What John saw in the beast's hands was a human—or at least a person—in thick white armor, sitting comfortably in its grasp. They moved in sync with the beast, moving their head to the right and left at the same time.
‘What the hell? Is that another sage? Or is it a human riding the beast willingly? Are they just very good friends, somehow? The monkeys seemed very smart, so perhaps the evolved version is even smarter?’
He considered revealing himself more to see their reaction, but they seemed to have spotted him before he could make the choice. Both the beast and the person seemed startled at first, but then they waved excitedly towards him.
‘... I guess they’re friendly? If they know what waving is, they should be from Earth, right?’
John cautiously waved back, with Rain waving from behind his back as well.
The beast seemed overjoyed by their response and started walking toward them, but still making sure to stay silent. John decided to wait for them but planned to make them stop before getting too close.
“Rain, I’ll talk to them. They seem good,” he said, trying to keep her calm. Rain nodded and patted his shoulder in confirmation.
Once the approaching duo was about twenty meters away, John raised an arm, signaling them to stop. The armored person and beast both obeyed, still seeming very in sync with each other.
A male voice muffled by the helmet he wore sounded from the man. “Oh, thank god I’m not the only one here! I haven’t seen another person in weeks!”
“Yeah, same here, except for this one,” John responded, pointing at Rain. “Are you human?”
The man tilted his head. “Uhh, what else would I be? Here, let me remove the helmet.” His hands loosened some clasp on the sides of his head, letting him remove the armored mask covering his face.
John breathed lightly in relief when he saw the human face. The man was pale and had sunken eyes, but he still looked rather handsome. His untrimmed beard made him seem quite a bit older than John was.
“Perfectly human, as you can see. I’m Dennis, an aspecter from Paris. You two?”
‘Oh, an aspecter! This is great! Is his aspect related to the beast?’
“I’m John, A breaker from Berlin. And this is Rain… She’s… a mystery. I’ve been protecting her since I found her about a week ago. She might have lost her memories after the world changed. You can come close now.”
Rain didn’t seem to understand everything he said, but she still waved at Dennis once John mentioned her name.
Dennis seemed surprised, continuing to talk while the beast carried him closer to them. “Oh, you’ve survived alone for this long as a breaker? That’s impressive! But seeing your flying sword, I can imagine how you’ve survived. Seems like a great enchantment!”
John smiled and nodded. “There have been some very close calls! But what’s with the beast?” he asked, unable to ignore it any longer.
Dennis seemed to realize he had forgotten something, putting a hand on his forehead. “Of course, my apologies! This is part of my aspect! I can take control of a beast as long as the conditions are right. This current one I’m calling Kerchak.”
“Ahh, as I suspected! That must be very useful, being able to fight alongside a beast.”
“Oh, well, honestly, I don’t fight much on my own. Which is probably why I got this aspect… It’s hard to control my aspect while fighting, so I mostly just stay out of sight if I can.” He put a hand behind his head while saying that, looking embarrassed. “ But I’m handy in a fight under the right conditions!”
John assumed he had been teased for his aspect in the past, but he could see its advantages. “I believe it! Can you even use the aspect of the beast you control?”
“... If I focus, yeah. But it’s hard to control because it feels so foreign. That’s also why this guy is perfect since he’s a humanoid.” He clapped Kerchak on the chest as he said that.
John looked up at the great beast's neutral expression, noticing a clear resemblance to the monkeys he had hunted in the past. This made him slightly uncomfortable, considering how clever they seemed.
“Were you headed in a specific direction?” John asked, hoping they could join forces. It was hard to say if Dennis would trust Rain's directions enough to follow them, though.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Oh, yeah, I was looking for some plains! I think I’m headed in the right direction. Have you been there?”
John nodded and pointed to where they came from. “It’s just a few hundred meters from here. Is there any specific reason you’re going there?”
Dennis seemed excited by the news. “Oh, that’s great! No specific reason; I just want to get out of this place! I have no idea where our base is on this planet, but I know it’s not in a desert.”
John sighed, realizing it might be a challenge to bring him along. Since Dennis didn’t know where the base was, John decided to continue following Rain, with or without the aspecter.
“We’re going in the opposite direction, further up the continent. I have a slight reason to believe the portal is there.” He pointed up at the sky, trying to pinpoint where Rain usually pointed.
“Oh, really? That would suck because I’ve been going in the exact opposite direction… Why do you think so?” Dennis asked, looking to where John was pointing.
