“Timber!” Shouted Victor as he felled a tree.

The five children were a few yards into the tee line with an axe and their wooden weapons. They were gathering wood for their respective crafts.

The tree landed half on the bed of branches and brush that the boys had laid out for the stout tree to land on.

Kiritus and Kodna stood 10 meters away down the treeline on lookout duty.

“You got it halfway on this time! You are getting better!” Dyler cheered.

The two boys tied a rope to the tree as Calvin used the axe the chop off the branches.

“Alright, let’s get this back to town.” Dyler said.

“This will make some good bow wood, you think?” Calvin asked.

“Who knows? I’m just a rookie, same as you. Kiritus will be happy to see it. Where did those girls get off to anyways?” Dyler asked.

“Kodna is right there,” said Victor pointing to the dwarf. “and Kiritus should be just ahead of her.”

“Unless they forgot Drew’s advice and have broken his buddy system rules again.” Dyler said.

The three boys left the log where it was and quietly marched over to see what Kodna was looking at.

“-I say we go back and get the boys. Maybe it’s too dangerous.” Kodna said. The dwarf was peering into the thick underbrush and speaking in a loud whisper.

“What’s too dangerous?” Dyler whispered.

“Shhhh!” Kodna said. “Kiritus found a spider melon patch and it’s nearly empty.”

Kiritus came trotting back to the group and was out of breath when she stopped.

“There’s a group of Spider Melons just ten meters ahead. They are fighting something red, but I can’t tell what.”

She pulled her bow from over her shoulder and checked the 6 arrows in her quiver.

“If they are tired from fighting then we can swoop in and take them out for easy exp.” Victor said.

“Let’s do it.” Calvin said.

“Let’s take a look at least.” Said Dyler.

The group crept forwards. At a signal from Kiritus they dropped down and crawled the rest of the way.

There were three Spider melons scampering around. They were taking turns lashing a red Drake pup with their vines. The Drake was putting up a good fight but it was too outnumbered. If it didn’t catch a lucky break it would tire and lose.

“Alright, let’s take them all out.” Dyler said.

“Kiritus, let’s start with your ranged attacks.” Dyler said. “We will leave Victor here with you and the rest of us will flank them from the left side.”

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Kodna raised her hand.

“I’ll stay with Kiritus and run defense. You three are faster. If I go I’ll slow you down.” She said. “Kiritus and I can make a second charge after you engage.”

“Sounds good.” Dyler said. “Everyone got the plan?”

The boys headed off around the right side of the Mellon patch and Kiritus and Kodna waited for their signal to attack.

“Can you believe the great melon was finally killed?” Kodna asked. “My uncle saw the great melon once! It ate a garnt whole.”

“It didn’t stand a chance against a demon like Drew.” Kiritus said. “We need to train like crazy to catch up.”

Their plan went off without a hitch. Kiritus’s first arrow pierced a melon but caught mostly rind.

The three boys broke through the trees and charged the three spider melons.

Her second arrow missed and Kiritus stepped out of the forest to improve her vision.

The three beasts were focused on their fight with the Drake and did not see the boys charge through them.

One of the melons died on the first charge.

The remaining two turned to lash out at the boys.

Kiritus’s next arrow flew past without hitting anything.

Kodna charged into their flank taking out the second one with a sword thrust through its body.

The third melon turned to run but an arrow struck it center mass causing it to stumble to the ground.

The children wailed on it haphazardly until it died.

“Alright! We won!” Cheered Dyler.

“I leveled up!” Calvin said.

Dyler gave him a fist pump and his brother Victor grabbed him in a hug.

“Victor watch where you are swinging! You hit me in the leg there at the end.” Kodna said.

The boy nodded his apology.

“That one hit was nearly 10% of my health pool.” She said.

“Sorry! You need to train more.” Victor said.

Kiritus came trotting up keeping an eye out for more monsters while she collected her arrows.

“Anyone see my other arrows?” She asked.

Dyler stooped down to pull a shaft out of a spider melon but it had broken off inside.

“They are easier to find when you hit your targets.” He laughed. “But they still break.”

“Thats why I’m learning to make them.” Kiritus said. “I can use the heads and fletches to make new arrows.”

Something growled and the kids readied their weapons.

The red Drake pup limped away but fell down exhausted.

Victor picked up his sword and walked over to the Drake.

“One more monster out here. Then we can head back.” He said.

“No leave it alone.” Kiritus said. “It’s hurt so badly maybe we can heal it.”

Victor looked flatly at her.

“What would we do, keep it as a pet?” Victor asked. “It’s a monster. Sure it’s a small one but they get big!”

“He’s right.” Kodna said as she crouched over a spider melon and used her knife to harvest the pulp.

“Calvin, what’s your vote?” Asked Dyler as he looted the other melon.

The young boy shrugged.

“Either it’s loot or we let it go. We can’t feed a drake.” Calvin said.

“Are we voting on every little thing now?” Victor said. “This thing is as big as you are!”

Victor stomped over to stand between the drake and the forest to prevent it from escaping. The Drake growled at him but stayed down.

“I vote we keep it.” Kiritus said. “Dyler you haven’t weighed in.”

“I say we keep it. Just look at Drew. Maybe we could teach it to speak and it can help us fight!”

“I don’t know.” Kodna said. “It’s wild. It will attack us once it’s healed.”

“Exactly!” Said Victor. “Better to kill it now then watch our backs out here while we are gathering wood.”

The drake whined and turned pleading eyes at Kiritus.

“See he knows I want to help him.” Kiritus said.

She pulled some of the melon rind from one of the carcasses and offered it to the drake. It greedily snatched it up and ate it down.

The drake was as big as Calvin from its narrow head to the tip of its short tail. It was completely covered in red scales. They were raised and thicker across its back and haunches, flaring around its head and shoulders. Its scales on its underbelly were lighter in color and much softer. It used its fangs and opposable claws to chew up the melon rind.

“See! Charley can be friendly!” Kiritus said clapping.

Victor groaned and threw his hands up in defeat.

“Oh it’s too late now, she named it.” He said stomping off towards their log.

“Alright Kiritus, you named it, you feed it. We’ve got to get that log back to town.” Dyler said. “Want us to leave you some bow wood?”

The elf girl laughed cheerfully and gave the boy a big smile.

“Yes please!” She said. “Kodna, can you bring the rest of the carcasses over? Charley can’t walk yet and he is hungry.”

The Red Drake paused in its desperate meal to look up at the elf girl.

She handed it another carcass and was startled by a notification only she and the drake could see.

“What’s a Familiar? Wait you are a girl!”