I had no idea where we were going. All I could tell was that we’d just left the Bastion and that we were on a ship—a flying ship!
Looking around the hall, it was clear no one knew what was going on. Even Daniel’s eyes were wide in surprise. Then again, what truly surprised him was seeing his uncle, Merlin Zerog. I doubt anyone expected a powerhouse like him to be here.
A deep, impatient bellow rang out beside Daniel and a small bull’s head pressed firmly into his side, demanding attention. He turned to the youngest member of his team—a young bull clad in violet fur, crackling with currents of electricity.
“I shouldn’t disturb him,” I muttered to Aureus, even though I wanted to talk to him, figure out if he knew something about this whole ‘flying ship’ debacle, but Daniel clearly needed some time with his new companion.
My gaze drifted across the cadets and the young beasts the Camp had prepared for them to bind, and it brought a smile to my lips. The Camp’s gift was a great success, and it seemed to distract most cadets from the seriousness of the situation.
“What do you think will happen now, buddy?” I asked, turning to the two-meter-long Earthheart. His black scales glinted like well-polished metal as they clattered excitedly, his vibrant golden eyes lingering on me.
Fun!
A mixture of excitement and joy flowed through our bond, and I had to try very hard to remain stone-faced.
Aureus was more intelligent than most Awakened Soulkins. In terms of physical strength he was average, at best, but the Earthheart had always been more brains than brawn. That was the case when Aureus was still a Soilback, and I highly doubted it would change in the future. After evolving to an Earthheart, his trait grew even stronger, further augmenting his mental attributes: attributes that helped me enter the Camp.
Paralyse, the trait born from his mutation, and the Minor Earthen Aspect that manifested when he evolved into an Earthheart, allowed me to rank high enough in the combat exam to make the cut. If not for that, I wouldn’t be here—wherever here was.
The Camp.
I knew I had made it into the Camp. This year’s Camps would combine and form into a Grand Camp. What exactly that meant was still unclear. Clearly, the Council expected a lot from this year’s generation of cadets, or we wouldn’t have been rewarded with new Soulkins—beasts that fit perfectly to our Worlds.
I flinched when a mighty roar tore through the hall. It echoed through flesh and bones, and my first instinct was to freeze in my tracks. My mind went blank, and I didn’t dare move until the pressure woven into the roar dispersed.
“W-What was that?” I gasped, my head flicking left and right for answers, only to find I wasn’t alone in my confusion. Everyone looked around—some anxiously, others confused.
A rustling rang through the hall just as the whispering voices of the cadets threatened to erupt into a cacophony of panic. It sounded like someone tapped a microphone, which was enough to silence everyone.
“Dear cadets, do not panic. Leave the troublesome parts of the journey to the crew and relax. Enjoy the journey and strengthen the bond with the newest addition to your family,” a deep, hollering voice resounded from all directions. “Some Soulkins are difficult to get used to, but rest assured, they can be tamed—even if it may take some time. Regardless, if you believe you cannot handle your young troublemakers just yet, keep them in your World to establish a firm bond first. Make sure not to endanger your fellow cadets and their young Soulkins!”
The announcement ended with another tap on a microphone. A moment later, a strong suction force struck the hall, and the oxygen was drained from the surroundings. It returned a few seconds later, alongside atmospheric ether… a lot of it.
There was more atmospheric ether than there’d been in the Bastion’s main sector. Even the ether density of the Oridon Mountains, an Awakened Zone near my Bastion, didn’t feel this potent.
Once again, I questioned our destination, but I doubted I’d get the answers I wanted.
As long as the Grand Camp is located in one of the Bastions, I’ll be fine.
Being torn away from my family without so much as a proper warning left a sour taste in my mouth. Was it really that hard to tell the cadets that we would leave the Bastion? It felt unnecessarily cruel, but there was no crying about it. The flying ship had already departed, and it wasn’t like I was going to leap out to get back to my parents.
I knew I wasn’t going to see my parents for a while, I reminded myself as I ruffled my long, disheveled hair before combing it into a man-bun.
Message!
“I know. I can message them as long as we’re in a Bastion,” I nodded at Aureus’ one-word reminder. “The Grand Camp will have some sort of communication system. There’s no way they’ll cut all communication with the Bastions.”
Sometimes—more often than not—it felt like Aureus was more intelligent than I. He might only be able to talk in one-word sentences, but I didn’t think for one moment that the silence would last long. And that was a problem. How was I supposed to live once I had a chatterbox talking my ears off—Daniel—while another one echoed in my mind? Ignoring Daniel was one thing—it was feasible. Doing the same with Aureus... I doubted I’d be able to do that.
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Trapped!
Yeah, I was trapped. I most certainly was, and it was frightening—but also exciting.
Aureus’ emotions surged through the bond and squashed my anxiety before it could settle. In the same instance, he reinforced my excitement, bringing a smile to my lips.
“I think our time in the Grand Camp will be interesting.”
Together!
“Yes, together.” I nodded, my senses reaching out for a second, weaker bond. “Alongside our new family member.”
Aureus’ excitement diminished rapidly as he remembered that we were no longer alone—that I, too, had been rewarded by the Camp. I reached for the beast egg resting in my World and filled the bond with joy and anticipation, hoping it would hatch soon. The World rippled, but it was Aureus’ doing. He tried to reach the beast egg through our bond, but his deep voice filling my mind instead
Take. Your. Time.
