Theo Welf's Perspective:
The ringing of bells sounded through the air of the main village.
It was a sound I grew accustomed to hearing during invasion training, but there wasn't any training happening today.
As I raced to gather my belongings, pushing my younger sister Chelsea to do the same, I heard distant yells and explosions echoing through the town.
We lived near the northern side of the main village, and from the noise of the bells, it sounded like someone had breached the north entrance.
Chelsea was slow to pack her belongings. She was six and had only experienced a few invasion practices.
I tried to rush her, and luckily, she reluctantly picked up the pace.
Our parents ran a shop near the southern part of town, and we needed to get there immediately.
After Chelsea had finished packing, I grabbed her by the wrist and headed for the exit. As I creaked open the wooden door, I stuck my face through the crack and inspected the outside.
Our house wasn't on the main street but a side street east of the north entrance.
After inspecting the surroundings directly outside of our house, I pushed the door open all the way and pulled Chelsea out behind me.
We turned right out of the door and moved down the street as the sound of destruction grew louder behind us.
Chelsea tried to shield her ears from the screams, thunderous booms, and clangs of metal in the distance, but I continued to drag her along.
We needed to move.
I swiftly walked along the cobblestone roads towards the family's shop when I heard Chelsea speak up behind me.
"Teo, why is it burning?" With her free hand extended, she asked, pointing towards the enormous tower of smoke located near the north entrance.
Stunned by the smoke I had failed to notice, I replied, "I-I'm not sure, Chelsea, maybe Mom and Dad will know? We should find them."
Chelsea nodded as I dragged her along.
An explosion that shook the floor of the town knocked the two of us over. Following the blast was a putrid smell and the falling of ash.
The towering smoke now blocked out the sun above the Beast Tribe as ash continued to fall.
Picking Chelsea up off the ground, I picked our pace up and continued through the empty streets.
It seemed that most of the Beast Tribe members were currently fighting our invader or invaders.
It felt unlikely that a singular person would attack the Beast Tribe, but I wasn't sure because of the circulating news about a remaining Fire Tribe member.
Crossing another intersection, I looked down the road to my right just in time to see a carriage explode into flames, burning four people aboard.
I quickly dragged Chelsea across the road, keeping her on my left to block her view of the carnage.
I needed to get Chelsea to our parents safely.
That was all I wanted to do.
The explosions seemed to follow us as we continued forward. Almost as if the intruder explicitly chased us.
Chelsea stumbled to the ground behind me following another explosion, dangerously close this time.
"Come on, Chelsea!" I spoke, my voice shaking in fear.
As Chelsea started to her feet, another explosion knocked both of us to the ground. I stared down the road that led to our house.
Chelsea was on the ground in front of me, exhausted, while I was sitting on my rear, eyes locked on the intersection we had just crossed.
A spiral of flames threw a carriage across the intersection, briefly flashing through my field of vision.
Following the carriage was a boy. He landed delicately in the middle of the intersection, facing away from the airborne carriage.
I stared awestruck at the boy holding a blindingly white blade that made his silver hair look dull.
As the boy looked forward, not even peeking in our direction, I knew this was our only chance.
Picking up Chelsea and throwing her on my back, I moved as fast as I could away from the intruder.
It wasn't a run, but it was faster than walking.
'Please let at least Chelsea survive this. She has so much life to live. Please.'
'Please Beast God.'
'Please.'
I had run with my eyes closed; I briefly opened them and looked over my shoulder.
Meeting my gaze was a pair of piercing yellow pupils that sat on the boy's face, lightly covered with silver hair.
I whipped my head back around as I continued to plow forward.
'We shouldn't have packed. We should have just run.'
As I screamed at my legs to carry my younger sister and me to safety, I felt a searing pain across my back.
My vision started to blur as tears filled my eyes. I collapsed to the ground; the only thing I could see was a dancing orange and red.
'I hope Chelsea is okay.'
~~~
Maria Vulk's Perspective:
A new guard burst into the meeting room.
"The intruder has progressed significantly into the city! He's nearing the city center; this building!" He yelled upon entrance.
I pointed directly at him, "You, gather as many guards as you can and fortify this building. You will keep the intruder at bay while we find our remaining Beast Tamers and launch a counterattack."
The guard saluted me and ran out the door he had come through.
I stared at the other council members who were either deep in thought or frantically looking for solutions.
Our dirt-brown communication crystal sat in the middle of the circular table.
Staring at it, I thought about what we could do.
