“Ok we’re nearly there” Called Daisy, nose in the air as they approached the village.

“Got it” Confirmed Maddox, a solemn look upon his face, he really didn’t want to be back here “let’s get Koru and get out of here as quick as we can!”

“Ok” This place held a lot of bad memories for both of them now, neither of them imagined they’d be back so soon.

As the duo got closer to the remains of the old home, Daisy’s nose began to twitch “Huh?” *Sniff* *Sniff*Sniff* as her inhaling became more erratic, she slowly looked more and more confused.

“Careful” Maddox warned “you’ll pass-out if you carry on like that, what’s up?”

“It’s gone...” she admitted, still smelling around the area, trying to find the scent once more.

“What’s gone?”

“His scent, it’s just disappears here...” she pointed to a spot on the ground not too far from where the house was.

“What do you mean it’s gone?” Sceptically Maddox questioned her, how could a scent disappear?

“I mean it’s gone! Vanished! I had such a good trail to follow to...” She looked disappointed, her finger placed on her chin, she tried to figure out what had happened.

“So much for the famous springer nose...” sarcastically quipped Maddox, he knew she was acting too smug, of course she couldn’t back it up.

Was he really blaming her again? No, she couldn’t let it slide this time, irritated she shouted “You really gonna blame me! Really! If you hadn’t fallen asleep when you were supposed to keep watch!”

“I know alright...” His voice trailed off “But how could his scent just vanish? It’s impossible right?”

“I don’t know...” She began sniffing around the area once more, desperately trying to catch a scent, until *Sniff* “... There was someone else here...” she inhaled a few more wafts of air “There was definitely someone else here, there’s a faint trace left”

Who was this mystery person who Daisy was picking up? Without thinking Maddox blurted out “Can you tell who it is”

“Are you serious...” She did not look impressed at his question.

“Ha... Maybe not, sorry” He spoke without thinking, she was right to look at him like that after asking such a dumb question.

Her nose continued to twitch “Well it’s definitely not someone from the village” she concluded “it smells... metallic?”

“How can you tell that?” He questioned.

“Trust me...” A disgusted look appeared “my nose is sensitive; the smell here is musky as hell and not very pleasant...” A new respect formed for Daisy that day, living in that village even he knew it didn’t smell great, he couldn’t imagine what it would be like a thousand times amplified.

“Yeah I get that... It still doesn’t explain how they can just disappear though?” He asked, still confused.

“Well...” Her eyes set skyward, she delved into her thoughts “If they’re not from here, perhaps they have a power or a mode of transport that mask their presence, even their smell?”

“That sounds way to Sci-Fi...” Maddox criticized, to Daisy’s ever-growing irritation “Got a better idea?” she bemoaned as she posed the question to him.

“Fair point” he admitted, it may have not been a good idea, but there weren’t many other options available “but what now, we can’t follow what we can’t track right?”

“It doesn’t sound good but...” she paused for a moment “I think we just have to trust he made this decision himself? I can’t smell any sweat or blood so I don’t think there was a struggle... Maybe he went on his own?”

“It still doesn’t make any sense!” Maddox couldn’t accept that his kid brother would just walk out without telling him anything.

“I know it’s frustrating” she placed a hand on his shoulder as she tried to console him “but we have to trust he knew what he was doing... he’s a smart kid, I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Maybe... I hope so” He couldn’t accept it, but he knew there wasn’t anything he could do now “we should probably get going before anyone see’s us, right?”

“Yeah probably, we shouldn’t overstay are welcome here” She agreed, she knew it was hard for him, but knowing Maddox, he would do everything to find him again.

“right, let’s go” They turned their backs to the place they called home once again, this time they were sure that this would be the last time, no turning back now.

By the time they reached where they left, the sun was blazing in the sky. As the village fell into the background once more, a familiar voice popped up.

“Hey... hey Maddox”

“What now...”

