The creature’s low growl opened into a throaty snarl as it inched closer to the brook’s edge. Jessica let the mask slip from her hand as she held her spear up, backing away slowly. Iris’s stance lowered as her hackles raised, and she barked sharply at the creature.
“Iris,” Jessica said in a low voice. “Easy… D-Don’t make it mad.”
The pup didn’t listen. Her lips curled, and she gave another vicious bark. The beast tensed before its claws suddenly kicked back clumps of mud, and it lunged across the water with a splash.
Jessica screamed and thrust the spear forward on reflex. The tip struck the creature’s shoulder but slid off the scales with a grating screech. The lizard-dog thing seemed to smile as it pivoted its body against the spear, nearly wrenching it from Jessica’s hands.
She stumbled, and then as it slashed its claw at her, she jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the swipe, but the back of her ankle caught something, and she fell on her butt.
“A-Ah-Aaaaah!” Jessica screamed in terror as she scrambled backwards, kicking her feet at the ground. The creature smacked its claw down on her ankle, the shin guards protecting her flesh, but its claws curled around as it pulled her back. She swung her spear messily from the awkward angle, smacking the creature's snout with the shaft, which only seemed to amuse it as it lifted its other claw and prepared to swipe at her gut. But before finishing the attack, it let out a hiss of pain as Iris bit its tail. It completely forgot about Jessica, whirling around and snarling directly at the pup before lunging.
“Iris! No!”
On instinct, Jessica leapt off the ground, diving spear-first. All her body weight got behind the strike, and she managed to bring the metal tip into the beast’s rear. It let out a loud roar and spun back around, the motion ripping the shaft from Jessica’s hand as the spear remained embedded in the monster, just above the base of its tail.
Jessica was frozen for a moment, holding her hands out in front of herself as though she couldn’t believe she managed a successful attack. But whatever small moment of triumph she may have felt was forgotten as she registered how the monster was now looking at her. It completely lost the amused curve to its reptilian lips, now locking furious eyes upon her.
“S-Sorry!” Jessica squeaked out as she turned, nearly stumbling again as she began to run. She put her arms in front of her in an X as she tore through some branches and could hear the monster's claws scraping the ground behind her as it gave chase.
At least she had distracted it from Iris, but she was now running for her life in a pursuit she knew she would lose. The situation became worse as the bag slung over her shoulder snagged on a branch. She turned to try to yank it free to find the monster in striking distance.
“Aaaaaah!” she screamed, giving it a hard yank with all her body weight. It snapped off the branch, but the momentum caused her to lose her footing and fall again. This time, the creature pounced right on top of her, pinning her down with one claw against her breastplate. Its jaws snapped forward, but she pushed her hands up just in time to catch it under its chin. It hissed with rancid, decayed breath right in her face, its teeth mere inches from her as she held it back with all her strength.
“I’M SORRY! P-PLEASE DON’T!” Jessica screamed.
Then, a flash of light, and a white beam swept across the beast’s side.
—Iris!
It was just enough of a distraction for Jessica to push its snout away and roll out from under it. She grabbed at the side of a tree as she pulled herself up, trying to break into a sprint—but she was too slow.
Pain engulfed her back in an instant, the creature’s claws gouging deep into her unarmored back. She had never felt anything like it before. It shocked her to the core, causing her next scream to catch in her throat. She only made it one or two more steps before falling to the ground, eyes staring blankly at the vines and foliage that made up the forest floor as her cheek rested on cold, wet leaves.
I’m dead.
The thought came to her almost casually, as if it were such a certainty that there was no point in even trying to argue with it. Her fingers clenched weakly at the ground in front of her. The monster would dig its claws or teeth into her again at any second, and then she would be done.
Something landed softly beside her, drawing her eyes to it. It was Iris—the pup’s white angelic wings glowing softly as they receded into her back. Her otherwise black fur puffed around her neck as she bared her fangs, and her white eyes lit up as she shot another beam at the creature.
The beam of light hit right in the center of its face, stopping its advance, and from there, Iris wasted no time charging at it.
“I-Iris…” Jessica muttered, her throat finally finding a breath. She forced herself up onto an elbow and watched as Iris snapped her teeth just short of the creature's snout, more of a warning than an attack, then pivoted to the side, running around it.
Iris had succeeded in grabbing its attention off of Jessica, and she watched, amazed, as those white wings sprouted from Iris’s back once again, lifting her off the ground just in time to avoid the next attack. She flew upwards for only a moment before sharply reversing her direction midair. For just a moment, she hovered there as if gravity didn’t exist, but then shot down again like a bullet.
