The Primeval Era-Chapter 97: Vorrath II

The territories below shifted as they traveled.

Plains gave way to forests. Forests gave way to regions where the Ancestral Pillars grew so thick that the ground beneath them was shrouded in perpetual shadow. Rivers cut through the landscape, their waters glowing faintly with absorbed Mana.

And after a few more minutes, surrounded by large Ancestral Pillars that seemed to grow taller with each passing moment, they began to near the outline of a massive mountain.

When Damian got closer, he sensed the change immediately.

In the surrounding forests that were thick and heavy, he could feel and see less and less of the normal animals and critters. The Impundulu and Mngwa and Grootslang that had populated the earlier territories were absent here. In their place, he began to feel more and more Primal Beasts populating this region.

Creatures whose bodies had absorbed enough Mana to transcend ordinary existence.

Creatures whose eyes held intelligence that went beyond simple animal cunning.

And toward the mountain itself...

The sky around it pulsed with a faint silver light.

Clouds gathered around the peak, thick and heavy with concentrations of Mana that exceeded anything Damian had felt before. Even the Roaring Stone Mountain near the Purple Stone Tribe seemed dim by comparison. This was a Sacred Mountain in the truest sense, a place where power had accumulated for ages beyond counting.

And toward this mountain, he could feel multiple auras.

Some were as grand as the Inkanyamba.

Others were grander.

A sense of trepidation slowly filled him even though he had the confidence and backing of the Primordial Tongue.

Someone like him should really not be doing this.

But...

Who decided that a human who had only begun drawing in Mana two days ago could not have a talk with Behemoth Primal Beasts?

Anybody with logic would have run away long ago.

But he went forward at this time!

Even in the skies, the trees grew taller and taller as they approached the mountain.

And then Damian saw something that made him blink in surprise.

The massive body of the Inkanyamba began to shrink.

Its serpentine form, which had been longer than entire villages, began to compress and condense. Its wings folded closer to its body as they reduced in size. Its horse-like head, which had been large enough to swallow houses, became merely the size of a large boulder.

Within moments, the Behemoth that had blocked out the sky was merely the size of a large wagon.

Still massive.

Still terrifying.

But no longer the colossus it had been!

Damian blinked at this as he realized that these massive beasts could actually change their size if they wished to. It made sense, in retrospect. How else would they navigate territories where even Ancestral Pillars grew close together?

Their flight through the skies became flight through tall Ancestral Pillars.

The horde of beasts that had been following them began to disperse on the ranges of the mountain they now climbed. Groups broke off and headed in different directions, finding territories and resting places that seemed to be pre-established.

It was only the two of them now.

As Damian flew through the forest of massive trees, he could see Primal Beasts everywhere.

Perched on top of the massive Ancestral Pillars, creatures watched him pass with eyes that glowed with inner power.

Great eagles with wingspans wider than houses, their feathers crackling with lightning that arced between them as they tracked his movement.

Mdewas, some called them. Thunder-hunters. Tendrils of Mana surged around their forms at levels that spoke of Bone Tempering cultivation.

Lower on the trunks, massive apes clung to bark with hands that could crush stone. Their fur was silver and black, their eyes burning with red light that followed Damian with predatory interest. Chemosits. Tree-stalkers. Their Mana signatures showed Blood Ignition power.

And scattered on branches and in hollows, smaller beasts watched with varying levels of cultivation. Snakes with multiple heads. Cats with too many eyes. Birds with feathers that shifted colors as they moved. Flesh Awakening creatures and Bone Tempering creatures and everything in between.

There was a vast diversity that he felt like he was only grasping a small amount of!

And the deeper they flew toward the mountain, the more powerful the Primal Beasts that he saw became.

And yet moments later, he found that the path of the Inkanyamba went toward the left of the mountain and not toward the peak.

He had to ask in the silence of the brooding mountain filled with sounds of raging Mana and beasts.

"Is this Masamuk not at the peak of the mountain?"

...!

At his words, the Inkanyamba looked at him with its cold storm-filled eyes.

And it let out a sound close to laughter.

A rumbling, grinding noise that shook the air around them.

"You don’t even know where you are."

Its voice carried amusement that bordered on mockery.

"This is Mount Vorrath. The one mountain that the puny human who shot an arrow at my Sacred Mountain would never dare to even come near."

Its massive head turned forward again.

"Toward the peak of this mountain are Noble Primal Beasts that even I do not want to bother. Creatures that have lived since before humans learned to make fire. Things that could end countless tribes if they ever bothered to notice that they existed."

Its storm-filled eyes gleamed.

"Masamuk is the chosen Leader for our group of Sanctified Primal Beasts, so he has the grace of staying here. Not at the peak, but close enough that his authority is recognized."

The Inkanyamba’s voice grew more somber.

"We already told him how the humans disturbed our mountains. He understood that they wanted to cause a Primal Surge. Had we gone and defended against them, many beasts would have died. That woman with the bow, she was too powerful. Her arrows burned with fire that could melt even my scales."

Its massive form shifted.

"So we went along with the Primal Surge to vent our anger on the humans and to also reduce our losses. Let the weaker beasts trample whatever they found. Let the rage burn itself out without costing us our strongest."

...!