The Heavens Shall Fall

The Ironcrown Stag was now lying in the mud, its sides heaving like a bellows of a forge, but at least it wasn't trying to get free anymore. It wasn't easy to exhaust it, but... now came the hard part. They had to make it stand and somehow lead it back to the sect. Can it even be done? That was a question in everyone's eyes as they looked at each other, but... nothing else was there to be done, really. They could bring it back, all tied up, but if Tian wanted to have a contract with the beast... that for sure wasn't the best idea.

"Well... here goes nothing!" Tian shrugged and untied its legs, holding onto the rope as they nudged the beast to try to stand up.

The moment it felt partial freedom restored, the animal tried to rise again, prompting Tian to instinctively pull on the rope.

“Hey! Easy!” He said, looking into its eyes, which was a kind of challenge, making the stag jerk its head pretty violently. “Hold it!”

“Careful!” Neya said as they all surrounded the stag, stepping back as it kicked its hind legs against the mud, sending clumps of earth flying everywhere, snorting hot air from its nostrils, and for a moment, it looked like the struggle to bring it down would start again at any moment.

“HEY!” came a shout as Marly flew down, landing on its antlers. "Stop!"

“Yes! Stop being stupid!” added Arya, hopping onto Siu's head from nowhere, looking the stag into the eyes, now being perfectly level with it. "Hmph!"

The stag froze, apparently hearing and, even if just somewhat, understanding their words. Or at least sensing their intentions, shaking its head, but Marly was surprisingly agile, staying on its antlers without much of an issue.

“Yeah… this one isn’t very bright,” Arya grunted, shrugging as she kept looking at it, and for some reason, her presence, no matter how tiny her body was, kept overwhelming the stag, and Siu could feel it.

“Not bright at all,” Marly agreed. "Almost as stupid as the big squirrel. But only almost! This one has a chance to get smarter."

The stag snorted loudly and shook its head, at least understanding when it was insulted.

“Hey! Careful!” Marly grunted, slapping its head with her fluffy tail, "And stop complaining, you are stupiiiiiiid!"

"Don't anger it any more, please," Siu exhaled slowly and looked at his companions, “Well? Any translations? Did it say anything?”

"Not exactly..." Arya sighed. “It's more like... he understands feelings but not words. He is still just a half-half.”

“Half-half?” Siu asked, raising one eyebrow, and by now, everyone was looking at him, realizing he was talking with his pets.

“Not as good as us.” Arya pulled herself up proudly, "It needs a bit... more? I don't know, it just isn't ready yet."

“I can sense a lot and loooots of panic in him,” Marly added, humming a little, beginning to stroke its head with her tail, "Instincts, really. He can't control that part yet."

"Khm!" Tian finally cleared his throat, "Translation?" He asked, looking at Siu, who of course, now repeated everything out loud, “That’s normal,” he muttered after, still pulling on the rope. "Can you tell them to try and suggest to my stag that it's all fine now?"

The animal's eyes rolled wildly for some reason at that, and then it tried to buck again. But before it could, Arya snapped towards it, right in front of its face, causing the animal to freeze again. There was something in Arya’s presence that carried something unusual, a mix of authority and a great amount of confidence, confusing the stag greatly. As it watched her do it, flash her tiny teeth, the stag’s ears flicked, and it finally looked away, giving in to Arya's dominance, despite the difference in their actual sizes.

"That's it, that's it..." Marly leaned down closer to its eyes from above, “Calm down, big idiot, or you will hurt yourself.”

“You lost.” Arya declared, as if she were the queen of the forest, "Don't worry, it's not a bad thing. My Master defeated your ruler too this winter, so... Of course you would lose against us!"

“That happens.” Marly agreed, once again, patting his head, and this time, the stag snorted again but didn’t thrash around. Progress... kind of. "Heh! He is like a cow,” she added, giggling to herself.

“Not a cow,” Arya said, in a warning tone, "That's the Elder, remember? This one for sure won't have those massive udders like she has!"

“If she ever hears you two, I won't step in and protect either of you!” Siu snorted, louder than the stag ever did, "You and your filthy mouth!"

"I guess, they calmed it down?" Rinmei suddenly asked, looking back and forth between everyone, noticing that the stag was indeed much calmer than before.

“That’s good enough.” Tian nodded, still holding the rope, feeling the stag trying to pull on it, as if testing his strength, but he quickly held it firm, looking at it. “Don’t start that again!”

Seeing it give up, he slowly, carefully loosened the tension on the rope... watching it regain a bit more freedom in moving its head, and then it began shifting its weight, testing its leg, losing much of its tremble by now.

"Alright... let's try this," Tian said with a confident smile and then gave the line a gentle tug. “Come on. This way!”

The stag resisted for a second, of course, but, feeling the tension in the rope and then the brush of Marly's tail on its head, the glare from Arya, it took a single step forward... then another, finally, following Tian's lead like it was just a big horse.

“Well.” Siu stretched, cracking his shoulderblades, “That’s promising!”

"You do realize," The twins spoke up, watching it with curiosity, "That this will be some weird sight to see."

"Why?" Siu asked while the group began heading back, "I would be surprised if you told me that no disciple ever tried to capture a beast and tame it."

"Oh, they tried!" Rinmei joined in, watching the stag from the side, "None of them succeeded. I saw one or two attempts, but neither of them managed to get their beast to be as calm as this one now, so... this looks promising."

"Maybe they chose the wrong type of beast." Neya offered, and the twins nodded and spoke in sync.

"For sure. But the facts are facts, and not one of them succeeded, while their beast either got turned into dinner or escaped back into the forest."

"Time to become the first, then," Tian smirked, throwing a glance at Siu, "In a way."

"I can try to ask Elder Delia about it," Siu answered without returning the gaze, "No promises."

