A new partner

While the sun etched itself into the sky, I was awakened by the scraping of her two blades sharpening each other. I looked down to my right to watch her gleefully tend to her blade or, shall I rather say, her dagger.

"Do you enjoy watching me sharpen my sword?" Ellinor said to me with a smile as she carried on working on her sword. I could see her smiling from where I was sat but she never looked at me once.

"I find it entertaining; why do you ask?" I replied with a wiped out expression from just waking up. "Not like I can really see anything. it's too bright and too early. Why are you up so early?"

"I'm awake at this time because of the destruction you caused to my sword and I need to fix it before we go anywhere." She said as she started to work harder still avoiding to look into my direction.

"I'm sorry. It's not like I did it on purpose." I said while I looked down from her. "It's not my fault it was so weak."

She finally looks at me but she didn't seem too happy though. "So you're telling me you shattered a sword by accident." She said.

"Exactly," I replied with a large grin on my face. "We need to get moving anyway so could you hurry up. If you want I could lend you a knife as we venture through the forest." I said as she started to work on the sword again.

"Don't worry about it. You should go into the forest and look for something we could eat out here." She announced like she was trying to get rid of me.

"Fine, I will go venture into the forest without you but don't try to run off, please. I kinda need you to help me." I said as I grabbed a bow and a quiver full of arrows.

As I left to enter the forest, I could see the sun start to rise higher into the sky. The sky started to turn into a beautiful baby blue where the clouds ventured through the abyss of blue.

Just after I got to the forest I climbed a tree to get a height advantage over my prey. I used wind magic to leap to and from each branch in the trees. From there I could see all the small animals but there were no large or medium-sized animals. It's as if the place has already been looted.

I hear a burst of wind magic come from the distance followed by the screeches of dying animals. I slowly approach the area going through the trees to stay out of sight.

When I got there I could see a small area within the forest that has been beaten to a pulp. I could see patches of grass that had been burnt and slashes across the tree where the wind blades went through their prey.

It's a massacre.

I could see puddles of blood everywhere I looked. They weren't leaving anything to live in this area of nature. This isn't how nature should be treated in any world.

I decide to follow them. Keeping out of sight, I go through the trees, also to avoid the blood, to find where they may be from. Maybe Ellinor and I could put them in their place.

Or not.

"Guys come here; I think I see something moving through the trees!" One of the men said as he tried to get the other two people over.

"Give it a rest will ya; we have enough to feed ourselves." A woman said. She seemed to be their leader because the man didn't seem to question her judgment.

I avoided that one. For now, I think I should just go back and tell Ellinor about this. I slowly leave the area without getting spotted.

While I go back through the forest I hear a small and quiet "Yelp," It sounded like it came from a small tree with a few slashes across it. I slowly walk towards the tree and take a peek around it.

Is it a wolf?

it looked towards me with the most faithful expression ever; It had a beautiful silver coat with wonderful emerald green eyes. I just wanted to keep it. It didn't seem hostile towards me; maybe I can bring it back to camp.

On my way back with the dire wolf, I tried a spell I created that would allow me to communicate with the Dire Wolf. "Yusō Kokoro," I said as I looked into the wolf's eyes.

This allowed me to talk with the wolf telekinetically so I didn't feel so alone while I walked back to camp.

"Can you hear me, wolf?" I said to the wolf using my spell while I looked down at it.

"Yes, I can. Who are you to be so kind to the wolfkin? The wolf replied with a husky voice as he looked back at me.

"Just a normal girl. Why do you ask?" I replied in an appealing voice with a concerned yet confused expression.

"Most people are afraid of my kind but you're not. You treat me kindly compare to other humans." He said while we walked to camp.

When we got to camp, Ellinor jumped a mile when she saw the wolf behind me. Quickly, she grabbed her dagger and pushed me back from the wolf while she pointed the blade towards it.

"No stop!" I screamed, "he's friendly."

"What do you mean 'he's friendly' Cara?" She screamed back, "Do you understand how dangerous these monsters are?

"That's because people treat them like monsters. They just don't know how to communicate with creatures." I said, defending the Dire Wolf.

I passed her a piece of paper with my new made spell called Yusō Kokoro. "Use this," I said to her, "You can use it to talk to the wolf."

"Sure" She replied arrogantly.

I find it disturbing that they can talk without me being able to hear even though I'm stood right here.

"I'll be changing the spell so it can go through a three-way system. Just wanna tell you before I change it." I said in an uncomfortable manner.

"Why would you do that?" Ellinor replied with a face of concern.

"I just don't feel comfortable standing here while you two talk and I can't hear a thing. But don't worry because I will make it so we can choose who we can speak to. We could use it to talk to each other over long distances or even to distract someone." I said to justify my point.

"Okay, I get where you're coming from." She replied with a gleeful smile.

"We need to get moving anyway; didn't you say you knew the way there?" I announced.

"Yeah, you said you were going to the city. right?" She replied as she picked some stuff up.

