Chapter 487: Breaker

Mason hadn’t really realized he was fighting a

magic

bear. Though he supposed he should have. Streak had powers from Mason, so it made perfect sense this creature would have powers from its druid master.

It’s ancient, probably powerful

druid elder

master.

“Deep, calming breaths,” Mason shouted as the thing slammed him into the stone. “Let’s just…take a minute before this gets…out of…

hand

.”

Duality of Strength was ticking with a lot more enthusiasm now, and Mason could feel his body hardening, thickening, preparing itself to tolerate the strain. And also the blunt-force beating. The bear yet again stood on its hind legs and lifted him in the air.

This time he let go and ducked underneath it. It came down with a roaring crash, and he grabbed a back leg and held on as it spun and tried to rake him with those scary, glowing claws. It thrashed and stomped, flopped and kicked. Mason held on and scrambled to keep behind it.

After a good half minute of desperate struggle, he got up onto the thing’s back and gripped fur. It tried to bite him, eyes wild with rage, but he was out of range and shouted ‘ha!’ as the bear spun uselessly. Then the son of a bitch rolled.

Mason groaned as the wind crushed out of him. The bear put him straight on the ground and wiggled like it was scratching an itch, all of its weight directly on top of him. He was getting kinda pissed off now and growled right back, digging his claws into its hide before biting the big bastard with all his might.

The bear jumped up with surprise, spinning him again and racing around with obvious perplexity. Mason pulled back an arm and slammed it into the thing’s ribs. Then again. When he went for a third it stopped dead and flipped him over its head. He went with a cry and an armlock around the thing’s neck, leaving them face to face.

The bear snapped its jaws and all Mason could do was give it a Sleeve instead of his face. It chomped with incredible force, the teeth unable to pierce the Sleeve but still crushing his arm inside the near invulnerable ‘armor’. He felt the bone flex, then snap. He cried out and grit his teeth, slamming his other hand into its face, its shoulder, its face again.

By the third hit it shook its head and let go, rising up to rake with its claws. This time he stood his ground and raked it back, drawing enough blood to stain its white fur. The bear looked indignant more than anything. It roared and crashed back down with another swipe, this time knocking Mason stumbling away.

He came right back at full speed and tried a brutal front kick, right at the forehead. But it pulled away with surprising speed and swept his other leg, chasing to bite again before he pulled open its jaw with both hands. His broken arm was already healing, hardening, and he managed to keep the teeth off his flesh.

When he had it under control, he bit it hard on the nose. As a chunk of flesh came off, the animal made some kind of roaring yelp, shook him off and fell back a dozen feet, glaring at him like a pouting child.

“You fucking started it.” Mason spit a bit of both their blood and coughed, waiting for his arm and probably a rib or two to heal properly. “Are you finished? Can we talk now?”

The bear blinked and stared as if only just realizing Mason was saying words it understood.

Why won’t you break? Everything breaks.

“Well I don’t. Except little bits of me.” Mason stood and sighed as he stretched his arm, very glad the thing wasn’t some mindless undead monster. “Now are you going to come back to your druid friend or not? I can take you to him. Right now.”

Probably

, he thought after he said it, thinking about the climb up that wall and over to the hole in the roof. How the hell was he going to get a giant bear up there?

Friend? Not friend.

The bear snarled.

Abandoned. Left us here in the pit and the dark, me and the Ancient One. I defended it. Until…

The bear looked at the dead tree and slumped.

Until now.

Mason sensed the hurt, the anger, the betrayal. The creature didn’t understand its master was trapped above with no way to help him. It was all a tragedy that Mason had no idea how to correct, and likely couldn’t.

“Come with me, then,” he said. “I’ll bond you. We’ll leave this place together.”

The bear’s eyes narrowed. He looked ready to rise for another round before slumping again.

Leave? Can’t…shouldn’t…

Mason felt the panic, the resistance to any change.

But then…no reason…maybe…don’t know…

Mason crept forward, activating his Blessing of Gaia as he took small step after step towards the bear. Its nostrils flared, staring at him with awe as he got close enough to put a hand on its head.

He kept Speak with Nature active, not sure exactly what he was doing but feeling an immediate kinship with the creature. He understood it, he thought—the exhausted guardian, the rage of a thing trapped in a prison it didn’t understand, the perceived betrayal from a person it loved, a person it was always supposed to rely on.

“We’re not so different, you and me,” Mason said, feeling an energy pulse between them. “Let me help you. You’ve been strong long enough. You can rest now. Or at least stop suffering alone.”

The bear whimpered beneath his hand. For all its strength the creature was primarily lonely and terrified, abandoned and out of its element. Mason expected for all its ‘protection’ of the tree, it was really the tree that had protected it. He felt the natural energy surrounding it shriveling away, replacing as new bonds formed.

[New Animal companion detected. Would you like to bond {Ancient Arctic Kodiak} now?]

Well that was a hell of a lot easier than bonding Streak, that was for sure. He expected the difficulty was gaining the power in the first place, as opposed to the animal. And he still didn’t actually know how many animals he could bond. He definitely needed to talk to the elven Beastmaster waiting in Nassau.

For now though he accepted the prompt, shivering as he felt the creature’s ‘presence’ enter his mind. He felt the creature’s confusion and anxiety melting away, the magic glowing like a new star to guide it at last. He activated Shared Pain and absorbed whatever damage he’d done to the creature, growling in pain as the wounds transferred.

