Runeblade

Kaius sat on the cavern floor, jagged rocks digging into his back. The natural stone made a poor backrest, but his chain vest saved him from the worst of discomfort. He'd moved over from the entrance to the portal room, shifting to the side so as to not block the meles from an exit.

He was, after all, trying to convince it he was friendly. So far it had gone okay.

The greater beast sat across the cavern from him. Thin pools of stagnant water and the corpses of fish in varying stages of decomposition layered the ground between them. Remnants from both of their entrances to the depths, and those of prior ones.

Settled down on to its haunches, the meles eyed him with a quiet intensity as it rested its head on its front paws. As they had talked, the creature's fur had begun to dry out. Returning to a dense fluffy halo of red tapering to black. It - he, Kaius reminded himself - looked so bloody soft.

The flickering mental connection that the meles had forged between them pulsed as it transmitted more thoughts and sensations to him. As their chat had progressed, Kaius had been getting better at parsing the information into something resembling language. That, or the meles' sharp mind had been able to pick up on how he structured communication, and was making it easy for him.

"So they chased you from your hunting grounds, challenging your Patriarch without honour?" The almost words echoed with notes of indignation for the bandits' offence. Kaius nodded emphatically.

"Yeah, and now I - we - are trapped down here. At least until I am strong enough to deal with the Guardian. If I wait for my class that's going to be about two years," He responded, frustration creeping into his tone as he thought of the yawning length of time ahead of him.

"You are not yet grown? But you are larger than those … vermin… that trapped us down here?" The meles words carried overtures of confusion, a biting venom suffusing its emotions as its mind had drifted over the bandits.

Kaius laughed. One he quickly cut off as the meles jumped slightly at the sudden noise.

"Sorry about that. It means I'm amused." Kaius gingerly scratched the back of his head. Snorting in acknowledgement, the meles settled back down.

"Most peoples like my own, human or otherwise, are already full grown for a couple of years before we gain our class. Like I said, mine is two years off." He continued.

With a chitter the meles ever so slightly cocked his head at him. "I see.. It is somewhat different for us beasts. A full connection to the ancestral power brings with it … significant changes. I am a summer or two off from it myself."

Pushing off with its back legs, the meles dipped into a deep leaning stretch before it fully rose to its feet. It took a sniff and sneezed, pawing at its nose.

"The fish here are disgusting, take me to your den." It demanded, its imperious tone unable to hide the undercurrent of uncertainty in its emotions. Kaius shot back a warm smile, making sure to hide his teeth. He'd made sure the meles knew it was a friendly gesture, but it had yet to fully get over its discomfort at the sight of a grin.

"I'd love to."

Kaius stifled a chuckle as the meles huffed in frustration as its heavy body slowly skidded down the scree slope, a great cloak of dust billowing out behind it.

He found it impossible to forget what the creature was, but he also couldn't deny just how young the creature came across as. Even the size of a small bear, he didn't miss that its paws seemed just a little too oversized, its demeanour flicking to anxiously scan the tree line just a little too often.

He lengthened his steps, feet sinking deep into the loose gravel. Pulling up alongside the greater beast, he laid his hand on its shoulder. Fingers sunk deep into hyper dense fur as he gave it a pat.

"It's okay, I've already cleared out this area of the glade. Even if something has wandered back in, I have yet to find something I haven't been able to handle myself. With the two of us, we would be more than okay - if we are careful."

The meles huffed, but leaned back into his touch all the same.

"I know that! It's just… The Matriarchs warned me off this place, at least until I had reached the next stage of life." The meles light touch on his mind bringing with it the sight of a massive beast, easily towering over the younger creature. The image radiated with the familiar certainty of safety. Smelled of home.

Kaius stiffened as the blare of a system notification dragged at his attention.

**Ding! General Skill Available! Would you like to learn: Empathetic Communication (Uncommon)?**

"No." He thought, quickly dismissing the prompt. Attention turned back to the meles as he scratched its shoulder, luxuriating in the softness of its coat as the individual fibres parted between his hands, bunching between his fingers with a feather light touch. He had the strange sense that he must be dreaming, who got to actually pet a greater meles?

Dragging his focus back to their conversation, his fingers continued to twist through its fur absentmindedly.

"Your mother?" He asked.

"No," the meles snorted. "Matriarch, the oldest mothers of the den. Keepers of knowledge, and ruiners of all fun."

