FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Calex's Arcanist Training

By CalexTheNeko

In a dormitory beneath the Arcanist Guild two lalafell children were currently engaged in conversation. One of which was Calex, who was sitting comfortably perched on the bed, the other Zeelo who was standing while holding a heavy tome in his hands. The book and dorm both belonged to Calex, who was the actual arcanist, or at least arcanist in training. Zeelo meanwhile was training to be a conjurer. Though they both had demonstrated certain levels of skill they were still too young to be official members of the guild in any other way than students. After all, at their current ages they should have been in kindergarten.

Not that this was Zeelo's natural age. He had Calex's dabbling in alchemy to thank for his current state. He also highly suspected chronologically Calex was a lot older than six and a half.

Calex had orange hair always tied back in a ponytail and bright green eyes reminiscent of a cat. Depending on who you asked Calex was either a prodigy or a complete failure as an arcanist. He could summon a carbuncle well enough and had somehow awakened the soul of the summoner and now had three carbuncle partners of different elements. They should have been Egi, but they were always carbuncles when Calex summoned them. However, under normal conditions his spell casting was abysmal. Calex struggled to cast even a basic Ruin spell. But, that was only in his normal state. Calex had invented his own form of summoning he called 'Synthesis Summoning' which involved drawing aether into one's body. The result was he was capable of transforming into a lalafell carbuncle hybrid, and in that state he proved a capable spellcasting relying on the magic of carbuncle. There were some concerns from his teachers about the long term side effects of such a technique, but all of those were washed away by much greater fears with the new form the young lalafell had taken now. Horns protruded from his head, while his hands and feet had sharp claws and were covered in brownish red scales. Then there was the pair of wings coming from his back and the long reptilian tail. Calex had somehow mastered the Dreadwyrm Trance and combining it with his Synthesis Summoning had resulted in this form. If channeling the aether of one of the most dreaded primals through his body wasn't enough to scare his teachers there was the fact the change appeared to be permanent. Calex never came out of his new Dreadwyrm state except when taking on a carbuncle form. Then when he reversed the carbuncle form is was back to being the dragon lalafell hybrid.

Calex was completely naked sitting on the bed. This wasn't a result of his transformation, though going back and forth between three fluffy tails and one powerful dragon tail would make pants difficult. However, Calex's reason for being nude was completely different. It was simply because he was Calex. He found all clothing restrictive and uncomfortable and refused to wear anything, even in winter. He claimed the dragon fire inside him was enough to keep him warm. This quirk of his mostly went overlooked if only because his teachers were much more concerned about his other quirks.

Zeelo continued to look over the grimoire Calex had let him borrow. Much like Calex, he too was in the nude. All he had on him were his glasses to help him see. In many ways he was Calex's opposite. Calex had bright long hair, Zeelo had short dark brown hair with just a streak of white. His blue eyes looked normal for a lalafell, and as far as academics went there was no doubt he was leagues ahead of Calex when it came to understanding magic. Zeelo was a natural born White Mage. He studied hard and had already mastered many of the more advanced white magics beyond what most conjurers could do. He studied, practiced and now had some powerful healing magic plus the destructive power of Holy to boot.

As for why he was naked. Zeelo did not share Calex's hatred for all clothing. In fact, he had quite a few favorite outfits. However, he also was completely comfortable in the nude, even in public. He was a conjurer, he was supposed to be close to the elements, and spending time in the forest with nothing but his glasses and staff helped him strengthen his bonds to the natural world. For Zeelo, it was mostly his current mood that determined if he was going to be wearing anything or not. Somedays he felt like getting dressed, others he didn't. Most days when he met with Calex he chose to stay naked. It felt weird being dressed when running around with the adamant naturist Calex.

"So you thinking about switching to the Arcanist Guild?" Calex asked as he watched Zeelo read.

"No, I'm staying a Conjurer. But you're allowed to be in multiple guilds as an adult and considering it then. It'd be great to have my own carbuncle familiar." Zeelo turned through the pages. The book contained nothing but strange symbols and runes. However, anyone with even the smallest talent for magic could read it. The symbols themselves were magic and imparted knowledge onto the reader. "And... I'm kind of jealous of your tails when you're in carbuncle mode."

"Ahhhh that's why you wanted to see my spell book." Calex grinned. "You want to be a Synthesis Summoner?"

"I mean, the thought had crossed my mind." Zeelo said somewhat sheepishly. Then he paused, considered who he was talking to, and realized there was exactly zero need to be coy about what he wanted. "Can you teach me to do it?"

"Sure!" Calex sat up straighter on the bed and looked thoughtful. "Alright, how to explain it... You know how to channel aether to perform magic... Well you basically have to channel that aether into your body instead of into a familiar when you summon a carbuncle. Think of it as summoning yourself."

"That sounds ridiculous." Zeelo pointed out.

