Chapter 9: A Father’s Love
Kaien ran with his daughter clutched tightly in his arms.
Branches whipped past Kaien's face as he tore through the forest, ducking beneath one that stretched low across his path before leaping over the fallen trunk of another. Kiko held tightly to him, her small body pressed against his chest as he pushed himself harder.
His tail streamed behind him as he ran, the normally majestic mass of reddish-brown fur soaked and tangled after nearly two days of flight. Even weighed down by water and dirt, it was enormous compared to Kiko's.
That was one of the easiest ways to tell a male Kitsune from a female.
Kiko had been born with a longer, fuller tail than her brother, as female kits always were. As she grew older and her Spirit matured, that power would eventually express itself through additional tails and increasingly powerful magic.
Males developed differently.
Kaien would never grow a second tail. A male Kitsune's Spirit remained concentrated within his single tail, causing it to grow larger and fuller as he matured while strengthening the body it was attached to. That tail was the reason he'd been able to stay ahead of his pursuers for so long.
It was why male Kitsune so often became warriors. And Kaien had spent most of his life becoming a very good one. Kaien drew a little more Spirit from the reserves stored within his tail, forcing another burst of speed and strength into his exhausted body. He could feel those reserves getting dangerously low. He had to lose the undead soon, or all hope was lost.
They were gaining on them.
Kaien didn't need to look back to know it. He could practically smell the foul breath of the Hellhounds pursuing them through the forest.
Then came the unmistakable slap of paws hitting water somewhere behind him.
Kaien's heart sank. He had crossed that same stream less than a minute ago. They were close.
Too close.
For the last five miles, Kaien had followed the stream whenever he could, crossing back and forth whenever he thought they were out of sight in the hope that the running water might confuse their scent. It had bought them time.
Just not enough.
The undead raiding party that had descended upon their tiny village had numbered more than thirty. A large part of that force was now somewhere behind him, hunting him and his daughter through the Great Dryad Forest.
Not all of them, though.
That thought frightened him more than the creatures at his back.
Kylie.
Kaien prayed to the Goddess Nia that his wife and son were already far away and somewhere safe. When it became clear the undead were gaining on them, Kylie and he had made the heart-wrenching decision to split up, hoping that doing so might give at least one of their kits a chance to survive.
Kylie had taken their son northeast.
Kaien had taken Kiko west.
By the sound of the pursuit behind him, most of the undead had chosen to follow Kaien.
But not all.
Goddess, please.
Please let Kylie be safe. This was his fault.
Kaien had tried not to think it during the days they'd been running, but now, with the Hellhounds closing the distance behind him, there was no escaping the thought.
If he hadn't taken Kylie away eighteen years ago, she would be safe now.
As one of the few noble families remaining to us in the Great Dryad Forest, I simply cannot permit this union, Lady Akari had told them.
He could still remember her voice.
They hadn't listened.
Kylie hadn't wanted the life her older sister had chosen for her, and Kaien hadn't been willing to give up the woman he loved. So they'd left. They'd found their own quiet corner of the forest and built a life together.
Eighteen years with Kylie. Two beautiful kits.
Kaien wouldn't have traded a single one of those years for anything.
But right now, with Kiko in his arms and death running behind them, he couldn't stop himself from wondering whether Kylie would have been safer if she'd married the man her family wanted.
She wouldn't have loved him. She wouldn't have been happy. But she would have been safe.
Another distant growl rolled through the trees.
Closer this time.
Kaien tightened his hold on Kiko and forced more strength into his exhausted legs.
There was no denying the truth any longer.
They were going to catch them.
Kaien remained in his humanoid form. His fox form would have given him more speed, perhaps even bought them a little more time, but there was no longer any point in delaying the inevitable. When the undead finally caught them, he needed hands capable of holding a sword.
Even with everything inside him screaming that there was no way out, Kaien sent a reassuring thought to his daughter.
I will keep you safe. No matter what.
He wanted it to be true. More than anything, Kaien wanted those words to be true.
But somewhere deep in his soul, he knew they were a promise he might not be able to keep. All he could do was hope Kiko believed him for a little while longer.
Da?
That single sending nearly broke him.
Kaien blinked rapidly, trying to hold back the tears, but they came anyway, streaking across his cheeks before the wind carried them away.
Goddess, please.
Then he saw it.
There.
Kaien almost ran straight past it.
