—Orion—

  I tried not to feel too much anger at Sally, because unlike most people, I wasn’t going to force an infant to learn. But the situation is dire enough without her obstinacy towards being helpful.

  She was doing so well, learning multiple commands in less than ten minutes, showing an aptitude towards learning that outpaced mine. At least when it came to learning new nguages.

  [Animal Companion] probably added to her apparent skill, but it didn’t change that she figured out what I wanted without making me repeat myself more than a couple of times. It’s what truly annoyed me about the situation, that despite her having the ability, she’s acting so-… So angry about it?

  I know that she's another species, and not a human—humans could usually just learn discipline through lessons. But it’s not reasonable—not now, when I need her to do a simple task for the sake of the both of us, for our survival.

  So her sudden change in mood led to her rejecting me and forcibly curling herself into a ball, as tight as she could. It was a response that may be tolerated by other drakes, but not humans. And while I wanted to spare her, leave these lessons and training for another time, she won’t get that chance unless she's forced to learn now. It’s—and it makes me feel nauseous saying his words—for her own good.

  If I had to look further into my emotions, I suppose that’s the other source of my turbulent feelings. She needs to learn this for her survival, but is being petty and childish about it.

  It did give me a small epiphany on what my choices were for what I did next, at least when it comes to training her to warn me about the snake’s movements.

  Sally’s screen of text wasn’t showing anything new about her hunger, but it hadn't taken very long for her to reach this state of starvation. It'd only taken a day or two without food to start losing chunks of her health at a severe rate. It won’t be much longer until it accelerates into debilitating starvation.

  I stood up, and made an attempt to walk over to Sally to check on her. But as soon as I got within a metre of her, her two pale-blue, slitted eyes locked onto me, and a squeaky growl emanated from her chest. The st time she made those sorts of noises, she tore open my finger—which only happened a few minutes ago.

  With a sigh I left her alone, knowing that it won't be long until she needs my help. Even with her reliance on me, our retionship has been degraded to this level of distrust. One step forward, two steps back, just like every other time I’ve tried I suppose.

  With Sally being an issue—it’ll be easier to deal with once her tantrum passes—I decided to refocus on coming up with the rest of the escape pn. There were a few ideas that I’ve come up with on how to do it.

  I moved towards a window of the house, that if I remembered correctly, should have a good view of the path to the exit. And once at the stone sts allowing a view of the outside world, I observed the possible paths I could take to the tree with our exit.

  Of the two-hundred metres of stone and water separating us from escape, the first fifty could be taken in any way I wanted to. Around the house—and its raised stone base—there was enough broken trees to create a variety of petrified ptforms to traverse the area.

  The next hundred were of winding stone paths that intersected and stayed close enough that they could be jumped between with retive ease.

  The st section was longer than it looked in the vision, the only path leading to the exit snaked with long curves through the trees. It would realistically be at least eighty metres of running, instead of the fifty direct—Father often referred to the simple distance on a map as, 'as the bird flies'—metres, as I saw in the vision.

  I could replicate the seven seconds it took to respond from the previous encounters I've had with it—both testing it with a stone and running here. But I should remove two for leniency—in case of something going wrong. So, for the first fifty metres I should have a window of five seconds, if I first distracted the creature around the other side of the house.

  So—given what I've learnt—the first strike will happen while I’m manoeuvrable on the stone, and that’ll be the most dangerous attack I'll have to dodge. From what I heard during its strikes as I ran to the first [Checkpoint]—the mound made of stone logs—and when I tested it with a stone earlier, it liked to ambush from the water.

  So the first attack will have the smallest window for warning and reacting.

  From when I fled to the mound after waking up the monster, Sally did warn me about what must’ve been a water ambush, the half-second between the start of her scream and its strike was just enough time for me to dodge. That’ll be the riskiest part of this whole pn.

  If it moves directly from my distraction out front and it also attacks without much intelligence to chase us, it should be easy to predict the direction it strikes. From what I’ve witnessed so far, that should be a given.

  The next stretch should be the easiest. It would take at least half a dozen seconds for the snake to untangle its mouth from the rocks, it seemed to have a habit of picking them up and cracking them under the force of its bite.

  Why it had such a strange habit doesn’t matter, it bought me some time. It’ll be ten seconds before it strikes next, assuming a few things, including that it’ll move to strike again immediately instead of slipping into the water again.

  That’ll make the direction it strikes from predictable, and I’ll only need to listen for it finishing its current rock to prepare to jump paths, and Sally’s warning to commit to it.

