#ayala

A tall wooden fence. Visibly worn down.

Old and tattered from exposure. The wooden pillars are splintered at the edges. The majority of them have taken on a green tint as a result of mossy growth.

The structure spans across a wide area, wrapping around acres of healthy land. Land which appears to be unnaturally empty as a result of the established nature of the wooden borders.

What appears as an empty plot of grassy land is by no means what it seems. Such is one of the many lessons that have already been learned about this fantastical reality, born of human ingenuity.

A simple gate marks the primary means of entering and exiting the space. The gate is in much greater condition, visually, than the surrounding wooden pillars. Not an ounce of rust is visible upon the metal. Not one hint of encroaching moss.

As the owner of the gate extends her hand to pull it open, it doesn’t make a sound. 

Not a squeak. Not a creak. Not a whimper. The hinges are well oiled. Well maintained. As is everything that the Druid has taken possession of.

“You can go in~” The woman says, a soft and playful lull in her tone.

A moment of hesitance transpires. Brought about reflexively, as a result of prior conversations. Though a quick flick of the head to further encourage the visitor to step inside. Which proves to be enough.

With a deep breath and the internal resolve to turn around and jump the fence should things go awry, the Warlock steps through the open gate.

The magical illusion of emptiness falls. The empty, grassy field disappears entirely. In its place stands a far, far greater expanse of land. Lush with grass on one side, while the other supports untold varieties of healthy looking trees.

A narrow, flowing river carves the space right down the middle. That river presumably leads to some sort of pond that rests somewhere beyond the current line of sight.

The Druid, Ayala, calmly closes the gate behind her as she too steps into this expanse of magical land. Following which she offers a casual pat to the back of the visibly stunned and enamored Warlock in training.

“You good, hun~?” The woman asks, amusement very obvious in her tone.

“It's beautiful!...” The Warlock, Antares, responds. Her voice light and cracking slightly, as she has been damn near pushed to tears by the raw beauty of the landscape.

“It is, isn’t it?” Ayala hums in response, her own voice settling down into a quiet trill as she herself succumbs to the beauty of the scene. Even if only for a moment. Following which she offers the other a gentle nudge. “Well, don’t just stand there gawking! We won’t find you familiar just hovering by the gate all day!” She then chuckles, which seems to be enough to encourage her guests to start moving.

“Yes! Right. Right…” Antares jolts in response, before quickly settling. She sets out to follow alongside her guide, still internally anxious as a result of the particular brand of cautionary tale that she had been fed prior to this event.

A tale in which it was made clear that those who make the mistake of trespassing upon animal enclosures, such as this one, will inevitably find themselves being torn apart by a menagerie of territorial beasts. Beasts which would have locked on to their location the instant that their feet made contact with the ground, if not the moment that they passed over the border of the fence.

The way that the story was told, it was made clear that this was an intentional design choice. A means of preventing malicious individuals from breaking into protected lands to steal pre-tamed entities for themselves. Something which is, apparently, incredibly tempting. Namely because tamed creatures have a higher chance of producing offspring with rare stats and colors, when compared to wild spawn chances.

Anyone who doesn’t have express permission to enter will inevitably find themselves swarmed and attacked by the adult beasts. But because the babies are comparatively weak and fairly easy to force-tame, the temptation is still there. Some people still try. And somehow, some of them will make off with a valuable creature. At which point the actual owner of the beast will no longer be able to get it back.

According to Ayala, she herself has very little reason to fear this outcome. Most who are unfortunate enough to have a beast stolen from them, do not have a very large collection.

She, however, does.

She has an incredibly large collection, in fact. That much was established not only verbally beforehand, but has been made clear as day now that the pair are actually inside of the enclosure.

There are animals everywhere. Birds flying across the field. Mammalian creatures of all sizes darting through the grass.

Everything in the enclosure was made aware of them as soon as they stepped through the gate. Which in turn means that everything inside is curious.

Antares naturally freezes as the first of those curious animals make their presence known.

Some sort of small, furry thing resembling a weasel quite literally crawls up onto her foot so that it can sniff at her leg.

The little beast does not growl or bite or otherwise display any amount of aggression. It just sniffs at her leg for a few moments, before turning around and disappearing back into the grass. Following which the Warlock allows herself to relax, even if only slightly.

“Relax.” Ayala hums as she gives the other another soft nudge. “You’re safe.” She states, just re-establishing an earlier promise.

