A New Beginning In A Mana Apocalypse

Unfortunately I had made a promise not to explore. Annitte had tried to force it out of me first but I refused. I was incredibly curious about this world that everyone in the havens feared. In my short time here I understood the severe danger a lot more. No normal humans would be a match for the beasts here. My hunt was only so successful because I had three of the strongest beasts in the haven with me and my own transformation into a t.i.tan.

When I refused to promise she went to my wives. Enough said. Unfortunately because I refused to promise her when she wanted it Annitte made my training with her even more difficult. While it had only been a few days since I finished my transformation I had learned a lot more ways to use my elemental abilities. The air lance was one I learned from Annitte and it worked perfectly. According to Annitte the most important aspect to using the elemental abilities wasn"t how much energy you could wield, or how well you could manipulate it. They were both important of course but the most important was imagination. The elements could be shifted and shaped into almost any form and combined in all kinds of useful manners. It was only with our imaginations that we were able to discover the different ways to use them.

I agreed with her thoughts. A wind blade would have probably worked well too, but if the force of the attack wasn"t strong enough to pierce its hide we would have been in trouble. The lance used the enemies own force against it, and trapped it in place. I am sure there might have been better options, but it had worked.

With a reluctant look around at the immense forest full of other prey and secrets to discover I opened a s.p.a.ce tunnel back to my haven. My wives preceded me then I went through while closing the tunnel behind me.

Our kills had gathered quite a crowd when we arrived. I may have "accidentally" misjudged the arrival so it appeared a couple feet above the ground making a commotion when it landed.

"That was a bit childish." Megan commented as she appeared by my side her arms wrapping around my waist for a quick hug before disappearing so my other wives could repeat the greeting. Most of them were busy with their own work so it was only Megan, Karen, and Kayda initially, though Rebecca came a few minutes later with Emily dragging her along as the little lady wanted to see what was going on.

Rebecca hugged me like the others staring at the beasts in surprise.

Nala finished off the rhinotile for me then started to discuss with a group of people I wasn"t familiar with how to cut the beast up for food. Also preserving the beasts horn, teeth, and scales for use in armaments.

"Needed to be done." I replied to Megan. "Everyone agreed that to keep the peace I needed to show that I am more than a pretty face." I replied then shifted into my t.i.tan form. "Where do you want the cuts?" I asked Nala using my wind to create a sharp blade. Thankfully when I grew that large I had clothes that changed with me, they were draped over my form much like a toga, so I didn"t have any decency issues.

Nala stared up at me then smiled and leapt up onto the beast and started pointing to where she wanted each cut.

It took awhile for me to cut the beast down and separate out the scales, teeth, horn, and claws, then cut the meat down into more manageable portions but no one left. They were completely enthralled by the sight. Instead it seemed like my audience had grown larger by the time I was done and ready to move onto the flying wolf monkey.

"You killed a Wolfren?" Annitte asked appearing beside the corpse of the flying wolf monkey.

"Is that what it is called?" I asked as I looked the beast over again trying to figure out how to cut it up. There was a huge hole in its chest making the pelt less useful, but it was big enough that we would still have plenty of material left despite that.

"I think you made your point Daryl. Leave the rest to others." Megan called out to me.

I looked down at her then winked and shifted back into my human form.

"How did you even catch one?" Annitte asked coming over to me. "They are supposed to be really fast, and even faster at running away."

I told her what happened during the hunt and how I killed the wolfen.

Annitte groaned when she heard that. "We will have to find another hunting location." she told me.

"Why?" I asked her curiously.

"It wasn"t that tough." Nala chimed in.

"That is because you didn"t notice the rest of the group." Trill scolded.

"Group?" I asked.

Trill nodded. "It wasn"t the only one in the sky." she told me.

Annitte nodded. "They travel in groups like the wolves of your world they resemble. Big ones. They also go crazy when members of their group are killed. Now that you killed one they are going to go crazy looking for you there." she told me.

