PSTH: Chapter Forty-One

Gifts are a fascinating topic. All biological organisms on record – billions in total – have the same gift, the ability to aspect their core to a different sort. It’s fairly useful as gifts go. Nothing staggering, but useful. But let’s be real. The slide on your augpads says ‘Essence Heart Basics’, so we all know what I’m about. Near as we can tell, Essence Hearts’ gift is either its ability to hold so many bonds, to select guardians, or a combination of both. I personally don’t think it’s any of them. Essence hearts feel emotion, pain, anger, all that, but they’re clearly not Primals. Bond Primal just slips off them. I suspect they’re something else entirely.

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Lecture on Essence Basics, Slate University 399 Modern-Era

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I tried to stop the mix of anxiety and excitement from swirling through my stomach as I turned to Laurel and River. After all, it was entirely possible that even if I was right about it being an Apaturegius, that the Primal wouldn’t have any interest in fighting other Tamers, wandering across the country, collecting seals from various councillors, and participating in tournaments. But what if it did? 

“It’s an Apaturegius,” I said, pointing to the spot in the distance. “Maybe. It could just be some branches?”

Laurel squinted, while River flicked his fingers, royal blue light spinning between them. A moment later, his presence seemed to swell and flex, before vanishing entirely. Some sort of veiling spell, maybe? I stared at him, raising an eyebrow, but Laurel didn’t seem confused at all. 

“Definitely something with essence out there, it feels like it’s got a mix of radiant and null. It’s just sitting there and watching us, extending its senses in our direction. I don’t know if it’s an Apaturegius, what types are those?”

“That’s a good sign!” Laurel said, bumping her hip against mine. “But I thought that the sign said people looking for Primals rarely bothered  to look for them? Why do you want one?”

“Here, give me your augpad, and I’ll see if I can hook my spell to it and scan it from here,” River said, extending a hand to me. I passed over my augpad and he slipped it from the case, then spells began to spiral out of his hands. They slowly attached to the programming of the tablet, wires of anima connecting to the camera, and geometric patterns flowing around it. I booted up the Primal scanner, and watched as the screen flickered.

I wouldn’t admit it to River, but I felt a bit nervous as I watched strange arcane sigils flash across the screen. I knew that this was what he was in school for, but it was exactly that – he was in school for it, meaning he was currently uncertified. Then the screen settled, and a readout flared to life. 

[Name: N/A

Tamer: N/A

Species: Apaturegius

Element: Null / Radiance

Rarity: Epic

Level: Eighteen

Gift: Anima and pneuma actively resists being controlled, making it more difficult to cast spells or empower the aspects of the battle form.

Spells: 

- Pneuma Bite (Null)

- Light Dash (Radiant)

- Cleanse Boost (Radiant)

- Restore Shell (Wood)

Description: A two form Primal, with a web of ousia that surpasses the complexity of even some known legendaries, making their anima and pneuma far more intense and powerful than most other Primals. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, this Primal is one of the few known examples of an actively detrimental gift. This makes them an unusual choice for high-stress roles like combat or medical work. Click here for the full description.]

As I read over the description, I felt my heart start to hammer quicker. The gift was a bad one, possibly downright detrimental, but that didn’t matter if the Apaturegius was fighting alongside Hex. The gift wasn’t permanently altering its essence, so she didn’t need to metaphorically un-bake a cake. When working with Hex, it would be able to easily control and access power that put it more on par with a legendary or epic with a powerful gift. 

Even if it were to fight alongside Scales, the gift should be manageable. It was a detriment, certainly, but if Scales was able to draw the fire of the opponents long enough for the Apaturegius to fight through the resistance, then it could still deliver powerful strikes, just not consistently. We’d have to train, but it would be manageable…

I shook my head and tried to snap out of the planning state. I didn’t even know if it was interested in battling, let alone in leaving Arkose and exploring the surroundings. Laurel must have been thinking along the same lines, as she slapped my back and pushed me forward in the direction of the Apaturegius. 

“Go on and see if it’s interested in fighting!” 

I nodded and stepped forward, Scales and Hex on either side of me. Both of my Primals began calling up their pneuma and bursting into their battle forms, and I began to radiate power, sending it into both of them. 

From where it rested among the trees, the Apaturegius began to move forward. It resembled a cross between a dragon, centipede, and a slug, with a large draconic face plate and clever eyes. Light began to flicker around it as it assumed its battle form, its legs extending slightly, the plates of green and gold that made up its body shimmering, patterns almost like wings tracing themselves out on its back, the fine details of the form flickering in and out of visibility. But for all that it seemed unstable, the power flowing from it was unmistakable. The depth and complexity of Vince’s Auraptor might have had a slight edge, but… not much. 

Then Hex’s gift filled the area, and the eyes of the Apaturegius seemed to widen. Its pneuma solidified, the details coming into focus, and it gave a respectful bow of its head before the battle began. 

The Apaturegius’ entire body glowed with light and it practically exploded into motion, crossing the distance in a single sharp instance. The glow was gone, but it was already gathering power in its mouth for a Pneuma Bite on Scales. Scales growled and dove forward, the blow barely clipping his tail. Despite that, it took a larger chunk of pneuma than I would have expected. 

