Chapter 74: Learning about the other side of Beast Companions

Lilly looked excited about learning more from this snake as if the giant beast was already her friend. She smiled before responding. "Sure. I think Tank will be glad to see an old friend." Then Lilly brought both Tank and Titus out of her soul realm. They both appeared at their full size, but the ledge area that came out from the tunnel was more than big enough to support all of them. Cinder had already grown back to her full size the moment the other two came out.

Tank looked around a bit sleepily as if he had just woken up from a nap while Titus glared around the room preparing for a battle. When they both noticed the giant snake head in front of them their reactions were completely different. Titus backed up but still looked challengingly to the snake as he prepared for battle. He was already hunched forward ready to shoot out his spores if a conflict were to start. Tank on the other hand had a shocked look on his face as he looked up at the giant snake head before he started sweating bullets. If the turtle wasn't so giant Joshua was certain that he would have tried to hide behind one of them.

"Interesting. You have some wonderful beast companion's girl." The snake said as she looked over the two new arrivals. She seemed pleased with how Titus had reacted to her presence, but glanced over Tank for only a moment before turning towards Lilly and speaking.

"You can call me Lilly. This is Tank, Titus, and Cinder. Oh and my guild leader Joshua." Lilly said as she introduced all of them.

"I'm sorry I don't have a name to be introduced by, but you can all just refer to me as…" The snake started to say when Tank shouted out disrupting the conversation.

"What are you doing here you damn snake. Are you going to try and eat me again? I swear I'll make sure to give you the worst case of indigestion you've ever had if you dare to." Tank said grumbling as he turned to look down at Lilly and Joshua. "Why the hell would you two walk into this mad woman's lair?"

"Oh come now Tank…that is your name now isn't it? It's been over a century since we last saw each other. You and that praying mantis friend of yours were always great guest to have around." The snake said with a chuckle as her tongue shot out and licked her scales once more as she turned her full attention to Tank.

"Guest?!? What guest? Last Time I saw you nearly destroyed my shell trying to crack me open so that you could eat me. The only reason you couldn't was because my friend was there to get you to back off long enough for me to get away in the water." Tank said with anger.

"Good memories…oh how I miss those days where everything seemed to be constantly changing." The snake said with a chuckle.

"Good for you maybe, but not all of us are predators like you. Some of us just wanted to be left alone to have some fun." Tank said with a near pouty like voice that didn't fit the old beast's age.

"You're behaving like a child. We used to have to fight for are lives all the time during that period, so don't act like I singled you out." The snake said in an admonishing tone. "Now tell me what you've been up to. It's been a long time since I've seen anyone that I've known in the past." Tank seemed to sigh at her words before telling her his story along with why he was with Lilly and how much things had changed on the outside. Apparently the snake seemed to have a good idea of how things had changed since her aura sensing range was enormous. She could sense things going on outside of the range of the canyon and started to pay attention to things more clearly when their group had made it into the canyon territory.

"I see, well you have been through a lot. I can see why you would end up with the beast tamer then, it was your lucky break. You three better take care of her, she's such a sweet girl." The snake said as she lowered her head so that Lilly could pat it.

"Are you sure that you don't want to join us? It may take a little while longer for Lilly to reach the level where she can tame you, but you'd be able to grow much stronger in the future if you joined her." Tank asked. Even though they used to be enemies Tank still knew that the giant snake would be an amazing companion for them to have.

"I'm afraid not. I'm waiting for the one with the soul beast that matches me to come. Even though Lilly is a tamer I can still feel that there is someone out there that has a better connection with me. I'll wait for them to arrive, but I don't mind resetting my level to be partners with someone of lower level in the future. It is why I locked myself up in here after all." The giant snake responded as she turned to look at Tank.

"What do you mean by that? Is there a specific reason for you locking yourself away in a place like this? You also called me marked by the wolf mother, what was that about?" Joshua rapidly asked as his mind was trying to figure out all the little things that the snake had been talking about.

