"I am Kira, Guardian of the secrets of the Royal Euphenic Blood."
I heard the same feminine voice I'd heard before, when I began visualising this vision in my subconsciousness. Turning around, my gaze fell on a woman. She had a splendid dress on, and there were lots of red flowers tucked into her hair. She smiled at me, revealing a pair of dimples on both cheeks. She seemed to be in her late forties or early fifties.
"Where am I?" I asked, looking about myself at the strange realm before my eyes. "What is this place and who are you?"
Smiling, Kira said, "This is the Channel of Ancient Reality which only a few gifted ones are privileged to see."
"Channel of Ancient Reality?" I was taken aback. "What does that mean?"
"The Channel of Ancient Reality is a realm which has the ability to link one to events of long ago. These knowledge can facilitate one's cultivation and aid one in surpassing their bottlenecks in their present stagnant abilities."
She looked at me for a moment then said, "I sense your incomprehension in these basic things I've just said. Are you from the Phantom Dynasty?"
Sighing with delight about her foresight, I shook my head.
"I'm from. . . from Earth."
"Earth? You came here through the gateway of the gifted, I see. Then, it appears you have lots to learn before you'd be ready to grasp the full knowledge and power you're about to carry on your shoulders. Show me your arerat symbol."
My eyes averted to my right hand. Earlier that morning, before arriving into the Beast Hall, I'd stopped to buy an handglove capable of concealing the arerat symbol, entirely. Hence, it was only little wonder why Kira didn't notice it. I slowly dragged the glove off my right hand then extended the hand to the latter.
Holding my hand, nonchalantly, she channeled her eyes from mine, to the symbols imprinted on my palm, downwards. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she didn't act as hysterically as others acted when they saw or learnt of something extremely unimaginable.
"Butterflies and paws?"
Chuckling slightly, she said, "As expected. It is no wonder you were able to activate the book of the Coalition of Animal and Spirit. It seems you have the unique Royal Spirit Bloodline that arises in a chosen cultivator, once in two millennia. . . to think I'd be able to witness first-hand an aura from your spirit bloodline!
"If you accept me as your teacher, I'll groom you into learning every thing you'd be needing to learn!"
I was dumbfounded. With the looks of things, this bloodline I possess is the reason why, despite not completely recognising it, the Acorn Master was perplexed as to why I'd be producing this same aura that this Kira spoke of. It all really made sense now.
"Yes, I accept you as my teacher."
After saying that, Kira nodded.
Just like a teacher had the right to choose a student, so does a student have the right to choose or accept a teacher, likewise.
"Good. From now hence, you shall refer to me as Teacher Kira."
Clenching my fists, I said with a lowered head, "Teacher Kira, Stephanie pays respect to you!"
Pleased, she nodded and tapped my shoulder, gracefully.
"It seems your prowess is still innate, at the moment. With quality grooming, you should be able to unleash it, bit by bit, and become the greatest Beast Tamer of your age.
"Now that fate has bond us with this teacher and student relationship, be sure that the world would have you to reckon with."
"Teacher Kira," I asked, a question suddenly arising in my head, "how do I get to meet you a second time, since you're not in a materialised form?"
Smiling, she began to explain.
"One of the reasons why the bloodline which you carry (the Royal Spirit Bloodline) is far more superior to my spirit and that which is willed in this book (Royal Euphenic Bloodline) is due to the capability of its possessor to use the Channel of Ancient Reality in just by a jerk of the possessor's thoughts."
I gasped.
"Does that mean... I'm inside the book of the Coalition of Animal and Spirit?"
She nodded with a warm smile.
All along I thought I was going through an illusion inside my subconscious mind... but to think it could be this!
"It is due to this specific, unique capability you are gifted with, that you were able to awaken my will lingering in this book. Only those possessing my bloodline or those whose bloodline are far superior to mine can accomplish such a feat!" Teacher Kira said.
"What do you mean about your 'will' lingering in this book?"
Smiling, she spread her arms, and the void, inexplicable space we stood silently on, began to take shape.
Firstly, I noticed, underneath our feet, some green, healthy grass blades began to spread about us. The sky began to take form, and raising my head, I could spot a few overhead birds, and several dozens of aerial spirit beasts.
A grand building stood before us which was so majestic that I could keel over by just its grandeur. Catching full grasps over what this was, I began to choke of words.
"T-this is... the...."
"Right," she nodded. "The Beast Hall."
Suddenly, I felt the ground vibrating.
