My attention is caught by something, and I turn my mind’s eye to it.

Found you.

I propel myself over to what caught my attention, flying down through the tree branches and landing softly on the forest floor.

I take a deep breath as I look at the scene before me. I can’t help but think that this is partly my fault, I did bring life to this world, as well as death.

The corpse of a black panther lies broken in the brush, a smaller panther mewls beside it. The mother panther’s hide is covered in lacerations, the blood drying. A large lizard is munching on its flesh, tearing away strips of flesh.

The baby panther, it’s paw twisted in the wrong direction, mewls in fear and pain, trying to crawl away. The lizard ignores it, enjoying its far larger meal.

I push my way through the bushes and step in front of the large lizard. It looks somewhat similar to a Rage Drake, only with gray scales and smaller.

It looks up, it’s bloody maw dripping crimson from it’s razor teeth. It growls, glaring at me and moving to the right. It lumbers through the brush, starting ot circle around me.

Not today.

I raise my hand, pulling on the earth at its feet.

The ground rumbles, the decaying leaves shifting as a large spike of earth juts up from the ground in front of the lizard.

It squeals, scurrying off.

That was… surprisingly easy.

I can feel the creature slinking through the brush, stopping a distance away to watch me. I’ll leave it for now.

Turning, I look at the even more terrified panther cub, it mewls, feebly hobbling away on it’s broken paw.

I walk over to it, scooping it up in my arms. It hisses, swiping and trying to claw me, but it’s scratches phase through my body.

It tries to squirm out of my arms, but I keep a tight grip on it. Looking down at the baby black panther, I open my mind.

Focusing, I form a connection with its mind.

I can feel the string of a Mind Link pull taught, a feeling of terror pouring over the link.

I send calming and soothing thoughts over the new mind link, trying to quell the panther’s terror.

Soon, the panther’s hissing and clawing slows, eventually stopping entirely. It mewls quietly, stilling.

I look at it’s twisted back leg. Most definitely broken.

Walking away from it’s mother’s corpse, I make sure it is out of sight. The soul has already dissipated, there’s nothing I can do. Even if I could, I don’t think I should meddle in the cycle of death and life too much.

Sitting down, I lay the baby panther in my lap.

Plucking the mind link I have formed with it, I send across the idea of me helping it and it helping me. ‘I can give you strength, as long as you stay by my side. I will make you into a weapon, and you shall aid me. I will give you purpose and strength, so that something like this never happens again.’

Oddly, the images of sorrow and fear stop, along with the feelings. The link is silent, and the cub has stopped its mewling. The small black panther looks feebly up at me, it’s large eyes full of pain.

I pet it softly and slowly, trying my best to comfort the poor creature. I send another thought to it, ‘Will you serve by my side?’

If I didn’t know better, I could see a hint of intelligence in those eyes. Nothing is sent across the link, it’s thoughts not projected to me. Almost like it’s thinking.

A few quiet minutes pass as the panther considers my offer. The sounds of the rainforest seem amplified, the buzzing of bugs in the air, the caws of far off birds and the howling of a distant monkey. The wind rustles through the leaves, the underbrush scurrying with life.

I look into the panther’s sorrow filled eyes, its eyes are wet with something that I can only think of as tears.

Then the mind link is pulled taught, a thought sent across in a feminine tone, ‘I accept.’

I smile, nodding. ‘You will not regret this. Now, let’s begin.’

I close my eyes, feeling the different types of katra that make up the panther. How do I go about this? This might take some time.

My best bet is to completely reform it, and I think I should be able to add more onto the animal because there is definitely not enough mass here to form a short spear.

Pulling on the life katra from my core, I bring it up through the ground to the surface of my world. Holding out a hand, a ball of it forms in my palm.

I take a deep breath, and pull on the panther’s mind. I send it into a deep sleep, cutting off momentarily blood flow to it’s small brain.

This is going to be hard.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I command the Life katra to encase the whole of the panther. It spreads over her dark fur, forming a shell of dark gray over it.

I push what I want onto the katra, letting it seep into the body of the panther, permeating through every single cell, muscle and bone.

The core of the spear will have to be bone. And most of it as well.

I picture a spear made of bone. It’s shaft is that of a long spine, smoothed and grooved for easy gripping. It’s head is that of a long blade of bone, wickedly sharp.

I picture muscles connected those segments of bone together, veins providing a flow of blood throughout the spear. They are encased in an exoskeleton of bone, protected and still able to move.

I picture the muscles able to move and shift, allowing for the spear to become something like a bladed whip and reshape itself.

It will need to be able to see as well.

I picture two eyes on both sides of the blade of the spear, able to have separate rotation to see in both directions. They are small, and I leave them the same as the panther’s eyes, a slitted black pupil.

Pressing my will harder, I picture four small holes in both sides of the spears, able to suck in oxygen to bring into the blood. I form tiny lungs in the base of the blade, able to suck in the air and disperse it throughout the weapon.

