The abandoned church of the All Mother stood like a forgotten sentinel in the heart of an overgrown forest. Its walls, cloaked in ivy, whispered ancient secrets to the winds that dared to wander through its broken windows. Inside, Jenn, the beast tamer, walked slowly through the dark, elongated hallway, with Jiyu, his loyal wolfhound companion and not a shoulder-mount, softly padding beside him.
"The stench here is nearly unbearable," Jiyu complained, his nose wrinkling in the dust-heavy air. The solemn silence stretched unnervingly between the dilapidated pews, only broken by the distant drip of water somewhere deep within the sacred ruins.
"It doesn't smell really good here."
"Yeah. Are you alright?"
"Hm? Why do you ask?"
"Your heart is pounding. Your anxiety is slowly rising."
"Haha! I'm fine. I'm fine, Jiyu. All we have to do is clear this place out of any dangers. If any mythic beasts are here we can tame them easily."
"I forgot the dark is something you don't really like."
"I-Im not scared of the dark! I'm just not a fan of it."
Jiyu whispered with a chuckle, "That's the same thing.."
"Shhh."
As they proceeded cautiously, a chill skittered along Jenn's spine, and inexplicably, the air around them seemed to pulse softly. This strange sensation was abruptly pierced by a vivid vision that enveloped Jenn's senses completely, plunging him into memories long buried.
'What's happening?' Jenn thought.
Jenn found himself standing as a child in the vibrant, bustling square of his small village home. Where the tribe of Kijan were. He was performing feats of strength; lifting large stones and wooden beams as the villagers cheered him on with joy and pride.
"10 years old lifting boulders and such? Yeah he's a monster. People will be scared to raid this village! Haha!"
"Yeah, with him alongside the hundreds of pets we have."
"Damn he's strong...."
"And he's pretty intelligent."
Surrounding him were various mythic pets and familiars of the village—Griffbloom Birds with their fiery plumages, tiny Frost Mice shimmering with icy fur, and majestic Terra Cats whose paws caused the ground to tremble gently with each step.
Jenn played with them, smiling and laughing, "Hey! Do you guys wanna play fetch? I just gotta..find something to throw first. Oh! How about a stick?"
The elder of the village, an aged woman clad in flowing robes, watched Jenn with a profound interest, whispering to those nearby, "He must be the one, as was promised." Her words carried a weight of expectation and hope, though Jenn as a child barely grasped their full import.
Another elder walked beside her, saying, "He has to be. We've waited a long time for this."
"Indeed we have. Thank the All Mother for this. We doubted her judgment and her words."
The vision shifted, the sun setting over the village brought the community together in a festival. Lit lanterns threw gentle light on faces young and old. Families, each with their own famicsiliar, danced around fires, their movements synchronized in a perfect rhythm, resonating with their mythical companions. The harmonious bond was palpable, as they celebrated and enhanced their Absolute Resonance through festive rituals and shared laughter.
Jenn was in the midst of it all—smiling, loved by his parents, surrounded by friends and their dancing familiar pets.
But then, the vision darkened abruptly.
Static flashes began to intersperse the happy scenes. The first jolt of static brought a gruesome sight: his family and fellow villagers lay brutally slaughtered. Vivid images of gore were shockingly clear—bodies dismembered, homes engulfed in unnatural flames that seemed to wail in agony, and the ground soaked with an ocean of crimson.
The vision flickered between scenes of joyous celebration and these horrific scenes of brutality, creating a dissonant symphony of emotions. Jenn stood frozen in the middle of the carnage, his young face a mask of horror and disbelief.
Finally, in the throes of this monstrous memory, Jenn found himself on his knees, blood-stained and shaken. Before him, a battered Jiyu stood defiantly, his body covered in wounds, fiercely protective despite his own pain. Around them, dead familiars lay as fallen guardians, their bravery stark in the stillness of death. Above, dark figures with large wings and black halos circled ominously, their presence a chilling testament to the damnation that had befallen his home.
As the vision retreated as abruptly as it had arrived, Jenn was thrust back into the reality of the dark hallway of the abandoned church of the All Mother. Tears streamed down his cheeks uncontrollably as Jiyu looked up at him with a worried expression, nudging his hand gently with his nose to offer comfort.
"Jenn?!"
Jenn wiped his eyes, saying, "Jiyu..we need to leave."
"What happened?! Are you okay?!"
"We gotta go..we gotta go.."
Jenn's heart throbbed painfully in his chest as he felt a weak grasp on his ankle. Slowly, with the weight of dread filling his senses, he looked down to see a dying Kalhalla knight sprawled on the cold stone floor of the church. Tears mingled with the dirt on his cheeks as he gasped in horror. The knight, horrifically torn in half, was bleeding profusely from his mouth and hollow eye sockets.
"I-It was a trap... it was a trap... save them... please...!", the knight rasped, his voice a haunting echo in the vast, shadowy corridor. "We thought... we thought someone was in trouble...!"
'That voice…the same knight from before…!'
