TearCRF

Here's another chapter as an apology for being late with chapter 4.

A gentle stroke caresses my head, and a soothing hum sounds in my ears. Something soft and comforting embraces me. I feel warm, almost like I am floating. “So nice,” I mumble.

A light chuckle interrupts the blissful humming. I move around, uncomfortable with the sound of the hum disappearing. A moment later, the humming resumes and my body relaxes once more.

Several minutes of pure tranquility pass until the humming stops again.

“Sweetheart, if you stay like that, we won’t have long to talk. Not that I’m complaining, you’re so cute like this,” A soft voice whispers.

Huh? “Can I stay like this a bit longer?” I mutter. I don’t want to leave yet; this feels so nice.

“Sure,” replies the voice as it starts to hum again.

I fall back asleep and after several minutes, awaken to the voice saying, “Oh, sweetheart, you’re adorable when you’re drooling.”

Drool? Who’s talking? I open my eyes to see a thick white fog covering the floor, denser compared to the last time I was here. I see nothing on the horizon in any direction, and in the white sky I see only a black circle floating in place.

I am lying on the floor, but my head rests on something. I look up to see Vestele moving her hand from my head. “Good morning sweetheart,” she says.

Vestele… “Agh!” I scream as I stand up and back away from her, realizing I was resting on her lap.

“What-what…Where have you been!? You-you-you…you can’t just…” I stammer as I struggle to find the words I want to say. Tears well up in my eyes.

Vestele stands up, walks over to me, gets down on her knees, and embraces me in a hug then says, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting it to take you so long to return to your soul. Have you been well?”

Tears gush forth as my emotions take over. “Is it really you?” I ask.

“Yes, it’s really me,” Vestele replies, holding me tightly.

With the initial shock of seeing Vestele gone, I am able to calm down. She’s here. She’s really here. I wipe my eyes, look at her and say, “Vestele, I’m sorry.”

“Nope, try again,” she responds.

Huh? Try again? Try what again, apologizing? “Um, I’m sorry?” I say again.

“Wrong part silly,” Vestele teases.

Wrong part? What else did I say? Not sure about what I said, I look at Vestele, confused.

Vestele sighs aloud, then crosses her arms and responds. “What child calls their parent by their own name? I will only accept mommy, mom, or mother. Otherwise our conversation ends here.”

She can’t be serious… “You’re joking right?” I say dumbstruck.

Vestele turns away, not responding to my question. 

Really! You want me to… “Mo-momm-mothe…mother,” I stagger over the word, looking down.

Vestele squeezes me tightly. “You’re the cutest little thing!” She exclaims.

“Please stop, this is weird,” I say while still in Vestele’s tight embrace.

“What’s weird about you calling me mother? I know the circumstances are a bit abnormal to say the least, but now that you’re here. I am your mother, and you’re my daughter,” Vestele explains calmly.

My mother huh. Is that why it feels so nice being around her? They’re not alike, but I feel the same comfort around her as I would with my previous mom.

“You said something like that before, but how am I your daughter?” I ask.

“Remember how I told you that your spirit was used as the core in the body I made?” Vestele asks, “Well, I was the one that made the body, you’re a girl that looks just like me, I think it would be fair to say that I’m your mother now.”

“Um..”

“Look,” Vestele interrupts, “the important thing is that I am going to take care of you.” She hugs me tightly before letting go, “So, how long has it been since we last spoke? It’s difficult to tell time in here.”

“A little over five months,” I groan.

“Five months, that’s a bit longer than I would have liked…actually that’s a lot longer,” Vestele exacerbates, then continues, “So, how have things been going for you in those five months?”

“I-” I start to speak but stop. How am I supposed to tell her that I just left? I can’t. I look away from Vestele and say nothing more.

“Evetta, did something happen?” Vestele inquires.

I’m sorry, but it hurts to say it. All those people I saw, how many more have died because I waited. If I left earlier, then how many people could have been saved? Dammit… Tears  stream from my eyes like waterfalls.

Vestele embraces me once again and whispers, “It’s okay, you can tell me.”

“I-I’m…I’m sorry,” I weep into Vestele’s chest, “I only- I just left…yesterday. I’m sorry… all those people…could- they could have been saved if I left sooner.”

