The Path of Ascension

PoA: Aster's Adventures Chapter 1

As Aster sat in the waiting room of the shuttle bay, she couldn’t help but perk her head up at everyone's entrance, hoping it was Matt who had somehow figured out a way to come with her. She was disappointed when it was just one of the workers escorting someone else into the lounge.

She was going through her collection of movies, trying to find something to distract her when the door opened again, but this time she stood up on the chair completely, seeing a small yellow and blue streaked songbird being led in on a floating platform.

A beast.

A bond!

Aster’s tail wagged as she watched the bird finally notice her and squawk in the beast language, “Oh, hello! Are you going to Red Feather Academy as well?”

The woman escorting the bird brought her to take a spot next to Aster, where they were able to easily talk.

“My name is Aster. What is yours? And yeah, I’m going to Red Feather Academy as well.”

The bird fluttered her wings and bobbed up and down as she answered in a twitter, “My name is Kelly. It's nice to meet someone else going there. I was kinda nervous…”

When Aster heard Kelly say that, Aster nodded. “Me too. I know there is nothing to worry about, but I’ve never been away from my humans this long. We’ve spent a few days away from each other before, but not years.”

Kelly fluttered to the door on her bird cage and exited as it opened for her and flew a lap around Aster.

“I’m glad to hear I'm not the only one. What are you, Aster? An ice fox?”

“Close! I’m a Winter Fox. I was an Ice Fox back when I hatched.”

Kelly fluttered to a stop on top of her cage and asked in a surprised voice, “You changed your bloodline already? Wow! I’m a Lightning Finch, and never really thought to change my bloodline. I hear it’s painful!”

Aster shook a little. “Yeahhh, it wasn’t fun, but the results are great! Having access to wind as well as ice is useful. And lightning sounds cool. I bet you can zap all the monsters!”

Kelly preened at the compliment and nodded. “I sure do. My human, Alexa, by the way, is a melee fighter, and I’m her mage.”

Aster nodded rapidly at their similarities. “Same! My human’s name is Matt, and he’s a melee fighter as well. When I was just a kit, I rode in a backpack and killed things with my ice. It was great!”

Surprisingly, thinking of Matt didn’t hurt this time with Kelly here.

In a much better mood, Aster gestured at the birdcage. “How come you have a birdcage with you?”

Kelly chirped even as she fixed the position of a feather. “I’m too small, and people have the habit of almost sitting on me if they aren’t paying attention. At least with it, I stand out more. Or, they think I’m just a normal bird, but that only really happens when I’m around low Tiers.”

Aster nodded along as it made sense. “I see, I see. Want to go explore? I wasn’t in the mood before, but with you here, it sounds fun.”

Kelly shuddered and flew a circle. “That does sound fun! Where should we go?”

Aster looked at the layout of the shuttle waiting area and its various shops, and when she didn’t see anything that stood out to her shrugged. “Why don’t we just walk around?”

At Kelly's agreement, they started moving through the shops, which was when Aster saw the problem of Kelly’s small form and fast flying speed. She needed to fly circles around Aster and everyone else just to keep pace with them.

Going with the easy solution, Aster offered to let Kelly ride on her head, to which the bird happily agreed.

There was a slight shock when Kelly landed, but she quickly apologized. “Sorry! I built up a little static flying.”

Aster tried to look up and couldn't see her, but felt her settling in with her spiritual perception, using her own Concept to anchor herself without digging into Aster's fur or skin, which was very considerate of her.

Together, they wandered the various shops, trying bits of food here and there and looking at the overpriced things the vendors were trying to sell until it was time to board their shuttle that would take them to the first leg of their journey.

Bonds going to Red Feather Academy was a regular occurrence, and Red Feather Academy used normal passenger ships while it gathered all of the bonds to their own shipping line that traversed the Empire. They had two stops where they would transfer to other passenger liners before they got to their final destination.

Thankfully, they had each other to keep them entertained during the flight.

While Aster couldn’t say they were best friends, they had gotten closer during the flight.

When they landed and deboarded for their first transfer, they met two other bonds who were also going to Red Feather Academy.

Juan was a Stone Elephant and was wearing a specially made enchanted item that helped him fit into normal space on his tusk. His natural form at Tier 15 was close to twenty feet tall, which made it impractical for him to fit inside buildings. His stoney hide was surprisingly soft when he wasn’t fighting, thanks to his skincare regime, which Aster understood.

She took care of her fur and he took care of his skin. Same thing, really; everyone should look their best, after all.

Their final passenger was Roody, a Wind Lion whose mane was always fluttering in the breeze like a show off.

