Primal Dawn

Kalista awoke annoyed to the hushed sounds of moaning. The annoying part was not that she had been woken up, but rather that the moans didn't belong to her. Gaia seemed to be doing her best to keep her voice down, but there is some slight difficulty in being silent enough that someone two feet away from you couldn't hear you doing the dirty.

Especially when the man who was actively thrusting inside her was using the butt of the person she was trying to avoid waking up as a springboard to thrust faster.

This bed really is too small, thought Kalista.

Kalista used this opportunity to think about how to explain the situation with the church to Peter. She tried to come at it from every direction, but in the end decided it would be best to just retell the entire conversation in its entirety rather than try to skirt on any details.

Gaia let out a quiet gasp as Peter's body began to shudder. In a few moments the room was quiet except for Peter's labored panting.

Kalista thought for a moment. “Mmmm,” she hummed aloud as if she had just woken up.

Kalista could feel Peter twitch upon hearing her voice. “Oh, sorry, Kalista. I didn't mean to wake you.” He sat up, looking towards Kalista. “I could tell Gaia was growing restless, and... and wanted to help her.”

Kalista let out a fake yawn. “I see,” she replied plainly.

“Are you... ready to talk now?” Kalista sat up in the bed and stared at the wall opposite from the foot of the bed. As her lips opened, “Actually, why don't we talk over breakfast.” Peter quickly interrupted. “Maybe that'll be better.”

Kalista nodded as Peter hopped out of bed and got dressed. The three went downstairs to the inn and Peter ordered some food for all of them. Now that Kalista had a better look at him, he seemed in a bad state. Light bags under his eyes, and slightly paler. Somehow he looked worse today than when he had been in a coma.

Kalista sighed. “Rather than give a summary, it'll be easier to just tell you everything.”

---

“We do not serve prim-, oh, it's you.” Serina spoke calmly. “Come to challenge me yet again?”

Kalista shook her head. “No. I've come for something else.” Kalista's fists tightened. Although she was desperate to get Peter back, there was a surprising amount of difficulty in asking an organization dedicated to your extinction for help. “My tamer, Peter, was captured by some primals... Dryads, in the eastern forest yesterday. And I need help getting him back.”

Serina's eyebrow raised. “Is this not something you would go to the Tamer's Guild for?”

“I already filled out the request. Nobody volunteered yesterday. None today. I fear I am running out of time.”

“And so that has brought you here? A primal begging a follower of the Church of Pura to assist her in retrieving her tamer?”

“...Yes. Weren't you interested in him? It would be both our loss.”

Serina smiled. “Perhaps that is true. But it sounds like those Dryads are also interested in him. Why should one party be favored over the other?”

Kalista snarled. “They will kill him, and you know-”

“And he is safe with you?” Serina interrupted. “I believe the first time I saw you both he was half naked and claimed to have been assaulted by a primal. We have now dueled multiple times, and you have always lost. Now you come to me, asking for my help, after having run away while he was captured by monsters.” Serina smiled. “From both my and the church's perspective, I can say that that man seems to not be safe around primals, tamed or not.”

Kalista angrily huffed. “Do not confuse my presence here with cowardice. Through our bond, he commanded me to return to town.”

“A convenient lie. There are records of fully bonded primals killing their own tamers, and this one managed to force you to run across an entire forest to safety? You are just a weakling, like all primals. A species so quick to fall to your knees that you have evolved to suck cock.”

Kalista gritted her teeth as her body began to tremble in anger. “And I will crawl on those knees back through the forest if I must. It is obvious this was a waste of my time. You had no intention of helping me from the start. All you wanted was an excuse to stand idly while the rest of your companions work their food drive.”

“Pffft. Ahahaha.” Serina laughed aloud, drawing the attention of both the church members and others nearby. “I suppose if demons were boring then none would fall for their temptations. You are interesting.” Kalista remained silent, glaring at Serina. “Very well. We will fight these Dryads you speak of.”

“You will?!” Kalista said, surprised. “Then!”

