by Aaron Oster
“Well, Ferry is going through the same thing,” Geon said. “As a Beast, it’ll be even harder for her to control her impulses, especially around you.”
“But I thought that Beasts and humans…”
“But you’re not entirely human, are you?” Geon said, cutting him off. “You are half Beast, though I don’t know why I didn’t see it until now.”
“Um, maybe because I don’t resemble a Beast in the slightest?” Roy replied.
“Regardless of how your meat bag body works,” Geon said, “Ferry now finds you irresistible. She loves you, and all of those new hormones flooding her body will make her act a little crazy.”
“Ow! Ferry, what the hell?”
Roy whirled to see Aika flat on her back, with Ferry’s face just inches from her own. She was growling, her fingers clamped around Aika’s throat.
“Okay,” Geon amended as Roy scrambled to his feet. “A lot crazy.”
“Ferry let her go,” Roy said, rushing over to them.
“But Aika is trying to keep me from you,” Ferry said, looking up at him with her large eyes.
“No one is trying to keep anyone from anyone,” Roy said, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently pulling her away.
He looked to Aika and mouthed the word ‘later’ at her as he guided Ferry away. He was not cut out for this.
“But Aika doesn’t let me touch you,” Ferry said, glowering back over her shoulder. “I don’t like her scent anymore.”
“You can’t be mad at her because of something so petty,” Roy said. “And Aika doesn’t get to decide if you can touch me or not. I do.”
“This conversation is turning very weird, very fast,” Geon commented as Roy felt his face go red.
“You don’t want me to touch you anymore?” Ferry asked, her eyes going wide.
“No, that’s not what I…” Roy began.
“Great!” Ferry said, her lips pulling into a wide smile.
She proceeded to seize him then, pulling him into a crushing embrace and all but smothering him.
“Ferry, you need to stop,” Roy said, trying to push her back.
“No,” Ferry said. “Roy said I could touch him, and I’m not letting go.”
Growling, Roy shoved back from her, breaking her grip. But when Ferry tried to follow, Roy held both his hands before him.
“No,” he said. “You need to learn some boundaries, Ferry, and until you do, there’s no more touching.”
Ferry stared at him, her eyes wide and bottom lip beginning to quiver.
“Roy doesn’t love me anymore?” she asked as fat tears began rolling down her cheeks.
“No, that wasn’t what I —”
Ferry whirled before he could finish, streaking off into the darkness beyond the barrier. The last thing he heard before she vanished was a choked-off sob.
“She just needs a little time to calm down,” Geon said as Roy sighed. “Growing up is never easy, especially for Beasts who choose the path she has.”
“Are you alright?” Aika asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Fine,” Roy said, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “I think I’m just gonna go get some sleep. It’s been a long day.”
He didn’t turn to look at her as he walked to the far side of the treehouse, ignoring the fact that there was a hateful man in there, and closed his eyes. His mother’s curse would prevent Mordio from attacking him in any way, so he wasn’t worried about being killed in his sleep.
But no matter how hard he tried, sleep would not come for hours yet. His world was changing, and the people in his life along with it. No matter how he wished that Ferry had simply chosen to remain a Beast at Green-Belt, she had not.
Life was ever-changing. If it weren’t, he’d still be where he was a year ago, tormented by the Shah.
He just hoped that whatever was going on with Ferry would only be temporary and that things would return to normal soon.
23
The following morning, Ferry had still not come back, though Geon assured him she was fine.
“What do we do about the Dungeon then?” Roy asked.
“She can’t go in there anyway,” Geon said. “Remember what I said about Beasts who were previously part of a Dungeon? As soon as the Core senses her, it will send everything it has against us, and it’ll make a hard challenge all but impossible.”
“So, what should I do? Just leave her behind again? You know she’ll be devastated by that.”
“She’s embarrassed after what happened last night,” Geon replied. “She can’t bear facing you right now. I’ll tell her to stay here, where the Essence is strong, to train while you and Aika challenge the Dungeon.”
