Ch. 15 New Gifts

'Everything hurts, gods, why have thee forsaken me?' I groaned in my head at the chuckle that escaped my lips. Then I heard a voice in my head as a weight fell on my stomach "My stupid, stupid beautiful human. I love you and how stupid you are."

My eyes shot open, I looked down at Bella who was laying on my stomach. She flashed a toothy grin at me and licked me before getting up. I groaned, tried moving and realized every inch of my body was in pain.

"Dude, lay there and rest for a moment. I don't know what you did, but your raccoon woke up just as you passed out, completely healed." I nodded at Mario's familiar voice and laid back down closing my eyes. I noticed a blinking notification and focused on it.

New Perk Acquired - Adamant

Adamant: Once you set your mind on something, nothing short of death will stop you from carrying out your task.

Effect: Your life force (HP) can be used in times of great need in place of your Mana (MP). SYSTEM WARNING- if both HP and MP reach 0, you will die, STA does not count in this equation.

SYSTEM MESSAGE: *Bella* has become a Soulbound Companion. Soulbound Companions cannot truly die. If *Bella* is to expire, her soul will remain tethered to you for 1 week (168 Hours). Once the time limit is up she will return to the form she was when she expired, but all levels gained by you between her expiration and rebirth will not be counted towards her reborn form.

My eyes shot open and I sat up, my head felt woozy and I felt Bella lay on the ground behind me, I leaned back against her. "I got the same message Odellin" she said into my mind.

Claire was sitting close to me and looking at me worriedly, so I smiled and waved her over. She came closer and smiled seeing me fully awake.

"Ow, what was that for?" I asked her rubbing my arm, where she had punched me. She grinned "Scaring the shit out of me. Do you know how hard it would have been telling your wife you died in here?"

I sighed and heard Bella in my head "She is right Odellin. I am glad you're alive, but you are definitely never going to do that again." I nodded then smiled to Claire "Me, die in here? What is this nonsense."

I had to rub my arm again before she was done with me. Mario brought over a water bottle and a sandwich in a baggie. "Here bud, eat and drink, your health is a little low and so is your Mana. Eat and Meditate, we can wait."

I nodded and quickly wolfed down the sandwich. I drank some of the water, then sat up and began to Meditate.

After I looked to confirm my HP and MP were finally full, I stood up and stretched. My body didn't hurt anymore. Walking over to the group with Claire next to me and Bella behind, I saw them all stand up as well.

The bodies of the Shapeshifters and the Gnomes were all cut open and there was a pile of 9 Mana Stones waiting for me. 'All Stat Stones, Ugh.' I said mentally and put the stones in a pocket on my harness.

"Hey Mario, have you ever heard of a Perk before?" I asked and Mario's eyes went wide "Did you seriously earn a Perk? Dude what is it?" he was like a kid in a candy store.

I told them all what it was and the System Message I got. That got me a few gasps "Holy crap man. That is so cool. I have heard of Breakers getting Perks before, but not before level 10, plus a Soulbound Companion. That's awesome dude."

"You're definitely lucky. Soulbinding is expensive, usually because it costs about 1,000 Mana as well as the equivalent of about 50 Stats worth of Mana Stones."

My jaw dropped, I would have passed out if Claire hadn't caught me before I fell back. Mario nodded "Yeah, I know, you are seriously one lucky dude."

I shook my head and smiled to myself, then looked down at Bella and she smiled up at me, her tail wagging like a dog. "I am not a dog, I am a Raccoon. My silly Human." she said into my mind and I chuckled, her tail was still wagging.

The rest of the team was ready to go, their wounds healed and they had been waiting, for me. We started to move again once I told them I was ready and drew my crossbows. "So how come you can talk to me now Bella?" I asked my Companion in my head.

"Because, my silly Human, my Intelligence is now 10." I opened her Character Sheet in my head and nodded.

Bella (Animal Companion, Dire Raccoon, Soulbound)

Level: 5

STR: 24

DEX: 23

CON: 23

INT: 10

WIS: 10

CHA: 8

HP: 470

MP: 200

STA: 230

SKILLS:

Dig - 5

Multi-Attack - 18

Tracking - 15

I chuckled to myself and when Claire looked at me oddly I told her. She giggled and said "Now you'll have three women telling you how dumb you can be. You poor poor man." I groaned realizing she was right. Bella laughed in my head.

We continued on for about another hour before Mario put his hand up to stop us. Bella's ears perked up and she walked to the front of the group, then said to me "I hear more voices this way." then she sniffed the air and her fur stood on end "They smell like Shapeshifters."

I moved up to Mario as he watched Bella, then he turned to me "She hears and smells Shapeshifters up ahead." he nodded and I turned to Bella and said out loud "Think you can get close enough to get a good look at them and how many there are?"

She nodded and crouched down, then slowly waddled further ahead. I could hear her voice in my head "Shit that hurt, stupid twig" as the sound of a twig snapping almost had me laughing. She glared at me then bounded off out of sight.

"There are twenty of them, all dancing around some kind of fire pit. Oh, wait that's an actual Human. They are burning a real human." I growled and relayed the information to Mario. He nodded and we all gathered together, then moved as silently as we could.

I got another Ding as we moved through the forest, I was trying very hard not to anger the stupid twigs. "You're so getting it when we get out of here. I'm telling Lynette." I grinned "You can't talk." she growled in my head and I had to suppress a laugh.

