Chapter 2 - A little girl named Alys

When the first light of the day penetrated my room's window, I was already awake. I could barely control myself, my body flooding with excitement.

This is it. This is finally the day !

As fast as the wind, I jumped off from my bed and went straight toward the door, that I then open with a huge BUFF. I make my way towards my parents room and try thinking of cute names for what is coming later today. My excitement translated in the way I happily bounce through the corridor. My white dress-like pajamas twiddling along with my happy dance.

When I finally get to my parents room, without any hesitation or consideration for the comfortable sleep they might be immersed in, I burst the door open, waking them, scaring both of my progenitors that jump from the bed prepared to fight for their lives. That is until their eyes lay upon my silhouette. A huge smile stamped on my face puts an ease to their worries.

" Its finally the day dad, mom. Its the day I'm getting my Kindred "

My parents faces loosen up a bit, and I can hear a little relieved sigh coming from dad. I bet I scared him huh. My mom then puts a hand over my dads shoulder, supposedly calming him down.

" Alysia, you know you can't just burst into other peoples room like that. You scared us. We thought we were being attacked... or worse. "

My mother's words sounded repressing, but her tone was quite calm , which only gave it a more scary characteristic. She stood there, her eyes piercing through my very soul until I finally muted a " I'm sorry mom ". She then smiles condescendingly and walks towards me, putting a hand over my head and saying " Its all right now, we are happy that you are so excited about your kindred today, but try to be more careful from now on !"

She then walks back towards dad and asks " Darling, I will take care of Alysia's arrangements to the ceremony, could you please oversee the preparations ? "

" Sure thing, honey " Said dad, while getting to the room on the side, to dress for the important day that this one is about to be.

" You just woke up, didn't you ? You are still wearing your pajamas " She let's out a muffled giggle before directing me back towards my room

"Let's get you ready for your big day hun "

"Okay mom " Following my mother back towards my room, I couldn't fix my excited smiling face. I was finally here. The most important day to an elf in my clan, the day we get to summon a spirit to become our kindred, something between a companion and family.

Every elf in my village has to undergo the ceremony. My mom and dad included. My hole life I was told how important this event was and now that I'm here, I can't stop thinking what my kindred will look like, how should I call it ... things like that.

" What do you think of this one, darling ? " My mom was helping me getting dressed for my big day while I'm here phasing out on my own.

"Don't I have something greener ? " I comment, trying to hide my previous lack of attention.

" something greener, you say ... " She then looks again into my wardrobe, pulling drawer after drawer.That is until she finally found something that made her eyes twinkle. When I saw it, I couldn't help but mutter a " It's perfect ". My mom nods, understanding my muffed sound.

"What color would you like your shoes, darling ?" She says putting my green dress over the bed.

When she asks that, I look at her like I don't know this woman. " Mom, you know that too ". She then giggles and redirects her eyes towards the distance. " Yes honey. Green ".

If you haven't yet noticed, green is my favorite color, but its not only because of that that I want to use it for the ceremony. Green is also considered the color of nature, and it is considered the best to use in this kind of event. Of course there are some elfs that want to innovate... I'm not one of them thought.

After my mom finishes picking my outfit, she directs me towards the bathroom. There, I have a good look at the mirror. My small girly face reflected. Blue eyes and blond long hair, a small pointy nose and freckles just for a touch. My mom says I will become a beautiful woman when I grow up, but I don't trust her that much... parents tend to look at their children through some beauty lenses, if you know what I mean.

After my mom finishes warming the water, I take a morning bath. I don't want to go to such an important ceremony smelly after all.

After dressing up in my room, I sit in front of the mirror in order for my mother to braid my hair properly. When that is done, we set our foot towards the garden. You see, the Kindred summoning ritual is a ceremony that must the conducted in a wide area with the most connection to nature and the world, only then would a strong Kindred appear.

Our clan's families, thanks to the world connection requirement, usually keep a huge garden in our properties, mostly to be used for the Kindred summoning. I remember that I used to play there a lot when I was younger, but now, no more playing.

My eyes full of determination when I exit the huge house we reside in. That is until my vision step on the preparations arranged by father. Flowery plants kept in vases all around the garden that also has a lot of them scattered throughout it's composition. A stone path leading directly into a circle made of trees. My family's trees.

Kindred spirits are a old art of summoning that only the Nahan clan, our clan, is capable of doing. We evoke ancient spirits and or heroes from the past to keep our company and fight with us when needed. Most of the time, the spirits have animal like features thanks to the connection to nature that they have to go through.

My father is waiting for us by the side of his tree. On his shoulder is Axys, his kindred spirit. Axys is a huge birdlike creature that has beak and feathers along with a lion tail and cat eyes. Axys can't talk thought, I would love to understand what those all seeing eyes would have to tell me. He plays the majestic role.

