The Primeval Era-Chapter 132: Divergence II

His human form gestured toward the scarred landscape around them.

"The Imperators will react to Vienna’s death. We don’t know what forces patrol the borders of both Neolithic Empires or how quickly they might respond to the destruction we’ve caused here. The tribe needs to be protected and prepared."

He looked at Masamuk with both sets of eyes.

"If you can keep watch on any movements through nearby Beast Lords, coordinate with them to monitor approaches from the Dominion..."

"Leave it to me!"

Masamuk’s obsidian body pulsed with renewed energy.

"I’ll keep in touch with Inkanyamba once you all arrive in that little tribe. That serpent can relay messages faster than anything else in these territories."

His crimson eyes flickered.

"And oh, you may want to expand its walls. Those refugees you sent over seem to have found others from trampled tribes. Even more are heading toward your home!"

His eyes were unfathomably bright as he said this.

He looked at Damian and his two bodies for a moment, that expression of wonder returning briefly before duty reasserted itself. Then his slime body compressed and shot out across the skies, seeking to reach Mount Vorrath as soon as possible.

He wanted to see Tiaret.

There were demons afoot now. He had to be with his lover in case the Lands of Stone came crumbling down.

As Masamuk’s form disappeared into the distance, only Damian and Serala remained.

The battlefield stretched around them, scarred and transformed by powers that had clashed moments ago. Crystallized earth reflected the afternoon sun. Smoke still rose from a thousand points across the terrain. The air tasted of ash and purification.

Both looked at each other.

Damian’s human form floated near his leonine head, both bodies regarding the Holy Daughter with expressions that held similar thoughtfulness. She looked back at him with wing-shaped pupils that had seen too much today.

His human mouth opened.

"Do you want to ride me?"

...!

Serala’s mind buzzed.

"What?"

Her voice came out sharp with something that sounded almost like offense. Her cheeks flushed with color that had nothing to do with the heat still radiating from the scorched landscape.

Damian blinked with both sets of eyes.

"The beast body is much faster than the human body or yours."

He gestured toward his massive leonine form with his human hand.

"On it, we can get back much faster."

"Oh."

Serala’s eyes shone at the clarification.

Understanding replaced whatever had briefly crossed her features, and she nodded once with the dignity of someone who had definitely not misinterpreted anything at all. Her radiant wings carried her upward alongside Damian’s human body, both of them ascending toward the broad back of his leonine form.

She floated down gently, her feet settling onto golden fur.

Vibrant power thrummed beneath her soles, energy coursing through the massive body she now stood upon. The fur was impossibly soft yet carried a warmth of fire contained rather than absent. She could feel muscles shifting beneath the surface, could sense the Mana flowing through channels that ran just beneath the skin.

Wings stretched out to her left and right, white-gold feathers spreading wide in preparation for flight. Her wings. Her Physique. Manifested on a body that wasn’t hers.

Heavy heat traveled from her feet to the rest of her body.

It made her feel warm.

It made her feel safe.

She couldn’t explain it. This was a body that belonged to the Tokoloshe, a man she had known for mere days. She should have felt uncomfortable standing on his transformed flesh. She should have maintained the distance appropriate for the Holy Daughter.

Instead, she felt the exhaustion of her mind settling in.

So many revelations today. So many impossible things witnessed. A demon emerging from an Imperator. The Tokoloshe devouring that demon and burning it to ash. Two Land and Sky Physiques activated simultaneously. A second body forged from the first.

She sighed and sat down.

The golden fur rose around her like a protective cocoon, soft and warm and pulsing with power that seemed to recognize her presence without threatening it. Damian’s human body sat nearby, holding that crimson demon medallion in hands that studied it with both curiosity and wariness.

Wings flapped.

The Lands and Skies began to shift and change as they moved away, the massive leonine form carrying them toward home with speed that made the wind itself struggle to keep pace.

They crossed the skies in silence for a time.

The Lands of Stone passed beneath them in sweeping panoramas of forest and plain and mountain. Rivers gleamed silver in the fading afternoon light. Herds of beasts moved across grasslands like living shadows. The world seemed peaceful from this height, untouched by the chaos that had erupted in that distant region they had left behind.

Serala sat amid the golden fur of his beast form, her body slowly relaxing as exhaustion settled deeper into her bones.

She could feel invisible energy seeping into her flesh from the massive form beneath her. It wasn’t aggressive or demanding. It was simply there, a warmth that radiated upward and filled the hollow places that battle had carved within her spirit. Her cultivation responded to it instinctively, accepting the gift without resistance.

After a long while, she looked at Damian’s human body sitting nearby.

He was studying the crimson medallion still, those golden-winged pupils fixed on the runes that seemed to dance away from comprehension. His expression was thoughtful.

"Records indicate that Emperor and Empress Vakochev had a son."

Her voice emerged soft against the rushing wind.

Damian’s human form went still. His leonine form continued flying without interruption, but she felt muscles tense beneath the fur where she sat.

"A son whose fate was never ascertained when the Vakochev Lineage fell."

She continued looking at him with eyes that held no accusation.

"Most believe he is dead since he was so weak. A prince without cultivation, without a Land and Sky Physique, without any of the blessings that had marked his ancestors. Easy prey for those who hunted the remaining bloodline."

Her wing-shaped pupils shone with quiet brilliance.

"But nobody knows for certain. His body was never found. His death was never confirmed."

She paused.

"He would be about your age right now."

...!

She said such words calmly, as if commenting on the weather or the beauty of the landscape below.

But the weight of them hung in the air between them, heavy with implications that neither needed to speak aloud. She had connected the pieces!

The way he spoke of Emperor Vakochev with grief. The way Uncle Adam called him Young Lugal. The way he had killed Imperator Vienna before she could voice anything.

Damian heard every word as his human form continued looking ahead at horizons that stretched toward the Purple Stone Tribe. His leonine form kept flying with steady wingbeats that carried them through skies painted gold and orange by the descending sun.

For now, he did not reply.

But his silence was answer enough!