While Juan was fun to talk to, Roody spent more time hitting on both Aster and Kelly, which made him slightly annoying. Especially when he made it clear from the get go that he intended to have a pride of women all to himself.

Thankfully, once they made it clear they had no interest in joining his dream harem, he calmed down and started to interact with them like people instead of conquests, which lightened the mood significantly.

The four of them chatted and discussed their lives and what they thought Red Feather Academy would be like, and even their hopes and fears.

Roody, as it turned out, was more lonely than anything, having grown up with his human who had five wives who all treated him like a little brother and pampered him endlessly. He was really trying to recreate that feeling of home.

Aster was the only one out of the three who was less than a hundred years old, as her human was the only one who was on The Path of Ascension and rushing through the Tiers.

Her training also forced her to evaluate all three of them as potential hostiles, which was fairly easy. Even as a support mage, she was one hundred percent confident she could take all of them on. Kelly talked about struggling in a rift one Tier up with her human’s team, while Juan readily admitted they had actually delved down a Tier. Roody was the only one whose team delved up two Tiers, while he was personally capable of delving up a Tier in a solo run.

Aster didn’t say it, but she did find it amusing, as an easy day under Luna’s tutelage involved delving three Tiers up completely solo. If the cat was feeling generous, Aster would even be permitted to use all of her skills while doing so. She didn’t say anything so as to not seem like a show off, and just nodded along with the conversation as it flowed from topic to topic.

Beyond that, none of them showed any signs of nefarious intentions, or if they had any, they had better skills than she did, as she noticed nothing out of the ordinary in their behavior or the questions they asked.

That let her settle down and just enjoy having three new friends who were going through the same thing as her, which helped with her nerves.

When they transferred over to Red Feather Academy’s personal shuttle company, they were quickly overwhelmed by the absolute hordes of other bonds all still in their beast forms roaming the halls and rooms of the chaotic space ship.

At a quick count, there were nearly a thousand, and they all seemed to cover the gamut of every possible animal and bloodline combination.

Illusion Zebras, Shadow Snakes, Fire Anteaters, all conceivable types of horses, birds, wolves, cats, and Aster even spotted a few other foxes, including a pair of ice foxes.

Juan thankfully offered his back for them to climb on so they could more easily move around the crowded bay of people.

When Aster saw Roody, she snickered, and after whispering to Kelly, jumped on his back while Kelly sat on her back, creating a stack of them for a perfect picture opportunity.

Roody was startled, but settled down when he saw the small drone float around the four of them and posed in what she assumed he thought was a dignified manner, but rather looked like he had a hairball and was trying not to cough it out.

She and Kelly, on the other hand, looked adorable on top of the silly cat, while Juan looked stoic as he tried not to step on anyone and still look at the camera.

After jumping down from Roody, she got the best few pictures and sent them to each of the others so they had something to send their humans. While nothing would go through until the end of the first year probation, Aster intended to scrapbook her time at Red Feather Academy by utilizing the delay system.

Juan tooted a small thanks when he got the message. “Thanks, Aster. I think Mindy will love this.”

Roody sauntered over closer to Juan's head and nodded. “I look quite dashing. I always do, of course, but I look better than ever in those pictures.”

Kelly tweeted her agreement. “I also look fetching. Great idea Aster. Thank you!”

When Juan finally found a clear enough area, he gently laid down and sighed. “I can’t wait until I learn how to shrink my size down some. First thing I’m doing.”

Aster started to nod but stretched out her paws. “I want thumbs! It would be great to be able to pick things up without having to use my Concept.”

That earned her a nod from nearly everyone around, even those not of their group.

A short yellow monkey sauntered over as if he was trying to give Roody a run for most arrogant person, and showed his hands. “A step I don't have to take. Golden Fur Monkeys are clearly the best—”

A large pink vulture landed right next to the monkey and accidentally clipped the arrogant fellow with a wing, sending him stumbling, but they controlled their power well enough that it didn’t hurt the monkey.

“My name is Kazal, nice to meet all of you.” He nodded to Kelly after they introduced themselves and continued. “I’d like to invite you, Kelly, to come to introduce yourself to the little roost we are setting up.”

Seeing Kelly look at the rest of them, Kazal quickly continued, “We won’t keep you too long if you want to return to your friends, but we wanted to let most of the flyers meet each other before we arrive at Red Feather Academy.”

After looking between them and Kazal once more, Kelly agreed to go say hello.

That seemed to set off some signal, and a large cat Aster couldn’t identify by sight came over to invite Roody to do the same, and an Air Fox came over to invite Aster.

