I sat silently in front of him, my fear corporeal.

He never spoke or gestured and his only desire was violence.

Bloody hammer in hand, he would bash away at my psyche but I had grown to be able to face him.

And so we sat.

I bit my teeth as he turned his eyeless gaze towards my belly.

I never knew when he would try to attack me but, after accepting that he couldn’t physically hurt me, I grew more tolerant to his efforts.

I covered my belly with my hands and watched as he disappeared.

I let out a sigh before assuming a wider perspective.

I then heard something peculiar.

A distant prayer.

I looked over at the mountain range that lined the Southern Continent’s western coast.

At its foot was Mchungaji who muttered pained pleading words.

I remembered that I wanted to study the change his body had undergone but I needed to be cautious because he probably didn’t know how he even manipulated the spilt blood of his people.

An idea popped into my mind and it was something that could have helped further my understanding of the First Law.

I called forth my doll, entered it and descended to Mchungaji just as he lost consciousness.

I then gently placed my hand on his dry cheek, fed him a little Life Energy and touched his forehead with mine.

I was able to, at least while in my ethereal form, see all that a shard had experienced since the dawn of time by touch alone.

I wasn’t able to do that while in my doll but I knew a workaround, so I gently pulled at the Soul String in my doll and made it touch Mchungaji’s own Strings.

My eyes then widened and I softly gasped as I saw his entire life unfold from the very moment of his conception.

A kind young Umande boy who lived through Hatua’s harshest days.

He would go on to leave the village along with a few other Umande in search of greener pastures but what they found, standing alone in the savannah, was a great tree.

It blessed them with fruit and so they offered it what little of themselves they had.

Mchungaji was appointed chief for no other reason than the fact that he had the sweetest smile.

He would lead his people in drought and flood all while keeping them together at the foot of the Mti.

This was beautiful and everything but I was more interested in recent events and so I called forth his memory of the day when Ua slaughtered his people.

I bit my teeth as an extreme amount of rage filled my heart.

I knew it was Mchungaji’s and although it threatened to blind me, I tucked it aside and looked past to see and feel what he felt in that moment.

It seemed as though he had used the Glass in his hair to briefly manipulate blood in what appeared to be some sort of sub-branch of Life Magic as it operated using the same vitality that fuelled life.

This was fascinating!

But how could I use this information?

I sat up, detaching my soul from his, filling my chest with a longing ache.

I then turned my gaze to my belly and winced.

Perhaps blood was the key...

Or a means to find the key.

I needed to conceive a hollow vessel but that was proving to be quite difficult.

The mechanisms of life were also beyond my understanding.

I could’ve just created a cell that would grow to become my vessel but that would require that I understand how to create life from scratch.

Mchungaji let out a pained grown, bringing me back to the present.

His eyes parted briefly before closing as he passed out again.

I looked at the mountain range ahead and saw a few small patches of trees and a few animals.

Hopefully, he could make use of what little this place had to offer since I would no longer be healing him.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I stood up and made my way back to the Temple of Tablets where I sat cross-legged to meditate.

I looked down at my gargantuan strings and wondered what would happen if one of them were cut.

I obviously wasn’t going to try cutting any of them so I snatched a rodent from outside and, using my index and middle fingers, I cut one of its Strings.

I then watched as it grew weaker, filling the air with its panicked squeaks but what surprised me was the fact that it didn’t die.

Mmm...

I cut all but one of its Strings and watched as the rodent grew thinner. Its fur fell off and its heart weakened to the point that it was barely breathing.

Mmm...

I conducted a few more experiments on other animals and saw that the Soul Strings were tied to an organism’s health and total possible lifespan with each string constituting a fraction of said lifespan.

It was as if the cosmos was constantly changing the value of each string to suit what it was bound to.

I, as a planet, was set to live until the sun blew me up during its own death or until I was struck by a celestial body that I didn’t have enough Glass to divert.

If, by some miracle, neither of these things happened, then I would eventually fall into a distant black hole or something but that wouldn’t be for a while since there were no visible black holes in sight.

This meant that one of my strings was probably equivalent to a few trillion years if not more so but that just made my situation even more complicated.

How was I supposed to transfer trillions of years' worth of vitality into something smaller and more mobile?

I let out a sigh as frustration riddled my face as no clear answer came to me.

It had been billions of years and I felt as though I had made no progress.

Who was it that first said that stupid line?

Sustain the Perpetuation of Will.

Which will?

What was the first will?

Who the fuck was Uyil?

I had developed a bit of hatred for the Pāttiram over the years.

I hated them for not being more mindful when it came to preserving knowledge.

I knew they had their own shit to deal with but...

