-------------------------------------------------

---   Orion   ---

-------------------------------------------------

 

I trudged down the stone tunnel with wet and dirty feet, my shoes making squelching noises with every step. Both Sally and I were covered in the foul water from shallow pond in the previous room and I was yet to find out how we were going to clean ourselves and get dry afterwards.

Being wet was a big problem, anybody who’s experienced in survival can tell you how dangerous it can be to walk around with soaked boots, but being covered in dirty water like this was probably worse. Infection is another concern for long trips without civilisation. At least I had natural healing abilities that prevented that, but an infant like Sally didn’t.

I wondered how many days had passed since I’d been pushed into these dark and damp caves, it is hard to tell without the sun. At least Sally seems restrained for once, fiddling with a trinket she found in the room from before, trying to scrape the mud off of it with her claws.

All I wanted right now was a shower and time to sleep, the hours I’ve spent walking in this cave combined with that fight have left me feeling like sleeping for the next twenty-four hours. Even just laying down on the floor now, covered in muddy water and chilled to the bone seemed tempting.

Fortunately, just before I felt like giving up and going to sleep, I found an interesting feature in this unexpectedly plain tunnel, a small stream of surprisingly clear water was flowing from a crack in the roof, just enough to wash yourself in.

I let out a sigh of relief as I began taking off my clothes, Sally rushing ahead to dive into the water, happily washing all of the muck off her silver scales and scrubbing the item she found earlier. I took off my jacket full of gear, appreciating the fact I hadn’t bothered to take off my gear before eating dinner the night I got betrayed, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to survive down here without all of the survival tools I stuffed in it.

As I slowly stripped off my many layers of clothing in preparation to wash off, Sally finished playing around in the water, waltzing out with a new item tightly attached to the base of her long neck. It was a collar made of laced leather strips, about twelve to fifteen centimetres wide and snugly wrapped around the base of her neck. It had a little piece of ivory carved into a tear drop shape dangling from its front, attached by a piece of string to the collar.

It was simple and slightly primitive piece of neckwear, resembling something you’d find in a native tribe. But it did look nice on Sally, and it made for a nice collar, it’d at least help people understand that she’s not… ‘feral’.

No matter how she acts sometimes.

But I moved on from the strange thing Sally found, taking off the last of my clothes before stepping under the stream. It was… ‘refreshingly cold’, it felt like the cold water was burning me the whole time as I scrubbed off all the muck. After torturing myself with the water I eventually stepped out and begun washing my clothes, purging the foul stink that they’d picked up from the pond.

I stepped out feeling miserable, my body frozen to the core. Once I’d exposed myself to the cold air, I quickly realised something else that I’d forgotten, getting everything dry. A big problem, I don’t think I’d survive sleeping naked and going around without clothes while I waited for them to dry, even with <heart of life>. But wearing them while they were wet was even worse.

But before I could go around looking for things to set alight, I saw a small bonfire burst into existence next to Sally. I stared in shock at Sally for a moment, the little drake having made her own campfire with her newfound ability to spit fire. Luckily it seems that her flames were like napalm, sticking to the ground like ignited tar and making a perfect campfire, the drake curling up into a ball next to it to warm up.

I sat down next to her, wincing as my bare cheeks touched the chilly stone floor, and I promptly set up my wet clothes near the fire. Just as I began to feel the warmth of the fire I heard Sally snarl to my side, the drake shuffling away from me while trying not to look at me, as if she was embarrassed by my nakedness. Why’d she be bothered by it? She’s been naked ever since her birth, if anything the concept of clothes itself should be weird to her…

Though her strange reaction did remind me of another important thing about the little drake. She’s far smarter than I thought, even human toddlers aren’t anything like Sally. Her intelligence surprises me sometimes, able to hunt and then share meat with me, pickup and wear necklaces and maybe even take that dagger out of me.