A small waterfall spilled over a shelf of dark stone beside the stream, no more than a few feet high. Behind the falling water, erosion had carved a shallow hollow into the rock.
Kaien's eyes locked onto it.
Too small for both of them. But large enough for Kiko.
His heart hammered against his ribs.
This could work. It had to work. Without hesitation, Kaien changed direction and sprinted toward the stream.
Kaien splashed into the small mountain stream, the cold water immediately soaking through his trousers. It was deeper here, rising nearly to his thighs as he fought against the current toward the waterfall.
Good.
The deeper water would help mask Kiko's scent.
Kiko, I need you to hide behind this waterfall, Kaien sent as he reached the falling water and carefully slipped her into the small hollow behind it.
No.
Kaien's heart clenched.
Her sendings were still simple at her young age, but that was normal for Kitsune kits. Unlike most Spirits of the Forest, Kitsune needed to form a bond with someone before their true communication abilities could begin to develop.
Unfortunately, their tiny village had held no one worthy of that bond.
That was one of the reasons he and Kylie had planned to move back to Safe Haven by year's end.
By year's end...
The thought stung like poison.
Why hadn't they gone last spring? Why had they waited?
Kaien already knew the answer.
Fear.
Even after eighteen years, he'd been afraid Lady Akari would refuse to forgive them. Afraid she might force an annulment once they returned. Afraid their kits might be taken from them as punishment for daring to run away together.
And what could Kaien have done to stop her?
He was only a Spirit Blade, after all.
A gifted one, certainly, but one who held no title, owned no lands, and possessed very little wealth. Kylie had given up all of that when she'd chosen him.
Another growl sounded through the forest.
Much closer.
There was no more time.
Yes. Do not disobey me, Kiko.
Da—
Listen to me. You need to stay hidden and stay quiet. No matter what you hear, you do not come out. Do you understand?
Through the bond between father and daughter, Kaien could feel her fear and reluctance. More importantly, he could feel that she understood.
She would obey him.
Kaien stared through the falling water at his daughter one last time. There were so many things he wanted to tell her. That he loved her. That her mother loved her.
That none of this was her fault.
That if the Goddess was kind, Kylie would find her.
There wasn't time for any of it.
We love you, Kiko.
Da, please.
Kaien turned away before his daughter could feel what that single sending did to him.
He couldn't fight here.
If the undead reached him beside the waterfall, they might find her. He needed distance between Kiko and what was about to happen, and more importantly, he needed every creature pursuing them focused entirely on him.
Kaien stayed in the stream and ran toward the sounds of pursuit.
Toward danger.
The Hellhounds came into sight first.
Kaien's stomach dropped. They were much closer than he'd hoped.
The first massive hound crashed through the undergrowth ahead, followed almost immediately by another. Kaien had the overwhelming urge to glance back and judge how much distance he'd put between himself and the waterfall.
He didn't.
One look in that direction might be all it took.
Instead, Kaien kept moving forward.
Another Hellhound appeared. Then another. Shapes moved through the trees behind them.
The rest weren't far behind.
Kaien slowed.
He drew his sword.
For the briefest moment, the forest around him seemed strangely quiet despite the creatures bearing down on him.
Kaien offered one final prayer to Nia.
He could do this.
Not win. He was no fool. There were too many of them for that.
But winning wasn't what mattered anymore.
He needed them to see him. Chase him. Fight him.
And forget that a frightened little Kitsune kit had ever been in his arms at all.
Kaien tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword. He was Level 52.
He could have been higher. Much higher, perhaps, but love had gotten in the way of that. Somewhere along the way, gaining levels had stopped being the most important thing in his life.
Still, he was a Spirit Blade.
And these bastards were going to have to earn this kill.
The lead Hellhound was already charging through the stream by the time Kaien finished the thought.
It was a massive creature, easily twice the size of any natural wolf, with powerful shoulders and jaws large enough to close around Kaien's chest. Water exploded beneath its paws as it raced toward him, apparently unconcerned by the sword now in his hand.
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Kaien understood why.
For nearly two days, the undead had watched him run.
He had never challenged them. Never tried to ambush them. Never once turned around to fight. He was prey to them. Every decision he'd made had been about putting more distance between the undead and his family.
They had mistaken that for cowardice.
The Hellhound lunged. Kaien's body moved almost without thought.
Fox Step.
