The Primeval Era-Chapter 99: You Are Sick I

The Slime of Chaos.

Damian looked over this being closely, and by presence alone, he was an astounding creature.

Masamuk looked so small sitting there on his golden lotus throne. Barely the size of a man’s torso. A simple round shape that should have been harmless, even laughable compared to the massive predators that surrounded the lake.

And yet...

Damian felt he was looking at something even more dangerous than the Inkanyamba.

An obsidian slime that shone like an ancestral star!

The stellar blue points within that dark body pulsed with rhythms that seemed to match heartbeats he couldn’t hear. The crimson eyes burned with intelligence that went beyond mere cunning. And that cold smile never wavered, never faltered, as if it had been carved there by forces that predated expression itself.

The eyes of this being were heavy.

And at this time, the other Primal Beasts in this place began to move.

The massive crocodiles sank beneath the surface of the white-blue lake, their forms disappearing into depths that suddenly seemed bottomless. The serpents with beautiful faces slithered toward the vibrant trees, vanishing into vegetation that swallowed them whole. Even the Inkanyamba beside Damian moved back, its shrunken form retreating to the edge of the clearing with a deference that seemed almost fearful.

It was like he had been a meal delivered to a beast.

And right now, everyone moved back so Masamuk could enjoy his meal.

Damian’s heart was pounding silently, but he remained calm and looked ahead.

The slime smiled devilishly as it spoke.

"Humans are such destructive creatures, don’t you think?"

At such words, Damian was silent momentarily.

Then he nodded.

"They can be."

...!

His words were calm.

Masamuk’s lotus began to float across the lake toward Damian, gliding over the still water without creating a single ripple. The slime’s crimson eyes never left him as the distance between them shrank.

"You hunt and kill each other on a daily basis."

Masamuk’s voice was measured, each word placed with the precision of a blade finding gaps in armor.

"Tribe against tribe. Empire against empire. Brother against brother. The Lands of Stone are painted red with human blood spilled by human hands, and yet this is simply accepted as the natural order of things."

The lotus came closer.

"But when things become a bit bothersome, when your schemes grow too complex for your limited intellects to manage, you include Beasts in your complexities."

The slime’s smile grew colder.

"You want something in these vast stretches of Lands of Stone, so you proceed to disturb Sacred Mountains to get your way. You attack our homes with arrows that burn and blades that cut, and when we respond with justified rage, you point at the destruction and say, look what these dim and mindless Beasts have done."

Its crimson eyes burned brighter.

"Initiate Primal Surges. Blame the devastation of tribes on mindless Beast fury. Absolve yourselves of responsibility while the corpses pile up. Such disgusting things humans are."

The lotus stopped mere meters from where Damian stood.

"Did you know how peaceful Beasts actually are?"

The question was rhetorical.

"For years, decades, generations, weak tribes are scattered and move close to our Sacred Mountains. Your Unbound Tribes. Your Sworn Tribes. They build their huts and plant their crops and raise their children within range of creatures that could erase them from existence with a single thought."

Masamuk tilted its round body.

"And we do nothing to them. Nothing. We could massacre them any time we wished. We could descend from our mountains and feast on their flesh and use their bones for decoration. Nothing stops us."

Its voice grew quieter, more dangerous.

"But we choose to let them be, so long as they don’t disturb the Beasts in the mountains. If they start hunting our young, we hunt theirs. Otherwise, we ignore them entirely."

The slime’s smile became something bitter.

"How do you think these tribes survive for decades or even generations in the Lands of Stone? How do you think they persist when they have no Warriors capable of defending against true threats? How do you think they endure when empires rise and fall around them?"

It paused for effect.

"Beasts actually protect you all. By choosing not to destroy you, by letting you exist in our shadows, we provide safety that your own kind would never extend. And you are all thankless."

Its body shook slightly.

"Ah..."

The sound was filled with disappointment so profound it seemed to age the very air around them.

...!

Damian thought about its words.

The perspective was a unique one to hear.

