“Why did you have to get such a fat, useless horse...” Gerald asked. Trying his best to haul the barely living beast onto the ritual without breaking anything. Derb was on the other side wedging the horse in place with his sword. They had to be careful not to kill the tied animal and they both were too strong for their own good. “I got a good deal on him, the body doesn’t matter anyway since it’s a spirit summon, we just need it for its base.” The horse barely even struggled, and they both wondered if it even needed to be tied up for the process.

A few minutes passed before he was properly set and physically tied and staked to the ground. It just looked on with a bored expression, as if it had seen much more than this in its life. “Quite a horse you bought… I can’t tell if it’s brave or stupid.” Gerald gave it a light nudge with his foot and got a disgruntled snort in response. “It’s stupid, we both know that,” Derb said with a sigh. He was starting to feel less and less sad about having to kill such a magnificent beast, especially since it wasn’t all that magnificent.

“Let’s hurry, I can’t waste all day on this,” Gerald said, despite It being his idea. Derb sighed and looked the horse in the eyes one more time. It bared its teeth at him in a hideous grimace and he knew he was ready. He held the sword loosely in one hand, swinging it calmly to warm up. “I’ll begin charging the star.” He said, making sure to prepare to kill the poor thing. “You mean you will siphon mana into the ritual, you’ll be on your own soon so don’t act too reckless.”

The ritual glowed purple as he siphoned dark mana into it, opening up a consciousness from the void. The moment it appeared he sliced the horse in half, killing it instantly. Gerald was on the backend with the black crystal, sucking up the horse’s soul before it was pulled into the void. The crystal glew gently, filled with the weak Soulforce of the poor horse. With the crystal in hand, he walked up to the bleeding center of the star and jammed it deep in the center. He jumped back as Derb began the second step. He poured half his mana into the star and slit his wrist, dropping blood on where the heart of the horse was.

The blood attracted the consciousness enough to form around it, and before it realized its mistake the process was too far done. The flesh of the horse melded together and slowly dissolved, turning into a shiny and white exterior like that of glass. The face hardened and turned to bone, before being covered in the same white material. The horse slowly stood up and turned to Derb, anger, and confusion in its eyes. It looked like an armored warhorse, except the armor was melded into its body to form plating.

It lowered its head and charged at him, to which he nimbly dodged. It was just a lesser demon, after all. He found the link in his mana center and willed the beast to follow his command. It’s what he saved his mana for. In a final mental battle, the horse kneeled, the consciousness losing to the combined effort of the horse soul and Derb. Gerald kept pumping mana into the circle as the demon slowly grew bigger and more detailed. Eventually, it reached its final form, grey wisps masqueraded as a mane and tail around the majestic white horse.

“Your name is… Mist. You look so pretty… Gerald, are we going to be able to put a saddle on this thing?” Gerald just watched on as he tried to regain his mana reserves. Summoning was such a tiring event, even lesser demons like this had required such large reserves of mana just to make a predetermined choice. He heard the question Derb had asked and looked at the horse. It seemed to be the tough type, covered in armored scales in its weakest areas. The problem with it was that there was so much armor that it would be hard to use it for much else.

“The saddle will fit but we’ll be hard-pressed to use it like a pack mule. This changes the plan a bit...” Gerald snapped out of existence in a crack of lightning, leaving Derb with his new summon. “Hey, Misty. I’m sorry about the whole situation with summoning you. I just needed you to look like this. It’d be weird to have to ride around on something that looked like Connor, right?” The horse just snorted in his face, it was much more intimidating than before, though.

The eight-foot-tall horse loomed over him, majestic and strong. He knew the spirit had taken the memories of the horse so the personality being like this wasn’t a surprise. “Come on… I gave you a way nicer body. Look, I'm sorry I killed you, I guess?” He jumped onto the massive horse, and he could almost feel the intent to kick him off. “Hah, you’ll get used to it eventually, Mist. Man, this is hard without a saddle...” He missed being with Adalia, she was so wide and fluffy that he almost sank in whenever he sat down.

Gerald flashed back into the field with a large saddle hanging from his shoulder. “Get off him, you dolt. I don’t know if that armor will help but I don't want you losing your family jewels because of some impatience.” Embarrassed at the crude humor, Derb jumped off the horse. Gerald walked in front and placed the saddle firmly on its back. “You take good care of it. Here, this is how you properly latch it into place… I think this goes here.” 25 minutes of them learning how to put a saddle on and the horse was ready for riding.

They stood back and admired their work. The horse spirit looked majestic as he stood arrogantly, digging at the ground with its hoof. The saddle was a sharp black, a stark contrast on its pale white skin. “It’s a good-looking beast… but it isn’t a fast creature. We should have you on your way by tomorrow if we want you to make it safely.” Gerald seemed unimpressed by the creature, which Derb couldn’t understand. “Look at her! She’s so pretty. I’m sure she is fast.” Gerald just smiled at the defensive stance.

“It’s a good animal for riding, just not for traveling. Don’t mind my complaints, boy. It takes a lot more than this to impress an old man.” He pouted and hugged his giant horse. “Don’t worry girl… you’re more than enough for me.” The horse just walked forward, not taking his consideration. “Damn it… at least Adalia didn’t hate me.” Why were demons so complicated? With a sigh, he unsummoned Mist, letting her back in his soul. She took up a small amount of his soul which was nice.

