It was the next day. Silence ensued for hours as the Dragolion slept in the lap of what appeared to be a young human female. When his eyes slowly began to open, the first thing he would notice was that there were no lizard people, Kobolds, by the bars anymore.
His head lifted from the girl's lap and turned to look up at the human.
She was asleep, her head bobbing slightly and auto-correcting every time it fell too far down, causing her to snort occasionally.
Puckering his eyelids, he opened his spell listing and began to scroll through what he could use. He wanted to be able to actually talk with this person rather than trill and growl. That is what appeared to be his only way of communicating without the use of magic itself.
Thankfully his species was magical to begin with, being related to Dragons.
Finding telepathy, he activated the spell. "Human, it is I, Sion."
The suddenly voice made her choke on her own breath, her eyes popping open as she coughed and looked around. "Who... Who's there!?"
"Sion. Sion is here." He responded as he stared up at her. His voice sounded like his own, though a bit younger and higher in pitch. To him it sounded like he was talking through a voice changer that made him sound like a child. This caused him to chuckle slightly in amusement.
"Sion?" The girl glanced around before looking at the Dragolion which was in her lap. She stared down at him as their eyes locked.
"Yes. It is I, Sion. Lord of the Dark," He playfully fluttered his wings as his head cocked from one side to another. He made a slight trill sound, it sounded similar to that of a house cat's due to his size.
"That's your name?" She asked as she smiled a bit, looking at the beast as it was talking to her. This had never happened to her before. She knew what the Dragolions were. They were territorial and some Kobold Tribes as well as Halflings saw them as Gods and often sacrificed intruders and humans to them as tribute.
"Affirmative... And you are, Miss?"
Giggling a little as he called her Miss. He sounded polite and a bit posh even though he had recently been born. She curled her lips in, moistening and tasting them with her tongue.
"My name is Kei. It's a pleasure to meet you Sion," Kei said as she traced the scales which surrounded his right eye, causing him to squint one eye slightly due to the sensation.
"Do you have any idea what they were saying yesterday?" Sio asked curiously, wondering what the yelling and shouting had been all about.
She simply shook her head, "They ambushed my convoy, took everything and stripped us down." Her eyes traveled to the dead Dragolion further into the cave. "They were sacrificed to your mother." Kei's lower jaw quivered slightly. Her friends, her family, they had all died. Yet she was left alive and witnessed his birth.
"You have my condolences," Sion didn't have any real connection to the mother who was now deceased. She was nothing more than a Dragolion and his mind was still in the set that this may all still be a game. Even though clearly, it wasn't. Part of him knew that already.
Kei sank a bit where she sat, seeing how he didn't seem to care much for the mother who had killed those close to her. "Why did you heal me?"
"Why wouldn't I heal you?" Sion asked as he let out a quiet growl, though it seemed more like a natural sound for him to make when he opened his eyes. Much like how a dragon makes sounds when they breath.
"I... I'm sure they were trying to sacrifice me to you... Lord of the Dark, you said?"
"Oh. That makes sense," Sion looked to the cave ceiling. "You're not nearly plump enough though," he'd say jokingly before turning his head to look at her again. A toothy grin on his face.
Kei closed her eyes and shook her head with a blank smile on her lips.
"Too soon?"
Kei shrugged and sulked as they remained in the corner by the bars.
"We should escape, that corpse is going to smell pretty bad." Sion would slowly get off of her before stretching. His spiky tail raising up behind him as his clawed feet scratched the floor.
Kei would slowly stand up, brushing dust and dirt off of her legs.
Looking over to her, "How old are you anyways?"
"Sixteen summers," she'd reply with a smile over her lips, but that smile was a facade. She wasn't going to cry in front of him, or anyone for that matter.
"Hmm... Good to know," he trotted over to the bars and batted at them with his forward right clawed paw, effectively digging into the crude metal barricade. "You training for any particular profession?" He'd ask, feeling a bit happy now that he could converse with the human trapped with him in the cave.
