Cato Emberson's Perspective:
I stood outside the rock house inside the now clean cavern in a ready position.
I had been practicing for about four days and without the need for food—a common practice for God Sources, information the Goddess lovingly bestowed recently—made training more efficient.
As I spread electricity through my body, I stared down the long bridge. I reached every crevice of my body with electricity before advancing up my neck.
Evenly distributing electric energy through my eyes was a crucial component to this move and still took time.
As I let the energy flow through my eyes and forehead, I focused my now yellow-tinted vision down the bridge.
A bright spot of yellow appeared halfway down the forty-meter bridge. I clicked my tongue in slight disappointment and condensed the energy throughout my body.
My vision blurred as I shot down the bridge at nearly light speed.
I landed on the yellow point I had seen as my vision began to stabilize. Carrying my momentum, I rolled down the rest of the bridge in an attempt to slow myself.
I skidded down the rest of the bridge after exiting my roll and came to a stop. I gingerly stood up to sore muscles and mentally traced my body with Soulflame attempting to find anything to fix.
Using Soulflame outside of the Goddess' realm hurt significantly more than inside, but it was a manageable cost for the ability I had obtained.
Finding no outstanding injuries besides soreness, I plodded down towards the rock house to collect my belongings: the crystal and sword.
I mentally assessed as I moved, 'The dash maneuver is costly, and I could probably use it three times, maybe four at best.'
The other attack I had devised electrically charged my limbs. Cyphoning electrical energy throughout one of my limbs, I could perform the dash maneuver using only an arm or a leg.
I would pick a point to dash my appendage to, then deliver the source energy to create the bolt—or rail—that would guide and power my attack, and lastly, the attack would fire.
I had to be specific as not to pick a point too far away so that I didn't rip my arm out of its socket or destroy my body. The dash worked the same way. If I didn't supply electrical energy to every portion of my body, I would leave some behind.
The thought of this made me shudder and was something I did not want to experience. Without enough concentration, I could severely injure myself in battle—making it a move I had to use sparingly.
I was accurate enough with my use of the standard attack, which meant that I could capitalize on it in battle.
The thought of using it on my sword had occurred to me, but in practice, the move took more energy than I was willing to expend, especially in the heat of battle.
I began to fall into a routine as I practiced with my new God Source. I would train my long-range electrical attacks as well as my internal techniques. Then I would cultivate and sleep briefly.
I had been able to occasionally experience hallucinations where I was training while I cultivated, which allowed me to make even more progress.
The hallucinations felt very similar to the Goddess' realm and proved to be a helpful tool for perfecting my techniques.
My energy pool had also grown significantly in depth and size, along with the Soulflame sitting atop it.
~~~
After a total of two weeks of training in the cavern, I decided I was fluent enough in my abilities to continue with my mission.
As I reached for the crystal in my pocket, I realized we hadn't devised a solid plan for this mission.
I projected my thoughts, 'Goddess, I believe I can control my abilities elegantly enough. How should I continue this mission?'
'You should begin by traveling to a nearby village of a Tribe. Seek out the most powerful individuals, God Sources, top-tier contractors, all of them. Seek them out first and eliminate them, then progress to destroying the village.' The voice of the Goddess resounded through my head.
Layered in reluctance, I thought back, 'I suppose I'll have to fit in to gain more information.'
'Correct.'
A brief silence followed her answer before she spoke again,
'Head towards the south-western exit of the Fire Tribe. It will be a simple place to begin. You might also find the answers you seek.'
I felt as if I could hear the smirk as her voice faded out of my head, and I released my grip on the crystal.
'Let's get moving, I guess.' I shrugged to myself and picked up my sword.
Strapping it onto my hip, I started down the bridge towards the exit of the cavern.
The memory of three brutalized bodies of Fire Tribe children that had been cowering by the exit of the cavern flashed through my mind as I passed the bloodstain where their corpses had been.
There was only one answer that I candidly sought at the moment: Where did the bodies go?
~~~
I reached the end of the only Fire Tribe village and looked back through the tunnel I had come through. You could see the light emitted from the ball above the statue in the main square from here as it broke through tunnel entrances.
I sighed and turned back around. I would return home once I finished, for this was the start of a very long journey.
'I will avenge you, my tribemates.' I thought as I exited out of the Fire Tribe.
~~~
The tunnels were long and winding, but there weren't very many places to veer off track.
I continued down the tunnel I had started through and kept a leisurely pace. I wasn't in all that much of a rush. I knew that I would have to leave a trail of bodies; this much was an absolute truth. Where, or who I started with, I was not in a rush to know.
As I continued making my way down the dark tunnel—occasionally using a flame in my palm as a guidelight—a light started to come into view. It seemed to be a sconce connected to the wall.
However, on a second inspection, the torch was too far away from the wall to connect.
Before I could see the now silhouettes standing beneath the torch, one of them shouted my way.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" the figure on the left immediately started closing the distance between the two of us.
I quickly ran through a couple of options in my head, one of which was killing them and moving on before I landed on what I determined most reasonable.
As the figure approached alone, his friend holding the torch stood stationary.
The soldier reached me and put a hand on my shoulder, "Do I have to ask again? What in God's name are you doing here?"
'God, huh? So not Nature or Mountain Tribe, I guess the Beast Tribe is to the southeast of the Fire Tribe, but they're much farther than this.' I reasoned in my head.
I realized I had been quiet for far too long and raised my eyes to meet the man standing in front of me.
"I was exploring in the caves, and I got lost. I didn't leave from this tunnel," I gestured to where we stood now, "I just somehow ended up over there." I internally crossed my fingers as I lied for the first time in years to the figure before me.
