Beast Tamer's Damned Regression

Chapter 7: The Blood Bond

Chapter 7: The Blood Bond

The eastern gate stood unguarded at this hour. Varek slipped through the stone archway and followed the narrow road as it wound down toward the sunken field where the dead beasts lay. The moon was thin and cold overhead, and the wind had died to a low whisper that moved through the dry grass like a voice he could not quite hear.

The Beast Graveyard stretched ahead of him in the pale light. Piles of bones rose up among the weeds like broken monuments. The larger corpses were dark shapes against the grey earth. A Stonehide Boar with its flank split open. A Wind Wolf with its grey fur matted and stiff. The remains of something with too many legs curled in on itself like a dead spider.

Varek stopped at the edge of the field and pulled the Gnarl from inside his coat. It had grown heavier during the walk, or maybe it was just that he was tired. He set it on the cold ground and watched it lift its blind head toward the piles of bones.

"Can you eat all of this?" he asked.

[I can eat everything here but I think you should stand back first... It will not be quiet and pleasant.]

Varek stepped back until his shoulders touched the low stone wall at the edge of the field. The Gnarl sat very still for a long moment, its blind face turned toward the corpses. Then its mouth opened and the red eye bloomed on its forehead like a wound opening in the dark.

It moved to the Stonehide Boar first. It pressed its small body against the split armor and Varek heard a sound like air being sucked through a narrow pipe. The grey hide of the boar began to shrink inward. The bones beneath it cracked softly and collapsed into powder. Within seconds the massive corpse was nothing but a pile of grey dust that blew away in the cold wind.

The Gnarl moved on to the next. The Wind Wolf dissolved into dry fur and splinters, the spider thing crumbled like old paper when he was taking the blood. One by one the dead beasts turned to dust, and with every feeding the Gnarl grew larger. Its limbs stretched and thickened, its spine curved outward. Its black fur took on a deeper shine like oil spreading across dark water.

When it finished with the last corpse, it was the size of a large dog and its red eye was blazing like a small sun in the darkness.

[I feel so much better now, I can feel the magic flowing through me now but it is not enough.]

Varek pushed off the wall and walked toward it. "What do you mean it is not enough? You just ate half the graveyard."

[These are dead things and their magic is old and stale. It will make me strong, but it will not bind us together. For that, I need something from you… I need your own blood.]

Varek stopped walking, his left hand throbbed where he had cut it on the day of the ceremony. The wound was still raw under the bandage.

"My blood?”

[The bond between a vessel and a Void Leech is sealed in blood. Your father knew this. He was going to perform the ritual before Aurelius killed him. If you want me to protect you, if you want me to be more than just a beast that follows your commands, you have to give me a part of yourself to maks us bind.]

Varek looked at the creature standing in the moonlit graveyard. Its red eye watched him without blinking. Its body was coiled and still, waiting.

"What happens if I do it?"

[We become one, I will feel whatever you feel, I will see whatever you see and I will be able to speak to you across any distance and lend you my strength when you need it. Once we bind together you will be able to use my abilities as if they were your own.]

"And if I do not do it?"

[Then I am just a beast you carry. Strong, yes but not united or bound together. When Aurelius comes for you, I will fight for you because I must, not because I choose to.]

Varek unwrapped the bandage from his left hand. The cut was still red and fresh. He looked at it for a long moment, then looked at the Gnarl.

"How much do you need?"

[Enough to seal the bond, not in a way that it will harm you. I am not your enemy, Varek Soren. I am the only ally you have left.]

He knelt in the cold grass and held out his hand. The Gnarl moved toward him slowly, its red eye fixed on his palm. When it reached him, it opened its mouth and pressed its teeth against the wound.

The pain was sharp, immediate and frustrating. Varek gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay still. He felt the creature drinking from him, pulling the blood from the wound in slow steady pulses. His head grew light, his vision blurred slightly but he did not pull away.

Then the red eye blazed brighter than it ever had before, and Varek felt something slam into his chest like a wave of cold fire.

The world tilted. He was inside his own body and he was also somewhere else, somewhere vast, dark and ancient. He could feel the Gnarl's hunger like a bottomless pit. He could feel its rage against the old gods who had sealed it away. He could feel its fierce strange loyalty to the Soren bloodline, to Aldric, to him.

And he could hear its voice not as a whisper in his skull but as a clear and steady presence.

[I am Azrath-Kai. I am the Void Leech. I was sealed by cowards and hunted by tyrants. And I am yours, Varek Soren, now and until the last star burns out.]

The light faded and the graveyard returned to view. Varek was on his hands and knees in the cold grass, gasping, his heart pounding against his ribs. The Gnarl stood beside him with its red eye glowing softly. It was still the size of a large dog, but it felt different now. It felt bigger and way closer. As if a piece of it had moved inside him and taken root there.

"Can you stand?" it asked aloud, and the sound of its voice in the open air was strange and rough.

Varek pushed himself up. His legs were shaky but they held. "You spoke out loud, not in my head like usual."

[The bond allows it. I can speak to you either way now. But I will keep my voice silent when others are near. No one else can know what I am.]

Varek looked at his left hand. The wound had closed up. His skin was smooth and pale, marked only by a faint silver scar that traced across his palm like a thread.

"The bond sealed the wound," he said.

[The bond will do many things. You will heal faster now. You will be stronger and when you are ready, I will teach you to use my abilities to consume and mimicry. The power to take the shape and strength of anything I have eaten.]

Varek flexed his hand. It did not hurt. It felt stronger than before, his muscles tighter and his bones denser.

"Then let us start training. If Aurelius knows I am borrowing memories, he will not wait forever. The cold table is coming, and I need to be ready."

[Agreed but not tonight. You have given me blood and you are weak. Tomorrow we will begin. For now, take me home.]

Varek nodded, he lifted the Gnarl, heavier now but still manageable, and tucked it into his coat. It pressed its head against his chest, and through the bond he felt something he had not expected. It wasn't hunger nor rage. He felt something quieter, something that felt almost like hope and home.

He walked back through the dark streets of Ironhold City with the cold wind at his back and the weight of his new ally against his heart, his mask still in place. The world still thought he was a broken boy with a useless beast. But under his coat, the Void Leech was growing and under his skin, the blood bond hummed like a second heartbeat.

Let the Lightbringer come. Let the cold table come. He would be ready and waiting