57. Cutting the head of a Revolution

Growing in between the arms of a river and the cavernous maw of a rocky cliff that showed a fossilized unknown creature was a three-year Tree of Soul the size of a regular adult weeping willow, it was hidden from the sky by the massive crowns of giant trees covering the area in a protective blanket of vibrant green as they gave it water and nutrient in abandon.

<As long as Jakesully breathes, he is still Olo'eyktan step beyond this, and it's you who are the traitor! Foolish man! You do not understand your action, you are blind!>, Mo'at the Tsahìk of the Omatikaya declared that the unconscious body of Jake lay at her feet.

Mo'at gaze was locked onto an old male Na'vi as she said so, his name was Ateyo te Rongloa Ateyo'itan, and she knew he was the cause of the current happening. It was timed as well, neither, her daughter Neytirie, Tsu'tey, Grace, or the Lost Child were present but the last she knew it wasn't for long.

Norm, having spoken to him through the strange device on his face before 'The battery died shit I forgot to recharge it I'm going to get murdered' as the Sky Person said whatever it entailed.

Ateyo hissed at her but she stayed unfazed, she could understand his train of thought on why he would do this even if it was beyond foolish and monstrous.

His son Tsu'tey relinquished his title as the Olo'eytkan to Jake after the battle due to grievous neurological injuries that would impair the uses of his right side then he started to become interested in the Sa'nok, Grace Augustine the one who took care of him the most.

But going from being a deeply frustrated and disappointed father to going to the length of manipulating his other son to challenge Jake for the position of Olo'eyktan not only that, with Artsut his mate they dipped the blade used in the duel in poison.

A poison that put Na'vi unconscious in seconds and killed them in minutes and it had been nearly one hour since Jake had it in his vein. It was Eywa's blessing he was fighting to live.

There was the still wide-open wound from the war with the tension between Sky People and the People but that wasn't an excuse. She knew the chance of something like this happening was not impossible but she did as traditions commended.

If the poison had worked… She knew how emotions could drive to an early end and how tension between human and Na'vi were high but nobody would survive another battle.

<What can I do to save him?>, Norm next to her asked with worry, he ignored Ateyo his gaze focused on Jake's pained unconscious expression. He sent an alert message that should have reached Grace and Liam but he didn't know when either would arrive and that meant he needed to work alone.

<There is an antidote… However, the flower to concoct it resides in a cave close to this juvenile Tree of Souls but… Only the smallest of children can enter. It's an iridescent flower with six large petals.>, she explained, her face calm and resigned as she pointed toward a small crevice in the cliff that was surrounded by thin intertwined roots of the tree in question.

<I will do it.>, Norm proposed his assistance without a second of reflection which earned a soft smile from the Tsahìk who turned into a wrinkled frown as Ateyo spoke out his disaccord.

<This is forbidden! I will not allow this Demon to trample on what is sacred furth->, his words stopped as a sonic boom followed by three others who echoed each slightly lower than the last, nearly all the Na'vi present plugged their ears with various expressions ranging from confusion to pain and fear.

There was a lapse of time when everyone recovered and Norm's face shifted briefly in something akin to relief, something that didn't go unnoticed and unused.

<What was in the All-Mother name was that!? It's you! See, all they bring is suffering, they burned our ancestral home, with our children, elders, and mates still inside! Their words are but deceit, lies, all but lies. A word they brought to us from their wretched origin! We have won, why must we submit to these Demons yet again, why must we obey a Dreamwalker, one of them? Our way must change to find the light of Eywa, this cannot continue, this cannot continue!>, Ateyo cried out, pushing his lung to the point of pain as he glared and pointed his finger at the human.

The effects of his words were instantaneous, the groups of Na'vi all around the Tree of Souls split in two, one crying our cry of grief, and righteous fury, as Ateyo's words deeply affected them, the bottle-up emotions within them were ready to explode, some even advancing toward Norm.

