The cruiser came to a screeching halt and landed on a small elevation. I got up without a word as the doors swung open, but stopped when a robotic voice rang through the vehicle.
“Cadet Adam Savier: delivery confirmed. Cruiser X24 scheduled return: 180 minutes. Docking duration: 15 minutes. Automatic departure will follow.”
I made a quick note on the Etheriam watch and jumped out of the cruiser. Once out, the doors closed and the cruiser returned to our district.
“Robots are weird.” I snickered, glancing at the disappearing cruiser. Hailing a cruiser driven by a robot was a weird experience, though it was efficient.
“It would have been great if I could make some changes free of charge,” I added to myself while summoning Aureus and the refined silvernit sword.
Aureus tried to climb my shoulder, but I had to pull him away. The Earthheart stubbornly refused to let go and clung to me, and I spent a few minutes explaining to Aureus that I could no longer carry him about.
Meanie!
He was displeased, but so was I. How great would it have been if I could still carry Aureus? Anyway, it was too dangerous to do so.
Aureus splashed a ball of mud my way with an effort of his will, and I didn’t even bother evading it. The displeasure nestled in Aureus’ heart was quickly replaced with excitement, and he turned around to watch the vast plains region that stretched for tens of kilometers in every direction.
The Blooming Expanse, a massive region located in the west of the Grand Camp; a region filled with Awakened beasts as well as the occasional Evolved beast. I would have loved to have barged into a lower-ranked Zone on my first hunt, but there was nothing weaker than the Blooming Expanse in a 500 kilometer radius. Even if there had been, I’d already squeezed as much from my free fare as I could. One meter further from the Grand Camp, and I’d owe a coin to the robot cruiser – each way.
“Pay attention to the surroundings,” I ordered Aureus, who was already at work. His scales clattered excitedly, and so seemed the ground as it rippled for dozens of meters.
Clear.
I raised an eyebrow at Aureus, asked him to protect my back and tell me when he found a beast, before focusing on the surrounding land.
Since we were on an elevation, we located several beasts right away. Some were alone, moving through the Blooming Expanse with confidence, certain nothing would attack them, while others traveled in groups. I analyzed all of them and tried to connect them with the book I’d devoured since my early dinner the day before, and I was more than satisfied to recognize most beasts.
“Heavy Armored Bear, Peak Awakened.”
“Cloudsteers Leopard, Evolved.”
“Pack of Bloodchasers, Low Awakened.”
I couldn’t find a suitable target, not even after half an hour. Fortunately, as I moved slowly away from the elevation I’d been dropped off, I found signs of a suitable target. The ground beneath us rippled every so often, which was followed by Aureus showing me what he’d found. Most of the time, he didn’t find anything unique, which was as good as it could be, but he discovered a few mice, a den of rabbits that looked odd according to Aureus, as well as an Evolved mole, which I definitely wanted to avoid encountering.
We were lucky enough to avoid predators in the hour that followed, and I started to test my new powers a little. Sparring with others taught me a lot, but this was the first time I could feel grass under my bare feet – yes, I removed my boots and socks – since Aureus had evolved, and it was amazing. The grass not so much, but the wet soil that seemed to merge with me the moment I touched it. I learned how to perceive the immediate surroundings using my Earthen Aspect, following Aureus’ impatient teachings, and I tried a few more things.
The earth around us rippled, a thick earthen wall burst from the ground, and spikes of compressed earth burst upward, piercing a flower dead center on the petal I’d aimed at. Once I’d used a quarter of my ether reserves, I stopped the tests and focused on recovering. Half an hour later, my reserves were full again, and I found the perfect target. Targets.
A herd of beasts, four-legged, bulky and somewhat similar to Daniel’s Thunderhorn Bull, grazed in the distance. I was not close enough to attack them yet, and I highly doubted it was a good call to attack a beast herd, or it would have been if there hadn’t been a predator in the distance. I only caught a glimpse of the predator skulking closer, passing through the long grass, but that was more than enough for me.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from NovelFire; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I didn’t lower my guard for a moment as I moved closer to a small group of bovines at the edges of the herd. They were a good dozen meters away from the nearest group, and it didn’t look like they noticed me when I was only a few meters away. I could cross the distance quickly and kill one of them, but that would alarm the rest of the group.
The bovines were clearly too bulky for their own good, halted and looked up suddenly. I froze in my tracks, fearing I’d been discovered, but that wasn’t the case. At least, until Aureus snarled when a murderous presence descended upon us – no, the whole herd.
I watched as the beasts jerked up. Most looked to the right to see a flash of death tear through their brethren. The predator had made its move and attacked to kill. Its attack startled the other bovines, but they didn’t flee from the scene. They turned to the predator and charged.
