With those thoughts occupying his head Myron went through two sets of exercises. Push ups, pull ups, chin ups, sit ups, butt-bridges and squats. By the end he decided to do a bit of running too. Walking down the hill they had come from and rushing back up in a sprint. Which ended in him collapsing on the steps to the porch like wet rag.

“Here.” Farmer Keegs threw the towel and Myron thankfully dried himself up. There a soft breeze flowing through the meadow and his sweat quickly dried up.

“Good morning.” He turned around, still sat on the steps. The Old man smiled. “Morning. How did you sleep?”

“Amazing would be an understatement. You could have dragged me out of bed and chopped me up to feed to your animals and I wouldn’t have woken up. I may have been dead, so deep the sleep was.”

“Gwafha! You got an intense imagination Kid!” Myron chuckled, enjoying being treated like a child despite his 28 years of age, though compared to the old man he was nothing. He held up well for his age, he probably liked to think, and it was true, appearance-wise.

“That I do. It’s why I’ve managed to survive this hectic week and get into all the trouble I did.”

“Heh! That’s youth. Use it while you have it.” Having dispensed his morning wisdom the old man fell into silence, sipping on his morning beverage of choice.

“Say, something that has been bothering me a bit since yesterday morning. If it’s not a bother to you..”

“Go on, ask away I’m all ears.” Myron thanked his stars for landing him on the doorstep of the most patient and extroverted old coot there ever was.

“It’s about Tethers.”

“What do you want to know about them?”

“Well, for one, do you have a Tether?”

“Aye, Used to, don’t need it here, but that’s how Aimon are Bonded, are they not? Don’t tell me you ain’t have them?” He slapped his knee and then nearly dropped his mug. His jaw dropped. “You’re being serious?”

Myron nodded, just a little embarrassed, as if he had done something great and something naughty.

“Gosh, that’s amazing. How did you do it?”

“It’s a Clan Method, I think. Syl taught me, and she is an Aimon from the Jeweler Clan, as she admitted yesterday. Nothing like a cup of milk and good company to get someone to open up. Anyway. She just, placed my hand on her chest and her hand on mine, not over the heart.” Myron mimicked the action on himself. Remembering the moment. “And told me to open up. Like a door, to my soul.”

“I imagined just that and the world fell away. I was in another space of pure darkness. Only me, and my Bubble. Heh- Souls are funny that way. My soul.” Myron said and the Old man had to rub his face with his hands, stand up and pace around the Porch. Sunika joined him not later having sensed the tumultuous emotions.

“What is it like? A Bond like that?”

“It’s open, Syl says. They can feel me and I can feel them. For reasons unknown my version of this Bond is even more open with her previous Trainer, who died unfortunately a little more than a Month ago now. I found her near withering, the rest is histor-ing.” Myorn said and then countered. “How does it feel to have a Tether? When you had one?”

“It’s muted. I get it that you don’t know how Tethers work at all?” Myron shook his head.

“I don’t know how they are made, exactly, but from what I understand. We take this alloy of crystals which is formed into a sphere and cut into halves. Those halves are somehow connected by the actual tether, the rope, the pathway. Trainers stick one half into themselves, whenever they feel like and it just remains there, unbothered. The other half has to be carried on their person until they find an Aimon and shove that thing into their chest, upon getting consent, or beating it into them…. And then they have a Bond.”

“That’s it?”

“Your way sounded way simpler to my ears, though I’ve never heard of anyone do it.”

“And then, where do the Crystals remain? I saw some guy shove his hand into his chest and a golden hole swallowed it up. From there he pulled out the Half of the sphere that belonged to the Aimon and threw it to the ground. It broke, obviously and Aimon popped out.”

“That’s a convenience of the Tethers, truly.” Keegs said and Sunika nodded. “I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that it works just like you said it does. When a Human Soul is tied to one half and an Aimon Soul to another, the two half become whole once again. What he took out to shatter was just… Imagination? It was… just a bit of Aether given form? The Aimon was simply pulled out of his soul where it resides with the rest of his Aimon.”

