Beastborne

by James T Callum

  Besal grants you the effect of Second Verse.

  Your Essence Tier has increased.

  Essence Tier II

  Complex formations of essence are now possible. Wings, advanced limbs, prehensile tails, etc. Efficacy and strength of new formations are based on the essence(s) used to create them.

  Thin, airy bones stretched from his shoulder blades across the taut flesh he had failed to use as a parachute. Wings formed, their edges tattered as they were formed mid-fall.

  With a powerful beat of his new limbs, Hal managed three hearty flaps before the rocky ground smacked into him. A tenth of his HP was shaved off in that one blinding impact, but he survived.

  More importantly, he had wings.

  They were not Besal’s shadowy wings, but those of flesh and bone. As Hal gingerly pushed himself to his feet, doing a quick check to make sure nothing was broken, he flexed his wings.

  It was only possible because of Besal’s aid, but it was something different than before. These were more his than Besal’s, and he wondered how strong they might be.

  He didn’t want to risk using multiple types of essence in the construction of his wings just yet, and so while he was Splicing eldritch, insect, and aberration he only used the latter.

  Beedle glided gently down to Hal’s side, having no problem whatsoever making the trip. It reached up to a sack that Hal suspected had a potion or some healing item, but Hal stopped him with a shake of his head.

  “I’m fine,” he said. “Bit wounded, but mostly just my pride. You up for flying across the water?”

  In response, Beedle buzzed his shining gossamer wings and took to the air. As Hal examined his wings, he molded the essence to improve them. Ribs of bone extended out to support the sturdy sinew. The dark tattered edges grew calloused and rigid.

  Using his newfound control of Convergence, Hal transferred all of his strength to his legs and jumped. He rocketed into the air like a bolt of lightning. Transferring that strength to his wings, he used Convergence to beat furiously at the air.

  He cried out, not in fear or anger, but in untold elation. His wings kept him aloft, but the SP drain was ridiculously high. Slowing his wing flaps, he was able to conserve more of his SP, but then he had another problem.

  Flapping slower preserved SP, but he was beginning to sink back toward the ground.

  They always make flying seem so easy in movies, Hal grumped as he set back down on the rocks. That short burst of being airborne had drained half of his SP.

  Beedle remained airborne, lazily circling him as if to tell him to hurry up.

  “I know, I know,” he said, taking a moment to catch his breath. “I’m new to this.”

  This time, Hal took a running start. With Convergence pushed entirely into AGI to speed his way, his long strides chewed up what little runway he had. At the last minute, he shifted to STR, flooding his legs with over three times his usual strength.

  Hal soared through the air, hanging there for a good long moment before he began to beat his new wings at a measured pace. Each flap consumed SP, his weakest and slowest regenerating resource.

  Because of course it would.

  Beedle had no trouble keeping pace with Hal once his initial burst of speed was spent. Flying the entire way was out of the question. He simply did not have enough SP, even utilizing Assimilation would not give him enough to complete the journey.

  Instead, Hal leaped from one ice floe to the next. Unlike the journey out, he didn’t need to stay on the slippery chunks of ice for longer than a heartbeat before he was airborne again.

  Using a combination of Convergence and Assimilation, Hal was able to cross the expanse of frigid water without issue. Whatever crocodilian creatures that rose out of the depths were too slow to catch him.

  And now that there was daylight, Hal noticed a great many of them. What he first took to be logs or debris, turned out to be large groups of the horrid monsters.

  By the time he landed on the opposite shore, his MP was down to half, and his SP was nearly empty. Without Assimilation, he never would have reached the end. Even then, he wondered how Besal was able to do it the last time they crossed.

  He thought that once he could fly, it would open up an entirely different world to him. Instead, if he used it improperly, he could easily find himself winded, and without the Stamina to fight once he landed.

  Epic mid-air battles were - sadly - simply out of the question until he was able to strengthen himself further. Maybe it was because he didn’t yet have the next essence tier unlocked.

  It could be any number of things, and once the day was over and his people safe, he would spend some time testing it out. There were plenty of high places along the Settlement’s sheer mountain walls.

  Those would make perfect locations to test out his flying capabilities. He had just calmed his pounding heart when a notification startled him and set it to racing again.

  You have unlocked Flight (Level 0).

  Few creatures possess the innate ability to fly, and while yours is a gift gained from modifying your physical form, it functions no differently. Contrary to common thought, flying is an arduous and taxing affair for those unaccustomed to its rigors.

  Your Flight has risen to Level 1.

  +0.35% Speed while flying (+0.35%).

  +0.35% Control while flying (+0.35%).

  -0.25% Stamina cost (-0.25%).

  “Better than having to struggle forever,” he said to himself as Beedle gently landed beside him.

  That Flight was a skill, changed everything.

  He was originally going to stick to jogging through the Shiverglades, trying to retrace his steps until he was close enough to the Settlement to find familiar landmarks.

  But if Flight was a skill, that meant it could be Leveled Up. And that meant he could put his new skill to work immediately.

  Stretching his wings, Hal took another quarter of his MP and transferred it to his SP by way of Assimilation. At tier 3 Assimilation, he gained 75% of all resources placed into his SP.

