Morning light streamed through the window, pulling Kael from sleep with gentle insistence. He opened his eyes to find all four of his bonded companions already awake and watching him—Vera from her sprawled position on the bed, Ember hovering near the ceiling, Fulminus alert on his perch, and Mushy's cap tilted toward him from the corner.
Through their bonds, Kael felt their collective anticipation. They were waiting to hear his decision about revealing his abilities to Lyssa and Granite.
I've decided, Kael sent to all of them. I'm going to tell them. Today, before we start training. You were all right—Lyssa and Granite have proven themselves trustworthy, and the benefits of training openly outweigh the risks.
Relief and approval flowed back through his bonds. His companions had given their input yesterday, but they'd left the final decision to him. Now that it was made, they were fully supportive.
"Alright, team," Kael said aloud, sitting up and stretching. "Let's get ready. We're going to have a very interesting day."
They prepared quickly, Kael packing a breakfast from the inn's kitchen—bread, cheese, dried meat, enough for him and Lyssa to eat at the training site rather than taking time for a sit-down meal. Merra raised an eyebrow at the request but accommodated it without question.
The walk to the western gate was peaceful, the morning streets showing their usual activity. When they arrived, Lyssa and Granite were approaching from the opposite direction, perfect timing that meant neither group had to wait.
"Morning," Lyssa called out, her smile genuine and warm. "Ready for another day of training?"
"Very ready," Kael confirmed. "Though I need to talk to you about something before we start. Something important."
Lyssa's expression shifted to curiosity mixed with slight concern. "That sounds serious. Everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," Kael assured her. "Just... there are things you should know. Things that will make our training more effective if you understand them."
They set off toward their usual clearing, making small talk along the way but with an undercurrent of anticipation. Kael could feel his mythbeasts' readiness through their bonds—they were prepared to support whatever came next.
When they reached the familiar clearing, Kael didn't immediately begin the usual training routine. Instead, he positioned himself where both Lyssa and Granite could clearly see and hear him.
"Before we start today," Kael said, his voice steady despite the nervousness fluttering in his chest, "I need to tell you both something. Actually, several somethings. These are secrets I've been keeping—not because I don't trust you, but because they're dangerous information that could make me a target if the wrong people found out."
Lyssa's expression became more serious. "This is about your mysterious 'good luck ability,' isn't it? The thing that made my bad luck go away?"
"Partially," Kael confirmed. "That's connected to my first secret, which is about healing."
He took a breath, organizing his thoughts. "I have a healing ability. It's not from any mythbeast—it's something I was born with. Once every hour, I can heal anyone or any mythbeast to full health instantly by touching them. Wounds, broken bones, poison, disease—everything, completely restored."
Lyssa and Granite both stared at him. Lyssa's expression was skeptical, her scientific mind clearly struggling with the claim.
"Kael," she said carefully, "that's not possible. Even priests with mythbeasts that have powerful healing abilities can't do that. They can accelerate natural healing, close wounds faster, but instant restoration? And recovering lost limbs? That takes mythbeasts so powerful they're almost legendary."
"I know it sounds impossible," Kael said. "Which is why I'm going to demonstrate."
He turned to Lyssa. "Can I borrow your knife?"
She hesitated, then slowly drew a hunting knife from her belt and handed it over. "What are you planning to do?"
"Proof," Kael said simply. He placed the blade against his left palm and, before he could overthink it, drew it across in a deep cut. Pain flared sharp and immediate, and he couldn't suppress a wince. Blood welled up quickly, the gash clearly deep and serious.
"Kael!" Lyssa started forward, but Kael held up his uninjured hand.
"Watch," he said.
He held out his injured hand, palm up, so everyone could see the wound clearly. Mushy and Fulminus, who hadn't witnessed Divine Restoration before despite knowing about it, leaned in with fascination. Granite's eyes widened, and Lyssa looked torn between concern and curiosity.
Kael activated Divine Restoration.
