Beastborne

by James T Callum

  At least not in the way anybody would accept, she thought sourly.

  The gasp from Elora made Ashera look up from the dirt. Her beautiful features twisted into horror and sympathy. Ashera let out a mournful sigh. “It would be best that I tell everybody sooner rather than later.”

  It would seem Hal was right. She smiled ruefully and continued preparing their meal, cutting up the forearm-sized [Dura Carrots] and dicing the [Muffalo Steak] she had in her Inventory. This meal needed to be something special so she also took out a few sprigs of [Flavormint] and some [Silversalt].

  Elora stayed close by, lending what support she could to Ashera. Mira, in a rare bout of tenderness, washed the few cuts and scrapes from Hal’s face. For just a moment there was a real moment of affection as the usually flippant Dragoon studied Hal’s sleeping features.

  Then she caught Ashera looking and immediately dropped Hal’s head to the soft ground and scooted away from him, mumbling about something the lamora couldn’t hear.

  When everything was prepared and the meal was nearly done, Ashera looked up at each of them. “You probably are all wondering why Hal did more healing than I did,” she said without preamble.

  “The thought crossed my mind once or twice,” Angram agreed.

  “I figured you were letting him flex on you so he could feel like a big boy,” Mira added.

  Undeterred, Ashera continued, “I am no longer able to heal. I knew this day would eventually come, but admittedly I did not think it would be so soon. By siding with Hal and openly – knowingly – betraying Rinbast’s interests, I have lost all access to the Covenant I was part of and that includes my Sin Keeper Class.”

  There, it was out in the wild now.

  8

  For a while everybody was silent.

  “What do you mean you lost it? You can’t just misplace something like that!” Mira cried.

  Elora gave the elf a deadpan look. She turned and placed a hand on Ashera’s knee. “We’ll help you get through this,” she said, turning back toward Angram and Mira. “Won’t we.” Her forceful words brooked no disagreement.

  Ashera had to admit, the bobbing heads of both Angram and Mira – two very headstrong elves – was a comical sight to behold.

  “Well,” Mira said, poking the fire with a stick as she stared into the flames. “Do you have any other useful skills?” Angram slapped her shoulder. “Hey! I’m just being realistic.” She looked up at Ashera but couldn’t hold her gaze. “I meant nothin’ by it. Only, shirt’s dangerous out here y’know?”

  In a very short time, Mira had endeared herself to Ashera. She was a brash one and often spoke her mind.

  Not too dissimilar to a certain Ranger she knew. The difference was Mira was almost childlike in her outbursts. They were adorable and though they were sometimes crude or rough, Ashera could tell they came from a good place.

  A place she doubted many others bothered to notice considering the Dragoon’s lack of Guild – aside from the Adventurer’s Guild and that didn’t count – or party when they first met. For a Fabled Class like Dragoon to be out on their own, she must have ruffled a lot of feathers.

  “None that make me suitable as a party member,” Ashera answered. She would have to get used to being sidelined. Even if Hal objected, she would need to be firm. They couldn’t risk bringing somebody whose contribution would be as low as hers.

  “I would make an excellent camp attendant, however,” she pointed out. “I am skilled in organization, cooking, preparing, and cleaning. It would give me some time to work on my Alchemy as well. While I cannot directly heal, I could make a store of [Health Potions] that would be of some use.”

  Mira blinked and narrowed her eyes at her. “Seriously, you don’t have any other battle Classes?”

  Ashera shook her head and was hardly surprised when she received a notification.

  Your Deception has risen to Level 57.

  +1% Deception success (+57%).

  +0.5% Deception awareness (+28.5%).

  -0.5% Reputation loss (-28.5%).

  Her upbringing had been… very different. The fact that she had Sin Keeper at all was a remarkable deviation from where her life had been going.

  A life of servitude, submission, and vile deeds that she would take with her to the grave.

  Attendant would help greatly with Alchemy and Cooking but Occultist was practically useless because she would not venture down that dark road again.

