The twins felt like time was going too fast. They tried to make the most out of their free period on Thursday and their elective class on Friday. However, they had too much to prepare, and their teammates were of no help – when they weren’t hindrances.
During the last elective class before the trip, Mrs. Bousrani added more precise explanations to the purifying recipe, allowing the students to fine-tune it for their target. Galen worked seriously, dedicating his energy to make sure at least one aspect of their task would go seamlessly.
The base of the purifying potion was the binding agent: the sparkling moon-water, a high-grade spirit ingredient for potions. The main ingredients were three spirit plants – the diaphanous peace lily, the soul-cleansing philodendron, and the dim devil’s ivy –, and two spirit stones – the glimmering milky selenite and the profound midnight tourmaline.
These were all expensive ingredients provided by the school. The students were cautious when handling them because destroying or wasting ingredients would lower their grades or – in the worst case – put them in debt. This cautiousness was doubled for this project because the students were used to processing plants, but handling stones was still a novelty to them.
The potion needed one last ingredient that varied depending on whether the target was an amphibian or an insect. Mrs. Bousrani explained in detail how this last ingredient allow the purification to work faster and more precisely. For the olm, Galen needed a limpid cerulean myosotis.
Galen was meticulous in his work, checking each process multiple times. After washing the spirit stones in salt water and soaking them in sunlight with the help of Lucia to enhance the stones’ quality, the young pharmacist ground the spirit stones in his mortar until the resulting powder was smooth and homogeneous. It was delicate work because a heavy hand could destroy the stones' spiritual properties, while a too hasty or light grinding could result in a heterogeneous potion.
Then, Galen extracted the essential oil from the flowers, being careful to keep them separated from each other. The oils were volatile and needed specific ways to conserve them. However, the youth was familiar with the process and made no mistakes.
After working relentlessly for hours, Galen proudly packed the processed ingredients for the purifying potion. The potion’s spiritual power evaporated quickly, so the final steps had to be done on-site. Mrs. Bousrani had not yet told the students how to mix the ingredients to brew the potion. She didn’t trust overzealous pharmacists like Mahlon to obey her and wait.
Galen witnessed the teacher scolding the mundane pharmacist employed by Amir when he asked if he could use more expensive ingredients to improve his potion. Mahlon, who was sitting nearby, muttered that he should be allowed to try brewing his potion with scattering purple loosestrife – a rare spirit plant from the Rio Grande Cities-States region famous for attracting insects and cleansing infections. Galen was impressed by his classmates’ daring, although he wasn’t surprised. Mahlon would experiment with anything, and Amir was used to getting his way using money.
Meanwhile, the training with Celeste, Jarek, and Emilio was counter-productive. Jarek never showed up on Thursday during their free period and skipped all his classes on Friday. Artem didn’t know how he would be able to collaborate with such a teammate.
Celeste was enthusiastic but was often careless and didn’t execute Artem’s orders as she should, leading to mistakes and failures. Emilio was unwilling to listen to Artem, doubting the young beast tamer’s skill to lead.
“You think you can do better? Care to remind me of your score in the professional combat elective class?” Artem questioned the boy, trying to get a grip on his teammate.
“That’s irrelevant! You’re not even from a military class. Why should you lead?”
“You know what?” Artem refused to let Emilio waste their training time. “Let’s ask Mr. Tawil for his opinion. What do you think he’d say?”
Emilio muttered that they shouldn’t disturb the teacher and abandon his protests. However, he soon found other things to complain about. Each time he couldn’t do a maneuver asked by Artem, he said it was because Artem’s strategy was at fault. He never considered he was unskilled.
Artem clenched his teeth and endured his frustration. He wouldn’t let his temper get the best of him. More importantly, he refused to admit defeat: he would find a way to control Emilio.
Lyra watched on worriedly. Artem was enduring too much. She didn’t think it was healthy. Stoicism was in Artem’s nature, but becoming a sacrifice was not the way to go. Artem was too hard on himself. However, Lyra refrained from saying anything, afraid she was projecting herself on him.
