Hamanymu Mulengu sometimes wondered if his younger self just three years ago would have seen him in his current position of life. He was nothing more than some boy from Zambia on the planet once known as earth.

He had truly not been anything impressive, just a dumb kid who didn't know what to do with his life. He had just entered college and he was lost in what to do with his life, that was of course until he met Chris and Ursa in London after winning a ticket to a Premier League game.

Hamanymu the foreigner, Ursa the rich girl and Chris the street erchent, they made quite an odd group. But they worked and Hamanymu managed to extend his stay in the United Kingdom after Ursa's parents offered him a job.

That was the first falling out that he had with his father, and truthfully it would not be the last.

Hamanymu stopped and looked at the window of on the shops in the streets of Vant. The young man looking back at him was almost a stranger to the one who had been, not just in his half dyed hair or his gold and red armour, it was his very physical nature that had changed.

He could now run faster than any olympic runner could have hoped and he could bench press in near triple digit tons. But that was not all, the thing which was most different about him was that a core of magical energy burned within his very soul, a gift from the crown of Avalon.

"Why did it have to be damn flowers." he thought in irritation.

It felt like a slap in the face by life for his Elemental magic, the only one which he could use to be the most stupid looking variant of Earthen Magics. He could have given an arm and a leg to be able to simply manipulate basic rocks like Ursa could.

A beam from the sun struck the glass window and reflected into his eyes, forcing Hamanymu to turn his face from the window and cast his glance directly at a very familiar half damaged building which was crawling with Hephatantian soldiers.

"Thats where it happened." he thought as he remembered the battle from yesterday.

It had been a suprise when the Helmp party members sprung their attacks with those Night Terrors. Hamanymu had fought as best as he could and even now he could feel a cold sting in his right shoulder from a serious blow that had caught him the previous day.

But he had obviously survived and he had been the first one to get to Chris. He had thought that he would going to provide his friend with back up, what he found instead was a horror show.

He felt a electric surge run down his spine as that mental image was forcefully repeated in his mind. Chris laying on top of the pulped remains of Agathocles whilst laughing like a madman, over and over again. He remembered standing petrified in shock as Chris turned to face him and he continued laughing whilst still punching the ground up bone and mincemeat that was Agathocles.

Those golden eyes met his own and Hamanymu saw nothing but madness within them. He would have remained rooted in his shock had Chris not immediately fallen unconscious.

He had tried to ignore it, to simply drink in the euphoria of victory, but Chris was his friend and what had happened to him was not right. He had wanted to confront Chris about it when he woke up, but he could not bring himself to do so.

So he took the matter to Ishtar, under the guise of giving a report. Seeing the state that Chris had been in when they met at the crown princesses door.

"I should have stayed and talked to him about it." he thought as he considered what Chris and Ishtar had spoken about when Chris went in. He just wanted to go home and sleep away any of the confusing trouble which had plagued him since they came to this damn island.

He turned to walk towards the direction of the Avalonian sleeping quarters when he bumped into something solid that was knocked over. A yelping sound which was a mixture of pain and suprise met his ears.

"Watch where you are going you damn bast....." the person that had collided into him halted whatever abuse that they tried to hurl at him from the ground.

He looked down and saw a female Fae with face shaped into a visage of suprise and a myriad of books scattered around her. She quickly hopped onto her knees and began gathering the books as fast as she possibly could.

"I am sorry for that, let me help." Hamanymu said as he knelt down to help her gather the books but the female Fae was not in the mood for his chivery and she smacked his hand aside.

"I don't need your help Avalonian." she hissed as she looked at him with a face brimming with contempt.

Stolen story; please report.

"Excuse me?" he spat back at her.

"Don't you try that excuse me garbage. Ever since you Avalonians got here you have been acting like you own the place, like we are your slaves. Vandalising our shops and taking advantage of our kindness." the Fae was shorter than him and without a doubt weaker, that didn't stop her from standing before Hamanymu and thumping her finger into his chest.

"I don't know what argument you have had with some Avalonians but I am not one of them." Hamanymu was feeling his initial sympathy for this woman evaporate. " Now look, I apologise for bumping into you, that one is on me, but I won't stand here and be insulated by you."

She crossed her arms in defiance of him and across her right arm, a band of emerald spectral chains came to life in a rythmic pattern of interlocking chains. They then thrust forward the woman's arm, condensing into a humanoid shape.

But the creature born of this spell was not Human, Fae or Elf. It's skin was an luminous green, with four powerful arms instead of two and for a face it had a stone blue mask depicting a predator of sorts, he was not quite sure which.

This creature was a Mizihimo, one of those spiritual denizens of the Shade, a extra reality in which the rules of nature were but a suggestion, Hamanymu knew that well enough, he had been there.

"Well, do something about it Avalonian," she asked with a smug expression which left Hamanymu unsure on if this Mizihimo was just that powerful or this Fae was just that absolutely stupid.

The Mizihimo on the other hand seemed to recoil in suprise and sharply turned to face its master before saying. "You kicked a fight with not just a Avalonian Knight, but a Animus at that. Have you lost your mind Tamora."

It was Hamanymu's turn to be suprise. He had always suspected since the Nexus of Narratives but he needed confirmation now. "Did you just call me an Animus?"

"Of course I did, I can see the very bindings on your arms...." the Mizihimo responded before returning it's attention to it's master with whom it was in a serious disagreement with.

