I had no real reason to help this boy I only just met.

But then, I had no real reason to help Princess Aire, back when we first met.

When I consider that time, Yenna’s words make sense. I did make strange promises, and pulled myself into a war I had no business in. All because I was interested in magic, and was overall bored.

That said, I doubt something like that will happen again.

As I follow this fellow, Auden, I take in the various scents in the air and note that he was retracing his steps.

If I had to guess, he and his sister were running away from someone, and his sister was captured or injured, and he had to leave her behind. He was probably too scared to turn back for her. So why did he turn back now?

A pretty girl’s face, perhaps?

I’m flattered.

But the boy is exhausted. He won’t make it like this.

So, I sped ahead of him, following the trail of his scent.

Luckily, his scent-trail was less than an hour old, and the boy didn’t seem that experienced in stealth, so I could easily just follow the physical trail he left behind, and use his scent to guide me along.

However, it wasn’t very long before I caught the smell of blood.

It’s wasn’t very strong, but it was hard to miss.

As a Fox Spirit, my sense of smell is much better than a human’s, but not quite as good as a hound, or even a real fox’s.

That said, the scent of blood—human blood at that—had some very serious implications.

And almost immediately after, I came upon a clearing in the woods.

It was a very unnatural clearing, with the trees twisted out of place, and blown apart. The ground was stained with blood, but there weren’t any bodies laying around.

What the hell did this?

Hey hey, I didn’t unwittingly agree to help a monster that could do this sort of thing, did I?

Or was the sister the one attacked by a monster?

Maybe she and her pursuers were attacked and eaten?

I doubt it, but it’s entirely possible.

On the other hand, Auden’s sister might be surprisingly powerful but was overwhelmed anyways, and the bodies were all taken away.

Just what I need. More scary as fuck women in my life.

Either way, I doubt the girl is in the best of shape. There’s a mix of different people’s blood here and there. She was likely outnumbered, and captured.

Killed? Possibly. But where’s the body?

Still, what kind of person could have caused this much carnage?

It’s possible that boy’s sister is some sort of trained martial artist that’s skilled with the use of their Spirit Force.

On the other hand, he may be a Fay of some sort. I didn’t spot any peculiar features on the boy, but there are plenty of Fay races without any strange outward features. On top of that, I’m not familiar with many of the races in the Eastern half of the continent, nor in the Southern continent, except for the most prominent ones.

I look around the carnage, taking note of how the trees seemed to have been blown away. It was like some sort of explosion occurred.

… Followed by an implosion.

I reach the epicenter of what was probably a very dangerous event just an hour ago. Trees are both torn outwards, and even pulled into the center.

—And then I spot it.

A hand.

I rush over to a fallen tree, and notice the person underneath. They’re not moving, but I don’t expect them to be.

The slow shallow breathing my ears barely pick up on, indicates that they’re out cold.

For a moment, it seemed like they were crushed under a tree, but the tree that fell on them was rather small, and light enough that even I could move it aside—though it likely knocked them out. I pulled the person onto their back, and rolled them onto a smooth patch of ground.

This person was probably Auden’s sister.

Just like her brother, she had an asian-like face and black hair.

Unlike her brother, she had a horn sticking out of her head.

A horn? Yes, a horn.

It protruded from just above her forehead, and pointed upwards. If she were to headbutt someone, it would absolutely ruin their day.

So, was she really a Fay?

Why didn’t her brother have a horn? Perhaps they’re half-siblings then? That seems to make sense, I think.

Still, horn or no horn, she’s a pretty girl. Not quite on Sentra’s level, but she has her charm.

I observed her body, and used the healing trinket to mend any of her minor wounds. She had a nasty gash on her leg, and while I could seal the wound, the tissue likely won’t reconnect properly, so I expect there to be some permanent damage.

Once I applied as much healing as I could, I decided to try to wake her, splashing water on her face, or shaking her shoulders. But she seemed content to ignore me.

“Wake up, you brat!” I said in hushed annoyance.

However she merely mumbled complaints in her sleep, as she rolled away from me.

