Seeing Prina resting next to the tree over there makes me consider that she should probably work on how long she can last, especially since she tries to get faster than Abae, who by the way, surprise surprise is faster than any of us here. It shocks me that she was just fighting casually at that spar. She probably didn’t expect some of my tactics to affect her if I say so myself, but force isn't everything.

Before she does anything else I approach her and talk with her.

“How does it feel to be bested?”

“It’s fine, the adults always beat me when we’re training together. Besides, Prina has been trying her best to beat me in the first place.”

“You were doing it casually, look at it, you've never tried to take advantage from her in the first place.”

“I was trying to see how I fare against her to be honest, especially about what she is, I mean you know it right?”

“I do have my suspicions on her but I’d rather not address it to her unless she wants to share it with me.”

“So is your curse a secret to her as well?”

“Yea” I nod to her.

“In other news, how do I fare in the jobs we’ll take?”

“You’ll do fine normally but if we’re gonna take big jobs you’re gonna have to be a little more serious okay?” I pat her head. She seems to appreciate it, then she asks.

“I like that. Can you do that more to me?” She asks with puppy eyes.

“Sure whatever you need Abae.” I rub her head more as if I’m doing it with Arn although this time with more care than I should be. We continue like this for a while until Abae asks me.

“Hey Santi, since you’re older than me can I call you Brother Santi?” I freeze at that last word.

“How about no, as much as I appreciate it, I don’t think I don’t want to be called a brother for now.”

“Oh? I see, won’t ask any questions about that part.”

“Well you gotta get up, you still have more spars to deal with until Prina gets her energy back to cast her spell and fight you again.”

“Kk Santi.” She sighs for a bit until she says to me.

“Thank you for taking me in, Santi. It was worrying to know if you’re going to take me in the first place.”

“I don’t know, I may have a weakness against children.”

“Heheh who knows.”

“You should get some rest for now at least, I still need to know how Defari’s magic works so we could see how to use it in battle.”

“Yaaaay sleepy time.”

“If I were you I’d sleep on the bed or sofa somewhere in that house” I point to the house where Prina gets my stuff from that time.

“Thanks Santi.” She hugs me again like that time from earlier. Then she goes away into the house and probably rests on the sofa in the living room.

For now I should set up the targets for Abae to use later and probably wait for an hour or two. Still thinking about it maybe I should just let Abae take it easy for now, who knows a priestess duties may be more harsh than an ordinary deshar and this is a needed break or something. I mean why am I caring for her more than I should be?

Gotta train to get my mind off of things.

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

After training for a bit, I wake up Abae inside the house. Before I wake her up, she seems to be resting pretty well, especially since the way she sleeps is messy. It’s kinda cute when you see a kid doing it even if she’s a deshar in the first place.

Still it feels weird especially since there’s this thing nagging at me because of her presence. At one thing you’re looking at a cute thing then some part you realise that kid could kill you in a swing without batting an eye to you as she does so. I wake her up from her beauty sleep.

“Hey Abae get up, it’s time for some training.” She groans like a heavy sleeper and mumbles for a bit. I pressure her more.

“Abae you gotta get up, hey hey.” I do some pats on her face to try getting her up. She then opens her 3 eyes for a bit and gives a big yawn and stretches her limbs afterwards.

“Has it already been an hour, Santi?” She rubs her eyes for a bit and then continues.

“I thought I was sleeping more considering I was dreaming so nice since it’s a break from the usual.”

“You still gotta get up Abae.” She jumps off the sofa energetically and replies.

“So you wanna see how my magic works right?”

“Essentially yeah, I still don’t know how Defari’s or Shaarolun’s magic works.”

“That is true Defari is only worshipped by the deshar while Shaarolun is worshipped by the Iristika, but you don’t see them worshipping her openly.”

“It’s going to be my first time witnessing their magic actually.”

“It’s not that fancy, anyway I wanna show you his magic. It's exciting when you first see it.” She rushes out of the house, and then beckons me to come over.

I follow her with the same enthusiasm and go outside and see her already by the targets that I set up earlier. As excited as she is running about everywhere I’m trying to catch up as she keeps saying.

“Come on Santi, this is going to be exciting I promise.”

“Why are you excited for this whole thing anyway?” I ask her.

“I haven’t used magic for some time. My tribe keeps travelling to meet you so we haven't had the chance to practice it too much or test it out.”

