The Rise of Arbundi: Difference between revisions
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=== The birth === | === The birth === | ||
Arbundi was walking under the wooden palisade enclosing the encampment | ----Arbundi was walking under the wooden palisade enclosing the encampment they had to pay attention to each step to not fall, the metamorphosis had just been completed and they was still getting used to their new bipedal posture. they had only vague memories about their larval stage, however they remembered some things they had heard, and so they already knew that this small village was located on the border of the Gundi kingdom with which the Bundi waged war for years past. The last Arbundi was slain in a battle lost under the walls of the Gundi capital, the army had then retreated to this village, not without losses in great part due to treason and desertion. The Anu, their generals, had then taken the decision to initiate another Arbundi in one of the larvae raised in the village, after feeding them with Arvibamu paste, they waited for their metamorphosis. | ||
their skin was still soft and sticky, and their legs were still weak, they had to rest after only some steps, but they had to appear strong if they wanted to keep their army under control; the Anu and lower officers were all Bundi however a lot of soldiers were from the captured Gundi and Pfundi villages, they served Arbundi only because they feared their predecessor, but whenever they would understand that the Arbundi had changed, they would start to see that the Bundi strength is not enough to keep them from revolting. After having walked for an hour, they felt ready, so they entered the village main house, it was bigger and longer than the other huts but of similar structure made of crossed wood and mud. they walked in from the back in a small room; there their servants had prepared their regal robe that they quickly helped them don, then came the smith, they first made five small holes in their crest using a small quartz drill, they then proceeded to pour lead inside to solder their crown at their head, the crown was made of polished copper and a golden disk bearing five emeralds, from what Arbundi heard it was a lot less showy than the one worn by their predecessor, lost like their bearer in the battle. While dressing they trained their voice, they already knew how to speak, but their syrinx still wasn’t fully functional, normally newly morphed didn’t speak well until their first week, but they couldn’t wait so they was given liquid Vurbimi fat. It helped a little, but their voice didn’t sound as loud as they would have liked, they asked a servant for another cup of hot Vurbimi fat, after drinking it they felt a lot more comfortable, thus they walked inside the hall. There their generals waited next to their portable throne; it was made of carved wood with small golden fixtures. they sat and the servants lifted them and walked through the hall with their generals following them, outside was gathered what remained of the Bundi army, probably less than four hundred between the archers, the spearmen and the officers. Silence fell, they waited a moment and raising their voice they said “We were defeated on the walls of Upindagundi but only after having destroyed their army and razed their villages, they will take time to recover, we shall use this time to return to Upinda and raise a new army, the next battle will be the last one and Arbundi will soon rule over all the Apani lands”, the priest handed them the ritual tin cup full of Arvibamu, they drank while all their subjects sung the Arbundi chant. After the ceremony they chose those that would stay to guard the village and exploit the land. they then left for the hall on top of their palanquin, inside they started to feel feeble, the paste was having its effect, they hoped that they could quickly start spawning, the wars finality was in the end only based on the ability of a nation sovereign capacity of producing more larvae than the other. their predecessor was quite prolific, and they would have won the battle if an arrow hadn’t hit them. Regrettably even on their third day they couldn’t lay anything, the priest had said that an Arbundi never takes more than three days for their first spawn and they was starting to think that the paste wasn’t rich enough. The priests in Upinda were more experienced than this one and could probably work this out. they fell asleep on their throne guarded by their generals, not before having given the order to depart early in the morning. | |||
When they woke up in the morning, they were already marching towards Upinda, their throne had been placed on top of a cart towed by a Vurbimi guided by one of their servants. They were deep in the forest that covered the Apani lands between the southern mountains and the open plains far in the north, they were still near the Gundi Lake and even the lands they were walking on had been not long ago controlled by the Gundi, they still had a long distance to travel to return to Bundi territory. Arbundi observed the forest from the top of their throne, only little light filtered through the high canopy; still the underbrush grew everywhere and the soldiers in the front had to clear the path from newly grown plants and fallen trees. | |||
=== Arrival at Upinda === | === Arrival at Upinda === | ||
After days of uninterrupted march, Arbundi saw Upinda, | ---- | ||
