“If I didn’t have the intentions on helping you, I wouldn’t have told you!”
Albus answered simply. While Laila pondered, though happy on the outside, she inwardly was cautious. She was young but any child willing to step on the path of a Saint had to at least have the common sense to think for themselves. Of course that didn’t mean that the unintelligent ones didn’t walk on the path anyways. After all it was because they were unintelligent that they stepped on the path in the first place.
“Alright don’t worry so much.”
After noticing her hint of hesitation, Albus spoke up. He didn’t explain himself but his words and attitude carried an air of trustworthiness. As for the reason it sounded trustworthy, she couldn’t describe it perfectly but she knew that sometimes following her feelings was the right decision. Voluntarily, she reached out to grab Albus’s outstretched arm. Albus gestured for her to sit down. She immediately sat down on the grass. Through her grey coloured robes given to her from the school she could feel the blades the grass bend.
Albus sat behind Laila and placed his palms on her back. Even with the clothing on he was able to feel the tenderness of her muscles. She slightly jumped but as she knew it was coming she didn’t say anything. Albus could tell she disliked being touched but as he had no choice, he continued.
As such, he didn’t waste anytime and focused his Essence throughout his body to rally. The Essence responding to the call streaming towards his palms and eventually passed the thin space between his palms and Laila’s back. For him it was a warm tickle that surfaced as it exited his palms. For Laila it was a cold invading feeling that caused her to feel anxious.
“Relax.”
Albus spoke softly just loud enough for Laila to hear. The cold feeling continued to invade her body and flowed towards the deepest parts of her soul. When the cold stream suddenly stopped, she called out to him. Meanwhile, Albus took the moment to thin his Essence to into a strand. It then continued to extended to the edges of her soul.
‘Where is it?’
Albus’s consciousness looked on through the strand of Essence. He was no longer paying attention to his surroundings so when Laila had called out to him, he didn’t answer. As she turned her head, in her peripherals she could tell that she was in a state of extreme focus. She opted to stare forward and trust him. Even though it was a matter of great importance to her. That one look at Albus was enough for her to relax.
‘There!’
Albus shouted inwardly when he saw a gate. The gate itself was ancient looking with flame like patterns on it. Compared to the small strand it was infinitely large.
‘The Spirit Gate, a place that connects the cultivator to their spirits.’
As he arrived he immediately arrived at the gate with his strand. Albus then unconsciously held his breath. It was his first time opening the Spirit Gate for someone else. Grandpa Shepherd had personally taught him how to do it. With Grandpa Shepherd's explanation it wasn’t a difficult task to carry out. The thin strand gently collided into the Gate without any strength, but the moment it did a loud sound echoed. The shockwave spread throughout Laila’s body. As for Laila the moment Albus touched her Spirit Gate she was immediately able to feel its existence even before the shockwave spread out she already knew what she had to do.
Though not as experienced with Essence control as Albus she was still able to steam her Essence towards the Spirit Gate. Albus already knew what he did all he could and retracted his Essence. Just as he left her body, she arrived and knocked the Gate once more calling out to her spirit. She prayed towards the spirit to open,
‘Please come out!’
The ancient gate reacting to her Essence slowly opened. Through the crack a tremendous amount of heat escaped through the gate. Flames flickered like tongues from the small crack and Laila panicked. Albus who noticed the sudden change in attitude immediately fall backwards and rolled away. He didn’t have enough time to even stand up. But luckily for him as he rolled back, he just barely missed the flame tornado that appeared.
“That...might be a problem.”
His head faced Laila, but he was already running the opposite direction. A look of worry could be seen at the thought of her being injured.
“Why is this happening?”
