At some point Ina woke up, yawning, stretching, just like.. well, a person. Beasts were more intelligent than regular animals by significant margin, but he had never thought of her as a person. Now she was, not only a person, but a beautiful person. He sensed her thoughts over their bond. Her thoughts were, so.. human and yet still alien. She was a little confused, perhaps a little frightened, but mostly just happy with her new form. She cast several different healing spells on herself, drawing from Dem’s own spell repertoire! Their bond had advanced in some fundamental way. Using each other’s spells was something his first grimoire had only mentioned as a later development, and only speculatively. Bonds developed over time, and often took different directions based on need or how they were most often used. This could be useful in the future. It wasn’t likely Ina had too many spells that would help him, but he would definitely have lots of spells that could help her.

He took a peek at her over the grimoire propped up on his lap, but quickly dropped his gaze. She needed clothes! He would have figure that out, but only after he understood more of what was going on with the both of them. Even after reading the grimoire for a while, he still knew little. The grimoire mostly just gave him more information on some of his improved spells. Or at least that is what it had given him, until a short while ago, when he had a breakthrough. He had mumbled a question, more to himself out of frustration, and the grimoire had answered. It had answered. An intelligent spelled item, even one with very basic intelligence, was beyond anything he had ever learned about. It was possibly something of the core True Human Realm. Perhaps it was from some other place entirely?  

Getting over his shock quickly, he asked it a flurry of questions, but only received answers to a few, mostly related to the usage of his spells. After a series of further questions, he finally found one that the grimoire would answer that wasn’t related to basic spell information.

“Where did you come from? Who made you?”

No answer.

“Why are you here? What does your creator want?”

No answer.

“Why was I chosen?”

No answer.

“Did you heal Ina and I?”

He stopped, utterly still, as words began to form on the page.

Your physical state was altered to improve compatibility.

The physical state of your companion improved through your connection with her.

    What did any of this mean? He was ‘improved’. In what ways, other than obviously physical changes, was he ‘improved’? How had he somehow brought along Ina for this ‘improvement’? The grimoire was so utterly cryptic.

Actually, after thinking for a moment, the last part made more sense than he had initially thought. Generally, when the Beast, or its Tamer, advanced significantly, the bond boosted the other party sympathetically. He had grown stronger, and better able to survive in Wilds after Ina has ascended to a greater beast. This allowed him to surpass his natural abilities, and catch up to the abilities of the other youths of the hamlets. His peers spent most of their time improving their various Wilderness-related Paths through work and play. He could move as fast, nearly, as the fastest of them on branchtrails, and he could sense as well as the best young hunters. If he used spells that borrowed more strength from Ina, he could perhaps surpass most, if not all, of them for a short amount of time. Tamers, compared to many other combat Classes, were generally weaker on a personal basis. The borrowing of strength, the sympathetic improvement the Tamer experienced, only served to allow the Tamer to ‘keep-up’ with their beasts, but fundamentally the beast was the one who did the attacking, took the attacks, and did most of the work. To advance his Path, he had taken more risks than was necessary. Fights were something they had to do together, to sharpen their teamwork. This allowed him to make him greater strides in his Path, and use more spells, more often than most of his peers. It was his edge, and it had nearly cost him his life in the fight with the viper-wyrms.

Beast Tamers generally did not control their beasts through physical prowess, but rather through the personal allegiance a Bond Beast spell laid as a foundation in the mind of the beast. Of course, it was hard to bond an unwilling beast, and so many different methods were used to entice a beast to be ‘willing’. These methods differed greatly. Some methods, like with Ina, were based on growing up together or raising a beast from a pup, others used charm spells and mental manipulation, still others borrowed the power of combat classes to beat a beast into submission. Bonding beastfolk was where things got.. strange. It was also where most of the negativity about Tamers came from. Tamers were known to choose a very different option when bonding beastfolk, a more.. embarrassing option. His mind slid away from that topic.

He spoke quickly, “What improvements have you made to my companion and myself?” He could hear the anxiety in his own voice.

Your companion advanced in tandem with you. She had advanced recently, and so was unprepared for another advancement so soon. Her advance expressed itself differently as a result. She grew stronger, but in a different direction than her bloodline would normally dictate.

Your improvements were different and directed specifically at compatibility with the Class held within this grimoire. Your natural talents were inadequate for the Class, and so you were changed. Your potential was inadequate for the Class, and so it was increased. New spells were added to your mindscape. Your previous spells were upgraded in various ways bringing them in-line with the Class imparted to you.

He sucked in a breath. What Divinity-damned Wilds, was this? He was inadequate? He lacked potential? These were things he knew, but it was another thing to be told by a talking book. He had to admit, part of why he chased after his Tamer Class, wasn’t just to make things better for himself, but rather it set him apart. When the other youths embraced the Wilderness Paths, or apprenticeships if they were from the settlement, he worked hard to buy a Class for himself, to make something of himself. He tasted bitterness, just thinking about what he had sacrificed. He given up marrying, on friendships, on his own personal safety, all to attain that Class, and now it too was gone.

He sighed and asked the question that had been burning in the back of his mind. It was also a question he hadn’t yet asked because he was afraid of the answer. His future, his dreamed ambitions, rode on the answer to this question.

“What is this Class you’ve given me? What am I now?”

There was a pause, which had meant previously he was not going to get an answer. Just as his frustration was about to burst forth, the words finally materialized on the page.

Your Class will be revealed only after you have begun your new Path.

Was this a joke? What new Path? Paths were things you choose, they were not given to you. Was this the cost he had to pay? He had to change his entire approach to advancement to satisfy this new Class?

“What is my new Path?”

He waited, but no answer came

***

    At some point he simply had to move on mentally, and think about the immediate future. Figuring out the grimoire would wait. He spent the better part of a cycle here, surrounded by the carcasses of dead viper-wyrms, either passed out or in utter confusion. The ‘improved’ nature of his body had allowed his constitution to, not heal him entirely, but rather shrug off the effects of the venom. His healing spells worked much better now, both on Ina and himself. Ina had advanced, at the grimoire had put it, and therefore had no problem dealing with venom’s caustic effects. She also had access to seemingly all his spells and the ability to cast them, though when she did it felt like she was borrowing his own understanding of the spell to do so. He had a number of spells in his mind that he simply could not be cast though. He didn’t know what they did specifically, and the grimoire was cryptic. They didn’t come with labels or names. His Path, as it was currently, didn’t seem to empower them to work. He had tried to channel the power of his Path into them, but the little lights in his mind’s eye did not show any effect. He could only suppose whatever his new Path was would be what would make these new spells work.

    He prepared himself to leave area, stowing the grimoire away in his bag. There was a problem though, he was having difficulty leaving because he couldn’t look directly at Ina. She didn’t seem to care about her lack of clothing, which wasn’t surprising, as only less than a cycle ago she had no need for it. Still, despite his embarrassment, he took a couple long looks at her, redness creeping up his cheeks as he did so. Was it wrong to look at your own bonded beast naked?

She stood half a head shorter than him, her body covered with short fur, that looked even softer than her previous fur. The fur in certain ‘areas’, was shorter and paler, to the point where it became almost nonexistent. Her hair was a dark mane down her back, nearly reaching her posterior. She was curvaceous around the hips, but less so around the bust. Her legs had a jointed hock like a four-legged animal, but she seemed to have no trouble standing upright. Her arms were a bit longer than maybe they would be on the average human, but not strangely so. She could clearly still move on all fours quite easily should she need to. Her hands were something of a cross between a paw and a human hand. They were probably less dexterous than a human hand, but definitely stronger, with retractable claws. Her tails had grown back and she had a full seven tails now, though the secondary tails were thinner. She seemed to be able to hide them in the bushy, longer hair of her primary tail, when she wasn’t using them. He didn’t know if they literally disappear into her primary tail, or just entwined themselves in such a way they couldn’t be seen easily.

    Her face.. Her face was what reminded him she wasn’t human most of all. She still had the same rounded, arrow shape to her face, but with a shortened muzzle. Little fanged incisors stuck out when her face was at rest. Her eyes were huge and luminescent. Her concentric pupils shook him on some fundamental level. He was lost in them for a moment. This was another reason it was difficult to look directly at her. It was said, that many-tailed used their eyes to charm prey, especially during a night cycle. He had to be careful for so many reasons. Everything about her made him uncomfortable and, at the same time, drew him in.

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For the second time in the same cycle Dem found himself waking up from what he assumed would be death. Something about this was funny, but he couldn’t articulate what exactly. What he did know, was that this time, everything was different from the last time. He felt no despair, though again he had no idea why, but rather he felt confident, like he was waking from a long nap after winning a battle, or after he.. with a woman.. well, he hadn’t ever done that last thing, but he imagined that is how he felt now.

    He opened his eyes and began to take stock of his body, his wounds weren’t healed exactly, but he had stabilized, almost as if he had naturally healed for a week. He was still in pain, but it was a dulled pain. He felt for Ina, and could sense her nearby. She was sleeping and her vitals too had stabilized, she was in no danger of dying at least.

