Alexander The Great Mage

Chapter 44 - Dragon Soul

Alexander chuckled. "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Or in my case, when audacious plans meet lucky cat! If that cat is able to tame even such a powerful Wyvern so quickly, then I shouldn't have much problems delivering on my promise of 10,000 Wyverns to Lyra."

"You don't understand the enormity and magnitude of 'soul taming'. You're not thinking BIG enough. It's the answer to ALL your problems. You want 30,000 flying mounts? Done. You want to tame a dragon? Why stop at one? Why not every single dragon you can find? And why stop at dragons? Get phoenixes as well! And all the leviathans of the ocean! This is crazy. This little fat cat somehow got its paws on such a powerful, Godly skill! Crazy!" The more Buccephalas ranted, the more worked up she became.

"Hmmm." Alexander was really intrigued. "So what exactly is soul taming?"

"It is when a God's soul reaches out to a target's soul and completely brings it into voluntary submission. It's impossible to resist. That's how the ancient Gods governed the universe. That's also the basic premise of my plan to help you tame a dragon."

"So you're saying Fluff-fluff is a Scion of God as well?" Alexander asked while frowning. He couldn't imagine that fat furball being chosen by a God to carry its power.

"No. Scions of God depend on the Power of God within them to strengthen their souls and borrow that power to subdue and tame beasts. This 'cat' right here is not depending on the power of any God. It is simply using its own soul power to tame the Wyvern! It..It's merely a cat yet.. It is powerful beyond measure." Buccephalas seemed to find it hard to accept the fact that so much power resided in such a fat little vessel.

Alexander looked at the Wyvern who was flying around the town while doing rolls and turns and spins with a screaming and laughing Aleyria grabbing hold on the Wyvern's majestic horns for her dear life. He couldn't help but smile.

"That looks pretty fun." Kan-Dari muttered audibly.

"Yeah, so says the girl who almost pissed herself when the Wyvern drew near just now." Shira muttered back.

"Ooof!" Shira grunted as Kan-Dari shoved her slightly with her shoulder.

"Shhh!" Liz'An sent a fearsome frown to the two girls. They immediately went silent. Although they knew Liz'An didn't have a single shred of malice within her, a troll's fearsome frown had a very powerful silencing effect.

"I'm assuming that the Wyvern is now fully under the cat's control?" Alexander asked Buccephalas.

"Yes, that is right."

"How do we get control of the Wyvern then?"

"There are a few ways. The simplest one would be for the cat to order the Wyvern to obey us from now on. But then the Wyvern would still have its own will and thus the chance of rebellion is there. The second method is better. The cat could order the Wyvern to sign a Beast Contract with one of our mages. That way the Wyvern would be fully under our control. The third method is of course Fusion. But I doubt anyone would actually be willing to fuse with a Wyvern." Buccephalas explained.

"Okay, you need to explain to me clearly what exactly is a Beast Contract and a Fusion. I really have no idea what they mean."

"Alright, alright. With all the information I've given you, in real life I probably would have qualified to be a professional advisor. A HIGHLY paid professional advisor." Buccephalas grumbled.

"Quit whining. If I do well, you do well too." Alexander asserted.

"Fine. Anyway, a Beast Contract is basically an agreement between a mage and a beast. There are many kinds of contracts. But basically they are categorized into four major kinds. A slave contract, a subordinate contract, an affiliate contract and a partnership contract. The parties will decide on the type and the time limit of the contract before signing it with their blood and their soul. Any contract breach will result in the spontaneous combustion of the related party's blood and soul. A very gruesome death, if you ask me."

"Combustion of the soul and blood? Gahh. Who is the one enforcing that contract?"

"It is a contract made under the binding power of the Gods themselves. The Gods instituted this system to bring order in the chaos that reigned after creation was made."

"I see." Alexander nodded thoughtfully.

"Moving on, a slave contract is basically a slave contract. A party has complete control of the other party's actions. Any orders are absolute and have to be carried out.

A subordinate contract is similar to a slave contract, but just without the physical control that the slave owner has over the slave. So a subordinate will still be his own person.

An affiliate contract is usually for major beasts to give out to its 'affiliates'. It would receive tribute in exchange for a determined set of actions that the affiliates require. Usually protection.

A partnership contract is when the two parties enter into an exclusive and mutually beneficial contract. This is usually lifelong and both parties are usually very devoted to each other."

"Pretty straight forward. I'm assuming the contract between Lyra and Fluff-fluff is an affiliate contract?"

"I think so as well. The Fortuitous Cosmic Feline is way too powerful to sign a partnership contract. It's probably just hanging around Lyra for entertainment. And judging by the amount of luck the Eastern Phoenix Kingdom is experiencing, yeah it's safe to say that the contract is merely an affiliate contract. If it's a partnership contract, Lyra would probably be the ruler of this world already."

"What about Fusion?"

At this, Buccephalas hesitated for a  while.

"What's wrong?" Alexander asked her.

Buccephalas remained silent for a little while longer before finally saying, "Nothing. A Fusion is much, much more serious than a contract. For one thing, it must be a mutual decision. For another, it is irreversible. Once you fuse with a beast, you will never be able to fuse with another. You can still sign contracts of course, but fusing is a one-time thing. Essentially, Fusion is when two beings become one. In every... aspect."

Buccephalas paused once more.

"Hey, are you alright? What's going on in there?" Alexander asked.

"I'm feeling a little weird. All sorts of images are appearing in my mind. I'm.. I'm trying my best to determine if they are merely images or… memories."

"Whoa. What sort of images are they?" Alexander was truly surprised. Buccephalas was an enigma, full of unanswered questions which he had come to accept in his life. He never expected that there would be progress made in that area.

"It's very vague and blurry now, but it seems to be related to the topic of fusion. Anyway, I'll keep going and see if the images multiply.

Two beings becoming one in every aspect. The souls will merge into one. You will gain each other's memories, will power and feelings. However, there is a master and a subordinate in a fusion. So the master soul will 'devour' the subordinate soul.

The full physical potential and form will merge into one. You would be able to morph freely into both physical forms.

Finally, all the power, abilities, skills and techniques will be merged as one."

"It sounds… pretty complicated." Alexander offered lamely, still rather distracted by Buccephalas's revelation on the appearance of the 'images'.

"Extremely complicated. That's why Fusion is a long process. It would take many years for a fusion to be completed successfully! Plus the very first step is crucial, the two souls must…"

Alexander remained silent as he waited for Buccephalas to process whatever was happening within her.

He glanced at Aleyria who was still enjoying herself flying around in the sky. "That's good." He thought to himself. "Maybe Aleyria might be able to get Fluff-fluff to order the Wyvern to sign a Subordinate Beast Contract with one of us."

He waved his hand at Aleyria when she looked in his direction. She waved back happily with one hand. Her other arm was fully occupied with hugging the Wyvern's horn with all her might.

"She looks so happy. I'll let her fly around a while longer before getting her to discuss the Beast Contract with Fluff-fluff. Considering that Fluff-fluff seems to like her a lot, it should be a pretty easy thing to do." Alexander smiled happily as he thought about this.

He was about to give Aleyria a thumbs up when Buccephalas dropped her bombshell.

"They're memories." She said softly.

"What? Wow!!! That's great, Buccephalas! Congratulations! Finally after all this time, we get a clue as to what happened to you!" Alexander said joyfully.

"My name is not Buccephalas. My name is… Flamewing."

"Flamewing? Why does it sound like a…" Alexander's eyes widened in great shock. "You're… Do-don't tell me you're a…"

"Dragon." Flamewing finished Alexander's sentence for him. "I am the soul of the dragon I've been telling you about."