The time had finally come and Pele’s heart had thumped for the last time.

He was buried in the Elephantine Forest, in a clearing made just for him. His grave was simple. A large, rectangular stone tombstone marked with his name.

Almost everyone in the Cavern attended his funeral and his son, given to him by Emunah, was named Chief, although a council of leaders would lead the Chofumah until he was old enough.

Emunah and Vah were accompanied back home by the other leaders.

Vah, who had birthed Pele’s second child, a girl, had decided to step away from her advisory role and focus on her child.

She also had her things moved to a small house in the southernmost part of the Cavern’s Western platform, near where she and Pele first emerged all that time ago.

As for Imani and the other leaders, they gathered in the chief’s home where they stood in silence as Emunah sat on the armrest of the wooden throne with her son’s hand gently in her own.

“I think… to mark the beginning of a new age, we should properly claim the forest above and build a city with a proper name. His name, preferably.” A young man named Kiynah suggested to no instant response.

He had taken Mashouah’s place after he died of old age and, under different circumstances, would have been made chief since he married one of Mashouah’s daughters.

But he simply became a part of the council that would rule until Pele’s son, Amiytz.

Kiynah was a good candidate not only because of his marital connection, he also served during the Shrimp War and so he had the favour of not only the people but the warriors as well.

“I agree. Although I think any large scale projects should wait until the Chofumah have had time to recover.” Imani sighed but this made the young man behind him frown.

“But the war came and went years ago-“

“He wasn’t talking about the war.” Kukiyah wheezed making Kiynah turn to Emunah whose face, although lined with stress, wore a weak smile.

“Yes. We all need time to heal from his passing. Imani… I will need your continued support in these painful times so please… keep me company for a while after this meeting is concluded.” She whispered and although he looked apprehensive, Imani nodded.

The meeting eventually ended and, as requested, Imani remained standing in front of Emunah.

“Go on, little Ami. Go to bed, I’ll join you shortly.” Emunah instructed and the little boy, who clung tightly to her gown with his thumb in his mouth, nodded before waddling to the bedroom.

Emunah then fully turned to Imani and warmly smiled.

Both of them were in their fifties and time had given them many wrinkles but although Emunah smiled at him, Imani’s face remained stiff.

“We did it.” Emunah giggled making Imani’s brows furrow a little.

“We finally did it.” She laughed and as she did, a smile crawled onto Imani’s face.

“We really did.” He chuckled as Emunah walked towards him.

“No longer will we have to suffer by the hands and words of monsters or their leal dogs.” She rejoiced before rushing into Imani’s arms.

“Now, I can finally and truly be yours.” She glowed but Imani’s eyes lowered.

A feint frown formed on Emunah’s brow but she promptly nodded before slowly moving away from him.

“Still nothing? Even after all this time?”

Imani’s eyes remained low.

“I see... Well, you’ve always had my heart. It’s just a shame I could never hold yours.” Emunah said while turning around.

“Oh, well. I may not have had your heart but I always knew your dream. You wanted to see the Chofumah be freed and now they are. I suppose this means that you are free as well.”

Imani’s eyes widened.

What he could not see, as Emunah had her back to him, was that tears had begun to fall from her eyes.

“So, now you can live for yourself and maybe heal that old heart of yours and who knows? Maybe you’ll be come-” Emunah gasped upon realizing just how many tears she had shed as she spoke.

Imani bit his teeth and, after taking a breath, he turned and left.

Emunah cried for a few moments before one again gasping upon noticing a pair of wide and concerned eyes peeking at her from the bedroom door.

“Mama, are you alright?” Amiytz asked.

Emunah quickly wiped her tears before weakly smiling and opened her arms, beckoning her son.

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“Of course.” She said as the boy walked into her embrace.

She picked him up and entered the bedroom where she sat next to him in bed.

“Especially now you’re here with me.” She whispered while gently rubbing the boy’s head.

“It seems as though if you walk for too long for yourself, you’ll end up walking alone. But… those who walk with and for others… people like your father, are never alone. So keep that in mind as you grow up, my dear boy.”

Mother and son would eventually fall asleep but while everyone else followed suit, Pazia was in a deeper part of the cavern, almost entirely naked.

His face contorted extremely and almost all of the muscles in his body flexed as he twisted his Uyil Belts.

He apparently remembered the events of that night during the Shrimp War and had tried to perfect the technique which saved his life.

He did this by not only manipulating his Belts, seated a few meters away from him was Azar who tried absorbing his Life Energy but no avail.

As amazing as this was, it was also very taxing.

The soul was one’s anchor to existence and twisting it obviously brought about discomfort and pain.

Each of his muscles cramped and his bones creaked as he twisted his Belts but he could only take so much and so he let out a pained squawk just as the knots became undone.

He then fell to his knees and gasped for breath while Azar rushed to his side.

“Alright, that’s enough for today. Lest you break yourself in two.” The magician said while trying his best to hold up the Fire Breaker who was actually supposed to attend the meeting with the other leaders alongside Ayit but the chief had become a recluse after the war leaving most military affairs to the council.

