It was the year 8082PX, on the Human Continent, the day started out to be beautiful with the leaves of the forest rustling gently upon the smooth breeze that touched them. The location was a forest with trees that great to great heights and covered the landscape from the dazzling light of the sun. However, some light penetrated through the open gaps in the trees and touched the surface.

On that day, a certain lake shone mystically due to the light slightly being more brilliant than the previous times. Upon this day, the lake was being used to play with by the Water Spirits. However, they were not alone as soon, the leaves began rustling before a woman stepped out. She had long waist length blue hair that beautiful shone from the light as she headed towards the lake.

“Ah… There’s nothing like a morning bath,” she said with a smile on her rather attractive face.

The young Water Spirits, which had taken the form of small blue glowing balls of light, but they soon returning to playing once more. She momentarily paused to watch them play around before smiling and allowing herself to draw near the lake. Unlike humans, she did not remove her clothes and simply let them float around her as she gracefully stepped into the lake.

As she floated there in the water up to her chest height, she closed her eyes blissfully and said, “The bliss of water never ceases to amaze me.”

She spent like this for the next few minutes while simply letting the water sooth her young body, which was clearly tired from work. This water spirit woman was someone with great responsibility due to the amount of tiredness was showing upon her face.

However, she was not alone as she and the young Water Spirits immediately sensed danger approaching them. The young ones began to panic as they were still young and feared they will get hurt, which was why they hovered over to Ondine and frantically dance around her.

“I know, I know. I can sense them too,” she said to them lightly. “Stay hidden while I take care of whatever this negative is.”

The young Water Spirits danced several more times before diving deep into the lake. After making sure they are hidden safely from view, she gracefully rose out of the water and appeared as if she was flying. Landing on her feet, she slowly began walking towards the other side of the forest where the danger was coming from.

She took several tentative steps and immediately came to a stop with her eyes narrowing slightly. The leaves ahead of her began to rustle slightly and became more frequent to suggest that someone or something was there. She extended her right hand towards that location and prepared to use a water magic spell to destroy whoever was there when, all of a sudden, the leaves parted and the person walked out.

The water spirit woman widened her eyes in surprise and instantly recognising who the person was, she said, “It’s a human…”

The human was a woman and she was slowly walking across the ground with difficulty while she clutched a bundle of clothes together. She appeared to have suffered multiple wounds on her body and was bleeding heavily out of them. Still, she put one foot after another in hopes of getting away from the something that attacked her.

Unfortunately, the human woman’s energy was fading fast and she suddenly stumbled to fall forward. Her legs, unable to support her weight anymore, buckled and she collapsed on the ground near the lake and she began groaning softly. She lay there and moving slightly while still clutching the bundle of wrappings in a way that suggested that she was shielding it with her entire body.

“What’s a human woman doing all the way here from the human settlement?” the water spirit woman asked herself that question and obviously, no answer came.

She slowly walked towards the slowly weakening woman, whose life was slowly fading away by the second. After reaching her, she knelt down to look at the wounds covering the woman and realised they were too severe for her to heal them completely in time to save the humans’ life. Instead, she began asking her questions to find out what happened.

“What happened to you, human? Why are you this badly wounded?”

The human woman simply lay there without hearing anything that she was just asked. However, with her mind slowly fading, she was able to hear the voice and instantly recognised that it was a friendly voice. She slowly opened her eyes and attempted to look up at whom she was looking at, but the water spirit’s face was hidden by the ray of sunlight that had suddenly penetrated through the leaves behind her to mask her face from the human woman.

The wounded woman blinked at her several times in confusion, but her thinking process was fading fast. She sensed that her life was over, but her motherly instincts kept her going because she wanted to protect the one thing that she cared above all else. So, with her energy fading fast, she desperately looked up at the water spirit’s face masked by the ray of light behind her.

“Please… Protect…”

Those two were her final words as she took her last breath with her dying energy before closing her eyes and silently passing away. The water spirit woman widened her eyes slightly in knowing that a life had just passed away right before her very eyes.

