I regain consciousness and I’m freefalling down to Orinah. She made it happen!

I guess I should be thankful but damn her aura had me in chains. I swear if I let my actual personality slip she would’ve eradicated me there and then. Never be rude to deities, rule 101 of some book that I need to write.

She was nice though, and being interviewed with my mini-portfolio reminds me of my past naïve self, if she had ill intentions I would’ve noticed it but seems like even my younger self would’ve been safe. It was obvious that she needed support for some power struggle in the god's domain and I need to tread carefully and scope things out before I commit to her faction's cause.

I seem to be gaining speed, now I should be in the atmosphere. Should I make a persona for the remnants of Gornag tribe?

Yea, let’s do it.

Who should I be though?

I know.

My drill instructor back in the army. You know what, fuck that guy. I flip off the air while remembering his ugly mug. However, these muscle-heads are going to need some drilling if I want them to be loyal subordinates but I will pull out a softer version of him, no need to be rude like him. A show of power and force so to say.

I should be landing any moment now, Moruna has my landing down pat, I pull my hand forward fist first to smash the water and land in a superhero pose but as I did, I noticed my hand isn’t human anymore. I guess I do become one of them. Webbed hands greet my sight and the fingers seem to be bulging just like a man would flex his biceps. Before I get too into my hand I angle my fist properly and push through the water.

My descent slows but the bright white light still follows me, I seem to have landed rather close to the coast but I couldn’t get a better picture due to this light, might’ve been a bad idea to choose that. With a resounding crunch, the land forms a small crater in my landing zone. Seeing my feet, I notice that they too are webbed and with an extra finger on each foot.

Gasps and panicked voices come from in front of me. I slowly pick myself from this crater, my hand pulling out from the hole I made with bits of stone crumbling and descending back to the ground. Looking ahead I see a group of Mrentoni of the Gornag tribe. I stare into their group and do a quick headcount.

Five Children

13 Women

10 Men

A total of 28 Mrentoni. The men with obvious and pronounced chest muscle wade forward and display their spears at me. They don’t attack but keep their distance.

I cough slightly to clear my throat and “ALRIGHT LISTEN UP, ALL OF YOU ARE NOW UNDER MY JURISDICTION, I HAVE COME AS A CHAMPION TO LEAD YOU INTO GREATNESS. ANYONE AND EVERYONE WHO IS WILLING TO CONTEST AND CHALLENGE ME ARE WELCOME.” shout loudly and clearly.

Three of the spear-wielding men instantly cower away and swim back to what I assume are their mothers. Young men who still miss their family. Good, family values are established here. However, they could show more bravery, still need to drill these people. The other seven men which I see showed signs of hesitation but stand resolute after my rather rude speech.

What I assumed is their current leader glides closer, about 5 meters away from me and says “Who are you kin? What would be your name?”

Respectful but no signs of weakness. This guy seems good.

“I will not disclose my name but for now you can call me Sergeant Pain. I am here to be your champion sent by a goddess to bring you all into greatness!” I keep my volume high for the rest to hear me.

“What goddess sends you to us and doesn’t tell you that we value names as they can be given honor. Hiding your name makes me think you are one of the people of the Burna tribe. You seem fake so to say.”

Damn this guy isn’t a muscle-head, he has a natural disposition of a leader. Then what about this shark man.

“Actions speak louder than words, duel me and you can find out.”

“Then I challenge you to a duel imposter! Forboga, toss him your spear. It won't be honorable if you're unarmed.”

I catch the spear and look back at Forboga, he didn’t even hesitate and listened to this guy. “I won't need it to beat you but to not stain your honor I will fight with it.” Looking back at him his stance is defensive, keeping his body close to him speak but further away from me. I can see that the Mrentoni are very much humanlike but have many features of shark put in all the necessary places for them to live here. Large gills, razor-sharp teeth and webbed arms and feet. Their elbows also have fins and at the back too.

He scoffs “An imposter with spunk eh. Then Forboga start a countdown!”

I don’t get into a stance, given I don’t know any with the spear and I'm still standing on the rock I landed on, not much space to move around but that’s all I need.

Forboga swims between us but slightly away from the epicenter and starts.

“ONE”

The shark-man in front of me notices my lack of stance and switches to a more aggressive stance and smirks. Hey, I don’t even know how to swim in this skin yet man.

“TWO”

He compresses himself for some reason, getting slightly smaller. Why?

“THREE”

His eyes flash red.

I get it. He is going to speed into me by using the force of decompression of himself. Damn, that’s cool, using the water as a springboard and giving more oomf to your attack by compressing their muscles. I don’t think Aikido is going to be helpful in the long run.