His name was Oskar, and he seemed nice enough. It was nice to see and meet five other foxes. One was a fire type fox, but Aster simply ignored him as he did her.

After chatting a bit, she went back to her group to talk to Juan, who seemed a little lonely where he was sitting.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, and the two other elephant bonds were actually talking to him through their AIs, due to the massive number of others the largest mammals needed to be careful of.

Together, they sat and chatted about everything they noticed about the other bonds and their behaviors.

Before too long, Kelly came back and fluttered around them while she apologized for taking so much time. Apparently, she knew one of the other birds, and they had gotten into a lengthy chat.

Roody came back a little while later, prancing like a show dog.

Aster thought about making that joke, but held her tongue, not sure he would take it well.

She did record the image with her AI, so if they did become good enough friends, she could make the joke later. It was just too good to pass up. He even bounced up and down.

When Kelly asked him why he was so happy, he explained, “I met a very attractive pair of twin lionesses. Soon they will fall under my majestic sway. I’m sure they are watching me leave as we speak.”

Aster stretched upward a little but didn’t see any other big cats, let alone two pretty twin lionesses, but didn’t burst his bubble. Also, hearing about bond twins got her attention, as she had never heard about it before. But thankfully, Roody explained.

“It's rare, but sometimes a bond egg has two animals inside, just like a natural born person can have twins. Though, in a bond's case, it's apparently always identical twins, and not fraternal.”

Aster quickly searched for the relevant information, which agreed with what Roody said, but what he hadn’t said was how rare it was. Instead of one in two hundred and fifty, it was closer to one in ten thousand for a bond egg to have twins.

Juan swished his trunk as he asked, “If they are pretty and twins, doesn't that mean all the other lions are trying to date them as well?”

Aster looked at Roody, wanting to hear the answer as well.

Roody’s answer was to simply shrug slightly. “I’m sure they are, but look at me. I’m gorgeous, smart, powerful—”

“Humble.” Kelly interjected.

Roody simply nodded as he continued. “Humble, respectful, courteous, trustworthy, and fair, which is far more than those other bozos can say.”

Aster grinned as Roody complimented himself.

The more she talked with this guy, the more she liked him. He seemingly had a sense of humor.

The four of them settled in to chat for the remainder of the exceptionally quick flight, that only lasted a day and a half, to finish the remaining trip to the planet Red Feather Academy was located on. It was aptly named, The Nest.

Aster had looked it up, and Mara had renamed the planet the same way she had renamed the academy itself, which was something not every royal did. Knowing the bird in question, she wasn’t at all surprised. Mara was fun like that, and Aster knew full well that she would rename things to fit her if she ever became a ruler.

After an absurdly long time, they exited their shuttle onto the planet's surface with a dozen other groups of people, and Aster was astounded at the sight.

They had landed on a large grassy field with clear strips cut in the long, wavy grass that danced as if inviting all of them to run and frolic in. She was sure rabbits would live inside that grassy sea, and she had to lick her chops a few times to get rid of the building saliva that threatened to drip on Juan’s back. She could even see a river meandering through the field leading off into the distance.

Once she was able to wrench herself away from the grasslands, she looked around and noticed a dozen other shuttles, each bearing a different insignia of a stylized animal profile on its side, though each was only in one of three colors. Red, blue, or green. She wasn’t able to piece together the actual meaning of them, and the LocalNet was locked down beyond calls for help.

Not that she was worried. Aster had spent enough time being watched by Luna and Kurt that she could feel the eyes hiding in the sky, watching their every move.

From Juan’s back, the four of them walked through a massive archway of flowering trees of some kind, and Juan expanded to his twenty foot tall form as he stretched his trunk to grab one of the flowers, which smelled amazing.

As he shoved it in his mouth, he stopped for a brief moment and reached back up. “These are fantastic. You guys have to try.”

Aster had eaten her fair share of salads, but the leaf looked a little too herbivorous for her taste. Still, after Kelly’s noises of enjoyment, she had to take a nibble, and found it tasted as good as Juan said it did.

Even Roody enjoyed it after he got over eating 'prey food', proving just how good it was, and he finished it off even as their vantage point slowly shrunk back down to Juan’s shorter, more indoor convenient height.

As they followed the mass of others, they eventually entered a massive, open air stadium like they used for sports, and Aster gawked at the half filled stands as she counted just how many bonds there were.

The academy had a new class every year, and there were close to three thousand bonds if her AI’s best guess was close, and it predicted that number to balloon to four thousand as the final beasts wandered in from the still descending shuttles.