“Well you can try it out right now to these targets right here.” Pointing at the targets.

“Okay then, now observe the powers of Defari.” Then suddenly something changed about her, her posture and the way she moves is different. It feels more mature than earlier and then she starts chanting.

“Defari, hear my call, as your daughter and your priestess. Show this one your power over death. Decay.” What happens is the target, which is made of hay, withers or in a more technically way, decays as her spell said.

The way I could describe it is that magic is one word. Terrifying. I’m wondering why these guys haven’t tried to take over the whole world yet. With magic like that and their bodies they have the capabilities to fight the strongest beings and win. I mean they can go against the Yemokan, those huge lizards that can even fly, and probably wipe them out.

“So what do you think about it Santi?”

“That is terrifying to look at.” I say to her with a slightly scared voice.

“Oh, I see so that how you see it.”

“Seriously how can you be excited by something like that?”

“Truth be told this spell can work on all things most of my spells can only work on living beings.”

“WHAT?” I shout to her, are there worse spells than these?!?!

“Okay quiet down for a moment Santi or else you’ll wake Prina up.” She says with a serious tone. I shut up and let her continue.

“Defari’s magic is dangerous as much as I was excited earlier, I can’t just use it willy nilly all the time. Defari is death itself, but his magic is more literal. See where I’m going here?” Oh right, I thought that his magic might be more on the mild side if you ask me but this yeah definitely fits the god of death. I nod to her in response.

“In short his magic is nothing to scoff at and should be used more sparingly. This is why my tribe is kinda glad that I’m another person that could use Shaarolun’s magic.”

“How does that even work in the first place then?”

“I think it’s better to show you instead.” She prepares again another spell.

“Shaarolun you who created life on this world and the creatures that roam it I ask you as nature’s mother show us your care for this world and revert them to their proper states. Revert decay.”

The target from its withering state goes back to the way it is with life and no creaks can be heard anymore from the legs. Abae then goes to me saying.

“Now this is what I like about magic actually. It’s actually mesmerizing seeing Shaarolun’s magic, something about life being created and rising from the ground and reverting decay seems fascinating to me.” She explains to me.

“At least I know some of your magic at least but one question before I wake Prina up from her sleep. What can you do with Defari’s magic?” She ponders for a moment and afterwards she says to me.

“That would be instantly killing them on the spot and turning them to dust simple as that.”

“Now that is more terrifying.” I commented. She then says.

“But. You’ll be hit with the drawbacks if you don’t at least say 10 verses of prayer, especially more if you’re targeting more living beings. And we’re the exceptions to that rule.”

“Remind not to go against one of your kind then.”

“Yeah well it’s not like you’re gonna meet one of us in combat in the first place.”

“Hahah right right.” I sigh for a bit and say to Abae.

“I gotta wake up Prina, you're both sparring until the sun sets.”

“Okay will prepare myself for that.” She says with enthusiasm.

I go to where Prina is. And looking at her properly, her face, there’s something beautiful about it like maybe about the fact that she’ll have that for a long time combined with that red hair of hers even though she doesn’t show it when we’re in town. Stop it Santi, don’t fall in love with her. Can’t risk getting hurt again after all those people that have to leave.

I don’t blame them for leaving if you ask me, they have their own things to deal with and I may have a disagreement with others. Still I’m not sure if I’m ready for her to leave yet.

“Hey Santi are you waking up Prina yet? I’m getting excited over her waiting for you to wake her up.” Abae calls over to me, jolting me from my mind blank.

I pat Prina the same way I patted Abae to wake her up.

“Get up Prina, your rest time is over. Get up get up.” I say to her.

She opens her eyes immediately and says.

“Oh break time’s over?”

“Yeah so get up there and spar with Abae, she’s excited to go at it again.” She gets up from the tree and stretches a bit before saying.

“Let’s see how I do again with my full strength.”

“I doubt Abae is going to be light on you this time.”

“I’ll just make sure I’ll make her work for it then.”

We go to where Abae is waiting for us. Afterwards they start getting in the mood for the spar and wait for me. I say what I said earlier.

“Same rules, magic is fair game and injuries are okay. As long as the person has fallen to the ground or gets unconscious the spar ends.” They both wait for the signal as I finally said.

“Start.”

