Lazarus introduced Anya to everyone. The Keeper, Battle Master and the other NPCs accepted her and took it in stride that a wild wolf was to stay in the City. She was a big hit with the residents after the initial shock wore off and it was confirm she was no harm to those under Lord Lazarus's protection. The children all took turns patting her and feeding her tidbits.

Pixel had also accepted her ... sort of. The exotic dark brown stallion had sniffed noses with the wolf and snorted dubiously at the half grown predator. He had neighed questioningly at Lazarus ready to kick the pup senseless if she dared take a bite out of his human, but the human had only laughed and patted the wolf affectionately, then turned to thump the young stallion on his neck.

Well, if the human accepted that furry creature into the herd, who was he to say nay? When the herd stallion made a decision, however weird it was, the herd obeyed, even he who had a proper herd of his own. But Lazarus had a unique position. He was the stallion of the stallion, if that made any sense.

The wolf too seemed to accept the handsome stallion into her pack. If her Alpha wanted this awkward hoofed creature into her pack, who was she to object? Plus, he had that tantalizing swishy blue tail.

She mock growled at the stallion who promptly snapped back at her with his teeth. She jumped playfully out of the way and made a go at his fascinating beautiful blue tail. The horse pranced away, neatly saving his long tail from the naughty wolf pup. She gave chase and he cantered away, avoiding the fascinated wolf. Pixel nipped Anya when she got too close, making her dodge but she would come right back. The swishy tail was just too much fun.

Lazarus smiled at their playful bonding and settled under a shady tree. Alone, it was not long before he fell back into melancholia.

Nyx gasped from behind a tree. She was so lucky to have stumbled upon Lazarus again. She had just come to his City's location in hopes of seeing him, but to actually catch him out here on the plains was unexpected. Better keep a distance this time, he was a higher level assassin and she was not going to be caught by him again.

She craned her neck. He was sitting alone comfortably under a tree watching two animals playing. Oh! That must be the famous Pixel, the monster who Lazarus had saved from the orcs in Season One. What a beautiful animal, even from the distance she could see the majestic creature prancing about, flicking his iridescent blue tail teasingly at the white wolf.

Who was the wolf? That creature was new. She had come across several wild wolves, but not such a beauty. It had soft snow white fur. It was very fast too, darting in between Pixel's legs to get at its tail. It was so adorable. Was it a friend of Lazarus or a friend of Pixel? It was obviously not fully grown yet.

Her attention returned to the assassin. He was really lucky to have such wonderful creatures as friends in here. She would love to be associated with the awesome beasts. She wondered how she could befriend animals like him. Maybe she could ask him or send him a message. He was known to answer as many messages as he could personally.

Suddenly she tensed. Lazarus was coughing uncontrollably, clutching his chest. She could clearly see him heaving for breath, convulsing violently. When he doubled over spewing out blood, she moved towards him before she realised what she was doing.

Nyx ran as fast as she could in a panic. What was wrong with him? Was he hurt? She should help him. She skidded to a stop near him, not quite daring to go within sword range.

"A-are you alright?" she asked anxiously.

Lazarus had jumped up and whirled around at her presence, his back against the tree for support. In one fluid motion, he had his darklight ebony bow out, loaded and aimed at her. Although he had gone into battle stance, he was still gasping for breath, bright red blood trickling from his mouth to his chin. He was clearly in pain and was having trouble staying upright. His hand on the taut bowstring was trembling.

She froze.

"Are you stalking me again?" he asked in a raspy voice.

Nyx, Assassin Level 57 stayed still, very conscious of the sharp point aimed at her. He recognised her.

"Noooo, I was just ... you're hurt!" she burst out. "You can't be hurt! You're Lazarus!"

Lazarus stayed silent, eyeing her ... buying time. He kept the arrow trained on her. He blinked several times, recovering and shifted into a better position.

"I'm sorry." She moved. The tip of his arrow followed her.

"It's just that you're Lazarus."

"So what?" he said dully.

"So what? So what?" she echoed him incredulously. "You're Lazarus, you can't be sick or hurt. If you are, you can just heal yourself, can't you? You're a legend!" She said in a matter of fact manner, as if explaining the obvious to a small child.

Her tone was so ridiculously condescending that he smiled mockingly at himself, if only she knew. He had recovered somewhat, the sharp constrictions in his chest had faded leaving only a dull uncomfortable throbbing. That too will disappear in a few minutes.

