This… Thing, this beast… Is a monster! Ever since it hatched, it has been the source of destruction of anything that was not nailed down, running laps around my room at horse speed. It even bit me as soon as it broke out of its egg! Luckily, I've been able to contain it to my room and hide it from Mother. 

"Mama, are you sad?", it asked.

Oh yeah, it can talk to me… telepathically. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but it is a bit annoying given that it talks non-stop as soon as it wakes up. I've searched all the books to figure out what kind of beast it is, but none of the drawings look anything like it. A black, scaly cat-like beast with gold eyes and the power of telepathy. I was at a dead end. Well, at least it's cute.

"I'm cute!? Mama said I'm cute!", It shouted in my head, zooming around my room. 

"Ugh", I groaned as a cup crashed to the ground, "Stop! Sit!”

It nervously froze and sat with its head down. After cleaning up the cup, I finally relented; I have to ask Mother if she knows what kind of beast this is. I can't train something that I don't understand. 

"Mama! You're going to see grandma? Can I come?", It beamed.

"No, stay here until I get back", I commanded.

It pouted and turned to curl up in my bed. Shaking my head, I headed to Mother's room. With a small knock on the door, I entered only to find her suiting up in full armor. She looked fierce and elegant. Without turning to me, she spoke just as she secured her daggers at her waist.

"Haven't I taught you to wait after you knock, Jylan?”

I stared in awe. Rarely do I get to see Mother this way, but I quickly returned to my senses.

"Mother, are you going on a mission?”

She paused momentarily, "Yes…"

"Oh, where to? Should I go get ready also?”

"No. This is none of your concern", she disregarded.

"Mother?”

Something felt off. 

"You're not ready, so just guard the house!"

"Not ready for what?"

“There’s a berserker causing havoc at the base of the Sun Mountain in the East. I have a request to go deal with it”, she relented with a sigh.

Berserkers are occults gone mad. They can be especially dangerous as they’ve lost all sense of self and consciousness, lashing out at anything and everything in their path. It’s rare for a caretaker to receive an elimination request, for such things are left to the hunters under the Magic Council’s jurisdiction. Unfortunately, if the situation is deemed “sensitive”, caretakers are called in as buffers.

“If it’s such a mission, shouldn’t I also go?”

“No. You know there must be someone close by, tending the main house’s branch”, she turned to look at me with a grimace. 

Dangerous missions are supposed to be handled as a team, but Berserkers are where Mother draws the line. She never told me why, and pestering her further just gets me more chores, so I leave it alone. I sighed as she walked past me.

“Mama! Is grandma leaving?”, the beast shouted in my head.

“Yes”, I sighed.

“Somewhere dangerous? You said berserkers are dangerous!”

I squeezed my eyes shut. I no longer had any privacy in my own head!

“Haha, mommy you’re funny”, it laughed at my distress, “Should I go help grandma?”

“What!? No! You’ll only get into trouble!”

“No I won’t… I’ll help grandma!”

“You!”

“Jylan, what are you carrying on about?”, Mother turned back to look at me

I laughed nervously, “Ahaha, nothing…”, I grimaced cursing at myself.

“Mama! That’s a bad word!”

Mother shook her head as she made her way to the foyer. For normal humans, a trip to Sun Mountain would take a month or more, but luckily the Aniceta’s closeness with witches provides us with a supply of teleportation talismans for emergencies like these. 

“Behave yourself and keep Sao in check while I’m gone”, she commanded one last time before holding up the talisman and disappearing.

I sighed with the thought of having to wait to ask her about the creature upstairs. Coaxing a berserker down from its rampage without killing it could take days or even weeks. Dragging my feet back upstairs, I entered my room to see what else it broke, but as I opened the door, it was gone! I searched my room high and low, and every crevice to no avail. 

“Shit”, I thought while sitting on the stairs.

 ✥

Arriving near the entrance of the village at the base of Sun Mountain, Gaea adjusted herself and made way to the information guild to get an update on the coordinates of the berserker. 

“Gaea!”

“Cousin Shan, it’s been a long time”, she hugged him.

“Far too long!”, he squeezed her in an embrace, “I’m glad to see you well!”

“The same, but let us catch up later. Where’s the Snow Fox berserker?”

“The trackers have him cornered near Dawn Pass”

“Then let us make haste”, she said, mounting a strong steed with the family crest inlaid on its cover.

They rode up the mountains until they found a troupe encircling a creature, writhing in anger with blood red eyes and claws bared. Gaea dismounted and broke through the crowd where many were injured, but did not dare break rank for fear he’d get away. 

