Lancer and Lanosis continued following Kai for what seemed like hours. They traversed through tree after tree, yet Royal Legion West's temple still wasn't anywhere in sight. It didn't help that this forest looked much creepier at night, especially from Lancer's perspective.

He looked from side to side in nervousness.

"What did you say this place was called again?"

"Aquila Forest. It's a very old forest sacred to Royal Legion West." Kai replied. "Hard to believe, I know, but it's actually far older than I am."

Lanosis quirked a brow. "Any reason why it's called that?"

"Well, Aquilae are special types of eagles native to Coligad. Some have grown so large and magically enhanced that many people speculate they were descended from Spell Spirits. We call these animals, Spirit Spawn, for that reason."

The two brothers looked surprised. Before now, they didn't think a spellcasting animal was even possible. Eun did exist within all living beings, of course, but casting it was another story. Spirit Spawns, as a whole, were even more difficult to comprehend.

"Great. First you tell us that Spell Spirits are some god-like beings and now, they're shacking it up with some random animals." Lanosis scoffed.

Lancer shuttered just thinking about it. "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that..."

Kai grinned at their reactions in amusement.

"Now, now, boys. It's nothing to be disgusted by. Most Spirit Spawn are descended from them nowadays. An animal and Spell Spirit... erm... union hasn't happened for thousands of years, give or take." He said. "Some creatures are just fortunate enough to have magical blood coursing through their veins. The same goes for us humans."

The younger Leoto sibling nodded his head.

"I guess that makes sense. Ridmos was a dragon and lion hybrid of some kind, so perhaps Spell Spirits are closer to animals biologically."

"Not quite, but an accurate presumption, nonetheless. Most spirits look like animals, because they were originally created by them. It was only later on when they decided to take physical form and mate with those same animals."

Lanosis looked down at the floor in puzzlement. There were still so many questions he had yet to ask, but one suddenly became his main concern.

"I might regret asking such a bizarre question, but did they do the same thing with... people too? Is that possible?"

Kai's expression grew more somber. He ever-so-slightly slowed the pace of his walk and sighed.

"Yes, but that was before Spell Spirits isolated themselves from the physical world and began selecting people as their hosts. Ever since then, it's become a fairly taboo subject in the spellcasting community."

"Oh. Sorry for bringing it up then." Lanosis awkwardly replied. He shared a quick glance with his little brother before turning around just as fast.

Suddenly, the old man went back to acting like his normal, mischievous self. Any trace of sadness in his voice or general demeanor was gone. It was strange, yet not enough to be all that concerned about.

"No need to apologize. A boy your age is bound to be curious about things he doesn't know much about. What kind of master would I be if I couldn't help satiate that curiosity?"

Lanosis crossed his arms. He peered over at the various trees and bushes standing before them.

"Maybe one that doesn't have any real sense of direction?" He snapped. "We've been walking in a straight line for ages, Kai! I thought we'd almost be there by now!"

The spellcasting master turned around to wag his finger at the hotheaded boy. His black staff was held in the other hand.

"My sense of direction is the only thing keeping you safe, Lanosis. Unless you want to get lost and transform into an Aquila yourself?"

"T-That doesn't sound good." Lancer muttered.

"Oh, it's not good at all, I'm afraid. The Aquila Forest is a maze so intricately designed that anyone foolish enough to enter its deepest parts will be cursed and transmogrified into... well, an eagle. And the transformation isn't harmless by any means. It is slow, painful, and quite gross, I can assure you."

Much to their chagrin, the two boys could hear an eagle's shrill cry in the distance. The timing was almost too accurate, from their perspective.

"At least, that's what the rumors say. No one has ever dared stray from the path and wander off on their own." Kai shrugged in a darkly carefree manner. "But, I suppose, there is a first for everything."

Lanosis decided not to say anything else after that. He sighed and motioned for the hold man to continue moving.

"Never mind then. Lead on, fearless leader."

"Good answer, my flaming-haired friend! Just for that, I'll call upon a little shortcut that will lead us to Royal Legion West much faster than expected."

He then spun his staff around at faster-than-average speeds, causing it to be lit with blue Eun. Once it was fully surrounded by this blue energy, Kai held it above his head.

"You might want to step back a bit, boys."

The two Gamma Kingdom princes did as asked and moved away from where he stood.