Impulsively, I turned around towards the vastness behind me, and over the mountains. The edges of the mountain tops were lined with people. And from the look of it, they should be summing up to a hundred.
Before I could even fathom what was going on, someone in the midst of the crowd blew a large, gold-coloured horn, following which a loud, vibrative voice rattled in the air, sending a huge pressure on me.
"Oh, Beast Hall! Your days of glory has come to an end! Come out and die, or give us what we asked for, now! We give you five minutes to make your decisions!"
With the pressure from the voice, and the killing intent that burst out from the speaker's aura, I could tell that he was really in for war.
Just when I thought everyone in the Beast Hall before our eyes would run out, I heard a piercing, feminine voice that boomed to the heavens. It sounded extremely familiar.
"Audacious! Who dares to threaten the Beast Hall of the Acorn Valley?!"
My eyes widened in disbelief. One thing was clear; the Beast Hall was surrounded. Still, the person who spoke from within still had the courage to utter anything so confidently.
My gaze was fixed to the gate, to see the first reaction of the lady who'd just spoken, when she would realise that the Beast Hall was surrounded.
'Boom!'
Unlike I'd expected, the person did not come through the gate, but made a rocket-like dash into the air, landing a leg before another, as weightlessly as a leaf.
She was full of vitality, agility, strength, you name it! And, oh, her hair... then her face was—
I froze as realisation struck me. I turned my eyes to Teacher Kira, then back to the lady who'd just landed.
"She's—"
"That's me!" came the unmoved voice of Teacher Kira.
"Then how—"
"Just watch, I'll explain later."
I nodded with a pale face and turned my attention back to the identical Kira standing before the gate of Beast Hall.
To avoid confusing myself, I tagged this lady as Kira, while my teacher standing beside me, as Teacher Kira.
"Do you wish to challenge all one hundred of us?" the voice of the man who spoke before, came resounding in my ears. This time he stepped down to the base of the mountain, accompanied by the large crowd.
"Jeez." What was this all about? I looked at Teacher Kira, then asked, "We can't stand here, we should hide."
The latter shook her head and said, "You're only here to see what happened here, a century ago. You never existed here, so you're nothing more than the passing wind right now."
'What?'
I looked at her in confusion, not making sense of what she'd just said. Was this some kind of 3D cinema video? — because I'm not sure I want to be in this movie.
Despite the pressing confusion, I knew I could only wait and watch.
"I do not wish to bully my juniors, so turn around and leave now!" came Kira's voice before the men.
'Pu-hoo-hoo-hoo!'
The men burst into laughter, despite the serious faces they had been carrying.
"Derizante, turn away and leave, or else—"
"Or else what, Hall Mistress Kira?!"
My eyes lit up. So my teacher was a Hall Mistress?
Despite the short silence, there were heavy pressures from both parties. Their auras felt as though they could shed the heavens into two. It looked as though the auras had the ability to snap one's life out with just a jerk of consciousness.
The man Kira referred to as Derizante, as if realising something, raised his eyes and observed the sky as if expecting to see something. I think he must have been expecting to see savage beasts in the air, ready to ambush them.
Meanwhile, Kira was unknowingly carrying out a secret art, with her hands.
Driving her spirit essence to it's peak, she screamed, "Animal and Spirit Brotherly Illusion!"
Immediately, something like smoke swept across all one hundred men like a mini time bomb. It was like a rock dropped into an extremely, tranquil water.
When I was still confused about what I'd just seen, the next thing I heard was a war cry from every single one of them.
"Ahhhh!"
Soon, everyone unsheathed their swords and — instead of charging against Kira — they began to charge against themselves.
"This. . ." I was flabbergasted. Just what was this? Here I was thinking doom had fallen on Kira, and suddenly everyone seemed to turn against themselves.
My eyes turned to Kira and she looked unmoved as though she actually expected such a sight. Blood filled the ground.
Then, I turned my eyes to Teacher Kira, only to see her carrying a sad face as she looked towards the mountains where the men had descended from.
I traced her gaze and watched intently.
"Enough!" a mighty voice that sounded like the rushing of a thousand waterfalls, boomed in the air.
A mighty squirrel the size of an electric pole ascended from behind the mountains. Its arms were muscularly, and two large teeth hung in front of its mouth, shining against the sunlight like mighty sword blades capable of dividing several trees in just single slashes
Behind it were about four others, two on each side.
"T-the S-soul Dr-drench-ching Squirrels?!"
The knees of Kira suddenly became feeble, as though they'd pull apart from any moment.