My Friends

Professor Grisham, the twins, and the three familiars were already exiting the cave.

Everyone was quiet as they followed the professor leading the way.

Behind the professor was Aranea, beside her, Elenea. Behind the twins was Darenn, and behind Darenn was Leonel and Zann.

The formation was awkward, the ever-noisy Aranea quiet as her face was still beet red.

If one would look at Aranea, it's like steam could start coming out from her head like she was a train!

Elenea looked at her twin sister worriedly from the corner of her eye. She sighed slightly as she knew that her sister might be thinking of the kiss that happened between her and Darenn.

Well, Elenea couldn't blame her. If she was in the position, she would be quieter than Aranea. Heck—Elenea thought that maybe she would cry compared to her sister who just found it surprising!

Darenn looked at the back of his Summoner with a sweet smile on his face. He didn't know why, but even though he just met Aranea now, he was at ease with deciding to be her familiar.

At first, he thought that she was Hyacinth, seeing the red hair and the green eyes. But compared to Aranea's spunky personality, he realized that she is completely different to the calm Hyacinth.

Darenn was happily looking at his Summoner. However, the two familiars behind him, Leonel and Zann, couldn't help but eye Darenn with doubt in their eyes.

They didn't like the fact that Darenn acted coldly towards them and acted so sweet towards their Summoner. They were already surprised by the fact that they have the same Summoner considering that they are rivals.

But with Darenn's sudden appearance… they couldn't help but feel discomfort upon seeing that Aranea suddenly has a new familiar.

How many familiars can a Summoner have?

"Hey," Leonel spoke, getting Zann's attention. "What do you think? Is he familiar?"

Zann still didn't like the fact that Leonel was talking to him. Nevertheless, he could sense that Leonel was uneasy about Aranea having a new familiar.

And the Fire Familiar felt the same.

"I don't know," he answered, only enough for Leonel to hear. "Even when we were kids, I haven't seen this guy."

"One thing for sure, though," Leonel replied, "Is that Darenn is older than us. The question is, how old is he?"

"You're right," Zann agreed, "And what element? Considering that elemental deities commonly have their color related to their element, do you think his element is earth?"

With Zann's question, Leonel started to look at Darenn's back. His brown hair, paired with his brown eyes, and his combat green clothes…

"Yeah… I think he is earth."

Zann eyed Darenn's back, the two familiars continuing their conversation.

"What weapon do you suppose he uses?"

"Who knows," Leonel answered, shrugging his shoulders at the same time. "Only way to find out is to either spar with him, or see how he fights with the beasts and monsters."

The Water and Fire familiar went quiet afterwards, wondering about the background of Darenn as they continued to watch his walking figure right in front of them.

As for Aranea, she started shaking her head, snapping herself out of her embarrassing thoughts as she hit both of her cheeks with her hands.

"Aranea?" Elenea widened her eyes, wondering why Aranea hit herself. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes," her twin sister answered, stammering on her own words as well. "It's just that I'm still not used to this whole-kissing-concept-to-seal-pacts-and-bonds… that's all."

Soon after, all of them were already out of the cave. However, everyone was in shock when they saw that the other group of Catoblepas were outside, as if expecting for their arrival!

Everyone, except for Darenn, had their eyes opened wide. They were already in their defensive stance, the herd of Catoblepas looking down on the group as if ready for an attack.

"P-Professor Grisham…" Aranea started tugging the professor's robe, her body shaking. "One Catoblepas was already a challenge… how can we overcome this herd?"

The herd of Catoblepas had a total of four beasts. Even the familiars felt nervous, seeing how difficult this situation was if ever they were to attack them.

Heck, maybe even escaping from these Catoblepas would be a big trouble!

"Professor?"

Elenea called his attention, the professor quiet as he just looked at the Catoblepas, unmoving. He seemed unfazed, but at the same time, awfully quiet. Whatever could he be thinking about?

"Everyone, you have to be calm," the professor mumbled, enough for everyone to hear. "This is their territory and if you move a muscle, they might attack."

Zann furrowed his brows, "Then what do you suggest we do? Stay here the whole morning?"

"Hush!" Leonel warned him, Zann's voice quite loud. "We have no choice but to follow what the professor is saying."

Just as they almost resorted to not moving a muscle, one familiar, however, decided not to follow.

Darenn started walking ahead of them, the herd of Catoblepas before them moving its head as the big man started to move.

"What the heck is he doing!?"

As Zann was about to follow Darenn, Professor Grisham stopped him, putting his hand in front the Fire Familiar's chest to stop him.

Darenn looked at all of the Catoblepas, putting both hands up in the air. The other five just watched Darenn interact with the Catoblepas as if they were his pet!

All of the Catoblepas one by one put their head down slowly to touch Darenn's palm. The moment they all did, all of the Catoblepas stepped aside, the professor, the twins, and the familiars' eyes blinking in astonishment as they did not believe what had happened before them.

Did he just… tell the Catoblepas to step aside? How?

Darenn turned his body to look at everyone. With a smile on his face, he spoke, making everyone understand what he did with just the two words that he uttered.

"My friends."

Everyone looked at each other before they looked back at Darenn.

It was then that they understood that the reason why the Catoblepas could not leave this place was that they were guarding Darenn inside the cave all along…