Mo'at could but spread her arm and move in front of the human and the Olo'eyktan to protect them her gaze severe while her mind was both filled in disbelief and disappointment, even in such a state she noticed a clear difference was in the two groups.

A chasm that spoke volumes, the vast majority who participated in the Battle of the Hallelujah mountains were within the group that supported her and the Olo'eyktan.

Then from the tree top, a blue and purple tetrapteron landed on Ateyo's left shoulder, its left leg on the Na'vi left shoulder as its right leg armed at the end in a metallic claw shining under the pink bioluminescent of the tree reflected against his throat.

The entire area quieted down as the metallic claw of the bird started to put pressure on Ateyo's throat drawing droplets of blood, the nascent ember that was going to turn into an uncontrollable wildfire in everyone enthralled by his speech was drowned and killed.

'The All-Mother is… She is displeased. I can feel it…', the Tsahìk of Omatkiaya thought, shock appearing on her features.

They settled down as a tall human in a black armor, the unnatural silver irises of eyes, the strange alien yet familiar air around him only adding to the obvious of who this individual was.

"Liam…", Norm mumbled next to her relief washing over him but a pained groan from Jake brought him back to the most pressing problem at hand. He needed to act.

Behind Liam was a tall bipedal creature with wickedly long and razor-sharp claws, its back wing spread showing flamboyant color, the low luminosity of the forest letting the bioluminescence of their markings be seen.

A great austrapede, Mo'at recognized. A creature she never saw but heard tales of and knew the Lost Child had tamed but seeing one was a different story. Her body instinctively understood the danger it represented, it was only second to that of the Great Leonopteryx but the difference here was that one of the two was known for being irrationally aggressive.

The presence of the beast led to waves of panic emerging but it wasn't as much as the man in front of it who moved in a straight line with haste in his step. He was walking but he moved at the speed someone would be running, and his face… It was cold, bordering on the emotionless if not for his eyes and shimmering anger was not a good alternative for the others.

The Na'vi parted away like the Red Sea before the two beasts, the great austrapede being the less frightening of the two.

"What is happening?", even then, even if was less than calm he asked without putting his emotions in his voice Norm and Mo'at, the first of the two was the one to answer and explain what happened as fast as he could if that was due to nervousness or urgency or both Liam couldn't be sure.

After this, he got a general picture of what happened and that didn't calm him however it channeled it to those who deserved it, he knew this was going to happen in some way. Not everyone was going to accept what was going on.

"The cave, the entrance. You will not be able to enter...", Mo'at let out the truth of the matter as she knew what he wanted to do which caused the Lost Child to frown ever so slightly.

And when he looked at where she pointed at he couldn't but agree with her observation. Even if he took off layers of armor he would still be too bulky and destroying the entrance wasn't an option or even a good idea besides the risk of collapse and the lack of time. He needed to stay up here in all cases.

"I will do it, I already said I will.", Norm interjected and the next instant a red tetrapteron landed on his shoulder carefully, the weight of the large bird almost causing him to fall forward and a cable given by Liam nearly made him fall again.

"Then go, my tetrapterons Meri and Occiden will be going with you.", Liam declared to the scientist, his attention, as well as his remaining three tames entirely on the traitorous little trash of a Na'vi.

<Look! The Demon, he used the childr-!>, Ateyo tried to turn the situation around and salvage what he thought was salvable, but it wasn't to be.

The metal claw dug slightly deeper causing him to freeze, any movement would result in the blade going from causing a simple cut to a slow death drowning in his own blood on the ground.

At this point Ateyo understood there was no escape, the sight of his mate and son staring at him from the crowd as they just walked in amplified the fear he was feeling.

<Father… What have we done?>, his son said with sadness as he approached, his body full of shame, ear folded back and tail between his legs. He was terrified but pressed on until he was facing the Lost Child, he felt small and weak both mentally and physically.