The last one I still find a little unbelievable, how would a baby drake even know how to do that? Not even counting that the blade is enchanted to be harder to take out. Maybe the <Soul bond> accelerated her mental growth?

Though I was getting slightly better at understanding her, as confusing as she could be sometimes. Usually, animals were simple things with simple processes, they want food, so they find it and eat it, they get hurt, they avoid whatever’s causes the pain. But Sally was more complicated than that, reminding me of my previous group of teammates.

At first, she resembled a stray cat I used to visit whenever father and I were in town. At the time I didn’t really have many chances to escape my father’s house way out in the woods. I used that bit of time away from home to try and find this stuck-up cranky cat that’d scratch you if you got too close. But if you gave it a treat before you approached it, it’d let you touch it a bit.

Not on the head though.

I enjoyed the time I had with it and when the every once in a while I could go meet it came around, I did.

Sally was like that cat in ways that, though that connection was dwindling the longer I spent time with her, she had rules I had to find out, much more complicated ones than the cats, more similar to the ones my teammates had.

I glanced over at Sally again, finding that she sparkled in the firelight, making her seem like a pile of glinting silver. I couldn’t but smile at the pretty sight, no matter the mind on the inside, Sally had a beautiful body. I slowly reached over to the lazing drake, trying not to frighten her as I went for the head, ready to scratch her like earlier today.

I saw her open an eye as I got close, keeping it trained on my finger and luckily this time she seemed accustomed to it, not growling at it like last time. So, I took it as permission to get closer, my hand almost on her head before she smoothly pulled her head away from it. While I stared at her with a bit of confusion, she unhurriedly opened her jaw and lent towards my hand, clamping her maw shut on my fingers.

I felt the familiar pain of her teeth sinking into my flesh, gritting my teeth as I tried not to whimper from the pain. I slowly lifted my hand up, Sally stubbornly refused to let go even as she was pulled up off the ground as well, hanging from it and dangling in the air, looking like she didn’t have a care in the world.

Luckily after a few seconds she let go, dropping to the ground and spitting out a bit of my blood that’d leaked into her mouth. I on the other hand cradled my hand gently, blowing on it gently as the pain faded and I started to feel the uncomfortable itchy feeling that occurred whenever <heart of life> kicked in, the skill already knitting my hand back together. But then Sally jumped up onto my bare thigh, Sally placing her prickly front two talons onto my leg as she inspected my wound closely.

What was this little thing doing?

I watched closely as she stuck her scaly face near where she bit, trying to get a look at the wound for herself. But as she did so, she seemed to realise something as she suddenly froze, her eyes began to slowly drift away from wound, staring at my naked chest for a moment. Her gaze slowly trailed downwards until it reached my crotch. When it entered her vision, she reared back as if she was burnt and fell backwards onto the floor, becoming still as her eyes glazed over.

I let out a bit of the laugh I’d been trying to keep supressed in my chest, the sight of Sally working herself up into a frenzy over whatever was wrong with my body was hilarious. Was it because she didn’t understand my body when compared to hers? A drake’s physiology is extremely different compared to a human’s.

Maybe that’s why she bit me, play biting is common for some animals and her scales would be able to take it, unlike my skin.

I tapped the ground next to Sally, getting her attention to show her my hand, making sure she could see the healing wound. It seemed to relax her, the tension making her muscles tight disappearing, the lizard melting into the ground. The sight of Sally working herself up into a frenzy was too good, and I found my hand sneaking towards her head again, unable to help myself at the adorable sight of Sally being such a worrywart.

Sally pulled herself up and into a sitting position as I scooted closer, the drake blankly staring at me as my hand slowly neared her.

I gently offered the back of my hand to her, waiting to see her reaction before continuing. Much to my surprise, she actually seemed uncaring about, not moving as my hand sat there. I wondered if this was impassiveness or if she was going to bite me again if I got any closer.

But then she took initiative, placing a paw on my hand pushing it down onto the floor until my palm was flat against the stone. And then she began to run one of her talons along the upper part of my forearm.

