[CEDRIC ASHVALE'S POV]
My dreams were filled with half-formed sensations: anger, hunger, pain, rage, disappointment, more anger, and fear persistent feeling that echoed through the bond.
When I woke again, the window was already dark.
It looks like only a few hours passed.
"No, you slept throughout the day and the next night", came Mara's voice from beside me.
I flinched.
"Could you read my mind?"
Mara scoffed.
"No need to, it's written all over your face."
We looked at each other and chuckled together.
"Mara, can you help me up? My back hurts from lying too long."
Mara hesitated, then nodded and came to my side. She gripped my waist and propped me up. I managed not to cry out from the pain, but I could tell Mara knew from the way she pursed her lips.
The door opened as Janice walked in and looked at me.
"Good that you're sitting up, but it's going to take a few days until healed sufficiently, and you're able to walk."
"I know, how is he?" I asked as I felt a pulse at my core.
Janice knew I was talking about Felix.
"His core activity has increased," she said, adjusting the arrays. "Still unstable—but responsive."
I nodded. "He feels… closer."
"That's the bond," she said. "Soul-level connections don't go dormant easily."
I hesitated. "Janice… what about beast space?"
She froze.
"There is none," she said.
"How is that possible?"
Mara objected in a shocked voice.
"Every bonded beast—"
"—is housed in a beast space created by the contract," she finished. "Felix is not contracted."
The words sank in slowly.
"This bond was forced," she continued. "Only emergency resonance locked their souls to this fate. So, there was no beast space created."
"So, he can't retreat from danger or recover from his wounds," I said.
"No," she confirmed. "No beast space means no regenerative cocoon and no isolation to heal."
My chest tightened. "So, when he's hurt—"
"He stays hurt," she said. "Unless he heals naturally or uses potio.ns"
"Which means during hunting, he would rely on. me"
"Yes."
"And that reliance weakens us both."
Janice nodded. "Neither of you will operate at full capacity until Felix's core heart heals, and only then will he absorb mana independently. The bond will normalise. Excess mana will flow back to you, as it should."
I swallowed.
"And until then?"
"You sustain him," she said. "And he survives."
A pause.
"Usually," she added, "as familiars grow stronger, they fuel their tamers. Strength flows both ways."
"But we don't have that."
"No."
"So how do we fix it?"
Janice looked at me carefully.
"Felix must hunt," she said. "Consume mana cores. Restore himself piece by piece."
"And when he can absorb mana again?"
"The imbalance will correct," she said. "But not before."
The weight of it pressed down on me.
Eight months until the academy.
Time was running out.
[A FEW DAYS LATER]
A few days had passed since I woke up.
I measured the days passing not by the rising and setting of the sun, but by how far I could walk without my legs shaking.
At first, it was only a few steps beside the bed (with Mara's help) then the length of the infirmary. Then, finally, the corridor outside—slow, careful, every movement monitored by Mara's unblinking eyes.
Today, I was walking without help. Barely.
Mara hovered at my side, one hand firmly gripping my arm, the other ready to catch me if my balance slipped. She didn't say anything—she didn't need to, her grip said enough.
"You're leaning again," she muttered.
"I'm compensating," I replied.
"That's leaning with confidence."
I adjusted reluctantly, feeling the unfamiliar tension ripple through my core as my mana corrected itself. It still felt… wrong. Not painful anymore, just mismatched—like two rhythms trying to share the same beat.
Janice watched from a few steps ahead, expression sharp but satisfied. "That's far enough," she said. "Any more and you'll undo two days of progress."
I stopped.
My breathing steadied. My legs held.
That alone felt like a victory.
"Good," Janice continued. "You're stable enough now."
"For?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"He's awake."
My chest tightened.
Mara's grip on my arm softened slightly. "You sure you're ready?"
"No," I said honestly.
Janice nodded. "That's the correct answer, but let's go anyway."
We made our way slowly through the halls of the infirmary, heading to the hall where the ritual was to take place.
Mostly to distract myself, I asked.
"When did he wake up?"
"A few hours ago."
"And?"
"And what?"
"What do you mean what? What did he do?"
"Nothing, he is a beast, and he can't exactly talk; you're the tamer, only you can communicate with him even a little. Well, we're here."
Wait what? So quickly?
Janice stood near a sealed door, "Beyond this is a healing space. Felix is being kept stable—but he can't be moved yet."
My throat felt dry.
Mara squeezed my arm once before releasing it. "I'll be right here," she said. "If you fall, I'm dragging you back myself, though if you die---"
"Mara,"
"Kidding," she said cheerfully. "Mostly."
I almost smiled.
Janice placed her hand against the door, mana flowing smoothly into the sigils. They responded immediately, the doors parting with a low creak.
My breath hitched as I said what lay there.
Felix lay within a containment field shaped like a shallow dome, its surface shimmering faintly. He was smaller than I had imagined. Smaller than the egg suggested. His body was curled slightly, with black wings folded tight, scales dark and uneven.
But his eyes were open, shimmering with suppressed rage and pain. And even without the added advantage of the bond between us, I could tell he wanted to tear me apart.
I took an unsteady step forward, then another, stopping just short of the field. My chest tightened—not with pain, but with something like a mix of fear and protectiveness.
"He looks—"
"Angry"
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AN: What did you guys think of the chapter? Comment, review, and gift power stones.