The Tribe’s situation is worsening.

For as many moons as he has fingers it has been good, the tribesmen were happy with their Chief’s decisions. The Tribe settled in this place between the mountains at the end of the Hot and had managed to pass the Wind and the Cold sheltered in the caves of the valley, gathering enough food from roots, mushrooms, fish, and small game to stay in good health. At the Flower, when the animals outside started to mate and the flowers to bloom, the situation, already quite good, even improved. And, when the Hot started, it was a really good place to be, with lots of fruits on the trees and bushes, fish in the river and more than enough prey to hunt.

But one moon after the start of the Hot, things started to change. Strange creatures appeared in the valley. At the start the Tribe simply killed and ate them. At first they considered themselves fortunate, as more and more came, bigger ones, with tastier meat on their bones, but unfortunately, they also started to get smarter and smarter, laying traps or attacking at night.

One morning the Tribe’s chief was called to a small cavern. What he found there, was dreadful. The strange creatures had raided the cavern, killed the adults and abducted the children.

The Chief, the Huntsman and the nearby hunters went after the monsters and fortunately caught them a few kilometers outside the valley. They butchered the creatures and brought the children back. But the Chief could not let such an awful act of aggression slide. The Tribe was starting to grow irate.

So the Chief took actions. He went to find the other persons of importance in the Tribe. With the Father, the Mother, the Sister, the Huntsman, the Gatherer and the Chief himself, the Council was complete. They talked a lot, arguing what to do, they talked the whole night and at the dawn of the next morning a decision was finally made. They would raid the monsters’ lair and exterminate them.

While the Huntsman and the Gatherer would gather all the hunters and the people willing to come, the Chief, the Sister, the Father and the Mother would appoint the Son and the Daughter. Those would be the ones taking on the responsibility of Chief and Sister while they were away, they would also have to keep the responsibility in the eventuality of the Council members not coming back.

The decision had been made five days ago.

The Chief is looking at what is left of his tribesmen. A lot of people followed him and the other members of the Council, something around the number of fingers of as many persons as the Huntsman has fingers, meaning one less than a normal tribesman. Now there is only half this number. But now only the stronger ones are left. Thankfully, all of the members of the Council are still alive.

All the usual weapons of their tribe are in too bad a shape to be of use, so they have traded them for parts of monsters that can be used as weapons. Now they’re using spears made out of big and sharp claws, fangs or mandibles tied to bones stronger than burned wood with monsters’ sinews. Some of them are also wearing the hide or carapaces of the dead creatures as protection.

One thing the Chief is not sure what to feel about is how some of the tribesmen and tribeswomen are changing. Most of them were hunters that used to feed on the monsters’ corpses in the valley. Now that they are in this strange place, they have started to build muscles at a frightening pace. It is good for the Tribe to have strong hunters, but the speed at which they are getting those muscles is abnormal in the Chief’s eyes.

A similar thing is happening to the Sister and her followers, as many as the fingers on one hand, their healing powers are growing stronger and stronger. But the Chief is not as wary of them as he is of the other tribesmen. After all, it is them that informed him that the air around here is different, more filled with Nature’s energy, but also that this energy was noticeably different than usual, stronger, but also with an uneasy feeling. The fact that the Sister was the only mate the Chief had chosen, despite his right to have several of them - and respectively for the Sister choosing him - had nothing to do with this. Nothing at all.

Anyway, the Chief does not have the time to look at his tribesmen anymore. The Huntsman is back and tells the Chief that he has found the lair of the monsters. There is a big hole on the side of the mountain, and all the monsters’ tracks are leading to it. The Chief calls and the tribesmen start to move.

Soon they are in front of the entrance to a large cavern in the mountainside. The Sister confirms that the origin of the corrupted Nature’s energy is indeed in this cavern. The air is tensed, it has been at least half a day since they have last seen a monster, this is abnormal, the monsters would attack them with a really high frequency at the start. Can it be that the Tribe is actually succeeding and that there are almost no monsters left? The Chief hopes so, but he is smart enough not to go back before checking the cavern before them. And he needs to destroy the origin of the corruption, or else it could come back at any time.

They gather some sticks and light them on fire to provide light. The Sister and her followers raise their hands, they are able to make light out of them, but not enough to light the path for all of the tribesmen, hence the fires on a stick.

The exact moment the Huntsman - as the best fighter he is always walking in front of the group - sets foot in the cavern, the tribesmen hear a powerful roar coming from the inside. This a roar that the tribesmen know, it is the roar of a bear. But, if it is like all the other creatures around here, the tribesmen know it’s going to be a fierce fight. The dogs in this valley were as big and strong as normal bears. So how big and strong would an actual bear be, after mutating in the same way?

The answer comes soon, a giant bear walks out of the shadow of the cave, it is twice as big as any bear the tribesmen have ever seen and is closely followed by two others bears only smaller by a head.

Fear flows through the ranks of the tribesmen, but they are not cowards and they are here for a reason. Plus they are far more stronger than at the beginning. They straighten their grips on their weapons and wait for the Chief’s or the Huntsman’s signal.

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The bears are looking at them, taking the measure of the treat those snacks represent. Their master has ordered them to slay them all, so they will do it, even if they must die in the process.

Tension rises up in the air between the two groups, but neither of them wants to make the first move. Three minutes into the staring contest, one of the tribesman gives way to the pressure and throws one of its two spears. That action puts everything in motion. The bears let out deafening roars and charge at the tribesmen. All of the tribesmen, safe for the Sister and her followers, scream their battle cries and run at the mighty beasts.

