On a snowy training field were two figures that were facing each other. Both were in some form of fighting position and the smaller figure seemed to have mechanical parts on them.
Graaa! – A large man yelled as he swung his hand at the more petite figure in front of him.
The figure ducked under the punch before she twirled, pipes on her legs shot out blue energy as she kicked the man multiple times while kicking up a mass of snow.
He slightly stumbled from the kicks before he swung his hand and slapped her away. She spun in the air before sliding back, digging her feet into the snow; her blue hair blew from the cool breeze.
She raised her head and stared at the man before her. His scarred, slightly scaled and muscular body was laid bare for her clear blue eyes. His face was heavily scarred, making his looks border between ugly and handsome.
The man was also missing the skin and some muscle covering the right side of his jaw. It created quite the strange sight when he talked, but after being with the man for quite a while now she had grown used to it.
"How many times is this that I have to tell you!
The man, with a robust voice, shouted out at her actions. His sharp gaze looked down at her, more specifically the pipes on her legs and arm.
"I think this is maybe... the twentieth time?"
Taking a moment to think she gave him a snarky reply with a sarcastic look on her face.
"Listen! You are weak. Focus on your speed instead of strength. Instead of focusing on getting a few powerful kicks in on me, you should've put your speed into landing multiple hits on me. Wearing me down."
"If you were to do what you did earlier in an actual battle you would have worn yourself down and be killed!"
The man's words caused the girl to go silent. She was thinking that he was right, no, she knew that he was right. She was weak.
"Lulia Bavel."
Raising her head to the man calling out her name, Lulu looked into those fierce eyes of his. He was now standing directly in front of her and even though she had grown quite a bit in the cycles she's been up here; she was still short compared to him.
"Yes..."
Crouching down he made eye contact with her. Placing his large hand atop her head he sighed.
"Who are you trying to be like?"
The man's sudden question brought her out of her stupor. What was he suddenly talking about?
"What do you–"
She tried questioning him but was only met with interruption.
"Is it your mother?"
He asked if she was trying to copy her wonderful mother.
"What are–"
She was interrupted once more.
"Your grandmother?"
He asked about her grandmother. One of the most powerful people both she and him knew.
"Why are you–"
She tried to question once more before being interrupted once more.
"Your grandfather?"
He asked about her grandfather. Someone she knew was strong but had never seen in action.
"Wait–"
Now she tried to just get him to stop talking. She didn't want to hear his questions anymore.
"My clansmen?"
His clansmen, the Nazare Clan. They were all masses of muscle and strength. When she first met them she could feel the power from the mere aura they gave off.
"No– "
She tried to vehemently deny him.
"Or is it perhaps that friend of yours?"
"..."
He paused at this last question. A slight grin formed on his face at the girl's silence, which gave an affirmation to his question.
"I understand your thoughts, Lulia. You are both the same age but the difference between you two is beyond comprehension."
Lulu averted her eyes from looking at him, he sighed as he roughly rubbed her hair – making a mess of it.
"But that does not mean you should try and be like her. You are both different, you both excel at different things. Trying to act like her will only bring ruin to yourself, it's reckless. I– "
"Lulu! Norten!"
A boisterous voice interrupted the man as a redhead girl with a particularly large forehead was running over to the two while waving her hand.
Grunting, the man dropped his fist down on Lulu's head. Causing her to flinch and hold her head while glaring up at Norten.
"We'll finish this conversation later, Lulia."
With that, he walked off after giving Karma a slight nod. He didn't like being around noisy children in the first place.
"Luluuu!"
Slamming into Lulu, Karma embraced her in a big hug, nearly tackling her to the ground.
"Woah, Woah. Wait. I almost fell... What's going on?"
Balancing herself, she managed to stop Karma from taking them both to the ground. She hugged Karma back, even though she was still annoyed by the words from Norten earlier – she kept a smile on her face.
"I just missed you. We were gone for a couple of days. I came to see you immediately."
