It's okay, girl, you can come inside tonight rather than the barn," I muttered, rubbing her neck. In thanks, she pressed her head against my chest, rumbling low in her throat. It'd been years since she'd become my most trusted companion, a mount and friend rolled into one through mutual trials and triumphs. However, mid-grumble, something else grabbed her attention. Most of her senses were still just above mine own, and she turned her head, eyes focusing on a distant speck in the sky.
"What is it girl?" I asked. "Bunch of flyers again?"
It was simpler to just say flyers than Quetzalcoatlus all the time. Damned giant stork pterosaurs, always coming in to try and snatch up whatever hatchlings and calves were in my herds, usually before a storm when the winds would favor them. They didn't dare go near the adults of pretty much any of my animals, given they'd get stomped flatter than hammered shit, but that didn't stop them and other similar pterosaurs from trying their luck from time to time. At least the Teratorns and Argentavis that sometimes flew with them seemed to prefer going after whatever animal had died far enough out in the pasture that I hadn't gotten to in time. Considering the sizes of some of my herds, at least those two big birds did me a favor of cleaning things up, rather than going after the young.
Bessie grumbled again, her tone being one of both curiosity and suspicion. Tracking her gaze, my eyes soon spotted whatever she had first, and my mirrored curiosity grew. "There's that flying ship of theirs," I muttered, setting aside my splitting maul. "What are they doing this far inland from that fort?"
Bessie rose to her feet and began to move towards one of the larger open areas away from the house, a field I had just finished clearing but had yet to ready for fall planting. Quickly following behind her after grabbing my woodcutting axe, I did little else but wait as the ship seemed to struggle against the coming winds. That high in the sky was not a good place to be when storms were coming, as I'd found out when I'd ventured higher into the hills years ago and nearly froze to death in the middle of autumn from winds speeds that should have sheared off my skin.
The flying ship, its design reminding me of a cross between a junk and those triremes the Romans used, descended towards the ground, the rocking from the wind dissipating as it landed upon the open field. Now that it was up close, this thing had greater dimensions than I'd initially thought, to where I'm pretty sure it could carry at least a hundred people assigned to their own private rooms, along with spacious crew quarters and significant storage for provisions.
A ramp appeared over the side, hoisted by several men with the rugged, tanned complexion of those who had spent a great deal at sea. From the ramp, descending in what had to be an order of some kind, but one I could not explain, were the woman I'd rescued, the man she had hugged, and a good number of people, all of them in similar outfits, robes and the like, save for the number of what I assumed to be guards. Said guards, keeping an eye on me for some reason, set out a good-sized blanket, upon which the assembled party silently sat, save for the young woman I'd rescued and another woman with silver hair. These two produced another blanket in front of the others and sat upon it before gesturing to me.
Did they want me to sit on it with them? I glanced at Bessie, who had relaxed enough even with the coming storm to lie down on the grass behind me, mimicking what the others had done. I have trusted her intuition for years now, so to see her so readily relaxed before these strange people certainly put me more at ease. Some were splitting their attention between her and I, a smart thing, considering what I'd seen her do to things she determined were a threat. As the young woman I'd rescued popped something in her mouth, a pill of some kind, I shook my head and followed my mount's lead. "We'll see how long this takes before the storm gets here," I said, resting my axe behind me and crossing my legs like a pretzel. "Can't imagine we're going to have a lot of progress in whatever… this is, but I'm willing to give it a go."
"Progress we have," the younger woman said, seeming as startled by her own words as I was. She recovered quickly, and the older woman next to her smiled at the exchange.
"You… you can speak what my language? Understand what I'm saying now?" I asked. "You didn't say anything before when you were here, or when I brought you back to that fortress of yours."
"Progress to understand language, you speak, I'm understand, say how language is before the storm gets here," she said, awkwardly, though with a touch of an accent I couldn't place. It wasn't some stereotypical Hollywood Chingrish, but more melodious, smoother, almost like a professional translator rather than a first-time speaker. Perhaps the Chinese-inspired people and culture of this place had experienced a divergence of the language at some point? I couldn't say for sure; I wasn't a linguist.
In a sense it did remind me of a text to speech device, or maybe an unusually smooth parrot, as strange as that sounded. "Well, firstly, let me say you're the first human who has spoken to me in… nigh on fifteen years at this point," I replied, slowly choosing which words to speak. I knew I should have been freaking out, maybe determining I was losing my mind after so long in isolation, but frankly I had more important things to do. That, and I'd already met this woman before, so even if she could somehow magically speak my language now, as opposed to before, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth and decide not to speak to her. That would be foolish and a waste of my time.
"The first human? Fifteen years is long for speak with nigh language spoken," she replied. "Words coming to me in strange order, but it's growing easier to be spoken."
So we spoke, breaching topics quickly and without any real depth to them, as it seemed she could somehow determine intent and context of certain words, and even their synonyms, after hear me speak it more than a few times. I rambled words whose context was not meant for a conversation, but she somehow used these to build up a vocabulary with incredible swiftness. The magic of this crazy world was something indeed, as within perhaps an hour, she had almost as good of a grasp of my language as I think I did. I ignored the closer rumble of thunder, though the people behind her seemed a touch more nervous about the coming storm, given their more frequent glances and the rustling of stronger winds.
"So," I said, leaning against one of my knees. "Now that we can understand each other, or at least you and I can understand each other, who exactly are you?"
At the arched eyebrow, I think certain things like sarcasm haven't fully transcribed over to whatever she used to learn my speech. I also didn't want to try any esoteric or memetic speak on her, it might destroy what chance I have of finally learning where the hell I am and who these people are. For all that they seemed friendly and likely to keep to themselves, the fact they had come to my homestead was… suspicious.
"I serve the mighty Sun clan, one of the many clans of the Empire, cultivators of Qi, and seekers of unity with the universe bequeathed by the heavens," she said. "I am Sun Shui, and have been chosen to be the liaison between our two settlements in this wild land."
Uh huh. Well, this world was some kind of fantasy China, but given the Roman-esque design of the ship, there was more to it than that. Also, what the hell is a cultivator? Are they some kind of spiritual farmers or something? "Well met, Sun Shui," I said. "My next question is simple; what brings you all the way out here, to my home and the lands I tend to?"
The one I now knew as Sun Shui, which I'm guessing is a naming convention here of surname followed by forename, spoke first with the woman beside her, before turning back to me. "We seek a harmonious negotiation of the application of your skills towards aiding us in a time of need."
"I'm gonna need a bit less fancy words with that, please."
She blinked a few times, as if struggling to process this request. "We… need your help."
I smiled. "There, that was easier, wasn't it? So then, what kind of help do you need?"
Before she could answer, a gargantuan flash of lightning coursed across the sky, branching into countless arcs as it dissipated. Moments later, a resounding boom of thunder echoed across the landscape, driving my herds into a distant frenzy as they immediately sought shelter in the various valleys, gorges, woods and barns I had erected across their pens. Bessie, behind me, less out a deep hiss of disapproval, her feathery body fluffing up slightly in a display of fear and withheld aggression at the storm's approach.
"Hold that thought," I said, motioning to the rest of their party. "If I am to be your host, it is customary to offer shelter to those who come to me in a time of need, be they animal or human. If you would be so kind as to move your ship closer to my home, I should be able to host the lot of you in my home's newer quarters, should you care for it."
Sun Shui spoke quickly with the older woman, who after a moment of studying me replied to her just as quickly.
"Would you be willing to feed and shelter us during this storm?" Sun Shui asked.
