Aftermath

 As daylight pierced through the clouds everyone finally relaxed a bit. Most of them fell asleep as they had not gotten any sleep at all but the rest were very close to the entrance of the bunker. Caleb and the rest gathered to have a discussion, "Are we really going to the forest today?" Timothy asked.

"I don't think people are up for it today and it's probably better to stay in case another attack happens here, plus Xander is still unconscious" Caleb replied.

"You guys are forgetting we don't have any more of that army food to eat. We only have like two bags of fruits left and that can't feed all of us," Levi pointed out.

"Then I guess we just have to go into the forest," Caleb responded.

"I'll go see who we can get to come from bunker," Levi replied then left.

"Hopefully we don't have to fight another karl today," Timothy said as he stood beside Caleb.

"It's a ku-, never mind, I didn't even do anything last night. I failed to form a bond with it again, I felt like I almost had it and then it all just faded away," Caleb replied.

"Well if it felt closer, maybe on the third try you'll get it, it is the charm after all. You know how the chant gives off a feeling, what does your chant feel like?" Timothy responded with a question.

"I-It feels like, like I'm pleading to help something. That's what I'd say it feels like," Caleb answered.

 "Maybe that's the problem. Maybe the karls don't want your help so it makes forming a bond under that guise," Timothy advised.

 "But it's the only chant I know, what would I even say?" Caleb questioned.

 Before Timothy could even reply, Levi returned with Raphael who just received his remnant. "Nerds Raphael might've just came up with the best solution," he said.

 "We have three kunnis bodies and they're safe to eat but one of them was poisoned. If we cook the remaining two then we should be able to survive off them for a couple days," Raphael suggested.

 "I thought all the monsters would disappear into smoke like the first night, and I didn't see anywhere in the book that a monster was edible so I didn't even think of that," Caleb replied.

 "It seems that only shadow beasts turn into smoke but I got the idea thanks to my remnant. I didn't get any voluntary powers like you guys, Instead, I get flashes of knowledge about this world, and in one of them I saw them eating a kunnis. They also used the green part of the sorellis as seasoning," Raphael replied.

 "That's oddly convenient, does your memory flashes give you information that you currently need or something?" Caleb asked.

 "I'm not sure yet but that would make sense. The chronicles may happen when we're in need of something," Raphael replied.

 "There's just one problem. How would we keep the meat fresh for a couple days?" Timothy inquired.

 "True, it would go bad by tomorrow if it stays like that. It would be good if we had a free-," Caleb paused mid-sentence, "That's it! Emma can freeze them!"

 "If she could freeze them they could last as long as we want them to be honest. Seems like we have a plan," Raphael replied.

 They informed the others and with the guidance of Raphael, they were able to skin the kunnis and extract as much meat as possible. They started roasting the meat, froze the rest and stored it in the bunker. The alluring aroma of meat roasting dawdled in the air and tension from the attack started to dwindle. By the time the meat was ready everyone who had fallen asleep was awake and now socializing. The atmosphere was much lighter now that everyone was having a warm meal. "I'm worried about Flora, why didn't she want anything to eat?" Timothy questioned Emma.

 "I think she's still in shock over what happened last night with Xander," she replied.

 "Still she should eat something, she needs her strength," Timothy responded as Emma nodded in agreement.

 "I'll go check up on her," Emma stated as she grabbed some food for Flora.

 "I'll come with," Timothy quickly shot up but Emma quickly replied, " No it's easier to talk with one person than multiple, I've got this."

 She made her way over to Flora who was isolated from everyone and staring at the tree Xander hit. "Hey Flora you should really eat something," Emma said as he handed the meat towards Flora.

 "I'm not hungry," she replied in a soft tone but you could hear the cracking in her voice.

 Emma then sat down beside her and responded, "Well I'm not leaving until you eat something."

 "I just want to be alone," Flora answered as her gaze was still fixated at the tree.

 "I think what you really want is someone who will listen," Emma replied as Flora finally turned around to face her.

 For a brief moment there was a deafening silence as they stared at each other then Flora responded, "Fine I'll leave then," and she stood up to leave but Emma grabbed her hand and pulled her back to being seated.

 "What is your problem? You can't jus-," Flora was ranting but was cut off by Emma, "Stop trying to act cold hearted, it's obvious you're in pain so just let it out."

