FUNCTION DISORDER :: VOLUME ONE

16

Kaleva was shivering, empty inside and thoroughly defeated by the time he reached Vex's doorstep.

The door opened. Vextari's beastly masculine frame stood before Kota. His giant fennec ears almost brushed the top of his doorframe.

"Greetings, Kota. What brings you here tonight?", Vex said, sleek muzzle pointing down at him.

Kota lowered his head. "Okay, fine, I... I'll join your pack.", he mumbled in resignation, too crushed and exhausted to even lift his head to face Vex properly.

Vex gave a little happy smirk. "I'm glad you've come to your senses. You won't regret this. I will unlock your potential. Please, come inside, puppy."

Kaleva humbly stepped through the doorway. His mouth went tense at being referred to as "puppy".

Vex grabbed the doorknob, shoved the door shut and locked it behind Kota. "I'm curious, though. What made you change your mind? I like to think that you've found an affinity for me. Is that it?"

"w-Well...", Kaleva began awkwardly, looking up at Vex. He pulled his nice warm black hoodie over his head. "i-I'm not strong enough.", he concluded gravely.

"Hm.", Vex began, gently patting Kota's head with one big sandy-orange paw, then dragged that paw over Kota's right shoulder, then down his side. "Well, I suppose that's part of it. You want to improve yourself. Good on you, Kota; I admire that. However... I see a more urgent problem that's outside your cute little paws."

"What's that?", Kaleva asked, a little awkward, hands curled up and pressed against his chest.

"It should be obvious, I think. The biggest problem is: the Eight Orders are trying to take you back. You need to be defended against them.", Vex claimed.

"I need to be... strong enough to protect myself!", Kaleva stammered. "I wanna be able to look after myself, get a regular human job, just kinda... live in the comfy shadows. But, like, I can't do that because I'm not strong enough."

"They've got entire teams of the strongest mages in the world. It doesn't matter how strong you are personally, you can't fight them off all by yourself. You know how magic works, right?", Vex responded, staring into Kota's soouul. "How do you expect to keep a human job if, the moment you sign up, your name & appearance will be in the system, anybody could recognise you at any time and tell the Eight Orders where you are and what you're doing? You can't do this on your own, but you can rely on me."

Kaleva tried to respond, weakly nodding, but didn't end up saying anything.

"Magic comes from the body. The strength of one's magic is limited by the strength in your body. It's why I keep myself so fit; it's not just to show off. Fact is, though, no matter how fit you are, nobody can equal the strength of an entire team of trained mages alone. It's all stacked against you.", Vex explained.

"y-Yes!", Kaleva responded. Of course I knew that! That's how magic has always worked. He's right, it's never been fair to me! "I guess... I need a pack to balance the odds, especially because, I think I'm kinda... homeless at the moment, hahah."

"I'm glad you can admit that, at least. Rain told me what happened. He never took this stuff seriously. It wasn't a problem last time, so, he thought it wouldn't be a problem this time either. And, now you've seen what happens when you fuck with the Eight Orders.", Vex said. He gently took Kota's hand in one of his front paws, and started leading him deeper into his house.

Kaleva felt a twinge of reality crashing down again. I guess Rain doesn't really mind given that he suggested I should do this, but, like... doesn't it hurt him at all? What does he think about this, deep down? "What happened last time?", he asked.