"And yet it works." Calex tapped one of his horns. "I mean I guess there's willpower and the whole figuring out how to channel it into your body, but that's about all it is. Give it a shot."

"Alright..." Zeelo flipped to the pages for summoning an Emerald carbuncle. "Should I just go for it now?"

"I see no reason not to." Calex leaned forward, his claws digging into the bed for support eager to see Zeelo's attempt.

"Alright." Zeelo quickly moved his finger over the different symbols and runes in the book and chanted under his breath. He felt the wind aether began to gather at his fingertips. Normally at this part of the spell he was supposed to channel that aether into a shape to give the carbuncle a physical body in this world. But, he remembered what Calex told him about channeling it into his own body. A shame the wyrm lala didn't explain -HOW- to actually do that.

Zeelo drew on what experience he had as a Conjurer. The idea of healing magic was similar to channeling aether through your body, and he had healed himself plenty of times. So, he just had to do that... But with a summoning spell. Calex had said it was like he summoning himself. Zeelo focused on that idea, of him being the summon and then he felt the wind aether begin to enter his body. He felt the changes starting and then...

He lost it. The aether he had ben gathering dissipated back into the air and the spell was gone. Except something felt off. Zeelo twitched his ears as he thought about it. Said twitching gave it away. His ears had changed into long green rabbit-like ears. He had carbuncle ears! But that was the only thing that had changed.

There was also a strange feeling... It was coming from Calex? It was like, for lack of a better term he felt some kind of leash connecting him to the summoner. Maybe that wasn't the right word, but he felt some kind of connection.

"Oh... Oh my gosh." Calex burst into a fit of giggles. "I didn't expect you to get it on the first try, but I didn't even know it was possible to mess it up like this."

"What are you talking about?" Zeelo's new ears folded back in annoyance.

"You're my carbuncle." Calex stated as if that was supposed to make sense. "Surely you feel it, an invisible tether connecting us. That's the connection between a master and his familiar. Heh, I could have fun with this before we fix it."

"You wouldn't dare." Zeelo narrowed his eyes. "And besides, it's not like I can do a whole lot with just the ears."

"Uh Zeelo." Calex tapped his own forehead.

"What are you trying to say?" Zeelo copied the gesture then froze when he encountered a hard-smooth service on his forehead.

"You got the gemstone." Calex explained. "A big red one right on your forehead. That pretty much means you'd be able to work some carbuncle magic. Though I'm not sure how much you could do in a state like that."

"Right..." Zeelo muttered. "But if I cast the summoning spell why am I your carbuncle now?"

"Best I can guess, the book is spiritbound to me." Calex shrugged. "Even with someone else using it, the book knows who it belongs to, so bound the summon to me. Should be easy to fix, just dismiss yourself and what aether is in your body should leave and you'll be back to normal. Then we can give it a second shot if you want."

"Right..." Zeelo turned to the right page and began to move his finger and chant again. However, he was suddenly interrupted by the sprouting of three sparkling green tails from the end of his spine. "WHAAA?" Zeelo barely managed to avoid dropping the grimoire.

"Huh... A delayed effect?" Calex looked thoughtful. "Maybe you succeeded after all, but your body isn't use to it so is gathering aether so is taking it slow."

"Okay but..." Zeelo froze as he realized he still had the book and was in the middle of the dismissal spell. If it was going to work after all he didn't want to cancel it! How did he cancel a cancel!? And he had lost his page when he got surprised so who knew if he was even on the right page as runes lit up beneath where his fingers gripped the book.

"H-hey what the?" Calex gave a shout as he floated into the air. Suddenly, the dragon-like lalafell began to shrink. When he was about half his original size he fell out of the air landing in an undignified heap on the bed.

Zeelo tried not to laugh.

He didn't succeed.

"What just happened?" Calex demanded.

"I don't know!" Zeelo responded. "I lost my place in the spell and wanted to stop the spell I was doing and then you shrunk, but why did you shrink?"

"Because it's spiritbound to me." Calex slapped a hand to his face. "When you screwed up you must have somehow gone from dismissal to diminished or something." Calex jumped down from the bed and looked up at Zeelo who was now double his size. "Still... This isn't too bad... I mean, I got wings so not like I'll have any trouble getting around."

"You're taking this pretty well." Zeelo couldn't say he was surprised though. Considering what Calex did to himself, and to Zeelo in the past it wasn't an unexpected reaction at all.

"You're the one who has to be a familiar." Calex pointed out. "I mean what are you going to do if I start forcing commands on you?"

"Refuse to do them." Zeelo stated flatly. "But you're not going to anyway. Regardless of how much you enjoy causing mischief, you don't actually have a mean bone in your body to do something like that."

"You don't know that." Calex crossed his arms. Then he sighed. "Yeah you're right... But, actually... This could be useful."

"What do you mean?" Zeelo tilted his head swayed his tails curiously. Oh! That was fun, being able to sway tails.