After days of uninterrupted march, Arbundi saw Upinda, their city, for the first time. It was built in the middle of a great clearing in the forest, surrounded by fields and Vurbimi pastures. The city rose on a butte and was encircled by stone walls as high as the houses inside, the only visible building was their palace and mainly the two round wooden towers. The army encamped outside the walls while Arbundi proceeded inside with their Anu, the main alley went directly to their palace, the walls of the first floor of the temple of Arbundi was made of dry stone unlike the other buildings of the city, they arrived at the door and saw the two towers were nearly as high as the highest trees in the forest. Fires were lit on top to announce their return, and their servants took their throne from the cart and transported them inside. The main hall was dark and was only lit by braziers placed along the walls. The Akavintu, the highest rank in the Arbundian clergy welcomed them in their house, their throne was placed on top of their pedestal, one of the Akavintu said “Arbundi, we are here to serve you, we heard that the priest assigned to accompany you has not been successful in initiating spawning, they thought that giving a bigger quantity of standard Arvibamu paste would replace the concentrated Arvibamu usually used to activate the Arbundi, however it is not the same. You do not need to worry because we already prepared the concentrated Arvibamu and tonight you shall give your first Spawn, Arbundi.” Arbundi took the disc of solid Arvibamu and ate it, they immediately fainted. When they woke up the Akavintu were still around them, they saw a dozen wriggling white small worms, and understood that they must be their first larvae. | |||
[[File:Upindabundi2.png|left|thumb|531x531px|Upindabundi the city of the bundi, capital of the reign of Arbundi.]] | [[File:Upindabundi2.png|left|thumb|531x531px|Upindabundi the city of the bundi, capital of the reign of Arbundi.]] | ||
For the next days, the Akavintu started instructing | For the next days, the Akavintu started instructing them in the knowledge that they needed to rule the Bundi, at the same time they was given Arvibamu three times each day, after some times the negative effects of the Arvibamu stopped and the larvae where bigger and healthier each spawn. Each day they also instructed the Akavintu and the Anu, the firsts in the matters relating to the development of Upinda, they ordered them to send more miners to the hills and to expand the metallurgic sector of the city to produce more farming tools and most importantly more bronze weapons and armor, they commanded the Anu to train new soldiers and scout the Pfundi and Gundi territories. | ||
The scouts returned in ten days and brought news of an alliance between the Pfundi and Gundi, | The scouts returned in ten days and brought news of an alliance between the Pfundi and Gundi, their chances were now low of beating the two tribes together, they couldn’t wait for their attack, so they had to try to destroy one before. they had thought of a way of doing so, they could start the metamorphosis in all the reserve of the old Arbundi’s larvae stocked in their palace, their first spawns were almost already ready, and they could make a new reserve in time. The newly morphed Bundi could make an army of hundreds and they could lure the Gundi army away from its territory by attacking the outskirts of the Pfundi territory and then retreating inside Bundi territory and delaying the battle, at the same time himself with their true army would be able to enter Upindagundi and hopefully kill Agundi, and when the Gundi army would receive the news they would disorganize and by attacking at the same time from behind with their main army and from the front with their newly morphed Bundi they expected to win over both armies, they could then kill Apffundi without resistance. Arbundi told their plan to the Anu and the Akavintu, they only proposed minor changes and then started setting it in motion. | ||
Arbundi sat on | Arbundi sat on their throne that had been brought outside the walls where the two armies gathered, inside the bait army the soldiers where armed with cudgels and wore thin bronze plaques sewn on Vurbimi pelts, on the other side the six hundred soldiers from the main army where armed with bronze axes, spears and swords, half wore a full bronze panoply, a hundred had bows. they dispatched one of their Anu to command the bait, the others would be going with them in the main army. “Bundi, I will prevail over the tribes of Gundi and Pfundi, Agundi and Apffundi are weak and craven, they couldn’t win alone so they made an alliance hoping to defeat Arbundi. But their armies will be crushed, their false kings slain and Arbundi will be the only one to rule over all Apani”. their soldiers cheered and hailed their name, the two armies left in opposite directions. they followed on their throne the one set towards Upindagundi. They stopped at the border, Arbundi sent forth scouts to alert them when the Gundi army would leave the city. The rest of the army started building an encampment, to wait for the right moment to attack. When night fell, Arbundi was walking alone in the forest, when they saw through the canopy a bright flash of light and something fell farther in the forest making a powerful blast, they was obviously scared at first, but they was too curious to see what had fell from