"Oh and I want one more thing, actually.” Myron stopped, and tapped his fist on his palm.
“What? I have nothing else to give?” Hana grumbled.
“A slap.”
Rhamon stood. Sword out and pointed at Myron.
“But because that is not a good way to start a partnership I am keeping it stock. If and When I feel like you deserve a slap, I will smack you. No remorse. No holding back.”
“Deal. Rhamon, collect yourself.” She chided and her lover retreated. “I will do nothing that will elicit such a response from Myron.” She turned her nose up at him.
Myron nodded, ignoring her and walking past her. “Let’s go, we have a long road ahead of us.”
“Where to?”
“Baron Gummie’s territory.” Myron answered nonchalant, happy to have earned himself the privilege to one day make good on his self made promise to slap Hana, at least once.
“That’s dangerous.” Rhamon spoke, his voice velvet smooth, and higher than Myron would have expected. It was a manly sort of voice, set in stone like his loyalties.
“Dangerous or not, that’s where I’m going, so that is where you’re going too. Don’t whine about it. Do you suppose some other direction is better?”
“The South is safer.”
“But I’ve heard that South of here are the Blue Valley Mountains, and the heartland of the Empire. I wonder which is more dangerous?” Myron shook his head. “We’ll be fine.” He finished and heard no rebuttal from Rhamon so he begun to whistle a happy tune, taking in the scenery. To his right the endless meadows, slopes and hills, meandering rivers and livestock farms. To the South, golden stocks of cereal crop, large orchard farms, and vegetable farms a lush green all stood out, with farmsteads and barns and silos poking up above the colors of the plants in deep blues and red and oranges.
“Now, Despite saying that… What should we be expecting from Dhokta Gummie and his Barony?”
“War.” Rhamon answered.
“Weirdness.” Syl shuddered.
“You’ve been?” Hana asked, and everyone turned to Syl. Who nodded solemnly.
“It was a weird place, and we didn’t stay long. We passed through his Barony from the south trying to escape pursuit. The plan originally was to make a desperate gambit further north in the wild but that turned out to be impossible from Gummie’s Lands. We weren’t prepared enough to throw it all away when we could take the chance, and when we were on our last legs, we couldn’t any more. What Rhamon said is correct. The Gummie Barony works well in hiding this, but it’s land is split. More than split it is in active conflict with Native Forces and has been for 20 Years now.”
“The Barbarians are so strong? The Baron and his Two Children are well known Trainers and Brawlers, all three of them.” Shinka Hana asked and Syl shook her head.
“I can agree that their revenge on the Soldiers and they way they make a show of their enemies corpses is Barbaric, the people themselves are more than capable of speech and understanding. From what I had seen their Aimon were stronger without fault when pitted one to one with an Aimon of similar level from the Baron’s side.”
“You witnessed on of the Battles?”
“One!?” Syl scoffed. “As we escaped outside the Safety of the Tri-Fort Area we witnessed three skirmishes, where almost implicated in another and saw a Merchant Caravan funded by the Baron himself filled with the Regions precious cargo be burnt to the ground. All its Guards killed, the Aimon Taken alive.”
“A display of impressive capability, to take fighting Aimon alive.” Rhamon nodded.
Myron shrugged. “Eh- Doesn’t have to be. If the Barons shoulders treat their Aimon the way Taher treats hers then I have the feeling they were more than willing to take a chance with the Noblesse of the ‘Barbarians’, though even that is doubtful.”
“Aimon are not traitorous creatures, Myron.” Rhamon defended to which Myron agreed audibly. “They aren’t. Nothing traitorous about escaping slavery.” He added and Rhamon scowled, turning to Hana for support on the matter. She bit her lip and caressed the thing mohawk mane traveling down his nape and spine.
“You don’t have to be so confrontational about it Myron. We’re all in this together now.”
“You’re right. I got too heated. Let’s change up subject then, as it seems to me I have to see this mystical land of colonization to know it. Dakini, how about we actually congratulate you for Ascending!” He said and clapped loudly. Mery followed, competing to make the louder sound, as the Kitsune jumped atop Myron and hugged him with arms and legs. Syl, Hana, and Rhamon clapped as well, looking over their shoulders as the clapping resonated far and wide in these hills.
