A few months had passed since the arrival of the Chofumah and what was expected came to be.

There wasn’t enough food for everyone.

They had been made to occupy the land fifty metres north of the main village and were given wood for huts and leather for clothes but that was all the Umande could offer.

The rest, they had to do for themselves.

The tree worshippers to the west were minding their own business as usual so I didn’t pay them too much mind.

My concern- my attention was on Mlezi and his family.

With both Umande and Chofumah populations being so closely gathered, they needed more food meaning they had to hunt more of the gazelle population, driving it further away.

This meant that every time any hunter went out, Mlezi and Musa included, they had to go further into the wilderness for longer.

I had decided to help but I didn’t know how to do so without accidentally catapulting the humanoids thousands of years into the future in terms of advancement in knowledge and technology.

I decided to wait for an appropriate moment but in the meantime, I shifted my perspective to Mlezi and Musa as they hid in a field of tall grass. Their figures were hidden by the dark of night.

It was winter now and prey was getting scarce.

They had tracked a few meerkats back to their burrow several kilometres to the northeast and were ready to strike.

They knew it was over once they got into their deep tunnels so Mlezi would spook them and Musa would try and kill one before it got into one of the burrow’s entrances.

Mlezi suddenly dashed out of the grass, scarring the meerkats and causing them to try to run into their tunnels but Musa targeted one in particular which was a few meters away from it.

One thing about these animals that I always found neat was the transparent caps on the tops of their heads.

Musa closed his eyes just as he sent his spear into the side of his target; the meerkat released a sudden flash of light.

Unfortunately for it, Musa was mostly unaffected and so, after sensing that he had struck his prey, he plunged his spear further into its flesh as it squealed for life.

Several more flashes came from the meerkats which Mlezi had spooked but he too had closed his eyes.

Musa opened his and quickly grabbed the dying meerkat before walking up to his father who caught his breath while resting his hands on his waist.

“Tired?” Musa asked with a light chuckle.

Mlezi responded with a grunt before leading Musa back home.

On their way, however, they encountered a group of Chofumah hunters only they looked far dirtier and tired than Mlezi and Musa. One thing that distinguished them was the fact that they shaved their heads completely. This, however, emphasised their hollow cheeks and cracked lips.

“Oh- you’re Mlezi. How was the hunt? Did you catch anything?” One of them asked but it was Musa who answered.

“Yes. Why do you ask? Are you looking to trade?” Musa asked in the same manner his father had taught him.

The men all let out various groans while shifting their eyes to the side.

“No, it’s- it’s just that we’ve been out here for days and have yet to catch anything. Two of our friends here can barely see thanks to those fucking rodents. So… we were hoping you were willing to share your catch. We’ll gladly help you out in your next hunt.”

Musa turned to Mlezi who simply scoffed.

“Sorry but no.”

“Oh- alright. That’s understandable. Gotta watch out for your own and whatnot. So… safe travels, then.” The foremost hunter nodded before leading his companions in walking past Mlezi and Musa.

The two then resumed their journey home and they arrived to find Ua and Jua sitting around a fire in front of the hut with a handful of Chofumah women, some of whom also held children.

Jua spotted his father and brother as they approached and so hopped off his mother’s lap and ran up to Mlezi who picked him up after tossing his spear close to the veranda.

“You’re finally back!” The boy cried as he gently pressed his forehead against that of his father.

Musa smiled at this but walked past them and to a log stool a few meters away from the hut.

Placed in front of the stool was a skinning knife, made from iron.

Mlezi had traded some meat for it and according to the owner, it was made by a man who caught a falling star.

I knew this meant that it was forged from the iron from a meteor. Probably one of the many small ones I allowed to hit me. It would be a waste of Glass to try and stop all the small ones and so I chose not to stop them at all.

As for how the mysterious Chofumah man forged the knife, it was using a technique which the Umande had already learnt only they used it to bake bread.

The Chofumah knew how to soften metals using mud ovens and they could then shape them however they pleased.

What fascinated me was the fact that the two tribes had developed the mud ovens independently.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I wondered what else they might be able to achieve given time.

Ua walked up to Musa as he diligently skinned the meerkat.

“You know, if you ever get tired of living with us, you can always take the hand of one of the many women who fancy you.” She softly giggled but Musa sighed in response.

“Sorry, but I don’t want that. To be here, watching over you and Jua, that is what I want.”

Ua smiled while gently placing her thin fingers on Musa’s head.

“Isn’t there anything you want for yourself?” She asked but Musa shook his head making Ua giggle.

“Use your words, boy. Your father is the only one who can get away with speaking to me without using words.” She said as she roughly grabbed some of Musa’s hair.

“I am glad that you are stubborn though.” She whispered while ignoring Musa’s winces.

She then let him go and turned around.

“And besides, only a woman of the highest standing would be fit for my boys.”

Musa tilted his head in confusion as Ua returned to the fire where Mlezi and Jua had joined the other women.

Musa let out a chuckle before returning to his duties.

The time eventually came for the other women to return to their homes and it was Musa’s job to accompany them back to the Chofumah encampment. They said many things to and about him but neither he nor I paid any attention to their words.

Musa then returned home and joined his father in preparing the fresh meerkat meat for curing.

They cured it using salt from a dried lake in the Far East.

After doing this, Mlezi joined Ua and Jua inside while Musa went out on Patrol.

He would switch with his father once he felt tired enough and so he walked out into the fields beyond his home.

.

..

“Haa.” Musa breathed as he stood next to one of the few trees near his home.

The air had grown quiet as everyone had gone asleep and the silhouette of the Chofumah huts could be seen in the southern distance.