    Like lightning, a thought struck out from his most recent memory, the Divine-damned grimoire! It had fallen to his side, its cover closed. What had it done to him? Obviously, he should be grateful, but such things didn’t happen, not even in myths and legends the Church told. This was too far-fetched. Too much for him. Why him? Why now? Who had done this? Why hadn’t any beasts shown up to eat them while they were unconscious?

His mind spiraled through possibility, after possibility, always asking himself, why? What? Who? Despite the feeling of confidence he woke with, a particularly terrifying thought broke through his haze. What did they want from him? What would he have to do to repay this favor? Of course, he had no idea who ‘they’ were, or even if there was a ‘they’, but such favors did not come for free. No one he had ever met had gotten anything so wonderful without there being a cost or strings attached. His confusion and trepidation grew by the moment

Just as he was seemingly about to go mad, or explode, his mind reviewed the nature of his bond with Ina, something he did unconsciously fairly often. He realized something was very different about their bond. The bond was better, wider in some way he couldn’t describe, but what caught this attention most was what he was receiving from Ina. She was asleep, dreaming deeply. To his knowledge, she had never had really vivid dreams, dreams of good kills, of eating until she was full, but nothing like what she was dreaming right now. In the dream she was a person, fighting back-to-back with him, speaking to him and coordinating with him. Shouting her victory as they dominated some shadowy enemy. What kind of dream was that for a giant gluttonous furball with too many tails?

Then Dem looked in her direction for the first time since he woke up, and faltered, his mouth dropping open, his eyes wide. What had happened to her? Was this even Ina? She had ascended, but not into the realm of the calamity beast, but rather had transformed into living, breathing, beastwoman. Her back was turned to him, and she was sleeping soundly on her side, but he could see the curve of her hip, the gentle, regular raising of her chest, a dark mane of hair, and the swell of her br… his mind went blank again. Blood rushed to his face.

He shook his head, trying to calm himself. Was he a child again, getting his first peek at girl undressing in the forest? He needed to get his mind on track and figure what had happened. Ina, seemed fine, more than fine really. He had never heard of a vupler beastwoman form, it was possible, should a many-tailed gain enough sentience, and wish to start a tribe, it might take such a form. Generally, a beast needed to ascend past the level of a elder greater beast, and become a calamity beast, to take a beastfolk form, but even then they might need many rotations or sequences to gain the focus needed to transform.

Beastfolk tribes were terrifying, they came to trade with human settlements occasionally, but just as often they might attack. Each tribe member would be the offspring or blood relative of some central ancestor beast, giving them a powerful bloodline and allowing them to maintain a humanoid form as a greater, or even a lesser, beast. This meant they were more intelligent, and more difficult to deal with. The advantage to these humanoid forms wasn’t just increased intelligence, humanoid beasts could take on Classes, use human spell templates, and use human items.

Dem had once asked Caius why powerful calamity beasts would want to start a tribe, but the Priest had laughed a little at him, and said one word. “Politics.” It took Dem a while to understand what Caius had meant. Dem had to look up the word, it wasn’t something he would have any business knowing. He learned that what Caius was talking about was power, no the power to cast spells, but the power to move and organizes people. With this new understanding, Dem could form a guess. He guessed that calamity beasts, with a tribe backing them, were more than just a powerful beast, but they were regional power as well. They could influence human settlements, and other tribes of beastfolk, with less risk to themselves personally. A powerful adventurer party might attack a lone calamity beast, but they would falter in the face an entire of tribe of Classed humanoid beasts.

Dem had only seen beastfolk on a handful of occasions when they had come to the settlement to trade. The settlement wouldn’t let them inside the walls, but it would let them set up trading tents outside its doors. He had heard that, depending on the strength of the tribe, some settlements would be just as likely to capture or kill such beastfolk as trade with them. In the settlements, as in the Wilds, everything depended on your personal power and the power of your backing.

A greater beast didn’t suddenly turn into a beastwoman, especially a greater beast who had only recently ascended, and so Ina’s current form was nearly as absurd as a grimoire falling from the sky. It had to be the grimoire, there was nothing else that would even be a possibility. He was hesitant to even touch it again. Instead, he first went through a checklist of his mental and physical state. He wondered what had been done to his Class. It was very possible that he would have nothing more than a series of damaged spell templates in his mind. As he reviewed his condition everything seemed normal, or perhaps a little better than normal, until he reached his mental list of spells and cantrips. He was again stunned at what he found.

Everything was there, all his spells, his cantrips. Some of the spell-templates his mind held, but he hadn’t worked through, seemed totally complete in his mind, like he could cast them without having practiced them. There were even spell templates in his mind he couldn’t identify. The grimoire hadn’t flushed out his previous Class, leaving it mostly intact, in fact it, it had improved many of his spells. His spells before were mostly low-tier ‘Minor’ spells, but these were at least mid-tier. He could feel the greater draw they required from his Path. The Divinity-damned grimoire had rewritten the spells held in his mind. How was that possible? What else had it done to him?

He stood up and experienced a bout of dizziness. After leaning against a nearby trunk for a moment, Dem realized his physical condition was different. He felt a little, just a little, taller, like he was standing up straight for the first time in rotations. His limbs were a bit longer as well. He felt around, and noticed his lean body had become more defined and maybe a bit more muscular. The changes were small. Only someone who really knew him might notice, but he could simply explain it away by saying he had been training harder. He wondered if his face hand changed, or if he had grown older, or something else equally as bizarre, but he had no mirror with him.

Looking again at the grimoire, he realized the only way to get his questions answered was to open it again and read the contents. The chances that a powerful grimoire would fall from the sky were nearly non-existent. The fact that this new Class, or whatever he had gained, was compatible with his previous Class made this situation not one of even remote probability, but rather something someone had to have been planned and executed. Perhaps by opening the grimoire, would he find out who his benefactor was, though simultaneously he knew that it might also tell him what all of this would cost him. His current paranoia was completely suppressing his previous sense of elation at living through his ordeal.

He edged closer to the grimoire, steeling himself against being knocked unconscious a third time, and flipped the cover open with his foot. He squeezed his eyes shut waiting for darkness, or a bright light to hit him, but after waiting a long moment, nothing happened. He peeked out of one eye, taking a look around, and then at the grimoire. He could see text begin to take form on the otherwise blank first page of the grimoire. His curiosity suddenly consumed him. Desperate to understand his situation, he rushed forward to read the text as it formed. He had always been weak to a good book.

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They developed a quick strategy over their bond and executed it. They moved together in a single direction, attacking and killing the young snake-beasts in their way, and broke out of the encirclement. The snake beast young had pursued them immediately with a swiftness the elder beast could not have matched. While fighting and killing as they went, eventually they were driven to exhaustion. As they began to slow down, they realized they needed to stop and make a last stand against the the last remaining six snake-beasts before they were too tired to put up a fight.

In the end, only Ina and he were left alive, though at a great cost. Initially, Dem thought them lucky, the snake beast younglings were smaller and weaker than the parent, their venom far less developed. Both Ina and he had taken multiple bites without immediate effect other than a wound, but eventually the venom built up in their systems. The caustic nature of the venom prevented their wounds from closing, even with the application of spells. He had cast everything at his disposal, but it wasn’t looking good.

Ina had the greatest burden of bites, taking several meant for him. She was covered in small wounds and had lost another two tails, worse yet his spells were not healing her. She would not live long at this rate, and judging by his own wounds he would join her soon after. Even if he was able to stabilize himself, it was still unlikely he would make it back to the settlement without Ina. He had done the scouting he wanted to do, and had even found a relatively defensible spot to camp for the party, but he had entered the territory of this the elder viper-wyrm in one last fit of curiosity.

There was no help for him out here. His only chance was to try one of the Class Spells he hadn’t yet practiced, but the chances were slim he would be able to cast any of them. It took an entire two rotations for him to learn the Class spells he currently knew, and another entire rotation to use Bond Beast well enough that it actually worked. The spell he was going to try was Minor Restoration, which had a more holistic healing effect, that might stabilize their conditions. Minor Heal Other was his only other Classed healing spell, but it was restricted to specific wounds, most of which wouldn’t close because of the venom. There were too many wounds to close them all with what he could draw from his Path anyway. He felt drained, the venom was working on him, just as it was working on Ina. Ina’s coat was a patchwork of bites and blood.

Dem centered his mind, ignoring the pain he felt over their bond, and tried to run through the Minor Restoration spell template left in his mind by the grimoire. He had to try, had to do something. He visualized the spell template in his mind, using the method taught by the grimoire. Different Classes visualized spell casting differently. His spells used a very basic method that looked liked a series of shining bright lights in his mind. Drawing from his Path, to power his spell, was like diverting a river of energy into those bright lights. If they all light up, in the right order, it meant you had at least a chance at casting the spell. However, it rarely worked the first time you tried.

