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Unto the Ages: Chapter 140
🕑 Added 2024-12-13 12:06:15 +0000 UTCThe Blood Champion was roughly ramming himself into a crying woman beneath him, in his crimson-hazed addled mind, only brief concepts occasionally flashed into his mind, only to be blown away like mist.
What he knew of his previous life was vague, he could not even remember his old name, only that the Blood Priest had bestowed upon him the name and title of Blood Champion. He knew that he had been a chieftain before, but now, the Blood Priest said that the title of a chieftain was for the leader of weaklings, and he was no weakling. He was now the Blood Champion, leader of the Blood Ascendants who would one day rule the lands when the ice melted away.
All he had to do to make this vision of domination come true was to listen to what the Blood Priest said, gather strength, and kill any who opposed them. If he did that, strength, power, and women would drop in his lap. He could do that… leave all the brain work to the Blood Priest, all he had to do was smash a few heads, and he would be brought beautiful women like the one he was fucking now.
The only thing spoiling this enjoyable moment was the constant sobbing of the sow beneath him right now, ‘Does she not know the honor of being chosen by me to bear my child?!’ the Blood Champion thought before slapping the woman across her face.
Slap “Stop your wailing! You should be grateful that I chose you! Or do you want me to throw you out to the other men? I am sure they don't mind your slightly used hole.” he sneered as he raised his hand again, ready to deliver another slap if she continued with her crying.
The woman let out a small whimper before falling silent, and the Blood Champion took that as a signal to continue ramming into the woman, but before he could finish, there was a knock on the wooden door that sealed off his section of the cave.
At first, he ignored the knocking, only for the knocking to become more furious, “Excuse me… Blood Champion” the sound of a man on the other side said while knocking.
“Go away!” the Blood Champion shouted back.
“Sorry… the Blood Priest calls for you.” the man said.
The Blood Champion growled as he pulled out of the woman and stomped toward the door while still in the nude. Blood Champion knew that the Blood Priest did all the brain work and was the only one who could provide Spirit’s Blood, but it still irked him to be beholden to such an old, weak, and scrawny man, but even in his addled state of mind, Blood Champion knew who buttered his bread.
Blood Champion threw open the door and grabbed the man by his neck, lifting him off his feet, “What does the Blood Priest want!” he growled out, not caring that he was erect and fully exposed to others in the corridor.
Through strangled sounds, the man managed to say, “I don’t know… [choking sounds]... he said it was urgent!”
Blood Champion clicked his tongue and threw the man to the floor, “Tell him I will be there soon.” Blood Champion then went back inside to finish what he started with the woman before getting dressed and making his way to the Blood Priest.
***
The Blood Priest, formally known as Tu’Shan, of the now-dead Diving Talon tribe, was watching another batch of ‘Spirit’s Blood’ boil in his cauldron as he blankly recalled how he got to where he was now.
Tu’Shan had been lucky… in a manner of speaking. Two years into the long winter, his previous tribe, the Diving Talon tribe, had been doing relatively well, they heeded the warning of the long winter and acted accordingly, they stocked up what they could, and whatever they hunted in the winter environment was a boon due to the elements taking care of the preservation for them.
They scavenged what they could and were in good standing with the surrounding tribes, who were still trading with each other despite the harsh winter. It was one of the ways they stayed alive, especially the Diving Talon tribe, whose only natural resource in their territory was a mine. That was the only way they could trade to make up for the lack of food, but they managed somehow, they just kept reminding themselves that as long as the tribes looked out for each other, they could get through this calamity.
Unfortunately, the reality of the situation was not so kind, as not everyone had heeded the warning of the long winter. There was always a portion of people who thought the warnings were nonsense, just some shamans getting high off their own supply, having a bad trip, and ending up scaring everyone.
When the long winter hit and the supplies the unprepared stored did not last beyond one winter, they started trading what they had with their neighboring tribes, but as they were not prepared, naturally, it was not long before they ran out of food and supplies again, and their neighbors only had so much they could spare before they had to refuse the pleas for help of the unprepared.
And so, the unprepared slowly started dying, be it from the chill of winter or starvation, and with each death, the people who starved blamed their leaders and themselves, and when they exhausted their blame, blame turned to resentment for those who used to help them by sparring what they could before cutting them off, and after even more deaths, their resentment turned to anger, and anger to desperation.
And in their desperation, the unprepared started raiding the neighboring tribes that had once helped them, and one of those raided tribes just so happened to be Tu’Shan’s Diving Talon tribe. It all started with their sentries being killed in the night and the attackers climbing over their walls to let the rest of the raiders in. It was only by luck that one of the guards who went to take a piss noticed the intruders and shouted the alarm that some of his tribe managed to escape when they realized that the battle for the tribe was lost.
Those who managed to escape did so only with their clothes on their backs as they ran into the sea of white snow. The only place that they knew had cover from the biting wind was their mine.