Many had never considered the relationship between tribes and Sacred Mountains from this angle. Many tribesmen had always assumed that tribes near moving mountains survived through luck or skill or the blessings of Ancestors. They had never thought that the Beasts themselves might be exercising restraint.

That they might be choosing not to destroy.

That their inaction was a form of protection.

It seemed to hit the intricacies of the Lands of Stone that very few thought about.

He thought for a moment before he spoke.

"The human Warrior that attacked your Sacred Mountains."

His voice was steady.

"It should be an Imperator. Since her and her forces were the ones that started all this, don’t let the random Unbound Tribes scattered nearby pay the price."

He met those crimson eyes directly.

"I proposed this to the Inkanyamba, but I can be of help for you all to hunt them. The ones responsible. Instead of random tribes that had nothing to do with this becoming flattened."

...!

At his words, Masamuk smiled sharply.

"For you to know the word Imperator..."

The slime’s voice carried newfound interest.

"It seems you don’t truly belong to the Unbound Tribes. That word is not used by those who live outside the shadow of empires. It is a term of power, of hierarchy, of the forces that shape nations rather than villages."

Its crimson eyes narrowed.

"Are you the one they are looking to flatten? Is that what this is about?"

The smile grew wider.

"Do you feel guilty? Is that why you are doing all of this? Trying to redirect our rage so that it doesn’t fall upon whatever insignificant tribe you have been hiding in?"

Masamuk didn’t wait for an answer.

"Regardless, your proposal is... interesting, in theory. An Imperator is attacked. Barring any losses of our Beasts, I could potentially face them myself, even. My cultivation is sufficient for such an engagement."

Its body shifted.

"I get injured. Many Beasts die. And then what?"

The question hung in the air.

"Best case scenario, I win and an Imperator dies alongside her forces. Congratulations. Victory. Celebration! And then what?"

Its voice grew colder with each word.

"From her Empire, ten more Imperators come. They bring armies. They bring weapons that burn hotter than anything we have faced. They bring vengeance that will not be satisfied until every Beast involved is dead."

The stellar points within its obsidian body pulsed faster.

"I get hunted down. Noble Primal Beasts get involved. An all-out war gets started. Generations of relative peace between humans and Beasts ends in flames that consume everything."

It tilted its body, that cold smile returning.

"It’s either that... or we simply play along with the cruel humans to flatten a few tribes. Redirect the Primal Surge. Let the rage burn itself out. Return to peace without escalating into extinction."

Its crimson eyes burned into Damian’s.

"Tell me, what do you think it is that we will do?"

...!

Damian listened closely.

His eyes flashed with coldness.

"That..."

His voice was quiet, controlled, and carrying an edge that could cut.

"Is the logic of a coward."

...!

BOOM!

The temperature in the clearing seemed to drop.

"You mention peace, but you describe submission. You mention wisdom, but you display fear. You speak of protecting Beasts, but you would sacrifice innocent tribes to avoid a conflict you might lose."

He took a step forward, his dark blue eyes blazing with defiance.

"An Imperator attacks your Sacred Mountain, murders your young, disrupts your homes with arrows that burn, and your response is to redirect your anger toward those who cannot fight back? That is cowardice."

His voice grew harder.

"You fear the forces of an empire so much that you would rather bend your spine and ruin the lives of the weakest? You would flatten tribes that have done nothing wrong because confronting those who have done wrong...might be difficult?"

He shook his head with disgust.

"If this is how Beast Lords think, then I overestimated what Beast Lords were. I thought you were rulers. I thought you were powers that commanded respect through strength. But you’re just like the cowardly nobles of human empires who sacrifice Dross to avoid inconveniencing themselves."

His fists clenched at his sides.

"The strong should protect the weak. The powerful should punish those who abuse their power. If an Imperator attacks you, you should hunt that Imperator. If you’re afraid of the consequences, then at least have the honesty to admit that you’re afraid instead of pretending that slaughtering innocents is somehow the logical choice."

...!