Silence enveloped the cave as Grim and the Dart were just laying there, taking the heat in amidst this cold, rainy weather.
It was broken by both of their stomachs grumbling from hunger.
They both looked at each other until a smile began to form which had turned into laughter.
"I'm going to go out later and try to gather food. Just stay here, Dart."
Grim said to the baby dragon.
"I can help!"
Dart responded back gleefully.
"No. There's a chimera hunter roaming the town, he just kicked me in the stomach one time and I was already down. That guy is no joke." Grim said as he was caressing his stomach. "Yep. Still hurts."
Grim continued to read the book that his grandfather left for him.
He opened the page where the 'Fenrir' family bloodline was focused on.
The next paragraph read as:
"In order to soulbind with a specific chimera, one must hold one's hand to the chimera's head and invoke the words 'mithardir' while channeling the soul together with the chimera. Both the tamer and the chimera's powers shall increase significantly at first activation."
Grim closed the page.
"My family's capable of doing things like thus, huh? Neat."
He got up and just as he was about to head outside in search of food, there was a figure by the cave's entrance.
This had sent the baby dragon and Grim in a startled state.
Grim did not call out for the person or thing, he merely observed as he took out a stick from the fire and use it as a makeshift torch.
The figure began pouncing towards Grim.
It was now clear that this thing was neither elven or human at all.
The ghoulish chimera had long lanky limbs, rotting flesh, and razor sharp claws on its hands.
Its second jump towards Grim almost resulted in the elf getting his face mangled.
Grim sidestepped the ghoul's secondary pounce by a hair.
But its claw had already slashed Grim's cheek, causing it him to grunt in pain.
"Tch. Where the heck did you come from?!"
Grim said after he clicked his tongue.
Dart was nervous, he had no idea what to do in this scenario.
"W-What should I do, Grim?"
"I'm kind of dealing with my own problems here, dragon!"
Grim responded as he dodged each successive jump that the ghoul attempted at him.
But each attack was getting more and more fatal, the ghoul was learning Grim's patterns.
His knife was far too short to reach the ghoul and wound it.
Grim was almost out of options.
He looked at the cave frantically and set his sight on Dart.
"The soul bind!"
He thought to himself.
Grim immediately sprinted towards Dart.
"You're going to have to trust me, okay? Focus and merge your soul with mine! Otherwise this thing is going to flail us both into pieces!"
The baby dragon knew that he was going to have to trust Grim. There was no other choice. If Grim had wanted to, he could have killed Dart long ago, but he didn't.
Dart thought about what you have to do in order to 'merge' your soul. He frankly did not understand what Grim was saying, he just let the elf do as he pleased.
Grim placed his hand on top of Dart's head.
The ghoul was now closing in on both of them quickly.
With its claws prepared to dig deep into Grim and Dart, it pounced once more.
Grim held out his other hand to block the ghoul's attack with it just in case his plan did not work out.
He exhaled and closed his eyes.
"Mithardir!"
The elven boy yelled out.
In a split second, a bright light emanated from both Grim and Dart, followed by a shockwave explosion around the vicinity.
The explosion and light startled the ghoul enough for it to back out and observe what just happened.
After one glance at its hand, it noticed that it was now missing.
The ghoul's hand had been severed off.
Its squeals were heard echoing through the rainy forest.
"I honestly do not know where you came from, but it is such a shame your life had to end today of all days."
Grim said to the ghoul as he and Dart walked out of the cave.
Grim Fenris' limbs were the same as Dart's.
They were the limbs of a dragon, black, scaly, and with claws even sharper than that of the ghoul. Their souls had cleanly merged. The soulbind was definitely a success.
Grim's eyes were shining blue, as was the baby dragon's.
While trying to stop the bleeding from its severed hand, the ghoul slowly walked backwards. It was trying to retreat.
Grim did not want to let this wretched ghoul escape, with one kick from his foot to the ground, he closed in on their gap with no effort whatsoever.
"Where are you going?"
He mockingly asked the ghoul, who began to profusely sweat heavily.
Grim scratched the ghoul's eyes off, sending it in a blind rage and frenzy.
It was now blindly attacking whatever was closest to it, as it had no more vision any longer.
Grim jumped back and dodged it.
"Dart?"
He asked the baby dragon.
"My pleasure, Grim."
Dart opened his mouth and let out an array of fire.
The ghoul's screams got louder and louder until it had stopped altogether.
After defeating the ghoul, Grim's limbs went back to normal, as did his eyes.
He sat on the ground with Dart.
"I guess your soul is bound to mine now." Grim said with a smile on his face. Happy to be working with you, partner."
Dart, who thought that he no longer had anyone else in the world ever since his mother left him, could not help but cry his eyes out.
"There, there."
Grim dragged his exhausted body across the ground and caressed Dart's head slowly.
What the two did not know, however, was that the Sunstrider was watching from atop the trees.
The Sunstrider's red eyes were locked in on Grim and Dart.