"Are you sure you really want to do this?" asked Cyrus, leaning back heavily in his seat. "I mean, we won't stop you, but you could at least wait for Vera to wake up." He looked down at the half domes of obsidian that made his shield in his lap. "She's still alive... Just barely."

"I have to get going before they're too far away for me to catch up. I can't waste any time." I was standing near the stairs at the exit of the base and ready to ascend.

"It's been three days. If they're gone, they're gone. Can't you at least wait so we can all go together?" He attempted to stand and fell back into his seat, threatening to reopen the wound on his side; a straight line from front to back, barely missing his lung.

"No." I began ascending the stairs, stalwart in my decision.

"Wait," said Jefford. "Let me show you something." He was standing near the staircase down to the living quarters.

Curious, I stopped and looked back at him. "What is it?"

He held up his hand and in it sat a small green pin shaped like a pair of horns. "Sandra made this for you. I don't know why she never gave it to you, but it's imbued with her magic. It might be of some help. Maybe it'll even bring a little shine back to your horns. They've gotten a little dull."

I stepped off the steps and reached for it. "Thank you."

He closed his hand around the pin before I could grab it. "Before you go, you should know that none of what happened was your fault. None of it. Remember that." He opened his palm again.

"Thanks." I took the pin and made my way back to the stairs. "Even if that's a lie."

He shook his head and said, "You can believe that if you want."

"I will." I continued up to the door and outside.

I went back to the bridge and took a trip back to York Town. Alone, I was able to get there just as the sun started falling on the horizon.

After returning with Sandra in my arms, I passed out, so I wasn't conscious on the way back, but Cyrus told me that the people we killed weren't there. We told the Bridge Town authorities what happened and they sent out a scouting party but returned with nothing.

It was my turn to search. The spots where each body lay in rest were vacant and even the graves were empty. Despite the high amounts in some places, there wasn't even a trace of blood. I called out Meo and Katie to sniff for clues with me, but they couldn't find anything either. Meo also assured me he was no longer being controlled. I had no way of knowing he told the truth but had no choice but to trust him.

That all changed when we entered the mausoleum.

As soon as I set foot in the building, it was like a weight fell on my shoulders. I paused for a second and continued. I couldn't ignore this unnatural presence and looked around to the best of my abilities.

"Meow!" cried Katie, the first to find something.

I went to see what she found and learned that where she was standing was the seat Muriel was sitting, and the spot he killed Sandra.

"Of course, it's the spot I was avoiding." I knelt on the spot and heard someone say something in a hushed tone behind me. I looked around and saw no one. Both Meo and Katie were silent.

I thought maybe there was someone there I couldn't see. Remembering what the man who inhabited my body said, I concentrated on my eyes in relation to my surroundings and cast a spell. "Extrasensory."

Unlike before, the area I could detect with this spell was limited to only a quarter of the room. Beside me was a vaguely human-shaped figure that I couldn't see with my eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked, unafraid.

The figure reached out a limb reminiscent of an arm and caressed my cheek. I could feel the warmth, but not the touch. It looked like it was trying to tell me something and then touched the space between my horns.

"And that's what I love about you." I heard Sandra's voice clearly. "But..." She removed her hand and backed away.

"Do that again, I heard you." I pleaded.

She stopped suddenly and put her hand back. "Can you really hear me?"

"Yeah." tears came to my eyes. "Yeah, I can." Her figure became vaguely visible as a green mist before me. "I can see you now, too." I wiped the tears before my vision could blur over.

"Go back to the guild, I'll be with you."

"No. I want you to pass on. You need to go to a better place than this."

"You think they'd let a fallen angel get into heaven?" She chuckled. "I'll take my chances here."

I smiled. "Alright, but I'm not going back to the guild. I know I can do this alone."

"And if you can't?"

"I... I just don't want the same thing that happened to you and Vera to happen to anyone else because of me."

"You never think ahead." She leaned forward and touched her forehead to mine. "That's why I'm coming with you." As she said that, she became completely visible and I could see her cold blue eyes staring into mine. "I'll stay with you until I pass on and you may summon me at will. Do you agree to these conditions?"

