Morning had come and Ua tearlessly wept over Musa’s corpse with Jua tightly wrapped in her arms.

As for Mlezi, he stood outside with crossed arms in front of the Chofumah hunters who stood with hanging heads and shoulders.

They had spent the night apologizing as I had instructed but Mlezi had yet to give them a response.

He eyed them coldly with narrowed eyes and eventually sighed.

“I am but a man. No sway do I have over the natural course things but… I cannot help but feel wrathful. Am I wrong to feel this way?” He wondered.

“I cannot forgive you, try as I might. So, please… leave my home.”

The hunters all nodded before turning to leave.

I heard them whisper among themselves plans to leave the main Chofumah encampment in some sort of self-exile.

But was this because they truly felt remorseful or were they just running away out of fear that if they ever came across Mlezi in the wilderness, he would kill them?

I didn’t know.

What I did know was that they were going to settle on the southern side of the mountain just as Chazak suggested.

I returned my focus to Mlezi who entered the hut and gathered several long strips of cloth which he used to wrap Musa’s body.

He then gently placed his hand on Ua’s shoulder making her turn her reddened gaze towards him.

“I don’t want to let him go.” She whimpered but Mlezi didn’t respond even though his jaws were firmly clenched.

Ua eventually stood up and helped Mlezi place their son on his shoulder.

She followed him outside with Jua in tow and they were met by the Chofumah women who had visited the night before. They stood in waiting with concerned expressions and clasped hands.

Mlezi and his family silently walked past them and began their walk south.

They walked around the eastern side of the Chofumah Encampment catching the attention of many who curiously watched them pass by in silence.

Mlezi and his family eventually reached the northern limit of the Umande village where they were stopped by two guards.

“GET AWAY FROM HERE, DEMON! AND TAKE THAT WITCH AND HER EVIL SPAWN WITH YOU! I don’t want to hear anything about whatever happened to you! We warned you! We begged you all that time ago and now the time has come.” One of the guards barked as people gathered by the northern gate.

One of those people was Thabiti.

He rushed to Mlezi’s side and tried to help him carry his son.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The guard asked as more people gathered near the gate.

“Come on! Can you not see that they need help?” Thabiti yelled over Jua’s cries.

“Get away from them or damn yourself and your wife to the same fate.” The guard threatened with a hiss.

Thabiti clenched his jaws before looking back at Mlezi who stood with a lowered head and quivering lips. He then glanced at Ua who was repeatedly muttering the words “Please come back to me” all while tightly holding Jua’s small hand to the point that it looked like the boy was in pain.

Thabiti bit his teeth and slowly made his way back to the gate as Mlezi watched with half-closed eyes.

He then looked at everyone and my chest twisted with dull pain as his expression changed to one of pleading but his only replies were stares of dread, fear and disgust.

Mlezi weakly nodded before turning to the east.

He then led his family all the way around the village perimeter and resumed their southward walk.

It was here that I realized that they were walking to Mount Kupumzika.

The Umande believed that the mountain was sacred and was the path the spirits of the dead used to take to the spirit realm. They also buried their dead there and so I assumed that’s where they were going to bury Musa.

It was here that finally decided to give Mlezi all the help that I could offer.

Why?

I wasn’t sure.

I had grown to like Musa and his family and it pained me to watch him die.

I didn’t want them to go through that again.

Had I considered all the possible consequences and repercussions?

No, but I would deal with whatever came of my decision and so I flew all the way back to my island in a fraction of a second, splitting the skies as I did and heating my doll to the degree that waves of heat emanated from its skin.

I then rushed into the Chamber of Tablets where I glanced at the Mega Crystal while pacing back and forth.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I couldn’t let Mlezi and his family see the Truth of Glass as that would probably rip their minds in two.

I would have to show myself to them but I could not predict how they would react.

I turned to the tablets and let out a thoughtful drone.

I grabbed the six that summarized the Laws of Glass and placed them to the side.

I then created a blank slab of granite and wrote the entire Pāttiram alphabet onto both of its sides.

I carried the tablets out of the Temple and flew them back to the foot of the mountain just as Mlezi finished burying Musa.

I needed to find a way to introduce myself to them without possibly scaring them away or frying their brains and so I turned to the summit.

The last humanoid I interacted with was so affected that he became almost incoherently terrified.

Well, I supposed that may have been due to the fact that I wanted to extract his soul.

I flew up to the summit and saw that it was completely covered with tall trees, ice and snow.

I quickly placed the tablets at the centre of the summit and, using gravity magic, I plucked out several trees and threw them off the mountain, creating a clearing but it was still far too cold up here and so I used Fire Magic to increase the temperature of the air while using Life Magic to cover the ground with soft grass.

I looked up to find that although the mountain wasn’t a gateway to some other realm, it was a peculiar place nonetheless. The trees stopped the harsh winds from reaching the clearing I'd made making it perfect for my plans and so, with this in mind, I exited my doll and made my way down to the foot of the mountain where Mlezi and his family still stood, still silent.

I then took a non-existent breath and, using Gravity Magic to vibrate the air at varying frequencies, spoke to them.