I smiled. "Of course! If you'd be so kind as to follow me, we should be able to get inside before the storm arrives in force."
The woman repeated this back to the older man, the one I recognized as the one she'd greeted before, who then gave what had to be orders to the rest of the people there. Without a word, everyone rose to their feet and filed behind Sun Shui, who I then led towards the homestead proper. Behind us, now hovering just off the ground, the great ship was lashed with ropes and was easily dragged towards the barn, the sails furled and the hatches across it battened down.
As the very first drops of rain began to fall, the guards finished pushing the ship into my largest barn, my most recent construction and that which I had not yet determined a real use for. Storage had started to become an issue for several of the species I had taken in as both livestock, hence the empty nature of the place allowing for this ship to fit comfortably. Turns out Ninjemys, among other animals I had, don't like the cold, so finding somewhere I could keep them safe from the harshness of winter had partially inspired me. That, and these strange little portals that I had been finding and moving around seemed to be linked to environments that could sustain them during the winter months, so moving these portals into another barn was a temporary solution until I could sort them all in here.
I still wasn't sure what these were, but I wasn't going to argue with good fortune. Maybe one day I'd find one that allowed me to find some ores I could try smelting, should I ever get that furnace built that I'd been toying with every few months.
The guards, watching me close the barn doors with what I assumed to be shock, given how heavy and thick I'd made the doors, followed me through the side entrance that lead deeper into the cavernous hill I'd originally called home. Like some bizarre combination of a termite mound and a type of coral, I'd slowly hollowed out and built onto the area for whatever I needed it for. Here, out of the coming wind and rain, we were dry, safe, and for the most part, warm. Lighting one of the spare torches I kept in the barn with a snap of my fingers against a piece of flint, I motioned for them to follow.
The rest of the people with Sun Shui, having stayed in the barn until the doors were shut, followed me as well, sticking close to one another and looking around constantly, Bessie leisurely bringing up the rear, likely to ensure no stragglers. Sun Shui, close behind me with that silver-haired woman, pointed up at the rafters.
"What are those?" she asked.
I glanced up, seeing the flickering lights across the ceiling as the local bug-catchers roosted to ride out the storm as I light a few wall torches along the way. They did that in every barn I had, and since they only ate whatever bugs came around, and weren't ugly as sin, I let them stay. "Bug zappers, I call them," I said. "Little pterosaurs that usually hunt at night, have this strange ability to zap insects right out of the air. Not sure how they do it, but I'll explain later, after we've eaten."
I'm still not entirely sure why Sun Shui's initial stay under my roof had inspired me so, but carving out more of the caverns that ran between my house proper and this gigantic barn had become my nightly task. By now, the primary cavern between the house and barn could have doubled as an old Norse feasting hall, the admittedly unplanned construction of which had truly paid dividends for tonight. The storm meanwhile raged outside, with the rain falling hard enough against the distant barn door that I could hear it, accompanied by rumbles of thunder minutely shaking the earth around us every so often.
My newest guests quickly arranged themselves in what might have been seniority or importance after I dragged out a table and set in the center of the room, one that I had carved from a massive tree trunk earlier that month. There were no benches, and I'd only ever made enough chairs for my workshops where standing became a pain, so they would have to sit on the ground. Thankfully I'd kept the table legs short, as it allowed me to sit and stretch out my legs beneath it.
Interestingly, they all produced blankets upon which to sit, most of these being larger than the people should have been able to hide beneath their robes, so at least there wouldn't be any sore asses by the time dinner was ready.
It did not take long to start a fire in the large hearth I had carved into an alcove of the cave, complete with a purpose-built flue meant to expel the smoke whilst keeping out any rain or unwanted guests. Chiseling my way up for the flue like I was Edmond Dantes trying to escape that prison had been a harrowing experience, as I did not like cramped spaces at all.
They reminded me too much of the old slip of a cavern I had been surviving in during my early years in this strange world.
As my guests seemed to settle in at the table, I turned to Sun Shui, who had deigned to stand awkwardly nearby with that older woman, the latter of which seemed content to change her focus from her surroundings to myself and back. "I'll go get us something to eat, but until then, make yourselves at home, and I'll be right back."
Sun Shui nodded. "Would it be acceptable if we were to serve ourselves tea, using your hearth to warm it? We brought our own supplies for such a need."
I nodded with a smile. "Go right ahead, I don't mind. I'll be getting myself something to drink in the meantime, so don't wait up on me." I turned to Bessie, who was waiting patiently near the door to my house. "Stay here, and keep an eye on them, Bessie. I'll be sure to bring you back a nice boar leg for your dinner, now that all those fish guts are finally gone."
Pleased by the promise, the Yutyrannus settled in, lying upon the floor with her head held high and eyes trained on the group. Moving through another door, I ventured deeper into my underground complex, towards the storerooms nearest to my smokehouse.
A/N: I really need to come up with a good name for our MC. Next chapter should finally have our MC named, and with it a bit of worldbuilding through dialogue that hopefully doesn't feel too out of place. Like ReplyReport Reactions:Kirikllz909, Kingdonut, l---erddad---l and 282 othersAbramus5250Jun 19, 2026NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 12 New View contentAbramus5250Not too sore, are you?Jun 23, 2026NewAdd bookmark#136Chapter 12
Sun Shui
After her rescuer departed, the crackling of the fire, the only noise in the cavernous hall, was soon replaced by the many whispers of the gathered cultivators of the Sun clan. A few of the servant cultivators that had come along produced from storage rings a large tea set, as well as a large flask of clean water with which to use. Sun Shui returned to sitting beside Sun Lian, where she made an attempt to listen to the various conversations flitting about as she waited for the wild cultivator's return.
Sun Bao sat in silence amongst those few hunters still in good enough condition to venture with them. "How did he build such things without tools? Did he enforce his will upon the materials to shape them?" they asked themselves, possible answers coming and going without any true conclusion.
The guards and those more trained in the martial arts scoffed amongst themselves. "Surely he can't be alone, even a cultivator of sufficient rank to accomplish such construction would find such manual labor far beneath them. I would never stoop so low as to carve this cavern for myself unless my need was dire."
Zou Kang, amongst a few of the newer arrivals, looked around with guarded greed in their eyes. "That beast of his watches our every move, which means we will be unable to wander and see what else he has to offer. We shall have to endeavor to make a deal for things of whose value he has no knowledge."
The servants muttered amongst themselves as they heated the water for tea. "I can only hope we have enough seasoning in our storage rings to make edible whatever barbarian slop he will be serving us."
Sun Ling, bandaged stump of an arm draped beneath an empty sleeve, was amongst the few with a positive look to things. "If he has enough to feed us without appearing worried, then perhaps we need not fret about starving," she muttered, alongside the few scouts that remained. "Were we wise enough to have sought him out at first, were he to have led us, surely not so many of our number would have been lost to that terrible jungle, and we need not fear the crippling of our cultivation."
"I wonder where his bedroom is."
Sun Shui blinked. That had not been spoken by one of the other groups. In fact, it had not been spoken aloud at all, but whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. With none around the table seeming the wiser for such a comment, she spied Sun Lian looking at her with a sly smile.
"Must you truly ask that, honored elder?" she asked with an uncharacteristically youthful huff.
Sun Lian shrugged. "A mere supposition, given we walked past his cottage en route to the barn, and I doubt he would leave this place and walk through the storm to return to his bed for the evening. I must say, for a barbarian dwelling, it did appear quite cozy from the outside, as did his barn. To think he would build something large enough for our ship to fit within, masts and all."