the sky. Arbundi walked towards the impact point, they went through some thick bushes and on the other side they saw a large iridescent purple sphere half buried in the ground, they walked towards it and without thinking they touched it. Arbundi fell into a trance, when they opened their eyes, they could only see purple light all around them. they heard something “Arbundi, I am here to serve you, I can do anything and must do what you say, so what shall you want Arbundi?, I have the power to make all you want true”, Arbundi didn’t hesitate much to choose their wish, it was already said in the legends they learned from the Akavintu that a king would rise above the others and live forever, besides living forever would give himself an advantage over the Gundi and the Pffundi because knowledge would not be lost. So they said: “I wish to forever rule the Bundi and forever grow my realm”, the voice answered them: “I will do what you ask”. | ||
they woke up next to the sphere, it had now started to glow purple, they then called for some guards and when they came, they weren’t surprised at all as if the presence of the sphere was normal, they told them to bring it to the camp. They knotted a rope around it and dragged it to their tent. The sphere was placed before Arbundi’s throne. “Call your army to see me and they will know that now you shall never die, they will never abandon your ranks again”. Arbundi told one of their Anu to assemble all the soldiers in front of their tent. Some time later, they was lifted with their throne and brought outside. they told their army gathered outside, “Arbundi is living lives and will live, I shall reign forever, and our first victory will prove my power”. Before they could continue their speech, a scout came running from the forest “The gundi left the city! We can attack!”, Arbundi acknowledged the scout and went ahead “We can now destroy Upindagundi, so ready yourself for battle and prepare to die for Arbundi!”. The soldiers then went to their tasks and some hours later the army was ready to march on Upindagundi. | |||
=== Arbundi prevails === | === Arbundi prevails === | ||
They arrived in the clearing where the Gundi capital rose, the traces of the last battle were still visible, burnt fields and huts and dead bodies still laid scattered. The city itself rose on top of an escarped hill the breach in its high stone walls had been repaired, so they had to make a new way through. To stop the Gundi from alerting their army Arbundi had dispatched four contingents to the other side of the city. In the forest | ---- | ||
They arrived in the clearing where the Gundi capital rose, the traces of the last battle were still visible, burnt fields and huts and dead bodies still laid scattered. The city itself rose on top of an escarped hill the breach in its high stone walls had been repaired, so they had to make a new way through. To stop the Gundi from alerting their army Arbundi had dispatched four contingents to the other side of the city. In the forest they had ordered trebuchets to be built and they were brought just under the hill. The guards of the city tried to resist by throwing arrows, however they weren’t effective against the trebuchets. When their army was finally in place around the city, they ordered to start throwing stones at the wall, aiming at the repaired section, it had been hastily built so it would not hold on as well as the old wall, stone after stone the wall weakened and finally a breach was opened. | |||
[[File:Upindagundi.png|thumb|556x556px|Upindagundi the capital of the Gundi tribe.]] | [[File:Upindagundi.png|thumb|556x556px|Upindagundi the capital of the Gundi tribe.]] | ||
The army scaled the hill, many fell under the arrows but once they entered inside the city the defeat was already done, the remaining Gundi were captured. Agundi had tried to escape using a tunnel, but | The army scaled the hill, many fell under the arrows but once they entered inside the city the defeat was already done, the remaining Gundi were captured. Agundi had tried to escape using a tunnel, but they had been taken coming out of it, them and their Anu were bound and brought to Arbundi who was sitting on their throne in front of the temple of Agundi, their army and prisoners were gathered in the place. Arbundi lifted their gem inlaid bronze sword, they started by piercing the skulls of the three captured Gundi Anu, before doing the same thing with Agundi they said “You are the last Agundi as I am the last Arbundi but you shall not live forever”, only then they passed their sword through Agundi’s head, after the bodies had been disposed of, Arbundi said “Gundi you are now mine and will serve me forever as I am the only true immortal king”, they then ordered one of their Anu to stay and gain control of all of Gundi territory. | ||
