Chapter 34

34 Game.

Valerian and Gleam sat alongside each other, none of them spoke a single word for the whole night. It was only when the sun came up on the horizon did they say, ‘Hey.’

The two glanced at each other and a chuckle escaped their mouths. Gleam said, ‘You go first?’

Valerian said, ‘Would you like to play a game?’

The snake was confused and asked, ‘What sort of game?’

‘A game of tag.’, said the boy.

Suddenly, Valerian said, ‘Hey, why do you seem to be different than before?’

The pair of golden eyes lit up and Gleam raised her body, she replied in hissing snake tongue, ‘For us magical beasts, the carcass of a dragon is a sacred object. If a magical beast pays their respect to the body of an ascended dragon, it might gain something.

Although the chance is really rare, it still exists. Also, I am no longer an Illusionis Serpens. I have become a Figura Versabilis.”

Valerian could detect the slight hint of pride in her voice, he thought for some time and then his eyes widened, he pointed at the beast and asked, ‘You have become that rare grade magical beast, the shape-shifting python.’

.....

Gleam was surprised by the fact that this child actually knew about her evolved self. She could not help but ask, ‘How do you know?’

Valerian smiled and said, ‘Read in a book, they do not know much about the rare magical beasts, so it was just a couple of books.’

Gleam nodded and said, ‘That is because there is nothing like a rare magical beast on this planet of Vita. A rare beast is not born but evolved, by the blessing of the beast god, or like you, humans call him, the Dragon God.’

Valerian noticed that other than the few physical changes, even the demeanor of this magical beast had changed. She gave off a much more majestic vibe than before.

He replied, ‘I see, but you really look fascinating now, I like how your scales are shinier and they have this slight golden hue to them. Not to mention your raised temples.’

Gleam was happy to be praised for her changes and she said, ‘You kid sure knows how to please someone. Tell me what game were you talking about earlier?’

Valerian began to explain his idea to her and the snake was very fascinated by his words.

...

Somewhere in the forest, Azula was walking slowly with four Magical beasts guarding her. They had been looking for Valerian ever since the sun rose up, on the way, they had faced a few magical beasts that housed the Forest of Acies.

However, they were all told off by the snow deers, that this small herd was not to be messed up with. Azula could not understand what the bleats would mean, but she could sense some security.

Suddenly, the herd stopped, they all were gazing in front, and they saw something that scared the shit out of them. On a big boulder, they saw a vermilion lion, sleeping with its eyes closed.

Azula also noticed the beast and she was scared too, the beast in front of them was the natural enemy of the snow deers. Azula gulped and thought, ‘Why is this beast in these forests?’

Magical beasts were scattered all over the world, with no specific location marked as their territory. Azula was aware of this fact but she was shocked and her facts did not kick in.

The snow deers seemed to have frozen in space, their eye was filled with fear. The vermilion lion on the boulder yawned and raised its head, stood up, and stretched its body in a lazy fashion.

The lion moved its head to look around and suddenly, its gaze was locked upon the herd. All of a sudden the mane and the tail end of the lion caught fire.

Azula mumbled, “Vermilion Flame Lion.”

She felt a tug on her dress and found the doe in the herd gesturing her to get on her back with her neck bend low. The princess was confused, but when she heard the terrifying roar behind her, she quickly got up on the back of the doe and they ran.

The hunt among the magical beasts was not a simple one, they both had the means to counter each other. The snow deers did not wait for the Vermilion Flame Lion to chase behind them and they ran away with Azula.

However, it was not that simple, the lion chased after them, it cast a spell, and a cloud of fire rushed toward the deers. The snow deers defended that attack with ease as they cast a wall of ice behind them.

The chase continued, the lion would cast flame balls and force the herd to change the direction. After ten minutes of a high-speed chase through the forests, the Vermilion Lion came to a standstill and it let out a roar.

The roar indicated its rage for letting go of the prey in front of him. However, the snow deers did not stop until they had covered a good distance and arrived at a clearing.

...

Rectus was moving through the forest carefully, when suddenly is saw a Vermilion Lion walking out of the bushes, with its mane on fire.

He did not waste a single moment and cast a spell to push himself further. Another chase began and the beast pushed the mage in a direction that lead to the clearing.

...

Priscilla met a Stone Bull, her fire was useless, and the shadow was only able to help her escape the chase, soon she was pushed towards the clearing as well.

...

Quies was the only one left, he was sitting on a boulder when he said, “Come out, who is there?”

A blue snow deer appeared in front of him, the blue deer had a broken antler, and gashes on the torso as it limped towards him. The warrior steward was shocked, he could tell that this beast was none other than the one that served the princess.

He moved closer to the beast, and the deer finally fell to the ground, letting out a painful bleat. Quies asked, “What happened? Who did this? Where is her highness?”

His real mission was to protect the princess he did not care about anything else. The deer looked in the direction of the clearing and stopped breathing.

Quies said, “I will come back for you.”

That said, the steward rushed forward. He did not care about barging inside the limits of any magical beasts, if he could not find the princess, then he would commit suicide.

The speed of his run was quite fast. He arrived at the clearing and was shocked. He saw Priscilla, Rectus, and Azula sitting on the ground. He could also see four snow deers standing around the three, protecting them.

He asked in a hurry, “Your Highness, are you fine? How come there are four snow deers? Did you not get attacked?”

Azula shook her head and said, “We were not hurt, we all came to this place, and Priscilla and Rectus arrived later. What happened? Tell me what did you see.”

Quies reported what happened to him and suddenly everyone was shocked and surprised. They wanted to deduce what was happening when they all heard a chuckle in the surroundings.

They all knew who this was. Valerian came out from behind a tree and said, ‘Did you miss me?’

The people were shocked, they did not expect him to be so strong. Priscilla said, “You used illusion against us?”

Valerian shook his head and said, “The spells you faced were all real, I cast them personally.”

Azula asked, “What about the beasts?”

Valerian smiled at her and then he spoke in a snake tongue. The four people became vigilant and they saw a black snake with a pair of golden eyes crawling his way over.

They were surprised, how come this child found a magical beast. If they knew that Gleam did not eat human meat they would have been shocked.

Valerian smiled and used his hands to say, ‘This is Gleam, she is an Illusionis Serpens.’

His words baffled everyone, they did not expect it to be a rare magical beast. Gleam could shift shape but she could also create illusions around her, Valerian did not want to disclose too much to these people. They have not been kind to him.

Gleam came beside Valerian and she raised her head slightly. Priscilla said, “If you enjoyed pranking us, then come back to the palace.”

These words were directed to the child. Valerian smiled and said, ‘You think, you have what it takes to force me? Ever since I have met you guys, all I faced is pretentiousness and arrogance, yet you want me to go back to that place? On what grounds?

This was a warning, I will leave you be, for the time being, do not act like you care a lot about me.’