80. Chasm between Mortal and Immortal

{A Toruk.}, Liam said in Na'vi looking at Ewya whose relaxed smile enlarged showing sharp canines as the beast in question could be seen in the sky approaching them, It was a brilliant orange with blue and violet mixed at its tails and wings extremities creating patterns akin to flames with a bit of imagination.

He deactivated the targeting system of his many turrets around the island not wanting to turn the majestic creature into mince meat but still at any wrong movement from it death would rain in the form of anti-tank rounds from all sides.

'Do not try to attack it or worse to kill it.', he also ordered his tames at his side through the links, and they could kill the Great Leonopteryx, Orien, Septen, Occiden, Meri and Gladius, the five present on land could do this much and Aegis now back around the island could bite the giant dragon-like animal in two in one chomp if given the opportunity.

A nalutsa is not a Great Leonopteryx predator per se, preferring smaller less dangerous prey like sea banshees or medusas, the giant floating jellyfish, but they won't say no to a bigger arrogant slab of meat if given the opportunity.

It rarely if ever happens because Great Leonopteryx don't live in coastal areas preferring mountains be they on land or floating and even in case of travel to find mates they know of the danger hidden in the water below. The ones who don't and fly too low are to never be seen again.

As big, strong, and menacing as Great Leonopteryx is it is still an animal, a very smart one, some would say on par with Na'vi but still one in its essence.

There was a chasm between potential intelligence and the collective one cultivated by a civilization several thousand years old at the minimum as primitive as it is on the technological front. Nature and nurture are inseparable from the others in how they influence individuals.

In any case, it wouldn't change anyone's reaction from having their eyeballs clawed and eaten out by four hyper-trained perfectly coordinated tetrapterons all the while being deafened, stunned, and possibly wounded by the controlled scream of a great austrapede would lead to a very bad end. And this was without any of his tames being equipped for combat.

The creature was still a fantastic animal but as smart as it was it was wild and had not worked to the bones from birth to be the best it could possibly be. Individually they would lose but they are not functioning on this wavelength.

The Great Leonopteryx flew down and hovered above the rocky clearing right in front of them, the beats of its four massive wings generating powerful gusts of air that blew dust, branches, small plants, and their hair with the force behind the artificial wind.

Its wings slowed down as it landed, the few plants below its clawed feet crushed as its four-eyed gazes shifted from him to her, no aggression, wariness, or hostility within them, it didn't even dare look into their eyes as if it would be the greatest of affront and it didn't deserve to look at them as equal, and it was because they weren't.

And it translated within its eyes as something akin to curiosity and respect for Liam and adulation to the point of worship for Eywa could be seen.

It was a bizarre sight, such an Apex predator not having the capacity to even stare fully into two cooperatively tiny creatures that in normal time would be but small snacks in between larger meals as if daring to even look into her or his eyes by extension was the greatest of sin.

Its long muscular neck bent down and a low powerful purr mixed with a click escaped its throat, It was a cry to show its obedience as it put its neck and belly in a vulnerable position as its body language shifted into that of total submission. Yet the majesty of the Pandoran dragon didn't disappear.

"And to think it nearly cost Jake life for a temporary bond with such a creature of your making. One gaze and total submission are earned, as it should I presume.", Liam said with fascination, it earned him an amused glance from Eywa.

"Indeed, this child is but an infinitely small fraction of a greater whole, the All-Mother, me. This but for me a mere thought.", she acknowledged and spoke further this time in a hard-to-read tone, "But in the same line of thoughts for bonding with one of my children, you are not entirely different and it is what is beyond praiseworthy. You have taken and will take risks, calculated and controlled as they may be that We would not dare to."

"I appreciate the compliment but I will not stay here and hear you say you are incapable of taking risks, you decided to give me a chance, and gave me your full trust by becoming my mate after all. For all intent and purpose, I could have nefarious goals and be another invader who cared only for getting the most benefit out of you and Pandora, all my actions made to fool you. This aside… What is this {Toruk} name?", he asked his hand over her back tightening possessively, he didn't like how she tore herself down and he knew it was an equal feeling for herself about him.

