2 Chapter 2: You are saved, or are you really?

Having died once and nearly died again, one would assume that Arthur Halo quite naturally should have a fear of death but no. He disapproved that theory when he climbed upon an elkedon, an animal that is a cross between a rhino and a bucking bull, one that charges head first without consequences. When Leneus Venustus had asked him how fast he wanted to reach Blue Lands, his mistake had been answering, 'as quickly as possible'. Any who would mourn for his death had already died in that village and the elkedon rushing forth head first with its foremost horn raised high, Arthur saw death in front, and only death. He held on for dear life as Leneus Venestus, who he was sure was cackling rode up behind him, every once in a while he would tap Arthur's elkedon's butt and it would make a necessary turn. After the first hour of the ride Arthur was simply going through the motions, his eyes glazed and mouth slightly open, looking slightly like the previous him, who only had half a soul. He was sure his body was going to be in for a painful experience come tomorrow, after all this and his head was not staying still in one place either thanks to bouncing around on top a rhino like beast. The good thing was, Arthur supposed, he would get there as quickly as possible with this but he cursed the fantasy lands for not even having the common decency to have a car. This elkedon would sooner carry him to his death than his intended destination at the rate he was shaking. Even as he thought so the elkedon jumped and Arthur rose with the beast and the elkedon landed and Arthur landed with the beast, his butt aching, his neck sore.

"L-Len-Leneus!?" called out Arthur desperately.

"Yes Master Halo?" came a merry voice from behind and Arthur clenched the reins on the elkedon.

"C-can w-we r-re-rest?"

"But Master Halo, I thought you wished to get to Blue Lands as quickly as possible," said Leneus. "We can have plenty of rest there."

"I-I..." he had started to speak but then the elkedon jumped again and Arthur grit his teeth, this stupid beast was not even letting him speak properly.

As the beast landed, it let out it's trademark sound, something akin to a blasting horn, if he had to precisely describe it, it would be akin an air-horn, maybe twice the sound, it was deafening, though to be fair on the beast it only belted out the sound very sparingly, normally, elkedon's never even lets out a squeak, which many riders would surely be thankful for. The elkedon's carrying Arthur and Leneus rushed through the grasslands, straight for the Sky-Blue Plateau, their destination and Arthur saw the sceneries in a shaky blur. They had met very few people upon the roads, after all they had stolen these rides from soldiers, soldiers assuming the same standard that had attacked his village and these were warbeasts.

"Master Halo, try and duck your head down as low as possible," said Leneus calmly from behind.

Arthur wanted to ask why, but pretty soon he saw the reason. His elkedon was rushing straight for a grouping of trees, small tress, ones whose branches hung low, but these branches were sturdy and could take him off his ride, maybe even kill him. He was entering a small forest on the side of a river. He was riding on the side of a hill which if he slipped would send him flying straight down into the river below and he gulped. Branches in front, a river to the side, another elkedon to his side and no way of turning the beast back.

"W-why?" cried out Arthur, it had been just one shock after another in this world, fantasy lands pulled things out of a hat and placed it on the road from what he could tell.

"Quickest route, master Halo," said Leneus in a merry manner. "You wanted to reach their fast."

"I-I..." Arthur finally gave up, he wished to see 'I don't want you to follow my orders to the precise letter', but the beast nearly made him bite his own.

He pushed himself back and leaned forward, his face touching the elkedon's rough hide and he clenched his teeth and soon they were in the thickets of the small trees and bushes.

Leneus Venestus himself had braced for the incoming branches, now whipping across his back. He had to be careful whilst steering as well lest the elkedons slipped down the hill and fell into the river. The river had quite the force but he was not afraid for himself, swimming such a river was an easy task but for Arthur, there was no doubt he would be washed away. He was larger than Arthur, who appeared to be missing the branches by a hair's breath but for him, it could not be done. His elkedon bucked forward mercilessly as warbeasts but he could control them. The elkedon, both elkedons, his and Arthur's obeyed his thoughts, they could hardly ride an untamed, uncontrolled elkedon but Leneus Venestus had such a handy ability as animal empathy and he could control the beasts, something that was lucky for both him and Arthur. The journey from the outskirts of Clovent Kingdom to Sky-Blue Plateau took three days. When Leneus had come over, he had came over on the less obscure route, with a clear path, on legs and hitched a ride halfway and the carriage had stopped at various places hence it took a week, nevertheless it was an enjoyable journey. This too was an enjoyable journey, being on elkedon was an amazing experience, he had a feeling that Arthur too was enjoying it, from the jarring words he had received. He looked at the sky, high-noon already, they had been in journey since just past midnight and it was some time. They had occasionally drunk water but Arthur had dropped it all over himself in his excitement. He finally thought it was time stop and he sped up his beast to reach level with Arthur who was tucked and he gently lifted his head after the danger of trees had passed.