The more he tried to get the spell to work, pushing his Path into the preset template, the less it made sense. Learning and trying a spell for the first time required total concentration and the best of circumstances, this was definitely not those circumstances. As he continued to try, he felt exhaustion take over. His mind lost focus, and he began to reflect on his imminent death. He could only blame himself, of course. He knew logically this was all his fault, his decision, but as bone-weariness set in, he felt anger at the injustice of his situation. He had gotten his Class, six rotations ago, and Ina had ascended just a scant two rotations ago! He had entered a new realm of strength and possibility with his Class and her ascension. He felt content for the first time! Why him? Why now? He wanted more!

Ina’s pain spiked through the bond as she fell into a heap, leaning against a tree trunk. Her vitals were looking worse and worse. Even if he could get this spell to work, it might not save her. His mind grinding to a halt considering that if he could get it to work, he would use it on himself and survive. If he could live, he would at least a chance to get back, even a remote one. He could tame another beast eventually even, though he would have to give up on the current job, which would harm his Path by breaking the contract, but it could be recovered from, even if it took many rotations. His mind grasped at survival selfishly, while Ina whined in pain. She thankfully, did not seem to understand his thoughts, her own pain taking up the entirety of her consciousness.

His panic pushed him to try to force the spell to be cast, but his mind could find no purchase as it grappled with the spell template. He felt his Intent weaken. Realization that his self-centered thoughts had restricted his ability to draw from his Path, dawned on him. The spell would never be complete with so little power. His despair was total and complete, tears drip down his face. He crawled over to Ina, trying to apologize, anger at his fate still in his heart.

    Then he felt something bash into the back of his head and his vision started to go dark. Several thoughts flashed through his mind at that last moment, he thought of the spell template, of Ina, and of his unwillingness to die. He deserved more. The world owed him more.

Then the world went dark and he thought of nothing.

***

    Dem woke up, the chronometer cantrip told him an eighth of a cycle had passed since he had been knocked out. Ina had fallen into a pained unresponsive sleep. The despair of his situation began to weigh on his mind as the surprise of still being alive wore off. He went back to trying the spell template. If he could cast it, he would use it on Ina first. The chances of him making it back were too slim to bet on, and Ina didn’t deserve any of this. It wasn’t her fault they were in this situation, it was his. Dem’s earlier anger had turned into regret. He loved Ina, as he loved himself. They had grown up together. It harmed his sense of self to even imagine life without her.

    He wondered briefly what had hit him. He kept his eyes closed, still trying to imagine the spell template in his mind, while his hand reached out, touching around him. After a brief moment, his fingers touched something hard with a smooth texture. His eyes snapped open, he knew this feeling, this was a book. Surprise echoed through his mind as he picked the object up and examined it.

He inadvertently spoke his surprise out loud, “What in the Divine Humanity is this? This.. this is a divine-damned Class grimoire.”

The grimoire was bound in hide, it was dark in color, and radiated a kind of power he hadn’t felt from the grimoire he used for his Tamer Class. It had no title. He felt a sense of unending strength from the book. Of all the possibilities, this was perhaps the least likely he could imagine. Grimoire didn’t grow on trees and they certainly didn’t fall from the sky.

He laughed out loud, what was the use of this thing now of all times? What good would this do him? He could tell this book was better than the mid-tier Class grimoires he had seen for sale in shops. The he shouldn’t have even been in such a shop with his meagre income, but he had been curious and took a look anyway. If he could actually sell this grimoire, without someone murdering him for it, he would be set for a lifetime. This was at least a high-tier grimoire, which meant it was worth more gold than he had ever seen. Sadly, anything truly valuable was taken from the weak, and so simply having this would be a death sentence. He had no way of hiding the aura of power it spread. An amusing thought struck him, he would likely die before even getting the chance to be killed for owning such an item.

    Despite the moment of black-mirth, despair set in further. He felt himself slide further down a mental hole. If his wounds didn’t kill him, then someone seeking the grimoire would. Shaking his head, trying to regain focus, he latched onto his thoughts about the absurdity of the grimoire.

    He considered opening it, and started to review everything he knew about grimoires. Opening a grimoire would invest a series of spell templates into the mind of the reader. Some of those templates could be conveyed right away, while others would take time. The person acquiring the Class would continually read the grimoire for a while, even after all the templates were transferred, because most Class Grimoires also contained insights from their creators. Grimoires could be reused, but reusing them required a knowledgeable Class Master to respell the grimoire with their insights and the power of their Path. Used grimoires could eventually be sold back to those that produced them, but for a tiny fraction of their original worth.

    Opening a grimoire, after already acquiring a class, would cause mental conflict if the two classes were not similar. The only way to advance some classes was by using a grimoire of an advanced version of that class, in his case a Beastmaster was an improved Beast Tamer. It was also possible to advance a Class by receiving direct instruction as an apprentice or student of a Class Master. A Class Master was a person who had mastered the aspects of a particular Class enough that they could forge their own spells for their Class.

Opening such a clearly powerful grimoire would likely harm him, and over-write his class. He would be whatever was in the book from then on, until either he found a more powerful Class, found a more powerful teacher, or died. The chances of the grimoire being anything compatible with a disfavored class like Tamer was astronomical. Beyond even the issue of compatibility, it was unlikely the new Class would save him. He wouldn’t be able to cast any of the Class spells right away. He would be, functionally, in the same situation he was in now, but with an equally useless, much fancier, Class.

He tried again and again with the spell template, but he was too exhausted, it slide out of his mind at every opportunity. The grimoire that had hit him only served as further distraction. His mind swung again towards the irrational, desperately seeking a path to survival. Maybe this grimoire was a gift from the Divine Humanity, or perhaps a gift from some ancient Class Master looking for a disciple? A feeling like greed filled his heart, as he held the grimoire closer. Its power seemed to radiate through him. This was the most expensive thing he had ever touched, what a waste it would be to just die with it unused. He imagined some other scout or adventurer like him, stumbling across the skeleton of a many-tailed and a human, finding an object of unimaginable value. Perhaps they would feel pity for the corpses on the ground who they would assume had probably died fighting over the object? That is, of course, if they felt anything at all for the fallen. Some adventurers cared for nothing but themselves and profit, they would not even bury his body. Why should he die without even trying? Why should he die so another could profit? He deserved more, demanded more, wanted more.

He had nothing to lose now. The spell template fallen to the wayside of his mind, as intrusive dreams of power played in his mind. He knew objectively, the situation or the grimoire, or both, were effecting his rationality, but again, what did it matter? He was dying, Ina was dying.

He checked on Ina one last time, his mind sending the most pleasant thought to her he could, while his hand gripped the small metallic latch that secured the grimoire. He worried it was spelled into a locked state, but the latch came free easily. Usually such books were locked so that not just anyone could absorb the templates within. As the latch came undone, it began to leak the sort presence only the strongest of adventurers and Classed individuals would exude. It seemed to drive him further, to urge him to make the book his own. To take its strength. To own it.

Finally, the book opened, and Demneh’s world went white, and once again he thought of nothing.

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Dem knew his Ma would be angry that he was leaving. So like every other time he left for a long trip, he simply didn’t tell her. He would not even stop at home. She would see the supplies he bought and know. So as he left the cleared area around the settlement he headed south, bypassing the trails that might have led near his home.

    His goal was to quickly survey the area his employers wanted to explore. He needed to find them a defensible camp site, and he needed to get a sense of what kind of greater beasts called the area home. He also needed to ensure he knew most of the major landmarks. He would be very busy. He could move faster than most parties, with the help of Ina, so he would have at least a few cycles to get the lay of the land before he had to head back to meet up with the party who purchased his services.

    This trip would still be less dangerous than staying out in the Wilds for a whole rotation, like he would with the Party that was hiring him, but it wouldn’t necessarily be easy either. He took a mental inventory of his belongings, making sure he had everything he needed. Once he was sure he had everything, his mind went through an exercise Caius had taught him to ensure every cantrip he knew could be smoothly cast. Cantrips were simple spells that could be powered with almost any Path. Just about everyone had access to at least a few cantrips. They cost little, in terms of the power drawn by one’s Path, and they took little time to cast. On the other hand, they were weak, had diminishing returns, and were mostly used for basic cycle-to-cycle needs. Simple cantrips like Minor Healing would heal scrapes and cuts, and staunch the bleeding from major wounds. Minor Stamina could allow you to work longer, perhaps two work cycles at a stretch, but would eventually force you to crash and sleep for a quarter cycle or more. With cantrips he could clean water, prevent disease, and even help find his way when lost. They were essential to the daily lives of those living in the hamlets, and everywhere in the True Human Realm.

