“Zzzzz…Zzzzzz…Zzzz…Syl is the food ready…Gasp?! Why did you cook Levy?! Nooo!!!”

Who in the middle realm is sleeping soundly in this situation? Hey. Wake up. Hey!

Oh, I fell asleep…Ugh, what is this heavy pressure? Where is this place? Syl, brother? Is anyone there? Total darkness – My brother! He doesn’t like the dark. Lux. Lux! Spear of Lucian! Lux! Hmm… Some dark anima spell is sucking in my light anima spells. Let’s increase my anima magnitude this time…Lux!... Not enough...Tsk...

**Lux calls forth a torch made of light anima. Its main use is to provide illumination in dark areas such as labyrinths, dungeons, dense rainforests, and caverns. The spell can also be used creatively, dependent on the caster’s whim.

Once he realized his endeavors were futile, he turned his head toward the nearby sound he had picked up a while ago. He was unsure if he had heard it right, but the voice sounded human to him. Ais remembered he needed to find his brother, he shook his head to clear his mind and quickly initiated contact.

Hi, is anybody there? I wasn’t sure if I heard it correctly but there was definitely…

Click.

Shut your trap, conserve your anima, or else you'll lose your chance of getting out of there.

Ais’ eyes widened, and his face lit against the pitch-black background upon hearing a reply.

Oh, great! I'm so glad someone is out there. I thought it was just my imagination. What’s your name? What in the world happened back there? Are you human?

The nearby voice was becoming more irritated. He was relentlessly bombarded with questions from a talkative stranger after all. He then finally decided to change his posture after hours of maintaining the same stance which was supposedly intended for maximum focus, but some hideous snoring disrupted his chain of thoughts. He hoped that it would be quieter but discerning he could not escape from the adjacent barrage, he finally gave Ais an unfriendly reply.

Sigh.

Tsk, you're more concerned with introductions than you are with freedom; you must be incredibly weak.

"Oh. (Argh. This person is outright rude, but he’s the only one I got, I desperately need information.) Do you know how we can escape from this place?”

Ais waited for a few moments; he crossed his arms, then his legs, his brows inched closer and closer. He tried to wait for the person to respond but the other guy was taking his sweet time, unbothered. Finally he has had it, he violently rubbed his temples out of frustration.

With nothing but blackness around him, he started to entertain his intrusive ideas and eventually they've won, most probably due to the cold shoulder. He tried to resist at first, but he just couldn’t sit still, his hands itched knowing the fact that he was being ignored intentionally. So, he began to use his light anima spells again, and this time he added more intensity and firepower. But still, all for naught. The dark enclosure kept on eating the light anima spell like it was a hungry insatiable void.

He is still on it?

Vexed and furious with Ais. The other persona was losing his patience, he cannot accept the idea that someone was trying to deliberately piss him off. He was on the verge of exploding.

Hey, Simian, you never listen; I told you to use your anima spells wisely, but yeah, I see, you seem to be quite lacking up there.

**A simian is a four-legged beast known for its loudness and playfulness. They are skilled tree-dwellers who eat mostly fruits. They are swift with superb shooting skills. They are also highly adaptable and quite unyielding.

I’m sorry I know I am very stubborn; I just really need to get out of this thing and find my brother. Help me, please.

In the past when they were younger, Syl and Ais got lost in one of Peace Islands’ larger uninhabited regions due to their undying thirst for adventure. That day, boredom was painted all over their faces while their father was busy doing his administrative military responsibilities, they glanced at each other several times, and at last, boom, an avenue for something fun. So, the two blended well with the crowd and impressively, away they went, the mischievous duo was able to sneak out and vanish from their father’s sight, they wandered further and further, until they found themselves, now, lost in a gloomy thick rainforest full of gigantic trees, unique shrub and mystical flora. The place was supposedly an off-limits area, citizens were warned to never enter its confines due to the risk of never making it out alive, and the possibility of dangerous beasts lurking in the shadows. The excitement turned into fright. Deeper and deeper they went into the maze made of trees, winds blew, and old branches creaked, the leaves whispered amongst each other as if they were taunting the boys, it was pitch-black, absolute darkness, the sun’s rays couldn’t penetrate through the thick foliage which made the forest looked like it harbored a plethora of lost souls not able to find peace and purpose.