Those who trespass will, in fact, be killed if they get themselves caught. But anyone with permission to enter, especially if they are being personally escorted by the owner of the enclosure, will not be harmed. So long as they do not go out of the way to pick any fights.

“R-right!” Antares stammers in response, before awkwardly clearing her throat. “So, uh… How exactly does this work?” She then asks.

She is aware of why they are here. But the how is quite beyond her current range of understanding.

She is brand new, after all. She’s barely been here for a few days and has just been trying to get settled in. Now that she’s actually at the point where she’s being shown how to do something, she’ll be needing that extra guidance.

“Well, you’re a bit of a special case.” Ayala responds. As she does, she holds up her hand to allow a bird to fly over and land in her palm. 

A cute little yellow bird with a small patch of black between its eyes.

She allows the bird to look the stranger over, before it then flies off.

“Under normal circumstances, you’d be restricted to a much smaller pool of possible tames. Very weak creatures that would only be made powerful, as a result of the magic granted to you by your Patron.” She explains, her eyes following the bird as it leaves. “Little birds. Mice. Frogs. Those would normally be the sort of creature that you’d be restricted to, for a first time. But thanks to the little arrangement that you have with the developers, you’re actually able to jump straight to an intermediate beast. Something like a wolf, a lion, or a small wyvern.” She explains further, just expanding upon what she’s said before.

That last piece of information, naturally, catches the Warlock’s attention.

“Wait, really?” Antares asks, immediately intrigued by the idea of taming something like a dragon.

That was what a wyvern was, right? A type of dragon? One that was built more like a bat, so it only had four limbs? That would be cool!

“I reiterate, a small wyvern.” Ayala states, her tone shifting accordingly to make it as clear as she can that Antares will not be able to tame the sort of mighty beast that she might be thinking of. “The breeds within your capabilities won’t grow to be any bigger than a dog. I’m talking a central body that only gets to be about as big as something like a German Shepherd. The wings, neck, and tail might add more overall size. But the wyverns in question are bottom of the food chain, when compared to others of their ilk.” She says, further expanding upon the limitations. Just to make sure that her guests didn’t go and get themselves all excited over the idea of being able to tame a wyvern; only to be disappointed by how small it would actually be.

Then again, she is failing to take into account that, for the average person, a small dragon is still a dragon! Antares doesn’t need the beast to be big enough to eat whole cows for breakfast. She is merely excited by the possibility of being able to tame a dragon!

“Cool!” The Warlock replies, enthusiasm clear in her tone. Which in turn coaxes a soft, amused sigh out of the Druid.

“We’ll go and check to see how the Wyverns are doing, then?” She suggests. Needlessly so, considering how quickly her companion nods. “Alright. Come along, then.” She sighs, rolling her eyes slightly with amusement.

Antares follows along excitedly as Ayala begins to lead the way.

They must first cross the river to venture from the field into the forest. Then they must walk for a little while, until they happen upon a strange structure.

A second, very small fence. Four sides, one of which is a gate. All of the sides, equal size to the fence.

The Warlock furrows her brows in confusion, baffled as to why this might be here.

“Wyverns tend to prefer different terrain.” Ayala says. “I have a primary enclosure built for things that like to live in forest and fields. Then I have sub-enclosures that lead to other environments. Like mountains and deserts.” She explains as she pulls open the gate and motions for the other to step in. “Go on~” She muses, well aware of how visually disorienting it is going to be for Antares once she steps through.

And, of course, she is correct. It is incredibly disorienting to step through a tiny gate in the middle of a forest, only for that forest to entirely disappear and to transform into a rocky clearing.

The layout here is similar. A big rocky clearing with some grass on one side, then visible mountains and cliffs on the other. Divided by a river, which visually seems to have carved its way through solid stone.

Antares actually gets dizzy as a result of the abrupt change. Which means that she needs to take a few moments to sit down and let her mind catch up.

Ayala just chuckles, muttering something along the lines of “Yeah, I remember that” as she stands idle to wait for her companion to recover. Following which she extends her hand as an offer to help the Warlock back onto their feet.

“That was wild.” Antares mutters, only to earn an understanding nod from the Druid.

“It gets easier, the more you do it.” She states, referencing the disorientation and how quickly it fades, following such an abrupt visual transition.

She then shifts and smiles, having spotted something. Something which she goes on to point out to the other.

“We have an audience~” She says.

Antares cannot help but look. At which point she discovers that multiple creatures have gathered around the border of the river, at the far side.