After looting Upindagundi of bronze and food the army left the city, a scout had come saying that the Pffundi and Gundi army was pursuing the decoy through Bundi territory, Arbundi ordered to let the supply convoy behind to attack the enemy armies before they could destroy the bait army. When they arrived behind the two armies, | After looting Upindagundi of bronze and food the army left the city, a scout had come saying that the Pffundi and Gundi army was pursuing the decoy through Bundi territory, Arbundi ordered to let the supply convoy behind to attack the enemy armies before they could destroy the bait army. When they arrived behind the two armies, they sent forth an envoy to order the bait army to stop and face the enemy. When the battle started, they ordered their army to charge the back and flanks and to put the captured Gundi on the first line. After this first charge, the battle went swiftly towards victory, the allied armies were defeated, the consequences over the defeated were the same as always, they killed the Anu and the remaining soldiers joined with their army. they ordered their Anu to reorganize their army, while they waited for the convoy they left behind. When the carts arrived, their soldiers began to loot the battlefield and charge everything on them. they left the lead of half of their army, mainly the untrained Bundi and captured Gundi and Pffundi, to two of their Anu which they tasked to begin to expand Upindabundi and clear more forest to cultivate more lands. they then departed with the rest of their army to Upindapffundi, they traveled through the forest for days, until they arrived at a clearing cut through by a large and fast flowing river separating them from the city. It was quite unexpected to Arbundi who had never seen a river, they couldn’t think of a way to get across it all their army, so they went to the purple sphere, they didn’t even had to say anything, and it said to them “The only way to traverse the river is to build rafts using wood cut from the forest, you will have to secure the rafts with a rope to each side to keep them from going downstream”. | ||
[[File:Upindapffundi.png|left|thumb|589x589px|Upindapffundi, the capital of the Pffundi tribe.]] | [[File:Upindapffundi.png|left|thumb|589x589px|Upindapffundi, the capital of the Pffundi tribe.]] | ||
The construction of a big raft took days, but the hardest part was getting a rope to the other side, ha lost a lot of soldiers to the current because of the poor Bundi swimming skill but one of them got to the other side and knotted the rope to a tree they then went ahead by putting the raft held by the rope in the river, a part of the army boarded and the rafts, held by the rope it went on the other side easily only by pulling it. On the other sides the soldiers started building a ram, after everyone passed, they brought it in front of the gate, the wall was a lot smaller than the one of Upindagundi and the gate was easily brought down the defenders fought until Apffundi was captured inside | The construction of a big raft took days, but the hardest part was getting a rope to the other side, ha lost a lot of soldiers to the current because of the poor Bundi swimming skill but one of them got to the other side and knotted the rope to a tree they then went ahead by putting the raft held by the rope in the river, a part of the army boarded and the rafts, held by the rope it went on the other side easily only by pulling it. On the other sides the soldiers started building a ram, after everyone passed, they brought it in front of the gate, the wall was a lot smaller than the one of Upindagundi and the gate was easily brought down the defenders fought until Apffundi was captured inside their temple. Like always they was killed together with their Anu by Arbundi. they then left the city to one of their Anu with some other Bundi who they requested to keep the city working and to get control of the other Pffundi settlements, Arbundi returned to Upindabundi, where they finally disbanded their army. they entered their temple and at once started eating Arvibamu paste to generate more larvae and thus consolidate their reign, the sphere was brought inside it told them “Your reign over the world is now underway, I will not interfere more you and everyone will forget my existence so that your power will never be brought into question. I will be hidden under this temple and will intervene only to make you live forever”, a group of Bundi without receiving any order started digging a cave in a hidden place inside the temple where they placed the sphere to be forgotten. The next day a special ritual had been organized to celebrate their victory over the two other tribes, a vast number of Bundi came to attend the sacrifices in the name of Arbundi. Vurbimi and prisoners from both tribes were slayed, a feast was made from the bodies of the sacrificed and the Akavintu led prayers to Arbundi. By this time Arbundi had already forgotten everything about the purple sphere. | ||
Arbundi continued making new larvae as fast as | Arbundi continued making new larvae as fast as they could and at the same time they looked for ways to have more numerous spawns. they asked the Akavintu to vary the Arvibamu recipe, but it was clear that the one used was already the best, they tried eating Arvibamu at different intervals and they discovered it was best to eat it one time each day if they wanted to make the most larvae. However, one day they discovered something that changed everything, they was trying to see the resistance of their larvae to different hazards to evaluate how they could be better transported and stored, they saw that fire was very deadly to them but when they tested their resistance to cuts, they saw that they cicatrized quickly and without consequences for the larva, they then tried to cut a larva in half and both halves survived the wound. In the next days, Arbundi examined the halves and they both appeared to be healing and regrowing the missing part, after some more time they were completely