CHAPTER 8: [The curse land] - [Smell lost] - [The eagle army a threat for the monkeys]

Damian had been searching for the flower for 3 full days and was becoming very frustrated by the fact he hadn't found anything yet. He would have nether continuously searched for the flower if it wasn't for the fact that it was of high importance for him to find oririum for his smithing tools.

He was starting to think that the flower simply didn't grow in this jungle, the oscillatoria flower was supposed to be found on the stiff wall of cities by feeding on the moss that naturally grew there.

The oscillatoria was a rare flower that was very difficult to find and most of the time even more difficult to retrieve because of the locations of its growth and because of the attention needed when collecting it. The flower must be removed from its growing spot while not breaking its roots or hurting its leaves.

While Damian was searching for the plant, the eagles were finishing their war preparations. They were now almost ready to march to their first target, the temple of the monkey monks that was the closest with their settlement, the temple of Aankh.

——{Aankh temple council room}——

"The eagle had been forming two groups, one group would stay in their settlement while the other would be coming to invade us. The first group is composed of the women, children, elderly and soldiers to protect them and the camp. The second group is only composed of warriors that are led by an elder eagle called Ying-ba." Reported a monkey that had been sent to survey the eagle settlement and was regularly bringing the last event that occurred there.

The council room was square shaped and had a round table in the middle. It wasn't richly decorated as shown in Damian's past life manhuas. The table was the only thing that seemed remarkable in the room, it had a purple color and had a faint aura coming from it. The room was empty apart from the table and the hairs that were disposed around it and a blind monkey tapestry.

There were 9 elder monkeys who were disposed of around the table. They all turned to the entrance of the council room, listening attentively to the prostrated monkey that was reporting the last day's events.

After delivering the news the monkey got up bowed and left the room while walking backwards closing the door as he exited.

The elders then all turned to a monk that seemed the eldest of the group and was positioned on the opposite side of the door, thus facing directly at the door. His old age wasn't the only thing that made him look apart from the other monks present in the room.

He was wearing an orange and white robe while they were all wearing yellow and orange robes. He was also wearing an eye bend and had a domineering aura leaking from him, he was the temple head Andha.

The elders seemed to be asking for guidance from their looks and waited for him to show them the path they ought to follow in order to come out at the top of the eagle and what action they must take to succeed.

After a while, the temple head finally talked. "Elders, I believe that we must retreat to Ubaoo temple to straighten our forces. Only returning when victory is certain, and we are sure we can safely reclaim Aankh temple.

For the safety of our disciples, we must leave by tomorrow. Our teachings tell us to protect and cherish life as it is not to be taken lightly, we must leave even if it means losing our temple." The elder explained in a wise voice that showed gave an impression of infinite knowledge

All the elders that had been drinking his words as if they were the words of a goodly being came out of their dazed state and all promptly agreed with Andha. It never crossed their minds for a second to debate furthermore on the subject or to oppose his words, as for them the temple head was an existence that could not make mistakes.

After the end of the meeting, the elders had sent a messenger to the Ubaoo temple that was across the river and the Kaan temple that was at the end of the river asking for their elite forces to come to their rescue. Their plan was to temporarily retreat, taking back their temple by using the combined forces of the tree temples

Two days later, they had prepared everything they needed to leave the temple. They left the temple after noon and headed to the river.

——{Eagle settlement, Ying-ba's tent}——

"How are the preparations going, have you gathered enough supplies for our war campaign?" Asked Ying-ba to one of his subordinate

"The supplies will be ready for us to live by tomorrow morning, my lord." The subordinate politely responded.

"Good, ask the other generals to join me in my tent after dinner to talk about how we will proceed in the attack on the temple." Ying-ba ordered his subordinate and made him a sight to tell him to leave as he had not taken any breaks for three weeks straight and was exhausted.