Spirit flooded his legs, and the distance between them disappeared. Instead of retreating from the creature's attack, Kaien moved directly inside it, turning his body just enough for the snapping jaws to pass beside his shoulder.
His sword followed.
Spirit Edge.
The blade tore across the Hellhound's throat. Its thick hide offered no resistance to the strike.
Kaien was already past it when the creature crashed into the stream behind him.
He didn't look back. There was no need.
The second Hellhound was only a few strides behind the first, with the other three rapidly closing the distance.
Kaien settled into a familiar rhythm.
For the first time in two days, he wasn't running through the forest with his daughter in his arms. He wasn't listening to the creatures behind him and wondering how much longer he could stay ahead of them.
He had a sword in his hand.
This he understood.
The second Hellhound attacked low. Kaien knocked its head aside with the flat of his blade, turned with the creature's momentum, and opened its neck before it could recover.
The third and fourth reached him together.
Kaien gave ground as they attacked, not out of fear but patience. He let them crowd one another, waited until the larger of the two committed to its attack, then stepped sharply aside.
The Hellhounds collided.
Kaien's sword flashed twice. Hot sickly blood splashed against the left side of his face. The smell of it made Kaien want to vomit. Thanks to an empty stomach he managed to keep his composure.
Neither Hellhound got back up. When Kaien's blade struck, it always struck true.
The fifth finally seemed to understand what the others hadn't.
It stopped.
For a heartbeat, Kaien and the creature stared at one another across the bloodied stream.
Then the Hellhound turned. It never got the chance to run. Kaien swept his sword through the air.
Spirit Arc.
A crescent of pale energy crossed the distance between them and struck the Hellhound before it had made three strides.
The creature collapsed. Kaien slowly lowered his sword.
The hounds were all dead.
They were the one thing Kaien had known would be able to track his daughter no matter how well she hid. If he died now, perhaps his sacrifice would still have been worth it.
But Kaien wasn't done.
His life for five Hellhounds wasn't a high enough price to pay.
Movement stirred among the trees ahead.
The Wraiths emerged first, drifting silently from the forest before stopping at the edge of the stream. The Ghouls, the slowest of his pursuers, came next, spilling through the undergrowth until Kaien could finally see just how many had followed him.
Then came the two creatures most likely to take his life. The ones pushing the others forward.
Death Knights.
Kaien couldn't see their undead eyes clearly through the narrow slits of their helmets, but there was no question which of the two was in command. The larger Death Knight stood slightly behind the others, watching Kaien from beneath a blackened helm.
That was him. The creature responsible for all of this.
The one who had invaded their peaceful little village. The one who had brought the undead down upon people who had wanted nothing more than to live their lives in peace. Friends and neighbors Kaien had known for years had been slaughtered because this creature had decided to bring its raiding party into their home.
Kaien had no accurate way to determine the Death Knight's level, but he had been fighting long enough to recognize power when he felt it.
The creature was stronger than him. Perhaps much stronger.
Five levels?
Ten?
It didn't matter anymore. Kaien made one final decision. The Hellhounds were dead. Kiko had a chance. He pulled all the remaining Spirit reserves from his tail. This was an all-or-nothing play, and if he held even the slightest advantage back now, he would fail.
If he could kill the lead Death Knight before the others brought him down, perhaps his death would buy more than his daughter's life. Perhaps removing the commander of this raiding party would save Kylie, his son, or someone else's family farther down the road.
Kaien set his feet as he waited for Fox Step to come off cooldown. Every second that passed felt like an eternity. His eyes remained fixed on the larger Death Knight as he prepared to make his final charge.
The Death Knight moved first.
It raised its sword and pointed the blade directly at Kaien.
“Make him suffer.”
Kaien's blood went cold.
Fox Step still had seven seconds remaining before it came off cooldown.
The undead surged forward as one.
Ghouls tore through the shallows. The Wraiths disappeared from sight. The second Death Knight charged straight down the center with its weapon already drawn.
Only their leader remained where he was. Just mockingly out of reach.
Kaien raised his sword to take as many of the undead with him as he could.
Then the Death Knight spoke again.
“The kit you hid is next.”
Mike ran impossibly fast for a gnome as the forest blurred past him.
He'd been running through the night and most of the day, covering as much ground as he could. As the Voice of the Goddess Nia, Mike had been the one she'd warned about this latest intrusion by the undead into the lands under her protection.