He could cast nearly thirty different cantrips, most learned from Caius and Church texts, but some were fairly new and were a part of his Class. These cantrips were imparted directly to his mind from the pages of the Class grimoire he had purchased. Imparting a spell meant he ‘knew’ them, but didn’t necessarily mean he could cast them. Working his way through these cantrips had been his first task upon using the grimoire. Not only were these cantrips useful, and in some cases they improvements on the ones he had received from his education, but also they served as a basis for his Class spells. For instance, the Class cantrip, Understand Other, gave him brief glimpses into the mind of Ina, allowing them the ability to communicate even without the bond. Using the cantrip, what he had learned mostly was that she was hungry, but even that practice had helped him eventually cast his Class spell Bond Beast. He still needed time to fully comprehend, and therefore be able to use, all his Class spells, but he was well on his way. His favorite was Minor Borrow Strength, which gave him a portion of Ina’s physical attributes at a small cost to her stamina. Some Spells were more difficult than others to cast, but nearly every spell in the grimoire was low-tier. The most difficult spell, Bond Beast, was a mid-tier spell. Any grimoire that had a mid-tier spells was technically mid-tier grimoire. In reality, the grimoire be bought had been cheap and extremely low-end, but it had been all he could afford. He was lucky it was even available. He secretly suspected Greer had ordered the grimoire, specifically for him, if only to provide a carrot to keep him coming back to her.

    This trip would also be a chance to further his Path. Tamers usually had Paths related to working with beasts, understanding beasts, or empowering beasts. Each person’s Path was somewhat unique, a combination of personal understandings and learnings crafted together mentally into a fairly narrow concept, called an Intent. By living that concept, that Intent, one advanced along one’s path and was better able to do whatever that concept represented. Advancing along one’s path also gave one the ability to to cast Class Spells more often, and more efficiently. Advancing along one’s path was a way of gathering power to one’s self, cantrips and Class Spells were a means of expressing that power. Most people could focus on a Path well enough to cast cantrips, but couldn’t afford more than the most basic and mundane classes, and so they rarely had access to Spells that would help them in more than their immediate work. He did not consider himself particularly talented, there were children younger than him who could cast a battery of cantrips when he had learning his first few, but he was also far from the worst.

    His Path was fairly simple, but definitely left room for refinement. He focused on teamwork, mutualism, and collaboration. The more he worked in concert with Ina, and anyone else he was close to, the more he advanced on his Path. It was not a Path he could exercise every moment of every cycle, and thus was in no danger of losing himself like his father had done. He could, however, advance swiftly, so long as he threw himself into difficult situations and worked with Ina to solve them. The more difficult, and usually dangerous, the situation, the more he advanced. Paths were not meant to be easy, and conflict generally was a quicker path to power than simple daily grind. The church had a phrase, ‘The more difficult the Path, the more rewarding the Path.’ It sounded lame to him at the time, just another aphorism in a sea of such phrases, but now as an adult, he realized it was entirely true. Still cheesy though.

    Underlying the Classes, Paths, and Intents, there was the fundamental energy that permeated the world he lived on. Church doctrine, and other texts he had read, called it many things. Power, Divinity, Mana, Energy, were all terms for it. Picking a single word for it, or trying to have a unified understanding of it, was impossible. The energy was felt through a personal connection each person had to the world around them. Each person interpreted the connection slightly different, and there were whole schools of thought built on understanding the energy of the world in particular ways. Dem only knew the most basic understanding of the power he felt in the world around him, but it was more than enough to focus on his Intent, and draw power from the reservoir his Path afforded him. The energy itself, was actually quite useless. When Dem drew it in he felt.. fuller, more content, more connected, and a little more energetic, but without using it to cast spells, it did little more than offer him a refreshed feeling. Everyone could draw power from the world, that wasn’t special. What really mattered was what spells you used it to cast.

***

    The first few cycles out were always uneventful. The lesser beasts that inhabited the area within a couple cycles of the settlement were weary of Ina. If they got a whiff of her, or even of Dem because he smelled like her, they would simply move away in a different direction. After leaving those weaker areas, they eventually reached a section of the Wilds he was unfamiliar with. He had been excited to see a new part of the wilds, but also very weary of what they would find. After reaching the new area, they had spent a number of cycles scouting around, finding a good campsite, and getting the job done. They had moved through the trees, rather than the ground, jumping and climbing from branch to branch. Moving through the trees offered some measure of safety from the largest of creatures, who were usually too big to leave the ground. Near the settlement, he would take groundtrails, as well as branchtrails, but out here there was nothing of the kind, so Ina and he took the safest route, high above the ground. Despite being quite high up, they had eventually hit trouble.

He cast a spell of Minor Share Strength on Ina, giving Ina some of his strength, while buffing himself with a couple of cantrips to offset the strength-cost of the spell. They had encountered greater viper-wyrm, which wouldn’t normally have been a big a problem, but this one was oddly persistent.

Viper-wyrms were snake-beasts, about as long as an average person was tall, but thicker in the middle than most humans. Their bodies tapered to snake-like proportions at both ends, but their middle was too large to allow them swiftly climb or move through the trees. They had the arrow-shaped head of a viper, with large venomous fangs to match, but also had a tail sported two venom coated talons on the very end. They were primarily ground-based ambush predators, with mottled brown and green coloring to match their surroundings.Their muscular middles gave them the ability to spring out of their dens and latch on to prey. Their venom was more caustic, and acid-like, than anything else. They wanted you a bit melted before they digested you.

As Ina and he moved through the trees, he had buffed himself, but he also still relied on Ina to offer a helpful tail here and there. The viper-wyrm, normally wouldn’t bother leaving its den, let alone chase along the ground following Ina and himself. Yet, here it was, clearly chasing them along the ground. He couldn’t see its body in the foliage, but he could sense it’s movement. Ina could smell its caustic venom. He assumed it was desperately hungry to be chasing them. In fact, it was hungry enough to try to exhaust Ina and him so that either, they fell out of the trees out of sheer exhaustion, or it could finally catch them as they rested. It wasn’t entirely clear if the viper-wyrm knew about their observation of it, not that it mattered much either way. They could either stop and fight it or run an hope to outlast it.

Technically a many-tailed was a far more deadly beast than a greater viper-wyrm, but this snake seemed to be different that his expectations would have dictated. Its behavior was bizarre, and defied what he knew of the beast. He was weary of engaging a beast acting so erratically.

He examined the bond between Ina and himself. He offered her the feeling he was waiting for her ideas over the bond. Their communication mostly took place through individually sent feelings or mental pictures. She offered him a mental picture of herself dodging the initial strike of the snake-beast, while scoring a disemboweling strike along its side. He knew this was a very idealized scenario, Ina was still freshly ascended and did not have a healthy respect yet for the tough scales of a greater snake beast. It’s true she could score its hide, but was unlikely to cut past the muscle casing, to open the visceral cavity. He sent her an image of them playing a kind of game with the snake-beast, stopping for short amounts of time to let it begin trying to reach them in the trees before quickly moving away. This would exhaust the beast and force it to reveal itself, after repeating this tactic a few times, they could try taking it head on as she wanted. Ina agreed to the modification of her plan without any fuss. She didn’t mind playing such a game with the snake beast.

They immediately began their game of exhaustion with the snake-beast. They moved for a while, and then stopped, giving it the chance to try to make its way up a nearby tree before beginning to move again. It kept itself out of line of sight, but Ina could still hear and smell it as it got closer. After an eighth of a cycle, the snake-beast started to slow down, and Ina wanted to take her chances with it. He had not intended on doing any hunting this trip, but the snake-beast was relentless. He asked to do one more push ahead of the snake beast, and then doubleback to surprise it. Ina was impatient to fight the snake beast, but was willing to push ahead one more time for the element of surprise.

***

As the snake-beast hurried along the ground, Ina crept through the tree above it. Dem had found a good place a little further head, staying out of the range of its spring-attack. He waited, preparing to stab with his spear or distract the viper-wyrm, whichever would help Ina the most. He had applied every buff he had at his disposal to Ina. He hoped it would be enough.

His thoughts stopped dead as he saw the head of the snake-beast rise up from the brush. It was larger than a normal viper-wyrm, which meant it would be quite old and therefore powerful. This was an elder greater beast, not far from ascending to a calamity beast. Seeing the small, fanged head begin to take in its surroundings, clearly aware something was strange, he suddenly felt fear. He sent a mental image to Ina, trying to warn her, but she was already challenging the dangerous opponent, drawing its attention and baiting its strike. Rather than immediately striking though, it began to grind its scales together, letting out a loud hiss. At first he couldn’t understand what it was doing, it was calling attention to itself obviously, but the purpose of its actions was not immediately clear.

    He gasped, a realization dawning on him. This snake was not alone, and its behavior wasn’t meant to exhaust its prey. It was designed to herd them further onward towards its children. Viper-wyrms were solitary predators, except for when they had just given birth to a large clutch of children. He and ina would be prey for its children if they waited here any longer. He conveyed his understanding towards Ina. The only way out of this was to kill the parent snake quickly and then escape the encirclement of younger snakes undoubtedly moving inward toward them.

    Ina moved closer in a series of jumps from trunk to trunk around the snake-beast, her tails taking small swipes at the fat middle section of the viper-wyrm. After a few of these swipes scoring its hide, it seemed to lose its patience, and readied a spring, aiming for when she landed on the trunk nearest to it. Ina seemed to predict the snakes intention, and then used her tails to change direction at the last moment by sinking her tail-claws into a different trunk altogether. Her tails offered her the ability change direction in mid-hair if she could latch on to something nearby. The snake-beast rammed face first into the trunk it was aiming at but Ina was not there. This wouldn’t hurt the beast much, its viper-like head was mostly bone and cartilage, but it would stun the beast for a moment. That moment gave Ina the chance to move in from the side, away from its fangs or talons. While Ina moved in, Dem also moved in to help. ina took long strips of skin out of its hide with her claws, as he moved above the fight quickly and readied his spear. The most he could do was try to pierce either the front end or the back end of the snake. Holding one of those two sections of the snake-beast immobile, would give Ina the chance to really tear into it middle. As it was currently, if she went for its head, it would use its tail to attack her, and vice-versa.

The viper-wyrm quickly recovered, even seeming to cast some sort of spell on itself. In this situation it was probably a restorative spell, but he couldn’t sure. It readied another strike, one Ina would have to dodge. Even if it missed, it would keep us here longer, which would only spell our inevitable doom, so the snake-beast was in no great rush. This old monster was very intelligent.

Ina dodged its strike once again, though this time the snake-beast angled itself so that it only caught open air, instead of slamming into another tree trunk. It was at this crucial moment he fell from above, spear blade first. Ina had sensed what he was about to do and had moved closer to the snake-beast, to try to fill its vision and give him an opening. Despite this, the snake-beast seemed to sense something was amiss. It knew it had been chasing two meals in the trees, not one, and so it looked up briefly, but it was too late. His spear descended, skewering the snake a span or so behind its clawed tail. His feet landed on the cross guard of the blade, adding the extra force of his weight to slam the blade home. Pain ran through his legs as he landed, causing him to stiffen. Its scale and hide were tough, but he had used his weight, momentum, and the spelled blade all to his advantage. Despite the pain, he jumped away from the spear and the newly enraged snake-beast. Ina had continued to attack, which drew its attention away from Dem. It struck again at Ina, this time it managed to get a mouth full of one of her tails, venom splashing around where the snake-beasts mouth had bit down. The venom immediately began to caustically steam and hiss, as it ate through the flesh of her tail. They needed to finish this quickly. He sent her a mental image, and despite the pain she was in, she understood.

Her next action surprised the snake-beast, Ina used her other clawed tails to cut envenomed tail off near its base. With time it could be regrown. If she let the caustic venom take effect, she might die. The snake-beast now had a length of Ina’s tail in its mouth. A portion was even stuck on the beast’s fangs,  and so it began to shake its head, to dislodge the tail. It clearly had underestimated its opponents and was enraged that its prey had fought back to this degree. Meanwhile, Ina went in for the kill, pouncing on its back, while using her remaining tails to hold head still and pointed away from her. Its neck muscles proved stronger than her tails, and it managed to slowly turn its face around to strike again, but not before she had begun to disembowel it with her hind claws, each nearly the length of Dem’s hand when fully extended. He needed to continue to do his part, so he took out his knife, and with a few quick slices, he had cut the talons from the end of the snake-beast. He had to thank his Da later, his Da had been the one to give him the knife and sharpen it. It cut through the weak scales around the talons easily.

The snake-beast, made another attempt at striking Ina, but her dug-in tails kept it from any sort of accuracy. This gave Dem the chance to retrieve the spear in a single swift motion. Ina had paralyzed the back end of the snake by nearly severing its spine in the middle of its fat grub-like body, and so the spear wasn’t needed to hold the snake beast down. He needed get this over right away. Empowering Ina with a Minor Strengthen Other, she was able to hold its head still enough that he could push the tip of the spear through the back of its head under its skull plate. It died angry and unwilling, killed by prey it hadn’t considered a threat.

He would have let out a sign of relief, if he hadn’t suddenly noticed movement from every direction. At least a dozen creatures moved in on them. He pulled his spear from head of the parent, readying himself to take on its children.

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Dem’s feet took him toward the black Adventure’s Tower, the tallest building in the settlement. If someone told him it was more than twice as tall as the walls that surrounded it, he wouldn’t disagree. It was a wide building, many times wider than the church at its base, narrowing as it went up, until you reached top, which was just a flat platform. He had never been up there, but he assumed it was for landing flying transportation beasts and sending signals to other towers placed throughout the Wilds. The upper reaches of the tower were the living quarters of the most powerful Classed Adventures that came through the settlement. From what he understood, the truly powerful never touched the ground here in the settlement, and never had reason to. They left by beast or spell, and returned by beast or spell

    He made sure not to stare up at the tower, as he strode towards it, as that would make him look like a bumpkin from the hamlets. He was, of course, a bumpkin from the hamlets, but he was also Classed and freelancer for the Tower, which afforded him a small amount of dignity. Still the tower was impressive to him, even after all this time.

As he neared the tower, he had to watch where he was going. Adventurers were everywhere, and despite being Classed himself, he was a nobody, less than a nobody really. He had to be careful not to anger anyone even accidentally. The law in settlements was a loose thing when it came to adventurers. Classed Guards, even Classed Guard Captains, generally did want to tangle with experienced Classed adventurers. At the least, no guard would fight a adventure for Dem’s sake. Dem also needed the goodwill of as many adventurers as possible, as they would be, hopefully, his clients in the future. A local guide was useful to groups new to any settlement.

    He found a small door in the back of the building, only accessible from an alley, and entered swiftly. This entrance was for freelancers, servants, and locals. He did not know if it existed simply to separate people based on their importance, or to prevent the underclass from mixing with the powerful Classed, or because it kept people like him safe from possible confrontations with drunk Adventurers. The Tower was an all-in-one experience. It had an inn, a large common-room bar, entertainment, a small more luxurious bar further up, places to buy and sell materials and gear, banking, storage, and places to inquire about work. It was also a hotspot for disputes. After moving through a few hallways, past a number of doors, he entered into a room with various desks, waiting areas, and lines. He quickly found the right desk to stand in front of, waiting for the woman filling out paperwork to acknowledge him.

    Greer was younger than his mother, but still older than he was by five or ten sequences, with short black hair, and a perpetual look for disdain on her face. She wasn’t unattractive, but he had always pushed such thoughts out of his mind. Theirs was a business relationship. She had been the tower contact for his work, and also the person who he sold most of his goods to since he first ventured into the Wilds. She had been the one that sold him his Tamer Class Grimoire, at a moderately discounted rate, of course. Not that many were interested in such a Class, but a Beast Tamer was still a mid-tier combat Class, and so was worth at minimum a few gold standards. She had sold it to him for a gold and half, something that taken him four sequences to save up. His most successful trips, hunting, or as a guide, had never gotten him more than a handful of silver standards. The truth was that he was a total amateur, and most people who sought his services were amateurs as well. His customers sought general practice living, and hunting, in the wilds, whereas most true adventurers would be seeking something specific from the Wilds. Greer’s mark-down, like her customer service, left something to be desired, but she fundamentally had him over a barrel, as most of the other Tower merchant-clerks would not deal with him. Commerce with people from the hamlets wasn’t seen as particularly profitable for someone with a desk in the Adventurer’s Tower, even one in the back offices.

    Her writing stopped finally, after a long moment.

    “What do you want boy?” her voice, its usual bored tone.

    He was always ‘boy’ to everyone, even though he was technically an adult, a man in his own right, and even a Classed one at that. He supposed since they had seen him grow up, he would always be a ‘boy’ in their mind.

    He responded quickly, “I am inquiring about work, ma’am.”

    She grunted, sounding much like a barrel-chested carriage loader he had once met.

    “I suppose, with your Class and that overly large cat of yours, you could be of more use.”

    “It is all thanks to you ma’am.” Being polite was his only option, she was notoriously prickly. He wanted to correct her comment about Ina, but he held his tongue.

    “I have a group coming in fourteen work cycles, at the earliest, that want to explore to the south and east.” She paused for a moment to look him in the eye.

    “They want to go at least five cycles out, and stay out for at least a rotation.” Her voice took a hard tone with these words, as if challenging him.

He audibly gulped, “A rotation? Can they handle that? Can I?” His words were a little too honest, but they had represented question that needed to be answered.

“Can you? They can, they are Full Adventurers, though they hail from a more urban environment. They haven’t said what they are looking for, but I assumed the they are here to experience the Wilds. They usually work the cities, so this will there first time out here.”

His mind spun with all this information, but eventually he realized what this meant.

He asked, “You’re saying I should go scout that area before they arrive right?”

    “Have you been that far out in that direction before? ” She asked, her question rhetorical, of course he hadn’t.

    “You’re right, as always, ma’am. I’ve been four cycles in that direction, but no further. Did they offer anything up front?” He prayed this Party had offered something to make the extra trip worthwhile.

    “Beyond my fee, thirty silver standards.” She stated firmly, leaving no room for negotiations.

    “How much on completion?”

    She smiled, “Two gold standards, beyond my fee of course.”

    He sucked in a lung-full of air. This was a huge sum, enough to rent a place in the settlement for his parents for a whole sequence or more.

    He looked at her, a question coming to his lips, but unspoken.

    “Normally, I would send them with a Classed Ranger or a Classed Scout. They wouldn’t mind such easy gold, but they are all going north with.parties. A significant number of parties are going in that direction, though I don’t yet know why. This party wants to go south instead.” She explained.