Pulling apart, they held each other's arms as they conversed. Even though Lulu grew taller, Karma grew even more so. She was already around a head taller than her, now she was two heads taller.
"Really. You said you just returned... where is he?"
"I'm right here. Did you miss me?"
Answering her question, a boy of similar age to them and similar looks to Norten came up to them from behind Karma. He had a large sword along with a strange rifle going down his back as he took place next to the girls.
"Not really. I only missed Karma. You can go now, shoo."
Sticking her tongue out at the boy Lulu hugged Karma around the neck. Like she was trying to stop her from being taken away.
"How harsh!"
Gasping in an exaggerated tone he held his chest. Feigning heartbreak.
"Haha!"
Karma laughed at the two's banter. This was practically a daily occurrence between the two.
This boy was Nino. He was a child of the Nazare Clan and he was around two cycles older than them. They had become friendly with him a while after coming up north.
"How was your time out in the fields, Karma?"
Karma and Nino had gone to the snowfields to hunt Trirons. A large six-legged beast that took to living in the snow plains. A creature that was a great thing to hunt for practice.
Even though Lulu didn't go on any Triron hunts as she didn't want to risk her life there. Karma and Nino went out together now and then to do so.
After separating from Lulu, Karma leaned her arm on Nino's shoulder. They began to talk about their hunt; over the cycles since visiting the Mirror, Karma has grown stronger and stronger.
She had burned down a part of the snowfields, they said that it was now a barren field due to her flames. Lulu wished she could see it, but she didn't want to at the same time – she didn't like the risk that came with it.
The only thing in her eyes as she watched them talk was how close they were. It was quite a familiar sight for some time now. The two had become quite close to one another as they spent more time together.
It felt strange being with the two. Was she being a third wheel? She didn't know but her chest was hurting.
"I-I'll be going on a walk."
Turning on her heels Lulu walked in the opposite direction the two had come from. She planned to clear her head, and calm herself down. She was still thinking about Norten's words after all.
"I'll join you."
Karma stepped away from Nino. Attempting to walk in step with Lulu she was stopped by her words.
"No, no. I want to be alone right now."
Denying her want, Lulu continued walking with her thoughts running a mile a minute.
"Oh, ok."
Slightly dejected, she watched as Lulu's back disappeared in the distance. Turning around, Karma ignored Nino's presence and went to enter a rather large building; leaving Nino there alone to scratch the back of his head in confusion.
***
Pulling my coat up my body, I braced the chilling wind. I hadn't felt it earlier due to my body being hot from moving around, but it was truly cold here up north. Something I've come to learn over the cycles I've spent here.
"It's truly been six cycles..."
As I thought about my time spent here I couldn't stop my mind from running. The cycles hadn't been particularly kind to me, forget becoming strong. I was still short and I most likely wouldn't grow anymore; after all, the doctor had told me and my family that my growth would be stunted.
I looked at my surroundings. While I was lost in thought I wandered into a small clearing next to the small town we were currently living in.
Sitting on a nearby tree stump my mind went to the talk I just had with Norten. That big and burly man who had become my instructor while grandma was gone was certainly correct...
I wanted to be like her. Well, at least when it came to abilities. She was powerful, so much so that she dwarfed everything I could do. Even though he told me to focus n my speed, what would that even matter when she trumped me in both strength and speed.
It's not like I want to be able to fight... I just want to have something to brag about with her... I wanted to be able to compete, spar, and spend much more time with her. Something I couldn't do with how she spent her time.
She'd break my neck if I sparred with her. She would always win if we were to compete – and she most certainly would have to take care of me if we went hunting together. Something I would never be okay with.
"Why don't you ask for her to accompany you on those daily strolls of yours, Veltae?"
"Yes. She would certainly comply, Veltae."
Two eerie voices entered my ears, causing them to twitch along with the corners of my lips.
"Oh shut up. You guys don't have a say in this matter."
