We were rapidly surrounded by about eight soldiers. Honestly, everything happened so fast I didn't have time to take it all in. I was still on Sable, with George laid out in front of me.

Hari now had his sword and shield drawn. Liane had vanished entirely. Jen and Milo looked ready to strike, and Crisplet… he was growing in size.

That's when I noticed the urgent notification. I hadn't taken damage—had I?

Notifications:

You have lost the skill Ashborne-sous

You have a new ability selection

Ashborne Elemental Crisplet is now your bonded companion.

I didn't even have a moment to process what that meant. I just kept watching Crisplet—right in front of me—when, in a heartbeat, chaos erupted.

The Colonel swung his sword; Hari caught it with his shield.

"Fighting us is foolish. You are drastically outnumbered," the older man grunted as Hari used his shield to shove him back.

"You should stand down, or you'll be risking the lives of all your men," Hari said, swinging his own sword at the Colonel.

Despite his age, the man was clearly skilled. He deftly deflected Hari's blow and used the pommel of his sword to strike him hard in the side.

Meanwhile, the others weren't standing still. But the opposition barely stood a chance. The moment the first swing happened, Liane was already putting people to sleep. I saw her appear with her daggers, strike someone, and vanish again. They quickly succumbed to the poison.

While she worked, Milo and Crisplet were forming domes of stone and ash around us—cutting off reinforcements and trapping the Colonel and his unconscious men inside.

Inside the dome, the heat was intense. I could only imagine how much worse it was outside.

Jen fired a heavily blunted arrow straight into a soldier's gut at close range. It didn't pierce his armour, but he doubled over. I couldn't help but feel he'd suffered some internal damage. As he knelt, Liane appeared beside him and administered her poison.

Within moments, only three soldiers remained—including the Colonel himself. They had regrouped and were trying to put distance between us, but there was nowhere to retreat inside the dome.

One of them lunged with a spear aimed at Hari's side—but a flash of light from Crisplet stopped him in his tracks. Disruption Flare. The man stumbled, and before anyone could follow up, Crisplet touched the spear shaft.

It burst into flame, turned charcoal black, and coiled around the man's arms like bindings.

I couldn't help but notice that Crisplet didn't stop it from burning as the soldier cried out in pain.

Now there were two left. The remaining soldier looked nervously at the man writhing on the floor. The Colonel was furious and not ready to give up. He raised his sword high and ran forward—seemingly aiming for Crisplet—when an arrow shot into his leg, piercing right through and forcing him to stumble to a halt.

"Stop this pointless fighting immediately, or you will die here today," Hari said, pointing his sword at the man's throat.

In the confusion—one soldier bound and burning, the Colonel charging—the last soldier didn't see Liane appear behind him. She cut him with a dagger and administered her poison; he crumpled almost at once.

Liane then seemed to render the burning man unconscious—a mercy, if anything; he hadn't stopped screaming.

The old man spat on the ground. "You'll die for this—attacking the kingdom's forces," he hissed.

"No. I don't think we will," Hari answered calmly. "You're transporting soldiers, not prisoners. You've murdered countless kids with your treatment. I know the laws—you've broken them all."

"They are my soldiers. Worthless common trash. I can treat them how I wish," the Colonel growled.

"Wrong answer. Crisplet, Milo—change this dome to a cage so everyone may see and hear." They obeyed, and the dome slowly shifted into a fiery cage that still showed everything inside.

Around the cage, at a careful distance, a crowd had gathered: soldiers, and the three earlier men who'd been knocked out, now standing with weapons in hand.

One of the onlookers tried to throw his spear at the cage, only to watch it burn up as it reached the outer edge.

The Colonel glared at Hari, sword still at his throat. He showed no fear.

Hari began, "The actions we've witnessed against the common soldiers here directly violate kingdom law. For the murder of nearly twenty young adults, I will be following the procedure laid out by law."

Hari raised his sword. For the first time, the old man's composure cracked.

"Wai—" But it was too late. Hari's sword came down, and the Colonel's head was severed in a single, clean motion.