Vestele holds me tightly for a moment and stays silent, letting me cry.

“You haven’t done anything to apologize for. In fact, I’m grateful and incredibly proud. I expected that I’d have to convince you to go back to the spirit realm, but instead, you have decided to go on your own,” Vestele consoles as she strokes my head.

“Besides, this isn’t your problem to begin with. Everything that is happening is my fault; this burden is mine to bear. You’re even crying for people you don’t know. You’re a kind person. Even back in your world, you would talk with me every day, regardless of what the others said about you,” Vestele assures.

“So, you don’t have to worry about things like that. Now, wipe those tears from your eyes, they’re ruining your pretty face,” Vestele says as she wipes away my tears.

“Thanks…” I mutter.

“So, how far are we away from the closest world vein?” Vestele asks as I calm down.

“Um... I don’t know,” I respond, wiping my tears, “I’m not sure... what a world vein is.”

“World veins, simply put, are like tunnels that connect the different realms to one another,” Vestele explains, “Each realm has a couple of them, we can use any of them to reach the spirit realm, so we just need to head to the closest one.”

“Okay, but I have no idea where the closest one is,” I state, “Currently, I’m traveling with some knights to a place called the Church of the Fairy Queens. They said it will help me learn about the world since I’m a newborn fairy.”

“Um, I have another question. Am I weird for a newborn fairy? You know, since I’m originally a twenty-eight-year-old human man, but now I’m a seven-month-old fairy girl. I feel like people think I’m weird,” I ask nervously.

“You shouldn't have to worry about anything. Similar to you, all fairies are born from a remnant spirit,” Vestele answers, “Since the spirit retains a portion of its old memories, all fairies are born with some intelligence, but the amount of memories retained can vary.”

“So I’m not the only one that has my old memories?”

“Nope, even I still remember a few things about my previous life,” Vestele continues, “I used to be an elf, and was the daughter of a governor of a small town.”

“Then, what about me being a girl now?”

“That, while it’s not unheard of, is pretty uncommon and does happen to fairies every once in a while,” Vestele explains, “For that, I can only apologize. Whatever happened that caused us to swap places, resulted in you becoming a girl, since the body was made for me.”

“Wait, if you made this body for yourself, why do I look like a kid?” I ask, “Shouldn’t I look like you?”

“I’m not sure,” Vestele replies, “I can only assume whatever caused us to swap places is the same thing that caused the body to look different from what I made.”

“I see,” I mutter, “So, I’m not weird?”

“You might be a little weird in terms of your size, since you’re bigger than a newborn. Your body might be around ten years old by fairy standards. However, even at ten, you’re still younger than your siblings, so everything should be fine. If you’re still worried about it, just tell people that you’re ten.”

Siblings… “I have siblings?” I ask, surprised by her statement. “Wait, don’t tell me I have a dad too?”

“No… unfortunately he passed away…” Vestele says, trailing off.

Ah, that’s a sensitive topic… “Um, what are their names?” I ask trying to change the subject.

“Going in order from oldest to youngest would be your brothers Nolodar, and Alduin,” Vestele states, “Then your sisters Sylvia, Lilia, and then there’s you, Evetta.”

Siblings, family huh. My previous family was nice, but I didn’t have any siblings. I wonder what they’re like.

“Although they’re probably having a rough time with me gone. Including the last five months, I think it’s been a little over seventeen years now?” Vestele says.

Wait…seventeen years? That means these disasters have been happening for seventeen years?

“Isn’t that bad? If these storms have been happening for that long?” I question as I start to panic.

“Definitely, but even I can’t manage the elements on my own,” Vestele responds confidently, “I’m sure many fairies are out in the realms trying to quell the rampaging elements.”

“Yeah, the knights I am traveling with said something like that,” I explain, “Actually, part of the reason they’re taking me to this church, is so that I can learn about fairies and eventually help them.”

“Really, well isn’t that nice. It’s not often people of the realms actively help us,” Vestele remarks.

“Ah, well, they said their job is to stop these people called fairy hunters,” I respond.

“Fairy hunters?” Vestele replies inquisitively, “I can’t say I’ve ever heard of them.”

