Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

 Stone realized the uproar among the crazy clansmen as he looked around and saw that they were being ambushed. But he wasn't too happy as he didn't know who the other side was and if they would attack him or not. Anyway, there was a chance that stray arrows hit him too so he hurried.

Unfortunately, his legs which had been submerged in the fire for some time already were completely charred black so much that it lessened even the pain a lot as his nerves got damaged. That would be very hard to regenerate. He would very much like to just pass out here but he already learned by life lesson that passing out from pain will lead only to more pain in the future so he gritted his teeth and continued in what he was doing.

........

Meanwhile, the enemies stopped to fire the arrows and dashed from the forest towards the aborigines. They were men of huge stature and bodies full of muscles. Most of them wore only furs around their loins and had few war paintings on their exposed body parts. Some of them rode on the big Arctic wolves who came as quickly as ghosts and lunged immediately at the closest ignorant enemies.

Moreover, most of them wielded metal weapons like axes, hammers, and maces, and only a minority of them wielded spears, sabers, and slingshots. Their advantage was obvious as they demolished the village and sowed chaos in the surroundings.

Inhabitants of this village ran around like headless chickens running to get weapons as everything happened too quickly. That was until the chief didn't rein them in as he threw several bone spears toward the closest enemy.

Several hit but most of the enemies withstood it with their powerful constitution. Chief didn't waste time-fighting and turned toward one of the men and commanded:

"Red Hish, take a few men and cover Grand Shaman in retreat! Rest of us, take your weapons! We will fight off those Frozen dullards and show them the might of our Lord!"

Others cheered and others hastily took their weapons and for the first time in this ambush clashed with the enemy in full force.

Stone didn't care about this as he finally freed his right hand. This took him too much time as the nail was pierced between his Elbow and Radius bones making it harder to get out. Instead of completely breaking his bones which could be even fatal in this chaotic situation he chooses to loosen the nail from the stake completely. It just took longer. The fire got dangerous as normal people would be already dead for a while.

'I can't continue like this. I need to overthrow the stake.' thought Stone who bit his lower lip. When he looked towards his torso and legs he realized that it would be too late by the time. Even for him. Who knows where was the real limit of his gift?

Fortunately, the stake wasn't attached to the altar as it was only raised and wedged between several very big rocks. So as long as he accumulates enough power he should be able to overthrow it.

Stone took one of the nails he freed himself out of and wedged it between the stake on which he was crucified and the rock that supported it. When he did so and was sure it was firmly in place, he started to pull at the nail. He mustered all the power he could in his awkward position and pulled.

Nothing. Stone breathed heavily as he was breathless. Unfortunately, the thing he breathed in was smoke. Stone coughed frantically as he could not do anything. In the first place most people who are sentenced to be burnt mostly pass out soon after the smoke is big enough as they breathe it in. Stone also felt the pain of suffocation but he knew that he could continue even without breathing for a while. He calmed down and continued to pull at the nail. This time steadily.

The rock didn't budge at the beginning but as time progressed it moved a little. And that was all Stone needed. When the rock finally moved, the stake that depended on it started to sway together with Stone. After a few seconds, the stake started to fall slowly as Stone tried to direct it a little so it wouldn't fall with him underneath.

*Thud*

When the stake finally fell with a loud dull impact on the ground at the side of the pyre. Stone groaned as he hit his head on the impact and felt a severe headache. But that didn't stop him from taking several deep sips of the fresh air. He also felt like he broke a bone or two but he didn't care. The fact he could breathe air again and that his lower half didn't burn anymore was more than enough to make him euphoric.

Now he only needs to take those damn nails out of his body and he will be completely free!

Unfortunately, all of the stress and exertion got to him. Ever since he got out of that monster, instead of deserving rest, he only got another fight for survival and a different kind of pain. Now that he escaped the immediate danger and didn't see anyone come to him, his body betrayed him and he slowly passed out...

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! You bastards knew we will have the sacrifice today, right you damn cowards! No wonder the light of the Lord doesn't shine on you bitches!" spewed the chief in quick succession as he defended against one of the ambushers who seemed to be at least strong if not stronger than the chief of aborigines.

"Ha ha, halt your stupid bullshit Triston. I don't care about your lord or whatever that only takes from you and never gives. The fact that you look like a third of me speaks for itself, haha... Also, you call us cowards yet it was the tribes of your glorious lord who ambushed any other tribes. You are just stupid." laughed vigorously the warrior with auburn hair and beard. He was over two meters tall and fought with two axes with ease as he made fun of Triston the chief of the aborigines.

Triston gritted his teeth as he hastily defended against all swings of the raging warrior who fought against him.
"Shut up! Our great Lord gave us so much you can't even imagine! Doesn't the fact I can fight against you even if I can't beat you?! This all doesn't change anything, Derges. The sacrifice was already done. Our Lord won't leave us after handing him the devil's spawn we found! Even if our clan falls today there are still many more who will avenge us in the name of our great Lord!"

"Devil's spawn ?!" exclaimed loudly Degres as he looked towards the stake. He squinted his eyes a little and saw a humanoid figure. But what was specular was that the figure didn't let fate decide its fate. When he saw the stake fall he widened his eyes and then started to laugh hysterically.

"This is what you call, sacrifice? A few seconds of not looking and the guy already escaped!" as he laughed he attacked Triston with even more fervor while Triston became bewildered as he heard the sound and Degres's taunts.

He wanted to look but unlike the axe warrior, he didn't have the composure for that. Only after a while when Degres did a heavy diagonal swing did Triston find an opportunity to get away from him and look towards the altar. When he saw the place ruined, his face turned ugly. Then he suddenly screamed loudly.

