“When Life is precious, you cherish every moment of it.”

 

“When Life is precious, you try your best to preserve it.”

 

“When life is precious, you spread the Idea of its preciousness.”

 

“Only when all think and believe Life is precious would people treat it as such.”

 

“Therefore, Life is precious is a belief of the Individual.”

 

“Therefore, Life being precious  contradicts the Rules of Nature.”

 

“Therefore, who is right?”

#Quote 2 - Book of Life and Death - Chapter - Heroes and Villains

 

*

 

Central Continent - Southern Forest - Survival Tribe - Alexander

Alexander observed every single movement of the strange thing before him.

 

Its back was black with some red stripes decorating it. 

 

Its back was segmented into multiple parts.

 

Alexander thought it was strange because of its numerous tiny legs underneath its body.

 

Never before had he seen something like it. Therefore, as he stared at it he wondered if he should snack on it. 

 

It was alive, so that was in favor of it.

 

It was smaller than his current size, which became another favor for snacking on it.

 

However, the biggest reason was that he had no choice but to face it. He could not pick caution as his prerogative simply because he could not get out of the pit he got placed in. 

 

The walls were just too big for the current him.

 

With that being the case, Alexander had no choice but to do it. 

 

With practiced steps, Alexander wobbled on his back legs to the black snack. 

 

Regardless of whether his resolve to eat or not was enough, his steps alerted the black snack of his footsteps. Immediately, it began to swear right and left before using its many-legged body to run away from Alexander.

 

Alexander chased after it in this pit, but despite being bigger than it, he could not catch it. His steps simply wobbled too much. His body failed to follow his intentions as it had done once. 

 

As such, every time Alexander sped up a bit, he would stumble in multiple ways. 

 

Sometimes, he would lose balance and fall backward. Sometimes, he would fall forward, and sometimes he turned too fast. Making him spin out of control and fall on his sides.

 

Overall the chase triggered his instincts, and Alexander improved drastically as time passed. By the time he caught it for the first time, he found his balance for the most part. 

 

Only practice would improve it further.

 

Yet, when the time came to munch on the black snack, wiggling under his front paw and claws, Alexander wondered if he even wanted to eat it. 

 

After all, while he wasn't a picky eater, he did take a liking to the real meat and not wiggly things.

 

Yet, his stomach urged him either way. 

“Hngh” 

 

Alexander snorted and chewed on the front part of the black wiggling snack. 

 

For one moment, Alexander wanted to spit it out, but his stomach won over, and he continued to chew on it.

 

Once he was snacking, a big paw with claws on each finger reached for his neck to pick him up. It lifted him, and Alexander once more came face to face with the female Individual that fed him milk. 

 

She looked him up once more from head to toe before nodding and carrying him somewhere else.

 

Alexander’s eyes glanced around as it moved him, but he did not make any yelping sounds, as he had grown used to being carried like this. However, when his eyes saw a familiar white flowing thing, unconsciously, he yelped with desire.

 

Instantly, he felt the being carrying him stop. 

 

She checked the thing that attracted his attention. 

 

Once she saw what it was, she looked back at Alexander and a familiar growl reached him.

 

“NO”

 

“Yeep, Yelp.” Alexander growled in return, but the being shook her head and returned him to that, Den he had first opened his eyes.

What followed after that was a simple routine.

 

Alexander would wake up whenever he wanted, drink some milk, and try his best to leave the Den. His goal was the White Flame. Sadly, he never succeeded without being carried away before even reaching the entrance to the den because the one he drank milk from paid careful attention to him.

 

Every time he was close enough, she would reach with just a few steps and bring him back. 

 

Only when the sun was the strongest would that change. At that point, he was picked up by his neck again. After a short walk, he was gently placed into the pit once more. 

 

There he again began honing his hunting instincts. 

 

Old memories of his hunts would occasionally flash through Alexander's mind. They never stayed for long. After they left, impressions of knowledge remained, yet there always were contradictions, as he was no longer walking on four paws but two.

 

The two front paws were for catching the black snacks and for holding the black snack delicately. Alexander figured that fact after he chewed enough black snacks to realize that somehow his front paws were far more flexible than he remembered them to be.

 

In the beginning, there only used to be one of them. But after Alexander proved his skills, the number of snacks doubled. 

 

Then when he skillfully hunted two, the number doubled again to four.

 

Once he overcame that challenge skillfully, the game he hunted changed. 

