Beastborne

by James T Callum

  “And what precisely is the cost of this grand power?” Hal asked. “There has to be a cost. There’s always a cost.”

  “Each time we seek Communion, there is a chance we will die,” Besal stated plainly. “I do not aim to deceive you. If we cannot find a way to Commune, then the process very well may kill either one of us.”

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  New Divergent Class Quests: Dark Communion & Brilliant Soul.

  Divergent Quests are branching quest lines that require a choice to be made. By choosing one, or completing a single objective, the other automatically fails.

  Class Quest: Dark Communion

  Besal seeks to grow your power through the act of Communion. But there is a catch. The very act of trying to become one with such an opposing force is a dangerous proposition. While Besal states he has no desire to harm you, the process will be mortally dangerous. If you choose to walk this path, it may result in the death of one or both of you.

  Objectives

  Perform 3 Dark Communions with Besal.

  Preserve Hal’s life.

  Preserve Besal’s life.

  Additional objectives available.

  Rewards

  Enhanced Strain limit.

  Enhanced Beastborne abilities, spells, and skills.

  Access to Beastborne Zenith: Delirium.

  Additional rewards available.

  Class Quest: Brilliant Soul

  Reject Besal’s tainted offer of cooperation. You have gone this long without his strength. You can take Beastborne to new heights on your own. Destroy Besal utterly and you will never again have to look over your shoulder, wondering if the dark Beast will betray you.

  Objectives

  Purge Besal from your mind, body, and soul.

  Survive the process.

  Additional objectives available.

  Rewards

  Removed Strain limitation.

  Beastborne abilities will be altered.

  Access to Beastborne Zenith: Brightshade

  Additional rewards available.

  Hal stared at the Quests, then looked over at Besal. “I assume you see them as well?” he asked and Besal nodded.

  “I await your decision,” Besal said with an odd sanguine air of a man who has accepted his fate, whether it be for good or ill.

  As much as it may have always been a dream of Hal’s to finally rid himself of Besal, of the taint that seemed to poison the heart of Beastborne, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

  He knew Besal as he knew himself. The Beast - hardly deserving of that moniker now - had not tried to harm him in a long time. In fact, Besal had offered him strength without any apparent strings attached.

  Granted, Hal’s continued existence was key to Besal’s. But it was a far departure from what Hal had ever expected.

  Hal extended his hand, and because Besal understood Hal’s mind as well he mirrored the motion. They shook each other’s hand. Besal’s shadow and starlight hand felt only slightly less distinct than solid flesh and bone.

  It was the first cooperative thing they had ever done without a great deal of suspicion surrounding it.

  Hal had made his choice, whether it doomed him or saved him.

  “The process of Communion will take three days,” Besal warned. “And we must not be disturbed during the process. Any outside interference may very well doom our attempts at synchronization.”

  Besal shook his head before Hal could ever voice his argument. One of the downsides of sharing the same headspace as another being, Hal supposed.

  “I know what you would say. But your friends will be fine without you. You know this, I know this. Three days, Hal. Should we survive, we will return to the Settlement well before any further harm befalls it. And we will return with the strength to shift the tide of the coming battle.”

  It was a good offer and soundly argued. Hal knew it. Besal knew it. But it went beyond the obvious lure of strength and progress that had been stifled as of late.

  There wasn’t much opportunity to improve himself when they were constantly on the road. Everything was kept in a sort of limbo as they fought to sustain or protect themselves but did little else on their journey.

  Even when they founded a Settlement, they were immediately beset by the need to prepare and raise defenses. And if it wasn’t that, it would have been something else, Hal knew.

  Sitting across from him, made of starlight and shadow, Besal placed his palms on the knees of his crossed legs and nodded. “There will always be another threat. Another war. Another problem. Such is life. But you needn’t let it dictate your every move.

  “Only once you truly master the internal, will you possess the ability to affect the external. As it is, you strike out from a foundation of shifting sand. Priorities constantly shifting. Fear, concern, anger, all warring for your attention.

  “Without a solid foundation of self, you will forever feel that unease that sits heavy in your heart. When you possess such a foundation, when you understand your strengths and your weaknesses, only then will you be able to transcend them.”

  Hal raised a brow at him and chortled. “And I suppose you are the one that is going to give me that solid foundation?”

  Before Hal finished speaking Besal was already shaking his head. Of course, he knew what Hal was saying before the words left his mouth. “I only offer you a path. For both of our sakes. What you choose to do with it is up to you.”

  “You really have changed,” Hal said, wonder creeping into his voice.

  “As have you,” Besal said, taking the compliment and giving it back.

  “If I communicate with anybody, will that interfere?”

  “Only if you do so while Communing.” Besal paused a moment and then nodded his understanding. “Ah. The Reaper. You wish to let her know you are well.”

  “Her, and the others,” Hal agreed. “A poor leader I would be if I decided to go on a private journey and tell nobody about it. I can’t help that I’m out of range of them but if the keinse get within range I will ask them to relay a message to Noth.”

