Irregular - Chapter 21

—- Crimson POV —–

I run, I run very fast, new friend wants to go somewhere, wants to go fast, So I run fast. Feels strange, friend looks like other two legs, feels different. Strong, no pointy things or shiny things to fight. Still defeat me, new friend strong. Drank some of his blood, now new friend feels strange. I feel his feel. It confusing, I understand new friend. He makes sounds, I don’t understand the sounds, but I know what he wants.

I get stronger, I bind with new friend, I get stronger. Give blood to new friend, drink his, even stronger. Now never tired, like new friend, want to fight, want to hunt. Hunt together with new friend, I stronger with new friend. Never had friend, others see me different. Color different, treated different, not one of pack, they think I not strong hunter. Now I stronger than even alpha! Maybe…

With new friend stronger than pack, new friend my pack? New friend alpha? New friend stronger than alpha that make me leave pack.

Prrrrrrrr, new friend do the scratchy thing, I like scratchy thing, feel good. I scratchy friend? Maybe friend not like scratchy, should try scratchy?

Friend wants to stop, I stop. Friend jumps of back, looks around, he take shiny. Shiny shines even shinier! Pretty shiny, not pointy shiny, this shiny no hurt. I like shiny shiny.

Friend look at shiny then look at forest, good time for scratchy? I scratchy friend!

—— Three POV ——

They had been running for almost three days now, they should be getting close. It was time to check the crystal Vyria had given him to make sure he was going in the right direction.

Three jumped of Crimsons back, he took out the crystal he had gotten from Vyria, it had a peculiar shape, it was flat and had eight sides. A glow would arrive from one of eight points that was closest to the direction he needed to go.

He focused on the crystal turning it slightly to pinpoint the right direction. Something sharp prodded him behind his ear, he froze at the sensation. He felt through his newly acquired bond that Crimson was trying something, he turned around and looked at her. Crimson’s ears drooped, he felt the disappointment through the bond. He walked towards her, lifted her paw and scratched himself with her claw behind his ear.

Her ears shot back up, tail wagging fiercely, knocking up snow. Three was pretty sure that the force of that wag had put a crack in the tree over there. He watched as Crimson used the claw to scratch him behind the ear. He grinned as he suddenly understood what she had wanted to do, she wanted to give him an ear scratch like he had given her. Most people would feel apprehensive about letting a two and a half meter tall, five meter long, creature put a claw to their head. Especially seeing as the claw was the size of his head in and of itself. He felt safe however, he felt more comfortable around the Jurgor than he had in a long time.

Was he more comfortable around the Jurgor than he was around his own group? He honestly wasn’t sure. The Jurgor wanted nothing, needed nothing other than his companionship, he was sure that even if he gave her no ear scratches she would still follow him. Not that he would stop, he rather liked giving her ear scratches. The way she purred and her tail wagged when he did so struck a cord in his heart.

Although he supposed it would strike fear into the hearts of most others, A Jurgor was a fearsome monster after all. Not his Jurgor though, He scratched her behind the ear again, ears perking up and tail wagging. He grinned, she was like an overly large dog, except cuter. He started using both hands, scratching behind both her ears.

Crimson’s tail wagged hard enough that it started uprooting the earth, she flopped down on her back and exposed her stomach. He started scratching the scales, jumping on her stomach so he could go at the petting with more force.

Scratch, scratch,scratch! He started scratching every scale he could reach, Crimson purring, the low rumbling sound sending vibrations through her body. Her skin practically rippled from the sound. He started laughing, more of a cackle than an actual laugh if he was being honest.

“What are you doing?” A voice interrupted his reverie.

He froze at the sound, heat running to his cheeks. He turned to see a young girl, her long gray hair falling in loose strands around her fur clothing. She had her head tilted and seemed confused by the scene before her. Three cleared his throat, “I was taming this fearsome Jurgor.”

“You were tickling her.” The girl stated.

