Whilst Bell put the demon lord down for a nap, Sally, Panda and I sat in a tense silence at the kitchen table. The catonid glared at me, her muscular arms crossed in a way that showed off the tone of her forearm’s musculature.
She had the kind of muscle development that would make any man jealous, myself included. Meanwhile, though I had a rather athletic body now, thanks to my raised stats, I was in no way large.
Bodybuilders are all for show anyway, I thought moodily, meanwhile, I have functionality.
With the light tap of a closing door, Bell entered the kitchen with a finger to her lips.
“He’s down for the count,” she whispered, “better keep it down though, I don’t have any bottled milk.”
“It’s a dragon,” I replied dryly, “I’m pretty sure they eat live goats and dwarves, I doubt he wants to suckle at a plastic teat whilst you rock him and sing lullabies.”
“It’s not just a dragon,” Sally snarled, making a consorted effort to keep her voice down to a respectable level. “It’s the demon lord of lust, do you have any idea the kind of shit show you’ve caused by bonding with it? Asmodeus is a dangerous name, feared across the world for good reason. Adventure Society loses hundreds of people every year preventing zealots and cultists from completing rituals to allow him to cross into this realm.
“And, in a matter of days, you’ve not only allowed him to enter the mortal plane in his full form, but now he has a permanent fragment of himself here. THAT YOU SOUL BONDED!” Forgetting her inside voice for a moment, she shouted the last part, slamming her fist down so hard on the table that it broke in two.
“I guess we’ll be eating off the floor for the remainder of this voyage then?” I said monotonously.
“I don’t think you understand just how dangerous this thing is Kaleb,” she said, turning away from me and rubbing her fingers through her hair so forcefully that little clumps came out.
“She used your real name,” Panda whispered to me from behind his paw, “that’s how you know she’s serious.”
Shooting my familiar a harsh glare that silenced him, Sally continued: “he may only be a hatchling at the moment, but what happens when his powers grow stronger? Do you think your soul bond will be enough to prevent the real Asmodeus from stepping into the mortal plane permanently and exterminating us all?”
“I get that you’re upset,” I said diplomatically, “but you can’t blame me for doing something by accident. Not to mention that if I hadn’t used the chaos seed against Clive we’d be too dead to even have this conversation.”
“Well I’m sure that will be of great comfort to the billions of people inhabiting this world when your new pet murders them all and eats their souls,” she said flippantly.
“What do you suggest we do then?” I replied, crossing my arms and feeling more than a little annoyed. None of this was my fault, I was doing everything I could not to die at the hands of some creepy, skeleton-looking necromancer. How was I supposed to know my survival would bring forth such a calamity. If my dragon was even as dangerous as she was suggesting.
“We should kill it,” she said sternly.
My heart skipped a beat. I didn’t know why, but the idea of killing Asmodeus felt wrong. It hurt, like physically hurt me deep down in my… stomach?
“You can’t kill it,” Panda said, jumping up onto his stool and pointing fiercely at Sally. “Its soul bonded to Kaleb. He hasn’t even reached the level cap yet, the strain on his core will be too much.”
“Will he die too?” Bell asked, looking at me with a concerned expression.
“Worse,” Panda began, “his soul will rupture.”
We all stared at each other in a harsh silence for a moment. Sally paced aggressively around the room, throwing her hands onto her head, clenching her fists and moving to kick furniture, but then stopping herself. She was a mess to look at. I’d never seen her act this way before.
“What’s a soul rupture?” I asked quietly, though I feared I already knew what it meant. “Would it kill me?”
“It’s more than death,” Panda replied in a hoarse whisper, “a soul rupture is… it’s like being tortured for eternity. When a person’s soul breaks like that, they’re said to be trapped within a single second of agonising pain… forever.
“It’s bad for the world too, a powerful soul rupture can cause a person to explode with the power of a nuclear bomb. If your soul was to rupture with that power of yours… I dread to think what would happen.”
“Is that why you told me not to use that power again?” I asked, thinking back to Panda’s warning after I’d first discovered I could use soul attacks on a quest that had us trapped inside a little girl’s memory.
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“It’s part of it,” he said, a little squeamishly.
“Look,” Sally said with a sigh, “obviously I don’t want Gonads to explode all over the place, but we still need to deal with this issue. That dragon is a danger to the entire world.”
“But he’s soul bonded,” Bell said in a small voice, the rest of us all turned towards her. “In the book I was reading, it said that soul bonded familiars can’t grow more powerful than their masters. If Kaleb is his master, then won’t he always be able to control him?”
“That’s how it would work with a normal soul bond, yes.” Sally replied, taking her seat at the table once more. “But as far as I’m aware, no one has ever bonded with a demon lord before-”
“Fragment,” Bell interrupted, “a demon lord’s fragment. He hasn’t bonded with the whole thing, just a tiny part of it.”
“Well…” Sally said tentatively, “I guess… we just don’t have enough to go off.”