"Who's next in charge?" Hari called out, glancing at the few veteran soldiers now staring wide-eyed from outside the cage.

It was one of the younger adults in the crowd who finally spoke. "He… he's on the floor next to your feet."

One of the soldiers made a move to stop the young man from speaking—but the arrow that landed squarely next to his boot made it very clear what would happen if he continued.

Hari knelt down to confirm which one it was and quickly administered an antidote. It didn't take long for the soldier's eyes to flutter open. He took in the scene—the headless Colonel, the fiery cage, the crowd—and froze in place, pale and shaking.

"We… we were just followin—" he began, but Hari cut him off.

"Save your excuses. Your colonel was punished for the crime of murder." His voice was firm. "You were second in char—"

Hari's words were cut off by a wave of unmistakable pressure.

"Really now?" I muttered, looking around.

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And sure enough, there was Lily—casually appearing inside the crowd. Her emerald eyes swept the gathering, as though just now noticing the hundreds of eyes on her. We were still inside the cage, which suddenly felt far too small with five horses and a crowd pressed in.

I couldn't say what passed between Lily and Crisplet, but the moment they locked eyes, the pressure spiked. It was no longer just weight in the air—it was hatred. Pure bloodlust.

The crowd, or at least those who could still move, began backing away. But many froze where they stood. Even our own party was momentarily paralysed. The soldier Hari had revived had lost all colour in his face, his eyes locked on Lily in terror.

I even struggled to speak. "It's okay, Lily—we're not in danger right now. Just settling some issues," I said, my voice shaky.

The pressure lessened slightly, but not by much. I watched more people on the outer edge of the crowd recover enough to run for their lives.

Hari, teeth clenched, forced himself to speak through the suffocating weight.

"You are second in charge. Correct?"

The man didn't respond with words. I wasn't sure he could. He gave just the slightest nod.

"You will escort the remaining soldiers to their destination and feed and take care of them properly, as you're supposed to. Is that clear?"

The man simply nodded again.

"And while we're at it, provide proper medical attention to the people in the wagons. If I find out more people died under your watch, I will take this to the capital. Is that clear? What is your name, soldier?" Hari asked.

The man opened his mouth, but nothing came out—he was too terrified.

I leaned forward and whispered to Lily, "Hey Lily, could you lower the pressure just a little?"

Luckily, she heard me. After a glance, the weight eased some, and the man found his voice.

"Ye… yes… Yes, I will. My name—" he began.

"Please be sure you don't lie, or the third in charge will suffice for this task," Hari said coldly. The threat was clear.

"Of course not. My name is Aaron Ridgewaters," he said, never taking his eyes off Lily.

Hari considered that for a moment. "And your father?"

"I am the fifth son of Arthur Ridgewaters," the man said.

"I see. Yes, I'm familiar with your house. Very well—get a hold of your men. We'll be taking some witnesses with us to ensure this is not covered up," Hari said, looking out at the crowd.

Turning to me in a whisper, he asked, "Who are your other friends here? Crisplet, could you start lowering the cage, please?"

"Just Darren. Brandon is in the third wagon—dead," I answered, bitter.

"Darren!" Hari called to the crowd. "Please come forth."

A very skinny Darren pushed through and made his way to us, only now fully taking in what had happened.

Looking back at Aaron, Hari said, "We'll be leaving with the two of them. If we so much as hear or see you breaking any more laws, it'll be more than one person losing their life today."

It seemed to be the moment the man realised everyone else had been knocked out, not killed.

In fact, the only person who appeared severely wounded now was the man Crisplet had burned. I made a note to talk with Crisplet about that later—being burned by your bindings felt cruel, and I didn't like watching anyone suffer.

"Can't we help those in the wagon?" I whispered.

But Jen gave a subtle shake of her head, and I didn't ask again.

I really wanted to help, but I didn't know how. I could probably make food and heal some of them—but I doubted I could bring them all back. Even George hadn't regained consciousness after the soup.

Not only that, but doing so would reveal my abilities to hundreds of witnesses.

