Chloe wandered away from Tom's table as she finished eating her French toast.

  "Sticky hands." Chloe giggled as she held out her hands to Lucy.

  "Lucy, clean?" Chloe asked, holding out her hands to Lucy.

  Chloe giggled as she started to lick the syrup from her hand.

  "Stop it, Lucy, stop it!!" she giggled as she pushed the black dog away from her. She moved over to one of the faucets and washed her hands. The sinks were made for adults, so she needed to jump up to wash her hands.

  Then she pulled up Tom's super secret mission.

  Chloe ran back up to her room, which was the room she had shared with Tom. The floor was empty, and the sounds of her footsteps and Lucy's scrambling echoed through the halls. When she arrived at the room, her eyes lit up as she saw the pile of paper. The TV was still on, but Chloe ignored that as she sat on the living room floor, a set of colorful markers and crayons scattered around her like a vibrant palette. Her eyes glittered with excitement as her hands moved over the paper. She started drawing and then stopped. She tried to figure out what she wanted to draw, and then inspiration struck her, seemingly out of nowhere.

  She began sketching two colossal monsters—one was a red bat that was undulated and twisted like it was made of water, and the other was kind of like a giant Komodo dragon. It was massive, with emerald green scales that shimmered in the light and pearl-white teeth and claws. She tried to add wings, but they didn't look right, so she erased them.

  She started filling in the background, adding destroyed houses and large buildings. With vibrant strokes, she drew two armies clashing around the monsters. The side that helped the red bat was green, while the other side wore bold blue uniforms. Tiny stick-figure soldiers brandished swords, shields, and guns, engaged in a chaotic mess.

  She liked it, though it needed something. She drew a little figure of Tom in the corner overlooking the battle.

  As she continued to add details, Chloe's imagination ran wild. The monsters roared louder, and the armies clashed with newfound intensity. She drew the sun with a brilliant red crayon, and it shone overhead, threatening to swallow them all up.

  When Chloe finally put down her markers, she stared at the drawing in awe. The battle on paper seemed to come alive, and for a moment, the room echoed with the sounds of battle.

  DING!!

  <[The Pen is Mightier than the Sword] has Reached Level 10>

  <[The Pen is Mightier than the Sword] has Reached Level 11>

  <....>

  <[The Pen is Mightier than the Sword] has Reached Level 18>

  Chloe didn't really understand the message, so she said she would ask Tom about it later. Instead, she held up her artwork with pride.

  "Look at it, Lucy, it's amazing," Chloe said as she stared down at her art.

  Lucy looked up at her in curiosity, looking at the painting with an odd level of interest that Chloe hadn't expected. Lucy's eyes seemed to swirl with an unknown inner light.

  She suddenly realized she was hungry. Getting up, she moved towards the door. But Lucy wasn't following; she was still looking at the painting.

  "Come on, Lucy," Chloe called out.

  Woof

  Lucy barked out in acknowledgment as she followed after her.

  They moved down two flights of stairs to the cafeteria. She liked the school; it was huge. When she got to the cafeteria, she found a bunch of kids her own age wandering around. There were also a bunch of cats and dogs hanging around, waiting for a chance for some food. Excitedly, she entered the crowd of other kids as they lined up for food.

  "Hi," Chloe said. "I'm Chloe."

  "I'm Emma," one of the other girls greeted her when she approached. "Are you from Newton?"

  "No, I'm from here. My brother said this place is our new home. This is my dog Lucy," Chloe said, bringing Lucy's large form up next to them.

  Emma approached Lucy and started petting her, a smile slowly blooming across his face.

  "She's so fluffy," Emma said, grinning.

  Emma hugged Lucy hard. She leaned her head into the dog, rubbing her face into Lucy's side. Lucy leaned into the girl as she hugged him.

  "She's just like Popo," Emma said wistfully.

  "Who's Popo?" Chloe asked. She could tell Emma felt sad, so she walked up behind her and started rubbing her back.

