Kapitel 13: The Archaic Soul

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POV: Astaros

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A massive rolling plains. No sun, no trees nor life of any form. The wind blew and carried a strange energy, flowing past me and bending the long tall grass and reeds. I turned around and saw a small hill, a tree billowed in the winds standing tall and proud atop it. Val Systin sat below the tree, looking at me. I began to walk towards it, the grass wavering beside me and flattening under my feet. I splashed forward in the low water hidden beneath the tall reeds. As I reached the foot of the tree Val came and greeted me. I stroked his cool soft fur and then passed him, stepping up to the tall trunk of the willow tree. Gnarled roots permeated the ground offering no stable footing. I put out my hand and touched the rough, elderly bark which seemed to have resisted the annals of time. This tree was extremely old. No it wasn't just old, it was the same age as me.

"This is me. This is my soul scape isn't it." {Astaros}

A zephyr whistled in my ear blowing curiosity into my mind. These winds carried my emotions and thoughts. This entire place is a reflection of my ideal self and this elderly tree was me. I turned and sat, Val curling up beside me as I rested my hand upon his back. He had formed a soul link with me in such a short time. Him and Lupus being pack alphas meant they each had elemental abilities but Val Systin just seemed to resonate with me much more than Lupus. He, in such a short time had become family. In my soul scape here we were brothers.

This truly was my home.

…

I awoke a little after that and now had an understanding of myself that I didn't before. I touched the dirt and sifted the granules which then blew away in the winds. The wolves began to rise around me and then Val Systin using his dark element came out of my shadow as Lupus rose and trotted over.

I looked around and my eyes settled on a small island in the middle of the lake. I would most definitely come back here and make this place my home.

After coming to that conclusion I turned and began to walk back with the wolves following in a disorderly blob. As I began to speed up Val, being lazy, simply leaped into my shadow and became the man-less head again. It was not as funny as the first time I saw it but more than enough to be amusing.

We made it back as the sun began to set on the city and go down below the tree line, while we came out of the forest and into view of the city. Using my new Soul Link to Val Systin I explained to the pack my ground rules with him acting as my translator.

"No. 1 No eating any of the sentient races unless in self defense. No. 2 don't bother with things more powerful than yourself just because I am backing you, I will sit and watch the lot of you get slaughtered out of spite. No. 3 stay out of the city unless I bring you in. Lastly No. 4 my judgment is final on everything. I am your leader and you will treat me as such. That's all for now. Everything here is death penalty worthy and I may not be the one to carry it out if you do something like 2 or 4. Val, did they get all of that?" {Astaros}

"Woof" {Val}

"Good, Lupus is in charge till I get back so go hunt some monsters or something, Val, get in my shadow you're coming with me." {Astaros}

I then activated concealment and jumped the wall with my wind element. I then landed on the edge of the Commerce district. I looked around. Normally I jumped into the Residential district so I never really got a chance to see the edge of this district fully. The Hollow, Dryis's inn was also near the guild so I really hadn't gotten to see the more popular shops of the city besides when I when I first did reconnaissance.

After I went to the guild library I would come back here. I walked through the city under the evening sunlight. Something about the people of this world was slightly different from the medieval ages I remembered. They had a hop in their step. There was hope in their eyes. Children played in the streets and the common man seemed to not fear his neighbor. They had a sense of modernity that the dark times had never had. A child ran headlong into me looking up in surprise at my wavering transparent figure. I patted his head, gave him a copper coin and then walked past him as he looked up in awe. This city was not a bad place.

…

After walking for a little bit I finally reached the guild. It was still rowdy even this late at night the sounds of a bard and cheering signifying their intensity. Walking in I passed by the dining area as Adventurers shared stories and discussed plans for tomorrow. I then slinked past the front desk disturbing not a single soul as I headed to the library.