When I step on the stone path, I can finally see mothers Kindred. He is huge, not like fathers at all. A bulking man with a bull face, horns and everything. No tail thought... or maybe he is hiding.

"Hay Noxis " I compliment him with a slight bow.

"Lady Alysia, today is the big day huh ? are you exited ? " He crooks his head to the side and I can't help but smile at that. He looks just like a puppy.

"Indeed it is... Thought I have to admit that I'm more anxious that excited at the end.

" Is it because of Arthus ? " He asks, and I can see a bit of worry in his eyes.

Arthus is my older brother. His ceremony was three years ago and he managed to summon a legendary phoenix, a great feature for our family indeed. I'm happy for him, but I can't help but feel pressured. Every time I see the look of expectation in my parents eyes, I can't help but feel a chill in my spine.

" Don't worry about it Noxis. I'm gonna do my best none the less " I say giving him a confident smile.

My dad comes talk to me. His smile is hard do hard not notice.

" The preparations are done! the runes are already too. Did you bring your seed?"

I nod and bring out of my dress's pocket a small seed. All kindred spirits are, well, spirits. In order for those spirits to have a connection to stay in this world, our clan uses trees as catalysts to accomplish that.

With the seed in hands, I move towards the spot that my parents prepared for me in the family garden. A myriad of trees of various sizes circle the spot where mine is about to be.

𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴, 𝘈𝘭𝘺𝘴, 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴.

I look around, mother is close to father, a huge smile across both of their faces. Noxis is also there, and he nods to me. I not back and proceed with the ceremony.

I bring the seed in my hands close to my hearth and start singing, evoking my magic power at the same time. According to mom, this is used to call the spirits attention and showing them how powerful we are, that we are worth allying with and protecting.

My voice sings the same song my mom sang for me each and every night since I can remember. The birds sound all around seems muffled to me while in this process.

When the song is finished, I put the seed in the hole opened just for this occasion and with my own two hands, I closed it.

First step, okay.

Next, I put my dirty hands over the circle formation full of runes that was erected around the mount of dirt that used to be the hole, and put my mana in it. The next step, I need to use my magic to grow the tree to be used as a receptacle. It is usually considered the hardest step, considering it is the one that uses the most amount of mana.

I can feel my body tiring while my mana leaves it. My breath becomes heavy and a headache sprout in my head. When I start to feel cold all over me, the ratio of mana usage slows down and life seems to come back to my face. I recover my breath and start to feel relieved. It is then that I see it.

A small bud sprouts where the seed once was, but that is not all. the little plant is visibly still growing at at fast pace. I go back a couple of steps to give it enough space to grow. In a couple of minutes, the tree is as high as me and still no sigh of it's growth slowing down.

Only when it was as high as my father did it start to slow down. The whole process took about 10 minutes from start to finish and at the end, a new small tree was added to our garden. It's size bothered me a little, It was way smaller then the other trees there... since usually the tree size reflect the magical power of the kindred, I started thinking that maybe I did something wrong.

I didn't have much time to worry about that though, since a while after, a small flower appeared at the base of the tree, which opened and revealed my spirit kindred inside, to my eyes delight. It was so small that it could even fit in my pocket. white fur all over it's tiny body, a long thin tail and two huge ears were the most obvious features. I took it in my hand, paying attention to not hurt it.

" So cute "

Those were the only words that I could mutter at the moment.

I could feel from this up close that it was not magically strong. It also has a small fragile body that probably won't be useful to fight. I should be angry, sad or disappointed. But for some reason, I wasn't. I was happy.

Without giving it a second look, I ran around to show it to the others. I was obviously smiling from ear to ear. Noxis seemed a little surprised at this but he also seemed a little bit relieved. My parents were surprised at first. They could feel it too, that this spirit wasn't at all strong. But seeing me so happy and excited calmed their expectant hearths.

I could feel the small creature moving in my hands and pulled it closer. I could see it's small eyes and I couldn't help but smile even brighter.

" Yure... I'm gonna call you Yure "

After giving Yure it's name, I say that it was a bit curious about it's body and started checking it out. It didn't took long thought, since I felt a weird feeling deep in me... It reminded me of fear or surprise and seconds after, Yure stopped moving.

" DAD, WHAT'S HAPPENING ? "

My dad runs to me and takes Yure in his hands, after examining it a little, a sigh of relieve leaves his lips

"He is just sleeping "

I calmed down a little, but just accepted it. He does seem fragile and it must have taken a toll on him, the ceremony, I mean.

" Leave him to rest in your room, It shouldn't take long for him to wake up after all. " My mom says after hearing my dads words.

I nod to her and receive Yure back from father. Being careful not to drop it, I walk slowly back to my room. The day is only starting after all.