"Rivals? Enemies? "Silva asked with shock. This came entirely out of the left field for him. When had he ever heard of a Tribe that was enemies with itself? This seemed absolutely insane and stupid.
"Exactly," Gravis said.
Silva waited for an explanation, but apparently, Gravis was done talking.
"Why?" Silva asked, "By not being united, our whole Tribe will suffer. If we get involved, there will be cases where we specifically send weaker beasts with an advantage against stronger beasts to weaken the other side. Isn't this exactly what we don't want to see? This is against the interests of the Tribe!"
Gravis only looked at Silva. "Because you have no other choice," Gravis said.
"What do you mean? Are you forcing me to become enemies with Shira?" Silva asked with narrowed eyes.
"No, I'm not forcing you," Gravis said and then pointed at Shira. "She's forcing you."
Silva looked at Shira while Shira looked with narrowed eyes at Gravis.
"I chose her as my commander because her goal is power and authority above anything else," Gravis explained. "This greed and ambition will drive her to increase the power of her camp as quickly as possible to stomp out all other competition. You are in her way to power. She wants to be the sole ruler of the whole Tribe, bar none."
Shira was deeply enraged inside. To her, it felt like Gravis was unveiling all her plots and secrets. This would make it much harder to become the ruler.
"But then, aren't you also one of her enemies? Why would you choose someone like this as your second in command if you know that she will try to usurp you as soon as possible?" Silva asked.
Gravis just laughed. "Her ambition will drive her camp to power. The more powerful the camp, the more powerful the Tribe. Her greed is putting pressure on all of us. If we don't become more powerful, we will die. She will force all of you to become powerful if you don't want to die."
Gravis rose from his sitting position. "Without a constant enemy at your throat, you will become complacent. Only by constantly fearing for your life will your power increase with ridiculous speed. Our goal is not to survive, but to become the most powerful Tribe, Kingdom, and Empire."
Gravis slithered forward until he was in the middle of everyone. His smirk intensified as he gestured grandly to the surroundings with opened arms.
"We are burning our bridges of retreat. It's either power or death. If you can't keep up with the others, you will become food. This is the truth of the world. Our Tribe will be the most dangerous one to live in, but also the one with the best environment to become powerful."
"If you aren't prepared to put your life on the line for power, you don't belong in my Tribe," Gravis said while looking into the eyes of Shira, Silva, and Morn. "I won't force you to stay here. Any beast can leave this Tribe if they want."
Silva and Morn felt incredibly shocked and even afraid. This was insane! Wasn't a home a place where one felt safe? Why would anyone want to put themselves in constant danger? Wasn't the goal of everyone to be happy? How could anyone be happy in this environment?
"This is insane!" Silva said as he rose and glared at Gravis. "You're mad! How many beasts will live to see the next year? You are dooming all of us to die to our own tribesmen!"
Gravis only smirked at Silva with narrowed eyes. "I'm dooming no one. You can always leave the Tribe. If you manage to convince others as well, you can take them with you. I won't stop anyone from leaving. I'm sure that with a large enough following, you can even join another Tribe."
"You're driving everyone away with that!" Silva shouted at Gravis. "You will weaken the Tribe until it completely collapses! This is insanity, and I won't be part of this! You can go kill yourself without me!"
Then, Silva turned around to leave the Spire. No one stopped him from leaving, and Shira even smirked coldly. Her biggest rival had left. This was the best-case scenario for her.
"I will stay," Morn said after he had remained silent for a while.
Silva's eyes widened in shock as he heard that. Then, he turned around and looked at Morn in shock and anger. "Elder!" he shouted aggressively. "How can you condone this insanity!? Have we not stayed in the Sand Tribe for many years together? Have you given up on life and want to commit suicide with everyone else!?"
Morn looked at Silva. "What our Lord has said goes against all tradition and previous experience. Yet, I see clearly now," he said with a severe voice. Silva could hear the battle-intent inside Morn's voice and his brain completely stopped working.
The Elder had always talked emotionlessly and wisely. Silva had never heard the Elder speak in this way. It was almost like the Elder was in the middle of a battle.
"Why has our Sand Kingdom declined to such a state?" Morn asked as he looked at Silva. "We have always been united, thinking that it makes us stronger. And yes, it does make us stronger but only for the moment. It promotes temporary strength over future growth."
