There are many kinds of spirits, all divided by their functions and abilities. The commonly known ones in Svarga were the Messengers, wild spirits, guardian spirits and evil/ calamity spirits. But there were more categories in the higher Lokahs like the vimanas/ transportation spirits, the good spirits who lived amongst humans in their own homes and some others.
And while the appearances of the classes of spirits other than messengers were distinguishable, good, evil, and guardian spirits could take on the form of any of the other classifications. Hence why it was very hard to tell which was which in dire situations. It could take a second for a deceptive evil spirit to tear down its prey before they even realised it was an evil spirit.
Nevertheless, there was one common trait all spirits must possess: Spirit Crystals.
———
The vast room was lit in dim golden light, originating from the high ceiling. There were stairs spiralling on the walls from the floor, up, filled with collections upon collections of books. The room was a huge library, a couple stories high. But on closer inspection, those books were just boxes of different sizes arranged in order. As for the content of these boxes, they were weapons and charms.
Izel's shiny brown skin thrived under the golden light, her strong sleeveless arms bearing old scars, perhaps from the violent spirit's claw scratches.
Her silver chest plate was the only armour on her body, fitted around her upper torsoe and tied to her back with grey leather. Yet, her defense was tightly locked, aided by the precise swings of her jet-black katana. Her strikes and blocks sent the spirit back, forcing it to constantly reposition itself.
She was with an unfaltering aura, as intimidating as the golden coiling-dragon on the sharp edge of her sword.
The spirit swung its tail at her bare stomach, albeit to be struck away by an upward slash from her blade. And quickly tearing out one of the paper talismans gathered like a jotter and strapped to the waist of her white baggy pants; she plastered it to the side of her sword and ordered,
"L(uh)ight it, Axe!"
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[A/N: the letters in the brackets are for showing off Izel's accent. I'll stop using them regularly for better readability, but I'll add them sometimes for emphasis.]
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The small white scaled, blue bellied salamander on her shoulder seemed to gather spiritual essence in its glowing horn, then spat out fire on Izel's sword.
Watching the blade burn into gold with her crazy hazel eyes, Izel let out a high pitched laughter and held the sword to the side with both hands.
The spirit charged at her at a burst of speed that left Ikky looking shocked. But just as the two beasts were about to clash, Rick called out to the woman.
"Izel!"
Her ears perked up at that voice.
"Rick?"
CHOMP!
The spirit swallowed her whole, letting out a burp of smoke. The magnificent creature soon calmed down afterwards.
The spirit looked like a lion with the physique of a bull. It was just like a nian from ancient folklore. But this beast was no ordinary spirit.
"Ah, Rick. How long have you been there?" It spoke, its voice booming with power, albeit it sounding a little nervous.
Rick stared at the spirit with unimpressed eyes.
"You saw that, didn't you?" It asked, but got the same stare as an answer .
"Ughh! Fine." The nian opened its maw and regurgitated Izel.
"No(urh) feah! Lion!!" The first thing the woman did as she fell on the ground in a ball of spit, was to complain.
"You cheated!" She laughed.
"I did no such thing. You lost your focus, so you lost the fight. Simple." The Nian licked its paw, or rather rub off Izel's taste from its tongue.
Izel scratched her spiky black hair before recalling why exactly she had lost their little sparring match.
"Rick!" Crawling on the slippery flat ground, Izel quickly rushed over to him. But as soon as she got close enough for a hug, her body suddenly froze in the air.
"Hold it, Spiky. I'm not getting any of that slime crap on my body." Rick held his hand up in front of her face. He continued,
"Besides, why would I be in the mood for hugging?"
Izel's bright grin soon receded, as Rick gave her back control of her body.
'Uh oh.'
"Your aunt told me you went to participate in your second ordeal. So you got out, and didn't even think to check on her first, huh?"
"Ah... well, I um, leveled up see?" She lifted her arms into the air to flex her muscles. "So I was just going to check how much stronger I've gotten. But I was totally going to meet her after."
Laughing nervously, the need to change the topic brought her attention to the person Rick had come along with.
That was Izel's awareness at play, because Ikky was already on the third step of the library of weapons behind them, poking his head into the boxes.
"Holy—" A torrent of flames suddenly burst out of the box Ikky had open up, the force knocking Ikky from the height of three storeys.
"I got it." Izel fist bumped Rick's shoulder as she got set to rush towards Ikky. However, Rick interrupted, suddenly pulling out a sword from a talisman he had squeezed in his pocket.
"I got a job for you." He tapped Ikky's white sword on her shoulder.
"Wait—" Izel had taken a step forward, when Ikky's body flipped so his leg would face the ground.
And without bending his knees to reduce the force his legs would take from the fall, he landed on the ground with a bang. What he had just done was try to copy how Rick had landed the first time they met. However,
"Ugh..." Right after landing, he later fell flat on the ground.
"That was a stupid idea."
Izel turned to look at Rick with an expression that questioned, 'Is this guy for real?'
"Are you taking the steel, or should I give it to the spirit?" Rick pushed.
"Oh okay. I'll take the job." Izel answered, taking the white sword off his hands and rushing over to help the groaning man.
"Try not to mess this one up like the last charm I left in your hands." The Nian advised. "But if that boy is just riffraff that happened to stumble upon soul steel, then have fun."
"Ouch." Ikky reacted because that was exactly how he happened to get a hold of the white blade.
Izel chuckled, "Well he does look like riffraff, so thanks for the opportunity, Lion."
Not taking the hand Izel was stretching out to him, Ikky leapt back on his feet and dusted his clothes himself.
"I went through hell before I got that blade." He warned.
However, un-intimidated by Ikky's fearsome stare, Izel took a closer look at the longsword and scoffed,
"We've all been there, noob. It's what prophets do. Now come on, let's get to work. I think the guys want to do some bro-talking." She led the way into another tunnel.
Ikky followed. "It's not Bro-talking."
"Oh yeah? Then what else do you call a conversation between a couple of men talking about their day? That's right, just bro talking."
"It's a 'Man-versation'! Obviously none of those books up there teach slangs."
"Why would they? They're all weapons, you doy!"
"What?"
Their voices echoed through the tunnel as the two walked off in the darkness.
Taking his eyes away from the direction Izel had gone, Lion turned to Rick.
"Really, Starlight? You tied red on the child? How low is your opinion of me?"
"As low as all the others of your kind— low as hell." Rick replied with a stern face, one that looked even colder than usual.
"I'll give you credit for your charm-smith skills, but if I EVER catch Izel in your mouth again, I will turn your body into a conscious blood fountain, and make you detest having that beating heart in your chest!"
"..." The nian sighed, standing up on all fours.
"I detested it... once upon a time. But I've changed now, and you know it. So stop being so paranoid already." Besides, the little brat is like a cub to him.
"Well you don't leave much to be comfortable with, with your eating habits."
Both Rick and Lion also went somewhere more suitable to discuss.
"Ha! Well, the fact that you're here yourself means you have something for me. You loathe me, so I could only imagine the hate you have for this, thing." Lion guessed. "So what did it ever do to you, oh Starlight?"
Rick shrugged,
"It did nothing... to me."