Wyvern Ranch

Giving those without wings the ability to fly, wyverns as a mode for transportation are usually expensive. Thus, you always travel by land, unless you have a few extra gold and would like to soar the skies leisurely. 

"Damn, you're saying it's 60 gold now? Last time I rented, it was at 55."

"Prices go up, whaddya want me to say?" The Goblin responded.  

Despite her complaint, the armored Yulia let go of Magna's and whipped out her purse and about to pay the goblin attendant who could care less about her grievance. Until succubus already beat her to it by putting a pouch filled with gold on the desk.

"Magna, why?"

"What do you mean why? You can pay for me but I can't pay for you? Seems a little one sided, don't you think?"

"Alright, have it your way." Grinning, Yulia relented. A relationship was a give and take, and if she knew that Magna wanted to give, she should have just arranged to split the cost before the whole transaction. 

"Splendid." Magna closed in and planted a soft kiss on her partner's cheek. A simple kiss that made Yulia's heart skip a beat, making her grin ever wider.

"Follow me." After counting the money on the pouch, the goblin exclaimed while looking like she had better things to do than her day job. The little green fella got off from her booster seat and led the way to the back of the ranch. 

Yulia leaned in to whisper into Magna's ear. 

"I don't think she's very thrilled to be at the front desk." 

Just because Magna enjoyed her job, it doesn't mean that the others did the same. The goblin might be going through some work related problems, who knows? Or maybe she's just naturally like that. 

"You may never know, maybe she's just having a bad day? Why don't you go ahead and ask her if you're curious about it." Magna replied. 

Being the social butterfly that she is, Yulia tried to approach the subject from a different angle other than outright asking if her day job was boring the goblin out of her mind. 

"So, how's life at the wyvern ranch, getting a lot of customers lately?" 

The goblin sighed, answering the question, "They don't pay me to answer questions like that." 

 

"It was nice talking to you too." Yulia chided as she got the memo. 

Magna chuckled at the goblin's snarky reply, shutting down Yulia. 

The goblin opened the back door to reveal a lush green field with carved artificial hills, brought about by earth magic, emulating the perfect habitat for the drakes. 

At this fertile ranch, around 12 wyverns are currently being cared for. Their scales, light jade in color. The dragonoids varied from 15 to 18 feet in length, some wyverns were still resting, some entangled while they rolled their draconic bodies together on the ground as an act of playing, while others simply soared above. 

It would seem that they had arrived during their feeding time. Its human trainer hauled in a barrel full of cow chunks. 

Levitation magic is usually easy to learn, as long as you aren't uprooting a tree out of the ground, it shouldn't put that much pressure on your mana pool, since the weight of what you are carrying corresponds with the amount of mana needed. Levitating an empty bottle is a good parlor trick that could entertain your group of friends. 

The trainer wearing a plain brown ranch vest levitated all 30 pieces of meat and moved them around to imitate a running prey. 

All wyverns halted what they were up to and took to the air, circling their prey like a pack of hungry vultures. 

One after the other, the wyverns swooped down with their enormous talons, digging into the meat before they tossed it into their mouth to rip apart and swallow. 

The levitation feeding also functioned as a sort of exercise, since the wyverns are domesticated, they don't have to worry about other wyverns contesting their territory due to the fact that they are in a ranch, they tend to laze around. 

All were equally as amazing but one of them caught Yulia's eye. Around 15 feet in length, it was the smaller out of them all. 

The last of the wyvern flew higher than its ilk, the wyvern spread its wings straight, gliding through the air pressure. 

With breathtaking velocity, the wyvern not only descended, but it moved in a cylindrical pattern, all while rotating its body. 

The wyvern was doing a barrel roll. 

With the momentum it had, it was an inevitability that it would splatter into the ground. 

Yet the daredevil wyvern would live to fly another day, it angled its wings upright as right as its talons dug into the meat, smoothly curving back into the just its was mere inches from its demise. 

Its brethrens shrieked in unison, as if celebrating the triumphant exhibition of agile flight. 

Yulia's expression was that of an amazed circus patron. The ranch could totally charge a few silver for that feeding spectacle alone. 

"We're going to take THAT wyvern!" 

The tiefling pointed at the audacious wyvern who was devouring its meal mid air. 

With a sharp whistle from the goblin, all of the wyverns flew in unison towards them, lining up to present themselves for potential customers. 

The goblin approached the wild one. You could see how well adjusted it is to the life of a steed as its head rubbed against its owner. To which the goblin responded by patting it like one would any other horse. 

"Looks like you're up, Zargriz." The goblin said as it outfitted the wyvern with reins and a saddle. 

The goblin handed the reins to Yulia. The wyvern's gaze scrutinized its temporary owner for the day. The tiefling flashed Zargriz a friendly grin. The response that Yulia received was a low shriek, and head gesture using its long neck to point at its saddle on the back. 

Was it just Yulia or did the wyvern take a liking to her at first glance? 

As Yulia got on its back, she immediately extended her hand towards magna. With a warm smile, magna accepted her assistance as she nestled comfortably behind Yulia. The succubus' arms wrapped tightly around Yulia in order to avoid falling mid air. It's not like she didn't have her own wings to cushion her fall but she welcomed the added excuse to coil her arms around her partner.

The wyvern's wings flapped, ready for take off, but not until Yulia pulled its reins. 

Yulia and Magna agreed to never put a label on what they have, all that they know is that they're hearts are entwined. The tiefling is actively helping the succubus to avoid the same fate as her mother. 

"Ready for our date?" Yulia questioned while preparing for their take off.

"As I'll ever be, honey. How about you, excited to finally see me in action?" Magna answered and immediately asked her own question right after.

"Oh, definitely."

Yulia was stoked  that she's about to see her partner's taromancy in action. Where the fabled divine beings tied with the fates are called upon by their summoner to do their bidding. The cards they inhabit are rare enough to be considered treasures, it was something that Magna inherited from her mother. Who, from Magna's account, could summon up to 15 of the major arcana. No wonder she was a diamond ranked.

Lightly tugging the reins, the wyvern's powerful wings generated a gust of wind before taking off into the air.

Thus, begins their adventure date of hunting magma wyrm.