Tales of Magician, Liger, Fox and Dragon [Private/Training]

“Should we go further?” The raven haired magician halted herself, turning back to look at her companions. A small fox with golden fur and a big black stripped liger, standing right behind Noir. The little fox, Kuzunoha, who was sitting on the liger’s neck raised her tiny hand excitedly, hinting she had no problem with going further into the mountain. Haku, the liger, also growled softly, letting his master knew that he too, was okay with what Noir had in mind. Both blushed and enjoying it very much when the magician pet them on their head softly, no one else could give them the best pet like that. “Alright, let’s keep going then, I’m not sure where this path will lead us actually.”

As they kept going into the depth of The Jade Dragon Mountain, the three of them could feel something unusual for several seconds. What they felt was something like an energy from something strong, although for Haku and Kuzunoha, it was more like their beast instincts enabled them to feel the presence of another beast. For Noir, it was more like in the form of energy and she felt this kind of energy before… but it was impossible… this kind of energy was emitted from that lava dungeon she went in months ago. Well, whatever it would be, Noir thought it wouldn’t be important at the moment since she will be spending time with her companions.

Not far from where the girl stood at the moment, there was a sound of flowing water. It was the first time she heard it, perhaps there was a water source nearby… a massive one. Well, they did spend more time to explore the mountain compared to previous trip, so it was not a wonder to find something new residing at the mountain.  She had an idea though, it would be a good thing to see who will be more creative between the two of her companions. “Haku and Kuzunoha, both of you could hear the sound of that flowing water, right? Let’s do a race for both of you.” She explained as she kneeled down towards Haku and Kuzunoha. “The fastest to reach the water and most creative one will get this cured meat.” Both of her companion’s eyes sparkled as they saw their favorite snack, they loved it so much because it tasted really good although Noir only gave it to them for a special occasion only…although those occasions were random so they couldn’t guess when they could get that meat. “Ready?” She paused for a second before finishing her words, “Go.”

Like a flash of lightning, both of the beasts ran towards the water, seemed motivated enough to actually do the race even though Noir was half joking. Since she had to judge by herself, the magician prepared herself to run as well before finally setting of to see what Haku and Kuzunoha up to. The little fox was clever though, she comfortably used tree branches to swing herself around, but Haku was truly a hunter, he leaped from one ground to another and managed to move quickly despite of his body size. From that, Noir could see their weakness, stamina was always the problem with Kuzunoha, although it was understandable because of her small body. As for Haku, the girl thought he has to be able to control his own body a little more. Oh well, at least she knew which part to focus on later when they got to the training time.

WC: 588/2000

The moment the two beasts reached the water source, they were so excited to the point they didn’t notice they were running straight to the water. Noir on the other hand, was already stopping herself after she analyzed both of her companions and she heard a loud splash sound soon after. She ran towards the river and saw both Haku and Kuzunoha were in the water, trying their best to climb up to the riverbed. Couldn’t help herself, the magician laughed softly looking at how her companions dumbfounded by their own clumsiness.

Letting out a sigh, Noir sat down on the riverbed and slid her hand inside her leather bag, revealing the cured meat intended for the prize. “Come here both of you.” She called her companions as she sliced the cured meat before feeding it to both Haku and Kuzunoha. She was glad that they seemed overjoyed by their favorite snack, but little they knew it was only the opening to what she intended to do for them. “After this, let’s do some training together, okay? I think Kuzunoha should be focusing more on stamina and Haku should learn to control your body more.” She would pause herself before continuing, “But let’s have fun together, we’ve made it through a rough time after all.”

Thus begin their training in the mountain, they made their camp at the riverbed so they could gather water and fishes during the training period. The magician wanted to make a different kind of training at the moment, so she thought she could combine it with sources gathering so they would be more motivated. For a week, she made Haku to gather mushrooms and herbs in the depths of the mountain. But she would set a time limit so the beast could run as fast as he could but he needs to adjust how he control his body by suddenly forcing himself to stop to gather the mushrooms and herbs, either by leaping or using nearby tree to do things.

For a week as well, Kuzunoha was in charge of gathering fish at the river. This would be challenging for Kuzunoha as she had to gather enough fishes for three of them, including Haku who needed to eat a lot of fishes. At first, she wouldn’t be able to gather enough fishes and Noir would step into the river to help her so Haku could eat his shares happily. Well, Noir wouldn’t want Haku to get hungry in the middle of the night… However, as Kuzunoha got used to efficiently catch the fish quickly, she felt less tired than before too, thus increasing her stamina more. Noir was happy with how her companions were doing well during the training period, but the problem was… she had to create another kind of training plan for next week. Just gathering stuff wouldn’t be enough for them now that they were used to do it, so while waiting for the day to be over, Noir used the time to think about the training.

