“You've learned about Life when it is precious and when it is not.”

“Now you will learn about the Gray Areas of Life.”

“Gray Areas of Life is for those that mingle with those who profess the preciousness of Life. And for those who abuse those who understand the harshness of Life.”

“They mingle with those above as they are a perfect disguise for their values.”

“They abuse those below as they profit from their misery.”

“However, the greatest problem is that they taint those around themselves with their own ideology with no care for others. They will gladly pull those they see above themselves into their own pits of despair, all in the name of making themselves feel Good.”

“Yet, the worst part is that they are much more successful than failing at that endeavor.”

“They are successful because adhering to something and fighting for something is harder than admitting your own place in the world.”

“Those that admit it just go with the flow, instead of fighting for what you preach with your own Life.”

“Those who still adhere to their Ideals of making the World a better place for others are Saints and Heroes.”

“Those who refuse the Ideals of others and instead focus on themselves are Scoundrels and Villains.”

#4 Quote - Book of Life and Death - Chapter - Heroes and Villains.

*

Central Continent - Southern Forest - Survival Tribe - Alexander

Alexander was many things. Being stubborn was the most obvious to everybody. Even more stubborn than Honey Badgers usually were.

Alexander was also adaptable when he wanted to be. Therefore, he adapted to the life of living with others. However, memories of a Life lived as a loner kept him from socializing too much with others.

As his body grew up and his familiarity with this way of life increased, Alexander grew less stubborn and rebellious when it concerned his Father, Scar, or his mother, Tina.

He followed their orders, for the most part, because occasional bouts of rebelliousness emerged from time to time. Unfortunately for Alexander, and luckily for his Parents, painful stings were the best motivator when it came to their Son.

Still, as the months and the seasons passed, those appeared far less and less.

When his Mother required help, he'd help. Although he still hated the remedies when she fed him.

When his Father ordered something, he did it. Although, occasional bouts of laziness required a stern reminder of his position in the Tribe.

Overall, Alexander had come to an understanding of living in a Tribe with others of his kind.

There were good and bad things about it.

Still, the good things outnumbered the bad ones.

Not being able to participate in the Tribal Gathering became the principal bad reason. Yet, that was about to change.

Alexander had been sent into the Forest to complete his Ritual of Adulthood.

The Ritual itself wasn't complicated.

It had two components.

The first was the Sacrifice, and the second was the Offering.

The Sacrifice was easy and hard, as he had to find a big enough prey and kill it. What kind of prey did not matter, as long as it was big enough to summon forth a Blaze of the White Flame.

After that, he had to bring back the Sacrifice. Then offered to the Tribe and The Tribal Spirit.

For that part, he had to learn a specialized growl and specialized form of movement to please the Tribal Spirit.

Learning both wasn't hard. However, it had taken some time for Alexander to agree on doing it in the first place.

Now all that was left was to find the proper sacrifice and bring it back.

For that reason, Alexander left the Tribe behind and ventured into the Forest alone.

Alexander’s first destination was a familiar Cave opening.

Once he was there, he observed it for a few moments.

At first sight, nothing obvious came to his attention.

However, multiple times, his Father warned him as the Cave was the origin of the Big Many Legs.

After some prodding, Alexander learned that, from time to time, one of them would leave the Cave and enter the forest. And it is those stranglers that the Tribe hunted down. They hunted it down because it was the most numerous of all the Big Preys, yet being the least dangerous to them because of their resistance to poison and venom.

Another reason the Big Many Legs was considered the prime prey is that most of the other big prey lived further away from the Tribe.

That being the case, Alexander was explicitly told not to wander too far from the Cave as he could enter the territory of the Shiny Croakers that possessed a similar two-legged and two-handed form as they did.

At the same time, a warning of their blowing tools and poisons followed.

His Father had been specific regarding them. As their poisons were extremely effective against them for the simple reason that their bodies fell asleep to fight off the poison. The stronger it was, the faster they fell asleep.

That made them easy prey because their tools somehow penetrated a Badg’Er’s thick skin.

The Shiny Croakers aside, Alexander observed the Cave entrance for a bit longer. At the same time, he remembered the warning of not entering the Cave at all.

The main reason was that it provided terrible combat terrain for them, yet another reason was that the further one traveled inside, the more numerous the Big Many Legs were.

Therefore, making it harder to fight them off if too many attacked.

After considering all that, Alexander had only one option. To be lucky and search for one that left the confines of the Cave. Therefore, when Alexander saw no obvious visual signs of a Big Many Legs, he crouched and sniffed for more information.

What he found out, he did not like. Not one bit, as no Big Many Legs had come from the Cave in quite some time. That left him with no options but to wait for one of them to come out on its own.