"Well... Even if you got it completely right on the first try, you wouldn't know how to fight like a carbuncle... And that's not a thing you want to realize in the middle of the dungeon. Mmmm." Calex gave Zeelo a stern look. "I'm not comfortable commanding you like my familiar... But I bet I could coach you through the link. I already know how to work all the carbuncle magic. Instead of using the link to send a command, I could try just sending the feelings and sensations of using different magics. Basically, encouragement and ideas instead of orders."

"I guess that makes sense." Zeelo nodded. "So, should we get started now?"

"Nah." Calex shook his head. "You don't have the paws yet. If I'm right and your body is just gathering the aether slowly we should give it time to adapt and change. Hmmm. We have patrol this afternoon right?" The two children technically weren't on patrol, since that was a job given to the adults. It didn't stop them from doing it anyway. "I bet by then your body will be ready!"

"Okay!" Zeelo was getting pumped. He couldn't wait for patrol so he could learn how to use carbuncle magic. "So, what should we do in the meantime?"

"I dunno..." Calex shrugged and gave it some thought. "Warm day, could go for a swim, but I don't really like swimming in the ocean. And it'll take too long to get to a lake if we want to do patrol later. Guess that's out."

"If you want to do something on the water we could go fishing." Zeelo suggested. "We can do it right off the docks here in town."

"Yes!" Calex gave a toothy grin that showed off his fang with hunger in his eyes. "Fish! Then we can cook them and you know if went ruby carbuncle you'd have fire powers and no." Calex stopped himself. "Let's get down using one carbuncle form before we start you on another."

"Right." Zeelo laughed. Zeelo grabbed two fishing poles from Calex's closet and the two headed out from the guild and down to the docks. He hadn't noticed a small change as they walked. His glasses had fallen off somewhere but he could still see fine as they walked through the city. They got a few stares. Zeelo was used to that when hanging out with Calex. Was never sure if it was the lack of clothes thing or the being part magical creature. Most likely both.

As they walked Zeelo became aware of a new sensation. Mostly, the stones beneath his feet felt... different. He looked down and noticed there was emerald colored fur on his feet. They hadn't changed other than that, but it looked like Calex was right about Zeelo's body adapting slowly. Zeelo held up his hands to see if they were growing fur too and was pleased to see green fuzz there as well.

But he wasn't the only one who hadn't stopped changing. Calex hadn't noticed it at first, but he was still getting smaller. He was unsure how concerned he should be, as the spell couldn't go on forever, but it was clear he was going to wind up quite a bit smaller than half sized.

"It'll be fine." Calex told himself.

"THIS IS NOT FINE!" Calex screamed an hour later after they had been on the docks for a bit. The changes for both of them had advanced quite a bit. The fur on Zeelo had spread up to his elbows and his knees. His hands were slightly more pawlike, and his feet were digitigrade paws. He was now in the same form Calex took when he Synthesis Summoned a carbuncle.

Calex meanwhile had shrunk too small to properly hold his fishing rod. He was also struggling to get a worm on it properly when the worm was almost a big as he was.

"How can I catch a fish if the bait won't cooperate?" Calex complained.

"You could try swooping down into the water and pulling one out like a bird." Zeelo was trying not to laugh at Calex's plight. He was having little success.

"Yeah and the fish would probably be bigger than me." Calex looked thoughtful. "That'd be pretty cool actually. I could brag about catching a fish thiiiis big!" Calex held his arms out wide." That got a laugh out of Zeelo.

"Or if you'd like I can fashion you a smaller rod and you can fish for minnows." Zeelo stuck his tongue out.

"Oh laugh it up, but now I'm not going easy on you during training." Calex stuck his tongue out right back at him.

"As if anything with you is ever easy." Zeelo retorted.

"Well now I feel justified." Calex replied smugly. "But seriously, what did you do to me, I still haven't stopped shrinking."

"I don't really know..." Zeelo avoided Calex's gaze. "My hand slipped all over the page, don't even remember what page I was on."

"That's going to make it really hard for me to reverse it. Maybe even impossible." Calex narrowed his eyes. "You owe me for this."

"I do?" Zeelo probably did, he had caused this."

"Yup... And the time has come to repay." Calex grinned, flapped his wings and flew up onto Zeelo's back hanging off both shoulders. "Walking around this small is too exhausting. You're going to carry me."

"That's all?" Zeelo blinked in surprise. Calex wasn't upset, he was just being lazy.

"Yup you did this to me, so you have to do it." Calex replied matter-of-factly.

"Very well..." Zeelo reeled in his rod and sat it to the side. Neither of them had actually caught anything, they had both been somewhat distracted by the changes.

"Good, cause it's patrol time, and that's a lot of ground to cover." Calex pointed in the direction of the city gates. "Let's get going!"

"Alright, alright!" Zeelo was ready for his lessons. He quickly headed for the gates with Calex hanging off his shoulders. He was unaware the fur was slowly spreading up from his arms and elbows.