  And none of them would help her friends in battle. A deep unsettling fear laid upon her shoulders, bowing them. She would have to stay at camp, worrying over her friends. And if somebody was hurt there was nothing she could do.

  “We can find a space for her,” Elora objected. “After all, we put up with Hal!” For added emphasis, she motioned to his sleeping body. The only member of the group that already knew of Ashera’s debilitation, not that Ashera would betray him by letting that slip.

  Elora would have a stroke if she learned that Hal knew before her.

  “Yes, and we did so because he could grow stronger,” Ashera reminded her. “As a Founder, we could help him shape who he wanted to be. We still can help him to become the man he wants to be. How rare an opportunity we were given, to shape a future leader without any limitations placed on him as they were on each of us?

  “How many of us had already taken at least one Class if not two by the time we either decided or found what we wanted to be? Sure, we could take the onerous EXP penalty by taking a fourth Class but who in their right mind did that except as a last resort?”

  A last resort that Ashera was deeply considering, despite the severe EXP penalty.

  The pit in her stomach began to twist itself in knots. She tried to calm her breathing, letting the anxiety and fear wash over and through her.

  This will pass, she reminded herself. This is not the time to break down, Ashera. Let it pass.

  Breath by breath, the weight on her shoulders eased and she fell into a meditative calm. She could still feel her emotions swirling around her in a tumultuous mix of anxiety, depression, anger, and fear but they were apart from her now.

  In her mind’s eye, Ashera stood in the eye of a raging storm. Both aware of the seething emotions whipping about her and removed from them at once.

  If Sin Keeper wasn’t erased from her Classes and still counted as her third, that meant she would grow very slowly but at least she wouldn’t languish forever back at camp or the Sanctum once it was made.

  “It is different,” Ashera said more forcefully. “I am not a Founder. Even if Hal did not gain in strength at such an alarming rate, protecting him had its use. If I die - do not give me that face, Elora death is a constant companion to us all - then I am one soul that is gone. If Hal dies, our dreams of freedom, of a Sanctum built on something other than fear and control is gone. It is different.”

  Angram shrugged his shoulders. “Doesn’t mean we won’t help you get back on your feet. You don’t have to come with us on every hunt or to go investigate everything we find. But even without your Class, you swing one mean hammer. Did you see the way that one bird turned into a cloud of gore? By the way, you still have a bit of blood on your… everywhere.”

  Ashera stirred the stew and tried not to fall prey to Angram’s teasing charms. One cracked smile, one laugh, and the man would be incorrigible. From then on it’d be his life’s goal to make you laugh again, only harder than last time.

  She’d seen it time and time again over the years she’d known the ruby-eyed elf. But it was more than that. She feared if she let any emotion in, the rest would come crashing through.

  And that, she couldn’t allow to happen. Not out here.

  “I’ll be sure to take a bath at the first bathhouse we find,” she replied. Parts of her armor was a mess, but she had cleaned most of it up before preparing their food. The last thing anybody needed was contaminated food.

  “Speaking of being naked,” Mira said. “What’re we going to tell Hal when he wakes up? You know
he’s going to try to put on his big boy leader pants and try to find a replacement for you. Should we keep everything under wraps? Don’t look at me like that! I meant temporarily until Elora’s Quest is over. Jeez.”

  “I’ll tell him,” Ashera said before anybody could offer. “He deserves to know. I believe he will see reason. We are just as likely to be attacked – more so probably – going back to the caravan just for you all to come back out again. Don’t give me that look, Elora. Nobody here is going to let you abandon your Quest.”

  In truth, Ashera was pretty sure Hal was going to fight her tooth and nail about leaving her behind. Despite it being the proper thing to do. The right thing. But Hal, in her eyes, thought himself a better leader than he actually was.

  Not that she held it against him.