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

After several sparrings against each other they’re both lying down on the ground. It’s already sunset and the aftermath well let’s just say they almost wrecked the whole place due to the sheer strength of those two. Several cracks on the floor, the ruined buildings became more ruined I mean why do you destroy this sacred place of mine.

It’s my fault in the first place of not stopping them properly from time to time. Good news is we can still use this place and the camouflage from the Zokun will still work. The bad news however is that this place is well messy compared to when we got here in the afternoon.

You got some wrecked trees, wrecked buildings and the targets that I paid for to set up got messed up along the way. It’s like all the effort I put into this training ground went to waste this afternoon.

At least the sparring this round ended quite peacefully. Right now they’re probably talking to each other having fun. At least they bonded well over the course of many sparrings. I go over to them and tell them.

“Okay that’s it, that’s the last spar we’ll have for today. Get up both of you.” They both raise their hands to be picked up and I respond in kind.

“I feel so SOREE” Prina complains.

“You’d really had to keep up with did you?” Abae replies.

“I do wanna brag the fact that I can keep up with a deshar well at least with us together.”

“You got beat by a kid several times, a kid that is 12 year old in fact.”

“That is still a deshar case in point.”

Their bantering continues on and on until I put a stop to it.

“Girls girls, Prina and Abae you’re taking time bantering here. It’s already sunset.” I point to the sun giving off the orange glow. I continue.

“It’s best to prepare for tomorrow but I need to get Abae to come with me.”

“Why?” Prina asks me.

“Oh right you didn’t know yet but Abae’s presence scare people, maybe a whole lot and it can attract unwanted attention.”

“Is that the weird feeling that’s been bothering me?”

“Probably yeah.” Abae replies to her.

“It’s best if she comes with me my place doesn’t have that many people and she probably won’t bother the innkeeper and other patrons.”

“That reminds me, where do you even live Santi, for all those 3 months I know for a fact that you don’t live in the residential district.” Prina asks

“Oh I actually live around this area. And Abae is going to live with me for the meantime until we can figure out a proper place for her.”

“If you don’t mind can I see your place Santi? It’s about time you introduced me to your place.”

I ponder about it. I mean it’s 3 months right? Surely it must be natural after some time at least although I wouldn’t like it if she visited me everyday there or something. What’s the harm right?”

“Yeah sure sure there’s no harm for you to know where I live anyway.” I confidently say.

“It might be best to get going, the Zokun are swarming the place when it’s night time and it’s worse that you can’t see them that well at least for me.”

“But Lontihol can help you with that right?”

“Yeah but normally a person can’t, we’re just the exceptions to that. Just clean up over there and we’ll go as soon as we can.”

After a bit of time cleaning of our mess making sure there’s still a bit of daylight left. It’s a short trip from here anyway, maybe about 15 minutes or so. Once we finish I call over to them to follow me. While traveling along the road I say a few guidelines for the inn I’m staying in.

“Girls, when you get to this inn, don’t question anyone or anything inside that building. If you need anything from the innkeeper just ask for the menu and he’ll show it to you. Don’t pick anything that isn’t in the menu no matter what. He doesn’t play favorites, remember that.”

“What’s with all the rules?” Abae asked me.

“Well the inn let’s say it’s for people that don't prefer too much fame.”

“Soooo no one searching for you and such?”

“Kinda yeah. I use it for other purposes though.”

“Such as?”

“Well it’s not time for you to learn that Abae. I’ll tell you why in a few weeks once you get used to the inn. But for now remember the rules. Don’t ask anything or anyone at all. Got that you two?”

They both nod at me.

“Good we’re almost near to the inn right now.”

At first glance the inn looks like a decrepit building, not one sign that anyone is using it at all. As soon as we get inside there are a few people inside there hanging around including the bartender. They look at us for a moment and go back to what they’re doing inside. We approach the bartender and I say to him.

“I need the menu.”

The bartender nods for a bit and gives me a book. I search for the services I need, the ones named as dinner and a new room. I point it to those and he understands what I need.

“Now let’s go up to my room and wait for the food upstairs.” I say to my companions.

We go up the stairs from the dining area and proceed to go into the hallway. My room is located at the far end of the hallway and that should give us enough privacy. We enter the room with my companions and Abae immediately goes for the bed saying.

“It’s been awhile since I laid down on a bed like this.”

