully dodged around the strikes of her initial flurry of blows. Though she obviously was drawing on the strength of the earth, she lacked the ability to draw speed from the winds. Maybe she could have if she wasn¡¯t coated with stone keeping her from feeling the voice of the wind, but I suspected she specialized in Earthspeaking. Wind whistled around me as the controlled sequence of attacks whooshed past me again and again. I¡¯d never seen a person so practiced in combat, and she continued to move in such a way that she was never fully exposed and always moving into the next strike. I continued to keep my distance, the blood coating her weapons a stark reminder of the danger they posed to me. Swing after swing continued to menace me, but I steeled myself to keep my distance and safety. Though Earthspeakers were known to be a steady sort, my enemy was tiring and becoming more and more enraged by the moment, until, unable to control herself any longer, she finally exploded. ¡°HOLD STILL YOU BASTARD!¡± She screamed at me before redoubling her efforts. I felt now was a perfect moment, and I responded. ¡°Why. would. I. do. that?¡± The words were slow out of my mouth, but I made sure to enunciate them loud and clear. In absolute disbelief, the human woman stuttered to a halt. Around us, the press and screams of battle continued, yet my foe remained looking at me. Though I couldn¡¯t see her face through the visor, I imagined I could see the amazement there. I prepared to attack at the earliest sign of weakness, but even though she had ceased her attacks, the Earthspeaker remained in a battle-ready stance. After maybe three seconds had passed, she resumed her attack and I resumed my dodging. I felt myself having to tamp down my own anger. This mere human tried to kill me, and didn¡¯t recognize the presence of one of her betters! With a force of effort, I sunk deeper into the apathy of [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust]. ¡°Why can you understand me?¡± The incredulous tone of her voice was undercut by her unceasing aggression. I figured answering wouldn¡¯t do me any good. I¡¯d instead hoped that hearing me speak would distract the woman enough for me to begin my attack, but she was obviously too well trained for that. Instead, I began to fill my throat with magic in anticipation of using [Crippling Cry]. I didn¡¯t expect I would be able to get her to lower her guard with a simple word right now, and I could read in her body a growing rage. ¡°If you can speak, why would you slaughter us? Why are we here? Why?¡± I couldn¡¯t hold my tongue. ¡°We. did. not. begin. this. fight. We. only. intend. to. win.¡± Then, I forced more magic into my throat than I¡¯d ever dared before. As it filled beyond my capacity, I finally let a [Crippling Cry] loose, and the sound was so fierce that it blew my head backwards with the explosion of sound that burst from my throat and mouth. As I swung my face back to look at my enemy, I saw her stumbling and reeling from my magical [Skill]. I didn¡¯t give her even another second to recover and began to channel [Quaking Claw]. With my hands finally prepared to begin cracking through her armor, I flexed my left hand and stabbed it towards the largest red spot in her armor, just under where her right breast was. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. My claws initially glanced off the armor, but I struck again and again in quick succession, my claws digging deep and beginning to carve deep furrows in the armor. Even with my focus on cutting through her armor, though, I continued to pay close attention to her weapons, knowing my death was just a single strike away. Still partially stunned, the speaker took a couple of dizzy and unfocused swipes at me, but I easily dodged them before continuing my assault on the ever more brightly glowing weak spot. Finally, with another strike of my claws, the plate of stone shattered and exposed the clothing below. Before I could plunge my claws in and end her life, though, the armor melted and covered her once again. I could see that my enemy was flagging, but she still could continue. With a sigh, I began to consign myself to continuing to dodge to let her fully exhaust herself. Then, an overwhelming feeling of superiority surged inside me, and I flared [Adversary], [Imperial Bearing], and [True Dominance] as I spoke with a combination of [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke] and [Debilitating Diatribe]. ¡°You. are. NOTHING! BOW!¡± I drew deep on my sonilphon, and for the first time since it had evolved for the second time, I began to feel its true limits. The organ worked overtime trying to convert the ambient magic of the world into something I could work with, but with everything I was trying to use it for, the rate at which my magic replenished was far from my rate of usage. Even so, with five of my [Skills] hammering into her at the same time, the woman fell to a knee, though obviously reluctant and resistant. I felt contempt rise in my chest, at this weakling who fell before my will, and I strode forward. Into her range. She¡¯d been faking at least part of her weakness, and her left sword swung out surprisingly quickly and cut deep into my shoulder. I felt the stone blade bite into the bone, and I snarled my rage at her in a [Crippling Cry] that fully emptied my magical reserves. The Speaker again was sent reeling by my attack, but this time I only had one arm. In a moment of clarity, I realized that her right arm had gone slack, and I wrested the blade from her hand. I knew that she wouldn¡¯t maintain the Calling for long without it in her hands, and I smashed the blade into the bottom of her helmet, where her jaw was. The sword shattered against the armor, but the woman crumpled to the ground, face down. I didn¡¯t know how much energy she had left for a complex Calling, but if she had deceived me enough to still be able to meld into the ground, then she would escape soon. With fury filling and driving me, I lunged down with my jaws agape and seized the back of her head. Fortunately for me, she was somewhat short, and her helmet could barely fit inside my jaws. I crunched into the stone, my fangs beginning to crack, but even so I bit harder, until I could feel the Calling-fueled armor giving way. With a final crunch of my jaws, I reached flesh. I screamed in victory as I bit through the Earthspeaker¡¯s skull, her blood and brains exploding from my mouth as I dropped the headless corpse to the ground. Around me, I finally noticed my pack watching in awe as I felled this seemingly unkillable creature. I reared back, my body screaming in agony as I reveled in the glory of victory. I paid no mind to the flashing [System] notifications, instead basking in the cheers of my subordinates: ¡°VICTORY! VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!¡± Chapter 157 The more time passed me by, the more the pulsating misery originating from my right shoulder began to fully occupy my mind. Of course it was my right shoulder. Was it ever not that? I let the hilt of the sword in my left hand fall to the ground, and with the originally disparate stone no longer magically strengthened and joined by the dead Earthspeaker¡¯s Calling, it crumbled to gravel as it fell. Lesser than the mind-numbing, constant torture from my right shoulder, most of the inside of my mouth was some sort of shredded from the stone I had effectively gargled after shattering my foe¡¯s helmet. As I let the crushed stone tumble from my mouth, I noticed a couple teeth in there as well. I knew I would grow them back, but I couldn¡¯t say how long that would take, and I gingerly ran my tongue around the inside of my mouth to feel where I¡¯d lost fangs. Before I¡¯d fully taken stock of myself, Vefir rushed up to me. ¡°Nievtala bless you with wisdom, Alpha! You never think to preserve yourself!¡± He gently laid his hands on either side of the deep but clean cut on my right shoulder, and immediately sent a wave of healing into me. I groaned as I felt my muscles begin to reknit themselves, the added discomfort of healing a welcome addition to the potpourri of pain I was suffering from. Before long, the crippling agony of my wounded shoulder faded to a mere soreness and I flared my frills to Vefir in acknowledgement of my gratitude. I was surprised to see him sag in a sudden wave of exhaustion, but still I wanted his healing. ¡°Can you do my mouth as well?¡± I asked, and I felt my blood slowly flowing from between my fangs and dripping to the ground below me. In response, Vefir continued quietly muttering curses to himself about my recklessness and general lack of care for my own well-being before quickly sending a less potent burst of his magic into my head. The flaps of shredded flesh in my mouth began to mend, and I realized I couldn¡¯t move my tongue to somewhere I wasn¡¯t feeling the healing taking place, and it was strangely disconcerting to feel and taste my wounds close and disappear as if they¡¯d never existed. With the healing came a release from the mind-numbing pain and confusion. My mind recovered from the throbbing pains of the fight, I ran my tongue around inside my mouth and felt the gaps in my jaws where fangs used to be. Not too many gone, and I¡¯d still be able to bite things easily enough. I had mostly recovered from my fight with a True Earthspeaker, and hadn¡¯t suffered any lasting injuries. Thanks to Vefir, of course. I looked down at the mangled corpse, its head mostly ripped off and only her lower jaw remaining attached to her neck. In a flash of empathy, I grabbed ¡°Korali¡±s corpse and dragged it to his lover¡¯s side before laying it down in a semblance of a peaceful position. As I did so, Sybil strode forward, a limping Shemira following behind her. When I looked at the two females and cocked my head, Shemira¡¯s face cracked in an easy grin. Nothing serious then. I refocused on the bodies before me. ¡°To warriors, a warrior¡¯s death.¡± I said in keelish, which was quietly echoed by those around me. Then, to my surprise, in a lilting, stumbling voice, Sybil spoke, ¡°A. warrior. death.¡± I knew that she had been practicing speaking in the human tongue, but I¡¯d only thought her to be at the level of mimicking another, not translating even a simple phrase. I nodded in approval of her mostly successful translation, and though Sybil didn¡¯t show it in any way I could describe, I could feel a certain quiet glow of satisfaction from her at my praise. Before losing focus, though, I turned more fully to Sybil and asked, ¡°Do you have the casualty count yet?¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Though it shouldn¡¯t have, considering how well I knew her, Sybil flared her frills as she spoke, ¡°Of the rabble, two hundred and fifty six died in the initial charge and the humans¡¯ subsequent retaliation. An additional forty seven died after you and your pack arrived, the majority of which fell to arrows they were not prepared for.¡± Over three hundred dead, when we had such a numerical and strategic advantage. Granted, I¡¯d willingly and knowingly thrown away two hundred and fifty of those as a sacrifice, but I¡¯d expected one hundred at most. More importantly than the random keelish, though, I needed to know. ¡°What of my elites?¡± I felt a brief moment of hesitation as I asked, but I steeled myself. Sybil flicked her tail, and I feared for the worst. ¡°Ytte and Shemira fared the worst of those of the core pack. Ytte exhausted herself smashing through the wall and slaughtering those behind it, and took a¡­¡± Sybil paused, trying to find the word for a moment, and I questioningly provided, ¡°Spear?¡± ¡°Is that the name of long sticks with a sharp point? Not like the ones that one,¡± She gestured at the Earthspeaker with a tilt of her head, ¡°used, but the very long sticks?¡± ¡°Yes, those are called spears. So Ytte was stabbed with a spear, but she survived?¡± ¡°Yes, her wounds were severe but treatable. Vefir was able to stabilize her, and she is leading the first wave of keelish back to the den.¡± ¡°Wise. And Shemira? What happened to you?¡± Shemira leaned into Sybil and nuzzled her neck teasingly, and to my surprise, Sybil didn¡¯t react except to slightly lean back into the larger female. ¡°Those arrow flingers were close to getting Sybil and I moved her away from their attack. I wasn¡¯t quite fast enough to keep ¡®em from getting me though.¡± Shemira nodded her head to her flank, where a trail of crusted blood indicated she¡¯d taken at least one arrow. ¡°The arrow was barbed, though, and getting it out¡­¡± Shemira trailed off, and I could see the painful memory in her eyes. ¡°Vefir took care of me though.¡± She left her physical affection smothering of Sybil and stepped closer to Vefir. For his part, he raised his hands and waved her off. ¡°Shemira, I¡¯m too tired to deal with your teasing right now. Can we not and pretend we did?¡± Vefir looked at the female who towered over him, and for her part, Shemira was taken aback. The teasing tilt of her hips and head shifted to a more gentle, genuine smile. ¡°For now, at least, I¡¯ll say thank you, Vefir.¡± ¡°It¡¯s what I do. You¡¯re welcome.¡± He smiled tiredly and settled down onto his haunches. Though he hadn¡¯t actively fought in this battle, I knew that he¡¯d been busy with keeping an eye out for potentially fatal injuries and rushing to assist where he could, evidenced by Shemira¡¯s relative healthiness and Ytte¡¯s survival. I was about to dive into my [System] notifications when I heard a voice that was accompanied by a notification of its own. [Absolute Dominance skill is being exerted on you. Due to your System advantages, possession of the True Dominance Skill, and higher evolutionary tier, the effects are nullified.] ¡°So, I see you could finally take care of our pest problem.¡± I turned and looked at Redael¡¯s smirking face, my feeling of satisfaction swiftly disappearing. Chapter 158 ¡°Thank you for following my command to exterminate these,¡± Redael paused, looking over the dead humans¡¯ bodies with obvious distaste, ¡°vermin. Now, I will be taking back the command of my swarm.¡± A surge of defiant pride swelled within me, and suddenly, I knew I could no longer stomach lurking in the shadows, no longer could I brook this arrogant lesser being¡¯s air of superiority. Somehow even sooner than the me of yesterday had thought, I would no longer be subordinate to anyone, much less a mere keelish. Subconsciously, I snorted in derision and looked down my snout at this fool who thought that he could take my place as the true Alpha of the swarm. Redael''s eyes flashed as he saw my insubordination, and again, a notification flashed: [Absolute Dominance skill is being exerted on you. Due to your System advantages, possession of the True Dominance Skill, and higher evolutionary tier, the effects are nullified.] I flared my own [True Dominance] in response and stood strong. Redael seemed unsurprised by my unwillingness to bow or weaken my stance and looked up and down the valley, observing the carnage. He nodded appreciatively, then spoke. "I''ll be direct. I am not in the habit of culling the young and weak, but you are no longer juvenile nor weak. Do you plan on submitting or dying?" He was not overtly threatening me (at least, no more than he was by nature and necessity), but his tone was flinty. Involuntarily, a part of me whispered to submit to his experience, his power, but I immediately beat down that weak part of me and instead looked around at my surrounding core elites and then the rest of the keelish that had followed me to battle and glorious victory. As my eyes wandered over the assembled keelish, I knew that this was the breaking point. Even though I was dying to challenge Redael anyways, I couldn¡¯t back down now. If I did, I would never be able to stand before these keelish as their Swarm Alpha and have them follow me without question. I slowly shook my head and looked him in the eye as I snarled low, in my throat. Rulac''s jaw dropped, stunned, as I began to speak. "No. I think that I am better qualified as my swarm''s Alpha. Fight me, tomorrow. Before the entire swarm, I will prove my dominance and rightful place as Alpha over every other!" As I finally threw the gauntlet and set a time, date, and place for the challenge, I felt a weight fall from my shoulders. Redael slightly dipped his head, and, walking away, said, "Then, tomorrow''s dawn will be the last one you ever see." As he jogged off and Rulac followed, most of the most senior and most powerful of the other keelish of the swarm fell in line. They abandoned me, and I would no longer count them as potential elites for me. The fury at being spurned by them surged within me, and I couldn''t hold back the arrogant snarl of my own as it bubbled in my throat, and I roared defiance at his back. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "It will be a glorious morn in which I paint the grasses before the den with your blood, gorge myself on your viscera, and claim the swarm as my own! Rest as well as you can, because tomorrow your entrails will strengthen the swarm and your eyes will bake in the sun! Count the seconds until then, because they shall be your last!" As Redael retreated, many of the weaker keelish who had found victory under my banner gathered together and swarmed me. Their voices tumbled over each other and I could only catch maybe one of every ten words. ¡°You were too¨C¡± ¡°¨CI couldn¡¯t believe that¨C¡± ¡°¨Che could never¨C¡± ¡°¨Cstronger than any¨C¡± ¡°With you, I could¨C¡± After just a couple of seconds, I could feel that same arrogance and frustration I¡¯d felt towards Redael swelling inside me towards these keelish, though of a more imperious and haughty than challenging and angry nature than it had been with my old mentor. ¡°Enough!¡± I shouted, and all around me, every keelish went immediately and completely silent and still. "You have chosen to follow me today. Good choice, as tomorrow, after Redael¡¯s death, the rest of the pack will not have any choice! Those who have turned their backs on me today will instead be obligated and compelled to follow, and they will be below you, below the faithful and intelligent. The understanding and intelligence to make the choice to follow me is an admirable one, and I will see that you are rewarded for it. For today, recover, return to your dens, and prepare to witness my ascension to becoming the Alpha of our swarm in name as well as in deed!¡± With cheers, the keelish all around moved to begin devouring the bounty of flesh all around us. They didn¡¯t care if their meal was human or keelish, just that they fill their bellies. I motioned to those around me, my closest and most trusted lieutenants, my elites. I pointed to the two bodies, Korali and his lover. ¡°Leave them. Don¡¯t allow any of the others to devour them either.¡± Sybil bowed in assent, but asked, ¡°Why? I assume that there will be a reason for your command.¡± My tail flicked in annoyance without my thinking about it. ¡°Yes.¡± I snapped, then gathered myself. ¡°It serves as a message. We can and will protect ourselves, we will kill their strongest, but we can control ourselves. We can be irreconcilable enemies, or we can be a forgotten but powerful and dangerous foe that they allow to live and leave. I hope that with this message left, we will be able to escape without much incident.¡± ¡°Escape?¡± Took asked, her head cocked and confused. ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve mentioned it before, and we¡¯ll talk about it tomorrow. For now, fill your bellies and rest. I¡¯ll return to the den first.¡± All of my elites were happy to let me leave just like that. Except for Took. ¡°You need to eat too.¡± I flicked my tail, my irritation shifting more to a general sense of tiredness. ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat ¡®people¡¯, our own or the humans. Enjoy your meal.¡± Then, without entertaining any more questions, I began to stride towards the nearest entrance to our den and finally brought up my [System] notifications. Chapter 159 From the beginning, the Zaaktif Prime was incredible, but his majesty was firmly cemented and his legend truly established in the single day we now celebrate as the Ascension. That it took place during the change of seasons, during the lengthening of days, is no coincidence. He timed his life to the heavens themselves, so as to remind the world that he himself is the balance, that he is the darkness and the light, that the Zaaktif and the Empire are ordained by the heavens, and will bring light from the darkness. -From a speech given to a congregation of seven assembled schools within the New Empire [Quest completed. Skill evolution progress achieved. Growth achieved. Quest board updated. Status updated.] I recognized the sounds of many feet following me as I strode into the jungle, shadows dancing through the branches from the guttering flames slowly burning themselves out behind me. As my path took me out of the light provided by the dying fires, I shifted my perception to my thermal vision, and the forest slowly blended from shadowy darkness to cool blues and greens. The lightly misting rains weren¡¯t even enough to render the ground muddy beneath the grasses and other shallow growth, but their presence thankfully washed away most of the grime of battle without my conscious effort. I hadn¡¯t realized that the seasons were shifting, summer on her way to burn away the heaviest rains for a time. With a thought, I refocused my exhausted mind on reading my [Status] before I rested in preparation of my duel. Just before I opened my [Status] to look through all the changes that had come, though, I realized I had received a notification on something I¡¯d never gotten before¨C[Skill] evolution progress. Though I¡¯d figured I had made progress on evolution for at least one of my [Skills], it was interesting to me that I was getting notifications I never had before. Before I could think any deeper about it, the Administrator reached out to me. [As you grow in power, the System will develop to become more and more tailored to yourself and your preferences. For example, I am able to reach out to you more personally than I could before, with the System interfering less with my communications and intentions. As such, little updates to the functionality and display of the System such as this will continue to occur so as to better suit you.] Interesting enough, I supposed. With that, though, I finally immersed myself in my [Status]. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Sonic Khatif Alpha Titles: Disciple of Nievtala Current quests: -Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. Progress: Adult Human, Adult Quoll, Human Earthspeaker. Variable reward bonus provided: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic, QUEST COMPLETE. New Quest: Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +3. -Attain victory in combat against a foe numbering more than 50 adult combatants. Reward: Constitution, Strength +6 Agility +4 Intelligence, Magic +5. QUEST COMPLETE. New Quest: Attain victory in political maneuvering over a foe with nearly equal social standing to yourself. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, +3, Intelligence +8, Magic +5. -Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. Stats: -Constitution: 78+3+1+0+4+6=92 -Strength: 89+3+1+0+6+6=105 -Agility: 93+3+0+2+0+4=102 -Intelligence: 83+3+4+0+3+5=98 -Magic: 89+3+6+0+10+5=113 Skills: Adversary: 6/10 The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust: 1/4 (Imperial Bearing) Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke: 1/5 Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Guide (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve) Improved Vision: 0/18 Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 5/10 Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve) Fathomless Sonilphon: Unqualified, 0/2 -Crippling Cry: 0/5 -Debilitating Diatribe: 0/1 -Innervating Address: 0/1 -Nurturing Enunciation: 0/50 -Quaking Claw (Requirements Hidden) True Dominance: 0/5 Evolutionary Possibilities -Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha: Become the undisputed leader of a swarm of at least 250 keelish. Progress: 586/250, disputed -Sonic Keel: Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1 Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] I looked through my updated [Status], immediately looking at how my Stats had grown and was pleasantly surprised to see how by just how much they had changed. Though, I was initially confused and needed to look more closely at the [Quest] list. After all, I only should have completed one [Quest], and while the bonuses from completing any [Quest] were appreciated, they were much more limited than this. Just an additional second of looking, though, raised more questions than it answered. First, and most importantly, why would an Earthspeaker be listed as a different species when other humans had been able to use Callings and had merely been humans? What was the difference? [The way that the System interacts with intelligent species differs greatly from its treatment of the more monstrous creatures. In this world, all creatures are capable of evolution, to some degree. The more elevated the original species, the more difficult to achieve each subsequent evolution becomes. Thus, most humans do not evolve like keelish are capable of. There are other benefits¨C] The words from the Administrator cut off suddenly, and after another half minute or so, she resumed her instruction, the tone of her messages mostly lost in the clinical nature of her written words. I could hear the exasperation in her message anyways. [Humans don¡¯t really evolve, unless they progress about as much as you would need to to evolve to a Keel. Think of it this way¨Ca keelish can¡¯t individually be compared to a human, but an average khatif is about on the level of an average human, though maybe a step and a half lower, considering their predisposition away from magic. An average Keel is within a half step of the average human True Speaker, though the power imbalance is probably in the Keel¡¯s favor. There is a qualitative change in the organism itself when it can command the power that a True Speaker or Keel does, and that is an evolution. Most humans never qualify for any such evolution, but it is an evolution in the genetic makeup of a being to be able to command the laws of the world itself like a True Speaker does.] Though most of what she was saying touched on things that were inherently beyond my grasp of how the world functioned, I felt I could understand the general point she was trying to communicate. True Speakers were a different species than regular humans. For some reason, the thought was an uncomfortable one, but I forced myself to internalize the idea, and after a short moment, I could refocus myself on the rest of my [Status]. Looking at the new [Quest] for killing things, I could see the steep decline in returns on focusing on the extermination of new species. The baseline Stat bonuses weren¡¯t increasing at the same rate that their hunting requirements were, and I suspected that additional [Quests] in that same vein would follow suit. Beyond that, most prey I could find, much less the easy ones, wouldn¡¯t provide me any meaningful Stat bonuses, as evidenced by the quoll providing a total of 2 Stats. My other new [Quest] could be either frustrating or simple, and neither the [System] itself nor the Administrator seemed willing or able to explain what a ¡°political maneuvering¡± victory would look like. I suspected it meant that I couldn¡¯t use violence to overcome another, but I couldn¡¯t be sure that avenue was wholly cut off from me. With a quiet sigh to myself, I refocused on my [Skill] evolutionary progress. Adversary¡¯s count had increased by one, and I was both happy and worried when I looked at it. I was past the halfway point, but I couldn¡¯t guarantee when I would next find a creature that had higher Stats than me. Beyond that, my Stats were going to continue to grow as I did, so it would become more and more difficult to find anything that could provide me with the opportunity to progress towards this evolution. On the other hand, [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke] didn¡¯t seem that it would be too difficult to continue towards evolution. [Pack Tactics]¡¯s evolution, too, was just a question of time, and I was excited to evolve it and continue progressing towards [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust]¡¯s evolution. There was one [Skill] which made me curse myself. I¡¯d only rallied the troops on my arrival with [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke]. Though our morale hadn¡¯t been broken by any stretch of the imagination, there was a chance that I could have qualified [Innervating Address] for evolution if I¡¯d just used the damned [Skill]. I wasn¡¯t drowning in [Skills], so I should have been able to remember that, but it had simply slipped my mind. On the bright side, though, the evolution requirements for Swarm Alpha had changed¨C586/250. That was reassuring, that all the keelish that had stayed behind now considered me their true Alpha. All that remained was to take the ¡°disputed¡± out of my [Status]. And, in the morning, I would do so. Chapter 160 After a quick bath, only long enough to cleanse my body of the stubborn clots of blood and viscera that had resisted being washed away by the light rains, I settled onto my bed. Only after I finished my businesslike bath and stepped out of the sands did I realize that Sybil had been one of those that had followed me back to the den. She stood, patiently waiting for me to be ready to speak. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize that you had followed me. I had assumed that you would stay back to organize our new followers in preparation for my ascent to Swarm Alpha tomorrow.¡± Sybil flicked her tail, dismissing the thought. ¡°They need only to feed and return, for that alone they can police themselves. If they are incapable of that, then they do not belong as members of your swarm.¡± The derision in her voice mirrored my own at the thought. The analytical part of my mind recognized that our sense of superiority came from our khatif bodies more than from our minds themselves, but even so, I couldn¡¯t think of any reason why I should concern myself with the affairs of the weak. They were pleased to follow me, and I would guide them to greater success, strength, and safety than they could ever have dreamed of before. That was the exchange of the strong and the weak: the strong guide and lead, while the weak follow and support. I settled onto the wolfstag pelts that made up our bed and looked up at my mate who still stood. ¡°So why did you come now? Didn¡¯t you need to eat?¡± After looking down at me for just a moment, Sybil flicked her tail and settled down near me, but not quite close enough to touch. She continued looking at me, her face carefully controlled. After continuing to look at me for a moment and I let the silence stretch onward, Sybil spoke. ¡°Do you think I am as intelligent as you are?¡± I snorted. ¡°I suspect you are significantly more intelligent than I am, and are gracious enough to hide that fact most of the time.¡± Sybil bowed her head in response, then asked, ¡°I know you didn¡¯t learn the humans¡¯ language the moment you heard it, and you have said as much. I also remember that I said I was willing to wait to hear your explanation, and I remain willing to wait. However, is there any reason why you have not yet explained it to me? Have I done something to give you a reason to distrust me? Am I not worthy of your trust?¡± Her tone slowly bled to become pleading, almost desperate. The always composed Sybil was begging me for information, and that reality shook my previously blase thoughts. ¡°Sybil.¡± I leaned forward and cupped her head in my hands. Her scales were warm to the touch, and I could see that in her anxiety and frustration, her body¡¯s temperature had risen from a dark red nearly all the way to a warm orange. ¡°I trust you, that is why we share a bed, that is why you are my Beta, that is why you are my mate and I am yours. My strength comes in large part from you, and the rest of it comes from something that I will tell you in just a moment. But I wish for you to realize that I retained this information simply because I didn¡¯t think it mattered to tell you. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°Now, in response to your question: I remember a past life, one from hundreds of summers ago.¡± As I said so, Sybil cocked her head to the side, listening intently. ¡°That is¡­ we hatched about one third of a full year ago, so three times how long since we¡¯ve hatched is one year. I didn¡¯t know how long it had been until I spoke with the human from the first pack we hunted.¡± For a second, I let myself realize just how short this new life had been so far. Born in the middle of the winter, and it was now most of the way through spring. Not even half a year old, and I could kill a True Earthspeaker in individual combat, discounting any efforts she had made that exhausted herself before our fight. With a shake of my head, I refocused on my story. ¡°She and the other humans spoke strangely, but I didn¡¯t realize¨Cno, that doesn¡¯t matter. The past life I remember was one I lived as a human until I was betrayed by one I considered the closest of friends and companions. I was then killed by a weak swarm of keelish.¡± For the first time, I realized I didn¡¯t care that I had been torn apart by keelish. They had hunted what had delivered itself to them, and I would have done the same. Viilor, though¡­ I lamented my own inability to take revenge on him, vengeance wrested from my hands by the implacable hands of time. The oldest woman I¡¯d ever met had lived to nearly ninety summers, and she¡¯d been beyond derelict at that time. Some High Speakers had lived nearly as long as that crone had, but¡­ never had a human lived that long. Sybil was looking at me, obviously engaged in my meandering and unplanned deluge of words. I refocused myself on the task at hand, ¡°Anyway. I recall being a human, and I can mostly remember the language, though my tongue and jaws are no longer made to speak that way. Beyond that is the thing that has allowed me to increase in power so significantly so quickly.¡± Sybil perked up as I mentioned this ¡°extra¡± information. ¡°When I hatched, I had access to something that calls itself the [System]. That [System] has given me instructions on how to gain magic, on how to get bigger and stronger faster, on how to achieve all that I have. Basically, it has been an additional resource that¡¯s allowed me to be¡­ me.¡± My explanation died off, and Sybil continued watching me as I let the silence continue to lengthen between us. Then, she flared her frills and spoke, ¡°I can see why it would be that you did not think it important to share this. After all, what would I do with this information? Help you to understand it? Ask questions? Learn how to grow, myself?¡± Thankfully, there was no bitterness in her words, just light frustration. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think it works that way?¡± I realized I¡¯d never even thought to ask someone else¡¯s questions to the [System] or the Administrator. If I¡¯d never talked to another about the option, why would they ask me these unanswerable questions? I began to feel a little stupid. ¡°Is that so? I wouldn¡¯t know anything about it, but do you know how I can grow my personal combat abilities more quickly? I have worked to improve myself, but I remain mediocre at best, only noteworthy among the rabble.¡± This question was more pointed than the general guidance given by [Evolutionary Guide], and I felt a slight twinge of possible guidance from the [Skill], to say nothing of a direct question to the [System] or the Administrator. ¡°Nievtala guide the fool that I am.¡± I muttered. ¡°Sybil, we¡¯ll talk more about this tomorrow, but for now, I need to rest.¡± Sybil refocused herself before nodding and sighing. ¡°Thank you for telling me, Ashlani. Rest well, for tomorrow you shall ascend.¡± Chapter 161 ¡°Ashlani.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice roused me immediately, and I sat bolt upright, worried that something had happened. I¡¯d thought I would dream before I had fallen asleep, maybe something about the torn and burnt keelish bodies, or the savaged human ones, or maybe still about my upcoming duel. Instead, I¡¯d slept soundly, comfortable next to my mate, sprawled across the spread pelts. I turned my gaze to her, my eyes involuntarily wide. She had already risen, but instead of standing tall was in a deep bow. ¡°It is time, my Alpha.¡± With a deep breath I gathered my thoughts and mind before standing tall. Before I was ready to leave my quarters, though, I stretched, and fully prepared myself to go out. I needed to exude confidence with every step, and I consciously thought of [Imperial Bearing]. With each movement, I felt the descent of an almost ethereal grace fill my steps, my posture, and my mind. I leveled my gaze at Sybil, a feeling of approval growing within me as I looked at her. She was a worthy companion to one such as I. Though I recognized the foreign origin of this thought, I didn¡¯t think any further on it, instead flaring my frills and beginning to sweep past her as I spoke. ¡°Come along. We have several things to do before we begin this farce.¡± My steps carried me out of my quarters, and spread all around the entrance and throughout the den, dozens of keelish watched for my appearance. I paused, deliberately looking over the assembled body of my followers, and realized that those of my elites, Took, Foire, Vefir, Shemira, Solia, Ytte, Percral, and others, stood waiting directly outside my room and keeping the rabble away. With an easy thought, I drew on all my [Skills] that allowed me to briefly influence the packed space. ¡°It is time. Time to witness our swarm¡¯s evolution to new leadership, to new options, and to a new, better future.¡± Then, without another word, I strode onward and through my assembled subordinates. They parted before me, subconsciously lowering themselves into a bow. The movement passed like a wave through the keelish, and as my elites flanked me, Took and Sybil on my right and left, we swept out of our smaller den. Our path continued, going further up and towards the exit out into the light under the suns, but that was not my current destination. Instead, I stepped into an individual den, one nearly close enough to the exit to see the natural light. Within, a small horde of not-so little keelish hatchlings waited for me. Joral, the little Brood Alpha of the hatchlings, could no longer truly be called a hatchling. He stood almost four feet tall, and he still had a good time before he had truly reached adulthood. He was going to grow into a monster like Rulac, I was sure, but the moment he saw me, he bowed his head low for a moment, his whole brood mirroring his actions behind him. As he raised his head and met my gaze, I spoke. ¡°It¡¯s time.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Joral didn¡¯t speak, and merely flared his frills in acknowledgement before letting out a low whistle. Behind him, the eight young wolfstags stepped into position beside their masters and let out low growls of acknowledgement. I knew that the beasts weren¡¯t quite so intelligent as we were, but through their frequent contact enhanced and facilitated by magic, I also knew that the wolfstags were able to communicate in near sentences with their companions. Joral¡¯s companion was one I recognized as the bravest of Arwa¡¯s eight pups, and he¡¯d continued growing, now standing over two feet tall at the shoulder. They would not reach adulthood nearly so quickly as the hatchlings, and I looked forward to seeing what they would become. I turned and saw Arwa waiting for me in the corner, and I quietly clicked my tongue in my mouth to summon her. Immediately, she strode forward until she was ready to follow my steps out of the cramped den. Somehow, she understood the solemnity of the situation, and didn¡¯t lean into me for the scratches she loved at the base of her horns, nor even an affectionate lick at my hands. Instead, she looked into my eyes, her own belying the surprising intelligence to be found in her canine body. I¡¯d continued slowly growing, so I was gradually getting to the point to truly be taller than the crest of her head, but still her antlers towered above me, maybe seven and a half feet tall. Seeing that the hatchings and pups were ready, though, I simply turned on my heel and began to step out of the den, moving to lead my followers out into the light, into the duel with Redael. Before I could truly take the lead, though, Joral led his own ¡°elites¡±, the seven other keelish selected to be worthy of bonding with a wolfstag, ahead as an honor guard of sorts. They jogged forward, and I transitioned my vision to see them step into the bright light of the suns in the late morning. The light reflected off of multiple colors of scales, and the sixteen creatures, furry and scaled alike, stepped to the side in pairs to present my passage. As my own head crested the slope and into the suns, Sybil¡¯s voice echoed up from behind me, ¡°Now approaching Ashlani, the True Alpha!¡± The words were magically charged, and as they filled the space in the clearing before me, I saw hundreds of assembled keelish react. Many were ambivalent, but most were almost¡­ derogatory in their obvious disregard of me. There were no supporters of my introduction already here, and I consciously noted as much. In response, for a brief moment I internally designated every keelish I could see as an enemy. I could see the influence of [Adversary] sweep over them as twitches, shivers, averted gazes, and nervous whispering. For a brief moment I considered addressing them all, but instead decided to do so only after my victory over Redael. They would soon witness their folly. I wasn¡¯t left looking over the swarm for long, Redael making his presence obvious as he flared [Absolute Dominance]. I paid the notification no mind as he laconically drawled at me, ¡°Did you think all this¡­ worthless drivel would help you? That it would give you strength?¡± Redael stepped ever closer, his body finally fully in view as he stepped out of the press of excited keelish, of his foolish followers. His face was covered by a terrible rictus of a grin, only the barest approximation of joy that was tainted and overcome with his obvious bloodlust and need to slaughter me. As I measured him up, he continued walking, each step punctuated with another word. ¡°No, words do nothing. They¡¯re for the weak. And now, your final lesson from me¨Cwhat true strength is.¡± Chapter 162 I couldn¡¯t say what I had been expecting, but I knew I¡¯d thought there would be some¡­ pomp, or presentation, or showboating. That was not what happened. Before I realized it, the hundreds of keelish of the swarm filled in around us, leaving only a circle maybe twenty feet across with Redael and I across from each other within it. Behind me, my supporters clambered over each other, trying to get to where they could best see me, and their cries of support swelled, filling the air. On the other side of the dueling ring, hundreds of keelish screamed their support of Readel in opposition to me, and I shook my head in undisguised disgust for their foolishness. With the momentary pause, I sized up my opponent. Though I hadn¡¯t had the opportunity to truly observe myself, given the lack of shining steel or dark, still waters, I could see the resemblance between us. Never before had I stood before Redael in the light of day, but both of our scales shone a dark gray, mine more silver than his, and I didn¡¯t see any with that same coloration in the crowding keelish. Beyond that, I could nearly guarantee that I had received [Bloodlust] from him in some respect, since I was convinced he was some sort of bloodletter adjacent evolution. Since my evolution to khatif, I stood head and shoulders above him, but even for a keelish, he wasn¡¯t so imposing as Rulac, or even some others of his most highly ranked keelish like Wisterl. She stood in the center between the two of us, obviously excited to watch the fight. I refocused my mind, continuing to evaluate Redael. I stood maybe a foot taller than him? Maybe more? It was hard to tell, since his mere presence made me feel like I was almost looking up at him, not down. I estimated that I outweighed him by over 150 pounds, and my reach was longer, but I could also be sure that he would be quicker than me. I tried to continue my evaluations of my enemy, but they were interrupted by Redael surging forward to attack me. His attacks were blisteringly quick, and his hands, tipped with wickedly sharp curved claws like my own, whipped out repeatedly to try to savage my arms. With a panicked thought, I activated [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], and immediately I felt the descent of the cool rationale calm my panic. Redael was ferocious and focused. He was subtly concentrating on one spot¨Cmy right shoulder. As I stepped backward twice while deflecting his blows, my [Skill] boosted mind quickly put his focus into context. Redael knew I had wounded my right shoulder before, that it was a weakness of mine, and then, last night he had seen it covered in my own blood. Of course he thought that was still my most easily seized weakness, it always had been. Without thinking to do so consciously, I began to fight as if I were trying to hide a weakness in that arm. I blocked two strikes from his left arm onto my right hand¡¯s scales, parrying as if it were simple for me, but while still keeping that shoulder from moving very much. It was an awkward movement and thought process, but if I could convince Redael that my right side was weak, then he would press that ¡°advantage¡± until he thought I would break, and that would be when I could most easily strike back. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Even though [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] weakened it, my khatif blood raged against even the appearance of weakness, that this lesser creature could even begin to think himself as superior to me, especially since Redael¡¯s supporters felt me constantly giving way to their chosen Alpha and jeered at me for every retreated step. Even so, I needed to allow Redael to think that he had the upper hand over me to more easily ensure my victory without sustaining any wounds. I continued dodging and blocking his blows, and I was struck by how powerful they were, even though his frame was so much smaller than my own. Even so¡­ Redael was less than I¡¯d thought he would be. He was fast, violent, practiced, and strong, but he was nowhere near as strong as Took, nor as fast as Foire. He wasn¡¯t as practiced as Wisterl¡­ and his violent intent was nothing compared to my own. Finally, it was time, and I struck. I feigned exhaustion in my right shoulder and let my guard sag. Immediately, Redael pounced on the opportunity, his claws going to shred deep into my shoulder and fully cripple me. Instead, I ducked low, my chest nearly reaching the ground as his blow skittered off my back before I lunged out with my right hand, all claws pointed and ready to tear into flesh. They dug deep into the meat between his ribs, but Redael retreated before I could puncture his lung. Even so, a chorus of cheers filled the air from my supporters standing behind me as I spilled the first blood of the match. An appreciative grin colored Redael¡¯s face as he realized what I had done, and he sighed to himself. As I went to press my advantage, he spoke. ¡°I should¡¯ve guessed. Clever.¡± I didn¡¯t let the Alpha speak further as I pushed harder and faster, finally incorporating my right arm at its full strength. Still, I held back my magic, prepared for an eventual reveal of his own magic and needing my sonilphon at full capacity to counteract whatever it was that Redael could do. As the duel continued and Redael¡¯s strength continued flagging from his constantly spilling blood, though, I realized that if Redael had magic, he would have used it already. This duel, this fight that I had dreaded for days and weeks, the fight that I had deliberately continued to push back in the fear that I wasn¡¯t prepared yet, was difficult, but not anywhere near so dangerous as my fight against the Earthspeaker. I deliberately stopped [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] and instead quickly drew enough magic to my throat to use one of my newest [Skills]. The [Crippling Cry] smashed into Redael almost like a physical blow, and he immediately began stumbling instead of his previously graceful constant movement. While he still reeled from my magical blow, I stepped forward and with my right arm, stabbed through his heart. With the scraping of scale on scale, Redael went limp and fell from my hand and to the ground. I stood in somber silence, and my father¡¯s voice softly carried up to me. ¡°I¡­ figured you would¡­ win someday. You were¡­ faster than we¡­ expected.¡± A rattling cough wracked his body as he slowly died, and I lowered myself to be able to better listen to his last words. ¡°You¡¯ll lead¡­ our people¡­ to something new. ¡°Victory¡­ by fang¡­ and blood.¡± and then, his body went limp. Around me, cheers erupted, howls of wolfstags filled the air, and excited exchanges were traded. Keelish from both sides, those who had always supported me and those who¡¯d been on Redael¡¯s side alike, approached me and stepped around the obstacle on the ground. All the while, the corpse of my father began to cool between my feet. Chapter 163 [Joral POV] The True Alpha stood tall over the corpse of his foe, his majesty apparent as Joral screamed out his support. The Alpha looked down, obviously despising the dead body of his weak foe. With how easy he had made it look, Joral was sure he could have struck the Alpha pretender down with impunity, but then the True Alpha would have been forced to kill Joral himself. Thus, Joral had simply enjoyed the True Alpha¡¯s presentation, the display of his strength and power. The pretender had looked like¡­ a hatchling when compared to Ashlani¡¯s absolute dominance. Weak, slow, unsure of himself. It hadn¡¯t taken much effort on the swarm¡¯s One True Alpha¡¯s side to simply dispose of Redael. Joral felt the pride swell within him as he reared his head back again and shrieked out his approval of the duel¡¯s final results. Around and behind him, his pack and wolfstags joined the chorus and lent their voices to the thronging, excited swarm. Cries of victory and screams of support all echoed through the clearing, Joral¡¯s being the loudest, strongest voice as he let himself scream to the skies again and again. [Rulac POV] Ashlani was more than Rulac had even begun to estimate him as. Rulac had thought that maybe Ashlani could go toe to toe with Redael, but it would be a close thing. Instead¡­ it had been an execution. Redael and he had spoken at length about how soon it would be for Ashlani to usurp the position of leadership from Redael, but none of their estimates had been anywhere near close to correct. It was an exciting thing to witness, though Rulac wished Redael had been willing to let this duel end non lethally. Their conversation had brooked no opportunity for Rulac to disagree, though. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you want to guide him once he ascends to your position? He¡¯s more than capable of being a leader, and he¡¯s got the talent for it, but he¡¯s untested. No real experience with a whole swarm instead of his brood that knows him.¡± Redael had snapped his jaws with finality. ¡°If he is strong enough to kill me, then he¡¯ll rule. If he cannot, then I will leave his corpse in my past without regrets.¡± Rulac knew, to some degree at least, how Redael needed to constantly rein himself in, to discipline himself away from engaging in wholesale slaughter against the swarm. And, with that same knowledge, Rulac knew that Redael luxuriated in these fights, in these opportunities to let loose. There was never a question of if Redael would fight to the last breath, and there was no doubt on whether he would indulge in the finality of a fight to the death. Despite himself, Rulac found himself looking down at Redael¡¯s corpse. Rulac had served as Redael¡¯s Beta since they¡¯d hatched, and though Redael had become harder and harsher as the days went by, Rulac still considered himself the closest thing to a friend Redael had had. Rulac remembered the long history that he shared with the dead body laid unceremoniously on the ground, and bowed his head briefly. It would easily be seen as respect being paid to the swarm¡¯s new Alpha, but Rulac intended it as a recognition of the passage of fate. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. [Sybil POV] The Alpha had, of course, been successful in his ascension to True Alpha over the swarm, but he merely stood, taking in the roaring cheers and support from the hundreds of assembled keelish. Another might have said that Ashlani in fact stood basking in the adoration of his subjects, but Sybil knew better. He was lost in thought, considering what, she couldn¡¯t say, but her mate was not at all focused on the present. That was where she stepped in. With a draw on her magic, Sybil felt the attention of hundreds of keelish fall on her, even before she spoke. There had been an evolution in her power recently, and the reverence that the weak-minded rabble gave her sent a tingle of pride down her spine as Sybil addressed the hundreds of members of the swarm. ¡°Hail, Ashlani, killer of Redael, and Alpha of our swarm! Victory to Ashlani, our Alpha!¡± After a brief moment¡¯s pause, Sybil restated herself as she felt the True Alpha¡¯s attention fall onto her. Suddenly, Sybil felt the warm glow of his appreciation as she continued in her repetition. ¡°Hail, Ashlani, killer of Redael, and Alpha of our swarm! Victory to Ashlani, our Alpha!¡± As she repeated the words, Ashlani¡¯s elites immediately caught on and echoed Sybil¡¯s declaration. For a final, third time, Sybil led the entirety of the swarm in their praises of Ashlani. ¡°Hail, Ashlani, killer of Redael, and Alpha of our swarm! Victory to Ashlani, our Alpha!¡± All around her, Sybil felt more than she saw the approval and support of hundreds of barely contained keelish, hundreds of willing and excited followers of her Alpha, her mate. Her King raised his hands and began to address his assembled subjects. [Ashlani POV] I was torn from my consideration of my father¡¯s corpse by Sybil¡¯s cheering. Too distracted, I¡¯d missed the first part. ¡°... Alpha of our swarm! Victory to Ashlani, our Alpha!¡± It didn¡¯t take much for me to raise my head and consider the swarm¨Cno, my swarm. Before I could decide what to do or say, Sybil repeated herself, echoed by my elites, Took, Foire, Vefir, Solia, Shemira, Etra, Cree, Ytte, Percral, and more raising their voices to echo her declaration. On the third and final repetition, the entire body of my swarm screamed in support of me, ¡°HAIL, ASHLANI, KILLER OF REDAEL, AND ALPHA OF OUR SWARM! VICTORY TO ASHLANI, OUR ALPHA!¡± As the words filled my mind and the clearing equally, I felt all regrets drain from me. Instead, I languished in the feeling of superiority, of strength, of being right. As the cheers faded, I disregarded the [System] notification as it appeared, instead feeling a swelling, sacred feeling. A familiar feeling. Nievtala descended upon me, and words flew unbidden from my tongue as I addressed my new subordinates. ¡°With this, I am your Alpha! Mine is the throne, the throne to which the wise submit!¡± The words Nievtala caused me to speak were short, but they rang throughout the clearing, and I felt as much as I saw the very concept of the Words of Power that had flown from my mouth wash over the assembled keelish. Staggering bodies, rolling eyes, and exuberant screeches filled the air as the concepts of the Words settled deep into my own soul. Before I could begin to gather myself, though, Nievtala¡¯s voice washed over me, her words rattling my bones and causing my nostrils to begin to leak blood. Well done, Disciple. Move onward, always. My mind continued reeling as I tried to gather myself, but even with my [Title] and any other benefits available to me, my puny mortal soul remained trembling and unable to continue. After several minutes, though, I gathered myself enough to finally begin looking at my updated [Status] and notifications. Chapter 164 With a swipe of my hand, I brushed the drying blood from my snout as I tried to gather myself. Nievtala¡¯s words damaged me more than I expected every time I heard them, and I was grateful that she only spoke so often. The pain of her presence belied by the overwhelming ecstasy of her approval flooded me, and I forced myself to move, to distance myself from all the emotions that artificially filled me. Rolling my shoulders, flicking my tail, and flaring my scales grounded me enough to regain myself and I looked over the assembled keelish, my swarm. Every face was turned towards me, every eye and ear awaiting my next word. I raised a hand, and the already quiet murmurs went silent. ¡°Everyone return to your dens. I will send word to your Alphas when the time comes for our next instruction. For now, fill your bellies and rest!¡± My command was eagerly followed, and the waves of keelish surrounding me began to descend back to the nearest den entrance. I watched as the keelish, those creatures inferior to me and the other khatif, scrambled to obey my every command, and I knew it was right that they bowed before me. They could become khatif, and I would work to guide them there, but they were not yet on my level. For now, however, I finally acknowledged the [System]¡¯s notifications. [Status updated. Title acquired. Evolutionary progress: Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha: Become the undisputed leader of a swarm of at least 250 keelish. Progress: 942/250, undisputed. Evolution unlocked.] [The user has discovered the True iteration of the Fourth of the Words of Power of Nievtala. The user has been blessed with the greater blessing of supremacy. The user has been granted an evolution to the Skill: Evolutionary Guide. Evolutionary Guide has evolved to: Evolutionary Exemplar.] Nothing there truly surprised me, but it still was heartening to have a solid notification reminding me of what exactly had happened. I¡¯d never expected to so simply and easily dispatch Redael, and without the [System] telling me as much, I would have had to wrestle with myself to truly believe that I¡¯d killed him. Then again¡­ I consulted my stats, and tried to remember where they had been when I¡¯d last fought with Redael and landed a hit on him. All of my stats were now around 100, and back then they¡¯d been¡­ around 40? Or maybe 50? That immense difference settled over me, and I sat in it for a moment. Why would I have been so nervous to face him? There had been no reason for it, looking back. As I shook my head, I realized that I had missed something in the first notification. Title acquired. I looked into my [Status], and there at the top, looking me in the face, was my new [Title]: Killer of Redael. [Effects of Title Killer of Redael are: +2 to Strength, Constitution, +4 to Agility, +3 to Intelligence, and every Skill, Title, Occupation, Race, and any other ability that the Skill holder has that influences others is heightened in power, scope, and proficiency against keelish. This Title cannot evolve.] That¡­ didn¡¯t seem to be as impactful as even the Chosen of Nievtala, much less Disciple. A total of 11 stats compared to Chosen¡¯s 25, and it couldn¡¯t evolve. I supposed that that didn¡¯t mean much, since I¡¯d had plenty of [Skills] that had said that they couldn¡¯t evolve, but did. As the thought crossed my mind, I asked the Administrator as much. [The Administrator sighs and responds: It is more complicated than you know. The System is¡­ I wouldn¡¯t say fair, but evenhanded. In other words, there is information that is reserved and is not shared with users of as low an evolutionary level as you are. In those cases, a lack of qualification for information is equivalent with the absolute absence of said information, so the System says that said information does not exist. Whether or not an evolution of a Skill exists or if the user is currently too low of an evolutionary level to qualify to receive the information is difficult to tell, beyond evolving to a higher level of existence.] Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Though I somewhat struggled to understand the specifics of what the Administrator was telling me, I did understand that she was calling me underdeveloped for certain levels of information, and that immediately set my attitude on the edge of rage. [The Administrator chuckles: Little fang, calm yourself. We will speak soon.] After that, the Administrator went silent, though I sent several demanding thoughts her way. As my mind cooled and calmed, I disregarded what she had said. I could be nearly positive that she had been speaking the truth, given that the Administrator seemed to have some amount of vested interest in my continued survival and success, and she had no history of deceiving me¡­ at least, in any way that I could recall or prove. Again, I shook my head and refocused instead on the evolution of [Evolutionary Guide] that I¡¯d gained from speaking the true Fourth of the Words of Power. [Previous Skill: Evolutionary Guide; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated their ability to guide others onto a possible path of evolution. This Skill blesses the holder with an innate understanding of the evolutionary state of those who trust the holder for advice. In addition to the understanding of others¡¯ evolutionary state, the Skill gives subtle hints and guidance to the holder that they may give advice that pushes the listener to greater evolutions. Finally, those who follow the guidance of the holder are granted a 10% reduction in evolutionary and Skill acquisition requirements.] [Evolved Skill: Evolutionary Exemplar; a passive Skill granted to those who have become a paragon of continued evolution and serve as an example to those around them of how to progress further. This Skill blesses the holder with an innate understanding of the evolutionary state of those who trust the holder for advice, and by their mere presence, they can guide those who trust them to greater evolutionary prowess. In addition to the understanding of others¡¯ evolutionary state, the Skill gives more obvious hints and guidance to the holder that they may give advice that pushes the listener to greater evolutions. Note that this advice serves as an addition to the passive guidance given by the Skill holder¡¯s presence. Finally, those who follow the guidance of the holder are granted a 20% reduction in evolutionary and Skill acquisition requirements. For the first time, I was given a [Skill] evolution that didn¡¯t seem to change much. Sure, there were more words, and one notable change, but only one change wasn¡¯t particularly notable to me. Other than an additional reduction in requirements for evolution, it seemed like now I wouldn¡¯t need to give specific advice for the [Skill] to function. Which was amazing, of course. Just¡­ underwhelming. I stopped trying to justify my feelings to myself, and instead focused on my immediate future. As my steps led me into my personal quarters. Sybil wasn¡¯t here at the moment, off taking care of something I hadn¡¯t thought of, I was sure, and I settled into a comfortable position on the furs. I was about to evolve, and, apparently, the Administrator had something she wanted to talk with me about. Looking at the bottom of my [Status], I noted the unlocked evolution before selecting it. [Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha: Become the undisputed leader of a swarm of at least 250 keelish. Progress: 942/250, undisputed. Evolution unlocked.] [Evolution commenced. Evolution typically requires a basic restructuring of your body. You will fall unconscious as the reconstruction takes place. Evolution to: Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha from your current physiology will take place over the duration of 7 hours. Evolution will provide a marked bonus to your stats, as well as certain obvious physiological changes.] My mind slipped to darkness as I allowed the evolution to begin. Chapter 165 The familiar feeling of vibrating, nearly too-hot sands surrounding me took the edge from my frustration even before I consciously realized I¡¯d been trying to hold onto my resentment. With a long sigh, I let the rest of my unreasonable rage fade, and not for the first time, I was grateful that here, in the evolutionary state, I was free from the constant influence of the keelish or khatif body. There wasn¡¯t any real reason for me to have been so enraged by the Administrator¡¯s statement that I wasn¡¯t as highly evolved as others, and I recognized that came from the khatif in me, that pride inherent in my race. [There is no issue with pride, little fang. Even arrogance can often be forgiven.] The Administrator paused before continuing, [Do you feel there is nothing for you to take pride in?] I could feel the slight edge to the question, the underlying intent, the barest hint of an accusation. No, there were many things for me to take pride in, but when it borders on arrogance, it can drive an otherwise intelligent creature to foolishness. [True enough, I suppose.] The edge in the Administrator¡¯s voice drained, and she resumed speaking in her flighty way, the hint of severity gone as if it had been a mere product of my imagination. [I must say, though. The difference between you in here and out there is interesting. Perhaps I can take the opportunity to study you more in depth some other time.] Maybe so. I deliberately tried to keep any emotion out of my voice as the Administrator¡¯s thoughts carried on, her tone carrying past her somewhat disturbing declaration from before without any hesitation. [Since this is merely a continuation of a question that you posed to me before your evolution, and I could have answered you then, this will not count in any way towards your singular question from this evolution. Now, there are multiple ¡°tiers¡± of being in this world, and the very system by which they function is multifaceted and immensely complex, something that only the System itself truly understands. I will try to explain this to you, in the hopes that you can¡­ extrapolate beyond what I am saying.] It was simple to understand that the Administrator was somewhat bound in what she could say to me, though what her full intentions were and what she couldn¡¯t say were unclear. I sat myself up and dismissed the sandbath, focusing the entirety of my mind on her. [At the bottom tiers are incredibly small creatures such as ants and other bugs, while at the very top are deities and Administrators. Between the two are the weakest of squirrels and other vermin of their same size, and above them, slightly larger herbivores, then predators of that same size, larger herbivores, and finally larger sized predators such as wolfstags. The keelish fall somewhere within these bounds, though typically one or two tiers below the wolfstags. Additionally, there are other predators much larger than them, such as Nanuks, and other creatures still even larger than the Nanuk, such as leviathans and ufudoluk, but we shall disregard them at this time for simplicity¡¯s sake. [Above the ¡°large¡± predators are the weakest of the intelligent races, the humans and dwarves, though specifically those born among the Godless.] The Administrator sighed and paused for a long moment. [This is already more complicated than I wished for my explanation to become, but a khatif would fall near the bottom of the weakest of the intelligent races. Above them are the beastkin, Misti Hawar included, Moonchildren and Sunkindred, Indlovu, and the humans of the Veratocracy. Above them all would be the Keel.] The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Though I lacked any sort of a body, I felt the grin crack my face at her words. I just needed to continue on my plan to lead the swarm in escaping these lands and get to Nievtra, where I would Speak the Words of Power of Nievtala. [That¡­ isn¡¯t at all what you were told. But I¡¯ll refocus on the subject at hand. You know now,] her words were deliberate and strongly inflected, and I continued listening to her lecture, [that reaching adulthood as a creature is not nearly the end of their journey, not for a keelish, and not for a human.] She paused, and though I couldn¡¯t see any features of the disembodied voice that made the Administrator, I felt as if I could see her face looking at mine expectantly. After just a moment¡¯s thought, I realized that I did know. A True Speaker. [Yes, for the humans within the structure of the Veratocracy, they can progress from a mere human to a True Speaker, to a High Speaker. And what of a High Speaker that has achieved that level in every discipline of Speaking? Can you imagine the power that they could command and Call with that level of individual prowess?] Though I¡¯d never heard of any individual ever even beginning to approach that level of individual strength, I could begin to understand how¡­ divine they would be. [Yes, a creature of that level is approaching divinity, and that approach of the divine is not limited to Speakers, humans, or even intelligent races. Regardless, after that, the tiers are much less apparent the closer one approaches the gods.] The Administrator sighed again, and asked, [Do you now better understand my apparent disrespect regarding your individual strength?] A rueful smile was all I could muster, somewhat too embarrassed to address her directly. The Administrator gracefully carried past my foolishness, and to my surprise asked me a different question: [What do you think of being a keelish?] I took a moment to consider the question. I¡¯d mostly fully embraced the life of a keelish, and I had laid out goals to hopefully give myself sufficient power to protect myself and those I cared for, but what did I think of my new life, in general terms? It was a more brutal life than I¡¯d ever have imagined as a human, without the politicking or maneuvering that human life had required. Instead, violence and strength of fist could serve as the determining factor for the vast vast majority of problems, conflicts, and questions. Though I had, as a human and future chief, been schooled in working alongside others to resolve issues without the spilling of blood and ending of lives, I found I relished the absolute, if brutal nature of keelish problem-solving. The strongest was right to rule, and they deserved obedience from the weak. If the weak didn¡¯t obey, they were swiftly punished or otherwise dealt with. I could recognize that I valued this system more because it benefitted me¡­ but why wouldn¡¯t I enjoy the benefits of my position? The Administrator¡¯s laughter filled the area as I came to my conclusion, her voice carrying out clearly and beautifully. [Well thought out! To the victors go the spoils! May the weak grow strong enough to find victory, but if they don¡¯t, that is their own problem!] Again, the Administrator¡¯s mercurial mood showed itself. [Now, ask your question. We don¡¯t have much time.] Her statement of our lack of time brought the question immediately to the forefront of my mind. How much time do we have before we need to begin our escape from Veratocracy controlled lands? [The wisest time to plant a seed is years ago. The second wisest opportunity is now.] Her voice faded from the evolutionary space as my mind faded to the dreamless unconsciousness of evolution. Chapter 166 [Varali POV] Varali had left the town well before sunrise that terrible day to ensure that she would get to the ideal hunting ground meadow before noon, when the scaled deer fawn was sure to be alone. The little one was damnably smart, surprisingly so, but it had been seen without its parents for days now, so she could be sure that it was currently trying to survive without others of its kind. Maybe they¡¯d died, maybe it had been thrown aside by its parents for whatever reason, but Varali was sure that it could be a great soulbound companion to her. She¡¯d been sure to step silently through the village, making especially sure not to wake anyone as she began her latest journey to capture this promising scaled deer fawn. Sure, the other reason she had left so early and quietly was because technically there were restrictions on leaving the town before her parents and the rest of the subjugation squad returned, but Varali needed a companion to help her develop as a Soulspeaker and this fawn was even better than those Voltaic Wolfstags would have been. Sure it wasn¡¯t as immediately daunting of a creature as a massive predator, but Varali could feel that this little one needed her, and would be a perfect companion. Unfortunately, though, Varali was far from the best tracker of her generation. She could more or less guess where the little fawn would end up and had prepared a small snare according to her predictions, but she couldn¡¯t truly guarantee anything about if the fawn would come to this specific clearing now or three days from now, or if it had come here the day before and now was off elsewhere. Beyond that, she was only guessing about where the fawn would appear! She slapped her cheeks and tried to shake the thought from her mind. After all, negativity serves nobody! She was so distracted that she almost missed the subtle sounds and signs of the fawn¡¯s appearance. Fortunately, though, Varali was blessed by the Gran Verat¡¯s own luck and the little fawn wandered into her trap and then screamed loud enough that she realized she needed to go find the little thing. When Varali arrived at the scene, she saw that her trap had functioned perfectly and the fawn was dangling from the nearby sapling, the rope having caught its back right leg. As it thrashed and bleated piteously, Varali noted it was in fact a she. With a couple of deft and almost practiced movements, Varali cut part of the rope free and then tied the rest of the deer¡¯s legs together before slinging the legs around her neck so she could more easily carry her new companion home. Varali couldn¡¯t stop the wide smile from cracking across her face as she began her journey back home. Her parents would return and see just how much she had grown, how capable she was. Maybe, if she was fast and strong enough, Varali would be able to contract with the fawn before her parents arrived back! With dreams of competence and amazed parents filling her mind, Varali continued on her path back home. After all, her mother was the strongest Speaker in the village, and she¡¯d never Bound a creature to her, so Varali was sure that she¡¯d be impressed if Varali was able to subdue the fawn without any help! Another unfortunate turn of events for Varali, however, was not accounting for how much more difficult travel would be whilst lugging a 30 pound struggling creature along. Adding to that, the rain picked up on her way back, and Varali found herself slipping and falling in the mud with what felt like every other step. The poor fawn struggled and bleated with each slip, and on the occasion that they actually fell to the ground, it thrashed wildly in the hopes of escaping its captor. In each of these moments, though, Varali held strong and whispered little comforts to her little companion. After all, if they were going to be bound, they would become the closest of friends! This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Thus, it wasn¡¯t until just after dusk fell that she stumbled her way into the clearing where her village was. Perhaps it was her exhaustion, or maybe her vain hope to somehow remain undiscovered even after a full day¡¯s absence from the village, but she didn¡¯t realize the changes in the environment of the village until the trussed fawn in her arms began again to struggle and pull frantically at its bonds. Then, finally, Varali was noticed and voices started to ring out, calling for her attention. With a sigh, she put on her best apologetic look and began to explain herself. ¡°Sorry if I worried you, I was just looking for this little one. You see, I knew where she was going to be, and¨C¡± Varali was shaken from her excuses by a blistering slap, so fast and so strong that it knocked her prone. As she looked up, absolutely speechless, Varali made eye contact with her father¡¯s sister, Kortra. ¡°How dare you! Disregard everyone¡¯s commands and endanger yourself like that!¡± Tears welled in Kortra¡¯s eyes as she collapsed to the ground before Varali. Her mother and father had never slapped her, their punishments more emotional in nature, and Varali still remained completely uncomprehending what was being told to her. ¡°We thought you had snuck off to follow your parents and been killed!¡± Varali confusedly grinned at her aunt as she forced herself back to her feet. ¡°I¡­ no, I didn¡¯t. I went to catch this little one. I¡­ I would have been safe if I¡¯d followed them anyways. Are they back already?¡± The little hopes of surprising her mother and father with her Soulspeaking drained from Varali¡¯s mind, being replaced by lectures about safety and maturity as Varali proffered a hand to her aunt to help her rise to her feet. ¡°We were waiting until morning to verify what Korali sent in that final windword, and wanted to leave you alone just in case¡­ We¡­ You selfish child!¡± Kortra dissolved into tears, and her eldest son stepped close and offered his shoulder to her, where she immediately leaned and began sobbing in earnest. When Tava, her cousin, began fighting back tears, everything began to make sense to Varali. In a panic, Varali rushed towards her home, unwittingly dropping the fawn onto the packed dirt street. She didn¡¯t hear its cries as she sprinted, mud splashing up her ankles with every step until finally she whirled around a corner and reached her home. The door was slightly ajar, and Varali slammed through it into her parents¡¯ living room, ready to be rebuked by her mother¡¯s sharp words and her father¡¯s disappointed gaze. She would happily bow her head to them and accept any and all punishments, and before long, her mother would gently lay her hand on Varali¡¯s cheek and kiss her forehead, while her father baked her favorite pastry. They would sit down at the table together and talk about why she shouldn¡¯t have done what she did, and though it would grate her, Varali would know that her parents were correct, as they always were. The truth, however, wasn¡¯t so. Varali found her father¡¯s corpse laid on the table, a gaping chest wound obvious through his beralt and his eyes closed peacefully. Beside him was laid¡­ what must have been her mother. The head was crushed, with only the bottom of the jaw remaining¨CVarali couldn¡¯t look any longer, and stepped back outside of the house and vomited across the little flower garden her parents tended together. Again and again Varali heaved, her stomach cramping with the force of her retches as she remembered that sight, her massacred parents. Falling to her knees and disregarding the puddle of her own sick as she splashed into it, Varali wept as she cursed herself for her self-absorption. Chapter 167 ¡°Desperation¡± is the most unique of fahvalo niches I have personally encountered, and the only one I have accepted personally as a representative of the Moonchildren. Though, fahvalo is such a rare title to bestow that I cannot think of any new fahvalo in my lifetime¡­ perhaps it is time for the Moonchildren to allow more of our foes to ascend the rank to fahvalo. Or perhaps it is time for another great war. Either way, the Bloodsoaked Mother shall bathe in the most glorious rivers of lifeblood. -From a recorded conversation between Bloodpriestess Ana of the Samutelia and the young Allmother Even before I opened my eyes, the first thing that I noticed was that my tail and feet now reached beyond the reach of the furs where I had laid to rest. I opened my eyes and stood tall, the first thing I wanted to do being to evaluate about how much my body had changed with this evolution. Like every time I had evolved, I expected a not insignificant level of growth to my height, length, and weight. When I stretched my neck out to my fullest height¡­ I realized I hadn¡¯t grown much taller. No, I had simply moved restlessly while evolving and then woken up in a different place on my bed. I¡¯d grown at most two inches, now solidly above six and a half feet tall, nearer now to seven. My body¡¯s shape hadn¡¯t changed at all, just grown a slight amount, nothing like my evolution to khatif. That said, I hadn¡¯t anticipated any such massive changes to myself, so I instead happily took my generally same body shape and size in stride. I wasn¡¯t the largest and strongest of the swarm, though, as Took remained growing more quickly than I and was the tallest and most physically impressive of my pack. All my packs, I forced myself to remember. I realized now that she truly was the largest member of the swarm, and I felt some measure of appreciation at realizing that the second keelish to follow me as a hatchling was now so powerful. For a brief moment, I considered what Oncli could have become, had he survived. Would he have developed magic? Would Treel have become a mother by now? Would any other number of the dozens and hundreds of keelish who¡¯d died under my command have become new pillars of the swarm? Not allowing such idealistic and foolish thoughts to ferment in my mind, instead I turned my attention to my new [Status]. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha Titles: Disciple of Nievtala Killer of Redael Current quests: -Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +3. -Attain victory in political maneuvering over a foe with nearly equal social standing to yourself. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, +3, Intelligence +8, Magic +5. -Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. Stats: -Constitution: 92+2+6=100 The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. -Strength: 105+2+5=112 -Agility: 102+4+5=111 -Intelligence: 98+3+4=105 -Magic: 113+0+3=116 Skills: Adversary: 6/10 Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust: 1/4 (Imperial Bearing) Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke: 1/5 Evolutionary Foresight (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Exemplar (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve) Improved Vision: 0/18 Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 5/10 Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve) Fathomless Sonilphon: Unqualified, 0/2 -Crippling Cry: 0/5 -Debilitating Diatribe: 0/1 -Innervating Address: 0/1 -Nurturing Enunciation: 0/50 -Quaking Claw (Requirements Hidden) True Dominance: 0/5 Evolutionary Possibilities -Sonic Keel Zak¡¯Tal: Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1 Have a Swarm Leader level race. Completed. Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] I¡­ was somewhat unimpressed, if I was entirely honest. Becoming the Alpha of the swarm only afforded me this meager growth? My evolution to khatif had provided more to me, I was sure. I couldn¡¯t remember the specifics, but they couldn¡¯t possibly have been as small as this. The evolution from keelish to khatif had required a significantly longer rest time for my body to adjust than the evolution to Swarm Alpha from Brood Alpha had, but even so! This was less than the fight against the humans had provided me, and less than¨C The thought cut through my semi good-natured complaints. It was immediately obvious what the [System] was telling me, and I had heard it from various sources. ¡°If you must choose, choose violence.¡± The way of the keelish is the way of conflict and violence. The five blessings of Speaking Nievtala¡¯s Words of Power were power, zealotry, conquest, supremacy, and victory, so could I even begin to try to convince myself that the way I would grow was anything other than to take steps in one of those five directions? Even so, while I inherently understood and began to agree with the path laid ahead of me as a khatif and then a Keel, I also could recognize that declaring war on every creature near me would end in only one way: my swarm and myself being put down like rabid beasts. Instead, I needed to exercise some level of restraint and begin to plan our mass exodus to the east, and the sooner the better. Quickly, I stepped into my bath and set the sands to vibrating with my magic as I quickly scrubbed the usual filth of battle and evolution from my body. I had been too preoccupied with my impending evolution and had neglected to bathe myself before my rest. While I hadn¡¯t been caked in gore, I found myself meticulously, if still hurriedly, scrubbing the flecks of dried blood and viscera from all over my body. Other than that, there wasn¡¯t anything new or interesting in my [Status]... With a quick additional look through, I realized that my defeat of Redael did not count as political maneuvering, at least in regards to completing the [Quest]. Was I just too lacking in subtlety? It had been a rather simple challenge to the death, and then assuming control of the swarm. Then again, that was effectively how all power struggles functioned in keelish society, so was I not acting as I should have? The thought crossed my mind, and a part of me wondered if that was just the point¨CI was no longer just a keelish. I wasn¡¯t a mere beast with only the barest beginnings of intelligence, but a specimen of a creature, with stats effectively doubling those of a baseline adult human. I knew that the number I¡¯d been give were just the typical stats for an adult human, just as 10s across the board were the baseline for keelish. We weren¡¯t anything like that, and I could assume that most humans were similar. I could continue to evolve though¨C Wait. There was new information at the bottom of my potential evolutions. I hadn¡¯t paid it any mind before, since those options were rarely, if ever, updated. What''s a Zak¡¯Tal? Chapter 168 My question was not immediately answered. Just when I was about to give up the question and leave my quarters, an almost hesitant message appeared. [The Administrator answers: There is much I cannot currently say, little fang. Suffice to say that the slight understanding that you have gained regarding the inherent differences of castes does exist within the Keel. There¡­ is much more to it than a mere social stratification, but as the System has given to you the title of the caste Zak¡¯Tal, you can know that they made up the equivalent to the royal family of the Keel.] Though I asked more questions about what exactly that meant, of what additional benefits would be given to a Zak¡¯Tal as opposed to any other number of castes, of what demerits or difficulties would be given to a Zak¡¯Tal, however many castes there were in total¡­ but the Administrator and the [System] alike remained silent and unresponsive, uncaring of my curiosity. After my internal questions had long become naught more than an echoed memory within my mind, I knew that no more answers would come to me, at least not now. I strode forward, about to exit my quarters once again, and I couldn¡¯t restrain my snort of frustration as another communication from the Administrator appeared before me. [I can tell you this, though it is entirely unrelated to your previous queries: Most Titles are given through the agreement of two or more Administrators, and the bestowal of the Title Killer of Redael required the consensus of two or more Administrators. Five gave their consent, though all but me approved maliciously.] Though I thought for a moment as the Administrator¡¯s words paused, I couldn¡¯t begin to understand why or how giving me a [Title] and additional stats could be malicious or in any way harmful. The Administrator continued, and though her words were communicated to me through writing and not her own voice, I could hear the fierce determination within her declaration. [They mock you. They think that Redael was better than you, a stronger leader, a more natural guide with years of experience guiding and perfecting this swarm. Though those whelps do believe you could eventually grow into and fill his position, they think you will not have the opportunity to do so. They look down on you, and think you will grow complacent. Do not.] Though my blood began pounding in my ears at the gall of these other Administrators, comparing me to Redael and considering him the superior being? I shook my head and couldn¡¯t help but ask¨Chow was the Administrator telling me this? This information was much more detailed and immediately useful to me than knowing the different caste designations of the Keel. [Were I not unbounded with respect to discussions regarding your need to flee the area, then I would not be able to speak with you so candidly at this time regarding these other Administrator¡¯s machinations.] Her contempt for these other Administrators, though not audible, was obviously dripping from her words. [However, you have asked System-granted questions to me regarding timelines of when to leave and to where, and thus my tongue is largely loosed when speaking about topics already broached. Though, this is a tangential topic, and I cannot speak any longer on it. Prove yourself, prove me.] The Administrator¡¯s communications ended, and I got the firm impression that now, finally, she was actually done speaking with me. Just in time, I took several deep breaths and stopped myself from descending even deeper into a controlled rage at other supposedly intelligent Administrators and their obvious blindness. With a roll of my shoulders, I stood tall and strode forward out of my quarters and into the larger den. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Surrounding my personal quarters, dozens of keelish laid and lounged, waiting for me to exit, and Sybil was, of course, the first to notice my entrance. Before I could step closer and begin to speak to my assembled subordinates, she stepped to assume her usual position at my left hand. ¡°That was a short rest. Are you feeling wholly recovered? Vefir was concerned that you did not let him heal you before you went to rest, and I took the liberty of permitting him access to you while you slept.¡± Sybil kept her voice low, though she sounded vaguely apologetic while she explained letting the healer look at my wounds. Internally, I cursed my recklessness, since though I hadn¡¯t received any real attacks, only my successful blocks, I had the obvious opportunity to make sure there were no hidden wounds, most especially since [Pain Tolerance] could potentially leave me thinking I was fine while a small wound festered. Beyond that, I needed to extend that trust to Vefir, as he, like Sybil, had no small amount of self-recrimination for his lack of battle prowess. ¡°I¡¯ll need to thank him for his attention. Will he be nearby after I meet with all these Alphas?¡± ¡°I can ensure that he will be.¡± Sybil flared her frills in assent. As she prepared herself to turn away, a thought occurred to me, and I immediately reached out and grabbed her by the hand. Sybil, for her part, looked at me immediately, the faintest trace of alarm apparent in her body language as she looked for some hidden danger at my sudden movement. ¡°Where are our eggs?¡± ¡°Do you mean the remaining egg from Treel? It is where it has always been, though Vefir believes that the time for it to hatch is nearly upon us.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice was level, though her confusion was obvious. ¡°No, I mean our eggs. Have you laid them yet?¡± Sybil measured a look at me, until, after a pregnant moment¡¯s pause, my question finally made sense to her. ¡°No, I have not laid any eggs.¡± A faint hint of mirth shone behind her eyes, but my worry for our offspring continued to surge unabated within me. ¡°So do you know when you¡¯ll be laying them then? We won¡¯t have time to incubate them before we leave, so I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll be able to stay viable. I don¡¯t know how much time an egg needs in the ground, or even within the mother, and¨C¡± With a gentle bunt of her head against my chest, Sybil interrupted me, and I could hear the quiet sounds of laughter echoing up from my chest where Sybil still leaned against me. ¡°What?¡± ¡°My mate, I was never gravid. I did not mate with you with the intention of laying any eggs at this time.¡± ¡°You¡­ did I do something wrong?¡± Though I¡¯d never expected to feel like this as a keelish, I supposed that the fear of disappointing your lover was universal, human or otherwise. ¡°Ashlani,¡± Sybil¡¯s words initially continued to carry the signs of her quiet mirth, but swiftly settled into a tender but firm tone, ¡°fertile eggs do not result from every mating. I did not lay with you with the intention of creating life with you, though if I did lay your children, I would not lament that. But, as of yet, we have no eggs.¡± Of course. After the initial worry of trying to carry incubating eggs for hundreds of miles and trying to keep them viable and alive for all that time had faded, I realized that, of course. I clenched my jaw, fighting to hide the surging embarrassment and linked anger from my own foolhardy rush to conclusions. ¡°Thank you. Please stay close enough to hear my commands.¡± I leapt to the next subject, wishing to leave behind my embarrassment and Sybil had the good grace to follow my command. Now, with my goal fixated once again on our inevitable escape from this area, away from any additional distractions, I channeled sonic magic to my throat and set my voice to echoing through the chamber, the assembled Alphas already listening and ready for my address. ¡°Our next goal¡­ is escape from the humans¡¯ lands.¡± Chapter 169 [Foire POV] Since Treel¡¯s death, all that Foire wanted was the next assignment. He¡¯d always just wanted the next thing to do, but now¡­ the quiet moments were the hardest, the longest, the most painful. The fight against the ¡°humans¡± had been good for him, since he¡¯d been constantly scouting to see where they could be, then going to the swarm to report on what he had found, and then, finally, blissfully, watching them be slaughtered. They¡¯d taken his mate from him and left him bereft, so he enjoyed watching their demise. After the victory, though¡­ the hollowness had returned. It had only been a day, but already the lethargy was settling deep into his bones, leaving him numb and unable to move. He wanted to find something else that mattered, something else to move, scout, fight, live, or die for, but the Alpha hadn¡¯t given him any new commands. So, Foire waited. He watched. He ached. And he. felt. nothing. The nothingness, the inability to stand, not caring that he was hungry, not caring that he was full, wanting to stand and do something or go somewhere, but even though he wanted anything else, he was left feeling wholly unable to even lift a hand, much less to stand. Foire was left as an empty corpse, bones picked over and left in the dirt, wanting to feel anything, even if it was the agony of watching Treel¡¯s blood paint the jungle floor again. Even so, he. felt. nothing. At least when Foire received commands, when the Alpha had something new for him to do, Foire was forced to act, and having someone else take the choice from him helped, at least a little. Foire leaned against the wall of the den, idly half-listening to the Alpha¡¯s commands as he wished to be something he wasn¡¯t. The Alpha was talking about something¨Cthe humans! Something new to take Foire¡¯s mind off of the dull present? No. Foire¡¯s hopes were cruelly dashed as the Alpha spoke of the strong human that had slaughtered dozens of the weaker keelish. Foire had watched that one, and it had been a marvel to see. It moved in a deadly, beautiful dance, and the blood of his fellow keelish had sprayed almost artistically through the air as its claws had cut through them effortlessly. Of course, the Alpha had quickly laid it low, though Foire had seen him sustain a serious blow before dispatching the butcher. There were more of them? The thought fought to incite some feeling, any feeling at all, in Foire, be it fear, excitement, anticipation, or disbelief, but he. felt. nothing. Dozens? No. Hundreds? More. Thousands? Definitely, but more still of those same powerful, impressive humans were coming to kill them. More of the proficient exterminators than keelish in the swarm were coming. One for every member of the swarm. They would be slaughtered to the last, their home spoiled and their friends left to rot and be fed on by the frogs. For a moment, that indignity sparked the barest hint of a reaction from him, but even before Foire could begin to be excited at the prospect of feeling, it was snuffed out, and once again, he. felt. nothing. The Alpha spoke about how the swarm was going to leave soon, something he called an ¡°exodus¡±, and the whole swarm would follow his command. The other Alphas, the weak ones, all looked at him and seemed a bit surprised by the command, but none were even moderately willing to proclaim dissent with the command. After all, Ashlani had just proven himself to be infinitely stronger than their old Alpha, and his strength brooked no dissent. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. The speech was beginning to wind down, as thankfully the true Alpha had no love for long speeches. Or maybe it would have been better that he stand up there and speak for days. His voice was magical, literally and otherwise, and allowing it to wash over Foire could potentially do something for him. Or nothing. Before Foire could continue to lose himself in his self-pity, Vefir sprinted close and began to hiss into Foire¡¯s ear. ¡°Come with me, now!¡± Then, before Foire had the opportunity to turn or try to stand, Vefir was off like a fleeing bird. With an assignment received, Foire could drag himself to his feet and begin to trot after his friend. Though Vefir was different from most other keelish in that he didn¡¯t love to hunt or even to hurt, that made him one of the best friends Foire could have. He didn¡¯t want Foire to act like normal, but instead made sure to help Foire out however and wherever he could, and spent time around Foire without making any demands on him. Strange that Foire could both desire and detest receiving orders, but his mind betrayed him every day, so he didn¡¯t think too deeply about it. ¡°Why? What¡¯s going on?¡± Foire found his voice as he easily caught up with his sprinting friend. ¡°The¡­ Your¡­ Treel¡¯s¡­ Egg¡­ Ready¡­ For¡­ You.¡± Foire¡¯s mind lethargically brought itself to bear on the disjointed words that Vefir was trying to communicate, but after a moment they snapped together into clarity. Before he could react to his newfound understanding, though, Vefir continued to speak. ¡°Go¡­ Ahead¡­ Don¡¯t¡­ Miss.¡± With a flare of his frills that Foire was sure Vefir didn¡¯t see, Foire sprinted ahead, immediately leaving Vefir behind. Foire knew that he moved preternaturally quickly, and at each turn that he had long since memorized, he willingly used the walls as a springboard to launch himself deeper and further ahead, occasionally leaping over a slow keelish who didn¡¯t hear the pounding footfalls echoing towards the den, his destination. It was all too long but much too short of a time before Foire stumbled into the den where a single, beautiful, perfect egg was rocking from within its shallow hole, and on its surface was a small tear. Foire stepped close, hovering over the shifting mound as the little one within fought to free itself of its ivory prison. Though he desperately wished and needed to help the last remnant of his mate, Foire knew that he couldn¡¯t, that he needed to allow it to fight free, to gain this initial victory and prove itself worthy and strong enough to join the swarm at large. It wasn¡¯t long before the snout fought free and a high pitched but fierce screech of challenge sounded out from the little one. Once the initial fight with the egg was won, Foire¡¯s child¡¯s victory was guaranteed and he felt a broad smile crack his face. The hatchling pushed its head out of the egg and slumped out of the egg as it recovered from the fight, from the escape, allowing Foire to see that his child, Treel¡¯s child, was a female. A wordless cry of hunger shook Foire from his emotional evaluation of his little girl, and he realized that he had neglected to bring her food. A failure at the first step! He began to whirl, ready to strike down the nearest keelish to feed his child, but was greeted by the sight of Ashlani, The Alpha. He had a scaled deer haunch over his shoulder, and proffered it to the panicking father. As Foire set the food down in front of his daughter and she began tearing into her first meal, Ashlani spoke, his voice sonorous and¡­ kind. ¡°The circumstances of her birth¡­ certainly are different from our own. But she is the first of my new swarm to be born, and she¡¯ll want for nothing.¡± His words echoed to silence, and Foire didn¡¯t respond, enraptured by his daughter¡¯s voracious feeding. ¡°Do you have a name for her?¡± Foire flared his frills, and after swallowing once, and then twice, he finally spoke. ¡°Trai.¡± His voice broke with emotion. With feeling. At last, Foire felt something, and everything all at once. Chapter 170 Foire was immediately smitten with his daughter and couldn¡¯t seem to be bothered to look at me, though I didn¡¯t care or even want him to. Though, looking at her, I wasn¡¯t sure how Trai would be able to learn how to work with other keelish since she was the only egg at the time and wouldn''t have a brood to grow with. But, I supposed that wasn¡¯t my issue to deal with. Though, she was born a child of two khatif, not keelish, and I was interested to watch and see how she might differ from a purely keelish hatchling. Even so, I did have something else to do while I was here. I quietly hummed, my voice laced with magic without having to speak individual words as I had learned over the past weeks. In having learned as much, I¡®d become much more willing to use the [Skill] in the first place, as merely repeating random words that I thought might be encouraging was, if not outright embarrassing, at least annoying. I didn¡¯t need to speak for [Nurturing Enunciation] to begin to function, so I instead merely hummed while in the proximity of keelish who could benefit from my visits. Due to my feeling uncomfortable, there had been only some few instances in which I¡¯d used the [Skill] over Joral¡¯s brood, but most frequently I had paid visits to this little egg, Trai¡¯s egg, and had nearly emptied my sonilphon in blessing her however I could. With a quick thought, I looked at the function of the [Skill]. [Those whose development is assisted and guided by Nurturing Enunciation gain Stats, Skills, Titles, and other benefits more easily until they have reached adulthood.] As my humming washed over Trai, she cocked her head up at me and watched me as my magical [Skill] washed over her before she softly echoed her own hum back at me. I felt a small smile crack my face as my frills as well as the scales around my neck vibrated from the power hidden behind my innocuous [Skill]. The little thing was adorable, her eyes large and her fangs almost too long for her mouth. She¡¯d slumped, exhausted, to the ground after she¡¯d eaten her fill, though she seemed energized and almost entranced by my voice now and began to sit up. Upon investigating the [Skill], I thought it noteworthy that its description made no mention of the [fetuses, infants and juveniles] growing to maturity any faster, and instead the benefits given by my [Skill] were instead focused on long-term growth, not short-term speed of maturation. Thus, I was reasonably certain that I could understand a little about the baseline rate of growth for a khatif hatchling through watching Trai. My planning and thoughts were torn apart by the simple joy of watching Foire¡¯s happiness at spending time with his little one. She was, funnily enough, more feisty than the even-keeled Treel or reserved Foire ever were, and she kept snapping at Foire whenever he reached a hand down or got too close to her. Even so, I could see the little sparks of contentment in her actions, as well as her fondness for her father. Before long, the hatchling gave in to the allure of sleep and her head settled onto the ground. Before ten seconds had passed, she was wholly unconscious and snoring. Foire lowered himself and curled mostly around Trai¡¯s vulnerable body, his snout placed right near her own. Looking at her, I wasn¡¯t sure, but I thought that she was quite a bit smaller than the other hatchlings we¡¯d seen, both my own brood, as well as Joral¡¯s, but I couldn¡¯t be sure if that was due to the fraught circumstances that led to her early incubation or her nature, or anything else. I felt somewhat confident in saying that khatif might have a longer development cycle than keelish, but this was the first I¡¯d seen and that was nothing more than a hunch. My little break with one of my elites was over, though, and I rolled my shoulders and returned to where I had left the rest of my subordinate Alphas waiting for my command. The happiness I felt seeing the joy of one of my khatif was quickly snuffed out by the frustrations that surged seeing the weak, lesser keelish. Ideally, with [Evolutionary Exemplar], I could begin to raise these¡­ disappointments to my level. Though the thought didn¡¯t initially come from myself, I agreed with the sentiment at my core. Mere keelish couldn¡¯t compare to khatif, and most khatif couldn¡¯t compare to a True Speaker, much less a High Speaker. If I could choose between one thousand keelish or one hundred khatif, the decision was simple, easy, and quick. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Now, prepare yourselves, for I will give you only one night¡¯s rest before we begin our escape.¡± My tone didn¡¯t brook any disagreement, and then, with a flick of my tail I dismissed the assembled keelish. As they filtered out of the den I called Arwa to me, and with a couple more of my elites, went out for a quick hunt. [Fen POV] Two days ago, Fen was sadly trudging through one of her mother¡¯s go-to foraging locations after her parents had sacrificed themselves to let her escape from the keelish (she wouldn¡¯t honor them with the name Saharliard)¡¯s attack. Maybe it was because of how sad she was, or maybe her thoughts on why the gods were so cruel at to let her see what a family was before tearing it away from her, but whatever the reason, she was too late to recognize the trap that had been set before her. For her. Before she could do anything, she found herself wrenched up by her leg to dangle in the air as she bleated piteously and thrashed wildly. Fen was nearly able to squirm out of the noose around her leg in time, but the hunter was too quick and immediately bound her body like a¡­ like a something. Fen cried out and screamed and thrashed, but to no avail. She was going to be eaten, just like her parents. Maybe this thing wouldn¡¯t be so cruel as to eat her alive, but Fen didn¡¯t think it would be so kind. Eventually, though, she did realize that this human didn¡¯t seem to want to eat her. Instead, she excitedly muttered under her breath, ¡°This one will be a great companion. She¡¯ll be with me as I grow to a True Speaker. I wonder how long it¡¯ll be before I can contract with her? I¡¯m not trained on how to Soulbind yet¡­¡± The idea of being a ¡°Soulbound companion¡± initially scared Fen, but before she could start to panic again, there was a message from the [System]: [New Quest: Form a companionship contract with Varali. Rewards: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +3, Telepathic Bond Skill.] Fen was curious¨Cwhat did all of this mean? She stopped struggling so much and simply allowed this human¡­ Varali, she assumed, to continue hauling her towards their unknown destination. Eventually, however, Fen began to be overwhelmed by the cloying, iron smell of blood. So much of it that it was all she could smell or even sense, and, almost subconsciously she began to thrash once again. Before long, the human dropped her unceremoniously and the painful thud of falling to the ground woke her from her stupor. Looking around, Varali had brought her to a village where dozens of people were talking to her, so many and so loud that Fen couldn¡¯t understand with her sensitive ears, but in her absence, something must have happened. The humans were shouting, crying, and from inside of many of the houses came the smell of blood and death. Before Fen could do anything, Varali sprinted down a street. As best as she could in her bound state, Fen numbly followed Varali, supposing her to be her best chance of survival, what with the surrounding humans eyeing her somewhat angrily. When she finally could find and approach the girl, Fen could hear her mumbling some Veushten prayer, something from the Veratocracy that Fen couldn¡¯t be bothered to learn. Then, ¡°Father, I¡¯m sorry. I was stupid. You could have run. You should have run, or stayed with Mother¡­ It¡¯s all my fault. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry.¡± On the table were two bodies, savaged by the unmistakable jaws of keelish Suddenly, it clicked. This girl lost her family to the Saharliard, no, keelish, just like me. Almost involuntarily, Fen approached the girl and gently nuzzled her neck, and, almost subconsciously, the girl wrapped her arms around her new companion as she wept bitterly. Now, two days later, Fen stood nearby while Varali tried to convince her village to go to war. Chapter 171 High Colonel Mualtir di¡¯Thnufir: High Lord Leialt Alniyh is only half a day¡¯s travel away from Fort di¡¯Thnufir. Upon his arrival, he will accompany whatever team you assign on your mission, and with his Bound beasts, they will have no issue in wholly annihilating the entirety of the murderous pests. Afterwards, with his expertise, it may be that we will be able to learn how it was that such an advanced warren of the beasts was able to propagate themselves whilst within our borders. As you should well know, the High Lord suffers from a nearly intolerably high opinion of himself. Please do ensure that he has no reason to lodge a complaint with the military after his time spent with your soldiers, as I will be forced to mediate over the inevitable spurious legal proceedings. As always, I hope you are well, my student. -Missive from High Veran Salmar to the garrison at Fort di¡¯Thnufir As I¡¯d commanded, after just one day, the swarm had prepared to leave our home and begin our escape. I couldn¡¯t say how many or how soon the ¡°Veratocracy¡±¡¯s retribution would come, but I knew it would only be a matter of time, and I showed no hesitance nor willingness to give an extra moment¡¯s preparation to any members of the swarm. Before we left, the entire den echoed with activity, keelish rushing to and fro and snapping at each other when another¡¯s preparations interfered with their own. Frankly speaking, I was surprised that there was as much panic among the swarm as there was, as the keelish didn¡¯t have any real ¡°belongings¡±. Those among my own brood and pack had begun to collect a couple little things that meant something to them, like Took with a couple of bones or fangs from things she had killed, Vefir had collected a handful of stones that he thought were pretty, and Shemira had a series of scales that she had collected from whichever keelish had fully succumbed to her mental influence. So far as I knew, she refused to lay with any of them, just considering the hoodwinked males¡¯ scales to be a marker of her magical prowess, but I didn¡¯t inquire very deeply about it. Sybil just shook her head disappointedly when I¡¯d asked, and I didn¡¯t care enough to dive any deeper into the other female¡¯s rationale. For me, after thinking about it for a little while, I decided to roll up and tie a couple of the wolfstag hides, and then a couple antlers from a wolfstag skull I¡¯d cleaned and displayed in my den. I had finally decided to introduce true tool use and creation among my swarm, and the antlers would serve as rudimentary spearheads, arrowtips, or knives. Truthfully, I couldn¡¯t be sure if the antlers would serve even as well as a blade made of flint or even ordinary stone, but I was sure that further civilization of my people would only serve us in the long run. After all, this journey was supposed to be leading us to a new land, one where we could live uncontested and fully establish ourselves as a people. With my high aspirations consciously decided upon, I rolled my shoulders and looked down at my luggage. As I stood looking at the little pile, just rudimentary bedding, and uncarved tool materials, I couldn¡¯t help but scoff at myself. This was all that I had to show of my half-year of life as a keelish? Just an armful of junk. Instead of allowing myself to continue to wallow in my frustrations and unhappiness, though, instead I looked out into the den, where dozens of my bustling subordinates continued in their mad dash to follow my escape plans. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! I let myself smile, and then stepped out of my quarters to give advice and a steady presence to my people. Immediately, my subordinates bowed to my presence and waited for my command. Though a part of me wanted to languish in the blind worship, I recognized and knew that I would be much more helpful as a calming, guiding presence. So, I raised my hands to allow the keelish all around me to return to their duties while I stepped closer to Sybil to ask how I could help. ¡ª---- Though it had taken convincing Sybil that I could, in fact, be helpful without weakening my position as the Swarm¡¯s Alpha, eventually I was able to walk around and convince petty squabblers that they would prefer to shut their useless mouths and get rest instead of arguing again about who would leave first come the next evening. These lesser keelish immediately succumbed to my will and went to rest after my first sentence. Finally, I was able to retire to my quarters, where a full two thirds of my bedding was going to be left behind. And my sands! I indulged in a long bath while I wondered when I would be able to find enough of these sands to bathe in again after we left our burrow. And where would we sleep? Just under the stars, or should we take the time to try to take shelter from the elements? Dozens of thoughts crossed my mind as I finished my bath and prepared to lay down to sleep, but before I did, I stepped out of my quarters and found Sybil locked in conference with Etra and Cree. ¡°Thank you for your hard work, I know you have been the most burdened of the swarm with my announcement today.¡± Sybil, in a rare fit of pique, was quick to respond, ¡°Why would we need to know where to hunt or sleep or drink or cross rivers or any other of the countless numbers of variables that go into moving nine hundred and forty-two keelish across an undefined distance to a supposed divinely promised land?¡± Though she fought to keep her tone level, Sybil was obviously, and rightly, upset with the Flamecalling I had brought down on her without express warning. ¡°All the planning we can do for now is complete, Beta. It¡¯s time to sleep.¡± I wrapped an arm around her and began to guide Sybil to our quarters. ¡°Thank you, Etra and Cree. Rest well, for at sunset we will leave this all behind.¡± Sybil¡¯s assistants bowed in admission of my command and walked away while disregarding Sybil¡¯s plaintive requests for additional planning and structure in preparation for any number of contingencies she had already considered and worried she hadn¡¯t yet thought of. She continued to grumble angrily at me as I gently forced her into the bath and set it to massaging every inch of her tensed body. Before three minutes had passed, Sybil¡¯s focus was flagging, and I helped her rise out of the bath and stumble over to the pelts, where she immediately succumbed to sleep. Unconsciousness was quick to claim me as well, and my dreams were plagued by the feeling of being chased, of being hunted. The feeling enraged me, of something considering me to be prey, and the time to wake came both too quickly, and not quickly enough. Even so, it was time to go. Chapter 172 WARNING: much of this chapter is super [Skill] focused, since I don¡¯t think there¡¯s ever been a full run-down of every [Skill] and its evolutionary possibilities as of yet. Here, there finally is. Of course, throughout it all are Ashlani¡¯s thoughts sprinkled around, so, yeah. If that kinda crunchy element isn¡¯t of interest to you, you can skim from after Trai and Foire¡¯s interactions. There had been no reason for me to expect anything different, but the keelish were unfocused, undisciplined, and unhappy as I guided them to leave our den as night fell. As the night continued, more and more of my subordinates wanted to range off to see if there was something interesting to hunt, or if there was still that relic of the past, or whatever other reckless action related to a foolish thought crossed their minds. Fortunately enough, between Joral and his wolfstags and their handlers, the majority of the keelish stayed close enough to stay totally safe, while those foolish enough to wander off could be left behind, for all I cared. They would only weaken the swarm. I wanted Foire to do the majority of the scouting, given his magical proclivity towards it, but Trai had not grown more independent overnight. She could almost kind of crawl, and anyone who¡¯d come close to her knew how sharp her little fangs were, but she was a true infant, unlike any we keelish had had before. Nobody could say exactly how long it would take before she was able to walk by herself, but until then, someone would need to carry her. When I¡¯d approached Foire to ask who would be able to do so, his answer had been succinct. ¡°I will. She is my responsibility, and mine alone.¡± ¡°And no one else will ever be her parent. If I need you elsewhere, or if you need to do something for Trai that she cannot be present for, though, please trust me to keep her safe.¡± Foire had taken several steps in silence after I¡¯d said that, but after a short time, he¡¯d flared his frills only barely enough to be seen. ¡°Only if it is you, Sybil, or Vefir.¡± Then, he¡¯d returned back into his personal little world with his daughter, making teasing snaps at her with his jaws, his maw more than enough to swallow her whole. To his and my contentment, though, little Trai never began to fear her father, and only took his menacing jaws and clacking fangs as a challenge, her own little squeaks of valor doubling as infantile giggles. As I had refocused myself on our journey, our easy but groundeating lope swiftly leaving miles behind us, I found something to occupy my mind with that wasn¡¯t the minutia of the swarm. My [Skills], and their required evolutions. [Skill: Adversary; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated their determination to conquer. This Skill grants an aura that incites weakness, aggression, and paranoia in those the Skill¡¯s holder has deemed an enemy. This aura allows the Skill holder to more easily break the morale of those targeted. This Skill can evolve. Skill evolution requirements: Defeat a foe with a greater Stat total than yourself, without substantial support from any other creature. Progress: 6/10.] Before, I¡¯d looked at this as a mostly simple and quick [Skill] to evolve, but now, I couldn¡¯t think of many creatures other than True or even High Speakers that would have a higher Stat total than me. Long gone were the days of a terrorbird outclassing me completely. I supposed that it was somewhat heartening that I only needed to defeat these foes, not kill them, but I didn¡¯t know anything friendly to me that had a higher Stat total either. I shook my head and continued reviewing my [Skills]. [Skill: Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust; when the Skill user deems it necessary, a mental state that veers away from absolute aggression and inclines itself instead towards a greater understanding of combat will envelop the mind. The Skill user will still experience a heightened desire for battle, yet this desire will be tempered by a pragmatic understanding of effective action. This skill can evolve. Conditions: evolution of Skills Adversary to Nemesis, True Dominance to Absolute Dominance, and Pack Tactics to Swarm Superiority required for further evolution. Acquire Skill: Imperial Bearing. Completed requirement: acquisition of Skill: Imperial Bearing.] My tried and true companion. The more I used this [Skill], the more natural it became, especially since it had evolved this far and no longer so completely consumed my mind with a need to kill. In order to evolve it, though¡­ I didn¡¯t know how many tiers of [Skill] were between [Adversary] and [Nemesis], though I suspected [Absolute Dominance] and [Swarm Superiority] were the next steps for [True Dominance] and [Pack Tactics] respectively. Thinking of those two [Skills], I focused on them next. [Skill: True Dominance; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated and begun to perfect the ability to force others to obey and submit to the Skill¡¯s holder. Those who have gained this Skill are beginning to understand the path of the tyrant, and this Skill assists them in that path. This Skill grants an improved aura that incites loyalty, obedience, and fear in others. This aura begins to force even those with the strongest will to submit their will to the holder, and allows the holder to more easily dominate those who stand before them, even without violence. This Skill can evolve. Skill evolution requirements: assert and establish dominance over five leaders of groups of at least 100 individuals.] [Skill: Pack Tactics; a passive skill granted to some leaders whose position comes with a physiological change and/or evolution, especially if their evolution is tied to combat and military guidance. This Skill blesses the holder with an innate understanding of command, allowing for clearer communication on the battlefield, as well as a rudimentary understanding of tactical advantage. Skill Evolution requirements; command 10 large scale battles, each ending in the Skill holder¡¯s foes¡¯ complete defeat. Note: to qualify as a ¡°large scale battle¡±, the Skill holder must be in command of at least 50 troops. Progress: 5/10.] These two [Skills] worked somewhat together, but against each other, as well as with [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke]. With all three, though, I suspected that the greater the swarm I controlled, the more territory I claimed, and the more ¡°Keel¡± I became, the easier it would become to evolve these ¡°war¡± [Skills]. With a quick glance over [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke], I noted the differences in the three requirements for evolution: Asserting dominance, my foes¡¯ complete defeat, and my foes¡¯ complete rout. [Skill: Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke; an active Skill granted to those who have earned and are granted the innate ability and right to rule, and will use that ability to conquer. The use of this Skill imbues the user with the ability to lead their followers into battle, and has two effects. Effect one: gives a 10% bonus to all Stats of all followers while under the Skill user¡¯s command. Effect two: give a 5% debilitation of all Stats of all foes who hear the Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke. This Skill can evolve. Evolution requirements: lead a group of subordinates numbering at least 100 into battle, and emerge victorious in the form of a complete rout five times. Progress: 1/5] Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Moving down the list, [Evolutionary Foresight] was one of the few [Skills] I had that I actually believed when it said that it couldn¡¯t evolve. As a matter of fact, I¡¯d never gotten a full [System] explanation of the [Skill] before. With that thought, more information appeared before me. [Skill: Evolutionary Foresight; a passive Skill granted to all System users that permits them to view the requirements for further evolutions. This Skill cannot evolve.] About what I expected, though still disappointing. The rest of my supposedly unable to evolve [Skills], even [Exceptional Individual], I suspected could evolve further. [Skill: Exceptional Individual; at every ¡°growth period¡±, or, in the Keelish race¡¯s case, every 6 days until sexual maturity is reached, the Skill holder will receive bonus Stats. This Skill cannot evolve.] Again, unsurprising and somewhat disappointing, though I long recognized the immense influence this additional growth I¡¯d sustained had on me. [Exceptional Individual] evolved, though, could become any number of things, so far as I knew, since its stated effect of granting bonuses in stats to me whenever I¡¯d hit a new level of maturation had long run its course. On the other hand, did I think that [Evolutionary Exemplar] would change in anything other than scope at this point? The fact that, with this [Skill], my mere presence could spur others into evolution and further growth, and an additional evolution to it could be¡­ insanely impactful. [Skill: Imperial Bearing; a passive Skill granted to those who have earned and are granted the innate ability and right to rule. This Skill grants a heightened ability to resist the influence of any Skills, Titles, Occupations, Races, and any other ability that may affect the Skill holder¡¯s ability to control themself. Additionally, every Skill, Title, Occupation, Race, and any other ability that the Skill holder has that influences others is heightened in power, scope, and proficiency. This Skill cannot evolve.] [Skill: Innate Leadership; a passive skill granted to all leaders whose position comes with a physiological change and/or evolution, such as Alphas. This Skill grants that those of the same species will more easily engender a greater fondness and subservience towards the Skill¡¯s holder. This Skill cannot evolve.] [Innate Leadership] seemed mostly to be a facet of [Imperial Bearing] at this point, and I wondered if eventually the original [Skill] would disappear and be consumed by an evolved version of [Imperial Bearing]. [Skill: Improved Vision--improves clarity and range of vision by 100%. This skill can evolve. Skill Evolution requirements: Use exclusively light-based vision for 18 days. Progress: 0/18] [Skill: Pain Tolerance; Passive Skill that allows the User to ignore pain to a certain degree. NOTE: The ability to ignore the feeling of discomfort does not allow for the Skill holder to ignore the repercussions of the damages sustained causing said pain. This Skill cannot evolve.] These two [Skills] seemed so unimpressive after my magical, amazing [Skills] that I nearly blitzed right past them, but I forced myself to recognize how important both had been to me, as [Improved Vision] allowed me to actually see, and [Pain Tolerance] helped me to stay effective in a fight. Looking at the long-term requirements for [Improved Vision]¡¯s evolution, I reluctantly changed my perception to my ¡°normal¡± vision and immediately stumbled over a root in the darkness. Nievtala bless me with patience¡­ Finally, though, I looked at my ¡°true¡± magical [Skills]. [Current Organ: Fathomless Sonilphon; an exceptionally advanced version of the rare magic manipulating organ, Sonilphon. This organ is developed by those who have moved past elementary understanding of what sonic magic can do, and are understanding what sonic magic is. Due to evolution, there is an additional +10 bonus to the Magic Stat and a +5 bonus to the intelligence Stat. The Fathomless Sonilphon¡¯s reserves for magic are expanded greatly from that of the Profound Sonilphon, and the Fathomless Sonilphon¡¯s rate of ambient magic conversion to sonic attributed magic within the organ is enhanced beyond that of the Profound Sonilphon. Additionally, any development of a new Skill related to sonic magic and the Sonliphon will be rewarded with bonus Stats. This organ can evolve. Requirements: Unqualified, 0/2] [Skill: Crippling Cry; a skill granted to those whose mastery of sonic magic has grown beyond the obvious and immediate, now allowing the resonance of their magic to more deeply influence and harm even the most hardened and prepared. The initial use of sonic magic for most is a simple sonic blast, and Crippling Cry serves as an evolution to the simple and mundane. Crippling Cry sends a blast of sonic magic in the direction of the user¡¯s choosing, and easily serves to unsteady, weaken, and, in extreme cases, kill outright. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Kill 5 creatures directly and solely with Crippling Cry. Progress: 0/5] [Skill: Debilitating Diatribe; allows the Skill holder to use their words and lace them with magic to sap energy, excitement, and morale, as well as to occasionally incite obedience in the listener. Once a Skill holder holds both the Skill Debilitating Diatribe and Innervating Address, the holder can discern which individual listening to give either effect. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Use Debilitating Diatribe as the primary catalyst for the surrender in a hostile force of at least 100. Progress: 0/1. [Skill: Innervating Address; a Skill granted to those whose mastery of sonic magic has grown to allow them to use their words laced with magic to grant greater energy and confidence in the listener. Once a Skill holder holds both the Skill Debilitating Diatribe and Innervating Address, the holder can discern which individual listening to give either effect. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Use Innervating Address to significantly raise morale of a force of at least 200 while in battle. Progress: 0/1 [Skill: Nurturing Enunciation; a skill granted to those whose mastery of sonic magic has grown beyond the obvious and immediate, now allowing the resonance of their magic to influence and assist even the most vulnerable and weak. Those whose development is assisted and guided by Nurturing Enunciation gain Stats, Skills, Titles, and other benefits more easily until they have reached adulthood. Note: this Skill can only be used on fetuses, infants, and juveniles. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Use Nurturing Enunciation to more than double what would be the Stat total of a creature. Progress: 0/50. [Skill: Quaking Claw; an active Skill that sends a concentrated flow of sonic magic to a specific location. The sonic magic¡¯s vibrations cause the affected area to vibrate in a way that facilitates cutting and tearing. When paired with a sharp extremity or sharpened held tool, Quaking Claw will show its greatest effectiveness. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Hidden.] Still no idea on how to evolve my Sonilphon, though I supposed that wasn¡¯t surprising. [Crippling Cry] would be interesting to use during this journey, since plenty of weak prey wouldn¡¯t have been scared off by our nearby home and I might actually be able to evolve this one. I internally shelved the idea next to [Improved Vision] for constant use. With [Debilitating Diatribe], [Innervating Address], and [Nurturing Enunciation], I simply needed to look for more opportunities to use them, and I internally cursed myself for forgetting to use [Innervating Address] during our fight against the humans. Suns burned fool for forgetting such a simple part of myself. I also wondered how using [Debilitating Diatribe] to force surrender in a hostile force would interact with completing the requirements for [True Dominance], [Pack Tactics], and [Conqueror''s Rebuke]. As I wondered, an additional notification from the [System] flashed for my attention. [The Administrative Body has deemed it unnecessary to divulge that information.] With a wry, almost familiar feeling from the Administrative Body shutting down my curiosity, I focused myself entirely on not tripping and falling while walking in nearly perfect darkness. Chapter 173 The arrival of Private Varali served to guide us more directly and immediately to our goal, and her continued presence among the garrison has been positively impactful, especially for the youngest and least hardened of our soldiers. If I am to be removed from command, I do request that her enlistment, though earlier than typically permitted, remain valid. After all she has been through, I do not think that her parents¡¯ hopes of her enrollment in the Red Abbey are feasible. -Report from High Colonel Mualtir di¡¯Thnufir to the Synod after the return of Lierthan¡¯s cohort. [Varali POV] ¡°No matter what I said or how I explained it, they just wouldn¡¯t listen to me! We can¡¯t let those worthless beasts live another day, not after¨C¡± Varali¡¯s voice caught as she ranted at her little companion. After struggling against herself for a moment, Varali forced herself to continue, ¡°after what they did to Mom and Dad. To your Mom and Dad too! They¡¯re monsters, and they need to be slaughtered to the last!¡± At the last words, Varali kicked a nearby dead branch, but it didn¡¯t crack satisfyingly as she¡¯d wanted it to, but merely bent and Varali found herself getting even angrier as nothing. went. right! Sparks flickered to life around her as a testament to her strength in Flamespeaking and the depth of her frustrations, and Varali growled a string of curses to herself as she continued stalking along as fast as she could manage. To her chagrin, amusement, and frustration in equal amounts, Fen began to parrot back at Varali her curses in her mind before adding her own, both more childish and somehow dirtier than Varali¡¯s. Gutter slurper! God-loving butthole! Toenail clipping eater! Orphan diddler! That last one¡­ brought no small amount of believability to Fen¡¯s insistence that she¡¯d been an orphan living on the streets of the Godless Hordes¡¯s capital of Harandal, and what she said about what the orphans could suffer at the hands of a corrupted and evil adult was enough to turn Varali¡¯s stomach. A deluded deer, special or not, wouldn¡¯t have those things ever cross their mind. Unfortunately, Varali herself knew nothing about Harandal, so she couldn¡¯t ask any real questions about the city to verify further truths. Again and more keenly than ever, Varali felt the loss of her wise, educated, powerful mother. Her kind, understanding, and even-tempered father. Before she could fully lose herself in her mourning, though, she slapped her cheeks and refocused on her present path and circumstances. She¡¯d learned over the past several days that Fen could understand words that Varali thought to the deer, but talking was better, more natural. Even if Fen couldn¡¯t herself talk out loud. I¡¯m sorry. I wasn¡¯t strong enough to convince them. Varali barely held back the screams of frustration that threatened to bubble up within her throat. Instead, she allowed herself to stomp further along as she took several deep, calming breaths. ¡°No, it¡¯s not your fault. You¡¯re just a baby, so I would have needed to convince them, not you.¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. But my new magic [Skills] didn¡¯t do anything! They¡¯re supposed to be super cool and powerful, but those boneheads still didn¡¯t listen to anything you had to say! They¡¯re stupid. STUPID! And again, Fen descended into a litany of her swears, and again, Varali couldn¡¯t help herself but feel a smile begin to crack her face and tug at her lips as she listened to her companion¡¯s foul mouth. As the little feeling of happiness began to rise unbidden in her heart, Fen¡¯s voice suddenly changed. I like it more when you smile. You smiled a lot when you caught me, and I think that smiling and laughing is better than crying and screaming. The little fawn was prancing alongside Varali, her bronze scales glinting in the afternoon¡¯s suns¡¯ light. When she spoke of happiness, Fen leaned against Varali¡¯s leg and nuzzled the human. With her pleasant feelings brought to the forefront of her mind, though, Varali felt her spine stiffen and she continued walking, though more woodenly than before. ¡°Don¡¯t you miss your parents? Do you not mourn them? Or are you too stupid to even remember them?¡± Varali regretted it as soon as the stupid thought left her mouth and unwittingly stopped in her tracks. Fen took the caustic words remarkably maturely as she stepped in front of Varali and began to speak. Well, in my past life, I never knew them. Mighta died, or mighta just left me cause they didn¡¯t want me. Dunno, and don¡¯t miss them. But these ones? I only knew them for a little while. Might as well have been strangers. But they died for me, trying to let me escape. They put themselves in the mouths of those keelish to try to save me. So yeah, I remember them. They¡¯re the only people in the whole world who have ever looked out for me like that. I cried over them, and I¡¯m sure I will again. If there¡¯s a life after this, and I figure there is since I¡¯m here again, I hope that they can see my tears and how much they meant to me. I also hope they see me laugh and jump and grow and live. I hope they see that their sacrifice lets me live a good life, not a sad one. Fen, the tiny fawn with huge eyes, looked up at Varali with severe honesty as she spoke. The little face seemed to age as she finished, and though the tone of Fen¡¯s mental voice remained that of a cheeky child, Varali felt the weight of a life already lived in those words. Then, after Fen¡¯s little speech, she leaned forward and nuzzled her head against Varali¡¯s knee. Initially, Varali choked over the words, but she forced herself to speak. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Fen. I knew that what I said was stupid, but I couldn¡¯t stop myself.¡± Then, with her apology completed, Varali changed the subject. ¡°So, we¡¯re going this way, and that¡¯s so we can meet up with whoever it is that the town sent the windword to. I think maybe Stonestep? I¡¯m not too sure though, so we¡¯ll have to figure out if they¡¯ve passed the word on. I¡¯m sure that we¡¯ll be able to convince someone there to come and kill all these keelish before they kill anyone else!¡± Sure, sounds like fun! But first¡­ catch me! Then, without another word, Fen darted off through the trees, following a small game trail away from the thoroughfare that they had been following thus far. With a force of internal effort, Varali didn¡¯t scream at the flighty deer and instead tried to find some small part of happiness within her. After all, she would soon find someone to come slaughter the entirety of the keelish, and then her parents would be avenged. Maybe then she¡¯d stop seeing their dead bodies in her dreams. Chapter 174 My brief visit to the New Empire complete and the Republic of the Indlovu¡¯s city-states behind me, I made my way into Shandr once more. In the years since my last visit, nothing had seemed to have changed. Still, the city was surrounded by magically reinforced stone walls that are constantly manned, and still, at the first sight of any strangers, the men and women tending the farms that surround the walls flee back to the relative safety behind walls. On the surface, a small, self-sufficient city with nervous, weak citizens without anything worth taking from them. Those with any level of political savvy, though, realized that Shandr has depths that belie its first impression, just like its current and long time mayor, Drolick. -From the seventeenth entry of the epistolary travel journal of Kayuktuk the Landlocked After three days¡¯ travel, the swarm began to accustom ourselves to our new lifestyle. As much as I wanted to press on and travel for over half of the day, we couldn¡¯t begin to manage to do so without starving the vast majority. My ever-more foggy memories of my human life recalled being able to travel much longer in a day and the thought of our apparent inferiority rankled me. In no way was I inferior¨CI cut the thought out deliberately. I knew that I was young, and inexperienced, and, perhaps most importantly, my fierce but unintelligent swarm hadn¡¯t had any clue or plans about this traveling. Beyond that, I knew that the Viertaali tribe were fewer than 400 in number, and I¡¯d grown up living a nomadic lifestyle. My keelish, however, had begun to grow fat and lazy in our successes. There was enough food, and when it began to run low, Redael had always had a plan. The food was easy to hunt, and if anything threatened us, Redael had always had a solution. Everything was perfect for us to simply exist, and while every one of the keelish in the swarm was as large and strong as the biggest ones I¡¯d seen as a human, we weren¡¯t hardened. Rulac had come to me after the first night spent walking, not even trying to hide his exhaustion and gasping, ¡°So, Alpha¡­ When can¡­ we go to sleep? I¡¯m¡­ done.¡± I¡¯d spent the night with my vision set to normal view, so when I¡¯d strained my eyes, I could barely see the first hints of the suns¡¯ rise in the east coloring the sky. ¡°It¡¯ll be a little while. Keep moving.¡± At that, Rulac had stepped closer to me, and while he still stood quite a bit shorter than I, it felt as if he was leaning down conspiratorially. ¡°If you keep pushing us like this, you won¡¯t be Alpha of nearly so many keelish.¡± ¡°You do not threaten me with insubordination and attempted takeover!¡± There wasn¡¯t a single moment¡¯s clear thought before my voice raised enough for those surrounding us, mostly my elites, to whip their heads towards me, ready to follow my every command. I didn¡¯t care, and stepped closer, menacing Rulac, and he raised both hands in an attempt to placate me. ¡°No, you misunderstand me. Nobody in the swarm will ever challenge you the way you did Redael. Nobody.¡± His tone was matter-of-fact and I felt my raised scales on my hackles begin to lower as Rulac continued, ¡°But if you don¡¯t let the keelish rest and recover and eat, then they¡¯ll run off. At least half of ¡®em don¡¯t really think of you as an ¡®Alpha¡¯ right now, just a tyrant strong enough to kill Redael. If they don¡¯t begin to think and believe you¡¯re really their Alpha, then they won¡¯t follow you.¡± Rulac paused, allowing me to think for just a moment, before finishing, ¡°Up to you though. I¡¯m on your side forever.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I shook my head, but couldn¡¯t help but flare my frills in acknowledgement of his point as I looked around at my elites, much less the dregs of the swarm. First, I looked over at Foire, who stood nearby and I noted Trai sleeping fitfully in his arms, her nostrils twitching as she dreamed. Foire looked at me, and I understood his visceral need to keep his daughter full and healthy. Next was Sybil, and though she hid it well, she was exhausted and obviously unable to function at her usual top level. Even Shemira, large and strong as she was, refrained from teasing Vefir, Sybil, or even Joral, who had long been a favorite subject of hers. The only member of the swarm who wasn¡¯t obviously flagging was Took, who had doggedly carried on without any obvious change in attitude or energy. ¡°At true suns up, those who wish to hunt can do so. I¡¯ll lead one pack, and Took another. If you wish to eat, I suggest you participate.¡± In response, I¡¯d led Arwa and a couple others, Brutus, Wisterl, Percral, Ilne, and Katre, on a hunt. There wasn¡¯t any interesting prey or geography that I cared to note nearby, but we were lucky enough to stumble upon a small herd, seven, of terrorbirds. Though we were matched in number by the large birds, Brutus easily charged into one and laid it low as it screeched for support, and the rest of my little pack followed suit. Most interestingly, though, was how Percral and Arwa worked together. I¡¯d never thought much about it, but both had access to lightning magic, and they easily complimented each other in battle. Percral¡¯s magic was much less developed and controlled than Arwa¡¯s, but with both working together, arcs of electricity danced between and through four of the other six terrorbirds. Since all but two of the terrorbirds were laid low by our initial assault, I gestured for Wisterl, Ilne, and Katre to continue towards the little herd, and Wisterl, as always, shifted into an unnerving blend of frenetic energy and efficient slaughter. With two steps she buried the beaks of two twitching terrorbirds into the dirt, then, with an easy slash of her jaws, Wisterl flayed the muscle from one of the terrorbird¡¯s thighs. It flopped to the ground, screeching in agony as the combat aficionado leaned down and bit through its throat and most of its neck. Looking disappointed, Wisterl left the terrorbird to its terrified gurgles as it bled out and watched Ilne and Katre¡¯s hunt. Though nowhere near as impactful as Wisterl¡¯s own movements, the two females had long since evolved to becoming khatif, and with their strength compared to the terrorbird¡¯s mounting panic, they quickly dispatched the flightless avian. With my own lack of participation, I contributed by carrying Arwa¡¯s contribution back to the gathered swarm before letting Sybil decide which meat would go where. I took my own serving and settled to the side as I chewed over the fleshy thigh and thought about how best to lead the swarm onward, finally deciding to slow our pace and then, if possible, beginning to scale up our speed as the swarm acclimated ourselves to this new normal. That was, of course, when complications began to arise. Chapter 175 [Took POV] Took had long become accustomed to being the largest around, and she liked that. It helped her to feel like there was at least something she was in control of. Sure, Sybil was smarter and a real Beta to the Alpha, but Took was taller and stronger than her! Foire was faster and a better scout, but Took could haul much more of the hunt back to the swarm. Yes, the Alpha was stronger than her, and he could use magic too, but at least she was bigger than him! There was always a balance, and in at least one thing, Took was better than the rest. And then, Rulac had changed. She wasn¡¯t sure what exactly the Alpha did to do it, but he had been able to make those of his ¡°elites¡±, as he called them, become bigger, stronger, faster, and better. Even so, though, it had been limited to those he trusted most. Only the best were worthy of becoming better like she had. None of the ¡°new¡± keelish had evolved like the elites, and Took had taken pride in her special-ness. And then, Rulac had changed. Before Rulac evolved, he had been annoying but competent. Obsessed with rutting (he always smelled of sex), and seemingly lazy. A competent leader, and able to adjust to changes. Mouthy and arrogant, but widely agreed to be a great complement to Redael¡¯s intensity. And, for one of the unevolved, he was probably the strongest, even stronger than Redael, Took thought. Better than Took in those ways, as well as being more experienced than her in every way. However, she was bigger, stronger, taller, and faster than him. And then, Rulac had changed. Now, he was taller than her, stronger than her, faster than her, bigger than her. He was still the same mouthy, arrogant, lazy, tail-chasing fool he had always been, but now¡­ he was also better than her in every way. The very thought enraged Took to her core, and she couldn¡¯t stand to be near him. Ever since she had begun to reach adulthood, she¡¯d never been wholly outclassed in every possible way. And then, Rulac had changed. At the end of the day¡¯s travels, it was finally time where Took could do something she wanted to instead of simply stepping forward with the rest of the swarm. With a pleased deep breath, she strode out of the gathered keelish, ready to go on a hunt, to finally actually do something and contribute to the wellbeing of the swarm, when Rulac stepped towards her. Though she continued walking without acknowledging him, the worthless, rank male continued to approach. ¡°Hey there leggy! Where you going?¡± Took didn¡¯t give him the satisfaction of any response. Instead, she simply continued walking into the surrounding jungle. With a long, low whistle, she called for whoever of the keelish she¡¯d always hunted with to come with if they so wanted. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°On one of your hunts, right? I know that whistle. I wanna come.¡± Took wanted to lash out, to say something about how she¡¯d rather be stuck hunting bullfrog spawn than to let him come with her, but she realized that his presence would be a boon, even if just knowing he was there would set her teeth on edge. It cost her something, but Took flared her frills in assent before continuing to walk onward. She slowed her step enough to allow any willing participants for the hunt to gather, but even then, Took didn¡¯t stop herself. Before long, a full pack of ten, her preferred number, had gathered. Looking over them, Took was unhappy to see neither Foire nor Silf. Not even Caza or Kee either. Since the hunts were always in a new area where everything was unfamiliar, the best scouts were a premium commodity, plus only one of the good ones did better work than even two of the less trained ones. Took restrained herself from cursing and instead, with her practiced signals, commanded three of the weakest of the pack to be on lookout and search duty. On the other hand, Brutus had come, as he always did, and Rulac was an absolute monster on his own. There were two of the sneakier keelish here in Ilne and Friish, so they were assigned to flanking anything they found. The other two would float, while Took herself would join the front line with Brutus and Rulac. Just before she was ready to begin the hunt in earnest, Rulac¡¯s self-important voice interrupted from just alongside her. ¡°So, what are we doing here?¡± ¡°Silence.¡± Took, without thinking further about it, whipped her tail at Rulac¡¯s back, and though he was partially successful at dodging her chastisement, there was a satisfying thunk of her tail whapping against his flank. He opened his mouth, about to say something else, and Took was forced to interrupt him and speak more. ¡°We are silent on my hunts. Shut up or leave.¡± Rulac took a second to understand, but unfortunately, he listened to her request and, with a broad, patronizing grin, nodded severely. Her decision made and her leadership clear, Took again signed out the commands to each of the keelish, making sure that each understood their position and responsibilities. Brutus struggled to understand the commands, but after repeating them twice, he was the last to flare his frills in assent. Took appreciated that in him, and noted that in comparison Rulac¡¯s literal superiority to her was only part of the problem with the massive male¨Che refused to slow down, to admit when he didn¡¯t know something, or just not make an insufferable ass of himself. The hunt began, and it continued in the same, annoying, disappointing fashion it had been thus far¨Cno luck in finding any good prey, and the entire time, Rulac stuck so close to Took that she wanted to scream. Nearly an hour passed and, with the suns setting, still there was no sign of any good prey. Normally, Took would have been fine and able to bear that with grace, but Rulac¡¯s constant presence ground away at her nerves, at her patience, and at her mind. Finally, the pack stumbled across a pair of scaled deer and quickly dispatched them. Barely enough to feed those on the hunt. Before Took could even begin to curse to herself, though, Rulac¡¯s voice wore away at the last thread of her sanity. ¡°See that¡¯s why you shouldn¡¯t be leading this pack on a hunt! Just wait for me back with the rest, and I¡¯ll show you what you¡¯re really good for, leggy! I swear, I¡¯ll make you¨C¡± Those were the last words out of his mouth, because that was when Took¡¯s jaws closed around Rulac¡¯s throat. Chapter 176 I wasn¡¯t sure how, I wasn¡¯t sure when, and I wasn¡¯t sure why, but what I did know was that Took literally held Rulac¡¯s life in her jaws. She had dragged him back to the rest of the swarm, his throat and most of his neck retained within her maw, and it was painfully obvious that Rulac was absolutely livid but willing to bear with the indignity for the chance at survival. Behind them, eight other keelish had worked to drag back two scaled deer corpses, which they dropped to the ground unceremoniously before continuing to watch the spectacle of Rulac¡¯s possible survival. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked, and though I felt a swelling of disappointment and discontent at the public nature of the fight, I wasn¡¯t angry at seeing Took in the process of establishing her dominance over the lackadaisical male. Under normal circumstances, I would have asked the most ¡°highly ranked¡± of the keelish present specifically, but those were the two in the predicament in the first place, and then, I supposed the third would have been Brutus, but he seemed confused at best. Though he¡¯d gotten much smarter after his evolution to khatif, Brutus still didn¡¯t pay much attention to the rest of the world outside of hunting. This obviously wasn¡¯t merely a little spat over the hunt itself. Before I could let myself be consumed with thoughts about establishing a true line of command, I turned to Ilne, who had been a part of the hunt, and she couldn¡¯t help the nervous twitch of her tail as she began to explain. ¡°Well, I¡¯m not too sure, cause I was on the other side of the hunt, and¨C¡± her words cut short as I felt my frayed temper begin to run out. ¡°Rulac kept bothering her throughout the hunt, then, when we weren¡¯t as successful as we¡¯d like, he said something about how he should have led the hunt instead of her, and it¡¯d be better if she were rutting than hunting.¡± I levelled a look at Rulac. Through the simmering rage that continued to build at his perceived mistreatment, he rolled his eyes at me and flared his frills in a way that somehow communicated that she was telling the truth. I¡¯d wanted to be able to deny that I believed that Rulac would be so stupid as to say that¡­ but of course he would and of course he did. His first real exchange with her had ended with him calling her ¡°leggy¡± anyways, so there had already been a history of him being at least passingly interested, and he was a shameless tail-chaser. ¡°Took, release him.¡± She didn¡¯t hesitate to let Rulac¡¯s limp body slump to the ground, but before he could gather himself, she delivered a heavy kick to his ribs and sent him sprawling. Then, she stepped back and rolled her shoulders while working her jaw. Until then, she¡¯d so unfailingly carried his body that I hadn¡¯t stopped to think about how heavy a khatif¡¯s body was, and how far she must have dragged him unwillingly along. As I calculated and thought, I nearly lost the opportunity to stop any further violence from continuing as Rulac began to recover and clambered to his feet, his eyes and posture promising violence while Took¡¯s easy settling into a combat-ready stance didn¡¯t bode well. ¡°ENOUGH!¡± I shouted, my magic only barely keeping on the non-violent side of [Crippling Cry]. ¡°You¡¯re both members of my swarm, and both leaders under my command! Shut up and listen!