  He was yet green and new to the role. But Ashera could see where he was trying to tread new ground for the sake of being different. There was a reason the Cook did not travel with an adventuring party in most companies.

  The mistakes he made were small things. Each was a heartfelt gesture of goodwill. The problem was, he needed to think less kind-heartedly about the way he managed his people.

  There would come a time when doing the kind thing and the right thing would be at odds. She didn’t want to see him torn apart as he tried to reconcile the two.

  Nor did she want to mold him into some overly rational leader who only looked at what the cold hard facts told him. It was a hard line to walk, she nudged him where she could but let him stumble and make his mistakes when he might learn from them.

  I need to have a talk with Durvin, she thought to herself as she finished stirring the stew and declared it finished.

  Aside from herself, Durvin was one of the few unofficial advisors that Hal routinely went to for advice. It was clear Hal looked up to the surly bronze-bearded Dwarf but what worked for dwarves did not work for every race.

  There was a measure of loyalty and bonding that Hal would not have if he intended to keep an open and free society. So many different races and ideologies under one banner would create untold amounts of friction.

  Each group would have their own desires and designs, many of them against what Hal wanted and many more against the overall good of the people.

  Dwarves would pledge undying loyalty. They would even form Shieldguards in dire circumstances, sacrificing their lives to slow and wound an advancing enemy so that the others might make a clean retreat.

  It prevented a slaughter but that was the dwarven way. It was simply understood you would give your life for another dwarf and vice versa.

  Most races – particularly interracial relationships – did not operate that way.

  If Hal continued to think peace and happiness could be found for every solution he was in for a rude wakeup call. He needed to be prepared for that inevitability before it happened.

  Once everybody was served and Ashera had her own piping hot bowl of [Ashera’s Splendid Endurastew], she ladled out another bowl for Hal. While they ate in relative silence, Ashera took out a small capsule from her Inventory and set her bowl down.

  She took the [Reviving Salts] in her palm and moved around the fire to where Hal rested. Cradling his head, she crushed the capsule in her palm and lifted it up to his nose. The faintly glittering powder rushed into his nose on his next breath.

  Unlike other alchemical concoctions that were meant to create a violent reaction immediately, [Reviving Salts] caused a gradual return to one’s senses. She had hoped to avoid using it as even this mild medicine had some minor side effects.

  But since he hadn’t woken up in over an hour, she decided it would be best to wake him up. Normally, she would have simply healed him or if he was afflicted by something – though if he was, she couldn’t tell what – cure the status effect.

  This is my new life, she reminded herself. Resorting to alchemical tricks and concoctions instead of actual magic. She just wanted to help and protect her friends.

  Was that so much to ask? This couldn’t be the end of her tale. There had to be a way she could be useful to her friends without giving up her soul.

  Hal slowly came to, his brown eyes opened incrementally. Ashera smiled down at him but then realized from his expression that she probably missed some of the Corvid gore. Perhaps Angram hadn’t idly teased her.

  She reached over to the bowl she had prepared for him and pressed it into his hands. “Here, you need to eat and drink something. The medicine I used to wake you gives terrible dry mouth.”

  9

  Ashera wasn’t kidding. When Hal swallowed, it sounded like he just poured milk all over a bowl of rice crispies.

  He took out his canteen from his Inventory and downed it while holding onto the bowl Ashera gave him. The relief was deep and satisfying. It took him more than a minute of constant chugging to relieve the worst dry mouth he had ever experienced in his life.

  Most of them had already eaten by the time Hal started his meal. Mira, Angram, and Elora went out to make sure there would be no more surprises, leaving Ashera alone with Hal at the campfire.

  You eat [Ashera’s Splendid Endurastew].

  +25% SP | +25% MP | +25% HP.

  +15% Damage.

  +10% SP Regen | +10% MP Regen | +10% HP Regen.

  +10% Movement Speed | +15 Ice Resist.

  You gain the effect of Camping.

  +325% HP Regeneration.

  +325% SP Regeneration.

