(Self Notes)

[Shadow]

\Mirror/

"speaking"

'thinking'

*action*

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another year had passed in the blink of an eye. I did plenty of training to prepare myself for joining the Academy. Captain Rihveil had spoken to the Institute and I would be allowed into the city, so long as I am supervised. Ugh. I had also gotten a considerable number of upgrades to my Soul System as I like to call it.

My parents had ended up adopting Gray, Pora and Daniel. Linear had arrived too, living in the city. Leipa had began training the four of them. Sara though, was still in the Empire, but we had kept contact. I grin. My Soul System is pretty damn awesome.

Aside from the inventory which, again, has been increased, we added communication features, I would be able to contact any of the Host's or their Apparitions through it. Another feature is it's pocket dimension a Room we had taken to calling it. The Rooms are all interconnected and can be used to enter Ghost Sirin. Of course we had gained the -- -- -- abilities. Kind of like having a house inside you, which you yourself can enter which completely defies logic. Anyway with Markers we can mark positions to Portal to. Warding is kind of like having a security system installed in your brain, you become aware of the surrounding area of the Ward, you can feel, see and hear through your Wards. Perfect peeping skill. Huehuehue.

I check my stats with a sigh.

--------------------

Overview -v-

Name: Christopher Crash.

Status: Standard.

Age: 12.

Estimated Lifespan: 80-140.

Physical Rank: D.

Mental Rank: C.

Aethaerics Talent: A.

--------------------

Memory Tree -v-

--------------------

Stats -v-

Strength: 70

Vitality: 82

Agility: 64

Intelligence: 100

Will: 100

Luck: 100

--------------------

Status Effects:

Big Headed:

You are currently an arrogant asshole.

--------------------

Traits -v-

Exotic

One Quarter Targual

Three Quarters Human

Pureblood Ghoul

Kin Of Arachnid

Genius

Trained Body

Diligent

Bookworm

Survivor

Lucky

--------------------

Skills -v-

--

--

--

--------------------

--

-Sub Skills -v-

--

--

--

--

--

--

--------------------

--

-Sub Skills -v-

--

--

--

--

--

--

--------------------

--

-Sub Skills -v-

--

--

--

--

--------------------

--

-Sub Skills -v-

--

--

--

--

--------------------

--

-Sub Skills -v-

--

--

--------------------

--

--------------------

I had finally managed a Rank Up, my Mental Rank sitting at a appreciative C. My Aethaerics Talent had Ranked Up too, which is fucking amazing. I had trained all my useless skills up to even numbers, it had sincerely bothered me. I had picked up a few new skills too. My -- had become --. I wasn't entirely sure how it works.

I had yet to -- anything yet, mostly because of my training was within the city. With a whole week to myself I decided to enter the Highmens Mountain Range, the place was full of monsters, perfect. I decided to called Gray, better him than Linear *shudder*.

-Connection Established-

"Hey."

"Um, hey Chris. What's up?"

"Meet me ASAP."

"..."

-Disconnected-

I waited. A small flash of light and a large blue disk appears, Gray stepping through. He looks as nervous as usual. He was decked out in some weird mismatched monster armor, throwing daggers strapped all over him, looking ready for a war. I snort and take a step onto the path, he follows reluctantly. "So why are we here?" he asks, suspicious. "Training. Thought you could do with some real experience." his face flushed at the last part making me sigh.

Birds chirp incessantly, small rustles of wild animals all around. The forest vibrant with life. I look over my shoulder at Gray, looking for the small glitter of black in his eyes that signifies Shadow. I didn't find it. We walked much faster than normal humans, eating up space rapidly, I started spotting small rocks and boulders scattered. We soon arrive at the foot of the smallest cluster of hills, there had been a landslide. I crouched, pulling Gray down with me. "See that? There's still dust. Probably happened recently." he nodded vacantly. Something I tend to associate with being Possessed. All of the Host's have this odd distance to them. Maybe I was the same...

A large wyvern bounds from the forest nearby, approaching the landslide, digging around. It seemed to be looking for something. It's cries distraught. It left after about half an hour, still shrieking. Gray looks nervous. "C'mon let's see what that was all about." we trot over and I spread my Will searching for something that isn't dirt or stone. I find it.

