CHAPTER 79: CHAPTER 74: THE EQUALITY CONTRACT

Location: Mid Ring, Dark Forest - Kameko’s dying place | Doha (Lower Realm)

Time: Day 460, Late Afternoon

The air tasted like iron and grief.

Kameko’s breathing had grown shallower, each exhale rattling through her massive chest like wind through broken glass. Blood matted her obsidian fur, pooling beneath her shattered wings. The scent of it—hot copper mixed with forest loam—made Jayde’s throat tight.

(She’s dying. Really dying.)

The thought came unbidden, child-like in its simplicity. But the tactical part of her mind—the part that had seen too many deaths, assessed too many casualties—confirmed it with clinical precision. Lung puncture. Internal hemorrhaging. Blood loss critical. Minutes, not hours.

"You should rest," Jayde said quietly, reaching for her spatial ring. "Let me get you water—"

[No.] Kameko’s mental voice carried weight despite its weakness. [Not yet. There’s something... someone you need to meet first.]

The massive shadowbeast shifted, and Jayde saw pain flicker through those silver eyes. Every movement cost her. But Kameko seemed determined, lifting one broken wing with agonizing slowness.

Jayde moved to help, supporting the tattered membrane as gently as she could. The wing felt wrong—bones grinding, essence leaking through torn flesh.

And underneath, hidden in shadow and warmth, lay a cub.

Jayde’s breath caught.

He was beautiful.

Smaller than his mother—well, everything was smaller than Kameko—but still massive by human standards. Easily the size of a large wolf, maybe bigger. Obsidian fur rippled like liquid midnight, so dark it seemed to drink the fading sunlight. And his eyes...

Silver. Exactly like Kameko’s. Deep and intelligent and currently overflowing with fear.

"Oh," Jayde breathed.

[This is Reiko.] Kameko’s mental voice carried such love it hurt to hear. [My son. My only child. Voren’s legacy. Everything I have left in this world.]

The cub—Reiko—stared at Jayde with those impossibly expressive eyes. Hope and terror warred in his gaze. He’d heard everything, she realized. Understood his mother was dying. Knew he’d be alone soon.

Unless.

[I’m dying,] Kameko said, and there was no self-pity in it. Just a fact. [And he can’t return to the pride. They’ll kill him.]

"What?" Jayde’s head snapped toward the dying shadowbeast. "Why would—"

[I was an outcast.] The words came heavy with old pain. [Only the alpha pair is allowed cubs. I broke the rules. Voren and I... we loved each other. And for that, they cast me out.] A shuddering breath. [When the auraflayers found me, I was alone. Vulnerable. This is the result.]

Jayde looked at Reiko, seeing him differently now. An outcast’s son. Forbidden. Hunted by his own kind.

(Just like me. Different world, same story.)

[Will you...] Kameko’s silver eyes met hers, pleading. [Will you contract with him? Protect him?]

The word hit Jayde like a physical blow. "No."

Kameko blinked, clearly not expecting that response.

"I won’t enslave him." Jayde’s voice came out harder than she intended. "Contracts are slavery. I’ve been a slave, Kameko. I know what it means to have no choice, no will of your own. I won’t do that to him. I won’t do that to anyone."

For a long moment, silence hung between them. Then something shifted in Kameko’s expression—surprise giving way to something that looked almost like... respect.

[You truly believe that.]

"I do."

[Then you don’t understand contracts.] Kameko’s mental voice softened. [There are three types, little one. Let me teach you.]

Jayde listened as Kameko explained, her worldview shifting with each word.

Master and Slave contracts—forced bonds where the beast had no choice, no will. Compelled to obey every command. Treated as weapons, tools, disposable things. Everything Jayde had feared. Everything she’d seen in the fighting pits.

Soul contracts—life and death bonds, entered willingly by both parties. Permanent. Unbreakable. If one died, both died. Following each other through reincarnations, eternally linked.

And Equality contracts.

[Both parties agree,] Kameko explained. [The beast chooses. Can refuse orders. Can terminate the bond at any time.] Her silver eyes held Jayde’s. [It’s not slavery, little one. It’s a partnership. Protection while he’s young and vulnerable. But his will remains his own.]

Jayde felt something loosen in her chest. "He can leave? Whenever he wants?"

[Whenever he wants.]

She looked at Reiko. Really looked at him. The cub trembled slightly, pressed against his mother’s cooling body. So young. So afraid.