“... Uh, Rain is pointing to that spot sometimes. And she’s got a special ability, I guess,” John replied, feeling a bit embarrassed by his own words. It sounded strange to trust the words of a memoryless girl blindly.
Dennis looked at Rain again, studying her more closely. “... Are those antlers? You just met this girl during your travels?”
“Yeah, in a forest about 1500 kilometers in that direction. You’ve never seen her before, then? I’m assuming you were at the base before this all happened.”
Dennis shook his head immediately. “No, even if she didn’t have horns, I would have remembered her. She would be the youngest of us by far.”
Rain squirmed a bit under his gaze, looking embarrassed. She squeezed John’s arm while trying to hide behind him. “Rain good.”
Dennis looked to be pondering something, but he didn’t seem to arrive at a conclusion. “Well, if you’re saying she’s got an ability to point in a good direction… I guess we don’t have anything else to go by. And if you’re going in that direction either way, I’d rather join you than go alone.”
John breathed a sigh of relief, glad that Dennis seemed to be an easygoing guy. “That’s great! We would be much better off together, I’m sure! Then I can also teach you something fundamental related to essence!”
That seemed to catch Dennis’ attention. “Oh? Like what?”
“It’s hard to explain briefly, but I can say I’ve beaten two demons using what I learned. It made me a lot stronger!”
Dennis furrowed his brows. “That seems… too good to be true. But you’ll get the chance to convince me, I guess.”
John smiled and nodded, finding his reaction to be more than reasonable. “I learned it from an alien, if that makes it any easier to believe.”
Dennis laughed at first, but then he tilted his head and looked into the air. “I guess that’s… not as improbable as I thought... Okay, do you guys want to hop on so we can talk more while traveling? I’m guessing that sword isn’t all that comfortable in the long run.”
John considered the offer, figuring he could be a scout by riding Larang while they traveled. It would also make it easier to keep Rain safe if Dennis preferred hiding during combat. But she would have to spend more time with Dennis than with him, and she didn’t seem very eager to do that.
‘... She’ll have to get used to him. We’re barely even a quarter of the way to our target, so we’ll have plenty of time to get familiar with each other.’
“That would be great! I can work as a scout if you can handle Rain and the water barrel.”
Dennis got a desperate look on his face after hearing the last words. “Oh, it’s water? You lucky… Can I have some? I’ve been drinking blood and mud water for days now!”
John gestured toward the barrel with a smile. “Feel free! There should be plenty for the three of us, but if your beast has to drink, it won’t hold us for long.”
He floated over to Dennis and the beast, hovering gently over its giant arms. It would be large enough for all three of them to sit and seemed way more comfortable than standing on a sword all day with two weights pulling him down.
“Let’s sit down here, Rain,” John said as he walked off Larang and stepped on the arm. He removed the water from his neck after seeing Dennis’ eager eyes and handed it to him with a smile.
Rain kept quiet, seeming nervous, but she got down from his back and sat on the rightmost corner of the large hands. She looked up at John, clearly not comfortable with the development.
‘Hmm, she didn’t talk to me either before we got close… I’m sure she’ll get used to him.’
Dennis was quenching his thirst eagerly, but he was careful not to spill anything. “Ahh! That’s some good water! Thank you, John!” After putting the cork back in, he handed it back to John, already looking more refreshed.
“No worries, I made it large enough to hold us for a while.” He put the water down on the arms and stepped back on Larang. “I’m thinking of doing some quick scouting before we start walking. Is that fine?”
Dennis raised his brows and looked down at Larang. “Yeah, please do! That’s gonna be very useful. I’ll hold the fort here.”
John nodded and turned to Rain. “Hey, Rain, I’ll leave to look for beasts, okay? I’ll be back soon.”
She nodded after hesitating slightly, glancing at Dennis before leaning back against the big monkey.
John sighed and turned back to Dennis. “She’s shy and doesn’t understand English very well… So be cautious, I guess. I’m off.”
Before they were out of sight, John saw Dennis nodding in understanding. Then, he was high up in the air, looking around for any threats.
‘Hmm, this was a nice surprise! Getting an aspecter on our side will increase our chances of surviving, at least.’
He scouted the surrounding area, seeing nothing particularly interesting. Something resembling a flock of small elephants was running away from them in one direction.
He flew even higher, over the tops of the mountain spikes, getting an even better view. Then he dropped as fast as he could.
‘Fucking shit, that thing is headed straight for us!’