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Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 57: Sounds of Emptiness
Crackling fire sounds; thunder booms in the distance. It's a place with tension built all around the landscape. Winds cut through what was once there: the scattered battle remnants scattered through the earth. Smoke drifts through everything, and an unnerving feeling in the air keeps floating around in circles. After the battle, there was something that seemed almost a relief, more than victory. Ashen leftovers from what were once menacing shadows covered the field. Ethan had let his final breath go into a blast, blowing his shadows into nothingness, into ashes. In that silence, there was a dark truth. Darkness hadn't been defeated. It had retreated. Ethan stood among the ashes, battered and bruised, as the artifact he held pulsed faintly with a light flickering like a dying ember. Each pulse shivered his spine, the power inside him being both familiar and alien, a restless spirit clawing to get out. Lysara stood beside him, her face unreadable, her sword dripping with the blood o
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 58: Shadows of the Unseen
Distant thunder rumble. A flickering crackle of fire. The wind whips softly over the desolate battlefield, passing over the still leftovers of battle. The air is heavy with a creepy silence.Although the Spirit had retreated, the shadows it left behind were far more than a threat to be dismissed. They were a scar an infection that would continue to fester in the world until eradicated. Ethan knew this, felt it in his very bones. The artifact in his hand pulsed weakly, a silent reminder of the power and curse entwined in its design. He could hear it whispering, beckoning its voice an echo in the dark recesses of his mind.The faint pulse of the artifact, a low hum in the background.Ethan's body was broken and bruised and bloodied. His veins felt like molten fire, alive with energy he could hardly control. Each time he wielded the artifact, the power inside him grew stronger, yet that much more deadly. As if it were becoming part of him, melding with his very essence, consuming him fro
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 59: Echoes of Desperation
The faint echo of wind, the howling of a storm still raging in the distance. Burning embers crackle in the background, and the smell of burnt wood hangs heavy in the air. The battlefield is deathly silent, and that's not a good thing. A heavy silence clings to the air as Ethan moves forward with Lysara slung over his shoulder, his footsteps soft on the ruined ground.The air was thick with tension. The battle had taken its toll on them both, on the world. But Ethan couldn't afford to rest. He couldn't allow himself to fall apart. Not when Lysara's life hung by a thread, not when the shadows continued to spread.Every part of him screamed for relief, for rest, but there was no time. No time at all.Sound: Ethan's rough breathing, boots scraping on the ground. Lysara is breathing faintly, shallowly; she stirs in his arms.LYSARA: (faintly, barely speaking) "Ethan, you saved me."The voice of the woman he loved echoed in his mind like a faint, fragile whisper. The strength of her words,
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 60: The Silence
The wind whispers mournfully across the desolate landscape, sifting through the ruins with gentle ease. The crackling of embers that burn elsewhere can barely be heard. A sad echo of emptiness hangs heavy within the air, heavy with sorrow and loss. Ethan sits down on the scorched earth, his eyes empty, his breathing light, as if Lysara's death from within is crushing him.It was silence, a silence that lasted for eternity. It swallowed Ethan whole. He felt the air around him as still, even though the world had turned on, even though the storm hadn't abated. But time had stopped for Ethan. His last vestige of strength was gone, and now, all that the battlefield was to him was a memory of pain and destruction.The woman he had fought so desperately to protect was gone, her life snuffed out like a candle in the wind. And no amount of power could bring her back.Ethan's breath hitched, his chest aching with the emptiness. He hadn't even been able to save her. All the strength he had, all
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 61: The Ultimate Sacrifice
Sound: the crackle of flames from a distance, the soft hum of an eerie breeze carrying the scent of burnt earth. Ethan's breathing is uneven and strained as the aftereffect of the battle resonates in the silence that follows. The landscape is scarred, the remnants of the fight a haunting reminder of everything lost. His body aches with exhaustion, and the weight of his grief pulls him down like a heavy fog.The air was thick with death, the smell of burnt flesh and charred earth hanging about like a bad memory. It had been intense, far more than Ethan had envisioned, but it was done. His opponent, Marcus Hale, lay before him, unconscious. But in the triumph of victory was no victory, no celebration. Instead, there was only a hollow feeling.Ethan stood within the desolation, eyes vacant as he gazed out on the horizon where the sun had begun its descent below it. The golden light did little but stretch long shadows across the land, nothing to dispel the cold weight that settled in on h
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 62: The Echo of Hope
