Dragon 7, year 8690 of the Grand Wulin Era, Alexander Grandstar

After a little while of walking,weird cocoon tucked under one arm, I approached the beat-up looking large blue stone building my father called a Mage’s Tower. I wasn’t sure how much of a tower it was given that it only had one aboveground floor, but Dad insisted it be called that. He had what I considered an actual Mage’s Tower in the Inner Sect compound, but due to the current circumstances he wasn’t using it.

He was a man of many quirks, which might be why my Papa loved him, or maybe it was in spite of it? Anyways, I rang the small, golden bell attached to the door with my free hand, waiting for a response. The bell made a very loud sound, given its small size, but I figured that was related to the way it was made or some magic Dad had put on it.

About a minute of fruitless waiting later, I rang the bell again. This time, it was answered in about 5 seconds. A tall, skinny, delicately featured man with a skin tone a bit darker than mine, shoulder length wavy black hair, warm amber eyes, and a lazy grin that could almost pass for a smirk on his face. The dirty blue robes and beat-up sandals attested to the fact that he’d been so busy he hadn’t even taken time to clean himself.

“Hey, Alex, how are you? Did ya just come to see your old man or do you have some questions, cause i’d be up for either, I kinda need a- Yo, what’s that you’re carrying?” He said, pointing at the cocoon, his demeanor changing into a more scholarly mien, his casual smile and warm look replaced by a burning curiosity and a serious expression.

“I’m not sure what it is either, I was just trying to freshen up a carrot that had gotten a bit old and this happened. I tried to mix the spell patterns for Plant Control and Healing, ‘cause I’ve seen Papa do that when he cooks to freshen up stuff that’s starting to go bad. Next thing I know, it starts absorbing wood element mana from the world at ridiculous speeds and it takes half my spiritual energy and most of my mana. Then it wrapped itself in green light that looked like this cocoon. I started cultivating to get my energy back, and by the time I was done, it looked like this.”

Dad’s jaw dropped, his mouth hanging open a little wider than it naturally should, which was a weird quirk of his. Something about having a Naga for a great-great-great-great-great grandma or some other relation along those lines. He started laughing, though I’m pretty sure it wasn’t at me, but the situation.“Oh my gods Alexander, do you understand what you’ve done? You’ve created life through magic, something many adult Mages with more experience and less affinity than you spend years and even decades working on, and you stumbled onto it by accident!”

I began to wonder what he meant by that. Was he mad, was he happy, or was he just shocked by what i’d done? Was what I’d done a bad thing? Was I going to be punished? “A-am I in trouble?” I squeaked, my nerves creeping into my voice.

Dad’s expression softened. “No, you goofy kid, I’m going to reward you and teach you some things. You just did something really awesome I only mastered at a much older age than you are now, and I’m very proud you managed it.I’m gonna explain to you what that is, then we’re gonna go show your Papa and your Mom.”

As I was listening to him talk, I felt a strange sensation from the cocoon. It was taking in and pushing out energy in a strange, yet familiar rhythm. “I can feel it still absorbing energy from the environment,but it feels more like...breathing, where earlier it felt like it was eating.”

“That’s because it is. Alex, you’ve created a Plant Spirit. Specifically, one whose domain is over plants and mushrooms that humans and other beings cultivate as crops. It’s kind of similar to a Dryad, except Dryads are born from their source tree and cannot go far from it until they completely fuse with it, becoming able to shift the form of the tree into a humanoid one and becoming one of the Treefolk. Ordinarily, crop spirits have a similar relation to plants or mushrooms that Dryads do to trees, but you giving this carrot life bypassed that step and created a Crop Spirit that has fused with its source from birth and developed a soul-bond with you.”

“Wow! Does that mean it’s like, powerful or something? Also, what’s a soul-bond?”

“It’s uh,kinda what it sounds like. It’s a bond between two or more souls, and it can be created in many ways.One is by doing what you did, and forming another soul with your power. Another is a consensual,. deep bond, where two beings trade strands of their own souls, creating a permanent connection that lasts until both souls are destroyed. There are more, but most of the other forms are considered taboo or evil.And I won’t be able to tell how strong the spirit is or will be until it emerges from that cocoon.”

I nodded, not quite sure I entirely understood, but sure I’d figure it out later. We left Dad’s tower, and went looking for Mom and Papa.

