Beastforged Bond

At the end of the conversation, I was given a marble, grandly known as a Memory Sphere, which contained all the information about the submitted items, their enchantments, and a rough estimate of their value in the form of memories. It was interesting, and most importantly, it did not include the Void Mask.

The mask rested in Serviath’s hands, and I was given a sapphire vial that looked more expensive than most of the things I owned at this point. The seamlessly connected ether circuits, runes, and web of lines etched into the vial’s surface only amplified its appearance further. But it was not only beautiful, but it also perfectly sealed and preserved the elixir stored inside.

“The container is expensive. Don’t throw it away.” Serviath winked at me when I stored the World Mending Elixir.

“I don’t need the vial. If you want it back, I can drink the Elixir now and–” I was about to retrieve the elixir when Serviath shook his head.

“Take your time. Elixirs are usually gentle, but if your World is nearly as damaged as Zenovia makes it out to be, you better prepare yourself thoroughly.”

My attention shifted to the Appraiser at that.

“It’s bad, and you should understand that better than anyone.” She met my eyes with a steely look. “Honestly, I don’t understand how your World isn’t falling apart.”

That was probably true. Most Blessed would have permanently damaged their World if they had been in my situation–if they had been lucky. I had been extremely lucky, not only with my Core, but also because I had Sapsie and an Insignia, which likely prevented the worst, as well as a technique that still held my World together.

“That aside, we need your identification card. If you have an account at one of the banks affiliated with us, we can help you set up a higher-ranked member account at the auction house.” Zenovia said, kindness replacing the steel in her eyes. She pointed toward the Ranker weapons, as they called them. “The proceeds should be justification enough.”

While I didn’t know what any of that really meant, I could only guess that being a member of the auction house would give me some benefits. Maybe lower my fees. That was fine with me, though there was only one problem.

“I don’t have a bank account. You could say I just arrived at Dracos.” A dry laugh escaped my lips as I retrieved a small, rectangular slate. A grayish sheen covered its surface, identifying it as the most basic identification card one could acquire in Dracos.

Zenovia raised an eyebrow at me, probably recognizing that I was neither lying nor telling the whole truth, but if she minded, she didn’t show it.

“You have no bank account?” Serviath asked, glancing over to meet the Appraiser’s eyes. They nodded subtly, and a moment later Zenovia retrieved my identification card and left the room.

A few minutes later, she returned with a golden card.

“I took it upon myself to transfer your information onto our member card.” She looked at me, probably expecting me to say something, but when I didn’t, she continued. “Our member card is connected to your bank account–I created one for you–meaning you can use it to make purchases in just about every store in Dracos. Our members do have a fairly large credit line as well, but you will have to pay interest if you go into the negative.”

“I never liked credits.” Serviath shuddered, looking almost as if the mere mention of credits had traumatized him.

Having the means to take out a loan was interesting, to say the least.

“How extensive is it? Can I drive my bank account several platinum coins into the negative?”

Should I… I swallowed hard when Zenovia nodded nonchalantly.

Paying interest on borrowed money sounded unpleasant, but if I could purchase another World Mending Elixir with that money, solving my World’s problems would be even faster than expected. Then again, it would be much cheaper to wait until the biannual auction. I already had one elixir to consume as well, so there was that.

Checking the Memory Sphere’s information once again, I made my decision. Even if some of my Ranker weapons wouldn’t sell for a massive fortune, I was about to earn hundreds of platinum coins. The onyx ring didn’t contain many treasures anymore, but that much coinage would be more than enough to solve my family’s and the Zerogs’ problems easily.

“Just so you know, you can purchase Essence as a member of the auction house. But please don’t overdo it, not until your World has recovered.” Zenovia smiled lightly, filling me with warmth.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from NovelPhoenix; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As for the worries that had plagued me ever since I woke up in Dracos, they slowly faded.

Soon, I told myself. Soon, my Soulkins would be back, their voices tormenting my mind. That thought brought a smile to my lips, filling my entire being with joy.

***

Adam left the room with the decorum of a polite young man. He tried not to let it show, but to Zenovia and Serviath’s relief, it was written all over his face. It was almost as if the weight of a thousand Behemoths had been lifted off his shoulders.

“What a weird kid,” Serviath mused.

Zenovia regarded him intently. “Is that why you gave him your Elixir? We both know how valuable your Elixir is.”

“Don’t be like that.” Serviath looked down at the Void Mask with a faint smile. “This is a lot more valuable than the Elixir.”

