Taming Destiny - a Tamer Class isekai/portal survival fantasy.

Scene of trouble, and scene of Trouble, I grumble to myself as we run. What has that damn raptorcat got himself into this time?!

Can you scout ahead? I ask Sirocco, receiving a grim acknowledgement from her. Stay with the group, I send to Persephone next. Stay with the group but be ready to come if we call, I tell Hades. The rest of them, I send out a blanket order to continue eating, but be ready to run back to the cave if necessary.

I’ll be glad when I’ve figured out how to do that delegation thing: frankly, trying to manage this number of Bound mentally is just too much.

By the time I’ve managed to do all that, we’re approaching where the shriek came from. There, we meet an unwelcome sight. Trouble and Lathani have managed to disrupt a small family group of those mini-triceratops. Trouble is limping and Lathani’s lying worryingly still against a tree.

“Take care of the beasts,” I snap at River and Bastet, while mentally signalling Fenrir to come – we’re going to need the extra support. After a brief moment of hesitation, I also call for Catches-leaves. He’s thin as a rake, but he’s survived until now in an even worse condition. Perhaps he can help.

While doing that, I run as quickly as I can to Lathani’s side.

She’s breathing – thank whoever might be listening! But it looks laboured and painful whimpers come out with every panting exhale. Immediately, I lay my hand on her shoulder, sending my mana into her.

Not being my Bound anymore makes it more of a struggle than before. Much more.

“Lathani, you need to let me in,” I plead with her. “I’m trying to help you!”

She doesn’t react. Has she even heard me? I push against her resistance and make headway, but it’s like trying to walk up a river. Her Willpower must be lower than mine, but her body is unconsciously recognising my presence as a threat – that’s another downside of Flesh-Shaping over Lay-on-hands, I realise. There’s no automatic recognition of my intentions as beneficial, even when they are.

She’s hurt badly, I can tell that with my eyes, and nothing I discover with my magic disagrees with my impression. If I don’t manage to make some headway soon, I’m going to lose her.

If she doesn’t react in the next couple of minutes, I’m going to have to Dominate her, I realise with a sinking sense of doom. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t: I doubt Kalanthia will take the death of her cub while I sat by any better than us coming back with an active Dominate Bond. But that’s the only way I can think of to do it.

Unless….

It’s a risk, but it should work. If it doesn’t….no, it should. I arrange myself so that I’m lying next to Lathani, in contact with her at several points, just in case.

Keep us safe, I order River and Bastet. I won’t be able to defend us. Then, prying open Lathani’s closed eyelids, I invoke my Class Skill.

Entering the soul-space for the Battle of Wills, I don’t step forwards at all, though note the surprising amount of pressure that immediately hits me. I could push against it, but with difficulty. But that’s not my intention.

“Lathani!” I shout at the figure lying still opposite me. “Lathani!”

I hear you, stop shouting, she responds grouchily. Relief goes through me. I don’t want to move any closer than I absolutely have to, not wanting to chance my luck any further.

“We have no time to spare. You need to let me heal you,” I tell her forcibly. “If you don’t, you’re going to die. Do you hear me?”

…I do, she says, her voice faint. I hope that’s shock rather than her being so close to death that she can’t even properly speak in this space.

“And will you let my magic into your body without resistance? Because we don’t have time.”

I will, she responds, her voice thankfully stronger.

Hoping that’s enough, I turn and run in the opposite direction from her.

Thank you…pack leader, I hear, just before the world fractures around me. Hit by the consequences of ‘failing’ a Battle of Wills, I’m completely paralysed. My heart in my mouth, I try to send mana into Lathani’s body.

To my huge relief, it works. I had been banking on it doing so: the last time I ‘failed’ a Battle of Wills, I was unable to move, but I continued to be able to communicate with my Bound. I’d hoped that that might mean that my ability to control mana continued.

It seems like my gamble has paid off as my mana flows into Lathani’s body as easily as it had when she was under a Tame Bond. I quickly discover the most important areas to work on – her punctured lung and half-crushed heart – and pour mana into them.

Fortunately, my previous healing of her body means that my Skill knows exactly what to fix, and I can concentrate most of my mental energy on sending mana into her as quickly as possible. Trusting my Bound, I go into Medium Meditation to increase my mana regeneration as much as possible.

From working on the wounds, I get an idea of how they must have been made. Her ribcage is fractured in several places, her spine damaged. There are puncture wounds in her chest and a fracture in her skull. She must have been taken by surprise, one of the mini-triceratops goring her in the chest, lifting her off her feet, and sending her flying to slam into the tree. It’s unsurprising she was so badly hurt.

By the time she’s healed enough to be safe to stand – meaning that the spine damage, fractured ribs, punctured lung and bruised heart are more than half-healed – the noises of the battle behind have ended and my paralysis has long worn off.