 

This one had fewer legs, but it was bigger. And it was much nimbler on its eight legs. Yet, that was not the worst of it. 

 

No, this one had venom in its arsenal of weapons. 

 

Alexander knew this enemy. He had eaten some before he had appeared in this place. Although, at that time, he was bigger and did not fear them. 

 

Neither did he fear them now, even if he was unfamiliar with this type. 

 

Nevertheless, he had to be careful as its sting hurt.

With care, due to his past experiences, Alexander maneuvered around the spider with skill. Lots of probing attacks with his front claws told him of its reactions. A few times, he came close to being bitten, but eventually, he overcame it when his left paw acted as a diversion and the right clamped it to the ground of the pit. 

 

After that came the skillful holding technique, which he figured out not long ago, and another snack entered his stomach.

 

Done snacking on it, Alexander looked up. His eyes caught the strange expression of his feeder and carrier. 

 

If his interpretation was not wrong, she had expected something else to happen.

Whatever it was, the big female bent down slightly and picked Alexander up. 

 

That signified the end of today's hunting practices for him, yet as he once more walked by the white flowing thing nearby, he unconsciously wanted to snack on it, so light yelps echoed out of him.

 

Contrary to his previous experiences, the female carrying him did not ignore him this time and brought him to his desire. 

 

The next moment, he got placed inside the pit of White Flame. A moment later, Alexander indulged himself in the content and gratification spreading inside him.

 

However, unlike the last time he was here, there was no emerging feeling just waiting to release itself from him. The only thing that Alexander felt was a bloated feeling inside.

 

Nonetheless, just because there was no feeling of release from inside him, it did not mean that Alexander did not feel tired. Yes, it could not compare to the first time, but it was there. And when a hand-picked him up, Alexander's only response became a yawn straight into her face.

 

Moments later, he was back in the Den sleeping.

What followed was the passing of days.

 

Alexander familiarized himself with the routines of practicing hunting and staying at home. 

 

Occasionally he would be allowed to snack on the White Flame, but the greatest change came from the female nursing him. After a few sessions of Alexander skillfully dismantling the spiders, no matter the size or type, she enacted a change to the standards established in the Tribe. 

 

A painful change upon Alexander and one he could not avoid no matter how much he threatened against it and yelped pleadingly not to do it.

 

The change stemmed from the female carrying Alexander in one hand and a spider in the other. She carefully held it helpless to not squish it and brought it upon Alexander's back, arms and legs, and even his face as it stung him with its backside.

 

While the stings never left any permanent damage or even lasted that long, they were painful every time they came. 

 

Alexander hated them very much. 

 

The more hardship he endured, the more he hated it. 

 

The more he hated it, the angrier he became, until one day, his anger overcame him deeply enough that he became nothing but aggression, literally.

 

“Khrya-ya-ya-ya.” Alexander's aggression screamed for VENGEANCE.

 

At that point, even the female that nurtured him became careful, as her paw pressed him to the ground, as Alexander's aggression wanted him to snap his jaws at the hand holding him. 

 

“Khrya-ya-ya-ya.” Moments passed as the VENGEANCE played with Alexander's body.  

 

He knew nothing but that desire, yet he could not enact it. No matter how much the VENGEANCE desired to be released. 

 

All that left Alexander was the growling from his mouth. 

 

Despite still being a cub, they were strong enough to capture the attention of a few different females that lived nearby. They all stopped doing whatever they were doing and stared at the growling and yelping Alexander. 

 

However, when they recognized the female holding Alexander, an instant decision was made to not interfere in the matter. 

 

The reason was simple. 

 

A Mother had the exclusive right to how she raised her cubs. To interfere would only invite trouble, and that trouble only increased if the Mother was the Head Shaman of the Tribe.

 

As such, the only thing they did was watch as Alexander snapped his indignation at nothing in particular. Despite being small, it took quite some time for him to settle down enough, to stop growling. 

 

Nevertheless, Alexander was still not released. 

 

Only after everything whimpered out of him did the female let go of Alexander. Then she picked him back up to examine him again for a few moments. 

 

Once she noticed nothing but exhaustion from him, she nodded and made her way home.

 

On the other hand, Alexander barely registered anything happening aside from feeling tired in both mind and body. A few images flashed into his mind as he recognized being carried back into the Den. 

 

Moments later, the repercussions hit him, and the only thing that awaited him at that point was Dreams. 

 

Dreams of something out there in the distance, calling for him.