“They are a group of soldiers that capture fairies,” I state, “I was almost captured too-”

“Are you okay!? They didn’t hurt you did they!?” Vestele shouts as she starts to examine my body.

“I’m fine. I was saved thanks to the knights I’m traveling with,” I say trying to pry Vestele off me, “They almost ripped my wings off, but otherwise nothing really happened. Well, aside from my friend getting hurt.” 

“Your wings… Evetta, let me know if you come across them again,” Vestele grumbles as the air around her becomes cold, “I’ll make them wish they never even looked at you.” 

Okay…let’s never make her mad…

“About them capturing fairies, that won't do, seems like I’ll need to pay them a visit,” Vestele mutters, then asks, “Do you have any idea why they’re capturing fairies?”

“I don’t know. The knights aren’t sure either, but they said they’re trying to protect us,” I respond, “This way the fairies can do their job of stopping the elements.”

Vestele goes silent for some time, then returns to her usual cheerful self and asks, “So, you made a friend? What kind of fairy are they?”

“Um…actually, I haven’t met any other fairies yet. My friend is an elf,” I reply.

“An elf?” Vestele questions. She pauses for a moment then continues, “Evetta, I know this might be difficult to understand due to your circumstances, but it’s best not to get too attached to the people of the realms. Fairies have an extremely long lifespan compared to most races, that’s why we usually don’t interact with the people of the realms.”

“But-” I start to speak.

Vestele interrupts, “I have no complaints about who your friends are, but you need to know that once we return to the spirit realm, the people of the realms won’t be able to follow you,” She continues in a harsher tone, “At some point, you will have to separate from this elf.”

“I… I know,” I mutter quietly, looking down.

“I know it’s hard, but that’s the way it is,” Vestele says as she stands us up, and grabs my hand. We start to walk through the white plane. After a moment, she asks, “Evetta, is there anything you would like to know, seeing as we still have some time tonight.”

Anything I want to know. There’s so much I don’t know, I’m not even sure where to begin.

“Um, the knights were going to try and implant different element spyra into my soul tomorrow,” I begin, “Is that going to work, or is obtaining the spyra different for fairies?”

“Ah, compared to the people of the realms, fairies need highly concentrated amounts of an element implanted into their soul to be able to use it. I highly doubt people of the realms would have a high enough concentration for you to utilize,” Vestele answers, “Otherwise, they would be able to protect themselves from the elements.”

“Oh, I see,” I respond dejectedly. There goes my chance to learn spyra.

“But I can use all of the elements. I can implant the elements into your soul whenever,” Vestele describes proudly.

A large smile spreads across my face. “Really, thanks! Wait, will there be any problems, you said it has to be highly concentrated?” I question.

“There shouldn’t be since I’m only giving you a small drop of each element, but if you’re worried about me, then, could you stop hogging all the spyr and save some for me,” Vestele teases, “Even though I’m resting in your soul, it’s sort of difficult to obtain spyr when you take it all for yourself.”

I’ve been hogging all the spyr? “What do you mean?” I ask, confused.

“Well, your spirit is residing in your body, and my spirit is residing here, within your soul. So, if you absorb all the spyr around us, there’s nothing left for me,” Vestele explains, “ I’ve only been able to absorb miniscule amounts of spyr to recover.”

Wait, then that means… “I’ve been causing problems for you too?” I mutter sullenly.

“It’s nothing serious sweetheart, but could you share some spyr with mother from now on?” Vestele requests.

“Please don’t call me that. I’m still trying to adjust to being a girl, and a fairy. I could do without comments like that,” I respond, “And, I don’t know how I’m taking in spyr. I’ve tried to use spyra, but it always made me feel sick.”

“Boo, you’re no fun,” Vestele whines, then continues, “You were probably feeling sick because you were trying to absorb the wrong kind of spyr. As for how you’re taking in the spyr, you’re probably doing it subconsciously, similar to breathing.” 

“For fairies, the spyr we use looks like this,” Vestele says as she points at the fog on the ground, “and has a pleasant aroma. Different spyrs have different smells, so try not to take in all of the good smelling ones.”

Try not to take in the good smelling ones, so the colored fog that I’ve been seeing? “Well, I’m not sure how to stop, but I’ll try,” I state, “Um, but what about the elmites?”

