Looking back, it was quite funny that Sublimus was three times as tall as Arian. The beast possessed large, impressive antlers and fangs, too.
He looked like a predator. Like a beast that had fought a thousand battles and killed a thousand foes, celebrating his victories by feasting on their bodies.
And yet, the truth couldn't be further from the first impression.
Sublimus' diet was plant-based, consisting mostly of grass.
Naturally, he had never killed someone. So now, he hesitated to kill the small rabbit.
It was hard to come to terms with the fact that such a fearsome-looking beast had never killed someone.
Arian didn't get it. What was so hard about killing a small rabbit? Arian had been in hunting tournaments since he was five, and he had killed his first animal when he was nine. And it hadn't just been a rabbit, it was a boar.
Arian was proud of it. After all, he was nine.
Which made the whole situation even funnier, he had killed a boar when he was nine, yet this terrifying, powerful beast that was much older than him, couldn't kill a simple rabbit.
Unbelievable, Arian thought. This is unbelievable...
Wait, is he truly older than me?
Arian suddenly realized he didn't know. He hadn't thought about it. Actually, he had assumed Sublimus must be quite old, based on how large he was. But he knew this wasn't an indicator of age. The size merely told Arian, Sublimus was fully grown.
Qilin became adults when they were ten years old. So for all Arian knew, he could be seven years older than his beast.
What a strange thought. Arian pushed the matter aside. He would have time to ask Sublimus about his age later. Right now, he had to tell his beast to kill the fucking rabbit.
"Come on, kill the rabbit," he encouraged.
There was no answer. Arian felt inside his mind, trying to get hold of his bond with Sublimus to find out how his beast felt. Sadly, he failed to read anything.
This is something I have to train as well, Arian noted. Right now, I'm really bad at these emotions and connecting with my beast.
He was aware that the best beast tamers knew the emotions of their beasts instantly, even if they were miles apart and in completely different situations. It was almost like they were in two places at the same time.
Of course, there were limits; they couldn't see, hear, or smell what their beast did, but still, they knew their thoughts, and the beast didn't feel the need to close themselves off and keep their thoughts to themselves.
Arian thought something like this was truly magical.
Especially since so few beast tamers managed this stage.
Even his father was still miles away from such a feat. That's why he kept his phoenix close, never letting it leave his side.
Arian suspected their mental connection was actually one of the worst.
But then again, a phoenix was a beast of the highest tier. It must be incredibly hard to communicate, let alone form a connection with such a beast, Arian thought. If I follow that thought- it would take me long as well, to mentally communicate properly with Sublimus. After all, my beast is of the second tier, only one tier beneath a phoenix.
But still, even if there was a long way to go, Arian could dream of the days when their connection would be as good as those of the best beast tamers of the empire and their beasts.
It will take years, though, Arian made clear to himself.
Then the prince shook his head. He had gotten distracted.
In fact, he had been so caught up in his imagination that he had failed to watch Sublimus.
The beast had used Arian's inattention to get away.
Now he stood before the closed gates of the arena, seemingly wanting to get out of here. Arian was glad that while the arena was outdoors and didn't have a roof, there was a dome of barbed wire above, which prevented beasts from escaping into the air.
Sublimus was basically trapped. He couldn't use his ability to walk in the air to escape. Well, maybe he could. He would be strong enough and robust enough to break or at least bend the wire in order to escape. But he lacks the aggression to do that. He isn't used to using his body physically. That's why I want him to kill the stupid rabbit. Dammit!
The knights guarding the exit seemed unsure of what to do, even though they wore visors, Arian knew they sent him questioning gazes.
Arian didn't give them an answer, since a different issue plagued his mind.
Embarassing, did they catch me getting sidetracked?, Arian thought. That's not doing my reputation any favor.
He sighed.
"Where are you going, Sublimus?!", he screamed over the arena.
His beast didn't even look in his direction. He continued to stare at the guards.
"I'm going to eat. I'm tired." The answer appeared in Arian's mind. Arian tried to respond mentally, but failed to hold onto the connection long enough to get his message across.
In the end, he had to scream again. "You haven't killed your rabbit, though!", Arian protested.
The prince had planned to do so much with Sublimus today. Motivated by finally having a beast, he had made an entire list of all the things he wanted to try with his beast.
He was excited, he was curious, he was motivated.
But Sublimus- he seems so uninterested... so dull.
The first kill is always the most painful, I shouldn't be too hard on him, Arian reminded himself.
"Come on, it's not such a big deal. Please, kill the rabbit!" This time, the prince tried a softer tone, hoping to sound more understanding.
Finally, Sublimus showed a bit of a reaction.
The beast tilted his head slightly.
"You want me to kill someone, right?"
Arian was a bit taken aback. This was not the response he had anticipated. But still, it wasn't too bad. He could work with this more engaged Sublimus.
He immediately nodded.
"Why?"
"So you learn how to defend yourself. If you want to survive, you can't hesitate to hurt someone. I don't want you to just go around and kill mindlessly, but when you are in danger, you should be able to defend yourself properly. And you can only do that if you aren't afraid of hurting someone."
"So I have to kill the rabbit to harden my mind against murder," Sublimus concluded, which earned him an approving smile from Arian.
I knew it, my beast is a fast learner, Arian thought, and gifted Sublimus a warm smile.
"Exactly", he confirmed and hoped Sublimus would now carry on with killing the rabbit.
To his horror, Sublimus had other plans. Instead of killing the rabbit, Sublimus leaped at one of the guards and pressed him to the ground. He positioned one of his forelegs on the chest of the guard, preventing the poor man from getting up.
"If I only have to get my mind used to killing, I can kill this guard, instead of the rabbit, can't I? After all, it should have the same effect."
Arain hesitated in shock. He hadn't anticipated this response from Sublimus.
Had his assumption about his beast been wrong? Did Sublimus actually not mind killing?
But that couldn't be true. Every qilin known to mankind had an issue with killing. His grandmother, for example, never managed to battle-harden her qilin. In his long lifetime, he never killed someone directly. Nor did he accompany the empress into battle.
Like all qilins, his grandmother's beast campaigned for peace and prosperity. He despised war. All qilins despised war.
Based on this knowledge, Arian had decided that the very first thing he would do with Sublimus was to teach him how to kill.
Not only would it be extremely beneficial for him in the future, since only by being not afraid of hurting someone his beast could properly protect Arian, it would also leave a lasting impression on all people at court and other beast tamers.
By learning Sublimus how to kill or at least how not to be afraid of hurting someone, he would manage something all beast tamers of a qilin had failed to do before him.
A feat even empresses and emperors hadn't accomplished.
So if Arian managed it....
It would be an immense boost in my power, for sure.
When he had shared these ambitions with his closest advisors on the way back to the capital, they had called him presumptuous.
They told him this was impossible, and even laughed at such a ridiculous idea.
And yet, Arian was close to getting Sublimus to do what he wanted.
Sublimus was about to kill something.
The problem was just Sublimus didn't want to kill the thing Arian commanded him to kill.
While at first not a big problem (Arian could care less if the guard lived or not; there were far too many people who wanted to become a knight anyway), Arian understood that if he didn't enforce his beast to listen to his commands now, Sublimus would probably never do so in the future.
So he had to get Sublimus away from the guard.