I considered that for a moment then looked back at the wolfen. "Do they migrate, roam, or stick to one place?" I asked.

"Huh?" Annitte asked. "I am not sure. We learned a while ago to just leave them alone. Lost too many hunters to them." she replied.

I rolled my eyes. "If we could find their den, nest, whatever we could eliminate a lot of them at once, maybe even try taming some of the young." I told her.

Annitte stared at me like I was insane. "When I said a big group, I didn"t mean twenty to fifty, I ment hundreds, even up to a thousand!" Annitte told me.

That many? I gazed at the wolfen for a few more moments trying to consider whether I could do it or not then shook my head. My one encounter with the beast wasn"t enough to form an opinion. I wouldn"t be able to lure all of them into that kind of trap. Or could I? Maybe if I used the right bait.

"No!" Annitte yelled at me to get my attention.

I shrugged. "Fine." I told her. It was just an idea anyways. I had killed the beast and even felt the rush of energy from it like the twisted I had killed in the hospital, but it was tiny, not anything like what I got when I killed a twisted. I didn"t sense much from the rhinotile when Nala killed it either. Was the amount of mana we received based on something other than size? When I had heard about the rhinotile I had chosen it to intimidate the military hunters, if they ran off to match me I wouldn"t mind their lose. I had already shown why I was able to put the beast down, something they couldn"t imitate. Showing my other form also proved that I didn"t just sit back and let my beast wives make the kill and claim it as my own.

"Really?" Annitte asked surprised.

I shrugged. "It was just an idea. We can try some of the other beasts, me and my girls work well together." I told her.

My wives nodded. "Maybe some fish?" Nala suggested.

"Fish? No!" Annitte replied. "None of you have a form that can swim well and all the fish beasts are even bigger and meaner!"

Nala sighed looking forlorn.

I sighed, "Maybe a trip back to earth for fish?" I suggested.

Annitte frowned then shrugged. "Maybe." she grumbled.

I rolled my eyes then gave Megan a wink. "Anything you need me for?" I asked her.

Megan shook her head. "No, Derek wanted you to put on a show to prove your strength, but I think this covered it." she replied.

I nodded. "How are the others?" I asked.

"Heather has been asking around, there are a couple interested until they here that her sister is a twisted. Even with Monica trailing around behind her to prove the point everyone runs away." she told me.

"And Monica"s family?" I asked.

"Still scared of her." Karen replied finally speaking up. "I asked around a bit. That group got hit hard by the twisted before we found them. They all saw a lot of the violence the twisted are capable of."

I grimaced then looked at Kayda. Kayda grimaced then sighed. "Fine." she told me reluctantly.

I smiled at her then reached out and pulled her into my arms and kissed her thoroughly.

"Am I missing something?" Megan asked.

"The observer visited after we named our species. She also suggested we try and convert a few others into t.i.tans. Kayda has been reluctant but I think Monica would be a perfect candidate." I explained.

"And how are you going to do this?" Megan asked.

"The bond." I replied. "And if that doesn"t work I can try and implant some of my core energy into her. Though if we have to go that route I will have to monitor her closely to pull the energy back out if it looks like it will kill her."

"Does she get a choice?" Megan asked.

I nodded. "Of course." I replied. "We won"t do it unless she agrees willingly."

Megan nodded seeming a bit relieved.

"You aren"t going ot force us?" Karen asked.

I shook my head, "Of course not. I can offer if it works, but I won"t force anyone." I replied.

Karen seemed thoughtful for a moment.

"You are considering it?" Megan asked surprised.

"Yeah, I am not a empress or even a queen. I know Daryl will love and take care of me despite that, but I want to be able to help out if we find ourselves in trouble rather than running away all the time." Karen replied.

Megan frowned but didn"t say anything for a moment. "Can the beast girls convert?"

"No."

"No way."

"Absolutely not."

That was a quick response.