  Tom did that for her when she was sad.

  "Popo was our dog. He … he … he's gone." Emma wailed as she shoved her head into Lucy.

  Lucy turned her head towards Emma and began to nuzzle against Lucy.

  "I'm sorry," Chloe said as she kept rubbing Emma's back, trying to comfort her.

  "He saved me, you know." Emma wept as she hung on to Lucy. "When the goblins came, I hid in the closet. When the goblins opened the door, he leapt out, and they chased after him. They are all gone now, mom, dad, even Popo."

  Emma started to cry.

  "Don't worry; my brother will keep us safe," Chloe said as she hugged the girl. He can even bring people back to life."

  "Really?" Emma asked hopefully.

  "Of course," Chloe said proudly. "He brought the guy who makes our lunch back to life. His name is Will. Come on, we can go meet him when we get lunch."

  Chloe then dragged Emma along towards the cafeteria line. She ignored all of the people in front of her. Her brother owned the place, which means she owned the place.

  "Hey!!" someone called out, but Chloe ignored him.

  "Hey, Will," Chloe called out as she came to the front of the line.

  "Hello, Chloe. We're serving hotdogs today. Would you like one?" Will asked as he tried to placate the complaining person.

  "Yes, one for me, one for Emma, and three for Lucy," Chloe said.

  "Five hotdogs coming up," Will said as he grabbed her the food.

  "Will, Emma here wants to hear about how you came back to life. Can you please tell her?" Chloe begged.

  "Oh," Will said, freezing suddenly.

  "Did you really come back to life?" Emma asked.

  "Well, yeah, I got attacked by a guy with the crowbar. He hit me on the head, and then I died. Then I woke up with Tom standing over me. Honestly, I'm not sure if I can say it was the luckiest day of my life," Will said as he handed her her food.

  "Now, would you guys mind leaving so I can serve lunch to everyone else?" Will asked as kindly as possible.

  Chloe nodded as she wandered off, Emma and Lucy following after her as they moved into one of the hallways. Chloe took a big bite of her hotdog, the juices running down her chin as she savored her lunch. Lucy was gobbling back her two hot dogs with gusto.

  "Thanks," Emma said as she slowly ate her hot dog.

  "For what?" Chloe asked.

  "For making me feel better," Emma said. "You want to go explore the school."

  "Yeah!!" Chloe said, getting up and taking Emma's hand as they ran off to explore.

  "Hey, wait for me!!" Emma called after them as he stuffed his hotdog down his throat.

  Then Emma tapped her shoulder.

  "Tag your it!" she screamed as she ran ahead.

  "No fair!!" Chloe called out as she chased after her.

  They played for hours, running around the school and hanging out with some of the other kids. They played with the dogs and cats that were hanging around the school.

  Then the building started to rumble, Rumble, RUMBLE. The entire school was shaking.

  "What's happening?!" Emma screamed.

  Chloe watched in amazement as the room rippled and expanded. Wisps of reddish-black energy swirled around the room as a massive statue of the demon lord that her brother had killed appeared on one side of the room. Its four orange eyes glared at them. Its body was in the lotus position, but this one had six arms instead of two. It was just as muscled as the original. Its head was dominated by the massive horns sitting on top of its brow. The spade's tail wrapped around its body like a snake, and its goat legs sat crisscrossed at the end of the room.

  The air in the room quickly became heavy as the demon lord's eyes started to glow.

  "What was that?" Emma asked,

  "What's happening to Lucy!?" Emma screamed.

  Chloe spun around to find Lucy changing. Her fur turned black—not a little black, but black as in the absence of light, as if her fur were a void in the world. Her eyes turned into smoldering rubies, and her teeth and claws turned into gleaming white that seemed to be glowing slightly blue in the low light.

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  And she got bigger and bigger. Lucy grew until she was the size of a small pony.

  "Lucy, are you ok?" Chloe whispered.

  Lucy growls a low, rumbling snarl of spring-coiled menace. The sort of growl that starts in the back of one throat and ends up deep in someone else's.