It was when they first got out the city Calex noticed. Because the lalafell skin he had been clinging too was suddenly covered in fur.

"What?" Calex hadn't spoken loud enough for Zeelo to hear. Changes were occurring he had not expected. The fur was growing in all over Zeelo's body. He was practically a bipedal carbuncle now.

"It's really warm today." Zeelo gave a stretch. "No wonder you hate clothes living here." He leaned on his white mage's staff he had grabbed before leaving.

"Yeah it is but not just that." Calex dug his claws lightly into Zeelo's fur.

"GAH!" Zeelo yelped and Calex quickly flew off of the carbuncle lala and hovered above him. "Those little claws hurt! Don't grip so hard." Zeelo froze as he looked at his shoulder seeing where Calex had grabbed him. He finally noticed the fur was all over his body.

"You don't get to complain about my little claws." Calex stuck his tongue out.

"Huh..." Zeelo patted himself down feeling how soft his fur was. "So that's why it's so hot."

"You even have a muzzle." Calex stared at him in awe. "I can't believe it."

"Something went wrong?" Zeelo asked.

"I've never seen such a success!" Calex floated in the air. "Actually it's a little upsetting. I invented the technique and here you've managed a stronger synthesis than I ever have. I bet you're just brimming with magic." Calex grinned. "You ready to learn how to fight?"

"Y-yeah!" Zeelo tossed his staff aside and pumped his fist, calming down since Calex seemed to think the fur was a good sign.

"Alright first..." Calex flew around Zeelo and landed hanging off one shoulder. "First... We're going to acknowledge the fact I can apparently ride on one shoulder now. I'm practically a doll."

"Yeah the scales on your tail make you too rough for anyone to cuddle with." Zeelo teased.

"I will have you know I am super cuddable because the dragony part of me makes me naturally produce warmth! And my scales are not that hard and!" Calex froze. "We're getting sidetracked. I'll deal with the shrinking thing later. Now that we're out in the field, let's get to your training. First I want you to use an Aerial Slash."

"Ok!" Zeelo got in position held out his paws then stopped. "Um... How do I do that?"

"Huh how to explain it..." Calex thought. "Ah right, the connection. I can kind of show you how I did it." Calex called on the tether that linked him and Zeelo. He was nervous using this power. The idea that he might have dominion over a friend didn't sit well with him. But... Zeelo had free will if Calex accidentally started commanding him to do things Zeelo should be able to refuse. It was still an uncomfortable thought.

So instead of sending commands, he tried to send images, feelings, his own memories of using magic as a carbuncle.

"HAAAAAA!" Zeelo shouted and threw forth his arms. A small gust of wind blew forward as he did.

"Good, but not exactly strong enough to cut anything. But you got the idea... Now you just need to practice till you can do it harder. Then we'll move on to more advanced moves."

"Alright, I'm ready to go!" Zeelo slammed a fist into an open paw.

"Good, cause I'll keep you out here all night if I have too." Calex grinned evilly.

He was true to his word. He indeed forced Zeelo (without magical manipulation) to stay out in the field and redo his spells again, and again, and again until he got them right. It was a surreal experience for Zeelo. Calex never seemed that dedicated to any form of study. He was only able to cast spells because he had combined himself with the dread wyrm's aether. And yet now he was showing dedication to Zeelo's training.

"Come on! You manage to take the change further than me on your first day and you're going to be satisfied with that as an Aerial Slash? Get it together!" Calex shouted. "You are literally a channel for wind aether, you should be able to make the wind do whatever you want."

Both of them were exhausted by the time Zeelo had finished Calex's training. He picked up his staff leaning on that for support as he walked back towards town. Every muscle felt exhausted. Calex meanwhile perched on his shoulder, worn out himself. Sending emotions memories through the connection he had with Zeelo without giving any commands was harder than he thought. It required a lot of focus to get his thoughts through. And Calex was not used to focusing on any single thing for more than five seconds.

By the time they got back to Calex's room Zeelo climbed onto the bed and collapsed with Calex atop him.

"Hey... Hey Zeelo. Wake up." Calex's voice roused Zeelo from blissful sleep. As he opened his eyes and focused he saw the tiny dragon lalafell standing ono the bed in front of him. He was even smaller now, likely only an inch tall. "So... There have been some developments... Good news, I stopped shrinking... I'm like small enough to ride a mouse now, but hey it stopped." Calex paused. "Note to self, look into mouse mount. Anyway... I wasn't the only one who kept changing overnight."

"Squeak?" Zeelo asked. Wait, that was weird. "Squeeeak!" Why couldn't he talk? He tried to stand up, and tumbled, stuck on four legs for some reason.

"So... Here's the thing. Pretty sure my theory about your body taking in air aether slowly was correct." Calex grinned. "And they think I don't understand magic." Calex was capable of understanding a great many things when properly motivated. "But it looks like you sort of never stopped doing it."

