14 Chapter 10: Land, Friends, and Meetings.

Well… That was annoying as fuck. Not only was I forced to add a prick to my pantheon, but I also lost track of the other rafts. I mean come on! Where's the camaraderie!? Even if they didn't want to fight such a being, couldn't the gutless cowards wait for us? Meh, of course not. Even I thought that we had no chance of survival, so why would a bunch of primitives think otherwise and endanger themselves for no benefits? Nobody's that stupid… Well, except heroes. Most of those people are the dumbest, most naïve, and the simplest to manipulate idiots you could ever find in the whole wide world! I mean worlds… you get what I mean.

2 days have passed since that fiasco and thank the creator that we managed to remain on the same path without deviating… much. If the fog hadn't cleared due to some giant worm-thing's help and the continent wasn't already visible from this distance, we would've been lost at sea. That would've spelled our doom since we ran out of supplies this morning.

"Ja. (Hey)", says the girl as she rows ahead.

"Joma Maja. (Water Magic)", Says the girl as she points at the water. Poor thing must be tired after rowing for so long. At least she's not having it as hard as my brother, whose taking my shift as punishment for almost killing us. Hmm? No it's an actual punishment, and it's not me being so lazy that I'm using discipline as an excuse to avoid such mind-numbing work either! Even if it is, wouldn't it make sense for the guardian of an entire race to delegate some tasks to individuals instead of doing everything himself like a wage hungry part-time restaurant slave for an establishment with a penny pincher as a boss? Of course it does! Since if I do everything for the Tagan, they'd rely on me for everything, thus losing their ability to adapt by themselves and in return creating a fragile foundation that'll easily crumble if I'm ever gone, and that can never happen.

"Joja Maja (No Magic)", I say to the girl, which gets everyone to grumble for different reasons. The girl knows that since more than one day has passed, I'd have already recovered, but I won't waste any of my energy, since who knows what could happen, while my siblings think that it was just some one time blessing from Awa, or why didn't I just use any of those strange powers again?

Now that it's established that I won't use any sort of power, we continued to row for the continent without stop.

---

Thunk.

Finally… Finally, after another day of rowing, we've reached the continent in the darkness of night. Everyone is asleep except me, who decided to speed things up a bit by using my magic when no one's awake to call me out on not using it in the morning. I know what you're going to say. Why would I be hypocritical and do something like that? Well, for 2 important reasons, reason number one, is that I take the night watch or tell me, why didn't we deviate from our course or meet our special lovely cuddly sea friends who come out at night to say hello, give us a hug and maybe a friendly nibble or two? And reason number two, is not only that I'm so bored that I wanted to speed things up, but also we ran out of supplies yesterday. We could easily fish for food if we want to risk eating raw fish, but what about water? Keep in mind, that our tails act as a fat storage, not a water reserve. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I'm the only one with the ability to filter sea water, but where do I put the extra salt? We have multiple bowls for water, and we can fill so many in a single casting, and it doesn't need mentioning that I need to retain enough energy incase said lovely sea friends drop by. If only we were one of the few rafts that were responsible for storing extra supplies, but sadly we're not…

No matter. It's time to do what every sane man would do once they've reached land after travelling by raft. I straighten my back, clear my voice, and, "OOOOGOOOWAAAA! (Land)". Yup, I screamed startling everyone awake, and then started playing with the sand.

"Ogowa? (Land) Ogowa! (Land)", yelled my siblings, as they hugged, jumped around, and started playing around. Can't blame them, days at sea with such conditions can make anyone go silly. Can you believe how hard it is to take a dump when you're on a raft with other people? You have to either squat on the edge of the raft and hope that none of the shit gets stuck to it, because you're the one who's going to clean it, or go into the cold freezing water and hope that there's no creature who wants to try the unique experience of tasting a Tagan is nearby, and if there is one, you have to hope that your buddies can pull you up fast enough without capsizing the thing… I almost became fish food…

Well, at least we finally reached land. We still have to find some clues that tell us where are the others though, unless we want the sea to drag everything away, leaving us blind with no idea of where to go tomorrow. So we better get started.