Mike was old, even by the standards of the long-lived races. He had walked Eldara for more than thirty-two hundred years and served as Nia's Voice for most of that time.
In all those years, this was only the second time he'd heard the Goddess this angry.
The first had been a thousand years ago, immediately following the Great Betrayal. The undead had been responsible for that, too.
Nia was done sitting on the sidelines.
Today marked the beginning of that change.
She had never actually told Mike to take care of this personally, but she hadn't forbidden him from dealing with the undead himself, either. Mike figured this was one of those situations where it was better to ask forgiveness than permission.
Even for someone as short as Mike, a fallen tree forced him to duck as he shot beneath it without breaking stride.
He was getting close.
He could feel it.
It had been a little over two hour since Mike and his three Treant acolytes had found the Kitsune family's trail. Not long after that, the trail had split in two.
So had they.
The three Treants had followed the trail leading northeast.
Mike had taken the one heading west.
His Treants were powerful. Mike had no doubt they could handle themselves against whatever they found. There was also no question which group of undead was in more danger.
Mike was going to put these abominations all the way down, and no amount of resurrection magic was ever going to bring them back to the imitation of life they currently possessed.
His blood had been boiling ever since he'd seen what remained of the Kitsune family's village.
These undead were going to have very little time to regret what they'd done once Mike finally caught up to them.
The Goddess loved all of her children, but the youngest and most innocent held a special place in her heart. Mike stopped counting the dead children after finding the eleventh one in that village.
“You're going to pay,” he growled.
“You are going to pay!”
Mike had been about to yell even louder when he heard it. The sound of battle just up ahead.
Mike used the Goddess's divine Lesser Blessing of Fleet of Foot to pour even more speed into his movement.
He was about to do some serious damage.
Mike burst from the trees and got his first glimpse of the undead he'd been pursuing. Unfortunately, that glimpse also included a Kitsune fighter taking a fatal blow from a Death Knight.
Even at Mike's speed, the picture was clear. The Kitsune had made his last stand here, and he'd forced the undead to pay a high price for his death. Five Hellhounds lay dead in and around the stream. Mike spotted four Ghouls among the bodies and the remains of two Wraiths. One of the Death Knights was still standing, but barely. Its armor had been split open in several places, and one arm hung nearly useless at its side.
The Kitsune had made them pay dearly for his life. Just not dearly enough.
Mike charged straight toward the remaining undead.
“I've come to collect your souls!”
The statement wasn't figurative. It was literal.
One of Mike's powers allowed him to take the souls of those he killed and add their power to his own. It was an ability he'd long ago decided would only ever be used against the undead.
And he was hungry. It had been so long.
For thousands of years, Nia had held Mike back, unwilling to violate treaties established before most of the kingdoms standing today had even existed.
But Nia wasn't holding him back anymore. The gloves were off.
The undead were all looking his way now, thanks to his declaration that he was coming to take their souls.
Mike didn't care. Not one of these undead presented the least bit of a challenge to him. Mike raised the wand in his left hand without breaking stride.
Mind Bend.
One of the Ghouls jerked violently.
Mike shifted the wand.
Mind Bend.
A second Ghoul froze as Mike took control of that one too.
He picked a third.
Mind Bend.
All three spells had been cast in under two seconds.
Mike never slowed. Every move had already been decided. This fight was over before it began.
The first Ghoul turned on the creature beside it after Mike showed the simple-minded creature who its new enemy was. Ghouls weren't particularly intelligent, which made rewriting their thoughts remarkably easy.
Mind Bend was a terrifying power in the wrong hands, but under the right circumstances, it could be used for far more than simply hurting someone.
The Ghoul's claws ripped into another Ghoul's throat before either creature seemed to understand what was happening.
The second attacked one of the Wraiths.
The third launched itself directly at the wounded Death Knight.
Mike knew that one wouldn't last long, but it didn't need to. The Ghoul only needed to distract the Death Knight for a moment. The spell Mike was preparing to use on it was incredibly powerful, but easily avoided if the target saw it coming.
Chaos erupted through what remained of the undead raiding party.
Mike smiled.
Then he jumped.
His momentum carried him from the bank and out over the stream. The wounded Death Knight knocked the Mind-Bent Ghoul aside and raised its sword toward the small figure sailing through the air.
Mike pointed his wand directly at its helmet.
Mind Burst.
The Death Knight's head exploded. He never saw the spell that took his life. Its armored body remained upright for half a heartbeat before collapsing backward into the stream.