[Mlezi, Ua, Jua. Climb the mount and reach the summit where your salvation awaits.]

The trio were obviously spooked by my words which were far louder than I anticipated. It sounded more like a thousand thunders rather than the whisper of an ethereal being who was floating above.

“What’s going on?” Mlezi asked while standing protectively in front of his family.

I sighed before thinking of a way to calm them down.

A solution came to mind but there was the chance that it would cause a misunderstanding.

Regardless, I sighed while lowering my perspective towards them and used Light Magic to project my form onto the air around my perspective.

I then watched as Mlezi’s eyes widened to their limits.

[Make your way to the summit.] I instructed with a far softer voice but Mlezi frowned at this.

“Who are you and what do you want?” He asked making me sigh aloud.

[I want to help you.] I simply said because I panicked at the thought of explaining any more than Mlezi could understand.

Mlezi growled out a sigh before looking at me with eyes that had a little less apprehension in them.

“Are you a spirit?”

[Err…] I sounded since I didn’t really know the answer.

I chose instead to ignore him and floated my projection up the mountain, prompting him to follow me.

I turned back after some time to find Mlezi and his family simply staring at me.

I beckoned them with my hand and, after looking at both Ua and Jua with questioning eyes, Ua gave him a nod and took his hand before following him up the mountain.

I nodded approvingly and made my way back to the summit while heating the air and ground of the path I took.

After reaching the peak, where my doll still stood, I thought about Mlezi’s question.

The Law of Uyil was the most confusing of the six.

“Everything is a shard of the First Will”

I hated the vagueness of the statement.

What was the First Will?

Was it the first soul?

If it created everything then what created it?

How was Glass able to bend the laws of nature?

Souls existed but where did they go when things died?

These are the questions that had haunted me since my rebirth.

I chose to sigh away my frustrations just as Mlezi and his family reached the summit only they were covered in mud and small abrasions from having to climb up to me.

They stopped about five metres from me and looked at me with widened eyes.

I looked into each of them and saw fear, despair and fatigue.

I looked beyond that and saw a bond between them that I wanted to protect since life on my surface was proving too harsh.

I smiled at them but this made Mlezi flinch a little.

[You have all been through so much and although I cannot take away the pain in your hearts, I will teach you how to survive.] I said as Jua tightly clung to his mother who held Mlezi’s so tightly that it looked as though no force in the universe could separate them.

I then willed my doll to pick up the tablets and bring them to where we were.

[Six primary laws govern reality. I will teach them to you and you will do with the power you gain from this that which all life was born to do…] I said while recalling words I had last heard billions of years ago.

[Do not let the flames die. Sustain the Perpetuation of Will.]

Mlezi and his family looked at me with both confused and terrified expressions.

This was understandable.

None of them even knew what the concept of reading and studying was.

My form and presence were probably not helping either.

I sighed before floating closer.

They cowered but I simply spread my arms, bathing them in warmth and light.

[Do not be afraid. Or, at least, do not stay that way for long. Courage is required on the path ahead-]

“Pardon my rudeness, madam but… what did we do to deserve this?” He asked with lips that trembled.

I ignored the fact that he called me “Madam” and chose to finally think about the consequences this would have.

With the power of Glass, Mlezi and his family would most likely become notable figures in history but I was fine with that.

[I have chosen you both to bear the knowledge that will carry your kind into a new age because you represent something that I so dearly want to protect. Whatever that form the new age you bring about takes is entirely up to you but take heed and understand that what I offer is finite and must be used with great care.]

Mlezi nodded in understanding before suddenly frowning.

“Our kind? So who or what are you exactly, if you don’t mind my asking?”

I thought back to my old name.

I…

“Call me… whatever you like,” I said with a weak smile.

“Oh- then may we call you Sav’ta?”

Heh? That word was used by the Chofumah and meant grandmother.

It was also used to refer to the goddess of the land and life.

Oh- I forgot that my form was feminine but did I look that old?

[Err… that’s fine,] I said before sitting in front of the trio.

I gestured with a glowing hand that they do the same and they did so.

The tablets I had brought weighed twenty kilograms each and the one I had made was about twice as heavy so, to make things easier for them, I made them sit upright on the ground

[Do you see the markings on the stone?] I asked but Ua turned to Jua with concerned eyes.

“Yes but is it alright if he also hears your divine teachings?” She asked.

[It’s fine.] I said before spending the rest of the trying to teach the three what written words were.

Mlezi and Ua understood some of what I was saying but Jua was completely lost.

This would take a while but that was fine.

Nightfall eventually came and Jua fell asleep with his resting on his mother’s lap.

She, Mlezi and I sat in the darkness and I kept them warm by heating the air.

They also didn’t need to eat since I had given them quite a bit of Life Energy.

Ua eventually let out a sigh as we sat in the silence of night.

I saw that both Mlezi and her were trying their hardest not to sleep but if there was one thing they needed, it was sleep.

[Get some rest. We will resume our lessons tomorrow.] I said while dimming my presence.

The two nodded before lying down on the grass and joining Jua in sleep.

My artificial light then completely faded and I watched over the three throughout the night.