The man was a big muscular bear. His face almost hidden in his beard. His muscles bursting from his clothes. His armor looked to small to fit him at the same time it also looked like it fit him but then again it looked like it didn"t fit him.The hefty man shifted his attention to the black wolf. It snarled at him but it didn"t come any closer, just pacing around and around them. The man"s arm bulged and he dashed forward, bringing his sword over around him, executing a wide side slash, leaving his back open as he was carried by the momentum into a circle. The black wolf stepped back and lunged at the man, seeming to notice his opening. When he heard the wolf leap at him he pivoted with his foot and his turn suddenly became faster. His blade was coming for the wolf. Unable to dodge it the wolf received a wound across it"s chest. Backing off the wolf snarled more and rage burned in it"s eyes. Blood flowing from it"s chest. Again at a standoff the girl stared at the man, hope filling her eyes as she began to think that he would be able to defeat the wolf. Jumping from side to side the wolf closed the distance bit by bit. As it neared it lunged again but, before the man could swing his sword the wolf vanished. Under his breath the girl heard him swear turning to the girl and running. In the next moment she felt a cold breeze to her right. Appearing out of thin air the wolf opened it"s jaws and tried to eat the girl. Before a scream could escape her a blazing spear flew out of the trees and impaled the wolf"s skull right in the middle of all four eyes. The force of the spear sent the wolf flying by ten meters. It"s body hit a large tree. The limp body slid down and lay there dead. Blood pooling by it"s head. Another figure jumped down from the trees and the girl thought she saw a fairy.
Light silver hair floated in the air, the flowing white robe covered the grey shirt and pants below it almost reaching to the bottom of the white boots. Eyes, like a crystal-clear lake, fluttered to look at her then to the big man. As the "fairy" floated down from the trees landing next to the big man the "fairy" looked even smaller and more fragile until she saw the "fairy" knee the big man in the stomach. It was so fast one moment they were standing there and the next the big man was on the floor, foam forming around his mouth as the "fairy" walked over to the girl. The "fairy" neared the girl and she saw that it wasn"t a fairy at all. It was a feminine looking young man. From far away he looked like a girl but up close she could see the way his face was shaped and knew that it was a man. He crouched down next to her and sighed, reaching his hand out he hovered it over her wound. The girl flinched but didn"t say anything. A warm glow emitted from the young man"s hand. It was a soothing sun like glow, seeming to stretch out in strands it flowed into her wound. The girl felt the pain go away. She eased up, relaxing her tense arms and legs. The wound on her arm slowly closed and the blood stopped trickling down.
"Relax miss, I"m here now." His voice was sweet and unexpectedly deeper than the girl thought it would sound like. Like caramel and honey his silky voice seemed to make her relax even more, forgetting that she had a missing arm. Staggering to stand up the big man hobbled over, slightly bent forward.
"Geez, couldn"t you have went easier on me." He rubbed his belly like it was a precious child.
"Shut it. I"m in the middle of tending to the miss. Also, if you had done your job properly this wouldn"t have happened." The young man was quick to respond and he got right to the point. He scowled at the big man and returned to focusing on the girls wounds.
"Ok miss, I"m going to bandage it now, tell me if it hurts at all, ok?" The worry in his voice leaked out. His gaze showed a hint of worry. Without making a noise the girl nodded slightly. The young man took out a small box, about the size of a ring case. As he opened it the girl saw that there was nothing inside, just an empty box, that was until the young man stuck his hand in and pulled out a white bandage clasp. He maneuvered the clasp on to her wound and the moment it clicked together the girl felt the bandage tighten itself slightly, adjusting to her arm. Then it began to apply some sort of salve but it was all under her bandage, so she couldn"t tell what exactly was happening, just what she could feel. She began to feel sleepy, her eyelids heavy. Blinking slowly, she closed her eyes.
"Good, the anesthetic is working. Roland! Get over here you idiot. What were you thinking leaving the miss alone like that? She even lost an arm! An arm! And she wouldn"t be here now if I hadn"t shown up! How can you be so irresponsible?!" The young man"s fury was m.u.f.fled as the girl drifted off into a deep sleep.
"It"s not my fault. I wasn"t the one who "secured" the perimeter. How was I supposed to know that the area in which you said was "secure" had a cla.s.s two fade wolf?! I"m not the only one to blame for her lost arm you"re also responsible." Without saying anything else the young man clicked his tongue and turned back to the girl. Her body tipped over, but she vaguely felt a swift arm catch her. Rising off the ground she was being carried away.
