The scent of cooked meat wafted through the air, and the feeling of rocks poked away at Lloyd's back. The feeling of a warm blanket surrounded him. Lloyd refused to open his eyes, daring to stay in bed for just a little bit longer. He laid there until he remembered that he should have been dead. Lloyd's eyes ripped open as he shot up into a sitting position.

His eyes took a moment to adjust, the warm fire in front of him steadily roaring. Lloyd scanned his surroundings rapidly and quickly found his brother sitting close beside him on his right. Regal looked no worse for wear; his skin showed no signs of the damage that was done to him. His tunic was tattered and slashed in many locations. They would have to find him yet another shirt. Regal shot a weak smile at Lloyd while he was still too stunned to react.

He quickly stumbled to his feet, where Regal caught him before he could fall. Regal firmly brought his brother into a hug. All of the emotions of the last moments that Lloyd could remember washed through him like a veritable tsunami.

The scene of his brother being cut to pieces by the warriors flashed through Lloyd’s mind. He remembered the mage holding Regal against his will telekinetically. Then, the memory of Lloyd killing the mage and Ascending came into view. He replayed the power coursing through him when he shoved the behemoth of a man into the sky. Then came the crushing wave of remembering looking into Cassius’ dead eyes. This shook him of all the previous emotions. Lloyd pulled back from the hug with his brother and looked him in the eyes.

“Cassius?” Lloyd choked out.

Regal shook his head. “He…he didn't make it,” Regal said.

The weight of that knowledge sunk heavily into Lloyd's soul. Cassius had saved him on multiple occasions. He had been his friend for his entire life. He was the person he could always count on to bring up the mood in any situation. He was so damn powerful. How could he die? Cassius was right, Lloyd wasn't strong enough, and he ended up getting him killed. The pain of that thought began to well up in his eyes, and the tsunami of emotions washed away all but one. Grief. Silent streams of salty tears broke through the dam and washed down his face. Regal also shed a few tears and brought his brother back into the hug. After the moment passed, both gentlemen stepped back and wiped the wetness from their cheeks. Lloyd finally took a moment to fully assess his surroundings. That was when he saw a woman sitting on the other side of the fire. She looked up at Lloyd when she realized he was looking at her.

She sat on an overturned log. She wore long, knee-high black boots and a long white lacy dress. The dress was in pristine condition. Her blue eyes and curly blonde hair shimmered in the firelight as she wore a gentle smile. A small stick rested beside her on the log that she sat on. At first glance, Lloyd thought it was a stick, but the appearance was too smooth and uniform to be a random stick. He wondered what that was. His face turned bright red as he realized that she must have just witnessed the few moments the Regal and Lloyd had just shared. Lloyd cleared his throat and coughed a few times before addressing the woman.

“Um, hello,” Lloyd said. Great intro, idiot.

“Hello Lloyd, it is very nice to meet you. Your brother has been talking about you nonstop,” said the woman in white. Lloyd looked from the woman to Regal and then back at her. “Oh, by the way, my name is Colette,” she said, waving.

“It is nice to meet you as well, Colette,” Lloyd said.

He found that a log was also overturned behind him and took his seat across the fire from Colette. Regal sat down next to his brother.

“I have so many questions, I don't really know where to begin. Where are we? Why are you out in the woods? Who are you?” He could see Colette smile at the ladder questions.

“Forgot my name already?” Colette asked.

Lloyd cleared his throat once more, “I mean, I know your name, but how did you find us?”

“Well, we are in a forest, as you can see, surrounded by trees. Colette said with a giggle, and before Lloyd could respond, she turned more serious. “I kid, of course, we are a few hundred yards away from where you all fought those bandits. I'm sure your brother can explain a lot more, but Sheena and I saw the light of your Ascension. We knew there was no town close, so we decided to head towards it, thinking it was quite odd for someone to Ascend out here. I think Regal ended up carrying you most of the way, though. I can't believe you braved the forest before your Ascension. I can't believe you Ascended mid-battle; that's crazy,” Colette said.

Lloyd looked over to Regal, who was already scratching the back of his head. Clearly, he did not explain the whole situation to Collette. Lloyd didn't know how to explain that he randomly got his powers in the middle of the fight. Lloyd decided that 'Ascending mid-fight' would be the best cover story until they could figure out exactly what happened. There was also something Colette said that now came forefront of his mind.

“Who is Sheena?” Lloyd asked.

“That would be me,” said a mysterious feminine voice from the woods. As she stepped forward into the light, Lloyd could see who the voice had emanated from. This new woman, Sheena, stood around five and a half feet tall with short dark brown hair. She donned a brown leather tunic and brown leather pants, much like Lloyd and Regal. Attached at her hip were two daggers and a few pouches. Lloyd could see a few scars on her arms. Her emerald eyes shimmered in the firelight.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Well, I guess that answers my question. The second major one I have is how I made it. I felt like I was on the brink of death,” Lloyd said.

Sheena found a seat next to Colette. With them sitting side by side, Lloyd could see they were polar opposites. Sheena, with almost a scowl on her face, juxtaposed to the friendly smile on Colette's. The hair and clothing also suggested different personalities or maybe abilities, Lloyd thought.

