Caelus began running at full speed, not too much of a rush, stopping at the entrance and knocking. Seeing it open, he walked through and quickly sprinted past, since it was turning morning, and most people were sleeping, along with horses wandering the fields behind, though kept fenced in with enough room.
His finger twitched as if nervous, finally stopping at where he'd been when he went to Tellus's home, looking at the building and trying to remember a bit more. He'd learned a lot about the Realms and how to use the techniques; he did take an interest in reading.
"Since it's just morning, she should be waking up. Should I disturb them or wait for her..." Caelus thought, not knowing which to choose, since he was bothered by the idea of interrupting someone's sleep.
Right then, Tellus walked out of the home with the door almost hitting Caelus in the face, who easily stepped out of the way.
"Well, you're here on time. I was about to go looking for you," Tellus spoke, a calm expression on her face, yet still couldn't hide that she was a lot happier that she didn't need to look for him.
"Indeed. Where are we going, though?" Caelus didn't bother to ask this earlier.
"We are going to explore another smaller realm, one with undead roaming around and coming out, which go to terrorize people and merchants. If this is completed, I become a part of the Royal Guard."
Caelus listened, though he was worried if she was demonizing the path he saw in the Pavilion, but it didn't matter right now, because those undead were hurting people, especially those passing by, so they clearly weren't good.
[Second Mission!]
"Oh for- Okay, no, Just-... You know what, fine, as long as I get a reward." Caelus would not turn down any advantage he got, as long as he actually earned it.
[You must explore the Hidden Realm of the Undead, where monsters lie, and defeat them to keep the area safe. After this is done, you must continue investigating the place to find where the source of the undead was from, and destroy or take the very thing holding the realm together!]
[Rewards - Draconic Aura (Passive Ability) - Will be described after the Mission is complete.]
"...Good enough. I'll just go check it out." Caelus blinked as Tellus flicked at his nose while getting on her toes.
"...Rude," Caelus said, wondering why she even did that, only to realize it was time for them to go. "Oh, sorry."
He turned as she began walking with him, following suit right after, though this time standing behind her, mostly to see anything her eyes couldn't see.
Though Tellus was confused about this, she didn't ask or question and just assumed he was being himself, acting like he always did, or at least that the street was oddly quiet, though it was early morning, so he assumed it was normal.
Once the doors opened, as both of them walked through and touched the dirt path, he felt a change in the air. Something was here and following, but he couldn't see it, at least right now, even if he moved his eyes to see with Mana, he couldn't see a visible tell of a Person or their body temperature, not even seeing their Mana. His instinctual reaction was that he was being watched.
Caelus looked side to side, his tail going still as it moved once more and slapped the ground. Caelus looked at it with annoyance, and right as he looked, he went back to looking ahead, seeing footsteps and the dirt change as he held out his staff.
Tellus also turned to hear footsteps herself. She wasn't dumb, moving her blade as they revealed themselves, a hidden person, bright colors, golden hair, his smile wide as he went and lifted up his leg and kicked Tellus in the chest, sending her flying.
Without hesitation, Caelus spoke. "Advanced Simple Cut." His voice rang as he launched the same attack twice, once ahead and another time above, both stronger than they usually were without speaking.
The man turned and went to Jump, only to notice the second waffle-shaped slash and just barely launch himself into the air, with his foot being sliced off.
[You know you're a Dragon, right? You can breathe fire.]
Caelus blinked as Aphro said this. "Of course- You know what, I'll ask how later."
Caelus's mouth opened as Tellus got up and rushed over, her body flickering like she was vanishing, unsheathing her blade, getting closer to the guy in less than half a second, her sword swinging down to slash.
The person who attacked her turned as his foot healed, moving his hands as the sword slashed down, cutting part of his skin, only to stop and be stopped by the bones, despite her using all her force.
Caelus, on the other hand, took a breath and, in that moment, noticed his mouth becoming warmer and warmer, a coating of his Saliva around his body quickly cooling his mouth. Fire flew out, not just the normal fire, but one that literally melted the ground, its range reaching the man as it set his clothes and hair on fire, his body resisting the heat for more than a second, as Tellus pulled her sword back and stepped back quickly.
Caelus continued his breath as the person screamed in pain, only for a barrier to form, as he shook his hair with it disappearing, the barrier wasn't made of Mana, but instead a material that could withstand the heat, he hit his clothes as the flames went down, though his skin was still burnt.
Caelus stopped, closing his mouth as the flames stopped. His hand healed, with him looking back and noticing Caelus's tail completely still against the ground. For a moment, he froze, only to quickly hold something and disappear. He didn't see what it was, but the fact that he wasn't staying because of something made him thoroughly confused and annoyed. He escaped.
