Beastforged Bond

B4 Chapter 43

They had been found. Four months ago, the Ruler of Fire learned about Adam and the Elemental Phoenix. He was furious. His rage and eagerness to meet Adam knew no bounds. The Agency Head made that much clear to Merlin, even if he didn’t really need that information. The Magma Dragon’s descent in the Bastion, and the destruction it caused to the land that had once been the foundation of the Zerog estate, made that much clear as day.The Seekers had been deployed. Their forces searched the Bastions for Adam’s ether frequency. They searched for him in the Warden’s reserve unit, inspected the Beast Temple thoroughly, and even searched for him at Bert’s home.

The latter turned out to be the most dangerous. Since Bert’s shop, equipment, and expertise had been required for the last year, he couldn’t disappear like the rest of the Zerog family. He stayed behind after filing a missing person report regarding Adam Savier. While the missing report had been more of a safety measure, it turned out crucial when the Seekers arrived to question Bert for hours on end.

Using traits that allowed them to discern falsehood, the Seekers discovered that Bert truly didn’t know where Adam was. Only that he left the Bastion nearly ten months earlier to help his friend hunt a beast.

That was when the Seekers’ attention drifted more and more toward the Zerog family. Their children left the Bastion with Adam. They too went missing–the whole family. Suspicious of the turn of events, especially after the Zerog estate’s collapse and the dissolution of the companies the Zerog family had funded for generations, the Seekers sought them.

They failed. They didn’t find anyone for months, the Zerog family’s ether frequencies were restrained. They kept a low profile, or, as most Seekers believed, they left the Bastion.

Their search spread out to the other Bastions, but nobody was found. That was until the day the beasts in the Sanctuary sensed the birth of a new Monarch. It sent them into a sprawling fit, informing the authorities that something was going on. But none of the known Grandmasters managed to advance their Overlord to a Monarch. An achievement of such a grand scale would have been celebrated all across the Bastion, yet nobody knew what had happened or who was responsible for it.

The Ruler of Peace grew suspicious but remained silent. The same could not be said for his guest, the Ruler of Fire.

Raffael Torch sensed something amiss and jumped into action.

The birth of a new Monarch bound to a Blessed was supposed to be a happy occasion. It suggested the awakening of yet another Ruler that would strengthen mankind’s defense.

Instead, it was the first sign of a calamity. Of the day that would change everything.

***

[Agency Head: You need to leave. Now!]

Merlin’s expression was already grim even before he read the notification, but his body was being torn apart and renewed all at the same time. The last two months had been full of torture. Dirk’s evolution concluded. His racial limit increased drastically, and so did his strength. Neither the wyvern nor his crippled body existed any longer. What remained was something much greater.

And Merlin had to adjust to it. First to the empowerment granted by such a mighty, mythical creature, only for Dirk to follow up with a breakthrough. He initiated the creation of his Runic Heart.

The process was slow. It took time, energy, and resources, and Dirk spent months doing so. And when the wyvern was finally done, he officially entered the ranks of the Monarchs.

He became a powerhouse. And so did Merlin, who had spent just as long as his Soulkin adapting to the ever-increasing power flowing through his veins.

A Monarch and a Ruler. Merlin and Dirk finally accomplished their goal. It was only one of the requirements to fulfill the promise they gave each other all those years ago, but it was something they had nearly given up on. It had been too difficult for a long time, but they made it. They acquired the strength needed to fight those who took everything away from them.

Finally…

And now they had to leave. Flee.

It didn’t sit right with either of them, but they hadn’t been given enough time to consolidate their power. Dirk may have evolved and advanced to a Monarch beast, but he had yet to learn to wield his power. There was so much the beast had yet to learn, but time was a luxury they could not afford.

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Merlin retracted his Soulkin into his bulging World. The soul crystals within his World were on the verge of bursting, but that was yet another issue Merlin Zerog would have to solve later. He pressed down hard on his World, forcing it to work as intended, and not to break just yet.

Then he rushed to their safe house. He was glad to see everyone was present, their heads whipping around, as he reunited with them after months.

