“Ohh,” Peter groaned.

“Peter! Oh, thank goodness!” he heard someone shout. Gaia?

He struggled to open his eyes. Something pulled him to sit upright and squeezed him tightly. His trapped arms struggled to return the favor, whoever it was.

Peter blinked a few times as his vision slowly came into focus. Indeed, it was Gaia. And she was… naked? Her bare breasts pressed into his chest as she continued to hug him tightly.

“Was I… was it just a dream?” Peter wondered aloud.

Had he fallen asleep while they were playing around? How embarrassing. It all made sense now. Bandit primals that called themselves ‘Free Women?’ There must have been some poison in the berries he had eaten. He began to wonder how Gaia hadn’t noticed there was something wrong with them.

“Here, let me heal you some more, Heal!” At that moment, a green light burned brightly between them. Peter’s eyes widened as the fog which hung over his thoughts was slowly pulled away.

“Sally!” he gasped.

A sniffle from behind. Peter turned his head and was met with a smoky aroma.  He saw Bryan kneeling on the ground, looking back towards Peter. His face was as red as his eyes were puffy, tears dripping down his face.

Another sniffle from him snapped Peter’s gaze from Bryan onto the black statue on the ground next to him. A cloud of dark dust beneath it. Peter became conscious of the smell once more, and he suddenly exhaled. “Is…,” he couldn’t finish his sentence. Bryan glared for a moment before returning his attention to the dark figure.

Peter looked back towards Gaia, and glimpsed at his genitals, presently connected with Gaia’s. She glimpsed down, only to realize what he had been staring at. “S-sorry!” she quickly apologized as she stood up, and quickly began to put her clothes back on.

“It’s just, it’s just!” she waved her arms erratically. “I was healing, b-but you were out! I thought, maybe like last time, how Kalista, would help!” she quickly stammered, her face blushing red.

Peter immediately understood. “Thank you, Gaia. It worked, I think I’m fine now,” he said with a gentle smile, causing her to blush even more.

He slowly rose to a stand and adjusted his clothes. Looking beyond Gaia, he saw three figures gazing down upon another three figures between them. Peter took one step and nearly fell, saved by Gaia’s quick catch.

She placed his arm around her shoulder and helped him walk towards the others. After a short distance, he felt more confident, and began to walk on his own, albeit slowly. 

Kalista saw Peter and let out a sigh of relief. Rena was angrily staring at the captured primals, her fingers tightly clutching her glaive. Peter could sense her radiating an aura of pure bloodlust.

A Templar, a Dryad, and a Goblin. Peter presumed this must be all that remained of the ‘Free Women’.

Twenty feet away from them, Peter spotted Lore on the ground. His heart sank when he saw what lay next to him. “No… Not Sina too,” he gasped.

Lore only gave a slow nod in response, not even looking at Peter.

“She died like a slave!” Brinda suddenly shouted. Peter scowled at her. “Freedom came calling for her, and now look, she’s dead!”

“Shut up,” Peter coldly whispered.

“And for what. Dying for a stupid human!Soon she will realize what a fool she is. Imagine your spirit, floating high to the heavens. And as you rise thinking of the man you kept safe, you find him six inches deep in a primal of your likeness! Bahaha! A primal’s existence is a joke to humans!”

“Shut up,” Peter repeated, louder.

“Or, even better! He finds a different kind of primal, and mutters something about living on for the both of them! She died a slave thinking her master was in love with her! Ahahaha!”

“SHUT UP!” Peter yelled, his face flushed red and his fists trembled.

Brinda smiled. “Have I struck a nerve? The truth does hurt, doesn’t it?”

“Nothing you said is true. That you think the relationship between a tamer and his primals is without love is just revealing your own pathetic nature! You said so yourself, you kidnap tamers and milk them while waiting for some stupid lord to blast a load big enough to fill your empty head. Just because you don’t care for others, doesn’t mean tamers do not hold love for their primals! A tamer will love his first primal as much as his last!”

“Spare me your lies. You convince me as much as you convince yourself.”

Peter shook his head. There was no point in arguing further with this deranged primal. “Lore,” he said, stepping towards the man. He looked up at Peter. His expression was worn and tired. “I’m sorry, but what do we do with them?”

Lore paused. “I… I don’t want anything to do with them. Talk with… talk to Bryan, perhaps he…” what came next couldn’t leave Lore’s lips. Peter nodded.

As he walked towards Bryan, Fire gave him a complicated look, before turning her attention back towards the three captured primals.

“Bryan,” Peter started.

“Go away,” Bryan coldly replied.

