The Beast opened its mouth and roared bloody murder to the forest once again, the thunderous sound shaking the trees around them and deafening the ears of the Cultivators for just a split second.

Then, it lowered its head, stamped its feet a couple of times, and charged at the nearest target.

Kai’s breath caught, and his fists clenched as he saw that the nearest human was none other than Mera, who although might have some skill with the sword, was still just a Rank 1 Meridians Stage Cultivator, while the Blood Berserker Boar that had just appeared was a Rank 1 Channels Stage Cultivator.

Beasts ate the bodies and Cores of other Beasts to gain power and Rank up. Blood Boars, normally near the bottom of the food chain, were mostly at Rank 2 of the Meridians Stage.

However, in some rare cases where a Blood Boar was able to kill just enough Beasts, it was able to increase its power to the Channels Stage, where it would evolve and be known as a Blood Berserker Boar.

It would then become the Alpha of its own group of Blood Boars, and from observing its rage, it was obvious that these three Beasts had been a part of its pack.

Kai, as soon as he had caught sight of the large beast stepping into the clearing, without any thought to his own safety, had stomped on the ground and propelled himself forward, hoping in his heart that he would be able to save Mera.

And yet, he knew it would be fruitless, as the Blood Berserker Boar was much faster than him because of its higher Stage.

He pushed his body, first feeling the strain physically, and then on his Soul, as he cycled more and more Energy back and forth at a faster pace, forcing himself to speed up.

As he cycled chaotically, he could feel the slight tears in his golden Meridians, yet he knew it was worth it as he noticeably sped up.

However, he realized seconds later that he would make it just as the Boar would spear Mera, unable to do anything but catch her lifeless body.

And then, all the rage, all the helplessness, all the determination coalesced into one long blade that tore a hole in a barrier in Kai’s mind, and he felt unadulterated power roll into his body.

It was a different type of power than the golden Heavenly Energy, less of an energy and more of a mystery. A weapon mystery that differed from the Energy it used as fuel.

Yet, power was power, no matter where it came from, and Kai felt the rush of a large amount of it pushing into his veins. It didn’t energize his body however, and it didn’t make him faster, but when he was only a few sword lengths from Mera, he reached out with his blade and pointed it towards the Blood Berserker Boar.

Following his instincts, Kai simply slashed at the air, putting all of his emotions and his knowledge of his weapon into the slight movement.

And to Mortal eyes, it would seem that he had done nothing, yet Cultivators could see a thin black line form in the air at the exact spot where Kai had slashed, and rush towards the Boar.

And they would also see that the line looked unstable, shaking as it cut through the air.

Kai saw the same instability and knew that it was because he didn’t have enough mastery of the sword yet: since he knew only seven Forms, the line coalesced from the Sword Earth mysteries was only seventy percent stable.

Yet, it didn’t matter as it accomplished Kai’s goal. The ghostly slash hit the Boar right on its snout, doing some damage as it cut into the Beast.

It wasn’t meant to actually truly damage or kill the Beast but to slow it down, and the split second the Boar wasted to shake off the slight pain on its face gave Kai just enough time to reach Mera, who was just standing there, petrified.

He grabbed her around the waist, and started to pull her back with him. Fortunately, that split second had also given Varin just enough time to do something too.

A blue tinged spear slammed right into one of the eyes of the Blood Berserker Boar, the Spear Earth mysteries ripping apart the left side of its face.

And yet, this time, as if the Beast had expected more pain, it hadn’t stopped and instead had kept rushing towards Mera and Kai, who were trying their best to escape.

Kai realized that they would never be able to outrun the Boar in time, and so he suddenly stopped the both of them and waited.

He focused on the chaotic rhythm of his breathing and the rapid beating of his heart. He calmed both, bringing his breaths back into a steady rhythm and pulling the reigns on his wild heart.

And then, at the exact right moment, he threw the both of them to the side, holding Mera close to his chest, basically creating a cocoon for her.

However, Kai was still three Ranks lower than the Beast attacking him and although he’d launched them sideways at just the right time, the edge of one of the Boar’s tusks caught him in the back and ripped open a cut from his hip all the way to his opposite shoulder, tearing a sizable chunk of his flesh off of him.

They landed on the ground and the breath left both of their bodies.

Kai could faintly hear the Boar roaring in the background and knew that Varin was now clashing with it. Sound started to fade away as he blinked and suddenly, Mera was looking down at him, his head in her lap as she stroked his cheek.

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He could see the tears falling down her cheeks as she mouthed his name, and he wanted to say, “Please, don’t cry,” but only garbled gibberish left his mouth.

He wanted, no he needed to stay awake, if only to make sure that Mera would be protected and wouldn’t be attacked again, but he lost the battle with the darkness slithering at the edges of his vision as the void claimed him once again.

***

Kai opened his eyes to the vast void of his Soulscape. However, there were a rumbling sound that permeated it and a slight shaking like a mini earthquake followed.

Kai could feel his Soul trying to move, to visit a familiar place where a River and a Death god resided, but he could also see chains made of gold holding him in place.

Sorrow filled him at the fact that his own choices had trapped his Soul to a path decided by Fate. He did not understand this statement fully but he still knew it to be true.

He had no choices, not anymore.

***

Kai woke with a gasp, the fur covering him sliding off as he quickly sat up. He instantly started to cycle breath in and out of his body in a rhythm, relaxing his wildly beating heart.

