This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

The Black Vine member sat slouched in his chair, bound and bloodied from the fight that had led to his capture, but otherwise intact. His face was thinner than Reginald’s, sharper, the kind that gave off the impression of sly intelligence. But now, he looked more like a rat caught in a trap.

Jax leaned against the wall, spinning a knife idly between his fingers. “Name?”

“D-Donis,” the man stammered. “I’m just a handler. Low-level logistics. I just move stuff, I swear.” His current humble demeanour was very different from the prideful and superior manner with which he’d always spoken to Reginald.

“Stuff,” Miya said dryly, arms crossed again. “You mean the drugs you’re adding to this knockoff beer, and even trying to add to another company’s beer?”

“I don’t even know how it works!” Donis burst out. “They don’t tell me things! I didn’t even know that spiritual beer was involved in the plan until I was assigned to communicate with Reginald!” He nodded wildly toward the room they’d just come from. “I just get crates. I move them. That’s it!”

Darius stepped forward. “The compound. It’s real?”

Donis nodded frantically. “Yes. Yes! ‘Series A Drug Variant #32.’ The guys above me called it the breakthrough batch. They were hyped. I—I saw what it did to a guy who tried it directly. His eyes went all black, and he started laughing while his spine twisted like—like—” He shuddered. “I don’t know what happened after that. They took him away.”

“You didn’t ask questions?”

“You think people in my position live long when they start asking questions?”

Darius studied him for a long moment. Then he turned to the others. “He’s not lying.”

Garret grunted in agreement. “He’s practically shaking in fear. Nothing else to rely on. Low-level, like he said.”

Lira glanced back toward Reginald’s office. “Let’s get the keys.”

They returned to the office without a word. Reginald, still tied to the chair, looked up as they entered, his eyes darting like a cornered animal.

Darius didn’t speak. He just walked around the desk, opened the bottom drawer, as directed by Miya, and pulled out the ring of keys.

“You’re not going to leave me here, right?” Reginald croaked. “We—we had a deal!”

Miya gave him a flat look. “No, we didn’t.”

With that, they left him there, slamming the office door shut behind them.

“Stupid,” Jax muttered, “You always secure the deal before you start talking…”

They moved fast, checking door after door in the deeper, restricted sections of the factory. Most rooms were storage or documentation—rusty shelves, stacks of files, spiritual brew ingredients that had long since spoiled—but then Jax turned a key and let out a low whistle.

“Bingo.”

Crates. Dozens of them. Stacked along the walls like they were preparing to supply an army. Each one had thick black straps sealing the top and a faint chemical scent that stung the nose.

Miya pried one open with her knife. Inside were dozens of black vials cushioned in straw, each marked with a golden label, an unusual geometric emblem they’d never seen before—and the initials “SA32.”

“Series A Drug Variant 32,” Lira said under her breath. “These match what the Black Vine guy said.”

“No wonder they were eager to expand,” Garret muttered.

“We can’t carry it all,” Darius said. “One crate. That’s it. Evidence. The rest gets destroyed.”

Garret grabbed the lightest-looking box, hoisting it onto his shoulder with a grunt. “Let’s torch it.”

They moved quickly, spreading alcohol barrels and liquids across the main chambers and storage areas (thank god they were in an alcohol factory since they didn’t exactly carry around gasoline with them).

Reginald screamed when he smelled the smoke from behind his closed door.

Miya didn’t even glance back.

They exited as fire began to curl up the walls, tongues of orange licking at old wood and alcohol soaked crates. Within minutes, the building had become an inferno, the smoke trailing high into the night sky.

They stood in the shadows of a nearby tree line, the fire’s glow casting long shadows behind them. Darius kept watch silently, arms crossed, while the others fanned out around the perimeter to make sure no one in the building managed to escape and make a run for it. After all, a few of them were beast-tamers—one never knew what contracts or gifts they might have.

Flames crackled and spat, illuminating the twisted metal and crumbling stone as the structure began to collapse.

Rustle Snap

Gasp

All of them turned sharply toward the source—somewhere behind them, just past the edge of the clearing.

A faint rustle came from the underbrush. Quick, like someone stepping back too fast and stepping on a branch.

Jax’s blade was out in a flash. Garret tensed, the crate still on his shoulder.

Darius raised a hand to signal silence and took a slow step toward the sound.

“Who’s there?” he called into the dark.

Silence.

Then, another rustle. This one further away.

Miya took off in a sprint, weaving through the trees with practiced ease.

“Wait—!” Lira hissed, but Miya was already gone.

Jax and Garret followed a second later. Lira lingered only long enough to glance at the burning factory once more—then vanished into the forest after them.

“Sigh… I guess I will stay to make sure nobody escapes.” Darius muttered to nobody around him. After all, compared to the unknown person running away, there were confirmed beast-tamers in the burning building that he needed to make sure actually died. As the only one that was now also a beast-tamer and could fight against them, should they escape, it was only natural that he stay behind.

———-

Not far away…

“Oomf! Argh!”

Baaa-a-a-a-a

A small figure tripped and rolled over a branch as he fled, letting out a small noise as his body crashed to the ground. Behind the rolling figure, the sound of a goat’s bleating rang out.

The chasing Miya slowed down after seeing the figure fall and the surprising visual of a goat…and a kid?