Ronke was 5.7ft tall, clearly dwarfed by her drakon and grakon team mates. She squinted, peeking into the distance like she just wasn"t seeing enough. Her milky white gown fluttered noiselessly at her feet, revealing the gladiator sandals she had on. Of the three of them, she looked more relaxed but with a slight air of danger hovering about her.
"What do you mean? The dog has ironspiked tail, Ronke. Or are your Familiar senses s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with you again?" Aeneas asked, scratching his chin.
"No, Iron spike tailed dogs do NOT have a reddened tail. That"s heat the tail is giving off. That a new specie by creation order, it can never be accepted in a pack of Iron spike tailed dogs talkless of it being the alpha." Ronke pointed out.
"HEY, RONKE, do that your Familiar thingy, and get those dogs off me, girl." Denre bellowed, pointing to the fast approaching dogs.
"I don"t take orders from you, BOY. Last time I checked, I am the squad captain, BOY." Ronke retorted, emphasizing on BOY. Over time, at the Center for forest reserve CFR, a commission which was set up to control and tame the wild dragons, Ronke and her other Familiars who were accepted at the center had had to put up with a lot of racial discrimination.
Even as a squad captain, she had to wince under the words of tribalistic team mates, always looking inferior at her just because she was a Familiar. An air Familiar at that.
"FINE! I do it." Denre bellowed back. "Boy," he patted the Dragon"s frontal limb that was close to him. "Take a ground trip among those dogs."
The Dragon rose, standing only in its hind limbs, a hulking behemoth. With a flap of its red, bone edged wings, it lifted up towards the dog pack.
"No. No. No No No No" Bayo refused, turning to watch the oncoming ma.s.sacre. For the time he had spent with the pack, he had grown accustomed to each of them. And so, losing even one meant something to him.
After all, the dogs had come here, answering his initial howl.
d.a.m.n Him... why did he have to howl?
He had to do something.
The red boned dragon suddenly crashed down, falling heavily just before the advancing pack. Scrambling to a halt, the dogs barked fearlessly as if trying to evaluate the threat level of the bulk of flesh before them.
The dragon remained still, unmoving for several seconds. A dog barked, another answered and together, the pack began advancing, moving around the large fallen dragon.
Bayo sighed mentally, heaving in relief. He had expected to see a ma.s.sacre but...
"No, no,no,no,no,no..." Bayo panicked.
With a loud roar, the dragon suddenly belched, flames roasting the closest dogs to its mouth. It twisted its form, rolling about in the dust as its sharp extended bones on the wings, claws and tails began scything the pack.
"Look at that. The tail is beginning to glow." Ronke said, pointing at Denre who grabbed the dog by its tail and slammed it hard.
"Uh... the soul sensor is..." Aeneas replied, looking at a rounded object on his right palm.
"Is what?" The Familiar turned back.
"The sensor is working... and it"s pointing the soul essence of the Lightning Fist Chimp..."
"It"s alive?" Ronke gasped, eyes widened.
"I don"t know. It"s only detecting faint traces coming from t-that dog?" Aeneas gasped, looking at the Latent Stealth Dog that lay on the ground dazed.
"Which dog?" Ronke looked at the horizon where the dragon was still slaughtering the dogs en ma.s.se.
"The one with Denre. I can"t believe it. How"s this possible?" Aeneas muttered.
"There"s more than meets the eyes about that dog. Calibrate the soul sensor to ignore the chimp"s bloodline and focus on that dog. Denre, you need to see this." Ronke said, jogging over to him.
"And stop with the dog killing. That"s violating the protection decree of the forest reserve."
"What? No! My dragon needs to flex its muscle."
"On those dogs? Mindless killing?" Ronke frowned.
"There are not dragons. The decree does not apply to them." Denre retorted, splaying his palm.
"OFF WITH YOUR DRAGON, Denre. That"s an ORDER." Ronke screamed earning some grumbled noises from the grakon. Just then, Aeneas caught up, mouth open in wonder.
"Guys, you need to see this. The a.n.a.lysis about this creature is perplexing." Aeneas said.