"Just make sure there are no other monsters while I escort the miss if you don"t think my abilities to "secure" the perimeter are efficient enough."
"Alright but, you better not try to blame all of this on me."
"Am I that petty? You made a good point on how I failed to notice the fade wolf. Don"t worry, I"ll also report back on your mistakes too." Without another word the young man left. Leaping into the trees he vanished in a second.
"That brat."
Reina opened her eyes. All she could remember was the b.l.o.o.d.y cla.s.sroom and Katos. She couldn"t remember anything before going into the cla.s.sroom. She knew that her name was Reina, but she wasn"t sure if she had a last name. Looking to the left there was a blond-haired woman asleep next to her. Her face abnormally pale she looked like a ghost against the sunset in the window behind her. Her blond hair seeming to glow against the setting sun. Reina tried to get up but the blond woman was leaning on her legs making it uncomfortable for her to move. As Reina tried to move slowly the blond-haired woman felt it and sprang up. Her face instantly brightened as she looked at Reina.
"Lydis!" The blond-haired woman practically yelled as she hugged Reina tightly, not giving Reina room to refute. Loud footsteps resounded in the halls behind the large wooden door. The hurried thudding ended behind the door. Soft pacing footsteps filled the silence as whoever was outside paced back and forth. m.u.f.fled voices hushed each other as finally the door swung open. Hearing the door open the blond-haired woman released Lydis from her grip and hurried to the door. Speed walking a tall and lean man rushed to the blond woman. His face also looking drained, as if he had been up for multiple days.
"Marie!" The tall man embraced the blond-haired woman.
"Dear!" She embraced him back. Both had tears streaming down their faces. After a few minutes, abruptly they pulled apart from each other suddenly realizing the situation again.
"How is Lydis? Why did you scream? Is everything all right?" Firing off questions left and right the tall man was fl.u.s.tered.
"L-Lydis… *sniff* She"s awake!" Sniffing her tears the blond-haired woman brought out a handkerchief from who knows where and dabbed at her pink eyes. Processing her words the tall man rushed to the bed where Lydis was sitting.
"Lydis! I"m so glad that you"re safe!" Embracing her in another tight hug the tall man wrapped his long arms around her shoulders easily. "My dear sweet Lydis, how could such a thing have happened to you? Ah-" Seeming to notice the discomfort on her face he quickly let go and worry filled his face. "Did I hurt your arm? Is that why you"re making a pained face? Lydis? Lydi-" He was cut short as the blond-haired woman brushed by him to look at Lydis"s arm.
"0136 look at the injury." She waved her hand at the headboard and a screen popped out.
"0136 identifying injury. Injury not fatal, clear. Fractured bones removed, clear. Stress levels, low. Blood pressure, clear. Identifying mental state, error. Error. Error." The robotic voice continued to repeate "Error" again until the blond-haired woman shoved her fist into the headboard breaking the wood and puncturing to the other side, hitting the wall with a loud thud. Splints of wood flew towards Lydis but the tall man caught them all.
"Honey. Fix. The. Machine." Grunting the words out the once elegant looking woman still had all her elegance, but it was covered by her fury. Her face darkened but it softened when she looked at Lydis.
"I"m sorry for sacring you Lydis." Embracing Lydis again the blond-haired woman"s grip wasn"t as strong as earlier. It was softer, like she was holding something that would break with even the slightest force. Cradling Lydis a single tear rolled down her cheek. "We"ll leave so you have more time to rest." Wiping her tear away the blond-haired woman got up and pulled the tall man after her exiting the room. Soon after they left Reina fell asleep.
Memories flooded into her mind that night. Who Lydis Huwen was, what she did every day, all the memories Lydis had acc.u.mulated were now Reina"s.
"No grudges. Boring"
The memories continued playing and Reina learned about her new world. The world was called Etafor. In this world there were five major continents, each ruled by their respective royal families, Lativa, Seruin, Jorgororo, Milata, and Windim. Within the continents are countries but they all obey the royal family, the one they call Emperor. There were also many smaller continents whose names she didn"t find. The mana of this world was called slyphir, for the G.o.ddess Slyphina who created the world. There were many ways to use slyphir but, the main two were Ghosts and Banes.
