Damian continued to move towards the tower, only to be stopped by an invisible wall.

“What?” He looked around for a way in but stopped when a teacher appeared in front of him.

“Congratulations on winning the tournament. But now it’s time to evacuate. This country is no longer safe.”

Asela looked around in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“War has arrived earlier than it was supposed to. You all are some of the most vulnerable and our top priority.” The teacher stated. “Get to the auditorium as soon as you can. I’ll look for any more stragglers.”

“Yes sir!” Damian replied as he carried Nico to where the others were gathered.

Damian looked up at the sky as a black cloud was headed their way, and he got the feeling that being here when it arrived would be dangerous.

Kyrion didn’t open his eyes when he woke up, mainly because he felt movement. More than likely, someone was carrying him. He could hear multiple footsteps behind him. Other people were being carried as well. The smell of a storm was coming, and he had no intention of walking. Kyrion hadn’t been this exhausted sincere woke up from the coma. What’s with my luck, he thought.

They ran for a while before slowing to a stop in response to a familiar voice.

“Kyrion!” Said a squeaky voice. “Wura! Over here!”

Kyrion peeked open an eye confirming that it was Asela. He then looked to those who were escorting him. He could see the girl they were fighting and Wura but no Edwin. Which was odd to him.

Suspicion mixed with anger then crept in, and he asked his escort in a tired voice. “What happened to Edwin?”

“He wasn’t there. When we arrived only the three of you were in the tower.” They replied.

Kyrion was dropped off as his escort rushed off to look for others.

He clicked his tongue. No more free rides. He struggled to stand as lethargy passed through him. Finally, he entered his center and saw that it was almost invisible. Like a grain of sand in the middle of an ocean. Or a needle in a haystack, finding those had always been fun. Kyrion then forgot why he was here, to begin with, and held the side of his head.

“Whelp. Looks fine. But I’ll have to ask a teacher later.” He said to no one in particular.

Damian picked Kyrion up as well. “Well we need to find Noah and the others first. Then find the profesor. We need to get far away from this place.”

.

“What? What’s going on?” Kyrion asked.

“I’ll fill you in on the way.” He said stoically.

Kyrion and the others were now waiting for their turn to pass through the gate. Nico was still unconscious and carried over Damian’s shoulder like a log.

“What’s with this country and taking kids from their homes and forcing them to learn how to fight?” Kyrion asked absentmindedly.

“Practicality, when, the path to becoming a spirit master needs to start at a young age. As progression is much easier at those points in life. Not everyone is suited for this life and though it may be more dangerous, the rewards are worth it. Longer life, a chance at power, and the potential to gain lots of money. Don’t you have a goal or dream? Why else would you come here?” Damian rattled off.

“My dad said to come here for health reasons. Now I’d say I want to see the world. Maybe hunt down some treasures why I’m at it.” Kyrion remembered that he had to retrieve a few items for that weird spirit. Those would probably count as treasure.

“Like a pirate?” Kiara butted in.

“No? Maybe? What’s a pirate exactly?” Kyrion asked.

“So you don’t know. Then I shouldn’t tell you.” Kiara stated.

“Booo…” Kyrion responded.

“You’re going to need to get plenty strong then. Treasure hunting takes a lot of research, preparation, and ability. Lots of hard work, I would have thought finding a city where you can work as a paid healer doing minimal work was your thing.” Damian grinned as Kyrions eyes went wide.

“That’s an option? I can just set up a shack in a back alley and heal people for money?”

“Yes? Though healers are welcome in most places, not sure if you should be in a back alley though.” Everest replied. “You’d likely get taken into a mafia or other crime syndicate. At least as you are now.”

“I see, no back alley healing then.” Kyrion nodded.

Wura looked at their tailor friend. “How would you know all this?”

“Ah, well you see...?” Everest started as he was interrupted.

“Next group!” Said their transport.

“Let’s go, we probably shouldn’t keep them waiting!”

Everest was halfway through the gate when a rock from the sky the size of a town could be seen coming their way.

“Hurry through!” Damian ran through the gate, and his groupmates followed.

Soon after, a massive clamoring towards the gates as stragglers began to arrive, primarily teachers, carrying students who couldn’t make it on their own.

Kyrion tripped and fell on his face after passing through the gate, his nose a bit busted. “My, dose!” He cried while standing up.

“Not pretty…” Asela winced.

“You should probably fix that.” Everest stated.

