Beastforged Bond

B4 Chapter 22

Desperation.That was what the Council called the Outsider’s final attempt to destroy the Bastion before humanity’s settlement was razed to the ground.

They made it sound like humanity won. Like we hadn’t just suffered the loss of close to 10,000 civilians and almost 1,000 soldiers. That did not even account for the injured, the Bastion-wide trauma, or all the damage.

When I returned from the Oridon Mountains, exhausted and ready to collapse, I saw the true extent of the damage for the first time. Before that, I hadn’t really paid much attention, and that had been for the better.

The destruction caused by the Overlord beast did not merely destroy a few streets. It demolished half the sector before it was killed. Several Guardian beast corpses were spread across the Bastion alongside Outsider corpses, each location a clear mark of terrorism.

Nothing was left behind where the strongest beasts wreaked havoc, yet the Council reassured us of our victory, promising a time of peace.

Yet, no matter how much we wished for peace and silence, I doubted it would last. After all I witnessed, peace felt like wishful thinking.

“Maybe the Strikers’ operation scared them,” I mused to myself, shuddering at the reminder of the devastation.

But–..so what if the Strikers scared the Outsiders? It was not like their departure made me feel any safer.

We protected as many as we could.

Aureus reassured me, and he was right. He always was.

I had been too weak to protect everyone, but I gave it my best. I even went as far as to risk exposing Volix to survive and help as many civilians as possible.

And now I had to rest. Recover enough to decide what to do next.

We will always be by your side.

Aureus added, only for Nox to chip in.

We are with you!

When I reached the Zerog estate, someone was already waiting for me at the gates.

The head butler greeted me with the same poker face I had already gotten used to, but his neatly tied-back hair was disheveled and his perfectly fitted suit was torn in several spots. Blood stained his sleeves, but I only smiled at him.

“Allow me to bring you to the others, Mr. Savier.” He bowed deeply and guided me to the living room.

The others were already present. Mom and Dad looked miserable. They were unscathed, but Mom’s hair was a mess and her face was puffy. She teared up the moment she saw me and ran over to me.

“My sweet little baby!” she cried out, nearly tumbling over her own legs. “What happened to you? Are you hurt…?”

It was hard to listen to her. No matter how hard I tried to focus, my body resisted. Pain and exhaustion mixed and overwhelmed me, swallowing the sound around me.

“I am fine.” I tried and failed to put on a tough face. “I survived.”

Mr. and Mrs. Zerog did not look much better than my parents. While they did not look like they’d cried, their arms were covered in bloody bandages. Scrutinizing the Zerogs, I noticed something that had eluded me before; I could tell how badly injured they were. Their arms were the only visible wounds, but I somehow knew that they had sustained more injuries.

Peter Zerog nodded toward me in respect, while his wife teared up a little.

“You don’t look fine, Adam. What happened to you to look worse than my daughter?” she muttered and gasped.

Speaking of their daughter, Lea was also present. She sat on the couch, her gaze unfocused. Lea was ghastly pale, reminding me of a bloodless corpse as I studied her. As weird as it was to see how badly injured someone was, I was glad I could. She looked half dead, but whatever Lea had done, it stabilized her condition.

Then there were Daniel and Merlin. Daniel was drenched in blood, but he was the least injured. His only issue appeared to be a severe overcharge of ether. He’d probably consumed too many Etherium serums. Merlin, on the other hand, looked fine. He was unscathed. If not for his tense posture and the deadly intent coming from him, I would have guessed that he sat out on protecting the Bastion. But with that intent still active–he must have forgotten to rein it in–Merlin must have fought a lot.

“The situation was a little bit of a mess.” I tried to shrug them off, but even Merlin looked at me quizzically.

Seeing Daniel’s uncle reminded me that he knew about the Elemental Phoenix. The reminder made me freeze in my tracks.

I considered messaging Scott to help me out with his Divination trait. Possibly tell me where the Ruler of Fire was going, if he was going to find out about me, or how much more time I had until Merlin would expose me.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Unfortunately, I had no idea where he was. Scott left the Bastion a few months back in search of his next Soulkin. He said he wouldn’t be back for a while, but I couldn’t help but hope that he’d return shortly.

Doubts and frustration filled my worn-out mind. I had to stay on guard against everyone. Prepare to disappear in the worst-case scenario. To do so, I had to prepare my parents as well. Make sure to bring them with me.

I had been confident in my contingency plan, but if even an Outsider at the equivalent of a mid-level Master was strong enough to almost kill me, then there was little to no chance to escape a Grandmaster, let alone a Ruler.

My parents were not prepared to flee at a moment’s notice either. That was yet another issue; how was I supposed to protect my parents?

Hence, I did the very thing I didn’t want to do initially. I decided to tell them about Volix. All of them.

“I would like to talk to all of you tomorrow,” I said, my vision fading slowly as darkness consumed me. “It’s important, but I think I am going to collapse first.”

