The Last Days of Pangea

***

Val walked towards Longneck. Approaching the body of the lizard, the shaman took off his helmet. His tangled black hair, freed from bone armor, casually lay on his broad shoulders. The scaly nose of the leader was sweaty from the fight with the giant and gleamed under the rays of the Great Fire. His beard, through which prickly growths were visible, was fastened with a hairpin in a small ponytail. In the right ear of the shaman hung an earring of several Rasaur fangs, and above the ear there was a huge scar that diagonally reached the left side of the chin. The scar also fell on the upper and lower lip, and he got the leader during the rescue from the claws of a heavenly predator. The scar, painted green as usual, did not disfigure Vall’s face, but only gave it a defiant look.

The shaman looked at the body of the mortally wounded lizard. Then, coming closer to the head of the reptile, he stared into its still not cooled eye. The cheekbones of the leader of the Great Hunt tightened, and the human eyes again embodied in reptilian ones, and Long Neck immediately caught the hunter’s gaze and froze. Val opened his eyelids wide. The yellowed whites of his eyes shone as if a tear had poured into them, and his gaze was frozen in the gaze of a lizard. The leader reunited with the fading mind of the herbivore and transferred his vision to his peaceful past. As heaven and earth are reflected from the surface of an undisturbed water surface, so the vision of shamans in unity with reptiles in shining eyes reflected fragments of the past, and a liana forest appeared in the eyes of the leader…

Arrived in time relatives began to closely examine their leader, watching his harmony with the Long-necked. Zavrini’s eyes in Vall’s gaze have always fascinated his fellow tribesmen. His pupils were similar to the color of the flame that was hidden in the engraving of tenacious hunters. No one had such bright green eyes! And watching Vall traverse the giant’s recent path, trying to find similar herbivores, was always mesmerizing.

In front of the shaman, a small pond appeared, surrounded by vegetation and mighty liana trees. Thin rays of the Great Fire, with difficulty passing through the crowns of trees, playfully rotated particles of moss and wood dust in the air, scattering light over a muddy lake in the middle of a dense forest. Flocks of multi-colored dragonflies were circling near the shores of the reservoir, above the thickets of horsetail and fern, and behind it, among the young shoots of ginkgo, the shaman inadvertently spotted fallen dead wood – a dilapidated snag seemed to the leader to have met before. Then Vall heard a horned beetle flying by somewhere very close, followed by another.

Immediately, the mirage of memories began to quickly move the vision closer to the water, constantly clinging to and breaking off the dry shoots of the vine – apparently, the reptile wanted to quench its thirst. Several Pawwings jumped from a dangling vine to another. The giant followed them with his eyes, and Wall noticed how one of these crumbs deftly grabbed a large red dragonfly in the air. Suddenly, Longneck’s eyes focused on the trembling bushes on the other side of the lake, moving a fragment of the past almost close to the vegetation: circles on the water in front of the bushes broke the serene surface, and the shaman managed to make out the silhouette of a Sharptooth diving under the water. The body of the reptile vanished into the depths of the pool, as did the vision of the lizard, and a fragment of memories transported the leader of the Great Hunt through the pouring rain into the bennettite field.

In front of the shaman’s gaze, a flock of dark blue giants gracefully walked towards the liana forest under the pressure of a powerful downpour, and Long Neck, who was killed in the near future, dutifully followed them. The downpour was so heavy that Wall noticed how the heavenly water on the backs of the reptiles turned into small streams. Playing and seething between the folds of the skin, flowing around the bends of the muscles, the streams gathered into whole currents and fell on the soil and vegetation under the paws of the lizards.

The vision stopped and turned in the opposite direction. Behind the giants were three still very young reptiles – a brood, and far beyond the veil of rain was a forest of araucaria. Wall recognized the area – the southwestern border of the slave lands, the detachment at this edge left the grove, leaving the familiar paths. Longneck’s gaze fussily scanned the surroundings on both sides of the cubs. Somewhere in the distance, a roar sounded like a lizard’s call, and the vision of the past dissolved, returning the leader of the hunters to reality. The shaman’s eyes took on a human form, and Long Neck sighed heavily, and his eyelids closed.