He had taken the duty of leading the armies and wanted to assure their victory, so he could not afford for their army not being perfectly ready and prepared for the war that was coming. Though he had previously killed one of his own kind a few weeks back to show his strength and suppress any thoughts of revolt in the minds of his fellow brothers, he cared a lot about them.

His brother had been a necessary sacrifice for the war to start, they had been friends for almost 10 years, and it had hurt Ying-ba to kill him. He had made the sacrifice for the eagle race and knew that for the eagle to win he had to show no emotions or regrets. He had decided to impose his war and position by using strength.

If he hadn't done that, he wouldn't have been able to regroup an army of this size in such a short time, and most of the eagles would have refused to join the war. He would have been left with an army composed of eagles that had joined the war because they wanted to see and draw the blood of their enemies, bloodthirsty psychopaths.

Only those kinds of eagle would have responded to his call for war. The other eagles had forgotten about the war and the events that led to the destruction of their temples, but they still deeply remember in their flesh, as if the fear of their defeated ancestor had been passed down in their genes.

The only way to stop that deeply encored fear from affecting them was to give them an even greater fear, and that was the role Ying-ba had decided to take on his shoulders. He had decided to carry this burden, he knew that he would most likely be remembered as a tyrant, but he had made this choice by thinking it was the best one in the situation.

Ying-ba was one of the few eagles that still knew the past of their tribe and about the war that had happened a thousand years ago between the monkeys and the eagles. He had quipped the feeling of resentment for the monkeys deeply rooted in his heart, it was as if he had been cleaning the resentment of his entire kin for them waiting for the good moment to strike.

"My lord, my lord, we have a problem, please follow me right away." Said one of his subordinates while entering the tent.

Ying-ba woke up, pushing the thoughts of his past and reasons for the war, and quickly seated on the sofa that he had been sleeping on. "What is it, it ought to be important for you to come barging into my tent in a civilized manner." He questioned his subordinate while giving him a glare that told him that if he had seen something he shouldn't have, he must forget it as he left the tent.

The subordinate quickly understood the clear and understood that the fact that the leader was sleeping must not be disclosed, and quickly asked for mercy while prosterning on the floor.

"My lord, please spare me, I assure you that I was blind when I entered the room. I came as soon as I heard that someone had set fire to our provisions." He said in a worried voice.

"How is it possible, who has the guts to do such a thing?!" Thundered Ying-ba while coming out of his tent and going in the direction of the food reserves.

"My lord wait, please don't be too quick to judge the situation." The eagle cried as he ran after Ying-ba, who was flying away at great speed.

Ying-ba arrived and witnessed a group of eagles that seemed to have just stopped a fire that had burned 10% of the food that was kept there.

"Explain yourself now, or it will be your end." Ying-ba ordered as he got close to one of the eagles.

"My-my lord I can assure you that we are not responsible for this incident, we were on our guard duty on full alert when suddenly one of us smelled smoke coming from under the door. When we opened the door, we saw that the reserve was on fire and quickly found water to extinguish it." The eagle responded while shivering his face on the floor, punctuation his phrases by hitting his forehead on the floor.

"Did you see anyone coming out of the reserve after the fire started?" Asked Ying-ba in a calmer voice, as it seemed the guards had done their jobs correctly.

"No my lord now one came out while we were putting out the fire as we had left a few of us to guard while the rest were taking care of the fire." Said the guard hitting his forehead on the ground to punctuate his phrases to emphasize his respect.

Not after his subordinate arrived in companies of the general that had been charged with gathering the provisions and securing them.

"Add more security so that something like that doesn't happen ever again, and tell me how much time we will have to wait to recover from the loss." Ying-ba ordered the newly arrived general.

"My lord, by looking at the damage caused, it will take 4 days to recover everything." The subordinate responded.

"We don't have the luxury to wait that long, I want you to have prepared everything for the end of the week. I want it to be read in two days and two nights." instructed Ying-ba before returning to his tent to think about the incident.

TO BE CONTINUED…