Cyrus Solaris
It wasn't long before the astral behemoth Voen heard was in range. The astral behemoth was a quadrupedal creature that resembled a stag.
It stood twenty feet tall, donned a silver coat that shimmered in the sunlight, and was topped with antlers of glowing ether. Enraged, it rampaged through the forest uprooting trees like weeds. Looking at its celestial core, the inside was gaseous and cloud-like, indicating it was a Starspawn.
Instinctively, I grabbed for my blade behind me.
"Cyrus, you got an itch or something?" Voen asked as he began to scratch my shoulder blade.
"No, I don't, it's just a reflex." I snapped while deflecting Voen's hand away from me. It was a poor time to forget I lost my special blade from Rava.
"Pretty violent reflex you got there?"
"Could you shut it for a second and let me think. Only one of us can do anything about this behemoth."
"My bad, do your thing, boss," Voen said, putting his hands up in surrender.
We were currently resting against a boulder in the middle of the forest. The Stag hadn't noticed us yet. Did a rift just open up in the middle of our test?
"Do you have enough cosmic energy to use that flute again?"
"I do, but wait a minute, how did you know about that?" he asked with a hint of suspicion.
I didn't respond to that question. "Good, I need you to disorient it first, and I will finish it off."
"Fine. But you might want to stand behind me first." I nodded and did as he said, covering my ears for added measure.
Voen unleashed a sonic wave towards the behemoth, causing it to wail in agony.
I charged the behemoth and slipped as the wet soil gave way beneath me.
A chuckle left Voen's lips. Annoyed, I picked mud off my face.
"You might want to move!" Voen shouted, the hove of the stag preparing to stomp me to death. I rolled to my left and jumped to my feet.
Using all the momentum I had, I launched my foot into the joint of the stag's leg. The behemoth's entire body buckled from the force of my kick. I threw myself towards the other front leg of the stag, causing the head to drop a few levels. Before the beast could understand what had just occurred, I was already perched on its head.
With a fierce and intense grip, I took hold of the antlers that protruded from the behemoth's skull. It took everything to stay on the stag, the raindrops picking up speed, making it difficult not to slide off its slick skin.
Hands augmented by the magenta aura of my cosmic energy, I begin to twist the neck of the astral stag. Flailing with all its might, the behemoth tried to buck me off, its resistance fueling my excitement.
The ethereal coat on the stag's neck began to rip as its strength started to falter, but I didn't have enough strength to finish the job with my bare hands.
I looked over my shoulder to spot my straggler before I decided to finish my rodeo.
"Brace yourself, Voen," I shouted out as I commanded cosmic energy into my astral tattoo.
The increased gravity I created caused the behemoth to crumble to the ground. My attention moved to the antlers.
I wanted a weapon for the future. I snapped off a shard of the ethereal antler and raised it to the beast's neck. Then I hesitated.
I took another look at the behemoth's core. It was on the verge of evolving to the next stage. Like the Aurora Moth, I fought in the Valador region. Couldn't help but think that the behemoth should have more cosmic energy than it showed.
Not wasting another second of gravity well, I plunged the antler into the behemoth's neck.
The stag wailed in pain. A dark substance laced with cosmic energy started to trickle from the neck of the behemoth.
With each passing second, the rate at which the substance left the body increased. It wasn't long before the body lost function and its wails grew faint.
Sliding down the beast, I found Voen's gaze locked on me. His face etched with concern and uncertainty.
"You alright, Voen? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just…. That was incredible, I've never seen anything like it."
"All I did was just take down a Starspawn astral behemoth. far from incredible."
"You don't understand, Cyrus. This was the first Astral Behemoth I helped defeat. Where I come from, there are only a handful of Starbound. I've seen behemoths wreak havoc and take countless lives. So to me it was incredible. I've never killed one."
"Never, then how did you get invited here?" I asked as I started to break the other antler off.
"Well, you see, that was a fluke in my case."
"A fluke?"
"I happened to be out on the outskirts practicing for my next gig, and there was a caravan coming through. A group of astral behemoths attacked the caravan. So I used my ability on the behemoths in hopes of saving them. I put them to sleep, and it just so happens that there were some high-ranking officials in that caravan. Who then decided to sponsor me coming here?" Voen finished scratching the back of his head.
"And you call me impressive, tsk," I said.
"I would much rather be able to fight like you instead. The Sonorax constellation is kinda tricky and really doesn't seem fit for combat. What's your constellation? It seemed like you didn't use one. Is yours like an augmentation type?"
"You could say that, but come help me butcher this thing."
"No way I'm eating that!" Voen shot back, his face now matching his green eyes.
"Well, do you want to starve?"
"No. But it's oozing out some weird stuff, you sure it's gonna be fine, dude?"
His lack of experience was evident.
"Here, at least take the core then and heal up."
"Trying to get rid of me, huh?"
"I would much rather not lug around dead weight, and I'm not going to leave someone in worse shape than I found them."
"Is that your way of saying you enjoy my company?"
"Keep it up, and I'll stick you inside that carcase."
"Alright, I'll stop….. For now."
It took several hours to butcher the behemoth properly, and before we knew it, the sun had started to set. As Voen and I finished making our camp, a loud noise erupted in the atmosphere. "What was that?"
"From what I can tell, it was a cannon."
Right after the loud noise faded, our devices started to ding. There was a message. "It looks like it's from the school."
"You're right, funny how they're giving us a little more info after the first day has pretty much completed."
The message read: Now that you all are settled in for the test, this is where you can check your standings. Rankings are updated every minute—best of luck.
"Yo Cyrus, where are you on the board? It looks like I'm at the bottom of the pack."
"I think I'm in the same boat as you."
"It's insane to think that a group has fifty totems."
"Yeah, that would have been me if I didn't get stuck with you."
"Maybe, but others don't have someone to play music for you. What do you wanna hear?"
To my left, my camera floated down next to me, antagonizing me. My hands balled into a fist, knowing who was potentially behind that camera. It forced me to make an unkind decision.
"The only thing I want to hear from you is snoring Voen. Let's get some sleep."