“Ahe would tha. Buh ahe cann.” Kyrion tried to respond. His worry grew as he thought to himself. I can’t heal my nose. Why can’t I heal my nose? I need to get some help.

“His brain is scrambled!” Asela stated in mock distress.

“All be bac.” Kyrion stated while holding onto his nose.

His groupmates gave him a thumbs-up, and he ran off.

Kyrion began looking for the nurse. His nose was killing him, and his head was swimming. The blood felt hot in the sun and began to dry and crack. He kept walking towards the medic tents when he overheard some loud voices.

“Some of Limguards southern border villages have alrady been destroyed in the invasion. Fields were razed, and there are few survivors. It seems they are using scorched earth tactics.” Said a dim voice.

“It’s only a matter of time before that kingdom falls.Though burning fields that would soon be yours sounds counter intuitive.” Replied a husky voice.

Kyrion stopped moving and put his back to one of the tents listening intently.

“Well it can’t be helped, the self proclaimed, Beast Lord, was the one leading the charge. Not that conquering a few weaker nations counts as a true empire.” The first stated matter of factly.

“That is how empires start you dolt… Anyhow, it’s probably best if they are deposed sooner rather than later. They broke all kinds of treaties with that assault. If a royal survived then it’s possible for them to demand a rite of challenge, to take back their unfairly lost land.” The second bopped his friend’s head with a chop.

“That’s true, but….” The group suddenly goes out of earshot, and Kyrion peeps around the corner. Making eye contact with a smirking brown-haired individual. The duo then turned around and left the area.

“Huh. Something tells me following them isn’t a good idea” Kyrion looked down, noticing a pool of blood, and continued towards the medical tents for help, seeing that quite a few had been set up.

A nurse was going between a few tents holding some sort of basket of supplies. She seemed to be in a hurry.

“Excuse me? I need nurse.” Kyrion approached.

“Wow. What happened to you?”

“Nose broke, nurse needed.” He rephrased, mimicking the face he saw his youngest sister make when she wanted something.

“I see. Well come along. I have to get back to work right after.” She eyed the boy who was putting on a puppy dog face. The blood made it look rather macabre.

“Thanks miss…” Kyrion began to say, realizing that he, in fact, did not know this lady. Oh well, there are lots of people here Kyrion didn’t know.

The two made it to a larger tent with similarly dressed people going in and out with haste. Most carried various medical supplies to and fro.

Kyrion timidly walked up to the flap. His head was a bit foggy as he examined the locked structure. There was something about it, how can you have a locked door without a doorknob. He began feeling for the knob, but the door just slid from his grasp.

“Uh… Wh’erss da door gnop?” He asked one of the four nurses behind them. Or was it five? Was that nurse a quintuplet? A family of quintuplets working in one field spread all over. That sounds like a good idea.

The nurse watched as Kyrion pawed at the tent from over six feet away before the boy spun around and began pointing at a tree to her right. Speaking to it as though it was her. She grabbed his wrist and pulled the boy into the tent.

Kyrion passed through the soft wall and into a weird colorful room. He looked around to the rainbows that somehow made it indoors. A horse with a horn that resembled a cream-filled baguette danced past his vision. Kyrion began to follow the horse that started to jump over the rainbows. His body had never felt so light though he wasn’t going anywhere for some odd reason.

“Kyrion? Are you doing ok?” A familiar voice asked.

“Bagueticornslookdelicious,” he responded incoherently.

“I see. Place him above the floor right there I’ll have a quick look at him. You’re clear to get back to work.” The voice said.

“I will take my leave then miss.” The woman who brought Kyrion there stated as she complied.

“Uh… Miss Nurse lady, I think I broke my nose.” Kyrion said to a brown teddy bear with a stethoscope.” Am I gonna die?” He shook it for answers. Before he knew it, he was on his back, suspended mid-air. Various people surrounded him as everything went black.

Kyrion woke after an unknown amount of time with a splitting headache. He saw the familiar nurse. “What happened?”

“Your spirit was broken, which means you were facing backlash from one of your manifested spirits being destroyed. You won’t be able to use mana normally for a few days. Good news is you’re clear to start pushing towards four. Your core has become so small I have to strain my senses to find it. Bad news is you can’t use any mana until you reach rank four, expect lots of physical training and boring meditation.” The nurse said.

“Uh? Nurse lady, what is your name?” There was now more than one nurse lady, he had to assign her one, or he’d mix people up.

