2026-10-27 01:46:16The jackals had to be at least three feet tall, with dark orange eyes that almost glowed. And those eyes were fixed on Kaiden.
They didn't circle the five boys or even glance at Roden, who was whimpering loud enough for the whole pit to hear.
Kaiden stepped back, then took another step to the left, away from the others. The jackals’ still stared at him, crouching and creeping forward.
Then he blinked and the two jackals lit up in his vision with a thin red outline, as if someone had traced them in blood.
[PASSIVE SKILL ACTIVATED: PREDATOR'S SENSE]
[HOSTILE INTENT DETECTED]
“They're coming for you,” Garrick called out.
“Yeah, I noticed.”
Almost like his voice was a trigger, the red outline around the left jackal pulsed brighter. Half a second later, its haunches bunched.
Kaiden threw himself sideways, and the creature hit the stone where he had been standing, claws screeching against stone.
The crowd roared and cheered.
Before he could rise, the second one launched at him too. Kaiden rolled, and rolled again as it snapped its huge jaws at his head.
He did not need to look to know that the other one was approaching on his right.
‘I guess that's what the Predator's Sense is for.’
[GRANTS EARLY AWARENESS OF HOSTILE INTENT IN NEARBY BEASTS]
He shot to his feet, before the first jackal attacked, narrowly dodging its claws again.
There were a couple of boos from above. From the corner of his eye, he could sense Varax sitting at the edge of the pit on an elevated seat. Smiling and watching.
‘Okay. Let's give them what they want.’
He clenched his club and charged at one of the jackals, his heart thudding heavily in his chest.
The red outline on the second jackal flashed again. Kaiden stopped abruptly, sensing another hostile intent before he saw it.
The ridges along the jackal’s back flexed and burst. Thorns sprayed out in a fan, long and barbed, aimed at him.
“Shit!”
He moved with pure instinct, skipping from foot to door, oddly aware that if any of those thorns touched him, he would be paralyzed within seconds.
“Kaiden! Are you alright?!” Garrick called out.
Kaiden crouched, catching his breath, checking his body while keeping his eyes on the beasts. He had dodged all of the thorns, thanks to his heightened perception.
“I'm fine! You-”
The words died in his throat when he realized something.
Varax was staring directly at Garrick and the others. At the same time, one of the jackals turned, its malicious glare fixed on them.
‘He’s controlling the beast to kill them.’
Tylar was stepping away quickly, holding up one hand. He tried to summon frost, but the dampener on his wrist flared, leaving him defenseless .
“Keep moving!” Garrick shouted. “Don't stand still!”
The jackal was charging at them now.
At the same time, the second jackal was launching at Kaiden.
‘Do not kill the beasts.’ That was what Varax had said.
But one of them was about to kill the others. And one was about to kill him.
“Fuck it.”
Kaiden's grip tightened on the club as he sidestepped the jackal that was charging at him.
The next second, he crossed the pit, running straight at the jackal that was intent on killing the others.
Time seemed to move two seconds slower, and the club was lighter than it should have felt.
But not of that mattered. Not now when he was swinging the club at the jackal with a yell.
There was the loud crack of breaking bones. A flash of surprise appeared on the jackal's face, (and on Varax’s) just before Kaiden sent it flying across the pit. It crashed into a wall with a loud boom.
The crowd’s cheer started to fade. Even the other jackal slinked back, still growling,but keeping its distance.
[THREAT ELIMINATED: THORNHIDE JACKAL x1]
‘One down.’
Kaiden straightened, flexing the arm that held the spiked club. From the corner of his eye, he could see Varax clenching the hands of his seat. And beside him, Orrin was grinning widely.
‘Well, at least one of you is happy,’ Kaiden thought and turned his attention back to the second jackal.
Predator's Sense flared again, the hot red outline appearing around the beast as it widened its jaws, preparing for another attack.
“Come on then.”
Kaiden charged, ready for another swing of his club that would bring the creature down.
Suddenly, its eyes flashed a brighter golden color. The jackal stopped in its attack, but bared its teeth at Kaiden all the same.
Then it slunk backwards, head low, before heading straight for the grate on the far wall. The chains rattled as the grate slammed down.
Kaiden stood there with his club still raised, panting. He turned slightly, and sure enough, Varax’s eyes were glowing.
‘He sent it back in. Guess he won't risk losing another beast.’
The crowd was starting to murmur, though, and soon, it turned to outrage.
“By the gods!” Felipe called out behind Kaiden. “Did you…did you just kill that thing?”
Kaiden turned. All four of them were unharmed, at least, no thorn had touched them.
But they all had identical looks of surprise and shock.
Before he could say anything, the system panel glowed before his eyes again.
[THREAT ESCAPED: THORNHIDE JACKAL x1]
[QUEST INCOMPLETE]
‘What? That's not fair. I didn't-’
[PENALTY APPLIED: REWARDS REDUCED BY 40%.
ALL STATS -1 FOR 24 HOURS.]His arms felt heavier at once, and his breath turned shorter. He sagged on one knee, exhaustion suddenly flooding his body.
‘So there's a penalty for disobedience. But I didn't disobey, it was-’
“I gave you an order, rat!” a voice boomed from above.
Kaiden looked up, his breath catching when he saw the rage in Varax's eyes.
Behind him, Orrin, Dask and two others were trying to calm the crowd.
But Varax didn't seem to care. He lifted off his seat, launching into the air like a beast and dropped right into the pit, sending up dust and stone and a loud sound like thunder.
‘Oh, no.’
Kaiden took an unconscious step backwards as Varax straightened, his golden-brown eyes now glowing like torches. His entire outline was starting to glow red, giving off a really, really hostile intent.
