In front of the two, a pool of silvery liquid reflected a rainbow reflection of the gleaming crystals overhead. Inside the silver mirror the many coloured opaque crystals appeared like small little stars trapped under a foamy-white sea.
"Eeek!" Nakatei jumped back as something grabbed her leg and her eyes darted down. "Spark!" The shaman breathed a sigh of relief as she saw her bonded fire spirit had grabbed her leg instead of something else. "What happened buddy?" The little spirit appeared scared as his body cowered as he sought out further protection under Nakatei's red skirt, refusing to let go.
*Boom*
A dense cloud of dust went over the red fox as the illusionary door they stumbled through disappeared behind a grey stone gate which slammed down, closing off their only known path. Turning back around, Nakatei saw small waves appearing on top of the silver mirror, turning the otherwise perfect reflection of the image above into a chaotic collage of colours and shades.
"On what are you waiting for?" For the first time, Nakatei heard the undead mage sounding remotely excited in any way, impatiently swinging her legs as her big round eyes momentarily turned toward the fox. "Or is this not the Spiritpool?" A scowl appeared on Kia's forehead even before her first word could reach the shaman.
"Ehhh..." The young shaman wasn't sure about the girl's question as many amazing things exist on this depth and they might have accidentally stumbled into one of such wonders. She began to rotate in place trying to find the never-ending blue mist stretching from her to the Spiritpool but she couldn't find it. "Yes?"
"Mmmmm." The tired-looking necromancer purred out a gentle hum as she examined the demi-human who saw more of a chief judging a young hunter after a hunt than a barely alive pink-skin.
Before Kia could speak again a muffled whisper rose from the silent shadows around them before hushing again as a gentle breeze brushed over the two. Emerging from behind the raised pool of silver, a human shape made from dust and swirling wind stepped into Nakatei's vision.
Two star-like eyes focused on the mage in Nakatei's arms paying little to no attention to the beast woman. The young shaman felt odd as the air-type spirit got closer and closer without saying anything. She felt compelled to bow to the spirit and she acted on it bending her upper half toward what had to be the Guardian Spirit hoping it would understand she couldn't show proper reverence.
The blue stars hovering perfectly still in the chaotic mass that made up the air spirit's body moved to the side as Spark quickly dashed out from under the fox's long red dress toward the furthest corner of the room, appearing completely consumed by fear. Like a predator seeing its prey the Guardian's eyes tracked Spark to his hiding spot, while growing in size appearing ready to pounce before returning to normal and returning its gaze to Kia.
"I'm the Guardian of this Spiritpool and I'm very pleased that you arrived safely and without any... trouble," The Guardian spoke to Kia directly with a calm and friendly masculine voice which caused a great deal of happiness to flood over the shaman's body. "I'm truly happy you would graciously set your elder feet inside my most humble of homes." The snow-white girl fidgeted uncomfortable as the Guardian talked with no end in sight.
"Can you heal me?" Nakatei watched as the uncomfortable girl quickly took the first opportunity to speak and extended her bandaged hands in front of herself.
"Could I ask you elder, why are you in such a... what do lesser beings refer to as horrible and decrepit state?" The guardian put his arms under Kia's hands, letting them rest on top of his while the black rock covering her forearms began to flake off under a powerful wind caused by the presence of the Guardian. He gently held Kia's delicate hands waiting for her to move.
The dirty bandages unwrapped, causing Nakatei to gasp as she saw gruesome-looking wounds the necromancer had to live with. Suddenly a powerful light coming from the spirit's eyes illuminated Kia's body causing it to glow with golden and blue light.
Looking over Kia's shoulder the young shaman who was completely lost on what was happening and why the Guardian referred to the young human as an elder, a web-like pattern showed itself on a small part of her arm accidentally illuminated by the Guardian's eyes. The girl lacked that spiderweb pattern as her body simply lit up with no order nor reason appearing in the magical cloud inside of her.
"I see now why there are so many spirits hovering above you. It's probably the reason why no life spirits have attacked you yet even though my realm neighbours two Spiritpools guarded by life spirits."
