Beastforged Bond

My lungs burned with every breath I took. The air was hot enough to melt my throat, yet it did not. It didn’t hurt either, even though I knew it should. Confused, I turned left and right to see that I hovered above a sea made of lava. My body wouldn’t move, and my mind struggled to comprehend what was happening.

The last thing I remember… We were fighting against the Ruler of Fire. His Hellhound had been killed, which created an opening for Merlin Zerog to act. He took the chance and did…something… What did he do again?

Countless thoughts flashed through my mind, yet none of them were coherent. It was more like a mishmash of chaos unfurling within me.

The Ruler of Fire was dead. Burned alive at the loss of–…

“Child.” A deep, hoarse voice reverberated through my mind with painful intensity. It stirred something within me and pulled my attention to the center of the lava sea as a figure emerged. The head–somewhat human-like–broke through the sea’s surface, its presence engulfing my own.

The Fire Spirit, Volca. He did not have to introduce himself. I instinctively knew what I was looking at.

“You met my expectations, Primal Heir. Your performance was more than acceptable.” Volca’s voice thundered throughout me. “Granting you my Voice was a worthwhile investment, but now it’s back to where it rightfully belongs.”

The Fire Spirit let out a hollow laugh, all while a myriad of emotions I couldn’t quite discern crashed down on me.

“Keep going, Primal Heir. For hope is not lost. Reach toward the stars, and you may grasp them,” he rumbled mystically. “And enjoy your new home. Use the opportunity well.”

As the Spirit’s last words flowed through me, something shifted. The space twisted and distorted before my eyes. Then came the pull, and I was yanked away.

***

My eyes snapped open the moment I regained consciousness. Jerking upright, a surge of pain passed through my entire body, reaching every corner. It was as if every cell of my body was set ablaze and drenched in freezing cold water at the same time. It was uncomfortable and painful, making me hiss.

Unable to maintain my balance and unwilling to worsen the pain, my upper body collapsed back onto a soft mattress rather than a lava sea.

“W-What…” Even parting my lips was painful, let alone speaking out loud. Everything I tried to say came out more like a raspy rattling than actual words.

What happened?

Memories flooded my mind with raw and unbidden force. It was not yet painful, but the sensation was certainly not something I wanted to experience again. Nonetheless, I focused on the memory fragments floating around and pieced them together.

Raffael Torch, the Ruler of Fire, found out about my secret. He discovered that I was in possession of the Elemental Phoenix, one of the only Emperor-ranked beasts in existence. While I didn’t know how many more Emperor beasts existed, I hadn’t even known about their existence until my encounter with the Elemental Phoenix.

The meeting had started out nicely. We were participants in the Katrak of the Caldera race. That had been during my time in the Grand Camp, where I was with Daniel to acquire a World Aspect for him to expand his World. That, at the very least, worked out just fine.

As for the rest… I remembered befriending the Caldera, only to be betrayed. By humans. The Rulers never intended to befriend the Caldera, despite what they had told us at the time. They were after the Elemental Phoenix, and they attacked. That was when I first met the Ruler of Fire. It was also the first time I witnessed the death of Rulers.

I can still remember my view of the Rulers and the Bastions’ Council changing, because that day, the Rulers risked the safety of all humanity to suppress and bind the Elemental Phoenix. And they failed. They suppressed the Elemental Phoenix, but the Ruler of Fire never got to bind it to his World. The phoenix killed itself and sought refuge in a place nobody would be able to find it–in my World, sealed within a sacred flame.

But even when the Rulers failed, they betrayed the Caldera and attacked them nonetheless, starting a war.

Other Emperor beasts were attacked at the same time. I was reminded of the death of Ruler Saphira. She apparently bound one of the Emperor beasts but was killed for breaking the Pact, an agreement mankind had signed with other races. Nobody ever really told me the details of the Pact, and if they did, I forgot them.

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My head ached as I kept putting the pieces together, but I felt like I had to keep going.

I felt betrayed by my own people. I was angry, frustrated beyond measure, and I wanted nothing more than to leave the Grand Camp after what the Rulers did to the people I liked, but I stayed. My friends helped me calm down… then Volix hatched, consuming the sacred flame and the soul energy my World produced. Volix, the Elemental Phoenix, resurrected as a Wild beast, and though it was of the lowest Rank, it was neither weak nor stupid.

Sentient and overflowing with the wisdom and experience of countless lifetimes, the Elemental Phoenix was bound to grow back into an Emperor beast in no time. All that restricted Volix was… me. I held him back because my World was too small and my growth too slow. Still, we managed, and we grew rapidly together, until… until we weren’t.

Tears welled in my eyes as I thought back to the past events. Pushing aside all memories about the conscription and everything else that happened, I was brought back to my most recent memories.

