I sighed and crossed my arms. "Ugh. Do you always have to be so empathetic? For a moment there I forgot how nauseating you are." She didn't answer me and had an unreadable look on her face for a moment before my annoyance became confusion. "What?" She snapped out of it and smiled a little again. "You know, I've never seen you so... Happy than you were just now."
Her comment made me hesitate and think back on our fight. "So what? I like to fight." May walked over to where she set down her satchel and returned it to rest on her shoulder before returning to look at me. "Why?" I rolled my eyes and turned to walk away from her. "Let's just keep moving."
Later when the afternoon sun had become gold and shined on the leaves of the trees that surrounded us, May and I were standing near an open space of ground. The grass moved with the breeze, and water rushed through the river the trail was beside. May had taken out the map again and was reading it closely. "It looks like the next test is to pass the labyrinth."
I rested my arm on my sword that was attached to my belt as I responded. "I'm guessing there's another monster to fight." May nodded, keeping her eyes on the map. "Yep. The Minotaur. This test will no doubt be more difficult." I thought for a moment and let my eyes take in our surroundings. "At least we'll have decent transportation now. Speaking of, where's Theodius? He should've shown up by now."
Suddenly, the familiar voice of the man I just mentioned came from an unknown source. "I'm right here." We both looked around, trying to find him but saw nothing. May gasped. "Are you invisible?!" The voice came again right after. "No, I'm down here." I looked down and saw that he was lying on his back on the ground, with his head in between May's feet and looking up her skirt.
As soon as May saw him she screamed and flew away while pulling the petals of her dress down in front of her as blush flushed her cheeks. Theodius then stood up like what he was doing wasn't an invasion of privacy at all. "Congratulations! You passed the second test! Do you have the spell book?" I nodded. "And the ruby as well." May hesitantly took the items out of her bag and handed them to Theodius while continuing to blush.
Theodius smiled as he took them from her and I became suspicious. "I get why you would want a spell book, but why did you want the ruby?" The spell book then disappeared from his hand, and he picked off some dust from the ruby as he answered me. "I've been looking for a paperweight." The ruby then disappeared into blue fire as well, and I crossed my arms with irritation. "You know, it sure seems like we're just running errands for you instead of passing trials."
May then held up the map and pointed to some writing at the top. "It does say 'Shopping list' at the top here. I thought it was a misprint." Theodius then took the paper from her and quickly erased the writing with magic coming from his pointer finger as he laughed nervously. "Don't worry yourselves about that nonsense! You have the third test to think of! All you have to do this time is get through the entire maze without being killed. There's no item to bring me other than the Minotaur's bow and arrow but that's it!"
He said that last part really fast as if to disguise it, and I sighed as I took the map from him again. "Whatever. Are you going to give us the dragon or not?" Theodius blinked like he remembered that we made a deal. "Oh yeah! Of course." He turned toward the open space of land and put two fingers in his mouth to whistle loudly. A moment later a roar came from the distance as the same dragon from before came into view above the horizon.
I still found it amazing to see a dragon up close and found myself frozen from staring at its majesty as the dragon landed on the ground in front of us. Theodius turned to face the dragon and gestured to me. "You have a new master, Saniel. Take care of them for me." The dragon huffed in response, and May gasped as she got a closer look at him.
She flew up so she was at eye-level with the dragon and waved happily. "Hello, Saniel! It's nice to meet you! Are you a good dragon? Oh yes, you are!" She started scratching underneath his chin and Saniel moved his head up in response while purring like a cat. While they continued to do that, I noticed that Theodius wasn't next to me anymore and had walked to where May was flying. She didn't notice that he was standing below her again and looking up her dress.
I rolled my eyes in disgust and went over to him to grab him by the ear and pull him away. "Ow! Hey!" Once I let go he rubbed his ear in discomfort and I crossed my arms. "Stop looking up her can you pervert and tell us more about the next test." Theodius shook his head. "I'm sorry but I can't do that." I sighed. "Let me guess. That would be cheating, wouldn't it?"
He shook his head again but this time with a smirk. "No, I meant that I can't stop looking up her can." He teleported as soon as he finished his sentence and reappeared levitating with his face in between May's thighs. "God your skin is immaculate." May screamed again and flew behind me faster than lightning while blushing fiercely. "Ahhh!" I sighed. "I'm surrounded by morons."
Theodius then floated back to where he was standing before while continuing to smile. "Anyway. What would you like to know about this test?" I shrugged a little as I answered him. "What's so special about this bow and arrow you want?" Theodius's eyebrow flicked as he thought of an answer. "Well, it's indestructible for one thing, and the arrows use heat signatures to lock onto a target."
My fingers closed tighter around my arms as I held them crossed over my chest. "And we're going up against that?" Theodius nodded. "Yep. Good luck!" He then disappeared into blue fire and was gone without a trace. I shook my head a little after he vanished and let my arms fall to my sides as I turned to the dragon. I realized something as May came out from behind me and I gave her a confused expression. "Hey, wait a second. How do we ride this thing?"
May smiled as she turned to Saniel. "I'm sure it'll be easy to learn. And don't call him a thing, he's the latest member of our team!" She then flew up and sat down on Saniel's back and patted the spot in front of her. "Come on, Dedrin!" I sighed again as I walked towards them. "I've got a bad feeling about this..."