He then, once again, opened his eyes and looked around, recognizing the fabric and color of one of the small tents that their hunting group had brought with them.

He pulled the fur covering his legs up to his naked chest as a cool breeze entered through the flaps of his open tent, which told him that someone had been here with him just recently.

Fortunately, he saw his tunic and fur cloak in the corner of the tent and so he quickly dressed himself before stepping out into the cold air of the night.

He instantly caught sight of Mera, standing around ten paces away from the entrance of his tent, shivering in the cold wind, a thin cloak that did next to nothing to ward off the chill wrapped around her small frame.

Kai walked to her slowly, gently stepping on the ground, as to not alert her of his sneaking.

He was standing right behind her when he said, “Chilly night tonight, isn’t it?”

Mera jumped, startled at his sudden voice, and spun around, hand already reaching for her blade before her eyes widened in realization of who it was.

She instantly grabbed him and tightly embraced him, tucking her smaller form into his chest.

And then just as suddenly, she pushed away from him, and turned away, hiding her face from him.

He turned her back to him and asked, “What’s wrong,” catching sight of the upset expression on her face.

“What’s wrong is the fact that you saved me from certain death, and I had to watch, once again, as you almost died right in front of me and I was powerless to do anything.”

There were tears at the corners of her eyes.

“You do these things,” she continued. “You saved Taran without hesitation, and then you saved me.”

“I wasn’t going to let you die, not when I had the chance to do something about it,” he said.

“Don’t you know how much you mean to me,” she said, her voice cracking. “How much it hurts to see you covered in your own blood, especially when it’s because of me.”

And therein lied the problem. Mera was guilty over the fact that Kai had gotten severely injured from saving her. She blamed herself over the selfless choice Kai had made.

He cupped her face in his hands and tilted it up, looking deep into her eyes.

“I promise,” he said. “I promise that I will never leave you.”

Although it seemed on the surface that Mera was just filled with guilt, Kai was so familiar with her mannerisms and knew her expressions so well, that he’d easily caught the slight twinge of fear that had shown up on her face as she’d been talking.

As he saw Mera blink away her tears and slowly part her mouth, he knew he’d guessed correctly. She was afraid that he would die and leave her.

He visibly gulped as, in a tender moment, he brought his face down to hers and slowly brushed her lips with his, feeling an unexplainable energy pass between them.

As if this was the moment she’d been waiting for, Mera wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a deeper kiss, one Kai returned with barely any hesitation. His arms pulled away from her cheeks and wrapped around her waist, pulling her smaller frame into his chest once again.

And then, just as suddenly they had connected, it was over and Mera stepped back, heat filling her cheeks in spite of the cold air. Kai himself was breathing hard, basking in the giddiness that filled him.

There was no need to explain anything to each other. Everything intimate that needed to be said had been explained in the moment they had both just shared.

However, even though there were standing only a couple of paces from each other, Kai felt a yearning to touch her, to just hold her again.

And seeing her slight shiver as another cool breeze passed through, he did just that, sitting on the ground, and pulling her into his lap, letting the heat of his body and the cover that his large fur coat provided to warm her up.

And then, they just talked, at first bantering like they normally did, before moving on to a conversation about what had occurred during the time Kai had been passed out.

To someone listening to their conversation, it would seem that nothing had changed, yet to Kai, everything had changed.

From their conversation, Kai had been informed that it had only been a day and a half since he’d fallen unconscious, and the next day would be the last of their hunt.

Kai had been severely injured by the horn of the Blood Berserker Boar and at first, everyone had been afraid that he would perish. However, Varin had taken a chance and used the Energy from the Core of the Blood Berserker Boar to heal Kai.

This was a dangerous procedure that most Cultivators were discouraged from performing, because although the Energy contained in the Core of a Beast could heal someone injured, more likely than not, it would just run rampant within the injured person’s body and cripple their Cultivation, if not killing them outright.

It was especially dangerous on someone unconscious as they did not even have the chance to try directing that Energy to heal themself. However, Mera had told Kai that the Energy from the Core had miraculously known exactly what to do within his body and had healed him in less than two days.

Kai realized that his situation had been much more dire than he’d originally thought and that that was one of the reasons Mera had been so distraught, because although the Energy had seemed to be healing him, his body hadn’t given any response to it, as many patients would wake during the healing process due to pain or other reasons. Yet he’d stayed asleep the entire time.

He’d also been told that out of the three Cores that had been left, two had been granted to him. He’d caught sight of the small sack that had been sitting beside his clothes in the tent, but he’d decided to go outside instead of checking out what was in it. He now knew that the sack held two Cores that he could either sell, or use for his Cultivation.

“It was strange,” Mera was saying. “Taran insisted on giving you both Cores when Varin offered him the second one. I’ve never seen him so subdued before.”

“Maybe he feels guilty that he pulled the group into such a dangerous situation,” Kai said.

Mera nodded. “Yeah, and he now knows that you’re already a Rank higher than him,” she said with a smile.

Kai noticed in the next few minutes that Mera had started to nod off, and so, he convinced her to go back to her tent and sleep. In the meantime, Kai was still wide awake and so he decided to try and take advantage of the Cores he’d been given to Cultivate.

Sitting in his tent, it was with great anticipation that Kai pulled out two blood red orbs from the small sack.