[Kara] Chapter 3: Mama (Patreon)

Kara’s eyes fluttered shut, and she inhaled slowly. A soft dripping echoed in the cavern as she sat with her back against the wall. The world around her grew muted until all she smelled was the intoxicating scent of sulfur that she was now all too familiar with. And although her eyes were shut tight, she saw a bright light.

In her mind, she saw a blazing fire. A golden flame that was wisping off a molten sphere. It was like staring at the sun from space. Except, it was burning within her heart.

It was her dragonsoul. The magic of dragons that Zarkoth had given her.

Kara opened her eyes as she looked down at the palm of her hand. A golden flame came into existence there, illuminating the cavern with a gentle light. This had been the extent of what she could do for the first few weeks she had found herself lost in this world. But now, she was capable of so much more.

She rose to her feet as she looked out of the cave entrance. The sun was rising over the horizon, casting its crimson glare over the mountainous terrain. Stepping out of the shallow cavern, she descended down the mountain in search for food.

While Kara couldn’t really explain what changed since her battle with the three-headed bear, she intuitively knew that this was the true form of a dragonsoul. Not the nebulous mess of mana that swelled around that inert core in her chest.

She came to a halt as she reached the basin of the valley. There, she saw the stirring of many familiar creatures waking up for the day. Rabbits with horns. Giant vultures with bone-like wings. They wandered this valley for the same reason as the young woman from Earth— scavenging for food to survive.

Kara exhaled at this sight. And now, she felt the power of her dragonsoul course throughout her body, just like it had on her very first day in this world. It made her stronger. But more than that— it made her feel alive.

She locked eyes with a horned rabbit, before a smirk spread across her lips. The monster’s crimson eyes glinted for a moment, then it darted away, boosted forward by a gust of wind.

Kara took a step forward, and broke out into a sprint. She was right behind the horned rabbit in an instant. Even though it had to be moving as fast as a cheetah, she moved even faster. And a moment later, she caught it.

She swooped it off the group, holding the monster by the horn. It struggled to break free as she shook her head at it.

“Sorry, but I’m hungry for some rabbit stew today,” Kara said as the monster glared at her.

And with a flash of light, a sharp gust of wind shot at her head, coming from its horn. The stack was invisible, however Kara could see the pouring mana, and it almost looked like a blade. So she moved her head out of the way with ease.

She snapped the rabbit’s neck, and it went limp. “Nice try, you almost got me. You horned rabbits are more dangerous than you seem, huh?”

Kara shook her head, before tossing the dead rabbit to the ground. She looked up to see even more horned rabbits darting around the valley. Dozens of them.

“But at least you’re a steady source of food.” And with that remark, the young woman from Earth continued to hunt down the tiny monsters.

——

The sun had fully risen from the horizon by the time Kara was finished. It had taken about an hour, but she had finally gathered all the food she needed for the day.

“And that makes ten,” she said as she dusted her hands off. “That should be enough… hopefully.”

She began to make her way back up to the mountain, grateful for the power her dragonsoul gave her. Surviving up here in these mountains was so much easier now that she had unlocked its full power. Although… that wasn’t really the case.

After all, even though Kara certainly felt much stronger than before, she still felt weaker and slower than she had been on her first day in Xantos. The effects of the dragonsoul felt the same with how her mana was now naturally flowing throughout her body, but it was not nearly as abundant as it was that day. She wondered why that was, before concluding that she still had much room to grow.

“Maybe one day I’ll be able to literally create a portal through space-time,” Kara muttered under her breath as she reached the edge of the cavern. “For now, I have a more important job to do.”

Or at least, she considered it to be important. In the grand scheme of things, it was relatively unimportant. But she had decided to undertake this task of her own volition.

“Hey, are you awake?” she called out in a soft voice, before stepping into the darkness.

She walked past the scarred rock wall that looked like it had been dug into by a giant claw. Taking a knee, she set down most of the dead horned rabbits and peered into the depths of the cavern.

