PreCursive

  The felihat had exited the cave to gaze down at us in patient amusement was…gigantiext to Rhazal, they had to be the single rgest creature I’d ever seen on Vereden, including Taran. The elderly Spirit Wolf had to be at least a single, massive head’s worth shorter than them.

  Well.

  Maybe not with the horns. That might just barely put him on the same level as the enormous saber-toothed tiger that loomed over us.

  Because there lenty of looming going on. The new arrival was much the same as the (retively) smaller forms of Sena and Gin that had bowed at her arrival. She had the same basic body pn, the same proportions if only writ rger, but one major difference.

  From her scalp, and surrounding her massive ears, flowed a mane of pure fme. It was not like that of a lion, as it reminded me more of what a human woman would have. It did not y ft, and instead waved and flowed through the breeze with an almost fluid grace. Tongues and flickers of nguid fire rolled down her ba a sheet that covered her almost like a cloak. Though she was close, and the curiously questing fmes of her hair wisped low enough to nearly brush us, I felt . Somehow I khat the inferno would not harm me uheir owner wished for them to. But there was something almost familiar about the pressure of that fire.

  After a moment, I sucked in a breath in realization.

  That was her Mantle. Somehow, this creature had a physical Mantle, something that I’d thought was impossible. All of the Mantles I’d experienced in the past had been more of a sensation or an enviroal phenomenon. Not a real thing.

  “I…am Shurenga,” The massive Mystic Beast said proudly. “First and only daughter of Tarus, and the watcher of this nexus point. And you…are expected. All of you.” Her eyes drifted over each member of my party, the weight of her gaze affeg us all differently. However, I noticed that it settled lo on three of us in particur.

  Me, Venix…

  And Kazuma.

  Said samurai finally shook off his shod pushed his way to the front of our formation. “The fme that stalks…” He breathed, gazing up at Shurenga in astonishment. “Found where the silence burns…”

  Shurenga blinked slowly, nguidly at the words. “Iing w, child of the Higanashi ot untrue, but iing. Tell me, where do they e from?”

  Venix stepped forward then, catg her attention. “The dying words of a long lost brother-in-arms,” He said gravely, uedly frowning up at her. “The boy told me of how, in his st moments, he spoke of my master’s bde, under your apparent prote. How did he e to know such a truth, O’Spirit?”

  The enormous feline didn’t take offeo the Antium’s tone, although I saw that Sena did. The other cat almost appeared to be frowning in disapproval at him. In the meanwhile, more and more of the Shurengans had begun to appear. From the crags of the volo itself as well as the mouth of the cave, they emerged from their hiding spots. Saber-tooths of all ages came to watch the versatioween us, seemingly unafraid to be in the presence of strangers.

  To be fair, I’m not sure I would be afraid either if such a massively powerful being was my proteuch less the already ventionally intimidating forms of Sena and Gin.

  In fact, a troupe of curious cubs came bounding up to stare up at us in curiosity. To my surprise, only purrs and meows exited their furry little mouths, instead of the words that their elders used. But, that made sense. Not even Fade could talk like they could, and he was much older than these little tykes. I looked up from them briefly to see the same matriarch I had entered multiple times before watg cautiously. Our eyes met, and after a sidering look, she nodded grudgingly.

  Permission granted, I guess.

  I bent down and began to pet and py with the little cubs, to their obvious joy. Unsurprisingly, Liora and Bel joined me in pying with the kittens, since, well.

  They were kind of irresistible, with those wide goldeiny little fangs.

  Besides.

  It’s not like this was my show, anyway. I wasn’t the oer the sword, and it didn’t look like there was going to be a fight.

  The sideshoening behind Venix’s and Kazuma’s backs didn’t escape Shurenga’s notice, to her amusement, but she still answered the Antium. “You…I remember you,” She said musingly. “You were youhen, but you apahe soldiers during the st Ryumetsu Matsuri.”

  Venix frowned up at her. “I do not remember you.”

  Shurenga’s enormous, furry lips curled into an almost smile, her whiskers twitg. “That does not mean I was not there. After all, I had to be close if I wished to retrieve that which I suspect you are here for.”

  Kazuma sucked in a quick, eager breath, his entire body vibrating with excitement. I couldn’t help but notice that the look he fixed the elder Mystic Beast with was almost hungry.

  “You did not answer my question, daughter of the sun,” Venix said. “How did Jiro of the Flickering Storm e to know of your existence?”

  Slowly, Shurenga eased down until she was ying her great furry belly. Delicately, she curled one paw up under her body and regarded Venix with a sidering look. “Because we found him, of course. Your Jiro was half dead iermath of that battle, and wahe outer jungles for a week before discovery. Sena,” She said with a nod to the other saber-tooth, who dipped her own head at the aowledgment. “Believes he woke sometime iermath of the battle, only to find himself abandoned. Wounded and alone, she guided him back to the beaches, where thankfully a single ship still resided, pig over the leavings of war.”

  “There, I hoped he would receive the healing he so needed,” Sena said quietly. “Sadly, our people are not adept in the medial arts. Tell me, did he survive?”

  Kazuma snapped out of his greed to answer her. “Ah…no, my dy,” He said, a tad awkwardly. “Sir Jiro unfortunately passed of an iion not long after he made it back to the capital.”

  “That…is a shame,” Sena’s ears lowered, fttening against her head as she bowed it.

  Venix…sighed then, and bowed his owowards the smaller Shurengan. “Thank you for attempting to save him, at least. Jiro was…a good friend, once upon a time,” With a slight shake of it, the Antium. “To business, then. Lady Shurenga, you implied that the Shōmetsu no Kiba was in your possession?”

  The much rger feline curled its lips then. She dipped her head in his dire. “I do possess the bde. It’s right behind me, within the heart of Mt. Umetsuji.”