He couldn’t figure out the reasoning for the sudden change. Before when he saw both of his brothers and himself bridge their Spirit Gates, they had immediately been able to control their spirits, albeit very weakly. However, Laila the moment she connected the spirit she lost her control of the spirit. His mind reeled, he continued to remember the things Grandpa Shepherd reminded him about Spirits. As he continued to think about a solution he quickly grabbed a nearby tree. As the tornado gained strength the suction force did as well. However the worst part was still the flames that danced within the tornado.
Thus holding the tree was only a temporary solution. He had to find a way not only for himself but also to save Laila. He continued to run through his memories cursing himself when he could not find the answer. It was then that suddenly he could see a small opening between the flame pillar. Albus could see the fear covering Laila’s face. Though she didn’t look conscious, she was shivering in fear and from the pain. The image soon disappeared, replaced by the rage storm once again.
“...This is my fault but I know how to fix it now!”
He thought back to the words of wisdom that his Gramps once bestowed them:
“Fearing one’s spirit is like fearing oneself. If one does, how can they control themselves?”
Albus held the tree as he shouted out,
“Laila! Don’t fear your Spirit! Let it become one with you!”
A few moments later with no response was enough to tell Albus that she was completely separated from the real world. At the same time, Laila was in front of her Spirit Gate shivering. She had never felt such destructive power in her entire life. It caused her to fear this unknown power dwelling inside her. She continued to sit there completely oblivious of the muffled sounds from the outside world calling her.
“Shit…I didn’t expect her fear to be so strong!”
He cursed to the heat wave in front of him. Although it looked like he wa hesitant to move he immediately let go of the tree and spoke:
“Scatter!”
Albus twirled his body so it looked like he was falling straight into the tornado. But with his own spirit, he materialized his Cloudstep under his feet. The cloud stopped him from being sucked into the tornado but his face fell the moment he gained his balance.
“Damn. I don’t have enough experience using Cloudstep yet!”
He jumped off the cloud and materialized another. The earlier cloud crumbled and disappeared. The heat simply melted the frozen cloud as soon as any pressure touched it. Forcing Albus to jump continuously from cloud to cloud. Luckily, Albus’s intentions needed him to continue moving anyways. He continued to jump from cloud to cloud spiraling around the tornado preventing him from being sucked in. As he did he eventually continued to climb higher in the sky! Eventually he the suction power was less and less, but that didn’t change the amount of heat. So the only thing that changed as he went higher was the angle he stood on the clouds.
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“I have to hurry before others arrive!”
Albus wanted nothing more than to leave before the arrival of other students and teachers. It was obvious to him that if they saw what happened here, questions would arise. His speed rose as he was the suction weakened. When he was finally above the tornado he held out his hand. At this moment his spirit bow condensed and fit snugly in his hand. He knocked an arrow and pointed towards the fire storm!
He tightly gripped the end of the arrow and spun the bow.. The string of the bow started to tighten but as it continued to tighten, it still never reached a point of firmness. It continued to stretch as long as Albus continue to spin it.
“I need to counteract the spinning of the tornado…”
As he muttered he realized that even though he could potentially counteract it the window he had to approach Laila would be incredibly short before it reappeared.
“That doesn’t matter! This is my fault to begin with!”
Albus didn’t care about anything else. It was his fault she was in this place and it was as simple as that. He, himself had a vast sea of knowledge that Grandpa Shepherd carefully taught. As such he didn’t even think about the consequences of his actions. Thus he felt guilty about the result. Finally he stopped spinning the arrow. He had wanted to spin it more, as insurance, however he didn’t have time to waste as people would surely notice the disturbance. Although the tornado didn’t reach above the trees it was still loud!
“2nd Style…. Hurricane Shot!”
He roared and released the arrow. It momentarily hovered in the air as the arrow spun faster and faster. Suddenly the arrow shot forward with a force that caused it to disappear without trace. Of course Albus knew where the arrow was and followed after it!. He fell down head first and bent his knees. He materialized a cloud underneath his feet and… pushed off of it!