“Will she be okay with that?” Roy asked.
“Probably not. But at least she’ll know where you are and won’t have to face you until you come out,” Geon replied. “Stop talking to me now. Reaching her where she is is difficult enough without you interrupting.”
Roy rolled his eyes, then concentrated outward on Aika as she approached, looking a bit haggard and worried.
“Ferry?”
“Going to stay out here and train,” Roy replied. “Geon says her advancement pushed her into her teenage years, and she’s experiencing what that’s like for the first time.”
Aika winced as understanding dawned on her.
“She loved you before but didn’t realize just how much. And now that we know your mother was likely a Beast…”
“Yeah,” Roy said, standing up and stretching. “It’s a problem. Hopefully, one that she can work out by the time we leave the Dungeon.”
“How do you feel about her?” Aika asked.
“I’d say like a much younger sister, but that would be wrong, considering how she’s changed. I don’t really know how I feel about her now that she’s grown up so much. In my mind, she’s still a little girl, but the way she acted last night tells me otherwise.”
He sighed, fighting off the previous night’s headache that tried to resurface.
“I’ve never had a family of my own, and I’d have to say that she’s the closest thing to family I can imagine. I do love her. I want her to be happy. But I don’t want her to see me differently than she did before.”
“But that’s not your choice to make,” Aika said. “People feel how they feel, and no one can change that.”
“It’s too early for this conversation,” Roy replied. “Let’s just talk about something else. Like how we’ll handle the murderous Beasts inside a Dungeon that Geon rates for mid to high-Dan Purple-Belts.”
“Very carefully, I’d imagine,” Aika said, giving him a small smile. “We haven’t had any serious training since we came here, and I think we’ve both stagnated a bit. You told me of what happened in your time as a captive, but what have you done to advance your techniques since then?”
Roy groaned out loud, throwing his hands in the air and shaking them ineffectually at the sky, as though it were somehow its fault. He had a path to follow, a goal to accomplish. While he had been through a lot, the world was still much the same. The powerful ruled and the weak were trodden underfoot.
His Ideal, what gave him his drive to keep going, was to free the oppressed. He’d done that with the Shah, but that wasn’t enough. He had to do more, and to do that, he needed to be stronger than anyone who would get in his way.
“Breakfast?” Aika asked, holding up a bit of dried meat.
“No better way to start the day,” Roy muttered, taking the small bit of meat and biting into it unenthusiastically.
The Dungeon was waiting, and now that their business in the Blackwood was concluded, Roy was free to explore and find the source of the odd crimson Qi, as well as see if his mother really was down there or not.
***
Herald Duncan’s feet gently touched down on the balcony of the main compound of the Inu Sovereign, Pelata. Marrie landed a moment later, Duncan removing his Essence from around her and allowing her to drop. Contrary to his advice,
Marrie had spent the week training instead of taking it easy, and he could sense that she was already nearing the 1st Dan.
This girl would not disappoint, of that he was sure, and once she and Leroy married, the future of the Herald clan would be all but guaranteed. He just hoped that wherever he was, the Core that Azure had taken from him wouldn’t end up back in Leroy’s hands. Who knew the kind of damage Roy could inflict if his old instincts returned?
It had cost his mother a vast amount of power to separate him from that Core, and he could hardly imagine what his son would be able to do if his rapid growth started up once again. Because, while he had told the other Sovereigns most of the story, there was a small detail he’d kept to himself, one that would have made them think very differently of his son if they had.
“Herald Duncan, welcome to the Inu clan.”
Duncan looked up as a young woman with a Purple-Belt tied at her waist walked through the double doors and onto the balcony.
“I am Inu Amber, and I have been sent to escort you and your…?”
“Daughter,” Duncan said without preamble.
“Daughter,” Amber continued smoothly, “to your chambers.”