Sound: The ambient hum of the wind increases, the eerie silence that had succeeded the battle broken by the soft rustling of leaves. It feels tense, oppressive even. The breathing remains steady with Ethan, but there is an undeniable weight in the air, the calm before the storm. His body is battered, but his resolve, though bruised, is stronger than ever. A faint crackling sound comes from his hands as he fists them up, once again feeling the power flush through.The world around him had gone silent. The dust from the battlefield swirled in the air like a vision of indistinct memory, each particle reflecting the last moments of what had been a life-or-death struggle. His pulse echoed in his chest, steady and filled with the aftershocks of his victory. And the truth weighed in on him even in the aftermath of the battle.Lysara was gone. The final battle had come at a terrible cost.But even in her absence, she stayed with him. Her last words swirled in his mind, telling him to let go o
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 63: The Echo
Sound: A slow, pulsing heartbeat. The wind is still and heavy, as if it too holds its breath in the wake of the battle. Soft cracks echo in the distance distant reminders of destruction that has already passed. The faint rustle of fabric and a quiet inhale of air can be heard, signaling Ethan's tense anticipation.The world had come to a standstill, the air heavy with the aftermath of the last battle. The remains of the once proud stronghold stood in silent testimony to the clash of power. But it was not over.Ethan stood alone in the center of the battlefield, his hands trembling ever so slightly, energy still crackling under his skin like a storm waiting to burst. Lysara was gone again, vanishing into the ether like a wisp of smoke, but her presence had imprinted on him on his soul. The sting of her loss had not fully faded. Her words still echoed in his ears. "Protect them.Sound: Ethan releases his breath, shaking off his thoughts, as he walks forward with crunching gravel under h
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 64: Breaking the Cycle
Sound: A windswept gust is heard as the breeze whispers through the desolate remnants of what once existed a lingering tension. The distant hum or crackle of energy is added to the light, thumping beat of a heartbeat, heavy and steady. Distant burning wood crackles as if waiting to remind everyone of the post-battle results. Tense silence settles over the landscape.The battlefield was eerily silent now. The roar of battle had faded, leaving only the remnants of destruction in its wake. Ethan stood alone, his body bruised and battered, his breath shallow and unsteady. The power that surged within him still felt like a living thing, wild and untamed, but the weight of his actions hung heavily on his shoulders.Marcus Hale was gone his body sprawled out in the ruins, the remnants of the dark energy that once fueled him dissipating into the air. But the cost had been great. Ethan had tapped into a force deep inside himself, a well of power that felt both like a blessing and a curse.But
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Episode 212: The Last War, The Last King
It was no longer their battlefield.What had once been a sky became a dirty mirror of a world that had died before history itself.The ground shook under Ethan and Asha’s feet, not from ruination, but from something attempting to rewrite existence itself.And at the center of the whole thingThe light belonged not to this world, and it now burned behind their eyes, at last uncovered from the shattered mask.The End.They weren’t human.They weren’t divine.They had been something before those things.And as they walked closer, the mere act of them distorted the air nearby.“You have tread too far, Hollow King.”“You’ve broken too many chains.“And now you will see what was meant to be forgotten.”Ethan’s hands made fists.Asha took a slow, deep breath.They had no time to think.Because the First King moved.And the final battle began.Ethan had little time to even react before he found the First King in front of him.Their movement flouted space itself—not teleportation, not speed, ju
Episode 210: The Beast That Devours Fate
Ethan felt nothing.No pain.No weight.No time.Just… absence.As if he had entered the void of creation itself.As if he never existed at all.But somewhere through the deafening silence.He could still hear Asha calling his name.Still feel the tug of who he was.What he had been.What he refused to lose.Because this wasn’t merely an enemy.This was something worse.Something beyond the throne.Farther than he had ever ventured beyond the kings and wars that had shaped his life.And if he didn’t stop it.There would have been nothing left to save.Not this world.Not Asha.Not himself.Nothing.Asha was losing him.She saw it.Felt it.Ethan was fading, his form wavering between real and unreal, his shadow bending, extending—being consumed.The Nameless Horror stood in front of them, a shape that had shape, a thing that had life, but nonetheless the presence of hunger.It had no eyes.No mouth.And yet.She could hear it laughing.Not a sound.Not a voice.A feeling.A whisper in
Episode 209: The Breaking of the Seal
Ethan and Asha fell through the floor.Not from an explosion.Not from an attack.But because something below it had stirred.A being older than the Hollow Throne.Something that had been locked away since the beginning of this world.And they had just released it into the wild.Or the very ground they fought upon, as Asha staggered backward, as wide-eyed as the battlefield ripping itself asunder, huge stone slabs rising into the air like broken sheets of a long-lost history.Ethan breathed slowly, steadily.But his shadow is his power.Trembled.For whatever was coming out of the cracks.It wasn’t a monster.It wasn’t a ruler.It was more than those things.That should have never come back to life.The tyrant coughed violently, blood leaking from between their lips, but they were smiling.Smiling as they knew exactly what was in store."You thought you won."Their voice was raw, not much more than a whisper.“You thought you could kill me and end this war.Their half-broken gaze sett
Episode 208: The Hollow King’s Last Breath
