CHAPTER 19: ECHOES OF A HIDDEN POWER
John ran, breath ragged, heart pounding in his chest like a war drum. For what felt like half an hour, he pushed himself harder and harder, chasing the rising volume of roars, crashes, and metal clashing. The sounds of a battle—his sister's battle.
At last, beneath the dense, tangled canopy where only shards of dusky light filtered through, he saw them.
Luna.
She stood with a sword gripped tightly in one hand, her face pale and determined. Her other arm hung limp by her side—broken, maybe worse. Opposite her loomed a lion-like beast, massive and terrifying, its glowing eyes fixed on her with feral focus. Muscles rippled beneath its thick striped fur as it crouched, ready to end the fight.
John froze.
This wasn't just a wild animal. It was that lion—the one known across One Star City for its brutality, one of the strongest mutant beasts ever encountered in the jungle.
They were far too deep for help to come.
Neither Luna nor John, nor even the beast tamers of their city, would normally stand a chance against it.
But fear didn't root him to the spot. It flared and burned—and then vanished, replaced by something deeper. A relentless surge of courage, like lightning through his veins.
He clenched his fists, jaw tight, and yelled with everything in him, "Hey! Hey, lion! Look over here! Your end is here!"
The beast turned its massive head toward him, ears twitching.
For a second.
Then it snarled and dismissed him, leaping toward Luna with terrifying speed. Its fangs bared.
Luna struck. Her sword flashed, slicing deep across the lion's chest. A roar of agony tore through the air. But in retaliation, the beast swung a massive paw and struck her midair, sending her flying. She hit the ground hard, blood smearing the grass beneath her.
John's heart nearly stopped.
Luna's eyes fluttered open just once—locking with his.
"Please… run," she whispered. "I came here for you. If you don't survive, what was the point of me living?"
Her eyes closed.
"No!" John screamed. "I won't let anything happen to you!"
The lion, snarling through its pain, turned back toward her.
She didn't move.
John sprinted forward, his voice cracking with desperation. "HEY! You bloody dog! You coward! Come and get me!"
But the lion didn't listen.
It bent low, fangs near Luna's leg.
Then—flash.
A brilliant light burst from John's hand.
A thick, segmented insect materialized on his shoulder.
John gasped. It was the same fatty insect—the one he'd seen in the forest before, the one he'd somehow… teleported?
The insect moved like a shadow, slipping into the earth.
John didn't understand.
But then—
A spike, dark and sharp, burst from the ground and impaled the tiger through the chest.
The beast let out a deafening, inhuman roar, its body convulsing in agony.
John watched, frozen in horror and awe, as the insect emerged from the lion's fur—its body slick with blood. It scuttled across the beast's side, then vanished inside again.
The lion shrieked once more.
And then… it fell.
Its body shrank rapidly—fur, flesh, and bone devoured from the inside out—until nothing remained but a loose, bloodied skeleton.
The fatty insect crawled calmly from the mess, shimmering faintly.
John stood still, trembling, Luna cradled in his arms.
The insect approached.
He couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.
Was it… going to attack?
But no—it climbed gently over his foot, its legs brushing his skin like whispering grass. It reached his hand and—vanished in another pulse of light.
Back into him.
John's thoughts swirled in chaos. "What… what was that? How did it come out of me? Why didn't it attack me? Or Luna?"
Still dazed, he turned and began running again—this time toward safety.
Eventually, the dense jungle gave way to open light.
Waiting there were Doctor Thomas, Doctor James, and several medics. When they saw him, relief bloomed across their faces.
They rushed forward.
Gently, they took Luna from his arms and carried her to a sterile room, white lights buzzing softly above. John followed, exhausted, breathless.
Time blurred.
Later, they allowed him to sit by her side. Luna slept, her face pale but peaceful. He reached for his laptop, driven by one question:
What is happening to me?
For half an hour, he read feverishly. The concept of the Neuro-core began to unfold before him. A power-source. A mental node inside rare individuals that allowed them to tame beasts… and hold them within.
Most tamers needed external devices—tools to summon their beasts.
But not John.
I summoned that fatty insect without anything… just with my will, he thought. That means I've formed a Neuro-core. But how? Why now?
His thoughts spiraled until sleep claimed him.
And then—light.
Pure, blinding white light.
John opened his eyes—and he saw it.
A shimmering form within him.
The fatty insect.
Not threatening. Not aggressive. Just… playing with the energy glowing inside him.
"I really did form a Neuro-core," he whispered. "And the fatty insect—it's living inside it. I can call it whenever I want. I don't even need a device."
No one else can do this.
His breath quickened.
What am I becoming?
A flicker caught his eye.
The clock.
11:05.
He blinked.
It changed.
12:00.
The world shattered like glass.
Reality itself cracked around him—and pulled him inward.
John stumbled through the blur of time and space until—
He was back.
In the jungle.
Again.
"What? No—why am I back here?"
Then, memory surged like a tide.
He saw himself—younger, smaller—holding the same fatty insect in his palms. Before that, a monstrous dinosaur being swarmed by hundreds of these insects. One had fallen, wounded.
He had protected it.
He had knelt beside it, shielded it.
And from that act of kindness… a bond had formed.
Not by force.
But by compassion.
The insect had chosen him.
And now—it was his.
His first beast.
His most terrifying ally.