Mike landed on top of the water as Fleet of Foot's secondary effect took hold beneath his feet.
Mike could walk on water.
He reached out with his magic before the creature's body had finished settling beneath the surface. Something pale and sickly tore free from the dead Death Knight and flowed toward Mike.
Its soul disappeared into him.
Power followed.
Mike barely had time to enjoy the familiar sensation before a Ghoul came at him from the side. He ducked beneath its claws.
The dagger in his right hand flashed.
Mike passed the Ghoul without appearing to strike anything vital, but the creature immediately lost control of its body. Its legs collapsed beneath it, sending it face-first into the stream.
Mike had severed its spine. He took its soul before it finished sinking.
Another Ghoul charged.
Mike disappeared from in front of it.
Not literally.
Fleet of Foot simply made the distinction difficult to appreciate.
Mike slipped behind the creature, drove his dagger into the back of its neck, and severed the spine with a practiced twist of the blade.
The Ghoul dropped. Its soul followed Mike before the body hit the water.
The remaining undead tried to surround him.
That was their next mistake. They had all just put themselves within his striking range.
Mike smiled at the courtesy. Who said the undead were nothing but evil pricks? Every once in a while, they did something nice.
Sure, that hadn't been their intent, but it was always better to assume the best of people. Only these things weren't people.
Maybe they had been once, but not anymore. The Gods of Chaos had corrupted their souls long ago.
Souls Mike was now more than happy to consume.
Mike moved through them.
A Ghoul swung at him and struck one of its own instead as Mike nudged its thoughts just enough to tell it where Mike should have been.
Only Mike had never been there.
His dagger found a spine. A soul followed.
One of the Wraiths materialized behind him.
Mike's wand was already waiting. The Wraith never completed its attack.
Across the stream, one of the Mind-Bent Ghouls tore into another of its former allies. A second Mind-Bent Ghoul disappeared beneath a pair of Ghouls that ripped it apart while trying to reach Mike.
Mike didn't care. He kept moving.
The battle lasted seconds.
Soulless bodies accumulated in the stream faster than the surviving undead could understand what was happening. Every time one of them thought it had found Mike, the gnome was somewhere else. A dagger flashed. A spine parted. A body dropped.
Then a soul vanished into Mike.
Again, and again.
The undead that had pursued the Kitsune family for nearly two days were no longer hunting anything.
They were trying to survive. Mike wasn't interested in letting them. Soon, only one real opponent remained.
The larger Death Knight stood on the opposite side of the stream.
Mike stopped moving.
For the first time since entering the clearing, he allowed himself to simply look at the creature.
Mike's eyes moved toward the fallen Kitsune before returning to the Death Knight.
“All of your corrupted lives were not enough to pay for that one boy. Add to the debt the lives you stole from that farming village, and I think I'll need to pay your lands a visit very soon,” Mike said with a wicked smile more sinister than any Death Knight could have hoped to manage.
The creature charged, knowing there was no escape.
A little Kitsune kit watched in horror as the Death Knight fell to the ground in tiny pieces.
A tiny yelp escaped her mouth even though she'd promised not to make a sound.
The undead had been terrifying.
But this tiny humanoid frightened her more than anything.
Mike heard a wet snarl behind him.
He turned.
One Ghoul remained standing. The last of the three he'd struck with Mind Bend.
The creature stood over the mangled body of another Ghoul, claws dripping with black blood. Its head turned toward Mike as though waiting for another enemy to present itself.
Mike regarded it for a moment. Then he calmly walked across the stream toward it. The Ghoul made no move to attack him.
Mike stopped beside it.
“You did well.”
His dagger flashed. The Ghoul collapsed as Mike severed its spine.
Mike took its soul.
He took a long moment to savor that final soul before turning toward where he'd heard the yelp. It had to be one of the kits.
Mike reached out with his mind, searching for the emotions of whoever was hiding nearby.
Loss. Despair. Fear. The last emotion was overwhelming.
She was still terrified. Of him, Mike realized.
The kit's mind was reeling from everything she'd gone through and everything she'd just witnessed.
Mike didn't approach her. That would only make things worse.
Instead, he reached carefully into her mind with Mind Bend and sent the little Kitsune into a deep sleep. Outside of combat, the skill had great applications when time wasn't a factor. It was a sleep she wouldn't wake from until Mike decided she was ready.