“Elmites are the residual spyr that remains after an element is used. It can dissipate on its own over time, but if too much of it gathers in one place, it can create elemental storms,” Vestele explains, “That’s one of the main duties for fairies, the removal of elmites before they cause problems for the people of the realms.”

“I see.”

“Now then, would you like me to implant the elements into you?” Vestele asks.

“Can we do it right now?” I ask in response.

“Sure. Normally, fairies will touch wings to transfer the spyr from one to another,” Vestele explains, “You see, our wings react to our souls, but they can also act as a gateway to the soul. Without our wings, we won’t be able to use spyra.”

So that’s why those assholes tried to rip my wings off. They were worried that I could use spyra.

“But since we’re already in your soul, I can implant them directly from me to you,” Vestele continues. “First, you need to form your soul cores,” Vestele explains as she points down at the fog, “This is spyr that you’ve absorbed into your soul.”

Right, the fog is spyr.

Vestele moves her hands through it, as if trying to scoop some with her hands. “As you can see, I’m incapable of interacting with the spyr within your soul, so you’re going to have to form the soul cores to house the elements.”

“Okay, and how do I do that?”

“Simple, pick up some spyr, and mold it into a ball.”

That’s it? I stare at Vestele waiting for more instructions.

“You don’t have to believe me, but if you want the elements, you’ll have to do it.”

“Okay okay,” I say as I bend down placing my hands in the spyr. Woah, I can actually pick it up. It’s soft… After playing in the spyr for a minute, I scoop up a handful of it and begin to shape it into a ball. The spyr begins to solidify, slowly becoming a glass-like sphere that fits in my hands.

“Congrats,” Vestele praises, “You’ve just made your first soul core. This is the first step in using the elements.”

Amazing, it actually became a ball. It’s like magic… well I guess it is, or spyra... whatever.

Suddenly, the soul core starts to float out of my hand, and moves away from me until it stops at about eye level off the ground, below the black circle in the sky.

“Wow,” I mutter.

“Now, make eleven more and we can implant all of the elements,” Vestele declares.

Following her instructions, I begin to make sphere after sphere, until all twelve are complete. With the completion of each core, they float out of my hands, and move toward the first soul core. Slowly the cores began arranging themselves in a circle with the black circle in the sky in the center.

“Alright, now take a look at your wings,” Vestele orders.

I glance at my wings and see the same white wings I’ve had since becoming a fairy. Nothing about them seems any different. 

“Remember those,” Vestele says, “because once I implant the elements into your cores, your wings will turn out like mine.”

I stare at my wings, then look over at Vestele’s, the veins on her wings transition through the rainbow while sparkling in a myriad of colors.

“Are you ready?” Vestele asks.

“Yeah.”

Vestele walks over to one of the soul cores, places her index finger on it, and a red fog appears within

“Take a look now,” Vestele suggests.

Looking at my wings, I see that they are now glowing red. “Woah,” I mutter.

One by one, Vestele moves to each core, inserting a different colored fog within each one, until they are all filled. I turn my head to see my wings. My wings that were once a translucent white are gone. Now, the prominent veins cycle through the colors of the rainbow. The membrane between the veins is still a translucent white, but they are covered in a rainbow-colored glitter, similar to Vestele’s. Unlike Vestele’s wings, however, mine still do not have the black circles at the tips of them.

“Wow…they’re beautiful,” I mumble.

“Do you know what the twelve elements are?” Vestele asks.

“No, I’ve only heard of a couple of them,” I respond, “But I do know that there’s a fairy for each element.”

“That’s correct. As for the elements and their corresponding colors, they are red fire, orange air, purple electricity, yellow light, violet darkness, brown terra, grey metal, pink poison, teal crystal, cyan ice, green nature, and blue water,” Vestele explains, pointing to each colored soul core, “Don’t bother remembering them for now, you’ll learn them over time.” 

I’m amazed she was able to say those without messing up.

“Veste-”

Vestele puts a finger up to my mouth stopping me before I can begin my question. “I told you, I’ll only accept mommy, mom, or mother.”

“Ok then,” I sigh, then continue “Mother, could you explain the whole spirit, body, soul thing?”