Green light started shining beneath us and a circle formed from it filled with geometric shapes and unknown writings. My pendant also began resonating with it and hovered out of my pocket.

"What is this?" I didn't dare move away, but I wasn't sure what was happening either.

"This is a 'contract of the summoned'. It's like the 'summoner's contract', but it's cast by the one who wants to be summoned."

"So those conditions..."

"Do you accept them or not?"

If she wasn't going to pass on anyway, I might as well accept. "Yes."

The light below us began glowing brighter until I couldn't see the woman before me. I blinked and what I saw was no longer a woman, but a dove. Her skeletal wings coated with emerald feathers kept her aloft in front of me. My pendant was fitted squarely in her chest nestled between her feathers.

"Wait a minute, am I a bird?" She looked left and right before flapping her wings and hovering higher.

"A dove," I said, in awe.

"Well, my mom did always say that I have the spirit of a lovebird. Of course, that was before I was exiled."

I held out my hands and she landed, trailing feathers.

"You're adorable; all green, and you even still have your skeleton wings."

"Thanks, but I'm assuming you didn't come back here because you knew I was still hanging around, right?"

"Yeah, I came back to see if I could find any sign of where that guy took Millie."

"I thought so." She looked straight upward. "They went that way. As a ghost, I saw them all vanish upwards. I don't know where they went after that, but that's where they went."

A thought crossed my mind. "Did they levitate before disappearing?"

"Yes. Muriel, the guy who killed me... He raised his hand and they all levitated up before disappearing. While you were getting your body back, the guy you beat up disappeared the same way."

"That's how he took Millie." I gave it more thought. "If he could take that many people at once, but not me..."

"What are you thinking?" Sandra spoke with a chirp.

"Why didn't he take me from the start? I was unconscious and completely vulnerable. He could have taken me then and there."

"Maybe he was too far away to take both of you? Even transportation spells have limits when it's being cast across countries."

"I was out for at least a few days not to mention the fact I couldn't even walk properly for some time afterward."

"In that case, what do you think all this means?"

"He wouldn't make a move on me personally even when we met face-to-face. What if he's not human?"

"You think he's a demi-human or half one?"

"No. Did you have any trouble approaching me when we met?"

"No, but I thought you were cute being all shy and tough at the same time."

"It didn't seem like anyone else had that problem either. I think he's completely non-human."

"That would mean that either Muriel is a puppet or a disguise."

"Either way, we need to find him before he decides to find me again."

Suddenly, there was an animalistic scream followed by hissing nearby. I turned to see Meo and Katie with their tails pointed straight up and glaring at the entrance. In the doorway was a woman in a white short-sleeve and matching shorts. She stood, cowering behind a blue and white harp.

"Sorry if I'm intruding, but I need to ask you something!" The fear behind her trembling voice was easy to hear.

"It's different, but the same, meo," said Meo, glowing blue before igniting in flames of the same color while Katie transformed and held her tail ready.

"As who?" I asked, reaching for my swords.

"Murcury, meo."

"That's my brother!" The girl hopped with a mix of fear and excitement. "I see why you're wary of me, but I've been looking for my brother for a long time; I just want to know where he is." She continued to cower after her statement.

"I don't know," I said, confident in the wall of protection between me and her.

"Oh, I see... Sorry to bother you." She promptly backed out and ran away at full speed.

"Pursuit, meo." The blue fox bolted forward and out the door trailing flames behind him.

Quickly, I flicked my nose, which hurt more than I thought it would. As soon as I did, I heard Meo yelp in surprise from outside. Going out as well, I found that he turned back to normal, and was pawing at his snout.

"And here I thought I was reckless." I scooped him up and placed him on my head. Katie was on my shoulder and Sandra flew along next to me.

"Are we really letting her go, meo?" he asked, leaning his head down so he was in my field of view. "She could be dangerous later, meo."

"Even if she is, I don't think chasing after her is a good idea," said Sandra, dropping to land on my other shoulder.

