Spirits

The street was busy. Busy and loud. But there were stalls up until the horizon, filled with people to the brim. Nobody really looked poor. Maybe not all of them looked particularly wealthy, but they looked well off. Most of the families gathered around food stalls and the ones that had basic living utensils. While the food did look different from what Aurelis was used to, they still looked like they fit the basic categories. But there were other stalls that he was more interested in. He saw a few big men surround a stall, where he saw something that amazed him. He squeezed between the men and looked at the desk. Metals in different colors, stones in different forms and sizes. Crystaline fangs that covered half the table alone and on the other side… There were burning feathers.

“What are you going to get, boss?” one of the big men said. He looked at a young woman that was at most half his size.

“All of it,” she said. Then she looked up to the merchant. “How much is it?”

“Let’s see,” he said and mustered his goods. “One gold coin and ten silvers. The wares are extremely rare, you know.”

The young woman huffed. “Greedy old man. I will give you one gold coin. That is all we have now.”

One gold coin was all they had? As a whole group of people and adventurers at that? They did not seem like a random group as well, but a bigger one.

The merchant giggled. “Happy to do business with you.”

She tossed him the gold coin. “All because of that damn oni girl.”

“Couldn’t we have gotten the spirit weapons instead, boss?”

“With what money? Let’s bring those materials to the blacksmith, so we have some weapons and armour again. We still have a favour open with him. The quality of the materials is high enough that we can go to find spirits by ourselves.”

Aurelis turned his head almost immediately. Spirit weapons? That could have been the glowing weapons which he saw from the window. Aurelis wanted to ask her about it but surrounded by the big guys and considering her mood, he did not particularly want to annoy her. He looked at another stall besides him. There was a mirror standing on the table, reflecting his own looks at him. His eyes widened. Aurelis still recognized himself, even though he looked younger. He estimated his age to be 22 years at best. The more relieved he was that he kept the same slim facial features and his bright smile, as those were the only things, that he was ever complimented on. One thing that stood out though was his eye colour. It shimmered in a hazel tone. As he focussed on his eyes, he started to feel dizzy. Like through a flash, his image in the mirror flickered. His eyes turned pitch black, leaving only the iris in white. A sharp headache paralyzed him. He wanted to look away, but he couldn’t. Only the shout of a young woman snapped him out of it. “Burglar on the run!”

Aurelis turned around. A man stormed towards him. “Out of the way!” the man screamed. But Aurelis had no time to react, as the man already was right in front of him. He ran straight into Aurelis, causing them both to fall to the ground. A golden glowing whip shot towards that man, wrapping around him and squeezing him thin.

“Thank you for getting him,” a woman said. She reached down to Aurelis, lending him a hand, still holding the whip in the other one. Her armour glowed in a white tone, while the whips golden aura matched her blonde hair. She appeared to be a woman in her late twenties. At least Aurelis would not dare to guess her age to be over thirty. “Could you please join me to the guard station? I must file a report to the capital. As you were affected by the crime, you will be compensated.”

Compensation, because he was ran into? Aurelis still had difficulties gaging how much his gold coins were worth, even though he felt like he was extravagantly rich. He did not feel like he needed more money, but that woman had the glow on her armour and weapon, so he saw the opportunity to find out more.

“Please move out of the way, everyone!” she shouted, as there were lots of curious eyes on them. They silently went down the street for a few minutes, passing a few gates at the border wall, which all were guarded by at least two people each that wielded a weapon which glowed.

Aurelis gazed at the whip that wrapped around the man. Even though it seemed to be tight, Aurelis could clearly see that it was not tight enough to hurt the man. Considering how easy the guard dragged the man behind her, she could hurt him if she wanted to. The whip really intrigued him. While he was not sure whether this was the right moment, he still wanted to ask. “That is a spirit weapon, right? Your whip, I mean.”

The guard smiled. “Yes, it is! I got it when I became a guard. As all the other guards did, too! You can call me Amalia. I’m the head guard of this cute border town.”

Head guard? That sounded important. Did that mean that she was the strongest here?

“I’m Aurelis. I just arrived in this city.”

“I’m so sorry!” Amalia said. “Being ran into by a criminal is not quite the warm welcome.”

The burglar that Amalia dragged behind her grunted, trying to say something, but as the whip covered even his mouth, there was no chance for words to come out.

Aurelis sighed. “It was warmer than the goodbye I had at the old place. Not that it matters anymore. But I’m curious. What is the difference between a spirit weapon and one without it?” Aurelis was dying to know.

Amalia pulled up her whip. “You don’t know that? Are you from a small village in which they don’t use spirits?” She rolled the whip up and held it in front of Aurelis. “Take it into your hand. You will feel it immediately.”

“Can I?!”

Amalia nodded.

She really must have trusted him. Aurelis hesitated at first but then reached out to it. A warm feeling shot through his arms into his body. The aura of the spirit pulsated within him. He felt as if he had a second heartbeat.

“That was a much warmer welcome, wasn’t it?” Amalia smiled.

“That was amazing!” Aurelis said. He returned the whip back to her. “Are they only used with weapons?”

“Weapons and armour mostly,” she said. “But they can essentially bind to any object.”

“Any object? So, there could be one hiding in a table as well?”

Amalia laughed. “Even in a stone! But they are generally easy to spot, considering they always leak an aura. At least most of them. There are some stronger ones, which are more difficult to find. That’s why my whip and armour are glowing, they are not the strongest.”

That made sense. Even though Aurelis did not particularly see the reason for spirits to be in tables or stones. But he wanted to know more about their history. “They are still amazing to me! Were spirits always used as weapons?”

Amalia halted. She nodded. “Exactly. Nowadays we guards use them, to defend the borders from demons and in case crimes happen. Adventurers use them for battles against demons and to clear dungeons. Well. And in the war against demis.”

Aurelis noticed Amalia gritting her teeth. Just like Segard, she was clearly in discomfort talking about it. It seemed to be a general thing. While he wanted to know what those demis were, Aurelis decided to change the topic. There was one final question he had for her, that he wanted to ask anyways. “Is there the possibility that I can find my own spirit weapons?”

Amalia smiled mildly, looking at her whip. “The easiest way is to buy them from merchants. If you have money, that is. They can also be found in the empty plane, outside in dungeons mostly. The king sends out adventurers to gather them all the time. But to leave the borders, being part of the merchant’s guild or the adventurer’s guild –“ Amalia halted.

Spirits were outside in the empty plane! But they were found in dungeons mostly. Did that mean that there were demons guarding them?

Amalia frantically scanned the area. “Where is he?!” He? Who? Aurelis just remembered – the whip held the burglar captive. At least until Amalia gave it to him. They completely forgot him! Aurelis looked around. There was no sign of the man. He was far gone.

“I’m sorry Aurelis! I will have to find him. One of the noble seven will be coming soon, I can’t have a criminal get away. Not in my area of responsibility!”

She ran off before Aurelis could say anything. He just waved after her awkwardly. But there was something else at the top of his mind already anyways. Spirits. He was able find them. Outside, in the empty plane. Aurelis went back to the market to gather supplies. He was sure of it. Still on that day, he wanted to enter the empty planes.