¡± As my voice echoed over the assembled hundreds of keelish and wolfstags, there was no movement, much less any sound or whispers. ¡°We are keelish! We are violence, struggle, and ambition made flesh! But none of my keelish will fight each other like this, you must be stronger, wiser, and more devious than those around you, but we work together!¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I stepped closer to Rulac. He¡¯d recently evolved to becoming a khatif, and was now well over seven feet tall and could look down on me easily. I didn¡¯t care, and poked one of my claws into his chest, deliberately hard enough to draw blood. To his credit, he didn¡¯t react except to look at me without rebellion in his eyes. ¡°You purposefully insulted and undermined one of my most trusted companions, one that I have named as my Beta in the hunt. And for what reason?¡± I let the question hang in the air, not expecting an answer. I did, however, receive one. ¡°Because I want to rut her, and I like to see the subtle ways she reacts. I find her amusing.¡± Rulac¡¯s frank admittance of his reason took me by surprise, but also set the banked coals of frustration in my heart to blazing. Before I could lash back out, though, he continued, ¡°I treated her as a foolish weakling, simply because it amused me.¡± He turned towards Took as he continued, ¡°In this, I was wrong. I shouldn¡¯t have discredited you, as you have gained your position from your dedication and strength, and you having become who and what you are is a reflection of yourself as well as the Swarm Alpha. Beta Took, Swarm Alpha Ashlani, please forgive me for my foolishness.¡± The honest apology took me by surprise, and served to weaken any additional chastisement that I might have wanted to dole out on him. Instead, I was almost forced to nod my head and accept the apology. When I looked at Took, though she stood tall and proud, she did barely flare her frills in acceptance. Now, the hard part. ¡°Took. I recognize that you were provoked, but even so, you are my Beta in the hunt. You are above every other keelish in the swarm, with the mere exceptions of myself, and Sybil who stands beside you. As such, you are expected to be better than the rest of the members of the swarm, to be wiser, more patient, stronger. I have the highest of expectations for you, and you have never disappointed them. Until today.¡± Took¡¯s eyes widened, and though she would never interrupt me, much less contradict me and in this public situation no less, I could see the indignation rising in her heart. I raised my hand, hoping to placate her. ¡°You did no wrong in showing Rulac to his place. He disrespected you and myself, and he deserved to be embarrassed and defeated there for that. It was, however, unnecessary to drag him for miles through the jungle and into the assembled, complete body of the swarm, where now I am forced to publicly address this private matter that could have been resolved entirely between us three and the pack present at the hunt. ¡°Beyond that, congratulations in defeating the previous Swarm Beta in battle, in beauty, and in brains, as all three were necessary to bring you to this victory today.¡± I smiled widely, and though I saw a hint of frustration in Rulac¡¯s eyes at my approval of Took¡¯s work, the scattered cheers of the assembled keelish quickly made him give up any further argument on that account. ¡°Now,¡± I shouted again, to the entirety of the assembled keelish, ¡°let any who are hungry hunt, and those who are angry hunt, and those who are happy hunt. After all,¡± I let a fierce grin cross my face and color my voice, ¡°we are keelish, and we are violence, struggle, ambition, and unity made flesh!¡± I almost expected the feeling of sacredness to descend upon me as I spoke, but no such luck. Instead, I was treated to Rulac¡¯s request: ¡°Took, can I come with you on another hunt?¡± Chapter 177 Though Drolick and I had interacted several times in the past, I wouldn¡¯t have called him even an acquaintance. The mayor/guard captain/spiritual leader of the insular community lives his life in his heavily enchanted armor, so far as I know. Surely he steps out of the armor sometimes, but for any nonresidents of the city-state, the man and the armor are one. Within the armor, he cuts an intimidating figure, well over seven feet tall and broad shouldered, his grey beard stained with juices from the brownweed he seems to always be chewing on. The armor itself is constantly glowing from the force of his considerable magic being pumped through it, and lends credence to the Godless Hordes¡¯ postulation that magical power untied to divinity is an untainted and more robust form of the most basic ingredient to life. Given that my visit is itself to ask more specifically about his people¡¯s experience with the Great Pilgrimage, it took me a surprisingly long time to reach Drolick himself. Instead, I was relegated to attempting questioning of the least disciplined of the members of the guard. There seemed to be some sort of a gag order out on any specifics being given about the Primogenitor Swarm¡¯s passage. All that I get before I can speak with Drolick himself is whispers of warnings ignored and guards murdered, nothing more. -From the seventeenth entry of the epistolary travel journal of Kayuktuk the Landlocked Rulac couldn¡¯t help himself and was very nearly killed immediately after my attempt to calm tensions within the swarm. Fortunately enough, Took refused to take him with her on her next hunt, and the next day¡¯s hunt, and the hunt after that. His blase approach to life simply couldn¡¯t coexist with Took¡¯s firmly regimented approach to life, and I wasn¡¯t about to force one of my oldest comrades to change her very essence to cater to a deliberately obtuse would-be suitor. Again, I felt fortunate that Took didn¡¯t feel any need to continue to argue or fight with Rulac after her first altercation, and though he still obviously nursed his wounded pride, Rulac remained a mere nuisance instead of a violent provocateur. As the swarm continued to settle more and more into our nomadic lifestyle, a general schedule was created, and Sybil then streamlined it and sent commands to every Alpha of the swarm to ensure that they were instructing their subordinates to follow the swarm¡¯s plans. We would set off in the late morning, the morning rains keeping us cool well into the afternoon, though the seasons were changing and soon we would be overheating in much drier summer months. Since we could mostly self-regulate our own temperatures, though, I hoped we wouldn''t be forced to seek shelter for the hours that the suns were directly overhead. Once the suns began to set, we would settle into our impromptu camp and take our rest, while the most industrious of the swarm would set off on a hunt to ensure we wouldn¡¯t starve as a whole. That said, we couldn¡¯t subsist entirely off of the efforts of those most willing to hunt, so Sybil again created some rotation of packs that were forced to hunt on a given day at a certain time. We were helped by the fact that Foire and Silf would scout around the edges of the swarm as we traveled and then point out when there was a relatively nearby group of prey that could be quickly dispatched and distributed among the rest. I made sure that I myself participated in the hunts and led by example, though I let most of the others be more proactive in the killing than I was, as the weak, unimportant game caught exclusively for sustenance couldn¡¯t hold my attention. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Days passed, and though I wanted to move faster, farther, and longer, the swarm simply couldn¡¯t. There were too many of us, too many mouths to feed, and whenever we were forced to move through a narrower passage or thick bog, I could feel my teeth involuntarily grinding against each other. I thought I had made the right decision in proving our strength and leaving without slaughtering all the humans in the jungle, but had I, truly? Should I have taken charge of the swarm immediately, once I¡¯d heard of the humans¡¯ presence, and led my new followers to hopeful safety? I knew now that I almost certainly would have defeated Redael were I to have done so, but if I had usurped control so early, would that Earthspeaker have found our den and then have remained determined enough to follow us? Then, she would have served as a beacon of our location to any other Speakers, so long as she had a good Windspeaker with her. Or, she could have cut into our flanks and slaughtered hundreds more of the swarm. Dozens of questions filled my mind, and I cursed my indecision, and inability. While I was busy blaming myself, I indulged and railed against myself about having forgotten three times that I was currently training my eyesight to evolve my [Improved Vision Skill], and instead of being 12 days into the process of evolution, I was instead only 3 days past the initial starting point. The main culprit was when I woke in the night and habitually had shifted my perception to be able to actually see what was happening around me. Another, newer question began to plague me as we walked on, and the more time I spent as the Swarm Alpha, the more time I interacted with the ¡°weak¡± and ¡°inferior¡± keelish, the more this new question filled my mind and polluted my heart. I had long known where my sense of superiority came from¨Cby nature of my being a more highly evolved being than the rest. Yet, did I, Ashlani, actually agree with that idea? Agreement had come naturally, as I was stronger, a better suited ruler, but was that just my khatif part talking? Or was it actually me? Though the weakest members of the swarm participated most to the frustrations regarding slowing the swarm as a whole down, though they obviously were the least valuable to me in a fight or war for survival¡­ did I actually look down on them? Or could I simply embrace that there were different levels to my new people, that some were destined to be the weakest, but could still be on the same level as myself? The very thought turned my stomach at first, but as time passed, the more I wondered. Joral and his brood were obviously inferior to my own. They were inherently weaker and less impressive in every way, but they had taken to raising Arwa¡¯s pups better than any other keelish, myself included. Eventually, we would find Nievtra and settle there or nearby, and at that point, we couldn¡¯t continue devouring every living creature within miles, or then we would starve. Would it not be necessary to establish a working class? Was there a caste already within the khatif and Keel that was built for that? Those thoughts and more continued to congest my mind, keeping me from fully embracing any other of the dozens of minutia necessary for leading my swarm. I was forced to shake my mind into the full present, though, when Arwa raised her snout, sniffed, and whined before screeches of angry keelish filled the air. Chapter 178 Immediately, I raised my head and began to search for the source of the confusion, though I couldn¡¯t see far or clearly in the dimness of the setting suns. I could at least be sure that Arwa¡¯s reaction and the keelish¡¯s shrieks were somehow connected, but the specifics were still unclear. Before I allowed myself to think any further, I began to run towards the nearest screeches, [Innervating Address] immediately tickling my throat as I rallied my people. ¡°Prepare yourselves! Defend yourselves! VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!¡± Scattered replies of ¡°Victory by fang and blood!¡± echoed throughout the swarm as I surged past the dozens and hundreds of my subordinates. I could somehow feel the beginning throes of panic get thrust out of my assembled people under my direction, and a fierce grin crossed my face as I realized it. My words could change the flow of battle, even without the strength of my arm. How much more of the battle would I be able to change once I led my people into the battle itself? The thought energized me and I sent magic down my arms and activated [Quaking Claw] as I continued to slightly stumble through the ever darker jungle. Before I arrived at the scene, I made sure to begin giving commands to all the keelish nearby to trigger the benefits from [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke]. Then, I heard Foire¡¯s enraged screams. ¡°YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER FROM ME!¡± Foire¡¯s voice carried over and through the clamor of battle, his desperation and unadulterated fury giving his words greater power than I¡¯d ever heard before. Still, I couldn¡¯t see him, and after a momentary pang of disappointment, I changed my perception to thermal in order to more clearly see what was happening. My searching eyes finally found the scout, his daughter tightly held in his arms as he lashed out with his tail and both feet at the lunging wolfstags. At least a dozen fully grown wolfstags were picking off some of the weakest members of the swarm. For the briefest moment, I thought that Arwa¡¯s spawn had turned on us, but I was immediately proven to be incorrect as there were far too many of them, as well as their horns. Instead of the wild cluster of long antlers that sprouted wildly from the base of Mistral and Voltaic wolfstags¡¯s skulls, each of these wolfstags had a pair of shorter, sharper horns that grew from just above their eyes. Either a pack of Wave or Glacial wolfstags then. Before I could get close enough to help and before my eyes, one of the wolfstags lowered its head and charged into the flank of a keelish distracted by another wolfstag that was harrying it from the front. The horns sunk deep into the flesh of the keelish¡¯s thigh, and before he could react, the wolfstag raised its head high and threw the keelish backwards and out of friendly territory. Immediately, other wolfstags began to drag it away while it struggled. Only a moment later, though, a larger wolfstag lunged in and with a snip of its jaws, the keelish¡¯s throat was ripped clean out. The pack had another three keelish bodies behind them, and had yet to suffer a single casualty, so they began to try to retreat with their spoils. Rage surged within me and I pushed myself to move even faster as I filled my throat with more magic than I could remember ever doing before. With an explosive blast, I let my fury be known to the world. I roared a wordless challenge to the wolfstags, my voice amplified by my magic and stunning everything within at least thirty feet of me, and I charged in. With a swipe of each [Quaking Claw], I laid two of the wolfstags flat, their forelegs crippled, but I wasn¡¯t finished. The closest wolfstag began to turn itself to try to flee but I sprinted forward and seized its tail in my jaws before lifting its body up and twisting with all my force to smash it into the ground. The wind rushed from its lungs in a pained wheeze, and I stepped forward and placed its head under my foot as it whined and tried to catch its breath. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Now that my superiority had been shown, I again shrieked a wordless challenge to the wolfstags, but this time with the influence of [Debilitating Diatribe]. Before the ambushers could react, though, Arwa blazed past me in a sparking blur before she crashed into the largest member of the wolfstag pack. Immediately, the two devolved into a snarling, ravening pile, and the other wolfstags remained stunned by my magic and Arwa¡¯s ruthless assault on what I could only assume to be their Alpha. As the wolfstags were distracted and my keelish began to gather themselves from the surprise ambush they¡¯d sustained, I shouted my command, ¡°Surround them! Don¡¯t let any escape!¡± Immediately, my command was followed as the fiercely snarling pair of wolfstags¡¯ combat rose to a crescendo. The grappling enemy wolfstag tried to use its magic as he snapped at Arwa¡¯s foreleg, but as a small disc of water began to appear, Arwa sent a surge of her lightning coursing through her entire body. I could see sparks of heat jumping over and through the wolfstag as Arwa¡¯s magical response left the Wave wolfstag as a helplessly twitching mess on the ground. Arwa pressed her advantage, and nearly immediately she was above the male wolfstag with his throat in her jaws. Though he tried once to escape her imprisonment, Arwa mercilessly sent another wave of surging electricity directly through his throat and after he recovered from that spasming fit, he didn¡¯t fight back again. My people had fully surrounded the pack of failed ambushers, and just before I could give the fatal command, Joral sidled up next to me, a hesitant pause to his step. I looked down at him and he bowed his head in supplication before being allowed to speak. ¡°What is it, Joral?¡± ¡°May I request the assistance of Sybil and Shemira in taming these new wolfstags? Many of my pack do not have a wolfstag of their own, and I know they would greatly appreciate the opportunity to gain a hunting companion.¡± I nearly denied him by reflex, demanding the wolfstags¡¯ payment by blood for their brazen assault on my people, but then I paused, looked down at Joral, and remembered my thoughts from just before the attack. Joral and his pack were different from my own, and once we settled, it would be better to have various avenues for food, to have trained tenders of flocks. Even so, I wanted to see Joral¡¯s dedication. ¡°Why would I allow them to live when they¡¯ve killed some of our own? They could feed many of the pack, but instead we¡¯ll need to train, feed, and care for these beasts if they are to accompany you and your pack.¡± Joral bowed even lower as he thought for a moment before continuing, ¡°These wolfstags know the area. They can lead us to more prey, to safer passages, and will allow us to hunt more than we could have without them. Please, Alpha.¡± I looked down at Joral, deliberately silent as I ¡°deliberated¡± over his suggestion. I already knew what my choice would be, but either a sadistic enjoyment of his discomfort or some need to show my willingness to listen drove my continued silence, but eventually, Arwa looked up at me and barked for my attention. When I looked at her, she cocked her head before whining for my clemency. Or, at least, so I supposed. With a wry smile, I shook my head before calling out, ¡°Sybil, Shemira, we need some help over here.¡± Then, I looked at Joral, whose face began to lift in excitement, and said, ¡°Your pack now needs to provide twice as much meat to the pack to show your new hunting prowess.¡± I had to fight to keep the smirk from covering my face as Joral¡¯s own face fell in disbelief. Chapter 179 [Mualtir POV] Mualtir had been stationed as the High Colonel of the Thnufir River¡¯s Fort Thnufir for nearly a decade now, though before that she¡¯d spent most of her whole life here as a soldier¡¯s daughter, then a trainee, then a soldier under her grandmother¡¯s command before a brief stint in the Alniyh family¡¯s training camps. Then, once she¡¯d risen through the ranks, that same position was assigned to her after her grandmother¡¯s retirement. Mualtir could still remember the pride on her parents¡¯ and grandmother¡¯s faces as she¡¯d stepped up before the Gran Verat and knelt to have the office of a High Colonel be bestowed upon her. Even before her assignment as High Colonel of the fort, Mualtir was respected by her soldiers, and had proven herself through the many battles spent alongside them. The permanent limp in her left leg testified of that. As Mualtir slowly stumped the length of her office¡¯s balcony overlooking the Thnufir, the dull, forgettable ache in her thigh intensified and she idly massaged at it. The old scars always pained her when a windword was nearing. Something to do with the air pressure, she was told, but she was a soldier, not a scholar, so the reason for it didn¡¯t matter, just that she could use the windwords successfully. As she looked out over the river and the surrounding forests and waited for the disembodied voice to approach her, the memory of the old wound struck. A Sunkindred scout had snuck over the river and was attempting to make his way into the Veratocracy¡¯s lush jungles from the frostbitten southern lands when she¡¯d found him. She¡¯d been a mere footsoldier then, still untested in the flames of battle, and the only Sunkindred she had seen until then had been corpses. This one¡¯s countenance still stuck with her. Its large, bovine head with two horns, thick furry arms and a barrel chest with little in the way of armor, but so brazenly confident. He¡¯d been quick to use their traditional weapon, quicker than her, and he threw the stone-headed hatchet with such alacrity that it had buried itself deeply in her thigh before she¡¯d been able to react. The only reason she still lived was because even then she¡¯d been an accomplished Windspeaker, and had sent a blast of lightning into his chest, knocking him flat before she¡¯d limped forward to try to press the attack. With the agony from her wound, Mualtir had lost concentration on her Stormcalling too soon to cripple or slay her foe, and the Sunkindred spy had been quick to recover. Though small for a Sunkindred, only a bit taller than she was, he retained the bulk and hardiness of his kind which allowed him to rise to his feet and appraise the situation. Looking down at the weapon lodged in Mualtir¡¯s thigh, the scout realized he wasn¡¯t about to get his weapon back, sighed, and bolted away as the Fort¡¯s watchmen began to sound their horns. That was the last she could recall, as she¡¯d passed out shortly thereafter. Mentally returning to her office, Mualtir looked at the hatchet set on her desk. She used it as a paperweight these days, but it was an impressive display of craftsmanship, beautiful and functional. Sharpening it was a work so tedious even the Gran Verat¡¯s Synod would have to engage in another one of their foolish debates on how best to set up a committee of how to sharpen each section of the blade. After all, they had a meeting to do anything, let alone something complex and beautiful. Mualtir didn¡¯t miss Viertaal and the politicking necessary to survive in the capital. Instead, she controlled this 58.3 mile stretch of river and protected those found on her side from the incursions of the Sunkindred barbarians. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m getting old for this.¡± She mused aloud. ¡°Getting lost in thought like this¡­ Gramma would be all over my ass about this.¡± Mualtir chuckled as the discomfort in her knee grew, and finally the windword began to sound in her ear. ¡°Um¡­ High Colonel, my name is Yoharr, an¡¯ I¡¯m reporting on an attempted hunt of keelish but¡­ it didn¡¯t go so good. The hunters were all wiped out, and there¡¯s a girl that¡¯s coming your way to tell you about it. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s enough Speakers here to deal with these¡­¡± The man¡¯s voice detailed the experience that the militia gathered by a certain Marata had experienced, and the more she heard, the more Mualtir stood straight. After listening for just a moment, Mualtir realized she recognized the name¨CMarata had been a sergeant in the constabulary in Viertaal, so she should never have faced any real risk of losing her life at the keelish¡¯s claws, but she wasn¡¯t the first, nor would she be the last to fall to their treacherous ways. Stories told to her by Gramma echoed through her mind. Her grandmother¡¯s master had lost her son to the keelish just before the establishment of the Veratocracy, and Aliteli had told Gramma the stories enough that Gramma had then told them to Mualtir. Hatred of the keelish was easy enough to cultivate, and Mualtir wanted to see them dead since they were killing her citizens. Though she ached to personally lead the assault on the scaled menace, Mualtir continued to listen to the windword as Yoharr¡¯s message came to a close, knowing her own role wouldn¡¯t be to lead the extermination force. ¡°... so, we don¡¯t think we¡¯re ready for this kinda fight. We just wanted to pass this message to you and then, hopefully, have someone from the fort come and take care of these¡­ beasts.¡± The whispering of the windword died down, and Mualtir immediately began composing her own. ¡°Thank you, Yoharr. This is High Colonel di¡¯Thnufir speaking. Hold your position, I will pass your message on to Viertaal before responding.¡± Without further discussion or worries, Mualtir sent a brief explanation of the need to send a team of High Speakers to exterminate this threat before they could grow to be dangerous to the country at large. Surprisingly, an answer was quick to return in just a couple of minutes, and a grin and grimace fought for dominance over her face. Before she let her emotions take hold over her, though, Mualtir responded to Yoharr. ¡°Thank you for your report. Viertaal has been notified of your plight, and have designated an elite team to engage and eliminate the keelish presence nearby. Several of my High Speakers will be joining you soon under the direction of High Lord Leialt Alniyh and several of his Bound beasts. Do not worry, because before long, High Speakers and a High Lord will be on the trail of these keelish and will forthwith annihilate them all.¡± Chapter 180 [Varali POV] A week had passed since Varali and Fen had left Stonestep, and the journey continued to be a strange conglomeration of tranquil and infuriating. The jungles remained beautiful and safe, so long as you knew how to treat it, and though Varali had been a fool in a dozen ways a day since her parents¡¯ death, she did know the jungles. The journey south, though easy and fast, remained agonizing as Varali couldn¡¯t know how far she was from reaching the Thnufir fort, since she¡¯d never been there. She knew it was south, and would take most people about three weeks of travel to reach there, but she didn¡¯t know if she was moving quickly or slowly, or even if she was going in the right direction. At night, when Fen collapsed and could walk no longer, Varali would spend a short time with the fawn slung over her shoulders to carry her even an extra step, but often Varali found herself trudging well after nightfall before she gave up on progressing any further without resting. She had brought camping supplies, but most nights Varali was too exhausted to take the time to set up her tent and instead simply wrapped herself in her sleeping roll and succumbed to the fatigue that ached in her every bone. Despite her body¡¯s cries for rest, though, her mind couldn¡¯t calm itself sufficiently to protect Varali from the nightmares of her parents¡¯ bodies, their suffering. That was where Fen¡¯s so-called [Skills] came into use¨Cshe had learned how to influence others¡¯ minds, and if Fen was awake, she could mould and adjust and edit Varali¡¯s dreams to a more comprehensive and less painful nothing. If Fen remained sleeping, though¡­ Varali wouldn¡¯t get much rest. Even so, she doggedly pressed on, focused on the next step, the next day, the next destination. When they¡¯d left Stonestep, a True Windspeaker had talked about how he could send word all the way to the fort, but even so, Varali wanted to continue on her journey and ensure that the High Speaker soldiers were ready to come and avenge her family and friends. After all, she couldn¡¯t guarantee that the Windspeaker wasn¡¯t just blowing smoke to get the grieving child to calm down. Varali could still feel the pity in his eyes, in the eyes of every man and woman she¡¯d seen since the massacre, thinking of her as an unreasonable child. Before Varali could fully shake the frustration and anger from her mind, though, she felt a rumble in the ground up ahead, and immediately struggled with an Earthcalling. Though she had long chosen to focus on Flame and Soulspeaking, with her mother¡¯s expertise, Varali could Earthspeak well enough to feel something with four legs and rumbling steps, so she quickly bunkered down beneath a nearby bush. Fen immediately joined her and asked, What¡¯s up? ¡°I can feel something shifting the ground.¡± Varali whispered so quietly she couldn¡¯t hear herself, but she kept every one of her senses peeled to try to keep herself and her companion safe. Whatever could so markedly and consistently affect the whole ground was a threat that Varali couldn¡¯t do anything about, and she hoped to escape its attention, though she¡¯d never heard of anything able to move the earth like this around here. She hoped it was just an overzealous Earthspeaker, but in her heart, Varali could feel that this was something different, the magic itself foreign to her. The steps approached, and Varali held her breath, hoping beyond hope to completely escape notice, but a voice echoed through the jungle, the tone refined and almost bored. ¡°There¡¯s a child over there, under the bush. Child, come out and speak to your betters.¡± Varali bristled at the superiority in the man¡¯s tone and words, but before she could even make a decision about how to react to the command, the voice rang out again, a single word, a command she¡¯d never heard before. ¡°Doluk.¡± Before the sound of the command had fully faded, the earth gently folded around her feet up to her ankles, and then the ground under Varali¡¯s feet shifted and pulled her towards the voice. Before anything else, Varali noticed the massive hill that she could have sworn hadn¡¯t been there before, and on top of it were six people, all but one fully covered in beralts to protect them from detection and the elements, the sixth wearing fine clothing and a silken cloak. She wanted to move, to shift uncomfortably, to do anything, but the firm stone wrapped around her ankles prevented her from doing anything of the sort, and the imperious voice sounded out again as she was made to approach. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Girl. What are you doing here? Do you not know that you have come exceptionally close to the frontlines of the war against the half people?¡± His tone shifted, his words carrying a faint shade of power. ¡°Are you a spy?¡± The jarring change from all the questions shook Varali and she struggled to know how to answer until the last. ¡°No! I¡¯m from here! I love my home, I would never!¡± She gathered herself and, since she couldn¡¯t move her feet, simply pulled her beralt back from her face and looked up at the six figures before bowing her head. ¡°My name is Varali, I¡¯m from a small, nameless village to the north. I passed through Stonestep on my way here and had a windword be sent ahead about a keelish menace that needs to be exterminated.¡± She paused, worried about what the consequences might be if they didn¡¯t believe her, and she felt her throat go dry. It¡¯s ok! You¡¯re awesome! Fen¡¯s voice echoed through Varali¡¯s mind, and she straightened her back. ¡°Have you heard? I assume you¡¯re soldiers from the Fort?¡± The proud man¡¯s laughter was surprisingly pleasant as he listened to her words, then he tapped his foot against the hill they all stood on. Immediately, the stone released her feet, and the man turned to another, one who hadn¡¯t adjusted or removed their beralt at all. ¡°You take care of the child, Lierthan. We¡¯ll leave as soon as you send her on her way.¡± Then, the man turned and sat on a small chair on the hill. Now that she was recovering from her panic, Varali noticed that the hill was not, in fact, a hill. She had never seen one before, but Varali had heard of the ufudoluk of the Indlovu plains. Massive creatures with four massive legs, each one as thick as a small house leading up to a huge, armored body. They were like something called a tortoise, a small reptile that Varali had only ever seen a drawing of, but the ufudoluk was at least 40 feet tall at the crest of its shell and twice as long and the enormous creature stood impassively looking at her. Its mouth could eat her in one bite, though Varali couldn¡¯t say if it was a carnivore. As she stared, the ufudoluk ponderously turned its head to a nearby tree and, with a single bite, snapped through its trunk before crunching away at the top of the tree, branches and leaves flying freely around the scene. Still distracted by the ufudoluk, Varali was surprised when Lierthan stepped near and patted her shoulder. She turned, and the moment he had her attention, Lierthan spoke in a quiet measured tone, ¡°We have been sent by the High Colonel and will exterminate the keelish. You can rest easy and return to your home.¡± Then, he turned to step back onto the humongous tortoise. ¡°Wait!¡± Varali cried, ¡°I can lead you there! I can do whatever you want! Please, just let me come along!¡± Lierthan wordlessly shook his head in denial of her request, and Varali felt her heart sink. They just didn¡¯t care? Or¨C ¡°Eh. Let her come. I don¡¯t have any of my pages here to take care of my Bound.¡± The proud man¡¯s voice echoed from over the ufudoluk¡¯s back, and Varali¡¯s heart soared once more, excited to be trusted by this powerful Speaker. Lierthan didn¡¯t seem to feel anything about the other man directly countermanding him, and just reached over and grabbed her under her arms and, before she could react, leapt directly up onto the ufudoluk¡¯s back. Varali bowed to her benefactor who still sat on the opulent chair somehow secured to the shell. ¡°Thank you High Colonel, for giving the command allowing me to come along, I promise¨C¡± ¡°I am no mere armyman.¡± The proud man¡¯s voice cut in. ¡°Show me the respect I deserve, and care for my Bound. I¡¯ll take care of the rest.¡± Varali stood, confused, and Lierthan leaned close to her. ¡°This is High Lord Leialt Alniyh, and the Gran Verat has required him to assist us in our mission.¡± ¡°Yes, thank you for the introduction.¡± The man¨CHigh Lord Alniyh, spoke breezily. ¡°You will care for my Bound. There are only three here, and my young Doluk here gets tired. He¡¯s only a couple years old, after all.¡± Completely confused, Varali looked around, and before she could begin to settle her mind, the huge tortoise began to flow forward, moving without stepping and the ground below them carrying them all forward, faster than Varali had ever traveled. She¡­ simply sank to the ground, trying to figure out how she had gotten here, but grateful that these High Speakers and High Lord would surely give her revenge. Chapter 181 Days continued to pass, the journey difficult and somehow easy at the same time. There wasn¡¯t anything unusual to do, simply to continue on our path while hunting enough prey to keep the swarm fed. With nearly 1000 individual carnivores needing to eat enough to sustain ourselves on long days¡¯ travels, we devoured everything we found, from Toothy Bullfrogs to terrorbirds. Of course there were some that could escape our hunters, but most everything we found eventually fed the swarm. And our growing number of pets/followers. The wolfstags¡¯ numbers had swelled with the addition of the survivors of the Wave Wolfstag¡¯s pack. I¡¯d almost expected a massive horde of wolfstags like those of Arwa¡¯s pack that we could slaughter our way through and force the noncompliant to feed us, but I¡¯d been more than a little mistaken. There had been fourteen members of the Wave Wolfstag pack, and none had been slain by my or Arwa¡¯s assault. The wounds that the unfortunate at the front had sustained were quickly patched up by Vefir and a couple other keelish that had taken to following him around. These other three keelish hadn¡¯t yet evolved to khatif nor demonstrated any magical capability, so I disregarded them for now, merely showing my appreciation through a couple quick nods. The journey continued, and the wet jungles began to give way to swampy marshes, and our pace rapidly slowed as we needed to slog through the shallower sections while avoiding the deepest sinkholes with rotting vegetation and unknown predators within. I had never been near here, but the Wave Wolfstags avoided these deepest sections with an instinctual fear that I didn¡¯t feel the need to question whilst still on the run from whatever reinforcements the Veratocracy was calling. The Wave Wolfstags guided us readily through the frustrations of the swamp, never struggling half so much as the rest of us. Before long, I realized why the Wave Wolfstags could so much more easily traverse the thick soup that was the ground in this foreign swamp. Their paws were more than twice the size of even Arwa¡¯s, though she stood at least a foot taller than her lesser cousins, and their toes splayed out in a way that helped them to walk on top of the thick muds and choked waters that plagued our every step. Surely there was some magic at play further reinforcing their abilities, but either way, the Wolfstags ranged around us and helped to keep an eye on our surroundings. Even though the Wave Wolfstags had nearly half again as many members as the Voltaic, and Arwa was the only fully grown Voltaic Wolfstag, she and her pups quickly showed the reason why the Voltaic, Glacial, Gilded, and Infernal Wolfstags were absolutely superior to their Mistral, Wave, Stone, and Flaming counterparts. By keelish standards, the Wave Wolfstags¡¯ magic was impressive, but by Arwa¡¯s standards, there was nothing worth thinking about. After several seconds¡¯ concentration, the wolfstags could conjure up spears of water they could propel fast enough to cut through flesh. The Voltaic ones, though, always had near instantaneous control over nearly crippling surges of electricity. Even the pups, if given just enough time to be ready, could rather reliably overcome their adult cousins. Though much less impressive in every way¨Csize, intelligence, magical prowess, and numbers, to name a few¨Cthe newest members of the swarm were still welcome additions. Their horns were far more dangerous in a fight than the Voltaic¡¯s antlers, and as I¡¯d already noticed their wide paws were an amazing adaptation for these marshes. I¡¯d always known about how the wolfstags had either horns or antlers, each varying by what type they were¨CWave and Glacial with the straight, sharp pairs of horns from their foreheads, Mistral and Voltaic with clumped, wild masses of antlers that jutted wildly from the base of their skulls, Stone and Gilded with curling ram¡¯s horns that started above the ears and curled around them, and Flaming and Infernal with a set of antlers that sprout from the tops of their heads and curl together into an approximation of a crown. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Sybil, Shemira, and Joral had been hard at work domesticating these newest canines, and they were quick to fall in line. While Arwa¡¯s submission to us had been unusually quick, I had long suspected that was due to her intelligence in understanding how completely we had her in our power, more than anything else. These new wolfstags, though¡­ were obviously not especially intelligent. They had approached a swarm of nearly 1000 predators and thought that they would be able to treat us as regular prey animals. Through the magical influence of two rulers compounded with all my passive [Skills], it was no surprise that the weak-willed wolfstags quickly found themselves happily subjected by our superior strength and minds. Our exodus slowed nearly to a stop, I found myself pacing many nights after leading a pack on a hunt, my eyes frustratingly clouded by the darkness as I forced myself to continue trying to progress my [Skill]¡¯s evolution. ¡°Alpha.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice shook me from my frustrated continuous movement. ¡°You are putting the swarm into an agitated state with your own frustrations. Please, come lie with me.¡± Today, we¡¯d been fortunate enough to find actual solid ground to sleep on, a rare grove of trees that had either found purchase on this stray solid ground or had raised the bed of the swamp up enough to be able to thrive. Either way, there was nearly enough dry ground here for the whole swarm to rest in the same place instead of scattered across the occasional hillocks of rotting vegetation and fallen trees. Around me, the quiet sounds of keelish filled the grove, and though I didn¡¯t look around myself to see, I could feel the tension in the air as my manic movement was watched. With a nearly silent sigh of frustration, I settled onto the ground next to my mate and forced myself into near stillness. ¡°We aren¡¯t moving even a quarter as fast as we were, and I don¡¯t know how fast our pursuers will be. A True Wavespeaker would be able to keep their team moving at a normal pace through here, and if they have a High Wavespeaker, they¡¯ll be even faster as they can ride the water through here. We need to move faster, because if they catch us here, we¡¯ll be slaughtered.¡± Sybil watched me as I only barely kept myself from raising my voice and resuming my pacing. ¡°And what can we do to speed our travel?¡± Her question was soft, genuine, and unyielding. I knew what she was getting at. ¡°Continue moving.¡± I sighed, letting my body fully slump to the ground. ¡°Indeed. And that is what we are already doing. Now, it is time to rest, for tomorrow, we will continue.¡± That was when a chorus of splashes sounded out around the island and the startled conversations among the keelish became shrieks of pain and panic. Chapter 182 As I listened to the cries of my keelish, I was again tempted to shift my vision to perceive heat signatures, but with a force of effort, instead I strode forward, my magic bubbling within my throat. The ¡°mere lesser¡± keelish continued to scream around me, and a part of me wanted to delay reaching out, delay helping them to allow their morale to break so that I could ensure that my [Innervating Address] would fully change the morale of my swarm. After all, they all would be served by my continuing evolutions, and every [Skill] that evolved would allow me to save more in the future! My cold reasoning rang hollow in my own ears, and before I thought for another moment, I let out my [Innervating Address]. ¡°Stand together! Retreat from the shores and gather together! Survival is victory!¡± The shift in my perspective, something I¡¯d let slowly turn and fester within me, had my mind immediately snap to different instructions and I understood that the boosts to my mind¡¯s alacrity from [Pack Tactics], [Innate Leadership], and all my other [Skills] had changed. Before, their focus was primarily on the complete destruction of anything that crossed me, and that at any cost. Now, though, I could feel that I valued my keelish¡¯s lives. They were my people, and not just that in word but in reality as well. Before, I¡¯d thought of keelish as my people, but only truly counted the khatif as mine. I shook the realizations from the forefront of my mind, instead redoubling any plans to ensure the greatest survival rate of my keelish. Though I hadn¡¯t shifted my perception to heat signatures, the setting suns cut through the overcast clouds enough to see murky shadows and vague outlines. Beyond that, the keelish had been surprised, and I knew that the vast majority of my swarm spent their entire lives seeing exclusively heat signatures. Something cold blooded, then? The cries of several keelish cut off, and the splashing resumed as the unseen assailants retreated back to the waters. I sprinted to the shore and tried to catch a leg or arm or even a glimpse, but by the time I was near enough to begin to see anything, all that was left of the ambushed keelish were a series of ripples that quickly faded in the water. I paced along the banks of the island, but even after minutes, I didn¡¯t see a shadow of the sneaky bastards or their prey. Whatever it had been, if it was just one, or several, or many, had escaped wholly without punishment. I was reminded of the Martanimis that swallowed me whole and nearly killed me¡­ and the terrorbird that had escaped with Oncli¡¯s corpse. Would this be a creature that I couldn¡¯t face as I was? Looking around, the Wave Wolfstags had retreated back nearly to the center of the island, nervously whining to each other and begging Joral, Sybil, and Shemira for their support. They knew something about whatever this thing was, and not for the first time, I cursed that we couldn¡¯t communicate with the wolfstags more clearly than simple commands. With a sigh, I dispelled the thoughts and instead refocused myself on how to protect the swarm. Should we just leave? No, I didn¡¯t know if the thing was still nearby, and how many of them there were. Just sleep and hope it didn¡¯t return? Never. Those losses were no longer acceptable to me. Set up¨Cthat thought could work. Why hadn¡¯t we implemented it yet? This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Foire!¡± I didn¡¯t shout, but I¡¯d long learned, even without the influence of my magic, how to make my voice carry. It took less than a minute for the scout to step close to me, his daughter surprisingly not held protectively in his arms. ¡°Alpha?¡± He asked without another word. ¡°Other than yourself and Silf, who are the best scouts in the swarm?¡± Foire¡¯s tail flicked as he thought, but before he could answer, I continued, ¡°Gather the best scouts, have at least two working together through the night with others. Have the entire perimeter of the island covered, keep watch over anything intruding. For assistance, have Solia light something on fire to post at the edges of the water, that way we can see whatever it is that attacked.¡± Foire flared his frills once in acknowledgement and turned to walk away, then, after a brief hesitation, turned back and asked, his voice only barely loud enough for me to hear, ¡°Do you need me to keep an eye out myself? Or merely those who I deem as capable?¡± I cocked my head. ¡°My intention in asking was so that the best scouts in the swarm are helping to ensure that no more of our fellow keelish perish under the ambushes of whatever it is that lurks in the water.¡± Foire¡¯s tail twitched restlessly, his anxiety becoming more and more apparent as I looked on in confusion. He responded, ¡°But¡­ I wanted to know if I specifically need to watch through the night.¡± ¡°Not through the entire night, but you should watch for part of the night. Rotate with the others, and I¡¯ll help with organizing and maintaining the perimeter.¡± I cocked my head and flicked my tail in confusion before asking, ¡°Does that not make sense? If not, I can re-explain whatever you¡¯re confused about.¡± Foire clicked his teeth together in denial. ¡°Then please wait here.¡± Without another word, Foire jogged away without any explanation. I turned to look at Sybil but she flicked her tail dismissively without answering me. Though I had begun to take deliberate action to keep myself from looking down on the rest of the swarm and especially those not khatif, there was an immediate rage that swelled inside me at the dismissive attitudes taken by my subordinates. As my lip curled away from my fangs and a displeased growl swelled in my throat, Sybil stepped close. Before I could make any audibly dissatisfied sounds, she murmured to me, ¡°It will be fine. Calm your heart.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if it was a minute magical calm or merely Sybil¡¯s presence, but there was a slight wave of calm that passed over me at her words. I flared my frills and forced myself to a comfortable position to await Foire¡¯s return. It wasn¡¯t more than two minutes before he was back with Trai in his arms. She yawned and squeaked at her father as he carried her towards me and he softly whispered in her ear while he nuzzled her neck. Trai¡¯s high pitched, sleepy giggles carried pleasantly through the still night air, and Foire stood next to me and stretched out his arms with his daughter offered to me. As I looked at him, Foire spoke, ¡°While I am watching for anything coming, would you stay with Trai? She gets cold easily during the night, and needs someone to lie with her.¡± Her sleepy eyes met mine and though she tried to hold her head high and inspect me, the head with too-large eyes quickly flopped to the side as her eyelids grew too heavy to support themselves. I didn¡¯t hesitate to reach out with both hands and took her. Trai nuzzled herself into the crook of my arm, her hot breaths fogging on my scales in the cool night. ¡°Of course, my friend. I¡¯ll step out after you return to contribute.¡± His daughter taken care of, Foire flared his frills and summoned his fellow scouts with a series of quiet clicks that somehow carried over the entirety of the island. Before I could say anything, Sybil stepped next to me and spoke softly, ¡°I will take charge of organizing the additional patrols and Solia¡¯s fires. You care for the child.¡± Without waiting for any word from me, Sybil walked away, and I was left with the delicate, exhausted baby. I felt a smile cross my face without any conscious thought, and I settled into a comfortable position on the ground before I began humming with the influence of [Nurturing Enunciation]. Trai settled more comfortably against me as she snored softly and, before I knew it, I joined her in sleep. Chapter 183 At last, I am able to meet with Drolick, and his face remains as craggy and crotchety as ever, the lines carved into his face from long decades of his pure stubbornness protecting his people. My memories say that he was an old man when first I met him, some twenty years prior, but the only change in his face (the only part of him that I can see) is that the hairs of his beard and head have faded from silver to a pure white. He seems hale and hearty, though I would guess he was nearing a century of age, something unheard of in humanity outside of the Veratocracy, and even there he would be considered an elder. ¡°There¡¯s nothin¡¯ I want to say about ¡®em.¡± Is his only response to my questions about the Primogenitor Swarm¡¯s pilgrimage past his city. Additional polite requests for information are wholly ignored, and intrusive prying gives me no further answers either. Though he tries to dismiss me several times, I am able to keep near him long enough to wear him down. ¡°They were¡­ reasonable enough.¡± The words obviously cost him something to say. ¡°Nothin¡¯ like humans, or even any other people or beastkin. Still, they¡¯re people. Don¡¯t cross ¡®em. ¡° Then, disregarding my further questions, Drolick stomped out of the room and I didn¡¯t see or hear from him again for my several month stay in Shandr. -From the seventeenth entry of the epistolary travel journal of Kayuktuk the Landlocked My dreams were familiar, seeing myself surrounded by foes on every side, my claws and fangs blunt even though I fought to pierce my foes with all my strength. No matter how I tried to channel my magic, nothing worked, not [Quaking Claw] nor [Crippling Cry], and with every movement I made, I simply sunk deeper and deeper into the invisible mire I found myself in before every one of my motions seemed to pass only in slow motion, my fingers splayed wildly and my jaw spread wide open to snap at anything nearby. ¡°If you must choose, choose violence!¡± The mantra echoed around my mind, and as I focused on it, I could feel my claws sharpen and more easily cut through the invisible object that held me back, my fangs slicing mercilessly through the somehow thick air. Then, I saw little Trai, fighting valiantly to hold her large head up to look at me. Her burbling giggles washed over me as her jaws spread wide in a smile, and as she leaned in to cuddle against me, her trusting warmth tucked against me. The feeling of the small, delicate infant in my arms roused me from my turbulent dreams, and as I opened my eyes, I could feel Trai cuddled against my chest, her snores high and contented. As I looked at her, I knew. I would choose violence to protect her. I would choose massacre to help my people. I would become a monster that as a human I would have nightmares about. And I would do so without regrets to protect her, my unborn children, and my people. Yet¡­ The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Violence wasn¡¯t the only choice. If I¡¯d chosen total massacre when Sybil had led Tieran to challenge and defeat me, I¡¯d have slaughtered my greatest confidant and supporter before she¡¯d ever had the chance to become what she was. If I¡¯d chosen wholesale slaughter whenever any group of creatures stepped before me, then the Veratocracy would be far from my only enemy, and I could be sure that our journey to Nievtra would be impossible. ¡°If you must choose, choose violence.¡± But when I needn¡¯t choose¡­ when it wasn¡¯t thrust upon me, could I not choose wisdom? Diplomacy? Patience? And what of economic reprisal? Social? Spiritual? Was I cut off from those options due to the circumstances of my birth? Be wise. Be strong. Lead. Protect. Kill. Conquer. The words from Nievtala shook me, and I could feel my heart begin to thrum powerfully in my chest, my pulse so strong that poor Trai¡¯s head shook with every one of my frantic heartbeats. The iron taste of blood filled my throat as my body seized up and rebelled against the brief touch of my goddess¡¯s immense, divine presence and mind. Though I still hadn¡¯t changed my vision from the more mundane to thermal perception instead, I could see a slight dribble of blood from my snout beginning to flow out and threatening to fall over the infant in my arms. I fought to stabilize my mind and body alike as I turned my head and allowed the coursing blood to fall freely onto the ground behind me. As I slowly gathered myself from the fog of sleep and reeling confusion from a divine message, my eyes fought to see what was around me. In front of me and on the other side of Trai laid Sybil, her breaths coming in a slow, steady cadence and her tail wrapped protectively around us both to keep Trai safe within the walls of our bodies. Behind her laid Shemira and Took, Shemira snoring loudly while Took laid so silent and unmoving that I almost thought her dead. Be wise. Be strong. Lead. Protect. Kill. Conquer. All along, I¡¯d thought of Nievtala as the goddess of conquest and violence, of massacre and death. Perhaps I should have focused more on her domain of victory, for I felt a greater kinship from the divine promise when I thought of leading my people with wisdom and power. Yes, being an all-consuming force of violence and conquest would lead to victory, but victory could be just as well achieved with the strength of mind and command. The thought resonated with me, though I knew deep in my heart that this was somewhat of a willful departure from what Nievtala originally was worshipped as, the bloody goddess of victory through conquest. Even so, I would lead my people to a new, greater golden age, one where my eventual death would not begin the downfall of the Keel, of my nation. Somehow, I knew that the foundations of Old Nievtra had collapsed under its own ambition and core weaknesses, and I would circumvent those. For now, though, I could hear faint splashing coming from the edges of the island, and I could hear Foire¡¯s deliberate steps approaching. As I forced myself to stand, Trai quietly whimpered and reached out for me, or for my warmth I supposed. Sybil, without waking or hesitating, curled her tail forward to gently sweep the infant towards her, where she offered the soft flesh of her throat as a pillow to the little one. Trai settled onto her new bed with a couple squeaks of approval, and as I smiled and watched, Foire¡¯s whispered voice cut through the silence. ¡°We¡¯ve spotted the creatures.¡± Chapter 184 The words shot adrenaline through me, forcing me to fully shake off the grogginess of sleep and the confusion of divine conversation. I stood tall, my spine crackling from the base of my skull to the tip of my tail as I stretched. Sybil and Trai cuddled closer together on the wolfstag pelt beneath them, and Trai continued her little infantile whimpers as she settled back into a deeper sleep. The mud and filth from the swamp had dried across my whole body, and, before I focused on the threats literally surrounding us, I took a moment to miss the clean sands of our old home. Especially when they were heated by Solia¡­ With a forceful thought, I stopped reminiscing on the comfortable things of my past, instead redoubling my focus on Foire and what he had mentioned. Spotting the beasts that dared to hunt us. A calm air settled over me, and I stepped as silently as I could towards Foire. Though I knew he was there, he remained so still and silent that I couldn¡¯t pick his silhouette out of the shadows until I could nearly touch him. ¡°Report.¡± I spoke just louder than a whisper, and Foire replied in the same tone. ¡°There are at least thirty of the creatures, and they¡¯re constantly circling the island. They stay in the water, the only way to see them is by their eyes that poke out of the surface sometimes. We aren¡¯t sure how large they get, since they have yet to fully expose themselves. Silf thinks they¡¯re bigger than you and Took, but isn¡¯t sure.¡± I fought not to show any reaction to that. ¡°We haven¡¯t got any idea if they¡¯re still hungry, but they haven¡¯t gotten close since Solia lit her fires.¡± Foire stopped his reporting and looked at me. I couldn¡¯t read any emotions in his face through the darkness, and I clicked my tongue as I thought. I¡¯d heard some splashing before Foire and I began speaking, so I looked to the flames on the shore. The water there seemed stagnant and unmoving, nothing moving there even after I spent several moments with my eyes peeled and focused, watching for movement. ¡°Just before you called me, I heard something in the water. Any idea what it was?¡± A flick of his tail. ¡°They¡¯re moving out there. Not sure what they¡¯re doing or where they¡¯re going, but it was probably one of those things swimming around.¡± I sighed and began walking towards the shores, and after a moment¡¯s hesitation, Foire followed me. Though I wanted to change my perception, to welcome the cool blues and warm reds to give me some measure of greater understanding of the world around me, I refused to do so. Reminding myself that it wouldn¡¯t help me anyways, I instead looked at the counter in my [Skill]: [5/18]. I wasn¡¯t willing to give that up for no benefit at all. Though I still heard nothing, I stepped close to the water, nearly within reach. I stopped myself early enough to make sure that I couldn¡¯t be wholly taken by surprise if one of the beasts decided I looked like dinner. Foire stood nervously behind me, and I could feel the vibrations of his nervous steps through the ground. ¡°See anything?¡± I asked, my eyes never leaving the still waters. ¡°No, Alpha. Can¡¯t be sure though.¡± He fought against himself again, but I interrupted his thought. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I¡¯ll step away. Don¡¯t worry about me.¡± As I said as much, I began to step back from the waters without ever turning my back. Foire stood in silence, then stepped with me to about ten feet away from the shores, where I figured we were safe enough. Though I wanted to continue watching with my best scout¡¯s presence, he spoke up. ¡°If there is nothing that you need me to do for you now, then I¡¯ll go ahead and get some rest.¡± I schooled myself from showing any reaction, and sighed. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯ll need your rest.¡± I flicked my hand in dismissal, but Foire didn¡¯t leave immediately, so I turned to look at him. ¡°Trai¡­ how was she? Did she fuss or whine?¡± I couldn¡¯t hold back the little chuckle. ¡°No, she was fine. When I left, she cuddled up with Sybil, so you might need to fight her to try to get Trai out of the Beta¡¯s clutches if you want to spend the night with your daughter.¡± Foire laughed back, the sound light and comfortable, a sound I had heard more and more frequently since Trai¡¯s hatching. ¡°I might give her a little space tonight, then. She tries to find me if she wakes and I¡¯m not there, so I¡¯ll see if she can hunt me down.¡± His every word dripped with amusement and his joy was infectious. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen her walk or hunt though, so how will she get to you?¡± ¡°She can crawl along, so she¡¯ll be able to move a little.¡± Foire continued walking towards the crest of the hill, his steps quick and light. ¡°I won¡¯t be too far.¡± I accompanied him, and when he saw Trai wrapped in Sybil¡¯s embrace, he sighed and his shoulders slumped, but only for a moment. Then, he strolled over to just behind Shemira and Took, maybe ten feet away from his daughter¡¯s sleeping form. Before long, his even breathing joined the quiet snores and squeaks of the swarm as a whole, and I turned to return to the shores of the swamp before having my attention called by the spear that stood at the top of the hillock, its head pressed carelessly into the ground. We had used it solely to wrap the few wolfstag hides that we kept around, something to carry our luggage. Now, though¡­ I could use it to experiment. With just the beginning of an idea, I grabbed the long haft of the spear and brought it along with me. At the edge of the water, I bounced the butt of the spear in the water, sending continuous ripples through the water as the quiet splashes echoed around. Nothing changed, at least at first. There was no sudden swarm of the beasts, though I supposed that was a good thing. Watching the surrounding waters, there didn¡¯t seem to be any change, except for the brackish water stirring under my spear¡¯s interruption. I continued to bounce the spear in the water, hoping that it would somehow give me more information, but there wasn¡¯t anything for me to learn. With a sigh, I began to stand tall to try something else, but before I could, I noticed something new. There was a log or something slowly floating towards me, and though a part of me wanted to disregard the change, I knew that this wasn¡¯t a mere log. Instead, I continued to consistently splash my spear¡¯s butt into the water and watched closely. The log drifted closer and closer, and as it entered the light of the guttering flames from Solia¡¯s makeshift torch, I realized that I was finally seeing the whatever it was that had hunted my people. A hot rage began to surge within me, but I forcefully tamped it down and continued to watch the beast. Then, there was a sudden wrenching in my arm, and the butt of the spear was destroyed by the creature attempting to ambush and devour me. The crazed beast¡¯s assault was sudden and violent, the water splashing wildly all around as it rolled over and over as its whole, muscled body thrashed wildly. In the low light, all I could see was thickly scaled hide and snapping jaws, but I didn¡¯t think any further when I lunged forward and, with [Quaking Claw], sunk my claws deep into the beast¡¯s neck. Chapter 185 I strained my arm, then shoulder, then back and legs as I struggled to wrench the creature¡¯s body out of the waters, but it refused to give up trying to get a bite of me. My khatif face had narrowed, but still I, like all keelish, had a large snout with thick, sharp fangs filling my mouth, but my jaws couldn¡¯t begin to compare to this massive mouth, tremendous teeth studding the merciless maw. It continued to turn its head, the thick muscles of its neck tightening around my fingers and claws as it snapped frantically at my arm and head. A surge of fury drove me to continue trying to best the beast, but after several close calls, I was forced to concede to the bestial, raw power of the creature. As I began to relax my grip, there was another thrash of its entire body, and then the beast levered itself out of my grasp and fell back into the shallow waters beyond my reach. Once in the water, it spun surprisingly quickly and disappeared back into the water, its tail throwing arcs of brackish water through the air. I stood, panting from the sudden exertions brought on from the ambush. As I stepped back, making sure I couldn¡¯t be caught off guard by another of the predators if one approached, I began to evaluate the¡­ whatever it was. Since they were ambush predators, I¡¯d thought that these creatures would be weak and easy prey. I¡¯d been demonstrably wrong. What little I had been able to see of this¡­ thing whilst in the flickering light of the fires was impressive. I couldn¡¯t be sure, since it hadn¡¯t stopped moving the entire time I¡¯d had it in my grasp, but I¡¯d bet days¡¯ worth of food that it was longer than I was, nose to tail, and my best estimates put me at at least 10 feet long. Beyond that, since it didn¡¯t need to run and carry its body like a keelish or khatif did, the beast¡¯s body was broader and thicker than mine in every way, though it had four legs instead of a keelish¡¯s two legs and two arms. With how heavy the hunter was, I knew that I had no chance of dragging it out of the water with just my arm like that. I could lift a several hundred pound terrorbird with one arm, though I would strain myself doing so, and I would guess that these water¡­ things weighed more than twice that. Maybe even as much as a thousand pounds? The thought sobered me. More frustrating than that, though, was the fact that I knew absolutely nothing about these things. Before, I¡¯d never encountered something that I hadn¡¯t hunted as a human, or at least heard of, but these things were a total unknown. I¡¯d prefer encountering the jaguar, or wild hog, or grass lion, since while those were all merciless killers, at least I¡¯d know what they were capable of! That I¡¯d never heard or seen or even seen signs of any of those creatures or the other more dangerous inhabitants of the Martanimis hadn¡¯t occurred to me until then, but perhaps I could simply count myself lucky. I shook the thoughts from my head. Regardless of wherever any other creature was, here we had these beasts, and I couldn¡¯t be sure if they would still be hunting us when the suns rose. The thought of being actively hunted by mere beasts immediately had my hackles rising, and I resolved myself to learning how to hunt these things. But how could I get them to leave the water long enough for us to subdue them? You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Alpha, what happened?¡± One of the assigned sentinels rushed towards me, and I could feel her heavy steps pounding as she hastily ran towards me. Her name¡­ Chall? Regardless, her eyes were desperately searching the darkness for whatever it was that had caused so much noise, but after a short moment, she was obviously relieved to see that I was unharmed and no apparent threat lingered. ¡°I briefly caught one, but it was able to escape me.¡± I fought to keep my anger from staining my words and tone. There was no reason for my anger, I was learning things about this environment, and the anger wouldn¡¯t and couldn¡¯t serve me at this time. ¡°Thank you for keeping an eye out. Have you seen anything out there since the ambush?¡± At my question, Chall¡¯s eyes shot back to the waters, still discomfitingly still. ¡°No, Alpha,¡± she replied, ¡°but I don¡¯t trust it. They¡¯re out there. No question.¡± She looked up at me, her every movement somehow communicating her willing subservience. ¡°How can I help?¡± I clicked my teeth and, with another gesture of my hands, waved her off and back to her post. As she left, I heard a soft splash, then a strange hissing roar from somewhere out in the dark waters. Was it one of these things? A¡­ swamp lizard, I supposed I¡¯d call it? But how could I trap one long enough for a pack to kill one? A flash of inspiration occurred to me, and I looked at the head of the half-destroyed spear. Though the bottom half of the haft had snapped and been reduced to so much kindling, there remained a three foot-long haft topped by a spearhead obviously conjured and secured by an Earthcalling. I began to walk back to the center of the main body of the swarm, where my elites laid relatively near to each other. I would wake Ytte soon enough to assist my efforts in counteracting and eventually hunting the swamp lizards, but for now, I instead focused on finding something that could serve as spear hafts. The single tree that sprouted from the center of the hillock we slept on didn¡¯t have the right type of wood to serve as hafts¨Cthe wood was far too twisted, gnarled, and short. Maybe, if a master were here, something could be made of this wood, but I was long accustomed to using some of the long, straight roots of a burlraiz to fletch arrows and staves out of, and there were plenty within the swamp, just none nearby. My idea currently shelved, I sighed and instead decided to try to call another swamp lizard with my splashes. ¡­ Several hours later, I had confirmed that a certain level of splashing could draw in the swamp lizards, though I wasn¡¯t sure what the perfect amount was, as some splashes drove them away while others were so small as to be unremarkable to the beasts. Regardless, the rest of my plan couldn¡¯t be put into action without more spears and Ytte¡¯s consciousness, so I finally decided to return to my rest after I felt that my experiments had borne enough fruit for the night. I quickly found my place next to Sybil, the wolfstag pelt we¡¯d long used as a bed left solitary, and almost sacred. Foire laid softly snoring behind Shemira, who also slept easily, though Took twitched continuously, as if dreaming of combat. Sybil had continued to cuddle the little Trai, and both stirred as I laid down, though Trai immediately settled herself. Sybil, though, opened one eye, saw it was me, and an apparently involuntary smile cracked her face as she stretched her neck out and nuzzled the crease of my jaw and neck. A mirrored smile crossed my own face, and I quickly faded back into sleep. I woke to screeching, directly into my ear. Chapter 186 Panic surged through me as loud shrieks filled my head. I sat bolt upright, something hitting my shoulder as I rose and looked for the threat. The suns had begun to rise, so I¡¯d been asleep for several hours. Had the swamp lizards struck while I slept? Or was there something else, something I didn¡¯t know about? Had the Veratocracy¡¯s soldiers caught up to us? A pained mewling interrupted my frantic thoughts and I looked down to find the source. Trai struggled to roll from her back onto her belly and looked up at me, her sadness and frustration obvious. Behind her, Sybil fought to control her face, fiercely restrained mirth apparent in every quivering muscle while Shemira was unable to hold back her giggles, the laughter infectious as it rang out over the keelish. After a couple seconds¡¯ thought, my sleep-addled mind was finally able to figure out what had happened. ¡°Little one. Why did you do that?¡± I fought to keep my unreasonable wrath from bleeding out in my tone. That anger wasn¡¯t at all from a sense of superiority, but mere frustration at the rude awakening. Though keelish hatchlings were hunting and talking by a day old, much less nearly a full month old as Trai was, a khatif hatchling obviously aged much slower. Even so, she obviously was growing much more quickly than a human infant would be, as she could proficiently crawl and stumblingly walk and that still before a month of age. ¡°She was busy searching, and you interrupted her, you brute.¡± Shemira¡¯s voice was still tinged by the giggles she fought to restrain, and I ignored her as I continued to focus on the petulant child. Trai made eye contact with me and shrieked her incandescent rage at the mistreatments and indignities she¡¯d suffered at my hand, or shoulder as the case may be. Though she was wholly enraged, I couldn¡¯t maintain my own frustration as the little hatchling tried to communicate to me how badly I had sinned. With a wry smile, I leaned down and offered my hands as a safe spot. After thinking about it, Trai imperiously crawled into my hands before I raised her up to a comfortable position in my arms, where she laid across my forearms and let her tail dangle. With a laugh of my own, I began to hum to [Nurturing Enunciation], the magic swiftly draining from my sonilphon as I felt Trai¡¯s little body vibrate with the thrumming notes of my voice. I didn¡¯t think of it consciously, but I hummed to the tune of a lullaby from my mother: When comes the spring, We will be wed For when comes the winter, We must rest our heads. When comes the summer, Our tents we will spread The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. For when comes the winter, Our paths we must tread. When comes the autumn, We will make our bread For when comes the winter, We may yet be dead. When comes the winter, When comes the winter. A strange, morbid song I¡¯d only thought about once I¡¯d fully reached adulthood, but still the tune was calming and simple. After a full repetition, I had used just under one half of my sonilphon¡¯s reserves, so I began to repeat the little ditty. After just the first two lines, a small voice began to attempt to follow along with my own and I felt the small smile spread into a full grin as Trai sang along with my magic. As my sonilphon was fully depleted, my humming died off and I looked at the little hatchling for her forgiveness. I was rewarded with a contented nuzzle of her snout into the crook of my elbow and I felt myself soften further. I was pulled from the reverie as Shemira stepped closer to me, her spine straight and her steps hesitant before she asked, ¡°What¡­ was that?¡± Confused, I cocked my head. ¡°My magic. It helps the small ones grow faster. Have you never seen me use it before?¡± Surprising me, Shemira began to lose her composure. ¡°No! That was something different entirely! The sounds you made weren¡¯t just your magic, but something that was¡­ more than the birds, better than your other sounds. What was it? What¡¯s it called?¡± Finally, I understood. ¡°It¡¯s called music. You can just make the notes however you like, but I was just humming something my¨Csomething I¡¯ve heard before.¡± The thought of my mother having long died to the ravages of time sobered me, but I forced myself to continue speaking, ¡°It usually has words, too.¡± Shemira took my words almost as a physical blow, her eyes immediately glazing as the idea of ¡°music¡± being something deliberate, something ¡°human¡±. There was an obvious hunger in her face, a need to explore this possibility, and for the first time, I truly thought about what made a group of creatures a people. Words? Love? Music? Children? Dozens and hundreds of possibilities crossed my mind as I briefly thought about making my people something more than a swarm of ravening beasts. I didn¡¯t want us to merely be a conquering force to either see me hailed as the emperor of the continent or be exterminated before we could make that a possibility. We could be so much more than that; an example of military might, an educational exemplar, a political paragon, an economic epitome. There was so much more than what I knew of the Keel of old that we would be. We would need overwhelming combat prowess to keep ourselves safe to establish that nation, but that became my goal beyond carving out a space to survive: Making a people where we could explore whatever possibilities occurred to us. And to make that a more likely future, for now, I would need to consolidate power. The new aspirations firm in my mind, I rolled my shoulders and began to look for Ytte. After all, the suns were up, and it was time to put my plans into motion. Chapter 187 Let the Inkulu¡¯aka¡¯s voice be heard. Let the Inkulu¡¯aka¡¯s call be answered. Let the Inkulu¡¯aka¡¯s will be made manifest. Those who have desecrated our lands, hunted our game, and trampled our grasses will not be permitted to live. Those who have dared to disregard the sacred sovereignty of our people, disrespected our hallowed ufudoluk, and disobeyed our divine decrees cannot be forgiven. Any trespasser without the Inkulu¡¯aka¡¯s permission to enter the plains is to be treated as an enemy of the whole of the Republic. Let the indlovu gather together once more, let the indlovu go to war once more, let the indlovu be the hammer in the hands of the Inkulu¡¯aka once more. Let the Inkulu¡¯aka¡¯s voice be heard. Let the Inkulu¡¯aka¡¯s call be answered. Let the Inkulu¡¯aka¡¯s will be made manifest. -Missive from self-proclaimed Inkulu¡¯aka Silumkulo of the Inkulu Before I¡¯d been able to approach Ytte with my plans, Trai had guided me to where she suspected Foire was. She¡¯d been correct, and as she¡¯d fully laid her eyes on her father, her face lit up before she demanded I set her down with her imperious air and a pointing finger. Foire chuckled but gestured for me to put her down a foot or so away from him instead of directly into his arms. As I did so, Trai looked up at me and grunted in her cute fashion before gradually forcing herself onto her feet and stepping uncertainly towards Foire¡¯s outstretched arms. With each step, she seemed more sure of herself, and he continued to pull his hands back and prevent her from reaching him before finally, frustrated by his constant retreat, Trai lunged forward in a small burst of speed and grasped Foire¡¯s ankle. Foire¡¯s chuckles rose to true laughter as he leaned down and picked Trai up. ¡°Well done, little one!¡± He continued to praise the hatchling, and it didn¡¯t take long before she had raised her nose up high in the air in victory. I began to walk away, but Trai chirruped in a way that I somehow understood to be directed to me so I turned back to her. When our eyes met, she wordlessly sang the first line of my song back at me before smiling and leaning back into Foire. A smile cracked my own face and I leaned forward until my head, nearly as large as her whole body and tail, leaned into the baby. She reached up, one hand each grasping the frills that framed my face, her serious eyes meeting my own. My sonilphon had been working tirelessly to refill itself, and I again exhausted what little reserves had returned to use my magic. With [Nurturing Enunciation] fuelling my words, I spoke. ¡°Grow strong and wise, little one. We will need you once you grow up.¡± Trai¡¯s serious eyes remained locked on my own, and though I couldn¡¯t be sure how much she understood, I felt a certain level of agreement from her. Then, at last, I could start making plans with Ytte. ¡ª------ Though she immediately agreed with every command I gave, it was obvious that Ytte didn¡¯t understand or believe my plans could be successful. I didn¡¯t need her understanding, though, only her obedience, and I had that in excess, as she guided several dozen khatif and keelish to do as I commanded her. When the suns had fully risen, all signs of the swamp lizards disappeared, as if they had never existed, though the blood still stained my hand where I¡¯d plunged it deep into my foe¡¯s neck. Even so, only a spare few of the dozens of keelish focused on the preparation of burlraiz roots while the rest entirely devoted themselves to keeping their eyes peeled and prepared for any possible assault. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. As we began our day¡¯s journey, the Wave Wolfstags continued to range out around us, their instincts guiding us away from several depths where there was nothing to see but an empty clearing and deep, dark waters. I wanted the stat bonuses that would come from hunting whatever it was that made these pits so dangerous, but survival and speed trumped any possible stat gains to find there. Conversely, Arwa and her children, pups no longer, but still adolescents, struggled through the waters even more than we keelish, their furs waterlogged and caked in mud. The day passed quickly enough, though I anticipated a swamp lizard¡¯s appearance at any time and I spent the whole day on edge. Those scouts sent out were able to find a small pittance of food, a couple of middle-sized Martanimis Pythons and several large fish that the wolfstags quickly caught, dispatched, and devoured. At last, though, not long before sunset, we found ourselves an island similar to but even larger than the one from the night before, large enough for the entire swarm to fit on, though much more cramped. There, Ytte began to enact the second part of my plan as I and any other keelish capable carved stakes from the shorter, stouter burlraiz trimmings. Though she wasn¡¯t yet able to create spears as I had hoped, as she exhausted her magic again and again, she firmed up the ground around where I planted the stakes and created what could only charitably be called weapons. At the ends of the long hafts, Ytte merged stones that lacked the sharp point of a spear or the blade of a sword. The weapons¡¯ heads carried several pounds of stone and a flat, almost sharp edge somewhat like an axe, but they lacked that cutting power. Even so, I was sure they would be able to do the job, and I briefly gave commands on how to practice with these poleaxes to those strong enough to successfully wield these foreign tools of slaughter. Brutus especially enjoyed his poleaxe, taking every opportunity to smash something with the heavy weapon. We were prepared, and once night fell, I began to set my plan into motion. Even, constant splashes sounded out in three different locations on the island¡¯s shores, no more than 100 feet from each other. Each potential hunting location was obviously marked by Solia¡¯s carefully tended torches that allowed us to see into the surrounding waters. From my position at the centermost post, I watched a large swamp lizard lethargically approach. Though I¡¯d seen their viciousness and power just the night before, I couldn¡¯t quite connect that thrashing power and desperation with these log lookalikes. Each of the lurers continued in our assignment, consistently splashing the tip of a long stick in the water and somehow drawing in several swamp lizards each. I had no idea why the splashes drew them, but with that little information and [Pack Tactics]¡¯s help, this plan had been born. The closest swamp lizard, nothing more than a pair of slightly shining eyes and a shadow, drifted closer and closer, and I drew the tip of my stick backwards, drawing our prey fully into the trap. Finally, I let the swamp lizard draw close enough to snap wildly at my stick, its last foot or so exploding into wooden shrapnel under the fierce assault of the swamp lizard¡¯s jaws. That was when I jumped forward and landed with both feet on the center of the beast¡¯s back, driving it back down into the water and eliciting a hissing roar of pain and frustration. Chapter 188 The swamp lizard¡¯s scales along its back were different from our own¨Cthey protruded proudly from its spine all the way down its tail, and each scale was so thick that they felt like either armor or stones under my feet. However, it didn¡¯t seem that its belly was quite so armored, and I grinned in fierce satisfaction as my prey began to try to free itself from the stakes that I¡¯d forced it to get trapped on. Where the waters had gotten shallow enough, we¡¯d buried stakes with the last foot or so ending less than two feet under the water and angled towards the shore, then Ytte had solidified that mud into stone with her magic. Thus, our hunting grounds became a spiky trap that could easily be entered but not escaped. Beyond that, with my particular prey, the weight of several hundred pounds of khatif had smashed it down and the swamp lizard¡¯s belly was suddenly impaled. With the stakes holding strong, my prey couldn¡¯t move, much less flee, and though it fought to escape, I didn¡¯t give it any opportunity. The swamp lizard¡¯s body was stuck under the water, its jaws snapping frantically up at me, but I lunged down with both arms and my own jaws to begin the end of the hunt. With [Quaking Claw], my hands sunk deep into its body and shoulders again and again as I struggled to find purchase with my jaws on its thick neck. With a quick thought, I activated [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], and under its guidance, I showed no mercy. As the beast¡¯s struggles began to wane in intensity, a large red spot appeared at the base of its skull and I plunged my left hand in so deep that all my fingers were buried in the flesh as its tense muscles twisted and twitched around my fingers. With a firm hold on my swamp lizard prey, I began to stalk forward with my left arm still buried in the meaty shoulder of the swamp lizard. It twitched and began to try to extricate itself as my weight stopped pressing it down into the stakes, but I pushed forward, dragging my prey to firmer ground. Around me, the keelish assigned to assist in the hunt began to press in, but I raised my voice, ¡°This one is mine. Try to draw and hunt another.¡± They immediately gave heed to my command, but several couldn¡¯t help continuing to sneak glances at me as I dragged the prey fully out of the water and to solid ground. The curious side of me was silenced and shunted to the back of my mind as the callous and cold part of my mind amplified by [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] evaluated the most efficient way to dispatch my prey. It was too heavy for me to flip it over without possibly injuring a muscle like I had before on a terrorbird, so instead my [Skill]¡¯s focus was on the already weakened wounds surrounding the beast¡¯s neck and its ribs just below its forelegs. With a sudden surge of energy, my prey thrashed enough to escape my claws and flopped to the ground, where it reared its cavernous maw and roared its hissing roar in challenge. I feinted to one side, and it lunged wildly, mouth wide open in the hopes of catching me within. It had no such luck as I planted one leg and dashed to the other exposed side. There, a huge red spot glowed just below its armpit, and I plunged my hand deep in, scales, flesh, and organs quickly giving way beneath my [Quaking Claw]. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The swamp lizard gasped in pain and stiffened, and, not wanting to allow it any opportunity to recover or escape, I dug my hand ever deeper into its chest and felt its lungs rattling as they filled with blood. I didn¡¯t stop, pushing deeper until, with a flash of inspiration, I sent a concentration of vibrations up through my hand and into my prey¡¯s chest. Somehow certain as to what the result of my attack would be, I pulled my hand free and watched the swamp lizard collapse to the ground, its chest twitching and convulsing involuntarily. It took only a couple of seconds for my magic to run its course, and the swamp lizard was completely still, bleeding profusely from the dozen or so holes spread through its body. Its death was confirmed by a series of quick [System] notifications that flashed in my eyes. I let [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] bleed from my mind, and the previously forgotten curiosity within me surged with a greater strength than before as I looked down at the felled swamp lizard. As I had thought, its back was patterned with lines of ridged, hard scales that functioned as better armor than anything I¡¯d ever seen naturally occurring on a creature. Its sides and belly were scaled as well, though the sides¡¯ scales were smaller and thinner than those on top, and the belly was smooth and soft scales entirely, smooth except from where the stakes had disemboweled the beast. Its arms and legs both were short and stumpy, but obviously powerful enough to carry its whole body on the ground. The tail was a continuation of the powerful body, obviously serving as the primary propelling force for the lizard while swimming. From the tip of the snout to the end of the tail, the creature was at least 14 feet long, and I¡¯d guess it weighed at least 1000 pounds. It could afford to be so heavy, given that most of its life was apparently spent in the water, though it could support itself on land. The neck was thick with muscle, and its head was almost entirely mouth, a long snout filled with a line of teeth obviously made for shredding flesh. Though the hands and feet of the swamp lizard were capped with clawed fingers and toes, its primary weapon was obviously the mouth. There was a moment of pride as I looked at my prey, entirely hunted due to my planning and wisdom, and I hoped for a moment that one of the notifications from the [System] would be letting me know that this swamp lizard served as another foe to progress my [Adversary] [Skill]. [Quest board updated. Skill evolutionary requirements discovered.] Nievtala guide me to progress! I internally cursed to myself, wondering if I¡¯d ever be able to evolve [Adversary], as creatures that had a higher total number of stats than me were increasingly rare. I glanced down at the updated [Quest], and found the true name of the swamp lizard: [Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +3. PROGRESS: Greater Marsh Crocodile.] A crocodile. The word was foreign on my tongue, and even though it could have been attributed to the original word potentially coming from the human¡¯s tongue, I knew inside that I had never heard of these creatures in my past life, though I¡¯d already suspected as much. More importantly and interestingly, though, was the good news that I had received¨Cthe evolutionary requirements for [Quaking Claw]. Chapter 189 The crocodiles¡¯ hissing roars and the keelish¡¯s defiant screeches filled the air, but I paid them no mind as I focused on the new notification from the [System]. [Skill: Quaking Claw; an active Skill that sends a concentrated flow of sonic magic to a specific location. The sonic magic¡¯s vibrations cause the affected area to vibrate in a way that facilitates cutting and tearing. When paired with a sharp extremity or sharpened held tool, Quaking Claw will show its greatest effectiveness. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Develop a more complete understanding of sonic waves and how to influence them while they are not directly in contact with the Skill holder¡¯s body.] Not as enlightening as I¡¯d thought it would be. Maybe it was naive or overly hopeful of me to think as much, but I¡¯d expected specific metrics to complete in order to evolve the [Skill], just like every other time I¡¯d been given the evolutionary requirements for any specific [Skill]. This nebulous ¡°get better at the [Skill] to evolve it¡± explanation here was only barely more helpful than nothing. At least I was given the general method of approach for improvement since I¡¯d felt the difference in sending out magic through my hand, but I couldn¡¯t fathom what exactly I needed to do to improve in this way. The more patient and understanding part of my mind rather charitably decided that that was just the point, that my understanding of sonic magic was still much too shallow for my continued evolution. I hated that reasonable part of me, and instead, my enthusiasm dampened, I tore my attention away from my [Status] and [Skills] and refocused on the origins of the constant shrieks of challenge and grunts of effort echoing all around me. The three hunting grounds, the prepared spike traps, were all full, with swamp lizard¨Cno, marsh crocodiles getting smashed down again and again into the stakes by the keelish wielding poleaxes. Though the heads of the weapons lacked any true edges, the scales and spines of the crocodiles quickly gave way under the concentrated assault of my keelish. A fierce smile crossed my face as I enjoyed watching my people¡¯s victories. As they could learn, so would I. For now, though, I would focus on joining the hunt. [Varali POV] The journey she and Fen had taken from Stonestep to where they had encountered the squad of High Speakers under High Lord Alniyh¡¯s command had been more than a week, and to get to Stonestep from her old town had been five days¡¯ hard travel. To the best of Varali¡¯s estimation, she¡¯d traveled well over 250 miles in those days, starting her journey before the suns had fully risen and beginning to make camp under the dying light of sunset. While riding on the High Lord¡¯s Bound ufudoluk, that very same journey had taken only four days. The massive tortoise moved supernaturally quickly by constantly flowing forward with its earth magic, the ground itself carrying the ufudoluk and its passengers further and faster than any other creature Varali had heard of while the vegetation parted at the gigantic tortoise¡¯s approach. In the wake of their passage, the trees and brush resumed their previous position as if nothing had passed through, no tracks or other evidence remaining of their journey. Perhaps even more astonishingly, those days of travel had taken place over eight hour stints a day, since the High Lord insisted that sacrificing good rest and comfort to pursue mere keelish would be, ¡°an exercise in overzealous foolishness reserved for the lowest and most insensate of plebians.¡± Varali had quickly learned not to speak to High Lord Alniyh unless absolutely necessary, as he obviously enjoyed browbeating anyone nearby with his apparent superiority, made initially apparent when she¡¯d said something about how Doluk¡¯s Earthspeaking was amazing. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°It¡¯s a beast,¡± The High Lord had interrupted, his condescension dripping from every word, ¡°it does not Speak. It lacks humanity, so its magic is specialized, limited, and its origins are wholly internal. Doluk is an acceptable carriage alternative due to its size and ability to traverse complex terrain without much difficulty, but that is about all that it is good for, at least until it reaches maturity and its full size. ¡°On the other hand, my other Bound here, Skyr and Alba, have their own magical specialties with which to assist me on this thankless journey.¡± He¡¯d continued on his tirade for a while thereafter, extolling the qualities of his Bound, the squirrel-like creature he called a toskyr and huge bird that Varali had suspected was a thunderbird until he¡¯d again corrected her and called an albatross. Just when the naming conventions for the Bound became obvious to her, High Lord Alniyh had spoken up again, ¡°They¡¯re beasts, the names need to be simple to merit my recollection.¡± I don¡¯t like him. He¡¯s¡­ just plain mean. People like him kick beggars just because the poor can¡¯t do anything about it. Fen had quickly made her thoughts on the High Lord obvious, and Varali couldn¡¯t help but find a part of her agreeing with the assessment. Even so, the High Lord was obviously intelligent and powerful, and Varali suspected that any one of his Bound could deal with her, even the seemingly unremarkable Skyr. The possibilities of her following in his path were strangely attractive to her, though it turned her stomach to consider. As much as she could, Varali spent time with the other five High Speakers. There was Lierthan, who was the soldier in charge in name, though it was obvious that High Lord Alniyh would act according to his own desires and conscience at all times. Lierthan was a Wavespeaker, and he used that ability to scout, though how, Varali didn¡¯t understand. When asked, he¡¯d said ¡°I feel the moisture of everything that lives and breathes,¡± and that had been creepy enough that Varali refused to ask any further questions. Worse, whenever his eyes were visible, without the beralt covering them, they stared unblinkingly into her own. Then, there was a couple of Flamespeakers, Viirla and Norat, and both constantly moved with nervous energy. Whenever they experienced even the slightest passion, the idle sparks that accompanied their every step would flare to life as small flames that orbited the two women. Then, there was Tariel, a Windspeaker who spent most of each day listening to the little movements of the air for messages Varali couldn¡¯t understand, but when his attention was nearby, he made good company. Finally, Dantlar, the Earthspeaker, stayed calm and unruffled as they continued on their journey. Varali found herself subconsciously searching for his grounded presence whenever she could, and his quiet companionship reminded her happily of her mother. During the nightly breaks before sleeping, Varali asked each of the High Speakers for instruction on each of the disciplines, but most especially the two women who were the High Flamespeakers that Varali had always dreamed of becoming herself. Norat¡¯s advice had been the most impactful: ¡°A Flamespeaker is the fuel to the Calling, not the shaper of the Calling as the other Speakers are. Where do these all-encompassing emotions come from? What is the source of these emotions? You don¡¯t need to feel a raging, burning emotion to empower yourself. Instead, you need to focus on the source of these emotions: your family, those you wish to protect, the things you love and cherish. These powerful emotions are based in the deep attachments you have formed in your life. So, don¡¯t think of the scene of your parents¡¯ corpses in your family home,¡± The previously tamped down anger in Varali¡¯s heart had surged at Norat¡¯s words, beginning to pulse and ache at the back of her head, almost serving to disorient her, but Norat¡¯s continued instruction carried her back into focusing. ¡°Instead, dwell on the happy meals you shared at that table, the first time that your mother congratulated you for your achievements in Speaking, or your father¡¯s embrace.¡± With her advice, Varali could feel the icy clump in her heart beginning to thaw while her desire to be a Soulspeaker was burned away by the dream of becoming a Flamespeaker. That was when Dantlar and Doluk had perked up and gotten attentive. Before Varali could ask anything, she was silenced, and High Lord Alniyh spoke, his voice serious and direct for the first time. ¡°Something is off here.¡± Chapter 190 [Fen POV] Doluk was boring. Though she couldn¡¯t talk as good with him as she could with Varali, Fen could still have something like a conversation with a creature as intelligent as Doluk with the soul magic she was developing, something the [System] called ¡°Soul Sympathy¡±. Even though she¡¯d asked a couple of times, the explanations that it was giving just didn¡¯t make any sense. Anyways, Doluk should have been able to talk with her, but he either chose not to, or was somehow unable to answer her. She wouldn¡¯t be surprised if that High Lord bastard had something to do with it. He was just¡­ bad. When she¡¯d been an orphan, Fen had long learned how to listen to and trust in her instincts. They got her out of plenty of scrapes, and she now knew who those powerful, evil intentioned people were. This ¡°High Lord¡±¡¯s every action reeked of sneaky, dastardly, villainous intentions. Fen was sure that he had long since done and continued to do things that made it so Doluk couldn¡¯t interact with the world as he should have been able to. Skyr, she was sure, was born an insufferable ass, but Doluk was just an innocent boy. Though she couldn¡¯t be sure, Fen was pretty sure that Doluk was still a child by his people¡¯s reckoning, since she¡¯d heard of ufudoluks before, and they were truly massive, large enough for multiple buildings to be constructed on their backs. This poor kid, though, could barely have a tent set up on his back without space beginning to run out. Hey, Doluk, why¡¯re we stopping? Fen asked as they shuddered to a stop. She hadn¡¯t expected an answer, so she wasn¡¯t surprised when her response was silence as the ground below Doluk¡¯s feet stopped propelling them onward, and the humans all jumped down. Every time she saw that, Fen felt the small envy in her heart surge. When she¡¯d been human, she¡¯d always been much too sickly to jump down 20 feet without a second thought. She quickly tossed that envy out, though, since now that she was a Scaled Deer and had this new [Blessed Body] [Skill], she was even stronger than she should have been as a couple-month old fawn. Not strong enough to jump that far down yet, but she was sure that once she was an adult like her parents had been, she¡¯d be able to jump dozens of feet with every bound! Since Doluk wasn¡¯t giving any answer, Fen turned to her friend Varali. What¡¯s going on? Why¡¯re we stopping? Did we find those bastards? If we did, I¡¯m ready to kill em! Just let me get there, and I¡¯ll get my pound of flesh! Though she was trying to be a bit silly to make Varali laugh or sigh or just react in some way, the only response she got was her proffered arms and a clenched jaw. Fen hopped up into Varali¡¯s arms before the human jumped down and wind suddenly gusted around them before Varali grunted and fell as her feet hit the ground. Varali had changed since these humans appeared, but Fen knew she just needed to get her friend away from all these angry people, then she¡¯d get better again. ¡°Kiddo, you¡¯re lucky I was here to help you, or else you¡¯d have broken an ankle at least.¡± Tariel¡¯s voice came right as his Windcalling faded from around Fen and her companion. ¡°Just ask for help, cause you¡¯ll hurt yourself and make us all slow down if you don¡¯t. None of us soldiers would turn you down.¡± Fen noted that he consciously spoke about everyone other than that creep, and she agreed with the handsome man¡¯s statement. Tariel Nahr was a tall, striking man, his black hair kept cropped short. His well-tailored green uniform showed that he refused to neglect his physical training, and his darkly tanned skin showed the laugh lines at the corners of his eyes. His longbow was never out of his reach, and Fen had seen the contents of his three quivers of different arrows, the heads varying from an armor piercing ammunition that he called a ¡®bodkin¡¯ point to a heavy three-pronged broadhead. Though he was obviously a talented dealer of death and a hunter besides, Fen liked him. His laugh came easily and he was quick to support each of his companions. Plus, he hated the High Lord, and that was just the perfect flag on top. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°I was fine¨C¡± Varali cut herself off. ¡°No, thank you. I didn¡¯t realize just how far we had come until I paid a bit more attention. We¡¯re¨C¡± her voice caught, and Fen felt through the Soulbond as well as through her magic that Varali was fighting and failing to keep her emotions under control. Tariel waited patiently as Varali blinked away a couple tears and sparks began to flicker into life around the young woman. Fen leaned against Varali¡¯s knees, and she consciously leaned down and scratched at Fen¡¯s ear just the way she liked. Finally, Varali began to speak again, her voice hoarse with suppressed emotion, ¡°We¡¯re not too far from my home village. I think this is where my parents¡­¡± She trailed off, unable to force herself to continue, but Tariel obviously understood and waved a hand to stop her from forcing herself to speak. ¡°I¡¯ll let the others know. Would you like to stay here?¡± ¡°No!¡± Her response was vehement, the words obviously harsh and raw in her throat. Fen tried to send feelings of consolation through their connection, but Varali held her grief close and Fen understood the feeling. They walked forward, into the clearing where Varali¡¯s friends and family had been slaughtered. Bones long since picked clean by scavengers and bleached by the suns were beginning to be reclaimed by the jungle, with moss and vines beginning to creep up and over the vestiges of the battle. Two stone walls had begun to collapse after having been erected under the influence of magic then left to topple under their weight on the wet, soft ground. Keelish and human remains alike filled the clearing, spread so thickly that a human needed to walk with care so as not to snap brittle bones with each step. ¡°I didn¡¯t know¡­ that so many had been left behind.¡± Varali¡¯s voice cut through the nearly reverent silence that had fallen over the soldiers as they¡¯d witnessed the results of the attempted hunt. ¡°I thought that my parents¡¯ bodies weren¡¯t the only ones¡­ I¡­ why did everyone leave these here? Why¡­¡± Varali¡¯s voice trailed off, and Tariel stepped closer, his voice soft. ¡°If a body is desecrated, it is often left where they fell so that their spirits may curse those whose profane actions so disrespected the fallen.¡± His voice remained soft and understanding as he continued, ¡°It is also upsetting to the families of the fallen to see their brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters in that state.¡± Fen saw in her mind Varali¡¯s mother¡¯s body, the head smashed to paste and laid on their family¡¯s table. She couldn¡¯t suppress the shudder of disgust, and Varali tensed beside her. After a couple minutes of silence, that stupid HIgh Lord stepped close, his voice clear and arrogant. ¡°Do you require me to drop you off at your home, or can you make your way there without us babying you? Or will you continue on our path towards vengeance?¡± Varali tensed, and Fen almost bleated her anger at the idiot. There was something off about his words, but before Fen could think too much about it, Varali was first to speak. ¡°No, I need to accompany you. I need to see them be slaughtered. I need to be there. Please.¡± Not for the first time since they¡¯d arrived, Varali¡¯s voice broke as she begged. ¡°Don¡¯t leave me here. I need to finally strike back. Please. Please.¡± Lierthan¡¯s ¡°All right¡± was all the answer she needed to hear. Chapter 191 ¡°Nievtala give me patience and wisdom. Nievtala bless me with understanding and strength. Nivetala give me victory and power. Nievtala make me whole. Nievtala give me patience and wisdom. Nievtala¡­¡± Repeated enraged prayers brought me no peace, and I only felt my fangs grinding harder and more frequently as I paced and prayed. Such a blindingly stupid moment, and here I was, looking at the maddening tallymark as my rage continued to soar and I considered the events of the night. The next full week of trekking through the marshes became boring and easy as we spent the days trudging through the safest waters the Wave Wolfstags could find and the nights feasting on crocodiles that continued to easily fall into our basic traps. Since the hunts had long since been specialized and fine-tuned so that none of the hunters would be in danger, I instead took to sleeping, sometimes with Trai in my arms. Foire generally preferred to sleep with the increasingly adventurous child, but sometimes she wanted to lie between Sybil and myself and once she made that apparent, neither Foire nor my mate and I felt like telling her no. It could almost have been called an idyllic week if it weren¡¯t for that night. When Trai had begged to sleep with Sybil and I, we hadn¡¯t hesitated or thought twice about it. After all, she slept with us about one of every three nights, it was a little adventure for the child who had learned how to walk and climb in the past week, plus Foire begrudgingly enjoyed the time to himself. I¡¯d woken in the middle of the night to the sounds of the hunt, keelish screeches and crocodilian bellows filling the air. I couldn¡¯t see anything, since Solia hadn¡¯t been lighting torches or other fires after the hunters learned the little tells that let them see the crocodiles with our heat perception. Even so, I could feel Trai¡¯s absence, and I reached a disbelieving hand out to make sure that what I thought I felt was true. As my hand met nothing but air, I couldn¡¯t hold back the litany of curses as I shot upright. Surely she was with Foire? He slept nearby, and as I stumbled over to him, my eyes fighting to give me any information at all, I didn¡¯t feel her at all with my grasping hands nor my slowly shuffling feet. I reached Foire and didn¡¯t sense her at all. With a quick nudge of my foot I woke him and he immediately shot to his feet. I couldn¡¯t see him at all, but I heard him yawning the sleep from himself as he asked, ¡°What¡¯s happening Alpha?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know where Trai is. I just woke up and she¡¯s not nearby. Would you look for her since I can¡¯t?¡± I had long since mentioned what I was doing to those of my elites, and they had taken my announcement in stride. Even knowing that, Foire couldn¡¯t keep the instant panic from spiking in his voice. ¡°How long has it been? What happened? Where have you looked? Do you¨C¡± ¡°Foire, just look for her. She¡¯ll be fine.¡± I cut him off and reached a hand out to his shoulder but instead smacked his snout with the backs of my knuckles. Though accidental, the punch he received shook him from his panic, and I could hear him take a breath and begin to search for his daughter. I didn¡¯t know exactly how it was that he used his magic or skill or whatever it was to find things, but I knew the signs, and his focus was total and complete. He began to stalk off, following some hunch or information that he had gleaned, and I stepped back to where Sybil still laid asleep. Since she never seemed to sleep enough, I regretted it as I made the decision, but I leaned down and gently shook her arm. Just like Foire, Sybil was quick to wake, though she gasped in surprise at my touch. ¡°What is it? What¡¯s happening?¡± She pulled her arm out of my hand and stood, her head whipping back and forth as she tried to find out what the pressing danger was. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Trai¡¯s gone. Do you know where she is?¡± Sybil looked down, then her eyes ran wild around us, looking for any sign of the tiny runaway. ¡°No, I¡­ the last thing that I can remember was you singing to her. I believe that I fell asleep before she did.¡± Her tone was somewhat embarrassed, but I raised a hand to keep her from beginning to apologize. ¡°Foire is looking for her, can you lead me to Shemira? Maybe Trai went to listen to her singing.¡± Sybil wordlessly reached down to take my hand and quickly led me to Shemira, who lay sleeping no more than 20 feet away. ¡°Shemira, wake. Quickly!¡± Sybil¡¯s voice was surprisingly and endearingly emotional as she thought about the possibility of Trai being in trouble, and she gently kicked her sleeping friend awake. As Shemira fought against the persistent call of wakefulness, Sybil¡¯s kicks began to rise in strength, until, on the sixth or seventh kick, Shemira woke with a grunt of pain. ¡°What Sybil?¡± No trace of her teasing or good humor colored Shemira¡¯s voice, just a frustrated tired question. ¡°Where is Trai?¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t seen her.¡± I heard Shemira flop back onto the ground, and Sybil frustratedly kicked the larger female again, harder this time, and a snarl began to color Shemira¡¯s response. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen her! What do you want me to say?¡± At Shemira¡¯s affront to Sybil¡¯s superior position, I couldn¡¯t stop the beginnings of a threatening snarl from bubbling out of my throat, and that mixed with the sudden rage Shemira had felt seemed to purge the last of the temperamental pique tainting Shemira¡¯s rationality. ¡°Wait, what¡¯s going on? Trai is missing?¡± Nearby, Foire¡¯s worried voice began to carry over the constant sounds of the hunt, and my tired mind put the possibilities together. Without a delay or hint of regret, I watched the 17/18 change to 0/18 behind [Improved Vision] and my perception was suddenly awash with a sea of blue and green, punctuated by the hundreds of warm red and orange keelish bodies. If Trai was near the water, or worse still, in it, she could be in immediate danger. With a quick turning of my head, I looked for Foire, and his head was tossing back and forth, looking desperately for his daughter. I ran over to him, disregarding the several tails I stepped on in my haste. ¡°No idea where she is?¡± Foire didn¡¯t deign to respond, and though a small part of me was slighted by his inattention, I viciously tamped that down and instead I tried to center myself. Anger wouldn¡¯t serve me here. I steadily drowned out the sounds of the hunt, of growing concern from the keelish who began to wake around me, of the insects and nocturnal life that populated the swamp. Foire was looking as best he could, how could I assist? The feelings that had steadily become more and more frequent popped into my mind, and I closed my eyes and my perception, instead focusing on the tremors that I had begun to feel from other things on the ground, the vibrations and waves that movement made, and smaller than that, the occasional thundering heartbeat I could feel in the ground. I spread my awareness around me, searching for a faster, weaker beat, the sound of a child. With my eyes still closed, I slowly walked around, my focus on finding the lost child. If she was on this island, I would find her. As I stepped closer to the top of the hillock, where I had slept originally, I felt a slight disturbance under the roots of the tree in the center. Then, as I opened my eyes and looked more closely at where I felt this slight heartbeat, I saw a little mound of dirt. Under it laid a peacefully sleeping Trai, the very tip of her snout poking out of the dirt as her breaths disturbed the loose dirt. I began to curse my haste in changing my perception as Nievtala¡¯s laughter washed over me. It was pure exuberance, and the feeling nearly purged me of my mounting rage as the absolute presence of my goddess¡¯s amusement quaked through me and made my soul unwillingly soar. As her laughter began to fade and I began to get some measure of control over myself, the Administrator decided I hadn¡¯t been laughed at enough, and sent me her laughter. Then, to add insult to injury, I received a [System] notification: [New Skill acquired.] Chapter 192 ¡°The monster¡¯s found you! Flee before it devours you whole!¡± Trai¡¯s screams echoed across the watching members of my elites as I stomped exaggeratedly towards her with my eyes shut tight. The little one couldn¡¯t quiet herself as she stumbled and rushed to the other side of the circle to avoid my approach. Unfortunately for her, Trai¡¯s laughing screams betrayed her location and guided me just as surely as the quiet patter of her feet did. With three of my steps quickly outpacing her uncertain and hurried run, I bent down and swept the giggling child off her feet before teasingly threatening her with my jaws. She rolled and dodged each of my obviously telegraphed bites before I opened my eyes and smiled broadly at the child. ¡°Cheat! You cheat!¡± Her squeaking voice accused. ¡°I would never.¡± I replied, my voice reflexively serious at the accusation, even though it had come from a literal child. I lovingly scratched her back in the way she¡¯d let everyone know she liked before passing the tired child back to her father, where she resumed her complaints of unfairness and disbelief at how I could have possibly been able to find her with my eyes closed. Little Trai was finally but quickly growing out of being a hatchling. No longer did the six week-old child sport the narrow shoulders and skinny legs of a baby, but instead, she was filling out to look more and more like her mother. Treel had been a rather dull mix of browns and deep greens, in which Trai resembled her late mother, but for her lighter face and head, which was much like her father¡¯s. Trai¡¯s shoulders were broadening day by day, and I suspected that she would continue to grow this way until she fully represented the image of a khatif. Since she had learned how to walk, Trai had been made to walk for hours a day, which she had initially loved. Then, she¡¯d needed to try to make her way through the shallowest parts of the marsh by herself, and by the second time she¡¯d had a foot stuck in the mud and the fourteenth time she¡¯d been made to stay in the middle of the swarm to stay safe, the novelty of self-propelled travel had worn off. Though her speech remained stilted and infantile, it was obvious to me and the others of my brood, as well as every other reasonably intelligent keelish, that Trai was much more intelligent than we had been as hatchlings. She was maturing much more slowly, but her body and mind were growing more thoroughly and comprehensively than a keelish¡¯s. Trai was obviously a khatif, not a keelish. The thought and the difference intrigued me, though there were no other khatif hatchlings to compare her to. Instead, I spent the days leading the swarm, and the nights training my [Skills] with this child. I made sure to start every morning humming to Trai while [Nurturing Enunciation] quickly emptied my sonilphon¡¯s reserves. At every stop we made, I made sure to redouble the influence from my [Skill], and at night I would sing the child to sleep with [Nurturing Enunciation] once more¡­ after our little game of hide and hunt to train my newest [Skill]. [Skill: Tremorsense; passive Skill that grants the holder heightened sensitivity to the waves that pass through solid and liquid substances. Use of this Skill allows the holder to sense movement through the vibrations transmitted through contact with whatever substance the holder currently is enveloped within or standing upon. This Skill cannot evolve.] This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. As I had initially learned by finding the sleeping Trai, I could detect even very small movement through contact with the ground, and I supposed I would be able to do the same while in water. I had continued to experiment with the new [Skill], and learned that, frustratingly, I couldn¡¯t walk at a normal pace while only navigating through [Tremorsense]. If I slowed myself to a creeping walk and didn¡¯t lift my feet, I could walk without running into any obstacles, but it was slow enough that the barely-walking Trai could nearly outpace me. The new [Skill] was interesting, and I could see the potential uses for it, but for now, it was only a poor substitute for my other manners of perception. Even so, I made sure to spend time every day practicing with this new sense, especially at night when my eyes couldn¡¯t help me. Thus, my hide and hunt game with Trai. I would stand with my eyes closed in the center of a circle made by my elites, then they would all make some sort of noise by hitting the ground while Trai attempted to hide somewhere still within the bounds of the established circle. Initially, I was mostly stumbling blind, the urgency and inspiration from the night I had gained my [Skill] absent, but as the days passed, I became more and more adept. What had begun as a pure guessing game quickly required the addition of fakes and feints, a longer time to hide, and the occasional passing of Trai from adult to adult before being gently placed in a final hiding spot in the hopes I wouldn¡¯t feel her there. Eventually, even that couldn¡¯t stop me. Beyond little Trai, the swarm as a whole began to grow and evolve more and more into khatif as the days passed, one or two a day. Most of those were of the same caste that I suspected Brutus was in, brawny and more intelligent than keelish, but not by much. Some grew to join the ranks of the magical khatif like Percral, Ytte, and Solia, and they worked together to develop their magical capabilities at night and in hunts together. None developed sonic magic like I had, some joining Percral with lightning or Solia with fire, but most of the newly magical quickly found themselves joining Ytte in her manipulation of stone and earth. Interestingly, no khatif had developed the same power as the Wave Wolfstags. Two more days had passed before we¡¯d finally left the marshes, and even the Wave Wolfstags seemed grateful to leave the swamps, though that may have been due to Arwa¡¯s obvious hatred of the water and her new position as Alpha over all the wolfstags under our control. As we left the waters and once again began traveling over consistently firm ground, our pace once again soared as the swarm ran over the softly grassed plains. Before long, though, I began to see the hint of a possible roadblock in the distance. I wondered what the gray smudges across the horizon were as I sat to eat with my elites one night, before I was interrupted by Wisterl¡¯s approach. I hadn¡¯t paid her much mind as the days had passed into weeks. After all, I didn¡¯t feel the need to ask her for further instruction now that I had ascended to the peak of the swarm, and I felt a slight pang of guilt at how easily this disregard of my combat instructor had settled into my being. I hadn¡¯t even realized that she had evolved to become a khatif, much less when such an evolution had taken place. Before I could ask or begin to rekindle a comradeship, Wisterl¡¯s hard, unforgiving voice cut through my thoughts. ¡°I¡¯m bored, Alpha. Fight me.¡± Chapter 193 When last I¡¯d sparred or fought with Wisterl, I had been a khatif and she a keelish. Though I had enjoyed a significant advantage in stats, I still found myself struggling in combat against her while I held myself back from using more deadly means. In fact, the only time I had even nearly matched her in combat, I¡¯d taken her by surprise by breaking her jaw with an unexpected knee strike. With her new evolution, one that she obviously was dying to test out, I could guarantee that I wouldn¡¯t, no, I couldn¡¯t come close to achieving victory. I looked over at the female as she bounced on the tips of her feet, eagerness apparent in every lithe inch of her body. After evolution, Wisterl had grown, her shoulders broadening just like the rest of the khatif, her hands changing from the gnarled, immensely limited form of a keelish¡¯s hands to the more dexterous, less deformed shape of a khatif¡¯s. Her entire body rippled with ripcords of muscle, and every movement she made reeked of a predator¡¯s desire to hunt and to kill. More than just her obvious physical strength, though, Wisterl carried herself with a confidently threatening posture that, as a keelish, I hadn¡¯t thought overly much about, but now that I was a khatif, and the swarm¡¯s Alpha, I understood to be a nearly constant challenge of my authority. As she stalked towards me, the more primal section of my mind registered her as a personal threat and a political danger, and I bristled at her presence. With an effort of will, I tamped down my instinctual understanding of the threat Wisterl posed and instead welcomed my tutor to my sleeping grounds. ¡°Wisterl! I don¡¯t see you nearly so often as I would like to. How has the journey been for you?¡± The fiery female grunted unhappily. ¡°If you have any idea what kind of a creature I am, you know how I feel about this journey.¡± I couldn¡¯t suppress my chuckles at that. ¡°True enough. Were the crocodiles sufficient prey for you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not much of a hunter, but the few times I could convince one of your cowardly ¡®hunting packs¡¯ to let me fight the beasts alone, they made for adequate prey. Not intelligent enough for me, though. Too¡­ dull. They don¡¯t make for combat.¡± Wisterl looked knowingly at me at that last word. When I didn¡¯t immediately respond to her subtle invitation, she spoke up again, her tone no longer teasing but simply immensely serious. ¡°I¡¯m bored, Ashlani. Fight me.¡± Without answering her, I turned to Sybil, who immediately met my gaze, somehow already knowing what I was going to ask her. ¡°If you fight and lose to her before the entire swarm, there are those who will complain and may even go so far as to lose some measure of trust in you and your leadership. I do not think your position is so flimsily established that there will be any who challenge you, but there are inherent risks in presenting yourself publicly as a weaker fighter than Wisterl.¡± After her brief explanation, Sybil went silent, and I felt myself ask before I thought to do so consciously, ¡°And what if I win?¡± Stolen story; please report. Sybil looked at me, her expression completely serious, and after just a single moment¡¯s hesitation, she replied, ¡°If you were to do so, then we would celebrate your victory.¡± The doubt that Sybil obviously felt was as well restrained as she could manage to make it, but my Beta evidently had no faith in my ability to exit that fight victorious. A part of me wanted to deny vehemently, to posture, to promise my immediate victory¡­ but the rest of me knew that simply wasn¡¯t so. With how I had struggled against a weaker, smaller, less intelligent Wisterl, I could guarantee that any dreams of defeating her now that she had grown to evolve were just those¨Cdreams. Even so, I felt the desire to test myself against her, the most practiced and skilled melee fighter I had ever known, whether in this life or my previous. Now that we had left the swamp, our hunts were once again a day-long affair, with scouts and packs ranging miles away from our general path as a swarm. That gave me plenty of an excuse to leave the rest of the swarm behind and range out¨Cas soon as the thought had solidified in my mind, I was acting on my impulse, not wanting to delay further practice and opportunities for personal growth. ¡°Wisterl, come with me. We have hunting to do, once Vefir is prepared to accompany us.¡± So singleminded was she that Wisterl took several moments to understand what I was truly inviting her to do, but with a pointed look from me, I could see the understanding finally settle over her, and Wisterl grinned widely, the predatory smirk on her face entirely unmistakeable. ¡°Alpha.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice cut through my sudden and decisive decisionmaking, and I looked down at my mate. Wordlessly, she nuzzled into my neck before muttering, ¡°It is important that you stay safe. We do not know this area, and there could be creatures nearby that hunt things like us.¡± I laughed, bid the members of my elites farewell, and happily jogged off with Wisterl and Vefir in tow. [Vefir POV] This journey had been particularly difficult for Vefir. He had long learned that his forte was not at all found in physical activity. While he could engage with a hunt if necessary, he was, to his own disgust, a weaker hunter than many of the lesser keelish. Vefir didn¡¯t understand why the presence of these weaker individuals so bothered him, when before he had enjoyed every opportunity he found to serve the weak and afflicted. Now, though, there was a part of him that looked down on the weak, on the helpless, and that made him hate himself even more. Was there anything he could do that could begin to compare to the strongest, or even the average of the swarm? All that he felt he could do was use his magic, and while he understood how his magic had saved lives, the value of the members of the swarm lay in its members¡¯ ability to work violence. Solia¡¯s magic was much more flashy and dangerous, though Ytte¡¯s was more subtle it helped in hunting and she was creating weapons for whoever wanted them, Percral¡¯s was amazing and he was a good hunter besides that¡­ Then, there were Shaak and Tii, who had followed in his healing footsteps, and now could heal and were better hunters than he was by far. As Vefir followed the Alpha and Wisterl to wherever they would begin their duel, Vefir was consumed with his thoughts. Though he loathed to do so, Vefir found himself unhappy with¡­ just all of himself. He wasn¡¯t enough. His feelings of inadequacy filled him as he watched the Alpha get absolutely trounced by Wisterl. She moved like a shadow and flitted around the Alpha¡¯s heavy blows like a butterfly. After one of Wisterl¡¯s feet met the Alpha¡¯s snout with a cracking of bone and sent him sprawling while his mouth and nostrils leaked a profuse amount of blood, Wisterl cackled and declared her revenge acquired. Vefir rushed forward and began to tend to the furious but pleased Alpha, his magic flowing freely from his fingers as he lamented his own weakness. Chapter 194 As the swarm passed through the hills that grew taller and rockier by the day and the gray smudge that I¡¯d seen across the horizon became clearer and clearer to me, I finally realized that what I was seeing was something I had only heard about as a boy¨Cmountains. I¡¯d always thought that ¡°mountains¡± wouldn¡¯t be anything worth seeing, that I didn¡¯t mind never seeing any, since the Martanimis Jungle I lived in and loved was mostly flat. But the trees were tall and beautiful, the rivers and animals and rains and clearings were all amazing. I loved my home, so why would I ever care about some ¡°mountain¡± I¡¯d never seen before? Looking out on the mountains spread before my eyes, I laughed at my pride. I¡¯d scoffed and mocked at the apparent majesty of giant rocks, how could they compare to the beauty of the jungles? Mountains didn¡¯t compare to jungles. The gray towers that pierced the heavens before me inspired every one of us keelish to awe. The peaks were dusted with white, maybe another type of stone? A part of me wondered if I should help Ytte to ascend to the top to see these strange pure white stones. Could the stone that decorated the tops of mountains be something we could use as a people? Those thoughts and more began to plague my mind, but beyond my interest in the mountains and the stones that made their tops, I felt a strange¡­ enjoyment of the mountains. A keelish could easily thrive in the jungles. They fed us and kept us relatively safe while still challenging us as a people to continue growing and striving for more. I loved the jungle, and I had always been in and lived in the Martanimis, even though I¡¯d been a part of a generally nomadic tribe as a human, we¡¯d never left the jungle. The mountains were home. Home in a way that I had never felt before. My claws sunk into the firm ground to give me better, firmer steps. My scales heated in the suns¡¯ light and made me comfortable. The soil here had more frequent sandy patches than the jungle did, and whenever we found a sand bath, it was full of bathing keelish until the sands were polluted from their natural tan to a dark, nearly black brown. The air was drier, and the subtle smell of wet keelish faded to the point that I had nearly forgotten the pervasive scent. I wanted to make these mountains home, and I wasn¡¯t the only one. Nearly every single keelish in the swarm settled into little burrows they made the day we arrived at the feet of the mountain where they cuddled and laughed and mated and lived with whoever they pleased. Every one of my people who saw me as I walked around and investigated the lands looked at me with begging looks, hoping that the journey was at an end. How long had we fled? Weeks for sure, maybe even to the level of months, now? Surely we were beyond the reach of the Veratocracy now. They wouldn¡¯t chase us through jungles and forests and plains and mountains, so could we begin to reestablish Nievtra here? There was the little part of me that said that I should continue looking, continue moving, continue fleeing, but to settle here would be better for my people! We could resume laying eggs, and raising young! We could continue to learn to evolve to khatif! That last thought brought me up short. I knew that khatif was not the final destination for our evolution, and I had learned what I needed to do and where I needed to go to be able to evolve to a Keel. Being khatif was but the first true step to becoming Keel, and I simply couldn''t protect my people as a mere khatif swarm Alpha. There were too many dangers plaguing this world for me to even begin to dare to disregard as something I could handle as I was. High Speakers by the dozen could come directly to our home if we built it here, and I couldn¡¯t guarantee that the nearly 1000 strong members of the swarm could even dispatch one High Speaker, much less an entire complement of the mages. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. In my heart, I knew that the Veratocracy was filled with trained soldiers, something I¡¯d never experienced before. Warfare hadn¡¯t existed among the disparate tribes of people hundreds of years ago, with our people¡¯s primary conflicts being able to be resolved with words and minimal violence. The true threats came from the world and the jungle, not the people. Now, though¡­ Nievtala was a goddess of conquest, of victory, of absolute devotion. The humans of the Veratocracy saw me and my people as a threat to be exterminated. We would need to go to war to protect ourselves, and to become more than we already were. I¡¯d been told that to the east were the ruins of Nievtra, a city whose inhabitants had worshipped Nievtala. Maybe I could find the ruins of that city here in these mountains? Even without Nievtala or the Administrator telling me as much, I knew it was a vain hope, but still I hoped as I led my people through the wonderful mountains to try to find Nievtra. As we slowly traveled through the mountains, Joral somehow continued to find creatures to attempt to bring under his control. What had only been a group of fewer than ten wolfstags before had grown to two dozen wolfstags, then an additional small herd of surefooted mountain goats joined them, then some weird goat-like things that were fuzzier and, frankly, much more dull-witted. How Joral had managed to keep the weak prey animals alive while surrounded by hundreds of creatures that wanted to eat them escaped me. After all, the beasts should have been devoured immediately, but instead, they walked without much care or worry and simply grazed on the grasses that filled the mountain range. When I¡¯d asked Sybil how much she¡¯d had to do to keep the beasts under control, her response had taken me by surprise: ¡°I have not done much for these new creatures. I do not care for them and their piteous mewling and simpering, so I have only given my assistance once. Somehow, Joral and his brood have managed to learn how to subjugate and control the weak-minded creatures without my assistance, and I do not mind it. I prefer the company of my wolves.¡± I hadn¡¯t heard or seen Joral using any magic, but I also hadn¡¯t asked, nor did I suspect that he would attempt to use it on me without any warning. When I¡¯d gone to ask Shemira if she¡¯d given any assistance, her singleminded focus on something unexpected had answered me better than an asked question would have. Shemira stood humming to herself as she let air whistle between her fangs. Though unskilled and experimental, the natural harmonization of her sounds briefly drew me into a trance. The music she made had nearly every keelish within earshot listening carefully, and as she watched me, Shemira drew her song to a crescendo before letting the final notes of her wordless song faintly echo off the surrounding stone walls. ¡°How can I help you, Ashlani?¡± Shemira¡¯s voice was relaxed, confident, and less overtly teasing or sexual than I¡¯d heard it in quite a long time. ¡°I just wanted to ask about if you¡¯d helped Joral with his creatures. Don¡¯t think you¡¯d have, but there¡¯s a chance your magic could help.¡± Shemira was clacking her fangs together in denial, but before she could speak, Rulac ran towards me, his chest heaving. Before I could ask anything, Rulac spoke. ¡°We¡¯ve found something,¡± Rulac interrupted, ¡°I think it might be what you¡¯ve been looking for.¡± Chapter 195 ¡°Thank Nievtala.¡± I breathed out thanks to the goddess, but they were almost more of a curse. Not towards Her, of course, but instead because of what Rulac and Foire had found. In the distance, I saw the skeletons of forgotten towers and walls, but not for regular buildings. Instead, the walls were built and reinforced against the other side, further east than us. The towers weren¡¯t mere tall buildings, but instead watchtowers. I had never seen a city nor had I explored ancient ruins, but under the influence of several of my [Skills], mostly [Innate Leadership] and [Pack Tactics], I quickly came to understand what a wall fortified against the enemy looked like. I couldn¡¯t say what the enemy was that these walls protected against, but it wasn¡¯t something here in the Martanimis, but something further east. Why had this fortress been left derelict? Why had it been abandoned by most of the people who had built it? Looking down, I could see the occasional flicker of movement, the barest indication of life within, but what must have previously been a bustling ¡°city¡± with thousands of people was now a mostly forgotten waypoint with just a couple buildings that had any sign of recent occupancy. Around me, my elites and most trusted members of the swarm watched, wondering why I¡¯d asked that this scouting happen. ¡°Well? Go ahead and praise us!¡± Foire and the rest¡¯s patience was interrupted by Rulac¡¯s voice. ¡°We found the ¡®ruins¡¯ you were looking for, so go ahead and tell us what you want to do with them!¡± His tail flicked in agitation, curious and excited and ready to receive his answers. I sighed, the thoughts and worries of what I needed to do with this newest discovery plaguing my mind. Before I allowed myself to sink into deeper, more all-consuming worries, I decided to respond to Rulac. ¡°You found something I¡¯m glad to know about, but it isn¡¯t what I was hoping to find.¡± ¡°Why not? What are you actually looking for? I¡¯m here, we¡¯re here to help you and support you, but you¡¯re not telling us anything, Ash!¡± He outwardly disregarded my immediate tensing and quiet growl at him calling me that, even though I could feel his heartbeat quicken and thunder through my [Tremorsense]. ¡°You need to talk to us if you want to work with us. Otherwise, you¡¯re just giving commands, and if you just want to stand up and tell me what to do, then I¡¯ll leave.¡± Rulac punctuated his threat with a defiant silence as he met my eyes. There were unsaid words about Redael and how it used to be, and it was only because they remained unsaid that I was able to struggle enough to master myself and keep my anger in check. As I struggled to fully control myself, the benefits of explaining what I knew filled my mind. These were my people, and they obeyed blindly when I spoke, why wouldn¡¯t I give them a better understanding of why I made the commands I did? I raised a hand and briefly spoke, the decision to tell the abridged truth already made in my mind, ¡°I will explain. You have all seen how I can lead our people to being more than we could be under any other leadership, correct?¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. A murmuring chorus of agreement sounded from before me, every one of my elites immediately nodding their assent with my statement. ¡°I do not merely have an innate understanding of some things and then was able to luckily lead our people forward while stumbling blindly. Sybil has already been told a portion of what I am going to say now, but I will explain everything for your sake. ¡°I have begun to swear by and mention Nievtala, just as I did moments ago.¡± I let this initial statement hang in the air, and Joral couldn¡¯t keep himself quiet, ¡°What is Nievtala?¡± ¡°That is what he is explaining. Stay silent so that we all may learn, whelp.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice cracked almost physically over Joral, and I wondered if somehow she had been able to learn how to use her magic more combatively instead of generally. Joral lowered his head and went silent as Sybil made brief eye contact with every khatif present before she refocused her attention and gaze on me. I nearly laughed at the appreciative gaze that Wisterl openly gave Sybil after her display of anger, but I refocused on what I had been trying to say. ¡°Nievtala is, so far as I have been able to learn, the goddess of who the keelish used to be, the Keel. She is the Goddess of victory, conquest, and power, and Her people find all that and more through following Her. More powerful than any creature we have ever heard of, much less seen, a god can command the earth to shake and it will, a god can give power to those who follow them, and, in my case, a god can give guidance on how to grow stronger and how to lead a people. I have received very general instructions from Nievtala regarding where the ruins of her fallen people¡¯s city are¨Cto the east and in the mountains. We have traveled to the east and have found mountains, but there are no ruins of the fallen city Nievtra. ¡°I sent you onward,¡± I looked at Foire and Rulac, ¡°because I¡¯d hoped that we had reached our goal, even though I doubted it. I don¡¯t want to continue to journey like this, and I was trying to convince myself that we¡¯d reached the destination given to me by a goddess. We had no such luck, but we were lucky enough to see that, at least at some point, the humans of the Veratocracy were here, and that they have waged war here, though not in recent memory. We also see that there are more of them in the abandoned city now, so they haven¡¯t given up entirely on the area, so that lets us know¨C¡± ¡°That we need to continue runnin¡¯. Nievtala, couldja kill all those real dangerous guys for us? You wouldn¡¯t want us to all be slaughtered, so you should help us out.¡± Rulac¡¯s random ¡°prayer¡± took me by surprise, and Nievtala¡¯s response had me sniffing back the slight flow of blood that began to flow as her amused presence briefly descended over me. Sybil stepped closer and extended a supportive hand as I kept myself from stumbling. ¡°Was him invoking her name dangerous to you? Do we need to strike Rulac down?¡± Sybil¡¯s immediate question shook me from my divinely-instigated confusion, and I noticed Took beginning to prepare herself to attack Rulac, an eager shuffling of her feet calling the attention of my [Tremorsense]. I idly lapped my tongue at the last trickles of blood as I began to answer, ¡°She laughed at your impertinence, Rulac. This,¡± I said, gesturing at my face, ¡°is the result of hearing a goddess¡¯s laughter. They are beings so far beyond us that we cannot begin to understand. So follow me, as I lead us according to their command, and my own mind.¡± The elites all around me nodded their heads severely, even Rulac as he attempted to parse what I had just said to him. ¡°Now, what will we do about this camp?¡± Chapter 196 Naddarah, You have spoken appreciatively of the mild winters and temperate summers of Viertaal. You have wondered why it is that the salt witches of our people do not wrest control of the weather from the Great Albatross¡¯s wings and the gods¡¯ will. Naddarah, read my words and remember well: the Veratocracy¡¯s ways are not our own, and though we do not wish for battle with them, we still consider their ways a heresy and a blight on the world. If we were able to force them to stop, then we would do so without hesitation. Their soft snowfalls in the high mountains come not from some special blessing, but from the rampant destruction they have visited upon all the most powerful of creatures that once dwelled in the Narvaatal Peaks. With the deaths of all the mightiest beasts, the Veratocracy¡¯s High Speakers have become free to begin to twist the natural state of the world to better suit their desires. Though the magical beasts¡¯ deaths are tragic, many think that some deaths of dangerous creatures is an acceptable price to pay. That is not so. You have suffered from the effects of the Veratocracy¡¯s hubris. The storms that lash the south are made ever the fiercer from the misdirected rage that should pound the Narvaatal Peaks. The quakes that punish our islands find their root in the pride of the Gran Verat. You may enjoy the luxuries of the Veratocracy, but do not forget that they refuse to pay the price of their actions, and instead force the suffering on the rest of the world. -Letter from Marshall Inuksuk, son of Ilnak, to Naddarah, daughter of Annah. [Varali POV] The journey through the Forgotten Mires had been amazing. Varali had never been so far east, and though she¡¯d long since learned how to travel through and respect the Martanimis as it surrounded her home, all those rules were cast aside under the expertise and power of the High Speakers and the High Lord Alniyh. Doluk, the massive ufudoluk tortoise, strode quickly and unbothered through every creature¡¯s domain they came across. In the managed Martanimis Jungle, that didn¡¯t mean much, since there were none of the immensely dangerous creatures allowed to live there. Thus, none of the mythical thunderbirds that supposedly rained lightning down on the unsuspecting, no behemoths tearing through city walls, or basilisks large enough to swallow a man in one bite. In the Forgotten Mires, though, Doluk hadn¡¯t been able to simply march headlong onward, and, in fact, his heavy frame supported on his stumpy legs could only keep from being stuck in the muck below the waters by constant, forceful magic. Instead of being capable of carrying the group onward with the same ease as always, Doluk had barely been able to plod along at a regular speed, much less the mile-devouring pace he had set before. After a mere hour of the reduced speed, though, Lierthan had stepped forward as a High Wavespeaker and with a brief whisper of his will and a single Phrase, he¡¯d created an invisible raft that Doluk could stand on. ¡°How can we follow them through this?¡± Varali asked Lierthan. Though the leader of the High Speaker group didn¡¯t talk much, his response had waxed long as he spoke about something he obviously was passionate for. ¡°Well, water carries vestiges of everything it touches. When a wolfstag wades through a river, it will leave minute evidence of its passage, such as hairs, the scent of their breath, and the warmth of their bodies. Eventually, the water can and will be reverted to a pure form through any number of various methods, such as evaporation, osmosis, and filtration, but it has not been too long since the keelish swarm passed through here, just a couple of weeks. Was it a mere dozens of the beasts, their mark would have faded by now. Since there are hundreds, though, the smell of the scales, the taste of their hunts, and the imprints of their feet remain.¡± The passion in Lierthan¡¯s response begged for further questions, but the look in his eyes put her off of any further questioning. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. This invisible raft floated preternaturally quickly through the cramped confines of the spaces between the mangroves and burlraizes. To Varali¡¯s surprise, though, they avoided the wide clearings that occasionally appeared, even though cutting through them would have saved them time maneuvering around the obstacles that plagued every step of the way. As they skirted around a fourth clearing, Varali couldn¡¯t stop herself from asking, ¡°Why don¡¯t we go through there? Wouldn¡¯t it be faster than this?¡± Lierthan¡¯s response had amazed her, as instead of once again waxing poetic about water, he instead silently redirected the raft towards the clearing. As he did so, Tariel loosened his bow and quickly nocked an arrow while High Lord Alniyh sighed. ¡°They¡¯re boring and annoying, nothing worth looking at.¡± The question already asked, Varali began to ask more, ¡°But what¡¯s boring? Is there something¨C¡± Her next query was interrupted by a massive wave that threatened to toss Doluk away. Before the wave had fully passed, several massive limbs whipped out at the passengers on Doluk¡¯s back. The pink, ropey flesh took Varali by surprise, but every one of the High Speakers was prepared for the ambush and fended off the nearest attempted attack. The would-be assailant croaked out a bellow that shook the water in its rage. With the initial assault repelled, the main body of the beast was revealed. It¡­ was a massive frog, for lack of a better way to describe it. Massive was too small of a word though, gargantuan, statuesque, and amazing better described it. Doluk stood 40 feet tall at the crest of his shell while still standing, but this¡­ thing was at least 60 feet tall, and its cavernous mouth could fit a dozen men within without straining. Its body was decorated with hundreds of pure black eyes, and its third pair of legs swiped wildly in the humans¡¯ direction as its set of tongues zoomed back towards the humans. Its flurry of tongues continued whipping at Doluk and his passengers, but Tariel, prepared for the attack, swiftly sent three arrows shrieking towards the beast. Each one crackled with electricity, and on impacting with the creature, patterns of coursing electricity danced over the moist skin. Varali continued to watch, but her concentration was interrupted by Lierthan¡¯s voice, saying, ¡°A swamp leviathan. There¡¯s almost always one in a clearing, since there¡¯s precious few places they can live. Not too dangerous to us, but they slow us down.¡± Behind the unperturbed commander, Tariel continued to send arrow after arrow into the swamp leviathan¡¯s body, but it refused to slow with the comparatively small amount of voltage dancing across and through its body. Strangely, the intensity of the shocks that Tariel was administering through his arrows wasn¡¯t reducing at all, but instead continued to grow and grow. Arrow after arrow sunk deep into the mucus-coated skin, and the electricity continued to mount in fury, the bright ripples of light jolting through the waters surrounding the swamp leviathan. After five minutes had passed and the swamp leviathan began to lose steam from continually having its attacks rebuffed while being attacked, it began to retreat. High Lord Alniyh, though, commanded Skyr with a single word, ¡°Kill.¡± The strange small squirrel obligingly sent a thick branch of electricity surging forward, and when the pillar crashed into the leviathan, the sounds of sizzling flesh and shrieks of pain filled the air. The beast dispatched, the rest of the group put their weapons away and continued forward, though Doluk extended his neck for a couple quick bites of the neglected beast. The waste bothered Varali, though she said nothing, having, at least for now, learned her lesson regarding asking questions. The casual slaughter and disregard for using its body was¡­ something that felt gross to Varali, but again, she had learned not to ask questions now. ¡ª----- Three days later, they exited the Forgotten Mires and entered the lowlands surrounding the Tuurlon Mountains. The keelish¡¯s tracks were obvious, and fresh, though the fact that they had come this far and continued fleeing had the professional soldiers concerned. ¡°They¡¯re almost to the Wilds,¡± Tariel explained, his voice serious and a bit heavy. Varali didn¡¯t need any further explanation, and she could feel her anxiety rising at the possibility of the scaled bastards¡¯ escape. Through the Tuurlons they followed the keelish¡¯s tracks until they found what remained of the old frontlines against the Moonchildren. Before Varali could see anything, Lierthan looked up sharply, his face a mask of rage. ¡°What did they do here?¡± Chapter 197 [Tariel POV] As soon as he saw what Lierthan was so angry about, Tariel stood tall and began to rush forward to the head of the damned Alniyh¡¯s tortoise. He couldn¡¯t stop himself from jumping down from the massive shell and even before he hit the ground, Tariel began a Windcalling that pushed him forward at a blistering pace. Behind him, Tariel heard Lierthan call for him to slow down and wait for the rest of the troop, but he refused to. Instead, Tariel reinforced the Calling and blasted forward, lightning accompanying his every step. In less than a minute, Tariel reached the smoking remains of the merchant camp that had set up within the mostly deserted township. He¡¯d heard that this had once been a burgeoning city-in-the-making, but after one of the Moonchildren¡¯s Bloodpriestesses staged a series of midnight assaults and slaughtered dozens night after night, the civilians had decided that the potential for profit on the Veratocracy¡¯s most dangerous border wasn¡¯t worth their lives. Tariel feared for the worst when he saw the column of smoke choking the sky, but as he arrived at the destroyed camp, he realized that there didn¡¯t seem to be a massive amount of casualties, only a single funeral pyre smoldering in the middle of the camp. The cracking thunder had announced his arrival, and the leader of the merchant caravan seemed to relax as he saw Tariel¡¯s arrival. He was a fairly fit looking man, his shoulders broad under his fine travel stained clothes. His hands were covered with soot, and he leaned down and brushed them through the grasses a couple times before extending his hand and then, when Tariel stood at attention, let his hand fall awkwardly as he began to speak. ¡°Praise be to the Gran Verat!¡± he cried out. ¡°I don¡¯t know how we survived those beasts¡¯ attack, but I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll return soon. What is your name, soldier?¡± Tariel snapped a quick salute at the merchant at the confirmation of the keelish attack, but was sure to retain proper decorum, as he was certain he was being watched by his commander and the rest of his troop as they continued to approach. ¡°Captain Tariel Nahr. The Lieutenant Colonel will be here soon to speak with you. Are there any nearby?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s been almost a day since they attacked, so I don¡¯t know¡­ Lord Nahr! I¡¯m so sorry, I didn''t recognize you!¡± The merchant bowed his head, and Tariel couldn¡¯t help but quietly sigh at the show of respect. He supposed he was lucky that this person hadn''t immediately prostrated himself. He waved a hand as the merchant continued, "We met at one of your family¡¯s balls five years ago. I was there with the Waikala group?¡± ¡°We¡¯re here, nearly at the border of the Wilds. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s wise to dwell on parties long past. Please, treat me as a captain in the army. The keelish attacked yesterday?¡± ¡°Yes, they¨Chow did you know that they were keelish? I haven¡¯t¨C¡± the man cut his question off. ¡°I apologize, I only trained for combat in the Red Abbey, I never trained with the military, so¨Cagain, I apologize. Yes, hundreds. They came in the dead of the night, though I don¡¯t know how or why we escaped their wrath. Frankly, we should have all died.¡± ¡°Tell the Lieutenant Colonel when he arrives.¡± Tariel didn¡¯t care to listen to the man¡¯s nattering, resolving to finally begin to take action. ¡°I¡¯ll begin scouting to see if they are still close.¡± The fear that Tariel had kept perfectly bound within began to slip its restraints, and he couldn¡¯t help but worry that the frontlines would be ambushed from behind weakening them for an assault from the Nightchildren. Tariel didn¡¯t listen to the words that the merchant spoke as he rushed off into the nearby forest. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. [Ashlani POV, the night before] It didn¡¯t take long to make our decision on what to do here. While we could benefit from killing all these humans, we couldn¡¯t guarantee that there wouldn¡¯t be any powerful Speakers nearby. If there were High Speakers, there was a chance that we could kill them, but we would have to pay a bloody price to do so. A part of me wanted to, to exhaust a High Speaker with waves of keelish until I could come in and seize the final kill, but the vast majority of me was quickly able to quash that hasty part of me. Maybe I could do that, and I would progress in some [Quest], but doing so would weaken the swarm as a whole. I couldn¡¯t think of myself as a creature divided from the body of the swarm, not if I wanted it to grow to become a civilization, a true people. With a personal determination for greater wisdom, I¡¯d led the swarm in skirting around the dilapidated city right as night fell. There was only so much we could do to ensure that we remained undetected, since there were hundreds of bodies stalking through the night. Fortunately, with the exception of the few goats that Joral had still managed to bring with us, our number was made of ambush predators, so we made our way onward without much fuss. The Wave Wolfstags disliked the mostly dry ground we now found ourselves on, but even they made their way quietly onward. I was confident that we could make our way completely past the camp without alerting anyone. I wasn¡¯t thinking about anyone who was in the forest away from the camp. Joral had been herding the goats alongside the fringes of the swarm ever since he¡¯d captured them. He could keep them much calmer that way, since they weren¡¯t fully surrounded by keelish that obviously wanted to eat them. The first indication that the plan wasn¡¯t going according to plan was when one of the goats began to range a little further away from the herd than the rest, investigating some bush for a tasty morsel of something. Later, Joral told me that, since we were staying silent, he was struggling to call the goat back silently when it suddenly screamed and collapsed. It didn¡¯t take long to see the arrow shaft sticking out of its neck, and when Joral had looked around to see the source of the shot, he had locked eyes with the human who was happily climbing down from a nearby tree. Near as we could tell, they hadn¡¯t known we were there, but as Joral charged out of the darkness to strike the hunter down, the man screamed, his voice amplified by a weak Windcalling. His voice echoed through the woods, and as I rushed to see what had happened, rallying cries went up from within the ruins of the city. Once I arrived at the scene of the goat¡¯s death, Joral had already long since killed the hunter. ¡°Don¡¯t think it could see me.