A father speaking to Wolven men— only to eventually die by them.
A son— acting out in violent vengeance, hunts them down with unexplainable knowledge.
And somehow along the way, a cloaked howling woman begins to stalk him.
All right before entering the Taming Trials.
Max had caught up with his sister easily thanks to the adrenaline rush he got after the run in the woman in the forest.
He walked among his peers with his sister. They moved in massive crowds towards the open entrance gates of Moonglass City. It sat on a throne of thick moon-white stone. They all felt the burn in their quads as they climbed the fifty stair to reach it.
For many, the climb would be worth it as they stepped through the silver gates and entered a city of techno-magical superiority.
Skyscrapers born out of hybrid stone-oaks gilded in gold cut into the clouds. Railways made of guard-glass tubes powered by tempest eels charged bullet trains. They flew through the hybrid terrain of the city in reflective blurs.
Avian creatures carrying mail and special cargo flew in flocks. An almost funny mixture of feathered hawks and dragonoid pterodactyls.
"Man…. Look at the pants on that guy." Martha said, pulling Max's eyes back down to the ground.
Max looked at the people with her. Their familial height allowed them to see over everyone comfortably. For the most part.
The civilians were nothing like Max's Moonglass Grove counterparts. They were paler in skin tone. Taller and fuller in build with some sporting bulbous guts while others had intense body modifications. Some better than oth—
"Hey! Are you looking at her boobs!?"
Max slowly turned and eyeballed Martha— who seemed to get genuine enjoyment out of his embarassment.
A couple of the surrounding entrants giggled. Some Max recognized.
Martha grinned, "There he is."
"There who is?" Max asked.
"There you are."
Max and Martha turned to find a familiar face trailing behind them.
Talia Thorn. Despite her torn clothing and scarred olive skin, she walked with more nobility than the people native to Moonglass City— which was crawling with the affluent. And she'd always been that way. Even when her brother died.
"You didn't look like yourself for a while there." Talia said as she sped up to walk between Martha and Max, casually shouldering her way in.
"Oh…"
"What happened in that forest?" Talia asked.
Max turned and found two women trying to look into his brain and uncover secrets now. One was normal. But Talia never cared. One thing he liked about her was she stayed out of the way unless you were in her way. Max never was.
Until currently he guessed.
"I was worried we lost a fighter for a moment." Talia added, "You looked scared. The Grovers can't come to the City showing fear. These Neo-nobles smell it from miles away. They're like wolves."
Max cringed at her apt word use.
"But— like Martha said. There you are. Your grumpy face is back. You better punch somebody before the event starts."
"Or what?" Max asked.
"Or I'll be disappointed. We need your aggression. Cut off another finger. This time make it someone who actually deserves it."
"Easy Talia." Martha said.
Max side eyed Martha and gave her a rare smile.
Her eyes widened, "Wish someone would've told you that this morning."
Martha rolled her eyes.
"There is no easy. Not here." Talia said, "And we need someone to remind us what it looks like to stand on something. There's too many sheep among us. And not the ram kind." Talia suddenly looked above Max.
Max turned and found her looking down the alleyway formed between two industrial skyscrapers.
The walls and dumpsters were littered with art of the Ramheaded Reaper.
"No way….."
"Anyway, I'm off to study the top prospects…. Who are at the front of the crowd. Obviously. I'll see you guys on the battlefield. Or…. Taming Field." Talia winked and walked away. Her curly brown hair bounced in her wake.
"She's fired up." Martha commented, "Good! It's not just me!!!"
Max was back to thinking about Talia's words.
She called their class sheep.
Max looked around suddenly, finally taking note of how many of his and his sisters classmates looked completely and utterly overstimulated.
There were one hundred of them. About seventy looked dead on arrival.
And the affluent men and women of the city were reveling in it. In the difference. Their advantages. Their money. Their takes.
Grinning like demons as they looked them up and down, sizing them up and enjoying their odds. Their children and grand children's odds.
Max balled his fists up until the knuckles cracked. Until he wished he had his Ram visage in his back pocket. "Martha, if you would've shown me this, you wouldn't have needed to drag me out here. I would've came early."
***
The walk lasted another few minutes. They spent it in awe as they watched a city perfectly harmonized with nature in all forms flourish and flow like the oceans.
Eventually, Tamer's Tower became less of a mythical sight and more steeped in realism as they reached their destination.
They stood in formation before a giant wall of stone. It was plain. Colorless and devoid of personality. The complete opposite of the rest of Moonglass City.
"The entrance wall!!!" Martha hopped up and down like she wasn't nearly two-hundred pounds of beefy muscle.
A couple entrants ahead of them told them to hush.
"It's defintely…. A wall." Max said. Casually ignoring the Neo-nobles ahead.
"It's THE wall." Martha replied. "The wall making up the south end of the Taming Grounds. Once we're through there, it begins."
Max looked up the wall. It was tall. As tall as the skyscrapers and towers. It was said to house a thousand biomes and even more beasts for each. On the surface, cracks and claw marks formed jagged wild sigils that steamed and spit dust as if the stone wall was containing a hell storm within.
If Max focused his senses, he could just barely hear the presence of animals.
A roar.
Chuffs and territorial skirts.
Feline hisses.
A howl. Low and sinister.
Before he could think any more on the last sound, a man was seen flying down the length of the wall.
The entrants marveled at the sight of the man.
He wore a brown longcoat. Plumes of fire spewed from his hands, sending him flying to the ground even faster as he left smoke and ashen feathers in his wake. Thanks to the flaming bird divebombing with him.
"WOAH! He's formed a bond with a Firefalcon!" Martha said.
"That would explain his Terramana nature being fire." Max said.
"Not just any fire." Martha said, "Falconfire. Ultra-rare element strain."
"The fire that burns hotter and grows more intense as it falls….. something about gravity and oxygen." Max remembered his schooling. Barely.
At the same time he watched the man descend. His flames spread, no longer simply cloaking his palms like elemental jet propulsers. Now, they spread up his arms and across his back, forming wings of fire that he batted, sending embers and arcs of ash flying at the ground as he pulled up and soared over the students.
They all ducked and cheered at the display.
The man flipped in the air and landed back in front of them with his back to the wall.
He was tall and lanky in build with broad shoulders and an intense face. His nose was abnormally long. His eyes were buggy— seemingly absent of eyelids so all of his amber irises could be visible. His slicked back black hair steamed like he just stepped out of a sauna.
He held out an arm wrapped in dark leathers and his firefalcon descended, perching their casually. It held the basic mold of a regular falcon only its feathers had a fiery shimmer and it had four wings instead of two.
"Good morning, entrants. My name is Kohl Fennix. But you may call me Professor Fennix. The feathered one on my arm here goes by Flume. And with much excitement, We'd like to welcome you all to this years Tamer's Trial!"
Among the near four-hundred students, it was almost perfectly split with opposing extremes of excitement and fear.
And there stood Max. Determined. Deep in thought.
Listening to the howls that now drowned out the crowd of distant onlookers and cheering— or crying, students.
"No one else hears it? Of course not. If I find that girl in there, I won't miss twice."