Kelly took to the air and talked to another few groups of birds, who informed them that they just simply needed to wait for the headmaster to make his appearance after everyone arrived.

Thankfully, that didn’t take too long, as a few humans with obvious animal parts led the rear in a spiffy star-like uniform.

Once more, before she could really dig into the uniform, an older looking man with gray hair walked to the stand set up in the middle of the field, followed by a group of teachers in the same red, blue, green colors she had seen on the shuttles.

“Good afternoon, students. My name is Headmaster Payne, and I welcome you to our revered halls.”

There was a rumble as the thousands of beasts made their own sounds of welcome, which Headmaster Payne allowed to continue for a few moments before raising a hand, which silenced the area as his Domain stopped sound from traveling.

“There are a few things I’d like to explain to you before we get too far ahead of ourselves. First, the houses. Land, Air, and Sea. The three places you can find a bond’s natural habitats. Once upon a time, we separated you all to the house you biologically fit in, but we no longer do so. That was outdated even two hundred thousand years ago, when we stopped that. Instead, they represent your house and your collective efforts. Each house competes for prizes and privileges, which I encourage you all to participate in. It will both increase comradery and ease your time away from your bonds.”

Having said that, he twisted, and in his place, a beaver stood there and continued as if not interrupted. “Of which, I am one like all your instructors. It’s not comfortable to be separated for even a few weeks from your bond, but this really is for your own good. Here, you will learn many things, one of which is independence.”

Twisting once more, the human headmaster continued, “Moving on to something more pleasant, let me remind you that Red Feather Academy is larger than its bond department, and houses the best of the Empire's families with bloodlines. Both nobility and those still unlanded. They are not allowed on the Bond College's grounds, and you, as first years, are not allowed to leave. Once you are finished with your first year, you will have free run of the Academy and its classes, but before that, you need not worry about such matters.”

Aster sighed, as she had wanted to meet Alyssa and say hi to a familiar face. Even if they weren’t friends, they could be friendly.

“Now, about the houses and how you will be sorted if we no longer do so by something as easy as biological sorting. And the answer is easy. Random, unbiased chance.”

Aster got a ping upon Headmaster Payne saying that, and found herself in the Air house.

She was worried about her new friends, but Headmaster Payne answered the question before she could voice it.

“Those that you traveled with will be sorted together as a room, or as we like to call them, pods. The four of you may have met by chance and a little of our meddling, but sometimes, the best bonds are like that. You will spend the next ten years together, so if you have some interpersonal issues, start learning conflict resolution.”

As he chuckled, Aster yipped her pleasure. Kelly and Juan were great, and even Roody was growing on her, despite the abysmal first impression. It would be nice to be able to spend the next few years with them.

“Now that you are all sorted, you should be able to piece together the colors with the houses and the uniforms of the Deans behind me. Dean Corbyn is in charge of Land. Dean Wright is in charge of Sea. And finally, Dean Yates is in charge of Air.”

Aster looked at the Dean Yates she would be sorted under and the nice green uniform she was wearing. She liked it, and thought it would match well with her white hair when she made her human body.

Headmaster Payne let everyone chatter for a minute before raising his hand once more and silencing them. “There are two things I’d like to say. First, all of you should do your best in each of your classes, and listen to the teacher from all houses, not just your own. Second, I'd like to introduce the student council. They are unique in that they make up the Star House. They do, in fact, have limited authority over students, and they should be the first line of contact for most of your issues.”

Taking a deep breath, Headmaster Payne paused before finishing, “Please follow your respective Deans, and I wish you all a productive and enjoyable next ten years.”

As Juan carefully walked the four of them to stand around Dean Yates, Aster looked at her fellow students, and for the first time, noticed that the ground had channels filled with water that ran across the fields.

Dean Yates clapped to get everyone's attention, even as the surrounding sounds quieted to a murmur. “Good day children. I know this can be a scary time, but I encourage you all to rely on your roommates and help others who are in need. The first thing I’d like to mention, to get it out of the way, is the limited LocalNet. While a bit more of it will become available to you over the next few days, it will remain incredibly limited until you finish your first year, and you won’t get full EmpireNet access until your sixth year. This is done to teach you all how to rely on yourself, and not just look up information. AI and the Nets are useful, but they can also become crutches. Now if you would all follow me, we will first show you to your rooms, where you can settle down for a little bit before dinner.”

Looking at Juan and a few other larger animals, she added, “While most of you follow Prefect Camren, I will settle our larger students.”