“Speaking of travel, what do I take? I know the books and some food but I don’t really know a lot about traveling so far...” Gerald shook his head at his student’s lack of knowledge. “If you’d spend less time on your sword and more time seeking knowledge you wouldn’t lack that kind of common sense.” He hung two large packs on each side of the saddle. He smacked one. “This is just the basics, clothes, rations, and water.” He pointed to the other, “That holds your teachings, if you lose that then you can no longer call me teacher.” He squinted his eyes. “Because you’ll be dead, understand?”

Derb nodded furiously. “Lose the book and I die, got it...” He personally went over and made sure the pack was latched on firmly. “Why don’t I… just go today? I feel like I'm getting lost either way so I should consider that.” Gerald couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Do... you know how to use a compass?” Derb nodded his head. “The north bit goes north, right? So all I have to do is go north?” Gerald almost spat blood at the unforeseen circumstance. “Get inside quick, we’ll use the rest of today to teach you… how to survive.”

___

Hannah and Tiffany were speeding through the field with an over-energetic wolf. “Hey, Tiffany… Derb’s leaving soon.” Hannah said, the first thing they’d both said in a while. Tiffany just kept leaning into the wolf, not wanting to talk about it. They’d both kept a brave face in front of him but truth be told they didn’t know what the house would be like with him gone. They both changed a lot because of him and they didn’t want things to return back to what they were before. “Should we… stop him? I’m sure he’d stay if we cried or something.”

Tiffany nuzzled her face into the hair of the wolf, “We can’t… It’s teacher’s order. We’d just annoy him if we acted like whiny brats.” Hannah sulked and slowed the wolf, not needing words to stop him. Adalia had been a present just before he left. This meant she couldn’t do anything to stop him now, it’d be just too rude. She was glad the wolf would stay but she felt panicky at losing Derb too. If she had to say it, she’d miss him. He was the one that had her open up from the once obsessive person she was before.

She looked at Tiffany, ironically her change was almost opposite. Tiffany grew a backbone in the time he was here. Months of healing a half corpse would do that but she also learned how to speak up for herself. She learned how to joke and how to dish out punishment. Hannah was sure Tiffany would learn this over time but she only got meeker as she grew older. Seeing Tiff now she almost looked like before she met Derb, too meek to be honest with herself.

They both saw Derb as a brother, although in different aspects. While Hannah saw him as a bit dependable Tiff saw him as someone to dote on. Tiffany almost felt like she was the older sister to Derb at times, while Hannah felt like she could let herself go more around him. It was the main reason they couldn’t see eye to eye about how to act about his leaving. “We shouldn’t bother him about it. He’s the type to take our feelings too seriously, you don’t want to be the reason he regrets his life choices, right?”

Hannah just sulked further. “No… but if him leaving means we go back to how we were then I'd rather take that responsibility.” Tiff laughed at the serious tone. “Of course we are going to change, I don't think it’s going to be a bad change. We still have a wolf to take care of and have fun riding. We were just missing that type of fun before.” Hannah blushed at her words being brushed aside. “But it’d be more fun with him around! Don’t you think-” “Enough!” Tiffany interrupted, jumping off the wolf.

“If you want to do it then go ahead, don’t try to pull me into your little guilt trip.” Hannah cringed at the words. Was it so obvious that she wanted an accomplice? “I just want him to stay… Don’t you?” Tiff shook her head, looking wise beyond her years. “I just want him to choose his own life. He helped me think about what I wanted to do in the future so I don't want to stifle him. Let’s go.” With silence between them, they both headed home. Each walking beside the trotting wolf.

___

“Water, rations… map. Did you bring your compass? Damnit, wait a second.” Gerald flashed in and out of reality instantly and came back with a compass. “Clothes, water… study material… egads, did I forget the rations?” Derb gently pushed him aside. “Teacher… you’ve been checking for an hour already, at this rate we’ll have me going tomorrow.” Morning had come in the household and it was time for Derb to set off. He was supposed to go early in the morning but the sun had fully come out at this point.

“I’d be a laughingstock if my protege was seen starving by the side of a road.” Derb just sighed at his teacher’s misplaced worry. He’d have to travel through a forest full of demons but the problem was his water supply? Hannah and Tiffany were in the background huddled up, whispering to each other in what could only be a no-good plan. “You two, you’re not allowed to follow me, ok? I know how much you guys want to leave this place but… Well, you can’t go.”

They looked at him like he was an idiot, before giggling. These demons probably put something in his drink to taste bad. He looked at Connor who had set himself high in the sky, surveying the area around him. “You’re… good to go, I guess...” The uncertainty was lost on the boy. “Great! I’ll see you guys in a month or two… years... ” Gerald laughed at his rudeness. “We’ll be hearing about your actions, so you don’t have to worry about us wondering if you’re dead. We’ll know.”

Derb laughed back at the equally rude joke. He jumped up and gracefully sat upon the horse, using snake eyes of course. “Onwards!” The horse took a few steps forward until he realized he was going the wrong way. “Err, left.” He said, uncertainly rotating the map in his hand. The trio watched on in utter horror. “Teacher… he’s not going to die, right.” Gerald smiled warmly and walked back home. The two kept repeating the question, more panicked every single time.