***
On Saturday morning, the fifty students gathered in front of the school and discovered the Beast Tamers Association’s long-travel vehicles. The Beast Riders from the Association controlled their pets to charge the trucks in spiritual power. Contrary to the bus and mini-bus circulating inside the City-State thanks to homemade electricity, these vehicles were sturdier and heavier, so they needed frequent refuels. Depending on the terrain, the Beast Riders could directly order their pets to pull the vehicles or use their talents or inner-wolrd features to store the trucks to transport their passengers on their pets’ backs. When there was no danger, the Beast Riders casually drove.
There were five vehicles, and each could seat twelve passengers. Mr. Tawil and Mrs. Bousrani asked the students to stay with their groups, so Amir’s and Cecelia’s teams took one vehicle each. Marcus discussed with Orsella and agreed to let their teams share a truck, though it was almost crowded with the Cave Bear and the Magma Tortoise. Galen and Artem ended up in the same vehicle as Mahlon and Anan. Mr. Tawil – escorting Jarek, whom the teacher had picked up early in the morning – sat with them. Mrs. Bousrani gave some warning and instruction to Metin’s and Bruno’s groups, who couldn’t welcome any adult with the twelve students already inside. Then, she chose to join a random truck, loudly stating that she would change vehicles at each break.
Thanks to the Beast Riders, the trip should only take fifteen hours. However, traveling long distances was still a hassle: attacks from Abyss monsters, natural disasters, and any other accidents could happen outside a City-State. That was without mentioning the main issue: the lack of decent roads. To prevent most accidents, the vehicles were also escorted by two squads from the Army led by Beast Warriors.
The students sat next to their friends to chat and look around. The twins first kept quiet and observed their classmates. Artem thought of talking with Anan but abandoned the idea. He felt affinities for Mahlon’s bodyguard, but leaning too much on their similarities would strain their relationship. Moreover, after suffering from his imposed teammates for three days, Artem didn’t want to socialize. He needed peace to recenter himself.
Leaving the City-State of Olympia from the Center took two hours, and the students only quieted down once they were outside the last ring of walls. The vegetation was kept away from the walls for dozens of kilometers, leaving a clear visibility of the surroundings. These vast grasslands soon became dense forests with narrow trails and low visibility.
The students knew how long the trip would take, so they got comfortable. The vehicle was narrow, and the pets took up some more space. When Jarek acted like a boss, reclaiming two seats, Mr. Tawil – blessed his soul – retaliated by making Jarek catch up on the lessons he had missed.
The teacher smirked at Jarek. “You didn’t think I’d leave you alone after you forced me to pick you up, did you?”
“We’re going to disturb the others’ rest,” Jarek insincerely pointed out.
“Like you care about that. But here’s an idea. Emilio! Celeste! Come over here for your remedial lessons.”
Celeste smiled eagerly and changed seats with another student nearer to Mr. Tawil. Emilio, who had already lain down to sleep, complained loudly. The teacher glared at him, and Emilio came over under the mocking glances of his classmates.
“Like Celeste said, Mr. Tawil is very attentive to them,” Galen mused.
Artem joined them on his own in the spirit of teamwork. He had seen Emilio’s resentful glare and hoped to soften the boy’s reaction by listening to Mr. Tawil’s lesson with them.
Lyra was skeptical. She believed Jarek would take his revenge later. Emilio was petty, but Jarek had mean, black eyes that Lyra didn’t like. Mr. Tawil wouldn’t come with the twins in the field. So Galen and Artem should find a way to handle Emilio and Jarek before an accident occurs.
Meanwhile, Galen chatted with Mahlon about the poisonous plants and venomous beasts in the Lush Steps Lake area. Mahlon talked with his usual enthusiasm. Galen nodded, took notes, and added his input from time to time. He was happy to compare notes with his classmate.
***
The journey itself was part of the experience, so the teachers made the students help when they had to clear a landslide blocking the trail. With everyone cooperating, it only delayed them for one hour. The Beast Riders took the opportunity to recharge the vehicles and invited their passengers to eat their lunch. They would try to catch up on the lost time after the lunch break.
Later in the afternoon, some stray Abyss monsters attacked the convoy. The squads reacted quickly and intercepted the threat. The monsters looked like a cross between a canine and a lizard. They had six powerful legs and a disproportionate maw filled with serrated teeth. Saliva was dripping from their maw because of the lack of lips, and Mahlon exclaimed in awe as he saw drops of saliva corroding the vegetation.