'So, the last Fire Tribe member has come to bring his judgment on the Beast Tribe? Fucking cocky bastard.'
Thinking about our current situation, I reorganized my thoughts, 'His cockiness does seem to be based upon something, though. He's successfully breached our entrance and demolished a lot of our infrastructure.'
I cursed internally when councilman Leon spoke through gritted teeth, "If this is the same bastard that killed Andreas in the colony, we need to attack now."
Murmurs of agreement swept through the room.
"I agree that we need to revolt, but at the moment," I started, "we need Beast Tamers. He's demolishing our contractor force."
Another wave of murmurs flooded the room before councilman Leon spoke again, "Then why are we waiting? Let's get all of the Tamers now!" He shouted, slamming his fist onto the table.
"Councilman Leon," I spoke placatingly, "we are finding the Beast Tamers as we speak."
Leon continued to mutter to his friends beside him as he brushed off my reply.
'This Fire Tribe member is demolishing all of our plans.'
A few moments of mutters and side conversations continued before an explosion shook the building we were inside.
Some council members screamed while others remained silent.
I sat silently, waiting for another guard to burst through the door and report back.
However, someone other than a guard flew through the door.
It was one of our Beast Tamers, Frank Hent.
Hent sputtered as he entered, "The intruder has breached the city center. The council guards are currently fighting a losing battle in front of this building."
Before any other council members could speak, I asked a question, "Have you located any other Beast Tamers?"
"Not yet. I believe Jon is on his way here with Miggs and Leon."
"Perfect," I sighed, "fetch your beasts from the cellar if you haven't already and join forces with the guards out front. Try and stall for time before the other Tamers get here."
Frank Hent saluted the room before leaving to do his assigned task.
I scanned the room and noticed a few relieved faces, but my eyes stopped on Leon's face.
His expression was nowhere near relieved. He looked even more anxious than before. I assumed it was at the mention of his second son going into battle, but what could he do. Tomas Leon was a talented Tamer and fighter. He needed to help his Tribe right now.
Sighing at the situation, I looked up towards the roof of the dome-shaped meeting room.
Across the ceiling was an elaborate mural of man's first Beast God contract. It depicted an open plain with a man surrounded by beasts clutching the dirt-brown crystal directly below the painting.
It was an incredible piece and made me lose focus many different times.
However, this time, it was causing me to think of a new question.
'Did the council do the right thing?'
'Should we have gone against the Beast God and tried to befriend the Fire Tribe?'
I couldn't shake the feeling that ultimately, the decision to help destroy the Fire Tribe would bring about the downfall of the Beast Tribe.
As I continued to think about whether or not I had made the right decision, I noticed councilman Roppings with the same expression on his face, the two of us, way too old to be making these decisions anymore.
'So,' I thought, 'you're feeling it too, Otto?'
~~~
Jon Hent's Perspective:
Ellie Miggs and Tomas Leon were both following closely behind me on their beasts.
There were three of us, each riding a beast, with a dozen beasts behind us.
Each of us bonded with five beasts and made up the attacking force of a regular battalion.
As we charged through the streets, passing civilians running in the opposite direction, we headed towards where the smell of battle was the worst.
In the middle of town, the square in front of the council building reeked of blood and burnt flesh.
When we arrived at the square, we stopped at the top of a nearby building, staring down into the courtyard.
There, positioned in the middle, was a boy with silver hair, a pitch-black blade next to him, sitting calmly on top of a mountain of corpses.
The pile of corpses seemed made up of council guards and their beasts, but I immediately recognized the wolf the boy was sitting on at the top.
It had the distinct black stripe through its side, a trait of Frank's primary bond.
Rage started to boil up inside of me as I searched the mountain for Frank's body.
My eyes darted fervently across the corpses looking for any identifiable portion of Frank's body.
That was when my eyes slowly started climbing the mountain before I stopped at the tip of the boy's black sword.
He had stabbed the sword into a corpse nearby and, as the boy stood up, he yanked it out of the corpse to face us.
The corpse he had pulled it out of was face down in the pile, but I was confident it was Frank's body. Defiled and disrespected atop the mountain of slain Beast Tribe members.
Disgusted at the intruder's actions, I brandished my sword and looked at the other two Beast Tamers next to me.
Ellie nodded as she met my gaze as Tomas did the same thing.
Tomas wielded a sword and a shield while Ellie used a decently sized morning star and occasionally a bow for long-range attacks.
The three of us had fought together before, but it was only in training. We didn't have nearly as much experience as the intruder below us.
