Blood crusted over the ashes where his home once stood. That was all that remained of Aelira and Liana. He had traded power for peace. And peace had betrayed him.

  Right from the beginning, when his mind could grasp intelligence, three values had been ingrained deep into the depths of his soul. Not conceptually or metaphorically, but literally. Beasts. Strength. Power. Three words that ruled Ignea—and every soul within it. A powerful beast made a powerful tamer. And power ruled all.

  After all, not everyone was predestined to walk the path of a beast tamer. Having no affinity for beast taming was far worse, leaving you to live out the rest of your life as an ordinary mortal.

  Reality wasn't as kind as you'd like it to be — nor the heavens, for that matter. There were always prodigies born with high affinity for beast taming, some even born with pre-existing beast spaces inherited from their bloodlines, making their path to power as simple as drinking water. While others had quite the opposite: mediocre talent, forcing them to struggle for every small advancement on their path to power.

  Darius saw himself being in the middle. He wasn't some overwhelming genius or favoured son of the heavens — nor was his talent too mediocre. He was what he would describe himself as: Good. But not enough to matter. Just another name among the thousands.

  And that was enough for him. Hell, he'd achieved peak Silver-rank before thirty years old — when he hit his limit. He was ready to step down from all the power struggles. It was all an endless, perpetual loop of madness. Whatever rank he ascended to, there would always be someone out there stronger than him — a concept he had come to terms with and accepted. He didn't use his power to overlook all who were weaker than him or take advantage of them. Instead, he saw it as a responsibility to help them.

  And help he did — one being a damsel in distress, to boot, from a bandit attack. A red-haired maiden whose emerald eyes had peered straight into his soul. Things went pretty fast from there, and before he knew it, he had a family and a place he could call home.

  And that’s all he ever wanted. Moving to a village filled with mortals, he had everything he could ever wish for — which corroded what he once thought of power and strength being absolute. Dulling what had been ingrained in him from the very beginning.

  If he had everything he wanted without power, then what use was it? Had he been chasing a fleeting illusion his whole life? Sure, power had great perks. And by setting himself apart from what he had sought all his life, he was destined for a mortal lifespan. But what was that if he had Aelira to grow old with? After all, she was a mortal with no beast taming affinity, and even if he sought out power — unless he ascended to the highest pinnacle power had to offer (which he doubted he could, with his potential) — there was one glaring fact not many wished to acknowledge: Death was inevitable.

  To pursue his happiness, he had cut off all his connections with power — including his contracted beast, Shadow, a dark-elemental tusked boar. He deemed it unfair to impose his will on it, to follow his path just because he saw it fit. For it did not align with the beast's best interests.

  Shadow had refused, insisting on continuing the journey with him to the end. But Darius would have none of it — for he knew that would be unfair to it. It still had a life to live, and he wouldn't shackle it to himself just so he could live his idealistic life. That was just something he would never bring himself to do.

  The backlash for breaking the contract was terrifying, confining him to months in bed. More terrifying was feeling the power he had cultivated his whole life slipping from him, followed by the weakness he had always abhorred embracing him. But he had made his choice — and he was never one to back away from his decisions.

  With a family to take care of, he secluded himself away from power and all its politics as he led a peaceful life — and he was happy again. Which proved his decision to be right, as he watched his daughter grow before him from a toddler into a young lady.

  The journey had been enlightening.

  That true happiness did not really come from power.

  Did it?

  A question sparked the day everything changed. A beast horde attack. Led by a beast whose strength had surpassed his imagination even at his peak. Gold? Platinum? Diamond?

  He couldn't be sure… but what he was sure of was the mayhem it caused. He had been helpless as he watched everything he had built crumble to nothingness. The people he had lived with — torn apart as if they were nothing.

  He had tried to run with his family, his wife and daughter — before he was confronted by a beast whose origin he did not know of. It was different from the rest — the leader of the horde. One bite was all it took for the beast to take away all that he loved from him. Screams of pain and it was all over.

  He too would have succumbed to the same fate had Shadow not come to his rescue. His old pal dragged him away. He resisted, wanting to accompany them to the afterlife. He at least owed them that much. But those thoughts shattered the moment Shadow collapsed beside him, blood soaking into the dirt, steam rising faintly from deep, fatal wounds.

  "Nooooo! Shadow, no, stay with me!"

