Damn it… why the hell was this town so far away!? He was getting tired of just mindlessly following a compass, especially with the dead weight behind him, both literally and figuratively. He nudged the harpy’s wing from his weary eyes, annoyed at how they kept finding their way back to his face. “You… you can fly, you know? Hell, you run faster than any of us too. So get off. Damn bird.”

It didn’t like the name-calling, apparently. Her talons clutched onto his sides just enough for him to feel the pressure. “Name. Avelyn. Name.” Goddamnit… He tried pulling the talons aside, but decided it’d just be easier to give in. “Yeah yeah, I get it already! That’s your name! Christ… ”

She seemed satisfied by that, relaxing the sharp claws in his sides and resting her chin on his shoulder. He knew he could have ordered her to stop, or just… ‘unsummon’ her, but… He wasn’t a monster. Avelyn had latched onto him when she had finally gotten over her little panic attack, clutching onto his back with more strength than he cared for until a little while ago.

Now she was doing a bit better, but he could still tell she was troubled. Her eyes were downtrodden as she rested on his back, and occasionally she would let out a small sigh. It was probably more guilt than compassion, but he had let her do what she wanted. He expected her to calm down after a while, but time had passed and still nothing had changed… She was light, though. More so than even her small frame suggested, so he had played along for a while more, hoping she would feel better with time.

That had been two hours ago, and the guilt was now slowly being outweighed by the annoyance. Mint and Pepper were walking by his side, about as uncomfortable with the situation as he was. He had seen the harpy tear them apart. Even worse, he’d seen her trying to tear him apart. Her being an ally now wasn’t going to change the things she’d done. Even if she did act like this, damnit! “Alright you stupid bird, we gotta tal- uh…”

He turned to her in anger, and her big eyes looked up at him. They were wet, as if she was ready to cry.

Damnit. “Uh, Avelyn… Can you fly up and see where we are for a second? Look for a place with humans. Then you can come back, ok?”

She nodded and jumped off him, soaring into the sky with little effort and leaving him alone for a precious second. He stretched, groaning in pleasure as the dead weight finally left his back. If he looked at the bright side, it meant he’d at least start getting some exercise.

His skinny body was not that of a hardened warrior, more like a spoiled prince that took too much time taking care of his body with all types of cosmetic care. And he did. It was something he’d taken pride in his last life, and the only reason he’d been able to live so long after he turned sixteen and went MIA. A fat lot of fucking good it did him here, though…

“Mint… Pepper… If we ever make it to civilization, the first thing I’m going to do is give you two some decent clothes. I’m going to make you two look like kings, I swear.” He was tired of their weird little waist cloths that didn’t hide anything. Seriously, he’d seen what was under them when they fought and that wasn’t just a mockery of their privates, they looked like barbie ken dolls down there. Completely smooth.

And just like dolls, they were his to dress up however he wanted…

Wait, what the hell did he just think? The sun must have been getting to him. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t really drunk anything other than the juices in the fruit, huh? “Damn… We gotta find a river or something, guys. I’ll ask Avelyn when she comes down… Huh? Avelyn?!” Without warning, the bird crashed into him, knocking the air out of his lungs. He managed to catch himself before he fell, though.

The harpy seemed to have found something, or at least she better have with how excited she was. “Avelyn! Avelyn find! Avelyn find!” She cried, clutching to his head with a tight stranglehold. He’d have thrown her at this point, but what he heard caught his attention. “The town!? Take me! Mint, Pepper, Come on!” The harpy pointed in the direction she came from, and he ran forward. If he made it to the town then he’d finally be able to clean himself up properly… With actual soap! My god, actual soap!

Maybe he’d even find a conditioner for his long hair? He’d always had either his aunt, or after she couldn’t do it anymore, the girls from school take care of it, but… Whatever! Anything would be helpful at this point! The process would probably take weeks before he completely got rid of the grime and filth but at least he would…

Why the hell was he still carrying Avelyn? The bastard seemed perfectly content just lying in his arms while she pointed the path ahead of her as she was carried like a goddamn princess… He almost wanted to toss her right then and there, see if her wings managed to react in time before she fell face-first into the ground… Against his better judgment, he decided to let her have this. She had helped him find the town, after all.

At least, that’s what he expected.

What he hadn’t expected was to run right into another road, with five rather scary-looking individuals making their way past. Two were women and the other three were guys, each holding a weapon. One guy had a bow and a sword, while another seemed to just have a wooden staff, and the girls each had a spear in their hands. While they all held a certain menacing air to them, the absolute scariest was the one guy around two feet taller than the rest built like a barn with a massive sword on his back, jarringly sticking out of the side of his cloak.

His head was completely covered by a cloak, as well as the other four. Mint and Pepper were just a few moments behind, and didn’t stop until they were a good two feet in front of Elliot. Pepper stopped in time but Mint, in the sudden fear and shock, tripped over their foot and fell to the ground. The only sound for a good while was the air brushing through the leaves of the forest. Elliot was just too stumped for ideas, while they were probably wondering why he was holding a bird and gallivanting with two goblins.

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Either that, or they were just looking for anything on him to rob. He looked down at his clothes, he didn’t even have a shirt anymore, just some loose cloth hanging around his chest and some rather unfashionably torn jeans that haven’t been washed in… ugh, weeks. Welp, better now than never. “...We come in peace? No, shit… that was dumb. Ugh, can you let me try again.”