However, that could take forever to happen, and Alexander did not want to wait that much longer.

He had already waited far too long for his own liking. Especially, when a feeling had been building inside him for a few seasons. This feeling begged to be released, and he had no idea how to do that. The only thing Alexander realized that could tip the scales in his favor was a big feast of the White Flame.

Yet, that required a sacrifice.

A Sacrifice he would not be going home without.

“Hngh, Me, Show, Tribe, Me, Strong, Adult.” Alexander said smugly and entered the Cave that he had been explicitly told not to.

*

“Chief, Right, He, Inside.” A Humanoid Honey Badger murmured to the gathering of Hunters beside him.

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“Know… Son, Stubborn, Reckless.” Scar reasoned with his Tribe Huntsmen.

“Go, Inside, Retrieve? Him.” Another member asked his Chief.

Scar shook his head in denial. “No… Wait, He, Run, Out.”

Immediately, the gathered Hunters snickered at the obvious.

Scar joined them for a moment before going on.

“Each, Hunter, Distract, One…Maybe, More… But, Leave, One, For, My, Son.”

“Yes, Chief.” The gathered Hunters agreed.

With that command issued, the Hunters positioned themselves around the Cave entrance, only hidden from view. Once they were in position, they did not even have to wait that long when yelping sounds echoed from the Cave entrance.

A few snickers emerged as the sound echoed, but they still prepared themselves for the incoming fight.

However, they did not expect how deep Alexander went inside or how many Big Many Legs chased him.

When Alexander blitzed outside the Cave, what followed him was not one, or two, or three individuals. No, it was seven that chased Alexander.

They climbed out of the Cave entrance while walking on the stone walls.

Instantly, after racing the outside, they spread out and wiggled in the direction their supposed prey had run off.

What they did not expect was a simple growl uttered by Scar. Immediately, the gathered and positioned Hunters skillfully jumped on the closest Big Many Legs.

Three got distracted from their chase. Another followed moments after. Yet, just as Scar was about to jump and distract two more, a simple thought came to him, and he changed his mind.

A moment later, he distracted one of them and left two to chase his Son, and a moment into the fight, he wondered if he had done the right thing.

Then ignored the feelings as Alexander deserved punishment for ignoring his warnings.

*

Mid step of running away, Alexander shuddered at the memory of uncountable legs chittering alongside the inner walls deep inside the Cave.

Moments later, the memory flash vanished in favor of not running into something like trees.

After he was far enough from the Cave entrance, Alexander slowed down and eventually stopped.

Once he stopped, Alexander turned around and looked in the direction of the Cave.

Deep within him, emotions flourished at the humiliation he had just experienced. Only moments may have passed since the event, but already Alexander’s feelings manifested in a particular direction.

“Hngh… Revenge, Will, Be, Mine.” Alexander growled out loud, yet that became a mistake, as the sounds he made attracted the two Big Many Legs still chasing after him.

In moments, Alexander saw one of them.

Still, after him, his instinct told him to run some more as more of them were probably on the way. Nevertheless, when his eyes glanced around and saw only one of them crawling towards him upon the ground, relief transformed into a desire for revenge.

He eyed the Big Many Legs for a moment and realized something very straightforward. Even if its length was still greater than his height, it would not be enough to save it.

Pure belief in beating and killing it returned, and Alexander walked toward it.

When it was close to him, it rushed itself at him.

Hunters of the Tribe conditioned Alexander to dodge a certain way. He rolled to the side before jumping on the back of the Big Many Legs.

Alexander's claws stuck between the segments in its plated back. In the same instant, the Big Many Legs, or as a certain existence would call it, Giant Black Centipede, lifted its front body vertically.

It was so fast that it totally surprised Alexander as his claws dislodged themselves from the Giant Black Centipede. In return, Alexander flew back a few meters.

A moment later, the Giant Black Centipede oriented itself once more. With its many lags, it rushed at the Humanoid Honey Badger.

If not for Alexander's quick reflex to swiftly correct himself into position correctly due to practice, the Giant Black Centipede might have already been onto him. In this case, however, Alexander dodged to the side once more.

Nonetheless, aching a successful dodge, Alexander did not jump this time. No, he reined in his Instinct to jump on it. Yet, the moment Alexander did that, something got freed inside him.

Something he had not felt this deeply before, ever since he was born again in this Forest.

Alexander felt alive in this battle to the Death.

Like nothing before, his heart and lungs pumped blood and oxygen into his body. At the same time, his concentration spiked. Then Alexander lost vision of anything other than this Centipede in front of him.