…

I reached my hand forward, and grasped the girl’s horn. With the delicacy of a walrus, I yanked her head up, and shuck her around a bit. I figured if I spin her head a bit, she’ll wake up.

The girl was clearly annoyed and she groaned out sleepily with a frown.

“Staaahp…” she cried out, and weakly tried to slap my hand away.

So I complied, letting go of the protrusion. She was now seemingly awake, and holding onto her head, recovering from the shaking just now.

“So? You awake?” I asked, keeping my hands to myself.

However, she seemed to stiffen at my question, and slowly turned her gaze towards me. As our gazes met, I took note of her blue eyes—come to think of it, weren’t Auden’s eyes red? Even in this world, that sort of eye color is rare among humans, so I guess the two really are some sort of Fay? Well, it’s too late to say that now.

As she stared over at me, I gave the girl a warm smile, and asked, “So what’s your name?”

“I’m Elaze,” She said, as she tried to pull herself to her feet, but instead flinched in pain—the wound in her right leg made it painful for her to use.

“Careful. I couldn’t heal your leg properly,” I warn. “Mind if I call you Ela?”

“I do mind,” She said immediately, her gaze turning icy towards me.

“Aww, why?” I asked in a pout.

“Can you stop that?”

“Stop what?”—I tilted my head, curious about what bothered her. I didn’t think I did anything to offend her, did I?

However, she didn’t answer me, and merely huffed her breath, and turned away from me. I found that slightly annoying. In my 14 years of life in this world, not many people really treated me as someone not worth talking to. I’m pretty much regarded as a divine being, you know?

Does this girl not see the fox ears and tail? Or does she not care?

…

I’m not getting anywhere here.

As such, I pull myself to my feet, and extend a hand towards Elaze.

“Come on. Let’s go see your brother,” I said.

“My brother?” She asked, clearly surprised. “W-where is he?!” She asked, quickly grabbing my hand and yanking herself upright.

—If only I actually had the weight or strength to support both of us.

Her quick and rash actions had completely destroyed my balance, and I would have fallen forward, if instead Elaze didn’t come crashing into me instead.

Ela herself didn’t have any time to hold her balance, and her forward momentum sent her tipping forward… right over me.

—The result was that I ended up crushed beneath Ela.

Thankfully, she wasn’t very heavy, and our sizes weren’t very far apart. But what really annoyed me was…

“Guh… Now my dress is dirty,” I said, trying to push Elaze off of my body. However, she refused to get off, and instead grabbed hold of me even tighter.

“You mentioned my brother!” She said, a face of clear dedication filling my view. “Where is Auden?”

“... How about you get off, and I take you to him?” I asked, pushing her up and off of my body.

“Oh… Umm… Ok,” She said, suddenly becoming meek and obedient as she tried to hold herself back.

I managed to pull myself to my feet, and carefully pat down my green Yukata. Ah, damn, I also got some blood on it. Darn, that’s gonna be a pain to clean off later.

“Can you take me to see him, now?” The girl, Elaze asked again, clearly growing impatient as she watched me dust off my dress.

“You’re pretty demanding of a Spirit, for a little girl, aren’t you?”

“Spirit…” She murmured, as she looked me up and down. Did she not realize until now…?

“My mother always said Spirits were just idiots who let a little power go to their heads,” She spit out.

Oh this girl.

How adorably naive.

… I’ll discipline her later.

“Ow ow ow! Let go~!”

“Yes yes, you’re the one who wants to go see your brother. Shut up and deal with it!”

“H-hey?! Where did this horn come from?” She asked flabbergasted.

And so, I dragged the sister along by her horn to go see her precious brother.

Author Notes:

It's a shorter chapter than usual Only slightly though.

I think I like this chapter, but maybe not. My ability to "develop" and "flesh out" characters is in serious need of practice, so I hope that my character interactions don't come off as stale or boring.

As a note, "Elaze" would be pronounced Eh-La-Ze, as Azurian words/names are phonetic. So not like "Blaze" with an "E" at the start. Similarly, "Auden", is like Aw-den.

As always, Feedback and Suggestions are appreciated and encouraged. This includes honest opinions of what you think about the chapter/series, and ideas about how you think the story could progress.