"Owa joh! (Come here)", I tell the others after finding a raft benched nearby.

The others approach and we started looking around in search of more rafts, tools, and tracks to follow.

It took us about 30 minutes till we found a horn and a 2 more rafts in the nearby vicinity. Great, that means that we're on the right track. We better continue the search in the morning, because I doubt we can find their tracks in the night, and I honestly don't even want to try.

First thing first, we dragged the 4 rafts as far away from the sea as possible, so that they don't get swept by the waves, since even if we're not going to sail again, there's no reason to waste good vines and wood. After that, due to the lack of dry wood and kindling, we decided that 3 of us will huddle together for warmth in order to sleep, while one will stay on guard in case of dangerous predators. Yeah, I don't like this either, since it's freezing and one Tagan on guard duty won't be enough, but what can I do? Considering the fact that the Tagan are still fairly hairy, introducing clothing wouldn't have been popular, especially in hot climates, where they'd sweat a lot due to the extra hair increasing their body's heat, and also said hair would trap the sweat preventing the body from cooling properly, though if I have to be fair, since some groups are heading north to colder climates, introducing clothing is mandatory. Yeah, I'll do that after ascending, which would be pretty soon if we manage to find a group tomorrow.

Welp, we better sleep now. It's not like we have anything better to do. Since my brother slept the earliest and I was the last person awake, he's, much to his displeasure, on guard duty.

The girls and I made sure that we're as cozy as we can be as we cuddled together… and I spot him looking at us… Better prepare myself, since if life was a novel or a game, this is the part where either his envy starts building up leading to a scenario where he hates my guts, or he starts doubting himself and starts to develop an inferiority complex towards me, which leads to him betraying us by becoming the underling of some fat noble who thinks he'll become king by building an unholy army only to be betrayed by his androgynous right-hand man who's the true mastermind, or by serving a skinny old man wearing a black robe and possibly a white or golden mask vying to cleanse the world of its sins, but after causing trouble for us multiple times in our journey and being defeated in some grand final showdown involving only the two of us, he'll have a change of heart and either join us or sacrifice himself to save our lives… Yeah… nope. Not gonna happen. Though there're no piggy nobles or creepy delusional old men who smell of overripe prunes yet, there could be more Sakitun like Kagaras, but with more headache inducing intentions, so I better solve this problem after uniting with the other Tagan before it escalates.

Well, I can't do anything for now. I'm too tired for this shit, so I better enjoy a deep relaxing sleep between 2 girls and do something tomorrow.

Good… Night…

---

Hm… stop… tickling me…

I… said stop…

…

That's it. Who's the wise-

"Wa!?", I scream as I see my brother holding a stick in both his hands, right before he brings it down.

Oh shit!

I close my eyes and try to immediately eject.

---

Thud.

Crack.

Did it work? I'm not dead, am I?

I open my eyes to see the gruesome sight, but it's not exactly what I expected. Yes, there is blood everywhere, but it's not red and it's not from my vessel, it's from some large black 8 legged thing with giant claws secreting a yellow ooze. That freaky thing is the size of my head. Huh… he saved my, well the kid's life… I seem to have misjudged him… Way to go, jackass. Now I feel like an asshole, which if I'm being honest, I kind of am one, but I don't like it when someone or something reminds me of that fact, so thanks a lot.

Oh, it just twitch-

Smash.

Crunch.

Crack.

Well, it's dead. It stopped twitching and if this thing has the same structure as a crab, he just turned its dorsal ganglion and heart into mush. That and traumatized a kid who's currently crying while covering his head, much to the shock of the two girls. It's kind of weird that he didn't piss himself and accidently spray it on one of the girl. Hopefully if he did, it would be the annoying magic girl.

"Hi, Leon!", I see Awe some distance to the left, laying down on the sand.

"Hello Awe. How was life without me?", I ask the girl, who I kind of missed her company. It's already enough that I can't meet my old colleagues and assistants, and I don't want to lose the current ones. I really should ask Azan what happened to Hannah and Otto.

"Honestly, it sucked. It's all work, work, work. With no fun at all.".

