🏮62. Oberon

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Just as Amber noticed the creature sucking up the water, it reached out, and grabbed hold of the female yuki-onna by her neck, lifting her up off the ground. She started choking, finally releasing her hold on the young mercenary she loved.

Her legs dangled aimlessly and her hands desperately grabbed hold of the monster's arm. She lifted her body up slightly, taking the pressure off of her neck. She gasped for air as soon as her throat was less constricted. However, she wasn't strong enough to free herself from him. It was only a matter of time before her arms gave out and she choked to death.

"Heh..heh...heh...heh...heh," chuckled the monster deep in his throat, while he held the helpless woman up by one hand; as if she were some kind of prize.

Her struggles and grunting sounds amused him greatly. The lack of strength in her feeble attempts to free herself were a great source of enjoyment to him.

None attempted to save the woman. With wide eyes they watched while her struggles became less pronounced, as time passed. First the woman's legs stopped kicking and then her arms became less tense. The muscles in her arms gave way and then she was held up by just her neck. All the while, the monster chuckled deep in his throat without a care in the world. He had no fear of retaliation, he had killed many of the yuki-onna in his lifetime.

The woman's face started to turn red and her eyes began to bulge.

"Irritating, so irritating. I promised myself that I wouldn't interfere," Amber whispered. "What's this have to do with me?" Amber sighed in exasperation as the woman's eyes began to roll back.

Amber pursed her lips and then flicked out a long metal needle from below her long sleeve. The needle was so large that when it pierced the side of the bubble, the bubble loudly popped. The bubble exploded, startling everyone who had been in a trance, and swiftly pierced through the monster's forehead. The monster blinked once, as its lips parted, and then it collapsed onto the ground.

Amber fell from above and roughly landed on the horse-like creature. It made a startled sound and dashed into the forest, with Amber clinging to its back, while cursing herself for getting involved.

While clinging to her life, Amber shot needle after needle into the ground. She desperately hoped that somehow she wouldn't run out. Then she tugged on the invisible strings, pulling the mafau back. It whinnied in irritation and swung its head back and forth.

Alina ducked deep down within Amber's pocket. She shook in fear as the monster tried to fight Amber's magic.

"That's enough," Amber said sternly, but the creature still fought her. "I said that's enough!" Amber said while reaching down with a small needle end piercing a spot just below the monster's ear. The creature stopped its movement and sat back on its butt. Amber removed the needle and patted the creature on its neck. "That's better. Next time listen to me first and I won't have to get rough with you," Amber said.

Alina looked at the calm and well behaved ordra. Ordra's were proud creatures who rarely listened to anyone. It was possible to get an ordra to listen to you if you gave it a preferred treat. However, it only obeyed you as long as you gave it the food that it wanted and as long as the creature felt that it wanted to listen. This was the first time that Alina had seen anyone actually subdue an ordra.

Alina watched in shock as the ordra lowered itself further onto the ground and rested its head in the dried leaves of the forest. Its dark green scales glistened in the little light that remained in the forest. It made a strange purring noise and turned its head, happily nipping Amber's ankle with its teeth. Amber watched as a dark green light lit up from below her skin. It traveled up her body until it settled on her other ear, which had previously been blank. She reached up, rubbing her earlobe with joy in her heart. She leaned down, rubbing the side of the creature's neck, happily.

"My master," the creature said with a smooth and powerful voice.

Amber's hand stilled. "How can you speak in the yuki-onna tongue?"

"I have already evolved once, so I'm able to speak with people."

"I see, then how many more evolutions do you have?" Amber said.

"I have two more evolutions. All mafau and maflo have three evolutions, they're just rarely able to evolve."

"You're a beautiful mafau. What species are you?" Amber said.

The creature pushed into Amber's hand, purring once again at her touch. "I am known as an Ordra. I am a type of dragon."

Amber's hand paused. "A dragon? Do you breathe fire?"

The creature made a clicking noise. "I don't. I breathe poisonous flames. I can also fly and am quite good at fighting with my tail. I can be useful to you master, so please don't be disappointed in me."

Amber tried to stealthily look behind her, but she couldn't peek in the right angle.

"Are you a male, female, or something in between; like Fluffy," said Amber.

The ordra paused in embarrassment before responding. "I'm a male and my name is Oberon," he said. "What's a fluffy?"

And so, their conversation freely flowed, as Oberon continued down the trail at a leisurely pace. While Alina butted in on the conversation every now and then. Oberon's long tail happily waved back and forth, showing how content he was feeling. His wings stayed closely to his sides, making sure that they never got in the way of Amber's legs. There was a slight bounce to his step, and joy in his heart, while his orange eyes twinkled happily.

Meanwhile behind Amber, the trees came alive with the angry screeches of the fallen mimic's comrades. A hoard of other mimic's slowly crawled down the trees, digging their claws in. They followed the dead mimic's scent of distress.

After only a few minutes, the forest was filled with screams and gore. Bodies piled on top of one another, as the mimics searched for the scent that lingered on the fallen mimic's forehead. Still, no matter how many of the yuki-onna they killed, they could not find the culprit.

In the end, they piled the dead bodies around their dead mimic as an offering to him. On top of the pile of dead bodies, was a young female with bruises around her neck. She was holding tightly to a man's hand. There were tear streaks on her cheeks and a sad smile remained on her lips.

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