“Sure, it’s actually pretty simple. Every living entity is composed of anywhere from two to four components,” Vestele explains, “The body, the mind, the heart, and the soul. A spirit is an entity that has a mind, a heart, and a soul, but lacks a body.”

Right… that was helpful.

Vestele mutters something.

“Hmm?” I tilt my head in confusion.

“I guess for now, try to find the location of the closest world vein. Now that you have your soul cores, I should be able to communicate with you, sweetheart,” Vestele states.

“Please don’t call me that. And what do you mean, communicate with me?”

“Like I said sweetheart, I’ll-” 

“Don’t call me that,” I say, pouting as I turn away from her. Let’s see how you like being ignored.

“You seemed to be enjoying it earlier though,” Vestele laughs.

Earlier? Did I say something earlier? No, just ignore her…

...

Ah… dammit! “What did I say?” I ask curiously as I turn around.

“Nothing,” Vestele teases, “It’ll be my little secret.”

“Really...” I sigh as I look down, just now noticing that I’ve started disappearing.

 “No, wait, stop! I still have so much I need to ask!” I yell impatiently as I continue to disappear.

“Vestele!” I cry aloud.

Vestele giggles to herself as she walks over and hugs me. “I told you to call me mother,” she says, holding onto me as I disappear. 

---

*Boom*

I wake to the sounds of cracking thunder, pouring rain, roaring winds, and people yelling. The freezing air blasts through our tent, sending deep chills throughout my body. 

Why’s it so cold, isn’t it supposed to be autumn right now? And do they need to be yelling so early in the morning?  Looking around, I see Myrna somehow still asleep tucked beneath her blanket. I fly over to the entrance of our stone tent and look out. I see what could very well be the fiercest storm I have ever seen ravaging the area. The knights are running about, trying to repair the barrier put up to prevent our camp from flooding. A blissful smelling blue, orange, purple multi-colored fog coats the air. So this is spyr… what an amazing smell...

“Dammit Lloyd, what the hell were you doing last night! All you had to do was help put up the wall!” Camille bellows.

“I was doing the horses!” Lloyd screeches.

I scan the camp to find Glendale. Ah, there he is. I begin to fly toward him. “Whaaaaa!” I scream as the wind violently blows me away from him.

Damn this wind. I can barely fly. I try to correct my flight, but the wind keeps blowing me around. Eventually, I finally manage to reach Glendale. Well that was horrible. “Good morning Glendale. What’s happening?” I ask as I fly into Glendale’s pocket. Ah, much better.

*Boom*

“Ah, good morning miss Evetta. The storm from last night has progressively gotten worse,” Glendale says worriedly, “At this rate, we won’t be able to leave on schedule.”

“How far are we away from Dels?” I ask. If we’re only a few hours away, we might be able to make it, but otherwise…

“We’re still about two days away. We can stay here for a day and hope the storm passes, any longer and we risk running out of food,” Glendale states, “There’s also the chance that the storm only gets worse.”

“Which means there’s three outcomes. Stay, let the storm pass, and leave tomorrow,” I reiterate, hoping I understood him correctly, “Leave now and get out of the storm as soon as we can. Or stay, and if the storm gets worse, leave tomorrow when conditions are worse.” 

“Precisely. If this was a normal storm, I would have us wait it out, but with how bad things have been lately, I get the feeling that this storm isn’t normal. So, I think we should leave as soon as we can,” Glendale explains, then asks, “What do you think Miss Evetta?”

I scan the surroundings and see the ambient-colored spyr everywhere around, the spyr near me being absorbed by my wings. Personally, I’d like to wait it out and hope it gets better, but Vestele said that this spyr will make the storms appear. If this is one of those storms, then...

“I get the feeling that this storm is going to get worse, so I think we should leave too. I don’t want everyone to be stranded in this storm.” I reply.

He raises one eyebrow, then suggests, “Very well. Go ahead and head back to your tent. I’ll get everyone ready to go. Once we’re ready to leave, I’ll have someone come and get you and Myrna.”

“Okay, but could you bring me back to my tent?” I complain,  “The wind is making it difficult to fly.” I really don’t want to go back into the cold.

Glendale chuckles then responds. “Sure, Miss Evetta.”

