Icarth walked slower than usual while making his way through the forest. In his hands, he carried Jade in a cage. Although Icarth was deep in thought, he still stayed alert to his surroundings using his universal energy vision.
In this way, he could see the places of danger and also practice keeping his vision active.
'Why am I stuck with it?' Icarth glanced at the cage in his arms. The cage was shaped in a way such that only one side served as an exit and entrance, while the other sides were solid material, the gate was shaped with bars to allow one to see inside. While Icarth couldn't see inside due to the orientation, he had an inkling of what Jade was doing.
As expected, Jade was just sitting there slumped against the door with an aura of boredom emanating from him. Sitting there, he stared out of the only window-like structure and gazed as the foliage moved past him. He had finally been taken outside of his cage in the beast containment facility....and had been taken to the only other place he knew.
Icarth moved carefully while maintaining just enough concentration to keep his universal vision eyes active. A myriad of colors entered his vision, a plethora of blues, brow
Moving past a particularly large bush, the branches of the bush past the cage. Like lightning, Jade took hold of this opportunity to yank a handful of leaves from the bush causing it to shake violently.
Icarth stopped in his tracks and flipped the cage towards him. Glaring at Jade who was currently munching on some of the leaves, Icarth muttered under his breath, "Calm yourself..." as he checked his immediate surroundings. The colors of the verdant greens of the vegetation surrounding him and the blues, browns, reds, oranges, and many other colors of far-off beasts and predators that inhabited the forest.
Icarth scanned his vicinity vigilantly, trying to spot any reds that usually showed up when it was dangerous. But no matter how much he looked, Icarth did not see any dangerous spots in his surroundings.
Letting out a short breath, Icarth rattled the cage as silently and violently as possible for that little stunt Jade just pulled.
Shaken, Jade crunched down on the leaves as hard as he could, no longer nibbling as a regular rabbit would.
Partially satisfied, Icarth continued to snake his way through the forest, finally reaching the clearing without any issues.
'It's still hard to sustain my universal energy vision,' Icarth thought rubbing his eyes with one hand. His eyes felt hot to the touch, sending a dull pulse right into his head every second or so.
It was all due to Icarth overusing his vision that he could navigate through the forest without any hitches. The reason he did so was because his master had forbade him from fighting his way through to the clearing. It was to practice his stealth against real predators as a daily assignment. Without his vision, Icarth would usually make it through with only one or two problems, but now due to it, Icarth could make it through without any troubles.
Setting down the cage, Icarth sat down in front of his master's tree to wait for her. Laying down on his back, Icarth yawned, trying to make himself comfortable. Just as Icarth was starting to get into the right position, the cage started to rattle violently. Icarth shut his eyes, prepared to ignore it, but the rattling got louder and louder until the cage toppled over.
"Grr..Fine," Icarth relented. Sitting up, he unlocked the clasp to the door, and like a bullet Jade came barreling out. Unprepared, Icarth moved his hands to block Jade from crashing into him. Utilizing this, Jade twisted his feet forward and landed on Icarth's crossed arms. Using his gift, Jade propelled himself away with such speed that Icarth flew backward and hit the ground with a thud. Flying through the air, Jade landed gracefully and started to run around in joy, activating his gift and running around as much as he could.
Icarth blinked slowly as he stared up at the night sky from the clearing.
"Prick," Icarth mumbled under his breath. Icarth knew he could full well teach Jade a lesson, but it was just below him to do so. Hence, Icarth just resigned himself to take a nap while Jade ran around like a hyperactive child on sugar.
Just as Icarth was starting to doze off, he felt a warm breeze and the presence of his master filled the surroundings.
Sitting up slowly, Icarth greeted his master with a small yawn, "*Haaah* Master."
"My child," Icarth's master acknowledged with a rustle of leaves. Acacia waited patiently for Icarth to explain the presence of the newcomer in the clearing.
