Syl fired the first shot. [Shrieking Mandrake] Myron felt the Ability activate through their bond.

Then a horrible sound of claws scratching on glass resounded through the clearing. A little mandrake root with leaves for hair and little legs flailing about spun as Syl threw it, and it Shrieked so loudly that Myron cringed, his knees buckled and vision swam.

The ground trembled and Syl pulled Myron away as a pillar of molten earth rose from the ground right where he once stood. Deryn clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, and in that moment all hell broke loose.

Roulon’s Falcon sent a gust of wind at Syvan and his Aimon, all three of whom transformed into monsters of their own. Syl saw nothing else as he was pulled atop a transformed Syl who booked it.

Only for a wall of vines to rise up in front of them and put a stop to their escape.

Myron was plucked off Syl. He turned his head back and saw Hanau’s second Aimon now much smaller than before with two frog like legs kicking at the sky and jumping in the air.

He brought his hand around and smacked the critter in the back, separating the both of them. Myron slammed onto a root feeling his ribs creak from the impact. Spittle flew from his mouth along with the air in his lungs. Syl was atop him, transformed into a chitinous monster, her many teeth jaws bit at thick log-spear, and her claws cut open a crescent of sharp wind heading their way.

Myron reached up and hopped atop her but she had to flail at the last moment. Myron rolled to stand. Something came careening through the forest heading straight for him, spinning like a drill with deadly intent.

“[Heavy Gong]!” Syvan shouted and announced his coming as he stepped in and punched the incoming missile-drill into the ground with the sound of a bell ringing loud and clear.

“Fire Chains!” He shouted as he pushed Myron down and disappeared.

Burning links snapped into place around the Aimon’s limbs and dug into the earth. The smell of burning flesh and fur assaulted Myron’s nostrils and eyes. He stood himself and jumped away, anticipating an attack was coming, even if he didn’t see anything. He was proven right as Deryn cursed.

Yet again a pillar of molten earth rose from the ground not much later.

“Set up!” Syvan shouted. The roots on the ground expanded in a single push, as if put on cartoon drugs. Then they started to rise, like the bean stalk leading up to the giant’s lair itself.

“The Floor is Lava.” Syvan ordered, his voice echoing loud and clear as he zipped about. A literal torpedo of water, a jet, rushing from tree to tree smashing through everything in its path. Him and his Water Type Aimon - Myron presumed.

Then, as he stood there watching, he found his viewpoint rising. He slipped when he looked down and so the ground so far away.

His legs and arms wrapped around a thick root, holding on for dear life.

Syl appeared next to him in that moment and cut apart the growing chunk of root he was holding on to.

The two of them fell in unison towards the ground and she took Myron in a princess carry.

Her monster form was shining, resplendent in the wildfire that begun to spread. Her fly like eyes and long face with a mouth instead of mandibles and a main of hair, a neck much thicker, and gill-like in the shape of its armoring, than that of an actual Praying Mantis, yet with claws made of sharp glinting metal running from her little claw-arms up through her joints and almost to her shoulders.

Her head was triangular and long with rows of jagged teeth instead of mandibles and two front facing eyes of patterned emerald.

She was horrific and terrifying and yet Myron felt absolutely safe as her voice reached him, cleaned the blood dripping into his eyes and picked him up in a princess carry.

“Time to take off the Gloves, don’t you think fellas? [Nature’s Child]!” Syvan shouted right as Syl plunged her sharp legs into a root and begun rushing down along its curving height. Straight for the burning forest floor.

The forest cried out as if alive, and moved to the beckon of the Ability.

“Time to learn what a proper Jasper Rank Guilder can do, damn bums!” Syvan shouted and exploded into motion, a jet of swirling water.

Syl stopped abruptly and Myron flew over the wall of tangled rots blocking her way. He rolled on the wide and soft wood into a sprint. He ran and ran as the world undulated around him, roots climbing and falling while balls of fire exploded just meters below.

“Why am I going nowhere?” he shouted as he noticed a distinct lack of progress. He halted and saw that the root below him was rushing; growing; in the opposite direction like the wrong set of escalator stairs.

The sharp cry of a bird made him cringe. Myron felt sharp talons wrap around his arms and gravity disappeared. The next moment he was falling, his eyes open and tears coming from his eyes as a jet of flames cut the legs carrying him, the talons still wrapped around him for a bit before disappearing into ash and smoke.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

A tree moved and extended its branches like arms. He fell upon a bed of leaves and rolled closer to the fiery earth below. Only for Syl to appear next to him, clad in chitinous armor, her four legs rushing to cover him and her abdomen to hide him. She picked him up and tossed him around throwing a mandrake kicking it little root-legs and screaming a vile sound at the coming opponent.

He lost his footing and fell down, the forest moved to swallow him. A titanic mass of trees rose from the ground and stomped down at where Roulon was. Myron didn’t get to see anything else as Syl blasted off, from canopy to canopy, the leaves growing thick and heavy to support her weight at the whims of her powers.

They then fell through and touched earth, the burning lava far enough away to not matter, now turned mostly to black stone; and rapidly cooling down; already.

Wind buffeted Myron and he groaned, turning to face the direction Syl was blasting off towards.