"Only if he agrees," Jayde said firmly. "It has to be his choice. Not yours, not mine. His."

Kameko’s eyes glistened—with pain, yes, but also something warmer. [Yes. His choice.]

Reiko had been following the conversation through his mother’s mental link, Jayde realized. Understanding every word. And now those silver eyes fixed on her with an intensity that seemed far too old for something so young.

He understood. Mother dying. Needed a guardian. Could say no.

But.

Slowly, hesitantly, Reiko stood. Stepped forward on oversized paws. The movement brought him close enough that Jayde could feel the heat radiating from his fur, smell the forest musk clinging to him.

[I don’t want to be alone.] His mental voice was younger than Kameko’s. Uncertain. Achingly vulnerable. [Please. I choose this. I choose you.]

He lifted one massive paw, claws retracted, offering it to her.

Jayde’s eyes burned. "(Another person trusting me. Another chance to fail.)"

But she didn’t fail Lawrence. Didn’t fail the batch-mates who’d died. Those weren’t her failures—they were Xi Corp’s cruelty, the world’s brutality, circumstances beyond her control.

This? This she could do.

"Okay," she whispered. "But only because you want this, Reiko. Your choice. Always your choice."

[Then we begin,] Kameko said, and despite her fading strength, purpose steadied her voice. [The Equality contract requires blood, intent, and vow. Reiko, bite your paw. Jayde, cut your palm.]

Reiko didn’t hesitate. Sharp teeth found the soft pad of his front paw, and dark blood welled immediately.

Jayde drew her Runeinfused blade, the metal singing softly as it left the sheath. One quick slice across her left palm. The sting barely registered—she’d endured worse, so much worse.

[Press them together,] Kameko instructed. [Mix the blood. Let it bind you.]

Jayde placed her bleeding palm against Reiko’s bleeding paw. His fur was softer than she’d expected, warm and alive despite the blood. She felt his pulse through the contact—rapid, nervous, hopeful.

[Now the vow,] Kameko said. [Repeat after me: "With my blood I tie thee to me."]

"With my blood I tie thee to me," Jayde repeated, her voice steady.

["I swear to protect and honor thee."]

"I swear to protect and honor thee."

["Thy will is thy own."]

"Thy will is thy own."

The moment the final word left her lips, power surged.

A crimson glyph flared beneath Jayde’s feet, intricate and ancient, burning with essence that made her Crucible Core hum. An identical glyph blazed beneath Reiko’s paws, the symbols matching perfectly.

Both glyphs lifted into the air, floating like living things. They met in the space between Jayde and Reiko, merging in a flash of brilliant light that painted the dying forest blood-red.

Then, slowly, the combined glyph split.

One half flowed toward Reiko. It touched his forehead and embedded itself there, glowing bright before sinking beneath fur and skin. The other drifted to Jayde, warm as sunlight, settling between her eyes with a sensation like coming home.

Their wounds sealed instantly. No scars. Just clean, healed skin.

But something else had changed.

Jayde felt him. Not just physically present, but there in her awareness. A warmth in the back of her mind, a connection that hummed like a tuning fork. She could sense his emotions—fear giving way to cautious hope, grief still raw and bleeding, but underneath it all, relief. He wasn’t alone anymore.

And he could feel her too. She knew it from the way his silver eyes widened, reading her determination, her promise, her own grief at watching his mother die.

[It is done,] Kameko whispered, and there was profound satisfaction in her fading voice. [You are bonded. Pack. Family.]

She looked at Jayde then, really looked, and something flickered in those dimming eyes. Recognition? Understanding?

[Before I go,] Kameko said, [let me give you what I can. Memories. Knowledge. Survival wisdom from a lifetime in these forests.]

The transfer came like a gentle rain. Images flowing through their connection—hunting techniques, the pride’s social structures, which plants were safe and which were poison, and how to read the forest’s moods. Kameko’s life, distilled into lessons. A final gift to her son’s new guardian.

[Thank you,] Kameko breathed. [Protect him. Teach him to be strong but kind. Don’t let bitterness make him cruel.]

"I promise," Jayde said, and meant it with everything she was.

Kameko’s eyes began to lose focus. Her breathing slowed, each inhale coming farther apart than the last.

[Be noble, little one,] she whispered to Reiko. [Don’t seek vengeance yet. Wait. Grow strong first. And remember—I love you. Always.]