Colette raised her hand high in the air. “That one might be because of me. I'm a healer, only of the type to close wounds and whatnot. Fortunately, it looked like you were just beaten up pretty good. I wouldn't have been able to do anything if you were poisoned. I don't have any mutations, so I can't heal ailments. It took a few minutes to get your bones back into place and more blood flowing through your veins,” Colette said with a smile and a nod.

“It took a damn more than a few minutes. I think it was almost 20 before you looked like a living human being. Without Colette, I would have lost you too,” Regal said.

‘I would have lost you too,’ his brother had just said, the reminder flooding to the front of Lloyd’s brain yet again.

“We need to go back there and give Cassius a proper burial. We can't leave him just lying down in the forest surrounded by those fucking savages,” Lloyd said. He did not intend for the anger to come through in his voice, but it did.

“We will; we were just waiting on you,” Regal said as he gently put his hand on his brother’s shoulder.

This time, it was Sheena who cleared her throat. All the adventures around the fire looked in her direction.

“I suppose there is also one other thing to get out of the way. We have another member of our group that you have yet to meet,” Sheena said as she looked at Lloyd.

Lloyd tilted his head and then looked to the surrounding forest. There was still plenty of light out, but Lloyd couldn’t see anyone in the trees. That was until he heard a few cracked branches as something steadily approached from behind. Regal shifted away from Lloyd and sat further down on the log.

Out of the forest came a beast that stood about three feet tall and was nearly five feet long. Its body was engulfed in flaming fur. Lloyd knew that he should stand and get ready to fight, but something about the animal had a calming presence, not an aggressive one. Lloyd couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the flickering fiery fur of the red fox that approached him. As the animal prowled closer to the fire, the flames seemed to react to the animal. The fire danced with the motions of the fox as it approached. The fox wove around to the side of Sheena as she raised her hand to scratch the top of the fox's head. The fox's fur was not the same fire that emanated from the wolf they fought before. The fire around the wolf seemed out of control, and it scarred the ground as it walked. The fox had a gentle flame, and it seemed to do no damage to Sheena as she pet her. Plus, there was this essence to the animals that Lloyd now felt that he hadn't before when he didn't have powers. It was almost as if he was being Altered; he could feel his environment in a heightened way. The flaming fur was certainly easy to get focused on, but its eyes were almost impossible to look away from. Lloyd had become very familiar with the bright red glow that emanated from the eyes of the Corrupted beasts that he had fought. The eyes of this animal glowed as well, except that they were bright light blue.

“This here is Milla, my fox. I am what you would call a Beastmaster. Milla and I are bound together. We can communicate through that link. It isn't quite like a conversation but more of passing feelings. I ask that you respect her space. She doesn't really like other human beings,” Sheena explained.

“That's true. I mean, she likes me okay, but not really anybody else. She especially hates men—sorry guys,” Colette said with a frown. “The three of us are headed to the Kingdom to join the fight in the West. Regal told me that both of you were headed in that direction as well.”

Sheena cocked her head to look at Milla. The fox left her side and walked past the fire towards Lloyd. His heart skipped a beat as the fox approached. He looked over to Regal, who had already placed his hand on the hilt of his blade. When Lloyd looked back, the fox had already made it to him. Lloyd stared into the shifting ocean eyes of Milla. She sniffed the air around Lloyd, and he kept still while the beast did a half circle around him, sniffing the entire time. It came back around to Lloyd's left side, looking him in the eyes once again. The fox cocked her head to the side and then shoved the top of her head gently into Lloyd’s chest. Lloyd, not really knowing what to do, reached up with his left hand and scratched behind her ear. The fox then jumped up with her two front paws and lay down on Lloyd's lap. A smile stretched across his face as the fox began to nuzzle into his chest even more.

“Well, that was…not expected,” Colette said.

Sheena let out a low grumble, and the fox departed from Lloyd's side to lie down at Sheena's feet. A group sat in awkward silence before Lloyd spoke up.

“I've never heard of a Beastmaster before. These things are usually just so violent and mindless. I wasn't sure that humans could control the Corrupted animals. That's such an amazing…” Lloyd was starting to say before Sheena cut him off.

“First of all, I don't control her. Milla is my friend and companion. I can't command her to do anything. Second, she isn't a thing; she is a she, and she will be respected,” Sheena said as she glared at Lloyd. Milla looked up at Sheena. Lloyd wasn’t an expert on animal facial expressions, but the fox seemed sad.

“I obviously meant no disrespect. My apologies. She is a lovely fox, and…” Lloyd began to say, not quite sure what else to say to dig him from the hole that he clearly was in. “And I'm glad that you two have found each other. I'm glad that all three of you found us and brought me back from the brink of death. I am in your debt,” Lloyd said, slightly bowing from his seated position. A smile came to his face, thinking of Taryn. He must have picked up the bowing from him. Lloyd’s smile grew as he realized that he had another thing in common with Taryn. He had powers.

Lloyd wasn't sure if the words had mended any of the harm his previous words had caused, but the looks on the women's faces, fox included, seemed to at least not be entirely pissed at him anymore. There was still tension in the air, but at least nobody seemed poised to yell at each other and Regal had let go of his grip on his sword. Colette was the one to break the silence.

“Well, we've got all this fine meat that's cooked up now. Milla was able to catch a few large animals. We should eat, and then we can head back to your friend,” Colette said as her smile faded.