"Master Halo, I think it's high-time we stopped for a breath," said Leneus.

He saw Arthur looking at him with glazed eyes, trying to register his comments and he repeated them. Finally, it seemed Arthur comprehended them and slowly lifted his head up off the back off the elkedon.

"Stop the beast master Halo," said Leneus and Arthur nodded.

In a clearing Leneus willed his beast to stop and he send a mental command to Arthur's beast as well when he realized something was wrong, the beast send back an emotional feed filled with, pain, or maybe something else, but if he had to describe the mental feeling in terms of colors, it would bright white, something uncontrollable. Panicking he looked over quickly at the forward-rushing beast and saw that Arthur had his foot in the beast's ear.

"Master Halo!" shouted Leneus and willed his beast to follow.

"Where are it's brakes!?" shouted back Arthur in confusion.

"Get your foot out of the elkedon's ear!" shouted Leneus rushing his beast to go faster and soon he had leveled with Arthur whose elkedon seemed to be going in an uncontrollable manner. He tried to reach out and remove the foot from the elkedon's ear but then he saw that Arthur had dug in further and the elkedon sped up followed by the traditional elkedon trumpet, a much louder sound embroiled in pain and Arthur himself let out a shout as well.

"Remove your foot master Halo!" shouted Leneus again.

Then he panicked again as he saw his and Arthur's elkedon approaching a tree, not the small ones that had whipped across his back but a fairly sized one. In panic he veered his elkedon out of the way and he heard a crunch and his own face scrunched up in the emotional feed he was receiving from the elkedon but he was more afraid for Arthur. He turned his beast to see Arthur fly off sideways from the beast as the tree that elkedon knocked into collapsed backward and elkedon collapsed onto its knees. He leaped off the elkedon and ran through the grass to the edge of the hill to see Arthur rolling in an uncontrollable manner with a scream accompanying him, straight down to the river and he thought no further. He shook off his boots and leaped down the hill but he was a little slow as Arthur was thrown straight into the water. Moments later Arthur resurfaced, unlike the previous time, it seemed that Arthur knew somewhat, how to swim.

"Master Halo, I'm coming!" shouted Leneus and threw off his overcoat.

His underpants was still somewhat wet from before, but he could hardly help it. His falling star was going to drown yet again and he dived into the water, this time with clothes on. His powerful body braced the current and waded through, grabbing the bobbing Arthur and then kicked himself back to shore. He pushed Arthur onto land and climbed up himself.

"Master Halo, are you alright?" asked Leneus hovering over Arthur concerned.

Arthur leaned sideways and spat out a mouthful of water, "Third time!"

He watched as Arthur leaned back onto the grass and let out a sigh of relief. He looked at the water again and then at his own and Arthur's wet clothes and let out another sigh.

Water appeared to hate Arthur, three times, he had drowned, or well, two times very nearly drowned, the first time, he had actually drowned and died, water and death were complicated businesses and whilst death appeared to love him, water appeared to hate him.

"Leneus...?" called out Arthur whilst taking in deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Yes master Halo?" asked Leneus to the side.

"Let's take a small rest," said Arthur, "and let's take the travel slow."

"Hm, I was thinking the same thing master Halo," said Leneus.

Arthur tried to clamber to his feet as he saw from the side of his eyes Leneus stood. Leneus himself was quick to help Arthur and together they clambered up the hill, well Leneus clambered up and Arthur was carried up mostly. As they reached up he saw the tree elkedon had crashed into, broken and on the forest floor. The elkedon was down itself but he had to give the creature credit, it was exceptionally strong, a car was no match for its strength, it certainly was a terrifying warbeast. The other elkedon stood to the side nudging the grass with its horns.

"It might be safer, next time if you ride with me master Halo," said Leneus looking at the collapsed elkedon.

Arthur coughed twice to hide his embarrassment, "Yes, precisely what I was thinking."

"Sit, master Halo," said Leneus. "I will get some food."

