A metallic sound echoed on the walls of the armory. Teo had just placed a sword back on the rack where it belonged. With a piece of cloth, he wiped beads of sweat from his forehead.
Nero and himself had spent the entire day training in the basics of human weapon wielding. The first part of the day had been laborious – not only Teo had a lot to learn, but also his pride made it sometimes hard to be receptive to criticism, however fair it was. At the mid-day break though, he questioned himself enough to sort things out. With Nero's encouragements and a lot of willpower, he finally began to take his friend's advices, and to concretely improve his skills. By the end of the day, they even switched from training weapons to real, metallic ones, which let the Dragon get used to the weight and the feeling of having a deadly blade at hand.
But now, after all the hard work, Teo felt it was time to go back home, though he planned to come again for more training later. He profusely thanked Nero for his help, then prepared to leave Heaven's Mount, his wings unfolding from behind his back. He recalled having asked Ely to let at the entrance one of the wristbands he had given her if she decided to leave for home; but he saw none. She might still be somewhere around...
"Ely?" he called from the entrance. After a few moments, little noises could be heard, but they didn't come from outside. Turning to face the cave, he eventually saw the young Fatalis girl making her apparition. She had stayed in Nero's home while he trained, apparently.
Pretending to be looking at a flock of birds far above, the girl unsurprisingly remained silent. She glanced back at Teo when he gave a heavy sigh.
"Listen. I know you... hold this kind of things better than I do, but for Gog's sake! Don't count on me to let you fly home in that state."
After gesturing to invite her to follow, Teo proceeded to climb down the Mount by land. They took the ways Hunters would take, and soon enough found themselves at the foot of the mountain. Teo often looked up at the sunset to orient himself, since this territory wasn't his, and that traveling by ground made it easier to get lost in his opinion. But as the two Dragons went their way, Teo suddenly stopped with a half-raised arm. He had just heard a suspicious noise. Weirdly enough, at the same time the noise went quiet... until it started again a few seconds later. It sounded like the nervous rattle of a snake's tail.
( @snake-charming-huntress )