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Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 70: Blood and Shadows
The wind roars through darkened trees in a mournful wail of despair, cutting across the landscape like a keen blade. Heavy with light, the moon drags its gauzy robes across the horizon. Ethan and Lysara stand together beneath the weight of their victory; the immediate enemy is vanquished, yet a strange hush clings to the air, as though the earth is holding its breath.The battle that rent through the night is done, but the war is far from won. Ethan and Lysara stand at the edge of their triumph, the remnants of their enemies scattered in the wake of their power. Yet in the silence, a deeper, more insidious danger stirs one that will test everything they've fought for.Ethan's breathing is shallow; his body is battered and bloodied from the savage battle. He can feel his strength waning, but it's his resolve the bond with Lysara that keeps him anchored in this world. Still, there is no mistaking it: the storm is far from over.A faint, eerie whisper cuts through the stillness, a voice
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 71: Hour of End
It is a silent night. Leaves are rustled by a wind that barely makes a whisper over the fallen ones on the ground. Yet it feels unnatural for such silence in the air. The world hangs suspended, like holding its breath. Ethan is lying on cold earth, bruised and broken, his chest rising and falling in shallow gasps. Lysara kneels beside him, her fingers frantically pressing against his side to stem the flow of blood. The battle with the Spirit is over but the consequences are far from it.Gone is the Spirit, its ash scattered to the wind, yet Ethan's triumph has been steeply bought with his own suffering. His wounds are deep and his body is to the point of collapse. Lysara would not leave him, her face pale with concern. She'd seen death many times, yet never in a man's eyes she loved; never like this.Ethan's strength has always been his power, his weapon against the darkness. But even that cannot protect him from the pain of battle. The agony is almost too much to bear, but his determ
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 72: Silent Dawn
Sounds of the ambient the silent beginning of a light dawn across shattered windows left standing in an overturned battlefield; the body of Ethan cold and not a movement on Lysara stays beside the unmoving one; her hands twitch while she tries pulling strands out from his chilling cold face; the quietness about all of this: the rage within the last storm of a tempest last night; now it stops. He buries her with the weight of his sacrifice on her shoulders, like a mountain, and yet she cannot let go.The sun rises over a world that was scarred by war. The spirit that once haunted them is gone, but the price of that victory is too much to bear. Ethan's body lies cold in Lysara's arms, a man whose soul burned with power, whose heart was filled with love. Yet, despite his strength, despite everything he did to protect her and the world, he could not escape the price of his fate.Lysara's mind has only one painful thought: Is this the end? The war is won, but at the cost of everything she
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 73: The Reckoning
The distant howl of wind sweeps across the battlefield. The sky above churns with ominous clouds, dark and thick as if the world itself is holding its breath. Ethan and Lysara stand side by side, their gazes locked on the approaching storm. The ground beneath their feet trembles, as if it too feels the weight of the coming battle. A pulse of energy surges around them, their combined magic crackling in the air.Finally, in this final showdown, tension is heavy in the air. Ethan and Lysara, with spirits intertwined by love and loss, stand ready and combined against their foe, who has besieged them since the very start. The enemy they once thought defeated is now set to make its final hit that will prove devastating.But this time, they are no longer the people they were that day when they first met. They are more robust, and their bond is more profound, while their resolve remains unbreakable. The creature threatening their world will face, in addition to their combined power, the force
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 74: Shadows of the Past
The deep, rhythmic hum of magic fills the air. Battle over, words unsaid hang heavy in the air. Here stand Ethan and Lysara, battered but not broken in bodies. The battlefield is quiet now, save for the soft whispers of wind that sweep through charred places. As dawn's light peeks through the trees, it begins to cast long shadows on the ground.The dust has settled, but a deeper tension lingers in the air. Ethan and Lysara’s victory over the entity has come at a cost a price they cannot yet comprehend. As the world begins to heal, their fight is far from over. The remnants of the battle are still fresh in their minds, and darker truths are beginning to unravel.But even as they stand in the light of their hard-won peace, shadows from the past are stirring once more.A faint, eerie whisper, as if something unseen is moving in the wind, carries across the silence.LYSARA: (eyes scanning the horizon, voice wary) "It's not over, is it?"ETHAN: (his voice weary but resolute) "No. There's s
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 75: The Sound
Distant, it's a growl, very low and heavy, like some storm gathering energy. The tension is thick with the air charged with the smell of destruction yet to come; there's that faint crackling of dark power building around them. Ethan and Lysara stand in the middle of some ruined battlefield: the ground thumps beneath them as the actual form of this ancient entity finally starts to coalesce. The world holds its breath.The shadows Marcus Hale inadvertently brought to life now stretch across the horizon, casting their cold, suffocating presence over everything. The very earth Ethan and Lysara stand upon shudders at the thought of the ancient entity, a distant legend once, now towering before them in all its dreadful, terrifying majesty.The stakes are higher than ever. The dark power of the entity surges, its essence entwining with Marcus's twisted magic, building a force so powerful that reality begins to crumple beneath its weight.But Ethan and Lysara see this as more than just surviv
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 76: The Price of Victory
After the battle. The heavy, exhausted silence of the battlefield was filled with the sound of distant winds carrying the smoke and remnants of war. Faint cracks of thunder echo far away, but the storm that had once consumed the sky has now receded. The air is thick with the scent of burnt earth and magic, and the world seems suspended in time, holding its breath.The storm passed. The darkness that threatened to engulf all is gone. The old thing lies broken, its form now splintered, returned to nothingness. But like always, victory has a cost.Ethan stands tall, though his body is weary. His chest rises and falls with labored breaths, his power nearly drained from the battle that almost claimed his soul. Beside him, Lysara's form is just as worn, but her resolve remains as unyielding as ever.They have saved the world. Yet the weight of that victory presses down on them, heavy and unrelenting.Footsteps crunching through debris. Ethan turns, his eyes falling on the broken form of Mar
Rise of the Tamer ( Bound by the Beast) Episode 77: The Shadow's Echo
Wind whips through the trees. The battlefield has long since gone silent, but the remnants of chaos still linger in the air. Ethan's breath is steady, but the tension in his muscles suggests that the peace is fragile. Around him, the air is thick, heavy with an unsettling stillness. Far off in the distance, the faintest crackle of energy sparks, like a distant warning.It is silent outside as the world unites to mourn the dead. But with each annihilation comes a shadow, left behind, waiting: a new darkness not known yet by face. And so, Ethan and Lysara stand at the edge of that unknown, unsure of what to expect for the next day.They aren't, however, alone.Ethan's hand clenches tighter around the hilt of his blade, dark runes still pulsing faintly with the power he's drained from the battle. Lysara, ever watchful, stands close by his side. Her glance shifts across the horizon, where the sun dipped low, casting long, jagged shadows across the land.Distant rustle, faint footsteps beh
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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
