CHPT 108: Bad Question.

VWOOMP!

Claude and Frosty stepped through the portal to enter the University's portal room with the pain of seeing Chadwick's family still fresh on his heart and mind.

"Ah! Claude. Your late. How surprising." A deep Irish accented voice said from the left of him.

Claude was taken out of his mind by the voice and turned to see Prof. Brennan's hulking frame wrapped in the University of the Phoenix's colors.

"Hello, sir. I'm sorry I wasn't able to get here as early as I planned.....I ran into a problem with my means of transportation." Claude responded.

Prof. Brennan smirked and aimed his dark blue eyes at Frosty. "I'm assuming you couldn't get a ride because of this guy?"

Claude nodded.

Frosty sat and leaned forward, sniffing at the large man in interest.

"It's impressive to see a PitWolf so docile. You're full of surprises young man." Prof. Brennan commended.

"Thank you, sir. If you don't mind me asking, why are you here when all of the students have probably been eating in the Mess Hall for a while now?" He asked.

Prof. Brennan looked up from Frosty to face Claude, "Oh! Right. I know you weren't able to bring your Companion last week so you don't know where to take him while you do your studies during the first part of the day. I'm here to show you where to go every Monday before classes begin."

"Right....." Claude whispered as he thought about how problematic it would be if Beast Tamers had to bring their Companions to class during the day.

"Well, follow me. I think your friend will enjoy where he's going." Prof. Brennan said before heading down the stone steps.

Claude followed him out of the portal room and past the Mess Hall full of students eating a breakfast consisting off meats and vegetables. The smell was enough to make the two carnivores mouths run like a freshly rained river.

They continued to follow Prof. Brennan down to the Main Hall where much older looking students walked through to get to the training area or main office by the entrance. A few of them looked at Claude and Frosty in disbelief while others scoffed at him with disgusted expressions— he made sure to stare them down in return whenever he could.

"Sorry, but it's a bit of a tedious process for Beast Tamers to get set up for classes every Monday." Prof. Brenna said as they walked across the giant Phoenix insignia branded tile floor.

"....." Claude was silent— deep in thought. Standing on the floor of the Main Hall reminded him of when he first met Jack. In the very spot he stood, weeks ago, he didn't know it but he met one of the worst men in his life.

"I'll see you again. I swear it." He snarled to himself.

"Claude?" Prof. Brenna turned and called to him right before he reached the main door out of the University.

"Oh, sorry. Let's go, Frosty." Claude said before him and his PitWolf followed Prof. Brennan out of the building.

The cool early morning air hit his skin as soon as the giant metal doors swung open, filling his nose with smells of nature.....and smoke?

He'd never been to the main entrance of the giant University, but he was somehow surprised by how it looked.

A cobblestone path ran from the doors into the building all the way down into a small patch of forest. He could see a spiked metal gate peeking over the luscious green trees that sat on the sides of the path in the distance.

"You students are the next generation of Heroes and will spearhead the battle against the monsters that emerge from the Tangents when you leave here. So, your safety while you train here is very important." Prof. Brenna said to Claude after he noticed him staring at the metal gate in the distance.

"Now. Follow me please, we're almost there." He added.

Claude followed him as he turned to the right and walked alongside the front of the building.

FWOOSH!

Claude and Frosty flinched as the sound of a large force blowing through the wind echoed from the other side of the University where the training area was.

"Sorry about that. Usually, you can go through the training area as a short cut to get where we're going, but since you're late the upperclassmen are using it right now...and they can get pretty rowdy." Prof. Brennan said under the faint sounds of swords clashing with shields and various Elements being manipulated and utilized in battle.

"Can first years train in the mornings?" Claude asked.

"Unfortunately no. The upperclassmen need all the training they can get for the Tangents and to make sure they're strong enough to be scouted by Guilds when the time comes. If we let first years in, then they'd have less room to train and go all out." Prof. Brennan responded as they continued to walk across the front of the University.

Eventually, they no longer had the building at their side and Claude could see the students in the training area behind him, working out and sparring intensely.

He could tell how much more experienced they were. The way they easily sent blazing fireballs and blinding white lightning bolts was already leagues ahead of the first years. Their speed and strength in combat was a completely different story.

He suddenly got the urge to train as he watched them before having to go catch up with Prof. Brennan.

They walked for another 10-15 minutes, chatting on and off and explaining how Frosty became a part of his family before they reached the forest. Once they did, he could immediately smell the scents of animals and blood. It didn't take him long to hear playful snarls and grunts in the distance as well.

"Welcome to Predator's Forest." Prof. Brennan said. "Come on, let's go inside."

"Uhh, ok."

Claude and Frosty entered the forest, immediately noticing the giant carnivorous birds perched up on top of tree branches, letting out haunting screeches before flying off to perch on other branches. He also noticed sleek dark colored cats sleeping peacefully on lower hanging branches and stalking them from behind bushes, they weren't house-cats either, they were taller with much more athletic builds.