“And what does it feel like to be in someone else’s soul?” Myron asked Sunika who smiled kindly.

“It feels great, it’s the closest we ever get to our trainer, and it has pretty wondrous effects. By consumption of the Aether within the Soul of a Trainer, which I assume you have.”

“Yep, Full Pool of 34.” Myron showcased a V of pride, stunning the two but Sunika managed to gloss over it quickly enough.

“He…As I was saying. We consumed that Aether and it both feels our stomachs and heals our wounds. So it’s a pretty good deal in all honesty, for a short while of rest, when we are in a space too crowded, or in an area that doesn’t allow Aimon out. You should try to do it.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Oh, Syl, you’re up.” Myron said and smiled deviously. “Good morning.” She responded while using her little antennae to rub her eyelids and the sleep out of her eyes. It was the cutest thing ever, well Mery was the the cutest thing ever, so second cutest thing.

“Want to go into my Soul?”

“Like a Tether?” She asked, now awake but willing to go along with Myron’s antics. “Sure. I’m open.” She said and took a breath.

The next moment Myron closed his eyes, he moved his hands about in some ritual only he knew, humming songs from his childhood, casting his magics. Then when he stopped fucking about, he chuckled sucked in air and Syl disappeared.

“Woah. Yeah, it’s different that’s for sure.”

“Do you feel something? With the Tether, it wasn’t ever an intense feeling.”

“It’s not intense. It’s just… looping? The Bond is looping because I have taken her soul into mine. The highway that shares our thoughts is already within me. So it’s… meh.” Myron gave it a five out of ten and popped Syl back out.

“How was it?”

“Interesting. New. Never done it with Damien. He only had two Aimon at once in his Party. So.” She shrugged and went inside with Sunika to cook some breakfast.

Well, until she stood ramrod still. Sunika frowned. “Incoming.” She said from the North-West. A league away at most.”

“Mutated Beasts.” Sunika confirmed grimly, her eyes cast in flashing neon pink lights.

Myron sent a warning flare through his Bond and burst through the back door with Syl having grabbed him. Dakini and Mery immediately woke up and jumped through the open window to land on the dirt and half eaten grass.

They rushed to the end of the Farm, jumped over the fence posts and stood there, waiting.

“You don’t need to get frazzled over this.” Sunika said kindly.

“The least we can do is take them out ourselves. You sit back and relax. We’ll take care of everything.” Myron said and all three of the girls nodded seriously. “Do you enjoy Mutant Lung Soup?”

“We do! Surprised you know that dish, or that you have the stomach to even say it.”

“Eh, haven’t eaten it yet but I have eaten lung before in a soup as well. A traditional dish for a religious celebration back home, we eat the lungs and a bunch of other organs too. Once a year.” Myron answered with a light hearted smile, but that is not what he felt like at all. With a bit of trepidation he waited for the Mutated beast to show up over the horizon.

“How disgusting looking are they?”

“They are the ugliest thing sin existence.” Dakini was the one to answer. “Choro was uglier.”

“HA! Then I have nothing to worry about.” Myron nodded.

The mass of antlers, showed up first. Antlers which where growing still at a visible pace, multiplying and splitting off like branches, and one both sides, symmetrically grotesque two pulsing masses of entwined antlers beat, bleeding a black liquid.

The head of the massive dear that came galloping across the field was weighed down by the cancerous antlers, It’s maw has split in two, its tongue fell down and flapped in the wind between its serrated teeth, dribbling spit. It’s neck was bulging, it’s body was lithe and its legs had grown to be enormous, fat and tall, the Deer left imprints with its every step, and what imprints.

From the knee joint and below the legs had split and multiplied into two, with two hoofs on each foot and two ankles the deer ran bleeding puss from different parts of its body.

Even the hide on its back was changed. Growing swirling patterns of white on the black, ever spinning, ever growing.

“Do moves work on these things?”

“They do.” Syl said and morphed her dainty palms as she always does into long scythes.

