Waynack

Goat

William and Alucard followed their new teacher through the wooded area, still walking on an incline just as they did before meeting him. The old man analyzed his two new pupils, he assumed they've been through several wars together, only strengthening their bond, with how close they appeared. William and Alucard walked side by side just behind him, with Alucard having the dragon's nest on his back. 

"I can tell you two are close friends, no?" The monk asked.

William and Alucard reacted, one with excitement while another clouded in self-judgment. 

"Yeah! How'd you know that?" William asked.

"I guess so..." Alucard murmured, then thought, I can't forgive myself for not helping him...

The old man turns around to look at the two but still walks as if he knew the path before him was clean and absent of danger. Walking backward seemed like a hobby to him, his confidence doing so brimmed off his shoulders. 

"Well, my name is Kyrios, it's nice to meet the both of you." Kyrios said.

Alucard looked around, noticing that they both were led by this man they just met, and yet, trust was already established. The trees' shadows loomed over the travelers, crickets hummed a fine melody just under the leaves. 

"Where are we going exactly?" Alucard asked.

Kyrios smiled at Alucard's question, then said, "To my dojo, of course, I can't train you two without a place of my own. How many goats do you two see around here?"

What an odd question, the two trainees were trumped by the trivial inquiry. What use does this information serve? Alucard and William panned around, swinging their heads side to side as a pendulum does, looking for how many goats they could count.

Steam pressed from Wiliam's ears, eyes squinted in frustration, and he groaned, "Hmm..."

Alucard looked forward to their teacher, giving up on this game, and said, "I don't see anything."

"Well, let this be your first task then! Bring me a goat and bring it to the top of the mountain!" Kyrios said.

They could no longer tell if his smile was genuine or was he basking in their embarrassment. What teacher makes their students search for a goat in the middle of nowhere?

"Wait, but there aren't any goats out here!" Alucard shouted.

Kyrios waved at his students, then said, "See you two soon!" and once he finished, he disappeared. 

William and Alucard were left alone in the forest, unaware of their next step, they reacted differently to the daunting news. 

"AWK! He left us?!?!" Alucard shouted. 

He looked around for any sign of the old man, but the only thing he captured was the dark forest beyond the small trail. Animal howls echoed from the visible nightmare, hunger in their barks for food.

"Wow! So cool!" William said.

Alucard turned to William, looking at him as if he escaped from a dungeon, and shouted, "We're stuck on a mountain, how is that cool!!" 

William shrugged, and fully accepted the challenge before them, "This shouldn't be hard, we have Dasos, he can find it easily."

With Dasos, hunting down an animal shouldn't be difficult. Not only did he have strong nostrils, but flight allowed him to easily locate his prey. Alucard didn't expect that Dasos would be useful in a hunt, especially with how often he chooses to sleep. 

"Really? I didn't know he was good for hunting." Alucard said.

Alucard takes the large cage off his back and plants it in the dirt. He opened the door, then watched along with William.