Master Of None

The two made it back to the Tamers guild fairly quick since they were heading away from the crowded streets. Su had been walking funny but this was most likely because she needed to adjust to the new weight of the shield. The iron shield weighed more than her previous one due to the modifications it had undergone by adding the dragon scales. 

Once she had gone through the lowered fence with Walker she removed the shield, ”What’s up? Is it not comfortable?” Walker wasn’t sure why she had removed it.

”Ah it’s fine, I just want to get used to holding it. I thought it would be weird to carry it in the streets but with how much room there is here, I should be able to swing it around a bit before we get to the sleeping quarters.” Walker gave Su the space she needed as they walked. It was interesting watching Su twist and turn to get used to the shield, Walker had not seen her do this the last time she got her previous shield modified, the party had split up to train. Walker was sure that some of the tamers found her actions odd but seeing the strange things they were doing to train with their beasts Walker didn’t see any problem. 

When they entered the resting quarters they found Remey still in the same position as when they left, however the girl seemed much more at ease having spent a few hours adjusting to Gil and herself. Gil had a small stack of papers that he had already sealed and handed to Walker as soon as he reached him. The girl shrank back in to Remey a bit more when Walker and Su approached. ”Come on, that’s Walker, we talked about him, he has a little sister named Lisa back home. He’s really nice and can show you some cool magic. Introduce yourself, I promise he will be your friend too.”

Remey whispered to her which seemed to make her a bit more courageous than a moment ago. ”My na-me is-s Maria, Remey helped me pick it….” the girl paused a bit with another deep breath. ”My system is a light benders system, I can make light bend and change sha-pes.” She winced as she said this most likely as result of being harmed whenever she brought up her system.

”Well my name is Walker, I have a jack of all trades system. With it I can do a lot but one of them is this.” Walker used his elemental manipulation to start making the light mana in the environment converge in to a little white glowing ball. This made the girls eyes open wide, due to her time in the demon territory she had never seen another being that could manipulate light at all. ”I even have a friend who can shape light in to animals and flowers. I can take you to see her sing one day.” Having seen the girl’s reaction to his small elemental manipulation he knew that it would be the thing to get her more interested in opening up.

”Yes, I would want to. Remey said I could come with all of you? Is that really alright...I-I’m a demon too.” She was waiting for Walker or Su to yell or hit her but it never came. The only thing that happened was Su and Walker smiled bigger. 

”Well unlike here or where you were born, our kingdom doesn’t hate any race. We may not all get along, but we don’t have any rules that stop them from visiting, or living there. Aaaanndd my party just happens to have way too much room in a mansion we are cleaning up. So you’re welcome to come with us. Who knows maybe you will just make a few friends in our city of Diamond.” Maria was silent but her eyes darted to everyone’s faces looking for even a hint of cruelty or anger. Her eyes were red from obvious crying, Su and Walker could tell that she would be crying again now if she had any tears left. ”We actually plan to leave tomorrow early morning, Su here is going to be your own personal guard, she’s really strong.” With a hushed whisper at the last part Maria seemed a bit distracted now.

She was looking at Su who was waiting for the right time to make her own introduction. With a soft hit on Walker’s shoulder she started, ”Leader is right, I just got this new shield here and it’s pretty tough. I will make sure it stands between you and any mean monsters. All you will need to do is stand behind me and watch everyone use cool skills.” She was not used to talking to those younger than her being the youngest in her own family, but she adopted the same tone Walker and Remey used which seemed to work well enough. 

”I’m sorry your other shield broke.” Maria said so softly that Su almost missed it, but luckily she had heard it. 

”I don’t know why, it was a shield, it did what it needed to. If it hadn’t had my shield then it could have been me, or one of my party members hurt. No, that was the reason I carry a shield, to protect.” Su may have lost the soothing tone but the fact that her words were so heartfelt more than got through to Maria. She had never met anyone with such a kind heart and Walker swore he saw stars shining in her eyes, Su may have found her very own little fan. 

With the ice starting to melt between the party and the newly named Maria Walker wanted to make sure that she would be comfortable around Onyx and Midnight. Onyx was the most awake since the second Walker had entered he had been watching and waiting for the right time to speak. ”Onyx, could you come make an introduction as well?” Onyx slithered over to Walker taking his usual spot on Walker’s shoulders. ”This is my youngest brother Onyx, he is also very nice, he has a telepathy skill and can talk to you in your head so don’t let it scare you.”

Onyx was looking at Maria and her at him. She didn’t seem very afraid at all which was a bit of a surprise. ”Like my brother said, I am Onyx. I am an abyssal serpent, it is nice to meet you Maria.” Onyx kept things short afraid he would overwhelm her. 

”Cute.” Maria said one word which surprised them even more. ”Some demons have tails that look like you but they can’t talk. You are better.” Well that made things easier, to be honest not once had they thought that as a demon she would be used to snakes because some of them developed snake like tails naturally. It was a trait they had which was used in combat to poison their opponents. It was even more surprising that Maria thought Onyx was cute, Walker had worried for no reason. 

”Would you be up for one more introduction? Midnight over there is my little sister too and also Onyx’s older sister. She will also be protecting you if you come with us.” With a bit more nervousness Maria nodded, Midnight was a dragon after all, between her dark scales and bony wings she was fairly intimidating. Midnight, who had been pretending to sleep, shook herself as she stood up. She didn’t immediately move close to Maria which made Walker proud.

Midnight sniffed the air making sure to remember Maria’s scent in case she needed it. ”Sister, says its nice to meet you. She will share some good food with you when we get back to the kitchen. She says she knows how to get aunt to give her extra.” 

”You sneaky, I knew you were convincing mother to give you more while she cooked.” Walker gave her a soft flick on the head which was returned with a swish of her tail to his leg. The strange sight of a young dragon playing with a human completely destroyed any stereotypes Maria had about dragons. It turned out they are not evil monsters that want to eat all little demons but instead have the capacity to be just like humans. 

The slightest smile shown on Maria’s face before it was gone. She was not completely gone from her past hardships, one day Walker had hope that she would be smiling all the time. ”So what do you think, do you want to come join us?” Maria couldn’t speak a word her throat felt like it was closing up. She instead nodded her head over and over and the last of the tears she had dripped down her cheeks. Walker placed his hand softly on her head, ”welcome to the family, we will find you some warm clothes so you don’t get too cold in the plains. The wind is really brutal you know.” Maria’s life had finally changed, after eight years of torture and suffering she was finally going to be somewhere safe.