  WOOF

  Lucy barked, loud enough that it cut the air like gunfire. Then she licked Chloe's face.

  "Gah," Chloe squealed as Lucy began to smother her in sloppy doggy kisses.

  "Stop it, Lucy, stop it." Chloe flailed as Lucy pressed her face up against her.

  DING!!!

  Lucy looked over the options, but she felt like something was missing. Without really understanding what she was doing, she pushed at the screen, tilting it this way as she tried to see what was just below the surface. Finally, she found the silly option it had been hiding. It was only one more option. But it had the word puppy in its name, so Chloe was instantly sold on the idea and chose to evolve Lucy into a puppy.

  DING!!!

  <[Soul Forge] has Reached Level 1>

  <[Soul Forge] has Reached Level 2>

  <....>

  <[Soul Forge] has Reached Level 10>

  <[Visions of Akashic Records] has Reached Level 1>

  <[Visions of Akashic Records] has Reached Level 2>

  <....>

  <[Visions of Akashic Records] has Reached Level 10>

  Chloe dismissed the notification as she looked into Lucy's big glowing red eyes.

  "Sit," she said.

  Lucy sat down, shaking the room slightly.

  "Shake," Chloe said.

  Lucy placed her paw in Chloe's hand. The paw was larger than Chloe's head.

  "Good Girl," Chloe said.

  "Wow, she's so much bigger!" Emma said as she pressed herself into Lucy's side, all but disappearing into her fur.

  "What happened?" Emma breathed out.

  "She evolved," Chloe said.

  "Like a Pokemon?" Emma asked

  "Yep, she's a hellhound puppy now," Chloe said.

  "Wow, what do you think this means?" Emma asked.

  "I don't know, let's go find Tom," Chloe said.

  "Can we ride her?!" Emma asked as she popped out of Lucy's fur, stars dancing in her eyes.

  Chloe gasped in amazement. That was an amazing idea. She was a little annoyed, and she didn't think about it.

  "Can we ride you, Lucy?!" Chloe asked.

  Lucy nodded, lying down. Chloe and Emma scrambled up onto Lucy's back. Emma was a little slower, but she quickly sat behind Chloe.

  "Mush Lucy, bring us to Tom," Chloe said.

  Lucy rose to her feet with an ease that belied her size. Chloe gasped as she was suddenly almost four feet in the air. Even as Lucy walked out the door and carried them through the hallways, Chloe was absolutely thrilled.

  "This is amazing!!" Emma said as Lucy casually walked through the now much larger school.

  Everyone stared at them as they rode the massive dog through the school. For some reason, people seemed to be getting out of Lucy's way as she walked down the halls. Then, everyone her own age ran up to Lucy to pet her and ask to ride her. Lucy was very careful around the other children, making slow and careful steps so as not to hurt anyone.

  Chloe promised them they could ride her tomorrow. But right now, they needed to find her brother. Lucy walked all the way to the gym. She found Alex, Luke, and Tom in the gym next to a bunch of bodies.

  "Hi Tom, Look what we did," Chloe called out.

  Tom turned to look at her, his eyes immediately drawn down to Lucy, and he screamed.

  You may skip to the next chapter.

  Base

  Personal: +4 CHA +3 STR +3 AGIL +2 DEX +2 LCK

  Racial: +3 CON +2 END +2 SPIRIT +1 EGO

  Bloodline: +5 PER +5 INT

  Base

  Hellhound: +5 PER, +4 CON, +4 AGIL, +3 STR, +3 END, +3 SPIRIT +2 DEX, +2 INT, +2 WILL +2 EGO, +2 LCK, +1 CHA

  Mini-Character List

  Tom: Our Protagonist, the Guild Leader

  Chloe: Tom's little sister

  Emma: A little girl who has lost everything

  Lucy: Chloes [Animal Compaion] who is now a hell hound

  Will: The Guilds chief

  AN: