The Sound Of Despair

He woke up on a stone platform on the peak of a mountain, surrounded by thunder and lightning in an otherwise dark world. After forcing himself up, he approached the edge of the plateau and looked downwards; a wall of black thunderclouds blocked the view anywhere he looked. Something told him that crossing that boundary would result in either being dead or lost forever, so he turned around to take a proper look a the platform.

There he saw him, and his eyes widened in disbelief. He was not alone, and that being in front of him was the last thing he wanted to see again. It was a lot smaller than before, but there was no way it would not recognize it. The way it looked at him, with a wide grin spread over its mocking eyes, awakened an incredible urge to throw it off the cliff.

"Hey, kitty. Long time no see. Thought you had won? That he chose you? Well, apparently, he went through with his plans and chose both of us. At first, I thought I would rather die than be stuck with you for the rest of my life, but then I also discovered I really, really do not want to die." The small wolf laughed out loud. "Seeing your expression right now is only a bonus, but it makes me feel like it was worth it!"

This was terrible; suddenly, the abyss around them had a certain allure to it. Being stupid with this stupid puppy was the worst possible scenario. Why? The human had approached him first, and he had pumped as much of its own lightning cells into it as possible. Even if it ignored the maddening pain and tried to do so again, it should have been maxed out its capacity, making another contract impossible.

"How did he do it? Even if the pain did not make him faint, was he not scared of it? And I made sure he would have no space left to accept any of your lightning cells. This makes no sense!" the tiger complained.

"I don't know how he did it, and even though contract procedure seemed to have helped him, he appeared extremely mentally unstable. My guess is he just did not know or accept his limits and kept pushing. It should have killed him, but so should have the conversion of his mana cells. One of the consequences of his actions is that, even after a week, he is still unconscious in that cave. I would not have woken up a useless, lazy kitten like you otherwise."

"The fuck did you say to me, you little shit? How are you not in fucking school? You kiss your mother's cheek with that mouth?" the tiny tiger pounced on the wolf.

If Sturm was here, he would definitely be laughing at the scene. The once-mighty beasts had regressed into a puppy and a kitten. The wolf's carbon black fur was still there, but the discharge of electricity was barely noticeable now. Similarly, the tiger's white fur remained the same, but not only did it discharge less electricity, but its blue stripes in the form of Lichtenberg figures were smaller and looked a lot dimmer.

They were genuinely fighting each other, trying to dominate their rival and force him to admit defeat, but from the outside, it looked no different than two young animals playing together. Before, they had been fighting for years, but now after just a few hours of coming to blows, they were already exhausted.

The wolf rested on its stomach. "I can't move anymore. We need to wake the boy up as soon as possible. If he dies of hunger, then this space will disappear with him, and so will we. So let us just be diplomatic about this and accept that I objectively held the upper hand and have thus won. What do you think?"

"Objectively? I agree, and I was the last to deliver a strike, so the victory belongs to me. How are we supposed to wake him up? We are stuck inside his lighting source, and we can't leave without his permission."

"You falling down and trying to grab onto me is not a strike. So, consequently, it does not count, and the last strike did actually belong to me. I do not know how to wake the boy up. I am a warrior, born to conquer and unite. Aren't you protectors supposed to be all smart and educated? Don't tell me I woke you up for nothing because I seriously considered rolling you down that cliff while you were out."

"Have you heard about the human's drunken style? I did not fall down but rather feinted you into thinking I was falling, but that was a calculated strike. If you did not even realize that, then me winning the fight is simply unquestionable." The tiger responded before addressing the slightly more important matter. "And I am glad you realize we are the smarter species—an excellent first step in accepting that we are superior. Good job! Now regarding our little problem, we are inside the boy's lightning source, so we should theoretically be able to contact him."

The two now infant beasts kept quarreling but would at the same time seriously discuss their current predicament. In the end, they formulated a simple but effective plan. They would continuously try to contact Sturm, thereby overloading the boy's mind with requests, up to the point that it would shut down its current function and initiate a reset.

Usually, a mind's natural defense would make that impossible. However, the moment after establishing a contract would leave the contractor in a weakened and influenceable state, especially if the contracted was more powerful in cases such as this one. There would be no lasting repercussions, except a terrible headache for a few days. It was the only option they had to get him out of his comatose state in their situation.

{Cats are evil. Wolves are loyal. Cats are evil. Wolves are loyal. Cats are evil. Wolves are loyal.}

{Don't trust the dog. Worship the tiger. Don't trust the dog. Worship the tiger. Don't trust the dog. Worship the tiger.}

(...)

Sturm woke up with his head feeling like it was going to explode. It kept pulsing like a heart, and every pulse sent a new wave of pain through his body. His memories were hazy, but he remembered somehow absorbing the two giant beasts into his body through what they called a contract. He looked around, and certainly, both the tiger and the wolf had disappeared. Only the surrounding wreckage was left as proof of their existence.

*Rumble*

A terrible hunger hit Sturm before he could work towards further understanding his situation. Four pieces of stambread and a few forest berries later, the insatiable feeling finally wore off. The headache was still there, and so was the exhaustion, but Sturm could feel how his body kept working towards recovering to his peak state, now faster than ever before.

{Cats are evil. Wolves are loyal.}

{Don't trust the dog. Worship the tiger.}

Two foreign voices resounded through Sturm's mind. The voices, especially the words, annoyed him beyond reason, like a song he had played too many times and got sick off back on Earth.

{Oh, he is awake. It was a success, boy! You should have seen Mirai's expression was priceless when he saw me in your lightning source. I also fought him and won, so you should know which contracted beast you should pay more attention to.}

{I can't say I like this decision of yours, human. I am sure you will come to regret contracting that dumb dog, but do not worry. I already defeated Skuld in single combat and will make sure to keep him in line for you.}

The voices addressed him simultaneously, making it difficult for Sturm to understand who was saying exactly what. However, what he did understand were their names. The wolf was called Skuld, and the tiger was called Mirai.

{My head hurts a lot, don't start bickering again, or I will find a way to silence you two. Now I understand your names are Skuld and Mirai, is that correct?} Sturm spoke to his beasts.

The beasts understood it was probably not smart anymore to annoy or intimidate the person holding their lives in his hands, and the tiger responded for the two.

{Our people do not follow the custom of granting names. Only fulfilling our roles as part of our society matters, so you could technically say that those are our titles, not our names. I am Mirai Mamoru, the future Grand Protector of the Raitiger Clan, and he is Skuld Hersir, the future Chieftain of the Brumawolf Tribe.}

They were sentient and had their own personalities, so Sturm thought it would not be appropriate to simply call them by their titles. Even pets on Earth had names, so they deserved one even more. What were their peers called? Warrior One and Warrior Two? Titles could not replace being named.

{I understand. Then you, tiger, are hereby known as Licht. As for you, wolf, you will hence be known as Schatten. They mean Light and Shadow in my mother tongue, like the attributes of your lightning.}

Sturm expected them to object and was ready to convince or force them to accept it, but the beasts stayed strangely quiet to his surprise. They had thought names were unnecessary, that their function amongst their brethren was more important than individuality.. To their surprise, getting their own, personal names that would belong to only them touched them in a way they would have never expected.