"Agreed." I petted Meo on the head and he disappeared in a puff of flame followed by Katie who vanished into a burst of golden glitter and Sandra who vanished as if carried by the wind.

I headed for the guildhall to see if I could find any clues. I got there just before sunrise and began sifting through the wanted posters and miscellaneous job posters looking for anything having to do with intelligent animals. Eventually, I found a listing for removing a wyvern from an abandoned castle.

Wondering why it wasn't taken, I asked around. It turned out that the island the castle was on had been forsaken by its owner who destroyed the bridge that led to it before the wyvern took residence. When they tried to reclaim the land, the wyvern destroyed any attempt to build a new one.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

None of the adventurers saw any need to help because it offered little pay and the island fell outside the jurisdiction of the law because the bridge was destroyed and the island was big enough to be considered its own domain.

Finding no other listing of the sort, I took the job and headed to the bridge immediately after buying a map.

Making it to the first island was more exhausting than I thought it'd be. having not slept for a day before slowed me down a bit and crossing the bridge took a day and a half.

Partway through, I got the feeling that I was being followed. I figured it was just other travelers and merchants going the same way until I stopped for a break. Of the people passing by, none of them carried the weight I felt. Taking note, I continued on my way to St. Washington, the largest island and capital of Starboard.

Once I made it to solid ground, I almost immediately got lost in my sleepless stupor. That's what would've happened had a little green bird not appeared in front of my face and led me to a nearby inn. After that, I don't remember much, but I woke up in a bed still completely clothed.

I sat up and the bed creaked. The walls were dull grey and the wooden floor, despite its blemished appearance, looked more comfortable than the bed. I would have rolled onto the floor had I not been stopped by alarmed chirping from under me as I rolled.

"Oops!" I rolled back to see Sandra flapping her wings about in a panic. "Are you okay?"

"You just scared the hell out of me," she chirped, angrily.

"Sorry about that."

We headed out of the small room, down a hall, and down a flight of stairs to the lobby. When I poked my head out, I was immediately spotted by a woman behind a counter to my right.

"Heading out?" She smiled.

"Yes. I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble yesterday. I was too tired to think straight." I walked into the room. "How much for the stay?"

"Oh, you already paid." She waved away the thought. "You even did us a favor getting rid of those miscreants the way you did."

"I did?"

"You and that bird of yours."

"Oh, um... Thanks for telling me. I don't remember anything from last night."

"You are more than welcome."

Making my way outside, I noticed the presence that followed me before. I continued on my way with Sandra sitting on my shoulder. After stopping for a quick bite at a food stall, I made my way to the next bridge. This one led to a series of three small islands in succession.

The first one mirrored the city of the larger island with small houses and a bustling market. The second one was covered in a thick forest. Despite the high traffic, It felt kind of empty. Halfway across the island, I took off away from the path far enough that no one could get involved if something happened. The presence followed

I turned around and said, "What do you want?"

"Does my presence alarm you?" A deep smooth voice echoed from between the bushes.

"No."

"Very well." The voice gave way to a rustling sound as I watched a gray shout followed by large paws leer out from between the thicket followed by a black and gray body. The wolf sat and spoke again. "My name is Dusk. I'm one of the guardian dreamers."

"Dreamer, like my name?"

"Yes. Along with Meo and Sazah, I am one of the three servants My master sent to protect his kin."

"My grandfather?"

"Yes. It was his final wish of us, but it seems we have failed at our job until now."

"If you're here to protect us, why are you only here now?"

"The same reason you can summon creatures like that bird at will. What my master hadn't foreseen was our limitations as servants. It takes someone with equal or greater strength to ours to summon us once we've been laid dormant and we've been dormant for many years."

"Ok, I know Meo, but who's Sazah?"

"She's the monkey who was entrusted to Noah, master's son."

"Meo, get out here." The red swirl up my arm glowed and Meo appeared hanging on my arm before dropping down. "Is everything he's saying true?"

"It is, meo."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"I was being controlled until recently, meo; there was no way to tell you."

"And after that?"

