The army of third-evolution elites was prepared to face Halten. There was an elvish soulmancer in the group that tamed the Bramble’s soul reapers, and the beastkin in the group must’ve been a poison master with a sensitive nose because he bypassed plants that Brindle never wrote about. And a human had a stealth spell beyond the likes Halten had ever seen, capturing the whole group and hiding their soul signatures, proving that they had a patron god.

Twenty flew into the valley out of nowhere, determined to cull their ranks to conquer the Bramble the next year. It quickly turned to disaster.

Homing spells.

Water magic followed by lightning—

—fire magic followed by wind.

Four vraxles died instantly and Halten took heavy damage from the surprise attack. But what the team didn’t understand was that the true guardians of the rings had pure soul cores that Brindle taught them in secret, something that no other guardian except the soul beasts had.

It was passed down by Brindle and he could not teach it. No one could teach it. It was out of their domain.

But it was devastating. `

Halten flew forward with ghostly speed, killing ten with a single swipe like ants. Another shot an attack, but Halten’s domain alone fizzled out the attack. Water and lightning struck from above, but his barrier blocked both strikes with ease. Compared to normal third-evolution neophytes, those with purified soul force were closer to gods.

Suddenly, the battle stopped when the soulmancer and three other elites surrounded Thorvel’s daughter, Asai. She was still a hatchling, no bigger than a second evolution beast.

We’ll leave, the stealth specialist, a human woman, said. But this one’s coming with us as collateral.

Halten gritted his teeth and watched them lead her away, knowing the elites were capable of killing Asai. As for Halten, vraxles left wide-scale disaster in their wake—not single corpses from refined attacks. All of his spells would kill the relatively defenseless vraxle.

The same was true of the other vraxles who were circling the skies above them, facing the same predicament, looking for an opening to strike.

They found none and soon they were approaching the barrier. The people from the gate panicked, closing the gate further and further to prevent Halten from flying through. Halten screamed to them, demanding that it closed far enough to prevent the hatchling from entering. The gatekeepers complied, leaving an opening with only enough space for the humanoids to pass through.

Then they reached the barrier for the trade-off, and Halten would never forget what the human leading them said to the lizardfolk in the team once she crossed the barrier first.

Follow your orders.

The lizardfolk turned to her sharply. You can’t be serious.

It’s our orders.

She’s only a child.

She’ll grow up.

Halten immediately flew forward, grabbing Asai, but as he was pulling back, the elven soulmancer lifted his gnarled wooden staff and shot a strange attack that crushed the soul of the hatchling.

Then they flew through the barrier, and Galfer’s Gate shut.

Halten wasn’t a normal third-evolution beast. He flew into a frenzy, shooting to the top of the wall. He then crossed it with the force of a meteorite, feeling the curse suppressing his magic. It took his magic and suppressed his soul force, but it was too slow to break his physical capabilities. So he flew at the woman with lightning speed.

She screamed and dodged, but Halten grabbed her arm in his jaws, snapping it off. The soulmancer fled, but he was faster. He grabbed the elf in his claws and clamped down, piercing his body and killing him. Halten then swung his tail, slamming the lizardfolk and the woman into the wall.

That’s when the defense forces arrived, attacking him from all sides while he tried to fly at the two involved. The lizardfolk had a crushed skull, but the woman was in the distance. He clawed with broken body and wings, crawling and screaming and dying—

—just like the present.

That anger boiled and popped within Halten, wondering why… Why… WHY was he helping humans after everything that they had done to him and his family?

Thorvel had every right to hate humans and soulmancers, for both were responsible for his child’s death. He was right to fear coordinated efforts to bring people into the Bramble. He was right that humanoids were evil—Halten knew. Dranami was primarily filled with humans, so most of the people who chained him down and clipped his wings, and tortured him in that fucking aviary were humans.

Halten released a piercing roar to the heavens, alive and angry. He saw Mira floating in the river with Kline pawing at her, yowling and crying, and scared to touch the river.

His mind burned.

Kill them… kill all of them. He looked up and saw Thorvel, who was staring at him with complex emotions as if to discern whether his brother had returned.

Either way, Halten wanted revenge, so he lifted his bloodied wings and prepared to charge one last time.

Then he heard it.

“Halten…”

Such a weak, pathetic, insignificant voice. It was crying, whimpering like a child. Yet it was soothing.

He looked down and saw Aiden staring at him with tears streaming down his cheeks.

It moved Halten, and he immediately knew he couldn’t kill the human Aiden, so he pushed him out of his mind to bask in his hatred for everyone else, Mira included.

Out of my way. Halten took a step forward.

“She saved you!” Aiden screamed.

I don’t care! His damaged soul wouldn’t allow him to feel anything but hate. He knew that, but he couldn’t care.

Aiden’s face paled when Halten yelled at him. His hair flew backward from the hot breath, and he fell into the river. Yet he immediately got up and rushed up.

Halten lifted his foot and pressed it on Aiden lightly. Then he push-kicked him into the river with heavy force.

The human Aiden would survive in the river.

