Beastborne

by James T Callum

  Still no motion. He knew she was awake, he could see her breathing and there was a strange connection between them now. It felt familiar, like the one he had with Noth. But deeper somehow, like he had always known her. Or that she had always known him.

  “Ashera, get up.”

  He didn’t mean to get so aggravated, it just came out. And as he issued the command, he felt the last vestiges of the Sigil play out.

  Golden light flooded into the room, illuminating Ashera’s body and overcoming her own body’s inner light.

  Ashera raised her head and was lifted off the floor like a large invisible hand grabbed her and lifted her to her feet as if she were a doll.

  Hal’s Founder Mark appeared on her chest, just beneath her collar bone. He noticed it included the moonlight Manatree marking at its center. It made his skin crawl to see it on her.

  Shutting his eyes, Hal could feel Ashera as if she were an extension of himself. Just like he could tell if his arm ached or was wounded, so too could he tell if Ashera was ailing.

  The wounds she had were old, mostly self-inflicted he noted with sorrow. He turned his mind away from delving into her past. He was violating her privacy enough as it was. A quick check confirmed that she no longer suffered from Broken Faith.

  “…Hal?” Ashera asked. She sounded like she had just woken from a deep slumber. “What’re you-” Realizing where she was, and her own state of undress she looked back up at Hal. She didn’t bother covering herself up. “Where are we?”

  3

  Hal didn’t think he could be so blasé if he realized he was standing stark naked in front of one of his friends. He cleared his throat and did his best to keep his eyes locked on Ashera’s. “I think we’re inside of your mind somewhere. You were… dying, I think.”

  Ashera struck a pensive pose, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “I vaguely recall you attacking me.”

  Hal put out both hands, padding the air. “Woah, no. I was not attacking you. I was trying to free you. You were… chained. I don’t know where they came from but they were gold. You freaked out whenever I tried to break them. Are you going to put some clothes on?”

  “Why?” She looked down at herself then back at Hal. No hint of shame or blush of embarrassment. There was also no invitation. She stood as if she were fully clothed, without a care in the world beyond the puzzle of where they were.

  “Because you’re naked.”

  She shrugged, causing her large breasts to bounce. “You’ve already seen me naked. Clearly. What’s the purpose of putting on clothes? Are you so prudish or ashamed of nudity that you hate to see it on another?

  “I didn’t take you for being that sort.” Ashera tilted her head to the side. “Or maybe you feel like you can’t control yourself around a woman’s nudity? No, you’re not that weak. The Beast would still have control of your body if you were.”

  Hal took a deep breath and nodded. “I guess I am a bit of a prude,” he said with a self-deprecating chuckle. “Old habits from my home.”

  “Besides,” she said. “You’re naked to me.”

  Hal started and looked down. “What? I am?”

  Her light, tinkling laugh drew a glare from him. “No, but your face was precious.”

  He shook his head. That was one of the oldest tricks in the book, on par with “you’ve got something on your shirt.” Ridiculous that he fell for it. Though the way her eyes glanced up and down him, he wondered where the lie precisely was.

  “How do you feel, Ashera?”

  She took a moment to examine herself, only then did she blush when she saw the cutting marks on her arms and thighs. Her eyes immediately found Hal’s and held them. “You can’t tell Elora.”

  “I don’t think anybody needs to know the… specifics of what happened,” Hal said, wiping at a thin stream of blood from his still-broken nose.

  “Here, let me help.” Ashera stepped forward and raised her hands to cup the sides of Hal’s face. She shut her eyes… and nothing happened. Her brow furrowed and she tried again. “Oh, no.”

  Curious, Hal found himself studying Ashera. Not the physical beauty of the woman but the depths of her that only she could know. Why couldn’t she heal him?

  Something about that status intrigued him. It took him a moment or two to find it.

  Broken Faith

  Agreeing to a Covenant is a serious, binding undertaking. You have broken faith with the Covenant of Dawn by aiding an Enemy of the Covenant. Until you renounce your actions and return to the Covenant, you will receive the Broken Faith Debuff causing you to reap every wound you have inflicted with the power of the Covenant of the Dawn.

