A few days had passed, and the three cloaked travellers had long left the familiar rocky plains, finding themselves in a lush green valley. Various spirit beasts scurried from place to place, and Zanetor could slightly feel the eyes of some of those creatures peering at them through the darkness of the bushes.
There were spirit beasts resembling butterflies with large eyeballs on their antennae, others had a more frog-like appearance, standing on two legs. One particular beast that creeped Zanetor out the most was a large worm-like creature with multiple pulsating bumps on its skin and human teeth that vibrated rapidly. He was sure to steer clear of those ones for sure!
Even though the Shadow soul didn't show any outward reaction to the Spirit realm's natural diversity, he was indeed fascinated on the inside.
"So," Zanetor broke the long silence. "How does going to the Great Eye city help me find my mom? Also, that place is filled with people like that fire warrior who'd want me dead, right?"
Edem's pace reduced, "Well, based on what you've told me about your mother… we'd have to either return to the material realm or go to the underworld."
Zanetor remained silent for a while as Edem turned back and stared at him with that unchanging smirk on his face.
"That person who took your mother's soul may still be in the material realm, or it could've been a higher-level opaque. These opaques don't stay in the material realm for long and would return to the underworld after a period of hunting," Edem explained. "To reach either of these places, we need access to the Crown."
"The Crown?" Zanetor raised an eyebrow.
"That's the highest plane on the mainland," Leticia chimed in with a serious expression. "Currently, we're in the central plane, and each of the four planes above is connected to this one. Beyond the fourth plane is the Crown, the Soul King's abode."
Edem clapped, "Exactly! So, there you have it, Zanetor."
The Shadow soul showed discomfort on his face, "So escaping battles is not an option? Isn't there any other way?"
"We wouldn't be here if there were other options," Edem leapt onto a boulder in front of them. "Remember when I explained Plane rotation to you? There are planes that are parallel to each other, and others around these parallel planes at different angles. The parallel planes make up the mainland, and the surrounding ones are its satellites, bound to it by the central plane. Do you understand?"
"You're saying that no matter what, if we were to try to get to any of the higher planes from these satellites… we'd still end up here?" Zanetor rubbed his chin. "How inconvenient."
"That's just the way things are here," the cloaked man smiled and then lifted Leticia over the boulder.
Zanetor leapt over the boulder and continued walking with the others. However, there was still a question lingering on his mind. Memories from the battle against Kekeli flooded his thoughts.
"I have another question," he muttered.
"Go ahead," Edem cheerfully laughed.
"Back then when I fought that spirit warrior," Zanetor briefly paused. "He said something about that black cat being his heart. I don't remember hearing about spirit entities being hearts."
"Oh! Yes, that was because Zozo and I knew that wasn't going to happen with you," the cloaked man raised a finger. "I guess this is the time to thoroughly talk about our enemies and how you should deal with them. You'll help me out as always, Leti."
Leticia smiled and nodded in agreement.
"You see…" Edem began. "There are three major types of Awakening: Soul Link, Soul Merge, and Soul Project. Some souls enter the spirit realm with spirit beasts already attached to them while they are alive. It could've been an appeal to 'gods' by the mortals or something like that. When that happens, the Spirit beast slowly takes on the role of that person's heart over time, and once they die, their soul core takes the form of that spirit beast, even though the mortal link has been cancelled. In some cases, these spirit beasts are actually pets that these souls had with them when they were alive."
"Pets?" Both of Zanetor's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Yes," Leticia answered. "If the bond between a pet and its owner is strong, a soul link is established, and this animal still follows the soul even after death, acting as its core. Once the soul attempts to awaken, both that soul and its soul beasts gain the ability to share an enormous pool of spirit energy. The soul becomes a container that accepts energy from the spirit beast."
"Incredible," Zanetor muttered. "So that's just how important that cat was in that battle?"
Leticia stared at the shadow soul with a slight uncertainty in her eyes. Somehow, seeing him so surprised by the common things of the Spirit realm made her heart flutter. It had been a long time since she saw such an expression, the one that expressed the fascination of experiencing something new.
Of course, many shadow souls never had the chance to set foot in the realm since they ceased to exist before entering the afterlife. Seeing Zanetor made her wonder if shadow souls were truly evil or not. The little girl clenched her fists. No, what was she thinking?
It was because of those shadow souls. They had caused her despair. While they might have started friendly, once the darkness took over, there was no coming back.
Leticia and Edem explained the other type of awakening, the Soul Merge, and they spoke extensively about it. Unfortunately, Zanetor struggled to keep up. Soul Project was the awakening he had undergone, and he had already learned about it, so there was no need. Soul Merge warriors seemed to awaken with the spirit energy in the atmosphere and gain the ability to manipulate the spirit realm's natural forces. Zanetor kept this simple explanation in mind as all three of them ventured out of the thick foliage.
Ahead of them stretched a cliff that extended far on both sides. Various trees were present on both sides, and a gentle stream flowed down between the cliffs. "We'll have to keep moving forward on the side of the cliff," Edem pointed to the horizon. "There should be a small town at the end of the valley. We'll stop there and rest up before continuing."
"Understood," Zanetor muttered.
"Uncle…" Leticia walked up to Edem and grabbed his cloak.
"Hmm?" He looked down for a moment and then smiled. "Is it that time already?"
The little girl nodded, her eyes heavy with sleep. The cloaked man gently carried her on his back, and before he knew it, she had fallen asleep.
"Huh? She fell asleep?" Zanetor turned to the two.
"Don't worry about it. She's just tired," Edem smirked and then continued his trek. "Now, let me brief you on our current obstacle, the Spirit Warrior Corps."
Zanetor wasn't entirely satisfied with his answer, and everything in him warned him about this particular person. However, he couldn't turn back now.
"The Spirit Warrior Corps, huh," his eyes turned stern. "True, I need to know all I can."
Edem nodded. "The Spirit Warrior Corps forms part of the Spirit Realm's official military body. Each warrior is divided into five ranks based on their roles. Rank one comprises those on guard duty, rank two consists of instructors in charge of scouting and training potential warriors. Rank three warriors perform realm-wide surveillance, rank four serves as assistants to rank five, who are second-in-command to the Blades."
"Blades?"
"Yes, the most powerful Spirit warriors. There are four of them, each based in one of the four planes."
"You mean the four planes above this one and before the Crown?"
"Exactly. I can't really tell you which one to be wary of, as their ranks aren't solely based on strength. However, you should avoid ranks 2, 4, and 5 completely. Rank 3 warriors don't often find themselves in cities, but we can't be sure."
Zanetor glanced at the stream beneath the cliff. "This is all a pain in the ass."
"Heh," Edem scoffed. "The Spirit Warriors in each rank also fall under specific categories based on their mode of awakening. Soul Merge warriors are known as Elementals, Soul Link warriors are Beast Tamers, and Soul Project warriors are Weapon Wielders."
The Shadow soul fell into an uncomfortable silence as they continued down the narrow path.
Edem smirked. "Don't worry, I'm obviously going to train you."
Zanetor then forced a smile as he turned to face Edem. "Of course."
That truly wasn't the cause of his unsettled state. Edem's strange behaviour had caused the hair on his skin to rise a few times, but the air around him this time was enough to push Zanetor to the edge. Everything about this mysterious person was just wrong—his confidence, his carefree nature—it was unnerving.
Zanetor clenched his fists and shook his head slightly. This wasn't the time to let doubt and uncertainty settle in. He was going to get stronger, surpass both Edem and his enemies, and only then would he be able to clearly decide how to deal with the cloaked man. That was what his mind was prompting him to do—well, probably…