The battlefield had long been a maelstrom of destruction.But when the tyrant came down.Everything changed.The atmosphere twisted, warped by the mere gravity of their existence.Reddish-golden light poured off their form, writhing into physical might, bending the battlefield as if the very fabric of reality was willing itself to conform to their will.Ethan and Asha knew it immediately.The pressure.The difference.The monsters they’d fought before Vaelros, the tainted Tamers, the Eclipse Titan.They had been powerful.But this?This was a god entering the fray.Asha’s pulse pounded.She gripped her sword more tightly, but her fingers were numb.Ethan’s shadow trembled wildly.His power, which had always been bound to the throne, was now battling against him.Because the throne no longer belonged to him.And there before him stood its new ruler.The tyrant’s voice was calm. Smooth.Amused."Tell me, Hollow King…"“It’s like being powerless. How does that feel?The War Begins Again
Episode 207: The Tyrant Descends
The battlefield had long been a maelstrom of destruction.But when the tyrant came down.Everything changed.The atmosphere twisted, warped by the mere gravity of their existence.Reddish-golden light poured off their form, writhing into physical might, bending the battlefield as if the very fabric of reality was willing itself to conform to their will.Ethan and Asha knew it immediately.The pressure.The difference.The monsters they’d fought before Vaelros, the tainted Tamers, the Eclipse Titan.They had been powerful.But this?This was a god entering the fray.Asha’s pulse pounded.She gripped her sword more tightly, but her fingers were numb.Ethan’s shadow trembled wildly.His power, which had always been bound to the throne, was now battling against him.Because the throne no longer belonged to him.And there before him stood its new ruler.The tyrant’s voice was calm. Smooth.Amused."Tell me, Hollow King…"“It’s like being powerless. How does that feel?Ethan moved first.He
Episode 206: The Colossus That Eats Light
The Nightmare GrowsThings were coming apart at the scene of the battle.The colossus towered, hovering over Ethan and Asha, contorting, warping, and turning into something worse.Its shape contorted, once a lump of shadow and machination and now remolding itself in the heat of battle.Razor-sharp spines of obsidian jutted from its back. Its arms stretched, transforming into monstrous blades of pure void.And worse, it was learning.Ethan clenched his fists.Asha swallowed hard. “Tell me we have a plan.”Ethan exhaled. “We destroy it before it’s fully developed.”A pause.Then Asha grinned. “Good. That, I can do.”And then.They attacked.So, The Hollow King and the Tamer Strike BackAsha was first.She darted ahead, her knife glinting in the fractured light, stitching her way through the maelstrom of sorcery pulsing from the colossus.The air itself struggled against her, the raw force of the beast’s power stretching time like chewing gum around it.But Asha was faster.She ducked be
Episode 205: The War of Beasts and Kings
The battlefield ceased to be a desolation.It was a slaughterhouse.Asha’s boots skidded on the cracked earth, her blade shining as she plunged it into the chest of a monstrous soldier. The creature screeched, but it did not fall.It had no blood to spill.No flesh to break.It was a manifestation of the throne’s will, a life that was never meant to be extinguished.And it was multiplying.For each one she felled, two more crawled from their cracks, skeletal eyes fixated on her with unbowed faithfulness.Asha gritted her teeth.They were trapped.And Ethan.Ethan was fighting in another way.The Final Fighter: A King Without A Throne, A Fighter Without ChainsEthan had stopped using his shadow.The energy of the throne, his old throne, was throwing him out, and now the power of himself was turning against him.So instead he had been battling with his fists.With pure, relentless force.He slammed his heel into the earth, pushing himself forward, his body running faster than the though
Episode 204: The First War of the New King
The Rising StormThe wind was wrong.Not just heavy hostility.It contained something other than natural, something that made Asha’s skin prickle with unease.Standing with Ethan at the edge of the battlefield, she stared across the devastation of their greatest fight.But this was no victory here.Only loss.The throne was gone.Taken.And the world was already writhing under its new monarch.Ethan’s hands balled at his sides. His shadow, which he used to wield with ease, was still thrashing.Still smarting from being spurned by the throne that had once been his.Asha took a slow breath.“So,” she said, looking at him, willing to steady the weight at her chest. “Where do we start? ”Ethan didn’t respond right away.His eyes were fixed on the horizon.For the long walk back in the far distance past the shattered ruins, past the crumbling ashes of the old world.A new kingdom was forming.And it was spreading faster than they could contain it.The New King’s DomainThe sky was splittin
Episode 203: The New Tyrant
The throne was gone.The battlefield was wreckage, but it wasn’t the desolation that made Ethan’s chest a hollow place.It was the absence.He had spent every moment of his life struggling with the past, against it, trying to only be defined by what he could make of himself and his family rather than that throne.And now, someone else was in possession of it.Now, the world was breaking in ways he couldn’t control.Ethan blew out, trying to keep his breaths even.But Asha noticed the tension in his shoulders.She felt it too.The shift in the air.The change in, really, the world itself.Whatever this masked ruler had done, it had not simply been to take the throne.They had redefined something basic.And now, the reckoning was at hand.Fast.A First Indication of the New OrderThe ground quivered.Not from a battle, not an attack, but from something deeper.Asha’s instincts screamed.She grabbed Ethan’s arm.“Move.”Before he could ask it, the ground opened beneath them.An enormous