  The part I haven’t figured out yet, is how to survive the final stretch. Nowhere to flee or dodge to. It didn’t matter too much that the path was a couple metres wide when the snake could wrap its maw around it completely, judging by what remained of where it had struck. The path itself disappeared into the water completely for five metres. Its head must be massive.

  But eighty metres was too far to just sprint. I couldn’t do it in less than twelve seconds realistically, and it’ll be able to eat me easily without anywhere to dodge to. I could try to back-step, but I doubt I could change direction fast enough to get out of the five metre wide area it’ll destroy.

  So, dodging won’t be an option. But what other option is there?

  I stared at the final stretch of the problem until I realised that determination wasn’t going to give me the solution to my dilemma. I walked around the small room for a few minutes, hoping that something in the surroundings would've helped some ideas to form. With nowhere better to sit I decided to return to my spot opposite the sulking drake.

  Even if I was still annoyed at her, Sally still fascinated me—it was amazing that something as small and precious as she is could've saved me multiple times. She had just been walking around like she hadn’t stood before a massive monster to break its spell on me—twice. With the most genuine ugh I’ve let out in a long time I shuffled a bit closer to her, tension releasing from my muscles as the absurdity of the situation started to hit me.

  Sally turned towards me as I moved, and twisted her head in confusion, her neckce clinking against her scales as it swung from her making an expression that transcended species. She made me ugh again as she shook her head, before getting up and moving away from me again. Still mad at me for reasons that escaped me.

  I examined her, remembering that only a few nights ago, she'd been malnourished, beaten and so despondent that she refused to eat. Both her scales and attitude were much duller, and I had almost made the mistake of assuming that she was a mundane beast. She’d spent every moment rightfully terrified of the people that’d found her, every moment spent trying to flee.

  Now—after another round of healing—she was bright and vibrant, her scales shining from a non-existent ray of light. Her personality both feisty and aggressive when wronged, but also curious, exploring the world around her with an unending eagerness that couldn’t be sated.

  Even her anger was a good sign, and something that I was happy to see. Her willingness to show resistance and attack me when I do something she doesn’t like, that showed a change in her attitude towards me. A generous interpretation could be that she doesn’t feel as threatened by me anymore. Before, she would fear retaliation and whimper, but now she openly shows displeasure without fear.

  Yet—as I look at her again—I feel grateful for finding her, not only for the company free of human misgivings, but for yet again saving my life in ways that she shouldn’t be able to. Firstly, that it was her—I had concluded by now that it must've been Sally—who had removed the dagger.

  And now, by covering my eyes when I was [Dazed] by the mysterious light, and breaking its spell over me. But I don’t know if it was simply my incompetence that created the situations in which an infant had to save me, or if there’s something truly special about this little drakeling. Probably something between the two.

  Either way, I was grateful. Even if she was being difficult at the moment.

  Another gnce at Sally showed that she was still determinedly refusing to acknowledge me, her head facing the opposite direction of me at all times. It would be cute, if it wasn’t going to kill both of us.

  It reminded me of the Party, of the people who scowled at me after I made a mistake, or when I did something the ‘wrong way’. Even when it worked fine, or better than how they did it before.

  The priests who'd brought us together only cared because we could fight for them, and the only reason we were the ones summoned to do it was the undefinable will of their god. They didn’t pay us other than outfitting us, and that—for some reason—was acceptable? The only driving force that drove us to fight for them in the first pce was because the priests warned of a coming camity, and that seemed to be enough for them, and the rest of the World-Walkers.

  As far as I could tell, the Party was held together by some sort of story, a promise they all shared with each other. They all knew how it was meant to be, what they had to do, and when they’d get the rewards that'd been silently promised to them, like heirs with an elderly king.

  I never understood why they all craved ‘bigger numbers’ so badly, even when they tried to expin the powers that they'd gain from it. It never tempted me in the slightest. I would much rather just live in the woods, observing, cataloguing and caring for its species.

  Sally was something that nded between the two, the dream of simple forests and the complex nonsensical minds and feelings of people. An animal untouched by the weird habits of people, but with the thought patterns and emotions of something that pnned beyond its next meal.

  I picked up a chunk of stone next to me and began to rub and feel the ingrained texture of the wood in the rock with my fingers. The simple act of busying my fingers with a texture that felt interesting, helped me to deal with some of the realisations that followed my thoughts.

  Sally was alive in a way that rivalled humans, and I’d bound her to me for the rest of our lives.

  I doubted that she’d be like this if it weren’t for the [Soul Bond]—elevating or accelerating her mental growth. It must’ve been her that removed the dagger, and she also saved me from the snake’s light. There’s no possible way a normal infant would be that intelligent, so [Soul Bond] must’ve caused a massive increase in her [Intelligence]. It was probably a mirror to the physical mutations it caused me.