"I suppose he does need the room for storage, given the number of his fields dedicated to roughage for his pasture animals come winter," Sun Shui muttered. "He must spend an inordinate amount of time harvesting them, despite his cultivation."
"Ah, yes, I noticed its strangeness too, given our proximity. If he felt me searching for the intricacies of it, he made no mention of it, did he?"
"No, and he did not do so when I first felt for it either," the young woman replied. "You felt it too, then? His root?"
"Indeed, and it is no root at all," Sun Lian said. "In that moment of observation, I saw not a root, but a titanic tree whose crown went past the clouds, the roots spreading far and wide in all directions, its many branches strong and laden with all manner of nuts and fruits. Yet there was no singular tree either, but an orchard, all varying in height, but none blocking one another. In fact, their branches interlaced with one another here and there, much like the roots, as if all were one. It was if… his cultivation is not that of a singular root, but more of a rhizome, spreading like a blanket across the 'soil' of his soul, threading itself to and fro like a master silk weaver's finest work."
"A managed forest of one root and of one tree, spreading all the same, with no competition amongst the sprouts, and offshoots, all contributing towards the one and bearing the load as they can," Sun Shui muttered as the servants retreated from the fire and served them all tea. She could barely wrap her head around it, as the thought of a forest working in harmony, rather than competing for space and sunlight, was completely at odds with what she knew of both cultivation and the wilds. Something about this was not right, but the many secrets of cultivation under the purview the Great Clans were likely as extensive as they were unknown to outsiders, and perhaps deep in hidden archives, there might be an answer to her rescuer's strange cultivation.
There was the jangling of the large door on the far side of the hall, and everyone fell silent once more as her rescuer reappeared. Behind him he pulled a small cart, in which lay a large and rough box, more a crate really, filled with all manner of rougher tools, small pots and implements. Across his back lay an entire beast, sans the head, hide, guts and lower legs, but to Sun Shui it was clearly that of one of the bison he had mentioned.
"So we shall be eating oxen tonight," one of the other cultivators grumbled. "The food of peasants in desperate times."
From the crate her rescuer withdrew a series of long branches, thick as Sun Shui's finger and bereft of bark. Arranging them in slots carved into the stone around the hearth, the wild man then retrieved a massive cleaver from the crate, the blade broader than her thigh, the black surface shining in the light of the fire. The man then, with a precision and swiftness that would have humbled an experienced butcher, filleted and cut apart the fresh carcass into all manner of cuts almost too fast to track with one hand, the other freely holding aloft the entire carcass. Some of these cuts went straight through the bone, leaving a small portion of such holding the slab of meat together, with the entire pile landing upon a side table alongside the hearth itself.
Stirring the coals with a longer, forked stick, he began to lay out the cuts of meat across the large rack of sticks, the sizzling audible even from across the room. One of the bigger chunks of meat, still with a large leg bone holding it together, was placed further to the back, above a larger bed of smoldering chunks of wood. Glancing back to the beast he called Bess Si, Sun Shui noticed the beast's gaze had landed on this particular cut of meat, the toothy maw drooling in response as the tail wagged ever so slightly.
"Sun Shui," the man said, ripping her from her silent observations as he turned towards her. "Would you or anyone else happen to have pepper I may use?"
She turned to the servants and asked, resulting in one producing a small back of crushed peppercorns, their aroma rich even from across the table. Retrieving it, she brought it to the man and held it open before him. With a pinch, he brought them to his face, giving them a short sniff before placing a few granules on his tongue.
"Fifteen years," he muttered, a brief look of ecstasy crossing his features, "I've gone fifteen years without pepper on meat, and now, by some miracle, I finally found some. I really hope this isn't a dream, or else I'm going to need to visit my punching boulders to let off some steam."
Not sure of what to make of such a statement, Sun Shui watched him retrieve a chunk of salt from a clay pot, crushing a small handful of it with ease and dashing it across the various cuts of meat. After scattering a handful of pepper from her satchel across the meat, he reached into another pot and produced a great deal of dried greens, their texture and smell unlike anything Sun Shui had witnessed before.
"By the Emperor," she heard Sun Lian say, the smell of the plant, now scattered across the meats alongside the salt and pepper, wafting around the room, "this man somehow has sage."
"Truly?" her uncle Sun Jin asked, speaking for the first time.
"Sage is one of the rarest Qi-rich teas to come from beyond the great deserts to the west, so rare that usually only the Great Clan elders and the Emperor's family have access to it," Sun Lian said. "A pound of Qi-rich sage leaves for tea is worth at least four pounds of our finest Qi-rich teas in the Empire, and none have been able to determine why they cannot grow it there."
"Honorable niece," Sun Jin said. "Ask the wild man if he collects this sage from the wilds around his lands."
Sun Shui turned to her rescuer, who was in the middle of checking the undersides of all the cuts of meat. "Sir, this seasoning of yours… how do you come by it?"
"I grow it myself, in one of my herb gardens," he replied. "Sage grows pretty well when you know how to take care of it."
Sun Shui relayed this information to the others, all of whom bore expressions of shock, disbelief, and in the case of Zhao Kang's little clique, naked envy. "What of the food you gave me during my stay here, whilst I was recovering?" she asked.
"Oh, that was roasted pecans and preserved blackberries in a porridge made from crushed oats and milk," he said.
Some of these words Sun Shui recognized; others she did not. "I did not get a chance to thank you for such a filling and delicious meal," she replied. "Where did you come by the milk?"
"One of the bison cows, had to wrestle her to the ground to get some, but then again I usually do whenever I want some for myself. I stopped pasteurizing it awhile ago, given I only ever drink it as fresh as possible."
This man wrestled bison just so he could still drink milk? Why would he still drink it regularly this late into his life? Sun Shui knew some parts of the Empire partook in the practice more than others, usually those with more herds and pastures than farms, but even then it wasn't common amongst the peasants.
Also, what was pasteurizing? Another strange word from this strange man.
After the man checked the meat once more, turning some pieces over whilst leaving others to sizzle longer, he turned to her, pointing to a block of wood, from which jutted the handles of numerous knives. "You wouldn't happen to have plates, would you? I've only made enough for myself and didn't have time to whittle more, but I should have enough utensils to cut our dinner"
Sun Shui did so, and from their storage rings the servants produced a small pile of plates and bowls. Without the need for direction, Sun Shui watched them arrange for everyone to have a plate, whereupon she turned around to find the wild man serving up all the grilled hunks of meat onto a large platter of wood, the sides upturned to prevent the spillage of juices. She felt her mouth watering slightly at the sight.
Not of him, she reminded herself, of the massive platter of food. The smell alone was enough to likely stun mortals.
Bringing it to the table, she took her seat as the man served every cultivator the sizzling meat, the bark upon the outside charred to perfection, but upon cutting it open with the obsidian knives provided, the meat within remained a perfectly tender and rare reddish hue. Said knives were sharp enough that one didn't even need to hold the meat in place to slice it, and their own chopsticks were of perfect handling for lifting the small, tender cuts.
Sun Shui ate, and behind the burst of flavor from the tender bison steak was a rush of Qi into her body. All around, the other cultivators of the Sun clan likewise expressed surprise and begrudging delight, though she was certain she had heard Sun Lian give out a low moan.
"What wood was used to cook this?" she asked. Most woods she knew of were not well equipped to cook directly over without imparting some bizarre or pungent flavors, so the fact that he had managed to cook directly over a fire itself was strange. That the flavor was unlike anything she'd ever had before was even more surprising.