The creature was just as surprised by her sudden speed, failing to react in time as she slammed into its neck, causing it to topple over. However, its claw swung in a wild arc, barely catching Iris’s flank as she zipped past it. The pup barked out a pained yelp, but the cut wasn’t deep enough to stop her as she ran to give herself some distance. As soon as she had time, she spun around again, eyes already glowing, and shot another beam.
This time, the creature was more prepared, putting a claw up to defend itself. The beam was still strong enough to push its claw back and leave a smoking spot of singed scales, but not enough to dissuade the creature from continuing to charge at the small Hell Hound.
Jessica watched, propped up on a single elbow, and thought, Iris is really amazing…
The pup had mobility on her side, easily avoiding attack after attack. Yet, her retaliation was minimal; those beams of light she shot from her eyes did no crippling damage, and it didn’t seem possible Iris could beat the creature down with that alone. On the other hand, all it would take is one misstep for Iris to be caught, and it could end her just as quickly as it had nearly ended Jessica.
“Iris…” Jessica said with a heavy breath, clenching her fist around a handful of leaves. The pup had every reason to hate her. Her people were the ones who killed Iris’s father and taken the rest of her family from her… put her in a cage and forced her into humiliating taming routines. Jessica herself took part in the latter. Even if she didn’t really want to, she was complicit in all of it. Yet, Iris risked herself to protect her when she could have just run off and let her die.
But she can’t win; that thing is way bigger and stronger. Eventually, Iris will tire out, or make a mistake, or…
Then Jessica’s eyes set on her spear, still sunk deep into the creature’s back. Maybe Iris’s eye beams couldn’t put the beast down… But maybe that could.
Jessica forced herself up, first raising to a knee and then standing. Her back was on fire; it hurt worse than anything she had ever even imagined feeling before. But she was wrong when she had thought it was enough to kill her. That was just the weakness inside of her, letting her accept the defeat. Accept that there was nothing she could do.
Jessica’s legs started moving; the first few were slow, but as her eyes locked onto the shaft of the spear, she moved faster with every step.
Iris sprouted her wings from her back once again, ascending out of the creature’s reach just in time to avoid another attack. This time, she remained hovering in the air, ears folded back and looking around with concern in her white eyes, as if she understood she couldn’t do this alone.
Then she spotted Jessica moving to return to the fight, and something shifted in her expression, her ears perking slightly. Determination came into the pup as she launched herself down again, eyes already brightening for another beam attack.
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The white light shot from Iris’s eyes, arcing left and right over the creature's face, mildly burning it, but more importantly, blinding it. Iris turned at the last second, bouncing her back paws off its head and leaping away. It growled in irritation as it continued its chase, Iris bounding off ahead of it, tail raised high and turning back to let out a yip that said, Come and get me if you can!
Jessica, still unnoticed by the monster, continued to run, reaching out her hand, the spear coming closer and closer to her grasp until she pushed deep, ignoring the pain, forcing her legs to move even further.
The second her hands clenched around the shaft, the creature stopped pursuing Iris and turned in surprise. Jessica leapt over it, not yanking the spear free but instead pulling it hard to the side like it was a lever, ripping the wound open and causing the creature to scream in true pain.
But she wasn’t done. As soon as the spear was freed from its flesh, she raised it above her head, spinning it one-handed, and in that moment, something just clicked. Its weight and the feel of it were somehow natural—she did have the Spear Handling skill, but could that be to thank, or was it just her adrenaline giving newfound confidence to her movements?
Whatever the case, she spun it back into a two-handed grip as she lunged down again, this time aiming right for the creature’s snapping jaws.
The spear ripped through the side of its mouth. Jessica pivoted around its side, landing in a half crouch as she pulled her spear back and thrust forward again. This time, the tip pierced right under the creature's arm. It was at first met with resistance from the scales, but once it broke through, it slid cleanly through the creature's soft flesh underneath, burrowing deep, all the way down to its heart.
It let out one last gurgling screech of pain as it hit the ground. Its reptilian eyes met Jessica, its expression almost asking how this could be possible, and then finally, its head crashed to the forest floor, and it fell completely still.
Jessica’s eyes were wide as she stared at it, her gaze lowering down to her own hands around her spear. Then she backed away in disbelief, leaving the weapon embedded in the creature she had just killed. She stared at her open palms, mouth half open, unable to believe she had actually just done that.
Then, a sound she had only heard a few times before dinged in her head as several blue screens appeared, overlapping each other in front of her vision.
Foe Eliminated! Level 6 Feral Scalehound!
Experience Gained!
You have leveled up!
You are now level 3!
+ 1 strength
+2 vigor
+2 dexterity
You have leveled up!
You are now level 4!
+ 2 strength
+2 vigor
+2 dexterity
Spear Handling Leveled up! 1 > 2
+2 dexterity
+2 strength
You have deepened your bond with companion Iris!