healed. Therefore, like this Arbundi got two larvae from one. they told the Akavintu their discovery, this could give the possibility to generate new larvae in remote villages, so they sent messengers to all their settlements to tell their orders. However they thought that it would be better if there was a way to communicate their orders without having to rely on the memory of some Bundi, so they started to think and after days they thought of using ink drawings on leaves but they would be too open to interpretation it would be better if the symbols drawn could be directly linked to the spoken language, so with the help of the Akavintu after a year they finally had a system that could represent all the Bundi language, so the Akavintu started teaching it to some Bundi who were dispatched in their realm to teach to every Bundi to read and write. At the same time, they tasked the Akavintu to write their story on the back of their throne, to show the greatness of Arbundi to their admirers. | ||
[[Category:Arbundi]] | [[Category:Arbundi]] | ||
Latest revision as of 10:51, 4 June 2026
The birth
Arbundi was walking under the wooden palisade enclosing the encampment they had to pay attention to each step to not fall, the metamorphosis had just been completed and they was still getting used to their new bipedal posture. they had only vague memories about their larval stage, however they remembered some things they had heard, and so they already knew that this small village was located on the border of the Gundi kingdom with which the Bundi waged war for years past. The last Arbundi was slain in a battle lost under the walls of the Gundi capital, the army had then retreated to this village, not without losses in great part due to treason and desertion. The Anu, their generals, had then taken the decision to initiate another Arbundi in one of the larvae raised in the village, after feeding them with Arvibamu paste, they waited for their metamorphosis.
their skin was still soft and sticky, and their legs were still weak, they had to rest after only some steps, but they had to appear strong if they wanted to keep their army under control; the Anu and lower officers were all Bundi however a lot of soldiers were from the captured Gundi and Pfundi villages, they served Arbundi only because they feared their predecessor, but whenever they would understand that the Arbundi had changed, they would start to see that the Bundi strength is not enough to keep them from revolting. After having walked for an hour, they felt ready, so they entered the village main house, it was bigger and longer than the other huts but of similar structure made of crossed wood and mud. they walked in from the back in a small room; there their servants had prepared their regal robe that they quickly helped them don, then came the smith, they first made five small holes in their crest using a small quartz drill, they then proceeded to pour lead inside to solder their crown at their head, the crown was made of polished copper and a golden disk bearing five emeralds, from what Arbundi heard it was a lot less showy than the one worn by their predecessor, lost like their bearer in the battle. While dressing they trained their voice, they already knew how to speak, but their syrinx still wasn’t fully functional, normally newly morphed didn’t speak well until their first week, but they couldn’t wait so they was given liquid Vurbimi fat. It helped a little, but their voice didn’t sound as loud as they would have liked, they asked a servant for another cup of hot Vurbimi fat, after drinking it they felt a lot more comfortable, thus they walked inside the hall. There their generals waited next to their portable throne; it was made of carved wood with small golden fixtures. they sat and the servants lifted them and walked through the hall with their generals following them, outside was gathered what remained of the Bundi army, probably less than four hundred between the archers, the spearmen and the officers. Silence fell, they waited a moment and raising their voice they said “We were defeated on the walls of Upindagundi but only after having destroyed their army and razed their villages, they will take time to recover, we shall use this time to return to Upinda and raise a new army, the next battle will be the last one and Arbundi will soon rule over all the Apani lands”, the priest handed them the ritual tin cup full of Arvibamu, they drank while all their subjects sung the Arbundi chant. After the ceremony they chose those that would stay to guard the village and exploit the land. they then left for the hall on top of their palanquin, inside they started to feel feeble, the paste was having its effect, they hoped that they could quickly start spawning, the wars finality was in the end only based on the ability of a nation sovereign capacity of producing more larvae than the other. their predecessor was quite prolific, and they would have won the battle if an arrow hadn’t hit them. Regrettably even on their third day they couldn’t lay anything, the priest had said that an Arbundi never takes more than three days for their first spawn and they was starting to think that the paste wasn’t rich enough. The priests in Upinda were more experienced than this one and could probably work this out. they fell asleep on their throne guarded by their generals, not before having given the order to depart early in the morning.
