Ren lay face down in the wet mud. He was completely unconscious. He snored loudly, blowing a small bubble of dirty swamp water out of his nose with every exhale.
Jin stood over him. He watched the glowing green egg.
The heavy, thirty-pound leathery shell was vibrating violently. The deep blue light from the blood contract pulsed faster and faster. The light grew incredibly bright, forcing Jin to squint his dark eyes.
Then, the physical mass of the egg simply broke.
It did not hatch. It did not crack open. The physical matter of the shell and the heavy embryo inside converted entirely into pure, condensed Aether energy in a fraction of a second. The blinding light shrank into a single, marble-sized sphere of glowing green and blue power.
The sphere shot straight forward. It hit the space directly between Ren's eyebrows and vanished perfectly into his skull.
Jin stared at the empty patch of mud where the massive egg had just been resting.
He ran the physics in his head. A solid object roughly the size of a human head had just entered another human head without causing severe cranial trauma or instant death. The boy's skull did not explode.
"Magic is highly inefficient with mass," Jin muttered to himself. He found the entire biological process completely absurd.
A loud, terrifying roar suddenly ripped through the jungle canopy.
It was not the hiss of an alligator. It sounded like a massive, angry cat with lungs the size of steel barrels. The roar was close. The smell of the dead Mud Alligator had finally reached the real scavengers. A second roar answered the first, coming from the eastern tree line. A third roar came from the north.
They were being surrounded.
Luna dropped down from the high branches. She landed softly in the mud next to Jin. She did not bother to sheathe her chain-sickle. The metal knife was ready in her hand.
"Three distinct targets," Luna reported quickly. Her voice was calm, but her eyes were wide. "They are moving fast. They are heavy. They are coming for the meat."
"We are leaving," Jin stated. He sheathed his heavy silver falchion. He needed both hands.
Luna looked down at the snoring boy in the mud. Ren was covered in dirt and dried blood. He looked like a discarded rag doll.
"What do we do with him?" Luna asked.
Jin looked at the boy. It was highly logical to leave him. Ren was dead weight. The approaching beasts would likely stop to eat the boy and the dead alligator, giving Jin and Luna plenty of time to escape. It was the perfect distraction.
But Jin had an active investment in the boy. A debt was only valuable if the debtor was currently breathing.
"He is luggage," Jin decided.
Jin stepped forward. He did not gently pick the boy up under the arms. He did not offer a dignified carry. He reached down, grabbed the thick fabric of Ren's academy belt, and hoisted the boy straight up into the air.
Ren was incredibly light. He was mostly anxiety, thin bones, and mud.
Jin flipped the boy upside down and slammed him over his right shoulder like a sack of cheap grain. Ren's head bounced heavily against Jin's lower back. Ren groaned in his sleep, his arms dangling uselessly toward the ground.
"Let's move," Jin ordered.
He started running toward the western tree line. Luna followed right behind him, covering their rear.
Running through a dense, humid jungle is difficult. Running through it with a hundred and twenty pounds of unconscious teenager bouncing on your shoulder is a severe logistical nightmare.
Jin ignored the burning in his legs. He pushed his Foundation Level 10 Aether into his muscles to compensate for the awkward weight. He jumped over rotting logs. He ducked under thick vines.
Every time Jin jumped, Ren's stomach slammed hard into Jin's armored shoulder. Every time Jin ducked, Ren's face swung forward and aggressively slapped against the low-hanging ferns.
Jin did not apologize to the boy. Gravity and momentum were doing the driving.
Behind them, a massive crashing sound echoed from the muddy hollow. The scavengers had arrived. The terrifying sounds of heavy jaws tearing into the alligator corpse filled the humid air, followed immediately by the brutal sounds of the beasts fighting each other for the best cuts of meat.
Jin did not look back. He just kept running.
They ran for thirty minutes. They pushed deep into a steep, rocky incline where the mud finally gave way to hard, moss-covered stone. The thick canopy above began to thin out slightly, letting in small, scattered beams of grey twilight.
Jin's breathing grew heavy. He was incredibly strong, but he was not a machine. He needed a secure location to drop his cargo.
"There," Luna said. She pointed a pale finger up the rocky slope.
Jin looked up. A massive, ancient tree grew directly out of the side of the stone hill. Its roots did not dig into the dirt. Instead, thick, wooden roots the size of small houses cascaded down the rock face, twisting and wrapping around each other.
The tangled roots formed a natural, elevated cage. There was a dark, dry hollow space underneath the base of the massive trunk, completely protected by the thick wooden bars on three sides. It was highly defensible. An attacker could only approach from the steep front slope.
"Acceptable," Jin said.
They climbed the slippery rocks. Jin used his free hand to pull himself up the steep incline, while his right arm kept the snoring boy pinned to his shoulder. Ren's head smacked against a hard piece of granite on the way up. The boy mumbled something about soup, but did not wake up.
They reached the elevated hollow beneath the roots. It was dry. The ground was covered in soft, crushed dead leaves instead of wet mud.