One thing I found curious about Pazia was that he tried his best to keep his technique a secret.

He always trained in the latest hours of night and always did so in remote places.

Azar only knew and helped him because one day, out of curiosity, he followed the warrior into the Cavern’s depth and was subsequently caught.

But it seemed as though Pazia had a soft spot for Azar because he allowed him to know his secret and keep his head.

Pazia painfully coughed before shaking Azar’s hands off.

“Humph! If I ever listened to you then I’d never make any progress.” The warrior scoffed while standing up, wincing with every movement.

“But if you ever chose to completely ignore me, you’d end up as no more than a pile of meat and bone on the cavern floor, so give me a little credit, will you?” Azar clicked his tongue while leading the warrior into one of the many tunnels that led into the cavern proper.

“Yeah, yeah.” Pazia sighed.

He had moved into Ayit’s home shortly after the war and although this was solely to aid Ayit as his assistant, it quickly became clear that the chief would not be doing much leading.

The events of the war had scarred him so thoroughly that he was too scared to even leave his own home.

Thus Pazia became one of the leader of the warriors of Y’shuah.

A few people were hesitant about this because he was of Umande descent but his actions during the war had made him more than fit for the role, regardless of anyone’s feelings.

Enhancement or augmentation by Life Magic was strictly forbidden and so Pazia had to take a very hands on approach in training the soldiers.

He knew that if their bodies weren’t strong enough to take the harshness of my surface, then their minds would need to do the heavy lifting.

Warriors were trained in strategy, teamwork and problem solving where they had to be prepared for almost every situation or be capable to deal with the unexpected.

This was pleasant to see.

I remembered giving Ua and her family knowledge and although they succeeded in saving their kind from the brink, their primary means of defence, their warriors, were short lived.

This would have obvious ramifications in the long run as they’d need to constantly replace warriors who would have died without having accomplished anything meaningful as their hearts simply gave away.

Training men who could go the distance was an definitely a more sustainable solution and the Shrimp War had shown me that, even without the brute strength of augmentation, they could stand on their own.

I nodded internally and turned to Hatua.

I then let out an internal drone upon seeing Jicho pissing on his wife who knelt before him in the basement of his own home. Kuhani’s was on her knees and wore an expression that was a twisted combination of shame and euphoria and as for Jicho, he just looked scornful although I imaged he enjoyed what he was doing to some extent.

Over the course of five years, Kuhani had been made to experience so much pain that at one point, she was rendered mute and had her mental capacity reduced to that of an infant.

She was then re-educated by Akili who showed no mercy to any of the five Shangazi who then returned to their posts after gaining his approval.

But, while the other four returned to relatively normal lives, Kuhani faced her husband’s revenge.

What happened to the children?

They actually stayed with Akili in Abanafash where they were raised by him and his maids.

It seemed as though he had plans to send then to school and have them become scholars, much like himself.

I enjoyed watching the humanoids learn and put into practice knowledge that I had given Ua and her family all that time ago.

Speaking of Ua, she clenched her jaws as Musa frantically trained with Modo, who had been chosen to be the boy’s personal instructor.

The boy displayed excellence in both academics and physical exercises.

His keen eyes seemingly caught everything that ever happened around him and there was a rumour among the common folk that his smile rivalled the sun in brilliance.

“Faster, boy!” Modo yelled while defensively holding a wooden staff, much like Musa who charged towards him shortly after.

The two trained in the palace courtyard and Musa especially enjoyed training at night when the air was cool and visibility was reduced.

“That’s enough!” Ua yelled making the two sparring partners turn to her with puzzled expressions.

“Why?” Musa wheezed as sweat covered his small frame.

“Because I said so.” Ua scoffed with a raised nose.

Musa bit his teeth a little before turning to Modo and offering him his fist.

Modo fist bumped the boy with a smile before promptly leaving the courtyard along with the maids.

Musa then made his way to the bathroom while Ua returned to the main bedroom.

As he bathed, the boy sang a wordless sombre melody which, on a few occasions, had driven some of the maids to enter to comfort him since they thought he was crying or distressed.

However, any maid who tried to comfort the boy was never seen again the following day so the maids stopped trying to help.

Musa eventually changed into some fresh clothes and made his way to the palace’s outer wall along which several guards patrolled.

He rested his small arms on the guardrail and peered out into Hatua.

It was late and yet the land was still bustling with life and light.

His eyes then caught sight of distant birds as they flew across the night sky which the stars so beautifully embroidered.

“Oh… to be blessed with wings.” He whispered before returning to the palace proper.

Ua had gotten a room built into the palace specifically for him and it sat at the highest point of the building.

No one other than Ua was allowed inside and this was a problem for the maids since they had no choice but to listen as he cried himself to sleep during his younger years.

Each of them had been warned by Ua herself and her words still echoed in the fear in their eyes.

She said that any woman who offered her son a lap or shoulder to cry on would have her head removed.