“You may call me Ms.Trice.” She answered.

“Mistress?” Kyrion asked, confused.

“No. Trice is my family name. Ms. or Mrs. if that makes it easier. Anyhow, for the next few days, you will have some heavy surveillance and have a minor concussion. Had you been in your normal state, a fall like that shouldn’t hurt? Your endurance is lowered by a majority when your spirit is broken. A good night’s rest will do you good.

“Fine…” Kyrion went back to sleep. The day was much longer than he thought it would be.

The world was bright when he woke up, his nose dry and clean. No more blood was coming out. But his head still hurt quite a bit; he needed some water. Kyrion sat up on the cot and made his way out of the tent he was sleeping in.

“I don’t remember. Where am I?” Kyrion looked around, seeing the area they made it to had been hit by a tornado. Scars shaped the earth in odd ways, and mountains in the distance seem to look much different now than they did before. Seven ice towers rose in the space surrounding the entire area with a thin film of power.

Kyrion found the tent where Ms.Trice was earlier and entered. The nurse looked more tired now than she was earlier. “Ummm… Sorry to bother you but. Do you know where any water is? Also what happened while I was out?”

The nurse produced a decanter and a cup. Pouring a clear liquid into it that looked a lot like water. Though something about it felt off. “Something feels off about that water.” He stated.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“It doesn’t feel like that’s what I need. But I do feel rather parched. It’s weird.” Kyrion scratched his head. His hair was becoming a mess today.

“Just drink the water then. I’ll take a look at your core if you think that will help.”

The nurse pulled out an odd pair of glasses that had twisty and turny knobs at the end that the nurse adjusted a few times.

“Stay still sweetie.” She said.

Kyrion stopped fidgeting and waited. He began to count but got bored after hitting fifteen. He drank more water and then looked around a little as the nurse started to scowl.

“Try meditation Kyrion, hold it for a few seconds.” She ordered.

Kyrion practiced his compression. Pulling mana from outside to push down onto his core. But, oddly enough, I couldn’t get the mana to go in like it would usually.

The nurse scrunched her face. “Looks like you may need some actual medicine.”

“What’s wrong doc?” Kyrion asked.

“Your body seems to be feening for mana the first sign of moving towards rank four. Until the metamorphosis is complete you can’t absorb mana and you can’t use it. The duration differs by person but the longest documentation of this stage has been ten years. While the shortest a few hours. Master Gan, will need to update his training program, it seems.”

Kyrion pouted and crossed his arms, standing stock still. “And here I thought I was free. Gotta train even when I can’t use magic.” Kyrion shivered a bit which reminded him of the ice. “What happened out there?”

“As for the stuff outside. Monsters and enemy spirit masters managed to find a way here. They are gone now and won’t be coming back. Lots has happened while you’ve been out. I’ve sent for your teacher to retrieve you but he seemed quite busy He said he had to go to an important debreifing.”

“De-brief... That’s a bit too much information. I don’t want to know that he’s changing his underwear.” Kyrion mocked vomiting a bit.

“Not in here.” The nurse lightly ushered the boy out of the tent, leaving him to his own devices.

Since all he had was time, Kyrion walked around the oddly quiet field of tents that led up to a big building that seemed to be the school part. He began looking for people he knew, coming across a tent surrounded by quite a few students. On the outside, he saw Ander, his eyes bloodshot, a mix of anger and dread on his face. Kyrion looked the other way as it sent a shock down his spine.

“Ander, what happened?” Kyrion asked with trepidation

“Brion had his core striped. Completely pulled from his body, they are performing a spirit transplant as a way to stabilize him but he’ll have to start over at best. At worst he doesn’t survive the process. Kyrion he was emaciated, when I saw him. Skin and bones not an ounce of muscle or power. The others have similar injuries but they aren’t as severe.” Ander explained.

“Oh.” Kyrion didn’t know how to respond. Mortality was something he hadn’t fully had a grasp on yet. Things lived, and then they died. But here, someone barely older than him at death’s door cut deep. Kyrion was in a similar situation not too long ago though that portion of his life felt like a hazy dream. “I will become someone who can save everyone.” Kyrion said to himself as a red bolt flashed in his Irises.

Ander stared into Kyrion’s eyes as the world accepted the declaration.

Had Kyrion known at the time what that statement meant, he would still have said it. Had he known what it would do to the spirits in his center currently resting. He might not have phrased it like that.