"I was supposed to be an apprentice to a craftsman in Kessex City."
Sion paused hearing this and turned his head to look over towards her. "Kessex?" That wasn't a name of any city he knew in the game. Was this not the game world he was supposed to save?
"It's the largest city in the Zier Empire."
"... Zier Empire?" Sion was being severely confused with this information. "What's a Zier Empire?"
Kei giggled as she wasn't surprised that he didn't know. However she was curious as to how he knew magic since his birth was only a mere day ago. On top of that, he appeared to be in better shape than any other known being directly after birth.
"It's the Empire built by the Elves and the Immortals, the first Empire built on co-existence." Kei sounded proud of the words she was using.
"Does that mean Kobolds are tolerated by society?" Sion asked as he cut and pulled one of the bars out with his teeth and tossed it to the ground at their feet.
"What? No. They send Adventurers out to exterminate them..." Her eyes trailed over towards the village the Kobolds were moving around a bit. They didn't seem to notice what was going on yet.
"Hm... Seems like they haven't sent anyone out yet." Sion let out a light sigh as he stared towards the Kobolds. They were starting to gather together. What was going on out there?
"They have, your mother is used... Was used as deterrent."
"So if I leave, these primitives are wiped out?" Sion licked his gums, picking some shreds of meat out from between his teeth. "Sounds like we should make a run for it now then."
Kei stared down at him. She knew that there was no way for her to get away, but she knew he could. Her eyes drifted back to the golden Dragolion, the back to the midnight black one which had beautiful scales.
"I won't be able to outrun them..." Kei informed him as she knelt down in front of him.
"I could... Eat all of them," Sion yawned and licked his nose as he looked over at her. While he could feed himself steak from his inventory. He had a feeling that living prey, tasted much better. Why did he think that? He had no idea.
"Eat them?" Kei's forehead formed sweat as she stared at his two foot long body and then towards the Kobolds which were much bigger than himself.
"Okay, maybe not all of them. Just one or two, I'll just kill the rest."
Kei still just stared at the little Dragolion who was pretty confident he could ease a Kobold at his size and current age. While it was cute, she found it extremely doubtful that he would succeed.
"Or I can climb on your back, and use invisibility!" he opened his eyes and mouth wide as if he had been holding that in the entire time. "Ba dum tssh~" He'd snap his tail in the air.
"Eh?" Kei just stared down at him for a few seconds more.
'Did she not get that?' Sion just stared through her as she did him.
"No? Okay." Sion did his best to shrug with his front shoulder blades before looking towards the Kobolds which were coming towards the cave with a lamb on a leash.
"Are they bringing food?" Sion pursed his lips as he pressed half of his body through the wide opening between the bars that he created by removing one.
The Kobolds all froze seeing him partially out of the cave.
"The Lord of the Dark has broken the bars!"
"What do we do!?"
"We can't let him leave the village!"
"We must have him here to protect us!"
Hearing them shouting, he took a few steps back and found himself back in the cave. All of them seemed to calm down the moment he refrained from leaving. "Huh..."
Kei raised a brow slightly as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"What'cha doin'?" Sion turned his head, nudging the side of his face against hers.
"Invisibility?"
"I mean, you're supposed to have me on your back. You're not supposed to be around my neck," Sion commented before looking over at the Kobolds as he sat on his hind legs.
When they approached with the Lamb, it appeared one of the Kobolds had a machete.
"They're gonna kill it..." Kei sighed lightly giving the lamb the look of pity.
Sion tsk'ed and stood up on all fours before padding over to the edge of the cave. His eyes locked on the Kobold with the Machete.
The lizard men backed off in fear, but the Lamb remained where it was. Frozen stiff in fear, like a deer in headlights. Right before it was an apex predator, small, but insanely deadly.