  He scrambled toward the beast, hands trembling, pressing against wounds he knew were too deep, too many. Shadow’s chest heaved once, twice, then stilled. A strange silence settled. No wind, no breath. Just the faint echo of what they’d just survived.

  "You saved me..." Darius' voice cracked. “You stupid, brave bastard.”

  He bit down on the grief rising in his throat. Shadow had fought beyond its limit, torn itself apart just to protect him. It hadn’t been just a contracted beast—it had been a brother-in-arms. Maybe more.

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  He sat there for a long moment, one hand still resting on the beast’s cooling fur, the other clenched white with fury and helplessness.

  That’s when it all snapped. The final thread of his rationality. Gone. He had been stupid. Way too stupid. Beasts. Strength. Power. The answer had been ingrained into his being, yet he had chosen an alternative path. And what had it led to?

  His family's death.

  Everything was lost to him — because he was weak.

  Everything had stemmed from his weaknesses. Had he wielded strength surpassing that of the beasts that raided his village, would he have just stood there and watched as everything was taken from him? His friends, his loved ones, being ripped to shreds because he couldn’t stop it? Beasts he could’ve fought and prevailed against — now he had no power over. All because of his idiotic belief that power did not bring true happiness.

  Had weakness brought him happiness?

  He wanted to give up — but the rage inside him didn’t allow it.

  He wanted it. He wanted revenge so badly. But he had no power to do so. His potential had wasted away, and contracting another beast would be pointless. Ordinary beasts wouldn’t give him the power he desired — and his view of beasts had changed. He didn’t want power that originated from beasts. He wanted the power that had taken everything away from him.

  Before he could delve further into his thoughts, unaware of the negative aura he was radiating at this point, he heard it — an ancient voice radiating power that surpassed what was ever meant to be wielded by mere mortals.

  "Do you want power? Strength to crush all your enemies — to subdue all those who would take what is yours?"

  Who? Who are you to offer me this? Darius voiced out — the concept of fear now dead within him. He wished to know who was presumptuous enough to declare they had power to give him all this.

  Or was he hallucinating? His delusion of power, given form?

  Yes, that was the only feasible assumption.

  "My identity is incomprehensible to an entity like you. Even if I were to tell you, you would not grasp it."

  Huh? This… the voice — I can still hear it? Darius muttered again, puzzled.

  How? Shifting his head, overlooking the lush greenery past the dead body of Shadow, he saw no other being before him or around him. Had his desire for strength fried his rationality?

  No — he couldn’t let it. Not yet. He had not yet taken his revenge...

  "You cannot behold my form, if that is what you look for. You are too weak."

  "Argh!" Darius yelled out in frustration. There he was — reminded again of his weakness. He was weak, and he wanted to change that, whatever the cost. He had nothing to lose. And so, whether to fight the weakness he felt inside him or the helpless despair — he shouted out into the open sky:

  "Yes! I want power! Anything that will help me crush that which dared take away what I love! I want it! Whatever the cost — give it to me!"

  Silence stretched out. His shout of fury met with nothing.

  Fury boiled within him as he yelled out again — this time, desperation and frustration getting the better of him, as tears streaked down his face, processing his loss.

  "Very well. I shall grant you power — if you prove yourself to wield it." The voice echoed in the depths of his soul, proving beyond doubt that it was real. However, this time, the voice carried a hint of power that scared the shit out of him… It felt pure. Almost divine… so sacred it compelled him to kneel before it. But it was gone as soon as it came.

  Leaving him kneeling. But this time, the tears had dried from his face — replaced with a conviction unknown to him. And through that conviction, he voiced out his will:

  "Whatever the cost. I am willing to do anything for power."

  The silence stretched. Panic and anxiety clawed at him — afraid the unknown entity would reject him.

  "Prove it." Calm and measured, the voice spluttered.

  And as if in response to his words…

  The space before Darius rippled and distorted, as if trying to prevent the entry of something never meant to exist — which was now trying to step into this realm of existence.

  Yet it yielded. And something wondrous happened.

  A swirling rift of pure chaos unfolded before Darius, forming a gateway between two realms.

  Runes and glyphs appeared shortly after, circling around the raw essence of chaos, merging into a vortex that expanded with each passing second. Its glow — neither light nor shadow — bathed the land in an unfathomable shifting twilight.

  "The power you seek is before this rift. If you are worthy of it, you shall wield it. If not… then you shall fall."

