Honestly I had no Idea what to think of our new mentor, I had no idea what to think of our current situation, and everything seemed to be derailing at lightning speed. Just over a month ago I was at my cabin, helping Jax with his quest counting the seconds till he was gone. Now I would take a killing blow for him, One of our party members was dead, and my entire understanding of what made up our reality was crumbling. In this facet I was rather cross with Jax atm. Everything seemed to be spinning out of control so fast that I can't even remember if we left Sir Oinks a lot with the car or if he was with Thalia somehow. So I needed a goal, and considering how I now had the pieces I needed at my disposal, I had a mission.
Jax did not help this by saying things like
"No, you're injured, sleep, you can build it tomorrow."
I don't need sleep; I need a distraction from existential dread. I had even tried to sneak to the workshop after Jax was supposed to be asleep, but it seems like he was planning to wait for me. He even had a bag that I could only assume had food and alcohol so he could be up all night to ensure I rested.
So imagine my surprise I heard Jax from beyond my door pounding.
"Aiden, Aiden you up dude!?"
He asked rather loud and with a surprising amount of panic considering it was like 4 in the morning. I grumbled, and winced out of bed before making my way to the door.
"Jax, the suns not even up, what are you yelling fo-"
I opened my door, expecting to see Jax coming to check that I was actually in bed or something. Instead he was covered in dirt, deep circles under his eyes from staying up. He was panting from effort like he had been running for miles as a strange vitality seemed to pulse from him. What really caught my attention was the very pale looking limp fox he had tied to his back using a cloth that was covered in dozens of wounds.
After what Kaelen had said days ago, a small part of my mind had been forced to think back to when I first froze when Jax was knocked out, but as I saw the situation in front of me, I didn't think, instead I turned and grabbed my bag, pulling out 2 healing potions and one antidote. I turned around and helped Jax release the cloth holding the fox as I began to work.
"What in the hells happened!?"
I asked as I began to apply bits of healing potion to a rag and address the wounds while pouring some more down the fox's throat.
"Long story, short version is she was attacked by dire wolves and I chased them off, but she already passed out by then."
I took a moment to stare at Jax before asking.
"Where the hell did you find dire wolves in the city!?"
"I left the city to do something, she was like a mile out into the woods, will she live or not!"
Jax asked with a surprising amount of force in his voice. I looked Jax over as I finished tying a few bandages here and there before nodding my head.
"Ok, her breathing is stable, and it looks like most of the wounds were not deep, but what were you doing so far out beyond the city?"
I asked Jax. He refused to meet my eyes for a moment as he stayed silent before he turned to me. His normal expression was replaced by one that showed a level of seriousness that was both startling and chilling.
"Look, the reason I went out was to gain a new ability, but what I am more concerned with is what will come after this fox fullblood wakes up."
I raised an eyebrow as I crossed my arms and asked.
"And what exactly is going to be so catastrophic about her waking up?"
Jax seemed to take a centering breath before asked me a strange question.
"Have you ever heard of the naturalists?"
I cocked my head trying to think about if I had heard anything by that name before shaking my head. Jax sighed as he looked me in the eyes and said.
"Can I trust that nothing said in this room will leave this room without going trough me first?"
I sat down on the bed as Jax sat next to me.
"I promise, so what exactly are these naturalists?"
Jax let out a sigh as he began to explain.
"The Naturalists are a faction of beast kin who are supremacists and believe that the other races are destined to serve them. So they make their own settlements, away from people."
"Well sure there are supremacists here and there, but that's not a super common thing, you know?"
I asked a bit confused.
"You would be surprised, unlike halfbloods or lightbloods fullbloods receive all the benefits and flaws from their full animalistic inheritance. So a rhino beast kin can plow trough buildings even as a mage, or a rabbit beast kin can run 4 times as fast as anyone else their level. It didn't help the divide that most places have services that use thumbs more than people would think. So a good 20% of the fullblood population is part of the naturalists."
I turned to Jax with the silent question as he took off his jacket and revealed a strange bald patch on the back of his neck where a symbol stood. It seemed to be a mouth with fangs like the side profile of a lunging beast.
"Soooooo, does that mean you plan to make the rest of us serve you or?"
I asked a bit concerned thinking back to how many times I had covered Jax's beer tab. Jax gave me a weird look before he shook his head.
"What? No, I was born to a tribe of naturalists. It's for that reason I know just how much the mania of the tribes can be. I'm worried that she may be a naturalists and we will have to figure out what to do with her."
I glanced to the sleeping fox in the corner covered in bandages as I looked back at Jax.
"So how did you get out of the naturalists?"
Jax became quiet for a moment as he shifted and said
"It was because of my brother. Growing up he and my father were these almost unreachable figures. My dad was level 60 with a B rank soul skill, while my brother had gotten to level 20 by age 12 and had an A rank soul skill. He was lined up to be the next chief. You should have seen the suitors who showed up from different naturalist tribes seeking the stormfront child as they had dubbed him."
Jax said that last part with a small dry chuckle as he continued.
"Despite his loftiness he refused to let the little runt of the litter fall behind, he taught me how to use skills, and even helped me develop my martial arts to what they are now. If you could believe it, I was still level 1 at the age of 16 despite participating in the hunts. I idolized my brother, and honestly that day I followed him because I wanted to tell him that dad was getting madder and madder that he refused to take a bride."
Jax paused for a moment as hie shoulders shook for a moment before he cleared his throat and looked up at the ceiling before continuing.
"As it turns out, he was already seeing someone, a nice dwarven girl named Siri. He knew about the naturalist stuff, and yet he still fell in love with her. Hell I don't blame him, they looked so happy together it was infectious.
However my sister was a psionic, and read my mind when I didn't realize she was there. Dad would beat me until the edge of death before healing me and starting over again, demanding I tell him where this happened so he could do something. I don't even know, but it would have been bad."
I watched Jax as I thought back to all his drunken antics, and laughing and his normal smile replaced by such a pained expression. I silently waited as he continued.
"Orion came running in after hearing what was happening. He challenged dad to a duel for the chief's throne right then and there, but no amount of talent can make up for a 40 level gap. If you want to know what kind of a bastard my dad was, he gave Orion a choice. He could let me die, and he would pretend this never happened, or he could die. The jackass didn't even hesitate. I got kicked out of my home that night. When I told Siri the news she slapped me and cursed me out until I fled town. I think it was that first night when I fell asleep under a small tree with bits of the rain coming through that I vowed I would kill my dad."
Jax turned to look at me before sticking his tongue out, his tone shifting as he said.
"Uh, sorry about the touchy feely rant just there."
Feeling the change in tone I leaned back and laughed.
"Your good, but in exchange for subjecting me to this touchy feelyness I hold a demand good sir."
I said in a mock noble accent we had been using jokingly when pretending to be some of the nobles that would occasionally visit the Dukes estate. Jax mimicking the tone turned back to me.
"Good sir, what demand would you hold me too?"
Jax did the voice better than I did, and combined with using his tail like a fake mustache I let out a sputtering laugh before I said.
"When you rip your dads throat out, I want to be holding him down so I can see it happen."
Jax gave me a grin as he held up his paw and we fist bumped.