“It’s a rigorous training techni-”

The girl interrupted, “Tickling”

“For taming fearso-”

“Tickling!” She stated again.

He looked at the child, pausing “You saw an illusion, fancy magic.”

“No i didn’t!”

“Yes you did, I am an extremely powerful mage.”

“LIES!” The girl yelled.

“It is obviously impossible to tickle a monster as fearsome as a Jurgor.” He told her confidently.

The girl pursed her lips, stomping over towards Crimson. She walked over to a monster more than five times her size. Crimson lowered her snout towards the girl, staring at her in curiosity. The girl curled her fingers and scratched the Jurgor behind the ears. When Crimson purred in response the girl giggled and snuggled up to her, scratching her behind the ears.

“Good monster, nice monster!” The girl exclaimed.

“What in the blazes is going on!” A deep voice roared from further in the forest.

A man stepped out into the clearing where the girl had come from, wearing fur clothing similar to the girls. He had short graying hair and a short cut beard to match it. His eyes were glaring and his face torn in rage as he watched the girl play with the monster.

“Vila! Step away from the monster!” The man ordered, drawing a large axe.

Three stepped between him and Crimson glaring at the man.

“Don’t wanna! She’s soft! Fluffy!” The girl yelled back.

“It is dangerous!” The man told her.

“Actually she is my companion, she will do no harm to the child.” Three told the man.

The man blinked, lowering his axe. “My apologies, I thought it was a wild Jurgor, The girl has a nasty habit of going out and playing with monsters. No amount of caution whatsoever, Vyria has been a terrible influence.”

“Well Crimson is harmless to those I consider friends. Vyria sent me over when she heard about your village being under attack, is it not dangerous to leave children wandering around when the village is under siege?”

The man spat, “Yea it would be, if they weren’t undead. Those rotten fleshbags only attack at night, most of the villagers are busy shoring up whatever amount of defenses they can. The children we leave to their own devices, they know the area and should be fine.” He then glared at Vila, “Most of them have a proper sense of danger.”

“Myself and Crimson have come to assist. Tell me more about these undead.”

The man nodded and motioned for Three to follow him. “My name is Firius, I’m the village chief for what that’s worth, not that people actually listen to me. The undead are more of an annoyance than an actual danger, I wouldn’t be worried if their numbers had not been steadily growing. Most are simply zombies and skeletons, all of them so far actually, never any higher than level five.”

He walked through the snow leading Three to the village, Vila had climbed ontop of Crimson’s back and the pair was following on his heels.

“The average level of a villager is between the twenty and the thirty, we live life out here in the wilderness because we enjoy the sense of danger, the struggle for survival and clawing out a place in the world with our own power. None of those nobles telling us what to do with our lives, freedom and a sense of adventure, that is what we have here. It makes the people tough, hardened. A few level five undead would barely pose a threat. That was until their numbers started becoming a problem.

Firius sighed, “Last night there had to have been around a thousand of the rotters. We have over eight hundred villagers that are combat capable, so it was no real threat. The problem being the numbers had nearly doubled from the night before. It’s been doubling almost since they started their attacks a week ago, my advisor noticed the pattern and advised we call for aid as soon as possible. You must be a capable adventurer for Vyria to send you over, knowing her she is probably mobilizing others to come as well.”

Three nodded at the explanation, “Do you know where the undead originate from?”

Firius shook his head, “We have sent scouts looking for whatever ruin or dank tomb they sprung up from but we have been unable to locate their position.”

The man stopped and smiled as he left the edge of the forest, they had been closer to the village then Three had realized. Before him lay a small village with sturdy wooden walls, a few watchtowers, people were milling around digging trenches and placing spikes and similar obstructive items in the fields surrounding the village. The villagers had a determined look on their face, but they did not seem as grim as Three had been expecting.

Firius swung his hand gesturing at the village. “Welcome to Snowhome, the village in the north!”