Verdania just had her lunch and was now enjoying her last day on the beach. She had recharged her social batteries and could hardly wait to go and pick up her young student from his adventures in the forest.
"He might think me cruel, but when Mother dropped me off she did it in a level three zone. I was already an Apprentice back then though. "She said and frowned. Just because she considered her brother a nag did not mean she did not listen to his warnings.
She had scouted the area and the only thing that could truly threaten his life were a few teddy bears, and she had made it clear who Ciaran belonged to by never hiding her presence from them when she visited.
"He is fine, surely. The worst he would have to deal with is some Tricksters. Knowing him, he might make friends with them." She consoled herself.
Tricksters was the name given to that species of monkey. They were known to bully the weak and to have a particularly nasty attitude. Moreover, that troop of monkeys had hundreds of them, some of them even in Rank One.
The more she thought about it the more the calm left her body. She had skipped their last session of treatment because the boy had not sustained too many injuries, and also because she knew that after today she would have less alone time.
To her ever-growing dismay, she just couldn't enjoy her vacation anymore, so she decided to just go and pick him up.
"I assume he would be glad to be going home after such a long time. Probably will complain about not getting a familiar too." She chuckled to herself.
This was never about a familiar, to begin with, she just wanted him to learn to depend on himself. During the three months that the boy had spent with them, he was beginning to heal from his mental injury, but that came with a cost. He was replacing his need for his family with theirs, and that was a dangerous thing, especially when Eleftherios saw it, and not only ignore it, he even endorsed it.
Even she felt good, being the kid's support, and that was perhaps the most dangerous of all. She wanted him to be able to walk on his own, not to condition him to hide under her skirt.
"If he is too upset, I will just pamper him a little, it will be fine." Said the woman, who was already forgetting that the whole forest trip was supposed to teach the boy not to expect such treatment.
She moved fast, crossing a quarter of the Empire in less than an hour. Like always she got above the forest and searched for her brother. She saw him, surrounded by hundreds of monkeys. She descended above but did,t show herself yet.
What she saw shocked her. The boy was casually roasting a few dozen of the biggest Rank One monkeys, and he was whistling while doing so. Next to the carcasses was the broken body of one of the monkeys. Not only was it still alive, but it was positioned to watch the boy munch on his family, unable to do anything.
'I know that these pests could get on your nerves, but this is a tad bit too much, don't you think Ciaran?' She thought, and then she looked around.
Not only did the rest not attack, but most of them were also ready to run away in fear. The boy wasn't even looking at them, he was just slowly roasting his food, while looking the damaged monkey in the eyes.
'And I was worried about him being too soft, and too attached to humans.' A gentle smile appeared on her face.
It was a fact that dryads, especially Archmage dryads, had a different mentality than mundane humans. It was also a fact that the monkeys shared a resemblance to humans, and that Eleftherios had told the boy all creatures past Rank Zero were sentient.
And here he was, not a shred of guilt munching on the scull of one of them.
While he was enjoying his meal, a dozen or so monkeys decided to go for the kill. Inexplicably, while charging most of them got dismembered. Only one of them came close to the boy. Verdania was about to save him when a giant spider materialized from thin air and stabbed it with its foot, right in the eye.
"You fucks never learn, do you? Your days of ruining our lives are over. " He glared at the rest of them.
"Now get lost before I feed you to the bears. One of you, they don't care about, but even they would be fed by a few hundred, right?" He laughed.
The spider looked at the boy, whose of its clean, not bloodied legs wrapped around his shoulders.
"Yeah, those fatties are probably going to look at as light snacks at best."
Verdania decided that she had seen enough so she revealed herself. At the sight of an even bigger monster, the troop ran away screaming.
"You know how to make an entrance don't you sis?" The kid smiled.
She just looked at the bizarre image in front of her. A boy, not even a Novice, was 'hugged' by a giant Rank One spider. Verdania wanted to ask, but couldn't find the right words, so she just continued to stare.
"Right… Not awkward at all. Ok, I see you noticed Ariadne, my familiar. Real beauty isn't she? Thanks to her we got our revenge on these fucks." He said as he kicked the still-living monkey in the ribs.
"How, how did you two meet? "Was all she could ask.
"Let's go to Big Bro, I want to see both of your expressions when I tell the story." He said with a proud grin.
Before they left, Ariadne when back into her Master's soul, and he finished all the meat he could. Then, he walked up to the almost dead monkey and stomped on its head, whispering 'This is what you get'.
They went back to the Maze in silence, Ciaran because he didn't know why his Big Sis was acting like this, and Verdania because she was in shock.
"CIARAN! Your back! Are you ok? Did this brute harm you? She left me for months, Ciaran, months. I was worried sick, but little miss I-can't-talk-to people-for-more-than-a-few-days-without-needing-a-break didn't even find it necessary to tell me where she sent you. What happened to you, tell me everything. Wait, have you eaten? I bet she forgot to even feed you after your stay wherever you were. Do you want something sweet, the Academy just supplied itself with some honey and-"
"I am fine Brother I am fine. Better than ever actually, I found what I was looking for."He said and couldn't hide the proud grin on his face anymore.
Eleftherios looked puzzled, first at the boy and then at his sister, who for whatever reason was sitting on the ground day drinking. Her eyes were unfocused, her body was here but her mind was not.
If before Eleftherios was curious and a little worried, now he was terrified.
Before he could seriously question the boy, a spider the size of a small horse appeared next to Ciaran.
"Meet my Ariadne." The boy said, and if the man's jaw wasn't attached to his head, it would have drilled half the planet by now.
"You became a Novice?" Was all he could ask.
"No?" Ciaran answered more confused than ever.
"How?" This time Eleftherios asked his sister and heard the most terrifying four words out of her mouth.
"I do not know. " She said, still looking at nothing.
The man sat on the ground as well, his chin in his hand, but he snapped himself out of it in just a few moments.
"Tell us, Rony, how did this happen?"
Then Ciaran proceeded to tell them about his adventures in the forest. From how the monkeys messed with him, to how he met his familiar, and finally how they set traps with her webs and had their revenge.
This however didn't bring a shred of clarity to his mentors.
"Kid, what you have done, is theoretically impossible. Only people who can use their souls can have familiars, mages mostly, and some high-level Warriors as well." Eleftherios said, and his sister nodded.
After a few protests and silent curses at his sister, he suggested they ran some tests. This finally got his sister back to reality.
She once again brought them to the middle of the memory pound and examined both boy and spider. Then she cursed out his whole ancestry as well as Ariadne's before she woke them up.
"You are the luckiest creatures on Dyrta, both of you. You match fucking perfectly. From your personalities to your bodies, a perfect match." She said, before adding an 'I hate you so much right now' and storming off.
Eleftherios on the other hand laughed his ass off.
"You found your perfect match Ciaran, every mage on the planet will envy you now. Give her a few days and she will be back around. Probably wouldn't be able to keep a smile on for at least a month tho." He said and laughed even harder.
Then he explained that what they had achieved was only possible in theory. Their unique situation, allowed them to grow faster as its main bonus. This and the fact that becoming a familiar removed the limiter off their body was what allowed a Rankles spider to reach Rank One in days.
Then Eleftherios continued to explain that most mages got their familiars no sooner than when they were Apprentices. Cases like his sister, who did so as a Novice were extremely rear, and now the boy had one-upped her.
"She gloated for YEARS about that Ciaran, years. Thank you, you resolved one of my childhood grudges." The man said as he continued to laugh at his sister's expense.