There are only so many words that can be used to describe the manner in which her face lights up at the sight of what she sees.

There are griffins! Wyverns! Sphinx! Mythological creatures, the likes of which she would otherwise only have been able to see in the form of dreams and paintings! Complete and utter fantasy in the world that she came from, but a stunning reality in this digital space.

She is absolutely delighted by the sight of them. Enamored by all of the different ways that their bodies are shaped. Especially the wyverns!

The small, draconic beasts overtop one another like excited dogs and cats. Their bodies sport a huge range of colors; red to orange to blue to green to black, and even more than that! Some with faces shaped more like birds; angular with elongated snouts that effortlessly hide rows of sharpened teeth. Others seem more reptilian, with smoother faces that more reliably show off the faintest hint of deadly fangs.

Some have feathers. Some have scales. Some are covered in fur. There are even some in the water, and those that reside there have skin better resembling that of a fish or a frog.

Every one of them appears to be excited! There is a visual eagerness to approach and observe this new presence that has found its way into their domain. But even so, each of these creatures; which is more than capable of jumping or flying over the narrow path of water; behaves as if kept at bay by the borders of the water-carved stone.

The noises that they make as they crawl all over one another is another adventure on its own. There are sounds akin to the cackling of a hyena, or the screeching of an owl. Deep, booming darks and clacking calls that sound more akin to gunfire than to any noise that an animal should make.

Antares cannot help but stand and stare in awe as she observes the cacophony of flailing animals. Whereas Ayala, after allowing the dramatic display to carry on for a few minutes, effortlessly puts a stop to the chaos through the use of a shrill whistle.

She blows air harshly through tight teeth, creating a sharp sound that cuts effortlessly through the symphony of animal sounds. Following which the creatures all immediately still, ears perked and eyes focused entirely upon her.

Then, she says something. Something that the Warlock cannot understand. Something in a language not meant for her to understand.

But the animals understand it. They understand both her words and the motions of her hand as she calmly waves her arm while snapping her fingers.

Visual chaos rapidly conforms to order. The beasts all quickly untangle themselves from one another.

Every one of them sits and waits for further instructions, their eyes fully fixated upon the form of their shared master. Bodies visually tense with excitement, though that excitement is far more contained than it was moments prior.

Once more, the woman speaks.

A portion of the creatures stand, reluctantly back away, and turn around to leave the scene. Those creatures consisting of anything that is not a wyvern.

Antares stands where she is, baffled by how effortlessly Ayala took command of the situation. Just a whistle and a few words, and everything that she addressed understood her completely.

“Perks of being a Druid.” Ayala dryly chuckles, before she motions towards a small stone bridge that will take them across the narrow river. Which she and Antares quickly head towards. “You’re welcome to look over all of the adults here. But you’ll be binding a baby as your familiar.” She states.

“How come?” Antares asks as she follows the Druid across the short bridge. All the while she stares down into the water, watching the water-dwelling wyverns even as they stare up at her curiously.

“Your magic is weak.” Ayala states calmly. “You are allowed to tame something far stronger than you would normally be able to tame. But you are not strong enough, or experienced enough, to tame and bind an adult creature. Not one as strong of will as a wyvern.” She explains, before pausing and chuckling. “Also, all of the adults here are mine. They’re fully tamed. You can’t tame them, you can only receive them as gifts. And I’m not giving you one. It would negate the point of teaching you how to tame.” She then adds, revealing the more accurate reason as to why Antares won’t be able to take her pick of any of the adult wyverns present.

Either way, she can’t tame them. A wild one would have too much willpower to be bent to her will, and an already tamed one can’t be tamed by someone else. Probably to prevent theft.

Antares makes a show of pouting. Only to laugh as Ayala says something to the effect of “Maybe once you’ve earned enough coin, I’ll sell you one~”. Though it is unclear as to whether or not she is joking.

Once safely on the other side of the river, on the flatter terrain bordering the surrounding mountains, the Warlock is allowed to observe and interact with the wyverns. Just for a few minutes.

Ayala teaches the Warlock about the different wyvern types, as she enjoys her interaction time. Which is less about going over the various distinct species that are all in front of them, and more about going over the different types of Wyvern and their different elemental alignments.

As an example, there are feathered, furred and scaled wyvern. Which is just a fancy way of saying that “This is a visual trait used to identify a specific wyvern family”. Determined by checking the central body. Namely because all wyverns have some amount of scaling; but not all wyverns are primarily covered in scales.

