Path to the Apocalypse

Around a three sided table in an ashen void, a Human, a Tiger, and a Monkey sat. "A crappy end to a crappy life." The Human sighed.

"I just wish our death could have been more… impactful." The Tiger growled.

"We didn't even crack the wall." The Monkey snickered, earning himself a glare from the Tiger.

"Is not even our end enough for you to take something seriously?" The Tiger complained.

"Our whole life has been a joke. Why should our death be any different?" The Monkey retorted.

The table fell silent for a moment. "So, where do you think we'll end up next?" The Human asked. "Nothingness? Some afterlife like the mortals believe? A new world?"

"Ugh, no thanks. I'm done with life, after or not." The Monkey stuck his tongue out making a disgusted face. "Let me escape into that sweet, sweet void, baby!"

"I would rather not contemplate the kind of afterlife our actions would have earned us." The Tiger grumbled. "A new life might be interesting though… a fresh start, to begin anew, to not make the same mistakes."

"Y'all are depressing!" A new voice groaned, sounding pained. The three turned to the fourth side of the table, eyes widening as they looked at the furry lizard like being. "Why would you just resign yourselves to death?!? Don't you know how many more things we have to hunt? Delicious foods we have to eat? We haven't even mated with anyone yet! It's a disgrace! How can you just give up before we're done living life to the fullest?" The Lizard paused. "No. I refuse to die!"

*

Andrew gasped as he sat up, throwing the body that had collapsed on him off. Growls greeted him as the group of Beasts milled about in a mix of desire, confusion, and fear. However, Andrew didn't have much time to process that as he was overcome with sheer, unadulterated rage! A roar broke through his lips as a blast of wind sent him hurtling towards the Beasts, talons extended as he slashed the first one across the eyes, blinding it. The Beast began to thrash about in pain as Andrew dodged between its legs, using his small size to maneuver into the next Beast, sending a viscous slash into its gut, digging out its entrails. Another Beast released a burst of fire as Andrew dodged under the gutted Beast, the Beast crying in pain as it began to burn as well. The blinded Beast thrashed, sending a kick at the fire Beast that left it dazed as Andrew jumped back over the burning Beast, talons descending as he clawed through its throat. The last Beast turned to run, terrified of this small, but vicious creature, but another burst of wind sent Andrew flying after it, tackling it into a wall as he tore through its defenses with his talons, ripping piece after piece out of its body until it finally stopped moving. Panting breathlessly, Andrew got back to his feet, stumbling towards the remaining wounded Beasts. He dodged the blind, thrashing Beast and took a chunk out of its throat, before doing the same to the gutted and burned one.

Andrew stood in the deathly silent tunnel, the only sound his own panting, as slowly, a low chuckle began to work its way through him. "He, he, ha, ha, hahahahaHA!" Andrew laughed. "I'm alive! Fuck you!" He cried, kicking a corpse. "Fuck you, fuck you, and fuck you!" He repeated sending more and more blows at the already dead Beasts, laughing like a mad man.

Suddenly, he collapsed, gulping for air. "Oh, oh fuck, how did I survive that?!?" He muttered in disbelief, running a bloody hand through his hair. "I should be dead. I should be dead! I got stepped on! Shit! I was stepped on!" He looked over at the strange Lizard corpse. "How- how did he die?!? I didn't-" Slowly the vision from earlier came back to him, the strange table, the three- no four beings talking around it… that- that was him! All three- four sides of him! He- he had four sides? That- that Lizard side… Andrew stared at the corpse.

A moment later, Andrew shook his head. "I- I need to get out of here." He jumped to his feet, heading back the way he'd come, following the smoothed out path. He didn't want to think about what had just happened, what he'd just done. What- what was new. How- no, he wasn't thinking about it! He- he had to leave! He had to get back to the base camp! Then- then he could think about all- about whatever this was.

Andrew reached the crack the Beasts had opened into the tunnel system, carefully climbing up as he peeked out into the forest. He didn't see any sign of the tide anymore, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. It'd probably reached the walls of the base camp by this point, which meant he wasn't going to have any luck getting back any time soon. "I need to find somewhere to wait this out." Andrew muttered to himself, shifting into his Lizard- Andrew paused as he looked down at the furry Lizard he'd turned into. "Dealing with this later." He groaned, before scampering off. This form was his fastest.

Andrew headed towards a small hill he'd come across earlier in the week, remembering that there was a particularly large tree that gave a good view of the base camp. Once he reached it, he shifted into his Monkey form, clambering up until he was over most of the tree tops, giving him a clear view of the base camp and its walls. It was pandemonium. Beast fought against Beast below the walls, while humans manned turrets above, raining down bullets, missiles, and abilities upon the tide. Bursts of smoke would rise from the frey as Beasts too injured to continue were recalled, while freshly healed Beasts leapt down to rejoin the battle in an endless cycle, slowly grinding the Beast Tide down. Andrew could tell the battle would keep going for at least a few more hours, if not longer, so he settled in to wait, leaning against the tree trunk as he watched, shifting into a mix between his human and Monkey form to try and be less visible, while also giving himself more space, relatively. Slowly, his eyelids began to droop, and sleep took him without his consent, his adrenaline finally wearing off as exhaustion took hold.

