Mlezi took a long sip of the hot herbal tea the northern Chofumah had prepared for him.

He, Maini and several Fire Breakers sat opposite the two chieftains of the Chofumah tribes who still lived in the Forest Afor. Chief Kukiyah, of the Chofumah who lived along the border of Hatua and Afor, and Chief Ayit of the Chofumah in the northern parts of the forest.

Sitting behind them were a few of their warriors but in front of the Fire Breakers, they seemed more like children than men.

Curiously though, Imani was sitting next to the chieftains.

He had taken his entire family and left Hatua a few years prior and although he very much disliked how the Chofumah were treated, it wasn’t to the extent that he wished harm on Mlezi or the Umande, like Starfall who were the topic of discussion.

“Ah… thank you,” Mlezi said after putting his wooden cup down.

This meeting was being held in one of the larger tree houses and the air outside was enveloped in fog as the winter cold brought a sharp chill to the southern continent.

“Now, it's clear that this… exodus will not slow down but I must ask, can you feed all of the people whom you are so kindly taking in?”

“Why must it always be this way with you?” Imani asked with a twisted expression. His face had gained a few lines but he retained an air of boyish vigour. A vigour that was slightly faded when he frowned at Mlezi.

“Instead of thinking about the suffering your rule has caused, you are more interested in the cost of kindness.” Imani softly spat but Mlezi’s eyes narrowed.

“Kindness won’t grow the food needed to feed the hundreds or soon-to-be thousands of people who want to make this place their home. I am here to ensure that they are well fed and if they aren’t, then our borders have no fences. They will all be free to return to Hatua.” Mlezi said while leaning slightly backwards.

The chiefs glanced at each other for a moment before turning back to Mlezi.

“We appreciate your concern but these are ultimately our people. We will keep them, whether it depletes our supplies or not.” The leftmost chief, Kukiyah, said making Mlezi nod.

“Oh- this is somewhat unrelated but how goes your campaign against Starfall?” The rightmost chief, Ayit, asked.

“My men are dealing with them as we speak,” Mlezi said and indeed, the swamplands to the east were almost entirely on fire.

Mlezi’s men had begun incinerating anything that moved in the swamp and they did not stop for anything. Insects, predators, men, women, children. It was such a thorough burning of life in all its forms that this campaign gained the name “The March into Giza”. So-called because the warriors felt as they walked into the twisted planes of Hell itself, the realm which Sav’taists called Giza Olam. A dark realm of fire, smoke and death.

Mlezi’s meeting with the chiefs eventually ended and after saying his goodbyes, he began his trip home. It would only take about a day or so but Mlezi was in no rush and so he walked at a fair pace.

“You tried,” Maini muttered from aside Mlezi.

“Mmm?” The Hennean King, as he was called, sounded as he walked along a path of flattened grass that cut through the Forest Afor.

“This road remains open. It is they who have chosen to stay here. Regardless of how many times I try…” Mlezi said although he whispered the last part.

“True but alas. Well, at least the ones here chose not to bite the hand that fed.” Mlezi chuckled with a wrinkly smile.

“Haha! True but you won’t have to worry about that for much longer-“ Maini stopped as an arrow pierced Mlezi’s left shoulder, sending him stumbling backwards.

At the same time, several more arrows flew through the air and killed several Fire Breakers in an instant.

“It’s an ambush! Burn those who have dared-“

Maini was unable to finish speaking as an arrow shot through his skull. His body limply fell to the side all while Mlezi desperately looked around in search of his attackers.

I could see that several people were hiding in the bushes. Their bodies were covered in mud and plant life making them hard to detect for anyone who didn’t possess an enhanced perspective.

They continued firing arrows at Mlezi’s group as more of the forest was engulfed by the darkness brought by the evening sky.

The four remaining Fire Breakers had hurriedly surrounded Mlezi and raised their shields all while flinging great balls of fire into the bushes. Instead of exploding in the normal fashion, these balls were made to send out their flames horizontally, burning some of the hidden archers in the process.

A few screams filled the air but this didn’t stop the other archers from continuously firing at Mlezi who glared into the bushes.

He then noticed that his men were running out of Glass as the leather pouches they each carried on their belts grew smaller.

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It wasn’t long before his men ran out of Glass but this happened at the same time that the archers ran out of arrows and so they crawled out of the bushes wielding short iron daggers.

There were twenty of them and they surrounded Mlezi’s group.

“The time has come for the cursed star to fall!” One of them barked only for one of the Fire Breakers to throw his spear straight into the taunter's chest.

“Idiot! Now you don’t have a weapon!” Mlezi hissed.

“Sorry, sir but I would much rather die before allowing a rat to speak ill of you.” The Fire Breaker said through clenched jaws.

Mlezi clicked his tongue all while his hair and beard glowed green. He was trying to keep himself from losing too much blood and so poured small amounts of Life Energy into his arm.

He then bit his teeth and broke the two ends of the arrow, leaving some of it in his arm.

“Fool! Now we have to help you get it back.” Mlezi growled but the spear-less Fire Breaker chuckled lightly.

“Don’t count me out just yet, sir. These fists will be more than enough for the mud crawlers.”

Mlezi shook his head irritably.

He then took a deep breath before pointing at the ambushers who were gradually getting closer.

“Charge!” He said and just as the words left his mouth, the Fire Breakers dashed towards their enemies before engaging in a furious melee.

