Anthropia Chapter 3

Story by Epic Quest on SoFurry

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#8 of Anthropia Adventures

Moon gets another display of Valo's power, and his hatred for lesser beast folk, while slowly learning the harsh reality of living in spoiled luxury.


Hey, judging by how many votes, faves, watches, and comments I've been getting, I believe the Anthropia series is quite popular. For those who may have missed my mentioning of it earlier, Anthropia has its own forum RP group, located here

http://www.sofurry.com/groups/view?id=3187

And now onto our story!

Moon sat as still as he could, trying to follow Valo's instructions and convert the sword into a focusing item. He was kneeling like a monk, the sword laying across his lap, and both paws held over it as he tried to will his power through his arms and into the blade.

Valo watched as he worked, the ritual was supposed to only take an hour to perform, yet it had been nearly 30 minutes before the pup finally managed to get in touch with his dormant power. He had been focusing for about 55 minutes now, and Valo could tell it was difficult for him to concentrate. His ears or tail would occasionally twitch as sitting in the dirt for so long caused him to get itchy or cramp up. Yet this was something he needed to learn, or he would never be able to use his magic.

Jakra tried her best not to disturb her master as she watched him work. His paws gave off a faint, pulsating energy which the sword appeared to suck right into itself, as if his power were being consumed. The sensation had initially scared Moon, who thought be was in danger of permanently sacrificing his magical talent, but Valo reassured him that was not the case.

The sword was being transformed into a conduit for his power, the energy being absorbed was binding the sword to his power, so it could direct and control his magic when he chose to release it. As the last few minutes ticked by, the sword became engulfed in a brilliant flash of light for an instant, before finally going dim as it was at the start. Moon toppled over, his body aching from kneeling so long and began scatching at the itches he tried to ignore on his legs and arms.

"Congratulations, Moon." Valo said, "Your sword can now be used to cast spells, once you start learning any, that is." He said, as Valo picked up the sword and could feel the change. A dull, throbbing pulse ran through the handle, almost as if it were alive. He sheathed the blade again and stood up, ready to once more continue their adventure.

"You need to learn to sit still properly, I guess part of your training will involve long hours of meditation." Valo mused as they continued on their way, "But still, a good first try, it takes most apprentices at least a few attempts before they finally get it right, so you show promise." He added.

"Congratulations, master." Jakra chimed in, smiling proudly at him, Valo leered back at her, causing the otter to go silent and avert her gaze, but Moon returned the kind gesture by thanking her, making the otter blush and turn her gaze back to Moon happily, though it was focused at his feet, not his face.

As they continued to walk, Moon would every so often, tap his sword, and felt the pulse of magic within it, yet when he moved his paw away, the blade lay still once more. Eventually, he realized he was hungry once again as his stomach growled, causing Valo to scoff as they kept walking.

"Maybe you won't be so finicky next time." Valo chastised as Moon reflexively moved a paw to his stomach to help stop the gradually building hunger pains. "You're lucky you have have a slave with you, I was going to make you endure it as a life lesson." Valo said, causing Jakra's ears to lay flat when she recognized the off hand suggestion that Moon eat her to satisfy his cravings.

"I'm not going to eat Jakra!" Moon replied quickly, surprising them both, "How can you say that? She's been traveling with us all this time and then you just want to roast her?" Moon asked in disbelief. This time, Valo was not laughing or grinning at his compassion, he had a look of clear and obvious annoyance.

"What the hell do you think Meat Slaves are for?" He snapped back, "Not every predator has the compassion to go out hunting for bandits, child! If you're hungry and you have meat available, its in your nature as a carnivore to eat it!" His voice was rising, clearly he had grown tired of Moon's treatment of his lessers as equals.

"She's not a meat slave! She's my assistant!" Moon snapped back, "How the hell can she assist you when she can't use any magic?" Valo returned, "I still like her!" Moon shouted, causing Jakra to go wide eyed in surprise as she looked at Moon directly this time. Valo squinted his eyes, a look of clear rage on his face before he turned back to the road.

"Maybe its a good thing you're leaving home. Your stupidity would drive your family down the gutter." He scolded before storming off down the road. "Fine, starve then, we're still a full day from the check point!" He finished.

Moon waited behind for a little while before turning to Jakra and in a brisk and annoyed motion, he unfastened the leash from her collar, greatly surprising Jakra who's eyes kept darting between her collar and her master.

"That's better." Moon smiled at her before turning and following the fox. Jakra began following after him out of reflexive conditioning, even though she could probably have run at that point.

The rest of the journey was largely uneventful. Valo was too irritated to speak with Moon at the moment, Moon didn't want to risk starting another argument, and Jakra didn't have anything to say at all. However, as they trudged on, Moon's stomach continued to growl louder and louder until finally, it got on Valo's nerves.

"That's it, we're going hunting." The fox declared, as they paused in the road. They had covered a good deal of distance, and would likely reach the recall point within half a day, but Moon's hunger had reached a point where he could barely walk without holding his stomach. He felt ready to hurl, a sensation that often comes from over working the body when it hasn't gotten a decent meal lately.

