The tension in the room was rather thick as Ayame approached the door, her bare feet brushing against the cool hardwood floor. Her steps were as careful and deliberate as possible, as she was still not adapted to her new spike in strength.
Elektra and Akeno flanked her, both of them were on high alert. The two of them had already tried to use their magic to probe who was knocking at the door, but they couldn't sense anyone, which only made them more worried.
The air around Elektra crackled faintly as lightning began to spark at the tip of her fingers and ran across her hair, whilst Akeno bared her claws towards the door, FoxFlames flickering across her body as they both were ready to attack if anything unexpected happened.
~KNOCK~KNOCK!
Another wave of knocks echoed across the room, sharp and precise. The knocks weren't impatient in any way, but for some reason, every one of them sent a shiver done Ayame's spine.
She didn't know why, but she grew more nervous, and her anticipation for opening the door was rising continuously, as if her body was sending signals to hurry up and open the door quickly.
With a deep breath, she placed her hand on the handle, her grip cautious. As the door swung open, the figure standing before them was a sight to behold.
In front of the door was a man, very handsome yet imposing. The first thing that popped out to Ayame was how tall he was, easily around 6'10, and he had an imposing frame accentuated by broad shoulders and a straight, confident posture.
The man's presence was commanding yet eerily calm, like a storm that had not yet broken. His hair was jet-black, streaked faintly with iridescent hues that shimmered when the light hit them just right, a subtle echo of something otherworldly.
His eyes, however, were the most striking feature, glowing faintly with a golden hue that mirrored the Aether Ayame had only just begun to perceive.
His expression was devoid of emotion, his features sharp and perfectly symmetrical, as if he were carved from marble. He wore a simple long black coat that seemed to ripple faintly, as though it were alive, its edges trailing faint wisps of ethereal mist.
Ayame froze, her words catching in her throat as she stared at him, overwhelmed by an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
"Ayame," Akeno breathed, jumping up with excitement, as her Fox Form moved closer to Arthur, looking at him with a more investigative look now that they weren't in mortal danger, "That's him. That's the one who healed you."
Elektra stopped the flow of lightning to her fingers, calming down as her worries mostly faded, staring at Arthur with a curious look as she inquired," You're the guy who saved Ayame. What are you doing here?"
Arthur's gaze swept over the three of them, his eyes lingering on Ayame for a moment longer than the others as he inspected her, noticing she was mostly healthy at the moment, with no current visible problems related to the Soul Bonding.
Still, as he did this, Arthur's expression remained stoic, his voice deep and steady as he replied, "I came to see how she is faring."
The simplicity of his words contrasted sharply with the gravity of his presence, there was almost a magnetic presence Arthur had to Ayame, and she felt even more drawn to him as she tried to process what Elektra & Ayame just said.
"You…" she managed, her voice trembling slightly. "You're the one who healed me?"
Arthur inclined his head in a slight nod, his golden eyes unwavering as he responded, "Yes."
Immediately after Arthur's response, a heavy silence descended onto the room as everyone was left to ruminate in their thoughts. The silence was only broken by the faint hum of Elektra, before Ayame finally stepped aside, gesturing for him to enter, "Come in." she said, her voice a bit steadier but her heart still racing.
"Thank you," Arthur said, knowing it was common courtesy from his observations across his two lives. As soon as he stepped inside of the home, his presence immediately warped the already changed atmosphere.
The room grew colder, while the air seemed to grow denser, the faint golden particles of Aether that Ayame could now see was swirling around Arthur like a Halo. If the Aether was just minding their business around Ayame, they were moths to a flame around Arthur, flooding towards him.
He moved and stopped in the center of the living room, his gaze scanning the room with an almost clinical detachment before he looked towards Ayame.
"Would you like something to drink?" Ayame offered, unsure of what else to say while Elektra & Akeno were also confused at the situation.
"No," Arthur replied simply, his tone neither cold nor warm but entirely devoid of emotion.