“I brought breakfast— and lunch. Or brunch, if you want to have it all at once.”

Kara smiled as she saw something moving in the darkness. A furry figure that was half her size. It whimpered where it lay, looking like it had just woken up. But when it caught a glimpse of her, it shrunk back, like it was trying to hide with the shadows.

“Here, you can have it.” Kara backed away from the cavern as she raised her hands placatingly.

A moment passed, and the furry figure didn’t move. But Kara didn’t budge either. And eventually, there came a soft groan from inside the cavern. It was the rumbling of a stomach. But it wasn’t Kara’s stomach. A small smile spread across her lips as she watched the furry figure crawl out into the light.

There it was. A little bear cub. Its face peeked out of the darkness first, revealing a coat of silver fur from its neck-up. But when it crawled the rest of its way out, it revealed its body covered in brown fur. A strange mix of colors— like heterochromia with fur.

Other than that, the bear cub looked like any ordinary bear cub the young woman would see back on Earth. However, she knew that this bear cub was special. Because its mother had been the three-headed bear that had tried to eat Kara just a week ago.

And now, I’m stuck here babysitting… the thought crossed Kara’s mind as she closed her eyes. She had babysat a few kids before as a part-time job, and she had some experience looking after her mom’s cat, but this was her first time dealing with a baby bear.

So she really didn’t know what to do in this situation.

The bear cub was hesitantly looking over the pile of horned rabbits, before glancing up at the young woman. It— or he— was evidently afraid of her. And why shouldn’t he be afraid? Kara was a strange fleshy creature that had suddenly appeared in his life one day. Of course he would be afraid.

That was also ignoring the fact that she literally killed his mother. Which Kara wasn’t sure if he was aware of or not. She had tried to hide the evidence by burning the body— after getting a few bites in to stave off her hunger. So she assumed that the bear cub wouldn’t have known any better.

And by the looks of it, the bear cub didn’t know any better. Kara opened her eyes and watched as it snatched up one of the dead horned rabbits, before ripping into it ravenously. Even though he looked small and tiny, he was still a monster. His teeth ripped through even bone, and he was finished with his first horned rabbit in under a minute. He moved onto the next, devouring his meal quickly as the young woman smiled.

“I should start eating too,” Kara said as she looked down at her two horned rabbits.

Creating a small fire, she began cooking her own food. She only looked up when she heard a burp from the side. The bear cub was already finished with his food. When they locked gazes, he immediately backed away into the darkness.

It was going to take a while for the bear cub to learn to trust her. But Kara decided to look after him anyways. Part of the reason for that was the guilt she felt of killing his mother. He couldn’t fend for himself— not in this dangerous world.

However, Kara couldn’t lie and say that her motivations weren’t selfish either since she also felt quite lonely. And she felt like having the bear cub around would ease some of her loneliness. Even if he couldn’t communicate with her, at least he was there.

“Plus, won’t it be really cool to have a massive three-headed bear as a companion?” she asked no one in particular as she stared at the crackling fire.

And the bear cub disappeared back into the darkness.

—--

His mama was gone.

The bear cub didn’t know what happened to his mama. But she was gone. And now a strange hairless creature had suddenly appeared, taking him captive. He would have fought back if it was any other creature. However, he couldn’t because it was a human.

They were some of the most dangerous creatures out there. His mama always warned him to stay away from them, especially when they were gathered in groups. Unfortunately, he didn’t listen to her, and that was how he got many of his kin killed.

The bear cub vividly remembered that day. He had been out with friends when he spotted a group of humans gathered by a creek. His curiosity got the better of him, and he snuck away to investigate. They noticed him quickly enough, but all they did was offer him food which he gratefully accepted. And because they seemed nice, he decided to show them back to his sleuth’s enclave. That was when the humans revealed their true colors as terrible monsters.

He had been forced to watch as they slaughtered most of the adults, while capturing his friends in cages. He would have been locked away too, if his papa hadn’t saved him. His mama grabbed him, and together, the two of them were the only ones to escape.