To the fight with Raffael Torch. To Volix’s death.

As thick, wet droplets flowed down my cheeks, I accessed my World, ignoring the pain racing through my chest up to my head. It felt like my chest was about to burst open and my skull was about to be split apart, but I had to check my World regardless. To see whether the Elemental Phoenix was still with me. After all, he was a phoenix, and they never truly died…right?

Right?

The World didn’t respond to my calls. No matter how hard I tried to reach it, the familiar sight of my World, its core, and the golden sparks of soul energy wouldn’t form before my closed eyes. The only thing I could sense, after focusing on my World for what felt like an eternity, was a sphere covered in thousands upon thousands of cracks. They spread throughout the entire sphere, overlapping in countless locations, which only caused the cracks to expand and push deeper, and it almost looked like they were moving as I focused on them.

Like…like the cracks were responding to my actions, growing worse the longer I maintained the image in my mind. It was almost as if I was about to destroy the sphere if I continued watching it.

That’s my World, isn’t it? Goosebumps spread all over my body, causing yet another surge of pain. This time, I didn’t respond to the pain, as my mind caught up and realization dawned on me.

My World was damaged. And it wasn’t just one crack. It was fully covered in cracks, each looking worse than the last. Focusing on the World did not help it recover naturally either, and instead made everything worse.

With the image of my World engraved in my mind, I pulled back, my heart palpitating like crazy. It took me a while to get my heart and mind back under control. Countless worrisome ideas, theories, and images flashed through my mind, but they faded away as logic came to light.

Studying the image of the damaged World, one thing became obvious fairly quickly: the World didn’t break. It was still a sphere, and albeit badly damaged, there didn’t appear to be any permanent harm. No pieces were missing, no matter how bad the situation looked in some places.

That was a relief. Damaging my World permanently would have been disastrous, not only for me but my Soulkins as well. Thinking about my Soulkins made me grimace. I tried to reach out to them as soon as I realized they should be fine, but I couldn’t reach them. Actually, I probably could if I really wanted to, but forcing my way through the damaged World was likely to make it fall apart. And the moment it did, all the beasts within my World would die.

No matter what happened–even if my World shattered and I became a cripple again–Aureus and the others would have to survive. Even if that meant I could neither talk to my Soulkins nor summon them until I figured out how to repair a World with such severe damage…without access to my Soulkins’ helpful advice, their traits, or the ether in my core.

I had nothing left. No, that wasn’t quite right. My mind and soul felt weaker than ever, but I still had my Gates. The weave was damaged, but it looked nowhere near as bad as my World. Maybe I could make use of that, but…would that be enough?

It was hard to say, just like it was hard to tell where I was.

The stone ceiling hanging high above was unfamiliar, and so was everything I looked at. There was a desk made of a material I had never seen before, and even the bed I was lying in was made in ways I’d never seen in the Bastion. Sitting upright through the pain, I looked up and around, trying to figure out what was happening and where I was.

“Adam!” A teary voice ripped through the air before I could form a conclusion, and I turned to see my parents and the Zerog family standing in a massive doorframe made from violet wood. Surprise and joy flickered in their eyes.

“You’re awake!” Daniel called out happily from the back of the group, his frame was even larger than I remembered, while my Mom rushed up to bury me in a tight embrace.

I tried to rein in the pain, but a pained groan escaped my lips.

“Oh, no. Honey, did I hurt you?” Mom exclaimed in a quivering voice while hurriedly pulling back. Tears streaked down her face, worry and happiness mingling and merging in her eyes.

“I’m okay.” I barely managed to say, although I was sure nobody really understood what I said.

Focusing more on my voice, I repeated myself. “I. am. fine.”

Mom didn’t seem to trust my words, seeing how strained my words were, so I went one step further to prove how fine I was–I had to be. I got out of bed, noticing only now that my entire body was covered in some kind of algae oozing slime. Ignoring Mom’s worry-ridden words and the voices of those around me, I stumbled through the room. It was nowhere near as reassuring as I tried to be, and the pain was unbelievable, yet I couldn’t stop now.

Gritting my teeth, I walked to the other side of the room, ready to turn around and ensure to everyone that I was truly fine when my eyes fell onto the window to my left. Precisely, the world that lay beyond the window.

“Where the fuck are we?” I croaked out, my eyes widened in utter disbelief at the myriad of races walking around the bustling street outside.

“Welcome to Dracos.” Daniel’s voice came from behind, explaining nothing and everything at the same time.

All kinds of Outsiders could be seen down the street. But while there were known and unknown races of Outsiders, my attention lingered on a race I was far too familiar with.

“What in the Rulers’ names are humans doing in Dracos?!”