Elemental Cats

Asilean took his time answering, so Toz continued talking.

"I might also need to mention that inclinations can grow with the human. If the right conditions are fulfilled, the inclination can evolve and become stronger. But if I do something that goes against my inclination. It can instead lead to the inclination cutting off my access to mana and essentially crippling me."

"Go against your inclination?"

"This is just an example, and I would never think of doing it. But if I were to intentionally inflict harm on any of the cats I have bonded with, my inclination could sever that bond and give me a backlash depending on the severity."

"So if we were to join you all on this island, and I bond with you, only good things await."

"That's basically it."

Asilean had seen the relationship between Toz and the cats, so he knew that Toz wasn't lying. But he still thought about it a bit more until Taienra spoke.

"What are you even thinking about? What else were you planning on doing? Tell the people who saved our lives, 'Thanks for your home. Have a happy life.'?"

Asilean stuttered before eventually conceding and accepting Toz's suggestion. Although, he decided to wait a bit before establishing the bond with Toz. As far as Asilean could understand from what Toz had told him, the bond was semi-permanent.

Toz understood Asilean's doubts. Unlike the other cats, who didn't have anyone else close enough to make them hesitate at the time Toz bonded with them, Asilean had Taienra. Establishing the bond would tie Asilean to Toz, but if something happened and Asilean and Taienra wanted to go their way, they would be limited by the bond between Toz and Asilean.

Since Toz hadn't tried it out, he wasn't sure what would happen if he got separated from one of the cats.

Even with the possibility that nothing might happen if Asilean left, he didn't want to take that risk if it might incur a backlash on Toz or limit his future movements.

Before he felt comfortable enough with Toz and what it meant to be tied to him permanently, Asilean didn't want to establish the bond.

Toz understood since it was perfectly reasonable. His inclination only made it easier for cats to notice and begin liking him. It didn't magically make every cat he came in contact with into a pushover that would drool at the opportunity to bond with him.

Even if Asilean hesitated to bond with Toz, he and Taienra had still decided to officially join their group. Taienra didn't think it was anything else than fair to tell their saviors about what had landed the two of them in that situation.

Since it had just happened and had led to severe injuries, Toz worried that Taienra wouldn't like talking about it. But since she affirmed that it was alright, Toz and the cats couldn't do anything but listen to what had happened to them.

It was obvious from a glance that Taienra had gotten her star crystals forcefully harvested. But it wasn't like she woke up with her back torn to shreds.

She and Asilean had been traveling through the Void like they were used to doing, enjoying each other's company and admiring the atmosphere.

They had noticed that there was a lot more traffic in the general area of the Void they were in, so they had been looking for a more peaceful place to hang around in until things calmed down. However, they had been stopped by a fleet of ships where the smallest ones rivaled Taienra's size.

Since they had apparently been flying through areas controlled by the Starsling Kingdom, they didn't take offense at being stopped. Especially when the officer talking to them explained that they were in the middle of a war and were wary about demons and demonic beasts infiltrating the human realm.

Things were going well right up until the end of the conversation. Taienra and Asilean said that they were leaving, but right as they were about to, another officer stopped them. The officer spouted some bullshit about paying tolls or taxes or some similar bullshit.

Taienra and Asilean didn't even have time to react before several high level mages and fighters used their skills to knock them out and capture them.

The next thing Taienra remembered was pangs of unbearable pain sending her back and forth between consciousness and unconsciousness. Taienra couldn't see or sense what was happening since they had restrained her body and mana. The only thing she could use to tell what was going on was the feeling of sharp blades digging through her flesh to remove the star crystals.

She didn't go into that much detail, but Toz felt like he could see what was happening due to Taienra's emotional voice.

Eventually, after turning Taienra's back into a bloody rag, they let her and the still unconscious Asilean go. Asilean showed an expression of shame when Taienra mentioned that part.

The fleet quickly continued on their way, leaving Asilean and the bleed Taienra behind. With Taienra's massive body, she wouldn't bleed out so quickly, even if the wounds were gruesome, so she and Asilean planned to find a place where they could let her recover before they continued on their way.

But it didn't take long until their search was first interrupted by a couple of void beasts attracted by the smell of blood and the mana.

Asilean easily took care of them, and the ones that came after them, and even the ones after that. But as time passed and Taienra kept losing blood, the number of void beasts coming after them kept rising. It soon got out of hand, and Asilean couldn't deal with them all.

And after that, it quickly snowballed into the colossal swarm chasing them that Toz and the cats helped them evade.

Asilean looked frustrated after hearing Taienra talk about how they were incapable of taking care of themselves. But it was frustration toward his own weakness more than anything else.

After they listened to Taienra's story, Toz and the cats repaid the favor by telling them about what their adventure had been so far, as they had done to everyone else on the island.

It was quickly becoming a tradition to exchange stories when people joined the island.

While Lucy was busy bragging about his awesomeness, Toz thought back to what Taienra had told them. More specifically, about who was responsible for their suffering.

It might be because they were within the Starsling Kingdom's supervised area of the Void, but it seemed like everyone they encountered had a bone to pick with the kingdom.