I have Nine Lives

Chapter 49: War after war

Siracha liked Felix's obedience, it would be troublesome to deal with the Elephants if he was refused but not impossible, however, with Felix on his side things will be way easier!

Siracha took out a map from his clothes and handed it to Felix while saying:

"The location of the Elephant tribe main village is marked on the map with an X, I hope you are going to do your best for the tribe, also take Lindo with you, he should be of help, after all, he has a lot of untapped potential in him that's ready to burst out..."

Felix didn't know why Siracha wanted him to take Lindo with him, if he was honest Lindo's power was quite useless in the current situation, Felix's growth both in body and mind wasn't something that Lindo could keep up with but considering Siracha believed in Lindo's potential Felix wasn't one to argue.

Felix left Siracha alone so he could meet up with Lindo and inform him about what they would do next.

Siracha looked at Felix's receding figure and smiled as he muttered:

"I hope you will make my grandson tap into his full potential with you as his rival..."

Felix went back to the battlefield only to see Lindo carrying bodies around and escorting the captured bears away, sometimes he would be doing both at the same time which would incur the wrath of some of the angrier black bears.

Felix waved his paw at Lindo which made him stop what he was doing and run towards Felix as he asked:

"Did the shaman say anything about me?"

Felix nodded as he told him that he was supposed to come with him to the Elephant tribe, Felix wasn't sure what Lindo could do in this situation as he didn't have any stealth techniques and he could be easily found, would he join the foot soldiers that were currently besieging the Elephant's village?

Felix stopped thinking as he and Lindo started to run towards the location of the Elephant Tribe, the location of the Elephant tribe could be considered quite far away from the black bear's cave.

Elephants liked places where there was lots of water and a hot climate, they lived in the depths of the savanna far away from the lion tribe, but no so far as they wouldn't ever meet each other.

Lindo started to chat with Felix as at their current speed it would take them a week to reach their location and he would be bored if they didn't talk about anything along the way:

"So did the shaman say anything else about me?"

Felix cocked his head to the side before he said:

"Well he told me that you have untapped potential and that you would be helpful to the operation, but I'm not so sure about that."

Lindo puffed up at the mention of his untapped potential then deflated when he heard that Felix was doubting him so easily.

Lindo felt quite hurt, he actually didn't have many friends in the tribe due to his parentage, anyone who would approach him was because they knew of his heritage and he was the strongest youth in the tribe.

Lindo never had a true friend until he met Felix and it quite hurt him hearing that Felix doubted him, how would someone feel when they would be doubted by their only friend? It would certainly feel like a thousand knives slashing at his heart right now.

Seeing his hurt expression made Felix realize that he didn't say something right so he told him:

"Well I'm not sure about your potential but the Shaman looked quite sure and he has an eye for talent."

This made Lindo feel better but he was still down in the dumps because even though he looked up to his grandfather he still felt a little bit closer to Felix, after all, his grandfather didn't interact with him much or at all, he lived with his father and all his father did was train him day and day out if he was home, and if he wasn't all he could do was train as well because his father left him 'homework'.

It was quite a sad life for Lindo but Felix didn't know about it so after he comforted him once he put his focus on the road in front of them, if they could rush themselves a bit they would be able to get to the Elephant tribe's village faster!

Seeing that Felix remained silent Lindo decided to keep his mouth shut as well, the silence became awkward as days passed and no one was talking, the only sound that could be heard was the wind brushing against their bodies due to the high speed they were running at and their hearts beating.

They finally reached their destination and what they saw there made both of them frown at the same time, a lot of lion corpses, there were even some captain corpses here and there, the generals that were stationed here should have either been captured or escaped.

Felix told Lindo to run away as he turned invisible!

Lindo didn't continue further as they were on the battlefield between the elephants and their village, if the elephants were wary they would have surely seen him and Felix by now but surprisingly no one came to attack them.

Lindo muttered as he retreated:

"They must have finished the battle recently so they are recovering.. but not even scouts remain?"

There were no bodies of the Elephant tribesmen around which meant that they should have been dragged into the village where they would be buried, the Elephant tribe would always handle their dead with care, even more so than other tribes, the elephants could be considered one of the more intelligent tribes out there even though they weren't good at technology or hex inscriptions.

They were very emotional and empathetic to the point that they could connect to the emotions of their target and influence them, this was also one of the ways they sensed their surroundings, coupled with their especially good hearing and memory made them some strong opponents in a fight, however, if they were angered they could easily enter in a frenzy and become berserkers that wouldn't differentiate friend from foe.

Felix looked around as he started to run along the walls of the village, they weren't that big, almost 4 meters tall and Felix had scaled a mountain before so in a few seconds, he was at the top of the walls.

The gate to the village was closed so Felix couldn't see what was happening inside but he could finally see after he scaled the walls.

It was a funeral...

A big elephant with golden tusks and a long green trunk was saying something, he wore nothing on his body as he was in his ancestral form, there were other elephants around him wearing black clothes who were keeping their heads down in their human forms.

Even though the words of the elephant with golden tusks were soft and said very slowly Felix could feel them pierce in his head immediately!

"And from dust to dust, my children we shall return to earth as she was the one that gave us birth, we are children of one being and even though we shouldn't fight with each other these lions have provoked us again and again... all we can do is defend ourselves in this situation."

"*Sigh* all we wanted to do was live peacefully until we became dust again, to live, grow old and die, but these warring tribes always get in our way of life, they always want more, they always want control of the continent, they even pinned the blame on us trying to say that we have killed their lions first in a way to justify their actions!"

"They are horrid people, but even horrid people deserve to live, we aren't gods we can't judge who can live or who can die regardless of our strengths...."

"But they think they are gods, they think we deserve death, and for this, we shall return the favor!"

Felix could feel that all he said was the truth, the anger and pain in the golden-tusked elephant's eyes were visible to him, Felix could see that everything he felt was genuine.

But that wasn't his job to care, even though Siracha lied to him telling him that the Elephants attacked first for revenge, it was his job as a soldier of the army to get things done, all of his people were dead on the battlefield and that meant he wouldn't be able to do anything besides scout here so he stood on the wall and watched as the funeral continued.

The elephants started to sing in a deep guttural voice:

"Life to life, dust to dust, earth to earth."

There were these words sang continuously, finally after ten minutes of singing the golden-tusked elephant transformed into his human form.

He was a young man with gold teeth and shaggy white hair, his green trunk was what was differentiating him from every other elephant, well that and the other characteristics, it could be seen from a mile away that he was special in more than one way.

Could he be the shaman of the tribe? no Felix didn't feel the same pressure as he felt from Siracha neither the black bear shaman, he was someone of importance, that was for sure, but not the shaman of the elephant tribe.

Then who was he? Felix felt some type of connection to him, something that also felt familiar in some way.

The moment Felix felt the connection the eyes of the young elephant darted towards his direction, his eyes were both a deep blue like they were two gems and they were fixated on Felix's own even though he was supposed to be invisible!