  Seemingly uo stop himself, Kazuma took an eager step forward. He was stopped in pce, freezing, when the enormous Mystic Beast raised her voice sharply.

  “However! There is a slight…problem, if you wish to recim it.”

  I stood up from my pying with the cubs to a few mews of disappoi. Heroically, I hardened my heart to the adorable cries and sighed.

  Things could never be simple.

  “And what exactly is the problem, my dy?” I asked.

  In a strangely humaure, the apparent daughter of Tarus extended cws rger than I was from her right paw, and began to tap them against the stone of the caldera. The tinkling stone of stone crag uhe slightest pressure exerted by the Mystic Beast filled my ears, as she visibly pohe question. “When one siders artifacts as mighty as the Shōmetsu no Kiba,” She began slowly. “The cept of ownership enters a ceptual level. Many years ago, the bde was bound to the bloodline of the Higanashi by the then sitting Emperor.”

  She o the form of Kazuma, nearly vibrating in pce from impatience. I think if he dared, he would dash past the Shurengans to ransack their home looking for his aral bde.

  But luckily, he wasn’t that stupid.

  “The problem, however, is that when I ced upon the sin form of your master,” This time, she Venix. He twitched at the words, but did not interrupt. “The line of succession was broken. Gozen of the Twin Fangs, as I believe his name was, did not bind the bde to an heir. The gift that the River Throne had bequeathed to his required this, if the possession was to be maintaihus, with his death, the overall binding was broken. As it stands, the Shōmetsu no Kiba is ownerless…and quite wild.”

  Kazuma sucked in a quick breath, eyes nearly bulging out of his sockets. “I-I didn’t know it worked like that,” He breathed out in despair. “Then…I ot use the bde?”

  Shurenga shook her massive head from side to side. “As it stands, no. However…,” She tinued, before Kazuma’s anguish could overwhelm him. “I did anticipate the arrival of a representative of your , even if it took…much lohan anticipated. It is within my power to…facilitate a new binding of the bde. Otherwise, you would be erased simply ihe Shōmetsu no Kiba.”

  Hmm…

  That souo me…like it didn’t necessarily have to be Kazuma that the bde could be bound to. Anyone could seek Shurenga’s approval and try to win her favor for it. And with that, they would gain a on that had apparently been capable of matg Camity's back during the War in Heaven.

  I could personally attest to how strong the bde would have to be, to mahat.

  I exged a quice with Bel and Liora, both of them standing near me. Liora shrugged one shoulder minutely at me, as always ung about temptations. She was a very solid person, in that manner. But Bel…well, I won’t pretend she didn’t have a calg glint in her eye. As a pirate, my lover had a certain degree of…moral flexitude, when it came to the cept of ownership.

  And…

  I won’t pretend the thought hadn’t ran through my minds as well. I’d crossed some lines in the past myself. Vereden had hardened me in sards, and if it could help protect me and mine from the ravages of this world…

  Well, I could be a little flexible myself.

  Still, I gave Bel a slight shake of my head. She didn’t seem that disappoihankfully. It had just been a fleeting idea, in the end. The captain of the Thorny Reef bent back down to py with the much more iing cubs once again.

  I didn’t really need some super-on like the Shōmetsu no Kiba. I was getting along just fih my own developments, both Statusial and in regards to my Profession. There were certain…projects I had yet to give up on that were showing promise, if only iheoretical sense.

  Besides, my c pointed out that it would essentially be spitting in the face of Venix, to try and cim the sword ourselves. He didn’t deserve that from us.

  Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but notice the knowing, amused ghat Shurenga flickered our way at the bypy. She khat her unstated message had been heard, and summarily rejected. Venix saw as well, no doubt having noticed ou little bad forth. He turo briefly glower our way, befn us in favor of the unfolding drama.

  Holy, I don’t think Renauld, Azarus, or even Kazuma himself noticed. The Gnoll and the Dwarf because they were oblivious to intrigue at the best of times, and the samurai…

  Well, he had started vibrating i the offer from the a pseudo-Spirit.

  Kazuma bowed sharply in her dire. “Please help me rebind the bde, Laday Shurenga!” He nearly shouted, voice eg off the stone of the caldera.

  “Hmm,” Shurenga rose to her feet to pad over to Kazuma, l her head to sniff delicately at him. The samurai didn’t budge from his bent posture, as the inhales from nostrils twice as rge as his head roughed short bck hair. After a moment, Shurenga raised her head. “Well, I be vinced. e with me, young samurai, and we shall…iate the release of the bde. Sena, Gin,” She said, turning her face to the other two cats. They sat up in attention at the word's dire their way. “Do show the others to the ‘guest room’. I have…another offer to vey ter, and this shall take some time.”

  At that, Shurenga turned her head ever so slightly to fix me with a single golden eye.

  I merely rose my own in respoo the twinkling amusement in that huge orb.

  As Shurenga turned about and began to stalk about into her den with Kazuma following close behind, Sena and Gin approached us on padded feet.

  “Please,” Sena said, with a flick of her ear. “Follow us. We do not often have guests, but we do have a space you rest the night in, while our Lady binds the bde.”

  That table to us, and as a group, we followed the two cats into the cave. In the distance, Kazuma and Shurenga were disappearing into the dull glow at the heart of the volo. I noticed, though, that Venix was still watg them. I couldn't parse the expression on his chitinous face.

  I was startled out of my own observations when I felt a furry arm throw itself over my shoulder. I turned my head to see that the owner was Renauld, grinning at me pyfully with a mouth full of sharp teeth. “Man, Nate. You take us to the most iing pces, don’tcha?”

  I rolled my eyes at him, but didn’t respond.

  I knew he was right.