"You're the inquisitive type aren't you? Well let's talk about my situation first before I go off on a talk about the marked comment." The snake said with a chuckle. She then turned her head to look towards Cinder as well. "I'll even talk about how I knew your mother little one." That one comment got Cinder excited while Titus seemed to be interested in hearing what the giant snake had to say.

"Alright already get on with it. I'd like to know what I missed out on granny." Tank said getting a snort of annoyance from the giant snake who just ignored his actions. When Joshua watched the two giant creatures he was starting to get a better idea of their relationship. The way they described their past it came off as if they were bitter enemies that were out to kill each other all the time. That would make sense considering how violent that time period had to be with all the different beast fighting for dominance. Even with that thought in his mind all Joshua could see from the pair was an arguing old couple.

"Well let's start out with the reason why I would want to hide myself away in a place like this instead of trying to take over my own territory. Honestly one of the reasons is because I got tired of all of the fighting and didn't want to be restricted by the systems rules as they tightened up on the more powerful creatures. In the end creatures like myself were given two viable options if we didn't want to get hampered down by the system. We could either fight to become one of the four strongest and become one of the worlds guardians or we could do what I'm doing and hide away in an enclosed place like this and bide our time. There were advantages to both options." The snake explained.

"I can see the advantage of becoming a guardian. After all you are filled with the planets power so that you are able to protect it. At least that is what my mother told me about it." Titus said with a simple nod.

"True, but I don't understand what benefit you gain from spending so much time locked away here. You wouldn't be able to become stronger and would end up wasting away." Tank said with a hint of confusion.

"If this place were normal that would be the case, but there is also a great benefit to waiting in a location like this. Although I'm not free to go out and wonder the world fighting other creatures to gain strength, I am given the benefit of resting in a place that will lure my destined one to me." The snake said with a smirk.

"Destined one?" Joshua asked.

"My future partner, in the same vain as Tank, Cinder, and Titus here are all partnered with Lilly. This place will draw the one destined to be my future partner to me. It's already proving that it's working by drawing your group here. I can feel that you've all been in contact with my destined one at some point. It is why I welcomed you all in here in the first place. Oh and of course the fact that I could sense this cranky turtle with you." The snake said with a chuckle causing everyone to widen their eyes as they realized who the person was that she was most likely connected to.

"She must be talking about that crazy venomous woman that cleared the canyon dungeon with you two. Their personalities match up real well if you ask me." Tank said as he thought of Madalyn. "If anything I'd say that woman has the closest thing to the vicious streak of a snake out of any of the humans I've met so far."

"Madalyn hmm…Well I'll be the judge of that when I meet her in the future. For now I'll have to wait for her to reach the level where she can have a beast companion. Until then it would be pointless to even meet her, plus I'll have to give her a test of sorts." The snake said with a smirk.

"There she goes plotting again." Tank said with a sigh before turning to look at Joshua. "You better move the conversation along or we'll be here all day with her trying to figure out ways to get us in trouble."

"I get that you want to have a partner to become more powerful in the future, but that can't be the only reason you decided to give up on becoming a guardian of the planet." Joshua asked still a bit confused by that detail. "From how Tank describes you it seems like you would have been more than powerful enough to become one of the four guardian spirits of the planet."

"True I surely could have but then I would have just been trapped by the responsibility. There are those that love this planet so much that they wish to be a guardian of it, and there are those who just want to prove their strength over others while becoming one of the four strongest creatures on this planet. On the other hand there are beast such as Tank, his friend, and I that all want freedom above all else. "The snake said as her giant eyes honed in on Joshua. "As a guardian of the planet you must always be here to protect it, but there is a vast universe out there with all sorts of places to see. Even If I have to lose a lot of my strength for a time when I pair up with my partner it will be all worth in the future when I can travel the cosmos fighting beings beyond my current comprehension. Doesn't that just excite you?"

Joshua thought about her words and realized that the meaning behind them aligned with one of the main reasons he became an explorer in the first place. In the end they weren't all that different.