They reached the bottom of the slope, quickly pushing into the trees that grew with density as they got further into the glade.

"She said that the Guardians were too strong, that it was littered with obstacles designed for those who walked on two legs. Without the strength to simply overwhelm everything before you, you would simply get trapped, and eventually starve." The meles tried to hide it, but Kaius caught the undercurrent of fear that thrummed across the connection the creature had forged with him.

"Ah, that. The Guardian is going to be a problem, but it is one that we do not need to rush into. They stay in their chambers, and we can wait until we have a surety of success before we challenge it." Kaius said reassuringly.

"As for obstacles… I assume your Matriarch was talking about traps. I haven't seen any yet, but if we come across them I have a skill to both detect and disarm them. We should be fine."

The meles huffed in response, an image of a stable and secure burrow with thick walls flicking across, an undercurrent of gratitude and resolve shining through.

Up ahead, Kaius spied another one of the gladeplum trees. He stopped for a moment, taking the opportunity to fill up his pack with several of the delicious fruits.

The meles approached, sniffing one of the cracked, almost scaly, exteriors of the purple fruit. Its eyes widened, backing up as it batted at its nose with one paw.

Poison! It said with suspicion, eying kaius as its lips peeled back to reveal a hint of teeth as the hair on its hackles stood on end.

"Woah buddy, I know!" He said, arms rising placatingly. "It's not for you. The poison only puts you to sleep, and it's a useful way for me to train one of my skills without too much danger."

"You will not make me eat this?" Teeth were still revealed, but the hair on its neck and back flattened again.

"Nope. Though it would be good if you could watch over me when I eat them."

"Alright… Though eating poison seems silly."

"Trust me, it's better than the alternative." A hint of grim certainty entered his voice.

The meles dropped the matter, simply watching as Kaius threw on his pack. The pair walked on, deeper into the glade.

After walking for a while longer, softly glowing foliage parted ahead of the pair. The break in the tree line revealed the edge of the wall that circled the church and its accompanying graveyard. It was a sight for sore eyes, Kaius breaking out into a wide smile as he took in the sight of his basecamp.

He jogged forward, waving to the startled meles to follow him.

"Come on! We're here. I'll get the fire started." He said, jogging backwards for a few steps as he called out to his new companion.

Kaius sat on his cloak, facing the flickering warm of the hearth. The meles laid below the fire, stretched out to full extension as it tried its best to absorb every scrap of the radiant heat. A pile of jerky sat in front of the greater beast, its tongue snaking out to snatch it up one morsel at a time.

Glad that his new companion was enjoying the fare, Kaius felt relieved that he had been so overzealous with turning as many of the beasts he hunted into storable food that he could. An apex predator ate a lot.

Kaius chewed on some of his own jerky, chasing it down with some water from one of the skins.

"So, how exactly do you plan on getting through the guardian?" the meles asked.

"Well, I'm not sure how it works for beasts, but I have ten general skills that I need to cap before I get my class. If we are lucky, that might be enough. Unfortunately, I have .. extra things to work on, so it will be a tight deadline."

"You are merging then? That is good, my Matriarch had said that it was rare amongst the two legged."

"You know of legacy skills?!"

"Yes?" The meles looked up from the pile to cock its head at him. "Beasts have general skills too, though unlike you we are born with access to the system. I merged my set years ago, I have just been waiting to find the right skill for my final slot".

Kaius sat dead silent, shocked at the revelation, but also disconcerted with how easily his secret had been revealed.

"Do you have a full set? I don't think most of mine would work for a two legged, but I am happy to try if you do not." The meles continued, unnoticing of Kaius's surprise.

"Do not share that with anyone else!" Kaius blurted out, the intensity of his words causing the meles ears to flick back. Kaius sighed, softening his voice.

"I appreciate the trust, but that is dangerous knowledge. Merged skills are jealously guarded amongst my people. There's a chance that the whole reason those men were looking for me and my father was for our skills." His shoulders slumped.

The meles pushed itself up, plodding over to lie by next to him as it set its massive head in his lap.

"I am sorry. I did not know that. It makes little sense to me, but we are den mates now. I will keep your secret."

Kaius scratched the creature behind the ears, watching as its eyelids half closed. He had only known the meles for a handful of hours, but it had no reason to lie to him. He wasn't even sure if its mind worked that way.

He supposed, in many ways, that the creature was as starved for company as he was. Lesser meles, the black and white critters, were intensely social beings. From the memories the greater beast had shown him, it was much the same for their distant regal cousins.

