Henry Esprit
I lied in bed and went over the events of the day. After the evil spirit king disappeared Aurum and I undid our Spiritus Possessionem. A relief team arrived shortly afterwards and hauled us all back to the clan where we gave our reports.
Once again I had to stay behind for hours of questioning about what the spirit was like and how the fight went. By the time they let me home the sun was nowhere to be seen.
I fell asleep and when I woke up the next day I was immediately called back to the clan head house. I was brought to the clan hall where the entire clan was about to have another meeting.
Everyone was in exorcist attire and the mood seemed grim by the time I had arrived. Apparently, word had started to get around with what the meeting was about, the evil spirit king. After a few minutes of waiting the clan head walked out with the elders and began to speak.
"As I am sure everyone has heard, an evil spirit king has appeared." Murmurs spread throughout the clan hall, everyone scared and anxious of the confirmation of the rumors. "So far we have been unable to identify the spirit. None of its described features match our records. All we know is that it appears to be of the dark element."
That makes sense, my attacks seemed to be more effective than elder Diannas attack, I had guessed it was due to an elemental advantage.
"For now we will halt the search for it. Its power is far beyond that of a single elders and we are unable to know its full strength." This just made the murmurs worse, if the spirit truly was stronger than an elders, it had to be unimaginably strong. "Silence! For now, continue your duties as usual, if the evil spirit king makes another appearance, I will personally lead an attack against it with the elder."
The clan head continued to speak on other smaller matters and duties afterwards but nothing as important. After the meeting was over and everyone was dismissed I was invited to join the elders meeting.
"Henry, if the spirit makes another appearance, you will join the team to exorcize it." What? What did he just say? I was dumbfounded, why would I team to fight that thing again. "Why?" Was all I managed to say.
"You've already fought it before, and your attacks proved effective against it. You are one of the only few people in the clan with a light attribute contracted spirit."
"Aren't I too weak?" I tried to weasel my way out. "Nonsense, you have already achieved Spiritus Possessionem and your contracted spirit is at the true spirit level. You've already begun fulfilling the conditions to become an elder." Yeah, there was no way out. I stood in silence and I guess they took that as an agreement.
"Now, let's begin the meeting." The clan head stated. The elders meeting was a bit different than that of the clan meeting. We discussed topics further detailing the evil spirit king and its potential identity.
We discussed the direction the clan should take regarding it. We even discussed whether or not we should ask other clans for information, but that was heavily refused and denied.
The meeting finally concluded and I was let go. I made my way home and collapsed on the couch, exhausted. My mom and dad followed in behind me and closed the front door. "So Henry, how was your first Elders meeting?" Mom asked me.
"Boring and exhausting." I lightly responded, giving them both a slight laugh. "Well get used to it, you're gonna be attending a lot more of these in your future." That perked me up. "Why?" I asked.
My parents looked at each other and laughed again. "You're practically an elder already, just a few steps missing which you'll achieve in no time. You'll be a full fledged elder before you know it." My dad said. "No no no, I'm nowhere near an elder. I'm too weak."
"Henry, you have exorcized weaker great spirits on your own before. That was before you even learned Spiritus Possessionem. With that you should have no problem dealing with even stronger ones now. Being able to single handedly exorcize a great spirit is another elder prerequisite, which you've already accomplished before."
"But, still." "Not buts." My mom cut me off. "You're already more than halfway to becoming an elder, the only thing you need to do at this point is fight an actual elder in combat and withstand more than 5 minutes or win." That was the 3rd and final condition to becoming a clan elder, the one that most clan members struggled with.
"I still dont think I'll be able to handle the last condit-" "HENRY ESPRIT!" My mom yelled. "You need to stop underestimating yourself all the time. You're a lot stronger than you think, everyone else in the clan knows it, now you just need to accept it." She had a stern expression, not quite angry, but almost there.
"You've been called the clan's top talent your whole life for a reason, all your peers look up to you. The entire clan has high hopes for you, and you've proven yourself, especially with this latest incident." This time it was my dad who had spoken.
Even with their words I still wasn't confident. I don't feel like what I have done is anything special. I still got the crap beaten out of me from the spirit king. If it wasn't for Aurum I would have been completely helpless. "You'll understand in due time Henry. You'll understand that your talents aren't ordinary."
With those words from dad, both of my parents went upstairs, seemingly to change their outfits. I still think they're wrong though. I haven't done anything special. I've lost 2 out 3 of my last fights. I barely managed to work out Spiritus Possessionem, all of my peers would probably be able to understand it a lot faster when they reached it.
Aurum was the talent, he was a far more talented spirit and I was lucky to have contracted with him. Even my so called talent was only because both of my parents were elders so I got better teaching. I wasn't special, I was just lucky.