*Boom*

Glendale brings me back to my tent. As I fly out of Glendale’s pocket, he exclaims, “Miss Evetta! Your wings!”

My wings? What about them? I turn and glance at my wings. Ah, right. Yesterday they were white, but now they’re full of color.

“What happened?” Glendale asks.

“Um… I-I don’t know,” I lie.

“Your wings look just like the church’s scriptures described,” Glendale mumbles, “So, does this mean you can use the elements now? Wait, but how-”

“Captain, we could use some help out here!” Aiko shouts.

Glendale sighs, “Miss Evetta, we’ll figure this out later.” He then leaves and makes his way back out toward Aiko.

Damn, that was close. I’m not sure how I’m going to explain this though...

I try to wake Myrna up. God, it’s still cold in here… I shout into her ear, “Come on Myrna wake up, we’re leaving soon!”

“Not now, it’s cold,” Myrna mumbles in her sleep, “Wait for winter to end first…”

Damn, if I could pull this blanket off of her right now, I would. Let’s try something else…

“Myrna!” I scream into her ear again, “Help! The fairy hunters are here!” 

Myrna sits up incredibly fast, “Where are they!?”

“Good, now that you’re awake. We are going to be leaving soon. Glendale wanted me to wake you up,” I say flatly.

“You little…You do know I’m injured right?” Myrna snaps back angrily.

“Yep, but just yesterday you said you were fine,” I reply, “Besides, the storm outside is pretty bad, so they wanted me to make sure you were ready.”

“Is that why it’s cold this morning? Well, I can’t really do much, so I guess I’m ready,” Myrna says matter-of-factly, “I’m just going to lay here until they come get me.”

I fly under the blanket with Myrna and say, “Me too, it’s way too cold out this morning.”

“Fine,” Myrna sighs.

She’s definitely mad.

“Hey Evetta, what happened to your wings?”

“No idea, I woke up this morning and they were like that.”

Myrna snorts, “If you say so.”

Yep, definitely mad.

*Boom*

Myrna and I lay there for a while, waiting for one of the knights to come and get us. The roars of the storm continue to escalate, and the light drizzle from the night before now sounds like a waterfall pouring down on our metal shelter. The multi-colored spyr within our tent disappears, but is slowly replaced by more that encroaches from outside. I know Vestele told me not to take all the spyr, but I have no idea how to stop. Heck, Vestele could be the one taking in the spyr, and I’d have no way of knowing… 

I look over at Myrna.

“Hey Myrna, are you doing okay around the knights?” I ask.

Myrna squirms around for a moment before responding sullenly, “The beastkin and elf girls I do alright around… but I’m… I panic when it comes to the guys.”

“What about Camille, the human girl?” I question.

“Even around her, I still…I freeze up. Humans, they…” Myrna chokes, starting to tremble.

“It’s okay. Did you explain that to them yesterday too?”

“Not really,” says Myrna, “but I think they figured it out themselves.”

“Excuse me, miss Evetta, Myrna,” a voice hollers from outside, “It’s Aiko. Are you both awake? We are ready to leave, we just need to remove the walls from over the wagon!”

I fly out from the covers, make my way to the entrance, and shout, “We’re awake and ready to leave whenever you are!”

“Understood,” Aiko announces.

Hearing her response, I fly back to the warmth under the covers. Fuck it’s cold.

*Boom*

A moment later the stone walls disappear into a brown fog that scatters in the air before getting pulled toward my wings. The frigid air instantly envelops Myrna and I, sending a torrent of cold, chilling me to the bone. The multi-colored spyr washes over our wagon before disappearing into my wings. I scan the campsite and see that the barrier wall meant to hold back the water is now gone. The campground is now covered with a thick layer of water, though the metal canopy is still in place.

*Boom*

All of the knights have mounted their horses, and are ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Everyone wears some kind of hooded jacket. Those look warm…

“Alright, Aiko and Kari, you two are with Miss Evetta and Myrna this morning,” commands Glendale, “Camille, Oberon, take the shelter down. Once it’s gone, we depart.”

“Yes sir,” the knights all say in unison.

Camille and Oberon start to remove the shelter. The pillars and roof disappear into a grey fog, similar to how the tent walls vanished. Seeing a solid structure disappear into spyr is pretty weird.

