We stood there in the scorched clearing, both of us fully dressed at last, though only one of us looked remotely comfortable with the situation.
Spoiler: it wasn't me.
I exhaled, rubbing the back of my neck, and tried very hard to pretend I hadn't spent the last few minutes teaching a woman how bras worked.
"Alright," I said, steadying my voice. "Introductions first. I'm Nico."
The girl blinked those luminous violet slit eyes at me, tilting her head with the kind of confusion that made me feel like I'd just asked a wolf to solve algebra.
"I'm…" she murmured, looking down as if sifting through memories. "They called me… B-41?"
I stared. "Huh?"
–Ding!
{That would be the wyvern that ate you.}
The System sounded done.
Beyond done.
One emotional inch away from signing its resignation letter.
-Ding!
{I gained access to her memories when she digested you.
She is a chimera. A mix of Wyvern and Wendigo.
Infinity leaked when she consumed your body, and she evolved… jumped two entire stages and became a Greater Dragon.
To save your sorry hide, and the world… I forcibly imposed a Familiar Contract on her. She is now your Familiar.
Deal with it.}
The tone could only be described as:
If I had a desk, I would be flipping it.
While I blinked slowly. "Wait, hold up… back up. What??"
But when I turned toward her, whatever panic I'd been building fizzled uselessly.
She was just… watching me.
Like it was my answer that actually mattered.
"So… Familiar, huh?" I muttered, rubbing my neck.
Her expression brightened like a sunrise.
"Master," she said softly, stepping closer with a grace far too natural for someone who learned pants a few minutes ago. "Thank you for the sliver of infinite power you shared with me."
"I didn't really… I mean, I was kind of… being eaten at the time."
She didn't seem to hear my flailing.
Instead, she dipped her head in something almost like a bow.
"For five hundred years, I hungered without end," she whispered.
"I had lived with a curse…to forever hunger. Every heartbeat, every breath was suffering. I devoured monsters, stone, metal, everything... But nothing filled me."
Her voice didn't tremble. It didn't dramatize.
It just told the truth.
Her eyes lifted to mine, shining absolute earnest-ness.
"But when I devoured you… The hunger went silent. And for the first time in my life… I am not starving."
I swallowed hard. "That's… wow. But, wait. No. Back up. Start from the beginning. The whole beginning."
She tilted her head, her default animation, apparently, and began.
"For as long as I remember, I have been on this island. There was always a barrier around it… one I could not break, no matter how much I grew."
Her fingers trailed lightly along her arm as if tracing memories.
"Humans came sometimes. They would trap me. Bind me, and take blood, saliva, scales, and much more… I do not understand why."
She continued, "There are four great metal things floating on the waters beyond… always watching me. One in each direction." She looked down. "I tried to escape many times. But the barrier was too strong. And I think those things won't let me leave."
[Floating metal things in each direction, a barrier she could not break, humans coming here to trap her and draw blood and stuff… Not to mention system calling her a Chimera, a mix of Wyvern and something called a Wendigo.
Yup, no doubts about it. She's an experiment or a weapon of a very powerful organization.]
-Ding!
{Correct. From her memories, I have deduced the name of the organization.
It's called the Pantheon.
She even had a tracker on her, but it was destroyed during her evolution.}
Looking at her, my heart couldn't help but ache.
She was created with a curse of eternal hunger and lived five centuries like a lab rat…
Her eyes lifted again, soft but trembling with something like fear.
"Master… are you with them?"
I shot upright so fast my spine cracked. "NO. God, no. Absolutely not."
She stared at me for a few seconds, searching for something in my face… then her shoulders relaxed a little.
"Master… what do you intend to do now?"
I sighed, rubbing my temples. "First? We're getting out of here. Away from this island, away from the ships… those metal things."
Then I looked straight in her eyes as I spoke the next words, " And away from whoever thinks you're their property."
Her breath hitched at that word, property.
"And then," I continued, "I'm going back to my main objective. You're free to follow, but if you want to be set free, I'd respect that."
She leaned in closer, completely ignoring the second part. "Objective?"
And a grin couldn't help but tug at my lips despite everything.
"To have fun."
She blinked. Then her eyes lit up with sparkles so pure it was almost dangerous.
"Me too!" she said with a sudden, bright laugh.
"Let me join you, then! I've been trapped here for so long. And I am already your Familiar. We can have so much fun together!"
I laughed helplessly. "Well then… it's settled."
"Yes, Master!"
"Okay, but seriously… we really need to talk about that word."
"Master," she repeated, smiling even wider, like she'd just learned a new favourite word.
While I dragged both hands down my face.
The System chimed with the energy of someone who'd given up on life entirely.
–Ding!
{Host. Please understand. She is a Greater Dragon bound by contract. You need to give her a name.}
And she stepped closer again, leaning forward, looking entirely too pleased with my suffering.
"Yes! Like that voice said!" she chirped, eyes shimmering with excitement. "Give me a name!"
"Well, yeah, but…Wait!" I paused, "Hold on. You can hear the System's voice?!"
She blinked at me like I was the weird one.
"You mean the annoying voice that echoes in your mind? Yes. It talks a lot."
–Ding!
{A side effect of-}
"Master…" she cut the System off without hesitation, turning her full attention back to her naming as if the omniscient cosmic entity was just background noise.
Her voice softened into something impossibly gentle.
"…will you give me a name?" she said with the kind of smile that could ruin a man.
"Alright, give me a second," I said, pacing in a tiny circle like a man solving the world's greatest riddle.
"You ate me… your Affinity is Devour… you can literally eat anything…"
Behind me, she nodded with surging enthusiasm.
"Yes," she said brightly. "All true."
"…and you're cute," I muttered before immediately regretting it.
Her nodding paused for a second before intensifying.
While I kept rubbing my chin like some wise sage on a mountaintop.
Then the cosmic gears clicked.
"Aha!" I snapped my fingers. "Then I name you… Nom-Nom!"
I said it proudly.
Like I'd discovered fire.
The System's reaction, however, was not subtle.
–Ding!
{HOST. THAT IS NOT A CORGI.}
"Ah, shut up… that's adorable."
I ignored the cosmic meltdown.
"…Nom-Nom." She repeated it once, slowly, and I swear the air trembled for a moment.
Then her eyes dipped as she tested the name again, this time with a little lift in her tone.
"Nom-Nom."
She looked up at me fully, and the smile she gave was bright, curious, a touch mischievous, and most importantly… alive
"…I like it," she giggled, "I love it! It fits. And it is fun."
"I know, right!" And I giggled right back.
"Master… I haven't had fun… ever." She said, her smile loosening a little.
"And I want to have fun! This name suits someone who devours what stands in her way. And someone who wants to enjoy the world she finally gets to walk."
"Nom-Nom it is then!" I said.
"Yes, Master," she gave a single nod with eyes brimming with excitement.
"Alrighty then…" I said, grinning as I pumped a fist at the sky, "To endless adventure! And most importantly, for fun!"
And Nom-Nom followed suit, pumping her own fist at the sky, which somehow reverberated the air around us as she said, "To fun and endless adventure!"