Seconds ago, Atticus had been filled with nothing but desperation. Elderish had wanted to grind his bones, leaving him unable to do anything to stop him while he went for his family.
Atticus had hoped, he had prayed for sothing, anything, to happen. He didn't care what, as long as it helped him out of this situation.
And right in front of him, that sothing happened.
Crack.
A single crack appeared on the surface of the egg hovering in front of him.
'The Soulkin egg?' It was hard to describe how Atticus felt at this mont.
For about two years now, Atticus had connected with this egg, feeding it a constant supply of energy. Throughout those two years, Atticus had felt the beast's spirit, it was mostly simple emotions: happiness at his presence, sadness at his absence, even amusent at his predicant.
But not once did he ever get any hint of when it would hatch.
A Soulkin. A being that was considered a beast version of its owner. It inherited every power of its bonded and was said to boost their power to unimaginable heights.
Atticus was in a situation where he needed help, any help. Any power. Which was why, as the first crack appeared on the surface of the egg, he clenched his fist tight. Waiting. Anticipating.
More cracks spread across its surface, webbing like lines on brittle glass.
Elderish stared at the scene with a confused look. Neither of them spoke. Only the distant booms from Whisker's battle with the Gardener reached their ears.
Then, a second passed, and with a sudden burst, a small head broke through the top of the egg.
Atticus and Elderish narrowed their eyes as they scanned every inch of what had just erged.
'A… puppy?'
Only its head had co out, but Atticus could already glimpse a few features. It was pure white, its fur slick and smooth like polished ivory.
Atticus hadn't seen its face. The creature had burst out facing the side, away from both him and Elderish.
"Kuuu?" the creature echoed, tilting its small head slightly, confused. Its head darted left and right, as though searching for sothing.
"Kuuu?" it said again. Then suddenly, it turned towards Atticus, and their eyes t.
For a second, it was as though the world ceased to exist. The distant battle. The trembling earth. The shifting terrain. All gone. They only saw each other.
'That's… my eyes.'
Atticus had looked at himself in the mirror too many tis to mistake it. It was like he was staring straight into his own gaze.
"Dada?" the Soulkin softly echoed.
Atticus's eyes widened. 'Dada?'
But before he could react, the egg hovering in the air suddenly fell, shattering the remaining pieces of its shell.
The Soulkin scratched its head with one paw, pouting as though annoyed it had fallen like that. Then, it stood up, turning to face Atticus properly.
With the egg broken, Atticus could now take in its full form.
Just as he'd glimpsed earlier, it looked completely like a puppy. Short. Standing on all fours. Its fur was spiky and pure white. And its eyes, exactly the sa as his.
As their gazes locked once more, it bead like it was happy.
And Atticus felt it, instantly.
Fondness.
It was hard to explain. But in that mont, Atticus felt a connection that transcended anything he'd ever known.
"Dada!" the Soulkin echoed once more.
Atticus's eyes widened slightly, but before he could say anything, a cold voice cut through the mont.
"Where did you get a Soulkin from?"
Elderish sounded genuinely shocked.
But Elderish's words hadn't just caught Atticus's attention. They had caught the Soulkin's too.
It turned.
And then, the air changed.
The lovely mont shattered as a staggering wave of killing intent descended, slamming onto Elderish like a hamr.
Elderish's eyes narrowed into pinpricks as he t the Soulkin's gaze.
It had stood up fully, tilting its head slightly to the side as it looked at him. Its fur, which had seed soft before, now spiked outward like bristles. Its fluffy ears perked, alert.
But that wasn't what shocked Elderish the most.
It was the sheer amount of pride radiating off of it.
Though Elderish towered over the Soulkin, hovering high in the air and looking down on it, when their gazes t, it felt like he was the one being looked down upon.
It was the most absurd thing in the world.
Elderish frowned.
"What is this—"
But before he could finish, his words got caught in his throat as an overwhelming aura exploded from the Soulkin.
Then, it began to rise, slowly into the air.
A crimson glow engulfed it. Different elents swirled wildly around its body. The spiritual energy and mana in the air bowed before it.
Atticus and Elderish's gazes widened in unison.
Those weren't just any powers.
They were Atticus' powers.
His Will. His elents. His mana. His spiritual energy. Everything!
But the Soulkin's aura just continued to grow, all while it kept its eyes locked on Elderish, as though he were the most despicable creature on the planet.
The different energies swirled in perfect harmony around its body, its form becoming more ethereal by the second, transcendent.
"You—!"
But just as Elderish was about to speak again, the Soulkin suddenly shot backward, phasing straight into Atticus's body lying on the ground.
'W-what?'
Atticus's eyes shot open in shock. 'Why… why did it enter ?'
For a mont, nothing happened.
Then a surge of warmth began to spread throughout his entire body.
Its intensity rose, scorching, searing, until it felt like every cell in his being was ablaze.
Atticus clenched the ground tightly, his teeth gritted, trying to hold back the pain.
But in the very next second, everything changed.
His body ignited in a burst of white light, intense and blinding. The light grew brighter by the second, until—
Boom.
A pillar of pure white light erupted, piercing into the heavens with such force it sent even Elderish hurtling backward.
Elderish spun mid-air, his eyes wide in disbelief as he stared at the blinding beam of light tearing through the sky.
His gaze dropped… and then he saw it.
The pillar collapsed inward, folding onto itself and condensing around Atticus's form.
Reforming him.
'He's fusing,' Elderish thought, stunned.
Soulkins had been known in his ti. Even then, they were rare, perhaps one, maybe two in an entire generation.
But what was happening in front of him wasn't rare.
It was impossible.
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