As Aster and the others jumped off his back, Juan was given a new enchanted item that shrunk him down from a six foot tall form, to a much smaller three foot tall form.

Dean Yates gave him a gentle smile before she moved on. “Don’t worry, you won't have to use it for too long. The first thing we teach is the ability to control your size, as it's the first step of more freeform transformations.”

“Oh, thank you! This feels like someone stuffed me in a shirt two sizes too small.” Juan grumbled under his breath.

Dean Yates reassured him that that feeling wouldn't last too long, and he would get used to it, before moving through the crowd and helping the others who were a bit larger than was convenient.

The building they entered immediately proclaimed its allegiance to Air, with the spatially expanded halls and false skies that seemed to stretch on for miles. There were also water paths that Aster saw quite a few fellows swimming through to reach their own rooms.

Prefect Camren, as she learned from Roody, was a year five student who was in charge of keeping the first years' common rooms under control, and would act as local authority figure for them to interface with. It was an interesting idea, and she liked the cut of his uniform, which was subtly different from the other students who had taken human form and were walking the halls.

When they entered their common room, Prefect Camren announced, “Here is where you’ll be spending the next ten years. The housing buildings stay with you as you advance, and the new students take the empty rooms that the graduating students have vacated. I will inform you that the Roc wing has some large shoes for you all to fill, and I wish you all the best of luck in doing so.”

Once he showed them how to locate their rooms, Aster followed Roody, who had taken the lead after crawling up half a dozen sets of stairs, as Juan had never gotten the hang of flying with his Domain. That, combined with his size, meant flying devices needed too much power to be economical for his human and him to afford, but they eventually arrived.

Their room opened into a small sitting area attached to an even smaller kitchen, with four doors leading into their private rooms. Each was already labeled with their respective names, and investigating her door allowed a pleasantly frigid gust of wind to sweep into the common area. Aster quickly went inside and closed the door behind her, so as to not disturb the others.

Inside, a bed and igloo sat along one wall, with another holding a desk and enough room for her miniature ice cream machine, and the final wall had a pair of doors leading to a walk-in closet and bathroom.

Aster hopped up to her desk and filled out her information packet, then did some basic unpacking before returning to the common area while waiting for the others.

Kelly was the next out, and she flew around Aster’s head, chirping excitedly for Aster to see her room’s decoration.

The layout was the same as Aster’s room, save for a small nest on a pedestal in place of Aster’s igloo, but while Aster’s was pleasantly cool, the finch’s air was quite humid, and carried a slight charge in the air.

The most notable decoration of the room was a collection of shiny rocks set out on the desk, which Kelly explained were mementos of her and her human’s adventures.

As the boys were still in their rooms, Aster showed Kelly her own room, but the poor bird was quickly too cold to stay for long. Thankfully, it didn’t take much more time for the boys to return to the sitting room.

Once they were all together, they re-entered the common room, where they found more and more people gathering around Prefect Camren, who led them to dinner with the other houses.

Air had the leftmost table, which let Aster sit with her back to the wall and watch as the others filed in.

The food was ok, but not nearly as good as Aunt Helen’s. It was an unfair comparison, but it also wasn’t as good as what Matt made. At least to Aster’s tastes— the others found the food amazing, but they at least seemed to be sympathetic when she bemoaned that the glazed rabbit just wasn’t as good as what Matt made.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, the three houses were given their schedules and first day’s assignment: Find your classes.

Their pod all had the first class, which was ‘Introduction to Bloodlines,’ but after that, their schedules diverged, with each of them going to their respective body type’s ‘Transformation of the Body’ classes. After that, they all had an exercise class, but that was split between mages and melee fighters, which meant Roody, Kelly, and herself were together, while Juan went to the melee fighters’ class.

Lunch filled the middle of their day, along with a self-study session, but they ended their day with an ominously named class: ‘Tooth, Claw, and Paw’, which sounded like a fighting class.

They’d keep this schedule for three months, after which their malleable forms were expected to be at least mostly humanoid, and then things would change.

Once Juan had finished his meal of leaves and a sugar cane for dessert, the four of them went looking for their classrooms as instructed. There was a bit of a complication, with their AIs not able to download a map, but they made their own by tracking down all of their classrooms, library, dining hall, and common areas. It was neat, seeing all the grand hallways, and Aster concluded that was probably the point of forcing them to explore like that.

That night, as Aster laid in her igloo resisting the urge to yawn, the air nice and chilly, she smiled.

Despite everything, Aster was excited, and couldn't wait for tomorrow and classes to start.

This seemed… Kinda fun.