"No!"
"But why?" Merlin whined slyly.
"No means no!" Silver replied flatly.
"But there's a lot of space up there, plus it'll make us faster" Merlin pouted as he kept walking.
"Child… there's no way I'm letting you ride on my back" Silver said as she ignored his expression.
"Tch… broody much" Merlin clicked his tongue.
"Tactless…" Silver replied.
"Hey… I'm sorry I said that, but you're huge tho" Merlin sighed softly.
"You just said it again… hey child, repeat after me…" Silver turned to Merlin, her eyes locked with his as she said "Miss Silver is not huge".
Merlin rolled his eyes and repeated.
"Miss Silver is not huge"
"Good job little one" Silver smiled and continued moving.
"Narcissist…" Merlin muttered lowly from behind.
"What was that little one?" Silver said as she turned around.
"Nothing… and hey I'm not little, but I guess from your perspective everything is little…" Merlin replied sarcastically.
"Ow!" He jolted as a needle shot out from Silver's fur and struck his arm.
"What was that for?" Merlin glared at her.
"Who knows… must've slipped out" Silver replied nonchalantly as she turned her back to him and continued walking.
"You never mentioned having a bad personality in your story you know… why can't you… ow!" another needle hit him.
"Fine! I'm sorry" Merlin sighed as he followed.
"See… it wasn't that hard" Silver answered not turning around.
They continued walking through the forest, and as Silver said, it was a safe path. They strolled quietly, too quietly, for a forest filled with multiple nightmare creatures both corrupted and great, it was rather peaceful.
'Huh, I guess that's what happens when you have boss watching your every move'
Merlin decided to strike up a conversation with Silver.
"So Lady Silver, why haven't you left this forest anyways?"
"My mother said that my fate will find me here… that was part of her last words to me, so I will stay till it does" Silver replied softly.
"So in other words, it's up to fate… yeah I wouldn't put my trust there if I were you, never ends well" Merlin shrugged.
"It did lead me to you, didn't it?" Silver replied as she slowed her pace.
"It did, but that probably wasn't fate, that part doesn't really work on me" Merlin sighed and walked closer as her pace matched his.
'I've got an attribute that blocks it after all'
"You're the first human to walk into this forest in a very long time" Silver said as she stopped abruptly.
"How long ago exactly?" Merlin asked as he stopped too, then he looked around on guard.
"You should hide yourself, the monsters here are extremely tricky and have many ways to kill quickly". Silver said as her body adjusted into a fighting stance.
'What a day…'
Merlin immediately used fog, black screen and illusion to hide himself behind a tree.
"Is this enough?" Merlin's voice sounded from open space.
"For what's coming, I don't think so" Silver said, then immediately the soil encased him in a box and immediately the box hardened into metal.
"I don't have claustrophobia, but still I'm not exactly comfortable with this tight space…" Merlin said to the blackness but his voice echoed back to him.
The noise outside was muffled, but Merlin could feel the earth vibrating against impact. A few minutes later, the noise stopped completely, then a few seconds after that it picked up again.
Merlin felt the sounds and vibrations for about ten minutes, then it finally stopped, the box of metal changed back to soil, then returned into the ground.
He closed his eyes due to the sudden light, after a few seconds of adjustment, he opened it and saw a giant half scorpion half boar looking nightmare creature that was covered in spikes, its body was riddled with enough spikes that it could be mistaken for a porcupine too.
Merlin turned to the side and saw Silver, the wolf was encased in a complete black armor with jagged spikes, the armor was bent and broken, blood clung to it and she was breathing heavily.
"Silver… hey, are you okay?" Merlin ran up to her to check her.
"I'm fine child… don't worry" Silver replied as her armor receded back into her skin, her bleeding wounds were recovering at a visible speed.
"What exactly did you fight?" Merlin asked as he turned to the corpse, he activated spirit vision and his breath caught.
"That...That's a great beast!" Merlin exclaimed, then he turned to Silver.
"You actually killed a great beast!" He was genuinely surprised as he stared at her bloodied figure.