"This forest houses the Beast Tamers Companions with an affinity for Predators. Here they can socialize with each-other and get exercise roaming the large forest, hunting prey whenever we let some enter the forest." Prof. Brennan said.

Claude looked past the dense forest as something odd caught his eye. It was a patch of desert, right in the middle of the forest, sand and sand colored rock formations covered a small portion of it, completely changing the biome.

"That areas for the more....cold blooded." Prof. Brennan said.

After taking his eyes off the desert in the forest, he could hear movement coming in his direction.

[Canine Affinity Activated.]

Claude looked up from the notification and saw a small pack of Dogs and Wolves, further down the path trotting towards them.

He was able recognize one of the Dogs at the front of the pack.

"Gordon." He said to the tall and lean dog that belonged to a student in his Training class.

"This one remembers you?" Prof. Brennan asked with a look of keen interest on his face.

"I guess so." Claude responded as the pack swarmed him and Frosty.

Prof. Brennan watched in awe as the whole forest changed. At first glance, the pack of Dogs and Wolves were the only ones showing interest. But after looking around the whole forest, he noticed what seemed like all the animals were watching Claude with interest. Birds silently flew to perch nearby or above him while cats silently surveyed him from their dark hiding spots, even the cold blooded antisocial snakes and lizards watched and waited at the edge of their warm sand habitat.

"Well, I think your right." Claude said out of nowhere. Completely oblivious to how many eyes were on him throughout the forest.

"W-What?" Prof. Brennan said in confusion.

"I think your right. Frosty will enjoy it here." Claude clarified.

"Oh, I agree." Prof. Brennan replied.

Claude nodded and went back to interacting with the pack for a while longer before he said his goodbyes to Frosty and attempted to leave the forest.

As soon as he got up to leave, he could hear the pack right behind him.

Claude and Prof. Brennan turned around at the same time to see the pack sitting and looking at him with their heads turned in confusion.

"Shit." Claude thought.

Claude turned around to see Prof. Brennan watching him with a look of interest and confusion.

"Go play. Shoo." Claude said with a sweeping motion of his hand.

The pack slowly got up and reluctantly headed off into the forest now with Frosty in their ranks.

"You must spend a lot of time in the wild for animals to feel so connected to you." Prof. Brennan noticed.

"Hehe...yea I spend a decent amount of time outside." Claude replied as they left Predator's Forest.

***

Claude headed back to the Mess Hall alone with his thoughts and worries of the future. The only thing that satiated his nerves in the enormous University full of judgmental students and teachers was the lingering smell of turkey and chicken that he mindlessly followed into the packed room of tables with students chattering loudly over trays covered with partially eaten food.

His slight comfort was immediately blown to bits by the alarming scent of nearby Lupines of Remus that sent his body into overdrive.

He could feel dozens of eyes fall on him, following him as he made his way past them and to the window where everyone received their food.

"Chicken or turkey, honey?" The sweet mannered cook said from the window.

"Chicken please."

"Here you go." She responded, handing him a large tray of chicken, vegetables and bread.

Claude mumbled thanks and turned to look for his usual seat among the sea of sitting students. He found himself automatically looking to where he usually sat, he almost dropped his food at the intensity of Ursula's curious and inspecting gaze. Even though she was making him uncomfortable, he was happy to see her.

"[Scary woman I tell you.]" Arne said.

Claude ignored him and headed to his usual seat with his two friends at the back of the Mess Hall.

"Look who finally showed up." Warren said from his seat next to Ursula, with a half eaten turkey leg in his hand.

"I'm not that late, am I?" Claude replied.

"No. You're just the only one that is late." Warren said as he continued to ravenously consume his breakfast.

Claude was about to reply when he noticed another person at his table that was still staring holes into his face.

"Yes?" Claude said after turning to face Ursula.

"Why are you late? And what happened to your armor?" She asked suspiciously.

"I fell.....and Prof. Brennan had to show me where to take Frosty during the day." Claude answered.

Ursula's suspicious gaze partially faded and her eyes lit up at the mention of the name Frosty. "I forgot you'd be bringing your Companion today. Will we get to meet him in Training?"

Claude nodded in response before beginning to eat his breakfast.

He continued to eat while he listened to Warren and Ursula talk about the subjects they've been studying and plans for the week. Ursula often tried to pull Claude into the conversation, only to be given a one worded response before he'd go back to eating.

He often found himself slowly drifting away from the conversation and into his own thoughts, causing him to miss portions of what Warren and Ursula were saying— much to her dismay. Somewhere along the way, they ended up talking about how their weekends went. It didn't take long for them to go fairly silent and begin staring at Claude.

He looked up and found Ursula looking at him again, this time with less suspicion.

"What?" He said.

"I said, how was your weekend?"