"Really? Considering it's you we're talking about, I thought that you'd spend these years fucking men left and right.".

"I wish. These years were a nightmare, especially the last three. No sex at all! Imagine if you're in my place and you didn't do what your made to do for three whole years! It felt like a punishment!".

"Sorry for leaving all that burden on you.", I say causing her to give me a beaming smile, "Despite the fact that it's your fault that I reincarnated in the first place.", and there goes the smile turning into a frown.

"Go fuck yourself. You asshole".

Ah, doesn't it put a smile on your face when you piss someone off? It does for me, anyway.

Anyways, we have work to be done, and it's getting kind of noisy in the background.

"Jowojo! (Apologize)", says the sister as she scolds the older brother.

"Joja! (No) Wajajo Jojawa! (Saved Life)", argues the brother in return, while the kid stopped crying, but is being comforted by the magic girl. Oh, so she does have a heart. Considering her personality, I thought she was one of those magic and knowledge above all else types.

"Let's go up.", I tell Awe, resulting in a nod. Then we start to ascend till we reached the upper strata, then I asked her "So what happened while I was down there?".

"Nothing much, from the Tagan, 4 groups were wiped out, but in return another 12 were formed resulting in 150 groups.".

Great. Considering the number of the Tagan, I expected it would be harder on her, but she handled it better than I expected. 150 groups from… the… Tagan… "Wait. From the Tagan?".

"Yup!", she replied smiling. "Some those furry people that attacked you before secretly followed you guys till the beach, and when you left, they happened to find a few statues. They were extremely interested by them, especially my statues, so they started making their own and spread them among their kind. Which led to some common grounds between them and the Tagan, from whom they learned the purpose of those statues and our names.".

"Did they really get along? I find it hard to believe, considering the language barrier and differences between the 2 species.". If it was the same race, but different cultures, I'd get that they'd find some common grounds eventually… or fight to the death to prove who's better than who, which history proved is the more common form of first contact, or was trading and getting drunk the more common form of contact? Meh, who cares. What matters is that, yesterday's enemy is tomorrow's friend and all that nonsense, or was it tomorrow's slaves? Doesn't really matter, what matters is that it seems that peaceful relations with them are possible, but that kind of surprises me, since 2 different species with different languages, body builds, and diets were capable of communicating? It would take quite a while for those to become actual friends, if at all.

"Well, not really… It mostly depended on which group from the Tagan and which group from those people. Sometimes one group would try to attack another, sometimes they would set territories, sometimes they'd trade, and sometimes they'd help each other out for nothing in return, though that only happened once. I don't know if the reason that some of the groups from both races even communicate with each other is because they're still simple or because they understand that the last thing they need is a rival or an enemy.".

"It's probably both. So how many groups from the Sewan do we have?", I ask the girl.

"Sewan, huh? At the moment it's just 5. Not much, I know, but still a good start.".

"A really good start, if I do say so myself.".

"By the way, what happened when you were sailing to the new continent? A dark fog blocked my vision, and I could neither go past it, or sense anything in it. Not even you.".

"Oh that… Sigh… Why did you have to remind me?".

"Remind you of what?", asks the oblivious girl.

"A new Sakit that'll join our pantheon named Kagaras, or as I like to call him, 'The asshole who forced himself into my pantheon'. It's long, it's not funny, but it's a hundred percent true.".

"So why not reject him? What's the worst that he could do?", oh you silly little thing. Let me enlighten you, okay?

"Ruin everything I worked for, terrorize whatever remains, and if he has enough juice to find another world and is crazy enough to do it, destroy all sapient life on the planet, need I say more?", considering how pale she got, I guess not.

"And before you ask, for the moment we'll let him join us since I won't say no to free experienced hands… I mean wings… tail? Bah, whatever. I just won't say no and look a gift horse in the mouth. Even if it's a shitty horse that deserves to be made into jerky. We'll just have to bear with him, at least until Azan comes.".

"What if Azan isn't strong enough to handle him, or if he is, but thinks it's a good idea to have him around?".