"Yes I did, I died once but I still succeeded" Silver said as she shrugged off dust from her fur.
"That's not something you say like you're describing the weather…" Merlin sighed.
"Child let's head down this road, there is a river by the end there" Silver said as she started moving.
"Alright, give me one second" Merlin rushed to the great beast and fished out his first ever supreme soul shard and he summoned his cloak to put it inside.
Merlin returned the soul shard and brought out a bag of spices then unsummoned his cloak and walked faster to catch up with Silver.
"Wait up, you walk too fast, my little legs can't keep up" Merlin said as he ran up to Silver.
"Why can't I just ride your back? It'll save me lots of energy you know" Merlin asked as he looked up at her.
"No!" Her answer came sharp, not even bothering to look at him.
"I'll definitely ride it soon…" Merlin muttered to himself.
They walked down the route, till they arrived at the flowing stream, Silver walked into the water with her huge body as the flowing water washed off the dried blood, Merlin sighed at the sight then he got in too and washed the dirt off his body and armor.
After they finished, they sat beside the river watching the waves flow, then Merlin remembered.
'Wait a minute, I haven't tasted anything for the past three chapters now… from fighting a wraith to hosting the tarot club 2.0 to the Civilth arc… I'm kinda hungry now'
"Hey Silver, do you maybe have anything to eat?" Merlin turned to Silver who had laid down with her eyes closed.
She opened one eye and turned to him, she stared for a few seconds then replied.
"No… I don't need to eat, it's not like I can die of hunger anyways" then she closed her eyes and turned her head back.
"Well I can…" Merlin muttered.
He stood up then summoned the cloak and started bringing out meat that he had saved for himself.
'Judging from her size, I should prepare as much as Effie eats… what's up with wolves and eating anyways'
After bringing out a large amount, he also took out a large sheet to lay them on it, he brought the spices he took earlier and seasoned them and then he walked towards Silver.
"Hey, I'm going to get some wood, I want to start a fire" Merlin said to her.
"Starting a fire in a forest filled with corrupted and great monsters, even I couldn't think of a better suicide plan" Silver replied with her eyes still closed.
"Then how am I supposed to eat…" Merlin sighed depreciatingly.
Silver sighed and used her paw to touch the ground, immediately there was a rumble, then a distance away, large iron spikes rose from the ground surrounding them and blocking out other nightmare creatures.
"Thanks… now then for the wood…" immediately he said that, multiple branches from a tree turned to liquid metal, it flowed to the empty space in front of him and then returned to its original state.
"Wow… thanks a lot Silver, man having a strong boss really is good" Merlin smiled as he walked to the wood.
'heh if nepotism feels this good, then call me a nepo baby'
He used burn and flame control to start the fire then he started preparing the meat. After half an hour, he was finally done, he looked up towards Silver, the giant wolf was still laying on the ground with her eyes closed.
"Hey Silver, I'm done cooking, come over!" Merlin said with a smile but Silver completely ignored him.
"Aren't you going to eat?" He asked again.
"No" Silver replied softly.
"Okay… suit yourself" Merlin said then started eating.
After eating for a while, he picked up a large piece and walked towards Silver. He stopped in front of her face, used his hands to pry open her mouth, then dropped meat inside and turned around.
"Ow!" Merlin exclaimed as multiple needles pierced his back "hey the least you could say is thank you" he turned back and saw Silver chewing the meat he gave her earlier.
'Worth it' he smiled inwardly.
"Thank you child" She said softly.
"You're welcome" he smiled as he returned back to the fire.
A few seconds later, he repeated the process, then again and again until the food finished, but there was a small price paid.
"Ah… you didn't have to hit me every time" Merlin complained as he rubbed his stinging back.
"You're persistent" Silver replied unfazed.
"You're the one who hasn't eaten in like gods know how long" Merlin shot back.
Silver sighed and shook her head but didn't reply, by this time, the sky had already started to darken.
'Too bad I don't have my echo to keep watch…' Merlin sighed inwardly, then he turned to Silver and a plan formed in his mind.
