Kain sat alone in the dim chamber, elbows on his knees, eyes fixed on the sterile floor. The glow of runic lights from the lab’s corridor leaked in under the door, casting faint lines across his boots. His thoughts were louder than the world around him.
Ten months. Not years. Not decades. Ten months.
The Knight’s mories had left no room for interpretation. An abyssal invasion of full scale was coming, and the Eastern Continent was already bleeding. He could still hear the screams from the vision Bea helped him sift through, still see the disgusting shadows of scuttling abyssal creatures flooding those foreign streets. The cities within the Celestial Empire might be beautiful today, but their mirrors across the sea had already been swallowed.
Kain thought back to the city seen in the vision, although not likely a country’s capital it was far bigger than his hotown Brightstar City. Yet it had fallen in re minutes.
But even with this knowledge...
’What can I do in ten months?’
Recruiting ordinary people the way he had been—slowly, cautiously—was useless. Even with a suitable cultivation thod created by the Workd Tree and imported from Pangea, Darius and the others had only had a boost in cultivation speed by about what a diligent student of the Celestial Empire’s star manuals might. This was an improvent over their previous cultivation speed, yes, but nothing compared to what was needed. In ten years, maybe. Not ten months.
Since this manual seed better suited for the Dwarves (who were increasing in cultivation day by day as if racing), Kain had asked for a manual designed for humans connected to Pangea, the sa way there are now manuals specific to the Dwarves and Elves.
The World Tree was still working on designing a thod tailored for humans, one that might accelerate growth drastically. But that would take ti Kain didn’t have.
He needed powerful mbers. Now.
He exhaled through his nose, the sound sharp in the silence.
The Black Dawn’s thods had been abhorrent—forced experints, sacrificial awakenings, endless bloodshed in the na of "progress." But he understood now why they had done it. Their atrocities had co from urgency. They, clearer than perhaps anyone else, had seen the abyss approaching and what its arrival ant.
That was the bitter irony. He and the Black Dawn shared the sa goal: the survival of mankind. Their paths diverged only in thod.
However, that didn’t necessarily an he had to be against all of the Black Dawn.
For most people who joined, there were two reasons:
1-Personal power. Black Dawn offered dangerous experints that awakened latent strength in even the weakest. And they were even working on experints that could help improve weak affinities, awaken gifts or (the one they’ve had the least progress with but the one they most desire) the ability to awaken beast taming affinities in those without any. For people born without a beast taming affinity but still were ambitious—like Serena’s cousin Heather Frost—it was an irresistible temptation.
However, so mbers weren’t originally weak but still joined for another reason...
2-Conviction and belief in the cause. So believed the ruthlessness was the only way forward, lacking faith in the Empire’s ability to ward off the Abyss, and believed that humanity’s survival justified every cruelty.
Kain leaned back, closing his eyes. The truth was simple: he had already succeeded where they struggled. He had found a way to awaken ordinary people without grueso experints. Gabriel. Darius. The orphanage director. Even Airalai.
And, although it needed to be tested further, his own resistance to Abyssal energy due to Source Power seems to be able to be extended to those with a contract from Pangea—at least based on his ability to expel Abyssal energy from Ferrin’s contract.
’If I keep hiding it, I’ll doom everyone. If I reveal it too soon, I’ll likely be hunted and controlled...’
He rubbed his temples. But what’s worse? Being a tool for a higher power, or being swallowed by the abyss with the rest of them?
There was no longer a choice. He had to act. He had to recruit.
But where to start?
————————
The answer ca faster than he expected: Airalai.
He had already forced the parasite onto her—an action that he felt no guilt about considering his knowledge of her role in the Black Dawn’s experints.
Now, the deathleech worm had nestled inside her star space, weakening her, yes, but surviving there nonetheless.
She had probably noticed sothing.
Perhaps by now she’d figured out she even has a ntal connection to the parasite. It is her contract after all.
If he revealed the truth, would she understand? Would she hate him? Lower his guard to betray him?
Or would she beco the first proof that his thod could sway even Black Dawn loyalists?
