Life in General Pt. 01

On the border of three great lands, Astrakhan, Thelasean and Roijar lies a tiny village amongst the river deltas, Surayd. It is a lush green landscape, an area of plenty and also, now, an area of peace.

Eight generations ago it wasn't so peaceful and prosperous. The land was drier, there was less to eat and there was the Huruni. The Huruni were stronger, more muscular and more aggressive. The Suraydi for many generations had to give up the best food and survive on what they could.

As the years passed the Huruni increasingly dominated the placid Suraydi to the point where the Suraydi knew they had to fight just to survive. The Huruni no longer just took the best food, they attacked for no reason and raped the Suraydi women. The Suraydi weren't going to win with strength, they needed to use their intelligence and cunning, it was a case of kill or be killed.

They planned and plotted, they needed to destroy their enemy. They needed to find every weakness and take every advantage. There was no room for error, one mistake and their enemy would destroy them.

The strongest Huruni would be hunting first thing in the morning. The Suraydi women, that they loved to rape, would be gathering in the same area bending over collecting yams. Loin cloths rising and exposing their genitals with the morning sun giving their skin a warm soft glow.

Sure enough this was too much for the men to take. They couldn't concentrate on hunting with this show in front of them. They liked what they saw and always took what they liked. Leaving their weapons they proceeded to have their way with these weak women.

Today they would not be taking what they liked. Hidden in each woman's basket was flint dagger. Today would be the last time they took anything. These weak women would soon leave them bleeding out on the ground. No food would be taken back to the tribe from these hunters and the weapons would now be in the hands of the Suraydi.

Standing on North East side of Hurun half the Suraydi men taunted the Huruni and of course they responded aggressively. These men would not let these inferior unarmed Suraydi get away with this. They ran straight out to teach them a lesson with their fists.

Of course the Suraydi ran and the Huruni were close on their heels. Heart rates and testosterone were high. The sandstone cliffs loomed up on them, parted and funneled into a narrow gorge. A chaser grabbed one of the pursued and began pounding into his face with a clenched fist and a snarl. While the victim tried to lash out with his fist and run away.

Above, a rumble and rocks began to crash on the sides of the gorge and tumble to the ground and fill the gap. Separating the two groups but crushing the two men locked in battle. There was nothing the Huruni could do except yell aggressively.

They returned full of anger to their village thinking of how they would kill those weak men. How they would drive their spears through their stomachs, crush their skulls with rocks or just strangle them with their bare hands.

High pitch screams from the village ring out in the morning air. Something wasn't right. They hurry back and are confronted with the dead body of their chief with his wife clutching him and sobbing. Many stab wounds cover his body. Soon they discover their food and weapons have disappeared as well.

Confusion and panic spreads throughout the village. One man stood up to the challenge and kept his head while others were losing theirs. He gathered the men and told them that the Suraydi obviously led a distraction to kill their leader and they needed to find the warriors out for the morning hunt and annihilate their inferior rivals in their own village. His fellow men saw the intensity, passion and confidence in his mannerisms and complied.

Into the golden sunlit savannah they search, riling each other up, intensifying their hatred of this weak race. As a whole their breath is taken away when they stumble on their slain comrades. Their hatred vanishing into thin air with their shock.

The leader of this group stood over his own brother, rage building.

The rage took over, he could hear a foreign deep primal roar, it was his. He felt nothing except extreme focus he marched straight for their village. The others followed in awe and a little scared of this creature who had emerged from the man they knew.

Oblivious to everything around him, his nostrils flared sucking in oxygen at the maximum rate, his eyes open wide and unblinking, his fists clenched, one around his spear. The journey seemed to go by in a flash to him but it must have taken half an hour to reach their village.

It was empty. He was in shock, his brain couldn't comprehend that he wouldn't be killing people. This made the rage in him build further. He stood for a second dumb founded, then he could contain himself no longer. He launched into destroying everything in the village that he could. He broke things he normally wouldn't be able to break he had the strength of ten men.

He kept going until he was bloody, bruised and had exhausted all his energy. Then he collapsed with a desperate, deep, sadden scream. He sobbed, tears running down his cheeks thinking of his brother and these evil, deceptive, weak men who had murdered him. The other men helped him to his feet and made their way back to their village.

Meanwhile the Suraydi camped in hills. The women prepared the food both gathered and stolen. The men talked about the day and made plans. The children played as usual almost unaware of the gravity of the situation.

The sun began to set and the cool night air began to invade all the spaces where warmth had been. The Huruni had nothing to eat they would all go hungry that night, the only ones who would feed would be the breastfeeding babies.

The women instinctively felt that the world had turned upside down, all that they had known was changed and their lives and their childrens were in danger...they were scared. The men weren't scared they talked of how they would rip these weak mens limbs off and slit their throat so huge quantities of their blood would flow...they were enraged.

The Suraydi lit two decoy camp fires miles away before they lit their own. Even if the Huruni did come they had nearly all of the spears and the high ground. They would all feed well tonight and go to bed with full bellies and have a good sleep. All except those taking turns on watch.

The sun woke the Huruni village and the men discussed if they should hunt for food or hunt Suraydi. Before they could decide the decision was made for them. Outside the village the Suraydi made taunting noises.

There they were with the stolen weapons threatening this village of strong men. The man whose brother had been murdered led the charge he would destroy them more weapons or not greater numbers or not. The Suraydi ran into the long grass. He thought to himself, even though they have more weapons and greater numbers they still run like cowards.

He was faster and would catch them, no doubt in his mind. Running faster than he had before into the long grass he could just see them ahead the grass whooshing passed his face and coming in and out of his vision the wind blowing it into his face. A glimpse was all he needed to keep tracking and kill these men. He was gaining on them.

He smelt something but blocked it out in an attempt to just focus on killing. He was almost in throwing range, he gripped his spear ready to launch it through the first man. He could see this dead man's feet and calf muscles just ahead of him. This was it, his spear would bring him down in a second. He reached back and launched waiting for the man to drop and reclaim his spear to kill more.

He saw the feet hit the ground both at the same time and leap into the air. His spear hit the ground and was surrounded in flames. What? He thought. This doesn't make sense. A feeling a dread and shock entered his body he couldn't move. He could only watch the wall of flame come towards him and surround him. He screamed but nothing came out. He knew his life force was gone and submitted to it.