"Squeak?" Zeelo was able to stand up on all fours, which was weird. Should he have been on his hands and knees if he was down on all fours.

"You've sort of gone full carby." Calex flew from the bed to a nearby desk. He grabbed a hand mirror and flapping his wings as hard as he could managed to carry it over to the bed. Zeelo looked into it and staring back at him was a carbuncle identical to any other emerald carbuncle summoned.

"Squeeeak!" Zeelo shouted in alarm.

"Yeah it happened last night." Calex crossed his arms. "Seemed wrong to wake you though after you worked so hard, and wasn't like you were going to be any more carbyish in the morning... Also I may have used one of your tails as a bed and another as a blanket. They are so soft."

"Squeal!" Zeelo tried to get Calex back on track.

"Right so." Calex paused. "I've got no idea how to reverse it. Even if I could, I'm so small that I wouldn't be able to run my hands over the proper runes to activate the spell... And well you'd have a similar problem because paws."

"Squeak!" Zeelo stared at Calex quizzically.

"Okay, this you not being able to talk thing is a problem. We can work around me being an inch tall and you a carbuncle, but communication is kind of essential." Calex walked back and forth on the bed in front of Zeelo trying to think. "Ah! The link! The tether! The whatever you want to call it! If I can send emotions and feelings over it why can't you?"

"Squeak?" Zeelo tilted his head. But he tried to focus on that invisible connection he felt.

"I... I can feel it!" Calex jumped up and down gleefully. "And you are very confused... Which is understandable. I could tell that without the connection. Hmmm." Calex stopped in place and thought. "This isn't exactly a perfect way to communicate... I've got your feelings but not your thoughts. It'll take practice but... We'll eventually get communication down through this."

"Squeak." Zeelo looked at Calex uncertainly.

"Look, I know it's weird. But, I find it's easier to just roll with these things when they happen than try to fight it." As Calex said that Zeelo wondered just how many things like this he had experienced. "But it can take some time and effort breaking into a new form... Soooo, I got us a job."

Calex flew back to the dresser and picked up a scrap of paper and brought it back. Technically, the two weren't old enough to take jobs, so this definitely was not allowed.

"Squeak?" Zeelo looked at Calex accusingly.

"Turns out being this small has its advantages." Calex puffed out his chest smugly. "Was able to sneak in grab a job from the board and sneak out without anyone seeing."

"Squeak." Zeelo seemed uncertain.

"I know we're not allowed, but they can't tell us no if we've already done it. Then they pretty much just have to pay us. Besides it's a low-grade job. Mostly clean up duty."

"Squeak?" Zeelo asked for more details.

"Well basically, we're going to Pharos Sirius." Calex pointed at the paper which had a description of the job. "Apparently some other group of adventurers already got to do the fun part. There was a giant mess with corrupted aether and apparently they got to fight a siren. So all the fun dangerous stuff is already over." Calex shrugged. "I didn't want to stick around the board browsing too long, someone would have eventually noticed."

"Squeak." Zeelo narrowed his eyes. If he was breaking in a new form so to speak, then an easier job would be preferred rather than a dangerous one.

"Our job is pretty simple." Calex explained. "There's still a bunch of corrupted aether crystals there. Basically, we're going to smash the crystals and release the aether back into the world."

"Squeak?" Zeelo wasn't sure if that was how it worked.

"Look either way, leaving corrupted crystals just laying there won't end well for anyone. So, we head into the lighthouse through an underground tunnel, smash a few rocks, and we're done. A simple clean up mission."

"Squeeeak." Zeelo couldn't believe that after the state they woke up in Calex's first instinct was to find them a job. No, actually, that lined up perfectly with what he knew of him. But still! "Squeak."

"Well, let me ask you this." Calex grinned smugly. "Would you rather have an adventure, even a small one, or would you rather sit around all day trying to deal with something that can't be reversed, and even if it could would you want to give up your new magic?"

"Squeak..." Zeelo considered for a moment. He had been interested in being a carbuncle, he had just not expected it to go all the way... Or be a one way trip. Could he still use his white magic like this? He tried to focus, the gem on his head lit up and then a cure spell went off on Calex.

"Uh thanks but I wasn't exactly injured." Calex froze. "You can still use white magic! So you've got carbuncle powers and conjurer powers! You're like... Some kind of super familiar! Come on, there's no way you'd really pass up an adventure like this and lose the chance to test the limits of your new form, right?"

"Squeak." Zeelo nodded. They would do the job.

Getting to Aleport proved to be a little tricky. Zeelo couldn't talk to buy a ticket for the ferry and Calex wasn't exactly big enough to carry more than a single gil coin. The two wound up sneaking onto the ferry, leaping onto it right as it left port.

"Squeak..." Zeelo didn't like this."