Hex leapt forward, slashing out, her claw infused with a Shade Bite spell. It struck, but radiance essence had a natural resistance to shade, making it about as effective as trying to attack Scales or another water Primal with fire. It left a few long scoring strikes, but did little enough actual damage. The Apaturegius simply landed and launched itself at Hex with another Light Dash, snapping its jaws out again. I pushed more pneuma into Hex, who bounded to the side. She barely managed to get out of the way as Scales barrelled in, snapping out with a Frosted Bite. This dealt a bit more damage, but the Apaturegius twisted and slammed a Pneuma Bite into Scales point blank. It ripped through his pneuma, and I let out a gasp. The direct blow had done a truly staggering amount of damage.

I pulled Hex off to the left and Scales to my right, quickly thinking as I had Hex fill the area with a large Shadow Cloud and Scales begin to cast Boost Scales. It wouldn’t last long, but it bought me a second to think. The Light Dash was fast, blindingly so, and it seemed to allow the Apaturegius to rush in any direction. It had even launched slightly upward into the air when the terrain had allowed it. But I didn’t have any evidence that it would allow the Primal to change directions mid-dash. 

If the Apaturegius was working with a tamer, it would probably have an easier time dodging against any sorts of openings that I could create to exploit the weakness of a straight dash. But this was a wild Primal, and similar to how Laurel had manipulated the fight against the Kirow… 

I dissipated the cloud of shifting shadows, and had Scales growl, running headlong at the Apaturegius. It responded as I expected a wild primal too, rushing for the threat. But while I’d had Scales running forward, we’d been prepared for this. He tilted at a slight angle, and the Apaturegius barreled right past him. Hex flashed forward, releasing her Weakening Fog spell. It swirled around our opponent, then the purple haze sunk into the pneuma shell.

I knew that the Apaturegius had a spell called Cleanse Boost, so I had known that Scales’ use of Boost Scales or Anima Bubble was at risk of being removed. But it wasn’t called Cleanse Affliction. I was hopeful that the Weakening Fog spell would be able to reduce the ridiculous power of the Apaturegius enough, especially if I stacked it together. 

The Apaturegius came to a stop and spun, gold spiraling out around it as it shifted between looking at Scales and Hex, before settling on Scales again. I prepared Scales to tilt out of the way again, but was caught off guard as the Apaturegius instead dismissed the gold and leapt at Hex. I mentally cursed. It might not have a person directing it, but even some smarter mundane animals like dolphins, chimpanzees, and elephants could perform an old bait and switch. There was no reason to think a Primal of roughly the same intelligence level couldn’t do the same. 

Due to making such a play, though, the Apaturegius had leapt at Hex physically, rather than using its Light Dash. Hex bounded out of the way, but the Apaturegius was still shockingly fast. Its battle form was the size of a greyhound, but much thicker, resembling the aspects of caterpillar and bug, so I hadn’t expected it to be this fast. Scales charged in, snapping at the Apaturegius, while Hex clawed into a tree and started to climb, launching another Weakening Smog down at the Apaturegius. Scales’ teeth landed a solid blow on the Apaturegius’ tail, and I could see its pneuma shell starting to weaken. 

Then the Apaturegius began to glow gold, and the Primal exploded straight up. I blinked in shock. I’d thought the dash had gotten air from the terrain earlier, like a bike flying upwards up a ramp. But no, it seemed like it could get air directly. Hex leapt onto a branch before the the Apaturegius could hit her, and I had a moment to hope that it would fall back down to the ground. Instead it dug its claw-tipped legs into the tree and turned with the agility of a bug, rushing down to meet Hex. 

I mentally called for Scales to retreat, developing a new strategy as I had him layer Boost Scales and Anima Bubble. Hex launched a third Weakening Smog, and I could visually see the shell growing thinner. The spell didn’t do any actual damage, but it was weakening the toughness that the shell provided. The Apaturegius lashed out with another Pneuma Bite, and Hex leapt to another branch. The bite clipped her legs, and her pneuma dropped below the ten percent mark. She launched a fourth Weakening Smog, and threw all of her anima into the four spells, before a claw extended from the Apaturegius and shattered her shell. 

Her debuffs would linger for as long as the anima in them remained, which put the fight on a timer. I just needed to win in that time. The Apaturegius turned and began to cast Restore Shell, and I held my breath. This would be the real test. If it removed the smog spells, then I was done for. But it was a wood spell, not a radiant one, which to me suggested it was more healing.

Thin cracks in the shell began to heal over as the Apaturegius’ spell worked to repair its battle form, but the shell remained in its thinned, weakened state. As Hex bounded over to me and dissolved into a stream of essence, the nullifying effect of her gift vanished, and the power of the Apaturegius suddenly grew fuzzy. Its shell almost vanished there and then, but it managed to hold onto it, just barely. Scales paced back and forth, keeping moving, waiting for the Apaturegius to launch itself down. 

It took several seconds, but a cloud of golden light drifted from the mouth of the Primal. Scales bounded to the side, barking and yipping as even the brush of the cloud stripped away a few casts of Boost Scales and Anima Bubble. He circled around the tree, moving faster this time, making it hard to target him with another Cleanse Buff spell. He began to build power to push into Frosted Bites, and I tensed, sending my own power into him.

Then the Apaturegius launched down at him, blazing gold, having finally scraped together enough control to cast Light Dash. Scales acted immediately, using the disorientation to launch his Frosted Bites. The Apaturegius tried to bite back, but it was slower, more choreographed, allowing Scales to get out of the way and land another bite. If the Apaturegius got a blow in, it would hurt, even through Scales’ buffs.

Crunch. 

Scales’ teeth sank into the pneuma shell, right at one of the points where Hex’s smog had flowed in, and the Apaturegius’ battle form dissolved into white light.