Athena held her position for what felt like several minutes, her violet eyes locked onto Jerik’s, those frightening talons still raised in preparation to gut him. He didn’t flinch or move away from the intended attack. Then, after a significant pause, she put the foot back down. Her eyes still bore fiercely into him, but she seemed less hostile now. Well, a little.
“So,” he said, trying to sound as if this was all well within his expectations, and that he hadn’t just survived by sheer dumb luck. “If we’re going to work together, I should know what you’re capable of.”
Who says I’m going to work with you? You can work under me. I will not be your pet.
In spite of the tension of the moment, Jerik let out a chuckle in reply. The sound was answered by a growl from Athena, and he lifted his hands in a pacifying gesture. “Relax. I don’t intend to ever think of you as a pet. If it works out, you’ll be a partner.”
If what works out? Then, before Jerik could say anything, she answered her own question. This ritual? I haven’t seen it in some time. It won’t work.
“Well, you don’t know that,” he said reasonably. “They could do it with the dragon they found, why not you?”
That is a magik ritual. In case you haven’t noticed, I am not a magical creature.
“True,” he said slowly, one hand going to his chin in a thoughtful gesture. “But how can we bond and gain more strength if not through the ritual?”
There was a lengthy pause as he waited for her reply, and she simply stared back at him. Her eyes seemed to be frozen in place. In fact, she didn’t twitch a single black feather. Then, just when he thought she might decide to attack him after all to simplify matters, she shook her head, as if to get rid of a fly. Do you have a spare loadout chip and a data transfer cable?
“I do,” he said slowly, wondering what she was getting at. “Why?”
Put it in.
Under her watchful eye, he opened the panel in his gauntlet and removed the camouflage chip, tucking it safely into the pocket that held the combat chip. Then from the pouch at his side, he retrieved a fresh loadout chip, sliding it in as the new primary. It had nothing but the HUD, flight, and basic defense protocols installed. Once it was finished, he looked at her. “Alright, what-”
She tilted her head to the side and sat down like a cat, and a window of text appeared on the screen before his eyes.
Incoming Data Transfer Request. Do you accept?
He accepted, surprised that she didn’t just hack his suit and input the data that way. Perhaps she couldn’t, he thought. Either the suit was advanced enough to prevent it, or she didn’t have that ability. He knew it did happen. Some Tek creatures had the ability to interfere with other Tek equipment, either disabling it or turning it to their side.
He let out a soft whistle of amazement as he saw the size of the data transfer. Hundreds of terabytes worth of information. All dedicated to a new loadout called “Scout Mode”. It gave him more accurate targeting, much better sight, more efficient flight, and the ability to disable targeting from enemies. It also would give him some basic elemental resistance, but his suit wasn’t upgraded enough for that just yet. All of this, on top of what he’d already gotten in the Camouflage loadout.
“Holy shit,” he remarked, feeling the need to say something, anything. “You can do all this?”
That and more. If Jerik didn’t know any better, he could have sworn she was preening slightly. She did look smug, as would anyone in her situation. You can learn the rest if this partnership works.
His head jerked up. “You mean you agree to it?”
For now. You seem the best option to take Kan-Menora down. As long as that remains constant, you may consider me an ally and benefit from my skills.
“Fair enough,” he said quietly, almost under his breath. “Well then. The next step is for you to meet my other allies. You’re aware of the village nearby, yes?”
I am not. I was following the Monster Winds, and I am not from this part of the continent.
“Well fair warning, it’s an odd place,” he offered. From his satchel, he was pulling some basic provisions. Now that the fear of death had passed, he realized how exhausted he was, and his stomach had rumbled painfully to let him know how hungry he’d become. He scarfed down some bland wafers and drained an entire canteen of water. “Well, we should get back. How does this work, then?”
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She didn’t have to ask what he meant, Lowering herself into a crouch, she tucked her wings in close to her body, and became very still. Sit before my wings. Your suit will keep you in place, so do not worry about holding on.
He put one foot on her shoulder and used it to push himself up, swinging his right leg across her back. At once, the magnetics of his suit pinned him in place as she’d said. There was also space for him to crouch down and attach his arms to completely cover him from her slipstream if he wanted to. She hummed silently with power under him and he let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. Up until that exact moment, she could have been luring him into a false sense of security, just to strike. But he got the feeling that she wouldn’t serve as a mount if she intended to kill him after all.
“Alright,” he said, feeling her rise to a sitting position. The jet-black wings flared out to either side, the ends of the metallic feathers trembling slightly as they were flexed. “Try not to throw me off on my first attempt, please.”