She closed her right fist before placed it on her chest and at the same time, she closed her eyes as she began praying for the peace of the woman that died before her. After reopening her eyes, she turned her attention to the bundle of wrappings the human woman was clutching so desperately as if she was protecting whatever it was.

Gently peeling the bundle from the human woman’s body, the water spirit woman turned them over to see a baby girl lying there. This surprised her and she watched as the baby girl slept silently while breathing rhythmically. This was not the first time the water spirit woman had looked at a human baby, but it was the first she had held one this close to her.

The baby girl did not wake up or make any sound of distress at that fact that she just lost her mother. It was as if the baby had felt safe in the hands of the water spirit woman, which slightly surprised her. There was a belief amongst the Elemental Spirits that human babies were able to see the nature of someone and feel comfortable with them or not. Although it was an unproven theory, it felt plausible that it applied right here.

“Poor thing… You’re now an orphan…” the water spirit woman said sadly to the sleeping baby.

She looked at the body of the baby’s mother and remembered the last words she uttered before passing away.

“I’m sorry, but protecting humans is not my job. Please forgive me, but it is best if I return her to the human settlements so that she can be raised safely.”

With those words, she began walked towards where the nearest human village existed. Those humans and the Water Spirits kept to themselves and never attempted to make contact with one another due to past anger. However, she knew it was not right for her to vent such anger on an innocent child that has yet to grow, but it was not her responsibility to look after her.

At that moment, she suddenly felt the presence of something bad and had this dangerous feeling that she felt earlier. She focused on the presence and sensed that there were more than twenty people rushing through the forest in the direction of the lake. The water spirit woman backed away until she was near the lake so that it gave her a home field advantage as the people rushed in that direction.

A few minutes later, the leaves parted and a group of seven people walked forward with weapons in their hand. The water spirit woman narrowed her eyes as she sensed the death those weapons carried as if they had been used recently to take lives.

She clutched the wrappings around the baby tightly and instantly recognised that the seven in front of her were simply there to draw her attention while the remaining thirteen circled around the forest to make sure she is surrounded.

As she covertly made sure to sense the exact location of each of them, a man stepped towards her with a sad smile on her face.

“Oh dear… It looks like that woman had died… We were too late to save her life…!” the man had said and he made a performance of appearing to be sad.

The men behind him also made the same expression of sadness and made sure to act like they were sad about it. However, their acting and lies did nothing to let the water spirit woman to lower her guard. She had faced this problem of humans lying for a greater benefit to be a nuisance and developed her skills to detect when lies are being told.

She felt this will be drawn out into a battle and having the baby with her will be a hindrance to her performance. So, she gently laid the baby on the ground, which caught the attention of the men.

“Hey… Is that the baby girl the woman was protecting? If that’s the case, we will take custody of her and return her to her family. I’m sure they will be worrying right about now…” the man said in a convincing voice.

The water spirit straightened up and stood firmly with her arms crossed on her chest. The men were slightly taken aback by the cold expression she had on her face as she stared at them with a silent fury raging inside of her.

“Pretty words… Very pretty… However, I’m not charmed. Rather, I feel sickened by the stench of your ruthlessness, you maggots of society!” she said to them in a firm voice that carried a lot of her anger. “Don’t think your lies of pretending to be someone you’re not will work one a powerful being like me!”

The men appeared to be surprised for a moment and they turned to look at each other with puzzled expressions on their faces. The expression on the man in front suddenly changed and he began laughing madly before looking at her with a mad expression on her face.

“I can’t believe a stupid water spirit figured that out! I’m astounded!” he said jeeringly and his men laughed behind him.

The water spirit woman narrowed her eyes slightly and said, “You humans are despicable trash bags that deserve death by all accounts, but to go the next level of pretending to be good to get on my good side to take advantage? You disgusting creatures… you know nothing about peace, always fighting each other over and over until both side dies. In the end, the proud race of Humanity is its own enemy.”