Sighing, I turned my attention back to the conversation at hand.

"And the others?" Aaron asked, gesturing to the unconscious bodies on the ground.

"Everyone's alive. They'll come to in a short while—or you can use an antidote," Hari replied bluntly.

Turning to us, he looked us over before stating, "We're leaving. Let's go. Darren, come here!"

Lily vanished into the ground as we began mounting our horses again.

"I don't suppose you have anything to help him?" I asked Jen as we approached the horses, pointing to George, still unmoving where he was draped over Sable.

"Not here. We'll move out of camp and stop soon," Jen said in a low voice.

I saw Hari grab Darren by the armour and lift him up onto a horse, and then we were off—heading west, which surprised me. I'd thought we'd return east toward the capital. Still, I trusted Hari had a plan and didn't question it.

What surprised me more was that Crisplet didn't shrink down. He floated beside us the entire time, keeping up easily. I really needed to check my status soon and figure out what had happened. Why had I lost that ability?

As we rode, all eyes were on us. The young soldiers watched in stunned silence as we left the camp. I noticed small groups breaking off from the main force, clearly using the confusion as a chance to escape.

I didn't know how things would go for them, but I hoped they'd be okay.

We rode for what felt like an hour—but was likely only twenty minutes—until we were out of sight of the camp. The moment we stopped, Milo and Jen lifted George from Sable and laid him gently on the ground.

They pulled out several different potions and began working. Some colour had returned to George's face, but he still looked awful. That smell—something between death and rot—still clung to him.

Darren stood nearby, nervous and uncertain. He didn't know any of these people except me—and even then, we'd only been acquaintances at best.

Figuring there wasn't much I could do to help George right now, I turned and approached Darren.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, pulling out another roll and handing it to him. He started eating immediately.

"Nervous... Are they going to execute me for deserting?" Darren asked between bites.

"I don't think so. We came to get George, and it never came up that you'd be facing execution," I replied with a shrug—answering honestly.

"That's not what they told us, Trevor…" Darren muttered, falling to the ground with tears in his eyes. "They were needlessly cruel. And if you fell... like Brandon... that was it."

A moment later, Darren broke down completely. I wasn't sure how to handle it. This wasn't what I'd expected.

"It's okay now," I tried to reassure him.

"It's not though. They still have Brandon—if he's even alive," Darren said weakly.

I was completely out of my depth here.

"I... erm... I found Brandon," I said softly. "He had passed away."

The words hit Darren hard. He crumbled even further, crying openly now.

I didn't want to just leave him like that, so I sat down next to him and quietly watched as Jen and Hari worked to heal George. I figured if they needed anything from me they'd ask, everyone at least had a regeneration item on hand—and Liane still had plenty of the spider soup.

No more words passed between Darren and me, but I pulled up my status to check what had happened.

Sure enough, Ashborne-sous was no longer there. Instead, I saw a message stating I had an ability selection.

And that's when I noticed the part that really stood out to me.

Bonded Companion:

Crisplet (Ashborne Elemental)

Level: 23

Experience: 9234/20651

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 33

Endurance: 36

Intelligence: 65

Wisdom: 32

Charisma: 10

Willpower: 13

Perception: 8

Luck: 6

Unspent: 0

Hit Points: 360/360

Mana: 650/650

Stamina 360/360

Abilities:

Flame Control (Passive)

Fire Immunity (Passive)

Ashbound Flame

Mana Enhancement

Ashborne Architect

Disruption Flare

Ashborne Soul (Passive - Permanent)

Crisplet now had his own stat sheet—entirely separate—with his own stats. And it looked like he started at my current level.

Looking through his abilities, I noticed a new one: Ashborne Soul.

That had to mean Crisplet had chosen an ability to sever the link to my Ashborne-sous skill... and become his own elemental, right?

Part of me was happy for him. Really, I was.

But I couldn't help feeling a little concerned too.

Would he want to leave now?

Could I even stop him?

And... would he still help me cook?

I shook my head, that was being selfish.

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