  This... why?

  Myriads of questions flashed through his mind. He had surmised the figure who had influenced all this must wield mythical power — but at this point, he couldn’t voice them anymore.

  "Why me?"

  If there was anything he had learned while he still held power, it was that the lives of mortals held no consequence to those who truly wielded power.

  Uncountable people would give anything for this power he was offered.

  Yet it was him — and not them…

  His train of thought was interrupted by what he now termed an ancient voice that rang in his skull.

  "You bear my mark, O chosen one. Our encounter was inevitable, it just happened to be now."

  The words resounded. Before he could fully process them, more came: "Go forth now. Know only this — the power I guide you to comes at a price. I will require something from you should you succeed."

  Questions flashed through his mind rapidly. There were multitudes he was dying to ask, but one thing was already clear — the being before him had offered him a path to power, and it was literally right in front of him. So what was preventing him from seeking it?

  As for the price the being spoke of? He didn’t give a damn about it. After all, what did he have to live for?

  Taking a step forward, he entered into the rift before him — in search of power.

  And power he did gain, though not the kind he had expected — something new to the realm of Ignea, yet something old.

  But one thing he did was work for every scrap of it. As his power continued to grow, so did his knowledge. And through that, he learned that the beast that had led the raid on his village was a corrupted one.

  Not that it mattered. Because the moment he finally stepped out of the alternate realm, he hunted each and every one of them until he finished them off.

  His clarity wasn’t something to scoff at. Only the corrupted one had eluded him, as if it had vanished into thin air.

  Which made him hate the power that let him live only more and

  the peace that let them die. But he wasn’t going to give up, he had to get his revenge. And for that he vowed to kill off every corrupted beast he came across.

  ***

  Many years later.

  A figure sat in an office within Glaivemire Beast Tamer Academy.

  Brown hair and a ruddy face. A sharp jawline that gave way to a somewhat handsome middle-aged man. Even though his aura was restrained, his presence gave no reason to doubt that he was a powerhouse.

  Shuffling through a bunch of files, he looked at a list of potential geniuses that his academy would have to battle to secure ownership of the recently discovered secret realm.

  He knew the importance of secret realms far more than anyone, and the benefits were unimaginable, to say the least.

  Before he could continue, a middle-aged woman stepped into his office. But unlike him, her aura was unrestrained — revealing herself as a Gold-rank powerhouse.

  What she also revealed was her curvy figure, barely hidden under her tight instructor garb. Stepping forward, she lowered her head before saying,"Here are the rest of the potential geniuses our students may have to come across in the battle for the secret realm."

  She extended her hand and placed the file on top of the desk.

  Standing before him, a little depressed that the man hadn’t cast a single stare her way since she entered his office, not that it was the first time — she had at least hoped it would be different this time.Guess she had hoped too much. Again.

  "You can leave now, Mitchelle."

  Her train of thought was disrupted by the voice — a bit cold for her liking. Opening her mouth to protest, she thought better of it and turned to leave… before she stopped. More like froze. The man before her had suddenly stood. Unknowingly, he had started to radiate his aura — a terrifying one, even to a Gold-rank powerhouse.

  The pressure continued to intensify, making beads of sweat form all over her face. Fear sparked within her. Had she upset the being before her?

  The pressure became unbearable.

  She was forced to her knees — once again reminded of the insurmountable gap between Gold and Platinum-rank.

  "Dean, you’re hurting me…"

  Finally finding her voice, she spoke out to the man before her, but he stood, lost in thought.

  For the first time, she felt true fear. She feared she would perish from the aura the dean radiated. Was this really how she was going to die? Anxiety morphed into panic. She yelled out hysterically,"Dean Darius! Please spare me!"

  Darius stood still, a multitude of emotions welling up inside him. For the first time in decades, he had felt it — the aura of a corrupted beast. The very existence he had vowed to purge.

  He remembered his promise. The pain the corrupted beast had brought him. What it had taken from him — his wife Aelira, and daughter, whom he hadn’t ever forgotten. Not after all these years. He looked toward the Wastelands, his aura leaking bloodlust.

  "It is finally time to pay for your sins, O foul beast — with your life. Your kind has brought me too much suffering."

  Right after, his figure flickered out of existence — vanishing from the office to the Wastelands — leaving behind a terrified woman, trembling on the floor.