I take a short break, just to find out what’s going on. Lathani’s stable, but some of my other Bound might not be, though I don’t have any sense of them being in danger of immediate death. I keep a level of Light Meditation, though, needing to regenerate my mana as quickly as I can.

“How’s it going?” I ask, moving slowly towards my group of Bound. They are standing around the four mini-triceratops, looking tired, but not too badly hurt. River is limping – one of the creatures seems to have got him in the leg. Catches-leaves is looking tired, but unhurt, a bloody chunk of wood hanging from his claws.

Bastet has a number of bleeding gashes over her body, but they seem mostly shallow. Fenrir looks as though he was run over by a truck, but he’s tanky enough that he would probably get through even that without too much damage. Sirocco looks unhurt.

The triceratops are looking much worse. One has part of its skull caved in – given how thick their skulls seem to be, Catches-leaves must be significantly stronger than he looks. Two others have lost their eyes and bled out from either their throats or an artery beyond the front legs. As for the last, it’s actually still alive, but completely lame: Fenrir’s work is plain to see in the crushed bone that now makes up two of its legs.

I don’t see any evidence of Bastet’s fire-breath – perhaps she feels it would have been too dangerous here in the forest, with Lathani and me lying completely helpless to the side of the action.

We thought you might like to Bind this one, master, River suggested, gesturing tiredly towards the still-alive triceratops. Well, alive for now: it won’t be alive for long if I don’t heal it, as much blood as it’s leaking.

“Good thought,” I tell him with a tired grin of my own – healing Lathani hasn’t exactly been easy. “Where’s Trouble?” I ask, realising I can’t see the troublesome cub.

With shame suffusing his body-language, the juvenile raptorcat slinks out from behind one of the carcasses. He’s obviously injured, but not heavily so. Considering that this whole mess is his and Lathani’s fault he can deal with it until everyone else has been healed. I pin him with a look.

“Why the hell did you go running off by yourself?” I demand. He shifts a little bit and I understand something to do with ‘hunting’. “Well, you did a fantastic job at that, didn’t you?” I snap at him angrily. He cowers a little at my clear anger. With a huff, I decide that I’m not in the right state of mind to even chastise him. Though I should probably leave that to Bastet anyway – she’ll do a far better job than I would.

Instead, I turn to the most heavily-injured of my Bound. Sending mana into Fenrir, I heal the deep bruises and hairline fracture in several of his bones. Rather than having actually been run over by one of them, I have to guess that he latched onto the triceratop’s leg and then just stayed attached, no matter how much he was battered or slammed into the ground. He really is a pitbull.

My mana running low, I approach the triceratops. River has a good point: this creature would probably be a lot more useful to us than several of the ones back with the kiinas. Especially if I could use Flesh-Shaping to enhance its already-hefty defensive abilities.

Should I try to use Tame on it? I wonder for a moment. Then shake my head. Ultimately, it was an antagonist to my group, though I’m not sure of the complete story behind how and why Lathani and Trouble had ended up facing four of these creatures while ‘hunting’. If I didn’t have the ability to heal, it would be doomed to die in the near future – either because of another predator or from starvation. Offering it a Bond could even be seen as a mercy on my part. It’s not the same as the creatures in the cave who hadn’t offered any harm to my family. Apart from the danaris and its larvae, anyway.

Casting Inspect Fauna, I focus on wanting more information about whether this creature would be open to a Bond, and if so, what would help convince it. I might as well go into the situation with as much information as possible. I don’t bother trying to keep the probe subtle, though.

Cyran

Tier 1 Beast (unevolved)

Special abilities: None

Health: 1560u

Mana: 20u

Minimum Willpower recommended to Dominate without other impacting factors: 30 (15)

Open to a Bond: No

Impacting factor: Protection

This herbivore is not to be underestimated. Possessing a particularly stubborn and determined nature, this creature lives life by going through obstacles. It cares little whether they are vegetal or animal in nature. Few Tier 1 predators hunt these creatures, and none when they are protecting young as they are particularly aggressive at this time.

Close message? Y/N

Protection, huh, I think to myself, noting how apparently the chance of Inspect revealing a way of convincing the creature to Bond has triggered. If this was a parent protecting its young, then the fact that we’ve just killed them all may significantly impact my ability to talk her round, however easy it appears for me to be able to force the issue. Alternatively, it may be indicating that I should offer protection to convince it….

Ultimately, is there any harm in trying? At worst, I’m paralysed for ten seconds while surrounded by my Bound. I could even use that time to regenerate mana quickly, ready to get healing when I recover.

Mentally shrugging, I decide to give it a go. Approaching the cyran, I stare into its pain- and rage-filled orbs.

“Dominate.”