    She continued.  “Even without whatever is in the north, Rangers tend to be less interested in going south, as you know, there isn’t much in that direction. Lots of greater beasts, but the easiest access points to the True Wilds are to the north. Rangers, if willing to act as guides, also usually want good hunting along the way to wherever they are going. The South just doesn’t have that. Maybe this party is picking the easier direction as practice before they go north, I don’t know.”

    “You’re the only one I know of who goes south much, and so you’re perfect. Plus, you’re cheap.” She smirked at this, and he knew that meant she was taking some of the fee allotted for him. He wondered how much they were actually paying. Either way, he could not pass this up.

    “Fine, I’ll do it. I can definitely do it.” He stated as firmly as he was able.

    “I haven’t told you the best part yet.” Her smirk turned into a predatory smile.

    “It is a party of all women! You’ll be with them for an entire rotation plus travel! One of them might get a bit lonely and…” She began to laugh, as his face turned red.

    “Ma’am, my mother is already asking me for grandchildren. Please don’t start on me too.” He pleaded with her. Greer was always professional about currency and profit, but she always eventually found excuses to tease him. Sometimes he wondered if she did business with him just torture him.

“These women wouldn’t be interested in having your children, boy. They are professionals. Though one of the members did request that their guide be handsome. I suppose you’ll have to do.” She said this while laughing. Her eyes looking him up and down.

His face must have revealed a look of pouting sadness, because her tone changed.  

She quickly spoke, “Oh, you’re not bad looking boy, you’re a bit tall, and the combination of dark hair and blues eyes is good, but your face is plain and you hardly ever smile. You wouldn’t make it far in the brothel upstairs.”

He sighed. This must be what the young women of the hamlets feel like when they enter the settlement. The guards eyed them a bit too much and usually made comments. Sadly, like those young women, there was no one he could complain to. He centered his mind, and thought of the money.

“Thank you ma’am for your compliments. I will gladly accept the job. Do you have something for me to sign?”  He hanged the subject as best as he could. At least she hadn’t made any jokes about his Class.

“Hmm, yes I have the agreement right here. Its spell-enforced, so take it seriously. It will harm your Path if you break it.” She seemed to agree to change the subject, but was still smirking. She handed him a spell-document.

He signed the document, channeling the unique imprint of his Path into the spelled paper. Greer then handed him the thirty silver standards, and a map of the area, with the portion the Party intended to explore marked with a circle. He made farewells as fast as he could, and left at a brisk pace. He could still feel her eyes on him as he left. She probably still had that same smirk on her face.

***

    Dem quickly bought some supplies from one of the perpetually open markets. He intended to set off as soon as possible so that he would make it back in time to meet the Party. He purchased a new spear for himself, his old one lost before the last rotation. He had chosen a weaponsmith outside the tower, who would be more in his price range, but have potentially less quality. The spear he picked was designed for hunting. It a had a elongated teardrop-shaped blade, longer than the span of his hand. It had groves to allow for faster bleed-out and a crossguard to keep the beast at distance. It wasn’t a full length spear, as the Wilds often gave you little room to work, but it was nearly as long as he was tall. It was even spelled for reinforcement, making the shaft much less likely to break. It was the best weapon he had ever owned, and cost him ten silver standards with some haggling. He hoped he wouldn’t need it, but Ina could not protect him from everything.

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He walked with no urgency, his mind once again drifting to the future and all the possibilities it held. His improved hearing picked up on snippets of conversations as he followed the many small paths that led, like streams joining a river, to the main road which would bring to the gates of the settlement. He ignored most of the conversations he heard. His hearing had improved and he was still practicing what needed to be tuned out. Passing a rare clearing, used as a meeting place occasionally, he heard another group moving down one of the larger paths in his direction. He moved a bit quicker to avoid this bunch. They were loud, and not mindful of the peace that the Wilderness brought.

    He couldn’t help but overhear, “Did Demneh just pass by?” said a female voice.

Someone knew him apparently, though he couldn’t place a name or a face to the voice. It also occurred to him he needed to work on erasing his presence better, and that clearly, despite the noise, this group was paying attention, or at least the speaker was.

    He stopped to listen for a moment, “Should we invite him?” a different voice asked.

    Several new, more masculine voices chimed in.

    “He is the son of the Endless Axe right?”

“He never talks. What would be the point? Like father, like son.”

“He has that damned beast with him. I have no interest in sharing my food with it. Have you seen it eat?

“Who gives a damn about that beast-fucker?

“He could be…

    He moved further ahead, not bothering to listen more. It was possible someone might have defended him, these were clearly his peers, and those of the hamlets were a generally kind lot, but such remarks were par for the course considering his Class. It was also true he had always been so focused on his goals, he rarely socialized. His work cycles were always busy. He spent most of his life either out in the Wilds with Ina or in the settlement listening to a certain hungover Priest lecture him about returning books back to the Church when he was done with them. The lectures always came in earliest part of a cycle, as that particular Priest spent most of the later half of each work cycle drunk on cheap root-wine.

    Despite trying to move on, his mind responded to each comment in turn.

His Da was called the Endless Axe? That probably suited him, he supposed.

In all honesty, it was true he didn’t talk much. Social gatherings were things to be avoided, as he never really had anything to say, and no one really asked him about his training, or what he had read recently, or even about Ina, especially after she had grown larger. Beasts were objects of fear for the folks of the hamlets, just as beasts were objects of profit for the people of the settlements.

She ate too much? At first he was instantly offended on behalf of Ina, but in reflecting, he had to admit she was sort of a glutton. He felt irritation over their bond.

He directed a thought to her, “We’ll put you on a diet soon girl. We can’t have the neighbors talking.”

He promptly heard a growl somewhere above him in trees.

He had heard ‘beaster-fucker’ before, and worse by now. Classed Tamers, well they.. They didn’t have a good reputation. He pushed these thoughts away for the moment.

He wondered how last sentence heard ended? Maybe it was something positive? In the end, he supposed it didn’t matter. It didn’t affect his Path or what he would do in the future, so he did his best to let it got. His thoughts returned to the great hunts he would accomplish in the future and the safety the settlement would provide his parents.

***

    Enough trails converged and he found himself reaching the area around the settlement that was kept clear of the encroachment of trees. The Wilds had a way of reclaiming land quickly, making farming nearly impossible and cleared land worth a premium. The hamlets cleared when they could, but otherwise tried to blend their gardens into the vegetation that surrounded them. This kept their produce relatively safe, but was ultimately inefficient.

    As he got closer, passing herds of cattle grazing in the empty land, the settlement walls began to grow larger. They towered over him, hundreds of spans over his head. Small figures could be seen occasionally on the walls, but no faces could be made out.

    Approaching the door, he mentally prepared himself for dealing with the gate guards. There wasn’t much of a line to get into the settlement this cycle. As the night cycles grew closer, the lines would increase, and the cattle would be taken inside. The smell was unpleasant, but the cattle were a source of food and profit. Cattle raised in the Wilds were more robust and their meat had fortifying effects. ‘The Wilds gave as it took’, was a common phrase he heard often. Of course, what all of this actually meant was that cattle were more valuable than the people of the hamlets, but he tried to push that thought away.

    “State your business.” said the bored looking guard who undoubtedly recognized him. The guard wore a basic set of light armor, which covered all the important bits and probably had some reinforcing spells, but wouldn’t protect him from most greater beasts. His class would be something mundane like Guardsmen, or Soldier. To have door-duty meant he didn’t have the connections or coin to have a better Class.

    “I seek to consult the guild for work.” he said, formally and in the same tone he had said something similar a thousand times before. In the settlement if you spoke well, you got better treatment. He showed his badge, stating he was a Classed freelancer for the Guild. Not an official adventurer, but someone who did work for the guild from time to time. The guard looking down at the symbol representing his class, sneered a bit, but waved him through. As he headed further into the settlement his hearing was overwhelmed with fragments of conversations, the creaking of wood buildings, and sound of a smith cursing some mistake he had just made. He could hear some whispers behind him and a few snickers. The guard that checked him must have made a comment to his fellows.

    He let the insults slide off the tough exterior of his mind, as he had done many times before. His future was bright for once, and he wouldn’t let anyone keep him from appreciating that fact.

***

    After entering the settlement, while navigating boisterous crowds and crooked streets, he veered towards the Church, as he had since he was child. He had no real business with the bloated alcoholic exile who ran the place, nor was he particularly devoted to the Church of Humanity, but he still liked to check on things, almost out of habit. Perhaps there a new book had been added to the small public library the church kept for educating youths. He could ‘borrow’ it as he had many times before. The Priest, Caius, had given him a great gift. Caius had taught him to read.

    Children of the hamlets usually attended lessons with Caius one work cycle out of every five, to learn a bit of theology, their letters, and some numbers. They learned to conduct themselves in the settlement as proper members of humanity. Generally, by the time they were adolescents they stopped their lesson because their parents needed their labor, or they simply lost interest and drifted off.  Sometimes they got tired of the superior attitude and better treatment that children from the settlement received. Caius taught most children in the settlement. If they couldn’t afford tutors or to send their children away for education, Caius and the charity of the Church were their only option. Unlike the other children of the hamlets, he had stuck around, trying to get more information that would help him care for Ina. This had started his life-long love of reading.