"I had no doubt he was already on his way as soon as that powerful soul entered your body, meo."

Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to Dusk. "If you can find me so easily, can you find Millie?"

"I can."

Hearing that made my heart skip a beat. "Lead the way." I was shaking, barely able to take a step.

"First." He stood and trotted over to me. "Take me onto yourself. Our contract has already been sealed." He lowered his head.

"O-ok." I reached with a trembling hand and laid it on his head. In an instant, a black mark ran up my arm, joining the red and gold ones.

"This way." Dusk turned and started leading us back.

"Not so fast, meo." Meo had climbed onto Dusk's head. "Before that, we're going to tame a wyvern, meo."

Dusk looked back at me with Meo still on his head. "That is a good plan. If we must fight in the future, we should bolster our forces."

Staring into his marble-like eyes, I suppressed my urge to sprint ahead to find Millie and thought about the prospect of flying as a shortcut. "Let's go get a wyvern."

The next island held farmland in every direction. People were reaping the year's harvest and merchants lined up at farms with valuables in their carts. It took nearly a day just to cross the island to the next bridge.

The next island had an inn where I stayed for the night before continuing on. There was more farmland on the next island, but these were animal farms.

I found myself stopping multiple times to pet or feed the sheep and cows that wandered near me. A horse trotted up next to me at some point and I had to find where it came from to return it.

Eventually, I found the other side and crossed the bridge, but turned left at a fork to reach a smaller island. There was a small town steeped in forestry there. The next island after it was all forest with large birds and insects. At the edge of this island, I found a broken bridge that led to an island topped with a stone wall and a wooden gate.

"This should be it," I said, summoning Sandra between my horns. "Can you take a look and see if there's a way we can cross?"

"On it. While I'm gone, try to find one on this site, ok?"

"Sure." I began inspecting the remnants of the destroyed bridge and found that there was a pile of debris far below that connected across the water. All I'd have to do is climb down and back up the other side. The only problem was that they were sheer cliffs and going down would be more dangerous than getting back up.

I found a trail of rope that led into the forest and coiled it up. It looked long enough to climb down the cliff, but I had a better idea. Summoning Katie, I had her shoot one of her spines into the ground near the edge and tied the rope to it. I tied the other end to one of the spines on her tail and had her shoot it across. It stabbed into the gate and anchored between the rotten old boards.

I was about to take hold of the rope when I was stopped by a flame igniting before my eyes. "That's not a good idea, meo," said the flaming fox, prancing through the air.

"It's better than climbing down and back up," I retorted.

"What happens if you fall, meo?" He had a point. The enchantments on my pants made it so I could jump high, but I had fallen shorter distances and hurt myself and now was not a time to push those limits.

"What do you have in mind?" I held out my hands and he stood on them.

"Merge with me and we can get across before anything happens, meo."

"That's actually a good plan." With a flick of a wrist, I sent Katie away.

Meo turned to flame and melted into my palms, coating my entire body with fire. My senses heightened and swiftly, I bound onto the rope, making quick headway to the other side. With every leap between my hands and feet touching the rope, I felt it give way more and more until the final leap to the other side.

At the last second, a rush of sound met my ears. There were two sets of wings flapping behind the gate and racing faster than I was toward me. As I was still mid-air heading toward the gate, a crash loud enough to make me think I went deaf followed the destruction of the rotted gate and a large, feathered head with a scaled body entered my field of view. Unable to halt my momentum, I tackled the creature and we spiraled to the other side of the newly destroyed gate. We tumbled over each other and I rolled away before standing.

Sandra appeared over my shoulder and said, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," I said, taking steady steps toward the blue and yellow striped creature before me.

It recovered quickly and stood before raising itself on its hind legs and belting out a deafening roar followed by words. "What do you want here? Speak now or die!"

"I want you," I said, reaching my hand out.

"Then you want death."

"Is that your name?" I edged myself closer to the wyvern.

"I am... You understand me?" He went back to all-fours. "Beast-master?"

"Well, summoner, I guess." I shrugged.