¡± Joral said as I stepped closer, his tone uncaring. ¡°While it screamed, I ran in and ripped its throat out. It didn¡¯t think about using its weapon. Are you sure these are the same ¡®humans¡¯ you don¡¯t think we¡¯re ready to fight?¡± I sighed, pissed that our cover was blown. ¡°Gather the bodies. Don¡¯t want the humans to find them, and we might as well eat our fill. And yes, this one¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t hide the distaste that rose in me at the idea of this spectacularly weak specimen, ¡°is a disappointment to his people.¡± Without another command, the swarm gathered the two bodies and we redoubled our speed into the forest, running ever further east, away from the Veratocracy and towards the promise of Nievtra. Chapter 198 We traveled through the night, and I began to think that we¡¯d escaped safely¨Cthat the merchants wouldn¡¯t find us or guide others to our trails. The faint rumblings of thunder on a clear day the next afternoon disabused me of that notion. As night fell, I was about to push my people to continue trekking through the night, but first I decided to explain my thoughts. ¡°That what you¡¯re hearing is the sign of a High Speaker. They¡¯re close.¡± I spoke to my elites as I called attention to the low roars of distant thunder. Percral cocked his head, and with a thought began to channel his magic, the light crackles of electricity and the smell of ozone filling the air. ¡°Like that.¡± I conceded, ¡°But they¡¯re miles away from us. You¡¯ve never used magic that large or powerful before, and that¡¯s just the sound of someone moving. That¡¯s not someone fighting.¡± ¡°Wait, what?¡± ¡°Are they cowardly fighters?¡± Rulac and Wisterl¡¯s questions overlapped each other, the male disbelieving and the female excited. ¡°The High Speakers,¡± I answered, ¡°have access to magic like you¡¯ve never seen, or perhaps even imagined. I don¡¯t know which there will be, but Windspeakers can Call lightning from the heavens, or bolster their speed to a dozen times our own. Wavespeakers can shift entire rivers to smash down on their enemies, or heal their allies from the brink of death. Flamespeakers can create towering pillars of flames, or rouse hundreds to their cause. Earthspeakers can become armored juggernauts of death, or raise mountains to protect themselves. Soulspeakers can forge connections with any living creature, or bolster the spirits and strengths of dozens to twice their original power.¡± I let my voice fade away as my keelish listened to my words. I continued to speak once I thought they had finally begun to understand how serious a danger the High Speakers posed. ¡°We can¡¯t say that whoever is accompanying the High Windspeaker is on that same level, or if they have been hunting us since we destroyed the humans¡¯ subjugation force. I certainly hope that the Windspeaker is the only High Speaker, but if there are more, I can¡¯t say how many we¡¯ll lose to their assault.¡± ¡°Why would they attack us? We killed one of them so easily, so aren¡¯t we a threat?¡± Took asked, but before I could answer, Sybil did for me. ¡°If there was a pack of quoll that hunted an entire brood of keelish hatchlings to the last, what would be your reaction, Took?¡± Took thought about it for a moment, then answered, ¡°I would leave them for the next brood to try to hunt and prove themselves. The dead were careless, weak, or unworthy.¡± Sybil paused, then after adjusting her question, asked again, ¡°If Trai was slain by a small pack of creatures, what would you do?¡± ¡°Then they would die, if not by Foire¡¯s claw, then by my fangs.¡± Took didn¡¯t try to keep the threatening snarl from her voice. Sybil flared her frills in acknowledgement and asked Foire, ¡°And you? What would you do?¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°I would hunt them to the last. There would be no mercy, no hesitation, and no honor in their deaths.¡± The vehemence in his words was belied by the cold in his stature. Foire would do exactly that, and I suspected most of the swarm would go with him in support of vengeance wrought in honor of his little one. ¡°The humans see those weaker than themselves like something to be protected, not nurtured into something more. Like a helpless child that needs its parents to always give it care. Since we have killed the weak, both last night and in our battle near our previous home, the humans consider us to be a threat to their weak. Thus, they will put forth their best efforts to cull us.¡± ¡°Thank you Sybil, for explaining it in a way that others can understand.¡± I said. ¡°We have been escaping from a possibility until now. We are fleeing from reality from today on. The High Speakers are here, and they want to kill every last one of us.¡± My elites flared their frills, trying to say that they understood what I was saying. It only took a couple hours of continued journey through the temperate forest for them to actually begin to understand. There was a brief scream of keelish out in the forest, where one of the hunting parties searched for something to feed the swarm. After a mere 10 seconds, though, the screams stopped. Foire cocked his head, and was about to go searching for what had happened, but I grabbed his arm and forced him to stay nearby. ¡°It¡¯s too late for them. The High Speaker is beginning the hunt. Call all the hunting parties in, no reason to let the hunter pick us off one by one.¡± A couple of Redael¡¯s most staunch followers, long having begun to grate under my command and cautious actions, declared, ¡°They aren¡¯t as powerful as you say! There¡¯s nothing that strong in this world, or else we wouldn¡¯t be able to continue living. They would hunt every last one of us! Rulac, lead us and we¡¯ll hunt them down!¡± He flicked his tail dismissively. ¡°What the Alpha says, I does. Not much more to it. If you wanna go, you won¡¯t hear me stoppin¡¯ you.¡± Then, Rulac looked at me and nodded in solidarity before continuing to follow my lead in the march. With their greatest hope for a supporter holding back, the pack of 30 keelish with a couple of khatif among them began to lose their courage, but then, Toak, a brood Alpha who¡¯d enjoyed his power under the previous regime, snarled an order to his pack. ¡°We¡¯ll prove how keelish we are! Alpha, we¡¯ll bring you this ¡®hunter¡¯s head!¡± The insubordination would have set my hackles to rising, if I hadn¡¯t been convinced he was just leading his pack to their deaths. It would maybe serve to slow the High Speakers down, though, so I dismissed them with a magnanimous wave of my hand. Seeing my tacit approval, Toak¡¯s pack trotted off into the night with nothing more than another growling command. I shook my head before giving the command to redouble our speed. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Rulac asked as I began to lead the run through the forest. The leaf litter underfoot cushioned my feet from the occasional sharp rock and twisted root, and I continued my mostly blind jog, ignoring the exhaustion that filled every fiber of my being. ¡°Listen.¡± was all the response I gave, even when Rulac pressed and asked again and again. Finally, after ten minutes, the brief booming of thunder and the not-too distant flashes of lightning punctuated the panicked cries of keelish, but it was too late for the fools. It wasn¡¯t even a minute before all sounds of struggle faded, and the forest resumed its previous quiet. Now, though, for the first time, the swarm truly believed me when I commanded them to flee for their lives. And still, the hunter stalked and followed. And hunted. Chapter 199 It wasn¡¯t too long another pack tried to prove their bravery and were summarily killed to the last. That immediately put an end to the foolhardy ¡°defenders of keelish pride¡±. In fact, there were no keelish willing to go out on the hunt, since any keelish that got more than a mile away from the main body of the swarm was executed. We couldn¡¯t hunt, we couldn¡¯t escape, and we could only prolong the inevitable. I cursed myself for daring to think that we could ever slow down. Every time we were sidetracked, we could have made more headway. Every time I allowed the swarm to slow, I had worsened our situation. How could we survive at this point? We could only continue to try to flee. Trai was the first to begin complaining of hunger within my earshot. ¡°Dad. Hungry. Hungry!¡± She kept whining to Foire, and her piteous cries for something to eat tugged at my heart. It didn¡¯t take long before I approached Joral, and as soon as he saw me, he knew what I was going to command him. ¡°My pack and I will kill them, we¡¯ll give you the meat to distribute however you think it wisest.¡± ¡°Just the goats. Leave the wolfstags for now, they could be useful in getting out of this mess.¡± Joral flared his frills and turned away. There was no reluctance in his movement, so I called out, ¡°Joral.¡± ¡°Yes, my Alpha?¡± He looked at me, trust obvious in his every movement. ¡°Thank you.¡± The scales around his head fluttered in a type of a blush. ¡°I only did or do what any of the swarm should. But¡­ thank you, Alpha. For trusting me, even though it was just a random whim of mine. I¡¯m glad that it¡¯s letting us eat a little more now.¡± Without another word, Joral went to slaughter his goats. Before long, the panicked bleats of the herd rose, then went silent. Twenty goat corpses were laid before me, and I had no idea of what to do with them. Trai had immediately gone to throw herself at them and eat her fill, but Foire had pulled her back. ¡°We do not eat until the Alpha gives us permission.¡± She¡¯d immediately stumbled to my side, begging the whole way, ¡°Hungry! Food! Hungry!¡± With a slight smile, I reached down, cut a long, thin filet from one of the goat¡¯s thighs, and passed it to the hungry child. She grinned widely at me before tearing into the flesh, little bumps passing visibly down her throat and into her belly. ¡°Nievtala, bless us with strength to overcome this.¡± I prayed aloud, for the first time truly asking the goddess for some sort of blessing beyond what my [Status] displayed. In fact, I couldn¡¯t say why I knew what ¡®prayer¡¯ was, except for maybe some benediction given by my [Title] as [Disciple of Nievtala]. I was wholly unfamiliar with the idea of prayer to a being above me, much less a sense of devotion or divine respect, but for the first time, I did feel some sort of humility and respect towards this divine being called Nievtala. I could feel that I was on the cusp of Speaking another of the Words of Power, but there was something else I was missing. Something that I still needed to do. On a hunch, I bowed my head and spoke out loud, the words flowing freely but without the special sacred cadence that Speaking the Words of Power had before. ¡°Nievtala bless the devoted with victory. Nievtala guide the hungry to conquest. Nievtala build the weak into Disciples, The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Nievtala make us free. We will kill, we will conquer, we will follow, we will lead and we will bleed. We will sacrifice our foes, ourselves, our blood, our lives. Nievtala, guide us.¡± ¡°Nievtala guide us.¡± Those near me echoed the prayer, and the feeling that always preceded the Words swept over me. For the first time, though, I wasn¡¯t the only one to Speak at the same time. ¡°Through the tempering of the sacrifice of our lives are we complete.¡± To my amazement, Foire, Sybil, Took, Vefir Wisterl, and Rulac Spoke the Words at the same time. There was a flashing [System] notification in the corner of my eye, but I didn¡¯t look at it immediately, instead locking eyes with the other six khatif who had, for the first time that I had seen, experienced the same influence over their actions that I did. I was about to speak when I felt Nievtala¡¯s presence, and from their reactions, so did the others. I will do what I can. Do what you must. Live. The more I felt her voice and presence, the better I could endure Nievtala¡¯s presence, so I was able to stay on my feet under the immense, nearly physical pressure of Nievtala¡¯s voice and will. The others, who could have heard a much larger phrase than I had initially, all fell to the ground. Trai rushed to her father¡¯s side, crying out unintelligibly, and I ran to Sybil. I cradled her head, alarmed to see the blood flowing from her nose and her eyes glazed over. Vefir would be who I would ask for help, but he was one of those injured! Before I could begin to lose all semblance of composure, Rulac¡¯s voice carried over to me, ¡°That¡¯s what¡­ you¡¯ve heard¡­ all this time?¡± ¡°Well, what¡¯d you hear?¡± ¡°Just¡­ a huge¡­ feeling. Stronger than you and Redael together.¡± He was quickly recovering and stumbled to his feet. ¡°Felt like I needed to sacrifice what I needed to. Same for you Wisty?¡± She simply grunted in assent as Vefir struggled to his feet and began to try to give little pick-me-ups to the khatif who were attempting to recover. Sybil was the last to stand, and she continued leaning heavily against me as she stood, even after Vefir had ministered to her briefly. ¡°That was painful, Alpha. I do not believe that would ever become less¡­ agonizing. Nonetheless, I am already feeling better, and no longer feel hungry. I will let you know if the feeling returns.¡± ¡°Huh. Same here,¡± ¡°Me too,¡± and several flares of the frills echoed the thought, and I realized I needed to check my [Status] to see if I could understand what was happening. [The user has discovered the True iteration of the Second of the Words of Power of Nievtala. The user has been blessed with the greater blessing of zealotry. The user has been granted the Skill: Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude.] [New Skill: Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude; a Skill with passive and active properties. When passive, Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude facilitates and reinforces the Skill holder¡¯s rate of recovery while giving a 10% reduction to the cost of using Skills. When active, Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude blesses the Skill holder with a feeling of satiety and a nearly bottomless well of stamina. The duration and profundity of the Skill¡¯s active effects are directly correlated to the depth of the connection between the Skill holder and the object of their devotion. As the Skill Holder is one of very few Disciples of Nievtala in the world and is the most highly ranked of all of Nievtala¡¯s followers currently alive, there is a static 50% boost to the Skill¡¯s effects. In addition, if there are five or more Skill holders in the same area who are using the Skill¡¯s effects at the same time, the Skill¡¯s effects will become an aura whose area of effect is directly correlated to the depth of the connection between the Skill holder and the object of their devotion. As the Skill Holder is one of very few Disciples of Nievtala in the world and is the most highly ranked of all of Nievtala¡¯s followers currently alive, and those around the user are the most highly ranked devotees of Nievtala, the aura that the user projects when using the active effects of the Skill in tandem with those devotees around the user is: 39 ft. This Skill can evolve. Evolutionary requirements hidden.] I fought to understand the massive [Skill] I¡¯d just acquired, but as I struggled to understand my circumstances, I began to gain a little more hope for our survival. Chapter 200 ¡°Vefir, push to the left and back two more steps! Rulac, you go another three steps after Vefir approaches! Sybil, Foire, and Took, spread yourselves out more, but make sure not to stray! We¡¯re going to continue pushing onward at this same pace!¡± Even though we were running at a near sprint, I didn¡¯t tire at all. I hadn¡¯t eaten more than a mouthful of goat, but even that had almost felt needless. I wasn¡¯t sure if using [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude] for such a prolonged time was just making sure I would be absolutely exhausted once I was forced to deactivate the [Skill], but the swarm needed it. After a painfully slow feeding, I¡¯d forced the swarm to rush onward as the suns set once again over us. Over a full day without more than cursory stops, and who could say when the opportunity for recovery would come. With seven khatif, presumably, with [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude], I¡¯d immediately set to experimenting with how the aura would be able to spread across as much and as many as possible. Near as I could figure, if another person with the ability to amplify the aura was within my aura¡¯s range, then they would project their own aura that complemented and was complemented by my own beyond that. If we all spread ourselves as broadly as possible, we could spread the effects of the aura to about 400 feet. Within that space, the keelish and khatif alike were fortified by the [Skill]¡¯s active effect and ran with greater strength and determination than ever before, even when we¡¯d only recently left our old home. 400 feet long and at most 80 feet wide. My mind ran the calculations and quickly settled onto the fact that, with nearly 100 keelish dead at the hands of the damned hunter, to say nothing of the other reasons my followers had fallen, we could all fit within the influence of [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude]. I had let my hope grow stronger and greater then. After all, even if there was an eventual price to pay, if we could move so tirelessly and continuously, nothing would be able to catch us. Then, an hour or so later, Wisterl¡¯s aura abruptly died. All the keelish surrounding her immediately flagged, the effects of running for nearly two days without rest or filling their stomachs making themselves immediately apparent. The exhausted, starving members of my swarm pressed in, hoping to find some solace by entering back into the auras provided by a member of the six still able to activate [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude]. At most half an hour later, Foire couldn¡¯t support the [Skill] any longer. Then, not long after him, Rulac¡¯s aura died. It hadn¡¯t taken long before at least half of the swarm was now unable to be bolstered. I continued on in the journey, showing no mercy or hesitation. After all, the choices were pushing through exhaustion or death. An easy choice, if you asked me. Took¡¯s aura dropped without any warning, and the weakest keelish began to be left behind on the march. Halfhearted cries of ¡°Wait for me!¡± and ¡°Please, just let me in!¡± were ignored by the rest of the swarm, and before long, dozens of completely spent bodies littered the path made by hundreds of tromping keelish feet. As the first light of the suns began to appear in the skies in front of us, Sybil¡¯s aura dropped, leaving just myself and Vefir. Only those of my elites and their direct supporters could fit comfortably within the influence of our two auras, and we were pressed cheek to jowl trying to press onward at the same blistering pace. After her aura petered out, Sybil had unsurprisingly run next to me and whispered what I¡¯d already thought, her voice labored even under the influence of my [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude] aura. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°You can abandon us. Those too slow and weak to escape. You should use us as a distraction to this force that you say is implacable; make the sacrifice necessary to survive, and once you grow to heights we never could have dreamed of, avenge us.¡± There was more of me than I cared to admit that wanted to do just that. So much of this swarm was easily replaceable, especially with my [Evolutionary Exemplar]. All the keelish could be forgotten and used to slow or distract the High Speakers in favor of the khatif. The dregs left behind would be slaughtered without even a prayer of being able to do anything about it, but they could give us enough time to find some avenue of escape. After all, I could understand, though whether through [Pack Tactics] or mere intuition I couldn¡¯t tell, that the squad hunting us was small in number, and desperate to stop us quickly. The Callings of the Windspeaker were either from a High Speaker beyond my comprehension, or from a person desperate to kill those he found as soon as possible. A High Windspeaker making this much noise this consistently was overexerting himself, and maybe we could exploit that to survive. I looked at the swarm around me to evaluate what survivors remained and how much energy remained within them. As I watched, three more keelish dropped out of the run, too exhausted to do anything more than to simply allow their legs to give in. More of my swarm flopped to the ground, and I knew we couldn¡¯t continue. If nothing else, we needed to figure out what we needed to do to allow all seven of us with the [Skill] to be able to use it again. I lost myself in thought, but slowed to nothing much more than a walk as I thought. Did we need to rest? Or was it just food? Before I could think more deeply about it, a keelish, old enough that his scales had begun to chip and wear away, stepped close to me. ¡°Alpha.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It¡­ is good to¡­ serve the swarm. I¡­ am old. Cannot continue. Kill me. Add my strength¡­ to the swarm. Escape the monsters. Survive.¡± So surprised by his words that I stopped walking, I looked at the old male. His voice and eyes were resolute, but unable to continue. I didn¡¯t know how he had made it this far, but I could guarantee there was something that had helped him along. Before I could gather any thoughts, he repeated himself. ¡°Add my strength¡­ to the swarm.¡± He sagged to his knees, unable to support his weight any longer. I gritted my teeth. ¡°What is your name, old one?¡± ¡°Never¡­ got one.¡± There was the barest hint of laughter in his voice. ¡°Too¡­ stupid. Didn¡¯t¡­ deserve it.¡± He locked eyes with me. ¡°Please. Let me serve.¡± ¡°Tashia. I¡¯m sorry. Thank you.¡± As I gave the old man a name, he closed his eyes and sighed in relief. He didn¡¯t say a word, but smiled as a couple others of his pack stepped forward and volunteered themselves alongside him. I couldn¡¯t bear to kill them myself¡­ but I couldn¡¯t let anyone other than myself deal the final blow. And I did. Chapter 201 It was a sobering, difficult meal, and not just for me. Twenty three keelish sacrificed themselves to the swarm, their spent strength adding to those still able to fight, to flee, to survive. The desperation that had only begun to seep into the swarm solidified into a hardened resolve, a willingness to do whatever it took to ensure that as many of the swarm could escape and eventually return the indignity and pain we suffered tenfold. It hadn¡¯t been long since I¡¯d made the decision not to eat intelligent beings, but I couldn¡¯t reject Tashia¡¯s and the others¡¯ sacrifice so callously. They had made the conscious decision to die for my survival, and though the flesh tasted like ash in my mouth, I ate until I was sufficiently filled to continue our maddened flight. There wasn¡¯t a bone left behind, some collected as totems of the dedication of those who came before us, others crunched and chewed to extract every last scrap of potential nourishment. Three hundred and thirty two keelish remained, less than one third of my original swarm. I couldn''t say whether or not we would still qualify as a swarm or not, but our desires and hopes were wholly united. We would escape, and we would grow to become something that the Veratocracy feared. Just as we finished our meal, the rumblings of thunder began to fill the air. How had that bastard not exhausted himself yet? Were there more than one of the Windspeakers? At least, with enough eaten to give the swarm sufficient energy to resume our flight, I nodded to the other six with [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude]. We spread out, not needing to give each other as much space as before, and with a single cry of ¡°VICTORY!¡± and an echoing response of ¡°BY FANG AND BLOOD!¡±, we resumed our flight. [Varali POV] ¡°This is all your fault, you know. You damn Nahrs are always this way. ¡®No, I can do everything myself, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m the smartest person around, I¡¯m the strongest, I¡¯m the best.¡¯ Learn from your betters, and maybe you won¡¯t make everyone else¡¯s life harder. There¡¯s a reason the Alniyh¡¯s have the Gran Verat¡¯s ear while your lot are relegated to the army.¡± High Lord Alniyh held nothing back as he continuously raged at Tariel. Ever since Tariel had run off and begun hunting the keelish, the High Lord had been irate. Now that Tariel had rejoined the rest of the squad, he couldn¡¯t escape the High Lord¡¯s constant haranguing. Like I said, this guy is the kind that likes to kick the weak. Now that someone strong is in a position where he can make them miserable? He¡¯ll never give your handsome captain a chance to forget it. The captain did mess up in a big way, though¡­ Fen seemed to pick up on Varali¡¯s anxiety at the thought of the murderers escaping. Not like they¡¯ll be able to escape anyways! They¡¯re too slow, and even though they¡¯re running so fast that they¡¯re leaving behind the weak, they won¡¯t be able to escape us for too long. Varali had enjoyed the opportunity to strike down the keelish that, in increasing numbers, were left behind by the rest of their murderous brethren. Too disloyal to protect their weak. Varali scoffed at their lack of desire to protect the weak among them¨Cnot only were they human murderers, but they were disloyal too! An embarrassment of a species, one she was only too happy to engage in the eradication of. After sending a searing lance of flame to impale and kill three more keelish, Varali refocused on the High Lord¡¯s words, wondering if there would be anything worth listening to coming out of his mouth now. The more time she spent around him, she realized that, though he disrespected the others, he was wise and powerful beyond her understanding. That thought was strange, since she¡¯d always respected the kind over the powerful. Maybe this was how the world was, though. Before Varali could continue to think over it, she refocused on the High Lord¡¯s words. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Your father must regret your birth, you feckless moron. How you have managed to become a captain can only be by dint of your birth, since you obviously lack the mental capacity even to reason your way out of a one-way road.¡± ¡°High Lord, please.¡± Lierthan¡¯s calm voice cut through the continuous abuse that Leialt threw at the younger man. Varali had quickly learned of the Nahr and Alniyh families¡¯ political opposition, something she¡¯d never thought of in her hometown. Sure the brats from the Red Abbey looked down on the ¡°uncultured¡± youths from the villages in the jungles, but she¡¯d always thought that all adults would grow out of that, and that the families of Viertaal would support each other. That obviously wasn¡¯t so, and now that the High Lord had found a valid reason to tear into the heir apparent of the Nahr household, he showed no mercy nor sign of stopping. ¡°Lieutenant Colonel Lierthan. I appreciate your position as this fool¡¯s superior, but you cannot seriously think that he does not deserve this mere tongue lashing. He has alerted the keelish to our presence and has incited them to greater speed in their flight! He needs to be repeatedly and loudly reminded of his idiocy in the hopes that it sinks through his thick skull.¡± ¡°I agree with the assessment that his overzealous approach in hunting the keelish has been counterproductive. I can guarantee that he will receive a commensurate punishment upon his return to Fort Thnufir.¡± Varali noted Tariel¡¯s obvious discomfort and unhappiness at Lierthan¡¯s public agreement with the insult, even if it was merely conciliatory. ¡°However, you have been wholly concerned with the mere fact that you now need to expend a modicum of effort in commanding your Bound ufudoluk to hurry.¡± Lierthan continued over the beginnings of complaints from the High Lord. ¡°I am more concerned with where we now find ourselves.¡± ¡°And where is that?¡± The High Lord¡¯s frustrations were obvious through the tone of his voice, though his face dropped upon hearing the lieutenant colonel¡¯s response. ¡°We are a mere four miles from the Samutelia River. If the keelish are able to take the border sentinels by surprise, then we may be so unfortunate as to allow them to escape the bounds of our country.¡± After just a moment to process, Leialt Alniyh whirled again to Tariel, whose face had changed from unhappy to truly contrite. ¡°Your foolishness is so great that the Gran Verat himself would struggle to find a use for your empty skull! If they escape, it will be such an embarrassment that it will reflect on me!¡± Even as he indulged in the continued abuse of the ever-more unhappy Tariel, the High Lord encouraged Doluk to greater speeds while preparing his other two Bound to begin harrying and disposing of the keelish that continued their flight. Though the man remained a petulant, insufferable child in the body of a middle-aged man, he was the absolute pinnacle of Soulspeaking. ¡°Skyr, Alba! Go, kill however many you can, and don¡¯t play with your food!¡± As Leialt gave the quick verbal commands, Lierthan spoke to Tariel. ¡°Send windwords constantly. I don¡¯t care if you exhaust yourself so badly that you bleed from your eyes. Make sure that the garrison knows they¡¯re coming. Every death is on your head.¡± Chapter 202 With renewed vigor and focus, three hundred and thirty two keelish sprinted onward into unknown lands, guided by nothing more than the assurances of an unseen god. Since there were seven of us with overlapping auras, it seemed that the effects of [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude] compounded, but I couldn¡¯t be bothered to think of anything other than an exhausted thanks to Nievtala. A vague sense of worried confidence was the response, but even with my magically or otherwise supernaturally granted energy, my mind was a thick slurry of exhaustion and focus. All I could think was that I needed to continue running. There would be plenty of opportunities to think later if we survived. And slept. And had a good sand bath. I shook my head, hoping to shake the distracted thoughts from my head as I did so. Sybil gasped for breath beside me, running as best as she could. When I looked at her, she couldn¡¯t even muster the energy to put on a front, simply forcing herself to continue her flight. Her scales were losing their luster, not only dirtied by the dusts of travel, but also hanging limply off her frame. My mate had lost a significant amount of weight over the past days, and the pleasantly full figure had become a harsh, wiry frame that began to border on skeletal. Around her, the wolfstags seemed to continue without any sign of effort. Their bodies were much better suited to the continued flight across the plains and through the forests, though they were all obviously losing weight and energy. Arwa continued to retain control over her pups and the Wave Wolfstags, and she trotted closer to me as we slowed through a shallow creek. I scratched her ears idly as I looked at Sybil as she stumbled through the water and tripped over a smooth stone. I stepped forward, offering a hand. ¡°Sybil.¡± She couldn¡¯t even gasp out a response but looked me in my eyes. ¡°You need to eat.¡± She stared at me blankly, her mind struggling to understand my words. Then, during an interminable wait, the only sounds that filled my ears were those of hundreds of feet slamming against the ground and splashing through the creek while every keelish nearby gasping for breath as we continued. Finally, she flared her frills in agreement before fighting to muster the strength to respond. ¡°Nothing. To. Eat.¡± I was about to respond when she continued, ¡°But. Me.¡± She looked at me, her face at peace with what she said. Immediately, a surge of adrenaline filled and cleared my mind. ¡°Not by the skies above nor the earth below!¡± I swore. ¡°We have the strength to continue, and dammit, you will!¡± Without another word, I stepped closer to her and threw her arm over my shoulders to support her. She was too short, and after struggling to run in step with her, I instead drew her up into my arms as I continued running. My arms began to burn with effort before too long, but I continued running. It wasn¡¯t long before Shemira stepped closer and wordlessly reached an arm out to help support Sybil¡¯s tail, the support helping me to keep my full pace. In step, we continued our march, and our three hundred and thirty two rapidly dwindled. Some tried to support friends and companions, but most couldn¡¯t gather the strength and instead, it wasn¡¯t more than two hours until our numbers dropped below three hundred in total. Those that faltered made the same decision that Tashia had, and with a reverent prayer of ¡°through the sacrifice of your lives, we are perfected¡± over each body, we ate our fill. Sybil again demanded that she be allowed to offer her strength to the swarm, but I argued back. ¡°Your presence allows for more of us to continue. You are one of the few that can bolster dozens and hundreds more to strength beyond¡­¡± My voice caught in my throat. ¡°No. We need you. I do. You cannot give up when you have more guidance to give me and more strength to give the swarm.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Under my command, Sybil filled her belly and fought to her feet afterwards. ¡°I have eaten my fill. I must work to show the swarm I am worthy of this sacrifice.¡± Then, she led the charge forward and my swarm, revitalized, followed suit. Those that remained were the strongest of the swarm, nearly all khatif. None of my brood had fallen, every one of us an [Exceptional Individual] and young and strong. Little Trai was tired of being carried and tired in general, but Foire had fought to keep moving and keep her fed, and though she was hungry, she was far from starving like the rest of us were. Brutus was silent, as always, but he had surprisingly deferred to the rest when it came time to eat, and he had thinned twice as much as the rest of us. He remained resolute and focused, and supported those around him. Rulac no longer cracked jokes, but ran close to those who were flagging, offering his solidarity. Too exhausted even to hope, I merely focused on taking another step, staying in the center of the swarm to offer my aura¡¯s support to as many as possible. In the front of the swarm, Sybil and Shemira ran together, leading the path. Foire ran alongside me, slow to react to something. He suddenly shouted, ¡°Look out!¡± and lunged forward, dashing to the front of the swarm, but it was too late. From the air before the swarm swooped a massive bird, its wingspan at least a dozen feet wide. From its wings flew long blades of wind, and they cut deeply into Shemira and Sybil who both immediately collapsed. I sprinted forward, my magic rushing to my throat, my claws, my feet, to do something, anything. The bird whipped above us, strafing beyond our reach. I let a [Crippling Cry] loose, but the bird only wobbled in the air before whirling to resume attacking us from the air, its wings glowing with more wind magic. It focused on me, beginning to dive at me while I filled my throat to bursting in preparation for a massive [Crippling Cry]. I mentally cursed myself as I realized I couldn¡¯t command the rest of the swarm to back away from me now that my next words would be literally explosive. The bird spread its wings and aborted the dive, instead retaining much of the speed and channeling it into its magical wind blades. I ducked low, allowing the magic to cut deep into the back of my shoulders before leaping up and letting my magic loose. As my [Crippling Cry] knocked the bird out of the skies, my swarm immediately set on it and ripped it to pieces, but I had no thought for the bird, instead rushing to the two felled females. Shemira had taken a wound across her shoulder down nearly to her opposite hip, but she wasn¡¯t concerned for herself, instead looking with wild eyes at her companion. Vefir fought to close the deep wound across her throat, but the blood continued flowing freely through his fingers and down Sybil¡¯s chest. He looked into her eyes, a wavering in his own gaze before he steeled himself and spoke, the words coming freely to his lips and forcing a feeling of reverence across all of us keelish around them: "I am the peak that casts the long shadow! I do not allow this life to end, for this light to fade! I control the shadow and I dispel it!" Her panicked breaths were choked by her blood, and Sybil tried to cough her lungs free of the liquid, but there was no air in her lungs. When Vefir finished speaking what I could only guess was the True Iteration of the Fifth of Nievtala''s Word''s of Power, Sybil gasped, her eyes no longer afraid as her lungs forcefully expelled the crimson liquid. With a choking sob, I rushed forward and took her into my arms as Vefir stepped back and began to minister to Shemira. Vefir''s magic had grown so much in potency that he didn''t need to lay a hand on me as he healed the wounds across my shoulders and back, the skin stretching tight across my back and forcing me to briefly release Sybil from my grip as the flayed flesh reknit. I let out a sigh of relief, just in time to hear Arwa growl low and threateningly. No, in fear. Chapter 203 [High Lord Leialt Alniyh POV] ¡°What false god blessed these worthless beasts with this strength? They shouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything to Alba! I raised her three previous generations until she hatched and she was very nearly the perfect example to a thunderbird! How dare they cut the bloodline short! I¡­ Just¡­ FUCK!¡± The unbearable rage that surged within the High Lord Leialt Alniyh dyed his vision scarlet. He¡¯d been so close to creating a truly obedient thunderbird, and that dream was cut short the moment his Binding on Alba snapped. She¡¯d been killed by these inferior beasts, wholly unworthy of experimentation or preservation! None of the other of the High Speaker families understood why the oldest, most powerful of the natural world¡¯s beasts had been exterminated instead of Bound. They¡¯d heard of the Alniyh, his great grandfather. ¡°He¡¯d had soulbound companions far more powerful than any Soulspeaker alive! He was the shining example of what the Alniyh should have been!¡± Well, Leialt had met the proud old goat, and most of his ¡°companions¡± had abandoned him by his old age! He was left to rot in an empty estate, only the few most unimportant and weakest of his ¡°companions¡± still willing to be near him. No, Leialt Alniyh was smarter, better, and stronger than every Soulspeaker who had come before. He had pioneered the creation of the vastly superior Bound, and already it had made waves. The Red Abbey had instituted his teachings into their curriculum, and the military was seeing greater results in using their Bound as scouts and shock troops. It was only a matter of time before the ¡°soulbound companion¡± was nothing but a myth, a relic of times long past. And High Lord Leialt Alniyh, the greatest Soulspeaker in history, would be the name that was remembered as the great founder of the Bound. The cultivated creatures that could fill their ranks would be unsurpassable, and the loss of the life of the unimportant drones continuously pumped out by the superior breeding stock could easily replace the sacrifice of superior, human life! Breeding stock¡­ ¡°Damn them! Those worthless lizards dared to cut that line short! That was the work of nearly two decades, gone in a mere moment! It¡¯s your fault you worthless, braindead invertebrate!¡± He whirled once again on that moron of the Nahr. ¡°And my work of two decades has slaughtered at least one hundred of them and led the rest to flee mindlessly. I wonder which of the two is of greater worth.¡± ¡°You cannot begin to understand the long-reaching effects of my planning, and instead you tout your own weakness! It would be amusing, were you not so stupid that your ignorance did not send me into conniptions! Alba was the result of generations of training and deliberate breeding in order to recreate an extinguished bloodline, but superior to the original article, and all you can think of, instead of progress for the whole of the Veratocracy, is venting your anger over a mere swarm of keelish!¡± ¡°And that¡¯s what you¡¯re doing right now you swollen headed jackass! The only difference is that I¡¯ve done something and you haven¡¯t!¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Before High Lord Leialt Alniyh could resume his takedown of the fool that stood so confidently before him, Lierthan spoke up. ¡°I do recognize that there was no insignificant sacrifice on your side for this, High Lord. I cannot understand what it has cost you, but I appreciate it. Please, continue supporting us as best as you can.¡± Lierthan nodded respectfully to his superior before turning to the fool Tariel. ¡°Continue sending windwords for our estimated time of contact. I want to be sure that the sentinels aren¡¯t wholly destroyed.¡± With a snarl, the High Lord resumed commanding Skyr in more reserved guerrilla tactics. [Ashlani POV] There was no time for us to try to collect ourselves, and Arwa and her pups stepped together, their hackles raised. Before long, Percral stepped closer to the wolfstags. Not all of the wolfstags, though. The Wave Wolfstags stepped back, obviously under Arwa¡¯s command, though she was obviously reluctant to be on the front lines herself. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked, but before any response could come my way, a curtain of lightning leapt out of the canopy of a nearby tree. It surged towards the swarm, and with a howl of effort, Arwa directed much of the lightning towards herself and her pups. The purple bolts coursed through her body, arcing between her antlers as she whined and attempted to gain control over the foreign magic. Beside her, the eight pups attempted to lend her their meager strengths, but they were wholly occupied by the errant arcs of electricity that threatened them. With a roar of his own, Percral lunged forward and created a flickering, radiant armor of lightning that covered his body before charging forward. His steps carried him on to the source of the lightning, the leaf-covered top of a nearby, unassuming tree. As he approached, though, a strange creature jumped out of its fort and sprinted into the surrounding forest, leaving a trail of crackling footsteps behind itself. I¡¯d heard what I¡¯d always assumed to be tall tales in my previous life as a human, stories about living, moving trees, storm calling massive thunderbirds, landshaking behemoths, and fire breathing salamanders. I¡¯d assumed most were exaggerations of outliers of species, but I¡¯d never thought I¡¯d see a toskyr, an inherently magical beast that resembled an over two foot-long squirrel. These silver creatures were supposedly the mythical guardians of the sacred cenotes. Those underground lakes were meant to house the spawning grounds of the locath, but I¡¯d never seen a locath or toskyr in one. The exhaustion had allowed my mind to wander. I focused and called out to my swarm, ¡°Go! We move, we survive, we stop, we die!¡± Without another word and no complaint, we turned and continued sprinting east, hopeful to find some possibility of escape. Nievtala¡¯s words had seemed to communicate at least a possibility for survival, and I clung to that idea as I led my swarm onward. It hadn¡¯t been even a quarter of an hour before the toskyr¡¯s lightning smashed into one of our flanks, crippling or killing half a dozen keelish. Arwa ran to chase the attacking beast, but even before she got halfway there, it scampered off into the surrounding forest. ¡°Nievtala guide us and give us the strength necessary to resist.¡± I prayed aloud as we continued running. The squirrel attacked five more times, every time slaying or crippling at least five more of the swarm, and when Foire suddenly perked up, the swarm was down to two hundred and ninety eight keelish. I glanced at him, fear souring my empty stomach. ¡°What is it?¡± I whispered, the terror of worse news choking my dry throat. ¡°There¡¯s a massive river in front of us. I¡¯m not sure what¡¯s going on there, but I sense more humans moving around and preparing.¡± Chapter 204 I wanted to slow down, to plan, to think, to do anything other than to charge blindly in, but if the people in front of us were anywhere near as powerful as those chasing us, there would be no possibility of survival. Behind us, I could feel the rumblings of a massive beast approaching with my [Tremorsense], and it was going faster than any of us could maintain for any length of time. It was no longer a far off threat that was picking us off bit by bit. The hunters were here, and we prey shuddered in fear. With the certainty of their arrival and impending hunt in mind, I drew deeply from my Sonilphon. For the first time since we had begun our flight in earnest from these humans, I resolved myself to battle, to fight, to kill and to conquer, and spoke with [Innervating Address], [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke], and [True Dominance] reverberating through me. ¡°There are those who stand in our way! Who wish to stop and slay us! We will not let them! We will survive! VICTORY!¡± ¡°VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!¡± echoed the voices of nearly three hundred keelish. Trai¡¯s voice was the last to falter, her enthusiastic yet bloodthirsty squeak carrying over and through the rest of the swarm. I felt a warm glow of happiness mix with the frothing soup of emotions that boiled in my belly. We would survive. [Innervating Address] gave a renewed and greater strength than before, [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke] boosted us all to the peak current possible to us, and [True Dominance] incited every one of my keelish to a frenzy. ¡°They know we¡¯re coming! They¡¯re preparing for us. Will we fall to their preparations?¡± ¡°NO!¡± Hundreds of voices responded. ¡°The humans have attempted to fell us before. We wrecked their walls, slaughtered their soldiers, and devoured their dead! They cannot stop the swarm!¡± With wordless cries of excitement and determination, the swarm followed my lead in rushing towards the encampment Foire warned us about. As we crested the hill to look down on the massive river, the air changed markedly and condensation immediately began to form on our scales despite the heat we all radiated. The river itself was breathtaking, a vast blue scar that cut through the thick jungle. It was at least a mile wide, with its ice-blue waters flowing steadily north as it flowed easily over rocks and around bends. On our side of the river, watchtowers peppered the sturdy, if small, wall that followed the riverbanks. Dozens of humans gathered in ranks with bows drawn and Callings on their lips. I cursed my excitement and screeching encouragement that had warned them of exactly where we were, since they were completely prepared for us. Beyond that, the rudimentary weapons we¡¯d created to hunt the crocodiles had long since been abandoned in our desperate flight from our pursuers. My mind raced with something to do to try to mitigate the massive disadvantage we were at against these humans. Even if none of them were True Speakers, their bows and arrows would cut down dozens of us before we could get close. As I desperately searched for something to do to try to keep my swarm alive as we charged our entrenched foes, I looked at the other side of the river, the next destination that I felt, somehow, would give us some sort of solace or possibility for survival. On that other side of the river, though it was hard for my eyes to tell, the forest was different, wilder. The shadows were darker, more menacing somehow, and I could feel the subtle threat the primeval forest constantly sent out. It appealed to me. I couldn¡¯t say why, but the untamed wilds across the river were more natural than this side of the river¡¯s forest. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. I couldn¡¯t think any longer about it, the charge of us keelish swiftly bringing us to the edges of the forest, to where the humans were laid in wait for us. With a flash of inspiration, I called out, ¡°Everyone, grab rocks you can throw a long way, at least the size of your fists! One in each hand, and we¡¯ll throw them all at the same time, first one hand, and then the other. You have twenty seconds to find your stones!¡± Heeding my own command, I looked down, swiftly finding two smooth stones that were only slightly too large to fit comfortably into each of my hands¡¯ grasp. The adrenaline of impending battle fought to cloud my mind, and in search of clarity, I activated [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust]. My oldest companion and friend, the [Skill] settled over my mind like a cool stream and allowed me to measure up the impromptu fortress the humans had prepared. They weren¡¯t prepared at all to fight on this side of the barricades, obviously. Their watchtowers and walls were established to fight against whatever was on the other side of the river, and they were nervous to face us. The soldiers looked at each other for support, though their movements were well-practiced and efficient. I supposed I couldn¡¯t have expected fools and windbags to occupy the front lines of a border under threat of war, but it was disappointing nonetheless. Twenty seconds had passed. ¡°Ready to throw on my mark!¡± I called out, and each keelish hefted their stones waiting for my command. The little garrison was at least 100 feet from the edges of the forest proper, and I hated to wait for the first arrows to fly before our own strike. ¡°Throw!¡± I shouted as I led by example and began a full spring onwards. This first volley would, hopefully, throw them off as we implemented the beginnings of a display of intelligence. At least, I hoped the first two hundred stones that rained down on the gathering of thirty or so humans would distract them long enough for us to close in and let our second volley smash their faces in. To the humans¡¯ credit, they were quick to begin to react and prepare their defenses, shields and Callings raised. But that was just enough, as only a dozen stray arrows were loosed, and only a couple of those managed to fly towards their intended targets. I grunted as one of the projectiles slammed home into my right shoulder, the pain whisked away by [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust]¡¯s dispassion. I had long since passed my other stone to my favored left hand, and I didn¡¯t bother to do anything about the shaft protruding from my upper chest. Instead, I calculated. We were all sprinting madly to the front line where we would make contact with the enemy, and they were gathering themselves for their first true answering bombardment of sharpened projectiles. ¡°Throw!¡± I shouted, hoping our second salvo would gather a couple of casualties. I had misjudged the destructive power of hundreds of one-pound or more stones being thrown by desperate, sprinting keelish and khatif. Hastily raised shields splintered and unrefined walls of stone and air shattered under our primitive ranged attack. Screams of agony from the humans filled the air as my grim faced swarm rushed over the waist-high battlements and began to tear into the panicking humans. Unintelligible screams from their leaders were drowned out by the desperate snarls of keelish, and the humans, outnumbered ten to one, were quickly dispatched. None of the keelish, myself included, hesitated to fill our stomachs. I hoped beyond hope that our desperate escape was nearly over, but even if it was, we desperately needed sustenance. With ten keelish to a human body, to say nothing of the two dozen wolfstags, the corpses were immediately consumed, and Vefir made sure to patch me up without interrupting my feeding. Before we could even begin to catch our breaths, though, the rumbling in the ground alerted me just before new human screams did. The High Speakers had arrived. Chapter 205 I didn¡¯t care to try to understand what outraged words the High Speakers were screaming, instead shouting commands of my own. ¡°It¡¯s time to move, you fangless worms! If you hesitate, you¡¯re dead! Move, move, move!¡± Most of the swarm immediately followed my command, and faces still stained with the blood of our prey, we rushed to flee across the river. As broad as it was, I couldn¡¯t say how long it would take to ford it, and we were less than a minute from first contact. Were we not mere moments away from agonizing death, I¡¯d have admired the schools of fish and clear waters, but reality demanded I focus entirely on the here and now. In the forest behind us, the beginning crackles of Called lightning echoed and threatened before they were overwhelmed by a strange ululating roar. It was so low that I initially thought it was something from my [Tremorsense], but as it built in volume, the bestial cry began to shake my mind. I made a mental note of the sheer power of the roar in order to apply it to my [Crippling Cry], but it was not the time for magical experimentation. Instead I followed the path that many keelish had already established through the barricade against whatever it was that lived on the other side of the river. It took me a moment to realize that there were a dozen of the keelish that followed me only far enough to crouch on the far side of the walls. ¡°You can¡¯t stop them! Keep running!¡± I shouted, but I followed my own command and began to run into the river¡¯s waters. They had slowly lagged behind over the past days, forging themselves and their wills as best as they could under the constant revitalization of [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude] and the immediate threat of death. In most I could see panic that was as tightly controlled as they could muster, but the fear and imminent death meant nothing to them as, somehow, I could feel their total acceptance. This pack of older keelish whose names I didn¡¯t know and had resolved to learn when there was time to waste breath on mundane conversation looked at each other, nodded, then deliberately bowed their heads low as they looked at me. ¡°Victory by fang and blood, Alpha. Lead the swarm to survival.¡± One said, her voice steady and her eyes fierce and somehow tender. ¡°We¡¯ll slow them as best as we can. I hope that you¡­¡± her voice caught before she mastered herself. ¡°Nevermind this old lizard¡¯s hopes. Live well, my Alpha, my king.¡± This pack of twelve old and experienced members of the swarm grinned as they stopped and prepared for their deaths. I couldn¡¯t say anything more and continued my flight forward, sparing a glance back every twenty steps or so. I was only able to look that much as my [Tremorsense], honed over weeks of stumbling through dark nights with no light, guided my every step to sure stone and soft silt. Between two of my glances, the groans of magically shifted stones filled the air. I couldn¡¯t help myself and looked back to witness the latest keelish deaths. Keelish screams of agony filled my ears as the wall the brave pack had hidden behind crashed over them like a curling wave. The stone was quickly dyed scarlet as my people¡¯s blood burst out from between the stones and the humans¡¯ mount continued approaching. The seven humans were riding a truly massive beast. I¡¯d never heard of anything so imposing and obviously powerful, but the monstrous tortoise didn¡¯t care about my instinctual respect for its power. Instead, there was a coughing explosion of flame that accompanied the constant crash of the craggy stone on stone that the tortoise apparently controlled. I could begin to hear the humans talking to each other, but the riot of their mount¡¯s magic and steps drowned out the specifics. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The twelve keelish made no sound again just a few seconds after first contact. Now, there were just two hundred and eighty six of us. ¡°Make sure that the Alpha is in the front! If nobody else escapes, make sure that he does!¡± Sybil¡¯s voice tore me away from watching the bloody scene as she shouted commands at Joral and the wolfstags. Her voice was raspy and husky after receiving that wound from the albatross, but still the swarm hung on her every word. ¡°Yes, Beta!¡± Joral responded, and then he, with a growl and some inscrutable gestures of his hands, commanded the Wave Wolfstags to bolster me. I immediately felt the effect, the water giving way with every step, the current no longer fighting to pull me further downstream. Initially, I¡¯d been pleased to have the assistance of anything that could magically manipulate the water we were in. Then, I¡¯d begun praying out loud as I again looked behind us. ¡°Please let there be no Wavespeaker. No Wavespeakers. Please Nievtala. No Wavespeakers.¡± It was in vain. The same moment that the tortoise hesitantly stepped into the river, one of its passengers hopped down and the waters rose up to welcome their descent. ¡°SCATTER! RUN FASTER!¡± I screamed, but we were all already doing our best to escape. The water, previously flowing regularly downstream, began to pull at our ankles, then knees and hips. I didn¡¯t know where all this additional liquid was coming from, but the Wavespeaker''s commands were forcing the river to bring us back to him. In a Wavespeaker''s domain like this, we wouldn¡¯t begin to be able to escape. Behind me, a keelish stumbled and fell, his head smashing into a submerged stone. When he rose from the water, blood flowed freely from his snout, and that was when the waters around us began to thrash with a new excitement. The schools of fish surrounding us went into a sudden frenzy as soon as there was blood in the water, and keelish began to fall, starting around the keelish who¡¯d tripped and begun the bloodshed. His legs were nearly instantly shredded by dozens of flashing jaws, and with a cry of agony, he succumbed to the sudden ambush. As the blood was carried through the water to the Speakers, the fish there, a mere two hundred feet away, began to swarm the massive tortoise. It groaned, the pain obvious as it caused stone to flow up its legs and brought itself to a stop. The rest of the humans jumped down and into a wide area of dry land that the Wavespeaker Spoke into being. ¡°Nievtala, Administrator! Any help! Please!¡± I shouted into the heavens as my mind raced, hoping beyond hope to stumble across some strange strategy that could allow us to survive this impossible situation. For once, there was absolutely no response from the [System]. What little apparent divinity I seemed to be in contact with had abandoned me as well. I was about to break down into hopeless sobs when my hopeless thoughts were interrupted. ¡°I guess it¡¯s my time to answer a prayer, Ashy boy.¡± Rulac¡¯s cocksure face flashed past me as he stopped resisting the unnatural current and began to walk with it. ¡°No, I¡­ I!¡± I couldn¡¯t muster any real words as, under Rulac¡¯s example, hundreds of keelish began to march forward. ¡°Nah. You¡¯ve got your people, your ¡®elites¡¯. I was just kinda there. I really shoulda died with Redael, so I¡¯m just late. As usual.¡± He scoffed before looking at Took. ¡°Sorry I couldn¡¯t get you gravid with my eggs, leggy. Maybe next time.¡± He grinned wide, rolled his shoulders, and raised his voice, ¡°Wisterl, you¡¯re with me, right?¡± Her laughter was high, proud, and genuinely excited as she strode forward. ¡°We better kill at least a few of ¡®em. Otherwise. I¡¯ll drill you til you bleed.¡± She bumped her hip into Rulac¡¯s as hundreds of keelish sprinted to their deaths. ¡°VICTORY!¡± they cried, knowing it was a lie. ¡°VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!¡± I refused to turn to watch their deaths, instead resuming a probably hopeless flight through the waters towards the far shore. Chapter 206 [Rulac POV] ¡°OLDER MEMBERS OF THE SWARM, WITH ME! WE¡¯LL GUT THESE HUMANS LIKE THE SCALELESS WEAKLINGS THEY ARE! I¡¯M NOT GONNA LET THESE WHELPS STILL WET FROM THE EGG DIE BEFORE ME, ARE YOU?!¡± ¡°FORGED IN WAR AND TEMPERED IN BLOOD, I FOLLOW!¡± Wisterl replied, and Rulac continued giving commands to the keelish that followed him. ¡°WITH CHIPPED FANG AND BLOODIED SCALE, I KILL! ONLY DEATH! ONLY DEATH! ONLY DEATH FOR THE FOES OF THE SWARM!¡± ¡°DEATH FOR THE FOES OF THE SWARM!¡± He didn¡¯t usually like engaging in the dramatics of speeches, but Rulac realized he was pretty good at ¡®em. The entirety of the swarm, even those continuing in flight, screamed in response as over two hundred keelish went to meet seven humans. It had been too long since Rulac had conquered something. The days of his youth with Redael, forcing every member of the swarm to bend the knee, and then conquering two nearby swarms¡­ Those had been good days. If only that feral Took had been receptive to his advances, then perhaps¡­ but there was no time to think of rutting, only the splitting of skulls and the spilling of blood. Much of it would be his own, as it should be, but there were still some tricks Ashlani hadn¡¯t seen from the old guard. His fierce grin widened, the anticipation of battle swelling his heart. At his left rushed forward Wisterl, and the right was Histy. ¡°Wisterl, you know what to do. Histy, we focus on the one that¡¯s controlling the water, but keep an eye out on fire, will you?¡± It wasn¡¯t a question, and these old companions of his wouldn¡¯t have questioned his command anyway. It was good to be working with the professionals once again. The grin spread even wider across his face as the sound of hundreds of splashing steps filled in behind him. This was what he had for so long missed. A true forging in blood. The swarm fell in behind the rushing khatif members of the swarm, and the screaming cacophony of raging keelish caused Rulac¡¯s blood to swell excitedly within. He continued rushing forward¡­ and was met by a massive wave of flame washing onwards. No command was necessary as Histy blasted an opening in the center of the flaming wall and Rulac rushed through. Most of the swarm behind him followed suit, but a couple of pained screams sounded out behind him. There was nothing to do for them, and Rulac shut out the extraneous information. There were only 80 feet separating him from his prey, seven humans and one little deer. Onward Rulac sprinted, and a second wave of flame came to greet him. Again, Histy reached out her will to divide the flames, but this time the enemy was prepared, and the fires merely dimmed in the center. Rulac pressed through¡­ Only to be smashed by a large wave of water. It nearly lifted him from his feet, but Rulac dug his claws into the stone underfoot as the wave passed and continued forward over the keelish that had followed him. At the rear of the wave was a wide blade of wind that cut shallowly into his thighs, but Rulac recognized this as the greatest threat of the massive attacks so far as his blood trickled into the water inhabited by the ferocious fish. Their frenzy had begun to die down without any additional blood filling the water, and immediately the water began frothing wildly as the fish descended once more into their bloodlust. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Can¡¯t eat me if they can¡¯t catch me.¡± Rulac couldn¡¯t help but laugh as he spoke, almost believing he would escape this confrontation alive. Onward he sprinted, ever faster, finally within reach of the hulking brute covered with what looked to be living stone. He¡¯d heard about the thing that Ashlani had killed, but he¡¯d struggled to believe the tales he¡¯d heard. Again, he refocused on the battle at hand. ¡°EVADE! FOCUS ON THE OTHERS!¡± Rulac called out as he feinted in and circled around the massive figure. There were six other humans behind him, strategically spread out just enough to support each other, but also not so close as to be felled by an unlucky blow from a companion. Rulac could hear the clattering of scales, fang, and claw against stone behind himself, but trusted in the swarm to continue to follow his commands. ¡°WISTERL, ON ME!¡± Rulac rushed towards the nearest human and finally realized that the water from the river had begun to flow up his body to fill his nostrils and throat. He took as deep a breath he could as the first droplets began to force their way in. Finally, he¡¯d entered combat with the humans. His target began to calmly flow backwards, the water carrying him as Rulac and Wisterl attempted to press the attack. The water already gathered around his body shifted from merely suffocating him, now blunting his claws to clubs and jaws to a mere trunk. With a cracking strain, the water pressed in, crushing his bones, and Rulac suppressed a grunt of pain, trying to conserve air. Through the water, Rulac could dimly see the murky form of the human before him. He could dimly hear the human speaking, repeating something, but only thoughts of slaughter and survival mattered. He rushed forward, against the water pulling his face back, against the pressing current, against everything, and was able to approach the human. Rulac feinted right, left, bite, then, his opponent foolishly confident, he suddenly whirled in a circle and smashed his heavy tail against the human¡¯s knees. There was a pained scream as the knee bent backwards, but an answering sharp pain shot up Rulac¡¯s spine as he made contact. The water surrounding his hands almost unwillingly fell off, and Rulac rushed forward, looking to grab the human and maybe deal with them permanently before his vision tunneled completely to black. In the back of his mind he noted the pain of sharp jaws beginning to chew into his flank. He caught hold of fabric and the wearer began to thrash in a panic. His grin fixed in a rictus as Rulac began to haul the human back towards him. He saw the flashing of fire rushing towards him, but he couldn¡¯t be bothered to worry about it¨Che would die to the water filling his lungs just as quickly. First, he merely needed to slaughter this human. His first of these scaleless that he would slay in his pursuit to protect his swarm. His Alpha. Before Rulac could do anything though, the struggling in his hands ceased and the water quickly fell from his face and dribbled from his throat. Looking forward, he could see Wisterl whip her head back with the majority of the human¡¯s neck in her jaws. She screamed her challenge, her joy at her success, and Rulac himself grinned as he looked on to the rest of his soldiers as they continued the melee. He was sorely disappointed. Wisterl had lost most of one leg and the toothy fish were working at her other. Behind him Rulac could see the bodies of Histy and Berk, both being gnawed on by the fish while the vast majority of the keelish that had followed were waterlogged, scorched, or some mixture of the two. The behemoth stood surrounded by the pulped flesh of several dozen keelish corpses, the blood and viscera splattered all around and on his armored body. The keelish still standing numbered in just a couple of dozen, and none were unharmed. The humans had only lost two of their squad¨Cthe water one Wisterl had slain, and one of the two fire ones. The other fire human was hunched over the immobile body of their companion, repeating some human gibberish. The rock human was closing in on the keelish survivors, and another stood, gathering some wind magic. Rulac looked to Wisterl. ¡°I¡¯ll be forgotten by Nievtala if I die before taking one more of them down.¡± She grinned in response. ¡°You better. The great Rulac, unable to kill a single human.¡± He scoffed as the humans continued preparing their attack on the remaining keelish. The surviving tenth of the attacking swarm rushed onwards to their inevitable demise as another human voice began to shout something. Rulac almost wished he¡¯d tried to learn the human tongue, but instead, he¡¯d see if he couldn¡¯t learn the taste of one. Maybe it''d end up being a delicacy worthy dying for. Chapter 207 I forced myself not to look back as the hiss of water turned to steam was washed out by keelish screams of agony. Histy had never said anything about how she could use magic, and I realized how little attention I had paid the most senior members of the swarm. I hadn¡¯t learned many of their names, I didn¡¯t know how long they¡¯d lived, or much of anything else. Another of my failings as a leader, failings I could address so long as I could bring the few dozen keelish that remained alive to safety. Without looking behind me, I felt the death of the Wavespeaker as the water that had continued to pull us back fell and resumed flowing freely downriver. ¡°Yes! Keep going, we may escape yet!¡± I yelled out with renewed vigor and the keelish around me rallied as we all pushed even harder through the several foot-deep waters. Even through the boosts from [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude] and [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke], my lungs burned and my legs ached so deeply I struggled to continue my path. All the while, it took a conscious effort to tear my attention from behind me as the warlike cries of keelish quickly shifted to agonized whimpers, and then, again, to silence. I could hear a strident human male voice giving a command, but I couldn¡¯t hear him clearly enough to discern his words, and I didn¡¯t care to listen to him. Instead, I continued pushing onward, glancing around to see which of my elites, which of those I knew personally yet lived. Sybil remained close to me, and by her were Shemira, Took, and Vefir. On my other side Foire, holding Trai, along with Brutus, Ytte, and Percral struggled through the river, never looking up but endeavoring to maintain their balance as we fought to make land at the far side of the river. Solia, Silf and Etra were in our wake, only sheer determination carrying them onward as they continued to flag in their exhaustion. Joral had somehow kept nearly all the wolfstags alive, and the Wave Wolfstags used their magic to keep Arwa and her pups from being swept away by the water. Only a dozen more keelish, most of those being from my own brood, and the last few from Joral¡¯s. Only half of my own brood remained, those who, even if I¡¯d never said it, I considered to be those who would serve alongside me as the original Keel of this generation. In total, the swarm was smaller in number than my brood had been at hatching. Twenty six keelish and twenty wolfstags were all that remained. There were more than one thousand of us just a month ago, and there was still no guarantee for survival for the two dozen that remained. I glanced behind us, hoping that the humans had, for whatever reason, given up on pursuing us. Instead, I saw a growing pillar of flames that threatened our existence. ¡°Solia!¡± I shouted, pointing behind us. Through the fog of exhaustion, she looked back and saw the approaching blast. With a wordless cry of effort, she raised a hand and parted the flames so that they passed on both sides of us remaining survivors. As the fire died down and we continued our attempt at escape, I hazarded another look back. Several of the humans, four of them, continued on towards us. They all rode along the Earthspeaker¡¯s back, his body covered with armor of living stone and handholds as he flowed forward without having to raise his feet. On his back, a couple of the humans seemed to be trying to do something to continue their assault on us, but we had made landfall. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°KEEP RUNNING!¡± I shouted as I followed my own command. I fought to regain enough of my breath to continue giving orders. ¡°Once we¡¯re under the cover of the trees, scatter into packs! Maybe we¡¯ll be able to ambush some of them and keep them from continuing pursuit! Focus on the ones that aren¡¯t covered in rock!¡± The wheezing of lungs and the clatter of feet on the shore were all the response my swarm gave me, but I could feel their support. Before we could make it into the forest before us, an eerie, unplaceable feeling tickled my spine, and I immediately gestured for my keelish to gather close. ¡°Hello, we¡¯re coming in. Please don¡¯t kill.¡± I said, first in keelish, then in the human tongue. Then, hesitantly but still quickly, I led my two dozen keelish and wolfstags into the forest¡¯s protection. Something was watching, but I couldn¡¯t tell where or what. I whirled to look at Foire, hoping he could see what I couldn¡¯t, and he nodded, understanding my question. He shifted Trai to his other arm and pointed to a particular shadow, deeper than the rest, a mere 20 or so feet away. Then again at a second shadow 30 feet in a different direction. Then a third, and a fourth. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of them.¡± He said. "More than I can be sure I see.¡± The forest here, just as I¡¯d thought from a distance, was wilder, more untamed, more natural than the jungles of the Martanimis. The constant whine of insects filled the air, and the trees and brush grew so thickly that only speckles of shadow filtered through the foliage to light the ground. The ground was covered in leaf litter, gnarled roots, and the occasional bone, and it squished pleasantly between my toes. Behind us, I could hear the humans make landfall, the sand and stones clicking together under their steps. When I tried to lead the vestiges of my swarm forward to continue to try to escape the implacable Speakers, a piercing voice rang out, harsh and grating in the human tongue. ¡°Stay where you are, warlocks. You do know that if you profane the soil of the Wilds it will be repaid in kind, right? And your mere presence is a blight to be repaid one hundredfold.¡± The voice was at once authoritative and derisive, though the words were obviously not the speaker¡¯s natal tongue, the ¡°s¡±s sibilant and unnaturally long. This voice, whoever and whatever it was, absolutely hated the people from the other side of the river, and the humans seemed to know who or what it was. Our pursuers stopped, their heels only barely out of the waters of the deadly river. Before they could respond, though, the original speaker stepped forward from the nearest pool of shadow, the first one that Foire had pointed out to me. It revealed itself as a creature I¡¯d never heard of nor seen in my previous life. Chapter 208 ¡°You have very little time to answer before our response. You have already trespassed the Samutelia, and we would love to offer your flesh and blood to the nard¡¯ul. They have fattened themselves already this day, but the Bloodsoaked Mother¡¯s children are always ready to glut themselves.¡± The creature that spoke, what I assumed to be a female, was a petite, almost animalian human. She was under five feet tall, and was dressed all in pure black leather and furs. Wait, no¡­ She was naked except for a loincloth, her breasts pronounced enough that, with her voice, I pegged her as a female. And, instead of a full outfit of black leather and furs, I realized that her ¡°clothing¡± was in fact pure black leathery skin paired with long, dark hair growing down from the top of her head all down the spine. Her arms were longer than a human of her size would have been, even longer than my own, I suspected, and her fingers were disgustingly long as well. With the length of her arms and fingers combined, several of her knuckles dragged along the ground even while mostly curled. Calling her fingers long was like calling a keelish a lizard. Sure, the idea was communicated, but only in the broadest sense of the word, and beyond that, it couldn¡¯t emphasize the size and impression given by them. Each finger ranged in length from half a foot, to longer than twice that, and each one was obviously built for a different, violent function. Her thumb and index finger were the shortest, only twice the length of a normal human¡¯s finger, but the middle finger was where things continued past mere unnatural length and into uncomfortably monstrous. Her middle fingers were the second longest on her hand, just a little bit shorter than a full foot, but combined with how they were capped with shining, sharp nails that protruded another inch, the fingers were a foot long. All her fingers had an extra joint and were obviously meant to be used as a stabbing weapon of some sort. The fourth finger was the longest, over a foot, and capped with a club-like protuberance. The final finger was permanently curved into a long, cruel sickle shape, and I had the sneaking suspicion that it could function like one if given the chance. Both of the nameless creature''s middle fingers were pointed threateningly at the four humans, and I got the feeling that if she¡¯d wanted to, she could put the eyes out of at least one head before any of the humans could react. Every one of my instincts screamed danger when I looked at her, and my [Tremorsense] told me that she could balance on the balls of her feet without any extraneous movement. She was more dangerous than Wisterl, more trained and prepared for combat, not just fighting. Thinking of my old mentor, I imagined I could still hear her cries of agony as she¡¯d lunged to stave off the assault of these Speakers. I swallowed down the emotions that threatened to overwhelm me. If we survived, I could grieve. Until then, I needed to be aware, strong, and ready. I refocused on the furry woman, and as I sized her up, the humans finally answered. A man, by the sound of his voice. He carried a well-tended longbow, so the Windspeaker, then. ¡°Of course we aren¡¯t here to trespass upon the face of the Wilds, but simply seek to avenge the slaughter of our own upon those beasts before you. We ask for your permission.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°It seems to me,¡± the furry stranger¡¯s voice cracked like thunder and the humans recoiled at her vehemence, ¡°that the ¡®beasts¡¯ before me are not beasts at all but thinking creatures. Is that so?¡± After a brief pause, the person from the ¡°Wilds¡± repeated herself as she turned her gaze to me, ¡°Is that so?¡± I startled as I realized what she was asking, and, in my faltering, stilted human tongue, I answered, ¡°Yes. We think. We not beasts. We people.¡± I worked my jaw, uncomfortable. ¡°There it isss,¡± the woman continued, deliberately drawing out the word ¡°is¡±, ¡°And you seem to have avenged yourselves plenty. The blood of the saharliard has sated the thirst of the Nard¡¯ul, and you have not seemed to pay a blood price in kind.¡± She flicked her hand, obviously dismissing the Speakers with a threat. ¡°You are not welcome in the Wilds. Return from whence you came, warlocks.¡± Her voice¡¯s smug derision swelled, and I began to suspect she was relishing the opportunity to spit defiance in the faces of our pursuers. ¡°What is happening? I can not understand them. They are talking too fast.¡± Sybil hissed at me, our situation unclear to anyone but me. I raised a hand to her, silencing any further questions as I tried to figure that out myself. A new voice rang out from the humans, disregarding the Windspeaker as he tried to respond. ¡°They murdered my wife in that river! I will slaughter every last one of them and allow her soul to rest well in Vataal Sam! You cannot interfere with this!¡± This was a woman, one of the Flamespeakers. Both hands had been messily bitten off almost up to the elbow, and she was in no state to effectuate any noteworthy Calling as her barely cauterized wounds wept pus onto the ground. ¡°So, Night-profaner, do I hear that you wish to incur a blood-debt?¡± The stranger¡¯s voice¡¯s tone became grim, heavy, and indescribably¡­ reverent, almost like when someone was speaking the Words of Power of Nievtala. As she spoke, my eyes were drawn from the humans to finally, for the first time, truly look her in the face. Her face had what could almost be called a snout, but her eyes¡­ her eyes were much too large for her head by human standards, the sclera nearly invisible around the huge sky-blue irises that dominated all but the very corners of her eyes. I knew there was much more to take in of this possible ally, but her eyes drew mine in in an irresistible, nearly painful fashion. Sybil¡¯s quiet questions and commands faded to nothing as I lost myself in the mystical, magical eyes. The human Flamespeaker¡¯s voice stumbled to a halt as the Windspeaker quietly but obviously reprimanded her. The woman from the forest spoke up again and I could finally tear my attention away from her eyes and became more aware of the presence of not just the couple individuals Foire had pointed out to me. Instead, a couple dozen more of the Wilds¡¯ people began melding out of the forest and into the light of the riverbanks. Some held spears and bows, but most sported the same empty, dangerous hands that their spokesperson did. ¡°Profaners of the night. Warlocks. Killers of innocents, prisoners, and children alike, I ask you again in my authority as Bloodpriestess¨Cdo you wish to incur a blood-debt?¡± Chapter 209 My expectations soared. I didn¡¯t know what a blood-debt was, but that it was serious enough to give pause to this group of elite High Speakers was enough to set my mind to racing. As the humans seemed to contemplate how to answer the Bloodpriestess¡¯s question, I motioned for the rest of the swarm to follow my lead and begin to flee through the surrounding woods. If we could get enough space between us while our pursuers were tied down in whatever this political maneuvering was with this Bloodpriestess¡¯s party, maybe we could escape, even if they came to some accord. ¡°Thinking and communicating creatures should well know when to flee and when to STOP and LISTEN.¡± The Bloodpriestess¡¯s words cracked violently on those two words and I nearly involuntarily stopped mid step before turning back to look at her. Our eyes met, and I immediately looked down, my focus instead on her mouth, neck, chest, anything else that would allow me to keep control of my mind. Her face was not smiling, but actually baring her teeth and the teeth were much like most humans, but for the inch-long jutting canines that must have nearly reached out of her mouth even if her lips were closed. ¡°Good, Saharliard you have proven yourselves with this. How have you wronged the warlocks of the One?¡± ¡°Our swarm was attacked multiple times by a village of the¡­ warlocks.¡± I spoke slowly, deliberately. Though my fangs and stiff lips garbled the speech, I fought to speak clearly. ¡°When they made their greatest attempt to exterminate us, we overwhelmed the assault with superior tactics and numbers. We wiped them out to the last, just as they would have done to us if we were the weaker party.¡± I¡¯d tried to speak as reasonably as possible, but there was a bit of involuntary acid in my last words. Hundreds of keelish unknown to me were slain in that battle, and now, just a couple moons later, my swarm numbered less than thirty. ¡°Now, they have slaughtered over one thousand of us.¡± I couldn¡¯t stop baring my teeth threateningly at the humans as they looked at us. ¡°And the truth begins to reveal itself. You see¨C¡± ¡°These vermin have no rights! They¡¯re murderers! They¨C!¡± The Bloodpriestess was interrupted by the single human child in the squad of High Speakers, her voice quaking with impotent rage. All around her, her companions went to shush her, but right as they did so, the Bloodpriestess made her approach. She seamlessly changed from her threatening upright stance to rushing forward in a smooth, quadrupedal stance before again standing bolt upright again a threateningly close distance from the humans. ¡°You have no authority to speak, whelp. Do so again and I will demand payment from your betters.¡± The long, dangerous fingers that the Bloodpriestess had almost casually threatened the Speaker squad with were now nearly within arm¡¯s reach of the humans. The youth, previously too enraged to care about the possible threat posed by the Bloodpriestess, was now mere moments away from death or dismemberment and stumbled away, her body language obviously freaking out even through the beralt¡¯s hood. The Windspeaker stepped forward and pulled his hood and mask away from his face, exposing a sweaty face, his nostrils leaking blood. His eyes, though, were calm and angry. ¡°Careful, butcher. Lay your hand on one of mine and you won¡¯t live to regret it.¡± The man threatened, a miniature gale beginning to form in his hand as an arrow flew from his quiver and began to float threateningly in the tornado. After another second, lightning began to scar the wood black as the Earthspeaker rolled his shoulders and renewed the armor covering his body while creating a huge maul in his clasped right fist. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°I¡¯d love to offer your lifeblood to the Bloodsoaked Mother Narsha¡¯at and test myself against you¡­ but I offer a question first: If one of the ¡®High Speakers¡¯ of your people was to lead a war band across the Samutelia and spill the blood of this Bloodpriestess Ana¡­ How long do you think it would be before all the peoples of the Wilds decide that they have become sick of your attempted plays at superiority? Even before that, is your arrogance so great that you dare presume you could escape the rest of my people here on our banks? No, they would happily offer your lifeblood to the Mother and march across this river and begin to taint your rivers with the entrails of every one of your gods-forsaken people. And all that is only if you could manage to kill me in the first place.¡± Bloodpriestess Ana shivered in what could only have been borderline orgasmic excitement at the prospect while she looked deeper and deeper into the Windspeaker¡¯s eyes. For a moment, I thought the captain would be captivated just as I had been, and initially, he began to sag in place as his face went slack. Behind him, the Earthspeaker reached out and flicked the Windspeaker¡¯s head, and the unmasked man quickly wrenched his eyes away before discarding any semblance of courtesy. ¡°Attempt to sooth-sight me again and I will flay the flesh from your bones, you maggot-eating monkey.¡± ¡°Oh, but did I merely attempt to? Did I see your home in Viertaal? And your post at the fortress on the Thnufir? Could I have seen your sister, the pride of your family?¡± The Windspeaker¡¯s face drained of all blood, rage and fear stark in his posture as he hurried to recover his face with the beralt¡¯s hood and mask. The humans, already nervous and twitchy, began to truly prepare themselves for battle as Ana stood absolutely still, gauging them. Finally, she scoffed and with her right middle finger, she punched a small hole in her own palm before raising it to her mouth and lapping up the blood like a wolfstag. ¡°You do not deserve my fifth finger¡¯s sickle nor my maternal hand¡¯s blood. Leave our shores since you are too coward to enter the blood-debt and too craven to fight for your honor. We have no hospitality for weaklings too mewling and fearful to lay their own lives on the line for their self-appointed vengeance. Flee back to your warlock castles, tell your mothers that you have yet to wean yourselves from their milk, and return to your soft lives of killing the powerless. We. Don¡¯t. Fear. You.¡± The girl in the combat unit began to tremble and was about to scream something in response when the Earthspeaker quickly reached out and forcibly muffled any complaints she had. Ana chuckled and made a shooing motion with both hands as she relaxed into a crouch and turned away. ¡°... We are not able to make diplomatic decisions at this time. We will return when that diplomatic power is given to us.¡± The commander¡¯s face was hidden beneath his beralt, but I could hear the grinding of teeth as he was forced to acquiesce to the Bloodpriestess¡¯s demands. ¡°So your people always say. But,¡± the manic bearing of her pointed teeth returned, ¡°they have yet to spend even a single night on this side of the Samutelia.¡± ¡°But they reside all around the Shakran.¡± The people all around us in the forest bristled at the captain¡¯s final words. Ana blinked, then slightly twitched her head in what should have been a sort of respectful acknowledgement of the point the man had made. He made the same gesture in return, and the humans began their retreat into the river. Once the humans had finally retreated to an unthreatening distance and we keelish began to celebrate amongst ourselves, Bloodpriestess Ana turned to me, her eyes cold and distant. ¡°So, talking keelish spawn. What are we to do with you, now that I¡¯ve had my fun?¡± Chapter 210 [Tariel POV] The blood witch¡¯s words continued to echo around Tariel¡¯s mind as their little group of four clambered back onto Dantlar¡¯s back. The steady Earthspeaker didn¡¯t say anything, and Tariel was grateful to him for it. With her sooth-sight, Tariel¡¯s mind, already exhausted from his constant windwords and Callings, had begun pounding like a drum in his skull, the sound making his vision flash with every one of his heartbeats. The agony of his life centered him, and breath after breath, he gathered his wits enough to regain a full consciousness regarding his surroundings. ¡°Gran Verat, forgive us.¡± Tariel quietly mumbled to himself, losing the last semblance of his carefully constructed calm as he tallied the losses for this stupid jaunt. One civilian dead, three dozen of the sentinels at the Samutelia sacrificed, and TWO High Speakers dead (one of them the Lieutenant Colonel, no less!) with another probably permanently crippled. For just a thousand dead keelish? The calculus of war was cruel and implacable at the best of times, but this was an embarrassment to the Thnufir fort. A squad of their greatest elites couldn¡¯t exterminate a single swarm? And had sustained casualties? Even a single dead High Speaker was worth more than three thousand dead keelish, and this¨C ¡°Why are you letting them send us away? We need to slaughter them! We can¡¯t let a single one survive! Let me kill them!¡± The moron of a civilian was running her mouth again. She had generally grown on him over their weeks of travel together, her constant curiosity and cute smile had been a welcome addition to their squad. But she didn¡¯t know anything about the real world. ¡°Shut up.¡± He hissed, and Varali fell silent, her shoulders rocking back as if she¡¯d been struck with a physical blow. ¡°Your mom and dad died. That sucks. Seeing their bodies on your family¡¯s table was traumatic, and I get it. I¡¯ve seen dead family members, and it¡¯s never easy. But if you say another word, I¡¯ll throw you to the Nar¡¯dul before I carry you back to the shore, much less escort you beyond that.¡± She began to exhale, to respond somehow, but she quickly realized that he meant any other word. With a terse nod, Varali fell silent and stiff, every inch of her radiating rage and confusion and whatever other amalgamation of emotions that teenage girls tended to feel was currently consuming her. Tariel didn¡¯t answer her unasked questions, Norat was still in shock at losing her hands and wife in one swift, cruel bite, and Dantlar remained as staunch and quiet as ever. The Samutelia, at this opportune, slow crossing, was over a mile wide, and though the silence weighed on Tariel as they went. The need to apologize continued to swell inside him until he sighed. ¡°Varali.¡± She looked at him, her posture tense as she didn¡¯t verbally answer. ¡°What do you know about the Moonchildren?¡± She shrugged, the movement so slight he nearly missed it. ¡°You can talk to me. I¡¯m not quite so angry, and I¡¯m trying to answer some questions for you.¡± ¡°Not much. They¡¯re barbarians, work with the Sunkindred. Drink blood and sacrifice babies. Eat anybody they kill. They aren¡¯t people, since they don¡¯t have magic.¡± In her heated frustration, Varali pulled the beralt from her face, the sweat coating her face and dripping freely to the waters below. ¡°Eh. Mostly correct, I suppose. They don¡¯t sacrifice babies, and they don¡¯t eat everything they kill, but they do make sure to ¡®partake of the life¡¯ of anything that meets its end at their hands. What do you know about their Words of Power?¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Like all non-humans, their Words change their bodies. They can¡¯t Speak like we do.¡± ¡°So, not much.¡± He rubbed at his face, the crusting blood from his nostrils flaking away as he scratched. ¡°So far as our Soulspeakers have been able to glean, they have six Phrases, always spoken in order. No clue what they are specifically, but they go from the thumbs, to the index, then the middle, fourth, then fifth fingers. The final Phrase completes their Words, and it changes their eyes. They can see into people, into hearts, into the future.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why that Bloodpriestess talked about the Thnufir and your sister.¡± Tariel stiffened at the mention of Djallma, but forced himself to answer, ¡°Yeah. In those seconds, she learned that much. Maybe could have learned more, but I was lucky. Dantlar pulled me out of her grasp pretty quick.¡± Tariel patted the shoulder of his companion as best as he could through the shifting stone armor and the stone patted his fingers back. ¡°That¡¯s freaky. No wonder they¡¯re all barbarians if they can¡¯t use magic and have to stare at each other like that.¡± Varali shivered before continuing, ¡°But why didn¡¯t we just kill them all? They don¡¯t have any magic, and we could just slaughter them all.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve never fought any of the barbarians from the Wilds. The Sunkindred are huge, furry, muscular, and nearly animals themselves. They¨C¡± Tariel pulled himself from thinking about anything other than what they had seen. ¡°That¡¯s not important. Had you heard of the keelish talking before this?¡± ¡°Nobody has been able to see them and survive to tell of it.¡± She didn¡¯t hide her bitterness. ¡°Except for me, I guess.¡± Tariel felt a shiver run down his spine as he remembered the speaking monster. It was huge, taller than any human he¡¯d ever seen, and its body rippled with muscle. He¡¯d seen the exhausted, the desperate, and the fighting keelish these last days, but something about seeing it deliberately speak, to deceive. With a turn of his head, Tariel spat into the river, hoping to expel the impurity that even being near the monster could have corrupted him with. ¡°Seeing that, just now¡­ really made me understand why the Gran Verat has commanded us to kill them all.¡± ¡°You ¡®understand¡¯ that, but you bowed to the barbarians. Coward.¡± Norat mocked him, her eyes dead as she looked at the approaching shore. Her wife¡¯s body had been largely shredded in the jaws of the Nardul after she¡¯d been overwhelmed and murdered by the keelish, but Norat had been able to drag a part of her wife¡¯s body free before throwing it towards Doluk. On Doluk¡¯s back stood a hunched Leialt Alniyh, looking at something. He¡¯d decided to stay back after Doluk refused to continue, and Tariel couldn¡¯t hold back the vitriol. ¡°Weak-willed bastard! Couldn''t be arsed to put a little bit of effort into our Gran-Verat-given job?¡± The arrogant High Lord didn¡¯t pay him any attention. The rage surged in Tariel, and with a wind-assisted jump, he landed near the crest of Doluk¡¯s shell, beside Leialt, who hunched over a bloodied mass of a keelish¡¯s body. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you and Doluk follow? We could have killed them all if you had!¡± Immediately, he was shouting. ¡°Doluk is afraid of water, he could only pass through the marshes when supported by that fool Lierthan. Instead of pushing us all forward to catch and kill all the keelish, though, he descended to wage individual battle with the scaled menace. Bah. Though he was blessed with power, there wasn¡¯t much brains to go with it.¡± Shimmering sparks of lightning flickered into being around Tariel as he felt his temper flare up. As he began to contemplate how best to slap Alniyh, though, his Skyr crawled out of Alniyh¡¯s collar and ate the sparks. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. You¡¯ll get yourself killed. Wouldn¡¯t want another Salma in your family, would you?¡± He couldn¡¯t deal with the self-important bastard any longer. Tariel whirled around and stalked as far away as he could manage while remaining on Doluk¡¯s shell. Behind him, he heard Varali¡¯s curious question, and he listened in, curious about what the answer would be. ¡°And what exactly is all this?¡± ¡°Discovery, and experimentation.¡± High Lord Alniyh responded, his eyes feverish and focused, a manic energy beginning to sweep him up as his Soulspeaking subconsciously suffused his every word. ¡°The next step to take.¡± Not a new chapter, but... Check out this new cover art! I''ve had a bad track record with different people about this (two other artists have just dropped off the face of the planet, so that was tons of fun), but I finally found TheNobleArtist, and Jamie was an absolute pleasure to work with. I''d love to see what you think about this! Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I''m having trouble with the image thing, so it might not show at the moment, but here''s a link to the imgur, and I''m replacing the cover art as well! I''ve written three bonus chapters this week, and think there will be at least one more before next Monday when the next free chapter will be posted. So, the value for the ten dollar tier of patron is just going up! If you''re just here to read for free, that''s fine too, hope you continue to enjoy my story as we move into book 3! Chapter 211 Where we gather and where we learn, We must blacken, and we must burn, else The Tower¡¯s witnesses bring The Tower¡¯s illnesses To those within. We struggle to uncover the buried, To return the world to the varied, from The Tower¡¯s tyranny and The Tower¡¯s heresy To what it once had been. We fight against the absolute, The Tower¡¯s stranglehold. The grasp to keep all mute And to reduce the fold. -From the original address of Siegfried the Sighted to the Blackened Sanctuary. ¡°Hold still.¡± Vefir¡¯s voice interrupted me from responding to the Bloodpriestess, and as I felt myself get drawn in by her eyes once again, I was ripped from that reverie as he yanked the barbed arrow from my right shoulder. I hissed in pain as his magic immediately soothed the surge of agony and began to restore the flesh ripped away by the barbed arrowhead. ¡°You¡¯ll damage yourself worse if you keep moving with it still in there like that.¡± He began to toss the offending weapon away, but I reached a hand out for it. I held it in my hand and lamented the losses of our poleaxes as I turned back to the apparent leader of our saviors. ¡°I am sorry.¡± I chewed the words as clearly as I could out of my unsuited maw. ¡°I am the only one who can understand you. Thank you for saving us.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t save you for you.¡± She responded, her own snout and large canines obviously uncomfortable with the language. ¡°We hate the warlocks,¡± She spat the word, ¡°and I could use you to spite them. Nothing more. Now that you¡¯ve lived up to your use, though, you must prove your value or die.¡± ¡°I¡­ what do you mean?¡± Ana¡¯s eyes literally flashed from milky white to purple, and I could see a couple other pairs of eyes in the surrounding forests do the same. ¡°The Mother does not support the weak, nor the foolish. If you are not more valuable alive than your blood offering would be, then you will have value in offering your life¡¯s blood. I do not care in which of the two forms you can serve.¡± ¡°Please allow me to consult with my swarm, as they cannot understand us.¡± I said after a pause. She flicked her long middle finger at me, apparently giving her permission. As I turned to the vestiges of my swarm, Sybil immediately asked, ¡°I did not understand all that was said. Are we to understand that we are still in danger?¡± Her obvious anxiety led her to ask questions much more quickly and easily than she would have otherwise, and though I wished I could, I only rolled my right shoulder, the pain having faded to an ache. ¡°We need to prove our value to them. Or they¡¯ll kill us.¡± Brutus and Took both squared their shoulders and began low, threatening snarls that bubbled deep in their chests, and many of the swarm began to echo the sentiment as they set up in an outward facing ring. ¡°WE CANNOT,¡± I exclaimed, bringing their focus back to me, ¡°face them and survive. These are their grounds, and we do not know them. If we tried to run back across the river, we''d be slaughtered there. There is only one chance for survival. And we will do whatever it takes to survive.¡± In my desperation, I remembered Vefir¡¯s own Speaking of the Words of Power, how he saved Sybil¡¯s life. ¡°I am the peak that casts the long shadow!¡± Nothing. No feeling of sacred power, no [System] notification that could help with the still waiting Bloodpriestess Ana. Speaking of the [System]... Administrator, why was there nothing while we were being chased? Once they got close to us, the few times I hoped for answers, I got nothing! [Any individual System user cannot receive any advice or immediate growth whilst in direct conflict with another System user.] Stolen novel; please report. So one of those High Speakers was humankind¡¯s [System] user? The thought sent a shiver down my spine. With so much time to research the deepest depths of the [System], they¡¯d have such an advantage over me. [I can offer you no further information except for this reiteration: your individual Systemic guidance cannot give any advice or growth while in direct conflict with another user.] So you cannot give any specific detail or advice regarding another [System] user to me? [Correct.] Nievtala bless me with wisdom. That was a worry for later, though, as I looked at the Bloodpriestess and she obviously no longer was willing to wait for me. I began to stalk forward, and two of the other furred people stepped forward with a strangely birdlike chirp warning as I did so. Nervous, I took one more step forward as their eyes flashed red before I bowed. Even with a deep bow, my nearly seven-foot frame stood taller than her, and I spoke. ¡°Thank you for your patience, Lady Bloodpriestess. I am the one called Ashlani, Alpha of this swarm¡­ if we still merit to be called as such. We owe our continued existence to you and yours, and thank you for it.¡± Ana¡¯s too-large eyes flashed purple once again before she inclined her head back to my own. ¡°I have Looked on you, Ashlani, and I call you Saharliard, a scaly friend.¡± The way she said Looked communicated a depth I didn¡¯t understand, so I simply nodded in response. The Bloodpriestess continued, ¡°I stand by my declaration, yet I hesitate to call your companions such.¡± Ana deliberately looked into my eyes again and again, and though her gaze lacked the absolute magnetism of before, she still commanded my attention. I¡¯d thought her about to continue her thought, but instead, she looked at me more. Her eyes faded from their usual gray to a pure white, and while she continued to stare, she said nothing. The conversation had stagnated as she looked at me expectantly, so I ventured to speak once more. ¡°... I must ask that you forgive my unfamiliarity with the rites and customs of your people. My own are a more direct lot. My¨C¡± ¡°You say my people are not direct? You reveal to us your unfamiliarity in calling us profaners of the truth.¡± Bloodpriestess Ana¡¯s eyes literally glittered, the white flaring to a vibrant scarlet and yellow, a starry light gleaming from within them, and her previous subtle smile was replaced by the beginnings of her baring her teeth. I was struck by the reality that she and her squad would leave us all as corpses upon the ground with the smallest provocation. I swallowed dryly. ¡°I meant no offense. I simply meant that my people do not assume intelligence among others. We are, unfortunately, as a whole, a somewhat dim-witted people.¡± Ana¡¯s eyes ceased their vaguely threatening yellow tint and shifted once more to purple while her smile returned as if she¡¯d never threatened my extinction. She twirled her index finger, gesturing for me to continue my thoughts. ¡°What would qualify my companions to be called Sa¡­ Sahaliad?¡± ¡°Saharliard, Ashlani. You could vouch for them, if you proved yourself fahvalo, an honorable foe.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m already a Saharliard, a scaly friend. Isn¡¯t an honorable foe lesser than a friend?¡± Not only Ana, but for the first time, all around me came true vocalizations that I supposed were laughter. The warriors all around me made the same ¡°Hoop¡± sounding laugh, but just for a brief, single moment. The swarm behind me startled and bristled once more at the sudden, unnerving sound. I gestured for them to calm and gather themselves back together as Bloodpriestess Ana began to explain. ¡°Ah, Ashlani, that isn¡¯t so. A friend is one who occasionally does good things for you. Perhaps they will give you some of their meat, or give a gift when your children are birthed. An honorable foe, however¡­ will hone you. They will shape you. They will change you to your best form. They will pit their strengths against your weaknesses while you put your strengths to their weaknesses. You both glory in it as the struggle will draw from you depths of self-understanding and desperation and growth that a friend can never offer. A friend is one you share meals with. An honorable foe is one you share scars with.¡± I nodded slowly, understanding her point. ¡°Then¡­ to prove I am fahvalo¡­ I must show that I am a suitable stone upon which to sharpen yourselves?¡± ¡°You prove yourself a capable learner, Saharliard Ashlani. Do you wish to prove yourself fahvalo?¡± ¡°And the other option is to pass through your lands and leave my swarm here to be slaughtered at your hands?¡± ¡°I would offer them death at the fifth finger, an honorable shedding of their blood for the Mother. But yes, their ends would be as sacrifice.¡± ¡°Ok, then I guess I need to prove myself to you. How?¡± The grin that crossed Bloodpriestess Ana¡¯s face was positively vulpine as she lurched into her unnerving rushing gait forward and entered my personal space. ¡°Oh, I am glad that you have chosen the path of honor. You could not have remained Saharliard if you were to have abandoned your swarm to the Bloodsoaked Mother Narsha¡¯at.¡± With that, I had passed the first of the Moonchildren¡¯s tests. Chapter 212 ¡°Ok, so what do I need to do to prove myself fahvalo?¡± The word was uncomfortable and breathy coming out of my mouth. ¡°In what way do you believe yourself able to serve as a whetstone for the blade that is the Moonchildren?¡± ¡°I would assume that I don¡¯t have much in the way of direct combat that would be better than what you could offer. You are obviously individually impressive, and I don¡¯t imagine I could match you in a fight. On top of that, I don¡¯t know¡­ anything about you and your people. Would you be willing to explain in what ways this saharliard could prove himself fahvalo?¡± ¡°You understand, but not much. Come, walk with me as I find a proving ground.¡± It was strange to me that Bloodpriestess Ana didn¡¯t frustrate me. If I¡¯d had any other ¡°teacher¡± talk to me as if they were superior to me like she did, I would have been boiling with anger. Additionally, my khatif blood would have been just as incensed at her obvious disdain for me, but I felt nothing more than slightly confused while still respectful. Maybe it was the absolute otherness of her, or her obvious strength and capability, or even something else entirely. Whatever it was, her blatant disrespect and dismissal of me didn¡¯t irk or infuriate, and I welcomed the feeling even while I internally questioned it. [The primary reason that you do not feel superior to ¡°Bloodpriestess Ana¡± is because she is a more highly evolved specimen than you, and your innate bloodline recognizes that.] I was almost surprised to receive information from the [System]. Even though I¡¯d been told as much, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder where it was during the stalking and hunting of our swarm. We could have¡­ Oh, Nievtala. The reality of what had happened finally settled into my stomach, and I stumbled to a stop as I fought to keep myself composed. I looked around at what was left of my swarm. Although I knew what the result would be, I took the time to count each keelish and every wolfstag, and I subconsciously noted that Ana waited patiently as I took in the sight of my beleaguered, devastated swarm. It would be better to call us a pack at this point, with only 47 individuals when counting the wolfstags and myself. Most of those closest to me had survived, but Rulac and Wisterl were gone. Every other keelish that had supported my ascension to becoming Swarm Alpha. Left to rot by vengeful Speakers. ¡°Come here, all you.¡± I spoke in Keelish once again, and my swarm gathered around me. ¡°You all¡­ have come through something unimaginable to the weak. You have waded through literal rivers of blood to come to the other side. We stand at the peak of a mountain, one that continues to grow as we pile the bodies of our foes upon it, as well as the bodies of our comrades. Where we stand now is established on the backs of the felled and fallen, and I am proud to have you with me. Let us move ever farther along this path to newer, higher, bloodier peaks. Remember your fallen friends, especially those who turned back to give us time to complete our escape¡­ and move on. We will remember them and build upon their legacy.¡± ¡°Forged in war and tempered in blood, I follow.¡± Surprisingly, Vefir was the first to speak. His body trembled with inexpressible rage and pain, but his voice was steady and determined. The swarm, in twos and threes, repeated the rallying cry of Rulac and Wisterl before their death. ¡°Forged in war and tempered in blood, I follow.¡± Their tones were somber, respectful. Determined. Looking around I saw resolute, focused faces. None simply nodded at me to go back to their own thoughts. Every khatif who had survived was stronger than any of the keelish of the moon before. Now, this small percentage of my original swarm looked at me with nearly eyes to hang on my every word. With a nod of approval, I turned back to the Nightchildren. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Bloodpriestess, can we go to collect our fallen? We wish to add their strengths to our own.¡± Our guide stiffened, and I immediately knew that I had somehow committed an error, but wasn¡¯t yet sure how. ¡°The blood and flesh of your fallen has been offered to the Bloodsoaked Mother through her vassals the Nard¡¯ul.¡± ¡°... the fish?¡± Bloodpriestess Ana sighed and began to speak even more patronizingly, as if attempting to teach a dim child. ¡°Yes, the Nard¡¯ul are fish. They also exemplify all that the Bloodsoaked Mother values most¨Csavagery, fertility, and respect for the night.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t realize that Narsha¡¯at was also a goddess of fertility.¡± ¡°Why else would we call her mother? From what else than blood does life come? Without blood there cannot be life, and the Bloodsoaked Mother Narsha¡¯at reigns over that most important commodity of life¨Cblood.¡± ¡°I wish I had time to talk religion with you. Why can¡¯t we collect our dead?¡± ¡°Frankly speaking, there is naught more than bone remaining of your fallen. The Nard¡¯ul have surely devoured all the flesh that remains, and to steal from the gods is inviting death, even if the Moonchildren were not present to prevent you from doing so. The offering has been made and accepted.¡± ¡°Fine. Could we collect the bones of the largest? That is neither flesh nor blood, and can serve as a totem of our survival this day.¡± ¡°The gods are not petty.¡± Ana grinned, almost baring her teeth. She then made a brief, quick series of those nearly avian noises and three of our escorts peeled off, heading back towards the river. ¡°They will collect the bones in your stead and bring them to you at your earliest convenience. Is that satisfactory?¡± I nodded deeply. ¡°Thank you for your consideration.¡± Ana smiled and continued walking, idly settling into an easy silence. I turned my focus inward and began to try to plan how to move forward to Nievtra. All I knew was to go east. The Moonchildren seemed to know something about the keelish that I didn¡¯t, maybe even about Keel. Maybe they could help me? I couldn¡¯t understand their ways, though, and I looked at the Bloodpriestess, someone I needed to prove myself as a good enemy to. I groaned internally then turned my attention back to our path. The forest was truly not a jungle any longer, with thicker trunked trees beginning to dominate the space, with long grasses growing underfoot instead of the complete, all-encompassing greenery of the jungle that had once been our home. Even so, it was somehow wilder, more savage, more¡­ natural. Our escorts mostly ascended the trees and swung and navigated adroitly above us, ranging all around and screeching communiques to each other in brief, contained bursts of sound. All had freakishly long fingers, just like Bloodpriestess Ana, but how many of their fingers were so different varied from one individual to the next. None had the scythe-shaped fifth finger that Ana did. I finally forcefully pulled myself out of my thoughts to ask another, possibly stupid question. ¡°So¡­ why don¡¯t those on the other side of the river qualify as fahvalo to the Moonchildren?¡± Ana scoffed, scorn dripping from her tone, ¡°Oh. The Veushten, the Veratocracy, the warlocks. They are dangerous, yes. Not honorable. Their magics a bastardization of the divine, their gods an affront to the Pantheon, their peoples a slaughter-maddened menace. Dangerous. Honorless. A carnage-crazed nanuk too dangerous to leave alive but too powerful to put down. Thus, we keep the complete people caged, and the Sunkindred and the Moonchildren make the sacrifices of our lives and devotion to protect the rest of the continent.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t let them cross?¡± ¡°Or establish a presence on our lands, ever. Some of the Wilds are weaker and have allowed small incursions, and they are shamed for it. Yet, we of the Samutelia have never permitted any attack any measure of success.¡± Ana smiled, pride evident in her bearing as she turned her eyes on me once again. I refocused on the ground, making sure I didn¡¯t stumble as she continued, ¡°But this is not the question you should be asking. Instead, ask why I think you may yet qualify as fahvalo.¡± ¡°... Why do you think that I may yet qualify as fahvalo?¡± I was only barely able to keep the dry, sarcastic tone out of my response. ¡°The answer is variety. Ponder that.¡± Then, Ana picked up the pace and shut down any further attempts to speak with her. Chapter 213 I suppose it is fortunate that I was too young to go to war in those days. If I¡¯d been even a little older, a little more reckless, then I am sure that I would have marched as willingly and foolishly as all my siblings. Instead, now I sit as the Nyust¡¯taa over a changed people. I¡¯m sure my ancestors¡¯ spirits mock me for our war and my cowardice, but Illan¡¯Klli hasn¡¯t seen fit to bless us with any prayer of survival but this. ¨CNotes from the Nyust¡¯taa daily record, spoken by the 21st Nyust¡¯taa Yury¡¯yai, recorded by Kar¡¯ra Variety¡­ I mused over the thought, yet a part of me couldn¡¯t help but note the forced shift in my perspective that had taken place over our disastrous escape. Before, I wouldn¡¯t have eaten a single morsel of flesh from an intelligent creature, but I had personally slain loyal subordinates of mine to serve as sustenance for the swarm before feeding on their sacrificed bodies. And now, two dozen of us remained. With a literal shake of my head, as if I could shake the distracting thoughts out of my mind, I began to reapply my thoughts toward the hint Bloodpriestess Ana had given me. I wasn¡¯t long for the frame of thought as I was interrupted. ¡°Alpha, you are obviously thinking hard about something. Maybe we could help if you were to enlighten us as to our current situation? What little I have understood has been something I cannot piece together.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice cut into my reverie and I finally realized that I had left the swarm in total darkness with regards to what was going on, only general warnings not to fight the Moonchildren. Now, we needed to prove ourselves ¡°fahvalo¡±. In as few sentences as I could, I apprised them of our situation, of our current plight, and the only way I could see us escaping¨Cthat is, complying with proving ourselves fahvalo. ¡°She says that the key is variety, but I can¡¯t say that I understand what she¡¯s getting at with that.¡± Took grunted. ¡°Don¡¯t think it¡¯s just ¡®win a fight¡¯. They¡¯re stronger than us. We can¡¯t win a regular fight. Wouldn¡¯t hone them at all. If only Wisterl was here¡­¡± She trailed off, her tail twitching briefly. ¡°I can¡¯t do what she did.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it would work to just be that anyways.¡± ¡°Perhaps you could show your magic? That may be something they have never encountered thus far...¡± Sybil chimed in, but trailed off, ¡°No, from what we¡¯ve seen, I¡¯m sure that would not do. There is nothing about your magic that would simply convince them of that.¡± Sybil went quiet, muttering additional ideas to herself before shutting them down. As she continued to ramble to herself, I raised my voice to the swarm at large. ¡°I don¡¯t care who speaks right now. We need ideas, and yours may be the one that keeps us alive. Call out anything that crosses your mind.¡± ¡°Show how we hunt?¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°No, they¡¯re just as good as us.¡± ¡°Tell ¡®em how we got this far?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t show much. Just how to migrate.¡± ¡°Well then, how about¡­¡± The ideas continued flowing in. Donating scales, showing magic, explaining terrain we crossed, describing the humans¡¯ tactics, everything. Nothing clicked, and I began to lose my hope for survival as the ideas began to peter out. ¡°Nievtala, give us wisdom! What can we do? Are they just looking for some way to take us down and relying on trickery for it? I won¡¯t allow them to!¡± Foire snarled at nobody in particular and the swarm went quiet around us, just as frustrated and backed into a corner as Foire and I; he had simply served as a demonstration of our hopeless situation.. A small part of me noted the reactions of the Moonchildren around the swarm, that most went on guard but Ana didn¡¯t react except to continue walking at the same pace. More ideas came, Sybil suggested plans, and in the end, every last member of the swarm had mentioned some new, increasingly desperate and unlikely option or approach for us to take. Eventually, though, every last suggestion was just that¨Cmore unlikely than the last. The swarm, previously so united in our complete terror and rushed escape from our pursuit, began snapping at each other in tense anxiety and exhausted panic. Unthinkingly, a snarl began to bubble up in my throat and, with an effort of will and magic, I sent my voice thundering out over my swarm and sending the Moonchildren around us into battle-ready positions, their eyes flickering blue and red. ¡°QUIET! What little remains of the corpses of the rest of the swarm have yet to cool, and now we bicker like spawnlings over the last bite of a frog. So desperate for survival that you bite at your friends, your companions!¡± My words struck each of those around me into submission, and I saw shame rise in every face. Sybil and Shemira exchanged a look, and I could feel the soothing presence of their magic wash over me as the swarm stilled. The desperation of our situation had settled over all of us, but there were still possibilities for success, however slim they were. I felt that truth, the possibility in what I was saying. A prospect for survival. I raised both hands, my voice supported by [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke], [Innervating Address], and even [Nurturing Enunciation]. ¡°It would seem to me that we have no choice but to show our absolute desperation and resolution for success. I trust my neck and back to you, and I expect you to trust each other as well. We¡¯re not yet beaten. I¡¯ll rip the tongue out of any one of you who keep snapping at your swarm members, your fellow survivors. That way it won¡¯t get in the way of tearing through those who would threaten our existence!¡± Silence settled over the swarm, and, step by step, resolution entered the eyes of my swarm as they came to stand beside me. As one, we walked in formation, onward until we entered a clearing and Bloodpriestess Ana stopped in place. ¡°This is an acceptable location. I would take you to a bloodground, but as a whole, you are not ready to enter our sacred grounds.¡± Ana looked me in the eye. ¡°I have heard but did not understand your little¡­ discussion. How are you going to prove yourself a fahvalo?¡± I rolled my shoulders, steeling myself. ¡°We will show the power of the cornered, the weaker, and the many. We will show ourselves, the desperate, the survivors. The keelish who will become Keel.¡± A grin began to spread over the Bloodpriestess¡¯s face. ¡°Oh¡­ interesting. And how will you begin to prove yourselves in this fashion?¡± With that heartening response. I began to explain myself. Chapter 214 ¡°I begin to understand. I believe that, if you can prove that you contain the power of the desperate, you will be able to prove yourself and your people here fahvalo. That¡­ is not easy nor simple.¡± The grin spread wide across Bloodspeaker Ana¡¯s face and I was again struck by the fact that she was not a human with black skin but a predator in the truest sense, and only in the general shape of a human. The Veushten people, at their palest, were still deeply tanned, and varied from there all the way to the deep, dark brown of fertile soil. The Moonchildren, however, were black, leathery-skinned, with fur running down their spines and foot-long fingers. Their eyes ranged in color, but only among the palest shades, when they weren¡¯t strangely flashing with foreign colors. The blue of the sky at noon, the yellow of the full moon just cresting the horizon, and the faded brown of a burlraiz¡¯s roots were common enough shades from those we saw. All had the same massive eyes that dominated their faces, and every iris expanded nearly completely to the corner of the eye. The sclera was barely visible when they turned their eyes to the extreme. Right now, though, what struck me was none of those things. Instead, it was the shape of Ana¡¯s mouth. The Moonchildren¡¯s faces nearly had snouts, their faces elongated and coming to a near point at the mouth, and when Ana bared her predator¡¯s smile, the four sharp, long canines in her mouth were bared. Each one was over an inch long, and I got the feeling that she could open her mouth wide enough to use them like four little stilettos. She wasn¡¯t the only predator in the conversation though. I bared my own teeth in what could generously be called a smile and accurately be called a snarl. ¡°There is, after all, no other choice available to us.¡± Bloodpriestess Ana laughed more honestly than I¡¯d heard from the Moonchild so far. It rang out through the air, and I was somehow reminded of the sound of the call of an owl mixed with the quiet rush of wind through the trees. It wasn¡¯t a beautiful laugh, but an honest one. I couldn¡¯t help but slightly relax my own threatening grin into a gentler, truer smile in response. ¡°You are beginning to understand how to be fahvalo. I will gather those against whom you will struggle to prove yourselves. Prepare.¡± I stepped back to my swarm and began to think. I wasn¡¯t sure what to say and was about to start some potentially rousing speech¡­ but couldn¡¯t. Instead, I thought for a moment, then began to speak. ¡°We have only one option and one goal in this fight: win. I don¡¯t care what you do, but win. I¡¯ll be commanding, Took and Sybil will be my seconds. Try not to kill, but don¡¯t hesitate to strike a final blow if necessary. Between victory and death, choose victory and our lives over theirs. Everyone, get ready to rip and tear.¡± With a nod I gestured towards my swarm before finishing, ¡°Every one of you¨CVictory by fang and blood!¡± Around me, I saw the jaws of my fellow keelish set, and everyone around got low to the ground. Beside me, Foire looked for somewhere to place Trai, but with a sinking feeling in my heart and stomach, I reached out a hand. Confused, he offered Trai into my arms, and she smiled widely up at me. I nuzzled her neck, my head nearly the size of her torso, and I saw just how big she¡¯d gotten. Trai had continued to grow, even while the rest of us shed every extra pound, and was now about three feet tall. Her scales shone in the light of the meadow as I set her down. ¡°Foire. She needs to accompany us.¡± ¡°No, she doesn¡¯t! I protect her, and she will be safe, not fighting and dying!¡± He snapped at me, never thinking. ¡°Are you desperate to survive?¡± ¡°Yes! That¡¯s why I¡¯m willing to fight for you. But¨C¡± ¡°Are you really?¡± I asked again, my voice laced with traces of my magic. As Foire looked at me, fear and confusion battling across his face, I continued, ¡°because I am. I¡¯m willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary. If it is your life. My own. Sybil¡¯s. Or Trai¡¯s. If any of our swarm dies now, then I will mourn them, I will wish it hadn¡¯t been necessary, and I will thank them for their willingness to lay down their lives for the rest of us. I will engrave their names on my heart, and I will survive! I will continue! Because I¡¯m desperate!¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Foire¡¯s face broke, his breath catching in his throat as the possibility of finality, the possibility of his daughter¡¯s death settled over him. He began to hyperventilate, his eyes running everywhere wildly, searching for something. And then, Trai leaned into her father¡¯s leg and spoke. ¡°Victory, Dad. I¡¯ll keep you safe too.¡± Then, while Foire and I struggled to understand her resolve, she turned, faced the opposite side of the clearing, and bared her teeth. I looked across the clearing as well and finally took it in. It was a couple hundred feet across and irregularly shaped. The tactician¡¯s part of my brain noticed three sinkholes, apparently where the damp ground had collapsed in on itself, and I quietly mentioned them to the keelish around me, Trai listening to my commands with an intense severity. I heard them spread the news further while I watched the slowly assembling Moonchildren, their numbers swelling far beyond what I had thought they would be. The suns beat down on us from overhead, and I hoped that the Moonchildren would struggle to see in this light when their eyes were so obviously built for darkness. The clearing itself was thickly grassed, but the grasses weren¡¯t so long as to function as a hiding place. ¡°Took, Sybil. Make everyone find one stone for every hand they have empty. When it begins, we let loose a high salvo.¡± Both nodded severely, but Took shifted back and forth for a moment, her eyes pleading. ¡°No, Took. You¡¯re the best option we have right now for my right hand in combat. Take up the position.¡± ¡°... I¡¯m not much of a leader.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t think I was either. But here we are. Now, go lead. Get the rocks, and lead our swarm to battle.¡± Took nodded, turned back to the swarm, and began leading them in collecting stones of the right size and weight. She didn¡¯t see it, but the swarm deferred to her gentle instructions. I commanded and they obeyed, but Took walked and the swarm followed. There was a quiet, absolute quality to her that the swarm followed almost instinctively, and I realized that Rulac had had that same quality. Rulac. Wisterl. Hundreds more. A shuddering breath mirroring Foire¡¯s threatened to catch in my throat, and I felt my breathing restrict. Wisterl, the crazed warmonger. Never again would I be pressed into sparring with her. I couldn¡¯t continue to learn combat from her, and I knew I needed it. I was still just a brute most of the time, and she¡¯d been a killer, graceful and elegant as she danced through the macabre, disgusting dance of death. I knew I was markedly stronger than she was, but I still couldn¡¯t come close to beating her in any fight, much less a fair one. Her yelling at me to come practice, her jibes while sparring, her manic energy at my side, always willing to charge into the front lines¡­ gone forever. And Rulac¡­ I¡¯d always been a bit wary of him, if I was honest. There was a hidden burning intensity to him. Most of the time he presented himself as a lazy, rutting-obsessed fool, but when he¡¯d thought it necessary, he¡¯d stepped into the roles required of him. Beta of the swarm, warrior of vengeance against the Wolfstags, leader of the final stand. When he¡¯d shifted into those roles, his demeanor had changed and he had emanated a dangerous feel. But when he wasn¡¯t in those situations, he was crass and funny, supportive and light-hearted¡­ my friend. I hadn¡¯t let myself really think about it, but he was probably my only other friend than Oncli, and he¡¯d died when I was a week old. And they¡¯d both rushed to their deaths for me. If I¡¯d been human, maybe I¡¯d have wept and gathered courage in thinking of the sacrifice of my friends¡­ but I hadn¡¯t been human for a while now. Instead, I found myself seething with uncontained rage. These worthless, Nievtala-forgotten, scaleless cowards had taken them from me. Now, the Moonchildren decided to levy a ¡°test¡± on me to see if the swarm was allowed to live. A neutral part of me recognized that the proud khatif part of me was shouting to be heard within me, and I was letting it dictate my emotions. I decided to feed it, thinking of every injustice that had ever been done to me, every time I¡¯d been looked down on, every loss I¡¯d sustained, and more. Before long, I was pacing, not nervously, but with manic energy, and my swarm was picking up on my attitude. We swarmed together and were forced out by the sheer inertia of every other body pressing together, moshing all together. Sybil¡¯s voice in my ear almost didn¡¯t register initially, but finally it clicked. ¡°Ashlani¡­ I have an idea.¡± I nodded, and found myself grinning wide as she began to detail her insane plan. Chapter 215 As long as 175 years ago, the Untameable Wilds have stood before the Holy State of the Veratocracy. When the first Speakers came in contact with the Sunkindred, they were dismissed and insulted, called ¡°warlocks¡± and ¡°profaners¡±. They were told simply that ¡°Speaking¡± in such a way was a heresy. Then, what had initially appeared to be a promising relationship between an infant nation and an established one soured. The Sunkindred refused all attempts at trade, proselytization, or relationship establishment. The Moonchildren¡¯s answer was more permanent. Any human from the Veratocracy who crossed into their lands was summarily slain. Attempts at communication were not continued with the Moonchildren, and eventually, the constant denial from the Sunkindred terminated any continued efforts at cooperation. -From the notes of renowned historian Ahyalt di¡¯Nielta ¡°This is you proving yourselves fahvalo, honorable foes. Foes come in many forms, but honor comes in adhering to the¡­ There is no good word in this language for it. Honor comes through voninahitra, being an example of the idea you wish to feel and show.¡± Bloodpriestess Ana scoffed at the ¡°uselessness¡± of the human tongue and resumed her beginning speech. ¡°You will prove yourselves honorable by showing your desperation, nothing less and nothing more. Try not to kill each other, but foes must shed blood, and death often comes from bloodshed. It will be an honorable death if it comes.¡± The swarm had gathered together and we stood, looking at the group of Moonchildren before us. There were maybe fifty of them, and considering that several of my swarm weren¡¯t combat focused, I considered it a fair fight even though they had about several more combatants. Just enough to show our determination. And then two more identical groups of about fifty Moonchildren came soundlessly out of the woods to surround our flanks. ¡°Are these spectators?¡± ¡°Of course not. They will help in your trial.¡± I involuntarily felt my jaw begin to clench up, and I struggled to tamp down the rage boiling within me. Snarls bubbled without my conscious thought nor consent from my throat, and Ana laughed as she walked to the far side of the clearing. ¡°I thought I could help you voninahitrar desperation. Best of luck.¡± She called as she assumed a position behind the far pack of Moonchildren. I was fairly certain she was making fun of me, but even if I could prove it, Ana wouldn¡¯t change anything. My nervous excitement for battle had wholly been replaced by a fury so all-consuming I subconsciously felt [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] activate. My teeth still clenched, I explained the change to the swarm and couldn¡¯t help but notice the shifting of eyes and positions from at least partially confident to shifty, afraid, and¡­ desperate. Her goddess forsake her, but Bloodpriestess Ana¡¯s decision had definitely benefited the swarm. Behind me, Sybil spoke, ¡°This does complicate the plan, but only a bit. You and Took will be paired as the second row, and we will follow your lead to drive straight ahead.¡± ¡°There will almost certainly be casualties in the back.¡± ¡°If you move fast enough, that might be prevented.¡± I cursed under my breath. She was right, of course, but the idea that it all came down to if I was able to do this fast enough¡­ made me desperate. I kept forcefully looping myself back to it, feeding the seething mass of emotion within me, and I couldn¡¯t stand still. I continued my pacing, my tail continuously lashing, passing my stone from one hand to the other. I could feel my nervous energy infecting my followers, and again I forced myself to hold still and look across the meadow at our chosen group. Ana spoke, calling our attention. ¡°On my count, begin. One¡­ Begin.¡± The sudden beginning of the fight took the swarm by surprise, but not the Moonchildren. They didn¡¯t hesitate to swarm towards us, shrieking their avian calls. The sounds nearly shook the ground, and their stomping feet did to my [Tremorsense]. Quickly I pushed my magic to my throat and screamed wordlessly to rally my troops. The magic of [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke] and [Innervating Address] thrummed through me more powerfully than ever before, and, as one, the swarm surged forward, straight towards the first group of Moonchildren. Wordless shrieks tore from throats, claws were brandished, and Took and I fell in just behind the first row of charging keelish. The moment seemed to extend, but was over in an instant, as the crashing of scaly bodies against leathery ones rang out. In front of me, blood began to spray from superficial but painful wounds on the Moonchildren. They seemed to be taken aback by how we had charged headlong towards them, seemingly abandoning our flanks to be shredded by their companions, but we were desperate. Strangely, we¡¯d held onto our stones until now, and a volley of rocks slammed into Moonchildren faces with wet thunks. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. My hands free, I stabbed forward once, twice, thrice, attempting to hobble the nearest Moonchildren as I lunged wildly at any flashing red ¡°weakness¡± presented by [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust]. So much shorter than me were they that only once could I successfully hamstring my target, but she immediately fell before being pummeled under our unstopping charge. I didn¡¯t spare a single thought for them, instead focusing on the fact that compassion, pity, or hesitance would lead to our complete eradication. I pressed on. In front of me was Brutus, his mane of scales pressed outward threateningly as he shredded into the Moonchildren with reckless abandon. He¡¯d never really fought with something humanoid and smaller than him, so all he did was seize his jaws around whatever limb or body part he could before bodily throwing the much lighter Moonchild into its companions. They went down like stalks of grass to the flailing bodies of their compatriots. The blood, both keelish and Moonchild, coursed down Brutus¡¯s neck as he continued to press the attack. Our adversaries were quick to regain their feet, but we rushed past them, leaving them to throw themselves against the more heavily supported sides of our charging spear formation. On the other side was Joral, rushing into battle alongside the wolfstags. Arwa and her pack threw themselves at knees, ripping, tearing, and breaking with claw, jaw, and shoulder respectively. He cared even less about his safety than Brutus and Arwa, and I couldn¡¯t help but notice a deep gash across the back of his neck, from one shoulder to the next. His own blood sprayed forward with every one of his strikes, and he began to use it to try to blind his next victim before continuing the charge. He began to cackle, maddened, screaming ¡°BOW BEFORE THE SWARM!¡± I repeated after him, infusing my words with magic as I began to channel [Debilitating Diatribe] on the Moonchildren: ¡°BOW BEFORE THE SWARM! BOW! BOW!¡± The Moonchildren didn¡¯t bow, but some of the closest took involuntary steps backward, slowing the approach of their allies and giving us greater room to continue the attack ourselves. With more space to build momentum, we smashed into more bodies, leaving wounded, stunned, crippled, and confused Moonchildren in our wake. We were about to reach the end of the Moonchildren¡¯s lines, where Took and I were to assume our part in our ¡®desperate¡¯ plan. As Brutus and Joral reached the end of the defensive lines of our foes, they spread to the side, opening a passage of sorts for the rest of the swarm to surge out of. Took and I led the way, continuing to charge forward as the rest of the swarm spread, creating a defensive line of our own as Took and I began the most uncertain part of our plan. Bloodpriestess Ana¡¯s face quickly transitioned from surprise, to a smirk, to a wide, predatory grin as she realized our plan. She threw back her head and laughed, ¡°Come, Saharliard! You have chosen your own rules!¡± as she settled into an easy stance, all ten of her fingers splayed and looking threatening. There wasn¡¯t a single red spot to be seen as we completed our approach. Took and I jumped Ana at the same time. Took lunged high, her frills as flared as possible as I went low. Ana¡¯s thick fourth finger whipped at a blinding speed and crashed into the side of Took¡¯s head, smashing her to the side as her left hand came towards me in an uppercut, the scythe-like fifth finger spearing to impale me under my chin. I pulled back, hard¡­ as my left arm continued forward, stabbing my [Quaking Claw] strengthened claws towards Ana¡¯s belly, just as I¡¯d hoped. With the same blistering speed, Ana twisted her arm unnaturally and partially parried my lunge, the tips of my claws carving a series of shallow, long lines across the side of her stomach instead of burying themselves in her guts. I had to let my attack fail to keep myself from entering unsteadily into Ana¡¯s range as she lifted a foot in a kick and clipped my snout, sending me reeling. I could hear the disbelieving and enraged voices of the rest of the Moonchildren as Took and I pressed the attack, trading one of our blows for three of Ana¡¯s. We would lash out, both of us, attempting to grapple her, and she would only permit the most glancing of blows in exchange for bone-rattling thumps and painful scores deep in our flesh. I roared at her, attempting to stun her, as I flared the scales on my arms and began to desperately try to press the attack, even without any flickers of weak points appearing under the influence of my [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust]. We were bleeding, but I felt like with just another minute or so we could complete our task. Behind me, Sybil¡¯s voice called out commands for a steady retreat. There was the sound of flames coughing to life, and ¡°Alpha, duck!¡± I did as I felt my scales crispen under the heat from the strong flames pressing against my back as a pillar of fire rushed over me towards Ana. That must have been Solia, and then Percral¡¯s voice joined hers, ¡°Stay down!¡± I had no idea what this variation on the plan was as the echoes of thunder joined the fire and a bolt of lightning combined with the flames and exploded at Ana¡¯s feet. She stumbled away from the explosion, and a high-pitched voice joined in, ¡°VICTORY!¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Suddenly, Sybil¡¯s voice went thready. ¡°Trai!¡± Behind me I felt tiny steps approach through the smoldering underbrush, then, suddenly, Trai entered the fray. Wisterl would have been proud of her, she was the most enthusiastic fighter I¡¯d ever seen. Almost instinctively, Trai ducked, wove, and struck in tandem with me and Took. Foire, unwilling to leave his daughter in the fray, ran to join us. With the additional combatants, I was sure the tide would quickly turn in our favor, but the Bloodpriestess¡¯s grin simply widened before she sped up and summarily smashed all three of us adults to the ground with her preternaturally powerful club fingers before reaching out to Trai. ¡°NO!¡± Screamed Foire as he stumbled to his feet, trying to stop Ana¡¯s attack. It was too late. With a quick scoop, she picked the child up and pinched her jaws closed with thumb and forefinger before planting what could only be an approximation of a kiss on Trai¡¯s forehead. ¡°Well done, Ashlani and little one. With my authority as Bloodpriestess, I name you both fahvalo, and give you a name among the celestial peoples. That name shall be, with the skies as my witness, Indraymaf. Ashlani and Trai Indraymaf!¡± At her words, the Moonchildren all around trilled their strange call and immediately fell back from the previously intense combat. It was done. Chapter 216 I wished I had been in a position to graciously receive the good news, but instead, Bloodpriestess Ana¡¯s impromptu announcement found me splayed on the ground, attempting to recover from the heavy blow she¡¯d dealt my head. My swarm continued to try to push the attack, and I rolled over onto my side as I shouted out, ¡°It¡¯s over! Stop the fighting!¡± The swarm retreated, still snarling threats at the Moonchildren before them. It took me only another moment to stand and begin reorienting myself, but I was slower far than Foire, who stumbled his way to Ana, begging piteously for Trai¡¯s life while the rest of the swarm looked at me in hope. ¡°We¡¯ve succeeded! We will survive!¡± I shouted out, and once the news was finally understood by the swarm, they found themselves involuntarily sagging with relief into each other, some falling to the ground, lungs bursting to try to fill themselves completely. Before me, Foire was able to extract his daughter from the Bloodpriestess¡¯s hands, and as he carried her back, he muttered, ¡°Thank you, Trai. You¡¯ve done well. What a brave child you are.¡± A beaming smile began to spread over her face as her father carried her away, but after affectionately nuzzling into the crook of his neck, Trai fought to be put back down. Once on her feet, she stumbled, unsteady, as she approached me and once she got close, leaned into me. Fortunately, I had recovered just enough to not be sent sprawling and instead held her in my arms for a moment. ¡°Victory, Alpha.¡± Trai nuzzled into my waist and I gently patted her back as I looked at Sybil, who, alongside Vefir, signaled that, somehow, miraculously, none of the swarm had died. As I let a smile crack my face, I noted Ana approaching, having gone to speak briefly with some of her subordinates that had approached after the conclusion of our fight. ¡°This is your child, fahvalo? And that their mother?¡± She flicked her tongue out, pointing at Foire. ¡°No, that¡¯s her father. She is the sole hatchling remaining in the swarm.¡± Her eyes flickered purple and green. ¡°She is recently come of age, though, yes?¡± ¡°We¡­ don¡¯t know. We are the first of our kind.¡± She made a possibly noncommittal trill in her throat. ¡°And her name?¡± ¡°Trai.¡± ¡°Well, Trai shows the confidence of one who has suffered few defeats, but her posture began to break as I held firm. She is voninahitra of descent to desperation. This ¡®hatchling¡¯ was the weight that tipped the Bloodsoaked Mother¡¯s scales in your favor. Only the desperate would send their children to fight, would abandon the rest of their companions for a chance at victory, would attempt to command dozens of their foes to bow in the midst of battle.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll have to thank her reckless approach¡­¡± Ana blinked once, slowly, green again flashing through her eyes. ¡°It was not under your instruction that she joined our fight?¡± ¡°No. She simply screamed ¡®victory¡¯ and threw herself at you.¡± That vulpine grin again spread across Ana¡¯s face. ¡°Your people¡¯s spawn is¡­ formidable. I wish there were others to witness like her.¡± I couldn¡¯t stop the grimace from spreading across my face. ¡°Perhaps we will have the opportunity to showcase ourselves another time. As fahvalo.¡± Ana bowed slightly in acknowledgement, and I continued, ¡°That reminds me¨Cwere there unacceptable casualties among your people?¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Ana shook her head. ¡°The few who will not rise again have died in the proving of fahvalo. They are immediately welcomed into the eternal battle against the Empty Heavens.¡± Then, the grin becoming more wry than predatory, ¡°Your spawn is talented. Your people¡¯s growth potential is varied and wonderful.¡± Her grin melted into a serious stare as she continued, ¡°Beware, though. Do not become like the warlocks, dissatisfied with what you have. Their magics come from a compulsion wrought upon the gods themselves, and the Pantheon will not stand for the Tower¡¯s continued influence through them. Your magic yet comes from your own bodies by the blessings of the Pantheon, and do not lust for greater power than the gods have bestowed upon you.¡± That¡­ didn¡¯t make sense. [System]? [The magic of the Veushten people comes from their Callings. A Speaker is able to command the laws that govern the universe and attempt to usurp that power from the governing gods that rule it. Your magic comes from your sonilphon, your magic manipulation organ, and comes from you.] That was sufficient information for me to try to continue the conversation, ¡°Sometimes I do want more power, of course, but even if I did, I wouldn¡¯t know where to go about seizing this power for myself. Do you?¡± ¡°That is not a question I would answer for anyone, much less a fahvalo. You are an honorable foe, and I respect you. I do not wish to strengthen you against the eventual day in which you bare your fangs at me in earnest.¡± The last words could have been said with any vocal inflection, but Bloodpriestess Ana said it as simply as stating a fact: I am a Moonchild. There are four minor suns orbiting the major sun in the sky. You and I will eventually fight each other to the death. There was no malice, no fear, no rage, no¡­ anything. She continued walking, unperturbed by her declaration of this apparent eventuality, and I struggled to follow behind. ¡°You named me¡­ Indraymaf. What does that mean?¡± ¡°It means that you, as the representative of your people, are voninahitra of the people of desperation.¡± She looked at Trai and continued, ¡°As is she.¡± ¡°So indraymaf is the word for desperation?¡± ¡°Not quite. The word is a complete saying in my tongue, literally meaning wallback. It means he who pushes themself to the end, puts his back to the wall and gives themself no endings other than absolute success or total failure. I would say that it fits you quite well. At least,¡± Ana smirked, ¡°with the help of the hatchling.¡± ¡°Maybe call it Indraymaf of me, but I will accept any and every tool that gives me an advantage without shame or regret.¡± ¡°And again you prove yourself worthy of the title.¡± ¡°So, what happens from here? Where do we go?¡± ¡°As you are fahvalo, we will guide you to a safe border from which you can lead your people to another, safer land. Of course, since you are foes, we will not willingly give you any land of ours without a due price.¡± ¡°Agreed. Thank you, Bloodpriestess Ana. First, could we rest? It has been a long couple of days.¡± ¡°Of course, Fahvalo Ashlani Indraymaf. Shall we take our rest here for the rest of the day and early night?¡± ¡°That would be good, Fahvalo Ana the Bloodpriestess.¡± I had another question to ask, but I couldn¡¯t know how it would be received. After pausing in uncomfortable silence for too long, I finally mustered the determination. ¡°What do you do with your dead?¡± There was no flicker of color in Ana¡¯s eyes as she leveled her gaze at me. I knew she was ¡°sooth-sight¡±ing me, but I didn¡¯t know what that meant. My consciousness faded as I lost myself in her eyes, the gray swelling until the entirety of my vision was consumed with their faintly mist-like¨C I bit down hard on my tongue, the taste of iron filling my mouth as I tore my eyes away. Ana finally answered, ¡°If you desire to eat, you must hunt it yourselves.¡± ¡°We did.¡± I answered. ¡°Fahvalo indeed.¡± She responded, and again the smile spread slowly, almost with relish, across her face as she stalked away. After waiting for any additional response, I motioned for the swarm to gather the five Moonchild bodies before settling down and finally, finally assuming positions to rest. As the meal concluded, I decided to acknowledge the flashing [System] notifications in the corner of my eye: [Quest completed. Growth achieved. Title earned. Quest board updated. Status Updated.] Chapter 217 I was about to go through all the notifications when I saw something that caught my eye. It took me a surprisingly long time to recognize what it was, but once I realized, I stumbled to the sandy pit and collapsed into it. The suns, still high overhead, had baked the sands to a lovely warmth that had me immediately begin melting into the loose sand. Without moving, I sent my magic to fluidize the sands at my feet and tail, where I began to slowly sink as I manipulated the sonic waves to slowly migrate until all of me except my head was submerged. The little sand pit I found was far from the specially created baths in the den, but it was more than enough for me to bask in the warmth and enjoy the bath. I felt myself begin to drift off, but still wanted to look into my [Status]... When I woke, the suns had already begun setting behind the wall of trees surrounding us. Most of my swarm remained sleeping, though Arwa laid somewhat attentively near my bath, her ears pricked up and twitching at every sound. With a groan, I stood, sending the sands in a cascade down my body as I stretched. I¡¯d fallen unconscious more than asleep, and my spine, from the tip of my tail to the base of my skull, protested my every movement. As I creaked and tried to loosen myself enough to walk without discomfort, Arwa raised her head to look at me as she cocked her head and let her tongue loll out in a grin. I groaned as I struggled out of the sands and reached out to scratch her head. ¡°Keeping an eye on me as I slept, huh?¡± She didn¡¯t answer as I continued to stretch and finally looked again at my notifications and [Status]. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha Titles: Disciple of Nievtala Killer of Redael Fahvalo of the Moonchildren Current quests: -Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +3. PROGRESS: Greater Marsh Crocodile, Perfected Albatross, Partially Awakened Moonchild -Attain victory in political maneuvering over a foe with nearly equal social standing to yourself. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, +3, Intelligence +8, Magic +5. COMPLETE. New Quest: Subjugate or otherwise conquer a community of at least 1000 individuals. Base reward: Constitution +7, Strength, Agility +8, Intelligence +10, Magic +9. Possibility of additional rewards for greater difficulty. -Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. Stats: -Constitution: 100+3+6=109 -Strength: 112+3+6=121 -Agility: 111+3+6=120 -Intelligence: 105+8+6=119 The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. -Magic: 116+5+5=126 Skills: Adversary: 6/10 Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust: 1/4 (Imperial Bearing) Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke: 1/5 Evolutionary Exemplar (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude: Unqualified Fathomless Sonilphon: Unqualified, 0/2 -Crippling Cry: 0/5 -Debilitating Diatribe: 0/1 -Innervating Address: 0/1 -Nurturing Enunciation: 0/50 -Quaking Claw (0/1) Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve) Improved Vision: 16/18 Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 5/10 Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve) -Tremorsense (Cannot Evolve) True Dominance: 0/5 Evolutionary Possibilities -Sonic Keel Zak¡¯Tal: Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1 Have a Swarm Leader level race. Completed. -Khatif Heretic¨CRequirements: learn how to bend the world¡¯s governing laws and compel the divine to follow your will. Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] With all that had been happening with our escape from our old home, I hadn¡¯t taken much time to evaluate my [Status], so I was surprised by how little it had changed. I had long known that growing to adulthood would then slow much of my growth, but seeing that so directly was disheartening. Regardless, I¡¯d expected much more growth in my [Skills] after what I¡¯d done these last days, and today especially, but I was reminded about how many of my [Skills] required at least 50 or 100 subordinates to progress. I¡¯d known that, as a keelish and, to my understanding, a Keel, I would need to grow not as much as an individual so much as a member and leader of a race. Now, again, the casualties we had suffered struck home, and I allowed myself a moment of grief as I considered the hundreds of lives lost in the past few days. An analytical, cold part of me only regretted the need to create a larger swarm once again before I could progress in my [Skills], and I couldn¡¯t help but acknowledge that reality. I refocused myself on what had changed. I hadn¡¯t expected that becoming ¡°fahvalo¡± would grant me a [Title]. Looking at it, the [System] provided me with an explanation. [Effects of Title ¡°Fahvalo of the Moonchildren¡± are: +6 to Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, +5 to Magic, and improved social perception by the natives of the ¡°Untameable Wilds¡±.] More benefits. Never something I wouldn¡¯t appreciate, and considering I¡¯d had to do as much to survive, I wouldn¡¯t question it. And, a new [Quest], something else I wouldn¡¯t be able to do for quite a while yet. The superior nature in me raged at the artificial throttling of my growth, that others¡¯ failures were holding me back, and I forced myself to look at the bottom of my [Status], the most unexpected addition. Khatif heretic. Though I¡¯d heard the word a couple of times, I couldn¡¯t place its meaning. The [System], however, was, as always, quick to supply an answer. [Khatif Heretic: An evolution achieved by having begun to learn how to follow a divine being¡¯s will and commands, and then wholly turning away from that divinity. This evolution would sacrifice the long-term connection with the goddess that has blessed you in exchange for greater magical versatility and immediate gains to Stats. This evolution would make evolution to Keel, the chosen race of Nievtala, nearly impossible.] I wanted a part of that magical versatility, remembering the feeling of Calling flames to my will while I commanded the waters to obey. What I had learned and would continue to learn as a Sonic Khatif wouldn¡¯t be able to compare to the Heretic. But¡­ nearly impossible to evolve to Keel? Would I lose the benefits I¡¯d gained as a [Disciple of Nievtala]? Would I still be able to lead my people to Nievtra? Would the keelish still be my people if I turned my back on their goddess? These thoughts and many more plagued my mind as I dismissed the new evolution with Bloodpriestess Ana¡¯s words: ¡°Do not become like the warlocks, dissatisfied with what you have. Their magics come from a compulsion wrought upon the gods themselves, and the Pantheon will not stand for the Tower¡¯s continued influence through them.¡± Chapter 218 As the suns set fully beyond the treeline, I listened to the swarm begin to complain themselves to wakefulness around me. As the darkness became more and more complete, a part of me wanted to switch over to my thermal vision, but it didn¡¯t take me long to convince myself to continue in my attempt to upgrade the [Skill]. After all, I was merely two days from that evolution, and I wouldn¡¯t allow a guided tour through the forest to be another stumbling block for me. Sybil stepped next to me and leaned into my shoulder. ¡°Did you sleep?¡± I asked. ¡°Some. I am not fully rested, but I believe that recovery will be a mere matter of time. And how were the sands?¡± I chuckled. ¡°Good. Not enough, but good. Once we make our new home, I¡¯ll make sure we create extensive sand baths. All heated, and as deep as you could want.¡± ¡°That would be nice.¡± We stood in companionable silence before Sybil shot into a straight posture. ¡°I apologize, I forgot. Come with me.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± I asked as I followed her away. ¡°The Bloodprieshtessh,¡± the title came out slowly, yet still chewed and mangled in Sybil¡¯s unaccustomed mouth, ¡°Was asking for you, and none of us can understand her language enough to communicate. I thought that it would be best for us to follow your lead, since you speak the language.¡± I chuckled, and without thought pulled her hands down and towards me. She stood firm, and I reluctantly stood as I nuzzled into her neck sleepily. Sybil initially stiffened then relaxed into me, nipping gently at my neck while her tail lightly tapped on my leg before pulling away. My inner khatif demanded that I sate my hunger for her much louder than I¡¯d ever felt before, but I was thankfully able to quickly tamp down that desire. Sybil laughed quietly at my brief, heavy breath and resumed walking away. I followed, my steps lengthening until we walked side by side. ¡°How is the swarm doing?¡± ¡°There were no casualties on our side, though it did get close for Joral. Vefir has exhausted himself ensuring that our casualty count remains at zero. All wounds sustained have been patched up enough to no longer present any real danger. Of the five deaths on their side, all seemed to be of broken spines. We suspect the cause of death was our charge. The rest of the swarm has been awoken, with the exception of Vefir. He is still resting, and will be the last one to be woken.¡± ¡°Good to hear¡­ And morale?¡± ¡°Better than expected. Eating our fill and finally resting, even if not for as long as we need, has driven away the worst of the hopelessness. Only the strongest survived, and we are made stronger through our survival. Even with our victory, though, the Bloodpriestess has the swarm nervous.¡± ¡°Makes sense.¡± I mused aloud. ¡°We couldn¡¯t do anything to her even with our greatest fighters. I bet Wisterl could hold her¡­ could have held her own against Ana, though. Especially with Rulac at her side.¡± We¡¯d nearly reached where the Bloodpriestess stood, awaiting my arrival. I stepped forward to end my conversation with Sybil and begin a new one with Ana, but Sybil stepped forward and in front of me before demanding I make eye contact with her. ¡°They might have been able to. Perhaps not.¡± Sybil paused for a moment, ensuring that I maintained eye contact as she continued, ¡°But they are dead. Our enemies and nature itself took no prisoners, and they are casualties of our survival. We both know that both relished the chance to give their lives for our continued survival. Perhaps they could have made a difference, but instead, you did. You are our Alpha. You ever will be. I believe in you, I follow your every word and will continue to do so evermore.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice dropped at the end, reverently, and I saw the trust there. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Trust had finally begun to supersede, or maybe just cohabitate with, Sybil¡¯s analytical rationale. Here I saw an emotion begin to shape her viewpoint. I gently bunted my head against hers as we stepped before the Bloodpriestess Ana. ¡°Did you have a good rest, fahvalo?¡± ¡°I did. Thank you for allowing it to me.¡± ¡°I have only done what is honorable, there is no need to thank me.¡± Bloodpriestess Ana shook her head and smiled at me. ¡°If I were a guest relying upon your hospitality, I would expect the same respect and honor to be returned to me.¡± I nodded, maybe understanding what an ¡°honorable foe¡± was as I asked, ¡°What should I call you? Fahvalo Ana? Bloodpriestess Ana?¡± ¡°In an informal setting such as this, Ana will do. In front of our peoples, Bloodpriestess Ana, and in a formal setting, Fahvalo Bloodpriestess Ana. I don¡¯t think you will ever need to go quite so far, but you might someday.¡± Ana¡¯s face settled into an easy grin as she spoke, the sharp canines at the front of her snout a shocking white contrasting her black face and hair. ¡°It has been a long while since I have had to begin to push myself in a battle like today. It is refreshing to loosen the body against opponents such as yourself. I imagine that once you mature fully we will be more evenly matched. Thank you for the experience.¡± The smile Ana gave was genuine, and for a moment her eyes regained that mystical, enamoring quality from that afternoon. It didn¡¯t hold me quite so forcefully as before, and after a mere moment, the silvery sheen of her gaze faded. ¡°You have a strong mind for one untrained. The sooth-sight is unclear on you, but I suspect you have experienced more than your body¡¯s youth would suggest¡­ A god has touched you.¡± Respect colored her tone as her eyes flashed a golden color. I startled and tried to hide my involuntary reaction. Obviously, I was unsuccessful as Ana suppressed a tittering giggle and I quickly decided against continuing to try to hide it. ¡°Simply said, yes. How do you know? What is this ¡®sooth-sight¡¯?¡± Ana spread her hands before me, immensely long fingers curling disturbingly as she moved them one by one from the thumb to her fifth finger as she spoke. ¡°Narsha¡¯at¡¯s phrases are six, one for each finger, ever escalating in importance from thumb to fifth finger, Narsha¡¯at¡¯s blade. As a Moonchild grows in power, they can truly Speak the next Phrase instead of merely saying it and thus receive Narsha¡¯at¡¯s blessing. Each finger in turn is changed to a divine form, as you see here, but there are six Phrases. The sixth is to Open your eyes to See. I have spoken the Sixth phrase and received the third baptism, and I See more than most.¡± ¡°... And what do you See?¡± ¡°What others seek to hide.¡± Ana¡¯s voice and face could have been carved from stone with all the information they were giving me. ¡°I won¡¯t get much more than that out of you, will I?¡± ¡°I do cherish your directness. No, you won¡¯t.¡± I sighed. ¡°So, why have you called me here?¡± ¡°It is night and the Moon smiles down on us. You need passage to a safe border, and I intend to begin our journey this night. You and your kin are nearly as well developed as our own when it comes to nighttime activity, so we intend to travel during the nights and allow you the privilege of the hunt just before dawn each day. I swear to permit you as much succor as you need, so long as you conduct yourselves with honor.¡± I felt the rhythm of solemnity settle over Ana as she spoke, and felt the need to reply more formally, ¡°I swear that me and mine will conduct ourselves as fahvalo, every one of us, so long as we remain in your lands.¡± An approving nod. ¡°It should be ten days to Dunbach, where we will rest for a day and have you escorted to the other border by a different group from there. Is that acceptable to you?¡± ¡°Yes, Bloodpriestess Ana.¡± ¡°You honor your title with your words. Now do so with your actions.¡± ¡°I fully intend to. Now, I have a question¨Cwould you happen to know where I could find a nest of my fellow, less intelligent counterparts? My swarm could use a bolstering of numbers.¡± Chapter 219 For nearly two centuries, we have abandoned all proselytism due to previous failures. Instead, the Holy State has allowed itself to focus all possibilities of foreign conversion on warfare. The Veratocracy¡¯s military might is, of course, the greatest on the continent, but if we make an enemy of every nation on Elioloi we will be unprepared for any incursion or aggression attempted by one of the savage continents to the northwest or far east. Therefore, it is the progressive body¡¯s suggestion that the august body of the Synod reintroduce more peaceful proselytism¨Cmissionaries and lessons and nonviolent teachings! This way, we can unite all the lesser races under the Gran Verat¡¯s guidance and lead them to a higher existence! -From an address given to the progressive body of the Synod by High Veran Djallma Ana had good and bad news for me; the good news was that Ana knew of a different nest of keelish, while the bad news was that it was outside of the bounds of the territory she frequently visited. Thus, my plans for an immediate bolstering of my troops were set aside for now. As we began our journey, the Moonchildren were more relaxed than I would have begun to expect was possible when traveling with a large group of people who were, self-admittedly, our enemies. We had fought violently and without restraint, the swarm had killed five of their number before eating them, and¡­ every one of the Moonchildren (a group of which was called a kamory, or pool of blood in their language, according to them) was happy and willing to try to communicate with the swarm. I was surprised to see the Moonchildren themselves attempt to initiate conversations, and asked once why they would do so. The response varied little from one individual to the next: ¡°You are fahvalo. Sometimes that means that blood is spilt, and sometimes that means that conversations should be had.¡± Regardless of any individual desires for communication, it was far from simple for anybody involved since the two keelish other than myself that spoke any amount of the common tongue were Sybil and Shemira. I¡¯d never considered myself a teacher, and as I tried to teach the common tongue to my swarm, there was limited effect. Unsurprisingly, Sybil remained the most adept at learning the tongue, but Shemira and Trai both threw themselves enthusiastically into the effort. While the rest of the swarm struggled with their language lessons, I found myself cursing under my own breath as the night continued as I struggled through the last night without thermal vision to evolve [Improved Vision]. Of course, the Moonchildren lived up to their names and preferred to do the bulk of their travel at night, just as Ana had told me just before we had begun our journey, and I stumbled, careened, wobbled, and fell a dozen times that night as I stubbornly continued using exclusively my limited, very ordinary vision. I could feel my night vision improving as my [Tremorsense] struggled to give me the information necessary to continue my journey. That first night, my stubborn desire to evolve my [Skill] was the origin and the cause for the single exception to our relaxed journey eastward. Ana approached me, her face completely unseeable for me in the darkness, but for her eyes. They reflected the faint light of the stars and moon, and her tone was confused and bemused. ¡°Why are you so clumsy?¡± ¡°Because I cannot see, Ana. That¡¯s why.¡± ¡°And why do you not use your ability to see much more clearly in the darkness?¡± ¡°To improve my vision.¡± I didn¡¯t see any reason to expand on it, and my mood continued to sour, but Ana didn¡¯t care as she laughed, or, more correctly, giggled. Like a little girl. At my expense. I found myself gritting my fangs hard enough that I felt them begin to creak as she gained enough control over herself to finally respond. ¡°To improve your vision¡­ you cripple your ability to see?¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to verbally respond and simply nodded. The humiliation I felt began to pique my rage, and I considered lashing out at her, but I was desperate and sensible enough to keep myself from taking such a stupid action. ¡°I must be getting old, since that makes no sense to me.¡± I sighed. ¡°I have an innate understanding of myself. I know what things I must do to improve myself, and I do them. This will improve my eyesight.¡± Immediately, Ana¡¯s laughs ceased and she stood, unmoving, directly in front of me. Even with [Tremorsense], I wasn¡¯t paying enough attention and stumbled into her. Before I could ask what had happened, she bowed, low, and spoke softly. ¡°I apologize. I did not realize that you were walking under the inspiration of the Gods. I had realized that you are god-touched, but even so, my ignorance galls me. I insist you extract a blood-price from me in penance.¡± I came closer to falling in surprise to her obviously sincere words than I had from running into her. ¡°Um¡­ I don¡¯t follow.¡± Ana stayed bowed, submissive before me, and Sybil, staying nearby, hissed, ¡°The rest of them are approaching. Careful.¡± Ana spoke, head still bowed, as I barely noted a couple crackling branches around me. ¡°You are operating under inspiration, and I mocked your efforts. Narsha¡¯at demands that my blood be spilled in recompense for my impertinence and disrespect.¡± There were some worried tones from the Moonchildren around me, surprisingly close, no more than a dozen feet away, but at her words, they all seemed to accept whatever it was that was going to happen. ¡°I¡­ do not wish to slay you, but neither do I wish to disrespect you and your people. What does tradition ask that I do?¡± ¡°Spill my blood. If I deem it to be insufficient, I will enact a second, worthy wound upon myself, which will claim my life.¡± As she spoke, Ana remained hunched over but crossed her curved, bladed fifth fingers behind her neck. I had no doubt that she could and, apparently, would decapitate herself if she deemed the blood-price extracted insufficient. My mind raced as I tried to figure out what to do. I couldn¡¯t have her die here¨CI couldn¡¯t guarantee that I would retain my fahvalo status if she died, and, beside that, I liked her as a person, strange though she was. After a heavy moment¡¯s silence and panicked contemplation, I spoke. ¡°Your sins were three, thus I give you three cuts: First, your tongue.¡± Ana extended her tongue at my words. It was longer than a person¡¯s or even a keelish¡¯s, coming out nearly three inches. I extended a claw and quickly sliced the tip of the tongue off. Ana¡¯s blood began to pool on the ground before her as she kept her tongue exposed. The steady dripping of her blood accompanied my words as I continued, ¡°You spoke impertinently and hastily, so I offer the flesh and blood of your offending tongue to the gods. ¡°The second: your knee.¡± I slashed three claws across the thin skin of Ana¡¯s left knee and cut the flesh shallowly, but still to the bone just below the surface. Again, the blood began to course out of Ana¡¯s body, and she didn¡¯t make a single sound of protest as the mud under her feet became a bloody slurry. ¡°You forgot that the gods are above you, to stand in the way of their blessing, so I offer the blood of your knee, forever bowed before them.¡± Ana knelt as I continued. ¡°Finally: your head.¡± There were muted words of anger in the forest, and I hoped I knew what I was doing as I ran one, long, sharp claw down the entirety of Ana¡¯s lupine face, from her hairline down to just above her nose at the tip of her snout. This cut was shallow and deliberate, but it immediately began bleeding profusely, the blood shining in weeping rivulets down her face. ¡°Your final sin was undervaluing your own worth to the gods: You are a Bloodpriestess, and your life is of more value than to pay for a simple slight made from ignorance of the actions of a fahvalo. I am one you are meant to learn from, so I invite you to learn, and to continue on your path.¡± Ana bowed her head, tongue still extended, and the blood from her face, tongue, and knee mixing together into a thick, irony mud at my feet. After a painfully long but objectively short minute, Ana raised her face and stood before me. ¡°Thank you, Fahvalo Ashlani Indraymaf. You have helped me on my way.¡± I remembered her words from earlier. ¡°I have only done what is honorable. No thanks necessary.¡± Ana chuckled lightly. ¡°You speak well. Let us continue our journey.¡± With little more incident, ten days later, we found ourselves about to enter the capital of the Wilds: Dunbach. Chapter 220 ¡°How should we act in Dunbach? We have never seen a city, but I wouldn¡¯t imagine that keelish are considered the most welcome of guests.¡± My already present anxiety spiked as I laid eyes on the wooden sturdy walls surrounding what was meant to be the midway point of our journey through the Wilds. With my newly upgraded vision, I could pick out slits in the walls from which the defenders could shoot or defend against any attackers. Since [Improved Vision] had changed to [Raptor¡¯s Eyes], both my ¡°regular¡± vision and my thermal vision had become able to focus on a far off point. I wasn¡¯t sure how my eyes could do that now, but I praised Nievtala for the upgrade anyways. After all, I¡¯d learned that prayer could bring me [Skills], I might as well indulge in it. From our spot outside of the city, Dunbach didn¡¯t seem to have cleared the forest that surrounded it, and as it had spread, they still hadn¡¯t cleared the trees¨CI could see dense tree growth within the walls, and massive trees sprouted regularly within the bounds of the city. As I allowed my [Raptor¡¯s Eyes] to focus on movement within the trees, dozens of hidden and obvious Moonchildren were revealed to me. ¡°Simply follow me. You are fahvalo to me, and any who respect the Bloodpriesthood will respect my decision.¡± Ana¡¯s response pulled me from my observation of the city. I refocused myself and felt the mantle of being a [Disciple of Nievtala] settle over me. The anxiety of the new environment was entirely purged from my body, and instead I stood tall, ready to face whatever challenges would appear before me. I nodded and fell in step beside the Bloodpriestess as the rest of the swarm flanked me with varying levels of worry, nervousness, and implicit trust between them. Sybil, Took, and Foire stayed close, though Trai continued jabbering as best as she could in the human tongue as she walked alongside her father. Took continued sizing up everything that came close while Joral and Shemira controlled the wolfstags to gather together and keep themselves quiet while Sybil incessantly muttered basic conversational phrases in the common tongue. Around the remaining members of my swarm walked Moonchildren, escorting us onward. We were as ready as we were going to get, and, without any real communication, I walked in lockstep with Ana towards the walls. Arrival at the gates of Dunbach saw us greeted by the now familiar screeching call of the Moonchildren from a well-concealed sentry manning the post. Ana responded in the human tongue, ¡°Bloodpriestess Ana, come with Fahvalo Ashlani Indraymaf, Saharliard.¡± A moment¡¯s silence came in response, then, in the same human tongue, ¡°You have declared this one fahvalo to you?¡± The voice was raspy, either a husky female or tenor male¡¯s voice, and dripped with skepticism and confusion. ¡°Yes.¡± Ana spoke clearly before immediately continuing forward to the closed gate. She made it to only a pace or two¡¯s distance away from the gate before it began to open before her presence. Turning over her shoulder, Ana nodded, beckoning me to follow. As we stepped through the gates and into the city proper¡­ I realized that this was far from what I would have expected from a city. I¡¯d never seen one, but I¡¯d thought of all the things that would be necessary for a human gathering of hundreds of thousands to survive. Places for beasts of burden to walk, locations for bartering and trading, farms, and permanent structures to live in. Instead of buildings and roads, infrastructure and shops, though, there were treehouses and hovels, tents and dirt paths. The apparently dense foresting within the city that I had seen from without was correct, and instead of having paths go in straight lines forward and back, they wound aimlessly around the massive trunks that populated the area. Interspersed between the locations with thick trees were dug out homes, domes in the earth with doors so broad they were nearly as wide as they were tall. I liked it, that the inhabitants of Dunbach remained respectful of nature. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The trees populating the area were different from any I¡¯d seen anywhere else¨Cthey grew straight upward without branch or leaf up to about 20 feet before they spread and sprawled outward in a distinctly bushy fashion. The trunks were thicker than a tree of comparable height should have been, and were smooth, without notable bark or small branches before the crest, where the entirety of their branches grew. In these peaks of the trees were subtle treehouses, woven to intermingle with the natural branches and only subtly, ingeniously provide greater cover than the tree itself would have provided. I could see slight movement within the treehouses, but as I focused my eyes on all of my peripherals, I was limiting my detailed sight and couldn¡¯t pick out any specifics. As we continued onward, into what I presumed to be the center of the city, the Moonchildren around us began to leave as individuals or in pairs. I finally saw one scale one of these strange trees and enter into the house located on top, where more indistinct movement greeted them. ¡°It is an unexpected journey home.¡± Bloodpriestess Ana¡¯s voice jerked me out of my musings. ¡°Since I am here, it is an honorable visit, and their families will be happy to see them. Thus, they go to their family¡¯s hazoma.¡± ¡°Then, those are your homes, there in the trees?¡± ¡°The hazoma are sacred, holy to Narsha¡¯at. A Moonchild can only sleep soundly within the boughs of a hazoma.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t recall ever seeing a hazoma anywhere else¡­¡± ¡°Nor will you.¡± Ana smirked. ¡°... How long has it been since your last sound sleep?¡± Ana laughed. It was an off-putting sound, no matter how many times I¡¯d heard it. It reminded me of the pleased noises a hawk would make as they set into their prey at the end of a successful hunt. ¡°Most of a year. We joke that the discomfort of sleeping away from a hazoma is what led our people to become night-dwellers¨Cno reason to sleep anyways if there is no hazoma.¡± I filed that away before changing the subject. ¡°Do you have a husband, Ana?¡± Ana¡¯s laugh again belted out, full and joyous, even if still strange. ¡°We do not marry as the warlocks do, but even if we did, I am an old, stubborn female, Ashlani. What male would have me? I¡¯m sure to be more cantankerous than he wants, too strong to be convinced of his ways, and too busy to warm a bed. Any male strong enough to be my partner instead of my bed-warmer is long since mated to another, and since I am a Bloodpriestess I must be monogamous, unlike the rest of my kind. Thus, my ambitious youth has left me ¡®bereft of a fit partner¡¯ in my old age.¡± Ana¡¯s voice was only barely containing laughter throughout her speech, and she obviously didn¡¯t care much to have a partner at this point. ¡°You call yourself old, but you certainly don¡¯t seem to be to me¡­?¡± ¡°I have seen many moons, but in this tongue I would call myself¡­ fifty years old, I believe? The common manner of counting age is strange to me, but, suffice to say, I am beyond the years of bearing children.¡± ¡°That is¡­ surprising. You do not show evidence of aging.¡± ¡°To you perhaps. I am slower than I once was. You should have seen me¨C¡± ¡°Bloodpriestess Ana. This merits a thorough explanation.¡± Ana was interrupted by a strange being I¡¯d never seen before¨Ca (probably) male figure, hairier than the Moonchildren by far, to the point of being called furry instead of hairy. He was not especially tall, just about five and a half feet tall without counting his horns, but his shoulders were at least three feet across. The fur covering his face and upper body was a gradient from a nearly charcoal gray to the gray of morning cloud cover, and his face was decidedly bovine in shape and form. His horns curled aggressively above his head, and he wore nothing more than a crude loincloth, leaving the rest of his furry, humanoid body exposed. At his hips hung two stone-headed hatchets, clean but unmistakably stained a rusty color with blood. ¡°Noonbright Teikhom. A pleasure to see you.¡± Ana stiffened next to me while gesturing for me to stand back. Chapter 221 The furry face of the apparently titled ¡°Noonbright¡± screwed up in loosely controlled anger. His jaws clenched and he began to spit his words. ¡°Explain why you¡¯ve brought some of the scaled menace into our holy place.¡± Teikhom audibly ground his teeth and his massive hands twitched towards his hatchets. Ana sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t need to explain myself to you, you stiff-necked geezer of a goat. He and his swarm are fahvalo to me.¡± Just as when she had approached the gates, Ana said what she had intended to, then continued walking onward. Differently from the guards at the gates, however, the Noonbright stepped to the side and directly into the path of Ana. His shoulders rolled forward as his bullish face curled into a snarl, the bubbling moos threatening. ¡°Don¡¯t think you are the only leader in Dunbach, Bloodpriestess.¡± Teikhom¡¯s voice continued to rasp bleatingly through his lips, but instead of what could have been the humorous sounds of a prey¡¯s threatenings, his tone was that of a leader, and a dangerous one at that. ¡°You are the only Bloodpriestess in the city, but we are two Noonbrights. You have brought the failed conqueror¡¯s ilk into our homes, and think we will simply accept it? Your hubris knows no bounds, and you will not be so lucky as to be allowed to wander so blatantly through our lands without considering the wellbeing of our children.¡± I blinked, hard. I wasn¡¯t expecting a vocabulary like that from a rough exterior like Teikhom¡¯s, and though I couldn¡¯t see it, I could feel him quiver in barely contained rage through my [Tremorsense]. I began to step forward and justify my swarm¡¯s presence when Ana stepped forward, her hair bristling into a mohawk down her spine as she spread her arms threateningly. She stopped her approach just outside of reach for the Noonbright, and I noticed for the first time just how long his arms were, reaching almost to his knees, just like a Moonchild¡¯s. Teikhom¡¯s arms, though, were not the same lanky, wiry arms of a Moonchild. Instead, they rippled with power and muscle with every movement, and he drew his hatchets as Ana spoke. ¡°Do not presume yourself capable of dictating who qualifies as my fahvalo, Teikhom. If you impinge on my honor, I will offer your heart¡¯s blood to the Bloodsoaked Mother before Huldtar reaches his zenith. There will be no glory for you or the rest of the Sunkindred, and the brightest beams of noon will look down only on your festering corpse.¡± Ana slowly settled into her combat-ready stance, and her voice dropped to a raspy, threateningly serious tone. ¡°Do. Not. Doubt. Me.¡± I looked to Teikhom, expecting to see him quail under her threat and promise of bloodshed, or flinch, or even immediately launch himself into battle, but he didn¡¯t react at all. No twitches of his weapons, no steps in any direction, no loss of eye contact. ¡°You would threaten Huldtar¡¯s glory? In front of a Noonbright?¡± ¡°So long as you challenge the honor of Narsha¡¯at¡¯s Bloodpriestess¡¯s words.¡± ¡°You would stake the honor of a Bloodpriestess of Narsha¡¯at on the honor of a keelish?¡± ¡°I have publicly called him fahvalo to me before my people, my city, and now you, my peer. Would you call me a deceiver?¡± Ana¡¯s voice lacked any of the fiery passion that the words communicated, her tone instead glacial in speed and warmth. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°No, you honor yourself at all times and would never deceive willfully.¡± The Noonbright allowed with a throaty sigh and a nodding concession. ¡°Then accept my declaration of fahvalo.¡± Ana didn¡¯t relax her stance. With a grunt, Noonbright Teikhom began to stalk away without another word. Since I hadn¡¯t witnessed his approach, I only now saw his hidden slight limp and deliberately careful steps. Had he gone gray from the passage of time, and was now slowed by the frailty of advanced age? Or was the stocky man previously injured? I let my questions fade from my mind as I watched, unsure of if I should say anything, but after just long enough for Teikhom to be out of our continued passage forward, Ana stood normally as if she hadn¡¯t been threatening lethal violence just moments before. Her ability to shift so suddenly and completely between absolutely contrasting moods and attitudes was strange, uncanny even. I almost wondered if she felt anything, or any apparent emotion was just her putting on the appearance of feeling something. ¡°You should have seen me three hundred moons ago. Then, I could move at a truly awe-inspiring speed. Now, I¡¯m just quick, not so impressively as before.¡± ¡°Are¡­ we not going to talk about that?¡± ¡°He¡¯ll go off to mate with one of his women and be in a better mood before too long. Huldtar¡¯s children are quick to every passion, and once he¡¯s had his fill and release he will be closer to reasonable once again.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t really answer my questions.¡± ¡°Then ask, Ashlani.¡± ¡°Who is he?¡± ¡°Noonbright Teikhom. A leader of the Sunkindred of about the same level of influence as myself, ignoring the Allmother.¡± ¡°And¡­ why does he hate the keelish?¡± ¡°Frankly speaking, your people are a scourge. Those who are not Saharliard devour anything they can reach, and Saharliard are frequently honorless and warmongering. He has good reason to distrust your people. But no reason,¡± Ana¡¯s voice became bitter and as close to angry as I¡¯d ever heard it, ¡°to distrust my word. I may still have to spill his blood to clear my name.¡± I¡­ could see her point. I nodded slowly. ¡°Then, are we safe while he is around?¡± Ana nodded, ¡°He is frequently stationed to the Southern border with the warlocks, and cannot frequently come home to his herd. Teikhom felt threatened by your presence near his young and weak, but with my word he will leave you in peace. He will feel no compassion or goodwill towards you, and if you give him and his people the opportunity to do so honorably, they will spill your blood, but he will not seek out to damage you unprovoked.¡± Fair enough. I was about to ask another question when I was interrupted by Sybil behind me. ¡°I guess all my practice of the common tongue was useless?¡± She had progressed immensely in her understanding of the human tongue, and had apparently been able to understand much of our conversation. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh and lovingly bunt my head into hers as Ana looked on impassively. ¡°Why do you laugh?¡± I explained the joke and a smile briefly covered Ana¡¯s face before she answered in a slow, deliberate tone to ensure Sybil could understand, ¡°It may serve you yet. The Allmother lives here in Dunbach, and I¡¯m sure she would love to speak with some of you at some point. And, even if she does not, it will serve you in the rest of your journey towards the border and beyond, as you will travel with others of my people there, and communication makes for better fahvalo and simpler travels.¡± ¡°Who is this Allmother?¡± I asked as Ana continued walking onward. ¡°You will see. Let me show you where you will pass the rest of this day. Come.¡± Chapter 222 The foreign incursions of the so-called divine aren¡¯t something to be heralded as a blessing, and that you think I might have been excited to hear as much says much about your intelligence. Pray tell, have you forgotten the title of my people? We do not consider ourselves to be your cousins, as you consider us, and every Word that leaves your mouths is an omen of the end of times. - From the letter of response from Lord Ferrah of Harandal in response to the continental address of the Veratocracy The swarm fell together in the small artificial clearing Ana led us to. We had been allowing ourselves some rest every day, so we weren¡¯t anywhere near the collapse we¡¯d driven ourselves to, but we had been working hard and traveling hard, while still fending for ourselves and feeding ourselves. Suffice to say, there wasn¡¯t a single soul who complained about the extended break we seemed to be getting for now. Arwa¡¯s children had grown nearly to an adult size at this point and they were already bigger than the Wave Wolfstags. Joral had named them all, but I hadn¡¯t cared to learn any of the others¡¯ names, and when Joral wasn¡¯t leading them, the Wave Wolfstags had begun circling around Sybil, and they always left at least one of their number behind with her. To my surprise, Sybil seemed to enjoy their company, and worked with Joral to continue training our furry companions. He was their leader, but near as I could tell, all the wolfstags considered her to be their queen of sorts. She had gotten to the point where she could communicate and give surprisingly complex commands to the creatures: ¡°Seek deer¡±, ¡°Scout in that (points) direction¡±, ¡°Defend me¡±. That last command led to all twelve surviving Wave Wolfstags circling around her, Sybil in the center and protected on all angles. It was pretty impressive, all things considered. ¡°How did you do it?¡± ¡°They are simple creatures¨Ctell them what to do, and they do their best to accomplish your commands. They are much better to work with than you hardheaded reptiles.¡± Sybil smirked at me. ¡°I did not even have to offer to mate with them.¡± ¡°That came later than our cooperation began, so far as I know. And it¡¯s been long enough,¡± I grinned and leaned closer, ¡°that I may need a refresher.¡± ¡°Well¡­ I do not think we want me to end up gravid and having to leave eggs behind before we can raise them.¡± Sybil leaned forward and tenderly nuzzled at my shoulder, near where it joined with my neck. It sent the primal, involuntary remembrance of exactly how long it had been down my spine, and I half considered taking her right then. I suspected she wouldn¡¯t mind, either, given how she continued to flirt with me. Sure, it was also probably some sort of subtle declaration of her position in the swarm to any that might have been wondering about how likely it may have been for them to sneak into my bed, but I didn¡¯t really care. I just wanted her¡­ but I wasn¡¯t so foolish as to give in to mere urges. Just as I was able to gather my thoughts and attempt a comeback, Sybil slunk away, the wolfstags falling in step as she went. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I would like to have some, though.¡± I called out, and Sybil turned and looked at me. ¡°Like Trai?¡± ¡°Like Trai.¡± I confirmed. ¡°She¡¯s¡­ good to have around. She makes me happy, and I would like to have what Foire has with her.¡± ¡°I concur. When we finally have a home once more, I will look forward to the rearing of new life. And the creation of it.¡± Sybil flicked her tail teasingly as she walked away and began to confer with Shemira. I watched, and began to look for Foire, but instead took the time provided to rest. I missed the wolfstag pelts we¡¯d tanned, and settled onto the ground, finding the softest position I could as I laughed at my petty desires to indulge. Just days before, I¡¯d been running for my life, and now I complained about the bedding? I laid my head on a tuft of particularly long grass as I succumbed once more to sleep. For the first time in a while, I dreamed. The riot of battle filled my head, the shrieks of dying keelish, the wet sounds of claws and fangs finding purchase in flesh, the coughing explosion of magics clashing. All around me, though, were beautiful mountains, herds of creatures, and happy keelish. I couldn¡¯t hear anything but the clamoring chaos of warfare, and the strange combination stunned me. I couldn¡¯t do anything but watch the idyllic scene as my mind raced with the possibilities presented by what I could hear. Sybil approached me, her walk casual and comfortable, and she twined her tail with me, the intimacy from her action somehow gone. I couldn¡¯t feel anything but dread and my blood boiling. Trai¡¯s whimpers woke me. She was laid nearby, and she twitched fitfully in her sleep. Foire was asleep nearby her, and I stepped close and rested my hand over the convulsing body of the child. She slowed and stilled before waking up and looking groggily up at me. I managed a smile, and she rested her head back down on the ground, her voice quiet as she asked in the tones of the still sleeping, ¡°But Alpha¡­ how can¡­ we live¡­¡± her words faded off, lost to the oblivion of sleep. Even so, I felt the discomfort in my stomach surge at the meaning of what little I¡¯d understood. My continued thoughts were torn from my mind as Ana approached. All the Moonchildren had only ever worn loincloths and short, leather skirts, so far as I had seen, and Ana was no exception. Until now. For the first time, I felt that Bloodpriestess Ana presented herself as a dignified representative of a divine being. She wore what seemed to be a ceremonial robe of some sort, the moon in all its phases ringing the collar. Her breasts remained exposed, subtle attention being drawn to them in the curve of the lapels of the robe. The robe itself was silver and red, with motifs of birth and mothers nursing their children subtly shimmering into being as the robe fluttered in the wind. Somehow, the robe gave her a mystical, ethereal quality, and I stood tall and stepped away from most of the sleepking keelish to speak. ¡°How can I help you? I thought we were going to be resting for now.¡± ¡°Fahvalo Ashlani Indraymaf,¡± she intoned, ¡°I apologize for the interruption. The Allmother is ready to see you. Come now to witness her and serve at her leisure. Do not compel me to use force.¡± Chapter 223 Ana carried herself differently than ever before when she presented herself to guide me to the Allmother. In all things she did, Ana was proud or even arrogant. When she was insulting the Veushten, the members of the Veratocracy, she did so from a place of pride and superiority over them. When she accepted me as fahvalo, she was elevating my status towards that of her own, a lofty position as an honorable foe. When she asked for me to punish her, it was because her pride had been threatened by her words, and she wished to immediately recover her bone-deep egoism. When Bloodpriestess Ana asked me to follow her to the Allmother, she no longer displayed any of that all consuming pride. She apologized, and that merely for the interruption. Only once had she apologized before, and that for when she¡¯d thought herself guilty of blasphemy. She bowed to me, and I¡¯d never seen her lower her head to anything. This Ana was not the Bloodpriestess, the warrior and commander, but Ana, the servant to the Allmother, and she was the perfect model of a submissive, humble servant. A reverence accompanied her every move, and though her every movement remained strong and perfectly controlled, no longer did her every muscle radiate a feline penchant for violence. ¡°I¡­ Ok. Let¡¯s go.¡± I nodded to Ana before leaning down and gently patting the sleeping child. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Took and gestured her over. ¡°I¡¯m going to meet with the Allmother, the leader here. Let Sybil know.¡± Took nodded. ¡°Anything I should do?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Keep an eye out. I¡¯ll let you know where we can hunt when I get back.¡± Another nod, then Took was off to interrupt Sybil and Shemira¡¯s talking. The three females were now most of the core of my swarm, along with Foire and Vefir. All those that remained alive would become the leaders of a larger, stronger swarm though. I swore as much to myself and the heavens, and I could feel Nievtala¡¯s approval settle over me like a mantle. Without any more consideration, I began walking beside Ana, whose steps remained deliberate and measured. As we walked I took in Ana¡¯s ceremonial robe once more. Before, she had worn only a thick loincloth, the rest of her black skin and body hair uncovered. She, like all Moonchildren, was lean and muscular, the only real distinguishing physical characteristic of the females being their modest breasts. With the greatest physical difference between the genders being only a slight softness to the women, with this robe she finally registered as a ¡°woman¡± to my eyes. This robe she wore covered the top of her head, and draped down, splitting at the back before coming over the shoulder and curving around both breasts. The blood red, emblazoned with silver motifs of the moon in every one of her phases, waxing from the dark empty moon at the bottom, ended just below the bottom of her ribcage, and bloomed to ¡°Narsha¡¯at¡¯s¡± full glory at Ana¡¯s head. The headdress left the thick hair running down Ana¡¯s spine uncovered, and the skirt worn around her waist was a deep black that was more of a sheet than a tailored garment. ¡°You must listen to the Allmother¡¯s words.¡± Ana spoke without looking at me, simply taking deliberate steps forward. ¡°She may have much or little to say to you, but all that she speaks comes from what she Sees, and thus is more impactful and divine than you might think as an outsider. The Allmother is tolerant, but she demands respect. Offer no disrespect when you speak or act, as I am unable to tolerate disrespect shown to the Bloodsoaked Mother¡¯s mouthpiece.¡± I nodded as we carefully strode onwards, the trees and subterranean hovels diminishing in number around us. Finally, we entered a clearing in the forest of hazoma, and in the center was a shorter, thicker hazoma. There was an obviously well-trod path towards this separate tree, and more natural, narrow paths spiderwebbing across the clearing from the singular entry path. I wanted to ask questions, but I more than realized that now was not the time to ask potentially rude questions. As we approached the apparent abode of the Allmother, a young voice called out, strident, ¡°That¡¯s enough, Ana. Send him forward.¡± I glance towards the origin of the voice, and saw no living soul. In fact, I saw that the trunk of the hazoma had been hollowed out and there was a narrow entrance leading within. Ana nodded to the voice and stepped back wordlessly. Could the Allmother see us even when she wasn¡¯t within the line of sight? With as little hesitation as I could muster, I began stepping forward towards the carved entrance before stopping a couple of strides away from entering. ¡°I¡¯ve been told that you are ready to see me, Allmother, so I have come as quickly as I appropriately could have.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The energetic voice called out, ¡°Please, step inside. Let us counsel together.¡± I began to feel nervous when my khatif sensibilities suddenly swelled within me, and I confidently stepped forward into the lair of the Allmother. Somehow, I felt like it was disrespectful to look on the Allmother with my thermal vision, and instead, I allowed my vision to slowly acclimate to the low light available. To my surprise, a hunched Sunkindred woman sat on a chair filled with cushions. Her fur had gone fully gray, and when she moved or shifted, a lightly glowing afterimage was left in her wake. Her eyes met mine, and she smiled as I stopped at a respectful distance. Then, I felt something moving behind me through my [Tremorsense] and I twitched, spinning to look at a figure that closed a door I hadn¡¯t seen behind me before stepping to stand beside the wizened Sunkindred. Now at her side, a somewhat small Moonchild stood before me, her eyes veritably glowing in the dim light of the suns filtering through her door and the light that the Sunkindred shed. Those eyes¡­ were off-putting, and after a moment, I realized that they had no pupils. All the Moonchildren had disconcertingly large eyes, and the irises spread nearly to the edge of the eye itself. However large their irises, however, there remained the black pupils within them. The Allmother¡¯s assistant¡¯s eyes faintly radiated a light from them, and there were no pupils to be found within them. Every one of her fingers showed the signs of having spoken the Phrases, and I could feel the unmistakable pull from her eyes that let me know she had spoken the sixth Phrase as well. I also noticed that her skin lacked the looseness that comes with age¨Cstill it hung tight to her joints and firm musculature, and, except for her glowing, pupil-less eyes, the Allmother¡¯s assistant looked much like any young female Moonchild. She smiled at my searching eyes, her canines bared in a fierce grin. ¡°Hello, Ashlani.¡± The Allmother said from her chair, her voice creaky but warm. ¡°Thank you for coming. Do forgive the young one her impudence. She has not yet settled into her station.¡± The words were a command, both to me and the young, off putting Moonchild. Contrary to what I¡¯d expected, the Moonchild assistant merely nodded in acceptance of the reprimand and the Allmother continued speaking, ¡°You were expecting the Allmother to be a Moonchild, were you not?¡± ¡°I suppose I was.¡± ¡°In a few years yet, you will see one, if you are so trusted as to be allowed in our inner sanctums once more, Fahvalo Ashlani Indraymaf. There is much about our culture that you need not learn, instead, I had something to speak with you about.¡± The aged woman said as she leaned forward, a streak of light trailing behind her. ¡°Fahvalo Ashlani Indraymaf, chosen of the gods.¡± She trailed off, not finishing the sentence. My mouth went dry. ¡°What do you mean, ¡®chosen of the gods¡¯?¡± ¡°Precisely that. We have stories of the chosen, that they experience explosive growth beyond belief, that they tend to raise others up with them. You are¡­ about six months old, yes? Yet you have grown so much farther than could be predicted by any in that time. You have a solid knowledge of how to evolve yourself, solid enough to cripple one of your senses, for days at a time and among your enemies no less, with the knowledge of eventual improvement. Does that answer your question?¡± I swallowed. Twice. ¡°How do you know these things?¡± ¡°Where Huldtar burns bright and illuminates, I See.¡± The Allmother shrugged. ¡°Now,¡± her voice cracked like a whip and she settled into her seat once again, her eyes glowing like miniature suns. ¡°I have Seen two things which I desire to tell you before I leave you back to your rest and conversation with your children. The first is a specific answer to your question posed to our Ana¨Cwhere to find more of your kind. Two day¡¯s travel north northeast, you will find them. They are far less advanced than you and yours ever were, but they should serve the purpose you seek. The second,¡± At this, she tried to stand but the Moonchild raised a hand to keep the senior woman from rising before stalking over to a shelf built into the wall of the room. I finally was able to tear my eyes away from the Allmother as she looked away from me to watch the other woman searching the shelf. The room¡­ was odd. There were three layers of shelves that went around the complete circumference of the room, and nothing else, except for the chair in which the Allmother had been seated. The three shelves were filled with¡­ random paraphernalia. Rocks, feathers, sticks, children¡¯s dolls, bones, coils of rope, parchment¡­ and much more. The Allmother¡¯s assistant grabbed a stone about a foot in width and half that in height and length before carrying it over to me. As I grabbed it, I let out an involuntary grunt¨Cshe had carried it without apparent effort, but it weighed well over 100 pounds. ¡°The second,¡± She repeated herself as I tried to settle the stone into my arms, ¡°is this. Take it to Ytte, and tell her to investigate the stone. She will know, eventually, what to do with it.¡± With a nod, the Allmother finished, ¡°That is all. Enjoy your journey, for it is only beginning.¡± She¡¯d dismissed me and her assistant quickly walked me to the door, where she ushered me out and closed the door once more. Thus ended my meeting with the Allmother. Chapter 224 ¡°She just¡­ told you to gimme this rock?¡± ¡°Yeah, and said that, eventually, you¡¯d know what to do with it.¡± Ytte shrugged. ¡°Ain¡¯t now. All I know now is that it¡¯s heavier than you¡¯d think lookin at it. Not particularly familiar with what makes a rock a rock, much less a special rock. Ain¡¯t a bloodstain on it or anything interesting like that, so I can¡¯t say what I might find.¡± I sighed, unsurprised. ¡°Yeah, I knew it was heavy, but I was hoping for something more. Keep trying, I guess. Try using your magic to see if you can understand it, as much as possible. That¡¯s it¨Cwait, also try not to break it.¡± Ytte chuckled. ¡°Goes without sayin. I¡¯ll keep it safe.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± I nodded as I walked away, leaving the first of my followers from outside my brood to her rock. She was muttering under her breath, and I heard a curious clicking of her claws on the stone as she tried to sound it out. Hopefully she would find out what to do with it sooner rather than later. The suns had long begun their descent, the sky turning a burning hue of oranges and reds. Since [Improved Vision] had evolved to [Raptor¡¯s Eyes], I still hadn¡¯t used my thermal vision except for at night. Finally, my eyes rivalled and even surpassed what they had been as a human, and I could clearly see the clouds in the sky, pick out individual leaves in a tree from a distance, and, if I squinted, somehow enhance my vision in a small area. As I watched the surroundings, I witnessed a couple of the Sunkindred stepping out of their homes, but they didn¡¯t seem to want to have anything to do with us keelish, instead watching the suns¡¯ final light as they disappeared over the horizon. The Sunkindred moved in obvious worship of the celestial bodies, and bowed as the last light faded to nothing. Without the light of the suns, though, I could see that many of the Sunkindred left slight afterimages behind their every movement, like the Allmother had, though none were quite so bright as hers. I idly looked around to see if I could find Teikhom, since I figured his afterimages would be brighter, but to no avail. ¡°You seem excited, Alpha.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice shook me from my reverie. ¡°Did you get good news?¡± ¡°As a matter of fact, yes. I know where to find another swarm and I¡¯m sure we can force them to follow under our rule on our journey. So, while I would have preferred to still have the rest of our numbers¡­¡± I trailed off, and Sybil swiftly filled the silence. ¡°We can begin to be a swarm once again.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± [Fen POV] Fen tried her hardest not to let her fear show. Varali had been angry ever since she and Fen had seen the ruins of her family, but Fen had been sure that Varali would calm down once they killed the keelish¡­ Maybe it was because some had gotten away? Maybe Varali was just angry right now? Maybe¡­ maybe it was because Fen wasn¡¯t good enough? Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Fen tried not to let that last thought stick. She was trying! She missed her mother and father, but they were gone, so back to working hard. So hard, harder than she ever had when she¡¯d been a human! She was growing and following the quests she got, and listening, and talking to Varali, and being her friend¡­ but she felt like she still wasn¡¯t enough. All that Varali was doing these days was talk with that bastard ¡°High Lord¡± (at least when he wasn¡¯t working with his newest experiment) and push herself harder and harder to become a better Speaker. Whenever Fen tried to talk to her, Varali didn¡¯t even respond. The High Lord¡¯s words seemed to twist her friend. Fen was starting to feel like she was going crazy, Varali wouldn¡¯t say anything, but always pressing at the back of Fen¡¯s mind was a stewing, boiling rage. Fen was trying to stay as happy as always, but it was hard to feel anything other than that permanent anger. Right now, the two humans were a little less angry, because Leialt was giving a lesson in Speaking. While Fen couldn¡¯t use that same type of magic, she wondered if the tips and tricks he was giving could work for her, so she listened in. ¡°As with all Speaking, channeling emotion, like rage, sorrow, or joy, into your Phrasing will help. A steady Earthspeaker can commune with the earth around them better, an energetic Windspeaker can better mould the air to their will, and an emotionally fluid Wavespeaker and can become one with the waves. Therefore, what weak Soulspeakers think is that they need to constantly listen and learn new Phrases in order to progress in their abilities. They¡¯re wrong. What a High Soulspeakers learns is that these new things certainly do function, but Soulspeaking is different from all the others. That¡¯s why we¡¯re special. ¡°A Soulspeaker is a guide, not the shaper of the Words as the other Speakers are. You are wiser than those under your influence, you are closer to the heavens, you are greater than those beneath you. What is the source of these emotions? You don¡¯t need to feel a raging, burning emotion to empower yourself over others. Instead, you need to focus on the fact that you are the leader of your Bound. Their limited minds cannot understand your plans, and they cannot approach the intellectual capacity of a human. It is better that you serve as their thoughts and conscience, so that they can focus entirely on how to serve you.¡± ¡°But why should I try to change my Soul Companionship to a Binding? Fen is my companion, and even my friend!¡± Fen nodded along with her companion¡¯s words and bleated her agreement at the insufferable man. He waved a hand and Fen felt her mind cloud, all her protestations dying in her mind as well as on her lips. ¡°The old ways of Soul Companionship allowed for greater flexibility from their companions. They could better express themselves and lead, but why would a servant need individuality? Why would the follower need to lead? You are the head of the companionship, so why would you make compromises in leadership? Does that make sense, Varali?¡± Fen watched her bond slowly nod, and then, the flaming impotent rage in Varali began to subside, washed away by waves of bitter recollection, and then a steadfast resolve. Fen couldn¡¯t see what Varali was remembering, but as the powerful feeling of belonging and love washed over her, it forced Fen¡¯s addled mind to recollect the only time she had experienced that love herself: those feelings Fen only experienced for that brief time with her parents, those nameless Scaled Deer. She¡¯d thought she would again find them with Varali, but these weeks had changed her bond from the happy child she had been to a selfish, unrelenting vehicle for revenge. Quietly, Fen¡¯s body began to shake with uncontrollable sobs as she was blown away by this unstoppable sense of loss and desolation, missing the only two creatures that had ever shown genuine affection for her, her mother, slaughtered by keelish only a month ago. Then, Varali extended a hand toward Fen, and a wave of blissful oblivion spread over her mind. In the fog of Varali¡¯s Speaking, Fen could see that in the corner of her eye flashed a [System] message: [Evolution requirements met. Would you like to evolve to Scaled Deer Soulrender?] Chapter 225 Other peoples can¡¯t understand our absolute obedience to the Zaaktif. They¡¯ve never felt that same sense of his power, of servility, of belonging. They are fools. Once you have felt the call to serve, the Alqat will be waiting. If you already have the burn to serve, you may attempt to join our ranks. -From a recruitment speech given to a congregation of three assembled schools within the New Empire After a night¡¯s rest, Ana had come by and let us know that another cadre of Moonchildren had been assigned to escort us to the other keelish¡¯s den. Nearby, Trai heard that it wasn¡¯t Ana and her people that would accompany us and ran to the Bloodpriestess. To my surprise, she leapt into Ana¡¯s arms while whimpering, Ana holding the four foot long khatif in her arms like a long human baby. Ana sang a twittering song in her people¡¯s birdlike tongue as Trai cuddled the woman. After a lullaby or two, Trai descended from Ana¡¯s arms and retreated back to her father, and Foire, to his credit, in stuttering, halting human words, thanked Ana for the care she¡¯d shown Trai. If I hadn¡¯t begun to understand the Moonchildren¡¯s ways, I might have doubted the relationship, but Ana respected the little one¡¯s bravery and dedication. After resting for one more night and day, we finally set off. Two days had since passed, and this different cadre of Moonchildren had been inhospitable without ever crossing the line to disrespect. They numbered eleven, counting their leader, a surly male whose name I was never told. He was young, his heavily scarred leathery skin taught and tight on his body, lean musculature evident. His vulpine face lacked the smile lines of Ana or the worry lines of the Allmother, and there were no gray hairs visible in any part of his hair that ran all the way down his spine. Given his youth, he must have been quite formidable, given that all but his fifth fingers showed evidence of his having spoken the necessary Phrases to have his fingers ¡°blessed¡± by Narsha¡¯at. The nameless male went by ¡°Mpitar¡±, apparently his title within the cadre. All told, he was a young buck with a chip on his shoulder, and I shouldn¡¯t have held it against him, given that I myself was just that. That said, I had some questions I wanted answered, and the kid was an insufferable, arrogant upstart, so I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care to indulge his pride. ¡°Given your people¡¯s apparent power, why haven¡¯t you exterminated this den of keelish?¡± He scoffed. ¡°You pests pose no threat to us. We can see and hear you coming, you are weak and slow. No danger, but in your dens, you do demonstrate an understanding of ¡®desperation¡¯. You are too weak to be called fahvalo,¡± Mpitar spat the word, distaste dripping nearly as obviously as his spittle, ¡°and I believe that Bloodpriestess Ana has made a mistake in her declaration. I honor her words though, and will do nothing more than speak the truth to you.¡± The ever present smirk on his face spread once again as he finished his diatribe, ¡°So you have nothing to fear.¡± I couldn¡¯t help it. I laughed, straight in his face. Mpitar immediately bristled, literally, his hackles rising all down his spine. Before he could start spitting something about how much better than me he was, I stepped close to him. I towered over the slight Moonchild, ¡°Look. I don¡¯t care what you have to say or think or whatever. You look down on keelish. I don¡¯t care. If you want to see if you¡¯re really so much better than me, I invite you to try it once we get to the end of our journey. Until then, leave it alone.¡± After I finished speaking, I continued walking, leaving the frustratedly gaping mouth of Mpitar behind me. Not 50 paces later, Ytte approached me, the massive stone being dragged behind her in a sled of sorts that the Allmother had commanded be sent to us. She had been the primary puller of the stone since I¡¯d given it over to her, and without complaint, she had brought it along for days of travel through the forests and hills. Ytte spoke, her eyes roving around our surroundings. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Alpha, look around here. What do you see?¡± I glanced around. A couple of light scores in the trunks of nearby trees, some heavy game trails, and not much else. However, now that I was taking specific note of it, I realized that the forest around us had gone silent. There were no markings of the passage of larger prey other than the paths, and I heard no chirping birds, chittering small prey, or croaking of reptiles. The only sound other than those made by our group was the rustling of leaves in the wind that blew in our faces. The wind blowing in my face brought me several smells: rotting flesh, upturned soil¡­ and rutting keelish. It was faint, hidden behind the natural smells of the forest and carrion, but keelish were breeding nearby. I turned my head quizzically before looking over to Ytte. ¡°These markings here,¡± she gestured at the cuts in the trunks around us, ¡°are territorial markings of a swarm. You never needed to learn this, you were too young to have ever participated in an expansion or conquest, but now you know. We¡¯re getting close.¡± I nodded in agreement and called over to Mpitar, not caring to wait for him to pay me any attention, ¡°Look, we¡¯re getting close. Wait here until a couple of hours after sunrise, we should be back by then.¡± I didn¡¯t wait for a response and began walking off, the pitiful numbers of the swarm flanking me as I went. Excited sounds reverberated behind me as I heard my swarm begin to realize that we were entering another swarm¡¯s territory. I heard mutterings about how quickly I would be able to take control of this swarm, and a couple wondered aloud if this was going to be our new home. I sighed internally, knowing that our journey was far from over, but couldn¡¯t bring myself to disillusion them of their hopeful musings just yet. Took and Sybil stood proudly at my side and looked at me before nodding with a surety. Silf and Joral were at my other flank, and the swarm surged forward to enter this familiar yet foreign territory. The slight smells of keelish presence filled the air, occasional tracks dotted the trails, and, far away, an argument could be heard. Following the sounds, it wasn¡¯t long, just a quarter of an hour, before we came upon a returning hunting pack of about fifteen. They were led by a large male, nothing so large as those in our swarm, but about the size of a Moonchild, five feet tall. He saw our approach and immediately shrieked out, ¡°Who¡¯re yous??¡± His voice was grating, reminiscent of the least intelligent and polished members of my keelish who had died in the past weeks. ¡°Are you the Alpha of this swarm?¡± I refused to mince words. ¡°No.¡± He immediately turned, and, looking at Shemira, changed subject. ¡°Follow me, rut.¡± Her lips curled in anger at the brusque, unwanted approach, and she lunged forward. The little pack alpha never stood a chance as Shemira, Silf, and Joral surged forward, with a couple others following suit, in a wave, lashing out with tails, jaws, arms, and sheer bodily mass. The unnamed alpha called his pack to defend themselves, but their fifteen against our five quickly crumbled and submitted in defeat. Joral and Silf in particular were vicious, Joral leveraging his squat, dense build, and launching the much smaller keelish into the air and against each other and nearby trees while Silf launched himself onto backs, bearing the weaker opponents to the ground, smashing their heads down once, and leaping to the next nearest target. Shemira, to her credit, was relatively calm, and simply dealt debilitating blows with her tail at the knees of those stupid enough to get between her and her prey¨Cthe horny male. He didn¡¯t last a single blow before cowering before her. ¡°Sorry! Sorry!¡± He begged for mercy. Shemira looked at me, exasperated and confused, and I nodded as I stepped forward. ¡°Now that we have your attention, lead us to your swarm¡¯s Alpha.¡± Chapter 226 The small pack Alpha whose name I still didn¡¯t know led us forward towards a small clearing. The entire time, I evaluated the fifteen keelish, and with each step, I was less impressed. They were smaller than any of my swarm had been, even the weakest, least impressive of them. These scrawny, almost petite keelish didn¡¯t deserve the name, and every one of my khatif oozed disdain as we continued to walk among them. As we stepped into a clearing where a large hole indicated their den, the stench of uncontrolled and uncontained rotting meat flooded my nostrils. Were I affected by the sensibilities of a human, I might have gagged, but as it was, I simply sneered in distaste as I forced myself to take the possible threat of this swarm seriously. Though this pack was obviously lackluster, their Swarm Alpha could be more powerful than Redael. I had wondered what the hesitance was for the Moonchildren to enter the den here, but the moment I saw the entrance, I knew why. As tall as I was now, nearly seven feet, I would have to crouch to enter our old den. This entrance was only three feet tall at most, with even the smallest of my swarm needing to double over to enter. Took, Brutus, and I would have needed to walk on our hands and knees to try to enter, and with just a glance back at the swarm, we came to a collective conclusion. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± I turned to the pitiful keelish we¡¯d beaten down. The more I looked at him, the more I was reminded of a beaten pet begging for clemency, not a proud member of my people. ¡°Creech.¡± He didn¡¯t raise his head as he spoke. ¡°Alright, Creech. Here¡¯s what you¡¯re going to do. You¡¯re going to find your swarm¡¯s Alpha, and tell them to come up here. If they¡¯d like they can try to fight me one on one, and if they win, I submit. When I win, your swarm surrenders to me.¡± I nodded dismissively. ¡°Now, go.¡± Without even the slightest hesitation, Creech flared his frills before then leading his pack into their den. It was a surprisingly long five or so minutes before I began to hear movement and the familiar screeches of keelish echo out of the mouth of the den. In low undertones, I heard, repeating, ¡°...lia, Farahlia, Farahlia, Farahlia¡­¡± A clear female¡¯s voice rang out from within the den, ¡°I hearrrrr¡­ thereeeeee¡­ is newwwwww¡­ challengerrrrrr!¡± As the last notes of the musically cadenced words began to diffuse into the outside air, a keelish basically swimming in rutting pheromones strutted out into the clearing. She, Farahlia, I assumed, oozed sexual appeal in a way I¡¯d never seen in any being, human, keelish, or otherwise¨Cincluding Shemira when she¡¯d tried her best to be alluring. Her hips never stopped swaying as she stepped forward, her tongue constantly lapped over her teeth, her tail lashed beckoning at any male she laid eye on, and her eyes smoldered in a way I¡¯d only heard drunken stories tell. And she was obviously unintelligent. As a Swarm Alpha, she should have been the most clever, the strongest, the best of their people. And while she was a beautiful keelish, she was only that. A keelish. Not quite four feet tall, hunched and small compared to the more upright bodies of the khatif. Though she looked at me with every inch of her an attempted seduction, Farahlia looked like a child, undeveloped and awkward. Her eyes running appreciatively up and down my body, Farahlia spoke directly to me. ¡°You¡¯re Alpha? I win, we have fun. I do that before.¡± Farahlia looked suggestively at a couple males in the crowd of keelish that surged out of the den¡¯s mouth as she continued speaking. The males she looked at were¡­ not all there, said generously. More accurately, they were slavering beasts, looking lustfully at any female within reach, their bodies positively quivering in erotic anticipation. It was off-putting and foreign, something I¡¯d never seen, though it spoke of some tampering. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Keelish were pests to the outside world, and a messy, violent hierarchy was all that allowed an Alpha to rule over their pack or swarm. Once that hierarchy was established, though, keelish were much like the Veushten I had grown up with, in a twisted way. They had assignments, they hunted for food, some were monogamous, others uncommitted, they had individual personalities and desires. All that remained of those males was only one desire: lust. I tuned out Farahlia¡¯s posturing as I continued to evaluate this swarm, the dozens turning to hundreds as steadily, more and more keelish den flowed out of the den, until there was a solid ring of them surrounding the remains of my swarm. At least three hundred individuals pressed in, close to us, with the smell of pheromones quickly overpowering and drowning out the smell of rotting flesh from the carcasses that surrounded the den¡¯s mouth. And I was angry looking at them. With a fiery fury, my khatif pride swelled within me and I strode forward, just out of reach of Farahlia. ¡°I¡¯m going to take control of your swarm. You are a disgrace of a keelish, and will follow me to learn who we are and what you may yet become. I will prove my superiority in battle. Any questions?¡± Farahlia arched her back to look me in the eye, her head tilted flirtatiously. ¡°One. You like it rough?¡± I couldn¡¯t restrain the angry growls from bubbling out of my throat as I stalked back, gave a look to Took, Sybil, and Shemira, and took a ready stance. In the corner of my eye there was a flashing [System] notification, but I ignored it, too preoccupied with showing this upstart exactly what her place was: below me. I was going to beat her down, to conquer her, to OWN her, and there was nothing that she could do about it. The knowing smirk on her face would soon be contorted into one of submission and fear, failure and despair. I relished the surging emotion from my khatif side, and was about to lunge forward to overthrow this self proclaimed Alpha, when suddenly my mind cleared and I took a second¡¯s thought to look at my [System] messages. [Instinct controlling magic detected. Influence greater than initial estimates. Mutualistic relationship with khatif-based genetic tendencies detected. Surge in influence detected. [System] taking action. Full control unable to be achieved. Partial recollection granted. User is granted greater self-control.] No longer was I consumed with this desire to control Farahlia individually, but a desire to simply acquire control over this swarm, and I realized what had happened. Now, the anger I felt was entirely my own, incensed at the gall of this weakling, that she would dare try to influence my mind. Since I¡¯d become aware of it, I could tell how weak her magic was compared to Sybil¡¯s or Shemira¡¯s and I scoffed at even her momentary influence over me. With a snarl, I lunged forward, and I saw in Farahlia¡¯s eyes a moment of fear: she recognized that whatever magic she¡¯d tried to use to try to control me was failing her. With a cry, she tried to fight back, but it wasn¡¯t worth much. I lunged forward with a strike, which she ducked, but went down immediately after I swiped my tail into her midsection. I¡¯d only intended to sweep her legs out from under her, but my tail, as thick as her entire torso, instead launched her into the air before she smashed painfully into the ground and gasped. With wheezing breaths, she attempted to catch her breath before speaking up, her eyelids heavy and suggestive. ¡°You so strong, can I follow you forever? I ¡®serve¡¯ you however you like.¡± Before I could react to that, though, Shemira stepped forward and, with a swelling of her own magic, forced the other female to bow her head. ¡°SILENCE! Bow to your Alpha!¡± As the wave of Shemira¡¯s magic washed over the assembled hundreds of foreign keelish, they bowed in subconscious unison and I noted a new flashing [System] notification. [Skill Evolution progress: True Dominance; 1/5] Chapter 227 When you dream, dream of the heavens After all, the heavens are your future. When you cry, lament your weakness After all, your weakness is the source of your pain. When you cheer, cheer for the Gran Verat After all, he is the source of your victories. When you mourn, mourn for the others After all, they do not know the truth. -From the Ideals of Ardaliana Ignoring the sprawled form of Farahlia before me as much as the notification, the assembled keelish before me needed to be addressed. I began to channel my [True Dominance] as well as pulsing magic from my sonilphon to my throat, as I spoke to the kneeling masses. Before me stood the gathered swarm, having gone silent at the defeat of their leader and Shemira¡¯s command. ¡°Your swarm¡¯s Alpha has submitted to me! Follow me as your true Alpha!¡± Around me, the previously restless members of the opposite swarm went as still as they had been silent. Again I pulsed and spoke while channeling my magic and [Skills], and I could, somehow, innately feel the submission of those closest to me. Feeling that, I now deigned to notice the submissively prostrate Farahlia before me and spoke, loud enough for every keelish in the clearing to hear me. ¡°Do you submit to me, Ashlani?¡± ¡°I give myself¨C¡± I cut off the attempted seduction by reaching down with one arm and bodily lifting her by digging my claws into the flesh of her shoulder. With her tail dragging on the ground and her attempts at stifling her whimpers, I held her aloft. Once she had been raised to eye level for me, I asked, again. ¡°Do you submit to me, Ashlani?¡± Through uncontrollable whimpers of pain, Farahlia cried out, ¡°Yes, yes, let me go.¡± I dropped her unceremoniously to the ground, where she again yelped out in pain and scooted herself away from me as I continued speaking. ¡°Now, follow me, keelish of what was Farahlia¡¯s swarm. You are now mine, and I will show you how to grow to greater heights, such as you have never seen before.¡± While I spoke, I gestured to Vefir, who immediately understood my command. He stepped forward and the tiny injuries patterning Farahlia¡¯s body and the openly weeping wounds on her shoulder quickly closed. ¡°We are greater than you, and we can raise you to our level! We can show you what a keelish truly is, and we can lead to you becoming Keel!¡± A small part of me was disappointed that I didn¡¯t feel the reverence of Speaking the Words of Power, but I couldn¡¯t expect to have that happen every time I spoke. As I addressed the awestruck swarm, I became aware of those of my inner circle falling into position behind me. Took and Brutus, with their especially imposing frames, Joral (flanked by the increasingly large Wolfstags), Foire, Sybil and the rest of my swarm stood tall, and I really took in the difference between us and them. Even including individuals like Joral, who was squatter and less upright than the rest of us, every single khatif we had was at least twice as tall and broad as the individuals that made up the foreign swarm. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. I felt the influence of [True Dominance] spreading across the swarm in their entirety, and the continued flashing of the [System] message about my [Skill¡¯s] progress remained in the corner of my eye. Without looking at it for more detail, I gestured to Sybil to approach. Without hesitation, she¡¯d stepped from her usual flanking position to standing directly beside me. As she looked disapprovingly down her nose at the assembled keelish, I commanded, ¡°Take care of integrating the new swarm. Let me know if you have any questions, Beta.¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha.¡± Vefir walked through the crowding keelish, continuing his ministrations over the smallest wounds and worries of my new subordinates as I turned to Took and Shemira. ¡°You two, support Sybil however she needs it.¡± Shemira flared her frills and exaggeratedly twirled her hips in a mocking repetition of Farahlia. I began turning away when Shemira spoke, genuine concern coloring her voice. ¡°Is her magic still affecting you? You obviously lost a part of your self-control before that began.¡± She looked down at Farahlia with distrust in her eyes while Took mirrored the look and approached the ¡°Alpha¡± who continued trying to make herself look small and unassuming. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure she never does again.¡± The massive female towered over our newest addition, and her intent was obvious. Witnessing and feeling Took¡¯s malevolent intent, Farahlia more genuinely cowered and refused to make eye contact. I chuckled softly and flicked my tail placatingly against her flank, the crack of my scales smacking into hers ringing through the clearing and silencing the quiet conversations that had begun. ¡°No, I shrugged that off before it began. Thanks for your concern, but I want to get moving as soon as possible, so get moving.¡± Took and Shemira nodded curtly and went off to work in their differing positions. Took, with her large stature and proven strength, quickly drew dozens of the hunters, who looked at her as she with few words established hunting packs under the khatif who had stood by my side through so much. Each of the survivors was quickly becoming a leader, and I approved. The superior khatif would lead keelish to progression, to becoming more. As a smile crossed my face, I hunched down beside the shivering Farahlia. ¡°Are you the only sane one in your swarm? Many of the rest seem¡­ addled by you.¡± She shrugged, ¡°Males think if you let them rut you, then they¡¯re in charge. I let them think that. Many think that they¡¯re in charge because I had eggs. I am still true Alpha. Thank you for heal. You¡¯re nice.¡± Her magic began bubbling out of her, and I stiffened slightly under its influence. I didn¡¯t need any [System] notification to purge the insidious magic from my mind, though, and I brought my bared claws close to her eyes. She was confused as she huddled back, cowering again against the ground as her magic faded away. ¡°Try that again, and I won¡¯t call a healer for you after I¡¯m done. Understood?¡± She shivered, possibly in delight, though mostly in complete terror, and nodded in response. ¡°I not think. It habit. I¡¯m sorry. Show mercy. I submit. One like you special. I try not to, so please no hurt. No kill.¡± ¡°What do you mean, ¡®one like me¡¯?¡± Farahlia¡¯s smile crooked her snout. ¡°Male so strong that make me obey. I will obey, always. I will follow, always.¡± I nodded. ¡°Fair enough. Prove it from here on, and work with Sybil to get the swarm ready to move out. Before nightfall.¡± She bowed deeply, arching her back and hips before stalking off, leaving me to finally look at my [Status]. [Skill: True Dominance; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated and begun to perfect the ability to force others to obey and submit to the Skill¡¯s holder. Those who have gained this Skill are beginning to understand the path of the tyrant, and this Skill assists them in that path. This Skill grants an improved aura that incites loyalty, obedience, and fear in others. This aura begins to force even those with the strongest will to submit their will to the holder, and allows the holder to more easily dominate those who stand before them, even without violence. This Skill can evolve. Skill evolution requirements: assert and establish dominance over five leaders of groups of at least 100 individuals. Progress: 1/5] With luck, it wouldn¡¯t take much longer before this [Skill] was the first of many to evolve. After all, this journey that laid ahead of us would be the perfect opportunity for me to focus on maximizing my [Skill¡¯s] growth. Chapter 228 I wanted to simply dive into my [Skills] and decide what to prioritize for my next focus to evolve, but I couldn¡¯t shove off the entirety of integrating our new members of the swarm to my inner circle, as much as I would have liked to. I rolled my shoulders back and, flaring [Imperial Bearing] and [True Dominance], I walked around and presented myself to my newest subordinates. Whenever I passed, the puny keelish stared up at me listening to their mundane conversations and went slack-jawed whenever their eyes met mine. With a laugh and confidence shown to my original khatif, I let the keelish know, ¡°You are now new members of my swarm.¡± The keelish bowed at my reassurances, and I could see some eyes glow with excitement. Beyond the mere bolstering of our numbers, it was reassuring to once again have the swarm be a swarm. I mourned and lamented the losses of hundreds of keelish and looked forward to what my new solid core at the center of the swarm could do. These khatif were those that had gone through the marshes, mountains, and rivers to escape with me. Silf, the quiet scout, was posturing before interested females. Foire, the reticent father, gave instructions on hiding from detection. Brutus, the earnest and dim, was already organizing a pack to follow instructions from the experienced hunters from our newest additions. I had judged my khatif by what they had been before, but now, I could more clearly see their potential through [Evolutionary Exemplar]. I needed to work with my 24 elites, and the hundreds of newcomers. Fortunately, according to Mpitar, we had ten days¡¯ journey ahead of us, plenty of time. As I walked, I learned that there was a newly hatched clutch of spawnlings, less than a week old. When I heard as much, I had a brief flash of a memory thinking of the small spawnlings of my brood from when we¡¯d hunted our first toothy bullfrogs just half a year ago. The rainy season of the rain forest was beginning, but from what little I understood of the world, I knew that weather would vary widely in different places. I resolved myself to ask Mpitar as much when we reunited because I wasn¡¯t yet sure how different weather would impact our ability to travel moving forward. We had a long journey still ahead of us, and I wasn¡¯t sure how exactly that would need to change as the weather became less temperate. From some of the oldest members of the Viertaali tribe, I¡¯d heard about ¡°winter¡± in far-off places, and I thought I remembered hearing that winter came after the wet seasons. I¡¯d need to ask whoever would answer, though a part of me suspected that Sybil had already, somehow, learned what seasons we would encounter moving forward. I shook myself, trying to focus my still-addled mind on the task at hand. My mind wandered much more easily after the effects of Farahlia¡¯s magic, even though I was able to shake off the most potent effects on me. I called out to Trai and Foire, then was quickly able to convince one of the new swarm to take us three down to the spawnlings¡¯ den. As we stepped into the enclosed space of the den, the stale, putrid air set my eyes to watering. It reeked of rutting in a way that almost made me gag¨Cthese keelish weren¡¯t attempting to produce offspring, but simply indulging in each other at every opportunity that presented itself. It was off-putting, the foreignness of this new swarm. I¡¯d been accustomed to the order, the civilization of Redael¡¯s swarm, and this was like I was seeing what I¡¯d thought a keelish was before I¡¯d died¨Ca group of animals. I didn¡¯t like the feeling, and as we crawled forward into the den, I felt myself begin to look down on Farahlia and her rule even more. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Interrupting me from my distaste, our guide pointed us to a little hole near the bottom of the den. Inside it, the hatchlings huddled together in the darkest, most secluded offshoot of their little tunnel. They seemed to be having some sort of a conference among themselves in hushed whispers. ¡°... don¡¯t understand¡­¡± ¡°... the Alpha ¡­¡± ¡°... is a male¡­¡± Hushed squeaks of barely contained terror arose among the hatchlings at that. Then, suddenly, there was a squeaking call and the collective group of spawnlings whirled around to face me and my children as we entered. ¡°Hatchlings. I¡¯m the new Alpha of this swarm, and some things are going to change now.¡± At my words, one of the spawnlings, larger than the rest, so presumably their Alpha, stepped forward. ¡°What want? You let any us live?¡± He was stocky, well built, and obviously respected by his subordinates, but I was confused by his words. ¡°... Why would I kill you?¡± ¡°Because others¡¯ babies get in way. Get in way of be Alpha. Get in way of be strongest. Get in way of rutting Mother.¡± His words dripped with acidic certainty and a deliberately provocative tone, especially on the word Mother. ¡°You can become my second in command if you¡¯re capable of actually surpassing this child here.¡± I nodded at Trai, and she strode forward proudly, posturing and showing herself off. Though she was still only a ways past toddler, so far as I could tell, Trai was larger than all of these hatchlings, and not by a little bit. As the hatchlings looked between Trai and myself, I continued, ¡°Additionally, you misunderstand: this little one here will become your new Alpha. She is strong and smart, so make sure you work well together, because, frankly, seeing this swarm, I doubt you all are currently at a satisfactory level for me. So, she¡¯ll work on getting you all up to the level of our original swarm.¡± Finally, I couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Have there been slaughters of spawnlings here?¡± The male looked at me, at least as confused as I was. ¡°Yes? When new male ¡®conquers¡¯ Mother, he think he¡¯s new ¡®real¡¯ Alpha, there always killing of the surviving hatchlings that not his own. Adults stupid, think with dicks.¡± I was half infuriated, half holding back laughter at the matter of fact tone. After just a moment¡¯s thought, I turned to my beloved little niece. ¡°I trust you all to work together. You¡¯re in charge now, so make sure you lead well. If you don¡¯t, I won¡¯t put you in charge again.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be the best leader! You¡¯ll see!¡± Trai chirped up. ¡°I want to see them nearing your level in a month. Clear?¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha! I will make them strong!¡± Before I could say anything else, Trai commanded, ¡°Now, follow me! We need to go into the light! Wait. No, Alpha! Sing to them! Give them the magic song, then we¡¯ll go up to the light!¡± I grinned, pride sparking in my heart at her request. ¡°Good choice.¡± The spawnlings looked around, confused at the turn of events, but I simply began to hum and then sing, the sounds of [Nurturing Enunciation] echoing around the den. Before long, I felt my sonilphon beginning to empty, the drain of using my [Skill] on so many hatchlings at the same time much greater than usual. While the little ones tried to gather themselves, Trai didn¡¯t wait. She grabbed the little Alpha by the hand and began to drag him up the slope and towards the light of the surface. ¡°There¡¯s so much I need to teach you! Come on!¡± She shouted as Foire glowered at the hatchlings. I laughed, my breathing difficult while still cramped in the den, and then began the long, painful ascent from the den. Chapter 229 As the sounds of the ¡°tender¡± care the hatchlings were receiving at the hands of Trai, I finally let myself think about what new [Skills] I would focus myself on progressing in next. [Crippling Cry] was the main one that I could actively focus on experimenting with. I¡¯d used it before on a swarm of insects, but I¡¯d quickly learned that didn¡¯t work. The [System¡¯s] answer had been direct and frustratingly vague: [In order for the Skill to progress towards evolution, the creatures slain must have reached a certain evolutionary level and pose a certain level of threat to the Skill holder.] When I¡¯d asked for any additional information, I¡¯d received no response. Looking through the rest of my [Skills], there weren¡¯t any others that I could actively work towards, yet. With a sigh and continued crawling, I exited the den and went back to the swarm to resume working to smooth relations between the two swarms that were now melding. I needn¡¯t have bothered, since the keelish, though influenced by Farahlia¡¯s magic, instinctively submitted to the khatif. As the suns set and the shadows lengthened, the swarm was ready. Sybil let me know once we had a total number of keelish in the swarm (436), and I only needed to make a certain that there were no deserters. ¡°Follow our steps! Do not hunt until you are commanded! If you kill anything before I say you can, you are no longer a member of my swarm.¡± Silence settled over the swarm as my words faded, but before the fear could fully settle over the new additions, Joral cheered, ¡°Victory by fang and blood! We follow!¡± Others echoed his cheer as we made our way back to the waiting cadre of Moonchildren. Mpitar put on a stoic face as we made our appearance, but couldn¡¯t hide his nervousness when the number of keelish appearing from the surrounding trees continued to increase past one hundred. When our numbers surpassed three hundred, he finally showed effort to reign in his visible discomfort, and when all nearly five hundred of us were there in front of him, Mpitar was able to control his expression. Behind him, the rest of his cadre kept shifting their weight and only barely keeping from launching themselves into battle. My subordinates flanking me, I casually approached Mpitar and asked, ¡°Is there somewhere specific you would like us to begin our hunt?¡± Only faintly I noted the grinding of his teeth before the terse answer, ¡°We¡¯re moving in that direction. Send the hunters out only after we begin today¡¯s travel tonight.¡± I smiled politely, my fangs glistening in the fading light, ¡°Sounds good.¡± before turning to Took and Brutus. ¡°Organize two full hunting packs each, led by a different khatif. Make sure there are enough of the keelish to be successful in the hunts. Hunt as many as you can in that direction. The more impressive the prey, the better.¡± Took flared her frills while Brutus grinned widely and chuffed out a laugh before grabbing Silf and Joral. At Brutus¡¯s obvious excitement, Took trumpeted out a call to arms before cracking a smirk as she began to organize her hunting packs. I could hear Silf and Joral barking commands at the newcomers and insulting their every mistake and slow reaction, and I was sure that it was going to be alright as we had this upcoming week for Sybil to use her magic to counteract and adjust the effects of Farahlia¡¯s magic. ¡­ The journey to the boundary of the Wilds, a place the Moonchildren called the Sheer Pass, was longer than the originally planned ten days in total. With the addition of the hatchlings who, despite their willingness, needed accommodation to allow for their size and health, the trip ended up taking twelve days. In those days, I had yet to find a creature that could serve as a subject for [Crippling Cry]¡¯s evolution. Took, however, was progressing quickly with many of the newest members of the swarm, and made at least one hunting trip a day. She and Brutus were nearly worshipped by the new swarm members, and they¡¯d taken to calling the new keelish ¡°gummies¡± or ¡°fangs¡±. The gummies fought to prove themselves worthy of becoming fangs, while the fangs fought to continue to show their competence. Sybil and Shemira were working constantly to attempt to purge the taint of Farahlia¡¯s magic from the other keelish¡¯s minds, and their greater strength paired with their teamwork was quickly bringing the general level of intelligence of the keelish to near comprehensibility. In fact, the two females were so overworked that Farahlia was finally being assigned work, and was quickly proving herself to be a diligent, intelligent worker. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Trai was thriving working the spawnlings hard, and the initially reticent and distrusting spawnlings were quickly settled into a new system. Initially, they all resisted and resented any commands or assignments, but despite Trai¡¯s gangly body and quick laughter, she demanded respect and obedience from her subordinates. She thrived, and each day would take a short time to report her pack¡¯s growth to me. Under her patient ministrations, the spawnlings actually were making great progress, and I could tell that it wouldn¡¯t be long before [Nurturing Enunciation] would see some progress. As they listened to my song day by day, the hatchlings all seemed quite taken with the idea of becoming magically inclined themselves. Etra, contrary to her usual position as Sybil¡¯s assistant, had begun developing a relationship with a couple of the Moonchildren, she had almost become trilingual at this point, learning enough of the common tongue to communicate, and various basic phrases in the Moonchildren¡¯s tongue, Fitendra. She laughed with them, and let me know that the main reason the Mpitar was so hostile to us was that one of his old friends was killed in our fight for fahvalo status. Apparently, a couple of the other Moonchildren were upset with him about this, since he was openly disregarding the ancient ways, but a majority of this cadre was more progressively minded than most, so these traditionally minded individuals kept quiet about their insubordinate thoughts. At the knowledge of this, I approached Mpitar just a day out of the Sheer Pass. ¡°Do you still want that fight?¡± He didn¡¯t even look at me as he responded. ¡°I never did. There is nothing to gain: If I win, everything remains the same, except you may lose influence, and you seem to be the best option for your¡­ people¡¯s¡± the word seemed to cost him something, ¡°leader. If I lose, I lose face and influence. There is no benefit for me.¡± ¡°A surprisingly intelligent and premeditated answer.¡± I trailed off for a couple of steps, but just as he began to lengthen his stride and attempt to gain some space on me, I called out, ¡°Do you acknowledge me as fahvalo?¡± Mpitar stopped in his tracks, literally bristling but still not looking at me. ¡°You do not want the answer to that question.¡± I smiled. ¡°I think I do. Do you consider the word of Bloodpriestess Ana to be correct? Should I be acknowledged to be fahvalo to you, the Moonchildren?¡± As he turned, slowly, I wondered if maybe I¡¯d pushed him too far. There was a glint of the desire for violence in the Mpitar¡¯s too-large eyes as he spoke, ¡°Bloodpriestess Ana considers you to be fahvalo, embodying the concept of desperation. Right now, you seem to be embodying the concept of pride, one you need to abandon in desperation. Do you still want the answer to your question?¡± My smirk extended. ¡°I am desperate for validation, desperate to know that others in the Moonchildren agree with the one who has vouched for me. Am I wrong to embody another aspect of the same concept?¡± His reply was an angry hissed whisper. ¡°I acknowledge you as fahvalo.¡± A barking, coughing call sounded, and his kamory gathered around him before all them ascended into the trees and stayed arboreal for the next day. Sybil¡¯s voice came from behind me, ¡°I fail to see why that was necessary.¡± ¡°Strictly speaking¡­ it wasn¡¯t. I just couldn¡¯t stand his attitude.¡± A slow nod. ¡°Perhaps a wise choice. Perhaps not. Only time will tell.¡± I grudgingly nodded. ¡°One more day, they say. I don¡¯t think this will matter longer than that.¡± ¡°Perhaps.¡± A day later, the forests thinned out around us, and in the distance I could see two parallel mountain ranges. Above me came Mpitar¡¯s voice. ¡°We have escorted you to the edge of our lands. If we find you here without welcome again, there will almost certainly be consequences.¡± And without another word, the faint sound of the cadre¡¯s retreat was all that we heard or saw of the presence of the Moonchildren. Chapter 230 This new place, the Sheer Pass, was foreign but strangely nostalgic to the keelish of the swarm, myself included. It was strange, as these mountains were different from those I had fallen in love with when I¡¯d seen them for the first time just a month ago. These mountains, somehow, felt like home, like we belonged. My home was, in both lives, the jungles dominated by burlraizes, a wet, mostly flat land with dense foliage and denser fauna, a land filled with the calls of birds, screeches of monkeys, croaking of frogs, and rushing of water. The Sheer Pass was none of that. The Sheer Pass was a barren stretch of land between two mountain ranges, dry and warm, with only low, sparse scrub populating that empty space. No frog calls filled the air, no trees patterned the horizon, and the air smelled like dirt and wind, somehow. In contrast, the mountains were different from those I¡¯d seen before. Those had been covered by the greenery that surrounded them, and the moisture that surrounded them also ran freely down their slopes in creeks and waterfalls. Dense cloud cover hovered and covered the peaks of those mountains, yet these ones were rocky, arid, and unwelcoming. Red stone and brown scrub populated the craggy face of the mountain, where the occasional creature could be seen. The Sheer Pass did not invite, welcome, or desire hospitality. And that prickly, unhappy nature that enveloped the Sheer Pass smelled like home in a way that I¡¯d never felt from any home before. I longed to rush up those slopes, to screech challenges from the peaks and let them echo in the valley that we were going to pass through. These mountains, more than the dens we had left behind, were home to every one of us. The spawnlings and Trai were the most immediately and vocally happy to be here, while the Wave Wolfstags complained. Arwa and her children, now grown nearly to Arwa¡¯s five and a half foot stature, didn¡¯t mind, trailing their antlers through the air with sparks flashing to life with every movement. Somehow, Trai and her pack took the crackling of lightning to be permission to run free. Somehow, Trai¡¯s pack comprised of just over fifty individual hatchlings, and the youngest among them were survivors of a vicious culling that had taken place just days before our arrival. With so many considering her their Alpha, Trai had obviously evolved to a Brood Alpha of sorts, and she¡¯d grown commensurately, towering over the keelish as a khatif. With excited screeches and a renewed lease on life, under Trai¡¯s flighty, excitable nature, these youngest members of my swarm couldn¡¯t restrain themselves from running out and up the rocky slopes that irresistibly called them. I didn¡¯t have the heart to deny them the pleasure, and simply whistled and signed for Foire and Silf to keep an eye on them. Of course, I hadn¡¯t needed to command Foire to do anything, as he gave his daughter a respectable berth of about 100 feet before following. Interrupting my laughing observation of Foire, Sybil stepped next to me. ¡°This¡­ is strangely familiar to me. Do you know why?¡± Sybil¡¯s voice was hesitant, but somewhat trusting. My initial reaction was to ask why she would think I would know that, but immediately thereafter I realized that most of the time, I did have answers to questions that I, by all rights, shouldn¡¯t have known the answers to. I put the question to the [System], why would that be? [The Keel Empire of old formed around their original home in the Shandise Mountains. The environment and climate of the Shandise is very similar to that of this location.] Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. So there was some sort of a predisposition towards it. Fair enough. ¡°The little guide that I have is saying that our ancestors lived in mountains like this. Sorry Syb, don¡¯t know anything else.¡± ¡°... I would prefer that you call me by my name.¡± ¡°Ahh, but wouldn¡¯t a nickname be nice?¡± I couldn¡¯t hide the teasing smile. ¡°Ashlani, call me by my name, title, or to your bed. Any other calls are unnecessary.¡± Sybil¡¯s smirk answered me in turn. ¡°You keep making these dirty jokes. You getting a bit pent up?¡± ¡°Maybe a little. But don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t see your reaction to Farahlia.¡± Sybil¡¯s smile dampened somewhat. ¡°I don¡¯t mind if you decide to take another to sire your brood. In the interest of keeping yourself sane, I would suggest any other female than her. Took or Shemira would be great options, I¡¯m sure your hatchlings would be formidable. Perhaps Ytte as well.¡± I stepped in front of Sybil, impetuous and somehow overbearingly prideful. I forced eye contact as I spoke, ¡°Listen. You, Sybil, are my mate. I see no reason to extend my reach, especially seeing as we will not be able to incubate any eggs that result from rutting. Additionally, if I were to begin a harem, that would introduce any number of new issues in the swarm, such as to give Farahlia a greater excuse to keep trying her luck with me, maybe get some other ambitious newcomer to begin trying that avenue of attack¡­ No, it isn¡¯t going to happen.¡± I found myself arguing vehemently about something I¡¯d never thought consciously about, and realized, the more I talked, the more deeply I felt about the subject. ¡°Well, then, maybe later, when we have settled? Would not a larger amount of your spawn be better for the swarm in the long run? Then you can mate with whoever you desire.¡± Sybil almost seemed desperate to push me into non-monogamy, but didn¡¯t meet my eye. ¡°Sybil¡­ I want to stay with you. You support me, you¡¯re my friend, you¡¯re my most trustworthy lieutenant, the future mother of my children, and I plan on exclusively being with you. There are a variety of logistical and logical reasons for me to do that, but at the core of it all is this: I want to be your support as much as you have been mine, and I want to be with you.¡± ¡°... Ah¡­ Okay then¡­¡± Sybil didn¡¯t seem to know what to do about what I¡¯d said, and, frankly speaking, neither was I. It had come out of nowhere for me, but it felt right, and as if I had been pondering the thought for a long while. ¡°Well. I guess let¡¯s get moving forward. Ok?¡± Sybil nodded, then began walking off, for once not immediately leaping into some form of delegation or action, but instead taking steps and actually looking back at me. Genuinely, not calculating or teasing or ¡°teasing¡± as she did, but just looking at me. I didn¡¯t know how I felt about that, so I issued the command to begin moving out, seeking to spend some of my nervous energy by begin moving in earnest. An hour of walking later, I was feeling no better. I sighed, and decided to try something new. ¡°Joral, lend me the hounds for a hunt. I¡¯d like to see what¡¯s available for us to get in this new environment.¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha.¡± His use of the title was as worshipful as always, his fanaticism growing the more ¡°miracles¡± I produced. But was his respect towards me undeserved? No. I flared my frills and stood tall as, with a whistle, I rounded up the wolfstags and began a searching, ranging hunt for new, exotic prey. Chapter 231 It had been a long time since I¡¯d been able to lead a hunt. Since we had begun our journey in earnest, I had been forced to occupy myself with the less interesting parts of life, such as teaching the common tongue to the swarm, leading the direction we were meant to go, coordinating the ever more segregated sections of the swarm, and whatever else it was that occupied my daily life. The closest thing to a hunt I¡¯d been on was the killing of the crocodiles, and while they posed something of a threat, it wasn¡¯t a hunt. There was no chase, no glory in it. I was happy to be simply leading the wolfstags on a hunt. Different from us keelish, though, the wolfstags weren¡¯t built to live in the mountains. At least, these Wave Wolfstags, since Arwa and her pups had decided to stay near Sybil for some reason. The Wave Wolfstags¡¯ large paws and shorter stature forced the pack to clamber awkwardly over tall rocks, step gingerly through thorny thickets, and struggle to stay together in dry washes. At least in the thickets, it wasn¡¯t nearly as common for their horns, which came forward as pairs of several inch-long daggers, to find some tangle of vines nearly impossible to extricate themselves from. Arwa and her pups, though they were much more comfortable in the mountains than their water-based brethren, frequently found their thick clumps of antlers getting tangled in thick brush. Watching the Wave Wolfstags struggle in the mountains, a part of me wondered if I could somehow incite evolution within them like I had in most of the swarm thus far. I¡¯d yet to feel [Evolutionary Guide] influence my control over them, but I couldn¡¯t be sure if that was because they were a different species or because they didn¡¯t trust me enough. Of course, it could even be that these wolfstags were simply too settled into their previous paths and now couldn¡¯t be so simply twisted to my whims, yet I still hoped that prolonged exposure to my [Skills] and magic would allow me to further impel them towards greater heights. With that in mind, I thrummed out a tune to the feeling of [Innervating Address] and [Nurturing Enunciation], and felt the pack perk up behind me. I felt uncomfortable about trying to sing them some sort of song about how they should grow more powerful, so instead I simply hummed reassuringly as I outstripped their pace and led us further ahead. The more passive [Skills] of [Innate Leadership] and [Imperial Bearing] involuntarily flared within me, and I felt myself better able to understand what the wolfstags were trying to do and communicate, and our hunt hastened to more smoothly progress. Before long, my improved vision, under the influence of [Raptor¡¯s Eyes], could pick out the shapes of a sort of mountain goat in the nearly sheer cliffs above us. I grinned, and turned to my furry companions. ¡°Can you shoot your water?¡± ¡­ It was the work of several minutes to fully communicate what I wanted the wolfstags to do, but eventually, they got what I wanted them to do, agreed to do it, and began the task of waiting for me to get into the position necessary for the plan to work. But, before too long, we all were ready, with the wolfstags spread out below and to the sides, in a wide, loose circle surrounding a flock of the goats of about twenty. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. I whistled my signal, and immediately all eight of the wolfstags prepared their magic, balls and spears of water forming between the jutting tips of their horns, just between their eyes. I waited patiently, noting the more aware goats that were watching and waiting to react to the wolfstags¡¯ suspicious behavior, but at the point that they could see anything to react to, it was already too late. In a powerful display of coordination, all eleven of the beams of water surged forward at once, striking at the goats on the periphery of the flock. While the strikes weren¡¯t enough to outright slay any of our prey, they were enough to wound these outliers and send the entire group into flight. At the edges of the panicking herd, the wolfstags made their presences known, loudly growling, howling, and rushing forward, forcing the panicking prey to greater speed and flight, rushing up and away from the rest of their visible predators, up the nearly sheer cliff¡­ up towards my concealed location. When the first goat came bleating over the edge onto the slightly flatter ambush point, I lunged forward with one hand and buried my claws in its throat. It had been a long time since I¡¯d used exclusively my hands and mouth in slaughtering my prey, and I didn¡¯t sink into the impassivity of [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] for this. Instead, I gloried in the shedding of blood as I effortlessly ripped the throat out of the massive goat. I felt Nievtala¡¯s approval as the lifeblood of this prey wetted my face and arms. Now that I was up and close to it, I realized the creatures were much larger than I¡¯d expected. This one stood about three feet tall at the shoulder, and was far from the largest of the flock while still weighing at least 200 pounds. I didn¡¯t, no, I couldn¡¯t think about it any longer, instead driving my claws in deeper, hitting the spine as my fingers were completely submerged in the heavily bleeding flesh of the goat¡¯s neck. Even with the thick bone serving to slow my slaughter, I didn¡¯t activate [Quaking Claw], instead rending my thick, sharp claws through bone, tendon, and tissue with sheer force. Without further thought, I bodily hurled the goat into the next one, just behind it, throwing both down, off of the craggy cliff, and a part of me heard the meaty splat of two bodies on the ground about 150 feet below as I rushed to the next nearest prey. With a snick of my teeth, a five inch section of its throat went missing, and the goat fell to the ground, twitching, as I swallowed the bloody, tender flesh of my prey and continued forward to the next while blood began to run into my eyes and turn my vision crimson. My prey continued bleating in panic and fear as I continued the hunt. Behind me I could hear escaping prey, but I didn¡¯t care. Instead, I viciously whipped my tail at one goat just out of the reach of my hands behind me, lashing it hard enough to send it stumbling into another one of its comrades. I lunged forward, my arms, tail and jaws lashing out with deadly precision. It had been a long time since I¡¯d engaged in a true hunt¨Call the creatures I had slain of late were strong enough to put up a fight, but these goats were only prey. The horns on their heads were nothing more than ornaments to me, and they instinctively fled only at my scent. That I was coated in a fresh patina of their companions¡¯ blood and surrounded by their corpses¡¯ sent the prey into a full panic. The carnage of this clearing, the bodies, flesh, and blood of my prey painting my scales and the ground around me sent a nearly orgasmic shudder through me as Nievtala again communicated her approval of my actions. With every one of my strikes, another of my prey lay crippled or dead, and as the last of the fleeing herd made their escape, I couldn¡¯t withhold my primal screech of victory. Around me lay strewn the corpses of five goats, and at least three more laid stunned, dead or dying on the unforgiving stone below the cliff. Blood splatters flicked around the light stone, blood pooled under my feet, fresh prey was strewn about me, and I couldn¡¯t help but be consumed with the thought: Yes. This is how it should be. Chapter 232 I rolled my neck, satisfaction then neutrality slowly replacing the unnatural pleasure that Nievtala¡¯s own passion had forced on me. In the end, the wolfstags and I indulged in four successful hunts, with each one being more streamlined and effective than the last, eventually adjusting it to have two more wolfstags hiding alongside me to lame and hobble as many of the goats as possible, instead of just me throwing them down the face of the mountains. There were no issues with any of the hunts themselves, but two of my accompanying beasts had managed to slightly injure their ankles trying to clamber up the steep slopes, so we ended up going back to the swarm slightly earlier than I¡¯d wanted to, carting the bodies as best as we could as we went. Though the hunt had been abundantly successful, I¡¯d failed to find the peace of mind I¡¯d sought. Instead, I¡¯d found Nievtala, and though I¡¯d always welcomed her presence before, now it felt like a violation. She¡¯d made me glory in the bloodshed in a way that I might have already, but she¡¯d taken from me the opportunity to choose. Do not fret, child. You are my voice, and I glory with you. ¡°That¡¯s not the point!¡± I couldn¡¯t hold back my rage. ¡°I trust you, and you¡¯ve saved my people a dozen times over already and for that I am wholly grateful. But I am a person, I can be your voice, but I am also Ashlani! I deserve to feel my own emotions, if they be glory, pleasure, rage, grief, or emptiness! I can¡¯t be myself and still be your plaything.¡± You are a child. You know nothing and decide to rage at the approval of a divine being. Cease your petulance and embrace your role. ¡°No!¡± I struggled to speak as the words shook my being and rattled my soul. For the first time in quite a while, Nievtala¡¯s presence hurt me. Her rage and disapproval fought to flatten me against the ground, but I held strong. ¡°You. Do. Not. Own. Me.¡± I paused, gasping as the pressure of her attention lessened on me. ¡°You don¡¯t want a broken mouthpiece. I can be your greatest disciple, or a broken puppet. Make your choice.¡± Slowly, her presence faded, leaving behind the faintest sense of regret or loneliness. I finally looked at the wolfstags surrounding me, their whimpers becoming audible to me as my mind returned to a bare semblance of normality. With a groan of effort, I stood tall and looked up at the heavens. ¡°Thank you. For your help and guidance.¡± She didn¡¯t say anything more and I returned to bringing the prey back to the swarm. With a groan, I loaded myself up with several of the corpses and finally took in what they looked like. They had long, straight white fur, black horns, and thick shoulders and hindquarters. The goats as a whole were surprisingly large, considering how little vegetation was visible from below, but I¡¯d seen vast swathes of greenery even higher up the mountains that we¡¯d traversed, hidden behind the stony outcroppings that populated the entire range. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder why the goats would come down from their much safer grazing grounds to this relatively desolate and less protected location, but I figured I¡¯d count myself grateful and move on with the meat to feed my swarm. When I returned, I saw that the rest of the swarm had been busy, slowly moving onward while collecting the kills from the various hunting parties. Took was out with a three to one population of gummies to fangs, and the team seemed to be doing well¨Cthey¡¯d brought back just about as many goats as my team had. Trai and the new spawnlings were off doing some creative endeavor headed by the possibly wise leadership of the enthusiastic khatif child. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Without anything to do about it, I shrugged and continued dragging the exorbitant amount of meat back to the swarm when I realized, quite belatedly, I had found some level of separation from the stresses of thinking about Sybil and my relationship. After a goddess showed her willingness to wash away my own feelings and thoughts, it didn¡¯t seem quite so stressful. I dropped my food off in the middle of the swarm and ate my fill after cutting the hide from the meat. With a grin, I tossed the hides to the side, hopeful about sleeping on bedding once more before throwing myself into directing the swarm, using [True Dominance] to subdue keelish that had continuously been strong-willed and resistant to Sybil and Shemira¡¯s ¡°ministrations¡±, organizing food distribution, and whatever else to occupy my mind. Fortunately or not, Farahlia was one of the most stubborn and least influenced by Sybil¡¯s magic, which was concerning for everyone and off-putting for Sybil. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was because of the type of magic that Sybil used or if it was just that Farahlia was particularly stubborn, but whatever the case was, we kept on our toes. The fortunate part of it was, however, that Farahlia was absolutely under the influence of my [True Dominance]. My word was law to her, no matter when or where, she submitted to me. Which was also annoying. It did do the trick on continuing to distract me from the troubling thoughts of what exactly was happening to me, and before too long, the swarm resumed travel back to the east. ¡­ Our method for traveling changed after parting from the Moonchildren¡¯s cadre. Instead of having some range ahead, hunting, while the rest followed the instructions and directions of the Moonchildren, instead we sent the majority of the swarm out to hunt and do whatever it was that they wanted, under the condition that they brought some of their hunt back to the camp before true night fell. The camp moved forward about 20 miles a day, and Sybil and the ¡°supporting staff¡±, as I thought of them, made the core of the camp. On the second day, we skirted around a large salt lake, which we decided to call Mumhal, and I didn¡¯t participate in the hunt this time, consciously making the decision to not hunt anything that wasn¡¯t noteworthy for the last of my hunts for my [Quest]. There were smaller flightless birds with large, almost axelike beaks on the shores of the lake, and when threatened they either rushed forward with their heads chopping, or fled to the surface of the lake, where they began swimming away. In the first case, the members of the swarm who had been given our primitive poleaxes all those long weeks ago were entrusted with new, better manufactured copies of the same weapon. Then, when the birds approached, the keelish simply chopped the heads off of the axebeaks before they could get close enough to pose a threat. If they fled to the waters, then we sent in the Sibilant Guard, as I called them (much to Sybil¡¯s distaste). In the water, the axebeaks couldn¡¯t muster the leverage necessary to strike true and deep enough to damage the Wave Wolfstags, so they would harry them enough to strike a killing blow and drag the corpses back to the shore. The third day, we left the lake behind us, and the goats that had been commonly seen below the rocky bluffs that hid the vegetation were nowhere to be seen. Additionally, we¡¯d only seen the axebeaks around Mumhal, so there weren¡¯t any of those to hunt. So, after nearly a full day¡¯s travel without any good prey seen from anywhere we¡¯d looked, we finally turned our eyes to the peaks. I gathered a group of the most agile and strongest of the swarm, making sure to include Took, Foire, Silf, Joral, Ytte, and some others. We took most of the fourth day to ascend past the shelf of sheer and crumbly rock, when our group finally crossed over into the hidden land, we were amazed by what we found. Chapter 233 For your failure in exterminating the keelish menace, you are punished. The Sunkindred Bastion on the Thufir must fall. You have 12 days. Use whatever avenues are available to you, including the High Speakers still at Fort di¡¯Thnufir. You Speak with my authority, so long as you Speak to destroy the cows. -Missive from the Gran Verat to High Colonel Mualtir di¡¯Thnufir. The land above the clouds spread open before us, fertile and beautiful. There were no tall trees or any other massive flora, but there was dense foliage in bushes, tall grasses, and strange, twisted trees that grew no higher than maybe 10 feet tall. The trees had been colonized by dense clusters of vibrant red berries, and their thick trunks and dense leafage painted the horizon in various hues I¡¯d never witnessed so openly. Upon trial, the berries weren¡¯t to my taste, but the few hatchlings that had tagged along quickly picked an entire tree clean, one volunteering herself to clamber up the branches and pluck the tree clean, tossing the berries down to their original Alpha. More than the immediate appearance of sprawling, deciduous greenery, there was no shortage of life up here. Birds sang from every branch, in the distance milled a gargantuan flock of goats, and no matter where you looked, there was teeming life, the smell of green life filling my nostrils. It was like the jungles we¡¯d come from, but less densely packed with greenery limiting your sight, so everything was immediately visible. And, again, it felt like home. This area above the limited reach of clumsy predators was obviously a paradise to prey. At least, until the swarm arrived. Since this picturesque plateau lacked the treacherous footing we struggled with more than the goats did, we didn¡¯t need to plan beyond ¡°chase the goats down and kill them.¡± In a perverse way, the hunt felt like playing tag. We snuck up close enough to guarantee that we would kill at least a few, then burst from hiding just as our prey began to demonstrate nervousness at our presence. After that, our bloody game of chase began. The pack I¡¯d brought up was plenty intelligent enough to know how best to maximize the hunt¨Call of us rushed as quickly as we could through the herd, hobbling and crippling with sharp blows to the legs, eviscerating bowels, and dealing quick death blows to whatever came within reach. Behind us, the panicked and agonized bleating of our prey didn¡¯t slow us or cause pity, and instead, we used it to push ourselves even further, faster, more vicious and deadly. Through it all, though I wanted to exult in my successes and the violence of my attacks, the feeling was tainted by Nievtala¡¯s previous violation of my mind. She didn¡¯t return. We continued our pursuit of our prey for several minutes, chasing them to the edges of their little paradise, to where the foliage grew even thicker and bordered on another precipitous, rocky slope that led to the summit of the mountains. There, we gathered back together and began returning to the scene of our hunt, finishing off and gathering the corpses of any goats we encountered en route. As we walked, one of the hatchlings turned to me, beaming. ¡°Did you see me? I took down seven before they could even begin to escape.¡± Before I could respond, another, the large male, jumped in, ¡°Then you¡¯re slow. I got more than ten¡­ I stopped counting after that.¡± I was so surprised by how well they could speak that I didn¡¯t keep them from continuing their arguments. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°That¡¯s only because I couldn¡¯t just cook them all, because if we weren¡¯t going to eat them, then I could have burned them all down to dust.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. This is a hunt, not a mindless piling of bodies, and you still don¡¯t know how to use magic, even if you¡¯ve talked to Solia about it before.¡± ¡°Then, then, why would you keep track of your kills?¡± ¡°Because I knew you would and I wanted to put you in your place.¡± I was rolling my eyes and about to finish their arguing when a shiver ran down my spine. Glancing around, I saw nothing, and while the air was cool, it wasn¡¯t the chill that had me confused. I looked forward, and, still seeing nothing, consciously realized what my subconscious was uneasy about¨Cthere were no sounds of mountain goat suffering in front of us. It wasn¡¯t that I was looking forward to witnessing suffering, but instead that I was positive that there should still be living mountain goats trying to somehow escape death at our hands before our return. That is, if there weren¡¯t any outside interference. I whistled low, and the pack immediately went silent around me as I peered through the branches and stretched [Tremorsense] to the utmost of my ability. Even with nerves beginning to color my reactions, I couldn¡¯t help but let a fierce grin cross my face, appreciating the discipline of my team, even the uninitiated young that fell in step next to their seniors. I gestured to be on the lookout and to gather together as we approached the more open clearing where the goats had been grazing. The silence was beyond unnerving, the previously vibrant, noisy, and life-filled area had gone completely silent. I could still see the heat signatures of birds in the trees, but they sat, unmoving, paralyzed with what could only be abject terror and self-preservation. Noting all that was happening, my swarm also continued to step as carefully as I had been already. It was just after we all slowed ourselves that we saw the first sign of whatever it was that had finished off the goats. A huge paw print that had crushed the entire skull of a goat, its horns and all smashed unforgivingly upon and into the ground. Dug deep into the surrounding earth was the print itself¨Cwhatever this thing was, its paws were larger than the entire head of a 200 pound goat. On top of that, it was at least relatively stealthy when it wanted to, since the print that had flattened the skull of the goat was the only one to be seen, even in the fertile, soft soil that surrounded us. Moving forward, it became more and more apparent that the creature that had come through here, whatever it was, was simply putting any surviving goat out of their misery. Every blow that had been dealt was decisive and permanent. No strikes to incapacitate, only to slay. The primary execution method had been through the crushing of skulls, and no bites were taken from the flesh, no unnecessary or tortuous wounds that hadn¡¯t been inflicted by the pack. It almost seemed to have been mercy killings, and we left the corpses behind as we approached the scene of our initial attack. Foire was the first to see the creature, and he immediately began to signal to me where it was. With his guidance and [Tremorsense], I could finally pick out the monster. There, hunched over a goat¡¯s corpse, was a behemoth of a beast. I¡¯d only heard of them by name from the Moonchildren, and had never had the opportunity to see one. Even without hearing as much from someone else, it was obvious that this was a predator, and a creature whose strength was to be respected just by looking at it. The furry beast was massive, its head reaching up to 14 feet tall as it stood on its back feet. The creature watched our approach and fell to all six feet, making it stand shorter, about five feet tall with its six limbs on the ground, but it perked its head up high and watched our pack somberly as we approached. The face of the creature was like a more bestial Moonchild¡¯s: Long snout, protruding canines, wet nose, and ursine ears, but the face still carried a hauntingly human shadow to it. Around me, the pack bristled and prepared for battle. It was uncanny and uncomfortable, but as the Nanuk looked at us, seemingly lamenting the loss of the goats, it roared angrily in challenge. Chapter 234 Behind me the majority of the pack spread out while Joral, Took and Silf took the front alongside me. My supporting pack ready to follow my command, I continued to search around us, looking to see if there were any more of the Nanuks around. Foire and Silf both shook their heads, and it registered as intensely hot to my thermal vision, so with no sign of supporters for the beast, I turned my focus back to the creature in front of us. The Nanuk threw itself back and once again stood on its hind legs, four arms spread threateningly as it roared a challenge at us. I felt my khatif pride swell, but not in looking down on the Nanuk, but instead evaluating it as a challenge, a worthy opponent, and an equal. Something to conquer. That being said, I was still going to leverage our numbers against it, and, pushing my magic to my throat, I screamed my challenge at the beast. The shrieking warcry washed almost visibly over the Nanuk, and it appeared to be stunned for a moment, so I began to lead the charge. I was wrong. With a swelling of its chest, the Nanuk breathed in, then let loose what could only be called an explosion of sound. I could feel my joints vibrate under the continuous pressure of the roar, and my eardrums threatened to pop as my stomach clenched and heaved to empty itself under the sheer force of the sound that was physically pressing and rattling the entirety of my body. With a scream of effort I began to force my magic from my sonilphon to my throat, but when it reached my throat, the vibrations from the Nanuk prevented my throat from making sound. For the first time, I understood what it was like to feel [Crippling Cry]. Before I could gather myself and begin the fight in earnest, I felt something burst in my ears and I staggered, my sense of balance failing me. Nausea swelled, and I vomited, the blood of the slaughtered goats gushing up my throat and between my teeth, slowly plopping onto the ground below me. I looked up, just fast enough to see the Nanuk come barreling towards our staggered front line. I was barely able to rise up and throw myself into Took at my side, pushing us both out of the way of the Nanuk¡¯s two left paws smashing down on our position. I lashed out with one hand, slicing my fingers into its grounded forearm, to little effect. Only a single inch dug in, far from the entirety of my claw finding purchase, and the negligible wound only served to infuriate the beast. I continued scrambling forward, attempting to drag my other hand and claws into its flanks or side, but had to roll away to avoid its second arm¡¯s next crushing blow. Panicking, I continued rolling, hoping to escape the next attack, but I saw the Nanuk prepare all four arms to smash down in my area, and with a sinking certainty, I realized I couldn¡¯t escape. I forced my magic into my throat to try to fend off its attack, but before I or it could complete our preparations, a tiny spear of flame lanced into its face and, accompanied by a much larger stone arrow, knocked it onto its back foot. The little female whose name I didn¡¯t know stepped forward, continuing to attempt to press flames that she¡¯d conjured into the beast. Her magic quickly ran dry, but she sagged proudly to the ground at the success. I felt blood flowing freely from my ears as I stood up, trying to balance myself and only barely succeeding as I fought to take in our bearings. Looking at the pack, only us four in the front had blood trickling down the sides of our heads, and the rest stood much more steadily than us. Foire was using his arms as a second pair of legs, and was already preparing to launch himself at the much larger beast in front of him. Ytte wasn¡¯t much different, the frills around her head flared and her mouth opened threateningly, a wordless hiss continuing as she channeled her magic to draw another stone spear from the ground underfoot. Took was already in the face of the beast, dodging back and forth, and the hatchling Alpha was darting quickly around the Nanuk, lashing out with claw and fang whenever it was distracted by Took, Foire (who¡¯d rushed in), the female¡¯s feeble flames, and the surrounding pack. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Finally, I was able to gather my magic to my throat and, drawing on [Innervating Address] and [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke], called out the simple command: ¡°KILL IT!¡± Around me the pack began chanting, ¡°VICTORY by FANG and BLOOD!¡± and I rushed back into the fight myself. Every step was a struggle with my sense of balance completely impaired, but even so, I didn¡¯t let it stop me. I whistled for all three frontliners to attack one side, and they did, trusting me implicitly. Took was first and took a glancing blow from the monster¡¯s second set of arms but still threw herself into the beast¡¯s side, latching on with fang and claw to its upper shoulder. She ripped and tore as hard as she could while the smaller, nimbler Silf and Joral ripped into the flesh just below the Nanuk¡¯s ribs. It screamed in rage and pain while batting at the pests hurting it¡­ and gave me the opening I needed. The female sent another, final gout of flame to the Nanuk¡¯s face, blinding it and burning it, but not severely enough to stop it from lashing out at my companions. I rushed under its claws and to its exposed belly. It had been a while since I¡¯d fought something large enough to enact this strategy, and a grim smile crossed my face as I began to tunnel into the soft belly of the beast. I lashed out with both hands, claws extended and at full force as I attempted to disembowel the Nanuk. My claws sunk in deep enough to slice through muscle, but not quite to the viscera, so I pushed my head forward, jaws snapping as the beast reared back in pure agony. I didn¡¯t let it escape, and with [Quaking Claw] activated and being pushed to its limit, my face sunk into the soft flesh as I gnawed my way into the guts. Each mouthful I got I ripped back and out into the exposed air before reaching for more, looking to cripple the massive enemy before it could do anything more. My hands didn¡¯t stop knifing forward with reckless abandon as I opened a dozen thick wounds in quick succession. Now, the beast screamed, not in challenge but in agony. It batted me aside, my mouth still buried in its innards, and I ripped what seemed to be a portion of its intestines out as I flew away. The Nanuk began to run away, surprisingly quick, but I wouldn¡¯t let it. Finally, my mind settled enough for me to activate my [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], and I calmed just enough to realize that the beast couldn¡¯t easily reach its back. I rushed after it and with a powerful leap, sailed onto its back. A series of red spots appeared all along its spine, but I focused on the largest, most crimson vulnerability. My claws and fangs bared, I began to rip and tear at the base of the Nanuk¡¯s skull and, while it screamed in pain and tried to swipe at me with its paws I was able to expose the spine, and with one final, powerful bite, I crunched through the bone and the bear¡¯s body went limp below me. With a scream of triumph, I looked to the skies¡­ and realized that none of my pack was around me. ¡°Alpha! Come here!¡± One of the weaker keelish¡¯s voices shook uncontrollably as he called after me and I turned to look back. Took laid on the ground, a huge gash on her side I hadn¡¯t seen bleeding profusely. Her blood was making the earth around her a crimson slurry, and I looked into my subordinates¡¯ eyes as they looked to me, eyes filling with hope, while my own filled with despair. Chapter 235 ¡°Nievtala devour the bastard¡¯s soul, may his hunts end in failure, may Narsha¡¯at poison his blood and Huldtar scorch his eyes¡­¡± I cursed the nanuk in every way I could think of in every language I knew as I sprinted over to my fallen friend. Looking down, Took shuddered and struggled for breath, but she remained barely alive. ¡°Victory¡­ by¨C¡± ¡°I¡¯ll knock you unconscious myself before I let you finish that.¡± I cut her off as I turned to several of the hatchlings and Foire. ¡°Run down to the swarm. Get Vefir to start coming up here as we descend.¡± The hatchlings stood, frozen for a moment, but Foire didn¡¯t hesitate. ¡°GO!¡± I roared at the hesitating children and they startled before nodding and sprinting down the way towards the valley in Foire¡¯s steps towards where the swarm was. ¡°You stay!¡± I commanded the stumbling female who¡¯d barely managed to rise to her feet after her magical manifestations. ¡°Ok. Ok. Silf, I need you to press hard on the wound. The entire wound. Keep the blood from all running out. Joral, Ytte, try to clear a way so we can move more smoothly and quickly. You, cut the densest, longest, cleanest fur you can from the nearest goat. Now, little girl, your part is the most important.¡± The hatchling looked at me, confused. ¡°I need you to sear the wound shut.¡± She didn¡¯t understand. She tried to, but couldn¡¯t. ¡°No, no, no, I can¡¯t do that. I¡¯ll kill her.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯ll save her life. It¡¯ll keep her from bleeding out as we carry her down.¡± ¡°I¡­ I.. I¡¯ll hurt her. I can¡¯t control my flames like that. It¡¯ll burn everything. I¡¯ve never used them before today, and I¡¯m too tired. I couldn¡¯t do what you need me to.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯ll be fine. Now do it and save her life.¡± With a shuddering breath, the child conjured up a flame, too weak to sear Took¡¯s wound shut. ¡°Hotter!¡± A small increase, but still not enough. ¡°HOTTER OR I¡¯LL THROW YOU OFF THIS CLIFF!¡± Suddenly a gout of flame shot into the air, uncontrolled, and then it just as quickly died out as she gasped and collapsed to the ground, sobbing. I hissed my frustration, and very nearly did what I¡¯d threatened. The little girl began hyperventilating, panicking as I approached, and Nievtala¡¯s voice came over me. Calm. With just the barest hint of the Goddess¡¯s presence, I forced the panic from my mind. Nievtala withdrew herself with a vague sense of confidence, and I steeled myself. My mind made and without thinking any further, I extended my right hand¡¯s claws as far as I could as I fastened my scales all together. ¡°What¡¯s your name, little one?¡± ¡°Hala.¡± She whimpered. ¡°Hala, keep the flame as steady and hot as possible. Don¡¯t worry about where, just do it.¡± I spoke and channeled [Innervating Address], and Hala, to her credit, breathed deep and summoned a sharp pillar of flame. Without waiting further, I plunged my prepared right hand into the fire. I¡¯d known that it would be agonizing, but my formless prayers had hoped that my claws would hold up in the heat and that they could then cauterize the wounds well enough. My flesh bubbled under the flames as I held my hand in the fires and Hala began to quench the flames as she panicked. Before the fire could die out again, I barked out, ¡°NO! Keep it up, try to concentrate the flame!¡± Before long, my petty hopes were drowned out in sheer agony, my fingertips initially withstanding the heat, but as my claws became superheated themselves, so too did the heat conduct itself deeper into my bones. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. This consuming, mind-ripping pain was different from when my shoulder had been ripped apart. That was a throbbing agony, one that had dulled my senses of everything else. This pain kept amplifying itself long after I thought it had hit the final threshold for torturous torment. I could feel my skin crackle under my scales, my blood beginning to boil and bubble just like my skin that wasn¡¯t exposed to the heat directly, my bones aching and my mind couldn¡¯t focus on anything else than the burning hell that was my hand. Then, I stopped feeling my fingers, the agony continuing to crawl further up my arm. I could take the suffering no longer and removed my hand from the flames as I called for Silf to move and give me access to the wound. He scrambled away and I saw the ripped flesh and a deep gouge that carried through three of Took¡¯s ribs, exposing a lung, shuddering with her every breath. The second the pressure came off, blood began to pool in the cavity, flowing freely from a large artery that was exposed and torn through. Without another second¡¯s thought, I pressed a claw against the artery and pressed it against Took before she jerked uncontrollably in reaction to the searing sensation. Took, the never complaining and ever stoic, whimpered. I thought I heard her whisper something about Oncli as I gestured for Silf and a couple others to hold her down and prevent her from writhing away from the searing, possibly healing pain. My second claw pressed into the artery and again Took jerked away, but the four bodies holding her down prevented her from moving enough to prevent the cauterization from happening. The smell of burning flesh filled my nostrils, and again Took cried out in pain. She was losing consciousness, and in her delirium, she lacked her usual self-control. With my other two claws I seared the most afflicted areas I could, but it wasn¡¯t everything. The male whose name I didn¡¯t know appeared, his arms full of long white goat fur. ¡°Silf, pack the wounds tight with the fur then retain that pressure on it. We¡¯re moving now. The rest of you, help him carry Took, keep her from twisting and moving around as best as you can. Keep her from bleeding out. Now go. Keep an eye on whatever the best route is.¡± I couldn¡¯t focus on the journey after that¨Cmy mind was too consumed with the agony from my hand and occupied with trying to keep myself steady with my burst eardrums. Hala was continuously mumbling apologies to me, which I nodded my head to accept while continuing to hustle down the mountain as best as I could. Silf quietly spoke to Took about how Treel had died in this way, so Took didn¡¯t need to. It didn¡¯t make sense to me, but maybe it was just my mental state. The rest of the pack was quiet but hurried, following Joral and Ytte¡¯s path as best as they could while Took mumbled in pain, nothing that made any sense. I focused as best as I could on Took¡¯s condition, and, sure enough, she went silent about halfway down the slope. ¡°Took, stay with me! Talk!¡± Nothing. ¡°Took! Say something!¡± Silence. ¡°TOOK!¡± ¡°Vic¡­tory¡­¡± Then nothing more. No no no, wake up! I wanted to stop, to try something, but it was best to get her even a second sooner to one of our two healers. ¡°HURRY!¡± It was an excruciatingly long ten or so minutes before we came in contact with Vefir and Etra. Vefir was visibly panicked, guided by Joral and Foire. Etra came not far behind, panting but putting in obvious effort. We settled Took onto the ground as both began to push their magic into her unresponsive body. One minute¡­ Two minutes¡­ Five minutes¡­ No response. I could feel tears beginning to form at the corners of my eyes. Another of my pack, my friends¡­ dead. With an effort of will, I began to call magic to my throat, wanting to scream my rage to the skies, when¨C ¡°Victory¡­ by fang¡­ and blood.¡± Chapter 236 It was a stressful hour, but in the end, Took came out of unconsciousness long enough to mention how hungry she was, so I allowed myself to breathe normally once again. Now that I had finally shaken myself out of the worried stupor brought about by Took¡¯s uncertain state, I began to feel the agony of my roasted hand, even through [Pain Tolerance]. I wanted to let myself sink into some sort of philosophical contemplation on the continuous damaging of my right arm and hand, but, frankly speaking, my mind was wholly consumed by the mind-breaking waves of suffering that shot continuously up my arm. A flashing [System] notification tried to get my attention, but completely failed to do so over the still surging pain that caused me to involuntarily groan. ¡°Ashlani? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Vefir looked quizzically at me, initially confused. His eyes quickly found my hand. ¡°Nievtala still hasn¡¯t blessed you with wisdom! You¡¯re always doing something stupid like this.¡± With a soft whistle, Vefir called over the resting Etra, and they both inspected my hand disapprovingly. Though she didn¡¯t say anything, Etra looked down at me with hooded eyes, the disapproval dripping down so thickly it almost soothed the agony. A faint sliver of my khatif superiority reviled at the treatment and I wanted to make some snarky remark, but couldn¡¯t muster it through the literally blistering pain. ¡°Now, let us attend to the fruits of your foolishness.¡± Vefir said. With a grunt of effort, the two healers mustered the dregs of their magic to begin alleviating my injury. I could see the faintly luminous light shimmering as it traveled from their hands into my own, and as soon as the light made contact, it surged like a wave through me, cooling and healing my scorched flesh. With a shudder, I slowly calmed myself and let the healing wash over me, settling more comfortably into the keelish squat my legs were well suited for. ¡°So what boneheaded idea led to this potential disfigurement?¡± Vefir¡¯s disapproving gaze hadn¡¯t faltered throughout the healing, and now he turned its full focus on me, Etra¡¯s presence silently lending his complaint greater credence. Before I said anything adversarial, Sybil¡¯s head poked over Vefir¡¯s shoulder and, seeing my injury, approached and leaned against me. My mind had cleared enough to begin formulating excuses, reasons, and indignance, but I recognized the reality of their concerns, and instead spoke humbly, ¡°I wanted to make sure Took survived. Tried to burn her worst wounds closed¡­ I should have used a tool instead of my hand, but wasn¡¯t thinking clearly. I¡¯m sorry I made that misjudgement.¡± Vefir¡¯s mouth dropped open, surprised, while Sybil hissed her disapproval. While Sybil and Etra fought to compose themselves, Vefir managed to close his mouth consciously and chuckled ruefully. ¡°If you¡¯re that way about it, then I have nothing else to say. You¡¯re a great leader, and your swarm appreciates that you care for individuals as well as the collective, so make sure to take care of yourself individually so you can keep taking care of the swarm.¡± Though surprised at how eloquently and directly he¡¯d said it, I nodded in agreement and acceptance, then stood up and rolled my shoulders. ¡°Then. Let¡¯s get going, we have several trips ahead of us, and I¡¯d like to be done before dark.¡± Vefir chuckled. ¡°And where are you going?¡± ¡°Our hunt was successful, and I¡¯ll be a fangless gummy if I let the meat of that beast expire before the swarm gets their turn at it.¡± ¡°You must have been hurting more than I thought¡­¡± Vefir gestured at Joral coming down the mountain above us. He and his wolfstags were carrying quite a few of the goats down the slope, busily hauling the prey back to the swarm. ¡°How many trips left, Joral?¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Last one, Alpha.¡± Joral¡¯s tone was serious but his face only barely concealed a self-satisfied smile. ¡°Anything else we should do up there?¡± ¡°You brought down the Nanuk?¡± I couldn¡¯t quite hide the disbelief in my tone. The smile spread, infecting Joral¡¯s tone, ¡°It took six of us, but yes. It¡¯s waiting alongside the rest of the swarm for you to begin the feast.¡± ¡°Good job Joral. You¡¯re growing well.¡± I patted him on the shoulder as he grunted, smiled, and heated up to my perception as he literally glowed under my approval before resuming his journey with a spring in his step. I realized I truly meant the words¡ªJoral had passed the young stage of uncertainty and into true adulthood as a khatif, the leader of a potent pack of predators. He now had grown into the role that I¡¯d imagined for him when I first saw him leading his brood. Now, though, a worry began to sprout in me¡ªwhat would happen years down the road, when my children were born and aged to adulthood? Would the old guard accept them like they had accepted me? Joral, and whoever else had joined what should become a nation of keelish, or even Keel, would they demand that leadership be determined by the defeat and destruction of those who came before? Would Keel be twisted to arrogance and ambition like khatif to superiority? Was there anything I could do to ensure that an empire created by me ended up a dynasty, not a splintering facade¡­? Before my worries could fully spiral under the influence of my addled mind, I consciously forced myself instead to focus on the now, since there wasn¡¯t anything I could do right this moment to fix or order that future. Instead, I accompanied my pack back, supporting Took, and looked forward to the taste of the peak predator, the Nanuk. It was about ten minutes worth of travel to get back to the swarm, and though I had largely been healed, every step sent a jolt of pain through my hand. I forced myself to gratitude for the suffering, As we approached, Took forcefully stood up straight, shrugged off my support, and walked herself back into the¡­ camp, for no better way to call it. It wasn¡¯t quite organized enough for me to be happy to call it a camp, but there wasn¡¯t any other way to describe the conglomeration of creatures before me. Around the edges were the least civilized, the least changed by Took, Shemira, and Sybil¡¯s ministrations over the past weeks. They numbered about 100, which, considering how many of the slavering beasts we had absorbed into our own numbers, was a respectable decrease. These fringe members generally stuck to themselves, but were willing to follow instructions to go on the hunt. They were sullen most of the time, seemingly because of the command not to rut, since we couldn¡¯t bring the eggs with us and I didn¡¯t want to simply abandon them. It was interesting to note that while some of the keelish from Farahlia¡¯s swarm had evolved into khatif (herself included), none from this fringe group had. Moving further inward were the rest of the keelish who had come from Farahlia¡¯s swarm. There were a couple dozen of fledgling khatif here, primarily of the Kha¡¯Tal (civilian) and Sik¡¯Tal (hunter) castes, with a single Hak¡¯Tal (warrior) standing head and shoulders among the rest. How I and the others of my elites knew this difference in name for these different castes, I couldn¡¯t say, but the titles came naturally to us. These khatif moved easily among themselves, but had established packs, those they hunted with regularly, or those with whom they worked at whatever they needed to do. Finally, there was the literal inner circle. There, the original swarm stayed. Foire, Silf, Sybil, Shemira, and the rest milled about in this section, awaiting Took, Vefir, and my ¡°official¡± arrival. Strewn about within this inner circle were various stacks of meat, all piled high with the massive corpses of the goats we had successfully hunted, and the wolfstags circled around, keeping an eye on the piles of meat and inhibiting any overeager members of the swarm from approaching before it ¡°was time¡±. Upon seeing Took approach under her own power, the members of the inner circle visibly stood taller, and the members of the general body cheered, some more excitedly than others. Took raised a hand in acceptance of the congratulations and cheers, and then deferred to me. With a smile I stepped forward and spoke: ¡°I¡¯ll be brief. We encountered a powerful foe, fought it, and slew it! Feast to victory! Feast to the blood spilled by friend and foe! Feast to Nievtala!!¡± At my words, the swarm cheered and the feast began. Finally, as I turned to my personal meal of Nanuk flesh, I acknowledged the flashing [System] message: [Skill: Pain Tolerance advanced. Quest complete. New Quest acquired.] Chapter 237 Though curious, I indulged in the meal with my swarm before allowing myself the opportunity to fall into the details of my [Status]. Instead, I watched the swarm all around me as they gloried in survival and victory. Took, though sluggish and slow, ate until her belly was distended and she couldn¡¯t keep herself conscious any longer. The miracle survivor sleeping, most of the swarm took the opportunity as the ending of the feast and went to rest themselves. With new goat pelts, I settled down for the night on my new bedding. The agony of my hand¡¯s injuries had faded through the evening as Etra and Vefir passed by every quarter hour or so to pump me full of more healing. I¡¯d tried to deny them, but Vefir had shut down my refusal, saying ¡°You need it more than she does now. Her body is sturdier than yours, and though her wounds were more life threatening, they were much simpler than burning the feeling out of your fingers, boiling your blood, and reducing your bones to charcoal. Don¡¯t do anything with the hand until I tell you to.¡± His expression had brooked no disagreement, and I simply flared my frills in assent. Mollified, he¡¯d continued his ministrations until I¡¯d waved him and Etra off so I could finally sleep and take the opportunity to look over my [Status]. The first and obvious point was that my [Quest] to ¡°hunt, kill, and devour 5 new species¡± had been completed and again refreshed to show the same [Quest], but the second, more interesting point laid in my [Skill¡¯s] ¡°advancement¡±. I quickly opened it up and began my research. [Skill: Pain Tolerance. Allows for the Skill user to ignore pain to certain levels. NOTE: The ability to ignore the feeling of agony does not allow for the Skill user to ignore the repercussions of the damages sustained causing said pain.] But the [Skill¡¯s] description was the same as before, the name hadn¡¯t changed, and, apparently, nothing else had either? [The Administrator answers: Many Skills cannot evolve but can progress. For example, your Tremorsense won¡¯t evolve, but it can advance, or, under extraordinary circumstances, merge with another ¡ª----] The Administrator stopped communicating with me, but only for a moment before returning. [The Administrator sighs: I get it. These other fogeys don¡¯t want me to talk too much. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve been so low contact, but DULVROC the INSUFFERABLE has PLANS¡ª---] Again, the Administrator¡¯s communications were cut off, but this time, it was only after a full minute or so that the more impersonal words of the [System] returned. [Skills are capable of advancement. The Skill Pain Tolerance has advanced.] Though I tried to bait out more replies and information afterwards, there was nothing more that the [System] nor the Administrator provided. Nievtala did, however, briefly descend over me. I am glad your friend survived. Nothing else followed as the Goddess withdrew her presence, but for a sense of genuine happiness for me. For a moment, I remembered my evolution after Oncli¡¯s death, and the Administrator¡¯s callousness. Nievtala¡¯s understanding and compassion brought a smile to my face, and allowed myself to relax into the bedding to sleep. I rolled over and found myself looking at Sybil. She¡¯d been near sleep, her belly nearly as distended from gorging on Nanuk as Took¡¯s, though I supposed that was to be expected, given the Nanuk was a surprisingly tasty meat. Sybil cocked her head, curious at my pensive stare. I flicked my tail, it thumping against the ground and continued looking at her, taking in the flare of the frills around her face, the dull sheen of her scales in the moonlight, the dark pools that her eyes became in the dark. She smelled pleasant, an earthy and somehow attractive odor, like a field just after rain, and her mouth perked in a coy little smile that couldn¡¯t quite be hidden. ¡°Really? Nothing to say after looking at me like this for so long?