After Warez’s last run-in with Ciphon, he felt terrible that Bazithrax barged into his home unannounced. Not only that, but he had to pay extra for the hiccup that occurred. All his overthinking got his anxiety up to a point where he felt that the good business relationship with the volcanic beetle was null and void after that. Wanting to make things right, he eventually reached out to Ciphon and shared an idea with him. Warez could hear the wariness in his voice as they discussed but he was both surprised and thrilled Ciphon was fine with going through this idea of his.

Later that day Warez shows up to Ciphon’s mountain with Bazithrax, who is now in a very shitty mood, accompanying him before the large beetle makes his way to greet them. Well to greet Warez, he only looked at Bazithrax and scowled at his presence.

“Well, Bazithrax you be on your best behavior alright.” Warez began to say.

“You ass, you still haven’t told me why you brought me back to this crazy place!” Bazithrax said with malice.

“Wait, you haven’t told him!?” Ciphon chimed in while crossing his arms.

“Trust me, you have no idea the turmoil I had to go through to even bring him back up here after what had happened last time. If I told him he would have made it impossible to even get here today.” Warez explained in response before Ciphon facepalms himself.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO TALKING ABOUT!?!” Bazithrax said with some heavy bass in his voice. Warez looks over to him and inhales deeply before presenting the information he so desires, but instead points over to Ciphon to quickly say…

“Ciphon will explain, BYE!” the dragon says before dashing off like a bolt of lightning, leaving the demonic troublemaker with the blacksmith. Bazithrax was stunned that not only he didn’t get the answer he was looking for but was also just ditched and left alone with the battle-ready Ciphon.

“Simple, you’re going run some errands for me. Now come in, we don’t have all day.” He says before shaking his head now taking on the responsibility of a new temporary hire.

“I ain’t going—“ Bazithrax began to say defiantly but was grabbed by the horn and pulled into his cave.
“OW OW OW, OK OK, I CAN WALK BY MYSELF!”

After their little “reunion” Bazithrax was tasked to deliver some supplies to a neighboring town. It sounded like an easy task, but for Bazithrax to learn his lesson he was punished by not being able to fly NO MATTER WHAT. Of course, Baz was livid by the whole situation, but Ciphon could care less about his feelings and just wanted the work to get done…or else. So after being intimidated one too many times, Bazithrax reluctantly foots down the mountain with a bag full of materials in tow.

Not even 10 minutes go by and Bazithrax was fed up with having to trek the entire way on foot. So in defiance, he decided to go against Ciphon’s word and outspread his wings to take flight flying a few dozen meters off the ground.

“Ha! I should’ve done this from the beginning. There’s no way that overgrown mutated ladybug will have any clue that I flew.”

Bazithrax boasted while letting out an evil cackle. But unbeknownst to the demon, he was unaware that the volcanic beetle had one hell of a good ability being his seismic sense that ranges for miles. It’s when someone can detect vibrations in the ground to perceive objects, people, and other aspects of their environment, essentially acting as sonar. So the moment Ciphon felt the weight of Bazithrax leave the ground he knew he disobeyed and patiently waited for him to fly as high as he wanted before taking a look away from playing Binding of Isaac: Repentance and snapping his fingers with a sly smile on his face.

“This is gonna be a breeze, I should be there in no time,” Bazithrax said to himself before noticing his speed and trajectory rapidly began to decrease.

It’s like he felt something was yanking him by the ankle, so upon looking down he notices giant weighted orbs are pulling him down at a rapid rate. Bazithrax struggled trying to keep himself aloft but it was a futile effort as gravity was in complete control now.

“AAAAAAAAAAA—“

As the ground and his demise approaches the demon lets out a scream before crash-landing and making a large crater in the ground. Upon making an impact, Ciphon couldn’t help himself but smile and chuckle knowing the dragon had to find out the hard way. Bazithrax slowly lifts his head being dazed and confused about how this could’ve happened, he remembers Ciphon forced him to wear some anklets and was told they are part of the uniform. Upon further reflection, he learned that was a lie and was a preventive measure in case he took off flying, and fell for the bait. As he begins to pass out lying on the cold pavement, he concludes that after today it’ll be wise to not mess with Ciphon anymore.

By the time the moon was high in the sky, Bazithrax finished delivering all the materials and had finally made his way back to Ciphon’s home. He waits outside not making the same mistake of entering before being given permission.

“Well, what took you so long?” Ciphon asked with the slightest smug expression on his face.

Trying not to make a scene, with his teeth clenched, blood boiling, and fists balled, it took every living fiber in his being to not snap back at the larger beetle but instead looked away and said nothing.

“Although you took all day taking your sweet time, you did the job so your debt has been repaid. You’re free to go.”

“Ahem!” Bazithrax grunts pointing at his ankles.

“Oh right.” With a little wave of his hand, the shackles around Bazithrax’s ankles instantly snap off.

Without a word, Bazithrax spreads his wings and takes off with purpose wanting to get home and as far away from this place as possible, which makes the blacksmith thrilled he gets to have his alone time playing video games the rest of the evening.

🎨 LeanLionFurry🎨
The Volcanic Forest Beetle belongs to  CypherWing