Chương 37: Chapter 36 - A Bond Born from an Experience Shared

Eli leaned forward in excitement, the wyvern with her uncanny intelligence leaned forward as well with a small trill followed by a chirp. Mira smiled at the little creature, " Yes, this means you too little one. I'll teach you both skills as well, just pay attention." Eli looked down in confusion as the lizard let out a warbling trill, Mira nodded." Yes, I can understand you, and sorry but no Mr. Mercer can not, at least not yet." She leaned in and spoke directly to the creature, " No.

That's a secret sorry, and yes unfortunately some of us two-legs are a little slow like that, don't worry we're about to fix the problem." She leaned back raising a brow at Eli's bewildered expression, " Weren't you the one telling me that she is a ferocious little dragon? Come now Mr. Mercer, I did hear Mr. Cooper tell you that they are wise and intelligent beings. So are their cousins, even the young ones like the little lady here."

The little wyvern seemed to preen at Mira's response, which earned a chuckle from her, " Yes, yes little one."" Now Mr. Mercer, how would you like to speak with your friend here? One of those more powerful skills you can learn is a bond skill, another form of the tethers that my Lady mentioned last night. There are some things you should know before we proceed, as always we start with the whip.""

Creating more than one of these bonds is highly inadvisable, so taking care in choosing your companion is recommended, but I'll discuss a few reasons in a minute why this should be a smart match."" Secondly, after a period of time this bond is permanent, or rather the cost of removing it is so prohibitive that you will not desire to."" Third, you will share among other things any refined essence, also labeled as experience, from the system.

This is a double edged blade, and for the whip portion this means the threshold and level for each of your highest classes will be shared."" You can freely gain skill levels, and secondary or tertiary classes can rise or stall, but any experience earned in battle will be split evenly, and neither one of you may evolve to the next tier if the other is also not prepared to do so as well." She nodded at the wyvern, " Honestly little one the last one would normally be a warning for you.

Two-legs can level slowly sometimes, and if anything I would be worried your partner would be holding you back. Trust your Auntie though, you picked a good one." Eli rolled his eyes, he had a hard time believing he would hold the wyvern back, but what did he know about the careers prospects of talking lizards? What kind of jobs could they even do? It's not like she could slap on a teeny little hat and monocle and become some kind of private investigator. I mean it would definitely be adorable though.

Mira looked at him with a smirk, " What? I'm not going to lie to her, there are plenty of very dim witted people out there, she needs to be prepared for this." Eli laughed and replied with a smirk of his own, " Fine point taken, so what's our potato looking like?" Mira huffed and continued, " Don't make fun of the potato analogy, go feed one to Julius later, the poor thing will follow you around for the next three days, he's always desperate for them.""

For the positives, to reiterate the third problem, congratulations you will share progress! The other half of this equation is that if one of you is struggling you will have some help to figure it out, and some free experience to eke out that last level.""

Second, it will give you a mental connection, Mr Mercer you will be able to understand her and communicate clearly to her instead of using hand gestures, and the little one will have a two-leg who understands her and can help her communicate with the rest of the humanoids she may meet." Mira belted out a laugh as the wyvern chirped, " Yes this means you'll be able to ask for belly rubs and snacks. They're called inkfruit." Another series of chirps, " No, only Mr Mercer.

It is possible, but only once you are big and strong." A short trill, " Well you better be nice then if you want him to translate for you. Don't worry I suspect he is the type to bring you all the snacks you want." She looked back at Eli with an amused look, " Lastly as you grow together both in power and in life you will be able to compliment each. This is the one that's a little harder to quantify, bonds can grow in all sorts of interesting ways."" Mr.

Mercer for now you will have a cute friend, but in time a powerful one, in time she will be able to help you in battle, and depending on both your choices with other things. For you little one, for now you will have a friend and a translator, and most especially one with opposable thumbs. He'll be able to peel plenty of inkfruit for you, get those pesky itches when you molt, and help you learn more about the world together. In time little one you will get big, very big."

