Kael was still kneeling when the sound slowly faded. He had barely even understood what it was or what it did. All he knew was that there was a low hum going through his head right now, it was going through something it called initialization.
"Whatever that means..."
He bent over Mara, the rain had stopped now, but his tears had welled up again, piping hot and burning through his eyes.
Garren appeared at the edge of the street, but he wasn't alone, the beasts weren't gone.
Garren gritted his teeth as he parried an attack from the white wolf that lunged at him, he stepped backwards, evading another attack. The wolf was quick and angry, it wasn't letting him off.
Garren placed his hands together, his voice rumbling;
"By pact of blood and soul—descend, Inferna Vulpes!"
Garren placed his hand on the floor and the floor seemed to turn into a swirling red portal, heavy wind erupting at the spot.
But the white wolf couldn't care less, it charged forward, opening its mouth wide as it lunged at Garren, looking to tear him apart.
But soon, something came out of the red portal. A three tailed fire breathing fox rose from the portal, attacking the wolf immediately.
It swung it's tail, fire coating the attack. The wolf tried to dodge, but the fox was clearly stronger, the fox channeled it's fire forward, then it released a single concentrated blast at the wolf, ending it's life.
Then the fox turned around, the fire brimming from its body dying out. It shrank into a small pet sized fox, with just one tail now. It strode over towards Garren who bent to pick it up.
"That's good, that's good." Garren said with a smile, patting it's head. He picked the fox up, rubbed it's head and placed it into a pouch that was beside him, the pouch glowed as the fox entered, it was gone.
Garren looked to the sky as he breathed heavily. "When does this end?"
Had the Wolf been a primeval beast, then he couldn't have said what the fight would have ended as. Primeval Beasts had the ability to use elemental powers too, making fights against then very tough.
The beasts in Aerthrial were of different types, classes and categories.
There were Six classes used to recognise each beast;
1. Lesser Beast (F - D)– Wild, untamed, common class.
These beasts could be easily tamed, but it was rarely useful taming them because they were mostly weak.
2. Greater Beast (C - A) – Semi-intelligent, powerful creatures. These beast classes are much more stronger, more nimble and smarter, they can adapt to certain situations easily.
3. Primeval Beast (A - S) – Ancient elemental titans. These were beasts that possessed elemental abilities, they could use powers just like humans, they were much more intelligent, and had a mind, knowing when to retreat. But they were rare.
4. Mythic Beast (S -SS) – Legendary beings, bonded through high rituals. These beasts are even more powerful than Primeval Beasts, despite possessing every power that the Primeval Beast possess. These beasts possess the ability to speak.
5. Forbidden Beast (SS - SSS) – Sealed or cursed, dangerous to summon. They possess the ability to control lesser beasts.
6. Celestial Beast (SSS - SSS+) – Cosmic-level entities of immense power. Regarded as the beast kings, these were the highest level beasts, they could even summon other beasts to fight alongside them, they could really an entire beast squad to fight.
Garren exhaled, his heart tired and exhausted. He had seen a lot of deaths today, really scary and gory ones. Maybe they were still fending off the beasts...? He didn't know, he had wandered too far off from the battle lines.
And that kid...
Garren paused, his face tightening as he saw Kael bent, crouched over his sister. He was still, as if he was sleeping.
Garren gritted his teeth as he put away his weapon, walking towards Kael.
"Hey...kid?" Garren said, tapping Kael softly.
"What's your name?" He asked as Kael raised his head, his eyes red and swollen.
Kael stared at him, tears welling up again. His breath quivered as his vision blurred from the tears.
"Why...?"
Garren's pupils constricted at that question.
"Why did you come when you did...?" Kael asked again, teas was streaming from his face now.
"I'm—"
"You should have saved her!" Kael yelled, pushing Garren with all his might. However, his weak and scrawny build couldn't budge Garren.
Garren stepped back, standing up. He remembered this scene, it had happened years ago too. But instead of it being this random kid, it had been him. His father had died in the same way.
He was all he had.
"More Beasts might come, go to the shelter."
Garren said, his voice cold. He turned around, walking away. Kael stared at his retreating figure and his heart raged.
"Those bastards..." He muttered.
However, there was no time for him to think about that, as the moment Garren was out of sight, he had a snarl. It had been waiting for him all along.
Kael's feet turned cold as he slowly spun around, coming face to face with it, it was a small sized Ashfox.
It was small... compared to other beasts. It was still significantly bigger than he was.
The beast stared him over, snarling again. Kael's heart dropped, Garren wasn't here. Mara was here, but she couldn't be of any help, she was dead.
Kael stepped back slowly, but it was worse, he missed his footing, falling to the floor.
The sound seemed to irk the Fox and it growled, skidding towards him.
It was fast.
In that same instant, Kael heard it, that same sound.
"Ding!"
Yes, it was that one.
A voice rang out in his head again. "Initialization complete."
"Ding!"
You have received a new skill, 'Soul Bond'.
Kael didn't understand it all, his heart was pounding. He was frozen scared as he stared at the Fox.
The Fox lunged at him, exhibiting a powerful jump, it's claws were stretched forth, looking to grab Kael.
"Ding!"
Beast contract formed.
Kael closed his eyes, raising his hand in a weak attempt to protect himself.
Kael slowly opened his eyes. "A—am I dead?"
Kael let out a shrill shout as he saw the Fox still very close to him, staring into his eye.
He fell backwards, scurrying away.
The Fox stared at him, then it seemed to smile. The Fox moved closer to him, in small playful steps.
Kael's eyes was wide with terror, he froze to a spot, staring at the Fox.
It came closer, then opened its mouth.
"It's about to eat me..."
Just when Kael thought it was about to bite his head off, it brought out it's tongue, licking his face with a playful smile.