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Chapter 37: Succinct, Yet Informative
‘You can’t ask it like that!’yelped Dominic at Leo, even while the ameshek simply once more tilted her head to one side, her antennae waving back and forth slightly faster than normal. The former-human was abruptly regretting encouraging Leo to take point on this.He’d thought that it might be a good opportunity...
Chapter 36: Grief
Leo approached the bodies of the fallen, the last to do so. They had swapped over because the former-human had some odd hesitations over consuming the flesh of one he had hunted with. Leo would say that it was a human-only issue, but he’d noticed that there was a sombre air which hung over the group.With so much fles...
Chapter 35: Numbers Are Strength
Curious about the attack the amesheks had used on them several times, he looked at the first.[Sonic Attack (T1): Use soundwaves to disrupt the internal systems of the target. The higher the level of the Ability, the more damage can be done. This is a Sound-classed Ability: compatible other sound attacks can enhance the...
Chapter 34: Being Honest
The ameshek was silent for a long moment.‘You spared my life,’she said eventually. ‘I recognise that and am not ungrateful for it. Even if you attacked me first, that is the nature of the world we live in. I know that you would have gained much if you had killed me. Yet you chose not to. Why not?’Dominic eyed h...
Chapter 33: Breaking Bread
In the end, Dominic had chosen not to say anything about the goddess to the lionesses. Nor did he mention the verging-on-betrayal of the ameshek leader. In fact, all he ended up telling them was that he had started the process of securing the Place of Power, and that he had to come back when the sun set on the next day...
Chapter 32: A Threat
Dominic sighed and then released his elbows, allowing his arms to return to his sides.“You say you need me as much as I need you? Then promise that you won’t declare a Holy Crusade if I, or any of those I might convert to follow you too, choose to leave. Promise that now and I’ll agree to follow you.”The goddes...
Chapter 31: A Small Cub in a Very, Very Big Universe
“Uh…” Dominic felt rather blind-sided. While he and his father had nominally been Christian, it’s not really something he’d paid a huge amount of attention to. His father had gone to church at least once a month and when he was younger he’d been obliged to go along. Sunday school had been fun when he was si...
Chapter 30: A Drop of Blood to the Goddess
The rock didn’t feel like it should. That was his first realisation. Instead of being a hard glassy substance, it instead felt like…jelly. But Dominic didn’t have very long to contemplate the oddly yielding nature of the rock as his paw abruptly froze, trapped.He found that he could still move the rest of his bod...
Chapter 29: Strengthening
In the end, he was a little disappointed at the lack of fanfare – nothing seemed to happen in acknowledgement of his choice. Not until he noticed that the ameshek’s eyes were open and gazing at him. Evidently his theory about the creature being kept in an unconscious state until he’d made a choice was right.‘Ar...
A list of Markus' Bound as of Book 4 Chapter 27 (Taming Destiny)
Hi everyone,Due to several requests for a list of Markus' Bound, I have managed to find the time to create one. Here is a link to a googledoc containing a table with the list of Markus' Bound up to this chapter (note that I've only included his 'band', not the majority of the samuran villagers who ...
Chapter 28: Doesn’t Come Back To Bite Us
‘Thumbs up,’he thought at the message, watching the words dissolve before his eyes.‘What did you do that for?’ demanded Leo a moment later. ‘I thought you wanted the Place of Power? And surely that big dog would have been worth plenty of Prey Points!’The health bar of the large wolven ameshek filled a littl...
Chapter 27: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down
Dominic stared at the ameshek. It looked…tough. He’d been pleasantly surprised with how easy the other ameshek had been to kill – for him. After all, his original encounter had seen him coming off worse from a fight with their weakest member. But this one looked like trouble.What choice did he have, though? He da...
Chapter 26: The Players In Place
The stage was set, the players in place. Nerves had been making Dominic’s stomach feel filled with butterflies up until now, but now that they’d actually settled into position, his nerves had vanished. All that mattered was the hunt and keeping his lionesses safe.And winning. That was important too.‘Now,’he bre...
Chapter 25: In Sight
Dominic jogged through the trees once more, this time alone. If he could sweat, his fur would look like he’d just been swimming. As it was, his nervousness was less obvious, but still very much present.Almost religiously, he checked his storage space every few moments, making sure nothing had changed. Each time, it w...
Chapter 24: Death by Storage Space
The main thing that Dominic had to take into account was the fact that he didn’t want to be fighting on two fronts. As he’d already considered, if he took the war to the kesh first, there was no guarantee that the sonic wolves wouldn’t get involved. Not that he thought that they would ‘protect’ the kesh, but ...
