Preparation and Learning

As the sun set, Tyrel, Saphira, and the Amorphous Knight looked at the mostly clear but tainted grass.

"Tyrel. Let's go home now. We have done enough for today." Saphira knelt and opened her arms wide as her tails wagged and her fox ears twitched.

Tyrel paused for a moment before replying. "I believe we should fill many storage containers with my blood before we return. I have an awful feeling. Something terrible is going to happen soon. We'll need all my blood we can get."

Saphira closed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows for a few moments. She yawned and sighed as she opened her eyes. "We can do that. Do you want me to make sure none falls to the ground?"

Tyrel nodded and added. "I'm going to be using leather storage bags to hold the blood. However, would you be okay with ensuring that no blood seeps into them? I'll be filling each, one at a time."

Saphira chuckled and got up. "Of course, pup."

Tyrel smiled and summoned one of the leather backpack memories. "Thanks, Saphira."

Tyrel walked to one of the hundred remaining corpses and knelt beside it. He stopped and turned toward Saphira. He looked at her tails, and about a third of their frames were grey.

Saphira tilted her head and asked. "What's wrong, Tyrel?"

Tyrel momentarily paused as tears fell from his eyes, and he spoke. "I'm sad you're going to die..."

Saphira sighed as she walked over to Tyrel, stood beside him, and looked into his eyes. "Oh, my poor pup. I'll be alive for a while longer, don't worry. Let's finish up, and I'll hold you."

"Okay." Tyrel picked up a rock and opened up the leather backpack. He moved his left arm over it and plunged the rock into an artery. He winced, gritted his teeth, and pulled the rock out. Blood poured out of the wound and into the backpack.

Saphira's pupils shrunk as she grimaced, held the blood in the backpack in place, and said. "Tyrel. You could have inflicted a lighter wound. We aren't in a hurry."

Tyrel grimly smiled as his body quickly weakened. "We are in a hurry. The more blood we prepare, the higher the chance we survive longer. The amount of creatures we killed probably caused a mass migration of creatures. Maybe a titan will come to make this place their home."

Saphira sighed. "You're right, Tyrel. I'll compress the blood as much as I can. However, it'll probably explode the moment I stop. Can you cause the storage pack to disappear as I hold it?"

Tyrel smiled. "Can you fly higher up just in case that happens? I don't want any to get on you."

Saphira giggled and floated ten feet up.

Tyrel's vision blurred as his legs quivered, and he looked at the Amorphous Knight. "Feed me a piece of meat. I'm about to bleed to death."

The Amorphous Knight silently cut off a piece of meat and shoved it in his mouth.

Tyrel chewed and swallowed as his wound healed and his blood replenished. Once he finished, he grabbed the bloody rock and plunged it into his artery. He gritted his teeth and pulled it out. The blood spilled out into the backpack once more.

Saphira frowned as she looked at Tyrel. "Tyrel. Why are you so willing to do this?"

Tyrel chuckled and clenched his right hand while frowning. "It's because my blood is the best weapon I have. If I want lots of it, I must bleed."

Saphira sighed as a tear fell from her eye. "Okay. I hope you don't have to suffer any more after this. I want you to be happy all the time."

Tyrel spoke. "It's impossible." He turned to the Amorphous Knight. "Feed me another chunk of meat and do so every minute."

The Amorphous Knight did as asked and waited afterward.

Saphira nodded.

The group filled the backpack, compressed the blood, and filled it again for fifteen minutes. Once it was compressed to the limit, Saphira turned to Tyrel.

"Tyrel. I'm at my limit. I can't compress the blood any further, and it's full."

Tyrul nodded and unsummoned the memory. Surprisingly, it didn't explode or get destroyed.

"I have thirty-seven more of these. Saphira, if it's okay with you. Can we fill all these in one sitting and rest for two days?"

Saphira closed her eyes for a moment before opening them. "Okay. However, you will not work or fight for the rest of my life unless a terrifying creature comes. Do we have a deal?"

Tyrel replied. "Deal."

Saphira smiled. "That's good. And you can dismiss your Amorphous Knight while we rest, too. I can tolerate working with it but not relaxing with it around."

Tyrel nodded. "Okay. I understand."