 Flora froze as streams of tears started flowing down her cheeks, "Why are you acting like you know me? You might have seen me in movies but you don't know me, you don't know what I've been through. Nobody knows or cares about how I feel, and when they do it's just an act to satisfy their ego."

"I might not know what you've been through but I can tell you're keeping something bottled up. If you just need to cry then cry, if you need a shoulder to lean on you can have mine and if you just need someone to listen, I'm here," Emma sympathized.

Flora unable to speak anymore from the unrelenting tears leaned in as Emma embraced her as she continued crying. After a while Flora finally finished crying and Emma reiterated, "You still need to eat," as she handed Flora the food.

 "Isn't there something else available? Is that even edible?" Flora questioned.

"Food is running out and this is the only thing we have, it might not be steak but it's not bad," Emma replied.

"Right, uhm thank you," Flora responded with better clarity in her voice than before as she took a bite out of the meat.

She chewed and for a second covered her mouth with her hand as if she was about to puke. She then tightly closed her eyes and took a big gulp as she swallowed the food. "Definitely not steak," she said as he face conveyed her disdain.

Emma let out a little chuckle as she replied, "I told you but you still need to eat."

Flora let out a huge sigh then responded, "Fine."

Flora then continued forcing herself to eat then Emma suddenly asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"About wha-, oh right," Flora replied as she took a deep breath, "Because I'm an actress people usually know about my past so it's just a bit strange having to tell it. Well when I was a kid my mom would always bring me to every audition she could because I always told her I wanted to be an actress. No matter how many things I asked her for, acting classes, clothes, makeup, she would always get them for me without any complaints even though we weren't well off. Before my big break she took me to countless auditions and I make a lot of mistakes and was a nervous wreck most of the time, so I didn't get a single role. She would always say 'As long as you're trying your best and doing what you love, I'll always be proud of you.' I guess that always gave me the motivation to continue trying and that's when I got my first role ever and it was in a movie. When we heard the news we were so happy we couldn't contain ourselves." Flora said as a bright smile illuminated her face.

She continued, "My mom suggested that we go to my favorite pizza place to celebrate but I wish we had just stayed home. I was so eager to get pizza that I-I was running ahead of my mom. I-I wasn't e-even looking where I was going I-I-I," Flora stopped as she took a deep breath, "I didn't even realize I was in the middle of the road and a car was charging at me me. I remember seeing the fear on her face as she ran towards me, the driver tried to stop the car but he was going too fast I guess. Before it could hit me, my mom somehow managed to push me out of the way," Flora started tearing up again.

"There was the biggest smile on her face when she saved me. But there was so much blood, just so much blood," Flora said as she began shaking.

Emma once again hugged Flora and said, "Flora, yo-," Emma was cut off by a deafening roar that echoed over the plains and everyone started running away from the direction of the forest.

 Emma quickly sprung up and asked, "What the hell was that?"

-

"Emma's been gone so long, I guess she got Flora to eat," Timothy said as he sat on the floor to meditate.

"That's good because currently she's the only one who can save any of us from dying," Caleb replied as he laid flat on his back in exhaustion, "At least they know how to use their powers. I've tried twice now to bond with a kunnis and failed twice. I'm so tired of meditating, the remnants showed that it should increase my control but I don't even have a bond to control."

"Don't worry you'll get it soon enough," Timothy reassured him.

Levi who was walking past stopped and inquired, "What are you nerds up to?"

"Do you seriously feel the need to call us 'nerds' every time you see us?" Caleb asked.

"You guys should be honored, I'm only calling you this because you nerds aren't completely pathetic, and have some level of use. Now that I think about it you don't quite fit the bill, do you Caleb?" Levi instigated.

"What exactly are you trying to say here?" Caleb probed as he and Timothy got up off the ground.

Levi and Caleb were locked into an intense stare then he let out a small chuckle, "You're absolutely worthless, what's the use in having power if you can't even use it? You're just getting in the way," Levi said then pushed past Timothy and Caleb.

Caleb grabbed his arm and exclaimed, "Do you thi-," he was cut off by a deafening roar coming from the forest.

It immediately drew their gaze towards the forest as Caleb released his grasp on Levi's arm. For a second their was a bone chilling silence in the air then, two kunnis came darting from the forest straight towards the large group that was outside. "Munitio," Levi said as his muscles expanded stretching and ripping his shirt.

Timothy hurriedly picked up his sword from the ground, "Burn," he said as the blade of his sword erupted in flames.