Jade had finally stopped running and had come to a stop next to Icarth at an arm's length away. Out of breath, Jade's chest heaved up and down as he laid down to rest. Just as Acacia examined him, Jade was also checking out the big tree that suddenly felt different. Determining that it wasn't a threat, Jade just closed his eyes and continued to wheeze.
"Master, this is Jade," Icarth finally explained after a short while.
"I see," Acacia acknowledged out loud.
'What a peculiar animal,' Acacia wondered in her head. When she had created this clearing, she had made it in mind to let her disciple train in peace. Hence no other beast should be allowed to come near it. The same effect should have affected the small rabbit, but here it was unaffected and even running laps around the clearing before Acacia had arrived. The more interesting part was why it didn't show an ounce of fear in Acacia's presence, but Acacia decided to probe that later.
Acacia shifted her attention back to Icarth as she waited for the 'why' in which Icarth had brought Jade to her.
Icarth sat there deep in thought, trying to figure out how to phrase his request. While Icarth had brought Jade to the Boan forest many times, it was before Icarth had been taken in as a disciple. When Icarth realized that he wasn't getting any stronger with training with Jade, Icarth stopped bringing it together with him.
'Arrgh, this is too hard.' Icarth finally stopped thinking so hard.
"Master, my gift only works on it," Icarth pointed to Jade which prompted him to open one eye lazily. Icarth had tried many times to try to merge with other beasts both in the wild and tame ones in the Beast containment facility. However, the merging process had always failed in the end with some disastrous results at the end.
"Even after merging, the only boosts are to my speed. I'm just stronger with my beast transformation," Icarth continued. He had tried to train in his merged state as well, but there was no increase in strength no matter how hard he trained.
Acacia didn't say anything and waited for Icarth to finish.
"I need to get stronger," Icarth said with a fire burning in his eyes. "And for that, I want to work on my gift, Beast Merge, as well. So master please tell me a way to remove Jade as my partner."
An uncomfortable silence descended on the clearing as Icarth's words hung heavily in the air. Acacia just stayed silent, thinking about what to do while Icarth gazed at his master for guidance. All through this, Jade continued to lay down, seemingly unaffected by Icarth's words, or just unable to understand the weight of Icarth's words.
'He's like a child,' Acacia suddenly thought as she saw Icarth gazing at her with a childlike innocence. While what Icarth requested may have seemed heartless, it was the most reasonable thing to ask in his shoes. It was just like a child who wanted a new cycle seemingly outgrown his old one.
'Oh Mother Earth, please guide me,' Acacia muttered a small prayer in her head and refocused on the awaiting Icarth.
"Child," Acacia said slowly, trying to choose her words wisely. "While I understand your desire to get stronger, I cannot let you fall onto the wrong path. Since you are unable to merge with any other being, that just means that your gift has chosen your partner for you. If you try to change or remove him, it can lead to dire consequences that you would be unable to bear."
Icarth listened attentively, his hopes sinking as he heard his Master speak.
'So I'm just stuck with it?' Icarth thought with a hint of anger. He did not doubt his Master's words, Icarth had seen and heard stories of people losing their abilities entirely due to some way that they tried to change them.
"But, it is not true that you can't get stronger with Jade," Acacia continued, putting a pause on Icarth's thoughts.
"Child, have you ever tried connecting with Jade?" Acacia asked pointedly.
Icarth stayed silent, unable to answer as he knew that the answer was no.
"That is your problem. There is not enough trust between partners," Acacia's leaves rustled.
"Only when you can both trust each other with your life in the other's hands can you finally achieve your true potential?" Acacia's leaves and branches were filled with mysterious power and wisdom that entranced Icarth and even Jade.
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Unknown to Icarth and even Acacia, a small solid black mask floated peacefully in a completely blank space. As if hearing Acacia's words somehow, the solid black mask cracked. Shuddering a crack, to a tear, and finally to a fracture in the mask revealing multiple pearly white teeth in the shape of a twisted smile.