A few hours had passed since I last woke and the sun was already high in the sky. It still remained a tad bit green on the edges, as if my eyes were broken after having stared at it for too long, and honestly that might be the case. Why else would I perceive something obviously red as green?

"Ready?"

My colour theory was immediately proven wrong as I turned my head downwards, looking at clearly red eyes. No hint of green, just a pure spectrum of red.

This was my party member, or at least that was what she said we were. Personally I had no idea what it meant.

Party member? Like people you party with?

While that was the first thought that entered my mind, like my theory, I had dismissed that too. It did not matter anyways as I had no idea what either type of party was.

After further inquisition, she gave me a simple explanation. A party was a team. People you fought with. Allies.

I did not complain, for I had no reason to. More people meant less likelihood of dying. That was the conclusion I arrived at, anyway.

And now, we as a party would fight against the challenge before us.

Green and red ended a meter ahead, turning yellow. Well, honey yellow might be more specific, as that was literally what we were looking at.

Long stretches of honeycombs filled my vision. Hexagon-shaped constructs covered in liquid gold. The syrup-like substance glowed as it bathed in sunlight, its seethrough form eating the odd green hue.

It would have been quite the scenic sight if not for the inhabitants.

Six long black legs, a triangle-shaped head, and a striped thicc tail. Well, at least I thought it was a tail.

Looking behind myself at my own, however, made me retract that statement.

Yes, can't compare.

For some reason, I felt extreme pride in that statement. Swishing my tail about as if to show it off.

"Q-U-I-E-T," my party member said, trying to sound as serious as possible while still maintaining a low voice.

My tail fell lifelessly to the ground at her rebuttal. Not that she was wrong in her stance either. There were a lot of them after all.

From my codex of random information, I could recall such a creature; a hornet. Though the hornets I pictured in my head were much smaller. One might even say that the size difference was on a scale of multiple magnitudes. Each the size of my head. Each someone I had to defeat.

For you see this honey-covered scenery wasn't here a few days ago, apparently. At least that was what I was told, as I had never moved away from the small clearing; my birthplace. Therefore I had to take what my party member said at face value. Still, despite my lack of experience on the topic even I could understand the unnaturalness of the situation; of the insane construction speed necessary to achieve this. And they weren't slowing down at all.

Thusly we were here to destroy their nest before it spread far enough to reach my nest.

Others might have just considered relocating, but it wasn't that easy of a decision. Apparently, the forest around the clearing was infested. Shadow filled with wonderbeasts, ready to pounce at us from their hiding spots. Furthermore; I just didn't want to. It was my birthplace after all, my nest, my territory.

Why should I give it away to mere insects?

Thus we arrived at a single simple conclusion, we had to eradicate them. To destroy their nest before they could destroy ours.

While we were greatly outnumbered it could be done. They were insects after all; simple creatures with no mind of their own. We just had to separate them into smaller groups. Then we'd pick them off, one after another.

Or rather I would be the one to do the picking and my party member would be the one to separate them.

I had no idea why, but apparently, she did not want the experience. And by her not technically fighting; I would be the only recipient, the sole to procure. I could not wrap my head around this funneling concept. Still, that just meant more experience for me.

But, her reasoning left me curious. Why would she not want to get stronger, to level? The thought made me wonder, but no answers were conceived. Again I felt myself knowing less about this girl after having interacted with her. It left me tempted to find out her reasoning, her essence. And, as fate would have it, I had the ability to do so.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Looking at the side of her face, I tried to gleam at her essence; what made her, her... But I decided against it. I don't know why but I felt like I shouldn't, thus I didn't.

Weird

"I'll be going now. Prepare that spell you used before."

"Sure"

And then she left, and my chance to find out who she was with it.

Well, that was a bit dramatic. It was not like she wouldn't return. Still, I felt a bit sad when I could no longer see her. I did not know why. Actually, I had been feeling this way for a while now. My attention was always drawn to her. Following her actions, plans, and orders. Orders? That was a weird term, I did not know why I used it.

As I pondered the girl's changing position in my mind, the person in question had returned to view. She happened to have quite the company as well. A wall of black and yellow enclosed on to the sharp-eyed girl, both moving toward my direction.

Remembering the plan, I began to collect my essence in my chest. My core began to heat up like a furnace; heart ablaze and beating with power. I felt the energy surge throughout my body, ready to explode unless unleashed. Head aiming forward, I decided to comply.