Golden-white light bloomed from his palm, spreading across the wound with liquid grace. The effect was immediate and dramatic—the deep gash simply closed, flesh knitting back together before their eyes. Within three seconds, his palm was completely healed, not even a scar remaining. Only the blood still coating his skin proved the wound had ever existed.
Through his bonds, Kael felt his mythbeasts' reactions. Fulminus and Mushy were astonished at seeing the ability in action, their minds full of thoughts, as expected of our tamer, and truly remarkable. Vera and Ember, who'd seen this before, sent supportive confidence.
Granite was staring with wide eyes, his mind—through Lyssa's bond with him—full of surprise and the thought that this was an incredibly useful ability for his tamer's partner to have.
And Lyssa... Lyssa was flabbergasted. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she managed words.
"That's impossible," she breathed. "That's—people can't do that. Humans don't have innate abilities like that. You must have a mythbeast hidden somewhere, some tiny creature with healing powers that you've concealed—"
"I don't," Kael said firmly. "No hidden mythbeast. This is me, something I was born with."
"But—" Lyssa struggled with the concept, her understanding of how the world worked being challenged. "If you can do that, what else—"
"Other powers," Kael interrupted gently. "Which brings me to my second secret. I don't just have healing. I have... this is going to sound even more impossible, but I promise I'm telling the truth."
He decided that showing would be more effective than telling. Kael held out his hands, concentrating. Above his right hand, a small flame sparked to life, dancing and flickering. Above his left hand, electricity crackled, tiny arcs jumping between his fingers. And between his hands, he generated a faint purple mist—poison, carefully controlled.
"I can manipulate fire, electricity, and poison," Kael said, maintaining all three simultaneously. "I also have psychic powers, though those are harder to demonstrate visibly."
Lyssa stared at the elemental displays, her expression transitioning from shock to something approaching disbelief to... comprehension. Her eyes moved from the flames to Ember, from the electricity to Fulminus, from the poison mist to Mushy, and back to Kael.
"Wait a minute," she said slowly. "Those are your bonded mythbeasts' elements. Fire from Ember, electricity from Fulminus, poison from Mushy." Her eyes went to Vera. "And psychic powers from Vera. You don't mean..."
She trailed off, the implications too enormous to voice.
"I get powers from my bonds," Kael confirmed. "Every mythbeast I bond with, I gain their primary ability and usually a related trait. It's called Beast Resonance—that's what my first gift called itself."
"That's overpowered to the extreme!" Lyssa burst out. "I've heard of synergy attacks—when mythbeasts who've known each other for a long time can combine their powers into super-powerful attacks. But you're saying you can do all of that on your own? You're essentially a mythbeast in human form!"
"Not quite that powerful," Kael said, dismissing the elements. "The abilities I gain start out extremely weak. I have to train them, develop them, just like my mythbeasts have to train. When I first bonded with Ember, I could barely create a candle flame. It's taken weeks of practice to get where I am now."
Lyssa was quiet for a long moment, processing. Granite rumbled something through their bond, and she nodded slowly.
"Okay," she said finally. "Okay. This is... a lot. But I need to ask something important." She looked Kael directly in the eyes. "Are you still the same person as before? Just with extra powers?"
"Of course," Kael said immediately. "Nothing about who I am has changed. I've always had these abilities—I just wasn't telling you about them."
"Well then," Lyssa said, her voice becoming steadier, "I see no issue with this."
Granite nodded his massive head in affirmation, his gentle eyes conveying acceptance and trust.
Relief flooded through Kael, followed quickly by gratitude. Through his bonds, he felt his mythbeasts' similar relief. Ember sent triumphant joy—Of course, they're okay with it! They're our friends!
"Thank you," Kael said sincerely. "Both of you. For understanding and accepting this."
"You saved Mushy," Lyssa pointed out. "You've been a good partner and teammate. Why would some extra abilities change that? If anything, it makes you more valuable as an ally."