Aiko and Kari ride over on their horses, one on each side of the wagon. Samina follows closely behind Kari.

“Morning Miss Evetta! Did you sleep well? This storm is crazy right?” says Samina excitedly, “I really don’t want to ride through this, I wish Captain Farley would let us stay.”

“Samina, you’ll get a chance to speak with her later on,” interrupts Kari, stopping Samina from continuing her questions, “After me and Aiko finish our rotation, you and Camille will be covering for us, so just wait your turn.”

“Fine,” Samina whines as she rides away, saying, “I’ll talk with you later Miss Evetta. You have to answer my questions then, okay?”

Wow, that girl’s definitely a handful.

“Good morning. Me and Kari will be using our spyra to keep you dry throughout the trip, Aiko states, “So please rest easy Miss Evetta, Myrna.”

“Good morning. Yep,” Kari says, “We will also be going over spyra for you.” 

“Okay, thanks.” I respond as I turn to Myrna to explain the situation to her.

*Boom*

With the shelter taken down, the downpour begins to beat against the knights. This is going to be rough on them. As we travel across the marshy grasslands, Aiko and Kari explain the different spyra to me.

“There are four main sources that spyr can be channeled through to use different spyra. The body, the heart, the mind, and the soul, each with different capabilities and ways to develop them,” explains Aiko, “Since fairies use the elements, we will be focusing on the soul spyra for now.”

Oh, those are the four things Vestele was talking about.

“Within the soul spyras, there are the twelve elements along with another forty-eight spyra, for a total of sixty different soul spyra,” Kari adds, “Each spyra can be used in six different ways as well.”

“Do you know the different elements, miss Evetta?” Aiko asks.

“I’ve heard them before, but I haven’t remembered them all yet,” I respond. Fire, wind, electricity, earth, water, ice…What else was there… Light and dark, I think…

“Okay, listen closely. The elements are fire, air, electricity, light, darkness, terra, metal, poison, crystal, ice, nature, and water. It’s pretty easy if you try to remember them in that order.” Kari says.

Right, and you expect me to just remember them all at once. Fire, air, electricity… light, dark…crap, what was next.

“Can you write them down for me?” I ask.

“Sure,” Kari responds.

*Boom*

“Miss Evetta, I’m not sure how, but Captain Glendale informed me that you seem to have the elements now,”Aiko states, “So, is it true you won’t need them to be implanted anymore?”

“Yeah, look,” I reply as I show them my wings

“Incredible,” Kari mumbles.

I just hope they don’t ask how I got them. I doubt they would believe me if I said “Oh, hey, I don’t need them anymore. I got them from a fairy that’s in my soul.” Right, like they would believe that.

“What other spyra are there aside from the elements?” I ask, trying to change the subject, “You said there were others too.”

“Ah, there’s quite a bit actually. There are spyra that can change weight, appearance, and stop objects. Some are simple enhancements to strength or speed, while others allow you to transform into beasts, create illusions, or summon familiars too,” Kari explains, “Some of the more complex ones can adjust time, space, gravity, life, and death too. But those ones are so rare, you’ll probably never meet anyone that can use them.”

“Are they too difficult to use?” I ask, curious about the new spyra.

“It’s not that they are too difficult to use, but that they use up too much spyr. Most people don’t really have enough spyr to use them,” explains Kari, “Even if they did, they would have to find someone that can use the spyra and have it implanted into their soul.”

Hang on, if every person needs someone to implant the spyra into their bodies, then… “How did the first person obtain the spyra then?” I ask.

“There is another way to obtain spyra aside from someone implanting it. Travel to the spirit realm and find one of the spyra temples,” Aiko answers, “If you can complete the trials there, then you can obtain the spyra.”

“The spirit realm? Can people of the realms go into the spirit realm?” I question, confused by Aiko’s answer.

“It is possible to go there for a short period of time, but there are risks involved with going there, so most people don’t bother,” replies Aiko, “It’s much simpler to just request someone to implant the spyra into your soul.”

*BOOM*

A lightning strike lands directly in front of us. Some of the horses instantly panic and while most of the knights manage to keep their horses under control, Lloyd loses his. He falls to the ground, now covered in mud and water.