Two chirps and a trill, " All right maybe not that big, but when you get big Mr. Mercer will most likely stay about the same size, one day you will need someone to go through a door you're too big for, or open something that your claws will shred, trust me you will appreciate this in time. So what do you think?" Eli was on the edge of his seat with excitement, hell yeah teeny dragon time!" I'm game, where do I sign?" Mira laughed, " That's what I thought, what about you little one?"

A trill, two chirps, and another trill, " Sure, you are lucky I can translate, your cousins usually have to figure this out on their own. The little one would like you to promise that if she agrees she will get belly rubs and inkpeel fruit whenever she desires." Eli laughed, " No problem little lady, I'll stuff my pack full if you want as long as you promise to eat the rest of your dinner so you can grow big and strong." A snuffling trill, Mira rolled her eyes, " She reluctantly agrees. I will warn you Mr.

Mercer, while the little one will grow quickly, she is still a child, please be patient with her. And you little one, please remember my secret. I trust Mr Mercer and Lady Astra, but I would rather not have to explain to others why I can understand you." A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Mira nodded at the chirp she received in reply before she clapped her hands and stood up, dropping the privacy dome and waving down Astra.

Eli stood, setting the little wyvern on the ground at his feet, as Astra wandered over Mira asked, " How long until we break camp my Lady?" Astra glanced around the camp before turning back, " About 20 or 30 minutes. Why? Did you need something?" Mira smiled, " Not from you at least my Lady, would you like to observe a first tier bonding ritual?" Astra beamed before looking down at the little wyvern, " Would I ever! Is this the lucky little lady, are you excited?"

She giggled as the wyvern did little tippy taps and chirped back up at her, " I bet you are! I'm so sorry I can't understand you right now, once you are done you have to promise to make this big oaf tell me all about it!" She slapped Eli on the shoulder with the back of a heavy gauntletted hand as the little wyvern chittered away at her. Eli rolled his eyes with a smile, " Hold your horses Astra, we'll get there."

Astra huffed and planted her fists on her hips in mock outrage, " You better pick up a [Drawing] or [Painting] if you are going to keep talking about all these animals I've never heard of. If you keep talking about enormous dogs that everyone talks about eating but no one actually eats you will keep filling my head with all these silly thoughts and I will not stand for it!" Eli rolled his eyes with a smile, and the wyvern joined in with Astra chirping away at him, maybe this isn't a good idea.

He laughed at the two ladies chattering away at him, one so big and one so small. Nah this is gonna be a great idea.

Mira was able to scratch an arcane circular pattern in the rock face easily enough with her belt knife over the course of the next fifteen minutes. Eli did his best to copy the image into the small notebook, and after realizing that some of the symbols matched those on her armor he flipped to the back to start a glossary of all the different symbols he could discern.

Once she was done Mira left to pick up some supplies, and Eli took the time to take some rubbings of the symbols that he wasn't confident that replicated correctly. The wyvern was jubilant when Mira returned with a handful of inkfruit, only to make sad little chirps when she explained that they were not food but fuel for the ritual, a symbolic offering of one of targets greatest desires to cement the connection. Ok sounds serious, looks like I'm signing up to cart around a lifetime supply of the things.

Mira carefully filled in with the etching with the juice from the fruits, piled the rest in the center, and she interrupted the apparently riveting conversation Astra and the little beastie were busy having. She had the creature place one paw on one end of the circle, and Eli his hand on another opposite, she then told them to focus on their intent to bond, especially to be able to speak with one another. Is it just me or does this feel too simple?

Eli focused on his intent and as the moments ticked by he was about to ask Mira if they were doing something wrong when he heard a small chime in the back of his mind. Ding [Entity Null and Entity Elias Mercer both wish to establish a bond of companionship.] [Alert! Bonds adjudicated by the System are binding. Creating this bond will require both entities to agree to a mutual essence sharing contract. To disengage this bond will require the dissolution of the essence tether which may rebound on both entities, possibly inflicting serious harm on both entities depending on the maturity of the tether.] Ding [Do you wish to establish this Bond?] [Alert! Bonds adjudicated by the System are binding.] Eli sent his intent to the System, Hell yeah I do teeny dragon time!

