CHPT 59: Violence is in the air

Claude walked down the hall toward the mess hall with a large crowd of students surrounding him heading in the same direction. Due to his above average height, he was able to look over most people around him and feel the heat of the early morning sun through the wall of windows on his left.

As he continued down the hallway a particular conversation between two students among the loud cacophony of yelling and chatter caught his attention. He turned his head sideways to hear the students behind him easier.

"I'm so glad us Beast Tamer's are finally being able to fully use our class. I just wish we would've been allowed to bring out animals earlier to practice and prepare to make them our companions. I'm not even level 4 yet dammit."

"Yea man, I'm barely level 3, but the more time spent with our animals would have helped. There's no telling how many goblins I would've killed in that Tangent with my other class if I could have brought my boy Venom back then instead of yesterday."

Claudes eyes widened in surprise while he listened to their conversation, he suddenly felt like he was lacking a crucial bit of information.

"Are you telling me Beast Tamer's brought their animals and future companions here yesterday? How? Why don't I know this?" He wondered angrily.

"[Im assuming the rumors that shroud you have stopped that information from reaching you, unfortunately.]" Arne said.

"You stupid fuckers!" He said under his breath while he looked at Samuel and Tai's platinum blonde heads at the front of the mob of students heading into the mess hall.

***

Claude sat down at his usual seat in the mess hall, the farthest corner from the entrance. He sat alone, eating his sausage and eggs ravenously.

"Dude, slow down. The food isn't going anywhere." Warren said as he slid into the seat across from him.

Claude grunted in response and continued brooding while he ate his breakfast.

"Are you alright?" Warren asked.

"Did you know Beast Tamer's were able to bring their companions to the University yesterday?"

Warren took a spoonful of his eggs and chewed them before quickly answering, "uhh...no. I'm not a Beast Tamer and the only one I know is you, so if you didn't get the information, then neither did I."

Claude shook his head in anger and kept eating.

"Where's Ursula?" Claude asked after a few minutes of silence.

Right after he asked, he began to smell her familiar scent and hear heavy footsteps behind him.

"Morning guys." Ursula said as she sat next to Warren.

"Morning." Claude grumbled and Warren said brightly.

Ursula looked at him suspiciously for a moment, finding his early morning anger...angrier than usual.

"Claudes angry because of something about Beast Tamer's being able to get their companions yesterday." Warren blurted out to Ursula.

"Dude....did you just— did you just tell on me?" Claude asked with a confused expression.

Warren nervously raised his shoulders saying, "Well I'm not good at talking to you when your angry.... so I figured Ursula could do something if she knew."

"I mean....is that true?" She said while looking at Claude.

"Yes, the rumors that surround my name have officially started to affect the flow of my progress." Claude said. "But, it's fine. I'll go get Frosty tonight and we'll get to work tomorrow."

"Who the fuck is Frosty?" Warren silently mouthed while Ursula looked around nervously.

"Uhm. Claude, you do know that we can't just leave here whenever. If they left yesterday, it's because that was a set date discussed between a Professor and the Beast Tamer's." Ursula said.

"...."

BANG!

Claudes fist smashed into the table and his hair hung over his low hanging head causing most students to miss the bright green glow of his eyes. The mess hall went silent for a moment and just stared.

"Hehehe.....everyone is looking over here." Warren whispered nervously.

Ursula nodded in agreement while she looked around the room at everyone. She met Samuel's eyes and noticed that he was smiling deviously at her like he knew what was happening. As if he heard their conversation.

"That bastard." She thought, realizing he must've played a bigger part in this, other than the rumor he created.

***

Claude went through his classes with the overwhelming feeling of anger and dread. The other Beast Tamer's who had Training already got to experience combat and practice with an animal that would soon become their companion in a way he only had in Astral Quests.

"[In theory, you have more experience in combat alongside an animal than any of the other first year Beast Tamer's. So please, calm yourself.]" Arne said in Claudes mind as he headed down the hallway that led out to Training.

Claude grunted in response and shoved the double doors open. The sun hung high like a flaming beacon in the sky, and the air held a strong new scent— animals.

He was the first on the field for once and relished in the feeling of being along outside, it's been awhile.

"AH! Claude. This is an unprecedented occurrence....seeing you on time that is." Prof. Brennan said as he stepped onto the field.

"Yes, sir. Once again, I apologize for my less than impressive attendance." Claude said respectfully.

Prof. Brennan walked up beside Claude and asked, "Where is your companion? Do you not have access to one? Your a Beast Tamer aren't you?"

Claude clenched his fists and breathed calmly before answering, "I must've missed the day when they were told they could bring their companions."

"Didn't one of them tel—" Prof. Brennan stopped mid sentence and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "Those little shits still think you're a monster eh?" He asked.

Claude nodded but stayed silent.

"Run with me." Prof. Brennan said after a while.

