A Wyvern's Requiem

Rushing toward the source of this noise, Laena saw her young friend struggling to get up in a sitting position. Evelyn noticed her and weakly asked :

"Laena... You are alright..?"

"Yes I am you dumbass. And you how do you feel? Does it hurt somewhere?" the elf grunted while frowning because the small girl was more worried about the others than herself.

"I've the feeling that my body is filled of small needles but it's better than before." Evelyn said while putting up a smile. "Where is Jack...?"

"I'm right there." the immortal replied from his seat around the campfire. "For now, rest and meditate on what you've done wrong. I'll be scolding you when you get better."

"Ew..." The two girls said together as they knew what awaited them. Looking at each other, they saw the same fear of the spartan training they had gotten in the other's eyes and this made them laugh heartily.

"Want something to eat Evy?" Laena kindly asked after they took their breathes while the small girl winced because of her laughing session's drawback.

"Yes please. Could you bring me some water too?" Evelyn sheepishly replied as she hated being this weak but she could do nothing about it.

"Sure." the elf said with a kind smile before going out of tent. Grabbing some food in her backpack, she heard some noise coming from a pile of crate and saw Jack happily getting a few bottles containing a brown liquid out of it. Slowly raising an eyebrow, she continued to grab some bread and her water pouch while the immortal was drinking the content of the bottle without a single pause.

"Wha-What..." She blurted out as he emptied it, throwing the now useless glass container far away in the forest. Turning around, he noticed her unbelieving gaze and simply shrugged while saying :

"What? Aren't thirsty sometimes too?"

"Yeah I do but... Aren't these liquor bottles?"

"I guess it is." He smiled before opening another one and sitting on a nearby crate.

Rolling her eyes at her teacher's drinking ability, she decided to come back to him later and simply took some time to chat with Evelyn while she was eating.

"Do you think that Jack is... Mad at me?" The small girl whispered while munching on a piece of bread she held with her two hands.

"Mhh I don't think so. He just want you to think about what you've done wrong and sort out your feelings. But first, rest a little." Laena said while patting the small girl. Thanking her friend for her support, Evelyn smiled and laid down again, watching her tent's roof while reviving the whole fight in her mind.

Getting out again, she saw that Jack had ended his third bottle and was currently drinking his fourth. Flabbergasted by his rhythm, she silently sat in front of him and was a bit surprised when he asked her clearly :

"Want a drink young elf?"

"Uuh... Yeah sure. Why did you start to drink suddenly like this?" She said while taking a bottle too. Reading the letters engraved in the glass, she saw that it was some JarrerMaster. This alcohol was quite a local one as it was made with many herbs and plants you could find in the Kingdom's forests.

"I don't know, I simply felt like it. We have a beautiful scenery and time to lose so why not relax a little from our taxing work?" Jack replied with a smile.

Nodding, the young elf took a large sip as she saw her teacher drinking the liquid like it was water. Surprised, she felt the strong taste of aromatic herbs spread on her tongue followed by the burning impact of the alcohol and coughed as she felt the fire flow down her throat. Her ears turned a little red as she felt the punch of the beverage reach her head.

"Is it your first time drinking ?" The immortal asked as he laughed a lot from the scene his student was making.

"N-no I've drank wine and such things before.." Laena replied before trying again, taking a smaller amount this time. Still, she frowned and made quite a face as she felt the strength of the drink.

"Oh? Then you won't have any troubles to finish your bottle with me right?" Jack smiled as he became a bit redder. Even if his body was resistant to poison as he created it that way, the sheer quantity of alcohol he had ingested slowly made his way in his bloodstream.

"What do you take me for? Even if I don't have a dwarf's capacity to chug beer barrels I can still handle this !" The elf replied before taking a good gulp.

"Hahaha, well done child. A drink is always better when shared."

"Isn't it. And don't treat me like a child dammit!" Laena grumpily said while downing her bottle to three quarter.

"You two are children to me, nothing can change this." Seeing her pouting face as her ears waved around angrily, Jack explained his point of view. "I'm a foreigner to this world Laena, and every being in here is an ant to me. After all, I'm old enough to be a forgotten ancestor of the human race. I see you two as human beings because you've proved your worth to me."

"What do you mean by foreigner?" The elf asked while tilting her head on the side as she noticed that her face was getting hotter after every sips. She didn't really understood what he meant but still felt quite touched by what he said.

"All the people I knew, loved and enjoyed being with are dead since a long time. I've been released in an unknown world, seeing that everything I knew has changed. You two are the only one who managed to live up my expectations and have proved to be interesting. If I hadn't this searing pain to push me to go on I would probably have stayed in my cave." The immortal said while letting out a joyless laugh.

""Losing your life is not the worst thing that can happen. The worst thing is to lose your reason for living."That's what a wise man from my time once said. " The alcohol had made his facade crumble and to Laena he now simply looked like a broken, melancholic and sorrowful old man who had simply lost everything he had.

Surprised and taken aback by this sudden change, she did not know what to say and simply gazed at him, trying to show him her empathy. Smiling at her, Jack noticed this and changed the subject while finishing his fourth bottle:

"By the way, you never told us why you left your house. Did you simply want to get some fresh air?"