“Is there anyone who might know more?” Bell asked.
“Possibly,” Sally relented, stroking the back of her head awkwardly. “I’m friendly with the director of the Adventure Society at Cali Port, we could ask her for help. At the very least I’m sure she knows a guy.”
“Great,” Bell smiled, “and in the meantime we just need to keep Asmodeus alive so Kaleb doesn’t blow his load or whatever.”
I rolled my eyes at that, still, she was right. That seemed to be the best course of action to me as well. I didn’t want to die any time soon and who knew, maybe my new dragon would come in useful. If he got a bit bigger he could become my trusty, soul devouring steed.
We passed the rest of the evening in a tense silence, each doing our own thing. Sally retired to the wheel above the cabins, presumably guiding us into port, or doing push-ups or… something.
Bell went back to reading her book and Panda shot me the occasional concerned glance as he delved into a pile of his own, which he’d been gifted by the zealots.
Overall, it wasn’t a very pleasant evening.
After a little while of no sleep and feeling bad about putting my team in such an awkward position, I decided to meditate.
Exploring the inner workings of my body always helped to calm me down. At the end of the day, what was done was done and we’d found the best solution for the time being.
We couldn’t kill Asmodeus without risking my soul exploding like a bomb. I didn’t want to kill him anyway, he was mine. Something deep within me wanted to protect him, like some kind of subconscious, knee jerk reaction.
As I wandered my soul view I decided to delve into my core to see if it might hold any answers to my new, weird feelings.
I gazed for a long time at the swirling mass of energy which settled deep within the pit of my stomach. It was mesmerising, calming.
It had changed colours many times over the course of my time in Celestia. Now, it was a deep, royal green speckled with tiny dots of lighter, acidic green and shadowed in a deep black.
It reminded me of Asmodeus’ scales, but the colours were inverted.
Eventually I came out of soul view to find Bell snoring and slumped over the table with her face planted firmly in her book. Panda would not be happy when he saw the drool stains on the page.
Speaking of my sagely familiar, he was nowhere to be found.
I thought about venturing outside to see how Sally was doing but decided against it. Her temper had run unusually hot that evening and I figured she needed some space to cool down.
Instead, I found myself absently wandering towards my little room at the back of the ship. As I opened the door from the kitchen to the cabins, I saw Panda leaning idly against an open door.
Silently, I moved next to him and saw that he was gazing at the sleeping dragon who was starfished across my bunk.
Great, someone else I have to share my bed with, I thought with a sigh.
Back home my wife had insisted on letting the dog sleep on the bed with us. He was a big, bear of a hound though and when he stretched out I was left with no cover and barely a corner to curl up in. Naturally I kicked him down every night once she’d fallen asleep.
I missed my wife. I hadn’t thought about her much recently and that realisation stung a little bit. Still, she was my reason for going through all of this pain and effort. Levelling up, the life of an adventurer, none of it was easy.
Exciting, sure, but hard all the same.
It’s difficult to fully describe the pain of being nearly killed countless times. The numbness that comes with battle fatigue and living in a world where death is ever present. I wondered if people back on Earth felt that way, those who were unfortunate enough to be born into a war torn or famine ravaged country.
What am I doing, I thought admonishingly, I never get this deep. Where’s Bell when you need her, I could really use a bad movie reference or a penis joke right about now.
“What do you think?” Panda said softly, rousing me from my spiralling introspection.
“I think that for now, he’s one of us,” I said, nodding towards the slumbering dragon.
“He’s going to be a handful you know,” Panda said, gazing at me out of the corner of his deep eyes, “just having him will paint a target on your back.”
“Like I don’t already have one… literally,” I snorted, thinking of the map pieces that were permanently tattooed on my skin.
“Also,” Panda continued, “he seems like a real piece of work.”
“So did you,” I whispered. “Remember when we first met and I mistakenly thought you were a demon summon.”
“How could I forget,” Panda replied, “it was in that moment that I knew you desperately needed a sage.”
“Well, now I guess I finally have one,” I winked at him and scratched behind his fluffy ear.
“You know he wants to eat your soul, right?” Panda said pointedly, “he’s a real asshole.”
“I know,” I replied softly, “but something inside me wants to protect him. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I just can’t help it. It’s the same feeling I got when I thought you’d died. It’s like a piece of me is…”
“That’s what a soul bond is,” Panda said, resting his paw on top of my quivering hand, “familiars are a strange thing in Celestia. We’re connected to you, and you to us. It’s more than just a friendship or a comradery. The soul forms a powerful connection. It’s like the blood ties you share with family, but… more.”
“Is that how it was with your last summoner?” I asked, thinking on the girl he’d been summoned by in a previous life. She had died young and recently, at least by his perception of life.
“Yeah…” he shuddered, “I won’t make the same mistake again. You’ll survive, kid. I can’t go through that again.”
“Don’t worry buddy, I don’t plan on dying any time soon.”