¡± Sybil had mellowed through the last months, but her biting tongue remained intact, even if it wasn¡¯t quite so barbed now. ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t have anything to say. Rolled over, saw you, wanted to keep looking¡­ Here we are.¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°I¡¯m just another member of the swarm. Nothing to look at.¡± I sighed. ¡°Do we want to get into this again? I don¡¯t see you that way, even if you do. You appeal to me.¡± ¡°And that is why it took you days to understand my sexual advances upon you. Because of my overwhelming appeal and desirability.¡± Her smirk died a little as her words turned to self-pity. ¡°And you decided to mate with me after you realized exactly how dense I am, so is there really any room for you to complain?¡± A theatrical sigh. ¡°Perhaps not.¡± A more genuine sigh. ¡°Speaking of sex, I must admit that I cannot bring myself to feel anything more or less than guarded and unhappy towards that fork-tongued menace.¡± ¡°Farahlia¡­¡± I said, immediately understanding who she was talking about. ¡°Difficult it may be to believe me, but I¡¯m fairly certain that she means no harm to me, the swarm, or you.¡± ¡°And that is the most frustrating part of it! If she were ill-intentioned in any way, I would immediately begin to stamp her back down! But¡­ she instead is genuine in her desire for the swarm to grow, even if in a way that you and I don¡¯t necessarily want ourselves.¡± ¡°So you hesitate to crush her.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The answer was simple, matter-of-fact, and emotionless. It was nothing more than a statement of fact: if there was any member of the swarm that had intentions of harming the collective¡¯s interest and they were discovered, they would be snuffed out. ¡°On that note¡­ How¡¯s your new intelligence force coming along? ¡°I am deeply feeling Cree¡¯s loss. She was a great supporter, and her presence was calming, steady, and her reach surprisingly broad. She is missed, and as of yet, I have yet to find one whose abilities would allow them to fill her spot.¡± ¡°And why not Etra? She is at least as intelligent and competent.¡± ¡°She lacks Octavi¡¯s¡­ subtlety. Beyond that, her priorities have shifted. Etra has become a healer, a follower of Vefir. It is good that she has done so, since we will always need more healers.¡± ¡°Have you considered the little female? What was her name?¡± ¡°Hala. She¡¯s quick, eager.¡± Sybil¡¯s tail flicked in irritation. ¡°However, her wit is a blade she knows not how to sheathe. She is too passionate, too excited, too quick to enter a conversation. The child wants to know everything and anything of importance, and cannot wait for the revelation to be made to her, instead leaving her inquisitiveness to guide her every step. No, she is a asset, but not a spymaster.¡± Again, I flicked my tail. ¡°I trust your judgment implicitly.¡± ¡°As well you should.¡± Sybil¡¯s tail casually tapped at my leg, and we both settled comfortably together, ready to sleep. The dreams didn¡¯t wait to bombard me. I dreamed of a vast expanse of warring keelish. The scenery was constantly shifting, from burning plains to rainy forests, to viscera splattered streets to Nanuk infested mountains. In each location, the enemies shifted from Moonchildren to Sunkindred to Veushten to hulking armored armies to other keelish and yet other creatures unknown to me. The consistency throughout each battle, however, was that the keelish were slain in droves, our bodies piling into mounds of corpses, our blood slicking the ground and turning the earth into a mushy, scarlet mess. My companions stacked the keelish corpses into defensive mounds, striking out at the assaulting forces from behind the bloody battlements, but before long their own twitching bodies joined the stacks. Slowly I became aware of the familiar bodies decorating the gory fortress. Took¡¯s face was peeled back to the skull alongside one half. Foire¡¯s arms were severed below the elbow, his neck twisted unnaturally and between his legs lay the brutalized corpse of his daughter. Brutus¡¯s legs were snapped outward, the bones exposed to the air. Ytte¡¯s throat was torn and mangled, her face twisted in horror. Sybil¡¯s chest had been ripped open, her ribs exposed and viscera open to the air. As I looked, sickened, Joral buried his face in her guts, and pulled his head out just enough for me to see him begin to swallow the unborn eggs from inside of my mate. I wanted to scream, defend, attack, anything, but I stood, frozen as the creature taking the twisted form of my friend looked at me. Its face had become hollow, the eyes vacuous black holes, the features flattened and made caricatures of the original ones. The mouth swallowed the eggs, the legacy of my mate and then turned to me. The teeth were long, narrow things, made only to inflict pain, unable to rip and tear, only to maim and damage. The mouth hung open and a hissing, threatening voice began to slither its way up my spine to resound in my head as its tongue split and began to weave between the uncomfortably spaced teeth. ¡°Beware the forked tongue. The incredulous are the eternal foe of the progressives.¡± We all have forked tongues! You mean the duplicitous? ¡°Beware the primordial adversary. The prey return to the ancient hunting grounds.¡± Who is that? ¡°Beware the gods. They are inconstant and have been since their inception.¡± With a gasp and a start, I woke. Chapter 238 With a shuddering breath, I took in my surroundings. Sybil laid next to me, her tail still curled around my own, stirring at my own movement. Some members of the swarm were beginning to wake, a comforting chorus of hissing, shrieking reptiles. I looked over, around, verifying that the swarm hadn¡¯t diminished in number overnight, that my companions were still in my vicinity, that my dream was just that, a dream. Finally calmed enough to begin to think consciously, I thought about the dream that had so forcefully roused me. Was it a dream? Was it prophetic? I wondered if it was actually just some sort of symptom of the stresses of the last months, and if it was, after all, just a nightmare. After all, I¡¯d suffered from dreams empowered by anxiety before. But then again, in my past life, there¡¯d been some Speakers who could foretell weather or certain catastrophic events like earthquakes or hurricanes. I¡¯d even heard of some who understood how to foresee other things, but that was always a working brought about by certain, highly complex Phrases, never a dream. That said, though, there wasn¡¯t any harm in trying to understand the warnings given at the end of the strange nightmare. ¡°Beware the forked tongue. The incredulous are the eternal foe of the progressive.¡± Forked tongue, a liar, a deceiver. In my dream I¡¯d been less lucid, but now that I was awake, I clearly remembered Sybil¡¯s words from last night: ¡°a fork-tongued menace¡±. Could Farahlia be the forked tongue that my dream was warning about? Or would it be another, maybe a Moonchild had been lying to us, like Ana or the Allmother? And who is this incredulous one? Though it may have been unfounded of me to think so, I considered myself the progressive in this equation, so who was my eternal foe? I mulled it over for a moment, but came to no conclusion and moved to the next. ¡°Beware the primordial adversary. The prey return to the ancient hunting grounds.¡± I figured this would be a longstanding enemy of the keelish, or maybe the Keel. Would that be an enslaved race that rose up against the ancient empire? Or could it be something else entirely, something I knew nothing about? But since these two phrases were grouped, does that mean that the prey has something to do with this ¡°primordial adversary¡±? What was the prey? Could it be¡­ the keelish? While we were troublesome and dangerous while still not being apex predators, we were far from prey, even when considering things whose evolutionary traits were tailored towards direct superiority over keelish. If that was the case, what kind of thing actively ¡°preyed¡± on us? Again, the thought stumped me and, before too long, I moved to the final phrase and warning. ¡°Beware the gods. They are inconstant and have been since their inception.¡± If these warnings were, in fact, prophetic in some way, then this warning was the most troubling, before betrayal, eternal foes, and ancient enemies. As a human, I¡¯d never much concerned myself with the existence of gods, much less their opinions of me. The Veushten way was simply to think that if the gods existed, they fulfilled their roles, and didn¡¯t much care for the creatures that inhabited the worlds they had created. Before acquiring my [Title] as a Chosen and then a Disciple of Nievtala, I¡¯d largely adopted that same mentality in this new life. When I¡¯d received my [Title], I¡¯d pretty easily fallen into the opinion that following the Goddess that¡¯d selected me would only help, and she had. Her Blessings had carried me to greater heights and kept two dozen of my swarm alive when we¡¯d had no right surviving. Even so, the direst statement that Nievtala was inconstant¡­ I¡¯d already seen that, hadn¡¯t I? Memories of the last days flashed through my mind, but I didn¡¯t allow myself to dwell too long on them. Instead, I internally asked, [System], Administrator, you have anything to add or help me with on this? [There¡¯s a lot of this that I can¡¯t talk too much about. You know I¡¯m willing to skirt the rules here, so you should understand how much it means that I¡¯m keeping mum. You¡¯re asking good questions, ones I would like to help you with. I can¡¯t, not like this, not here.] I would have to ask you during evolution? [Exactly. I can tell you that every god and goddess have their own desires and plans. Every Administrator does, just as every System user and sapient creature has hopes and dreams. Nievtala has her hopes about what you will do or can be for her, just like how I am your assigned Administrator and generally hope for your wellbeing and success and I also have biases and expectations of you. Just take the advancement of your Title as an attempt at apology from the Goddess.] Wait, my [Title]? [Title: Chosen of Nievtala advanced. Status updated.] Well, that answers that question. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha Titles: Disciple of Nievtala (Advanced) Killer of Redael Fahvalo of the Moonchildren Current quests: -Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +3. PROGRESS: Greater Marsh Crocodile, Perfected Albatross, Partially Awakened Moonchild, Sheer Pass Longhair, Sheer Pass Nanuk. QUEST COMPLETE. New Quest: Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5 -Subjugate or otherwise conquer a community of at least 1000 individuals. Base reward: Constitution +7, Strength, Agility +8, Intelligence +10, Magic +9. Possibility of additional rewards for greater difficulty. -Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. Stats: -Constitution: 109+3+8+2+5+4+9+1=141 -Strength: 121+3+6+3+5+4+11+1=154 -Agility: 120+3+1+5+8+5+4+1=147 -Intelligence: 119+3+2+6+6+2+5+1=144 -Magic: 126+3+0+11+3+0+7+1=151 Skills: Adversary: 6/10 Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust: 1/4 (Imperial Bearing) Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke: 1/5 Evolutionary Exemplar (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude: Unqualified Fathomless Sonilphon: Unqualified, 0/2 -Crippling Cry: 0/5 -Debilitating Diatribe: 0/1 -Innervating Address: 0/1 -Nurturing Enunciation: 0/50 -Quaking Claw 0/1 Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve) Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 5/10 Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve) Raptor¡¯s Eyes (Cannot Evolve) Tremorsense (Cannot Evolve) True Dominance: 1/5 Evolutionary Possibilities -Sonic Keel Zak¡¯Tal: Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1 Have a Swarm Leader level race. Completed. -Khatif Heretic¨CRequirements: learn how to bend the world¡¯s governing laws and compel the divine to follow your will. Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] Though I¡¯d known it was going to be the case, I couldn¡¯t help the pang of disappointment seeing that [Adversary] hadn¡¯t progressed. It was a consolation, though, that each of my stats had increased by at least 20. Though, I supposed that would be to the detriment of [Adversary¡¯s] evolution. Looking at the individual numbers, though, I couldn¡¯t figure out where that final +1 to each stat came from. [Effects of advancement of Title: Disciple of Nievtala are: +1 to all stats.] I supposed I could call that an adequate apology from Nievtala for now. Before I could ask the [System] or Administrator any follow-up questions, though, I was distracted by a searing not-quite pain in my chest, as if the suns¡¯ heat had been concentrated into the broadest section of my breast. I reared back, trying to see what was causing me this discomfort, and could barely see something emblazoning itself on my chest. It tingled and burned in the way that standing too close to a fire did¨Cuncomfortable, unpleasant, but nowhere near approaching the scorching, all-consuming agony from the day before. At my disconcerted movements and noises, Sybil roused and looked up at me, her eyes quickly going wide. ¡°What is happening to you?¡± I responded, still patting at my chest confusedly, ¡°I wish I knew. Can you see something?¡± I worried about the discomfort escalating into pain and agony, but I was happy to realize that there was no increase in the sensation and in fact, it was slowly decreasing. ¡°There is a spear-shaped marking glowing on your chest.¡± ¡°What?¡± Looking down as best as I could, I recognized the head of a spear pointing up at my head upon my chest. Chapter 239 With more time and a little assistance from one of the Wave Wolfstags Joral named Childra, I finally got to see my new ¡°brand¡± as I decided to call it. The mark was a pure white spear, pointed upward and onward while at the base of the spear¡¯s haft was a strange little wiggly bit, something I couldn¡¯t understand what it was until the [System], unprompted, had informed me: [The marking on your chest is the divine mark of the Goddess Nievtala¡¯s domains: victory and conquest. The spear points ever onwards, towards the next conquest. The banner below the spear is representative of the nations and powers felled before the insatiable progress of Nievtala¡¯s cause.] It could be clearer to see, but I recognized the fact that it was a tattoo underneath my scales, and white on my dull gray, not exactly a combination leading to great depth of detail in artistic rendition. In a moment of what was either delusion or enlightenment, I decided to take up one of our spears in response to my new decoration. When I held the weapon once more, it felt more comfortable in my hands and I subconsciously dropped into a battle-ready position. Nothing seemed to have changed, and a part of me wondered if it was simply a self-fulfilling mentality¨Cthat since I felt like I would probably be more comfortable with the weapon now, I actually would be. I had spent a little bit of time in this life using our poleaxes, and though they¡¯d functioned as intended and cut through the crocodiles¡¯ thick hide, I¡¯d never been especially comfortable with it. As a human, I¡¯d used the spear and bow, while a keelish¡¯s weapons were his fangs and claws. I couldn¡¯t say what the Keel would be like, though I had my suspicions, and maybe it would change, but for killing, my own body was my greatest weapon. The spear, though, felt like an extension of my body, in a comfortable, subconscious way. I couldn¡¯t yet say that I wanted to follow along with all of Nievtala¡¯s plans for me, but I could at least use her gifts for my people. As I began walking away, into the swarm, Sybil spoke up. ¡°Is there something that you need to do, Alpha?¡± ¡°I¡­ I feel like I need to look into Farahlia, see if there¡¯s something that she¡¯s trying behind the scenes.¡± ¡°Was it not just last night that you said that you generally trust her and her intentions?¡± ¡°Yes, just¡­ something you said and a gut feeling, I guess.¡± Sybil shrugged. ¡°Very well then. I will gather whoever I can to ensure that you have the support that you need. Expect myself or Shemira to speak with you soon.¡± I smiled and continued to turn to walk away as I gently tapped Sybil with my tail. She jokingly nipped at it as I went, and I couldn¡¯t help but be reminded of when she had mutilated herself to prove herself to Took all those months ago. Unthinking, I turned back until I loomed over Sybil and then leaned down and gently, softly nipped at her tail where the scars remained, the bite quickly transitioning to a nuzzle. Without me realizing it, Sybil went completely still at my focus, her eyes searching for my own. After a moment¡¯s silence, I finally turned my gaze to my Beta, my friend, my mate. ¡°What was going through your mind when you did this?¡± A shrug. ¡°In order to enter your pack and protect myself from Tieran, I needed your approval, and that approval was conditional upon Took¡¯s own. She mentioned the willingness to shed blood, and so I did so.¡± ¡°As I remember, you didn¡¯t hesitate for even a moment.¡± ¡°You remember correctly.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°I am willing to do what is necessary to achieve my goals.¡± Sybil spoke plainly, as if it were the most average thing in the world to do, to permanently scar yourself for a marginal immediate return. A part of me, a part I wasn¡¯t sure was all khatif, understood the mentality: be cruel to those who stand in your way, even if that which impeded your progress was a part of yourself. I was shook from my introspection by Sybil¡¯s words. ¡°If Farahlia is, in fact, planning something malicious, what do you plan to do? Can you do what is necessary to prevent her from stopping you from achieving your goals?¡± ¡°If she¡¯s turned away my tolerant hand, then she¡¯ll die.¡± The finality of my statement came easily to me, and I couldn¡¯t suppress a chuckle. ¡°You continue to rub off on me, Sybil.¡± ¡°As all good relationships do.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. For the next day, Sybil, Shemira, and I applied ourselves towards truly investigating everything we could find about Farahlia from her actions, who she hunted with, who she ate with, her children, her preferred schedule, everything. I wished I had even a bone of subtlety in me in my own investigations, but I consoled myself by saying that my own actions acted as a smokescreen for Sybil¡¯s efforts. Shemira simply flirted with a couple of the males and, once they were clay in her hands, she¡¯d reported, ¡°She seems to be happy to follow you. The males¡¯re all pissed cause she won¡¯t mate with them anymore. She¡¯s following that command, and doesn¡¯t seem like she¡¯d be willing to let those ones rut her anyways. She¡¯s got her eyes set on you.¡± My frustrated tail lashed. ¡°It isn¡¯t going to happen.¡± ¡°She doesn¡¯t seem to think there¡¯s no chance. She did become khatif, and not one of the Kha¡¯, Sik¡¯, or Hak¡¯ castes. She¡¯s like a lot of your elites.¡± Shemira wasn¡¯t arguing, but she made good points, points I deliberately disregarded. In the midst of this, it seemed the entirety of the swarm had things that they needed to talk to me about, from where exactly we were going to what to have for breakfast to who should hunt with who and so on. Shemira came up at one point, saying, ¡°You should let Joral know that you¡¯re proud of him and trust him. He¡¯s been on eggshells since the last times that he¡¯s taken initiative you¡¯ve been tough on him.¡± I couldn¡¯t refute her words, and so I settled on letting Joral know about how I was glad he was growing into a good leader when I wasn¡¯t so focused on knowing for sure if Farahlia was the forked tongue I was looking for. Instead of being able to take action on my own terms, however, I was forced into the conversation as Joral himself approached me. ¡°Um¡­ Shemira says she talked to you? I need to ask for your forgiveness¨C¡± ¡°Yes, she did, and she¡¯s right. I trust you, and you need to hear that.¡± ¡°Really? You think she¡¯s right?¡± ¡°Right about what?¡± ¡°That it isn¡¯t pure luck that I survived? Rulac, Wisterl, Histy, all the rest¡­ dead.¡± ¡°Of course it wasn¡¯t luck. You¡¯ve proven yourself smart, willing to take initiative, and capable. I¡¯ve always thought that you¡¯d be a great Alpha, once you were a little more polished. Now, you¡¯ve got that polish. I¡¯m proud of you and what you¡¯ve done. I¡¯m looking forward to what you can achieve moving forward.¡± Joral stood up straight as I spoke, then nodded, proud and not trying to hide it. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to make you proud. I¡¯ll never forget that.¡± I rolled my eyes internally at the melodrama, then nodded to dismiss him as I continued my investigations. After a day of learning nothing new, just that she was constantly flirty and apparently lusty while also not being much or a leader of her own merit, I was frustrated enough with my own efforts to ask Farahlia directly. ¡°What do you want?¡± Immediately she sidled up next to me, trying to flick at me with her tail. ¡°I want you to dominate me, Alpha.¡± I snapped my tail out, firmly slapping her across the face, not hard enough to send her reeling, but enough to snap her out of her attempted seduction. My face was a picture of stone as I repeated myself, ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Farahlia¡¯s tone was sullen, lacking any of the demure flirtatiousness that constantly permeated her bearing. ¡°I mean, what do you want? I can¡¯t imagine that the only thing you want to do in life is rut. It¡¯s enjoyable, sure, but that is far from all that there is to a continued existence. So, what do you aspire to have, to do?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t need to slap me to ask that¡­ Could it be that this is the kind of play that¡­¡± slowly, the flirt was edging back into her voice, but as I raised my tail threateningly again, the coquettish tone slowly faded into nothing. She sighed, then continued. ¡°I think that, at the core of it all, your Sybil and I have similar desires: to be safe, to be protected, and not to be owned by some bastard with more strength than he knows what to do with.¡± I scoffed. ¡°That seems pretty contrary to what you said when I defeated you in that duel.¡± A shrug. ¡°Didn¡¯t go according to the plans I had. Instead of my magic, I decided to try the real way. A male who¡¯s in love with rutting, dominating, owning you is pretty easy to manipulate, so I was just hoping I could do that to you.¡± ¡°Makes enough sense. I¡¯ve met some who are slaves to that.¡± I paused, then began the true questioning. ¡°Do you plan on doing anything to weaken my control over the swarm?¡± ¡°Of course not. Not like I could anyways. A loser who doesn¡¯t realize they¡¯re beat is annoying. Everyone¡¯s gotta submit to something. If they don¡¯t they die or are broken.¡± She flicked her tail, shrugging her acceptance of the way of the world. ¡°Do you feel like having me as an Alpha allows for your general wants to be provided for?¡± A sigh. ¡°Well, good enough. I do wish you¡¯d take me at least as a sub-mate, give me that higher position, but I don¡¯t think it will happen any time soon. You¡¯re too focused on other things.¡± A coy smile. ¡°Unless¡­?¡± I raised my tail again, with a slight smirk this time. Farahlia chuckled, ducked her head, and spoke, ¡°Didn¡¯t think so. So, I¡¯m not a threat to your rule. Please¡­¡± her voice cracked briefly, ¡°don¡¯t kill me. A living loser is better than a dead rebel.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure¡­ but I wasn¡¯t so sure anymore about if Farahlia was the forked tongue. Fork. Chapter 240 My concerns yet unanswered, we continued our trip further east day by day, continuing through the Sheer Pass. There was the possibility of hunting more Nanuk for their tender, succulent flesh, but the risk was much higher than the reward, especially since we weren¡¯t at all familiar with their hunting, gathering, and traveling habits. One would have been easy enough to hunt, but even two at once would absolutely result in casualties, and that was a loss I was not at all willing to sustain for only a slightly more desirable meat. It was unsurprising to note that Farahlia showed more active participation in the day-to-day operations of the swarm after my direct questioning, given that I¡¯d threatened her with summary execution if I found that she was taking active steps to usurp my position as absolute Alpha of the swarm. Now, she actively found members of the core leadership and attempted to ingratiate herself however possible, and that without consciously utilizing her magic. She volunteered herself as an assistant to Sybil, to participate in hunts with Took, to talk and teach about magic control to Hala (during which she was strictly supervised by Shemira), and generally be as helpful and integrated as she could possibly become in short order. It seemed an honest enough effort, but considering her previous position had been established, maintained, and strengthened through deception and manipulation of perception and emotion, I was slow to trust. Took was leading at least two hunts a day, but had begun taking a slightly more conservative approach since her close scrape with the Nanuk. It was helpful to the swarm as a whole, since fewer and fewer of the hunters returned with injuries while still bringing about the same amount of prey back to the swarm. The more time Took spent leading the hunts, the more she became a Huntmaster instead of a mere coordinator. Planning where each pack would go, what their prey would be, when to return, and how to support each other were just some of her regular tasks, and the longer she took charge, the more accustomed and competent she became. As each member of the swarm became more and more acclimated to our journey and nomadic lifestyle, it seemed like the days would continue with each new day being a pantomime of the last, but as always, change came to upset the status quo. ¡°Alpha¨CFoire needs to speak with you.¡± Sybil called out to me one morning, and though she fought to keep herself composed and calm, I could read something in the slight twitch and twist of her tail. ¡°Anything you can tell me before I talk to him?¡± ¡°I think it would be better to hear from him yourself.¡± Sybil answered, and I flared my frills in acknowledgement. Foire and Trai stood nearby, him stoic and still, the little girl hopping from foot to foot in either excitement or fear or something else. ¡°Alpha,¡± Foire reported, ¡°we were scouting out ahead, to see what we had coming up, if we would need to reroute to keep the hunt successful, and see if there was anything we needed to look out for, and¨C¡± ¡°We saw a big big wall! So big! And it¡¯s made of rocks, and people walk on it and its big and and and¨C¡± ¡°Foire.¡± I commanded, and with a flick of his tail on her rump, Trai went silent, admonished but still excited. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°It was more than a village, from what I know of them. We aren¡¯t sure what kinds of creatures live within, but they have established walls and are in a deep valley, able to see anything that approaches or passes.¡± After a moment¡¯s hesitation to let what he¡¯d said sink in, I stifled the curses that wanted to erupt. ¡°Oh. Ok then. Let¡¯s see what we can do about this.¡± It was only a hurried journey of just over one hour to get to the point where we could begin to see the evidence of the village Foire was concerned about. It was small, with a moving body of water only barely qualifying to be called a creek running through it. As Foire had said, the town was found in the center of the valley that stretched between the high peaks on either side of the Sheer Pass, but this area was much more arid and lifeless than deeper within the Pass. There was no notable presence of the mountain goats we had been slaughtering left and right to sustain ourselves, and the environment didn¡¯t seem to be a good one for agricultural development. Going off of the amount of space the walls surrounded and the apparent lack of arable land, no more than 300 people could be sustainably living within, but I couldn¡¯t imagine living in such a cramped, miserable place packed in so uncomfortably. I estimated somewhere around 200 individuals lived within the bounds of the walls surrounding this settlement. The walls themselves were made of precisely quarried stone, to my surprise, not Called. They stood tall and, I supposed, wide, able to stave off even the most desperate and focused attacks. There was only one visible entry point, a heavy apparently stone door that was closed tight to our eyes. Along the top of the walls were complete palisades and patrolling guardsmen, my newly improved eyes could see gleaming armor and movement along the walls, but I didn¡¯t dare to get close enough to pick out greater detail than that. There were towers about twice the height of the walls at each corner of the apparently hexagonal walls, going off of the six towers, and I could see dedicated sentinels taking their positions there on those towers. Frankly speaking, the more I saw, the more confused I got, since this level of defenses was far beyond any military forts I¡¯d ever heard of in stories of warlike peoples long dead, much less those of a forgettable, tiny hamlet in the middle of nowhere. My only two thoughts were that either there was a High Earthspeaker who had taken up residence and was constantly expanding and improving upon the fortress¡¯s defenses while making it look naturally sourced, or this was a previous garrison that had been repaired for use by its current inhabitants. I hoped it was the second option, but I was unsure if I was willing to make a bet in either direction and risk swift retribution from a Veushten that had heard of our exploits and decided to literally drag us all down into the earth. Would Ana have told us of this fort in advance if they would try to fight us? I¡¯d never asked a lot of specifics of what we would find outside of the Wilds, an oversight I now regretted. As fahvalo, I was still her enemy, so could I be foolish to think that she would give us potentially helpful information? The more I thought about it, though, the more I felt like I only had one option in the current situation. I sent Foire to get Sybil, Shemira, and Took, and he sprinted off to find and bring them to me while Trai continued fidgeting nearby. The little male whose name I¡¯d learned was Greel stood nearby and watched Trai for her approval. In an attempt to calm them, I hummed for a time to [Nurturing Enunciation], but I stopped before I could exhaust myself and the two little ones resumed their manic pacing. I¡¯d made sure to leave about half my reserves available before I¡¯d stopped using my [Skill], so I could effectuate my plan. Once I presented my plan, Shemira¡¯s flicking tail and Took¡¯s ambivalence weren¡¯t ringing endorsements, while, Sybil resorted to calling it ¡°foolish to the absolute extreme of bullheaded straightforwardness¡±, but the entirety of my cabinet couldn¡¯t think of a better, more workable plan, so I stood tall and began to approach the city, magic beginning to bubble in my throat. Chapter 241 ¡°Inhabitants of this city! I am Ashlani, fahvalo of Bloodpriestess Ana of the Moonchildren, Alpha of my swarm, and saharliard of those who wish me no ill. I wish to speak to your leader, peaceably!¡± After a few moments, Sybil¡¯s voice cut through the pregnant silence. ¡°... Was there no more diplomatic way to present yourself?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I think I did pretty well.¡± ¡°And why did you not give a meeting location? Talk about who you are bringing? Give any more detail?¡± Sybil was unimpressed by my attempted diplomacy, even though she had approved of the general approach I had decided to take. I couldn¡¯t help but feel that she probably was right, but to speak again was to show uncertainty and weakness, so I simply turned my gaze to the city walls, hoping to see what reaction my words had garnered. With my [Raptor¡¯s Eyes], I could see that there was immediate movement in response to my shouts, but again, I was frustrated by my inability to see exactly what was going on, since I couldn¡¯t see anything more specific than just ¡°movement¡± and the glinting of metal. At least my situation was better than the rest of my companions who were nearby, since they relied entirely upon me to begin to try to react to the situation at hand, even Foire. I¡¯d learned that he could track and sense things much better than I, but his vision, especially in wide open spaces like this, was much more limited than mine. After a moment, though, as I saw that there wasn¡¯t anything I could react to just yet, I turned to Took. ¡°Go make sure that the swarm begins approaching. If anything happens and it becomes necessary, it¡¯d be better to have backup.¡± Without a word, she followed my command. Before Took could leave, though, Sybil smirked over her shoulder at me. ¡°You already had them begin approaching?¡± ¡°At this point, you really should know better.¡± ¡°I suppose I should. Thank you, Sybil.¡± Just a nod answered me, and I couldn¡¯t stop the chuckle from bubbling over in my throat. I lowered my head to hers, bunting it gently. A gentle tap of her tail answered me as she directed Shemira to go back and grab whoever she considered to be most capable and potentially helpful in the upcoming meeting. ¡°You¡¯re not my Alpha!¡± Shemira complained before teasingly rubbing hips with Sybil, the gentle scratching of scale on scale a reassuring sound. ¡°Anything I should bring you?¡± Shemira asked me, but I simply clicked my teeth together in dissent. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll bring Vefir, since¡­ you know.¡± With another flare of her frills, she jogged off, just quick enough to miss me relaying the next interesting bit of information: the gate of the town was opening. It wasn¡¯t long before I could see the reason that the gates were opening. A large figure in resplendently shining plate armor stepped out, a large poleaxe used as a walking stick thumping the ground in tandem with their steps. I realized I was only imagining the steps and striking weapon shaking the earth as I stepped out into the cleared plain and approached the lone figure. The sound of their steps rolled like booming thunder with each step, and the grass around them shivered as if electrically charged as their implacable approach continued. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Before the armored individual got too close, I called out to warn them, ¡°Hello again, I am Ashlani the khatif, a keelish who simply wishes to guide his fellows past your city. Would you introduce yourself?¡± A surprisingly squeaky male voice echoed out of the full armor. ¡°I¡¯m Drolick, the head warrior and mayor of Shandr, this here city you see before you. Frankly speaking, why should I begin to trust you and not kill you where you stand? You gotta understand that even if you can talk, in the best of times your people are a pest, and in the worst¡­ well, there¡¯s a whole lotta bloodshed on both sides.¡± While the voice itself spoke in the halting, breathy tones of an aged tenor, Drolick¡¯s tone was firm and implacable, just as his armor was. I only realized belatedly that the armor wasn¡¯t shining in the setting suns¡¯ light, but instead emanated its own intricately patterned light irrespective of the sunlight. ¡°Well, there are hundreds of us, and we simply want to pass peaceably. If we do, we will no longer consume the prey found on this side of the Sheer Pass and will soon leave any place near your jurisdiction without quarrel or bloodshed. If our hands are forced, we will shed the blood necessary to ensure our escape in this direction. Yours and our own.¡± I didn¡¯t speak with any particular inflection, but Drolick obviously startled within his armor at the reality that it was me that spoke, and then at the near emotionless cast with which I stated my willingness to slay and die to earn the right to pass. Drolick¡¯s armored figure approached, finally stopping just outside the reach of my tightly held spear. He was tall, taller than myself or Took, over seven feet, and the glyphs or paintings that adorned his armor shimmered, making him seem even more mysterious and powerful at this much closer proximity. ¡°You dare threaten my people to my face?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not play games.¡± I drawled, the human words coming more comfortably to my mouth than ever before. ¡°It isn¡¯t a threat but a statement of fact, allowing us to focus on reality. Given the opportunity, your people would almost certainly hunt us as much as they could manage, and slay many of us, but even so, you cannot guarantee the survival of every one of your subordinates in a pursuit. Additionally, I want to keep as many of my swarm alive as possible, and so I see no reason to kill your people if we can instead pass by peaceably.¡± A hacking noise sounded from within the armor, and a small vent opened near the right breast of the chestplate before a muddy brown drop of liquid shot out. ¡°I really should kill you, according to what the ¡®gods¡¯ say.¡± The emotional slant to his words was palpable and bitter. ¡°But I never been too obedient to what nearly omnipotent but still stupid so-called ¡®gods¡¯ say, so why not. Pass by during the night, I don¡¯t want the civvies to see how many of you there¡¯re. Move along, because any one of you we see in the morning is a pest and will be summarily dealt with. Clear?¡± I smirked. ¡°Clear enough for me. Anything to look out for as we pass by?¡± ¡°Nothing I¡¯m willing to tell you. Welcome to the Badlands, where the rejected and angry band together. Don¡¯t piss us off more than we already are.¡± The helmet nodded curtly, the barely visible blue eyes within flashing before Drolick turned and jogged away, back to the city walls of Shandr. As the heavily armored man moved away, I realized that the armor sounded suspiciously hollow, but there was something inside¡­ but that was wholly unimportant to me, so instead I flicked my tail, and with it, the thought from my mind. Instead, as the swarm quickly approached behind me, all that remained was just to rest until true dark, and we¡¯d pass by the little city. Right? Chapter 242 [Drolick POV] Drolick tried to keep himself from stomping as he stalked back into Shandr. That monster was off-putting. The way it carried itself, as if a keelish talking was normal as could be, the way it simply made demands¡­ Drolick worked to stop the shiver from running down his back as he remembered the hissing, barely intelligible words from that fanged, huge maw¡­ With an effort of will, Drolick pulsed additional magic power through the armor, opened the discharge flap, and spit out. The brownweed he was chewing was about gone, and the jittery clarity of mind from it was flagging. It had been a long time since someone told him to stop his chew habit, and he could finally admit it was getting out of control, but it was the only thing that kept him working as hard as he was, so it was a necessary evil. ¡°Mayor! What was that?¡± ¡°Captain! Did you kill whatever it was? Was it someone from the Wilds?¡± ¡°Head Warrior! Are we safe? Do we need to retreat to the mines?¡± With a deliberate crack of his neck, Drolick settled himself before opening his Mageplate. Inside the breastplate was a dwarf of a man, his chest collapsed and arms skeletal, a white beard stained earthy tones by the dribbles of brownweed colored spit dripping from the corners of his mouth. His legs were functional, but only enough to help him get to his wheelchair. Drolick settled in, fastening his torso into the power reception module and slowly easing his will into the contraption as he decided what to say to the worried men and women manning the walls. With a grunt, Drolick spoke up, his voice squeaking out, ¡°Long story short, we¡¯re fine if we don¡¯t do anything stupid. I¡¯ll talk with all the division captains and their subs, and that¡¯s how you¡¯ll get whatever details you do. Now, back to the walls, make sure nothing approaches us.¡± He nodded dismissively, and while the assorted people and species obviously had pressing questions, they had received direct orders from their bosses¡¯ bosses¡¯ boss, so they shut up and listened. Drolick grunted, satisfied, to himself and began willing himself forward as his better right hand fingered at the small comms device lodged just next to where the withered hand naturally fell. With a parallel effort of will, Drolick pushed magic into the small module and, once he felt the sizzling establishment of connection, began to give his brief order: ¡°All caps and subs, meet me in the war room, yesterday. If you¡¯re in the mines, report to me once your shift is over, and stay down there.¡± Once the order was given and a chorus of murmurs of affirmation received, Drolick reached to the concealed brownweed compartment in the arm of the chair and raised another pinch to his mouth. He¡¯d need every edge he could get in this next meeting. ¡­ The city of Shandr was small, at least, it was as far as any surfacefolk knew. That was how Drolick liked it, hard to tell how much they had spread underground and how many of the survivors there were hiding out in the mines. That way, they were seen as generally useless and below anyone¡¯s notice. The trip to his office was quick and smooth, only interrupted by brief nods to civilians and citizens who greeted him. He was an obvious enough figure, he supposed, considering nobody else would be so wasteful as to determine the precise engineering necessary to create a magical wheelchair. But, he was the mayor and he figured that his genius and position afforded him at least that much ¡°wastefulness¡±. As he rolled up the stairs to his office and then into the war room, Drolick realized that Mundir was already here. She was a dear, an ursine beastkin from the Icy Archipelago. She¡¯d been thrown away by her idiot of a mother when she¡¯d finally told her that she couldn¡¯t use their traditional magic to morphosize, and, like all surviving outlaws, castaways, and outcasts, she eventually made her way into Shandr. She was a gloriously intelligent magecrafter, was well on her way to creating a complete Mageplate, and had been an indispensable secretary/chief of state since her arrival. ¡°Welcome, Mayor Drolick.¡± A scoff. The girl¡¯s only issue was that she couldn¡¯t get over this damned formality. She was bowed low over the table, her wet snout nearly touching it. ¡°Get up, Mundir.¡± She stood tall, her broad shoulders square, as she waited for him to assume his position at the head of the table. Her fur was slowly transitioning to a more dirty gray than its initial snowy white, presumably from long hours spent in front of the forge and in the mines. She, like all beastkin, was basically the beast made human: over seven feet tall, paws for feet, thick fur covering the whole body, hands instead of paws on the arms, and a bearlike face. Her eyes glittered with intelligence, and her thick leather armor suited her, showing exactly how dangerously muscled the entirety of her torso was. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Good to see you, Mayor. How was the meeting?¡± He grunted, again. ¡°I¡¯ll talk about it once everyone gets here.¡± A quiet nod, then she sat and began idly scribbling at her Mageplate blueprints. Stealthily, Drolick scooted his chair over to take a look at the plans. He was only able to see a couple of equations before a furry arm covered his view. ¡°I respect you greatly as a magecrafter and my teacher, but I want this to be MY Mageplate. No advice.¡± A wry smile covered Drolick¡¯s face. It was an old conversation, mostly born from the fact that Drolick was an incorrigible crafter, and always wanted to add his own flair to anything he saw. ¡°Very well. Let me know if you have any questions.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± An easy silence settled over the table before the door flew open, and in stalked a human, bulky and sweaty. ¡°Hello, Virion. No, we haven¡¯t started. Sit down.¡± The young subcaptain nodded twice, quickly, and settled into a seat next to Mundir. He looked excitedly at her blueprints, gasped in awe at a couple of the equations, and was summarily hushed by his senior. Before the door could even settle back on its hinges, it opened languidly to admit Atik. He was a deposed prince of the Misti Hawar, and couldn¡¯t bear to let anyone forget it. His people were shorter than the lupine, ursine, and otariid beastkin, and insisted they were not beastkin, but Drolick couldn¡¯t see it. Mostly beast, people, had fur and long teeth, whatever. The Misti Hawar were comparatively bulkier than most of their beastkin folk, broad of shoulder and waist, with thicker, darker fur than most other subsets. They disliked using weapons, something about weakening the primal instinct, and instead relied on their impressive natural athleticism and natural weapons: claws and teeth. Most abhorred and avoided the use of armor as well, but since Atik had been deposed due to his inability to use their hereditary magics, he decided to rely on whatever he could. Atik never removed his armor where anyone could see him: a mahogany colored leather with glittering black runes decorating the entire body. There were scales and additional straps to give boosted protection against piercing weapons, but the primary function of the armor was inspired by his people¡¯s Words of Power and worked to keep him hidden in the darkness. It did its job serviceably, and while Drolick had no fondness for the deposed prince, he had to admit the beauty in the craftsmanship of his full body armor. Using the leather to trade greater protection for increased versatility had been a masterclass idea¡­ Drolick was stirred from his thoughts as he realized that the entirety of who he expected to come to the meeting was present. Ursine and lupine beastkin and humans made up the majority, but there were a couple of Veushten and a single Moonchild. All present looked to him if not with respect, at least with attention. ¡°I¡¯ll cut to the chase. There are not many who know the term ¡®saharliard¡¯, but the one who used it¡­ used it correctly. They asked to¨C¡± ¡°So there are talking keelish here?¡± Atik interrupted. ¡°And when are we leaving to slaughter them?¡± A couple of the older beastkin raised their hackles and the rumbling sound of displeased growls filled the room at the immediate and obvious disrespect. ¡°I was getting to that, princeling.¡± Atik¡¯s own hackles rose at the deliberate jab, but Drolick continued. ¡°They said they just want to skirt around the city during the night so as not to panic anyone. Without killing or hurting anyone. I¡¯m inclined to give that to them.¡± ¡°You are an idiot.¡± Atik¡¯s voice again cut through the room. ¡°The gods themselves have decreed that talking pests are to be immediately put down.¡± Drolick looked over at the hotheaded youth, his sigh audible and disappointed. ¡°Am I wrong?¡± Atik asked. ¡°No, but you¡¯re the real idiot.¡± Before the sputtering princeling could gather his thoughts, Drolick continued, ¡°Some of the gods have said that, yes. BUT!¡± His voice, high-pitched and squeaky as it was, cracked through the room. ¡°You¡¯re talking to a room of leaders of a literal gods-forsaken city. You yourself are one of the forgotten by the gods. Why would we care what they think?¡± Atik¡¯s jaw hung open, his canines sharp and threatening in the light. ¡°But¡­ you know what I am.¡± ¡°A Misti Hawar princeling, yes.¡± ¡°An ancient keelish hunter.¡± ¡°Forgotten by those who made you that, yes. Is there a point to this?¡± ¡°I will hunt them. If you know what¡¯s good for you, you¨C¡± At Atik¡¯s words, a particularly angry human captain, Lindta, next to him grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and bodily hauled him to his feet. ¡°If you know what¡¯s good for you, you won¡¯t finish that sentence, whelp.¡± The beastkin around the table chuckled, and a chorus of ¡°whelp¡± and ¡°pup¡± sounded in the room. Atik obviously wanted to lash out, but Lindta pulled the scruff back and up in a way that exposed Atik¡¯s throat before gently loosening his shortsword at his waist. Drolick let the painful silence settle for just a moment before gesturing for Lindta to release the fuming Atik. ¡°You¡¯re free to do what you want, but Shandr will not support you in this if you do. Also, if you¡¯re thinking to do something stupid to Lindta because of how your people do things, I invite you to look at the people in this room and reconsider.¡± The entire ruling class of the city looked threateningly at the enraged young captain. ¡°You¡¯re a good leader, and a better fighter. Don¡¯t be stupid.¡± With a huff Atik turned. ¡°You are all fools.¡± He stormed out. Drolick turned to a couple of his more trusted captains and, before he could say a word, they nodded and followed the headstrong Misti Hawar out. ¡°Any other questions?¡± Chapter 243 The streets have changed. The air is tight, tense, and angry. The Apotheosis has changed everything here, and I knew that my time here would be short, and, beyond that, this would be my final time in the beautiful, artificial capital Viertaal. The happily bustling streets now ring with the constant patrol of the steel-shod boots of soldiers, and my favorite bakery has closed its doors to become just another ration dispensing depot. Angry glares, so rare before, now meet my gaze frequently, and every other face looks at mine with distrust. Viertaal has changed, and I don¡¯t like it. I leave before the week ends. -From the twenty sixth entry of the epistolary travel journal of Kayuktuk the Landlocked ¡°Come on Alpha! Why didn¡¯t you call me?¡± ¡°Ytte. There is no way I could have known that whoever came to speak to us would be wearing that special metal armor. You were already en route to us when he arrived, and you hadn¡¯t arrived by the time he left. I don¡¯t know what else to tell you.¡± ¡°I know! But¡­ This is stupid!¡± She pouted as she continued to drag her massive rock along. ¡°Maybe he could have helped us understand what to do with this massive pain in the tail!¡± As the days had continued to pass, Ytte learned and honed the skill of how to constantly manipulate the earth below her to be smoother and easier to drag her hundred-pound burden. Ytte stormed off and sat on her rock while the rest of us rested until, once night fell, the swarm began our journey. Annoying as the magical khatif¡¯s complaints were, she was lugging around a massive mound of stone that only supposedly had great value, and she¡¯d lost the opportunity to be in direct contact with someone who appeared to know at least something about its metallurgical properties. With Ytte finished with her tirade, Sybil approached me, her steps pensive and sure in the darkness. ¡°That face means you¡¯ve been thinking. Tell me about it.¡± She flared her frills in acquiescence. ¡°Most¡­ ¡®people¡¯... are loathe to label us people.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°All ¡®people¡¯ we¡¯ve met thus far have had one thing in common: clothing. What exactly is the purpose of clothing?¡± Ah¡­ I paused for a moment. ¡°Well, its purpose is twofold. The first as a functional covering that protects the wearer, such as the armor that Drolick was wearing today. That protects him from attack, as metal is generally stronger and harder to pierce than flesh. The humans in the Veratocracy wear those full-body coverings because it makes them harder to detect.¡± She flared her frills in understanding. ¡°The second is to do with the idea of modesty, I suppose. Creatures who wear clothing use it to cover their genitals as a matter of modesty, since having yourself seen when not explicitly engaging in mating behavior is embarrassing or shameful to those with a sense of modesty.¡± Sybil¡¯s head slowly cocked to the side. ¡°This sense of modesty seems stupidly inefficient. I understand the protective measures, but who cares if your reproductive organs are seen any more than a different part of your body? It¡¯s just a body? I enjoy looking at your thick shoulders and hips, or your strong tail and fierce hands more than your penis.¡± I chuckled as I tried to respond. ¡°Regardless, the sense of modesty is a sense that is seemingly shared universally among so-called ¡®civilized¡¯ races. The Moonchildren, Sunkindred, Veushten, and, apparently, any others will almost certainly share this sense of shame.¡± Sybil thought for a moment. ¡°By their own logic, we should be far more civilized than they, just by birth.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°We¡¯re born with protective coverings, our scales, which also provide us with a sense of modesty, since we have our genital folds that protect our reproductive organs. So, we are inherently and efficiently garbed after their own manner.¡± The slight chuckles that had already risen at her previous response devolved into giggles at her wholly logical response. ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right, but they probably wouldn¡¯t care.¡± Sybil sighed, then began turning away, losing herself in thought. ¡°Then I guess we will need to begin clothing construction¡­ would leather be better¡­? I¡¯m sure Shemira would¡­¡± As my mate lost herself in her musings, I turned back to supervise the continued passage of the swarm. As per my command, the swarm was moving as unobtrusively as we could muster, and were also making good time. I looked around, taking stock of the moving bodies, and was happy to see that there weren¡¯t any stragglers or distracted members of the swarm slowing down our general progress. With the nipping winds of the fabled autumn I¡¯d never before experienced beginning their blowing, I was sure that we would have more than enough night to make our passage unobtrusively, but I wanted to make our campsite at least a couple hours¡¯ worth of travel past the city itself by the time the sun rose, so I went to begin pushing the swarm to greater speeds once we had passed the city itself. The landscape opened up more and more as we pushed past the cramped Sheer Pass, and, while we couldn¡¯t see that far in the dark, there was an intangible feeling of openness and freedom as we stepped out of the constrained valley between the two mountain ranges. The plains began to open before us, the grasses growing tall, taller than the average keelish, and the plains before us spread, apparently endless and fertile. It was as the swarm began to feel complacent that a chorus of chuffing, snarling growls began to sound from in front of the main body of the swarm. I called out, ¡°Easy! Stay together, stay alert, stay ready!¡± Just after that, the growls coalesced into one cry, and four figures rushed out of the grasses at the keelish in the front. Without hesitation, the figures began lashing out with hand and jaw, and keelish bodies fell in their advance. It was strange, though. Were these ambushers not aware that now that they no longer had surprised us, we would be able to rally and pursue? ¡°They seem intelligent! Try to subdue instead of slay, if possible! Vefir, Etra, you¡¯re on triage, so stay close but hang back!¡± After my barked orders, I sprinted towards the scene of the battle. On three of the four fronts, the attacker had already been subdued, buried under slashing claws, gnashing fangs, and falling poleaxes. In snarling tones, they communicated with each other, looking confusedly between themselves as they were held painfully against the ground. I ran to the final, still struggling individual. It was a thickly furred beast with two legs and arms, like a human with a long, thin tail and thick, black fur under its intricate leather armor. It looked furiously and snarled from side to side as it swiped threateningly with its paws as the keelish tried to hold it at bay with their poleaxes. They were mostly unsuccessful, with the crazed beast accurately seizing openings and rushing to where it could wreak the most havoc and damage. Keelish squealed out in pain and suffering as the creature struck out again and again, but fortunately, the keelish banding together kept their fellows from being slaughtered, and were instead sustaining heavy injuries. As I approached, the defenders spread out and gave me an opening to approach. ¡°Tell me,¡± I asked in the human tongue, confident that it would understand. ¡°How stupid do you have to be to lead four individuals against a body of several hundred?¡± The beast turned to me, eyes rolling in a fury. ¡°We are your ancient predator, the Misti Hawar! You should flee before our cries and be cut down like wheat before the scythe!¡± ¡°I guess your answer is pretty damn stupid.¡± The male-voiced beast was particularly enraged by my response, but I wasn¡¯t feeling inclined to charitable thinking either, so I approached while he continued to run his mouth. ¡°You pest! You were supposed to flee and smash stupidly against the walls of Shandr, then be eliminated by the guard!¡± I didn¡¯t respond as I engaged in battle with the foreign ¡°Misti Hawar¡±. Stupid he may be, but a great fighter too. He was quick, even quicker than me. He had a good battle sense as well, the glowing spots under [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] only appearing for brief moments, and he was a whirling tornado of raging assaults. Unfortunately for him, Wisterl was a wilder, crazier fighter than he could hope to be, and when one of his sweeping strikes went wide, I pressed the attack and, with a decisive blow, lopped his hand off at the wrist with the claws of my left hand. ¡°Dulvroc take you, you vermin! Accursed, blight created filth! I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Angrier than before, the boy rushed back in, and, before long, with a snick of my jaws, his other hand was liberated from his body. ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are. You¡¯re an idiot. Obviously, you know Shandr, and I told Drolick that violence would be repaid in blood. I guess we¡¯ll need to speak with him before the night is through.¡± Chapter 244 It wasn¡¯t too hard to hold the leader of the late-night assault as a harmless hostage after he¡¯d passed out from blood loss. Once we stripped his special-looking armor and bound both his handless wrists together and his snout closed, he wasn¡¯t much more than furry luggage, and I personally threw him across my shoulders as we trekked back to Shandr. Under his armor and fur, our prisoner was particularly muscled, but, strangely for a warrior of his prowess, lacked any sort of notable scar tissue. The only injuries he ever seemed to have sustained was the loss of his hands to me. Curious, I¡¯d taken a look at another of the ¡°Misti Hawar¡±, wondering if maybe they just didn¡¯t scar, but all three were patterned with ropy white witnesses of past battles. A small part of me wondered at it, but the rest of me simply didn¡¯t care, and the khatif part of me laughed at the skilled but untested warrior. He must have been trained by those who didn¡¯t dare to inflict any sort of harm on him, and so he couldn¡¯t believe that a foe would go for crippling blows. There were all sorts of observations and thoughts that warred for my attention as we hiked, but I was frankly too pissed to care at this point. I¡¯d made it abundantly clear that we simply wanted to pass by peaceably, and instead my largesse had been exploited by these four fools to carry out a pointless night assault. The more I thought about it, the more incensed I became, my fists clenched at my sides, my teeth grinding, my heartbeat thundering in my ears. The bastards. The Nievtala forgotten, scaleless worms. I was going to make them pay. With a wordless clicking shriek, I called the swarm forward, my anger bubbling over. No, not mere anger. Rage. Seething uncontrollably, I channeled my magic into my throat, my magic flowing in a new way I¡¯d never even thought of, an indescribable fury burning like a flame out my throat, immediately rubbing my throat raw and burning like my own out of check emotions. The somewhat expected flashing thing in the corner of my eye appeared, but instead of acknowledging its existence, I set off at a loping run towards the walls of Shandr. ¡°You¡¯ll go no further, beast. Return Atik and his pack to us and continue on your way.¡± A somewhat wolfish figure appeared in the treeline ahead of me, flanked by a dozen of its fellows, his voice strident and commanding. The cadre stood, weapons borne and bared at us, but I didn¡¯t slow down. ¡°Get out of the way or you die.¡± My voice was surprisingly level as I hissed out in keelish, ¡°Slaughter any who don¡¯t clear the path.¡± I continued my implacable run as we closed the distance, 100 feet, then 50, and 20. Finally, as my swarm hissed their battle cries and I readied my spear to throw, our foes realized the immediate, mortal danger they were standing in the way of, and scattered out of our path. Good. Our journey was not too long, just the work of half an hour¡¯s run. Often, physical exertion would serve to calm me, but this did nothing to dull the edge of my manic, consuming rage. I noted and didn¡¯t care that the pack we had blazed past were now flanking the swarm as we approached the city, calling howls to each other and obviously sending communications ahead. The closer we got to Shandr itself, the more visibly antsy our ¡°escorts¡± became, before finally they sprinted around the swarm, and they were loping ahead of us, maintaining their distance while also placing themselves between us and the city itself. Once the city was a mere thousand or so feet away, I called for the swarm to stop, and with a thundering of running feet, they did. ¡°Retreat to the walls.¡± I spoke simply to the wolfish creature in front of me. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Not before¨C¡± ¡°Now.¡± I simply raised my spear¡¯s tip to ¡°Atik¡±¡¯s neck and poked it in hard enough to elicit a pained whine from the mostly unconscious prisoner. Visibly discontent, the cadre did as they were told, stopping about 150 feet away from the walls themselves. As they did so, I gestured for the other three prisoners to be brought up to where I was. Sybil stood close, and quietly whispered, ¡°Show them who we are.¡± ¡°We were irreconcilable from the moment they allowed for this to happen.¡± I agreed. She nodded and whistled for the wolfstag pack to approach. The Voltaic did so immediately, while the Wave Wolfstags flanked Joral and began subtly channeling their magic. The rest of the swarm subconsciously gave me a wide berth, their deference and slight fear obvious. After only a moment¡¯s wait, I could finally see glimmering plate armor appearing on the walls, and knew it was time. I drew on my sonilphon¡¯s depths and shouted out, my voice reverberating across the clearing. ¡°Drolick¡­ It seems you have a less secure hold over your people than you promised.¡± Behind me, a group of keelish under Sybil¡¯s direction brought forward the bodies from the Misti Hawar¡¯s ambush. Eleven keelish bodies were laid before me, limp and dull in the moonlight, and my anger hardened and steeled itself at the sight. ¡°I told you I wanted to pass peaceably and without the shedding of blood. I saw it as wasteful to attack your people and sustain mutual losses in so doing, so I suggested a peaceful passing. Apparently, you didn¡¯t care as much about life¡¯s preservation as I do.¡± From the city¡¯s walls echoed a faint, high pitched voice, panic threading the tones, ¡°What are you planning? There¡¯s no reason to extend the amount of suffering tonight. It¡¯s a tragic thing, but there is no reason to prolong tragedy!¡± ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong, Drolick. Only I have suffered a tragedy. You have suffered an inconvenience at most. But you will witness a tragedy.¡± I lashed out with my spear and commanded Solia and Hala to burn. Two spears of flame pierced into the trapped Misti Hawar, and he screamed as his fur went up in flames. He spasmed and collapsed to the ground as his hoarse screams pierced the air; his two conscious companions began to struggle madly to escape. It was to no avail, as they were smashed to their faces in the dirt, piled on by three khatif each, and Drolick¡¯s voice carried out from the city. ¡°Now we have to kill you here to protect the rest. You¡¯re an idiot.¡± ¡°You certainly seem to think I am.¡± I screamed, my voice thundering out over the clearing to the walls. ¡°Atik here will live and will be delivered to you safely after the circle of suffering is complete. Additionally,¡± I motioned at the wolfstags, who readied a volley of watery arrows, ¡°I have ways to ensure that nobody approaches beyond the level of my comfort. Fire.¡± The flight of sharp water lanced forward and let loose a veritable explosion at the impact site, a mere 50 feet from the pack of people standing outside the walls. The dust cleared, showing a series of craters made in the ground by the magic. ¡°Drolick. This is an unfortunate consequence to these fools¡¯ actions.¡± At my words, I plunged my hand down again and the Voltaic Wolfstags, under Sybil¡¯s command, sent lightning coursing through the female Misti Hawar. She spasmed wildly, her body jolting as the lightning quickly took her life and left the corpse jittering on the ground. ¡°At least I¡¯m more merciful than these ones were. Their deaths are quick and guaranteed, as well as being deserved, unlike our own.¡± The final victim was forced up to his knees, his face exposed. Tears began to run down his face, sniffling sobs wracking his entire body as the fear of mortality was settled onto him forcefully. ¡°I-I-I-I¡¯m so-so-so-sorry. P-P-P-Please don¡¯t¨C¡± I didn¡¯t let him finish begging for his life as I reached down with my left hand and ripped a five inch section from his neck before throwing it down my throat. ¡°Now you have also suffered the tragedy of your subordinates slain before you for a reason you cannot quite understand. If you will excuse us now, we will retreat to the forest line, where we will leave the still-living Atik. If you begin to approach the forest before we have, as an entire body, retreated, he will die. If you try to have your lurking scouts in the forest slow us, they will be slain. If you follow us, we will flee, kill as many as come close, and return with greater numbers. ¡°Let the cycle end here.¡± Chapter 245 We beat a hasty retreat to the treeline, though I didn¡¯t and couldn¡¯t hold back my rage, even after venting it on the three Misti Hawar. I gestured for some of the swarm to gather up the corpses left behind from our fellows and victims, since we didn¡¯t know how easily we could find prey in the next leg of our journey. The disgust I once would have felt at the thought of eating my fellow kind or a sentient creature was nowhere to be found. Instead, I found myself still seething with frustration at the idiotic actions of the ¡°Misti Hawar¡± Atik. Eleven of my swarm dead for his pride. His three supporters, dead for nothing. My anger continued to crescendo and a part of me that I was pretty sure wasn¡¯t purely khatif simply wanted to rip him to pieces and make him suffer even more than he already was, but I calmed myself enough not to break my promise to Drolick. Instead, I busied myself with finally acknowledging the flashing [System] notification. [Organ: Fathomless Sonilphon has revealed its evolutionary requirements. Current Organ: Fathomless Sonilphon; an exceptionally advanced version of the rare magic manipulating organ, Sonilphon. This organ is developed by those who have moved past elementary understanding of what sonic magic can do, and are understanding what sonic magic is. The Fathomless Sonilphon¡¯s reserves for magic are expanded greatly from that of the Profound Sonilphon, and the Fathomless Sonilphon¡¯s rate of ambient magic conversion to sonic attributed magic within the organ is enhanced beyond that of the Profound Sonilphon. Additionally, any development of a new Skill related to sonic magic and the Sonilphon will be rewarded with bonus Stats. This organ can evolve. Requirements: Evolve two Sonic Magic Skills beyond their initial tier of power. Progress: 0/2] Good news. It was good. I knew already how to evolve all my sonilphon-related [Skills], and simply needed to redouble my focus on evolving them, so that I could see what additional paths were laid open to me after so doing. With an idle thought, I paused before sending my magic literally thundering down my arms to my hands, where the vibration shuddered to life and sent my fingers into reverberations. A more manual activation of [Quaking Claw]. This was one of the very few of my [Skills] whose evolution method was nebulous to me, but I found, somehow, a certain peace in using the [Skill] without any intent to kill. My fingers thrumming and leaking magical power, I touched a claw to the trunk of a sapling as I walked past, and with a creaking crack, the sapling began to crumble and shatter where I¡¯d lightly pressed my fingers. With a force of will, I held my claws within the disintegrating trunk and attempted to pulse the destructive waved deeper into the wood. I subconsciously expected a [System] notification to flash, letting me know I¡¯d gotten an evolution to the [Skill], but apparently this was just a further deadly application of my magic, not an upgrade. Nonetheless, a smile spread across my face. Finally, I could see a little of what the [System] detailed as [Developing a more complete understanding of sonic waves and how to influence them while they are not directly in contact with the Skill holder¡¯s body.] ¡°... Kill you¡­¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. My pleased musings were interrupted by Atik¡¯s weak voice. I glanced down at the rousing moron as he continued, ¡°You¡­ should kill me¡­ I¡¯ll kill you¡­ if you¡­ let me survive¡­¡± Somehow, his cocksure attitude didn¡¯t inflame my anger, but instead dampened it, giving rise to mirth. I couldn¡¯t hold back the chuckles as I got my face low and close to Atik¡¯s. ¡°You really want to make sure that the rest of Shandr comes after us, huh? Enough to sacrifice yourself?¡± In his addled state, Atik couldn¡¯t hide the surprise. ¡°What a misguided, self-righteous, ignorant, deluded idiot.¡± ¡°We are your¨C¡± ¡°¡®We¡¯??¡± My emphasis on the word was punctuated by a subconscious layer of sonic magic that served to blast his fur back. ¡°Make no mistake, Atik, the Misti Hawar cretin. There are no more ¡®we¡¯ in your group. You are the last one, the rest slaughtered and made ready to be eaten by the swarm. You will survive solely because only I between the two of us has some sort of a functioning mind. Your death is a sacrifice I am willing to make to ensure that Drolick, an apparently wiser leader than you, doesn¡¯t follow me.¡± ¡°Chaska, Kuna, and Qispi have sacrificed their lives to further our divine purpose. Nothing you would understand.¡± Atik spat the words at me, his large canines garbling the speech as he attempted to look down his nose at me. My amusement rose and expressed itself in a sneering peal of laughter. ¡°Then riddle me this, you speaking cesspool. Your three friends will be eaten by your supposed prey, their strengths added to our own. They have so ¡®nobly sacrificed¡¯ themselves for what? The deaths of just a few of my rabble, those whose names I never knew and wouldn¡¯t have known. These three friends of yours followed your commands, trusting in you. Now they lay prepared on my dinner table. You, a practiced warrior lay shamed and crippled in your foes¡¯ arms, stripped of your magical armor and your pride. Have your gods given you something I¡¯m missing? Because it seems that your furthering your divine purpose did nothing more than inconvenience me while behanding you. Nievtala guides us to victory, while yours forget you.¡± I could feel Atik¡¯s body stiffen in rage as my tirade beat down on him relentlessly, and I knew he was about to lash out at me either verbally or, more likely, physically. With a laugh I threw him forward, his back smashing into a thick tree¡¯s trunk and knocking the wind out of him as he slumped painfully onto the ground. With a grunt I sat back on my haunches as I lowered myself to look into Atik¡¯s eyes as I firmly gripped his muzzle and held it closed. He lashed out with one arm, forgetting his lack of hands in his rage, and did nothing more than smash his bloodied stump of a wrist against my armored shoulders. A whimper of pain hissed out of his nose as I finally began speaking again. ¡°This,¡± I said, dragging a vibrating claw across his snout¡¯s width, ¡°is so you always see me. Your hands are gone, but you will get used to that, eventually. You will ALWAYS see this scar, always be reminded of your friend¡¯s ¡®noble sacrifice¡¯, always remember that you were weaker than me.¡± I lifted my hand away from Atik¡¯s bleeding face, his spirit nearly broken, and began to walk away. With a moment to rouse his courage, he called to my back, ¡°I swear, I will kill you.¡± Looking back, I grinned with bloodlust obvious in my eyes. ¡°You couldn¡¯t when you were whole. What makes you think that crippled you will be able to do what whole you couldn¡¯t?¡± Somehow, I knew that those final words broke something inside Atik, and walked away proud¡­ and still unsure if I could call this something that the khatif in me had done. Chapter 246 We otariid have a duty to the rest of our folk, we have a place, and you have forgotten it. We are the strongest in the seas, while the lupine and ursine protect us on the land, the mustelid and rodentia scout out our foes. Our place is not on land, nor is it found behind the walls of the Veratocracy. You are losing yourself, and we are losing you. Please, return home. Your mother has withdrawn after Atka¡¯s death, and we have missed your peacemaking and kind ways at home. I love and miss you. -Letter from Marshal Inuksuk, son of Ilnak, to Naddarah, daughter of Annah. As my steps elongated and the distance stretched between the swarm and Atik¡¯s cowering form, my stomach twisted ever more violently. The pleasure I had taken in picking at his weaknesses, the uncontrollable urge to twist the knife deeper and more painfully, the pride I had taken in knowing that I had permanently broken Atik physically and emotionally¡­ I had never thought myself capable of wanting that, of being that, but there hadn¡¯t been a sweeping, swelling Khatif feeling. It had only been¡­ me. All violence I¡¯d ever inflicted, all lives I¡¯d ever ended, all things that could be easily counted as cruel or amoral could have been justified from certain standpoints. Hunting was simple, food to eat. That was simply how life worked. When that village had led a charge on the den and we¡¯d completely routed them, it was, again, an easy justification: kill or be killed, and entirely self-defense. I¡¯d killed, and eventually, eaten the flesh of intelligent creatures. Fourteen bodies were being carried by my swarm at this moment with that intent. With what I knew now, with who I had already become, if I were to turn back time, I might have led the swarm to eliminate every single human in the village before our escape. That would have preserved more of the swarm, and though I¡¯d lament it¡­ I would have killed every human in that village, young and old, to protect my own. Perhaps that would have killed what remained of my humanity within me, but humanity was long behind me. I didn¡¯t enjoy the realization, but I forced myself to admit the reality that I¡¯d consigned three (debatably) intelligent creatures to agonizing deaths and another to a lifelong handicap, and I¡¯d do so again without hesitation to protect me and mine. Beyond that, though¡­ there was no reason for me to needle at Atik, to tear him down the way that I had. Only that I had enjoyed it. That was the only reason. I wasn¡¯t driven by particular rage or anger or reason, but by sadistic enjoyment. Did I want to continue to indulge in that ugly side of me? ¡°Ashlani.¡± My name, so foreign from her tongue, startled me out of my reverie. Sybil continued once she saw my attention shift to her. ¡°You made a decision that you would not have made before. It becomes you, as a true swarm Alpha. It was a firm statement of retribution and mercy, all in one moment.¡± She lightly slapped my side with her tail before walking a couple paces away where she continued to walk alongside me. Took too was walking near me in apparent solidarity. I couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Was it that obvious?¡± Took couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at my question. ¡°To us, yes. The swarm, probably not.¡± It was uncommon to hear Took laugh, and the strangeness of it forcefully pulled at me, forcing me to focus on the positive impact I was having. The keelish swarm that I now ruled over would absolutely have been exterminated at this point were it not for me, one at the hands of the Veushten, the other by the Moonchildren. A disorganized swathe of pests could now begin to call itself a people. Learning tools, evolving as a species, finding an ancient home. That was from me. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Look, Ash.¡± Shemira called me from my musing, pointing at Foire and Trai. ¡°They¡¯re alive because of you. Look at all them. None of us would still be alive without your guidance. You¡¯re a killer. You killed frogs, then snakes, and deer, then humans and Redael. You¡¯ve killed for us and will continue to do so. Stop trembling in fear because you¡¯ve finally realized you like to do it.¡± She flicked her tail dismissively as I felt my scales and frills flare out around my head. ¡°You¡¯re a good keelish. And a good leader.¡± Then, she jogged off. I began to allow myself to feel the complex swirling of emotions within me as finally the swarm approached the open fields where we had previously been ambushed. There was a cool, bone-chilling breeze blowing, the grass flowing in a liquid way, almost appearing as a vast ocean. I paused, looking over the vast plains, and let my confusing mass of emotions press, rock, shake me, but as I allowed myself to feel them, they died down in intensity. Finally, I was left with a firm stone of certainty, growing as a foundation until I could center myself on this absolute confidence in myself. With a deep breath I forced myself from my reverie and looked around. The cold autumnal wind had begun to settle into my unmoving body, and I stiffly stretched myself and tried to warm up. Not far away, Joral stood, hesitant. I looked expectantly and he stepped forward, a sheepish but excited look on his face. ¡°That was¡­ different. You¡¯re a stronger leader now.¡± ¡°I suppose so. I¡¯m finally making decisions instead of just letting things happen.¡± Joral nodded a couple of times, seeming to have something else to say. After a moment of indecision and quiet, I spoke again. ¡°Joral, I trust you. I know that I haven¡¯t shown that as well as I could have, but I do. I hold you to a higher standard than others, because I believe in you.¡± He stood a little taller, almost looking comical since he was a naturally hunched individual. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yeah. From tonight, everything is going to change, and I trust you to spearhead a lot of that change.¡± Joral looked at me, somewhat shocked. ¡°How¡­ how do you want me to help you lead? I only really lead the wolfstags, and sometimes Trai¡¯s little pack. I¡­ I¡¯m not like you.¡± I scoffed. ¡°No reason to fear. You¡¯re a natural leader, and, if I wasn¡¯t here, I¡¯m willing to bet you would have been the one to bring the swarm together.¡± Joral looked down for a moment, then, seeming to steel himself, looked up at me. ¡°Thank you for trusting me. I won¡¯t let you down. My friend, my leader, my Alpha.¡± ¡°Until you or I die.¡± ¡°Victory, by fang and blood.¡± I almost chuckled at the old mantra, surprised by how long it had been since I¡¯d last led the swarm with those words. Briefly with the Nanuk, then not since the Moonchildren¡­ While I¡¯d lost myself in my musings once again, Joral had jogged off to continue tending to the wolfstags, scratching a head here, and patting a back there. Arwa looked over at me, her tongue lolling out her mouth in a doggy grin. I gestured for her to approach, and she happily trotted towards me, where I lightly set my hands to vibrating and scratched the base of her antlers just how she liked it. The swarm slowly settled down for the night once we¡¯d made several hours worth of travel into the vast expanse of plains. It was just an hour or two past the middle of the night, and it would be a long while before the sun rose. With the ever-more chilling wind, the swarm huddled close together, keeping each other warm, began to sleep. ¡°Alpha, you need to wake up now.¡± Rubbing my bleary eyes, I was first blinded by the rising sun before I looked at Sybil, whose face was set in stony severity. ¡°Something unknown is approaching us.¡± Chapter 247 ¡°Move your lazy tails before I kick them for you!¡± ¡°If you aren¡¯t moving in the next thirty seconds, I¡¯ll rip your fangs out and make you a gummy child myself!¡± The swarm was beginning to snap at each other as my trusted elites forced them into waking and getting moving quickly. It wasn¡¯t a common sight for keelish to wake and start actually doing anything quickly, usually more of a lumbering waking followed by a slow acceleration into a steady lope¡­ If we were lucky. I knew we weren¡¯t fully cold-blooded, but there was some aspect of our bodies that differed wildly from others, and waking wasn¡¯t our strong suit. In this case, however, I was not about to let the swarm take their sweet time to get moving, and did everything short of setting the wolfstags on them to instill in my lazy subordinates a sense of urgency. It felt like an eternity, but it was only maybe a quarter of an hour before the swarm was moving, following the tracks left by whatever it was that had approached us the night before. We hadn¡¯t seen anything, and once I¡¯d fully woken, Sybil had better explained it to me: Something, somehow, had come nearby while staying wholly silent. The creature, whatever it was, had left massive, round footprints all around our camp, before it then strode away into the surrounding grasslands. Foire hung his head in shame at his inability to have detected whatever it was. As the initial panic at how I¡¯d been woken had faded with time, and I forced myself to take in the ever changing surroundings for the first time since we¡¯d left the Sheer Pass. The new environment we¡¯d entered was impressively featureless: An unfathomably wide and long plain filled with nearly endless amounts of gently bending browning grasses. According to what I¡¯d been told by Ana about autumn, these grasses were probably green in the spring and summer, but since fall was truly under way, getting towards winter even, and the plains¡¯ potential greenery had transitioned back into a more inert winter form. The plains spread open before us, and I couldn¡¯t help but appreciate their uniformity, so different from every other place I¡¯d been before. The only difference between one area and the next seemed to be only which part was swaying in which direction in the wind, and that difference was only visual at best. A good part of the plains was that following the fading tracks of our silent observer was lightly but obviously marked; there was a broad track of pressed down grass and occasional steps that we followed ever onward. Onward and onward we traveled, the minutes changing to an hour before anything could be noted to have changed, that mere change being one of direction. Before, the tracks had been moving generally east, just as I wanted to, but their tracks made a sharp left turn, heading nearly due north. ¡°This is a branching path.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. I sighed and looked at Sybil. ¡°You don¡¯t say.¡± ¡°You know what I mean. THIS,¡± She gestured in a broad swathe before me, ¡°is a branching path. What direction do you want to go? What actions do you plan to take? Do you follow suspicious tracks or the directions of our goddess? Do you allow yourself to be led by impulse or schedule?¡± ¡°... I know. I just¡­ don¡¯t know. But Nievtala burn me, I¡¯m going to do something, and I¡¯m not going to do it by halves.¡± Steeling myself, I channeled my magic to my throat and, to the thrumming power of [Innervating Address], ¡°We will chase the observer¡¯s tracks for one more hour! If we do not see whoever it is that left them by then, we will continue on our path to Nievtra. But make no mistake! If they escape today, we will seek them out and find them eventually!¡± With that, I sent the thrum of power out of my throat and to the surrounding swarm who recommenced the pursuit with howling shrieks and cries of excitement, plans about what we would find and how we would deal with whatever this creature was echoed from dozens of throats. With renewed vigor, the swarm rushed to follow the path left by the escaped suspicious creature. In the lead, I was the first to notice when there was, for the second time in our hours long pursuit, a change in the surrounding environment. The earth underfoot changed, the grass thinned until it was only a sparse covering over the ground instead of the thick foliage of before. Firm earth changed to loose sand, slipping underfoot and flowing through and over my toes. Even consumed with the rage and frustration of following some new creature, a new threat to me and my people, a part of me wanted to indulge in a true sand bath. These sands would be perfect to luxuriate in¡­ Though I wanted to stop the pursuit and instead indulge in a true bath, I attempted to tear my focus away from the sand underfoot. My musing over the earth quality, however, saved my foot, since I felt the sand falling away underneath my step. With a lunge and subconscious hiss of anger, I jumped up just early enough to avoid snapping jaws from amputating my foot. Beneath me lunged out what could only be called a sand fish. I¡¯d heard stories about Isnanna and Ishtar, legendary twins from the stories of the all the Veushten peoples, fighting hordes of things like this, but I¡¯d never thought those stories could be true. These ambushers were, supposedly, called ishabaak, which meant sand shark in the ancient common tongue, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to think about any more than that since the gaping maw of the beast was coming dangerously close to eviscerating me. I kicked out and sent the ishabaak flying, making its head snap to the side with the strike. I grinned and lowered my jaws, fangs snapping at the beast¡¯s belly. It wriggled in an insane bid for survival, trying to get down into the earth, but I lunged out with both arms and hugged it tight to me, both arms wrapping completely around it while my jaws continued snapping deeper and deeper into its viscera. Its rough skin scraped roughly against my scales as I ripped deeper and deeper into its vitals. After just a moment, the ishabaak went entirely limp and I drew my head back, victorious and ready to glory in my kill. That was when I noticed that the beast wasn¡¯t alone¨Call around and through the swarm, individual ishabaaks were appearing and beginning to hunt my swarm. Chapter 248 Shrieks of anger and surprise echoed out from the swarm as I instantly took in the sight of the ambushing pack of ishabaaks. There were at least 20 of the beasts, and they were nearly impossible to detect before they struck. I rushed over to the site of the nearest attack, but was too slow to stop the ishabaak from somehow pulling its keelish prey down into the sand, where a garbled, muffled shrieking slowly died out. My [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] active and my blood chilled, I waited for the beast to resurface. Somewhere behind me, I could hear Took wordlessly screaming in challenge to something before barking out orders. I shook myself, forcing focus on the task at hand before shouting out commands with the influence of [Innervating Address]. ¡°Brace! Stay together! Ensure you are all ready for whatever appears! Don¡¯t leave anyone alone!¡± My words echoed through the clearing and I saw my confused subordinates gather and prepare themselves, eyes focused on the ground and ready for ambushers. In solidarity we stood, waiting for a rumble, a shifting of sand, something to anticipate the approach of our prey. There was nothing. No sand falling, no sound, no¡­ wait. Immediately I cursed my idiocy and focused wholly on [Tremorsense]. There was a small divot appearing in the sandy expanse, and I, trusting my instincts and the tickling nudges from my [Skill], lunged forward in low sweeping uppercut with my claws extended. Just in time to have my claws and then my fingers sink deep into the soft flesh below the ishabaak¡¯s jaw. With a roar of exertion, I hauled the beast out of the sand and, without hesitation, ravaged its soft belly with my jaws. Its thick blood coated my face as I ripped through viscera, the blood coagulating and wetting the loose sands underfoot. Unfortunately for me, this one was larger, stronger, and much hardier than the rest. Most others were about 8 feet long, while my prey stretched to at least 14 feet. I couldn¡¯t be sure as its tail remained under the sands as I devoured bite after bite of its internals. Finally, I found what must have been its heart and, with a roar of effort, I ripped that most important organ from its body. The beast flopped to the ground, gasping, but I couldn¡¯t enjoy the victory, instead whirling and reacting to another attempted ambush with a slam of my tail that knocked it out of the dirt. Not allowing myself to begin the feast, I instead, with just two quick bites, ripped the viscera from the dying ishabaak¡¯s abdomen. I left it bleeding and flopping on the dirt as I rushed towards the main group of the ambushers. The brown fishlike beasts were snapping wildly at a slightly exposed group of keelish that had been separated in the initial assault. Different from other fish and reptiles I¡¯d seen before, the ishabaaks had no scales, only a rough, sandy skin that somehow burst with air when I punctured it. Whatever the reason for the scales¡¯ shape and texture, though, they were easy to rip through with both my claws and fangs. Their mouths, however, bristled with sharp teeth and could open wide enough to eat a regularly sized keelish nearly whole. With the element of surprise fading, the swarm finally found its ground to hold in order to protect itself safely from the attack. As my subordinates gathered and circled warily, I pulsed my magic to my throat, the flow comfortable and immediate as I again spoke whilst pulsing my magic to the tune of [Innervating Address], ¡°We are many! Stay with your pack and don¡¯t let them drag any under! No fewer than ten per group!¡± I reminded as the ishabaaks¡¯ fierce initial assault died down. Growls and shrieks of affirmation filled the air as the packs redoubled their attempts to gather together in larger and larger groups to rally against the ishabaak¡¯s approach. Even so, there were still choruses of groans of pain and flecks of blood flying, the low roar of flames bursting and the earth heaving lending to the general chaos and obvious danger¡­ To ensure that we could treat one of our keelish, we needed to keep them aboveground. I immediately refocused myself on my [Tremorsense] while Joral¡¯s voice cut through the din of rallying troops and battle, ¡°Stay near the water!¡± Near him a flood began to flow from the Wave Wolfstags and into the surrounding sand. It stuck together while the ishabaaks began to flee from the approaching sandy mud. One was caught in the thicker earth and found itself pressing its nose desperately into the unforgiving sand while enraged keelish surrounded and began to devour the still-living shark. The ishabaak¡¯s blood mixed and flowed with the water onwards towards the still dry sand. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Seeing the ishabaak change their approach and begin to escape, I pulsed sonic waves into the earth in a bid to stop them. Instead of causing any damage or visible discomfort, I internally saw a clear picture of what surrounded me and filled the earth below: my swarm bled and suffered from the attack of the ishabaak, Sybil, Shemira, and the wolfstags stood behind me, Joral ripped into his latest prey still thrashing on the ground, the [System] notification¨Cthe [System]! [Skill: Tremorsense advanced.] I guessed that was what I just did. Yet, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care about it as the swarm gathered together on the solid, wet sand. Sybil, alongside Joral, was directing the wolfstags to continue providing more water as the wounded were brought to Vefir and Etra for healing if they needed it, or more mundane treatment by those trained by the two healers if their wounds were less severe. Gathered together, the swarm was about 325 strong without counting the wolfstags, and more khatif evolved by the day. There was just enough space for us, and I could feel that the ishabaak were slowly retreating away from our bastion of damp safety. As I looked to see if any of my elite had died, I realized that there were hundreds whose survival meant nothing to me. This was my swarm, I was the reason for its existence, and a part of me enjoyed that there were those who depended on me. Every keelish provided value, but not all were equally valuable. Vefir¡¯s death would mean dozens, if not hundreds more. But, less humanely than that, I didn¡¯t care about those new to my leadership or especially those who still couldn¡¯t evolve to khatif. The ever dwindling human part of me screamed that all lives should be treated with equal value, but my conscious thought couldn¡¯t agree. I didn¡¯t mourn the death of the eleven at the hands of the Misti Hawar, though I lamented the loss of my people. Finally, with a conscious thought, I dismissed the last part of my humanity and fully embraced all of what I had become. Keelish. Khatif. Alpha. Leader. Ruler. Monster. ¡°Casualty report!¡± I called out, looking across the assembled members of my elites. Sybil stepped forward, ¡°We lost three to the ambush, five wounded, no individuals of import.¡± I noted the blood streaked across her sandy scales, none her own, but all that of her prey. Trai flared her frills in agreement with her mouth hung open and panting, her body painted with gore. ¡°Joral, any casualties for the wolfstags?¡± ¡°No, no injuries either.¡± ¡°Perfect, they seem to be our passage out of here, so, thank you for your quick thinking.¡± Joral looked to Sybil who didn¡¯t react but to continue staring at him. After looking between her and me, eventually, he flared his frills in acceptance as a wide smile cracked his face. I nodded, and, for the sake of the swarm, raised my voice. ¡°Considering what they were, we came out of that about as well as could be expected. Well done.¡± I could hear slaps on the back and muttered congratulations spread through the swarm as I continued, ¡°Grab all the meat you can reach and we¡¯ll lead the swarm back to the firmer earth these creatures don¡¯t seem to be able to traverse. Beta, you¡¯re in charge of creating and maintaining a clear, wet path out of the sand. We¡¯ll leave immediately after we gather the bodies.¡± The swarm, with our blood already pumping, was quick to gather what spoils there were from the fight and follow the path the wolfstags created. It wasn¡¯t long before the sparsely grown grasses in sand were replaced with the dense foliage of the grasslands that grew up to and past my head. With my first steps onto the firm earth, I sighed while feeling something strange through my improved [Tremorsense]. With a glance back at what we had escaped, I sighed in relief; there was nothing to gain from following through such a dangerous habitat. ¡°We will give up the chase for now,¡± I announced to the swarm in Keelish. ¡°The cowardly spies will be allowed a brief release from our hunt, but they will be brought to heel.¡± Dissatisfied shrieks and grunts agreed with me as I transitioned to speak in the common tongue, ¡°Now, what can we do for you, the natives to the area?¡± A large head with massive ears framing it pushed through the grass to approach. Two tusks jutted forward from its mouth and a serpentine trunk dangled down its face as the stranger leaned forward in to look at me. With a sonorous basso voice, thickly accented common tongue responded, ¡°Well now, that is surprise.¡± Chapter 249 The swarm erupted with noise, chittering and screeching, beginning to rally for battle as I stepped forward with both my hands up after I buried my spear point first in the earth to my side. The surrounding swarm fell silent as I responded to the huge beast, ¡°Hello. I am Ashlani, the Alpha of this swarm. You are?¡± With one earth-shaking step the creature revealed its entire body. It stood tall, the crown of its head towering at least four feet above my own, making it at least 11 feet tall. Seeing my own obvious approach and putting down my weapon, it let its maul slip down from its four thick fingers with a heavy thud. The head of the massive sledgehammer seemed to be of solid stone, while the leather-wrapped haft was wholly hidden by the wrapping. The haft of the huge weapon was at least six inches wide, and, with the head resting on the ground, the entire maul stood as tall as me. When the leathery beast settled the weapon on the ground, I could feel the earth shake under its weight. The creature itself was covered in wrinkly gray skin and dressed with heavier leathers wrapped around its forearms, shoulders, legs, and waist. The creature lifted its trunk and seemed to struggle over the words it wanted to speak. ¡°I am Bekizo. Indlovu warrior of Enkulu tribe.¡± He introduced himself with a surprisingly beautiful sonorous tenor voice. ¡°We hear one of us here. Not see them. You see them?¡± I frowned briefly then looked at Took, Sybil, Foire, and Shemira. All clacked their fangs together back at me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, we haven¡¯t.¡± I answered. ¡°We haven¡¯t heard anyone other than ourselves. How did you know there was one of your people here?¡± ¡°We not talk like this. With¡­ you call it magic. Our person talking to those.¡± He gestured at the wolfstags and I cocked my head, confused. I opened my mouth, not quite sure what to say when Sybil stepped close to me before whispering, ¡°Let me try something.¡± She then stepped back and looked at the ¡°indlovu¡± while standing still. Immediately, Bekizo perked up, his ears flapping excitedly as he strode forward and sent another shudder through the earth underfoot. His eyes roved briefly over the swarm while his trunk reached out to Sybil. Meanwhile, I noted rustling within the grasses surrounding the swarm and nervously reached for my spear. ¡°I am sorry for misleading your people.¡± Sybil¡¯s voice cut through the growing tension while gesturing for me not to try anything. ¡°I never could have known that my magic would confuse you. That is simply how I communicate with our wolfstag companions. Never would I have deliberately drawn your tribe into a dangerous situation deliberately.¡± She punctuated her words with more of what I could only assume was her utilizing her emotional influencing magic. Bekizo laconically raised his trunk to Sybil and, completely calm and nonchalant, tried to rub her head. She froze, her frills twitching in confusion and indecision. I reached my own hand out, and, as gently as I could, stopped the approaching trunk in the air. ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡± I asked. He started, then, apparently embarrassed, withdrew his trunk while squinting at Sybil and evidently saying something to her with his magic. All that I could feel was a gentle presence and a sense of admonishment. After a brief moment¡¯s hesitation to gather her thoughts, Sybil turned to me, ¡°It would appear that his people the indlovu are a physically affectionate group. It was just a typical greeting.¡± With that, she stepped forward and awkwardly embraced his trunk, which summarily coiled around her torso while the indlovu¡¯s eyes twinkled and he nodded, nearly lifting Sybil from her feet. Not for the first time, I was struck by the indlovu¡¯s strength, given the facility with which he hauled the several hundred pound Sybil from her feet. Around the swarm, more indlovu appeared, each one carrying a maul as impressive as Bekizo¡¯s own. The smallest among them was well over nine feet tall, towering over even Took. Every one of the warriors began to move subtly but non threateningly forward and the closest ones began to reach out their trunks to Sybil before she raised a hand and they paused as she shuddered. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°I am glad you appreciate my talent, but I would prefer that my people understand our conversation. You are strangers and I know nothing of you.¡± Sybil¡¯s eloquence in the common tongue took me by surprise as she stood her ground and firmly pushed against the trunk still wrapped around her. Bekizo nodded as his trunk slowly wound off of Sybil. ¡°Apologies. The newness of you was interesting, and we not think of your comfort. We¡­¡± he obviously struggled over his words, then, with a sigh and a slump, he looked pleadingly at Sybil before obviously finishing his thought through magic. In keelish, Sybil translated for the swarm¡¯s benefit, ¡°He wanted to know why we are here, why we went into the sandlake, and what our relation to the keelish ahead of us is.¡± I felt over 700 eyes on me as wolfstags, keelish, and indlovu alike watched me for my answer. As best as I could, I hid my reaction to the revelation of keelish possibly being nearby. My audience¡¯s expectations piqued, I began to form my response while the indlovu all stood stock still. Every one of the gargantuan warriors had laid their mauls¡¯ heads on the ground, but I didn¡¯t miss the reality that the two dozen warriors were still very much armed with deadly force still surrounding us. Even the apparently gentle and affectionate Bekizo¡¯s posture slowly but deliberately transitioned from an excited hugger to a battle-ready stance from which he could easily heft his maul and begin laying waste to anyone nearby. I nodded at Sybil to translate for the benefit of the swarm as I began my response in the common tongue. ¡°We are traveling east to Nievtra, we didn¡¯t know what a sandlake was until we were in the middle of it, and the keelish in front of us are ones we know nothing about. We would be happy to gather them and bring them out of your land, if you¡¯d like.¡± I was sure that Bekizo was relaying my statement to the rest of the indlovu that might not have spoken the common tongue, since after about a second of my expressing our stance, there were scattered reactions through the warrior cadre.. ¡°You not stay here?¡± Bekizo¡¯s voice had become hard, unforgiving instead of the previous gentle and almost childlike tones. He shook his head, his massive ears clapping loudly against his neck in a way that was only barely not aggressive. ¡°No, we plan on continuing onward. We have a destination far from here, and are gathering any keelish we come across en route.¡± ¡°Good. If you stay, we will have problem.¡± I squared my shoulders and craned my neck up to look him in the eye. ¡°What do you mean to say by that?¡± ¡°You eat too much.¡± Bekizo looked to Sybil, then, with a low trumpet from his trunk, began to retreat while the rest of his fellows followed suit. ¡°What did he mean by that?¡± I looked at Sybil from the corner of my eye, keeping my body squared on the indlovu. She held up a hand, then after a moment she nodded and turned to me, speaking in keelish once again for the benefit of the swarm. ¡°I am sorry for shushing you Alpha, they were all speaking at once, giving advice, warnings, and threats. In essence, we are many predators,¡± a hushed murmur of pride pulsed through the swarm, excited to be a threatening body. Sybil hissed at the interruption and the swarm went silent in respect. ¡°We are many, and if we stay, we will overhunt the area. The Enkulu tribe is nomadic, they never come this far west so they don¡¯t care too much about what we do here, but the further east we go, the more likely we will come across other tribes. If we overhunt traditional sites, we will unwittingly enter or create a ¡®storehouse war¡¯, and there will be a slaughter on both sides until the tribes have been thinned enough that the meat from both sides will feed the victors for one year.¡± A strange code of honor, but not the strangest, I supposed. ¡°They said I should try to keep using my magic as much as possible, since we¡¯ll be seen as closer to people to the indlovu that way, and that was all.¡± Sybil nodded and stepped back to allow me to speak up if I wanted. I slowly flared my frills, then addressed the swarm, ¡°Should we go fishing before we go?¡± Raucous cheers filled the air as any sign of the indlovu disappeared into the horizon. Chapter 250 Leave vengeance to me, for she who suffered was me. Leave their lives to me, for mine is the domain of life and death. Leave their suffering to me, for mine is the nectar of their defeat. Vengeance is mine, I will repay them in full for their trespasses against my divinity, against my domain, against my being. Creation is the realm of the gods, not of mortals. -Vision received by the Allmother. [Trai POV] Trai thought that this fishing was decidedly more enjoyable than the last time she¡¯d had to worry about fish. Sure, both were dangerous, but these ones were big enough for her to do something about, and her daddy wasn¡¯t carrying her, and people weren¡¯t dying all over. Well, people had still died to these ¡°ishabaaks¡±, but nobody that was smart or strong enough to protect themselves, so they didn¡¯t even count. She and her pack were smart, strong, and quick, so they didn¡¯t need to worry about these big, slow land fish. Instead, Trai continued serving as bait and hook for the ishabaak. She jogged across the sand, her steps deliberately heavy and sluggish before she circled back to the wet safe area. Daddy was watching her and was super scared, but it didn¡¯t matter, because she was ok. He was always worried. Besides, there was something she couldn¡¯t quite place that let her know when the fish were approaching, and she trusted it. 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ She jumped to the side just as the gaping mouth of the stupid, slow thing appeared underneath. Too easy. The rest of the body followed the snapping jaws, and just as its tail left the sand, she struck. Trai jumped up and, with all her body weight and leg strength, she kicked the ishabaak towards the dampened safe area. It continued to sail through the sky, a trickle of blood sprinkling out of its mouth at the force of the strike¨CTrai felt the change that the blood always brought begin to course through her veins and dilate her eyes. Everything slowed as she lost herself in the glory of combat. Before her on the wet sand stood Hala, Greel, and Leera. As Trai fell, she signed that three more ishabaak approached and from where to them. Her back thumped against the ground and she rolled her tail like a wave against the ground to flip herself backward and dodge the next mouth. Trai danced the dance of life and death and she couldn¡¯t hold back her laughter as the too slow fish continued to miss her again and again. Before this second would-be assassin could even realize it had missed her, though, she plunged one hand into the bottom of its jaw, wrenched it to the side, and, with the corpse flopping uselessly behind her pulling arm, hurled it towards the safe area. Her shoulder HURT when she did that. These ones were a lot smaller than the one that Ashlani had killed, so she could still deal with them, but they were heavy! With the little injury she¡¯d been struck, Trai knew she needed to retreat back to safety where she could take a break. Even so, she couldn¡¯t help the frown that rose to her face as she began her deliberate, beautiful walk back to the wetted sand. No other fish attempted to eat her, or even came close, and she made landing on the safe sand without incident. With repeated shakes, Trai flicked the majority of the blood from her hand, though the movement hurt. Daddy noticed and ran up to her with Vefir in tow. ¡°What happened Trai? None of that blood is yours, is it? I didn¡¯t see anything happen to you. Where is it?¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°I¡¯m fiiiine. I just¡­ hurt my shoulder picking up the prey.¡± She mumbled the last words, embarrassed. Patterns of crimson blood still decorated Trai¡¯s arm, her shiny green scales peeking through the crimson. Looking down, her sides and legs too were coated in gore, and Trai sighed as she tried, to little success, to wipe the viscera from her body. She did enjoy fighting, but what she enjoyed more than fighting itself was the challenge and if it didn¡¯t offer any challenge, just like this fight, it just wasn¡¯t much more than dirty exercise. Vefir, no-nonsense healer that he was, laid a hand on Trai¡¯s shoulder and, with a brief pulse of magic, set her shoulder to be whole once more. ¡°Be careful. Don¡¯t be like the Alpha in this way. You¡¯re doing the same thing to your arms that he always has.¡± Then, without another word, Vefir walked away as he made sure to tap his tail against her in his usual, somewhat fatherly way. Foire sighed down at his daughter. ¡°Like he said. Be careful.¡± Then, reluctantly, Foire too walked away. ¡°That was amazing, Huntmistress Trai!¡± Leera¡¯s grating voice pulled Trai from her thoughts. Well, she could use the distraction. ¡°It was just a hunt. Thank you.¡± She nodded quickly and continued on her path. ¡°You move so beautifully when you hunt. How did you learn?¡± Leera refused to give up, and, regardless of the actual tone of his voice or the beauty of his body, Trai briefly considered disemboweling him. It wouldn¡¯t be too hard, just one hand¡­ No, she was still feeling the influence of the fight, the bloodlust, as well as her frustration. ¡°I was taught by the Swarm Alpha, my father, and Wisterl. So I follow my instincts.¡± Trai couldn¡¯t stop herself from briefly pausing at her teacher¡¯s name. That wound still burned, and the swarm wasn¡¯t sure how to deal with such a massive loss as a whole. Keelish didn¡¯t care if members of the swarm died, but was the swarm at all still keelish? Trai had struggled to break the strangest habits from the youngest new members of the swarm. Only after this exposure had she realized how different the swarm she was born into was from those of her ¡°same race¡±. ¡°--you be available to maybe teach me about¨C¡± Trai realized she¡¯d been lost in thought without paying Leera any attention. ¡°Look, Leera. We can talk later. I need to get cleaned off.¡± Finally, Trai could see it click with him. ¡°Ok, great. Thank you for your guidance on the hunt, Huntmistress.¡± She sighed with relief as finally she could stand next to one of the wolfies and ignore the continued prattle from Leera¡¯s direction. Trai couldn¡¯t fathom how two of her mothers were able to communicate with the wolfstags so well, so, in secret, recently she had taken to calling them wolfies in the hope it would somehow encourage them to get along with her. ¡°Wash me down, would you, wolfy?¡± She stood, hopefully waiting for one of the wolfstags to begin to cleanse the filth from her scales. There was no such luck, but one of the wolfies with shorter horns that control water was looking at her! Excited, Trai jogged over to try to ask it to help her, but before she got there, it dropped its upper body low, rump and tail high in the air and wagging wildly. When Trai made a sudden movement, it hopped up, turned to the side, and made eye contact with her as its mouth spread in a big, silly grin. ¡°I want a wash!¡± Trai giggled as the wolfstag danced back and forth, not understanding her request but happy to interact with her. As they continued chasing each other, Trai couldn¡¯t manage to get close enough to touch the wolfie, since whenever she could nearly reach him, he would twist, hop, and manage to escape. Not to be outdone, though, Trai smuggled a handful of sand when she pretended to fall, and, while the wolfie stood in his teasing, excited stance, she flicked the sand into his face. Trai erupted into peals of laughter as, grumpy and indignant, the wolfie cleaned his face with a spray of water. A mischievous look crossed his face, and, before she knew it, Trai was sputtering as a jet of water splashed against her face. By now, she was so riled up that she¡¯d forgotten that wolfie had already given her what she¡¯d wanted in the first place. Chapter 251 As we had given up on the pursuit of the indlovu that had been observing us, whispers of discontent began to spread among the swarm. I couldn¡¯t tell what they were, exactly, since the malcontents went silent as soon as they noticed I¡¯d approached, but I knew that something was brewing since they went deliberately and obviously quiet as soon as I came close. Frustrated, I approached Sybil. She simply laughed at my concern. ¡°I know exactly what they are talking about. Follow me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m well aware of what you do here and your specialty, I just thought that it might be good for me to let you know that they have become very obvious about whatever it is.¡± ¡°I know, I know what you are concerned about, and I also know what they are talking about, just follow me.¡± ¡°Well, I just mean that since they have become like this, I should let you know, I don¡¯t need to hear from them what¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°I recognize that you are worried about what is happening in the sociopolitics of the swarm. I just think that it would be best if you¨C¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to talk with them, I just wanted you to know what was happening within the swarm¨C¡± I caught myself. Sybil¡¯s previously smiling face had gone stony. ¡°Are you ready to listen to me?¡± I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. ¡°Thank you.¡± Sybil¡¯s face relaxed slightly from tightly constrained irritation to mere annoyance. ¡°Now, I think it would be best for you to speak with some of the concerned members directly to better discern the apparently noteworthy conversations.¡± She then stalked right off and I, somewhat chagrined, followed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Sybil. I should have listened more carefully to you.¡± She flared her frills in agreement without looking at me. ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to underestimate or undermine the work you do.¡± And again, she merely deigned to flare her frills at me. ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°So we can talk later.¡± I took the hint. While I could see and count the steps that it took for us to get to the small group of keelish, not khatif, that seemed to be our goal, each step was painfully loud on the earth underfoot while the distance seemed to stretch and multiply in length. The painful silence deepened to such a point that I could hear my heartbeat. Finally, we approached close enough to the group for them to notice our approach and they went silent. I looked over at Sybil, who looked back at me, unblinking and uncharitable. Having finally gotten the point, I turned to speak. ¡°So, I¡¯ve seen several keelish talking and immediately going silent when I come close. Tell me what¡¯s going on.¡± The three keelish whose names I didn¡¯t know immediately descended into a panic and looked at each other, seeming to tell one of the others to speak up. It wasn¡¯t more than a couple seconds before all three erupted in apologies, whimpers, and fearful bows. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Sybil¡¯s tail twitched in obvious irritation and interjected while looking at me in displeasure, ¡°Our Swarm Alpha does not doubt your loyalty, he simply has a question that needs answering. What is it that you have been trying to do recently that you are hiding from him?¡± One stepped forward, and he began to speak, voice trembling, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Lord Alpha, us keelish are smaller and weaker than you. We don¡¯t want to be the ones killed as an example, so we were trying to find out how to become more valuable so we¡­ wouldn¡¯t be killed.¡± I had to consciously keep my jaw from dropping as I cocked my head and looked at the three cowering keelish before me. Sybil flared her frills and, without another word, walked away while I thought of how to respond to my panicking subordinates. ¡°Well, why would I have any reason to kill you?¡± ¡°Because this place can¡¯t be our home.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t ever think that this would be. Our goal is farther away, and even if it wasn''t, why would I kill any of my subordinates about it?¡± ¡°... What?¡± I sighed. ¡°Look, I¡¯m not going to kill you. Do you know how Sybil, Took, Vefir, Foire, Shemira, and Silf ended up in my pack?¡± All three clacked their teeth together in the negative. ¡°Many of us were outcasts, and my pack was considered the weakest of my brood. Tieran and Percral were other Alphas. You might know what happened to Shemira or Percral, but have you met Tieran?¡± They clacked their teeth again, and one piped up, ¡°Is he a member of the swarm now or did he flee?¡± ¡°No, he was killed.¡± The female keelish perked up, ¡°Was he killed in the Great Sacrifice?¡± ¡°The what?¡± She wilted beneath my question. ¡°The¡­ the Great Sacrifice? When¡­ when your previous swarm¡­ sacrificed their lives¡­ so you could live?¡± For a moment, I stood, confused, then I realized that Sybil had been even busier than I¡¯d thought if she¡¯d created a mythology out of our fleeing for our lives from just a couple of High Speakers. I shook my head with a chuckle, ¡°No, he didn¡¯t live that long. Tieran tried to rally his pack against me, but before that, he expelled Sybil from it. Then, when he tried to steal from me, to push me down, I killed him.¡± The three keelish didn¡¯t seem to like me explicitly mentioning a time when I killed a keelish, but I continued. ¡°Shemira rose in his place, but now she happily follows me. Percral was an Alpha who lost his pack and he, too, follows me willingly. I, the ¡®weakest¡¯ Alpha of my brood, am now stronger than our Swarm Alpha ever was. The strongest have not always been where they are, nor will they always be. So long as you continue in your loyalty, you might end up one of the top members of the swarm before long. Perhaps even rising to my position.¡± The two males slowly flared their frills in acceptance with my words while the female, after a moment of gathering her courage, again spoke up, ¡°What would you do, if you were me?¡± I thought for a moment, then shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re best at, but I would focus on that. Sybil is my Beta, not because we have mated, nor for her strength, but her intelligence and ability to control the swarm. You may prove your value in hunting, magic, combat, intelligence, or any other number of things. Distinguish yourselves with your excellence and you¡¯ll find yourself progressing.¡± The female nodded, her eyes wide with excitement. The males didn¡¯t seem to care about anything more than the absence of immediate doom, but there was a chance that this female would take my words to heart. ¡°And what was your name?¡± ¡°I¡­ never was given one. Many of our swarm, err¡­ the newest members of the swarm, that is, have named themselves since you took control, but I didn¡¯t think I would live long enough for it to matter.¡± The female was downcast in every way, but I thought I could pick up on the slight hope. ¡°Would you like a name?¡± She looked up at me and nodded once. ¡°You are hope. Welcome to the swarm, Yamal.¡± Chapter 252 There is much to learn and much to change, much to see and much to be. I will learn it all and change the world, see the stars and be the suns. -From pamphlets distributed after the Apotheosis. [Fen POV] Fen smashed her antlers into the Sunkindred in front of her. She felt the sharpened tips bury themselves into her enemy¡¯s breasts and, as the blood flowed over her horns and into her eyes, she could feel the nourishing feeling of [Soulrending]. Had she been alone, she could have indulged in the ecstasy of foreign life filling her, but no, she was in the middle of a bloody fight to cross the Thnufir River. She could feel Varali¡¯s Call as it reached its tipping point, the heat of the fireball above her scorching Fen¡¯s eyes as she squinted and lashed out with her front hooves. These beasts were persistent if nothing else, and if Fen hadn¡¯t had her magic and race then she wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything against them. There was a brief flash from her pre-cognizance and, without thinking consciously, Fen dodged out of the way of the pair of stone-headed hatchets headed for her chest. Her scales weren¡¯t strong enough to deflect something so heavy and powerful if it hit her head on, but she couldn¡¯t think about that any longer, instead dodging back and forth in a holding pattern until the gathering flames could be held back no longer. Several times, a hatchet¡¯s strike made contact with her, but between her scales and her [Divine Body], nothing notable happened. With a roaring fwumph, the blaze burst into existence in front of the two soldiers of the Veratocracy. The torrent of flames lanced forward so forcefully that Varali was nearly thrust from the saddle from the blowback, so Fen lifted her rear and braced herself so as to not be sent tumbling while Varali guided the cascading flames to annihilate the battalion of Sunkindred rallying before them. The damnable barbarians had seen the assault coming, though, and while there were about ten that left only smoldering ash as their corpses, the rest were able to retreat sufficiently quickly to escape death. Before the Calling lost all its potency, Varali growled her frustration at the countered assault and kicked Fen into a quick retreat. The impacts at her side started Fen from the ambient aura of death that had comfortably settled into her, and she began to beat a retreat as the horns of the Sunkindred called their rally to return the attack in kind. Sure-footed, Fen tapped into the [Life Bestowal] part of her magic and bolstered the small troop of Speakers that had been entrusted to Varali¡¯s command as she led the retreat back across the fjord. Fen wasn¡¯t sure how many there had been when they¡¯d set out, and she wasn¡¯t counting them now, but Varali wasn¡¯t freaking out about any missing, so that was good. In her peripherals, Fen could see several other shock troop squads retreating back to the Veratocracy¡¯s side of the river. Another pointless attack, then. She shook her head and continued leading the retreat while fires cracked behind her, only audible for a short time before they were drowned out by cheers and cries from the Sunkindred. ¡­ Varali¡¯s frustration had already bled over into Fen before they¡¯d arrived at the fortress, and while she was in the meeting with Mualtir, the nervous energy communicated through their bond had set Fen to pacing. Fen figured that Varali was trying to convince the commander to commit to a full offensive again and wasn¡¯t listening to the reasons she was being given. Fen didn¡¯t care, she was exhausted from the attempted assault today and she just wanted to relish the oblivion of digesting the fruits of her [Soulrending]. She guided herself to her stable, where grasses and raw flesh were laid out for her to eat, whichever it was that struck her fancy today. Neither. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. She slumped against the wall, her legs giving out underneath her as she placed her face in the corner. Fen let her eyes close as she felt the fog of soul digestion wash over her. She knew that she was being strengthened by this, but she didn¡¯t want to look at the [System]. It hadn¡¯t helped her, not really, ever. Sure, she was stronger and healthy now, but¡­ all that she did was carry Varali around and help protect her these days. Some days, she couldn¡¯t bring herself to stand up after waking, the exhaustion of facing another day making her want to cry, but the reality of crying was too heavy and tiring to actually do. Feeling nothing was better than being so completely and entirely fatigued, so she actively sought the loss of self she found in [Soulrending]. While she wanted to wallow in self-pity and depression, Fen reminded herself how happy Varali would be to hear how she had grown. Varali knew Fen. She cared about her. She wanted her to grow. With a grunt of effort, Fen summoned up the energy to look at her [Status]. [Status: Name: Fen Race: Lifebringing Death Scaled Deer Yearling Titles: None Current Quest: -Embrace the duality of your nature, evolve and merge Soulrending and Life Bestowal. Reward: accelerated progress towards evolution Harmonic Stag. Harmonic Judgment Skill. Progress: 0/1 Stats: -Constitution: 85 -Strength: 58(+12)=70 -Agility: 61(+10)=71 -Intelligence: 50 -Magic: 95 Skills: Divine Body Evolutionary Foresight Life Bestowal Preternatural Reflexes Soul Sympathy Soulrending Telepathic Binding Evolutionary Possibilities: -Lifebringing Death Doe: Reach the age of 500 days. Progress: 318/500 -Harmonic Stag: Acquire Harmonic Judgment Skill. Progress: 0/1 Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] Now that she had looked at her [Status] and would be able to make a full report to her master, Fen let her head sag to the ground and think about nothing. Unfortunately, while she rested for a short while, it was far from long enough when the door opened. Fen didn¡¯t look, she knew who it was. Frul, the kindly Soulspeaker she had met with the others when she and Varali had joined with the army stationed within the Thnufir Fortress.. Frul said nothing, just settling onto the ground with a grunt as she sat next to Fen. Her hand rested on Fen¡¯s back and the gentle touch of her magic began to loosen something within Fen. She wasn¡¯t sure what exactly it was that Frul did when she used her magic, since Varali seemed to think that Fen and Frul¡¯s magics were the same, but they weren¡¯t. Beyond that, Frul¡¯s touch was gentler and kinder than Varali¡¯s, though Varali¡¯s magic brought the peace of oblivion and formless bliss. Both brought change. With Frul¡­ the desperately tamped down emotion within Fen was loosened, wave by wave, bit by bit, until she could finally allow herself to cry. Initially soft whimpers grew and crescendoed until heaving, wracking sobs shook Fen so strongly that Frul herself was shaking with each of the deer¡¯s breaths. Outside, Varali waited in a stupor, conflicted and unsure, feeling more than hearing her bond¡¯s cries for mercy, for her mother¡­ for an end. Chapter 253 Three days of travel went by without incident. On the first day, my pride as Swarm Alpha and khatif demanded that I approach Sybil about our last conversation. ¡°I apologize, Alpha. I was curt, when I should have been more deliberate in my communication. I will ensure that I more clearly communicate in the future.¡± The pride and demands I¡¯d subconsciously prepared died out at Sybil¡¯s formality. She¡¯d taken a deliberate emotional step back from me, and I felt her solidifying that distance with her words. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t apologize. It isn¡¯t my place as the leader I am. Even so, I was wrong. I should have listened.¡± Sybil nodded, her stony facade cracking, but her true forgiveness was obvious in the flirtatious twist of her hips as she turned and walked away. I couldn¡¯t help but smile widely as I walked forward, happy with the small reconciliation we¡¯d made. The plains opened wide and somehow even more featureless before us, the grasses swaying in the wind. Far behind us, I imagined I could see the barest hint of the Sheer Pass shadowing the horizon, the only visible mark of our passage beyond the impermanent path we¡¯d worn down in the grass. Whenever we saw them, we avoided the sand lakes, given that the possible dangers presented by the ishabaak wasn¡¯t worth it unless we were truly hungry. After all, the prey was present even if not abundant, small rodents fleeing before our passage as well as large flightless birds faster than any of the regular keelish while smaller than the terrorbirds of my home, deer-like animals with feathered wings as well as snakes with two heads. Initially, I didn¡¯t want to hunt any of the weaker prey for the fear of getting a much lower bonus to my Stats once I completed the [Quest], but I¡¯d already realized that, either because of what I was or for all things in this world, I would continue to grow stronger the more things I killed. And so, I killed and ate one each of the birds, deer, and serpents. The bird, called an axebeak, according to my [Status], was surprisingly tasty, with fatty flesh and tender meat while the peryton and serpentine duality were gamey and tough. With Joral, Shemira, and Sybil, and to a lesser extent, Farahlia¡¯s assistance, we captured several dozen of the birds and herded them ever onwards while only hunting the others whenever the opportunity arose. As the days had passed, I made sure to consistently review my [Status], and had found a surprise.. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha Titles: Disciple of Nievtala (Advanced) Killer of Redael Fahvalo of the Moonchildren Current quests: -Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5. Progress: Ishabaak Matriarch, Ishabaak Concubine, Axebeak, Lesser Peryton, Serpentine Duality. NEW QUEST: Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic, +6. -Subjugate or otherwise conquer a community of at least 1000 individuals. Base reward: Constitution +7, Strength, Agility +8, Intelligence +10, Magic +9. Possibility of additional rewards for greater difficulty. -Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. Stats: -Constitution: 141+5+7+3+1+3+1=160 -Strength: 154+5+8+4+1+2+1=175 -Agility: 147+5+4+2+4+4+1=167 -Intelligence: 144+5+6+3+0+2+0=160 Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. -Magic: 151+5+10+5+0+4+0=175 Skills: Adversary: 7/10 Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust: 1/4 (Imperial Bearing) Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke: 1/5 Evolutionary Exemplar (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude: Unqualified Fathomless Sonilphon: 0/2 -Crippling Cry: 0/5 -Debilitating Diatribe: 0/1 -Innervating Address: 0/1 -Nurturing Enunciation: 9/50 -Quaking Claw 0/1 Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve) Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 5/10 Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve) Raptor¡¯s Eyes (Cannot Evolve) Tremorsense (Cannot Evolve) True Dominance: 1/5 Evolutionary Possibilities -Sonic Keel Zak¡¯Tal: Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1 Have a Swarm Leader level race. Completed. -Khatif Heretic¨CRequirements: learn how to bend the world¡¯s governing laws and compel the divine to follow your will. Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] I hadn¡¯t expected to complete the [Quest] again so quickly, but I had, and for the first time in quite a while, I thought about what the numbers of my [Status] meant. I¡¯d started with a range of 2-6, and now I was nearly to 200 with each. A normal keelish¡¯s baseline stats were 10, though I couldn¡¯t quite understand how that could be so low, I¡¯d never seen one so weak in this life. Then, a human¡¯s were around 50. Was I, then, three times as strong as a human? Or was that not how it worked? [The benefit given by each stat point is linear. The System¡¯s method of measurement is hidden. Regardless, the growth acquired by the User, and every other creature under the influence of the Administrative Body and the System can continue to grow throughout their existence.] The surprise, though, had come when I¡¯d realized that a [Skill] I¡¯d feared would never show progress did: [Adversary]. The only possibility for that, so far as I could tell, was the Ishabaak Matriarch, which must have been the massive one I¡¯d killed first, but that couldn¡¯t have been the case. It was so easy to kill! [Due to the location and way that they live, ishabaak are immensely powerful, but specialized in ambushing and movement and hunting within the bounds of the sands in which they live. Outside of the sands, their bodies are not capable of exerting much of their strength.] But even so, if the ishabaak were so much higher in stats than keelish, how had we been able to kill so many of them? The Administrator instead of the [System] answered me. [The cruel and cutthroat nature of keelish¡¯s upbringing tends to lead them, as a race, to develop skills and tenacity beyond their physical limitations. Additionally, your original swarm was, as a whole, more developed and aggressive than others, even at the lowest level. The Ishabaak are not usually hunted or killed by anything other than one of their own, and have no need to learn how to fight and kill, only to hunt.] So if they had worked as hard as us, then they would have been much stronger? Obviously so. I should have thought of that, I hadn¡¯t realized that my perception had been so twisted by my new body. I knew that keelish were small and weak, but because I had become one, I¡¯d begun to forget just how wide that gulf was. Considering how much stronger I was than a standard khatif, an outstanding High Speaker must be at least twice as powerful as I was. Not a comforting thought¡­ Around me the swarm continued our march east, happy and excited noises echoing over the plains, dwarfed by our surroundings, while I felt dwarfed by the realization of my own inability, the fallibility of my mind, and the weakness of the swarm. The hope of killing Viilor was gone with him, getting revenge on the High Speakers that had destroyed the swarm was unrealistic and foolhardy. Even if either were currently achievable, neither came close to the absolute, burning need to find Nievtra and, by extension, the totality of the Keel Words of Power. Nothing would be sure until I got my swarm onto at least the same level as the rest of the peoples that we¡¯d made enemies of, but if the increase in standard status from keelish to khatif was to be believed, then we would take the place of a higher people even than humanity with our evolution, just as I¡¯d been assured by the Administrator before. Finally rousing myself from my inwardly focused stupor, I looked out from myself and truly saw what was before us. There was a slight downward slope, allowing me to really notice the slight difference of life in the land before us. The previous numbers of the wildlife swelled to more than three times that of just a few miles behind us. In the distance I could see a herd of huge grazing beasts I didn¡¯t recognize, their horns curling over themselves and spreading dangerously forward. Other birds of prey large enough to carry away an adult keelish or a smaller Sik¡¯Tal khatif flew and swooped down near the creatures before us. To the north was a river that flowed towards where we came from, to the sea in the west. The air smelled different, almost reminiscent of the jungle where we were born. It wasn¡¯t the moisture, the plains were arid, but instead there was an indescribable vivaciousness to the air that only a few minutes of travel had brought. Somehow, I knew we had entered a new land, even without a sign, [System]ic or otherwise. One step closer to Nievtra, one step closer to evolution, the next step towards answers. Chapter 254 The winds whistled over the plains on the day I evolved my [Fathomless Sonilphon]. Following the river upstream, we had stayed within a reasonable distance of the herd of the huge grazing beasts. The swarm had pursued them especially since they were large and a single one would be able to feed at least a dozen of us. While the large beasts were dangerously strong and heavy, they were prey through and through. These things had their large, sharp horns that had gored a couple of the slower keelish, but never fatally since the beasts didn¡¯t seek to use them except as a warding blow, and that only when it was too late. The beasts stood on all four cloven hooves, reminiscent of one of the nearly legendary ¡°cows¡± domesticated occasionally within the Veushten people. An idle part of me wondered how the Veratocracy had changed the way that they raised animals, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care. As far as I could remember, though, these monstrosities were only barely reminiscent of the slow, fat beast I¡¯d seen once before. These ¡°feral cows¡± were much larger than the single bull I¡¯d ever seen, with longer, thicker fur and more threatening horns. Along their spines and each joint they had hardened, hairless, thick skin that, according to the few keelish who¡¯d managed to get close, was nearly impossible to bite through. To make the hunt even more difficult and rewarding, when the creatures were threatened, they usually lowered their heads and tried to use their horns and armored skin to batter through whatever was before them. With their obvious strength, the ¡°feral cows¡± were the best candidate for me to continue progressing in the evolution of my [Adversary] [Skill]. To make sure I could progress, I took a full day to evaluate where an ¡°Alpha¡± or most impressive specimen of the herd could be. After my day¡¯s investigation, with Foire and Trai¡¯s help, I selected the individual that would best serve my purposes. The bull I chose stood shoulder above the rest of its herd. The individual members of the herd all had the same horns, but this one¡¯s horns were twice as large as the rest. His shoulders¡¯ muscles obviously flexed and rippled with every step, and his armor-like skin spread down further from his spine, over his shoulders, ribs, and haunches. If he were a different creature, it might have been balding and comedic, but on this goliath of a beast, the hairlessness only accentuated its muscular frame. As I took a glance at my [Skill¡¯s] evolutionary requirement¨C[Defeat a foe with a greater Stat total than yourself, without substantial support from any other creature]. There was a chance this cow wouldn¡¯t count, if it had no magical stats, but I was reasonably sure that, even so, its mass would still give it the edge in stats. Thus, I focused on how best to ensure I could easily slaughter it. Usually the enemy Alpha, as I began to think of him, would range around the edges of his herd, keeping an eye out and trying to dissuade any assault. Thus, I, Foire, Took, and one of her packs laid in wait in a deeper patch of grass, waiting for the herd to pass by and for the Alpha to come close enough for me to begin the slaughter, if my secondary plan didn¡¯t go according to hopes. This hunt was similar to the nearly forgotten hunt of the crocodiles, but more than anything ever before as a keelish, the hunt was like those I¡¯d taken up as a human. I took the time to acquaint myself with my prey¡¯s habits, setting traps, laying in wait, all punctuated by the anxiety and jittery energy that came with the heightened expectations exacerbated by the wait. Of course, the feeling reminded me of my last hunt with Viilor, the extermination we were going to bring about on a small keelish swarm¡­ He¡¯d apologized right at the end, but I thought he¡¯d sneered down at me. Did I remember that correctly? At this point, I was so far away from that time both physically and emotionally, did I even care about him? I shook the memories from my head, reminding myself that he was sure to be dead by now, at least 200 years later. With a conscious effort, I rolled my shoulders back, the weight of revenge slipping from my conscience as I rallied myself to go into battle. The Alpha was coming close, the herd of prey continuing on their path towards the river and, by extension, us. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. With a creak my fingers and claws flexed, the scales around my hands flared, and I activated [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust]. I could see a persistent weak spot on the prey as a whole in a spot just behind their shoulders, a place to stab into their hearts. The Alpha didn¡¯t have that, the weakness covered with the thickened defensive skin and corded muscle. Instead, at the base of his skull there was an occasional flash of a fatal weakness, but it was frequently covered by his horns and head movement. Then there was the belly, ripe and wide open for evisceration. Finally, the throat, which was a wide open fatal weak point, the only problem being the massive horns that were attached to the head. With a sigh, I put my spear to the side, not wanting to snap the haft against such a massive foe, and began to plan my attack. Finally, 100 feet¡­ 75¡­ 50¡­ The Alpha¡¯s nose flared, and he raised his head high, looking out for me. That was my cue. I pushed my magic to both my hands as I activated [Quaking Claw] and my throat and grinned. Combat once again. The Alpha, no, the prey lowered its head and began thundering forward, on towards me. Once I was within striking distance it lashed out with its horns while I stepped back and dodged well away, getting a read of its reach. It spun its head in a circle, rearing onto its back legs and lashing out with its front hooves. On its back feet, the thing must have been 13 feet tall, just like the Nanuk, but trying to compare the two was laughable. I darted forward and swept my claws into its lower ribcage, the bone easily giving way before my vibrating claws. At the belly, I drilled my hand deeper until my fist impacted with unforgiving muscle. The prey screamed in terror, agony, and rage as I stepped back and avoided its heavy slam against the ground. The earth trembled beneath me as I reevaluated the so-called Alpha before me. It didn¡¯t know combat, only the panicked efforts of a cornered posturer. With a roaring [Crippling Cry], I continued the assault. The concussive blast of sound set my prey to stumbling, blood leaking from its nostrils and ears. Under the influence of my thundering magic, I finally understood the instructions for evolution of [Quaking Claw] and sent an additional surge of magic to my claws, leaving my sonilphon at half full. My fingers trembled and vibrated with excitement as I rallied my strength in my left arm as the shuddering magic fought to tear all control from my body. I shouted out my challenge to the bull as it rallied itself and began a full charge at me. It lowered its head, ears pinned back and eyes wild as it lowed a challenge back at me. I stood strong, ready to accept the charge head on as all four of its legs spun wildly and sent grass flying back. Then, I stepped to the side at the last moment and finally swung my left arm and released all the potential energy stored within. My [Quaking Claw¡¯s] shockwave smashed into the base of the bull¡¯s skull and knocked it prone, where it convulsed wildly. My [Skill] still active, I cut through its spine and put it out of its suffering before beginning the next step of our plan. I strode forward, staring into the eyes of over 100 of the cows. I drew deep on the second half of my magical reserves and shouted to [Debilitating Diatribe]: ¡°Surrender! Bow to us and you will survive!¡± Though I knew they didn¡¯t understand anything, Sybil, Shemira, and Farahlia sprang up all around the herd and began flaring their magic. The herd took only a spare moment to panic before, almost as one, they fell to the ground, trembling. I grinned widely as I consulted the newly flashing [System] notifications. [Skills evolved. Organ evolution unlocked. Status updated.] Chapter 255 Warning: System heavy chapter incoming! The adrenaline surge of victory filled my head and I felt Nievtala¡¯s brief touch on my mind, her approval deliberately tamped down and controlled. I looked at Sybil, raising my fists in celebration, but she was too focused on controlling our newest ¡°domesticated¡± prey. The magical aid given by Sybil and Shemira specifically was beyond invaluable, since domestication took generations and so much more time than we could afford to take. Even so, the cost to subjugate our prey taxed Sybil and Shemira both, and I watched them both sag as they spent every bit of their magical reserves to calm the beasts before us. With my primary objectives completed, I gestured for those keelish that stood closest to me to begin the feast. I quickly glanced at my [System], learning that these our latest conquest were called Oxfiends, and the one I¡¯d killed was an ¡°Oxfiend Bull Paragon¡±. As I continued looking through my [Status], I was surprised to see just how many [Skills] I¡¯d progressed in and demanded that each one to present itself all at once. [Skill: Quaking Claw; an active Skill that sends a concentrated flow of sonic magic to a specific location. The sonic magic¡¯s vibrations cause the affected area to vibrate in a way that facilitates cutting and tearing. When paired with a sharp extremity or sharpened held tool, Quaking Claw will show its greatest effectiveness. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Develop a more complete understanding of sonic waves and how to influence them while they are not directly in contact with the Skill holder¡¯s body. Progress: Complete.] [Skill: Debilitating Diatribe; allows the Skill holder to use their words and lace them with magic to sap energy, excitement, and morale, as well as to occasionally incite obedience in the listener. Once a Skill holder holds both the Skill Debilitating Diatribe and Innervating Address, the holder can discern which individual listening to give either effect. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Use Debilitating Diatribe as the primary catalyst for the surrender in a hostile force of at least 100. Progress: Complete.] [Skill: Pack Tactics; a passive skill granted to some leaders whose position comes with a physiological change and/or evolution, especially if their evolution is tied to combat and military guidance. This Skill blesses the holder with an innate understanding of command, allowing for clearer communication on the battlefield, as well as a rudimentary understanding of tactical advantage. Skill Evolution requirements; command 10 large scale battles, each ending in the Skill holder¡¯s foes¡¯ complete defeat. Note: to qualify as a ¡°large scale battle¡±, the Skill holder must be in command of at least 50 troops. Progress: 6/10.] [Skill: True Dominance; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated and begun to perfect the ability to force others to obey and submit to the Skill¡¯s holder. Those who have gained this Skill are beginning to understand the path of the tyrant, and this Skill assists them in that path. This Skill grants an improved aura that incites loyalty, obedience, and fear in others. This aura begins to force even those with the strongest will to submit their will to the holder, and allows the holder to more easily dominate those who stand before them, even without violence. This Skill can evolve. Skill evolution requirements: assert and establish dominance over five leaders of groups of at least 100 individuals. Progress: 2/5] [Skill: Adversary; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated their determination to conquer. This Skill grants an aura that incites weakness, aggression, and paranoia in those the Skill¡¯s holder has deemed an enemy. This aura allows the Skill holder to more easily break the morale of those targeted. This Skill can evolve. Skill evolution requirements: Defeat a foe with a greater Stat total than yourself, without substantial support from any other creature. Progress: 8/10.] [Organ: Fathomless Sonilphon; an exceptionally advanced version of the rare magic manipulating organ, Sonilphon. This organ is developed by those who have moved past elementary understanding of what sonic magic can do, and are understanding what sonic magic is. The Fathomless Sonilphon¡¯s reserves for magic are expanded greatly from that of the Profound Sonilphon, and the Fathomless Sonilphon¡¯s rate of ambient magic conversion to sonic attributed magic within the organ is enhanced beyond that of the Profound Sonilphon. Additionally, any development of a new Skill related to sonic magic and the Sonilphon will be rewarded with bonus Stats. This organ can evolve. Requirements: evolve two Sonic Magic Skills beyond their initial tier of power. Progress: 2/2] Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. So many changes all at once, but there were three things that caught my eye most especially: [Quaking Claw], [Debilitating Diatribe], and [Fathomless Sonilphon]. Skill evolutions! [Skill: Quaking Claw has evolved to Skill: Destructive Wave.] [Skill: Debilitating Diatribe has evolved to Skill: Disastrous Discourse.] [Organ: Fathomless Sonilphon has evolved to Organ: Perpetual Sonilphon.] [Evolution of Organ: Fathomless Sonilphon has granted the user +20 Magic.] [Skill: Destructive Wave; an active Skill whose bestowal indicates that the holder is reaching towards the peaks of previously explored proficiency with Sonic magic. The Skill holder is capable of influencing sonic waves even when outside of the direct influence of their body, and this Skill¡¯s acquisition will display an increase in the holder¡¯s ability to influence all forms of sonic waves, even those nonmagical in origin. The most basic usage of this Skill will allow its holder to send bursts of sonic magic to a location directly within the bounds of their reach, or even beyond, and cut, tear, crumple, or dissolve that which is afflicted. This Skill cannot evolve, but it can be advanced.] [Skill: Disastrous Discourse; an active Skill whose bestowal indicates that the holder is advancing towards the position of a demagogue, a leader whose words shake the souls of their foes to cowardice and stir the hearts of their followers to violent retribution. The acquisition of this Skill will bless the holder with an increase in the holder¡¯s ability to influence all forms of sonic waves, even those nonmagical in origin. The most basic usage of this Skill will allow its holder to break the will of their dissidents, harness the hurt of the masses, and drive the rebellious to obedience. This Skill cannot evolve, but it can be advanced.] [Organ: Perpetual Sonilphon; a pinnacle evolution of the rare magic manipulating organ, Sonilphon. This organ is developed by those who have moved past elementary and even advanced understanding of what sonic magic can do, and now understand what sonic magic is. Now, the organ¡¯s holder must conduct true research into the effects of their magic, of the presence of sonic waves in the world, and the mysteries of Elioloi. The Perpetual Sonilphon¡¯s reserves for magic are very nearly limitless, and the Perpetual Sonilphon¡¯s rate of ambient magic conversion to sonic attributed magic within the organ is so profound that even when emptied completely, the holder will quickly be able to use their magic once again. Additionally, any development of a new Skill related to sonic magic and the Sonilphon will be rewarded with bonus Stats. This organ cannot evolve at the holder¡¯s current evolutionary level.] So many changes¡­ I struggled to fully understand how my body had changed, and while I contemplated as much, I felt my sonilphon swell within my chest. My lungs struggled to expand, my heart thrummed with worry, my throat swelled closed, and my stomach twisted. I gasped, trying to keep myself standing as my body suddenly changed so vastly. It was only after several minutes that I could finally stand steadily, and Vefir had already rushed to my side. I waved him off as I forced myself to take several deep breaths. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. Just reaping some benefits from the hunt that were surprising.¡± ¡°I suppose that is acceptable, Alpha.¡± Vefir conceded after he sent a pulse of his magic through me and found no ills to be healed. ¡°But do remember that your continued survival and health is more important than the rest of ours combined.¡± I couldn¡¯t hide the frustrated flick of my tail, and Vefir chuckled as he jogged away. Only then did I realize that long enough had passed that Sybil, keeping both eyes on the frightened herd that stood surrounded by ravenous keelish, had stepped close to me. ¡°Just the genius I was looking to speak with.¡± I said, smile obvious in my voice. Sybil cocked her head and looked directly into my eyes. ¡°You wanted to talk to me about my [Status]. Now, finally, let¡¯s talk.¡± Chapter 256 ¡°You asked me before to tell you about the [System]. What do you want to know?¡± ¡°Are all creatures under the influence of the [System] even if they do not have direct access to their personal [Status]?¡± Her responding question was immediate. ¡°I¡­¡± I took a moment to ask the [System], relaying its answer as I received it. [All creatures under the administrative influence of the Administrative Body are also under the influence of the System, regardless of if they individually are a System user.] ¡°Are all creatures on this land under the administrative influence of the Administrative Body?¡± [Question unclear. Please restate.] ¡°Are all creatures on this planet under the administrative influence of the Administrative Body?¡± [Yes.] ¡°What exactly is a [System] user, and how are they different from any other individual who is, ostensibly, under the influence and purview of the [System]?¡± [A System user is an elect individual who can see their Status and, upon evolution and Systemic progression, can reap the rewards logically granted by the acquisition of additional information thus provided.] ¡°How many [System] users can there be?¡± [General information is unclear to be communicated without trespassing information limitations. With redactions, a clear picture can be communicated. There can only ever be a single user per each of the species belonging to the dominions of REDACTED. Though imprecise, it can be generally understood that there can be a singular user per selected species.] ¡°How many [System] users are there currently?¡± [The Administrative Body does not allow for this information to be passed on to any individuals under the administrative influence of the System nor the Administrative Body.] ¡°How many selected species are there?¡± [The Administrative Body does not allow for this information to be passed on to any individuals under the administrative influence of the System nor the Administrative Body.] On and on Sybil questioned, questions ranging from how to know when the next [System] user would be born (wouldn¡¯t say) to how to gain more individual access to the [System] and its guidance. Unfortunately, the deeper she pried and the more she sought to learn, the less information we received until, finally, Sybil stomped off with her tail lashing in frustration as she muttered to herself about the stupidity of Administrative Bodies. With all that she had brought up, though, I focused on the possibility of meeting one in my travels, and what exactly an increase in the [rewards logically granted by the acquisition of additional information] would entail. It had remained stubbornly in the camp of [The Administrator has deemed it unnecessary to divulge that information]. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Swarm Alpha, if I may.¡± ¡°Of course Greel.¡± The formality of the young keelish¡¯s approach that pulled me from my musing made me sigh and laugh in equal portions, but I made sure never to respond with anything less than respect and understanding. ¡°How did you learn how to use your magic the way you did before?¡± His face nearly glowed with enthusiasm as he plied me with questions, ¡°What exactly did you do? How did you think of it? Do you think that I could do that with my magic once I learn whatever it is?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but notice Trai listening surreptitiously while pretending to be busy with something underfoot. Leera was trying to get her attention while she loitered, but Trai snapped at him and scared him off as I began to speak. ¡°Well, short answer is that I figured it out.¡± I paused, then continued walking as if that was all I had to say. Greel struggled, I could hear his stuttering attempt at continuing the conversation, but the confusion at my abrupt and uncharacteristic brusque answer held him back from pushing for an answer. Finally, Trai jogged forward and cut me off. ¡°Look, Alpha, what do you¨C¡± She cut off once she noticed the barely contained laughter on my face. Her jaw dropped, her scaly face slowly recognizing she and her companion had been tricked. Then, ever quick on her feet, she joined in. ¡°Oh, you know¡­ I don¡¯t use magic, so it doesn¡¯t matter if I understand what you were talking about anyways. I mean, my dad doesn¡¯t have to either.¡± She shrugged, and with a sway of her tail just like Shemira or Sybil¡¯s sassy nonchalance, began to saunter off. I couldn¡¯t help but grin. This girl had the same ¡°I¡¯m so pleased with myself¡± strut that her adoptive mothers did. Regardless of Trai¡¯s quick uptake, Greel stood gaping, wondering at how what I¡¯d said was meant to be any sort of an answer. I glanced over at him and smiled softly. ¡°Greel.¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha!¡± He stood bolt upright. ¡°Relax. It¡¯s a joke.¡± He slowly nodded. ¡°Yeah. Of course. How so?¡± ¡°I¡¯d always meant to tell anyone who asked. After all, the strength of the swarm is my strength in turn. I just wanted to get a rise out of you.¡± ¡°Oh, of course!¡± Immediately, Greel began to laugh, forced and uncomfortable. I shook my head and reached out. ¡°No, Greel. You don¡¯t understand. And that¡¯s ok.¡± I gestured to Trai and her other hangers on, Hala and Leera, standing slightly more aloof. Sideeyeing each other, they slowly approached. ¡°I think all of you young ones are great. I¡¯m not sure how proactive my teaching is as an Alpha, as we continue to grow in numbers, to swell, and divide and change, and grow. I have worked to assist your growth, but I have not taught you well.¡± Hala slowly spoke up, ¡°I don¡¯t want to argue with you. That just¡­ isn¡¯t how we work? Keelish learn by doing. You taught me a little, and I¡¯ve learned a lot more by just¡­ doing after.¡± The hesitant female let her words drift off as she looked at me for approval. Slowly, I noticed several other of the young ones and newer members of the swarm stepping closer, listening to what ¡°wisdom¡± I could impart. ¡°We aren¡¯t just regular keelish. You¡¯ve seen what regular keelish are. How limited they are. How weak. Inconsequential. We¡¯re more than that. Are we beasts that merely chase and hunt and rut? Or are we the chosen of a goddess, the conquerors of the continent, those who will become true Keel?¡± Murmurs filled the air as I continued, repeating previous Words of Power as an additional, familiar sense of reverence settled over me, ¡°We have tempered ourselves through a willingness to sacrifice! We are the blade bared at the throats of those who dare to oppose our path! We are the thrones that the wise submit to! And we are the peak that casts the long shadow!¡± As my address grew in fervor and I channeled [Innervating Address], various keelish cries of excitement rang out as the sound swelled until the uproaring clamor filled my ears and shook my bones. I ignored the [System] notifying me that I¡¯d Spoken more of the Words of Power, instead exulting in the power and glory of my people. The formless sounds of excitement slowly transitioned to a chant. ¡°Ashlani. Ashlani. Ashlani. Ashlani! Ashlani! ASHLANI! ASHLANI!¡± I spread my arms and bathed in the praise. I lowered my head and looked over my people, ready to continue my address. That was when trumpeting war-cries washed over us. Chapter 257 After the establishment of the New Empire, there was an increase in desire to chart, excavate, and understand the ruins of previous civilizations. After all, if there were such extensive histories left behind that would benefit the Veratocracy¡¯s enemies, would there not be relics and gifts that our esteemed ancestors left to us? -From the notes of renowned historian Ahyalt di¡¯Nielta The hundreds of keelish¡¯s cries shifted rapidly from excitement and exultation to confusion and rage. The oxfiends and axebeaks lowed and shrieked their protestations and terror, and I shouted, ¡°SYBIL! Command the wolfstags! Took, to me! Keelish, FIGHT! Victory by fang and blood!¡± My people rallied and turned to face whatever it was that attacked. The moment they ceased their hiding and attempted subterfuge, it was obvious our attackers were indlovu. Their 10 foot frames appeared in the grasses, somehow having approached without alarming anyone to their presence. This tribe was not here to search for one of their own or to see what was going on. Already, three wet splats echoed out as just as many keelish were crushed to paste below the indlovu¡¯s massive mauls. The indlovu stood with nearly a dozen feet between each, giving plenty of space to swing their deadly weapons while still being only a couple of steps away from the aid of one of their own. We could seize on that space. ¡°Don¡¯t let them get any space! Press close and hard, and take them down!¡± I commanded as I glanced through the dozen or so assailants. My blood boiled, and I shouted a [Disastrous Discourse] at the indlovu while [Enervating Address] boosted my allies. I couldn¡¯t tell which one was the commander, which the most valuable to their attack¨C ¡°Ashlani! That one!¡± Sybil cried as she pointed. Now that she pointed it out, there was something slightly different about how the indlovu reacted to that one¡¯s presence. Maybe it was all in my mind, but I rallied against it nonetheless. For a moment, I wasn¡¯t sure how she had picked it out of the crowd, but I quickly realized it was her magic, and instead focused on [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] while sending a surge of magic to my throat and claws alike, preparing [Crippling Cry] and [Destructive Wave] respectively. Two of the towering indlovu stepped forward in an attempt to block my approach, but Took, Brutus, Percral, and dozens more threw themselves at the obstacles and tore them away in the keelish way. Even under the cold impassivity of [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], I felt my face crack into a wide grin as my people shredded into the thick hides of the cowards who ambushed us in the middle of our celebration of life. We would feast on their flesh and crack their bones. Now forced into direct combat with me, the leader raised his club and trumpeted another war cry into my face, his trunk spewing mucus and fury in my direction. I continued to compress the [Crippling Cry] in my throat, hoping that the massive ears would also mean a greater sensitivity to my sonic attack. With a feinted lunge, I drew the ambusher into a crushing downward swing and as the heavy stone head of the maul smashed into the ground, my [Tremorsense] went wild with the localized earthquake the strike created underfoot. Confident in my speed compared to the immense heft of the leader¡¯s weapon, I lunged forward in earnest. His trunk sailed forward and smashed into the side of my head and knocked me prone. My vision spun and my ears rang as I attempted to gather myself and keep myself alive, but it was only my [Tremorsense] that kept me alive under the trampling charge the indlovu chief began. Though I couldn¡¯t see straight, I could feel each approaching footstep, and I thanked Trai for her cooperation with my training all those weeks and months ago. I stepped to the side just fast enough to only catch a single tusk along my flank, and thus, first blood belonged to the indlovu. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I forced my vision to focus as the indlovu reached its trunk out once more, grasping for my throat. I dodged below, but was again surprised by the trunk¡¯s alacrity as it again sought to smash into my head. I barely managed to duck my head and raise my shoulder enough to make the blow glancing instead of deadly, and was again sent sprawling into the dirt. My [Skill] showed flashes of red spots, but I¡¯d underestimated this warrior as a mere brute. He was a true warrior, and I¡¯d suffered the consequence of my own inability to accept that. Now, I slowed myself, allowing myself to focus on what I could do now, how I could deal any blow to him without surrendering my own safety. The indlovu, emboldened by his success and my apparent and obvious hesitation, charged in once more. Feeling my chance arrive, I compressed the magic in my throat one more time before letting the explosion of a scream tear through my throat. More powerful than ever before, my amplified magic rushed to slow my foe¡¯s charge. Even better than I¡¯d expected or hoped, the force of my attack blew the indlovu¡¯s ears back, and he stumbled and fell from his charge. Before the dirt had settled, I leapt forward onto its back and raised both hands high. A small, calculating part of me realized that the sound echoed so loudly that the entire battlefield went silent for a slow moment, but the rest of me, furious at their cowardice, at the slaughter of my people, at the situation that I kept finding myself in, instead continued to move forward. Both of my hands visibly vibrated under the influence of my [Skill], and I slashed both across the base of the indlovu¡¯s neck. My claws were the first thing to pierce the thick hide, only tearing through the gray skin with redoubled effort, but my newly evolved [Skill] didn¡¯t result purely in an increase to the cutting power of my claws. Beneath the physical form of my attack, an invisible but no less deadly blade cut through flesh, tendon, and bone. The shrill sound of cracking bone cut through the silence, and I raised my head and shrieked to my people once again, ¡°VICTORY! I am the peak that casts the long shadow! Bow before me! Kill them all!¡± Then, my cry of victory sounded, I leaned down and, disregarding the shuddering of my prey attempting to rise to its feet, began to tear ever deeper. My fangs couldn¡¯t find purchase on the thick bone, its natural density and strength repelling my mundane attack. Furious, I channeled even more of my sonic magic to my fangs and hands alike as I fastened my fingers together in their blade form as they, empowered by [Destructive Wave], shredded and stabbed repeatedly into the thick flesh of my indlovu meal. My fangs, vibrating, shaking, powerful, found a space between two bones, and with a force of muscular effort enhanced by magical might, ripped two full vertebrae from the indlovu¡¯s neck where it¡¯s shoulder and base of the skull met. My prey fell completely still below me, and I ignored [System] notifications as I took two more gory bites. Blood coated my face and filled my eyes as I again raised my head and screamed my victory to the skies. In a wordless roar, I leapt down from the corpse of the indlovu I¡¯d slain and sprinted towards the next, the next victim, the next prey. All around me, keelish screamed their approval and the indlovu¡¯s initial pride and excitement quickly bled into terror. They began to flee, leaving a crippled indlovu behind, which trumpeted its fear to its companions as it began to succumb to the wounds given by dozens of claws and hundreds of fangs. And I would ensure at least one more entered the count of the dead. Chapter 258 True to my personal vow, one more of the ambushing indlovu lay dead at my feet, making three of them. Even so, I felt no glory after the hunt. Fifteen splatters of crimson on the dirt were all that remained of my own subordinates. The mauls of the indlovu didn¡¯t leave anything solid behind, a puree of pulped person were all that was left, and if someone hadn¡¯t watched each one die, then we¡¯d never have known how many of our own had died. ¡°Foire!¡± I barked. He stepped forward, head bowed and body language chagrined. ¡°How do they keep sneaking up on us without anyone noticing? Where do they come from? How do they evade your notice?¡± ¡°I¡­ have no excuse. They have good timing for their approach, so that¡¯s been a problem¨C¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care if they¡¯ve had immaculate timing with every one of their Nievtala-cursed steps! I don¡¯t care what devil of fortune has blessed them, I want to know how the miserable beasts have been able to ambush us twice! I didn¡¯t feel their approach, and I guess you don¡¯t see them??¡± Foire, my abashed friend, hung his head in shame, and I forcefully gathered myself. ¡°It isn¡¯t just your fault. I shouldn¡¯t act as if it were. I apologize for my anger. It isn¡¯t your fault, and I shouldn¡¯t have lashed out at you like this.¡± Several keelish around audibly gasped at my audible apology. ¡°I need you to figure out how to see these bastards coming. I don¡¯t care how you need to learn that, you have my permission to drag anyone away from any assignment at any time to figure out how these gigantic monsters are able to move the way that they do.¡± My trusted scout flared his frills in agreement and I dismissed him with a flick of my wrist. ¡°Now, feast! Eat your fill and then more, because this much meat will spoil quickly!¡± I beckoned for my swarm to gorge themselves before tearing a long strip from my first prey¡¯s back, where I¡¯d torn into him at first. Then, I walked to the side, where, frustration mounting, I glanced at my [System] [Status updated. Skill acquired.] I ignored the sounds of devouring and bone crunching behind me and instead focused on the changes in my [Status]. Adversary had ticked over to 9/10, confirming my near certainty that the indlovu was a much stronger individual than me. More interestingly to me, though, was the notification that came to me from the Words of Power that I¡¯d finally been able to speak, even though I¡¯d tried and failed to do so before. [The user has discovered the True iteration of the Fifth of the Words of Power of Nievtala. The user has been blessed with the greater blessing of victory. The user has been granted the Skill Victor¡¯s Spoils.] A new [Skill] was always welcome, and, as I stood in the crimson slurry of sand from the indlovu¡¯s blood underfoot, I realized I probably knew what the effect of this [Skill] would be. [Skill: Victor¡¯s Spoils; a passive Skill granted to the select representatives of Nievtala. When the Skill¡¯s holder slays a foe, the holder will regain some of their strength from the dead. The amount of recovery gained by the holder is a percentage of and commensurate with the strength of the slain foe. This Skill cannot evolve.] This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it With a grin, I patted along my side where the indlovu¡¯s tusk had scored a deep scratch along my ribs. Even though neither Vefir nor Etra had come to tend to me, the previously weeping wound now was scabbed over and not nearly so agonizing as before. As I stood and gently brushed a finger over the partially recovered laceration, Vefir came close, clicking his tongue in frustration. For my part, I didn¡¯t try to avoid his displeasure. Always, he warned me to be careful, and always I forgot or simply disregarded his sage counsel. ¡°Here.¡± Vefir grunted, his healing delivered to me in a none too gentle tail slap just under the long scratch. I gasped in pain as my wounds were replaced by hale and hearty scales. ¡°Permission to speak about something?¡± Vefir asked, his tone clipped. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll be more careful.¡± ¡°No, not that.¡± I perked up, hopeful he¡¯d speak about something else entirely. ¡°You need guards. You need someone who will stay by your side and minimize the risk you encounter. I am always available to support you and the swarm, but it¡¯s so much easier to heal many small wounds than a couple big ones. And, as always, if you die, so too does this swarm.¡± I flared my frills, trying to actually drill the idea into my head this time. Vefir stepped away, his healing and warning complete. Shemira stepped close and nudged his hip with her own as she began to tease him. I smiled at the sight, and then, something occurred to me. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder why the boon I¡¯d gained from Speaking the Fifth of the Words of Power was obviously different from what Vefir had been able to accomplish when he¡¯d saved Sybil¡¯s life back when we were still on the other side of the Samutelia. His ¡°blessing of victory¡±, or whatever he¡¯d been given, had instead empowered his magic, something wholly different from what I was experiencing. Why? [The Administrator answers: the boons received from the Speaking of a Phrase will differ from one individual to the next, even if the same blessing is given. In certain species, though, the physical alteration will occur in the exact same stages and order through every individual in the species.] Like with the Moonchildren¡¯s fingers and eyes? [Exactly. According to what the Bloodsoaked Priestess told you, the Moonchildren have six Phrases, one for each finger in order, and then the final for the eyes. There are exceptions to¨C] The Administrator went silent, obviously having overstepped once again. Her message returned, surly and frustrated. [Anyways. The Moonchildren speak their Phrases in order. The Beastkin do not, as the entirety of their Phrase¡­ No, I can¡¯t explain that or I¡¯ll be silenced. Nievtala¡¯s Words of Power, the Keel¡¯s Words, bless each individual slightly differently, though you, as a Disciple gain greater benefits. Anyways, that¡¯s not the point. What was I saying? Ah, yes. Each keelish or khatif will gain different boons from speaking each of the Phrases, but upon speaking the entirety of the Words of Power, they will qualify to evolve into a Keel. There are other changes that will arise therefrom, but that¡¯s neither here nor there. Basically, you¡¯ll grow in a way slightly tailored towards yourself.] I flared my frills, supposing she could see. Then, thinking that she possibly couldn¡¯t, I whispered and thought, ¡°Thank you¡± under my breath. Now, we needed to continue our journey east¡­ and find whether I would need to progress some other [Quest] requirements to keep more indlovu from thinking they could ambush and slaughter us out of nowhere. After all¡­ I wouldn¡¯t mind the opportunity to grow. Chapter 259 Should one embrace the Words of Power? Should they enjoy the heresy of the deeper Words? Should the Sanctuary offer respite to those that have turned from the deeps? Should the Sanctuary darken the halls of the divine? The Sanctuary is built to darken the view of the Tower, to hide lower than its notice and protect our plane from its incursions. The individual¡¯s worth is infinitely lower than that of the whole. If there must be sacrifices, whether guilty or innocent, then they shall be made. We may weep over their graves, and lament the deaths of thousands. But the Tower cannot know of the Sanctuary. -Instructions given to every supplicant of the Blackened Sanctuary. ¡°I am willing and able to follow commands, but I doubt somewhat regarding how much it would benefit us for me to do so instead of retaining as much secrecy as possible for now.¡± It took some time to decide what exactly to do about Sybil and how she communicated with the wolfstags. For some reason, it seemed like her magic was ¡°different¡± to the indlovu, and she was how they¡¯d found us in the first place. My initial thought had been to have her mentally ¡°scream¡± warnings to any nearby indlovu, keeping them at arm¡¯s length, unless they wanted to violate the unspoken agreement not to murder us in cold blood. Sybil¡¯s though, which I felt I might agree more with than my own, was that keeping ourselves quiet and less noticeable would keep more from finding us. ¡°But, as we¡¯re moving and plan on going through Bekizo¡¯s territory, should we try to speak with him? I couldn¡¯t recognize him without him telling us, but he could help us find more keelish, and between all of us and our magic, I think we could probably keep him from being violent, if not convince him to help us out. We don¡¯t know this area.¡± Shemira countered. ¡°As I stated, I am willing to do so, but I would prefer that we all understand that doing so would be akin to lighting a fire in the middle of these fields in the middle of the night. All the nearby indlovu would find us, and for as long as we are unable to sense their approach, we would be kept on the unaware and at a disadvantage.¡± ¡°They might still find us anyways, Sybil!¡± Shemira responded, her frills and scales around her head flaring in her passion. ¡°I don¡¯t know what we should do, but we have some that could potentially be allies because they see you as a kind of a friend or little indlovu, and throwing that advantage to the side seems stupid at best. We can protect ourselves, and though we lost some of our own, we proved our strength to them in just a short time. We can do so to every one that threatens us until we show that Ashlani¡¯s swarm is too powerful to be considered pests or prey!¡± ¡°You follow your passion too strongly.¡± Sybil clacked her teeth in disagreement. ¡°It is better to remain hidden and continue our path.¡± ¡°Maybe, but maybe not! Sybil, what if it were you standing on the edge of the swarm earlier?¡± ¡°Then I¡¯d have died.¡± She responded, tone and body language level and unbothered. Shemira snarled in response, ¡°And you should care about that!¡± Sybil¡¯s tail flicked in disagreement, though she said nothing overtly. ¡°Then what about Ashlani? What if it were him? Or Trai? Vefir? Or me?¡± Shemira¡¯s voice dropped lower at the end, desperation plain in her tone and body language. I stepped between the two, my hands stretched to each¡¯s shoulder. Two sets of eyes searched my face, one somber and the other dispassionate. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°You both make good points.¡± I allowed. ¡°Shemira, you¡¯re too focused on how you could have been hurt by the ambush, and you¡¯re letting that fear cloud your mind.¡± Her eyes darted away. ¡°Sybil. You¡¯re too conservative. In familiar places, we could do exactly what you say and be victorious and safe. We simply can¡¯t tell how close we are to our destination. I don¡¯t know how much longer we need to travel, how much further we¡¯ll need to go. We should seize any opportunity that we find to gather allies and supporters.¡± Shemira raised her face to me again, eyes searching mine. ¡°I am willing to follow your command, Alpha.¡± Sybil maintained, her tone clipped and unhappy. ¡°I wish for our swarm to understand the situation in which we find ourselves. If we understand the dangers which we are subject to, then I am happy to do as you dictate.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want you to light up a massive beacon displaying our location, Sybil.¡± I snapped back before reigning in my frustration. ¡°I think that, once Foire, Silf, and the rest of the scouts figure out how it is that the indlovu are moving so seamlessly, we¡¯ll be able to follow a bit of the path left by the Enkulu tribe. I can¡¯t say that we¡¯ll find Bekizo, or even the Enkulu, but that¡¯ll be a step in the right direction. But what if the tribe numbers in the hundreds, and we stumble across them because we were too stubborn to try to open a dialogue, and they kill us all?¡± ¡°That is a possibility,¡± Sybil allowed, ¡°but opening ourselves to ambush for that hope seems imprudent at best.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why I said after Foire and the scouts are successful. For now, I think that it¡¯s for the best that you not communicate with the wolfstags with your magic. Later, once we¡¯re confident we¡¯ll be able to sense their approach, we¡¯ll begin trying to open a conversation with the indlovu.¡± Sybil flared her frills in reluctant assent and began to turn to walk away. Before she turned fully, though, she looked back at Shemira. ¡°I am sorry. I should not have spoken of my death so easily. We have lost many companions, and I thought myself and the rest of the swarm fully hardened to such loss and suffering. I would lament your death, more than any other companion¡¯s death I have seen. I do not wish to feel that anguish, nor to bestow it upon you.¡± Then, Sybil bunted her head against Shemira¡¯s. ¡°Nor would I like you to die either, Ashlani. Neither for the dearth it would leave in the swarm¡¯s leadership, nor for the hole it would leave in me. Please be more careful, as Vefir asks. I have long since fallen into a sort of blind trust in your guaranteed survival, but I should not have. I do not know how I would be able to overcome your death.¡± Then, Sybil again bunted her head against mine before turning and walking towards the Wave Wolfstags, who she walked among and scratched an ear here and nuzzled a nose there. ¡°She¡­ sure is something.¡± Shemira said, forcing a weak chuckle. ¡°That she is. Thank you for caring for her.¡± ¡°Nothing to do with you.¡± Shemira replied, looking after my mate. I cocked my head as I asked, ¡°Do you wish to rut with her?¡± Shemira flinched back, almost as if she¡¯d sustained a sharp flick across her nose. ¡°No, not at all. Our bond is completely different from something so mundane as rutting. Beyond that, I¡¯m not attracted to her. He¡¯s more my style, at least for now.¡± Shemira said, her tail flicking towards Vefir. ¡°Truly?¡± I asked, skeptical. ¡°Truly.¡± She answered, a mischievous grin appearing. ¡°He¡¯s funny to tease, but so earnest.¡± Then, with a deliberate and exaggerated twist of her hips, Shemira turned and began to walk towards the aforementioned healer. He flicked his tail at her approach, but didn¡¯t turn her away. Instead, he looked her over, seeing if there were any neglected wounds that needed his ministration and, in response, she fawningly presented a small wound she stealthily gave herself across the back of one hand with a claw. Wise to her antics, Vefir turned around and disregarded the scratch and Shemira chased after. Taking a note from Shemira, I walked towards Sybil, idly taking note of a sand pit nearby that seemed deep enough for a good bath. I grinned as I jogged forwards, ready to indulge. Chapter 260 Another six days passed with nothing noteworthy occurring, the swarm pressing onward while attempting to stay relatively difficult to find. With as many of us as there were, going was slow, especially since we now had nearly half as many subjugated beasts as we had keelish. Were they entirely domesticated, it wouldn¡¯t have been nearly so much as a struggle, but only a dozen or so days ago, they were entirely wild, and only the effects of my own [Skills] combined with Shemira, Farahlia, and Sybil¡¯s magics could keep so many mostly feral creatures in line. To make matters worse, though we now had over 100 oxfiends and about half as many axebeaks under our influence, they became more and more difficult to manage as the days passed without the additional potency of Sybil¡¯s magic to help keep them docile and submissive. It was all we could do, with wolfstag, keelish, and khatif, to keep the herds together and nonviolent. Fortunately, the oxfiends¡¯ noses were perfect to guide us to the nearest bodies of water, so at least we didn¡¯t suffer for lack of drink. With the threatened instability, we didn¡¯t slaughter any of our pseudo domesticated livestock and instead did our best to keep them calm and happy. Instead, under Foire and Silf¡¯s recommendations and directions, we sent small packs of keelish on short hunts, never more than a mile or so away, close enough to see from the main body of the swarm, at least in the places where the grasses were under six feet tall. Their hunts were generally successful, and we sustained no casualties, so I allowed myself to hope that our plan to locate indlovu and, specifically Bekizo, could be successful. On the seventh day, Foire cheered from the center of the swarm, Silf at his side and cheering as well. As I approached, Foire¡¯s eyes met mine, a smile cracking his face. ¡°I¡¯ve figured it out! They¡¯re influenced by something like what Ytte can do!¡± ¡°That makes no sense to me.¡± I answered, my head cocked to the side as my tail flicked. ¡°Ytte¡¯s magic, she can control the earth, right?¡± ¡°Yeah. So are the indlovu underground or something?¡± ¡°No,¡± Foire clacked his fangs for emphasis, ¡°it¡¯s something different. I¡¯m not sure how they do it, but there¡¯s some places where the ground holds their feet, or cushions them, or something. It keeps them much quieter, and faster, and somehow covers their tracks.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good news,¡± I allowed. ¡°But how does that help us know where they are?¡± ¡°The way that I can find things is dependent upon how much I know about them.¡± Foire dismissed the concern, his tone still excited, but bleeding back to its usual greater formality. ¡°When I know what to search for, my senses extend much further and effectively. I can feel the magic in the air, in the earth, wherever it is. I will find the nearest indlovu, but I can¡¯t guarantee that they won¡¯t find me as well.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll be on equal ground, at least.¡± I flared my frills in appreciation. ¡°Thank you, Foire, for your work. You too, Silf.¡± The two khatif bowed their heads before perking up and their eyes glazed over. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. I stepped away to leave them to their search, but not a moment later, Foire hissed to me, ¡°They¡¯re here!¡± before pointing at a nondescript patch of grass. My heart began to race and I almost couldn¡¯t hear under the thundering of my own blood in my ears while my elites fell in near me. Under my command, the keelish nearest to the grass there stepped away and towards the main body of the swarm. I didn¡¯t hesitate to shout out in the human tongue, ¡°Indlovu! I am Ashlani, the Alpha of my swarm! I am fahvalo of Bloodpriestess Ana of the Moonchildren and escapee from the Veratocracy, Chosen of Nievtala and mate of the khatif known to Bekizo of the Enkulu as one of their own! Identify yourselves!¡± For one, two, three firm beats of my heart, I wondered if Foire and Silf were somehow mistaken, if we were still at the mercy of the indlovu. Then, a massive head slowly rose from the grasses and peered curiously at me. Huge gray ears framed the long face, and the two tusks that protruded around its trunk were exquisitely carved with whorls and patterns that seemed to be inlaid with gold. The indlovu stepped forward, the people¡¯s now-familiar maul held in its right hand at the ready but held low. Behind the 14 foot-tall indlovu rose another seven indlovu, their tusks carved but much less ornately so. ¡°You speak of things that you should not know.¡± The basso voice shook the ground I stood on, his voice setting my [Tremorsense] on edge. His voice was so powerful that, with the improvements to my sonilphon, I could see the waves faintly in the air. ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I know who I am and where I come from? Am I not saharliard?¡± Though I heard nothing from the indlovu, they obviously began conferring with each other, their trunks and ears flapping with growing levels of agitation. While the indlovu conferred with each other, Sybil leaned forward and whispered in the keelish tongue, ¡°What you said has them all curious and confused. Several of them just want to kill us without delay, but many of them say that doing so would be unbecoming. It is somewhat difficult to understand the entirety of their conversation. There¡­ are many voices. Many more than we can see. Not all of them are currently present, but this large one can somehow speak with others that are very far away.¡± Foire also spoke, his eyes focused on another patch of grass behind us, ¡°There are more there. Maybe seven, I¡¯m not sure.¡± I flared my frills in acknowledgement and returned to speak once more with the lurking indlovu. ¡°Why do you follow us? Several of ours were slain by your people some seven days ago. Are you looking for revenge?¡± ¡°None of the Yegolide have disappeared in the past days.¡± the leader responded, a trumpeting cry of challenge punctuating his statement. ¡°I appreciate your patience, little saharliard. My people are a territorial sort, though the Yegolide are more curious than others. Even so, your people are usually a scourge and are treated as such. How you introduce yourself tells much of who you are and how much of a story you have to tell.¡± The monstrously large leader stepped out of the grass, his hulking frame casting me into shadow. At this point, I stood about seven feet tall, but the indlovu man was at least twice my height. With a grumbling sigh, the leader sat down before me, his eyes still level with my own. After hesitating for a moment and hearing nothing from the indlovu, I was about to speak, but he raised his hand. About half a minute passed before a small red bird fluttered down and onto his shoulder, where it began to pick at his ear. Then, at last, he began to speak, ¡°You have presented yourself with respect and deserve the same treatment. I am Qaqambi, chieftain of the Yegolide tribe, the shatterer of Three Stone Hill and the Voice Across the Plains. I have come to speak with you, and see if our tribes can work in peace and friendship or must take up the iklabhu to protect ourselves and defeat our foes. Please, counsel with me, break bread with me, and let my askari be yours.¡± Chapter 261 ¡°Welcome to my swarm, Qaqambi of the Yegolide. I know nothing of your customs, so forgive any impoliteness.¡± He waved his trunk in a way not dissimilar to a dismissive wave. ¡°And I know nothing of yours. Let us learn and work together.¡± The chieftain leaned forward, his dark eyes searching my own. ¡°Tell me, how are your askari?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what an askari is.¡± ¡°And how do you keep off the flies and parasites? Are they not consuming your flesh?¡± His incredulous tone told me that surely I had an askari. Before I could again state my own lack of understanding, the small red bird on his shoulder flitted to my own, where it cocked its head and pecked inquisitively at the base of my right frill. It hurt, and I fought to keep my frustration down. After two pecks on the right, it then hopped over to the top of my head, where its sharp beak struck down half a dozen more times, from the bottom of my frills and crest to the other side, and then on the outside of my left frill. Then, the askari (I assumed) flew back to Qaqambi, whose head ponderously cocked to the side. ¡°May your beds be firm, your meals full, and your skin unblemished.¡± He said with a ritualistic formality and I attempted to memorize the words while he began querying in a more puzzled tone, ¡°You have no parasites, even in your softest flesh.¡± He stated, a sense of wonder about him when he said as much. ¡°I¡¯m glad that I don¡¯t.¡¯ I replied, curious and confused. ¡°I apologize.¡± The chieftain said, his ears flapping out agitatedly. ¡°You do not know of my people, as you said, and I have neglected to explain to you. From a young age, every one of the indlovu finds and matches themselves to an askari. The askari pick clean the tiny creatures that search to eat our skin and burrow into our flesh. They are lifelong companions, the askari and the indlovu, though we indlovu outlive our partners by a century or two, so their descendants care for us, while we protect and feed them. An indlovu scorned by his askari is unclean and unwanted. I apologize again, for considering you filthy when you are capable of cleaning yourself. May I ask, in the spirit of our exchange, how it is that your people remain free from filth?¡± My tail flicked in frustration and confusion in equal amounts. Why would this matter to anyone? ¡°I can demonstrate a bath, I suppose. There is the correct type of sand nearby.¡± ¡°Please!¡± the massive indlovu declared as he rose to his feet. Surprising me, he left the maul behind as I walked towards the nearest sand pit. Every one of his steps was twice as long as mine, and Qaqambi retained a slow pace alongside me. ¡°Sybil!¡± I called, and she immediately understood what I was asking for. At the sand bath, I stepped in and slowly shifted my weight back and forth until I was about waist deep. With the current politicking, I refused to luxuriate in the pleasantly hot sands and instead focused on the rite of washing. While I typically would use my magic to exfoliate and indulge, I instead allowed for Sybil to scrub my back, shoulders, and hips before standing and flaring my scales all over my body to let the sands fall freely from my body. ¡°That is a bath. Usually, we spend more time to scrub our whole bodies, but I don¡¯t want to take more of your time than necessary to show as much.¡± Qaqambi¡¯s trunk nodded up and down as he contemplated what I¡¯d just done. ¡°That is wise. There are no sands deep enough safe for us indlovu to enter, and our hands and bodies are not well suited for these sand baths. Even so, I desire to be blessed by your cleansing.¡± Then, the chieftain, twice my size and at least eight times as heavy, stepped into the sand. He rather quickly sunk up to his knee, where this particular sand pit seemed to bottom out. He looked at me expectantly, then at the sand, then back at me. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Of course. Your askari cleaned me. Let me return the favor.¡± He trumpeted his approval, and I stepped into the sands and gathered two handfuls of sand and rubbed it along his thigh. His skin, though tough and calloused, was flexible and hung in wrinkles. The sands caught in the folds, and I had to scrub five or six times as much as I would have for a keelish. After maybe a minute of scrubbing, Qaqambi turned and ponderously pulled one of his legs out of the sand. It was an obvious struggle for him to raise a leg so high, and I felt my somewhat neutral evaluation of the chieftain rise. With so much willingness to adhere to his customs to show his respect for me¡­ Perhaps we could engage in a meeting as equals. ¡°May your beds be firm, your meals full, and¡­ your skin clean.¡± ¡°Unblemished.¡± The chieftain gently corrected, though I could tell I¡¯d still somehow done something wrong. He didn¡¯t comment on it though, instead continuing, ¡°Thank you. You are truly saharliard, and are willing to engage with me as an equal, a friend. Let us converse, my friend. How can I help you?¡± His response was so different from the Moonchildren, the nearest thing to an ally we¡¯d found, I almost didn¡¯t know how to respond. ¡°We¡¯re looking for Old Nievtra. Nievtala has taught us that its ruins can be found in the far east. We follow that vision.¡± ¡°Your goddess has told you well.¡± Qaqambi¡¯s trunk nodded sagely. ¡°I have never been so far from my tribe¡¯s lands, but I have spoken with those who have. I know that your ancestors¡¯ lands lay there, long ago.¡± ¡°I¡­ thank you for the confirmation.¡± ¡°Of course, my saharliard! For that are friends!¡± His voice boomed over me, his tone growing ever more excited and friendly. ¡°I also see that you have brought your own herds, so that you will not slaughter our wildlife. Do you need guidance to the best river to follow on your journey?¡± ¡°The herds smell them out pretty well.¡± I hedged, off-put by his magnanimity and wondering if I needed to say anything about how we¡¯d been hunting from the creatures that lived here. ¡°That they do! The livestock and wildlife offer wisdom that we only aspire to acquire hahaha! You are a wonderful leader!¡± ¡°Chieftain Qaqambi,¡± I forced myself to ask and interrupt his praise of me, ¡°What should we do if our herds are too reduced in number to feed ourselves from?¡± All joviality drained from the indlovu, and his people that had begun to relax their stances all around us once again found their hands on their mauls. ¡°The bounty of our land does not belong to the tribes of the Republic of the indlovu. We are the stewards and protectors of the land and its inhabitants, large and small. The occasional hunt is good, but with so many of you needing so much fresh meat¡­ It would be better that you eat that which belongs to you, not that which is free and necessary to the continued survival of this land. I know your herds come from this savannah. You should impact the balance of this land no more, or I can no longer consider you my friend.¡± ¡°Then, where does the stewardship of the Yegolide end?¡± I asked, unwilling to completely drop the topic. To my surprise, every indlovu in the area began to laugh uproariously at my question. ¡°AH! A wise saharliard! You think like one of us! You are wonderful indeed!¡± The rolling peals of laughter filled the space between keelish and indlovu, though none of the keelish joined in. ¡°Three days¡¯ travel to the East.¡± Qaqambi chuckled as his trunk wiped a tear from his eye. ¡°There, the lands of the Linqata begin, and you may bathe with Chieftain Allatsu to speak with him of the state of his plains.¡± The giant of a chieftain continued chuckling to himself for another minute or so, before he grabbed his maul and smoothly used it as a cane to rise to his feet. ¡°I have counseled, and I have shared my askari, let me break bread with you.¡± Then, with no indication I could see or hear, one of the oxfiends approached and mooed at him. Then, with a swift movement, Qaqambi grabbed the horns on each side of its head, wrenched it to the side, and broke the 2,000 pound beast¡¯s neck with apparent ease. Before any of the keelish could react, he raised the entire oxfiend¡¯s corpse over his head and trumpeted with joy. ¡°Thank you for your hospitality! My people bring drink that we may truly celebrate in our friendship!¡± Chapter 262 It was only a couple of minutes that passed before another 30 or so indlovu stepped with still-surprising stealth from the grass with several huge casks held over their shoulders. Qaqambi prepared a massive bonfire with his guards¡¯ help, and in the space of fifteen minutes or less, a roaring fire with a spitted oxfiend was surrounded by jolly indlovu and still confused keelish. ¡°What are we supposed to do about this?¡± Sybil asked me, her tone forcefully happy so as to be misunderstood by an indlovu that might somehow be capable of understanding our body language and tone. ¡°Eat, I guess.¡± I answered. ¡°He doesn¡¯t seem to have meant it as any sort of a challenge or affront. I¡¯d guess that they think that one provides the food and the other the drink. Since the conversation took place in our camp, we provide the food?¡± ¡°I understood as much. But how are we to interact with them? There are nearly 50 of them now, and there is no way to tell that there will not be more. Most of the keelish do not speak any language that the indlovu do, and there is no communication between us or them about what this is meant to be.¡± ¡°True.¡± I answered. ¡°But even if we suffer minor damages, I think that whatever happens here will be preferable to whatever might happen if we¡¯d somehow managed to offend them before and were forced to engage in all-out battle.¡± Sybil flicked her tail once. Forcefully. Then, she gathered her wits about her again and spoke. ¡°Some of the tribe are confused about why they¡¯re doing this now, since they refuse to believe that we could be worthy of it. Most, however, are simply pleased to be offered the opportunity to enjoy the festivities, even if unnecessary.¡± ¡°Then I suggest you go out and speak with them however much you can with your magic. Bekizo reacted quite favorably to that before, so you might be able to break down some barriers between us with your unique position.¡± ¡°As you command, my Alpha.¡± The slight bite of Sybil¡¯s good-natured sarcasm belied her obsequious response, and she walked off to a group of four indlovu. I would have hesitated, but I could see the moment when her magical ¡°voice¡± joined the rest, since every single nearby indlovu turned to stare at her. Before any of us could react, a dozen trumpeting calls of welcome or glory or some other positive emotion echoed through the gathering and the indlovu swarmed Sybil and began wrapping their trunks around her. ¡°Ashlani! Help!¡± she cried out, but still, quicker than I could rush forward, my Beta was lifted up by at least five different indlovu and held aloft. Sybil fought to steady her tone, and instead called down, ¡°I believe I will survive. Do not hurt anyone.¡± Confused, concerned, and a little amused, I watched as Sybil was carried around like a glorified baby. At each indlovu, she was apparently made to say something with her magic, and the new indlovu trumpeted out their own laugh before joining the caravan of excited giants. Before long, Qaqambi¡¯s earthshaking steps approached me. ¡°You should have said that your love was one of us! ¡° He chuckled, the rumbling words shaking in my chest and visible to my [Tremorsense], even in the air. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°I did when I first introduced myself!¡± ¡°Ahhh. But the Enkulu¡¯s lands don¡¯t only border on the Badlands but are mostly found within them! Why would I take their word seriously?¡± ¡°I¡­ why wouldn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Their territory lies within the Badlands.¡± He stated as if that was supposed to mean anything to me. ¡°We don¡¯t have our own territory. Why would we care where a different people¡¯s tribe¡¯s lands are?¡± ¡°I need to apologize once again, my friend. The indlovu people¡¯s lands are everything to us. We are stewards, guardians, protectors, and nearly divine to those under our care. Those who cannot be trusted to care for bountiful lands cannot be trusted to speak truthfully or to trade honestly.¡± ¡°And¡­ why are the Enkulu¡¯s lands in the Badlands?¡± ¡°They were entrusted with more prosperous lands in the heart of the Republic in the days of my youth. Then, every five decades, when their stewardship was examined, they failed to pass evaluation. After every failure, they were relegated to a less prosperous land. They lost their herds, their ufudoluk, everything but their askari. After failing five times, the Enkulu lost all responsibility for the lands of the Republic, and have only a small slice of the very borders of the Republic.¡± ¡°Wait, but aren¡¯t your lands near the Badlands?¡± ¡°Near, but not within!¡± Qaqambi nearly shouted at me. ¡°I apologize for the offense.¡± I quickly responded. ¡°No, you did not deserve that reaction. You do not know my people nor our ways. In truth, our land is a wonderfully blessed one. Prosperous, healthy, and good. It comes with an additional responsibility, due to its proximity to our borders. I am glad to have met you, Ashlani, and your people, because of these additional responsibilities.¡± As he spoke, Qaqambi reached out to a passing indlovu and grasped two indlovu-sized cups with his trunk. He offered one to me, and the smell of fermented something struck me in the nose. ¡°Now, drink and enjoy our meal!¡± Qaqambi cheered before putting the tip of his trunk fully into his cup and swiftly sucking every bit of the alcohol in before raising his trunk to his mouth and spraying it in. Taking the cup in both hands (unable to hold it securely with just one hand), I raised it to my mouth. I hadn¡¯t drunk from a cup since my reincarnation, and I felt the liquid spilling out the corners of my mouth as I attempted it. The sticky liquid burned my throat as it went down, and I couldn¡¯t hold a coughing fit back. I spilled more of my drink as I nearly lost hold of the cup, and the indlovu nearby laughed, though not mean-spiritedly. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have tasted alcohol before, would you?¡± said Qaqambi. ¡°It is a drink that will make you more willing to engage in the party. The taste is one you will need to accustom yourself to, I¡¯m afraid.¡± ¡°More than the taste,¡± I justified, ¡°I just haven¡¯t drunk out of a cup before. Let me try again.¡± I lowered my face into the cup and sucked deep. The booze, whatever it was, was thick like syrup, and it coated my mouth and throat the whole way down. The burn too was stronger than any spirits I¡¯d drunk before, and a part of me wondered if the alcohol used for firebombs was this same stuff. Snot ran down my face as I breathed deep of the air outside of the cup, and the indlovu cheered at my willingness to drink. The drink, in my belly, burned, and I looked into the indlovu chieftain¡¯s face. ¡°Strong.¡± I gasped. ¡°Needs to be to affect us!¡± He clapped me on the back and strode off to offer another the poison. Would that be enough to make me drunk? Could a keelish even get drunk? ¡°Nievtala bless us.¡± I muttered under my breath as the heat settled into my belly and I imagined I could feel my legs wobble. I fought to keep my composure, and it wasn¡¯t long before I learned the answer of if keelish could get drunk. Chapter 263 Laugh and dance and joy and sing Let all your greatest glories ring. Enjoy the time our Gods allow, But when they come then you must bow. For they who the divine do scourge Will find themselves put through the purge And when the Absolute do reap That is the time that we will weep. -Misti Hawar children¡¯s rhyme Singing echoed around the fire, accompanied by discordant shrieks and trumpeting. It didn¡¯t take long for me to identify the slurring songs of Shemira, and she stood in front of the fire with one hand holding a hank of oxfiend flesh, the other brandishing her cup of whatever the drink was called. ¡°I donnnn¡¯t knowww any soooooongs, but I liiiike themmmmm!¡± Shemira declared to the surrounding indlovu in a tongue they did not speak. To them, I supposed our hisses and screeches sounded more like combat than music, but Shemira still threw herself into the ¡°song¡± with gusto and reckless abandon. She spoke without rhythm or meaning, speaking about journeys, fights, life, and death, and her every word fell from her tongue with honest, pure feeling. The pure attempt at expressing herself shook me, and whether it was the influence of the alcohol on an empty stomach or merely the beauty of a child¡¯s first song, I felt an indescribable emotion swell within me. ¡°For we have journeyed! We have fought! We have died, and some have not! We are the keelish, Ashlani¡¯s keelish, and we will fight until the night!¡± Her simple chorus was echoed by a dozen keelish surrounding her, and all the keelish of my swarm quickly fell silent until the only sounds that interrupted the silence was the crackling of the fire and the whistling of the wind. All around, the keelish who could listen and understand bowed their heads nearly in unison as they remembered the sacrifices of hundreds who came before. I followed suit. Oncli. My first friend. Treel. The first khatif to die. Redael. Though I¡¯d killed him, I mourned him even so. Rulac. Abrasive, powerful, and a friend. Wisterl. A teacher and insane person. So many more. Most of my brood, dead at my hand or under my command, and hundreds and hundreds of keelish who suffered from an extended attempted escape only to die at the hands of the humans and creatures of the Samutelia river. In a moment of inspiration, I stepped forward. ¡°Forged in battle and quenched in blood, we have come here. We will stride through the infernos of war and quash the beginnings of denial. We will reach our new home, and nobody will be able to take it from us. Never!¡± ¡°NEVER!¡± Echoed my swarm, and several of the indlovu visibly jumped at the sudden shout. I spoke in the human tongue, letting the indlovu understand better than my own swarm could. ¡°We thank the indlovu for their friendship, and wish to return it in kind! Please, enjoy the food, and if the fire grows cold or the spits run empty, take what is necessary to continue the celebration! In Nievtala¡¯s name, as her Disciple, I bless you all to find victory in your endeavors and conquer every thing that dares to stop you!¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. At my promise of more food, the indlovu cheered loudly and I saw one walk off towards a more sickly oxfiend. I didn¡¯t watch as the warrior dispatched it or prepared it for the fire, though [Tremorsense] kept me aware of everything that was happening. Instead, I walked towards Foire, who stood with an arm around Trai. I was surprised that Trai was willing to stay still for so long, but heard their quiet discussion as I approached. ¡°--You do look a lot like her. More beautiful, though. Quicker. Talk a lot more. But sometimes, the way you smile at me with a little joke only I understand you¡¯re making, it¡¯s just like her.¡± I tuned out the conversation and walked away as Trai continued questioning her father about Treel. I¡¯d never heard her make a joke, I realized. As a matter of fact, there weren¡¯t many keelish willing to make a joke at all while in my presence, much less directly to me. The melancholy of the alcohol¡¯s buzz settled over me, and I was forced to remember my generally depressive mood whenever drunk. I waved off the festivities, instead returning to a nearby sand bath where I was close enough to watch and hear the quiet murmur of conversations without being able to discern any of the specifics. Maybe it was the comparative strength of my khatif body when looking back at my human one, but other than feeling a little lonely, the shwala, as I¡¯d learned the drink was called, didn¡¯t affect me otherwise. I lay back in the warm sands and let myself feel warm, calm, and unconcerned. Journeys and hunts and politics were things for tomorrow to worry about. For now, for the first time in what felt like forever, I actually stopped worrying about everything else that could or would or needed to happen. Even under the influence of the shwala, I felt Sybil¡¯s approach through [Tremorsense]. When she slowly sunk into the sands with a groan, I cracked an eye open at her. ¡°I never would have expected to hear you groan like that, unless it was under me.¡± ¡°And you would not usually make jokes like that where others might hear. I fear this drink¨C¡± ¡°Shwala.¡± ¡°Shwala,¡± Sybil allowed, though the barest hint of defensiveness crept into her posture, ¡°changes the inhibitions of its consumer.¡± ¡°That is the primary function of it. Yeah.¡± ¡°I do not enjoy feeling as if I am unable to control myself. I am always under control.¡± ¡°Eh.¡± I hedged. ¡°Is it really that bad?¡± ¡°Shemira is singing the song she refused to let any other hear because she thought it lacked polish. And she is presenting it to the whole swarm. When I confronted her about it, she merely wagged her tail at me as she continued. So yes, I would say that the ¡®shwala¡¯ is that bad. Nievtala grant me understanding and patience.¡± Sybil said after she realized the open sass she was giving me. ¡°I am happy to be with you, Sybil.¡± I cut in, keeping her from continuing her spiral. ¡°I enjoy being with you, and this less controlled version of you is precious. Now, instead of complaining more,¡± I cut her off, ¡°would you give me a good scrubbing? The wash you gave me before was a little lacking.¡± She flirtatiously flicked her tail in response and we both helped the other get clean. Though both pairs of hands wandered as we washed, we didn¡¯t do anything beyond enjoy the feel of the other¡¯s body and the warm sands. Time passed strangely quickly, and we only finished with our bathing when the suns were setting. Then, with the fire dying down and hundreds of bodies finding rest wherever they found themselves when the exhaustion struck them down, Sybil and I laid down to rest. I woke with the rising suns, my head pounding and complaining. With only that mouthful of shwala, I was hungover, and I mourned that there was no river nearby to dunk my head in. Qaqambi trundled up, apparently none the worse for wear. ¡°That was a generous celebration you offered us, Ashlani. We appreciate it! Now, we return to our ufudoluk and the rest of our tribe. We are happy to have met you and feasted together! I said that three days¡¯ travel to the east is where you need to go to leave our lands, but an additional day¡¯s travel to the north once in the Linqata¡¯s stewardship from that border might be of interest to you.¡± ¡°We too are glad have met you.¡± I said, blinking heavily in the bright light while disregarding the last part he¡¯d said. ¡°I hope to see you again.¡± ¡°Ah, but we will. I¡¯m sure of it!¡± Then, with that, the Yegolide tribe disappeared into the surrounding grasses and was gone. Chapter 264 I cut through the throat and spine, the assistance from [Destructive Wave] tearing through muscle, fat, and bone effortlessly. The oxfiend, magically calmed by Sybil¡¯s magic and cowed my [Adversary] and [True Domination], died in mere moments. The rest of the oxfiend herd didn¡¯t react to one of their own¡¯s slaughter due to Sybil and Shemira¡¯s magical assistance, and once the light had fully left our meal¡¯s brown eyes, I left the butchering to the rest of the swarm. Since the Yegolide tribe had left us, we¡¯d continued our journey eastward while only feeding on those oxfiends and axebeaks we¡¯d subjugated, though sparingly. Those formerly from Farahlia¡¯s swarm complained only once about not being fed¨Cthose who¡¯d survived our exodus quickly tamped down all unrest. For her part, Farahlia didn¡¯t mind. ¡°Once, I hunted with my swarm.¡± She admitted when asked, ¡°I led us to fertile lands and spilled blood. Then, I found an easier way, and I stopped engaging in the hunts. I¡¯m enjoying the feeling of the struggle and the fight for survival, especially since I can see that we will be able to feed ourselves if necessary. It¡¯s¡­ fun.¡± Her flirtations never ceased, and I realized more and more that, different from Shemira¡¯s deliberate act she put on, Farahlia simply enjoyed flirting with anyone and anything anytime. For my part, I relied on the feeling of satiation brought by [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude] and consciously realized how keelish and khatif packed on weight. Different from a human, excess fat was stored along the tail, beginning at the base, and as I purposefully ate less and less, I saw my tail thin out while the ground-eating lope of our travels came more and more easily to me. By the third day of minimal rations, I could see faint lines of the muscles along my ribs and thighs, but not due to starvation like when we¡¯d fled the High Speakers. My body was now honed for battle and travel, and the weeks I¡¯d spent indulging in as much food as I could manage whenever we¡¯d found it were slowly shaved off of me. Around me, my swarm hardened themselves, and I only realized in retrospect how soft we¡¯d become. ¡°One meal a day, until further notice.¡± I commanded my inner circle on the night of the third day. In the dark, I could see their warm bodies stiffen with confusion. Even so, there were no immediate complaints. Instead, most looked directly at Sybil, who didn¡¯t react to the attention. When she didn¡¯t voice a complaint, Silf asked, ¡°I will. But why?¡± ¡°Do you remember your first days as a hatchling, Silf?¡± I asked in response. ¡°Somewhat, yes.¡± ¡°They¡¯re cloudy for me too. Even so, I remember. When did you have your first hunt?¡± Hushed murmurs from others showed some beginning to understand. I listened to Silf¡¯s response. ¡°I¡­ maybe a day old? You were there, we were brought to kill some frogs that the adults in the swarm brought for us.¡± ¡°Some of the brood died.¡± I agreed. ¡°And how have you fed yourself ever since?¡± ¡°Hunting¨C¡± Silf understood. ¡°We¡¯re soft. We haven¡¯t had to fight for much, other than those indlovu, for a while. Even those¡­ what did you call them?¡± ¡°Ishabaak.¡± ¡°Yeah, ishabaak. Even they weren¡¯t that dangerous, once we actually knew they were there.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Exactly. I want to preserve our herds, because they¡¯re more valuable than just their meat right now. More than that, we¡¯re keelish. We¡¯ll become Keel, something more than that. And my people will NOT be weak, complacent, or soft.¡± ¡°This hasn¡¯t let me get soft, like the rest of you.¡± Ytte good-naturedly laughed as she kicked her always present rock. ¡°But it makes sense. I¡¯m one of the only old ones. We fight for what we have. We fight to keep it. Nothing will let a keelish be happy and holding still.¡± ¡°Victory by fang and blood.¡± Took said, her frills flaring in agreement with the sentiment. ¡°Forged in battle.¡± ¡°On the hunt.¡± ¡°Fighting for survival.¡± A chorus of uncoordinated agreement washed over us, and Sybil spoke up, ¡°From tomorrow. One meal a day.¡± ¡°Now,¡± I added as my inner circle agreed with my rationing plan, ¡°Qaqambi said that I might be interested in something about a day¡¯s travel north of where we are. I think that we should go, I trust him. What do you all say?¡± After a moment¡¯s silence, Shemira spoke. ¡°I trust him enough, but why would we risk it? He¡¯s treated us well, but others won¡¯t. Maybe it¡¯d be something we like, but if it killed someone¡­¡± She let her thought trail off. ¡°He is a warrior.¡± Took responded, ¡°He spoke fairly, with what I understood. I think it is not a bad idea to go.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just too unsure.¡± Vefir countered. ¡°Maybe they just built up a level of trustworthiness so that now they could prepare an ambush. We know the Moonchildren and Veratocracy think we¡¯re pests. Even Shandr and the people there wanted us dead, and the Misti Hawar said they¡¯re our ancient enemies. Who knows if the indlovu think the same?¡± ¡°I disagree.¡± Sybil stated, much of the discussion immediately going silent. ¡°I felt their minds in a way that you all cannot. They do not seem to have any word for lying or liar. In their words, with their magic, they simply cannot tell untruths. Although what the Chieftain Qaqambi said was not in their tongue, I do not think him capable of or willing to deceive us. Even if what he recommended is merely of interest, I believe it would be worth it to visit his suggested location. I suspect, however, that what he has said would be beneficial to our Alpha individually or the swarm as a whole.¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s just because I never felt that,¡± Shemira answered, ¡°but I¡¯m not ready to stake my life on it. That¡¯s what the other option could be.¡± Though never insulting or demeaning, the leaders of my swarm continued to argue back and forth, entertaining each side and debating the benefits and detriments to each. I was surprised to see Shemira and Sybil heading the two sides, given how well they typically got on with each other, but with Vefir and Took backing their respective sides, the argument continued without any resolution in sight. ¡°Ok.¡± I said, raising my hands and interrupting a debate about how well we could or couldn¡¯t fight off a concentrated force of indlovu. ¡°I¡¯ve heard both sides. Both have merit. I¡¯m glad you all have been able to voice your concerns with either course of action. Foire, you and Silf will range out a ways from us and see what you can as we make our approach. We¡¯ll be cautious, but I¡¯m inclined to believe that Qaqambi, and to a lesser extent, the Yegolide, do not wish us any harm. Any disagreements?¡± Silence answered me. I looked at Shemira. ¡°I know you disagreed with this course of action. Is there anything else you would like to say before I officially make this decision? I trust your input, even if I disagree with your suggestion this time.¡± Shemira¡¯s tail flicked agitatedly back and forth. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re wrong. I mean, I think that whatever¡¯s there is good. But if we¡¯re wrong, I want to be safe. Right?¡± ¡°I agree. We¡¯ll approach cautiously, but I think we should go.¡± ¡°I said my piece.¡± She turned. ¡°I support you.¡± There was an additional chorus of approving voices at Shemira¡¯s concession, and so we rested for the night before beginning our sidetracking adventure towards the mysterious north. Chapter 265 Before your own safety comes that of the Zaaktif. Before your comfort comes that of the Zaaktif. Before your survival comes that of the Zaaktif. We are the Alqat, never the Alqats. We are one body, and our body lives to serve, protect, and save the Zaaktif. -Initial address given to Alqat upon induction to the order. Though we, as a species, loathed the slow approach I forced us into, we took over a day and a half before we began to understand why Qaqambi had thought I might want to come up this way. Though there weren¡¯t enough trees or more permanent plant life around to realize it as easily as in the jungles, the signs were obvious and frequent. Feces here, deep scratches there, reduced numbers of wildlife. Keelish. Another swarm was here, and ready for my takeover. We stopped moving as quietly, instead speaking loudly enough for the sound to carry, tromping through the grasses, and letting ourselves become known to those who would soon be our newest swarmmates. Foire was the first of the swarm to sight one of the foreign swarm, and leaned over to tell me as much with a murmur and a pointed finger. ¡°Good.¡± I replied. ¡°Everyone, prepare for contact. Try not to kill any of them before I convince them to follow my lead.¡± ¡°Please!¡± Farahlia added, many of my elites chuckling darkly at the joke. While the quiet squeaks and screeches of our laughter died down, I finally saw the keelish. He was much squatter than any I¡¯d seen before, only three or so feet tall, but built heavily with thick, stumplike legs. His snout was longer and wider than the rest of us, and he more resembled a crocodile than a keelish, but even so, I knew he was one of us. As his snout poked out of the grass and his beady eyes roved over my swarm. After a mere moment¡¯s hesitation to understand what he was seeing, he whirled and dashed away, screaming, ¡°Enemy! Enemy! Fight! Hide! Enemy!¡± The cry was taken up by a dozen voices before long, and the sound swelled, growing into a deafening cacophony as apparently hundreds of keelish rallied themselves to battle. ¡°What¡­ just happened?¡± Shemira questioned, her head cocked to the side and confused. ¡°It would appear that we are not currently welcome.¡± Sybil responded, her tone dry. ¡°I suppose that we should do something about this before it devolves into an actual battle.¡± ¡°March!¡± I commanded, my voice carrying magically far. ¡°Don¡¯t let them prepare more! Foire, Silf, eyes on our flanks! Don¡¯t let them ambush us!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Both shouted in response as they moved nearer to the fringes of our swarm. To my frustration, much of the newer part of the swarm jostled and looked around, confused and unprepared for my command. ¡°MOVE YOU SCALELESS WORMS!¡± Took shouted as she fell into step beside me. I jogged onward, leaving the slow to understand what they needed to do. Less than half a minute after that, though, I cursed myself as I looked back at our flocks. Joral, Sybil, and the wolfstags all worked together as best as they could to force the slow oxfiends and contrary axebeaks to follow the rest of us. I slowed to a walk as I allowed the people and animals that supported our continued existence to get up to speed. Before long, we were all moving in unison, and with [Innervating Address] and [Imperial Bearing] working together to rally my troops, it was only the work of a couple of minutes to truly begin our slow-paced charge towards the foreign keelish¡¯s den. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Their incessant cries of ¡°Enemy!¡± and ¡°Ready!¡± grated on my nerves, the almost infantile grammar showing their lack of intelligence. ¡°We¡¯re close to contact!¡± Foire shouted. ¡°The main body I can detect is about half a mile forward and closing in. I see at least 150!¡± ¡°There¡¯s another group coming from this side!¡± Silf added from our right flank. ¡°About 100, and they¡¯re trying to keep their heads low!¡± ¡°Smart enough to think of a strategy,¡± Took mused beside me, ¡°But not smart enough to back down.¡± ¡°I think you¡¯ll be up for beginning this.¡± I said to Took. ¡°Throw them aside, show how much stronger we are.¡± ¡°As you command, Alpha.¡± Took flared her frills in acceptance of my command and picked up the pace to be about fifteen strides ahead of the rest of the swarm. At her flanks followed Percral, Solia, and Etra, as well as a couple other of the largest of the swarm, though the healer kept a couple paces back from the rest. Surprised, I realized Brutus wasn¡¯t with the rest of the shock troops, and once I looked for him, I saw him keeping pace just at my right flank, Ytte at my left. Ytte breathed heavily, her massive rock weighing her down, but Brutus kept his vision up and around, watching for anything that dared to approach. ¡°You¡¯re not going to lead the charge?¡± I asked my large, simple companion. ¡°No.¡± He answered. After waiting almost half a minute, he still didn¡¯t offer any additional information, so I asked another question. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°I make sure you stay safe.¡± ¡°I can keep myself safe, Brutus. You should do what you want to.¡± ¡°I am. I want to protect you. So I am here. I make sure you don¡¯t get hurt.¡± ¡°I can do that myself.¡± I felt my tone grow flinty as the shouts of keelish preparing for battle washed over me. ¡°You can.¡± Brutus good-naturedly agreed. ¡°I¡¯ll help be sure.¡± I wanted to argue further with the towering giant, but there was no time. Instead, Took shrieked as she rushed in to fight against the first of the squat keelish. As he, the same one that had originally sighted us, I thought, lunged up to tear out her throat, she smashed her thick horns into the base of his skull. He dropped, body limp, and Took didn¡¯t hesitate to lift him by his tail, whirl and send him flying into the next closest enemy. She lunged right and left, her tail, horns, and closed fists laying waste to the weak and slow keelish that dared to confront us. Even so, Took ensured she didn¡¯t deal any fatal blows. Percral threw himself bodily into a crowd of enemy keelish, his magic dancing over his skin as he roared his challenge, ¡°FIGHT ME! You are unworthy! VICTORY!¡± ¡°VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!¡± Echoed the rest of my swarm as they rushed in to subjugate. I let the battle rage for only a dozen seconds or so before channeling so much magic into my throat that it tickled my breath and every word. Then, with [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke] and [Disastrous Discourse], I began my own attack on the enemy swarm. ¡°BOW TO ME!¡± I shouted. ¡°Bow before your new Alpha! I will lead you to new lands, to victory, and to safety! I will help you to become more than you ever thought possible!¡± The nearest keelish from the enemy swarm balked at my magic and command, fearing to move forward into continued battle with my swarm. I stepped forward, continuing my speech as I presented myself to those who would soon become my subordinates. ¡°I am your new Alpha! Any who disagree can face me! I will lead you, and help¨C¡± I was cut off by a cowardly ambush from one of the nearest keelish, her jaws snapping wildly at my thigh. I reacted quickly, my knee cracking into her bottom jaw, but that didn¡¯t dissuade five others from lunging at me, their eyes wild and movement nearly insane as they attempted to rip my muscles from my bones. The second attack didn¡¯t get close as Brutus rushed in, picked up the newest attacker in his jaws, and bisected him with one bite. Brutus didn¡¯t stop, rampaging towards any that dared to approach me, and Ytte followed immediately thereafter. She smashed a skull in with one swing of her rock before hurling it at another ambushing enemy. Bones cracked audibly as her ranged attack landed home. ¡°And this is why,¡± Vefir chided from behind me, ¡°I say you need a guard.¡± As he spoke, another three enemy keelish were mercilessly torn apart, and I couldn¡¯t help but frustratedly agree. Chapter 266 Hundreds of rioting keelish surrounded me, both my allies and my enemies mixing together. I counted us lucky that the physical differences between the two swarms were so apparent, as the shorter, stockier enemies were easily identified. Unfortunately, the few hundred that we¡¯d initially thought made the entirety of the enemy swarm were less than half their total number. Of combatants. My keelish screamed in rage as they threw themselves into the battle, the weaker foes falling like so much grass. The scent of blood filled the air, an extreme slaughter of the foe not deterring them in the slightest. Instead, they used their fallen friends¡¯ bodies as stepping stools and tripping hazards. Though some of my own swarm thought I should stay on the back lines, I waded into battle, my claws and fangs dealing death with every stroke. With [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], my every step and movement brought slaughter to our foes, massive red indications of weakness flashing in my view. I didn¡¯t need to use [Destructive Wave], all of my enemy keelish were far too weak to merit it. Even so, with our foes outnumbering us by hundreds, I felt the tide of battle swaying more unsteadily than I¡¯d like. With [Innervating Address] and [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke] ringing from my every word, I gave the command. ¡°Retreat to the flocks! Fight through the weak encirclement, don¡¯t let them leverage their numbers! Work together! If one of ours is felled, keep them from the front lines so we can heal them up!¡± Unaccustomed to real battlefield commands, the swarm was infuriatingly slow in response, though it was only the course of a minute or two before we began moving back to reinforce our flanks. I was quick to disengage, the ravening horde of our foes tended to avoid approaching me head on. My face was coated with the blood of my enemies, and the taste of iron filled my snout and mouth. Brutus, calmer and wiser than usual, stayed nearby, weakening anything that dared to approach, if not slaughtering it outright. Ytte, on the other side, was an insatiable berserker, her tail, hands, fangs, and rock all accompanying her brutal magic. She didn¡¯t crush the enemies outright, instead manipulating the stone underfoot to pulverize the delicate ankles of every opposing keelish that approached. Now that the enemies lay crippled, she didn¡¯t care how she eventually dispatched the weaklings that challenged her. The disengagement was slow going, and even through the appearance of calm that settled over me from [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust], my rage continued to build and boil, though I fought to constrain it. Though not many, I saw several of my swarm¡¯s corpses left behind. I built a [Crippling Cry] stronger than ever before in my throat, the magic trembling and fighting to escape, but I restrained it. With the increase in my magical manipulation capabilities from evolving [Destructive Wave] and [Disastrous Discourse], I knew this would be different. Even so, I held myself back until the swarm had reestablished a solid line of sorts against our rallying foes. With each step of retreat, we trod over the corpses of the defeated flanking force, and I could feel it in the energy of my swarm when we¡¯d defeated all the weaklings attempting to pin us down. My magic grew to a crescendo beyond anything surge of power I¡¯d felt before, and I leapt forward into the front lines of our enemies. Brutus roared wordlessly as he tried to follow, but I was too quick. With five quick steps, I was surrounded by my enemies. Perfect. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. As the [Crippling Cry] exploded from my mouth, half a dozen keelish in front of me fell, insensate. I walked forward, ready to strike the final blow, but the sudden appearance of a [System] message notified me of what I¡¯d just done. [Skill: Crippling Cry has evolved to Skill: Murderous Melody.] I didn¡¯t allow myself to think any further about it, instead grinning widely as, for the first time, the enemy swarm looked on me in terror. Heads bowed while their eyes roamed wildly at each other. There was no support from their friends, though, the all-consuming despair crashed over the entire body of keelish. I gave no time for them to recover, channelling [Adversary], [Disastrous Discourse], [Imperial Bearing], [Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke], and [True Dominance] as I shouted, once again. ¡°I am Ashlani! I am your Alpha! Those who stand against me will die! I don¡¯t even need to raise a hand to strike you down! We raise those who you fell to fight again! My words can strike you down! Now bow before me or die!¡± My words again echoed over the assembled keelish, but this time, with shuddering knees and mewling cries of defeat, much of the enemy swarm fell at my feet. Several appeared to think to gainsay me. With my multitude of [Skills] working together to bless me with an elevated clarity of thought, I strode through the cowering keelish and, with a swing of my claws, raised one to stand on her toes, my pointed claws pressing painfully into the soft flesh under her chin. She¡¯d previously shown the beginnings of a will to rebel, and I asked, the full gravity of my [Skills] and magic smashing into her, ¡°Do you wish to survive?¡± Unable to speak, she flared her frills in a panic. ¡°Then. Submit.¡± Without shouting or raising my voice, I sent a pulse of magical power through her, and the keelish trembled and fell to her knees before placing her head in the dirt before me. ¡°I submit. No kill. No kill. I submit.¡± She continued to repeat to me, and the mantra was quickly taken up by the surrounding fools who¡¯d dared not to accept my mercy when extended. Hundreds of bodies of keelish lay scattered on the fields of battle around us, hundreds that could have lent their strength to me. ¡°Where is the Alpha who insisted on this fight?¡± I demanded as the chants continued. They fell away as I asked again, and a keelish stepped forward. He was an older keelish, scales cracked with age, though his eyes shone with a certain level of intelligence. The muddled green of his scales was entirely unremarkable, and he bowed before me. A sense of pride swelled in me as I saw another leader willingly submit. ¡°Why would you dare to race us, especially after we were defeating you?¡± ¡°We more. More win. But you¡­ big more. Better. Stronger. We follow now.¡± His inability to speak in full sentences took me by surprise. Farahlia¡¯s pack was filled with the unintelligent keelish, but she¡¯d been able to speak coherently enough when we approached. He was even less-evolutionarily advanced than her pack had been. Again, the realization that I¡¯d been born in the best, most advanced keelish swarm, possibly in the last hundreds of years, settled over me. There would be much to do with them, as well as those who followed. Chapter 267 The most notable change found within the keelish as compared to the Keel was not, as many would assume, the physical and magical growth. Much of that could have been remedied by the substantially greater rate of reproduction within the keelish¡¯s race, given that quantity can be a quality all on its own. No, the greatest difference was the implementation of military strategy and planning. The Principality was the first to witness that qualitative difference, when their annual hunts became a lasting war. -From Wars and Peace in a Post-Apotheosis World. ¡°YOU!¡± I bellowed, my emotions having long since swelled past frustration and towards rage. ¡°YOU are Gri, and YOU respond to that because it is YOUR name!¡± Never before had I dreamed that the mere act of teaching a fully grown keelish its name would drive me to such anger, but after the fourth time of an entire pack trying to respond to its Alpha¡¯s name, any illusions of the newest keelish¡¯s intelligence had long since left my sanity and good intentions behind. With a whirl of my tail, I gestured for literally anyone else to take over for me before stalking away. 189 of the other keelish were slain in that needless fight, while 28 of our own fell. None of the core group had overextended enough to sport more than superficial wounds, since the enemy keelish had focused on bringing the much larger khatif down to their level. With the khatif, as well as most of my own keelish, supporting each other, the enemy keelish were unable to strike many killing blows. Even so, Vefir and Etra quickly exhausted themselves in attempting to heal whoever survived, and others had slowly succumbed to their wounds. Those fortunate enough to survive their wounds were now left to slowly recuperate as Vefir and Etra treated them mundanely. More than the 217 keelish who had died, though there were nearly 900 who now joined us. A true swarm, now, as many keelish under my command as Redael had commanded before I¡¯d overthrown him. 1200 keelish followed my every command, and there were immediate and obvious differences between castes and groups within them. At the bottom, there were nine hundred keelish that were, apparently for the first time, learning what the concept of a name was. How they had been able to grow to such a large number without such a basic level of communication between them completely boggled my mind, but that was the reality. Above them were the dregs of Farahlia¡¯s swarm, those who still didn¡¯t qualify to become khatif, for whatever reason. Over one hundred keelish who were, at least, intelligent enough to speak in full sentences. Even so, those leftovers from Farahlia¡¯s swarm now fit somewhat awkwardly into the swarm as a whole, since the khatif above them numbered well over two hundred. ¡°Can¡­ you make me an Alpha?¡± A trembling voice interrupted my frustrated stalking. I¡¯d been about to check on my [System] notifications in the hope to take my mind from the litany of new difficulties a huge, unintelligent swarm would bring me. I whirled to look at whatever it was that spoke. A male keelish, small and unremarkable, stood there. ¡°I don¡¯t make the packs.¡± I responded, tail lashing. ¡°A pack creates itself and follows the Alpha they choose. I don¡¯t choose Alphas.¡± Stolen story; please report. ¡°But¡­ you could!¡± He insisted. ¡°I could be an Alpha for you for these new keelish!¡± A moment later, his face and coloration struck me and I realized I knew who he was. ¡°You know Yamal,¡± I responded. ¡°She was just like you before, but she decided that she wanted to become more than she already was. Now, she is a khatif, and a pack Alpha, and you are still keelish and forgotten.¡± This was one of the males that had been with Yamal, that keelish I¡¯d given a name to instead of eating her as she¡¯d feared. ¡°You only wanted to live, so you¡¯re alive. You haven¡¯t grown, you haven¡¯t learned, you have merely walked alongside your companions and allowed them to push themselves while you stayed the same. How do you think that any pack would accept you as an Alpha?¡± The male who may have gotten a name I didn¡¯t bother to learn in the weeks that had passed quailed under my unforgiving gaze. After hesitating, he answered, ¡°I¡­ I¡­ just want to be special.¡± ¡°Then be special!¡± I nearly shouted in frustration, the emotions from my frustrating attempts to teach wearing through. ¡°It isn¡¯t up to me! It isn¡¯t up to anyone else! If you want to do something, to be something, to go somewhere, to grow, then DO IT. Maybe I could coddle you and hope to push you to some elevated state, but why would I do that? What would I gain? You already follow me, and have shown that you¡¯re too weak-willed to make anything of yourself. Why would I sacrifice my time and energy leading you specifically when you won¡¯t walk by yourself?¡± I watched as my heavy words settled into the keelish, his tail laying flat on the ground as he began to give up on his own future. ¡°If you want to grow, then work. You do the bare minimum for yourself right now. That means you¡¯re happy where you are. If you¡¯re not happy, do something different.¡± Then, I leaned down and filled my throat with [Nurturing Enunciation], ¡°You are a keelish. A proud son of Nievtala, a follower of Ashlani. You will follow us to Nievtra and establish a new home for us and all keelish. Be that keelish.¡± A hint of stone entered his eyes, and he stood, shoulders back and face ready to go through the difficulties of life. His voice firmed up as he asked, ¡°What should I do? Who should I follow for now?¡± Nearly, I dismissed him out of hand. However, something I hadn¡¯t paid much attention to lately burned at the back of my mind. The sincerity of his question triggered [Evolutionary Exemplar] even without my will or desire. With surprise, I knew who to call, and though he was exhausted, he¡¯d welcome the help, if it came with genuine effort. ¡°Vefir! Don¡¯t stand up.¡± I commanded when I saw the collapsed healer and began walking towards him. ¡°This one will be helping you from now on. If he doesn¡¯t have a name, give him one. He has the makings of a healer, though I don¡¯t know if he¡¯ll measure up to you.¡± Vefir grunted and turned his head towards the male. Though confused by my choice, he still stood strong. ¡°Name?¡± ¡°Cra¨CI will earn one.¡± He cut himself off from saying whatever the name he¡¯d had before was. A fierce grin crossed my face as I firmly patted his back. Maybe he would cut himself newer, sharper fangs after all. Vefir forced himself to sit up as he began quizzing the newly nameless keelish on his understanding of bodies and how they healed. So much of what he was saying rang true with my own understanding of how a body healed from my experience as a nearly High Speaker level of Wavespeaker. Obviously, that understanding came from his magic, and knowing how little I truly compared to the magical prowess of a High Speaker, I could look forward to what we could continue to become. I began walking away, again pulling up my [Status] to see how I had improved. Chapter 268 After that fight, without Vefir or Etra¡¯s ministrations, I expected to be wounded, or at least sore or achey, but my newest [Skill] was showing its worth. With [Victor¡¯s Spoils], the few wounds I¡¯d sustained had healed. The possibilities for me on the battlefield immediately filled my mind, and a part of me still preoccupied with one of my most frequent nightmares was slightly calmed at the immediate growth to my combative strength. Now, if I was surrounded by countless foes, so long as I could continue slaughtering my way through them, [Victor¡¯s Spoils] and [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude] would offer me a nearly limitless well of strength to draw from. My newest [Skill] evolution was the newest, next thing of great interest to me. I allowed the [System] notifications to reappear before my eyes. [Skill evolution progress recorded. Skill evolved. Status updated.] [Skill: Crippling Cry has evolved to Skill: Murderous Melody.] [Skill Evolution progress: True Dominance; 3/5] There was a small part of me that lamented that this new swarm was as ¡°small¡± as it was. I looked at my oldest [Quest]: [-Subjugate or otherwise conquer a community of at least 1000 individuals. Base reward: Constitution +7, Strength, Agility +8, Intelligence +10, Magic +9. Possibility of additional rewards for greater difficulty.] I wouldn¡¯t consider a swarm as unremarkable as these to be worthy of granting additional rewards, but even more clarity of view for my future would be ideal. Additionally, I couldn¡¯t be sure if there would ever be a final [Quest]. For the first time in a while, I asked the Administrator as much. [Eh. The System¡¯s function and purpose are obscured to the Administrators, and what little we know can¡¯t be shared with mortals. I can say, however, that I¡¯ve never heard of a single user finding a peak of strength offered by the System. The Quests will continue to become more difficult to complete as you progress, though. Just like how you couldn¡¯t evolve your Crippling Cry by killing insects.] There wasn¡¯t any need for me to look back for specific answers to that. Obviously, that was so, and even the one [Quest] that continued to be offered to me would be more difficult as it was offered, given that there would be a finite number of creatures to kill, and I couldn¡¯t imagine organizing expeditions to find new prey for my appetite. And why was that [Quest] the only one that followed me? [That¡¯s more complicated that I can openly communicate. What I can say, however, is that the Quests displayed will change depending on the user¡¯s species, lifestyle, and circumstances. A keelish user who finds themselves locked in a gladiatorial arena wouldn¡¯t receive Quests to subjugate groups like you have, though they can still complete the Quest without it being visible. I have spoken to you about this previously¨Cthe Quest display only presents a limited list to you at a time, though you can complete any one of those for your species at any time. If you complete a Quest that hasn¡¯t been presented to you, you will merely receive the bonus stats without further explanation.] Much more information than I¡¯d expected or even hoped for, so I muttered a quiet ¡°Thank you¡± to the Administrator before pulling up the description of my new [Skill]. [Skill: Murderous Melody; an active Skill whose bestowal indicates that the holder has learned not only how to influence and shape the world around them with their magic, but to rend, tear, and destroy with the sonic vibrations that make up the world. The acquisition of this Skill will bless the holder with an increase in the holder¡¯s ability to influence all forms of sonic waves, even those nonmagical in origin, to disorient and destroy. The most basic usage of this Skill will allow its holder to rip through psyches, scramble the minds, and kill foes outright. This Skill cannot evolve, but it can be advanced.] Like with the other [Skill] evolutions I¡¯d acquired recently, this one offered a basic increase in the potency of my magic, while briefly describing the various ways I could utilize its new, shiny form. Again, it seemed like [Murderous Melody] was the peak of the [Skill]¡¯s title, but further progress would fall on me to personally and individually improve my [Skills]. Again, I turned to the Administrator. Why wouldn¡¯t the [Skills] evolve perpetually, if I could, supposedly, continue to grow through acquiring [Quests] and evolving? Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. [A good question, little fang!] I could feel her exuberance through the communication. [There is information that you do not currently have. Other species¡¯ System holders start with that information, but those who do not begin as one of the enlightened races do not have access to that aspect of the System unless they make specific choices. I am reasonably sure that you will quickly find the answer to part of the question, but that which I can answer is as follows: The System is a guide, but at a certain point, it will stop guiding you quite so extensively. There comes a certain level of expectations from the System, and once you have progressed beyond the initial benefits of it, the System will assume a more hands-off approach. The additional Quests presented will show you how the System expects you to move onward. The Skills should become yours, and now that you have laid claim to the Skills themselves, you must tailor them to best benefit you.] Again, she¡¯d given me quite a bit of information, and I took the opportunity to digest it. As I did so, I pulled up my [Status] for the first time in a little while. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha Titles: Disciple of Nievtala Killer of Redael Fahvalo of the Moonchildren Current quests: -Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic, +6. Progress: Oxfiend Bull Paragon, Indlovu Hunter -Subjugate or otherwise conquer a community of at least 1000 individuals. Base reward: Constitution +7, Strength, Agility +8, Intelligence +10, Magic +9. Possibility of additional rewards for greater difficulty. -Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. Progress: Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth of the Phrases. Stats: -Constitution: 160 -Strength: 175 -Agility: 167 -Intelligence: 160 -Magic: 175+20=195 Skills: Adversary: 9/10 Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust: 1/4 (Imperial Bearing) Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke: 1/5 Evolutionary Exemplar (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude: Unqualified Perpetual Sonilphon: 0/2 -Murderous Melody (Cannot Evolve) -Disastrous Discourse (Cannot Evolve) -Innervating Address: 0/1 -Nurturing Enunciation: 17/50 -Destructive Wave (Cannot Evolve) Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve) Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 6/10 Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve) Raptor¡¯s Eyes (Cannot Evolve) Tremorsense (Cannot Evolve) True Dominance: 3/5 Victor¡¯s Spoils Evolutionary Possibilities -Sonic Keel Zak¡¯Tal: Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1 Have a Swarm Leader level race. Completed. -Khatif Heretic: learn how to bend the world¡¯s governing laws and compel the divine to follow your will. Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] With the keelish here in the Indlovu¡¯s Plains or Republic or whatever they called it being so different, I almost expected them to have counted as an additional creature I¡¯d killed for my [Quest], but no such luck. Instead, they merely served as the catalyst for me to evolve one of my best [Skills]. I supposed I could live with that. Before I could relish the course of events, though, Foire and Sybil both shouted. ¡°Indlovu approaching!¡± ¡°Large bodies coming!¡± Chapter 269 [Arwa POV] The master gave orders, and Arwa listened. He didn¡¯t speak the way that she could, but still, she listened. Something was coming, and Arwa needed to help. She snarled loud enough for all of her pups and the others to hear. They were needed! Her little ones hated how she treated them, but they hadn¡¯t truly proven themselves adults yet, so they couldn¡¯t complain more than a little, else she¡¯d put them in their place. Arwa disregarded any yips or complaints, instead listening for the special instructions. There wasn¡¯t long before the instructions came over Arwa and she knew where to go. Without looking, she heard the other wolfstags fall in step behind her and with a snarl, she directed her followers. On to a flank, an exposed one. There, Arwa let her lightning free, and it crackled over her body and built in power with her children. The other one, the one called Percral, was there too. Percral understood the lightning, and could join with her children, though he didn¡¯t understand her. Even so, when Arwa glanced at him, he returned the look while his body screamed his readiness to go into battle. Arwa mimicked the stance, and her children followed suit. The slow wet ones stayed back, their smaller, weaker bodies better suited to coming in second and assisting with their magic. After a moment¡¯s waiting, she could hear them. Their steps were heavy but soft, and the grasses moved away from their steps. Even so, Arwa knew they were there, and her low growl surged to accompany the crackling of her power between her antlers. Her children¡¯s lightning joined hers, the field of their dominion spreading. Even so, Arwa waited. Finally, the enemies were there and lashing out with their long claws. Their claws were not sharp, but they could crush her with ease. Arwa didn¡¯t let the beasts reach her. She had seen them before, though she had not yet hunted one. Even so, with her children, she knew how to defeat one of these beasts. After all, her pack could destroy any large beast like this. She danced back out of reach, but lunged forward to keep it from striking another. Her eldest overextended and was nearly struck down. Too brave, that one. Always had been. He was barely able to dodge enough to avoid outright death. Even so, he received a glancing blow and was sent sprawling. As he screamed in pain, Arwa heard the master yelling something to the enemy, but she didn¡¯t receive any new instructions. And her child was hurt. With a howl of challenge, Arwa sent a bolt of lightning to smash into the enemy¡¯s body. It was not as weak to her attack as others had been, but her children sent their own attacks at the same time. It roared and screamed as its legs spasmed. It was time, and Arwa threw herself forward with her antlers pointed at the beast¡¯s belly. Her children followed suit, ready to weaken the beast. Such a foolish creature, having no scales or fur to protect it. The skin was tough and resisted her attack, but Arwa reared back again and smashed her sharpest antlers into the exposed belly. The enemy shuddered and roared again as the magic began to wane in intensity, and Arwa was the final wolfstag to pull back. The enemy¡¯s skin was now patterned with hundreds of scratches, half of the wounds bleeding freely. The scent of blood was in the air, and Arwa prepared her children to continue the assault. The master¡¯s voice was now screaming a challenge to the enemy, and Arwa¡¯s instructions had not changed. Time to continue the hunt. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Percral led the second attack, as Arwa allowed. He screamed into the enemy¡¯s face, and it brandished its long claw at him. He dodged the first and second strike, his own claws cutting beyond the skin and into the flesh of the enemy¡¯s legs. With each strike, more and more currents of his lightning filled the enemy. After five hits, there was enough of his magic within for Arwa and her children, even the hobbled eldest, to renew their own lightning strike. There was no need for communication, each knew their part. Nine bolts of lightning struck the enemy at the same time, and it roared again in rage and agony. The magic fought to hold it still, and before it could react, Arwa lunged in once again. Now that its flesh was torn, her attack was different. Her snapping jaws searched for the widest tears in its flesh, and with each bite, the beast¡¯s muscles and then entrails were exposed to the air. After her fifth bite, though, Arwa felt its muscles stop seizing. She bit deep, fangs finding viscera. She didn¡¯t release, instead ripping a long section of the enemy¡¯s insides into the open air. Once she¡¯d pulled a body¡¯s length free, though, she released it. Arwa hadn¡¯t lost a single one of her children in a hunt, and she wouldn¡¯t allow herself to die now. The enemy was severely weakened, and its blood flowed freely from its eviscerated belly. Its cries no longer echoed with rage and frustration, instead filled with fear and agony. Now was the time to be careful and slow. A dying creature was unpredictable. Even so, Arwa was wise. Her children knew to wait, to be sure to finish the hunt on their own terms. The enemy grunted and tried to escape. Arwa and her children weren¡¯t ready to stop it again with their magic yet, but Percral closed in and harried the creature. It screamed at him in response, but Percral sent his hands knifing into its flesh again and again. His magic made the prey shudder and slow, and it stumbled. Arwa knew it was time and ran back to re-engage with the prey. Her magic had already been prepared for the final blow, and she filled her antlers with it. The crackling scent of the lightning fully filled her snout, and Arwa danced around to the front of the beast and buried her antlers deep in its belly. The wet sound of shredding flesh filled Arwa¡¯s ears, and the enemy began to topple forward onto her. Her children were too inexperienced to extract themselves from a situation like this, but Arwa expertly twisted her neck and pulled the gory instruments of death from the gut. Then, she bounced to the side just in time to avoid the massive body¡¯s descent. It thudded to the ground, and Arwa looked for her master¡¯s next command. The sounds of combat still echoed around her master¡¯s pack, and she and her children were needed. The cowardly wet ones whimpered something about how they would like to help, and Arwa snarled for their bravery. The wolfstags ran to the next scene of combat where they supported the master¡¯s pack. With her assistance, two more of the huge beasts were slain, and the wolfstags howled their victory to the skies once the command to pull back came to them. Arwa trotted to her master¡¯s side, her tongue lolling out the corner of her mouth. The scent of blood filled her mind, and the feast that would be prepared for her and her children made her mouth water. Even so, the master was to be obeyed, and Arwa awaited his next command. The master, too, was coated in blood, though not his own. Arwa licked the small chunks of flesh from between his claws, and the master, in turn, scratched the base of Arwa¡¯s antlers, just how she liked. She simply enjoyed his approval, and for a time, they stood together, looking over the results of their successful hunt. He grumbled something to himself, but Arwa could see in his body he was not unhappy with her. Then he said one of the few things she knew and set her tail to wagging. ¡°Good girl.¡± New Book Announcement Hello! It''s been a HOT minute since I had one of these blog post chapters, so please forgive any awkwardness or such foolishness. Now, the observant of you will have seen me asking questions about a LitRPG/System Apocalypse, and what you might want me to do with one. The more astute of you will have noticed that I''ve mentioned I''ve been publishing it on Patreon. The coolest of you will have already read at least some of it there (first 6 chapters are free on Patreon). Those of you who either look at my profile or have actually read this far will know that this is not the first time that I''ve done this, haha. There is one big thing that''s different about this announcement, though. Well, several things, but the biggest one is this: At this time, I have a couple months where I can effectively write as if I were a full-time author. I''m in a position where I can write about three times as much as I did last year, and ADHD meds combined with some other strategies and tools have let me realize my full potential! (DBZ super saiyan noises begin) If I am able to experience explosive growth in the next three or so months, especially where Patreon is concerned, then I''ll be able to truly transition to full-time authorship. Now, why am I saying this where I am and how I am now? I''m going to release the Successor of Kukulkan (The new book) chapters every day for at least two weeks after launching with 9 chapters going up every two hours on Monday morning. If we get onto RS, then the daily uploads will extend to the whole time that the story''s on RS. To incentivize you readers here in Ashlani''s Reincarnation, here''s what I''m offering: read a chapter, or two, or ten of Successor, and leave a review. For every review that I receive that then gets a comment on this chapter saying "I left a review!" or something to that effect, I will backlog an additional Ashlani''s Reincarnation chapter. That doesn''t mean I''ll release an additional chapter that day, but that on a weekend, or earlier, I''ll release an additional Ashlani''s chapter. Because I have time to write so much more, and because I''m incentivized to deliver on this for my full-time authorship aspirations, I''ll be able to keep this up until the end of April. If, by that time, I''m making enough money to leave my job behind, I''ll be able to continue to deliver a lot of chapters of both AR and SoK (as well as a mystery steampunk-esque story I''ve got 30k words written for). Please, leave reviews and comments and so on on SoK, and see if we can''t do great! Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Successor of Kukulkan blurb: Ripped away from his son and forced to fight against the world itself, TJ has no love for this new Divine System, but if he needs to fight to get back to his family, then he¡¯ll embrace the monster within to see him again. The last couple of years have been rough, and after a string of unfortunate deaths in the family, TJ Harris has been left alone in the world, except for his son. When this Divine System rips Junior away from him and demands that he fight to reunite with his family. TJ is left with no other choice but to dive headfirst into a merciless battle against nature itself and his fellow Participants. Each person is offered the Quest to gain one of four Classes, and TJ is inexplicably drawn to the Neophyte. As a descendant of Kukulkan, he¡¯s assured that this Class suits him¡­ but will it give him the strength necessary to survive a world gone mad? Only one thing is certain: he¡¯ll fight, he¡¯ll bleed, and he¡¯ll burn everything to the ground if it means finding his son again. What to expect: -Moderately slow progression. -Gritty fights. -Multiple supporting characters but one main POV -A System entirely based off of mythologies from around the world, though it will take time for that to be made as apparent to the MC. -Daily uploads for the first month. -An MC who grows to understand this new world. -Starting alone but developing a core cast that won''t always be together Chapter 270 My hand dropped from Arwa¡¯s head and I stood tall with a sigh. It wasn¡¯t too surprising, but these indlovu didn¡¯t care about who Bekizo or the Enkulu were, but I was a little surprised to see no reaction to Qaqambi or the Yegolide either. Even so, there were some positives with this latest raid by the Indlovu. I¡¯d barely been able to convince Brutus, Ytte, and the rest of my ¡°guards¡± to stay back while I faced this latest foe alone. With all my newly heightened [Skills], especially [Murderous Melody], I relatively easily stunned and slew this latest fool. He hadn¡¯t spoken a word, merely striking out blindly and angrily with every swipe of his maul. As I¡¯d hoped, the indlovu served as the final test for [Adversary] to advance, and I glanced over the updated [Skill] description. [Skill: Adversary has evolved into Skill: Nemesis] [Skill: Adversary; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated their determination to conquer. This Skill grants an aura that incites weakness, aggression, and paranoia in those the Skill¡¯s holder has deemed an enemy. This aura allows the Skill holder to more easily break the morale of those targeted. This Skill can evolve. Skill evolution requirements: Defeat a foe with a greater Stat total than yourself, without substantial support from any other creature. Progress: 10/10] [Skill: Nemesis; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated their ability to conquer. This Skill grants an aura that, more so than its predecessor, weakens those who the Skill¡¯s holder has deemed an enemy. Additionally, this aura serves to break the will and mind of those targeted. When assisted by other Skills, Nemesis can permanently reduce its holder¡¯s foes to gibbering messes. This Skill can evolve. Skill evolution requirements: Slay 5 tribal-level leaders or higher in individual combat before their subordinates. Progress: 0/5] Though I¡¯d never done anything otherwise, I did note that this new [Skill¡¯s] evolutionary requirements required me to kill my foe instead of merely defeating them. And what made a pack or whatever ¡°tribal¡±? [A group of individuals must have a requisite level of intelligence to qualify as a tribe. Additionally, the number of individuals within the tribe must be at least 100 individuals.] ¡°It¡¯s always a ¡®certain amount¡¯ or something when I ask about requirements.¡± I sighed. Even so, I understood the general point that it was getting at. Had to be ¡°people¡±, or something like that. This new goal, however, would be more difficult than the last, given I¡¯d have to get their leader to face me before their people. I had half a mind to give chase to the few indlovu that had attempted to escape from us, but with their uncanny ability to hide within the grasses that surrounded us, we¡¯d lose much more than we gained. Instead, I refocused myself on my people. Our current predicament was not lost on me, and I wasn¡¯t sure how to proceed. Sybil approached me before I could lose myself in planning. ¡°They understood the words you spoke.¡± She reported. ¡°They do not appreciate who Qaqambi has selected, and consider him to be a wily foe. Those who survived were concerned about how Allatsu would react to the loss of several hunters, but they still believed that running to him would be the best option.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°That was the name of the chieftain Qaqambi spoke of, right?¡± ¡°Yes, Allatsu of the Linqata was the name.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t Qaqambi say that they were friends? Or allies, at least?¡± Sybil cracked her teeth together in denial. ¡°Not in my presence. He did mention that this is the land of the Linqata, but there was no mention of a preexisting relationship between the two indlovu, nor their peoples.¡± I mused over what she said, and eventually asked, ¡°How did they react to any commands you gave the wolfstags? Arwa wouldn¡¯t have engaged without your command, I don¡¯t think.¡± The wolfstag perked up at her name, her crown of antlers leaning heavily to the side as she measured me up. I gently scratched at the base of her antlers, just how she liked, and she leaned into the scritches. ¡°The indlovu became more quiet thereafter,¡± Sybil allowed, ¡°But they did not seem to believe that I was one of their own. Some complaints about the Yegolide and their sneaky ways, but they didn¡¯t regard anything we did with positivity or understanding.¡± ¡°Mmm.¡± I grunted, my tail flicking in agitation. ¡°If they don¡¯t think that we can understand them, then I think we can take their words to be the truth. If that¡¯s the case, then Qaqambi may have sent us here specifically to anger or even damage their enemies.¡± ¡°That could be the case.¡± Sybil flared her frills. ¡°I do not believe that his intent behind sending us to the Linqata lands matters as much as what we will do with at least partially aggressive natives here. I still believe that he did not mean any harm in any advice or information he provided, given the innately truthful attitudes and nature of his tribe. Even so, we could be in a more precarious position than I previously believed.¡± ¡°Well,¡± I hedged, the beginnings of a smile peeking at the corner of my mouth. My lips spread wide and exposed my fangs as I responded, ¡°We do have certain things that we want to get, and Qaqambi seemed to think that we could find many more creatures to subjugate here in these lands. Perhaps, without engaging in any talks, we can claim innocence in anything we do that negatively impacts the Linqata.¡± Sybil¡¯s face quickly mirrored my own, a mischievous grin quirking the corner of her mouth. ¡°If that is the case, there is something else that I believe I should do. Perhaps Joral and Shemira will help me locate one¡­¡± [Chieftain Allatsu POV] ¡°Have your askari deserted you? You tuskless fools!¡± His mind smashed into those of his people, dozens swaying where they stood with the force of his impotent rage. ¡°Our lands remain our own only by the grace of the Inkulu, and now you allow some worthless keelish to ransack our lands! How have you not located the earth-forgotten lizards that are robbing everything that walks?¡± Allatsu raged more and more against his useless hunters, the ripples of his mind stunning the nearby children. With a trumpeting call of fury, the chieftain contained himself enough to stop damaging his tribe¡¯s future. His heaving chest and rushing breaths did nothing to calm him, but Allatsu ground out his newest command. ¡°Find them. Bring their heads to me.¡± Chapter 271 [Skill evolved. Status updated.] With a wide grin, I helped shepherd the swarm¡¯s growing herds onward. One herd each of axebeaks, a deerlike thing called an Indlovan Oryx according to the [System], and something else it called hyenas. Only the axebeaks numbered more than 100, to allow [True Dominance] progress. Then, to my pleasure, two truly massive herds of oxfiends, and now, the sheer quantity of our subjugated creatures numbered at least as many as we keelish. Sybil and Foire together could hear the indlovu coming and we had worked together the few times they¡¯d come close, but at this point, I was fairly certain that we wouldn¡¯t be able to cover our tracks sufficiently to hide from them again. Nearly 2000 beasts and keelish under my command, and we did not move quietly or without leaving any sign of our passage. The indlovu we¡¯d killed in their initial assault had fed the entirety of the swarm for that day, and I hadn¡¯t allowed anyone to hunt or kill one of our livestock for over a day. We¡¯d encountered the axebeaks the next day, and with only some menacing from the wolfstags combined with my [Skills] and Joral¡¯s, they submitted. Maybe us having some of their own people under our command helped with that, but I couldn¡¯t say for sure. The oryx and hyenas, however, resisted domestication. I¡¯d needed to kill several of the hyenas before they began to yip and strangely cackle their subservience. When a female that seemed to be in charge walked in front of me with her rear presented to me, I understood what she was communicating, and rather disgusted by it. Even so, she showed her willingness to submit, and I had Arwa try to take the hyenas under her wing. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care about if they would serve as a short or long-term food. The oryx didn¡¯t fight back, though their long, sharp horns seemed like they could pierce through a keelish¡¯s scales. I¡¯d willingly killed one of them as they fled, but even so, they didn¡¯t care. They instead were doggedly persistent in their attempted escape, sprinting in bounding leaps ever onward and away from us. Twice, their leader had seized a perceived weakness and leapt over a shorter keelish. Eventually, I caught the end of one of his horns and wrested him to the ground. He¡¯d bleated and cried out in a mix of terror and pain, but with so many of my [Skills] working in tandem to break his will, he quickly submitted to the combination of me and the influence of the rest of my swarm. Then, the oxfiends had gone down the same way as the first, with me slaughtering their champion or leader and forcing the rest to bow down to me. As I forced another leader of at least 100 individuals to submit to me through death, the flashing [System] notification drew a more pleased smile from the rictus of a slaughterer¡¯s beaming I¡¯d already sported. [Skill: True Dominance has evolved into Skill: Absolute Dominance] [Skill: True Dominance; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated and begun to perfect the ability to force others to obey and submit to the Skill¡¯s holder. Those who have gained this Skill are beginning to understand the path of the tyrant, and this Skill assists them in that path. This Skill grants an improved aura that incites loyalty, obedience, and fear in others. This aura begins to force even those with the strongest will to submit their will to the holder, and allows the holder to more easily dominate those who stand before them, even without violence. This Skill can evolve. Skill evolution requirements: assert and establish dominance over five leaders of groups of at least 100 individuals.] Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. [Skill: Absolute Dominance; a passive Skill demanded by those who force others to submit or die. This Skill¡¯s holders are established tyrants and kings, undisputed hegemons who will not brook discontent or disobedience from their ranks. This Skill grants an aura that demands loyalty and obedience while striking terror in the unfaithful. This aura weakens the dissident and the enemy alike, and will allow the holder to strike down resistance in the heart long before it materializes into any willingness to rebel. Violence is only one of the vehicles through which the holder demands submission, and the Skill¡¯s holder demands much. Those who dare not to submit, if their wills are strong enough, will immediately seek to fight for their freedom and lives. This Skill can evolve. Skill evolution requirements: Establish dominance over a country¡¯s long-established ruler. This ruler cannot currently be experiencing significant political upheaval.] Though I¡¯d already known what my path was, again, the [System] reminded me of my journey thus far, and where it was projected to go, if the Administrator was to be believed. And I couldn¡¯t see myself changing from that. I would try to be a benevolent tyrant and a well-intentioned monarch, but I knew already that I would only consult with my elites. Never would I give them full power. The demand for control within me forced me to recognize that I would allow discussion, but never true usurpation of my position. And if they defied me? Well, I''d now completed three of the four requirements to evolve [Combatant''s Bloodlust], and they could confront that instead. With my new [Skill] begging to be used, I spent time around each of the groups within the swarm. Each of the longtime livestock bowed in my presence, unwilling to meet my eye or my ire. The newest keelish, from the nameless swarm, fawned and begged before me. The keelish from Farahlia¡¯s swarm avoided me, but once it was apparent I approached them, they groveled low and answered questions immediately. Even some of my elites, those who had known me for as long as I¡¯d lived, instinctively bowed their heads and listened for my command. My presence and position reinforced, I once again restricted my aura. A subconscious sigh went out among every creature within my swarm, and Sybil approached me. ¡°You grow ever stronger, Alpha.¡± Sybil strode in step next to me, though she¡¯d been apparently unaffected by my previous strutting. ¡°True enough.¡± I hedged, a cocksure smirk breaking my nonchalance. ¡°I am proud to call you my leader.¡± Sybil bowed her head. ¡°You continue to prove my decision made so long ago to have been correct.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t really make that decision, Syb.¡± Shemira interrupted. ¡°I kicked you out, and you happened to go to this monster, and with your support, he¡¯s become what he is now.¡± ¡°... I suppose that is factual.¡± Sybil allowed. ¡°Even so, I am glad to be your support.¡± ¡°And that you are.¡± I answered, bumping my hip into her own as I nipped at her neck. She subtly pulled her head back, allowing my fangs to scratch at the soft skin at the juncture of neck and shoulder. I nuzzled in deeper for a moment but soon pulled away. ¡°I forgot to ask before¨Cwere you able to find one?¡± Sybil perked up even more, her steps bouncing almost as much as if she were skipping. ¡°Yes! It will be perfect if the opportunity presents itself! If we are correct in thinking that Chieftain Allatsu will approach us himself, then I believe it will serve to trip him from his original path.¡± ¡°I believe that time is here now.¡± Foire sprinted up as he nearly shouted. ¡°They¡¯re here, and there¡¯s one that is larger than any other we¡¯ve seen among them.¡± I let the wide grin stretched across my face shift to an even more predatory one as I prepared my first words to tear Allatsu from his position. Chapter 272 ¡°I am Ashlani, chieftain of my swarm, the fahvalo of Bloodpriestess Ana of the Moonchildren and the Disciple of Nievtala. I have come to speak with you, and see if our tribes can work in peace and friendship or must take up the iklabhu to protect ourselves and defeat our foes. Please, counsel with me, break bread with me, and let my askari be yours.¡± With Sybil¡¯s command, the askari she had tamed fluttered to settle on my shoulder. It pecked curiously at the base of my skull, but I didn¡¯t react. Instead, I stood tall, my spear in hand as I watched the gently flowing grass. There was no immediate response, but Sybil whispered in my ear, ¡°They are attempting to figure out how to respond to your request for parley. The one in charge is screaming for his people to slaughter us, but they hesitate. You¡¯ve followed their traditions enough that they aren¡¯t willing to begin hostilities.¡± I waited as patiently as I could, but my pride demanded I receive some response. Seconds passed, but with Sybil¡¯s steadying presence, I managed to keep myself from screeching a challenge of war to the Linqata. Instead, I stood tall and let my askari hop around and peck errantly at my fingers. Another minute or two passed, and a mountain of an indlovu stood out of his camouflage, maybe a dozen paces into the grass. His tusks were pure white, and his shoulders unbowed, while his maul was held high and threatening. He was several feet taller than Qaqambi, though he lacked any of the ornamentation or decorative carving that his apparent senior was decked in. ¡°I am Allatsu, chieftain of the Linqata tribe, the Shepherd of the South and the Sound of Freedom. I have come to speak with you, and accept your offer of hospitality.¡± His voice rumbled as he grumpily stepped forward. Something about his titles rang hollow to me, compared to Qaqambi¡¯s stately self-reference. Unsure of what exactly was meant to be next, I said the first thing I could remember as I sent my little red bird to the hostile chief. ¡°May your beds be firm, your meals full, and your skin unblemished.¡± ¡°... May your stewardship prosper and your children be wise.¡± He mumbled while I didn¡¯t need to look at Sybil to ensure she had taken note of the correct response. Our little askari pecked at the base of Allatsu¡¯s ears and between his thick fingers, and he habitually moved to let it pick wherever he thought it most important. His own askari only pecked halfheartedly at me before flitting back to the chieftain and assisting Sybil¡¯s little pet in cleaning the large, wrinkled indlovu. ¡°I guess you did speak with the codger.¡± The indlovu¡¯s voice allowed, though his body language still threatened violence. ¡°Why do you call on me?¡± ¡°Because you were going to raise your iklabhu to kill me and mine. I would prefer not to kill any more of yours, since I¡¯ve been told that any fight is only over once enough have been slain to feed the entirety of the victor¡¯s tribe. I don¡¯t know how many of your people would have to die to satiate my swarm, but it would be too many.¡± ¡°You DARE¨C¡± Shouted the chieftain, ¡°presume that you could find victory over my people? That you could slay a single one of my elites? And what of my soldiers?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t said what the Bloodpriestess declared me fahvalo of, have I?¡± I didn¡¯t answer his question, instead asking my own. ¡°I presume you know what a Moonchild Bloodpriestess is.¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. His grinding molars grated on my ears, but Allatsu¡¯s trunk bobbed curtly in assent. ¡°Of course. I¡¯m not a sheltered fool.¡± ¡°Then you truly understand what it takes to become a fahvalo of a Bloodpriestess. I am told I vohinanatrar desperation.¡± I grinned up at the chieftain, and though he towered over me, at least 16 feet tall, his trunk recoiled in recognition of what I said. ¡°Don¡¯t doubt that I will do whatever it takes to gain victory. If there is only a single swarm member left, then I will lead them to slaughter your young, your weak, and your injured. I will hunt you in the night, and I will show no hesitation nor mercy in my slaughter of every one of yours. I will never be sated, and I will not stop until the last drop of blood from your last tribesman is wetting the sand below my feet. ¡°Do you want to test my willingness to live up to my word? As a Disciple of Nievtala, I will lead my people to victory, slaughter, and conquest. If you refuse to allow us this victory in peaceful passing, then we will seek victory in the total eradication of the Linqata.¡± Though I never raised my voice, I¡¯d unintentionally drawn on my sonilphon and let my words echo out over the indlovu cowering in the grasses. The chieftain trembled in rage, fear, or a mixture of any number of emotions. Regardless, I let him attempt to calm himself. His breaths thundered through his trunk and, if I¡¯d had hair, it would have blown it back. As it were, my scales shuddered in the nearly gale-force winds his rage created. Nearly a full minute later, the indlovu still hadn¡¯t calmed himself, but he roared at me, ¡°You will not threaten me! The only possibility you have to flee with a single living keelish is by surrendering all your flocks to us and escaping without another word!¡± His trumpeting cry fought to rally his indlovu, but I gave him no time to work them into a frenzy. I drew deep on [Nemesis], [Imperial Bearing], and [Disastrous Discourse] as I retorted, ¡°Then face me in individual combat! Sacrifice your life for those of your people, or subjugate me! Are you too cowardly to put your own life on the line? Only willing to sacrifice your people for your own safety and ego?¡± Something in the chieftain fought to argue with me, but under the influence of my multiple [Skills], that small, reckless portion broke and quailed before me. Too weak-willed to attempt to fight back against my fearful aura, the chieftain stood up and fell back one, then two steps. His trunk quivered and his mouth opened, some retort dying on his lips. The huge creature fell back into the grass, where he nearly immediately faded into invisibility. Vague sounds of complaint, confusion, and something else echoed from the rest of the indlovu, but when I roared another challenge to them, I felt their nearly indistinguishable steps fade away to the background. ¡°They are leaving, as they have lost all faith in the chieftain. There is some conversation about a matriarch, but I cannot say what exactly that means. Even so, I believe that we will be able to leave their territory without further incident or contact. They are now more worried about the results of the next stewardship evaluation, something to happen in three years. At least, that is what I have been able to glean from their conversations. The indlovu are now too far away to hear anything more.¡± I flared my frills, acknowledging her. Maybe, I¡¯d overdone the challenge. Even so, who would have expected a tribe¡¯s chieftain to be so weak willed as to lose his leadership over his people? Though I didn¡¯t understand the indlovu¡¯s method of governance, I could imagine that fleeing from such an overt challenge would weaken, if not destroy the entirety of Allatsu¡¯s support. ¡°Then, onward we go. Perhaps we should see if we can do the same in each territory we pass? I can¡¯t say I know what we¡¯ll find, but if we can find keelish and more creatures this entire trek, we¡¯ll arrive at Nievtra with tens of thousands under my command.¡± ¡°Let us see.¡± Sybil smiled. ¡°We cannot determine anything yet.¡± With a howl, I set the keelish back into motion, and we continued our journey eastward. Chapter 273 What brings contentment? It is not glory, for glory demands victory, and victory begets loss. It is not success, for success requires effort, and effort destroys the soul. It is not family, for family require your mind, and your mind is yours alone. It is not station, for station puts you above others, and social standing brings pride. Nor is it pleasure nor pain, arousal nor abstinence. Contentment can only come through abnegation, submission, and obedience to the holy, to the ruler, and to our god. The Gran Verat brings contentment. -From the Ideals of Ardaliana ¡°No, we follow. Lord, we follow.¡± This was the third swarm Alpha that immediately submitted themself to me. The other two, females, had offered themselves to me but I¡¯d waved them off with a general excuse of not wanting to leave eggs behind. Sybil shot me glances each time I¡¯d done so, but I¡¯d merely restated my position on monogamy. Perhaps it was a sort of carryover from my previous life, or maybe something that many keelish and khatif would choose. Maybe something else would change when we became Keel. I couldn¡¯t say, and I didn¡¯t care. I desired only my mate, and I didn¡¯t see that changing any time soon. Leaving aside the immediate surrender of all power and leadership to me when we arrived reeked of either a significant increase to the keelish¡¯s intelligence, or the sheer impact of my new [Absolute Dominance] [Skill]. That combined with my many other leadership/domination aligned [Skills] meant that the mere moment that the other swarms saw me, they trembled where they stood and bowed whenever they saw me, even now. To say that I didn¡¯t enjoy it would be a falsehood, and I didn¡¯t care if the others knew I enjoyed their adoration. Joral especially had taken to exemplifying my own approach to leadership before the herds, and they followed him more demurely than the latest generation of tamed beast. I couldn¡¯t say specifically if that came because of whatever magic he had, as a byproduct of Sybil, Shemira, and Farahlia¡¯s magics, or something else entirely, but Joral alone could drive well over half of the thousands of beasts alone. With the Voltaic Wolfstags, all of which, except Arwa, obviously considered him to be their master, Joral could manage the entire body of our herds. Yes, thousands, now. For weeks, we had continued our journey, picking up stray herds and keelish wherever we went, and the greater our numbers, the more easily we subjugated. Thrice, we had encountered other indlovu, though once they saw our well-tended herds and ability to tame an askari, we parted on neutral, if not friendly terms. Even so, our presence was not celebrated, and our rampant pilfering of herds was not well-received. However, as we met the Mumara, Kutril, and Acqamba tribes, they took obvious pleasure in our ability to steal away herds from those whose stewardships we¡¯d passed through before. Chieftain Lukusu of the Acqamba especially enjoyed hearing we¡¯d taken the herd of oxfiends from the Yegolide, and Qaqambi specifically. ¡°That wrinkly man!¡± He¡¯d shouted, ¡°He is a good leader! He could have found violence, but he found himself without a herd in his stewardship, so he pointed you forward!¡± His trumpeting laugh was echoed by a dozen of his guards. Meeting each tribe, I realized that each had their own decorations for their leather wraps and tusks; the Yegolide carved their tusks and dyed their leathers, while the Linqata carefully scrubbed their tusks clean. The Mumura fashioned steel caps for their tusks, while the Kutril left the tusk plain and their armor filigreed. Chieftain Lukusu¡¯s tusks were a strange mix of the Mumura and Yegolide, carved with inlaid gold. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Does that mean he didn¡¯t want to be our friend?¡± I asked, my frill twitching as the gregarious chieftain sent his askari to pick at my skin for the third time. ¡°Did he call you friend?¡± He asked, voice plain. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then he is your friend until you decide to change that! Not all friends begin wielding the same iklabhu, but once they begin their companionship, it requires for one to release his hold on his foe¡¯s weapon. Thus opening himself up to the same attack, and Qaqambi will never be the first to release the iklabhu of peace. Or use the iklabhu of peace to destroy war. He is called the Shatterer of Three Stone Hill for good reason.¡± Lukusu shook his trunk in my face for emphasis. I ignored it as I asked another question. ¡°So is he something like the head chieftain of the Republic? Even Allatsu who hated him respected Qaqambi.¡± ¡°No!¡± Lukusu scoffed. ¡°There is no Inkulu¡¯aka. If Qaqambi dared to call himself that, then I would lead the charge to beat that idea from his thick skull. Sometimes, the Inkulu think they are in charge, but they have no supporters, though their stewardship has been perfect for all my years.¡± Having long since learned exactly how long the indlovu lived, I could guess that was at least 100 years. ¡°So there exists a head chieftain, the Inkulu¡¯aka, but there is none now. How long has it been since the last one?¡± ¡°Before my grandfather¡¯s time.¡± Lukusu waved his trunk at me dismissively. ¡°Only in times when our people are threatened by something beyond our borders, and though many only remember their great grandfathers¡¯ great grandfathers¡¯ stories, they know not to cross our people. We do not hunt how we fight, for our soldiers do not hunt.¡± Lukusu looked in my eyes at his declaration, and I understood what he was getting at: we¡¯d never seen one of their soldiers. ¡°Whose stewardship lays beyond yours?¡± ¡°The Inkulu.¡± For once, Lukusu didn¡¯t have a joke, a jibe, or a witticism. Just. The Inkulu. ¡°Would you like us to do the same thing we¡¯ve done here there?¡± ¡°Oh, yes.¡± Lukusu suppressed the barest hint of a grin. ¡°But you do not think that we should. That it would be foolish to.¡± ¡°Perhaps. They have many soldiers, and they do not recognize the hunt as most do.¡± It sounded like a challenge. I so desperately wanted to rob more from the Inkulu than any other, to pillage and leave a bare desert in our path. But I¡¯d been warned specifically about what a soldier was, and though I desperately wanted to face one, to do so while traveling with the entirety of my people perhaps wasn¡¯t the best time. ¡°Perhaps not yet. Beyond the Inkulu, whose stewardships remain?¡± ¡°Theirs is the largest, and the last. Beyond that lay the ruins of your people¡¯s kingdom, or so I am told. Our people do not readily leave our stewardships.¡± The brief flare of disappointment at the thought of being cautious was burned away by the passion and excitement of reaching our goal, of finding Nievtra, of finally speaking the entirety of the Words of Power, of becoming Keel. ¡°Then that¡¯s where we¡¯re going. I won¡¯t wait, but I thank you for the guidance. May your beds be firm, your meals full, and your skin unblemished.¡± ¡°May your stewardship prosper and your children be wise.¡± Shemira, impatient and eavesdropping, had already begun to spread the word, that our destination was in sight, that we would soon find where to stop, that we would find home. The call of a true end to our journey was too much, and the keelish, especially those from my original swarm, long lamented the loss of any true home. The few pelts we¡¯d carried with us were far from enough to bring the comfort of a den, or something better, and soon, we¡¯d be there. Chapter 274 The swarm couldn¡¯t move as swiftly and unimpeded as before, now that we numbered nearly two thousand and our herds several thousand more. What once would have been the journey of a single hour or two stretched into days, and as I waited for the axebeaks, oryx, oxfiends, and hyenas. Though we experimented various paths and attempts, [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude] couldn¡¯t keep all the swarm and herds alive, even with the addition of several khatif who had begun to Speak the Words of Power. Thus, a large part of each day was slowed and stopped by oxfiends feeding, the wolfstags and hyenas¡¯ hunts, and the grazing of everything else. With each step we took, thousands of footprints destroyed whatever grasses weren¡¯t chewed down to nothing, and though I continued to force the keelish to feed only once a day, and that only to satiety instead of complete fullness, our herds¡¯ numbers notably fell. Hunting expeditions were formed, and Took led them in an attempt to reduce the immediately noticeable signs of our presence. Keeping the whole of the herds watered was especially a struggle, even though all of us were used to and acclimated to reduced water intake. After three days without finding a river, stream, or even a puddle, the Wave Wolfstags spent several hours conjuring water until each dropped in exhaustion. Even with every difficulty and mundane stumbling block attempting to keep us from reaching that which would be our home, we pressed on. Those of the herds too weak to continue on the journey were the first to be eaten, and the keelish unwilling to strive to grow received only one chance to improve. The male who I¡¯d introduced to Vefir and had been named Sakkit, rose as the golden standard of the keelish who worked to change and grow. He openly and frequently spoke about his previous reticence and willingness to be mediocre, that his egoism and false beliefs had driven him to thinking he deserved leadership for his seniority. How I had torn those beliefs away, and forced him to recognize that his strength would allow him to find where he belonged. Finally, he was my strongest, most available advocate for those struggling to find what to do and where to grow. Again and again, Sakkit told a keelish that they should seek me out and ask for honest advice. Interestingly, I felt more and more to guide those who approached me towards more mundane assignments: helping Joral manage the herds, assisting Sybil¡¯s assistants with organization, caring for the wounded whose injuries were stabilized but fully healing them wasn¡¯t worth it at the moment. When I, more confused than the keelish I was talking to, suggested that she learn how to raise this same grass somewhere else, I felt I¡¯d lost my mind entirely. Even so, the swarm grew in cohesion and strength from day to day. Twelve days into our journey in the Inkulu¡¯s territory, a faint purple colored the horizon, and I thought of the mountains I¡¯d so quickly fallen in love with. I was torn from my musings by the sounds of combat. ¡°You¡¯re fangless! You couldn¡¯t catch me if I had two broken legs!¡± ¡°She¡¯s a lot like Wisterl sometimes, isn¡¯t she?¡± Trai taunted several of the young from the other swarms, dancing around them as they trained their coordination and attacks. Foire and I watched, shouting suggestions as the little ones floundered and struggled to get near her. ¡°Yes.¡± Foire allowed. ¡°But she looks just like Treel. Moves like her too.¡± This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Can¡¯t say I paid too much attention.¡± ¡°She was beautiful.¡± Foire¡¯s voice was wistful, loving, but no longer bitter until he continued, ¡°She doesn¡¯t know her.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Foire¡¯s tail flicked, and that same bitterness grew. ¡°I don¡¯t want to treat those from that ¡®Veratocracy¡¯,¡± He spat the word like a curse, ¡°like we treat the indlovu. The indlovu are people. The Moonchildren are foes, but the humans¡­ They are enemies. My enemies.¡± Foire looked up at me and met my eyes for a moment. ¡°They are mad.¡± I agreed. ¡°Every other people seems to see them nearly as negatively as they see us.¡± ¡°The humans may be mad,¡± Foire allowed, ¡°But we are merely dangerous. Dangerous when we are still new. As you establish us more as a people, we will grow to stand above them all.¡± ¡°Victory.¡± I replied. ¡°Victory by fang and blood.¡± Foire echoed. As he strode away to speak with Silf, who had just returned, a nearby keelish whose gaze I¡¯d long felt approached. ¡°Alpha. Lord.¡± ¡°Alpha or Ashlani.¡± I corrected. ¡°Thank you for not interrupting.¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha. I will¡­ respect.¡± "Now, speak.¡± ¡°I want to¡­ be strong. Please help¡­ me.¡± I looked over him, the guidance of [Evolutionary Exemplar] filling me. His path was immediately obvious to me, though I was surprised at where he was meant to go. Even so, I couldn¡¯t help but grin widely at his obvious faith in my omnipotence or merely my strength. ¡°You must join Brutus. He and Ytte always need more¨C¡± ¡°Alpha.¡± Foire interrupted, his tone brisk and worried. ¡°Forgive the interruption. They¡¯re coming, and as the Chieftain Lukusu suggested, they are different.¡± ¡°He¡¯s there. Follow him.¡± I commanded the quiet, concerned keelish as I pointed at Brutus. He jogged towards the huge male, but Brutus commanded him again, ¡°Follow¡± as he ran to follow me. The much smaller male whose name I didn¡¯t know had to sprint to follow in Brutus¡¯s steps, but he did so without complaint. I followed Foire, then Silf¡¯s steps, calling out to any member of my elites I saw en route. Our steps thundered and filled the air, but nothing pounded so quickly and loudly as my own heart. I suspected I knew what I would see once I neared the approaching indlovu, but even so, I needed to use my own eyes. Even before I saw the individuals, though, I saw something that made my blood run cold. A plume of dust followed the indlovu, and since even the huge hunters felt it necessary to hide their approach, then these ones were sure to be more impressive, dangerous, and deadly than the hunters, and that by far. They carried something extraordinarily large behind them, a large tent, perhaps. It didn¡¯t ripple in the wind, though, so perhaps a stupidly large palanquin? Then, [Raptor¡¯s Eyes] forced me to admit it, to stop lying to myself. This wasn¡¯t some man-made structure, nor was it a large empty thing. The hill I saw was familiar, though I¡¯d only seen it once. When I¡¯d seen it before, it was impressive, frightening, and massive. Now, though, it was awe-inspiring, terrifying, and so large I couldn¡¯t believe it was alive. Despite my disbelief and my unwillingness to accept reality, though, it took another step, its legs carrying it forward while the earth under its feet shifted to lengthen every stride. It passed by another hill, and I couldn¡¯t say if it was due to hunger, anger, or boredom, but with a surprisingly quick snap of its jaws, the hill disappeared. Before, when the High Speakers had arrived upon the back of a tortoise, I¡¯d called it massive. That would be an insult to whatever it was that accompanied the Inkulu¡¯s soldiers to battle against us. Chapter 275 Several buildings patterned the back of the tortoise, and seeing indlovu walk in and out of them, I was again reminded of how truly mountainous the tortoise must be. Each of the building¡¯s doorways accommodated the indlovu with space to spare in every direction, so maybe twenty feet tall, if the truly massive Allatsu was among the tallest of the statuesque people. A building that large must have been several hundred feet long, and there were half a dozen I could see, one of which stood in the center and twice as large as the rest. This monster must have been at least 1000 feet long and across, though I would be amazed if it were less than 1500. Somehow, its shell was flatter and less precipitous than the other one we¡¯d seen, so its belly only stood some fifty feet off the ground, the peak about one hundred feet higher than that. How the indlovu could scale its four legs to stand on top of it escaped me, but I couldn¡¯t care about that. Instead, I watched as it walked. Only one foot lifted from the ground at a time, and moved ponderously and cautiously through the air. Before it reached the ground, a pillar of earth rose to welcome and guide the foot to its place. Under the three grounded feet, the earth shifted constantly and flowed like a stream forward, and the indlovus¡¯ approach was artificially hastened by what I could only assume was the tortoise¡¯s magic. Again, it seemed to take a liking to a patch of scrub brush and its head darted down and devoured the whole patch in three bites. A cavernous pit was left behind, but as soon as it finished its snack, the surrounding earth filled in the hole without leaving any sign behind. I nearly began speaking to those of my elites that stood nearby, but realized I hadn¡¯t even looked at the soldiers. With a force of effort, I tore my attention away from the awe inspiring tortoise and its mounted city to attempt to evaluate the soldiers that marched beside it. At least 100 that I was sure were the Inkulu¡¯s soldiers flowed forward, the earth carrying them just as easily as it carried the tortoise. Just like the hunters, the indlovu wore leather clothing, with bracers and thigh coverings seeming to serve as armor. On the other hand, every one of their number I identified as a soldier gleamed in the bright sunslight. Their wrists, ankles, and shoulders sported thick bangles or cuffs of burnished steel or some other metal. Even though we stood miles away, I felt I could hear the jingling of their metal accompanying the tortoise¡¯s every step. They each held an iklabhu as well as a large, bulging bag that hung below their non-dominant hands. Every one of them stood alert, eyes searching while their ears tossed every which way. Nearly impossible to ambush, then. A hard, poisonous pit of fear settled into my stomach as I forced myself to admit that we would be slain to the last if that was what they decided to do. They moved more quickly than we could with our herds, and that tortoise alone would be impossible to kill, while it could swallow a dozen of us at a time. Again, I forced myself to cease my observation and instead turned my attention to my elites. Sybil, Foire, Silf, Took, Solia, Joral, and Shemira stood ready for my command. Brutus, my constant shadow, continued sizing up the threat to my life. Only Foire and Silf could see what I did, and their nerves betrayed them with ceaselessly twitching tails and shifting from one foot to the other. Sybil immediately picked up on my mood and strode forward as she asked, ¡°Please enlighten us as to our current situation, Alpha.¡± I considered for a moment, and started where I thought best. ¡°That giant thing is like the tortoise that the High Speakers were riding when they chased us. The thing that controlled the earth? It¡¯s the same thing, but so much bigger it¡¯s foolish to compare the two. It controls the ground underfoot better than anything I¡¯ve seen before, and I¡¯d say it¡¯s obvious that the soldier¡¯s will wear armor it provides just like the Earthspeakers we saw before.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Like the one you killed in the original fight against the humans?¡± Took clarified. ¡°Yes. But more than twice as big as you. Stronger than any of the humans we¡¯ve seen, and there will be at least 100 of them. Their magic will probably insulate them from any of our magic, except maybe Sybil¡¯s and mine. Ytte might be able to break through, but it would be a contest I¡¯d imagine she¡¯d lose, even with their mobile fortress supplying the armor to a hundred of the soldiers at once.¡± ¡°What do you think would be their weakness?¡± Took asked, her eyes searching not my own but the horizon for our approaching enemies. ¡°The more spread out they are, I would guess it would be harder for the tortoise to provide armor? I would guess that, with so many and how large each soldier must be, the armor won¡¯t be quite as thick as that of the individual Earthspeakers. That would be mitigated by how thick their skin is, though.¡± ¡°They have been observed to be particularly vulnerable to your magic.¡± Sybil interjected, and I felt a brief flare of unreasonable rage at the interruption. ¡°The earth may also be impacted by water, so the Wave Wolfstags may be of particular import.¡± ¡°Their minds haven¡¯t been anything noteworthy either.¡± Shemira added. ¡°I can twist their perception of me without them noticing. That, or they just didn¡¯t care.¡± ¡°They might be too proud to do otherwise, but there¡¯s something different about their presence.¡± Foire said. ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll be able to sneak like the hunters. Maybe it¡¯s something about their Words of Power?¡± ¡°They¡¯ve never told us anything about their Words.¡± I countered. ¡°They might never have shown us. It might be something more like the Moonchildren¡¯s. Then, these soldiers will be stronger, faster, or just completely better than the hunters.¡± Foire¡¯s tail flicked in slight disagreement, though he fought to school himself. I ground my fangs, the stupid anger that was fighting to keep me from finding a solution clouding my mind. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have said that. You didn¡¯t deserve my ire. My stress about this situation is keeping me from calm evaluation. That was a good point, and I trust your intuition.¡± ¡°I see 143 on the ground.¡± Silf sidetracked. ¡°I can¡¯t say how many may be on top of the beast. We outnumber them greatly.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t fight the Earthspeaker.¡± Took cut off his train of thought. ¡°Currently, escape is more attractive. If they catch us, many will die. It would be better to exact revenge on them another day, after we reach our true potential.¡± ¡°They¡¯re threatening us, but they haven¡¯t made any overt promise of violence.¡± Shemira said, her tail flicking in thought. ¡°Maybe we should try to just talk? Ideally, we wouldn¡¯t make any enemies. I know,¡± she rushed to say in response to many disbelieving looks, ¡°that probably won¡¯t work, but if it could work, it¡¯d be the best case.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t depend on that.¡± I answered, and the growing chorus of hissing arguments stilled. ¡°We can try something that would allow that to work in the best case, and help the swarm along if negotiations fail.¡± I gave a quick summary of my orders and the plan as a whole, and, with a glare, cut off Shemira¡¯s early attempts at complaining. ¡°Alpha.¡± Sybil added as I allowed my elites to settle and ponder over the plan. ¡°I believe I have an idea as well that will assist.¡± Chapter 276 Most of my elites scattered with a hurried purpose while the young male that had just joined my ¡°protectors¡± sprinted to get my spear. Less than a minute later, he returned, and I held it more like a walking stick than a weapon as Sybil, Brutus, and another of my guards walked alongside me towards the moving mountain and its inhabitants. Behind us and staying within the grasses was Silf. Sybil, with a mental command, set the herds hurrying along, while Joral and the wolfstags kept them in line. The four of us who walked forward did so ever towards what may be our summary death. I led us to stand in a clearing directly in front of where the mobile fortress would pass, my spear planted in the ground and my eyes cast upwards. ¡°Nievtala,¡± I prayed aloud, my fear setting my heart to thundering in my chest, ¡°I hope this isn¡¯t a stupid idea. Help us. Bless us with the victory not of conquest but of survival.¡± No words answered me, but a slight reassurance settled over me. It very easily could have been my imagination, but I could square my shoulders and prepare for the speech I would have to deliver, the maneuvering that may save my people and myself. With slow steps but a quick speed, the tortoise approached, its form blocking out the suns long before it arrived. With something weighing such an unimaginable great weight, I expected the earth to tremble with each step, even notwithstanding the magic softening each movement, but it wasn¡¯t so. Only its swiftly growing size indicated its approach. Its eyes sought me, weighing the value of my life compared with whatever pleasure it would derive from eating me. The soldiers I¡¯d watched from afar refused to stand before the beast, and we stood like so many stalks of grass before it. I waited for it to stop at a distance where it couldn¡¯t snap out and consume us without a second thought. It came much closer than that, and I gestured for my companions to retreat with me, but though we sprinted, it grew ever closer, never slowing. The monstrosity did not yield or heed our presence whatsoever, and it was only a mere moment before I directed for the rest to go to the side, hopefully where we wouldn¡¯t be trampled. For the first time, the keelish of my swarm came in contact with the indlovu soldiers. They towered over us, more than double the height of our tallest even though Brutus stood well over eight feet tall. Their glittering bracers, anklets, and necklaces gleamed in the suns¡¯ light, nearly blinding us. The tortoise continued its path, and I feared our potential sacrifice would be for naught. Then, with a nearly imperceptible sound, the massive beast flowed to a stop, almost like a stone that slowly sunk to the bottom of a pond. Looking up, we stood in nearly the exact middle of the beast¡¯s length, and it towered over the indlovu soldiers that menacingly surrounded us. Before anything could make a demand or threat, I spoke with my sonilphon amplifying my words to carry unnaturally far. ¡°I am Ashlani, chieftain of my swarm, the fahvalo of Bloodpriestess Ana of the Moonchildren and the Disciple of Nievtala. I have brokered peaceful travel with the indlovu from Chieftain Qaqambi of the Yegolide to Chieftain Lukusu of the Acqamba. I have come to speak with you, and see if our tribes can work in peace and friendship or must take up the iklabhu to protect ourselves and defeat our foes. Please, counsel with me, break bread with me, and let my askari be yours.¡± I felt I was gambling with adding the extra line about peaceful travel, but I felt that might help. The soldiers kept a watchful eye on us the entire time, though their faces betrayed no emotion at my words or apparent knowledge of their traditional greeting. Beginning to feel foolish, I fought the urge to shout out a greeting once more. When I glanced at Sybil, her tail flicked in uncertainty before speaking in the keelish tongue. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°They remain quiet. They have yet to announce anything and our presence is not being spoken of in any way that I can hear. There is no uproar among the inhabitants of the beast. I¡­ I cannot say what else may happen. Forgive me.¡± ¡°Your abilities were a possible edge, but I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here anyways. Thank you for supporting me.¡± ¡°Always, my Alpha.¡± Even if the indlovu on the mountainous beast never came down, every moment we could delay them allowed my swarm to escape ever further. I forced my mind to calm, to accept the delay, to welcome and enjoy it. Their willingness to make me wait was an example of their pride, their hubris, and I could exploit it. The idea of pretending obedience or fear rankled me, but the thought of deceiving the prideful and defeating them in a battle not of fang and claw, but of mind and tactics assuaged my genetic rage. Minutes passed, and the soldiers surrounding us remained stoic and nearly immobile. The only movement apparent was that of their ears in the winds. I too stood still, my tail occasionally flicking in the wind. My spear remained planted in the ground, helping to keep me steady while my battle-hardened senses demanded I rush, move, fidget, or do anything other than stand like a placid herbivore. I glanced up, and saw that the lesser suns had continued in their orbit, the red that had been on top having moved half the way to replacing the blue. A full hour had passed since we left to come here. An hour of needlessly waiting, but an hour of my people making their escape ever further away from certain destruction. With a sigh, I squatted down to my haunches, the position much more comfortable than the rigid stance from before. Of course, the same moment I allowed myself some measure of comfort, the earth underfoot rumbled and a pillar of stone rose to the peak of the fortress. Another several minutes passed before the stone began returning to whence it came. As the peak of the pillar became apparent, I could see three indlovu standing on its flat summit. Two were soldiers, I assumed, while the third was different from every indlovu I¡¯d seen before. Every hunter and soldier wore leathers wrapped tightly around their arms, legs, torsos and groin, dressed for battle and protection. The soldiers added on additional steel bracers, anklets, and necklaces, but this one had no leather on its body at all. Instead, it wore a golden flowing robe, the sleeves covering its hands that were clasped before its belly. Its tusks were covered with fine carvings inlaid with gold that matched its robes, and its ears were laden with heavy golden jewelry. When it pulled its hands apart and spread them like some false god, I saw each finger glittered and was heavy with rings and ostentatious jewels. ¡°I am not our hunting chieftain.