“Sir, what are these monsters?” Artem asked, his attention focused on the fight going on outside. The Beast Warriors deployed their pets and used their talents while the mundane soldiers held the line to defend the vehicles and push back the monsters’ assaults.
The monsters were slightly taller than humans, and two or three soldiers were needed to handle one of them. Their skeleton was oddly visible on some parts of their body, and the soldiers aimed at these gaps in their strangely ethereal hide. The soldiers carefully avoided the maws and their dangerous teeth and saliva.
“They’re maulers,” Mr. Tawil answered as one of the Beast Warriors shot at the monsters with ice arrows. The other Beast Warrior fought with his two rare Viridian Alpha Wolves on the front line, his ferocity equaling that of his pets.
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Artem admired the two pets. If Caleb raised his Green Dog right, it could evolve into a Viridian Alpha Wolf. Artem looked for the other Beast Warrior’s pets, wondering if he also had traditional army pets. However, the fight moved to another part of the convoy.
The soldiers escorting them finally killed all the maulers. Mrs. Bousrani left her vehicle to tend to the wounded soldiers after shouting at Metin’s team to climb back into their truck. They had wanted to examine the monsters’ bodies.
Fortunately, there was no casualty, and the Beast Riders cleaned the trail, making the monsters’ bodies disappear, using their talents or inner-world features. The convoy left again in less than one hour, giving the students a false sense of safety.
Mr. Tawil frowned as he took in the students’ lack of worries. During the dinner break, the teacher assembled the students to educate them on the real danger of the attack. The Beast Riders stopped at an Army bunker, so they were safe enough and had some time for it.
“Maulers are the weakest of the Abyss monsters, yes. But they compensate for that by traveling in hordes. The maulers are fodder units.” The students listened attentively, Metin’s team was even taking notes. Mr. Tawil sighed, realizing he wasn’t getting through to the students. “The dozen maulers we encountered were surely the leftover from a decimated horde, already weakened by another fight. All Abyss monsters are highly dangerous. We were extremely lucky there were so few of them.”
Mrs. Bousrani took over the explanation. “The soldiers escorting us are experienced. They avoided being bitten or touching the monsters’ saliva. Those are the real danger.”
The nurse described the wounds and injuries a mauler could cause. Her precise description horrified some students, making them finally realize the danger of these monsters. The students asked more questions about the soldiers’ countermeasures and the monsters before the convoy left again for the last part of their journey.
They traveled slowly after the sunset. The two squads from the Army and the Beast Riders pushed on despite the enhanced dangers, and they finally arrived late at night after eighteen hours of travel.
The Beast Riders left the students and the teachers at the Beast Tamer Association’s forward operative base – or FOB as the insiders called it. There, some staff welcomed them and ushered them to their accommodation, not giving them any time to get their bearings together.
The twins shared a room with eight other boys. They didn’t care who was with them, although they heard Mr. Tawil insist they needed to stay with their teammates as much as possible. With the girls and the boys being separated, it left some liberties to the students – at least, those awake enough to exploit them.
However, Galen and Artem were exhausted. They chose a bed, briefly cleaned up, and went to sleep without bothering to find out where Emilio and Jarek decided to stay.
In the morning, the early light showed the semi-permanent buildings constituting the FOB. It was planned out with military precision, and Lyra picked up enough information to explain the Army had built this base first to battle against the Abyss monster outbreak. Army staff with solemn faces were dismantling most buildings, but the Association kept the main ones for their own operations. It sounded like sharing resources was common enough between the Army and the Association, and Galen wondered if that was what Anan had talked about when he mentioned his law and administration elective class.
As the twins followed the other students to the mess hall, they noticed other important buildings in addition to the lodgings: an armory, a hospital, a motor pool, and a logistical center. There were hundreds of people milling about.
“Apparently, during the peak of the battle, the base had swelled up to thousands of soldiers,” Lyra said as she took on the activities taking place around her hosts. It was hard to imagine what it had looked like during the perilous moments of the fights against the Abyss monsters.