    Caius was not the greatest teacher, nor the most patient, or really even a good role model, but he tried, and he treated all the children with the same base level of contempt. One time, when he had naively thought he understood Caius, he had asked Caius if he drank because the Church had exiled him so far away. His thoughts were of sympathy of Caius. Perhaps Caius had committed some sort of tragic crime, or stood up against a corrupt church elder.

Caius had laughed in his face, splattering cheap root-wine everywhere, and, in between gasping breaths, told him “Boy, I was sent here… because I’m an unrepentant… drunk.. Haha! I am an embarrassment.” The Priest’s belly and jowls trembled as he spoke again. “Be sure to not follow in my footsteps, boy.” Caius’ laughter was loud. He never asked another personal question of Caius, fearing he would only think less of the old Priest.

The Church of Humanity rose tall inside the walls of the settlement, nearly as tall as the walls, and was probably the most ornate building in the settlement. As one walked closer one could see that the despite its exterior facade, the church was not being well maintained. Birds made homes in the statues at the top, and the paint was cracked around the base. Caius’s influence was apparent. He wasn’t the only clergy in attendance, but he was the only Classed Priest, and the most senior, and therefore undoubtedly drank a great deal of the donations the church received from locals.

In the courtyard of the church, he could see Caius’s large, rotund form, sitting on a stool that strained underneath him. Surrounding him were dozens of small children, some listening attentively, others lightly snoozing, while still others talked quietly. His current lecture seemed to center around the nature of Paths and Classes. His face flushed red, his nose bulbous and the color of liver, he spoke in quivering breaths.

“Your Path is what you choose! Your Path is your intent made manifest! It powers the spells and abilities of your Class!” Every statement was yelled, causing spit to splatter on the nearest children, who seemed to take it in stride. With time, everyone got used to Caius.

The Church doctrine had always felt like mostly mysticism to him. The nature of Paths was something you felt, rather than merely understood. You looked into yourself, found something you applied personal meaning to, and then crafted that meaning, with repetition, into personal power. Your Class, if you had one, was merely a shell, usually premade for you, to channel that power into. It gave you a set of spells and a means to continue to develop a Path. The Church told us that Paths were a gift from the Holy Divinity of Humanity, but beastfolk had Paths, as did other races, so he had always been somewhat skeptical of church doctrine. Classes could even be shared between races, which made sense to him, but was clearly not mentioned anywhere in the writings of the church

He moved away from the church, secure in knowledge that the old drunk hadn’t died yet, and moved toward the center of power in the settlement.

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The path before him was narrow, twisting, and led deeper in the darkness of the Wilds. The terrain was uneven, and occasionally halting, but through experience and patience he was able to navigate forward, step by step. Demneh hadn’t yet been down this particular path yet, but he had traversed many like it.

His range of vision was consumed by the wide bases of trees. Each wide enough that dozens of people could hold hands and still not circle one completely. His senses were attuned to the variety of sounds around him, listening to a nearly deafening cacophony of calls from birds, insects, and small mammals. He marveled at just how much he could now pick up on now. His senses were almost overloaded with it. He was most alert for the subtle yet unmistakable silence that can came with approaching predation. Doing his best to block out everything but the most important information, his mind ever so slightly slid away from his surroundings to consider which beast’s territory he was currently in.

From his memory, this would likely still be the territory of a lesser beast, he wasn’t quite deep enough for a greater beast to call this home. The Wilds were really nothing more than a series of partially overlapping territories of increasingly more powerful predators. Nearest to human settlements, such predators were lesser beasts, capable of little more than the usage of their natural raw strength, inborn abilities, and the occasional cantrip. As you moved further away from human settlements, you encountered greater beasts, capable of taking on entire parties of adventurers through guile, command of lesser beasts, or through the use of powerful spells. He primary dealt with lesser beasts in his work as a hunter and forest scavenger, his encounters with greater beasts came when he got work as a guide for parties and stronger hunters looking to score big. Further away from the realm of humanity, you entered the True Wilds, and the territory of calamity beasts, but he had never considered going that far out. Dealing with greater beasts was already very dangerous for him despite his recent gains.

    The prehensile tail of one such greater beast, nudged him gently as he walked, as if to remind him to keep his mind from wandering too much. He jumped with a slight surprise as the softness of her tail slid past him. She usually ranged further ahead of him, sometimes much further ahead, and always totally silent. She must have sensed his attention waiver over their bond. It had never occurred to him that one could actually feel safe enough in the wilds to let one’s mind wander, but then again, he had never felt what he felt right now. After sequences of difficulty, struggle, and work, he accomplished his goals, and for the first time in memory, he felt content.

***

    Dem sat in a rare clearing, the area long since cleared out of anything really dangerous, not far from the hamlet where he had lived his whole life. Feeling his stomach protest, he considered the contents of the small wicker basket strapped to his back. It was full of plant cuttings and fruit, and there were some leaf-wrapped berries too. Without preparation though, most of it would taste horrible. The carcass of a thorn-hare hung from his back as well, the blood long since drained. His foraging this cycle hadn’t been particularly successful, and he found little that he could sell, but he would be able to feed himself and his parents tonight. His companion, however, had found herself a delicious meal of lesser vine ape. Despite their natural camouflage, the ape was easy prey for a greater many-tailed. He had to embarrassingly admit to himself that she had helped him catch the hare as well, but since he had trained her, he could take partial credit right?

He watched her eat, not asking any for himself, as vine ape tasted awful and was often poisonous due to the fruit they indiscriminately ate, but instead he simply watched her with pride. His sense of contentment stemmed, in part, from this greater beast, his greater beast. The one he had raised from a kit, the one who had been his constant companion, the one who helped him find both his Class and his Path. She had been his purpose, and what set him apart from the other children of the hamlets. She had also been the cause of no small amount of ridicule, but he had never spared a thought to regret his decision to raise her.

As he watched her enjoy her meal, he couldn’t help but admire the changes her ascension to greater beast had brought. Her coat was dark, smoky, and seemed to occasionally shift in color depending on the light, allowing her to blend perfectly into the numerous shadows cast by overheard vegetation. Her body was a sleek like a fox, but with greater width at the shoulders and hips, giving her the overall size of a small wolf or a large dog. Her front and hind limbs were disproportionately large, reminding him of some of the drawings of greater cats he had seen. Such an amalgamation of traits was not uncommon in the beasts found in the wilds, cross-breeding became more possible as beasts became more powerful. Rather than being classified as a breed of mutts, what set many-tailed apart and put them into their own unique category, were their distinctive tails.

Other than the many-tailed’s primary tail, which was bushy and thick, and helped them balance. Their secondary tails were prehensile, able to move and grasp objects, and were used to climb, traverse tree limbs, capture prey, and to confuse predators. Each secondary tail had a single, sharp retractable claw on the end. Greater many-tailed generally had five tails, though as they grew older and grew more powerful, it was possible further sets of tails would grow. They were truly terrifying predators, and easily the match of any solitary scavenger or hunter. What drew his attention most, wasn’t the the utterly deadly claws, or discomforting movement of her many tails, but rather the large luminescent eyes that always seemed to stop him mid-thought when he looked into them. Perhaps it was the normal reaction of prey, when looking looking into the eyes of a predator, to stop cold, or perhaps it was just that he marveled at the concentrically pupiled eyes. They could see just as well in the deepest black of a night cycle, as they could in the brightest light of a gap through the trees. Many-tailed were generally ambush predators, often waiting until their prey moved through a sunny spot and become temporarily blinded, before striking. Many-tailed eyes needed no time to adjust.

When she was a lesser beast, she was larger than a housecat, and mostly hunted anything smaller than herself. Her ascension to greater beasthood had brought her enough size and strength to become a human-killer. A greater many-tailed was as deadly as most of the big cat predators in the greater beast realm. With her ascension, she seemed to gain more dexterity with her tails. They seemed to be able extend and stretch themselves, giving her a devastating reach. Greater beasts often had more control of their bodies than lesser beasts, and sometimes were able to cast body transformation spells to increase their strength or size.

Most importantly to him, she had gained a distinct intelligence, something far beyond a mere animal, but still alien to his fairly average human mind. He could feel, what he assumed to be, her thoughts bubbling up from her instinct and experience-driven subconscious. These thoughts didn’t form words that he could understand in great detail, but he seemed to understand their underlying intent. He had to remind himself, their bond was still new, only a five or six rotations old, and it had expanded her mind as well. It was wrong to attribute her rising intelligence to merely her ascension, greater beasts were smart but were still ultimately creatures of pure instinct. They understood territory, strength, and maybe a little guile learned over time. She was capable of more, as he found out on their hunts, when she seemed to create and execute plans, even getting him to coordinate with her at times. He could even feel something like sympathy, when they found the body of some poor fortunate out in the Wilds, which was sadly a common occurrence. No, greater beast he knew of would ever feel sympathy for prey or a fallen opponent. It was clear to him, she had gained just as much her bond to his mind, as he had gained to his senses and physicality.