  So while he lost 208 MP, he gained 157 SP.

  Considering his rapid loss of SP from Flight, it wasn’t much. But it allowed him to get to the higher branches of the trees as he broke through the tree line and entered the forests of the Shiverglades proper. He was making great time as the sun slowly made its way toward its zenith.

  What had originally taken over a day of travel, he now expected to cut in half heading back. By the time the sun began to set that night, he would be within sight of the Settlement.

  It had been long enough since his last [Elixir] that he could use another one if he had to. And if that didn’t make him battle-ready, he could always dip into his surplus EXP and Level Up before joining the fray.

  He might lose out on the ability to Dominate more monsters, but it might be worth the cost to arrive at the Settlement ready to fight with the ability to use an [Elixir] mid-battle.

  All in all, things were looking up for once. He didn’t complete his Dark Communion, but neither would he miss the defense of his new home. And that, more than anything else, was of chief importance.

  Using more Convergence than his wings, Hal leaped from branch to branch, often taking to the springier variety to give him some extra launching power. With his higher vantage point, Hal could orient himself to directly aim for the Settlement.

  Using his connection to the Manaseed at the Settlement’s heart, he set his course. Rock tumbles that would have slowed him down were passed over with ease. More oily pits that would have required a detour were simple affairs requiring a few flaps of his wings and a Convergence enhanced jump to avoid.

  Beedle easily paced him among the tall branches, and many monsters that lingered down on the forest floor were unaware of his presence.

  But not all of them.

  Hal had shifted his focus from defense to speed. All of his thoughts were bent on getting back to the Settlement before dark. The sun was well on its way toward the west, and it had been
hours since he had even seen another monster within 20 feet.

  He was still thinking about his home when a well-camouflaged hunting cat suddenly sprang out from its position on a nearby branch and launched itself directly at him.

  147

  Knocked sideways, Hal and the large cat crashed into the branch he had just landed upon. His ribs bruised at the impact, and his delay in acting cost him dearly. The cat raked its claws across his breastplate, filling the forest with an ear-splitting screech.

  A hair’s breadth from crashing down to the branches below, he struggled against the beast. Long whipping tendrils rolled off its body, each tipped with a triangular protrusion filled with hooked barbs.

  “I don’t have time for this!” Hal growled as he raised his left hand and focused.

  His Kol’thil reacted to his will, a rising strength welled up within him as he focused on the cat about to clamp its black jaws on his face. Hal shoved at the creature’s head, trying to buy the time it would take to enact the Kol’thil Sigil.

  The golden lightning of Dominate pulsed along Hal’s forearm, the direct connection worked faster than at range, and the great feline went suddenly still. A blazing Gold Kol’thil mark appeared on its forehead.

  An awareness of the monster appeared in the back of Hal’s head just as he was struck with a head-splitting pain. For a moment, he thought it had managed to bite him, but the Disara stood erect and unmoving.

  The pain began to fade, but it felt like somebody was trying to chop through his head.

  You suffer 100 points of psychic damage (Kol’thil Bleed).

  So that’s what it does? I take damage when I use my Kol’thil Sigils, I guess that’s kind of in the name, huh?

  Focusing on his Kol’thil Sigils, Hal felt something else he had missed before. There were more than two Sigils at his disposal.

  I don’t remember getting any…. The codex never illuminated anything either despite all the effort I put into it.

  With the ease of commanding his own limbs, Hal had the Disara wrap its tendrils around him and lift him onto its back. He was down nearly 500 EXP for this single creature, but it was worth avoiding a drawn-out fight.

  Even taking over 10% HP damage from Kol’thil Bleed, it was a bargain. Hal focused on his Kol’thil Sigils, bringing up a notification.

  Feril Ironbound grants you Iron Kol’thil Sigil: Daybreak.

  Generate a massive orb of radiant light, dealing damage to foes within its radius and preventing healing effects.

  Feril Ironbound grants you Iron Kol’thil Sigil: Crystallize.

  Send a wave of crystallizing energy through the weave, binding, and stilling the threads of those you choose.

  Hal felt at his shoulder, where Feril had touched him and sent a shock of pain through him. Was that the gift he had given Hal?

  Did the man even know that he had just doubled Hal’s Sigils? Both seemed immensely powerful, but he had no idea what the difference between an Iron Kol’thil Sigil and a Gold Kol’thil Sigil was.

  True to form, there was no further information. It was entirely plausible, he realized, that he was using his Sigils all wrong. That utilizing his EXP to power them was some novice mistake that he would kick himself later for.

  Truthfully, it didn’t matter to him at that moment. If there was a better way, he would find it. If not, he had a glut of EXP to spend. Neither of those abilities seemed as powerful as Dominate, but he didn’t know the extent of their strength.

  If he could Dominate a horde of monsters, then use Crystallize on a great many others, he could quickly turn the tide of battle. That was assuming that he understood how Crystallize worked.

  He had a slight, innate understanding of the ability. It was enough to know that he could crystallize his enemies, but not enough to know whether or not they were more or less vulnerable in that state.