Hamanymu saw his opportunity and he began walking away from the squabbling pair. The Fae noticed and angrily shouted at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"The mature thing, not picking a fight with people in a Leza damn street."

XXXXXXX

Hamanymu was excited as he rushed through the Avalonian sleeping quarters, he looked for the only person who he knew to be somewhat competent in magic. Rushing through the women's section of the building, he reached the familiar plain scarlet door which had been chipped away from in some areas.

He took in a deep breath and prepared the mental speech which was swirling up in his mind. He then raised his hand and banged across the door repeatedly.

"Hold on," Ursa's voice rang out from the other side.

The door was soon pulled open and the purple Knight peered her head out from the other side. Hamanymu almost gasped in shock as he looked at his friend's face.

Her hair had become a tangled mess, black circles were at the base of her eyes and her body's general language screamed exhaustion.

"What happened to you?"

Ursa's scowl must have gotten deeper because it became hard for Hamanymu to tell with just how distorted her face seemed. She took a sharp breath at his question and straightened herself in order to meet his eyes, though admittedly she was far shorter than he was.

"I Was Trying To Get Some Sleep Until Some Damn Idiot Tried To Disturb Me And Is Now Having The Temerity To Ask Me What Is Wrong With Me!"

"One, it is two in the afternoon. Second, I am asking that because I saw you in the morning and you were perfectly fine."

Ursa huffed in indignation as she retorted. "For your information, I was carrying out important arcane spell work."

"That's great!" Hamanymu bellowed as he grabbed ahold of her shoulders, startling Ursa out of his tired stupor. "I came here because I have a magic problem that I will need your help with."

Ursa forcefully removed his hands from her shoulders whilst casting him a suspicious glare and asking. "Why exactly would you want magical knowledge from me?"

"Because..." Hamanymu paused and all the confidence to properly articulate his request was instantly drained from his mind. "Well, you see... I... I think.... how... how do I even put this...."

Words could not be forced out of his mouth, so he elected to grant Ursa a physical observation. He grabbed ahold of her left hand with his own left and directed the struggling Ursa to it. As her hand was brought to rest upon his forearm, he thought deeply like he had many times before to manifest this trick.

And just as had happened before, like Ursa's books that he had studied in secret told him, he felt a prickling sensation ij his ears followed by a rush of a static sound which was deafening and made him question his sanity before.

Regardless of how awful this sound was he held Ursa's hand in place, though sh had ceased struggling and simply stood still, slack jawed as for the briefest of seconds, a series of writhing red roots shimmered to existence around his arm and within her grasp.

"Is this... my god, it is." Ursa might have looked tired, but her body was now brimming with a renewed vigor. "You are an Animus."

"Yes I am, and I would like you to help me master it." he asked her and instantly regretted his statement as he saw the predatory grin that graced Ursa's face.

XXXXXXX

The city of Vant had its own training grounds for its armed forces to sharpen their skills. The training grounds were deeper into the island and was infact a vast grassy plane with all manner of warriors training in every art imaginable.

Hamanymu would have taken in this beautiful sight were he not completely focused on achieving a task which was purely theoretical to his mind atleast, all whilst Ursa yelled at him.

"Come on, you can do it!" Ursa roared and Hamanymu bit his lips to stop a curse from escaping his mouth.

His face was drenched in sweat as he focused on the red ethereal roots that were slowly growing out of his right arm like living bones that were petruding out of flesh and slowly extending to the earth. It was an agonizing experience that felt like each nerve in his arms and ears was being pulled apart.

"Why am I doing this. Being an Animus is not worth it in anyway." he thought with a pained gasp.

Ursa pulled out her Grimoire and began flipping through the pages to one in particular as she said. "According to the book you should be hearing the offers of Mizihimo on the other side."

Hamanymu could hear nothing but Ursa's voice intermixed with a violent static which assaulted his ears without mercy. He felt tears roll out his eyes as it seemed like he was just torturing himself.

"What are you people doing?" a familiar voice called and they turned their attention to the intruder, Theseus Troezen.

Hamanymu lost all his concentration and stumbled down to one knee, gasping for air and whimpering from the pain that gripped his body. He looked to Theseus and he could not bring himself to muster the usual antagonism which he shared with the Fae.

"We were trying to unlock Hamanymu's Animus path to form a contract." Ursa responded.

The Fae haughtily scoffed before saying. "You are doing it wrong. You two are more likely to blow up his arm than summon an Animus."

Ursa folded her arms defiantly and asked the Fae. "And you know that how exactly?"

Theseus raised his own right arm and from his blue flesh shot tendrils of water which condensed into a Mizihimo who's body was living water with a golden mask that appeared similar to a bull. This spirit made manifest was one of the largest Mizihimos that Hamanymu had ever seen, with a height of ten feet.

"Because I am a Animus and this is Minno." Theseus said pointing at the giant beast.

Hamanymu suddenly thought of something. "Wait a minute, when we fought at the Spinxan Garrison you were an Animus, and yet you didn't call on this unit."

"I didn't need Minno to win."

"Then explain how you lost." the large Mizihimo cheekly mocked the Fae.

"Shut up." he snapped at it before turning his attention to Hamanymu and Ursa. "None of this matters, what truly matters is that I am offering to help you get your Animus the right way. Now, do you want it or not?"

Hamanymu and Ursa looked at eachother, not a word needed to pass between both friends for their thoughts to be clear to eachother.

"We are thankful for your help." Hamanymu said.