Now, his mama was gone too. And the bear cub knew it was once again his fault. He wanted to find her, but there was a human blocking his path.

“It’s getting cloudy,” the human said, looking out into the salmon-colored sky. “It’s probably going to storm again tonight.”

The bear cub didn’t understand the human’s words. But she brought him food, and she seemed quite nice. However, he knew better than to fall for these tricks again. He knew that she was holding him captive here until more humans would arrive.

Before that happened, he needed to escape. So far, it had proven to be quite difficult, because the human was always there from when he woke up to when he went to bed. He could have tried to escape when she was asleep. But that came with both the risk of waking her up and the threat of the monsters that lurked in the dark.

The bear cub wasn’t a fool. He knew there was a better time for him to make his escape. He realized that the human was always there with food, and she couldn’t have possibly conjured the food out of thin air. So there had to be a period of time when he was asleep where she went out hunting.

That was when the bear cub would run away and find his mama.

He resolved himself as the sun set over the horizon and night came. He stayed awake, even as the twin moons rose up the starry sky. Even as a terrible magical storm swept over the landscape. He kept one eye cracked open, biding his time and waiting for the right chance to make a break for it.

Eventually, as the storm settled, and dawn broke, the opportunity finally came.

—--

As Kara had expected, it had poured all night, which made scavenging for food much easier when the morning came. It took her only half an hour before she had already gathered enough food to feed both herself and the bear cub for the day.

So she trudged up the muddy path back to the cavern, carrying the drenched carcass of a wolf-like monster over her shoulder. She had found its corpse in the valley when she had gotten down there. All she needed to do after that was catch a handful of horned rabbits, then she could return. When she was done, she watched their magic pour into her as she left the valley.

It was a strange sight. Each time she slew a monster, she saw tiny motes of mana flit up to her chest, before gathering around her dragonsoul.

And now, when she closed her eyes and peered into her dragonsoul, she could see a small pool of mana begin to form there. It was similar to how her dragonsoul had looked before with an inert core surrounded by a swirling yellow mist. But when she focused, trying to replicate what she did a week ago by pouring the pooling mana into her dragonsoul, her dragonsoul almost seemed to reject the mana.

It was odd. Kara didn’t know how else to describe the sensation, but she felt like there was a dissonance between the mana within her dragonsoul and the mana surrounding her dragonsoul. And while she wasn’t sure how to resolve this problem, she intuitively understood that she would grow even stronger if a harmony between the two types of mana within her was achieved.

“And if I become stronger, maybe I’ll be able to survive the night without having to hide in some cave,” Kara said as she opened her eyes. She looked up at the overcast sky. “Or maybe I’ll even be able to survive a magical storm without having to seek shelter…”

She spotted a handful of those monstrous vultures circling the valley, flying high in the cloudy sky. Strangely enough, there were only about four or five of them gathered here today. Normally, after such a deadly storm, they would be swarming the valley by the dozens, feasting on the many carcasses of dead monsters that would be left lying there overnight.

But for whatever reason, that wasn’t the case today. And that puzzled Kara. If she had to guess what happened to them— it was either they were carried away by the strong winds of the storm, or they had found a much more abundant feast of corpses elsewhere nearby.

Whatever the case was, Kara was glad she didn’t have to deal with them today. Because they were incredibly annoying to fight off.

“I’m back,” the young woman called out casually as she returned to the cavern. “And today, I have a special treat for you.”

She grinned and set down the corpse of the wolf-like monster. Taking a step back, she waited for the bear cub to apprehensively emerge from the darkness as usual. A minute passed. Then five. And that was when Kara realized something was wrong.

“Are you there?” Her brows snapped together as she created a ball of flame.

Kara’s magic illuminated the rest of the cave, scaring the shadows away. But she saw no bear cub inside. Her eyes widened, and she spun around in a panic, searching for the little furry figure.

