“How is it still alive?” Taia blurted out.

  Eric glanced at the beast, “Primeval Beasts don’t really die from what would be fatal wounds to us, to kill them you’ll need to destroy their body.”

  Opening his smart interphase, he sent a report of what happened to the captain. “They enter a state of suspended animation, redirecting most of their energy towards healing. If left alone, it will eventually wake up.” He continued

  Taia asked surprise showing on her face. “How long will it take to revive?”

  “Well with the type of wound I inflicted, it will probably take a month.” Eric deactivated his interface and turned to her, “By the way, what exactly are twin souls?”

  “Um…” Taia tilted her head, thinking for a moment. “You know how most creatures have like a single soul, mind and brain?”

  Eric nodded.

  “You also know that some creatures may have more than one brain, like the octapodi – octopus folk,” she continued. “Twin souls is similar, except instead of just extra brains, they have two separate souls coexisting in one body.”

  “I see, so are they immune to soul manipulation?” Eric asked.

  “No they aren’t, it’s just that I can currently influence only one soul at a time,” Taia said, running her fingers over the beast’s rigid feathers, “when I subdued one of the souls the other one sort of became active and took over. It’s like trying to hold down one end of a seesaw, it just tilts the other way.”

  “So what are you capable of?” Eric asked, “I was only told that spirit bound were able to do mind and soul manipulation.”

  “Am kinda new to the spirit bound thing, I just got the contract like three months ago.” Taia shrugged.

  “But if I were to list all the things I can currently do as a spirit bound.” Holding her hands she began counting with her fingers, “I can sense the presence of living things nearby, slow down thoughts, induce sleep or a coma but to only one target at a time and I need to concentrate and telepathic communication, though if I want to connect to more than one person I will need to engrave a rune on them.”

  “There probably others I haven’t said, but these are the major powers I know well.”

  Eric nodded, remembering the point when the beast faltered in its attack, it was surely her doing. At this time his smart bracelet chimed with a notification. Glancing at the screen, he spoke, “They have sent someone to retrieve the body. We just need to wait for a while.”

  “Should we move it under the trees?” Taia asked, noting the wide-open clearing left in the aftermath of their fight.

  Eric raised his head, taking in the destruction they had caused. ‘Indeed a flying beast may swoop over and take the body.’ he thought.

  “Move the body to over there.” he instructed Taia, gesturing towards a spot a little further away from the crater.

  “Me? Alone?” Taia blinked, pointing to herself in disbelief.

  “Just grab it by the tail and drag it over. Think of it as a workout.” Eric said, already walking over to a certain fallen tree.

  The tree had been split on the trunk causing it to lean against another tree. Unlike most of the fallen tree, this one had its canopy largely intact. Gripping the thick trunk, Eric hauled it towards the center of the clearing, where the crater lay.

  Taia who was dragging the beast paused in her task, curiosity filling her eyes as she looked to see what he was planning.

  Eric raised the tree and slammed its trunk deep into the center of the crater. The ground started rumbling as if something massive stirred beneath the surface. Next an even more astonishing sight occurred.

  Boom! The tree shot upwards into the sky its trunk rapidly expanding and its canopy unfurling like a massive umbrella. Within seconds, a majestic, towering tree dominated the clearing, its canopy stretching across the sky. Streams of sunlight filtered through its leaves, casting golden beams unto the floor, creating a scene that could only be described as beautiful.

  ‘That should do it.’ Eric thought, withdrawing his hands from the bark. Top of Form

  Turning around, he found Taia staring at him, her eyes were wide with shock and her mouth hanging open in disbelief. “You can… you… it… big.” sputtered, struggling to form a coherent sentence as she processed what she had just saw.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she finally asked. “How did you do that? Can’t you like only change sizes? How did you make the tree grow? Do have two gifts?”

  Eric chuckled at her flustered look. “I indeed have only one gift, I usually just say its manipulating the size since it’s much simpler than explaining its full extent.”

  He bent down, picking a splinter from a fallen tree. “When I touch anything, I see a matrix of values corresponding to its ‘quantity’.” The splinter enlarged to ten times its original size. “By changing these values, I can proportionally enlarge it.” He then adjusted it so that its width expanded while the length remained the same. “Or I can change it in one side.” The wood then changed into a figure of the primeval beast they fought earlier. “Fine tuning each of the values I can sort of reshape the object entirely.” The wooden beast then morphed once more, becoming a winged humanoid figure.

  Eric handed the new figurine to Taia who took it with wide eyes. “That’s so cool.” She murmured, examining the wooden figurine.