“No, I can’t,” Peter said, with an exasperated sigh. “Look, we need to figure out what to do with the three captured primals.” He paused. “Maybe you could-”

“COULD WHAT! COULD WHAT, PETER!” Bryan suddenly shouted as he turned to face him. “I couldn’t even take care of Sally, hic. And now she’s dead,” Bryan’s shoulders slumped for a moment, before they raised and began to tremble. “Because of Fira,” he spoke her name with venom.

“She was,” Peter hesitated, “she was defending me. Sally, she attacked me.”

“Defending you?” Bryan stood up and extended his hand towards the charred figure of Sally. “Is this what defending you looks like? It was complete overkill! If you had been awake, you would have seen how one-sided their fight was. She could have held back.” Bryan sobbed.

“Maybe,” Peter said while looking at Sally. “But she didn’t.” 

An awkward silence unfolded between them, before Bryan finally said, “I don’t want anything to do with those captured primals. Or Fira,” he paused. “Or any primals.”

“What about the Fren you captured?”

Bryan dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a stone, and tossed it towards Peter. Peter looked at it for a moment and then angrily tossed it back, hitting Bryan square in the chest. “You can’t just give up!”

“What do you care? You think I’m an idiot? You think I didn’t notice? You were looking down on me, everyone was! Well maybe I am an idiot. So let me do at least one smart thing and give up.”

“Giving up isn’t the smart thing to do! Sally gave up her life to teach you a lesson, and you’re just ignoring it!”

“And what lesson was that?!”

“This isn’t a game, Bryan! You can’t just go wild catching primals and doing whatever you want! You have to take care of them!. And they have to take care of you! If they lose you, they turn into ferals, or worse!” He pointed at the captured primals. “Intelligent bandits! If you lose them, you’ll get raped and killed!”

“Easy for you to say,” Bryan scoffed. “You have that rare primal of yours, I’ve never heard of her type. She’s so strong, she can just run over everything.”

“DON’T YOU DARE SAY THAT ABOUT KALISTA!” Peter suddenly shouted, his volume surprising them both. “She has trained immensely hard to get to the level where she is. There were times when she wanted to give up, and there were times when I wanted to give up. And we both pushed each other forward. I don’t give a shit what you say about me, but don’t you ever say something like that towards my primals, do you understand?!”

Bryan glared towards Peter. “Whatever,” and turned his back towards him, looking at Sally once more.

“Before Kalista evolved, she fought a Trickster,” Peter spoke with an angry but calm tone. “The evolved form of a Goblin, the same type as Sally. We lost that fight. Without landing a single hit on them. It was absurd. The Trickster wasn’t even trying, she was making a mockery out of us. Even now that Kalista has evolved, I’m still not sure she could win. That could have been Sally. Every tamer wants to become a master. You failed one primal, don’t fail the six you could have. Six primals, who could appreciate the tamer you’ve become!”

Bryan showed no recognition of having heard anything Peter had just said. Peter shook his head and went back towards the others.

“Everyone’s leaving it up to me,” Peter said. He paused. “Oh, I suppose there’s you,” he said as he looked towards Fira.

“Me?” she asked, confused. “Why are you asking me?”

“You’re part of the escort. You fought them, why shouldn’t you get a say?”

“But I’m a primal,” her fiery eyes flickered.

“Fine, then what would your tamer say?”

Fira closed her eyes and thought for a moment. “What are the options?”

“We could kill them.”

“Joy.”

“I have two stones. Maybe Lore or Bryan has another, we could capture them, and turn them into the guild.”

“So murder and slavery, got it.”

“If you understand the reality we primals face, then why did you side with them?” Brinda asked angrily.

Fira remained silent and didn’t respond.

“We could let them go,” Peter finally said.

“What?” Rena growled, Kalista and Gaia both tried to hide their shock.

“You would just free them?” Fira asked.

“You asked what the options were. It’s an option, isn’t it? Well, what do you say?”

Fira looked at the tied up primals. “K-,” she started. Peter raised an eyebrow. “K-ind of you to ask, but I’ll leave the decision up to you.”

“Ugh,” Peter groaned. He signaled for Kalista and Gaia to follow him a short distance away.

“Peter, are you seriously considering letting them go free?” Kalista asked.

“Peter, I know it must be difficult. I know they’re not ferals, but,” Gaia gulped. “If you let them go, the pain that they made Lore and Bryan go through today, they’ll inflict it on other tamers.”

“I know,” Peter sighed. “Not the Templar, for sure. She’s the leader in all of this. But as for the others… maybe letting one go might be fine.”