Merlin hadn’t spoken to his family, let alone Adam’s family, for months. He made sure to stay away from them ever since his sister and brother-in-law warned the children about the Detonator nine months ago. He protected them, laid out false tracks with the Agency’s help, but now he had returned. That could only mean one thing.

“Did they find us?” Chloe Zerog asked, her voice steadier than anyone else in the room looked. Peter cursed quietly into the short beard he’d grown over the last few months, and Adam’s parents blanched.

“Yes. We need to leave. !” Merlin nodded sharply, sending everyone to gather their belongings.

Not even a minute later, they were out of the house and ready to leave the Bastion behind. For the time being, until Adam and the others were back, and Merlin and his Soulkin had gotten used to their power. Before that, it would be foolish to fight, even if they might not be able to avoid it.

Fleeing now was risky, but–

“FUCK!” Chloe screamed out loud.

She stood in front of the door, frozen, eyes locked on the holographic screen they’d installed on the wall days after the Detonator went off.

It showed a forum of the Nexus. An inactive forum with less than a dozen members. Most of them had been inactive for years. Just like a member with the username SugarSweetDreamBaby, which had just gone online after more than a decade of silence. The user sent an emoji into the forum, a blue tree, before going offline once more.

“What does that mean?” Adam’s father asked when Merlin and Peter Zerog stopped moving as well.

“That was Lea. She always hated that name.” Peter Zerog grunted.

While not perfect, the forum, the usernames, as well as the emoticons they taught to all children of the Zerog family were perfect measures for anonymous communication. As for the blue tree, it meant one thing.

“They’re back.” Merlin felt like cursing out loud. “The kids returned.”

At the worst possible time.

***

Raffael Torch was fuming. It had been months since he saw the video of Adam fighting an Outsider, and he still couldn’t quite believe it.

Adam, the young Blessed who wasn’t even all that special, had bonded with the Elemental Phoenix. How that happened, Raffael didn’t know. It didn’t matter either. He just wanted to know since when Adam and the phoenix had bonded and how strong their bond was.

If it was too strong, separating them would be more problematic. And if Adam had already been bonded to the phoenix when they left the underground cave, it would beg the question of how he concealed it from Raffael’s Soulburn Scry technique. It may only be a cheap replica of the techniques the older civilizations and their Spirits used when they bred humans with suitable and highly nutritious Worlds, but the technique never failed him before.

Many questions swirled through the Ruler of Fire’s mind, but they dispersed with the rage that filled his heart.

Adam should have never bonded with the Elemental Phoenix. The phoenix belonged to the Ruler of Fire. It was his legacy, and the very power he needed to make sure that the wars would end.

Mankind would regain a foothold in Razarn after they spent thousands of years suppressed. It was time to change that, yet the Elemental Phoenix and Adam especially obstructed him.

He cursed himself, fueling the fire in his heart and his World.

His World was set ablaze. It boiled and augmented the flames of his Soulkins. If only it could hold more than two Soulkins, it would have been incredibly powerful. Honestly, even if it could hold two Soulkins of the same Rank, it would have been strong enough to grant Raffael Torch the power needed to fight the Outsiders.

Alas, the Outsiders were too strong to deal with as a regular Ruler. He needed more power. Mankind needed more power. To destroy the shackles the old generations had cast upon them, and to escape the Spirits’ control.

His father had laid the first stepping stone to achieve that, and now it was his turn to use the foundation his father had created to escape mankind’s shackles.

Raffael first, and mankind next, maybe. If mankind did not fall back to their old, weak––ways.

Centuries of life taught the Ruler of Fire a lot. It showed just how complacent humans could grow in safety. They didn’t even recognize the golden cage that kept them imprisoned.

That was yet another reason he and his people had instigated the hunt for the Elemental Phoenix and other Emperor beasts. Although, the wars his actions triggered were no more than a side effect. It would have been worth losing his arm for that alone. If, but only IF, he’d acquired the Elemental Phoenix.

He needed that blazing bird, and he would get it, even if it meant the death of an esteemed family, and potential future powerhouses.

Not even the collapse of yet another Bastion mattered as long as Raffael achieved what he desired.