Luckily, Ais was never scared of the dark probably because of his high affinity for light anima. Seeing his brother was not being his usual self, he assured him, took his hand, and the other he made use of his chubby little fingers and they emitted light, it constantly flickered but it made a huge difference, it was hard for Ais to cast an anima spell at that age, much more maintaining its form, but he made it happen, all because his big brother was scared and trembling. Syl has a deep-seated fear of the dark. He never explained why, but once he is in a place surrounded by a curtain of pitch-black darkness, he suddenly shifts into someone not befitting of a celebrated hero. Fortunately, the pair were eventually found by their father himself and they got a good beating from him.

Could you zip your mouth and let me finish what I am doing?

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Hurl. Swish. Tinkle. Clink. Shatter.

After he heard something breaking into pieces, Ais perceived the other person had been already freed from his dark anima enclosure. Careful not to enrage the only individual who might have figured a way out, he held onto his disdain and kept it to himself.

"(This guy’s temper is driving me crazy. He must be a noble. Syl was right they’re built differently.) My bad, I'm just a little anxious since I’m worried about my older brother. Did you just break free from the dark anima spell or whatever this is? Or?" he asked contritely.

Tsk, that's why I kept telling you to save your anima because you'll need to perform a Full Anima Unleash – Solverre, which I believe you're incapable of, so might as well just faint and dream away until help arrives, or whatever.

**Full Anima Unleash – Solverre: Anima: the very essence of life, a mysterious force that endows life and ability to cast powerful spells, is housed, stored, and distributed by a living organism's internal vessel system and regulated by a core. Anima circulates throughout the body like blood. Full Anima Unleash – Solverre requires accuracy and mastery because it alters the natural structure of the anima core, its valve-like components, and vascular integrity. In stressful events, such as in life-or-death situations, performing demanding anima spells necessitates the release of large amounts or bursts of anima simultaneously, anima vascular systems in the body are equipped with valves that automatically closes to prevent extensive anima loss, preventing copious amounts of anima from escaping the valves. A high volume of anima flow rate is required to support large-scale anima spells and to make this possible, one must keep the valves open for a predetermined amount of time to allow the passage of voluminous unsuppressed energy.

(This encasement keeps devouring our anima like it’s snack, could this be a trap or something… Performing a Solverre would rapidly deplete my anima reserve and that is not good. But,..) I was thinking about doing the same thing, you just beat me to it by a few flashes! Ais joked timidly, he was hesitant to do it, because there's no turning back once he does, he might end up dead or trapped forever. After a few minutes he decided to do it anyway for his brother.

Ais closed his eyes; the palm of his hands facing each other at the chest level, he maintained a small gap in between, then he took a deep breath…

Here I go, Full Anima Unleash - Solverre: Quasar!

**Quasar is a middle-tier light anima spell that deals light attribute damage to opponents, light particles spread out beautifully like a meandering shawl of glowing dust at first, then the intensity of the brightness grows as it charges up, and suddenly releases powerful pulses of fiery beams and bursts of light, knocking multiple enemies back.

After the encasement broke Ais swiftly prepared for any possible surprise attack, he heightened his senses and sprang into a fighting stance like a feline falling from a height, but he was destabilized and flipped over uncontrollably swinging, after gaining control of his body once again, he felt all wobbly and dizzy. He then carefully turned his body around and scanned the surroundings. Reassured that he was not in danger, he relaxed, he looked at the other person and smiled awkwardly.