As the knight's life ebbed away, leaving his hand to fall limply from Jenn's ankle, Jenn slowly raised his eyes to the darkness ahead. The chilling silence was broken by a small, eerie voice, a little girl's pleading, "Help me. Help me."
Jenn's breath caught in his throat. Red eyes began to gleam in the dark, growing brighter, their sinister light casting an ominous glow across the room. The source of the eyes slowly revealed itself—a towering Minotaur, standing a grotesque 8 feet tall, with curling black horns and a terrifying black halo floating ominously over its head. Its skin was a patchwork of black and brown, and shockingly, a human face was contorted in agony on its chest.
The Minotaur's voice morphed back from the innocent pleas of a small girl to a deep, guttural growl as it held up the horribly mangled body of another Kalhalla knight, limbs shredded beyond recognition. Around the beast, the scene was one of a merciless slaughterhouse; knights impaled brutally on spikes protruding from the walls and floor, their blood painting a grim picture against the once-sacred ground.
Cradling another deceased knight, half of his torso ripped cruelly apart, the Minotaur's eyes fixed on Jenn with a menacing glare, each step it took towards him resonating like a death knell in the haunted church.
To the side, hardly noticeable in the shadow of such a behemoth, leaned Princess Aria. Blood trickled down from a wound on her forehead, her royal garments torn and stained. Her eyes, filled with both pain and recognition, met Jenn's. "You…" she whispered faintly, a mixture of hope and desperation coloring her tone. "Get…the hell out of here…"
Jiyu exclaimed, "The princess!"
Jenn could feel the icy fingers of fear clutching his heart, his own breaths sounding loud in his ears as he stared at the carnage surrounding him. The stench of death filled the air, mingling with the metallic tang of blood and the lingering echo of the girl's haunting plea—an orchestrated lure that had led the Kalhalla knights to their doom.
In that horrific moment, the reality of the monstrous deceit and the chilling power of the dark forces at play were palpable, leaving Jenn and Jiyu standing at the threshold of despair and darkness, their next steps uncertain in the ghastly glow of the red-eyed Minotaur.
The atmosphere cracked with tension, the heavy air almost suffocating as Jenn faced the Minotaur by having a stare-down with it.. Each breath he took felt labored, his heart pounding against his ribcage like a drum of war. He stared up into the glowing red eyes of the beast, memories of his village's destruction flashing unbidden across his mind. The scene around him—a grotesque mirror of his past—fuelled a rising terror but also a simmering rage within.
The Minotaur's towering presence exuded danger; its eyes bore into Jenn, seeing him not just as a foe but as prey. Each muscle in the Minotaur's body seemed coiled, ready to unleash devastating violence at a moment's notice. The creature's black halo seemed to pulse with malicious intent, adding a supernatural dread to its already horrifying form.
Jiyu said softly, "Jenn…that Minotaur…"
Jenn said in fear, "It's a familiar…"
Jenn's gaze shifted momentarily, taking in the ghastly scene—the knights, the wounded princess, the aura of death—each detail sharpened his focus, his resolve hardening like forged steel. He could feel Jiyu's weight on his shoulder, the familiar warmth a silent reassurance amidst the chaos.
Summoning every ounce of courage, Jenn hovered on the edge of determination and despair. He knew what he had to do. "Jiyu… merge with me… Absolute Resonance—"
But before he could finish, the Minotaur acted with unholy speed, its movements a blur. With a thunderous KATHOOM, it hurled a large axe, crafted from coagulated blood, straight at Jenn's chest. The force of the impact slammed Jenn against the wall, blood spraying wildly from the contact point, staining his clothes and skin.
Pain exploded through Jenn's body, but at the same time, Jiyu's tails managed to intercept part of the axe, taking on some of the injury themselves. Together they yelled in agony and defiance, pushing back with all their might. The Minotaur, caught off-guard by their resilience, slid back several feet, a cloud of dust and debris erupting around it.
As the dust settled, there emerged a new figure from the haze—Jenn, completely transformed through Absolute Resonance with Jiyu. His eyes now spiraled with glowing red intensity, sharp fangs bared in a primal snarl. A terrifying red and black aura pulsated around his merged form, with seven ethereal tails lashing the air behind him. Intricate black lines, resembling tribal tattoos, ran across his cheeks and hands, marking him as something otherworldly, fierce.
With a low growl, Jenn dropped to all fours, his fingers elongating into razor-sharp claws. Drawing upon his own blood, mixed with the dark aura, he conjured a large, menacing scythe, held securely by one of his flowing tails.
The Minotaur, recovering, fixed its menacing gaze back on Jenn. Steam billowed from its nostrils as it took deep, heaving breaths, its malevolent aura undiminished. They stared each other down, an intense, suffocating silence hanging between them—two beings of immense power, each unwilling to break gaze.
Princess Aria, leaning against the wall, watched in stunned silence, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and amazement at the spectacle of Jenn's transformation. The Absolute Resonance had reshaped him into a figure of mythic vengeance.
Then, as if an unseen conductor had signaled the commencement of their deadly dance, both Jenn and the Minotaur screamed and charged towards each other.