“So big sis, how do we leave this place, I’m almost out of earth element spiritual power.” Koren asked Hope as he looked at his own stats.

Name: Koren

Spiritual Path: Level 5(23%) {Realm: Spirit}

Human Path: Level ?? {Realm: ??}

Harmonization: None

Elemental Power: 7 (Interchangeable)

“Don’t worry Koren, the Armor has enough power to get you out, it’s been purifying all the shards we collected so far.” replied Hope.

“The plasma repulsors should get you up to the tunnel ceiling, and we can blast our way up from the gap you left when coming down. The sand and soil should be softer there.” Hope continued as Koren rushed back to where he fought the Sand Serpent.

After running for a few minutes they were finally back.

“I can see it, that should be where we fell from” said Koren as he pointed at the small gap in the solid tunnel ceiling.

“Yep, now fire up those bad boys so we can get out of here.” Said Hope, her attention on Koren’s back.

Koren found the Armor’s Flight menu, and activated the plasma Repulsor jets.

Koren felt his whole Armor bulk up, the servos in his wrists made a jerking sound and a small glowing triangle appeared. Angular Jets popped out of his back, perfectly moulded into the Armor.

Koren could see the location of all the repulsors oh his Armor from his display, he felt confused immediately on how to fly. “Big sis, this all seems too complicated. I cant use any of…” said Koren but before he could finish Hope intervened.

“I’m already on it kid.” Said Hope with a small grin.

Koren felt a rush of information in his head, he closed his eyes and nodded towards Hope. “Thank you big sis” said Koren as the network piled all the flight information into his head.

“So the jets on the back are for propulsion and the smaller ones are for course correction.” Said Koren, genuinely impressed at the armours flight capabilities.

“Yep, the Armor was designed for outer space combat, so its flight function have been tuned for that environment, but that doesn’t mean it won’t function here as well.” Said Hope in an informative tone.

“OK big sis, Here goes nothing.” said Koren as he activated the Repulsor jets

‘Buzz’

The jets powered up and lifted Koren up with ease. 15 Kino’s that were following Koren around, helping him by lighting up the tunnels, converged on him and got absorbed by the Armor.

“Lets go.” Said Koren, as the jets fired at capacity and the Armor burst through the ceiling.

************

“It seems like no one noticed you were gone. If they knew, the whole village would be up, searching for you.” Said Hope as Koren approached the village wall.

“Shush, Big sis your being too loud.” Said Koren as he deactivated the Armor, sending it back into his body. “Only you can hear me genius. Seriously Koren, does the Armor take away your brain cells as well.” Said Hope, loudly.

“Sorry big sis, I keep forgetting.” Said Koren as he used wind to jump over the wall, silently landing on the other side.

Koren made his way toward the twins tent, he made sure to avoid any village sentry’s using wind to distract them. The sentry’s were only ordinary warriors not spiritualists, it was easy for Koren to sneak in and out.

“There it is, wait, some one’s there.” Said Hope as she spotted someone close to the twins tent.

“Oh, its Enri, it seems she got up early, and then came here to call for you. Go ahead, just tell her you went out for a walk.” Said Hope as she winked toward Koren.

Koren nodded his head side to side. “No big sis, it’s too dangerous, I can’t explain where I was if she tells someone, as no one saw me walking around.” Said Koren.

Koren silently approached the tent, and just as Enri was about to go in, he used his wind to send a gust of sand at her.

“eeehh” yipped Enri as she turned around and ran back to her tent.

“Oh you scared her Koren, how mean.’ Said Hope as Koren took advantage of the situation and rushed into the tent, he looked down to find the twins still laid out snoring freely. Koren put his bag away and got in his mattress.

“big sis, I should be tired, but I feel really energetic, why is that.” Asked Koren as he noticed he didn’t really feel like sleeping.

“The Armor keeps you in perfect shape while you wear it, you wont feel sleepy for at least 20 hours from when you last wore it.” Replied Hope.

“Doesn’t that mean I would never have to sleep.” Said Koren.

“Not really, the Armor can only do this for 5 days till your mind starts to break apart, REM sleep is very important for all living creatures” said Hope, stressing the danger of staying awake.

“oh, she’s back. This little girl doesn’t give up.” Said Hope as she looked at the entrance.

“It’s safe now, I will go out and greet her” said Koren as he got up and went towards the tents entrance.

************

Enri, was having a bad day, she got up early and decided to wake up Koren and ask him to help her train, but just as she was about to open the tent, the strangest thing happened. A miniature sand tornado appeared out of nowhere, and frightened her to tears.

She thought it was the work of one of those shape shifters her brothers always told her about. She ran back to her tent, and got one of her moms staffs. She went back to her brothers tent, with the staff tightly gripped in her hands. She held the staff up, ready to pounce on any shape shifter that dared to scare her.

As she approached the tent, she heard some thing from her back, she turned around to find it was nothing, just some wind.

“Enri.” Said a voice from her behind.

Enri, who was already scared and palpitating to begin with, shrieked and swung the staff back.

************

Koren jumped to the side as the Earth Spike almost made contact with his right leg.

“Ah, I almost had you” Said Haruki as he rushed towards Koren with his fists rolled back, ready to attack. “No, senior brother. I have you.” Said Koren as the earth under him rose up into a pillar, propelling him in the air.

Koren flipped in the air and touched down on the other side of Haruki. He stanced himself like a solid rock with his arms on either side and thumped the ground with his foot.

The ground around Haruki rose in response to Koren’s gesture, he didn’t even have the opportunity to see Koren touch down on the other side, the match was over.

Ahh, how come you got so good so quickly.” Mumbled Haruki, unable to move as his whole body was encapsulated in soil, only his neck and head visible.

“It’s not just him getting better, it’s you slacking off and getting worse.” Said Chief Ipnak, standing a few meters away with Enri.

“If you practice more, you will easily beat Koren, in fact you might even surpass me in no time. But at your current pace, even Enri might overtake you soon.” Said the Village chief as he patted Enri’s head.

Normally Enri would be incensed at being patted down like a child, but her eyes were stuck on Koren, and the bandage he wore on his head.

Koren relaxed his posture and the earth around Haruki turned soft, allowing him to free himself.

“That was a good match senior brother, you have made a lot of improvement.” Said Koren as he approached Haruki with a smile.

“See, Koren has the right idea. Old man you don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m golden.” Said Haruki, dusting his clothes off.

“Koren, your technique was very good, but you need to be quick on your feet. If you had not jumped in time, Haruki would have made contact and you would have lost.” Said Chief Ipnak.

“Yes teacher.” Muttered Koren with a light bow.

“Now I have to go and make some arrangements for the migration, you three stay here and continue your training.” Said Chief Ipnak as he got up to leave.

“Also Koren, you should be careful with self-training, I don’t want you to hurt yourself again” said the chief pointing at the bandage on Koren’s head.

Enri’s face went pale when she heard the chiefs remark, but Koren kept his cool and simply nodded. “Yes teacher” said Koren.

Koren and Haruki approached Enri after Ipnak left to take care of village matters.

“I’m really sorry brother Koren, I didn’t mean to hit you, it was an accident” said Enri, as she had in the morning multiple times.

Koren rubbed his head, and took the bandage off. “Its fine Enri, I know you wouldn’t hit me intentionally. Look I’m all better now, I don’t even need the bandage.” Said Koren with a smile.

“Oh, did the little pipsqueak smack you Koren, I knew it. Kaph tells me of her demonic powers all the time.” Said Haruki as he took out a bun from his bag, and started eating it.