"How far are we going, Noct?" Arin asked. Day had quickly passed and night was almost upon them. Nocturnis continued to walk forward, not looking back. "I can't see a thing."
"In order for you to grow stronger, you will need to fight different creatures - both Beasts and monsters." Nocturnis explained. "So, we will go to the place I have called home for all of my life."
Arin watched as the shadows pushed away, revealing light. Wisps, fireflies and the sounds of water falling filled Arin's senses. Nocturnis glanced over his shoulder before continuing forward.
Arin stepped in and watched the shadows fall behind him, closing the opening and masking the place from prying eyes. He turned and noticed a waterfall spilling into a pool to the right. It was decorated with stones of varying sizes. Lily pads with beautiful red flowers hover on top of the water as a small stream of water courses to the left into a smaller pool.
Strange trees bearing odd fruit were scattered about and a large tree similar to the Eldertree was carved open near the bottom.
"Welcome to my home." Nocturnis turned and sat in the middle of the base of the tree. "Although it might not be as comfortable as your home, you will not need to worry about predators coming in here."
Arin's eyes studied the tree house. There was a soft bundle of leaves where Nocturnis sat with an assortment of skulls scattered about.
"You collect trophies?" Arin pointed at the skulls.
"When you spend time being on the top, worthy foe show up and challenge you to fights. Their skulls are an indication of my strength." Nocturnis puffed his chest up. "There are a variety of fruit trees here you may help yourself to. Although they aren't up to my taste, it may satisfy your needs for the time being. Tomorrow we will begin our hunt and see what we can do about our connection."
"Our connection? You feel it too?" Arin asked.
Nocturnis nodded. "It feels as if a part of you is with me now, Master. I'm unsure what that means but if our fight with that Ogre made your eyes yellow and strikes black as night, there may be more to our bond that meets the eye. For now, rest and when day comes, we'll hunt."
Nocturnis stood up and started his way out the tree house.
"Where are you doing?" Arin asked.
"It is time for me to hunt." Nocturnis replied. "Do not worry. I will be back come morning. Rest."
- - -
The loud chirping of birds woke Arin from slumber. His eyes flickered open and the sun gently caressed his cheek with its golden hand. He rubbed his eyes and let a yawn out, slowly rising to a sitting position. Nocturnis quietly slept in the leafy bed in the middle of the room.
Arin wondered when Nocturnis had come back. He had succumbed to sleep shortly after he had left. He stood up and exited the tree house, bare feet being greet by the soft grass. He wiggled his toes and stretched, grunting and letting everything out.
The shadows from last night were replaced with the view of the forest around. 'How does that work?' Arin wondered as he aimlessly walked. He eventually found himself near the waterfall pool. The clear water felt heavy with magic.
"Ugh, I look gross." He touched his cheek. He had forgotten that he had ran away from home and didn't stop to eat much. As if on cue, his stomach grumbled and all of the energy he had, disappeared. "Foood…"
Arin's eyes moved to the tree off to his left. It was a medium-size tree with yellow-orange fruit on it.
'Noct did say I could eat it.' Arin plucked a fruit and sniffed it. 'Smells edible.' He took a bite out of the fruit. 'Oh, this tastes good!' He devoured the fruit in minutes and plucked another one.
By the time Arin finished eating the second fruit, he felt stuffed. "How can fruit like that be so satiating?" He rubbed his stomach and let out a burp.
Arin stood up and headed over to the pool of water. He pulled his clothes off and looked to the tree.
"I'm sure, he won't mind. It's better to keep myself clean!" Arin took a couple steps back and jumped into the pool of water with a splash. It was cool and refreshing. He let out a sigh of relief as he poked his head out from underneath the water. "It's deeper than I thought. Thankfully, those swimming lessons from Mr. Yuu paid off."
Arin treaded the water as the waterfall took his attention. The water spilled and he wondered where the water even came from. He swam over to it and felt the temperature shift. It was loud near the waterfall, but a wonderful thought appeared in Arin's head — what if he put himself underneath the waterfall?
Arin positioned himself close to the waterfall and readied himself. He swam into it and felt the immense pressure pushing down onto him, instantly dropping the brunette young man down into the water.
'How can water feel that hard?' Arin thought. He pushed himself upwards and found himself inches away from the waterfall.
"Maybe I wasn't ready for that. Let's try it again!" Arin attempted to tread underneath the waterfall but continuously failed. He lost count how many times he tried and stopped when his body eventually grew tired. He swam over to a shallow area and rested upon one of the rocks, letting out a tired breath. "Why is it so hard…?"
"I see you're attempting to tread underneath the Waterfall of Weights." Nocturnis chuckled.
"The what?" Arin asked, glancing up at Nocturnis as he trotted over. Nocturnis planted a seat near Arin and looked over at the waterfall.
"The Waterfall of Weights. It's enchanted waters that spills magical water that weighs a lot." Nocturnis replied. "Everything in this sanctuary serves a strange purpose. I never understood what the deal was with sitting underneath the waterfall, but to each their own."
"If the waterfall is enchanted, does that mean everything else in here is?" Arin tried to point over to the fruit tree he had just eaten at but couldn't. "The fruit tree over there?"
Nocturnis nodded. "The nutrients of the enchanted water are fed to everything around here so it's not out of the ordinary to assume the fruit trees are the same. Did you help yourself to some fruits?"
"I ate two normal sized fruits and grew full." Arin nodded. "I noticed the water was magical but everything makes more sense. What a strange place you live in, Noct."
"And it is your place to make yourself comfortable in, Master." Nocturnis smiled. "I was going to suggest spending some time underneath the Waterfall of Weight, but since you've done that and are satiated from the fruit, why don't we find something else to do?"
Arin sat across from Nocturnis. Nocturnis' yellow eyes seemed to stare straight into Arin with curiosity.
"So, what're we doing?" He asked Nocturnis.
"Tell me what you know about Beastlords." Nocturnis asked.
"Well," Arin cocked his head and perked his lips together for a moment. "They create contracts with Beasts after proving themselves. A Beast and a person bind together through this contract and the Beast loans a portion of its power to the person. Uh, sometimes this is being able to shapeshift into the Beast, taking on a Beastly appearance and growing their strength to match their Beast, and even being able to wield their abilities."
"It was thanks to those gods, the ones you called Forsaken, that they allowed a connection like this to happen." Nocturnis nodded. "Although, I wasn't aware a connection where we could communication is a thing, everything you've said is true."
"So what do you want to do?" Arin asked. In all of his time, he didn't learn anything on how to work with a Beast. All of his training was to hunt them, nothing more.
"We'll need to figure out this strange link we have." Nocturnis' answer was enough for Arin to understand. The two of them had a strange relationship that was above a contract. "It seems like the best way to do that would be to fight some monstrous Beasts."
"Monstrous Beasts? That's the only way to understand each other?"
"Think back to when you saved your friends. What were you feeling at that moment?"
Arin bit on his thumb as he thought aloud. "What did I feel during that time…? Fear, anxiety, a need to get there before everyone was dead. If I didn't save them, it would be a repeat of what happened thirteen years ago. I couldn't allow the knowledge the Eldertree bestowed on me to go to waste."
"You thought about saving them and only saving them. Protecting someone brings out what's underneath and I think that's what happened when we linked." Nocturnis said. "If that was a simple linking before our connection was fully established, I wonder how powerful you can be with my skills now…"