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AR Chapter 368
🕑 Added 2025-04-17 04:00:07 +0000 UTCI walked out of the nursery, watching as a pair of Kha’Tal Khatif guided the little Kha hatchlings back to their home. As I walked away, I wondered if their parents ever came by and spoke with them. It was different for me, I supposed. With my human life in my mind, I’d placed more importance on parentage than most keelish did, but so too did Foire with Trai. That was a remnant of his grief for Treel’s death, but Sybil had also come to visit the eggs, though not nearly so frequently as I did.
Was it something that came more naturally to Khatif and Keel than the Kha? That could be the case, given that they both had much greater difficulty in conceiving young than the Kha, and their hatchlings were much more dependent on their parents. Or, at least, the Khatif’s were. I wondered how much like a human infant my young would be, and I looked forward to learning. Only another 42 weeks to learn.
As I looked around my city, I saw what little progress we could make. The stables were the primary focus for all construction and development now that every person in the Empire had somewhere mostly warm to sleep. That we used body heat to maintain warmth in the spaces was unimportant, as the herds’ dissatisfaction was becoming more and more obvious. Angry lows from the oxfiends and vicious snaps from the hyenas became more and more common. Feeding the herbivores was becoming more and more difficult, and at least a third of the workforce was forced to leave their preferred assignments to gather grasses from under the snow.
The Kou’Tal had encountered some difficulties with that that I hadn’t been specifically apprised of yet, I was unworried, though, as the line of communication grew more heavily trusted as the days went on. In the more than a month since I’d returned, I’d reincorporated into the Empire’s daily workings fully. Now that my physical strength wasn’t needed to kill anything or drive off enemies, I instead spent much of my days as a physical laborer. The more that I did it, the more I realized that I really didn’t mind simple physical work filling my days. We’d figured out how to draw about 100 ants to the surface a day without inciting another war with them, so I ate enough and rested in my home every day.
“Over there, Zaaktif.” Basit requested more than anything. She was in charge of my heavy labor division for now, and she hesitated to give me the same snapping, firm commands she gave everyone else.
“Of course.” I grunted as I lay the massive log on the ground. Different from the other teams, I could carry most of a felled tree by myself. Maybe I’d draw on [Spear of the Many] for heavier specimens, but as a whole, I was able to move much more than just about every other citizen, except for Took and Brutus. With us three bringing raw material into the city’s walls, the processing teams had to fight to keep up with our production. Since Basit had been put in charge of us, we’d been much more deliberate with where we placed our latest loads, and the teams were able to strip the bark and branches before cutting the lumber into whatever they needed at that point.
As soon as the log fell from my hands, a dozen Kha’Tal and twice as many Kha swarmed over the wood. They’d said something about how green wood was inferior for what they were doing, but I didn’t need them to explain it to me. A couple of them had some [Skills] or just magic that they used on the lumber that they said would ensure that the stables would stay standing. Again, I didn’t mind it, merely leaving the stressed but happy people to focus on their work.
Just as soon as I turned away from the construction, though, I laid eyes on the “forgotten” Hak’Tal. Took, Brutus, Shemira, and Percral ran them through drills and assigned them to various posts around the city, but it wasn’t enough. Several didn’t want to assist in the construction and had been forced to participate. Many still sported the shallow wounds from their scuffles and fights. Fortunately, we’d taken special steps to ensure that only the most proactive and zealous devotees to me had risen to Alpha status recently, though not in such a roundabout way as a human might have.
No, we’d taken more ambitious, powerful Betas from other packs (with the assent of their Alphas) and foisted them off on the lazy packs. Before long, the previous Alphas were beaten down and taken out of leadership and the focused, driven new Alphas pushed their lazy subordinates to work for the betterment of the Empire. It remained a task for the new Alphas to continue working on, but as they innately desired leadership, it was quickly made apparent that the [System], without their knowledge, continued to bless them. Several new Sou’Tal grew from this, and further solidified their presence as leaders in the Empire.
More and more, I was curious to see what our land would be like five, ten, or twenty years from now. How would we continue to tame the Shandise, and would we overcome the shadow wyrms? Could we push the ants to be a resource without being able to pose any real threat? And could we stave off the inevitable conflicts that would come by nature of our species and our history? So many questions that I wanted answered, but there was no way to know except to survive that long.
While I walked out of the city once again with Took and Brutus at my side, I could hear something far off, my magic warning me that it was a voice, though not one I was intimately familiar with. The faint sense of the scout’s words came to me, though I couldn’t quite understand exactly what they were saying. I raised a hand, and looked around. A Sik’Tal was nearby, and I gestured for her to come closer. She did so, and I pointed in the direction of where I heard the voice.
“Who’s over there, and what are they looking for?” I demanded.
“It should be Silf.” She supplied, her tail flicking in some emotion I wasn’t quite able to place. “Just a general scouting and verification of the surroundings, I think. Ever since he evolved to Keel, he’s been like Foire—he does what he wants and reports to whoever he needs to when he’s done.”
“Alright.” I dismissed her with a wave of my hand. She stepped back but stayed close, ready to obey any command. Internally, I reminded myself to see who she was, as I was impressed with this brief interaction. Then, I called Brutus and Took closer to me. “Silf is shouting about something, and we’re going to check it out.”
Neither said anything, but the same moment I took off, they followed suit. Without another word, we rushed towards our friend and broodmate, worried about what could have him so worked up.