Halten expected him to stay down, but he didn’t.

Halten! Aiden wailed as he emerged. Come back… please… come back…

Shut… up!

No! Mira risked her life to create that elixir! If you kill her… you’re… you’re… you’re nothing but a wild fucking animal!

What did you say? Halten was in pain—so much pain. His soul was torn to shreds, and his body was far more broken than that. And all of that had to do with Mira, even inadvertently, and he had the audacity to claim she saved him? That she was some type of hero? And more, to have the gall to call him, him! a wild fucking animal.

Halten crawled forward with intense speed, grabbing Aiden out of the water with his teeth, ripping into the man’s shirt as he hung twenty feet above dry land. If Aiden fell, he would die.

Say that again, he said.

Aiden whimpered like the coward he was, and he trembled and shook and quaked like Halten knew he would. But in the end, as tears streamed down his eyes, Aiden stood his ground.

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She risked everything to save you! Then she ran up to your mindless ass to throw you the elixir, and I still can’t tell the difference between you two…

What!

Kill me! Aiden yelled. If you want to kill someone, kill me! But keep her fucking out of it!

Halten turned to Mira but found her missing. He looked around and saw her hanging in the air, too, but the person holding her by her shirt was Thorvel.

Enough, Thorvel said.

Why? Humans… they killed—

Enough.

Thorvel put Mira down on the rocky, blood-stained shore, where her cat bounded onto her chest and cried out, yowling and crying in relief.

Do what you want to the boy, but leave this one out of it. He turned and looked at Emael, who Halten could now see had a healed soul. I made a deal with this human. You may not touch her.

Halten looked around at the bloody wasteland of dead beasts and then at his wings and body and everything else. Then he looked at Aiden, and his mind finally stilled, returning to normal.

That cooling feeling continued working within him, miraculous even, making him feel whole again.

Calm down, heal your wounds, take the boy, and leave. Do not come back. Mess up, and she will kill you.

Halten turned and saw Emael staring at him with her large, buggy eyes, threatening him. When she was in peak condition, she was the only one who could challenge Halten. In his current state, she would kill him before he could blink.

Thorvel looked at Mira one last time. Then, he flew away, leaving Halten in a state of flux. He slowly lowered Aiden onto dry ground, then collapsed, feeling the healing effects of whatever elixir Mira gave him, healing his soul. Aiden fell from the shockwave, but he was soon up, hugging Halten’s snout.

Halten felt ashamed and unworthy of Aiden’s love, but he was tired. So, so tired, so he simply said, Thank you… before drifting into sleep.

2.

I awoke to the sight of the setting sun, painting the clouds above me with pastel shades of pink and blue. It was beautiful, just like at home, and it made me realize for the first time that our suns were similar colors.

How strange…

I turned and saw Emael lying beside me. It should have terrified me. Emael was a massive beast with hundreds of legs with human-like hands and mossy fur—a creature born from nightmares—but I somehow felt safe around her. To my side was Kline, and all around me was damn clothing that gave me chills.

I used desiccate and all the water drained out of me, making Kline yelp as he was flooded.

He meowed and hissed and strutted around, but I only laughed weakly and dried his fur as well. A moment later, I had tears in my eyes, cuddling with Kline on my chest, wondering what happened.

It all came back in fragments, like a dream I had to chase to patch together, and I quickly remembered throwing the elixir at Halten and being blown away. Beyond that, I was clueless, but I knew that Thorvel was gone and I could hear Halten breathing on the other side of the river.

I didn’t want to get up, so I just lay there, watching the clouds.

Suddenly, I heard a splash and the sound of swimming and groaned.

I liked Aiden. I really did. I thought he was swell and good and kind, but I really, really, really didn’t want to have some sort of emotional moment right after waking.

But the greeting I got wasn’t what I expected.

Aiden came into view, looked around the corpse-like wasteland around us, let out a protracted whistle, and said something I would never forget.

“Look at all these third evolution beasts. ‘Magine you’ll be a god by the next time I see you.”

I did a crunch and looked. There were creatures the size of rhinos and hippos and lions and bears all around me. Some had soul force seeping off them like dry ice under my eyes.

I collapsed again. “I’ll need it.”

“Yeah, probably. Halten says the neophytes are pretty nasty.”

“He’s okay?”

“Mostly. He’s… back. I wouldn’t say he’s ‘Okay.’ Damn near turned him into the river with all the water I’ve dumped on ‘em, but it can’t heal everything and his immune system’s reset. So… no, he’s not ‘Okay.’ I’d place him, at ‘Great.’”

My cheeks slackened into a frown. “Unbelievable positivity sounds like extreme negativity.”

“You know… I’ve thought about that,” Aiden said confidently, looking down at me, “and I’ve come to a conclusion.” He spread his arms grandly. “What’s the difference?”

“Oh, there’s a big difference. Oh… my bad. Let’s try it again.” He grinned cheekily and looked around. “What’s the difference… here. Unless, of course, you love poison and corpses and killer animals.”

“Corpses are food, and I do love poison, thank you very much.”