The fight is long and costly. The bears kill with each strike managing to land, not leaving a lot of work to the Sister to work her magic and saves lives. Each time a tribesman manages to inflict an injury to the beasts, despite their thick hides, they can see them healing as if they had their own Sister healing them.

Thankfully, the tribesmen are numerous enough to overpower the two smaller bears, and after a ten minutes fight they finally manage to kill them. But the bigger bear’s hide is too tough to be punctured by the tribesmen crude weapons.

The tribesmen are falling in front of this beast. They are only as numerous as all the fingers and toes of the Chief. There are only the four Council members and a few hunters left.

The Gatherer sees that they are losing. They can’t inflict a strong enough injury to the bear. He has an idea, but it is an idea that would most certainly kill him. He may not be the best fighter in the Tribe, but fortunately, he is the strongest man. Even more since he started to eat monster flesh. His plan may not allow him to kill the beast, but, with a bit of luck, it may allow someone else to deal a decisive blow.

The Chief keeps on fighting the bear, he is starting to lose his hopes of defeating it when he sees the Gatherer throw away his weapons and jump at the bear’s back with a powerful cry. The Chief looks on in puzzlement as the Gatherer grabs at the beast’s fur and arcs back with all of his muscles. In front of the Chief’s eyes the gatherer manages to forcefully impede the bear’s movements. Understanding the Gatherer’s plan, the Chief calls to the men and jumps at the beast’s belly, grabbing with all of his own muscles to disturb even more the beast’s movements. From the corner of its eyes, he can see the hunters doing the same.

The Huntsman understood the plan of the Gatherer the same moment the Chief did, so he waited a bit for the hunters to grab the bear. And now that the other tribesmen are holding the bear’s movements, he can finally strike. He launches himself and hits with all of its expertise striking its spear right in the mouth of the screaming bear. The bear closes its jaws around the spear, breaking it in half, jamming it further into its own throat and tearing the right hand of the Huntsman apart as well.

The bear is overwhelmed with pain, its master’s healing can’t close the wound in his throat as long as the broken spear is still stuck in it. It doesn’t know it, but its master can’t make the foreign object disappear with all the Humans so close to it, it is barely able to heal the beast when it is harmed, moreover, it is running low on mana.

In its fury the bear strike all around it and deals a massive blow on the Chief’s side, sending him crashing into a wall and breaking his skull and ribs. The Sister jumps at his side and starts to use her magic to try to heal her mate.

The Gatherer and the hunters keep their distances from the raging beast. Only the Huntsman is still trying to inflict more injuries to the bear, despite the pain and his own serious injury. Keeping the bear in the center of the room, away from the few people laying on the ground, but who are still alive.

After a few minutes of agony, the bear crumbles on the ground and drowns in its own blood. The tribesmen scream in joy and pain. The fight is finished and they won it, but the price to pay was higher than they ever expected.

The Sister is crying over the dead body of her mate. The Huntsman lost his hand, the one who still had five fingers. The Gatherer and the hunters are walking amongst the injured on the ground, trying to save those that can still be saved.

A few minutes later, the Sister raises on her feet, pain and anger visible in her eyes. She calls for the tribesmen and the only other tribeswoman and announces to them that there is still something to do in the cavern. She can sense that there is a malevolent presence further in the cave. The monsters’ master is still alive.

Almost not believing her, but trusting her words on things about Nature, the tribesmen gather and proceed deeper into the cavern. She is barely able to walk and can’t light her hand, so the hunters make some fires on a stick. After a small walk, the group is forced to spot, the Sister cannot walk any further, she has used all of her magic in vain trying to save the Chief. One of the hunters volunteers himself to carry her on his back and she lets him proceed, too tired to oppose him. Lulled by the movements of her carrier, the Sister quickly falls asleep.

A bit deeper into the cavern, the group can see a light starting to appear. A red and purple flashing light. The tribesmen carefully near the light, guessing it is the end of their quest. At the end of the corridor, they find a strange stone. It is the origin of the red and purple light.

Too tired to put his mind before his instinct and a life of habit, the Gatherer grabs the stone whose flashes of lights are turning less and less red and more and more purple and pink. Still in auto-pilot, the Gatherer looks closely at the stone, shaking it and squeezing it. The only thing the stone does is turn even more purple and pink and is a little too warm in his hand for a normal stone. But it is not a normal stone, no? The next step of the Gatherer’s testing is to shake it again and putting it close to his ear to listen to it, then he sniffs the stone, no sound and no odor.

One could think that the testing would stop there but, to the horror of the stone, it is not the end. After giving a second good sniff, the Gatherer brings it closer to its mouth, then gives it a quick lick. The stone glows brighter and brighter and fully pink as the Gatherer opens his mouth for a second lick. He must find the stone’s taste quite to his liking as he licks it a third and a fourth time before, at last, putting it in his mouth and making it roll on his tongue.

The other tribesmen look at the Gatherer’s doing, too tired and abashed to react as he tests the resistance of the stone with his teeth. While they can see the glow through his skin, he bites the stone again and again with more and more strength with each bite, until a small crack can be heard.

Only the Huntsman reacts quickly enough and sprints to the hunter carrying the Sister on his back, he drives them both to the ground and uses his body as a shield to protect them.

The other hunters can see the stone’s glow disappear and suddenly there is an explosion of white light that consumes the head of the Gatherer. The energy flows through the cave, burning through the monsters’ hides the hunters and the Huntsman are wearing as well as their skin, turning them to cinder. Thankfully, the core was mana dry so the blast of the explosion quickly loses its strength, but it is still able to burn deeply into the flesh of the hunter who was carrying the Sister despite the Huntsman shielding him.