Ghosts were people who allowed the slyphir to flow through their bodies and with adjusting it they released it in an elemental form, like a conductor they took in and changed the properties of the slyphir and released it again. They could also manipulate it to cloak themselves and become invisible, striking the enemies commander or leader from the shadows, hence the name Ghosts. Within the Ghosts there was different cla.s.ses. Some of them were being a Ghost, manipulator, or a conduit. The abilities of a conductor were all dependent on how well their bodies could handle the amount of slyphir flowing through. Too much and it results in death, too little and the slyphir disperses by itself.
Banes were people who took in small amounts of slyphir into their bodies and held it there, using it to strengthen their bodies slowly. In Banes there are cla.s.s differences on how they like to fight, for instance swordsmen, brawler, or spearman. Within those categories there were lots of varying paths. Depending on the const.i.tution of the person the rate of how quickly the slyphir gets absorbed into the body depends on the person. When reaching a certain point in strengthening their bodies Banes will know to stop everything they"re doing and take in large amounts of slyphir and for days, weeks, months, and sometimes years of absorbing large amounts of slyphir nonstop then their own weapon will form, these are called Embodiment weapons, but Banes usually use the name they gave them. Once a Bane has learned the true name of their weapon will they be able to unleash its full potential. If disturbed and they lose control of the slyphir it"ll result in their death, so this is a precious time for Banes as it only happens once in their lifetime, once missed it"s gone forever. This is important for Banes as this weapon will be one of a kind made specially for them by the G.o.ddess Slyphina. It can appear and disappear at the will of the Bane and it"s power can only be stopped by another Bane"s weapon. Even within the Banes there"s a power ranking of weapons. But, what attracts people is the weapons ability to evolve with their user. Being either a Ghost or a Bane is very hard but its also very rewarding as they are well respected and given lots of money but, they are the first to be deployed in case of war. Their position as the continents wall drives their strong will to fight for their continent till the end.
Other memories continued to fly by as Reina shifted through them. Her name was Lydis Huwen, age four years old. Typical blonde blue eyed n.o.ble. While looking she found out that she was the only daughter of the Archduke of Gestva, a medium country within Lativa on the coast with abundant farms and stable trade. Her father was bestowed the t.i.tle and land after great contribution in a rebel war two decades ago. Taking the head of the leader in the last battle. He ended it quickly as the enemy surrendered without their leader. Her father was a Ghost. His abilities weren"t prodigy-like, but he was no pushover either. Years of experience and countless battles had made him an experienced and respected veteran at the age of thirty-eight. Her mother was a Bane. She was the type that was cla.s.sified as brawler, they used their bare fists or weapons covering their hand to fight. Her mother had developed her unique weapon three years ago. They were heavy steel knuckle gloves with hidden blades hidden inside them. It had taken her mother two years to find out what it could do and another year to adjust herself to them. Her mother was a well-respected lady with a lot of power. Her age… better left unsaid.
Sleeping like a log the night before Reina had fully a.s.similated herself with her new body. Sunlight lit up the room through the thin slit in the curtains. A maid rushed in the room and pulled open the curtains, allowing the sunlight to fully light up the room. Groaning, Reina turned over and sat up, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
"Miss, the master and lady are awaiting you in the hall." The maid quickly got Reina undressed and redressed and cleaned up her face, even doing her hair. Reina, who was still half asleep, allowed herself to be pulled along the maid"s pace.
"Why have they called for me?" Reina stood still as the maid continued to fuss with her hair.
"I"m afraid I do not know why."
"Oh well." With another tug of the brush the last tangle undid itself and the maid continued to tie it up.
"The young miss is rather cooperative today. Are you feeling well?" There was no sarcasm in her voice. Her face seeped worry.
"N-no, I"m alright. Just still shocked." Seeming satisfied with her answer the maid continued to work at Reina"s hair.
"How horrible was I for the maid to actually be concerned if I start behaving?" Reina shook her head slightly and the maid stopped.
"Does it hurt miss?"
"I"m fine, it"s a little itchy. Carry on."
"As you wish." The maid went back to tidying up Reina"s hair. When she was finished the maid looked at Reina full of pride. "Our young miss is as beautiful as a gem in the sun. I do wonder why your hair has changed color. It used to be a dazzling blond but now it"s a deep red. How odd." Before questioning further, she placed a ribbon in Reina"s hair and rushed her out of her room, around twisting corridors, down a flight of stairs, and finally in front of huge wooden doors. Slowly the doors opened revealing her laughing parents and them cuddling in each other"s arms, teasing one another. The doors banged opened and they stiffened, looking embarra.s.sed they let go and sat down her father clearing his throat,
"Lydis, we need to talk."