  Sin Keeper Fabled Class no longer available.

  All Sin Keeper and Covenant of the Dawn Spells, Abilities, and Traits are unavailable.

  “Ashera, what is the Covenant of the Dawn?”

  If Hal had grown three heads and began oozing organs out of every orifice, he doubted the look of dread and horror on Ashera’s face would have been any worse than it was right then.

  With Dominate acting on her, Hal could feel her emotions and thoughts as his own. Right then, she was thinking about dissembling. Her mind reeled back to her explanation, trying to recall what she told Hal and how much of it was a carefully crafted step around the truth.

  In the end, to her credit, she threw away the lies she had prepared. “That’s Rinbast’s Covenant. It’s what allowed me to become a Sin Keeper and… heal people.”

  Hal furrowed his brow. “You can’t heal anymore then?”

  She crossed her arms. Only once her power was taken away did she feel naked and vulnerable. Clothes appeared on her, long flowing robes of white hemmed with silver.

  “It’ll be okay, Ashera,” Hal said, trying to soothe her. He could feel her rising fear and worry, though she did a phenomenal job of keeping it hidden. Without his ability to feel her emotions, he would never have known the tumult brewing within her.

  “No, it won’t, Hal.” She shook her head and paced back and forth. “My healing is one of the only things I was good at.”

  “Is there a way we can… I don’t know, fix it?”

  Shoulders slumped, Ashera could only shrug.

  “I’m sorry, Ashera. I really am. But that doesn’t define you. You don’t need to be a Sin Keeper to have a place with us or to be useful.” Hal extended his arm to her. He could feel the way back to consciousness opening and he knew how he could bring her with him.

  Now that Ashera was healed, and the chains binding her to the Covenant were removed, there was no threat to her life. Hal didn’t know how long they had spent in this place but he didn’t want to leave himself exposed and vulnerable for any longer than was absolutely necessary.

  And without Ashera’s healing capabilities, they would have to rely on Hal’s Assimilation which was nothing like a stereotypical healing spell.

  Ashera looked at his hand then into his eyes. “You can’t tell Elora.” Her voice was deadly serious as she reiterated her command. “I’m serious. Nothing about this. Please.” She fell to her knees and spread her arms out wide, her wide sleeves draping and nearly touching the ground. “If I must beg to keep this all secret, I will. You have no idea how important this is to me. I am eternally grateful to you for saving my life – again – but I don’t know if I cou-”

  Hal raised a hand to stop her and stepped forward, helping her up to her feet. “I would never ask that you beg. You’re my friend Ashera. Probably the most trusted friend I have ever had. If you don’t want me to tell anybody about what happened, I won’t. On one condition.”

  Wetness rimmed her eyes as she nodded. “Anything.”

  “You either have to tell people you can’t heal, or come up with something that excuses why you can’t heal. I will back you up in any way I can, just let me know, okay? I don’t want people taking chances and getting hurt, thinking you can heal them. I won’t put our people in danger like that.”

  “I understand,” she said. Ashera lunged for
ward and wrapped Hal in a tight embrace, squeezing him so hard that even if he didn’t have cracked ribs he probably would after that hug. “Oh, Gods! I’m so sorry.”

  Hal grunted and staggered back. As he fell the room twisted and spun. The moment he fell onto his back, the green light of the copse of trees swirled around him.

  Blinking, Hal coughed and groaned propping himself up on his elbows. At least, he tried to but a pair of hands lifted him up to a sitting position instead. “You all right there, dude?” Mira asked. “I got worried when you started to bleed from your nose like something out of Scanners.” She shook her head. “Anyways, you good? How many fingers am I holding up?”

  Hal looked at her three fingers. “Three. And I’m okay, just give me a moment.”

  Glancing at his HP, he’d dropped nearly half his total. He definitely wasn’t going to tell anybody about that. Even naked and half-aware, Ashera had whooped his ash.

