Rise of the Elements

It had been a few days since the Light Lighthouse had been activated. The people who were displaced by the Light Lighthouse’s activation had been safely returned to their homes. The Druids had also resumed their mission to create a perfect copy of the Light Gem to replace the one Sylph had stolen. The Shadokor had also continued their project to destroy the original Light Gem that was now in Infinator’s clutches to prevent him from using it to his advantage. Things were peaceful at the moment.

Celtic and his party were out on a guild quest for a nearby village. They were tasked with slaying some monsters that had been harassing the village. The monster horde consisted of primate-like creatures called Goremates, anthropomorphic lizards called Lizard Brutes, and man-eating plant-like creatures called Jawchids. As the party tore through the monsters, little did they know that something was watching them.

Perched on a tree branch just above them was a small creature. It had a somewhat pear-shaped body, being decently bottom-heavy, dark purple in color, with short kangaroo-like legs and long feet, a large feather-shaped tail, medium-sized bird wings, a light blue bullet -shaped head with a large cockatoo -like crest , and big pupil-less jade green eyes. As it watched the Shroud Hero’s party take down the monsters , it kept its eyes on Celtic in particular, seemingly interested in the redhead. After the last monster was slayed, Celtic and his party took a moment to celebrate and rest while Celtic took a few samples from the monsters for his Shroud. It was then the creature made its move. Quickly and quietly it zipped over to the party who were completely unaware of it, slipped underneath the Shroud and sat on the top of Celtic’s Tek-Pak before curling up and closing its eyes to nap. Still unaware of the hitchhiker, the party collected some of the more valuable items from the monsters, such as the Lizard Brute’s swords and shields before returning to the village, carting some of the monster carcasses with them. The villagers greeted them warmly as they did.

The village leader smiled, “Thank you, noble Shroud Hero. You took care of those nasty monsters that have been attacking our shipments of crops. We’re collecting your reward as we speak, so please be patient while we gather it up. We’ll take the bodies of those monsters off your hands, as we have plans for them. Men, please take those monsters from the Shroud Hero’s party and cart them off to harvest parts from.”

Several men walked over and took the downed monsters from the party, eagerly dragging them off to harvest components for their needs. A few minutes later a village woman handed over a pouch of coins to Celtic.

“As promised : 200 silver,” she said with a smile. “Thank you again, noble Shroud Hero.”

Celtic took the pouch of coins before turning to Skye, “Okay, we’re done here. Skye, please take us back to Delgunner’s capital.”

Skye smiled, “No problem. Warp.”

The party vanished from the area before reappearing in front of Delgunner’s gates. The guards greeted them warmly as they entered the city, heading toward the guild. When they got there the guild staff looked at them and smiled.

“Ah, Sir Shroud Hero!” the man at the counter said. “I take it you took care of those Lizard Brutes and their monster buddies then?”

Celtic nodded, “Yes, they’ve been dealt with. The job is complete.”

“Excellent! That’s another job that we can cross off. Let me get your payment.” He walked into the back room before returning with a pouch of coins, “Here you go. 2,000 silvers as promised. We’ll call you again whenever another job comes in. Thank you again.”

Celtic took the pouch of coins and returned to his party. As they walked down the street they suddenly heard a strange noise , making them stop . It sounded like the whistling of a flute.

“Tell me I’m not the only one hearing that noise,” Celtic said.

Skye’s ears were twitching, “No, we hear it, too. And it sounds close.”

Zuzu then noticed something, “Am I having a moment or is there something underneath your Shroud? I see a strange lump on your back, just above where your Tek-Pak rests on your back. Looks like we have a hitchhiker.”

Everyone looked at where Zuzu was pointing, showing that there was a small lump underneath the Shroud, rising and lowering in a steady rhythm , giving off the whistling noise. Skye approached Celtic and gently lifted the Shroud up, revealing the napping creature, her eyes going wide.

“C-Cel…” she stuttered. “I… I think that’s a Spiria!”

Everyone except Celtic gasped at Skye’s statement, much to the redhead’s confusion.

“What’s a Spiria?” he asked.

“Spiria are an ancient race of beings that are composed of elemental energies. They are, in essence, living elemental energy. Spiria were a huge deal way back in the day, a nd if someone had bonded with one, their power grew tremendously. They said that whoever has a Spiria could lay waste to an army of 100 enemies in one swoop. They’re just that powerful.”

Viola scratched her chin, “Are we certain it’s a Spiria?”

