An uninvited guest.

As I relaxed with my companion-to-be, I heard a group of people approaching. I withdrew my hand and turned around, looking to see who it was this time. To my great displeasure, I could quickly recognize just who it was that was approaching me.

I let out a large sigh, "What brings you back so soon, Kyle?"

He seemed equally displeased by the fact that he was here, "My men say that you took something from them."

I stared at him with a deadpan, "I took nothing, not even off the body of the one who was dumb enough to charge me."

He glared at me before continuing, "We don't have to make this a situation, as long as you hand over the creature."

I openly laughed, "Oh, that's a good laugh." I recomposed myself, "Oh wait, you're not joking? I'm sorry, did defeating your sister in a duel of magic and your lackies in a duel of strength not show you that this was a bad idea?" I straightened myself up, staring down my nose at him.

He snarled at me, "You should know your place and watch your tongue when speaking with the lord of your land."

I froze and used my mana to make my eyes shine, "And you should know your place and watch your tongue when speaking to the highest servant of a god." I raised my hand forward, and one of the spirits quickly flew to my side. Kyle's men flinched at the sight of it, clearly afraid of it. "Show me then, show me that you are a threat in any sense. Show me that you demand any form of respect with how you behave."

He clearly did not have a proper response to this, as there was no way he himself could fight the spirit, let alone me. He grimaced before recomposing himself somewhat and yelling at his men, "Well? Go get him! He's just some crazy hermit."

All of his men just looked at him, then at me, then at my spirit, and then back to him. This continued in near silence for a long time. Kyle got slowly angrier as it went on, beginning to shake with rage after a few moments.

This standoff was ended as a noise behind me marked the first bit of the foundation being emplaced, which drew the men's attention. Looking over my shoulder, they could clearly see four more spirits, all looking at least as strong as the one they cowered before next to me. At that moment, they all looked at each other, nodded, and dropped whatever weapons they had been holding and bolted.

Kyle stood facing me, seemingly too stunned to turn around to look as his eyes bulged. The only one of his men still with him was Mason, though he was shaking and barely keeping his grip on the club he wielded.

I looked at him with a judging expression, "I believe we are done here, begone." I waved him away before turning back to the construction, making sure the spirits hadn't made any major errors. I heard him and Mason leave after that, though I never looked back.

The next long while was uneventful. I spend it overseeing the spirits and caring for the Reptal. After awhile, I began trying to brainstorm names for it. 'The most difficult part is that I don't know exactly what it is going to become, so I can't name it a name that works for a hydra when it could become an ouroboros. This is needlessly complicated, though a fun challenge as well. Let's gather what we know won't change, at least from a guess. It seems like the scale color and structure won't change, meaning the black and white pattern with the larger thicker scales is probably something we can make a name out of. So...'

I turned to it, "How about Nightshade?" It looked at me confused. "No, that one isn't good. I can't go with 'Dark Knight' because I don't want to just copy batman..." I stroked my beard in thought. It was tough, but after a bit more back and forth, I at last got a positive response from us both. "Midnight?" The Reptal considered this, and then nodded with closed eyes. I gave a chuckle, "Midnight it is!"

This celebration lasted for a good minute or so, but all good things come to an end. I was playing with the newly dubbed Midnight when I again heard people approaching. I gave a loud sigh as I prepared myself for another confrontation with the wannabe mobster.

I turned around as I spoke, "What is it you want this time?" I was surprised as I did not see Kyle, but instead Norman and his eldest daughter, Norma. "Ah, my apologies. I have had an annoying number of confrontations with the... Locals." My tone as I finished hopefully left no room for doubt as to who I was referring to.

Norman gave an entertained chuckle, "It's quite alright, I'm just happy it seems it hasn't gone to true fighting before I arrived."

I gave a tired sigh, "Don't be so sure, I had to knock one out for charging me not long after I got here."

Norman clicked his tongue, "Alas, hopefully a good blow will fix whatever is so wrong with those boys."

After we both shared a laugh, I had an important question come to mind. "So, what brought you all the way down here?"