"Her name is Tun, a young one freshly out of the nest, by force just like her brother who didn't manage to fly until it was too late.", she announced both off-handedly like it was nothing and with sadness as she walked toward the submitted Toruk.

Her steps were nonchalant and very relaxed yet elegant, her long tail flicking behind her letting go of the loving snare around his leg. Her body language, if extremely confident, was also almost lazy in a way accentuating the earlier factor further.

But each of her movements was optimized, and controlled perfectly creating a deep uncanny feeling for anyone that wouldn't be him, it was not normal for any biological being to have such a degree of control over their body.

It gave him an impression of how others must be seeing him as it was even more pronounced in his case at times as in his case he wasn't fully organic.

She patted the tip of the Great Leonopteryx beak full of almost human-sized teeth as it froze and with a tilt of her head toward Liam she stirred and jumped, and she jumped increased, impossibly so.

Three times her height in fact, then she spun in the air using her tail and limbs doing several figures that would put to shame any athlete in human history then she landed with the very tips of her clawed toes atop the blue upper crest of the flying beast. Her eyes into his own and her body in a natural elegant innocent yet sensual position, challenging him.

"Show off.", he scoffed with a smirk at the more than impressive show of a fraction of her capabilities as he began advancing toward her.

She was the will of a gestalt composed of trillion upon trillion upon trillion upon and upon trillion of being from simple unicellular organisms to more complex ones like Na'vi.

All of their knowledge, experience, talents, instincts, intuition, creativity, and imagination were hers, no matter from whom, age, species, or sex, no matter how insignificant the being came from or how useless it might seem.

And she possessed the best of all of her children since her birth as the All-Mother. It was hard to describe her as any other thing than a goddess because that was how mortal beings would call something like her and by many metrics that would be true.

That is what he understood from what he glimpsed and that she told him with various educated guesses. But understanding a hive mind was no easy task, even less so when she was his equivalent of a wife.

Yet no matter her knowledge and everything after she was not omniscient, she was lacking greatly in a deeper understanding of the greater world and ignorant of many things.

But that was where he came in, he lacked what she had and she lacked what he had, both parties bringing something to the table, both compensating and helping their other half. They were a team, two being in a symbiosis beyond the simple primal need of life to continue.

A collar of synthetic fabric and metal appeared in his left hand as he threw it at her, it was a microphone for them to communicate at a distance. She caught it and put it on, fully knowing what it was and its purpose.

Right after he took a running position, his feet pushed the stone and gravel away before he began running. He passed from zero kilometers per hour to speed far beyond human, faster than the first day when he ran for his life.

Thanks to longer legs, great bodily control, and a lot of exercising, his maximum speed has almost doubled. Running at around seventy kilometers an hour (~44mi/h) was still extremely slow compared to what he could achieve with Tek.

Her pale pink eyes similar to ones with albinism feasted on his every movement as he ran with what anyone would call suicidal recklessness toward the hundred and fifty meters (~492ft) tall cliff that led to the sea down below.

{Take off my child, let us see what ingenious idea my mate has in mind.}, she said.

Her words were laws the female Great Leanopteryx obeyed immediately following the will of the All-Mother flying above the sea and once above the void she kept her position with mocking simplicity, she even hunched over to have better sight.

At worst she was no stranger to diving, having bonafide millions of years of experience from literally millions of species. A few injuries were no problem either as long as not too crippling. This body was certainly more valuable than an old Tree of Souls and would be unpleasant to lose but it would be more of an annoyance than anything else.

Liam saw what she had done with his eyes and the empathetic bond that gave him awareness of where she was, flashing her a grin and then pushing strength into his legs, the vein popping as he leaped into the air.

The sensation of not having his feet on the ground well known to him as jumping from a cliff was a pleasant experience more so with Miles when the boy was evidently piloting his mecha.

