The ancient wagon creaked along and Damien went on his way.

They entered the Spring Kingdom and galloped to the west where the harbor lies.

It took them a day and a half to reach the west and another half to reach the harbor.

They say there was a portal on the Island but it got destroyed in the war. Portals take time to repair. They are not from this era. Not from the last era nor from the age of heroes.

They were simply here, standing and brimming and pulsating with light when the first man discovered it.

To this date, nobody knows how to make a portal, even the dimension pocket bags are relatively new and it's shit.

So something like that, so ancient and delicate with arcane arts long forgotten gets destroyed due to the foolishness of rulers and needs more than a few years along with the help of unparalleled experts to repair.

They made their way to the docks and stopped at the small inn they would be staying in.

The innkeeper was a rather cheerful-looking woman with a big smile on her face. She was pretty and had a nice body.

Damien rented two rooms for the night and stayed there.

The tournament is in two days, which means he will miss the starting ceremonies and the initial fights.

He wasn't complaining though, since the initial fights were pretty much stages for the strong ones to showcase their powers to the world.

The real fight starts after a week or something. He was eager to meet all the main characters of the novel.

Even the lost and damned ones from the Forgotten Lands.

A wild thought occurred in his mind. 'If I kill all the rulers and the main characters there, would all this stupid race end? Would the author interfere? Or would the world reset?'

It was impossible, of course, as the main characters are main characters for a reason.

Calen and Elora, together can defeat him now, let alone the entire cast of heroes.

Then again, Danielle will always protect him but surely she would be dead even before the half dozen people there are killed.

He pushes the gruesome thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on meeting his father and mother.

They would be delighted to see him, that's a given and he's happy about that.

He closed his eyes to sleep but she took his mind again. Blaire with her temper and right fullness, she's going to fall.

He was sure she was on the list next. What he said to her was foolishness. He quarreled with her like a teenager and stormed off. Shame crept upon him.

'After the tournament...' He mutters as he finally fell asleep.

The next morning, he woke up due to the lack of oxygen as something was pressing on his face making him gasp for air. His heartbeat quickened.

The thing was warm and soft as a pillow. He touched it. The softness and the familiarity of the texture made him smile.

"When did you come by?" He asks as he relaxes, his hands stroking the thing.

It stirs as it felt his hands caressing it. The slender neck raised and allowed the sun rays to fall on him.

Its beady eyes focused on his face then he saw a flicker of happiness on her face, then replaced with annoyance and anger. Quickly as a flash.

Then the pecking came and his eyes widened as his skin was almost chipped off each time her beak hammered into him.

"Ow, ow, ow," he cried to the rhythm of her beak and quickly grabbed her neck. She squirmed and used her claws to scratch him.

The initial claws marked itself on his face, and a line of blood trailed down his face.

He held her beak as hard as he could and tried to stop her from hurting him any further.

Her feathers stood on end as she was agitated and her body trembled.

"I am sorry. I didn't look for you when I left. But in my defense, you were not there when I left." He pleads.

She is just a baby. He can feel her warmth and energy.

She wasn't this ferocious when she was an egg.

She stopped struggling and huffed.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's my fault," he says as he strokes her. She sniffs at his face.

He takes a look at her and sees his black feathers, which have spread across her back.

She was completely black with no other spots. Like a great black void monster but only smaller and cuter. It felt like he hasn't seen her for ages.

He missed her and she him.

He smiles at her and she nuzzles his chest.

He wrapped his hands around her, hugged her tight, and smiled.

"I'm glad to see you. There is someone I would like you to meet here. He's a little on the stupid side but he's loyal, I believe."

She rubbed her beak against his chest. He could feel her excitement through their mental connection.

...

"Why did you put that health potion there?" Luther asked as he saw his master putting a small vile on the stone block.

"Something that might come in handy," Damien casually said.

Luther was confused but he didn't care as his attention was on something else, something small and alive.

"This is your companion" Luther crouched on the ground and watched the big bird.

Her beady black eyes trained on him as if he was some kind of an insect to her.

"Her name is Aviora. She's a raven or... Something I believe." Damien said to Luther. Aviora shot a quick glance at him. "Is a raven." He corrected and she resumed to regard the puny human.

She slowly circled him and sniffed him, her beak touching his hands, then she stood still.

Luther had to keep himself from laughing out loud as the bird kept her beady eyes on him.

He extended his hands and touched her. He felt her warmth. Then he laughed. "Gosh, she looks so stupid," a mistake he dearly paid off.

Damien didn't complete his head shake as Aviora was over Luther, pecking on his goddamn face.

With a loud cry, he fell backward. Aviora hopped onto his chest and pecked mercilessly across his face, neck, chest, and stomach.

Damien could visibly see the skin that charged off Luther. The thin layer of skin that adorned his face, the layer of fabric laced with blood. She was merciless and he was enjoying the show.

Luther was howling as he tried to push the goddamn little monster off of his body, but he can't even see as she had pecked on his eyes strong enough to draw blood from it.

"Okay, that's enough," Damien shouted and struggled to push her off of him.

She stopped after a while and let Damien lift her up.

Luther's face was swollen and covered in blood, but he was alive and that was enough.

She shot a glance at Damien. Damien felt she was saying something along the line of "This human is stupid. Why do you have him as a companion?"

"As I said, he's loyal." She croaked her neck and pressed it against Damien while watching the stupid human struggling to get back on his feet.

Luther reached out and grabbed onto the ledge of the stone block, hoisting himself up. His hands gripped the cold stone as he pushed himself up.

Halfway through, he saw with his bloody eyes, the small vile of potion, sitting there like it knew he would come for it.historical

His bloody eyes looked at his master. The smile on his pale face told Luther everything he wanted to know.

Luther reached out, his fingers trembling, as he gripped the vile with his hand.

He popped open the cork and gulped the bloody damn thing in one go.

He wiped his bloody lips and grinned at his master, showing him his bloody teeth.

"You knew?" He chuckled.

"Of course," his master answered.

"Why didn't you warn me?"

"Cause you learn from your mistakes, Luther." Damien smiled. "Cause I want you to properly know her. Not as a stupid bird but as someone who I trust with my life. Someone who I chose to be my companion for life." He says.

"Thank you," Luther said. He wasn't sure why he was thankful but he was. "I'll do well to respect your stu--" His words caught in his throat as the vile beast perked her head and looked at him from his master's chest. "--Respect your lovely companion, young master. I won't make the same mistake twice." Luther said, the patches on his face forming like the foreskin of the little dragon being pulled back.

She nodded and huffed at him.

"Now that the introduction and pleasantries are over, let us go visit my lovely mother and father as I'm sure they are also dying to hear from me. As I'm from them since he assumed that wretched position." Damien declared, his eyes pasted on the distant blob of greenery.