+2 attunement
+2 luck
[New Menu Function Available: Check Companion Stats!]
[Achievement! Digging Deep!]
Some battles are won simply by refusing to stay down!
Minor bonus to all stats.
Jessica blinked as she read through the notifications, swiping away one after another with her eyes. When she heard the other trainees of the Bloody Peeks Tribe talk about these things, it never made much sense to her, but now it did. And did she really get rewarded so much just for one single fight?
Iris walked over to her, tail notably not wagging, but there was something other than the usual puppy scowl in her expression. It was part respect and part concern.
Jessica smiled. “Good job, Iris. It’s really thanks to you.” But then, as she kneeled down to see if Iris would actually let her pet her, she winced, the pain of her wound flaring up. Jessica couldn’t quite reach the wound on her back, so instead clenched her side and gritted her teeth. “D-Don’t worry. I’m okay. How about you?” She forced her eyes open to examine Iris’s wound. It was certainly deep enough that it couldn’t just be left alone, but it was much shallower than Jessica’s own wound.
Then, she remembered the healing potion in her bag and went searching for it. She found it near the tree where she had first dropped it, a tree that bore a splash of her blood. She wasted no time opening the bag and digging through. She held the small red vial in front of her face for a moment. These healing potions were another thing that was strange about this world. On Earth, you couldn’t heal injuries simply by taking a single dose of medicine. It would take weeks or even months to recover from the injury she now had, and even after that, some physical therapy might have been required. But… this world was different.
She popped off the cork and downed about half of it. Instantly, the agonizing throb of her wounds eased as a warmth came over them, and soon the pain almost entirely disappeared.
She held the bottle out to Iris, who turned her puppy head curiously.
“Here… uh… let me feed this to you. It’ll help.”
She crouches down, carefully reaching towards Iris with her free hand. Iris’s ears folded back, at first leaning away from Jessica’s touch. But as Jessica softly rubbed her neck, Iris seemed to accept it and allowed her to scratch her. Jessica smiled soothingly as she moved her hand under Iris’s snout to make her look up slightly, then did her best to make her drink the remaining portion of the potion.
Once it was gone, Iris smacked her chops uncertainly, her tongue running over her teeth. Then her ears perked up, and she tilted to look at her side where she had been wounded and started sniffing herself. The deep gash was already closing.
Jessica chuckled. “See? Feels better now, doesn’t it?”
As they walked back to the brook, Jessica considered what they would do for food. She supposed that lizard-dog thing could be editable, but she wasn’t quite ready to take that plunge. She hoped she could find a monster that looked more like Earth food, and based on what she’d eaten back in the Bloody Peaks, she knew they were out there.
She found her mask where she had dropped it and picked it up. She had no desire to embrace her place as a warrior of this tribe, but for the time being, she had Iris with her and knew deep down that simply cowering through her new existence in this world wouldn’t last forever. Even if she were so pathetic that the tribe eventually gave up on her and gave her a job mending armor or something, there were still the Umarii to worry about. Not just that they might one day attack again, but that they were the only people who knew her secret of being from another world, and based on how they had reacted, she didn’t think that was something they were just going to forget about. She knew that eventually, they would come for her again.
Sighing, she looked up to the sky and checked both her and Iris’s stat screens.
Name: Elva Wyrmscar
Race: Human
Classes: Wyrmscar Descendant, Rider, Spear Fighter
Level: 4
Vitals
Health: 45/55
Mana: 50/50
Stamina: 25/58
Attributes
Strength: 10 (+5)
Dexterity: 12 (+6)
Vigor: 8 (+4)
Attunement: 6 (+2)
Luck: 8 (+2)
Active Skills
Thrust lvl 1
A basic attack with a minor bonus to damage, scaling off of strength.
Passive Skills
Basic Riding lvl 2
Spear Handling lvl 2
Traits
Wyrmscar Legacy lvl 2
The taming of monsters will become easier for you.
Name: Iris
Race: Hell Hound
Level: 5
Path: Seraphwing Hellpup
Stage: 2
Body Development: 73%
Vitals
Health: 40/40
Mana: 30/65
Stamina: 20/58
Attributes
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 10
Vigor: 7
Sense: 9
Attunement: 12
Active Skills
Lumen Burst Lvl 2
Channels mana into the eyes and releases it as concentrated beams of searing white light.
Skystrike lvl 1
Use in coordination with Aether Wings to pounce on foes from above.
Passive Skills
Celestial Instincts lvl 1
Enhanced perception of creatures with hostile intent.
Traits
Aether Wings lvl 2
Freely sprout wings from your back to take flight. This ability will steadily drain your stamina while your wings are out.
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