Despite my transition from the wilderness to society, I found that many traits from my time in the wild remain. The main 3 were a hatred of being restrained, a fear of things bigger than oneself, and the awareness of dangers around oneself. So the fact that I was stuck in place, staring at a massive building that was bigger than the tallest trees I had ever seen, and watching as I was hovering over a slick clay rooftile slope leading to a long fall were not the most comfortable things. Yet strangely enough, while I was stuck, Sera and Malt were free to fly around and chat as they pleased, not that they could go far from me, or that I could respond. As such they spent the time watching through windows and giving me a play by play of what they saw.
At least until I was suddenly released and I had to create a bunch of vines so I didn't go flying off the rooftop. It was in that I saw two things. The first was that there seemed to be someone wandering away from the main house and towards one of the side buildings, but I couldn't see many details, the other was that Jax's Obsession was spiking and getting worse. Something that seemed to be a growing problem day by day as it seems my attempts to slow it down had only delayed its growth.
I quickly made my way down from the roof as I began to run for where Jax was as I could feel him tamping down the obsession as he rounded the corner with Aiden.
"There you ar-"
I started to say before I was cut off by Jack shaking, water droplets and more flew everywhere soaking my face and bits of my fur. Jax and Aiden both turned, the two seeming surprised I was there as I stared down Jax with an annoyed look as I turned and said.
"You know what, why was I running over here."
Jax quickly ran up beside me as he gave an awkward chuckle.
"Sorry Beatrice, didn't realize you were there."
Aiden also followed behind as he reached into his cloak and pulled out a small silver giant spoon shaped thing.
"Here, look in here, and tell me what number you see over your head."
I looked at him with a raised eyebrow as I looked and sure enough there was the number 11 floating over my head. I glanced up at it, but I couldn't see it despite seemingly staring at it in the reflection.
"Its only in reflections, basically the game is that everyone has a certain number of swaps, these swaps are to gain new numbers by switching with another, we're trying to have the higher numbers before the game is over.
I raised an eyebrow at Aiden, his explanation made sense on paper, but I didn't really get it, and as I turned to Jax he shrugged, seemingly just as lost as I was. I turned back to Aiden who was looking around as he said.
"Another thing, our team mates are frozen in different spots all over the place, each place has a puzzle, solving it frees the stuck people, any chance you two can try to track down the others, so far you two and Liora are the only ones I have found and freed, so we need to find Selene and Thalia."
"Why, because I was a wild animal?"
I asked Aiden, raising an eyebrow.
"No, because your nose is, like, 200 times better than mine."
Before I could retort, Aiden headed for the back house I saw someone enter before as I led Jax over to beside the building I had been on the roof of as he seemed to collapse like he had been holding his breath, panting slightly as he looked at me with strange eyes.
"Oh Beatrice, I was starting to go crazy without you near."
"Shut up and hold still"
I said in a low growl. Jax had begun to do this recently when the obsession builds too much, almost like a strange second side that seemed wholly devoted to flirting and looking at me like I was some shining treasure. It would have been flattering if not for the dissonance from his normal self, and the feeling of insanity he radiates when he gets like that.
I channeled the vines as I saw Jax go from giving me an almost eerie smile with his eyes locked on mine to shivering all over as he said.
"Oh, dang, that one was weird."
He shivered as he shook his head like he was trying to throw something off.
"Jax, it's getting worse, how long do you plan to let this go on?"
I asked, thinking back to the past few times this happened as we began to walk towards the door for the building we were next to. Heading to the door we went in and a notification appeared
You have Entered Puzzle room 6 Grave Encounters
Looking around the room seemed to be rather ornate, a large carving of a humanoid figure sat at the front as I saw 3 people in the pews, looking as if they were praying, the normal colors grayed out as they didn't move. One was a shorter woman who seemed to be an otter lightblood, a small set of ears and a tail stuck out as her hair seemed to transition from a dark gray to a ghostly white past her ears. An elven woman in black pants and a button up white shirt was praying next to a large hairy spider the size of Jax. The spider was wearing a small satchel like backpack as the elven women seemed to have a small pouch that was filled with small marble figurines.