¡± He declared with a smooth baritone voice that seemed to drip honey with each word. ¡°And as such, I am not qualified to engage with our sacred rituals in a way that would befit your honor, Chieftain Ashlani. Therefore, I must plead your understanding when I respond with my unimpressive titles. I am Silumkulo, the herdmaster of the Inkulu tribe. I beg your patience. Notwithstanding my lowly position, I am nonetheless qualified to serve as the mouthpiece for my people in establishing our peaceful relationship moving forward. Please, let us set aside such barbarous implements of battle and slaughter, that we may instead engage with a forthright desire to understand and to join our peoples in harmonious friendship.¡± Chapter 277 Every word he spoke was the right thing to assuage my fears and frustrations. Even so, there was something wrong with it, and I felt my scales prickle right alongside my skin. My discomfort and instincts notwithstanding, I bowed my head at the herdmaster Silumkulo. ¡°I appreciate your willingness to stop and converse with me. I can¡¯t imagine that it is easy to convince your large friend to move or to stop whenever you desire.¡± ¡°Oh, our ufudoluk is a great friend, and so patient with our petty desires.¡± Silumkulo beamed up at the huge creature, and as if it listened to his words, the massive head turned and watched him with a somehow grandfatherly air. A deep rumble, like the grinding of two mountains together, shook my chest and feet. With my understanding of sonic waves from my Sonilphon, I watched the earthshaking power of the ufudoluk¡¯s mere presence. I¡¯d been under no illusions that I or my swarm would be able to slay such a gargantuan creature, but now I was positive that we wouldn¡¯t be able to escape its attention alive. ¡°I¡¯d heard of such a creature,¡± I responded, my heart and lungs still quivering from the basso vocalization, ¡°But I never imagined this is what it would be or become.¡± ¡°Become?¡± Silumkulo questioned, his tone even and peaceful. Even so, I felt the spike of enraged curiosity at the question. ¡°My people and I escaped from the lands of the Veratocracy.¡± I explained. ¡°There, we encountered one of their Soulspeakers. At the time, we¡¯d never heard of an ufudoluk or anything so inspiring, but we witnessed one that the Soulspeaker had made to follow him. It served as a mount for him and his fellow Speakers as they chased us through their lands. That one, however, was much smaller than your ufudoluk friend. It probably could walk underneath yours without scraping its shell.¡± ¡°Under three decades old, then.¡± Silumkulo mused. ¡°He may very well be Uma¡¯s missing son.¡± Silumkulo went silent, but Sybil¡¯s tail tapped mine in a preestablished warning that he was speaking to something else with their magic. It didn¡¯t take long for the body-shaking groans to return. Differently, though, this time they continued for well over a minute, growing in intensity and apparent rage, the earth shattering and roiling under the ufudoluk¡¯s body, stone crawling like ivy up her legs. Finally, she raised her head and shouted her despair to the skies. Meanwhile, Silumkulo rushed to the front of the giant tortoise. The two soldiers that had accompanied him initially remained at his side like as many shadows, their eyes roving the surroundings without any trust or complacency. The herdmaster raised his hands, apparently fighting to acquire the massive beast¡¯s attention, and eventually, she lowered her head enough for the much smaller person to lovingly stroke her snout. Her breaths huffed, the dust under his feet roiling and blowing wildly in her agitated panting. ¡°He is promising his assistance in locating the kidnapper.¡± Sybil whispered, her voice quavering with the force of the ufudoluk¡¯s rage. ¡°Her mind is difficult for me to fathom¨Cmuch deeper and more complex than any other creature¡¯s that I have experienced in my life. However, it is immediately apparent that she is enraged and mournful. The herdmaster continues to promise their vengeance, and she is beginning to listen.¡± I flared my frills in acknowledgement, and Sybil continued observing the soldiers. Several minutes later, the pain of our bodies¡¯ forced vibration slowed to a mere discomfort, though the occasional flare of anger from Uma forced my heart to beat in unison with the rhythm of her rage. Several minutes later than that, Silumkulo slowly approached, Uma¡¯s head following him as he walked in a stately fashion towards us. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I beg your forgiveness,¡± the gold-crusted indlovu bowed his trunk to us. ¡°I was not thinking when I shared that news with our Uma. The little one went missing when he had only barely hatched, less than eighteen years of age, and he was from Uma¡¯s first clutch in nearly five hundred years. She had long thought herself a failure of a mother, so to learn that he yet lives, but under the thumb of one of those warlocks,¡± he spat the word, the first time any emotion other than affable congeniality colored his tone, ¡°was quite upsetting.¡± ¡°No apology is necessary.¡± I responded. ¡°I can understand her distress and anger.¡± ¡°Thank you, Chieftain Ashlani. Now, I must ask, what is your purpose within the stewardship of the Inkulu?¡± ¡°We are merely passing through on our path towards the remains of the city Nievtra.¡± I answered. ¡°We have been fortunate enough to witness the beauty of your stewardship on our journey. I see why it can be called the most beautiful and prestigious of the Indlovu stewardships.¡± I¡¯d never heard as much in as many words, but considering the way that Lukusu had reacted to our inevitable passing through Inkulu lands, I didn¡¯t doubt that such flattery would be deserved. ¡°That is true.¡± Silumkulo preened under my praise. ¡°That the Inkulu have been the leaders of the Indlovu for so many centuries is due to the care with which we govern our stewardship. For that reason, I must ask that you explain why you have acted so brashly within our stewardship. Hundreds have disappeared from their natural habitats, and dozens more disappear by day. We have learned that you are the origin of these inconsistencies. Why do you disrupt the natural harmony of these lands?¡± Though much more subtle than the distaste he had for the ¡°warlocks¡±, Silumkulo obviously considered our presence to be a blight on his perfect lands. ¡°For that, I will apologize.¡± I allowed, the politicking of bowing before this creature necessary to pass peacefully still grating on me. ¡°We have hunted only enough to continue on our path without starvation.¡± ¡°That is no excuse for disruption of the natural harmony of the stewardship.¡± He was uncompromising in his words. ¡°Predators and prey must live together,¡± I tried, ¡°and the natural state of the land is a constant flux. When there are more predators than prey, the weakest predators die until the numbers of prey rise to greater heights than before. Do we not exist as an extension of nature¡¯s will? The brief passage of a new predator, one who swiftly leaves and allows for the lands to return to their natural order?¡± ¡°That is not what you have done.¡± The herdmaster replied. ¡°You have devoured mindlessly from every land you have touched and crossed, eating as many as you can stomach while ripping away those who you cannot. You may be closer to saharliard than any in my lifetime, or my grandfather¡¯s lifetime, but you do not understand the plains. There is a delicate balance, and you have fought to upend it at every step.¡± I felt my scales flare in my anger at being so dismissed, but before I could do anything that I or my swarm would regret, Silumkulo spoke more. ¡°Hunt no more. If the weak should die and the strong survive, you must see who can make it through our stewardship. Those of your people who die were too weak. Now go. We have other things to attend to.¡± Then, without another word and no longer respectful to the point of obeisance, Silumkulo whipped around, his robes flapping with the movement. At his movement, the soldiers all around us were suddenly coated with stone that crawled up their legs to fully armor them. All the while, the pillar from before once again rose beneath his feet and flew into the sky to deposit the indlovu where I could no longer see him from this position. My fangs ground together without conscious thought, but the soldiers began ignoring us, instead watching the grasses around us and jogging alongside the ufudoluk as she turned and began returning to whence she came. Again, before I said anything, Sybil hissed up at me, ¡°There was some sort of a signal that came from behind us. One of their kind sent a message, and that was when he changed. That was not some random bout of anger. It was instead planned.¡± ¡°Nievtala, bless. Lead us to victory.¡± I prayed as I led my small band of keelish sprinting back towards my swarm, back to where the mysterious unintelligible message originated from. Back to where, once we approached, I could hear shouting, screaming, and unintelligible rage and confusion. Chapter 278 The original message given couldn¡¯t be believed. It came from a gods-forsaken. However, Illan¡¯Klli deigned to demonstrate their infinite wisdom and reveal one of the fated prey to one of the trustworthy scouts. It did not take long to begin our preparations for the Great Hunt. I will lead our people to glory, to the nests and refuse left behind by the ancient prey. ¨CNotes from the Nyust¡¯taa daily record, spoken by the 19th Nyust¡¯taa Kusi¡¯wi, recorded by Aingin¡¯kalu Hundreds of keelish thronged, arguing among themselves while they tried to calm the raging hordes of our previously domesticated creatures. Oxfiends thrashed and lowed explosively at each other, but seemed to be held back by the several dozen dead bodies of their own lying in pools of their own blood. Most of the oryxes had disappeared, while the hyenas feasted on corpses of axebeak, oxfiend, and oryx alike. My fangs ground uncontrollably, and I reached out and forcibly pulled the nearest keelish towards me. ¡°What. Happened?¡± I demanded, my voice thundering from the subconscious use of my magic. ¡°I-I-I-I don¡¯t know! They just started going crazy!¡± ¡°Sybil.¡± I commanded, but immediately realized she¡¯d begun her work long before I¡¯d thought to ask her to. ¡°Silf.¡± I said, turning to the scout. ¡°Do you know where Foire is?¡± He needed to think only for a moment before cocking his head and pointing in a general direction. I thundered off in that direction, idly noticing Brutus striding forward and wrenching one of the oxfiends to the ground with a twist of his hips and arms. It didn¡¯t take long for me to see Foire, dodging around the leader of the remaining oryxes. He kept it from escaping while remaining out of its long horns¡¯ reach. I took three long steps, drawing deeply from my magic¡¯s reserves. [Disastrous Discourse] somehow mixed with [Innervating Address] fueled my powerful words as I shouted for peace. ¡°Remain quiet! Be calm and feel at peace!¡± Silence didn¡¯t immediately fall, but the herds¡¯ frantic fighting for freedom died down to mere frustrated bellows and shuffling feet. Good enough. ¡°What happened? Did you see or feel anything? Tell me everything that you know.¡± I asked Foire as he shoved the oryx back into the general area of the rest of the herds. ¡°We were moving as quickly as we could, just as you¡¯d commanded. There wasn¡¯t any real warning, just the barest hint of an indlovu presence. Then, all the animals began to go mad, even the wolfstags, a little. At least half of the herds escaped and ran off into the surroundings. We weren¡¯t able to stop them.¡± ¡°They wouldn¡¯t listen to any of us either.¡± Shemira jumped in, glaring hatefully at the calming herds. ¡°I figure the indlovu used their magic just like Sybil, but to piss off and frighten the creatures to flee. One or two of the oxfiends opened a hole in the perimeter, and hundreds followed them. Only when a couple were killed did those behind them begin to slow, but it¡¯s been a close thing.¡± ¡°Foire, you feel any of the indlovu nearby?¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°No, Alpha.¡± ¡°Sybil!¡± ¡°They are not using their speaking magic at this time, nor can I feel their presence.¡± ¡°Suns burn them! The sneaky deceiver Silumkulo kept us there so they could do this! He must have known about Sybil.¡± ¡°Or, perhaps he merely retains a confidence in the prowess of his people.¡± Sybil countered. ¡°We cannot expect our foes to know everything about us, and though we have not travelled especially quickly, we have made good time considering our numbers. Beyond that, this tribe seems to be somewhat antagonistic to the rest of the tribes, so there is a good possibility that they have received no information about us.¡± There was no controlling the animalistic growl that bubbled up my throat, but I didn¡¯t want to. Somehow, my vocalized rage touched many of the surrounding keelish and our domesticated creatures, and they calmed in the presence of my emotion. ¡°Sybil. You said that you didn¡¯t believe the indlovu capable of deceit. Was there something different about him? Why would he be so different?¡± ¡°I do not believe that I said that they were unable to deceive, only that they would not lie. I never felt the herdmaster¡¯s true voice, and I cannot speak to the content of his heart as I can with Qaqambi and many of the other indlovu. That they did not speak with their true voices at all with us is, to me, a testament to their natures, however. If there is an indlovu markedly different from the rest of those we have met before, then I would imagine that they came from the Inkulu. ¡°I beg your forgiveness, Alpha. My presuppositions regarding the trustworthiness of our foes have been proven to be demonstrably incorrect.¡± ¡°You spoke and advised as best you could.¡± I grated out, my anger unreasonably shifting to my Beta. A part of me remembered my dream: beware the forked tongue. I disregarded the sudden memory, instead refocusing on my swarm. ¡°You believed what you said, and it seems you still do, to the greater extent. I still trust you, and your intelligence.¡± ¡°How will we strike back?¡± Took asked, her hands tightly clenched. ¡°Directly at their people, or their herds? Or shall we intensify our hunts in scale and number?¡± ¡°We cannot. Not at this time.¡± The reality settled over me. ¡°There are too many of them, and we¡¯ve seen just how dangerous the soldiers can be, though we¡¯ve yet to test their individual strength. If we marched against their stronghold, even if we could kill every soldier, we can¡¯t do anything to their ufudoluk. That thing could consume most of us in just a few bites, and that without any trouble. We¡¯ll need to suffer through this disgrace.¡± ¡°Let it color our futures, but without destroying the present.¡± Shemira replied, her tone somber. ¡°We are weak now, but we haven¡¯t yet seen what peaks we will rise to. Let¡¯s trust our Alpha. He¡¯s gotten us this far.¡± Even with her support, I could feel the slight challenge: you¡¯ve been successful. We follow the successful and the powerful. Looking around, I could see the trust and commensurate requirements in each of my elite¡¯s eyes. I¡¯d led us out of the lands of the Veratocracy, thus probably saving all our lives. However, I¡¯d never slowed since, and if we¡¯d travelled for the better part of a year, then there had better be a final destination worthy of that time and effort at the end of that journey. Somewhat strangely, there was no part of me that disagreed with the sentiment¨Ca mere warrior without the ability to plan or prepare to lead the swarm to victory and success did not deserve to lead. ¡°I have. And, I am certain that arrival at Nievtra will swiftly lead us to the next stage of our lives. There are things waiting for us there, and we need merely reach them.¡± ¡°To the next stage!¡± Shemira cheered. ¡°To the Alpha.¡± Brutus declared. ¡°To victory!¡± The rest of my swarm echoed, the voices from the other keelish nearby picking up, rallying faith and surety as they did so, until, with a faster, emptier swarm, I led the way forward, still in the Inkulu lands, ever towards the east. Chapter 279 ¡°If I catch them, I will break their every bone and slurp their marrow while they still live. I will force their damnable trunks down their throats and enjoy the sight of them choking on their own bile as they vomit. If I see another indlovu, it had better be their heads spitted on a post and left to rot.¡± Shemira seethed as she stalked forward and forced her magic out and over the herds. Meanwhile, Joral screamed, ¡°Shut up!¡± into the face of a panicking oxfiend, and it quickly settled down with his rage and the multiple magical influences fighting to force it to peace. The Inkulu sent a group of nearly invisible trouble-seekers at least once a day, and had been ever since we¡¯d in a supposedly amicable manner parted ways twelve days before. We still walked through similar lands, gently rolling hills with sporadic rivers and sparse tree cover, and there wasn¡¯t anything noteworthy to see other than the mountain range that had gradually continued to grow along the eastern horizon. And the Inkulu continued their harassment. Whenever I sent a scout or tracker after them, they immediately disappeared. Whenever we sent patrols out to see if we could find where they went, there was no trail left behind. Whenever there was even the beginning of our herds displaying panic, they melted back into the Nievtala-forsaken grass. Twelve days had passed, and the only thing that we¡¯d been able to do was kill a single indlovu hunter, and that was more by fluke than skill. The indlovu must have been keeping all the wildlife away from our path, since we frequently came across hints of oxfiend, oryx, something deerlike, hyena, and much more, but never spotted a single creature. Except for once. On the third day, following a hunch from Foire, we¡¯d located a watering hole, where nearly one hundred oxfiends drank and relaxed. As we frequently did, several packs of keelish moved to stealthily surround the beasts and begin the hunt and subjugation. I led the main pack, ready to release some of my impotent rage against any beast that dared to stand in my way. To my surprise, one did, but it wasn¡¯t an oxfiend. ¡°No. Our stewardship, no hunting. Move along.¡± The indlovu hunter commanded, his voice decisive and dismissive. I didn¡¯t answer him with mere words. My throat filled with sonic magic, and I shouted, with [Murderous Melody] strengthened by rage, ¡°You are a fool! Feed my swarm!¡± He¡¯d been so surprised by my violent response and stunned by my magical attack that my spear plunged through his eye long before he could react. While he still reeled, I lunged forward, claws seeking his viscera, and with [Destructive Wave] strengthening my strikes, it took only one swipe of each hand to disembowel him entirely. His guts coated my face as he tumbled to the ground. I didn¡¯t care to learn his name as he gasped his last. Other indlovu in the nearby grasses fled, seeing the immediate repercussions that befell their companion. Most of my swarm dedicated themselves to capturing the oxfiends, and we successfully subjugated them to bring them back into our fold. Unfortunately, none of my keelish could chase the indlovu down, though we finally learned a little about how they, as a people, could disguise themselves from our view. ¡°It is not as much an actual camouflage,¡± Sybil explained, ¡°so much as convincing the subconscious of the surrounding creatures that their existence is wholly unremarkable. I am attuned to their manner of communication, thus I am capable of feeling them much more readily than others. Conversely, Foire is impressively diligent and skilled. He has subconsciously trained himself to notice when that subtle tug on his emotions begins, and thus is only minorly affected by the tug of the indlovu¡¯s magic.¡± Knowing how the towering people evaded notice was only slightly comforting, since they still prowled around the edges of the swarm and attempted to disrupt our husbandry and strike the unaware. On the seventh day, they¡¯d struck and slain two of the weakest keelish in the swarm, and though we were unable to return the deaths in kind, their Pack Alpha managed to rip four fingers from the killer¡¯s hand. With one of their limited number dead, and another reduced nearly to a cripple, the indlovu refused to continue to engage in direct conflict. Even with our direct military might uncontested, we all prayed that the damnable, worthless, cowardly bastards would drop dead. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Most of our time was spent calming and hustling the herds onward, though now that they¡¯d been so frequently thrown into a panic, every little command and moment became a trial. Sybil, Shemira, and Farahlia worked their hardest to calm them, but even as several other keelish gained rudimentary magical powers to help with the husbandry, the path forward remained frustrating and long. Even so, a few positives came out of the forced rationing and march. Though so many of the elites had already begun to cut back on our excessive consumption and indulgence, Sybil and her assistants now enforced a mere one meal a day for every member of the swarm. It didn¡¯t matter and we didn¡¯t care what excuses any of the keelish brought to us, though none dared to approach me, and few Alphas were foolish enough to speak to Sybil about it. The brief moment of acceptance I¡¯d felt about my somewhat tenuous hold over my position as Swarm Alpha swiftly died down in the face of petty complaints. If some wanted to discuss how I knew that these mountains would spell the next chapter and our final destination, then I¡¯d have happily spoken with them. Instead, what I received was second and third degree accounts of ingrates complaining about how they couldn¡¯t stuff themselves every day any more. Fools wishing they didn¡¯t have to walk. The useless who wished to return to a den, where they could laze and relax without any responsibility. It culminated in the most petty complaint I¡¯d never dreamed of hearing from a keelish. ¡°The hunts are hard. We can¡¯t find anything, so we¡¯re walking around for no reason.¡± When Vefir passed that one on, I¡¯d lost all sense of reasonability. I gathered every single keelish, sending my elites to ring the herds to ensure no indlovu attempted to seize the opportunity to sow additional discord in my ranks. The weak, foolish keelish were the true originators of the complaints, but I knew many of the newest khatif too wondered and doubted the validity of my claims. Beyond that, they had forgotten who I was. As the rage boiled within me and I prepared to address my swarm, I stood before them all. Brutus and Ytte too had placed themselves alongside me, their gazes hard and unrelenting. I unexpectedly felt the familiar descent of a feeling of respect and reverence as I spoke. ¡°Already, you forget.¡± I shouted, my voice rebuking every keelish nearby with the magical lashings of [Disastrous Discourse]. ¡°I saved Farahlia¡¯s swarm from extermination at the hands of the Moonchildren. She and her swarm¡¯s days were numbered! I wrenched the nameless and weak from mediocrity to greater heights! None of you had ever seen a khatif before me, and now I¡¯ve raised you to a higher existence! That is not the end, for we can see our destination!¡± I pointed at the far-off mountains as I ceased channeling [Disastrous Discourse], instead rallying my people with [Innervating Address]. ¡°There, I will ascend to Keel and bring the worthy up with me! ¡°Instead of preparing for the glorious future laid before us, you complain of the merely inconvenient present! We are keelish, and it has been our lot in life to suffer before the stronger and eke out an existence wherever we can. How have you forgotten the tyranny of the strong, when so many of you still cannot begin to comprehend the depth of strength that exists?¡± A sense of finality settled over me as I Spoke the True Iteration of the First of the Words of Power of Nievtala. ¡°Through the flaming crucible of war are we refined and through the quenching in the blood of our foes are we strengthened! We are Nievtala¡¯s people, those who will become Keel! Leave behind your weakness, and follow me to victory, and to our final home!¡± I ignored the cheers and excitement my rallying speech brought. Instead I took note of the [System] messages, and was surprised and disappointed to see no mention of potential evolution. [Status updated. Skill acquired.] Chapter 280 I have learned that once again true saharliard exist in the world. Now, I request additional funds to facilitate my journey east, as the funding will allow me to travel in greater security and at a greater speed, but even if I receive no advances or additional financial backing, I will leave. I am currently in the position every other anthropologist can only dream of¨Cthe subject of my specialization has somehow returned from the annals of history, found the most impactful historical site in recorded memory, and now they speak with divine guidance that can be verified as at least mostly truthful. Thus, I request full funding for the journey of six individuals¨Cmyself and my assistant, as well as four High Speaker guard escorts. Of course, payment for the journey for each individual will be required, except for myself. The discovery itself serves as the richest treasure I could acquire. -A denied request for funding for an anthropological trip to New Nievtra submitted by Eldara di¡¯Frandara Even before I looked at the new [Skill] I¡¯d been granted, I looked at the bottom of my [Status]. [-Sonic Keel Zak¡¯Tal: Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1 Have a Swarm Leader level race. Completed.] My keelish rallied and rushed onward, shepherding the herds onward, towards the mountains once more. I paid them no attention as I looked closer at the other notification. [The user has discovered the True Iteration of the First of the Words of Power of Nievtala. The user has been blessed with the greater blessing of power. The user has been granted the Skill: Spear of the Many.] Though the [Skill] that appeared drew me in, I instead focused on why I couldn¡¯t evolve. [Read the requirement, little fang.] The Administrator seemed to laugh as she said as much. I looked it over and repeated to myself, ¡°Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala.¡± Did I just need to say them all in order? The words came preternaturally to my lips, and I repeated them. ¡°Through the flaming crucible of war are we refined and through the quenching in the blood of our foes are we strengthened. Through the tempering of the sacrifice of our lives are we complete. We are keelish, we are the blade bared at the throats of those who dare oppose us. Mine is the throne, the throne to which the wise submit. I am the peak that casts the long shadow!¡± I said the last phrase, ready for some feeling of reverence, or completion, or something. Nothing came, though Vefir stepped close to me. ¡°I feel those words¡­¡± He muttered. ¡°I¡¯ve spoken some of them myself. Is there something I can do to help you with this? I feel likeI might be able to, but I don¡¯t know.¡± I hesitated for a moment, though still nothing occurred to me about what was missing from this. ¡°No, I think that there¡¯s nothing for you to do just yet. In a while, though. Maybe.¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha. Keep yourself healthy, will you?¡± Vefir teased, though his attitude remained wholly respectful and considerate, his head bowed slightly. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°I will try. I¡¯m not a fan of all this.¡± I said, gesturing to the white scales betraying my countless scars that patterned my shoulder, hand, arms, and most every other part of my body. ¡°Yet still it happens. For when it does, I am here.¡± Vefir bowed fully, the cock of his head indicating his playful mood. ¡°Is Shemira treating you well?¡± I asked, not getting the surprised reaction I wanted. ¡°She is good, though a part of her still doubts your trust in her. That doubt is slowly dying, but she wishes to prove herself loyal and a good supporter who will push you to greater heights, just as Sybil does. She worries that her part in the subtle challenge to your authority would be misunderstood and might undermine all the progress she has made in becoming one of your ¡®elites¡¯, as you call us.¡± Vefir looked me in the eye as he said as much, the subtle request for patience with his lover obvious. Then, with a final bow, he walked off, where Sakkit waited for him to reunite. [Though you know all of what makes up the Phrases of your goddess, that is not all that Speaking them requires. You already knew this, little fang.] I wanted to grind my fangs and complain, but I knew she was right. The sense of a divine presence or approval wasn¡¯t something I could force, even if I said the right words a thousand times over. My immediate evolution thwarted, I instead turned to my consolation prize. [Skill: Spear of the Many; a Skill granted to a leader who exemplifies who and what their people are. As your species is an example of a communal creature, you have gained this Skill. This Skill allows for you to draw on a portion of the strength of those who believe in you. In order to benefit from this Skill, your believers must have true and honest faith in your cause and your ability, and they will temporarily sacrifice 120% of all stats that are lent to you. Current number of true believers: 118. Current maximum percentage of true believer¡¯s total stats to sacrifice: 10%. Current additional recovery time for true believers: One hour. WARNING: Though your body will be able to draw on strength beyond what it is capable of naturally, your body¡¯s limitations yet remain. Through excessive usage of the Spear of the Many Skill, it is possible to damage or even injure yourself. This Skill cannot evolve, though it can advance.] I couldn¡¯t quite understand what this new Skill did at first, but as it settled over me, I hissed an involuntary intake of breath. Then, with a mental command that came naturally, I dictated that I be blessed with 5% of all Stats of my 118 true believers. My body swelled with power, an unnatural or foreign energy demanding that I move, act, attack, anything. The infusion of power was accompanied by a tingle that filled every crevice of my body, and continued growing towards pain. The potency of my magic swelled and suffused my body far beyond the natural limits of my sonilphon. I went to jog forward, and my toes sent me flying forward nearly at the same pace that a full sprint would have. The other foot¡¯s toes caught on a tangle of grass and left me sprawled on the ground and dazed. Recovering and ignoring the approaching keelish, I looked at my Stats. [Stats: -Constitution: 160(+328) -Strength: 175(+354) -Agility: 167(+402) -Intelligence: 160(+281) -Magic: 195(+91)] The broad smile that had already cracked my face devolved into maddened laughter, even disregarding the pain of my fall combined with the throbbing agony from [Spear of the Many]. This [Skill]... would serve as the equalizer for me and any superhuman creature. With enough believers and practice, a ufudoluk would be prey, not anything to fear. That reality kept me laughing maniacally long after my elites had surrounded me and pestered me to understand what was happening. All that stood between me and absolute supremacy at this point was mere practice. Chapter 281 ¡°I recognize what you¡¯re doing will do you good for the long term, but I must recommend that you either cease practicing so frequently, or wait entirely until we reach our destination.¡± Vefir continued to lecture me as I laid nearly insensate on the ground. His healing was the only reason I could still walk, but even so, I continued to use [Spear of the Many] again and again, trying to acclimate myself to the surge in stats that the [Skill] granted. That there was a forced one hour recovery time after each time I used the [Skill] was currently a blessing, though it still grated on me. Four days of practice, and I was only barely a half of a step closer to fully capable of using my newest, most powerful [Skill]. I¡¯d learned that I could select how many of my followers I could siphon the stats from as well as the percentage, but whenever I received a bonus beyond even ten percent of my total stats, my body simply couldn¡¯t function correctly. It didn¡¯t make any damned sense, since I¡¯d completed [Quests] before and had my stats surge more than that percentage without any difficulty controlling myself. Nievtala, the Administrator, and [System] alike offered no additional information either, since Nievtala remained silent, the Administrator said that it was something I needed to learn myself, and the [System] replied with a mere restatement of the [Skill¡¯s] description. As near as I could figure, the reason I couldn¡¯t control my body and power while drawing greater stats was that it wasn¡¯t ¡°my¡± power. However the transference of power worked, the strength that flooded my body was wholly foreign, and though that same power served to strengthen my bones and internals to support the surge in strength, it wasn¡¯t ¡°me¡±. Even though it wasn¡¯t mine, I would have dived more completely into experimentation with fully suffusing my body with the [Skill] if it weren¡¯t for two things. The first, the warning the [Skill¡¯s] description itself offered: though your body will be able to draw on strength beyond what it is capable of naturally, your body¡¯s limitations yet remain. Through excessive usage of the Spear of the Many Skill, it is possible to damage or even injure yourself. Those words didn¡¯t frighten me exactly, but the [System] had never been deceitful or at all hyperbolic. I could trust that possibly maiming myself permanently was possible with [Spear of the Many], and that the description itself warned me meant it might be even simpler than being stronger and faster than intended and crashing into something. This suspicion was reinforced by the second warning and reason for my hesitation. Using the [Skill] at all hurt. Even after just a moment of activation at the lowest levels, my muscles tingled uncomfortably. Less than a minute later, that would transition to a burn, as if I¡¯d sprinted while carrying Ytte¡¯s giant rock. Two minutes later and that burn would transition to true pain as it travelled deeper into my body and set my heart to racing, even without exertion. If I let the [Skill] continue after that, then the true agony began. Vomiting was common, as was my vision beginning to swim. I frequently stopped feeling my toes and fingers, or felt a prickling sensation that made every movement agony. My [Pain Tolerance] seemed to do nothing for me, preventing no agony and providing no clarity of mind. The first few times, I¡¯d thought it was all in my head, and disabled the [Skill] only after pushing myself to the limit. After the third test, though, Vefir hadn¡¯t been able to keep himself from approaching and laying a hand on my shoulder. ¡°Are you sure¨C¡± He¡¯d cut himself off as soon as he touched me. His tone shifted from concerned to commanding. ¡°Sit, rest. The rest of you, stop the swarm.¡± Then, his demands made, he helped me to lay down on the earth. My heart thudded in rhythm with the pulsating blurriness in my vision. His face was unclear to me as I unwillingly let my head flop to the dirt. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± I slurred, the words feeling heavy on my tongue. The faint taste of blood accompanied the feeling, and I somehow understood that my nose was bleeding. Oh, yes. It was puddling under my head. ¡°No.¡± Vefir nearly shouted. ¡°You will rest!¡± His magic flowed unceasingly into my body, setting me to right in a dozen ways. The nausea didn¡¯t fade though, and I¡¯d vomited, the thick bile mixing with my blood and choking me as it filled my snout. Vefir cleaned it away with businesslike efficiency as he, with a couple of assistants¡¯ help, lifted and moved me elsewhere. I couldn¡¯t say where. Eventually, though, I¡¯d recovered, my body¡¯s agony reduced to mere discomfort. Even then, Vefir, Sybil, Shemira, Took, and Brutus had effectively held me down until night had fallen and the herds became wholly unwilling to continue. After learning about how exactly the [Skill] worked and asking dozens of clarifying questions, my elites had convinced me to follow several guidelines. It hadn¡¯t taken much to convince me to stop pushing myself for so long, since that had offered nothing but an excruciating lesson. On the other hand, the forced waiting period of one hour after each practice grated on me, and had only grudgingly received my approval after the very reasonable argument of ¡°What would happen if you lay weakened, and every one of the elites and those who trusted me most were also missing much of their own strength?¡± Tied with that same request made by my subordinates was that I couldn¡¯t draw on every single subject possible at the same time, and even more, never more than half of my followers. Again, it made frustrating sense to me, as my practicing with this [Skill] was currently to the detriment of the swarm. Regardless of how much the requests made grated on me, I followed them. Regardless of how much sense they made, I stewed under the restrictions. I learned that I could mentally choose in bulk which half of the followers to drain from, or even exclude particular individuals. Even so and armed with this knowledge, I studiously practiced basically every hour at the earliest opportunity, for as long as I remained awake. All that practice granted me no greater resistance to the drawbacks of the [Skill], no greater depth of understanding, or anything beyond the barest hint of what my comfortable limit might be. Even the comfortable limit could only be supported for a minute before I¡¯d incur minor hurts. With all this practice, I felt I deserved the ability to use the stupid [Skill], but there was no such luck. There was no magical enlightenment that settled over me. Instead, every hour, I would lay, exhausted on the ground after fifteen to fifty seconds and curse the beauty the [Skill] promised while remaining tantalizingly out of grasp. On the fourth day of my practicing, Vefir held me as he gently suggested I reduce the frequency and intensity of my practices. I struggled to not give in as my muscles ached and I longed for a bath. A warm one, where I could indulge in my magical exfoliation, with Sybil scrubbing my back, shoulders¡­ everything that hurt. Which was everything. There were, however, no sands to delight in, no baths to enjoy. Instead, there was more miserable walking. After I finally struggled to my feet and resumed my own steps towards our goal, though, I felt something. A change in the air. It was less arid than before, just the barest hint of moisture. The mostly yellow grasses had, without my realizing, transitioned to a light green while reducing somewhat in their depth. A forest colored the horizon, or more correctly, the base of the mountains spread before us. Our herds, born, raised, and made for the desert savannah we left behind, lowed and complained with every step, but our shepherds pushed them inevitably forward. Days had passed since the last indlovu had disturbed our passage, and the beasts submitted reluctantly to our commands. Though the herds dampened our transition to this new climate, every keelish felt it. We knew where we had arrived, and each subconsciously breathed deeply. The faint moisture soothed my nostrils and throat while the scent invigorated me. The faint, far off chatter of songbirds forced me to relax. This wasn¡¯t Nievtra yet, but this¡­ this was home. Chapter 282 I stopped torturing myself with [Spear of the Many] as the swarm stepped into the mountains¡¯ shadow. According to the Administrator, these should be the Shandise, assuming they were the mountains where Nievtra once was. [Yes, these are the Shandise Mountains.] The Administrator answered. [They¡¯ve gotten smaller.] At her mention of their height, I looked up. The mountain seemed to scratch the suns above, the peak dusted with white. All the way up, forests grew and colored the stone, deep greens, darker than those of the Martanimis jungles where I was born. The greenery didn¡¯t grow quite so thickly as the jungles of my birth, but still they teemed with life. Instead of the constant drone of insects and other minute creatures, the forest seemed to swim with flying birds and subtle movement among the trees and bushes. Dozens of types of creatures obviously lived where we could see them. We would be able to survive here, beyond the mere climate. More than that, though, I saw the possibility within this climate to continue to raise prey. We¡¯d cut an unforgiving swathe through the land, leaving corpses and trampled fields wherever we walked. Now that we¡¯d found a place to settle, I refused to destroy that which would be our home. Instead, we would continue to rely on Joral and his burgeoning pack of shepherds. Calling them as much brought a smile to my face, making me think of myself as a human child. The memory was somewhat fuzzy, I couldn¡¯t see what I¡¯d tended or where, but I remembered that being called a shepherd boy was somehow slightly insulting to me. In fact, it made me feel like I was weak or unimportant, that I¡¯d been relegated to a child¡¯s work. That was far from what these keelish and khatif shepherds had become. Each needed to be strong enough to stop an oxfiend, quick enough to catch an oryx, and forceful enough to command a hyena, to say nothing of a wolfstag. As we¡¯d continued on our journey, I recognized that Joral and his pack were no longer Hak¡¯Tal khatif, but something else entirely. The longer I spent among my people, the more I cemented myself as their Swarm Alpha and something more than that as well, the better I understood the khatif castes. Though I hadn¡¯t and wouldn¡¯t become truly Zak¡¯Tal, what I understood to be royalty, until after my evolution to Keel, I knew Shemira, Sybil, Vefir, and I were what could be called nobility or Sou¡¯Tal. Before, the sole castes directly below us were the Hak¡¯Tal, the warriors, and the Sik¡¯Tal, the hunters. Brutus, Took, Ytte, and Percral were among the warriors, while Foire, Trai, Solia, and Joral had been hunters. Now, however, Joral was no Sik¡¯Tal. The shepherds created a new caste, one I could feel was on the same level as the Hak¡¯Tal and Sik¡¯Tal. The Kou¡¯Tal sported a different build than the other two castes in their same stratum, not so burly and immense as the Hak¡¯Tal, but less wiry and lithe than the Sik¡¯Tal. Instead, similar to the Sou¡¯Tal, the shepherding Kou¡¯Tal were of medium build, their legs proportionally longer than the others. Their tails and arms too were thicker than before, while their necks were no longer so thick and muscled as the Hak¡¯Tal warriors. Then, there were the unremarkable Kha¡¯Tal, those who had only barely qualified to become khatif. They were smaller, weaker, and much less likely to develop any additional skills than any other caste. Joral led his pack with pride, confident in commanding or directing the herds as necessary. All the wolfstags, except for Arwa, obviously considered him to be their master, even the Wave Wolfstags who¡¯d previously followed at Sybil¡¯s heels every step. Now, the wolfstags and the Kou¡¯Tal worked together in concert, pushing the herds forward as I, whole and healthy once more, led the swarm onwards. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Step by step, the mostly flat ground transitioned to rolling hills. The Shandise pierced the heavens above us, taller still than any other mountains we¡¯d seen before, either in the Sheer Pass or whatever the mountains in the Veratocracy¡¯s lands were named. I couldn¡¯t say for certain, but if I were to guess, I¡¯d have said that this mountain was nearly twice as tall as those we¡¯d seen before. Its peak stretched high above the light cloud cover, though the clouds were thin enough that I could still spot the tip, a jagged challenge to the skies¡¯ superiority. [I don¡¯t jest. These mountains have been worn down by the ravages of time, forced to bow to the heavens¡¯ majesty. Still they remain some of the tallest peaks on the planet, but they are not so majestic as once they were. You are a young mountain, little fang. Do not allow the heavens or other celestial or mundane jealousy rip you from your divinely provided future. There is much yet for you to accomplish.] The Administrator withdrew her presence as she spoke, but Nievtala¡¯s presence descended over me as the Administrator finished. Most of my elites immediately sensed the goddess¡¯s attention, while the rest of the swarm evidently felt her words when she spoke. You are near. I cannot direct you further. Find Nievtra. Ascend once more. I shrugged off the divine presence with practiced ease, while those few who remained that had acquired [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude], Sybil, Foire, Vefir, and Took, only staggered for a brief moment. The rest of the swarm collapsed under the pressure of a divine being¡¯s presence. Most of the herds panicked, their eyes rolling wildly as they searched for the origin of their unnatural fear. I shouted, drawing heavily on my sonic magic. The wordless command calmed most of the herds, and the keelish recovered as quickly as they could manage. ¡°I cannot say what our goddess has commanded,¡± Sybil spoke while ignoring the barely noticeable droplet of blood trickling from her nose. She raised her voice to ensure it carried over the swarm as she spoke, ¡°but I would suppose that you can. Please, Alpha. Enlighten us.¡± ¡°We have not reached the ruins of Nievtra.¡± I began, allowing the disappointment to settle in. ¡°However! We have arrived in the area! Our goddess will allow us to locate our future home here, to select where to settle, and find the final key to ascend to becoming true Keel! No longer must we wander and hope for salvation! This is our land! Any who dare to stand in the way as we build our homes will be subjugated, exiled, or consumed!¡± The swarm exploded into excited screeches at my declaration, that we would only need to find the best place to settle instead of continuing to flee our enemies. Took stood up in front of me, ready to address the swarm for a moment. I flared my frills and acknowledged her. My huntmaster stood tall and declared, ¡°Though we have arrived in our land, we can¡¯t stop yet. We need to cross the mountains before we make our homes.¡± She ignored the hushed complaints, though many of them were directed towards me, hoping I¡¯d contradict her. ¡°If we don¡¯t cross them, then the indlovu will be able to easily assault our homes, steal our herds, and kill our young.¡± Then, her piece declared, Took stepped back. Though most of the complaints died at her reasoning, Sybil spoke in support of Took. ¡°There will be no complaint. The Alpha has spoken, and if you wish to leave his swarm, you are not welcome in our lands.¡± My mate turned to me, and I again flared my frills in agreement. ¡°Now, let¡¯s see if there¡¯s anything worth hunting in these forests.¡± I spoke, and most of the keelish roared their approval. Chapter 283 Though some of the outcasts from the subjugated swarms resisted the idea of being under my rule in this new land, Sybil¡¯s warning combined with my obvious support kept any keelish from breaking off from the rest of us. Now that they¡¯d been presented with a beautiful, rich environment, it seemed like they weren¡¯t willing to jeopardize this seemingly chosen land. I was sure that it wouldn¡¯t be long before they all fell willingly under my leadership, given how it felt to cross one of a higher evolutionary tier. It¡¯d been so long since I¡¯d felt that in any way other than the distinct superiority that I¡¯d nearly forgotten. Even so, I could recall the shuddering obedience that facing Redael as a mere spawnling had instilled. Those who rejected my guidance would remain as keelish, and as I ascended to Keel, I suspected that my mere presence would be nearly as impactful as Sybil¡¯s magic would be. Took and Sybil conferred together as they organized hunting packs. Long gone were the solidified, exclusionary packs of my old swarm. Instead, a more malleable, fluid structure under frequent revisions by the upper echelons of leadership had slowly appeared. I hadn¡¯t taken special notice of it, as my focus on leadership had instead been more of an overarching approach than engrossed in the minutia of the details. Even so, the individuals of the swarm as a whole had better integrated themselves alongside the rest under Sybil¡¯s flexible organization. Paired with Sybil, Shemira, Farahlia, and their subordinates gently suggesting a generally obedient feeling over the swarm as a whole, there were no hints of widespread brewing discontent. With dozens of keelish obviously considering breaking away from my swarm, I trusted Took and Sybil¡¯s plans to work, and they set the most unruly and obviously malcontent along the most zealous and devoted. None of the displeased were left alone to stew or plan and were instead sent into scouting, hunting, and other active positions. I left the terrifying females I trusted to enact their machinations while I simply allowed myself some measure of recuperation. With days of hourly agony behind me, my stomach settled, my persistent headache died, and I breathed more easily. Even while relaxing, though, I refused to remain idle. I walked through the swarm, interacting with my subordinates. Though I couldn¡¯t yet fully capitalize on the benefits of [Spear of the Many], I would eventually, and further establishing myself as the true Alpha and leader of the swarm would allow me to sooner extend the breadth of my influence. Beyond that, though, I found I enjoyed walking among my people, feeling their support, even if they didn¡¯t follow me completely enough to lend their strength to my newest [Skill]. ¡°Thank Nievtala for you.¡± One older male I recognized from Farahlia¡¯s swarm said, his scales¡¯ color beginning to fade along his extremities. ¡°I would have died to the Moonchildren if you hadn¡¯t come.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you and yours have made it here.¡± I responded. ¡°It was not a simple journey, and others didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°More joined.¡± The older male seemed to disagree with my sentiment, sending a brief flare of frustration through me. ¡°You protected us, guided us. Those who died only served to prove your wisdom, and now they serve Nievtala, don¡¯t they? I felt her. She will lead them to eternal victory, and vigilance over us.¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. His sudden religious philosophizing took me by surprise. Before I responded, I internally asked the goddess, ¡°Is he correct? I¡¯ve never thought about an afterlife.¡± A god offers solace to their followers. I offer to the fallen that which I offer to the living: conquest. Over the dead, over their foes, and over themselves. I felt that she¡¯d responded only to me, but even so, the older male somehow felt that I¡¯d received some sort of divine answer. ¡°She has purged your doubt, Disciple, has she not? Our goddess is far more than you understood.¡± He smiled a giddy, almost childlike grin and bowed low with respect. ¡°What¡¯s your name, grayscale?¡± ¡°I am Shraal. May you continue to follow in Nievtala¡¯s steps.¡± Then, with a final bow, Shraal turned and stepped away, allowing others of the swarm to step closer to me. I idly listened to an excitable younger adult as I asked Nievtala once again, ¡°Has he spoken with you before today? Felt your presence? Where did he come up with these ideas?¡± Shraal is the most religiously minded of your people. He has not yet spoken the entirety of the Words, but he will shortly after you do, as it is your place to serve as the Progenitor. Regardless, divine influence and a goddess¡¯ presence are not so common as you seem to think. No other has dared to twist my ear as you do, and none have lived to deny my blessings. That male will be the first of my priesthood in this dispensation. He is eager to please and will serve me readily. Much of ideas are divinely ordained and originated, while I disabuse him of any misunderstandings that come due to his mortal frailty. Though my tolerance to Nievtala¡¯s presence and words had grown in my time as her Chosen and now Disciple, so many words in such a short time had my vision swimming and my nostrils dripping blood. Even though she¡¯d obviously modulated her tone and power to be the barest fraction of what it could be, the hint of her frustration at my negative reaction to how she¡¯d forced me before sent me reeling. As I reacted to Nievtala, the female I¡¯d been listening to whipped her head back and forth, concern and confusion warring across her face. ¡°Did I do something? Can I do something?¡± She asked, her voice rising in fear. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be fine. Our goddess merely blessed me with an answer to a question. I would like to hear how your efforts among the Kou¡¯Tal shepherds have been. I suspect you are near your own evolution at this point.¡± Confused, the aspiring Kou¡¯Tal answered my request and briefly told me how she¡¯d learned how to turn aside a charging oxfiend with the help of several others. Even so, she quickly and apologetically excused herself before whispering about how I was the chosen of our goddess to anyone who would listen. I supposed she was correct, and didn¡¯t argue against her words. I idly noted the counter for ¡°true believers¡± tick up to 121 as she continued gossiping. I turned to continue speaking with another of my swarm, but was cut off by the barest hint of a shout, far away. My magic carried the sonic waves to my ear, and as I understood them, I rushed out to where Silf was returning with something interesting. Chapter 284 [Djallma POV) ¡°And that is the exact reason for which we need to go beyond the preexisting ¡®borders¡¯ and purge the inhuman infidels from existence!¡± High Veran Leiteli was so impassioned by his speech that sparks and embers could be seen materializing around him as his fist smashed into his lectern for emphasis. The man¡¯s belly strained against his formal robes while his spittle flecks flew into the air and evaporated in the excessive heat surrounding the High Flamespeaker. ¡°Those bloody dogs and sun-addled cows have been allowed to believe themselves equal to the Veratocracy and her Veushten for too long,¡± his declaration was echoed by cries of agreement by the traditionalists of the Synod, especially within his followers among the lower Veran, ¡°That they dare make threats to step onto our lands when we have afforded them a ceasefire as a sign of our charity¡­¡± Leiteli¡¯s booming voice petered out into an echo as he shook his head in evident disgust while the surge in flickering embers betrayed his emotional state. ¡°I say it is enough! They and those pissants they protect should all be exterminated!¡± The Synod¡¯s Chamber burst into dissenting voices as High Veran Leiteli cast a side-eyed and self-satisfied glance at High Veran Djallma. She couldn¡¯t help but roll her eyes at the rotund warmonger. They had both forsaken their family names in their ascensions to High Veran, but it was obvious that Leiteli still retained his allegiance to the Alniyh family, and, by extension, his animosity towards those of the Nahr. True, Djallma maintained a certain level of trust with the Nahr, her birth family, but nothing so blatant as this deliberate furthering of not the Veratocracy¡¯s wellbeing but that of a singular family¡¯s. Looking around, the arguments were beginning to die down. Djallma went to stand and begin to shift the flow of the Synod¡¯s discussion, but, before she could, High Veran Salmar spoke. Different from Leiteli, Salmar¡¯s Calling expressed itself in sheer presence of his words. The Windspeaker¡¯s voice settled directly into each present individual¡¯s ear, ¡°Calm yourselves.¡± The silence came so suddenly it seemed to ring, and Djallma couldn¡¯t hide the smirk that arose as she settled back into her seat, waiting for the old man to set the pompous opposition in its place. Leiteli himself also looked nervously over as the senior member of the High Verans continued. ¡°My Junior companion¡¯s words are worth considering, but so too are those of the progressives. I do ask that both sides are weighed accordingly. Junior companion Djallma?¡± She started from her comfortable position, trying to hide the panic that spiked within. She¡¯d been prepared to speak before, but had lost her train of thought when she¡¯d thought Salmar would take the reins. With a breath and force of will, Djallma literally forced the blood flushing her face to drain and retain a collected facade. Calm body, calm mind. ¡°Thank you, Seniors.¡± Djallma bowed. She knew Leiteli took pride in his seniority of 34 seconds, she could fan that flame, help it consume him. ¡°As the youngest of the Five, I appreciate the opportunity to address the Synod, incomplete though the august body may be at this time. While appreciative, I also recognize my lack of qualifications to speak for the progressive body, so I hesitate to speak for any ideology or prospective approach wholesale.¡± Djallma paused, just long enough¨C ¡°Then do not speak!¡± Leiteli¡¯s voice thundered out, his embers nearly bursting into flames of excitement, causing his closest supporters to recoil from the surging heat. How uncouth, to lack control¡­ ¡°Rool¡¯ss¡¯hai¡± The sparks and embers surrounding Leiteli flickered as Salmar¡¯s whisper echoed over Leiteli¡¯s shout and through the stone chamber. With a soft, deep hum the air thinned surrounding Leiteli and the embers were robbed of that which allowed them life. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°You dishonor the Synod¡¯s traditions with your impatience and lack of control.¡± Salmar spoke no further, his Calling fading while Leiteli ashamedly began to exert conscious control over his innate power. ¡°I apologize, High Veran Leiteli. I simply was trying to say that I lack the authority to speak for the progressive body as a whole, not that I am incapable of speaking to some of their thoughts.¡± Djallma let the slight smirk spread across her face, deliberately letting Leiteli know he¡¯d been baited. His face burned with rage and shame as, against his better judgment, he continued to allow more and more embers to spark into existence around him. Djallma simply resumed her address as her associate struggled to reign in his temper. ¡°The progressives do not shy away from granting the title of personhood to those who are able to speak the common tongue and commit to nonaggression against the Veratocracy. It is true that the beings in question have acted against the Veratocracy, but if the entirety of their species is judged as worthy of immediate eradication, it is unsurprising that they retaliated in kind against a smaller village. The question that many of the progressives wish to ask is thus: Are the keelish not worth more as assets to help control the rest of their kind within our borders, to drive these ¡®pests¡¯ as a shock troop against those who truly stand against the Veratocracy? What they have done is done, but does it not behoove us as the Great Synod to see this situation for what it is? An opportunity for growth and strengthening of our great empire? Let us weigh the costs, for the lives have already been lost, why would we not recoup the price that has already been accrued?¡± Leiteli¡¯s scornful laugh echoed through the chamber as his face began to purple in rage. ¡°Were you not in the exalted position of High Veran, I would accuse you of heresy for this! I have been lectured for my breach of tradition this day, but what you suggest is nigh on high and absolute heresy! History shows that the keelish are to be exterminated whenever found, and, in case you¡¯d forgotten, the Gran Verat himself led the Great Purge one hundred and eighty-seven years ago! That the progressives would completely disregard our history and our lord is insanity in the greatest sense.¡± ¡°The progressives look to progress, and the Gran Verat himself has said ¡®that prosperity may be visited upon the chosen, let every resource be exploited¡¯. We have a new resource laid before us, let us not be inhibited and crippled by the past, but instead stride to the future, taking each thing that serves us as we go.¡± ¡°You twist the words of the Gran Verat from their intended meaning! An abomination isn¡¯t a resource but a scourge!¡± ¡°I mean no disrespect, but why are you the only one who can interpret that which we live by? ¡®The mind of the child is unfettered and free, hark your young¡¯. The least educated can be the wisest, why is a difference of opinion that leads to progress something heretical?¡± ¡°Again you twist the words of our timeless leader! Only one weak and without a blessing for Speaking with power would indulge in such sophistry!¡± ¡°Again, I intend not to disrespect, but He said, ¡®the blood of the cripple is as my blood¡¯. The Gran Verat has spoken, saying that even if I was without power we are to be equals. How is this sophistry? How can you attempt to twist His blatant, direct, obvious truth?¡± Leiteli¡¯s shoulders and chest heaved as his rage renewed itself to overwhelm him completely, but, with a force of effort not entirely his own, he wrested control back into himself. A rictus of a snarl remained, baring his teeth as Salmar stood and, with a gently raised hand, spoke, his words washing over the Synod¡¯s chamber. ¡°Both sides have presented their points sufficiently. As my Junior companion said, the whole body of the Synod is not currently present, with Arkeel and Elham of the Five both missing, several of the Thirty Five, as well as the heads of the Seven Families. We invite you to explain the points raised today to your compatriots, for there will be a vote brought before the body before it is formally presented to the Holy One. ¡°Thank you for attending as members of the Synod. May your Callings ever be potent.¡± Salmar nodded deeply, dismissing the members as, nearly imperceptibly, a windword whispered in Djallma¡¯s ear. ¡°Come with me now, please.¡± Chapter 285 [Djallma POV] Though he¡¯d long been her personal mentor, Djallma felt the subtle emotion Salmar¡¯s command carried. He was not happy. She schooled her face and posture, and though much of her wanted to fall in step and rush to the elderly man¡¯s side, Djallma made sure to follow the usual ways. A quiet word here, a soft remonstration there, and a general sense of calm were instrumental for her in her position as the High Veran of Wavespeaking. That she was also the head of the progressive faction among the Synod dictated that beyond a tranquil, calming presence, she must lead those who called for change within the Veratocracy. ¡°If you cannot take a stronger stance before the traditionalists regarding drastic changes to national policy, I do not think that we can continue to fund your current campaign.¡± Ulaya Frammel, daughter and heir of the Frammel family, worried at Djallma. ¡°My mother is facing suppression at the hands of the Lihl and Alniyh, but not so much that she is unwilling to throw in behind the independents once more, or even the traditionalists if the situation changes enough. She smelled profit, but if it comes at too high of a price, then she does not hesitate to cut her losses when necessary.¡± ¡°And that is how the Frammel family has risen to the position they now occupy as one of the Seven Families.¡± Djallma comforted the contradictingly unimposing woman. How such a strong, imposing body was occupied by a rodent¡¯s soul escaped Djallma, yet she still was one of her foremost allies. ¡°If your mother was here, she would recognize that I showed no weakness, but instead reminded the traditionalists and independents alike that we have a strong position and it is supported by the Gran Verat¡¯s teachings. Since we have already established our fortress, we allow the traditionalists to break themselves on our walls.¡± ¡°She¡¯s got the right of it.¡± Grumbled Brough Ulough. Since his early ascent to the position as the head of the Ulough family, the boy had grown into an impressive man, and if Djallma hadn¡¯t risen to the celibate position of High Veran, she¡¯d have long begun courting him. As it was, the swarthy man with a thick, dark chinstrap beard supported the progressive¡¯s approach to international travel and immigration. ¡°The traditionalist body outnumbers us, while the independents grow. We can¡¯t alienate those who still carry traditionalist leanings in the pursuit of appearing strong. Thank you, High Veran. Continue your work, I will send word when I know of the Sharalhl¡¯s plans.¡± Djallma nodded and dismissed him. If only all her allies were so competent. ¡°My mother wonders if he should be trusted as the Ulough family¡¯s head.¡± Ulaya whispered, long before Brough was completely out of earshot. Djallma composed herself and levelled a look up at the much taller woman. ¡°He is smart, quick to trust his allies, and strong in the face of adversity. Brough continued to prove himself.¡± Ulaya merely shrugged. ¡°Well, if that¡¯s how the Godless are. I guess I¡¯m glad he¡¯s on our side. Now, could you come with me to explain everything to Mother? She prefers when you come to speak with her, since I¡¯m not as¡­ good at talking as you are.¡± ¡°No, I cannot.¡± Djallma smiled gently. ¡°I¡¯m afraid there is much I have to do as a High Veran, and I have a meeting with High Veran Salmar.¡± ¡°Oh, we can¡¯t keep him waiting!¡± The immediate respect afforded to the eldest of the High Veran compared to the casual friendliness offered to her prickled Djallma¡¯s pride, but she mentally repeated the comforting adage: ¡°The greatest glory is found in obeisance to the Gran Verat. Self-effacement in the face of His plans is more glorious than respect and victory.¡± By the time she¡¯d finished, Djallma¡¯s smile was again genuine. ¡°Then I can trust you to speak with Family Head Kyarrah?¡± ¡°Oh, yes. Trust me, Djallma! I¡¯ll make sure to¡­ talk to Mother.¡± The brief spike of confidence granted by Djallma¡¯s trust quickly died, and Djallma could feel the anxiety wash out from the uncontrolled woman. She considered Soulspeaking the girl to some modicum of bravery, but instead dismissed her and, with a couple more well-wishes and reassurances, finally made her way to a nearby hallway where she knew Salmar awaited her. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. As was his way, the old man didn¡¯t say anything as she joined him. Instead, he placed his hands behind his back and walked placidly forward. No hair covered his head, except for a white moustache that tickled his upper lip, and though his skin remained mostly without the drooping folds of advanced age, Djallma knew that he was at least 100 years old. Different from the various states of emotion she could feel from the amassed people outside, Salmar gave no indication of his tightly leashed emotions. She couldn¡¯t say if this was because the man had learned how to school himself so tightly over his century of life, or because he had lost all emotion, or because of his status as the High Veran of Windspeaking, but whatever it was, she couldn¡¯t help but feel unnerved. ¡°Your arguments are losing their barbs of hatred and superiority.¡± Salmar interrupted her train of thought. ¡°That is for the best. You and Leiteli will always be of different schools and families and thoughts, and that is heightened by the opposing nature of your Callings and natures. Even so, you must find yourselves capable of working together for the good of our nation and of our Lord. True hatred does not become you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t hate him.¡± Djallma answered. ¡°I find him distastefully arrogant and set in his ways, but there is no hatred in my heart for him.¡± Salmar levelled a gaze at her but did not comment further. They walked in silence for several more minutes, the shadows cast by their passage dancing in the light cast by the torches that filled the stone hall. After one hundred and forty-six steps, as the echoes died, Salmar spoke once again. ¡°I worry that your progressive views are too secular.¡± There. That was the point of this conversation. Djallma prepared herself to argue against her mentor. They were now equals in name, though not in experience, authority, nor power. She could stand her ground. ¡°Please explain, High Veran Salmar.¡± She acknowledged the test, and it began in earnest. ¡°The position of the High Veran is to effectuate the will of the Gran Verat. We are His voice and His soul made flesh, and we cannot concern ourselves with the worries of the mortal. Our focus is that of eternity and prosperity.¡± ¡°Eternity cannot only take place in the next life. The Ideals of Ardaliana say that ¡®Contentment can only come through abnegation, submission, and obedience to the holy, to the ruler, and to our god.¡¯ Among our many duties is that to bring contentment to the world at large, and that can only be done at this time, in this life.¡± ¡°The view of the traditionalists is that conquest can lead us to forcing the rest to that. Why would we step away from what we have practiced for centuries? We have built powerful armies, and have prepared them for a true march on the rest of this world, something that has never happened before.¡± ¡°We do grow in power, and our armies balloon in size, but I still suspect that we won¡¯t be able to find true obedience through conquest. Beyond that, if we march beyond our borders with the ideal of stomping out all opposition, everyone from the Union to the Hordes, the Wilds to the Principality, all will unite against our march. High Speakers are the strongest soldiers, but outnumbered five, ten, or even twenty to one by the indlovu soldiers, the ursine beastkin, and Noonbrights and Bloodpriestesses? We could never hold our power or position, if we could ever establish it. ¡°Instead, if we allow the other countries to see that bowing the knee willingly to the Gran Verat and embracing his wisdom and guidance will lead to bountiful springs, mild winters, and healthy children, then we will find that we draw more and more under our banner.¡± Salmar raised a hand. Djallma fought to master herself, halting her impassioned speech. The old man allowed her to gather herself before answering. ¡°You truly feel that which you say. There is merit to your argument, and I do not believe you will bring shame to our station by continuing to represent the progressives.¡± Then, hands once more behind his back, Salmar began to walk away. ¡°But do you agree?¡± Djallma couldn¡¯t help but ask, regretting it as soon as the words left her mouth. How could she always be so impetuous around him when she was so self-contained elsewhere? Even so, she felt her heartbeat quicken at the thought of her mentor¡¯s approval. The old man cocked his head as he looked back. ¡°Of course not.¡± Her heart dropped. ¡°We cannot be stopped, and there is no reason to delay our progress for the feelings of the inferior.¡± He continued walking away, but before he¡¯d walked completely out of sight, a windword tickled her ear. ¡°There is news of these ¡®resources¡¯ of yours. By all accounts, they have been quite busy, and I believe that there is twice the reason to accelerate our plans, and not to show them mercy.¡± Chapter 286 You must come and see. The mustelids can¡¯t make a decision at this point, much less the rodentia. -Request from Scout Captain Inoktuk of the Mustelid Corps. With a wet thunk, the rat fell to the ground in front of me. Silf had carried it in his mouth for a while, as far as I knew, and it had been thoroughly soaked by the trip. It struggled to stand, to move, but it was still quite disoriented by the journey. It struggled to hobble away, but was quickly boxed in by keelish. While the creature was held down, I turned to Silf. ¡°Why was this rat interesting? They¡¯re not common in the jungle where we lived, but we¡¯ve seen plenty of them in our travels.¡± ¡°I heard it talking.¡± The scout replied. ¡°I don¡¯t know the words so good, so I figured I¡¯d just bring him to you so you and Sybil could talk to him.¡± ¡°Really?¡± I mused. ¡°How far away were you when you heard him speaking? Are you sure it was this thing?¡± ¡°Maybe 200 feet away? But yes, I¡¯m sure it was this.¡± ¡°Alright then.¡± I finished before stepping forward and, with a dart of my hand, I caught the rat. No, actually, it avoided my strike. I reached out three more times, each missing by mere degrees. The rodent actually escaped from the encirclement of the keelish and fled insanely quickly towards thicker brush. Though I didn¡¯t want to kill the talking rat, I refused to let it escape. I gathered my sonic magic to my throat and shaped the blast to focus on the fleeing creature. With a [Crippling Cry], the rat shuddered and went still. There was no guarantee, but I didn¡¯t think it was dead so I jogged forward and plucked it off the ground. Its little chest was heaving while blood trickled from its ears and nose. As delicately as I could manage, I held it by the scruff of its neck and in front of my face. Though I wasn¡¯t immensely familiar with rats, I couldn''t say that I could see anything at all noteworthy about this specimen. It was maybe half a foot long, dark brown fur, a pink nose and beady eyes. A rat. Even so, I trusted Silf. ¡°And what is your name, little one?¡± I asked in the human tongue. One of these days, I¡¯d talk to something or someone and have no luck communicating with them. As the silence dragged on, I wondered if this would be one of those cases. The rat¡¯s nose twitched like mad as its eyes darted back and forth like a cornered animal, which I supposed it was. Impatient, I raised one of my right hand¡¯s claws to under its jaw and lightly scratched it there. ¡°If you respond, I¡¯ll be able to let you go. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll have to eat you. Or at least kill you.¡± Again, I waited for several seconds while the rat considered me. I was in the movement of tossing it in my mouth when it sighed and spoke. The male voice was a pleasant tenor, nearly musical in nature though it spoke in a clipped, formal tone. When the rat spoke, its eyes shifted slightly, appearing more human than before. ¡°I shall not bestow upon you my name, but you may call me Tar.¡± The rat fastidiously groomed its whiskers as it spoke. ¡°You have proven yourself capable of catching me, and I shall not attempt to run again, so please lower me to the ground. Please, do not consume me, as I may yet serve you.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. And there was that progress. ¡°Thank you for not forcing me to eat you. I prefer not to consume intelligent creatures. Even so, I¡¯ll keep you up here for now.¡± ¡°Meat is meat.¡± The rat with the obvious fake name Tar disagreed.¡±You are in a land of plenty, but there is not sufficient prey to discard whatever scraps you find.¡± ¡°True enough.¡± I replied. ¡°Talking rats, huh? I can¡¯t say I¡¯ve encountered your kind before.¡± ¡°I am the only one.¡± Tar quickly confirmed. ¡°I¡¯m merely much smarter than the other rats.¡± ¡°And how do we have a language in common?¡± ¡°Just as you acquired your language skills, I would imagine that I could have learned them as well.¡± ¡°I doubt it.¡± I stated. ¡°I don¡¯t need to know how many of you there are. I don¡¯t care so long as you stay out of trouble. You wouldn¡¯t talk to yourself the way you were if there weren¡¯t more of you, but I¡¯ll let you and your friends know that, from now on, any rats we find will be immediately killed, unless they declare themselves first. Even if you give perfect information after being revealed to be a sneak, you will be devoured. Can you pass that information on?¡± ¡°... I suppose I can, though I would greatly appreciate your assistance in communicating that. If you shout, any nearby would hear and pass it along.¡± Tar ground out. ¡°Why are you here?¡± ¡°Why would I tell you that when you¡¯ve told me nothing?¡± ¡°So that I can tell the true masters of these mountains what your plans are. There isn¡¯t any need for conflict, at least at this time. I would like to maintain the peace that currently exists.¡± ¡°If you think you can force us out of here, I invite you to come and feed the swarm already.¡± I grinned a predatory grin at the bite-sized creature. ¡°We welcome anyone who wishes to keep us well fed.¡± ¡°How barbaric.¡± Tar replied, his nose high in the air. ¡°I shall convey your message. Now, can you put me down already? It is quite discomfiting to be held directly before your gaping, toothy maw of destruction.¡± With a chuckle, I gently lowered him down to the ground below, deciding to offer some measure of trust to the little rodent. He immediately betrayed that trust and sprinted quicker than I¡¯d ever seen before into the brush. Silf made to go after him, but I stopped him. ¡°I think he let us catch him.¡± I spoke in keelish. ¡°I suspect this little creature was instead trying to get information from us, and decided getting closer was his best option, once he was discovered.¡± Silf merely twitched his tail in ambivalent agreement. ¡°If you say so. Would you like us to keep an eye out for more?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± I replied, a savage grin again cracking my face. ¡°I warned him that if we found any more, they¡¯d be food. No need to turn a meal away, is there?¡± ¡°No, Alpha.¡± Silf¡¯s smile mirrored my own. ¡°Also, let¡¯s see if we can¡¯t find where to cross these mountains while we hunt for any new prey, shall we?¡± I answered, and much of the swarm, curious to watch my ¡°interrogation¡± of the rat, echoed cheers of their own in support of my suggestion. [Tar POV] He sprinted through the brush and into rabbit warrens for the better part of an hour. He couldn¡¯t say for sure if he had lost the monsters, but he could say he¡¯d given escape his best effort. When he finally let himself collapse into a panting heap inside an abandoned underground nest of some sort, ¡°Tar¡± couldn¡¯t help but mutter to himself in disgust. ¡°Disgraceful, that¡¯s what that was. An absolute disgrace.¡± The little safehouse would be nearly impossible to identify as such by anyone except for one of the Union¡¯s scouting corps, and ¡°Tar¡± left a quick scrabbled warning in the usual spot before rushing back out of the nest and towards the nearest river. There, he could conscript any vessel he found and make his way back to the Union. After all, the Council would need to hear about the return of the saharliard. Chapter 287 The talking rat scampered off and my swarm scattered to find prey. By my command, the hunters would range much further away in their search for prey. Though I wanted to participate in the hunt myself, I refused to indulge. Instead, I spoke with the Alphas who remained. The elites, the khatif, and the most motivated of my swarm listened to my words, but I wanted to live in this land without destroying it, and I needed them all to understand it as well. ¡°We always hunt our fill.¡± Yamal hesitantly answered. ¡°And when the swarm grows, what happens?¡± I asked, looking at the older keelish. Yamal and many of the most active and promising keelish were too young to know what I was getting at. ¡°The swarm moves on.¡± Shraal answered. ¡°If left to our own devices, we will eat everything that lives and, once all opposition is dead, we move on to the next. If we find too strong of resistance, we move on. If we face any difficulties, the way of the keelish is to move beyond the problem.¡± ¡°Which we can¡¯t do if we want to live here.¡± Yamal answered, quickly picking up on what I was saying. ¡°The herds will help! We just need to eat them!¡± ¡°There won¡¯t be enough to feed us all, much less any hatchlings or other swarms that join us.¡± Joral disagreed. ¡°The Alpha is correct in commanding us to reduce our consumption. Most of us had gotten used to gorging ourselves multiple times a day. In our escape, we went for days without any food except for the flesh of our own fallen, and no rest beyond that we could steal while others ate. Then, in that condition, we proved ourselves to be fahvalo to the Moonchildren. Desperate.¡± ¡°And we must be desperate once more.¡± I cut in. ¡°Desperate to succeed, desperate to survive, desperate to thrive. Desperate enough to deny our hunger for the longer term. We can go for days without eating, if we¡¯re determined enough. In order to find success and survival here in the mountains, in order to maintain a home, we¡¯ll do that as well as figuring out how to grow our flocks, and to cultivate more lands where our herds can eat, as well as to learn what else we can eat.¡± The last bit obviously confused most of the present keelish. ¡°That¡¯s why you sent out hunting packs, right?¡± asked one of the newer Alphas. ¡°They¡¯re looking for new prey. That¡¯s not what I was referring to. We need to find plants that can supplement our food.¡± ¡°What else is there to eat? We¡¯re predators! We¡¯re Nievtala¡¯s conquerors!¡± Clamored several of the Alphas. I¡¯d given them much too much leniency. My rage flared up without warning, and I snapped my jaws while magically amplifying the sound. It cracked like thunder and the assembled keelish cowered. ¡°I command you to find food for yourselves and the rest of the swarm. Do not complain that I provide greater opportunities for growth and security! I will lead us to safety, to full bellies, and a permanent home! I will protect our borders and establish a nation, beyond anything we¡¯ve seen! And you dare to complain that I want my people to be fed?¡± The vocal few averted their eyes, bowing in obeisance while refusing to offer any further disrespect. Yamal stepped forward, her scales quivering and clattering together in terror. Even so, she spoke. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I will lead my pack of those willing to follow your commands. We will find what alternative food exists, and which we can consume.¡± ¡°Yamal. You remain one of our brightest hopes for the future. I appreciate your willingness to follow a command you do not fully understand.¡± Have her search for tubers. Nievtala¡¯s voice thundered through me with a soft glow of appreciation, though without any warning or preamble. Her approval, though much diluted from the orgasmic ecstasy of her pleasure, sent a shiver down my spine. ¡°Our goddess has spoken. Search for plants that have thicker roots and leaves. They won¡¯t be even bushes or trees, just plants. If you pull them out, their roots may have something like a fruit that could be edible.¡± Yamal flared her frills and bowed her head in acceptance of the command before whirling towards her pack. There, she issued a couple quick commands and stalked off. Her smaller pack of twenty or so keelish under the command of three khatif jogged after her without complaint. She served as a reminder of my leniency, of the weakness I¡¯d allowed back into my commands and presence. I¡¯d long been as idolized a figure as she was, but I¡¯d allowed my complacency to weaken my position. I cursed myself for having unknowingly stepped back even after my resolution to truly live as a keelish. ¡°The rest of you will work either to locate any additional plants to eat or more prey we can domesticate. If you join Yamal on her search for edible plants, search for fruiting trees and bushes. The birds will lead you to them. However, if you search for a creature to domesticate and do not have a member of your pack that can subjugate the creatures to follow you, do not engage. Keep an eye on them, and send someone to the swarm and Sybil will ensure a capable keelish accompanies you. Dismissed.¡± I whipped my tail as I walked away. The assembled Alphas quietly and quickly scattered to their individual packs. Most of their subordinates were not so disciplined as Yamal¡¯s, groaning and questioning their assignments. Lashing tails and clubbing fists dissuaded them from any further complaints, and one by one, the packs left on their searches for more renewable food sources. ¡°Thank you, Alpha.¡± Joral bowed to me. ¡°I appreciate your willingness to let me speak.¡± ¡°You know better than I do how our herds operate. I merely eat when I am told that I can. We trust in your judgment, Joral, so I trust you to continue learning more.¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha!¡± He nearly saluted as he answered. Once I dismissed him, Joral jogged off to his flocks, where he consulted with his supporters. Several of the females fawned over him as he approached and nuzzled against him. I merely smiled and turned to, for the first time in a while, take time truly to myself to tinker with my magic. I had been explicitly told that to progress my magic at this point would take experimentation and effort, so I looked forward to finding more applications and wider uses for my magic. ¡°Any advice?¡± I idly aske Nievtala, and when she didn¡¯t respond, I asked the Administrator as well. [The Administrator and Nievtala have crossed the bounds of the directive limits. They will be unavailable for direct communication for some time yet.] While I sighed in frustration at the answer, I wasn¡¯t too surprised. There wasn¡¯t any way for me to know for sure when seemingly innocuous information violated the rules the [System] had put in place for the divine beings above me, but that they were willing to cross those lines for me was reassuring. Before I could begin my practice in earnest, though, a scout ran into the swarm, looking for me and panicked. My blood ran cold with her announcement, though a part of me recognized the opportunity to use my newest [Skill] in action. ¡°Alpha! We saw a nanuk! There¡¯s some here!¡± Chapter 288 When we passed through the Shandise to the so-called Shadow Plains, I was obligated to ask my guides why such a well-lit land was called as much. ¡°There is a somewhat notable forest in places here,¡± I¡¯d said as I looked over the Plains from the foothills of the Shandise. I watched the suns rise over the far-off ocean, the shimmering of the sea nearly blinding, ¡°but there is nothing casting a shadow large enough to warrant a name like that around here.¡± My guides, a troop of enterprising Sunkindred under the command of a burly, hulking cow named Moarn, scoffed at my ignorance. The barbarians hadn¡¯t hesitated in the face of bandits, indlovu, packs of wolfstags, or anything else. To the Shadow Plains, though, they showed no small amount of fear. ¡°It¡¯s not the Plains that cast the shadows. It¡¯s the things that live here.¡± Moarn answered, her chuckles derisive. ¡°Let¡¯s hope we don¡¯t see any of them, they should be hibernating. My light should be enough to keep them away, but we¡¯ll rush all of today and pray to Huldtar that his rays will protect us. We don¡¯t have any offerings for them, and it would be better to refrain from making any contact.¡± Unfortunately, Moarn¡¯s light was not enough. Fortunately, her hatchets and the lives of two of her companions were. -from a letter home by Eldara di¡¯Frandara during his self-funded travels to Nievtra My racing heart and clenching stomach were mostly disappointed with what I was led to see. The beast that this scout¡¯s pack had found only somewhat looked like a nanuk, but much less imposing. The one we¡¯d seen before was a monstrosity, seemingly dedicated to the protection of its goats. It stunned us with its magic and was as large as an indlovu, though with four arms and two legs. This beast was smaller than Brutus, who stared it down the second we approached. Its thick brown fur covered its body completely, and its face wasn¡¯t so humanlike as the nanuk¡¯s. Instead, it was more like a wolf¡¯s, with a snout and black eyes. Its rounded ears atop its head were almost cute, and it roared in challenge to us as our presence became more and more apparent. I wanted to rush forward and dispatch it for the affront of getting me excited for a fight, but Brutus raised a hand in front of me. ¡°Please, Alpha. Allow us.¡± He spoke nearly commandingly, but I supposed it would be helpful to him and my other guards to allow them a hunt, to prove themselves without me being in some sort of present danger. I flared my frills in assent, and Brutus led three keelish forward to engage with the beast. It reared back on its back legs, now nearly ten feet tall, paws swiping widely in defense. Brutus dodged one swipe before lunging forward with his maw wide open. The creature¡¯s entire wrist crunched under the massive khatif¡¯s bite, and it wailed in sudden pain while lunging down with a bite of its own. Brutus disengaged to get just out of its reach, and it was forced to catch its weight on its forepaws. It immediately pulled the wounded foot up and snarled in a slavering fury at Brutus. My guard didn¡¯t care, instead throwing himself at the creature¡¯s unharmed arm. The other three keelish didn¡¯t hesitate to flank the beast, their jaws and claws cutting deep into the beast¡¯s flesh. It roared in pain while ignoring Brutus¡¯s attack and turning to swipe at the smaller aggressors, but Brutus took the opportunity to leap onto its back and begin ripping into its spine with his fangs while his claws sliced deep furrows into the creature¡¯s back. Blood flowed freely and mixed with the rich soil underfoot. My guards¡¯ prey gave up on striking back and tried to flee, but the keelish continued to hamstring the beast. Before it could get far, it fell to the ground with a thud and a whimper. I waited for Brutus and the rest to strike it down, but he turned to me before doing so. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Do you want to strike it down?¡± My immediate reaction was to say no, but I wanted to know what the creatures were called, as well as to seize any opportunity to continue progressing with my [Quest] to continue killing things. Beyond that, Brutus seemed to want me to deal the final blow. Even so, I decided against it. ¡°I want you to do it. It was your hunt, and you deserve the first meal as well as the final blow.¡± ¡°As you command, Alpha.¡± Brutus replied before gesturing to the small male that had begun following him just before we encountered the Inkulu. His name was, I learned, Mrak, and he struggled to tear the throat out of the felled and mostly dead creature. Even so, with three final chomps of his jaws, the creature breathed its last and I nodded my approval. The small male was less than four feet tall, though he was obviously growing under the influence of Brutus and Ytte¡¯s guidance. A small part of me mourned the loss of the progress on my [Quest], though most of me didn¡¯t mind it. After all, I would gain more stats if I was the primary or sole hunter of the creature, and merely dispatching a beast for the progress of my [Quest] would keep me from being as powerful as I could be, in the end. Immediate progress would be great, but ensuring that I could stand on the same level or beyond the strongest High Speakers, Indlovu soldiers, or whatever else this world had to throw at me would be much better long term. ¡°Thank you. I appreciate your willingness to ensure that this creature wasn¡¯t more than it seemed.¡± ¡°Of course, Alpha. The Alqat serve to protect you as our hope.¡± The meaning of the word settled over me, royal guardian. When Brutus said it, the word brought a certain indistinct nostalgia. I knew I¡¯d never heard the word, but it felt right. ¡°Then eat your fill and bring whatever remains to the pack that brought us here.¡± ¡°Only after you eat!¡± Squeaked Mrak. ¡°You come first!¡± ¡°I am provided for.¡± I responded, though I reached a hand down and, with a quick swipe of two claws, sliced a long strip of meat free. I tossed it down my throat and swallowed without further comment. The three ¡°Alqat¡± under Brutus¡¯s direction still didn¡¯t eat until he gave his approval. As his three subordinates tore into the mound of meat, Brutus bit the partially severed paw free and chewed idly on it as he stood at my right hand. ¡°Are you ready to return to the swarm?¡± he asked as his teeth crunched through the many bones in the paw. ¡°I suppose.¡± I replied. ¡°Are you always going to accompany me?¡± ¡°Me or Ytte. Nobody else is strong enough yet. There will be some that grow.¡± He answered. ¡°I meant is there always going to be a guard, or Alqat with me at all times.¡± ¡°For as long as you remain our Alpha.¡± ¡°And this isn¡¯t going to change any time soon?¡± ¡°Not so long as you remain our Alpha.¡± I paused for a moment. ¡°Who told you that phrase?¡± Brutus flicked his tail. ¡°Ytte.¡± he conceded as the last of the paw crunched between his teeth and vanished down his throat. ¡°Alright. Then let¡¯s go back to the swarm. We¡¯ll let these ones figure out if there¡¯ll be any meat that needs to get back to the swarm.¡± Brutus merely flicked his tail in response, and I led the way back to the main body of the swarm. It didn¡¯t take long before the other three finished feeding. I was surprised to see that they hadn¡¯t fed to gorging themselves, their bellies not distended with meat. Instead, each remained aware and energetic, ready for anything that approached. When we made contact back with the swarm, I couldn¡¯t help but notice Ytte taking notice of our approach and flaring her frills in approval as she saw my clean form. Then, she continued lugging her massive rock around. Again, I was about to begin experimenting with my magic when Shemira approached me. She waited mostly patiently for me to acknowledge her as she waited beside me. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°There¡¯s something I wanted to talk to you about. You have time now?¡± I suppressed a groan, knowing I still wouldn¡¯t be able to explore my [Skills] or anything else to do with my magic. Chapter 289 As she stood before me, Shemira shifted from one foot to the other nervously. Nearly a year ago, when I was young and inexperienced and confused, I¡¯d seen her as an unflappable, confident leader. As the weeks of conflict then months of companionship passed, I saw that while Shemira presented a confident front, she so frequently was a coiled mess of confusion and nervousness below. She projected competence, even when unsure. This Shemira whose tail twitched with nervousness was unabashedly unsure of herself. It was strange to see, but refreshing. I forced the frustration from my mind and instead looked at her with more patience than before. ¡°What can the swarm do for you, Shemira?¡± She hesitated for a moment before speaking hesitantly. ¡°I hatched in the same brood as you, and though we did not begin on the friendliest of terms, I think that we have become, if not companions, at least allies.¡± ¡°I count you as a friend, most days. Sometimes, you¡¯re relegated to ¡®that female that spends so much time with my mate¡¯.¡± Shemira¡¯s nervous posture faded to a more relaxed, open stance as she laughed. The sound was beautiful, as she so effortlessly was. ¡°We females deserve time among ourselves. Just as I tore you from our time alone. I¡¯m sorry, I was worried.¡± ¡°Shemira, no need to worry. You¡¯re coming to me to ask for my permission for something, or maybe guidance. The first is easy, while the second will absolutely be well-intentioned but might be wrong as well.¡± The tall khatif flared her frills and took a deep breath. ¡°I know I sang for the swarm, and you didn¡¯t hear. I enjoy the music. It settles in my heart, and I can¡¯t help but indulge in it. There¡¯s something magical to the notes and intent, and ever since I heard you sing in those other words, I¡¯ve wanted to record our journey. Your journey.¡± ¡°You want to sing about me?¡± I saw the nervous energy grow again in Shemira. ¡°I¡¯ve been around since the beginning, and I was one of the first to be conquered. I¡¯ve seen what your strength brings, and I respect you for it, and I¡¯ve seen where you came from and how you got here, and I think that it would be helpful for us to have something that could teach those who come after, and I hope that my song will be able to fill that role, but I don¡¯t want to overstep and offend. Even so, I think with my influence and magic, I can make it so that my song, once it¡¯s complete, can instill a greater respect in the listener, so that way we can further solidify your position as Swarm Alpha, or whatever else you become.¡± The words left her in a rush, the air nearly whistling through her fangs as she presented her case. ¡°It¡¯s a good idea.¡± I merely answered. ¡°You¡­ approve?¡± ¡°Of course. You¡¯ve found something that makes you happy, and now you¡¯re trying to help me and the swarm with it. Why wouldn¡¯t I want one of my elites to find pleasure in furthering all our goals?¡± ¡°That¡­ makes sense. Is there anything you want me to add into the song?¡± ¡°I trust you.¡± Then, I flicked my tail as I added, ¡°Well, and see if you can¡¯t make Sybil sing it for me at some point.¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Shemira¡¯s laugh rang out, high and happy. ¡°That isn¡¯t something to ask me for. She might be able to be persuaded, though!¡± ¡°That¡¯s all I can hope for, I suppose.¡± I smiled back at Shemira. ¡°Thanks for sharing your dream with me. Glad I can help you out with it, at least a little.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have further questions for you as it gets honed and perfected, but for now, I¡¯ll leave you to your alone time.¡± As Shemira said as much, she walked away with a certain excitement in her step. Each movement belied her enthusiasm, and it wasn¡¯t long before Vefir came close to her and nuzzled her neck fondly as she animatedly spoke with him. With nobody else approaching me, I finally refocused myself on my magic. My main capabilities with my magic were exhibited in my [Skills]: [Murderous Melody, Disastrous Discourse, Innervating Address, Nurturing Enunciation, and Destructive Wave]. [Innervating Address] and [Nurturing Enunciation] hadn¡¯t evolved yet, though the second¡¯s progress had advanced to show it was nearly halfway finished. I imagined I would breakthrough for evolution on that [Skill] quickly once we starting having young again. In fact, it¡¯d been so long since I¡¯d looked at the [Skill] in depth that I pulled it back to make sure I was understanding it correctly. [Skill: Nurturing Enunciation; a skill granted to those whose mastery of sonic magic has grown beyond the obvious and immediate, now allowing the resonance of their magic to influence and assist even the most vulnerable and weak. Those whose development is assisted and guided by Nurturing Enunciation gain Stats, Skills, Titles, and other benefits more easily until they have reached adulthood. Note: this Skill can only be used on fetuses, infants, and juveniles. This Skill can evolve. Requirements: Use Nurturing Enunciation to more than double what would be the Stat total of a creature. Progress: 22/50.] Not only would it progress much faster as more hatchlings came into the swarm, it couldn¡¯t progress until more had. Now that I looked at it more closely, I quickly realized that just about every hatchling and young juvenile that¡¯d joined the swarm must have contributed to this. Unfortunately, the vast majority (all except for Trai) that could have qualified were keelish, and by the time we¡¯d made contact with them, they¡¯d reached adulthood too quickly for my [Skills] to truly work their magic. Those who¡¯d evolved to khatif were at least initially unremarkable, Kha¡¯Tal civilians. They did show, however, the capability of those within castes to evolve, or at least change, to higher castes. Before, Joral had merely displayed a horizontal shift in caste, while these juveniles and young adults exhibited the possibility for khatif to progress vertically. I pulled my mind from ruminating over the progress of various other keelish. I¡¯d lost myself once again in the minutia of ruling. Instead, I examined the [Skills] themselves, and how they generally functioned. I quickly gathered them into three different functions. The first group was [Disastrous Discourse] and [Innervating Address]. These two¡¯s function was to affect the mind of those who were the target of my [Skill], whether that be negative or positive. I decided to think of them of my supportive [Skills]. Then, [Murderous Melody] and [Nurturing Enunciation] fell into my second subdivision, that of [Skills] whose function was to impact the functioning of the body of whatever was the [Skill¡¯s] target. This second type I thought of as my impact [Skills]. Finally, [Destructive Wave] was the final, most simple [Skill]: manipulate sonic waves to destroy. I quickly categorized this final [Skill] as destructive. Glancing over the [Skill¡¯s] description, though, I realized that instead of mere destruction, the evolved [Skill] granted me the beginnings of all sonic wave manipulation and control. I still didn¡¯t change the way I thought of it. So many possibilities opened up before me, but first, I needed to select which of the three branches of [Skill] to focus on honing for now. The supportive ones would be impactful, but for now, I wondered if it would be best to wait for [Innervating Address] to evolve. The same applied to the impact [Skills], with [Nurturing Enunciation] sure to evolve once the first clutches were laid in Nievtra. Then, would it be best to focus on my destructive capabilities? Having taken another look, I realized that there was much more to the [Skill] than what I¡¯d initially supposed, but was that not too broad? After thinking on it for a time, I finally made my decision and began to flood my body with power from my sonilphon. Chapter 290 The vibrating dirt underfoot grew still as I stopped drawing from my sonilphon. Pulsating waves flowing freely from my palms ceased, and I ¡°watched¡± them fade into the depths of the earth. My latest experiment to use [Destructive Wave] in a less destructive wave was interesting, if seemingly useless. Per the [Skill], I could send and control waves of my magic outside of the bounds of my body, but all that it¡¯d served to do thus far was to extend my [Tremorsense] while making it much harder to interpret what the [Skill] was trying to tell me. I¡¯d tried to send waves of magic through the ground, then the air, and other than making a strange sound, the sonic waves didn¡¯t seem to do anything. Frustrated, I stood and merely hummed. The constant sonic waves seemed to sing back at me, mocking my inability to find anything interesting to do with them beyond what my [Skills] directly stated they could do. Without anything else occurring to me, I trickled a bit of my magic into my throat, allowing the humming to subtly shift. It didn¡¯t sound any louder, but I could feel the waves of the sound amplify, heighten, and grow. So far as I could tell, though, nothing changed beyond this general quality of the sound. Continuing my humming, I continued to adjust the magnitude and power of the sound. It deepened, though again, without the obvious, audible sound changing. Even so, I felt the deep thrum of power that none of the keelish nearby could sense. My heart in my chest rebelled against my hum, and I cloaked it in additional magic as I strengthened the intensity of my magic. With a quilt of gentle waves surrounding my heart, then the rest of my organs from my head to tail, I pushed the hum to a new peak. I was unaffected by my ¡°song¡±, but I could feel that I was on the verge of discovering something. With a final adjustment to the way my magic coated the inside of my snout, drawing somewhat on the feeling I got when I used [Innervating Address] and [Disastrous Discourse], I felt the quality of my hum shift. Still, it sounded like a normal, if somewhat forceful hum, but there was something different about it. There was no new [Skill] that appeared, but I knew that something in what I was doing had changed. As soon as I felt the change, I heard a series of thumps behind me. Turning to investigate, I saw three of the keelish Alqat writhing on the ground while Brutus, stood nearby, struggled to balance. I immediately ceased my humming and the felled keelish stopped their thrashing. Brutus swayed on his feet, and I called for Vefir. He was quick to approach and as soon as he saw my prone bodyguards, he settled into a hunched position to tend to them. ¡°What happened? Their hearts are struggling to pump blood to their heads!¡± ¡°I was merely humming.¡± I replied as I helped Brutus down into a more comfortable crouch of his own. ¡°Just using my magic, much like I would have to energize those around us.¡± Vefir looked at me, face somewhat confused. ¡°You were trying to energize them? How did that go so wrongly? Are they merely too weak?¡± ¡°I was experimenting.¡± Vefir quietly muttered the Fifth of the Phrases of Words of Power to himself as he forced a nearly radiant power into the thrashing guards¡¯ bodies. They finally fully stilled and collected themselves, though they were still obviously disoriented and uncomfortable. As Vefir strode over to Brutus and laid his hands on the much larger khatif, he locked eyes with me. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Alpha. You continue to underestimate the strength of your magic and overestimate the strength of your subordinates. I do ask that you consider the health of those who surround you when you experiment.¡± I flared my frills in agreement, the ease with which I¡¯d apparently nearly slain my companions settling over me. ¡°You¡¯ve grown more impressive in your abilities.¡± I changed the subject, impressed with Vefir¡¯s ability to do as much as he had so quickly. ¡°I¡¯ve needed to, and communing with Nievtala has granted me greater strength as well.¡± As he said as much, Vefir looked to the heavens while thumping a clasped fist to his chest, a sort of divine salute. I looked at him, somewhat confused, and he replied, just as confused. ¡°Shraal said it¡¯s a way to show devotion to the Divine Conqueror.¡± I internally turned to Nievtala to ask, but before I could, she answered me. Shraal has provided various forms of worship to the devoted. They have decided to salute me as they would a commander. Fitting, though I do not know where the idea of a salute came from. The Divine Conqueror has long been one of my titles. I couldn¡¯t say that I was too surprised that the goddess had titles concerning her divinity, but a part of me wondered if my people could ever find peace with a goddess titled ¡°the Divine Conqueror¡±. Would she even allow it? More than that, though, could I? Could I forget the feelings of helplessness and trust in the benevolence of those who would become our neighbors? Could I trust that the Veratocracy wouldn¡¯t seek us out as some monstrosity to be exterminated? Could I leave behind my own lust for strength? Long ago, I¡¯d decided not to lie to myself any longer, to embrace my life as a keelish. Did that mean I¡¯d always seek out war, or could I ever be satisfied with what I had? If I sought out peace, could we ever end up with a lasting one? I couldn¡¯t say. Perhaps that large portion of me that loved to indulge in [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] and the joy of proving myself superior to another would lead me to constant conquest, until the continent laid at my feet. Maybe I wouldn¡¯t be able to rest before I carved a throne room from the corpse of an ufudoluk and a crown from the bones of High Speakers. For now, though, I needed to focus on establishing a land where my people could survive and thrive and be left in peace by those who would slaughter us wholesale. Vafir still looked at me, curious and confused at Shraal saying something without my approval. I flicked my tail in dismissal. ¡°He asked Nievtala a question I never did, though he got the same answer I would have.¡± Vefir bowed his head before firmly patting Brutus¡¯s arm several times. The huge khatif rolled his neck and worked his jaw before flaring his frills. Vefir took that as acknowledgement of his relative health and trotted off. As he did so, Sybil stepped closer. ¡°What you have done is quite interesting. I believe that this has the possibility of working with your other, more painful ability that you have been experimenting with. Are you willing to work with me on this, for I have several ideas.¡± A wide grin crossed my face, and I happily agreed to experiment with Sybil. Chapter 291 ¡°Stop!¡± Sybil cried out, blood trailing from her nostrils. I cursed as I jogged towards her and disregarded the aches and pains that coursed through my body with every step. [Spear of the Many] drew enough magical power from my ¡°true believers¡± that the single time I¡¯d pushed even a little harder with the disorienting hum I¡¯d just discovered, I¡¯d injured Sybil. She fell to her knees and then her side, gasping in pain. Before I could call for assistance, Etra stepped forward and, with Sakkit¡¯s assistance, tended to my stunned mate. After far too long, Sybil recovered enough to sit back up. She locked eyes with me before sighing. ¡°I believe we should not experiment with this new ability of yours while near others, myself included.¡± I cocked my head and looked at her. ¡°Yeah.¡± I answered, my attitude obvious. ¡°We have still learned good information, and there are yet more things to investigate. It would serve us well to continue to educate ourselves on our limitations. As you are the template and inspiration for the swarm as a whole, it behooves us to continue in probing your every limit.¡± ¡°Yes, it does ¡®behoove us¡¯.¡± I answered, my tone both tired and sardonic. ¡°I do not understand any of your frustrations¡± Sybil replied. ¡°If you were relying upon power that you can draw on from others, and only in that moment learned that members of the swarm can be too far away from you to offer their strength, then you would die. It is infinitely better for us to learn that somewhere from one mile away to five miles away is too far.¡± I flared my frills in agreement. ¡°Even so, I don¡¯t need to enjoy the continuous testing and wild ideas.¡± ¡°But why would you not?¡± Sybil¡¯s tone was flat, almost confused at the idea that someone wouldn¡¯t enjoy constant scientific inquiry and investigations. I waved the question away. ¡°Are you ok?¡± ¡°I am mostly recovered, and I have a different avenue of investigation to begin.¡± I needed to tamp down a childishly large portion of myself from complaining. With a deep breath, I conceded. ¡°Alright. What do you want me to try?¡± ¡°Much of what you do serves to heighten the volume of sound. Can you cause the opposite to happen?¡± All hesitation I¡¯d felt before was blown away by the novel idea. The first usage of the sonilphon had been to make something louder, and I¡¯d only ever settled on that as a direct option with my magic. But why wouldn¡¯t I be able to dampen or even silence something? My mind raced to understand what made a sound, how it could be made louder, and how it could be softened external to whatever was making the sound. The instinctual understanding I¡¯d gained of waves was far from scientific, and that drove Sybil crazy, but I preferred to feel it out. As a human, so much of Speaking relied on emotions and aligning yourself with what you were trying to do with your magic. Though I knew that the similarities between my sonilphon and the Veratocracy¡¯s Words of Power were minimal at most, I still felt like so much of magic boiled down to an instinctual closeness with the magic. Thus, I listened to sounds, felt them thrum across my scales, tickle my nostrils, and itch the insides of my ears. I imagined I could taste them filling my mouth, leaving my tongue. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. A louder sound wasn¡¯t longer, but instead broader. Taller. If I wanted to make something quieter, I¡¯d need to reduce its sound waves¡¯ size, to destabilize its strengths and break the individual waves down. This initial understanding got me excited enough to try the experiment, which I could see made Sybil smile. With a wry grin of my own, I turned to my willing assistant. ¡°Would you hum loudly, and as consistently as possible?¡± She didn¡¯t answer me with words, instead beginning to hum without an additional prompting. The sonic waves were gentle, though strong and forceful. As I visualized the sound, my heightened awareness made it feel like Sybil¡¯s voice pressed on my ears and shook my skull. With a thrum of my magic, I forced a spear of condensed sound through the waves that made Sybil¡¯s hum. A loud, sharp buzz cut through the ambient noise of the forest, leaving quiet in its wake. The comparative silence didn¡¯t last, though, Sybil¡¯s hum resuming mere moments after my initial ¡°attack¡±. Maybe that would work if I sustained the sound, but that wouldn¡¯t help anything. I tried again, and while my magical attempt made a different noise, it was far from successful at even dampening the humming or ambient sounds. After the third time, I felt like this couldn¡¯t work. Something about how the sonic waves traveled, or functioned simply couldn''t be reduced this way. Instead, I refocused on how sonic waves functioned. The larger and taller the waves, the louder. What if I mimicked the sound, but inversely? The concept seemed to make sense, and my magic and mind both seemed to whisper that it would work. Just as I began to hum a counteractive sound of my own, I truly opened my ears to the sounds that surrounded me. Sybil¡¯s hum, as soon as it left her nostrils, was no longer its own. Instead, it mixed with the buzzing of insects, chirping of birds, whispers of winds, and so much more. The variance and inconsistency of the sound immediately proved to me that I wouldn¡¯t be able to reliably cancel out individual sounds in any sort of a natural environment. I nearly gave up in that moment, but another thought crossed my mind, and as I pondered it, I raised a hand to Sybil to let her know she could cease. Though she fought to hide it, I saw her shoulders shudder as she fought to breathe regularly. I pondered over my inspiration for a time, long enough for Sybil to catch her breath, then asked, ¡°How do you cover a large group with your magic? How does your magic affect us?¡± ¡°I do not use my magic on you.¡± Sybil insisted. ¡°However, when applying my magic over a new herd or a troublesome pack within the swarm, I combine it with the natural inclinations of the mind to reflect a further, natural progression to the original emotion. Thus, a frightened, escaping oryx can be convinced to be frightened and cowering, then to becoming frightened and obedient, and finally merely to be obedient. I can expedite and speed this process as it is applied, but taking each of those steps in turn towards my final goal serves best to allow the mind to acclimate to the new normal. How does this apply to what you are attempting to do?¡± ¡°Initially, I was trying to destroy the sounds I didn¡¯t want.¡± I answered. ¡°That is not a surprise, that you would seek destruction of that which does not please you.¡± I bumped my hip into Sybil¡¯s, purposefully a bit harder than necessary. She took two steps away with a slight grin coloring her face. ¡°Yes, that is not surprising. Regardless, it was a foolish approach, since it would be so much simpler and wiser to dampen the noise instead of eliminate it entirely. Then, I realized that it could be that what you do¨C¡± ¡°--Is largely to dampen emotion.¡± Sybil flared her frills appreciatively. I was about to ask her to continue when Arwa began to howl, a sad, confused cry. Chapter 292 We will allow their tyranny no longer! That they dare to call us subhuman or half is an affront to Huldtar and Narsha¡¯at alike! Let us spill their blood and burn their bones! I will be the first to offer my life and my arm, now join me! -From the final address of Noonbright Teikhom We didn¡¯t hesitate to run towards the rest of the swarm to see what Arwa was so interested in. She, and the rest of the wolfstags, kept their noses to the air while sniffing deeply and curiously. Even so, they all gathered together and seemed to pull against the invisible constraints of their masters¡¯ commands to stay close. Sybil seemed to ask them to calm themselves, and they stopped stepping from one paw to the other, but they still looked at me for some measure of permission. Arwa, her antlers taller than my head but her eyes nearly a foot lower than mine, kept glancing between me and the nearby mountain. ¡°Any idea what¡¯s happening?¡± I asked Sybil, but she clicked her fangs together in denial. ¡°They smell others like them.¡± Joral inserted himself. ¡°Arwa seems to think that the one she smells¡¯ scent is much like that of these pups¡¯ sire.¡± ¡°Arwa.¡± I called, and she pulled herself away from her curiosity and strode closer to me. Even so, she whined and tossed her antlers in the direction of the scent. ¡°You smell others?¡± I asked, and she whined in response. After thinking about it for a moment, I sighed. ¡°We don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll lose this trail. They could be good for any number of reasons.¡± I rationalized before I commanded, ¡°Arwa. Go.¡± She didn¡¯t hesitate, lightning crackling along her legs and paws as she lunged into a sprint. All of her pups leapt to follow her, the faint thunderings of their magic accelerating them as the Wave Wolfstags stayed behind. Her steps were sure as she leapt up stones, every movement leading her to a goal she seemed to know instinctively. Joral bowed his head before he leapt to follow her on her path. He wasn¡¯t nearly so surefooted, but each of his steps stretched higher and further than the last. Somehow, his gait seemed suited to continuously scaling slopes, and he was able to slowly gain on the excited wolfstag. It wasn¡¯t long before I lost their silhouettes in the shadows of the forest, but occasional explosions of birds leaping into flight alerted us to the passage of a dozen excited wolfstags. The forgotten Wave Wolfstags looked at their companions, one male seeming to mourn their departure. I turned to Sybil and asked, ¡°Do you think you should follow them?¡± ¡°No.¡± She answered. ¡°I believe that, if she is able to subjugate them, then they will follow her. If she cannot, perhaps she will find another opportunity to merge them into our flock. If that never occurs, then she was too weak.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! I flared my frills and moved on from the subject. There would probably be something at least somewhat like a wolfstag here in the Shandise, but if they were to join with the swarm, we¡¯d have to figure out how to feed them as well. Keeping as many carnivores as were already in the swarm fed was already a logistical nightmare, and as the swarm grew so too would the demands for more flesh to feast on. Adding more predators to the swarm seemed to be a fool¡¯s choice to me, but I did find some small solace in the suggestion that there could be plants that we could use to supplement our diet nearby. A large part of me wished to continue to experiment with my magic, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to indulge at this time while the swarm needed to continue moving. The herds were happily resting and feeding on the lush green grasses that covered the rolling hills, but we couldn¡¯t expect to stay here for too long. Nievtra still called me, though I didn¡¯t know exactly where it was. With a sigh, I let out the trumpeting call that let the swarm know we were beginning to move out. Oryx bleats and oxfiend moos combined with the hyena shrieks of disagreement to ring out in earnest complaint, but the swarm and the Kou¡¯Tal got them moving before too long. We continued moving, and I quickly realized that especially the oxfiends would need to be guided to find a much flatter crossing through the Shandise. Even on these rolling, gentle hills, the oxfiends struggled to carry their ponderous mass up the slope. The few times a steeper obstacle presented itself, the entirety of the herd of hundreds of oxfiends skirted widely around it. No boulder was overstepped, and not a riverbed was challenged. The oxfiends would rather travel three times as far to avoid even the most minimal changes in elevation. Though the vast majority of our scouts and hunters had been sent to seek out the nearest prey or any other useful thing to be found nearby, I sent off the few that remained, as well as plenty of the Kha¡¯Tal rank and file. With their guidance, we found the most effective path forward we could, though even still the oxfiends were occasionally forced to put more effort into their continued journey. Each step forward, I felt the strange familiarity of the mountains settle over me, and I gloried in the scents, the air, the hills, and the sights. The mountains¡¯ sharp cliffs colored by the hardy greenery was something previously so foreign to me yet their beauty found me occasionally lost in thought observing the peaks. That the peaks could touch the clouds brought a smile of wonder to my face, and each step I took carried an additional bounce that I¡¯d never expected before. The Martanimis jungles were beautiful and I¡¯d loved my time there as a human and keelish alike, but there was something about these mountains that almost divinely settled into my soul. Though she couldn¡¯t seem to communicate more obviously to me at this time, I still felt Nievtala¡¯s happiness. She knew this land, and was pleased we¡¯d made it. With her approval radiating from within me, I continued my journey onward. Trai, who had been scouting out ahead with those from her pack, ran up to me. ¡°What is it, little one?¡± I asked, trepidation beginning to claw at my throat. ¡°There¡¯s so many interesting new things here!¡± She replied without answering. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen trees like this before. I don¡¯t really remember the ones from where I hatched, but I feel like these ones are still different. But they¡¯re nice! And I like the birds¡¯ singing. It¡¯s pretty.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great, Trai.¡± I replied, fighting to keep my tone level. ¡°Why did you come back to me so quickly?¡± ¡°Ohhhhh. Yeah. Dad says he found something you might be interested in.¡± Chapter 293 I didn¡¯t allow myself to express the frustration I felt as I demanded that the flighty child take me to her father. Sybil immediately understood my intent when I glanced at her and so she turned to continue directing the swarm in my absence. Her competence and trust made me grin widely as I jogged behind Trai towards whatever it was that Foire found so interesting. The hills quickly transitioned to mountains underfoot as I followed her. My claws dug easily into the firm earth underfoot and gave me leverage for each step I ascended. The air was clear and clean in my lungs, and I enjoyed the feeling of exertion. Before long, though, we stopped ascending and instead followed along a long ridge of stone that divided the forests from the sparse tree growth in the steeper mountains. Along the ridge, we could see much further, beyond just the peak that climbed ahead of us. Below, the thick forest teemed with foreign life, life that seemed to beg for us to rely on it for our survival. It took a force of will for me to drag my attention from the flitting creatures within the branches below and instead to focus on the path that laid ahead. Maybe a mile and a half from the main body of the swarm, Foire stood before a hole in the ground. My first thought was that the hole must have been for some rodent or other small prey animal, but something about the hole seemed to communicate the presence of a more dangerous creature. I continued to observe it as I approached and just before we reached Foire, I realized what it was¨Cthere were signs of struggle leading into and around the entrance of the den. Deep scores in the earth from desperately clawing prey marked this as the dwelling of a hunter. ¡°It smells off here. Whatever lives here has a different smell from anything else we¡¯ve ever encountered.¡± Foire simply said as I stepped next to him. ¡°In what way?¡± ¡°Not like a reptile or mammal or bird, or anything else. It¡¯s just¡­ different. I can¡¯t place it, but it¡¯s a distinct, strange smell.¡± I lowered my snout to the ground and breathed deep to no avail. A hint of a scent slightly jumped out to me, but I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to recall it or find it anywhere else without guidance. ¡°I¡¯ll trust you on it. Do you smell it, Trai?¡± ¡°Nope! Dad smells things better than anyone but Silf, though, so I just believe him.¡± ¡°Slight scent of prey down there too.¡± Foire added. ¡°Something with fur.¡± I flared my frills in acknowledgement while I watched the hole. Then, I realized how I¡¯d already kept myself from learning as much as possible, and instead focused myself instead on my [Tremorsense]. My own shifting feet as well as Trai¡¯s constant movement were the first things I could feel, but I quickly tuned them out. Foire¡¯s mostly still stance didn¡¯t draw my attention, and I pushed my sense deeper into the den underfoot. Before long, I felt the light skittering of industrious feet below us. I¡¯d never felt anything quite like it before, but I wasn¡¯t altogether too concerned, given that I hadn¡¯t seen anything around here before. Then, the feet approached. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Whatever it is, they¡¯re coming. Be ready.¡± I commanded, and Foire stepped to one side of the hole while Trai faced him, ready for whatever came out. Between them both, I held both hands at the ready, my fingers bound together by their specialized scales and muscles. Then, it exited the den. Two foot-long antennae poked out of the hole, inquisitively poking left and right as the bulbous head exited the colony. The clusters of eyes on each side of the creature¡¯s head shone in the afternoon suns¡¯ dying light, and the huge ant stepped out of the den. Its head was maybe a full foot in diameter, and the body that came out behind it was nearly three times that. The massive bug¡¯s mandibles clicked together curiously as it seemed to investigate us, but it wasn¡¯t long before it made its decision. Its six legs churned beneath it as it lunged at me, mandibles wide open and ready to snap. I didn¡¯t let it. My left hand, pointed like a knife, stabbed true into its chitin. With that first thrust, my claws poked out of the bottom of its head, and though it twitched and its jaws still sought my flesh, it was dead. I shook my hand to the side, and the body flopped to the ground with a strangely hefty thud. Before I fell into a more complacent stance, though, I felt dozens and hundreds more feet rushing towards us. ¡°Brace yourselves!¡± was all I managed to shout before another head exploded out of the hole. No sooner than Foire had snapped the head from its torso did another ant lunge forward. Trai darted forward with both her hands and ripped another head from its body, but in that ant¡¯s place rose two, then three at the same. Faster than we could kill the unnaturally large insects, more flooded from their home. [Tremorsense] warned me that there was no chance of a quick resolution to this combat, with hundreds more feet rushing to our location. Tens of ant bodies surrounded us before Foire took the first bite. He grunted with pain as an ant¡¯s mandibles crunched through the bones in his tail. Blood fell to the ground in a heavy rain below him, and the ants continued swarming. Another reached for my ankle, and I sacrificed instead a painful strike on the thicker bone of my knee. My scales cracked and my bones screamed in protest, but the bone held true under the attack. Knowing that our time was limited, I shouted for both the other keelish to escape. Trai didn¡¯t hesitate, while Foire haltingly beat a retreat. His steps left a trail of blood, but he did retreat while I gathered a painfully large percentage of the sonic magic held in my sonilphon to my throat. A dozen more ant maws came snapping for me, and I sent most of the rest of my magic to the tip of my tail while I continued to compress the magic within my throat. Once my tail began quivering with magical potential, I spun in a quick circle. The mass of my tail could already send the much smaller insects flying, but with [Destructive Wave] empowering my heavy tail as it smashed into chitin, ants¡¯ bodies crumpled and exploded at first contact. With a small gap around me, I lunged forward and, knowing the risk I was taking, placed my snout just in front of the entrance to the ants¡¯ home. I saw another set of flashing mandibles reaching for my face, but I released the compressed [Murderous Melody] from my maw and blasted the would-be attacker back into his home. A quaking wave of sound thrummed through the ground underfoot, and I felt hundreds of ant bodies fall to the ground either stunned or dead with my sonic attack. Those still living aboveground, however, pressed the attack, though they were slightly off balance with my latest attack. I took another bite, this one to my tail, before I was able to extricate myself from the press of another twenty or so ants. Trai and Foire both retreated with several ant bodies in each arm, and I took two in my mouth while I scooped a double armful of other corpses in my escape. None of us needed instructions to make our escape, though the sounds of ant mandibles and feet didn¡¯t disappear from behind us as I disregarded the [System] notification that flashed in the corner of my eye. Chapter 294 [Joral POV] These mountains smelled like possibility to Joral. Whenever he talked like that to any of the rest of the swarm, they couldn¡¯t understand him, but since he was alone right now, he allowed himself to indulge in the strange thoughts. There was so much here that nobody knew anything about, and Joral could feel it in his tail that there were dozens of things here that would help the swarm. He would be there, leading everyone to another discovery, something that would help the swarm. He could feel the True Alpha¡¯s approval, and his imagination ran wild for a time. ¡°I¡¯m proud of you, Joral.¡± Ashlani would say. ¡°You¡¯ve found something I never thought of.¡± ¡°Well, it wasn¡¯t too difficult.¡± Joral replied. ¡°Are you saying I¡¯m not too smart?¡± Ashlani retorted. ¡°No, never! I just¨C¡± Joral cut himself off, seeing the smile in Ashlani¡¯s eyes. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I just enjoy teasing you.¡± Ashlani said ¡°You¡¯re a good member of my elites. I respect the way you¡¯ve changed, and I look forward to your future.¡± Even within the bounds of his imagination, Joral knew that went too far. The Alpha of the swarm wasn¡¯t a teasing apologetic weakling. Instead, he was powerful of mind and spirit, demanding but understanding, a strong leader who never doubted and led continuously. The more time that Joral spent observing Ashlani, the more he understood that the Alpha was to be respected. When he was a fresh hatchling, he¡¯d felt like Ashlani had robbed him of opportunities to lead his brood, but the more he grew, the less he regretted that. Joral didn¡¯t enjoy being the leader of a pack, though he did enjoy being the primary caretaker of the herds. Now that he was the Alpha Kou¡¯Tal (though he wasn¡¯t sure if Alpha was even nearly the correct term for it), Joral was the leader of all the Kou¡¯Tal, disregarding how the Alpha remained the true leader of the swarm. Though there were some expectations for how he was to guide his subordinates and control the herds, Joral didn¡¯t need to make the big decisions. He just needed to guide these lesser creatures to continue following the swarm as a whole. Which led him to where he was. Arwa was convinced her old mate was somewhere nearby. Though Joral had tried to convince her that he was long dead, she refused to pay heed once she¡¯d been given permission from Ashlani. Frustrating though it was, the True Alpha remained in charge and Joral would never question that. So Arwa led her pups and Joral on a merry chase up the slopes of the mountains the True Alpha called the Shandise. The scent that the wolfstags followed seemed to lead nearly all the way to the peak of the mountain, and the minutes passed by with only the sound of running feet and heavy breathing accompanying their passage. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Joral found that he quickly outpaced every one of the wolfstags, his steps carrying him easily up soft slopes and his claws finding effortless purchase in stony cliffs. Where the wolfstags needed to loop around and search for alternative routes, he merely continued his path. He let a wide grin cross his face as he stood on a large boulder, watching the wolfstags make their less efficient approach. Arwa shot a grumpy look at him as they caught up, her chest heaving with labored breaths. ¡°Not my fault you¡¯re slower than me! Should have been a keelish instead!¡± Joral laughed at the massive beast as he hopped down from his perch. She merely snarled weakly at him as she fought to catch her breath. He flicked her ear and snarled back. She frequently tested him, though he could tell this wasn¡¯t a test so much as an expression of her frustration. Even so, Joral couldn¡¯t let her ever think she was even an equal to him. He wasn¡¯t sure why he knew that, or why he was so adamant on ensuring that Arwa never thought herself to be a companion to him. Even so, Joral generally trusted in his instincts and wrestled the dominant female¡¯s head down towards the ground. Though she¡¯d suffered more than him in the journey, Joral too felt his legs shiver with exhaustion as he grabbed the base of Arwa¡¯s antlers and shook her head back and forth. She tried to bite out, go fight back, but he held her back and it wasn¡¯t long before she stopped fighting back and flopped tiredly to the ground. There, Joral scratched at her ears and base of her antlers while rubbing her side with his other hand. The wolfstag¡¯s tail whapped against the ground repeatedly as she wagged her tail in tired acceptance. ¡°Good girl.¡± He said as he rose to his feet while commanding with a couple stronger pats on Arwa¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Let¡¯s keep going.¡± The rest of the pack continued to pant but did stand up and prepared themselves to continue their journey. The younger wolfstags, though they followed Arwa¡¯s every command without complaint or hesitation, obviously weren¡¯t quite sure what their mother was following. Their journey continued, the suns above orbiting the primary sun as they descended towards the horizon over the plains where the indlovu lived. Looking back, the golden fields and gentle hills seemed to swim with life, a herd of some creature he couldn¡¯t place from so far away slowly traveling onward. Ripping his attention from looking at their past, though, were the wolfstags. All the pups perked up and began to rush forward faster than before. Joral supposed they¡¯d finally found the scent or some other trail of whatever they were actually following and hurried to follow. Before long, he heard what the younger wolfstags decided to seek and slowed his rush. The faint lapping of water on a shore greeted him and as they turned a corner around a steeper shelf of stone, a beautiful pond greeted them. Clear water surrounded by patches of flowers with nothing growing in the pond itself, and the wolfstags threw themselves into the water, chest-deep and drinking deeply. The pond was maybe 150 feet across and half that wide, and all the creatures that¡¯d accompanied Joral indulged in drinking freely. Seeing every wolfstag accounted for and happily drinking, Joral lowered his head and drank deeply from the water. It was cool and clean, the clear water soothing the slight irritation in his throat from so long running and walking through the mountains without drink. Pacing himself, he pulled his face out of the water and looked at the wolfstags, just in time to see Arwa lunging away from the rest and into the surrounding forest with a growl. Chapter 295 The ants made for a crunchy, but somehow still slimy meal. I couldn¡¯t say why it was that the texture of a giant ant wasn¡¯t to my liking, but it wasn¡¯t. Fortunately enough, plenty of the rest of the swarm were happy and willing to eat whatever was put in front of them. A couple of the unprepared found a chunk of chitin slicing uncomfortably into the soft parts of their mouths, but, for the most part, the swarm enjoyed the entirely edible creatures. ¡°If we are to hunt those things reliably, we¡¯ll need to have Solia, Ytte, or yourself with us.¡± stated Foire. ¡°There needs to be some protective measure that the hunters can take for the hunters to disengage.¡± ¡°What is this new prey?¡± interjected Took, who had returned from her hunt with another of the large furry things that looked like a nanuk. Her scouting had returned news of several things that could be potential prey, but she¡¯d held herself and her hunters back from hunting them. Her rationale had been that there was no need to upset the balance of the current inhabitants of this land. Her instincts, or my own fears, had rubbed off on her, and she¡¯d ensured that only a peak, or nearly peak predator had been hunted. The prey animals could flourish that way, and provide more plentiful hunting grounds for us. With that said, she poked curiously at one of the more intact corpses in front of us. ¡°It¡¯s a giant ant.¡± Foire responded. ¡°Did you ever notice them in the jungles where we were born? Or in our travels through the land until we reached here?¡± The massive Huntmaster merely flicked her tail. ¡°I don¡¯t observe little creatures like that. They serve no purpose for the hunt.¡± ¡°Now they do.¡± Foire replied. ¡°There were hundreds of them there, and though their bites posed some little threat, they¡¯re only about as threatening as one of the weakest keelish we¡¯ve ever interacted with. Even the least impressive still in the swarm now are stronger than they were.¡± ¡°They¡¯re bitey, but fun!¡± Trai literally jumped in between them. ¡°We needed to keep moving, cause they¡¯re pretty quick and there¡¯s so many of them. Hard to make sure they¡¯re dead, because once I cut through a head and it still tried to bite me a couple times!¡± ¡°And there were hundreds of them?¡± Took asked, her eyes searching the peak of the mountain as if she could lay eye on a new hunting ground. ¡°That we saw.¡± I confirmed. ¡°I could feel hundreds more underground, so with a prepared force, there could be a good hunt brought back to the swarm.¡± Took flared her frills appreciatively and bent down to take a bite. With a resounding crunch and crack, she tore the bottommost segment of the ant¡¯s body free and, with three quick snaps of her jaws, she swallowed it down. ¡°I prefer it to going hungry.¡± She responded. ¡°True enough.¡± I laughed. ¡°We¡¯ll take note of their den. We¡¯ll return to this place and see if there are any more places where we can find more prey like this near to where we make our home.¡± I flared my frills in agreement and rolled my shoulders. After having made him heal me and others so many times today already, I¡¯d denied Vefir¡¯s ministrations. Though my knee ached, it was far from wounded, and I instead walked with a slight falter. The suns were setting behind us, and I¡¯d already given the order for the Kou¡¯Tal shepherds to lead the herds to a safe location where they could drink. In the savannahs of the indlovu lands, water had been difficult to find, while the Shandise were green with nearly omnipresent water, though it wasn¡¯t always easy to find in a drinkable state. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Even so, it wasn¡¯t long before a steady stream was found, and the oxfiends, oryx, hyenas, and axebeaks were drinking deeply. Downhill, the water noticeably flowed more slowly, but I couldn¡¯t consider this to be contrary to the natural order of the lands. If a stream couldn¡¯t feed the lands downstream after a single herd drank from them, then I would need to learn a lot more about how keeping a land alive worked. Admittedly, I knew next to nothing, but I couldn¡¯t imagine that drinking our fill would kill everything nearby. I shook my head, and from it all my idle concerns about drinking too much water. The oxfiends, oryx, and axebeaks settled down to feast happily, but the hyenas grew antsy as prey creatures laid down nearby while they were still hungry. When I was about to acknowledge the still flashing [System] notifications, I saw a khatif approach the hyenas. The Kou¡¯Tal forced the predators as well as the nervous prey to calm themselves while the Kha¡¯Tal strode throughout the keelish and the rest of the swarm. This ¡°lowest¡± caste of khatif were the most industrious of the whole species, and I quickly realized that my categorization of them was wildly incorrect. Though the Kha¡¯Tal were the weakest and least specialized of all the castes, they seemed to have some measure of inborn desire to take care of much of the minutiae of the swarm. When an oxfiend member of the herd was merely upset but didn¡¯t need the firm hand of a Kou¡¯Tal, a Kha¡¯Tal khatif would spend time with him and rub his ears or play with it enough to calm it entirely. When a Sik¡¯Tal hunter returned from the hunt and didn¡¯t need a magical healer¡¯s ministrations, a Kha¡¯Tal khatif would take over the additional duties of the Sik¡¯Tal to allow them that necessary extra rest. If one of my Hak¡¯Tal warrior guards remained guarding an objective for the whole day, a Kha¡¯Tal would ensure that they were brought a meal. When one of the Kha¡¯Tal, one whose name I couldn¡¯t remember, walked past, I called out to her. She perked up and approached me, her head bowed respectfully but her steps steady. ¡°Yes, Swarm Alpha?¡± ¡°Who guides you Kha¡¯Tal?¡± ¡°You do, of course¡­?¡± She cocked her head at my question. ¡°Of course. However, who coordinates all of your actions? How do you know where to go and when? Who decides who is assigned which task?¡± ¡°We simply work together.¡± She answered. ¡°Just as the Sik¡¯Tal hunt and the Kou¡¯Tal guide the herds, just as the Hak¡¯Tal protect and the Sou¡¯Tal lead, we support. When we see that there is something that needs to be done, we do it. We cannot do what you all can, so we do what you do not.¡± I flared my frills in acknowledgement of the sentiment. ¡°Thank you. What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°I am Basit.¡± She replied with another bow of her head. How fitting that her name meant ¡°simple¡±. Unassuming, and powerful. ¡°Thank you, Basit. I can¡¯t believe that it¡¯s taken me this long to realize how important you and those of your caste are.¡± I refused to apologize, but the sentiment was there. ¡°Our place isn¡¯t in your eyes. It¡¯s wherever we need to be, and seen isn¡¯t one of those.¡± She smiled and bowed her head. Even so, she waited for my dismissal. When I gave it, whatever she was going to do was apparently already being taken care of by another of her caste, and instead she walked in another direction, her steps purposeful and energetic. As I watched her go, I felt a certain sense of understanding flow through me. It wasn¡¯t too far off of the divine presence of Speaking of the Nievtala¡¯s Phrases, but it instead informed me somewhat of how the Words of Power influenced my people. While I mused over the meaning of the enlightenment I¡¯d received, I heard Arwa¡¯s approach. She snarled much more than usual, and I stood tall to watch her approach, my thoughts somewhat confused as I noted the change in her pack. Joral flicked his tail in a certain resignation as dozens of wolfstags nervously walked towards the swarm. Chapter 296 Contrary to any of my expectations, the excited Arwa who¡¯d left instead returned despondent. She curled up at my feet and quietly whimpered as the dozens of wolfstags, new and old alike, gathered around her. Before, a mere nine Voltaic Wolfstags resided within my swarm, but now more than three dozen surrounded me while the Wave Wolfstags came to investigate the newest ¡°recruits¡±. My initial thought was that these new thirty or so wolfstags were also Voltaic, but it didn¡¯t take too long for me to realize the subservience that the newcomers displayed to Arwa and every one of her pups. Mistral, then. I looked up at Joral, and he flicked his tail before he responded. ¡°She was looking for them, seemed to recognize the scent or something. Then, once she found them, she pretty quickly realized that what she was looking for wasn¡¯t there. Once she realized that, she didn¡¯t want to keep going and led us all back to the swarm. Nothing else noteworthy in the trip itself, but when we got near the peak of the mountain, I could see a lot further. It looks like there¡¯s a pass between mountains just a couple miles north.¡± I flared my frills appreciatively. Joral nodded in acceptance before walking off. His steps invariably carried him towards the herds, and, remembering Basit, I noted his dedication as he did so. ¡°Thank you, Joral. For keeping an eye on the wolfstags, and for so willingly stepping into your role as the leader of the Kou¡¯Tal. I appreciate it.¡± The scales along his neck jittered slightly at the praise, and he, without turning around, replied, ¡°Of course, Alpha.¡± Before long, every member of the swarm still beyond the immediate sight of the rest returned. A strangely furred deer as well as a large hog were all that were brought back, but most of the swarm lived by my own way by now¨Ca single meal a day was sufficient to keep alive. Thus, those who hadn¡¯t yet eaten, or those unwilling to go a day without, were able to eat a meal. I personally indulged in [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude], relishing the faint sense of closeness to Nievtala that was strengthened by using the [Skill]. When I¡¯d first gained it, [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude] was a literal godsend, allowing the swarm to continue on our flight from the Veratocracy¡¯s lands. Those of us who had gained the [Skill], Foire, Sybil, Took, and Vefir, didn¡¯t require so much food as most of the rest of the swarm, and for the first time in quite a while, I returned to look at the [Skill¡¯s] description once more. [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude; a Skill with passive and active properties. When passive, Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude facilitates and reinforces the Skill holder¡¯s rate of recovery while giving a 10% reduction to the cost of using Skills. When active, Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude blesses the Skill holder with a feeling of satiety and a nearly bottomless well of stamina. The duration and profundity of the Skill¡¯s active effects are directly correlated to the depth of the connection between the Skill holder and the object of their devotion. As the Skill Holder is the sole Disciple of Nievtala in the world and is the most highly ranked of all of Nievtala¡¯s followers currently alive, there is a static 50% boost to the Skill¡¯s effects. In addition, if there are five or more Skill holders in the same area who are using the Skill¡¯s effects at the same time, the Skill¡¯s effects will become an aura whose area of effect is directly correlated to the depth of the connection between the Skill holder and the object of their devotion. As the Skill Holder is the sole Disciples of Nievtala in the world and is the most highly ranked of all of Nievtala¡¯s followers currently alive, and those around the user are the most highly ranked devotees of Nievtala, the aura that the user projects when using the active effects of the Skill in tandem with those devotees around the user is: 84 ft. This Skill can evolve. Evolutionary requirements hidden.] This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I¡¯d long since considered the [Skill] merely one that would help me to feel less hungry, but, disregarding the increase on the active aura¡¯s range¡¯s increase, I now recalled the other effects. This [Skill] was sure to be a large part of the reason for why I was able to continue practicing [Spear of the Many] so frequently without permanently damaging myself, or why my sonilphon was able to replenish itself so quickly. Sybil¡¯s nuzzling at the base of my neck startled me from my musing reverie. I whirled to look her in the face, and she grinned up at me. I sighed and, after walking to where they¡¯d been unceremoniously dumped, settled onto the furs that we¡¯d gradually gathered throughout our journey. My scales itched for a good sand bath, but there wasn¡¯t any true sand to be found, at least not yet. Even so, I didn¡¯t doubt we¡¯d find some eventually. ¡°Do you believe that we are close to our home?¡± Sybil murmured as we lay to sleep. ¡°I do not know how much longer we can keep the most excited in check.¡± I bristled at the suggestion of disobedience. ¡°We will ensure they follow their betters.¡± My mate merely bit at my nose in protest of my extreme reaction. I toned my rage down and gave a more complete answer. ¡°We¡¯re in the general area. Hopefully, we¡¯ll find the city¡¯s ruins before too long, but I can¡¯t say for sure. Ideally, Nievtala would tell us exactly where to go from here, but I feel like she isn¡¯t allowed to.¡± I¡¯d long since explained the idea of limits placed on the Administrator and Nievtala to Sybil. ¡°Then I suppose we will be forced to continue to search. I¡¯m sure Ytte especially will rejoice once our home is located and she can cease dragging that stone with her every step of the way.¡± ¡°She has been remarkably dedicated to it.¡± I agreed. ¡°It¡¯s almost hard to picture her without it at this point.¡± Sybil and I spoke for a short time after, though both of us quickly succumbed to sleep. For the first time in a while, I dreamed vivid dreams. Though I¡¯d never scaled these mountains, I could see the Shandise from above. Their peaks glistened white in the light, shiny and strange. The clouds impeded my view, but only for a time. The suns seemed to purposefully flare and burn the cover away, giving me a clear view. Though I couldn¡¯t say where my swarm could be at the moment, I felt I knew the small valley we were currently resting in. Then, without thinking of anything specific, I began soaring. The clouds wet my face, and moisture collected on my scales before dripping down my body and off my tail. Faster and faster my body flew what I somehow knew to be north. Peak after peak passed me, and I weaved between them again and again as I followed my instincts. Finally, after what felt to be a lifetime, I saw a single towering structure halfway up a mountain. Crumbling walls surrounded it, and then¨C I woke. The barest hint of what I believed to be the ruins of Nievtra, then they were taken from me. Overhead, the sky glittered with only the light of the stars. There was no hint of sunsrise or even the moon. Just the night and me. I fought to reclaim sleep or my vision, but nothing came to me. Instead, I closed my eyes and tried to reexperience the joys of flight while somehow forgetting the flashing notification in the corner of my eye. Chapter 297 I finally gave up on any more sleep about the same time the suns rose. Many of the Kha¡¯Tal rose and tended to the myriad tasks that I¡¯d forgotten needed to be done, such as tending to the young in the herds, discarding any refuse acquired through the night, and deliberately creating enough noise near the other members of the swarm to help them start to wake. As I continued to observe, the swarm ¡°organically¡± woke, many of the Alphas rousing their packs once they themselves were roused. Screeches of all sorts filled the air, and again I was struck by the quiet importance and efficiency the Kha¡¯Tal exhibited. The swarm prepared itself, and like a single large body, each part completed its task. The Kou¡¯Tal guided the herds into movement, north towards the pass Joral had seen in the mountains the day before. The Sik¡¯Tal ranged to the south to search for more prey that would be out of our grasp for the immediate future while the Hak¡¯Tal kept a close eye on the edges of the herds and the swarm. Nothing could approach under their watch, and the Sou¡¯Tal, under Sybil¡¯s guidance, guided each section of the swarm. All the while, the Kha¡¯Tal quietly stepped into wherever they thought they were needed. A broad smile covered my face as I watched my swarm organize themselves mostly without my input. I¡¯d created this, guided much of each step, and I could see the benefits of extending trust to each caste in their place. Different from humans, our stations and desires mandated our form, evolution, and caste, with [Evolutionary Exemplar] allowing me to help expedite growth. Following the khatif were the nearly one thousand keelish, and though some remained willful, the vast majority of the keelish happily followed any khatif¡¯s command. The hundred or so khatif led the lower keelish, and their presence assisted in the growth of their followers. While I thought of as much and was about to finally address my [System] notification, a question occurred to me, and I asked the Administrator as much. ¡°So many of my swarm¡¯s members¡¯ evolution to khatif has been much simpler than my own seemed to have been. I never would have figured out how to evolve [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] without the [System]. I can¡¯t say I ever would have become khatif without the [System], so while I¡¯m helping out the swarm with my [Skills], I don¡¯t get how so many of them have become khatif so much more easily than I did.¡± [The Administrator laughs. I¡¯m surprised that it¡¯s taken you this long to ask, little fang. There is much more to it than I¡¯m going to explain, but your own evolution is a large portion of the reason for which your subordinates¡¯ evolutions are simplified. You are on the path to qualify for the Title: Progenitor. I cannot explain to you at this time exactly what the requirements or the benefits of gaining the Title are, but you are about 95% of the way there already. Having the Title will allow at least half of your khatif to immediately evolve to Keel alongside you, if you have the Title at the time of your own evolution. Regardless of when you will acquire the Title, your progress towards acquiring it has allowed many of your subordinates to evolve more easily than you have. Consider yourself to have carved the path of evolution to khatif and in the process of preparing the path towards Keel.] Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. It was such a hefty response that I expected her to get cut off from speaking at any second, but the words continued to come until the explanation had come in full. I couldn¡¯t help but ask again, ¡°How close was that to getting you silenced?¡± [A certain smugness colors the Administrator¡¯s words. Not at all. You know what Titles are as you have several, you know generally how one can acquire a Title, and you asked a specific question that is well within my jurisdiction to answer. I could give as much information as I did largely because much of it was already given to you. I simply collated it for your ease of understanding. The only new information I gave you was the name of a Title you perhaps stand to gain. In the eyes of the System, this is very little.] ¡°Thank you.¡± I audibly addressed the Administrator while mulling over the current turn of events. All good information, and I was glad to have it, though the Administrator seemed to think that I already had been given all of it before. I didn¡¯t worry over it for much longer, and instead called for Solia. She approached me quickly, her face eager. ¡°What is it, Alpha? What can I do for you?¡± ¡°Did you hear about the giant ants that Foire, Trai, and I found yesterday?¡± ¡°Nothing substantial, just that they existed. I didn¡¯t pay much attention to it, to be honest.¡± ¡°They¡¯re about this big,¡± I said, holding my hands three feet or so apart, ¡°and not too dangerous by themselves, but there¡¯s hundreds of them. You¡¯re one of the few members of the swarm who can make sure that the hunt ends successfully.¡± When I said so, Solia perked up even more and grinned widely. ¡°My magic?¡± ¡°Your magic. Gather a pack to go with you, at least ten, and take Trai or Foire with you. Visit the nest we found yesterday, and prepare yourself to torch the exit after twenty or so of the ants come out. Kill the twenty, bring their bodies back. If twenty isn¡¯t too much to carry, hunt some more and bring them.¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha.¡± Solia bowed her head and whirled to gather a troop to follow my command. Before long, Trai and most of her pack of newly adult keelish led Solia towards the colony of insects. A faint tremor of nervousness ran down my back for a moment, but I quickly stamped it out. They would learn, and if some of them were injured or even died because of their foolishness, then that would be the price to pay for knowledge. Keelish, khatif, and Keel would prove themselves in battle, from the weakest hatchling to the greatest Zak¡¯Tal. As I thought as much, again the feeling of nearly Speaking the Words of Power settled over me. This time, the direct analogue to the First of the Phrases of the Words was obvious¨C¡±Through the flaming crucible of war are we refined and through the quenching in the blood of our foes are we strengthened.¡± For too long, the swarm had been forced to remain as a single great mass, but it prevented the weakest and youngest from tempering themselves in the heat of true battle. I raised a hand to them as one glanced back, and he gestured for the rest to look as well. If this was to be the last time I saw any of them, I would accept it. They turned and resumed their rush up the mountain, excitedly jabbering at each other as they rushed. I continued my own path forward, leading the swarm to the pass to the other side of the mountains. More lands to explore, more paths to walk, and more life to lead lay ahead, and I¡¯d been reassured by the Administrator that I was well on my path. Finally, it was time to look more deeply at my [Status] notifications. Chapter 298 Going through the pass was uneventful, though the hunters continued to report new creatures spotted throughout the day. Something like a wolfstag without horns but small and orange was a favorite of the Sik¡¯Tal, and those who managed to lay eye on one considered it to be a lucky sign. After the little wolves¡¯ designation as a lucky sight, none of the hunters were willing to hunt one, and I opened my [System] notifications. [Quest complete. Growth achieved. New Quest acquired.] Of course. After killing the ants, I¡¯d progressed my Quest that¡¯d been teetering on the cusp of completion already. I opened my [Status]. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha Titles: Disciple of Nievtala Killer of Redael Fahvalo of the Moonchildren Current quests: -Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic, +6. Progress: Oxfiend Bull Paragon, Indlovu Hunter, Indlovan Oryx, Hyena, Gargantuan Ant Soldier. NEW QUEST: Hunt 6 new species. Reward will vary depending on the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. -Subjugate or otherwise conquer a community of at least 1000 individuals. Base reward: Constitution +7, Strength, Agility +8, Intelligence +10, Magic +9. Possibility of additional rewards for greater difficulty. -Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. Stats: -Constitution: 160+6+6+12+2+3+2=191 -Strength: 175+6+8+14+3+4+3=213 -Agility: 167+6+3+4+6+5+4=195 -Intelligence: 160+6+3+10+4+4+2=189 -Magic: 195+6+0+9+0+0+0=210 Skills: Nemesis: 0/5 Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust: 2/4 (Imperial Bearing, Nemesis) Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke: 1/5 Evolutionary Exemplar (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude: Unqualified If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Perpetual Sonilphon: (Cannot Evolve) -Murderous Melody: (Cannot Evolve) -Disastrous Discourse: (Cannot Evolve) -Innervating Address: 0/1 -Nurturing Enunciation: 22/50 -Destructive Wave (Cannot Evolve) Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve) Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Pack Tactics: 7/10 Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve) Raptor¡¯s Eyes (Cannot Evolve) Spear of the Many (Cannot Evolve) Tremorsense (Cannot Evolve) Absolute Dominance: 0/1 Victor¡¯s Spoils (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Possibilities -Sonic Keel Zak¡¯Tal: Requirements; Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1 Have a Swarm Leader level race. Completed. -Khatif Heretic: Requirements; Learn how to bend the world¡¯s governing laws and compel the divine to follow your will. Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] A small part of me mourned seeing my Agility sitting near the bottom of my stats, given its previously long-held position as my highest, but as I recognized my Intelligence was my lowest, I stopped caring quite so much about the arbitrary numbers beside the stats. Instead, I looked closer at the consistently the same returning [Quest] as well as my lengthening [Skill] list. Now that I¡¯d more or less publicized my ability to speak with a goddess, I didn¡¯t hesitate to ask the Administrator questions aloud. ¡°Is everything so incentivized to kill things as I am? I don¡¯t feel like hunting things as a human ever made me stronger.¡± [No, keelish are one of the few ¡°monstrous¡± races whose Systemic path is also one of conquest and dominance. Leviathans, wherever they are found, are not concerned with hunting, though they are ¡°monstrous¡±. Humans are ¡°people¡±, and their Systemic path is¡­ unique. I cannot share more.] ¡°And what makes a race monstrous or people?¡± [The ever arbitrary and inscrutable System, I¡¯m afraid. Keelish and khatif are ¡°monstrous¡±, while Keel are ¡°people¡±. All Moonchildren and Sunkindred are ¡°people¡± while Beastkin, Indlovu, and Misti Hawar are ¡°monstrous¡±. You¡¯ll experience no small amount of changes in your System when that time comes, but I, again, cannot share more.] ¡°Then will my constant ¡®hunt¡¯ [Quest] disappear once I evolve?¡± [No, the Systemic path of keelish, khatif and Keel is virtually identical, since the path of the keelish and khatif lead to that of the Keel.] I flared my frills in acknowledgement as I continued on my path. On the journey, the occasional keelish would approach me with questions about how close I supposed we were, or with advice about where I thought they should apply themselves, or so on. Even so, I had plenty of time and opportunity to mull over my [Status] and how I could work with my [Skills] in this new environment. What had led me to becoming Alpha was my ability to fight and hunt. Some measure of my leadership ability helped me with that, but I refused to lie to myself¨Cthe position as Alpha keelish was entirely gained and maintained by force. Force of arm or magic, but entirely due to strength. A Keel who built a country wouldn¡¯t be served much by [Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust] or [Victor¡¯s Spoils]. Instead, [Nurturing Enunciation] and [Evolutionary Exemplar], [Pack Tactics] and [Innate Leadership], and many of my other [Skills] would assist me in creating a new, better, stronger, happier people. Ideas of how to combine my different [Skills] in battle were slowly washed away by hopes of how to guide my people into a new age, one of civilization. Enraged screeches and the sound of combat tore me from my musings, and I perked up, looking for the danger. Instead, I watched as Sakkit, the gentle and submissive healer under Vefir¡¯s command, picked another keelish up by his throat. Then, Sakkit spun and smashed his opponent into the ground. The victim of the attack wailed, but none of the surrounding keelish interfered as the loser of the fight¡¯s head was ground underfoot into the dirt. Only after the apparent lesson was fully learned did Sakkit leave off his opponent, leaving him in the dirt to nurse his wounds. The healers all left him alone to his own ministrations. The brief but explosive fight over, I walked up to Sybil, who¡¯d noticed the fight long before it had become as much. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Now that our journey appears to be at or near its end, little Ka thought he could challenge Sakkit for his position. He was taught otherwise.¡± Her tone was dry, as if describing the possibility for clouds, and I was reminded that while we were becoming ¡°people¡±, my people would never become humans. I smiled at the thought, and relished the opportunity to continue to explore how I would rule. We continued our way to and then through the pass, stopping for the night when we were less than halfway through to the other side of the Shandise. Chapter 299 I continue to send these letters, though I know you are no longer here and your mother can¡¯t bear to read them. Perhaps, sending them is a way for me to feel that you will still be waiting at the docks whenever I return. Your sister remains among the Veratocracy, and I doubt that I, or anyone else for that matter, can convince her to leave. What little communication we get from her is disjointed, off-putting, and more and more difficult to stomach. Something has happened to her, we suspect, but none of our people are able to infiltrate Viertaal. Their screening process continues to grow more stringent and¨C You wouldn¡¯t have cared about any of this. I suppose this serves more to be a journal than some sort of a letter I would have sent you, but I do find solace in thinking you would receive this and try your best to understand my foolish prattlings. Your presence is missed on the island. Your brusque words and hardheaded attitude were surprisingly endearing, in retrospect. Many mention it whenever your name is remembered, how you knew what you wanted and always sought it. There is news from the northern scouts, and I hesitate to think of what it may mean. Even so, it is the Marshal¡¯s duty to coordinate all our scouting efforts. Perhaps I¡¯ll see you soon. -Letter from Marshal Inuksuk, son of Ilnak, to Atka, son of Ahnah Days passed with little notable happening each day. Solia¡¯s hunt was obviously a disappointment to her but without sustaining any major injuries or deaths, I didn¡¯t consider it too much of a failure. Even so, she¡¯d avoided directly looking me in the eye when she¡¯d reported on the hunt. Two corpses for each keelish that left on the hunt were brought back to the swarm, most of them dispatched by ripping the head off or stabbing through the eyes. Three of the ten hunters, though, needed ministration by one of Vefir¡¯s healers, and Solia had expected to be able to at least double the results of her hunt. It turned out, though, that the ants were much more resistant to burning than my sonic magic. They held themselves back from the flames, but none were incinerated or instantly killed by Solia¡¯s waves of flames. Thus, after she¡¯d allowed quite a bit more than twenty out of the hole, she was unable to turn the tides as quickly as she¡¯d expected. ¡°I was wrong. I should have listened.¡± Solia explained, her voice willing to take the blame while still avoiding direct eye contact. ¡°Everything I¡¯ve fought before lost all sense of reason when they came face to face with fire. I¡­ thought that the ants would too.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they¡¯re just too stupid to realize exactly how dangerous the flames are.¡± I answered. ¡°It¡¯s frequently easier to break and frighten an intelligent foe than a stupid one.¡± ¡°Yes, Alpha.¡± I waved a hand to dismiss her, and though she¡¯d seemed to be grateful not to have been publicly humiliated or physically assaulted, Solia continued to think and possibly sulk for another two days. It was interesting to me to see how much more jockeying for position, title, and influence occurred now that an end was in sight. In a land that seemed to be simple enough to call our own, the keelish who¡¯d chafed under another¡¯s command found the bravery to challenge their Alphas. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. As I was well aware of due to the [System], the more a keelish progressed as an Alpha, the more the gulf would extend between the Alpha and the comparatively weaker members of their pack. With so much time and so many events since I¡¯d instated leaders over others, there was only a single challenger who found success in seizing the position of Alpha. Her name was Hrash, and I tacitly agreed to her position by never commenting on her presence when I issued commands to the Alphas of the swarm or objecting to her methods. Hrash¡¯s success remained the sole success, though it rallied a half dozen more of the foolhardy to throw themselves painfully against the immovable walls that were their superiors. The other Alphas, seeing that one of their own had been pulled down from their position, fought harder and more brutally to maintain their leadership than before. While I watched the ever more infrequent conflicts, I was, again, struck by a shadow of the feeling of reverence from Speaking the Words of Power. The Fourth Phrase, ¡°We are the throne to which the wise submit¡± forced a certain thought into my mind. There would be a throne to which the wise don¡¯t submit, a leader who didn¡¯t deserve the position. The Words of Power were an aspiration as well as a command to the Keel, to exemplify the words as well as disregard those unworthy or unable to live them. Days passed and I made sure to partake in at least one hunt a day. Part of my reasoning was simply because I enjoyed the hunt itself, but I also felt drawn to explore these mountains and these lands, to familiarize myself with these forests and these rivers. The hunts didn¡¯t reveal any more ant colonies, though Foire stated that he smelled their distinctive scent every so often. Instead, I killed a white-hooved deer, a long-furred elk, and, most interestingly, a stoneskin. The deer was merely a scaled deer without the scales, nearly luminescent hooves, and hint of bloodthirst while the elk was a larger, more heavily furred deer. It retained some measure of the scaled deer¡¯s aggression, though it still remained a prey animal. The stoneskin was most interesting, given how it protected itself. Dulgar, the subterranean creatures with a type of armored skin found in the Martanimis, were soft compared to the stoneskin. When I first saw a stoneskin, the little rodent-like thing seemed more like a rocky outcropping on a boulder than a creature. Its craggy skin looked just like the gray stone it perched on, and it held remarkably still while I approached. Then, as I dragged my claws across it, they skittered off its tough skin without cutting anything. Before long, though, I attacked it with a [Murderous Melody], and it quickly succumbed its life. Even while dead, the creature remained lodged to the stone, and only after several minutes of scratching, pulling, and cutting could I finally yank it free with a cracking of the stone. Its strange head was shaped like a barbed broadhead arrowhead with spines it could flex out to lodge in a hole in the rock. From how many holes were scattered across the face of the giant boulder, I supposed this kind of rock was a frequent stoneskin shelter. The stoneskin sported only two arms without any legs, its long torso or body seeming to be something it dragged behind itself. When I finally took a bite, I found the stoneskin to largely be inedible, and what little meat remained on the foot long body was tough, stringy, and unpleasant. When I was back from the hunt, I found myself locked in conversation with Sybil about different ways to police, control, and guide my people as we left this stage of life, something I¡¯d never had to consider before. Plans formed and I hoped they would be enough as we walked through the valley behind the Shandise. In these mountains, we found the first true obstacle to our settling of this land. Chapter 300 The lands left behind after the fall of the Saharliard were quickly reclaimed, though not by their destroyers. Instead, the empire itself turned feral and demanded freedom from its would-be rulers. It quickly became apparent that the lands were more trouble than they were worth, and only the most pigheaded and determined spent more than a few months attempting to subjugate the children and flocks and other denizens left behind by the Saharliard. Even those eventually left behind their plans of subjugation, given the necessary resource expenditure if the lands¡¯ inhabitants were to be defeated, and a successful subjugation of the inhabitants would leave the victors exhausted and ripe for domination by another. How the Saharliard had dominated such a brutish, ferocious land remained a testament to their power for centuries and millenia. -From the Treatise on the Return of the Saharliard by Iyanna di¡¯Viertaal ¡°It¡¯s coming on the right!¡± Foire screamed, and the flanks of the swarm bristled and prepared for battle. Before his words could fade, a shadow lunged from between bushes. It was much larger than the bushes should have been able to hide, but even so, the damned beast had hidden itself masterfully. Its jaws snapped, and a keelish wailed as it was yanked out of the line. With so many of my swarm rushing back and forth in a panic, I couldn¡¯t detect the creature¡¯s passage with [Tremorsense], and it seemed like it could effectively disappear completely while in shadow. The unfortunate was yanked outside of the range where her fellows could support her, and the crunching of bone swiftly answered the attempt to rally to save her. I caught the barest hint of the creature¡¯s silhouette¨Clong and sinuous like a snake, but with two forelegs and a strangely blurry outline. It didn¡¯t appear to anyone¡¯s thermal senses, and when it stepped, it made no sound. ¡°Nievtala curse it, there¡¯s another on the other side! It¡¯s going for the herds!¡± Foire shouted. I heard the shuffles of fear from keelish and oxfiend alike, and shouted a command of my own. ¡°Loose the hyenas on it! If they can take it down, it¡¯ll be their food! If they can¡¯t it¡¯ll take some of the more difficult from our herds!¡± Joral grunted in reply, and the nervous laughter of hyenas transitioned to a more menacing, excited cackle. I watched the hyenas dash out of the protective circle offered by our keelish, their ears, eyes, and snouts perked up and watching for the approach of the shadow beast. Many of the rest of the swarm, myself included, hoped to reach the opposite flank in time to support the rest, but we were too slow. The hyenas were quickly rewarded when one yipped in a sort of a command to the rest and the pack lunged into the shadows of a bush much too small to house the terror that was the shadow beast. The second beast, even larger than the first, burst out of the shadow and hesitated for just a moment, just long enough for the hyenas to lunge out with jaw and paw. Their attacks phased right through the creature, their bodies flying through the shadowy flesh. Once the initial assault passed through, the beast changed, somehow. Its silhouette became more firm, less inconstant, and its inky flesh solidified while it suddenly registered to my thermal vision as a cool blue, only slightly warmer than the ground it stood on.. Before the hyenas, still reeling from their thwarted assault, could press the attack, the nightmare creature lashed out with its jaws and caught one of my creatures. As its form became more apparent, I finally saw it fully for the first time. Its leathery, smooth body was at least thirty feet long and four feet in diameter. The two legs tipped with three businesslike talons that supported its body sprouted maybe three quarters of the length up its body, supporting only its long neck and head. The head was like something from my formless nightmares, eyeless, while its mouth sported three parts: two massive inky fangs on its top jaw while its bottom jaw split in the middle. That jaw distended and dislocated to be at least three feet across and chomped deeply into the hyena it chose as its prey. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Agonizing yips and cries for rescue filled the air as the shadow monster dragged the hyena into the shadows from whence it came. The rest of the pack of hyenas, though, rallied to protect their own. Their jaws flashed, and, for some reason, now they managed to pierce the beast¡¯s flesh. Before more and more of the prey turned predators could rip into their attacker, the creature dropped its prey and roared a low, basso roar. Many of the hyenas shuddered and weakened under the sudden sonic assault. Then, with its attackers briefly weakened, its silhouette flickered once more and the giant body melted into the shadow of the bush with a soft plop. Only then was I able to get close enough to see the remains of the nearly instantaneous assault. The wounded hyena continued whimpering in pain, its body sporting four deep puncture wounds where the cavernous jaws had punched deep into its torso. Two of the keelish were pulling it back into the general protections of the swarms¡¯ presence where Vefir and his healers could take a look at it. With nothing I could do to help, I instead looked at the shadows where the terrifying creature had appeared from. To my [Tremorsense], [Raptor¡¯s Eyes], thermal vision, smell, and hearing, there was nothing noteworthy or interesting about this shadow in particular nor this bush. It wasn¡¯t colder or warmer or darker or lighter or anything. I couldn¡¯t tell if the creature remained in these shadows or had fled. My mind raced, trying to be sure that it wouldn¡¯t be able to ambush me. ¡°It¡¯s the shadows!¡± Silf suddenly shouted. I glanced at him as I backed away from the pool of darkness I already stood near. ¡°That much was obvious. What do you mean?¡± ¡°They travel through the shadows. Everywhere they¡¯ve attacked us thus far is from the shadows, and the shadows here are mostly all connected. With the rising suns, the shadows are long and connect with each other all over. Once I realized that, I could barely track their passage as they ran away. When they¡¯re in that shadow, it gets a bit¡­ darker, I guess.¡± ¡°You think you could track them as they ran? Could we follow them?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Silf dragged off, seeming to consider it. ¡°I doubt it. They move as fast as I can, and they¡¯re very difficult to see. Tracking them would be especially risky because if they decide to turn and attack us in return, I couldn¡¯t guarantee that I would realize it in time to warn the rest.¡± ¡°And they work together. Who knows if they¡¯re just a pair or if they work in a full pack.¡± I added, my frustration mounting while my curiosity did as well. I¡¯d never imagined a creature like this, and I¡¯d never heard of a monster like this, even in the tallest, least believable tales told by the most excitable child. With a sigh, I turned to go back to the main body of the swarm. There was no reason to stand out here like bait when we couldn¡¯t say for sure if they were even still here. I strode through the throngs of worried keelish, I spoke aloud. ¡°We¡¯ve found some dangerous creatures today. Like the wolfstags in the Martanimis, or the ishabaak in the plains of the indlovu. Yes, they are predators, and they consider us to be their prey. And what happened to the ishabaak and the wolfstags?¡± ¡°We ate them!¡± ¡°We conquered them!¡± ¡°We defeated them!¡± The chorus of cries fought to be heard over each other and I raised both hands high to quiet the clamoring hordes. ¡°That¡¯s right! We¡¯ve overcome every creature that thought itself capable of defeating us! Do these mere beasts compare to the High Speakers that tried to hunt us? Can they pretend to be as powerful as the indlovu or as vicious as the Moonchildren?¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Of course not! They¡¯re not our priority! They¡¯re a mere beast to conquer, a mere memory to be forgotten! Don¡¯t worry about the mere beasts that dare to threaten us!¡± The swarm rallied around my words and retreated back to stand near each other. They still were cautious about these beasts, but now they saw them merely as dangerous prey instead of a predator. I walked forward with projected confidence, needing to speak with Vefir. Before long, I stood before him, the suns rising behind him and casting everything in a warm light that was contrasted by the severity on his face. ¡°You need to see this,¡± he said as he gestured at the hyena¡¯s trembling body. Then, before my eyes, the creature breathed its last, shuddering breath and stilled. ¡°These shadow monsters are even more dangerous than we feared.¡± Chapter 301 ¡°I don¡¯t imagine you simply left the creature to die for no reason.¡± I said, tilting my head to look at the contorted body. ¡°Of course not.¡± Vefir¡¯s tone was slightly offended. ¡°After I began to heal it, though, I quickly realized that there was something more than just the wounds to its flesh. The magic of those monsters continued to destroy the poor thing long after its jaws finished piercing its flesh.¡± ¡°Was it venomous, then?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Though I don¡¯t have much experience with anything venomous or poisonous, this toxin seemed to be more magical in origin than mundane. It mostly served to destroy the heart and lungs, though it spread to most of the rest of the hyena¡¯s organs before it died.¡± ¡°Do you think you could have destroyed, healed, or otherwise overcome this toxin?¡± ¡°Perhaps.¡± Vefir¡¯s tail whipped back and forth in an irritated pattern. ¡°It simply wasn¡¯t worth it for me to exhaust myself for one insignificant member of our herds when I could soon be called on to heal one of the true members of the swarm.¡± I flared my frills in agreement. ¡°And do you think that, if you or Shemira were suffering in this same way, you could overcome it?¡± ¡°I am the peak that casts the long shadow. A mere beast that hides in the shadow I cast thinks a brief bite could overcome the whole of my power?¡± He scoffed and flicked his tail in dismissal. ¡°Very well. See if the rest of your healers would be able to assist as well, should we run into these creatures again.¡± ¡°Of course, Alpha.¡± Vefir bowed and turned and began speaking with Etra and Sakkit while I turned away to watch the swarm¡¯s reaction. My almost carefree reaction to the creatures¡¯ appearance and disappearance seemed to mollify and calm the vast majority of my subordinates. At least, the least intelligent. The hundreds of keelish had quickly resumed life as usual, and the herds, long since accustomed to dwelling among creatures that instinctually terrified them, also returned to slowly plodding along in the general direction the Kou¡¯Tal directed them. Maybe half of the khatif seemed to blindly agree with my statement, while the oldest, strongest, and most intelligent of the swarm pretty obviously understood my posturing for what it was. Sybil came up to me and waited until I was out of earshot for any possible eavesdroppers. ¡°We are at the opportune time to find and hunt those beasts, Alpha.¡± Her voice was measured and calm, though severe. ¡°Yeah, if it was evening, I¡¯m sure they would be lurking right nearby, waiting for the suns to set.¡± ¡°Then should you not organize a pack to locate and slay the monsters?¡± ¡°No, not right now.¡± I clacked my fangs both in frustration and denial. ¡°Silf was right when he said that pursuing them is immensely dangerous. After Vefir¡¯s words, it¡¯s doubly so, since even a single bite could mean death. They simply aren¡¯t our priority, Nievtra is. That is what offers evolution to us, and, if necessary, I would imagine that we can simply, if not easily, thwart the shadow beasts¡¯ approaches. They don¡¯t seem to be especially intelligent, though they¡¯re working together.¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Why do you think they are unintelligent? They seized on an opportunity to hunt when it was presented to them and retreated when shown the possibility of finding too strong of a resistance. Everything they have done seems to communicate greater intelligence than the weakest of our kind.¡± ¡°That isn¡¯t much of a qualifier for intelligence.¡± I retorted, remembering the lethargy that¡¯d plagued my mind for several evolutions. ¡°But my main point is that a more intelligent creature would have waited, stalked, and prepared for longer. Maybe these shadow monsters are more intelligent than I¡¯m giving them credit for, but if they are, then they¡¯re too accustomed to a virtually untested reign over these lands. We¡¯ll respect their strength, but we won¡¯t fear them as prey.¡± ¡°Understood, Alpha. Shall I call Solia and Hala for you?¡± I grinned widely and nuzzled at Sybil¡¯s neck. With a tender nip at the soft flesh above her collarbone, I chuckled. ¡°Yes, of course. You read my mind.¡± ¡°No magic necessary, Alpha. Merely wisdom and experience.¡± Her voice paused and inflected experience in a way that again made me chuckle. Before I could retort, she continued walking and whistled three distinct notes. Two seemingly unimportant Kha¡¯Tal stepped out of their packs and towards Sybil, though before they arrived, she gave commands with one word and three gestures. Both split away to different locations, and I again was struck with just how frightening my mate would be as an adversary. Less than two minutes later, Hala nearly sprinted towards me from the other side of a pack, bowling over an unprepared keelish in her haste. She hissed something at the weaker keelish as she continued her rushing pace until she stood before me. ¡°What is it, Alpha? What can I do for you? Do you need me for something specific, or do you just want to talk to me?¡± ¡°Hold still, calm yourself, and wait for Solia to get here.¡± I offered no more information but I slightly bared my fangs, and Hala drooped a little with my chastisement. We walked in silence as we followed the path of the swarm, and Hala kept her head down at each step. Not more than another two minutes passed before Solia made her much more reasonably paced way towards me. ¡°Hello, Swarm Alpha. How can I help the swarm today?¡± ¡°You two should know about the shadow beasts that attacked.¡± Both flared their frills, ¡°Great. We¡¯re not worried about them, at least not for a while yet. The more the suns rise, the less mobile they¡¯ll become. On the contrary, the later the day gets, the more dangerous they¡¯ll be. Once night falls, I would imagine that they¡¯ll be at their most threatening, and active. It could be that their little hunt of us today was mere happenstance, and we won¡¯t see them again. I¡¯d prefer to prepare under the assumption that they¡¯ll return once night falls, searching for vengeance. If we¡¯re incorrect, then we¡¯ll have sacrificed nothing. If we¡¯re correct¡­¡± I trailed off. ¡°Then we¡¯ll keep the swarm at its current strength.¡± Solia flared her frills. ¡°You want us to do something with our magic?¡± ¡°Perfect.¡± I replied. I have something I¡¯ll want you two to do tonight, and I need you to coordinate. You two are our best, and possibly our only, unless something has changed recently, members who can use fire. There¡¯s no other way that we have available to us to keep a ring around us without shadows.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Hala gasped. ¡°You want us to keep a ring of fire around the whole swarm? I¡­ don¡¯t think we can do that.¡± ¡°Not a solid ring as much as a loose but consistent pattern of torches and fires. You two would be assigned to ensure that the torches remain lit throughout the entire night, without any part of the perimeter compromised enough to allow their unseen passage.¡± ¡°Of course!¡± ¡°Very well, Alpha.¡± ¡°Great. You¡¯ll need to decide how frequently to change shifts to ensure that the flames do not go out at all through the whole night. You have my permission to give assignments to any member of the swarm in ensuring that we don¡¯t give the monsters an easy entry and exit point.¡± I dismissed the two females and though Hala remained excited and excitable, Solia guided the younger female to a more reasonable course of action with each word. Their conversation¡¯s specifics didn¡¯t matter to me, and I allowed the day to pass in relative peace. And then, night fell. Chapter 302 With bated breath, the vast majority of the swarm waited for true night to fall. The suns dipped behind the Shandise to our west long before true darkness descended over the land. Even so, we were in shadow, and we¡¯d prepared for this. Through the full day¡¯s travel, keelish had gathered every loose scrap of wood and brush that we¡¯d found, and when we¡¯d come across a deadfall of several trees, dozens of keelish had ripped all the dry wood to manageable chunks that we carried on our backs and attempted to load the oxfiends with. Without any saddles, yokes, or anything else to fasten the loose wood to the beasts, few found any measure of success in enlisting the oxfiends¡¯ assistance. Even so, nearly 1000 keelish served as enough of a beast of burden, allowing for a full perimeter of torches and fires to be established. The shadows approaching our campsite were staved off by Solia and Hala¡¯s efforts. Sentries were stationed at each flame with sufficient fuel on hand to, hopefully, make it through the shorter summer night. Keelish screeches rang through the air, and what little food remained from the day¡¯s hunts was quickly consumed. We had devoured nearly one tenth of all the creatures we came across in our passage, though we¡¯d left the possibly poisonous hyena corpse behind. Again, I was struck by the necessity to preserve the creatures living here, but more than the preservation of this land, we needed to ensure we survived. Nothing seemed to approach our well-lit camp, but our concerns weren¡¯t regarding whatever physical creature we could easily see. The shadows seemed to grow thicker and deeper, though I couldn¡¯t say if that was due to the dying light of the suns or due to any shadow monster¡¯s presence. Each sentry¡¯s eyes remained focused on whatever it could be that approached, searching for any unnatural shadow or sound. Minutes passed, and there was nothing. An hour passed, and still, there was nothing. With my [Innervating Address], I hoped to maintain and strengthen attentiveness, though I couldn¡¯t say if I was successful as another hour passed and still there was no sign of a shadow monster¡¯s approach. Finally, after hours past full dark, I, with half of the swarm, began to hope that the creatures had decided to leave us in peace. With a quick circuit of the borders of our camp, I verified that Hala would still be awake to ensure none of the flames died out entirely. The rest of the sentries assured me they were ready for any ¡°sneaky cowards who dared to strike in the night¡±, so I attempted to retire to bed. That was, of course, when the basso, organ rumbling growls began. On each side of the swarm, the shadow beasts seemed to scream to each other in frustration at finding their invisible approach thwarted. They continued to rumble their dissatisfaction at each other as they circled the perimeter, but finding no apparent weakness, their rage reached its peak and they screamed nearly in unison. Their nearly paralytic screams joined together, and though many of the swarm and our herds suffered under the sonic attack, I felt a greater understanding of what my magic could do as the cries harmlessly washed over me. After a couple of minutes spent venting their fury, the shadow monsters began to retreat, their angered sounds both retreating towards the east. Though my nervousness had spiked with the surging sonic attacks from the beasts, their retreat forced a grim smile to my face. All throughout the camp, keelish chattered and shouted to each other in joy and celebration. After all, their Alpha¡¯s wisdom had prevented these creatures from even attempting to attack the swarm! I stood, and began to address the swarm as a whole. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°When we turn the strengths of our enemies to their vulnerabilities, we can be sure that they will buckle before our strength. Instead of their deaths, we have proven the shadow beasts to be cowards! They flee at the sight of our fires, and they cannot overcome our plans! Now, find your rest, for in the morning¨C¡± My victorious speech was interrupted by a furious whoom sound as a roaring shadow beast materialized just outside of the light cast by a smaller fire. It shrieked a furious challenge as it twisted its full body and smashed its tail through the burning branches and logs. Its body shriveled and puffed into an acrid white smoke when it touched the flames, but once the fire was reduced to scattered paltry flames and embers, it rushed through the dim light and into the previously safe borders established by the other fires. To make matters worse, immediately after the first monstrosity pressed in towards the panicking swarm, its partner materialized and leapt in with its hideous maw split wide open in a deafening snarl of victory. Both hurtled forward with their powerful legs tearing the earth in deep furrows below them. Keelish dodged out of their way, their jaws and claws seeking to tear the brazen intruders apart. Nothing functioned, and each attack phased through the creatures¡¯ bodies. ¡°HALA!¡± I shouted, ¡°Burn them!¡± No sooner than I made the command did a pillar of fire lance towards the two monstrosities. Without looking at the inbound attack, both melded with the shadows and out of the path of attack. In retribution, they nearly immediately leapt from a distant shadow at an oryx only beginning to wake in the chaos. Both gaping maws tore into the beast, its throat and chest caving in to the sudden assault. It died nearly immediately, and as it did, the larger shadow monster took it in its jaws and melded back into the shadow. The smaller one let out a haunting roar, the sound sending shudders down my spine, all the way to the bottom of my tail. Even so, I fought to hold it down, to slow it. I sprinted, trying to catch the slippery creatures, but before I could reach the perimeter we¡¯d established, the larger one materialized once more, the oryx¡¯s body still in its jaws. It rushed through the faintly lit, shadow-filled expanse, and dove back into the shadows once it was once again in the inky blackness of the shadows outside of our ring of flames. Knowing where the remaining beast would have to return to, I sprinted, drawing just the slightest amount from [Spear of the Many] to accelerate myself even the slightest bit more. I reached the faint light at nearly the same moment as the predator. With a surge of will, I flooded my claws with sonic magic and sent a long scythe of [Destructive Wave] at the creature¡¯s long body. It shrieked in pain when my attack landed on it, but it paid me no mind. Instead, it too leapt into the shadows outside our grasp, diving as if into a pond. There was no ripple or evidence of its presence as both the creatures fled without the swarm having been able to do anything to slow or stop their approach, their invasion, and their hunt. The only positive to all this was that no keelish had died in the attack. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry Alpha!¡± Hala ran up to me, her frills downcast and her tone shaky. ¡°I was too slow. If I¡¯d realized what was going to happen, I could have stopped the attack before they could do anything!¡± ¡°Do better. Be better.¡± I answered, my jaws clenched. ¡°I listened to their retreat and thought myself clever. How wrong I was.¡± ¡°That¡­ ok, Alpha.¡± Hala answered before slinking off. Solia walked close to me while, with a brief command to a nearby keelish, rekindling the fire the creature¡¯s had mostly destroyed. ¡°This idea mostly works.¡± She mused. ¡°Maybe it just needs a little tweaking.¡± ¡°Then tweak it. Make the fires more difficult to destroy without running out of fuel too early. We see that they work, they just need a little more.¡± ¡°Of course, Alpha.¡± Solia answered as I remained at the edge of the fires¡¯ light, imagining I could hear the low shrieking laughs of the shadow beasts. Chapter 303 Confirmation of the ancient foe came when some of our hunters followed the thickfeathers¡¯ migration north at the end of summer. From far off, they saw the scaly beasts attempting to cow and domesticate the thickfeathers, ¡°to little success¡± they¡¯d boasted. Their pride, our pride, I suppose, has never known an equal. The depths and breadth of the Keel¡¯s preparations weren¡¯t considered, and that, combined with our hunters¡¯ and scouts¡¯ wilful misrepresentation of reality served to begin our conflict in the most disadvantaged way possible. ¨CNotes from the Nyust¡¯taa daily record, spoken by the 21st Nyust¡¯taa Yury¡¯yai, recorded by Kichka The night passed in fitful starts and anxious naps, but the shadow beasts didn¡¯t strike again. Whether that was because of the safeguards we strengthened or they¡¯d hunted their fill or any other number of reasons, I couldn¡¯t say. Regardless, as the suns¡¯ light colored the eastern horizon and glittered off the far-off waters, the last of the swarm who¡¯d stubbornly fought to sleep roused. The herds had been influenced by the constant nervous energy all around them, and I¡¯d nearly commanded the swarm to move out in the dead of night. I was still sound of mind enough to know how foolish a decision it would have been to leave the defenses we¡¯d constructed, paltry though they might have seemed. As soon as the light fully suffused the area, though, we hesitated no longer. There was no reason to stay unless I decided to hunt the creatures, and I saw no purpose to doing so at this time. Hopefully, we¡¯d leave the extremely dangerous lands behind us before long, and I could return later and prove to the shadow beasts how wrong of a choice they¡¯d made. Every day that passed better illustrated to me the frustrating nature of traveling with the herds. As a human, I¡¯d occasionally assisted with the few domesticated animals that lived under the purview of the tribe, but there¡¯d been precious few. With over 2000 creatures between the herds and the keelish, the complexity of merely moving a mile had compounded to a painful, nearly insufferable difficulty, to say nothing of feeding and caring for so many beasts. Sybil, Joral, Took, Farahlia, and others took upon themselves the bulk of the responsibilities of managing the details of my people, for which I thanked Nievtala daily. Even so, the decisions of where to go, what to prioritize, and what we would do as a whole plagued me. I didn¡¯t wish for any other to take from me the ability to make the choice, but I found myself frustrated by the necessity of choosing. The irony was not lost on me, and I continued to stand by my choice to focus entirely on finding and reaching Nievtra. The few keelish who mentioned their disagreement with my choice were overheard by my more staunch supporters. When I finally heard of what¡¯d happened there, Vefir had been my messenger when the dissenters were forced to seek some sort of healing. ¡°They¡¯re idiots,¡± sas his response when I asked what¡¯d happened. ¡°And they¡¯re learning a lesson they won¡¯t soon forget.¡± I didn¡¯t care enough to dive deeper, and instead I focused on our journey forward. Though I¡¯d never considered dreams to be even remotely prophetic, I found myself inclined to believe the visionary dream. How many peaks had I passed? At least seven, but maybe as many as twenty? The ethereal, uncertain nature of dreams fogged my mind and I fought to suppress my frustration. Then, the necessity to avoid the shadow monsters as much as possible complicated our travels more, since I couldn¡¯t say how much their territories ranged, if they hunted in packs, or even if the ones that¡¯d attacked us last night were the same ones that ambushed us the morning before. ¡°Nievtala grant me wisdom.¡± I idly prayed as I walked forward. We¡¯d been forced to stop once again for the herds to graze and drink, though they didn¡¯t need nearly as much water as I¡¯d feared. Perhaps because they¡¯d come from an arid land before, but none of the herds slurped greedily or desperately at any of the creeks we passed, many of them merely opting to sip for a brief moment and move along. The plentiful grasses, though, constantly drew their attention and keelish and khatif constantly fought to drag the herds ever onward. Thankfully, we made as good of time as we could expect. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. When we passed a deadfall of many trees, marked by a strange scar in the mountain, leading from high above, just a couple of hours before the suns would set, I made the decision for the swarm to take our rest here. Under Solia¡¯s command, dozens of piles were prepared for fires, and the swarm settled into the center of the established perimeter. Through the day, I¡¯d been struck by just how few creatures lived in the plains between the far-off beach and the mountains. Silf and Foire had the distinct impression that there would be many more of the shadow beasts between us and the sea and I trusted their instincts. But if there wasn¡¯t anything to hunt out there, then how did they survive? There wasn¡¯t any food for them, and if they hunted each other, they¡¯d quickly die out. My musings were interrupted by the crackling of flames. Somewhere in the distance, I imagined I could hear the roars of the shadow beasts, but I couldn¡¯t say if it were real or not. Instead, stood with the rest of the swarm, prepared for an attack that might come. The suns set entirely, and there was no attack. An hour passed, and there was no attack. A second hour passed, and there was no attack. I refused to allow myself to calm. The previous attack had come when I¡¯d begun to believe that there would be no strike. With a force of will, I flared the influence of [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude] and felt the cloud of tiredness burn away from my mind. Though I couldn¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary outside of our established ring of fires, I stayed standing tall in the center of my people and flocks and watched for the approach of anything that would threaten us. Some of my keelish approached me with questions, hoping for reassurance, but I didn¡¯t engage beyond quick exchanges. I¡¯d been made to look the fool when the other shadow beasts attacked in the same moment I declared them cowards, I wouldn¡¯t tempt whatever hateful being seemed to wish for my fall by making any promises again. Another hour passed, and finally, with [Tremorsense] and my ears strained for any warning noise, I heard a whisper of a shadow monster¡¯s call. They were subdued, and I felt there were two of them. They seemed to speak to one another and patrolled the edge of the camp. ¡°Both sides!¡± I commanded, ¡°Be ready! I hear something nearby!¡± With my warning, every fire was stoked to greater heights, loose dry brush tossed atop the carefully maintained flames. The light surged as the fire crackled and popped. The perimeter of light cast by each flame doubled in size, and the creatures¡¯ communications crescendoed to a louder, angrier, lower pitch. Even so, they merely circled the camp before meeting on the west side together and beginning to retreat. ¡°They¡¯re pulling back again!¡± Foire reported before I said the same. ¡°Be ready! This is what they did last night as well!¡± Keelish lurched into position, their claws and jaws ready. A Voltaic Wolfstag crackled with nervous energy near each group, and Solia and Hala stood beside me, ready to support whichever side needed it. There was no need, as the minutes drifted away with a tense trepidation and there was no attack. An hour passed, and there was no sign of the creatures. Another hour passed, and the barest hint of dawn lit the skies to the east. Still, there was no sign. The light of the suns crossed the horizon in its entirety, and still the beasts didn¡¯t attack. Without knowing who began it, the swarm cheered our survival and possible victory over the strange creatures. I joined, singing praises to Nievtala and our own determination. Once they fully rose overhead, the suns found us exhausted but happily continuing on our path northward. Chapter 304 We quickly learned that few of the shadow monsters were quite so desperate, or perhaps foolhardy, as to charge into the light of the fires at night. For three days, we passed through the Shadow Plains, as I thought of them, and we continued to run into more and more of them as we moved. Some seemed lethargic and imperious, others scrappy and aggressive. The scrappy ones didn¡¯t come at night, instead rushing in while the light of morning hadn¡¯t yet burned away the shadows cast by the small trees and scrub brush that filled the plains. The first morning, we¡¯d lost another two keelish as a hunting pair struck when we¡¯d been nearly ready to set out on our journeying for the day. After that lesson, we redoubled our preparations for each night¡¯s rest and made the frustrating decision to slow our travel even further to ensure the beasts couldn¡¯t pick off any more of our number. The less anxious and desperate monstrosities instead seemed to be surprised at our unwillingness or gall to be devoured. They¡¯d appeared just outside the light most brightly cast by our fires and looked in at the ripe buffet arrayed before them, just out of reach. Their groans and roars were almost plaintive, asking why we were doing this, how we could possibly deprive them of an easy meal. They also left without more than a couple more complaints back at us. Once they were no longer so many unknowable enemies, I found myself considering them to be an interesting neighbor. They were strong enough to establish themselves as a peak predator, and they would bully keelish to death without regular intelligent ones being able to do anything about it, much less the painfully stupid ones like those I¡¯d subjugated. A swarm entirely made of khatif would struggle to kill a single hunting pair, given their exclusive hunting times being only during the hours of night or early morning when they could easily escape. These shadow beasts would possibly forever pose a threat to the Keel, but I welcomed their presence as a stone against which to hone our claws. That realization struck me with the strange semi-sacred feeling that I¡¯d felt several times now. The First, Fourth, and Fifth of the Words had been cast into a different light for me, another possibility for me to understand my own creed by. Now, the Third spoke to me: I am the blade bared at the throat of those that oppose me. The threat of violence wasn¡¯t merely a promise to engage in battle for the sheer lust of it. No, it was a tool, just as a knife, spear, or hammer. I looked at the spear in my hand, so often forgotten. After Nievtala¡¯s blessing, it had become much more comfortable in my hand, feeling as if I¡¯d trained with a spear for years. Even so, I rarely, if ever used it. What use was her blessing if I constantly forgot about it? A spear would extend my reach and could help me to hold back something as perniciously deadly as the bite of one of the shadow beasts. If a spear was damaged, it was much more easily replaced than my all-too-often injured right arm. Nievtala had branded me with her spear of victory, and I consistently forgot it existed. Just as I so frequently forgot that my spear existed, the mere threat of violence didn¡¯t need to be followed with death or dismemberment. The fleeting feeling of greater understanding passed away like a fleeting breeze, and I redoubled my focus on my immediate future. Now that we¡¯d established a sort of a plan to prove to the beasts that we weren¡¯t prey, I felt we could fully focus on reaching our goal. Nievtra. Nievtala promised that finding the city¡¯s ruins would allow me to evolve to Keel, and that could be my only focus moving forward. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. With my mind focused entirely on that goal, I found I allowed much of the more important parts of ruling my swarm to fall behind me. Shemira and Farahlia explained how they were recording my story and how the swarm had survived to this point and I dismissed them until later. Took brought to me stories of strange creatures that the hunters and she had slain and I expressed my appreciation. Brutus stood beside me and watched for any potential threat and I didn¡¯t acknowledge him nor the rest of his guards. I was forced to change when Sybil apprised me of things she did to force greater unity and obedience in the swarm and I merely flared my frills in acknowledgement. ¡°Ashlani.¡± Her addressing me by name pulled me somewhat from my musing over what I would find in these mythical, forgotten lands. ¡°Yes, Sybil?¡± ¡°Now you finally look at me. I understand that the greatest possibility for our people is your evolution to this next tier of life. You brought so many of us to levels that we could never understand beforehand, and I suspect that, as you say, this evolution to Keel will be an even more impactful evolution than we have ever seen before. I believe that we will enter a new era once that finally occurs. ¡°That time is not yet.¡± Sybil¡¯s eyes met mine with a grim determination. I felt my temper flare at her underestimating what this would mean for our people and I growled low in my throat, the sound subconsciously amplified by a faint thread of magic from my sonilphon. Instead of unleashing the immediate frustration that filled me, I thought for a moment about what she¡¯d actually said. Sybil wouldn¡¯t doubt my words, she¡¯d always been the greatest supporter and believer in my plan and path. Instead, she was asking me to remember that the present remained. I sighed and flicked my tail in frustration. ¡°You¡¯re right. Is there anything that needs my immediate attention? We will continue to journey as fast as we can in the direction we believe to be correct, and my worry and frustration will not change that. Until then, I¡¯ll make sure I don¡¯t lose myself to any number of ideas, thoughts, or dreams.¡± ¡°No, there is nothing that requires your immediate action. However, I do believe that you should better understand some of the issues that are currently plaguing the keelish Alphas. The least intelligent and most instinctually driven of the keelish are chafing at being held back from killing the herds when they are being made to be hungry. The khatif Alphas are able to demand respect and obedience from the keelish in a way that the keelish Alphas cannot. Perhaps it comes from their mere existence at a higher tier of evolution, or perhaps it is something else entirely, but the reality remains that the keelish are growing more and more dissatisfied. They consider you to be the most powerful creature around, so they become more and more confused as to why you would remain in a position of relative hunger when there is abundant prey all around us and contained within the immediate access of the swarm.¡± ¡°And is that all?¡± ¡°Not nearly.¡± I kept myself from sagging, standing tall and willing to accept the burden of leadership as it was handed back to me, its rightful place. Thus, I asked clarifying questions as Sybil led me to begin taking action to stabilize my swarm. Chapter 305 Days passed, blending into painful weeks of slow journeying. The only consolation, other than my firm belief that we were continuously approaching our final destination, was that the shadow beasts grew less and less common the further north we progressed. We refused to make the mistake of not preparing sufficient materials for a complete perimeter to be established, so though our nights passed with fewer and fewer signs of unwelcome visitors, we remained protected. Nearly four weeks after crossing the Shandise, well over half a year after leaving the den where I hatched, I felt an additional qualitative change in the air. Similar to every time I¡¯d entered the mountains, or the heightened comfortability that the Shandise in particular had granted me, there was something in the air here. This change was more than what I¡¯d experienced before, and I didn¡¯t need the confirmation that came to me from Nievtala that same moment. Home. My home. More than just me, though, I witnessed as dozens of keelish and khatif felt her happiness, her excitement, her exultation. The weakest who felt her presence collapsed under the agonizingly powerful exhilaration, while even those who¡¯d gained [Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude] alongside me staggered. The only two who were impacted by Nievtala¡¯s declaration that didn¡¯t immediately collapse were myself and Shraal. Once he felt her presence, though, he fell to an adoring prostration between two of his stunned and twitching acolytes. Though her words and overwhelming presence were virtually impossible for the vast majority of the swarm to feel or understand, they still looked around themselves with wild eyes before falling to their knees in worship. Though some seemed reluctant, my elites follows suit as well. There, in the foothills of the Shandise, I felt Nievtala¡¯s excitement and was the sole keelish left standing as she declared that we¡¯d found our home. Wordlessly, she prompted me to look up the mountain, where I could see the remaining towering structure that my dream had shown me. My heart soared, and without conscious thought, I screeched to the heavens. Seeming to have been released from their spellbound prostrations, the swarm rose as one and echoed my own exultation. Many of the herds panicked at our shrieks, but we didn¡¯t slow our wordless declaration of sovereignty. Several minutes passed, and I finally raised a hand. The swarm went silent under my wordless command, and a wide grin filled my face. Our destination was in sight, and I wouldn¡¯t be held back from claiming it. I leapt forward from the center of the swarm and, at a near sprint, led the way up the slopes. Stones, fallen trees, ravines, and cliffs offered no obstacle to my frenzied pace. I leapt over what I could, and that which I couldn¡¯t was immediately scaled. Stones flew behind me in my reckless charge, and my elites followed suit. I knew I could and should have sent someone ahead, done anything to ensure that our goal was moderately safe. I refused to do so. My legs burned with the effort, and the rational side of my brain knew it wouldn¡¯t matter if I slowed down, that the swarm would slow around me and ensure that the passage was a guaranteed one. With a snarl, I slew the weak-willed thought while it still formed, for I would be the first to lay eyes on Nievtra. In fact, as Foire and Silf drew abreast of me, I drew from [Spear of the Many] and disregarded the spike of discomfort as my body was pushed beyond its limits. Even so, I regretted nothing as my path carried me forward, and at last, I saw a large stone wall. Rocks from the size of a man¡¯s fist to nearly as large as I was formed a twenty-foot tall wall around my city. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. With the last vestiges of strength granted to me by my [Skill], I leapt directly up. Though I¡¯d hoped for my jump to propel me directly to the peak, I had no such luck. Instead, my fingers scrabbled and found purchase between two stones and I desperately clambered to the top of the wall. With a grunt, my left hand found the top of the wall and I pulled myself up. I refused to catch my breath and stood tall to survey the lands before me. The dilapidated remains of a once-great city lay before me. I¡¯d never truly understood what the cities of the people in the Veratocracy could be like, as I didn¡¯t imagine that they would create the same homes that the Moonchildren and Sunkindred did. We¡¯d never seen within the bounds of the walls of Shandr, and I supposed we never would, barring conquering it as our own. Mostly collapsed stone walls stood in ramshackle directions while no roof remained on any building. What once seemed to be paths between homes and buildings had returned to the domain of the wilds, grasses and brush sprouting wherever they could. Near the center of the established walls stood a proud tower, its peak collapsed in on itself while every wall still stood mostly intact. An indescribable emotion washed over me, some sort of a mix of pride, relief, disappointment, and a dozen other feelings. Nievtala took that moment to change the way I saw everything. A giant golden light washed over my vision, and I saw Nievtra as it once was, or perhaps as it could be. The overgrown paths were paved with flat grey stone, and the decaying buildings stood tall and proud. Shadowy outlines of people filled the streets, and the tower in the middle of the city was surrounded by a beautiful building with wide doors open and a constant stream of occupants filtering in and out. The walls I stood on had dozens of sentries patrolling them, and I saw the diminutive shadows of children play fighting in a yard filled with a dozen other similarly-sized visions. Life filled the city, and it was teeming with thousands of my people. As my breath caught in my throat, the vision was pulled away from my eyes, and I was left again in the present, with a broken, forgotten city¡¯s skeleton left before me. Silf and Foire stood beside me, and I watched as Took reached down a hand and pulled Sybil onto the wall as well. The complicated mix of emotions that had tainted my first view of the city was washed away by the vision of what I could make here, and I smiled broadly. ¡°We¡¯re here! We¡¯ve reached it!¡± I said and happily bunted my head against each of my elites that stood beside me. Down the mountain, I could see where the more reasonable members of my swarm slowly made their ways up the mountain. Now that I had seen possibilities and the past, from above I could see the overgrown remains of what was surely a path at one point. That would be one of the first things we would need to do to ensure our herds were kept well fed. Additionally, there was the possibility that the axebeaks could begin to lay eggs, now that they were given a home. Ideas of how to lead my people to prosperity flooded my mind and I sighed contentedly. That was, of course, when the sound of hollow roars and bone-chilling screeches filled the air. Chapter 306 I stood tall, looking for whatever I could see. The sounds came from the center of the city, below the tower. Before my disbelieving eyes, the tower cracked, groaned, and fell, stones dropping from at least 100 feet up and smashing into the unforgiving ground below. The one standing structure was demolished, and the guilty party made itself known. One burly arm waved through the dust, the particulates flying away with the irritated movement. Another followed suit, the air clearing under its impetuous actions, and I realized that each arm must be at least twenty feet long. When it waved another arm through the murky air, it was finally clear enough that I could see the beast for what it was. Though it was vaguely humanoid in form, the monstrosity that destroyed a massive tower in an idle motion was obviously not a mere gigantic human. Though it stood tall on two legs supporting a thick waist, and its torso sported two thickly muscled arms, the giant wasn¡¯t limited to a mere single torso. No, from its waist sprouted three torsos, each covered with a gray skin and the mottled coloration of stone. Each of its six arms looked like a human¡¯s, though each hand had only three fingers and reached all the way to its knees. On the other hand,its heads were less of a head than a large lump on the top of each pair of shoulders. The creature turned, and I realized that instead of two legs, as I believed, it had a thick leg between each torso, making a total of three. As the tower-destroyer turned and continued its hideous scream like the scratching of iron on stone, its voices filled and echoed through the city. ¡°Can Nievtala give you any information on that thing?¡± Took asked, her body language hesitant. I turned the question inward, but she didn¡¯t answer. The Administrator gave what little information she seemed privileged to give. [A Shandise. They¡¯re where the name for these mountains comes from. I didn¡¯t know if there were any left on the surface. They¡¯re generally reticent, so I doubt that this one is angry at you particularly. If you can calm it down, it may leave peacefully.] Though I didn¡¯t love the idea of a giant stonelike giant living nearby and posing a constant threat to my people, I couldn¡¯t say that I had any confidence in killing it. The beast was at least twice as tall as the biggest indlovu soldier we¡¯d met, and I didn¡¯t know what other abilities it might have, to say nothing of its many arms and obvious strength. If it didn¡¯t mind having a building fall on it, I couldn¡¯t imagine that throwing more and more keelish bodies at it would leave us with any result except for more and more dead keelish. Maybe I could do something with [Spear of the Many], but drawing sufficient stats into my body to do marked damage to it would leave me with mere seconds to do anything and a long time for recuperation as I damaged myself drawing supernatural strength. ¡°Says it¡¯s called a Shandise and that it might not be aggressive to us.¡± I said, hardly believing it myself. ¡°Foire, Silf, go see if you can check out what¡¯s enraged the creature. I¡¯m told it shouldn¡¯t be us. Probably.¡± Even with the lackluster confidence I could hardly project, my two faithful scouts didn¡¯t hesitate to do as I asked. They both quickly disappeared into the foliage filling the city¡¯s remains, and the rest of my elites standing beside me continued to watch the Shandise. Gladly, it seemed like the Administrator was correct in saying it didn¡¯t care about us. Instead, it stomped its feet over and over again into the ground where the tower had once stood, and its sheer mass was apparent when I didn¡¯t need to rely on [Tremorsense] to feel the shaking in the ground. After nearly a full minute of stomping, the giant ceased and seemed willing to try to settle down again, but before long, it started stomping in a maddened frenzy once again. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The cycle continued, the tremors of its tantrum shaking the walls, though not nearly so much as to destabilize or make me fear that the walls that¡¯d stood for hundreds, if not thousands of years, would fall. After the third cycle of calming and stomping, Foire returned. Silf wasn¡¯t far behind as Foire explained what he¡¯d observed. ¡°It definitely isn¡¯t us.¡± were Foire¡¯s first words. ¡°Those giant ants we saw before are all over its legs and are trying to eat it. They seem entirely incapable of harming it, but they¡¯re able to prick its flesh a little.¡± ¡°With what we¡¯ve seen before, that means that we will at least struggle with getting through the Shandise¡¯s skin.¡± Took mused. ¡°Alpha, you would be our primary combatant capable of tearing through its skin, though, I suspect several of the other khatif are near to acquiring the ability to assist you in that. That said, I doubt that you will be capable of hunting it.¡± ¡°Though it seems slow minded, I doubt that killing it will be necessary.¡± Sybil answered. ¡°We have found the source of its distress, and have the possibility of helping it. Perhaps we should do that in exchange for getting it to relocate?¡± Sybil looked in my eyes, searching for approval. ¡°If you¡¯re able to touch its mind, then absolutely. We¡¯re here, and at the cusp of what may be a mass evolution. Any deaths sustained will be, at best, wasteful. If you¡¯re able to communicate with it at all, then we can attempt negotiations.¡± ¡°Of course, Alpha.¡± Sybil nodded before closing her eyes and a faint sense of her presence washed over me. Looking around, several others of my elites felt it as well, though only Brutus¡¯ reaction surprised me. He perked up, his eyes roving for whatever had caused the sensation and once he realized it came from Sybil, he relaxed from his all around vigilance and returned his wholehearted focus to the Shandise giant ahead of us. While Sybil reached her mind out to the giant, I realized I had a question I¡¯d never asked the Administrator. ¡°What are those shadow things that were ambushing us in the plains out there?¡± I raised a hand to my subordinates surrounding me, and they quickly realized I wasn¡¯t asking them. [Ahh. The umbral ophidians. Quite the cute creature, aren¡¯t they? Unfortunately, I can¡¯t tell you anything about them you haven¡¯t already figured out. They are aggressive predators, and are extremely sensitive to light. They¡¯re currently hibernating, so you only ran into the youngest mating pairs that haven¡¯t built up their fat stores.] Though she¡¯d stated as much with a blase lack of care, her statement shook me to my core. Those were the smallest and weakest? And that most were hibernating now struck me with another blow. ¡°Do they come up to the mountains?¡± [Almost never. They do not get along well with those gargantuan ants that fill these peaks and have left the mountains to the ants and keep the plains to themselves.] ¡°Why don¡¯t they hunt the ants?¡± [That is information that you can learn on your own and you do not need to know at this time. I¡¯ve already pressed my limits enough today.] With that, the Administrator was done speaking with me and I was left to my own thoughts. Why would we leave a potential source of food alone? Could there be a reason? Sybil¡¯s voice pulled me from my musing. ¡°I believe that they are willing to let us help them, though I cannot say if the end result of us assisting the creature will result in its peaceful relocation.¡± I flicked my tail. ¡°Lead us forward.¡± Chapter 307 The city of Nievtra is both more majestic and disappointing than I¡¯d hoped. Its tall parapets have obviously been reinforced over the existing walls that remained from the ruins, and they¡¯re staffed by Saharliard of every caste and age. As a side note, I find it to be especially interesting to speak with the grayscales of the Saharliard. Before the establishment of this New Empire, no keelish in human or other civilized lands would ever be permitted to survive much longer than the day of its discovery, and, beyond that, the swarms were so barbaric and bloodthirsty that there was no possibility for the infirm to live long and serve as a drain on the resources of the swarm. That is not to say that the grayscales are permitted to retire in peace to some quiet community, as I have been assured. Their place is teaching, and I have been even more impressed with their schooling system than I¡¯d expected to be. Oh, but I find myself enraptured in a side tangent again, as always. Suffice to say, the Saharliard have been busy in restoring Nievtra to and beyond its ancient splendor. Their architects are hard at work, though I must say that their aesthetic sense has yet to be developed. More disappointing, disheartening to the level of heartbreaking, I would say, is that they have shown no respect for the relics of their ancestors! Their restorations have defiled, disgraced, and destroyed the remains of that once great civilization in search of establishing their own. I must confess that I couldn¡¯t hold back my tears as I stepped through the city and witnessed the destruction of history that had so brazenly occurred. -from a letter home by Eldara di¡¯Frandara during his self-funded travels to Nievtra We debated among ourselves about how exactly to approach the raging Shandise. It, or they, as Sybil said, were somewhat mollified by her promise to assist, but the ants continued biting and harassing the creature, so though its tantrums were greatly reduced in scope, the gargantuan beast continued to try to dispose of the ants whenever they made themselves known. When we were a mere hundred or so feet away, we all stopped without needing to say anything to the others. As we¡¯d suspected already, it was at least 40 or so feet tall, and each of its hands would easily crush me. ¡°Wait here.¡± Sybil commanded, her face a calm picture of concentration. She obviously said something to the giant, and had to repeat herself several times as she subconsciously flared her frills in confirmation as it seemed to ask her clarifying questions. Then, after a small army of ants crawled up its legs and began biting down, it stepped out of the crater that slowly grew under its stomps. Each of its surprisingly quick steps carried it towards us. ¡°Ashlani, please use your magic to dispatch them quickly.¡± Sybil requested as the Shandise approached. I didn¡¯t ask any questions as I gathered my magic in my throat and allowed it to condense. Though there were no fewer than ten of the creatures swarming each leg, I¡¯d learned how to shape my [Murderous Melody] and, after a mere five seconds¡¯ hesitation, I shouted out a wordless cry that blew over the giant¡¯s legs. As the magically amplified waves washed over the stonelike surface of the Shandise¡¯s flesh, a cloud of dust puffed from its flesh in my magic¡¯s wake. When each ant was struck by my attack, they stiffened and fell from the leg, laying on the ground with their legs twitching. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Will it hurt us if we pull the ants out of there?¡± ¡°No.¡± Sybil responded, her tone sure. I didn¡¯t hesitate to rush forward myself, the rest of my elites following suit. With my claws and fangs, I dispatched a half dozen of the ants before the rest reached us, though Brutus was vicious in his attacks, brutalizing whatever ant he came in contact with. I swiftly received the answer of why he did so as, once the ants were all slain, he grabbed two, tossed them to me, and then half escorted, half pushed me away from the immediate reach of the Shandise. Though a small part of me resented the care he took of me, feeling as if he were treating me like a hatchling, the much larger pragmatic part of me understood my importance to the swarm as a whole and him individually. Finally, the part of me that would surely evolve to become a Zak¡¯Tal, a royal caste, enjoyed the sense of importance his care for me provided. The rest of my subordinates also refused to stay any longer than necessary and grabbed the rest of the corpses and hurried around a nearby corner. As soon as I turned around, I realized that we could see one of the Shandise¡¯s pairs of curious eyes peeking over the ruins of the wall we¡¯d retreated around. Sybil remained in her previous stance, her mind obviously focused on the creature that stood before us. Though I desperately wanted to ask her what it was saying, or what news she might have, it quickly became apparent that, either the creature was slow to respond or difficult to communicate with. Perhaps both, or something else, but Sybil¡¯s tail twitched a couple of times in poorly concealed impatience that, for her, might as well have been a stomping screaming fit. As it was, Sybil¡¯s body frequently twitched in subconscious displays of our own body language that we understood but the Shandise obviously took no note of. The massive giant¡¯s voices harmonized in a low, grinding sound as it vocalized something as it responded to Sybil¡¯s communications. After several minutes of her talking with the Shandise, it stepped around in a circle for a moment, allowing each of its heads to look at us. ¡°I believe it understands that we are willing and able to help it, and I also believe it understands we probably cannot ensure that there will be no more ants here. I cannot say what else it understood or what it plans to do specifically, but I am hopeful that it understands that if it stays here, the ants will continue to attack.¡± ¡°So you tried to tell it to leave to stop getting bitten?¡± ¡°And that if they leave them to us, we will hunt them and keep them from biting the Shandise again.¡± ¡°Then, if you¡¯ve been successful, we¡¯ll have ants to eat and the Shandise will no longer be our problem?¡± ¡°I vaguely understand it to be as you have said, Alpha. Do remember, though, that their minds are not wholly in concert, and they might forget about us, but for now at least, we seem to be a mere curiosity that merits no further investigation.¡± She flicked her tail in uncertainty. ¡°Their minds are far less developed than the Indlovus¡¯ but more so than our herds¡¯. The complexity of their thought process might be underestimated or misunderstood.¡± I was about to respond when the Shandise stopped looking at us, groaned a long, low roar in its now familiar harmony of three, and started walking away. On the far side of Nievtra¡¯s ruins, the wall had collapsed, and before long, the Shandise stepped over the pile of rubble that remained and walked with an awkward, if constant and distance eating lope. We watched as it scaled the mountain, rolling between each torso as one seemed to tire. ¡°Thank you, Sybil.¡± I grinned widely, knowing the emotion was more menacing than gently approving. ¡°Now, we have a much easier source of food, too.¡± Chapter 308 Though I easily could have led the swarm in subjugating this next of ants, I left it to Solia and Hala and anyone else that wanted to. Before long, the damned things were flooding out of the hole that the Shandise¡¯s absence uncovered, numbering hundreds of massive angry creatures. With the Wave and Voltaic Wolfstags¡¯ help, though, the hunters flooded and electrified the holes that were revealed by the Shandise¡¯s departure. The acrid smell of burning ant chitin filled my nose and I snorted it away. After the waters receded down into the tunnels, the ants didn¡¯t reappear for a time, so I merely enjoyed the additional avenue for food. ¡°How do you think they feed themselves?¡± Asked Took as she watched many of her hunters finish off the last of the half-drowned insects. ¡°I¡¯m sure that they hunt.¡± I replied. ¡°We saw evidence of them draggin prey into their home at the other one. I think these ones are just unlucky and stupid.¡± Took cocked her head, disagreeing but seemingly unwilling to say as much. ¡°Speak.¡± ¡°If there are so many of them here, and they all need to eat even half as much as a keelish their size, there wouldn¡¯t be anything living around here.¡± She said, looking at the surrounding forest. Though it wasn¡¯t teeming with life, birds and small mammals flickered through the branches all around. Looking closer, any number of signs of other creatures living nearby filled the forest. ¡°I think you¡¯re right.¡± I said before adding, ¡°Looking around, you can see that there¡¯s not much of a trace of them in the trails either. Everything going through here is much taller than them.¡± Took clacked her teeth in agreement. ¡°So how do they feed themselves?¡± ¡°It has to be something underground, then.¡± I answered, looking more curiously at the hole where the ants lived. ¡°Something else to discover as we build our homes here, I¡¯m sure.¡± Took clacked her teeth again and strode forward, growling a wordless command to one of the hunters. She scrambled to follow Took¡¯s instruction, whatever it was, and I turned away, ready to find the evolution to Keel that still escaped me. The swarm had, by this point, mostly reached the city walls, though half or so remained outside the city¡¯s bounds, relaxing in the long grass. The first of the oxfiends and all the oryxs had made their way to the same fields and grazed contentedly while the axebeaks struggled to clamber up rocks and paths obviously not well suited for their legs. The hyenas, however, had been brought into the city to see if they would eat the ants. There wasn¡¯t any great place for the herds to enter the city except for the section of wall that had crumbled, the one where the Shandise had left. Thus, with shrieks of disapproval and discomfort, the hyenas had been carried over the wall by Kou¡¯Tal shepherds that somehow calmed the beasts enough to be carried in without making the several mile detour to the far side of the city. Fortunately, the hyenas, either due to appetite, hunger, or preference, happily devoured the ant corpses, their teeth crunching through chitin. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. From a more long-term plan, Sybil wanted to use the herbivore herbs insatiable appetites to clear out much of the greenery we didn¡¯t need within the bounds of the city. She was speaking with Ytte about what she could do to allow the beasts through the walls without destroying them, but I didn¡¯t care too much about the how they would do it. Instead, I walked around the city¡¯s ruins, taking in what little I could understand of those who came before me. The walls that remained were different from those I¡¯d come to expect from ¡°civilized¡± people, though I supposed they shouldn¡¯t have. A part of me still assumed that people would use the humans¡¯ Speaking to create anything, so walls would consist of nearly whole stone, called from and solidified in the depths of the earth. Instead, these walls were carefully constructed by stacking complimentarily shaped stones on each, and possibly molded to better fit together. There was virtually no space between each rock, and I couldn¡¯t help but marvel at the Keel¡¯s ingenuity and competence. So many walls still remained from hundreds of years ago, with nothing to protect and restore them, a testament to the legacy I was going to fill. And on that note¡­ ¡°Nievtala, Administrator, why haven¡¯t I evolved yet? Do I just need to Speak the Words?¡± [The Administrator laughs. I suppose that is true, little fang. All that remains for your evolution is for you to Speak the True Iteration of the Words. You have already tried to do so, though, and you have yet to find success. You can try again.] A part of me wanted to believe that was all I needed to do, but I knew that the Administrator was laughing at least partially at my expense. ¡°What am I missing?¡± [It should be readily apparent to you what is yet missing, what you have learned and gained on your journey thus far and how what is missing fills that vacuum.] Though I was unsure as to what a vacuum would be, I understood what she was saying. To reinforce the point, Nievtala spoke, my knees trembling at the intent behind her words. Sacrifice of our lives. As I held to a nearby wall and tried to keep myself steady, I was struck by how immensely powerful her presence was, greater far than I¡¯d experienced before. Instinctually, I understood that it was because she was speaking her Words of Power. Their inextricable tie to her and her divinity and power made these four words ring around my skull and shake my entire being. That being said, I¡¯d gained a further understanding of four of the five Phrases of Nievtala¡¯s Words of Power, a broadening of my perspective and thoughts and understanding. The sole Phrase that I hadn¡¯t had an additional experience with understanding was the Second of the Words of Power¨C¡±through the tempering of the sacrifice of our lives are we complete¡±. It had come to me when we were escaping from the High Speakers and I¡¯d offered a prayer to Nievtala in the hopes of escaping and surviving. We¡¯d done both, and I was still grateful to her for that, but what further understanding did I lack? I wanted to look around and further investigate the city, search for inspiration for me, but before I could, Joral¡¯s voice called out to me, asking for help. Chapter 309 As it turned out, Joral merely wanted some measure of assistance with adjusting the resting places for the herds, and to ensure that they weren¡¯t anywhere that I didn¡¯t want them to be. Before long, I¡¯d conferred with Sybil and determined that, in truth, I didn¡¯t care about the urban planning of a city. I wanted to be involved with and remain the final voice for all broad decisionmaking regarding politics, foreign policy, warfare, and, to a lesser extent, hunting, social structuring, and lower level leadership. The minutiae of the details remained generally uninteresting to me, but I refused to have general decisions that impacted my people be made without my knowledge, if not input. My conversation complete, I refocused on the Fourth of the Phrases. I¡¯d thought I understood that so well when I¡¯d spoken the words all those months ago, the desperation and selflessness that allowed and forced dozens and hundreds of my followers to offer their lives and their bodies for me and my survival. Was that not the epitome of sacrificing your life? Was there greater love than that of a brother sacrificing themself for those they loved? That wasn¡¯t the point of the Phrase, though. I realized before long that the Phrase wasn¡¯t ¡°through the tempering of the sacrifice of our lives are others complete¡± but ¡°through the tempering of the sacrifice of our lives are we complete¡±. Sacrificing our own lives, my life, for completion. Others sacrificed themselves and I benefitted, but they weren¡¯t complete anything except for completely dead, so far as I could tell. Whatever else the Phrase could mean bounced around my head and I walked through the city¡¯s ruins, thinking as I watched my people and my new home. Joral, as I¡¯d recently spoken with him, was nearby and fussing over an oxfiend cow. So far as I could tell, the only real difference between the genders, other than genitals, was that the males¡¯ heads were a bit larger. Joral had assured me that there was much more than that, but I found myself struggling to tell many mammals of the same species apart and not caring. The female was lowing, irritated and unhappy, but Joral ministered to her, showing special care to make a somewhat similar sound to hers while scratching tenderly at various parts of her face. Before long, she moaned loud and long, and a calf fell to the ground behind her. I¡¯d never paid much attention to the birth of other creatures, and the beginning of this oxfiend¡¯s life took me by surprise. Joral patted the mother a couple more times, caring for her for another moment before turning to the calf. It lay there, mostly insensate and confused. With Joral¡¯s help, the the calf stood on shaky legs and began to nurse on its mother. She turned her head and licked the child with obvious love as it desperately suckled. That is sacrifice of life. Nievtala¡¯s voice filled my head, though I knew that her words were far from the entire implication of her Words. I walked forward without paying the newborn or Joral and his previously hidden Kha¡¯Tal attendant any more attention. The other female cut the placenta free from the baby¡¯s umbilical cord and quietly listened to the several other commands that Joral made. This time without Nievtala¡¯s guidance, I supposed that would be an example of the sacrifice of one¡¯s life making them complete as well. Basit¡¯s words to me spoke of her willingness to sacrifice herself for the swarm. She didn¡¯t want recognition, nor did the vast majority of her caste of the Kha¡¯Tal. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. My journey continued, walking to wherever struck my fancy, though I supposed that Nievtala guided my steps, whether subconsciously or otherwise. Keelish filled the city, though not nearly to capacity, and each stepped back away from my path as I stepped forward. Respect and near worship filled each of their eyes as they looked on their Swarm Alpha. I¡¯d led them across hostile lands and found a place for us to claim as our own. So far as we knew, these were abandoned lands that we could mold however we wished, and even the simplest, most bone achingly stupid of my people understood that we¡¯d come to be here solely because of me. Whispers of ¡°Nievtala¡¯s Chosen¡± and ¡°True Alpha¡± erupted wherever I passed and I welcomed them. More and more was my legacy cemented in their minds, and I welcomed it. I was, myself, sacrificing a portion of my life to be who I was, to guide who I did, to stand in my position of leadership and power. Yes, it was something that I enjoyed and desired to do, but it remained a sacrifice of time and self to do so. Never before had I wanted or been forced to think so deeply about Nievtala¡¯s Words of Power, and I feld my vision of the concept expand, though I realized only now how elementary my thought process was. If I wanted, I could say that anything was a sacrifice of life, but that obviously wasn¡¯t what Nievtala or the System needed. Instead, it was something different, something more. My steps carried me throughout the city as I made mental progress towards enlightenment before then tearing it back down. I visited each of my elites, speaking briefly with each as I considered how each sacrificed their lives and found some measure of wholeness or completion. Foire and his time with his daughter for the good of the swarm, Brutus and focusing entirely on me, Percral stepping out of leadership entirely to fight for our good, Sakkit showing humility and changing who he was, Yamal being willing to lead a new generation, and so many more. Though each made themselves complete through the sacrifice of some aspect of their lives, they remained an individual and hadn¡¯t been made wholly complete. With so much time contemplating the specifics of the Phrase, the word ¡°complete¡± seemed to lose all meaning, becoming nothing more than an amalgamation of sounds that meant everything and nothing. Eventually, I found myself standing before the pit where the Shandise had previously lived. The stones had been pounded to dust and the dust made to mud under our counterattack on the ants. Some measure of movement could be seen in the abandoned hole, but whenever the tunnels showed any signs of reappearing, a Wave Wolfstag sent a stream of water in and as the tunnel collapsed under the weight and spray of water, the ants retreated. Their selflessness and focus was simultaneously impressive and humorous. Didn¡¯t they know that they were killing themselves effectively for nothing? They¡¯d die, only to serve as our food or as a stumbling block for their fellows. Wouldn¡¯t it serve them better to think of themselves? The realization struck me as soon as I thought about the ants, and I laughed to myself. Surely my enlightenment about the Words of Power of my goddess would come from considering my own people, not my enemies? In this case, no, it wasn¡¯t to be. Instead, I smiled, and knew what I needed to do. Chapter 310 (End of Book 3) I walked through the city, giving quick commands to whoever I saw to gather near the wall where we¡¯d first entered the city. It was a testament to my wholly solidified authority that, as I walked, my journey came across fewer and fewer keelish, though Brutus sending another of the guards forward to give the same command helped as well. Fortunately, I¡¯d thought to give the command to those watching the ants¡¯ hole to fill the pit with as much water as they could muster before coming as well. Thus, for a time, my people could come and watch as I Spoke the entirety of the Words of Power of Nievtala. Just knowing that I had finally found them in their entirety, I felt a wide grin cross my face. Something told me that I would want as many of my subordinates nearby as possible when I finally Spoke. So much of Nievtala¡¯s Words were communal in nature instead of wholly individual, and I knew that even if I was the sole member of the swarm currently able to evolve to become Keel, every individual would benefit greatly from witnessing my ascension. While hundreds of keelish milled around, curious about why I¡¯d called them to assemble once more, I scaled the walls from a stairway that¡¯d been centuries since forgotten. As I rose above the masses, I looked over them and felt their expectations settle over me. They were right to trust in me, for long behind was left the insecure hatchling, the revenge bent human, and the hesitant child. I rose before my people as the Zaaktif, their emperor, he would lead them to victory and conquest, to safety and surety, to life and past death. I would sacrifice Ashlani the human to Ashlani the Keel and stand tall as their bastion, their leader, and their [Spear]. Here on the wall waited for me Sybil, Took, Brutus, Shemira, Vefir, Foire, Trai, Ytte, Percral, and the rest of my elites. I walked to stand in front of them, my back to the world outside our walls. I was ready. I rose both hands high above my head and addressed my people. ¡°Some of you have walked with me from my hatching, others from my original ascent to Swarm Alpha, and the rest of you from my journey there all the way here, to our ancestral home. You have seen me step forward as your Alpha and overcome insurmountable odds placed against us. When the Veratocracy sought to eliminate us as pests, I led our escape. When the Moonchildren debated our worth, I proved it. When the inhabitants of Shandr hunted us, I returned death in kind, and when the indlovu sought to disrupt us, I held us together. ¡°The world itself rallies and rails against the keelish. Every nation sees us at best as annoyances, but most consider our existence to be a blight upon the land. They hunt us, not for food or even for sport, but for extermination. No longer will we permit this! No longer shall I allow these other people to demean and hate us!¡± Roars of approval filled the air as I cut my hands through the air. The widespread noise shifted to scattered cheers until it grew to a crescendoing chant. ¡°Ashlani! ¡°Ashlani! ¡°Ashlani! ¡°Ashlani! ¡°ASHLANI!¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. I let the cheer fill the air, echoing off the walls for a minute before I raised my hands again, calming the ravening horde. The time had come. Nievtala¡¯s presence washed over all of us, and a single moment stretched into eternity as she watched, and we waited with bated breath. The Words came freely to my tongue, striking the air with a nearly physical power as I Spoke my evolution into being. ¡°Through the flaming crucible of war are we refined, through the quenching in the blood of our foes are we strengthened, through the tempering of the sacrifice of our lives are we completed. We are the blade bared at the throats of those who dare oppose us, the throne to which the wise submit, and the peak which casts the long shadow.¡± As the Words faded from the air, Nievtala spoke. Yes. You are mine. Instead of possessiveness or manipulation like I¡¯d felt before, her words were pure exultation. She gloried in finally no longer being alone, in someone joining her¨C Like an arrow from the bow, I was struck with an understanding, as if a fog had been pulled from my mind. This voice¨CI knew where else I had heard this voice. I couldn¡¯t say why I hadn¡¯t ever been able to understand that before, but now I knew where else Nievtala had spoken to me. A dozen proofs of my certainty flashed through my mind, too quickly to be understood. Before I could ask any questions or make any further declarations, a wave of exhaustion washed over me. I realized I was about to evolve, even though I hadn¡¯t confirmed with the [System] that I was ready. Evolution to becoming Keel was immediately overcoming me without my input. Looking out over the assembled keelish, I saw each one lay prostrate, whether willing or not I couldn¡¯t tell. They all refused to look up at me, though it wasn¡¯t me they avoided looking at. I tried to turn to look at what I knew was above and behind me, but as I started to turn, my legs gave out underneath me and my eyes closed before I could see anything except for a pearlescent tail. My head thumped against the ground, and then, I felt and saw nothing. [Sybil POV] Ashlani¡¯s head hit the ground with a discomfiting thunk. Sybil again tried to stand under the overwhelming presence, to go to him, but she couldn¡¯t move. Above her, the magnificent, perfect personage in the form of what must be a Keel looked at her specifically. Perhaps because of her previous efforts to look at Nievtala¡¯s representation, or maybe because of the continued attempts to move though the goddess desired otherwise. Whatever the reason was, though, Sybil needed to see him. He¡¯d spoken with a righteous zeal and focus, almost possessed with a need to say what he did. His words had made her heart soar, ready to confront anything that stood before them, willing to fight. Something inside of her had changed, made ready for the next stage of life under his knowledge. Then, as he¡¯d finished his speech, Nievtala appeared, and everything froze. She spoke only to Ashlani, and he fell. After a pregnant pause, Sybil still striving to move towards her mate, Nievtala¡¯s presence faded, though Sybil could feel some measure of communication the goddess had attempted to bestow her with. Now able to move, Sybil rushed to Ashlani¡¯s side. He breathed steadily without difficulty, and when Vefir approached, Sybil stepped away to allow him to minister to the Alpha, though her blood screamed for her to stay near him and offer whatever meaningless support she could. Vefir looked up, his eyes wide with amazement. ¡°He is changing. It has to be so in his path to becoming Keel.¡± Sybil relaxed before forcing herself to focus once more on the swarm. After all, who could say how long it would be before Ashlani returned, and was it not her responsibility to ensure that everything was moving according to plan and beyond expectations? [Ashlani POV] The peace of the evolutionary space threatened to consume my mind as usual, but my agitation at understanding demanded I speak. The Administrator approached, and my eyes pierced the mists she¡¯d held over my mind when I spoke. ¡°Hello, Nievtala.¡± Chapter 311 (Book 3 Epilogue) [Leiyalt Alniyh POV] The High Lord of the Alniyh House strode through the halls of the Synod¡¯s Consortium, the masses falling back from his presence. Perhaps the sizzling Skyr on his shoulder added to his presence, but his Bound served to prove his power and influence. After all, no other was allowed their Bound within the hallows halls. None but him and the Gran Verat himself. His ceremonial robes fluttered behind him, their supernaturally bright dyes glittering in the light from the windows carved high above in the solid stone walls. The luxurious shoes he wore cushioned his feet with each clacking step on the marble flooring, and Leiyalt held back the wide grin that threatened to crack his regal appearance. After all, right now, the helpless and weak had been blessed to see his mighty figure, it simply wouldn¡¯t do to deprive them of the perfect vision of his majesty. Thus, though every step he took was taken with the haste it deserved, the High Lord remained the perfect representation of the face of one of the Seven Families. With his rushed pace and nobody willing to step in his way, it was but a few minutes before Leiyalt Alniyh stood before the doors into the Five¡¯s chambers. That none of his family dwelled behind these doors was an affront, but Leiyalt supposed that the weak masses deserved to believe that they could ascend to the position of the High Veran. It was far from the truth, of course, the occasional inconsequential child that did was swiftly ¡°elevated¡± to the position of their betters and made to stand as a silent supporter of the true rulers of the country. It was an affront to his position that he had to wait at all to enter, but the High Lord supposed he could show this small measure of grace to those who so desperately needed his expertise now. After all, they¡¯d begged for him to come, so he could wait patiently enough while they played their games with him. ¡°Please, come in.¡± He recognized that voice before he opened the door. With a wide grin on his face, Leiyalt Windspoke the door open and strode in. That wench Djallma sat behind an austere desk, her facade of a smile much faker than his own. The reception area, if it could be called as much, wasn¡¯t anything noteworthy, considering the sway it held over the entirety of the implacable beast that was the Veratocracy. There was but the single desk where Djallma sat, no windows, and four doors filled the room. A set of shelves decorated the back wall, both filled with sheaves of paper and tightly bound scrolls. How much information was stored within, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder. As his mind flitted through the various points of interest in the room, the High Lord wondered at the actual influence of the inhabitants of these rooms. After all, the Five could merely be called the tongue of the country, while the brain remained the Gran Verat and his claws that of the Families. ¡°Thank you for coming, High Lord. It was Salmar who requested your presence, and he should be available now.¡± ¡°Such a good secretary, Miss Nahr. Do you need to notify him of my presence?¡± The unmistakable pressure of a windword answered before Djallma could. ¡°My office, please.¡± Leiyalt had to fight not to react to the perfunctory response, but he kept his body language clear and calm as he walked into the most senior of the Five¡¯s office. As the ¡°office¡± of the most junior of the Five, the office was wholly undecorated, though casual displays of Salmar¡¯s Windspeaking prowess were on full display everywhere he looked. Small ¡°windows¡± that required constant concentration filled one of the walls, each one displaying a different part of Viertaal and its surrounding lands. On the other wall was a shimmering matrix of whirling winds occasionally spat out a firmly wrapped paper which was automatically sorted into stacks to be reviewed later. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°High Lord Alniyh. I have a single question regarding your accompaniment of the squad of soldiers from the Thnufir garrison.¡± The old man refused to stand on ceremony, and though he¡¯d expected it, it still grated on Leiyalt. ¡°Then ask. There are yet things that I have to do today.¡± ¡°Very well. Why did you not bring any of your most notable Bound when you went to exterminate the escaping keelish?¡± He sighed. ¡°I left with the sole assignment of dealing with the Sunkindred¡¯s assault on the Thnufir lines. I wasn¡¯t prepared for an extended chase, though I assisted the soldiers with getting all the way to the eastern reaches more quickly than they could have otherwise.¡± ¡°That did not answer my question. You were commanded by the Gran Verat to assist High Colonel di¡¯Thnufir with driving the Sunkindred from the reaches of the Thnufir River. Why did you not bring your greatest strength to bear in following his decree?¡± ¡°There was no need to! He requested that I move quickly, so I left Than in his home and traveled over land with the assigned escorts with Doluk, Alba, and Skyr.¡± ¡°And did you find success in your repelling of the Sunkindred?¡± ¡°No, I was forced to leave before¨C¡± ¡°And did you find success in hunting the keelish to the last?¡± ¡°That was not my responsibility!¡± The High Lord bellowed in response. ¡°I assisted them in their movement, and Alba¡¯s life was sacrificed in the process. I lost generations of experimentation, purification, and potential in one moment, because those soldiers lacked the capability to kill mere keelish!¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Salmar¡¯s face remained impassive, and Leiyalt snarled. ¡°Did you merely call me here to remind yourself of what you already know?¡± ¡°No. the Gran Verat would like to know how your latest experiments are going.¡± Though Salmar stated it as easily as anything, Leiyalt stiffened. The Gran Verat was asking this? ¡°She was a failure. Not malleable enough. Or perhaps too malleable, it¡¯s too hard to tell, and since she was a failure, I don¡¯t care too much to clarify. Beyond that, now that she¡¯s been given permission to live at the Thnufir Garrison, it¡¯s been too long since last I used any of my Callings on her and what little progress I was able to make will be wholly lost before long, and I suspect her subconscious mind will greater resist any further attempts. Maybe another could follow in my tracks and see if they can¡¯t overwrite that trite compassion she seems so hellbent on maintaining, but I don¡¯t care any longer.¡± ¡°Oh, you misunderstand.¡± Salmar answered, though Leiyalt saw the barest flicker of disgust that colored his tone and face when he realized that the High Lord was experimenting on one of their citizens. Why one of the High Veran would allow emotions to color the necessity of scientific inquiry wholly escaped him, but perfection evaded most. ¡°The Gran Verat wishes to know how your other, the one recovered from the Samutelia, is progressing.¡± ¡°But of course! He is a wild success. I suspect that, if we allow him to encounter others of his kind, he¡¯ll quickly be able to dominate them.¡± ¡°I shall pass it on, then.¡± ¡°Yes, my little Keel is a good child. I look forward to seeing him continue on his path.¡± End of Book 3 Chapter 312 (Beginning of Book 4) As I opened my eyes, my evolution complete, I rolled my shoulders and disregarded the sounds of excitement from my surroundings while I thought back on the conversation and revelations I¡¯d just had. The same moment I¡¯d named her as Nievtala, the Administrator shifted from a formless presence to a towering goddess. Her form sprawled across the heavens, her head alone dwarfing me. As I laid eye on her, I was amazed to see that she wasn¡¯t so different from what I myself appeared to be. Though as a khatif we were something of a strange amalgam of a quadrupedal creature and an upright one, Nievtala was a truly bipedal upright Keel. Her body, like mine, was silver and patterned with thick scar tissue. Her arms and legs both were heavily covered with muscle and thicker, somehow more armor like scales. Her tail stretched out into the distance, proportionally longer than I supposed mine would be, and her chest sported the same brand in the shape as a spear that I had received from her. Though her head was much the same as a Keel¡¯s was sure to be, her snout was shorter than his and the other khatif¡¯s, and, most interestingly, were her eyes. Instead of any of the various dark shades of eye that every keelish and khatif I had seen had, Nievtala¡¯s swam with the lights of the night sky, reflecting the shine of stars and the purple of the space between them. ¡°I didn¡¯t quite anticipate your knowledge to pierce the veil so immediately, little fang.¡± Nievtala smiled, the look absolutely predatory, given any one of her fangs was larger than the whole of my consciousness in this space. ¡°Though, I suppose I should have expected your sharp mind to remain as such.¡± In this place, though my mind wasn¡¯t so clouded by the influences on my emotions that my body provided, I still couldn¡¯t help but be lost in the wash of warring emotions. I¡¯d always considered the two to be different beings, their function and desires to be apart from the other. Perhaps it was the distance I¡¯d been forced to have with Nievtala due to the force of her presence while, though ancient and unknowable, the Administrator had seemed to be a companion of sorts. ¡°I guess you should have expected me.¡± ¡°Oh, it has been so long since the System granted the System to a keelish user. It has been a monstrously difficult effort to keep my hopes tempered with reality. How glorious to finally have a user of the System that is willing and able to seize its power to the best of their ability.¡± I felt myself begin to be taken up in the rhythm of her speaking and nearly continued to engage with her on her level. Instead, I looked straight into one of the intimidating, otherworldly eyes. ¡°There are many questions I desperately want to ask. However, I remember the limitations placed on me while I¡¯m evolving, so I¡¯m willing to learn whatever it is that you¡¯re going to tell me before I ask my question.¡± ¡°You remain yourself, little fang.¡± Nievtala laughed, the sound shaking the realm we resided in. Her mirth swelled to an overwhelming crescendo, though unlike when her emotions carried over to me though our bond of Disciple and Goddess, I wasn¡¯t forced to feel the same glee. ¡°Cautious and focused. However, this time, and any other evolutions you may be able to acquire, will be different. You do not need to worry about asking questions and how it may cut our time together short.¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Permission given, I let the first question that sprang to my mind fly. ¡°Why is this time different?¡± Her face smiled, though the look of her eyes was tender and almost sad. ¡°I cannot say if you will ever again evolve after this point. Thus, our communications will be largely unfettered by the previous expectations the System forced upon us. Of course, there will be questions left unanswered and an eventual end to our conversation, but we will have a mostly uninhibited discussion at this time.¡± There was no shortage to the variety of additional questions her answer gave me, but I had to start somewhere. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you ever tell me that the Administrator and Nievtala were one and the same?¡± ¡°Various reasons, the primary two being that the System would not provide that information without cost, and the second that though you enjoy this additional clarity this answer provides, it gives you no benefit and does not matter in the grand scheme of things.¡± I sighed, though I supposed her words were true enough. ¡°What¡¯s this about me probably never evolving again? I¡¯ve only been keelish for something like a year, there¡¯s plenty of time for me to still evolve.¡± ¡°One year, one month, and seven days.¡± Nievtala replied, her more mirthful smile returning. ¡°Now, to your question. A Keel is, according to the System, no longer a beast. Your Systemically designated path will remain much the same, but no longer will you have such easy access to evolutions. Instead, you will gain access to a greater breadth of Quests, which will allow for you to better understand the different aspects to your path, according to the System. There will also be other adjustments to the way that the System treats your Skill acquisition and development, but that is largely unimportant.¡± Though I wanted to argue with the mountainous goddess about that, I supposed I would have time to address the point later on, given how many other unrelated questions I had, and how there was apparently some sort of a limit to how long I would be able to ask questions. That could be something she explained after I woke up, if necessary. ¡°Were you a Keel? Did you live as a mortal before becoming whatever you are now?¡± ¡°I was the Keel. The original. I created all that we once were, and my path informed the System of what we can and should become.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if I understand what you¡¯re saying.¡± ¡°I suppose that would be difficult to understand for you. There are many aspects to the System that I cannot say and others still that I do not understand, but my path as a mortal was much the same as yours is now, which is how you have managed to ascend to this position and evolution.¡± Though I tried to flare my frills in reluctant understanding, I had no physical body to do so. Even so, Nievtala understood. I continued to ask a variety of questions, ranging from how long ago she¡¯d lived (seven thousand years) to how she¡¯d become a goddess (couldn¡¯t say). I did, eventually, come to one of the primary questions I wanted to ask. ¡°What will be the greatest difficulty that presents itself to my people, and how can I best overcome it?¡± Chapter 313 ¡°You ask a good question.¡± Nievtala said, her form shifting without moving like a physical body. Once she laid on the ¡°ground¡±, she continued speaking. ¡°I cannot give much in the way of specifics, given that I am prohibited from revealing as much. However, generally, I can confirm a fear and thought you have already had. In every era in which they have existed, Keel are seen, at best, as a menace and hostile nation. Frequently, we are considered monsters masquerading as people, and in the worst case, we are hunted just as the keelish have been in this era. Frankly, the countries of today are less hostile to you and your people than in any previous epoch.¡± ¡°They hate us less than otherwise?¡± I asked, incredulity straining my question. ¡°Oh, yes, little fang.¡± Nievtala laughed. ¡°The Moonchildren allowed you to be designated as fahvalo instead of prey and the Sunkindred respected that. The denizens of Shandr didn¡¯t pursue you, and the indlovu merely annoyed you with their antics. The Misti Hawar are sure to pursue your extinction, but that is no surprise. I have my suspicions regarding the Godless Hordes and the Union, but I can¡¯t say anything as of yet, given your complete lack of experience with them. Regardless, your greatest dangers will not be nature itself, leviathans, or other primordial creatures. As always, a people¡¯s greatest threat is another people.¡± Though I wanted to disagree with Nievtala¡¯s declaration that those we¡¯d encountered hadn''t been as hateful as they could have been, I couldn¡¯t. If Bloodpriestess Ana hadn¡¯t been intrigued with us and excited to enrage the pursuing High Speakers, she could have slaughtered us all. Everything else my goddess had explained was sure to be true as well. ¡°And how can we overcome that hatred?¡± ¡°I suppose that is a decision you must make yourself. There are, of course, various possibilities, but I would suggest any combination of one of two paths forward. That of conquest, or that of diplomacy. Interestingly enough, you and your adorable Sybil are well suited to those two paths.¡± ¡°Considering your position, you¡¯re more like a gossipy old lady from my previous life than I would have expected.¡± I answered, somehow accidentally focusing on something wholly unrelated to what I actually wanted to ask. ¡°There is precious little to do in my day to day, and while I have an expanded consciousness and perception, I am much more limited than you might expect of a deity. Thus, much of what I can specifically glean from the world comes from my Chosen and Disciples. I watch your lives with nearly as much interest as you do, and you should know I will continue to do so.¡± I sighed, my possibly nonexistent tail flicking in faint irritation. ¡°Very well. The two paths. Conquest would alleviate pressure on us by destroying our enemies, and diplomacy would facilitate our growth without endangering ourselves quite as much. Though, conquest seems to be an arm of diplomacy.¡± ¡°That is not untrue, I suppose.¡± Most of my questions now answered, there was one that settled to the forefront of my mind. I hesitated to ask, though, and found myself allowing the silence to stretch out between us. After several minutes, Nievtala spoke, her tone gentle and infused with a certain weight of divinity. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°I can read your mind.¡± ¡°I am aware. And you should know that¡¯s part of what I worry about.¡± Nievtala sat up, her face impassive and unreadable while her glimmering eyes searched my soul. ¡°Ask, and I shall answer. If you do not, I will not. I am no mortal, eager to please your every whim and willing to indulge your every worry. If you are strong enough to ask, you¡¯re capable of receiving an answer in return.¡± I steeled myself. ¡°Why have you constantly tried to wash away my sense of self?¡± ¡°You are soft.¡± She responded, her tone firm and disapproving. Though much weaker than when her words shook my body and shattered my mind, the weight of a goddess¡¯s disapproval made my soul quake. ¡°You still mourn the loss of a hatchling with little to no promise, and you carry a load on your heart for his death to a mere terrorbird when he was days old. That is foolishness. You care too deeply about the fates of every one of your followers, when you are their Alpha, and a scant few of them have the slightest possibility of truly supporting you on your path. You have the potential to be the greatest weapon this world has ever seen, and you squander it by blunting your edges and softening your blows. ¡°I sought to take from you your squeamishness and reluctance to slaughter. If you were more selfish and focused, you could have completed at least one more round of extermination to gain additional stats, stats that would have carried into your evolution with greater impact.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t hesitate to slaughter, I merely allow for the swarm to gain more benefits as well alongside me!¡± I could feel my anger surging and burning away the cowardice her overwhelming emotions attempted to force upon me. ¡°And though the System has laid out a path in your passage¡¯s wake, I am permitted to make my own decisions.¡± ¡°That is true.¡± Nievtala allowed. ¡°However, you underestimate the importance of yourself. Even now, you continue to forget that you are the singular pillar on which your people¡¯s existence is founded. If you die now, there would be no more Keel. There would be no prayer of your swarm¡¯s survival. Your people worship you and are ready and willing to support you through everything, yet you instead fixate yourself on a continued sense of fairness. ¡°Even so,¡± Nievtala spoke, cutting off my next argument, ¡°there is some merit to your approach. Once your evolution is complete, there will be many more Keel present among your followers than would have been possible, were you to have pursued the egotistical paths I suggested. Your people¡¯s development will be greater assisted by your use of [Evolutionary Exemplar] than I believe you could have offered as even an individual twice your strength and capability would have been able to, any time soon. I do not know for a surety that, in the long run, your approach or mine would be more impactful and beneficial. However, I am willing to allow you your foibles and experiments.¡± I quickly realized this was as near to an apology as I could expect to receive, and I bowed my head to the goddess. ¡°Thank you for your patience with me. I recognize I¡¯m not always the best follower.¡± ¡°No, you are not.¡± Nievtala smirked. ¡°However, I cannot call myself the most dedicated and consistent of goddesses either. After all, my people have never had an empire last longer than 127 years.¡± As she spoke, without my conscious decision or thought, I found my mind surrounded in an approximation of a warm, vibrating sand bath. Though I wasn¡¯t present with my body, I could feel the tension of confronting the goddess slowly drain from me. Before I could get too comfortable, though, she asked a question that had me sputtering: ¡°When do you think you¡¯ll have some children?¡± Chapter 314 After a series of increasingly personal and weird questions strangely supported by the feeling of the best bath I¡¯d ever had, Nievtala¡¯s conversation with me drew to a close. I couldn¡¯t think of any questions that I had for her right at that moment, but though she¡¯d assured me that I might never find myself in this space again, we wouldn¡¯t be out of contact. ¡°Once a System user has progressed to this point, the boundaries between them and their patron are much lower than before. Of course, there will remain limits to the extent of our communication, but you¡¯ll find yourself able to learn much more than ever before.¡± ¡°Then I will rest. Is there anything happening to my people that I¡¯ll need to be prepared for as soon as I wake?¡± Nievtala flicked her tail, the seemingly endless appendage sweeping through the air. ¡°I cannot say. Enjoy your rest.¡± I couldn¡¯t react or respond, my mind falling into nothingness faster than I could comprehend. The worried oblivion of evolution consumed me, and I thought I could hear my bones crackling as I grew. Then, there was nothing. ¡ª- After considering what exactly the goddess had spoken with me about, the warning she¡¯d given me, I stood tall, moving every joint in an attempt to loosen my painfully stiff body as I inspected what had changed. I¡¯d grown even taller, nearly to ten feet, though much of that came not from actual growth of my body but from the shifting of my hips and spine. Just as I¡¯d suspected when seeing Nievtala¡¯s form, Keel were a fully upright species, though I had to lean more forward than a human, given the extra weight threatening to pull me backwards. I still had a tail, which stuck out of the top of my legs, a bit under two feet thick where it joined with my back. The tail had always been mobile, but with each sublimation of my race, it had become more flexible and easier to control. Now that I was Keel, that still held true, my tail wiggling behind me in an almost prehensile fashion. As I did so, I nearly lost my balance while several hundred pounds connected to me moved back and forth. I knew the tail would serve me in balancing moving forward, but for now, the feeling was alien. Looking down at myself, the white brand of a spear still nearly glowed in the center of my chest, so bright it was sure to draw attention. The scales on my chest, shoulders, stomach, and neck had grown larger, segmenting together almost like a full suit of armor. When I touched them, I could feel that they¡¯d changed somewhat in form, even the smallest scales growing at least twice as thick. Each scale had a thicker center, where a ridge showed the additional armor each scale provided. On my hands, the scales I¡¯d gained as a Bloodletter a year ago that sectioned together were the thickest scales on my body, with perhaps the exception of those on my shoulders, which stood out almost as much as pauldrons. My naturally gauntleted hands¡¯ scales flexed together, and I realized I could make my hands rigid in any position, whether to stab, as it had been limited before, or to tear. ¡°Alpha.¡± A quietly insistent voice pulled me from my self-inspection. I looked up from my hands, and several feet shorter than me stood Sybil. Though I hadn¡¯t expected anything differently, she was still khatif, and among the khatif, she was small. Maybe a hair over six feet tall, without the heavy shoulders that most had, though she wasn¡¯t so small-figured as the Kha¡¯Tal. Even so, I knew just how formidable she remained, and I smiled down at her. ¡°Hello Sybil. How long was I out this time?¡± ¡°It has been nine days, far and away the longest time that you have ever spent in this state. I ensured that food was brought to you daily, and though you never opened your eyes or moved beyond this, you snapped up each bit of food that was brought to your mouth. As such, you should not have experienced any hunger these days.¡± I sniffed, wondering at how they¡¯d taken care of all the various things that occurred to a body in that amount of time, but I didn¡¯t care to explore that. Instead, I flared my frills as I glanced around the room I found myself in. It was one of the several dozen still-standing buildings, a makeshift roof of roughly hewn timber stacked atop the walls. ¡°Thank you, Sybil. Have there been any problems that need my immediate attention?¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°No, Alpha. There are, of course, a variety of plans that require your input, but there is nothing so pressing as to need to be addressed at this time.¡± ¡°Great. Then walk with me as I try to feel out this new body of mine.¡± I said as I stepped forward and out of the doorway. Brutus stood guarding the door, a makeshift belt around his hips with a couple of rocks precariously perched in slipshod pouches. I stood well over a foot taller than him, too, now, though he seemed unbothered by that. ¡°Glad to see you awake, Alpha.¡± He said as he fell in step behind Sybil and myself. Sybil too remained silent as I, at last, pulled up my [Status]. [Status: Name: Ashlani Race: Sonic Keel Zak¡¯Tal Titles: Voice of Nievtala Killer of Redael Fahvalo of the Moonchildren Keel Progenitor Current quests: -Hunt 6 new species. Reward will vary depending on the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. CURRENT PROGRESS: White-hooved Deer, Long-haired Elk, Stoneskin -Subjugate or otherwise conquer a community of at least 1000 individuals. Base reward: Constitution +7, Strength, Agility +8, Intelligence +10, Magic +9. Possibility of additional rewards for greater difficulty. -Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. COMPLETE. NEW QUEST: Establish a temple to Nievtala. Base requirements: Sanctum, Altar, Priesthood, Divine Representation. Rewards will vary according to effort, quality of materials, and quality of final product. NEW QUEST: Create a city that can house, provide for, and protect 10,000 inhabitants. Rewards will vary according to the quality of the final product. NEW QUEST: Lead a force of 1,000 to victory in battle. Rewards: Constitution +10, Strength, Agility, Magic +12, Intelligence +18. Stats: -Constitution: 191+8+36=235 -Strength: 213+8+48=269 -Agility: 195+8+40=243 -Intelligence: 189+8+42=239 -Magic: 210+8+45=263 Skills: Absolute Dominance: 0/1 Combatant¡¯s Bloodlust: 3/4 (Imperial Bearing, Nemesis, Absolute Dominance) Conqueror¡¯s Rebuke: 1/5 Evolutionary Exemplar (Cannot Evolve) Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve) Fanatic¡¯s Fortitude: Unqualified Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve) Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve) Nemesis: 0/5 Pack Tactics: 7/10 Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve) Perpetual Sonilphon: (Cannot Evolve) -Murderous Melody: (Cannot Evolve) -Disastrous Discourse: (Cannot Evolve) -Innervating Address: 0/1 -Nurturing Enunciation: 22/50 -Destructive Wave (Cannot Evolve) Raptor¡¯s Eyes (Cannot Evolve) Spear of the Many (Cannot Evolve) Tremorsense (Cannot Evolve) Victor¡¯s Spoils (Cannot Evolve) Voice of the Divine (Cannot Evolve) Evolutionary Possibilities Evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.] Chapter 315 Among so many other things, the first thing that jumped out to me on my new [Status] was the complete lack of any possible evolutions. I¡¯d never been in that same situation before, and the lack of any specific goal to strive towards left me feeling somewhat empty. The five [Quests] awaiting my input quickly quashed that aimless feeling, but I did feel a certain pang of loss. After all, this evolution had granted me over 200 stat points in total, a sheer numerical and qualitative change that I couldn¡¯t yet comprehend. Though several of the stats were nearly impossible to truly tell the difference, such as Constitution and Intelligence, other than feeling healthier and smarter, my Agility and Strength were immediately obvious to me. My tail, mobile and initially unwieldy, quickly became a great help for me to balance. Each step I took, I nearly subconsciously adjusted its position to allow me to step without any superfluous movement. While I experimented, I found I¡¯d accidentally begun outpacing Sybil and she jogged to keep up with my walk. All the while, I felt the supernaturally strengthened muscles covering my body flex and move with each minute adjustment I made. My enhanced perception of myself was almost off putting, and I forced myself to focus instead of the world around me. The suns had risen, the warm light of late morning warmed my scales. The suns glittered off the far-off seas, and I felt, again, truly content with where my people had come to. Beyond the mere light and weather of the early autumnal air, though, was the city, my city. In the time I¡¯d been unconscious, Sybil¡¯s knack for planning and preparing had continued to enact sweeping changes to the city. Much of the brush that had annoyingly clogged the pathways between ruins had been cut away, and though I couldn¡¯t see it, I heard the cries that always accompany battle echoing from the center of the city. Most of the herds weren¡¯t inside the bounds of the city¡¯s walls, though the fecal reminders of their presence weren¡¯t uncommon either. Though only nine days had passed since our arrival, already we were making this place our home. I desperately wanted to jump into my [Status] and investigate whatever had changed, learn about my new [Skill] and [Titles], but instead, I asked Sybil, ¡°I feel like the first question would be regarding the ants.¡± ¡°There is nothing to worry about, but if you would prefer to see with your own eyes, you can do so.¡± I flicked my tail, unconcerned with the specifics but curious. Leading the way, I again had to force myself to slow down so as not to force the entirety of my entourage to run to keep pace. Before long, the steady shouts and commands were unintelligible as Took¡¯s. ¡°Hold steady! Fire inbound in one minute, begin retreat!¡± After so long of Solia and Hala serving as the nearly exclusive sources of fire, I was surprised to see neither present to send the flaming attack that Took declared inbound. Instead, a large pile of smoldering branches lay stacked on the ground beside the large pit. Inside, at least twenty keelish began gathering and moving at least one hundred giant ant bodies. Nearly one hundred more continued swarming and biting as they exited the nest, but heavy rocks and coordinated assaults kept them from striking any real attacks on their hunters. Large ant corpses were stacked like so much firewood beside the pit, and the twenty fighters tied up in the pit didn¡¯t seem worried. Took¡¯s warning carried over the din of battle and forced the keelish into a flurry of obviously coordinated activity. ¡°10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1!¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. By the time the countdown was complete, every keelish was out of the pit. At least twice as many ants had already swarmed out of the pit and were charging with reckless abandon at whatever they saw. Their massive mandibles were held wide open, ready to tear through flesh and bone, but the same second Took finished the countdown, a dozen or more torches were tossed into the pit, large bundles of kindling thrown over them. A blaze erupted, the heat searing my eyeballs. Before I could blink, a new, secondary eyelid covered my sensitive eyes. Everything was muddled and difficult to make out, but I could still see, and the new eye protection allowed me to see at about half my usual capability without allowing the heat to bother me. The thought of using the lid underwater or while enduring any number of environmental difficulties ran through my mind, but I focused on the battle taking place instead of continuing to think about random things. With the veritable explosion before us, the ants'' assault was stopped, though the fact that they didn¡¯t make any noise except for the quiet sound of their feet on the ground was disconcerting. I knew dozens were burning alive right in front of me, but only the crackling of flames rang out, along with the popping of whatever burned in there. ¡°How goes the hunt?¡± I asked as Took commanded the hunters with just a couple hand signals. They all scattered to deal with the still living escapees and Took turned to me. She couldn¡¯t hide her surprise when she had to look up to see my face. Behind her, many of the keelish stopped where they stood and gaped at me. The continued movement from hostile monstrous ants ripped them from their seemingly instinctual worship, but I could see the not-so-subtle change in the way the keelish regarded me. ¡°Alpha. I¡¯m glad to see you awake.¡± ¡°Me too. How¡¯s the ants?¡± Her tail flicked, half pensive and half irritated. ¡°They¡¯re easy prey. Stupid, tough. Good to feed us with. They don¡¯t stop. Only real problem is this,¡± she gestured at the blazing fire, ¡°can¡¯t be our strategy forever. We¡¯ll run out of materials to burn, and while we want to keep them out of the city, we don¡¯t want the ants to die out either. Ytte¡¯s working on a strategy to see what we can see down there, and I think she wanted to speak with you as well about it.¡± I flared my frills. ¡°Understandable. Anything you need help with?¡± ¡°No, Alpha.¡± After looking at me for a moment and seeing that I didn¡¯t have anything else that I seemed to want to speak with her about, Took turned back to the hunters and resumed organizing and commanding them to fall in line. With no need to continue bothering her, I stepped back and walked with Sybil as she subtly led me to what she seemed to consider to be the next stop in our journey. We walked past a team of Kha¡¯Tal who worked to restore buildings, establishing lean-tos and whatever else could be used as a sort of shelter. They both bowed deeply the same second they laid eyes on me, and there was something almost supernatural with how quickly they turned from their work to me, well before anyone had said anything to alert them to our presence. Even so, I felt it to be natural, and I couldn¡¯t say quite yet where it came from. Instead, I continued walking, witnessing the changes so quickly being applied to our new home. Everywhere, the evidence of our arrival and imminent rise greeted me. Sybil didn¡¯t feel the need to explain everything we saw, instead walking in such a way that I saw everything she considered to be worthy of my attention. I saw the site for housing our herds, a den of sorts for eggs, and what could only be called a granary of some sorts. Then, the last stop was the most important. As I saw it, I let a wide smile crack my face, and looking at Sybil, I saw she¡¯d expected the same reaction. I walked into the bathhouse, a large pit of perfect sand already warmed by the suns ready for me to jump in, and Solia walked out just as I came in. When I glanced with my thermal vision, I saw that she¡¯d heated the sands to the perfect temperature, and I grinned my thanks at her. With a wriggle of my body and a sigh of contentment, I let the grains scrub against every inch of me. My escorts stepped back, allowing me to bathe in peace, and at last, I could investigate all the changes to my [Status]. Chapter 316 The Gran Verat must ask that you be patient with the imperfect members of the Veratocracy. That he was required to step in and make the command to High Lord Alniyh himself is an embarrassment to the station the High Lord occupies. Please know that the High Lord is returning to the Thnufir, but he has been specifically commanded to bring his Bound he calls Than. I cannot say if he will travel at the greatest speed possible for the leviathan, but if he does, he will arrive within a day of this windword¡¯s reception. In any case, Than will struggle to pass through the Thnufir and is sure to be a miserable houseguest. I suggest you prepare plenty of the most nutrient dense greenery as you can manage, and if you have anything in the waters, remove it. -A recorded windword from Salmar of the Five to High Colonel Mualtir di¡¯Thnufir of Fort di¡¯Thnufir I stretched out, my spine cracking all the way down to the tip of my tail. As the vibrations from my magic made the sand flow freely around me, I was ready to speak with the [System] or Nievtala, whichever spoke to me. ¡°How does Voice of Nievtala differ from Disciple?¡± [The Administrator answers. You¡¯ve become able to easily hear my voice while I trust you not to lie about what it is I say. Thus, you can function as my voice down on the planet. When you speak, calling on my name, you will be heeded as one who represents me.] ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem to be much of a change.¡± I answered, almost unhappy with the result. [It won¡¯t seem to be much of a difference to you, but to those whose paths are heavily concerned with divinity and interaction with superlative beings, the difference will be tangible. If you were, for example, to speak with that Bloodpriestess now, she would almost certainly declare you to be a fahvalo in the form of a divine messenger. Your people wouldn¡¯t need to be proven as worthy of living due to following you as their sole leader. On the other hand, the Godless Hordes will sense the presence of divine approval in you and be less likely to establish more than a trading relationship with you.] ¡°Wouldn¡¯t they have sensed that in me before that?¡± [Probably so, little fang! They have a particularly developed sense for the gods and their touch, so I wouldn¡¯t have expected less than a lukewarm reception anyways. I merely wished to illustrate that there will be aspects to the Title that will impact you negatively as well as positively.] ¡°An enemy to hone ourselves on, I suppose. Then, other than completing the [Quest] that gave me additional stats, the [Title] is largely abstract in nature. To go with that, what¡¯s the purpose of the [Voice of the Divine] [Skill]?¡± [This will be of special benefit to you. I¡¯ll let you ask the System about it instead, though. Better to understand it from the source itself.] ¡°Same with the new [Title]?¡± Stolen story; please report. A mild sense of approval was the sole answer to me from Nievtala. I sighed and asked the [System] instead. The answers quickly came. [Skill: Voice of the Divine; A Skill granted to one who has received the approval of a god to be their voice on the mortal plane. As such, your words are granted additional power. When you speak with the authority of a Divine Being that has bestowed approval to speak on their behalf, your words will carry divine authority and will be instinctively understood to originate from the Divine. In addition, even when speaking without a Divine Being¡¯s approval or assignment, your voice will carry more easily into the hearts of listeners, and your arguments will be delivered with supernatural strength. Every Skill and ability that you possess related to the usage of your voice will be strengthened. All your Skills that utilize your voice will gain an additional 50% strength. The potency of all other Skills utilizing the magic from your sonilphon will be heightened by 25%. This Skill cannot evolve, but it can be enhanced.] [Title: Keel Progenitor; A Title granted to the one who is the first in at least 300 years to evolve to become a Keel. This Title and others like it come from accomplishing the monumental task of progressing beyond the artificial constraints of an individual¡¯s natal limitations. This Title grants an aura that incites obedience, respect, and worship in individuals whose evolutionary path culminates at Keel. Additionally, this Title grants an aura which, if constantly exposed to, individuals whose evolutionary path culminates at Keel will find themselves much more easily capable of evolving to that level. This Title can evolve.] I took a deep breath, trying to internalize exactly how impactful these two additions would be. First, I focused on [Voice of the Divine]. Speaking with Nievtala¡¯s authority would be interesting, but I didn¡¯t much care, if I was wholly honest. I was the ultimate authority among my people, and though that probably originated from the goddess, at this point, I¡¯d fully solidified myself as our true leader. My words were law, and my elites worked to solidify that impression. More impressively, the [Skill] served to enhance my other [Skills]. [Murderous Melody], [Disastrous Discourse], [Innervating Address], and [Nurturing Enunciation] were immediately empowered by this new [Skill]. I couldn¡¯t help but sigh, seeing [Innervating Address] still needing me to change the morale of a group in combat with it. Surely it would come, but I was frustrated by its lack of evolution after all this time. Even so, with the strengthening by [Voice of the Divine], all these [Skills] would reach new heights. The thought of [Murderous Melody] enhanced by both [Voice of the Divine] and the additional stats from [Spear of the Many] was enticing. Then, there was the [Title], [Keel Progenitor]. Though [Spear of the Many] could make me into an insurmountable powerhouse while I activated the [Skill], every new Keel that followed me could possibly stand before an indlovu hunter either alone, or with just one more Keel to support them. That, compared to the ten or so nonmagical khatif it took to do so and still sustain casualties was impactful enough. Beyond that, though, the Title offered nearly guaranteed obedience from keelish and khatif, which seemed impactful enough for the [Title]. Then, there was the final, most surprising addition to the [Title]¡¯s description: [This Title can evolve.] ¡°How can [Keel Progenitor] evolve? What will it become?¡± [The Administrative Body has seen fit to withhold this information from you at this time.] I couldn¡¯t help but sigh at the return of this old companion. Even so, I felt the power of this new [Title] in conjunction with everything else I¡¯d acquired over this journey to my new home. And, I smiled. I stood, the sand coursing all over my body, and I stretched. It was time to work with my people, and finally turn these ruins into a home. Chapter 317 Days passed and I spent them working alongside each caste of keelish. Though I¡¯d hoped that most, if not all, of my elites would evolve as soon as I did, that wasn¡¯t the case. In fact, ten days after my evolution was complete, I remained the sole Keel and there still were none that had entered the evolutionary state. Nievtala assured me that other evolutions were soon to come but couldn¡¯t or wouldn¡¯t give me any timelines. Instead, she continued to ask me when I would sire a brood. ¡°As soon as Sybil evolves to Keel, you can ask again.¡± Had continued to be my sole response, but the goddess didn¡¯t care. Something about how the barriers between us had been thinned allowed the bored goddess to pester me nearly incessantly, something she continued to take advantage of. Beyond that, though I felt a certain level of kinship to her, I also recognized that Nievtala wasn¡¯t a mere voice that I could hear. The few times her mind touched mine instead of reaching out through the bounds of the System, the overwhelming power of her presence reminded me that she was a goddess, a being of power so immense that I couldn''t begin to comprehend her capabilities. Thus, though I felt my frustration mounting with each day¡¯s queries, I didn¡¯t allow myself to express even a hint of frustration. On this the tenth day, I led a team in preparing stables or pastures outside of the bounds of the city so that the space inside the walls could be reserved for the people of Nievtra. After months, nearly a year, it seemed, I finally returned to digging. Instead of creating tunnels I definitely wouldn¡¯t fit in, though, I instead worked in tandem with one hundred other keelish as we carved a several feet-deep ditch in a massive perimeter. We packed the earth outside the ditches, creating walls that were just about two feet tall, but, combined with the depths of the ditches inside, the walls were at least five feet tall. Though the oryx and several goats the hunters had managed to capture over the past twenty days could jump over them, they stayed within the bounds of the walls we slowly established. The oxfiends, on the other hand, were wholly unable to leave the expanding enclosed pasture except for through the single entrance we¡¯d left. There, the earth was left mostly untouched, and the herds slowly moved through it in a steady tide of ten or so oxfiends across. With a grunt, I tossed another handful of dirt up and out of the trench. My claws were too narrow and sharp to carve the dirt like the Kha¡¯Tals¡¯, but I still tossed what I did loosen up and out of the path of those who came behind me. While I continued on my work, Nievtala returned with her inane questions. [You know that rutting is enjoyable. The addition of more hatchlings will allow you to progress your [Skills] as well, especially [Nurturing Enunciation]. You might as well get started on it. If it happens early, what¡¯s the big difference?] ¡°You tell me. I don¡¯t know if Sybil evolving would lead to healthier, stronger, safer hatchlings.¡± [You know I can¡¯t tell you.] ¡°Then why do you ask me what the difference is?¡± Blessedly, Nievtala went silent after that and allowed me to entirely focus on the work at hand. I didn¡¯t truly enjoy the mindless physical labor, and could recognize, whether by nature or habit, I was now a leader whose greatest use would be in warfare. My [Skills] and [Titles] would lead me to enhancing my people¡¯s strength and my own. [Spear of the Many], once mastered, would serve as a lynchpin in my strength, allowing me to confront creatures much beyond my own capabilities. There hadn¡¯t been enough of a justification to experiment with the [Skill] since my evolution, what with Vefir and the healers being needed everywhere in the swarm, all the time. I couldn¡¯t justify pulling any of them from their duties to allow me to experiment right now when I could be doing so much more for my people as a whole instead. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Even so, I decided to attempt to use this [Skill] once more after completing the work for today. Perhaps I could call it a reward of sorts. We worked for hours, and I continued to use every [Skill] at my disposal to hasten the work. With [Enervating Address] heightened by [Voice of the Divine], my people worked through the day, only pausing for a short time to devour a large portion of cooked ant meat that was provided to each of the workers. Once their bellies were filled, each worker eagerly approached me and resumed working. I felt a swell of pride watching the previously lazy and unwilling members of my people self-driven to work. That it was in pursuit of my approval wasn¡¯t lost on me, and I didn¡¯t mind. I¡¯d long since cemented myself as the center of my race, and I would continue to do so for as long as it benefitted us. The suns set behind the Shandise, and though true dark was far off, we ceased our work though it wasn¡¯t yet complete. Some of the Kha¡¯Tal remained focused on digging out the trench, but after I convinced them that it wouldn¡¯t be complete without several more hours of work from at least fifty keelish, they stepped out of the trenches and towards the city. I knew that they wouldn¡¯t stop working once they got there, but I didn¡¯t mind. Instead, I walked to the far edge of the city, where I could begin searching for Vefir to conscript him into helping me in this most recent practice session with my dangerously powerful [Skill]. Before I got there, Sybil intercepted me and I slowed my pace to allow her to keep herself beside me. ¡°Your report?¡± I asked. ¡°Though we continue to send most of the Sik¡¯Tal out, there are precious few creatures to be found higher up the mountain except for those we have already encountered. There is a surplus of the ants, and it is more and more obvious that however they feed themselves can only be found underground. Joral and several of his Kou¡¯Tal are attempting to make any headway on initiating a more positive relationship with the creatures and today had no breakthrough. As we have no particular need for the Sou¡¯Tal¡¯s administrative work, we have been filing in where we are necessary. The Hak¡¯Tal have been training in combat with Brutus, whenever he believes you safe enough to leave his sight. ¡°Of course, the Kha¡¯Tal remain the quiet backbone of our people. This all raises one question, though.¡± ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°Do you wish to continue to call us your swarm, Ashlani? Or should we become something more than that?¡± The question filled my mind and caused me to slow my pace even further, nothing more than a pensive walk that allowed those I¡¯d left behind to catch up and then pass us without issue. It was quickly obvious to me that the question had merit, and I already knew the answer, even though I hadn¡¯t thought about it previously. ¡°No, we are a nation. The New Empire of the Saharliard, and every keelish my subject.¡± As soon as I declared it, I received a [System] notification. Chapter 318 [You have declared yourself a monarch of the newly declared nation ¡°The New Empire of the Saharliard¡±. In order for your nation to be recognized as such, you must do the following:
  1. Declare your nation as extant to three foreign nations¡¯ qualified representatives. Progress: 0/3
  2. Gain a population of at least 20,000 sapient civilian inhabitants within the bounds of your new nation. Progress: 1,148/20,000
  3. Establish a capital city. Note: The requirements of a capital city are as follows;
    1. Able to house, provide for, and protect 10,000 inhabitants.
    2. Contains three established public institutions, such as a school, a policing force, or a city council.
    3. Has an established governance office.
There will be benefits granted to citizens and the monarch upon the completion of the establishment of the nation and capital city, including a new evolution.] I smiled, Sybil flaring her frills in assent, though not knowing why I was as happy as I was. The third requirement was mostly one I¡¯d already known and was in the process of completing, though I hadn¡¯t been knowledgeable about the second and third subrequirements. Even so, they seemed to be requisite in the search of creating a country, and I didn¡¯t mind ensuring my country was successful and well-governed. The first would be difficult for at least two of the three necessary foreign nations. I could imagine it wouldn¡¯t be altogether too difficult to find someone to speak to from one of the indlovu tribes. The other two, however, might pose more of a struggle, given that the only other nations I knew of were the Moonchildren and Sunkindred in the Wilds, the Veratocracy, and maybe Shandr, the city ruled over by Drolick. Then, there were the public institutions. We hadn¡¯t established anything explicitly like that before, and I couldn¡¯t say that I had any clue as to what institutions my people would need. A military, I was sure. Would a group specifically made to hunt creatures from our surroundings count for the System? Eventually, a diplomatic corps would be necessary, but should that be one of my primary focuses right here as we were beginning? Before I lost myself entirely in my musing, I refocused on the world around me and spoke with Sybil. ¡°Nievtala has given me guidance. I know some of the goals that we should focus on at this time.¡± ¡°Very well, Alpha. Do you want me to call for the elites to gather? It would not take very long.¡± ¡°No. For now, I want to plan and think about it with you. Once we have solidified our expectations for the Empire, then we can go about building it.¡± Sybil fought to contain the excited movements of her tail and smile, but I knew my mate too well at this point and teased her by bumping my hip into hers. Or, I attempted to. My hip instead hit her ribs just below her shoulders and nearly sent her sprawling. She kept her composure as she gathered herself, though my mate did cock her head at me in the barest hint of disapproval. I laughed, allowing the sound of happiness to carry past me without any hesitance. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°What is it that you wish to counsel with me about?¡± ¡°We¡¯re building our city here, our capital.¡± I stated, looking as it was spread before us. I walked through one of the half a dozen entrances that Ytte and her assistants had created in the past 20 days. There, I led us up the stairs to the walls, looking over the city as it gradually took form as a liveable home for all of us keelish. Day by day, its form changed, and I could see the vision of what it once was overlaying the decrepit ruins that remained. ¡°If reality ends up reflecting our plan, then we¡¯ll have thousands of keelish, of Keel, living in this city. What do you think will be the most necessary steps to take to ensure that we can provide for and rule over so many of our people?¡± ¡°A public fighting arena, a military, and a policing force. Directly after that would be foreign affairs, though education will take its place if it is the case that there are many young hatched before that time.¡± She spoke immediately and without hesitation. She truly believed in the words, and though I initially doubted her strong stance, it quickly clicked in my mind. At this point, I had been without any real challenge since I¡¯d challenged Redael, my father, for leadership of the swarm. Even then, it had been far from a difficult fight, all of my greatest struggles coming from outside of my people who, even if they complained and were sometimes wholly insufferable, followed me without much difficulty or challenge. Even so, I knew in my heart that if someone challenged my authority, vanishingly improbable as that would be with my newest [Title], I would put that dissidence down with impunity. No longer would I be forced to kill whoever rose against me, given that, as I checked [Spear of the Many], all 1,148 residents of New Nievtra were considered my true believers. Even so, I would need to show everyone that I remained Ashlani, their Alpha, their Emperor, their Zaaktif. Regardless of how many other ways we changed, this civilization, the New Empire, would, for better or worse, continue to prioritize might over most anything else. When there were disagreements, arguments, and fights, as necessity was replaced by desire and survival was changed for comfort, my people would fight, and not with words. Keelish that evolved to khatif would seek dominance over their peers, khatif that became Keel would desire respect and requisite treatment, and they wouldn¡¯t ask for these things. Perhaps I could work to change my people at their very core, to become like the Veushten in the Veratocracy, but that was not our way. The strong deserved to rule, and it would work wonders for the satisfaction of my people to provide for them a place where they could resolve disputes in an aggressive, though nonlethal way. ¡°Sounds good. For now, we¡¯ll mention to one of the Kha¡¯Tal that we want the arena. That won¡¯t be pressing, but they¡¯ll work around that as an eventuality, which will mean we¡¯ll have less we¡¯ll need to do later in return. Brutus, Shemira, and Ytte should work together on the policing force, while Took will spearhead the creation and leadership of the military force. I don¡¯t believe that you¡¯ll be necessary in the organization of the military. Do you?¡± Sybil clacked her teeth, agreeing with my sentiment. Then, she smiled. ¡°I believe I can teach you yet. A solid plan.¡± I leaned down and whispered in her ear as I wrapped my tail around hers, ¡°I don¡¯t enjoy planning, but I can do it. But there is something I do enjoy that I can teach you. The moment you awake as a Keel, you¡¯ll learn.¡± Then, I stood tall, grinning down at the slightly flustered Sybil. I shifted tones completely, trying to keep her off-balance, ¡°Now, there is one more thing.¡±