Wall crouched beside the dead reptile. Silence reigned. The hum and chirping of insects ceased. Everything around seemed to freeze, only a free wind, sorting through the leaves of the cycads, allowed itself to break the strange calm. This sometimes happened during the Great Hunt: as if she had led one of Her great creations to the heavenly stars, Silence reminded the first people that the life of the creature She created was firmly connected with other inhabitants of the world. The hunters pricked up their ears, and soon the silence was filled with the singing of the mundanes – reality began to surge again.

– The first people are grateful to the Great Fire for the warm light of the Great Hunt. The soul of Her creation will adorn the night sky, and the flesh will prolong our lives,» Vall whispered.

«The soul of Her creation will forever adorn the night sky, and the flesh will prolong our lives,» the tribesmen repeated.

«Let’s set up camp in that clearing over there!» Bring Tris and Rylan here and put him on patrol here! the shaman commanded. – Taro, thank you, my friend, you are on time as always! And now be kind – take the people and return to the rock. Get supplies and wood!

Yes, Wall! The redhead replied.

Taro approached the dead Longneck, pulled out his spear and, having called several hunters with a whistle, rushed off to carry out the assignment.

– Wall! Val, come here quickly! shouted the Tyrant.

The shaman turned around and saw the Tyrant and several other tribesmen surround the groaning Salas.

«Ahh, Salas! Good job, youngster! Radon will be pleased! – Coming closer, the shaman praised. «Don’t forget to thank Taro for saving you this one… In the name of Pangea!» What about him?

When the Tyrant brought the teenager to his senses, he immediately began to back away from his relatives. Taking out a knife, Salas began to threaten his fellow tribesman. And the young man’s eyes were embodied in the strange appearance of Zavrin’s eyes: the whites were filled with a crimson hue, and the irises became black, like night, and merged with the pupils.

– Don’t come near me! Salas shouted.

– Hey, what are you doing? It’s me, the Tyrant!

But the tomboy continued to back away, brandishing a knife.

– Don’t come!

Other hunters also noticed what was happening, and began to converge around the youth.

«Wall, what’s wrong with his eyes?» Why are they red and irises turned black?! asked Kun, a shaggy kinsman with a scar across his forehead.

– Yes indeed!

– What’s wrong with your eyes?

– Why?..

The rest of the hunters also began to mutter and whisper.

– Who you are? Ahh, my eyes! Salas continued to yell. – Don’t come!

Wall was at a loss from what was happening, but tried to calm the young beater.

«Hush, hush, Salas, hush. Let me help you. Give me the knife,» said the shaman.

But Salas did not listen and continued to brandish the hunting weapon.

«What’s wrong with my eyes?!» Who you are? he yelled.

Suddenly, one of the tribesmen pounced on the youth and grabbed his hand. Just then, the second one arrived. And now they have already piled on him in a crowd. Salas began to shriek convulsively.

– Son, chill! It’s me, Wall! the shaman reassured, holding Salas. Relax, we’ll heal your eyes. Everything will be OK!

As soon as Wall approached the face of a teenager to examine his eyes, he immediately lost consciousness. The shaman immediately slapped the young man’s cheeks with his palm a couple of times – to shake him up for sure. Did not help. Then Wall opened his eyelids, and it was incredible! The incarnation of the eyes of Salas did not leave even in an insensible state!

– He always had blue eyes… I remember exactly. Even the irises have been reincarnated! Or is it the pupils that have become so large?! I don’t understand, Val, what happened? And why can’t he understand who we are? the Tyrant began to inquire.

«I don’t know… I see this for the first time!» the shaman answered in confusion. «He got Zavrin’s eyes, but…»

«He woke up in oblivion, Vall,» said Kuhn. The boy didn’t recognize anyone. He was in unity, and he was violated…

– In unity? the relatives asked in unison.

The shaggy hunter leaned towards Salas and examined his hands and feet.

«Look at your wrists, Wall. There are traces left.

Everyone began to examine the limbs of Salas. Indeed, there were abrasions on the forearms and ankles, as if something had just recently held the youngster and did not allow him to free himself. But for what reason the unity happened during the hunt, no one could understand.

