The Weakest
Tim was supposed to vanish at the frontier like every other low-ranking tamer the empire discarded. Instead, his beast survived. At the bonding ceremony, every recruit received creatures meant for....
Tim was supposed to vanish at the frontier like every other low-ranking tamer the empire discarded. Instead, his beast survived. At the bonding ceremony, every recruit received creatures meant for war, command, and glory. Tim got an Ash Hound, a smoke-covered scavenger so feeble that the handlers almost killed it right away. The officials quickly offered him a replacement. A stronger beast. A real future. He refused. Now he has been sent beyond the empire’s walls to the dead frontier, where failed tamers are used as disposable labor against monsters, raiders, and things that crawl through the ruins after dark. Nobody expects him to last a month. But the creature at his side keeps doing impossible things. It learns too fast. It remembers battles it never fought. Whenever something dies nearby, the smoke around its body grows thicker. Veterans start watching Tim in silence. Military reports begin to vanish. People who shouldn’t fear a weak beast attempt to kill him before the rumors spread. Because the empire buried the truth about Ash Hounds long ago. They were never weak. They were erased. If Cinder keeps evolving, the entire ranking system that holds the empire together may collapse with it.