He decided to trust him.

"It is…strange to say this outloud." Kaius's voice faltered, admitting his deepest secret felt wrong. "I do have a full set, but I am only working on my fourth."

"Thank you for your trust, Kaius." The meles communication was faltering, a sense of trepidation and uncertainty emanating from across the link.

"You're not used to names are you?" He said with a half-grin.

The meles huffed. "It is not my fault! I am me, you are you. Names only make sense if you try to talk through air. Mind connection is so much easier!" Frustration bled through the link.

His laugh belted out across the interior of the church, causing the meles to look up at him affronted.

"Well, as someone who does have to speak through the air, I'm going to have to give you a name. I can't keep calling you 'the meles' in my head." He said.

"Do as you wish." The meles said, settling back down.

"Alright moody, may as well call you Porkchop if you care that little." He muttered, the words barely making it past his lips.

The meles flicked its ears. "Heard that. Porkchop works, it will make people underestimate my might!" Porkchop said with a flash of enthusiasm.

Kaius laughed. "Somehow I think it wont work quite as well as you would hope. But Porkchop it is." He thought back to what the meles had said earlier. "How on earth have you already merged nine full skills?"

I already told you, us greater beasts gain access at birth, I have had them for years. Most of the time it took me was spent on deciding which ones I wanted.

"Wait, you got to pick?!" His voice was incredulous, the idea of merged skills being in such abundance that choice was a valid concern was entirely foreign.

"Of course, the den is old, and the Matriarchs often trade them like choice hunting grounds during meets. You did not?" Porkchop asked.

Kaius spluttered. Shocked at Porkchop's unknowing privilege. It took him several tries to eventually get across that, yes, he really did just have one set. And no, he really could not just trade his knowledge with others.

According to Porkchop, trading skill knowledge was common amongst the greater meles. Every few springs, dens would meet in a great congregation. Apparently during these meets, the Matriarchs of the various dens liked to trade merged skills like they were housewives swapping recipes.

The idea of that was as foreign to Kaius as the idea of kidnapping someone for their knowledge was to Porkchop. The meles simply could not wrap his head around the fact that without enough power to back you, there was nothing you could do to stop someone taking what they wanted by force. It just simply wasn't done amongst his kind.

"I still think that is ridiculous, you would all benefit so much more if the information was traded. It makes it much easier to find new ones when you have lots of points of comparison." Porkchop said, still struggling to accept his explanation.

"Yeah, well, It is what it is. People don't really think about how to make sure everyone benefits, just how to ensure they have more." Kaius sighed, putting his hands behind him to slump backwards

"That's sad."

"Yeah, It is." Kaius agreed. Life certainly would have been easier without such a monumental secret hanging over his head. He would never feel guilty for making the most of his birth-right, but if he could, it would have been nice to share it with someone, and have something shared in turn.

"Well, on the topic of skills. You might be able to help me with my next one." He said.

Porkchop sat up quickly, ears flicking forwards to train on him. "Do tell."

"I'm still working on a defensive skill, and if we were able to spar, I would be able to merge it a lot faster. I'm not really confident in properly exploring this biome until I do." His voice was calm, testing the waters. For all Porkchop's friendliness, the meles was still a greater beast, and as he had found, had a far different culture than he was used to. He had no idea how the request would go down.

Porkchop surged to his feet, ears flicking. "You want to wrestle!" Palpable joy bubbled across their connection, Porkchop visibly vibrating with excitement as he hopped up and down on its front feet.

Kaius sighed in relief, smiling at the creature. "Yeah, I guess I do. Tomorrow though, I only just got back from walking around this entire glade. I should probably take a nap."

Porkchop drooped. "Okay… I will watch while you rest," he said, his voice bordering on despondent.

Thankful, Kaius reached over to his bag and retrieved the glade plums he had secured earlier. "Great, because once I eat these I will most likely not wake up until the poison has just worn off."

Porkchop flicked his ears in acknowledgement, still sulking at the delay to their spar.

Laying down his cloak and getting comfortable, Kaius scarfed down the fruits, enjoying their succulent sweetness.

**Ding! You have been afflicted by Gladeplum Lethargy**

The heavy weight of clawing sleep dragged him down quickly. Kaius didn't even try to resist, not with how exhausted he was.

As his eyes drifted closed, he distantly registered the sensation of something soft and warm saddling up close to him.