“Not that I’m hungry but...” Her stomach intervened, grumblingly loudly as to voice its concern that it hadn’t ate in a while, the loud roar of her stomach caused Daisy to look down, beet red.

He looked down at her stomach and then to her face with a smirk, causing her to turn redder still, she was really too cute... “Yeah, I’m pretty peckish too now you mention it.”

“Really!” She cried out relieved, but her relief was short lived as he continued “But the village we’re heading towards is still a few days away...”

“You don’t say...” Her head slumped into her shoulders as her stomach complained once more.

“Yeah... unless we can catch something and cook it, we’ll just have to grin and bear it”

“How do you expect me to grin and bear it...” Her feet were dragging along the floor now, slowly she started to act as if she was shutting down “Maddox, I can’t go on any further, please go on without me...”

Nonchalantly, without even looking back, he said his goodbyes to his suffering comrade “Your memory shall be cherished, goodbye old friend!”

With tears in her eyes she cried out “You’re really gonna leave me!”

“Wasn’t that what you wanted?” As he tilted his head back.

“No!” She protested “That’s where you say I could never leave you or something like that!” She exaggerated her words, putting across how he was in the wrong, all to no effect. Calmly he responded “If you can still talk so much, I’m sure you can make it.”

“Dammit!” Frustrated she cried out.

“If you’re really so hungry, try and find some berries or something for us to eat” He suggested, but this was only met with a negative response. “But I need Meattttt!” Her eyes were now slowly closing as she continued to complain.

Maddox was slowly beginning to regret bring her with him. “Well I can’t use my spirit form until I’ve got it under control, and although you’re pretty quick, I’m pretty sure all the animals here are either quicker than you or bigger than you...”

“Well why don’t you practise now?” She suggested lightly, getting his attention “Eh?” She continued her explanation “Meditation is a great way to communicate with your spirit, right? I’m sure the same works with yours?”

“I suppose so... Good idea Daisy” He was impressed that she had come up with such a rational idea.

“The quicker you get things under control the quicker I can have eat...” Drool was now dripping from her open mouth as she salivated, the thought of food had taken full control of her mind.

Yeah that was more like her... “That’s where you’re going with this... Well let’s stop here then, now how do I do this?”

“Right, first sit down and cross your legs, hands on your knee’s” she instructed him as he followed her orders. “Simple enough... Like this?”

“Yeah that’s fine, oh wait, straighten your back more, chin up” she moved his jaw into position as she continued “Ok, first close your eyes, start taking deep breaths through your nose at regular intervals”

“Hmm, you’re pretty good at this” he admitted to her.

“Focus!” She chided, the quicker he was done, the quicker she could eat! “Now focus your mind on the image of your spirit, once you’ve got that image firmly in your mind, say Spirit Sphere Open, Asphodel! And it should open the gate to the spirit world.”

Ok he thought, in his mind he imagined the dragon he had previously met, the pitch-black scales and overbearing presence, once this image was burned into his mind, he called out “Spirit Sphere Open... Asphodel!”

His mind exploded into colour, multitudes of lights sped past his body until he finally found himself standing on the edge of a stream, a forest standing before him, he’d been here before...

“Dragon!” He demanded his presence, hoping that the beast was there, soon enough he got an answer as a deep voice echoed from the woods. “There is no need to be so formal... Drake will suffice”

“Drake?” He said, puzzled, did dragons have names?

“Yes” As if to affirm his thoughts “it was my name once, it’s been a very long time since anyone has called me by my name” A hint of sadness in its old tone, the dragon slowly appeared from the woods, its presence as engulfing as he remembered.

“Is that so?”

“So” Drakes voice echoed around the corners of his mind “tell me what business you have here?”

“I have a question... Why did you choose me as your host?” From what he remembered from the short time he spent in school, spirits chose their casters and that’s how contracts were made, yet he had never met ‘Drake’ until that night.

“I didn’t...” The old voice grumbled “Is that all?”

“Wait! What!?”

