His Companion and Her Beast
As soon as the rules were thought in her head they appeared on the Venture cube. Helena was amazed by this world again and again, She created a new power? Would the restrictions truly work like she thought them up? Eustacia was entranced by the glowing egg while Theo was still sniffling in her arms.
As soon as she accepted the terms it asked her to name this new power. If it meant what she was sure it did, she had a name set without hesitation.
[ What name would you give this new power?
- Companions Oath
What class exists for people who use this power?
- Monster Handler
Congratulations on your help in creating a new power and helping this World evolve.
Reward - You will be the only person to obtain this power "Companions Oath" in your lifetime. ]
The moment the Venture cube disappeared the light that the egg was emitting dispersed all around them.
Her head was filled with images of Eustacia and this wolf, she saw how Eustacia was feeding him when he was a young. Even when he was bigger she would leave food for him in the same place. This wolf had been protecting this family all this time...
Little did any of them know was that all of them saw the memories of this wolf. All eyes moved to Eustacia who still had her hands on the egg that was as tall as her knees.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she muttered "Sybil?"
Her hands were caked in blood from when she fell over in the woods earlier. The egg hatched and a small pure white wolf pup fell out and clumsily walked up to Eustacia. Eustacia picked up Sybil and hugged him to her chest while staring at Avel with a pleading gaze.
Helena explained what this wolf was, and the terms it needed to hatch. Along with the fact if the Venture cube was correct, he could never harm his companion. Avel sighed and said " Eustacia.. do you know how dangerous it is to feed the monsters? It could have eaten you and grew up to be something dangerous. It even attacked within a Monster Gale.
"I was losing my mind..." Helena flinched and looked at the pup. "You just talked to me didn't you? Sybil was it? ... You lost your mind, what do you mean?"
"you can talk to monsters? I've never heard of such a thing.. Not even from.." His voice trailed off. "Sybil was the king of this Forrest and granted me this power in death, neither of us expected him to live beyond that. " While the shock set in within this group of people, Theo stared at the wolf wide eyed.
"This child saved my life, I decided to protect her here in this place and eventually I became king. I would eat all the evil monsters that came within this forest.
They all had smoke coming from their bodies. If I left them on their own ,a Gale as you would call it, would have torn this place apart. After a while my mind clouded more and more until I couldn't distinguish friend from foe. "
Sybil recalled how he had always been watching her home even when his mind was clouded. He couldn't bring himself to attack it but his mind kept deteriorating because of all the accumulated smoke within his body.
After this wolf concluded his recollection of events Helena conveyed his words to the wide eyed people staring at her. "Sybil said he learned to never eat the monsters with smoke oozing from their bodies. It makes you go crazy. He said he wants to protect you, Eustacia, and wants you to accept him as your lifelong companion. Without your care he would have died so he will protect you and become your guardian until the day he dies."
Under his daughters unyielding and pleading gaze
Avel sighed "Fine. you can keep him, but you have to ask your mother. " Avel knew full well the moment Evania heard the story of her daughter and this wolf, her heart would melt and she would take him in immediately. Eustacia's eyes beamed with joy. She was spinning in circles with the pup in her arms and a huge grin plastered on her face. Only to freeze when she heard Theo's voice.
Theo let go of Helena and pushed himself away.
"I...! I .... w..Want to s...tay here. I don't want to adventure any..more..." Theo was crying again and
Helena's heart fell, this boy had been in one dangerous situation after another. She knew he hesitated to leave their house but didn't think it was because of anything like this.
"I want to stay...I want p...arents like Eustacia..."
Helena could see he was struggling inside and wanted to hug him but he stepped away from her.
His whole body was shivering and the tears refused to stop. "But, most of all I don't want... to be a burden anymore... you keep having... to protect me. I want to stay here and get stronger. I don't... want to be your burden anymore."
Theo only cried harder as Helena stared at him letting him speak. Helena glanced at Avel and saw him nod his head and Helena took a deep breath."Theo do you really want to stay here with this family? Did you think to ask them for their permission first? It isn't easy to take in a child on such short notice, especially for an extended period of time. "
Theo flinched at her words. He has only beed feeling sorry for himself for finally finding a place that felt like he had a family, and thought about how he didn't want to burden his savior again. He didn't want her to get injured anymore. He realized that he hadn't thought of how his intrusion would affect the family he had grown to love.
Helena softly grabbed his shoulders and turned him towards Avel. "Go on.. you have to ask him Theo"
Theo trembled and he couldn't think straight anymore. His emotions were too high to care anymore. "Can ... I stay with you? I w..ill work har..d
I.. want to be strong... I want to have parents. "
Avel glanced at Helena, and like she sensed his question she lifted her head so she wouldn't cry and nodded at him. "I will make you work hard kid. you won't be a guest anymore, men have to work hard to protect what they want to protect. Do you think you can you handle it? If so our home is your home Theo.
I'm sure my wife will be pleased to have you back."
Theo turned back to Helena with sparkles in his eyes.
She smiled and hugged him. She whispered into his ear "It looks like you found your family pretty quickly here. I'm happy for you, but just remember I'm your sister too." She kissed his forehead and ruffled his hair. In a less hushed tone she added "Remember that your big sister is going to become an Adventurer for the next 5 years. So I might not be able to come often, but I will visit you when I can. I promise. And if you ever feel like you got strong enough and I'm well grounded, I'll take you along anytime. So enjoy this life for a while."
Helena realized he had fallen asleep in her arms. She chuckled to herself. All the stress left his body and he couldn't stay awake anymore. Avel picked him up from her arms. " We will take care of him. It will be pretty dangerous for you for a while so don't worry about him. "
Helena shook her head and reached into her storage pouch and handed Avel 5 gold coins. "Please take this and stay safe... I know he will be happy here... Thank you for this. Truly, thank you." Helena ruffled Theo's hair one last time and turned towards where she had been walking. Without giving Avel the opportunity to refuse the gold and without another word Helena left to continue her journey alone .Theo would wake up in that house surrounded by a family atmosphere. He would feel bitter sweet .
Helena did well to hold back her tears until now but when a voice came out of nowhere, "You are going in a strange direction you know. you need to turn right more to come toward the city. " her tears just flowed like a river and scared Night.
He listened to the mostly muffled explanation and couldn't even slightly understand what was going on. But he understood that she left the person she was traveling with behind, just not why. 'Maybe they died and she's struggling ' He thought to himself
"I'm going to be here with you Sky. Even if it gets hard, we are in this together. I won't leave you alone so cheer up."
Helena wiped her tears, feeling better after crying.
"Thank you Night I will be okay. I'm glad I have you around here with me." Helena giggled and Night let out a relieved sigh.