Kia looked upward staring bewildered at the ceiling where the spirit's eyes pointed to. Her two colourful eyes trained themselves on the crystal ceiling above until the girl sighed in exhaustion looking even more confused while her eyes dimmed into normality.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"I'm sorry but are you incapable of seeing the whisps around you?"
"There no souls around me." The human's eyes glanced at the shaman looking above herself too as if she was checking she wasn't the only one not able to see what the spirit clearly saw.
"Mmmm, I think I can remedy this," The Guardian reached toward Kia making the girl cringe away as she eyed the spirit with distrustful eyes as she recoiled away from the spirit. "I'm sorry, I'm used to being asked to bless being like her, let us forget I tried anything." His lack of facial features made it hard for the beast woman to read the spirit's thoughts but the Guardian stepped away from the little girl pressing her body against her chest and snapped his fingers together. "I casted an AOE Spirit Vision on you two, shaman you can regard my kind gesture to the elder as a reward for bringing her here."
The Guardian's bored words barely registered to the pair as they were literally swallowed by light. Making up the blindingly bright wall of light made up of small balls that could easily fit in the palm of a hand. The balls hovered around them, bobbing up and down and knocking into each other appearing to try get as close to them as possible. Nakatei casted Inspect on some of the floating balls which pushed against each other trying to get as close to Kia as possible.
[Inspect]
[Whisp Spirit Level 0]
[Whisp Spirit Level 0]
[Whisp Spirit Level 0]
...
[An infant spirit who have yet to become a fully-fledged spirit by consuming as much mana as possible.]
The girl swiped her hand toward the horde of whisp causing them to move back before latching onto her arm as it returned. Nakatei watched as Kia pinched the whisp which had visibly grown larger as it hovered above her open wound and began to examine it, turning it around and poking it.
"It's like a soul but different." Kia murmured to herself as her eyes watched with unnerving fixation how the whisp reacted to her.
"Kia!" Before the fox could react, the cold-blooded necromancer ate the whisp, chewing the cute bouncy whisp before swallowing it.
"Can't absorb it?"
"That's because there is nothing to absorb," The Guardian's voice pierced the living wall of whisps. "They usually don't dare to show themselves in here but your venerable aura is unknown to our kind and you are purging so much mana from your vessel into the outside world that they can't help themselves but to behave like this." As the Guardian spoke, the ember fox noticed one of the bigger whisps turning sickly green colour before darting away, disappearing into the horde.
Nakatei flinched, her tail curled between her legs as a booming sound of thunder hit her sensitive ears. When she opened her emerald eyes she saw that the whisp horde was no longer swarming all around them as the tiny light adorable balls clumped up in random corners of the cave pressed against each other as they rushed to escape. A few whisps that had managed to grow fat and got themselves stuck inside Kia's wounds or were too slow to escape were smitten with bolts of lighting coming from the direction of the Spirit Guardian, turning into dust which went up through the ceiling instead of downwards.
The woman felt a feeling of dread as she laid her eyes upon the monstrously transformed body of the Guardian which now loomed over her while blue lighting arced between his limbs causing her fur to stand up.
"I have to inform you that my realm is usually much more peaceful. Going back to your request, I cannot fix your mana links." The Guardian explained. In one instance Nakatei felt her hands getting heavier and colder as the frosty mist began to flow from Kia's body, the mist gleamed beautifully in the dim light created by the hanging crystals as the girl formed into a ball and hid her face with her arms.