Skye gently scooped up the sleeping creature and showed it to everyone. Leon took a closer look as she did.

“By the Pit, it is a Spiria!” he sputtered.

Rupert scratched his head, “Yeah, but… didn’t the Spiria go extinct during the Great Demon War?”

Zuzu replied, “That’s what the history books state, anyway. However… I wonder… maybe the Spiria didn’t go extinct and instead went into a deep hibernation?”

Tyroe looked confused, “Maybe. But, if that’s true, then why has one appeared all of a sudden? What’s so different about now than before? ”

Suddenly, it all dawned on them at once.

“The Light Lighthouse!” they exclaimed.

Leon’s eyes went wide, “Of course! The Light Lighthouse was recently ‘activated’! If Zuzu is correct, then the sudden surge of elemental energy must’ve woken the Spiria up from their long slumber! It’s the only thing that has happened recently outside of Infinator’s waves!”

Viola nodded, “Yeah, and it makes perfect sense. Spiria are living elemental energy beings, so they would most definitely react to a sudden increase of elemental energy in the world. Which means that, because the Light Lighthouse was activated, the Spiria are returning to the world.”

Skye’s ears suddenly dropped, “Uh-oh, that’s both a good and bad thing. I just realized something. As I said, even just having one Spiria is enough to empower a person to enormous levels. If our enemies like Sylph realize this, she, and the rest of Infinator’s faction, could start hunting down Spiria to bolster their chances at winning the war! It could end up creating an arms race, as even just a single Spiria could tip the scales into either side’s favor.”

Zuzu nodded, “Yeah, that’s a good point. And knowing Sylph she will not pass up on a chance to further empower herself. She’s already a juggernaut on her own. If she got ahold of even just one Spiria it could be more than enough to steamroll any force that tries to oppose Infinator, even us. Which means we need to either keep Infinator’s forces from learning about the Spiria or at least keep any Spiria away from them.”

Celtic shook his head, “Easier said than done. Still… at the same time, if we bond with Spiria, it can also bolster our chances at winning the war. That’s an advantage we cannot pass up on, either.” He then said silently , look ing at the sleeping Spiria, “Besides… I’d hate to see a cute creature like this in the claws of Sylph. It’s… absolutely precious.”

It was at this time the Spiria was starting to awaken, much to everyone’s surprise. It opened its big eyes, made a noise like a yawn, stretched its wings and tail , and looked around at the party. It then looked at Celtic and immediately started to wag its feather-shaped tail like a dog, hopping up and down in Skye’s hands . It then jumped out of Skye’s hands and flew around Celtic’s head happily before landing on his right shoulder. Celtic hesitated at first before he gently stroked it under the chin, which made the Spiria even happier, wagging its tail even harder and giving a coo-like purr. Celtic gave a small smile as it did.

“I guess I have a new friend now,” he said.

Suddenly, the Spiria turned into a ball of energy and fused with him, much to his alarm. As it did, however, Celtic noticed his stats on his stat vision suddenly jump a good 50%. He could also see what looked like a pop-up screen appear in his stat vision that told him about the Spiria inside of him, his eyes widening as he read the information.

“Woah! You weren’t kidding, Skye. This Spiria just boosted all my stats by 50%! And I even have some sort of pop-up in my stat vision that’s telling me about this Spiria. Says it’s a Wind Spiria named Gust and its special ability is to create a healing wind that restores the Hit Points and Magic Points of all party members by 50%. I guess that means it’s a support-based ability.”

Skye nodded, “Yeah, from what I’ve studied about Spiria, they each have their own ability that they grant to the person they’ve bonded with. They can be broken down into offensive, defensive , and support abilities. Also, just like the Ice Empress, Spiria can defend themselves by using any and all elemental attacks of their respective element, so they’re not defenseless on their own. But, wow, we found a Spiria. We’d better report this to King Alvin, as this is major news.”

Everyone nodded and quickly made their way back to the castle. To their luck, King Alvin was with his family alongside King Duskbane, as they were discussing about what Infinator’s next move would be. They were surprised to see the Shroud Hero party suddenly run up to them.

“Woah, where’s the fire?” King Duskbane stated. “You seven are sure in a hurry. What’s going on?”

Leon stated, “Your Majesties, we’ve just made a major discovery. One that could completely change the outcome of the war. We’ve discovered, or rather rediscovered, the ancient race of Spiria.”

The various royal family members suddenly went silent, eyes wide, mouths agape, completely stunned.