"Speaking of abilities," Kael said, moving forward now that the hardest part was done, "I want to try something with our training. A method that could dramatically accelerate everyone's growth."
"I'm listening," Lyssa said, her curiosity evident.
"The healing," Kael explained. "It's on an hour cooldown, but there's no limit to how many times I can use it per day. What if we train as hard as possible until complete exhaustion—I'm talking pushing to absolute failure—then I heal everyone back to perfect condition?"
He could see Lyssa's mind working through the implications.
"The question is whether the gains from intense training persist through the healing," Kael continued. "If they do, we could theoretically do multiple full-intensity training sessions per day instead of just one. The growth rate would be exponential."
"That's..." Lyssa's eyes widened. "That's potentially revolutionary. Training's greatest limitation is recovery time. If you can eliminate that..."
"Exactly," Kael said. "So who wants to try out the healing-training method?"
The answer was immediate and unanimous—everyone. Through their bonds, Kael felt his mythbeasts' eagerness, and Lyssa's expression showed similar determination.
"Let's start with something controlled," Kael suggested. "Vera, push your psychic powers to the absolute maximum for as long as you can sustain it. When you can't anymore, I'll heal you, and we'll see if you can immediately go again at full strength."
Vera rumbled agreement and immediately began lifting everything in the clearing—rocks, branches, even Kael's pack. She manipulated dozens of objects simultaneously, holding them in complex patterns that required intense concentration and power. Kael could feel the strain through their bond as she pushed harder and harder.
After about fifteen minutes, Vera's control began to slip. Objects wobbled in the air, and through their bond, Kael felt her exhaustion—mental fatigue so severe she could barely maintain consciousness of the exercise.
"That's enough," Kael said.
Vera let everything drop and lay down, panting heavily. Kael approached and placed his hand on her shoulder, activating Divine Restoration.
The golden-white light spread across her body, and the transformation was immediate. The exhaustion vanished, replaced by alertness and energy. Vera stood, tested her powers by lifting several objects, and through their bond sent amazement—she felt completely fresh, as if she hadn't just pushed herself to the brink.
"Did you keep your progress?" Kael asked through their connection.
Vera's response was complex but essentially affirmative—She could feel that her maximum capacity had increased slightly from pushing so hard, and that gain persisted through the healing.
"It works," Kael announced to Lyssa. "The training gains stay, but the fatigue disappears."
Lyssa looked stunned. "That's... we need to be careful with this. This kind of training method could revolutionize how fast we develop our mythbeasts, but it could also be dangerous if pushed too far."
"Agreed," Kael said. "We'll be careful. Monitor everyone closely, never push past what's safe."
They spent the next ten hours implementing the new training method. Kael coordinated carefully, timing the hour-long cooldowns so each mythbeast could do two full rounds of maximum-intensity training.
Vera pushed her psychic abilities to new heights, lifting heavier weights and maintaining more complex patterns than ever before.
Ember compressed her flames to intensities that should have been impossible, holding white-hot cores of condensed fire for minutes at a time.
Fulminus flew burst after burst at maximum speed, electricity crackling so intensely across his feathers that he became almost too bright to look at directly.
Mushy generated poison clouds so dense they were almost solid, the toxic mist spreading in controlled areas that would be lethal to anyone without resistance.
And Granite pushed his strength training to extremes, pulling weights that should have been impossible, pushing through resistance that would have stopped him cold before.
Each mythbeast was trained to exhaustion twice, healed to perfect condition, and immediately resumed training. The progress was visible, measurable, and dramatic.
Between coordinating the healing sessions, Kael worked on his own abilities. He experimented with fusing his new poison manipulation with his existing powers.
Poison and electricity combined surprisingly well—the resulting attack was a crackling, toxic lightning that would both shock and poison anything it touched. The synergy felt natural, the two elements complementing each other.
Poison and psychic abilities also merged effectively—he could create toxic constructs, shape poison with his mind, and deliver it precisely through telekinetic control. Practical and versatile.