That hurt Mike's large Gnome heart.
Like the Goddess he served, Mike loved children. He wanted nothing more than to go to the frightened little kit and comfort her, but right now, even the sight of him would only cause her more fear.
Mike sighed as he walked toward her hiding place.
He looked around for a moment before spotting the shallow hollow behind the waterfall. Reaching through the falling water, Mike carefully pulled the sleeping Spirit-Fox from where she'd been hidden.
She was so small. Even in his own small hands.
“What should I do with you, little one?”
The answer came almost immediately.
The Goddess was still upset as she explained what needed to happen next. Mike's heart lifted just a bit when Nia also informed him that the girl's mother and brother were safe and being escorted by his disciples. The two Kitsune were exhausted, so it would take several days for them to reach Safe Haven, but with three Treants guarding them on the journey, they would make it to the town safe and sound.
Mike hadn't known who the Kitsune father was, so it came as a shock when Nia finally gave him a name.
Kaien.
Mike looked back toward the fallen Spirit Blade. He was beginning to understand why the Goddess was this angry.
Mike had been the one to set things in motion on the Goddess’s behalf to have a noble title awarded to Kaien. He had been meant to become one of the eastern noble protectors.
That boy had held such great promise. The forest would feel his loss.
Mike once again reached out to the forest around him.
There.
Mike found what he needed. A Forest Warden was close by. Mike called to it. As he waited, he walked across the water to where Kaien lay, cradling the sleeping kit gently in his arms
“Damn it,” he cursed.
They said when one door closed, another opened, and it seemed that saying held true in this case.
It wasn't long until Mike heard the sound of trees groaning in protest as they were bent aside to make way for the Warden. It was one of the larger ones he'd seen in some time, but that made sense. This part of the forest was old.
The stone golem bent to one knee when it reached the bank of the mountain stream.
“Preserve this Kitsune's body in stone and take the fallen hero to his homeland to the north. Lady Akari will want to see that he receives an honored burial,” Mike said.
“As you command,” the golem rumbled.
Mike watched as the Warden did as it was asked before turning to complete his own new mission.
Before setting out at a sprint, Mike downed a high-level stamina potion. Once that was done, he shifted the sleeping kit bundled in his arms into the best position he could find, making sure his movements wouldn't jostle her around too badly.
It seemed he would be spending another night running to get where he needed to be.
A day and nearly two hundred miles later, Mike watched as the new princess started making goofy faces at her reflection in the river.
“The Goddess's Chosen,” he muttered to himself.
“Really?”
The kit shifted in his arms at the sound of his voice. She was still asleep, but Mike had already begun the process of allowing her to wake.
Many things had needed to happen during the journey if Mike was going to fulfill the Goddess's wishes. The hardest had been suppressing the little Kitsune's memories of her family and the last few days of trauma.
Mike understood the need to suppress the trauma.
What he wasn't nearly as comfortable with was the ethics of hiding the kit's memories of her family, even if it was only temporary. Still, Mike was the Goddess's Voice, and Nia knew far more than he did. In the end, he'd done as the Goddess asked.
Getting these two to meet turned out to be trickier than the memory suppression.
Mike ended up needing to convince the Dryad Princess that she really needed to pee. Then, when he saw her considering just doing her business right out in the open, he'd needed to use Mind Bend again.
This time, Mike made her really, really want as much privacy as possible.
This girl is clueless, Mike decided as he found himself needing to intervene yet again.
Kitsune loved Gem Berries, and after waking up, the little kit had become far too invested in her food that Make left for her to make any sort of noise or movement that might get the princess to look up.
For Goddess's sake.
Mike used Mind Bend again, this time giving the Kitsune the sudden urge to snort at the unseemly display taking place beneath her tree.
That did the trick.
I mean, come on. Who forgets to check the trees? That was Dryad Forest 101.
That had been close. The last thing Mike wanted to see was a princess peeing.
After that, things seemed to work out, although Mike still had to throw out a thought or two here and there to make everything line up. By the end of it, he was exhausted from using so much magic, but the two eventually formed a bond.
Mike continued following them from a distance, staying close enough that he could intervene if they got themselves into more trouble than they could handle.
Thankfully, he'd only needed to do that once.
I mean, come on. What Level 3 anything went charging into a Dire Rat nest?
Mike looked up toward the sky after that one.
“This is who you picked to save our people?”
The response that came back left no room for further doubt.
YES.