Except for the group I was facing, who heard Aureus and turned to us, their eyes blazing with bloodlust that only intensified when they locked onto me.
At least I don’t have to feel bad for hunting them. I grunted inwardly. I’d rather have a guilty conscience and an intact body than the alternative.
Fight!
That we would. Aureus moved up beside me, his golden eyes flashing like stars even as a group of four beasts charged ahead.
The bovines’ hooves thundered across the ground, far more nimble than I had accounted for. They were fast, though not nearly as fast as the previous herd had been. Confident, I pushed forward—only to see a spike burst from the earth beneath one of the bovine’s bellies.
The earthen spike shot into its abdomen, digging deep into muscle and slowing it considerably. Blood pooled on the ground, and my mind froze for a moment as I watched another beast crash down. It was still alive, but it didn’t move; Paralyse was working wonders.
Go!
Aureus released a few more spikes into the beast lying on the ground, ending its life before it could attack us. My mind reeled, trying to digest how powerful Aureus had grown in the last few weeks, yet I dashed forward. Ether poured into the refined silvernit sword, and I activated Paralyse, freezing the closest beast. I sensed no resistance. The creature crashed to the ground as my sword raked across its neck.
I considered raising an earthen wall to stop the other beast but chose a depression instead. The bovine was close to reaching me when the wet earth beneath its front legs shifted. Its hooves missed the soil that should have been there and plunged into a shallow twenty-centimeter hole. A sickening crunch followed as the beast’s tremendous weight came down. Its front legs bent outward, the ground around it churned as if a boar had been digging, but I was already there, my sword driving cleanly through the bovine’s eyeball and into its brain.
Even as the life in its remaining eye faded, I didn’t relax. A cacophony of hooves—heavy, enraged, carrying muscular bodies across the expanse—and my wildly pounding heart echoed in my ears. I leapt to my feet, expecting the worst as I clutched my sword. But the bovines didn’t come for me. They headed the opposite way, seemingly oblivious to my sneaky attack.
A wave of guilt bloomed in my chest; however, I suppressed it quickly by recalling the beasts’ bloodthirsty eyes. They were nothing like my parents’ Blackbellied Gibbons had been. The bovines were like the Wagur I fought in the Bastion: deadly and lusting for my World.
There was more than enough space to show mercy, but that didn’t include the bovines. Images and emotions flowed out of the bond, making me grimace.
“I… would have attacked them anyway… yes…” I thought. Thinking about it, I didn’t like that. Aureus didn’t seem to care as much. He tried to convince me that the strongest had the right to decide what happened to the weak, but I— I was unsure.
I stored the silvernit sword back in my storage belt and slapped my cheeks with some force. It was enough to pull me back to my senses.
Later. I can think about my moral compass later.
Taking a deep breath, my attention snapped back to the herd and their frantic pursuit of the predator. Both predator and prey ignored the corpses and dashed in the opposite direction.
“Can you grab one of them?” I asked Aureus, lowering my body to lift a carcass. A groan escaped my lips and my muscles bulged as I hauled the beast’s upper body from the ground. I was half-certain my veins were about to pop, but I somehow managed to keep them from bursting.
I dragged the corpse across the ground, ready to pull it back to the slight elevation where we’d be picked up in less than an hour. The only problem? We had four corpses to protect from vultures and starving beasts, and only two hands, four lizard legs, and a pair of dirt-caked feet to make it through the Blooming Expanse without issue.
I was more than ready to surrender two carcasses to the regional predators when Aureus trotted past me. He walked by, chest puffed out, eyes glimmering with mischief. The earth around him rippled and rotated slowly.
“Did you…” My eyes widened as they locked onto the two bovine corpses sprawled on a slide of compressed earth, attached to the Earthheart’s tail. “You turned yourself into a damn train!”
I dropped the carcass I was carrying and turned to copy Aureus’ technique. The slide was easy to create. Maintaining it required a bit of ether, but it wasn’t particularly difficult. Dragging it behind me, however, was another problem. I wasn’t strong enough, nor could I force the soil to rotate and push the slide forward. It was a pain in the ass, and Aureus enjoyed it thoroughly.
“I hate you,” I murmured. The little troubleshooter denied it immediately, sending waves of love and happiness.
Love.
“Yeah, you’re right.” I grimaced, ether pooling from my core as I tried again. I didn’t have the luxury to waste anymore time, but I would always have enough time to say one thing; “I love you too, buddy”
Aureus changed my fate forever, and he deserved all the love in the world – and more.