Several dozen meters was no problem, Pandora had lower gravity and a dense atmosphere making it less dangerous than on Earth if the planet was liveable but when going higher at some point no matter the position or technique at best fractures were to be expected and at worst it was death. For regular humans that is.

Spinning on himself he felt the air against his body as he stared into Eywa's eyes and took several poses typically seen in bodybuilding competitions, the point being to amuse her and give a unique aerial show of which was a first in this universe.

He knew she loved this physical aspect of him for some odd reasons considering what she was, a sexless ancient consciousness of the moon's biosphere not that he complained. And if there was a weird one it would be him in the equation.

Doing one last pause he placed his left hand on his pants, and in a mere microsecond, it was switched to the bulky pants of his armor, a time that was enough for Eywa to see in between. The armor then began unfolding over his body as he shifted to a diving position.

Then he broke the surface, his momentum still here added with his weight he moved without anything he could at great speed. He descended nearly a hundred meters at such an accelerated pace that it would be fatal for anyone, be they Na'vi or humans well before arriving at this depth.

But the pressure was not a problem, at least for now, nor the fact he was sinking like an anchor made of lead. His helmet was not over his face but there was no need to as a large shadow was arriving below him.

This was Aegis, and the nalutsa was creating powerful upward currents that didn't change his sinking situation but his tame was approaching and when it was close he acted.

Extending his right hand he strongly grasped a metal handle that was part of a semi-permanent miniature platform placed atop the giant armored shark's exoskeleton he used mostly to carry raw uranium safely.

'Up, and put as much effort into it. And don't go chomp on the big chicken.', Liam ordered, the discontentment of the shark at not having permission to nibble on the Great Leonopteryx amusing him.

From the surface Eywa had made the Great Leonopteryx fly lower the moment Liam had disappeared in the depth, then the water burst upon scaring her mount and if not for her taking control it would have slammed against the cliff in terror.

The terror was caused by a massive creature with her mate attached to the contraption on its back. Both had a short eye contact, one with a massive grin and the other a thin pleased smile. Then the huge nalutsa fell back, heavy drizzle raining after.

After this little interaction, the two with their mounts at their beck and call began the short travel toward the many that began their travel to their location thanks to the Psionic blast hours ago.

And those were currently gazing at a small archipelago of islands protected by a steep barrier of corals with few accessible points. The gigantic shapes of whale-like creatures doting the water and more kept on coming, those were tulkuns and they were of many different pods.

Between them were smaller sea-faring animals and small green-blue dots that were bulkier than usual Na'vi, all were adapted for an amphibious life between land and sea. It could be seen from their flatter, more muscular tails for swimming, larger shoulders, and flat cartilaginous outgrowth serving as fins on their arms starting at their small fingers.

{Is this the place of origin from the All-Mother's Heartsong, Ronal?}, a female Na'vi with pale turquoise skin asked with trepidation, she was riding an ilu, a friendly creature vaguely resembling a certain species of extinct sea lizard or a once exceedingly popular cryptid.

{This island. It is the point of origin. My Spiritual Sister, Ro'a had spoken to me earlier, confirming it. Close your eyes… Do you feel it? We are gazed upon… Gazed beyond the layer of our flesh. And the All-Mother is coming to meet us but not only…}, Ronal the Tsahìk of the Metkayina clan answered her younger fellow Tsahìk of a weaker clan with fervent passion in her voice, her eyes lost onto the horizon.

She was sitting on her knee atop her Spiritual Sister's massive hammer-shaped snoot, Ro'a was a female tulkun, Ronal closest confidant, friend and so much more. They were with each other since they could swim and as such their bond was deep and intricate.

Sitting on the head of a young tulkun's head, the calf of Ro'a, was Ronal's five-year-old daughter, Tsireya, a tsakarem in training, and just like her mother she was focused upon the distance. She didn't understand what was happening but what she knew was that it would change her life and that of everyone present.

{She is in the sky…}, the young Na'vi girl said suddenly as she was one of the first to notice a large creature flying in the sky toward them. Her round eyes widened in amazement, completely oblivious to the massive creature approaching them from under.

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