“You are right to sound confused” The ancient dragon acknowledged “normal spirits form contract with a host of their choosing, however with legendary spirits it can be a little different?”

This was news to him! “How?” he blurted out his question.

Drake explained “Well, as well as the normal ways you know of, another way is through bloodline, some spirits are contracted to follow a certain bloodline until it ends, then they are free to form contracts of their own again, other spirits are passed on to form contracts with others.” He never remembered hearing about this, was this possibly covered after he was stopped from going to school? “You can do that?”

“Yes” He confirmed to Maddox as he continued his explanation “although it’s rare, I’ve only ever herd of one instance, when you pass on your spirit, you become as they say, soulless, there is no soul exchange, the two spirits will battle it out to inhabit a body, whichever one wins, becomes that person’s spirit.”

“I never knew that...” Maddox said dumbfounded.

“Of-course only legendary spirits can transfer and follow bloodlines by contract, other spirits are much too simple to understand such conditions” Drake said proudly, much to Maddox’s dismay. “So, I get the complicated spirit...” He moaned “Ok, so how do I form a contract with you?”

“Like I said, I didn’t choose you, the contract was already formed” The dragon reiterated.

“So, your saying that you’ve been in my family, my real family as one of their spirits?” Maddox questioned, this was all getting too much for him, he knew nothing of his heritage, and now he was learning that they held a legendary spirit as A heirloom to be passed down.

"That's correct" confirmed the old dragon "I was originally contracted to your mother, and when you were born I transfered to you."

"But wait!" A unpleasent thought creeped into his mind "If you were my mothers, does that mean that she became soulless when she had me?" A wave of guilt hit him, what if the reason she had to abandon him, was because she became soulless and couldn't protect him.

"Not quite" Stated the old Dragon "In my case, part of the terms of my contract was that, when I transferred, I'd leave remnants of my power with my original host's until they passed, so they had access to a shadow of my power, an echo if you will."

"So is my mother..." he tailed off, did he really want to know the answer. The old dragon shook its head sadly, of course, why should he have expected anything else. "What about Koru, does that mean we're sharing your power then?"

"No, Koru took your fathers spirit, another legendary spirit, an Elf..." He tailed off again, his voice sounded pained like revisiting bad memories.

"So, Koru took dad's..." Maddox thought out loud, relieved that Koru also had a spirit all along, even if he didn't know it, he was soulless no more!

"Is that all?" The dragon question dejected.

“Wait! So, what happened back then in the forest! I don’t remember anything when you took control?” If he was Maddox’s spirit, surely, he would have been in control during the events by the lake, but everything from then was cloudy.

“I said I was at your disposal...” The dragon repeated “I didn’t say you could handle my power yet.” The words sending chills up Maddox’s spine, this is why he came here, he needed to know how to use his spirit, without losing control, he called out to Drake “So how can I? How can I control your power as my own?”

“Get stronger!” Roared the old dragon “Train! I will seep morsels of my power for you to control, as you get stronger I will transfer more until you are ready to handle this by yourself, but a warning, if your life is in danger, if you lose yourself to your emotions, I will take over and I will make sure that no harm comes to you by any means necessary.” That last sentence resonated in Maddox, any means necessary, meaning a repeat of the events at the lake, he never wanted to experience guilt like that again, he was sure of that.

“So, I need to train my mind as well as my body, understood!” He knew what he had to do, in truth it had been the same all along, he wanted power and now he had it. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy, he’d have to work harder than ever before to make sure he could fight and protect those dear to him.

“Well now that is all clear” Drake reiterated “I will begin releasing small amounts of energy for you to use, focus on what powers you will need, and I will supply them to you, so if that’s all...”

“Hmm, thank you Dra... Drake!”

“Nothing to thank me for human, I’m contracted to you regardless, make yourself useful” The dragon chastised him as it slowly returned back into the woods. The land and the stream around him slowly started to fade as his mind went blank once more. “Right...” he thought as he returned from deep within his mind “No more excuses...”