"Also," Neya spoke up, looking at Arya, "What happened to the others?"

"They began fighting," Arya answered, yawning, while Siu translated her words, "It was a big brawl when we left."

"Aaaand we were winning." Marly nodded, "Naturally!"

...

....

.....

The walk back toward the sect was slow, meaning, very slow. For some reason, the Ironcrown Stag refused to move quickly, and every unfamiliar sound made its ears flick sharply, stop, look around, but usually after a few more tugs, it began walking again. Tian kept the rope wrapped firmly around his forearm as he led the animal carefully along the muddy forest path, sometimes grumbling about having to come to a halt again, right until his chosen companion finally decided the noise it heard wasn't anything... dangerous.

“Still can’t believe this worked,” Rinmei muttered, "Okay, it wasn't like the Icecrown variant but still..."

“I'm kind of happy it wasn't,” Neya mumbled, shrugging to herself. "From what Siu told me, that was an extremely stupid thing to do..."

"You don't need to remind me of that," Rinmei whispered, shaking her head, making Neya blush a little, realizing she brought it up in the wrong way.

“You know…” Milli began as she leaned closer to Siu, “If this thing suddenly goes berserk and kicks you…”

“You will explode.” Nilli finished, keeping herself away from the back of the stag.

“Into many pieces.” Milli agreed, and before Siu could ask what they were talking about so suddenly, she just chuckled, "Anyway!" She continued, "Next, we will also find something that we want, so we can go hunting."

"Whoa, whoa..." Siu began, looking at the two, but their raised eyebrows made him swallow his initial argument. They helped a lot, and they were core members, so... "Just prepare me ahead of time, okay?" he buckled, finally giving a win to the twins.

"Good~!" They grinned, about to surround him, but Neya was quicker, stepping up to his right side.

"Don't overreach!" She warned the two, "Even if Arya and Marly can help out, this is not a game!"

"Worry not, we are considerate... partners." The twins winked at her, suddenly surrounding Neya, separating her from Siu, and whispering to her so only the three of them could hear it, "And don't worry, we aren't stealing him from you..."

"Yeah," Nilli giggled, breathing onto Neya's neck, "You also smell nice... we could have a four-way night, if you are up to it."

"Keep it sharp!" Siu said suddenly from the front, interrupting them before Neya could melt into the muddy ground and disappear, "We are not out of the forest, so focus!"

As if ordered, Marly jumped off the stag's head and glided between branches overhead, keeping watch, reporting in a strict voice.

“Forest still clear.”

“No hunters or Stone Ward idiots.” Arya joined in, rushing forward, doing the same, disappearing between the shrubs.

By the time they reached the outer forest paths leading back into the sect, the sun had begun to lower, painting the sky orange, which also meant that disciples were everywhere, heading back towards their abodes from their daily training, or from their trip into the forest. Which also meant that it didn't take long for the first person to notice the stag and freeze in the middle of the path, just looking at the group, leading it through the barrier as if it were a prized steed.

“What the hell…?” His shout immediately drew attention, and it didn't take long for more people to notice the unusual display.

“Is that—”

“An Ironcrown? I mean... alive?”

"I only saw them brought in for food and dinner, not... as a pet."

The murmurs spread instantly, and just within minutes, their path was filled with stunned disciples staring at the group... Especially because the live stag looked enormous beside Tian, and the rope in his hands made the situation unmistakable.

“They… captured it?”

"Duh. Why else would they be leading in a live one?"

"Wait..." Another stared at Siu, Arya sitting on his head, Marly hanging off his arm, "Tsk! Of course he’s involved in this...!”

That was the moment the rumors truly began to spread, almost like a wildfire.

“They did it again!”

"Did what?"

“Spirit Wardens, so what else? Someone got a pet again! Damn it... I may just quit my current group and join up with them.”

"And you think they will take in a traitor like that?" Someone argued, clearly annoyed by... everything.

"Worth a shot..."

"Idiot, don't you see who is leading the stag? That boy is in the Ember Circle. Before you betray people, try to befriend them instead."

"Well, it settles it though..." Another voice added, "He’s some kind of beast tamer... maybe allying with the Wardens is the best possible idea.”

The group continued walking, ignoring most voices that didn't even try to hide their thoughts, as more disciples joined the crowd, some even following them at a distance. By the time they reached the inside of the sect, nearly fifty people were watching, and their numbers kept increasing, slowly but surely.

“You’re bringing that inside?!” Suddenly, a voice asked, as no other but Dui appeared, rubbing the back of his head, watching the group, unsure what to do, fixing his inner disciple's sash nervously, "Where will you even put it...? Damn..."

“Will find a spot,” Tian said with a shrug, reaching up, patting the stag's neck, already knowing it was getting nervous being surrounded by so many eyes, looking at it like they were here to hunt it down.

“Preferably without it murdering anyone.” Dui continued, rubbing his face, feeling tired already. "Fuck... Say, Siu." He turned towards him, "Are you free? In the future?"

"Huh?" Everyone stopped, looking at Dui, who suddenly felt too conscious about it, despite usually loving the attention he was getting. "Maybe." Siu nodded, trying to read his expression.

"Mhm," the inner disciple's liaison hummed, saying nothing more, "I'll find you then, and... well... good luck with this thing." He chuckled, shaking his head, walking towards the other outer disciples, "Disperse! Spook the stag, and I will make sure you are the one responsible for all the damage it does! Shoo, shoo! Let them through!"

"You don't swing-" Milli began, but Siu just shot her a glare, shutting her up, "Oh, okay! Okay! Noted. Good... you got us worried there for a moment."

"Shut up." Siu moaned, holding down his anger, "Let's go... The quicker we get to Elder Delia... the better."