Power Hungry

Duae

"Poor thing." I said as I witnessed the female jackal being crushed by the alpha known as Log. The giant gorilla showed no mercy as it snuffed out the hound's life. My heart went out to the young beast. She had quite the future, but Canem chose to follow the princess. Even when I tried to make the jackals submit to me, they ignored me and searched for Gora. I watched as Canis went berserk almost instantly. He charged in recklessly.

Gora remained frozen in place. I watch her face go through various emotions, sorrow, pity, rage, then nothing. The princess's eyes seem to lose their shine. I remember the look all too well. Back when I faced off against Gora, she had given me the same look. I watched in awe as she began to move.

She noticed the tiger who planned to ambush her in her distraught state. She threw a barrage of fruits and nuts all covered in her Ki. This time, the tigre saw through the trick, but there were just too many to dodge all of them. Gora didn't even look at the tigre as she ran for the gorilla.

Boom!

Canis had beat her to the gorilla but could not get close as the beast swung his massive fist at the small hound. Lucky for the jackal, it was able to dodge. In seconds Gora was there cutting the gorilla's arms from wrist to elbow. (Too bad she's not stronger.) I thought as the princess only succeeded in giving the beast a flesh wound. Gora's attack might as well have been a tiny scratch. That's how effective it was.

AHHHH!

The gorilla screamed as it received a blow meant for Gora. The tigre had decided to join the fray. The princess seemed to weave through both of the massive beasts with relative ease. It was just a shame that none of her attacks did much damage. Then Canis was taken out of the fight as quickly as it started. Log kicked the hound hard and sent him flying. The small jackal was limp after hitting the ground. ( Why did the king drag these pups here.) I thought with pity. I hated to see the beautiful beast suffer in such away.

I also thought I was about to witness the end of the princess. I figured she would lose herself in her rage and go out swinging. Instead, she was stopped by an evolved spider monkey. ( Now this is interesting.) I thought as I examined the new beast. I had seen it run off earlier with two other beasts, but now it was alone. The spider monkey and Gora talked for a bit while the tigre and the alpha gorilla battled it out. I don't know what the monkey told the princess, but she decided to quit fighting and run for it. She grabbed Canis and ran.

Now there were just the three alphas. The beasts were vicious in their attacks—blood-soaked the small pond, and the ground shook. The trees broke and splintered as the kings of the forest fought for supremacy. In the end, no one succeeded in winning. Both the gorilla and the tigre lived to fight another day. However, they did wound each other heavily. I assumed they wouldn't be fighting again for some time. Someone did die, though. The spider monkey that helped Gora lay dead on the forest floor. I tugged at my heart. Before joining the battle, the spider monkey was already injured, so I figured it wouldn't last long. But still after watching the spider monkey fight so hard made me proud to be a beast myself.

"Now, where have you gone, little princess." I said after giving the dead beast one last look. I looked in the direction Gora ran and began my search. It didn't take long for me to catch up to them. The princess moved slowly on account of carrying an unconscious hound. She was also still recovering from her injuries. I was again amazed at how the princess managed to survive with only one working arm. The girl had grit I'd give her that not many her age could survive, let alone run in such a condition.

(Where are they going?) I wondered as I followed Gora. She was being helped by a par of spider monkey, much like the beast that helped the princess earlier. The princess was led through the forest by a layer four monkey while a layer two rested on her shoulders. I had to hand it to the little monkey that led the way. It was navigating the forest in a way I didn't think was possible for a creature so young. The beast had probably just reached adulthood. Still, the monkey seemed to move with purpose avoiding danger from other animals.

The group ran four miles, always moving even when the leading monkey started to slow down. They only stopped when they reached their destination. Black tree surrounded the group now. They had made it to a section of the forest-covered in dead trees. It was a place destroyed by war and has never grown back. Food didn't grow in the area either, so it was void of any life. (It's an excellent place to hide.) I thought. There was no fear of preditor wonder in this part of the forest. Getting food would be an issue, but it would take weeks before the tigre and gorilla heal, so the princess had time to figure that out.

I watched as the group settled down to rest. The monkeys went to bed almost instantly. Gora, on the other hand, stayed up. She looked to be deep in thought when Canis woke up in his rage. The jackal bit Gora on her hand. Again my heart pained for the little one. The feeling of losing a sibling is hard, but to lose a twin. I figured it would be like losing a piece of one's self. It looked as if Canis was about to leave the princess, but instead, he just distanced himself from her. I watched as Gora shed a tear, only one. I thought she would be a crying mess right now, but that wasn't the case.

The princess sat crosslegged under a tree and closed her eyes. Then she took something out of her spacial ring. ( Are those earrings?) I thought as the princess pierced her ears. Blood fell from her ear, but she ignored it and started meditating. I could sense a large amount of Ki coming from Gora now. The ki didn't belong to the girl, however.