"A mix of mostly hard maple and a little bit of hickory for flavor, though I usually save the latter to smoke meats low and slow," he said.
Smoke meat low and slow? "What does that mean?" she asked.
"I basically cook the meat in what amounts to the smoke given off by the hickory logs, just enough to cook them without overdoing it like what I did tonight. It's an excellent way to preserve certain foods, usually doesn't take a lot of my attention to do it, and it tastes great," he said, serving out the last of the slabs of meat.
Well, she certainly wasn't going to argue with that. She'd only ever heard of flash smoking food like fish or eggs, or cold smoking things like pork.
"Those sticks you used over the hot coals, how do they not burn?" Sun Shui asked.
"Some kind of ironwood, doesn't like to burn and helps keep the cooking even without worrying about the meat falling apart and dropping into the fire. So," her rescuer said, taking his own seat and serving his slices of bison with an odd utensil that reminded Sun Shui of a very small trident. "What sort of help do you need from me?"
"Our fortress is in the process of expanding, but to do so we needed to stockpile supplies," she explained between bites, trying very much not to devour it too quickly. "Our ships, while en route, ran into trouble out at sea with some of the local beasts that prowl the oceans."
"Ah, I bet it was the pliosaurs," he replied, taking a swig from a pouch at his side. It smelled slightly of alcohol, but also of apples. "Let me guess, big flippers and big heads filled with huge teeth, launching out of the water and latching onto one of the ships, before pulling it low enough for a big one to grab it?"
Sun Shui blinked in surprise. "How did you…?"
"I've seen them do it before during some of the few times I've been out to sea with Harry," he replied. "Harry is the big ichthyosaur your ship saw me fishing from. After see those beasts do that, I stopped going that far out to sea, and tend to stick closer to the shores whenever I have to go out there."
"What beneath the heavens could they possibly have been attacking often enough for you to have witnessed them do so more than once?"
"I saw them do that on some of the bigger Leedsitchys, though not jumping into the air to do it," he said. "That's a type of fish, by the way, and some of the bigger ones are probably twice the size of your ship on the lower end. Biggest one I ever saw, though, I thought it was a coral reef or a sandbar before it started moving."
Sun Shui held back chills. Truly, this entire continent was a cursed land, to be able to support such monstrous creatures.
"With the loss of that ship, our supplies are dangerously low, and with the influx of more cultivators to the fortress, we will be unable to successfully ration supplies until another set of ships return to resupply our needs."
"Aw, that's unfortunate. Do you have hunters?"
Sun Shui nodded. "Yes, but what little we have been able to hunt has not been sufficient, and several did not return from their hunts. One of them that did return is over there," she said, motioning towards her cousin. "Sun Ling lost an arm to a beast that moved about the tree trunks of the surrounding jungle, and only survived by climbing high and wedging herself into a hollow."
"I see," her rescuer said, eyes tracing the folded sleeve before turning back to her. "Best you don't keep hunting in that jungle near your fortress. Once the Deinonychus and Allosaurs have a taste for blood, they don't let it go easily."
"What are those?" she asked.
"Those feathered beasts that you described chasing you? Those were the Deinonychus. Fearsome buggers, they always seem to move in groups, and will not stop hunting you until you're not worth the trouble or something easier comes across their path. They aren't the top predator in those lands, however, as they only range into the bigger forests and jungles for food and sometimes don't come out. The Allosaurs tend to be the reason why they don't make it out alive. Think much bigger, much hungrier, silent as the grave when stalking you and even more vicious, though they too only go into the jungle to occasionally hunt, and don't live there as adults. Not a lot of large enough animals in there for most adult ones, as they need the room to move around. If your people were picked off by a rare meandering adult, then best you don't leave your fortress for a good while, they are patient enough to wait for easier prey to come their way."
Sun Shui held back chills once more. To think there had been worse things amongst those trees when she'd initially been chased by those feathered beasts…
"How many supplies will you need to hold you over, at least until your next supply run comes in?" the wild man asked.
"It is… hard to say, exactly," she replied, finishing the last of her meal. Such a large portion of meat was unusual for her to eat, as it was for most cultivators, and she could still taste the richness of the Qi that had been in both the meat and the seasoning used on it. By the heavens, even that hard maple used to cook the meat had been rich in Qi! "The group of us here, with the addition of the meat you provided us, might be able to stretch such a meal out for an entire day with the supplies we still have, rather than eat it all in a single sitting."
"Hmm," the wild man said, finishing his own massive steak and washing it down with that alcoholic apple drink. "How fast can your ship move from these parts back to your fortress? What about when heavily laden?"
"A number of hours for certain, though if we only allow those on board who can ensure its safe arrival back to the fortress, we could load at least a week's worth of supplies on board before the flying capabilities begin to suffer," Sun Shui said.
"Very well, seeing as I'm pretty much caught up on most things around here, I'll help you," he said, rising to his feet. "Be sure everyone gets a good night's rest, we rise with the sun and we'll be setting out for an area a bit west of here, towards some of the more open plains. Out there, we should find some good herds to supply you, but be mindful, I'll only be helping you kill what you need. We're not going to wipe out herds only to take choice cuts or random bits, I don't live that way and I like keeping the lands around me healthy and managed, not desolate."
Sun Shui nodded as he retrieved the largest hunk of meat and brought it back to his drooling mount, the creature known as Bess Si eagerly devouring it. Turning back, she noticed that most of the others were already opening bedrolls in whatever free spots they desired, with a few already falling into a slumber. Such a large meal, especially one purely of meat, was rare for them, and the richness of the food combined with the amount of Qi they had just ingested was going to need some time to process.
"Good sir, if I might ask before I must take my leave to rest for the night," she said, "what is your name?"
"My name?" the man asked, leaning against a wall, the glow of the hot coals casting strange shadows across his features. "I'm… not entirely sure anymore. Living by myself for fifteen long years led to me forgetting so much, just so that I could remember what I needed to in order to survive. I guess now that I'm not entirely alone anymore, I could choose my own name."
That was such a strange concept. Choosing your own name? Only those wishing to hide their identities, such as bandits and others on the run from authorities or enemies, were the kind to do so. "Which name should we know you by?"
"… you know what? Tarzan. It's not the name I remember, but for the purpose of not just being called 'man' from now on, you can call me Tarzan. Yeah, let's go with that." Seeming satisfied with this declaration, and with the Bess Si in tow, he moved towards the far door, stopping to look back at them, face cast in shadow. "By the way, best you all stay in here until morning. While I hope I'm a gracious host by your standards, I will not be happy if I catch people poking around where they shouldn't be."
The Bess Si seemed to glare at them all, the effect slightly ruined by the number of her fellow cultivators already asleep, but to Sun Shui and anyone else paying attention, the message was as clear as an Imperial summons.
If any of you dare to fuck with master's things, they won't find your body… because I'll have eaten it.
With that, the pair left them to their own devices, the one now known as 'Tarzan' muttering something about the Bess Si having long outgrown being able to sleep on his bed without crushing it or him. A muffled whimper followed a resigned sign, saying the beast could at least sleep on the floor of his bedroom, to which the beast's happier grumble was cut off by the door closing behind them. Still stunned by his name of choice, and more than willing to let any troublemakers know what awaited them if they abused their host's hospitality, Sun Shui crawled into her bedroll by Sun Lian. Her elder had seen none of this, as she was already sprawled out, fast asleep and lightly snoring.
Tarzan. A nonsensical name to be sure, and not the one he had been born with, but it was the name of his choosing, and she would respect that. However, when translated as best she could to the Imperial tongue, it was something else entirely.