***

In the space between heartbeats, in that liminal moment before death claims the dying, Kameko’s consciousness shifted.

The pain faded.

Her vision cleared—not the forest anymore, but something else. Something vast and shimmering, woven from possibility and essence. The future. A glimpse. Doha’s gift to those about to leave, perhaps. One last mercy.

She saw them.

Jayde and Reiko, standing atop a mountain she didn’t recognize. But they were different. Older. Powerful beyond measure.

Reiko—her beautiful son—had grown magnificent. Massive wings of shadow spread wide, their span blocking out the sun. Clear markings of a beast king etched across his fur, ancient runes of dominance and power. And his eyes... silver like mercury, swirling with depths that spoke of wisdom earned through trials.

And Jayde. So changed from the broken child before her. Massive wings of fire unfurled from her back, each feather burning with controlled Inferno essence. She stood tall, regal, transformed into something that made even this vision tremble.

Below them, stretched across the mountain’s base, ten thousand beasts knelt. Shadowbeasts, yes, but also dragons, direwolves, flame-touched creatures she’d never seen. All bowing. All acknowledging their rulers.

Pride swelled in Kameko’s fading heart. This. This was her son’s destiny. This was why she’d trusted this strange child. This was—

Warmth nuzzled against her consciousness.

She turned—how did one turn without a body?—and found herself looking into familiar eyes.

"Voren," she breathed, though she had no breath.

Her mate. Dead these years since the pride’s attack. Whole again, wounds gone, magnificent in death as he’d been in life. His obsidian fur rippled with Voidshadow essence, his silver eyes bright with love.

[It’s time,] he said gently. [Time to go.]

[Did you see him?] Kameko asked, even though she knew. [Did you see our son?]

[I saw.] Voren’s mental voice rumbled with pride. [He is glorious. Everything we hoped. Everything we dreamed.]

[He’ll be safe?]

[He’ll be a king.]

Kameko looked back one last time at the vision—at her son standing beside his bonded companion, both of them powerful and whole and alive.

Then she turned to Voren, let his warmth surround her, and together they began to fade.

The forest dimmed. The world grew distant.

And two shadowbeast souls, reunited at last, turned away from Doha and walked into whatever waited beyond.

***

Kameko’s chest stilled.

No more breath. No more heartbeat. Just silence and the cooling of flesh that had been alive moments before.

Reiko’s mental howl of anguish tore through Jayde’s mind like a physical blow. No words. Just pure, primal grief—a cub’s cry for a mother who would never answer again.

He pressed against Kameko’s body, nuzzling her fur, whimpering sounds that broke something in Jayde’s chest.

She moved without thinking, wrapping her arms around Reiko’s massive form. He was huge—too big to really hold—but she tried anyway, pressing her face against his shadowy fur.

Hot tears tracked down her cheeks. "(Another person gone. Another person who showed me kindness, gone.)"

But different this time. Not because of her. Not her fault. Kameko had been dying before Jayde arrived. Natural death, if violent. Peaceful passing, surrounded by love.

Still hurt. Still ached. But the guilt that usually followed death—Lawrence’s face, Father’s betrayal, Mother’s execution—didn’t come.

Just grief. Clean and terrible and sad.

Through their bond, she felt Reiko’s emotions crash over her in waves. Loss. Fear. Loneliness. But also—buried deep—gratitude. Relief that he wasn’t facing this alone.

And Jayde realized she wasn’t alone either. His grief echoed hers, validated it, shared it. Two orphans, mourning together.

"I’ve got you," she whispered into his fur. "I promise, Reiko. I won’t abandon you. Never. We’re pack now."

[Pack?] His mental voice was small, broken, desperate for confirmation.

"Pack," she said firmly. "You and me. Family."

Reiko pressed closer, his larger form somehow making her feel protected even as she comforted him. The empathic connection thrummed between them—shared pain, shared loss, shared hope.

Beginning of found family. Not by blood, but by choice. By vow. By the red glyphs still faintly glowing on their foreheads.

She held him as the sun began to set, painting the forest in shades of amber and shadow. Held him as his mother’s body cooled. Held him as grief slowly, slowly began to ease into something bearable.

[Will you really keep me?] Reiko asked eventually, his mental voice raw. [Not abandon me?]

"Never," Jayde promised. "I swear it. On my blood, on our bond, on everything I am—I will never abandon you."

[Even if the pride comes?]

"Especially if—"