Eli could feel the same presence from last night descend, ripple over the circle in between them, touch her paw, his hand, and then with a flash all the dark juice and pulp sublimated into a soft white mist. Eli could feel a presence reach out from the mist and brush against his core forming a tether that stretched to the center of the mist where he could feel it joining seamlessly into another tether leading to the wyvern.

As the connection completed Elias was subjected to a surreal experience, just as he experienced the sensation of a new limb he had simultaneously used his whole life when he gained his vision skill, he felt a similar sensation as if it was turned up to eleven.

In a flash he could feel every part of the creature as if her body was his own, as if he reached up to itch his face he would feel the scrape of claws on scales, and his vision twinned, both his normal vision gazing down at her, and her vision looking up at a towering creature smiling down at her as a haze of mana dissipated between them. For a moment both of them ceased to be two separate entities and were instead a single gestalt entity both human and wyvern at the same time.

The second hand ticked past and the moment ended as the sensation faded, but even as their minds separated back into their original bodies Eli and the wyvern knew each other in a vastly deeper and intimate manner than either had ever experienced in their short lives.

Eli experienced a whirling series of images, of warm comfortable bedding nestled deep in the trunk of a hollowed out tree, dozing peacefully in a pile of gently snoring siblings, perking up a snout to the sky at a series of familiar challenging shrieks in the sky above. Flash. A sudden booming sound roared around him as the hollowed trunk exploded into a painful searing tornado of splinters, blood, tearing claws, and the terrified shrieks of his siblings. Flash.

Eli was thrown through air by a fountain of gore are three colossal beasts battered each other in the sky, his tiny frail form was not able to keep up with violent riot of scales, feathers, fangs, and talons, he only knew there was no way he would survive the dismembered remains of his siblings raining down from sky all around proved that. Flash. Fleeing in terror, roars from the sky, up top is not safe, massive shapes moving below, down is not safe, forward only forward. Flash.

Hungry, tired, alone, cool breeze, water? Water. So hungry, fruit? Fruit. Flash. So alone, it's been so long, no siblings, no nest, only danger. The panic had finally begun to recede from Eli's mind, but he had been alone for so long. It was so cold without his brothers and sisters. At least the fruit was good. A branch snapped, what is that? I've never seen anything on two legs instead of four before. Danger? Careful. Huh, not trying to eat me for once at least. Still better to leave. Flash.

Eli followed a familiar scent to perch in a branch and look down at the fruit bringer. A quiet voice echoed up to Eli, " Looks like I have a stalker." Yessssss the fruit bringer provides again, maybe two-legs are a good thing. The voice again, " Told you I would have a couple more next time. Good night little one, enjoy your snack." Sure thing fruit bringer, you're good with promises. Eli swooped down with glee to enjoy the delicious purple things, they were still the best thing he had eaten since he fled his nest.

He heard a soft snoring noise in the dark, and it sounded so much like home that his heart ached, he climbed up onto the warm bedding next to the soothing noise and laid down. He was so tired, maybe it would be ok to stay here. Just for a moment.

Eli opened his eyes and he knew her story and as he looked down at his new friend he knew that she had seen his own memories. She had seen his loss as he was also torn away from everything he knew in a whirlwind of furious destruction. As their minds separated, a tiny little piece stayed behind, a little mote in the back of his mind radiating sorry, fear, and loneliness, and also a radiant warm hope at the possibility of a kindred spirit.

A warm wetness on his hand caused him to lift his hand to his face and Eli realized he was crying as he felt the warm tears pouring down his face. Eli knelt and opened his arms, rasping out with a voice rough from sorrow." I'm so sorry for you little one, come here, you'll never be alone again." As she crawled into his arms, Eli lifted her up hugging her tight stroking her spine trying to sooth away the sorrow and fear from that little mote in his mind.

He could feel a small raspy tongue lap up a few of his tears and a single tiny paw pat his chest, and a small warm feminine voice echoed out in the back of his mind. It's ok fruit bringer, I'll make sure you are never alone too.