The water dwelling wyverns are no different. They can be primarily covered in fur, feathers, or scales. They just happen to have special traits that allow them to spend much of their time fully submerged.

Color, meanwhile, is the way that you determine a wyvern’s elemental alignment. Which, yeah. That makes sense. It is a very common thing to do in games. The developers of the simulated world would obviously have the incentive to do the same, because that would make it easier for people to quickly figure things out.

A dominantly red wyvern is a fire elemental. White is “Radiance”, which is just a fancy way of saying divine light. Yellow is lightning, which is pretty obvious. If  the color can be associated with an element, there is a very real chance that you are accurate. Though Ayala herself will admit that it can be more complicated than that.

One of the present wyverns, for example, is what she describes as a “Gaian”. Which is, apparently, a fancy way to say that it is a nature elemental. It apparently sprays water from its mouth that has no offensive capabilities, and is instead used to promote plant growth. All of the offensive capabilities of its elemental alignment come in the form of modifications that said alignments do to its body. Which can change based upon if it is a furred, feathered, or scaled wyvern.

She points out that this specific wyvern is scaled. The scales on its back and tail are longer and can be individually moved. These scales visually resemble leaves, and are sharp as knives. The wyvern can launch these scales at a target like throwing knives, and the scales quickly grow back in.

“Gaian” Wyverns are both animal and plant. They gain energy from the sun and do not need to eat as frequently, or as much, as other wyverns.

They are also incredibly rare. As are another elemental class, “Mender”, which have offensive magic properties at all but are instead healers. Which makes them highly sought after.

“I can’t give you a Mender or a Gaian wyvern, though.” Ayala eventually sighs. “I haven’t been able to find partners or either of the ones that I have. They’re rare, and whenever one spawns, someone else usually gets to it before I can.” She explains, before she shakes her head. “Not that it’d have made a difference. The few times they’ve spawned, they weren’t the right sex. So I’d just wind up with two that I can’t breed.” She adds, before she motions for Antares to follow. “That’s enough for now. Let's go and check out the babies. See if any of them catch your eye.” She instructs.

Antares follows along, albeit reluctantly. It is very hard for her to want to listen when there is a pretty green wyvern going out of its way to demand attention.

The creature actually follows closely after the pair, and makes regular attempts at rubbing its head and neck against the Warlock’s legs whenever the opportunity arises.

Greenie is either an abnormally affectionate wyvern, or tamed wyverns are just affectionate in nature. As of now, it is unclear. But Antares would like to hope that she’ll find herself fortunate enough to tame a baby that will become as affectionate as their little tagalong.

The two of them will need to spend a fair amount of time climbing up the established mountain paths.

Wyverns nest up high, in rocky terrain. They intentionally build nests in areas that are difficult to reach. Tunnels and paths get carved directly into stone to create a suitable environment for the hatchlings.

Each nest is also connected to multiple paths. Some of which are fake, and lead to dead ends. Others lead directly to the exterior of the mountain. That way if a predator gets in, the hatchlings will hopefully be able to escape before that predator can find them.

Once they’ve reached the nesting area, Ayala actually has to coax out the hatchlings because neither she nor Antares would be able to reliably climb into the actual nests.

The adult wyverns help. While Ayala tries to coax babies out for her to scoop them up and show them off to Antares, adults will climb into their nests to usher the babies out.

She explains elemental rarity and how the breeding works when you’re breeding tames. The commons are fire, lightning, and ice. Next tier up are Noxious and Acid. Noxious is just the fancy way of saying that the dragon utilizes toxins of some sort to deal damage. After that are Radiant and Ethereal dragons. Radiant being thought of as holy light, whereas Ethereal dragons are more associated with darkness, fear, and death. The rarest of the elementals are Gaian and Mend, the nature elementals and the healers.

When breeding, there is always some chance of producing an elemental of a higher tier of rarity. The elemental alignment of the parent does have some influence, so if you get a baby of the same rarity, it is more than likely to make the parent’s element. But it is never guaranteed.

Offspring will have the greatest chance of hatching as their lowest rarity parent. With chances for higher or lower tiers adjusting based on the tier.