The men all laughed once again before their leader said, “Ha…! We don’t give a damn what you say anyway, although…”

He said and paused as his eyes looked up and down at her body with a small grin on his face. It was quite obvious what the man was thinking as he gazed at her body.

“That woman went and got herself killed because she refused to satisfy us, so we just attacked her for a bit. Angry, that foolish husband of hers acted the hero by attempting to give her time to escape with her baby, but the fool died in our hands a lot quicker than we expected! After searching throughout the night, we come here only to find her dead! What a waste that was…

Our feelings are hurt and we need something to cool us off. As it so happens, you have a great body as well water spirit, so why don’t you come over and be our partner? We’ll think of sparing you if you quietly hand over that baby and come along with us.”

The men laughed again and began saying similar words to her, but the water spirit woman was not listening anymore with her eyes closed. She had heard of his comment that clearly labelled them as the culprits of killing the dead woman’s husband, who had bravely sacrificed his life to save his family from the murderous hands of the thieves.

She remembered the last moments of the woman, who was desperately trying to save her one and only daughter with her life, which made her feel very angry at the people laughing in front of her. These humans did not give a damn about the lives that they took and she decided it was time they bid this world farewell.

In a flash, she opened her eyes and began surging with raw power that startled the men. Glaring at them fiercely, she said, “Die…!”

She extended a hand out and aimed towards them before saying, “Water Drop!”

In an instant, a large quantity of water from the lake rose into the air and flew over her head towards the men, who were frozen with shock. The water showered them and it continued to shower until they appeared to be enclosed by a barrier that contained the water around them. The men were frantically trying to go up for air, but the water spirit woman did not let them.

“Water Suffocation,” she said quietly and she clenched her right hand firmly.

The men began checking water and immediately clutched their throats desperately for dear life. They were desperately struggling to live, but the water spirit woman did not see fit to allow them to live. They have taken the lives of two innocent men and turned one baby’s life into misery.

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“I may be from the Water Spirits and I don’t quite understand how Humanity works, but I know this much… Anyone who kills for the sake of pleasure are worse than the trash of society!”

With such words, she silently watched them fight for dear life until all of them died. She chose this method of killing them purely because she wanted them to make them feel what the husband and wife felt as their lives were taken away. With the struggling ceased, all the seven men died in the water and floated there with horrified expressions on their faces.

She nodded in satisfaction at their deaths and deactivated her magic, which promptly caused the water to explode and go in all directions, letting the dead bodies of the humans fall like a lump of flesh on the water soaked grass. She stood there silently for a moment before turning her attention towards the forest surrounded her.

“You people can come out or leave, your choice, but remember that only death awaits you here,” said the water spirit woman in a loud voice that carried to all sides of the forest.

There was a rustle of leaves and the remaining thirteen warriors stepped out with angry expressions on their faces. They were furious at the fact that their seven members were killed off by a mere water spirit woman.

“You… damn Water Spirit! How dare you kill our people?”

“You’ll pay this with your life, damn woman!”

“Wench! Prepare yourself to die!”

The water spirit woman shook her head and said, “You are the comrades of the seven that I killed, not through the blood that you share, but through the blood of the lives you’ve taken. Your punishment is the same, but more brutal than it was to them.”

The men let out scornful voices and shouted, “Kill her!”

Roaring like wild animals, the human men rushed at her with their weapons glowing dimly. It appeared that each of them were proficient enough to use the Weapon Force to strengthen their weapons. They thought it would win them the battle, but they have no idea how hopeless their situation was. It was only made clear by the next move the water spirit woman made.

She clapped her hands together and said, “Water Slicing Death Wave.”

In an instant, an energy fields formed around her that appeared to be watery and it released slicing water waves in all directions. It sent numerous waves towards the men and it soared through each of them without affecting them one bit. Once this was over, the magic got deactivated and she returned to folding her arms at her chest.

“Huh…? What just happened?”

“I don’t know, but it felt.”

“Anyway! Stupid women! You failed…!”