“Who else has shown up?” Duncan asked.
Like the other Sovereigns, he kept a tight leash on his Core almost all the time, so it would be impossible to tell who was here unless they decided to remove their veils. Which, given the circumstances, wasn’t likely.
“Both Sovereigns from the Itachi clan have joined us. Sovereign Hermit arrived just yesterday along with the remains of the Sanshoo clan.”
“Remains?” Duncan asked, his voice not betraying a hint of anything.
“I’m afraid I don’t know many details,” Amber said. “But from what I understand, the Sanshoo clan was all but wiped out. Their Sovereign, Greta, was killed in a fight with an enemy Sovereign, and her son, Kumo, is now in charge of the remainder. Though, if my understanding is correct, he himself isn’t a Sovereign just yet.”
She knows quite a lot for someone who’s supposedly an escort, Duncan thought.
“Who are you really?” he asked as they reached a set of doors.
“Oh, poo, figured it out, did you?” the woman asked. “What gave it away?”
“You’re too well-informed,” Duncan replied. “Might want to play it a bit dumber next time.”
The woman shrugged, and her Belt abruptly changed, a brilliant white light traveling across its surface as it changed from Purple to Gray, with six slashes of Black appearing on one end.
“You’re the Sovereign of Flashing Bloom,” Duncan said, finally recognizing the name.
“Makura Amber in the flesh,” the woman said, flashing him a dazzling smile.
“Last I heard, you’d left the continent,” Duncan said.
“And last I heard, you didn’t have any children,” she replied, peering around him to look at Marrie. “Though this one looks very little like you. Does she take after her mother?”
“Adopted daughter,” Duncan said.
As most of the unaffiliated Sovereigns went, Duncan had no idea what the woman wanted. He’d never met her before, but he had heard of her. It was no wonder he hadn’t immediately put the pieces together when they’d first met.
“Well, she’s lovely either way,” Amber said, making Marrie blush. “Anyway, we’ve still got a few days before the others arrive. From what I hear, the head of the Sora clan should be showing up today as well.”
“Lovely,” Duncan deadpanned. “Why don’t you go prepare a little welcome for her instead of pestering me? Perhaps this time, you can keep your little ruse going for longer.”
Amber let out a giggle, then floated up and patted him on the head.
“You’re pretty grouchy for such a handsome guy. Maybe if you smiled a bit, you might make some friends.”
She drifted off down the hallway after that, still giggling and snorting to herself.
Marrie was honestly shocked that anyone, even a Sovereign, would dare pull something like that with Duncan. As far as she knew, he was the most powerful one among them. But, instead of being annoyed, Duncan just shrugged it off, entering the room.
“Come along. You’re going to have to stick close to me while we’re here, just in case someone decides to try and take out a future leader of my clan.”
Marrie jumped, then rushed to follow him, not liking the idea of dying in Inu territory. She still resented them for the year of slavery and harsh fighting and wouldn’t be forgiving that anytime soon. Still, for the time being, she wasn’t strong enough to get her payback. One day, though, she’d have her revenge. For now, she’d stick close to Duncan as commanded.
The rooms were nice, though nothing Duncan hadn’t seen before. He was less keen on the idea of relaxing and keener on finding out what he could about the destruction of the Sanshoo clan. He’d been led to believe that the Ancient Cavern Beast was still rising, not that it had already risen and was destroying clans.
The fact that a Sovereign, one of the most powerful Martial Artists on the continent, had already fallen was not a good sign of things to come. If it were true – and he didn’t doubt it was – then Duncan had a feeling that before this was over, many more of their number would perish.
Becoming a Scion right now would definitely help with their current predicament, but if he were to do that…
A loud crashing noise from behind made him whirl around, preparing for an attack. What he saw instead was Marrie, standing next to a pedestal, with a broken vase shattered at her feet. She looked at him guiltily, but he just shrugged.
“Just leave it. It’s not our problem.”