'I wonder if charm will work on this lil' guy...' Sion would think to himself before casting the spell without words as he couldn't really sue them without telepathy.
A flash of green enveloped the Lamb's eyes, and it willfully stepped into the cave. Sion followed after it and Kei as well as they moved towards the back of the cave.
Just as they were about to go out of sight, Sion pounced on the back of the mammal, only giving it time to let out a single bleat. Then there was silence, followed by the sound of tearing flesh.
"So..." Kei was curious as she sat down watching at him tear away at the dead and dying lamb. "Where'd the steak and stew come from?" She didn't believe him to be a god or a guardian of any kind. He was just a powerful magical creature is all. "I never heard of a creature who could summon food, let alone cook a meal."
Sion was chewing as his eyes were on her, blood staining the scales on his lips. "It's a secret," he used a teasing tone and tittered a bit as this unbelieving look in her eye.
Kei sighed quietly, "There have only been six individuals who had the ability to make things appear out of thin air. None of them were..." Her eyes coursed over him for a moment, "A dragon lion creature such as you."
"That's ... Interesting information. I'll be sure to pay you back for it after we get out of here." Sion shared a bloody smile as he started to eat the innards of the lamb. His body was already growing as he was eating. Like some reptiles species, the more he ate, the more he grew.
"Pay me back...?" Kei wasn't sure if he should even pay her back. If she were to escape here alive, that would be enough for her. "How about coming with me to Kessex?"
"Uh... Wouldn't they try to take me from you? Or slay me or something?" Sion lifted his head as he chewed the heart of the lamb in his mouth.
"With you by my side, I could become a powerful adventurer~"
"Hm..." Casting an identification spell on her, he could see her bodily potential for the title of a Magic Archer, an ranger combined with a mage. It was a very lethal combination when built correctly.
"You like archery?"
"I've done some with my f... Father," she looked over towards his mother again and frowned. "Why do you ask?" She flopped onto her back as she was seated on the cold floor of the cave.
"You have the potential for a Magic Archer, you'd be lethal with a blade and a magic bow."
"H-how would you know that?" She lifted her head slightly from the floor.
"I can see the potential of those I can identify," he licked his lips as he stored the rest of the lamb in his inventory. Literally causing the corpse to vanish into little blue specs of dust that faded out like fiery embers.
Kei just stared at the spot where the lamb had once been before laying her head back with a sigh. "Kei the Magic Archer, pft..." She laughed at this, "Would I be good at acrobatics?"
"That would be a good skill tree to get into."
Kei smiled now as she kept her gaze to the ceiling, water dripping from the stalactites above and bopping her on the nose. "And if I don't make it out of here?"
"..." Sion just stared at her for a few moments before opening the magic window again and entering the Grand Magic area of the listing. "I... I could resurrect you."
Kei blinked a few times, she never heard of a magic spell that could outright resurrect someone. Except for necromancy and one couldn't really call becoming a ghoul or thrall being a true resurrection. She didn't want to end up a member of the Undeath.
"I have Grand Magic."
Kei rolled her head to the side and looked at him from the floor as he padded on over. Stretching like any mundane house cat would before laying on the ground in front of her face. "Grand Magic? As in the gift of the Gods...?"
"Yup."
"..." Kei just stared at him as if he was making shit up, but how could he possibly know about Grand Magic if he was only recently born. Unless... "You weren't originally what you are, were you?" She asked as while rebirth wasn't common in this world, it was in prophecies spread across the entire known continent made by humanoid and monster alike.
"So much for that," the Dragon cat trilled before closing his eyes partially. Looking at through the slits of his lids. "Wake me up if they come into the cave, or night falls. Whichever comes first." After eating, he was feeling sleepy... Which was a bit strange since he had just woken up not too long ago. Was there something in the lamb? His mind couldn't think straight.
However before he fell asleep, he opened his inventory and drop a short sword in front of him to arm Kei should anything happen and he not wake up.