The three of us each directed a wolf forward. Three of our wolves charged towards the intruder, as he almost looked disappointed in our strategy.
We were further enraged by the boy before us and charged behind the three wolves, picking up the rear with our other nine wolves.
I leaped off my wolf and charged towards the boy who had swiftly cut off the heads of two of the first three wolves.
I timed my attack to match with the third wolf. I swung my sword at the boy's open left side as the wolf attempted to sever his extended right arm at the elbow with its enormous jaws.
Suddenly, a yellow flash filled my vision, and hot blood sprayed across my face, briefly blocking my eyes as I swung my blade through.
I cleared the blood out of my eyes with a sleeve as my blade connected with solid metal.
Once I could see, I first noticed a significant pool of blood beneath our feet, expanding from the neck of the now-dead wolf that had been next to me.
The second thing I noticed was the boy's black blade against mine. His sword was in his right hand, and I could only assume he had decapitated the wolf and blocked my attack in one smooth motion.
Almost stunned in disbelief at the speed at which he reacted, I immediately withdrew my sword and jumped back to our pack, letting Ellie and Tomas jump forward, attacking with Tomas on the left and Ellie on the right.
Ellie brought her morning star down, aimed directly at the boy's silver hair, while Tomas swung his blade diagonally across the boy's front.
Before Tomas had brought his blade down, the intruder quickly stepped past his incoming blade path, out of harm's way, before his sword erupted into a blinding white.
Tomas' blade passed harmlessly behind the boy as he drew a bright white line in the air, connecting and slicing through the chain on Ellie's morningstar.
Her spiked ball carried its momentum over the boy's head and into the unprepared Tomas.
Ellie had struck at the intruder with the intent to flatten his head, but he took advantage of that, sending her attack directly at her ally.
The metal ball flew through the air, whistling with its force, before embedding itself into the side of Tomas' head—I assumed—killing him on impact.
With the death of their leader, Tomas' remaining four wolves exploded towards the intruder, giving Ellie room to retreat and try and find a new weapon.
Once Ellie had found a slightly chipped sword and scavenged it from the ground, the boy had already finished off Tomas' wolves.
A sinking feeling of despair started to overwhelm me.
'Are we going to die here?'
'How many Beast Tribe members would it actually take to kill this man? We surely weren't enough. Do we have more people coming? Even then, would they be any help?'
My mind raced through thoughts as it tried to keep me alive while both Ellie and I sent a wolf after the boy.
Again, almost effortlessly, the boy dispatched the wolves and stayed in his position.
Ellie and I now each had our primary bond, along with two final wolves.
There were six wolves and two of us.
Looking at Ellie, I realized both of us had concluded the same thing; we would not survive this.
The boy, as if he had noticed our change in demeanor, finally moved from his position.
However, it was a movement neither of us could track.
The boy appeared in front of Ellie in a yellow flash as the two of them slid past me.
I turned my head over my shoulder to see the boy pull a bloody fist out from Ellie's chest before dropping her corpse onto the ground.
He was no longer holding his sword, yet, when Ellie's remaining three wolves attacked him, he seemed to kill them faster with his fists.
The boy looked up at me through his silver bangs. His fists were covered in blood and hanging by his side as he stared into my eyes with bright yellow pupils.
As I shakily raised my sword, overcome by fear, I sent my remaining three wolves at him.
One flash of yellow scored my vision with the sickening sound of blood splattering and bones crunching.
Then a second yellow line, the crunching of bone, and blood pooling on the ground.
Finally, a third yellow line appeared in my vision, and I dropped my sword before falling onto my rear.
The boy wrenched his fist out of my primary bond's neck before letting its corpse fall behind him.
He slowly approached me before stopping and looking me up and down.
I was shaking in fear, but the boy crouched in front of me.
"Are you somehow related to a Beast Tribe member named Andreas?" He asked.
Stunned by the question, I stared blankly for a second before replying, "Uh, y-yes, he's my older brother."
The boy crouching in front of me put a hand on my shoulder, "Oh," he said, "well, he died to my hand too, so it only makes sense."
The boy smiled before another yellow flash filled my vision, and everything went silent.
~~~
Otto Roppings' Perspective:
The silver-haired boy entered the dome-shaped room quietly. The council members had sat in silence as his footsteps approached; all of us diplomats and none fighters.
When he arrived in the room, he seemed almost shocked at our business-like demeanor.
Councilman Leon spoke first, well, more accurately yelled, "Are you the bastard that demolished our colony and killed my Andreas!?"
After Leon spoke first, he subsequently died first.