I let out another sigh before turning to the two cells in my womb.

They would one day meet and, if I gave up on using them to make a vessel, they would bring into existence new life.

In nature, an organism made itself somewhat immortal by passing on copies of its genes to its offspring.

Was that my only option?

To birth a child and have them go off into space and leave me to die?

No!

I couldn’t accept that and so I stood up and made my way into the Chamber of Tablets where I spent the rest of the day rereading everything the Pāttiram had written.

.

..

Night had fallen and I was no closer to any answers than when I first read the tablets.

I decided to distract myself by checking in on the Chofumah.

I closed my eyes and assumed a wider perspective.

I then saw that Pele and Vah had reunited with their people although there was a problem.

The arrival of the ninety-seven ships had disturbed a local swarm of shrimp and scouts were reporting that a wave of possibly thousands was making its way to the shore.

Pele and the other leaders were currently in a makeshift hut, debating on what course of action to take. Sitting by the hut’s entrance was a certain warrior who had led the charge against the shrimp, although he remained mostly silent.

Their warriors had struggled to take on a few hundred, so it wasn’t hard to imagine just how brutal a battle against thousands would be.

“The tunnels.” Both Pele and Vah muttered making everyone raise their brows.

Vah had snuck into the meeting by sticking to Pele’s side and even he seemed confused as to why she was there.

“They are our best bet, it seems. They’ll provide shelter from the forest and house a fresh source of water.” Pele suggested.

“What’s to stop the shrimp from just swarming into them, especially since you say that some of the tunnels are connected directly to the ocean?” Imani asked.

“We are bound to face them regardless of where we choose to settle. I just think it would be best if we didn’t have to worry about shelter while also having to fight. And besides, you all saw how much Glass is down there. We could harvest enough to prepare a sturdy defence.” Pele explained.

Everyone let out understanding hums although Ayit seemed a little displeased.

I imagine he wanted the Chofumah to build their homes in the trees just like before but I think even he knew just how unsafe the forest would be once the shrimp arrived.

With the discussions complete, the Chofumah began their migration into the tunnels.

Warriors led the way into the cavern and they widened the tunnels wherever necessary to allow people and goods to enter.

The cavern was ovular and stretched all the way to the mountain.

The Chofumah would settle along the platforms on its Eastern and Western sides in houses made from wood harvested from the plentiful trees of the forest on the surface.

While they did this I turned to Hatua and internally gasped upon hearing something odd.

I followed the sound back to a certain house at the foot of Mount Kupumzika and saw within a most peculiar sight.

Within the central underground chamber of the house, where the Shangazi conducted their experiments, were five of those Shangazi and they were having sex with five men.

They were all naked and covered in Sweat. I could see, pulsating within their wombs, new life with one of them even carrying twins.

As this orgy went on, I heard the woman declare their love for their goddess and their desire to get closer to her using the First Law.

I... Wasn’t sure what they were doing.

Were they planning on using their children as guinea pigs?

I wasn’t sure.

Regardless, they fucked the night away and although a little confused by the idea, I was somewhat interested to see if it would bare any fruit.

I then turned to Ua who sat motionlessly in bed while she fed Musa.

“If...” She eventually whispered while looking into Musa’s big beautiful eyes.

“If they lay a single hand on you or make you cry... I will burn everything down, bringing Giza to Hatua as Mlezi once did before because you are my everything. My life... And it’s end.” Ua said only to glare at the door as someone knocked on it.

“Who is it?” She hissed.

“It’s Heziyn.”

“Oh- come in.”

Heziyn entered the room with a bowl of fresh fruits.

She sat by Ua’s side and placed it by her legs.

“Why thank you.” Ua thanked while picking a few berries and placing them in her mouth.

“Delicious! Have you had some yourself?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Heziyn said with her usual stiff expression.

“Good because I do not plan on sharing these now that I’ve tasted them.” Ua grinned but all Heziyn did was sigh.

“What?” Ua asked with a mouth full of berries.

“It's nothing.”

“I don’t believe you.” Ua scoffed but Heziyn didn’t reply.

“Humph! Since you’re so desperately trying to give your clingy hands something to do, why don’t you go south on my behalf?”

“South? Why?”

“I know very little of what is going on down there. I want someone to be my... eyes and ears and you have a perfectly functional pair of both.” Ua smiled.

Heziyn turned her now concerned gaze to Musa but this made Ua chuckle.

“Don’t worry. You are free to return once you’ve set everything up.”

“And what if the people down there don’t want to be monitored or what if they don’t appreciate our presence?”

“They will have no say in the matter. Take five hundred men with you if need be but their movements will be monitored so as to keep Musa and I as safe as possible.”