Jin walked into the center of the hollow. He unceremoniously dumped Ren off his shoulder.
Ren hit the pile of dry leaves with a heavy, ungraceful thud. He rolled onto his back. His arms flopped out to the sides. He continued to snore.
"Set the perimeter," Jin ordered. He rolled his right shoulder to work the stiff muscle.
Luna nodded. She walked to the narrow opening between the thick roots that served as their front door.
Jin untied his spatial pouch. He reached inside and pulled out one of the flat, grey slate runes he had purchased at the market. The Basic Kinetic Protection rune. He walked over to Luna and placed the heavy stone directly in the center of the natural doorway.
He bit his thumb, drawing a tiny drop of blood. He pressed his thumb against the glowing blue symbol scratched into the slate, pushing a fraction of his Aether into the stone.
The slate hummed quietly. A faint, nearly invisible ripple in the air expanded outward, sealing the gap between the roots. It would not stop a Level 10 beast, but it would completely block a sudden ambush from a smaller predator. It gave them an early warning system.
Jin walked back to the center of the dry hollow. He sat down heavily on a thick root. He took a long drink from his leather water skin. The hot, humid air of the jungle was exhausting.
He looked at Ren. The boy was still out cold.
Jin picked up a small, dry acorn from the ground. He flicked it casually with his thumb. The hard acorn hit Ren directly in the center of his forehead with a sharp snap.
Ren gasped. His eyes shot open.
He sat up instantly, flailing his arms in the air like he was drowning. He choked on a dry leaf, coughing violently. He scrambled backward, pressing his back against the hard wooden wall of the hollow.
He stared wildly at his surroundings. He saw the tangled roots. He saw the stone ceiling. He saw Luna sitting quietly near the entrance, sharpening her knife with a whetstone. He saw Jin staring at him blankly.
"Where am I?" Ren panicked. His voice cracked. "Am I dead? Did the alligator eat me?"
"You are alive," Jin stated flatly. "You are in a hole. Stop screaming. You will attract pests."
Ren clamped his hands over his mouth. He took several deep, shaky breaths through his nose. He lowered his hands slowly.
He looked down at his stomach. He patted his chest. He felt his arms. He was covered in mud and his head pounded terribly, but all of his limbs were attached.
Then, he remembered.
His eyes went wide. He frantically slapped his hands against his face. He pressed his fingers against the space between his eyebrows.
"The egg!" Ren shouted in a loud, terrified whisper. "The egg! Where is it? I lost it! I lost fifteen points!"
"You did not lose it," Jin replied. He took another drink of water. "It is currently inside your skull."
Ren froze. He stared at Jin. "What?"
"The egg turned into a light," Luna explained from the doorway. She did not look up from her sharpening stone. "It flew into your forehead. Then you started snoring."
Ren touched his forehead again. His face turned pale.
"Inside me?" Ren whispered, completely horrified. "Is it going to hatch inside my brain? Am I going to give birth to a lizard out of my nose?"
Jin let out a long, slow sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose. The boy was an idiot.
"It is an Aether bond," Jin explained simply. He dropped his hand. "It is energy. It is residing in your core, merging with your legacy. Check your internal channels."
Ren closed his eyes. He focused his attention inward.
A moment later, he opened his eyes. A massive, stupid grin spread across his dirty face.
"I feel it," Ren laughed. He looked at his shaking hands. "It is there. It is sleeping. It feels like a massive, heavy rock sitting right next to my Aether core. It worked! I have a Level 7 beast bonded to my soul!"
He jumped up from the pile of leaves. He pumped his fists in the air.
"I am a real Beast Tamer!" Ren cheered quietly. He looked at Jin with eyes full of pure hero worship. "You saved me. You actually stayed and guarded me. I thought you would leave me to die!"
"I did leave you," Jin corrected him dryly. "Then three massive predators showed up to eat the corpse. I had to carry you out. You hit your head on a rock on the way up."
Ren touched the side of his head. He found a large, painful bump forming under his hairline. He winced.
"You carried me?" Ren asked. He looked at Jin's heavy armor and broad shoulders. "Thank you. Truly. I owe you my life."
"Yes," Jin agreed immediately. "You do. The transportation fee is steep. And the security detail fee is compounding daily."
Ren blinked. His smile vanished. "Fee?"
"I do not work for free," Jin stated. He rested his hands on his knees. "I guarded your contract. I evacuated your unconscious body. I provided a secure, rune-protected bunker. You currently owe me a massive, unpayable debt. I expect a return on this investment."
Ren swallowed hard. He looked at the deadpan expression on Jin's face. He realized the boy sitting across from him was much scarier than the alligator.
"How... how do I pay you back?" Ren asked nervously.
"You will act as our bait," Jin answered. It was the most logical use for the boy. "And when your alligator finally wakes up, you will use it to hunt for us. Welcome to the squad. Now sit down and shut up. We are resting."