“Dammit, stupid horse. What am I supposed to do now?” Lloyd shouts.

“Walk, you dumbass,” Turok snaps from atop his horse.

“Is everyone alright?” Glendale bellows as he scans the area.

“Yes sir,” everyone responds in unison.

“Good, we will keep moving and try to get out of this storm as soon as we can.

Having lost his horse, Lloyd joins Noah on his.

 The rain and spyr continue to grow more intense with every minute that passes. The noise from the downpour becomes so bad that we have to conclude our talk about spyra.

*Boom*

It looks like things are starting to get worse. I hope it calms down soon.

Aiko and Kari grow tired from maintaining a shelter over Myrna and I, so they rotate out with Samina and Camille. Samina keeps talking, but I can’t hear her. I guess being deaf is one way to handle her… I smirk. Sorry Samina.

*Boom*

As we travel through the storm, the thick spyr-like fog becomes so dense that I can hardly see anything around me. After what feels like forever out in this storm, we stop. What’s going on? I look around, trying to see what everyone else is doing. Glendale points up to the sky with one hand while he uses his other to try and amplify his voice.

What’s he pointing at? The knights all ride over to the wagon and gather around us. Together they start making a shelter to cover everyone. Raising walls around us on all sides too.

*Boom* *Thud, Thud, Thud.*

Several loud sounds pound against the metal covering. Large amounts of water pour from the shelter and large chunks of ice begin to land on the ground. What’s going on?

The walls continue to extend upward until they reach the roof, causing the small room to become completely dark. The pounding sounds start to erupt from the metal above the shelter.

“Captain Farley, what do we do?” shouts Aiko above the deafening sounds of the storm.

*BOOM* *Thud, Thud*

“Everyone, maintain this shelter as long as possible! We finally found an answer to stop these disasters! We WILL escort Miss Evetta to Dels!” Glendale roars.

“What’s going on!?” Myrna bellows in Annic.

*BOOM, BOOM* *Thud*

“Glendale where are you!” I scream.

“I’m here Miss Evetta,” Glendale shouts as his voice grows closer, “What is it?”

“What’s going on!?” I demand.

“The situation has changed. This isn’t a normal storm anymore; the elmites have transformed it. As of now, we can’t move, not with how large the raindrops and hailstones are,” Glendale grimly states, “If anyone were to get hit by one of them, they would surely die from the impact.” 

“Wait, is that what’s making that loud banging on the roof?” I shout.

“Miss Evetta. I hate to say this, but at this stage I don’t have a choice. We won’t be able to wait for the storm to pass, this storm could last for weeks, or even months, and we won’t last if we stay in here,” Glendale continues, ignoring my question, “Our only option…our only hope is that you can go out and end this storm.”

He…he wants me to do what…No, that can’t be right…I’ve never even used spyra before, and you want me to go out there and somehow stop this storm? No, I- I can’t…

*BOOM, BOOM, BOOM*

“Miss Evetta, you can use the elements now, your wings are proof of that,” Glendale declares, “Please Miss Evetta, if you can use the elements, then please, stop this storm.”

I can’t… what if I mess up, what if I fail. I don’t even know what to do…can I do this? No way…I can’t…this is too fast.

“Miss Evetta!” Glendale shouts at me.

“AH!” I scream in response.

“Please. Miss Evetta.” Glendale begs.

I can’t…I’m sorry…

“You’ll be fine, I’m here with you,” A voice says softly in my head.

“Vestele?” I ask under my breath.

“The one and only,” Vestele replies.

*BOOM* *THUD, THUD*

“Miss Evetta, please!” Glendale pleads, “My troops deserve better than to die here, like this!”

“Okay,” I mutter quietly.

“Miss Evetta?” Glendale questions.

“I said, okay!” I roar in response.

I stand up on the wagon. I’m scared…Vestele, please help me…

 “Let me out,” I say, as confidently as I can, “I can do this.”

TearCRF

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. What are your thoughts about the "Booms", did I use too many of them? Do you like how Vestele acts around Evetta? Any questions about the different spyras? How do you feel about the scene where Evetta makes her soul cores? Thanks for reading, look forward to chapter 6, hoping to get it out soon (I'm not going to say when though, I don't want to jinx it again).