Tarzan.
Tai Shan.
Peace Mountain.
"… Mount Tai," she whispered, eyes closing as a full belly and a long day's exhaustion overwhelmed her shock. She could worry about the implications in the morning, when they rose to hunt.
A/N: well, here's his first name, with the translation being actual according to Google, though I haven't given him a last name yet. Why would he need a last name at this stage anyway? It's not like he's founding a clan or has descendants to pass on a family name yet. Hunting with 'Tarzan' will be coming soon, though likely only Sun Shui will be the one to call him that, seeing as she's still the only one who can actually speak with him. Also, I'm glad people are liking Bessie, I aim to please with characters as best I can. Like ReplyReport Reactions:Kirikllz909, Kingdonut, l---erddad---l and 305 othersAbramus5250Jun 23, 2026NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 13 New View content
Chapter 13
Sun Shui
Morning came early that day, earlier than normal even for cultivators, and the tension aboard the ship as it flew above the wild land was palpable. Even as well-rested and yet satiated as they were from last night's meal, Sun Shui could feel the unease amongst her fellow cultivators. They had suffered greatly attempting to hunt in the jungle wilds around their fortress, and out here they were even further from help should they require it. Adding to the fact that the strange man below them was moving swiftly across lands none in the Empire had ever seen, it was no wonder that the mutterings from last night reappeared, having increased in vitriol and disparity of opinion amongst their ranks.
Sun Shui knew they could not afford to suffer from disarray at a crucial time like this, but there was little she could do about it.
"Honorable niece," Sun Jin began, his words measured, purposefully chosen in a tone she knew well, "did our guide by chance tell you his name?"
"He called himself Tarzan," she replied, her eyes remaining focused on the man in question below. After moving through the more open grasslands and plains that surrounded his homestead, he had ventured further west, twisting through a winding series of rocky hills. Out here, the dark form of his Bess Si was just barely visible from the bow of their ship, the beast darting between copses of trees jutting from sharp slopes that held themselves above narrow ravines, through which small streams flowed.
"Tai Shan," Sun Lian said, her words a mixture of breathless wonder and uncertainty, something so unlike her. "That is the closest approximation from my understanding. He is truly named after the great Mount Tai?"
"He could not remember his birth name, and this was a name he chose," Sun Shui said. "Yet his decision for this name carries with it a reference to something I do not know, nor understand. Whatever it is, it is in no way a reference to the holy mountain."
"The odds of him selecting such a name in complete ignorance of its meaning to us is… not impossibly unlikely," her uncle said. "Yet not just his name, but his very being, it is so at odds with what I thought I knew of cultivation."
"Yet he is clearly a cultivator, one of great power too, from what we have seen, and likely have yet to see," Sun Lian said. "How he has managed to attain such power in a land so fraught with danger is truly a story I wish to hear."
"As do I, honorable elder, but we must be patient and wait for a day for such information to be given freely, without the suspicion that might come with such questioning," Sun Jin said. "Will you be able to attain more of the Immortal Sage Speaking pill soon?"
"Given what was necessary to create a single pill, it will take more time than I fear we have, should our supply ships not arrive soon," the older woman replied. "Once our supply issues have been resolved, I will send for more of them to be crafted, so that I too might be able to speak with this man."
"Why not simply give him this pill?" a voice asked.
Sun Shui did not immediately turn her gaze away from Tarzan and the Bess Si, their forms having moved from rocky hills to up and along the slope of a grassy mountain, the gradual climb telling her this was indeed an ancient mountain, to be so worn down by wind and rain whilst retaining such a size. Yet she knew that voice well, turning only once it would be difficult to not spot their guide once again.
"Senior cousin," she said. "How are you holding up?"
Sun Ling unrolled her empty sleeve and pulled it up, revealing the arm that she must have been concealing within the confines of her robe.
Her formerly missing arm.
"It had grown back during the night, but I kept it hidden, unsure if I was dreaming it or not," she said, much to their gathered surprise. "It is exactly as it was, I think. I didn't feel a thing at all during the night."
With her Qi senses active, Sun Shui could find no fault in its entirety. Every bone, every meridian, every nerve and muscle were perfectly in place. In fact, it was as if her other arm had been mirrored, as there was no atrophy of the comparable muscle, no breakdown of the tissue that hadn't existed for the past few days. It was as if her body had remembered how it had been and simply replaced what had been taken by the beast amongst the trees.
"Impressive," Sun Lian said. "Regrowth of a limb, exactly as it was, with no extreme amounts of pain, fatigue, or the healing coma often necessary to accompany the usage of our better regrowth pills? My oh my, this is indeed intriguing." She glanced between them, her expression turning serious. "This revelation does not leave this ship, understand? An emergency stash of our pills will be what healed her, not the wild man's food."
Sun Jin nodded, his gaze shifting from Sun Lian to Sun Ling. "Whilst this is most joyous news, we are on a mission that will not allow for idle celebration. Once we have returned to the fortress, and with supplies to sustain us, we may celebrate. This is a good indicator, however, that we may yet be able to remain in the good graces of this barbarian, as clearly none of us were poisoned or took ill from the meal he served us. However, I fear conflict with him and another cultivator is inevitable. We may only pray to the heavens that it is not one of the Sun clan," he said, glancing towards the others aboard the ship.
"I will not let such an act occur lightly, uncle, this I swear," Sun Shui replied, her grey eyes sweeping past the guards alongside the ship, to the small groups that had formed since yesterday. Zou Kang among them. Those with favorable and unfavorable views of Tarzan were the primary split, though some of these had already split again between leaving the wild man be and others wishing for greater access to his resources.
"Well enough, considering I went to sleep missing an arm, and now have it back," Sun Ling continued, her eyes now firmly on the man and his mount far below them. "My question still stands. Why not give the wild man such a useful pill? It would certainly make conversation with him all the more readily accessible to us all."
"That is precisely why I do not wish him to be able to so freely speak, great-niece," Sun Lian said. "Control of information is crucial in these stages of the birth of our fortress, as we will be unable to expand beyond the third and final set of walls come its completion. We have, from history, written records of what has happened to clans that tried to expand well past that, and the ruins of those fortresses often still sit empty on the islands, cliffs and atolls along the coast. They are precisely the reason the Emperor long ago put into place the requirements to even attempt such a feat. We are attempting something different, not only being inland, but also measured, patient, and with longevity in mind. Why would we allow the wild man to speak our tongue, when any number of ears would be hanging on to every word he said?"
"Any information he has on this land, of its plants, its beasts, of its storm and wind patterns or even the flow of its rivers, would be invaluable to any other clans attempting what we will be attempting," Sun Jin added. "The Council of Clan Elders has decreed that we are not to share any information with other clans, even our own allies, until the fortress is complete and we are firmly established. By then, they will be coming to us for such knowledge, and with that comes the leverage and possibility of gains for the Sun clan that freely offering information would otherwise deny."
"I see. So we control the flow of information, by keeping him firmly within our graces, and by only allowing a select few individuals the opportunity to converse with him," Sun Ling said. Her cousin had always been rather quick on the uptake, as some elders had said, and it showed. "This then means anything he tells us that we did not know, is known to us first, and thus is firmly an advantage for us before any others can find out."
"Be that as it may, honorable elders and cousin, we must also not take his information for granted," Sun Shui said, watching as Tarzan and the Bess Si crested over the grassy mountain's rim, disappearing from view. "We must endeavor to ensure that none of the other clans might tempt him away from our side, as many will be wont to do as word of him and his accomplishments reaches the Empire's shores."