"It's fine. If anyone finds you, just pretend to be a normal carbuncle." Calex suggested. "Pretty sure no one is going to charge a carbuncle with being a stowaway. And... I'll just hide in your tail fluff till they go away or something."

"Squeak." Zeelo rolled his eyes. However, getting to Aleport was far easier than getting to the island the lighthouse was on. Ferries didn't go there often so there wasn't one just sitting around setting out to go.

"Hmmmm, I could probably fly there. Shame I have no way to shrink and carry you right?"

"Squeak." Zeelo gave an annoyed stare. Though... To be held in the paw of a tiny dragon kid and soar through the sky. It might be fun and...

And they needed to focus on the task at hand. It wasn't like they had anyway to do that right now. Maybe if they had stopped at the alchemist guild first. That was the type of potion Calex had a talent for.

"I got it!" Calex had a mischievous grin that Zeelo didn't like. "We'll just grab a boat and sail it there ourselves!"

"Squeak!" Zeelo objected.

"It's not stealing if we return it." Calex sounded insulted. "As for how to pilot it... You just spent an entire day learning to control wind aether! And now that you're a full-fledged carbuncle it should be even easier. So... We just get one with a sail, you work your magic and we're on the way to the island."

"Squeeak." Zeelo seemed unsure.

"Yes, it is very sneaky, but as I said we're borrowing, not stealing." Calex nodded sagely. "And if those corrupt crystals stay there who knows what trouble they may cause later. We have a moral obligation to get to that lighthouse no matter what it takes. Otherwise who knows what kind of monsters come out of there!"

"Squeeeak." Zeelo relented and the two began to look for a suitable boat. The one they found was pretty small, which was good since they were small, and it was less likely to be noticed leaving the harbor till they made enough distance for it not to matter.

Zeelo summoned up wind aether and created a strong gust of wind against the sail. The plan worked and they were soon on their way.

Upon arriving on the island Calex led Zeelo away from the main gate leading into the lighthouse.

"We're going in through an underground tunnel." He explained. "Apparently the adventurers who went in there kind of wrecked the place a lot, and pieces of the ceiling fell in and well... The normal route in won't work. But... There's a small cave on the other side of the hill."

Small was right. Had Zeelo still been a normal lalafell he might not have been able to squeeze through the tiny opening that was their secret cave route. Even as a carbuncle it was tight. Calex of courses had no issues. Now deep in the cave they began to move forward. Calex landed on Zeelo's head and sat down keeping an eye out for things, quite eager to be on an adventure.

Zeelo had to admit, it felt good to be on an adventure like this. It was taking his mind off of the shock of finding himself in this new form. As they worked their way down the tunnel he realized they really could make this work.

"Strange..." Calex looked around the tunnel. "Since they came in through a different route I would think there'd be more corrupt crystals here... But I'm not seeing any at all."

"Squeak?" Zeelo suggested.

"You could be right, maybe none of the crystals made it this far down. Still..." Something felt off to Calex. Certain instincts were screaming at him about danger... And those instincts weren't from his lalafell half. The dreadwyrm within him felt something wrong, and that was a terrifying thought of its own.

Eventually the two made it out of the tunnel and into the lighthouse proper. However, much like the tunnel it was completely clear of all crystals.

"I don't get it, did someone beat us to the job?" Calex looked around. The place was still a crumbling mess but there were no crystals anywhere. "I'm starting to get really creeped out." Calex shuddered.

"Squeak?" Zeelo's ears flattened. Calex responded to being shrunk to a size smaller than a mouse was wanting to go out and adventure. If something had him on edge it had to be serious.

"Seriously, where are the crystals?" Calex was feeling antsier by the second as they got further into the lighthouse. "There's... Something at the top." He didn't know how he knew, he could just feel it.

"Squeak?" Zeelo asked.

"If we're lucky, just someone who cleared the crystals out for us." Calex didn't believe that to be the case.

Climbing winding staircases, the two eventually reached the top floor of the lighthouse. Here it was mostly outside and they could see for miles. But it appeared the place was empty. Yet, Calex felt a prickling down his tail of nervousness.

And then Calex felt something move, not through his normal senses, but through the dreadwyrm.

"Zeelo! Run now!" Calex shouted. Zeelo didn't have to be told twice. He broke into a sprint and a half a second later a beam of light fired down from the sky where he had been standing.

The light shaped itself into an orb and then a body began to emerge from it. Something with massive paws and white fur. As it came out completely it looked like a massive white lion standing on two legs with two large red wings. But there was something wrong with it. Pieces of fur and flesh were missing from the primal and it there were jagged stones sticking out of its bod in several places.

"Is that a flipping primal?" Calex screamed.

"GROAAAAAAAAAWRRRRRRRRRL!" The creature let out a roar.