He straightened the hair his damned harpy had ruined, making himself a bit more presentable. “Hi, I’m Elliot. Do you guys know where I can get some supplies? I’m not… doing too good right now. Well, you guys can tell that… Um.”

Dammit, he was rambling. Talking to people, actual humans that weren’t either overbearing godly beings or overbearingly annoying monsters, was nerve-wracking after weeks of being unable to… He realized the five were hushedly speaking to each other. He waited patiently until surprisingly one of the girls stepped forward, holding the spear confidently in front of her. She stopped when Pepper growled at her and took a stance, to which Elliot quickly ran forward to prevent the oncoming devastation.

He bopped the stupid red goblin on the head, earning the goblin equivalent of a “What the hell!?” from it. The dumb thing probably didn’t even realize he had just saved its life. “H-he’s just scared! We’re all just scared after what happened in that forest! Right, Mint?” Mint nodded furiously, picking themselves up and running behind Elliot with a quickness and agility he’d yet to see in the goblin. The lady raised her spear anyways, pointing it to him, of all people. Three monsters and a human and she points it at the human?

What a skewed sense of priority.

“These… monsters. They’re under your control. How?”

He nodded, cautious to answer. The way he summoned these creatures was gruesome, to say the least. It’d be bad if his magic turned out heretical or something. “I… Tamed them, I guess? My magic lets me tame creatures I… calm down.” He smiled, trying his best to look as handsome as he could. It probably didn’t work all that well with a bruised and gashed body, though. “Look, I can get them to do tricks. Pepper, spin in a circle.” The goblin turned to him, incredulously. “Gah!? Bugga!” It shouted, before sticking its tongue out at him.

He narrowed his eyes, pissed that it decided this moment to be rebellious. “Do it or I'm giving Mint your 25%” The goblin gasped, before growling at him and crouching low, ready to attack him. Mint actually stood in front of him when the goblin stanced up, protecting Elliot.

Elliot turned to the girl, who had about the same look of disappointment he had. “...that’s what you call trained?” The lady took off her hood, showing a… Wow. What a beautiful face. Freckles dotted her cheeks, and her green eyes and red hair made her look almost magical. She was almost magically vibrant, like a fairy that had come from somewhere not meant for corrupted idiots like him. For some odd reason, that made it a bit harder to talk to her. Almost unconsciously, Elliot straightened his hair and stood up straighter. So much for a good first impression.

“Oh, h-hey… I didn’t realize you were such a… not that I expected uh… Mint, Pepper, quiet down.” The two goblins had kept growling at each other while Elliot tried to speak. They shut their mouths when Elliot told them to, fortunately.

He honestly didn’t expect that. “...Good. Why can’t you two be this obedient all the time?” He patted Mint on the head and let down Avelyn, who he had still been carrying the whole time he spoke. She seemed a lot more inclined to remove herself from him now, for some reason. “See? I told you I could control them, I just had to… uh, hello?” The girl in front of him had her eyes wide open. It was as if she’d seen a ghost.

“You… What is your attribute?

The question caught him off guard. He furrowed his brow, trying to remember what the hell the gothic-looking god that had given him the power said. They were… the god of death, or darkness or something, right? And they gave him the power of summoning? Which one was he supposed to say? Well, now that he thought about it, maybe he shouldn’t say the obviously ominous one. “Uh, Summoni-” He couldn’t even finish as she brought the spear closer to his neck.

“Fuck, ok. Darkness. I’ve got the darkness attribute. Look, I don’t know what that means but I think we can figure this out-” The spear zipped past his throat, and for a moment he thought it was over before she planted the butt of the spear into his stomach. He groaned as he fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of his sails. He turned to his summons in panic, hoping none of them would suddenly start attacking. They seemed just about as scared as he was, though.

Whether he was happy about that or not, he couldn’t say. “Don’t… Make this worse just… Unsummon, Pepper, Avelyn, Mint.” He expected the words to drain him of mana, three spells at once usually came with his body shutting down. Instead, his mind almost felt clearer, sharper. He watched as the three watched the familiar purple pit underneath them appear, their eyes going blank as they fell in. This was for their own good. These people probably wouldn’t treat them with any amount of respect. Hell, even Elliot barely did any of that.

His use of the spell was enough to garner a bit of violence on their part, apparently, since he felt an arrow pierce directly through his arm. Pain blinded him, and he shouted as he fell back. His mind almost blanked out entirely as the arrow only dug deeper inside him because of the fall. This was a different pain than a simple cut or bruise. The damn thing might as well have torn off his arm considering the agony he was feeling.

It was only made worse by the fact that his mind was still as sharp as before. He could hear the group talking in the background, angry shouting and worried groans. One of the guys, the one who held a staff, ran up to him, picking him up from the ground in a caring manner.

Hah, seems like someone messed up.

“He was getting rid of them! You shouldn’t have shot, I didn’t give the order!”

“Screw the order! You could have gotten hurt! I wasn’t going to take that chance!”

“Chance!? What chance!? Did he try anything? No, he didn’t! You need to learn when to…”

Honestly, Elliot was kinda hoping he’d hear more. There seemed to be something saucy going on between the archer and the girl with the spear. He obviously couldn’t, though, because eventually the pain, the exhaustion, the stress of travel...

It all finally caused him to black out.