Timothy the Stingray was a man of many ambitions, he was a great example for any mages who wanted to progress into the higher realms of mana! His ambitions were great, but his knowledge was still under development, as there was only so much that an earthling could figure out on his own, after stepping onto a massive, complicated planet.
One thing that eluded him for a long time, was the fact that countless civilizations, or tribes, lived in vastly different time periods, even though they were all on the same planet! The planet he was on was so big, that even the more advanced civilizations couldn’t, or at least didn’t bother to help other, lower civilizations advance in technology!
This was a baffling fact that created the basis of what this planet was about! Naturally, he was unaware, or ignorant of the idea of how some people spend their time, and their life. One example were the various species of cavemen, who haven’t progressed much despite having an ancestry stretching over hundreds of thousands of years! In this case, it was a good example that mother nature sometimes played favorites, because there were plenty of other species of humans on this planet who had progressed greatly in terms of technological affairs.
Although the minds of these cavemen were yet to develop properly, magic was something that no creature could avoid. Being able bodied, physically, humans had a bit of an advantage when it came to magic, because they could bear more mana in their pools in comparison to smaller mammals, or primates!
Cavemen lived in various faunas, both filled with modern animals, or with what could be considered ancient animals. The planet that they were on was that big, and supportive of different faunas!
Leading by example, was a group of cavemen who could be considered that they were in the Stone Age, in earthly terms. Though isolated, this group had discovered the use of magic a couple thousand years ago, and although they use it on a daily basis, they were yet to progress to the point where they could challenge the common mage in more developed civilizations, that lied within the God’s Punishment realm of mana, even though that realm was the lowest amongst the low.
Nevertheless, this tribe of cavemen was the most advanced in terms of magic in their specific fauna, so they had reigned supreme throughout these past couple hundred years! This group, and its offspring were known to be able-bodied, because they consumed meat more than the average caveman, on the count of how they could access food so easily.
Their easy access to food was so impactful, that it may even have stunned their cognitive development! When one has easy access to food, they may not go out of their way to get their hands on it.
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This concept of readily available food is an example, or at least one of the reasons why thousands of species never evolved to be super intelligent! Comfortable creatures would simply not care to put themselves under any unnecessary pressure.
Anyway, even though cognitive progress may be slow amongst some species, magic itself wasn’t as slow. If it could progress amongst lesser creatures, it could progress amongst humans even easier, regardless of the fact that they were cavemen, as even cavemen could make good use of a bigger mana pool!
Regarding the group, or tribe of cavemen in question, two ambitious little guys from within the tribe, were experimenting with a series of powers that may help their tribe exceptionally! They were brothers, sixteen and fifteen years old, and one could say that their ambition was almost genetic! The series of trouble that their tribe was facing now had everything to do with how comfortable they had felt up until recently.
“The big glow is risky, small glow is better. It’s tamable.” Tal, the older brother said. “We must tame it first, as we did with the hounds.”
“A snag on our path is merely a stepping stone, brother. We must take risks once in a while!” Mali, the younger brother said. “Let’s try our Flesh Mender ability on an antelope, let’s hunt one. If we can fix its burnt flesh, then surely we can fix the flesh of our friends. The mammoths are learning to fight us back, the cat’s too, so we must master the Flesh Mender soon!”
“You’re right, brother, we must make haste. Between the trampling of the mammoths, and the clawings of the cats, our tribe could be wiped out completely in the coming moons…” Tal agreed.
Necessity oftentimes led to innovation, and in this case, these brothers were very aware of the risk that their tribe was in. Their bickering may sound diplomatic, but in their actual language, they sounded no different from chimpanzees arguing over bananas! They certainly didn’t look innovative, but they had stepped up, and were hoping to save their tribesfolk in the eleventh hour, so to speak. The growing dangers within their fauna didn’t let them live in comfort any longer, they had to adapt!
To carry out an experiment, they left the comfort of their cave behind them, and looked for a live, healthy antelope. After they found a healthy one, Tal shot a small, foot-wide fireball at its leg, rendering it immobile for a good minute! The shock of pain kept the antelope immobile, even if the burn itself wasn’t powerful enough when it came to causing crippling, permanent damage.
The antelope was fine, but since it couldn’t run away, Tal and Mali were given the opportunity to approach the animal. In other words, they could run an experiment on it.
“Use the big glow, brother, and I will look at the wound from up close. Let us see if bigger glows are better, or worse.” Tal said, guiding his younger brother.
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You just read the first part of the short story, if you are curious to read the continuation of this Side Story, you can find it on my Patreon Page. It has a horrifying twist that you don't wanna miss! As a bonus, I even made a little comic using ChatGPT, made in an anime/manga style.