  “So long as they do not interfere, I see no reason it would cause a problem.” Besal leaned over the edge as if he had no concern about falling - which he didn’t – and examined the shifting forms down below. “This is a fortuitous location.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Observe the creatures below. They fight and battle as all monsters of opposing families do. At such junctures will we find a surfeit of mana from the slain, that ancient echo of animosity will serve our ends.

  “As their hatred and spilled blood rises thick in the air, we will partake of the mana and through it grow stronger. Our Communion will seek to find a bridge between two disparate halves. Through such efforts, we may find a way to coexistence.”

  More than anything else, that was the one thing Hal was hopeful for. That Strain was a severe limitation was one he could accept. But that it would cause him to completely lose control of his body, threatening his friends, however, was too much.

  As his Settlement grew, each time he used his Beast Magic he would be putting their lives in danger. It was unacceptable. If this could afford Hal and Besal some measure of peaceful coexistence, he owed it to himself and his friends to fully explore the possibility.

  Just as he decided on his course of action, he received a notification informing him that he failed his Class Quest, Brilliant Soul.

  Only one Divergent Quest could be pursued, and despite his misgivings and doubts, the potential for Dark Communion seemed so much higher.

  That is the way of things, he thought.

  While Brilliant Soul no doubt would require a battle with Besal - he would never expect him to give up his life without a fight - it seemed the easier approach.

  And, Hal had to admit, it felt wrong.

  More than once Besal had clued Hal in to a problem or enemy his senses had missed. If not for Besal’s timely reminders and mentions, things may have turned out differently.

>   Down below, the sound of fighting filtered up through the trees. “What are they?” Hal asked. Despite his Shadesight, he couldn’t make out precisely what types of monsters they were.

  “Vermin and plantoid,” Besal said. “Hated enemies.” He paused and turned his gaze back toward Hal. “You do not understand.”

  Hal shook his head. Why monsters of different races fought was entirely lost on him. He knew that they did. In fact, he understood it on an instinctual level. Just like he knew which direction was west without a compass to tell him.

  Despite the distance to his friends and the Settlement, even in his addled state, Hal knew which direction the Thesp Leader had taken off in.

  And from there it was a simple matter of reversing direction.

  But for all his instinctual knowledge, he didn’t quite grasp the relationships between monsters. From his time in the dark reaches beneath Murkmire, he understood that mimics and aberrations hated each other.

  Knowing it and understanding it, however, were two very different things.

  Besal read Hal’s thoughts, his ruby eyes smoking as he intently focused on his human counterpart. “I would say it is past time you understood the correlations of monsters.”

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  “You already have a faint comprehension, but you are grasping at shadows,” Besal said. “Understanding monster correlations is deeply important, Hal. Are you aware of the ascension and descension relationship of the elements?”

  “You mean the strengths and weaknesses to each other?” Hal asked, recalling a discussion he had with Elora and Ashera. “Like how fire is weak to water, but strong to ice?”

  “Yes, just like that. Much in the same way as the elements are intrinsically tied together, so are monsters. The relationship is deeper and more esoteric but the same rules generally apply.” Besal motioned to the fighting below them. “Take those two monster families for example. Vermin and plantoid.

  “Vermin is in ascension over plantoid and as such, is the predator in the relationship. Likewise, should you ever find yourself facing a monster from the plantoid family, you would do well to have a vermin Beast Magic spell handy.”

  “So like elements, having the proper Beast Magic spell from the right monster family plays a big role in how much damage it does,” Hal said, following the logic. “So that’s what that Quest was trying to tell me. How much is the damage difference?”

  Besal shrugged. “Variable, but properly applied it can double your damage output, but that is only part of the benefit.”

  “And that is?” Hal asked, knowing Besal wanted him to ask.

  “Prey fears its predator. Like elements that use ascension and descension, Beast Magic uses predator and prey to explain its interactions. You have already noticed the Killer traits Beastborne provides? Using a predator spell on its prey will have similar effects.”

  “Too bad I never seem to get ones that would be applicable to the creatures that I’m fighting. Having a Plantoid Killer trait right about now would be pretty nice,” Hal groused. “I don’t even have any vermin Beast Magic. In fact, most of my Beast Magic is fairly limited in scope.”

  “You have not sought out new sources of power,” Besal explained. “You have gathered what has been set before you. I am not placing blame. We share a mind, yes? Then you needn’t tell me that your options of late have been limited.

  “First, trapped within the underbelly of a town with horrors lurking in every crack of its foundations. And then constantly traveling. But you have all of the Shiverglades before you. Many monsters, even more monster families than you could think of are here. I have sensed many in our passing. In time, I would show them to you.”

  Hal was about to ask why he would wait to reveal that information but then he understood. Even had Besal offered earlier, he wouldn’t have taken him up on the offer. There was no way he was going to range about searching for spells with danger breathing down his fledgling Settlement’s neck.

  And that was why Besal didn’t offer. He already knew what Hal’s answer would be.