The staff in the mess hall served the students a substantial breakfast. The heavy atmosphere tampered with the students’ excitement. After Mr. Tawil’s and Mrs. Bousrani's explanation about the Abyss monsters, some of them were more circumspect about their mission.
As soon as they finished their food, they went to a large tent able to seat a hundred persons. Several beast tamers from the Association were waiting for them at the front.
The teachers introduced them to the students. They invited all of them – but especially the young beast tamers – to carefully listen to these professionals’ instructions and recommendations. When Mr. Tawil and Mrs. Bousrani sat down, two Beast Wardens stood up. An austere woman spoke first, her voice effortlessly reaching the last rows.
“A Beast Warden’s mission is not and never will be to kill beasts. Our job is to protect them, even from themselves. I want to make it clear that you are not here to fight the beasts, or anyone for that matter.” The woman paused and sternly looked at each student. “Now, to subdue a corrupted beast without hurting it might not be possible at your level. However, it is possible to reduce the risk of injuries. We are going to give you a few useful strategies to handle the corrupted beasts and allow the pharmacists to treat them.”
The other Beast Warden – a broad-shouldered man – took over, using the whiteboard to show drawings and schema. Artem listened attentively, mentally making revisions to his own plans.
“Excuse me,” Metin said in a lull of the explanation. “Do we know why the Abyss monsters corrupt the beasts?”
“Ah, an excellent question. A Beast Researcher might answer that better than us.” The austere woman shared a look with her colleague. “A first sure fact is that the Abyss monsters invaded our world because of the spiritual power. A second sure fact is that without spiritual power, an Abyss monster shrivels and dies.”
Amethyst raised her hand and spoke when the Beast Warden nodded at her. “The monsters are feeding from the beasts, aren’t they?”
“In a way, yes, they are.” The woman paused, somberly looking over to the other beast tamers.
“If that’s the case,” one student from the Abyss monsters knowledge elective class asked, “shouldn’t they also feed off of beast tamers?”
The students grew restless, waiting for the Beast Warden to answer. However, Naeem asked another question first. “Does this mean the corruption is contagious and could spread to humans? Is that why Mrs. Bousrani forbade us from leaving the vehicles yesterday after the attack?”
The students reacted noisily at the idea they could also be corrupted. The woman sighed. “Calm down and listen up!”
Once the students quieted down, she began a lengthy explanation. “As far as we know, the Abyss monsters cannot adsorb the spiritual power directly or efficiently. The Beast Researchers are still debating on that point. Anyway, the monsters corrupt the beasts to transform their spiritual energy into an energy they can more easily digest. That is why we are here and why it is so important to rescue the corrupted beasts and put a stop to the corruption.”
Galen thought back to the way the Beast Riders hadn’t left any bodies in the forest. They should have done it to stop the bodies from corrupting the vegetation.
Melanie raised her hand. “Do all Abyss monsters have the ability to corrupt beasts and humans?”
“First of all, there are still debates about human corruption. Our chi is already processed energy after all so I won’t answer that question.” She paused to let the chatter rising in reaction to her answer die down. “As for the other one, does anyone know the seven species of Abyss monsters?”
The six students from the Abyss monster knowledge elective class raised their hands, and the Beast Warden pointed at one of them.
“There are the maulers we saw yesterday. Then, the reapers, the lurkers, the stalkers, the tormentors, the breeders, and the fiends.”
The woman nodded in approval. “Does anyone want to take a guess from their names?”
“The breeders,” Metin said when the woman nodded at him. “I always thought their name meant they were reproductive monsters, but that’s not it, is it? They are called breeders because they raise the beasts as their food.”
“That is right. The breeders are the units with the most corruption influence, whereas the maulers are the ones with the least. The Lush Steps Lake was attacked by a horde of breeders led by a tormentor with a few reapers to protect them.”
The beast tamers answered some questions about the attack, praising the efficiency of the Army, who had culled the monsters’ outbreak in under a month without excessive casualties. The officers – most of them being beast tamers – had handled the tormentor, who was the biggest threat and hard to deal with. That terrifying monster had caused the most death before being finally brought down.
“The Lush Steps Lake now needs to be cleaned up. That’s why you’re here.”