"I'm just a Ghost Lord, like you, nothing more." He said and shrugged, as if to say it was no big deal. He wiped his mouth on a sleeve, managing to smear the blood onto his perfect chin and cheek.

She frowned. He was messing up her Idol's face. It should be nice, clean and sexy like in all her downloaded pictures of him. If only he would clean it up properly. She was sure he would in a second, she just had to wait a bit.

With the intruder identified and threat classified as negligible, Lazarus relaxed. He kept away his weapon and sat down, taking out a potion before gulping it down in one swallow. He sighed in relief as his health status improved. He needed to sit, it would not do to fall on his face with another Hero watching. He didn't bother with his face.

Just then, the white wolf came bounding up. Pixel had left the puppy for his herd, he would be back again to visit and check up on his human whenever he felt like it. Anya stopped and growled at the stranger, eyeing Nyx menacingly.

"It's okay Anya, she is a friend."

"A friend?" the mental thought came to Lazarus as the wolf turned her head to look at the man. He had discovered that was how the familiar spoke to their chosen. It was easier than changing to human form every time she wanted to speak with him.

"Yeah."

"Will she be in our pack too?"

"No."

"Okay." The wolf placed the new female human low on her priority list. "Can I bite her?"

Lazarus let out a small startled laugh and glanced at Nyx.

"No."

The wolf gave a disgruntled snort. "Then ... can I chase her?"

He stifled a grin. "Maybe," he said non-committedly, but his silver eyes were twinkling with mischief. "Let me think about it."

"Don't think too long." Anya said, wagging her tail. "She doesn't look very fast. I bet I can get her without much effort."

"Then why bother?"

"It's fun to run."

Nyx listened at the one sided conversation, amazed at the interaction. It seemed like Lazarus understood the wolf. She had the feeling they were talking about her.

"You understand each other," she stated. "That's amazing."

"Anya? What a beautiful name. Anya." She was talking to herself again. Suddenly, she called out to the wolf.

"Anya?"

The wolf cocked her head in Nyx's direction, responding to her name. Did she want to play?

"Could you do me a favour? Please tell him to wipe his face properly. It should be clean, not all smudgy like that. He is supposed to be a Legend for God's sake!" she said in an exasperated tone.

Huh? Lazarus raised a dark elegant eyebrow at her incredulously. She was addressing his familiar!

"Hmm, the human girl is right." Anya said, her voice resounding in his head as she advanced on him.

"Oh, hey ..." Lazarus said backing away in alarm but Anya continued to stalk him, advancing on him slowly, her pink tongue hanging out. She looked like she was grinning.

"Anya ... " he said warningly but she ignored him. Her tail had started wagging slowly, suspiciously, almost mischievously, which was definitely not a good sign. Suddenly, she pounced on him, knocking him down onto his back. She held him down with her front paws and licked his face clean.

"Oh hey, HEY!! Cut it out!" he spluttered, swatting at her ineffectively. "Cut it out!!"

"All done," Anya announced smugly and sat on her hunches, lifting her powerful paws from his lean body, letting him go.

"That's much better. He looks like his handsome self again. Thank you Anya."

The wolf made a satisfied noise in agreement.

Nyx giggled at the scene. The more she interacted with him, the more human he became, his adorable funny side overshadowing his awesome reputation. Lazarus the enigmatic Legend was fast becoming the naturally boyish charming guy he was. She guessed he was a teenager in real life, early twenties at most. He really was cute.

He sat up grumbling to himself. "Seriously! Ganging up on me, I can be smudgy and dirty if I want to be ... I thought you were supposed to listen to me." He glared accusingly at the wolf.

"You thought wrong. I am loyal to you but I don't have to obey you if I don't want to." She panted, her pink tongue hanging out, almost like she was laughing at him.

"What a wonderful, beautiful wolf you are. Here, please accept a small token of my thanks." Nyx tossed a piece of meat to the wolf who caught it smartly in her jaws. "Between us, I think we can keep him clean and his reputation intact."

"I like her," Anya thought to Lazarus, chewing contentedly on the meat.

"Shut up. Don't talk with your mouth full," he admonished her grumpily.

Anya chomped contentedly on her food, as she kept an eye on the humans. She had chosen wisely indeed. Her human knew nice people who would randomly feed her. The girl posed no threat. But, she should keep a better watch over him, his blood tasted wrong when she had licked his face clean.