Mathis froze up. What he just had done... disgusting. This wasn't him. He shivered, this was a familiar feeling. The lingering metallic taste in his mouth kept reminding him of what he just had done. His stomach churned, how he wished he had soap to wash his mouth with. Seeing the lost little creature as it tried finding its mother, his heart felt cold.
'....'Mathis couldn't formulate any thoughts.
'Look, you'll have to get used to this feeling. Being an Athanatos isn't all rainbows and butterflies. I'll never force you to... do something you don't want, but you'll see it's necessary. And-'
'Will you stop monologuing already? The last thing I need right now is your piss poor speech about life and its dark side. So shut up.' Mathis snapped.
'...' Hector silenced himself.
Mathis got up and walked towards where the kitten thing had come from, briskly walking past the frail thing. He looked at what seemed like a small nest between the roots of a giant tree. In the nest, there was another little creature. Though, this one seemed in a very bad state. It was extremely meager a was laying down, barely breathing. Just looking at it, he could tell it would not go far before dying. Taking a deep breath, he walked towards it.
Mathis crouched next to it, grabbed the hand holding the knife to steady it. In a swift moment, he ended its suffering. He got back on his feet and headed for the other little thing. It was still wobbling about on the ground, meowing for its mother. He bent down and picked it up with his left hand. He brought it to his face and started inspecting it closely. Darn was it cute. Mathis sighed at the little squirming thing and put it in the collar of his shirt. Surprisingly, the kitten held on, appreciating the body's warmth.
'Now, to sneak him in...' Mathis thought.
'??' Hector was confused.
Moments later, at the entrance of the west gate.
"Hold on sir, what do you have on your shoulders?" a guard asked a young man.
Mathis stopped in his tracks.
"Oh, that? just a beast dear I killed in the forest," he said, nonchalantly.
The guard stared at him and walked closer.
"Well... That's quite an achievement for someone your age! You'd make a terribly good hunter in the future!" He said while clapping his back.
"Haha, thank you, good sir. I'll have to go now." He said tensely.
"Of course! Have a good day!" the guard said with a big smile plastered on his face.
Mathis sighed in relief as he walked away. He carefully repositioned the corpse on his shoulder. The kitten? It was hidden inside the deer. He had cut it open and removed everything in its thoracic cage to then put the kitten inside. Luckily it fit just right. And there was air circulation. Gross, but it was just perfect.
'What are you gonna do now, Mathis?' Hector asked curiously.
'I will sell the deer corpse and then buy a special cage for the kitten.' He answered.
'Yes, but after that? Are you going to keep him?' He said curiously.
'Only temporarily, until he's capable enough to survive in the forest on its own.' Mathis answered.
Mathis made his way to the closest marketplace, which was far away, in the middle of the city, where basically everything important was. How did he know where it was? That's because of his adoptive brother. As he walked in the streets or took buses, people looked at the beast corpse on his shoulder weirdly. Didn't that guy have a bag to carry it around or something? At some point, while he was standing up in a bus, a small kid was seating next to him. At that moment, the kitten inside the deer decided to meow exceptionally loudly. Hearing it, the kid's eyes went wide.
"Mommy! That deer just meowed!" He said worriedly while tugging his mother's sleeve.
The mother barely looked at her child, not believing him for even a second. The kid felt unjust about this situation.
Later on, as Mathis had finally reached the place, he slipped into a dark desert alleyway and put the kitten behind trashcans. Hopefully, no one would notice.
So he entered the shop and set the corpse on a table. Immediately, someone hurried to inspect it.
"Did you kill it yourself?" the man asked.
"Yeah." he answered flatly.
The man inspected it closely, opening the cut on the belly.
"You emptied its thoracic cage? Why? You know, we won't pay you as high as the usual market price because of it." He warned.
"Yeah yeah I know." Mathis said, bored.
After getting the money, he bought a cage and put the cat in it. He was finally heading home when
"Boom!" Something close by exploded.
The sound was deafening, you could feel the explosion from afar. Mathis looked towards the explosion.
'Isn't that where the academy is?' he asked himself.
Curious, he went to check it out.