“The math is rigged.” She says. “Breeding two Ethereal dragons doesn’t give me a high chance of getting a Gaian or a Mend. It just gives me the highest possible chance. I’ll be more than likely to get another Ethereal, or an element from the next tier down.” She grumbles, before shaking her head. “But I guess that’s the point. The higher the rarity, the better the stats, and the more unique the skills. If someone could just mass produce the two highest rarity dragons, there wouldn’t really be any incentive to breed lower tiers.” She explains. All the while she holds up a random baby wyvern for Antares to look over.

Thus far, none of them have really caught her eye. At least, none more so than the previous.

She’s looking at baby dragons. It is physically impossible for her to not get excited every time she’s shown a new one. She just has yet to be shown one that somehow stands out to her more than any of the previous.

Until Ayala pulls up a weird looking little thing. One of the baby feathered wyverns that is currently covered in ugly little pin-feathers. Stuck in that awkward transitional stage where cute downy fluff is transforming into proper feathers, leading to a creature that looks more like a living pile of lint than an actual animal.

This particular hatchling, or whelp as she calls it, is almost completely black. It has an angular, bird-like head and beak-like mouth. The front of its muzzle appears almost very dark purple, with a hint of blue.

Once Ayala is holding it, it hisses. Leathery skin peels back into a threatening snarl to show off small but visibly sharp teeth, and a long, forked tongue slides out to taste the air.

Ayala makes a face as she looks over the weirdly agitated whelp.

“Well, aren’t you a little bastard.” She states, which only seems to encourage the creature to snarl at her more. Thus making her eyes widen slightly. “Oooh, big bastard~” She chuckles, giving the hatchling a more thorough look over. “You are going to be an absolute menace, once you’re grown.” She hums.

Antares, meanwhile, cannot help but eye the little beast with enthusiasm.

“This one.” She states, just to make it known that she wants to try and tame this particular hatchling. Which seems to catch the Druid off guard.

“... I wouldn’t recommend it.” Ayala replies, her eyebrow raised. All the while the hatchling in her hand continues to snarl and hiss at her like the little bastard that it is. “Ethereals can be difficult to manage on a good roll. This one, however” she says while holding the little creature up closer to Antares, so that it can snarl in her face “has a very abrasive personality.” She states. Though when the Warlock appears to be unconvinced, she just offers the whelp for her to hold. “He will be combative. Argumentative and rebellious. If you’re looking to be stuck with an angsty teenager forever, be my guest. But do not expect any sympathy from me when he causes problems. Because I promise you, he is going to cause problems.” She explains.

Antares remains unswayed, and instead excitedly reaches out to accept the hatchling. Which snarls and hisses at her just like it did with Ayala. All the while it shifts to look directly at Antares, now that she is the one actively holding it.

“How do I tame him?!” The Warlock excitedly asks, effectively sealing her fate.

She is making what Ayala believes to be a horrible choice. But she is an adult, and this is her choice to make. So she will have to live with whatever consequence comes about as a result.

“First, you must bind him.” Ayala says, referencing a very specific spell that a Warlock has access to. A binding spell that locks the soul of an animal to their own, thus making it into a familiar. Something that will grow in power as they do and serve their needs, both inside and outside of combat.

As she says this, she motions towards her right eye. Reminding Antares as to how she’ll access her spells.

The system uses eye tracking and cognitive inputs. To access spells, one must first have the urge to pull up the HUD, and then they must use their eyes to look over at and “click” on the spellbook. Which is done by winking the right eye.

This pulls up a windowed display. Something that overlays against surrounding visuals, allowing a player to remain aware of their surroundings while they’re accessing things like their spellbook, inventory, or looking at information.

As Antares gets used to being here, the process will get smoother. She’ll be able to eventually reach a point where she can open and close these things without needing to even use her eyes. But as of now, while she is brand new, the process requires a little extra cognitive effort.

“A-alright, uh…” The Warlock sort of rambles quietly to herself as she struggles to go through the process. She pulls up her HUD and then accesses her spellbook, finding the only spell that she actually has access to at the moment. The binding spell. Which is described as a spell that challenges the will of a non-tamed creature in order to both dominate and take control of a beast.

This is where Druids and Warlocks differ. Druids communicate with beasts and tame them more passively. Whereas Warlocks use their magic to force desired beasts to bend to their will, forming magical bonds that will bind the beast to them.

Druids earn the cooperation of their animal companions and are often loved by them. Whereas a Warlock can enact control over a creature, even if that creature hates them.

Warlocks can also use their magic to transform a familiar into other creatures. Which is something that a Druid cannot do. The Druid, instead, changes themself with magic to fight as a beast.

