Unfortunately, they do not make carriages that fit a 300 pound Collie Wolf, meaning that Ari will need to travel alongside the horses outside the carriage. Fortunately, im not requiring him to pull anything, and with his enhanced magical physique, this will be no problem. Given Ronin, Ruby, and Prya can all fit comfortably on my body, Dar gave us one of the smallest possible carriages, with just one Fire horse and driver, a young brown haired woman who works at the Guild house named Sami. With no luggage due to ruby's inventory skill, we were traveling light. Prya said goodbye to the caravan she traveled to Tribeca on, telling them to make it home safe, and tell her mother that she will come visit with her new Soulmate when they find time. Some of the Fairies looked a little sad seeing her leave, while the elves seem to respect her decision. Prya had never left the Dryad Animal Kingdom before, making Jason actually the first human she had ever met, but she hasn't told him this yet.
Once we were on the road, I used the time to get to know Prya and Ronin a little more. Without the connection to ruby, I was in the dark about her thoughts and feelings, hopefully that will be able to change when Red soul bonds with Prya, and then Prya become's my soul spirit. Yet until we completed the connection, it was difficult to create a deep bond with Ruby, so I opted to spend time with Prya and Ronin.
Ronin spoke of his life first, which I translated for Prya's convenience. Ronin, to both our shocks was not initially born as a Mayan mouse, but rather a small house mouse, who lived under the sewers of the largest kingdom in High Brook - Brookwood. Home of the Briarwood's. Laying under a glamorous modernized city, is a deep and intricate sewage system ran by a variety of rodent races. Some of the rodents were land dwellers, but still would report to the council.
Ronin was seen as a boon to his race, but a nuisance and threat to everyone else. Before being blessed with mana, he did all he could to help the weak and worthless rodents, who were being forgotten and left behind. Sometimes even eaten by their own kind. The world was tough, and only the strongest survived. Yet ronin found himself in a special situation, being weak, he sought after a life outside of the sewers, surviving on scarps. The place he ended up at was a healing ward, where they practiced both traditional medicine and magical remedies. Ronin lived here passively, only coming out from the walls when the room was completely empty, as they had tight security. Yet, when he wasnt starving, he was working to gain knowledge in the field of medicine, hopping from room to room, witnessing hundreds of different procedures. Eventually, he went back to the sewers to use what he learned for the lower class. After three months of healing, the rodent nobility made him a wanted man, causing him to flee for his life, he followed the sewage waste to a river, which he took all the way to Tyrn. Once he was free, his body started to ache and feel weird, eventually causing him to pass out. When he awoke, he was slightly larger with green mana veins on his body. He had evolved into a magical beast.
Before I could comment, Prya blurted
'Thats awful Ronin, just tell me, and ill go straight to Brookwood and blow that whole city to pieces, just for them to beg you to heal them'
I couldn't help but chuckle at this, sure Ronin's story was sad, and I believe he deserves some revenge, but there was no need to drag the entire city down with the Rodent Council.
Ronin didn't seem to like this train of thought as he squeaked rapidly, which I understood as 'Woah, no need to go that far missy' following this he squeaked some more ' I just want their respect, I did nothing to attack of threaten the council of rodents, but rather only wished to heal our poor and weak. That is why when Jason mentioned his dream, I was all in. I want to create a sanctuary for all walks of life, where the weak aren't disrespected.'
The passion coming from his voice was palpable, I could tell he was just as dedicated to my dream as I was. His life was harsh, and as one of the world's weakest creatures, Ronin had always been looked down upon, whether by rodents, predators, or humans. Creating a place where he can live without worry, and each person can grow at their own rates.
Ronin had been apart of my team since the beginning of my journey, becoming the my first allied beast, besides Ari who traveled here with me. Together, we have grown close, but after hearing his story, and our permanent connection, I finally felt like a team, both working together to achieve the same dream. When this realization set in, my bond with ronin strengthened, it might not have been much, but I could tell that just aligning our thinking would bring benefits.