Alas, her thinking time would be interrupted by something she felt before, the one with the energy similar like she felt at the Gamigan’s dungeon. Not long after she felt it, she could feel violent wind roughly hitting her and she would immediately grip her staff of storm tightly before standing up. She would stab her staff into the ground and used it to hold herself steady from all the wind. When the being who gave off this energy finally revealed itself in front of the magician, she could only widen her eyes, couldn’t believe on what she was staring with her golden eyes. “No way…”

WC: 1199/2000

The creature who was standing in front of her was something that she could never imagined appearing again, at this place and at this moment. Noir remembered that Gamigan, the Djinn from that Asura Dungeon did say that the dragon would be gifted to her, that the Asura Dragon wanted to follow her. But she thought it was not real as it took quite a long time… She was proven wrong with the appearance of this familiar beast, the same deadly aura emitting from the beast… the same shape… but… there was something different about the beast.The magician wasn’t sure about the intention of the dragon at the moment though and it wouldn’t be good if the dragon had a bad intention.

She reached for her beast tamer bracelet, feeding it Magoi and letting the power within it to manifest. “What are your intention?” Noir asked the dragon, hoping to get an answer that she desired. But she was afraid… not because of the dragon, but more like what would happen if Haku and Kuzunoha went back to her. Both of them wouldn’t be able to defeat this dragon, not with their current power… and only Ilah knew what would happen if this dragon intended to destroy them… The golden eyed girl could feel the cold sensation tingling on her spine, she was worried.

“My creator… we… in your… care… protect…”

The young magician was glad she could get some words coming from the dragon and that he intended good although he was only capable to recite words one by one without a complete sentence. It was understandable though for a beast who was created solely to guard the gate towards his creator. In fact, she was alright with it and she was sure she could teach him some more words. She had the experience of teaching language to her companion and was pretty confident in it, the dragon was in the same state as Haku and Kuzunoha when she first taught them words.

The girl would step closer towards the dragon as she locked her eyes with 3 pairs of eyes that were staring at her as well, there was no fear shown in her face at all, all was painted there was only a warm affection. “I understand, I will be in your care as well.” She would slowly reach out her hand towards the dragon. Noir started to let her finger touch the dragon’s skin and gave it a gentle caress before stepping back so she could see the dragon’s head above her.

The time was right as she wanted to introduce both of her companion to their newest member, Haku and Kuzunoha arrived just in time and she could notice the wariness on their expression. They sensed the beast but they noticed that Noir wasn’t being defensive about the dragon, so they stayed on their place, wasn’t sure on what to do. “Haku, Kuzunoha. Meet your new friend, uhhh… I guess I haven’t asked you for your name. My name is Noir, the fox one is Kuzunoha and the liger is Haku.”

The three heads nodded at the same time before speaking one by one, the left head introduced himself as Boreas, the middle as Eagandor and Ifrit as the right head. “Creator… give… us…names.” They would say together in unison, telling Noir that it was Gamigan who gave them their names. “Noir… Haku… Kuzu…noha?” The dragon repeated, although wasn’t sure if they said it right.

Kuzunoha let out a cheerful voice, “Yup! You got it right!” She would climbed on Haku’s head before giving a thumb up towards the dragon as they stepped closer towards Noir and got into the range of the sound magic. “Nice meeting you again.” Haku spoke towards the dragon, although a bit nervous since the last time they met, it was totally not in a friendly situation. “I hope we can get along really soon, I will also teach you more words so we can speak comfortably soon but feel free to talk with Haku and Kuzunoha.” Noir would sat at the riverbank after taking off her shoes, slowly putting her feet into the cold water and enjoying it.

The dragon, curious on what Noir did, tried to lay down on his belly beside Noir. He would then reached out to the river with his large hand and touched the cold water with it. “Water… cold…” The dragon said and Noir smiled upon hearing that, despite of the vicious nature that she saw in the dungeon before, the dragon seemed more relaxed now and also filled with curiosity about the world. Once again, it was understandable. His whole world was only around that dungeon from before and now he was free to explore another kind of world. Noir thought she could show her new companion to a lot of new things too. “Would you mind if I give you another name? A single name as a symbol for the three of you.”

When the dragon nodded to her, Noir was delighted. She would still use their real name from time to time, but for some time, it would be easier to call them with one name. “Vritra. Do you like it?” She took the name from this dragon character she once read in this book, a dauntless dragon with a warm heart and she thought it would suit the dragon a lot.

“Name… we… like. Vritra…” The dragon nodded again, approving the name happily as he brought his right head, the one closest to Noir and carefully nuzzle her. Glad that the dragon liked the name, the magician gently caressed Ifrit’s head and laid her back down on the grass after that. As Haku took the place beside Noir to lay down as well, Noir would begin to say, “Well, let’s do like 3 more days of training. While Haku and Kuzunoha definitely have to do the same thing although with a larger amount… Vitra will learn some more words with me for the time being before we go back to the city, okay?”

And 3 days passed quickly for 4 of them, filled with lots of training and also… lots of food. Although most of the food went to Vritra, basically because of the size of his body. But Noir was glad that Vritra learned a lot of words, although not every words can be taught, but at least the dragon would be capable to speak better than before. Haku and Kuzunoha also showed a nice growth to their current stat, especially with their stamina and body control. The magician felt proud of her companions because of that, there would be more exciting adventures awaiting in the future and with them, she knew she would enjoy it more.

WC: 2000+/2000

Magoi used: 10

Item & Skill used: