Giean's Perspective
“Chirp Chirp.”
I groan as the sunlight streams in through the window. Refusing to open my eyes, I roll over sending Noir tumbling off my bed. She lets out a loud hiss as she lands on the floor and runs off into the shadows behind my dresser.
“Chirp Chirp.” Bu sounds again this time pecking at my cheek.
“ya, ya,” I grumble as I force myself up. “chill out or I will force you to take a bath.”
Bu hops onto my shoulder still chirping in my ear. I check my cheek to make sure she had not drawn any blood, shooting my little sparrow a withering look.
Her bright yellow beak makes a stark contrast with the sky-blue feathers that cover her head and back. The fathers that cover her belly are a single shade darker adding a depth to her colouration.
I scratch her head as I kick off my sheets. Her colour is the only external difference between her and your run of the mill sparrow. Of course, this is not her true form, in that form she wouldn’t be able to fit in the house.
My silver Fox, Selene, stares at me from on top the dresser with reproach. Bu, settled on my shoulder, starts chirping in my ear again.
“Use your words” I grumble as I get out of bed almost stepping on Osmo, his bulky body coiled around the frame.
I rub the scales on his back as an apology. He lifts his head, which is the size of a late august watermelon, and places it on the bed. His forked tongue flicks at me his yellow eyes showing an intelligence you would never see in a normal snake.
His colouration is good, I observe looking down at his back again. A light sandy brown with dark brown spots perfectly uniform in shape and colour. I can see his mana nearly overflowing as it travels along his mana vasculature, forcing its way into dormant channels. He will evolve soon.
I confirm it by looking at his pact on my upper arm, the head of a serpent. The Purple colour has become darker, soon it will be fully black. Further packs cover my upper arms and torso working their way down to my knees. Ranging in colour most are navy blue, purple or black. However, a handful shine, glowing marks of silver and gold.
“The child is going to hatch today! we have to go!” Bu shouts into my mind.
My eyes go wide as I run to the dresser pulling on a pair of shorts. “why didn’t you tell me first thing.”
I make for the door but my shorts start to fall down. I run back to the dresser grabbing a belt of woven vines. Maybe because of my pacts and my use of beast magic, but I hate wearing clothes. However, since society will not allow me to walk around naked, I make the compromise of baggy earth tone shorts.
“I thought you would be able to feel it.”
As I open the door, I fight off the grogginess, trying to get back in touch with the natural world. It becomes obvious, the general unease among all the mana beast and why they feel so skittish. It makes my skin crawl and my hair stand on end. The only way I can describe this sensation is being caught in the gaze of a monster preparing to devour you. For the mother to be this upset, something big must have happened.
“Good morning master.” My butler Gerald says his face as impassive as ever, his hand ready to nock on my door.
His white handlebar mustache is perfectly balanced, maintained with the same surgical precision as his thick eyebrows. Despite his age he has no wrinkles and his slicked back pure white hair is thick and full. His crisp black suit, free of blemishes despite a morning of cleaning and cooking, fits snugly to his thin yet muscular frame. The golden paw of my family shines brightly on both his handkerchief and the breast of his jacket. “it is time for breakfast.”
“No time,” I say as I slip by him and run down the hall.
I don’t even take the time to say hello to the various mana beast sleeping on the floor or hanging from the open rafters. The building is simple in design and materials, made of hard wood planks and beams. When the house had been finished the wood had a nice chestnut stain. However, years of claws and fangs have left deep gouges chipping away the stain, exposing the rough surface of the wood.
“beast magic, first form, assimilation: BLAZE CHEETAH.”
I feel the power flow into my legs as the burning fang on my shoulder begins to glow. I cover the last 10 meters of the hall in a single bound. Thick fire red fur dotted with large black spots forms over the tan skin of my legs. My next step carried me down all 3 flights of stairs. Black burn marks form on the wood with each step. I turn and take off again practically flying through the kitchen and out the door.
