Chapter 5 – Pride and Tribes

Ruler of Time and Space – that is the skill Aurum saw when he first accessed the System that governed all races, development and skills. Though the ability was held back by the energy that was required. By his energy. The moment he got Primordial Stone of Time, any restrictions on that inborn ability were blown away.

Once that happened, it not only allowed him to travel to the future but also the possibilities. The first thing he did was travel to the end of time, hoping to make a house in the apocalypse. Though none of the futures he went to were good for a Demon, there was one where these Gods ruled, feeding on humans and other creatures they kept as a pet. Then there was another were beasts ruled the world, he tried making a log house there, near the lake and live in peace. That failed because the beasts kept coming after him, finding him delicious.

He went to another possibility where Demons had survived. In this one, they couldn't keep sex zombies they made under control, causing the zombie population to evolve with the amount of energy produced in their nest. From there to the world where humans prayed to Gods and gained their skills in return. Demons were abhorred there. He didn't expect the Gods to be lenient towards him. The point of this was, there was one world which he found unique.

Death, had taken every living being, there wasn't a single life, yet, the machines were running, the futuristic cities were being maintained by the machines and AIs. He only came across one person there. To this day he wasn't sure what he was, human? Demon? AI? Cyborg? Android…or…Death.

Despite meeting for the first time, the two of them hit it off. He didn't ask about what happened to his world, and that man didn't tell him. Instead, he was interested in his power to interfere with time without any consequences to himself. He was interested in other times and possibilities, so they made a deal. Until the day Aurum decides to reincarnate and finally be free of his power over Time and Space, until he is travelling across time and space, he will carry the system along with him, and visit after every world so that man could have the data from his journeys.

The system was a record of his memories. Since he could read the memories of others, he sometimes got confused with his own memories. The system was there to be the wall between his memories and the memories of others. It was what protected him from losing himself. It was also his only friend who could travel through space and time, and daughter. That was who Ai was. The problem was, he couldn't tell that to Eve.

He wanted to shake his head as if that would throw these thoughts out of his mind. He didn't want his students to question his sanity on the subject. After the bath, they were all walking towards the dorm. He rested his palm on Eve's lower back, whose skin was glowing, giving off steam as she rested her head against his chest, keeping her eyes closed. She let him guide her back to her room, and he didn't mind.

He looked at her glowing face, her lips that made him want to kiss them all over again. It wasn't like the three walking in front of him were in a mood to peek they were walking like zombies who had seen the heaven. Ai giggled as she looked at them before she flew to his head, taking her rightful place on his head. She closed her eyes with a content smile, 'Papa…I missed you.'

Aurum parted his lips, letting out a defeated sigh. He was about to smile and tell her that he missed her too when she pulled on his hair, 'don't say. Tell me later. Right now, front, people, hostility.'

'Hostility? Who would be hostile to me in this world?' Aurum raised his eyebrows, ever so slightly. They were near the door, which opened the moment Sergei reached out to opening it. His students hurriedly greeted the man, and he shook Eve awake, who pulled on her white robe that was sticking to her body, "Sir Bret."

Aurum looked towards the man with light blue hair and blue eyes. He was thin and tall, carrying a prideful look on his face, 'he is wearing glasses. I didn't know they existed.'

The man seemed to have noticed him staring at the glasses, "If it isn't our young prodigies. Are you curious about these things?"

Aurum tilted his head from the comment, "Prodigies are young. You are young. You won't hear someone say–Look at that old man, he is teaching. He is a prodigy."

"Pff," Jax tried to hold back before he burst into laughter. Sergei didn't want to offend the senior teacher, so he looked away while Kael foolishly looked around to understand why they were laughing. When he looked towards the teacher Bret Zenifor, he only found a frustrated look on his face. The three of them felt intense pressure that shut their mouth. Before the teacher burst out in anger, Aurum kept his palm on his shoulder and spoke with the most earnest and pure expression.

"What I am saying is, those people are wrong and you are right. I believe that a person can find their passion at any age. Be it now or when they are old. One day they might be teaching when they realise that they are not cut out for it while gathering comes easily to them. It is totally alright for those people to leave teaching and go on extravagant trips to different tribes."

'Does he mean to say that I am not cut out for teaching, my years of experience means nothing! And they are only good for gathering!!'

Ai whispered in Eve's ear, "Papa translation on. He means to say –Fucker, you have been a teacher of a decade and your experience is only good for gather herbs. It's time you wake up, pack your bags and never show me your stupid face again."

Eve pressed the back of her fingers against her lips, trying her best not to laugh at Ai's comment. Still, she couldn't hold her shoulder from shivering. Seeing the girl whom he wanted to impress laugh at him, nothing could have made him angrier. Yet, he controlled his anger, looking at Aurum with a smug and disgusted look on his face, "Tribeless Mutt. You think you are something just because a few people pitied you and praised you with a few words?"

He didn't even look at Aurum any longer, suggesting to Eve, "Lady Eve, you are from an Upper Tribe. You shouldn't be with someone like him and his failure class. I am always ready to accept you as an assistant. You will learn much more by my side than with someone like him."

'Who are you calling failure!' Jax tightened his wrist. He wasn't the only one angry, but the pressure from a Totem warrior wasn't something that they could stand against.

Eve gripped on her robe's collar, lowering her head. Bret couldn't look into her eyes or at her face, since she had lowered her head. He thought she was being kind to the Tribeless, keeping last of his pride and so he left without anything else, not wanting to stay a moment longer, that action alone, of leaving without saying anything saved his life.

