Black Bound

By R. A. Meenan

Matt Azure is a candidate for the Defender Academy and one of only two in his graduating class to already have one of the coveted Lexi Gems – powerful magic jewels that grant their owners long life and special powers. However, the only reason Matt has a Gem before everyone else is because he bound himself to it, making him a rare -- and feared -- Black Bound Gem user.

When Matt’s Gem finally breaks and gives him a magic specialty, it grants him rare wind manipulation powers... and he critically injures a student by accident. And worse, his best friend and adoptive sister Izzy Gildspine is getting dragged down with him when he discovers his Gem is stealing energy from her.

Now Matt must confront impossible odds and control before his magic gets completely out of hand... and drives him or Izzy to an early grave.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R. A. Meenan
• Release date: Dec 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005610937

R. A. Meenan

R. A. Meenan was born in London during the golden age of science fiction, but somehow time traveled to the Modern Era (some say a mad man with a blue box was involved). She was dropped on the doorstep of a house owned by anthropomorphic cats and though they were disappointed she didn’t have furry ears and a tail, they took her in to teach her the ways of elemental magic. After setting fire to her furry cat friends’ tails one too many times (final score – fire: 2612, cat’s tails: 0) they called an exterminator and sent her out on her way.Now an adult (physically, not mentally), she ride-hops intergalactic military spacecraft, combing the outer reaches of space and time, writing science fiction and urban fantasy stories based on her experiences. She’s also hoping to find the perfect cup of coffee and a better way to grow dinosaurs. Humans kind of look at her funny, but she’s managed to make herself an honorary ambassador for furry and anthropomorphic aliens and space dragons.She carefully feeds and brushes her wonderful husband Joe and the pair have four furry children (which are really cats, but don’t tell them that) and one small child named after a video game. She also spends her spare time teaching essay-writing haters, molding them into people resembling Actual Students and Lovers of English.She may not win the hearts of stiff military men or students who want good grades for no effort, but she certainly captures the spirit and imagination of time travelers, magic users, nerds, Students-In-Training, and fantasy lovers. Welcome to her nonsensical world. We hope you like it here.

Book preview

image-placeholder

Chapter 1

There will always be those who try to justify their choices in the name of the greater good.

When I did that, I nearly killed my best friend.

Senior year of high school. It had been a sluggish day right before lunch. Winter’s pale light flooded my history classroom, casting shadows over the students and metal desks. The soft ruffle of fur, feathers, scales, and other assorted animal elements blended well with the myriad of voices. The smell of white board markers and the hum of an A.I. projector mingled with conversations. Student chatted about their plans for the upcoming winter break.

I ignored them and I headed to my desk in the back of the room. Since I was planning to dive snout first into the into the Defender Academy right after graduation, breaks were just an excuse for Lance Tox, the Master Guardian of the Defenders, to drag us high schoolers in the Young Defenders program into wargames and training. I spent most of my breaks during high school in war simulations and this one would be no exception.

I dropped my tail into my desk seat, my white, blue tipped quills shaking on the back of my head. Probably a hard wargame too, since this would be the last one before I graduated. And Lance already knew I was planning to apply for the Golden Guardian program, so my training reflected that. Admittedly, I wasn’t looking forward to it. But at least I wouldn’t be alone.

Hey, Matt. Izzy Gildspine walked up the aisle. My future Guardian partner and closest friend. She was practically my sister. Both our fathers had died heroes when we were young, but my father’s close friend Jaymes Fogg adopted us and raised us as siblings. Golden brown with short quills and a pleasant smile, Izzy attracted a lot of attention on campus, but she spent most of her spare time with me. We were hopefully going to be Guardian partners in the future after all.

I grinned. Hey Iz. Ready for the wargames?

Ugh, don’t remind me. She settled herself in the desk next to mine. I’m glad it’s only a week. We’ll have a little time to relax before we come back to school.

A little. I picked at a loose quill on the back of my head. I can’t believe I’m graduating in a few months.

I can’t believe you’re turning twenty in a few months. She beamed. Just a little longer before you’re a full adult! At least legally. Not sure about mentally.

I eyed her with a smirk. Funny.

I thought so. Izzy giggled. So what are you gonna do to celebrate?

Enter boot camp and get my butt whupped, probably. I copied her grin. And hopefully have some cake.

Izzy raised one eyebrow. You hate cake.

It’s rite of passage. I shrugged. Dad’ll be devastated if I don’t let him make me a twentieth-birthday cake.

Ha! That’s the truth. She tilted one ear back, her smile fading a little. Still hoping for your Gem to break before the games?

I took a slow breath, bending one ear, then pulled out the Gem I held in a cloth pouch at my side. Fist-sized and weighty, the cut edges of the clear Gem sported the same blue I had on the tips of my quills, set against clear-white. It caught sunlight and danced rainbows on the walls.

Izzy and I were the only students in school with bound Gems. Probably the only Zyearthlings on the planet bound under the age of twenty, honestly. Gem binding was a rite of passage for legal adults. It bound the user’s lifeforce to the Gem. For most zyfaunos, it was performed by someone who was already bound.

But Izzy and I were different. We had been bound as children. On top of that, I was the one who had bound us, in an emotional overload.

It was painful. Mentally scarring. I still had nightmares about it.

Black Binding.

The term stood most Zyearthling’s fur on end. The term came with all sorts of stigmas. Black Bound zyfaunos are dangerous. They’re uncontrollable. They’re mentally unstable. They shouldn’t be allowed to live.

At least, that’s what average Zyearthlings thought. The Defenders practically saw us as gods, since our Gems were supposed to be so powerful.

So far Izzy and I hadn’t seen either side of the Gems. They were just… normal.

Being Black Bound wasn’t special.

Other than the fact that that meant we had our Gems long before anyone else on the planet, which really only gave us one possible edge. Extra time training with our Gem powers.

For average Gem users, Gems grant long life. For others, the Gem will break into a specialty, granting some kind of magic to the user. Izzy and I were hoping for a specialty. We needed specialties. It was the only way to become Guardians.

We hoped being bound early meant we’d get our specialties sooner. We’d be experts in our powers before we ever hit Academy.

Too bad it didn’t seem to be working that way.

I don’t know, I admitted.

"Draso’s wings, just when I thought you were already damaged beyond repair, now I’m