"The earrings must have Ki in them." I mumble as I examine the princess from afar. I guessed that she was using the foreign Ki to heal faster, which was a good plan. However, I didn't know what she would do once she fully recovered. The alphas will surely come after her soon. ( Maybe her luck is running out.) I thought as I laid back in my tree to rest myself.

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"Goddess what a monster." I thought as I watched the princess train. If you could call it that? The girl was busy cultivating an ancient Ti-Ki technique. It was known as braided-muscle, invented by trolls. It is used explicitly by troll women. The Ti-Ki style is meant to increase one's strength and shrink the muscles. A person does this by tearing their muscles apart and braiding them around each other to make them extremely strong. Braided muscle wasn't hard to learn, only extremely painful to practice.

Although trolls practice this style of Ti-Ki, many of them would never go as far as Gora. She had already breaded her muscles three times. Instead of the muscles girl before, she was now looking like a twig. If one were to look at her up close, one would see the tightness in her limbs. Gora never screamed as she continued to tear her muscles. If I had to guess, the girl is at least a layer, four Ti-Ki artists. The feat was almost unheard of at her age. Gora was indeed a prodigy.

I had been watching Gora for about two months now, and I concluded. The princess growth was simply frightening. She had not only reached layer four in the body but had also mastered the basics of one of the Ti-Ki manuals. Every day before Gora would go out for the hunt, she would train in hand-to-hand combat. The princess would fight the dead trees around her. Over the past two months, the princess's eyes stayed glossed over as if she was a zombie. Her focus became only on eating, sleeping, and training.

Every morning the Gora would wake up, train for a few hours, eat lunch, then train some more. At night she would meditate and cultivate her soul core if she wasn't practicing her techniques or reading the manuals given to her on her birthday. She was hunting. After only a month of staying in the dead forest, the group had run out of food. Meaning Gora had to leave the safety of their new hiding place to hunt for more. Hunt should not be the word. The princess Slaughtered any animal she came across. Layer four beast was no longer her match, and the girl was now wrestling boars with her bare hands. It was quite the sight watching tiny Gora overpower giant beasts. The little girl showed no mercy as she brutally snapped the necks of many creatures.

Yes, the girl had grown into a monster, but more enormous monsters were starting to move. The tigre and the gorilla had finally healed enough to move. Although not very far from their dens. I knew it was only a matter of time before they came after Gora. Although she had cultivated her core, she still hadn't progressed to the next layer. Mean the princess had a layer four-body with a layer two soul core. The girl was close to becoming a layer three. It would take a few more weeks, I guessed. I didn't envy Gora. However, she was going to have to survive the backlash of leveling up. When a person ranks up, they must survive the breakthrough. Most don't have much of a problem breaking through, but Gora's element was different and brutal. If I had her dark element, I would surely dread ranking up myself.

Even if she does survive, it still wouldn't be enough power to fight the alpha beast. ( This time, she may stand a chance.) I thought as I looked at the older monkey. The spider monkey had shocked me the most. The princess had given the creature the earings containing foreign Ki. It had a small amount of Ki left after Gora used it to heal. With the earings, the spider monkey was allowed to reach layer five. The shock came when she evolved, however. Instead of becoming a mythical creature, the spider monkey chose to take human form.

Braided-Muscle: A technique created by the trolls to skink muscles. Initially, braided muscle was created by troll women who were tired of being ridiculed for their larger frames. It is said that long ago, before the demon kingdom united. A troll princess once mastered the art so well she could pose as a regular human. If not for her blue skin. Unexpectedly the braid muscles technique made the troll woman much stronger than their male counterparts. This fact may be why, over the years, the trend started to reversive in troll societies. Nowadays, the more muscular a troll is, the more beautiful they are, making braided-muscle a mostly forgotten art.

Breakthrough/Ranking up: This is when a person progresses to the next layer. For example, when a beast levels up from layer three to layer four.

Backlash: Some people are born with rare elements, Like black lightning and the black flame. These elements are known to test their wielders upon breaking through to the next layer. For instance, one may have to survive the heat of the black flame or be struck by black-lighting. When this happens, it is known as backlash and can be fatal to the element holder. But if one survives backlash, they will be far stronger than an average person of the same layer.

Meditating: An awaken uses meditation to cultivate their soul core. Think of the soul core as a tiny circle inside your body. A person must use the Ki/Mana in their body to form more layers around their soul core. Making the small circle bigger and thereby strengthening a person's core power. A person's core will naturally grow on its own over time but very slowly. Meditation is used to speed up core cultivation. The amount of Ki/Mana a person possesses and their knowledge of how it flows through the body. Determines how fast one can cultivate their soul core. It also takes an enormous amount of concentration to meditate for long periods.