Chereads / The Half Born / Chapter 5 - Small Chance

Chapter 5 - Small Chance

The basket with a boy meandered through the blue river, it had drifted for hours before the current started to pick up. The child was confused as to what had happened, he held onto the ruby amulet left to him by his mother. The sound of water rushing and falling could be heard, the basket trembled from the sound of the water hitting the bottom of the falls. Just as the falls came into view there was a rock just in front that could have stopped the basket from falling down however the current curved around the rock and so the child kept drifting. The basket continued, it fell down the falls which was a few dozen feet tall. For most grown humans this would have been the end, however the gods of fate seemed to have smiled upon the boy. The mist at the base of the falls began to clear up and the child with the basket could be seen floating. After a few more hours of drifting the child reached a forested area, the river narrowed and the basket hit land. The sun had nearly set and the child still confused about his surroundings stayed in the basket. A night passed and then another day, the blood from the midwife had dried from the rags of the child. The boy was thirsty and hungry yet he could not cry, it seemed that his short and harsh life would come to an end soon, but once again luck had been on his side. In the bushes the sound of something could be heard. The sounds began to get louder as the thing emitting them was getting closer to the creek. Suddenly from the bush a mana beast appeared, it was a strange being.

In the old world, the Yaomme's experimented with giving beasts magic, they believed they could erect an army of magical beasts to help fight the collation. However when animals are imbued with mana and are forced to sign a contract with a demon, they would gain a form of intelligence. At first they were no smarter than a child, however given time they could comprehend language and exchange information's and ideas with the help of a demon as its interpreter. It wasn't long before they escaped from the Yaomme. They fled to the wilderness were they bred with one another regardless of species. This lead to many different and strange animals and with this they spread throughout terra.

The mana beast in front of the child had the face and limbs of a gorilla, with the the body of a bear and the tail and claws of a tiger. The beast had approached the river to take a drink not noticing the basket until the child cooed. The beast jumped back surprised at the boy in the basket. It had thought for a moment, and then tried communicating with the child this had been the first time it had seen a human. Ever since young it had been taught to stay away from them, but looking at the helpless child had made that warning seem like nonsense. The mana beast tried to speak to the boy "Human, what are you doing here?", there was no response. It tried again "Where are your parent's, have they lost you?", once again no response. It realized that perhaps he was too young to speak, or formulate coherent thoughts that could be understood by it. The beast realized that perhaps the child had been hungry or thirsty so she got some water in a coconut bowl she had made and made the boy drink. Leo guzzled it down and the mana beast couldn't help but laugh, "You sure are a strange creature, human". The beast had notice the amulet in the basket and pondered if it was given to him by his parents. It decided to put it around the boys neck, the beast said "I am one humans call a mana beast, however I was called Elvira by those in my village.", Elvira retracted her claws and picked up the child saying "Don't worry little one, I will not harm you. I will try and find you some berries to eat, you are lucky to have survived for as long as you have mana beasts much crueler than I lurk in these woods".