  +325% MP Regeneration.

  +250% Healing effects.

  Duration: While Camping.

  “You told them?” Hal asked. Usually, around a campfire, the group was fairly talkative. When he came to, the quiet was the first thing that struck him as odd.

  It wasn’t hard to guess the reason.

  “I did.” Ashera didn’t meet his gaze. She looked miserable.

  “How’d they take it?”

  “About as well as I could have hoped.” She bit her lip so hard Hal was surprised it didn’t start bleeding. Still, she wouldn’t meet his eyes.

  “Well, what’re you going to do?” he prompted.

  Her shrug was almost imperceptible, as if she lacked the strength to do that simple action of dismissal.

  Hal didn’t press her any further. He didn’t know her process for dealing with something like this and it was a touchy subject besides.

  Ashera had stayed by his side when he was weaker than a child. They all had. He wasn’t about to relegate her to a life where she stayed behind when everybody else went out to explore the world.

  He couldn’t forget the deep, earnest happiness he’d seen on her face as she saw more of the world than she ever thought possible.

  Whether she admitted it or not, she had the heart of an explorer. How cruel would it be to push her to the side and deny her that just because she was weaker now?

  “That was delicious, Ashera,” Hal said holding up the empty bowl.

  “Thank you,” came the automatic reply.

  The next few hours were much the same. The pall of Ashera’s plight cast a spell of silence over the entire party. So it was in utter silence that the five companions made it to the pebbled beach of the strange heart-shaped lake.

  There was a small, half-sunken island in the middle of the lake with the skeletal ruins of some stone archways and dangerously listing six-foot-high walls. A few well-worn pillars stuck out like broken bones from the water.

  “This it?” Angram asked, turning to Elora.

  She nodded and took a step deeper onto the pebbled beach, the water lapped gently at the stones and over her boots. As she took another step, an ancient slab of marble rose out of the water and greeted her boot.

  Elora only paused a moment to consider the strangeness of it before continuing on. Blocks of slick marble rose out of the water to keep her a few inches above the water’s surface at all times.

  Hal was about to follow her across but the marble blocks sank back into the dark water before he even took his first step. “Guess we�
�ll wait here,” Hal said.

  More than a dozen feet out onto the lake, Elora looked over her shoulder at them. Her blue-gray eyes found Ashera’s, a meaningful look passed between them.

  Hal could only guess at its meaning but when Elora turned back to the island her stride was sure and filled with purpose.

  Ashera held her head a little higher as she watched Elora cross the lake.

  Hal half expected the woods to burst forth with bloodthirsty creatures, but they stayed silent after the genocide of the corrupted Corvids. He shut his eyes and sent his senses out as far as they would go.

  The higher his Monster Attunement was, the more he could discern about that type of creature. Though aberrations made his skin crawl, he was the most attuned to them by a cruel twist of fate. The glut of essence he gained from that last stunt pushed him up over 400%. And now he had 2 points to spend, entrenching himself even deeper.

  Even without using Splice to tap into their essence, if he focused he could tell if they were around.

  There was nothing.

  Angram and Ashera both seemed relatively relaxed as well. Mira sat on the ground cross-legged with her shiny new halberd laid across her knees. Hal sat down beside her without a word. She looked over once before falling back into whatever she was doing.

  Like Hal, she probably had some Inventory organization to do. The fight with the Corvids had awarded them all quite a lot of strange items. Despite a deliberate attempt to keep his Inventory as open as possible, Hal was already under 10 free spaces again.

  While on the road, he had talked to Buffrix and the other koblins but none of them were able to add more slots than his max of 45 to his [Kobbiebag], the expanded-space bag that made handling his Inventory so much easier. It was the best part of being on Aldim.

  The Inventory system of Aldim was tied with its stat system in his mind. Being able to wield actual magic was a close second. But there was simply no comparison to being able to stuff 500 pounds into a small sack and walk about as if it didn’t matter.