“Why the hell can’t we just kill the thing!”, one shouted.

“Kill it and say goodbye to your peaceful life”, Gaea warned.

The Fox tribes and the Aniceta became mutual benefactors after the legend from millennia ago. To do harm to one, even a berserker, would incite war between the clans. Which is why this case was handed off to the main branch to deal with. Gaea approached the creature and realized it was a young boy.

“What of the Snow tribe elders?”

“We sent word, but no one has responded”, Shan answered.

She sighed and looked the chained boy up and down. Stepping in front of him, she began to speak to him softly, while pulling out an excess removal potion that would bring his powers under control enough to regain his mind.

“It’s alright little one. Once you calm down, we’ll get you back home. Okay?”, she gently said.

He began to growl loudly and struggle against the bonds.

“Hold! Hold!”, commands were shouted. 

Gaea took a step back, “We need to knock him out. The potion will be more effective that way”

“We’ve hit him over the head more times than can count!”

She grimaced at this. He was indeed covered in bruises, with his head suffering the most damage. Throwing a sleep potion would be a gamble, it could work or worsen his condition. 

“Strengthen your grip! Keep him in place!”, she commanded as she braced herself.

She tossed sleep powder at his face. For a moment he seemed to calm down and stagger on his feet. Just as the guard breathed a sigh, he erupted in a growl and charged at Gaea.

“Shit! Archers!”, Shan commanded.

“No!”, Gaea protested.

Suddenly, a thud resounded. The berserker was face down on the ground unmoving. A black ball rested on his back. 

“Grandma!”, a voice echoed in Gaea’s head, “Grandma I knocked him out just like you wanted! I did good, right? Right?!”

The black creature sat and stared at her proudly with gleaming eyes. Gaea stood in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

“Mama will be so happy I saved you grandma!”

“Mama?”, Gaea asked in confusion.

The little beast closed its eyes, and suddenly images of Jylan flashed through Gaea’s mind.

“Jylan?”

“Yes! That’s Mama!”

“Gaea! Are you alright? What the hell is this thing? Where did it come from?”, the commander shouted from behind her, readying his weapon.

The little beast huffed and came over to rub its head on Gaea’s leg, “Grandma, let’s go home now. I don’t like these grumpy people”

“Uh, uh okay”, she answered verbally as she went over to the boy and fed him the medicine.

Tying him up, she inspected his body to see how badly he was wounded. 

“Ah, Shan”

“Yes?”

“Which Snow fox tribe did you send the message to?”

“The one nearest to here in the Northern Snow Pass”

“I see why you didn’t get an answer. He’s from the western tribe”, she revealed the mark on his back.

“What?! How did he end up here?”

“We’ll know when he wakes up. Until then, I guess I’ll have to take him back with me”

She looked at the boy and the little beast. 

“Guess we’re going back the long way…”, she mumbled looking at the travel talisman.

The teleport talismans work like round trip tickets; if one person went, only one person can come back using the same one. With a sigh, Gaea loaded up one of the carriages with the boy and beast, bidding the others goodbye.

“We’ll catch up another time. Unfortunately, this matter comes first”

Shan shrugged in dismay, “As busy as ever, cousin. Until next time”

Gaea nodded and set off for the dense forest. 

“Grandma?”, the little beast said, “Why are we going home the slow way?”

“Because I didn’t bring another talisman that could send back three bodies and I don’t like making multiple trips”, she answered uneasily.

“Oh! I can do that!”

“Do what?-”

In a flash of light, Gaea found herself seated on the carriage in the courtyard of the Aniceta estate. Blinking rapidly to make sure she was awake, she uneasily looked around.

✥

I heard a thud and the neighing of horses coming from the front of the house. Wiping my hands of crumbs, I raced from the kitchen to the front door. As I opened it, I saw Mother holding the little creature that had gone missing under one arm, and dragging a tied up fox boy in the other. With a grimace, Mother dropped the boy in the center of the foyer and approached me.

“I believe this… belongs to you”

I let out a nervous laugh as I took the beast from her hands and held it in my arms.

“Where were you?”

“I went to help grandma!”, it beamed.

I rubbed my face in irritation, then shyly looked at my mother’s face. Disapproval was written on it.

“Sooo, how did the mission go?”, I chuckled. 

“Fine. Go clean this boy up”, she brushed past me, “Then come see me”

I squeezed my eyes shut at her last words. I’m in so much trouble. Quickly, I patched up the fox boy and laid him in a spare bed to rest. Hesitantly, I walked to Mother’s study.