  It bothered him a little that Besal seemed to understand him more than he understood Besal. But in truth, how often did he try to see things from Besal’s viewpoint?

  Not often, he thought.

  Throughout all of his thoughts, Besal stayed silent and patient. Once he sensed that Hal was done, he picked up his explanation from where he stopped. “We have six different families of essence,” he began again. “You already know how one interacts.”

  “Arcana and undead,” Hal replied. “They hate each other, but I thought you said everything was in a predator and prey relationship? They seem more like….”

  “Rivals,” Besal answered for him. “Yes. They have a special relationship, adversaries. Adversaries are equally weak to each other. Undead spells cast against arcana deal exceptional damage, but so too would the reverse. It is a dangerous game to tap adversarial essences as you have, somehow you have avoided any potential repercussions. I am still unsure of how.”

  “Like when I Splice shadow and aberration?”

  “Yes, but it is dangerous and volatile. For reasons I cannot fathom, you have had no ill-effects. Obviously, I will not suggest caution. Never that. Such a thing would be unbefitting of a Beastborne.” Besal tilted his head up, looking at Hal with a sense of pride that flowed through their mutual bond.

  Hal felt the same sense of pride. Beastbornes were rare, and to be one that somehow stood out among the typical was even rarer.

  “Unfortunately,” Besal continued, “as you said, you lack many appropriate spells. However, there are two major ecosystems at work with Beast Magic. The terrestrial ecosystem consists of two separate spheres.

  “The first contains plantoids, beasts, lizards, and vermin, each a predator to the following with vermin feeding on plantoids. The second cycle contains aquans, amorphs, and birds.”

  “I’m guessing undead and arcana are part of the second ecosystem?” Hal asked.

  “Undead, arcana, dragons, and outsiders make up the other ecosystem. As the terrestrial ecosystem focuses on creatures that exist in the prime planes of reality, the celestial ecosystem focuses on those outside of normal planespace.”

  “Unnatural creations,” Hal said, catching on. “Undead and arcana hate each other because they’re both - in their own way - abominations. A perversion of the natural order. Mimics are given life through magical means but they should not exist. In much the same way, the dead are meant to stay dead and the undead pervert that.”

  “Correct,” Besal agreed. “Meanwhile dragons and outsiders are distinctly not of mortal planes. Your friend with the gold scales? He has been to more worlds than you could count. Many dragons are realmwalkers, traveling from one worldshard to the next with nary a thought as to their next destination.”

  Hal chuckled. “And outsiders are beyond the scope of mortal minds, correct? Beings such as yourself that desire to reach to the stars above.”

  Besal ducked his head, not quite in shame but something close to it. “I was,” he corrected. “I am something of a hybrid now, much as you are not wholly a simple human man. Surely you have felt the changes.”

  He didn’t deny it. There were subtle changes that went beyond whatever Besal’s influence on him might be. Hal only hoped that he wouldn’t suddenly sprout horns or wings without intentionally creating them.

  “Not unless you fall to the darker side of Beastborne,” Besal said, trying to ease Hal’s concerns. “That you are still - in outward appearance - a normal human is a testament to your willpower. Lesser Beastbornes - even Chimera Knights - would have taken on bestial formations by now.

  “Tails, slit eyes, scaled skin, there are many alterations that can occur. They are all beneficial in one way or another but they are a permanent change, unlike your essence gifts.”

  “I always did like the Witcher,” Hal said, musing what he would look like with draconic slits in his simple brown eyes.

  “Your reference to pop cult
ure aside, such aberrant changes are not commonly looked upon with anything approaching acceptance. You have a hard enough time with that mark on your arm, do you not?”

  Hal lifted his left arm and looked at the glowing mark. The sleeve was tattered, letting the gold and pale moonlight escape into the darkness around them. “Fair point. So, using outsider spells against a terrestrial does nothing?”

  “It does not count as a predator attacking its prey,” Besal corrected. “Celestial spells are often considered stronger - and typically possess a higher requirement - which makes them strong candidates against any foe.

  “Celestial spells generally deal greater damage to terrestrials as they are not able to defend against such otherworldly energies as well.

  “That you are so tightly bound to aberration and outsider is… interesting. But now you can utilize a third essence, and it would behoove you to use a terrestrial essence. If only to expand your awareness.”

  Hal furrowed his brow at that. His celestial essences were among his strongest, but at Besal’s knowing look he used Splice to tap aberration, eldritch, and vermin.

  As soon as he used vermin, something shifted.

  It was just as Besal said. His awareness expanded far and wide. He immediately could discern that those creatures far below were plantoid and vermin.

  Not just plantoid and vermin, but insect and planttrap. Though stronger in the hierarchy, the insects were outnumbered by the planttraps. Theirs was a losing fight.

  He looked up at Besal, and the Beast gave Hal a wolfish grin. One that Hal mirrored.

  Besal extended his hand to Hal. Grasping it, Hal watched as Besal’s form shifted and became indistinct. His body made of shadow and starlight began to collapse upon itself and funneled straight into Hal’s outstretched hand.