From the time the arrow begun to spin, less than a blink of time passed. The arrow collided with the firestorm. The spin of the tornado and the arrow started to battle each other while Albus launched himself towards it. Suddenly the tornado weakened just a bit but that tiny bit was enough for the arrow to completely overpower it! It blew apart the arrow and flames scattered everywhere. As the flames scattered they disappeared.
“Now’s my chance!”
Albus dropped down below. As he fell he could already see the fire starting to reappear. He bit his lip and hoped that he would make it. Fortunately, he was able to arrive before the tornado reappeared. Unfortunately, as he shook Laila there was no answer from her.
“Laila!”
He didn’t have the time to enter with his own Essence to wake her. At the moment he was only left with one option! He had to directly wake her by channelling his Essence within her! He sat behind her as tightly as possible. If Laila was awake she would more than likely punch him a few times for getting too close. With time running out he sat down and sent his Essence deep inside her quickly reaching her soul. It was at that moment that the firestorm resurfaced. It started to scorch his body. His colour change but despite the pain he still focused his Essence deeper!
“Laila!”
Laila deep within her soul jolted twitched when she heard Albus.
“..Al?”
She looked towards the source of the voice only to find a weak strand approach. With her knees weakly shaking she rushed over to strand of Essence. As Laila grabbed it Albus spoke to her.
“Laila, don’t fear what is part of you. You must embrace your own power!”
His voice weakened as the strand started to fade away into nothing.
“Al!?”
Laila’s eyebrows furrowed and looked worried. Seeing the strand disappeared she knew something must have happened. Even though the situation was different from expected she still believed Albus. She gained insight and approached the door. With a steel heart, grabbed the burning gate.
“Ah!”
The gate burnt her skin, despite being her own power. Despite this she held on muttering to herself.
“I can’t fear it!”
She gripped harder the door, leaking out voices full of pain. Her pale white skin started to reddened and blood broke through. Laila pulled as hard as she could but no matter how hard she pulled the door refused to open! She panicked and started to feel anxious. She became worried for Albus’s sake, worried that this power would harm him. She wasn’t worried about the pain she had to endure! She felt worry from harming the first person to approach her at this school!
She bit her lip and tears started to run down her face. Before the tears begun to drop they disintegrated from the heat of the Gate. Many expressions could be seen on her face, but the one that dominated them all was stubbornness! She screamed as the pain grew, but to cover up her pain she spoke:
“I refuse to lose the first person to show kindness to me! Spirit! I will accept you if you vow to protect me and my friend!”
BOOM! The gate swung open and Essence filled her entire body. She could feel strength spread throughout her body. As the feeling spread it felt like she gained something she always had. She could then see deep inside the Spirit Gate. There a Firestorm infinitely large spun around without resistance. The look she carried was no longer fear, but pride. This was her spirit, it didn’t matter if it was destructive. It was only as destructive as she would let it be! As she carried this determination she blinked and suddenly she was back. The firestorm disappeared before she regained consciousness. As she woke up, she felt a heavy burden on her back. She turned to look to see Albus! She wanted to scream and jump up, but she noticed the blood and his burnt skin. She once again panicked and turned her body without moving Albus. He fell into her bosom completely unconscious as he did one thing appeared from inside his robes.
“Ba!”
A small white sheep complained unhappily. Pillo’s singed fur caused him to look over his body. Pillo had never felt so displeased before in his entire life! But he didn’t complain towards his master. He only looked at Laila with a serious expression. As the sheep could see the pained gaze as she stared back at the sheep, it ba’d once more and expanded! Laila had wanted to resist, but the force was too strong and she disappeared along with Albus! The miraculous part about a Cloudsheep that they could suck in the moisture in the air to replenish their fur. Despite the air being dry from the firestorm, Pillo still gathered enough to expand into a cloud and rose into the air. The three disappeared without a trace just before a group of people rushed to the scene. As they saw the scene their jaws dropped and they couldn’t help but call out,
“What happened here?!”