[Ignis]

My maw opened and golden sunfire set the world alight. Spewing forward, burning the air itself as it engulfed the swarm of hornets and their subsequent nest. My party member was able to duck to the ground as planned.

Party member sounds pretty stiff doesn't it? I thought as I made my way toward the person in question.

Then I stopped in my tracks.

Creatures of black and yellow appeared as the dust settled. Some of them had burned wings, others a broken carapace. Yet fact remained that they were very much alive. Only the foremost creature, the one who had led the charge, appeared to have succumbed to my fire. And my assumption was correct, as a confirmation entered my mind.

Experience is rewarded for defeating Wasp(Scout) of the Golden Devil.

Skills level up: [Holy Fire] (lv.1)=>[Holy Fire] (lv.2)

Experience is rewarded for leveling up a skill.

Extra experience is awarded due to growth skills present.

Dumbfounded at first, though only for a second. And when the hornets began closing in it had all but subsided.

Though I guess they weren't hornets, but wasps. Probably didn't matter much considering I did not even know the difference between the two species to begin with. However I could not help but notice this being the first time the information in my otherworldy codex being wrong.

Banishing my, as always, fleeting thoughts, my body removed itself from the collision path of the charging insects. However, I did not stop. My four limbs carried me away from the golden nest, back to the green forest from which I came. All the while I heard the swarm buzzing behind me. Luckily it took them a while to turn their direction anew, and even longer to build up momentum. But if this chase continued on, they would inevitably reach me. To my relief though the chase soon came to an end.

A familiar clearing in view, I came to a grounding halt, my momentum leaving a trail in its wake. I turned around to see if the wasps were still there, luckily they were not. Most likely they gave up their hunt after I left their golden territory.

You know what? I think I prefer living in red, rather than being dead.

Still, I remained alive.

I noticed my chest beating rapidly. It felt weird. It was not from exhaustion, but something else. Something I could not describe but felt eerily familiar.

Shift*

And something familiar did indeed appear as my furry companion reappeared beside me. Just like me, she did not appear to be exhausted, just distressed by the earlier situation. Most likely she was behind me while we were chased. My lack in notice most likely caused by the chaotic situation.

"Why in Hell's name did they have fire resistance? Why did you not tell me!?"

A bit more anguished than I had originally thought, she screamed into her hand. Feeling a bit confused at the self-hate, I decided to take a closer look at her attention-soaked palm, only to find an object of my ire. Suddenly my mind clicked with an epiphany and a sense o kinship.

You know, I can relate, like a lot. Us having a fellow rival and all. You might want to quiet down on the crazy-looking stuff though. Else others might misunderstand you for being delusional after all!

Feeling a strengthened familiarity with my furry companion, I planed an attempt at consiliation... However she stopped her tantrum the moment I came close. Choosing instead to look at me awkwardly. For some reason I felt rejected.

O'darkness my old friend.

For awhile we just stared at each other, each feeling too dejected to start the conversation.

As if being drowned by the awkward silence, my furry companion decided to slice through it.

"...Ummm... Sorry. My plan backfired."

Oh so that's why she acted so awkwardly.

Feeling a bit more lighthearted I waited for her to finish.

"To begin with, I should not have collected so many of them at once. Even if you have a powerfull defensive spell, a mage is still a mage. Just 30% of them surviving would have been enough to overwhelm you, much less all of them."

Wait she thought I was a mage?

Noticing there being a misunderstanding between us I decided to correct her.

"I'm not a mage though, I'm a warrior! "

I said pridefully. Though apparently I was the only one amused by that statement, as my furry companion stared awkwardly yet again.

This was becoming scarily familiar.

However, I did not hold that thought for long. A sudden wave of what I had previously dubbed as exhaustion hit me, leaving a feeling of dizziness and slackness. This feeling was very familiar as well, one I have experienced frequently after similar life threatening situations.

What was not familiar, was the oozing darkness that crept over my vision. It appeared suddenly in the middle of our conversation. First, I had assumed my vision itself had been darkening. However, it was not a figment of my brain shutting down, rather it came from my body. Looking down at my clawed appendage I could see several rivers of black wind being expelled from between my white scales.

"oh"

Before I could wrap my head around the situation, my head decided instead to go on strike. Leaving its post empty as if to go on vacation.

And thusly true darkness drowned my mind, and my consciousness faded.

Skills level up: Elemental magic(lv.1)=>Elemental magic(lv.2)

Experience is rewarded for leveling up a skill.

Hatchling lv. (3)=>Hatchling lv. (4)