He heard another of her strange choppy laughs, and she tensed her body. Then, without seeming to put any effort into the action, she pushed off the ground, her wings beating powerfully to give lift. Within seconds, they were clear of the treetop and hovering in the sky. Jerik could just barely make out the sun on the horizon and realized that he’d been out nearly all night. He wondered how Nicholas was faring with his own task. If he’d found a monster to pair with already, he’d be impressed.
Athena angled slightly down and went into a steep dive. Jerik immediately crouched down close to her neck, his stomach swooping sickeningly as if threatening to be left behind. Feet from the top of the trees, she came out of the dive, her wings flared. The dive had provided her with a lot of extra momentum, which now shot her and her rider forward at an incredible speed. The trees below them were discernible only as a green blur. She glided for nearly half a minute on that boost alone, before regaining altitude and repeating the maneuver.
Once he got used to the sensation of rising and falling, Jerik found he could ride the motion easily, and detached his arms from her neck. It was still uncomfortable for a bit, but even that faded by the time that Haven came into view. They’d gone a little west in their chase, so they had to cross over one of the many peaks to reach the village, and Athena landed silently on its peak, her wings still out to balance herself on the lack of available ground.
Haven was just barely visible below them as a tiny gap in the sea of trees. He couldn’t even make out the smoke from the chimneys. But, using the enhanced sight of his new loadout, he found that he could actually zoom in enough to make out the inhabitants of the small village with good detail. Each living person had a vaguely red tint to them, and he could see streams of some rippling clear energy all around the village.
“Infrared,” he muttered quietly to himself. “You can see their body heat.”
It is how I see naturally, yes. You can see now that you really stood no chance of escaping my notice.
“But how did my camouflage fool you, then?”
Whoever made your suit was clever enough to hide your body heat in it. I could not see you once you stopped moving.
He swallowed nervously, remembering those heart-stopping moments of terror whenever she’d walked closer to him. To think that if he’d just moved a single finger, she could have discovered him and pounced at once. He shivered delicately, making a mental note to thank Nicholas for his mechanical genius, not to mention the foresight the young man seemed to have that he lacked so badly.
You should warn your allies of our approach. I do not wish to be attacked upon arrival.
“Good point,” he agreed, pulling his mobile device from the belt pouch. It blinked to life as he thumbed the power button, and showed several unread messages from Benji, Morgan, and Katrina. He tapped on Morgan’s contact icon and called her. At that exact moment, in the village center below, he saw Morgan herself come into view. She pulled her tablet out of the satchel she wore over her shoulder, and her face went slightly pale as she saw who it was.
“Jerik!” She exclaimed, her mouth moving at a slight delay to her voice. “Where the hell are you? Our scouts found the body of a Raid-Class dragon, right where you’d been. We couldn’t contact you and thought that whatever killed it attacked you too!”
“Well, you’re not wrong about that,” he said, letting out a dry laugh. “But I’m fine. Exhausted as all hell, but uninjured. By sheer luck.”
“So it did attack you,” she breathed. On the ground, she bent over slightly, resting her hands on her knees, and the tablet fell to the ground. “How did you defeat it on your own? It killed a Raid-Class monster on its own! What was it?”
“A Tek Griffon,” he said plainly. She went even paler. “And I didn’t kill it. I doubt even our entire platoon would be capable of that.”
“Are you saying that-” Megan looked over her shoulder quickly, checking for any sign of eavesdroppers, then lowered her voice, speaking more quickly. “Are you saying that you bonded with a Tek Griffon? The same kind as that monster that nearly wiped us out? The one that nearly killed you?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. I’ll explain here soon. Just let them know I’m coming back now, will you? I don’t want to get attacked when we come back. I think she might take offense to that and kill everyone.”
“She-” Morgan started, her eyes widening, but was cut off by the sound of Benji’s voice.
“Is that Jerik?” The pink-haired girl appeared out of a nearby building, running over to Morgan with a worried expression. “Is he alright?”
“He’s fine,” Morgan snapped, suddenly going cold. Jerik was surprised to hear the icy tone in her voice. “Go and tell Jel-Kenna that he’s coming back with his monster. Jerik, what’s your ETA?”
He muted himself. “How fast can we get there?”
Ten seconds.
He let out a low whistle, though he thought that info shouldn’t surprise him. It was just a simple dive away, even if there was half a mile between them. “I’ll be there in sixty seconds, Morgan. Clear everyone out of the center to give us space.”
“Got it,” she said, returning to her usual cool, indifferent manner. “Congratulations, Jerik.”
“Thanks.”
He disconnected the call and glanced down at the tablet. It was the longest sixty seconds of the entire day. “Alright, Athena. Let’s go.”