It was the terrorists. Ancestra had struck again. This time, to Mathis's surprise, they had destroyed magic school facilities, including the dorm for magic students at his future academy. He was quite surprised, but nothing more than that. After all, it wasn't his dorm that got exploded. Anyways, he had to get back home.
And so, he was home. Luckily, it seemed no one was there. Thus, getting the beast in was a piece of cake. Mathis lived in a very big and luxurious house. His family was actually quite wealthy. But now is not the time for family background.... so there was a perfect place to put the baby beast. A room no one in the family used. It was supposed to be the room for a hypothetical dog, but they never got any. At least, now it would not be useless anymore.
Mathis opened the cage and set the small beast free. The cat thing took hesitant steps out. It looked back with its big green eyes to Mathis.
"Meow?" it meowed.
'Okay... So like, what do I feed him? Do I need to buy a litter?'
'Well, yes, you'll need to buy a litter. As for the food... usually, the kitten would drink its mother's milk, which contains high doses of magic, but his mother is gone. But, since you ate her, her magic has become part of you... and blood is pretty nutritious. You should just feed him your blood." he answered awkwardly.
"..." Mathis was speechless.
Well, if it was the only option... Mathis shrugged and went to fetch a bowl and a knife.
....
Mathis was laying down on his bed, holding his hand above his eyes. His pinky finger was wrapped in bandages, getting a good blood flow was harder than he had thought and he ended up having to make a pretty deep cut. That day.. had been wild. But that was to be expected, right? he did have to unite humanity and save the world or some shit like that.
But there was one problem... what would happen to the kitten when he goes to the academy? it was in only two weeks. What the heck would happen then? Mathis sighed, he would see once the time comes.
Something squirmed on his chest. Mathis looked at the kitten nestling itself on his chest. He had felt bad about leaving the kitten all alone. So he had brought it with him. Not to mention it kept meowing insistently if he left it alone. So he ended up deciding to keep it with him until it was old enough to bear being alone. Mathis's hand carefully pat its head.
The cat thingy purred.
Mathis felt guilt prick his heart.
Why did this have to happen to him... a normal future would have satisfied him. Sigh... there was nothing he could do about it. He should stop thinking negatively.
....
Mathis was looking at the cat thingy blankly.
"Did you... just go invisible?" he looked at it in confusion.
"Meow?" the thing didn't understand him because it didn't speak English.
Just a few moments ago, Scally, the newly named cat thingy had just disappeared.
it had officially been a week since he had adopted Scally, and it had grown at an unbelievable rate. Every time he went for a hunt in the forest, when he came back Scally always seemed to have gained a few inches. The same thing happened every night. Now it was big like a normal cat and didn't seem to want to slow down. He was chilling in his room with scally when he suddenly disappeared. And then, reappeared straight in his face, which made him jump a little.
'It seems this beast is part of the Aecra family. Beasts that are part of that family tend to be black in color and have abilities related to assassination.' Hector judged good to inform.
'That's cool... will I be able to do that too? Like, with an evolution.' Mathis asked, hopeful.
'Maybe one day, but right now your understanding of aura and evolution is way too low for that. If you attempt it, you might accidentally go blind, or even permanently invisible.' He answered.
'Alright.' Mathis said with a tinge of deception.
He then looked at his sleeves. A week ago, that shirt still fitted him perfectly, but now it seemed a bit small.
'I won't grow taller than I'm genetically supposed to, right?' He asked interiorly.
Hector had recently explained that the interaction with magic would make him grow to his full potential in accelerate. Mathis was a bit frustrated because he'd look older than his real age, which was 18. He'd probably look 21. Though, Hector had said it wouldn't make much of a difference, except for his height, voice and body hair. Still, it kind of seemed like a bother.
'Of course not. But you will grow to your full potential, and only few people ever manage that. So you will probably be taller than average, still, you won't be a giant.' Hector assured him.
"Sigh..." This situation sure was complicated.
Though, Scally being able to become invisible was good news, since he could easily hide. So far he had been able to hide him from his family, but one day he'd probably slip up. And with his father, one slight error and it was over. But soon, he'd be able to communicate with Scally through aura and tell him to go invisible.
Recently Mathis had been training to speak aura, and so far it was going good. Soon, Scally would learn too and they'd be able to communicate. it would all be okay.