From the following exchange, Galen and Artem understood that Metin and his classmates had a different mission. They needed to find a breeder body to observe the spread of corruption to the nature surrounding it. Melanie’s mission had been changed to match her teammates’ goals. She didn’t have to purify a specific target but the vegetation, the land, or the water. The broad-shouldered Beast Warden would stay with them because their mission forced them to approach Abyss monsters and because they had no students from the professional combat elective class in their group.
Then, three Beast Rangers came forward. The first one spoke to the point and didn’t accept questions. He presented the particularities of the mountainous and watery terrain. Then, he handed out maps.
“Each map has specific notations, different depending on your target.”
Artem frowned in thought, looking over at the teams. He would like to compare his map with theirs before leaving.
“Are you sure that’s wise?” Lyra expressed her doubts.
“With how they insisted that we aren’t here to fight but to save the beasts, I’d think cooperation is the way to go,” Galen answered Lyra.
Before Artem could attract Marcus’s attention, another Beast Ranger talked about the security measures. He first linked the young beast tamers’ connected bracelets to the FOB’s local network, then he told the students to download the surveillance application.
“This will locate you in a fifty-kilometer perimeter around the FOB once you activate the red beacon. Only activate the beacon if you are in danger. A Beast Ranger will then hurry to your location. Do not activate it lightly!” The Beast Ranger impressed the importance of this instruction by slapping his hand on the board.
Finally, the third Beast Ranger explained the three of them would patrol the Lush Steps Lake to keep an eye on the students. She proudly said the students wouldn’t be aware of their presence, but any unwarranted or illegal behavior would be reported.
After this declaration, a Beast Nurturer further explained that anyone who killed a beast would face a heavy fine. “If you deadly injure a beast, call forth a Beast Nurturer by activating the blue beacon. We’ll hurry over to try for the Rebirth Ceremony. You will still be investigated, mind you. I can only underline that the only way to have the right to kill a beast is if the corruption is too far along. And let me be frank with you, we took our job seriously enough not to have left any beast in this condition out there.”
By then, it was late in the morning. Mr. Tawil and the Beast Rangers checked the professional combat students’ armor and weaponry. The FOB issued the same bivouac equipment to each team. However, the students were responsible for their armor and weapons.
During that time, Mrs. Bousrani and a Beast Healer from the Association gathered the pharmacists. Mrs. Bousrani instructed the pharmacist students on how to finish brewing the purifying potion in the fields. Then, the two Beast Healers checked up on the students’ supplies and gave them a rundown of the most likely injuries or problems they could encounter.
The teachers wrote down the names of the students with defective or poorly maintained equipment and supplies. In the worst case, they were sent to the logistical building to rent what they were lacking.
Artem and Galen had high-quality armor and weapons since they brought them from their Villa. Artem was meticulous when maintaining them, aware that Galen and he were still growing. Artem had chosen two short swords and his standard armor. Galen had chosen his shield, a mini crossbow, and a knife.
Celeste’s equipment was of army standard, which didn’t come as a surprise with her father being an Army officer. She had standard armor, a shield, a long sword, a standard knife, and some javelins, making her the most outfitted of their team.
Jarek’s unconventional but high-quality equipment provoked some reactions. He had several hidden weapons, notably several special blades: two stilettos, two switchblades, and bracers hiding darts.
Problems arose with Emilio. He had brought a gun despite Artem telling him not to. It was confiscated, and the Association issued a crossbow to him instead. Emilio complained, refusing to see that a gun was too loud for the kind of mission they had to do. He kept saying it was unjust and pointed out Jarek’s unconventional weapons as the real threat. The Beast Rangers ignored him.
In the meantime, some teams departed from the FOB. Artem was frustrated when he saw Marcus was among them. He wasn’t confident in the remaining teams’ willingness to share their maps. Fortunately, Mahlon led his team to them with his usual carefree attitude. Anan and Artem put their maps together and added notes on them. Mahlon’s target was the Purple-Tinted Damselfly. The area where the olms and the damselflies lived didn’t cross over too much, which gave a lot of new information to each team.
With all their preparations done, Artem’s and Galen’s team left the base after eating an early lunch at the mess hall.