"Ha, yes I wanted to go away from my family but for a good reason..." Taking a pause, she wondered if she should talk about her problems and when she saw the gentle grey eyes of her teacher looking at her she decided to empty her bag :

"As you probably know I'm a lady from a noble household and as such... We usually get married into other families to tie bonds." Taking a deep breath, she continued : "My father respected my wish to remain alone and discover the world but my elder brother who is about to inherit the seat of family chief don't think the same..."

"Is that your only worry?" Jack asked seriously, making Laena raise her eyes from the ground. Chuckling, the immortal showed his wolfish smile to his student.

"You are officially one of my people. No one is allowed to take what's mine from me without my permission. I won't let anything happens to my students, don't worry. If he dare to order you around I will show him what's the true meaning of despair."His tone was warm and gentle as he looked at her confidently. Gazing at him, she felt safe and calm about her future for the first time in a while.

Before she replied as tears formed themselves in her eyes a low growl dragged her attention away. Turning their heads, they both saw a bear-like creature approaching them while showing its teethes. It was a monstrous being without any fur and huge, long disgusting legs equipped with sharp claws at their ends.

The whole fleshy creature was about 1.5 meter high and 3 meters long while on its four pawns. It hadn't any tail and simply looked gross as its skin was translucent and you could see the muscles moving under it. The two mean black eyes it had above its small nose didn't help to make it cuter while its spiky ears moved on its head.

Getting up since a threat had appeared, Laena felt nauseous and saw the world turning around her. Laughing thanks to her student's funny performance, Jack reassured her :

"This Belesh isn't dangerous, don't worry. However, it's a perfect testing material for my new wand."

Sensing the danger, the monster picked up the pace and rushed toward the immortal as he had raised his scepter toward it. A blue eerily fire appeared on its top, dancing between the twisted finger-like protuberances.

"Wyvern's Requiem."

The creature had opened its maw as it pounced on Jack and revealed many fangs ready to dig in his flesh. However, it never managed to bite the man as it felt something rise form the ground and deeply shred its entrails while pushing it upward. Hitting at tree with its back before falling violently on the ground the Belesh used its last ounces of energy to look around and understand what had happened.

Then, it saw a ghostly pale dragon's head looking at it while flying above the ground and recognized its own blood in the lizard's transparent maws. The last thing it saw was the endless abyss awaiting it at the end of the wyvern's throat as the eerie apparition bit its head off.

Cancelling his spell, Jack nodded as he checked the damages on his scepter. It seemed fine as the magic didn't damage the internal structure. "Good, good." He muttered before sitting on his box again and opening his fifth bottle.

"You know what, I won't even get surprised." Laena sighed before sitting too and trying to finish the last half of her's. Laughing heartily, they continued to drink and talk until the elf fell asleep and left Jack drag her to a bed. Staying up another night, he made his headache disappear under liters of alcohol but his eyelids closed themselves in the early morning.

Feeling something touch him, he woke up and jumped on his feet before noticing that it was simply a blanket Evelyn just put on him.

"Oh, thank you young one." He said with a pasty mouth as he reeked alcohol.

"N-no it's fine..." The small girl muttered before looking at the ground as she feared to be scolded. Surprisingly, she just felt Jack's hand on her head as he gently told her :

"You've understood your lesson I think. Don't let your feelings get the best of you as in a battlefield this kind of mistake would be deadly for you and the teammate you may have been able to save otherwise. Well, since you're fine let's wake up the other sleepyhead and get on our way toward home."

"Yes!" Evelyn replied with a huge smile. She had been thinking deeply about what she had felt and eavesdropped their conversation when he spoke with Laena. Noticing how he saw them as his companions and how important their lives and presences were to him filled her with shame and determination to do a better work.

After having tasted the despair of an insufferable suffering alongside the bliss of being healed and cuddled she had made an important promise to herself. She had decided that she would be his right hand, somebody who would stay next to him and follow him in the darkest abyss if he decided to. He had saved her life twice and gave her a new start. Since nothing could repay this favor, she had chosen to do her best to get stronger and be able to stay at his side.

Determination could be seen glowing in her eyes as she moved her painful body to wake up her friend from her drunken dreams. Frowning since the elf smelled alcohol too, she did her best to wake her up without any success. Sighing, she asked Jack a bit of help and some iced water did an excellent job. It seemed that Laena was struggling with her hangover as she groggily put her backpack up while Jack and Evelyn were laughing.

Since the party's mood was quite high they didn't see the time fly while they walked with their heavy backpacks. A few carriages passed by but Jack forced the girls to continue by foot as a punishment for their mistakes during the fight. Their wounds were still painful even if they had mostly healed but this only helped them to forge themselves a mind of steel.

They quickly reached the place where they had killed the wyvern and noticed that something was wrong. There were many bloody traces on the ground around which weren't there before and the monster's carcass looked way bigger... Until a head rose and they noticed what was wrong.

"So this wyvern had a companion... Well, this one is mine girls." Jack said while smiling ferociously as the creature extended its wings and roared in anger.