And that was when she saw the muddy tracks leading away from the mouth of the cave, going further up the mountain. She dropped the horned rabbits as her breath caught in her throat.

“Oh no.”

—--

The bear cub was right. The human left right before morning came, and that was when he took his opportunity to escape. He made sure she was completely gone before he bolted out of the cave, going in the opposite direction she did. And since she went down the mountain, he went further up.

In truth, he didn’t think too much about his destination. He just wanted to get as far away from the human as possible. So he ran for as long as he could, until he collapsed from exhaustion. He lay there for a while as he caught his breath, before he heard a distant shriek. Blinking, he sat up and looked to the overcast sky, seeing the silhouette of a bird circling right above him, right beneath the clouds.

He stared at the shadow for a moment, and a second bird joined it. They simply flew around each other as they remained high above the clouds, cawing and shrieking every so often. The bear cub couldn’t make out the exact features of those birds, but he felt like he had seen them before. He just didn’t know where.

Breaking his gaze away from them, he finally sat up and swept his gaze over his surroundings. He didn’t recognize where he was— which was a good sign. It looked like he was at the base of a steep mountain which plateaued at the top. And right before him was the entrance of a large cave.

The bear cub got to his feet and curiously peeked inside, hoping to find shelter. A soft light shone from within and drew his gaze. He saw a blue glow painting the rock walls of the cavern that illuminated a path. He wrinkled his nose, sniffing once as he picked up an unusual smell, and when he sniffed again, he jerked back.

A strange scent seemed to sting his nostrils. Strange, but all too familiar to him. He backed away warily as his round brown eyes peered into the cave. His breathing quickened, and his instincts told him to flee. Because…

It was the smell of death—

And a shriek resounded from right above him, interrupting his thoughts. The bear cub looked up in time to see the bird that had been flying in the sky was now diving straight at him. And he could make out enough of its features not to see that it wasn’t any ordinary bird, but a monster that was almost three times his size.

A ghoul vulture.

It swooped down at the bear cub as it spread its skeletal wings wide to slow its descent. Its talons were aimed for his head. He barely leapt back in time to dodge the diving monster.

He stumbled back as he barely avoided the first ghoul vulture’s attack. But a second ghoul vulture came crashing down a moment later. Spinning around, the bear cub made a break for it into the cavern, hoping it would provide him shelter from these flying monsters.

But they gave chase. Their shrieks echoed in the cave, following closely behind him as he followed the light. He scrambled around a few sharp corners, somehow still avoiding the two ghoul vultures. However, the tunnel eventually came to an end, opening up to a vast open air chamber.

The bear cub slowed at the exit as he covered his eyes, taking a moment to adjust to the sun’s light once again. And then he tripped on something. It caused him to stumble and fall. He gritted his teeth as he tried to pick himself up. Then he paused when he saw what had tripped him.

A desiccated corpse lay before him. He couldn’t even tell what kind of creature it had once been, just that it was no longer living. He whimpered at the sight, trying to back away. But he froze when he felt a burnt thing press against his back.

He craned his neck to see another corpse was lying behind him. This time, it was the charred remains of a different creature. Again, he couldn’t tell what it was, just that it was very much dead. The bear cub raised his head and looked over his surroundings.

All around him, corpses littered this vast open air chamber. They were strewn about over the smoldering remains of rubble and debris. Death. This was what the bear cub had smelled earlier. But that was not what he was focused on. Instead, what drew his attention were the scavengers that had come here, feasting on the bodies that remained.

Ghoul vultures.

Dozens of them. Maybe even over a hundred. They were everywhere, and their gazes were fixed on him.

The bear cub stared back at them for a moment, and then he heard a shriek. He looked back into the tunnel, watching as the first two ghoul vultures emerged from the darkness. They landed right before the ruins, tilting their heads as they caught sight of their kin. And then they looked back down towards the little furry figure.

