Aurin felt a bead of sweat drip down his head as the rumbling of Zeera’s roar subsided. He hoped that his new Minakai was simply testing his lungs, but he knew that he was wrong. That was made abundantly clear when the large dinosaur swung at him.

As he threw himself backwards to avoid the sharp purple nails that swept through the air, he saw a stone wall, courtesy of Shamtile emerge. The masked lizard had tried to defend his tamer and was crouched low, ready to pounce at Zeera should his new teammate attack again.

“Stand down!” Aurin ordered as he climbed back to his feet.

Zeera roared in return and strode towards him, but Shamtile leapt in front of Aurin and let out a warbling screech to ward off his fellow reptile.

“I command you to stop!” roared Aurin.

Zeera was not to be deterred and lunged for Aurin once again, but Shamtile coated his fists in stone and blocked the attack as Aurin moved away. Seeing that Shamtile was not simply the tiny pest that the reborn tower guardian had first suspect, he turned his attention towards the small magical lizard.

“Vai?” asked Aurin as Shamtile conjured up boulders and hurled them at Zeera to hinder the swinging monster.

“He’s your Minakai,” replied Vai nonchalantly.

“Shamtile,” said Aurin firmly. “Beat him into submission.”

Aurin was adamant that he would show this unruly beast who was truly the master and Shamtile was more than happy to see the job done. He coated himself in stone armour and turned his fists into rocky spikes, slipping underneath the powerful claws of Zeera and stabbing him in the leg.

The beast let out a roar of pain as Shamtile drew the spike out and then stabbed him again. He had yet to fully harness his elemental powers and Shamtile knew that he had a great advantage because of it. He opened up a hole in the floor and Zeera fell into it. With only his head above the pit, Shamtile closed it tightly around him, burying his hostile teammate in the ground.

The masked lizard turned the spiked fists into boulder-like fists and started relentlessly punching Zeera in the face. Once he recovered from the unexpected painful sensation, Zeera roared so powerfully that the force of Zeera’s breath knocked Shamtile onto the ground.

With his eyes glowing orange, Zeera tore its arms free from the ground and reached for Shamtile. He threw the Minakai across the chamber, where the little lizard hit the wall with a heavy crash, shattering his stone armour. Zeera’s eyes ceased their glow and he pulled himself free from the hole, stomping his way over to the disoriented Shamtile.

“You can always summon more Minakai,” said Vai.

“No,” said Aurin. “Shamtile can do this.”

“Even a newborn Zeera is a force to be reckoned with.”

“I said no.”

Vai smiled in satisfaction at this response, pleased that Aurin wasn’t open to suggestions on the matter. “Good,” he muttered quietly, but Aurin didn’t hear him as he was so focused on the battle between his two earth elementals.

Shamtile had leapt out of the way of the stomping feet of the heavier Zeera, diving underneath his legs and grabbing onto the epic Minakai’s tail. Zeera slammed his tail against the wall and the ground, back and forth, trying to dislodge Shamtile. After a few nasty bashes, Shamtile fell off and rolled across the chamber.

With glowing eyes and a disgruntled roar, Zeera’s clawed hands became coated in stone with his long nails protruding longer and sharper than ever. He stampeded towards Shamtile and swiped at him, one of his nails cutting the lizard’s side. Shamtile squealed as he ducked and dived each of Zeera’s strikes.

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Knowing that he would tire if he had to keep this up, Shamtile sought cover behind the egg podium. Zeera wasn’t to be deterred and ran after the little lizard, reaching out for him while avoiding the column, but to his surprise, Shamtile was not there. Instead, there was a hole where the little lizard should have been.

Shamtile sprang up from underground and grabbed onto Zeera’s tail once again. The large Minakai tried again to shake Shamtile off, but he had used Zeera’s spikes as pegs to pull himself up like he had gone rock climbing. He quickly climbed all to the way to the dinosaur’s head.

A large boulder appeared above Zeera and was dropped forcefully onto his nose, making the beast let out a loud yelp as he wobbled across the floor of the chamber. Shamtile knew that now was the time to be unrelenting and made the ground shake, sending Zeera off balance and to the floor.