  It changed my body, therefore it'll mutate her mind?

  When I made the decision to activate [Animal Companion], I'd assumed that drakes were about as smart as dogs, intelligent enough for some tactics and capable of forming familial bonds. With that assumption, I thought that’s all I’d have done, made myself a dog-like companion.

  But she wasn't, and I’d bound her to me, for the rest of this life and whatever comes next. How will she react when she gets older, and realises what I inflicted on her?

  What if she remembers—or is told that I killed her parents—and kidnapped her before their bodies could even grow cold. That as she y starving because of the actions of my comrades and I? That I had forced her soul to be bounded to mine—for the rest of our lives, and whatever came next?

  A thought then crossed my mind, foul enough that I felt as much guilt about it as joy it brought me. A realisation that built off of my previous ones.

  At least I’ll never be alone again.

  I’ll never have to camp in the cold without company, I won’t have to beg for company and pretend to be like them to keep it. It’s set in stone, no matter how much I stuff up, and what I’ve already ruined doesn't change the facts. A companion, for the rest of my life.

  It will take a lot of time to observe her long enough to understand her, and effort to dissect the unknown and probably never-before-recorded habits and quirks of a drake. In a way it was simir to trying to fit in with the Party.

  But she was my charge, my companion, somethi—someone who I had the time to learn and study. While I have no delusions about how hard it’ll be, it’s something I know I can do, and the study of animals is what I’ve been doing for most of my life.

  Even if I feel bad about it, I’m willing to bury it. The feelings of guilt, while valid, won’t matter until Sally can at some point communicate about it. I won’t hide it if she asks, but I’ll wait until there’s a point to these emotions before dealing with them.

  Until then, I can learn her habits and what makes her happy. I hope that’ll be enough.

  She'd been predictable enough that I’d been able to understand her basic communication. Though she did have very predictable habits sometimes, didn't she?

  Always growled when I toe the line, and in the end she saves me. I can rely on her for that, being predictable when it came to the important things for her.

  The snake… it also had some habits, didn’t it?

  I couldn’t remember it, but I had a smear of understanding that I’d spent a decent amount of time disabled by the snake. Maybe, it took its time because it was waking up, but it had waited to strike more than once.

  My memories from lying at the entrance were clearer than when it caught me the first time, and I think it's because I couldn't see it properly with the blood on my face. Which meant I had to be able to see the light fully, for it to have its full effect.

  But the monster also waited before attempting to strike at us. I suspected that if it thought its prey was trapped by its light, it was slow and methodical in securing its prey.

  It reminded me of angler fish, and other hunters that use lures. They tend to dangle the bait in front of themselves, and when a meal comes to investigate it, it waits as long as can before striking. Taking their time to slowly move the bait closer to their mouth, until the prey moves itself into its maw.

  There’s no guarantee that the snake hunts the same, but simir tools beget the same technique.

  A single action could be happenstance, twice is coincidence, but the third makes it a pattern. And while I would love to go with what corrupted memories and indirect evidence that I already have, it wasn't enough. To make a pn with such spotty and incomplete knowledge would be stupid, even if it was only my life I was risking.

  I needed to know how it reacts first-hand, to be able to pn around it. I needed to know if a partial blindfold would help, that if a reflection of its light is as dangerous as the real thing. And if it truly cked the intelligence to adapt to new scenarios, and that it'll fall for the same pebble trick a third time.

  The snake was still mostly an unknown, its light scrubbing all memories of its appearance from my mind. Other than its vague 'snaky' shape and size, and the arrow’s vision had only shared its brown colour. The only way I would get reliable and consistent information on how its gem works—its limitations, and how it used it to hunt—is if I tested it.

  If I stood just within the checkpoint’s barrier, with whatever safeguards I could scrap together and Sally as a backup, I could test what I needed for the pn beginning to form in my head. If it doesn’t work, I could always try using [The Hunter's Anathema] again, though I doubt that it’ll give me the pin numbers or the true and false answers I need. Its magic seemed to work around showing a path forward, not expining facts like an encyclopedia.

  While deciding tactics without knowing the basic facts is moronic, what I’m about to do is perhaps one of the stupidest things I’ve ever come up with.

  I think that my pn had a decent chance of working—if I had guessed the snake's behaviours right—it might be one of the riskiest things I’ll have ever done. Even getting stabbed and thrown off of a cliff felt like more of a risk free pn than what I was about to drag Sally and myself through.