He whimpered, and a cacophony of shrieks broke out. All at once, the ghoul vultures rushed at him. Some flew his way, while others simply ran after him. He scrambled for the only shelter he could find— desperately burying himself inside a small mountain of rubble.

But the ghoul vultures began trying to dig him out. He watched from within the debris as their talons tore through chunks of rock. Their beaks shattered the stone, and they continued to shriek as they tried to get to him.

The bear cub curled up into a ball as he felt the edges of their talons and beaks cut into his back. He was bleeding now, and he was in so much pain. He tightly snapped his eyes shut as he could only whine for his mama.

He cried out for her. He wished she was here. But she was gone. Just like the rest of his kin. And now he was alone, surrounded only by death.

Tears streamed down his eyes as he lay there, feeling the bits of broken rock rain down on his back and hearing the shrieks of the ghoul vultures trying to rip him apart. He waited for them to reach him. He waited for their talons to dig into his flesh. He waited for death to come for him too.

But it never came.

The bear cub looked up as he saw the poking talons and beaks of the ghoul vultures disappear from the rubble. He saw their shadows moving back as a commotion broke out amongst them. And amidst their panicked shrieking, he heard a voice shout.

“God Strike.”

The bear cub blinked as he saw the flash of a golden light, followed by the screeching of a dozen ghoul vultures. He hesitated as he saw through the gaps of the rubble the charred body of one of the flying monsters crash from the sky. However, the sounds of fighting continued to echo around him, and he mustered up the courage to poke his head out of the debris.

There, he saw a sight he couldn’t believe. It was a lone figure standing before the swarm of ghoul vultures. It was a familiar figure that seemed both so kind and so terrifying at the same time. It was…

The human.

And his eyes went wide as he realized she was fighting to save him.

—--

Kara wasted no time when she realized the bear cub had run away. Thanks to last night’s storm, she was able to follow his muddy tracks until she found a large cavern. And when she heard the muffled shrieks of those monstrous vultures coming from within, she broke out into a full sprint.

Now, she was standing in the middle of a caldera of sorts, surrounded by the ruins of what had until recently been a settlement or a sanctuary. There were many questions racing through the young woman’s mind as she saw this scene, but there was no time for her to ask any of them right now. Because she was surrounded by monsters.

Dozens of giant vultures circled around her as she stood there, wreathed in flames. There had been more of them gathered here moments earlier, but they fled when she unleashed a God Strike and killed ten of them at once. Those that remained wanted to fight, and she wasn’t going to back down either. Because—

Her eyes flickered to a collapsed house, and she saw a furry face poke through the rubble, staring at her with big brown eyes.

Kara took in a deep breath as she turned back to face the flying monsters. She created a small ball of fire and hurled it into the air, shouting.

“If you’re that hungry, I’ve got something cooking for you right here! Come at me!”

The fireball struck one of the circling vultures and exploded. The fiery blast took out two more of them, but the rest saw this as an opportunity to strike. Five of them dove straight down at her, slashing out with their sharp talons.

Kara dodged the first vulture, before grabbing the second out of the air. She set the monster ablaze and swung it around like a weapon, knocking the others back even as it screeched in agony. But the first one leapt onto her back from the ground, taking her by surprise.

Its talons raked across her back as she stumbled forward from the attack. However, it recoiled in pain as well, burnt by the golden flames coating her body. It tried to disengage, but Kara pointed at it, and a cone of fire shot out, incinerating the monster.

She refused to back down, even as she was cut and hurt. Vulture after vulture fell out of the air, either beaten to death with their brethren or burnt to a crisp from afar. But it looked like they weren’t going to give up. Until, eventually, she poured as much of her mana as she could into her right hand and swiped up at the sky with a shout.

“God Strike.”

It was the first time Kara had ever used the attack twice in such close succession to each other. She didn’t know what to expect. All she knew was that using it even once was incredibly draining. But she made a gambit, having observed the behavior of these vultures for over a week now.