“Whew, I did a lot of stuff, so we are floating huh, haha, just my intrusive thoughts kicking in. I’m Ais Vallenheim. I'm ten, Uhm, I like the sky and the sea. I have a pet. He’s a winged leviathan, but he’s weird since his scales are white. His name is Levy. Oh, yeah. (I don't know what I'm talking about.) Have you seen my brother? He was with me not too long ago.” Chuckled nervously.

“Tsk, the name's Kai, Kaireus Fyrirvon Alfverael-afram.” He shifted his gaze away a little bit, gesturing he was kind of embarrassed about something, he added. “And no, I haven't seen anyone else."

(Clears throat.)

At last! Haha! Boy, that was a tough one to pull off, thanks for your help, Kai.

It's Kaireus. Sure.

My brother, the awesome Sylveir Vallenheim, is the Zero-Death Captain of Polaris Avalon Militia. He is really strong. Maybe, if we can find him, for sure, he will able to get us out of here in no time!

Maybe. It must be quite convenient to be born into a good life, a father who is a high-ranking general, and a famous hero for a brother.

Kaireus shot several cold, piercing glances at Ais, he examined him carefully, assessing from up close a member of the renowned House of Vallenheim.

“Luckily, my affinity is the mortal enemy of dark anima” Ais smiled awkwardly. "This must be some kind of an intricate dark anima spell that engulfs people in immense pressure until they lose consciousness.” he speculated.

The two are now freed from their dark anima orbs. Kaireus stood frozen, keeping a valiant posture as he continued to navigate his thoughts and make sense of what was happening around him. On the contrary, Ais was never in one spot, he swam and swam around as though he was swimming in the sea that he so adored. Frolicking he went, he noticed a lot of dark orbs scattered around below. He went closer and checked, and indeed, they were the very candidates who were there at the general assembly area. But something was amiss. It was a subtle change but with careful inspection a trained eye would definitely see.

Kaireus, you have to check this out! Something is wrong with them.

Kaireus prompted by the sense of urgency in Ais’ voice, he quickly went over to where Ais was. There, he saw the candidates were already unconscious, feeling that he had missed some striking details, he zoomed closer, and behold, their skin color appeared to be losing its usual hue. It almost looked like their skin color was turning pale, and their extremities appearing somewhat bluish, suggesting an ongoing dilemma. They are no experts in amelioration anima spells but they know a thing or two about it.

With his thumb and index finger pressed against his chin, Kaireus was trying to process everything and connect certain clues about the weird anima orbs. . He frowned, his forehead creased with lines indicating he really wanted to figure how to undo the dark anima spell safely. While being lost in his own world, little did he know, Ais was already up to something potentially dangerous.

Worried about the candidates losing their blood flow and air supply, As he saw fit, he called forth several spears made of light anima and decided to act on his own. Kaireus was still trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together and solve the mystery behind why he and Ais were conscious while the other candidates in their orbs were asleep and slowly losing their vigor. But to his horror, he noticed the light anima spears dazzling and buzzing indicating the lethality of their sharp edges, he looked around, counted, one, two...TWELVE, then he heard a voice that sounded weird, like it was obviously forced to sound dignified and audacious. Kaireus jaw dropped as he looked at Ais and listened to him utter the most gnarly heroic spiel he has heard ever since they were devoured whole by the enormous towering infrastructure.

Wink.

We got no time to squander, they are in grave danger, these light anima spears will slice open these cumbersome dark anima orbs, and you my fellow candidates will be freed from darkness.

**Light anima weapon: Weapons made from light anima essence are known to be the sharpest in all of middle realm. But it is also one of the most difficult weapons to wield since maintain its form needs precision and mastery. Light anima weapons are powerful but to keep their shape the caster must be highly proficient and possess a good amount of anima reserve.

What do you think are you doing Simian? We still don't know how these orbs work?!

With his eyes squinted, he looked at Kaireus, and smiled in such perfect grace as if a halo of light shone behind his head.

My friend, let me, it's my time to shine...Pave your way through the darkness, Spears of Luuuuccciiiaaan!!!