Morn stood up with burning eyes. "We have not lived to become powerful but to survive. We haven't fought to win but to not lose. We only defended but didn't attack. We were bound to be reduced to this weak state! Oh, how naïve I have been. I have dreamt of returning to our glory days, yet, I wasn't ready to put my life on the line."
"The world isn't a kind place. If you aren't powerful, you will die. Creating a safe place will only let us live in peace until we are inevitably consumed by beasts that are willing to risk everything for power."
Morn looked deeply into Silva's eyes. "In my opinion, trying to live in peace in a world full of death and war is more akin to suicide than fighting for your life. By accepting peace, you have decided to die."
Gravis smirked from the side. Surely enough, Morn was similar to Orthar. He had seen enough of the world to see its true face. Yet, he had been blinded by the bright colors of peace and complacency. Creating peace and happiness in such a world was accepting your death.
There is no peace for beasts that wanted to become powerful. If a beast wanted peace, they had to sever their path to power by going to an area with such a low Energy density that there wasn't another powerful beast willing to stay there.
Staying in a territory useful to cultivation required someone to fight. If they didn't, they would only die.
Silva's body shook in rage. Had the Elder also lost his mind? This was insanity!
"Fine! If you want to live through this torture, go ahead! The Sand Tribe and I will leave!" Silva shouted as he left the Spire. No one stopped him.
Shira smirked. Her rival had left! This was perfect!
"I get to lead both camps now, right?" Shira asked Gravis.
Gravis smirked and laughed a bit, confusing Shira. "I'm surprised that you don't see how this will go. After all, you understand the greed for power very well," Gravis said.
Shira narrowed her eyes. "But he has left," she said. "This fact doesn't change."
"How many beasts will Silva be able to convince to leave?" Gravis asked.
Shira thought about that for a bit, and she didn't like her conclusion.
"Not many," Gravis said, "and with Silva's strong sense of responsibility, he won't abandon them. He knows that if he leaves, he will doom all of his tribesmen to die to you. The previous Sand Tribe will be happy to fight and kill as many sea beasts as possible. They believe themselves to be superior to sea beasts."
"They believe that they don't need Silva's power to eradicate the Sea Camp. In their eyes, the Sea Camp is only a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered and eaten. They know Silva, and they would maybe even prefer it when he left. After all, no one would stop them from killing the other camp then. Without a leader, they could do whatever they wanted as long as they follow my rules."
"Silva knows that without him, the Land Camp will be eradicated, and he won't abandon them."
Shira grew angrier as she listened to this. She felt like Gravis had control over the whole situation, and she didn't like this one bit. It felt like Gravis was manipulating her to do whatever he wanted. She felt like Gravis' claws held her throat, forcing her to do his bidding.
Shira huffed and left the Spire out of rage. She felt incredibly frustrated and knew that she might make a mistake if she remained at the top of the Spire. She needed to regain a cool head to plan her next course of action.
"You are terrifying," Morn said from the side. "You are honest with everyone and reveal all your plans. Yet, everyone is forced to follow your plans."
Gravis shook his head a bit as his smile vanished, replaced by a frown. "I'm not manipulating anybody," Gravis said. "This is just how the world works. Everyone sees the truth of the world now. I have opened your eyes to how the world works, and therefore, allowed you to make a more informed decision."
"I have given you as much information about the world as possible, and I have given you every freedom to make your choice. If you think back, there is only a single rule in the entire Tribe, and that is the rule about fighting each other. Except for this rule, everyone can do whatever they want."
Gravis' eyes narrowed. "This world is designed to make as many powerful beasts as possible. That's why I don't create any additional rules. The truth of the world is the most effective way to power, and you all know that now."
Gravis stood up and slithered over to the edge of the Spire, looking at the approaching dusk. "Silva can't leave because the ways of the world will kill all his companions."
"Shira can't leave because she knows that if she joins another Tribe, they will sooner or later be consumed by us, including her."
"You can't leave because you understand the world now."
"As long as you want to become stronger and understand the truth of the world, you will decide to stay. You will know that other mindsets will decline, while ours will become more powerful."
By now, the clouds beneath them glowed in a red hue as the sun started vanishing.
"You are free to make any choice," Gravis said.
The sun was barely visible by now.
"But if you want to become powerful…"
The sun vanished as darkness consumed the world.
"You have no choice."
