by Aleron Kong
Despite his weirdo builder’s egg fetish, both he and Krom had done good work. The enclosure was round and twenty yards in diameter. Half of the fence extended out into the water and was much longer in height than the land half so that it could sink five feet into the lake bottom while still being five feet above the surface of the water. The land side of the fence was also sunk five feet into the earth and still extended up five feet above the ground. Richter figured it should be more than enough to keep the squat babies inside of their pen.
A latched gate hung open on the ground side. Richter and Deera ran through to see Derin hovering nearby the largest egg. He had wiped away the mud that was usually there to incubate the eggs. Several of them were vibrating, but none as much as the first. Derin looked up and said, “Quickly, my lord! There isn’t much time.”
Not sure why he had to be down in the mud, Richter did as he was instructed anyway. The muck got all over his clothes, but he was soon caught up in the excitement. Deera picked up the bull skath egg and handed it to Richter. She passed it over gingerly like she was holding a child which, Richter realized, she was. The three of them knelt there, Deera to Richter’s left and Derin to his right, while the lord of the mist village cradled the large egg.
The shaking increased and cracks spread across the surface of the football-sized grey egg. A black claw broke through the shell, withdrew and then struck the interior of the shell again. A piece fell away. Another claw broke the surface of the shell and pushed outward. In an increasing cascade, pieces fell away until the face of the baby bull skath was revealed. It mewled with its eyes still closed, crying out at the injustice of being born. Without thinking, Richter spoke to it softly, “It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here.”
The small creature opened its eyes and looked at Richter. White sparkles formed in the air around Richter’s kneeling form. Something changed.
Know This! Dragonkin Richter, you have been present at the birth of a bull skath. Your strong relationship with reptiles and your Psi Bond ability has moved this moment beyond a simple birth! The bull skath has Imprinted! This creature will have increased loyalty to you. For the duration of its life, it will perform better, take to training easier and be more likely to follow commands. This is a wild animal, but Imprinting greatly increases the chance of domestication!
Congratulations! You have reached skill level 2 in Animal Husbandry. +2% effectiveness in training. +2% stats for trained animal.
Congratulations! You have reached skill level 2 in Exotic Beasts. +2% more likely to domesticate wild beasts. +2% stats for trained animal.
Congratulations! You have completed the Quest: Beast Tamer I. You have successfully protected the skath clutch until it has hatched! More than that, you have Imprinted upon the bull skath! For making such a connection, you shall receive a bonus reward!
Reward: 625 experience (base 1,000 x 1.25 x 0.5)
Reward: Baby skaths!
Reward: +50% increase chance to domesticate this clutch in addition to other modifiers.
Bonus Reward: Progeny of any imprinted skaths from this clutch have a +10% chance of hatching a monster of increased strength!
Richter’s eyes opened in shock. He could feel the connection with the small reptile he was holding in his arms. It had ceased bawling and was now looking at him in rapt fascination. For his own part, he felt a strong paternal instinct to protect this small creature. It was nothing compared to the soulful bond between himself and Alma and was very different to the dominance he had over the shale adder. Perhaps only someone who had owned a dog since picking it from a litter or had raised a foal since it was still wet from birth would understand. This was a covenant.
The bonus reward also opened fascinating possibilities. Did that mean he could breed not only monsters but some sort of enhanced monster? Could he do it with the young of other types of dangerous animals? The carnasid piglets were down in a pen near the village pastures. The twins had said they could not raise the animals to follow commands, but that the piglets could easily be raised for meat. It didn’t mean that there weren’t other animals he couldn’t domesticate, though!
He needed to know more. How long until the skaths matured enough to breed? Would they be considered a resource and benefit from the Quickening’s level two 25% bonus? He didn’t think the animals could benefit from the population bonus that stemmed from the village’s increased Morale and Health, but then again who knew? Maybe one of the rank perks of leveling Animal Husbandry would let them mature faster. Richter was excited by the possibilities!
He was also excited about the level perks from his two skills. A part of him had wondered what the point of raising animals was when he could simply dominate them with his Blood magic. It was clear now though that raising the animals could make them much more powerful than if he simply found them in nature. His Beast Bonding skill increased his tamed animals’ attack and defense by 1% for each skill level he achieved, but if the perks from both Animal Husbandry and Exotic Beasts were cumulative, by the time he reached level ten in each, his trained creatures would be 40% stronger than any found in the wild!
“You did it, my lord,” Deera exclaimed. “You are,”
“Simply amazing,” Derin continued. “I never expected you to imprint onto the baby. Truly, you,”
“Are something to behold!” Deera finished.
Derin handed Richter a fish, saying he needed to feed the baby to finalize the bond. Richter held it before the skath’s mouth, and the reptile grabbed it and began to feast. The baby started to squirm as it tried to get more of the fish into its mouth, so Richter gently laid it down on the grass of the bank. As the bull skath continued to eat, Richter removed the shell pieces from its back. He poured water over it, gently cleaning away the bloody membrane that was clinging to its hide.
