Lament of the Slave

Chapter 59: Ritual

When two beasts fighting each other stumbled out of the woods into the clearing, I knew they were adult mossbears. Bigger than the one Tate killed but considerably smaller than a mother mossbears. Unlike them, they also seemed full of energy. However, one grunt from Esu and both individuals stopped fighting. It wasn't long before the edge of the clearing, which a moment ago had been nothing but charred, smoldering trees, now looked like an impenetrable wall of massive beasts.

With my eyes glued to the edge of the clearing, I gulped. "What have I done?"

The number of beasts standing there was astonishing. It made me wonder how they all got here so fast. After all, I could hear their answer to my call from the far corners of these woods. Or were the beasts I saw here nearby when I called, and more were coming? If so, I wondered how many actually lived here?

I sighed shakily, admitting to myself that I had no idea how vast the Esulmor Woods really were.

"You called, they came. Pack. Family," was Esu's answer to my thoughtless question. What a family. However, it was his family, not mine. For me right now, it was more like an army, an army of beasts.

I snorted, thinking that once I reversed my change, I'd be just a human to them, prey and very weak at that. I may have been weak, but I wasn't stupid to do something like that here and now.

Though if what Esu said was true, if they considered me family, why didn't they come sooner when I called, begged them to come, why did they come only after Esu made me call again with his help. Help which was still freaking me out as my feet were buried in the moss, and I was just waiting for the moment it would start nibbling at my toes.

Yet my instincts told me otherwise. Just stand still, it's safe, beneficial even. Because of these instincts, I even felt a particular attachment to these beasts, or rather a compulsion, you might say, but I wasn't naive enough to treat them as family, just based on that and what Esu said.

At my core, I was human, an enemy and prey to them.

"Mature ones strong but foolish. Lack of experience," Esu growled. "They will challenge. The intruders will fight. If they win. They free."

I was speechless, still staring at the beasts, unable to imagine how the Shadows or the mercenaries could fight their way free. And I knew by his words he didn't mean for them to fight an entire army of them. No, it was supposed to be a one-on-one fight. Man against beast. Level two hundred and fifty, against level five hundred plus. That's what my guts were telling me when I looked at the adult mossbears.

Aspen told me how she and two units of city guards faced a manticore in a labyrinth. The beast at level 536, and they barely survived the fight. At least, according to her. I did not know the difference between the beasts in the labyrinth and on the surface, whether the manticore or the mossbear was more powerful. From what I've seen so far, from what I've experienced, it was obvious to me that the beast's strength could not be compared to humans based on levels alone. The mossbears, for example, were more massive, covered with tough skin, armed with fangs, claws, and moss. Yeah, I was aware people compensate for their shortcomings with armor and weapons. Still...

Now Esu wanted humans and terrans who were unable to escape like Ward or the silver-haired thought fuddler, to defeat something much stronger and more massive than them if they wanted to live. No matter how hard I tried to think about it, I still saw it as a death sentence, which may have been Esu's intention.

"You lack experience. You fight too, cub," added Esu as a matter of fact.

I froze, understanding I hadn't just fucked the others in the clearing when I called this family. I screwed myself too.