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The Hero of Heaven
Empire might have been a bit of a stretch. The beasts were small, but even at their current size some of them could destroy this realm entirely. But still, empire wasn’t the best word for their place.
Back when I’d made the forest, I’d been inspired. It was a bit of an artistic piece, one inspired by old myths of a different world within a forest. In truth, it was a simple realm overlay, I made a separate realm and tied it with this one.
A hidden realm of sorts, but with a different variation. It was complicated, but all I had done was change how the beasts existed relative to the forest, along with reinforcing the forest itself.
It was a bit of common manufacturing for someone like me. I was an array master. We were the ones people hired to build qi streams connecting one realm to another. Dimensional building was, in a way, the highest level an Array Master could get to.
And while that might seem godly to some, it really wasn’t. I was the construction builder of the multiverse. No, I was the guy who filled the potholes.
But it gave the beasts room to breathe.
The House of Many, The House of Strength, and The House of Wisdom all stood atop the table. The House of Many was a republic, each representative being a reflection on their species' population. The House of Strength accounted for the strongest of the beasts. And the House of Wisdom had been hand-chosen by Lin and me as a balancing force among them.
The Herd Union, the Fowl Kingdom, the Hunter’s Alliance, and the Free Beast’s Republic. These were the major parties within the current government.
That’s right, the beasts had political parties.
Each part represented a certain subsect of beasts. The Herd Union was filled with grazer and herd-like animals. They have included the groundhogs in the party since the last time I saw them. And while I had been keeping a peripheral eye on their actions, I never really paid much attention to them, but maybe I should have.
“I am Dig, of the Herd Union and I shall speak on their behalf,” a male groundhog said as he stepped forward.
A beast with a name?
“I am Latimas,” a female phoenix said, following the groundhog’s forward step. “And I speak for the Fowl Kingdom.”
“I am Arnim. I speak for the Hunters,” a grey wold mimicked.
“And I am Menimer. I represent the Free Beast’s Republic,” a small monkey added.
They all had names. That was new. I wondered if all the beasts had names, or was it just the important ones among them?
“First meeting of the court of beasts started,” Lin Tai noted.
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The room quieted. There was something human here. The order, the government, the niceties. It all spoke of order, reason, and reliability.
But that was all on top of the nature of the beasts. Animals crowded, some hungered, and the killing intent was almost palpable. That was one of the reasons I had to be here. The beasts weren’t civilized. They couldn’t be civilized. They were beasts.
There were… a few with daos. But they were rare and scattered. Most stood out like beacons in the dark, but their fellow beasts didn’t notice.
This action was like a clean tablecloth on a shit-smeared table.
I frowned. The stability here, it was… fragile. And while there was peace among the animals, there was also discord.
A wolf in a cage, no matter how well-fed and well-kept, would still want to chase and hunt and kill.
It was an empty peace.
I sat through the meeting and it was…enlightening.
There were numerous documentaries of beasts behaving in a human manner, but it wasn’t my particular house of lore.
But just like there were humans who became powerful beings of their own right, carving out a path and becoming an archetype others could strive to be, there were also beasts.
Dragons were an example. The first child of Beast had been Dragon, and his archetype was as well known as his mother's. Whereas humans followed their own path that others could follow, beasts did something different. They redefined their nature. Dragons became something distinct, beasts still but something more, something grand. Their instincts drove them to horde power and wealth, and by birth, they could speak and talk, smarter than most humans innately.
But they were still beasts and a beast was defined by instinct.
And so were the beasts in the grove. Instinct made them, instinct bound them.
But they were changing and I didn’t know where that would lead.
I gave my leave to the girls and left Nai with Rin Wi and Lin Tai.
After that, I stalked the forest, keeping my eyes on all the things that I could see, which in this place was every atom of every molecule.
And I saw something strange.
I was old. I didn’t even know how old because time didn’t exist in the void. I had seen many things.
All the animals had their own camp, and while the pack animals were grouped together, there was a certain level of organization that threw me off. Beavers built small dams, wolf packs hunted insects, and elephants gathered in puddles.
The strange thing to me was how much they cared. Not in the way that humans cared but in the way that beasts cared. It was strange to see them hunt when they didn’t need to. The dams and the water, all of it was unnecessary. They were gods and immortals. What use was a drop of water to an elephant that drank from universes?
Then I saw it.
The water, for a moment, held law. The prey mantis, for a moment, satiated them.
Weight.
“Oh,” I spoke out loud.
I had brought the beasts here as living batteries. Their purpose was to shed. They each contained laws of numerous nature. They were metaphysical powerhouses, each with a different level of control over a law. That was the food for the array.
If qi was carbs, then laws would be vitamins. I understood a wide variety of laws but lacked the depth that beasts naturally contained. What was my understanding of fire compared to a phoenix’s and what was my understanding of water compared to a water dragon’s?
But the array didn’t use up all of those laws. Some of them it ate, but some it left, and others it would produce.
Waste product.
If the array were a forest, then the beasts were the animals.
A cycle of resources.
“Oh,” I repeated again.
For a while now, WuKong’s interest in me had bothered me. The book from the library had bothered me.
I had nothing for them, at least I thought I didn’t.
My goal with the array had been simple. A growing stabilizing force, one that would ensure there would be no violence. The Primordials were powerful, but in my eyes, they were stained.
Each of them fought to survive and their children did the same. War was the natural conclusion to life, insects, ants, humans, animals, and even germs, they all fought.
But I had changed that. I had failed the array in one way. I had clouded its purpose and made its heart in a simple way.
But I had succeeded in another way. I had made peace among beasts.
Dragons danced with fireflies and wolves that could crush realms were sated on insect meat.
I had failed in my arrogance. I had failed in my attempts to hide. I had failed in my array. I had even failed to be human in many ways.
I was a man of mistakes, but I suppose I did this one thing perfectly.
will be 15 chapters ahead at the five-dollar tier(up to chapter 120) and 30 chapters ahead at the ten-dollar tier.
Volume One is finished on
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