The bull skath had soft skin that already showed the pattern of the hard scales that it would one day grow. Its body had the same squat, bulldog appearance as the older versions of its kind. It finished eating the small fish and then to Richter’s surprise started eating the remnants of its shell. Richter reached down into the mud and put the rest of the shells within the easy reach of his newly imprinted skath.
Five more skaths were born that day, leaving nine more unhatched. Richter held each egg as they hatched and they all imprinted upon him. The bull skath quickly established dominance over the other baby skaths, but after that, they played nice. Richter was worried about them getting mired in the mud or not knowing how to swim, but soon all of the reptiles were exploring the edges of their enclosure, both land and sea. The creatures appeared to be natural swimmers.
One interesting thing was that Alma dropped onto the ground in the middle of the six skaths. She was longer than the baby skaths, but her body was far more sleek, making it look like she might be out of her weight class. The bull skath obviously thought so as well. With a mewling roar, it charged at Alma. She merely watched it approach, and at the last second, flapped her wings while jumping. The dragonling let the skath pass beneath her, then she reached down and grabbed it. Another beat of her wings was enough to lift the green creature into the air. She flew forward a few meters while it whined and pissed, before dropping it unceremoniously. The fall was only two feet, but the baby was stunned.
Alma landed atop it, flipped it over and placed a taloned hand to its throat. The other skaths had been approaching, but she extended her neck and hissed. All five backed down. She looked down at the squirming bull skath and pressed her talons down ever so slightly. It stopped moving and laid still, limp and submissive. The message was clear. The bull might be the baddest dude on the block, but Lady Alma was the head bitch in charge.
The sound of dozens of tiny hands clapping filled the air. Richter looked up and saw that the skaths’ birth had attracted the attention of the pixie children. They looked at the baby skaths in fascination. Richter warned them to stay away from the reptiles, to which they agreed, but he still saw them looking at the hatchlings with mischief in
their young eyes. The chaos seed sighed. The last thing he needed was for Elora to come back from her Trial only to find out several of her children had been eaten.
After spending a few more minutes with the baby skaths, Richter rinsed his clothes off and put on a fresh set along with his armor and weapons. He summoned a mist worker to take his dirty clothes for cleaning and then left the skaths in the twins’ care while he started walking towards the village gate. In his haste to make it to the birth, he hadn’t cancelled the war party he had planned for the afternoon. His group was waiting for him, and not one of them questioned his tardiness. Richter appreciated the deference, but also found it somewhat boring. His thoughts turned wistfully to Sion and he hoped his best friend would be back soon.
As it turned out, he wouldn’t have to wait much longer.
CHAPTER 34 -- Day 119 -- Kuborn 9, 15368 EBG
The war party was able to take down a cave of breath stealers. The snakes were two to three feet long and possessed a venom that gave them their name. It was only a small nest and Richter’s party dispatched it with no real difficulty, but he received some unpleasant news during the fight. He stunned the last remaining snake with Weak Lightning Bolt. Then he grabbed it right behind its head and began to cast Tame, but he received a prompt first.
At your current rank, you may only tame one animal at a time. Once an animal is completely under your control, you may start to tame another. Do you wish to break your control of the Shale Adder to begin taming the Breath Stealer? Yes or No?
Richter quickly broke off his incantation and selected ‘No’ on the notification window. It was a bit irritating that he was limited to gaining control over only one animal at a time, but it just drove him to have a better understanding of his Blood magic. The snake started spitting and trying to reach him to bite. Almost absent-mindedly, he grabbed the snake’s tail in his other hand and stretched it out. Alma latched onto its body and drained it to death. All of the snake’s bodies were gathered, and they started back to the village.
That afternoon, Richter was helping to put the finishing touches on the village’s new workshop when a guard started running towards him.
“Lord Richter,” the guard wheezed.
“Catch your breath,” Richter replied. Still need to work on those calisthenics, he thought.
“Thank you, my lord.” The guard took several deep breaths and wiped his brow, then he said, “Something is happening by the Quickening. One of the silver things is… acting strange.”
Richter almost asked him what “strange” meant, but then realized that if the man had a better word, he probably would have used it. So instead of pursuing a useless line of questioning, something that he hated doing, he just told Roswan he would be back soon. Then the chaos seed took off running to the meadow to see what had the guard so worked up. When he was finally beneath the Quickening, he said, “Huh. That is strange.”
There were over thirty meidons present now, and one of them was phasing in and out of existence. The shell would fade to transparency, then disappear completely, before snapping back to full solidity. When the meidon was gone, Richter saw what looked like a pillar of yellow stone. The surface was irregular like a stick of rock candy, with faint sparkles in its granular surface.
The disappearances started happening faster and the periods of disappearance lasted longer until, finally, the shell did not come back. A stiff breeze began to blow. Richter squinted while his short hair was tossed about. The wind grew stronger, but also more focused until it was only swirling around the yellow pillar. Particles began to fall off of the column, scoured from the surface by the miniature tornado and were swept away. Soon the pillar was gone, and in its place was a kneeling figure with his palms cupped before him. A small humanoid stood in his hands.
“Sion!” Richter called out excitedly. He started running forward.