Void Armaments. A creation of humankind, born in the dark age when the Spirits enslaved them, using them as nothing more than livestock. Humans had been angry, so very angry, yet they did not have the power to face the Spirits head-on at that time. Serviath hadn’t been present when the first Void Armaments were created, but he knew enough about their origin, as well as the sacrifices required to forge them, to understand that their creators wanted nothing more than to kill the Spirits. And they nearly succeeded.

They were created at the expense of thousands of human lives. Their Essences were imbued with raw, unbidden hatred, drained from them to give power and sentience to constructs that should never have attained such awareness. Serviath once wielded such an Armament. It had been bound to his World, growing alongside him while also providing a soul-share like most Soulkins. Through that connection, it affected Serviath as well. It granted him unimaginable power, yet it also filled him with the hatred of all those who had been sacrificed to create it.

He destroyed it, but only after the Spirits freed mankind. They signed a soul-binding contract, barring them from harming humans unless they were attacked first. Although many stipulations had been added to the Pact, the Spirits still lost. However, their loss was nowhere near as devastating as it would have been if one of them had died.

Serviath and the old fogies who had lived through the dark age with him knew that much. Still, he was likely one of the few who was able to forgive, although he never forgot. He shattered his Void Armament, following the Pact’s decree, and believed the others had been destroyed as well. Clearly, that wasn’t the case.

“Even if the Void Mask is more valuable, you could have confiscated it. You could have put him in jail,” Zenovia rebuked matter-of-factly. “Instead, you bartered it for your Prime Soul Elixir. Why?”

Serviath looked up from the mask, an eyebrow raised. “Probably the same reason you didn’t confiscate his mask either. You are curious about him, maybe more than I am. I don’t hate the Void Armaments. You, on the other hand… Honestly, I expected you to kill him just for having the Void Mask.”

“I wouldn’t have killed him.” She clicked her tongue, ignoring Serviath’s insistent stare.

Zenovia looked away, unwilling to give in to her old friend’s stare. She knew he was right to some extent, but she would have never killed Adam, or anyone as ignorant as that young boy.

“He didn’t know a thing about the Void Mask. If he did, he wouldn’t have shown it to me after asking if I was a Spiritborne. Or after I told him that I was a fae wielding a Spirit’s fragmented power.”

“You told him that?” Serviath raised an eyebrow at Zenovia.

Her lips parted for a sharp retort, but her mouth closed before she could say anything. After all, she had told Adam about her power. She had even hinted at her ability to discern truth from lies, and she was certain Adam had figured it out.

“Why did he ask you if you’re a Spiritborne in the first place?”

That was it. The issue.

“I don’t know. But he knows the World Tree.” Zenovia tapped the table impatiently. “Or, at the very least, he talks about her like he does.”

“But he’s just a child,” Serviath responded after a moment, pointedly leaving out that the World Tree hadn’t been seen for centuries. Not after the Voidsters, as the humans who wielded Void Armaments had called themselves, nearly killed her for consuming humans.

Zenovia couldn’t justify the World Tree’s actions to humans. They would never understand that Thyria had only done what was best for her own people. She had to grow stronger to return to her beloved, which meant infiltrating the Devourer’s territory and killing it and all its Spawns. Doing so required a vast amount of Essence. Essence she acquired by consuming countless humans.

Zenovia did not think it was right, not now that she was close to Serviath. She understood his suffering and felt it, but she also knew how the World Tree had felt when she lost the Earth Spirits, ending a love that had lasted for thousands of years.

“He is just a child,” she nodded. He was probably not even twenty summers old. “But he is a child strong enough to sense my Spirit power.”

All while his World looked like a battlefield of Rankers and True Rankers.

“He looked afraid when we talked about the Void Mask,” Serviath commented, though he neither looked nor sounded like he believed his own words.

“Did he? Do you really think so? It looked more like curiosity.” Zenovia tilted her head, trying to recall the smallest details about Adam. “It was almost like he understood everything that was going on. And then there’s the presence within his World. It… I don’t know. I cannot get a grasp of it.”

That caught Serviath’s interest. “You, among all the people I know, should understand humans’ Worlds best. You probably know our Worlds better than we do.”

She shrugged helplessly at that.

“Is that why you gave him the VIP membership card?”

“It’s better to befriend him than to push him away, don’t you think?” she mused, more to herself than anything, but Serviath agreed.

“Yeah, that’s why I gave him the Elixir.” He chuckled. “Frikkin monster. How can someone as young as him damage his World so severely? Did he try to fight a Ranker’s Domain head-on or something?”

They both smiled at that, discarding the theory after a moment. It made no sense, after all. Little did they know that their theory was brushing against the truth.