Past Trio

"Coming! Dude, I almost forgot about that!" Page said excitedly, "I forgot how insanely lucky you are because of how strong you were, you tamed a slime that had a high affinity with dragon power!"

"There are affinities for that?"

"Yeah, people can earn attributes from other races through several methods, like certain types of contracts or rituals, and it is easier for some if they have high affinity. This one is really good with dragon power and can absorb a bunch of that really efficiently."

"That's so cool, what can it do?"

"You actually didn't have to use it much later in life, but it was basically a slime-covered in a dragon. I think it's better if you see for yourself, explaining it might ruin the surprise and the image for you. It won't make it grow any faster anyway."

"This is awesome! I wanna see what it looks like soon."

"What's the name of the slime?"

"Hmm. I think I'll name it Meda, a small tribute to Meda."

"I think he'll appreciate it. I thought you pre-named all your slimes?"

"I can change them, they always know who I'm talking about since it's all telepathic and goes straight to their brains."

They ended the conversation once they got close enough and broke into a jog to the kababs. Thinking about the dragon slime, Zeeth got really excited.

Not long after finishing their meal and everyone sat in silent murmuring, five horses and a carriage were coming in their direction from where Melanis stood. All of them stood, watching and waiting for the horses to get to them, wondering what they were for.

"Oh, no. The Hunters Association have come, they must've heard the dragon and come running." he suddenly turned to all the merchants and yelled to them all, "please, do not tell them we killed the dragon! Let them know the dragon ran away! If they know, it will cause trouble for all of us!"

Everyone there, knowing that they were indebted to the three, quickly nodded their heads and agreed to his request.

The horses finally arrived with their riders and the one at the forefront, with his cleanly cut and overly gelled hair, and a small, pointed beard, yelled out in an annoyingly loud and high pitched voice, "by the Order of the Hunters Association from Melanis, I, Harris Vonnear, demand to know what has happened here! You will swear to tell NOTHING but the whole truth!"

Zeeth thought about the name for a moment, realizing it was strangely familiar, while Page yelled up to him on his horse, "Whatever do you mean?"

"Do NOT try to play dumb! Our sensors have detected magic from here from a dragon! Tell me at ONCE what has happened!"

He suddenly remembered Vonnear was the name of the man that put Afir out of the battlefield and tried to ruin his life after Afir injured his son.

"Yes, a dragon attacked, but we fought it until the dragon ran away."

The rest of the riders hopped off and from the carriage came three people, two boys and a girl who looked very familiar. The girl and one of the boys looked like twins, similar in nearly every way, and the third boy was much taller than anyone else there.

"Harris, shut it." said the tall one.

"Yes, Sir Will," Harris said, obediently.

"Norman, use your telekinesis, will you? We arrived about half a day late, 15 hours should do it." the girl said.

"Norman? Will? Kelle?" Zeeth said, looking at the three.

They all looked back at him, mildly surprised to hear their names, especially the girl's name.

"How do you know us-is that you, Zeeth?" Kelle said, the four of them slowly recognizing each other again. Page also waved at them and the three ran up to greet them. Harris seemed horrified that the five knew each other, having been so rude just a moment ago.

"Wait, come, come in the carriage, you guys!" Norman said, waving them in. the rest of the horses and riders parted ways to let them through and the first thing Norman said when they settled down was, "geez, how long has it been? What have you been up to?"

"I should ask the same of you, what are you doing here?"

"We've all risen in ranks through the help of the Vasaleum. We are all captains of Foreign Escort Squads meant to go out of the city walls and examine anything strange going on. But the three of us were put in one this time and sent here from Jarlon since they detected a dragon's mana, they needed a few of the best. So, why did we find you guys in the middle of this mess?"

"Actually, we encountered the dragon and fought it. We lost a man during the battle and the dragon escaped."

"Do you know where?" Will asked.

"No, but there was a sort of compass stone on its head so it was likely a dragon belonging to someone." Page said, "well, that's at least the story we want everyone to know."

"What?" The four of them said in unison.

"Listen," Page said dramatically, "we actually did kill the dragon and we've taken it apart and stored all it's parts. But we don't want the world knowing we killed a dragon, it would make all sorts of complications, like big businesses trying to kill us or get in our way and such, so I ask, friend to friend, to let your superiors and everyone else know that we only scared it away, losing a companion in the battle. You can take the fossils back, they belong to creatures hidden deep underground and already put back with a dragon's power so I think it would appease your superiors."

"So, you want us to lie to our bosses?" Kelle asked, looking at the other two seriously.

"Yes, if you could. Please." Zeeth pleaded.

"Bwahahaha! You don't need to be so nice, we'll do it with joy! We would lie to our boss even without any encouragement!" Norman cried, "we hate the old bum!"

Will told them, "He's the only reason we aren't higher in our ranks, he keeps telling others that we're liars. So we thought, if we're being accused of it, then we might as well be.

"Us lying only really hurts him, the responsibility of a non-compliant worker is their boss's fault," Kelle remarked. "That's why we keep our men on such tight leashes."

"Although Harris gets a little annoying sometimes." Will said, "pompous because he has a famous last name."

"Wow, you've really changed, Will. you used to be the ones they called annoying."

"I know, it wasn't a conscious choice. After you left, we spent a ton of time repairing the city and rose through the ashes better than before. The city is now one of the only outer cities in the kingdom that rivals the center cities in protection, and it will soon rival them in trade."

"Woah, that's impressive!"

"Yeah, the attack gave the Vasaleum the chance to finally take control of the city through the shadows and bring it back stronger than ever. Thanks for that, Zeeth."

"Oh, uh. I'm not sure if I should really be thanked… didn't a lot of people die?"

"Oh, that was a joke. You didn't know? We studied the tentacon that came later and it was found that it was sent there through months and months of a scientist's effort. There is a whole lair in the forest grounds where a contraption stands that shoots high pitched sounds at monsters to get them to attack the city. The power was being drawn straight from the city's reserves so when a concentrated beam erupted from the machine, it instantaneously sapped the power from our protective guns and whatnot and allowed the tentacon through easily." she explained.

Will continued, "The energy reserves were supposed to be watched, and the stealing of our energy that has been going on for months could have easily been spotted and stopped. But it was our terrible luck that the job was given to a bunch of lazy, snobby kids from rich and influential families. The kids just want a safe and well-paying job with close connections to the government and didn't do jack there. In fact, Harris's brother here was actually on the team that was meant to watch the reserves. He was immediately fired and nearly disowned from the family, from what I hear. Anyway, what's up with you guys? Of course, you were able to kill a dragon, what was that like?"

"Oh, it was just a bunch of luck and a bunch of help."

"Ah, your damn luck again. Remember that winner stick you got from the Cycone?"

"Yeah, that was hilarious!" Kelle laughed.

They talked on and on for half an hour about all those things they missed from each other's lives. Will's talent had grown immensely from the city recovery issues, the range for his expanded senses could now stretch thousands of miles. Zeeth and Page left with their promise that they would keep everything a secret and that they would put in a word for Meda's family to be helped as much as they can.