"Yeah but now we're going to have to find a way to conceal the wolf so people don't see home and end up screaming," I said.

"I get what you mean but if worst comes to worst we can use it as a resource to survive." She replied with a faint aroma of disgust.

"No… we are keeping the wolf," I replied.

"What do you mean we are keeping it." She replied.

"We need to name him," I said, trying to get her more attached to the wolf so she wouldn't kill it.

"No, we are not naming the creature. Do you know what happens when you name monsters?" She yelled back at me.

"What do you mean?" I replied in confusion. "What happens when you name a monster then because I haven't been told anything about this while I've been alive."

"Fine… I thought you at least knew this but sure I'll tell you. When you name a monster, depending on your own mana capacity, the monster will become more powerful." She explained.

"Oh… is that it?" I replied with a smile. "Guess I'll name him."

"You're still gonna name him?" She screamed.

"Yeah, it doesn't seem like a big deal anyway. If he becomes powerful maybe he can learn some skills so we don't have to conceal him ourselves." I replied with a happy smile.

"Why are you like this?" She said to me but I ignored her while I thought of a name for the wolf.

"I'm naming him Shiriko, Ellinor; I don't care what you think about this!" I exclaimed with a smile.

"Do I not get a say in this?" Ellinor replied in a disastrous tone as if she was going to break apart.

When the wolf was named a bright light emerged from the wolf and I was forced to the ground. My eyes slowly closed into darkness and I could hear Ellinor screaming to see if I'm okay.

I could still sense things like Ellinor's presence and Shiriko's presence but I could only see darkness.

When I came to, I was flat upon the grassy floor. I could feel a warmth behind me. It was soft and fluffy. When I looked to my right I could see Ellinor keeping watch.

I tried to sit up but I was too weak. When I did, I fell to the ground and hit my head on the soft warmth again. When I managed to turn my head I could see silver fur.

"Hey, are you awake now?" I heard a slightly disoriented voice say to me.

When I tried to speak I let out a faint gasp, leaving me breathless. I was too weak to speak; I couldn't tell whether the person talking to me was friendly or not but I didn't have the strength to do anything about it.

By the way, they acted when I woke up it seems like they aren't hostile towards me.

"Drink this," they said to me, "It should make you feel better," When the person gave me the drink, I slowly started to feel better. My senses sharpened: I could see more clearly and my movements were slightly freer.

When I looked up, the person I could see looking after me after I had passed out was Ellinor. I could see her silky boysenberry hair sparkle across my line of sight. I could see her clear blue eyes again and her beautiful beige skin.

"Ellinor?" I said with a weak tone in my voice while I tried to get back up.

"Don't get back up yet!" She quickly replied as she pushed me back down onto the soft grass. "You need to wait to recover before you do anything. You used up too much mana naming Shiriko."

"Right I remember now; I'm sorry I made you worry," I replied as I laid on the grass while she sat next to me on the floor, looking over me.

"Be glad Shiriko isn't the type of wolf I thought he is. If it wasn't for him then you would have probably been out for a longer amount of time." She explained in a regretful tone.

"Don't worry so much. I'm not so weak as to lose all my mana from naming him. He was just more powerful than I expected. That's all; It caught me off guard." I replied, trying to prove I'm not weak.

"Oh right, he took so much of your juice because he is the prince of wolves. He is much more powerful than other wolves as he has royal blood within him." She said to explain why I passed out from the loss of mana.

"That makes sense but we still need to keep moving. There were bandits back in the forest hunting down animals and killing all in sight. I don't want to run into them while I'm in this state." I said while I tried to get up again.

This time she didn't stop me from getting up yet, in fact, she helped me up. "After you named the wolf he grew in size, you can use him to get around. Your mana is still dangerously low." She said as she sat me onto Shiriko.

"The wolf has a name so use it. I didn't just use up a lot of mana for you to call Shiriko a wolf." I replied in an anguished tone.

"Fine but we still need to get moving. Who knows how close they could be by now." She announced.

"Master, I will keep you safe from the bad people," Shiriko said to me as he walked at the same pace as Ellinor.

When we walked around the forest I could hear the screeches of people from within it. "The bandits couldn't have run into some adventurers, could they?" I said with concern.

"Maybe, but it's not our problem," Ellinor replied as she kept walking forward.

"We can't just leave them like that, can we?" I replied in an angry tone.

"Master, Ellinor is correct about this. You're too weak to fight anyone right now. The condition you're in right now you probably couldn't be one of the cubs in a fight." Shiriko expressed to keep me in a safe place.

"But we can still help them. I don't care what my condition is but you should always put others before yourself!" I said as I hopped off of Shiriko's back.

I slowly started to walk towards the forest when an arrow of fire shot past me, grazing my shoulder and making me weaker for a fight.

"have you joined the party too, ey?" The voice called out with lurking despair and horror in its atmosphere.

"I'm not looking for a fight," I replied while I used Shiriko to stay standing up on my own two feet.

"Well, you're getting one!"