Was she petting me? I frowned a little, finding it even harder and harder to understand Sally’s thoughts before giving up.

She was petting me. Did she emulate me?

I sighed before giving up again. She doesn’t hate me at least, I guess she’s just trying to apologise for earlier.

I sat there for a while and let Sally do what she liked, as she busied herself with fiddling with my arm and hand. She went for long enough that the fire she made began to dim, and my clothes had been dried thoroughly by its intense heat.

I gently moved her paw off me with my other hand and got up to put my clothes back on, pulling the stiff and crunchy cloth over my body while Sally awkwardly looked in the other direction.

Once I was dressed I sat back down and leant against the wall of the tunnel, and prepared to go sleep while lying against the cold hard stone.

But before I could pass out from exhaustion, Sally started tugging my shirt, pulling at it with her claws.

I stared at her, thoroughly confused by her, but all she did was stare right back, unblinking as she continued to grasp at my shirt. Without breaking eye contact she reached higher and pulled at my shoulder.

At this point, mostly out of curiosity, I let her pull me over me over and she lay me on my side. While I stiffly laid there, she began to run her talons through my hair, soothingly scratching my scalp, working out the knots with her claws as she worked.

As soon as I accepted the absurdity of the situation, I decided to let myself enjoy it and I closed my eyes. It felt nice, but foreign, I can’t remember anyone ever bothering to brush my hair.

But I let the little drake do her work. I wonder if taught her in some strange way that this was how you show your thanks. Eventually, after a few minutes of feeling the sharp tips run over my skin, I felt my drowsiness return in full force and sleep claimed me while Sally continued her ministrations.

 

 

 

 

…

 

 

-------------------------------------------------

---   Sally   ---

-------------------------------------------------

 

When Orion fell asleep, I finally stopped scratching his scalp and let him rest in peace, the ranger finally resting after the most awkward half an hour of my life.

When I finally washed off that disgusting scummy water, I decided to try and do that ‘attuning’ thing the system was bothering me about and the bloody amulet leaped at me like an octopus. Its one long loop separated into dozens of smaller strands that latched onto the base of my neck, threading itself into a weave of leather strips.

It was a band roughly ten to twelve centimetres in width, with that ivory teardrop hanging from the front.

And, for some reason… This f#cking thing took the shape of a collar. And all the system could give me was-

[Magical items that attune to the owner’s soul, also change to suit them better]

Which is annoying to say the least.

But then Orion stripped naked and walked around with his willy out, which just… y’know…

Was awkward. And then to make things even worse, He tried to pat me again and then out of pure frustration I bit him. I honestly didn’t mean to do that, I just lashed out again, the whole situation painfully reminded me of our first meeting.

After the moment had passed, I just felt bad, biting him felt… wrong. Wrong for a person to do so casually to someone else, and a dehumanising experience for myself.

But after a few other… ‘events’, I eventually came up with the perfect revenge/apology.

Instead of him petting me, I’d pet him! Hopefully it’d get the idea that I was a pet out of his head.

And it worked! I think.

After I worked my magic for a while, Orion went right to sleep and after he conked out I found a comfortable space near him and joined him in dreamland.

 

 

…

 

 

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---   Orion   ---

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I woke up to the feeling of something wriggling in my hand and I opened my eyes, spotting Sally trying to gently slide out from underneath my palm. Somehow my hand had ended up on top of her while I was sleeping, my father had always complained about that whenever we slept in the same tent.

Tempted by her shiny scales and my caution dulled by the sleepiness from just waking up, I stroked her back, my finger following the ridge of scales along her spine. But before I could even do it more than once, I heard a familiar snarl, and I instinctively retrieved my hand before it felt the familiar pain of getting bitten.

I watched as Sally slinked away out of my reach, glaring at me the whole while. I wondered again what sort of rules Sally had, because I really couldn’t understand when I could and couldn’t pat her.

I’ll have to figure it out later.