"But what can we hunt?" Moon asked, but Valo shushed him by raising a paw and pointing off the trail. Moon was confused at first, but as he looked in the direction he was pointing, suddenly he could hear something in the distance.

"I take it you've never hunted before, boy. This is the second time you're hearing has failed us in our travels." Valo said, "Someone is bathing just over there in a lake. If we're lucky, they'll be unarmed." He said. Moon was dumbstruck, did Valo really just say they were going to kill someone for food!?

Before Moon could protest like he had with Jakra, Valo stalked off the path with speed and agility that Moon would not have expected for someone of his age. He kept low to the ground and became almost a blur of orange as Moon struggled to keep up with him. But Valo was right, he had never personally hunted before, and his technique was horrible. Rather than being fast and stealthy like Valo, he simply rushed after him. Jakra quickly ran after him, struggling to keep up.

By the time either of them caught sight of Valo again, he was kneeling behind a bush, and with a flick of his staff, both Moon and Jakra fell silently to the ground, their movements being completely muffled as they skidded to a halt.

Moon tried to speak, but no sounds came out, and he found he couldn't move when he tried to prop himself up, and as he looked towards where Valo was gazing, he saw the target. It was a rather cheerful cow bathing herself in the lake as Valo had guessed. She seemed quite happy and innocent, and Moon noticed she had golden blond fur with white splotches, two sets of breasts adorned her, a sizeable D cup on the top row, and a B cup below that.

"Steak, something you should be more used to." Valo muttered before gripping his staff firmly and stalking out of the bushes. Moon tried to cry out that this was murder, but he found himself helpless as he watched the deed.

"Unfortunately for you, cow, my apprentice couldn't stomach crickets, so you have to die because of his finicky appetite." Valo said with a sneer, catching the naked cow off guard as she reflexively moved to cover her breasts and dip herself neck deep on the water. When she realized what he said, however, she quickly tried to get out of the water and run, but it made her movements sluggish.

"Wait, no, please!" She begged, but Valo pointed his staff at her and a searing beam of flames erupted from it. Moon heard a wet squishing sound as the beam pierced the cow's chest and organs, followed by a rush of hot air as she screamed and fell to the ground, her body engulfed in an inferno.

Even if Moon wasn't afflicted by whatever spell Valo had placed on him, he would have been too stunned to move or speak. Valo had just killed a completely innocent stranger with out any remorse or hesitation!

He finally realized he could once again move, and practically exploded from the bush when he launched himself out to see the grizzly sight. The once beautiful and happy cow girl was laying in a charred mess on the ground, her body smoking and her fur burned off, skin blackened. Her arms were curled up in a horrific pose and her eyes wide, mouth agape as Valo was kneeling over her with a knife. and began slicing chunks of meat out of her. A four inch wide hole was blasted through her chest, from where the fiery spell had pierced her body.

Moon covered his mouth and fell to his knees vomitting as Jakra soon arrived on the scene and yelped, diving back into the bush. Valo held up a strip of the meat to inspect it. Only the outer lair was charred, the insides were properly cooked, he had practiced the spell many times in the past.

"This is how your noble family got such fine meat for your ungreatful ass." Valo said, approaching Moon and holding out a strip of the meat to him. Moon just stared at it, being too disgusted to eat, but Valo was not having any of it this time. Flicking his staff, Moon felt a strange force open his jaws and his arms go to their sides as Valo force fed the strip of meat into his muzzle. Moon tried to spit it out, but another flick of his staff, and Moon was soon chewing the meat. His mind reeled with the knowledge of what he was eating, but with each chew, he began to slowly realize he enjoyed the taste. Before he even realized it, the spell was no longer forcing his jaws to work, he was chewing it on his own.

He swallowed and looked up at Valo who was offering another piece of meat, this time he hesitantly accepted it and plopped it in his mouth.

"There, not such a spoiled brat, now are you?" Valo asked rhetorically as he took a bite of some of the meat, himself. Jakra was watching from the bushes as Moon and Valo dined on the cow girl together. Moon was able to eat six strips of cooked meat, Valo eating 4. By the time they were done, the cow girl's charred corpse had been stripped to the bone on the right side of its rip cage, exposing its organs within. Valo cut off two final strips of meat and approached Jakra, dropping them in front of her.

"A gift from your master, slave." He said. Jakra didn't realize she had missed it, but Moon said to cut two strips for her, so they would all be properly fed for the last of the journey. She picked up the meat as Valo stood, leering down at her and hesitantly took a bite. She didn't feel comfortable around Valo. She had little doubt that were Moon not around to hold him back, she could have ended up being just like that cow. She managed to finish the meat before standing up.

"Now we should all be satisfied with our meal, no throwing it out." Valo said, as if he still sounded angry about the cricket stew, "Let's go." He ordered, moving back towards the road. Moon paused to look at the remains of the cow one last time, before sighing in defeat.

"I'm sorry..." He whispered, before following after Valo, Jakra tagging along. Moon hoped that nobody would come chasing after them if they discovered the grizzly scene, but then again, it would probably be hours before any friends or family came looking for her.