That tingling rises in the back of my neck, a crinkling and crackling at the base of my skull. Quet murmurs fill my ears, and it feels like my hand is being guided.

Two small hearts form, one in the spearhead and one in the shaft. They will help pump the blood about, making sure that everything is running smoothly.

I continue one, refining the image, all the while my katra reserves burn and evaporate. It is intense, and I can already feel the massive amounts of katra I am pulling from my core dwindling.

I can’t do anything else, I’ll have to settle for the way she is right now. I can add more on later.

I finish refining the image and everything else, making sure that all will work correctly. I don’t want her to be stuck like this forever though.

The tingling and crackling intensifies, and I can feel a static like energy filling the air. I push one last image, this one of the spear returning to the baby panther’s original form and back.

I… need more.

I look around desperate, feeling with my senses for someway to get more katra.

I’m surrounded by katra, my katra, I can just pull from it.

With a flick of my will, I yank at the surrounding katra that makes up the very land around me, drawing from it’s reserves.

I focus back on my image of the spear, and finish refining it, making sure that she should be able to turn back into her original form.

The feeling of the katra rushing through me is invigorating, and I can feel as the various imprinted types of Gray katra are purified and turned into Gray katra to help fuel my creation.

Then I am finished, there is nothing more that I can think of and I don’t want to continue to pull katra from my surroundings, incase it is having a negative impact.

I push the image I had carefully refined down, making sure that it sticks into place. The buzzing in my ears quiets down, and I can feel the image solidifying.

I loosen my will’s hold on the image slowly, making sure that it is sticking. Once I am sure that the image has taken, I open my eyes.

In my hand, perfectly fitted to my palm, is a spear. It is made of milky white bone, a long spear head topping it. The shaft looks like that of smoothed vertebrae, red muscle visible between the cracks.

Exhaustion hits me like the lightning bolt I took earlier, and I take large gulps of air, gasping.

I curl over, sucking in as much air as I can. The bone spear falls from my fingers, rolling in the gray dust.

Looking around, what I find shocks me.

Did… did I do this?

What was once a thriving patch of forest is now a barren wasteland, the very ground is cracked and seems drained of color. What once were trees now stand gray, hollow and lifeless, dried spires of dead wood pointing to the sky. The underbrush has completely disintegrated, leaving a barren feel to the ground, and even the decaying leaves have crumbled to gray dust.

I pulled the katra from everywhere around me.

My attention is pulled back to my spear. It is no longer rigid, but now moving back and forth like a snake. I slithers through the dust, the muscles under the hard bone pulling and contracting, the bone clinking softly.

The spear, twists itself, trying out its new body. Its pupils are glowing gray, unlike the black I imagined, and the spear stares at me intently.

That’s kinda creepy looking.

I pluck the delicate strand that is my mind link with her. ‘Hello?’

I got feelings of confusion back from the link, along with a measure of happiness.

Focusing, I send over the image of the spear turning back into the panther cub, imbuing it with reassurance.

The spear curls up on itself, the eyes in the blade staring at me. Then it seems to liquify into Gray katra, quickly reforming itself into the shape of the panther. It becomes more defined, eventually filling in more detail and solidifying into that of a panther cub.

The panther’s fur is now a grayish white, spotted in black. It’s eyes glow a dim Gray, much like my own.

I don’t remember ever doing that.

The panther mewls, enjoying it’s now repaired leg. It hops into my lap, purring and rubbing itself against my leg. I pat it, a smile on my lips.

I’ve never had a pet before.

Amia was a farming village and pets were rare because the mentality of them being ‘one more mouth to feed’ was prevalent. Plus, I didn't have enough money to take care of a pet myself.

I scratch the panther’s ears, and it purrs in contentment, rubbing against me. ‘What am I going to call you?’

The cub looks up at me, it’s cute small face, large eyes and innocent expression burrowing into me. In its eyes is a steel and something intelligent, lurking deep in them, but most assuredly there.

A image mixed with intent is sent back over the mind link, and I can roughly translate it to, ‘Name?’

I smile, ‘Yes, a name.’

The panther mewls happily, trying to seemingly meld itself to me with it’s constant rubbing. ‘Name!’

I take a few minutes to think, reveling in the feeling of having a pet. This wasn’t what I had intended when I was looking for something to become my weapon, but I can’t say I am opposed to it.

‘How about Ella?’

There is a surge of discontent over my link, and I can interpret it as a no.

‘Alright, what about Wyn?’

I am met with the same surge of disagreement.

Wracking my brain some more, I finally come up with something.

‘What if I call you Vel? After Murugan’s spear.’

Vel was the name of a god’s legendary spear, one that was used to vanquish an entire army and kill another god.

I get the sense that she is thinking, and a minute later, I get acquiescence mixed with uncertainty.

Smiling, I send over the link, ‘I am happy to meet you, Vel.’

The cub purrs as I scratch under her chin and behind her ears. She rubs herself up against my stomach, making content sounds.

I enjoy the moment, savoring it.

Eventually, a thought comes to me. What am I going to do with her when I am not here?