EmberWyldes

To contract a Spirit Beast is to shorten your life. 
To have no contract is to be exiled. 

This is the reality Mateus faces when he was reborn into a new world. 

Spirit Beasts are creatures that live off the natural Life Essence that gathers in pockets around the world. Humans contract these beasts using their own lives, in return for the power to fight against the Mutant Beasts. 

All cities are under constant attack from these dangerous, murderous monsters, and any human without a contract is just dead weight to be discarded. 

Can Mateus survive in this ruthless world? And what truths will he find?

Beast Companion

Ever since he awoke in this world, Mateus had been asking himself a question - since all the Spirit Beasts look like strange combination creatures in his eyes, what would the Mutant Beasts look like? 


Now Mateus can see the answer, stalking and scurrying through the alley before him. 


It was as big as a large dog, and was almost indescribable. The nearest description Mateus could give it would be - 


If a deranged preschooler took a rat and a scorpion and mushed them together into a living nightmare. Ragged fur and tattered carapace hang desperately on the outside of the glistening, pus coated flesh. Each action of its broken limbs cause liquid to drip onto the refuse below, raising the threatening hiss of vigorous acid. Teeth sprout in all directions from what could be it's head, with pincers clacking near its neck and shoulders. The long pale rat tail is half coated in chitin, and threatening poison barbs grow on each segment, nine in total. 


Just looking at this monstrosity filled Mateus with sympathetic pain, but the madness was clear in its deformed eyes - there was no kinder feelings in this thing, only lust for destruction and death. 


For a long minute, watching this thing get closer, Mateus was frozen with existential horror. A thing like this should not - could not exist! It was wrong! It doesn't belong to this world! 


But all the while Mateus was frozen, the monster was mincing closer… 


Suddenly, the sharp roar of the Alpha rang through his head, and Mateus woke from his trance. This thing was here, barely ten meters away - in the same city as Danica! 


It had to be destroyed! NOW! All of them! These monsters could not be allowed to hurt his sister! 


Mateus dragged out a strand of essence, fed it into the pretty bird, and fired a Chill Shot at the thing. The monster was taken by surprise, so he hit the creature first try. 


Then, he called out the pack to deal with it. Using Shadow Claws and extreme prejudice, the eight beasts diced the monster quickly. Even when chopped to pieces, the vitality of the monster kept it wriggling, spattering disgusting liquids everywhere around the alley. 


Finally as the monster died, it let out a piercing shriek - and distant chittering answered it. Mateus' hair stood on end. 


There were more monsters coming - he had to run! 
