Finn took his time, pondering with his hand on his chin before he finally looked up and into the eyes of the Storm Prowler Wolf.
From the core memory he had peeked into in its true psyche, he knew 'it' was most likely a 'she' based on the den of cubs she had tried to protect. So he knew the name had to reflect that.
In a bid to make the first soul mass he was about to personally name memorable and fitting, he nearly fell into a spiral, but thankfully, that was broken when he realized it wasn't as hard as he made it to be. It wasn't a competition or anything, so he could be casual about it. He thought back to a name from a game he used to play back on earth. And with a slight tweak, he made it his own.
"You shall be called… Syf."
[CHAOTIC SOUL MASS]
Species Name: Storm Prowler Wolf
Alias: Syf
Rank: 13 / 21
Type: Beast Soul (Lightning Elemental)
Assimilation: 43%
Mythology Aspect Used: Loyalty and Obedience
Adaptations Left Till Soul Drift: 3 / 4
Time Till Next Adaptation Recovery: 128 Days
Immediately he spoke the name, he saw it appear on his Soul Register, and felt a sort of 'acknowledgement' emanate from the Storm Prowler Wolf — Syf.
She raised her head to the skies and let out a long howl that resounded for what felt like miles.
It seems she likes it. Finn grinned, then without even needing to speak, willed Syf to lower herself for him to climb easily. She had grown in size compared to the first time she was subconsciously summoned by him during his fight with the Revenant.
Back then, she'd been about the size of a larger-than-average dog. But now, while she was still nowhere near the titan figure he saw in that memory, she still towered nearly eight feet, already much larger than a horse, and even more than a fully grown polar bear.
Finn climbed onto her back and found a position to make himself comfortable. Underneath Syf's shadowy fur, it felt like there were rippling muscles, built like thick metal ropes, shifting with every movement she made.
It made Finn wonder for a moment about the very nature of a chaotic soul mass's existence as a shadow manifestation. How did their forms, despite being shadowy and wispy, remain solid as though they were alive?
He shoved that thought to the back of his mind as one of the questions which's answer would be revealed to him naturally at some later point, and instead, focused on the present.
Syf rose back up with Finn on her back, before looking forward, feeling Finn's intention to move, but still waiting for his order.
Finn smiled, patting Syf's shadowy fur before lowering further into her back.
"Go—"
The words had just left Finn's mouth when the instant acceleration of Syf made him jerk back, nearly falling off despite his earlier preparation. He clenched his thighs around her body as hard as he could, struggling to regain his hold and right his position back to a lower, more aerodynamic state.
He could tell Syf felt his abrupt fright, but she didn't stop. And rightfully so. He didn't want her to stop at all.
Just like with the Crimson Fist Baboon and its side effect of making him feel like a 'Chad,' his manifestation of Syf, even as a Shadow mass, brought out a wildness in him.
Rather than cowering and stopping her to right himself properly, he was thrilled by the danger of a high-speed corrective maneuver.
His face was split in a mad grin as he righted himself mid-air just as Syf leapt over a small creek.
As she landed on the other side with a thud, Finn balanced to a low level, melding with her body aerodynamically. He matched the peaks and crests of her motion, absorbing the jerks and jolts fluidly as she weaved her way through the woods at blistering speeds.
As if Syf herself felt their near perfect synchronized motions, she let out a howl of joy, matched by Finn who also howled in exhilaration.
With his current pace, he was set to widen the gap between him and the other members of his group by an extreme margin. In fact, he was likely to reach Woodhaven Town without as much time difference between him and Althea who had the air advantage and had long disappeared from sight.
While she was certain to reach Woodhaven first, she sure as hell was in for a shock with the way Syf and Finn were eating ground.
All Finn needed to do now was make sure he didn't stray too deep and lose sight of the road not far from the woods they were traveling through.
.
.
.
Woodhaven Town. At the crack of dawn the next morning…
Finn had underestimated the distance to Woodhaven Town by almost half a day. It turned out this world was unlike Earth in size, and was much larger. So Finn's estimate, judging from the map alone, came out way off.
It led to him arriving later than what he had projected, but at least now he knew how to better estimate travel times.
Finn had long dispersed Syf, choosing instead to walk the remaining distance to Woodhaven Town immediately he noticed he was drawing nearer. There had been more and more activity on the road that guided him to Woodhaven. Even at these dark hours of the morning, there were still people — early merchant travelers mostly — clustered together in companies and making their journey to further towns for trade.
They had escort details of mercenaries and, from what Finn spotted, Arcanists — rogue Arcanists.
While Finn trusted in the stealth skills of Syf, he didn't want to take any unnecessary risk and potentially reveal he had a beast of such stature — and more importantly, that it was a beast soul mass. He didn't know how the various travelling companies would react to seeing someone with a tamed beast like Syf, but he knew for sure how they'd react once they noticed she was a soul mass, and he was a Soul Mage.
Hence, the reason why Finn was content to keep still and wait, observing from a far distance how thorough and what was required to get into the town.
Security was tight at the tollgates, and while Finn couldn't see any walls surrounding the city, he was sure that in itself meant they were confident enough in their ability to keep track of who came in and who went out.
Bandits and rogues were rampant in this region. He hadn't spotted any of them on his way here — besides some signs of human habitation here and there in the woods — but he wasn't arrogant enough to think he'd be able to infiltrate a city that gave them a hard time to break into.
Ahh… Would've been nice to have a scouting beast right now. Like a small bird with good vision or something… Finn thought with a sigh. At least they could've helped him survey the town from high above. He was presently up in a tree he climbed earlier, first, to hide better within the sparser woods now that he was close to the town. And second, to observe the town better — which wasn't going as well as he wanted anyway.
Maybe I should just walk up to the tollgate now that it's still somewhat dark…? They can't know I'm an Ossuarist anyway…
Finn had just considered this when he felt his hair rise in danger. Despite being careful to shield himself from view, purposefully settling on a tree that gave him a view of the town while still obscured enough to remain hidden, he felt a gaze on him!
And from the danger he felt from that gaze, he knew the person was definitely strong. So without hesitation, he leapt from the tree, intent to lose the person even while unsure they were coming for him.
But as he touched the ground, falling into a roll, about to stand, a voice spoke from his front.
"Clean form! Now who the fuck are ya and why were ya up there watching us like you some scout?!"