The Primeval Era-Chapter 90: An Eye For An Eye! I

The booming voice of the Inkanyamba reverberated only in the ears of those who could understand.

Languages were unique and many across the Lands of Stone. Tribes separated by mere miles might speak dialects so different that they could barely communicate. Empires maintained their own tongues, their own scripts, their own ways of recording history and transmitting knowledge.

But the most universal language among the powerful was that which was carried with Mana.

Intent given form. Meaning woven into energy. Words that bypassed the ears and spoke directly to the understanding of those with cultivation strong enough to perceive them.

The Inkanyamba carried its fury in its roars of Mana, and Damian and Serala heard and understood its intent as clearly as if it had spoken in their native tongues.

But to the tribe far away, standing atop the crimson-blue walls that still pulsed with Damian’s blood, it looked like nothing more than a Behemoth Primal Beast roaring at two tiny figures.

They could not hear the accusation.

They could not understand the grievance.

They only saw the storm and the serpent and the impossible mountain that their Tokoloshe had raised from nothing.

Damian’s eyes were sharp as he processed the Inkanyamba’s words.

You kill us. We cannot kill you?

Before he could even reply, Mana began to buzz around Serala nearby.

Her wing-shaped pupils flared with white light, and her voice echoed out filled with power that transmitted her intent across the distance between them and the massive beast. Despite the howling winds, despite the thunder that rolled continuously, her words carried with perfect clarity.

"The little tribe over there. Me. Him."

Her gaze was sharp and imperious, her bearing that of someone who had been raised to address powers far greater than herself without flinching.

"When did any of us attack and kill your brethren? Why would you be turning your wrath over here when the ones responsible are elsewhere?"

...!

Her winged pupils carried a type of grace and authority that was undeniable. The Holy Daughter of Stone had spent her entire life training for moments like this. She had been taught to project confidence even when facing death.

And even the Inkanyamba, ancient and furious, paused temporarily at her words.

Its storm-filled eyes shifted to regard her more carefully, reassessing this small creature with wings that echoed its own mastery of the sky.

Then it spoke again, its voice rolling like thunder given meaning.

"When a single human is killed by a Primal Beast..."

The Inkanyamba’s massive head swept closer, its mane of thunderclouds crackling with emphasis.

"Generations of Ancestors of that human climb the mountain and kill dozens... hundreds of beasts that had nothing to do with the one that killed their descendant."

Its eyes burned with ancient grievance.

"One beast kills one human. Fifty humans kill five hundred beasts. This is the history of your kind. This is the pattern that has repeated since the dawn of time."

Lightning arced between its scales, illuminating scars that suddenly took on new meaning. Wounds from human weapons. Marks left by human vengeance.

"We are simply doing the same thing."

Its voice grew colder.

"We are following the law of nature. The law of the Lands of Stone."

BOOM!

Against these heavy words, Damian’s eyes flashed with anger.

The mountain beneath him shook as his emotions resonated through the blood that connected him to the stone. Cracks formed and sealed. The jagged spears in the surrounding fissures grew sharper.

"I reject that completely." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

His voice carried on Mana that burned with the same blue fire that still flickered at the edges of his form.

"Why would things have to be like that? What stupid law is that?"

He took a step forward, and the mountain shifted to support him, rising slightly as if echoing his defiance.

"Those responsible for the killings and damage and destruction should be the ones to pay. Not some random groups of others!"

His dark blue eyes blazed with light that made even the Inkanyamba’s storm seem dim.

"An eye for an eye! A limb for a limb!"

His voice grew harder.

"Why should your beasts be killed and then these people behind me be killed while those manipulating things behind the scenes go unscathed? Why did you not attack the one who attacked your mountain?"

The question hung in the air, heavy with implication.

"..."

The Inkanyamba did not immediately respond.

Damian’s eyes narrowed.

"Oh? You were too much of a coward to do that?"

His words cut like blades.

"So helpless humans was your answer? Tribes that couldn’t fight back? People who had nothing to do with any of this?"

He shook his head with disgust that he didn’t bother to hide.

"That cannot be a solution to the why!"

The Inkanyamba’s voice filled with Mana was cold when it finally replied.

"Do you have an answer?"

An answer.

The question was simple, but its weight was immense!

Did Damian have a better solution? Did he have a way to break the cycle that had perpetuated itself across generations? Could he offer something other than the endless retribution that had painted the Lands of Stone red since before recorded history?

Damian looked up at the massive beast, at the ancient fury in its eyes, at the scars that spoke of centuries of conflict between humans and beasts.

And he answered.

"If I set the rules..."

His voice was steady.

"The ones responsible for decimation should be the ones to fall. If humans are hunting beasts for sport and beasts oppose this, they should stand against those humans. If a Warrior harmed you and your beasts, why don’t you hunt that Warrior?"

He spread his arms, gesturing at the transformed landscape around him.

"If you are too weak, just ask for help."

His eyes met the Inkanyamba’s storm-filled gaze without flinching.

"Because I would kindly help against those responsible."

BOOM!

His words were heavy as an immense silence came over the battlefield.

The lesser beasts below had stopped their agitated movements entirely, sensing that something significant was being discussed above them. Even the wind seemed to die down momentarily, as if the very weather was waiting to hear what came next.

The Inkanyamba’s eyes flashed with power and intelligence.

Its massive face twisted into something that might have been a smile.

A cold smile.

"Would you now?"

Its voice dripped with skepticism forged across millennia of broken promises.

"You would help those you call mere beasts against your own human lineage?"

...!