What followed was a skillful dodge and attack sequence. Alexander dodged in order to find the right opportunity. And when he did, he successfully jumped on the Giant Black Centipede.

This time he got closer to the head of the Giant Black Centipede.

Upon it, one paw and claw slid into the segment between plates to hold him down firmly. The paw and claw swiped for its antenna, and a moment later, both of them were in Alexander's grip.

The top part of the antenna fluttered around as they realized that something was about to happen to them.

RIP RIP

“Screech” Echoed from the Giant Black Centipede.

With the antenna gone, Alexander instantly removed himself from the Centipedes' back.

With them gone, the primary sensory organ for the Centipede vanished, and not only that. The pain and sudden sensory deprivation caused an involuntary response from the Centipede to curl unto itself.

That was the moment Alexander needed. With knowledge from the Hunters, Alexander knew precisely where to put his claws and bite the head without needing to be hurt.

BITE CRACK

Moments later, Alexander bit once more. Another crack ensued, and then another, yet when he was about to go for the finishing blow, something big and heavy fell on Alexander.

Instantly, the second Centipede that had waited for a good ambush, by way of the trees, pushed Alexander onto the ground and enveloped him with its many legs and segmented body.

At the same time, it bit Alexander on the neck and administered its venom.

BITE

The venom was potent.

With it, Centipedes immobilize their prey, but a Honey Badger was a different kind of creature, and even among them, Alexander was special. The amount of venomous and poisonous substances he was exposed to, thanks to his Mother's remedies, was much greater than any other Honey Badger.

It mattered not if they were regular Honey Badgers or humanoid versions.

“Khrya-ya-ya-ya.” The only thing the pain from the bite did was Anger Alexander more.

What ensued was to be expected as Alexander began to struggle from his encampment.

Thanks to his thick skin, the Giant Black Centipede's legs could not hurt him too much. But it did restrict him quite a lot.

Moments passed as the Centipede felt its prey not weakening in its attempts to escape, and it bit once more.

With more venom in Alexander’s body, his body instinctively desired to fight off the toxin by reducing his heartbeat and stopping the venom's spread. Yet, with the second bite, Alexander's Anger spiked once more and turned into pure VENGEANCE.

Nevertheless, despite Alexander's VENGEANCE fueling his struggle, he could not get out of the grip of this Centipede.

Then a third bite tipped the scales. Alexander's body could no longer delay its own survival from the venom, and it began to shut down disregarding the fact that its end might come from something external.

After all, so much venom was not healthy for anybody, even a Honey Badger.

SLICE

Screeches entered Alexander's mind.

His groggy mind recognized the pressure holding his body on the ground drop. The next moment, a big CRUNCH followed the screech. Right after, Alexander felt his body twitch here and there as somebody released him from the grip of the Centipede.

Once he was free, for the most part, Alexander, still conscious, saw his Father standing above him and looking down on him.

Alexander felt those eyes bore into him when his Father’s words reached his mind.

“Ignore, Warning, Again?”

Alexander did not remember replying. But something must have left him, somehow, as his father nodded in return.

“Good, Eat.”

With that said, Alexander saw his Father open his mouth and breath some White Flame on the Centipede beside him.

Instantly, a giant blaze emanated from it as the White Flame consumed the body. Foggy and barely conscious, Alexander munched weakly on the Flame.

With every bite, he swallowed the content that reached his stomach and began spreading into his body.

Yet, this one Alexander realized was different from anything he had tasted before.

Not only was it stronger in its response, but it was also stickier somehow. Yet, before Alexander could even cherish everything he felt, he recognized the content behaving differently as it spread into his body differently.

It took him moments to realize that everything got used up to speed up his recovery from the venom he had been injected.

*

Moments passed as Scar observed his Son munching on the White Flame fueled by a dead Big Many Legs.

Being the one manifesting the Flame, he was even clearer on what it was doing. And with his Intent, the White Flame was consumed to fuel the speed of his Son’s recovery.

With every moment that passed, Scar saw Alexander's body twitch more and more, and not long after that, he stood up slowly.

Seeing him healthy for the most part, Scar ignored his Son and paid attention to the other body laying beside them.

It had curled up because its antennas were gone. The head plate had cracks, but it had yet to die.

It was easy for him to realize what had happened, so he did not fault his Son for the mistakes, but all this pointed at one particular thing.

While Alexander would become an adult soon, there was still much to teach him.

Turning away from the Sacrifice, Scar focused on his Son.

“Kill… Then, Carry, Sacrifice, To, Tribe.”

With that said, he turned away from Alexander.

Then Scar made his way to the other Hunters, leaving behind Alexander dazed with everything experienced.