A large egg, no doubt the wyverns. It was broken. No signs of any baby wyvern anywhere. Though I was more concerned with the other object I found afterwards. A book. Or more accurately a Grimore, a book of Will Techniques. I smile, though it quickly fades. Someone had died here with an important Grimore. People would be looking. "What the fuck!?" Gray shouted. I started in surprise and turn to give Gray a scathing glare. Only to find him underneath a huge black rabbit. I sigh. Nelly, the name Father had given the freakish rabbit, had just kept getting bigger. Shadow had taken a liking to her too. As such, sometimes he Possesses her. "Okay, Shadow, what are you doing here?" I ask in annoyance. The big rabbit removed itself from Gray before shrugging. [Dunno man, just bored] "Please leave. This is super secret training." [Sure. You do realize anyone of us can just hop our intangible asses over here and watch anyway] "Ugh." [I'll leave. Just this once. Anyways, things to do, people to see] I scowl "Cya douche.", Gray gets up with an *oof* "Bye Shadow." he calls quietly [Ya, hey Gray, keep it under control alright?] "...Yeah." he replied.

"Keep what under control?" "Nothing." I shrugged, returning to the pile of dirt and grabbing the book. "Hey, help me find the corpse." "...What." "The fucking corpse, the dirty rotten meat bag!" I yell hysterically. He backs away slowly, his eyes widening "You ARE insane!" "No, I just wanna find the fucking corpse!" "Okay. Take deep breathes. Slowly. Calm down." "Look, I am chill as fuck. Now help me before I tie you up and leave you here." he sighs, moving to my side and looking at the Grimore with an O of surprise. I put the Grimore in my inventory and Gray hurriedly watched our surroundings, "I don't feel safe here out in the open." "Yeah me too. That's why we should hurry the fuck up.". We dug around for a while and eventually found it. It was ripe. Eugh. An old man, in his thirties. Old, practically ancient. His glassy eyes stared at us. He had been crushed internally. His organs like mash potatoes and his bones all shattered. He was dressed in dirty blue robes, though that's only natural when you participate in a landslide. We searched him despite our disgust. Or rather I searched him, Gray cried when I asked him to.

We found nothing. Maybe he had a bag of some sort, carrying his possessions. But we had wasted enough time. Gray's face was very pale and he was shivering. He hadn't grown much over the year, but he had some confidence now, especially after that training. But he was still new to the real thing. I frowned, I had no idea what his stats are looking like so I ask him if I can see. "Um OK." his face suddenly flushing. I roll my eyes. He seems to think I am some kind of crazed pervert. Probably thanks to the Apparitions's constant teasing of Shadow and indirectly, me.

--------------------

Overview -v-

Name: Gray Shadow.

Status: Standard.

Age: 15.

Estimated Lifespan: 60-80.

Physical Rank: D.

Mental Rank: D.

Aethaerics Talent: A.

--------------------

Memory Tree -v-

--------------------

Stats -v-

Strength: 70

Vitality: 90

Agility: 75

Intelligence: 60

Will: 50

--------------------

Status Effects:

Possessed:

Your body is possessed by an asshole spirit: Shadow.

Fear:

You are scared of Christopher.

--------------------

Traits -v-

Nondescript

Shape-Shifter - Canine, Ursine, Feline.

City Kid

Street Urchin

Trained Body

Repressed Anger

Survivor

Keen Eyes

--------------------

Skills -v-

--

--

--

--------------------

--

-Sub Skills -v-

--

--

--

--

--

--

--------------------

--

-Sub Skills -v-

--

--

--

--

--------------------

--

-Sub Skills -v-

--

--

--

--------------------

--

-Sub Skills -v-

--

--

--

--

--------------------

Looking at his skills left me feeling pretty depressed. I noticed he had Mirroring Defense, though all the Host's had been given that skill. His Combat skills were pretty scary. "You been doing some training with Shadow haven't you?" "Um..." "Whatever, lets just go." I said huffing. We made our way past the boulders and up the hills before stopping suddenly. "Watch out!" Gray hissed. I peered ahead, there was a huge hole between the path and an extremely sheer drop, it was about twenty five meters across. "Well shit." I muttered. Gray grinned, "Do think we can jump it?" he asked giddily. I smirked "Sure, but can you?" I leaned back, my black silk shirt opening at the back. My spider legs shot out and I ran. Adrenaline flowing as I leaped, watching the world shift under me. I giggled yelling "Parkour!" while flipping the bird at Gray, doing a frontflip, then landing gracefully.

He rolled his eyes.

He simply stepped towards the edge, then jumped across in the most boring way unimaginable. "Show off." he said smiling. I shrugged and started walking again, we were getting closer to the mountains. We had reached the end of the forest and stepped forward onto the gravely path. My eyes shot open as I crashed into thin air. I stepped back, stunned. "What is it?" Gray asked, I didn't answer, instead grabbing his hand and pressing it against the invisible wall. "What the..." "Yeah I have no idea." I frowned. I pushed with my Will. *craaaack* I flinched as a spark of condensed energy shot out. The whole forest went silent and we waited for a while. Gray let out a sigh of relief when nothing happened.

Then something happened.