The boy disappeared from the entrance of the room and appeared behind councilman Leon's chair.
The boy stabbed a black blade through the back of his chair and into the councilman's left lung, receiving harsh gasps from other council members.
Councilman Leon coughed blood onto the circular table before slumping forward, face-first into his blood.
The boy sheathed his sword before speaking, "Hello, my name is Cato; I have come to kill all of you regardless of whether you assist me or not," he paused before leaning into the middle of the table, plucking the communication crystal from its place.
Councilman Knov had been silent but erupted at the sudden removal of the communication crystal, "You dare pick up the Beast God's communication crystal! That is a sacred obje—"
In a blur of yellow light, Councilman Knov's head fell behind his chair, his headless corpse slumping onto the table.
Cato made a slight sound as he resheathed his sword, the only indication he had moved at all, before continuing, "As I said, I will kill you all regardless, now who is going to help me; just raise a hand."
For a moment, no one sitting at the table moved. As everyone remained motionless, seemingly content with their deaths, I slowly raised a hand.
"Great!" Cato exclaimed, "What's your name?"
"Otto Roppings," I replied.
The boy motioned towards the exit before speaking, "Great to meet you, Otto, please wait by the door."
I slowly backed my chair away from the table and maneuvered my way around the table, noticing the obvious dirty looks the other council members had shot me. However, Councilwoman Vulk looked as if she was contemplating something deep in her mind.
Cato then spoke again, "Last call folks, is it only Mr. Roppings?"
As Cato began to sigh as none of the council members moved, Councilwoman Vulk sheepishly raised her hand.
"Great!" Cato said before giving Vulk the exact instructions he had given me.
As Councilwoman Vulk walked up to me, the two of us stood silently by the door.
Cato began to walk back towards us, shaking his head, "What a shame," he said before closing the meeting room doors behind us.
Vulk and I locked gazes before looking back at the strange boy named Cato, who had led us out of the room.
Cato, smiling at us, placed his palm on the closed-door before the hinges exploded, the door flying into the room, followed by a sea of orange flames.
After he had sufficiently crispened the other council members, he dusted his hands and spoke, "Shall we continue?"
Vulk, retching in the hallway behind me, didn't respond, so I did, "Let's go someplace else, yes?"
The three of us came into another meeting room, smaller than the last and shaped like a cube.
A small circular table with four chairs around it sat in the middle of the stone room.
Cato sat in a chair as Vulk, and I sat across from him.
I spoke first, "What do you want to know? I will try and answer anything I can."
The boy thought for a moment before speaking, "Well, for starters, I might as well let the two of you know a little about me."
Vulk and I, equally shocked by his demeanor, let the boy speak.
"Obviously, I'm from the Fire Tribe and the last survivor of the Fire Tribe. Right now, after destroying the Nature Tribe's home village, I have come here, set on destroying the Beast Tribe next."
The boy stopped after disclosing that information, assessing our expressions with his piercing gaze.
"Alright," I started, "what do you want to know?"
Vulk was still silent, most likely processing how this boy had demolished the home village of the Nature Tribe.
"Why did you attack the Fire Tribe?" The boy asked.
I replied immediately, "The council agreed with the Beast God that the Fire Tribe needed to be eradicated."
I continued, "Apparently, the deities deemed the Fire Goddess unfit to continue living in this world."
The boy suddenly spoke, "But why? Why did the deities think the Fire Goddess was unfit to live? That the Fire Tribe had to die?"
I sighed, "That Cato of the Fire Tribe, I am not sure of."
Vulk abruptly spoke up, blurting her words out, "I remember the Beast God saying something about imminent destruction if we kept her alive."
Cato and I both turned towards Vulk, stunned at her sudden message.
The boy who had killed the rest of the council suddenly burst out laughing, splitting the silence that Vulk had made.
"Sorry," he apologized, "I just think it's funny how destruction was imminent when her Tribe was alive, but now look at where that got you." He continued to laugh as he slapped the table we were sitting around—Vulk and me, awkwardly silent.
He wiped a tear from his eye as he chuckled briefly before talking again, "Well, I guess neither of you knows very much. What you said," he pointed towards Vulk, "was good enough information for now. I'll learn more from the Ocean God's people."
Stunned by his message, Vulk and I sat in silence as he left towards the exit, waving goodbye and closing the door behind him.
I looked at Vulk across the table; she was crying, tears falling onto the marble we sat around.
I closed my eyes and held her hand as an abrupt temperature change swept through the room, sending my vision into a red and orange-filled scene.