The man who was likely Al's uncle was currently preparing to lead an army on a scorched-earth campaign into the Piña Forest, intending to wipe out Al's entire tribe.
Meanwhile, the boy was chatting with the Centigor, learning that her name was Alina—just Alina, with no surname.
The female centaur stated that she refused to follow the tribal tradition of using body parts, plants, or common objects as surnames.
She intended to challenge powerful enemies in the name of the Enraged Mother, taking their names as trophies after defeating them.
She would wait until the Blood Mother herself deemed her victories worthy enough to bestow a true name.
"So, the End Times... did we lose? No, wait, did we win?"
Al sat on the ground, wrapped in a pelt stripped from some unknown beast.
The female centaur sat opposite him, her four legs folded as she reclined on the forest floor.
According to Al's observations, there were no nursing organs beneath her equine belly.
He wasn't sure how her other parts compared to a human or a horse, though he recalled a trivia fact about only humans and horses having hymens and wondered if that applied here...
"If Chaos had won, it would be impossible for the faith of the All-Father to exist in the tribe," Alina said, frowning as she tried to recall the details.
"A failure like Zhakun could only rule over equally pathetic Ungors and weak sheep-men."
"I've been to human cities a few times; they still worship Myrmidia or that northern god, Sigmar."
"The Shamans of the All-Father once said that we only escaped the influence of Chaos after the Great War of the End."
"Tch! A bunch of cowards. They let a piece of trash like Zhakun run wild against the weak, while they just keep their heads down and graze..."
Alina seemed to hold utter contempt for both sides of the Joy-Singers tribe.
Al found it strange—if this centaur woman didn't worship Slaanesh, why was she hanging around the Beastlord's cultists?
When he cautiously and tentatively raised this question, the centaur looked at him with confusion.
"Is the Blood Mother not a Great Power within the Realm of Chaos?" she shot back.
This answer made Al feel that something was fundamentally wrong.
Weren't the factions of Khorne and Slaanesh supposed to slaughter each other on sight? (Usually with the Khornates starting the fight.)
Aside from rare instances of the Four Gods cooperating for a "startup venture"—like the End Times—the Chaos factions were usually at each other's throats.
A Blood-God worshipper caught in a frenzy wouldn't care about "allies"; the Blood God only wants the red river to flow, regardless of the source.
He grew more curious about this "Blood Mother," the "Enraged Mother," or as Alina affectionately and irreverently called her, "Raging Mommy."
He had a hunch that the deity she worshipped was the crimson shadow he had seen in the sky—the one who had bestowed rage and power upon him to kill the Beastlord.
This "Blood Mother" was a blind spot in his knowledge of this strange version of the Old World.
Al had to figure out the difference between this world and the one he knew from the lore.
But Alina simply replied, "You will find out," "It is a prophecy," and "The Blood Mother requires you to climb the Skull Throne yourself."
"Goddamn riddlers!" Al cursed internally.
Still, his conversation with Alina gave him a basic understanding of his current situation.
Aside from things she didn't want to say or simply didn't know, the centaur was quite open with him.
The tribe was called the Joy-Singers, a clearly Slaaneshi name, and the dead Beastlord Zhakun had been their lead degenerate.
The tribe was located in the Piña Forest, a name Al didn't recognize, though Alina recalled it was within the borders of Estalia.
To the east was Tilea, and to the north was something called the "Bretonnian United Warbands"—which, in Earth terms, corresponded roughly to Spain, Italy, and France.
But what the hell was a "United Warband"?
After several clarifications, he realized it was likely something like a "Federal Republic" or the "Bretonnian Confederation."
Alina had no concept of such political terms, so she replaced them with words more familiar to her.
Al remained utterly confused.
Did Lileath stop handing out bathwater to become a President?
A Theocratic Republic?!
He heard from the centaur that people in the north no longer worshipped the Lady of the Lake.
He remembered that the "Fifth Chaos God" and the Old World's biggest "Green Tea Bitch" had her secrets exposed during the End Times.
Her true identity was revealed, leading to her downfall; the big players left, and the fans unsubscribed.
If the Bretonnians still sucked up to Elven feet after that, it would be an embarrassment to the human race.
Alina didn't know the specifics; she had only spent some time in Estalia, joining a Beastman-led mercenary company in the civilized world.
Later, she claimed to have received a calling from the Blood Mother, left the mercenaries, and returned to the tribe.
She was waiting for the "God-child"—which was Al.
As for why she stayed with the Slaaneshi cultists: first, the other tribesmen shunned her for being a Chaos worshipper; second, Al's mother had fallen into Zhakun's hands.
To stay close and ensure Al's birth, she had no choice but to join Zhakun's side.
Zhakun had tried to "conquer" the beautiful centaur woman—physically—attempting to indoctrinate her into the "Dark Prince's" ways—also physically.
He gave up after Alina hit him with an 180-pound warhammer.
Combined with his need to wait for the "Divine Favor," he had stayed on his best behavior.
The centaur woman had simply started acting like the boss among the Chaos cultists.
Beastly nature dictates submission to the strong; as long as Alina didn't show weakness, the Gors would mostly obey.
She had originally planned to crush Zhakun's head herself after Al was born to take over as Beastlord for fun.
She hadn't expected Al to kill Zhakun the moment he was born, which made her incredibly excited.
To her, it was proof of the God-child's immense power.
When Al asked about her next move, the centaur hadn't really thought about it.
She planned to just follow Al, trusting the God-child's choices.
Ideally, they would encounter thousands of worthy foes on the way to defeat and offer to the Blood Mother.
Confusion. Total confusion.
Al summarized the useful information:
The forces of Order won the End Times—that was certain, though he didn't know how.
Afterward, Chaos must have receded or lost its influence on the mortal realm.
Otherwise, "proxy" races like Beastmen wouldn't be able to escape the corruption; they'd all be mutated villains.
Bretonnia had seemingly changed from a feudal kingdom into a Republican Federation.
This was likely related to the truth about Lileath being revealed.
There was very little news about the Elves; Alina said she mostly spent her time fighting in mercenary bands.
She had heard of the long-ears but never seen one.
She had encountered Dwarfs a few times, and her mercenary band almost signed a contract to go to the legendary Karaz Ankor.
But the Dwarfs had an emergency and left, so the deal fell through.
There was also very little info on the Empire; the centaur couldn't really tell the difference between Empire men and Estalians.
To her, all humans looked the same, though she was impressed by some wandering knights from Bretonnia.
Most importantly, Al didn't have to worry about being sacrificed or used in a demon-summoning ritual by cultists every five minutes.
The Joy-Singers tribe contained "Orderly" types who didn't want to be harbingers of destruction and just wanted to hunt and live a quiet life.
But it also contained Slaaneshi lunatics like Zhakun.
Now that Zhakun was dead, the remaining Gors were leaderless.
Given their beastly nature of submission, they wouldn't be able to start any major trouble without going through their "Leader" Alina and the "God-child" Al.
That was the situation.
Suddenly, the sound of light footsteps came from behind him.
Al didn't care at first, but then a thought struck him, and he stood up abruptly.
A woman, barefoot and draped in a rough blanket, stumbled out of the cave, leaning one hand against the wall for support.
When Al looked at her, she was standing in the shadows of the cave entrance, staring back at him.
Meeting his gaze was a pair of amber eyes filled with confusion.
His biological mother of this life.
She was awake.