  A smile spread across her face as she realized what it was, a finely detailed carving of herself with four spirit wings from her back curving to the front as if to protect her.

  Turning to look towards the north, she said. “I can feel two people coming, they should be sent from the base.”

  Eric nodded. “That was fast.”

  *****

  A few hours later, back at the Horizon Post...

  Inside a well-lit laboratory, the beast now named, feather-back reaper lay strapped onto an examination table. Large monitors displayed its X-rays and internal scans, revealing its complex physiology. Nearby, researchers busily worked, some analyzing extracted tissue samples and vials of blood, others eagerly conducting preliminary tests on the reapers fascinating cells. The room buzzed with excitement as they busied themselves studying the creature’s unique biology.

  Meanwhile, in the control room, the main screen displayed live feeds from the perimeter cameras. One particular feed captured a lively scene, several leaf-tailed gliders, small six limbed creatures that resembled tiny lemurs with purple leaf like tails, leaping between branches. Their high-pitched chattering and playful movements suggested excitement, likely sparked by the massive new tree that they found.

  Seated by the table were the captain, Matelda, Roshuk and a lead researcher going over the maps and photographs, reviewing and checking the expedition route the team is gonna next.Top of Form

  In another room, Eric was meticulously testing the drones, ensuring that each system was functioning correctly. Screens flickered with diagnostic data as small, sleek drones hovered and zipped through the air. However, what was supposed to be a simple test had quickly turned into an impromptu competition, because Kevin was there.

  Kevin had walked in linked on of the drones with a manual controller and boldly declared to Eric. “Let’s race, see who’s the fastest between us.”

  “Can’t you see am busy.” Eric responded.

  “Don’t they just need test data or something, what better way to get data than racing.” Kevin continued, picking up another drone and linking it to a remote controller, “Alright, first one to do three laps around the room wins,” Kevin declared.

  “The last one gotta pay up fifty Aurels” Kevin spoke as he set the drones in a line.

  Eric arched an eyebrow. “You do realize you are gonna lose, right?”

  Kevin smirked. “Nah, today everything’s gonna change, I’ma beat you today.” Handing over the controller to Eric.

  Eric smiled helplessly and taking the controller.

  “Okay, ready… set… go.”

  Whoosh! Both of their drones shot forward with incredible speeds they created a mini tornado in their wake. Kevin’s darted ahead, twisting between overhead lights while Eric’s weaved in between the shelves and around equipment.

  “You’re too slow, just like a tortoise!” Kevin taunted, pulling an unnecessary aerial flip.

  “What… ” Kevin barely had time to react before his drone clipped the edge of a shelf and went spiraling toward the floor. At the last second, he managed to recover, though it wobbled unsteadily in the air. However Eric's drone was now ahead due to the delay this maneuver cost him.

  “Looks like the hare was left behind.” Eric quipped.

  Kevin sighed dramatically. “I was merely testing the drone’s emergency stabilization. It works not so great.”

  Eric rolled his eyes, his drone smoothly reaching the end of the room and making a sharp right bend. “Riiiiiight.”

  At this moment there was a sudden knock at the door. The boys turned their attention to the room’s entrance, Kevin’s drone automatically returning to its hovering standby mode.

  The door creaked open, and the sole reporter in this excursion hesitantly stepped inside. He fidgeted slightly, gripping his notepad as if debating whether he should even be here.

  At this time there was a whoosh and Eric's drone whizzed by. Kevin was slightly startled and turned to look at Eric only to see him not even holding the controller. He immediately understood what was going on.

  “Damn boy, you cheated.” Kevin angrily pointed at Eric.

  “Hey you only talked about racing, you didn’t mention the use of programs to control the drones.” Eric quipped.

  “Well, that’s the program not you.” Kevin unrelenting spoke back.

  “And I wrote the program, so in a sense I'm still in control of the drones.” Eric retorted back.

  “Uh… Excuse me.” The reporter spoke getting the attention of the boys, “I wanted to ask something of you if you don’t mind,” he said, his gaze shifting toward Eric.

  Eric exchanged a brief glance with Kevin, then gave the man a slight nod, signaling him to continue.

  “So… I’ve noticed that you seem to lack a shadow.” His voice lowered slightly as if he wasn’t sure whether he should even be asking this. “I don’t mean to be offensive, but why do you not have a shadow?”

  Indeed three men stood there but only two of them cast shadows onto the floor. Eric on the other hand didn’t cast a shadow and even the creases on his clothes lacked shadows, they were the same color and brightness as the side facing the light. This lack of contrast made seemed to glow under the lights, as if he came out of a separate painting, shaded differently from reality.