"Well, that's what I fear, and if that did happen, then I have no choice but to keep him around, but make sure that I'll make him miserable enough to leave.".

"I highly doubt that.", says Awe while shaking her head.

"Why do you doubt it?".

"Because it's you we're talking about. If he's actually productive, you'll lose all ideas about revenge and will actually start liking the guy.".

Me not holding a grudge? Impossible. "It seems that you don't know me well.".

She rolls her eyes and says, "Be honest with me. Aren't you the type of guy that cares more about results than petty grudges?"

"Nope."

Now she smiled, "Oh yeah? I remember that one time, there was this old male Tagan in his early 30s that kept disfiguring your statues. At that time, you tried asking him why he did that by telepathic communication, but instead of answering, he cursed you, which made your left eye twitch a little. You even descended, but when you tried to talk to him, he flung shit at you. Fortunately, there were still not enough groups recognizing your existence for you to be tangible, so the shit just passed through you. Unfortunately, that means you couldn't touch him either, so you couldn't, according to you, 'beat the ever living shit out of him, then rip his limbs off, and feed him to the local wildlife after ripping out his eyelids so he sees every detail as his body is being eaten alive by hungry beasts.'."

…

"…Did I really say that…? Guess I was pretty mad.".

Awe smirked before replying, "Mad? Calling that being mad is an understatement. you were pretty scary as you kept describing how you'll make him suffer. Thank the creator that guides need more followers than Sakitun to become tangible. Though it makes sense, since according to Azan, the physical form of a guide is 5 times stronger than a Sakit.".

…

"…Well, considering the fact that not only he disfigured the already crude statues of my handsome face, but also tried to humiliate me and cover me with his own excrements, I believe my reaction is understandable, and now that you mention it, I'm surprised that in the end I forgave him.".

"Well, considering the fact that a few weeks later, he not only saved a group from a Karza ambush, but he's also the who first Tagan who started using vines and the pioneer of hafting. It's not that much of a surprise.".

"Ah yes, that was a momentous occasion. If he didn't create that stone tipped spear and taught the technique to nearby groups, I wouldn't have changed my mind and decided to give him another chance. And you also reminded me about the Karza problem.". those little pests were one of the few freaks that started to spread outside of their old territories, and let me tell you, they spread like wildfire. Thankfully, they haven't left the old continent and spread to the others. Yet that is, considering the fact that they multiply like rabbits, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that one continent won't be enough for those abominations.

"They're a problem alright, but not too big of a problem. They're weak, and cowardly. Not to mention that most of them try to avoid the Tagan, unless if they have no other choice, or if they're too horny, stupid, or a mix of both. Can't believe they can mate with anything.", And she had to remind me of a disturbing feature of theirs. Both males and females can mate with other species, their children would always be a Karza, but they retain some features of their other parent. Oh and they're the rape race that can be found in fantasy novels. By the way, if you think male monster rape is bad, you don't want to see how females Karza chop off the limbs of their mate, release some weird pheromone that makes their target erect under any circumstance, and rape them, only to eat their still erect victim once they get impregnated. Heck, whenever a female Karza is in heat, the males of their specie run away as if their lives depended on it, since they're no exception to this twisted act.

"They're still a menace that needs to be wiped out.".

Awe yawns, then says, "Yeah, yeah. A menace, another chore, whatever. Let's continue the story.".

"What story? That's it. The only thing that we didn't mention is that the reason he hated me was because his group was wiped out, and I didn't save them. Which isn't a big deal to me, since we're not omnipotent and omnipresent. We don't know everything, we can't answer every cry for help, and we can't save everyone. The only thing we can do is save and guide as many as we can.". Yeah, the truth is hard, but that's what it is, the truth. Sheesh, you don't have to look so sad.

She then brightens up, and says with a smile, "At least, the new guy will make things easier.".

"Hopefully. The last thing we need is another mess on our plate. Anyways, are you ready to meet the new guy?".

"Sure!", well, someone's excited.

Now let's go invite our new 'friend' to the little fun job of ours that is guiding young races on the path to civilization, also known as 'how to make sure that your monkey people don't die in 30 seconds'.