  There was nothing to do but to try them out. Soon enough, he would have plenty of enemies to test his new Sigils on. He would need to be careful to manage the risk of Kol’thil Bleed, however.

  Using more of his Sigils was bound to make it worse, and he had no idea if each Sigil caused a different effect. He could weather a 10% drop in his HP. After all, it seemed he suffered no physical injury.

  But the pain… being stunned even for a second in the middle of a fight meant he had to approach the use of his Sigils carefully. They were no longer something he could rely on as a last resort.

  If he was unlucky enough that a creature resisted his Sigil, the blinding pain of Kol’thil Bleed would leave him exposed to deadly reprisal.

  Commanding the Disara to move forward, the beast sprang into action. It was as lithe as he had hoped.

  Like most modern city-dwellers, Hal had never ridden a horse. Had never seen one that wasn’t on the internet or TV. But he didn’t need to. He was the Disara, it was an extension of himself.

  With a thought, he could move the six-limbed creature just as easily and with the same level of awareness as he could wriggle his fingers and toes. So while he had no actual experience riding any animal, he didn’t need it.

  With the Disara serving as his mount, he didn’t need to spend Stamina returning to the settlement, and would even be able to recover some along the way. The rest, Assimilation could shore up.

  Up close, without the cat trying to bite his face off, Hal could see that it was much more than a typical panther. What he had first mistaken for moss were patches of green scale across its brow and limbs.

  Anywhere armor would be of use, it had those green scales. The rest of its body was sleek and black, unnaturally thin and wiry but with obvious strength as it propelled itself with ease through the branches high above the forest floor.

  Whenever its leap wasn’t quite enough, Hal used its tendrils to snare a branch and swing across the gap. He thought he was making good time before, but with the Disara at his disposal, and Beedle flying beside him, they cleared miles of forest with ease.

  Still, the sun began its fiery dip to the west by the time Hal caught sight of familiar landmarks. The high ridge that swept down from the towering mountain at the heart of the Shiverglades was just visible on his right through the cover of the trees.

  An hour more at most, he reckoned.

  The shadows of the Shiverglades had grown long. So much of his MP had regenerated that he used Assimilation to fully recover his SP. His wounds - minor as they were - were knit by the time he could hear the distant din of combat.

  His heart fell.

  It wasn’t even dark yet, and the sound from the fighting within the gap flooded out into the forest to the south. Dark bats circled overhead as he broke off toward the north before the entrance to the Settlement. He would never make it through if they had trapped it properly.

  And besides, it sounded like there was an entire army doing battle there. He needed high ground and to reach out to the keinse. He hoped nothing had happened to Noth, or else nobody would be able to relay his message.

  Throughout his journey, he didn’t see a single keinse. Not that he had expected to, in fact, he hoped that Noth trusted him to be able to return.

  At least there were no search parties. He felt bad enough about being late, but if he caused people to be out in harm’s way….

  Hal shook the dark thoughts from his head and lifted his head to shout at the keinse circling above. It would just be his luck that he managed to return in time for the battle - if a little late - only to be shot with an arrow, or worse because he looked like a monster atop the Disara’s back.

  Just to be safe he folded his wings behind his back. He wasn’t about to dismiss them entirely, not when an errant mistake would send him tumbling off the Disara’s back.

  “It’s the Hal!” cried one of the keinse.

  “I need you to get a message to Noth, can you do that?” Hal asked. He guided the Disara up the steep mountainside.

  Its mighty claws dug deep into the hard stone as if it were putty. Footholds that even a mountain goat would stru
ggle with were no match for the Disara’s six powerful legs.

  Even with Hal astride it, the beast moved with supernatural alacrity.

  “Yeah, yeah, we can do that easy bossman! We’re doing recon, eyes in the sky!” the keinse replied.

  “Cool and breezy tonight!” another keinse cried out.

  Which, of course, meant that a good dozen other keinse voices joined in the chorus. They commented on the weather, the blazing sun to the west, and almost as an afterthought on the hordes of monsters below in the gap.

  Getting a message through the keinse was a chore at the best of times, but distracted as they were it was nightmarish.

  Despite the sheer rise of the mountain and the hundreds of feet he had to climb on Disaraback, they had only just delivered his message to Noth by the time he crested the rise.

  The scene before him stole his breath away.

  A writhing mass of monsters filled the gap below. Like a black tide, they surged through the wide expanse and broke against the distant shore of the wall they had thankfully finished.

  From up high, he could make out a flurry of activity atop the wall, but he couldn’t see who was who. Hastily constructed crenelations, little more than piled stones, offered a measure of defense against the creatures below that spat out various projectiles.

  Already, the gap was littered with bodies of fallen monsters. But those that came on just moved over them. Traps sprang up with malicious intent, felling whole swaths of monsters at once, but it wasn’t enough.

  Each body that was laid low provided safe passage over the traps below it. Soon enough, the gap would be so filled with monster corpses that their traps would be rendered ineffective.

  “Dark Lady says go north, she will meet you on top of the pair of pets,” a keinse said cheerily.

  “She said pair-a-pet. A parapet!” another keinse corrected the first.