Chapter 3 Trust failed successfully

They walked for hours through the forest, following a small dirt path that Neljun seemed to know by heart. Blitzwing the pompadour bird walked beside them like a bodyguard, occasionally stopping to fix its hair.

"So how long have you been a Beast Master?" Kai asked, trying to make conversation.

"About twelve years," Neljun said. "Started when I was your age, maybe a bit younger."

"And how many beasts do you have?"

"Twelve total," Neljun said proudly. "Ten common type, two lower legendary."

Kai's eyes went wide. "Twelve years and only twelve beasts? That's one per year!"

Neljun laughed. "It's not about speed, kid. It's about quality. Taming a beast takes time. You have to earn their trust, learn their habits, prove yourself." He pointed at Blitzwing. "This guy took me three years to find and tame. Three years."

Kai looked at the bird. The bird winked at him again.

"So legendary beasts are hard to find?" Kai asked.

"Hard doesn't even begin to describe it," Neljun said. "Common beasts? They're everywhere. You can find them in any forest, any field, anywhere. But legendary? Those are rare. You might search for months and never see one. And even if you find one, you have to be strong enough to tame it. The stronger the beast, the stronger the master needs to be."

Kai thought about his collection requirement. Fifteen common, five lower legendary, five middle, five higher, three mythical, and one god-like. He suddenly felt very, very tired.

"And mythical beasts?" Kai asked. "Have you ever seen one?"

Neljun's face got serious. "Once. From very far away. And I ran in the opposite direction."

"Why?"

"Because mythical beasts don't play around, kid. They're not pets. They're forces of nature. The masters who control mythical beasts? They're the strongest people in Veridia. Legends themselves."

Kai nodded, his gamer brain working fast. So the ranking system was simple. Common was weak, legendary was strong, mythical was overpowered, and god-like was probably broken. He understood that immediately. Every trash game had the same unbalanced power scaling.

"You're thinking hard about something," Neljun observed.

"I'm just trying to understand how things work here," Kai said. "I figure if I'm stuck here, I might as well learn the rules."

"Smart attitude," Neljun said. "Most new Beast Masters just run around throwing sticks at things."

Kai's face turned red. "I wasn't throwing sticks. I was... testing the rhino's reflexes."

"By poking it."

"It was a scientific experiment."

Neljun laughed and clapped Kai on the shoulder. "I like you, kid. You're weird, but I like you."

-

As the sun began to set, painting the sky in shades of orange and purple, Neljun stopped walking. "We should set up camp here. It's getting dark, and there are worse things than rhinos in this forest at night."

"Worse things?" Kai asked nervously.

"Nothing we can't handle," Neljun said with a smile. "Probably."

"Probably?"

"Probably."

Neljun set up a small camp with practiced ease. He gathered wood, started a fire, and laid out two bedrolls from his giant backpack. Kai tried to help but mostly just got in the way.

Then Neljun pulled out some meat from his pack—actual meat, already seasoned and wrapped in leaves. He started cooking it over the fire on a flat rock.

The smell hit Kai like a truck. His mouth flooded with saliva. His eyes watered. He hadn't eaten real food in three days. Three days of berries that Pugzooka "thought" were safe. Three days of hunger that made him want to eat a rhino.

Kai sat next to the fire, watching the meat sizzle, drool practically dripping down his chin.

"Easy there," Neljun said, chuckling. "Don't hurt yourself."

"I'm fine," Kai said, not taking his eyes off the meat. "I'm totally fine. This is fine. Everything is fine."

After a few minutes, Neljun handed Kai a piece of meat on a flat piece of bark. "Here. Eat slowly. You'll make yourself sick if you inhale it."

Kai took the meat with shaking hands. He didn't listen to the "eat slowly" advice. He shoved it into his mouth like a starving wolf.

"Oh my god," Kai moaned, chewing with his eyes closed. "This is the best thing I've ever eaten. I would die for this meat. I would kill for this meat."

"It's just rabbit," Neljun said, amused.

"Don't say 'just.' This is art."

Neljun also handed him a waterskin. Kai drank half of it in one gulp, water spilling down his chin.

Then Neljun stood up and stretched. "I need to take a piss. I'll be right back. Don't burn down the forest."

He walked off into the trees, leaving Kai alone with the fire, the meat, and Pugzooka.

Kai took another bite of meat, savoring every chew. He was about to take a third bite when Pugzooka finally spoke.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Kai stopped chewing and looked down at the little beast. Pugzooka's face was serious, his round eyes narrow and suspicious.

"Oh, NOW you can talk?" Kai said, his mouth full of rabbit. "Now? After I looked like a crazy person in front of the only helpful person I've met?"