Caleb took a step back as the words Levi said echoed through through his head. Levi charged straight at a kunnis with a strong right hook that sent the beast tumbling. "Burn," Timothy chanted, and the other kunnis burst into flames.

Regardless, the kunnis still charged at Timothy aggressively. Timothy barely managed to dodge out the way but the kunnis continued charging towards the fleeing crowd. "Shit!" Timothy exclaimed, "Guys watch out!" He shouted as the burning kunnis leapt at them.

 "Spiralis impetum!" Someone chanted as water particles materialized from the air, created a spiral and launched directly into the side of the kunnis.

 The blast knocked it down onto the ground extinguishing the flames and drenching it in water. Immediately before the beast could regain its footing, "Radius glaciei," Emma chanted as a beam of ice quickly covered the beast.

Timothy ran in and thrust his sword into the head of the beast. "Let's help Levi," Timothy suggested as they turned their attention to Levi on the ground, using all his strength to keep the jaws of the kunnis open.

 They were so focused on saving Levi that nobody realized a kunnis, double the size of the ones they had seen before was darting towards them. Caleb however, who was had stepped back saw the Goliath of a beast incoming. Without a thought, his body began sprinting towards the beast with his sword in hand as he began chanting, "Mitiges, adiuva me!"

With the help from Emma and Timothy, Levi managed to kill the kunnis that he was fighting, then they saw Caleb sprint past them chanting. Their attention was then brought to the enormous beast who Caleb was now face to face and locked in a battle of will with. "Nerd run!", "Caleb get out of there!" they shouted.

"Vinculum mecum nunc forma!" Caleb shouted as he stared down the menacing beast.

Now that he was this close, he could see that not only was the kunnis larger in stature but it fangs and claws were significantly bigger as well. This kunnis however had a crystal mandala like pattern, embedded around its neck. "Burn," Timothy chanted as the beast caught on fire.

Timothy and the rest were getting closer to Caleb when suddenly, the beast let out a deafening howl that extinguished the fire and froze them dead in their tracks. "W-Why the hell c-cant I move!?" Levi strained as he and the rest tried to move their bodies.

 Caleb was also stricken with fear from the sheer terror from that howl. His will began to falter as the kunnis started to overpower him. The words Levi said to him began echoing repeatedly through his head.

'What's the use in having power if you can't even use it? You're just getting in the way. You're absolutely worthless. What's the use in having power if you can't even use it? You're just getting in the way. You're absolutely worthless. What's the use in having power if you can't even use it? You're just getting in the way. You're absolutely worthless. What's the use in having power if you can't even use it? You're just getting in the way. You're absolutely worthless. What's the use in having power if you can't even use it? You're just getting in the way. You're absolutely worthless. You're just getting in the way. You're absolutely worthless. You're just getting in the way. You're absolutely worthless.

You're just getting in the way. Worthless. You're just getting in the way. Worthless. You're just getting in the way. Worthless. You're just getting in the way. Worthless.

 W O R T H L E S S'

 "Noooooo!!!!" Caleb screamed as he rest the blade of his sword in his hand and suddenly swiped it across.

Blood quickly spewed from his hand like a tap as he regained his focus, "I won't. I won't lose again!! So stop being so fucking stubborn. From today onwards, I am your master," Caleb exclaimed as he walked up to the kunnis and stretched his bloody hand towards it.

 The beast let out another paralyzing howl "SUBMIT!" Caleb commanded.

Immediately the beast laid down in front of him, suddenly a black band tattoo enveloped around the right wrist of both Caleb and the kunnis. Timothy and the others who finally could move again, darted towards Caleb. "Caleb di-did you actually just," Timothy inquired but was cut off by an ear to ear grinning Caleb, "Yeah, I bonded with the kunnis!"

 "Holy shit that was intense! I'm still shaken up by not being able to move but you, you were face to face and when you did that cut your hand 'I wont lose'. Ahhhhh so cool so cool," Timothy exclaimed.

 "Congrats Caleb I knew you'd get it eventually," Emma said.

 Levi and Caleb stared down each other then Levi turned and walked back to camp. "Don't mind him," Emma said to ease the tension, "So what are you gonna name your bond?"

 "I think Karl is fine," Timothy said as Emma replied with a quick, "Shut up," and a little nudge.

 Caleb then turned to the kunnis and proclaimed, "I think I'll name him Topaz."