“Are you sure? it feels like an ordinary bed for me.” Prina says.

“Travelling in the wilderness does make you sleep on the ground most of the time even if we do have mats for it. It feels normal for me though so these beds are kind of a luxury.”

Prina shrugs and says.

“Makes sense.”

“It might be better to wait here anyway. Wouldn’t want any shady guys looking at you while we’re eating dinner.” I say to them.

“They don’t look that dangerous to me.” Abae says to me.

“You can’t be too careful Abae, who knows they might have a spell to surprise you or something.”

“Fineeee.”

“Well either way you’re getting your own room Abae, you would like that right?”

“I don’t know sometimes I get scared when I’m alone in the dark.”

“Really? For a powerful being like you it’s not like anything can defeat you.”

“You don’t know the things I can see Santi. Sometimes spirits come by to me and ask for purification and such, and sometimes they scare me out of nowhere just for them to get out a laugh.”

“You’re a priestess of Defari, I thought that was part of the job.”

“And I hate doing that job for like, everyday. There’s always a stray spirit that comes to me at one point in the day.”

“Okay then if you get a visit in your sleep you can go to my room and I’ll do what I can.”

“Really?” Abae asks me with her cute eyes.

“Yeah don’t worry I’ll try my best to help you.”

“Yaayy.” She gets out of the bed and hugs me as tight as she could.

I look at Prina for a bit and observe how she’s taking the place. It seems that she feels homey; she seems to treat it already like her own house with the way she’s seating. She then finally says.

“Hey Santi how come you never let me come to your place in the first place during these 3 months?”

I ponder for an excuse and say to her.

“I was just uhh you know it’s not proper time yet for you to know this place.”

“And Abae does?”

“Abae is a special case.” Don’t put more bullshit to her please.

“Anyway when is our food coming in?”

“Just give it maybe 30 minutes or so the bartender will deliver it to us here.”

“Oh okay then Imma check out your window spot here.” She goes to the window and looks outside. I’ll let her be there for a moment and deal with Abae for a moment.

“So Abae you want anything for breakfast tomorrow?” Abae lets go of me to think. She then replies.

“I don’t know actually, my tribe only eats the meat and some berries for some time so I think I might rely on you on that one Santi.” She goes back to my bed and lies down

“Still one more question.”

“Yes?”

“Are you sure, you’re really up for living with me for a while? Because I’m pretty sure this lifestyle of mine greatly varies from yours. And don’t you feel like wanting to go back to your parents or something?”

“It’s fine I just want to get away from them for a while. They have always been nagging at me ever since I was born. So I appreciate the break from them.”

“Okay then Abae then one last thing before anything else. Be a good kid for me while you stay with me.” Her eyes light up and she replies.

“Don’t worry I will Santi.” She gives me a smile as lies back down on my bed.

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

The food has already been delivered to us and we’re already eating in my room. Luckily the table and seats in my room are enough for the 3 of us here. We have been conversing for awhile here starting with the 2 in front of me with Abae asking Prina.

“Prina how are you able to cast magic while we’re fighting in the first place?”

“Santi taught me how to do that.” She looks at me and then asks.

“Then Santi, teach me how to cast my spells then.” I reply back to her

“Well first off you need to know the spell you’re going to use and practice chanting the prayer. Then while practicing the chanting you need to be doing something else as well such as swinging that scythe of yours or running.”

“So like doing two things at once?”

“Yeah essentially but more effort than that like three or four things at once. But I’m not sure that’s a good idea since your magic is more destructive than what most people use.”

“It’ll be fineeee.” Abae says nonchalantly while eating.

“By the way Santi when have you been living here?” Prina asks me.

“I think it was around 8 years ago, probably when I was 14 years old.” I answer her.

“Wait when did you even start as a mercenary?”

“I started around 12 years old and that’s the last question about me for today Prina.” I warn her.

“Woah okay 10 years of working as a mercenary huh.” Prina sighs.

“It’s not that bad of a lifestyle if you ask me, most mercenaries retire from their jobs once they hit around halfway through their lifespan, just don’t get cocky on the jobs and you’ll be fine.”

We go back to eating until we finish dinner. As we are cleaning up the dishes and preparing for them to be taken by the bartender, Prina says goodbye to us.

“Anyway Santi thanks for the dinner and everything that happened today.”

“No problem Prina, it’s time for you to know where I live anyway.”