"ፕⶴቹዪቹ ሠልነ ልክ ፱የጋልፕቹ ልክጋ ፕⶴቹ ዐዪጎፏጎክልረ ፕቹሸፕ ⶴልነ ፪ቹቹክ ፕ፱ዪክቹጋ ጎክፕዐ ነዐጮቹፕⶴጎክፏ ጎ ርዐ፱ረጋ ጋቹርዪጎየፕ ልክጋ ጎ ርዐ፱ረጋክ'ፕ ዪቹርልረረ ሠⶴልፕ ጎ ሠዪዐፕቹ. ፕⶴቹዪቹ ቻዐዪቹ ጎ ርዐጮጮቹክጋ ሃዐ፱ ቻዐዪ ዪቹልጋጎክፏ ፕⶴጎነ, ቻዐዐረ. ጎ ፕⶴጎክፏ ጎፕ ሠልነ ነዐጮቹፕⶴጎክፏ ፕዐ ጋዐ ሠጎፕⶴ ⶴልፕጎክፏ ⶴ፱ጮልክነ ሠⶴዐ ⶴልጋ ጋዐክቹ ፕⶴጎነ."
The demi-human began to hear the girl murmur quickly in a language she couldn't understand before beginning to sob. As the first tear fell onto the ground both the mortal shaman and the powerful Guardian began to turn their attention to the cave around them as the frosty mist slowly freezing the fox rapidly spread all over the cave. From the mist, vague shapes resembling talons began to emerge all around them.
"Guardian?!" The shaman fearfully begged her idol to do something as she felt unable to move a muscle and let go of Kia. For the first time since their arrival, the Guardian's blue eyes looked directly at the shaman. The two stars squinted unhappily at the mage as the guardian levitated toward them before turning back to normal as he spoke again.
"Elder, there is a way to heal you! Here now!" His words seemed to not reach the girl at first but the mist which gleamed in the dim light began to vanish.
"T-there i-is?" Kia turned around after a long moment of silence.
"You can use the Spiritpool to heal yourself by using its vast mana stores."
"Mmmm," The girl's blue and golden eyes began to glow once again as the Guardian motioned Nakatei to put Kia inside the pool before turning toward the confused fox and the Guardian Spirit. "You have to go and do not look inside."
"Are you sure? I can't leave the Spiritpool unattended... especially when a t- non-magical being is with you." The Guardian's voice cracked a little in displeasure.
"She has to stay, I need her for something."
"I-I shall put guards all around this chamber..." Murmuring displeased to himself the Guardian disappeared leaving only Kia and Nakatei inside.
"Why do you need me?" The shaman turned her head toward the girl who had almost killed her as the Guardian disappeared, hiding little that she was scared of what the mage needed her for.
"I..." The girl became red in the cheeks as she fidgeted from embarrassment. "Iris always undresses me and... I'm unable to undress myself... but only because my mana links are broken...so can you...?" The fox remained silent while staring at Kia as she sat her down on the edge of the pool of silver. For some reason the girl was very particular about telling the demi her explanation.
"... But don't tell Iris about it, okay?" Nakatei asked.
"Why?" The girl tilted her head innocently not realising why the furry human with a soft tail mentioned her favourite thing.
"Just don't, okidoki?"
"Okidoki." Kia repeated the beast woman finding the sound of the word funny, not knowing what they mean.
Looking at the metallic-looking sleeveless dress Kia was wearing which came down all the way to her ankles, Nakatei wasn't sure where she would even start as no buttons, latches or strings held the dress on Kia's body not even on the inside. Taking her time to look at the luxurious dress instead of the girl's face where her eyes naturally wondered toward, she realised that she had no idea how the necromancer even got into the dress as the fabric on her upper body appeared to be skin-tight with no room to expand for the girl's head to fit through.
The fox experimentally grabbed the girl's dress and pulled it down finding the dress surprisingly easy to pull off as if it wanted to be pulled down. Putting the dress on the rocks beside her the shaman saw the girl's body covered completely in the thick coat of black rock. Nakatei tried to pull a chunk out of the black mass covering Kia but the girl screamed in pain.
"What do we do now?" A melodic voice came out from the girl who began to tap the thick slabs of rock. It was surprising that the girl could even bend her body at all with a literal layer of rock attached to her body.
"Do you have to remove it for you to heal yourself?"
"Yes, I have to be able to touch my skin."
"We could try soaking you for a while to soften this," Nakatei suggested. "Kia, why are you all red?"
"C-can you do one more thing for me?" The girl tried to mirror how the elf talked as she flashed her big eyes at the fox unable to hide her embarrassment.