"Ah, gossip, the only flow of information that not even an Imperial Decree could impede," Sun Lian said with a soft chuckle. "We should certainly…"
The words died in the elder's throat as their ship crested high over the great grassy mountain, to a sight that nearly took Sun Shui's breath away as well. Beyond the downward slope lay a great floodplain, or series of floodplains, as countless rivers flowed from mountains just barely visible upon the horizon into a massive valley. The scope of this place, with uncountable trees gracing riverbanks, shrubs covering hillsides, and rocks jutting out from small hills hidden beneath canopies, was unlike anything she'd seen thus far.
With her sharp eyes, Sun Shui spotted them. Vast herds of creatures, of dizzying varieties, colors and sizes, moving across the floodplains with seemingly no care for the presence of their flying ship. Truly, anywhere she looked, she could see herds of beasts moving about, eating foliage, fighting for mates, guarding nests, flying, swimming, and countless other actions befitting the beasts of this wild land. Just the scope of this valley… one could have fit near half the cities under the dominion of the Sun clan, including their outlying towns, villages and infrastructure, entirely within this great shallow bowl, likely with enough room to allow these wild animals to roam freely between the walls. The only true exit of the valley she could see lay back east, where the many confluences of water joined into a great river that cut through a mountain itself, flowing slowly and with all the winding nature of a gigantic serpent.
Was this the source of the river that flowed by Tarzan's homestead? Or was this just yet another great river, one whose entry into the sea lay well beyond the horizon and the scope of their knowledge?
"There he is," Sun Lian said, motioning towards the ground. There, on an outcropping of rock larger than their fortress, stood Tarzan and his Bess Si. Barking orders to the crew, the older woman turned back to Sun Shui, whose gaze finally left the scene before her. "We shall see how this Tarzan of yours hunts, my dear great-niece."
Sun Shui's retort of Tarzan not being "hers" was lost in the wind as they quickly descended.
Landing the ship and setting up what amounted to a processing facility had not taken long, much to Sun Shui's relief. Tables with all the tools for butchering carcasses were set up, to be manned by whatever cultivators amongst them had the most experience with such tasks, or were too injured yet to aid in the hunting. Well, that had been the original plan, but with the meal from last night, all of those on this mission had fully recovered. Something that should have taken days, even with the proper cultivation pills and care, had been achieved overnight. Normally, this might have led to arguments over who would have the honor of following Tarzan out on the hunts, but that was not the case.
Their physical wounds might have healed, but many of the hunters were still terrified by what they had had to endure in the jungle. Here, in an even more unknown and remote part of this wild land, they didn't have the faintest idea of what dangers could be lurking around every boulder, within every river, or beneath every fallen log. That, and they did not trust Tarzan, as he was still an unknown variable in the greater plans of the Sun clan, plans which had had to be altered several times already. As such, it had fallen to Sun Jin to assign those that would hunt with Tarzan, with Sun Shui herself serving as the liaison to ensure mistakes were kept to a minimum.
She knew her experience as a scout would serve her well.
"You were able to keep up with your ship. Good," Tarzan said, removing a large bundle from across his back and a second, smaller one from his mount's primary saddlebag. "Do any of you have experience with camouflage?"
Sun Shui repeated this back to the gathered hunters. "We use our Qi to stifle our footsteps, mask our scents, and quicken our pace, everyone knows this," one replied.
Sun Shui turned back to her rescuer. "We rely on other methods when hunting."
"Well, out here, your robes are going to stick out like a sore thumb, but we can use that to our advantage," Tarzan said as he dressed in his suit of plants, covering himself in head to toe, leaving only his eyes exposed. "If their eyes are drawn towards you, I can more readily approach. I know these animals, I've hunted more than my fair share, but there are rules."
"Rules?" Sun Shui asked after translating.
Tarzan nodded, his shielded mouth not muffled in the slightest. "We will hunt and kill as needed, and only as needed. If the animal in question seems too dangerous, we will not challenge it, but instead fall back and regroup to try for a different target. We will be taking the time to bring back every animal we kill before we seek out another, and should there be enough slain to keep the butchers busy for a while, we will move on to foraging instead; fruits, nuts, and tubers."
Sun Shui's translation earned a number of murmurs, most of them indignant that they would be limiting themselves in such a manner.
"What about mushrooms?" Sun Ling asked, one of the few to volunteer to aid in the hunt, despite what she had gone through only a few days before. Truly, the recovery of her arm had done wonders for her mind and spirit.
"We won't be touching any mushrooms, as not even I know how to differentiate all of them and what they do," Tarzan said in reply to Sun Shui's translation, retrieving an obsidian-tipped spear from his satchel. He must have had something akin to a hidden realm woven into the bag, as it was impossible for so large a spear to have been hidden in that bag. The obsidian point was larger than both of her hands, and she could sense the Qi within it outshining many of the weapons she had trained with over the years.
"Why not kill more beasts?" Sun Shui asked, at the request of one of the hunters.
Tarzan turned to the man she had translated for with a startlingly cold stare, enough that the cultivator fidgeted beneath his gaze.
"These are the lands that I hunt, that I know, and therefore you will abide by my rules," the wild man said slowly. "We take only what we will need, and we will not slaughter indiscriminately just to increase our chances of success. There are more than enough animals here for us to hunt without the need for wanton slaughter, and for a good reason. The predators that live in these floodplains will always follow the smell of blood, especially when fresh, and if we kill and haul back too many carcasses at once, we'll find ourselves beset on all sides by hordes of carnivores seeking the smell of a veritable feast. Predator mobs are something I hope to avoid today."
There was silence after that, and with no more questions for Sun Shui to translate, she asked one of her own.
"How are we to track and kill these beasts? This land is even stranger to us than those around our fortress."
"Given your outfits, I will kill them as needed, and we will all bring them back together," Tarzan said. "You all will stay behind me when I approach a target unless I specifically ask you to do something to distract it. If you feel capable of killing our quarry, then by all means, let me know and I will let you do so. However," he added, pointing at them all, "there will be no splitting up, no wandering off, and if any of you do and find yourself lost, you'd better hope I can hear you screaming for help and come quickly, because there'll certainly be something else attracted to your screams, and trust me, that's not a good thing."
Sun Shui's translation was met with silence and uneasy looks. Only Sun Ling seemed unperturbed, her own spear retrieved from her storage ring and resting easily in her hands.
"If there'll be no more questions, then we'll begin, while it's still early and the heat of the day hasn't come yet," Tarzan said, a burst of Qi from within him settling over the suit. To Sun Shui's amazement, the various dried plants sprang back to life, greenery erupting across his form and breaking up his outline. In a mere moment, save for his face and the spear in his hand, it was difficult to tell this was a man at all.
Bess Si was by his side in a moment, the beast's feathers no longer the mixture of white and other colors from when they had first met. Now, they were a full mixture of rusty browns, darker reds, and streaks of black, the kind of coat that disappeared when in thick understory. Indeed, the beast took no less than ten steps into the treeline and disappeared from her sight completely, vanishing like smoke amongst a morning fog.
"Time to hunt," Tarzan said, turning her way and giving Sun Shui a small smile. "Stay close."
As he walked into the floodplain forest, the greenery across his form shifted, the grasses fading back to dry brown while the ferns, mosses and cycads remained green. Quickly moving to follow him, lest she lose him completely in the undergrowth, Sun Shui felt Sun Ling and the other cultivators do the same, sticking close to one another as they ventured into the floodplain forest.