“Goodnight Santi, we’ll meet tomorrow mid morning right?” She asks.

“Yeah yeah we’ll take our first job with Abae tomorrow, meet up at the guild as always.”

“Okay then thanks for tonight.” She goes out of the door and on her way back to her home. Turning to Abae I say to her.

“Well then Abae, it’s just you and me for now, you want anything while we wait for the keys to your room?”

“Bedtime story?” She says

“I guess I could tell you a story about this one Von named Dikaetu. It might be best to tell you the story while you lie down there on the bed. You might fall asleep or something.”

She immediately goes to the bed and hugs the covers already. She looks at me waiting for me to tell the story as I start the story.

“Now there’s this one Quaraman named Dikaetu. He lived back in the days when we still use Stones and wood as our weapons. In his own tribe it was said that he was the weakest of them all. He was just a normal Quaraman doing his duty to his tribe. He might be considered the weakest but his heart was the strongest of them all due to his compassion to others and his kindness. His days continue on until one day, he was bestowed a blessing from the gods.” Abae stares at me as I continue the story.

The story continues that Dikaetu was blessed by the gods because of his heart, and he was able to become the strongest of the tribe. Although due to how he is, he only used his fists when fighting and limited his magic usage to avoid killing people until necessary.

He then became engaged to the tribe chief’s daughter and went on to become the chief of the tribe. At one point the tribe faced a disaster from one of the gods due to them attacking a tribe affiliated with Shaarolun. This disaster consists of them not able to gather food and other things they need from nature.

Naturally Dikaetu seeked to find an answer and appease Shaarolun. Shaarolun gave him 3 tasks, the first is to tame the legendary eagle known as the Vinalon known to be as big as a Yemokan and deadly as well. The 2nd is to plant a seed that she had given to him and place it in a desert far away from his home but the seed is so tiny and its needs are specific. Then the last will be to travel her to one of her temples in the northern part of the continent and clear the place of Zokun and unwanted Von inside the place.

The first task, to tame the Vinalon, is a hard task for Dikaetu due to it being an eagle and being able to travel long distances no problem. Luckily for Dikaetu when he was chasing the Vinalon, the eagle was laying an egg and taking care of it. Dikaetu took advantage of this and approached the eagle as if trying to appease it in the first place.

He never intended to harm the Vinalon to tame it, he just wanted a chance to communicate with it and gain its friendship rather than subduing it. Gaining the opportunity to approach the eagle and speak to it, he’d talk to it everyday while the Vinalon is taking care of its egg. The Vinalon understood Dikaetu’s words and saw his genuine actions towards it. He lends his aid on the condition the Dikaetu helps him take care of the egg until it hatches.

Dikaetu does this with utmost care such as when he took care of the kids back in his tribe when most of the men are either hunting or doing other things and when the women are unable to handle the workload of their duties. Although the egg he’s taking care of is different than the usual, he is still able to know what to do. Many days were spent taking care of the egg, soothing it with heat and care from the Vinalon.

Since the Vinalon was big, it needs to eat large amounts of food to restore its energy and needs to leave its place finding food and making sure he doesn’t take too much in one area. These are the days when Dikaetu does his hardest taking care of the egg as several Zokun tried to get the egg for themselves. Sometimes it took a week of him battling the Zokun in order to protect the egg.

It was around this part of the story that Abae is sleeping on the bed comfortably. I hear a knock from the door. In front of my door is the bartender waiting for me patiently. Opening the door he hands me Abae’s key and points to the door next to me. He then gets the dishes I left on the table and leaves quietly.

As much as I want to leave Abae here sleeping I prefer if she sleeps on her own bed. I take her off my bed and carry her on my arms. Looking at her properly it feels like she’s resting peacefully like my siblings back when…….. I should move on and put her in the bed at this point.

I get out of the room holding her and the key in my hands. I open the door which the bartender points to earlier. The room so far is similar to mine with how the furniture is placed and its atmosphere as well.

Walking to the bed I drop her and tuck her inside the sheets and make sure that she is comfortable with how she is sleeping. Despite being a deshar, she still feels like a kid underneath that. I tell Arn.

“Arn can you protect Abae here and lock the door?”

“Yeah for sure Santi.”

“I’ll leave it to you then.” I exit her room and go back to my own room and rest on my bed to end the day.