"I'm serious, Boss," Pugzooka whispered. "Something's wrong."

"What's wrong? He gave us food and water. He saved us from a rhino. He's taking us to a village."

"I don't know," Pugzooka said. "I just... I have a feeling. A bad one."

Kai rolled his eyes and took another bite. "You have a feeling. Great. Very helpful. Maybe your feeling is wrong. Did you think of that?"

"My feelings are never wrong."

"Your feelings told me those berries were safe. I threw up for two hours."

"Those were different feelings."

Kai shook his head and held out a piece of meat to Pugzooka. "Here. Eat. You're being paranoid."

Pugzooka stared at the meat for a long moment. His nose twitched. Then, reluctantly, he took a small bite. Then another. Then he was eating it just as fast as Kai.

"See?" Kai said. "Delicious."

Pugzooka didn't respond. He just kept eating, but his eyes kept darting toward the trees where Neljun had disappeared.

They finished the meat. They finished the water. Kai leaned back against a tree, feeling full and warm for the first time in days.

"This isn't so bad," Kai said, patting his stomach. "Maybe Veridia is okay after all."

Pugzooka didn't answer. He was staring at the trees again.

Then footsteps.

Neljun emerged from the darkness, walking back toward the campfire. Kai looked up and smiled, ready to thank him again.

But his smile faded.

His vision was getting weird. Wavy. Blurry. The fire looked like it was melting. Neljun's face was stretching and twisting like a reflection in a puddle.

Kai blinked hard, trying to clear his eyes. "What... what's happening..."

He looked down at Pugzooka. The little beast was lying on his side, already unconscious, his tiny body rising and falling with shallow breaths.

Kai tried to stand up, but his legs wouldn't work. His arms felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. The world spun around him, the trees and stars all mixing together into a swirling mess.

The last thing he saw was Neljun's face leaning over him.

Neljun was smiling. But it wasn't the warm, friendly smile from before. It was something else. Something hungry.

"Sorry about this, kid," Neljun said, his voice echoing like he was far away. "But you showed up at the perfect time. A new Beast Master with no idea what he's doing? Easy pickings."

Kai tried to say something. His mouth wouldn't move.

"Don't worry," Neljun continued, crouching down and starting to go through Kai's pockets. "I won't kill you. Just taking your stuff. A traveler's gotta eat, you know?"

Then everything went black.

-

Kai woke up to something soft hitting his face.

He groaned and tried to rub his eyes, but his hands wouldn't move. He tried to sit up, but his body felt heavy and wrong.

Something hit his face again. A foot. A small, familiar foot.

"Boss. Boss, wake up. WAKE UP."

Pugzooka's voice. Annoying as always.

Kai opened his eyes.

The world was upside down.

He panicked immediately, thrashing and kicking, which only made him swing back and forth like a pendulum. That's when he realized—he was tied upside down. His ankles were bound together with thick rope, and the rope was attached to a tree branch above him. His hands were tied behind his back. His head was hanging about three feet off the ground.

Next to him, also hanging upside down, was Pugzooka. The little beast was tied up in a small net, swinging gently in the morning breeze.

"They took everything," Pugzooka said, his voice grumpy. "Your pockets were empty so they took nothing from you, but they took my dignity. That's worse."

Kai looked around. They were in a different part of the forest now, somewhere deeper and darker. There was no campfire. No Neljun. No pompadour bird.

Just them. Hanging. Like meat.

"That guy drugged us," Kai said slowly, the realization hitting him like a rhino all over again. "He drugged us and robbed us. And we had nothing to rob."

"Took you long enough to figure that out," Pugzooka said. "I told you I had a bad feeling."

"And you ate the meat anyway!"

"I was hungry!"

"Well, now we're hanging upside down in a forest because you were hungry!"

"We're hanging upside down because YOU trusted a stranger with a bird that has a funny haircut!"

Kai opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. Pugzooka had a point. A small one. Very small. The size of a crumb.

"Fine," Kai said. "We both made mistakes. Happy?"

"Thrilled," Pugzooka said, starting to chew on the ropes of his net. "Now help me with this. We need to get down before he comes back."

Kai started twisting his body, trying to reach the ropes around his ankles with his tied hands. It was not working well. He just kept spinning in circles, looking like a very confused piñata.

"This is fine," Kai said through gritted teeth. "This is totally fine."

"You're upside down and tied to a tree," Pugzooka said.

"I've played games with worse starting conditions."

"You said that already."

"I'm trying to stay positive!"

The ropes creaked above them. Somewhere in the distance, an animal howled. And somewhere else, probably not far away, Neljun was probably coming back to check on his new "guests."

Kai kept spinning. Pugzooka kept chewing.

Neither of them was making much progress.