The bear’s eyes drooped in contentment. It leapt up and yawned before shaking itself and glancing around the cave.

[Objective complete. Save the ancient druid’s bonded animal companion. Return to the elder druid for your reward.]

Very sleepy.

The bear’s stomach audibly growled.

And hungry. Do you have any food? I’ll eat, and then sleep. Though I could sleep first, and then eat. Hmm.

Mason grinned and took out a few stolen centaur rations from his pack, checking on the orb in the process and breathing a sigh of relief when he could see it was unharmed. He tossed it over and blinked when the bear basically swallowed it whole, looking at him as if that couldn’t

possibly

be all. When he saw that it was, he flopped down and yawned again.

Call if you need me, druid, I’m going to sleep.

“You can call me Mason. What shall I call you?”

Hmm. Had a manling name. Don’t remember. Call me what you like. When I wake up.

Mason grinned and scrolled over to unsummon the creature, hopefully putting it somewhere it could happily sleep. On the other hand, he realized, it might appear in the menagerie in Nassau…

This might not bother the

bear

, but it would definitely scare the shit out of everything and everyone else. He decided to trust the bond and the magic and did it anyway.

The bear faded from view without obvious concern, and Mason sighed.

Breaker

, he thought.

I’ll call you Breaker.

**

The trip back to Night Eyes and the druid was quick, but unpleasant. Mason was going to have to tell the old man the tree was gone, and that he’d bonded the bear (which may or may not please him).

He was also wavering between telling the druid about the seed or not. His paranoia was warring with the obvious opportunity, and he changed his mind about a dozen times en route.

Except…if he did, he needed to get Night Eyes away before he

mentioned

the seed, or else lie about it. And everyone was always telling him what a terrible liar he was. Not to mention the shaman seemed pretty damn sharp and maybe could detect the thing with his magic anyway.

When Mason finally got through the opening and climbed above, he pulled himself up and stared at the still-trapped druid and bored looking shaman with a sigh. To hell with it.

“The great tree died as it gave me this artifact,” he said, holding up the orb in a clawed hand. “But I bonded the bear, and got him out. He’s safe now back where I’m from.”

The druids eyes were closed, and he made no sign of having heard anything. Mason hoped he was still alive for its own sake, but he also wanted his reward.

“Have you kept healing him?”

Night Eyes shrugged.

“I tried. Though I’m not sure it did anything. He soaks up magic like a depleted mana stone. I fear I could spend a week trying to fill it with no success. It may be I’m not strong enough.”

Mason nodded, wondering if he should somehow try to use his blessing or his own mana. But he had a feeling there wasn’t anything anyone could do. He came closer, and the old druid’s eyes sprung open. He blinked and stared, trembling as he closed his eyes again, a single pitiful tear sliding down his bony cheek.

“I…I didn’t even wake. I sense the tree is gone…at long last. Goodbye, old friend.”

Mason gave the man a moment, but as usual he felt a nearly irresistible sense of impatience.

“It gave me this.”

He held up the orb, and the druid’s eyes popped open, his jaw clenched. Night Eyes watched him with a careful, neutral expression and he tried not to worry about it.

“I would ask…if you are worthy. But there is no one else. It must be you.”

“For what? What do I do with it?”

“Anything. Everything. That seed could bring a jungle to a desert. It could grow a new land from the bottom of the sea. It could connect one plane to another for a hundred years.”

Mason blinked and stared at the dull green orb. The same tingling sensation prickled his skin as he held it, and he did his best not to notice Night Eyes staring intently beside him.

“Alright. What do you

suggest

I do with it?”

The druid shook his head. “Not for me. My time is passed. The tree gave it to you. You kept your word, young druid. You saved my companion, and ended the suffering of a great and noble thing. All I have left to give is yours.”

Mason shivered as the air pulsed with natural power.

[Blessing of Tadg. The druids of old didn’t just communicate with the natural world, they melded with it. And now, so can you.]

[Power Modified: Speak with Nature = = > One With Nature. Communicate freely with all sentient natural things. Activate to join, command, or modify simple life in the prime.]

Mason felt strange as the blessing appeared in his titles, or maybe as the power changed. Suddenly he understood there was life in the walls, in the cave below—like a new sense that detected living creatures and could reach out to them a bit like Speak with Nature when he touched a physical object. Except now it was active

all

the time. He expected it would be amazing, but he’d have to learn not to be too distracted.

He was about to ask the druid another question when the man literally crumbled before his eyes. Like a structure built from sand on some beach, the old man’s body collapsed into a bloodless pile of dust, almost exactly the same way as the great tree’s avatar.

Mason and the shaman stared, apparently neither of them having any idea what to say. Eventually Mason glanced at the centaur with a little guilt. Did the creature have his own quests, his own objectives in here? Had he accomplished them?

“Is there…anything left in this place you need? Or want to explore?”

The shaman shook his head, dark eyes far away as he looked around the laboratory.

“My people were wrong about this place. It isn’t a home for us. I think now it never was. My dreams of the Makers are more confusing than before I stepped a hoof into this place. Let us leave it. I’m not sure I wish to ever return.”

Mason nodded, one last look at the dust that used to be a druid like him, then went for the exit.