A flash of light blinding us we felt the world under out feet disappear for a split second. I blinked my watery eyes open. We had been teleported. Gray was at my side looking a little worn out. "You okay?" "Sure, just give me a minute." he stood. Looking a little sick. I took in our surroundings. We were in some kind of mine, glowing crystals lining the walls, carts with tools and ore were scattered around the large cavern. We didn't see any signs that anyone had been here in a very long time. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." I raised my eyebrows. "This is bad." "Is it?" I asked bemused. "Yeah, its fucking bad, my connection is cut off. I can't feel Shadow. He must have been excluded from the teleportation. And worse! We have no idea where we are and there's no turning back, it was a one way trip. Shit!" he hissed the last part. Reminding me of the twins, Pora and Daniel. I grimaced. "Stop yapping, I, your Lord and Savior will save us."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Five hours passed. We had managed to map the entire mine, or atleast all that was accessible. Our Portal abilities were being blocked somehow. We were stuck, there had been some kind of cave-in blocking all ways out. I had however found a hollow wall. One I could safely break without worrying about having the entire cave crush down on us. Gray was hyper-ventilating. Again. I sighed, punching through the half crumbling wall with one of my spider legs. It went straight through the stone with the help of my Will. We climbed through the new chamber with wariness. A ball of light formed in Gray's hand. "Look." he pointed. We were in a rectangular room with wood supports. Unlit torches hung on the walls, at the end was a flimsy wooden door with a mark carved above. We shared a glance. "What do you think?" I asked, trying not to sound tired.

At first we had been pretty calm but after the first few hours we got frantic and wasted energy running around like tools. We had no water or food. Of course if I got hungry all I needed was blood. But all the same. "Let's just go, if it kills us, so be it." he said darkly. I laughed and together we pushed the door at the same time. The room was black, the walls made of some kind of dense black stone. A single oval shaped crystal is on the ceiling, lighting the room. On closer inspection there seemed to be a ladder, black just like the stone. We jumped with joy, hugging. Before jumping back apart in embarrassment. I smirk "Ladies first." he gave me a flat look, before sighing and climbing up. I followed after, in time to hear him gasp. "No more surprises please."

I climbed out, looking around in awe. We were in a huge cube shaped room, probably as big as the mountains we had been traveling to. There we equally huge black pillars made of the same stone as everything in the black. Torches lined the pillars and walls but it was not enough to completely illuminate the gigantic room. We sprinted forward, staring ahead. A huge statue of an armored knight stood over two steel doors. The exit. Or so we hope.

Only the most cliche thing decided to happen. The statue came to life. Yeah. It was ungodly fast, almost as fast as us, which, considering it's body, was eerie as hell. Mace in one hand shield in the other it charged. "Alright keep it busy, I'm the only one with an ability that can harm it." I say smugly "What the fuck? How would you even know, it hasn't DONE anything yet!" he yelled angrily. "Goddammit." I scowl, "Just do it." he nods reluctantly. I used -- pushing its limits. I shot forward, moving too fast to even see. Gray stared at my after images in shock. The statue seeing how it had no chance in hell, obviously aggro'd Gray. Smashing down with all the grace of a falling skyscraper. Gray dodged, already sweating. Amazingly the strike hadn't put a dent in the stone. Ridiculous. I wished I had my crossbow, it could of made things easier, but with our Soul Systems inactive it was simply not possible. At all. Haha.

I grabbed a pillar, handing on with my spider legs. I shot a piece of aura infused Will. It did nothing visible. The giant statue turned to me for a moment, making a grinding sound. I cringed. I stared at Gray with a sudden genius idea. I signaled as we quickly rushed together, avoiding another mace strike from the giant statue. "Dude. We can do it, bros forever. C'mon." I said "What the fuck are you doing?" he asked glaring, "Dude. Nakama power!" "..." "Let's combine!" I shouted "Ewww." he said giggling like a tool. "Can you please take this a little seriously?" I said pouting, "What!? YOU take this seriously, stop talking nonsense and do something!" he seemed to have become serious. "Okay, look we can fuse our auras and shit if this doesn't work, so..." "Fuse aura!?" "Ya." we share a nod.

Climbing up the walls I get ready. The statue is soon lured underneath by a taunting Gray. I fall, putting all my Will into my downwards pointing spider legs, I strike the statue's shoulder blades, tiny cracks spider webbing along a few inches. I scowl, I had figured I could harm it, piercing power is what -- was made for. I punch the statue in anger, which nearly breaks my hands. Hell it had damaged my spider legs slightly. Gray climbs up it's legs, watching out for it's freakishly fast arms. He climbs jumping for it's back only to be smacked out of the air. I hear his bones break. "Shit." I worry for Gray a minute before I see him jump to his feet, sheathed in a thick brown aura, shadows of animals hanging from his frame. He was only looking a little pale. I sigh with relief. I jump from the giant avoid it's arms. It stamped. I screamed out in pain as it crushed one of my spider legs, mangled. I only hope it'll grow back or something. I rush to Gray with a pained expression. "Ah, shit. Looks bad. Fine we'll do that thing you mentioned." he said grimacing. "That thing? You mean combine, you wanna become one with me bro?" I ask waggling my eyebrows. "Please." he said deadpan, "Fine. Pay attention."

