Kain blinked against the haze clouding his vision, momentarily disoriented as he adjusted to the present. The dim light of the awakening chamber flickered faintly above, casting long shadows against the metallic walls.
The muffled sounds of groaning and shifting bodies echoed through the chamber, signs that the others were beginning to stir. Malzahir remained unconscious, his breathing steady but deep—clearly not ready to rejoin the waking world just yet.
Jax, Lira, Miya, and Garret groaned softly as their consciousness returned, sitting upright on their respective chairs. Darius stood beside them, barely able to contain the bright-eyed excitement etched into his face. He shifted between them like a child waiting for presents to be unwrapped, clearly thrilled at the prospect of seeing the results of their contracts.
And indeed, the moment awareness hit, the four newly initiated beast-tamers wore identical expressions of wonder. Their eyes shone with exhilaration, their auras jittering with poorly restrained energy. Jax's hands twitched like he was about to summon something right there in the middle of the chamber. Miya had already reached toward the contract mark her array had morphed into, which now resembled a three-tailed cat. Even Lira, usually the most level-headed, looked like she was concentrating to summon something out for the first time.
Kain cleared his throat, stepping forward with just enough weight in his voice to cut through the rising fervour.
The sound snapped everyone's attention to him. The room quieted.
"I'm sure Darius has told you some of this already, but let me reiterate: forming a contract is only the beginning. It takes time—days, weeks, sometimes longer—to establish a proper bond and build tacit understanding with your new partners. Without that, even a basic skill could backfire—or worse."
He let the weight of his words sink in, glancing pointedly in Darius' direction and then a region of the wall that was clearly painted over due to it being a slightly different shade of white…a sign of a past accident where Darius tried to have his jelly-fish like spiritual creature extend its impressive physical defense to him. To test its effects, he had run headfirst into that wall not long after awakening…and ended up with a concussion...that Kain then had to heal him from.
"As Darius knows, in the basement of this facility is a training center reinforced to withstand light to moderate spiritual force. You should only practice with your new contracts there." Darius' head lowered in embarrassment, avoiding eye contact. "Use the time to attune yourselves. Learn how your new partners think. Move together. Fight together."
He raised his hand, and a large folded sheet of paper appeared in his hand from his storage ring. He then handed it over to Darius.
"This map marks the locations of the strongest wild spiritual creatures in the surrounding forests. Use it to practice real combat safely. Once you've demonstrated sufficient control over your contracts, I have a mission to give you."
The room was filled with silent anticipation. Gone was the reckless energy from moments before—now replaced by a more focused, serious light in their eyes. One by one, they nodded solemnly. They understood.
They turned to leave.
But before exiting, Darius lingered behind.
He reached into the pocket of his coat and held out a slim, matte-black vial. Adorned with only a geometric symbol that looked vaguely familiar to Kain and a simple label at the top: SA32.
"This is the mystery drug we found in Reginald's factory," he said, before handing it over.
Kain took it, his eyes narrowing slightly at the label. He tucked it away into his ring without a word.
Then Darius produced something else—a small, silver space ring, worn and scratched at the edges.
"This was on the Black Vine guy," he added, referring to the Black Vine member they'd left behind in the fire. "But I couldn't get it open. There's some kind of spiritual lock on it. I figured you'd have better luck."
Kain raised an eyebrow but accepted the ring. A sweep of his spiritual sense passed over it—a basic security array, nothing complex.
"Low-grade protections," he muttered. "Probably reflects how low on the food chain that guy was. Anyone at four stars or above could crack it without breaking a sweat."
Darius gave a sheepish shrug. "Guess I still have a ways to go."
"You'll get there," Kain said simply. Then his tone took on a joking tone. "You better. I don't have a habit of making bad investments."
Darius smiled. "Of course. And I'm sure they will too." He glanced toward the hallway where the others had gone. "They're fired up. I don't think any of them realize how intense this path really is yet."
Kain looked past him, watching the last of their group disappear around the corner.
"Oh, I'm sure they'll figure it out soon enough," he said. "But until then... you're going to have your hands full."
Darius groaned. "Don't remind me."
Kain smirked, just faintly.
As the door slid shut behind them, the room fell into stillness again. Kain turned his attention back to the items in his hand—the vial, dark and cold to the touch, the symbol kept nagging at him. He was certain he'd seen it before. But before he could dwell on it further…
…The sound of a low groan and something hissing like water on a hot pan filled his ears.
Kain's eyes flicked toward the final occupied chair on the far end of the room, where Malzahir's fingers had begun to twitch.
Strangely, the leather chair he was resting on began to blacken and melt away wherever they made contact with his body…as did all of his clothes.
'That's never happened before…I guess it's good that the others all left the room before this sudden change…'
After all, it will probably be emotionally damaging enough for both Kain and Malzahir to have to see him in his birthday suit…at least, his dignity was spared in front of his other five colleagues.