***
Everyone was busy tending to their Soulkins, except for Scott, myself, and a few Blessed I didn’t know. Then again, I didn’t know Scott very well either. We met on the morning of the combat exam, but I kind of liked him. He was a good guy—a good person to become friends with. And that friend looked like he needed some help.
Scott’s face was hard—pained, even – and I couldn’t blame him. While the Camp officials rewarded the cadets with young beasts befitting their Worlds, he was excluded. Everyone was given a Soulkin to bind, except for Scott. He was given a vial instead, which did little to lift his mood.
Scott stepped out of the hall, his expression impossible to read. I followed without a second thought, storing Aureus back in my World. The Earthheart wanted to stay, but I forced him to spend some quality time with the beast egg we’d selected together. Aureus was not a particular fan of the beast egg, but he’d helped me anyway. And now he had to get used to sharing space in my World with someone else.
You’re used to cramped spaces, aren’t you?
My World had always been small, to say the least. That had changed since I bound Aureus six months ago, but all the training for the Camp under the Zerog family’s wings hadn’t changed one thing: my World was cramped. Aureus evolved not too long ago, and I was lucky enough to advance to an Adept. If not for that, my World would have been too small to endure the strain of being bonded with an Earthheart. It had been a painful ordeal, but both Aureus’ evolution and my advancement had been necessary.
If not for… everything that happened in the last six months, I wouldn’t be here—in a flying ship, of all things.
My hair stood on end as I walked upstairs, following Scott until I stepped out onto the deck of a literal ship. Dark wooden planks unraveled before my eyes, followed by three towering masts, sails that hissed and fluttered in the breeze whistling through the antique-looking structure, and so many more things I had only seen once in a museum.
“Something feels wrong here,” I muttered to myself, my eyes drifting to the clouds around us. “Shouldn’t ships ride on water rather than clouds?”
Even if I’d only seen a ship once in a historical museum, I was reasonably confident I remembered correctly. Then again, I didn’t even know any vessels that carried enough to require the assistance of a ship. A small lake in the middle of the Windbloom Forest popped into my mind, but no one would use a ship this massive to cross it. The ship sailing in the clouds may as well be longer than the lake.
The surrounding winds wound up and grew stronger, but they were not as cold as expected. If anything, they carried some warmth. I turned left toward a flicker of translucent light that rippled across the entire ship. Several people, too old to be cadets, appeared on the deck. Some nodded to me, but most ignored my existence, so I ignored them as well. I carefully watched the translucent barrier surrounding the boat and approached Scott. He leaned against the railing and stared into the wide-open sky, but turned around before I could say anything.
He smiled at me, yet it never reached his eyes.
“You don’t have to force it,” I blurted out, even before a ‘Hello’ escaped my lips.
Scott’s smile faded, replaced by a sense of distance and coldness. He remained silent and turned back to the railing, leaning over, eyes flicking from one spot to another. Curious where he was looking, I approached the railing as well—but I wish I hadn’t done that.
First, I couldn’t see the ground. We were so far in the sky that the lands of Razarn vanished into thin air. Then there were the avian beasts flying beneath the ship.
Since when are there beasts?! I shuddered, lingering on the massive creatures that flew alongside us rather than attacking the ship.
“Are those Soulkins?” I asked in a high-pitched voice, but Scott wasn’t listening. He was in his own world of thoughts, and that was fine. If the beasts around us had been wild, they would have attacked the ship. I highly doubted the translucent shimmering barrier was strong enough to endure the barrage of a dozen beasts with claws and fangs that were longer than Aureus.
“I can bind Monarchs,” was the first thing Scott said after my wildly beating heart calmed down. It’d take a while to get used to the flying beasts around us, especially the massive, silver-winged eagle that was nearly as colossal as the adult Mistrals had been.
“Huh?” My mind snapped back to its senses, and my head flicked to Scott, half-certain I misheard.
I had never seen a Monarch, and I highly doubted I ever wanted to. Monarchs were the equivalent to Rulers, and our Rulers were the sole reason humanity was still alive. They were powerful, for the lack of a better word.
“I can bind Monarchs,” Scott repeated himself, albeit reluctantly. “Theoretically, at least. Obviously, my body cannot handle the strain of binding a Monarch. And…” He clenched his fists and grit his teeth. “And there aren’t any suitable beasts for me. My World’s requirements are… tough.”
Scott shook his head, his eyes locked on the emptiness at the horizon. “Not even World Aspects work on me. That’s ridiculous, don’t you think?”
I didn’t know much about World Aspects. If anything, I knew close to nothing about them. The only thing I was sure about was that World Aspects broke the laws of the world—the inner World. At least, that was what the Zerogs had mentioned when they talked about Aspects, and how extraordinary they were. It was also the sole reason they helped me—to acquire an Aspect for their son, my best friend.
“That is… odd. I thought—” Scott didn’t let me finish.
“The Rulers have already tried it with multiple Aspects, and my World rejected all of them.” He glanced at the squeaking squirrel standing on his shoulder and regarded her intently as she patted his neck with tiny paws. “If not for Destiny, I would be…” He shook his head.