He stood and walked to a nearby prison chamber. Aka Airalai’s "guest room".
Airalai sat cross-legged on a woven mat one of the other must have given her out of pity, her hair tied back, posture relaxed but sharp-eyed. She always carried herself like a coiled spring, ready to bite if needed. When her gaze lifted to et his, her lips curled faintly. "Finally decided to visit ?"
"Airalai," Kain said evenly, "there’s sothing you need to know. About what I did to you. Although you may already have so guesses."
Her expression cooled. "The worm you sohow implanted into my star space? Kinda hard to miss it!" She said while glaring at him. "And I swear you need to increase the amount of food you gave . I’m starving all the ti!"
Okay. Not the best start. Kain looked awkward. "It might not actually be you that’s hungry. But your contract. You guys would have a ntal connection after all."
Kain was very familiar with the unwanted sensation of never ending hunger. When he’d first contracted Bea he experienced sothing similar and then again when he’d contracted Chewy. Though thankfully due to his experience with Bea, he found it easier to block out this ti.
Unfortunately, this just seems to be a side effect of the initial bond with a glutton...
For a mont, silence as she seed to be processing his words. Then her eyes narrowed. "Contract?"
"Reach for it," Kain urged in cases she didn’t believe him. "Not as a parasite, but as a partner. You’ll feel it. The link."
Airalai hesitated, then closed her eyes. Her breathing slowed, her brows drew tight. And then—her eyes snapped open, wide as saucers. She staggered, one hand clutching her chest.
"It’s true," she whispered in disbelief as her eyes widened. "I can... I can sense it. I can even sense how it’s feeling."
She looked up at him, eyes gleaming. "So you’re saying... I’m a beast tar?"
"Yes," Kain said softly. "Because of what I did."
Airalai laughed under her breath, a sharp, almost disbelieving sound. "All this ti I thought it was impossible. Especially after all of our attempts had failed..." she trailed off while looking up at him, seemingly afraid that her slip of the tongue revealed her role in human experints. But Kain already knew all of this.
She quickly changed the subject, "Black Dawn gave scraps, and I still followed, because I thought their cause mattered. And you—" She pressed a hand to her chest again, trembling. "You gave more than they ever could."
Kain stiffened. "Airalai, I forced this on you. You didn’t choose it. If you want, I can try to sever the bond. Free you. You could contract sothing else—sothing with more potential."
She tilted her head down, shadows hiding her face. The silence stretched uncomfortably.
"Airalai?" Kain asked cautiously.
Slowly, she raised her head.
Her smile was too wide, almost splitting her face. Reverence glowed in her eyes, but mingled with sothing sharper, more unhinged.
"No way," she said brightly. "Why would I ever let it go?"
Kain froze.
Her voice quivered with delight, her nails digging crescents into her own arms hard enough to draw beads of blood. She didn’t flinch, only giggled softly at the sting, as though pain itself had beco proof that she wasn’t dreaming.
"You chose this for ," she whispered, her tone trembling between adoration and madness. "Even if it rots from the inside, I’ll carry it proudly—because it ca from you. If you ever tried to take it away, I’d hate you. And I don’t want to hate you, Kain. I want to love you, forever. So don’t you dare take it back."
Her eyes shone feverishly as she leaned closer, lips curving into a manic grin. "If anyone tries to sever our connection... I’ll kill them."
"This is the contract you chose for ," she continued, voice trembling with fervor. "You chose it. That makes it precious. That makes it mine."
Her gaze sparkled with sothing close to madness. "Do you know how many nights I dread of becoming a beast tar? Of not being cast aside in favour of mbers that did have an affinity, of being given a chance? That was why I even implanted that into myself..."
Oops another slip of the tongue. Although not awakened she does have so abilities given by the Black Dawn, the origin of the black glow that ca out when Kain captured her.
But on second thought, perhaps she should just reveal everything to him, after all...
"You gave more than a chance. You made a tar." She leaned forward, almost breathless. "Do you understand what that ans to ?"
Kain felt a headache bloom behind his eyes.
She wasn’t just loyal. She was... obsessed.
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