'Bring her here but do not harm her unless she seeks it first. Okay, buddy? Good.', Liam telepathically instructed Gladius, he was speaking of the old female who came with Arvok as he came to know from Norm.

He could feel his tame mental nod at his order and doing it the next second, Gladius moved behind the petrified female, clawed arm spread open as it guided her toward her son.

<What you have done is a crime, going against the well-being of every Na'vi, of every human, of every living being on Pandora, and of even Eywa herself. You can't fathom what your traitorous actions if they succeeded would have led to and as such you deserve death.>, Liam declared, his arm spreading and voice getting progressively louder as the minority in the crowd who understood could but realize in horror how true his words were but the others who didn't grasp the true scale of it still understood how grave the action was.

The earlier bravado and self-absorbed cry for revenge had all but gone into a puff of smoke.

<But your fate is not for me to decide, I'm not of your clan and do not have the right to do so. Jake Sully, your rightful Olo'eyktan, the one you wronged is the one with such a right.>, he added with finality.

There was a long moment of silence that seemed to be eternal until from the crevice a yellow tetrapteron flew out chirping in experiment its underside covered in blood, but it wasn't its own, it was followed by a red one where only the metallic claw dripped blood and finally Norm.

The cable attached to his belt dragged behind him as he limped out, his breath ragged, his clothes torn at multiple places with blood tainting them but a large smile could be seen behind the visor of his exopack as he proudly showed a nylon satchel full of glowing flowers.

"I did it!", the scientist exclaimed as a young Na'vi with a bandaged left eye helped him toward the Tsahìk.

Mo'at was at work concocting the antidote the second the satchel was in her hand, plucking the stamens of two male flowers she crushed them with a stigma of a female one by using her bone knife at her neck a pestle on a mortar from her waist then she added droplet of various clay flask all of while chanting under her breath while in a trance-like state.

'Still no response from Grace… The situation is under control but still.', Liam thought ordering Septen to let go of Ateyo's neck causing him to fall Arstut, his mate threw herself at her mate immediately taking care of the scratches and if she was less terrified of him and Gladius wasn't so close to cut her in half she would have tried to rip his throat out, probably.

The only thing he could think of why Grace still hasn't responded included her not wearing her smartwatch either be it on her body or that of her Avatar, or its battery was dead which was unlikely and he would have known, or she wanted privacy but privacy for nearly two hours indicated something else.

There wasn't any other option but one aside from it being extremely impressive that someone with still healing third-degree burns could go on so long on that type of activity, that someone in question had his family that either was going to be banished or executed.

Doing this wasn't a problem, Liam didn't care everyone needed to be busy working but it's not like if someone took a breather the moon wasn't going to explode.

The option she was dead was not even here as he knew she was currently using a Link Unit and he wasn't an expert in biology or the human mind but the amount of dopamine detected in her system quite possibly confirmed his hypothesis.

'It's a clusterfuck I won't partake in more than I already have. The rest is up to the Omatikaya.', Liam thought he had other fish to fry than worry about the interpersonal relationship of a family drama.

Though keeping an eye on them seems to have become even more of a necessity.

"Fuck… My head I feel someone cracked it open and started to pour molten iron In it…", Jake half-groaned half-hissed as he weakly stood up, the tendril from the Tree of Souls moving back he saw Arvok first, the great austrapede second, and finally Liam.

"One more thing I owe you it seems… Thank you.", the ex-human-marine said with a weak chuckle to the silver-eyed man, he felt as if thousands of tiny creatures crawled under his skin. It was a very uncomfortable feeling, almost painful in fact but he still extended his right arm toward Liam.

"You would have done the same if I was in your position. But if you're alive the individuals you must be thankful to are Norm and your clan Tsahìk, not me. I only stopped the little revolution going on before it turned into a real shitshow, I didn't save you. More like saving your ass from potential bloodshed.", Liam answered with a small smile, his entire demeanor changing to something less dangerous as he grabbed the extended arm and did a forearm handshake, careful to not push too much force behind.

*

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