"Retreat! All men abandon the village! Burn it all down together with invaders! Don't let them taste the fruits of victory!" He screamed so loudly that the sound was heard in every corner of the village. All aborigines who still fought looked towards the source and then started to systematically retreat. During the retreat, they had to take the brunt of the enemies pursuing them as they ran towards the darkness of the forest.

"Attack, attack! Kill them before those fuckers escape into the forest!" yelled Degres as he threw one of his axes towards Triston. Triston who saw this evaded but only partially. The axe only scratched his arm but the wound was significant. Then Triston for the last time looked towards the altar and Degres with hate and immediately dived into the forest.

Degres didn't chase after him as he knew how slippery Triston and all his clan members could really be. Instead, he watched with interest the stake which was supposedly a devil's spawn. But when he looked closely it disappointed and disgusted.

He wasn't disgusted at the boy crucified at the stake he had just seen. But at those fuckers who crucified him there. They talk about devils and whatnot but in the end, they want to sacrifice just a mere child.

The child to speak of was beyond the saving. The entire body was pierced throughout with iron nails, his lower body part was burnt crisp and his head was severely injured as it looked as if the skull caved. The fact the boy still didn't die and was able to stay awake for so long...

'Wait a minute...' Degres realized something.'How come he is still alive?! As Degres looked at the boy who still breathed he widened his eyes once again.

"Is this really devil's spawn?" muttered the warrior as he watched the ordeal.

Meanwhile, others finished their chase and came to their chief to report. Some of them had to go extinguish the fire the aborigines created else the entire forest would catch on fire. They were more considerable towards nature than those crazy bastards.

"Chief! We managed to kill most of them but some escaped! Among them was their shaman Tantala too! Unfortunately, most of the loot got destroyed too so we didn't get too much from this..." the tribe member reported dejectedly.

"You guys did a good job. We didn't come here to loot but just kill. Those guys and their so-called lord are more and more dangerous to other tribes lately so we must destroy them before they destroy us." sighed Degres. But then he turned around and said.

"But while most loot got burned I found something more interesting," he said and pointed towards the stake on the ground. When others saw the boy's devastated body they were horrified. But when they saw that the boy was still alive as he slowly breathed and that his body was slowly regenerating they were even more so.

"What is that?! That is in no way a human right?" as the tribe members murmured to themselves they heard the clear voice of the elderly.

"No, he is human. Human child to be exact. Small boy with a big gift. There is nothing more or nothing less." when they heard the voice they all turned towards the source and greeted respectfully.

"Greetings, Great Shaman" all of the present warriors greeted the old man, who seemed to be the shaman of their tribe as they wondered why he got here.

The old man was tall and walked straight despite his advanced age. His muscles didn't deteriorate with time as they happen normally and while not as big as others they were sculpted to perfection and painted with the same paintings as Degres. He went nimbly towards the group as his bare feet felt the soil underneath and his common wooden cane didn't even hit the ground.

"At ease, I am not here for the pleasantries." said the old man who didn't even look at them. He looked at the boy lying amidst the carnage nailed on stake and yet sleeping as if nothing happened. His eyes showed intrigue but also little pity. Nobody deserved to live through this at his age.

"Grand Kaoran! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you guard our encampment until we arrive ?" asked Degres in annoyance.

"No need to get angry lil Res. The young ones are already tough and are ready to surpass your generation, hehe." the old man smiled in amusement. " Wind told me... There was something that happened in the forest. Something unprecedented. When I came to the place where the wind guided me I realized there was the lake where those guys from Hearas clan hunted the today's sacrifice. Looks like this little one is the sacrifice. But there was something bigger. Something more dangerous than local fauna. I found killed wildlife crushed to death. I also have seen the place where the monster probably fought with Hearas clan members. But while the blood track says the monster died in that place... There was nobody. And now that I see the weird boy that doesn't fit in the story I really want to know what happened." pointed the cane at the little boy.

"Don't tell me that this kid is the monster transformed into a human ?" asked Degres as he looked cautiously at the boy.

"I already said that the boy is just a normal human. Do you really think that I wouldn't recognize it at first glance? If it was that capable then it could kill us all as easily as breathing." sighed the shaman while slowly going towards the still-sleeping child. Then he crouched and scrutinized the boy. Then he looked at the wounds closely. He knew that before doing anything they needed to take down those nails. So he tried their tightness with his hand. As he was still quite strong the nail actually budged a little but he doesn't have the strength to completely take them out.

"Degres come to help me! I need those nails out to help him recover."

"But what if there is chance, shouldn't we then be more careful?!" said Degres exasperatedly yet he still came to help the old man.

"He isn't some monster. The boy was probably born with some kind of supernatural regeneration. It is nothing too rare since people like 'us' were always born. By my deduction, the monster was also somewhat special and survived. After all, I wouldn't be notified if it was a normal animal. On the other hand boy... I think that the truth will be much more ugly than our fantasies so let's stop now. We need to help him." said Kaoran as he pulled at the nails together with Degres.

Time passed as they took down the last nail and watched with amazement the steady regeneration of the boy.

"Hmm, the regeneration doesn't seem to be consistent. Before he regenerated more quickly," said Degres with confusion as he held his chin.

"Obviously. There is a prize to pay as nothing in this world is for free. The gift gave him the ability to regenerate but that doesn't mean it will heal him from nothing. There is an equivalent exchange in everything. Maybe only some beings above can think about breaking this law but us mere mortals can only abide by it." stated Kaoran who seemed to be a little forlorn after what he said. Then he took the boy into his hands and waited for others who tried to get some loot from the destroyed village. Once everyone reunited once again they vanquished all the fires in the village and vanished into the darkness of the night.