The Rise of Arbundi
The birth
Arbundi was walking under the wooden palisade enclosing the encampment he had to pay attention to each step to not fall, the metamorphosis had just been completed and he was still getting used to his new bipedal posture. He had only vague memories about his larval stage, however he remembered some things he had heard, and so he 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, his generals, had then taken the decision to initiate another Arbundi in one of the larvae raised in the village, after feeding him with Arvibamu paste, they waited for his metamorphosis.
His skin was still soft and sticky, and his legs were still weak, he had to rest after only some steps, but he had to appear strong if he wanted to keep his 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 his 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, he felt ready, so he entered the village main house, it was bigger and longer than the other huts but of similar structure made of crossed wood and mud. He walked in from the back in a small room; there his servants had prepared his regal robe that they quickly helped him don, then came the smith, he first made five small holes in his crest using a small quartz drill, he then proceeded to pour lead inside to solder his crown at his 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 his predecessor, lost like his bearer in the battle. While dressing he trained his voice, he already knew how to speak, but his syrinx still wasn’t fully functional, normally newly morphed didn’t speak well until their first week, but he couldn’t wait so he was given liquid Vurbimi fat. It helped a little, but his voice didn’t sound as loud as he would have liked, he asked a servant for another cup of hot Vurbimi fat, after drinking it he felt a lot more comfortable, thus he walked inside the hall. There his generals waited next to his portable throne; it was made of carved wood with small golden fixtures. He sat and the servants lifted him and walked through the hall with his generals following him, outside was gathered what remained of the Bundi army, probably less than four hundred between the archers, the spearmen and the officers. Silence fell, he waited a moment and raising his voice he 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 him the ritual tin cup full of Arvibamu, he drank while all his subjects sung the Arbundi chant. After the ceremony he chose those that would stay to guard the village and exploit the land. He then left for the hall on top of his palanquin, inside he started to feel feeble, the paste was having its effect, he hoped that he 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. His predecessor was quite prolific, and he would have won the battle if an arrow hadn’t hit him. Regrettably even on his third day he couldn’t lay anything, the priest had said that an Arbundi never takes more than three days for his first spawn and he 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. He fell asleep on his throne guarded by his generals, not before having given the order to depart early in the morning.
When he woke up in the morning, they were already marching towards Upinda, his throne had been placed on top of a cart towed by a Vurbimi guided by one of his 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 his 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, his 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 his palace and mainly the two round wooden towers. The army encamped outside the walls while Arbundi proceeded inside with his Anu, the main alley went directly to his palace, the walls of the first floor of the temple of Arbundi was made of dry stone unlike the other buildings of the city, he 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 his return, and his servants took his throne from the cart and transported him 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 him in his house, his throne was placed on top of his 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, he 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, he immediately fainted. When he woke up the Akavintu were still around him, he saw a dozen wriggling white small worms, and understood that they must be his first larvae.
For the next days, the Akavintu started instructing him in the knowledge that he needed to rule the Bundi, at the same time he 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 he also instructed the Akavintu and the Anu, the firsts in the matters relating to the development of Upinda, he 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, he 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, his chances were now low of beating the two tribes together, he couldn’t wait for their attack, so he had to try to destroy one before. He had thought of a way of doing so, he could start the metamorphosis in all the reserve of the old Arbundi’s larvae stocked in his palace, his first spawns were almost already ready, and he 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 his 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 his main army and from the front with his newly morphed Bundi he expected to win over both armies, he could then kill Apffundi without resistance. Arbundi told his plan to the Anu and the Akavintu, they only proposed minor changes and then started setting it in motion.
Arbundi sat on his 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. He dispatched one of his Anu to command the bait, the others would be going with him 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”. His soldiers cheered and hailed his name, the two armies left in opposite directions. He followed on his throne the one set towards Upindagundi. They stopped at the border, Arbundi sent forth scouts to alert him 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 he saw through the canopy a bright flash of light and something fell farther in the forest making a powerful blast, he was obviously scared at first, but he was too curious to see what had fell from the sky. Arbundi walked towards the impact point, he went through some thick bushes and on the other side he saw a large iridescent purple sphere half buried in the ground, he walked towards it and without thinking he touched it. Arbundi fell into a trance, when he opened his eyes, he could only see purple light all around him. He 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 his wish, it was already said in the legends he 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 he said: “I wish to forever rule the Bundi and forever grow my realm”, the voice answered him: “I will do what you ask”.
He woke up next to the sphere, it had now started to glow purple, he then called for some guards and when they came, they weren’t surprised at all as if the presence of the sphere was normal, he told them to bring it to the camp. They knotted a rope around it and dragged it to his 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 his Anu to assemble all the soldiers in front of his tent. Some time later, he was lifted with his throne and brought outside. He told his army gathered outside, “Arbundi is living lives and will live, I shall reign forever, and our first victory will prove my power”. Before he could continue his 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 he 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 his army was finally in place around the city, he 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 he had been taken coming out of it, him and his Anu were bound and brought to Arbundi who was sitting on his throne in front of the temple of Agundi, his army and prisoners were gathered in the place. Arbundi lifted his gem inlaid bronze sword, he started by piercing the skulls of the three captured Gundi Anu, before doing the same thing with Agundi he said “You are the last Agundi as I am the last Arbundi but you shall not live forever”, only then he passed his 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”, he then ordered one of his 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, he sent forth an envoy to order the bait army to stop and face the enemy. When the battle started, he ordered his 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, he killed the Anu and the remaining soldiers joined with his army. He ordered his Anu to reorganize his army, while they waited for the convoy they left behind. When the carts arrived, his soldiers began to loot the battlefield and charge everything on them. He left the lead of half of his army, mainly the untrained Bundi and captured Gundi and Pffundi, to two of his Anu which he tasked to begin to expand Upindabundi and clear more forest to cultivate more lands. He then departed with the rest of his 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, he couldn’t think of a way to get across it all his army, so he went to the purple sphere, he didn’t even had to say anything, and it said to him “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 his temple. Like always he was killed together with his Anu by Arbundi. He then left the city to one of his Anu with some other Bundi who he requested to keep the city working and to get control of the other Pffundi settlements, Arbundi returned to Upindabundi, where he finally disbanded his army. He entered his temple and at once started eating Arvibamu paste to generate more larvae and thus consolidate his reign, the sphere was brought inside it told him “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 his 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 he could and at the same time he looked for ways to have more numerous spawns. He asked the Akavintu to vary the Arvibamu recipe, but it was clear that the one used was already the best, he tried eating Arvibamu at different intervals and he discovered it was best to eat it one time each day if he wanted to make the most larvae. However, one day he discovered something that changed everything, he was trying to see the resistance of his larvae to different hazards to evaluate how they could be better transported and stored, he saw that fire was very deadly to them but when he tested their resistance to cuts, he saw that they cicatrized quickly and without consequences for the larva, he 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. He told the Akavintu his discovery, this could give the possibility to generate new larvae in remote villages, so he sent messengers to all his settlements to tell his orders. However he thought that it would be better if there was a way to communicate his orders without having to rely on the memory of some Bundi, so he started to think and after days he 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 he finally had a system that could represent all the Bundi language, so the Akavintu started teaching it to some Bundi who were dispatched in his realm to teach to every Bundi to read and write. At the same time, he tasked the Akavintu to write his story on the back of his throne, to show the greatness of Arbundi to his admirers.