Marrie seemed to like that answer, and she took the time to shove the pedestal over as well, further crushing the broken pieces and assuring that the vase would be in such bad shape that it could never be fixed.
24
Roy stared through the darkness, squinting a bit as he focused on the swirling portal sitting at his feet. Considering he’d once needed to scale a wall that was thousands of feet high to find one, this Dungeon entrance was most underwhelming.
“Glad it was so easy to find,” Aika said, staring down at the swirling portal.
Now that he was this close, Roy could feel the pull, stronger than ever. The Dungeon wanted him to enter, but more than that, he could feel the crimson power calling to him, tantalizing and wild.
It was a bad idea, going in there, especially knowing how strong the creatures inside were likely to be. Additionally, they had no clue what type of Dungeon this was. They were basically going in blind.
Aika walked right up to the entrance and stepped in without so much as a word. Her body vanished in an instant, falling through the ground and into the Dungeon. Sighing, Roy followed, stepping onto the portal and falling through.
There was a brief rushing sensation, then the entire world seemed to reorient. The next thing Roy knew, he was lying on his stomach, feeling cold stone beneath him.
“Ugh, I feel sick,” Aika groaned from somewhere to his right. “I don’t think eating before coming here was such a good…” she trailed off, and retching sounds followed a moment later.
Though Roy did his best to hold in his breakfast, his stomach had other ideas, and hearing those sounds from Aika didn’t help.
“That. Sucked,” Roy said, wiping his lips as he got shakily to his feet.
Aika was sipping from a canteen, swishing the water around her mouth and spitting before answering.
“The entire world turned sideways. Of course it sucked,” she replied, taking another sip and holding the canteen out to him.
Roy took it gratefully, repeating Aika’s earlier motions to get rid of the acrid taste in his mouth.
“Well, that definitely explains it,” Roy said, pointing over his shoulder.
They were currently in a tunnel, the stone ceiling standing some eight feet tall. Behind Aika, it stretched away for about ten yards before turning abruptly, cutting off their view. Behind him, howe
ver, stood a portal, taking up the entirety of the tunnel space.
“So, we stepped down into the portal, and now, it’s sideways,” Roy said, trying not to think about that.
Instead, he decided to examine their surroundings a bit more while taking another sip from the canteen. The walls were spaced about fifteen feet apart, which was quite narrow, and, combined with the low ceiling, wouldn’t offer much maneuverability if it came to a fight. It was light enough, despite the lack of any discernable source, though not as bright as the outside, leaving them in a sort of perpetual twilight.
The air was thick with Essence, that much he could tell. Down here, there were only trace amounts of Wind, Light, and Darkness, with the brown of Earth being the most prevalent. He could sense no Beasts just yet, which, contrary to what most might think, didn’t make him feel any better.
“Are you getting anything?’ he asked Aika, knowing that her Spirit Sense was still far better than his own.
“Nothing at all,” she replied, looking equally worried.
It was strange. Outside the Dungeon, the feeling from the center of the Waterwood had grown stronger until they were standing right outside its entrance. Now that they were inside, he could sense nothing at all.
“Remember that Dungeons aren’t technically on Buryoku,” Geon said. “We’re on another world, so be on your guard. I don’t want your squishy body to cost me my life before I get my revenge.”
“Your concern for me is touching as always,” Roy deadpanned.
“I know. I’m far too good to you,” Geon said haughtily.
“Should we get moving?” Roy asked, gesturing for Aika to lead the way.
“Not like we can go anywhere but forward,” Aika said with a shrug, proceeding to walk.
Roy walked behind her, taking extra care to try and keep his senses sharpened as much as he could. This Dungeon was supposed to be dangerous, and he would be a fool to think that something wouldn’t be able to sneak up on them. His entire body tensed up when they reached the bend in the tunnel, but when they came around it, they only found another straight stretch some thirty yards long that once again turned sharply, cutting off their line of sight.