Ronin spoke a little after this, about the structure of the rodent culture, and what magical beasts we should be weary of, and others he would like to add to our clan once he had the power, specifically a member of the flying squirrel clan, one of the powerhouses of the rodent clan, but still caring about the weak. Hearing about the rodent culture was a shock to me at first, but slowly I found that it worked similar to many human political systems, with 3 classes of citizens, just with a heavier focus on the survival of the fittest.
Eventually, Prya opened up to us about her past too. This was after we did some spell practice, where she taught both Ronin and us plenty about the flow of mana in the world and how to use it to benefit our spell forms. She was a great teacher, but Prya was a little distracted, knowing we were hoping to hear her story as well.
Prya's story started before she was born. Fairies were one of the first spirits born into this world, coming from the Dryad bloodline, the First Monarch. These Fairies were known as wind spirits, and the stronger spirits eventually evolved into a natural spirit called a Sylph's. Centuries past, and the bloodline slowly grew with little competition. Yet, eventually a new fairy came to be, one known as the FireFairy. The first FireFairy evolved from a FireFly. Her growth was legendary, as the FireFly was soul bonded with the Famous Santana Grace, the first ever Dual Affinity wielder. This FireFairy went on to evolve again into the Fire Queen, living for a few hundred years. This was at first celebrated and seen as a great advancement in the Fairy race, adding a new race to their species. Yet what followed was anything but.
The Dark Monarch. The world's most feared power, the strongest man alive retired. His reign of terror ended, with questions on where he went, and what would follow. What he did was even more surprising, as he chose to start a family, passing on his bloodline. His eldest son, Atlas, married the Fire Fairy Princess, daughter of the Fire Queen, cementing that the fire fairy bloodline would forever shine. Together, there family started a new clan, that had two bloodlines vs the original one. Yet, this did not stop there, as the Dark monarch, and his Dryad wife, gave birth to their own Fairy, a Sand Fairy, a direct rival to the new FireFaires. Cassandra, the Monarch's daughter became the soul spirit of the Next great monarch, the Spatial monarch. In the span of a century, the Wind Fairies went from having no rivals, to the weakest of the three clans. Her birth was suppose to bring back the strength of the Sylph's.
Yet, this did not go as planned, rather than being born with strong traces of both bloodlines, Prya was born as a mixed blood, a FireSylph. A natural fairy from birth is rare and usually celebrated, but she was born as the spirit of Wildfire. A natural fairy will be a byproduct of its families bloodlines, as well as the environment in which they are born, for Prya, someone bred for their bloodline, being born as a natural spirit was seen as worst case scenario. Add on top of that, that on the day of her birth, the forest was cursed with a devastating wildfire that took multiple fairies lives. Since then, the entire village looked at Prya as a natural disaster waiting to happen. She always wanted to leave and never come back, hating everyone there except for her mother, but she stayed, stayed because her mother needed her too, but eventually she couldn't take it anymore, and started searching for a way out
I didn't know what to say to this, her story was sadder than Ronin's yet, I could tell she didn't want me to luck at her with Pity, but yet still needed words to comfort her.
At last I spoke ' That is their loss then, I think you being born a Natural Sylph was the greatest thing that could have happened to me. With my affinity for nature, and love for wildfire's I couldn't have asked for a better Soul Spirit. It was almost like you were made for me. Don't worry Prya, you are perfect just the way you are'
I knew I said the right thing, as Prya looked at me with big bright teary eyes with pure love. She had finally found her place in this world, and she was going to do whatever it took to keep it, whether that required setting a few fires along the way, all the better.
With the group coming closer during the first day of travel, they found the second day went by quickly, as they each practiced their spells over and over on potted plants, grass on the side of the road, or a picked flower. Slowly they were growing stronger, not just in spell casting but team unity as well.