“On one condition.” Serina sternly spoke. “My answer does not change what I said before. You are a failure of a primal, unfit to protect what's precious to you. My condition is simple. In exchange for our help, we will have a duel. When I win, Peter will release all his primals from their bonds, including you. And the church will apply a seal that will prevent him from taming a primal ever again.”

Kalista's eyes widened. “That... that is not something I can give. Even offering my own head would be preferable to this.”

“This is my only offer,” Serina spoke bluntly.

Kalista pursed her lips. Although she had spoken boldly of crawling through the forest, she knew that she would certainly fail to save Peter without their help. But this... if she accepted this, what would his reaction be?

Should she only care about saving him for now? Of course, if she beat Serina, she would not have to worry about the consequences she just outlined. But... was such a thing possible? She had come no closer to beating her the last time than she did the first. If they rescued Peter, returned, and the duel was immediately initiated, she would stand no chance.

I suppose it comes down to whether I have any time to train more before our duel. “When would this duel take place?”

“Has he challenged the battle center yet?” Kalista shook her head. “Then the duel can take place one day afterwards. Whether he wins or loses. ” That would give me some time to train.

Kalista grimaced. “Very well,” she nodded. “We have a deal.”

“Good.” Serina turned to a nearby woman. “Priestess Asia, did you overhear our conversation?”

“Yes, Paladin Serina. It seems you have once again found a reason to leave the morning food drive early.”

“My talents are better suited towards pushing swords towards the stomach, not food. Gather anyone interested, we leave in thirty minutes.”

“Wait,” Kalista hurriedly said. “Don't you want to at least know how many of them there were?”

Serina frowned while shaking her head. “You will never grow strong enough to protect the things you care about while worrying about foolish things such as how numerous your opponents are. Do you think it is fine to lose just because you are outnumbered? Battles are not determined by the measure of your enemy's strength, but instead by your own.”

Kalista's eyes narrowed. That is easy to say when you can smash a wooden shield to pieces with one swing of your sword.

---

Peter looked even more tired than before. “If you don't beat her, I'll have to give up both you and Gaia?” Peter asked Kalista. “And give up being a tamer forever?”

She gave a slow nod, looking sad. “I'm sorry Peter. If only I had saved you in the first place, none of this would have happened. Serina is right. I am unfit to protect you.”

“No,” Peter said bluntly, anger in his voice. “Don't ever say something like that again, do you understand?” Peter began to breathe heavily, looking towards Kalista.

Kalista was taken a back. “I-I'm sorry Peter, it was not my...”

“You didn't do anything wrong. It was...” Peter slammed his fist into the table, drawing attention from a few patrons nearby, even surprising Kalista. “I shouldn't have trusted them. I thought they would come back. I thought we were friends...” Peter sounded as though he were about to cry. “Maybe we are friends. Deric had been telling me what kind of person he was all along. 'We aren't heroes.'”, Peter said, mimicking Deric's voice. “I just never listened.”

Peter leaned on the table and covered his face with his hands. Gaia placed a hand on his back, trying to comfort him. Kalista stared at the floor. In this moment she was the weakest she had ever felt. Peter was taking this hard. It seemed even he didn't believe she could defeat Serina. If only...

“It's alright.” Kalista felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Peter standing next to her. “None of this changed our plans. We knew the challenge was coming up anyway and needed to beat it. And last time we fought Serina I promised you we would beat her. We always had a few busy months ahead of us. I just thought there would be more people along for the journey.” Peter paused. “And in a way there are.”

Peter walked to the other side of the table, next to Gaia. “We found a new friend in Gaia. Kalista mentioned that when she had rescued me, you had healed me, keeping me alive. Thank you. You've joined at a difficult time, but, we'll all get through this. Together.”

A twinge of annoyance filled Kalista, though she did her best to hide it. All she did was clean up the mess she made! “O-of course!” Gaia said happily but hesitantly. “Thank you for taking care of me. I-I promise I will do my best, and-and won't hold any of you back.” The last sentence Gaia nervously glanced towards Kalista as she spoke.