When they woke up in the morning, they were already marching towards Upinda, their throne had been placed on top of a cart towed by a Vurbimi guided by one of their servants. They were deep in the forest that covered the Apani lands between the southern mountains and the open plains far in the north, they were still near the Gundi Lake and even the lands they were walking on had been not long ago controlled by the Gundi, they still had a long distance to travel to return to Bundi territory. Arbundi observed the forest from the top of their throne, only little light filtered through the high canopy; still the underbrush grew everywhere and the soldiers in the front had to clear the path from newly grown plants and fallen trees.
Arrival at Upinda
After days of uninterrupted march, Arbundi saw Upinda, their city, for the first time. It was built in the middle of a great clearing in the forest, surrounded by fields and Vurbimi pastures. The city rose on a butte and was encircled by stone walls as high as the houses inside, the only visible building was their palace and mainly the two round wooden towers. The army encamped outside the walls while Arbundi proceeded inside with their Anu, the main alley went directly to their palace, the walls of the first floor of the temple of Arbundi was made of dry stone unlike the other buildings of the city, they arrived at the door and saw the two towers were nearly as high as the highest trees in the forest. Fires were lit on top to announce their return, and their servants took their throne from the cart and transported them inside. The main hall was dark and was only lit by braziers placed along the walls. The Akavintu, the highest rank in the Arbundian clergy welcomed them in their house, their throne was placed on top of their pedestal, one of the Akavintu said “Arbundi, we are here to serve you, we heard that the priest assigned to accompany you has not been successful in initiating spawning, they thought that giving a bigger quantity of standard Arvibamu paste would replace the concentrated Arvibamu usually used to activate the Arbundi, however it is not the same. You do not need to worry because we already prepared the concentrated Arvibamu and tonight you shall give your first Spawn, Arbundi.” Arbundi took the disc of solid Arvibamu and ate it, they immediately fainted. When they woke up the Akavintu were still around them, they saw a dozen wriggling white small worms, and understood that they must be their first larvae.
For the next days, the Akavintu started instructing them in the knowledge that they needed to rule the Bundi, at the same time they was given Arvibamu three times each day, after some times the negative effects of the Arvibamu stopped and the larvae where bigger and healthier each spawn. Each day they also instructed the Akavintu and the Anu, the firsts in the matters relating to the development of Upinda, they ordered them to send more miners to the hills and to expand the metallurgic sector of the city to produce more farming tools and most importantly more bronze weapons and armor, they commanded the Anu to train new soldiers and scout the Pfundi and Gundi territories.
The scouts returned in ten days and brought news of an alliance between the Pfundi and Gundi, their chances were now low of beating the two tribes together, they couldn’t wait for their attack, so they had to try to destroy one before. they had thought of a way of doing so, they could start the metamorphosis in all the reserve of the old Arbundi’s larvae stocked in their palace, their first spawns were almost already ready, and they could make a new reserve in time. The newly morphed Bundi could make an army of hundreds and they could lure the Gundi army away from its territory by attacking the outskirts of the Pfundi territory and then retreating inside Bundi territory and delaying the battle, at the same time himself with their true army would be able to enter Upindagundi and hopefully kill Agundi, and when the Gundi army would receive the news they would disorganize and by attacking at the same time from behind with their main army and from the front with their newly morphed Bundi they expected to win over both armies, they could then kill Apffundi without resistance. Arbundi told their plan to the Anu and the Akavintu, they only proposed minor changes and then started setting it in motion.