“START!”

As I predicted he springs forward at a high speed. I start moving and position my spear in front of me facing him as if I'm in a phalanx used by the ancient Greeks. This is a small trap for him.

He is close to 2 meters away now and thrusts forward with his spear. I quickly shift my spear in order to redirect his attack.

*THWACK*

My spear bats away his spear and I grab it. Giving a quick but controlled pull he is now sent flying into me. He initially was confused after the redirection but he quickly tries to spring away over me.

Bad mistake brother. I have your spear, no matter how much you dodge I can still predict where you would go. He springs over me but I already predicted that he is trying to twist my elbows in order to get his spear under his control. I drop my spear on the ground. Knowing his trajectory, I do another pull when he is right above me and use my other arm to uppercut him straight into the face.

He doesn’t expect that I will be using my fists and the hit connects dead center. Out of reflex, he lets go of his spear due to the pain and is sent flying a few meters away. Blood flowing from his nose he looks at me and grins.

Nope, he is a muscle-head. Dropping his spear on the ground I wait for him to attack again.

He springs forward again aiming his right arm to jab at me.

I redirect it outwards with my left elbow and twist myself to get into the position for a kick into his abdomen. The kick goes in and he is sent back flying. That should’ve put him out of commission but he is still conscious. Breathing heavily but conscious.

He doesn’t come back for more so I lower my stance and wait.

Forboga noticing his leader isn’t willing to continue says “The winner is Saardgent Pain!”

The whole group that was quietly watching the exchange start murmuring between each other.

Forboga swims over to his leader and checks on him to see if he is alright. I’m still standing on the rock.

The shark-man who I just defeated got his bearings back and looks at me. Shoos Forboga away and glides over to me. His smirk is now a full-blown grin.

“Apologies kin, you are what you claim to be, I was the toughest warrior of our tribe but you defeated me in two strikes.” He kneels. “Hereby I grant you the honor of chief as I am unworthy.”

These guys were the right choice, muscle-heads always respect the strongest even if they don’t like it. The Mrentoni seem to be all about it though, he is sincere in his speech.

“Get up and tell me your name,” I command.

“Zarhan my chieftain!” He gets up, still bleeding through his nose but his grin still doesn’t fade away.

“I have never lost a duel before but I should’ve guessed my loss after you declared yourself as Pain and stood there unmoving.” He starts laughing.

I grimace, maybe that was a bad name. Nah, still worth it.

I hold my hand out and say “Zarhan, strong name. I see you were a capable leader before me and you have my respect for that. I will grant you my real name but only for you, the rest will know when they fully accept me as their chieftain. My name is Gherman Jalek.”

He hesitates to know that I just made him choose over shaking my hand in order to please me and name himself equal to me or to continue being respectful and follow the hierarchy.

I get him out of his stupor. “You are strong Zarhan, don’t keep me hanging.” I grin while looking at him.

A small hesitation later he shakes my hand grinning back. “This makes us now brothers in arms kin Gherman.”

“Indeed, it does, go tell your people that we are moving to find a new place to settle on, I have a good idea where but I need you to communicate that to them, they won't fully trust me but they seem devoted to you.”

“Off course kin Gherman but if you continue to astound them like you did with me, they will accept you quickly, we value strength and honor above all else here.” He turns around and swims towards our people.

“Fellow kin!” He begins but pauses straight after until they stop chatting between themselves. “Saardgent Pain here wishes for you all to know that he and I are now leading this tribe together, although he has defeated me in a duel, he gave me the honor to keep my position but with him leading with us. He will grant his true name when you fully accept him but right now he chooses to keep it hidden. I ask of you to accept this and listen closely. Saardgent Pain says he has an idea where we can rebuild and I fully trust him. Can you all trust me when I say this to you?”

This guy is great. Why did I get this tribe when Zarhan here is leading this tribe like a champ?

The murmurs return and get louder but quickly subsides when a spokeswoman swims forward slightly and calls out.

“Yes, Cheiftan Zarhan we will continue trusting you as we did so before disaster struck our home!”

Zarhan turns back to me. “My kin Gherman, we are ready to continue, lead the way!”

This leads me to be slightly embarrassed but I still ask him. “Uuumm Zarhan, teach me how to swim. I won't tell you why I don’t know how to though, maybe later.”

Zarhan looks at me with a pitiful smile. “Uuuh, yes kin but uhh.” He is losing himself in thought on what to say. I guess it would be impossible to explain what comes naturally for him.

This is going to be a long day.