A/N: I really need to stop ending on cliffhangers.Last edited: Jun 27, 2026 Like ReplyReport Reactions:Kirikllz909, Kingdonut, l---erddad---l and 293 othersAbramus5250Jun 27, 2026NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 14 New View contentAbramus5250Not too sore, are you?Jun 28, 2026NewAdd bookmark#194Chapter 14
The Matriarch
The humid heat of the jungle never fully agreed with her, but she bore the weight of it all the same. Needing a territory as large as her own meant wandering far and wide along its borders, from the great floodplains to the jungles near the coast, ensuring order amongst the younger generations, reminding the lesser predators who their betters were, and keeping potential rivals from seizing upon a moment of weakness.
It was the way of her world, as it had been for her own mother, and her mother before her, all the way to the birth of their world, though never to this extent. She bore none of the weaknesses they had, the ravages of time, sickness and wounds never gracing her illustrious form. She had long puzzled over this fact, the wisest of the elders at the time simply stating she had transcended to a greater extent than most of her kind had in living memory.
The reason for this had come after a great deal of thought, when her belly had been full and her eyes heavy with sleep. The strange floating nest of those creatures, many cycles before, had found itself stranded on rocks near the shore of what was, at the time, her mother's territory, and the ones within had come ashore, chopping at trees and trying to weave vegetation into the strange clouds that propelled it across the water.
She hadn't been much more than a juvenile at the time, nowhere near ready to strike out on her own and seek her own territory, but alone all the same, having been driven out of the more fertile and prey-rich areas by siblings that had grown larger and stronger than she had. Food had been scarce in that part of the land, the rocky coastline offering little in the way of prey, but it served as a border to her mother's territory she need not worry about defending. Dodging the toothy maws of other carnivores and the terrible wrath of the herbivores she came across during that exile had left her in a state of near-constant hunger. Not caring about the dangers such an unknown creature could present, she had fallen upon one of these creatures, the innate strength in them unquestionable to her senses, and had devoured what she found to be a male of this species.
That strength had entered her then, and she had felt… more, than she had previously. Her subsequent bites ripped through flesh easier when she hunted other prey, her swiftness took less effort, and her senses had increased well beyond the day prior. Her hunger, however, had not been fully satiated, instead being replaced by a different sort of hunger, the kind that she had been warned by her mother might never be filled.
She was too young to understand her mother's words at the time and intended on filling that hunger however she could. Other creatures around her soon fell victim to her claws and jaws, but when compared to that strange creature, to that first bite of foreign flesh, they were but a trickle. It was not enough, and after a few days, the rest of the creature's herd had come looking for him, spreading out into the jungle, weapons drawn and sticks coated in fire casting light within the dark undergrowth.
She began to hunt them, devouring one of them every time they came ashore, feasting so swiftly that she hadn't the time to strip the flesh from their bones, devouring it all without a care. With every bite, every swallow, every lump of delicious flesh and bone that entered her belly, her hunger grew stronger, as did she. Rocks began to chip beneath her talons, saplings bent like grass during her approach, and there was nowhere the creatures could hide. Panic ensued amongst them, at first with them moving in groups, but then they refused to enter the jungle at all, their strange nest growing more dilapidated where it had been stranded as the days went by. By then she had eaten perhaps half their number, all of them male, and all filled with that same power, some more than others.
That same power that was now hers. Wounds from the strange things they used to attack her, usually when she was trying to eat them alive, barely scratched her scales, and any that did, such wounds were healed before she could examine them. It was a power that didn't seem to fade, like hunger did when properly satiated, and it urged her to devour the rest, to see how far she might climb.
Stranded as they were upon the rocks, there were still ways to get out to them, from methods she had observed from the great sailbacks that dwelled nearest the great rivers that met the ocean. The shallows were enough that she could just barely submerge entirely, walking along the bottom with her head tilted up, ensuring none were looking for her when she arrived at the strange nest. The fact she need not breathe as much, felt no irritation from the saltwater upon her eyes, and could force herself to not float escaped her notice at the time. However, the first sentry she grabbed and pulled over the side in an instant had no chance of an escape, his body dragged underwater in her jaws and drowned, to then be feasted upon back at shore.
She did this every night for nearly a moon, whittling down the creatures upon the nest until they stayed away from the edges, slowly weakening to her senses and holed up in the center of the nest. It was then, secure in the knowledge that there were only a few left, and knowing their strength had waned, she attacked the nest outright. Smashing through the wooden side, she had crawled in like the great river beasts, her jaws and claws slaughtering the inhabitants in their nest. Nowhere was safe from her, as she smashed further and further into the nest, devouring any she came across. She still recalled one that tried to leap through the hole she had made, likely trying to swim to safety, only for her to snatch him from the air and pull him back inside.
In the end, the damage to the nest proved too great, and as it came apart from her rampage, water from a large wave surged through the holes she had made, filling rapidly with ocean water. The entire nest shifted after several of these waves, the majority of the structure dislodging just enough that a large wave's retreat pulled it from its stranded spot, pulling it out far enough that it began to sink. Slinking out of the ship with the last pair of the creatures nestled in her jaws, she swam back to shore, turning in time to see most of the nest slip beneath the waves, leaving only the tallest portions jutting above the water like the trunks of trees swallowed in a flood.
Devouring the last of her strange prey somehow sated her innermost hunger, in complete violation of what her mother had said, but in a way she had never expected. Words she had never known before and knowledge she knew she could never have understood filled her mind. She was so much more than she had been before, to where it had taken her days in a daze along that rocky shoreline to come to terms with it.
By the time she regained full control of her senses, she knew of things others of her kind have never dreamed of.
She understood how and why fire burned as it did, and how best to combat it if it grew too swiftly.
She now knew the function of the creature's nest. It was called a boat, a ship, and the clouds used to propel it were called sails.
The small lights in the sky that did not move much were stars, and the those that moved with the cycles were called planets.
The creatures she had devoured, she now knew, were called humans. Humans, from a land far removed from the one she called home, well across the great sea, the territory of which she still could not fathom.
She knew what they had called her. A beast of nightmares, a monstrous creature that dwelt amongst the wilds and hungered for their blood and bone.
These humans were cultivators, ones that took in the essence of the world around them to a degree, like her own kind did, using it to strengthen themselves by leaps and bounds. However, they did not do so simply by devouring other creatures, but by honing skills and performing acts she had no reference for yet somehow understood all the same. This essence of the world she now knew as Qi was in all things, but the land which she called home was especially rich in it, judging by how the humans had initially reacted with wonder to her home.
She returned to the interior of her mother's territory after this, only to be set upon by many her siblings, an intruder rather than returning kin. They had driven her off moons ago, being larger and stronger by getting to the meals first that their mother brought to them, but that was no longer the case. She had grown in power since that time, and had nearly doubled in size along the way, meaning their advantages were no longer the concern they had once been.
Half she killed on the spot, ripping through them with ease and devouring their yet-beating hearts without a sliver of remorse, their own portion of Qi readily joining with her own. The others, having hung back and not attacked her on sight, were spared the fates of the first, as she was now the undisputed leader of their clutch. Her mother said nothing of her devouring her siblings, as it was an inevitability amongst their kind, but was intrigued by how she had come to attain such strength in so short a time.
She had told her mother nothing of her learning at the time, regaling her instead of growing stronger through her struggle and the food she had managed to take down herself. Had she told her, her own mother might have attempted to devour her, to take that strength and wisdom for herself. As it was, life went on and the seasons passed, and she grew alongside her remaining siblings, until at last they were of the age to secure their own territories. She was by far the largest of them, the swiftest, the most durable, and the one whose cunning none of their kind could match.
