The Primeval Era-Chapter 126: Land and Sky II

Its handsome face twisted with surprise that bordered on outrage. Its hyena face snarled with fury that something dared to challenge its dominion over this corrupted space!

Four eyes blazed as the creature roared in response, crimson beams of light forming around its massive form.

The beams shot upward to meet the descending lightning.

Corruption met sovereignty in explosions that shook the very fabric of the skies, crimson and gold clashing in patterns that left afterimages burned into Masamuk’s vision.

And at the same time, Masamuk saw something else forming.

Above Damian’s lion head, golden light began to condense into a new shape. It spun slowly at first, energy weaving itself into patterns that every Noble Beast would recognize. The construct solidified, becoming more defined with each passing heartbeat. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

A crown manifested floating above the Tokoloshe’s transformed skull.

Not merely a decoration. Not simply an aesthetic flourish. This was a Crown of Kingship, a construct that the Lands of Stone themselves created to mark those who had achieved true harmony with their Physiques. And blazing above that crown in letters of pure golden fire...

KING.

The word burned into existence, declaring to all who witnessed it exactly what this being was.

Fuck.

Well, now he looked exactly like Tiaret’s father.

Fuck!

Masamuk’s obsidian body pulsed with emotions he couldn’t fully process.

Among the Noble Beasts, Land and Sky Physiques were understood differently than among humans. Humans saw them as inherited gifts, advantages of birth that some possessed and others lacked. But Beasts knew better. Beasts understood what Physiques truly represented.

They were blessings from the Ancestors themselves.

Those who carried powerful Physiques were touched by forces that predated the current age, chosen by spirits who had walked the Lands of Stone when the world was young. The Ancestors looked upon certain bloodlines and decided that they would carry fragments of primal power forward through generations.

And those truly blessed could cause changes in the lands and skies at will.

Conjure fire from nothing but intent. Call lightning from clear skies. Move the Lands themselves, reshaping stone and soil according to their desires. Control wind and water and the bones of the earth. Command forces that others could only revere.

This was what it meant to carry a Land and Sky Physique in its fullest expression.

And when someone achieved perfect harmony with their blessing, when their soul aligned completely with the power their Ancestors had granted, the skies themselves would respond. They would adorn the worthy with a Crown of Kingship, a visible marker that distinguished those who had transcended the boundaries between gifted and chosen.

The old stories spoke of such crowns appearing above the greatest leaders of the Noble Beasts. Warriors who had united scattered tribes into mighty nations.

Shamans who had pushed back the demons and established the boundaries that protected the Lands of Stone. Kings and queens whose names had become legend.

Tiaret’s father wore such a crown when he transformed.

And now the Tokoloshe wore one too.

How...had he gained this?

The question burned in Masamuk’s mind as he watched golden lightning clash with crimson corruption in the skies above. The Tokoloshe had been human. He was still human beneath that transformed shell. Humans could carry Land and Sky Physiques, yes, but they couldn’t simply acquire new ones through will alone.

The only point Masamuk could trace this back to was when Damian healed Tiaret.

Had he... gained the blessing of the Noble Simba Lineage because of his actions?

Masamuk’s crimson eyes were troubled.

He remembered all the permissions he had given.

He remembered telling Damian that he could imitate his late granny if he wanted.

Fuck.

Just what monster had he associated himself with?!

---

Serala looked at the wings spreading from Damian’s transformed back.

White-gold feathers. Radiant light. The exact same manifestation that had marked her bloodline for seventeen generations.

Those were her wings.

That was her Land and Sky Physique.

She had given permission, yes. She had told him to do whatever he needed to do. But she had never imagined this!

The Wings of the Radiant Dawn were supposed to be hers alone.

The Hallowed Voice had told her that her Physique was sacred, a blessing passed down through her lineage by Ancestors who had chosen her family to carry this power forward. No one else in the world bore these wings. No one else could manifest this specific configuration of white-gold radiance.

And yet there they were, spreading from the back of a golden lion wreathed in blue flames!

Her wing-shaped pupils found his eyes.

Serala was genuinely shaken as she watched the Tokoloshe command the skies with power that included her own birthright among its components!

The furious Kishi Demon conjured crimson pillars to combat the golden lightning raining down from above.

Corruption met sovereignty across the battlefield, explosions blooming wherever the two forces collided. The demon’s handsome face had twisted into something ugly with rage, and its hyena face howled with fury that shook the corrupted domain around it.

But Serala’s attention remained fixed on the Tokoloshe.

She looked into his eyes and saw them burn with glory.

Even though he felt supremely powerful right now, she saw something changing.

His chest began to enlarge.

The massive ribcage of his lion form expanded outward, golden fur stretching to accommodate lungs that were drawing in breath on a scale that seemed impossible. Air rushed toward him from all directions, Mana-saturated currents feeding into his body alongside oxygen.

His mane of blue flames burned brighter. His nine tails crackled with intensified energy. The Crown of Kingship above his head blazed with light that made the sun seem dim.

He was gathering something.

He was preparing something.

And when his jaws opened, Serala understood what!

The attack began small.

A point of golden-blue light formed between his fangs, barely larger than a human fist. It shimmered with heat that warped the air around it, colors blending together. The light pulsed once. Twice. Three times.

And then it erupted.

The beam shot forward from his jaws and immediately began expanding, opening into a fan-like pillar that grew wider with every meter it traveled. What started as a focused point became a wall of destruction, golden-blue flames that looked almost like plasma and magma combined into something that defied categorization.

By the time it reached the Kishi Demon, the beam was miles wide.

It swallowed the corrupted domain entirely. It consumed the crimson pillars the demon had conjured. It carved across the skies themselves, leaving trails of purified air where corruption had reigned moments before.

And it didn’t stop there.

The attack thundered down upon the Lands of Stone below, altering the entire landscape in its path. Hills melted and reformed into new shapes. Valleys filled with molten stone that solidified into glass. Forests that had stood for centuries simply ceased to exist, replaced by smooth expanses of crystallized earth that reflected the golden light still pouring from the Tokoloshe’s jaws.

Inside that terrifying attack, Serala could hear something.

The pained roars of a demon.

The Kishi’s dual voice screamed in agony that transcended its earlier fury, corruption being burned away by power it couldn’t resist. The handsome face howled. The hyena face shrieked. Together, they created a sound of suffering that Serala would never forget!

Oh!

The beam continued for what felt like an eternity.

When it finally faded, when the Tokoloshe closed his jaws and the golden-blue light dissipated, the lands had changed. Where corruption had painted everything crimson, now there was only scorched earth and purified sky. Where the demon had stood triumphant, now there was a scene of horror and something scorched and twitching.

Serala could only stare in a stupor.

Just who was the Tokoloshe, really?