*

Andrew jolted awake as he felt the tree he was in shake. "What-" He began, before freezing as the largest Monkey he'd ever seen pulled itself up towards him.

"There you are!" A deep rumbling voice came from the Beast. "You gave us quite the fright! Come on, let's get you home."

"G-grandpa?!?" Andrew exclaimed incredulously.

"Who else?" The giant Monkey chuckled. "Come, climb on. We'll talk once you're safe." He continued, gesturing to his shoulder.

Andrew hesitated for a moment, before doing as he said, turning full Monkey before leaping onto his shoulder. The moment he was secure, the giant Monkey dropped, landing on the ground with a loud thump, before running towards the base camp. Trees passed almost faster than Andrew could process, before they burst out onto the field before the walls. The tide was still in process, but most of the Beasts were dead by this point. Only a fraction still fought, throwing themselves at the walls, trying to break in to get to the weak, defenseless people inside. His grandpa just ignored that though, absently killing a few Beasts as he stepped on them, before clambering up the walls, acting like the Beast Tide wasn't anything to be concerned about. A moment later, the Monkey stopped and Andrew clambered down to arrive in front of Arose as the Beast turned to smoke and returned to him.

"Thank the Light you're alright." Arose breathed a sigh of relief, stepping forward to hug him, before pausing as Andrew remained in his Monkey form. "Uh… wouldn't you like to change back to human?"

"I don't have any clothes…" Andrew replied, sounding vaguely embarrassed. His transformations were the enemy of proper decency.

"Ah, yes, right!" Arose smacked himself in the head. "Here, I have some you can use." He offered, pulling a pair of pants and a shirt out of what seemed like thin air.

Andrew took them gratefully, retreating into an alley between two buildings and quickly pulling the pants on, then the shirt, before turning back to Arose. "How'd you do that?" He asked curiously.

Arose tapped a ring he was wearing. "Storage device. Useful piece of gear for anyone not a Horse. They're not terribly complicated, especially not for a small space, so you should be able to buy one for yourself pretty easily."

Andrew frowned. "Couldn't you get me one then?"

Arose sighed. "Unfortunately not. Early on, we learned that us Bonded have a tendency to… spoil our children. A minor problem when they're mortal, but for Bonded? We need Bonded to be strong, and spoiled children are rarely strong. Therefore, it was decided that everything a Bonded gets must be earned through their own efforts, at least anything of significance. That's why you have to hunt for your own crystals, and earn enough to trade for your own storage device. Believe me, I would love to just feed you crystals until you're strong enough to pulverize anything that might come your way, but this isn't a law we can just ignore. The strength of our species relies on it, and creating loopholes once will lead to more loopholes down the line, until we're raising generation after generation of indolent brats who couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag."

Andrew blinked. "I guess that makes sense…" He muttered. He didn't really see the harm in giving him a small storage device to keep some clothes in, but he wasn't about to argue about it. He had bigger concerns at the moment. "How did you find me?"

"An ability mutation I acquired a millenia or two ago." Arose shrugged. "I can memorize someone's emotional profile and recognize them as long as they're in range of my ability, which is quite large at this point. I should have been able to find you instantly as long as you're within a hundred miles of the base camp. However… your emotional profile seems to have changed for some reason… I almost thought you dead, but after getting closer, my field thankfully picked up on some residual similarities and I found you in that tree." Arose smiled, the relief he felt at Andrew not actually being dead practically billowing off of him.

Andrew coughed awkwardly. Technically he had died… hadn't he? Something had happened, and he'd picked up this fourth side… whatever it was. It'd changed his emotional profile? What did that mean? He didn't really feel any different… except maybe when he'd been fighting those Beasts. That had been… exhilarating. He'd never enjoyed a fight like that before. "I'm sorry-"

"It's fine." Arose laughed. "It isn't like it's your fault. Whatever happened out there, I'm sure it took its toll. A change in your emotional profile is the least of my worries." He commented seriously. "I'm just glad you managed to avoid the Beasts. If you'd been injured in any way…" Sheer fury began to radiate from Arose. "I would obliterate this forest and every creature inside it!" He growled in an absolutely serious tone. Andrew took a step back, eyes widening, before Arose's fury disappeared and he smiled. "But, you're fine! So, all is good, right?"

"R-right." Andrew gulped.

*

Andrew and Arose headed to his team's cabin, Andrew nervously glancing towards Arose every now and then. How was he supposed to tell him he was hurt? That he'd almost died if not for… something happening. He tried to keep his emotions under control, to not give anything away, but he saw Arose glance at him too. He didn't say anything, but Andrew had a feeling he knew something was off. As they approached the cabin, Andrew began to feel the worry and sadness billowing off his teammates. He hesitantly opened the door, not wanting to just barge in.

"Who-" Karen looked up, tears still in her eyes, before they widened as they caught sight of Andrew. "A-Andrew!?!" She exclaimed.