“How long were you planning to hide that it had hatched from me?”, she said as soon as I opened the door, “Now I see why so many broken dishes were in the rubbish bin…”

“I...I- it’s not like that, I just wanted to train her-err “it”? A bit before…”

“Enough, did you find out what it is?”

“No, I was hoping you’d know”

“I don’t know of any beast that looks like that and has the power of teleportation and telepathy”, she grumbled, “Perhaps it’s a demon”, she turned to grab the demonology book.

A shiver ran down my spine. The demon from before knew what it was. If it is a demon, Mother will get rid of it! I nervously hugged the creature closer to my body as Mother flipped through the book. After some time, she seems to not have found an answer. 

“Well, looks like you’re lucky. Not a demonic beast”, she sighed.

“Mo-mother”, I began shakenly, “I-I know of someone who knows...”

“Then why did you just waste my time?”, she barked.

“Because… it’s the demon Kan from before… He helped me hatch the egg”

Mother looked at me with an unreadable look, then shooed me out of her study. Not sure what to do, I went to tend to the fox boy. As I entered the room, I saw that he was coming to.

“Ah you’re up, that's great!”

“Who?”

“I’m Jylan Aniceta. My mother rescued you from your berserk state. What’s your name?”

“Ah…”, he looked around, “Shimo”

“How did you get all the way to the East, Shimo? By your mark, you’re from the western snow tribe under my Great Aunt’s branch across the Great Sea”

“Collector’s… they wanted my fur...”

I nodded in understanding of what happened. Illegal trappers and traders are common. With a sigh, I gave him some medicine and rechecked his wounds. 

“We’ll see to you getting back home, just give us some time. Until then, rest and heal”

“I-I can’t go back… no, I don’t want to…”

“Why?”

“I-I killed them… all of the people at that auction house…The elders… they’d be ashamed”

“Then where will you go?”

“I…”, he looked lost, unable to think of a place, “C-can I stay here? I can work! I can hide my ears!”

“I..”, I couldn’t answer that.

“I’ll think about it”, Mother’s voice came from behind me.

Turning, my face filled with shock, the demon Kanchi menacingly stood behind her, both looking displeased with the current situation. Mother gestured for me to come to her.

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment”, I nervously said to Shimo.

As I walked out into the hallway, the demon crossed his arms.

“You summoned me for something so trivial”

“Well the wizard wasn’t answering, so I had no choice”, Mother hissed, “besides you helped it hatch, so tell us what it is”

“It’s an Omra, a beast that rivals dragons in power, but is more in tune with the spirit realm...”, he rubbed his face in annoyance, “They’re rare and elusive. They prefer the spirit realm rather than the living, so it’s rare to see one in the flesh”

“How do you know this?”

“Millenia ago, they were known as the Reaper Beasts; They guided souls with the grim reaper. Only the dead or dying ever laid eyes on them. How you got one is beyond me, but I’d be careful if I were you… It can rip out the souls of every human in this city and level it to the ground if it so wanted to”, he smiled as the image of such events came to his mind.

Pinching my lips closed, I nervously looked at Mother. The veins at her temples were pulsating in anger. I squeezed the omra to my chest and I tried to remedy the moment.

“She-She won’t do that, Mother. I promise. I’ll teach her to be good...”, I tried to sound convincing, but I felt it came out as though I was a child begging for a pet.

“She?”, Mother shrieked.

“It seems like a “she” by the voice…”

Kan rolled his eyes and looked at my hand, “That mark…”

“Ah, uh, she bit me after hatching…”

“Then it’s too late then”

“Too late?! What’s too late?”, Mother shouted.

“They’re already bonded souls. Trying to forcefully remove that will only end this child’s life”, he pointed at me, “You can hear its voice, even when you’re apart, yes?”

“Ye-yes…”, I nodded nervously.

“Then it’s your family now. Nothing we can do about it”, he waved dismissively, “I’m leaving now”

Kan disappeared with a huff, and I stood there stiffly holding the omra beast. Mother squeezed her eyes shut as her face filled with immeasurable anger. She rolled her neck and stomped off without a word.

“Mama, grandma’s mad”, the omra said.

“I know…”

“I promise I’ll be good and helpful”

“You better keep that promise”, I warned, “Well looks like we’re stuck together, so I guess I should give you a name huh?”

“A name? Oo, a name!”, she got excited.

"Uh, How about...Kopal? Koko for short"

"Koko!”, she shouted, running circles around my feet.

I laughed nervously. She seemed like a new puppy; excited and happy, very different from the cats we usually raised. I took a deep breath and hoped for the best as it seemed we’d have two new additions to our household, Kopal and Shimo.