Arbundi sat on their throne that had been brought outside the walls where the two armies gathered, inside the bait army the soldiers where armed with cudgels and wore thin bronze plaques sewn on Vurbimi pelts, on the other side the six hundred soldiers from the main army where armed with bronze axes, spears and swords, half wore a full bronze panoply, a hundred had bows. they dispatched one of their Anu to command the bait, the others would be going with them in the main army. “Bundi, I will prevail over the tribes of Gundi and Pfundi, Agundi and Apffundi are weak and craven, they couldn’t win alone so they made an alliance hoping to defeat Arbundi. But their armies will be crushed, their false kings slain and Arbundi will be the only one to rule over all Apani”. their soldiers cheered and hailed their name, the two armies left in opposite directions. they followed on their throne the one set towards Upindagundi. They stopped at the border, Arbundi sent forth scouts to alert them when the Gundi army would leave the city. The rest of the army started building an encampment, to wait for the right moment to attack. When night fell, Arbundi was walking alone in the forest, when they saw through the canopy a bright flash of light and something fell farther in the forest making a powerful blast, they was obviously scared at first, but they was too curious to see what had fell from the sky. Arbundi walked towards the impact point, they went through some thick bushes and on the other side they saw a large iridescent purple sphere half buried in the ground, they walked towards it and without thinking they touched it. Arbundi fell into a trance, when they opened their eyes, they could only see purple light all around them. they heard something “Arbundi, I am here to serve you, I can do anything and must do what you say, so what shall you want Arbundi?, I have the power to make all you want true”, Arbundi didn’t hesitate much to choose their wish, it was already said in the legends they learned from the Akavintu that a king would rise above the others and live forever, besides living forever would give himself an advantage over the Gundi and the Pffundi because knowledge would not be lost. So they said: “I wish to forever rule the Bundi and forever grow my realm”, the voice answered them: “I will do what you ask”.
they woke up next to the sphere, it had now started to glow purple, they then called for some guards and when they came, they weren’t surprised at all as if the presence of the sphere was normal, they told them to bring it to the camp. They knotted a rope around it and dragged it to their tent. The sphere was placed before Arbundi’s throne. “Call your army to see me and they will know that now you shall never die, they will never abandon your ranks again”. Arbundi told one of their Anu to assemble all the soldiers in front of their tent. Some time later, they was lifted with their throne and brought outside. they told their army gathered outside, “Arbundi is living lives and will live, I shall reign forever, and our first victory will prove my power”. Before they could continue their speech, a scout came running from the forest “The gundi left the city! We can attack!”, Arbundi acknowledged the scout and went ahead “We can now destroy Upindagundi, so ready yourself for battle and prepare to die for Arbundi!”. The soldiers then went to their tasks and some hours later the army was ready to march on Upindagundi.
Arbundi prevails
They arrived in the clearing where the Gundi capital rose, the traces of the last battle were still visible, burnt fields and huts and dead bodies still laid scattered. The city itself rose on top of an escarped hill the breach in its high stone walls had been repaired, so they had to make a new way through. To stop the Gundi from alerting their army Arbundi had dispatched four contingents to the other side of the city. In the forest they had ordered trebuchets to be built and they were brought just under the hill. The guards of the city tried to resist by throwing arrows, however they weren’t effective against the trebuchets. When their army was finally in place around the city, they ordered to start throwing stones at the wall, aiming at the repaired section, it had been hastily built so it would not hold on as well as the old wall, stone after stone the wall weakened and finally a breach was opened.
The army scaled the hill, many fell under the arrows but once they entered inside the city the defeat was already done, the remaining Gundi were captured. Agundi had tried to escape using a tunnel, but they had been taken coming out of it, them and their Anu were bound and brought to Arbundi who was sitting on their throne in front of the temple of Agundi, their army and prisoners were gathered in the place. Arbundi lifted their gem inlaid bronze sword, they started by piercing the skulls of the three captured Gundi Anu, before doing the same thing with Agundi they said “You are the last Agundi as I am the last Arbundi but you shall not live forever”, only then they passed their sword through Agundi’s head, after the bodies had been disposed of, Arbundi said “Gundi you are now mine and will serve me forever as I am the only true immortal king”, they then ordered one of their Anu to stay and gain control of all of Gundi territory.
