This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange - Chapter 818: 818: Past Ties Cut
Chapter 818: Chapter 818: Past Ties Cut
In the study under Kain’s watch, Gabriel’s body twitched violently, his shoulders jerking as if phantom restraints were cutting into his wrists. Sweat broke across his brow, his face contorting, and his breaths turned ragged. Whimpers slipped from his lips, his whole body beginning to curl as if trying to shield itself.
Kain’s stomach knotted at the sight—Gabriel wasn’t just remembering, he was drowning in the memory.
Kain’s jaw tightened. Watching Gabriel relive this was intolerable. “Bea—shift his perspective. Make him an observer. There’s no need to make him experience it again firsthand.”
Bea’s glow deepened in response, a ripple of power spreading through the room.
In a blink, Gabriel’s eyes snapped open. But he was no longer seated in the study. Nor was he a helpless study subject.
His hands—semi-translucent—hovered in the air before him. He looked down, startled, seeing the faint outline of his own ghostlike form. Beside him, another shimmer solidified: Kain, also spectral, his expression grave.
“This…” Gabriel whispered. “It’s like I’m watching a recording.”
“Exactly,” Kain said, his ghost-form steady. “You don’t need to suffer through it again. Just watch. And remember.”
They refocused back on what was occurring in the memory from the side. And there—on a steel gurney—was a slightly younger and smaller ‘Gabriel’. His small body was strapped down, wrists and ankles secured with harsh leather bindings. His face was pale with terror, his eyes wide, shining with tears that hadn’t yet fallen. He tugged futilely against the restraints, his whimpers escalating into cries.
Standing over him was Airalai.
Her deep violet hair was tied neatly back. Her violet eyes were calm, serene even, as she adjusted a syringe that glowed faintly with spiritual energy. Her voice was soft, warm, almost maternal.
“Shh, little one,” she murmured, brushing a lock of hair from the boy’s forehead with delicate fingers. “This is for your own good. You’ll thank us later. Once you’ve been given strength beyond your wildest dreams, you’ll understand what a gift this is. A body that won’t break. Power to shape your destiny.”
The young Gabriel on the table sobbed and twisted, too terrified to hear the meaning of her words.
The ghostly Gabriel—the observer—shuddered, his stomach twisting violently. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned away, whispering hoarsely, “I can’t—seeing myself like that…”
A faint thread of comfort brushed against him, like a hand on his shoulder. Bea’s presence, quiet but steady, reminding him he wasn’t alone.
Kain, however, didn’t look away. His jaw was iron, his gaze unflinching. “You can close your eyes” he said. After all, only Kain really needed to witness Airalai’s involvement. To prevent any significant PTSD, Kain had used Bea to repress Gabriel’s more terrible memories when he’d first been rescued, and he fully intended to do that again once he witnessed what he needed to.
Airalai’s voice continued, smooth as velvet: “You’ll learn to appreciate it. Once you awaken an affinity, once the pain is behind you, you’ll be grateful.” She neglected to mention the current 0% survival rate for this experiment and 99% self-implosion rate…with the remaining 1% being someone choosing to take their life into their own hands after witnessing their cell mate explode.
Then she pressed the needle into the boy’s arm.
Gabriel’s younger body arched, a scream tearing from his throat. His veins glowed like molten rivers under his skin as the serum surged through him. Machines beeped wildly, alarms flashing red. His small frame convulsed against the restraints.
Airalai didn’t flinch. She stepped back, expression unreadable, and gestured to the staff in white coats surrounding the table. “Increase the dosage. He’s stabilizing—push it.”
The scene sped up like the fast forward button be pressed, Bea shifting them to another memory. Another procedure on Gabriel, likely when the artificial core was implanted.
Fast forward again. Now Airalai moved between rows of strapped-down children, her clipboard in hand. Her calm voice carried over the cacophony of cries.
“This one’s affinity seems to be emerging—note the fluctuations. Monitor the core implantation!”
A boy who looked to be around 15-16 years old convulsed as a device pressed into his chest. His scream rattled the sterile room. Alarms began to blare and Gabriel in the vision was brought away, meaning that what happened next couldn’t be seen. Which was likely for the best since a dull bang rang out followed by a sound remniscent of a water balloon striking the wall…which in this context was quite horrifying considering the identity of the ‘balloon’.
Airalai was still visible in Gabriel’s memory, and didn’t seem at all phased. She jotted a note, then shook her head. “Failure. Dispose and log the data.”
Kain’s ghostly fist clenched so tightly it trembled. His eyes locked on Airalai’s composed face as she ordered the staff about, as if children were nothing more than numbers in a ledger.
The scenes blurred together, one after another: Airalai bending over Gabriel, whispering assurances while his body convulsed; Airalai at meetings, instructing staff to “push the limits, the higher-ups demand results”; Airalai walking calmly past gurneys where children writhed, her pen scratching down observations without pause.
Gabriel flinched as another scene of him screaming was shown, then whispered, “I don’t want to see anymore.” His ghostly form flickered, dimming with exhaustion.
Kain’s eyes didn’t waver. “Bea. End it. Repress what he doesn’t need to remember.”
Bea’s glow surged, wrapping Gabriel’s mental form in a soft cocoon of light. His ghostly form faded, dissolving back into the boy’s physical body slumped peacefully on the couch in the study. His breathing slowed, evening out into the rhythm of a deep sleep.
Silence fell.
Kain remained. He hadn’t looked away once. The memories replayed over and over in his head, Airalai’s calm voice echoing against the backdrop of screams. The woman he had once thought of as a sister…She wasn’t just complicit. She was the architect.
The air around him chilled, his aura leaking, dark and suffocating.
‘If she dares approach any of them again—if she even tries to touch them—I’ll erase her. Past ties be damned.’
His hand curled into a fist, spiritual power humming against his skin. The study seemed smaller, the shadows longer.
For the first time, Kain no longer thought of Airalai as someone from his past. She was only an enemy. One he would remove—completely, permanently—before she could weave her way back into his family.
