Koren: Level 1, Harmonization: None, Elemental Power: [Wind(10), Earth(3), Water(3), Fire(3)]

“Level 1, I’m only Level 1” said Koren as he was staring at his own information on the display.

“What is elemental power, why are all the elements there. Grandpa said a person can only be accepted by one type of elemental spirit.” Koren mumbled as he turned towards the sand beast again. “If I can use all the elements then this means I have something no one else does” said Koren as he glared in the direction of the charging beast. “But I don’t know how to use them, I barely know how to use wind.” said Koren as he placed all of his concentration on his wind powers. The display, which had been pretty static, started to change. The numbers on the elements all started to go towards wind.

Koren: Level 1, Harmonization: None, Elemental Power: [Wind(19), Earth(0), Water(0), Fire(0)]

“What!” Koren screamed as he saw the change, he could feel his power intensify. The sand around Koren started to retreat, and his body, which had already disappeared in the sand, suddenly appeared above it. The sand beast, which was preparing to attack was caught off guard.

Koren jumped higher, and kicked the air under his feet to stay in the sky. “I’m flying, I’m actually flying” said Koren with manic laughter.

Koren looked at his display and the wind bar had become 17. “I need to end this NOW!” shouted Koren as he concentrated wind behind him, and his body hurled towards the beast like a lance. The beast had already lost all patience for his foe, and it also lunged forward. Koren made a fist towards the beast “Die!!” yelled Koren as he felt his fist connect. He saw his fist hit the monster, and then blast through it directly, leaving a huge hole in its skull.

The beast, having lost all of its ferocity, slumped and fell on the sand, its body started to harden before turning into sand.

Koren noticed a small earthen yellow shard left behind by the beast. “This must be a spiritual shard. Father had one, but that was of a level 4 sand beast, this one is Level 9 with a harmonization of 3.”said Koren as he picked it up and held it in his hand.

All Of A Sudden, Koren started to get that slithering feeling again, and he was right. He heard the voice again

‘…beep…threat eliminated…Guardian Armor retreating…beep…Body modification initiated… Network link established…beep’

Once again he felt as if something was taking control of him. He started to get smaller, the Armor turned into a liquid again and was absorbed into his body. He was standing in the chilling desert, covered in tattered robes, but he did not feel cold at all.

“So much has happened, and I can’t explain any of it, but one thing that hasn’t changed is my destination” said Koren as he looked south.

On a cliff overlooking a haze of fire and smoke stood a scaled creature. This creature had beautiful gem like angular scales on almost every part of its body. Its eyes were dark red with slits like that of a snake. It had two horns protruding from its forehead, it stood on two legs and had a heavy long tail . This was a Draconian.

The Draconian was wearing Golden Scaled Armor with the insignia of a Feathered Snake devouring its tail. Such an Armor could only be worn by royalty.

Another draconian approached from behind, his Armor was silver but it shared the same insignia.

“My Prince, reports from the Goliath desert have arrived” said the approaching draconian soldier.

The Draconian prince had a glimmer in his eyes, he stared at the soldier before saying “Tell me, did they find it.”

“No, my Prince. They attacked the human village, but the artefact was not there. They only had 3 Spiritualists, 1 was hit by commander Uther’s dark flame, but managed to flee. However it won’t matter as human bodies are too weak to withstand Draconian Gifts. He should be dead already, the other two fought the battalion, but were quickly subdued and captured.” Said the silver armored soldier.

“They were interrogated by the commander, but they did not have any valuable knowledge. It seems that the information we received was false my Prince.” Said the soldier with some fear in his voice.

The Draconian prince stood still as he heard the report, by the time the soldier had finished, he had a fire in his eyes. His tail quickly swung and stabbed the soldier in the chest before he could even react.

“My, my prince…” said the soldier as his body turned into ice before shattering only leaving behind the glistening silver Armor with a hole in the middle.

“Useless fools, I am surrounded by them” said the draconian prince as he jumped off the cliff, with the wind on his feet.

Koren had walked south for hours, he had already crossed the dunes and was now in the desert grasslands, which meant that there was an oasis nearby.

He kept walking until he finally saw a giant figure in the distance surrounded by a group of tents. This was not a village, but a sand ship and a temporary encampment surrounding an oasis. In the desert, humans often relocate near an oasis, but not too close as any attackers would know their location . Also, an oasis was just too valuable for any fights to break out near it, often it had to be shared between smaller villages, as water was the most important resource in the desert.

Koren’s eyes were already beginning to close, he was at his limit, but that could not curb his excitement. He was extremely hungry and thirsty, his water and food had run out long ago, he used the last vestiges of strength remaining in his body to sprint towards the oasis.

