After a few hours of talking and enjoying themselves, Rex and his companions felt the familiar feeling of weariness washing over them, “I think it’s time I get some sleep, I get the feeling it’s going to be a long day tomorrow.” “Long, and successful day,” Lacey said with a smile. Once everyone agreed on what Lacey said, they all stood and bid Rex goodnight, before making their way over to the tent and closing the door, the lantern that illuminated the inside was soon snuffed out. ‘Hmpf, I don’t know where I’m supposed to sleep’ Rex thought, ‘Maybe back in there?’ turning his head to face the cave entrance. Standing up from the campfire, Rex decided he would just sleep on the table he was on before, quietly making his way into the cave, not wanting to disturb Al’ik or Azulthaël had they fallen asleep, finding the bed he awoke on earlier, he was surprised, ‘The bed has been moved, damn, the blanket is gone too, guess I’m roughing it tonight,’ after a few seconds of not being able to
‘Wow it has been a long time since I have seen you’ Rex said, dashing around to Fafnir’s head and placing his hand on his snout with a smile. ‘Yes youngling, it has felt forever, I have lost track of time while being imprisoned in here after the necklace malfunctioned, how long has it been?’ Fafnir replied, smiling weakly back. ‘Only a few months since I was cursed’ Rex replied, ‘But it has felt like forever.’ ‘That’s good, you feel and smell different, stronger perhaps’ Fafnir replied, breathing in a deep breath through his nose, taking in Rex’s scent. ‘I’ve learned how to cope without magic in ways, I have sort of kept a few things from you though, like my speed, strength, and hearing, my night vision comes and goes, usually when I need it most, I don’t have it’ Rex said with a shrug, getting a deep chuckle from Fafnir. ‘It will take some time to heal from this ordeal, your body is already on the mend and I can feel our bond growing stronger by the minute, should not be long unt
Once Rex had his heading, he dashed back out across the dunes, once Fafnir had approved of his heading, he had chosen a certain star to follow to keep his bearings, only having a short time with the relief from the sun he did not want to become stuck once more in the heat. ‘This place is shit’ Rex cursed, seeing more sand every time he reached the peak of the next dune. ‘Kadota used to be an oasis of water and life’ Fafnir said. ‘So what happened to it?’ Rex asked, glad to have something to keep his mind from becoming annoyed with the endless running. ‘This used to be where my palace resided, once I departed from this existence to the spirit realm, my magic that kept this place teeming with life deteriorated to what you see now, once you take the seat of emperor, I will bring you to where the true centre of power was in Dracoterrum,’ Fafnir replied, Rex could sense the sadness in his words when he spoke about it. ‘That’s IF I pass the dreaming, speaking of which, how will that eve
After taking a second to glare at Rex once more, the scorpion charged head-on, its pincers opened, ready to clamp down on Rex, it closed the distance quickly and in the time it took Rex to blink, it was towering over him once more. ‘You need to slow it down for your cowardly plan to succeed’ Fafnir growled while Rex was dodging around the scorpion’s attempts to grab him, ‘Think Rex, what does it need to follow you?’ ‘Ok ok, yep take out a leg or two and that should give me time to get away’ Rex agreed, sliding under the belly of the scorpion once it lunged at him again, gripping onto one of its middle support legs, while it thrashed around, attempting to trample him. ‘What are you?’ Fafnir started to ask as Rex took a deep breath in and gritted his teeth, applying pressure to the leg joint, after straining for a few seconds, he was able to snap the leg, the cracking sound echoing loudly, the beast howled, stumbling for a moment, blue blood gushing out, ‘You are barbaric, you could h
“So I just had a look, it is the same male from the nest, it must have somehow followed us here, we need a game plan to either kill it or draw it away,” Rex said, appearing next to the group, his brow furled. “I think it has come after you Rex,” Azulthaël said after a second, “You did invade its nest, and injure it.” “It gave me no choice” Rex replied defensively, “I wanted to sneak in, get you, sneak out without fighting.” “Well, it seems it is giving us the same option,” Al’ik said, watching the crack lengthen as the ward took another hit. “We barely fought it off before, Fafnir and I are still not anywhere near recovered enough to fight it alone,” Rex said after taking a deep breath in and exhaling. ‘Ask her to use some of the energy of the corificus stone, it will give us enough power to fully heal and have some spare for us to fight’ Fafnir said. “Fafnir asked if we can use some of the energy of the corificus stone, he said if we took half of what remains in it, we can fully
“About f**king time! This thing was kicking our arses!” Lacey called out, as everyone else sighed a breath of relief. ‘We are nowhere near full strength Rex, so do not be overly confident, it would be a formidable opponent if we were’ Fafnir warned as Rex continued to stride toward to scorpion. Once the scorpion saw its wanted target, it screeched loudly, releasing Minet and charging Rex, with only a few feet left, Rex leaped forward, using one leg to push off from the head of the scorpion, making sure to dodge the tail on the way past, landing safely behind it. “Enough showing off, let us slay this monster and see what damage you have inflicted on Al’ik,” Azulthaël said with a scowl, producing a green-bladed sword. “Where the f**k have you been this whole time? Leaving us to fight this thing!” Minet said loudly, pointing to the scorpion as it lined Rex up once more. “I needed time to tend to my wound, what I have done will suffice for the time being,” Azulthaël said, scowling onc
‘I am NOT a beast of burden to be joyridden on!’ Azulthaël complained, his mandibles clicking loudly in anger. ‘I can still feel a part of us connected from the beast mastery spell I used earlier to subdue it, you could pull on that string to make him more…compliant’ Fafnir snarled, ‘He IS, after all, a servant.’ “Due to our time constraints, I am sorry Azulthaël, but you can either help willingly, or I will be forced to make you, which I would prefer not to do, I would rather be appreciating your help, rather than cause you more grief,” Rex said with a loud sigh, making everyone look at him confused. ‘You cannot make me do anything...’ “KNEEL!!” Rex boomed, copying what Fafnir did earlier by allowing magic to flow through his voice, projecting it onto Azulthaël, who grudgingly yielded and kneeled before Rex, “I said I would rather have you help willingly, you are a valuable member of this team, please do not force my hand.” ‘What has been done to me!? I am a slave once more!?’ Az
‘What the f**k just happened there?’ Rex asked himself, instinctively reaching out, grabbing the cooked and still warm scorpion leg, biting the smallest piece off, in case it tasted bad. ‘Do not be scared, have a good bite, I want to be able to taste it!’ Fafnir demanded. ‘You are very determined just to eat a pest animal’ Rex said with a sigh, cracking some of the outer hard shell of the leg, exposing the cooked flesh under it. ‘Does that not smell like a heavenly meal?’ Fafnir said, using Rex’s senses to take in the scent. ‘Well, I’ll admit it doesn’t smell too bad’ Rex said with a shrug, truth be told, he had eaten worse, tearing off a small piece, throwing it into his mouth while he exited the cave, he had to agree, it was actually quite good. “You aren’t actually eating that are you?” “Huh? It’s actually not too bad” Rex replied with a shrug. ‘Is that one of this body's missing back appendages?’ Azulthaël said, seeing Rex holding a scorpion leg piece and chewing. “Well…yes