Mlezi made sure to keep close to his men as they skewered their opponents and if anyone wanted to attack them from the side, Mlezi stabbed them.

The ambushers, however, were focused on getting as close to Mlezi but were getting blocked by the Fire Breakers.

This changed when one of Mlezi’s men was cut behind the knee. This brought him to his knees where the ambushers promptly slit his neck.

This kill, however, had cost them five of their own and, in addition to the others they had lost, only eight ambushers remained.

As for Mlezi and his three men, they were all covered in small, mostly inconsequential cuts.

The ambushers surrounded the Umande men and, after a brief moment’s pause, the second phase of the melee ensued.

The Fire Breakers were confident that they could finish off the remaining ambushers and so, without Mlezi’s command, they dashed towards their enemies again and tried finishing them off but while each of them faced two ambushers, this left two others for Mlezi to face and, with only one usable arm, it wasn’t long before one of them cut into his functional arm.

The Fire Breakers saw that Mlezi was in need of help but their concern opened them up for attack and the ambushers to this opportunity to cut into the giants who towered over them. Their cuts were calculated. They aimed for the arms, and knees and finished two of the Fire Breakers off with violent cuts to the neck.

The last Fire Breaker, however, would not be felled so easily and so, using the last of the Glass Energy in his body, he healed himself as much as he could before killing his two opponents.

He then rushed to the remaining ambushers, all of whom had also sustained severe injuries during the melee, and killed them all with swift and powerful stabs to the head and chest.

He then turned to Mlezi who sat against a nearby tree with a face that was covered in cuts.

The Fire Breaker ran to his leader’s side and held his hand as he bled.

“Are you alright, sir?” He asked but he, like me, could see the green light within Mlezi’s body fading.

“There...” Mlezi wheezed.

“Sir?” The Fire Breaker asked while placing his ear next to Mlezi’s mouth.

“There may be more in the area. Run back home, warn everyone that a few stragglers may have escaped and tell… my family I said goodbye.” Mlezi said but the Fire Breaker shook his head before carefully picking up Mlezi, something he was able to do with ease.

“Sorry, sir but you’re gonna have to do that yourself!” The Fire Breaker yelled but Mlezi’s face twisted.

“Do you ever listen to anything I say?” He coughed while tightly clutching his spear.

The Fire Breaker grinned weakly before shaking his head.

“No, sir.” The warrior said before running south in the dark of night.

His great strength allowed him to run fast and for long stretches but Mlezi saw that he ran with a limp and he poured a little bit of his Life Energy into the warrior closing the wounds in his legs.

The Fire Breaker’s face twisted.

“What are you doing?” He cried but Mlezi, whose eyes were close to closing, shook his head.

“Tell me, what is your name?”

“Pele, sir! It’s Pele, now stop healing me, I’m fine!”

Mlezi stopped sending Mlezi his dwindling Life Energy and finally closed his eyes.

“Pele… you’re of Chofumah blood,” Mlezi whispered as Pele continued his southward sprint.

“My father was.”

“Was?”

“Yes… he died during the construction of the great palace,” Pele said although these words were said more softly.

“Oh… you must have suffered so greatly… under my rule.”

“It wasn’t that bad. My mother is a Blessed Sister so we didn’t struggle for long although I do miss my father at times.” Pele said as he slowed down to catch his breath.

“But… it’s fine because everything we do is to bring about a new age for our kind, right?” Pele asked before gasping upon seeing a single tear as it fell from Mlezi’s right eye.

“I… I don’t know anymore. I don’t know what lies beyond the horizon and even though my faith in our Lady never waned, I feel I may have lost sight of her vision a long time ago. I wonder if she would even let me into her embrace, in the vast planes of Nurukes, after all I’ve done? Would she allow this soul peace after it damned so many others?” Mlezi whispered.

He then wheezed out a sigh before opening his eyes and looking into those of Pele.

“If you would allow this man to make one wish is that you learn from what I did. Go off on your own or with whoever would follow you and bring about a new age… as you envision it. I think… our lady would have accepted that as well.”

“That won’t be necessary since you’ll still be there when peace is restored, right?” Pele asked as he returned to running but he just as quickly stopped upon seeing that Mlezi was no longer breathing.

“Right, sir?” He asked but his only response was the silence of the night.

His brows furrowed and he gently closed Mlezi’s eyes before returning to running.

I bit my teeth as I watched from above.

Mlezi was gone and I felt the same rage from all that time ago but… it was alright. He had done what I had set him out to do. To give his species a fighting chance against the conditions of my surface.

Pele eventually came across some patrolmen who, after hearing about what happened, accompanied him back to Hatua.

I felt that Mlezi’s death would greatly impact the course of history and so I continued to watch over the humanoids.

.

..

Mlezi’s body was eventually taken to the palace where it was placed in the living room in front of an expressionless Ua who stood next to Jua who loudly wept on his knees while Heziyn did her best to comfort him.

Ua turned her half-closed eyes to Pele who knelt before her along with a few other Fire Breakers.

“Who…?” She asked so softly that her words would have been lost if not for the silence of the palace.

“Who did this?

Pele bit his teeth while keeping his head down.

“It-it was presumably Starfall, ma’am. I… I couldn’t tell since we were in the deep of the forest.” He stuttered.

“Oh… so the Meerkats have decided to rob us once more,” Ua said and everyone in the house gasped silently as her face contorted with hatred.

“Gather every warrior at the northern border.”