Lex pulled with all his might, and the stallion whinnied and leaped on its back legs throwing his hooves up. The ground froze around Lex, and ghostly images of death appeared with the faces of people Lex knew who were long dead. All around them, the area changed as a technique from the nightmare took hold. He felt the creature pull him into another plane. The Riverside vanished, and he appeared on the strange plane standing upon a plateau.
There is no time to care about where he was. He pulled, driving the nightmare back on all fours; it tried to gallop away, but Lex's strength greatly surpassed its own. Despite the incredible power of the nightmare in the foundation realm, it was exhausted, and Lex felt fresh.
Something about this place filled him with energy. It was like the nightmare had just handed an untapped barrel of ale to him. Qi gathered around him as he spun it to corral the creature. Ever since bonding with Zhan, his control had increased from a single meter to 10. A storm of qi gathered with themselves in its eye appeared within the plane.
It grunted, shook his head, and screeched at him.
Lex stared at him calmly; he reached out, giving it the back of his hand to sniff. Instead, he heard the clacking of teeth, and the beast ground down on his ulna. Unlike an average horse, a nightmare could eat flesh and had the gripping teeth of a predator to show for it. While it struggled to saw through Lex's tough skin, Lex remained calm. He stared the beast in the eyes, reached forward, and casually pried the stallion's mouth off of his arm. All the while, the beast shook its head and pulled, struggling to take a chunk out of Lex.
The spiral-wielding cultivator showed off his undamaged arm to the beast. He pulled on the lasso as if bragging to the beast that he couldn't be hurt by it. The creature roared and sucked in a terrible breath.
The ground froze over, and flames shot off from the beast's mane and tail. All the while, Lex continued to spin the spiral of qi around him, crafting a storm.
It reared back and kicked with its flaming hooves. Lex felt one of his ribs snap. He didn't take a single step back even as the stallion pushed against him. Lex stood tall like an immovable object and a mountain in his own right. He couldn't afford the show weakness to this animal, nor could he afford to break his calm.
There was no time for doubts or fear. Lex let it bite him and beat against him to show the beast that he couldn't be beaten. The stallion turned away from him, and Lex slapped the stallion's rear. The beast whinnied and pranced around the eye of the storm like a corralled pony. Lex kept himself standing tall, calm as he could be, and waited for the stallion to look at him again.
After 10 minutes of prancing, it finally turned back to him and approached warily. When Lex offered the back of his hand, the beast sniffed it and bit him but didn't dare to grind his teeth. After a moment, it opened its mouth on its own accord and licked his wrist. Then the stallion brought its nose down to his arm and sniffed him. Lex raised his other arm and touched the stallion's neck.
The beast screamed as if all hell was on its tail and ran. When it turned away from him, Lex slapped it again harder this time, and he chased it until it finally turned to him. When the stallion gave him its attention, Lex calmed down.
He hadn't learned how to tame horses from anything but books. The trade was something he had a mild interest in when he was younger. But, of all the books he read on the subject, only one thing remained true. When a horse looked at him, he remained calm, and when it looked away, Lex made it miserable. This was the carrot and the stick method. Coercion in this most basic form.
Hours flew by while he slowly encouraged the stallion to accept his touch, and it became comfortable with him. In that time, Lex managed to slip a bit into its mouth, a saddle on its back, a bridal, and a breastplate.
He'd kept everything in a green bag of holding on his back. It was the only bag that didn't have a nine-pointed star on it.
Lex put a boot in the stirrup, and the stallion began to circle the storm's eye. He remained calm and rubbed its neck even as he felt that soon the stallion might leap into the storm. Lex had made it violent enough to dissuade even this fool-hardy stallion from jumping into it.
He made it into the saddle and managed to slip his foot into the other stirrup. The stallion leaped up on his hind legs, whinnied with all its might, and charged for the storm. Lex pushed the storm forward and began destabilizing it. Getting the qi moving in the first place had been hard but maintaining it had been easy. Stopping it slowly while directing it was the worst of both worlds.
Slowly, after kilometers of galloping, the stallion came to a halt, and the storm crafted dissipated. All around, Lex saw bones, flesh, and streams of flowing blood. The sky above was pitch black, and the ground rose and sunk so subtly he had noticed before. This place was alive in some way. Yet, all around him, there is only death.
"Where are we?" The stallion snorted. "Do you have a name, Buddy?" This time the horse looked up at him for turning away. Lex kicked them driving him forward. After a kilometer of travel, the stallion looked back up at Lex.
Lex reached down and rubbed the stallion's neck. "So, do you have a name, or should I give you one?" Lex asked.
The horse gave the equivalent of a shrug and continued forward. Lex heard howls gathered around them. Where were they? One thing remained the same, there were always predators and prey.
He saw the single largest hound in his life leap out from behind a flesh tree. It shot across the ground in a blur. Falling behind it for many hounds just as large and powerful as itself. The stallion looked up at him, and Lex remained calm. He drew Gram from his waist, pulled the reins, and kicked, driving the stallion towards the hounds.
They charged after the beast as soon as they saw them. He could feel Gram's hunger for blood, and the blade was long, nearly 6 feet in length, that was perfect for slashing at the tall, near horse-sized hounds. So they passed by the first hound Lex sliced, cutting deep wounds on the hounds. They squealed in pain, panicked, and started screaming; the sounds it made were almost human cries.
The stallion continued his gallop unworried about the cries of the hound. Finally, he turned his head to see the pack chasing them and turned until his flank Lex's blade faced the hounds. Then the stallion picked up speed, galloping faster until they were upon them. Twice he slashed each time he scored a wound, one lucky hound found its way under the stallion's hooves was trampled to death. Once again, the stallion turned to circle the hounds. Each of the hounds probably weighed 200 to 300 kilos, but the stallion was larger than any horse Lex had ever seen.
With half their number wounded the rest of the hounds fleeing or dragging their pack mates away, they made themselves to be a tempting target. The stallion charged again. Lex dutifully swung his blade, cutting down anything in their path while the stallion trampled anything if found under hoof. When the last of the hounds were put down, the stallion found one clinging to life.
It bit to the flesh, ripping as the hounds screamed. The stallion turned the beast over and it to the soft genitals. While it wasn't a monster, he could eat either flesh or graze on grass. When it feasted on meat, it seemed a bit crueler than necessary. As stallion consumed the balls, ass, and shaft of its prey, it greedily lapped at the blood shooting from the wounds.
Lex stared down as the beast ate its fill. He didn't have much time left; the familiar bond needed to be made. With the pull of the reins, the stallion raised his head and turned to Lex's instruction. Flames leaped up from the stallion, and soon, the world shifted back to an unknown area of the forest.
Stallion made his way to a nearby stream and slicked its thirst. "I want to make a contract with you, do you understand?" The beast stopped drinking and looked up at him, grunted, and went back to drinking. Just like that, Lex felt a bond connect them. There were no complicated contracts like with Zhan. The stallion was simple.
"Alright, boss, my name is Brutus; what are we going to do now?" Brutus said.
"We're going back to the Hidden Dragon Institute, and I am going to apply as a student," Lex said.