***

Soon enough, we found them in the practice yard,sparring under the sun. Papa used a dual sword setup, with one sword occasionally changing shape to a shield or a hatchet or a short spear, or vanishing entirely so he could use magic. Currently though, he was using his magic to empower his swords with the elements of fire and ice, seeking to take advantage of Mom’s vulnerabilities to them that her affinities with earth and wood caused. Mom used a giant warhammer that crackled with lightning mana. The method was a bit different, as she merely infused elemental mana into her weapon to augment her attacks with its affects, while Papa literally created flames and a isolated of extreme cold around his blades using mana. The first would also boost the amount of kinetic energy in each attack,making them hit harder, while the second, while more energy efficient, would not.

Papa moved around Mom like a dancer, his ethereal grace belying his large frame. The blades in his hands searched for a gap, while his quick feet kept him just slightly out of her reach. Mom was fast, but not quite as agile as he was, so she relied on a somewhat berserk offense and bursts of speed whenever he managed to get close enough to hit, and blocking him with her hammer when he tried to get in close. Sometimes he would gain the advantage, leaving a shallow cut on her torso or a leg or arm, but it wasn’t enough to do more than tire her. Sometimes she would gain the advantage and unleash a strike that he would have to waste a significant amount of energy to block, dodge, or parry, and the energy surrounding his blades seemed to be running low.

After a while, both parties seemed exhausted, and there was a gap in Mom’s defense. Papa went all out (at least as far as you go in a spar) , aiming for her neck. He charged in, his blades blazing, and as his blades approached her neck, she moved, blocking his attacks with the head of her hammer, while the butt of it slammed into his stomach, knocking the air out of him, and knocking him off his feet long enough for her to kneel down on his chest, her hammer poised overhead as if to shatter his skull.

“I win.” She said, her cold , serious expression cracking into a smug smile.

Papa grinned, then grimaced. “Dear, can you get off my chest? You’re crushing my ribs.”

She rolled off his chest, and they both sprang to their feet. Looking around, they spotted us.

Papa walked over and kissed Dad on the cheek, while Mom looked at the cocoon tucked under my arm.

“Heh, this is a nice surprise,even if you are a bit grimy. We’ll have to go get you clean in a little while.”

“Hey, can I come along? I need a bath too, even if I can use mana to clean myself it’s not quite the same.” Mom said, grinning at the two men who seemed, to my young self, to be about to do a LOT more kissing.Now, normally I adored the complicated relationship my parents had, but at the moment I was kinda annoyed that they were ignoring my problem to make romantic advances on each other.You might think I didn’t understand what they meant, and they certainly seemed to think I didn’t, but as a cultivator, especially one who was trying to walk the path of the Warmage, I had a pretty developed brain for my age, comparable to that of….a thirteen year old kid who didn’t cultivate? I figured if I didn’t speak up, those three would vanish into the bathhouse for a long while, and I’d be stuck waiting for them.

“Hey, there’s kinda something important going on here, can you three flirt at each other later or something?”

Mom took a look at it, using her Divine sense to examine it. “A Crop Spirit, huh? And looking at the cocoon and the energy signature it’s giving off, this one used to be a carrot, and you gave it life? That’s pretty impressive, Alexander. Guess that’s why Alim brought you over to us,huh?” She said excitedly, her voice raising as she spoke until the last few words were almost a yell.

“Yeah, Dad said something like that, and wanted me to show it off to you guys. Can you tell me when it’s gonna come out of the cocoon?”

“I don’t know, dear, but it should be within a year.” Mom explained.

Dad whispered in Papa’s ear, explaining the situation, and Papa let go of Dad, turned to me, picked me up for a hug, and said, voice full of warmth and a parent’s pride, ‘So not only is my little boy a tough kid for his age and quickly learning to be a decent person, he also did something that’s that fuckin’ cool? Alex, you’re gonna be a star one day, just like our family name.”

I blushed from the praise, trying to bury my head in Papa’s shirt to avoid the embarrassment.” I s-sure hope so.” I stuttered, not knowing what else to say. In that moment, I decided I would become even more powerful, strong, and cool than my parents one day, so that they’d always be as proud of me as they were now. They protected me, loved me, fed and clothed me, and I felt that I needed to be the best I could be, not just for myself, not just for them, but for everyone I cared about.