Was this stupid? Yes. Did he hate it? Also yes. But he had a piece of paper in his pocket telling him to go with Cali.
He couldn't do anything to protect his friend from a literal magic-sucking monster, but maybe the goddess watching with a bucket of popcorn could.
A low rumble sounded out, the only sound in the forest, and the two nekos stepped towards it.
Luke hated this so much.
Cali pointed, and without a word started jogging. Terrified, Luke followed. It didn't take them long to see the beast, sitting against a tree, staring in their direction.
It was huge, as tall as a house, with a dark blue translucent body made of roving pinpoints of lights, like stars. Its face and paws were the most defined things; clusters of stars that made bright shapes in the darkness.
- Temporary passive spell granted: Understand Animals.
- Passive skill Understand Animals now active.
Luke waved the notification away, glancing at the sky as Cali stopped and waved at the monster.
“Hi! I’m Cali! What do you call yourself?”
The ursa major tilted its head at her. “I am Me.”
“Crap,” Cali hissed to Luke. “It’s not aware enough to have a name.” Then she smiled at it again. “Nice to meet you! Why are you here?”
“Mountain hot,” it told her. “Ground bad. Danger. Safer here.”
“Oh, but it’s not safer here,” she said. “There’s people here. They’re scared of you. The dire wolves are scared of you.”
“I am stronger than wolves,” the ursa major said, which was true. “I am strongest. You are weak. You look delicious; two types of magic.”
Cali’s ears folded back. “I taste very nasty. What do you mean, ‘ground bad’?”
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In Luke’s pocket, the piece of paper flashed. The ursa’s eyes snapped to him, and it got to all four paws. Luke stumbled back a few paces, his tail poofing.
“Strongest magic,” the giant beast said, stepping towards him, sniffing. “Most strong magic.”
Luke pulled the paper out of his pocket and threw it, turning to run. With a flash of lightning magic, Cali teleported next to him, grabbing his arm to stop him.
“Don't run, it’ll chase,” she hissed, then turned. “Wait, ursa major, if the ground was good, would you go back?”
The monster pawed at the paper on the ground, sniffing deeply. Gold magic filtered up from the paper to its mouth. When it was done, it looked at Cali.
“Bad ground will not be good again. I will stay here. Stay safe. More strongest magic?”
A paper flashed into Luke’s hand. He glanced at it.
[Just cuz I promised Calvin you wouldn't die ;) ]
He crumpled it up and threw it at the ursa’s feet.
As it was distracted, Cali let go of Luke. Her eyes started to glow pink. “You should go ba-”
It looked at her, and the line of charm magic between them became visible. It opened its mouth, and more magic filtered from Cali’s chest. She fell to a knee, gasping as she tried to cut the magic off. A line of yellow started filtering through the pink, then over three or four seconds the magic turned completely yellow.
Luke… was frozen. He didn't know what to do, what he could do. Cali fell to her hands, the yellow magic starting to fade from her hair.
He spun to face the ursa major. “Stop! Stop and I'll get you more- more strongest magic!”
The line of magic coming from Cali snapped off as the monster looked at Luke. “More strongest magic?”
“More! Here!” He held his hand out.
Nothing happened.
The ursa blinked.
Nothing continued to happen.
Luke glared at the sky. “Seriously?! Please!”
“I will eat your magic instead,” the ursa decided, and opened its mouth.
A thousand pieces of paper popped into existence and began fluttering down around them. The ursa grunted in delight, sitting down as it swiped a few pieces out of the air.
One got to Luke’s eye level and stopped.
[I am not yours to command; you are mine. Now get back to the road.]
“Thank you,” he breathed, and picked Cali up.
She gasped and whimpered, clutching at her core. Breaking into a run, Luke prayed Maki hadn't taken the wagon far.