Three golden streaks of fire cut through the air as she shouted. Everything in its path was completely incinerated, and another eleven of the monsters disappeared from the air. The rest of the vultures stared at this show of might, then looked back down at the young woman.

Already, dozens of their kin lay dead at her feet, and she had just taken out a large number of them in a single attack. The remaining vultures exchanged a glance— and they fled.

They took off to the sky, screeching in fear. After all, there was no point in them throwing away their lives for a single meal, when they could very easily find a random corpse to feast on elsewhere.

Kara panted as she dropped to one knee, watching them go. The flames coating her faded away, and she looked down at the charred corpses of the monsters.

She mustered up a grin. “I was never good at cooking, even back on Earth…”

But as soon as the words left her mouth, she heard a shifting come from behind her. She turned around and watched as an injured vulture crawled out from beneath some debris. It hissed at her, and she blinked.

“There’s still one of you left…?”

It charged at her as she cursed. She raised her hand in a panic, and traces of flames began to wisp off her fingertips. But before the monster could get close, a ferocious roar cut her off.

She paused when a furry figure crashed into the injured vulture. She stared with wide eyes at the two figures tumbling over the rubble. It was the bear cub. He had leapt out of his hiding spot to help Kara.

He growled and clung onto the injured vulture’s back, tearing into its wings as it thrashed on the ground. He didn’t let up. He continued to claw and chomp at the monster until it stopped moving. And even then, he still snarled and refused to let go.

Kara watched this scene for a moment longer, before she got back to her feet. She strode up to the bear cub as she raised her hands placatingly.

“Calm down,” she said in a soft voice. “It’s already dead.”

And the bear cub finally released the dead vulture. He sat there, panting for a moment, before he looked up at the young woman. She smiled as she knelt before him.

“Are you hurt—” Kara started.

But the bear cub suddenly jerked back, and her brows snapped together. She expected him to run away again. However, instead, he pounced on her, knocking her off her feet.

She blinked where she lay as he clung onto her shoulders. “You’re… hugging me?”

Kara looked down at him, and he raised his head. He met her gaze with round eyes. His nose sniffled, looking like he was about to cry. But then he started licking her face, and she chuckled.

“That’s enough now,” she said as she got to her feet. She set him to the ground, before taking in their surroundings. “We should get going. We definitely don’t want to stay here.”

The bear cub nodded eagerly back at her as she pursed her lips. Kara didn’t know what happened here. But she knew it wasn’t safe. Now, she was more certain than before that these ruins were the ruins of a city. And that wasn’t unusual.

She had been in the ruins of Arcos before. But those were very much ancient ruins from over a millennia ago. Meanwhile, these ruins had only become ruins a few days ago at the very least. And if that was the case…

“Come on,” Kara urged the bear cub forward. “We’ll find shelter somewhere else.”

She definitely didn’t want to stay here to find out what happened here the hard way.

—--

The bear cub followed the human back through the tunnel, feeling safe. But why? Humans couldn’t be trusted. So he shouldn’t have trusted her. And yet, he did trust her. He felt at ease around her. Because she wasn’t just a human. She was—

“Kara,” she said, and he opened his eyes. She pointed at herself and smiled. “That’s my name.”

He tilted his head back at her as she placed a hand on her chin.

“You need a name.”

The bear cub didn’t quite understand her words. However, he listened to her anyway. Because he could feel the emotions she felt with each word she conveyed

“What about Angel?” she suggested. “I wanted to name my cat Angel. But my mom rejected it, saying that it’s a girl’s name. And she named him Max instead.”

He looked back down at himself, thinking for a moment.

“But I think Angel is a good name. What do you think?”

And he raised his head, nodding back at Kara.

“Grah!” Angel growled softly in response.

—-

And as both Kara and Angel emerged from the tunnel, a cloaked figure stood atop a distant mountaintop, eyes glinting red.

“Target found.”

Author's Notes:

I wrote most of this chapter on my phone while on a plane. 5.3k words. What thonk?

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