  Unfortunately, his SP and MP hadn’t recovered enough to use Assimilation to recover his HP. Instead, even with the inordinate cost of using Dominate on Ashera, he had enough EXP from that last fight to hit the next Level of Beastborne.

  Committing the EXP to Beastborne, he felt himself washed with soothing warmth as his wounds and fatigue vanished in the blink of an eye.

  Beastborne reaches Level 16.

  You have 5 unspent Attribute Points awaiting distribution.

  Your HP, SP, and MP are fully restored.

  Ashera still hadn’t moved from where she was. Elora looked over at Hal. “Is she…?”

  With a nod, Hal understood he was still connected to Ashera through the Dominate Sigil. He commanded her to wake and then immediately dismissed the Sigil.

  Ashera started to get up a moment later but Elora buried the lamora in a rare display of emotion. She hugged her with all she had then pushed her and slapped her arm. “Don’t you ever do that again! You scared us!”

  Hal chuckled and let Mira help him to his feet. “Thanks,” he said to the Dragoon.

  For once, Elora was directing her ire at somebody else who didn’t deserve it. Ashera blushed and took it without complaint. Their eyes locked for a moment, the lamora gave him a slight nod that he returned.

  He would keep her secret. Using Dominate on her had been the only way to save her, but it still didn’t sit right with him. If he never used it again on another person, he would die happy. It was worth it to have the Sigil if only so Rinbast couldn’t.

  “Everything good?” Angram asked, jogging up to the group. He looked at Hal. “Hal, you got a little….” He motioned all over his face with a grin, indicating the old blood from his nose that he had wiped across his upper lip and cheek.

  “Ha. Ha. Aren’t you two supposed to be keeping watch?” Hal asked, trying to deflect attention back to the very real danger all around them.

  Mira patted him on the back. “We’re fine. Nothing around for miles that I could see with the exception of a small… weird pond up ahead about a mile maybe? It was through the forest.”

  “Weird how?” Hal asked.

  The Dragoon drove the butt of her halberd into the dirt and leaned on it. “It was shaped like a heart. And… well, when I looked at it my Quest prompt updated in a really strange way.”

  “How so?”

  “You know how it usually kinda recaps what you’ve done and updates along the way? This time it seemed to be talking to me. It now says, ‘Komachiiiii.’ With like five I’s. I’ve never heard of Komachi before.”

  Your Deception has risen to Level 7.

  +1% Deception success (+7%).

  +0.5% Deception awareness (+3.5%).

  -0.5% Reputation loss (-3.5%).

  Hal stared at the prompt curiously and at the sensation he knew came from the skill. Mira had just flat-out lied. “You’re right,” Hal said, looking over at Elora gesticulating wildly at Ashera. “That is weird.”

  4

  Angram offered a canteen and a clean cloth to Hal. Unsure whether he was teasing him further, Hal took the offering nonetheless and wiped the blood from his face. All while pondering exactly why Mira had lied. He had known her to be cagey about things but he couldn’t work out the angle for deceit here.

  Just because he was healed didn’t immediately clean off the evidence of his earlier injuries. Or anything else.

  While Ashera was talking to Elora and there seemed to be a moment of peace before they had to either press on toward Elora’s enigmatic Quest, or turn back, Hal decided to allocate his stats.

  Leaning heavily into his new Beast Magic perk, Convergence, which allowed him to use a portion of INT and CHR in place of STR and DEX while Splicing, Hal had put most of his newfound points into INT, CHR, and MND.