I notice Jill, my maid and Gerald’s granddaughter, turn on instinct as I pass by. She is a year older than me, but I sometimes feel like I am the older one. Her brown braid bobs as she swings away from the stove and bows towards the table. Her face is cute, but in a mousy kind of way, with her large blue eyes and the sharp definition of her nose. Her lips, while not plump, are not quite as thin as a man and have the dark red hue of pooled blood. She is wearing the maid uniform for our family, a lose black dress that extends to just above her ankles. A white belt cinches it tight at the waist with large white pockets on the front. A golden paw print is embroidered on the breast. Bits of her cooking cover her uniform.
“Good morning Master.” She says, but by that point I am already out the door.
Outside the sky shines a crystal-clear blue, the sun blazing down. Yet, as high up as we are the air is still crisp and cool. The vibrant green grass, kept short by grazing mana beasts, sways gently in the breeze. With the exception of my house and the few surrounding buildings, only a handful of scattered evergreens break the monotony of the barren landscape known as the beast wall.
You would have to travel almost 15 kilometers to find another building on the wall. if you travelled north you would find my younger sister in a house built to the same specification as mine. Four stories of full logs with a sloped brown clay roof and windows placed almost haphazardly. While the design seems random it is very functional for our mana beast.
To the south is one of my cousins in a more grandiose mansion. 21 members of the Main family currently call the beast wall their home. My father and uncles’ houses are the most luxurious and while some of my cousins have followed in their example my siblings followed me in going for a simpler design.
Looking west I can see where the cliff drops off. A sheer 5-kilometre fall later, rolling grasslands play out. In the distance, beyond even my sight, the largest mountains range on the continent rises. Beyond this range, dubbed the Heaven Steps, lays the north part of the country of Botorance covered in dense forest.
It is from that direction the mother’s presence is coming. However, I need to go the other way First. Five steps carry me the 500 meters to the inner edge of the cliff.
Below me stretches out the beast crater, a miniature world onto its own. The cliff face of smooth white stone descends sharply half as far as on the outer face. It then begins to fall away slower as spars deciduous forest begin to take root. As the forest reaches farther into the crater the slope levels out. The trees grow closer, the leaves become larger and ivy hangs from the trunks as it shifts from a temperate to a lush tropical rainforest. The greenery sprawls along the craters floor stopping at the bank of a large lake. In the morning light the water shines a brilliant emerald the colour changing with the time of day.
On the other side of the lake, countless little red river spread like cracks in a piece of glass. As the red water marsh dries out golden grass begins to take root, forming its own ocean it takes up most of the crater. In the distance, beyond the grassland, a mountain rises up from the floor. 2 kilometres tall I can barely make it out, its sharp peak dwarfed by the far face of the beast wall over a hundred kilometres away, its white stone sparkling in the morning light.
The Beastwall forms a circle isolating the beast crater from the rest of the world. It is here that those of the Beastlord family raise and learn about mana beasts.
I let out a sharp whistle that echoes for miles. The beast crater is a dangerous place even for a beast tamer. There are normal animals in the crater but a majority of the creatures in there would be seen as monsters outside this wall. Wild mana beast can be found ranging from F to A rank. To protect our partnered mana beasts, we keep them with us at our houses or in our stables till they reach S rank. After that they can go where they like.
“My Lord.” I hear a voice call out to me.
I turn to see my farmhands running towards me wearing their loose-fitting earth tone clothes. The Man, France, has been serving me since my parents gave me this property. Now 20, he is a handsome man, with a square jaw thick with dark brown stubble that matches his messy brown hair. His deep set stoic brown eyes are wide in either shock or fear.
His wife Lilly, 2 years his junior, follows behind him carrying their Son in her arms. Born a year and a half ago another one is already causing her belly to bulge. She had a motherly look even before she had given birth with her gentle features and calm caring smile. However, at this moment her hazel eyes are as wide as her husbands. Her wavy light brown hair whips around wildly behind her as she runs.
I know the reason for their concern, I can hear the sounds of distressed animals coming from the stables where the mana beast too large to stay in the house sleep. But there is nothing I can do until I get to the mother.
At that moment three shadows burst up over the edge of the cliff, my SS rank mana beast.
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