"It's mad..." Calex closed his eyes, relying on the senses of the dreadwyrm again. "It's name is... Madeen? But what is a primal doing in Pharos Sirius!? You'd need a massive amount of crystals-" Calex froze. All the missing corrupted crystals... The primal certainly looked corrupted with the missing flesh and rocks sticking out of it. Had someone used the corrupted crystals to call it forth? But... Crystals weren't enough, it also required fervor. Who had summoned it?

"GROOOOOOAAAAAWRL!" That mystery would have to wait for later. The primal seemed to be almost feral, lacking all of its senses. No doubt a side effect of using corrupted crystals for the summoning.

"Squeak..." Zeelo looked towards the exit. The primal seemed to sense his thoughts and immediately leaped forward slamming the door leading down shut. There was no escape now, not unless you could fly.

Well... Calex could fly, but he wasn't about to leave Zeelo behind.

"Okay so good news, neither one of us can be tempered. Side effect of me basically being part primal now and well you're a carbuncle." Calex tried to assure Zeelo. He wasn't doing a good job. "The bad news is that probably means he'll just try to kill us."

"GRROOAAAWRL!" Madeen let out a roar and several balls of light appeared floating around the roof.

"And think it's time to move!" Calex took to the air to get above them while Zeelo ran for a corner that was free of orbs just in time for them to explode barely missing the two. Madeen wasted no time, following this up by jumping all the way across the top of the tower, slashing everything on his left side. Zeelo barely rolled out of the way before he came back slashing at the right side of the tower.

"Okay... It's a primal, but it's just a monster like any other. It can be fought." Calex's voice was shaky. "Take this.. Tri-Disaster!" Strands of energy erupted from Calex's claws striking the primal on the side. It let out a roar of pain and Calex knew he had hit its mark. Poison and miasma were already at work trying to tear the primal's body apart from the inside.

But that would take time. Madeen leaped into the air spinning around with his claws. It was unavoidable except to be low to the ground. Calex was hit and sent flying to the ground.

"Squeak!" Zeelo shouted in terror and ran to Calex's side.

"It's fine..." Calex stood up clearly in pain. "I'm sturdier than I look. Even small, I'm still packing the power of the dreadwyrm... But... This is going to be rough."

"Squeak!" Zeelo unleashed a cyclone of wind centered directly on Madeen. The primal let out a roar of pain as the wind tore at it but slowly pressed forward. Zeelo fired off aerial slashes as fast as he could adding as much damage but it didn't stop the beast from coming.

"GROOAAAWRL!" It leaped for the two Zeelo dove in one direction and Calex flew in the other. And then the creature vanished in a column of light.

"Don't let your guard down." Calex remembered how the creature had appeared. "It's going to come back any-" Before he finished a new column of light shot down outside the lighthouse. Madeen floated in the air. He let out a roar and pieces of the lighthouse slowly began to rise into the air, pieces that still had small fragments of corrupted crystals in them. Energy shot out from the crystals striking Madeen who began to glow.

"Squeak!" Zeelo shouted.

"I know! I know! I'm on it!" The two recognized the problem pretty quickly. Those floating pieces of the tower needed to be destroyed before Madeen could absorb more crystals. It was clearly powering up for something.

Calex and Zeelo split the room in two each taking half. Zeelo relied on his wind magic to strike out and shatter the floating tower debris. Calex meanwhile began to glow with a blue aura as he tapped completely into his power going into a full Dreadwyrm Trance. He began to fire off ruin spells rapidly, breaking through the rocks in quick succession. Eventually the two had cleared the room out, but it appeared that Madeen had gathered enough power to unleash a powerful attack, even if it wasn't as powerful as he planned.

"GROOOAAAWR!" The primal held out his hands as lasers of light shot out from. Instead of heading straight for the two young adventurers, they circles them, forming a sphere shaped net around them which then slowly began to shrink in on them.

"Squeak!" Zeelo realized this was the time to bust out the white magic. He ran ahead of Calex and the ruby on his head glowed. A moment later a brilliant blue barrier appeared before them. The net closed in on the barrier and began to constrict against it. Zeelo felt himself being pushed backwards. He planted his paws as firmly as possible and focused as much power on maintaining the barrier as possible.

After a few moments of this, the lasers of light exploded. Zeelo's barrier was blasted away and both him and Calex were sent flying back by the light.

"SQUEEAK!" Zeelo didn't waste time, throwing out a Medica II as soon as he was back on his feet.

"Thanks Zeelo." Calex looked to Madeen as it flew back and landed on the tower. "My turn. DEATH FLARE!" This time it was Calex who called down a massive beam of light from the sky that exploded upon impacting Madeen. As the smoke cleared though the primal was very much still standing. "Okay, that was kind of my trump card. I can't really summon a Bahamut-Egi since the aether needed for that is fused with me..."

"Grooawrl!" Madeen let out a roar, and Zeelo and Calex were thrown backwards from a shockwave nearly falling over the edge of the tower.

"Squeak!" Zeelo spun around in place casting Assize, quickly getting the two back onto their feet.