We got to the clearing and I could see that the fire had just been started when Bella got there. It was slowly climbing the platform the human was tied to. It was a young boy, couldn't be more than ten or eleven years old.

I growled low in my throat as did Bella, Mario nodded, then ran out of the tree line with the other Tank and they both yelled out a Taunt. Once they had the attention of the Shapeshifters, each of them resembling a slightly overweight human with a tail, I had Bella rescue the tied up boy.

Claire and I both began shooting as many of our arrows, bolts and Force Missiles as we could, being careful not to hit the Melee DPS of our team. Bella bit through the ropes just as the fire reached her, the young boy jumping on her back as she launched herself over the fire and back to the safety of the tree line where we were.

Once the boy was near us Claire put her bow away and grabbed him, pulling him into a hug. Then we heard it. Looking up I could see a much larger Shapeshifter. It was almost as tall as Mario. This one looked like a Greek God statue.

He had muscles, his body was toned and he lacked any genitals, just like a statue I read about in history class. His skin was even marble colored. He looked around and zeroed in on Mario, before changing his shape to that of an even more massive bear.

"Mario" I yelled as loud as I could. He was pulling his night stick out of a Shapeshifters' furry chest, then looked up and fear crossed his face as the Bear charged at him. It was easily half again as tall as he was, when it was on all fours.

He put his shield in front of him and I shook my head, it wouldn't be enough. "Claire, hit that Bear with everything you've got. I'm gonna do something stupid."

She yelled out "You'd better not die." I waved back as I ran through the fight. I saw arrows begin slamming into the Bear, not slowing it's charge in the least. Bella was right in front of me, I didn't have to tell her my plan, she was already thinking it.

She and I both jumped and I holstered one crossbow, grabbing a fistful of hair with that hand. I aimed my crossbow at the Bear just below the skull, but pointed upwards. Bella had launched herself at the Bear under the neck, latching on with all four claws and her mouth, raking and biting it.

The Bear howled in pain and stood up, swiping at Bella. She launched herself off of it just in time as I poured more and more Mana into the arrow. I gave it over 100 Mana before I could feel that I couldn't give it any more, or it would destabilize. I shot the arrow into the neck at an angle.

I let go and slid off the Bear's back, totally wishing that I had rode it like a skateboard when I finally got to the ground.

It roared for a moment before a blue bolt of Mana shot out of it's eye. Mario and two of the axe wielding DPS all charged the Bear, slamming into it and hacking it to pieces as Claire and I kept pelting it with arrows and bolts. Bella snapped the neck of the last Shapeshifter before the Bear finally fell, all of Claire's arrows and my bolts lodged in it.

A wave of exhaustion hit me and I sat down again. Everyone on the team was cheering and collecting the bodies. Bella ran up to me and settled down on my legs.

Once all the stones were piled up, including the fist sized Red Mana Stone that came from the Bear, everyone else sat down as well.

Mario chuckled as he nudged me "dude I wished phones would work in here, I woulda put that stunt you pulled on youtube bro. You woulda been famous." I laughed "Yeah probably. I saw it charge you and honestly, I didn't think it would work. I figured I would land on its side or jump over it."

The healer walked up and sat next to me "I was watching you the whole time. It was crazy. It was like watching those 'hold my beer' clips on youtube."

I thought about that and we all laughed again. We all divied up the rest of the Stones, me getting the extra Stone, the Bear one.

Then I realized Claire wasn't with us and looked around "She took the boy to the entrance. We killed the boss so I have her stones right here to give her when we catch up. We didn't want the kid seeing more blood." I nodded and grabbed her stones, pocketing them and we headed off.

We met up with Claire halfway back and as soon as the boy spotted Bella he ran to her, wrapping his arms around her. She crouched a little and shifted her body, maneuvering him on top of her so he wouldn't have to walk anymore.

We came out of the Rift an hour later and were met by Smith, who was guiding a few medics to the boy. "How did he end up in there?" Smith asked Mario, Mario shrugged "He wouldn't talk to us. Hasn't said a word since we found him."

Smith shook his head and watched the kid being carried to the ambulance, "I hope we can figure out who he is. What happened in there exactly?"

We gave him the rundown as he collected a Mana Stone from each of us, then continued nodding as we finished the story "Sounds about right. We have been seeing changes all over the world. China has had some of their Rifts become Kobold Rifts, which are usually just on our side of the world." Mario nodded his assent.

Smith then began dialing on his phone, turning away from us to make his report, I assume. Mario smiled and shook my hand "It was good to meet you man. I hope we can continue working together." I nodded and said the same.

Bella ran ahead of us and as I unlocked the door she hooked her claws inside the handle and pulled, then squeezed into the rapidly closing door.

On our way home Claire spoke up "So Odellin, I want to ask you something.", "Sure, what's on your mind?", she sighed and looked out the window "What would you say if I said I want to quit college?"

I looked at her oddly for a moment then shrugged "I don't know. I mean honestly if you weren't a Breaker, I would say you're being stupid. I can't say that though because doing this, Breaking Rifts, gives me a sense of purpose that making pizzas didn't."

She nodded "I feel the same way. Don't get me wrong, I love computers, but Breaking Rifts is scary, it's exhilirating, it makes you feel alive." I nodded along with her.

Bella climed up into the front seat and sat on Claire's lap at my insistence and Claire absentmindedly scratched her behind the head.

"Listen, if you really want to quit, that's up to you. Lynette and I aren't going to treat you like a kid. We will support whatever decision you make." She smiled at that and leaned back in her seat, falling asleep instantly.