Shutting down their thoughts I grabbed a stone off the ground, I had no gloves so I shivered from the biting cold as I threw it at a tree in the distance.
It would probably freak others out if they found me in this open field talking to myself. Especially arguing, they'd certainly assume me to be mentally ill. It was a sudden thought that caused me to chuckle to myself.
These two were some of the voices that have been intruding in my head ever since the Mirror visit. They've always been whispering and bugging me, but in recent cycles, they've been much more talkative. Not to mention that they only refer to me by my baptism name.
"Forest."
"Forest."
"Forest."
"Enter the forest, Veltae."
Ignoring my words they completely changed the subject and all of them particularly began chanting "forest" until a much more elderly and ghastly voice told her what they wanted.
"Ugh."
I groaned as I grabbed my head. They would always give me headaches. This wasn't the first time that they've told me to enter the forest. I still didn't know what these voices were, and it was like they had some strange obsession with the forest.
"Fine."
I had always ignored them, but not today. I was curious, hopefully, it wasn't dangerous. Though that was a silly thought, after all, it was the Spectral Forest that they wanted me to enter.
Rising to my feet I stepped to the tree that I threw a rock at earlier. It was the marker for the entrance into the forest and it just gave off vile energy.
Rubbing at the hexagonal plates on my legs I thought about everything. I had the plates on my legs and back updated recently, probably half a cycle ago. There were extended pipes on my legs and back that would use Flauna to increase my strength.
I also had to get plates made for my right arm as it started to need more support over the cycles.
My neck collar needed an upgrade as well. The previous one was just inefficient, it took too long to replace the liquid so that I could talk again. Which wasn't optimal, for me or anyone else for that matter.
Now the collar was a bit larger and was connected to her neck, all they needed to do was pop the two vials out of the device and replace them with two more vials with the undiluted liquid.
All of these upgrades made everything much easier for me. The Flauna pumpers would hopefully assist me if anything happened, but if anything, I had to be careful. After all, I wasn't exactly a fan of being hurt.
"This just spells danger. Why do you guys even want me to enter the forest?"
Looking at the forest and it's vile, yet familiar energy, I questioned the voices. They were silent. How vexing, they spoke when I didn't want them to, and now they're silent when I want them to speak.
"Should I tell Karma, before entering?..."
Questioning myself, I looked back at where I came from. Perhaps it would be better to have some backup? After all, she was much stronger than me. It would be stupid for a weak child like me to enter alone.
Yep. That was it, I'm asking Karma to accompany me.
"No."
"No."
"No."
"No. Alone."
Gah! – The ghastly voices once more spoke up, causing me to yelp out in surprise. They were always so sudden.
"I hate– wait. What do you mean alone? You expect me to go venture into this creepy and scary forest all by myself?!"
Their demands and denial of my plan were shocking. They– this was the first time that they had ever really wanted me to do something. They've always spoken, even though it was usually gibberish, but this was the first time that they made their will apparent.
"... Yes."
Replying to me after a moment of silence, their simple response nearly caused me to stumble over myself.
"You must think I'm stupid– no. I'm going to go get Karma."
I didn't even want to argue with these, whatever they were. It'd be a waste of time, so I went to turn around at once.
"NO."
The elder ghastly voice spoke in a demanding tone that sent chills down my body as I stood in place. I was frozen mid-turn, I couldn't move a single muscle as their voices whispered into my ears once more.
"Veltae. Enter alone. You must. Force you. We will force you."
"You must."
"You must."
"You must."
These... these voices how were they doing this– no wait that's not important. They were going to force me to enter the forest.
"I don't want to, you–"
Gah. – I was cut off as I was forcefully pulled back suddenly as I was sucked into the forest. I was pulled past many of the dark trees and slammed into a large boulder that protruded from the ground.
Ugh – I groaned in pain and used the boulder to prop myself up. Everything happened so quickly that I had no chance to react to it.
"I- ugh. I should've just let Karma come with me."