We continue to dodge the annoying statue. Our auras condensed around us. "All right now for the tough part." I say chuckling. We form a link with our aura's using -- as a bridge. -- and -- coiling together. "Okay, never let up your concentration or it will backlash, the same goes for if we are too far apart. Don't strain the connection." I said lecturing. He nodded, transforming. "Go with hybrid wolf-cat thingy. We need more speed!" he did. He looked kind of cool. The face of a cat with a mouth full of serrated teeth, slit pupils and a body mostly wolf. His yellow eyes sharp and piercing, rust red fur rippling as his muscles underneath moved with explosive force. I was close behind, his aura, Engulfing Spirit surrounding my body like a heavy mist. I had no idea how his aura works. But I know how mine does.

Colorful auras swirled around us. This time it was Gray's turn to strike. I got the statue's attention with a huge molten fireball of Will. Again the statue was indifferent. I ground my teeth in frustration, atleast I got it's attention. Gray jumped, slashing for its leg ligaments or atleast what the statue has in their place. His claws scored only a few inches deep. Which when compared to it's size is like a needle. He climbed it with a growl, annoyed. I passed as much power along our connection as was safe, I had an idea of what he was planning. His transformation changed. The upper body of a bear and the lower body of a cat. Weird as hell. He brought his bear paws down with tremendous power. The original cracks I had made were split open further, we had shed it's skin. He brought his paws down again and again, trying to hold on as the statue spun in place. He fell with a roar, returning to my side and transforming back clothed, thankfully magic saved us all from the fate of his naked body. The statue's stared at us, it's eye suddenly glowing red.

The broken stone rapidly healed. We stared stunned. It began drawing on it's own aura. "Okay. Everything is A-okay!" I plaster a smile on my face as the storming red statue blurs towards us, mace slamming down faster than we had ever seen in our lives. The force within the mace originally had probably been enough to kill us in a single strike. Now it was going for us with something like ten times it's previous strength. The world went entirely red. It was suddenly eclipsed by a white figure.

The figure blocked the strike with a hand, the pulsing red aura of the statue evaporating upon contact, pushing back with enough force to knock the statue on it's ass. The figure turned with a smile. My stopped for a moment. Golden haired and golden eyed. Diamond shaped pupils, sharp fangs peeking out. Pale skin, freckles. Standing at 5 foot she was dressed in a white uniform adorned with gold accessories. "Sup, weaklings."

She turned back, jumping forty meters high. We both gaped. A small opening appeared on her back and a pair of golden scaled wings spread wide. Four tail like appendages coming from her back, underneath the wings. Two them slammed down on the arms, the other two end for the legs. Both the arms and legs of the red aura clad statue were sliced through with ease. She cackled. A huge ball of gold Will, like a star, gathered above her hands. Slowly compressing it until it was small enough to only cover her hands. She fell and lightly tapped the statue. It disintegrated. Along with the walls, floor and ceiling. The whole place shook as if collapsing. Moments that felt like hours went by and the small quakes ceased. The golden eyed girl held a red crystal in her hand, smiling with satisfaction. She withdrew the tails and wings.

"Thanks for saving us!" said Gray, bowing. She turned to face him, sneering "I didn't come to save a couple of weaklings. I came for treasure. Now kindly fuck off." I recovered from my shock quickly. Gray didn't. "What the fuck? So you don't even care?" he asked angrily, she didn't answer, instead forming a small fist out of Will and punching him in the gut. He keeled over, shouting in pain. I glared at her. She sniffed "Hmph, how did you even make it here if you're so weak, were you left behind?" I didn't know why she was even talking to me. "How did you get here?" I asked, ignoring her question. She scowled, but still answered "I came through the ENTRANCE, moron." she said, eyes filled with sudden curiosity as her eyes stared at my spider legs. "No, you weaklings either came in her illegally or you're bullshitting." I rolled eyes, "We came from the mine." I wanted to be cautious but after all that it had taken everything out of me. Her eyes narrowed. "I see. Teleported over too huh?" she said quietly. "Teleported where?" I asked, she smiled "To the Great Jareklai Empire of course!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading, if you can point out any inconsistencies or typos I would appreciate it.