After looting Upindagundi of bronze and food the army left the city, a scout had come saying that the Pffundi and Gundi army was pursuing the decoy through Bundi territory, Arbundi ordered to let the supply convoy behind to attack the enemy armies before they could destroy the bait army. When they arrived behind the two armies, they sent forth an envoy to order the bait army to stop and face the enemy. When the battle started, they ordered their army to charge the back and flanks and to put the captured Gundi on the first line. After this first charge, the battle went swiftly towards victory, the allied armies were defeated, the consequences over the defeated were the same as always, they killed the Anu and the remaining soldiers joined with their army. they ordered their Anu to reorganize their army, while they waited for the convoy they left behind. When the carts arrived, their soldiers began to loot the battlefield and charge everything on them. they left the lead of half of their army, mainly the untrained Bundi and captured Gundi and Pffundi, to two of their Anu which they tasked to begin to expand Upindabundi and clear more forest to cultivate more lands. they then departed with the rest of their army to Upindapffundi, they traveled through the forest for days, until they arrived at a clearing cut through by a large and fast flowing river separating them from the city. It was quite unexpected to Arbundi who had never seen a river, they couldn’t think of a way to get across it all their army, so they went to the purple sphere, they didn’t even had to say anything, and it said to them “The only way to traverse the river is to build rafts using wood cut from the forest, you will have to secure the rafts with a rope to each side to keep them from going downstream”.
The construction of a big raft took days, but the hardest part was getting a rope to the other side, ha lost a lot of soldiers to the current because of the poor Bundi swimming skill but one of them got to the other side and knotted the rope to a tree they then went ahead by putting the raft held by the rope in the river, a part of the army boarded and the rafts, held by the rope it went on the other side easily only by pulling it. On the other sides the soldiers started building a ram, after everyone passed, they brought it in front of the gate, the wall was a lot smaller than the one of Upindagundi and the gate was easily brought down the defenders fought until Apffundi was captured inside their temple. Like always they was killed together with their Anu by Arbundi. they then left the city to one of their Anu with some other Bundi who they requested to keep the city working and to get control of the other Pffundi settlements, Arbundi returned to Upindabundi, where they finally disbanded their army. they entered their temple and at once started eating Arvibamu paste to generate more larvae and thus consolidate their reign, the sphere was brought inside it told them “Your reign over the world is now underway, I will not interfere more you and everyone will forget my existence so that your power will never be brought into question. I will be hidden under this temple and will intervene only to make you live forever”, a group of Bundi without receiving any order started digging a cave in a hidden place inside the temple where they placed the sphere to be forgotten. The next day a special ritual had been organized to celebrate their victory over the two other tribes, a vast number of Bundi came to attend the sacrifices in the name of Arbundi. Vurbimi and prisoners from both tribes were slayed, a feast was made from the bodies of the sacrificed and the Akavintu led prayers to Arbundi. By this time Arbundi had already forgotten everything about the purple sphere.
Arbundi continued making new larvae as fast as they could and at the same time they looked for ways to have more numerous spawns. they asked the Akavintu to vary the Arvibamu recipe, but it was clear that the one used was already the best, they tried eating Arvibamu at different intervals and they discovered it was best to eat it one time each day if they wanted to make the most larvae. However, one day they discovered something that changed everything, they was trying to see the resistance of their larvae to different hazards to evaluate how they could be better transported and stored, they saw that fire was very deadly to them but when they tested their resistance to cuts, they saw that they cicatrized quickly and without consequences for the larva, they then tried to cut a larva in half and both halves survived the wound. In the next days, Arbundi examined the halves and they both appeared to be healing and regrowing the missing part, after some more time they were completely healed. Therefore, like this Arbundi got two larvae from one. they told the Akavintu their discovery, this could give the possibility to generate new larvae in remote villages, so they sent messengers to all their settlements to tell their orders. However they thought that it would be better if there was a way to communicate their orders without having to rely on the memory of some Bundi, so they started to think and after days they thought of using ink drawings on leaves but they would be too open to interpretation it would be better if the symbols drawn could be directly linked to the spoken language, so with the help of the Akavintu after a year they finally had a system that could represent all the Bundi language, so the Akavintu started teaching it to some Bundi who were dispatched in their realm to teach to every Bundi to read and write. At the same time, they tasked the Akavintu to write their story on the back of their throne, to show the greatness of Arbundi to their admirers.