“Are we going to meet with Syvan?” Syl asked.

“No.” Shook his head.

“I’m not fucking stupid. We’re going nowhere near that man. Keep running until you can’t no more.”

“My thoughts exactly, Myron.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took hours before she turned back into her alluring humanoid form, to take a rest that, Myron felt safe enough to speak up. He hugged her tightly. “I’m so happy you decided to stay with me.” He said to her earnestly. He wanted her to stay for entirely selfish reasons, and he knew that. Syl knew that too. He didn’t want to be alone, he wouldn’t make it, he didn’t want to die now that he got another chance to start all over, and he also didn’t want to lose his starter Aimon. He remembered, and he felt it in his heart that a Trainer’s Starter is a special Bond that can never be shaken.

She shook him off, clearly embarrassed, but Myron didn’t comment. “We should keep on walking. The sooner we are out of the forest the better our chances of avoiding another ambush like that.”

“How so?” Myron asked as he kept pace with Syl who speed walked over root and puddle.

“Because in the Oakenshield Dukedom, rules are harder to remiss as inconsequential. You may not be registered with any organization or Clan, but it’s clear that I am your Aimon, and that means I’m your property. Stealing me would be considered serious theft and charged with a heavy punishment.”

“SYL!” Myron took her shoulder and spun her to look at him with. His eyes burned with hate and passion. His entire mood had shifted for the first time into deadly seriousness. Not even when they had been at death’s door had Myron showed her such an intense emotion.

“You’re not my property.” He said, his words as stern as commandments. “You are my Starter, my Partner, my Friend to be, My Bonded, and I am all those things to you, and potentially more if I am understanding the way Bonds work. Never, say that you’re my property, again.” He said his piece and kept on walking, satisfied, his mood lightening with every step he took. “Even if others do.”

Syl couldn’t help but smile a bit, refreshed. Not even Damien would shout out such sappy, revolutionary and downright dangerous, things with such a serious face. She shrugged off the mantle of sadness and surprise that was trying to drag her down and caught up with Myron.

“What do you think Syvan could have possibly wanted with us?” Myron broke the peaceful silence.

“To fuck his brother over somehow? I don’t know what we could do exactly. We’re not some terrifying force.”

“His half brother?”

“Yes, Syvan was born out of wedlock to an unknown mother, but it is well known that the Duke is his father as the man has declared so himself.”

“Why would he do that but not accept Syvan as his Son? Why shackle a boy with the title?”

Syl shrugged. “Something to do with Inheritance laws in the Empire. Though you would assume that a Duke would be able to do whatever he pleased. This one in particular seems to be very close to the Emperor, and thus must follow his orders, whether inked on paper or not.”

“Fair enough. Sucks for him though. Should have kept his dick in his pants. My grandmother always used to say to me. A Man has got to worry about two things in life. Where he signs his name, and where he puts his cock. I believe that to be true - if you excuse the language.”

“Your grandmother must have been a wise woman.”

“She was but I didn’t listen. Now she’s long dead and I signed away a life of servitude to a job I didn’t like, around people I hated, in a routine I dispised and for compensation that was too little. Hence me coming here after a particularly childish impulse. Aren’t you glad.”

“I am. I am glad.” Syl stopped and turned to Myron, her voice serious. His smile whisked away. “I realize now… That I don’t want to die. It feels disloyal of me to wish to keep on living when I’ve failed my duty once. If I could just wither away I would forget all that came with this life, and be rid of these emotions.”

Myron waited for her to continue. The calm of the forest around them helped her mind settle. He could feel the turmoil being washed away slowly but surely from within their bond. Red hot worry replaced by placid blue resolution.

“Yet if I let myself go in such a way. I would also forget all about him. All that made him worth fighting for, all the moments we shared, and all the good that we did. I don’t want that. I also don’t want to leave you alone in this forest. You won’t make it and I owe you at least that much.”

“So I’ll stick with you Myron. If and when the time comes for us to split, I may do so. Otherwise, expect to have me for the long haul. For a dept of life is repaid with a life. All I can give you is my strength and loyalty. You’ll have them till you need them no more.”

“Your words warm my heart Syl. You have no need to bow to me though.” He rushed to her side and pulled her up by the shoulders.

“You’ve lost a loved one. I know how that feels. Take all the time you need to grieve. Your presence is all I ask for as I try to figure out my first steps in this world.”

“Let us not put any title or limit in this relationship. I like you, you’re kind, and well put together. Seeing as I officially have no friends or anyone to talk to at all from today going forward, I suggest we do as you say and stick around each other, have one another’s company. For now, that’s enough, is it not?”

Syl nodded and separated. Myron awkwardly wiped the sweat from his palms for a moment and gulped down the anxiety of being so open with someone he has just met. All the social rules he had learned to follow on earth thrown out the window for an open heart and an open mind.

‘Maybe it’s the Bond that made us spill out so much, seems logical to me… Am I angry with it?’ He took a deep breath and took in the earthy smells, into his lungs. Invigorating him.

The two of them moved forward, ever West, into safety.

Neither thought about what their relationship would become. Of what they might accomplish together. It was too soon to tell. For now, they were satisfied with making a big step forward.