She then set out on her own, venturing far from the coastline her mother's territory had scraped against, eventually finding herself many hills and valleys away. Of this swath she found, using one of the larger rivers to mark, she found hot jungles, humid forests with titanic trees, open plains of grass and tree-filled valleys, and to the greater distance yet, a massive floodplain. The latter she had claimed the entrance of, as there were more of her kind deeper within, and far too much land for her to protect, even with her great power.
The first thing she had done upon declaring these lands would be her own was to ensure she had no rivals within. Finding such rivals always ended the same, with their hearts ripped out and their flesh filling her belly. Eventually, she found no more rivals, her size and strength informing all who passed by that they did so out of her benevolence.
Those that challenged her, died.
Those that did not, tended to live.
It was the way of the world.
Yet not everything was right in the world so many cycles after she had discovered the secret to her power. No, in the jungles a new creation had born fruit in a blossoming of fire and smoke. She had not been there to witness it, but the strange smell upon the air, and the distant rumbles she felt through the ground had told her all the same.
The humans had returned. In the darkness she had watched them, high up in their strange new nest, more curious than hungry, noting that the ship these humans had did not sail upon the water, but upon the very wind itself, high above the canopy. She could sense their power, greater than the ones she had devoured many years before, but the impatience and hunger she had felt then were held at bay by what time had granted her.
Patience.
She could wait for them, as scattered as they first were when the feathered ones attacked, before the great pillar of stone had been built for the humans to nest atop. A fortress, she believed it was called, and it would not fall to her might as it stood, the Qi within well beyond what she was willing to rage against. She would patrol her territory, avoiding the humans to keep them unaware of her presence and avoiding whatever conflicts she need not engage in with creatures just as powerful as her, as few as there were. Just as well, her most pressing task tended to be ensuring that any predators who entered her territory knew that they did so at their own risk.
So when she had found that another of her kind, a young male just entering his prime, had crept into her territory and devoured a handful of the humans one night?
That had been an offense she could neither forgive nor allow to go without punishment.
His increased strength was yet new and untested when she found him, his overconfidence unable to dissuade her. He claimed to have devoured one of the great boars near the great river weeks prior and withstood a strike by what she knew as lightning without injury, both of them an accomplishment for one his age. He foolishly took this as a sign he was ready to seek an expansive territory of his own. He said that as mates, the two of them would bear strong offspring, but such desires held no interest for her. Had he come to her as a suitor in the ways her mother had told her were proper, she might have given him a chance, as she had other males in her younger years. Even were she to accept him, she had grown so large over the cycles that he would likely be unable to mate with her anyway, growing almost as large as the great tyrants far into the interior, well past the mountains that ringed the great floodplains.
As such, for her lack of a need for a mate, the audacity of his foolishness, and his trespass upon her hunting grounds, this male would give her no clutch and would not have the chance to learn of the same power she had. After a brief struggle that tore through trees and left furrows in stone from their talons, she ripped his head from his body and devoured the rest, absorbing the Qi he had gained from the cultivators he had devoured. In an instant, that old rush of hunger was given life, only to be filled almost immediately and then tampered down by her patience.
She was no longer the starving juvenile, just trying to survive. She had long outgrown that, a true matriarch in her own right, with all the skills and lessons that had come with living and ruling for so long.
The other humans would not be going anywhere for some time. Indeed, she had seen more of their flying ships arrive before discovering the male's trespass, and as such could sense even more of these cultivators. That some had left on a ship the day before and had flown in the direction of the great river was of no concern to her. That portion of the interior was none of her concern, as she did not know whose territory it was, but the others of her kind who ventured there tended to not come back. She would wait for her opportunity to eat the humans where she was, rather than track them down beyond her domain, so for now, with her belly full and the trespasser dealt with, she lay down in the shade of gigantic ferns, content to rest.
A/N: a little mysterious, yes, but just so any readers know, this is NOT a T. Rex. I also hope 'The Matriarch' doesn't read too confusingly, but there are references to earlier events scattered through the chapter that sharp-eyed readers might catch. Next chapter is another new POV, one of an increasingly reader-favorite dinosaur we've seen the most of in the story thus far. Like ReplyReport Reactions:Kirikllz909, Kingdonut, l---erddad---l and 229 othersAbramus5250Jun 28, 2026NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 15 New View contentAbramus5250Not too sore, are you?Jun 30, 2026NewAdd bookmark#230Chapter 15
Bessie
It did not take long for the first prey to be found. After descending from the flattened rise behind them, where that strange flying nest had been left, Bessie had followed her nose directly towards a large clearing, an old sandbar whose river had shifted long ago, leaving behind a rise of sand and silt that was slowly being taken over by low-lying plants. Here, a small herd of what other predators called "lightning beasts" were milling about, grazing on the vegetation.
Beneath the trees along what was once the riverbank, the strange ones and the female her rider had rescued stayed crouched behind him, his coat of living plants breaking up his outline completely. Bessie could smell these were bulls, just about to enter their prime but not yet ready to depart this relatively small bachelor herd. A few were a touch larger than the others, with small sparks coming off of their tusks whenever they shook their heads at one another. They had eaten the richer grasses that were harder to find, it would seem.
She had hunted these before. Avoid the end with the tusks and they were rather easy prey. Choose not to avoid the tusks, or attack them from head on, and…
It was a mistake that few hunters ever could attempt a second time.
Close to her master's side, her eyes trained on the herd, she heard him speak.
"Astrapotheres," he said, pointing to the larger ones. "The bigger ones can shoot lightning from their tusks when fighting one another for dominance, usually when biting. I've seen them scorch entire trees when they missed their intended target. Their hides are also tougher than they look, seeing as they tend to shrug off that lightning most of the time."
"So avoid the tusks and the front of the creatures at all costs," the female said, her red hair tied up shortly, like a thick rope. Why did hair grow so long on master's kind? Feathers and scales were a clearly superior combination.
"Yes, and while they can't run very fast, they are aggressive when they feel threatened by something smaller than them. If the threat is Bessie's size or bigger, they tend to run to the water for protection unless cornered."
Bessie preened at that. Truly, she was a fearsome lady, if she could make beasts as dangerous as these flee for their lives.
The female spoke to others like her, the words complete gibberish to Bessie's hearing. After a few replied to her in hushed tones, the red-haired female turned back to her master. Bessie didn't know why she had been calling master 'Tarzan', but if master didn't mind then Bessie didn't care.
"How many will we be taking?" the female asked.
"Given the size of this herd, we'll try for three of them," he said. "We're going to try and avoid the bigger ones, though, as I've seen those tusks punch through trees without any resistance, and I'd rather not get hit by lightning today."
Bessie grumbled at that. Lightning was never fun to be struck by.
"How will we divide the beasts? Surely they will come to the defense of the others if we attack?"
Her master traced his hand in some loose soil, outlining the trees that surrounded the clearing. "Bessie will grab one from the right, and I'll hit one from the left. With an attack from two sides, they should be confused and easily scared by the lot of you running at them, driving them naturally away from a third attack. We need to leave them an opening to flee towards the river, or else they'll turn on us and charge instead with their tusks, and the bigger ones might break out the lightning too."
Bessie grumbled softly. Her master had a love of ambushes, of taking their prey by surprise and with sudden bursts of ferocity that shamed any predator she had yet seen, seeking to kill them before they could potentially fight back. Truly, he was without peer.