Master Of Myths

Half a day was all it took for the metallic dragon crossing the sky to get back to the grotto cutting the journey into only a fifth of its time and that was when YuJu couldn't bring out the full capability of this golem due to the aura difference

'This thing would have been great if only we had a wind aura in our midst...well at least it is usable'

Gently he landed the dragon near the entrance of the underground area, then using his thoughts he communicated the Orelic to come out and greet them along Anput while he woke up the sleepy raven head

Giving a small shake was enough to stir her awake, groggily opening those drowsy eyes looking very much in need of further sleep

When her mind started waking up too however she suddenly turned alert recalling the reason they came here

"Easy there, it was a false alarm, or at least nothing dangerous is going on now"

Assured that Anput was in no trouble eased her mind returning her to that tired look

"You can sleep in the grotto for the rest of the day, I have some stuff to do there anyway"

Hearing this Ellis nodded gratefully, all she wanted to do was lay back down and let her mind shut down some more

The two exited the dragon and stood by the hole until a small shaking overtook the earth, they were forced to take a few steps back while watching as the hole widened enough for the hulking lump of stone to climb its way out with those four big arms that seemed to phase into the earth itself

"The Orelic can phase into the earth if it has enough ores in it, a special trait that sets them apart from earth elementals"

YuJu explained on his own seeing as Ellis was too sleepy to even be curious, something he was getting rather used to

The Orelic stepped out of the hole after his little explanation, kneeling next to its master while a small creature, compared to its size, jumped off its wide back and quickly made way toward YuJu, nudging its head against him repeatedly in a show of affection

"Hey there little one, you had me worried for a while"

"Wuu wu wu"

Receiving pats from him the happy hound felt even better, the absence of that solid connection even for but a little while also had her worried sick

"Do you have something to show me little one?"

He asked, watching as her happiness turned into excitement, pulling against his coat in an effort to have him follow

"Alright, we will go down in a second"

As much as he wanted to see what she was up to that warrant a class change request he still had to do something about the dragon, there was no way to establish ownership over this thing, at least not to his knowledge, so leaving it on the surface unguarded was just asking for it to be stolen, even though no one really came here anyway

"Go down you three, I will fly the golem after you"

He ordered and went back into the cockpit, the reason he wanted the Orelic to come out and greet him to begin with was to have it widen the hole

The dragon once again glowed and gave a small roar before plunging in after the three already sliding their way down, its speed being actually slower than them since YuJu was being very careful not to slam it into the wall

A bit later light came into view, the grotto fully illuminated by the stones once more filling his sight, unlike when he'd left it and much like the first time he saw it there was some greenery covering the area near the waterfall, it seems Anput cleared the place of any sand to give it a better look and some room for fauna to grow back

Not wanting to waste her efforts he landed the dragon some ways from the scenery before exiting it and going to the few cages housing the remaining few Dreneonates stelled by the corpses of their dead brethren

'Eight? All that's left from a few dozens are eight…'

He wanted to let it slide but couldn't bring himself to do so, there had been so much lost that he couldn't help but laminate the great waste

"Hmm?"

Suddenly he noticed something move above these corpses, turning its head to him and looking over with shiny red eyes

The weird creature didn't freak him out, not even surprise him either for he was already expecting something similar

"So this is a War Shadow, it is indeed different from normal Shadows"

Just the red shine coming out of the small Dreneonate's under scales and eyes was enough to set it apart from the normally full black Shadows

"Wuu wuu!"

Anput hurriedly came to him while calling for the small creature to come over too, the black and red Dreneonate spread its small broken wings, leaping from the dead pile and gliding until it landed at his feet

'Name?'

Anput's thought transmitted to him a desire for the small guy's recognition, perhaps because it was her first shadow

'Well, it's just a name, wouldn't hurt'

He gave it some thought, not too much though as he guessed the shadow would be dismissed after a short period of time, such was the fate of Shadows that bore more use to their keeper

"It looks like a gemstone"

Ellis commented from the side after seeing the cute little creature, not yet knowing its non-living status, this brought her to his attention, eyes lingering for an extra moment

"Hmm, how about Jasper?"

"Excuse me?"

"Anput wanted me to name this little guy, I feel as though Jasper suits it quite well with how it looks"

"Oh, that does seem right for it"

She said giving little Jasper a one over

"Though I don't seem to have noticed it when we were moving the Dreneonates about"

"It does look a lot different from when it was alive"

"Yes...huh?"

Turning to him her sleepy eyes blinked a couple of times in confusion, not knowing whether she heard right or was half asleep

"This is the result of Anput's new class, Shadow Keeper, it allows her to extract shadows from the dead to command"

"Oh"

A very astonishing class, there had been a lot of astonishing stuff lately though so Ellis wasn't too surprised, she seemed more conflicted about a little undead dragon holding her family's name now than the ability to bring such things about

While the two stared at the little thing YuJu felt a hard stare on himself only to turn and notice his Orelic looking down at him just as it always did, it was through their connection though that he felt its need for attention

'Do you want a name too?'

He asked telepathically, quickly receiving confirmation from the big creature in the form of a nod

"Hmm"

Now naming this fellow wouldn't be as simple as the Dreneonate, or Shadow Dreneonate to be exact, this was one of his Soul Guards and would be accompanying him to the top warranting a suiting name

Many minutes passed by during which Ellis went to sleep on the newly grown grass after watching the man and giant rock quietly stared at each other for a bit, one going through names while the other waited patiently

"I want your strength to reach a new high that none of your kind could hope to achieve, for that you need to be a mountain that they could only look up to in awe, them and every being that makes the earth their source of strength, what say you, Aaron?"

The Orelic, Aaron, lifted its arms and head as if to give an agreeing shout, it couldn't make a sound though and settled instead with a mere nod as its master's decision

Done with the big silent fellow YuJu moved onto the hound by the side

"Now, tell me why you wanted to choose a class on your own"

Seeing her tilt her head to the side at the question he knew this conversation was going to take quite the time before it reaches a conclusion….