The water spirit woman shook her head once and looked at the dead body of the human woman, she said, “Don’t you know…? You’re already at the hands of death…”

The men appeared to be surprised and that was the last expression they made before great cuts appeared all over their bodies and clothes. The next moment, they exploded into bloodies pieces with their clothes torn into shreds by the countless slices they were turned into. The ground was covered in red from the blood of the men, which soon began to be absorbed by the plants for nutrition.

Once she made sure that all the assailants had died, the spirit woman let out a deep sigh before turning her attention to the baby wrapped in bundle of clothes. At first, she was surprised to notice that she had disappeared from where she stood from where she did not move at all. So, it puzzled her as to where the baby could have gone because she was sure the baby girl was fast asleep to go anywhere on her own.

At that moment, she suddenly sensed the rapidly depleting life force and she quickly turned to see the bundle of wrappings lying a few meters away from her. She quickly rushed over and knelt down to check on the condition of the baby girl only to find her bleeding from multiple wounds.

“Oh no… No… No… No…! How could this have happened?!” she exclaimed in a shocked voice before she gasped in shock.

Earlier, when she was busily attacking the men, the bundle of wrappings got carried away by the force of the water spirit woman’s power. Due to this, the baby girl got injured badly and now, her life is in danger from going out like her mother’s.

Shocked by what her reckless actions have done, the water spirit woman touched the body of the baby and said, “No…! How could I have done this?!”

As she gently touched the dying body of the girl, the water spirit woman’s eyes widened as a flash of light wiped the present and showed her a vision. The vision was mysterious that had white background surrounded her and when she looked ahead, she saw shadow forms of people appearing before her. A total of nine shadow people, which had female bodies, flashed past her and brought her to what appeared to be a shadow man with red eyes that gave off a powerful burning spirit.

At that moment, her eyes widened when she saw someone standing behind him while holding what appeared to be a staff in their right hand and a sword on the other. The shadow person was clearly a woman that seemed to understand that she was being looked at by the water spirit woman, who was startled when the shadow woman smiled at her with her eyes glowing brightly like that of a goddess.

All of a sudden, the vision vanished and she found herself back in reality. The water spirit woman was stunned by what she just experienced and looked at the dying body of the baby girl.

“It was a vision to tell me of the greater destiny that awaits this young child, but… who was that person with red-crown shaped eyes that radiated in golden-red aura…?”

She asked that question out loud without finding out an answer, but she knew it was her fault the baby girl would not fulfil that destiny. Her reckless actions of taking out the evil people inadvertently caused her to mortally wound the baby girl that her mother died protecting.

Just then, she sensed someone coming and knowing who it was, she did not really look up to see. The rustling of leaves shifted and a man appeared with a friendly expression on his face.

“Ondine! What are you doing? Come on… We have to… Wow?!” he suddenly exclaimed when he saw the sliced up remains of the humans and blood slowly covering the grass. “Why are there human remains here…? Why is there blood covering the ground...? And, why is it that I sense death all over this place?! Just what in the willow happened here?!”

The water spirit woman, now identified as Ondine, looked up at him with a sad expression on her face, making him not go any further with asking that question. As he looked at her, he suddenly noticed the bundle of wrappings she was holding and he quickly walked over to find, to his surprise, a human baby wrapped in them.

“This human baby… where did you find her…?”

Wordlessly, Ondine gestured towards the place the human woman, mother of the human baby girl, lay on the ground. The water spirit man looked towards her and his eyes widened before returning his gaze towards the slowly dying baby clutched in Ondine’s arms.

“I see. Well, it’s too bad, but this baby is beyond help. She’s too badly wounded and now, only death awaits her,” he said in a voice void of emotion. “Now, come. Help me clean up this place.”

He rose to his feet, but Ondine just sat there as he cradled the slowly dying body of the human baby. She had a firm expression on her face as she decided on the course of action she will take next.

“No. I won’t let her die, not if I can help it,” said Ondine with a determined expression on her face.

“What are you saying?” he paused and asked her nervously.

“I will fuse my spirit and my body with this dying child so that she will live,” said Ondine with a small smile on her face as she looked up at him.