Weirdly, every time he woke up after the event, he felt lethargic in both body and mind. 

 

Only after a few more naps did he return relatively to normal. However, this normal was closer to the first time he ever left the Den he was born in.

 

It had taken a few more naps to truly recover from whatever had occurred to him. Yet, as if that was not the end, he was once more exposed to that pit to practice his combat skills. 

 

That was not the end, though. 

 

No. after Alexander was back to full strength and after a few more sessions of snacking on the White Flame, Alexander experienced the pains of spider stings.

Day after day, it continued when his aggression snapped once more. 

 

As if long-awaited, Alexander found himself pressed between the ground on which one walked and the paw holding him tight.

 

Once it was gone, exhaustion came, only for a recovery period to ensure. This one lasted much less, but as if the pattern established itself, the routine repeated as the days and weeks passed, and Alexander grew bigger.

Slower than he would have liked, but Alexander was growing bigger. 

 

The first time he noticed it was when the walls of the pit, where he practiced combat, were closer to him than ever before. At that point, Alexander felt that he could just climb out of it. At least, he would have tried, if not for the female nursing him, watching over him.

 

As such, when more time passed, and Alexander outgrew the pit, he was given free rein for the first time.

 

Even leaving the Den on his own was no longer a taboo.

 

However, he did not outgrow the painful stings that swung by from time to time. 

 

Or the pains that came when he neared the White Flame without permission. 

 

Or the pains that came when he went too far outside the clearing of Dens.

 

Or the pains when he bothered other two-legged Individuals of his kind. 

 

Or when he simply wanted to hide away from the pain the female that fed him induced upon him.

If any good came out of that many painful sessions, it was that he became very tolerant of it, despite the pain. 

 

No longer did he lose himself when the pain was too much. 

 

The Anger and Vengeance were still there, but they were not overwhelming him. 

 

Still, when the Anger and The Vengeance desired to be released, at least, he did not snap at everything in front of his eyes. 

 

After enough of brooding in that state, Alexander discovered how to release the Anger and Vengeance on his own accord. Yes, it took a while for his body to settle down, but the exhaustion that followed was lesser as well. 

 

The same applied to the recovery period, where he recovered in hours instead of days.

 

After that realization hit Alexander’s mind, his newfound freedom began being analyzed for the limits he could do before the pain got administrated once more.

During one of his escapades, in the Tribal Clearing, Alexander came upon one puzzle.

 

Why had so many of his kind found themselves in the same place? Or why did all the adults tolerate each other in the same territory? 

 

The first time he noticed it was when a scuffle happened between two adult males. It was nothing dangerous, but the tussle reminded him of his past. 

 

Therefore, it reminded him of territories and females.

 

However, the greatest discovery came on another day. 

 

A group of males returned with one big black snack. 

 

It was so big, even its height towered over Alexander, not to mention the length. 

 

That was also the first time Alexander witnessed a Tribal Gathering, not that he knew what a Tribal Gathering was in the first place.

 

The gathering was simple. 

 

The big black snack that had been rolled into a big black ball got placed into the black pit with the White Flame. 

 

Instantly, the White Flame he was familiar with blazed in strength so high it had surprised him real hard. At the same time, Alexander witnessed the gathered adults surrounding that blaze. Each one of the Adults had the chance to munch on the Flame for a while.

 

Eventually, the blaze vanished, and the regular White Flame returned.

After witnessing it, Alexander was unsure what to do now. 

 

He knew, without a doubt, that eating from the White Flame when it was ablaze was much better than the regular one he occasionally munched on. But there was no way he could hunt down such a large black snack. 

 

Like that, days passed as Alexander's desire grew and grew, and the only satiation he gained was not enough. In fact, it was not even close to what he witnessed that day. 

 

The worst part was that he knew that even if one more large black snack was thrown into the White Flame again, he still would not be able to taste it, much less munch on it as much as he wanted. 

 

Alexander was sure of that.

 

Sadly that only left him one option.

 

To wait and grow bigger so he could hunt on his own. 

 

Yet, if he had to wait that long, Alexander would at least make certain that sharing was not something he did. 

 

No, Alexander shared not with others. 

 

Everything was his. And would be his once he grew up and became an adult.

The moment the desire settled inside him, something flashed into his mind. 

 

It was an image of some squiggly lines that made no sense. 

 

Yet somehow, the meaning of the message reached his mind. 

 

It taunted him to become an adult sooner rather than later.