As soon as the last words escaped my lips, my legs caved in. My parents’ shouts were the last thing I heard before everything blinked out.

***

Two days later, the truth was confirmed. There had been more casualties than initially presumed. The Council’s initial report, shared no more than an hour after the dome barrier had fully reformed, had been wrong. Just over 25,023 citizens had fallen victim to the orchestrated attack.

I couldn’t even believe it when I woke up that morning. So many people had died.

Of course, the Council tried to diminish the numbers by pointing out that there had been a dozen Guardian beasts, an Overlord, and more than 250 Outsiders, each wielding the eerie power to turn invisible and evade surveillance through both ether devices and traits.

That, however, didn’t change one major fact: the Bastion should have had a Ruler protecting it. Even if the Ruler had been busy joining Raffael Torch’s assault on the hidden base, which was exactly what the newest report stated, there should still have been more than a dozen Grandmasters stationed in the Bastion.

The Overlord beast should never have had the opportunity to cause such destruction, and the Guardian beasts and Master-ranked Outsiders should have been dealt with easily. Yet that never happened.

I was reminded of Merlin’s appearance during the attack. He was a Grandmaster at this point and had clearly fought something. As to what exactly, I couldn’t quite tell.

Are you really going to tell them about me?

Volix asked as I struggled to get out of bed.

My entire body was covered in bandages, soaked in a cooling liquid with healing properties. After sleeping for two days, one would think I’d feel great. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. My muscles were sore, the weave was effectively flipping me off, and my bonds were far more damaged than I remembered them being.

You didn’t even notice, did you?

Aureus complained quietly.

“Sorry,” I grumbled as I got out of bed. I had no excuse not to notice my bonds’ condition.

My body wanted to resist as I scrambled to the feet, but I pulled on some clothes, took care of some quick business in the bathroom, washed up, and then joined my parents in the living room.

Mom rushed up to me and hugged me tightly, only releasing me when I let out a pained groan.

“Oh my! I am so sorry, dear. Did that hurt?” she exclaimed, worry thick in her voice as she caressed my cheek.

She scrutinized me from head to toe, a heavy, worry-ridden sigh escaping her lips.

“Did you really have to put yourself in so much danger?” Her voice was barely more than a whisper, yet it cut deeper than it had any right to.

“I tried to help. I had to,” I replied weakly. “All the effort I put into growing stronger would’ve been wasted if I hadn’t. I had the means to help, so I did.”

Footsteps echoed from the kitchen, and Lea walked in with a bowl of cereal, nodding slowly.

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” she said. “But you need to be alive to help more people. What if you had died two days ago while rescuing…let’s say…200 civilians? You die to save them, but the Outsiders attack again in a few years, killing thousands, including the very people you saved before.”

Something was definitely wrong with Lea. Why did she have to say something like that?

“Don’t glare at me like that,” she continued as her razor-sharp eyes met mine. “Glaring won’t change the first scenario. Many people die, and so do you.”

She set the bowl down on the table and raised a second finger. “Second scenario: you still rescue a lot of people. Maybe not 200, but 100 or 150, and you survive. A few years later, you’re much stronger than you used to be. You’re prepared when the Outsiders attack again, and this time you defeat them. Whether you do that alone or with help doesn’t really matter here.”

“In that scenario, only a few hundred die, and you survive again. Then you grow stronger still, until eventually you can crush your enemies all by yourself.” The corner of her lips curled into an oddly mesmerizing smile. “That doesn’t sound too bad, does it?”

It didn’t. Except that people would still die. That part bothered me, but… was it really something I could prevent? All deaths? Was it even possible to grow that powerful?

Once you are strong enough to instill fear in your enemies, they will think twice before attacking what is yours.

Volix stated it as if it were the most obvious truth in the world.

Maybe it was. In a way, it made sense. That didn’t mean I liked how much death and chaos humanity would have to endure until I reached that point. If I ever did.

“You don’t like what I said?” Lea raised an eyebrow. “I don’t either. But what we like or dislike doesn’t matter to the world. The world couldn’t care less. The Outsiders are no different, and neither are the Rulers.”

That last part surprised me. I tried hard not to show it, but Lea must have noticed. She smiled faintly, though her eyes remained cold.

“Some Rulers care about us, but most don’t mind the death of a few hundred thousand Blessed, let alone the unBlessed. If they truly cared, they would have tried harder to follow the Pact. Instead, they violated it repeatedly and started a war.” Lea snorted. “And who’s going to pay the price? The Rulers certainly won’t. They’ll survive even if most of the Bastions fall. It will be the weak who suffer for their actions. Their blood will appease the Outsiders, because they’re the easiest to kill.”

Lea knew far more than I had expected. Then again, it made sense. She was Merlin’s student.

She didn’t seem to know about Volix, though.

That would change soon enough.