REN
When Nina asked us about the magical spirits, my heart was torn. It was my fault that she still did not know about the magical world she was thrown into. She was so ignorant of our ways that I feel sorry for neglecting her.
I was mad at myself for not explaining everything to her from the very beginning. I could only blame myself. And now she is being taught by the other mages when it should have been me.
I sighed as I listened to Cellon's explanation. I am very sorry Nina. Tomorrow, I'll accompany her and explain everything to her.
"Thank you guys for showing. Ren, will you?" she said to me. I wanted to hug her right then and there. But I know it's not proper, therefore I sighed and shown her my ice spirit, a glowing, ice-blue sword. As to why this was a sword, I never knew. This was how it was so random.
"How do you know or call the spirit out?" she asked.
"Your spirit should be the one who helped you in your awakening." I replied, while raising my ice spirit in her eye level to let her see it clearly. "Close your eyes, and seek it out."
She closed her eyes. She is so damn cute when she does that concentration thing. I wanted to pinch her cheeks and suck the soul out of it.
Okay. Get. A. Grip. Ren.
When at last something shimmered in her right hand, it was a sword alright. But when it fully appeared, all shocked faces looked at me.
Clearly, it was my ice spirit. No it was her weapon spirit. No wait, wait, no magical spirit is the same with the other. That's why using magic in coordination with another mage is very hard because of the clash of spirits.
But, Nina's, we have the same magical spirit? It is impossible. Very impossible, except if we are -
"What's wrong?" Nina asked, disturbing my thoughts.
Sylvia looked at me, then back to Nina. "Commander, would you show us again your magical spirit?"
I swallowed and summoned my ice spirit.
Nina's eyes looked like two huge O's in shock. The others were bewildered too. I took a step to get close to her and raised my ice spirit. She followed suit.
When our magical spirits were in very close proximity, a blue light engulfed us both. Although the light was bright, I could clearly see Nina's confused face.
In a moment of utter bravado, I stepped closer to her until our toes touched. I caressed her cheek, savoring the satisfied feeling of having been done what I was dreaming to do before.
She answered to my touch by rubbing her cheek in my palm. This was a good feeling.
She looked at me, a small smile creeping in her lovely face.
"Ren," she whispered.
I smiled at her and answered in an oddly sweet fashion, "Yes?"
"I don't know what's happening but I don't want to stop this feeling. What is this?"
I chuckled before answering and kissing her cheek, "No idea."
A couple of minutes passed, we saw our magical spirits circle on top of us. And then, the world came back. Only now that I can finally see that Nina's hair changed color. What was a brown color before, now became white with streaks of brown.
She is blessed my mana, just like me.
"You're soulmates?" Apollo blurted out as soon as the light around us disappeared.
I just wanted to punch him in the face.
"Soulmates?" Nina asked, her eyes now a very light brown shade. "And what's up with my hair?"
"It changed," Cellon said. "Maybe because of the soulmate bond you have, you can now tap onto Ren's power and Ren can tap into your power."
"So now I can use ice magic?" Nina asked.
"No," I replied. "Tapping means I can incorporate your power into my spells only if you cast it. Remember Cellon's first lesson? Mages cannot mix their magic to create a powerful spell. That's why there is no collective healing. But as for us, we can do that."
"Meaning I can borrow your magic, wait just like what we did during the Minotaur attack?"
"More than that. I was supporting you back then. But as soulmates, you can create an ice attack using your weapon spirit. And I, well I don't know how I can use yours, maybe provide some armor. But only if we both cast it."
"So you cast some ice magic and it would be coming from my weapon spirit? But if you are not present, I can only use mine then?"
I nodded at her. "That's the gist of it. We need to practice ours then."
"Should we tell the Great One?" Ling asked.
"No," "No," Apollo and I said in unison.
"We can't yet. I felt something off during the Council meeting earlier. And as soulmates, we have the right to keep this information in private, unless the situation deems us to reveal it."
"Correct," Apollo seconded me. "I don't trust the guy from the very start. So better keep it for ourselves first. This would be our trump card. The less people who know about it, the better prepared we are."
Nina nodded in understanding. "I am still confused about all of this but I trust all of your judgments. So now we should continue our training. Let's go."