“Y-You’re kidding me,” King Alvin sputtered. “The Spiria have returned?!”

Queen Amelia looked confused, “But… didn’t they go extinct during the Great Demon War?”

Viola replied, “Zuzu came up with an interesting theory. They didn’t go extinct but rather returned to the planet and went into a deep hibernation. Because the Light Lighthouse was recently activated, the sudden surge of elemental energy woke them up and they’re slowly coming out of the woodwork. A Wind Spiria named Gust took a liking to Celtic and hitched a ride with us back to Delgunner after we completed our most recent guild job. It has since bonded with Celtic, boosting his stats and giving him a new ability.”

King Duskbane looked stunned, “Is that true, Avalar? You rediscovered the ancient race of Spiria today?”

Celtic sighed, “I didn’t ‘rediscover’ it. Like Viola said, one just happened to be nearby and took a liking to me. It hitched a ride without us even knowing it was there until it started… I guess you could say snoring. Otherwise I would’ve never noticed the little critter until much later.”

King Alvin looked eager, “Please, Avalar, show us this Spiria!”

“Okay… I just hope I know how to do this. Let’s try this…” H e held out his metal palm and stated, “Gust, come forth…?”

A small sphere of energy suddenly formed in his palm, floated around for a bit before landing in front of Celtic, returning to solid form. Gust looked around before looking up at Celtic endearingly, wagging its tail as it did. The royals present jumped to their feet.

“By the Pit, it IS a Spiria!” King Duskbane sputtered.

Gust got startled by the sudden motion and quickly flew up to Celtic’s shoulder, slightly hiding behind his head, clearly unsure of what was going on. Celtic gently stroked it’s head with his normal hand, making Gust calm down. The royals were slack-jawed at the sight of the Spiria as it gently nuzzled Celtic’s hand.

King Alvin looked at Celtic with wide eyes, “Avalar, do you realize what this means? The Spiria have returned after their 2,500 - year absence! This is a major discovery! This means that other Spiria could be roaming around as well! We must try to track them down before Infinator’s faction does, as even just one Spiria could very easily tip the scales into either side’s favor! I never thought I’d see the day when the Spiria would return. This discovery could completely change the war we’re in.”

Rupert nodded, “Yeah, and that’s both a good thing and a bad one. With the Spiria returning it could very easily turn this war into an arms race, as this is an opportunity that neither side can afford to pass up on.”

Tyroe then gained a worried expression, “I also worry if some of the other nations take this opportunity to try to climb the royal pecking order by gathering Spiria . That might cause a problem if that happens.”

King Duskbane nodded, “Yes, that’s a very good point, Sir Tyroe. While most of the nations, barring those backstabbing Light Elves, have been rather content with how the royal ranking system is now, I can see that some of the more malcontents might take this as a chance to up their status. Still, at the same time, the other nations need to know about this, as the Spiria are a massive deal. Even if it causes some of the other nations t o get ambitious, they are still our allies in this fight against Infinator, so they have the right to know. But you do bring up a very good point. We’ll have to keep an eye on that so it doesn’t cause our side to fracture at an inconvenient time. But, still, this is a golden opportunity for us to bolster our forces against Infinator’s faction and help tip the war into our favor. We must act now and see if we can locate more Spiria before Sylph or any other member of Infinator’s side discover their reemergence. While I doubt we can keep this quiet from Infinator’s forces for long, it might give us just enough time to gather some Spiria before his next wave. Every advantage counts, especially since Infinator now has the original Light Gem, though we do have plans for it. Keep your eyes peeled for anymore Spiria, as even just one can make or break the war.”

Skye smiled as she looked at Gust, “Well, Gust, looks like you may have become one of our trump cards. And maybe we can find some more friends for you in the process. ”

Gust wagged its tail as it heard that, saying something in an unknown language that sounded like chirps, warbles, and clicks. Celtic’s eyes widened as he heard this.

“W-Wait!” he sputtered. “I… I just understood what Gust said. But… I’ve never heard of that language before, so how could I understand what it said?”

Zuzu suggested, “Maybe because you bonded with it? Maybe when someone bonds with a Spiria you gain the ability to understand their native language? Just a possibility.”

Leon nodded, “I agree, as it does makes sense. Looks like the activation of the Light Lighthouse is already having an impact on the planet due to the Spiria returning. This can very easily make or break the war, so we need to work fast.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, knowing that the war’s stakes just increased drastically.

Next Chapter: Flight of the Spiria