"Professor, let's kill him. If we bury him now, then no one will know," Eve stifled her voice. She wanted to shout at the disrespectful man, apologise to her big brother, for even knowing a person like that who would disrespect him. She felt if she didn't do anything then she would go crazy. It wasn't until he patted her that she felt a bit calmer.

"Sorry, Professor, we couldn't even speak in front of him," Jax wiped the sweat off his cheek, "he suddenly started emanating so much pressure, we couldn't even laugh. Or I would have given him a piece of my mind!"

"Pressure, what pressure?" Aurum blankly asked. He truly wasn't thinking about anything here. Ever since the other Professor said the word Tribeless, Aurum started combing through his memories, 'I missed the timing for a comeback.'

"Did you not feel that, Sir?! I am sweating so much that I need a bath! Not that I will ever go into a bath with that guy," Kael who was shouting at the top of his voice.

"Sorry about that, when he said Tribeless…I started about thinking of this emerging problem. I totally ignored him," Aurum scratched his head, and Eve finally let out a chuckle. Eve sighed, "I am sorry I got so worked up. As a teacher, I shouldn't."

"No, I like that you got worked up for me," Aurum gently said to her.

"Sir…the two of you," Sergei guessed that they were a couple, but he didn't ask about it after all. He changed the topic, "Sir, my Tribe is from colder regions. Since there aren't many tribes near us, we are always behind others. The new things I had learned were already five years old when I came here."

"Oh, walk with me to my room then," Aurum opened the door for them, "before the Tribes were officially named, people only knew other people by their names or specialties. After the whole concept of bathrooms and baths and stone crafting came to be, people started to settle down, crafting their houses, baths, and other things. Soon, they started naming themselves. Tell me, Sergei, why is your Tribe called Ice Bears?"

Sergei bewilderedly answered, "Because Ice Bears live in our region? Our Chief fought against the Chief of the Ice Bears and defeated him. They became friends after that fight and the fight between Ice Bears and Hunters became a ritual. If you defeat the Ice Bear then it would give us blood, and we can make our Totem. Some Ice Bears even team up with the person who beat them. That's why if you come to our tribe, then you can see Ice Bears alongside their partners on the roads."

"And you pride yourself in that fact. Let me guess, one day you want to defeat an Ice Bear and make him your partner?" Aurum chuckled, reading the boy's face.

"Not just any Ice Bear!" Sergei clenched his fist with zeal, "I want to defeat the strongest of them all! No one been able to beat Glacier! Not in this generation!"

Aurum glanced towards Jax, who lowered his eyes when he heard Sergei's excited words, "yeah, that Pride is good, and healthy. Not for the First Generation of Children, though. They were at the forefront when this was all happening, the tribes were forming. Once tribes formed, they had names, everyone had some sort of Pride, and then Tribe with great strength started emerging. These tribes had stronger Totem Warriors, more resources, some were so strong that their weakest warrior could take on two or three tribes. Tribes that were nearby started collecting towards the strongest in their area. That's how the Upper Tribe's came to be."

He read his memories, which Ai helped sort, providing him with the best info. He glanced towards Jax, who was maddened and upset ever since he heard the word Tribeless, "when the children from two or three tribes started going to these Upper Tribes and their amazement and praises made the children of Upper Tribe feel superior, everyone handled it differently. There are people like Eve, who take it gracefully and treat others nicely despite which Tribe they are from. Then there are those like Sir Bret, who, when like a girl can't stay it straight. They have to use their position and power to impress them, since that is the only way things have ever worked for them."

"I am sorry sir, I am causing trouble for you," Eve nibbled the soft inside of her lip between her teeth, apologetically looking down as if it was all her fault.

"Eve, you are beautiful, that is what you should be proud of. If an idiot is causing trouble because you are beautiful, then that is not on you," Aurum took her palm in his hand. Seeing the smile on her face as she gripped his palm, he raised his voice, "anyway. Don't let Bret spoil your fun. If you feel like you are angry at him, then just think, what you saw today in the bath. He will never see that."

Sergei's mouth twitched. His cheeks became flushed red in seconds. He sneaked glances towards Eve, who had let go of her collar, revealing much of her cleavage, "Now I feel strange for a different reason."

"Me too…" Kael hid his groin, "I am going to go to bed."

"See you tomorrow, Professor," Jax grinned, waving his hand. The three of them hurried, and their voice became fainter and fainted until they died down. The halls became silent again, enough for the voice of the door opening and close to resound loud enough that one could hear it from the end of the corridor. In the dark room, with slightest of moonlight allowing them to see their feet and look into each other's eyes.

"Big brother…I am sorry…you had to stay silent after being insulted," Eve buried her head in his chest, tightly hanging onto him.

Aurum put his arms around her, 'having travelled for so long…if I were to get angry over such a little thing…I wouldn't be Aurum. Normally…I wouldn't even care.'

"Did you notice Jax's expression?"

"Jax?" Eve silently shook her head. She was still trying to piece together how did his thoughts reached from getting insulted to Jax's expression. All she could think about were ways to cut Bret's tongue for starters.

"I might have to do something about that perception," Aurum whispered. In the silent, dark room, his whisper couldn't be any louder. It left Eve conflicted; she didn't want him to do anything dangerous. Yet, she never wanted to hear anyone else insult him as Tribeless, "Big brother…I'll do my best to help you."

Aurum tilted his head. He leaned forward to plant his lips on hers, sucking on her soft flesh, feeling his primal lust, "Mm, I know exactly how you can help me with this traumatic incident."

Eve giggled, kissing him back, sultry whispering to him, "Yes, big brother…let me help you forget all about it."