They are considered to be polar opposites, in terms of their intended implementation. There are even arguments that can be made over one side being evil in comparison to the other, but this amounts more to personal perception than anything else.

The spell that Antares must use is a ritual spell. Requiring a drop of her blood to be offered up so that the magic of her Patron can be called upon. For her specifically, that Patron is the Architect of Imagination. A chaotic being with chaotic magic.

The finer details of the ritual go on to explain that it is required that she draw the blood herself. It cannot be pulled from a wound that she did not create through the use of her own will.

It also states that finding a way to apply her blood directly to the body of the creature that she seeks to bind will greatly increase the odds of success.

The spell is never guaranteed. There is always a chance of failure. But failure is only a temporary setback that creates a need for additional time. She can make as many attempts to bind an entity as she needs. She just has to be able to see the creature in order for the spell to have the ability to succeed.

The spell itself is also unspoked, requiring focus. There are specific words that she must think while channeling the magic of her Patron. Honestly they’re nothing special.

“This soul, I seek to bind. This soul, I seek as mine. Make it mine, and make us one. Then, a new familiar shall be won.”

Nothing overly complex. But it at least rhymes, which is a nice touch. Even if it uses words that sound the same to make the rhyme happen.

Antares starts to mentally chant the spell as she reaches out to intentionally cut one of her fingers upon the small, sharp teeth of the wyvern. Which in turn leads to her finger flat out being bitten, which wasn’t entirely what she wanted, but she did intentionally create the wound so hopefully it counts.

Once she’s got a nice little wound, she takes her blood and smears it intentionally across the wyvern’s face. Something that the spell suggested. All the while she somehow remains oblivious to the fact that a summoning circle has appeared beneath her, as well as beneath the wyvern hatchling.

There isn’t any sound or anything that might make it obvious. And with her staring directly at the still hissing creature while she casts her spell, she doesn’t exactly have the chance to take notice of some fancy magical display happening on the ground.

She does, however, notice when that fancy magical display suddenly releases a flash of light. Which is apparently the way to confirm that the spell was successful.

The summoning circle flashes like a bolt of lightning, momentarily blinding Antares and breaking her concentration. Following which, she finds herself still holding the rebellious wyvern whelp. Only now, its eyes have become solid black, and there appears to be a small illusionary witch hat floating slightly above its head. Which must be the way to visually establish that a creature has been made into a familiar.

“... Congrats! You’ve tamed a bastard!” Ayala dramatically, and somewhat sarcastically exclaims as she observes the pair. Antares apparently took a few moments too long to react to her own success, which must have prompted the Druid to make her own response.

The Warlock jolts somewhat in response, before sheepishly laughing. Following which she lets out a sudden yelp as the hatchling proceeds to crane its neck around so that it can bite her right on the arm, causing her to drop them.

Which is fine. The little beast is able to slow its fall rather easily with its wings. Following which it proceeds to walk across the ground until it can reach the Warlock’s legs. One of which it immediately wraps itself around, much like a toddler might with a parent.

There is a moment of stunned silence as Antares seemingly questions all of her life choices. It certainly didn’t take long for Ayala’s warning to come into effect. This particular wyvern is indeed a bastard, and it will be making that fact her problem forever! Or until it can somehow convince her to release it.

The Druid then awkwardly clears her throat.

“... At your current level, little bastard is the only one you get to keep with you. You can technically bind as many as you want, but you can only keep one with you at a time, for now. Any others that you bind will get sent directly to your Patron, who will be in charge of looking after them. They’ll usually be kept in a pocket dimension that you’ll need to figure out how to access on your own.” She explains, just making sure that Antares will understand how her powers work.

Druids get a space easily accessed in the real world, where the beasts must be given what they need to survive. Warlocks bind animals then those animals get dragged into a pocket dimension to be looked after by some sort of godlike entity. Kept put away like toys, only being withdrawn when the Warlock has use for them.

She then starts to head back down towards the paths, so that she can make her way off of the mountain.

“You should think of a name for it.” She says, Antares following closely behind. Though her movement is slowed, as a result of a very small dragon being wrapped around one of her legs. “You’ll level up once you name it. But the name will be permanent. So think hard about what you’d like to go with.” She adds, before pausing for a moment. “There is power in a name. Whatever name you pick, it has a chance of changing something about him. I don’t know what it will be. But the meaning of a name plays a part. So you’ll need to be extra sure that you want to use it.” She says, before she resumes her descent.