Little Enri was very happy. Just a few weeks ago she found out that she was an earth spiritualist when she accidentally destroyed a wall while angry at her brothers. Her father, who should have been furious, was instead extremely happy. Enri had become the first spiritualist in her family.

Her father who was a blacksmith, was so proud of her that he organized a feast for the entire family. Her mother was the village healer, she was also happy for Enri, as a spiritualist is better equipped to protect themselves and others. Today she had come to the oasis with her mother. It was her job to help her mother and the aunties carry as much water as possible back to the village. She was joined by other children her age, but she was the only spiritualist in her generation. She helped everyone by filling wooden buckets with water and then carrying them towards the ship.

She was very excited, as after she gets back to the village, the chief will personally come to teach her. In her excitement, she forgot that she was carrying buckets filled with precious water and almost fell. “Boss, you need to be careful, the adults will scold you again if you drop the water” Said a boy following behind Enri. “Don’t worry Ugo, I am an Earth Spiritualist now, no one can scold me anymore, haha haha.” Laughed Enri in her pixie voice while looking at the older boy.

Enri was 8 years old, and Ugo was already 10. Even before she became a spiritualist, Enri was a strong girl. She would often order her older brothers around, and even made them call her boss. Eventually, this became her nickname, however, the other kids still didn’t take her seriously. All that changed when they heard about how she broke a hole through a wall and buried her brothers in the sand till only their heads were sticking out.

Suddenly, Enri saw something in the distance. She wasn’t sure, but it could be a sand beast. It was unusual to see a sand beast this near an oasis. She dropped the buckets, and quickly ran towards her mother, the other kids were confused but continued heading in the direction of the ship. Enri reached her mother and told her everything. Her mother looked in the direction Enri pointed out and then told the accompanying spiritualist.

The spiritualist immediately ordered everyone to gather near the oasis. The sand beasts tend to avoid the oasis as the water makes them uncomfortable. After making sure everyone was safe the spiritualist sprinted towards the direction indicated.

Enri, who was safely in her mother’s lap, was expecting a big battle. Uncle Sappa was a level 4 earth spiritualist, he was very strong and handsome, at least that’s what the aunties all said. She was disappointed to see uncle Sappa quickly return, but she noticed that he was carrying something.

“Quick, hand me some water” said Sappa as he approached the crowd of women near the oasis.

Enri’s mother handed him a bucket. Everyone was surprised to find that Sappa, was carrying a young boy of at least Enri’s age, in his arms.

Sappa grabbed the bucket and gather some water in his wrist before giving some to the boy. The young boy was unconscious, and couldn’t drink the water himself. Sappa cupped the water in his palms and helped the boy drink. His breath, which was scruffy, calmed after being given some water.

“Sappa, who is this boy and where did he come from” said Enri’s mother as she started to inspect Koren.

“I’m not sure Lady Zena, he’s certainly not from our village. Perhaps one of the villages nearby, our oasis is shared among 3 villages. Perhaps he got lost.” Said Sappa with a worried look on his face.

“Sappa, your hiding something. Tell me what you know”. Said Enri’s mother ‘Zena’ who was called Lady due to her status as a village healer.

“My lady this is something we can discuss later, right now can you tell if the boy will be fine. I believe we should quickly go back to the village.” Said Sappa with a serious look on his face.

Zena stopped pushing for more information, and continued to check up on Koren. Little Enri was also looking at the boy who was found all alone in the desert, she wondered if he was a desert shapeshifter. Her big brothers always tried to scare her with stories of the desert shapeshifter's and how they ate little girls who don’t listen to their brothers.

“He’s going to be fine, he’s just dehydrated. If we make it back to the village I can try to use some herbs to help him wake up, and then perhaps he can tell us more of where he came from.” Said Zena with her hand on Koren’s forehead.

“I understand Lady Zena.” Said Sappa while looking at the boys tatted robes, he took off his shawl and covered the boy with it. Fifteen minutes later everyone was onboard the massive sand ship, ready for the journey back towards the village.

As the sand boat sailed across the dunes, little Enri, who would usually be staring at uncle Sappa while he manipulated the sand, was helping her mother in taking care of the boy they found. Enri couldn’t help but look at the unconscious boy’s fluffy cheeks. “Enri, I need talk with Sappa, look after him for a while.” Said Enri’s mother as she stepped out of the little room and headed towards the upper deck.

Enri continued to put wet pieces of cloth on the boys head like her mother had done before. Suddenly the boy opened his eyes and looked straight at Enri, his round golden pupils studying her face.