I stood up and fixed my clothes, offering Sally my shoulder so she could get up onto my head. After a few moments of her indignantly looking aloof, she gave in and jumped up, making me wince as her claws pricked me through my hair.

At one point I’d been annoyed when she first clambered into my hair and effortlessly turned it into a bird’s nest. But by this point I couldn’t really help myself but let the spoilt dragon walk all over me to get up onto my head.

A strange thought struck me I started walking off with Sally secured to my head, I’ve grown awfully attached to Sally in no time. Did the <soul bond> affect my emotions?

“Why’d someone design a skill like that?” I chuckled quietly to myself, the idea that a skill would backfire like that was absurd. But my laughing abruptly came to a stop when Sally’s head appeared right in front of my face, the little drake sticking her head right in front of mine, suspicion twisting her scaley features as she probably wondered what I was laughing about.

I tried not to laugh again at her antics, knowing she’d probably stick her claws into me if I dared to laugh directly at her. I reached up with my hand and gently pushed her head back up and out of my vision. But her actions reminded me once again how… alive she is, the vibrancy of her personality and the heights of her intelligence.

It made me think that drakes are as intelligent as humans, and in this world I probably should’ve realised that earlier. But it was a bit too late now, as I was already in the middle of sticky mess that comes with using <soul bond> on something as smart as you. If Sally was just a dumb lizard, then it’d be fine, all I did was get a pet that I could bring with me through my life, like a… long-lived husky.

But Sally’s clearly allot more than a dog, what I’ve done is permanently attach an infant to me and no matter what point in our lives, she’ll never be able to leave the bond. I had murdered her parents, kidnapped her when she was a baby and forced her to become my companion throughout my life, whether she wants it or not.

I let out a sad little sigh, knowing that the damage had already been done, and all I could do now was regret my decision and hope that Sally doesn’t hold it against me later.

“Though at least I’ll never be alone again” I whispered to myself, so quietly that Sally didn’t even react to it. The sarcastic idea hurt a little, it felt dirty to consider. The idea that I’d do it again just not to be alone was absurd, but I couldn’t say that it wasn’t tempting.

But my internal turmoil ended when the cave passage I was walking through ended, opening up into a huge open space. Most of the cave was a huge underground lake, I couldn’t even see the sides or roof of the cave, the water stretching out in the hazy darkness.

The open air of the cave was dominated by the thick trunks of stalagmites reaching up into the blackness above, leaving you barely able to see through the mass of columns. Before us there was a three-metre-wide stone path just jutting out above the water, the unnaturally straight stone line leading into the darkness, the sea of stalagmites avoiding it, as if they were afraid of it.

I took a deep breath and stepped onto the smooth stone, pausing for a moment to listen carefully, trying to hear if something was off. But there was nothing, my skin prickling with goosebumps at the realisation.

In a cave as big as this, sound should travel fine, if anything it’d travel further by echoing.

How’d a cave with this much open space not have a single sound in it? No bugs chirping or bats making clicking noises to try and find them, there wasn’t any water dripping into the massive underground lake.

Just absolute stillness.

I began to walk forwards cautiously, taking care to quieten my footfalls, my experience in stalking prey coming in handy. I kept my eyes peeled as I travelled down the path, peering between the columns of stone to see if there was anything hiding down here in this dead forest.

It all reminded me of a time father took me to a great forest of redwoods, I couldn’t see the tops of the trees that day due to the mist obscuring my vision. It was a surreal experience, the fog muffling sound and hiding everything beyond twenty metres away, the forest becoming strange and mystical place, making me feel vulnerable and scared.

Like there was something in the mist that I couldn’t see, but it was watching me.

I continued to creep through the petrified stone forest, even Sally was on her best behaviour, keeping quiet and clinging to my head, the little drake was as scared I am.