Eventually the Mutant got close enough. “Dakini, [Astonish].” The Beast stopped in its tracks, blood fell down its gaping maw, split open down the center as it was. “[Shrieking Mandrake]” He continued, and Syl threw the little baby root like a grenade. The Mutant grew dizzy, it’s legs tripped up.

“Trap it in a [Dream Gaze],” He continued. “And Mery… [Water Whip] to keep it bound by the neck, [Surge] to kill it.”

The noise it made when air escaped its bloated throat pipe was pretty sad to hear and as it fell to the ground, the tidal wave crashed into it. It’s nose and mouth where invaded with water, it’s antlers broke from the base, not before turning around and stabbing into its back, two of it’s legs broke, but it didn’t feel it or scream out for Mery had done it a mercy, presumably knowing that it would survive one [Surge] and popped it with an Aqua Bullet to finish it.

“Ah, sorry. I miscalculated.” He said as he begun to walk closer to the dead beast.

“It’s fine. You couldn’t know that the first thing the Aether tries to do to Mutated Beasts is built up their toughness.”

“How could you tell? Have you fought one before?”

“No but I could feel it, both in the Aether and in the effect our attacks had.” Mery said, casually and Myron had to shake his head at the perks of being an Aimon, and a Genius of Combat.

Sunika approached them with a knife in hand and Myron stretched out his own. “Please, guide me through the process. Better I learn on a Mutant and waste material we should burn, than try to learn on an Aimon and ruin perfectly good resources.” She examined him for a bit and smiled.

They got to work, teaching Myron how to hold the knife properly, to always reaffirm his grip if it slips even a little bit, how to cut and where to cut, with how much force.

Which points needed to be treated tenderly so as to not burst.

As well as the differences he should expect to find in every Mutated Beast as they form tumor like pimples in their bodies, trying to grow with the Aether but not managing to do so evenly.

Meanwhile the girls took its antlers, cut out the mass and burnt it, pounding what was left in a mortar and pestle to turn it into powder so that it may burn more easily.

When Myron had extracted the Lungs, managing to not pierced even one, thanks to his impressive tenacity and Sunika’s great patience. They burnt the corpse. Sunika took the lungs to treat them and cure them and clean them properly for lunch later on in the day.

“I’m just glad there weren’t more of them, though be sweethearts and keep on the look-out for me. One time I had to fight the entirety of a Neighbors farm, and while not tough individually, when you have to stop half a thousand or more Mutated beasts from escaping to not cause havoc elsewhere…” She said and left, letting Myron and the rest to sit on the grass with their backs on the fence posts.

Myron sent Dakini and Mery back to do their needs and bring about some breakfast and sat with Syl in silence. “How did I do?”

Syl refused to answer. He looked at her and she looked straight ahead. Myron could see the sweat-drop falling down her forehead and into her eyes.

“That bad huh. Welp.” He shrugged it off. “Never really held a knife against a piece of meat either.”

“And did you only eat vegetables and fruit on Earth?”

“No, my meat just came cut how I wanted it. By a butcher, or even by a machine and packaged, ready. I could buy cooked meals as easily as I took a piss in the morning. The Convenience of my world was maxed out compared to here.”

“Convenient doesn’t equate to better.”

“To that I Agree, Sword of Mine. It means easier, and easier means weaker.” Myron nodded. “But we didn’t need strength. The world was big, all of it was conquered, and where I was from there was no War. Even if there was… Hot weaponry, wielding the power of explosions to shoot projectiles at speeds that would leave and Aimon dead, they were made to be easy. Anyway.”

He chuckled. “Somehow I always end up taking the conversation down morbid roots… About the butchering. I’ll get better, we’re bound to have more chances to test me.” He said.

“Here you go!” Dakini brought a plate of fried eggs, basted in butter, a slab of cheese and some good warm bread for him to eat, dropping it into his waiting arms.

The four of them sat around each other in a circle, eating and talking, full of smiles, sometimes joking. It was a nice day, after a good - proper - rest. Myron enjoyed it very much, the best breakfast he had had in years.