“But before that. How about Rhamon here explains how he followed Dakini around? And also, can you stop doing that? If you disagree we are going to have a problem.”
“Don’t you worry your little heart, Mister Myron.” Rhamon rolled his eyes and walked up to Dakini. He placed a hand atop her head and plucked. A thin strand of hair, thinner than any one hair, which shone a silver white light. He exhaled a breath upon it and it unraveled into a passing breeze. “A Union of three of my Abilities, and one of Hana’s Skills. [Wind Blade], [Hard Light] and [Reflect], with Hana’s Craftsman Skill, [Permanence]. The last Skill is probably self explanatory, in importance and utility both.” He continued.
“This is not a use of our Abilities which we figured out on our own. It is part of my training to be able to compress wind to such small dimensions, embed them with light that won’t dissipate, and then use [Reflect] on top of that. [Reflect] is an ability that creates a screen light which truly bounces back all that comes to it. I can summon that wall of light wherever I please within my line of sight and I can even shroud items or people with it. This gives me an innate sense of where and how the screen of reflect has placed itself. It usually last until my Aether is depleted and attacks break through. With enough Aether and with the Hana’s Skill, in the way that the Royal Guards use it, it’s like having a beacon lighting up your senses the entire time.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“That must have been super tough to pull off. Good on you Rhamon.” Myron patted the bull on the shoulder. “Thank you for the explanation, you’ve really given me food for thought. I never conceived to synergize abilities and skills and simple Type control like this.” He mumbled to himself until he dropped the matter.
“Right, onto you Dakini. The Jump in your Attributes is nothing to scoff at.” He praised and she beamed.
Bonded of Myron
Name: Dakini
Level 10! Kitsune
Tier - Second
Type: Dark/Fairy
Attributes
Aether: 39/39
Shield: 55/55
Strength: 12
Agility: 17
Intelligence: 12
Control: 21
Abilities
Terrorizing Howl
Astonish
Crunch
Night Slash
Dream-pull *
Induce
Transformation *
Energy Drain
Puppy-Dog Eyes
“Thankfully my Shield didn’t increase by much. I hope it stays that way for ever.”
“Maybe not forever, as we don’t want to you being chopped up and dying in one hit, but it is true that more Aether will work better for you. For Mery too. You guys could benefit from inputing more Aether into your every Ability use.” Myron nodded and Mery agreed.
“It’s hard for me, when I’ve gone so long desperately clinging to my Aether, always weary of the next fight.” Dakini was honest in this. Having lived so long in fear it was instinctual for her to use as little Aether as possible for the Ability to activate. It was during this fight that she pushed through that feeling that her Body Morph allowed her to truly transform her mass and size to be that of a small little fly’s or a rabbit, and even a lion without any of the features that she would usually keep.
“That also played part in your inability to realize and wield your Aether Type freely. It was Aether that had no use. But now we know better.”
“We do. If I don’t expend my Aether pull, I won’t grow it with each Level up. I don’t want that.” Her gaze hardened. “Myron I’ll depend on you to supply me with Aether if necessary.” She said and he nodded with a smile.
Nothing better than seeing her determined. With the clothes lent to her by Marissa, stark white from top to bottom, even the shoes, which seemed enchanted so as to not have mud and dirt and other kinds of sludge stick to them. She was a walking Ying-Yang symbol, and it gave her a sort of weight. In Myron’s eyes.
“I’m noticing you’ve had major changes in some of your Abilities too. What is [Induce]?” He asked first and foremost.
She smiled and looked at him with the eyes of a trickster. Her eyes begun to swim, and the sound of his footfalls on the grass grew slow and heavy. Her smile grew more pronounced, yet wavering. The Sun above turned pink and soon after the world turned black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Myron woke up with a startle Dakini’s arm on his chest, propping him up. He stood slowly as he shook the sleep away form his eyes. He pinched her arm and twisted as he stood. “Ow! Stop! I’m sorry, I didn’t know it would work so well!” She apologized, twisting and writhing in pain and so he let her go.
