Osho turned to see who entered the room. He was pretty sure Simon instructed no one to enter. So whoever entered was either an important person or had news for the expert rank beast tamer, and judging by the appearance of the man, he was inclined to believe the former.
Tall with a straight back that demanded obedience. His face was scarred but calm, his eyes filled with a cool authority and confidence. Moreover, the numerous badges on his chest...
"Major!" Both the Doctor and Simon stood straight and saluted.
’Ah, that must be Major Thompson.’ Osho thought before giving the man a respectful nod. It wasn’t compulsory for one to salute a military officer if they weren’t in the military. Actually, it wasn’t even expected.
"At ease." Major Thompson nodded before turning to Osho, who was staring at him blankly, and smiled.
"You must be Osho? The name is Thompson." The man held out a hand, and Osho stared at it for a moment before taking it and shaking it.
’Firm grip.’ He thought as he scrutinized the boy. He appeared quite normal at first glance. Sure, he was good-looking, and he had a calm temperament. But other than that, he didn’t seem too extraordinary.
At least to the untrained eye.
’He’s been scrutinizing me since I entered the room, and not just in an amateur way. He’s reading my body language to gauge my intentions while making his seem less than impressive. Interesting.’ He smiled a small bit wider before letting go.
He turned to the doctor and asked.
"How is the beast?" At this, the doctor quickly replied.
"There are no underlying issues or physical ailments. He is truly just exhausted. I reckon he will wake up in a few hours. After that, I recommended he have lots of nutritional food to recover quickly. For a Novice rank, he is exceptionally sturdy." The doctor explained, and Major Thompson nodded.
"Good to hear." Then he turned to Simon.
"What about Lady Jane?" The man just shrugged.
"She is being treated right now. As you speculated, the Mana from the creature is preventing her from healing properly. But by the time we got here, she had already almost completely purged it from her body. Once that happens, I expect her to start recovering properly soon." He explained, and Major Thompson nodded.
’Oh, so I was right.’ Osho thought briefly. He thought he’d sensed the vike Mana within Mrs. Jane’s wound receding when the convoy arrived, but he wasn’t sure since his ability to sense Mana wasn’t that strong yet. But it seemed like he was correct.
Once he’d gotten that information, Major Thompson turned back to Osho.
"Alright then, Osho, I’d like to ask you about the series of events that transpired when you got attacked by the Skyblight Harbinger. We have a general idea of what happened, but it’d be better to get what happened from someone who was there directly. You even more so." He explained calmly, and Osho tilted his head slightly.
’So that’s what it’s called. Also, he’s surprisingly easygoing. Is that his default setting or is it preferential treatment...’ Osho thought briefly before answering.
"Well, we were doing a training exercise in preparation for the college entrance exam..." Osho did a brief explanation of the events that transpired from when they’d first gotten the emergency alert to when they started retreating.
Major Thompson was silent and listened intently, Simon and the doctor following suit as the boy recounted his experiences.
When he got to the part about the Skyblight Harbinger, his brows furrowed in genuine displeasure.
"From start to finish, that thing had been staring at me." The three main raised a brow at this, but Osho continued.
"It was the phenomenon where something staring at you with any form of intent lets you know you are being stared at. But it wasn’t staring at anyone else. In fact, it had barely been giving Mrs Jane any attention during their fight. From start to finish, it had been looking at Gale and I." Hearing this, Major Thompson nodded thoughtfully.
’So I was right. They were its target.’ He mused before asking.
"Why do you reckon that is?" At this, Osho lingered before answering.
"During our exercise, before we got the alert. Gale started acting strange. He felt wary, and yes I understand that beasts are more attuned to things like danger and subtle changes in the air, so it isn’t odd for him to notice something was off. But since I hatched him, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen him wary." Osho sighed.
"Gale is a proud bird. Obedient, but proud. I’ve never seen him show any form of caution when handling beasts of a higher level. Respect, sure, but not caution, and definitely not fear. But this time was different. When Gale acted, and no I wasn’t the one who commanded him to suppress the thing, I realized that the caution and wariness was born from something else." Osho paused.
"Do tell." Major Thompson encouraged.
Osho hesitated slightly before continuing.
"I think the Skyblight Harbinger sensed Gake around the same time Gale sensed it, and i believe the reason they reacted so strongly with each other was due to the bloodlines." Osho rubbed his chin.
"Ever since I laid eyes on the thing, it just felt... wrong. Like it shouldn’t exist. But what’s more... it felt artificial. Like multiple creatures had been taken and stitched together to create something else, with an avian creature at its base." Hearing this, Major Thompson raised a brow, and Simon nodded faintly while the doctor just blinked.
"So you noticed, huh?" The Major mumbled before nodding.
"You’d be correct in your assessment. After thorough examination, we detected signs of several traits belonging to different creatures all assembled into this one thing, with an Avian as the... ’Foundation’, if you may." Major Thompson’s expression turned grim and he lowered his voice.
"What I’m about to tell you is strictly confidential and shouldn’t leave this room. Is that clear?" He spoke with an intensity Osho could finally attribute to someone who gained the rank of Major.
"Yes." Osho replied calmly.
"Good," The Major lingered for a moment before speaking. "We strongly suspect that the Skyblight Harbinger is an artificially created lifeform. And from what we’ve observed so far, its purpose seems to be one of destruction. It first appeared in the Black Rock Chain in one of the mining facilities. The destruction it caused there was already a significant blow since that is where a large amount of our tradeable resources come from. Not to mention, it gathered an army that dwarfs even the largest beast tide we’ve ever encountered before, and it seems to be inducing some sort of madness that puts all the beasts into a frenzy. Making them stronger and significantly more difficult to kill." He sighed.
"I reckon that the only way to survive the tide is to kill the Harbinger, but as you probably noticed, such a thing isn’t simple." After this, observed Osho’s reaction, and was a bit surprised at the boy’s thoughtful expression. He’d essentially just told him that the Skyblight Harbinger was made by somebody to destroy the Citadel, and if they didn’t kill it, there was a high chance it’d do just that. Yet he seemed more calculative than shocked or fearful.
"So I’m assuming this is where I enter the equation?" The calm question made the Major smile just a tiny bit.
"Well, yes. As we explained, it seems like the creature was created using an Avian beast as its foundation. It’s likely that it had a bloodline which became corrupted, which is why it reacted so strongly to your beast’s bloodline which is significantly more pure. It sensed this, which is most likely the reason it was so dead set on killing you, and now we know that you truly are a threat to it." Osho nodded, and the man continued.
"The creature is injured, so in the meantime, we are formulating a plan on how to get you close to it and have your beast activate his bloodline to weaken it. Once that is accomplished, our stronger beast tamers will kill it. That is a very rudimentary version of the plan, but for now, it’s all I will tell you." Osho tilted his head.
’Interesting. Well, I expected that much, but is he not telling me yhe rest because they don’t actually have a detailed plan in place yet? Or he’s waiting for something? I’m curious on how they plan on getting me close enough for Gale to use his bloodline without getting me killed the moment we get discovered.’ As he was musing, the door to the room suddenly burst open and a soldier ran inside, looking very distraught and pale.
"M-Major! There’s news!" He exclaimed with a hasty salute and everyone turned to him, immediately noticing that something was wrong.
"Yes?" The Major asked, straightening.
The Soldier took a deep breath before saying with a trembling voice.
"The Jordan Outpost has fallen, sir."