The guild was a large place and thus had many floors. The library was on the second floor and had a permanent librarian. She was a mage. I think. She had an odd type of mana. It wasn't like Dryis who had a more pure mana but not like the convoluted and twisted mana that allowed Fillia to hide her appearance. It seemed disconnected and volatile. That's enough about her. What I need to do now is look into the current societies and their geography. I walked into the tall two floor room and walked past the librarian's desk. A blonde haired teen walked around putting away and sorting books.

I went to the back and began looking for some maps. I spotted a bunch of cubbies and pulled out one of the newer looking scrolls before hopping atop one of the shelves.

It would be annoying if the girl saw one of the scrolls floating and called the in the librarian. Besides, the library is supposed to be closed as no candles are allowed here. This means once it becomes 9 o'clock there really isn't any point in coming unless you have a light element to charge the magic lanterns and according to Fillia, light users were rare.

I sat down and opened the scroll to the sight of a large continent with a couple of notes written on it. Due to how new it was; it had barely begun to yellow. I looked at the map. It was a singular continent divided into several pieces with a small compass rose in the corner and the beginning of an island at the bottom. It seems that the large island was unfinished. To the west was the kingdom of Avalria to the south the empire of Thacion and in the middle was the Republic of Vritu. So the elves were a republic, humanity a kingdom and the beast-men were an empire. I wonder if they have a lion for an emperor. That would be funny. To the east was the demon lord's domain; Daithrus. Between Daithrus and Thacion there were two other smaller nations. Adelaide and Zlatania. I and the damage core recognized neither so the records of the dominant race there must be in a book somewhere else. In the north there is the mountain wall which protects the continents from the freezing storms of the arctic formations that covered this worlds northern pole. Both the dwarves and dragons lived here with the Dwarves living in a mountain city called Cazhim and the dragons simply living where they wanted. The angels however were hard to find and harder to keep track of due to the nature of their floating islands. Only the dragons kept constant contact.

I rolled up the scroll after reading the notes. I was in between Thacion and Alvaria in the border town of Elden. Thanks to this scroll I now knew where I was and under whose jurisdiction was the land I walked. I am just barely inside Alvarian borders. Now to find some books about recent history.

'This is a adventurers library so they might not have any though' {Astaros}

I began to walk through the library till I rounded the corner and smacked into the little girl who fell over. Instantly I squatted down and covered her mouth. She was wearing a white tunic and a leather overcoat While long long brown pants that covered her legs. She almost looked like a boy.

"Be very quiet and I will let you go okay? Nod if you agree." {Astaros}

She nodded. So I let her go and stood up. She looked and tried to decide if she could run. I then decloaked and the flight option in her eyes disappeared instantly.

"Th-the S-silver Fenrir" {Library Hand}

She then fell to her knees and began to cry.

"Am I gonna die, fueeh" {Library Hand}

"No your not just tell me where the history books are" {Astaros}

'Also isn't Fue a Japanese thing?' {Astaros}

She stopped crying and looked up, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"You're not going to kill me?"

I knelt down and took off my helmet looking her in the eyes, my silver eyes locking with her red ones as I placed a hand on her head. She looked at me with surprise, her face heating up from the distance between us.

"I will not harm you so please just tell me where the history books are." {Astaros}

"T-two shelves down" {Library Hand}

I stood up and reached out my hand to help her up.

"Thanks uh, what's you're name?" {Astaros}

She wiped her eyes again and took my hand pulling herself up then touching her chest.

"My name is Christine and it's a pleasure to meet you." {Christine}

I rubbed the back of my head. This could have ended a lot worse if she had been a little less afraid of me.

"Thank you Christine I will pay you back for what happened today" {Astaros}

She giggled before looking to say something but Astaros was nowhere to be found.

She looked around to find the handsome armored man but then she heard a voice in her ear.

"Please don't tell anyone what you saw today." {Astaros}

She shuddered then nodded again and turned around, her face heating up. But there was no one there. The moonlight began to shine through the small glass windows.

Yet it felt as though she had been embraced by the sun itself.