'Time to put my nepo act to the fullest'
Merlin stood up and walked to Silver's side, he didn't ask or stop, he just sat beside her and laid down resting on her body with his eyes closed.
He could feel Silver glaring at him, but he ignored her gaze and stayed put.
"Strange… is it me or is your fur getting pricky"
Merlin asked, then he heard her reply.
"You're imagining it"
"Doesn't matter anyways, I won't leave even if I get impaled by hundreds of needles" As he said that, a few seconds later the fur returned to their soft comfortable form.
'Warm… she's got one hell of a personality, haha' with that, Merlin drifted off to sleep.
…
The next morning he was woken up by Silver shaking her body to wake him.
"Ugh… five more minutes…" Merlin said groggily.
Silver stopped shaking and stayed quiet, the next moment.
"Ow!!"
..
.
"What a brilliant wake up call" Merlin said grudgingly as he rubbed his stinging body, again.
"It's time for us to continue moving little on…"
"Merlin… the name's Merlin, not child, not little one, Merlin… if you keep calling me that I'll start calling you wolfie" Merlin cut her off as he answered.
'Calling me child just feels odd, sure she's probably older than five of my generational ancestors but who cares, I'm over twenty… in mind tho'
"Fine… Merlin, it's time to go" Silver said as she removed the iron barricade from last night.
"Alright, let's go… but"
"No" She instantly cut him off.
"It'll be faster"
"Definitely no" she replied again.
'I'll definitely hitch a ride one day' Merlin said inwardly as they continued walking, after a while, he decided to engage in some conversation.
"So how many nightmare creatures have you killed over the years?"
"Nightmare creatures? What's that?" Silver asked, confused.
"That's what we called those monsters, like the one from yesterday" Merlin replied casually.
"I don't know, I haven't been counting something for so long" Silver replied softly.
"How long ago exactly?" He asked curiously.
"Longer than five generations of your ancestors" Her reply came flatly.
"..." Merlin was speechless…
'Author, you definitely did that on purpose didn't you'
'You must be imagining things' the author replied.
'...'
"Anyways let's forget that, since you said fate guided us together, if I want to take you out of this forest, will you come?" Merlin asked, he was curious how far she was willing to follow him.
Silver thought for a long time, then she replied.
"I… don't know, I haven't had any thoughts of leaving this forest, partly because of my mother's words and the other is because this is my home…" as she spoke, she slowed down reminiscing about the past.
"I remember after my mother died, I wanted to run away, to leave this cursed forest, but still I stayed, so as for your request… I'll think about it"
Merlin completely ignored the solemn atmosphere and smirked mischievously.
"So… about the other request, you'll definitely think about it right?"
"..." Silver stayed silent for a while then said "thank you" her voice was soft as she acknowledged his attempt to cheer her up.
"You're welcome… now we just need to find a way off the dream realm" Merlin smiled as he walked forward.
"Dream realm?" Silver looked down at him.
"Yeah… that's what we call this hell of a place" he replied calmly.
"I see, that's why you seem off" Silver nodded and turned her eyes away as she continued walking, but Merlin had already stopped in his place.
"Off? What do you mean off? What about me is off?" He asked, confused.
"For one, you're clearly not an awakened, and you're not a regular human since you have abilities, so it seems like you're stuck in a state between awakened and regular human" She explained calmly.
"That makes sense, I didn't awaken naturally, since those guys usually skip the whatever a first nightmare does, and since I'm supposed to awaken when I return, I'm still stuck in the middle" He noted the differences between the two methods and nodded.
"I see, so that explains your odd state…" Silver nodded to his words.
"Did you understand what I explained?" He looked up at her and asked.
"No, I don't know what a first nightmare is at all, but since you looked like you reached a firm understanding, I just played along" Silver replied flatly.
"..." Merlin could swear he felt her provoker potion digest, but he just couldn't prove it.
"I'll just pretend I didn't hear that… anyways, where are we off to next?"
Silver stopped for a second, then she replied with a stern voice.
"City of Order, Karlax"