The water spirit man looked down at her with his eyes widening in shock of what he just heard. He quickly knelt down beside her and forcefully turned her face to look at him, which was filled with seriousness.

“Ondine! No! Don’t do it! It’s already bad enough that humans and spirits have a bad relationship, but don’t make it any more complicated than it already is! Please…!” he said to her desperately.

“Rodrack…” Ondine began in a soft voice. “You don’t understand what I’ve just seen. A vision that as white as light showed me the forms of nine shadows of women and then, the shadow man of someone really powerful. Although I can’t remember what he looked like, he had a burning spirit within him. This young child’s destiny is far greater than anyone could ever imagine!

Besides, what makes me want to do this is far greater just her destiny. Her mother fought for her life to desperately protect her daughter and I’m sure her father did the same for them. So, I cannot let their selfless actions of sacrifice go in vein because of my careless actions. This falls to my responsibility of keeping her alive to that she fulfils her greater destiny and the wish of her parents to keep living.”

“Ondine…” Rodrack said while he looked sad. “I understand, but this child will face many struggles in her life. Nighter human and nor Water Spirit, she will come to be hated and treated with lack of respect.”

Ondine nodded once in recognition of that fact and said, “Yes. I understand and I’m well aware of the struggles she will encounter in the near future. It may change her character completely to live by such cruelty of society. However, if there is a chance… if there is a time when I’m allowed to speak to her, then I will ensure that she understands what happened on this day and help her change for the better.”

Rodrack chuckled and asked, “Are you confident she will listen to you at that time?”

Ondine thought for a moment before replying with a small smile on her face.

“I’m sure will when she is with the company of the people that truly care for her from the bottom of their hearts,” said Ondine with a pleasant smile on her face.

At that moment, the dying baby coughed and Ondine quickly turned to her, realising time was running out. With only one option left for her, she decided to act on it by betting her life on it. Rodrack backed away from her and watched her perform the method of saving the human baby with a sad expression on his face.

Ondine placed a hand on the human baby’s chest and another hand on its head gently before reciting the incantation.

“I humbly accept the responsibility that comes from the actions that have taken today and with this, I give her my spirit and my all to keep her living! Spirit Fusion!” she said in a loud carrying voice that could be heard by the Elemental Spirits.

There was a moment of pause in which nothing happened. Then, the human baby and the water spirit, Ondine became encircled by a white glowing light. The ground where they were at formed into a magic circle and energy began radiating out of it. The water spirits from the lake slowly rose to the surface to watch the proceedings of the spirit fusion with curiosity. Ondine while smiling as she knelt there with her hands placing on the human baby’s body. Only Rodrack had a pained expression on his face as he watched his friend leaving him for good.

Before the light blinded everything in sight, Ondine turned to him and said, “Rodrack… Please… Do me one last favour, alright?”

Rodrack was surprised, but he quickly asked, “What is it?”

“One day… A young boy will come into contact with her and when their fateful encounter takes place, please sure that she goes along with him by any cost. Please… Do me that one last favour…”

Ondine was looking at him with an imploring expression on her face that surprised him. Then, with a small smile on his face, he smiled at her and nodded once without saying anything because his throat felt constricted due to emotions colliding inside him.

“Thank you… Old friend…” she said softly

Turning her attention back to the human girl, Ondine smiled at her. As the light became brighter and brighter by the second, Ondine looked at the human baby girl and said her final words to her on that day.

“I’m now giving you my life, so live it the best that you can… I don’t know your name, but… as your temporary guardian… I name you… Ondine Monahasara… Live… Live for the sake of your dead parents… Life for my sake… Ondine…”

With a heartfelt smile on her face, the light surrounded them completely and blinded everything in sight.

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Author's Note

My dear readers, thank you for reading the long chapter. This chapter brought a lot of emotions to me as it always does whenever I'm writing about sadness and loss, which is why we must appreciate the lessons taught to us, to cherish those around us and don't waste the chances given to us. Once again, thank you for reading the chapter and see you as the story continues.