Vel stared at his hand, holding back tears while the stranger began to dance. “Its fine,” he whispered. “Its fine. I can become a teacher. I’ll spend all my time in lessons anyway so I might as well teach all the other children.” A shaky smile graced his lips as he felt a tear fall. “Assistant to Teacher Forr until I become the teacher. That sounds like a good life.”

“You’ll do no such thing.” The man yelled, grabbing Vel’s head and forcing him to look at him. “You will do great things.”

“Teaching is a great thing.” Vel feebly countered.

“No its not.” A hiss slithered through the air. “I mean, yes it is. And truth be told you’ll probably end up teaching others many other things. I meant being assistant to a teacher. You’ll be the teacher.” The man released Vel’s head to hold his hands wide as he finished with “You’ll teach the world!”

Before either could react, Spair dashed to him, coin in hand. “I can’t read this. What animal does it say?”

The man opened one eye, turning it on Spair, before breaking his grand pose and examining the coin. The snake climbed Spair before looking at the coin over her shoulder. Rolling his eyes, Vel came over to see. The coin had a second circle within it and three straight lines intersected by three curved lines. It looked to Vel like a bored scribble.

“Its not finished yet. You need to find a Beast of the chosen sigil for it to be finished.” The man replied. The snake hissed in Spair’s ear, causing Spair to stare at it.

“I can choose the Beast!” She jumped in excitement at that. “Why didn’t he just say that?”

“Because you can’t just choose a Beast.” He countered. An angry hiss was all he got in response. “No, there are at least twelve that won’t join. Should be twenty four now but the last twelve might try again.”

“Last twelve?” Vel asked.

“Capricon, Walrus, Carp, Ram, Bull, Armadillo, Crab, Lion, Swan, Dove, Scorpion, and Centaur.”

“But Ram is part of the original twelve.” Vel responded.

“Different ram. Anyway, its goat from the original, not ram. The current Divine just preferred the name Ram to Goat.”

“What’s a capricon?” Spair asked.

“Half goat, half fish.” The man responded as he picked the coin up. He looked at it, twisting it in his hand, before sighing. “You got a mixture.”

“What’s that?” The children asked in unison.

“Like Dragon or Capricon. Beasts that don’t exist until you make them.”

“So she gets to make her own Beast?” Vel began, while getting visibly angrier, “And I get nothing?” He ended his question by shouting.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“You get to form an entirely new cultivation system that isn’t reliant on sharing your being with another creature. You get to overcome the limits of the old system and reach the true level of cultivators, assuming you survive.” The man stared at Vel. The weight of that stare forced Vel down to his knees before collapsing on his hands. “You are truly unique, able to guide this world into a new age if you can.” The weight on Vel just steadily increased, forcing him face down in the dirt. The man yelped in pain and the weight disappeared.

After what felt like a year, Vel lifted his head to see the man and the snake staring at each other. As he focused on the series of hisses, Vel thought he could make out words.

“You aren’t explaining it properly. You do this every time.” The snake said.

“I only get to do this every hundred years. And I never got to do this before.” The man countered.

“You should have practiced. I told you to practice. Dragon told you to practice after what you did to his chosen.”

“She was fine.”

“She was scarred until she could acquire enough elan to allow Dragon to fix her.”

“Fine. She is fine. Happy?”

The snake seemed to scoff at that before looking at Vel and Spair. “You should be able to understand me now. It would have been sooner if this idiot.” Said idiot jumped to stop the snake from whipping him with its tail. “did his job properly. Spair, you are the start of the next zodiac. Vel, you are the start of the next overseers.”

“Only if they survive.” The man interjected. A bird dropped from the sky and started attacking the man.

“Ignore him. Measures are being taken so that you will be able to live until you are less vulnerable. Vel,” The snake focused on the boy. Vel could feel the weight again. Only instead of overwhelming and crushing, this weight felt that of a warm blanket and knowledge he could succeed. “All you have to do is do a better job than the idiot.”

“I have a name.” The idiot said over the screeches of the bird.

“You never introduced yourself.” The snake snapped back. Focusing on Spair, it asked “What would you like your Beast to do?”

“I want it to be cute and cuddly and powerful and friendly and helpful and...and…” Spair took a moment to catch her breath before adding more to her list. The rest of the group listened on as what was requested became more and more reasonable only to a young girl. Spair only stopped when the snake hissed something at her.

“A unicorn? What’s that?” She asked it. As if to answer her question, a horse walked from the collection of animals by the wagon. It was pure white with a conical horn. Its mane and tail flowed in an unseen breeze. Light seem to be emitted from it as it made its way toward Spair. As it did, it slowly shrunk to the point where Spair could easily enfold the neck into a hug.

The coin flew from the stranger’s hands and landed on Spair’s hand as the unicorn joined with Spair. It faded away, leaving Spair clutching the coin and a look of pure joy.

The remaining animals dashed back onto the wagon, becoming one with the painting again. The snake hissed a fairwell while the stranger stood aside and watched. Closing his eyes and sighing, he went and easily moved his wagon out of the way of the kids by picking it up and setting it correctly on the road.

“This entire thing has become a wash.” He mumbled before turning towards Vel. “You won’t get a Divine Beast because your soul is strong enough to handle the change without the support of another. Cultivate like the others do and figure out why you can do what you do. According to my animals I have to go practice for the next time I have to do this.”

With a flick of his wrists, a set of reigns appeared in his hands and the wagon began to move. Vel watched as the stranger left before noticing the snake didn’t join him.

“Listen to the chosen guide. You can help each other. And protect your sister. She hasn’t completed her bond yet.” The snake hissed before flying off after the wagon.

Blinking rapidly, Vel collected his sister and continued home. He resolved to let today be a day, as it already seemed to try to be something else.