"West Wing! Wing me west!"

Kai then powerfully slammed the tip of his staff into the ground. This sent forth a massive shockwave of energy that resulted in every tree and plant being lit up through bioluminescence. Even the ground beneath their feet glowed the same color and revealed a direct, elongated path to Royal Legion West.

Needless to say, Lancer and Lanosis were both greatly awestruck by this simple, yet flashy spell. The latter was a little less impressed by its usage, however.

"You know, you could have done that before we entered the forest, Master Kai."

"And risk losing the chance to bond with you two? Nah, that wouldn't do." The old man joked. "But enough idle chatter. Let's get you guys accommodated with your new home."

"Thought you'd never ask." Lanosis snorted.

They navigated themselves along the glowing blue trail and ever-so-slightly came closer to reaching their destination. The faint cries of eagles could still be heard, but to a much lesser degree than before. That must have been a sign that the forest's exit wasn't too far away.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"So, I'm guessing there's other masters like you at this Royal Legion place, right?"

"You guessed right. Alongside myself, there are four other Master Casters considered the best in all of Coligad. There used to be more of us, but due to unfortunate circumstances that I don't wish to divulge at this time, we're all that's left." Kai explained. He then smiled down at the eleven-year-old. "You'll meet them all once we reach the temple."

Lancer clenched his fists together in a mix of curiosity and excitement.

"If they're all as strong as you, then I'm definitely looking forward to it."

Kai winked. "Oh, trust me, Lancer. Some of them are even stronger."

Better hope they're a lot smarter too. Lanosis thought as he lazily stuffed both hands in his pockets.

The old master gazed upon on him with a mischievous twinkle in his brown eyes. One of them seemed to glow blue for a split second or two.

"Don't worry, Lanosis. They are." Kai laughed.

The look on the bronze-haired preteen was priceless. He almost fell off of his feet from shock.

"Huh?! H-How did you—"

He simply tapped on his forehead twice before looking away from him. Lanosis still didn't quite understand what just happened, but he knew better than to act out of turn again, nonetheless.

After another half-hour of hiking, the three slowly, but surely made it to Coligad's central guild, Royal Legion West. It was a massive, intricately designed monastery located just a few dozen or so feet from Aquila Forest. Most it was built within a collection of tall mountains, which could be accessed via golden encrusted staircases. These stairs somewhat contrasted with the temple's stone walls and metallic bronze roofs.

Apart from some plant life and trees grown into the temple's courtyard, various statues were lined along either side of it. All of them were made from gold that appeared to glow vibrantly in the moonlight. They depicted some eagles, or possibly Aquilae like Kai mentioned, in different stages of flight and combat.

One statue, however, was designated near the bottom of the staircase. It was a young, partly middle-aged man wearing robes and the crest of an eagle atop his hood. His face was concealed for the most part, but his facial features and characteristics were unquestionably male.

The two princes had never seen anything like it before. It originated from a culture that was, for all intents and purposes, alien to theirs. They really weren't sure what to think about it.

All Lancer could really get out was one single word.

"Wow."

Kai nudged him in the shoulder and smirked.

"I know, right? Pretty impressive up and close personal, isn't it?"

"Well, it's not as good as the royal palaces back home, but yeah, I'd say it is." Lanosis begrudgingly admitted.

The old master grabbed each brother by the shoulder and held them close to him.

"Glad to see you swallowing your pride for a change, lad."

The look of displeasure on Lanosis's face wasn't difficult to miss. He would have tried biting Kai's hand off if it weren't for him being far weaker as both a martial artist and Spell Caster.

Thankfully, Kai was courteous to let go on his own accord. This gave Lancer the opportunity to see the large humanoid statute standing nearby.

"Who is that, Master Kai?"

"Ah. That would be this here Royal Legion's founder, Royal Brother Eaglar Charam, or Edgar as he used to be called in the old days." Kai replied. He pointed up at the statue with his staff. "Legends say that he was a kind, benevolent Light Caster who promoted harmony between magical and non-magical individuals. He established quite the reputation for Royal Legion West in his time. Though, of course, that was thousands of years ago at this point..."

"Light magic, huh? Sounds pretty powerful." Lanosis commented.