«You’re right, Kun,» Val agreed, looking around. – Everywhere grass and ivy… Ivy and grass will not leave such traces. But how?.. Embodiment of eyes and unity overnight?

«I don’t know what kind of incarnation it is, Vall,» Kun replied and rolled his eyes. «The eyes of Zavrini look different,» the hunter pointed with his hand at the inverted gaze.

Wall frowned and looked thoughtfully at Kuhn. Then the leader again sat down next to the unconscious Salas and once again lifted his eyelids. The youngster’s eyes were still transformed: the whites shimmered with shades of scarlet, and the shaman’s bizarre black irises, inexplicably merged with the pupils. Zavrini’s presentiment inspired the leader of the Great Hunt with thoughts about a newborn star, and he plunged into thought.

– Wall, Wa-a-all! the grey-haired ranger nudged the leader on the shoulder.

We need to set up camp before dark! Wall suddenly commanded. – And skin the carcass. All for business! the leader hurried. «Tyrant, you look after Salas for now. In the morning we move forward to the camp! The sooner we get back, the better it will be. And horns! Drive more goons around the camp!

Unity

Embodied in the essence, but not losing the bodily connection, Roshan’s consciousness left the body and began to slowly rotate around the abandoned flesh. And everything that happened beyond the bounds of human vision appeared before the gaze of the leader. This time, the manifestation of unity was not like the previous units with Pangea, and Roshan immediately felt it.

For the first time in all times, through Her eyes, the leader saw his camp! The shaman saw his appearance like the appearance of reptiles through the eyes of Zavrini: the soulless shell appeared in unity as a body without skin, and everything inside disfigured the Temple of the Creator with a disgusting phenomenon. Mixing with the glow of prana, the lilac gleam of the leader’s combinations flooded the expanses of the dungeon with warm light. From the streams of glow, the symbols on the walls of the cave took on the color of the aura of the shaman’s body, and the lights of candles and lights became similar to the glow of night stars. The bursts of an underground stream and the crackling of blazing torches filled the manifestation of the vision, and the grotto with Her eyes came to life in a new decoration.

After examining the Abode of Unity, Roshan once again turned his attention to his own camp. Human flesh – joints of bones, plexuses of muscles, a web of veins and vessels – was enveloped in luminous fibers from all sides. And in the chest area, a vital source stood out noticeably – shimmering with a scarlet flame, the shaman’s heart throbbed quiveringly and measuredly, and it was clear how blood was circulating in the center of longevity. Despite the horror and unprecedentedness of what was presented, Roshan remained humble. Humble and ready for new ideas.

The vision did not linger in the grotto and, for some unknown reason, instead of heading towards the stars, rushed down to the base of the mountain. With a roar and crackle piercing the warehouses of the stone walls of the cave, the red-hot essence of the soul became more animated with every moment. It gained momentum and, passing through the strongholds, tore apart the particles of the coordinated forms of the Great Volcano, like an arrow cutting through the harmony of living flesh. The red-hot essence, burning the compositions of stones, penetrated deep into the mountains, and the leader felt the heat of the burning fossils with his face and body, as if he was penetrating the thickness of the volcano with his camp.

In a fleeting vision fell into the labyrinths of tunnels. In unexplored corridors, it slowed down for a moment, making it possible to consider the moves. And in one grotto, it completely hung over extraordinary creatures. «Continuations of the original lives – underground creatures!» thought the leader. They had no bones, no heart, no bloody flesh, but their bodies and paws, with eight limbs for each creature, looked like giant spiders and glowed with prana in Roshan’s gaze, as if creations were composed from the flames of Pangea. The essence circled over the creatures and rushed down again.

«Why did She direct me to the foundations of the Earth? the shaman thought, gradually getting used to what was happening. «After all, the manifestation of memories was about the stars, about their mysterious glow and a newborn star…»

At some point, Roshan’s gaze found itself in a vast cave. Having lowered their ardor, the essence of the soul and mind hung in the expanses of the dungeon, and in the vision of the shaman through the veil of nebula, the realm of the original essences appeared. The immense grotto with many niches, interweaving of ledges and passages was teeming with insect giants from top to bottom! Underground inhabitants swarmed absolutely everywhere: they clung to the sheer walls of the cave, cliffs and stalactites sticking out everywhere! And each of the creatures in the vision of the leader radiated the radiance of prana.