Chapter 23: Parasites
The lions didn’t waste their time while waiting for the rest of the pride to arrive. They marked an area with their scent – meaning that the former-human had quickly disappeared into their mindspace when Leo had squatted down.By leaving traces of their presence all around a particular area, it should be clear enoug...
Chapter 22: Snake-oil Salesman
‘Trespassers!’the creature called. ‘Turn back or be attacked.’Eyeing the speaker, Dominic thought fast about the approach he wanted to take here, then connected to the mind of the kesh to send his message.‘We wish to investigate this forest,’he said, deciding to take a relatively soft beginning. There would...
Chapter 21: Stupid Primates
‘Wait!’ snapped Dominic urgently in the pride chat. The lionesses froze, two with their jaws around a beast’s neck, milliseconds away from biting down and crushing them.‘Did you speak?’ he asked next, concentrating on sending a message to the beast in front of him. He’d quickly glanced around and seen nothi...
Chapter 20: You Be Careful
‘You’re sure you don’t want to lead?’Dominic checked with Leo.‘After what you’ve put us through over the last few days?’ The lion scoffed. ‘I want to sleep.’‘Well, since you’ll be providing directions, I don’t think you can do that anyway,’Dominic pointed out. The lion huffed at him.‘At leas...
Chapter 19: Progress
The sun was rising on another day. Dominic had long lost count of how many it had been since the System had arrived. Something in his brain seemed to resist keeping track easily and he didn’t care enough to pursue too much. Leo didn’t care either – one day was much like another to him.He was tired: they were retu...
Chapter 18: Inspired
‘Leo, can you see this?’Dominic asked, his tone mystified.‘I’m looking at it now. Are you going to take it?’ Leo asked, sounding as baffled as Dominic felt.‘Now that’s the question, isn’t it,’Dominic murmured. One part of him wanted to leap at it: combining Abilities had to be a good thing, right? And...
Chapter 17: New Ability
Dominic sighed.‘I’m not convinced about the horns,’he replied doubtfully. ‘If they’re relatively small and don’t stick out much then…maybe. But have you seen the massive things these wildebeest have? I don’t want a rack sticking out the sides of my head like that. Have you considered how it might impact...
Chapter 16: A Nice Set of Horns
A female slunk through the undergrowth – the one Leo’s brother called Menhit. She ‘reported’ to the matriarch of their pride, Isis, then came over to Leo and sent what they had to guess was the same message.According to her, the wildebeests were aware that there were lions around, but didn’t seem too alarmed....
Chapter 15: Lion’s Generosity
Pride statusLevel 4 Pride (progress to next level 29/35)Current information shared:Health, AbilitiesDominic was pleased to see that the Pride level had increased twice – honestly, if it hadn’t, he would have been very surprised. They’d been sitting at 9/10 towards level 3 before Sekhmet had tiered up. Since a Tie...
Chapter 14: Teach Grandma How To Suck Eggs
It took them a while, but when they found their prey, Dominic knew that this was what he wanted to target. It was a little bit selfish, he’d admit, since they probably wouldn’t be the best for gaining Points, but at least it had the benefit of being familiar prey for the lower-level lionesses to hunt.They had come ...
Chapter 13: Greet Other One
Sekhmet’s blurring was the longest yet – all the others were done before her, even those who had started later. Though the lionesses which had finished inspected their own changes first – mostly either size, or claws, or teeth from what Dominic could see as Leo looked around – they all ended up staring at the s...
Chapter 12: Versatile
Leo snarled as they were surrounded by the smaller predators. Irritation rose inside him: did these canines really think that they could beat the larger lions?‘Don’t get too cocky,’ his brother’s voice counselled him. ‘They’re smaller, but we know that smaller doesn’t necessarily mean easier to deal with....
Chapter 11: Did I Jinx It?
Status ofDominic Martin Cole / LeoSpecies: Lion (body) / Human (mind), Two-Souled, ChimeraLevel: Evolved Beast Level 20 Tier 2 (Path of Evolution)Progress to Evolution: 360/508 PPAcquired Abilities:Quick Strike (T0) level 3 (21% –> 95% to level 4) – 3 SP for +35% speed; 8 SP for +70% speed.Second Wind (T1) level 1 ...
Chapter 10: Lit a Fire
Leo eyed his females, casting occasional covetous looks over at the newer females who were slowly coming around to his presence. Unfortunately, mating was off the cards now: none of the females were in heat. With any luck, the two he’d been mating with would be pregnant with cubs, but he wouldn’t be able to tell fo...
Chapter Six: Middle Manager
“You’ve actually spotted lizard-folk? Near here?”Sniffing around, far too close to my den. If you do not deal with them soon, I will kill them all for their trespass – and for what they have done to my cub.“I’ll deal with them,” I hurriedly promise. There is far more to be gained from facing them myself. ...