His ears perked as he heard sounds coming from the north and so he turned to the north and saw a group of people approaching.

he couldn’t see them clearly in the dark of night but they were the Chofumah hunters he and his father had come across.

Musa tightened his hold on his spear as they got closer.

“Oh- hello. What are you doing out here all alone?” One of them asked as they stopped about five metres from Musa.

“Keeping watch.”

“Oh? Wait a moment- I know your voice. You’re Mlezi’s boy. My name’s Chazak and you would not believe the troubles we faced after we parted ways with you and your pops.” The foremost man weakly chuckled but Musa’s expression remained stiff.

“Anyway… this may be asking too much but could you maybe ask your father to reconsider sharing with us what you caught? You look like a nice kid so please…”

“I will talk to him.”

“That’s good but do you think you’ll be able to change his mind?” Chazak asked making Musa sigh.

“I said I would talk to him, that is all I can say.”

Chazak’s face twisted.

“Kid… you don’t know what it was like for us. We walked for days through that cursed valley as all kinds of bugs gnawed at our legs. We were so thirsty that it became impossible to cry from pain. Many of our brothers, sisters and daughters died from starvation and exhaustion so please…” He said before dropping his spear and cupping his hands.

Musa’s brows furrowed.

“Like I said, I’ll talk to- ah!” Musa cried as Chazak suddenly punched him in the face, breaking his nose and causing him to stumble to the side.

“Why are you people so selfish!” Chazak yelled before kicking Musa in the chest, forcing him onto the ground where he straddled him.

“Always so apprehensive even though we’ve done nothing to make you act so distant!” He yelled while repeatedly punching Musa.

“Hey! What are you doing? The kid said he would try!” One of the other hunters barked while trying to grab Chazak’s arms but he wildly flailed his arms around, keeping anyone from firmly grabbing them.

“Do you honestly believe that? Do you really think his old man won’t repeat those callous words we’ve heard time and time again?” Chazak screamed making the other hunters stop their attempts at grabbing him.

“They never have enough to share but always have enough for themselves! So, what? Are you really going to watch them eat while your daughter dies?”

The second hunter lowered his head.

“I think it’s time we took that which they greedily hoarded- AHHH!” Chazak wildly screamed as Musa crushed his testicles with his hand but this only enraged Chazak more and so he punched Musa several more times up until his left eye loosely hung from its socket.

“GRAAHHH!” The hunter screamed before standing up and stomping on Musa’s neck several times.

“Come! Let’s take whatever the Selfish Mlezi has and kill him if he insists on resisting. He is an exile so no one will care if he dies. I heard from the scouts that small streams were found on the southern side of the mountain. We’ll take our families there and make those our hunting grounds.” Chazak said while gently clutching his testicles.

His fellow hunters didn’t respond.

“What? Now that we’ve killed one of theirs, there’s a chance that they’ll want blood so let’s hurry and get out of here!” He groaned before stumbling towards Mlezi’s hut.

The others followed in silence and it was here that I finally blinked.

I looked at Musa’s body as he wheezed out his last breaths and with a trembling hand I reached out to give him Life Energy just as I had all that time before but it wasn’t enough and it was too late.

The white strings were already starting to fade and no magic I knew could stop this process.

I felt… angry.

So much so that I didn’t notice that the glow of light within my doll had turned from purple to orange.

This meant that I was no longer using Gravity Magic to keep myself and my body was rapidly descending.

I glared at the man called Chazak as I fell and made sure to land directly in front of him.

I sent up a bit of dirt as I struck the ground and sent the group of hunters stumbling backwards.

I then grabbed Chazak by his arm, breaking it in the process and I promptly healed it shortly after.

“AHHHHHH! What’s happening? What are you?” He screamed but I didn’t care to listen to any of his words.

He had killed Mlezi’s son and although it would have been equally satisfying to watch Mlezi kill this bastard, I chose to do it myself.

This would hopefully allow Mlezi and his family to focus on mourning rather than filling their minds with thoughts of revenge.

No.

I would become the embodiment of revenge just for this night and so I slapped Chazak with so much force that his jaw flew off his skull, taking with it all the skin from the lower half of his head.

The other hunters screamed out in panic and two of them fled but the others were far too terrified to move which meant they had to watch as I flooded Chazak’s body with Life Energy.

His jaw grew back, starting with the bone and ending with a new layer of skin.

I then kicked him in the chest, while still holding him up and this caused his internal organs to all rapture and implode simultaneously making him piss, shit and vomit simultaneously.

At this point, he was in so much pain that he couldn’t even scream but I wanted to hurt him even more so I pumped more Life Energy into him before setting him ablaze.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” he screamed as he simultaneously burnt and regenerated.

This went on for a few minutes until he was reduced to a puddle of meat that was both raw and burnt at the same time.

I then turned my fiery eyes to the other hunters who all wept uncontrollably at the sight before them.

“GO!” I spat.

“CONFESS YOUR SINS TO THE MAN YOU ROBBED TONIGHT AND APOLOGIZE!” I barked making the men all run to Mlezi’s hut.

He had awoken due to all the noise and although he initially wanted to call out Musa’s name, he stopped upon seeing the hunters approaching.

He raised his spear and took a single step forward.

“Stop right there!” He barked making the hunters stop in their tracks.

“We’re sorry!” They all cried.

Mlezi’s face twisted as he eyed the five men.

“Who are you and where is my son?” He asked and the men explained everything that happened.

They then led an enraged Mlezi to his son’s corpse and by this time I was back in the sky although nothing could be done about the burning fury I felt.

I watched as Mlezi carried Musa back to his home where he placed him inside his hut much to the horror of Ua and Jua.

The hunters were standing quietly outside while Ua loudly wept within.

She cried for so long and so loudly that, even once she stopped from exhaustion, her cries were all could hear.