The light emanating from the creatures spread throughout the grotto and illuminated the most secluded corners of the vast lair, and giant insects fussily crawled along the slopes and planes, making unpleasant chirring sounds. Caught on the way one by one, the creatures probed each other with their endings – apparently, in this way they determined their own kind. Some of the creatures had elongated bodies and an abundance of limbs, others had pointed, spiked tails. Others were similar to those that Roshan saw, plunging deep into the mountain. Sometimes some creatures attacked creatures of another stock, but soon after the skirmishes they dispersed to their needs. Others were completely immobile.

The narrowed niches of the grotto were in places smeared with luminous slime, in which lay either giant larvae (Roshan could not see), or eggs. Larger species of creatures, similar in appearance to horned beetles, crowded among the rudiments and disgusting secretions. These creatures, apparently, gave birth to larval eggs, or maybe they simply protected them from other creatures.

Many passages approached the cave from all sides. The tunnels were located along the entire length of the dungeon – both above and below. And from the channels he saw on the way to the lair, the shaman realized that most of the passages intersected, creating a huge labyrinth in the heart of the Great Volcano. Stalactites, entwined everywhere with a web in which the remains of the limbs of creatures dangled, a strange interweaving of stone origins, many creatures and their disgusting chirping and clatter filled the atmosphere of the underworld with danger and anxiety. Even in unity with Pangea, being in the abode of creatures became uneasy for the leader. For a moment he imagined being here in reality – in a bodily shell in absolute darkness. Roshan had no idea what kind of mentality the insect creatures had, but Zavrini’s premonition told him that these creatures were very unfriendly.

«It was not for nothing that the tribesmen built barriers in the Temple of the Creator,» thought the shaman, and immediately decided, after unity, to fix the horns on the barriers in both the right and left sleeves of the passage.

Meanwhile, the essence rose to the center of the cave and began to absorb the particles of light that the underground creatures emitted nearby. Giant insects in the area started up! They chirped and fussily ran along the ledges of the dungeon, abruptly rushing from side to side, and sometimes at each other. Vital fibers of the fiery element rushed from everywhere from the creatures to the leader’s gaze with a visible haze, and Roshan noticed how this phenomenon began to extinguish the glow of the prana of the creatures closest to the vision. They slowed down, shrank and froze, as if their lives were cut short at that moment. Absorbing the prana of the underground inhabitants, the essence of the leader itself was filled with energy. And at one moment, having filled to the limit, she shuddered and swiftly soared up – away from the underworld.

***

When the reincarnation of the soul escaped from the thickness of the mountain, the Great Fire was already at its zenith, and the bright rays of the luminary immediately shook the shaman’s eyes – for the first time in history, Roshan returned the human vision in unity! The leader involuntarily lowered his head, hiding his face from the dazzling glare, and the animated essence turned the movement into action in an instant – bowing her gaze, she directed her vision downward, and Roshan saw the abode of Pangea in a guise never seen before: from the height of heaven! Forests and ravines, mountains and plains, fields and steppes that surrounded the Great Volcano – everything was in full view here! The shaman looked around Her expanses with amazement and once again became convinced that this unity was not similar to any other units before.

The immense grove of araucaria that spread near the camp and beyond which the first people had not yet gone, still hid behind the horizon, and its edges could not be seen. The scope of the coniferous forest turned out to be much wider than its visible outlines from the ledges of the caves – the dwellings of the elders. And this could not but comfort Roshan. The green cover of araucaria was a real boon of Pangea, since predatory reptiles larger than Raptors were not noticed in these parts. And despite the fact that both Raptors and Vultures have bred in the forest, and the herbivorous Stripers have recently begun to leave these places, the rangers, guessing the lucky lot of the Great Hunt, have always rejoiced in the grove, like small children with the colored wings of swamp dragonflies. Harassing the Stripers among ravines and araucaria-tree-covered hills, even among Raptors, was much safer than stalking giants in liana forests or bennettite plains. And the lot, as was customary, made it possible for the leaders of the hunting parties to choose the side of the world of fishing first.