It would have taken him twenty or more sequences, most of his life, to develop a Wilderness Path to the point where he would have the heightened senses and endurance he currently held. To get to his current level, he might have even had to Class as a Ranger or a Scout, and apprentice to one of the stern, reserved, ghost-like men and women who passed through the settlement. Such a life would have been better than what he originally faced without the greater beast by his side. It would have been more coin anyway, but Rangers rarely lived to old age and were unlikely to a marry.

All of this assumed a Classed person would even have him as an apprentice. He was no peerless talent when it came to the Wilds, and all the associated Wilderness Paths, his current abilities mostly stemmed from hard work, dedication, and a great deal of help from his many-tailed. Without borrowing strength from the beast, there were young girls from the hamlets who could move so silently in the forest they could be right behind him and he wouldn’t know it. There were young boys who could so effortlessly blend into the forest he would walk right by them, without help from the many-tailed’s keen sense of smell. Children of the hamlets usually walked Paths that allowed them to adapt to the constant danger of living outside the settlement, and to their work as scavengers, hunters, lumberers, and subsistence farmers. Children of the nearby human settlement were afforded the opportunity to follow more varied and abstract Paths, they then were able to apprentice into, or recieve, Classes appropriate to their respective Paths. The safety and security of their lives assured by their Classes.

This was the second source of his newly found sense of contentment, he had a Class. A class that matched his Path, a Class that allowed him his bond with his greater beast, and a Class that gave him the chance to eventually move his parents into the settlement. He even considered moving his parents into to a larger settlement, perhaps even to a true human city outside the Wilds. His ambition flared further as his imagination expanded. He shamefully even spared a moment of thought to finding a true Beastmaster, and advancing his Class further. He was a Beast Tamer, but he could be more one in the future, with luck. His revery was promptly interrupted by the prick of a small but very sharp claw in a very tender part of his backside. Ina, his many-tailed, was done eating.

***

    “Ma.” He called into the into hovel he had called home for as long as he could remember.

His voice echoed into the wooden structure, set into a depression at the base of a particularly large granite-tree. It was deceptively large and cozy on the inside, as it’s back wall had been dug fairly deeply into root structure of the tree that sheltered it. His back ached at the very thought of having to dig further in, as he had to do every time Ma wanted a little more room.

    “I’ve returned, and brought a hare!” he said again, as he ducked in through the doorway.

Without looking up, a stout figure, that could only be his mother, spoke, “Of course you have returned, because if you didn’t return, I would kill you.” Her voice stern, but holding no real edge. Her plain face, plain manner of speech, and threadbare dress, belied the strength of her motherly ire.

“Ma, If I did not return, I’d probably already be dead.” He returned.

“Then, I would find you and kill you again, boy.” She said, in a deadpan voice, still not bothering to look at her only child.

As much as he enjoyed engaging his mother in these morbid spirals into absurdity, he decided to change the subject. “Where is Da? Is he back yet?”

“Your Da, will be back soon. They were logging on the far-side of the settlement this work cycle.” my mother said, as she began to riffle through the basket he had set down in front of her.

“Did it go well? There is a lesser squall-bird that recently moved in over there. Was there any trouble with it?” His voice held little actual concern, it was unlikely that any beast would want a piece of Da, not because he was any great fighter, but because his hide would have been too tough, tasteless, and chewy to be worth eating. Like eating ten-rotation-old, mud-lizard jerky.

“If anything had happened to your Da, they would have sent a runner. He is the best lumberer they have.” His mother said without a hint of concern. Her hands already a blur of motion, fixing the rabbit for dinner.

Her Path had nothing to do with the Wilderness, but rather centered in on domestic tasks and managing the little space they kept clear for their garden. He had never asked specifically what it was, or if she had multiple Paths. Most people had a single important Path they followed, but sometimes following one Path led you through others. It was said in scripture of the Divine Humanity, that having multiple Paths would balance an individual, but it was common knowledge that focusing mostly on a single Path was the way towards greater power.

His mother was an oddity. In most outer hamlet homes, both parents spent their cycles out in the Wilds, cutting down lumber, preparing lumber to be moved or used, hunting, or scavenging, yet she hardly left the area around their home. Da was perhaps the most single-minded lumberjack around, which made him effective, and able to provide more than most men in the hamlets, but it came at a cost. Like his Ma, he had never asked his Da, but it was unlikely his Da ever studied any Path but one associated with cutting down trees. This meant that, while his Da was not the strongest lumberer, or the biggest lumberjack, or even the one with the sharpest axe, his Da’s axe would bite deeper, with greater accuracy, and his stamina would be all but unending, but only while he was cutting down trees. The cost was that his father hardly ever spoke, had no other interests, was always fairly remote towards his family. To his memory, his Da had never laughed, and the only smile he could remember his Da had ever showing had been a time Dem had curiously gone to see his father at work. Holding an axe and cutting down a tree put a slight upturn at the corner of his Da’s mouth, that was something like a smile right? Studying a single Path gave you greater power in a singular way, but it was easier to lose yourself into that Path.

Dem had never begrudged his Da his lack of personality, or his wooden face, as he had figured out early on as a child that his Da worked hard for the sake of the family. Helpfully, his Da also never got really angry when the growing many-tailed ate everything it could find in the larder. Da simply went to go get more food, while Ma handled all the punishment. His parents showed their love in very different ways.

Dem sat down to eat a bit of fibrous bread that had been left out.

“Ma, I’m going into the settlement tomorrow to look for work further out, there isn’t much to hunt near here. With my Class, and Ina’s ascension, even greater beasts are..”

Her scowl stopped him dead, mid-sentence, food hanging from his mouth.

“Demneh! There isn’t a need to go that far out. Those people you work for are often more monsters than anything you will find out there. They wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice you for a little more gain.” His Ma had  decided to go down a well worn road with her current tirade.

Weathering the storm, he spoke up. “Ma, this is the sort work I can do that will get us a home in the settlement. It is also the best work I can get for my Class.”

“Dem, we get along fine here, I have my garden, your father has his work. You don’t need to take such dangerous jobs. We don’t need the settlement, where would I even put a garden inside those walls?” Her response was unsurprising, but also unconvincing.

“It isn’t fine out here, how many of us die to accidents? Attacks? How many times have we replanted your garden after some lesser beast came through? We have no protection out here, and it isn’t safe. I need to know you two are safe when I’m out in the Wilds.” He tried to make his tone have some sense of finality, but of course she was unconvinced.

Thousands of people lived outside the settlement, grouped into small hamlets of three or four homes where space could be found or made between the largest of granite-trees. Living in purely open space in Wilds, without walls or protections spells, meant you were vulnerable to storm winds and were a sitting duck for anyone looking to take advantage. Hiding their homes among the tree roots at least meant raiders or bandits would have to stumble right onto a hamlet to find one. Of course, raiders and bandits were rare this far out into the Wilds, but still a possibility.

The settlement claimed there was no room for more people and that it was too costly to expand the walls to keep everyone inside. The walls of the settlement were made of the tallest granite-trees that could be found, each stood up on their end, and planted into the ground with earth moving spells. They were then spelled against weather, beast, and all-manner of destruction. To live in the Wilds, safely, required such measures. The nearby settlement was one of many, sprinkled throughout the wilds. Each settlement gave adventurers and hunters a home-base to return to reprovision, during their trips outward, away from the realm of humanity, called the True Human Realm. There was even talk that the settlements were originally military fortifications, but he didn’t know for sure.

Changing tactics and tone, his Ma tried another line of argument, “Dem, why don’t you stick around and spend some time with the other young people? You’re more than old enough to be married. I want to be a grandmother! One of the girls from the far-side hamlets comes around some times, I think she is looking for you. You could have been married five rotations, an entire sequence, ago. Last rotation, about forty work cycles ago, two girls from..” his mother continued on for while, but he had tuned her out. These arguments were almost a play they put on for each other, they held no surprise. They shared a stubborn trait which often caused friction.

Finishing his meal, he went to his alcove to rest his head. He could feel Ina napping lazily in the tree above him. After she had ascended, she didn’t much like confined spaces, so she slept in the tree above them usually, rather than inside. Their home was not large, but it was cool and dark on the inside, despite the bright light outside. It would be another twenty work cycles until the next the time the Land-Above would move over the Wilds, giving them five night cycles. This was half a rotation. Each rotation was twenty work cycles of light, followed by five cycles of night, followed by twenty more cycles of light. Five rotations made a sequence.

He did not look forward to coming night, as many beasts found greater freedom during night cycles. Those in the settlement would, other than the most daring of adventurers, hold-up inside the walls, while those left outside the walls in the hamlets would barricade their homes, rarely leaving but to pass messages, trade food, or seek assistance. Even he, a Classed Tamer, with a bonded greater beast, would find shelter and not leave it. Despite his earlier feeling of contentment, his thoughts were heavy as he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

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