The pixie flew up from his perch in the sprite’s hands and shouted his rebirth to The Land, arms extended out. Sion stood as well and mirrored his meitu’meidon, extending to full height. The sprite threw his head back and took a deep breath in… or at least that was what it looked like he tried to do. What actually happened was that Sion fell over with a strangled cry.
“Sion!” Richter shouted again, this time in panic.
The sprite’s face started turning red and he rolled around on the ground, tearing at his armor. Richter’s heart started beating wildly in concern. Had this union turned his best friend into some sort of insane monster? Was Sion having some sort of horrible reaction to the meidon? Did something awful happen because the union was with a celestial being?
Richter was stopped from any other concerned thoughts by his Companion making eye contact and in a strangled voice saying, “Why are you just standing there? Help me get this fucking armor off! It’s too TIGHT!”
Richter started laughing as hard as he could. Sion was still Sion! The sprite stared at him with widened eyes and nostrils flared, promising violent retribution for Richter’s inaction. The chaos seed walked over, still chuckling, while Sion tried to dig his fingers into the knots that held his armor in place. Richter tried to help as well, but between the tension on the straps and the sprite’s antics, it was an impossible task. Richter made a command decision and tackled his friend. Once Sion was relatively immobilized, he drew his +3 dagger and cut through the side straps holding his Companion’s chest plate in place.
The blade cut through the ties easily, so easily in fact that the white dagger cut through Sion’s skin as well. The wound was superficial, but Sion still squawked in protest. He was finally able to take a deep breath, though, and his complaints morphed into a bout of coughing.
“Don’t complain, ya big baby,” Richter said. He didn’t know how Sion’s armor had become a shrinky dink, but he didn’t really care. The band was back together! Richter hadn’t realized how much he relied on his Companion until the sprite was gone for a week. He was about to cast Weak Slow Heal when he was struck in the back of the head by a blast of electrical energy.
“Gahhh!” Richter exclaimed. The damage done to him was minimal, but even a weak sucker punch was still a sucker punch. Before he could recover, what felt like a giant moth with sharp wings started attacking his face. He was about to swat at it as hard as he could when Sion called out, “Sapir! Stop!”
The attack ceased, and Richter stood there confused as to what had just happened. He wiped dripping blood from his forehead, clearing the bit that had fallen into his eyes. In his peripheral vision, he saw a golden glow and then his wound healed. Alma settled onto his shoulders. He turned his head to look at her.
*A lot of help you were,* he thought in irritation. *Did that fucking pixie attack me?*
The dragonling blew a short gust of air into his face, *You’re fine, master. No one likes a complainer, and yes, the pixie attacked after you cut his meitu’meidon.* It was clear from her tone that his familiar thought the attack was all his fault.
Richter rolled his eyes, but breathed out slowly, letting his irritation go. She was probably right. He looked over at Sion. His friend was still sitting on the ground and was talking quietly to his pixie. The flyer’s head was hanging, and he looked ashamed. Richter walked over and offered the knife that was still in his hand. Sion started cutting the rest of his armor free. When the greaves came off, he let loose an intense sigh of relief that only a man would understand. Sion started speaking to him once the armor was off.
“I am sorry about that, Richter. Sapir was just trying to protect me. He did not understand that you were only trying to help. I have spoken with him, and he promises…”
Whatever else Sion was going to say was lost as the two Companions looked at each other in shock. Richter had helped his friend to his feet, and they realized something at the same time. Sion had always been a solid three and a half feet tall, and his head was only a bit higher than Richter’s waist. Now, however, the sprite’s eyes were even with his chest. If Richter had to guess, he would say his friend was
closer to four and a half feet tall now! They both started talking at once.
“Are you bigger?”
“Did you shrink?”
“What happened!”
“You tell me.”
“How long have I been gone?”
“Three months?”
“You cannot be serious!”
“I’m not,” Richter said with a smile, “It’s only been a week.”
“… … … fuck you.”
“Welcome back!”
The two friends realized they were babbling at the same time and stopped speaking. They stared at each other for a moment, then just started laughing. Richter examined his Companion, while Sion examined himself. The mystery of the shrinking armor was solved. The armor was the same size; it was just that his friend had gotten bigger.
“Well, you were overdue for a growth spurt I guess,” Richter said with a cocky smile.
“That is so funny,” Sion responded. “Your girlfriend was just telling me you were overdue for some growth too.”
Richter’s mouth wrinkled into a smirk. Being able to mock his best friend and be mocked in turn really tugged at his heart, “I missed you, bud.”
Sion smiled broadly, “Love you too, man.”
“Alright! Enough mushy shit! Let’s figure out what happened.” Richter accessed Sion’s status page. At the same time, Sion looked up at the limbs of the tree and said, “I can still hear the song…”
Before Richter’s eyes, his Companion changed again. It was not nearly as dramatic as growing an entire foot, but the bonuses from the Song of Joy and Remembrance still caused a noticeable effect. The sprite’s facial features grew more refined and pleasing to look at. His gaze also sharpened somewhat as he looked at Richter. There were no other outward changes from the +5 to Luck or the +5 to Intelligence, but it was still fascinating to behold. He checked his friend’s status page to see exactly how far the sprite had progressed.
