1 Beast Arm

"Hey, dogshit, go fetch my bag, and don't leave your smell on it!" An obese boy said chuckling right after it to a man in his late twenties, who was sitting secluded from the rest, away from the campfire burning in the middle of the camp.

He paid no heed to the mockery as he stood up and walked towards the pile of bags beside the tent. The taunting had become a daily occurence since he took this job. The fat kid belonged to the nobles and treated the man this way since he didn't have an ability nor he belonged to a powerful family. But the teasing did bother him even if it was just by a little. He had been mocked and given weird names for the past three days they had spent on the planet. Arden was infuriated. He knew it was petty and childish to get affected by such things, but each act has to have a limit, and the limit had long passed. Thus, he couldn't suppress his urge to retaliate anymore.

"Look out!" Screamed Arden as he hurled the bag right on the obese kid's face.

The others who sat around the fire were in utter shock.

'Is he crazy, doesn't he know that he belongs to the Sinclair family!'

'This guy is crazy! He is dead for sure!'

'He finally reached his limit ,Hmm.'

"Such nerve!" Said the fat boy after a vein bulged from right side of his forehead.

The boy's name was Rudolf. He belonged to the Sinclair family which was famous and well respected even among other families. The Sinclair family rose in power after the New Age.

New Age was the period when human babies started to born with powers. It was an unexplained supernatural phenomenon which emphasized the rule-by-strong society. Many families with strong abilities gained power and influence in the following years . The world, thus got divided into many smaller factions.

For the heir of such a family to be ridiculed by a mere commoner was unacceptable. Rudolf was boiling with rage as he attacked Arden by quickly making an ice spear and launching it with a tremendous speed.

Rudolf, irrespective of how he looked physically, was ranked as an advanced ability user, whereas, Arden didn't even have an ability to start with. All he had was grade D armor and a rusted dagger.

They were on a planet named Draugr. It was considered a safe planet with a threat level of three. The other members came to this planet as escorts, to ensure Rudolf's safety. Arden was hired as a baggage carrier. He had received this job by complete luck.

Arden knew that his Armor would barely survive Rudolf's attack and there was still time before they returned. Arden, if possible, would want to keep his Armor intact as it did protect him from weak and small creatures. His best bet was to try to dodge it. But the immense speed with which the ice spear was travelling, dodging it seemed impossible and before Arden knew, the ice spear had lodged in his left shoulder.

"How dare he, to me, the next successor of the Sinclair!" Screamed Rudolf at the top of his lungs boiling with rage.

This reaction was expected. Not a single being other than his father, the current head of Sinclair family, had ever talked to him in a loud voice, let alone a mere commoner who had no ability and was even hired by him for carrying his baggage.

Two of the members rushed towards Rudolf in an attempt to calm his anger but only to be pushed back.

"Haha! I am sure your fat ass can't even fit on the seat for the head," Arden replied as he removed the ice spear stuck in his shoulder.

Rudolf was enraged. His blood was boiling so much that, if looked closely, fumes could be seen rising.

"I'll kill you!" Rudolf shouted as he launched four more ice spears at Arden.

Arden, still bleeding from his left shoulder, watched the spears speeding towards him in anguish. He knew that if he took the hit where his Armor is, he would definitely survive but his Armor would be in pieces, and he still had to make it back to Earth, alive. His life depended on the Armor, even though it was a low-grade equipment, it did shield him from the small Dustcrawlers.

Dustcrawlers were small scorpion like creatures. Even though they were considered weak physically, they were poisonous. Once stung, not even high level healing could nullify its effect. But they were still given a threat level of two, since they had to attack from up close and are easy to spot because of their seashell-type-white body colour. Once found, one can squash them with their foot effortlessly. But they were generally found in groups, and could get, suprisingly, annoying to defeat.

Arden steeled his resolve and made himself believe that he would find a way to counter them later, if he survived. He crossed his arms and formed an X shape with them. He was ready to take the hit. He closed his eyes, ready for the impact.

Five seconds had passed. Arden was still waiting for the ice spears to hit him with his eyes tightly shut. He slowly opened his eyes only to see Jay standing in front of him. What was even more shocking was the sight of Jay's right arm. His rest of the body was completely normal and human-like except his right-arm. It was covered in brown animal fur. The fur extended upto his shoulder but being seemingly less dense on the upper arm as compared to the bottom half of his right arm.

He bared claws at the bottom of his hand, now a paw. They were razor sharp and could, possibly, tear through metal like it was paper.

'It is an arm of a beast!'