The dragon finally rose itself from the ground, totally bathed in the life essence of a dozen dogs. It shook itself, grunting with a displeased look as it began walking back to its owner. At its feet, the surviving dogs of the pack turned about, fleeing with tails between their legs, their survival instincts coming to play.
"My soul bound is unhappy. All thanks to you, captain." Denre did a mock bow to Ronke. But the latter was hardly paying him attention. She was gazing intently at Aeneas palm, watching the coin like object, with mechanical like protractions click and retract, continuously.
"This Dog has two souls. Come see, Denre." Aeneas beckoned.
Denre rolled his eyes. "Oh, right I have two souls too."
"Shut it. You have a soul bound dragon. That"s different. This one clearly has a subsidiary soul. And you and I know it"s practically impossible for beasts to soul bound with each other. And it contains faint traces of the Lightning Fist Chimp we looking for." Ronke replied instantly gaining the focus of the grakon.
"Wow. It one unusual dog." Denre muttered, looking at the knocked out dog on the ground.
"So if the subsidiary soul is not a soul bound beast. Then it has to be ..." Aeneas spoke thoughtfully.
"... A soul genie?" Ronke gasped.
"That unheard of. Never have we come across a beast, a Common Type beast at that matter with a soul genie." Denre added.
"Not exactly Common Type. It seems this creature is breaking into Mythic Type, based on the abilities the soul sensor is detecting. If only we could soul gaze, then we would know what exact abilities we looking at." Aeneas put in.
Sighing, Ronke knelt on a knee, observing the dog closer.
"So you have a soul genie, eh! What would you need a soul genie for, alpha?" She whispered, her white skin seeming brighter.
"Let"s even ignore that soul genie. It defeated the Lightning Fist Chimp. h.e.l.lo? A Common Type beast flooring a Rare Type? "Aeneas said.
At this, Denre smacked Aeneas"s shoulder. "You drakons are so dull. The chimp had already being poisoned, remember."
Aeneas winced now. He lowered the hand with the soul sensor and moved closer to the dog.
"That doesn"t even matter. If the sensor detected traces of its essence within this dog. That means it must have eaten the carca.s.s. And it"s still alive? The energy from the rare type beast should have over loaded his soul already. Infact, this dog should have being dead along Ago." Aeneas gritted his teeth, worry lines all over his drakonian face.
"The Center must hear this. The search is over. We go back to Drago." Ronke decided, rising up.
"Denre scratched his rough hairs on his head. Behind him, the Ragore Dragon s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably, looking about.
"But if we go back with our findings, the Adze Circle would demand possession of the dog."
"Those d.a.m.ned Vampires. We are not giving full report. Full report goes to the Center on confidential premise." Ronke said, frowning once more. The puzzle had finally being solved but no way were there letting this discovery go to foreign realms.
"This stuff is politically entwined, oh." Aeneas warned.
"d.a.m.n Politics. d.a.m.n all of them for interfering with the Center." Ronke gritted her teeth.
Meanwhile, Bayo made to move but held back. He had regained consciousness over the minutes, and thanks to Yasmin, he hadn"t reached slow decline after that horrific slam.
The pack...
Bayo"s heart thumped furiously. He remembered the ma.s.sacre of the dragon. No...
Those dogs didn"t deserve to just die. No, not at all.
He had to avenge them. He had to do something. He was the alpha and he had to make that move now.
"It"s pointless, Bayo. With your low energy, it is impossible for you to even s.h.i.+ft form. Attempting that will only push you to soul decline." Yasmin spoke, almost silently.
"So what do I just do? Just stay here and play dead?"
"I do not know. Even if you relinquish control to me, there is very little I can do. The slightest strain on your soul will tend it apart." Yasmin put in, coldly.
"No, no, no, Yasmin. You said my soul is unique. There has to be something. I"m supposed to not be defined by normal. Can you convert that absorption energy for me again?"
"I told you, the slightest strain of your mind will tear you apart."
"No. No...." Bayo panicked, mentally.
"My soul is unique. I believe it. I defy standards. I am not bound by normal circ.u.mstances. My soul... oh G.o.d... or G.o.ds... I freaking need a miracle."
A cold chill descended on everyone suddenly. Even the air became stale as a huge shadow drifted across the vegetation.
"Oh... Not Now!" Ronke muttered, looking up.