I looked over to Jax as he shrugged and we began to explore the room. There was an upstairs to the church and a back room we could enter, and we could go out to the small courtyard we had been in before, but trying to leave the courtyard, or leave through the side of the back of the church seemed to prevent us from leaving with some kind of invisible wall. We split up to look around the rooms as Jax took the upstairs, and I looked around the courtyard.
"Hey Bee, a minute when your not thinking"
Malt said as he flew over to rest around where my shoulder was. I stopped and glanced towards him as he said.
"We are all aware that Jax's obsession is getting worse, but honestly is it really such a bad thing for this tournament?"
I stopped as I turned towards Malt and Sera yelled
"Malt, what are you talking about, a small flareup caused him to almost kill that bear fullblood!"
Malt crossed his arms as he said.
"We are in a tournament going up against people several times our level, that power isn't just useful, it's necessary, and I'm not saying ignore it forever, just let it build during the tournament."
I raised a paw to swat at Malt, his suggestion wasn't just cruel, it was manipulative to someone I frankly owed quite a lot to. Yet I found myself pausing before I could swing. My mind racing back to seeing Ymer and his allies, the dangerous feeling they gave off and how even in sparring almost killed Aiden in a single attack.
A part of me barked that we shouldn't just follow instincts here, especially if Jax found out I had done it he would be crushed.
Yet another part of me said he would be understanding considering the situation. I ended up sitting there contemplating the thought as Jax came back out to where I was.
"I searched upstairs, nothing I could see, any luck down here."
I stayed silent for a moment, staring ahead as I turned back to Jax, a mix of fear and determination as I asked.
"Jax, If we had a weapon so strong it could help us tear Ymer apart, but using that weapon may hurt someone in a way they don't ever fully heal from, what would you say about if someone wanted to use it?"
Jax didn't respond, his seemingly normal goofy grin that had been plastered on his face had shifted to a serious expression of thought before he asked.
"You're talking about the obsession, aren't you?"
I didn't respond, my eyes looking to the ground as a feeling of shame washed over me. Jax didn't say anything for a moment as announcements of puzzles completed came and went as we sat in silence. He reached out and put a paw on my shoulder as he said.
"I would say no, because I don't want to hurt you in that way or any other way."
My head shot up as I felt a strange fury building in my chest. My paw moved before I could think as I punched Jax in the face. His head jerked to the side, and I knew my strength wasn't enough to do any real damage, but I think the surprise is what truly hurt him as he looked at me bewildered.
"Shut up, don't act like we are the ones who are being hurt by this."
I felt an ugly emotion welling up inside me as my vision became blurry from tears.
"You saved me, showed me a whole new path in life. You didn't get angry or kick me out when I almost broke up the party because I thought you were evil. You helped me grow, meet people, have actual friends and people who care about me."
I said, my voice laced with emotion as tears began to fall, Jax's face having a quiet sadness as he listened, like he was regretting something.
"You fucking died Jax, everyone has moved on from it because its something adventurers face every day, but death is terrifying, you were probably terrified, and the pain was so intense you started to become insane. You died because I was there so you couldn't retreat, I can barely pay you back by suppressing your obsession, so don't you DARE act like we are the ones being hurt here!"
It felt like a damn, the emotions I tried to tamp down since the dungeon cracking more and more as Jax was nice to me, and the others didn't blame me, the guilt beginning to spill over until it broke free. Malt and Sera didn't speak, watching from above as in a way they almost seemed relieved I was saying it aloud.
I waited for Jax to snap back at me, his reasoning why I was wrong and that it makes sense, and how he was angry for realizing what I had done. Instead he reached his paws up and hugged me, not saying a word, just a soft embrace as I hugged him back tight, terrified that if I got go he and all of this would vanish. My crying silent to the rest of the participants of the event.