“Orion, if you can’t see it, it means that it can.” My father whispered, his deep and rough voice quietly leaking into my ears from behind me. I almost panicked, my father’s voice almost spooking me running, but I managed to keep my cool, my head slowly turning around until I could get a glimpse behind me, and I couldn’t see anyone else on the stone path.

It was too quiet in here.

“Focus Orion, or I’ll make you.” Another whisper threatened.

 

You’re a warrior, strong, brave and true.

 

I took a deep breath and forced myself to focus, you’re better than this Orion, Father isn’t here to help, or do anything… else.

 

“C’mon, you can do better boy”

 

You’re a warrior, strong, brave and true.

 

“That the best you can-”

 

You’re a warrior, strong, brave and true.

 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING-”

 

You’re a warrior, strong, brave and true.

 

Breath in.

And out.

In, and out.

 

I slowly felt the world around me come back into focus, finding that I’d stopped walking at some point.

But just before I could start walking again, I saw something sparkling below the surface of the water on my right, a few centimetres away from the stone path, and even in this darkness I could still clearly see its shine. It was an opaque gem, like a cloudy piece of smooth opal had fallen into the water and was resting on something just below the surface, resting between the roots of a rotting tree trunk.

It was bait, obviously, why’d there be a precious gem of this size just sitting here and the thing it was resting on was also weird. Why’d there be the remains of a tree about ten metres in diameter sitting here? There weren’t any other rotting trunks in the water.

So, I decided to forget about it and just kept walking knowing that touching the water was probably a stupid idea. As I started walking again Sally peeked her head over the top of mine to see what I’d been looking at. She might be on the smaller side, but her movement pulled me off balance for a second, forcing me to slam my foot against the ground to stop myself from stumbling into the water, the loud noise breaking the delicate silence.

I stood there, frozen in fear as the noise rang out, feeling petrified while the sound echoed again and again, until the cave eventually returned to its previous silent state.

But before I could even let out a sigh of relief, I heard an unbearably loud crack rang out, the sound bouncing between the pillars of stone as I whipped my head around, not caring for Sally’s safety as I frantically searched for the source of the noise.

Much to my horror, I saw the gem twitch, my mouth parting in disbelief as I stared at it, the dead tree the gem was lying on moved as well. Both my feet felt rooted to the ground as the massive log began to pop and crack as it started to move, slowly raising itself up out of the water.

The water drained off of the gem, revealing its brightness fully, the stone letting off its own faint glow. The roots the gem sat between were also revealed, showing them to instead be a pair of yellowed and cracked deer antlers, one side broken off at the stump, while the other still had its branching glory.

The thick ten-metre-wide tree trunk turned into a brown scaly body, and the head of the great beast finally became clear, the brown scales slowly prying themselves open to reveal two bloody eyes. Puss and other foul liquids were blinked out as the pair of eyes slowly focused on Sally and I. Along its head ran a viscous scar, the scales burnt off and grey twisted flesh showing the scars path, the ugly mark running from the base of its ruined horn, down the side of its head and over its mouth, then spiralling around its body, running along its whole, visible length.

I tried not to breathe too loudly, holding onto the faint hope that it might just leave as I called on appraisal.

<Using appraisal>

[Ulun'suti the Drowner – Level ???

An Uktena of the great lakes

A once great horned serpent, once a loved keeper of the blazing diamond, once a caller of storms and lightning.

And once fallen to temptation, once defeated by the great thunderbirds and struck down into the depths. He was a clear, pure and beautiful creature, a guardian of humanity against the rage of the sun, but now a sullied and filthy beast, scorned by its charges and thrown away.

One shouldn’t try a flooder of plains, an end-bringer of man villages and devourer of noble beasts.

No matter how strong you think you are, don’t dare to pass in front of his gaze. For he has defied much more powerful things than humans could ever be.

Be warned, to even to see the glow of Ulun'suti’s gem is death, not just the hunter himself, but to his family and village, for his grudge won’t be satisfied until all that you loved is destroyed.

That is, if he doesn’t forget about it after a few minutes.]