"A-Alright."

They jogged at a light pace in silence for a while until the Professor broke the silence.

"You hate them, don't you?"

Claude was caught off guard by the question and looked up at the 6'5 mass of muscle with confusion before answering.

"Who?"

"Don't play dumb. I see the way you look at them, I see how they act around you. What happened in there."

Claude looked forward again and stayed silent for a moment. He shook his head as the tormenting memory of the what happened in the Deviant plagued his mind.

"...They left us to die."

"You and that girl— Ursula?"

Claude nodded curtly as they finished their third lap.

"She was completely innocent. Sentenced to death for being helped by me."

"You say that as if your not innocent as well." Prof. Brennan said.

Claude didn't respond causing Prof. Brennan to look at him with curiosity and caution.

"Listen, your a strong kid and Prof. Raizen speaks highly of you. But, all that becomes nothing if you let your hate consume you. Don't let it be all that you are. Hatred transforms us all." He said.

"I'm counting on that." Claude thought before saying, "With all due respect sir. You weren't in there, you don't know what I feel."

Prof. Brennan chuckled before speaking. "The only way I was able to recognize the way you look at the other students is because there was a time when I looked at people the same way." As he said it, he stopped running causing Claude to do the same. While they stood in the middle of the field, he began to remove the long black glove that covered his right arm.

"Wha—!" Claude thought.

Prof. Brennan's entire right arm was one giant burn. Patches of red and white mangled skin went all the way up his shoulder and right side of his neck.

"I know hate when I see it because I've experienced it." He said.

***

Ursula stepped through the door with Warren at her side. She looked at a student doing pull ups alone and noticed it was Claude.

They both jogged through the grass to the weight section.

"Your early." Ursula said.

"Ermm....Yep." Claude said in between pull ups.

She watched him for a while, noticing he truly grew in every sense. His muscles bulged and flexed under his leather armor like he'd been on the bar doing pull ups all day and he never slowed down as if his stamina was limitless. "How?" She asked herself.

After she realized she was staring due to how many pull ups he could do, she quickly added, "UH— By the way, I spoke to Prof. Raizen."

***

Claude dropped down silently from the bar and curled his hair behind his ears, "What did he say? About the HellBreeder?"

"He said, in the event that there was an actual HellBreeder in the Redwoods, it's dead already. He said the area is too populated for it not to be seen..." Ursula replied.

"It's kind of true. I mean how many carriages and other Heroes or Adventurers did we pass on our way out there?" Warren added.

"That's not good enough." Claude said.

Ursula stayed silent but she understood what he meant. If something of that caliber was stalking them, they needed to know for sure if it was dead or not.

"Prof. Raizen said he'll talk to some people he knows that work around there." Ursula added.

Before Claude could answer, a smell he wasn't quite accustomed to slipped its way into his nose. He quickly turned around and saw a student entered the field with something slithering through the grass at his side on a leash of some sort.

"Holy shit! Is that a snake?" Warren asked Ursula who turned around to look.

"Let me guess. That's Venom." Claude said under his breath in anger.

He stared at the brown scaled snake with a hint of jealousy festering within himself.

It was at least seven feet long and it moved over the grass at impressive speeds telling Claude that it had impressive muscles beneath its pale beige underbelly. It had an abnormally thick head with a large hood hinting that it was some sort of cobra. The snake's pale and sickly green eyes looked over everyone curiously while it's partner talked with his friends. The snake froze momentarily as it met Claudes eyes.

"I hate snakes." Claude, Ursula and Warren accidentally said at the same time causing them to laugh and shiver at the shared memory of what happened in the Redwoods.

After the field began to fill up, more Beast Tamers became visible and Claude became angrier. It seemed that class was still in the minority though since there was only three aside from Claude. But, for the first time those three got to get practice as an actual Beast Tamer and he didn't.

"Alright boys and girls, women and men, listen up!" Prof. Brennan said while he walked to the center of the field with Prof. Raizen at his side. The students stopped talking and began to circle the two.

"Stinky ass animals." Samuel said as him and his group walked past the students to get closer to the Professors.

"Today we've got ourselves a bit of a special event!" Prof. Brennan said as the students began to cheer and hoot in excitement.

"Today we've got a special sparring event that's a bit more realistic. Since you'll almost never be going one on one in the Tangents, we've decided to set up unbalanced team battles that will function like king of the hill. You fight until you can't and if you've got an advantage, god dammit you better use it!" Prof. Raizen said, hyping up the students.

They all erupted in cheer and excitement at the thought of the new event. But, three students stayed silent amidst the noise. They shared similar feelings for very different reasons, but one thing was for sure. They wanted to fight. They wanted to fight until their blood soaked the grass and over saturated the soil, they both wanted to beat the other into absolute oblivion.

"This should be fun." Samuel said to Tai while they both stared at Claude with barely contained malicious excitement.