But poison and fire... those didn't want to combine. Every attempt resulted in either the fire burning away the poison or the poison dispersing before the fire could properly integrate. That would require more work, more experimentation. Added to his ever-growing to-do list.
He also trained each element individually—practicing control, working on power, building the fundamentals that would let him use these abilities effectively in combat.
Finally, as the sun began its descent toward evening and everyone showed the fatigue that even healing couldn't completely erase—mental exhaustion that required actual rest—Kael called an end to the session.
"That's enough for today," he said. "We've pushed hard, made incredible progress, but we need to be smart about this."
As they gathered their things and prepared to head back to Thornhaven, Kael turned to Lyssa with a question.
"Do you think this is a good training plan going forward? Three days of intensive training like today, then one full rest day, then another three days of intensive training?"
Lyssa considered carefully. "The three-one pattern makes sense. It gives our mythbeasts time to recover mentally, even if they're physically restored. And spreading it out prevents burnout." She smiled. "Kael, this training method could make us ready for that tournament far faster than traditional training would. If we keep this up for a month, we'll be competing with tamers who've trained for years."
"That's the goal," Kael confirmed. "Get strong enough to at least participate, maybe even place well."
They set off toward Thornhaven, everyone tired but satisfied. The sun was setting, painting the sky in brilliant oranges and golds, and the city walls rose welcoming in the distance.
Through his bonds, Kael felt his mythbeasts' contentment and satisfaction. They'd trained harder than ever before, pushed limits they hadn't known existed, and proven that Kael's healing method could truly revolutionize their growth.
And Lyssa and Granite knew the truth now. The biggest secrets Kael held were out in the open with the two people who mattered most in his new life. That trust felt good, right, like a weight he hadn't realized he was carrying had been lifted.
"Thank you again," Kael said to Lyssa as they walked. "For accepting what I told you. For not thinking I'm some kind of freak or threat."
"You're not a freak," Lyssa said firmly. "You're gifted. Incredibly gifted. And you're choosing to use those gifts to help others and protect your companions. That's what matters."
Granite rumbled agreement, and through Lyssa's bond with him, Kael felt the massive crystal ox's genuine acceptance.
They reached Thornhaven's gates as the last light faded from the sky, the city's lamps already lit and creating a warm, welcoming glow. The guards waved them through with familiar recognition—Kael and Lyssa were becoming regular enough sights that the gate security knew them by now.
The streets were transitioning to evening activity—shops closing, taverns opening, people heading home or out for entertainment. The familiar rhythm of the city surrounded them as they walked toward the point where they'd part ways.
"Same time tomorrow?" Lyssa asked.
"Same time," Kael confirmed. "Dawn at the western gate. Ready for day two of intensive training."
They said their goodbyes, Lyssa and Granite heading one direction while Kael and his four bonded companions went another.
As Kael walked toward the Sleeping Drake, he reflected on the day's massive changes. He'd revealed his deepest secrets to Lyssa and Granite. He'd proven that his healing ability could revolutionize training. He'd made breakthrough progress with his elemental fusion experiments.
Through his bonds, he felt his mythbeasts' similar satisfaction. Today had been momentous, important, a turning point in their journey.
Tomorrow they'd do it again. And the day after. Three days of intensive training, pushing limits, using Divine Restoration to eliminate recovery time, and multiplying their growth rate.
Then a rest day. Then three more days of intensive training.
In a month, they'd be ready for anything.
The tournament in the capital seemed less like an impossible dream and more like a genuine goal now. They had the tools, the method, the determination.
All they needed was time and continued effort.
Kael smiled as the Sleeping Drake came into view, warm light spilling from its windows and promising comfort and rest.
Tomorrow would bring another day of revolutionary training.
But tonight was for rest and reflection on how far they'd come.
The future stretched bright and full of possibilities before them.
And Kael was ready to seize it.