For the rest of the night, they filled and compressed blood into backpacks. As the sun rose, Tyrel dismissed the last storage memory, the Amorphous Knight, and he fell backward. His body trembled uncontrollably as his eyelids closed and opened repeatedly. Hallucinations filled his eyes as he ate another piece of a nightmare creature's flesh.

"I-I..."

Saphira sighed and used her telekinesis to pull the blood out of Tyrel's clothes and off them. She tossed the blood somewhere else as she floated down. She knelt and wrapped her arms around his quivering body and cradled him against her chest.

"Poor pup. I'm sorry you're in this condition. Just relax, and I'll take us home. We can rest, and I'll spoil you."

Tyrel looked at Saphira and saw two of her. "I-Is there two of you?"

Saphira shook her head. "No, there's only one of me, Tyrel. Let's go home."

Tyrel spoke. "Okay..."

Saphira sighed before giggling and floating upward. The few remaining corpses floated up alongside her. She turned to the direction of her cave and moved forward, the corpses following close behind.

***

Three hours later, she arrived at the cave and smiled. She floated to the bedroom and laid back into the pillows. She placed Tyrel's head on her chest and kissed his forehead.

"We're home, Tyrel. What would you like to do now?"

Tyrel's eyes opened as he smiled and looked into Saphira's eyes. "Well, if you don't mind, can we talk about your past? If not, I understand."

Saphira chuckled. "Of course we can. What would you like to know?"

For a few minutes, Tyrel closed his eyes before his eyelids opened, and he replied. "What was your life like in the human kingdom?"

Saphira smiled. "It was quite nice in the beginning. I helped people who were in need and comforted those who asked for it. I freed slaves from their bondage and taught young people how to fight."

"That's sounds like a peaceful life, Saphira. You're so kind."

Saphira moved her right hand to his head and ruffled his hair. "I'm glad you think so. Just rest in my embrace for now."

"Okay. Um, what kind of weapon did you wield?"

Saphira chuckled. "I wielded a Lance, and I wore heavy battle armor. My tails had armored coverings, which made them as sharp as swords."

Tyrel eyes widened. "Can I see them?"

Saphira shook her head. "I haven't met anything that would warrant using them to fight. I mostly use telekinesis to restrain and kill."

"Um, have you fought in any wars?"

Saphira sighed. "Yes, I did. The vast contributions I made to their kingdom are the reason they exiled me instead of executing me."

"I'm sorry for bringing up sad parts of your life."

Saphira kissed his forehead and chuckled. "It's alright. I don't mind sharing. I've accepted my past, present, and future."

Tyrel looked at Saphira's eyes as he listened to her heartbeat. "Um, can I share something very personal with you?"

"Of course you can, pup. What do you wish to tell me?"

Tyrel took a deep breath and replied. "Have you ever heard of reincarnation?"

Saphira shook her head. "No, I haven't. What is it?"

"It's when you die, and you're reborn as something else. I believe I was reincarnated here."

Saphira chuckled. "Well, it doesn't matter if you belong to this world. What matters is you are you. You're my precious pup."

Tyrel's eyes watered as he spoke. "T-Thank you so much, Saphira..."

Saphira smiled as her tails wrapped around Tyrel and herself. "You're welcome. Do you have anything else you'd like to talk about?"

Tyrel nodded. "Um, have you ever faced any titans? Have you killed any terrors?"

Saphira closed her eyes as her tails carefully hugged Tyrel, too. "I killed a dormant titan in the past. However, I don't remember killing other nightmare creatures that high in class like that at other times."

Tyrel's eyes widened. "Could you tell me how you did so?"

Saphira nodded. "Yes, I can tell you. A few centuries ago, on the battlefield, I received a request from the king to eliminate the dormant titan."

Tyrel smiled and asked. "What did it look like?"

Saphira pulled Tyrel closer as she said. "It looked like a massive tree made of metal. Mouths covered each branch, and it expelled debris from its mouth."

Tyrel clung to Saphira. "How did you kill it? Was it hard?"

"This one was easy to beat. I crushed it into pieces using my telekinesis to hold it in place and fling boulders at it. The battle took about a day, though."

"Woah!"

Saphira smiled and said. "Go ahead and sleep. We can talk more when we're rested."

Tyrel nodded as his eyelids closed.

For the next two days, Saphira and Tyrel rested and enjoyed each other's company.

(What was your favorite part of the chapter or the story as a whole? I'm curious. Do you have any questions? I'm willing to answer them.)