"No doubt it was. Aquila Forest was even created by Eaglar, so the eagles and Aquilae descended from his own Spell Spirit, Rocycl, could be kept safe from harm. If you were wondering why all of the ground, bushes, and trees glowed like that when I activated the West Wing spell, he's why."

"Kairo Aguwa!"

The three turned their heads to see a small, unidentifiable object flying towards them. Kai placed a hand over his forehead and sighed.

"Speaking of which..."

As soon as the object landed, Lancer and Lanosis saw that it was a larger-than-average eagle with golden, brownish bronze feathers. It had black crests along its two purple eyes and a prominent yellow beak, which seemed to be frowning in some way.

This frown, of course, was directed squarely at Kai. The eagle folded its wings on top of one another and tapped her foot.

"Where in blazes have you been?!

Its voice was shrill and haughty, yet notably female in tone. Lanosis was already starting to get annoyed by it.

Kai tipped his straw hat and said, "Oh, lighten up, birdbrain. I was only trying to get some time to myself for a change."

"For a change?" The eagle clicked her tongue. "All you do is spend time by yourself. Poor Caddie has to pick up the slack day in and day out, because of your constant laziness. Don't you even feel a little guilty about that?"

The old master stroked his chin in thought for a few moments.

"No, not really. I never forced Cadroka to do any of that stuff. She does it because she's still crazy about me, even after all these years."

"In your dreams, fool." She snorted back in reply.

Lancer and Lanosis glanced at each other in confusion. They didn't know what was weirder about this conversation: the fact that there was a talking eagle standing in front of them or that her and Kai bickered like some old married couple.

Lancer cautiously stepped closer to the eagle and examined her from multiple different angles. She did the same in return.

"So, I'm guessing she's one of those Aquila things you told us about?"

The eagle squinted her eyes and nodded.

"Yes, that's correct. And who might you two be? Kai's newest ragamuffins?"

Lanosis didn't know what a 'ragamuffin' was, but it sounded somewhat offensive, in his opinion. He glared down at her as a result.

"And that's where you'd be correct, my dear birdie! These boys are Lancer and Lanosis Leoto. I decided to make them Royal Legion West's next students. After seeing them in action, I think they have quite a lot of potential as Spell Casters."

"High potential, you say?"

The eagle ruffled her feathers a little and walked around both kids. Her eyes faintly glowed with green Eun as she stared at them from top to bottom.

"Rather strange energy signatures, but you're not wrong, Kairo. It's been many years since we've had kids with this much magical power inside them. Although, whether they'll be able to fully awaken that power is yet to be determined."

She then cleared her throat and curtseyed in front of them.

"But, let's get our introductions out of the way first. You may call me Dalquilae Westminster Rukhsar III. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Lancer, recalling the etiquette lessons that he learned as a prince of the Gamma Kingdom, politely bowed back. "Likewise."

"Well, that name sure is a mouthful." Lanosis muttered.

Kai leaned close to the older sibling's ear and whispered into it.

"Don't worry. You can just call her Dale for short."

A wave of pure, unbridled rage washed over Dalquilae's face. She leapt on top of Kai's shoulders and started relentlessly pecking at his head with her beak.

"No, no, no! I told you not to call me that humiliating nickname! Don't pass it on to these impressionable hatchlings, you buffoon!"

She kept pecking deeper and deeper into Kai's skull until the old man couldn't take it any longer. He comically broke down into tears and started flailing his arms about like a limbless ragdoll.

"Ow! Okay, okay, Dalquilae! I get it! I get it!"

Feeling that he had enough, the Aquila parted from Kai's body and stood back down on the floor.

"As you can probably tell, I prefer to go by Dalquilae and nothing else, boys. Take it or leave it. I'll accept no substitutes." She proclaimed while raising one single finger with her right wing. "Especially not Dale!"

Lancer tried his best to smile at her. "If you say so, Dalquilae. It's nice to meet you."

She took notice of Lancer's unusual, slightly exotic appearance. She could tell that him and Lanosis were siblings, of course, but their exact heritage was pretty much unknown to her.

"Hm, orange and red eyes? Interesting combination. I frankly haven't seen features like that in quite a long time."

"There's a good reason for that. Me and my little bro here are from the Gamma Kingdom, which is apparently located in a separate continent called Snardentus of all things."

