A New Friend

Aldrich blinked as he opened his eyes slightly. He could still the strange boy standing above him, which means he wasn't dreaming. The boy seemed to be arguing with someone.

"It was just a little pressure, you can't blame me. Oh, look, his eyes are open. He's not dead." The boy looked down at Aldrich.

Aldrich stood up slowly, he was still a little lightheaded. "H-how long was I asleep?"

"Only a few minutes," the boy replied. "Now as much as this has amused me, I must go retrieve my soul fragment."

"W-wait!" Aldrich called after the boy as he began to walk away toward the centre of the town. He stumbled after him.

The boy seemed surprised and slightly annoyed that he followed. For a second, it looked like he was about to say something, then he seemed to decide against it and continue walking. Ignoring Aldrich.

Aldrich still wasn't completely sure what was going on, but if whoever this was was heading in the same direction that Andrius did, he couldn't just stand around and do nothing.

So he continued to follow him. Soon, his head had cleared up again, and that's when another figure came into view. It was Andrius. He was breathing heavily, a thin line of blood trickled down his face. A few metres away stood a beast Aldrich had never seen before. It had a large serpentine body covered in dark scales, which glinted under the setting sun. A long forked tongue flicked from side to side, dripping an ominous looking liquid that caused the ground to sizzle where it hit. Aldrich had seen depictions of this kind of creature before, in one of his father's scrolls. It was a lindwyrm.

Andrius' attention snapped to Aldrich. "What are you doing here!?", he yelled. "Get away, now!"

Facing him, Aldrich could see that Andrius had sustained even more damage than he had originally thought. His armor seemed to be melted in various places.

Then, the lindwyrm lunged forward and lashed out with its tail. Andrius snapped back to it and managed to throw out his arms just in time to catch the attack. He slid back a little as he struggled against the force. Then, with a loud grunt, he flung wyrm backwards. It went flying and crashed into a small house.

Doing that seemed to have taken a lot of effort from him. But the lindwyrm crawled out of the rubble almost unscathed a few seconds later. Andrius spat out a bit of blood and then adopted a fighting stance. For a little while, he and the lindwyrm stood completely still, sizing each other up.

"Limit re-..." Andrius had started to say something but was interrupted by the boy, who was suddenly standing beside him. Aldrich hadn't noticed him leave his side.

"Quite impressive having survived this long," the boy said. "But I'm afraid only I can kill it. Now, step back would you. Wouldn't want to kill you by mistake, I wouldn't hear the end of it."

Andrius looked surprised. And so was Aldrich when he actually stepped back, leaving the boy to face the creature.

The boy started to walk forward calmly, he cracked his knuckles. "Now then, let's get this over with."

Then he disappeared, or rather moved so fast Aldrich could not follow. The boy and the lindwyrm were engaged in close combat. Their movements were too fast, Aldrich could barely see what was happening. He rushed to Andrius' side.

Andrius looked at him, exhausted, as he approached. Aldrich put an arm around his shoulder to support him as much as he could. Andrius didn't say anything, so Aldrich kept silent as well. They both watched as the fight ensued.

The lindwyrm lashed out with its tail at blinding speeds. But Abaddon dodged all the strikes effortlessly. He held out one hand and caught its tail. The creature squirmed haphazardly but couldn't break free of the hold. So it turned its attention back towards him and spat a huge amount of its corrosive saliva.

Beside Aldrich, Andrius yelled. "Don't let it touch you!"

But it was too late. They watched as the liquid landed right on Abaddon's face. Almost immediately, it began to sizzle, eating away rapidly at his flesh until in a few seconds, you could see half of his skull.

But he wasn't dead. In fact, he was smiling. A large, uninhibited grin was on the half of his face still in tact. "That actually stings a little, to be expected from a fragment of my own soul."

Aldrich blinked and Abaddon was gone. A split second later, he was right above the lindwyrm's head. Using one hand, he slammed its skull into the ground with a resounding force.

The dust cleared to reveal the boy standing over the lindwyrm's motionless body. He plunged his arm into its chest and seemed to take something out of it. Which he then swallowed.

Aldrich watched the boy as he began to walk towards them. The flesh that had been melted off his face had started to rematerialize at a rapid rate until it was like nothing happened. He came to a stop right in front of Aldrich and Andrius, who watched him warily.

Slowly, the white in his hair began to recede. But it didn't go back to the way it was when Aldrich had first seen him, it stopped halfway.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked. His voice was also back to normal. A wound Andrius had sustained caught his attention. "You're hurt. Please, allow me."

Aldrich felt Andrius tense up as the boy reached for him, but he didn't move or say anything. A few seconds after the boy touched him, Andrius' wound began to heal.

"Who exactly are you." Andrius questioned.

"Oh, that's right, I haven't introduced myself yet," the boy said with a nervous laugh. "My name is Leviathan. It's nice to meet you."

×

"Leviathan..." Aldrich echoed. What a strange name for a boy.

Andrius sniffed. "There's something... strange about your scent. Your body,  it has two different souls."

Leviathan looked surprised. "You can smell my soul? That's so cool. You're right, his name is Abaddon. He's been with me since forever. No one ever believed he was a whole other person, they all thought I'd made him up."

[You're rambling, Leviathan.]

"Oh, my bad."

The voice came from inside his head. It was Abaddon's, and only Leviathan could hear it. Which was why most people thought he was crazy, talking to himself all the time.

"The fell dragon... is just a child." Andrius muttered under his breath. "Well that complicates things a little."

"Hey," Aldrich spoke up. "Would you... like to come back with us to Yves?"

[Hah, of course not.]

"Sure," Leviathan answered excitedly. "I've never been to the capital before."

[What?! You can't just go with them.]

"Well, why not. They seem nice," Leviathan argued. "I also haven't slept in an actual bed or had a half decent meal in forever."

[That's not a good enough reason to trust people you just met.]

Aldrich spoke up, "We mean you no harm."

"See, they mean us no harm." Leviathan echoed.

Abaddon's only answer to that was an exasperated sigh.

"So," Leviathan turned his attention back to Andrius and Aldrich. "When do we leave?"

×

Before they left, Leviathan dug a few hundred holes in the ground and buried each one of the deceased townspeople.

He had a solemn look on his face as he filled in the last hole. "Sorry I didn't get here sooner."

His mood was much brighter on the horse ride back to the capital. He sat behind Aldrich on his horse. He had a lot of questions, especially for Andrius.

"I've never met a real knight before," he marvelled. "So cool."

[Hardly. Besides, you're in the presence of the sovereign of all dragons daily.]

"Which would be cool," Leviathan rebutted. "If you weren't just a disembodied voice in the back of my head."

[Tch.]

"But where's your sword?" Leviathan continued.

Andrius raised an arm, showing him his armored hand. "I prefer my claws."

Aldrich knew Andrius was on par with his father at swordplay, but he always said he liked a more 'hands-on' approach. His title as the Wolf Knight wasn't just for show.

"What about you?," Leviathan asked, turning his gaze to Aldrich. "What's your ability."

"Oh, uh," Aldrich replied sheepishly. "I don't have one."

Strangely, the look on Leviathan's face was that of awe rather than disappointment. "But you want to fight evil anyway? That's amazing, you're so brave."

Aldrich had never thought of it that way.  He muttered a soft thanks, a bit embarrassed, then turned his gaze back to the road ahead of them.