Arthur nodded and as soon as Leneus let go he flopped onto the forest floor with his weak legs, barely being able to support him. Leneus himself stood up and walked over to the collapsed elkedon and he straightened his palm and Arthur felt a somewhat terrifying atmosphere envelop him. The other elkedon had stopped nudging the grass and Leneus thrust into the neck of the collapsed elkedon with his straightened fingers and Arthur's eyes bulged when the fingers went straight through the neck. He had felt the tough hide that elkedons had. He doubted he could cut through with an actual sharpened sword, fantasy worlds had a way of increasing strength, a definite possibility and if so he made a mental note to learn the method and way as soon as possible. Attacking armies, terrifying warbeasts, nearly drowning twice, it all called for the necessary strength. With a swift move his hand he separated the warbeast's head from it's torso and it's companion let out a loud trumpet. Arthur quickly closed his ears but still winced, its vibrations could be felt on the forest floor. Leneus looked at the surviving elkedon which looked to charge. These warbeasts seemed to have a camaraderie, kill one and the other is angered, Arthur also made a mental note of this. He saw Leneus snarl at the elkedon and the elkedon mysteriously backed down with its head lowered and then he revised the note in his head into a possibility, not something definite, or perhaps Leneus had done some sort of magic, another possibility especially in a fantasy world such as this.

"Elkedon meat is quite tasty, master Halo," said Leneus and Arthur looked at him unconvinced, he doubted whether he could bite through the thing's skin, something it appeared Leneus noted.

"We simply need to skin the beast and it's flesh is quite chewable, no spices though I'm afraid, I only brought with me a rucksack which we used for a torch, we will simply have to make do."

Arthur nodded at the explanation and he watched with interest as with bare hands Leneus dismantled the beast before him, all the while the other elkedon stood with its head lowered and fairly soon he saw a neat pile of bones, skin and meat. Arthur nodded, quite satisfied, this man, Leneus, he looked to be an expert on this type of survival methods, he had skinned the tough warbeast with inhuman precision and speed, he probably wasn't human anyhow Arthur, noted, the scales were definitely not something common to humans of this world, he had after all lived in a fantasy settlement, though his knowledge was quite limited, having been dumb with only half of his soul and living in a very poor and knowledge-limited environment. The only thing he knew somewhat expertly in this world was its deities, well one deity in particular as his village always offered prayers to this particular deity, especially in the harvesting season. As he was sorting out his knowledge Leneus had come back with giant leaves, which looked to be something akin banana tree leaves which you would find on earth though he was not entirely sure if there was any banana trees in the vicinity, or even if there was any banana trees or fruit in this world but nevertheless he was thankful. He watched as Leneus expertly set up the twigs to form an outdoor barbecuish setting, quite intelligently and then his eyes bulged once more as caught onto how Leneus lit a fire. Much akin to a dragon he simply breathed it, magic, it definitely had to be magic, no human, not even a scaly, strong, superhuman like human could breathe fire, that would only be exclusive to monsters, perhaps, then again he wasn't quite sure of the anatomy of humans or monsters in this world.

"Do you breath fire?" asked Arthur to confirm.

"Well of course master Halo," said Leneus. "I am a dragon, it would be quite shameful to not breathe fire."

"Oh...I see, a dragon, so yeah it would be natural to breathe fire," said Arthur nodding his head and then he suddenly froze. "Wai-wait what, a dr-, a DRAGON!?"

The last word came out in a roar from Arthur as his eyes bulged further, if that was possible and Leneus nodded quite normally.

"Scaly skin, breathes fire," said Arthur trying to get the facts straight with a faint head. "Do dragons come in human form in this world?"

"Of course," said Leneus. "We can assume human form, it's a natural process I assure, a humanoid base is the core of everything and dragons are quite intelligent creatures that can use powerful magic so we can reshape our body, it's nothing special, there are transformation magics that allows humans to transform into beasts as well."

"Magic," Arthur nodded sagely. "Yes, then it would all make sense."

If you couldn't find a sane explanation for what you had witnessed then chalk it up to magic, an easy way out, rather than giving into insanity. Very soon the meat was roasting on the flames, it was a plain sight but the smell was quite mouth-watering and so Arthur watched as the sprouting flames licked at the meat turning it brown and ready to eat. The other elkedon watched in a lonely but forgotten manner as one of its own was roasting over fire and Leneus hummed a merry tune as he took off his clothes and stripped to his underpants and laid it next to the fire. Arthur himself sat a little closer to the fire to dry as quickly as possibly and he sighed. His several hours here had been far more eventful than his twenty-five years on earth, despite the life and death struggles he had experienced the past few days, he was, when looking back on it, enjoying it. The incidents which caused his death, riding an elkedon, it was all amusing when viewing upon it now, after survival.