  [Status]

  Hal Williams

  Level: 31

  Discordant Stone: 4,910 /55,000

  Strain: 0/50

  BP: 15/15

  Classes

  Beastborne: 16

  Novice: 10

  Oathforger: 5

  Resources

  HP: 440/440 (+75)

  SP: 375/375

  MP: 565/565 (+75)

  Attributes

  STR: 10 (+4)

  VIT: 20 (+5)

  DEX: 10 (+2)

  AGI: 10 (+2)

  INT: 37 (+7)

  MND: 45 (+5)

  CHR: 30 (+16)

  Regeneration

  HP/hr: 63.7

  SP/hr: 56.7

  MP/hr: 153.6

  Resistances

  Fire: 25

  Ice: 0

  Wind: 0

  Earth: 0

  Lightning: 0

  Water: -25

  Light: 0

  Dark: 0

  Defensive Properties

  DEF: 51

  MDEF: 42

  Insulation: 35

  Modifiers

  +10% Movement Speed [Leaping Boots].

  +10 MP per kill [Spaulder of the Ravenblessed].

  Monster Affinity

  Beastmen

  Goblin: 300%

  Arcana

  Shadow: 325%

  Mimic: 125%

  Doll: 105%

  Undead

  Aberration: 265%

  Plantoid

  Treant: 285%

  Planttrap: 15%

  Outsider

  Eldritch: 300%

  Vermin

  Insect: 75%

  Class Affinity

  Warrior: 100%

  Thief: 85%

  Survival Skills

  Stealth: 6

  Darkvision: 4

  Survival: 4

  Perception: 17

  Investigation: 10

  Manatree: 1

  Combat Skills

  Improvised Weaponry: 14

  Sword: 14

  Parry: 7

  Evasion: 12

  Magic Skills

  Enfeebling: 14

  Beast Magic: 17

  Crafting Skills

  Alchemy: 1

  Social Skills

  Leadership: 19 (+5)

  Persuasion: 14

  Exploration: 4

  Deception: 7

  Mercantile: 2

  Intimidation: 2

  He was beginning to look and feel like a proper adventurer.

  The farther west they went away from any known civilization the wilder and fiercer the world became. Creatures that were of comparable size to what he might have found back home were at least twice as large. And three times as aggressive.

  It was like the absence of people and any semblance of a settlement was some sort of steroid for the local fauna. Gazelles that could nearly tip over their massive wagons with a single bound were scary enough but the carnivorous Noxis that they just fought were by far the most disturbing of all.

  Their shells were abnormally hard, all but [Brilliance] with its stunningly keen edge struggled to break through the creature’s black carapace. Once broken through their blood was caustic and burned through most armor quickly.

  And thou
gh he hadn’t seen it in person, Angram told him that the creatures had a wide conal poisonous breath attack. And that it was powerful enough that it could knock a person out who was only partially hit.

  A few days ago after Leveling Up to 30, Hal was finally able to wear most of the bequeathed equipment from Thirty-Seven. And in some cruel twist of fate, most of it was Class-Locked.

  Aside from the [Bomb Ring], [Lunette Ring], and [Brilliance], all of the gear required that he had Paladin unlocked. Taking another glance at his stats, he didn’t even have the affinity for the Class.

  He doubted he ever would.

  Thirty-seven and himself were about as far apart in personality and skillset as it seemed possible to have with another freakish alternate timeline version of yourself.

  “Thanks, Angram,” Hal said, offering the bloodied rag to the Ranger who eyed it disdainfully.

  “You can keep it,” Angram said with a faint grimace.

  For being so used to living and surviving in the wilds, the deeply tanned, ruby-eyed elf Ranger was always meticulously groomed. He didn’t notice it when he first met him but lately Angram was joining Hal on his various excursions into the countryside and it was hard to ignore.

  Noth often stayed with the caravan, leaving an empty slot in Hal’s party available for Angram. Though with his Leadership at Level 19, he was right on the cusp of getting another slot for his party. Provided what Thirty-seven said was correct, of course.

  With that perk – which he planned to get immediately – he would be able to have a total of six people in his party instead of the typical five. It may not seem like much but as his Leadership and Oathforger went up, he gained party-centric buffs and improvements which would become more powerful with additional party members.

  The Leadership perk, Party Tactics gave a bonus to damage and defense to all nearby members of the same party, increasing both by 2% per party member. For a standard party fighting together, that would be a hefty 10% boost to both damage and defense. With his extended party, that’d be 12%.