“You forced me into sleep, you induced sleepiness into me, and I’m guessing it doesn’t stop there either.”
“It doesn’t. I can feel it. From arousal, to sadness, to rage and remorse. My ability to control the emotions of others has just grown exponentially. With Dream-cast making my ability to perform peculiar dreams that much greater, I feel like an artist almost.”
“You could be. An artist of Horror. It’s powerful so as long as you use it responsibly I won’t fault you.” Myron gave her a thumbs with an evil smile, his eyes fleeting back to the Princess and her Guard.
Syl smacked him on the head and he gave her the evil eye, with Dakini joining in. “Spoilsport.” They hissed in unison and she rolled her all encompassing emerald eyes.
‘It is impressive how she can convey the rolling motion even though her eyes have no center or core, simply a repeating motif all through out, making any movement essentially useless and unnoticeable.’
“Would you show me what your new and improved [Transformation] can do?” He then asked Dakini who smiled wolfishly. She transformed right then and there into a great big stag with a tree of antlers crowning its head. She threw him upon her back and took off, hooves digging into the earth and sending them galloping forward.”
“SLLOoww~!” Myron’s voice disappeared into the distance until his screams where nothing but the wing-beat of a mosquito.
“Stop! Stop! I’ll fly away!” He shouted; desperately clinging to her antlers pulling her head back, but she didn’t stop, and Myron didn’t stay atop her back for long. All it took was one rock to appear in her way. She jumped, Myron’s nuts smashed onto her hard spine, her back legs pushed her into the air and he flew.
He took those precious moments, with the wind on his short strands of hair, and on his ears, filtering through his clothes like a cold shower in the heat of summer. The world didn’t way him down, he simply levitated, truly free, like a bird.
He tucked his head in and covered it with his arms as best he could, and then shouted to the skies with indignation. “WHY!?”
Myron woke up to Dakini biting her nails, hunched over him, her eyes intently scanning his entire body. The sun had set, a fire warmed his feet, wood had been created and cut and then used as leverage against its brother pieces to create shelter for the night, sturdy and dry. A Small light, tied up with string, shone above him in a soft orange color, and the stars far above in the sky brought a smile to his face. He stood up and grabbed Dakini’s arm before she bolted away.
“Myron! I’m-“
“Hush you! Vixen.” He told her and plucked one of her tails to pet and fiddle with. “I’m going to need Riding training, for sure. Syl managed to carry me for ours but we can’t have that. Dakini, you and me are going to be spending a lot of time together, until Mery can consolidate. If you both are okay with that.” Both of them nodded emphatically.
“I presume Mery healed me?”
“There was a lot of blood.” She glared at Dakini. “But you healed quickly.”
“I confirmed that your weak little body had healed completely and you where simply resting.”
“Hey. I may be weak, but I have a lot of potential.” Myron argued and hugged Dakini’s tail. Then he exhaled, his lips making him sound like a horse. “I guess it’s time to start investing all of my Level Attributes, and maybe even Cultivating a bit of Aether into my body. Any tips? Wise men?” He said to Syl, Hana, and Rhamon in particular.
“You held off on spending your Leveling points? Impressive. Good work.” Rhamon nodded.
Hana continued. “It’s considered dumb to do so while there are attributes below the threshold of 10. That is because it costs 1 Aether from your pool to grow Might from 9 to 10, but it costs 10 Aether to increase it to 11, and that is nothing to scoff at.” She explained. “I would go further and advise you to spend the points you’ve earned from your levels, before earning your Ruby Tier, into on Attribute entirely, and thus saving yourself the most possible Points, under the condition that your class has leveled you enough so that with 9 points - if you are Level 10 - you can move your Attribute into the 20s.”
“I get what you mean. My Spirit stands at 11, if I get another Class Level it will grow to 13. I can spend 8 points to increase it to 21. By doing that I saved 90 Aether, while if I spread those points out to all of my Attributes I would have saved 80.” Myron and Hana nodded both.
“Well, not time like the present. Teach me how to Cultivate so I can ride on Dakini’s Stag form without risk of death.”