Directing his gaze to the southwest, the shaman focused his vision on the liana forest. The dense crowns of giant liana trees, like elevated hills, protruded above the surroundings. The tops of the leafy cover swayed fairly from the breath of the wind, and from the sky it seemed that the blowing gusts created abundant disturbances of the vegetative plateau, like wavy ripples on the water surface appear after strong flows of the windy element. Long contemplation of the peaks caused an illusion in Roshan’s gaze. The leader for a moment succumbed to the monotonous variability of the crowns, and it began to seem to him that the deciduous cover of the trees was hovering above the ground. Feeling the deceit in the vision, the shaman released his vision and looked again at the liana forest. He immediately noticed that above the crowns near the edges the lords of the heavens were swarming – powerful and ardent predators of Pterosaurs. But from the height of the flight of the incarnation of the soul, the heavenly hunters looked tiny. And all the greatness of the Pterosaurs became at that moment insignificant in comparison with the greatness of what was seen around.

The leader looked at the borders of the forest and the previous path traveled. The leader recognized the hunting trails and the last resting place in the wooded ridge. The memories of the lands along which the footprints of ancestors and Pangea itself led to the Great Volcano inspired Roshan with worries about the past…

The constant rise of soul essence opened up views of unfamiliar lands to the south, west, and east. The edge of the liana forest on the southwestern side grew scarcely into a plateau of bennettite fields. The fields mingled either with strings of conifers, or with lush cycads, or maybe even with palm trees – everything became similar from a height. The limits of the plateau approached the wooded hills, and behind the hills a wide river meandered in a dark blue stripe, like a lasso thrown by chance. In some places it broke off into ravines, and in these places its sharp and seething declines were visible. The winding shores of the water element abundantly enveloped the jungle, liana giants and other trees.

Bor in the west rested on a hill. But the gaze had already risen so high that the vegetation on these hills had also become illegible. But in the southeast, the edge of the araucaria grove suddenly appeared, and the soils that arose there clearly conveyed the fiery shades of the half-dead steppes. Crimson arid lands in some areas of unfamiliar distances were strewn with verdant tones of vegetation, and it seemed to Roshan that there, among the greenery, lonely hollows of lakes gleamed.

In the north-west, in the led regions behind the wooded ridges, a swamp valley was already visible. But if the shaman did not know about its existence, then it is unlikely that from such a height he could make out what kind of area it was.

The essence hastily rose up, and with every moment the creator’s abode moved away from the shaman’s gaze, hiding the details of the camp and growing in grandeur at the same time. Very soon She was so far away that it became impossible to see even the highest hills and trees in Her. The lands of Pangea now differed only in the pale hues of the colors of the vegetation that covered them, and the features of the areas growing into each other were not visible at all. Yes, and the Great Volcano from the height of heaven no longer seemed so majestic. But at its summit, the silhouettes of the undergrowth could still be seen: lone ginkgo trees, yucca trees, fern thickets, grass cover and hill borders – rocky ledges and sharp slopes.

The vast expanses of Pangea were enveloped on all sides by a continuous horizon, and the leader was struck by what he saw! For the first time he saw how the horizon closed in a ring, bordering only on the firmament. The rounded forms of the horizon became more expressive with every moment of distance and made it clear that the coherence of the world, like the Great Fire, like the Moon and stars, are similar in outline. And this idea destroyed a lot of conjectures and thoughts about the creator’s warehouse in the shaman’s head.

Higher and higher the leader rose to the sky, and Pangea became more and more immense and immeasurable. Her scope was so great that she lacked the ability to see to see the manifested distances at the edges of Her form. The appearance of the creator was gradually embodied in a rounded giant Earth. And the Earth was already so far from Roshan that the gaze was enough to cover its facets with a glance!

Suddenly, the shaman noticed how the heights of the firmament began to change color. Their visible features were gradually surrounded by a mysterious black haze, and a thick white veil formed over Pangea. And through it, covering the edges of the majestic plateau, raging waters began to be seen. The heavenly color of the water, from the northern shores of which, according to the legends of the ancestors, the light-skinned Zavrini took the first step towards the Great Volcano.