"...Why did he leave?" Tellus spoke, also confused. They were going to continue the Mission, but they needed to figure this out before they did.
Caelus heard her and shrugged. "I have no idea, he looked at me, or well past me, and saw something to leave." Caelus did want to test Tellus, though. "Maybe I'm just that stro-"
"Okay, no, don't." Tellus instantly replied; she wasn't dumb and knew he was trying to do something to annoy. "Absolutely not, you can do anything but that." She continued.
"...Bummer, I can't even have fun annoying you," Caelus spoke, showing more of his true self with her, as he trusted her further.
"Either way, I'll send a message to my Teacher. He'll be able to figure out who that even was, then we'll see the rest."
Caelus listened and nodded, seeing her move her hand and grab a paper, though more like a scroll, unrolling it. She took out a writing utensil, though he couldn't figure out what it was made of, so he got closer to see what it was. But before he could even reach there, she was done. "Wow, you write fast," Caelus said.
"It is required in emergency situations to call for reinforcements." She replied quickly. Sheathing her blade, since there was no further attack.
"Reinforcements? You went to war or something?" Caelus replied, a little sarcastically, expecting she didn't.
"I have, mostly against those who do not believe, who try to continuously tear down the Church and its influence." She replied factually. Her demeanor stayed calm.
"Oh." Caelus didn't actually think she did, but the reasoning felt a bit defensible; trying to destroy a belief system never ended well.
Caelus simply nodded as Tellus turned as they went to continue. "I do need to ask, what is your... Auxiliary Path. Or what do you wish for it to be?"
"The Martial path, though the Church dislikes them, they do not deny the fact that they are strong. My other path would've instead been the Literature path, because I have been able to write fast, and that is one of the things required for it." Tellus spoke, her voice enthusiastic yet composed.
They continued as he noticed the nearby hills, along with wastelands not far away, maybe two hundred miles east of them. But they weren't going there, so he quickly got distracted by looking at the way they were actually going.
Caelus finally gave his reply to her answer. "I see, then I shall possibly go the Martial Path as well, it is best for a combination with the Arcane path." He spoke.
"If I can defend myself in close combat and at longer ranges, then I wouldn't be in a rush to defeat my opponent from a distance because I could hold my own ground." Caelus, though not needing to, gave a full explanation; he assumed just saying the path and a small reason wasn't enough, though for her it would've been different.
Tellus listened, her face showing less seriousness now, feeling more comfortable, even as she looked ahead. Stopping right as Caelus stopped, who walked to the side, sat down on the grass without much thought, as if he were resting. Tellus found it weird but didn't question; he was still standing, only for his tail to move and slap her leg, which she noticed. "What is it?"
"Sit here for a bit. I don't need rest, but I'd rather take in nature before actually going on with a fight. You got hit; you should at least take a little bit of time to rest.
"Caelus was a little worried for her but didn't see any real danger nor wrong for doing this, Caelus only started doing this because of him rushing the fight with the Wyvern instead of exploring, which thinking of it, he could put a lot of things in there because no one would be dumb enough to go into a mountain with a raging storm without an end.
Caelus looked down, noticing ants crawling, carrying food, each going around him because he was already sitting on a rock they couldn't climb.
The more he looked at them, the more Tellus got bored; she had no reason to admire the ground beneath her, as she felt she had better things to do, but she didn't want to seem disingenuous. Nor rude.
After a few minutes, Caelus got up, which, along with Tellus, did as well, though almost falling asleep due to how peaceful the place was.
Caelus waited for Tellus to continue. He didn't know the way, so he'd simply have to follow her instead. Once she realized, she spoke. "Ah, my Apologies." And then began going in the direction they needed to go, having already reached across an entire mountain range.
He noticed a crack in the air; he'd assumed that was where they needed to go, since even she was going that way. Looking around still, he made sure there was no one going to ambush her, and even released his Mana outwards as a way to see if anyone appeared, even behind him for a split second, his tail moving side to side the more he walked.
Finally, reaching right at the crack, she stopped and drew her blade. Caelus moved his staff forward, ready for what was to come, Tellus stepped back a few feet, with Caelus following, prepared to see if anything was going to come out, from it came what looked like a rotting corpse, flesh peeling off and blood, or well, dried blood from inside the body hardening, making it harder to cut through the body despite it already being dead.
"So... Tellus, since this thing is already dead, how do we even stop it?' Caelus asked; he did want to know, it shouldn't be as simple as just cutting its body.
"You have to eviscerate its brain or stab it right through the heart with a blade blessed by one of the Holy Mothers."