Dalquilae's lower jaw dropped from absolute shock. It hung open long enough for flies to pop in and out within seconds.

"T-The Northern Continent?! No wonder your Eun felt so odd. It must have the capacity to grow faster than everyone else's!" She said. She smirked at her fellow Royal Legion West colleague. "Maybe you're not as big of a lout as I thought, Kai..."

"Well, I did tell you that I was meditating away from the temple for good reason. Sometimes getting some 'me-time' can have its own benefits." He replied with a small shrug. Not missing a beat, moved Lancer's bangs to the side and showed off his Spell Spirit marking.

"And discovering that young Lancer was the current host for Ridmos is most certainly one of them."

This information only served to, ironically, shock Dalquilae even further. However, this time, she looked more frightened than outright impressed.

"I see. He's that monster, Balthazar Zolto's, successor then, eh?"

Ridmos's current host, once again, had no idea who this person was. Being compared to someone like that made him a little uncomfortable and on-edge than usual.

"Am I missing something here? I may be this Spell Spirit's host or whatever, but I'm still me. It wouldn't make sense for me to be a reincarnation of anybody, let alone this Balthazar Zolto person you keep bringing up."

"Yeah. We just arrived here. How would Lancer have any connection to events that took place in the other eight continents?" Lanosis added.

Dalquilae could see the look of confusion in Lancer's orange eyes. His feelings were understandable, yet, at the same time, a little misguided. This boy truly did not understand the type of strength he inherited after his birth.

"Yes. I suppose it is true that you are technically a different person, young one. But former hosts and current hosts are intrinsically linked by the Spell Spirit their bodies form a connection with. After death, spells and techniques inherited by one host will carry over to their future successor." The female Aquila explained. "I should know. I'm the third incarnation of the original Dalquilae Westminster Rukhsar, who was Royal Brother Eaglar Charam's eternal companion many, many years ago."

Lancer, admittedly, found this whole concept a bit intriguing. It almost implied that Ridmos contained a stockpile of spellcasting knowledge that he could bestow upon him at any time. He'd just need to find a way to communicate with the lion-dragon creature again.

"Really? Did you look the same as that eagle and everything?"

"I'm personally not sure about that detail, but I am called Rukhsar III for a reason."

"That makes sense and all, but I still feel that you two are dodging the main question at hand. Who even is this so-called Balthazar Zolto 'monster' you keep bringing up? What did he do to make you so scared of him?" Lanosis asked in growing frustration.

Kai tipped his hat and concealed one eye in shadows. His other eye intently glared at Lanosis's face.

"What didn't he do would be a more proper question, kid." He muttered under his breath. The moonlight faintly reflected off of his pupils. "Gotta be honest, it's a tough, fairly verbose subject to unpack and dive into. All of your answers lie in learning more about The Caster War and Zolto's former group, the Warlocks."

This response only served to baffle Lancer and Lanosis further. They'd heard about previous wars beforehand, but just from the sound of this one, it seemed far bigger than anything that Refugus and their father had been through.

"The Caster War?"

"Warlocks?"

Dalquilae rolled her eyes. "I think it'd be best if we just consulted Zuken and the others. I feel they'd be able to explain the Caster War in a more concise way than you can."

"Can't even take that as an insult, Dale. You're most certainly right." Kai chuckled.

"Hmph. I'll take that idiotic name as an insult, though." Dalquilae scowled. She then smiled up at the two pre-teen boys. "If you're going to be studying at Royal Legion West, then you might as well get acquainted with the other Master Casters, boys. Follow me."

She fully outstretched her wings and flew across the staircase. The eagle left a streak of green, stream-like magical energy in her path. It looked somewhat similar to lights seen in Aquila Forest.

"Best not to keep her royal highness waiting. Let's get a move on."

With that, they all climbed up the steps leading to Royal Legion West's temple grounds. Lancer got one last look at Royal Brother Eaglar's statue as he passed by it. It was certainly old, yet in complete, near-perfect condition for reasons he couldn't quite ascertain.

He wondered if Eaglar had a Spell Spirit of his own as well. If so, how far was he able to take the connection between host and spirit? And did Balthazar Zolto achieve a similar level of symbiosis with Ridmos?

That was something he would need to figure out for himself sooner or later. Maybe sleep was the key to initiating their next encounter.