They spent weeks deep in the mine, using whatever materials the few of them could scrap together to keep the cold wind out. Over the weeks, the men went out to hunt and scavenge what little they could find, while old shaman Tu’Shan stayed behind to care for the sick and injured.
When those who went out to seek help from other tribes only came back dead or injured from being shot by arrows. It turns out the Diving Talon tribe was not the only tribe attacked, causing the surrounding tribes to shoot first and ask questions later.
So, they were forced to scrape what they could from the land. One by one, what was left of Tu’Shan's tribe dwindled and died from injuries, sickness, and hunger, leaving only the half-dead and emaciated Tu’Shan to waste away slowly.
As the days went by, Tu’Shan would occasionally stare at the frozen bodies of his dead tribemates, some of them he helped deliver into this world, and lamented his fate that he would die a slow death as hunger gnawed at him.
There were times when those who were still alive with him in the cave considered cannibalism of those who had died, but none of them could bring themselves to do it. But now, with nobody around to judge him, day after day, his hunger made the thought of man meat more appealing, but Tu’Shan pushed down those thoughts until one day he was almost too weak to move.
Tu’Shan knew that if he did not do anything, he would perish, and even though he loathed it, something in him demanded him to live. So, with much disgust, mainly at himself, he broke off the frozen arm of one of the men who succumbed to an arrow wound when trying to approach another tribe.
That night, Tu’Shan filled his stomach as he cried tears of blood.
Eventually, Tu’Shan regained his strength and explored the mine further. From time to time, there would be some bugs scuttling around, but he always failed to find out where they came from. However, that did not mean he would waste them. Tu’Shan would kill and cook the bugs before eating them.
It was when Tu’Shan was exploring deep in the mine that he finally found a trace of where the bugs were coming from. It was from a hole smaller than the size of his fist, but when he pushed against the wall, the loose rocks gave way and crumbled, revealing a small crawl space.
When Tu’Shan explored the insides, he was delighted. The walls were covered in some kind of red moss he did not recognize, but there was a good chance that it was edible. So, he did as he was taught when approaching new plants. He took a pinch of it and rubbed it on his arm to see if there was any reaction. When there was no adverse reaction, he plucked a tiny pinch of the red moss and put it on the tip of his tongue. After a while, when there was no reaction, he finally chewed and swallowed.
After a few minutes, just when he thought everything was fine, Tu’Shan felt his heart start to beat rapidly as his mind started to go hazy, he started to sweat, and the edges of his vision started to get a tinge of red as he felt strength and power well up within himself, but most notable, his libido that he thought was long dead started going into overdrive. For the first time in almost a decade, Tu’Shan pleasured himself.
When Tu’Shan woke up, he did not know how long he had been out, but he felt hungry and thirsty. That was when he remembered what he had done before his mind went hazy. That was when he knew the red moss was some kind of psychedelic.
Sometime later, Tu’Shan had visitors. That was when he met chieftain Juta, who was now known as the Blood Champion, not that Juta could remember with his mind all messed up. They came to Tu’Shan, threatening him for his food, not knowing or caring what that food used to be.
This was when Tu’Shan discovered how suggestible people were when he spiked their meal with the red moss. At first, Tu’Shan wanted to kill these men who threatened him and add them to his food stock, but he stopped and thought about it, ‘Why kill them when they can get me more food?’
By now, Tu’Shan knew that with the world in the state it was in, it was a zero-sum game. If he were to live, it would be at the expense of others, but now that he had a way to control others to do his bidding, it was all the more to his advantage. All he needed to do was to keep these men as high as a kite.
So he did as he would when the children in his old tribe asked him to tell them new stories, he fabricated lore and narratives out of his ass. He was now the ‘Blood Priest’ who granted these men strength with ‘Spirit’s Blood’, and so long as they did his bidding, they would become the strongest in the land.
Tu’Shan kept the men in a ‘Spirit’s Blood’ addled stooper for days while repeating and reinforcing his stories to the point that the stories became truth for them. When he thought they were ready, Tu’Shan sent the men out to bring glory and spoils of war for the ‘Blood Ascendant’.
The Blood Priest’s reminiscence was interrupted by the door barging open, “What have you called me for, Blood Priest? I was in the middle of something!” the Blood Champion said.
The Blood Priest frowned but did not acknowledge his rudeness. “I called you because four patrols have gone missing in the past two days. I think we have intruders in our territory. Gather your men so that they may receive the blessing of Spirit’s Blood and investigate the disappearance.”
The Blood Champion clicked his tongue and stormed off to carry out the Blood Priest’s commands.
‘He is getting harder to control… I wonder if it is time to get a new Blood Champion.’ Tu’Shan thought as he stirred the cauldron of Spirit’s Blood.
Comments
Hildisvini
Thanks for the chapter
