The next day Kaina, Shisu and I left the village to start our adventure to pursue our dreams. We had to go through a forest called Blood Woods to get to the outside world. We entered the woods and traversed about. Crickets were chirping and owls hooting. The breeze blew against our skin gently. It began growing to night time and the area dimmed. We stopped and the fire spirit exited my body and floated around my as a red energy ball. I looked at it and it manifested into a tiny fairy. She sat on my shoulder.
"Hm..?" I said. Kaina and Shisu looked at my shoulder and noticed the fairy also. "You're the fire spirit?"
"Mhm! My name is Aurora." Aurora smiled and looked at me. "I was your father's partner in his adventures for as long as I remember. This is the first time we've actually met or talked per se."
"What can you do besides change my class and what magic I can use?" I asked.
"Well for starters I can make you stronger. We can increase your overall strength, stamina, resistance and other attributes of yourself. Our many uses are our abilities that come with us. My ability can speed up the recovery of the Spirits." Aurora looked at us.
"Speed the recovery..?" Shisu crossed his arms and looked at Aurora.
"So there's ways we operate. We can be Set, Standby, or in Recovery Mode. When we are set, you will see a special symbol on your right arm. You can only have up to eight symbols as we like to be distributed equally so everyone can benefit from our abilities and help." Aurora nodded.
I heard rustling in the bushes and Aurora got off my shoulders and we saw a slime approach us. We got prepared to battle and I drew my sword from my scabbard. Kaina slid her short showed from her scabbard and Shisu slid his long sword from his scabbard that was around his back.
"I guess you will experience the power first hand." Aurora said and fused with my body again then a symbol appeared on the back of my hand.
We engaged combat and the slime grew in size then let out a howl. I dashed towards the slime and slashed down, hitting the slime. It barely did anything to the slime monster. I jumped back then the slime went for a punch and its arm stretched then hit me in the chest and I slid back, grunting.
"It has a definite reach." I said.
Kaina nodded then ran towards the slime monster and swiftly slashed and went through the slime monster. She looked back and was punched in the face by the slime monster and crashed into a tree.
"Flare!" Shisu bellowed and attacked the slime monster with powerful flames.
The slime monster split in two and ran towards Shisu. I summoned Aurora and put her on standby. I blocked an attack for him and Kaina used Whirlwind to blow the slimes away from Shisu and I.
"Mars! I summon you!" I raised my hand and a red ball of energy came from my hand then transformed into a flaming fairy and blasted the slimes and defeated them.
Aurora turned back to normal then turned into red sparkles, entering Restoration. Once a spirit is used to summon, they enter Restoration or Recovery Mode to regain lost power. It usually takes half a minute to a full minute for them to recover. We sighed a bit and sat on the ground. The slime monster took a bit of energy out of all of us.
"If monsters like that slime are this tough, imagine what's it's like outside the forest.." Kaina said.
"A whole lot tougher than that slime was...we gotta be prepared for things like this... especially if we want to complete our dreams and be a Master." Shisu said.
Aurora appeared and sat on my shoulder and smiled. Her wings flapped happily then she looked at us. I poked her cheek and she blushed a bit.
"H-Hey! Your hand is big, you could crush me!" Aurora pushed my finger away.
"How many of you are there?" I asked.
"72 of us." Aurora answered.
"72..?!" Kaina sat up. "There are a whole species of you?!"
"Mhm, 18 for one of the four elements. Most of us hide in the shadows and some of us will only join you if we deem you worthy of our power." Aurora said.
"You deemed Kuyori worthy?" Kaina asked.
"It was his father who wanted me to join him. By his request I deemed Kuyori worthy of my power. I am to not leave his side so his class is locked in the Knight Class and can't proceed passed the Lord Sub Class." Aurora said.
"Meaning he can't reach the Slayer Sub Class.." Shisu said.
"That's if he adds 7 more Earth Spirits to his arsenal, he would make a great ninja." Aurora smiled.
"So you're locked with me, I was able to trade you to Kaina so why can't I do it anymore?" I asked.
"At the time, I didn't know if I wanted to fully put my trust in you. You do carry darkness in your heart. Us Elemental Spirits aka Anima are creatures of Divinity. We are vulnerable to evil intentions.." Aurora said.
"Why did you decide to trust me now?" I rose an eyebrow.
"Because you have that same spark your father had. I want to see it with you through the end. I want to avenge his death as well." Aurora nodded. "That means I will not leave your side no matter what."
"I understand. We will see it through the end together." I nodded.
"So what's the next stop after this place?" Kaina asked.
"Koede Village. We should be able to stock up some supplies there." Shisu said.
"Koede it is then." I said.
We all stood back up and continued our way through the darkness of the forest. We soon exited the forest and walked up to a small Outpost and rested there. We prepared supper and decided to get some rest while we could.