"We need to get back on the offensive." Calex glared at the primal as it got closer. "I have an idea... But... It's not a move you've had a chance to practice."

"Squeak?" Zeelo tilted his head. "My ultimate attack. One that breaks through my own limits." Calex flapped into the air. "It takes time to ready though, the air has to become thick with aether. But as we fight powerful foes, exchange blows, cast spells, heal, slowly enough of it gathers to make these types of spells possible... Alright... Get ready, and just try to copy the others. RUBY! TOPAZ!"

In flashes of light two more carbuncles appeared next to Calex a yellow and a red one. Both of them immediately ran in a circle around Madeen and then paused on either side of him. Their gems began to glow.

"Together, the three of you are going to trap him in a barrier." Calex explained. "You know how barriers work from white magic, you literally just did one. Just follow their leads."

"Squeak!" Zeelo replied determined. His gem began to glow just like the others. Light shot out from all three carbuncle gems and as they neared Madeen they changed directions, suddenly moving at jagged angles. Then, the light solidified into a giant star shaped crystal with Madeen inside.

"All together now! Ruby!" Calex shouted and fired off several ruin spells in rapid succession as the ruby carbuncle charged the crystal, struck it, and set an inferno ablaze all around it and inside. "Topaz!" The yellow carbuncle shot a beam of light at Calex encasing him in a barrier. Calex then flew straight into the crystal without any resistance. He flew by Madeen several times attacking with his claws. Tiny thought they may be, augmented with magic they left their marks. After a few seconds of this Calex flew up out of the crystal and above it. "Zeelo!"

"Squeak!" Zeelo understood what to do at once. The connection between the two was getting stronger. He unleashed a tornado that lifted the crystal and Madeen high up into the air, the sharp winds ripping at the creature's skin while it was stuck floating in the air.

"And now for the final touch." Calex held both of his hands up to the sky. "CRYSTAL FLARE!" Another beam of light came down from the sky, far larger than the previous one Calex had called. At the same time, each carbuncle fired a beam of energy matching their own colors, gree, yellow and red, at an upward angle at the crystals. All four beams struck the crystal simultaneously and the trapped primal inside, several more beams of light fired in from every direction until every flat surface of the crystal had energy flowing through it. Calex lowered his hands, floated down to the ground and turned his back to the crystal before snapping his fingers.

The crystal shattered, unleashing a massive explosion of several elements all at once.

"Groawrl." Madeen's roar was more of a pathetic growl now. It lay on the ground beneath where the crystal had shattered. Slowly, his body started to evaporate into sparkles of light.

"Holy crap we did it." Calex fell to the ground landing on his bottom. "I'm going to be honest I wasn't actually sure we could do that." As he spoke the ruby and topaz carbuncles vanished.

"Squeak!" Zeelo gave him an alarmed look.

"Well I had to try something..." Calex was panting. "But... We took out a primal. That... that wasn't in the job description. Wonder if we get paid extra... But..." he looked around. The answer as to where the crystals had come from were clear.

But where had the prayer come from?

The two hadn't encountered anything else on their way up here. The place seemed abandoned. They did eventually find something on the roof, but there was so little left of it that it was hard to identify. It was the body of the siren the previous adventurers had defeated... Or what was left of it. One arm clutched fragments of a broken crystal.

"You don't think..." Calex stared at what was left of the body.

"Squeak." Zeelo said somberly.

"When she realized she had lost and was dying, she cried out. To summon a primal all on her own, she must have been truly desperate. But all the crystals she needed were here... But it would seem she died before ever seeing the primal she summoned. Maybe for the best, in its corrupted state I doubt it would have listened to her prayers."

"Squeeak." Zeelo turned away from the body.

"Yeah... It's strange." Calex floated over and patted Zeelo on the head. "I get she was an evil monster. But... in her last moments she was just a terrified person calling out for help. Let's... Get out of here. The crystals are gone meaning are mission is over. We'll have to figurer out how to collect payment on it."

"Squeak!" Zeelo nodded. Without the interference of Madeen they were able to get the door open again. Calex then floated down and rode on Zeelo's head as they took the same path to leave the lighthouse. Once Pharos Sirius was behind them both of their moods began to improve.

"We took out a primal. On our first job." Calex grinned. "They'll have to start treating us like real adventurers after that."

"Squeak." Zeelo was less confident. After all, that would require people to believe that a primal was in the tower and that they had defeated it. Also, once the Arcanist Guild saw their current conditions he suspected Calex would be in for a month of detention rather than treated to any kind of reward.

The conjurer's guild probably wouldn't be too happy with Zeelo coming back like this either, if they could even recognize him. Though, he'd probably get off easier. Regardless, whatever chore they got saddled with for a month, it had been worth it. They had their first real adventure. And having conquered the lighthouse both former lalafells hungered for more. There were many more adventures to be had, and nothing either guild could do to stop them from going out on them.

The End