Li Jing's head shot up. "Andrew!" She exclaimed, jumping to her feet and rushing forward, slamming into him, hugging him tightly.

"You- You're okay?!?" Susie asked, staring at him wide-eyed.

"Uh, yes." Andrew replied.

"Uh, yes? That's what you say when you come back from a situation of almost certain death?" Karen asked incredulously.

"Well how else are you supposed to answer that question?" Andrew replied, rolling his eyes. "You're okay? No, I'm a ghost, just stopping by to say hi. I mean, you can see me! Obviously I'm okay!"

"Maybe start with how?" Susie replied, rolling her eyes.

"Oh. I don't know." Andrew responded.

"For the love of- I can't believe I actually missed you." Karen muttered, shaking her head.

A cough came from behind him. "I'm sorry, near what now?" Arose asked, a dangerous edge to his voice.

Andrew turned, gulping slightly. "Uh, well… see, when the Beast Tide arrived, we escaped down into some tunnels, but a group of them followed us. Francesca stayed back to stall them, and only me and Linda could make it through the tunnels at any reasonable speed. Eventually they caught up to us, we fought, Linda had to return or die, and… uh, well… it gets complicated from there. I'm not really sure how well I can explain it…"

"Try." Arose replied, narrowing his eyes.

Andrew gulped. "Well… I ended up killing the Beast we'd been fighting, but then this Lizard blasted me with an air beam, and sort of… stepped on me." Li Jing's grip tightened around him as he said that, sheer concern radiating off her. "Then, well… I- I don't know what happened, but the next thing I know, the Lizard is dead, I'm pissed and catapulting myself at the rest of the Beasts with an air blast. I kill them all, and then crawl out of a hole in the ground before going to the tree you found me in to watch the Beast Tide and wait until it was over."

Arose blinked. "Air blast?" He asked hesitantly.

"Uh, yeah." Andrew replied. "And a new Lizard form… the same as the one that died for seemingly no reason." He added.

Arose's eyes widened. "That- that is something different."

Andrew sighed. "As if I've ever been anything else."

Arose gave Andrew a complicated look as he felt the deep, unsettling depression in the boy, before letting out a sigh. "Yes, well, we'll handle all that later, once- once you've rested."

Andrew nodded, before looking down at Li Jing. "Uh, Li Jing-"

"Jing." Li Jing quickly corrected him.

"Right, Jing, could you- we're kind of blocking the door." Andrew murmured awkwardly.

Li Jing flushed, loosening her grip on Andrew and pulling away slightly. She hesitated for a moment, before latching onto his arm, letting him move, but still maintaining a solid grip on him. It was like she was afraid that if she let him go, he'd somehow disappear. Andrew felt a twinge of dissatisfaction come from Karen, before she snorted and looked away.

Arose glanced at Karen with a faint look of surprise. "My, my, what an interesting little team you have here." He muttered, a grin slowly forming. His grandson was becoming a bit of a playboy, wasn't he?

Karen shot a look at him, her eyes widening slightly, before she flushed. "Damn Monkeys!" She cursed under her breath, but Andrew could tell she didn't mean it as much as she had before. Turns out, going bravely to one's death was a great way to change someone's opinion.

"Hey, so, where's Zelda?" Andrew asked as he sat down, Li Jing sitting next to him, still latched tightly to his arm.

"She's on the wall with the others." Susie replied. "Everyone is working hard to defend the base camp from the Beast Tide."

Arose scoffed. "More like she's competing for a slice of all the crystals."

Andrew frowned. "What do you mean?"

Arose raised an eyebrow at him. "Have they not explained the scarcity issue to you yet?" Andrew shook his head. "Ah, well, it's like this. Low level Beasts are everywhere. You can find a dozen a day, no problem. However, once you get to even the slightly more powerful Beasts, they become much harder to find, but still, you can find at least one or two a day if you seriously go about searching. However, as Beasts get even stronger, finding them becomes harder and harder, going from days, to weeks, to months, to years before you can find a Beast that will give you even a minor boost in power. Additionally, you'd need to range deep into the wild, further than the Bond can extend, meaning the human side needs to leave the safety of the base camp. However, most people would rather not risk death just to get slightly more powerful. Therefore, the solution we came up with is Beast Tides! The powerful Beasts come to us, allowing us to send our Beasts out without risking our own safety! Massive amounts of Beasts providing massive amounts of crystals for everyone to grow with! The perfect system with little to no risk!"

"Wait, so, people think Beast Tides are a good thing?" Andrew asked incredulously.

"Not out in the wild, no, but from a defensible structure where you're prepared to handle it? Absolutely." Arose nodded. "Humans are weak, and if we slip up, we die pretty quickly out in the wild. It's much better to stay behind our nice, defensible walls, and have the Beasts come to us, don't you think?"

"I guess… still, it seems weird to hope to be attacked." Andrew replied.

"Hope? We actively encourage it! Why do you think the base camp is a big, easily seen fort, instead of being hidden like the City?" Arose commented. Andrew just shook his head, not even sure what to say to all that.