“I will teach you a lesson, boy,” Varax growled in the voice of a beast. “A really memorable lesson.”
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CHAPTER EIGHT
The jackals had to be at least three feet tall, with dark orange eyes that almost glowed. And those eyes were fixed on Kaiden. They didn't circle the five boys or even glance at Roden, who was whimpering loud enough for the whole pit to hear.Kaiden stepped back, then took another step to the left, away from the others. The jackals’ still stared at him, crouching and creeping forward. Then he blinked and the two jackals lit up in his vision with a thin red outline, as if someone had traced them in blood.[PASSIVE SKILL ACTIVATED: PREDATOR'S SENSE][HOSTILE INTENT DETECTED]“They're coming for you,” Garrick called out. “Yeah, I noticed.”Almost like his voice was a trigger, the red outline around the left jackal pulsed brighter. Half a second later, its haunches bunched. Kaiden threw himself sideways, and the creature hit the stone where he had been standing, claws screeching against stone.The crowd roared and cheered.Before he could rise, the second one launched at him too. Kaid
CHAPTER SEVEN
“What?” Felipe blurted. “Do not kill the beasts,” Varax repeated, shifting his gaze to Kaiden. “I doubt that you would be able to do so, anyway. But just in case any one of you gets the idea, do not.” “He’s trying to manipulate the bets in his favor,” Kaiden said to Garrick. “People would be betting that the beasts would be killed, but if we don’t kill any…”“He makes a win,” Garrick completed.“So…we just stand there…and get killed?” Tylar asked in disbelief. “Run, hide, dodge, but you will not kill the beasts.” Varax straightened, his bushy brows lifting slightly. “If you do, you will meet a terrible fate at my hands.”Roden whimpered something, and Garrick shook his head. “I don’t understand. Why not just kill us and get it over with?” Varax turned towards him, a sinister smile on his lips. “Without getting a bit of money out of it? where’s the fun in that?” He clapped his hands. Orrin and Dask returned, ordering the boys to follow them. They spent most of the afternoon doin
CHAPTER SIX
Kaiden stared at the panel, without blinking, until his eyes hurt. [CONGRATULATIONS, YOU COMPLETED THE EMERGENCY QUEST.THE SOVEREIGN SYSTEM HAS GRANTED YOU THE BEAST AFFINITY, LV. 3]“Garrick,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Do you see that thing? In front of my face?”Garrick looked up from his bowl. He looked at the air in front of Kaiden, then back at Kaiden himself. “See what?”“There's like…a screen…a blue screen, with writing on it.” “What?” Garrick chewed slowly. “No. What does it say?”Kaiden opened his mouth to speak, but paused. What would he say? ‘There’s a screen that only I can see, with words that only I can see, that gives me powers that I wasn't born with.’No, that was insane. Stark, raving mad. “Nothing,” he said. “Forget it. I'm just tired.”Garrick’s eyes narrowed in the dim light, but he didn't say a word and went back to his stew. Kaiden sank back against the wall, still staring at the panel. He shut his eyes and pictured the panel going out, Iike a can
CHAPTER FIVE
Light flooded the pit all at once, torches catching with fire along the walls where unseen hands had lit them from above, and Kaiden flinched hard against the sudden brightness of it.When his eyes adjusted, he wished the place just remained dark. The Ridgeback boar lay where he'd left it, bigger than he had imagined. Its back was rigged with plates, and its hide was dark with its own blood. A few feet from it, a human body lay still, with the dampeners still around his wrists. Kaiden remembered the scream he had heard earlier, followed by the silence.‘oh gods. He's-’ Kaiden made himself look away before his mind could finish the thought.The gates swung open and two men walked in. They were not masked like the Reavers and they did not have any eye color, but they wore dirty leather aprons and looked bored with their work. Then their eyes fell on the dead boar and they looked surprised. “They actually killed it…” said the taller one. “Incredible…” “Well, Orrin, you owe me a si
CHAPTER FOUR
They were marched through a maze of narrow passages, still chained and cuffed. Kaiden stared around, trying to remember the paths they were taking. But it was almost impossible; every turn looked the same. And it was getting darker, like wherever they were going, there was no sunlight. “Stop,” growled the flame-user. The six boys halted almost immediately . They were now in a large square, where few people moved about, wearing cloaks and dirty clothes. Here, the sunlight was completely blotted out by tarpaulin covers. “Who is that?” someone muttered to Kaiden's left. He turned, just as a man stepped out of a dark alley. He was tall and broad, like their captors, but he didn't wear a mask like them. He was bald too, and he wore good leather boots, better than anything else he wore. "Varax," the flame-user said, by way of greeting. Varax didn't answer right away. He shifted his gaze to the boys, like a man would stare at livestock, then said, “You keep bringing me skinny things.”
CHAPTER THREE
A voice echoed in the darkness, deep and resonant, like stone grinding against stone.“Sovereign.”Kaiden’s eyes snapped open, to a clear blue sky.He blinked for a few seconds, before the odd feeling of movement came upon him. But he wasn't moving, not exactly. He was being carried on something that was moving. The realization came when he heard rolling wheels beneath him.“Where am I?”His voice hurt when he spoke. With a groan, he tried to sit up and was rewarded with sharp pain, running up the length of his chest and trunk.“Take it easy, man,” someone said. “You've been hurt pretty bad. It's a miracle you're even alive.”Miracle? Alive?Then he remembered the shock of getting zapped with lightning, and the last feeling he had was of life leaving his body.The pain was still there, but it had grown dull, far too dull. He stared down at himself. Dried blood still stained his rags and there were holes in his shirt, but…no scars on his body. No marks to show where the lightning had h
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