"Kid, you can't just run away from the colony when you get bored." The soldier patted my shoulder in a consoling matter.
"I apologize." I dipped my head to mock my shame when in reality, I needed to hide the disgust plastered on my face after receiving compassion from this man.
The disgust wasn't initially genuine—he seemed like a good guy—but as I remembered what the Beast Tribe had done to my family and friends, it turned genuine swiftly.
The first guard led me over to his friend standing with the torch and a giant wolf behind him that I hadn't seen at first.
The wolf looked up briefly before putting its head back down and going to sleep.
The second soldier eyed me up and down before asking a question,
"You're from the colony?"
I scratched the back of my head, "Well, not from the colony, but I moved here recently." I replied.
The soldier laced his voice in sarcasm as if the statement was obvious, "Ah, okay."
The friendly soldier, who had greeted me in the first place, offered to help once more.
"You said you didn't leave through this way. Want me to show you back to the colony?"
Dipping my head once more to show thanks, "That would be very helpful," I responded.
The soldier looked at his friend and nodded before starting down the tunnel towards what I could only assume was the colony.
The second soldier eyed my sword as I passed by him. Much to my luck, he didn't say anything. He only scoffed and rolled his eyes, most likely thinking I was wealthy and ignorant.
Ignoring the soldier who remained behind, I trotted after the friendly man ahead of me.
"So, where are you from originally, Sir?" I asked, wanting to pry for a lot more information but holding my tongue.
He whipped his head around, "Ireta. Ever been there?"
I shook my head and looked down, averting his gaze, "Can't say that I have."
"Well, that's a bummer. You should go visit sometime."
I met his gaze again as I lifted my head and smiled, "Maybe I will."
We arrived at the entrance to the colony and what stood before me was stunning.
There were hundreds of houses and buildings built into the side of the walls, just like the Fire Tribe village.
Attempting to keep my composure, I bowed once more to the man who had led me here and went on my way.
As I walked through the village, I was attracted to the food stalls the most. Although I didn't need to eat, that didn't mean I didn't want to eat.
However, as a broke traveler—I decided that would be my identity—I didn't have the funds to spend on food.
I was ignorant of the culture and currency they used here. If it wasn't the same as Fire Tribe currency, I was dead out of luck. I also might need money to get information from people.
For the time being, I needed to investigate and learn more about my surroundings. Just who created this colony, anyways?
Logically, it would be the Beast Tribe. The man had mentioned 'God' instead of 'Goddess,' which means that this colony is either Demon Tribe, Ocean Tribe, or Beast Tribe. Considering I went southeast out of the Fire Tribe, geographically, the Beast Tribe would be closest, but again, nowhere near this close.
'Had they already advanced through miles of Fire Tribe territory? They must be trying to inhabit the original village.' I rubbed my chin as I thought of the possibilities while waiting in front of a fruit stand, hoping to see an exchange of money to identify what they were using.
After a brief exchange, I witnessed someone purchase something, and to my surprise, the silver coins we used at the Fire Tribe were in circulation. Other currencies were present, ones I did not recognize, but Fire Tribe coins also held value.
After making my discovery, I continued on my journey through the main street of the colony. Occasionally I heard bits and pieces of conversations as I strolled. However, even with nothing solid, my suspicions of the Beast Tribe grew more prevalent inside me.
As I walked, it suddenly hit me. I smacked my forehead with my palm and thought to myself,
'He literally had a wolf sitting next to him, and you attempted to argue they weren't Beast Tribe,' I berated myself.
Finally confirming that this was a Beast Tribe colony, I continued to look for a pub. Finding a pub full of drunk Beast Tribe members was my best chance at getting information.
As I continued to follow the bustling street noise, I finally came across a rowdy house that could only mean one thing: Alcohol.
Pushing open the swinging doors, I found a seat and ordered a drink. I paid with Fire Tribe money without a second look and received my brew.
I scanned the room before finding a particularly loud table of people who looked to be quite strong.
Making my way over to the table, I heard a bit of their conversation.
"And then I fucking stabbed him straight through his peace-loving heart!"
The group around the table erupted into disgusting laughter.
A pang of rage stopped me in the middle of the bar floor. I swallowed the lump growing in my throat and continued forward.
When I reached the table, they had quieted down a bit after reaching the climax of a story from, who I assumed to be, the strongest.
I sat down in the empty chair with my glass and noticed confused stares in my direction.
"Excuse me," I started, "could you tell me more about your adventures? I am a traveler, and I am seeking strong people to learn from."
I gazed over all the people present at the table, insinuating they were all strong.
My gesture seemed to please most of them as they began to erupt into storytelling again.
~~~
I learned a lot of information from the drunk Beast Tribe members. They had been a part of the original assault team on the Fire Tribe and the corpse cleanup crew after the fact.
'Makes sense,' I thought to myself, recalling how close we were to the main village and the lack of corpses when I exited the Goddess' realm.
After an hour of exchanging tales—using battle experiences from the Goddess' realm and added flair; I made up most of my stories—I grew the nerve to ask the question I had wanted to ask.
"Who would you consider to be the strongest in this colony?" I questioned the group.
A few puzzled faces appeared while others ignored the question as if they didn't want to answer.
The one I had assumed to be the strongest, who had only shared a few stories with me, spoke up.
"There is a Beast Tamer here," he said, "His name is Andreas. He leads the forces here."
I finished my glass and stood, "Thank you for talking to a weary traveler tonight. I truly appreciate it." I bowed my head and dropped my glass off at the bar.
I left through the doors into the cold tunnel with the noise of the pub fading behind me.
'I guess Andreas is my first target.'