As Zeera tried to right himself, Shamtile stomped his own feet upon the stone and waved his arms, dislodging the ground and making it rapidly rise through the air, crushing Zeera between the pillar of earth and the hard ceiling. Shamtile held tightly as Zeera struggled, trying to break free.

“You will do as I say,” said Aurin. “You are the beast and I am your master. Do you understand?”

Zeera continued to roar and shout as though having a tantrum.

“Do you understand?” barked Aurin.

Suddenly, Zeera ceased his struggling and gave a reluctant grunt of acceptance. There was no way of knowing for sure if he was bluffing to be released, but Aurin decided to give him the chance.

“Shamtile, lower the pillar back into the ground,” he told the masked lizard, who complied.

Once back on the same level as the two humans and Shamtile, Zeera climbed to his feet and marched over to Aurin. He stared at his tamer, who stared straight back unflinchingly despite the massive strength difference between them. With flared nostrils and a heavy snort, Zeera bowed his head to his master.

“I’m glad we’ve reached an understanding,” said Aurin, trying to hide his relief. “You are powerful, Zeera, that much is clear, but I will train you until you’re more powerful than you can comprehend. We are going to work in synergy and conquer challenge after challenge, opponent after opponent. This is not me against you, this is us working as a team to maximise our potential.”

Zeera grunted acceptingly.

“What you understand is power, right? I am your way to power.”

Aurin held out a clear stone and placed it against Zeera’s chest. He focused his mental energy on the attuning magic of the summoning stone and cast the spell. A small wisp of energy was drawn from Zeera, binding his being to his master’s summoning stone, turning it brownish-orange. Aurin removed the stone and slotted it into his tamer glove where it clicked in place.

He looked up at the dinosaur who was standing patiently before him. “For the time being, you’re bound to this shrine and I can call upon you at-will. When we are training, you are to do exactly as I say. If you show me any disobedience, I will send you straight back here. Do you understand?”

Zeera gave his master a sneer and his left eye was twitching as though he was trying hard to restrain himself from mauling Aurin, but he nonetheless nodded and let out a low roar of agreement.

“Good,” said Aurin, turning to Vai. “Shall we make our way back?”

“Yes,” said Vai, leading the way through the archway. Aurin followed, but kept his head turned so that he never lost sight of Zeera while Shamtile walked backwards to do the same.

Aurin, Shamtile and Vai stood upon the stone platform bearing the egg and Shamtile used his magic to make it rotate and ascend back to the surface where the sun was almost completely sunken behind the hills. As he breathed in the fresh air, Aurin felt incredibly relieved to have passed his first test with Zeera, but he knew there would be a lot more to come. He would have to work to earn Zeera’s trust and loyalty.

“You picked up exactly on what you needed to,” said Vai, sensing Aurin’s thoughts. “You understood that what a Minakai of such power trusts in is power itself. Good job.”

“Thank you,” said Aurin with a smile. “Not just for what you said, but for showing me Sule Scrin and teaching me how to hatch Zeera’s egg.”

“It’s always good to pass on knowledge to the next generation,” said Vai, clapping Aurin on the shoulder. “I have three sons of my own, all a couple of years older than you. I’ve taught them everything I reasonably can and they’re off on their own missions of discovery, so I’m always looking for someone else to teach.”

“Well, I’m very grateful. It’s actually quite funny. Some of the most skilled tamers I know are the most helpful.”

Vai chortled. “What, you thought tamers like me would be too arrogant to want to deal with riffraff like you?”

“More or less,” chuckled Aurin. “It’s another thing I’ve been very wrong about and I’m glad to have been wrong about.”

“At least you’ve wised up, boy. Let’s get moving.”

“Nothing like a night stroll to end a good day.”

“Stroll?” asked Vai, holding up a summoning stone and bringing forth his Quetzalia.

He climbed on its back and took to the skies as Aurin and Shamtile stared on. “Shall we race him?” Aurin asked the lizard who nodded furiously.

Without a moment to waste, Aurin summoned Skrow and he and Shamtile hopped onto the black bird’s back and took to the skies, chasing after Vai and Quetzalia. Both of the flying Minakai sped as fast as they could towards Vai’s cabin.