Lydis ran towards the cliff, Valfafer hot on her heels. When she reached the bottom Valfafer expected Lydis to stop and face him but she kept running. Dodging the spikes and sprinting up the cliff Lydis didn"t even slow down. She used her blade as a pick and scaled the cliff easily. Valfafer took some time to figure out what to do. He was a wolf so climbing was not his specialty, he had stopped running in order to watch as Lydis climbed it, and most importantly he was a bit intimidated. Shaking his head Valfafer retreated a bit to gain some running s.p.a.ce and charged, using his momentum to propel him up the cliff.Jumping off from the side of the spikes and climbing, Valfafer was excited. If only his pack could see him now they would be awed!
Seeing as Valfafer was distracted Lydis slipped into the hole she had dug out earlier. Valfafer pa.s.sed her hole shortly after. She peeked out the hole and saw him slow down and eventually stop, his claws bared and gripping into the earth. He was stuck. On the way down were countless spikes while above him loomed the cliff edge which had become steep and curved sharply, making reaching the top impossible for him.
Lydis stared in disbelief. This idiot dog was actually stuck! She watched as his hind legs shook from the strain of holding a difficult position. What intelligent Wolf Lord? What insanely strong opponent? All Lydis could see was a dumb dog about to die. Slowly she crept out of her hole, making her way up towards Valfafer.
Valfafer on the other hand was terrified. His body shook uncontrollably. Both of his front and hind legs hurt from holding him there. He slipped a little but his sheer willpower allowed him to stay rigid and not move. Above loomed an impossible cliff and below awaited a painful death. How stupid he had been to follow that human up the cliff! Then the though occurred to him, where was that human? Craning his neck to look below him he saw a small embodiment of death heading towards him. Slow yet steady, the blazing red hair of the human moved towards him. Valfafer began to shake even more now. Not out of soreness but fear.
"H-hey human, we can talk this out can"t we?" Valfafer"s tail was quivering beneath him, his ears flat against his head. Lydis scoffed at Valfafer.
"Who was it that said "escape is futile"?" She was close now. If she swung out with her blade then she would sc.r.a.pe the tendon of Valfafer"s back leg but, she decided not to. Climbing to the side Lydis approached Valfafer"s head. Once again he was snarling but it didn"t intimidate Lydis as much as at first since the situation was reversed. Lydis stabbed the earth with her blade and climbed on top of it, leaning against the cliff to keep her balance.
"Now, how should I kill you?" Her eyes gleamed with joy as countless plans flickered through her mind. To slowly make countless cuts until he let go, severing his head in one swing, making him feel the ultimate fear as she cut the soil around his claws bit by bit or to just watch as he struggled to hold on for as long as possible. The possibilities endless. Sensing his own death Valfafer made a last attempt to survive by striking a bet with Lydis.
"H-hey human…" Lydis stopped daydreaming and turned her head towards Valfafer.
"Got something to say dog? Are you going to beg for your life? Maybe ask me to spare you? Oh, will you ask me to save you?" Lydis"s ridiculing laugh almost made Valfafer snap at her but he stopped himself when a bit more of the dirt under his paws crumbled away causing him to slide a few inches.
"How about a bet?"
"Oh, the foolish dog wants to make a bet with me?" Lydis though about it for a bit and smiled. Amus.e.m.e.nt shining in her eyes. "Tell me more." Valfafer let out a breath of air and slid a few more inches because of it.
"If I survive this fall by jumping on my own, will you let me live?" Valfafer knew that the chances of living were slim to nothing but he still wanted a chance.
"Ha ha! Survive? And, what if you don"t?"
"Then I"ll die. Simple as that." Lydis was pleased. This is what she wanted! For him to beg, to try anything to live, to entertain her till his last breath.
"Okay but, if you live you"ll become my servant for the rest of your pathetic life." Behind Lydis the sun just started peeking past the large mountain covering it. From afar Lydis might"ve looked like some sort of angel or G.o.ddess with her red hair glowing in the sunlight but to Valfafer she looked like a demon from the darkest depths of h.e.l.l. "Deal?"
"Deal." With that Valfafer relaxed his muscles and pushed off from the cliff, making sure to distance himself from the spikes as far as possible. As he fell his red fur became lit up from the sun, a falling ball of flame. Lydis gripped the hilt of her blade and pulled it out slightly. She pushed down on and caused it to cut through the cliff"s soil with ease. She held on and slid down the slope with the blade slowing her descent.
As Valfafer hit the bottom of the cliff a loud thud quickly followed by a deafening crack gave Lydis the impression that Valfafer had died. A thick cloud of dust rose from Valfafer"s impact.