"Then, a test, it shall be."

"What kind of test are we talking about here?" I put my hands on my hips impatiently.

"A test of will." He opened his wings and I saw deep blue feathers touched with a yellow hue lining the pair before he flapped them and flew upward, landing on top of the castle behind me. "My name is Mugen and you must defeat me if you wish to claim me as your own, summoner." The feathers on his head and wings began to flutter while bright yellow electricity traveled across his body.

"Alright, everyone. Get out here."

Katie appeared between my horns and transformed as she hopped off of my head while Dusk appeared from my shadow, surrounded by wisps of smoke.

I reached for my swords and stopped. Something was wrong. I suddenly felt exhausted and it became hard to stand. I felt like my legs would give out if I tried to move. This lasted until Sandra disappeared from my shoulder in a puff of green smoke. I felt fine afterward.

"What was that?" I asked, bewildered.

"Looks like three's your summoning limit." The darkness around Dusk took the shape of armor across his body while coating his claws and teeth.

"We'll have to make due then." I looked at Dusk and Katie. "Katie, aim your spikes at any spot that doesn't look like they can pierce. We need to control his movement. I'll make sure he's targeting me and Dusk, you find a spot to hit him and hit him hard."

"That'll be his chest," He responded.

"How do you know that?"

"I don't think that's a wyvern, meo," said Meo, "Wyverns are bipedal and this is a quadruped, meo. He's a dragon."

"A dragon's weakest spot is its chest. I'll aim there if you can make an opening." Dusk sounded confident.

"It's a plan." I looked up at the dragon. "Are we starting or what!"

Mugen just stood amongst the crumbling stone of his perch as the amount of lightning surrounding him increased. Suddenly, an orb of electricity expanded from his chest and surrounded everything in sight. My hair stood on end for a second before falling back to normal.

"What is this?" I asked, darting my gaze around.

"It's a mana field, meo."

"How much harder did that make this?" I finally unsheathed my swords and held them at the ready.

"It'll be like fighting Murcury in the snow, meo."

"Not good." I put away my swords, took aim with my bow, and released a piercing shot that fell closer to me than my target. "Damn."

Mugen flapped his wings and soared upwards before diving toward me. I replaced my bow with my swords and leaped as the winged creature swooped down. Dusk and Katie dodged in different directions. I thought I'd land on his back, but he was too fast and he was gone from under me before I could touch him.

"Meow!" called Katie. He was too fast for her to aim properly.

"Switch with Sandra!" I said, following Mugen with Dusk close by.

"I'm here." Sandra appeared on my shoulder and began fluttering by my side.

"I need you to corral the dragon while I get him to focus on me, got it?"

"Already on it." She fluttered up and ahead to meet the dragon above. On the way, bolts of green energy shot from her mouth alongside high-pitched chirping. Mugen soon took notice and turned to fire an orb of electricity from his mouth. I intercepted it with a blast shot that exploded on impact, leaving him open to the orbs that slammed into his body to little effect.

Closing his mouth, he raced toward the little bird flying toward him. Sandra made a U-turn and came back my way as quickly as her wings could take her. As soon as she flew past me, I stopped and held my swords ready.

I focused on my blades and allowed my energy to condense into dust-like orbs as the flame surrounding them became flickering dots that clung to the surface. Bringing my blades together, I swung at the snout of the rapidly approaching dragon, making contact but being knocked into the air in the process. Both of my arms hurt, but I took most of the impact with my chest, winding me.

As quickly as I became aware of my surroundings again, I realized that I was much too high in the air for safety and the whistling sound in the sky to my back wasn't the wind. I turned to look upward at the dragon above me as he was charging a larger blue ball of lighting over his head. With both of his wings outstretched and the ball comparable to his size above him, he looked like a noble emblem or a mage sigil.

Thinking fast, I swung both of my swords and rotated while casting a spell. "Blade wave." I didn't know how I knew the name, but it was one of the spells I attained while fighting Murcury. Two red waves of energy careened through the air and disappeared in the ball over the dragon. Seeing this, I threw Baroness at the orb and the red blade sank into the electric blue void, spreading the scarlet dots of flame within it. Hoping this would work, I took as much a deep breath as I could and cast the spell. "Dance of the fireflies."