Elektra crossed her arms, her blue eyes narrowing as she studied him, "You've got some explaining to do, buddy. What the hell did you do to her? She's… different. Taller, stronger, and now she is seeing Aether."
Arthur turned his gaze to Elektra, his expression unchanging, "She was dying. Her soul was torn, her life force nearly extinguished. I did what was necessary to save her."
"But how?" Akeno pressed, her golden eyes narrowing as the Fox leapt up onto a nearby table, curiously walking around Arthur, "Healing a soul is ancient magic. Even the Elder Spirits can't achieve it with such precision. What are you?"
As a Spirit herself, Akeno could naturally see the way the Aether coalesced around Arthur, and that left her with theories. Although she couldn't sense the aura of the Spirit Realm anywhere on Arthur, she was sure he was a Spirit.
In her mind, it was simply impossible for a Mortal to be able to save Ayame, and the Aether swarming Arthur was a way to confirm her theory.
Arthur's gaze shifted to Akeno, his glowing eyes meeting hers as he gauged her power level, "I'm a Spirit, like you."
"A Mythical Spirit?" Ayame repeated, her voice filled with disbelief. "You're like Akeno? A Spirit?" Ayame said as her gaze darted to Akeno, who nodded.
"Seeing the way Aether gathered around him, I was sure he was a Spirit, but even then, you're far more powerful than any normal Spirit. How come I've never heard of you?" Akeno inquired.
"I don't flaunt my power for fun. Only specific Spirits know of me, I spend most of my time in Magic Research. Also, I prefer to stay in the Mortal Plane, which is why younger spirits have no opportunity to meet me." Arthur explained.
Akeno looked at Arthur's Wolf Ears, and quickly connected the dots. A Spirit with Wolf-Ears left only one solution, Mythical Wolf Spirits.
As the Kingpins of the Spirit Race, they were mysterious and rare, with only a handful of them known to the Spirit World at the moment, so she wasn't surprised that she didn't know of Arthur.
Still, she was flabbergasted that such an immensely powerful and influential Spirit was just...living in the Mortal Realm.
Usually, the more powerful the Spirit, the less connection they had with the Mortal Plane, and thus, Spirits at the level of power of Arthur usually never came to the Mortal Realm.
Ayame took a step closer, her charming pink eyes searching his face for answers, "How did you heal me? and why are all these weird things happening? My body changed, and I can now use Aether as a Mortal, isn't that supposed to be impossible."
"You're technically not a Mortal anymore, I'd akin you more to a DemiSpirit." Arthur explained, "Soul Magic is deeply ancient Magic, even the other Elder Spirits have no idea how to use it. You're incredible lucky you met me, who has been studying Soul Magic for longer than this country has existed."
Arthur explained, "After what you did, your Soul was pretty much fractured and unrecoverable. In truth, you were basically 99% dead, your soul was on the verge of total annihilation and the after-effects were also crippling your body. The only way I could save you was a Soul Tethering."
"Soul Tethering? What is that?" Elektra inquired, losing track of all of this Spirit mumbo jumbo. As a Mortal, these sort of things were way WAY over her paygrade.
"It's a ritual I created to save you. It bound your Soul to mine, so my Soul can nourish and heal you. I still don't know all of the effects to be honest. The reason I am here is to see what changes happened and to record the effects of the spell." Arthur explained.
"You used a spell you didn't know the effects of? Do you know how unethical that is?" Elektra said, angrily as she stared at Arthur.
"It was either that or her dying. Speaking of those after-effects, it seems you've grown taller, your body has perfected itself due to the Aether injection, your connection to the World's Magic has improved, making you more talented in spell-casting. Your power has increased a tier, and your physical body is much stronger, although the rate of improvement for these things can't be quantified at the moment." Arthur said.
"Would you please come with me to asertain the changes. It's for your own good." Arthur explained, and although worried, Ayame nodded, curious to see how she had changed herself.
Arthur nodded and in a flash, the four of them disappeared from the room.