A Griffin Steals My Apple

Arlo was very lame at naming things. Blacky? Shadow? Midnight? Pudding? What was a perfect name for the little guy. Sho had left him back at his room and was off tending the demon steeds. So of course he was sitting on his bed watching the little wolf.

[Onyx Wolf level 1 Weakling][HP 100/100]

Level one and not trying to kill me…. Well not yet anyway. That makes you my best friend in this demon world. Charcoal? Kipper? Cuddles? It was a boy wolf so cuddles probably would hurt its pride later in life. What did demons even consider proper names. Let's see the two demon steeds were Tyrant and Raven. Seems normal enough and I don't really have anything else to go off of at the moment.

Crow? Commander? Chilly? Nah he's black colored. Arlo looked back at the currently black and green wolf. He had been black and purple not too long ago. Maybe something that reflected his ability to change his fur? Rainbow? Opal? Shiny? No he wasn't shiny. Obsidian? He liked rock type names.

The little wolf rolled over begging Arlo to rub its stomach. Arlo being a softy could not refuse the animal cuteness. Who's in charge of who again? Aww so cute. He looked down at the colorful stomach fur which was shifting colors while being pet. Colors surrounded by black fur on the edges.

"OOOh I got it!" said Arlo smiling at the wolf, "Black Opal, and for short I can be lazy and call you Blacky." He thought of the weird opal he had seen in a store once. Dark in color but it had reflected all kinds of other colors.

To Arlo's surprise the system beeped.

[Companion now set to Onyx Wolf: Black Opal]

That's a thing! Why on earth didn't this pop up as a category earlier! I Could have just companioned something terribly scary.

[Error: Cannot companion something above your level]

If you had a physical presence I would stick my tongue out at you Mr. System. Give me all the details before hand can't you. Of course mentally arguing with a system made by gods, maybe Arlo should just check into an insane asylum.

Or wait, Sho had said his name before. What was his system like? Arlo could totally find his way back to the stables, right? He picked up Blacky and went into the hall. Lets see, left, right, right, left, straight, straight, right, wait no this is the kitchen.

Ooh these apples look tasty. Arlo picked up one for himself and passed Blacky one. The little wolf ate it in one bite making Arlo question its cute harmless nature. He took a bite of apple himself and kept going. Okay left right, straight, straight. Yes! A door to the outside area. A large door like the one they had entered appeared. Arlo opened it and stepped out.

Well it was a takeoff and landing platform, but the stable area wasn't there. Instead chained to a center platform was a large beast with the head of an eagle and the back of a lion.

"A real live griffin, wow you are cool!" Arlo walked slightly closer careful to stay back enough from its very deadly looking beak. It turned looking at him and lowered its head slightly and motioned to Arlo's apple with a bite taken out.

"You're hungry?" asked Arlo. "I'm not sure what Sho feeds you or how much."

The griffin made a low noise that for some reason sounded like please.

"Uh well I guess it can't hurt to give you a tiny little apple. I mean your huge you probably eat 10 bales of hay a day. So it's not like you would get fat or anything." Arlo carefully tossed the apple close to the griffin. He would definitely not go closer or he'd be the mid day snack.

The Griffin extended a long tongue to grab the apple and slurped it up reminding Arlo of a frog. It looked at Arlo clearly wanting another.

"Sorry buddy I'm all out" said Arlo.

The griffin let out a trill and turned away no longer interested in Arlo's empty promises. Arlo looked across the area. The castle was up on a hill near this forest area. Below him a little ways he saw the actual stable. Well he was only a few flights of stairs in the wrong area. He turned back to the door to try again when an angry trill sounded behind him.

He glanced back. The calm griffin was no longer calm and watching him with beady eyes. Its tongue flicked in and out.

Arlo gulped, "I don't have any more apples" he whispered.

The griffin snarled and reared up and back against the chains.

[Griffin level 39: Decent]

Gee thanks system, just adding to the terror in my heart aren't you. Arlo clung to the area furthest from the griffin. It was making the whole platform shake.

"I thought I told you not to feed the griffin" Sho had suddenly appeared beside him. Arlo almost leapt toward the griffin in fright. "He has a very low sugar tolerance." Sho continued. He looked directly at Arlo and said "Don't feed the griffin."

Arlo nodded hurriedly, he was never going to feed the griffin again that's for sure. The apple was barely the size of its claw was it really affected by that much sugar?

Sho dragged him and Blacky back inside. Leaving the terrifying creature to its temper tantrum. Arlo wasn't in the mood to be brave any more today and spent the rest of the day in his room playing with Blacky instead.

He was splashing water on the pup from the bathtub to get him use to water when a rat scurried under the door. Arlo wasn't scared of rats. He totally didn't jump on the toilet and yelp like a little girl. Oh no his previous rat experiences had all gone so well after all.

While he gracefully made a strategic retreat Blacky killed the rat with one swipe.

[Black Opal as advanced to level 2]

[Companion bonus 50 exp]

"Oooh" said Arlo "Aren't you the greatest little murderer."

Black Opal held his rat with pride looking at Arlo with beaming eyes.

Arlo smiled "Let's see if we can find you a few more rats to exterminate without going to the creepy tunnels."

Arlo and Blacky spent the rest of the day walking around the castle looking for loose rats.

[Level up] [Companion level up]

They ended the day both being level 3. Progress at last! Thought Arlo. He had to get stronger. Arlo was proud of the 7 rats they had killed. Cough cough he denied his accidently destruction of a door stop he thought was a rat. Demon furniture really was way too misleading.

Walking back to his room Arlo also realized that he knew his way around most of the halls now. Bonus of walking around so much. Pity the system didn't seem to have a map function.

That night at dinner Arlo decided to ask Sho about the system.

"Um Sho?"

"Hmm?"

"How did you know my name?"

"Demon sight, demons gain it at level 10."

"Ahh"

Demon sight? What the heck was that? He also knew about levels, but it seemed the two systems were slightly different. Maybe I'll get demon sight at level 10. Interesting a new goal, and a good starting goal.

Goal one: level 10

Goal two: reach the human world

Goal three: start my peaceful life

"Hmm?" Arlo asked seeing Sho watching him from across the table, "What's up?"

"You are more delicious than this food."

Arlo froze, "Uh that's great."

"Waiting for claims to wear off just to add a new one takes forever."

"I wish they'd last longer for the standard one."

"You should come to my room tonight."

"Sorry I um promised Blacky we could hunt more rats after dinner."

"What about after Blacky goes to bed?"

"Uh you know I'm already quite tired sorry maybe another day?"

"Hmm maybe your debt to me should have interest payments."

Arlo gulped. Tonight was not going to go well was it.