Light and heat radiated from every direction and in a flash, Mugen was now falling with me out of the sky. I prepared for a harsh impact and found myself opening my eyes on the ground. I guess I didn't prepare myself enough.

I was lying on gray fur and Sandra was on my chest. She must have tried to lessen my descent while Dusk softened my fall. Meo was by my side and clearly knocked out. He must have done his part as well. I sat up to find I was sitting on something small and soft. Checking under myself, I found Katie in her small form. I guess if I'm falling, I don't need to move, so they can all come out.

Placing my hand on my chest and casting 'healing flame', I found hardly any effect. I stood with Meo, Katie, and Sandra in my arms; ignoring the pain in my back and right leg as well as fatigue. While Meo and Katie were completely out of it, Sandra just seemed dazed. I took a quick and painful breath and blew into her face. She shook her head and looked up, alert.

"Did we do it?" She looked around and held her breath.

Mugen stood before us, watching as if curiosity overcame him above all else. He opened his mouth and spoke. "You, summoner, are lucky. To be protected by all of your vassals without orders, you must be a kind soul and a true master." He lowered his head. "I shall follow you if you would have me."

I took a few wobbly steps forward and placed my hand on his head. A bolt of yellow trailed up my arm to my shoulder and added to the spiral of color. Unlike the others, this one hurt. It was like a bolt of electricity ran up my arm and stunned me for a second.

"A part of me is now inside of you." He raised his head. "You may summon me at will."

"Well, I'll need the whole you. I got someone I need to save."

"Very well." He lowered one of his wings. "Climb on. We shall go."

"Alright." The trio in my arms vanished as I climbed up and Dusk walked up next to me.

"I'll direct you," said the shaggy grey wolf.

"Hold onto my feathers and make sure you don't fall." Mugen raised his wing, lifting both me and Dusk.

"I'll try," I said, crawling over his wing onto his back.

Mugen's back wasn't as comfortable as it looked to sit on. His scales were smooth, but his spine made almost every position uncomfortable, and the few spots that didn't feel bad felt a little too good. I had no choice but to sit leaning far forward to save my backside from the pain of the hard plates on the back of the dragon.

"Make sure you hold on tight." The feathered wings rose on both sides and fell quickly. In the blink of an eye, we were high above the ground and at eye-level with the crumbling structure that barely resembled a nearby castle.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, why were you on that island?" I spoke only partly from curiosity, but mostly to distract myself from the strange feeling below.

"My last master abandoned me with his castle, breaking our contract in the process. With nowhere to go, I claimed it as my own and waited for a suitable master to take his place."

"How long have you been there?" I attempted to shift my weight and accidentally let out a high voice.

"Are you alright?" I heard Dusk's voice and looked down to see his head peering out of my shadow between my legs.

"Not with you there, no." I almost screamed.

"I'm sorry, but this is the only spot I can be to guide us where we need to go." The deep rumble to his voice only served to make matters worse.

"Sure..." I held on tighter. "So, Mugen, how long were you there?"

"Nearly a decade," he said, turning his body slightly.

"That long, huh..." A decade ago, I was still running into walls and trees trying to chase wild animals. Now I'm hunting down my aunt and uncle's killer and trying to save my cousin.

After a while, I noticed we were descending. I readied myself as a small town became clear in my sight. We landed shortly and only after dismounting did I notice that it was a town I passed through on my way to the island Mugen came from.

I reached for my swords before Dusk spoke up, stepping out of my shadow. "We're here to rest, not fight."

"What? No. I'm not resting until I get Millie back."

"I understand, but you need to rest and heal. You have injuries that haven't healed from before we met. They seem to be re-opening"

"I don't care. As long as I can still fight, I'll keep moving." I tried to climb back on Mugen's back but fell motionless on his wing. All of my strength drained from me at once. After looking at the sky for a moment, I lost consciousness.