Lydis, who had just reached the bottom of the cliff wiped the dust away from her face. The earth beneath her cracked into a crater. She held her bald ready, even if the fall was huge she could never be so sure that Valfafer was completely dead.
Slowly the dust settled but Valfafer was gone!? Livid Lydis began to search the area for blood, footprints, anything that might say that he actually got up and left. As she continued to look around her a familiar disgusting voice sounded behind her.
"What"s up little wolf?" Lydis spun around and behind her was Katos. Live, in the flesh, Katos. Lydis wanted so much to sock him in the face and punch his puffed up smile off his face but she knew better. He always appeared for a reason.
"Now what. Why have you come?" Clearly agitated Lydis didn"t really care that she was being rude. He was wasting her time to find Valfafer.
"Me? Nothing much. I just happened to overhear your little bet with the Wolf Lord." Lydis had a bad feeling about his words, when he mentioned "Wolf Lord" a shiver went down her spine.
"And?" Katos smiled.
"I though it would be funny if he lived so I waited until he jumped and do you know what? He lived! I though he was going to die instantly but guess I was wrong. So, I gave him a little help." Lydis was on guard. She kept low to the ground, wary of any overhead attacks. "No no. Not the healing kind. I suck at those things. What I mean is on your wrist." Katos point to her hand. Lydis brushed the dirt away and saw a black tattooed circle circling her wrist. In the middle of the circle was a red wolf head with a sun behind it.
"What is this?" Katos shrugged. Lydis was about to snap at him but he held up his hand.
"You think I really won"t tell you?" Lydis didn"t even need to answer. One look at Lydis"s face and Katos got his answer. "Fine fine. Though you would"ve found out later I guess there"s no harm in telling you now. In this world there is a special cla.s.s of people who have the ability to form pacts or bonds with beasts. The number is dependent on the person and their Slyphir has to be compatible with each other. I can"t tell you much else besides that since that would be helping you too much." Katos walked towards Lydis. She backed away a bit but was stopped by black tendrils that rooted her feet in place. "Take this as a little reward. Until we meet again." Katos dropped a black bracelet into her hand, silver etchings carved into the side shone in the sun. And like that he disappeared.
Lydis stared at the bracelet in her hand and saw that inside of it there were words she couldn"t understand. They looked like faded out scribbles that had been rubbed away. Then she went on to look at her tattoo. Red vines threaded between each other surrounding the middle wolf. It could"ve looked cool if it wasn"t for the fact that Katos had given it to her.
Nearly all the dust had settled and in the center of the crater was a small ball of light red fur. Lydis approached it and used her foot to flip it around. The ball turned out to be Valfafer! He lazily opened his eyes and was shocked to see a huge human in front of him. Quivering in fear Valfafer froze on the spot. His past trauma of Lydis resurfacing.
Lydis inspected Valfafer"s new form and finally came to a conclusion. He looked like a Pomeranian dog breed, small and cute looking, his red fur the only remaining trait of a Blood Wolf. Instead of their fluffy curved tails Valfafer had a furry nub. And that he was completely, utterly, absolutely, useless.
"T-t-t-t…" Valfafer could barely speak. He didn"t know how he survived but now that he had, the conditions of his bet with the human came to mind. "am I your s-servant now?" Valfafer was a bit scared to know but at the same time a bit relieved. At least he was alive.
Lydis on the other hand was having a hard time processing this. The small Pomeranian looking dog couldn"t possibly be the Wolf Lord she was just fighting. The difference in size was just too big. And, she hated to admit it, but it looked somewhat cute. The nub of a tail wagging, tongue hanging from it"s mouth, and it"s small demeanor. He spoke words has he panted so it was slightly hard to make out the words but the voice remained the same, just toned down a bit. Sighing Lydis decided to just go with the flow.
"Yeah. I"m you master now so you have to obey me."
"Yes master!" Lydis eyed Valfafer"s tail suspiciously as it wagged furiously. His eyes seemed to shine with a pa.s.sion and an unbearable wholeheartedness. Lydis had to look away. Upon realizing that his tail was wagging Valfafer sat down to suppress it as it continued to shake uncontrollably under him. He had never felt as embarra.s.sed in his life than now. Valfafer continued to sulk when Lydis nudged him with her foot.
"Hey you moronic dog, we need to get going or else I"ll be in trouble."
"Y-yes." Lydis didn"t want to face a barrage of questions from Valeri so she quickly dipped in the moon pond, it"s water rapidly disappearing into the ground. After finishing her wash Lydis went to a nearby tree and dug at the base, recovering her paws from the Blood Wolf Variant.
As Valfafer bounced around her Lydis only felt tired, her burdens were only increasing.