His eyes widened, but they relaxed as if he was unfazed. “And what about killer animals?”

I frowned. “Well I guess you’ll have to love those for me. Team work. Positivity wins the day.”

“Hmmm… too bad. Turns out, the best way to handle… this…” He circled the area with a grave expression but then smiled again. “Is to just… fucking… pretend. So, I proposed, to myself, that I just should just pretend like the whole damn world is a stunning masterpiece of grim fascination and opportunity.”

“You sound like a serial killer.”

Aiden chuckled and looked down. “Are you much better?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Call me a serial killer again. I dare you.”

He laughed but then looked away. “No… Look, Mira. I’ve known you for like... what? A week?”

“Yeah. So?”

“So… I’ve never heard you complain.”

I laughed. “There’s no time to complain.”

“Oh, yes there is. I spent days complaining when we were on the road. Kael wanted to kill me.”

He turned, and I followed his eyes, landing on the lurvines who were lying in the trees with shamed looks on their faces.

“Hiking. Bathing. Cookin’ up drugs in the forest. Every moment’s an opportunity to complain, Mira, and we’ve had plenty. You just don’t complain—and that’s not normal.”

I pouted and turned away. I didn’t like people telling me that I wasn’t normal. “I’m okay? What the fuck’s wrong with that?”

“You’re actually happy… here?”

“No, I’m not happy here. But I was happy. I enjoyed my life, and now that I’m here, I… enjoy a lot of it. I love Kline and waking up in nature and… looking back on it, it was kinda cool to ride super foxes and cook up potions like some modern day witch. So yeah… I’m kinda happy. Is there a problem with that?”

Aiden smiled ruefully and shook his head. “Nah. I think that’s… amazing. And I want to be like that, but… I’ll never be like that.”

“What a cop out,” I scoffed. “Do some exercise. Eat healthy. Smile at people.”

"No..." He clammed up, folding his arms and hugging them against his body. "Hey... do you remember when the Oracle told everyone that they'd be cured of diseases?"

"That was a switch."

"But you do, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well... the thing is... it intentionally left out anything that could be perceived as part of a person's personality."

My stomach sank because I knew what was coming. "So it didn't touch mental health?"

"Yeah..." Aiden turned away and took a deep breath. "And I've got... depression. Not the self-imposed kind. It’s clinical and I’m off my meds. Magic can’t fix that… least nothin’ I’ve heard of. So… I doubt I’ll ever get to enjoy my life. But… I can pretend. And it helps… so…” He flicked his fingers open and wiggled them like raining fireworks. “I’m gonna be ‘happy.’ Deal with it.”

He walked away, and I snorted and dropped to the sand again. It was frustrating but I was also smiling.

That’s something I’d do…

I took a while to reflect on things and consider whether I was “happy.” I concluded I was and then thought about the day of the integration and how terrible I felt when my mom finally convinced me to get a stable job. I wouldn’t have turned down such a miraculous opportunity and let all my mom’s hard work, fear, and care go to waste, especially when it was half a year, and I could walk away, so I would have taken the job, and I would have been miserable. But here? I was kinda happy, wasn’t I?

I had no regrets here. My anxiety was almost non-existent, and I spent every day hopeful. Yes, there were struggles, and I knew that I had three weeks to prove myself to Thorvel before he would kill me—

—but I didn’t hate it.

Life was… good. Maybe that did make me abnormal—and like a killer. Who knows how I would meet difficulties during the Harvest? Maybe I would be a serial killer or worse.

Eh… that was a question for another time.

I got up and nodded. “I’ll try to,” I said to his demand for me to deal with his annoying fake positivity. “Let’s eat.”

That night, we sat under the stars with the lurvines and Emael, who still hadn’t woken from her slumber. Halten stayed on the other side of the river while Aiden shared the campfire.

We stayed quiet, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before we were separated and perhaps would never see each other again. That was life. That’s what we chose.

Later that night, when the smoldered fire cut pluming silhouettes under the bluish-black sky, we said goodnight and went to bed, and I stopped thinking about it.

At the end of the day, I had three weeks before the Harvest—three weeks before I had to prove myself to an unreasonable asshole dragon to prevent him from killing me. That’s what I needed to focus on in the days ahead.

With those thoughts, I started my Mental Shielding practice.

3.

Brexton scaled Galfer’s Gate under the cloak of darkness. It was a nerve-wracking experience, even for him. The gate was three hundred meters in the sky, and to get onto it, he had to fly a bird onto an equally tall pole, then dismount and walk across a flimsy rope bridge.

Yet he did it—

—without the slightest warning. He and his mount wrapped themselves in Active Camouflage and flew to the top, sneaking to the gate. The pathways were empty, as no one with a will to survive was willing to stand on a gate when the Bramble started mere feet from where they were standing.

It was nerve-wracking.

Brexton stood on the wall as the wind blew, ruffling his shirt and leaving him chilly. He tried not to think about how high he was. His confidence only went so far and not in the direction that makes people immune to heights.

He was scared, but he pressed on. He had a message to deliver, and his life depended upon it.